*Member episode* Become a Member of Two Percent here for full access to this episode.

Michael recently sent out a survey to Two Percent readers about rucking.

For those of you who don’t know, rucking is a military term for a very basic act: Walking with weight in a backpack. It’s spiked in popularity since 2021.

I’ published a deep dive into the many of the benefits of walking with weight here. In short: The act is uniquely beneficial because it combines strength and cardio, burns relatively more calories per mile, strengthens bones, gets you outside, and more.

One question in the survey was:

What are some tips that have helped you ruck better?

List anything that comes to mind. Nothing is too minor. Think outside the box. I'd like to hear everything.

Nearly 1,000 of you responded—and your answers were enlightening.

We’re covering 16 useful tips from your responses. They’ll help you walk with weight better so you can boost your health, fitness, and mindset faster.

New GLP-1 drugs are booming in popularity—12.5 percent of Americans have tried them. The figure is expected to grow by roughly 350 percent by 2035.

The drugs work on the brain to lead people to eat significantly less.

One curious side effect of the drugs: They’re changing how much food we buy and even the types of food we buy.

That’s according to a fascinating and rigorous new study from researchers at Cornell.

Michael spoke to the scientists to learn the details of how GLP-1s are changing shopping, the food industry, and their users.

In this episode, he’ll dive into all the details of their study and what it means for the future of food.

*Member Episode* Become a Member at TWOPCT.com

Home gym equipment makes it more convenient to exercise and increases the likelihood that you’ll exercise.

But it can be confusing to know exactly which home gym equipment to buy.

The good news it that you don’t have to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars for the perfect home gym.

Michael will explain the ideal strength equipment for a home gym and exactly what size of weights you should buy.

*Member episode* Become a Member at TWOPCT.com.

On Monday, Michael covered the benefits of silence.

That episode summarized: Humans evolved in silence, but we’ve recently increased the world’s loudness fourfold and this noise is linked to stress, poor health outcomes, and decreased focus and learning. In our loud and modern world, finding a bit of silence can be very good for us.

But, a confession: You can’t actually find silence.

Yet some strange and beneficial things will happen if you try.

Altering your soundscape can improve your fitness routine, productivity, creativity, and make you a little less crazy.

Michael will cover seven ways to leverage the power of silence to improve your life.

Become a Member at TWOPCT.com.

Humans have increased the world’s loudness four fold.

Yet we evolved in relatively silent environments and are better adapted to silence.

Living in excess noise is bad for us—it increases our risk of certain diseases, stresses us out, and harms our productivity and learning.

This is why silence is worth seeking, even if it’s uncomfortable at first and becoming harder to find.

Michael will dive into the science of silence and explain how to find a bit of peace and quiet.

Join Two Percent to get full access to all of our useful stories that can help you live better. Go here.

It’s the first Friday of the month. Which means it’s time to Burn the Ships.

On the first Friday of every month, we publish a new Burn the Ships workout for Members only.

Members of the Two Percent community do the workout every weekend—a bunch of us satellites, all sweating and improving together as one extensive network.

This month we’re getting our body in order for the New Year.

We’re laying a foundation for stronger and more resilient performance all year by leveraging fundamental human movement patterns that help you become stronger, faster, and tougher.

And it starts with your core, which is the foundation that all of your limbs work from. It’s like your body’s control center.

If your core is weak, you’ll be more at risk of back and lower body injuries, and your performance will suffer. There’s also a strong link between core strength and longevity.

Become a Member of Two Percent to get full details and video of the workout. TWOPCT.com

Join our tribe at TWOPCT.com.

Modern humans have engineered the world for comfort and ease.

Most people rarely step outside of their comfort zones these days—we’re living progressively soft, sterile, temperature-controlled, over-fed, under-challenged, safety-netted lives. And it’s slowly limiting the degree to which we experience our, as the poet Mary Oliver put it, “one wild and precious life.”

But a growing body of evidence shows that people are at their best—physically harder, mentally tougher, and spiritually sounder—after doing hard sh*t. We’re talking about pushing back against our world of ease and comfort and actively seeking occasional hardship.

Michael will unpack the science of why doing hard things is so beneficial. He’ll cover:

* What a month in the Arctic taught him about the value of doing hard things.

* The state of modern comfort and how it presents a conundrum.

* Why you’re wired to do hard things.

To send out 2024, Michael is highlighting the 11 bests stories he published on Two Percent (TWOPCT.com).

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

He also has a quick thanks for listeners and explains the mission and values of Two Percent. Join our community and discover our tense of living. TWOPCT.com.

Also, don’t go comfortably into 2025: check out our Two Percent New Year Challenge starting January 1st.

Want to actually make some big improvements in your health, fitness, nutrition, and mindset this year? Of course you do.

We’re launching the Two Percent New Year Challenge on January 1st.

It’s a sustainable, science-backed path to help you build health, fitness, nutrition, and mindset habits that will improve your entire year.

In today’s episode, Michael will explain the science, philosophy, and details of The Challenge.

The Challenge will run from January 1st to 31st and is exclusively for Members of Two Percent. Become a Member at TWOPCT.com.

Don’t go comfortably into 2025—join The Challenge. Sign up at TWOPCT.com

**Become a Member of Two Percent at TWOPCT.com**

Today’s episode is about the power of traditions. Michael tells a story about a ridiculous family holiday tradition, what he gained from it, and the lessons he learned after it faded.

Holiday traditions improve our mental and physical health, forge important social bonds and trust, and teach us critical lessons about being human.

But traditions come and go, and when we lose them we lose an important mechanism to be a better person.

Today we’re diving into a brilliant scientific work on traditions—why traditions make us and mend us, and how we can build them. We’ll cover:

* Reasons why traditions are so powerful for human wellbeing.

* Why traditions die (6 reasons).

* Why you should create new traditions when old ones die.

* Three rules you must follow to create a successful new tradition.

To get full access to all our podcast episodes, please become a Member at TWOPCT.com. Members get back far more than the cost of Membership.