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Today’s Health Upgrade

• Arnold’s Corner: Monday motivation

• What no one tells you about flaxseed

• Too tired to move? Do this.

• Workout of the week

Arnold’s Corner 
Monday Motivation: The Wisdom Of The Wall

I want to talk to the people who stopped.

You know who you are. You started strong. You had a few good weeks. Then you missed a workout. Then two. Then a whole week went by, and you didn't say anything to anybody. Now it's been a month, and you feel a little embarrassed about coming back.

You think you failed.

You didn't fail. You hit the wall. Everybody hits the wall. The wall is not a sign that you are doing this wrong. The wall is the part of the program nobody puts in the program.

Here is what I have learned in more than sixty years of training. The beginning is easy. 

Motivation is free at the start. You have the new plan, the new shoes, and the picture in your head of who you are about to become. That carries you for a few weeks.

Then life comes for it. Your kid gets sick. Work gets ugly. Your back hurts. The weather turns. You are tired in a way that sleep doesn't fix.

And in that moment you find out what you are actually made of. Not in the workout where you felt great. In the one where you felt like nothing.

Most people quit right there. At the wall. Not because they are weak. Because nobody ever told them that this part was coming, so when it came, they thought it meant something about them.

It doesn't. It means you are exactly where everybody who has ever gotten in shape has been.

I need you to hear this clearly. When you walked away, you didn't walk away from me. You didn't walk away from your program, your coach, or this community. You walked away from yourself.

And you probably told yourself the same story you always tell. Things don't go my way. Other people have it easier. Now is not the right time. I'll start again in January.

Stop it. That story is costing you your life.

Your problem is that you see those missed workouts as a wall. They are not a wall. They are days you didn't train, and there are more days coming.

Your other problem is that you think you are alone in this. You are not.

Look around this community we have built. We have people training through cancer treatment. Through cerebral palsy. Through arthritis that makes their hands hurt when they hold the bar and their knees scream when they do half of a squat. Through injuries and surgeries and diagnoses I cannot pronounce. Through menopause. Through their 60s. Through their 70s. Through their 80s.

They do not have it any easier than you do. Most of them have it much harder than you.

The difference is what they do when they hit the wall. They don't stop in front of it. They find the way through.

I want to be clear about what going through actually looks like, because I think people imagine it's dramatic. It isn't. It's boring.

It looks like doing twenty minutes when you planned an hour.
It looks like doing the workout badly instead of not at all.
It looks like restarting on a Tuesday afternoon instead of waiting for Monday morning like Monday is holy.
It looks like eating one good meal after three bad ones instead of writing off the whole week.

I see two types of people every week. One sees chair squats in the workout and quits because they can't get all the way down to the chair. The other does half squats, because that's what they have today, and keeps doing them week after week until they touch the chair.

One sees a pull-up and says I can never do this, and walks away. The other says I can't pull myself up yet, but I can do the lowering part. So one day I will.

Do what you can. With what you have. Where you are.

That's the winner's motto. Teddy Roosevelt made it famous.

If you see what you can't do as a wall to turn away from, you will not win. Period.

If you see it as what you can't do NOW, and you do whatever you can, you will win. Every time.

Because this was never really about your body. Ask the people here who have been at this a few years.

They will tell you the workouts started as training and became something else. They got stronger in the gym and then they got stronger in rooms that had nothing to do with the gym. They asked for the raise. They left the relationship. They stopped apologizing for taking up space.

We have shared the research showing that people who build a training habit tend to build other good habits alongside it. I believe it, and I think the reason is simple.

Training reveals your power to you.

You live in a world that feels out of control. The news is ugly. The problems are enormous and most of them you cannot change. You can feel very small.

Then you find one thing that answers to you. You show up, you do the work, you get stronger. It is the most honest transaction in your life. It never lies to you.

Five pushups becomes six. The pushup on the wall becomes a pushup on a counter and then a pushup on the floor. The stairs stop beating you up every day. You carry the groceries in one trip.

And something clicks. If I can change this, what else can I change?

Everything. That's the answer. Everything.

But you only get there if you don't quit at the wall.

So this week I want to hear from the people who went through it. Tell us about the time you almost stopped and didn't. What was happening in your life. What the workout looked like on your worst week. How you got yourself back in.

Be specific and be honest. Somebody is reading this today who is standing at that wall right now, convinced they are the only one, ready to walk away from themselves again.

Show them the way through.

Together With Momentous 
Flax Won't Replace Your Fish Oil. It Does Something Else 

Flaxseed has a superfood reputation built mostly on one word: "omega-3."

However, the omega-3 in flax converts poorly into the kind your heart and brain use. That doesn't mean it's bad or without value, but you could have an unintentional gap in your diet.

Let's start with the good: if you eat flaxseed, it has earned a spot in your pantry. Researchers reviewed 62 randomized trials and found that flaxseed modestly improves your cholesterol numbers.

A daily tablespoon of ground flaxseed lowers your total and LDL cholesterol down a few points (especially if you have a higher LDL), but the type matters more than you might realize.

Ground flaxseed and its plant compounds (lignans) lower LDL. Flax oil doesn't seem to.

However, if you skip omega-3s because you take flax, that's where the gap exists.

Flax and fish oil aren't two versions of the same thing. Flax gives you ALA, the plant form of omega-3. Fish oil gives you EPA and DHA, which are the forms your body puts to work in your heart, brain, and cell membranes. 

Your body can convert ALA into EPA and DHA, but it's not very good at it. So flax doesn't fail at being fish oil, but it was never going to raise those levels much in the first place. 

Flax's payoff shows up in your cholesterol through fiber and lignans, which have nothing to do with omega-3. Fish oil shows up mostly in your triglycerides, through EPA and DHA. If you don't eat fish and you lean on flax, you're covered on ALA but likely running low on EPA and DHA.

If you want to add it to your diet, stir a tablespoon into oatmeal, yogurt, a smoothie, or whatever's already on your plate. Give it about three months to see how it shows up in your bloodwork.

If you don’t eat fish, that’s where fish oil supplements provide the EPA and DHA your brain and heart need. 

But most fish oils hand you a lopsided dose and a day of fish burps, so we went looking for one that fixes both.

Momentous Omega-3 delivers 1,700 mg of EPA and DHA in a balanced 1:1 ratio, rather than the DHA-heavy skew that a lot of brands sell. It's sourced from small Norwegian fish like anchovies and sardines that carry less mercury, and it’s third-party tested (NSF Certified for Sport). It's also in triglyceride form, the version your body actually absorbs, which is why there's no fishy aftertaste.

As a Pump Club reader, you get 30% OFF your subscription when you use the code “PumpClub.”

Start Your Week Right
Why "Too Tired to Move" Might Have It Backward

It's Monday, you wake up exhausted, and decide your body isn’t ready for your workout. So you skip it, figure you’ll recharge, do it tomorrow, and get back on track. 

But research suggests that pushing yourself might be the charge you’re looking for. 

Scientists found that the energy you're waiting for tends to show up after you move, not before. 

Researchers reviewed 67 studies from 14 countries where people wore movement sensors. When people moved more than usual, they felt more energized. It was the most consistent result in all of the data.

Going from sitting to walking provides a similar energy boost to what you get from listening to music you enjoy or having a great conversation. Movement was also linked to feeling happier.

When you're flat and sluggish, even a few minutes of movement is one of the more dependable ways to feel awake again. 

In fact, the scientists noted that the person who swears they're too wiped to train almost always walks out more awake than they walked in.

The next time you feel too tired to move, don't treat that feeling as a reason to take a day off. Pick the smallest thing you'll actually do and make it happen. It can be a lap around the block or 10 minutes of bodyweight movements. For almost everyone (95 percent of people in the study), the energy will catch up.

Fitness
Workout of the Week: 12-Minute Total Body Strength (Dumbbell Only)

Two weeks ago, you saw how a “10-Minute Deadlift” turned a mini-workout into something that felt like a full strength-and-cardio session. 

This workout has a similar structure but a different approach. And it’s designed for people who work out at home. 

How To Do It

You'll rotate through four dumbbell movements, one per minute, for 12 minutes straight. That's three rounds of each.

Minute 1: Goblet Squat (5 reps)
Rest the remainder of the 60 seconds

Minute 2: Overhead Press (5 reps)
Rest the remainder of the 60 seconds

Minute 3: Alternating Lunges (5 reps/leg)
Rest the remainder of the 60 seconds

Minute 4: Bent-Over Row (5 reps)
Rest the remainder of the 60 seconds

At the top of each minute, grab your dumbbells and knock out 5 clean reps. Then, rest for whatever's left of that minute. If your reps take 20 seconds, you get 40 seconds to breathe before the next movement starts up.

Then, you’ll move to the next exercise and repeat the work:rest pattern. 

Pick a weight you could do for about 8 reps, but you're only doing 5. That leaves a little in the tank, so your form stays sharp as fatigue builds. Heavy enough to challenge you, controlled enough to keep you safe. 

An important note: Before you start, run two or three lighter rounds to prime the movements and dial in your weights. Work-up sets help you prepare your muscles so you can go heavier without getting hurt.

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