Arnold's Monday Motivation

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Today’s Health Upgrade

Arnold's Monday Motivation
The sleep minimum
Workout of the week

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Arnold's Monday Motivation

As you know by now, I love when people step out of their comfort zones. I push you every week to do something that makes you grow because progress is simply not possible if you live safely inside your comfort zone every day.

This week, I’ve got a couple real-life examples. You have probably heard of the fantastic comedians, Bert Kreischer and Fortune Feimster.

Bert is famous for performing shirtless, selling out the biggest venues, and his story about becoming friendly with the Russian mob. I know you guys are familiar with Fortune because she’s my co-star in FUBAR, and her specials are huge hits.

Both of them are known for comedy. And both of them took the leap into becoming action stars. It’s basically exactly the opposite of my move in 1988 to bring Twins to life with Ivan Reitman and Danny DeVito to prove to the world I could star in comedies, not just action movies. And I know how risky it can be to make moves like that, so I’m inspired as hell by Bert and Fortune having the guts to try something new.

Bert reached out to me since he realized his movie The Machine (co-starring Mark Hamill, who I once asked for advice when I was starting out in Hollywood, and he told me to lose the accent and the name and to try different roles, but that’s a whole different story) comes out the same day as FUBAR. We decided to hit Gold’s Gym with Fortune so I could train these fantastic new action heroes.

We filmed the whole thing so you can enjoy it. I want you to notice a few things. First of all, how hilarious they are. But more importantly, look at how they ask questions. Fortune and Bert are both hungry, and I guarantee you that’s why they’re comfortable moving out of their comfort zone to try something new. When you’re curious, everything is a little less scary. There’s less pressure on you if your brain thinks you’re in a learning experience than if it thinks you’re just diving in headfirst into the unknown.

Enjoy the video. It’s almost like a podcast. I can’t stop laughing, and I think you’ll be seeing me hang out with more comedians.

Add FUBAR to your list so you’re reminded when it comes out, and don’t miss more fun with me and Fortune.

And get your tickets to see Bert in The Machine.

The Sleep Minimum

You won’t catch us telling you to sleep less, but for those of you who want to know how much sleep is just enough, science has a suggestion:

If you want to sleep from harming muscle gain, fat loss, immune support, and longevity, 6 hours of nightly rest appears to be the minimum effective dose.

We recently noticed Dr. Andrew Huberman talking about how much sleep people need:

And that got us thinking about optimal versus practical. Research suggests that there isn’t a single “magic number” for sleep because it depends on your goals (for example, physical vs. longevity vs. cognition), lifestyle variables, and even your age. The benefits of sleep appear to peak between 7 to 9 hours per night, and if you want to prioritize brain health, a study of 500,000 people suggests 7 hours is what you need.

But when you drop below 6 hours per night, that’s when your brain and body give you the middle finger. For example, a study of 68,000 people found that those who slept less than 6 hours a night weighed an average of 5 pounds more and were 15 percent more likely to be overweight than those who slept more than 7 hours a night. A lack of sleep will also make you more irritable, susceptible to depression and anxiety, and can increase the likelihood of issues with your heart.

Your body can handle the occasional night of poor sleep — just ask parents of newborns. But, when in doubt, try to get at least 6 hours every night, and ideally a few hours more.

Workout of the Week

Hour-long gym sessions can be fantastic. Yet, they're not a reality for many, and that's why you hear us talk about short workouts you can do with minimal or no equipment. As we remind you — and you’ve experienced — these “simpler” workouts are anything but easy. With the right mix of exercise, reps, and rest, you can experience an incredible workout in less than 30 minutes.

I created this workout nearly 15 years ago when I was coaching busy executives, and I do a variation of this when I’m traveling (it’s Adam, by the way). All you need is a dumbbell or kettlebell and a pullup bar (or a TRX works too). You can also do the workout with just a backpack filled with books or a weighted rucksack.

How It Works

You'll perform 3 exercises as a circuit. That means you’ll do the following exercises with little or no rest in between movements.

1) Pull-ups (Other options: do TRX rows or do a bent-over row using a backpack with books or rucksack).

2) Pushups (Other options: pushups from your knees, with your hands on a bench or table, or TRX pushups).

3) Kettlebell swings (Other options: dumbbell swings, loaded backpack swings, single-leg bodyweight Romanian deadlifts)

You’re going to perform three rounds of these three exercises (you can substitute any exercise using the examples above). Each round consists of 4 sets. You want to time your rounds to see how quickly you can move and keep track of how long you're training.

In the first round, you'll do the following:

3 pull-ups
4 pushups
5 kettlebell swings

Complete each exercise, one after the other, resting as little as possible. That’s one set. You'll then repeat these three exercises three more times for a total of four sets. Then, round 1 is over.

Next up is round two, which consists of:

4 pull-ups
5 pushups
10 swings

Again, complete each exercise, one after the other, resting as little as possible. That’s one set. You'll then repeat these three exercises three more times for a total of four sets. Once you’ve done that, round 2 is over. And that leads you to:

Round 3, which consists of: