Good morning. It’s Tuesday, July 29th.

In today’s email:

• Focus: What’s Real and What’s Not

• Try: Push-Up/Squat - 25 Day Challenge

• Learn: How and Why We Age

• In the News: Beat the Bloat

• Brain Games: Calcudoku

Stat of the Day

The impact of being strong vs. weak on all-cause mortality - versus smoking or not smoking. In other words, lifting weights is 500% more effective at boosting your longevity compared to not smoking.

Learn

What’s Real and What’s Not

There’s more noise than ever when it comes to longevity.

I like to think that’s why thousands of you continue to read Thrive25. I can tell you it’s why we continue to show up every week. We never take for granted how important your time is and how many emails hit your inbox every morning.

I get asked all the time:

“Who’s your audience - men or women? Millennials or Boomers?”

Honestly, there isn’t just one demographic.

What connects everyone here is a shared mindset.

You want to live better - not forever.

You’ve told us:

• You want to stay sharp. Feel strong. Be mobile. Keep your independence.

• You’re not okay spending the next 25 years of your life feeling like crap.

• You want better - and, more importantly, you’re willing to put in the work.

That’s become our north star - our definition of longevity:

Since we started Thrive25, longevity has become a business just like the rest of healthcare - all about selling you:

⚡ Solve everything with this peptide
💉 Reverse aging with NAD or rapamycin
📦 Measure your biological age and take this $300/month stack

The problem?

It’s mostly all hype. And social media algorithms reward and spread hype, especially when it’s pretty extreme. So there’s money to be made on “the next big thing.”

The other problem?

Some of these things might be helpful. But it’s tough to know what’s worth it and what’s a total waste of money or, worse, is bad for us.

That’s why we try to be a trusted advisor so you know what’s real, what’s a waste of time or money, and what might actually be a risk to your health.

Because we’re still curious about the latest longevity molecules and breakthroughs.

We just don’t want to chase fads. Instead, we want to know what’s real and what’s actually worth trying.

And what’s worth trying is always changing.

We use terms like “potentially” and “possibly.” Not something that gets a lot of clicks - but we live in a messy world and we think it’s better to be right, than to be popular.

The other thing that gets rewarded online today is conviction. People sticking to their beliefs - even in the face of new research. This is just stupid.

Science is based on experimentation - testing hypotheses and making discoveries today that we didn’t know before.

We change our minds when the science changes.

That’s how science is supposed to work.

The 95% That Actually Matters

Even if we pick the right supplements or pills - that’s only 5% of what matters.

It won’t move the needle much unless we get the other 95% dialed in.

That’s why we write about the stuff you already know:

• Prioritize sleep

• Eat more fiber and protein

• Lift heavy things and protect your joints

• Build real relationships

• Actually reduce stress

• Get bloodwork done

• Stay ahead of chronic disease

But it’s not just about knowing what to do - it’s about how to actually do it, consistently.

It’s not a knowledge problem. It’s a consistency and personalization problem.

We know how hard it is when you’re juggling work, kids, a commute, an injury, a million things pulling you in different directions.

That’s why we created the Personal Longevity Advisor - to give you a clear, personalized blueprint to build better habits into your actual life.

We’re not here to tell you “just work harder.” We’re here to help you make it work.

This Is the Thrive25 Community

We read the studies, track the biomarkers, and test the tools.

We’re not trying to be the loudest. We’re trying to be the most useful.

✅ Do the 95% that matters
✅ Personalize it to your life
✅ Actually stick with it

That’s what our community is about. That’s why we’re building Thrive25.

Let’s live better - together.

Try

Push-Up/Squat - 25 Day Challenge

Imagine if you can get 2x stronger in just 5-10 minutes a day.

Take the number of push-ups and bodyweight squats you can do in one set where the last rep is a pretty significant challenge - say it’s 15 push-ups and 25 squats.

Do that many push-ups and that many squats every day for the next 25 days.

Before the end of August you won’t think it’s a challenge to complete that many push-ups or squats anymore - you’ll probably be able to 2x as many without stopping.

Just these two movements engage most of your muscle groups, strengthen our core, boost our mobility, and will improve how we carry ourselves.

No excuses - we all have the time to get stronger. Strength = longevity.

Thrive25 Partner Spotlight

The #1 Daily Health Habit

Between meetings, errands, and endless to-dos, your health should feel like a steady rhythm, not another task.

That's where AG1 comes in.

With 75+ vitamins, minerals and pro/prebiotics - it’s one of the easiest things you can do for your health –all for less than $3 a day.

Get a FREE AG1 Welcome Kit!

Focus

How We Age

We don’t fully understand why we age (there’s that nuance again).

But here’s what we do know as of today:

Every day we face stressors:
🧪 Junk food
🚬 Smoke
💤 Poor sleep
🌫️ Pollution
🔥 Chronic inflammation

Our bodies are resilient - but recovery takes energy.

And over time, it gets harder to bounce back.

Eventually the wear and tear gets to the point that it’s beyond repair.

It’s similar to the “law of degradation.” The more energy that’s used creates an output in heat that results in a decrease in energy in the system over time.

Only in the case of biology, our body is less efficient over time. We can’t claw our way back to the same level of health.

Eventually, we don’t recover to the same level…and we settle into a new normal - a slightly lower baseline.

According to Brian Kennedy, former director of the Buck Institute, “aging is the loss of resilience.”

Think of it like this:

When we’re young we have these walls that keep our health in place so when we get knocked down (eating that 2am fast food after a night of drinking) we bounce right back to our equilibrium.

But it eventually takes a toll and all the stress chips away at the wall and the ball falls to the right.

Then it happens again. And again. Eventually those walls aren’t even walls anymore - we barely have any defense to keep ourselves from getting older.

Eventually, the ball slips out of the valley and just keeps rolling downhill.

That’s aging.

So what’s the solution?

• Remove stressors where we can (everything is either a fuel or a poison)

• Strengthen our recovery systems (muscle, nutrition, sleep, connection)

• Reduce how often and how hard the damage hits

We can’t avoid aging. But each of us can decide how we age.

H&L in the News

Rethinking Aging’s Inflammation Myth: A new study suggests chronic inflammation isn’t an inevitable part of aging, but a result of industrialized living - hinting that environment and lifestyle, not age, may drive inflammaging. (NYTimes)

Beat the Bloat, Fast: Bloating isn’t just from overeating. Learn what triggers it - from gut bacteria to sugar substitutes - and get science-backed tips to prevent and relieve it before it ruins your day. (Northwestern Medicine)

Tear Down the Wall: Western philosophy’s echo chamber is cracking. Can ancient Asian and global traditions revive a discipline stuck in its own loop? It’s time to ask: what is philosophy - and who gets to define it? (Big Think)

Brain Games

Calcudoku

The objective is to fill in the grid with the correct digit in each cell, between 1 and 6:

• Each row contains exactly one of each digit

• Each column contains exactly one of each digit

• Each bold-outlined group (with same color) must equate the result with the numerical operation - addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*) and division (/)

It’s go time -  this one is tough, solve this in under five minutes. Ready…set…go!

Credit: Brainzilla

** For answer, scroll to the bottom of the email

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Brain Games Answer

We’re 40-something dads that felt our bodies and minds start to slow down and we’re not ready for that. We found too much information on every subject. So we started Thrive25 to transform what we’ve learned into something useful for the rest of us to spend just 5 min a day to optimize our health & longevity.

This newsletter is for you and we truly value your feedback. Never hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].

To health!