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Today’s Health Upgrade
The science of successful goal-setting
Read the fine print: stretching
Does creatine cause hair loss?
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The Science of Successful Goal-Setting
Arnold often talks about the importance of having a vision. But setting goals doesn’t mean you’ll achieve them.
Research suggests that just focusing on an outcome is the least effective way to achieve your goals.
There are three types of goals you can set: outcome goals (what you ultimately want to achieve), performance goals (a personal achievement along the way to your desired endpoint), and process goals (the small details that drive your daily habits).
Scientists reviewed 27 studies on performance and found that only focusing on outcome goals is the least effective way to achieve success. In fact, just setting an outcome goal had no impact. However, performance goals had a moderate effect, and process goals were most effective at turning goals into reality.
It’s why we focus on building habits and remind you that small actions add up to real results. Even in the pump app, the habit-builder was designed to help you learn how to focus on the process in addition to the outcome.
If you want to start seeing more success, the secret is to include all three types of goals.
First, set your outcome, then create performance checkpoints that are part of the journey, and spend the majority of time outlining the small daily behaviors — that are both flexible and doable — and will pave the road to where you want to go.
Read The Fine Print: Stretching For Strength
Some studies have great takeaways…but you need to read the fine print to ensure you’ll see similar results.
Case in point: recent research suggests that stretching helps increase bench press strength and muscle. But there’s a catch.
The participants who improved their training performance did extreme stretching using bands that most would consider uncomfortable. The researchers said, “Stretching intensity was set to the maximum-tolerated stretching pain.”
It wasn’t just extreme stretching; the participants had to do it for 15 minutes per day, four times per week.
So, can high-intensity stretching improve performance? Possibly.
Is it practical for people to put themselves in discomfort for 15 minutes per day when most people refuse to do a 5-minute warmup? Probably not.
The improvements were minimal, too, so unless you’re competing or dedicated to becoming as strong as possible, adding an extreme stretching program is likely unnecessary, and you can still achieve many goals with a typical warmup that improves blood flow and a proper workout routine.
From The Village: Does Creatine Cause Hair Loss?
I’ve checked all the research you’ve shared about creatine, and it seems like the real deal. But I’ve heard it causes hair loss. Is that true?
Creatine has experienced a dramatic reputational makeover.
Thanks to some misinformation in the late 90s, people initially thought it was a steroid (it’s not even close). We now know that your body naturally produces creatine; it’s found in food, and supplementing with it can improve muscle, strength, fat loss, and brain health and even help you overcome a bad night of sleep.
But will it cost your hair?
After more than one thousand studies, research suggests there is little reason to believe that creatine causes hair loss.
The confusion started with one study in 2009, which found that creatine increases DHT levels, a hormone connected to hair loss. But the story goes deeper.
The changes in DHT were not significant and within a normal fluctuation, meaning the shift wasn’t even necessarily enough to trigger hair loss. Not to mention, based on dozens of other studies, creatine does not affect androgen levels, which can affect hair follicles and lead to loss.
Most importantly, the study measured serum (blood) DHT levels, which does not indicate hair loss. You need to measure hair follicle DHT. Your skin produces different DHT than what you find in your blood, meaning the DHT changes from the one creatine study are unrelated to DHT changes linked to hair loss.
The bottom line: Currently, no evidence suggests creatine causes hair loss.
If you choose to use creatine, don’t risk using a low-quality option. As we’ve shared, a study of 175 creatine brands found that 88% used a form of creatine with limited or no evidence of effectiveness or safety.
That’s why we recommend Momentous Creatine. Momentous is third-party tested to guarantee label accuracy and safety, and they use a trademarked form of creatine (Creapure™), which has the strictest lab standards to ensure all creatine is at least 99.9% pure.
If you want to try Momentous Creatine, all members of the positive corner of the internet receive 20% OFF when they use the code PUMPCLUB.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
