This one exercise is the MOST important exercise anyone can do while training.

Hold on a second, folks. This isn't the answer you are expecting, nor what most are wanting to hear. So strap in and prepare to get mind-fucked with some knowledge, experience, and perhaps a dash or two of some Zen-like wisdom.

In the beginning.

Anyone who has had training in some form a staple in their lives for any considerable amount of time most likely has had very humble beginnings. I, for one, and probably for many of you as well, did not have the financial means to begin my journey by consulting a professional trainer. I had zero knowledge to start from. Even in my immaturity I still knew that I knew nothing. I only had an immense curiosity and a desire to belong (to something, anything). Thinking back, I believe I started out seeking "the gym" (as it was referred to by my peers) as a way of finding a new social circle. Admittedly, I was extremely curious but also equally cautious. Up until that point I was used to being labelled as "the nerd" because I did well in school, and "the pudge" for being overweight and asthmatic. Who knew what these guys were going to label me once I stepped in the door? At 11 years of age, I was intimidated to say the least. But like many things in life, the first step is just showing up. The rest, as they often say, is history.

Present day.

I in no way consider myself an expert from all the years I have invested. The journey has been a winding one so far but is in no way complete. I have lived and learned a hell of a lot while being on my journey. Not just about training, either. This kind of journey leads to all sorts of life changing knowledge and wisdom. Today, my "gym" is a home-based gym. It lacks many of the bells and whistles of many of the bigger-box gyms I have frequented in the past. In light of the pandemic, and being a working professional reduced to a telecommute for over a year now, utilizing a home-based gym was very practical as well as very safe. The experience has also allowed me to break down my routine, re-invent it, reducing it to bare essentials. We've all heard the notion that "less is more" before. Having less bells and whistles and a more focused toolkit to work with I have found that my training has more to build upon and innovate to keep it relevant and enjoyable. After all, what is the sense of doing something that is not enjoyable even though it may be good for you? The past year has proven to all of us we need some joy as well as productiveness in our lives. By now you are all chomping at the bit for me to reveal the best exercise I have found that will give you the most bang for your buck when training. Don't worry it is coming. But again, I must stress, it is not the answer you are expecting.

The question.

Over the years, the question of "what is the best exercise?" has come up time and time again. We're all looking for that edge in anything we do. We all have a desire to perform well at something. But we all seek out immediate gratification as well. The latter can be the bannister that, once you slide down, quickly becomes a razor blade. There really are no shortcuts. Hard work is still hard work. We can, however, work smarter. Working smarter allows us to get better, faster, and safer results no matter how big or small the goal may be. Your goals should be realistic and obtainable, but really the only limit to what you can achieve is you. In the past, when I have been asked what the best exercise is I have often gave very predictable answers. Thirty years ago my answer would have been, unquestionably, "the deadlift." Twenty years ago my answer would have been, undoubtedly, "the overhead squat." Ten years ago my answer would have been, without exception, "glute-ham raises." In more recent years my answer has been "the one you're NOT doing" (a cliché, I know). I have noticed a trend here. Over the years there has always been a "flavor of the month" when it comes to exercises. I have learned to avoid trends while still keeping tame that fear we all possess of trying something new or doing something in a different way than what we are used to. As humans, one of our greatest abilities is to adapt. We can easily get used to those killer workout routines that fill us with great feelings initially as we demonstrate improvement, but ultimately weigh heavy on our minds as we are confronted with plateaus we can't get past.

The answer at last.

So what is the answer to the burning question? What is the BEST exercise to do when training? I think by now you are ready for it, so here it is. The best exercise you can do when training is to... collect data.

WTF? Collect data?? What does that even mean??? I'll admit this is less about executing a movement as it is executing a habit. Put simply, data collection means to track your progress using real measurable data. Now I told you in the beginning this would be a mind-fuck. Data collection is nothing anyone would call exciting, let alone exercising right? Data collection is a very necessary tool for the trainee whether you are an athlete or an enthusiast. Data collection has proven to be a game changer for myself for my own personal fitness goals. It will be a game changer for you too. Like the exercises we perform themselves, data collection requires discipline in it's own right. Regardless of your own fitness goals, the collection and analysis of data will help you achieve your goals more quickly and safely.  Many important things happen when we start to really examine our analytics. For one, seeing improvements on paper gives us satisfaction that not only makes us feel good about ourselves but can be used to keep us motivated. Often, I have heard from people I know who have started fitness goals a similar story.

"Well... I was feeling good and excited the first few weeks, but then it just became monotonous, and boring, and I started feeling I wasn't getting anywhere."

Predictably they stopped training completely (while still locked into a multi-year gym membership no less). Less often, I have heard a similar scenario as the above example, but these individuals continued to stick it out. They continued to go "through the motions" for a myriad of reasons including both financial commitment and the fact that regular training had become more of a social outlet in lieu of achieving a set goal. Lesser still, are a small group of individuals who religiously train because they have turned training into a game. Gamification is a real thing. Making a game out of anything (including training) can motivate individuals to set and achieve more and more goals. Yes, at the end of the day we are only in competition with ourselves. But being in competition with our friends and training partners can be a healthy way to keep us motivated.  This ties into another question related to data collection and analysis: how do I do it?

There are many ways you can collect data on your training. Some are more analytical (no shit) and others more anecdotal. What's important to note here is this: if you have never tracked your training or simply do not have a head for numbers and percentages you can start off small and build in complexity as needed. It is more important to start the habit of keeping data on your training regardless of the method used or how granular the data collection may be. Just get started. You'll thank yourself in no time at all. Let's explore some ways of doing it.

Journaling.

One tried and true method of tracking your training is journaling. Not all of us keep a daily journal nor have the discipline to do so. But then again, not all of us train every single day. So a training journal might not be the hurdle some make it out to be. The training journal need not be in long-form either. Writing a long-form journal entry for every workout can be burdensome. Instead, you can simply keep track of the exercises performed for that day's workout. You can up the ante a bit and keep track of weights and reps, but this is not necessary for the beginner. Keeping a training journal no matter how simple or complex gives you added emotional investment and a sense of accountability to yourself. It can also make you accountable to a training partner and a way that the two (or more) of you can help support yourselves through the gaming, I mean, training processes.

A journal doesn't have to be an old-school paper notebook journal either. For all you "non-techies" or analog enthusiasts, indeed, your best bet might just be a plain old paper notebook journal. It's easy to keep in your gear bag or other easily accessible place. You can look back on a week's or month's worth of workouts and you will see noticeable trends you can use to build on as steps towards the goal. You can also add personal notes after the fact for self-reflection.

For the more tech-savvy, you have a world of ways you can make the plain Jane training journal much more robust and interactive. Using a more technology rich option does not mean giving up privacy either. By utilizing tech you do not have to give up your privacy. You can make your particular method of journaling as public or private as you want. It really is all up to you. I will not go into the abundant ways to create and execute a tech-journal but will mention one method I am seeing more and more on social media, in particular on Instagram. Individuals share their training journal entries on Instagram by simply taking a picture of the handwritten workout of that day. Some others have added all of the meals they had eaten that day as more of a summary of that entire day's overall health achievements. Whether you decide to share a little or a lot, you may find sharing your training/health journey with your group of followers (in this example) to be fun and a way to get outside motivation and support.

A training journal can be mixed media as well. Besides your common data points like reps, sets, calories, miles, etc. anything can be data. Using tools like pictures and video can help make data collection fun as well as make it more interactive if you so choose. There is also an artistic element to utilizing pictures and video for tracking progress through training.  

A last dash of wisdom.

I cannot help but warn you that journaling can become overly complex, especially if you incorporate more of the technology available. Basically, you need to be mindful of yourself and take on a method of journaling that is easy to begin and maintain. You should only make it more complex (adding data points to measure) as you need. While digital apps with all their integrations and ways of generating data to be crunched are all cool, it can become overwhelming to maintain over time. This could lead to you being enthusiastic in the beginning, but ending up over-burdened in the long run. My own personal rule of thumb is this: if [fill in the blank with whatever app or tech you are using] is preventing you from maintaining a regular training journal in a timely manner, then eighty-six it. Data collection is useless if it is not done regularly. When it comes time for analysis you need a complete data set to work with. Sporadic data will not yield useable trends or accurate measures of improvement. Even more important, incomplete data could lead to false notions of improvement resulting in poor execution and injury. We want to avoid the idea that we are progressing faster than we really are. Either way, using technology and apps can be exciting but can create more white noise in the process, which leads to loss of focus, loss of useable data, even loss of health due to injury. All of the fitness and training apps available are based on the notion that tracking analytics should be easy. So the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Short and Simple) concept definitely applies here.

Wherever you may be on your own personal fitness journey, I hope you could take something away from this article. Thanks for reading!