Embracing the ‘good enough’ approach to exercise

The jury is in on exercise.

It is good for your brain, mood and body. But knowing that does not necessarily make it easy to get started. There are a few reasons for this. The ‘too boring’, ‘too tired’, ‘no time’ excuses can keep you stuck on the couch. One effective way to overcome these obstacles is to embrace a ‘better than nothing” approach.

Sociologist Christine Carter’s TED talk, ‘Confessions of a bad exercise’ highlights how willing to be bad at something can get you out of your rut and moving towards your goals.

Carter talks about how her pandemic plan to train for a marathon fell apart within the first two weeks, despite a colour coded exercise plan and all the good intentions in the world. When she shifted to accept one minute a day of running as ‘good enough’, she found she could easily get out each day for one minute. And slowly it felt more natural to keep running after the one minute than to stop.

Carter says that when you allow yourself start without being perfect, you form neural pathways (connections between your brain cells) for the habit. Over time it will become ‘hardwired’ and you would not be relying on motivation and willpower as much.

This idea of starting small and building up is shared across other fitness and wellbeing experts. Personal trainer Lauren Parsons talks about ‘snacking on exercise’. She found that the number one excuse people had for not starting an exercise program was they did not have enough time. She points out that you can find time to brush your teeth twice a day, you can find four minutes to do some exercise. Parsons says something as simple as doing push-ups on the kitchen bench while waiting for the kettle to boil is a great start.