Introduction. In the new reality, young people often spend many hours in front of the monitor, phone, or tablet forgetting or not having time to deepen their motivation to undertake physical activity, which is the basis for the proper functioning of the human body. With the significant increase in the number of hours of remote learning and online working, young people should increase their self-motivation to exercise and choose various types of physical activities to keep their bodies fit and avoid lifestyle diseases, such as obesity, in the future. Aim. To explore differences with regards to the motives for undertaking physical activity among young women and men. Material and method. 629 young people participated in the study. Among them, there were: 312 women and 317 men. A questionnaire designed by the author of the study was used. Results. The most common motive for engaging in physical activity by young people is to stay healthy and fit. The most common reason for young women and men not to take up physical activity is lack of time. One of the rarest motives for becoming active is family traditions (only 3.5% of women; 1.3% of men). This is an interesting result, considering the fact that as many as 86.44% of the surveyed young people who come from families with sports traditions are currently engaged in physical activities. The differences between the study groups concerned such motives as the desire for self-fulfillment (motive more often chosen by women) and to fill up free time (motive dominating in men). In turn, the differences in the factors discouraging young persons to take up physical activity were related to an overloaded program of activities, which was more often mentioned by women.