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Today’s Health Upgrade
Taking a break or breaking your progress?
Arnold Q&A
Weekend challenge
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Are You Breaking Your Progress?
Every week, we remind members of The Pump app about the importance of rest days. Every good program includes recovery as part of the road to results. But what happens when you take a longer break?
New research suggests a week off won't slow your muscle growth but could limit your strength.
Scientists recently compared two groups following an intense 8-week training plan. One group trained straight for eight weeks while the other trained for 4 weeks, took a 1-week deload (a week without training), and then continued with another four weeks of workouts.
The group that kept training without a break saw greater increases in overall strength, power, and muscular endurance. But before you never take a week off again, an important message gets easily missed.
Both groups gained the same amount of muscle. And the strength gains were not dramatically different. You can interpret this study as a license to train more often or see it as a reason not to freak out when you take a week off for any reason, whether sickness, vacation, or just needing a break.
Either way, remember the golden rule of training: whatever allows you to exercise most consistently with the highest intensity for the longest period of time is the program that will give you the best results.
Some people don’t like weeks off. Other people need them. And everyone needs rest and days off within a training program. Find what works for you, train hard, and you’ll keep getting better.
Arnold Q&A
Yesterday's Q&A in The Pump app tested my endurance. I received nearly 200 questions, and I'm still going through them. Here are three answers I thought you might enjoy. (And yes, more invites to the app are coming. You can click here to join the waitlist.)
Can You Build Muscle And Burn Fat?
Feeling Stuck? Try This.
Remind yourself that the only secret to success is showing up every day and making an effort.
What's For Breakfast?
Weekend Challenge
On Monday, we talked about my birthday wishes. Here’s what I asked for from all of you:
Get moving because you’re worth it.
Log off social media when you can because it isn’t worth it.
Change the world right in front of you because it is definitely worth it.
It got me thinking. How much time do we spend on things that are absolutely worthless to our lives? How much time does that take away from all of the things we know for sure are worth our time?
So this weekend, the challenge is simple. Make two lists. “Things worth my time” and “Things not worth my time.” As always, if you can’t think of any, take a little walk outside and see what comes to mind. None of us have unlimited time. I tell people time is like a roll of toilet paper, and early on, it seems like it will last forever until one day, you realize the squares are running out.
The best thing we can do is spend our time on what matters, and that means saying no to a lot of things that won’t matter.
As a bonus, if you’re one of the people struggling to find your vision, looking at the list of what is worth your time and what isn’t will give you some ideas.
Tell me how this one goes. I think it will help all of you learn my priority principle.
Thanks again for joining us for another week. We love this village and building the positive corner of the internet. To all of you, new and old, here's wishing you a fantastic weekend!
-Arnold, Adam, and Daniel
