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Today’s Health Upgrade

• Arnold’s Corner: Monday motivation

• Is this the best time to scroll your phone?

• The short answer: NMN

• Workout of the week

Arnold’s Corner
Monday Motivation: AB 32 At 20

I know most people hate hearing about politics, especially now. But this week we're celebrating the 20th anniversary of a historic law I signed as Governor, and I believe the lessons can help anyone in their life because they apply to accomplishing anything big.

And at a time when it seems like politicians only serve themselves or their party, or spend their days sending mean tweets, it's worth remembering it doesn't have to be this way.

On September 27, 2006, I signed AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act. It was the first time any government on the planet passed a legally binding, economy-wide cut in greenhouse gas emissions. The goal was to bring California's emissions back down to 1990 levels by 2020.

Everyone told us it couldn't be done. The California Chamber of Commerce — normally my allies — put AB 32 at the top of its list of "job killer" bills. One study it commissioned warned that our climate targets would wipe out more than 300,000 jobs. 

The message was that if we protected the environment, we'd destroy the economy.

They were wrong.

We hit the target in 2016, four years early. And since 2000, California's emissions have dropped 21 percent while our economy grew 81 percent. Today, every dollar our economy produces costs less in terms of health: we produce half the pollution for every dollar of economic growth.

In 2024, for the first time, more than half our electricity came from renewables. And California recently passed Japan to become the fourth-largest economy in the world.

So how did we do it?

First, we thought big.

In 2006, a few states had climate targets. Some were even tighter than ours. But they only covered one industry, or they had no teeth. Nobody had done the whole economy. Nobody had made it binding.

When Fabian Nuñez, the Democratic Speaker of the Assembly, told a veteran legislator we wanted to take this on, the man gave him a hard look. "Nobody has ever done anything like this before," he said. "You're going to have every major industry coming at you."

Exactly. That was the point.

California is one of the world's largest economies. If we could cut emissions and keep growing, nobody could ever again say it was impossible. And when the whole world started watching, some of my staff got nervous. 

I loved it. 

I told reporters that if we did it right, we'd be an example for the rest of the world. If we failed, the world would point at us and say, "See, it doesn't work. It failed in California."

Raising the stakes raised the urgency. I would rather take a big shot and fail spectacularly than spend my life being incremental. When you aim small, even your best day is small.

Second, we took action instead of just talking.

In those years, every politician talked about cutting emissions. It was in every campaign speech. Very little got done.

Three years after I signed AB 32, one party controlled the White House, the House, and the Senate. It was the party that said climate change was its top priority. They couldn't get a climate bill done. We did it in California with a Republican governor and a Democratic legislature.

Talk is risk-free. Action costs you something. That's why so few people take it.

Third, we worked together.

This is the part people forget. I had a tent in the courtyard of the Capitol where I smoked cigars. Democrats, Republicans, staff, CEOs, it didn't matter. Everyone was welcome, and the door was always open.

When my staff found a problem in the bill that would have forced me to veto it, they came straight to the tent. I said, "Get Fabian." Minutes later, the Speaker was sitting with us, promising to fix it. That's how things got done. Not through press releases. Through relationships.

Fabian and I had fought like crazy the year before. But in that fight we got to know each other, and we became friends. Twenty years later, we still are.

Then there was cap and trade. A lot of Democrats were convinced it was a Republican trick to let polluters off the hook. I could have argued with them until I was blue in the face. They weren't going to hear it from a Republican.

So I called Tony Blair, a Labour prime minister and a man of the left. He flew to California, sat down with the Speaker, and explained how emissions trading worked in Europe. He made the progressive case. The CEO of British Petroleum made the business case. And suddenly the people I couldn't convince were listening.

I didn't change the goal. I changed who delivered the message.

You can see how this relates to life. How many people talk a big game but never take their shot?

"I'm going to lose the weight this year."

"The diet starts on Monday."

"I'll go to the gym next week."

That might even be you.

There's no shame in it. Most politicians did the same thing for years. They said the right words and never did anything. But it means you need to change your approach, and here are a few methods that work:

Think big
If you can hit your goal by doing what you already do, by sticking to business-as-usual, it's not a goal. It's a to-do list. Don't aim to lose a couple of pounds. Aim to become the strongest, healthiest version of yourself. Big goals scare you a little, and that fear is fuel. You need that fuel because big goals force you to act differently than you have before.

Raise the stakes
Tell people what you're going to do. Sign up for the race. Put it on the calendar. When failure has a cost, you will find a way.

Make it binding
Those other states had climate targets too. They had no teeth. A goal you can quietly walk away from is just a wish. So write down the workout. Book the session with your trainer. Shake hands with your training partner on it. Make it harder to quit than to show up.

Ignore the doom-sayers 
Everyone said AB 32 would wreck California. Everyone will have an opinion about your goal too. Many of them have never tried anything hard in their life. Let your results do the talking.

Build your team
Nobody does anything great alone. Not a governor, not a champion, not you. Find your workout partner, your coach, your community. Keep the door open, even to people who disagree with you.

Change the messenger
When you're stuck, find a new voice. If your teenager won't listen to you about sleep, maybe they'll listen to their coach. If you can't convince yourself, find someone who's already done it and listen to them. Sometimes the problem isn't the message. It's who's delivering it.

So tell me. What's the big shot you've been talking about instead of taking? Hit reply and let me know. Then go take it.

Start Your Week Right
The Best Time to Scroll Might Be Your Work Break

A short break can do more than give you a few minutes away from work. 

A meta-analysis of micro-breaks lasting 10 minutes or less found that they increased energy and reduced fatigue. 

But what happens when you spend that break on your phone?

One experiment had college students solve anagrams, take a break, and then attempt harder problems. The break involved shopping within a budget using a phone, computer, or paper. A fourth group kept working.

The phone group took longer than the other break groups combined and solved fewer problems. That sounds like evidence that a phone cancels the benefits of a break. But it’s misleading.

The phone group wasn’t significantly slower than the group that never stopped working, and they solved more problems.

In another randomized experiment, people completed a mentally tiring task and then either kept working, sat quietly, watched nature videos, or spent four minutes scrolling short-form social media. Scrolling helped them feel somewhat more energized, although quiet rest and nature worked better. It didn’t noticeably reduce fatigue, but people who scrolled still ended up less tired than those who skipped the break completely.

So the real lesson is that using a phone might make a break less restorative, but it still might be better than taking no break at all.

A 2026 experiment also found that short breaks on phones didn’t worsen subsequent performance or mind-wandering compared with quiet breaks during a demanding memory task. 

Phone users felt more positive afterward, particularly those who habitually checked their devices. 

What you do on your phone also seems to matter. The first study we mentioned focused on online shopping with a budget: finite, goal-directed, and easier to stop than an endless feed. The study didn’t compare shopping with social media, so we can’t say one is better. But separate research suggests scrolling is a weaker form of recovery.

While we’ve covered the dangers of scrolling, it’s not completely black and white. 

The goal is to spend less time on your phone overall and not get stuck doomscrolling. And that might make a 10-minute work break one of the better times to scroll. 

Scrolling during a work break gives mindless phone use a fixed boundary, so you don’t have to pretend you’ll quit it completely. And because you’re stepping away from work, you may still get some recovery instead of letting an open-ended scroll take over the beginning or end of your day.

Remember, social media probably still isn’t the best use of your phone during the break, but with the right guidelines, it could be an effective way to use those apps.

Set a timer. Stop when it rings. If the choice is a short scroll or another hour of nonstop work in a long day of work, you’re likely better off taking the break.

The Short Answer 
Does NMN Work For Anti-Aging?

NMN is one of the most hyped anti-aging supplements, but it offers a wide gap between what mice show and what humans experience.

In animals, NMN reliably raises NAD+ — a molecule that falls as we age — and appears to be a longevity elixir.

In humans, trials are small and short, and most show only modest increases in blood markers, with little to no evidence that you live longer, feel better, or fend off disease. 

We still don't know whether it works or translates into better health, which also means there isn’t enough support to say it's worth your hard-earned money.

If you want to invest in aging well, put your effort where the evidence is strongest: resistance training, cardio, quality sleep, managing stress, and staying connected to the people in your life.

Together With Rogue
Workout of the Week

A note for Pump Club app members: every week, we get questions about the workouts you see here and those in your program. These are generic workouts designed with many of the principles and methods you see in the app. But a one-off workout is not the same as a customized program. Your app programs are designed for your goals, workout experience, and schedule. These programs are free for everyone, as part of Arnold’s crusade to make fitness accessible for all. 
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You loved last week’s workout ladder, but many of you asked for a cardio version. We’ve done something similar before, but sometimes the best workouts are the ones you get to do again — with a twist — so you can see how much you’ve improved. 

This is a 4-3-2-1 ladder. You start with a longer, moderate-intensity burst of cardio. And with each round, you increase the intensity. That means each interval gets shorter and harder, so your fastest minute of the day comes at the very end, when you’re the most tired.

On the one hand, your output won’t be as high as it could be if you did the shortest sprint first.

On the other hand, it forces you to dig deep mentally to push hard to finish strong.

Anyone can go hard when they’re fresh. Learning to push intensity when you’re tired is a skill that will help you get more out of your workouts. 

The Workout

Warm-up: 5-10 minutes. Get your blood flowing, then finish with 2-3 short intensity bursts (about 10-15 seconds) where you push a little harder. This should get you ready, but it should not be exhausting. 

The Work (2 minutes of easy recovery after each interval):

Set 1: 4 minutes moderate intensity + 2 minutes easy

Set 2: 3 minutes harder + 2 minutes easy

Set 3: 2 minutes very hard + 2 minutes easy

Set 4: 1 minute all-out sprint

Cool down: 5 minutes

The rule: Every set should be faster than the one before it. Track your pace, watts, or reps, and make the numbers climb.

Pick your tool:

Rower: Watch your split. Each set should be faster than the last, and set 4 should be your best split of the day.

Ski Erg: Same rule. Hold your pace steady within each set, then drop it a few seconds for the next.

Echo Bike: Use watts or RPM. Set 1 should feel sustainable, and set 4 should be everything you’ve got.

Kettlebell swings: Use one bell for the whole session. Count your reps in each set and aim to swing faster as the sets get shorter. Park the bell the moment your hinge breaks down.

Sled push and pull: Keep the load the same for every set. Push one length and pull back, and move faster as the time drops. Walk it off during recovery.

Hill running or sprints: Walk back down during recovery. Save your true sprint for the final minute.

Give it a try, and start your week strong!

The Positive Corner of The Internet
About Arnold’s Pump Club Editorial Standards

We do things a bit differently here, starting with transparency.

1. The Content: All APC emails are researched, written, and fact-checked by the APC editors (see bottom of the email), with written contributions from Arnold (noted with “Arnold’s Corner”). Links take you to original studies (not second-hand sources).

2. Does AI play a role? Not for the primary content, but we use it in two ways. The main items are original content written by the APC team. The summaries at the end are AI-generated based on the human-written content above. We also use an AI tool to edit and review our interpretations of the research, ensuring scientific accuracy. We don’t assume AI is right, but we use technology to hold ourselves accountable.

3. Yes, we have partners (all clearly noted by “Together With”). Why? Because it allows us to keep the APC emails free. We first test products, and then reach out to potential partners who offer ways to help you improve every day. The bar is set high, and to date, we have turned down millions in ad deals. (Example: we will not partner with any non-certified supplements or those without evidence in human trials). If we won’t buy the product, we won’t recommend it to you. And if there’s no evidence it works, then there’s no place for it here.

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell