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Today’s Health Upgrade

• Number you won’t forget

• The books that help build mental toughness

• Weekly wisdom

• Does eating the same thing make it harder to lose fat?

Longevity
Number You Won’t Forget: 38%

Conversations about longevity tend to focus on food, exercise, sleep, and your bloodwork. But how you respond when life stops cooperating might also influence how long you live.

Researchers found that the most resilient people are about 38 percent less likely to die than the least resilient.

The finding comes from the Health and Retirement Study, which followed more than 10,000 adults for roughly 12 years. Participants rated themselves on five qualities: perseverance, staying calm under pressure, having a sense of purpose, self-reliance, and being willing to face difficult moments on their own. 

The higher someone scored, the lower their risk of dying. The pattern was almost a straight line,  and the 38 percent difference between the highest and lowest groups remained even after researchers accounted for existing illness, smoking, and physical activity.

Resilience could protect your health in several ways. People who recover more effectively from stress may experience less wear and tear from the body’s stress response. They may also be more likely to maintain the ordinary habits that quietly extend life: moving regularly, sleeping, seeing a doctor, and staying connected to other people.

And if you think resilient people are born that way, it’s not fixed. Resilience can be practiced, and it may be one of the most valuable skills you can build.

Instead of trying to rewire your entire life and train all five traits at once, choose one. It could be reconnecting with purpose. Or just sitting in discomfort for 10 to 15 minutes instead of fighting it. 

Just like a muscle, you train by starting with what you can manage and building the difficulty over time. 

The research can’t prove resilience will cause you to live longer. It could be that healthier people find it easier to feel calm, capable, and purposeful. 

Still, the lesson is useful even if resilience never adds a day to your life because it can make the days you have feel more manageable, and the hardest challenges feel like opportunities. 

Together With Shortform
3 Books to Build Mental Toughness

Knowing how important resilience can be for a longer life, it’s worth understanding that mental toughness isn’t simply something you’re born with.

And if you want help building the skill, some of the best lessons on how to do that are found in books.

We've picked 3 must-read books that approach mental toughness from very different angles. 

But before you commit to days (or weeks) of reading, we recommend checking them out on Shortform for quick but in-depth guides to the key ideas and insights.

From pushing through discomfort to learning how to handle adversity and choosing which problems are worth your energy, these authors have taken different approaches to building a stronger mind:

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
Goggins explores how discomfort, discipline, and pushing past perceived limits can change what you believe you're capable of.

Do Hard Things by Steve Magness
Magness argues that real toughness isn't about ignoring pain. It's about staying in control when you're uncomfortable and responding to difficulty instead of being controlled by it.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Manson takes a different approach: accepting that problems are unavoidable, then getting better at choosing which problems are actually worth your energy.

These three books take very different approaches, but they all point to the same idea: Mental toughness isn't about never struggling; it's about learning how to respond when things get difficult. And that's exactly why books like these are worth the read.

With Shortform, it's easier to learn from these recommendations and from thousands of other books that can help you become more resilient, productive, disciplined, and capable. We use it to learn faster from books and think you should, too. 

Check it out and get 49% off an annual Shortform membership for being an Arnold's Pump Club reader.

Learn faster. Get better ideas. Strengthen your mind.

Mindset
Weekly Wisdom

There’s a kind of exhaustion that has nothing to do with how much you’ve done. It comes from believing that whatever you did wasn’t enough.

You finished the workout, but you didn’t crush it. You ate well, but you didn’t track every bite. You had a good week, but someone online had a better one, so yours suddenly feels like it doesn’t count.

And the solution is always the same: go harder next week. Set an earlier alarm. Follow a stricter diet. Miss nothing. As if the problem is that you haven’t demanded enough from yourself.

Lao Tzu wasn’t writing about fitness, but he understood the flaw in that thinking. Nature never hurries. But it never stops, either.

A tree doesn’t grow only on warm, sunny days. It grows through the stretches when nothing appears to be happening. Progress isn’t built solely through bursts of intensity. 

But it's the sustainability of your actions and efforts that allows change to accumulate and lead to the outcomes you desire. 

Intensity still matters. But intensity doesn’t mean every workout, every workday, or every habit you’re trying to create demands your best effort ever. It means giving what you have that day.

Some days, that produces a personal record. Other days, it means heavy legs, low energy, and ideas you’re almost embarrassed to admit. Both count.

When researchers pooled data from hundreds of thousands of people, the largest jump in health benefits didn’t come from going from good to great. It came from going from doing nothing to doing a little. 

The worst workout you complete this month still moves you forward. Zero is the only amount that gives your body nothing to build on.

The same principle applies beyond exercise. We label choices as good or bad, then treat the bad ones as wasted. But an imperfect attempt can still teach you something. It can show you where your form broke down, what your body wasn’t ready for, or what needs to change tomorrow. A poor decision can reveal the flaw in your thinking.

You don’t have to celebrate every mistake. You just have to use it.

The people who accomplish meaningful things aren’t flawless. They keep showing up, remain curious when something doesn’t work, and understand that even the messy, off-target, not-what-I-planned days can contribute to what comes next.

Turn Wisdom Into Action

When you show up and give what you have that day, whatever that turned out to be, it’s a win.

By the end of the week, you’ll have a lot of inputs. Some good, some bad, some ugly. But they all count. 

This is what progress looks like.

Don’t let the bad days drown out your consistency. And don’t discount the days where the effort is still significant. It all adds up. 

Nutrition
Do You Need Variety in Your Diet to Lose Weight?

Last week, we shared that consistently eating the same foods can be good for your gut health, as long as you’re eating the right things (like fruits, vegetables, and fiber). 

But many of you had a concern: doesn’t eating the same thing make it harder to lose weight?

Eating the same meals every day is often blamed for diet burnout, nutrient gaps, and making social situations more difficult. That’s the belief, but it doesn’t play out that way in real life. 

Researchers found that people who followed the most repetitive diets lost more weight than those who focused on variety.

Researchers analyzed food logs in a behavioral weight-loss program, tracking every meal in an app and weighing in each morning. They scored the routine of people's diets, calorie fluctuations, and the consistency of meal choices. 

As you might expect, eating a similar number of calories day to day led to greater weight loss. But so did people who stuck to a similar menu of foods. 

And the researchers believe it’s because fewer decisions can improve consistency, making it easier to avoid overeating. 

Every meal you have to decide on is a small withdrawal from the same willpower account you're leaning on all day. Unfortunately, the current food environment creates many situations in which the easy, delicious, higher-calorie option is always within reach.

And that means more chances to talk yourself into something you didn't plan for. A short rotation of meals you already like takes the negotiation off the table. You made the call before you got hungry.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include different foods. We know that eating a range of fruits and vegetables is good for you. This is about finding a list of go-to foods and having options you can reach for without a second thought. 

If you're trying to lose fat and your meal prep feels stressful, try subtracting options instead of adding them.

Plan three or four breakfasts and lunches you like, on repeat, and let that become a habit. The key is making it both what you like and having a mix of things that are good for you and support your goals. It might seem boring, but that’s the point.

And that’s it for this week. Thanks for being a part of the positive corner of the internet. And remember: don’t wait to make a change. Take action on any goal, don’t quit in the hard moments, and the results will come. Have a fantastic weekend!
-Arnold, Adam, and Daniel

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