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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:

• Why the Return of the Presidential Fitness Test is a Big Win for America

• HBO’s Hard Knocks Hits Home: It Reminds Us of the One Thing We Really Miss

• ‘How I See It’ with Mike Lazerow

• 6Fs: Where Grief Meets Joy, Jason Khalipa’s Burpee Challenge, the Cheeseburger Principle, and more

Let’s get to it!

Why the Return of the Presidential Fitness Test is a Massive Win for America

By Greg Scheinman

Here’s a raw truth: over the last twenty years or so, Americans have been force-fed the idea that we must stop expecting excellence and start accepting mediocrity. From media to politicians to business and the military, standards got swapped for sensitivities. Merit took a back seat to messaging. 

And now we’re left wondering how we got to a place where striving to be great is offensive and standards are lowered to avoid the hurt feelings of those who can’t meet them.

That’s not progress. That’s regression dressed up as inclusion. And for many of us men, it’s been infuriating to watch.

And last week, it seems, we finally took a step in the right direction to getting our majority obese, majority pre-diabetic nation back in shape with President Trump’s announcement that he’s bringing back the Presidential Physical Fitness Test to schools. 

The announcement formally ditches the President Youth Fitness Program introduced by President Obama in 2012 and 2013 that ended the concrete standards for fitness tests in favor of a more inclusive, feelings-first approach to exercise, which, predictably, has been a disaster and left our kids in worse shape.

Like anything else, what gets measured gets managed, and when we stopped measuring our kids’ fitness capabilities against standards, we stopped having any fitness standards at all.

The Numbers Don’t Lie: We’ve Failed Our Children

Here’s why we desperately need this back, and the statistics are absolutely damning. 

Since 1970, childhood obesity rates have more than tripled, from 5% in 1974 to 17% in 2010. But it gets worse. By 2017-2018, an estimated 19.3% of U.S. children and adolescents aged 2-19 years were obese, and as of 2023, 1 in 5 children in the US are obese. 

Let me put this in perspective for you. In the Fels Longitudinal Study tracking children born between 1930 and 1993, obesity rates rose from 0% to 14% among boys and from 2% to 12% among girls. We went from basically ZERO childhood obesity in the 1930s to nearly one in five kids today. That’s insane.

And here’s what really pisses me off…

Why Hard Knocks Hits Home: It Reminds Us of the One Thing We Really Miss

By Jon Finkel

For 24 years HBO has picked a random team to follow during NFL training camp, giving us a near-live documentary on rookies, veterans, stars, GMs and coaches gearing up for a new season. It’s a late-summer staple. A glorious tradition for millions of guys that signals one thing: football starts soon.

It’s also a fascinating study in what we watch and why, because here are a bunch of things about the show that you’d think would tank our interest, but doesn’t:

The games don’t matter. Your favorite team is rarely featured. The stars of the show are often not the stars on the team. And you’re watching practice, which most of us would never bother to do in person or otherwise.

And yet, the show is a two-decades running juggernaut that most guys who love football watch year-after-year.

Why?

At first glance, you could say that the behind-the-scenes stuff is cool and the facilities are cool and seeing the personal lives of NFL players and teams is cool, but that’s not it.

The real reason dudes tune in is this:

Hard Knocks gives us ex-high school athletes or college athletes or fraternity athletes or current pick-up-playing guys a peak into something we secretly crave:

To be back in a locker room every day with our buddies.

Yes, the football on Hard Knocks is fun. And yes, Liev Schreiber’s voice is legendary. And yes, we get an early glimpse of a rookie who might be good or a QB on a new team or a coach who makes you want to head butt a cinder block (Dan Campbell) but what we REALLY love is this…

‘How I See It’ with Mike Lazerow

By Greg Scheinman

My good friend and publisher, Naren Aryal, called me up and said, “Hey, you’ve got to check out this guy Mike Lazerow. He and his wife, Kass, wrote a book called Shoveling Shit. We’re publishing it, and it’s gonna be great. You’d love this guy. He’s just like you, only with a lot more money. He’s an entrepreneur, a husband, a father. He’s obsessed with music.”

I said, “Alright, I’m in. Connect us.”

Mike and I booked a call. His team was on it. They sent me a couple of copies of the book, which came with a mini shovel, and yeah, I thought that was hilarious. I read his bio, looked through the media kit, and it was clear, this guy has lived it. He’s built, lost, won, learned. He’s been through the fire.

When we finally got on the call, he was at his house in the Hudson Valley. He had a flat-bill hat on, a Phish t-shirt, and the vibe was just… real. You never know how it’s going to go when you meet someone for the first time, especially over Zoom.

We do these calls live now with our Midlife Male Live crew, so the setup was already rolling. I got him settled, then let the rest of the guys in. We made some small talk, and right away, I could tell this was going to be a good one.

And it was. Mike was incredible. Honest, open, unfiltered. He talked about the chaos and beauty of building companies with your spouse. About loving each other while working together. About Golf.com. About Buddy Media. About all the mess and all the magic that comes with chasing big ideas.

He shared stories about Gary Vaynerchuk and Seth Meyers. He talked about health scares, personal growth, following Phish across the country, what matters to him now, and where most guys our age are missing the mark in business and life. He talked about relationships, about how they evolve when health, age, and money enter the equation. He got into philanthropy and why giving matters more now than it ever did when he was just starting out.

This is the kind of stuff that lights me up. Conversations that come from experience. From reflection. From someone who’s done the hard things, taken the hits, and kept showing up. These are the guys I want to learn from. Guys who are still learning.

And they don’t have to be influencers or celebrities. Honestly, I’d rather hear from someone like Mike than a fifty-something influencer trying to sell you a juice cleanse. At this point in life, authenticity wins every time. Give me someone who’s lived it, who’s still in it, and who wants to talk about the parts that actually matter.

This was one of the most enjoyable conversations I’ve had in a long time. Mike’s someone I want to be friends with. Someone I want to keep listening to and learning from. Someone I hope to support and spend more time with.

Here’s what you should know: Mike Lazerow is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and New York Times bestselling author. Over the past three decades, he and his wife Kass have built and sold multiple companies. Buddy Media went to Salesforce for $745 million in 2012. Golf.com went to Time Warner in 2006. As an investor, Mike has backed over 100 startups, including Scopely, which sold for $5 billion in 2023, and Liquid Death, which you’ve probably seen in every store by now.

In total, the companies Mike has co-founded or funded have generated more than $10 billion in realized returns. These days, he owns and runs a growing portfolio of ventures across healthcare, venture capital, executive recruiting, and sports.

The book he wrote with Kass, Shoveling Shit: A Love Story About an Entrepreneur’s Messy Path to Success, debuted as a bestseller on the New York Times, USA Today, and LA Times lists. And it deserves it.

Enjoy this week’s How I See It conversation with Mike Lazerow.

Where Grief Meets Joy

From Greg:

My friend Brett Eaton just spent a week as a counselor at Experience Camps. If you’ve never heard of it, this is a place where grief and joy show up together. Every kid at camp has lost someone close to them. A parent. A sibling. Someone central to their world.

At camp, there’s room for the hard stuff. The sadness, the anger, the tears. But there’s also room for fun. For silliness. For belly laughs and dodgeball and messy games. There’s room for these kids to feel normal, even if only for a few days. That balance is what makes the camp so powerful, not just for the kids but for the counselors too.

Brett and I share something difficult. We both lost our dads when we were young. What I admire most about him is that he never leaned into victimhood. He chose to give back. To lead with purpose. He’s about to become a father, and he’s also about to become a published author.

I’ve been lucky enough to be there for some big chapters in his life. His wedding. His first red hat at 29029. His debut talk at Win Where It Matters. He’s building something special, and he’s helping others do the same.

Please check out Experience Camps and support what they’re doing. And do yourself a favor and pre-order Brett’s book.

Burpee Challenge: Let’s See What You’ve Got

If you’re a grown man, you should be able to get yourself off the ground. That’s the simple logic behind the burpee. It’s not the sexiest move and probably not your favorite, but it gets the job done.

Last week on MLM Live, Jason Khalipa joined us. He’s an original CrossFit Games champ and still a beast. He talked about a weekly challenge he does with his men’s group. It’s simple. Not easy.

Fifteen burpees every minute. Then one minute of rest. Keep going until you can't finish fifteen burpees in under a minute.

No matter where you are with your fitness, try it. See how far you get. If the number stings a little, good. That means there’s room to grow. If you’re pumped with your number, great. Keep pushing it.

Jason hit 23 rounds. Let us know how far you get.

The Cheeseburger Principle

This isn’t investment advice. That’s what our financial consigliere Ron Speaker is for. What we’re doing here is having a real conversation about money and how it fits into life at this stage.

A quote we came across recently stuck with us. It went like this:

"After the first two or three million, a paid-off house and a solid car, there’s not much difference between you and Jeff Bezos. You both have a limited amount of time on Earth. A cheeseburger is still a cheeseburger, no matter who eats it. Real life is outdoors. It’s in the living. Eat good food. Build strong relationships. Work out. Sleep well. Have sex. Call your kids, your parents, your friends. Have great experiences. That’s it. Greed has no finish line. Time is the currency of life. Not money."

That’s about as true as it gets.

Do you have a number in mind? A version of what "enough" looks like? Mine is five million, with the house and schools paid off. That’s the Kevin O’Leary framework, and it works for me. Yours might be totally different.

Thanks to Dennis, aka The Whealth Advisor, for sending this over and for the new hat.

Honey That Upgrades Everything

My breakfast is almost always the same. Eggs. Spinach. Salmon. Sourdough toast. Fruit. Cocojune yogurt.

Recently, I added something new that took it to another level.

Manukora honey.

This isn’t your average grocery store honey. It’s thick, dark, creamy, and packed with antioxidants. I drizzle it over my yogurt and fruit, and it gives the whole thing a richer flavor and more depth. It tastes like something you’d get at a nice hotel breakfast buffet, not your own kitchen.

If you want to try it, you can grab some here and use the code MidlifeMale for a discount. It’s a small upgrade that makes a big difference. (Sponsored)

Khakis That Don’t Suck

Let’s talk about khakis. Or chinos. Whatever name you give them, they usually land in the same category. Stiff. Basic. Forgettable.

Then we found the parachute poplin maverick slim chino from Buck Mason. These are not your dad’s pants. They’re modeled after classic officer’s trousers but cut with a modern fit and a button fly. They’re lightweight, sharp looking, and come in two colors that both work for almost anything.

Washed sage and khaki are the go-to’s. Trust me, you’ll wear them all the time.

Honestly, if you built your whole midlife wardrobe from Buck Mason, you’d be set. We keep trying to stop buying stuff from them. We keep failing.

Here’s the link if you want to check them out.

Why the U.S. Open is a Scheinman Family Tradition

From Greg:

August means it’s time for the US Open. Growing up, I spent a lot of time on tennis courts. The Open was one of the few big sporting events I went to every year as a kid, and I’ve never stopped loving it.

So, of course, we’re going again.

If you’ve never been, go during the early rounds. Buy a grounds pass. It’s more affordable, and you can walk the whole place, bounce between matches, and see the stars up close.

There’s nothing like the energy of New York during the US Open. And if you’re all about experiences over things like we are, this is one of the best ones you can gift yourself.

Look at this shot of us taking the kids for their first time.

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

Love Greg’s Viewpoint column? Visit the full Viewpoint Vault HERE where he shares his personal insights, experiences and perspectives on everything affecting midlife.

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

Love Jon’s Manologue column? Check out the full Manologue Archive HERE where he writes about pop culture, parenthood, sports, nostalgia & everything in between.

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