Every weekday, we help you make sense of the complex world of wellness by analyzing the headlines, simplifying the latest research, and providing quick tips designed to help you stay healthier in under 5 minutes. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free daily email here.
Today’s Health Upgrade
Be Trendproof
Does calorie burning shut down during exercise?
Eat your way to healthier joints
The science of world-class performance
Together With Momentous
Are You Trendproof?
Today, I’m announcing one of the most organic partnerships I can imagine.
None of you will be surprised, because many of you have learned to love Momentous as much as I have. They say they have so many Pump Club subscribers, they don’t know what to do with you.
I’m officially partnering with Momentous and joining their team to work together, because they’ve been a fantastic partner for Arnold’s Pump Club members and because I believe in them.
I have never chased the next big thing. I have always chased greatness.
And greatness, it doesn’t trend. It isn’t here today, gone tomorrow. It doesn’t make empty promises.
Trends come and go, but greatness…greatness lasts forever.
When I was young, my vision was simple: becoming the greatest bodybuilder in the world.
When I achieved that goal, my vision shifted to lifting the entire sport of fitness so more people could experience what I feel when I train. I wanted to take fitness out of the sideshows and the basements and let people experience the greatness of training.
The only way to do that was the way I’d conquered the bodybuilding stage: ignoring distractions, focusing on fundamentals, and showing up, rep after rep, day after day, year after year, to build something so solid that no one could ever tear it down.
I’ve been doing many of the same core exercises since I was 15. The reason is simple: hard work works. Consistency works. You don’t build greatness on a shaky foundation built on trends and flash; you build it on a rock-solid foundation that you only achieve without shortcuts.
People have been sold a bogus lie for too long: there is a shortcut.
You don’t need any more shortcuts or distractions. You need discipline. You need to show up every day. You need your foundation.
That’s why I’ve partnered with Momentous. In an industry built on trends, Momentous has stayed focused on mastering the basics and doing things the right way — guided by science, high standards, and a long-term commitment to health and performance.
Over the next few months, you’ll see new products we’ve developed together, and you’ll see Momentous at every Pump Club event.
The motto for our partnership is so natural that it could be the motto for Arnold’s Pump Club:
Stop chasing the new. Start trusting the proven.
Be Trendproof.
On Our Radar
Is There a Limit to How Many Calories You Can Burn?
For years, scientists have debated whether the human body has a built-in energy ceiling. The theory goes like this: you can increase activity in the short term, but over the long run, total energy expenditure hits a limit — roughly 2.5 to 3 times your resting metabolic rate — and the body compensates by quietly dialing back energy spent elsewhere.
If that’s true, it would explain why exercise sometimes feels like it delivers less payoff than expected. But now, a new study adds an important wrinkle to that debate.
Research now suggests you really do burn more calories the more you exercise, and your body might not compensate as much as it appears by slowing other systems down.
Scientists measured total daily energy expenditure in 75 adults whose activity levels ranged from mostly sedentary to ultra-endurance athletes. Importantly, everyone in the study was weight-stable, meaning they were eating enough to match their activity.
To measure calorie burn, researchers used doubly labeled water, the gold standard for tracking energy expenditure in real life, not lab guesses or fitness trackers.
Contrary to other studies, more physical activity results in more total calories burned, and there isn’t necessarily a limit on how many calories you could burn.
Just as interesting, resting metabolic rate didn’t drop as activity increased, and more active people didn’t subconsciously move less during the day; they actually sat less.
This directly challenges the popular “constrained energy” model proposed by Herman Pontzer, which suggested the body hits a calorie-burning ceiling and compensates elsewhere.
That said, we still don’t have a clear answer. This study didn’t include people exceeding ~2.5x their resting metabolic rate, the theoretical ceiling where constraints might appear. So this isn’t the final word for elite, extreme activity levels.
But here’s the most important insight: while diet still plays a bigger influence and weight loss and gain, your workouts might influence the outcome more than some scientists believe.
Instant Health Boost
The Eating Pattern That Could Protect Your Joints
Most people think joint problems just “show up” one day. But a growing body of research suggests it’s a gradual process.
And if you want to help prevent aches and pains, what you eat might shape your joint health long before symptoms ever appear.
A new meta-analysis of more than 270,000 adults found that people who consistently followed a healthy, anti-inflammatory eating pattern had a much lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that can dramatically affect mobility and quality of life.
Researchers combined data from 12 studies worldwide to assess how different validated “healthy dietary patterns” — Mediterranean, DASH, anti-inflammatory, and Healthy Eating Index diets — affected the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
The people who ate the healthiest diets had up to 46% lower odds of developing joint issues.
The researchers point to the power of anti-inflammatory nutrients, like the omega-3s in fish, antioxidants in fruits and vegetables, fiber from whole grains and legumes, and healthy fats from olive oil and nuts. These help regulate immune activity, reduce chronic inflammation, and support a healthier gut microbiome, all of which are thought to influence autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
These were observational studies, and individual results vary, plus not every diet pattern showed clear benefits. But across the board, the trend held: healthier eating consistently pointed toward healthier joints.
You don’t need a perfect diet, but you do want to consistently eat the types of foods that can help lower inflammation. Here’s a cheat sheet of what to include in your diet:
Vegetables and fruits (especially colorful ones)
Whole grains and legumes
Olive oil, nuts, and seeds
Fish 1–2 times per week
Less ultra-processed food, excess sugar, and refined carbs
Performance
The Hidden Pattern Behind World-Class Achievement
Parents pour everything into giving their kids a head start.
Adults chase the feeling that they should be further along.
Coaches search for the perfect formula for early success.
Yet when researchers examined tens of thousands of the world’s highest performers, they found a quiet truth running beneath every field: the people who reach the very top rarely look like the people who start there.
Early specialization creates early achievers, but exploring many skills builds the adults who rise to the top.
A new analysis analyzed the developmental history of nearly 35,000 elite performers, including Nobel laureates, Olympic medalists, chess grandmasters, and renowned composers. When the researchers compared youth standouts with world-class adults, three clear patterns emerged:
Almost 90% of the top performers in childhood were not the same people who became elite as adults.
Future world-class performers developed gradually, without early bursts of exceptional talent.
World-class performers spent their youth having many different interests, not specializing in one sport or discipline.
Why might variety outperform early specialization?
The researchers suggest that exploring multiple activities builds broader physical, cognitive, and creative skills; reduces burnout; and helps people discover their best long-term fit.
It appears that, for the most part, early specialization produces early results, but often at the cost of long-term growth.
That doesn’t mean high-performers early in life still can’t succeed later in life. The research trends are meaningful, but not the final word.
If you’re a parent who wants your child to succeed, your best bet is to let your kids try more things and choose what sticks.
If you’re a coach, prioritize joy, variety, and sustainable skill development, especially in early years.
And if you’re an adult, stop believing you “missed your chance.” The data says long-term excellence comes from staying curious.
The path to excellence isn’t a race to the front; it’s a willingness to keep learning long after others stop.
Better Today
Take any of these tips from today’s email and put them into action:
1. Do You Burn More Calories the More You Exercise? Here's What a Gold-Standard Study Found.
A study of 75 weight-stable adults — ranging from sedentary to ultra-endurance athletes — measured real-world calorie burn and found that more activity meant more total calories burned, with no evidence of the body compensating by slowing metabolism or movement. The findings challenge the popular "constrained energy" model and suggest your workouts might matter more than some scientists believed with supporting weight loss.
2. 12 Studies, 270,000 People, One Pattern: Anti-Inflammatory Foods May Help Protect Your Joints
A meta-analysis found that people who consistently followed anti-inflammatory dietary patterns (such as the Mediterranean or DASH Diets) had up to a 46% lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers point to omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, fiber, and healthy fats as key players in regulating immune activity and reducing chronic inflammation.
3. Why Early Specialization Creates Early Achievers, But Not World-Class Performance Or Long-Term Excellence
An analysis of nearly 35,000 elite performers — including Nobel laureates, Olympic medalists, and chess grandmasters — found that almost 90% of childhood standouts didn't become world-class adults, while those who reached the top spent their youth exploring multiple interests rather than specializing early. The researchers suggest variety builds broader skills, reduces burnout, and helps people find their best long-term fit.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
