11 top articles of 2024 + Thanks

Stories that improved your life.

Post summary

• Thanks for being here. Double thanks if you’re a Member.

• We’re featuring the 11 best posts on Two Percent from 2024.

• These stories made us think differently, gave us actionable information, and improved our lives.

Housekeeping

• As a reminder, we’re running The Two Percent New Year Challenge in January.

• It’s a science-backed solution to New Year resolutions that don’t last. Read more about why it works here.

• Become a Member of Two Percent to join The Challenge, which will be delivered via the Two Percent chat every weekday in January:

Audio/podcast version

• Listen on your preferred player here.

The post

First off, thanks for being here.

Thanks to everyone subscribed to Two Percent, and double thanks to the Members. Two Percent wouldn’t exist without our Members.

We have a big mission: to cut through wellness noise and get to the heart of what actually improves the health, fitness, mindset, and well-being of real people in the real world. That is to say, you.

We’re building a strong, supportive community of like-minded, cool-as-hell people. The Two Percent comment section is my favorite place on the internet. I learned so much from all of you this year.

I also heard from many of you. Thanks to what you read here, some of you lost a significant amount of weight, vastly improved your fitness, took on outdoor adventures that changed your self-conception, or made a subtle tweak that had a massive impact on your health. Together we all expanded what we’re capable of.

That’s the tense of living we’re after.

I believe it’s easier for all of us to live in that tense when we have constant reminders of what that tense is, where we find it, and how we stay in it and squeeze it for all it’s worth.

That’s what Two Percent is all about—exploring ways to live better in a world that is seemingly bent on steering our bodies and minds in a direction that doesn’t benefit us in the long run.

So thanks again for being here and making this place truly.

Ok, enough with the sincerity.

Today we’re covering the 11 best Two Percent posts from 2024.

Pinning down these 11 posts was not easy.

I analyzed everything we published this year, jotting down the names of posts that I not only learned from and was thrilled to publish, but that also helped our community. I ended up with a list of nearly 50 posts.

After some serious mental wrestling, I narrowed it down to 11. “Because most blokes do 10. If we need that extra push over the cliff, we turn it up to 11. One louder …”

• These posts shed new light on trends, helping us understand and get the most from them.

• They gave us actionable information we used to perform, live, and think in new and more useful ways.

• They had epic comments we all learned from.

• They made us all better.

Let’s roll …

1. My wife the insane walker

One woman. One treadmill desk. 31,576 steps a day.

This post dove into Leah’s wild walking habit and 8 insightful tips she learned taking 30,000+ steps a day.

• Go deeper: Read Walk, Duh—a post on why walking is so powerful.

2. How to find the right exercise shoe

The right shoes can help you perform better and avoid injury. The wrong ones do the opposite. Unfortunately, flashy marketing often pushes us into the wrong ones.

This post covered what 50 years of research shows us about finding the right running or workout shoe for your unique needs.

It explains the truth about complicated shoe topics like drop, pronation and supination, foot strike pattern, and what pro runners really wear when they run.

After I published this post, shoe engineers from Nike and a couple other companies reached out to tell me the post was “pure gold.” The Nike designer wrote that it was, “an excellent compilation of my learned experience.”

• Go deeper: Read a guide to the best shoes for rucking/walking with weight.

3. Four lessons from Misogi

In January, I led a Misogi event in the jungle of Costa Rica. (We followed the rules: It was really hard and no one died).

Guiding a Misogi allowed me to observe the range of psychological experiences Misogi offers. Remember, a Misogi is an emotional, spiritual, and psychological challenge that masquerades as a physical challenge.

This post covered four lessons I learned from that hard event in the jungle. They’ll help you understand why you should do a Misogi—and also help you through any trials you face in daily life.

• Related: Having trouble finding your own Misogi? Read The Misogi Guide.

4. The best d*mn leg exercise ever

Sometimes you write a post that makes people want to kill you now and thank you later.

So it was with this post. It covers an extremely hard leg strength and endurance drill that takes just two minutes.

I started doing the drill while preparing for a two-week hunt in Alaska’s Chugach mountain range. The Chugach are gnarly, steep-and-deep mountains—some of the roughest country on earth. I needed legs like pistons—legs that could power up and down craggy mountains for days on end while I wore an 80-pound pack.

I ended my workouts with the drill a couple of times a week. My legs have never been stronger or had better endurance. Plus, some nagging knee pain went away.

The drill worked for many of you, too, even though you hated me while you did it.

5. The truth about WHOOP and other fitness trackers: part I

Ever feel like your fitness tracker is just making sh*t up? I did!

So, in February, I investigated the world of wearables. I spoke with the Chief Scientist of WHOOP, the activity tracker company, and Marco Altini, one of the world’s foremost thinkers and researchers on wearables.

The result: A guide to help you determine which numbers from your fitness tracker are worthwhile and which are worthless.

• Go deeper: Read Part II of the post and/or this post about whether activity trackers make people more active.

6. Five ways to live authentically

Here’s a depressing stat: 60 to 80 percent of people feel they're not living true to themselves.

Society twists and turns us. We often act, live, and relate to the world in ways that aren't how we want—living based on cultural and societal expectations.

But people who learn to live authentically—although it’s uncomfortable at first—gain six massive long-term benefits. They’re more satisfied with life, are more likely to reach goals, have fewer regrets on their deathbeds, and more.

This post explored five ways to live authentically through the story of Bill Walton, who died in May and was one of the most authentic humans who ever lived.

• Related: Take this scientifically validated test to determine if you’re living true to yourself and how you can live more authentically.

7. The wild world of Olympic nutrition

How to win a gold medal: “Squats and Taco Bell, baby.” That’s according to one gold medalist I spoke to for this post.

The post, timed to the Summer Games, explains why Olympian diets aren’t what you might expect.

But unpacking why Olympians eat the way they do can help us understand:

• How to eat to fuel different levels of exercise/activity.

• Why “junk food” can improve your fitness in certain workouts.

• When to eat junk food and how much of it to eat based on your activity level.

• A key underlying cause of metabolic diseases.

• Why overly restrictive and finicky diets can backfire.

Go deeper: Pair it with the follow-up post No, Michael Phelps didn’t eat 12,000 calories a day. It came from a conversation I had with Michael Phelps about nutrition in the run-up to the 2016 games.

8. Nose breathing science vs. snake oil

“Nasal breathing” and other breathing techniques have become a massively hyped topic in health and fitness.

Proponents say nasal breathing can boost heart health, fitness performance, sleep, and immunity while also reducing stress—and much more. But sometimes the claims go too far …

We spoke to scientists and read the research to bring you a no-BS guide to breathing. It’ll help you focus your time and energy on what actually helps.

• Go deeper: Many health rules “work,” but not for reasons we think. This post dives into five of the most common health and fitness rules and what makes them useful.

9. Rucking 101

Walk with weight. You were born to do it.

This post is the most comprehensive guide to rucking. It’ll help you start rucking—or do it better if you’ve already started.

• Related: “How many calories does rucking burn?” is the most common question I get about walking with weight. This post gives the most accurate calculator.

10. The BMI Deep Dive

Want to get a health-minded person worked up? Just say three letters: BMI.

BMI—a measurement that estimates body fat based on height and weight—is a lightening rod in health. But most criticisms are misguided. This post unpacks the true science and utility of BMI.

Many people read this post and message me something like, “I opened the post getting ready to get mad … but I actually learned a lot and think differently about BMI now.”

• Go deeper: Controversies around BMI usually deal with muscle. But more muscle isn’t always good. This post looks at how much muscle you really need for health.

11. The health benefits of gathering

The wise and powerful Gwendolyn Bounds joined us to talk about a hole-in-the-wall bar that changed her life.

Humans used to gather often in places like bars, homes, social clubs, gyms, and churches. We’d go to these places to BS, be part of something larger than ourselves, and be seen, heard, and found.

So the question is, how do we find places like that today? That’s what Gwendolyn and I chatted about.

We discussed why gathering is so critical for health and well-being, why it’s changing in unhelpful ways, and how to gather today.

The video was the most popular conversation on Two Percent this year. My conversation with Gwendolyn was also 20 years in the making (read the post for a wild story of strange synchronicities).

• Related: Strong gathering spaces are happening online—like the Two Percent comments section. Read the 15 best comments on Two Percent and my responses.

Have fun, don’t die, and I’m looking forward to spending 2025 with all of you.

-Michael

P.S. What did I miss? Let us know in the chat I just posted.

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