Many of us never get around to exercising, even though we have good intentions.

Framing exercise as hard-and-fast rules to follow is causing many to opt out.

Social comparisons and heuristics can contribute to all-or-nothing thinking.

Health messaging is changing to include small wins and self-care.

Recent research by Dr. Michelle Segar and colleagues (2026) examined all-or-nothing thinking as a barrier to developing a regular exercise habit. They focused on those who had often intended to do so, not those who did not have exercise on their radar. In both cases, not much exercise was happening.

Most of us know that exercise is good for us. Why, then, aren’t more people doing it? Segar proposed that the answer is fourfold: (1) Many individuals see exercise as an all-or-nothing endeavor. When you can’t do an hour or 30 minutes (as most guidelines suggest) per day, then it’s an excuse to not do it at all. (2) People will actively seek excuses not to exercise. (3) Exercise is expendable compared to other daily tasks. (4) Some individuals are even baffled by their current inactivity, considering that they used to feel positive about it.

Many of us are familiar with the physical activity recommendations coming from health-oriented agencies. We are supposed to get 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week and do strength training twice a week. This is the perfect set-up for all-or-nothing thinking:

“Well, I know I can’t do that. So, why bother?”

“It’s too much with my busy schedule. I have other priorities.”

“I know they expect me to break into a sweat, or it doesn’t count.”

The sentiments reflected in these statements demonstrate all-or-nothing thinking at its finest.

Exercise Is Expendable

As with any behavior, there are many nuances to consider. Things like, how desirable is exercise, exactly? How does it stack up against the other things calling for our attention during the day? Do we think it through like we would any of the other tasks that we have? Is it more of an unknown than the other things we have on our plates? It is not as optional as, say, doing laundry or cooking dinner. In other words, as Segar suggests, exercise is expendable. Especially if it is going to take hours of our time each week to do it right.

Segar’s research also touched on something very important. The perceived expendable nature of physical activity surrounds us. This is in our culture.

Often, when it comes to our health, including eating and exercise habits and management of disease, we are bombarded with a rational approach. It is easier to make it into a “to-do” list than to try to address affect, motivation, intention, self-regulation, and any number of other human traits.

Culture Reflects Human Nature

We have emotional responses to how exercise is often framed. That framing is part of our culture, and our response to it has to do with human nature.

We idealize good-looking, fit individuals. Doctors tell us what we should do, but don’t have time to tell us how to rewrite what we believe about ourselves.

Finding the origin of all-or-nothing thinking about exercise means evaluating messages in the context of human nature. One way to look at this is through the lens of social comparison theory. First proposed by Festinger (1954), the theory put forth the idea that we all have a drive to look outside of ourselves in order to evaluate our own abilities. As his theory evolved, he hypothesized that if a person is comparing themselves to a group vastly different from themselves, the motivation to change to be like that group is weakened. In other words, if the bar is too high, the motivation to change is diminished.

Another framework that considers human behavior is heuristics. According to Zenko (2016), we humans often adopt heuristics when making decisions. Heuristics is partly described as using trial and error to solve a problem. So far, so good.

When it comes to exercise, we could run with that concept, throw out the recommendations, and determine what is actually going to work for us. The problem is that human heuristics also make us want efficient solutions without putting out a lot of effort. We may retreat to rules, or previous experiences, or what we see others doing. In other words, we often look around us for answers, not within ourselves.

Can awareness of these tendencies help us to break free, actually follow through with our intentions, and start to understand the feel-good health benefits that moving more can bring?

One way to approach this was crafted in 1997 by Dr. Segar. It is called The Motivation MAP. Since then, it has been tested and revised, becoming a valid intervention for exercise behavior change. It was designed to overcome three specific barriers: (1) Exercise is a chore, or a “should,” (2) exercise takes too much time, so it falls into “all-or-nothing,” and (3) people experience discomfort with prioritizing time for self-care behaviors like exercise.

In a nutshell, the messages are: “feel good,” “everything counts,” and “prioritize self-care.”

The Motivation MAP has been shown to significantly increase physical activity, transform it from a chore to a pleasurable activity, and increase the individual’s mindset from “shoulds” to self-care.

For several years now, some organizations have been trying to change the messaging to something very similar to what Dr. Segar proposed in her Motivation Map by:

Spelling out the effectiveness of moving 10 or even 5 minutes at a time, along with suggestions for what to do in those minutes

Giving yourself permission to use self-compassion and self-care as a way to stay on the journey

Celebrating each small change as a win instead of beating yourself up for missing the mark

Taking stock of the ways you already move, and building on that

Changing the goal, lowering the bar, and considering all activity acceptable

In spite of our innate human and cultural tendencies, we can realize our intentions to exercise by making it our personal journey and not anyone else’s. The message can change, and is changing.

Segar, M.L., Updegraff, J.A, McGee-Dinvaut, A., Taber, J.M. (2026). The secret life of all-or-nothing thinking with exercise: new insights into an overlooked barrier. BMC Public Health. 26:298.

Segar, M.L. (2024). The Motivation MAP: an exercise-message framework to foster positive affect, challenge all-or-nothing thinking, and prioritize self-care. Frontiers in Psychology. 15:1441844.

Dunbar, R.I.M. (2003). The Social Brain: Mind, Language, and Social Evolutionary Perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology. 32:163-181.

Zenko, Z., Ekkekakis, P., Kavetsos, G. (2016). Changing minds: Bounded rationality and heuristic processes in exercise-related judgments and choices. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 5(4), 337-351.

Festinger, L. (1957). Social comparison theory. Selective Exposure Theory. 16:401.

There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.

By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy

© Psychology Today