My Favorite Exercises Series
My first real job was acting as Fitness Director for Men’s Health magazine. I spent about seven years at that magazine writing and editing stories about fitness, nutrition, sports performance, health, and more.
In that role, I talked to the world’s greatest athletes and its top health scientists and athletic trainers.
When these experts sent us an exercise or workout, I was the sucker who tested it to ensure it would work for our readers. I vetted hundreds and hundreds of exercises.
Hence, I discovered a lot of truly effective exercises—and I’ve kept all the best ones in a file ever since.
When I think about what makes a good exercise, I consider a few factors:
It should deliver many benefits in a single movement, improving our health and fitness in less time.
It should improve our fitness in a way that isn’t just safe, but also makes us safer in the future by making us more resistant to injury.
It should help us move better—because the better we move, the better we feel and perform.
It should offset some of the harms of living in the modern world, where we sit behind screens and steering wheels most of the day.
It should translate to the real world and make us better at the activities we love, whether outdoor sports, pickleball, or chasing down kids.
That’s why I started the My Favorite Exercises series, where we feature just one exercise I love and find myself always going back to.
Here they are on one page.