Post Summary
We’re answering the following questions from Two Percent readers:
What are some core Two-Percent activities I can do to improve my health?
Does rucking build muscle, and is it more of a strength or cardio activity?
Are greens powders like AG1/Athletic Greens worth it?
What do you think of balance tools like balance boards and slack blocks?
I have trouble gaining muscle. What are the fundamentals of building muscle?
Are you working on another book?
Housekeeping
This video post, like all Friday posts, is for Members of Two Percent. Become a Member below.
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Audio/Podcast version of this post
In today’s AMA, we’ll be tackling six questions
Substack recently asked the Two Percent community to beta-test their live video feature—so we decided to use the new feature to do a live AMA (Ask Me Anything, Ask Michael Anything … whatever you want to call it).
To field questions for the AMA, I created a chat within Substack. You can still add questions to the chat here. I’m keeping that chat open, so feel free to drop in Qs anytime and I’ll likely answer them in future AMAs.
I responded to a few questions within the chat and saved six for the live AMA, which took place on July 9th.
For those who couldn’t make the live AMA, we’re airing the video in this post1.
Our questions are:
What are some core Two-Percent activities I can do to improve my health?
Does rucking build muscle? And is it more of a strength or cardio activity?
Are greens powders like AG1/Athletic Greens worth it?
What do you think of balance tools like balance boards and slack blocks?
I have trouble gaining muscle. What are the fundamentals of building muscle?
Are you working on another book?
Thanks to Substack for letting us be their guinea pig to test out the new live video feature.
Why each question matters
The Two Percent question: If you look at raw calorie burn, Two Percent activities—i.e., finding ways to sneak activity into your day—are often more powerful than your workout. And that’s especially true if you lean into them. So the more, different ways you have to lean into them, the healthier and fitter you’ll be over the long haul. I do believe Two Percent activities are the great unlock for longevity.
The rucking and muscle question: Rucking obviously lives on some spectrum of both cardio and strength. But where on that spectrum does it lie? And how does it impact muscle mass and fat burning? Understanding that can help you make smarter decisions about using rucking in a fitness or fat loss routine.
The Athletic Greens/AG1 question: Athletic Greens is seemingly the official sponsor of Podcastistan, with most hosts saying the supplement is necessary. But does it do what it claims? The answer will help you think about not just Athletic Greens, but greens supplements in general.
The balance question: Balance is critical for longevity. But the way we think about it and try to build it is often not as effective as it could be. There’s a ton of bad information about balance. And yet what we think of as “balance” is critical for longevity and avoiding injury in outdoor activities. We’ll explain what actually helps build what we think of as “balance.”
The muscle gain question: Having enough muscle is associated with better health and longevity outcomes. And sometimes it’s just fun to pack on muscle. But trying to figure out how to optimize muscle building often leads us down strange rabbit holes of bro science. We’ll distill the fundamentals of building muscle.
The book question: The answer to this question matters if you liked my first two books and want me to write another. And, now that I think about it, I guess it matters if you didn’t like my first two books and would prefer that I never release another book lol.
Resources, citations, and links
The Two Percent question.
Two Percent activities can add up to an extra 800 to 2,000 burned calories a day. Note: I think 2,000 is at the extreme end—it comes from people with highly active jobs, like farming. But it does reveal the possibilities. I think the average person can hit that 800 mark.
The rucking question.
Athletic Greens/AG1/Greens powders question.
“Powdered fruit and vegetable supplements fail to consistently deliver meaningful health benefits in randomized, placebo-controlled trials, and many contain proprietary blends of ingredients that might be ineffective or contaminated.” Read more.
The muscle building question.
Here’s a good calculator to help you determine how much food you’ll need to eat to gain muscle (most other calculators overestimate).
Even better: Buy a food scale (this one is cheap and good) and figure out how much you’re eating now so you can slowly ramp up your calories.
Pair that scale with an app like the Carbon app and get to work.
Note that strength is likely more important than muscle mass for longevity. But the two often go hand-in-hand.
The book question.
In the meantime, you can get a signed copy of Scarcity Brain or The Comfort Crisis here.
A rough transcript
Note: This is a rough transcript created by Substack. It will contain some errors but should give you a good sense of the information. I’ve bolded the questions so you can easily find the answers you’re looking for.
