💪Finkel's Fast Five 129 - July 17th, 2020

Welcome to Finkel's Fast Five #129. Thanks for reading and subscribing!

ONE

MUSCLES - Back when I wrote for fitness magazines and it was summer time, we got an absurd number of questions about two muscle groups: abs and biceps. Realistically, if most dudes could have huge arms and a six-pack without doing any other work, they'd take it.

And why not? Having Thor's arms would be awesome. Having Rocky's shredded mid-section in Rocky III would be amazing. The abs part, honestly, is 90% diet and the rest a variety of muscle building movements (not 1 million crunches). But if you want a tried and true secret to bigger arms, specifically your biceps peak, this little video by Jim Stoppani is what you need.

TWO

FOCUS - I've got two big book deadlines looming as we head to the end of the year. That means late night writing sessions (and some early morning ones as well). Whenever I get into those regular 10pm writing sessions, I tend to overdo the caffeine...

...I'll have some green tea in the morning, maybe an ice coffee in the afternoon or a Bing energy drink or who knows, another cup of coffee at like 8pm. It works, but it's not healthy and somehow I feel simultaneously energetic/tired all the time. So, as I do a few times a year, I dropped all caffeine a few weeks ago. I drink Rooibos tea, which I've talked about in previous FF5s... But I've added a new tea for afternoons and late night to the mix: Peppermint Tea by Stash. I love this stuff. The mint tastes clean, smells fresh, and I'm sure it's a placebo effect, but I do feel like I have more focus later into the night. Amazingly, without caffeine, I feel way less tired and I don't have those regular crashes between 4pm and 6pm. Stash Peppermint. Give it a whirl if you're trying to kick caffeine.

THREE

NATURE - As part of my plan to somewhat educate the kids while they're home instead of having their brains turn to mush by watching endless videos on making slime, I have made it a requirement that they watch one documentary to start the day. I usually watch/work with them while it's on and this one was beyond cool.

It's called Night on Earth and it uses all kinds of new night cameras and night tech to capture animals/creatures all over the world at night. It's unreal. You've got cheetahs hunting, lions stalking, bears fighting and incredibly, one of the most amazing scenes is a bioluminescent scorpion going toe-to-toe with a desert mouse that is immune to its venom, so it stabs the mouse like 50 times before the mouse EATS THE STINGER. You gotta watch this.

FOUR

DADS - I made a joke this week that I've made a hundred times and that my dad and most dads I know have probably made since the beginning of time...or at least since drive-thrus were invented.

I know it was good and that I overuse it because the kids' eyes rolled so far back into their heads that they almost dropped into their brains. Nevertheless, I shared it, and it was a crowd pleaser. Enjoy it and a big shout out to every other dad who uses this tried and true line that only we laugh at.

FIVE

A great quote about dealing with what we can't control:

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

- Viktor Frankl

Shout out to Ryan Holiday on Twitter for sharing this one.

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