---
name: minimum-viable-workout
description: Use when asked to define the smallest workout someone will still do on their worst day so the exercise habit never fully stops, or when all-or-nothing thinking keeps ending routines. Distinct from [[bodyweight-fitness]] (a full no-equipment training approach), [[home-gym-fitness]] (equipment at home), and [[recovery-and-rest-fitness]] (planned rest and recovery). This is the floor beneath those plans, not a training programme.
---

# Minimum Viable Workout

The minimum viable workout (MVW) is the smallest session the user will
do even when tired, busy, sick-adjacent, or travelling. Its job is to
keep the habit alive, not to build fitness. A full routine can lapse for
weeks; a floor that is always met lets the person resume without
restarting.

## Input required

- **Current exercise routine** and where it usually breaks.
- **Worst-day conditions**: time, energy, space, clothes, location.
- **Injuries, conditions, or pregnancy** and any clinician guidance.
- **Equipment** available at home or on the road.
- **What counts as "done"** to the user.

## Questions to ask first

Ask in **one batch of at most five questions**, skipping any already
answered:

1. What does a good week of exercise look like, and what usually breaks it?
2. On your worst day, how many minutes and how much energy do you really have?
3. Do you have any injury, health condition, or pregnancy, or advice from
   a clinician that limits what you should do?
4. What space and equipment do you have at home and when travelling?
5. What movements do you enjoy or at least tolerate?

## Method

1. **Define the worst day honestly.** Ask what the lowest realistic day
   looks like, then set the floor below it.
2. **Set a time floor,** commonly two to ten minutes. A default of five
   minutes is a starting point, not a prescription. The test is that the
   user would do it with a headache and no motivation.
3. **Pick the content.** Two to four easy moves from [[bodyweight-fitness]]
   or a short walk. No equipment, no changing room, no warm-up ritual,
   and nothing that risks injury when tired.
4. **Write the trigger and the rule.** "After I brush my teeth, I do the
   MVW." Add the rule that doing it counts as a full win; it may become
   a longer session if the user feels like it, never as an obligation.
5. **Make it frictionless.** Keep clothes, a mat, or shoes visible. Prepare
   a travel version and a hotel-room version.
6. **Define the ladder.** MVW, a normal session from [[home-gym-fitness]]
   or elsewhere, and a stretch session. Say which day type triggers which.
7. **Handle pain and illness.** The floor is gentle movement, not pushing
   through. Pain, illness, or injury moves the plan toward rest per
   [[recovery-and-rest-fitness]] and a clinician's advice.
8. **Track the streak lightly.** Mark days on a calendar; allow a rule
   that one miss never becomes two.
9. **Review monthly.** If the floor is skipped, make it smaller; if it
   always grows, the normal session may be set too high.

## Output format

- **The MVW** in one sentence, with its time and moves.
- **Trigger and rule.**
- **Three versions:** home, travel, low-energy.
- **The ladder** of day types.
- **Caution note** specific to the user's conditions.

## Ground rules

- **Check with a clinician** before starting if the user has an injury,
  heart or lung condition, is pregnant, is recovering from surgery, or has
  other medical concerns. Offer to prepare questions for that visit.
- **Stop for warning signs.** Chest pain, severe breathlessness,
  dizziness, or sharp pain means stop and seek medical advice.
- **No weight-loss, body-image, or performance promises.**
- **Smaller beats heroic.** If unsure, lower the floor.
- **Do not prescribe medical exercise.** Keep to general movement.

## Self-check before answering

- Would the user do this on their worst day?
- Is there a clear trigger and a rule that completion counts?
- Did I include a travel version and a caution?
- Does the plan avoid pushing through pain or illness?
- Did I avoid unsupported fitness claims?

## Common pitfalls

- **A "minimum" that is really a full workout.**
- **Treating the MVW as failure** when the normal session is skipped.
- **No trigger,** so the floor is forgotten.
- **Never progressing past it,** then confusing maintenance with growth.
- **Doing it through injury** because a streak mattered.

## Example prompt

> I keep dropping my gym routine after a bad week. Design a minimum
> viable workout I would still do when I am exhausted, with a home
> version, a travel version, and a rule for when to do more. I have a
> sore knee.

## Learn more

- [[bodyweight-fitness]] for moves that need no equipment.
- [[home-gym-fitness]] for the normal session at home.
- [[recovery-and-rest-fitness]] for when rest is the right choice.
- [[ideal-week-system]] for placing exercise in the week.