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The Catch, Answered

Last Friday’s Answer: HIGH LDL CHOLESTEROL 

According to the 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, untreated hearing loss and high LDL cholesterol are tied as the single largest modifiable contributors to dementia globally, each accounting for roughly 7% of cases worldwide. 

For the winners: 10 people who answered correctly will be emailed and sent a gift card for Momentous products. 

A new version of “The Catch” (including prizes) can be found every week in Arnold’s Pump Club. Be sure to keep an eye out daily to find the next one.

Today’s Health Upgrade

• Arnold’s Corner: Monday Motivation

• Does your home have a cortisol problem?

• How to turn positive words into real actions (and what most people do wrong)

• Workout of the week

Arnold’s Corner 
Monday Motivation: You Belong

You belong. 

I want you to know that. Because it’s important for your success.

I know that the one thing holding millions of people back is feeling that they don’t have the right to be there. In the weights section of the gym. In the gym at all. In the Pump Club app.

You have the right to be there.

I know people feel this way because I hear it constantly.

In the gym recently, I was talking to a woman who recently started training with weights.

She said, “My only regret is that I waited so long. I thought this part of the gym wasn’t for me. I stayed in the cardio area and the studio classes. I was intimidated by this area and didn’t think it was for me.”

In the Pump Club app, we see these comments every day. The person is always different — younger women, older women, men who have been out of shape for years, men who never played sports growing up — but the message is always the same.

“I told myself it wasn’t for me, and I wish I hadn’t waited so long.”

You will always regret the waiting. You will never regret the day you decided to try.

When I say fitness is for everyone, I mean it. And almost everyone you will meet in the gym believes it.

You belong. You have a right to be there. It is for you.

The idea that you don’t is a voice in your head telling you a lie. It’s limiting you and holding you back. It wants you to stay who you are, because it’s comfortable with that.

You have to face that voice and tell it, “I do belong. I do have a right to be here.”

I know that the first step outside of your comfort zone is scary, and that’s OK.

It’s worth it. You will not regret it. Like all of these other people, you’ll see it wasn’t as intimidating as you thought, and you will wonder what took you so long.

Like many of my lessons, this one is true in the gym, but it’s also true in life.

You belong in that meeting at work. You have a right to share your ideas. Going to that dance class or that book club to meet new friends is for you.

You get to decide who you are. And you can be the kind of person who does all of those things that intimidate you.

Let me be honest: it helps to have a vision of who you want to be. If you have a clear vision, it’s much easier to take every step.

When I wanted to train with the older guys by the lake in my hometown, I wasn’t intimidated at all, because I already had my vision. Instead of being intimidating, it was a no-brainer.

But I also know that some of you don’t have a clear vision yet, and that’s OK.

A lot of people think about finding a vision as a passive thing: you sit on the couch, and it will come to you, and if it doesn’t come to you, you just don’t have it.

The best way to find a vision when you’re struggling is through action: Try things. See what lights a fire in your belly. When you find the actions that give you energy, you’re getting closer to finding your vision.

You can’t do that on the couch. You can’t do that if you keep telling yourself you don’t belong.

I’ve met women in their 50s and 60s and men in their 70s through the Pump Club app that just started training with their bodyweight, and now they’re competing in powerlifting competitions. They talk about the joy they feel in their new strength and with their new teammates.

They didn’t have a vision when they started. They found it by starting. Their actions revealed it to them.

But first, they had to quiet that voice in their head that told them they don’t belong. They had to decide they had a right to be there.

That’s the first step.

Whether it’s in the gym, at work, or in your personal life, you belong.

When that voice starts to chime in to hold you back this week, I want you to test something new. Say these two words to yourself:

“I belong.”

Together With Matic
Your Home Has a Cortisol Problem

You can dial in your training, your nutrition, and your sleep schedule. What's harder to see — and easier to ignore — is how the space you recover in might be working against all of it.

Research suggests that living in a cluttered or unfinished-feeling home is associated with flatter daily cortisol patterns, meaning the stress hormone that should wind down as your day progresses may stay chronically elevated instead.

In a study, 60 dual-income couples gave self-guided home tours while researchers analyzed their language for cues about clutter, incompleteness, restfulness, and natural elements. Those patterns created composite scores for how stressful or restorative each home felt. Participants then had their cortisol measured at multiple points across three weekdays. 

Women whose homes scored higher on the stressful-environment scale showed flatter diurnal cortisol slopes — their stress hormone didn't drop the way it should throughout the day. Women with more restorative home scores showed the opposite: steeper, healthier curves. The effect wasn't significant in men, and the researchers attributed the asymmetry to societal expectations around home management, not biology.

This was an observational study, meaning it shows association, not causation. But the cortisol methodology was rigorous — repeated objective sampling across multiple days — and the pattern holds up against a broader body of research on how visual environments affect stress physiology.

The mechanism is worth understanding. Your brain processes clutter as unfinished business. Every unsorted pile, every half-finished project on the counter, sends a low-level signal to your threat-detection system. That signal keeps the HPA axis — the hormonal system that governs cortisol — from fully shutting down, robbing you of the recovery window your body needs between demands.

The fix doesn't require a renovation. But it does require change to help you turn down the volume on the unnecessary stress you’re adding to your body. 

You could start with one zone: the surface you see first when you walk in, or the space where you wind down. Clear it. Protect it.

This isn't a case for obsessive cleanliness. A spotless house isn't the answer to burnout. But the floors you walk on, the kitchen you cook in, the living room you collapse into — they aren't neutral. They're either helping your nervous system recover or quietly working against it.

The fix isn't more effort. It's removing the effort entirely. The easiest solution we've found is Matic.  

Matic is the first truly intelligent autonomous home robot that sees your home the way you do, so it can clean the way you want it to, when you want it, and where you want it. Not through lasers or bump sensors, but through five RGB-IR cameras and on-device neural networks that give Matic a full 3D vision. That means it maps your home the way you'd naturally experience it, and can do things disc robots simply can’t. It deftly navigates around obstacles using real visual intelligence, no wire-chewing, pre-cleaning required; distinguishes hard floors from rugs, detects fur and spills, and automatically toggles between vacuuming and mopping. Zero babysitting. Zero setup rituals.

A few things that separate it from everything else on the market:

No tangled pet hair. Matic's brush roll uses angled fins to redirect hair sideways instead of wrapping it around the roller. You will never sit on the floor picking fur off a brush again.

No separate dirty water tank or dust clouds. A built-in wringer squeezes dirty water out of the mop roll during operation, channeling it directly into a HEPA-12 rated bag that captures 99.5% of particles as small as 0.3 microns — dry debris and wet waste, one bag. No more washing filters or needing to remember to change it. No more dust cloud when emptying those bins.

No waking anyone up. At 55 dB, it's the quietest robot vacuum on the market. Quieter than a human conversation. It runs while the baby sleeps, while you're on a call, while you're watching something after dinner. It disappears into the background of your life. That's entirely the point.

No stressing about your privacy. Keeps your data within the four walls of your home, with all processing happening on the device and nothing going to the cloud. We shouldn't have to risk our family's privacy just to keep our floors clean 

WIRED gave Matic the only 10/10 rating they've issued in over a decade of product reviews. The Verge said it "fixes the stuff every other robot vacuum gets wrong."

We were skeptical. Then we got a unit, and saw how it led to less thinking, less stress, and more of what we all want in our home.

As a Pump Club subscriber, when you buy a Matic, you’ll also receive an annual bag pass with a full year of unlimited HEPA bags, completely free.

Your training environment is intentional. Your home should be, too.

Start Your Week Right 
The Science Of Positive Affirmations (And The Mistake Most People Make)

If you read Arnold’s column above, most of us have a voice that's good at finding reasons we don't belong. 

Arnold suggests that saying you do can change everything. 

And we believe him, but science is the backbone of what we do, so we decided to fact-check and see if there was more than just Arnold’s experiences. Turns out, there is. 

A large analysis of more than 17,700 people found that regularly reflecting on your values — not just repeating positive phrases — was associated with meaningful improvements in self-perception, reduced anxiety, and psychological barriers that grew weaker with practice over time.

Researchers analyzed 67 studies involving thousands of people and found that affirmations genuinely help, but the effect is slow and steady, not a light switch. Think less "overnight transformation" and more "showing up to the gym consistently for six months." 

What surprised researchers: when they checked in with people after the practice ended, the positive benefits didn’t disappear.

The reason most affirmation attempts feel hollow is that people are trying to convince themselves of something they don't actually believe yet. That never works. 

The version the research supports isn't about pretending. It's about reminding yourself of something already true: a value you actually hold, like showing up for your health or your family. 

When the voice says you don't belong, your brain goes into a kind of defensive crouch, making growth and learning harder. Grounding yourself in something real and meaningful settles it. Brain scans show that this lights up the same circuits that activate when you think about the people and things that matter most to you. You're not fooling your brain. You're speaking its language.

Behavioral science adds another layer. A 12-week study found that people who saw themselves as "someone who exercises" were more consistent week to week than those relying solely on intention. Identity drove behavior. 

And during hard training, brief motivational cues ("I've got this") can reduce how hard the effort feels.

The most useful version of "I belong" isn't just a mantra. It's a values statement you actually believe, followed by an action that makes it true. So listen to Arnold. Believe what he is telling you. And then do the thing you have been avoiding. When you check those boxes, the changes you desire will follow. 

Fitness 
Workout Of The Week 

Your daily routine to bulletproof your back 

A lot of you asked about Ketchell's 10-week rebuild program, created by world-class strength coach Tom Hibbert, after we discussed how Ketch hurt his back. That's a full return-to-training block with progressive loading, and we are considering whether we add it to the app. 

This is something different. It’s been the backbone of pain-free training for thousands of people in the app. 

This isn't a workout. It's the daily habit that keeps you out of that situation in the first place.

Three exercises developed by world-renowned spine biomechanics expert Dr. Stuart McGill are designed to build deep core stability that protects your lower back without loading it. 

No weights. No equipment. Ten minutes. You can do this every morning, before training, or any time your back is talking to you.

Whether you’re in pain or hoping to avoid pain, these three moves help with both.

How to do it

Perform 3-5 sets of each exercise, ensuring each set works both sides. For example, when you do a side plank, do one side, then the other side, and that’s 1 set. You’ll repeat that 3-5 times. 

For each, you’ll perform an isometric hold for 10 seconds. For the curl-up, you’ll hold the up portion of the curl for 10 seconds. Same for the side plank and the bird dog.

The McGill 3

You can watch Ketch demonstrate the McGill 3 here. 

1. Modified Curl-Up: Lie on your back, one knee bent, one leg straight. Hands under your lower back to maintain a neutral spine. Lift your head and shoulders together as one unit — not a crunch, not a sit-up. Hold 10 seconds. Breathe.

2. Side Plank: On your side, forearm down, elbow under your shoulder. Knees bent to start, legs straight when you're ready. Lift your hips to a straight line and hold. Don't let them sag. Complete all sets on one side, then switch.

3. Bird Dog: On hands and knees, neutral spine. Reach one arm forward and the opposite leg back simultaneously. Create tension through your whole body, keep your hips level. Hold. Lower with control. Switch sides, once again raising your opposite leg and opposite arm at the same time. 

Give it a try, and your back will thank you!

Editor’s Note: We’ll never stop giving you a free Workout of the Week. Because we believe everyone should have access to exercise.

But there’s a difference between a workout and a program. 

A “Workout of the day” feels great — you sweat, you’re sore — but soreness isn’t the goal. Exhaustion doesn’t make you better. Your body adapts best when workouts build on each other with intention, not when every session stands alone.

This workout will challenge you today; but a program is what changes you over weeks, months, and years. If you need help, you can try our customized programs free for 7 days. We do the thinking, giving you access to the best coaches, and provide accountability, so you see the improvements.

The Positive Corner of The Internet
About Arnold’s Pump Club Editorial Standards

We do things a bit differently here, starting with transparency.

1. The Content: All APC emails are researched, written, and fact-checked by the APC editors (see bottom of the email), with written contributions from Arnold (noted with “Arnold’s Corner”). Links take you to original studies (not second-hand sources).

2. Does AI play a role? Not for the primary content, but it is used in two ways. The main items are original content written by the APC team. The summaries at the end are AI-generated based on the human-written content above. We also use an AI tool to review our interpretations of the research and ensure scientific accuracy. We don’t assume AI is right, but we use technology to hold ourselves accountable.

3. Yes, we have partners (all clearly noted). Why? Because it allows us to keep the APC emails free. We first test products, and then reach out to potential partners who offer ways to help you improve every day. The bar is set high, and to date, we have turned down millions in ad deals. (Example: we will not partner with any non-certified supplements or those without evidence in human trials). If we won’t buy the product, we won’t recommend it to you. And if there’s no evidence it works, then there’s no place for it here.

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell