Welcome back to the Daily Dumbbell, where we like to throw curveballs from time to time. Friday’s newsletter didn’t send and there was an absolute dearth of interesting studies last week.

So Friday Finds has turned into Monday Morsels! But just for this week.

We have a Quote, an Infographic, and a Number for you to ponder today.

Let’s dive in!

A Quote

How was your week?

If you had 51 more just like it, where would you be one year from now?

If that question scares you, it might mean you need to reassess. We’ve talked a lot about zooming out recently and it’s important to routinely do so to take stock of where you’re heading.

Did you have a fantastic week that is working to propel you forward? Or did you lose sight of where you want to go?

We’re going to channel our inner Lao Tzu here and tell you neither is good or bad; it just is. Don’t attach your self worth to how your week went. But if it wasn’t what you wanted, there’s no better time than right now to get back on track. No need to wait til Monday.

What is one small action you can take right now that will nudge you back on track?

A Graphic

According to the US Census, men in the US who are 6’6” & up are essentially a rounding error. If you’re 6’6” and up, you’re in the .01% in the US. If you’re in the NBA however, you’re completely average.

We tend to understand that basketball players are genetic freaks. Likely because it’s so easy to see. It’s a highly visible genetic expression. We don’t look at Lebron and feel bad about ourselves for not working hard enough to be tall. That would be silly.

But that’s exactly what we do when we log into instagram and see our favorite influencer with washboard abs.

But what if it’s the same thing?

In a 2015 study, the number of men with single digit body fat was as rare as 6’6” men. .01% of those studied. We likely see it differently because we believe we all technically could achieve this if we really wanted to.

But is that true? There are genes that influence all of this. It’s the reason Arnold looked like this at 19 and our Editor looked well… different.

We’d both been lifting regularly for about 3 years at this point. So what happened??

In the new Arnold doc he talks about doing 20 sets of each exercise per workout. The most up to date research says 20 sets per week is optimal. He ALWAYS trained to failure. Not at all optimal.

How much volume you can recover from is genetic. How much muscle you can add to your frame is largely genetic. Succeeding in spite of doing the opposite of what all of our best knowledge says to do? You might be surprised to find out that has a genetic component as well!

Arnold, like Lebron, became the best to ever do it (cough, MJ, cough) through hard work and discipline. But they had the opportunity to compete at that level because of genetics.

Don’t compare yourself to the top .01%. You won’t have a good time.

And for a real .01% mind fuck… here’s 6’3 250lb Arnold on the set of Conan next to Wilt Chamberlain and Andre the Giant.

A Number

3 Weeks

Thats roughly how long it takes you to start losing muscle after a break from lifting weights. That can’t be right! Is probably what you’re saying to yourself right now. I feel smaller after just a single week off…

And that’s true! You do. That’s because your muscles are full of glycogen and when you’re regularly training that glycogen is saturated with water. But when you stop, your muscles don’t store as much glycogen or bind to as much water. Making you feel smaller and deflated.

But that isn’t muscle. You haven’t actually lost anything.

This is great news for those of you who panic when going on a week long vacation. You’re in the clear! Just head back to the gym.

But what if the break is longer? There’s ways to minimize the loss:

1. Eat a high protein diet

2. Stay active

You can mitigate muscle loss with about 30% of the volume you normally train with. So don’t feel like those hotel pushups and suitcase rows are a waste of time. But also don’t feel like you have to do them.

Enjoy your vacations and breaks. You might even come back stronger after the time off!

Motivation Monday

This Monday we just have a question for you.

How much more motivated would you feel in the gym if you were making steady progress and hitting all of your goals?

Probably way more motivated right? Feels like motivation might come after success. Maybe we’ve been looking at this idea all wrong…

Think about that this week. We’ll have a feature on this idea soon.

We hope you enjoyed today’s Newsletter. Have a fantastic start to your week! We’ll see you back here on Hump Dayyyyyy