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Morning, Greg here!

Welcome to Midlife Male, the fastest-growing, #1 newsletter and lifestyle brand for men 40+. Hundreds of readers are joining us every day for actionable, relatable columns, exclusive interviews and stories you’ll find nowhere else to help you maximize the rest of your life. If a fellow MLM reader shared this with you, subscribe here:

In Today's Issue of Midlife Male:

• Greg's VIEWPOINT: Harsh Truth: It's Not Ageism. It's You.

• Jon's MANOLOGUE: A Dad Road Trip Manifesto

• HOW I SEE IT: Jay Galluzzo on Trusting His Gut, Finding His Own Path and more...

• When Tragedy Hits Close to Home

• Middle School Science Was Right: MItochondria Matter

• The MLM Face Off: Greg vs. Jon, Shorts vs. No Shorts

Let’s get to it!

Harsh Truth: It’s Not Ageism. It’s You.

By Greg Scheinman

The middle-aged man’s favorite excuse these days? His age.

Didn’t get hired? Must be ageism. Passed over for a promotion? They want someone younger. Struggling to find new opportunities? It’s discrimination, plain and simple.

It’s become the default explanation for any setback after 50. But here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Sometimes it’s not your age that’s holding you back. It’s just you.

The Convenient Scapegoat

Yes, age discrimination exists. But for some guys, it’s become a shield to hide behind. It’s easier to point at bias than it is to ask the hard questions:

• Have I evolved?

• Am I someone people want to work with?

• Do I bring energy or baggage?

You see it online. These are the guys ranting daily about politics, barking at anyone who disagrees with them, convinced they’re the only ones who “get it.” They’re bitter, combative, exhausting.

And then they wonder why no one’s calling them back. Why they’re not being asked to collaborate. Why no one wants them on the team or even at the party.

The Real Problem? You Stopped Growing

Too many men have aged, but haven’t grown. They coast on credentials earned decades ago. They haven’t updated their skills. Haven’t embraced new tech. Haven’t figured out how to work with younger teammates or communicate in new ways.

They’ve mistaken stubbornness for strength. Arrogance for experience. And now they’re paying the price for being rigid, outdated, and inflexible.

They haven’t stayed fit. They haven’t…

A Dad Road Trip Manifesto: 12 Rules We Drive By

By Jon Finkel

FACT: 100% of dads behind the wheel on a road trip are out to beat every other rival dad on the road… and every other dad who made the same road trip in history.

We measure ourselves by following these 12 or so criteria and if a dad doesn’t admit most of these he’s lying:

To begin, we engineer a flawlessly packed car the Tetris creators would envy...

We’ll say, “look at this, it’s goddamned perfect” as you ignore our Mona Lisa in the trunk… We may even take a photo to send to other dads to make them jealous.

Once on the road, our mission is speed and speeding without getting caught speeding.

We slide lanes. We draft near trucks. We slip behind super speeders letting them take the risk while we safely become the second-fastest car on the road (we think)…

On this, we mentally keep track of every car on the highway and if they pass us, it is our life’s mission to pass them back…

In addition, we keep an ongoing list of kindred road spirits… dudes behind the wheel of other cars who seem to have our same philosophy…

When we find these guys, we become a secret, unspoken pack on the road… like a peloton in the Tour de France… Linking up, passing slow cars together…

It’s a thing of beauty and no dad ever meets the other dad and we never even see each other’s faces but it’s a perfect dad/friend relationship.

And all dads have one simple, overriding philosophy that trumps all others:

We don’t want to stop. Ever.

Now, we know we HAVE to stop at some point…

‘How I See It’ with Jay Galluzzo

By Greg Scheinman

A few years ago, I interviewed Jay Galluzzo for the first time. We were connected through my cousin Sari, whose best friend was married to Jay. Even before we spoke, I knew he was someone I wanted to learn from. He had co-founded Flywheel — the boutique cycling studio I always thought crushed SoulCycle — and had already built and exited multiple businesses. He was a partner at North Castle, sat on the boards of Barry’s Bootcamp and Windham Mountain, went to Penn and Columbia Law, and had great hair to top it off. More importantly, he was a great dad.

We hit it off right away and stayed in touch.

Like most of us in midlife, life happened. Business wins. Career pivots. Divorce. New ventures. New people. Jay’s name started coming up again recently through another friend of mine, Jay Siano. Turns out, the two Jays teamed up at Sabre — Siano’s real estate firm — forming a new strategic partnership. Two guys I respect, joining forces in their 40s and 50s to build something new. This is what midlife done right looks like. No slowdown. Just experience, momentum, and purpose.

Last year, Jay Galluzzo called before his first 29029 Everesting challenge. I’d done it three times and shared my take: mental prep, physical grit, and everything in between. That same year, Siano joined me for his first climb too. Full circle. It’s not about competing anymore. It’s about connecting, collaborating, and getting better together.

Jay and I talked about more than mountains. We talked about his kids, his new relationship, where he is in life, and where he’s headed. We caught up again at the Athletech News Summit in New York, then jumped on Zoom for a longer, deeper conversation. We covered the 6Fs. We covered real life.

Jay’s the kind of guy who checks all the boxes: relatable, credible, aspirational. Not a flashy influencer. Just a great man doing great things and doing them well. That’s who I want to spotlight. Those are the stories that matter. That hit home. That help the rest of us navigate our own paths.

You’re going to love Jay’s thoughts on what it takes to be a high performer, choosing your own path, navigating change and why his entrepreneurship runs on passion.

This quote from the interview really stuck with me:

“I trust my gut. I absolutely then second guess my gut, but my gut is right more often than not."

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Now you can watch or listen to our uncut, unedited, raw ‘How I See It’ conversations right here in the newsletter or bookmark it to check out later at your convenience. We’re proud of the open, honest conversations we have with our cover story guests and we’ve decided to give everyone full access to the whole call. No editing. No ad reads. Just the behind-the-scenes good stuff. Enjoy this week’s ‘How I See It’ convo with Jay Galluzzo below:

BONUS: Want to join the conversation with ALL of our cover story guests? Now you can with MLM Live. It’s simple. We send you a link before our conversation and you can join us. Even better, you can submit questions for Greg to ask ahead of time or ask them yourself. The last 15 minutes are set aside for what’s on your mind. Become a member of MLM Live here.

When Tragedy Hits Close to Home

The floods in Texas that have taken the lives of so many are heartbreaking.  Tragic.  Senseless.  I walk our neighborhood each morning and see the ribbons around the trees; we live in an area where so many families are connected to Camp Mystic, and spend time in the Kerrville area.  We used to send our sons to camp not too far from there for several summers.  Too many funerals, stories, tears, memories and questions.  It’s cliche to say that it puts life in perspective, however I don’t think that’s even applicable in this case because it’s so unfathomable to consider that you send your kids to camp and they literally get washed away…I just can’t.  

And yet, there’s always hope.  Faith.  One thing that has stood out in this tragedy is just how many families and individuals affected are people of deep religious faith. I've never been one of those.  Although it’s growing on me for several reasons of late.  My wife Kate shared this with me, as one of her friends attended this funeral.  It may seem strange or even a bit morbid to recommend watching a Eulogy, but I think it’s important.  I’m not going to insinuate or tell you how to feel, just to be open and listen.

Middle School Science Was Right: Your Mitochondria Matter

As we age, our cells age. So how do we address this?  We got turned on to Mitopure®, which is a pure and patented form of Urolithin A, the first postbiotic nutrient shown to trigger a crucial recycling process within our cells called mitophagy, targeting age-related cellular decline. What we learned is that 90% of our cellular energy is produced by mitochondria.  Mitochondria are our cellular powerhouses. The trillions of cells that comprise our body tissues run on the energy created by them. By energizing these cells, Mitopure® is revolutionizing cellular aging.  

There’s a lot of new products jumping on this bandwagon. Timeline is the brand we trust and the first scientifically backed brand with 15 years of research, 500 studies and 56 patents.  We prefer the softgels, however they just released gummies (which are all the rage now) as well. 

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Ever Try Coconut Cultured Yogurt?

We’re always debating dairy products.  How much?  No dairy? Some dairy? The answer’s likely somewhere in the middle… Sometimes, it’s not so much whether it’s dairy or not, it’s what tastes great, is healthy, and works for our nutrition and lifestyle.  We’re all into Cocojune, an organic, greek style, cultured coconut yogurt. It’s got a mild tang and lots of probiotic fire-power.  It’s delicious. Try it on your pancakes with fresh fruit and raw honey. 

THE MLM FACE OFF:

Greg vs. Jon: Shorts or No Shorts?

Outside of exercising, the MLM crew is split down the middle on wearing shorts. Our Founder, Greg, has hard and fast rules about wearing shorts, mainly, “never on a plane, never in a nice restaurant, and rarely outside of a workout.” 

Our Editor-in-Chief, Jon, who lives in steamy South Florida, lives in shorts daily. “Pants plus West Palm Beach humidity every day would be torture,” he says. “Workout shorts, board shorts, golf shorts… I celebrate the entire shorts catalogue.”

Even our MLM Instagram poll we took was split 50/50 on whether men should wear shorts out in the summer. Whatever side of the fence you fall on, if you’re going to wear shorts, one of our favorite brands, SaveKhaki makes these great thin corduroy shorts that are super comfortable and stylish.  

We recommend getting them at Stag Provisions so you can do some additional shopping while there.  Always start in the sale section as there’s lots of great deals. 

Have a hot take on shorts? Where do you land? Are you with Greg or Jon? 

Reply to this email and let us know.

If It’s Not Fun, Then We’re Done

A few thoughts on fun from Greg:

“Here’s the thing about fun, what’s fun for one may not be for someone else.  We have a saying at MLM: “If it’s not fun, then we’re done”. 

So rather than tell you what’s fun this week, here are some ideas and things we do for fun.  The point is, make fun a priority.  And if something’s not fun, you have a choice to stop doing it, and replace it with something that’s more fun, more you and adds more to your life.  

Saturday, my wife Kate & I went to a concert. 

Jon and his kids went paddleboarding and were having fun until a giant saltwater croc swam right up to them. 

As for me, here’s a random list of what I enjoy doing:

Yoga on Saturday morning always leaves me smiling.  In-n-out burger runs with my son. Binge watching The Bear. Playing guitar. Sunday we had three couples over for a workout. Pizza night where we make our own dough, roll it out and build our own pies. Movies on the big screen, the way they’re meant to be seen (ipic stadium seating is the only way to go).  Capture the moments, and make the memories. You’ll be glad you did.” 

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MLM Founder: Greg Scheinman / Follow Greg on Instagram & LinkedIn

“You either define midlife, or it’ll define you.” - Greg

MLM Editor-in-Chief: Jon Finkel / Follow Jon on Twitter/X and Instagram

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.” - Teddy Roosevelt

PS: Become an MLM Live Founding Member Today

I’m most excited about the new MLM Live Launch, it’s our way of bringing you guys into the interviews I do each week. No more passively listening to podcast. No more over-edited, scripted conversation you can’t participate in.

MLM Live is your chance to be in the virtual room where our MLM cover stories happen and you get to experience it all: raw, real and unedited. The best part? We save the last 15 minutes for your questions.

As a Founding MLM LIve Member, you’ll simply get an email with the date, time and zoom link for all my upcoming interviews and you can join in. Couldn’t be easier.

But we’re capping the membership at 100 readers to make sure every Founding Member can participate. Spots are filling up much faster than we anticipated, so grab yours here: