A Sneak Peak Inside The Argent Alpha Digest

Every Friday I send out the “Argent Alpha Digest” to our members. It’s a summary of some of the things we covered in Slack over the past week along with upcoming events, news about guest speakers and sometimes a sneak peak of a topic we will be covering in the future.

This week I want to give our readers a sneak peak inside Argent Alpha to learn about some of the topics we cover. It’s a fraction of the information shared within the community but it will give you an idea of the wide ranging topics we cover.

Note: you’ll notice references to Slack which we use for our internal communications.

I hope you enjoy this issue and get an idea or two you can apply to your own personal journey to an improved healthspan and lifespan! Memento Mori…Not Today!

Standards vs Goals - A non-negotiable personal standard is a principle or value that you firmly believe in and are unwilling to compromise on. It represents your core beliefs and ethics and is a fundamental aspect of your identity.

In contrast, a goal is a specific objective or target that you set for yourself to achieve in the future.

Goals are typically measurable and time-bound, and they can be adjusted or changed as circumstances evolve.

Non-negotiable personal standards are more about your fundamental values and principles, while goals are about specific outcomes you want to achieve.

Health Advice Comes from the Strangest Places - watch this short video clip for health advice most of America needs now more than ever.

The Half Century (50) Challenge - In honor of our 50+ group of athletes, a simple physical challenge for the month:

Accumulate 50 of each of the movements over the course of the week. Example:

• Monday: 50 hand release or deficit push-ups 

• Tuesday: 50 ring rows, banded pull-ups or strict pull-ups 

• Wednesday: 50 air squats 

• Thursday: 50 burpees 

• Friday: 50 Mountain Climbers 

• Saturday: 50 Plank Jacks 

• Sunday: 50 Box Steps Ups (or Jumps)

This could be one fantastic “chipper” style workout where you do the entire 7 days in one workout. Or, you could choose one movement per day and make it part of your warmup and/or workout.
You could also chunk it out over the course of the week and do 7-8 reps per day of each movement. Your choice.
And if 50 total isn’t the right number for you, adjust your target up or down. Repeat each week of the month.

New Challenge Coin - the InBody coin has arrived and I'm excited to deliver these to men who have met one or more of the following:

• Drop 12% body fat, e.g. go from 30% to 18% and maintain (or keep going) for 3 months.

• Maintain 15% body fat for 3 months or more.

You can earn two coins if you hit both of the criteria. Send me your latest InBody scan supporting the achievement along with a note of the details and I'll get you your coin.

2nd Half - we are in the second half of the month (and of life), a great time to check in on your progress and how you plan on closing out the month. Turn what some call “challenges” into “opportunities” by reframing and using a Jocko Willink method.

• Traveling? Great, plan your food, workouts and hydration strategy.

• Business dinner? No problem, order off menu and focus on lean protein, veggies and high quality fat. Skip the bread basket, chips or whatever processed temptation is in front of you.

• No Fitness room at the hotel? Awesome, do 100 burpees for time in your BVDs in your room. 

• Cocktail party? Go with a Mocktail or “pre-decide” on your cocktail consumption quantity.

“Challenges” are our minds' way of giving us a crutch, a free pass or a reason to say “it was worth it” and throw us off track. We’ve all been there. Don’t take the bait. Reframe this challenge into an opportunity to live your standards.

And if you do take the bait, skip the gap and choose the GAIN! Learn from it and move on.

Quarterly Review - Dr. Benjamin Hardy offers an easy way to “review game film” every 90 days. This concept ties in well with the 12 week year we have talked about. In this short article you will learn about a simple 4-question exercise that:

• Gives you a sense of joy and pride for what you’ve accomplished

• Confidence about what you’re currently focusing on

• Excitement about what your future holds

• Clarity about the few things that really matter

Boozy Brenda - Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Boozy Brenda Challenge. The t-shirts are in production for the Men who made it through the challenge. The challenge is evergreen so you can still earn a t-shirt while they last. Just go 31 consecutive days of ZERO alcohol and a minimum of 16 burpees a day, 20 burpees on day 31 (if you follow this, you’ll have logged 500 burpees in 31 days).

7 Habits of Highly Effective Alphas - As we start the 29 Day Scoring challenge, there is a clear pattern of those who target and achieve 15% body fat. Men who regularly score 32+ each week in their Alpha 5 and report a detailed plan in Slack on Sunday all have these habits:

• Set achievable Alpha 5 standards (that may cause minor discomfort)

• Create a plan and intend to live their Alpha 5 standards

• Execute that plan

• Raise standards regularly

• Measure Progress monthly

• Analyze results

• Adjust  accordingly

• Ask for guidance when they get stuck

Speed of results is not our objective, progress is.

Coins - 1 and 2 year coins have been mailed out and you should receive yours by January 19. If you qualified and didn’t receive yours, let me know. Thank you for your commitment to excellence!

100% is easier than 98% - This past January I did sober January. The previous year I did “nearly sober January” which was much more challenging. The reason? 100% is easier than 98%.

Clayton Christensen in his book (and article) “How Will You Measure Your Life” said “It's easier to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time.” 

I found this to be true. Making the decision once for the entire month was much easier than making the decision frequently throughout the month. 

Cold Water Immersion (CWI) - check out the new channel in slack called #cold-plunge. There are so many benefits to CWI, read about them from the Godfather of CWI, Wim Hof! Cold showers will do the trick and when you get an opportunity to cold plunge, remember to box breathe and slow down your breathing. A 5-5-5-5 box breathing cadence will keep you at 3 breaths per minute and get your mind off the cold and into your breath.

Breathing - a pulse oximeter is a low cost tool that measures your blood oxygen levels and pulse. If you are doing the Wim Hof challenge, try it while using a pulse oximeter to see the effects.

Mouth Taping - a simple and effective way to improve your sleep is to improve nasal breathing. Mouth taping while you sleep is a great option to try. See the #sleep channel in slack for a video on this technique. James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art walks you through it. I have been mouth taping since reading his book in 2020 and my sleep scores have improved each year. It's a fascinating book, definitely worth reading. 

Push-Up Challenge Coin - Interested in taking your push-up game to the next level AND earning some cool swag?

You can earn this coin by successfully completing one (or both) of the following:

1) Complete a full round of Sally (all 30 push-ups) with good form. Video proof must be provided. Video will not be shared outside of this group. If you missed it, here is the video to learn more about Sally.

2) Complete 1,550 push-ups over 31 consecutive days (average of 50 push-ups per day) using good form. No video required here, just a copy of your log. You must do a minimum of 20 push-ups per day (if you do 19 or less, start over at day 1) and a maximum of 150 (we are not encouraging over-training so anything over 150 does not count).

This opportunity does not have an expiration date. If Sally is currently out of grasp or 50 push-ups per day is currently too much, start when you are ready. Or, start where you are able, treat your work like training camp, and when you are ready to do 50 push-ups per day, start.

Protein Master Class - we recommend a minimum of 30 grams of protein at every meal (protein-centric meals). If you want to learn more about this, check out this excellent podcast from Dr. Gabrielle Lyon where she interviews one of the leading authorities on the topic, Donald Layman.

While we are on the topic...avoid "naked carbs". This is a meal that does not meet the minimum 30 grams of protein but has carbohydrates. Always make protein the center of your meals.

Something > Nothing - Life will throw all of us curveballs, most of them aimed at our heads! Aging parents, health issues, kids, business, the list goes on. Give yourself grace and stay connected to the community. Lean on guys in the group for help, advice, and counsel. We have more life experience in this group than you'll likely find anywhere and in my experience, every Man here has been generous with their time. 

If you miss a day or don't hit your standards, don't worry about it. Somedays a "1" is one pushup, one journal entry, one healthy food choice or one less cocktail. You don't have to crush it every day. Consistency trumps intensity all day long. Over time, you'll find that yesterday's records become today's baseline.

Men in Argent Alpha are experiencing dramatic improvements to how they think, move and look. The combination of structure, process, accountability, community and testing is what helps Men over 50 not only get the results they want but sustain them.

This program isn’t for everyone. It’s for Men over 50 with a growth mindset who believe they can live their best life now. You are invited to apply.