The Real Cost (And Risk) Of Procrastination

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Today’s Health Upgrade

Monday motivation
Sleep deprivation solutions
Are you making this common diet mistake?
Workout of the week

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Arnold’s Corner
Monday Motivation

Tell me how many sentences you’ve heard yourself say that include these words.

“I’m going to…”

“I’ve been meaning to…”

“I need to…”

“I’ll get to it…”

“Next week…”

“Next month…”

“Next year…”

“It’s on my list…”

It’s the last week of the year. The last thing I want to tell you this week is to eat healthy.

I want you to enjoy your time with your family and friends, no matter what holiday you celebrate.

But to really enjoy it, I want you to use today and cross one thing off on that long list of things you’ve procrastinated about.

Here’s something I’ve learned in my own experience and from my mentors: when we put things off, we do it because we think we are protecting ourselves from stress, but we are actually doing the opposite.

We are bottling it up, letting it hang in the back of our brain, taking up space instead of just getting it done.

This is human nature, so don’t beat yourself up. We do it with big things — eating well, exercising, going to the doctor. But we also do it with small things — making an appointment you know you need to make, doing little home projects that might take an hour or two, or calling a relative or friend you’ve been meaning to call.

We build endless to-do lists and store them in our brains instead of just taking things one by one and getting them off the list.

Don’t worry - I do it too and have to catch myself. That’s what inspired me to write about this!

I’ve been meaning to call my school friends in Austria to catch up, and with my schedule, I keep putting it off. So when I was flying home from New York where I’m filming my Christmas movie and playing Santa, I wrote down who I needed to call. The next morning, I FaceTimed them one at a time. It was the greatest two hours just talking about family and laughing. It warmed my soul.

That’s why I want you to take on whatever you’re procrastinating about. Sure, putting it off might feel good for a minute, but nothing feels better than just getting it done. And you never know how fantastic that might make you feel!

Once you cross it off the list, you can let it go and free up that brainpower for something else — like enjoying your Christmas with your family. But it is also a win, and you feel good about doing it.

This week, I want you to grab the bull by the horns. Rip the bandaid off. Bite the bullet.

You can pick whatever metaphor that works for you, but I want you to take one of those things that you’ve been putting off this year and get it done. Today.

Pick the easiest thing. You don’t need to save the world. Fix a squeaky door, call your grandmother, or make your appointment for your next physical.

I want you to finish this year with one rep of reminding yourself how much better it feels to cross something off of your list instead of adding to it.

We can use that rep to power more change next year. For now, I want you to do something to get it out of your mind and off your chest so that you can be more present with your friends and family.

Merry Christmas, and happy holidays.

I hope you have the best time with your loved ones this week, find a way to give back if you’re able, and eat all of the delicious treats you want because a day or two of celebrating is good for the soul.

I’ll be here next week to push you to keep getting better every day.

Nutrition
How To Boost Your Workouts When Sleep Deprived

A poor night of sleep is likely to ruin your workouts. But a calculated pre-workout routine can change all of that.

A new study found that the right dose of caffeine after a bad night of rest can help you perform as if you weren’t fighting sleep deprivation.

It’s probably no surprise that caffeine helps you when you’re tired, but how much you need (and when to take it) caught our attention.

To test the power of caffeine, scientists put runners through four different conditions. They either slept 3 hours or 8 hours, and they were either given caffeine or a placebo. Every runner tried all four conditions on different days to track performance. The participants slept in a research facility, controlled their diet, and had 7 days of rest between the workouts to ensure they were fully recovered.

When participants were sleep-deprived and taking a placebo, they were 5% slower than when they had normal sleep.

Adding caffeine changed everything.

Even when participants only slept 3 hours, if they took caffeine, their performance did not experience any decline. In fact, those who were sleep-deprived and took caffeine performed 8 percent faster than those who didn’t get enough rest and took a placebo.

Caffeine also reduced runners’ perceived exertion during the sleep-deprived trial, making the effort feel less taxing. And that’s worth noting because the participants ran faster in the caffeine conditions, which means they worked harder — but they didn’t feel more exhausted.

A single cup of coffee likely won’t do the trick if you want to avoid a low-energy workout.

The participants were given about 6 mg per kilogram of body weight, meaning most took 250 to 400 milligrams of caffeine or 2 to 4 cups of coffee.

And this isn’t a replacement for chronic sleep deprivation. The study only focused on one poor night of sleep. If you don’t get rest every night, that deficit builds up and becomes more challenging to overcome.

Together With HexClad
Are You Making This Common Diet Mistake?

Eating out may be easy, but science shows that home-cooked meals can help you eat better, live healthier, and even manage your weight.

A cross-sectional analysis found that people who frequently eat home-cooked meals tend to have healthier diets, lower calorie intakes, and better overall health markers than those who eat out regularly.

In fact, those consuming home-cooked meals more than five times per week were nearly 30 percent less likely to be overweight and 25 percent less likely to have excess body fat.

But there’s a catch. While eating at home works well, the secret isn’t just in where you eat—how you prepare your food can make the difference between dietary upgrade and frustration.

Cooking oils are often hailed as essential for a healthy diet—and for good reason. Many oils, like olive, avocado, and even canola oil, are packed with beneficial fats, vitamins, and antioxidants. They support heart health, reduce inflammation, and add flavor to meals.

However, research suggests that how oils are used in cooking can sometimes sabotage even the healthiest intentions.

The problem isn’t the oil itself—it’s how much we use. Cooking oils are calorie-dense, with more than a hundred calories per tablespoon. It’s easy to overestimate how much oil you’re using when pouring it directly from the bottle or using it liberally to coat pans or season food. Even small overages add up, leading to unintended calorie surpluses and, over time, weight gain.

That’s where good cookware comes in. Investing in high-quality nonstick pans can significantly reduce the amount of oil you need to cook. Nonstick surfaces allow food to release easily without requiring extra grease, letting you use a quick spray or a teaspoon of oil instead of several tablespoons.

Over time, this small change can significantly impact your calorie intake without sacrificing the flavor or texture of your meals.

If you want excellent cookware with a lifetime guarantee, check out HexClad. Their patented hybrid technology combines three pans in one, allowing you to get a restaurant-quality sear with a non-stick surface.

This is your last chance to get up to 41 percent off HexClad.

Use this link to access this special deal and upgrade your meal prep for the new year, putting you in control to prepare meals in ways that align with your goals.

Fitness
Workout Of The Week

The holidays bring more chaos and unpredictability. So if you have less time during the year's final week, we put together a workout that — even if you only do it 2 or 3 times this week — will make you feel like you had an entire week of training…and then some. There’s lots of reps, little rest, and an incredible feeling of accomplishment.

How to do it

Perform one set of the first exercise, rest for 20 to 30 seconds, and then move to the next exercise.

Follow this pattern until you complete all 10 exercises in the workout, and then rest for 2 to 3 minutes. Then, increase the number of reps you perform for the next round. If needed, drop the weight.

Perform the following number of reps on each round of the circuit.

First set = 6 reps per exercise
Second set = 8 reps per exercise
Third set = 10 reps per exercise

If at any point you can’t perform all the reps listed, do as many as you can with great form, rest, and then move on to the next exercise.

The Holiday Workout

No equipment? No problem. We also have a bodyweight version you can perform. It’s similar to the workout above, but do 10 to 20 reps per set. If you can’t perform the reps consecutively, do as many as you can, rest, and then move on to the next exercise.

After each exercise, rest for 20 seconds, and then move to the next exercise. Once you have completed all exercises, rest for 2 minutes and repeat three more rounds.

Bodyweight Holiday Workout