If you’ve ever thought physical activity doesn’t “count” unless it’s intense, this study may change your mind.
Reviewed by Dietitian Madeline Peck, RDN, CDN
Key Points
- Most adults don’t meet the recommended 150 minutes of exercise per week.
- A more flexible approach to exercise and exercise goals may help build sustainable habits.
- Taking walks, biking to work or stretching between meetings are good ways to integrate movement.
If you’ve ever felt like physical activity only “counts” if it’s intense, structured or lasts longer than 10 minutes, you’re not alone. And when movement feels like it has to look a certain way to “count,” it can become much harder to fit into everyday life. That may be one reason why, despite physical activity guidelines, most adults in the U.S. don’t meet the recommended 150 minutes per week. For many people who balance work, family and the general demands of daily life, fitting in that exercise time can feel impossible.
For one reason or another (I’m looking at you, diet culture), many of us have adopted an “all-or-nothing” mindset around movement. If there isn’t time for a sweaty hour-long gym session, it can feel easier to skip activity altogether than to take a 20-minute walk around the block. After all, that doesn’t really count… right?
But growing research suggests that a more flexible approach to physical activity may not only support your health—it could also help people build more sustainable habits long term. Daily movement like walking, gardening, taking the stairs or doing chores around the house can still benefit health, especially when compared to remaining sedentary. Plus, a more flexible approach to physical activity may help reduce the cycle of rigid expectations, perceived failure and discouragement that keeps many people stuck.
That’s exactly what researchers explored in a new study published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Instead of prescribing an intense exercise regimen, researchers examined what happened when people were encouraged to set flexible, self-directed physical activity goals—and the results challenge the idea that physical activity has to be all or nothing.
How Was the Study Conducted?
To examine a less rigid approach to physical activity, researchers recruited 62 women aged 40 to 65 who were both not very physically active at baseline and had at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or prediabetes.
During the eight-week intervention period, participants worked with a physical activity coach and were paired with another study participant for accountability and support. Rather than prescribing a rigid exercise routine, the intervention focused on increasing overall movement and allowed women to choose their own physical activity goals. Some participants chose structured exercise goals, while others focused more on lifestyle physical activity, like increasing daily steps.
Throughout the study, researchers tracked several measures, including:
- Exercise Behavior: Participants received pedometers to track number of steps per day as well as minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
- Daily Motivation: Participants were given a survey at the end of each day to document their physical activity motivation for the following day as well as to describe their satisfaction with exercise minutes they had completed that day.
- Partner Support: Participants described whether or not they felt supported by their assigned study partner.
- Program Goals: Participants described their self-selected physical activity goals during weekly sessions with their assigned coach.
Following the intervention period, the 62 women completed exit interviews that focused on overall goals and expectations at the start of the program, changes in those goals or expectations over time and successes and challenges related to weekly goal setting.
What Did the Study Find?
After the eight-week intervention period ended, researchers identified five distinct patterns of goal setting among participants:
- Women who never set exercise goals
- Women who started setting exercise goals later in the program
- Women who started setting exercise goals in the first few weeks of the program but stopped by the end
- Women who set exercise goals consistently
- Women who set exercise goals inconsistently
Across all five groups, researchers observed that daily motivation for physical activity generally increased over the course of the eight-week period. Interestingly, the women who waited to set exercise goals until later in the intervention appeared to show the greatest improvements in both motivation and exercise behavior. While most groups increased their activity by about three to five minutes each week (though some decreased), this group of late goal setters increased exercise by roughly 10 minutes per day each week.
Some of the most compelling findings came from participants’ exit interviews. Across the groups, many women described entering the study with rigid, “all-or-nothing” views of exercise—where they believed that physical activity only counted if it was intense, structured or time-consuming. But over time, many participants reported shifting toward a more flexible mindset around movement and what counts as physical activity.
Several of the participants also discussed how a flexible approach helped reduce feelings of guilt and failure around exercise. Some of the women described previously setting unrealistic goals for themselves, struggling to maintain them and then becoming discouraged when they inevitably fell short. Researchers noted that a more gradual, self-directed approach to physical activity appeared to help reduce some of the rigidity and self-criticism many women associated with exercise.
Notably, women who initially avoided exercise goals but started setting them later into the intervention often described avoiding goal setting at first because they feared failure or felt intimidated by traditional exercise expectations. Yet many of these participants became more confident in their ability to move consistently later into the intervention after starting by focusing on smaller, more achievable kinds of lifestyle movement, like increasing daily steps. This highlights the study’s overarching idea that easing into physical activity and adding exercise goals later on may support ongoing motivation.
How Does This Apply to Real Life?
These findings suggest that letting go of rigid exercise expectations and approaching movement with more flexibility may help people build more sustainable physical activity habits over time. Rather than setting lofty goals and jumping straight into an intense workout routine, the study highlights the potential benefits of starting with smaller, more approachable forms of movement first and easing into exercise goals later.
As one participant shared in the study, those smaller bouts of exercise can snowball into something much bigger. “My goal before was more exercise-focused,” she explained. “And my goals now are more lifestyle-focused… you have to sort of walk before you can run.”
Researchers suggest that this more sustainable approach might help build confidence and reduce the cycle of perfectionism and discouragement when it comes to all-or-nothing thinking around movement. If you’re looking to incorporate more physical activity into your daily routine, consider starting with realistic, flexible strategies first and introducing exercise-related goals later on. Some of our favorite ways to incorporate more daily movement include:
- Try walkingbiking or taking the stairs. Parking farther away, biking to work or using the stairs instead of the elevator are all great ways to integrate more movement into your day.
- Break up sedentary time. Take regular breaks from sitting at your desk or computer for quick stretches or short walks.
- Find home-based exercises you like. Body-weight exercises like squats, pushups, glute bridges and planks require no equipment and are easy to perform at home.
- Plan active social time. Schedule outings with friends or family like going for a walk or a hike instead of seated activities.
Perhaps most importantly, this study serves as a reminder that physical activity doesn’t have to be perfect, intense or highly structured to benefit you. Building sustainable habits and easing into exercise goals over time starts with redefining movement in a way that actually fits into your life.
Our Expert Take
A recent study published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise suggests that when it comes to physical activity, flexibility may be more sustainable than rigidity. Researchers found that participants who focused on overall movement first–and introduced exercise goals later–experienced real improvement in motivation and activity levels over time. Starting with smaller, more approachable movement goals–like increasing daily steps–may help build confidence and consistency around physical activity over time.
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