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Today’s Health Upgrade
Can you eat away the effects of too much sitting?
Why you might not want to lift weights in your running shoes
The truth about CBD and sleep
The tides of change
On Our Radar
Can Certain Foods Protect You While You Sit?
We’ve examined how movement can help offset the health risks of too much sitting. But now, scientists are exploring whether what we eat can soften some of the short-term effects.
Early research suggests that flavanol-rich foods — like cocoa, berries, and tea — might help preserve blood vessel function during periods of sitting.
Scientists brought participants into a lab for two different sessions of sitting. Before sitting for two uninterrupted hours, they drank either a high-flavanol cocoa beverage (150 mg of epicatechin) or a placebo. Scientists then checked how well their arm and leg blood vessels expanded before and after the sitting period.
The results were interesting: Just two hours of stillness impaired blood vessel function in everyone, even the fittest participants. But when the participants drank the flavanol-rich cocoa, that decline didn’t happen.
But that was the only thing flavanols protected. They didn’t prevent the rise in diastolic blood pressure, didn’t improve blood flow, didn’t help tissue oxygenation, and didn’t maintain microvascular function. And the benefits appeared to be temporary.
So what does this mean for you? This study opens an intriguing door: maybe certain foods can buffer small parts of the vascular stress caused by sitting.
The next step is to dig a little deeper by expanding the research to older adults, testing what happens when you sit for longer than 2 hours, and examining how health changes. At the very least, flavanol-rich foods are likely a low-risk alternative that might help.
But if you want to offset excessive sitting, movement is still the best antidote. And we’re not just talking about lifting weights or doing cardio, but also making sure you get up and move for at least 2-3 minutes for every couple of hours you sit.
Together With NOBULL
Can You Lift In Running Shoes?
Most people assume a good running shoe can handle anything. And when it comes to hitting the road or the treadmill, that might be true. But if you’re trying to build a bigger squat, deadlift, jump rope, or push a sled, science says otherwise.
Researchers have found that different types of workouts demand different things from your feet and your footwear.
Minimalist-style conditions improve neuromuscular control and stability during strength work. For example, gymnasts training in low-profile footwear produced more power. But switch to running, and the equation flips: heavily cushioned shoes immediately change your impact forces, joint angles, and muscle activation.
Your shoes change how your body moves from rep to rep, step to step.
If your training blends lifting, plyometrics, conditioning, and speed work, you need footwear that adapts as quickly as you do. And that starts with understanding why different features matter. Low stack height for stability. Multi-directional traction for lateral movement. A secure lockdown that keeps your foot from sliding when intensity spikes. And just enough protection to handle running without beating up your joints.
Here’s what all that means, and how to make sure your footwear matches your activity of choice.
Low stack height (a lower, flatter platform)
The higher you are off the ground, the more wobble you create, especially when you’re loading a squat, catching a clean, or landing a jump. Look for a shoe with a lower stack so you can feel the ground, balance better, and generate more power.
A secure upper that locks the foot in
When your foot slides during lateral shuffles, burpees, or jump-land-jump sequences, you lose force and increase injury risk. Try the “lateral test:” jump sideways and see if your foot shifts before the shoe does. If it does, it’s not built for multi-directional work.
Multi-directional traction (not just forward grip)
Running shoes are designed for one direction: straight ahead. Hybrid training is anything but. You’re cutting, pivoting, accelerating, stopping, and hopping in every direction. Flip the shoe over. You want varied patterns that provide grip sideways, forward, backward, and rotationally.
Midsole firmness that balances stability and impact protection
Strength work needs a firmer platform so you don’t sink under load. Running needs cushioning so your joints aren’t absorbing every stride. The sweet spot for cross-training is a responsive foam that compresses just enough to protect you, but not so much that it steals your power. Press the midsole with your thumb. If it feels marshmallow-soft, it’s built for running, not training.
That’s where NOBULL Drive Knit comes in. Lightweight. Responsive. Built for the athlete who treats the gym like a playground.
The sock-like knit molds to your foot, keeping you locked in during lifts and explosive work. The low drop keeps you close to the ground for balance and power. And unlike traditional lifters, the Drive Knit keeps an optimized running gait so you can hit your intervals without switching shoes.
If you’re looking for a hybrid shoe that meets your love of movement, NOBULL Drive Knit is on a special sale for APC readers, just in time for the holidays. Take an extra 15% off sale items, which gives you up to 60% off. Consider it one more way to make sure you’re moving the right way in the new year.
Fact or Fiction
Is CBD An Effective Sleep Aid?
If you’ve ever chewed a CBD gummy before bed, hoping it would help you drift off faster, you’re in good company. Sleep is one of the biggest reasons people buy CBD. But a new analysis suggests something surprising: it might not help at all.
The latest evidence we have shows that CBD doesn’t improve sleep quality compared to a placebo.
Researchers reviewed six randomized controlled trials with more than 1,000 adults, including people with normal sleep, poor sleep, and full-blown insomnia. When they zoomed in on the CBD-only studies, the results were incredibly consistent.
People taking CBD slept no better than people taking a sugar pill. Their sleep questionnaires looked the same, their ratings looked the same, and their anxiety scores didn’t improve either.
The only CBD products that showed any improvement were those containing THC or mixed formulations, and even then, the benefits were limited to subjective sleep quality rather than objective metrics from sleep trackers.
Why might CBD fall flat? CBD doesn’t activate the brain’s sleep-related receptors the way THC does. And although people often say CBD relaxes them, that doesn’t automatically translate to deeper sleep, which this meta-analysis confirmed.
If you’re buying CBD specifically for sleep, the science says you might be wasting your money. The habits that consistently improve sleep are the boring ones that actually work: a steady bedtime, limiting screen time before bed, regular exercise, and managing stress in ways that build real calm.
Adam’s Corner
The Tides Of Change
I was sitting in the living room chair, half-folded into myself, scrolling through emails on my phone, maintaining the posture of a man unintentionally trying to disappear.
That’s when I noticed my wife looking at me.
Not that look. Not the soft, secret look you hope to catch from across a room, the one that makes you feel chosen. No, this was the look you give someone when you’re trying to figure out if something is wrong with their face.
“Can you sit differently?” she said.
I shifted.
“No, that’s not it. Maybe sit up straight.”
Her face remained puzzled. Not quite pained, but more accepting in a “Oh, that’s what it is” way.
And then came the words:
“I don’t intend this to sound mean, but I just realized you look a lot skinnier. I’m sorry.”
She really was sorry. She didn’t mean anything by what she said, more of an observation than a dig. But she knows me and knew how it would land.
Words can be gentle and still find a bruise that only you know exists.
For some people, “skinnier” might feel like a compliment. For me, it was a gut punch.
A reminder of the accumulated wear of the past year: a torn glute, a newborn, two boys with after-school schedules that make our calendar sometimes look like a Jackson Pollock painting, and the all-consuming joy and exhaustion of building the Pump Club.
My training has been different. Necessary, but not the same. My wife had previously insisted she hadn’t noticed any differences. When you live beside someone every day for sixteen years, change moves slowly enough that it can go unnoticed.
But there, in her eyes, was the truth I hadn’t wanted to name: I wasn’t the same.
Not in a bad way. Not in a dramatic way. Just…different.
A shift in the tides.
That Younger Guy? We Are Not The Same
When I first started to fall in love with exercise, I was a seventeen-year-old kid rehabbing a broken back for the second time. Two doctors told me the best-case scenario was learning to live with limitations. The worst-case scenarios could only be described as doom and gloom.
But one doctor offered something else: possibility.
That possibility became my fuel. First to prove the other doctors wrong, then to understand how the human body adapts, and eventually, to help other people do the things they thought they couldn’t.
I rehabbed for nearly two years. I rebuilt my entire body and mind. And came back better than ever. They’ll tell you a guy who breaks his back twice, has stenosis, and disc issues can’t deadlift or squat. I did both at weights that most people couldn’t believe.
When I think about how it all happened, a lot of my early 20s workouts were equal parts physiology and vanity. And you know what? It worked. That combination of insecurity, curiosity, and ego became rocket fuel.
But tides change.
These days, the idea of walking around shredded doesn’t move the needle for me.
Being healthy does.
Having energy does.
Moving without pain and being around for my wife and kids as long as possible does.
Refusing to surrender to Father Time does.
Don’t get me wrong. I still train hard. I consider myself healthy by most objective standards, and my kids will joke about why I only have a 4-pack. I still care deeply, but it’s different now. I don’t need to use my body to prove something. That box has been checked, and training serves a different, still important purpose.
And despite understanding all of that, those three little words—you look skinnier—found the old wiring.
Not because of what my wife meant. Because of what I told myself:
“She doesn’t think I can get it back.”
To be clear, my wife never said that. She never would. She’s my ride or die.
But that’s what I felt. And then I realized what was really going on.
I was the one who wasn’t sure if I could get it back.
I consider myself very confident, so noticing this and admitting it to myself (and all of you) was not on my BINGO card for the year.
I was transferring the doubt to my wife because that’s how younger me would operate. I would find any fuel — real or imagined — to push me.
Sometimes the mind plays the same old game from our youth because it remembers how effective it once was. It throws a little gasoline on the embers just to see if the engine still turns over.
And for me, it did.
Can An Old Dog Still Do Old Tricks?
This isn’t about my wife.
This is about me standing on the shoreline, watching the tide go out, and deciding: Not yet.
And as I feel the fire in my belly, here’s the truth I’ve had to swallow: I’m not 20 anymore. Next year I’ll be 44. I’ve joked that I’ve hit the Rocky Balboa stage of training.
I could list the injuries and let them define me. But why bother? Those excuses are roadblocks, and I’m looking for a bulldozer.
Today, I train like a man who wants to move well, stay strong, and play basketball with guys half his age without limping afterward.
A man who wants to race his kids while he still can, knowing full well they’ll soon be faster than me.
A man who cares more about longevity than aesthetics, while still wanting to feel like the strongest version of himself in his own skin.
But despite being fit and healthy, I’ve found myself wondering: what if I didn’t want to settle for those goals? What if I wanted to see if I could throttle up?
And that got me thinking, as much as I believe in looking forward and not checking the rearview mirror, maybe it’s okay to borrow some of the old fuel when you need a spark.
Not as a compass. Not as a way of life or purpose.
But as a match.
The tides of change are inevitable. It’s a mix of what we let wash away, what we fight to keep, and what we can reclaim when we need it.
We grow. We evolve. We mature.
But some things from our past don’t have to be left behind entirely. Some things weren’t mistakes; they were stepping stones. And sometimes it’s good to test out the old gear that helped you climb the mountain the first time and see if it still fits.
So I’m going to put it to the test. I’m good with skinnier me. I’m happy. But I’m not happy questioning my capabilities. So I have to face that self-doubt.
I’m going to redo The Foundation in the app. To this day, the 4-day split is one of the most effective workouts I’ve ever done. It looks easy on paper. Most wouldn’t consider it hard. But that’s the deception and beauty. The workout brought out the best in me, forcing me to bring full intensity exercise after exercise, week after week. It changes you.
We’ve been betting on you all month, and now it’s time to bet on myself.
Like Arnold always says: the goals change.
There’s always a new peak.
A new mountain.
A new chapter that demands a different kind of strength.
And yet sometimes — when the climb gets steep — reaching back for a bit of the old fuel, the old edge, the old belief in what you can become might be exactly the spark you need to rise again.
Because the tide doesn’t just pull things away. It also brings things back. -AB
Better Today
Take any of these tips from today’s email and put them into action:
1. How Flavanol-Rich Foods Can Protect Your Blood Vessels While You Sit
Drinking a high-flavanol cocoa beverage (150 mg epicatechin) before sitting for 2 hours preserved blood vessel function, but it didn't help blood pressure, blood flow, or tissue oxygenation. Movement remains the best antidote to prolonged sitting, but flavanol-rich foods like cocoa, berries, and tea might offer a small vascular buffer.
2. Why Your Running Shoes Might Be Hurting Your Strength Training
Cushioned running shoes alter impact forces, joint angles, and muscle activation, meaning the wrong shoe can compromise your performance. For hybrid training that blends lifting, plyometrics, and conditioning, look for low stack height, multi-directional traction, and a secure upper that locks your foot in place.
3. A Meta-Analysis of 1,000+ Adults Says CBD Does Not Improve Sleep
A review of 6 randomized controlled trials found that CBD alone doesn't improve sleep quality or anxiety scores compared to placebo. Only products containing THC showed any benefit, and even then, only for subjective sleep quality. CBD doesn't activate the brain's sleep-related receptors the way THC does, which may explain why it falls flat despite its reputation as a relaxation aid.
4. When You Catch Yourself Questioning Your Capabilities, There's Only One Answer
Sometimes the goals that once fueled us (proving something, chasing aesthetics, silencing doubt) evolve into something quieter but no less important: longevity, energy, and being present for the people who matter. But when self-doubt creeps in, borrowing a little of that old fire isn't regression; it's remembering that the fuel that built you can still spark the next climb.
—
Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
