Why any exercise you actually do beats the perfect routine you never start
Nicola Tik
There is a version of exercise that lives in most people's heads that looks roughly like this: five times a week, structured sessions, a proper warm up, the right equipment, enough time to do it properly. That version rarely happens. Life is too busy, the conditions are never quite right, and the gap between the ideal and what is actually available tends to be wide enough that nothing happens at all. The result is a lot of people who are either doing nothing because they cannot do it properly, or doing a little and feeling like it barely counts. Both of those positions are worth challenging.
The perfect exercise routine is a moving target. It gets revised upward every time circumstances improve slightly, and it feels just out of reach enough that starting it always makes more sense next week than this one. Next week when work is less busy. Next month when the gym membership is sorted. In January when everything resets.
It is a very human tendency to defer action until conditions are optimal, combined with a cultural narrative about exercise that sets the bar high enough that anything less feels like it does not quite count. The problem is that optimal conditions rarely arrive, and the weeks and months of waiting add up into significant periods of inactivity that have real consequences for how the body feels and functions.
The research on physical activity and health does not support the all or nothing view that popular exercise culture often implies. Studies consistently show that even small amounts of movement, well below the thresholds most people associate with proper exercise, produce meaningful benefits for MSK health, mood, energy levels, and overall wellbeing.
The difference in health outcomes between doing nothing and doing a little is significantly larger than the difference between doing a little and doing the recommended amount. In practical terms this means that moving from nothing to twice a week produces a much greater improvement in how the body feels and functions than moving from twice a week to four times a week. The first step is by far the most valuable one, regardless of how modest it looks.
For someone already exercising once or twice a week, this is genuinely good news. What they are doing is not a consolation prize for failing to do more. It is already producing most of the benefits that more frequent exercise would provide, and it is a solid foundation to build from if and when circumstances allow.
All or nothing thinking about exercise produces two predictable outcomes. The person doing nothing stays inactive because starting feels pointless unless it can be done properly. The person doing a little feels like they are failing because they are not doing enough, which reduces the satisfaction and sense of progress that would otherwise make continuing feel worthwhile.
Both outcomes are driven by measuring actual behaviour against an imagined ideal rather than against where things were before. A useful reframe is to measure exercise against zero rather than against the perfect routine. Two sessions a week is infinitely more than none. One short walk is a better outcome for the body than sitting on the sofa. A ten minute stretch is more than the nothing it replaced.
This is not about lowering standards permanently. It is about valuing what is actually happening rather than dismissing it against a benchmark that is not being met.
One of the most limiting beliefs about exercise is that it has to look a certain way to count. Structured gym sessions, running, classes, and sport are the images most commonly associated with exercise, which leaves a lot of genuinely beneficial movement feeling like it does not qualify.
Walking counts. Stretching counts. A short bodyweight routine in the living room counts. Cycling to work counts. A twenty minute lunchtime walk counts. None of these need to be intense, long, or performed in a specific setting to be producing real benefits for the muscles, joints, and cardiovascular system.
For someone who currently does nothing, choosing a form of movement that is accessible, enjoyable enough not to dread, and easy to fit into an existing routine is more important than choosing one that matches an idea of what proper exercise should look like. The best exercise is the one that actually happens.
For someone already exercising once or twice a week, the foundation is already in place. The habit exists, the body is already adapting to regular demand, and adding a third session, however short, produces a disproportionately large improvement in how consistent the routine feels and how quickly progress accumulates.
The addition does not need to be significant. A twenty minute walk on a day that previously had no movement, a short stretch routine before bed, or a brief lunchtime session that fits around an existing commitment all count. The value is not in the individual session but in the shift from a pattern that the body experiences as occasional demand to one it experiences as regular.
Your VIDA plan is designed to work with whatever is currently available, building gradually from wherever you are starting rather than assuming a baseline that may not exist. The sessions are short enough to fit into a realistic week and structured enough to feel like they are going somewhere, which makes showing up for them easier than a self-directed routine that requires constant decision making.