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Today’s Health Upgrade
From Arnold: Make 2026 Your Year
Can negativity affect your blood?
The 4-step guide to success
How your passion can deceive you
Turn goals into results
The psychology of failed resolutions (and what to do instead)
Manufacture more momentum
Arnold’s Corner
Make 2026 Your Year
Let’s do this.
I know this is the day that everyone is more committed to fitness than ever, so I want you to bet on yourself and join the Pump Club app.
I’m not like those gyms that want to take your money on January 1 and then hope you stop showing up by February.
I want you to use my app. I see so many success stories that they’ve become an addiction. I want more.
So I’m giving you money back — 50% of your annual membership! — if you finish your Foundation program in the app.
And there’s something more. I keep reading headlines about layoffs hitting new highs.
I’ve always said fitness is for everyone.
That’s why I built the Pump Club app to be affordable for everyone — a full year of training and nutrition for the price of a few fitness classes.
But right now, affordable isn’t enough.
People are hurting. Jobs are disappearing. And the economy isn’t working for the people.
But that doesn’t mean I stop working for people.
I know what exercise does for the body — and for the mind.
And I refuse to accept that losing a job should mean losing your health.
So today, I’m launching the No Worker Left Behind plan in the Pump Club app.
If you’re unemployed, you can join us and pay whatever you can, even if that’s nothing at all.
No gym. No equipment. Just work you can do at home.
When life feels out of control, fitness is how you fight back.
At the Pump Club, we put your progress over our profit. And thousands of our members are helping make that possible.
Together, we really can lift up the world.
Come join us in the positive corner of the internet.
Arnold’s Zero Negativity Diet
Negativity Doesn’t Just Hurt Your Mood. It Shows Up in Your Blood
If you’ve ever felt like negativity weighs you down, your blood might agree with you. And not metaphorically.
A study of more than 6,000 adults found that people with higher pessimism scores had higher levels of one of the key inflammatory markers doctors use to predict heart disease.
As part of Arnold’s Zero Negativity Diet and the first day of the new year, this research shows that your thoughts have a biological signature, and your body keeps the score.
Researchers analyzed data designed to track early cardiovascular risk. At the start of the study, none of the participants had been diagnosed with heart disease. Participants completed validated questionnaires to assess optimism and pessimism and provided blood samples to measure inflammatory markers.
Higher pessimism was associated with elevated inflammation across the board on three important biomarkers, and all three are established predictors of heart disease, stroke, and other chronic illnesses.
And it’s worth noting that pessimism had a stronger relationship with inflammation than optimism had protective effects, suggesting that reducing negativity may matter even more than trying to force positivity.
The study was cross-sectional, meaning we can’t say pessimism causes inflammation. It’s possible that inflammation influences mood, or that another factor influences both.
Even with the limitations, the pattern is clear: negativity shows up in the same biological pathways that drive chronic disease. And it’s why cutting pessimism isn’t just about feeling lighter — it may be a quiet form of preventive medicine.
It’s one more sign that negativity isn’t just emotional, it’s also physiological. Reducing pessimistic thinking and practicing daily reframing or gratitude may help lower the internal stress signals that drive inflammation.
Wise Words (And Advice) To Guide Your 2026
Over the next 24 to 48 hours, many of you will be setting goals and resolutions for the new year. Before you start, it’s time to get out of your own way and avoid the stealthy mistakes that are trap doors to your success. These four steps will shift your mindset and help you build behaviors that last.
Mental Health
Step 1: Want To Be Happy? Don’t Let Your Passion Deceive You
We’ve all heard it: “Just find your passion, and happiness will follow.” But is that advice doing more harm than good?
Chasing passion as the key to happiness could leave you more anxious, disappointed, and stuck, unless it’s the right kind of passion.
In a review covering more than a decade of passion research, scientists analyzed how two different types of passion affect long-term well-being:
Harmonious passion: when you freely choose an activity that feels meaningful and integrate it into your life without letting it control you.
Obsessive passion: when your identity becomes dependent on the activity, making it feel like a burden you can’t step away from.
People with harmonious passion reported higher levels of joy, focus (a.k.a. flow), and sustainable psychological well-being. Meanwhile, obsessive passion was linked to stress, emotional conflict, and burnout, even when people were doing things they once loved.
The researchers caution against the “follow your passion” mindset because it implies that your purpose is something you discover instantly, fully formed. That belief creates frustration when people don’t feel an immediate spark, and it often leads to quitting at the first sign of struggle.
Instead, the researchers argue, joy comes from building a meaningful relationship with an activity rather than expecting it to deliver instant happiness.
Passion isn’t found — it’s developed through effort, mastery, and connection.
So instead of searching for your passion, start exploring things that interest you, even just a little. Focus on activities that make you feel fulfilled, allow you to grow, and develop your passions, while still leaving room for other parts of your life.
Mindset
Step 2: How to Turn Goals Into Results
If you ask Arnold for his best advice, he’ll tell you to set a clear vision and write it down. And now science backs it up.
Research suggests that you’re 42 percent more likely to follow through on your goals when you write down your vision and plan your actions.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You probably know that goal-setting doesn’t get the job done. There’s a reason most New Year’s resolutions don’t go from wish to reality. So, researchers tried to identify how to transform hopes into results.
Participants were split into one of five groups: some just thought about their goals, others wrote them down, one group added an action plan, another included accountability, and the final group added action reports to track progress.
The group that included all steps — writing down their vision, identifying action steps, holding accountability, and keeping progress reports — was 76 percent more likely to achieve their goals.
It’s the same science used to build the habit tracker in the Pump App, and why it works to help keep people accountable and see their progress.
The study focused on business goals, but the logic applies to fitness, too. Separate research on runners found that those who write down their short- and long-term goals — and track their progress — did a better job of increasing their mileage.
If you want a complete system, remember that having a vision gives you clarity, your plan creates consistent, sustainable actions, and accountability keeps you on track when life throws you off course.
Here’s the 4-part method that works:
Write your vision
Set your habits
Find accountability partners
Track your progress
Mindset
Step 3: The Psychology Of Failed Resolutions (And How To Set Goals You’ll Achieve)
You’ve been conditioned to set big goals with long to-do lists. And while it’s good to have a vision and set habits, when everything feels like a “must,” and you have a laundry list of “musts,” you never get a break. And that’s when your goals become less likely to become a reality.
Instead of thinking of goals as something you want to accumulate, try feeling better with less.
The real reason you fall short of your goals isn’t willpower or motivation. It might be that you're giving yourself too many choices.
Researchers from Stanford found that choice overload — having too many options —leads to decision fatigue, reduced motivation, and lower follow-through.
The scientist found that limiting your options can increase your likelihood of taking action by nearly 10 times.
In other words, the more health options you pile on, the more likely you are to do nothing at all. This overload doesn’t just stall action; it increases stress, self-doubt, and burnout.
In another study, participants who tried to follow multiple wellness routines at once reported lower satisfaction and higher levels of anxiety compared to those who simplified their approach.
Even well-intended health habits can backfire when they become too complex or competing.
This week, when setting your goals and resolutions, start by asking, “What restores me and makes me happiest?
Make your list, and then ask yourself, What can I remove?
And don’t say you can’t remove anything. Cut down the list so you can stay focused and ensure your goals don’t compete with or cancel each other out.
This will help limit overload and lay the foundation of success for the new year.
Habits
Step 4: How to Manufacture Momentum
We want you to start 2026 feeling unstoppable, and here’s how to make it happen:
Research suggests tracking your small achievements daily can increase momentum, leading to more productivity and success.
It’s the ultimate domino effect. Small wins increase your momentum and motivation, which in turn boosts your confidence, productivity, and creativity, leading to more breakthroughs and success.
While big achievements increase motivation more than small achievements, they are fewer and farther between. And the lag in time can cause mounting frustrations and a lesser sense of accomplishment.
To start your year right, track at least one small win. It can be anything from going on a walk to doing something kind for a friend, co-worker, or family member. Don’t make the mistake of thinking the accomplishment needs to be big.
Get your win, write it down, celebrate, ride the momentum into tomorrow, and keep repeating the process.
We’re excited to be here every weekday to help guide you to better health, happiness, and success. Here’s wishing you all an amazing 2026!
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
