If you've ever needed help with nutrition, living longer, and feeling more motivated, this is for you. I wanted to send you a note to thank you for joining my "village." I started this email to provide a way to cut through the noise and make it easier to be healthier and happier, delivered with more positivity and without all the confusion and BS.
I wanted to share a few tips the community has found most valuable, and I hope you find them helpful too.
If You Need Help With Nutrition...
Adam Bornstein is the person I trust most with nutrition. He spent 9 years writing a book that can help anyone build unbreakable habits and achieve long-lasting results without the typical stress, complication, cost, and guilt of modern diets. Whether your like dessert (as I do), want to eat takeout, lose fat or build muscle, this book will help you understand how to make it all happen.
You Can’t Screw This Up is the best book I've read on nutrition and healthy eating, and I think you'll find it incredibly helpful. As a bonus, if you buy a book, email your receipt to info@bornfitness.com, and you'll receive one of my workouts that I've never shared before publicly.
If You Want To Stress Less...
We love meditation, but we know it’s not for everyone. And new research suggests something might be even better for your mind and body.
Scientists found that breathwork can improve your mood and reduce anxiety.
The research suggested that just 5 minutes of deep breathing was more effective than meditation at reducing anxiety, respiratory rate, heart rate, and HRV.
If you want to try it, two methods of breathing were most effective. One is cyclic sighing, consisting of one inhale, another quick inhale through your nose, and then a long exhale. The exhale should be, ideally, twice as long as the inhale.
The other method is box breathing, which consists of equal lengths of inhaling, holding your breath, and exhaling. An example would be four seconds in, hold for another four seconds, and breathe out for four more seconds.
If You Want To Live Longer
Want to know how well you’re aging? You might want to see if you can pick up the heaviest dumbbell in your gym.
That’s because grip strength is one of the best predictors of longevity.
A study of more than 140,000 people found that grip strength better predicted early death than blood pressure (typically the gold standard). But scientists wanted to know why. Recent research on 1,200 men and women helped provide some clarity.
Turns out that people with a weak grip show signs of accelerated DNA aging.
Grip strength is, in general, strongly linked to resistance training. And because strength training keeps your cells younger, the stronger your grip, the more likely your body can help you fight off disease and age-related injury (think falling). Not to mention research shows that strength training, in general, helps reduce the likelihood of heart disease and high blood pressure.
If you’re looking for a baseline, researchers suggest the cutoff for longevity is about 23 to 39 kg (50 to 85 pounds) for men and 16 to 22 kg (35 to 48 pounds) for women.
If you need a workout to help you live longer, here's a quick one you can do almost anywhere.
The workout consists of 2 circuits, each consisting of 2 exercises. The first circuit is a combo of farmer’s carry and pushups. The farmer’s carry will help improve your grip.
Pick up the weights (don’t round your back when doing so), and walk 20 to 30 steps with a weight that’s heavy. Set the weight down, and then do your pushups.
If you don’t have weights, you can fill a backpack or tote with books and perform the carries. Whatever makes it heavy and hard to grip and carry is what you need.
Circuit 1: 3-4 rounds
Complete the first exercise and immediately do the second exercise. Then rest for 2 to 3 minutes and repeat.
1A. Farmer’s Carry 20 to 30 steps
1B. Pushups: 10 to 30 reps (your strength will determine how many reps you perform
After you complete all the rounds of the first circuit, then move to the next circuit.
Circuit 2: 3-4 rounds
Follow the same approach as the last circuit. Complete the first exercise and immediately do the second exercise. The rest for 2 to 3 minutes and repeat.
2A. Farmer’s carry: 20 to 30 steps
2B: Bodyweight squats: 10 to 30 reps (You can also add weight if you want; your strength will determine how many reps you perform)
If You Struggle Getting Out of Bed...
I keep getting a question from people in our email replies and on social media, and I want to take it on this week.
People ask me what to do when they feel like they can’t get out of bed, and my first thought is to say, “I just gave you workouts, a story about how I had to come back from a surgery where it was a win to walk ten steps, and a system for meeting your goals, how can that not get you going?” I have realized many people are just stuck, and I want to reach out to you, too.
When you feel like you can’t even get out of bed, my motivation to you can’t really do its job. So let’s analyze what’s going on. I think that part of this is, whether it is chemical or something else, you’ve convinced yourself you don’t have any power, and you don’t have a reason to try any more. Maybe you’ve tried a few times, and you’ve failed, and you just think you’ll fail again no matter what. You’ve internalized that whatever is holding you back will always win.
I think you need to show your mind and body that you are in control and need a reason to try.
Let’s start with the reason. Even when I feel like crap and sleep a little longer, by 6 am, the sun is coming through my window, and the animals are screaming to be fed, so I can’t let them down. They give me a reason not to get stuck in bed. I also tell my friends to meet at 7 am to start our bike ride. I can’t let them down.
Do you have anyone — animals, friends, anyone — that can be your reason? Can you make a commitment to meet so that you have no choice but to get out of bed? If you don’t, I have news for you; you’re going to have to make yourself the reason. Let me be the one to tell you, you are worth it.
Now, let’s deal with how to show your mind you’re in control. You can do this. I’m not asking for anything crazy.
I don’t want you to set insane goals. I want you to start tiny because I want zero chance of failure. I don’t want your mind to be able to say, “See, I told you that you couldn’t do it.” Because if that part of your mind wins, then I lose, and, more importantly, you lose. We don’t want that.
Write down the smallest goals. It can be: “I will train for 5 minutes a day.” “I will get out of bed.” “I will do five squats next to my bed.” Hell, if getting out of bed feels like too much, then try, “I will do 5 toe touches in bed.” I want you to write your goal on a piece of paper, put it next to your bed with a pen, and make a tally every day when you do it. No matter what happens, I want you to make that mark.
Don’t worry that it seems small. Right now, we are just showing your mind that you can do it. Once you start to feel unstuck, we can make your goals bigger.
This is physics; an object at rest wants to stay at rest. So we aren’t trying to get you moving fast, we are just trying to get you moving at all.
Go write that goal down. Text someone and make a commitment to meet them tomorrow morning at a park or the gym or on your front porch. Do that, and we’ll be here to pump you up every day.
