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Today’s Health Upgrade

• Arnold’s Corner: Monday Motivation

• Can light help you bounce back from your workouts?

• The real cost of procrastination (is more than you think)

• Workout of the week

Arnold’s Corner
Monday Motivation: Find The Heart

This week, somebody said something in the Pump Club app that really made me proud and got me thinking.

It didn’t get me thinking about how to sell the app, although it would be a fantastic motto.

It got me thinking about how many people do things without a heart at the center.

Thank you, Robert, because you said something I’ve said for years in a really perfect way.

I had a couple of big interviews this week. It’s the time of year when I start magazine interviews for The Man with the Bag, so the stories hit newsstands before it comes out December 2.

One was asking me about my work with Momentous, about how I choose partners, about why I started my own app instead of taking millions in stock to join one.

I told him I really only have one rule: everything I do has to be organic. Robert would say it needs to have heart at the center.

My team can tell you how frustrating this is because it means there is a graveyard of 10 million dollar offers they couldn’t get a percentage on.

With something like Momentous, I have been using protein since I was 15 years old. My cousin (the first Schwarzenegger to make it to America) sent powdered skim milk to my grandmother. When I learned from the guys at the gym it was great protein, I started mixing it with milk and honey after workouts for my first protein shakes — almost 65 years ago. 

And Momentous worked with the Pump Club for two years and made all of us believers. So when we decided to partner and make a Fiber product together, it was organic. We were making a product to fill a void we’d talked about here many times, with a company that does things our way.

I have had companies come to me and talk about putting my name on an app over the past decade. Their vision was never mine. It was always all flash, no substance. 

My “boring” way of training the basic movements and progressing them was always replaced with new crap every day. They always wanted to weigh and count food, something I never did even when I was at my peak. They wanted to crush people with workouts like these boot camps, when any beginner I’ve ever helped will tell you — I am the opposite. 

I want you to love training, and someday I will teach you to love crushing yourself, but only once you’re addicted and it won’t make you quit. I will never crush you.

It was never organic.

It’s why I had to build on my own. With my own team that I trust, not with outsiders. With my own money, not with investments from anyone who would want a say.

It had to be organic.

But there’s another way of saying that, thanks to Robert.

It had to have heart at the center.

I can’t tell you how much this rule has helped me enjoy my work.

I know, the smartypants around here will point out, “Hold on Arnold, what about those wild Japanese commercials for energy drinks and noodles.”

I will come clean: definitely not organic products for me. But it was organic in another way: it was fun as hell to be that over the top when most studios in Hollywood didn’t ever want me to show my more outrageous personality.

Would I do it again? No. I’ve gotten much more extreme about using my organic filter.

Think about your life. Think about your work.

How many things do you do because that’s just what you’re supposed to do, without ever having your heart in it?

And I already know your rebuttal: “Arnold, I don’t love my job, my heart isn’t in it, but I’ve gotta pay my bills.”

Realistic and true.

What if you found a way to put your heart into it?

Teachers, nurses, doctors, there is obviously heart at the center of all you do, but everybody else might think I am nuts.

But let’s say you’re an accountant. You can still find the heart in your work. You’re helping people or companies succeed.

More importantly, at some point there was something that made you decide to pursue accounting. I’m guessing you loved numbers.

A lot of people lose the love as they get further into the work. Maybe 30 years ago, going through a spreadsheet and finding errors made you feel great. Now, it’s boring.

But it doesn’t have to be. Think about the research we shared last week about the power of noticing and savoring. 

People who took the same walk and made a point of noticing the basic stuff — trees, clouds, dogs — were happier.

It’s a trainable skill. And it applies to work, too. A lot of us become machines at work. We go through the motions and never need to stop to think about what we are doing because we’ve done it so many times.

Believe me: I’m at fault sometimes myself. I’ve been on movie sets, working at night, in the worst mood possible.

And then I realized I turned on auto-pilot. I turn it off and look around. I see the crew doing their jobs. I see all the cameras and lights. I remember this was my dream as a boy.

The heart comes back.

For most of you, there is a reason you chose what you do, a reason it is organic to you. Sometimes, all you have to do is pause to notice and remember.

And for some of you, you haven’t chosen what you do. I get it. My dreams never included working construction but the bills didn’t care about my dreams.

You’ve got two options because quitting isn’t one when the bills are due: be miserable or find the heart in it.

You might find the heart in stopping to think about the purpose. Working in a warehouse might not seem to have purpose but you’re the reason a kid got their birthday gift or somebody got the medical supplies they need to survive.

You might just find the heart in doing the work with heart, going all out.

There’s a strange thing I’ve noticed. 

Even when people have jobs they don’t love, they are happiest when they go all out and do them well. People who go through the motions and half-ass everything without their heart in it will always be less content than people who don’t love their job but work their asses off.

And worst case, you say, Arnold, you’re crazy, I’m not putting my heart into my work.

Fine.

Put heart at the center of something you do. Your family. Your friends. Your training. Your hobbies.

I can’t let you live a life without a heart at the center.

Start by just looking for the heart in everything you do.

By noticing.

Tell me what you see.

Together With Celluma
Do You Struggle To Bounce Back From Your Workouts?

If you want to get fit, the workout is the hard part. But a lot goes into making sure you can perform and get a little bit better week after week. 

And that’s why impressive results are the byproduct of three variables: consistency, progression, and intensity.

If you keep showing up but don’t progress your workouts, then you’re still doing something that’s good for your health, but your body doesn’t change as much as you’d think, given your effort. 

That’s why recovery is important. Your ability to push hard and bounce back means you can keep pushing hard, and that effort shows up in all the ways you want. 

However, if soreness is slowing you down and you’re sleeping well, eating well, and have a good training plan, there might be something else that can help you bounce back faster. 

Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of randomized trials and found that light therapy significantly reduced perceived muscle soreness at 72 and 96 hours after workouts.

The reason is that red and near-infrared light gets absorbed by an enzyme in your mitochondria, and the theory is that this helps the cell produce energy a little more efficiently while it's repairing. 

A few trials also measured lower creatine kinase levels, a marker your muscles release when they're damaged, in people who got the light before training. Less wreckage to clean up, faster back to the bar.

We were intrigued because most recovery tools die in a closet, since they require effort you don't have after a hard session. So we gave red light devices to a few Pump Club members and two things happened: First, they actually used it because light therapy is the rare one that asks for almost nothing. 

You lie the panel over the muscles you worked, and that’s it. No motivation required, which is exactly why it survives past week two. And secondly, the members noticed a difference in their recovery and soreness. 

If you’re looking to improve your recovery, the most reputable brand we’ve found is Celluma. Their devices have 5 FDA clearances, including pain management, and they run red, blue, and near-infrared, the same red and near-infrared wavelengths that recovery research uses. 

The panel has a patented, flexible design that drapes over a quad, shoulder, or lower back, so the light actually reaches the muscle rather than being too far away to make a difference. It’s professional-grade, not a marketplace knockoff that makes big promises but doesn’t possess the technology to replicate the research.

If you've been thinking about a red light device, this is the moment: 

For a very limited time, when you buy a qualifying Celluma device, they'll automatically add a set of premium gifts (including a padded tote and straps) plus free shipping. 

Progress isn't only about how hard you go. It's about how soon you can go again.

Start Your Week Right
The Real Cost of Putting Things Off 

It’s easy to think of procrastination as a productivity problem. And it is, but the bigger cost might not be about what you delay, but about how it shows up in other aspects of your life. 

A study involving thousands of people found that procrastination can lead to increased stress and anxiety, worse sleep, and reduced activity. 

Researchers measured how much participants procrastinated, then checked back over the following months. People who put things off tended to feel weighed down in every aspect of life, including more loneliness. The effects were modest, but they held up after accounting for how people felt at the start, which makes it less likely this is just people who already feel bad procrastinating more.

Separate research offers a glimpse into what is happening when you procrastinate. Putting things off feeds a low background stress that wears you down over time. 

If you want to start becoming someone who acts, shame and self-blame don’t work for most and tend to backfire. 

Self-blame adds to the bad feeling you were trying to escape, which can just make you procrastinate even more. 

A review of 24 intervention studies found that several methods can help you stop procrastinating.

One way is to decide when and where you will take action before the moment occurs. This requires planning, but being specific creates a plan that makes it more likely for you to act ("After lunch, I’ll complete the first section of the report," is far more effective than, "I'll get to the report sometime today.”) “Today" leaves the decision open, so every hour you get to choose again, and the tired version of you keeps voting "later." Locking the moment in advance takes the choice away

Also, it helps to make your initial action doable and realistic. 

The reason you're avoiding a task is that it feels big and unpleasant, so putting it off is really about ducking that feeling. So don't start the whole thing. Like the example above, commit to one part. If you have momentum, you can do more. But the goal is to shrink the demand so you feel less resistance.

And finally, it’s worth repeating, but stop beating yourself up about it. 

Accountability is not the same as guilt. When you call yourself lazy, you pile a bad feeling on top of a task that already felt bad, so now there's even more to avoid. 

Putting an end to procrastination is about having a plan, making it easy to start, and setting a standard that requires you to perform, not to be perfect. You're making the first move small and automatic enough that the stress never builds.

Fitness
Workout of the Week: Find Your Weakness

Last week, we took you out of your comfort zone and identified areas for improvement using single-arm and single-leg exercises. This week we do it again, this time focusing on the exercises people are most likely to avoid in the Pump Club app. 

The app is designed to do all the thinking for you when it comes to fitness, nutrition, and habit-building. We create customized programs based on your goals, equipment, and experience, but they are adaptable and can adjust to any situation. 

If you need dumbbells for an exercise we prescribe on a machine, hit the exercise swap button and we show good alternatives that fit the program design. This allows people to train around injuries or a busy gym. 

But sometimes we can see when people swap exercises because they might be avoiding what their bodies need. 

And while it’s easy to choose the exercises where you’re strong, focusing on where you're weak is exactly what you need to get better and see more impressive changes. 

How To Do It

This workout consists of three different blocks. Go through each block as a circuit, doing one exercise after the other. Once you do all the sets, rest as explained, and then do another round. Before you begin, do 1-2 work-up sets where you use 50-60% of the weight you’ll use for the first set. 

The first set will have higher reps, and therefore use a lighter weight. The second set will have fewer reps, and therefore use a heavier weight. 

Block 1: Alternate exercises with as little rest as possible, and then rest. Do 2 sets total, and then move to the next block. 

• Barbell front squat: 10 reps, 5 reps

• Pullups*: as many reps as possible on both sets

• Incline dumbbell chest press: 10 reps, 5 reps

*If you can’t do an unsupported pullup, you have a few options instead of doing lat pulldowns. 1) Perform “negatives (also called eccentrics).” Set a bench under a pull-up bar, jump up/pull your chest up to the bar, and then take 3-5 seconds to lower your body until your arms are fully extended, then jump back up. Or, 2) Band-resisted pullups. Loop a resistance band around a pullup bar. Put your knee or foot into the open loop, then do pull-ups (the band helps you lift your body).

Rest 2 minutes.

Block 2: Alternate exercises with as little rest as possible, and then rest. Do 2 sets total, and then move to the next block. 

• Dumbbell rear-foot elevated split squat (right leg): 10 reps, 5 reps

• Dumbbell rear-foot elevated split squat (left leg): 10 reps, 5 reps

• Hanging leg raise: 2 sets x 12 reps

Rest 2 minutes.

Block 3: Alternate exercises with as little rest as possible, and then rest. Do 2 sets total, and then move to the next block. 

• Barbell Stiff-leg deadlift: 10 reps, 5 reps

• Barbell bent-over row: 10 reps, 5 reps

Rest 2 minutes.

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 it is used 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