Welcome to the positive corner of wellness. Here’s a daily digest designed to make you healthier in less than 5 minutes. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free daily email here.
Today’s Health Upgrade
Member of the week
How to recover faster during workouts
A recipe you wouldn't expect from Arnold
Pump Daily Member of the Week
We are going to highlight subscribers of The Pump Daily who use the tips shared in these emails to make life better for themselves and others. Keep sharing your wins on social media, and we might feature you next!
Meet Victor Navas, an English Teacher from Colombia. Here’s what he shared with us:
1. What are your goals, and what daily actions did you create that brings you closer to them?
I have a few goals for this year:
A) Read the bible from cover to cover at least once. To achieve this goal, I am reading from 3 to 5 chapters every day (with some days dropped occasionally).
B) Exercise more than last year
To achieve this, I downloaded an app that guides me with a lot of bodyweight exercises that I do at home. There is a program of exercises that I have to follow for an entire month. I also downloaded an app that helps me with flexibility exercises (something I consider crucial in order to achieve a functional elder stage).
(Editor’s Note: Soon, we’ll be sharing a new app where can access Arnold’s workouts and customize them to your skill level, and whether you exercise at a gym or home. If you want to be the first to access the app, sign up here.)
2. How many days have you marked off all of your actions?
I have marked off all of my actions 7/10 days (I'm still working on my discipline).
3. Since you started this challenge, has the way you thought about yourself changed at all?
I am the kind of person that used to think: “things are ok and have worked for me so far, why on earth should I change them (a clear symptom of fear).” Now I understand and I have internalized that if I want different outcomes, different things have to be done.
4. Do your actions get easier or harder to accomplish with each passing day?
After each passing day, these couple of things are actually becoming easy to perform. However, I have to say that it is difficult for me to find the right time for each one of them.
5. What is your message to people who haven’t started the challenge yet?
I am one of those guys who believes that we need to be prepared to accept some assumptions that we have probably heard before in our lives. This readiness comes thanks to experience or deep thought. Please don't wait for experience to start doing something to improve your way of life. This challenge has encouraged me to change my way of thinking and do something every day to achieve my goals.
Like Arnold says: we have to have vision. With a clear vision of what we want, we are a step closer towards our goals. The thing is that with all this noise around us (because of social media) our concentration has decreased a lot but we still are in control.
6. How are you going to finish the challenge strong?
I will keep inspired and finish with the tasks I set up first thing morning (whenever possible, because I'm getting back to work next week) I hope to keep receiving this fantastic newsletter. It feels like Arnold is by my side encouraging me.
Thank you, Victor! Keep up the good work.
When Feeling Tired, Do This
If you’re feeling exhausted between sets of a hard workout, sitting down might not be the best way to catch your breath.
As nice as it feels to take a seat, standing up and putting your hands on your knees might help you recover faster. Researchers examined the best way to recover from high-intensity workouts and found that participants recovered faster (a 22-beat-per-minute improvement in their heart rate) during a high-intensity workout when they put their hands on their knees.
What is this sorcery? The posture improves how much air you can inhale with each breath. When standing straight up with your hands on your head (an “extended posture”), it’s more difficult for your body to take a full, 360-degree breath.
When your hands are on your knees, your lungs can more fully expand. That means more oxygen gets delivered to the working muscles, so you’re ready for the next round faster. Try it the next time you're feeling exhausted, and you might be able to squeeze out a few more reps or push a little bit harder.
From Arnold: My Mother’s Celebration Recipe
You might not expect a dessert recipe with butter and sugar in a fitness newsletter. But remember, I am all about celebrating your wins. You don’t build a routine successfully without celebrating. So if you have been crushing your daily actions every day, this is for you. If your goal is to go all month without sugar, save it and celebrate on the last day. If your goal was to exercise every day, work it into your diet, and enjoy!
This is my mother’s Kaiserschmarrn recipe. Kaiserschmarrn is my favorite dessert. I think you’ll love it.
Ingredients
4 eggs, separated
¾ cup flour
½ cup milk
pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
4 oz raisins
4 Tbsp butter
powdered sugar to sprinkle over pancakes
How to Make It
Mix together egg yolks, flour, milk, salt, baking powder and sugar till well mixed. Let batter stand for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat egg whites until stiff.
Gently fold egg whites into the batter.
Gently fold in raisins.
In a frying pan, melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Pour in batter and fry until cooked on the bottom.
Flip the pancake, adding 2 Tbsp butter, and continue to cook on other side until crispy.
Using two forks, tear the pancake into pieces and continue cooking briefly.
Serve dusted with powdered sugar. Tastes fantastic served with fruit or fruit sauce. Enjoy!
