Making sense of seed oils, a hot take on training, a killer core exercise

Issue #91: Making sense of seed oils, a hot take on training, a killer core exercise

​Read online​

Read Time: 5 minutes

Good afternoon, 66.1ers.
Today's issue shares important insights on seed oils, a contrarian take on how to approach your training, and one of the more difficult core exercises we've come across.
A little bit of everything.

Housekeeping:

An announcement:

The Saturday editions of 66.1 will go behind a paywall later this month. Currently, we're planning to launch this change next Saturday, January 25.

The Wednesday editions, as always, will remain free of charge.

We are making this change so we can continue to deliver the highest-quality newsletter possible to help you build your health for the long term. Rather than generating revenue by selling ad slots to the highest bidder, we are starting with a paid subscription model to maintain high-quality, independent content.

If you anticipate difficulty affording the $6.61 monthly subscription fee, please reply here. We'll work something out.

In the coming weeks, you'll notice a few changes to 66.1. The website will have a new look, as will the branding. Not to worry--we're still the same old 66.1 you've been reading for the past 18 months. We'll keep you updated as we roll out these changes.

A quick refresher for anyone who's new to the newsletter: 66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US. We're here to extend that.

In case you missed it:

​Saturday's issue of 66.1​

In this week's issue of 66.1:

-You've heard that seed oils are unhealthy. Here's why.
-Disrupting the "more is better" approach to training
-Another core exercise (this one is tough!)

A slight modification to our Wednesday edition this week.
Something that’s less “Google-able” and requires more insight from your team at 66.1.
Hopefully, you find it more valuable.

Let us know in a reply to this week’s edition what you think.

Food for thought

You’ve probably heard the news by now: seed oils aren’t healthy for you. But this newsflash alone, while providing a valuable warning, isn’t particularly informative. There’s no “why” behind the “what”.

If you’re wondering exactly what it is that makes these oils bad for you, the short answer is, “processing”. They go through all sorts of chemical refinements that cause them to be inflammatory when ingested.

While this topic certainly deserves its own deep dive in a future Saturday issue, a great place to start is the graphic below from Max Lugavere.

See the source post here.

“Nature doesn’t make bad foods, humans do.”

–Max Lugavere

A question

More, for less:

Rather than training harder, how can you train more efficiently?
Do you really need to suffer more to get the results you’re after?
Or might a good night’s sleep and a recovery protocol move you forward more quickly than another HIIT session?

Workout of the week

A quick workout you can do anywhere.

This week's workout:

Pike Pulses (from the great Tim Ferriss podcast episode with Chris Sommer)

Here's the workout:

Sit on the floor, feet straight out in front of you.

Back straight.

Walk your hands out in front of you, ideally until they’re even with your knees.

Now, without leaning your torso backward, lift your feet up as high as you can.

You’ll have to engage your abdominal muscles as well as your hip flexors (muscles on the front of your hips).

Now, without touching your feet to the floor, raise your feet as high as you can, then lower them within a few inches of the ground.

Continue this cycle for 10 seconds.
Rest for 30 seconds.
Repeat 2 more times.

Then do it all again 2 more times for a total of 3 rounds of 3x10 second pulse intervals.

If it’s easy, do the pulses for 30 seconds at a time.

See a breakdown from Chris Sommer’s Gym Fit here.

Level: Advanced (this one's tough)

Don't do it if:

If you can't get on the floor, do this exercise on a bench.

Adaptation:

If it's prohibitively difficult for you to elevate your legs when your hands are even with your knees, slide your hands closer to your hips. Keep adjusting until the lift is challenging but doable.

​
Tried the workout?
​Reply here and let me know how it went.
I'd love to hear more.

​
That's all for this Wednesday.
Have fun out there.
​
Marcus
​

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Why 66.1?
​66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US, as of the start of this newsletter publication.
​We're here to extend that.