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Today’s Health Upgrade
The Fab Five
Arnold Q&A
In Case You Missed It...
Weekend Challenge
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The Fab Five
Do you have what it takes to thrive? One of the craziest studies we’ve seen tracked more than 260 students for decades, starting back in the 1940s.
Harvard researchers found that five qualities improve your odds of flourishing later in life.
According to Michael Easter, founder of 2 Percent (a Pump Club favorite), those five qualities include:
Altruism: Unselfish concern for the welfare of others.
Humor: Making light of stressful and difficult situations.
Sublimation: Using anger and frustration for good (e.g., creating)
Anticipation: Being realistic about the future and its challenges.
Suppression: Controlling unproductive and distressing thoughts.
When you possess the fab five, the scientists found that you’re three times more likely to flourish. As Easter points out, building your character to include these qualities helps your life by “developing the capacity for emotional warmth and connection to others despite difficult upbringings or individual setbacks.”
The researcheres found that relationships matter a lot too. Men with good sibling relationships when young made an average of $51,000 per year more than those with poor sibling relationships or no siblings.
And if you’re a parent, the relationship you build with your child can have a dramatic impact later in life. “In 1978, Vaillant reviewed a subset of the men who had been healthy at age 40; they were now about 55 years old. Of those with the bleakest childhoods, 35 percent were dead or chronically ill, compared to only 11 percent of those with the warmest childhoods.”
We frequently discuss how you can be healthier through fitness and nutrition. But remember, building your character and focusing on your relationships can dramatically impact how well — and how long — you live.
Arnold Q&A
Arnold did his weekly Q&A in The Pump app (we'll be opening up again soon for new members). Here are a few answers about training styles, losing body fat, and how to be more useful.
Should Men and Women Train Differently?
Losing Body Fat
How To Become More Useful
In Case You Missed It
We know you get busy, so here are some of this week's highlights and other cool things we saw online...
Podcast you'll enjoy: How to Lose Weight Without Giving Up The Foods You Love
Workout of the week: Check out "The 30-Second Shred"
Village deal of the week: Save $60 OFF sustainable protein from ButcherBox (Arnold loves the NY strip)
Article worth your time: Is There Anything to the Panic Over Ultraprocessed Foods?
Note from Arnold: We’ve been very transparent about advertising. We only have a few sponsors, and our goal is to keep it that way. We want a few fantastic long-term partners we believe in, who are willing to offer discounts to our village. And the more of you who check them out, the more we make that vision a reality.
Weekend Challenge
I am sure all of you were as touched as I was by Adam’s words about his father on Monday. I have asked you in past weeks to reach out to an old friend and reconnect, and I’ve joined you in connecting with some of my old friends.
This week, Adam’s message got me thinking, and I want you to do something a little deeper. Pick someone who shaped who you are. For most of you, it will probably be a parent or both parents. For some of you, it might be a teacher or a coach. For others, it might be a boss or a friend. It just needs to be someone who really proves to you that you, like me, aren’t self-made.
Once you have that person in mind, I want you to write them a letter. It doesn’t have to be long. It can be a page. It just can’t be a text message. I LOVE letters. I have written letters for years. And there is just something special about sending and receiving them. It’s more than an email. It’s more than a text. There is nothing quite like it.
Tell them thank you, how they helped you become who you are today, or how they inspire you to be who you will be.
This is where I will make a modern adjustment: You can use your phone to scan the letter and send it to them. I don’t even live in the stone ages any more in that way. They get it faster, and you don’t waste any paper.
I think you’re going to realize that doing this makes you feel fantastic, and you might want to do it more, like me. You’re slowing yourself down from the speed of text messaging, letting someone know how much they mean to you, and showing gratitude. And as we know, you never know how many opportunities you will get to do this. So maybe it will become a regular thing for all of you.
Let me know what you think!
And thank you for another week being a part of this village. We appreciate your role in helping us build the positive corner of the internet. Have a great weekend!
-Arnold, Adam, and Daniel
