Good morning!

So glad to be back at this. I had a great week, one of the main reasons being that I started back at the gym.

I wanted to share with you the 5x5 chest/shoulders/triceps weightlifting routine I designed that is intended to build lean muscle and increase strength in the upper body, as well as burn fat. I’m 45 and do this workout 2x per week.

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Requirements

• Gym membership with a weight room

• 1 hour of your time

• A way to track your numbers (I use an app called Strong, I love it. However, you can use a Google sheet, notebook, whatever)

Note: This workout assumes you have access to a free-weight room. You can alternatively use cable machines. DM me for details.

Workout overview

This workout isolates your chest, shoulders, and triceps. The idea is that instead of doing everything in one workout (which would be exhausting and take forever), you concentrate volume on specific muscle groups per day so you can train them harder and with more focus.

5x5 is great for maximum stress over minimal time (perfect for busy people over 35). Other reasons this works well:

• Low rep ranges are joint-friendly

• Easier to recover from between sessions

• Simple progression (clear, measurable progress to keep you consistent)

Workout specifics

Notes:

• You will rest 30 sec to 2 min between each set of 5 repetitions (“reps”)

• Choose a starting weight that provides resistance but feels more like a warm-up. Your 5th set should be the most difficult

1. Incline barbell bench press (video/instructions)

   1. 5 sets of 5 reps (i.e. 5x5)

   2. 0:30 rest after sets 1 and 2; 1:00+ rest after sets 3 and 4

   3. Push the bar up explosively. Then take ~3 seconds to lower the bar. This is called a “slower negative.”

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I’ll be honest.

Since the beginning of February, I’ve felt completely brain-fried.

The last two months have been non-stop travel for a work project. As a result, I had to step back from this Substack and dedicate 100% of my mental capacity to that project.

Despite my best efforts, I really lost momentum with my fitness. I found it super challenging to work out in a new hotel gym every week and also to function in such a tired and overworked state.

Now that the project has wrapped, I’ve started going back to the gym. Every muscle in my body is crying right now.

Many of you have experienced this. You’re on a roll, exercising every day, in a groove… and then something happens… a life change, emotional rut, illness, injury, etc. that erodes your hard-earned fitness. You think about getting back in shape, but inertia keeps you right where you’re at.

Here’s the answer if you’re in this situation right now:

Just f*cking start.

If you’re waiting for motivation or inspiration, chances are you’ll keep on waiting. The only way to get motivated and inspired is to do the thing.

Momentum comes from movement

An object must be moving to have momentum; if velocity is zero, momentum is zero.

(Note: You can apply this to anything in your life that you want to start or restart.)

The hardest part is the first step and overcoming your resistance to doing something that potentially causes pain. That pain can be physical like soreness and fatigue, or emotional like embarrassment, shame, and anxiety.

What you must resolve in your mind is that the physical and emotional pain of doing the thing is much less than what you will experience if you don’t do the thing.

That pain compounds every day you put off taking your first step.

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Starting (or restarting) a routine requires 2 things

The only things you need to start (or restart) a fitness routine are a (1) plan and (2) to start day 1 of the plan.

Many people make the mistake of not structuring their workouts around a plan. Even if it’s a simple one, a plan gives you a framework for what you intend to accomplish.

A plan is a container for your intentions.

I create custom plans for myself based on my goals. My current goal is to lift weights to build muscle and get stronger. It’s not complex.

Day 1: Chest + Shoulders
Day 2: Back + Biceps
Day 3: Legs
Go back to Day 1

I do 5-6 exercises each day. Each workout is timed for 1 hour.

You don’t need a perfect plan

You just need to start. It’s easy to iterate and figure out what’s working (and what’s not) once you take the first step.

For example, on Day 1, I realized I didn’t have the right starting weights. They were too heavy. So, I updated my plan.

I also realized I didn’t have enough rest programmed between each exercise. So, I updated my plan.

Now, when I do Day 1 again, it will be optimized to what I actually experienced the last time I went. You’re building on top of what you know works, and what doesn’t.

Iterate as you go.

Final thought

Starting (or restarting) any routine takes work.

You must overcome the inertia of doing nothing in order to create the momentum of doing something.

The rewards far exceed any pain you might feel taking the first step. This applies to any routine, no matter what the goal. Fitness, sobriety, learning a new skill, finding a new career, starting a new business, making new friends… the list goes on.

Getting back into a routine isn’t easy or hard. It’s a decision to start. The only question is whether you’re willing to make it. Are you?

PS

Changes are coming to this Substack. Stay tuned.

And if you’re as psyched about getting back to the gym as I am, but don’t know where to start…

Reply to this email, I will create a custom plan for you.

If you’re new here, allow me to re-introduce myself

Hi, I’m Marek, elder Millennial, entrepreneur, parent, outdoor enthusiast, fitness aficionado, plant care-giver, dog+cat lover, neurodivergent robot, and trans guy.

Several years ago, I created a product called the “Rawlogy Cork Massage Ball,” which became popular with thru hikers, backpackers, trail runners, and lots of other people who have sore feet (and backs, hips, shoulders, etc.). Last October, I combined my middle age with my gym obsession and self-help passion, and created the Rawlogy Labs Substack.

Thanks for being here!

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Most people aim for big goals.

“Lose 20 lbs.”
”Run a marathon.”
”Get sober.”
”Do a complete makeover of my house / my yard.”

The problem with big goals is that you’re constantly looking at the end-state, which can be an overwhelming reminder of how much farther you have to go. Motivation is often lost when the goal seems so far away, especially if you plateau.

Ultrarunning, for example, involves running distances over a marathon. Like 50 or 100 miles. I’ve read many stories of ultrarunners who feel prepared going into their 100 mile races, but end up not finishing because halfway through, they realize they still have 50 miles left to go, and their brains say “This is batsh*t crazy. It’s too far. I can’t do it.” On the other hand, I’ve read stories of ultrarunners who turn the remaining 50 miles into 1-mile mini goals. Or even “get to the next bend in the trail” micro goals.

I call these “tiny projects.”

Tiny projects are the secret to accomplishing big goals. With a tiny project, you set your mind to accomplishing something bite-sized, not building-sized. The beauty of tiny projects is that they relieve the pressure of achieving something huge and solve the problem of lost motivation.

You celebrate your tiny wins every day. These daily celebrations are what keep you motivated.

Tiny projects = big changes

8 years ago, I bought a house with an ex who wanted “fixer-upper” yards. She was going to re-landscape everything. When we broke up 6 months later, I was left with a broken heart and landscaping that looked like a dilapidated cemetery. I didn’t know anything about plant care or renovating outdoor spaces, but what I did know is that I wanted to look at something beautiful. So, I bought a shovel and started digging. Every day for a year, I completed a tiny landscaping project. Here’s what happened.

My big landscaping goal wasn’t scoped out with Gantt charts, milestone checkpoints, and workback plans. My big goal was an evolution of hundreds of tiny projects. My vision became reality by focusing on just one hour, over the course of a thousand hours.

More examples of tiny projects

I want to do 100 pushups in one-go. My tiny project is doing the same number of push-ups every day, increasing them by 5 every week. This week, is 55 every day; next week will be 60 every day; and so on.

Here’s how you can break some of the big goals I mentioned above into tiny projects:

• Instead of focusing on 10 lbs of weight loss, your tiny project could be exercising for 30 minutes every morning, increasing it by 5 minutes every week.

• Instead of focusing on running 26.2 miles, your tiny project could be walking 1 mile every day. Then jog-walking 1 mile every other day. Most “couch-to-marathon” training plans follow this tiny project approach.

• Instead of saying “I will never drink alcohol again,” your tiny project could be “I will get through the next hour,” “I will get through tonight,” “I will get through 24 hours” without drinking.

Final thought

When you think about your life, do you think about it in terms of how many big goals you’ve accomplished? Or do you think about it in terms of what you’ve experienced, what you’ve survived, and what you’ve loved?

Tiny projects are the building blocks of life’s richest stories. When we share ourselves with others, we don’t share a laundry list of goals accomplished. We share narratives of success and struggle.

The big goal is not where you live. You live in the moments, the small wins, the daily celebrations. That’s where big change happens eventually. You don’t need more motivation. You don’t need a better plan. You just need tiny projects.

Start there.

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On Monday night, I was eating what was probably the worst salad of my life at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco. At the same time, I was writing a list of 100 words to describe myself that eventually turned into Tuesday morning’s post How to Figure Out Who You Are.

Despite the unfortunate dining experience (which my stomach punished me for later), writing my list came easily. Discovering how I actually see myself was surprisingly cathartic. Then organizing the words into positives and negatives gave me a fairly complete picture of how I want to see myself.

Here are my stats:

42% “foundational positives”

58% “foundational negatives” (aka sh*t pile)

Most people will have a similar ratio since we tend to be our own worst critics. However, it was empowering to see the positive words in a single list and it gave me a very accurate picture of what I like to call “Hero Me.”

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There are times in your life when you know 100% without a doubt who you are, and then there are times when you have no f*cking clue who you are.

When you know who you are, the world is your oyster. Anything is possible and opportunities are limitless. When you have no idea who you are, the world seems small. Life feels heavier, but also like it’s passing you by in the blink of an eye.

I’ve had some time to think about this lately. I haven’t written in a few weeks due to work travel and surgery, but my mind is in a different place now. A more philosophical place where perhaps the thing I want to write about isn’t niched down to fitness, but rather how fitness fits into the holistic picture of what it feels like to exist in midlife.

That brings me back to knowing (or not knowing) who you are.

This is a cyclical pattern that, in my opinion, happens approximately every 6 years OR after a major life event. For example, think about when you were 35. Now compare it to how you felt at 29 or how you feel at 41. Maybe you didn’t know who you were at 29, but you did at 35. Then you lost that feeling again at 41 because in your 40s, everything seemingly goes to sh*t.

If you’re in a “not knowing who you are” cycle, let me show you how to bring yourself back to knowing who you are.

How you think about yourself determines how you experience the world

If you feel yourself questioning your purpose or your goals, and drifting away from the person you know you can be, you must look at yourself in a radically different way.

As civilization and technology evolve around you, you must establish new patterns of thinking. As your body changes with age and lifestyle, you must establish new patterns of self-preservation.

I have an exercise to help you do just that.

100 words to describe yourself

Grab a notepad and a pen, and go someplace you won’t be disturbed for at least 30 minutes. By “you won’t be disturbed,” I also mean by your laptop, iPhone or Apple Watch or any other device that could break your concentration.

Now, make a list of a 100 words that describe yourself. They can be adjectives (“compassionate”), nouns (“runner”), identity-based (“mom”), anything you want—but you must write 100. You don’t need to time yourself, but you do need to do this exercise in one sitting.

When you’re finished, review your list. This might be painful, especially if there are more negative words than positive words. Separate out the negatives from the positives into 2 columns.

The list of positives is gold. They reflect the positive reinforcements from your parents and other important figures in your life when you were very young. The positives are the qualities you’re most proud of. Label this column “Foundational Positives.”

The list of negatives is what’s holding you back. They reflect the dark side—the negative reinforcements from your parents, peers, teachers, etc. Label this column “Foundational Negatives” (or “Sh*t Pile” if you prefer).

Reframe your negatives

People are wired to respond to positivity with positivity. The converse is also true. When you believe all the negative things you say about yourself, you experience the world through a negative lens.

This is why, if you’re feeling stuck in your life right now, and unsure of what the f*ck you’re doing and where the f*ck you’re going, you must take your list of negatives and reframe them as positives.

For each negative word you wrote down, write the desired positive in a new column. A fitness related example could be:

Negative: Couch potato

Positive: Elite runner

Even if, at 41, you can’t possibly in your wildest dreams imagine going from couch potato to an elite runner, it is NOT IMPOSSIBLE. If you can see yourself in that positive, if you can dream that possibility for your life—regardless of the year on your driver’s license—write it down. Label this column “Transitional Positives".

You should now have:

Foundational Positives | Foundational Negatives | Transitional Positives

The goal is to create new patterns for your mind and body based on those transitional positives, and train yourself to follow those patterns, rather than fall back on your foundational negatives.

Final thought

You might think I’m crazy for sending this to your inbox. Like “wait, I signed up for a midlife fitness newsletter and I’m getting life coaching?”

I get it and I am a little crazy. One of the negatives on my list was overthinker. I overthink the “right kind of content” to send you. I overthink what it means to be a writer. I overthink what it means to be successful. I tend to overthink everything. So, here’s how I reframed my negative:

Negative: Overthinker

Positive: Intuitive

And my intuition said, “Marek, write this and ship it.”

The life you want, how you experience the world, who you show up as… those things are all malleable. You can bend them and shape them across time and space. But it does require you to give up the old narratives. The put-downs and the sh*t-talking you say to yourself.

I’m working on this right now for myself. You can too.

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Last week, I was taking care of my son who had a cold and the flu. As you might presume, I also got sick—although I think it was “flu lite” or some variant illness. Then this week, I started traveling three days a week (for the next eight weeks) with my job. The result? My training for the Catalina Island Trail Marathon got disrupted, and I was a whiny bvtch about it.

However, being a whiny bvtch isn’t sustainable (for both myself and the people around me), so I decided to flip my mindset switch.

And, I realized something:

This unpredictability is exactly why focusing on your lifelong journey matters more than any single goal. The journey isn’t about hitting perfect targets, it’s about building habits that survive disruption.

Most fitness goals fail because of the wrenches life throws in your plans. You get sick; your kid gets sick; your pet gets sick; work demands change; your body doesn’t cooperate, etc. The problem isn’t the wrenches; rather, the problem is setting rigid, result-focused goals instead of flexible, journey-focused habits.

In my case (training for the trail marathon in March), it boils down to rucking whenever/wherever possible, eating whole foods on the road, and lifting when I can. (I am traveling via car, so I brought my rucksack and kettlebell to the hotel with me. I don’t have to ruck in the mountains, I can ruck on the beach by my hotel. I don’t need a gym, I can use my kettlebell in the hotel room.)

If you want to lose 20 pounds in five months, commit to eating real food (no processed grains, no added sugar) and moving consistently (walk daily anywhere you can, lift 2-3x a week with whatever weight is available). This is the art of habit-building, rather than setting rigid and unreasonable expectations for yourself that crumble when things change.

When you focus on the habits instead of the goal, disruptions don’t derail you.

They just change the route.

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To ask yourself this week:

Are my fitness goals rigid or adaptable? Will they survive the next disruption?

To try this week:

Replace one result-focused goal with a process-focused habit. Instead of “lose 5 lbs,” try “eat real food at every meal.” See how it holds up when life gets messy.

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Let me know how it goes by commenting or shooting me a reply. I read every response.

Thanks for being here,

-Marek

You’re not seeing the months (or even years) of struggle, the missed workouts, the setbacks, the injuries and illness, the diet fails, the plateaus, and the times they wanted to quit.

That’s why before-and-afters have so much power. That’s why a “follow along as I attempt to hit my 50 lb weight loss goal” video series is so compelling. There’s a guy on YouTube who created a now-viral video “I Worked Out Like David Goggins for 100 Days.” The video got 12M views and is insane. The reason it went viral is because it shows the messy parts that most people try to hide: pain, suffering, doubt, failure.

(Note: I definitely don’t agree with his training approach, but he’s also 20 years younger than me.)

That kind of honesty is rare.

Most of what fills your feed isn't the struggle, it's the polished result: the concrete abs; the personal best; the confident, hormones-perfectly-in-balance workout selfie. When that's all you see, it's easy to look at your own body, your own progress, your own stumbles, and feel like you're failing. Here's what's actually happening: you're comparing your beginning to someone else's middle or end.

I challenge you to make this your new truth:

Every confident person still feels insecure. Every successful person still fails. Every happy person still feels sad. Don’t mistake outside appearances for internal realities.

In midlife especially, everyone is struggling more than they’re showing because bodies don’t recover like they used to and energy is split between work, family, and general messy, beautiful, complicated life. You’re doing the best you can with what you have, and so is everyone else.

You're never as far behind as you think you are. The person who looks like they have it all together, doesn’t. They’re just not posting about the vulnerable parts.

So just be wherever you are. Even if it's not perfect, it’s real.

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To ask yourself this week

Do you have unrealistic expectations for yourself? What if you decided that your struggles were normal and okay? What would that feel like?

To try this week

Drop one unreasonable expectation you've had for yourself. Maybe it's losing weight faster, training more days per week, or looking like you did at 30. Just let one go.

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Let me know how it goes by commenting or shooting me a reply. I read every response.

Thanks for being here,

-Marek

Quick pulse check before we dive in. I want to make sure FIVE is actually working for you. Not just what I think you want, but what you actually need.

Thanks for weighing in on the future of FIVE!

Here’s my status on last week’s FIVE experiments aka my “Power Plant Protocol.”

• I’ve done GMB Elements ground flows daily for two weeks, 15-20…

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Quick ask before we start…

You know I’m all about rucking (walking with a weighted backpack or vest). Rucking is blowing up—Huffington Post just covered it, and weighted vest sales jumped 50% last year. Women and men experiencing hormonal changes (perimenopause, low T) are one of the fastest-growing groups adopting weighted vests and rucking (driven by bone density and muscle mass concerns).

I'm thinking about launching a dedicated community for midlife adults who want to ruck (no military culture, no extreme workouts), and have access to beginner guides, training plans, community, events, gear recommendations, and more.

Thanks! Now on to today’s post…

I’ve noticed something really frustrating about midlife. It’s very difficult to lose body fat when you’re over 40!

True story: last year I was lifting heavy, getting stronger, building a lot of muscle, whilst also growing thicker in the tummy and love handles. The numbers on the scale were going up because I was in a “bulking” phase (as bodybuilders call it), but when I tried to lose the extra fat like I did in my 20s and 30s, nothing happened.

Despite more cardio (which always worked before), the fat just... stayed. I felt like I was stuck in a permanent bulk. Solid muscle underneath, but a layer of fat on top that refused to go.

Then I learned about two really annoying things that happen in midlife that explain exactly why it’s so hard to lose body fat.

First: Anabolic Resistance and Muscle Loss

Your body’s efficiency changes in your 40s. You enter a state of anabolic resistance, where your body becomes less efficient at converting protein into muscle. Since muscle burns calories, losing muscle mass means losing the ability to burn fat at rest. Your body now requires new signals (e.g. higher protein intake and strength training) to efficiently burn fat at rest.

Second: Hormonal Fat Redistribution

Declining estrogen (for women) and testosterone (for men) changes where your body stores fat. When you’re younger, hormones help distribute fat more evenly. After 40, your body prefers to store fat centrally as visceral fat around your organs and midsection. Visceral fat is biologically different than subcutaneous fat (fat under your skin elsewhere); it’s “pro-inflammatory,” increases disease risk, and is harder to lose.

This is why your jeans don’t fit even though you weigh the same as you did five years. Your body composition has shifted: fat has literally migrated from your subcutaneous stores to your midsection. So, even if you lose weight, your body pulls from your arms, legs, and face first, not your waist and hips. FUN!

The Fix

Here’s what worked for me: a 40+ year old body needs strategy, NOT sacrifice. I’ve gone down one pants-size with the following strategies:

• Meals: Starting the day with a simple coffee (light cream) and a mitochondrial/creatine supplement. Then instead of three full meals a day, substituting one meal with a protein shake. The other two meals contain a high-protein main, a vegetable, and a starch (based on Mark Sisson’s research on metabolic flexibility for 40+ bodies).

• Water: Drinking a lot of it. Cutting out soda and alcohol (or at the very least, reducing your intake).

• Movement: 5K-10K steps per day, with some or all as a ruck (weighted backpack or vest).

• Strength Training: 20-30 mins of weight training 3x-5x/week. From home, at the gym, whatever. I use kettlebells at home because they are very convenient and simple. Rucking also counts as strength training.

• Mobility: 15-30 mins ground-based mobility flows every day (e.g. crawling like a bear). You can’t let your mobility get away from you. It’s so easy to lose, and so hard to get back.

The truth is that fat loss after 40 requires a completely different strategy than fat loss at 30. Your body changed the game, which means you have to change your approach.

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To ask yourself this week

What strategy worked for fat loss in your 20s and 30s that isn’t working anymore? Are you still trying the same approach and expecting different results?

To try this week

Pick one element from the fix above and test it for 7 days. Just one. See if changing one variable shifts anything.

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Let me know how it goes by commenting or shooting me a reply. I read every response.

Thanks for being here,

-Marek

P.S. For paid subscribers, this Friday's FIVE covers Japanese “slow jogging,” weight vest strength training, protein shakes, sleep quality (environment and routine), and letting go of scale weight obsession. Upgrade your subscription →

I’m two weeks into 2026 and already running experiments on myself 😂 Websites, writing, workouts, supplements... hey, you don’t learn if you don’t try!

This week’s big realization: fighting mitochondrial decline isn’t about nailing one thing perfectly. It’s about getting all FIVE things dialed in on the same day—movement, strength, nutr…

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I’m sleeping 7-8 hours. I’m not staying up late doomscrolling. My kids don’t wake me up at 3AM (my fur babies do though). I drink herbal tea instead of alcohol as a nightcap. Yet, most mornings feel like I’m dragging myself out of bed, bleary eyed and hungover.

At first, I blamed my hormonal night sweats, swamp sheets, and cats. I got new sheets. I locked my cats out. I tried a sound machine. When that didn’t help, I convinced myself it was the questioning of my life’s hopes and dreams, thinking that I wasn’t motivated enough to rise and shine. So, I started wearing a sleep tracker and overthinking my life’s purpose.

Turns out... I’m sleeping fine. I’m just exhausted anyway.

Desperate to figure it out, I went into research mode, diving into first principles of midlife bodies. That’s when I learned about mitochondria (rather, refreshed my memory from 6th grade biology). Mitochondria are tiny power plants inside your cells that convert food into usable energy. When they’re efficient, you feel energized. When they decline, you feel tired.

Here’s the problem: After 40, your mitochondria become less efficient and go into decline.

First, your cells burn more energy to do the same amount of work. Think of it like an old car that’s losing its fuel efficiency. It has to burn way more gas to go the same 50 miles than it did when it was brand new. Your body is doing the same thing; it's working harder but getting less "mileage" out of your food and rest.

Second, your body senses that your cells are working overtime, so it tries to conserve energy elsewhere.

• It slows down muscle rebuilding: Muscle is metabolically "expensive" to keep, so your body stops investing in repair.

• It shows up in your mirror: Mitochondrial stress hits your hair follicles too, which contributes to graying.

• It traps you in a “fatigue loop”: Your brain makes you feel sluggish to force you to conserve energy. This creates a vicious cycle: less activity = fewer mitochondria = even less energy.

Scientists call this the “brain-body conservation model of aging.” Your body is trying to protect you by slowing everything down. But it backfires, because now you’re just... tired all the time.

The fix: Move more, not less.

The thing your body wants to avoid (activity) is the thing that signals it to make more mitochondria. Exercise—especially consistent, daily movement—is the only proven way to reverse this decline.

Last week, I renovated my wake-up routine, starting with low impact, ground-based flows and then stacking on other forms of movement throughout the morning. That was enough to tell my mitochondria: “Hey, we’re still doing stuff. Keep making energy.”

The result: I don’t feel like I need a nap by 11AM. Progress.

If you’re feeling the same way I felt, and getting more sleep, nicer sheets, or banning your pets hasn’t fixed the problem, you probably need to move more.

You need to give your body a reason to keep making energy.

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To ask yourself this week

What if your fatigue isn’t a sign you need more rest, but a sign you need more movement? When’s the last time you moved first thing in the morning, before your body had a chance to talk you out of it?

To try this week

Do 10-15 minutes of movement within 30 minutes of waking up. Anything. Walk, stretch, dance, mobility flows, anything. Just move before your brain convinces you not to.

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Let me know how it goes by commenting or shooting me a reply. I read every response.

Thanks for being here,

-Marek

P.S. For paid subscribers, this Friday's FIVE is a deep dive into my Power Plant protocol. I’m breaking down the movement and strength stacks that reverse mitochondrial atrophy, the meal timing trick that protects your cellular energy, the truth about mitochondrial supplements, and the mindset shift that stops your brain from "load shedding" your movement. See you Friday.

FIVE Fridays are typically for paid subscribers, but I wanted to share our New Year’s Edition with all of you. Here’s to an adventure-filled, whole-hearted 2026, I’m so excited to kick it off with you!

Happy FIVE Friday and Happy New Year!

This week I was in the Canadian Rockies, where I took my 13-year-old son snowshoeing and fat tire e-biking for the first time. Living in Los Angeles is great, but there is something magical about being in the expansive mountains of the white north that puts health and wellness into clear focus. Fitness feels fun. I haven’t even thought about the gym. Despite sub-zero temperatures, Jack and I have been playing outdoors every day, and I came up with some bodyweight routines to do in the hotel room for strength training and mobility.

It’s become apparent to me that my favorite way to stay fit at 45 is to be active outside, supplemented by strength challenges that counteract sarcopenia. I’ve done the research and want to share some findings with you on what could mean for your own fitness journey.

In today’s post…

• 🏃‍♀️ Movement: Building functional movement from the ground up.

• 🏋️ Strength: A “Simple and Sinister” program.

• 🥗 Nutrition: Am I a snake? The case for 2 meals a day.

• 🛌 Recovery: The couch is not your friend.

• 🧠 Mindset: Just show up and have fun.

🏃‍♀️ Building functional movement from the ground up

Whenever I’m playing in the mountains, I always think about how I can incorporate the same rugged, functional movement into my training at home. For example, I started incorporating rugged movement into my training in 2025 with rucking (weighted walking). So far, my functional movements have all been from the gym: pushing, pulling, hinging, carrying, and squatting weights. But, what if there was a way to practice functional movement at home, as well as fix some nagging mobility problems with my wrists and knees?

That’s why, my friends, I’ve found myself currently obsessed with the idea of “ground-based” aka “primal” aka “animal” movement. Experts in these movement patterns appear graceful and light, but they are also strong, mobile, and flexible. The four basic movements shown in the video below are:

• Bear

• Monkey

• Frogger

• Crab

You can put them together to create flows and intensify the movements by changing your body position. My hypothesis is that by combining ground-based movement work with strength training, my body will develop a level of resiliency and mobility that I haven’t felt in years.

This week: I’ll be practicing ground-based movement throughout January, and I’d love for you to join me. Watch the video, practice the moves, and send me a message letting me know what you think.

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🏋️ A ‘Simple and Sinister’ program

NOTE: Throughout January, this section will showcase strength training programs that are (1) highly effective, (2) highly efficient, and (3) approved for beginners.

When I was in my late 30s, I tore my bicep using a kettlebell. Kettlebells initially drew my attention because they are simple, effective, and a low-cost way to build muscle and stamina. I still think kettlebells are all these things.

The mistake I made was that I followed a 20-something social media influencer who encouraged getting “swole” by doing heavy flows. Flows (multiple exercises done in a rapid sequence) are not a great idea for beginners, and are really just Instagram theater. Before getting into flows, it’s essential to master basic movements with safe starting weights.

The “Simple and Sinister” (S&S) kettlebell plan by Pavel Tsatsouline is one of the best programs for mastering basic movements—there’s only 2! Despite being minimalistic, it certainly isn’t easy. The goal of S&S is to build strength, power, endurance, and resilience with simple exercises, in a short amount of time.

5-6 days per week, perform:

Warmup

Do 3 sets of 5 reps for each: Prying Goblet Squat, Hip Bridge, Halo.

100 kettlebell swings

Do 100 kettlebell swings in sets of 10 within 5 minutes (taking quick breaks between sets). They can two-hand (beginner) or one-hand (intermediate). Ladies, start with 12 kg (26 lb) and men, start with 16 kg (35 lb).

Rest

1 minute.

10 kettlebell / turkish getups

Do 5 getups each arm within 10 minutes. Ladies, start with 8 kg (18 lb) and men, start with 12 kg (26 lb).

IMPORTANT: If these weights feel potentially catastrophic, use something lighter to start. The goal for the “Simple” version of S&S is to increase your weight gradually (without injury!) until you can do 24 kg swings and 16 kg getups (ladies) or 32 kg swings and 32 kg getups (men).

For Pavel’s complete guide to S&S, including the Sinister portion, you can find his book online. Or, shoot me a message for 1:1 coaching.

This week: If you’re feeling bullish on building functional strength with kettlebells and are hard-pressed for workout time, give Pavel’s S&S plan a try. If not, I’ll have a new program for you next Friday.

🥗 Am I a snake? The case for 2 meals a day

People have made comments about the way I eat my entire life. That I don’t eat enough. Or that I don’t eat the right thing at the right time. Asking if I have food issues. I think what people find bizarre is that I don’t subscribe to the “3 meals a day” plan and I don’t eat when I’m not hungry, even if it’s perceived as being antisocial. My son even asked me this week “are you a snake or something?” when I passed on breakfast because I was still satiated from the previous night’s dinner.

It turns out, there is a biological reason for that. I recently came across Two Meals a Day by Mark Sisson, who explains that our bodies aren’t designed for constant grazing. I’ve been following Mark for years, first reading his blog “Mark’s Daily Apple” and then his book Primal Blueprint. I respect his opinions and his research. Mark says that for people aged 40–60, eating by the clock keeps insulin high, which “locks” our fat stores and prevents us from using them for fuel.

Mark’s approach is about regaining metabolic flexibility, the ability to switch between burning sugar and burning stored fat. The blueprint is simple:

• Trust your gut: Move away from rigid meal times and eat for satiety, not the clock

• Clean the fuel: Prioritize protein and plants while cutting refined sugars, grains, and seed oils

• Balance movement: Support your metabolism with walking and strength work rather than just exhausting cardio

Skipping a meal isn’t about restriction; it’s about performance and listening to what your body actually needs.

This week: Audit your hunger before you pick up a fork. Try eliminating snacks between meals and only eat when you feel a genuine physical need for fuel, even if that means passing on a traditional mealtime because you’re still satisfied from the night before.

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🛌 The couch is not your friend

If you want to bounce back faster after exercise, research shows that light movement beats complete inactivity every time.

It’s a common misconception that active recovery is just about “clearing lactic acid,” but it’s also about blood flow and lymphatic drainage. Your lymphatic system (the body’s waste removal service) doesn’t have its own pump. It relies on your muscles moving to flush out toxins. A simple walk can increase this clearance rate by up to six times compared to resting on the couch.

What works best for active recovery?

• The Winners: Massage, compression, and light aerobic movement (like 20 minutes of walking or swimming).

• Not Surprisingly: Massage is the #1 way to reduce both muscle soreness and fatigue.

This Week: On your next rest/recovery day, take a 20-minute "leisure walk." Focus on deep breathing to refresh your system without adding stress.

🧠 Show up and have fun

In many ways this past year, I’ve realized that I am happiest when I do the opposite of what everyone else is doing; when I underthink vs overthink; and when I simplify instead of complicate.

Hiking, backpacking, rucking, trail running, strength training, and now ground-based movement have all shown me that fitness success doesn’t have to come from what’s trending. Fitness success comes from three basic mindset switches:

1. Do fun things: Pick fitness activities that feel like play. If you hate running, don’t run. If you love walking, walk. If you feel alive when you dance, but silly at the same time, say f*ck it and dance like no one’s watching. Do things that make your body feel like it’s being celebrated, not tortured.

2. Consistency > motivation: Results come from showing up every day. First with your mind (“I’m doing this because this is what I do, it’s part of my identity”), then your body will follow. Consistency is the key to lasting fitness just like practice is the key to becoming an expert at any skill.

3. Trust the process: This is something that took me 44 years to learn. Stop changing lanes. Commit to a path, tweak it when necessary, and stay the course. When you first start a new fitness routine, you’re probably going to be bad at whatever you’re doing. That’s the point. You learn as you go. Fail, try, fail, try, fail, try, succeed.

This week: Instead of making 2026 about a “new you,” make it about having more fun, being more consistent, and having more trust in the process. Pick an activity that feels like play and commit to a specific time for it. Stop focusing on the end result and start focusing on simply being the person who shows up.

Thanks for reading and welcome to 2026!

-Marek

Over the last few days, I’ve had lots of time to think about New Year’s resolutions. And it dawned on me that I’ve spent my entire adult life setting goals for myself. Yet, the accomplishments I’m most proud of started from a vision of my future self, not from goal setting.

In midlife, goal setting alone does not result in lasting change. Most New Year’s resolutions are just that—a checklist of goals that last a couple weeks, then fizzle out by the end of January.

Things like:

Lose weight.
Go to the gym.
Build muscle.
Reduce body fat.
Walk more.
Quit alcohol.

These goals are great, but unless they are rooted in a vision for your future self, chances are they won’t last.

The only way to create lasting change in your life and make yourself unrecognizable is to live the life of the person you want to become every single day. This is done by creating a vision.

To create a vision for yourself and become unrecognizable in 2026, do this:

1. Make a list of the things you’re unhappy about that you have control over (i.e. that are not dependent on the choices of others). We all have them. They could be related to health, mindset, career, lifestyle, anything.

2. Arrange the list from most unhappy to least unhappy.

3. Cross out everything but the top 3 things.

4. For the top 3 things, write what the unrecognizable version of yourself would say instead.

5. Re-organize your daily behaviors in 2026 around these three statements.

The three statements from Step 5 form your vision—the vision of your life that will make you unrecognizable. Now ask yourself, “what behaviors will it take on a daily basis to have my vision come true?” These behaviors are your true goals.

In short: define your vision, clarify what matters, and commit to living the life of the person you want to become. Act on your true goals every day—as compounding effort is the only way to create lasting change—and remove any obstacles that steer you away from your vision.

The truth is, you have the power to change any time you want. Your power lives inside of honoring your vision.

And honoring your vision is how you become unrecognizable.

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To ask yourself this week

Who is the person I want to become in 2026? What would make that future version of me unrecognizable to the current version of me?

To try this week

Make your list and arrange it to define the vision of your unrecognizable self, and clarify the daily behaviors/goals needed to achieve that vision. It’s ok if these goals evolve over time, it’s the compounding effort that matters.

Health examples:

I am unhappy with my weight.
I am unhappy with my chronic back pain.
I am unhappy with feeling low energy all the time.

Becomes:

I am confident at my ideal bodyweight.
I am pain free and can do all the activities I want to do.
I feel energized every morning and that lasts until I go to bed at night.

Daily behaviors:

• I know how much energy I’ve burned and how much energy I need to consume to be net positive or net negative

• I eat non-processed foods that are nutrient dense and wholesome

• I perform exercises focused on strengthening my posterior chain and core muscles

• I drink tea instead of alcohol to relax in the evening

• I put my phone away 1 hour before bedtime and do something non-electronic to calm my nervous system

• I get at least 7 hours of deep sleep

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Thanks for reading and Happy New Year,

-Marek

P.S. If you need help clarifying the daily behaviors that will help you become unrecognizable, consider upgrading your subscription. Every Friday, I send out FIVE, a curated brief that recommends where to focus your attention across midlife movement, strength, nutrition, recovery, and mindset. Upgrade here

If there’s one thing I’m good at collecting, it’s surgeries. I’ve had a couple major ones the last few years: ankle reconstruction after blowing it out on a hike and a meniscus repair after I tore it trail running. Total recovery with physical therapy: 18 months.

My physical therapist told me there were two key things I could have done …

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A lot of fitness advice lives in that vague zone.

“Listen to what your body is telling you.”
“Find balance.”
“Fix your mindset.”

None of this is wrong. I just noticed that when advice stays abstract, I tend not to act on it. I spend a lot of energy pondering that abstract advice, trying to figure out exactly what it means. I’m so busy overthinking that it causes analysis paralysis, and everything stays exactly the same.

I needed to find a way to quantify midlife fitness. Here’s how I did it.

About three months ago, I came across the Wheel of Life, a simple self-assessment that asks you to score different areas of your life on a scale from 1 to 10, plot those scores on a circle, and connect the dots. The interesting part isn’t the numbers themselves. It’s the shape they create. If the shape is jagged and uneven, you know where to focus your energy to correct the imbalances.

I loved the idea of this because, duh, numbers—so I tried the same approach with midlife fitness. I creatively called it Wheel of Midlife Fitness (again, numbers guy, not marketing guy).

I drew a circle and split it into five sections: movement, strength, nutrition, recovery, and mindset.

I rated each area from 1 to 10 based on how much I move, how strong I think I am, what my diet looks like, how much time and effort I spend recovering, and where my head is at when it comes to my own fitness. A score of 1 meant neglected or broken, and a 10 meant thriving.

When I connected the dots, my wheel was jagged, so a lot of my fitness frustrations made sense. I could see and quantify where I needed to focus my attention over the next few months.

It wasn’t an effort problem. It was an awareness gap.

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To ask yourself this week

When it comes to your fitness, which area do you pay the least attention to?

To try this week

Draw the Wheel of Midlife Fitness (or use my template), mark your scores, and connect the dots. Look at the shape and notice where it’s jagged. Pick one low-scoring area and write down one concrete action you can take to support it.

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Thanks for reading,

-Marek

Most of us aren’t failing at health and fitness. We’re overwhelmed by noise.

There’s too much information, and we’re only shown a slice of it. We don’t even realize what we’re missing because algorithms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Google, Amazon) decide what we see, read, and buy.

So I decided to reframe paid Fridays. …

Read more

Thinking about the thing is not the same as doing the thing.

And that gap is often the very reason we feel bad in our bodies. You can’t think your way into feeling better. You have to do something.

Last year, I was losing sleep over what direction to take my company, Rawlogy. The overthinking paralyzed me. I dropped off Instagram, stopped exploring product ideas, stopped creating… and as a result, was feeling terrible in my mind, body, and spirit.

I got to a point when I couldn’t take the stuck feeling anymore. So I did something: I started this Substack.

I was scared of what people would think. I was nervous about putting myself out there. But, I wrote about the topics I cared about most—fitness, movement, midlife energy, and the connection between body and mind. And I revisited my purpose—to help people feel better in their bodies—and made it my mission to offer guidance that’s sustainable and authentic.

The effect on my body was immediate. Not because I had a perfect plan (and I still don’t), but because I was finally in motion. I felt a sense of accomplishment, purpose, and relief… all from doing one thing worth feeling good about.

If you’re feeling bad in your body—whether it’s physical (fitness, energy, mobility) or mental (stuck, overwhelmed, disconnected)—the answer is the same: do something worth feeling good about.

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To ask yourself this week

What’s one thing you’ve been overthinking or avoiding that you know would make you feel better if you just did it?

To try this week

Do that thing. It could be something that scares you, something you’ve been putting off, or something that challenges you. Just do one thing this week that’s worth feeling good about.

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Thanks for reading,

-Marek

P.S. You’ll notice these Tuesday essays are shorter and lighter than what I’ve sent before. During the 12-Day Reset I ran earlier this month, many participants told me they appreciated the shorter format—easier to read, easier to act on. Thanks for the great feedback!

Quick recap:

1. Your body adapts to patterns, not one-off efforts.

2. Muscle strength comes from five core movement categories: hinge, squat, push, pull, carry.

3. Your body only adapts when it experiences a challenge above its normal level.

4. Muscles grow when they are asked to produce steady effort under control.

5. Your body only uses the strength it feels safe using.

Today is about the “So what?”

How do you take those principles and turn them into a real week of strength training that:

• fits around work, family, and life

• doesn’t wreck your joints

• actually makes you stronger over time

• doesn’t fall apart the moment your schedule gets messy

Let’s build that.

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Step 1: Decide on 2 or 3 strength days

We’re not building a bodybuilder split.

We’re building something you can repeat for months.

Choose one:

• Option A: 2 strength days per week

• Option B: 3 strength days per week

Both work. More isn’t automatically better.

If you’re unsure, start with 2 days. If that feels solid for a month, you can add a third.

Step 2: Use the five core categories

Everything you do will come from these:

• Hinge (deadlifts, hip hinges, hip thrusts, Romanian deadlifts (RDL))

• Squat (squats, split squats, step-ups)

• Push (push-ups, bench, overhead presses)

• Pull (rows, pulldowns, pull-ups)

• Carry (farmer carry, suitcase carry, rack carry)

You don’t need fancy exercises.

You need simple options inside each category that your body tolerates.

Pick 1 exercise per category that:

• doesn’t cause joint pain

• you can set up quickly

• you can imagine repeating for months

We’re going to plug those into a template.

Step 3: The 2-day template

If you chose 2 strength days, here’s the simplest first-principles plan.

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A first principle is a foundational truth — something you can’t break down any further. It’s the bedrock everything else depends on.

In physics, one of the simplest first principles is this:

Gravity on Earth is constant.

No matter what you drop — a feather, a rock, or a rhino — gravity pulls them downward the same way every time.

Wind resistance might change how fast something feels like it falls (i.e. the rhino is heavy, so air resistance affects it less; the feather is very light, so air resistance slows it down more), but the underlying truth never changes.

Gravity sets the rules.

In cooking, a first principle is:

Acid, fat, salt, heat.

Every Master Chef learns these fundamentals because once you understand them, you can create anything — new dishes, improvisations, entire styles of cooking — without needing a recipe.

Strength training is the same way.

When you understand the first principles, everything becomes simpler — and you can adapt your training to any age:

You know what matters. You know what doesn’t. These are the laws your training must follow if you want your body to respond.

Everything else — volume, sets, reps, equipment — is secondary.

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First principles of strength training

If gravity is the constant in physics, these are the constants in strength training — the laws that don’t change even when your life, schedule, stress level, or joints do.

They’re simple.
They’re unsexy.
They work at 25 and they work at 55.

Everything else is air resistance — it affects how training feels, but not how strength is built.

Here are the first principles your body actually responds to:

1) Your body adapts to patterns, not one-off efforts

A single workout is just an event.

A repeated workout becomes a pattern — and your body adapts to patterns.

2) Muscle strength comes from five core categories

• Hinge

• Squat

• Push

• Pull

• Carry

All other lifts are variations of these categories.

3) Your body only adapts when it experiences a challenge above its normal level

Strength increases when the body senses a level of effort it isn’t accustomed to.

4) Muscles grow when they are asked to produce steady effort under control

Growth is driven by controlled resistance, not by exhaustion or speed.

5) Your body only uses the strength it feels safe using

If a position feels unstable, the body automatically reduces how much strength you can access.

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Why these principles matter

Because they are always true.

Methods change as trends come and go.

Programs change every time a fitness influencer goes viral.

Equipment changes when engineering improves.

Your schedule, energy, and goals change as you age.

These principles don’t change; they apply regardless of how old you are, how your body looks, what season you’re in, or what your routine currently allows.

When conditions shift, the principles stay stable. That’s why they’re useful.

They give you a framework you can return to no matter what else is happening.

What these principles mean for your training

They make strength training easier to understand.

If the pattern repeats, your body will change.

If the movement fits into one of the five core categories, it builds usable strength.

If the effort is above what your body is used to, it creates a signal to get stronger.

If the effort is controlled and repeatable, the signal is clearer.

If the position feels stable, your body allows full strength; if not, it holds back automatically.

These principles give you a simple way to evaluate any workout or exercise:

• Is it something I can repeat often enough to form a pattern?

• Does it belong to a core movement category?

• Is it noticeably more challenging than what I normally do?

• Can I perform it with control from start to finish?

• Do I feel stable in the position?

If the answers are “yes,” it will build sustainable, durable strength.

If one or more answers is “no,” it’s either not doing much, adding noise, or increasing your risk.

Principles turn training from guessing into understanding.

On Friday

I’ll show you how to use these first principles to build a simple, repeatable strength plan you can adjust to any week of your life.

Free subscribers will get the Friday preview. Paid subscribers get the full application.

Thanks for reading,

-Marek