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Today’s Health Upgrade
Life lessons from Arnold
Are you unintentionally limiting your strength and muscle?
Ignore the naysayers
How to rejuvenate your aging brain
Arnold’s Podcast
Want more stories from Arnold? Every day, Arnold’s Pump Club Podcast opens with a story, perspective, and wisdom from Arnold that you won’t find in the newsletter. And, you’ll hear a recap of the day’s items. You can subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Arnold’s Corner
Life Lessons
Yesterday was my 77th birthday. People often focus on all the negative aspects of getting older — one day, you’re Mr. Olympia, and the next, you see the budle. But I prefer to focus on what I can do to make things better.
So, instead of worrying about what I have lost, I want to share the knowledge I have gained. I created a free guide with 77 lessons from the last 77 years. I hope you enjoy it, share it with others, and find the tips useful.
To get you started, here are seven lessons from the guide.
Lesson #5
Decide who — not what — you want to be. Make your vision a part of your identity. Don’t say, “I want to be fit.” Say, “I want to be the type of person who can keep up with my kids and grandkids,” or “I want to be the person who everyone looks at on the beach.”
Lesson #23
There will always be people who doubt you and who root against you. Let them. You have your vision, and you know the work it will take to bring the vision from your mind into the real world. So ignore the naysayers.
Lesson #30
Don’t bottle anything up. When you feel grief, let it out. When you feel love, let it out. Anything you hold in and bottle up will eventually find a way out, and the longer you wait, the bigger the pressure becomes. Don’t let it become an explosion.
Lesson #32
One thing you learn as you get older is that none of us will get to live forever. It sucks. The older you get, the more death you see. Parents, siblings, friends, mentors. It can seem cruel that the reward for living a long life is outliving so many people that made your life what it is. But I’ve always found comfort in realizing that none of the people who die are gone. They’re with us every day. I once heard a pastor at a church say that they’re like ships sailing out of the harbor. Yes, at some point, as they get past the horizon, we can’t see them anymore. But that doesn’t mean they’re gone. I don’t think we ever lose the people who pass away. They stay with us every day, in our memories, but also in the way they shaped our lives.
Lesson #41
Don’t major in the minor. There are so many people who worry about the last 5 percent so much that they never start working on the first 95 percent. Which supplements should I take? Which workout is optimal? Which diet is best? If you haven’t gotten the basics in order — training routinely and eating mostly real food — you’re wasting your time. Approximately 95% of your results will come from a basic foundation of training and good food.
Lesson #44
Show up—for yourself, for others, just show up. The biggest difference between successful people and everyone else is that successful people get up over and over again when they fall and just keep showing up. Giving up has killed more dreams than failure ever will.
Lesson #52
Speak to their heart first, not their mind. If you can develop an emotional connection with someone and understand their feelings, you are already a step ahead of the person who is going to bombard them with logic. There is a time for the logic, but first, get into the heart so the brain is ready to hear your arguments.
Training
Are You (Accidentally) Limiting Muscle and Strength?
One of the most popular posts in The Pump app is “first set mindset.” In it, we explain that muscle growth depends on motor unit recruitment. That means it’s best to prioritize intensity in your earliest sets when your fatigue is lowest.
In other words, you maximize tension and potential muscle growth when you can stimulate and recruit the most muscle fibers during a set.
A new study highlighted exactly how this works. Scientists tested the effectiveness of post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE), a technique where you do the heaviest, most challenging sets first and then follow up with moderately heavy weights. By maximizing intensity in the earlier part of the workout — before fatigue kicks in — you not only activate more motor units and increase strength but also can do more total work.
This aligns with the “first set mindset,” which means instead of trying to pace yourself for all the sets in your workout, you focus on the earliest sets with maximum effort, treating them as if they are the only sets in your plan. This mindset works to help you maximize muscle growth because as fatigue increases, your ability to recruit motor units decreases, which means it’s harder to build muscle. Not to mention, your risk of injury also increases.
Remember, you can build muscle using low or high reps, but both have tradeoffs. By taking the “maximum intensity first” approach, you maximize motor units and make the most of your time working out without needing as much time in the gym or as many high-rep sets.
Ignore The Naysayers
Remember, don’t let the person you are prevent you from becoming the person you want to be.
In honor of Arnold’s birthday, the Pump App is on sale for a limited time. The annual plan is just $6.41 per month, and you can unlock $120 in bonuses when you sign up. Start your free trial today.
How To Rejuvenate Your Aging Brain
Cognitive decline is a real part of aging — but it doesn’t have to be as challenging as you might assume.
A recent meta-analysis of eight studies found that creatine keeps your memory strong — and the benefits of supplementation increase with age.
The scientists found that daily supplementation led to improvements in short-term memory, long-term memory, and working memory.
Creatine helps your brain most when it’s metabolically stressed, whether from sleep deprivation, travel, or aging. And when it’s overloaded, the additional creatine can help your brain function as it wants, rather than how it’s forced to perform under greater demands.
What was interesting about this study was that—unlike other research on creatine and cognition—higher doses did not lead to great memory benefits. Earlier research suggests that 10 grams of creatine (instead of 3 to 5 grams for muscle and strength) provides more brain benefits. This study found that 5 grams was enough to sharpen memory.
If you want to try creatine, opt for creatine monohydrate and get a third-party certified supplement, such as NSF Certified for Sport or Informed Sport. Momentous is our preferred brand of creatine because of its quality, safety, purity, and effectiveness.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
