Train.

I fell in love with training when I was sixteen. I didn't love the gym or the workouts, but rather that training actually worked. I learned this through doing pull-ups and push-ups in my bedroom as a junior in high school. Having asked my climbing mentor how to get better, I followed his advice and aimed for 100 pull-ups each day.

When I started, I could only manage one or two of those "treading water" or drowning man pull-ups, where you kick and thrutch and try to get your face above the bar. Within a couple of weeks, I could do them clean. Then could do three, five, eight, and eventually ten in a row. Ten sets of ten felt good, and was a crystal-clear indication that my work had paid off. To that point in my life, nothing else was even close in terms of effort=reward.

I think far too few of us have ever experienced improvement in such a noticeable way. The crazy thing is, even at age seven or seventy, the training really works. I think this is part of why I struggle with nutritional supplements, fad diets, HIIT classes, and anything else that has too much faith involved. Did it work? How do I know?

I encourage everyone to actually train in order to see what training can do. The word gets lost in exercising, but training is a very clear concept: it is the planned and progressed overload aimed at creating a specific adaptation. The goal isn't the sweat. It's not the soreness. It's the ability. If we can go from one to ten pull-ups without those things, fine. If we get those things every session, but never change our pull-up number, we blew it.

If you're not sure how to train, start with one exercise. For most adults, I would encourage starting with push-ups or goblet squats. You can pick about any single exercise that doesn't aggravate an existing injury. The two keys to training are consistency and time. You can't speed the process any more than you can speed up the growth of your garden...so maybe a third key is patience.

This is so simple that most people won't even do it.

Three days per week for the next six weeks, you're going to do your exercise. You can do others, but don't get greedy and try to "whip yourself into shape." The overload to the system might be too much and you'll burn out. If you really want to do extra stuff, add in more walking.

The first day, you're going to do three sets of 8 reps. This might see you have to start with bodyweight squats, or inclined push-ups. Once you've done these, training is over and you can come back in a couple of days.

Do it again.

Each rep should be great, and if the 8th one doesn't look as clean as the first, you're not going to advance the difficulty until it does. Rest a lot between sets. When you can do all three sets of 8, make the exercise slightly harder. If you're squatting, add 5 pounds. If you're inclined for the push-up, decrease the incline by 2". Repeat.

Sometimes, and sometimes for weeks, you'll feel stuck and like it's not working. It's working. Keep leaning into this one exercise. Don't try to hack it, don't try to supercharge it, don't come up with excuses. Just keep hitting these three sets, three days per week.

I won't give you a predicted outcome, but I promise you will have improved. After your 18th workout (the third workout of the sixth week), take a rest day. The following day, set up your exercise the way you did the first day. This might mean going back to a 36" incline or a bodyweight squat.

Do some reps. You'll like the way it feels.

Then, get going on training again. Pick another thing to chase and go to work.