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Today’s Health Upgrade
Plant-based vs. animal protein
Q&A with Arnold
Weekend challenge
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Does Protein Type Matter?
Some people feel forced to eat animal proteins to support muscle and strength goals. But, if you don’t love an omnivorous style of eating — or want to enjoy other sources of protein — you have more flexibility than you’ve been led to believe.
New research suggests that plant-based and animal-based diets can deliver similar body transformation results.
That was the finding of a new study that compared animal-based and plant-based diets while following a training program. The researchers found similar muscle gains and strength increases on the deadlift and squat for people following an omnivorous diet and a plant-based plan.
The key to seeing results is making sure you eat enough protein to fuel your muscle and strength goals. Animal proteins have more essential amino acids, so plant-based eaters usually need to eat a little more protein to compensate. And, when you’re exercising, your body needs enough protein to recover. In the study, both groups ate at least 150 grams of protein per day.
When combined with the study we shared earlier this week about high protein diets being superior for fat loss, no matter what foods you prefer, eating enough protein is a foundational habit that will help you achieve the results you want.
Q&A with Arnold
I’m not fully vegan. I just eat about 80 percent less meat than I used to. For protein, my staples are eggs, salmon, and chicken. But I have more and more veggie burgers with lentils and beans. My soups, if you saw the recipe, have chickpeas. I also use my Ladder plant protein powder that’s powered by pea protein.
The key to my diet is being pretty boring. Routine. In the morning, after my workout, I usually have oatmeal or Greek yogurt with granola. For lunch, I always have a salad, sometimes with a veggie burger, sometimes with salmon or chicken, sometimes with a scramble or omelette. And for dinner, I always have soup. I like to eat light for my last meal. Every so often, I go crazy and have a schnitzel or a steak, or a delicious hamburger (my friends can tell you that I grill a fantastic New York strip). But my real key is being very routine so that when I eat a big meal, it doesn’t set me back since, most of the time, I’m automatically eating well.
I really don’t know how to answer this, so I am going to tell you about my experience throughout my life. But I also know that our village has experts in psychology, so if any of you have a great answer, I would love to share it next week. Please reply to this email.
I don’t know if I would say I’ve been bullied, but I’ve definitely been laughed many times during my life.
I was made fun of by the kids in Graz, the city where I went to school, for being a country boy. When I became a bodybuilder, people who didn’t understand bodybuilding laughed at me. When I told agents and studio executives I wanted to be a leading man in the movies, they laughed at me, too. When I ran for Governor, it was a joke to a lot of people and they said it was like a circus. Hell, basically every comedian makes fun of my accent.
So I’m used to being the butt of the joke. It doesn’t bother me for three reasons. One, someone underestimating you is a superpower. Every time people expected very little from me, I benefited from that when I opened my mouth and overdelivered on the small expectations they had for me, so I never corrected anyone or said, “I’m not stupid” — I let them underestimate me.
Two, they only mock you because they’re thinking of you. It helped me to realize their reaction didn’t have much to do with me; it had everything to do with their own insecurities. That’s also a power. And three, because my life has had naysayers at every single turn, I’ve learned it doesn’t matter what people say about me. Let them talk. I can’t control them, but I can control myself, and I can almost always guarantee I’ll prove them wrong and win in the end. So I let them waste their time thinking about me, but I don’t waste my time thinking about them. I use my extra time to get ahead of them.
That’s my experience. You can share that with your son and let him know we will have an expert opinion next week.
But if this is physical bullying, don’t mess around. Let the adults at the school know immediately. I don’t think the way we handled that when I was a kid will be signed off on by the experts.
I do it occasionally without calling it anything. I just feel like I don’t want to eat right after the gym, so I wait until lunchtime. Sometimes I do it if I want to lean down a bit.
Listen, I think a lot of things that reduce the amount of calories you eat or make you eat real, nutritious food instead of garbage can be good for you, but I don’t put much stock in the diet claims I see people make online. I don’t think there is only one way to eat, and anybody who says so is probably selling you something. People treat food and training like religion or politics. And like religion and politics, some people are true believers and some people are capitalizing on the true believers.
The fact is, if you eat a little less, mostly only eat things your grandparents would have eaten, and move more, you’re probably going to end up in good shape.
The 70-Percent Weekend Challenge
This week in our writer’s room, Adam shared a stat from a study that made us stop and think. According to research in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, our daily activity has decreased by 70 percent in the last 100 years.
This wasn’t about intense workouts. The statistic was more of an indication of how much less we walk and move outside of the gym. That means, on average, we’re all walking miles less than we used to, and — as we shared during the week — the more we walk, the more it improves brain health, happiness, and longevity.
This week, our challenge is to turn the information we shared in the past week into action.
You know we’re creating the positive corner of the internet, and people who walked 30 minutes per day, five days per week, were able to bury their negative moods and have a more optimistic outlook.
Our challenge is to block off 30 minutes on both Saturday and Sunday and go for a walk. It can be in your home, outside, or at the gym…it doesn’t matter. Just walk for 30 minutes. No matter where you are, take a pic, and tag me on Twitter or Instagram, so I can see how all the members of this village are taking action.
Thanks again for being a part of Arnold’s Pump Club. We hope you have a great weekend.
-Arnold, Adam, and Daniel
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