Mindset Monday: Research Roundup, Motivation, & Leo

Short, Sweet, & Serendipitous

Author

Colin Dragon
October 02, 2023

Welcome back to the Daily Dumbbell, the newsletter that sifts through mountains of nonsense to deliver you the diamonds, so you don’t have to. We’re a bit like Leo in Blood Diamond… but with less murder.

Happy Monday! Hope you had a fantastic weekend. Today’s newsletter is short and sweet. So without further ado…

Let’s dive in!

Research Roundup

The Problem:

High Blood Pressure. Specifically, 80% of older adults suffer from it.

The Question:

We know that exercise can have a profound impact on high blood pressure. But how much is required to make an impact?

The Answer:

Not nearly as much as you probably think! The researchers at Iowa State found positive benefits with as few as 3,000 added steps per day.

They gathered a group of mostly sedentary 68-78 year olds who averaged 4,000 steps per day before the study. After adding 3,000 steps to their daily total, they lowered their blood pressure by nearly 10 points!

Based on actuarial tables, we know this reduction leads to a relative risk reduction of:

11% for all cause mortality
16% for Cardiovascular mortality
18% for risk of heart disease
36% reduction in risk for a stroke!

More evidence you don’t need to be perfect. Just trying to do a little better can have a massive impact on your quality & length of life.

Motivation Monday

Today’s Motivation Monday is just a question.

Do you feel motivated today?

If not, what is your plan? Are you skipping the work today? Or going about business as usual. Either way, take a minute to think about that and why.

Mindset Monday

This cracked us up… but actually he might be onto something!

What if this time, instead of trying to lose weight, you tried to get really strong? You spent 6-12 months focusing only on building muscle and getting stronger.

How do you think your mindset/relationship with the gym/health and fitness in general might change?

Thanks for reading today’s edition! We hope you have a fantastic Monday and we’ll see you back here tomorrow :)