Doing basically anything will show improvement over not doing anything. Very frequently you find various fad exercises gaining momentum because of this fact - these people go from doing nothing to doing something, and when it does work they become huge proponents of a system that basically works solely on the fact that it's not nothing.
Strength coaches call this the "novice effect." It's why you can see an untrained person's squat increase if they ride the exercise bike a few times a week.
If your goal is optimality, the question is: is your training program the most effective use of your time?
On the other hand, not everybody cares about optimality, but more whether they can actually show up regularly. It takes a certain craziness to follow linear progressions, especially since it can take a mental toll (fuzzy headed all day) if you push too hard, which is sub-optimal in this field.
