Will Drinking Water During Your Meal Harm Digestion And Absorption?

Welcome to the positive corner of the internet. Every weekday, we make sense of the confusing world of wellness by analyzing the headlines, simplifying the latest research, and offering quick tips designed to make you healthier in less than 5 minutes. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free daily email here.

Today’s Health Upgrade: Living Longer

• Monday motivation

• Jumpstart your week

• Workout of the week

Arnold’s Corner: Monday Motivation

Overcoming Failure: Part 2

Last week, we started a series on something I think is so important it’s worth a series: The fear of failure.

It holds so many of you back, and my goal is to help you conquer it.

The last email showed you how to evaluate the risks of failure honestly.

I hope you did your homework and that your fear lost some of its power when you completed your risk assessment.

I also know there is another fear that comes with failure. No, you won’t die. Yes, you’ll probably be right back where you started instead of falling off a cliff like you imagined.

But we are social creatures, and even once you realize you’ll be safe, you’re probably horrified of being embarrassed of taking a big swing and missing.

This is why the second step to conquering your fear of failure is being very honest with yourself.

And when you are honest, you will realize that almost no one will care. 

You are not the main character in a movie. There is very little embarrassment in failure because the reality is that 99.99% of the world will never know you failed. And the people who do know are almost certainly dealing with their own failures and challenges and don’t have time to think about you. 

Sure, a few of them may enjoy some schadenfreude. A few might laugh at you. How does that hurt you? Why should you care about people who were rooting against you, anyway?

Why should you spend a second thinking about someone who is that negative? This is why I always tell you to ignore the naysayers.

I promise your fear of being embarrassed is completely overblown. 

But I realize that it might be hard for you to really understand this, so I have some homework that will allow you to test it very quickly!

Pick something that takes about 30 seconds that you’ve been wanting to do. Maybe it’s a new PR on your favorite lift. Maybe it’s one of those hard online word puzzles. Maybe it’s a pull-up or a push-up. Maybe it’s a new level of chess.

Set up your phone to take a picture or video. Do the thing you’ve chosen. But this time, don’t hold back. Go all out. Tell yourself you don’t give a single shit if you can’t do it; you’re trying your absolute best.

If you do it, great! Brag on social media if you want; you deserve it! Then, pick something harder that might cause you to fail.

Once you fail, post the video or photo on your social media and say, “I tried ___ and failed today.”

I will absolutely guarantee you that fewer people will see it than you imagined when you were paralyzed by fear of embarrassment. But even more than that, I promise you that 99% of the comments will be people cheering for you to keep trying. 

When you finally acknowledge the reality of how many people care compared to how many people will enjoy your failure, you can finally let that go and just go for it.

Next week, we’ll talk about the real risk of letting your fear of failure win: regret.

Jumpstart Your Week

💪Pump Perks: How To Sleep Like A Baby (And Wake Up Refreshed)

Want to pass out each night — and not wake up groggy and tired? The Eight Sleep Pod 4 is a scientific gift from the Sleep Gods. It has been engineered to customize your bed to your body’s needs so you can fall asleep easier, stay asleep longer, and have higher-quality rest. We loved it so much that we bought the pod and then reached out to Eight Sleep to get all of you a deal. Get up to $350 OFF with the code “pumpclub.” Improving your sleep is one of the best things you can do for your health, and Eight Sleep is your competitive advantage. It has been clinically proven to increase deep sleep by 34 percent and help you fall asleep 44 percent faster.

💪An Unexpected Source of Motivation

If you’re trying to muster the motivation to stay consistent with your workout, take a trip down memory lane. Research suggests remembering a positive workout experience can significantly boost your motivation to work out again. 

While building a consistent exercise habit can be tough, research has found that people tend to underestimate how much they’ll enjoy their workout. So remember the good times, start with something (such as today’s workout of the week), and begin building the habit. If you need help with habits and workouts, that’s why the Pump app exists.  

💪One Tip Smarter: How Many Sets Does It Take To Build Muscle?

A recent meta-analysis determined that approximately 12 to 20 sets per muscle group per week are all that are needed to build muscle. And some research suggests that you can grow with as few as eight sets per week per muscle. 

💪Overhead on Social: Does Drinking Water During A Meal Harm Digestion?

File this one under “No truth at all.” If you don’t want to drink during a meal, that's your choice. But drinking water — even if you drink a lot — will not disrupt your digestion. The theory is that you’ll dilute your enzymes. But there’s one problem: stomach enzymes bind to food regardless of your hydration. And, if your stomach needs more acid to digest food, it produces it to aid with breakdown. In fact, research — and human biology — suggest the opposite: water is more likely to help with digestion. 

Not to mention, the idea that water could interfere with digestion does work from a timing standpoint. Water is digested quickly in your stomach (it takes about 20 minutes). That’s why some studies have found that drinking water before a meal can help reduce how much you eat. Food takes anywhere from 24 to 72 hours to be completely absorbed, meaning your hydration status can affect fullness but not how well your body can use food. 

Workout Of The Week

Some say “opposites attract,” and we put that theory to the test with this week’s workout. The entire session is built around pairing opposite movements for a time-efficient session that will leave you pumped and satisfied. Each move is done with one arm or one leg, so dumbbells, kettlebells, bands, or cables will work best. Before all of the sets in a superset before moving to the next round of exercises.

Superset #1: Perform two rounds of all four exercises. 

1. Single-arm bench press (left arm): 8 reps (rest 20 seconds)

2. Single-leg step up (left leg): 8 reps (rest 20 seconds)

3. Single-arm bench press (right arm): 8 reps (rest 20 seconds)

4. Single-leg step up (right leg): 8 reps (rest 3 minutes)

Superset #2: Perform two rounds of all four exercises. 

1. Single-arm row (left arm): 8 reps (rest 20 seconds)

2. Kickstand deadlift (left leg): 8 reps (rest 20 seconds)

3. Single-arm row (right arm): 8 reps (rest 20 seconds)

4. Kickstand deadlift (right leg): 8 reps (rest 3 minutes)

Superset #3: Perform two rounds of all four exercises. 

1. Single-arm biceps curl (left arm): 8 reps (rest 20 seconds)

2. Single-arm triceps extension (left arm): 8 reps (rest 20 seconds)

3. Single-arm biceps curl (right arm): 8 reps (rest 20 seconds)

4. Single-arm triceps extension (right arm): 8 reps (rest 3 minutes)

Give it a try, and let us know what you think!

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell