Issue No. 53: HYROX Engine - Build Cardio Without Losing Your Strength
Good Morning! Welcome to this week’s edition of Morning Cowbell. Let’s take a look at the top stories and coolest trends shaping fitness and health.
💪 HYROX Engine: Build Cardio Without Losing Your Strength. Building endurance doesn’t have to mean watching your hard-earned strength fade away. With the right balance of conditioning and lifting, you can develop the hybrid engine HYROX demands - powerful enough for sled pushes, yet durable enough to handle eight grueling runs.
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. 5 Bench Press Alternatives
2. Unsung Heroes in the Battle Against Aging
3. Morelle’s Supercharged E-Bike
4. 7 Travel Trends for Your Health
5. Flushing Out Forever Chemicals with Fiber
🐄 🐄 🐄 — John, Nolan and Josh
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5 Bench Press Alternatives
There are smarter, shoulder-friendly moves that hit your pecs just as hard, without making your rotator cuffs cry for mercy.
The big picture: First, dumbbell presses (flat, floor, or incline) give you freedom of movement, a bigger stretch, and a safer range of motion that spares your joints while balancing out left-right imbalances. Second, options like the machine chest press provide stability, letting you push hard and focus entirely on squeezing your chest without worrying about control or safety. Finally, the Swiss bar bench press uses a neutral grip that feels natural, protects your shoulders, and still delivers the heavy pressing power you want for chest growth.
The verdict: You don’t need to quit pressing - you just need to press smarter. Swap in these five alternatives, and you’ll keep sculpting a chest you’re proud of while leaving shoulder pain out of the picture.
Ankles: Your Unsung Heroes in the Battle Against Aging
Your ankles, especially through dorsiflexion, are the foundation of better balance, mobility, and fall prevention as you age.
The big picture: Over time, thanks to sitting too much, old injuries, or just getting older, our ankles tend to weaken, and that destabilizes the whole body, from your feet up to your hips and spine. Dorsiflexion - the fancy term for pulling your toes toward your shin (about 10–30°) - is a superstar movement: when it's weak in older adults, it correlates with worse balance and a higher risk of falls. But don’t worry - there are simple, do-anywhere exercises (like banded pulls, calf raises, tibialis lifts, barefoot walks, and single-leg balancing) that treat your ankles to a strength and stability upgrade.
The verdict: Your ankles deserve way more credit - and with just a few fun, targeted moves, you can help them keep you steady, sprains-free, and gracefully aging from the ground up.
Morelle’s Supercharged E-Bike
Morelle’s new e‑bike promises lightning-fast charging, thanks to cutting-edge silicon-anode battery tech, and a design pedigree that’d make serious riders nod in approval.
The big picture: Game‑Changing Battery Tech - Ditching the usual graphite, the Morelle e‑bike uses a silicon anode battery (in its 350 Wh downtube pack) with ten times the energy capacity, enabling ultra-fast charging at over 1,500 watts—so you can go from zero to full in just 15 minutes—or maybe soon, your snack break. Real‑World Muscle, Backed by Bike Royalty – The brand tapped Gary Fisher, the MTB legend who helped birth the modern mountain bike movement, to develop this model—so it’s not just showy tech, it’s got trail cred and form to match.Featherweight Pedal Power – Targeting an impressive ~30 lb total, with a mid-drive motor delivering up to 28 mph pedal assist (aka Class 3 speed), Morelle aims to blend agility, power, and style.
The verdict: This isn’t just an e-bike, it’s a teleportation device for your commute - faster to charge than your phone, lighter than your excuses, and cool enough to make even hardcore riders do a double-take.
7 Travel Trends for Your Health
These new styles of travel, slow, mindful, and connected, don’t just fill your passport, they recharge your body, soothe your mind, and maybe even add years to your life.
The big picture: Forest Bathing: Rooted in Japanese shinrin-yoku, forest bathing isn’t about hiking fast or clocking miles - it’s about immersing yourself in the woods, engaging all five senses, and letting your nervous system chill. Science backs it up: lower blood pressure, reduced cortisol (stress hormone), and boosted immune cells. Noctourism: Exploring after dark isn’t just about starry skies and fewer crowds - it’s also a mental health hack. Night walks and moonlit tours naturally calm the brain, support circadian rhythms, and give you meditative space without the daytime chaos. Townsizing & Slow Travel: Shrinking your travel footprint (literally) by staying in small towns and moving at a slower pace means less burnout, deeper human connection, and a more grounded sense of place.
The verdict: This new wave of travel is less about ticking off bucket lists and more about treating travel like a health retreat. Inhaling pine-scented air, wandering peacefully under the moon, or sipping coffee in a town square with no rush at all - these trends prove that the best souvenir you can bring home is better health.
Flushing Out Forever Chemicals with Fiber
A new study suggests that taking a gel-forming fiber supplement with meals can reduce PFAS levels in the body.
The big picture: BPFAS (“forever chemicals”) are everywhere - used in nonstick pans, stain‑resistant furniture, and even firefighting foams - and they stick around in our bodies, potentially harming vaccine response, liver health, pregnancy outcomes, and infant birth weight. Boston University researcher Jennifer Schlezinger found that gel-forming fiber supplements, like oat beta‑glucan or cholestyramine, act like a magnet, binding PFAS and escorting them out when taken with meals. Though early human trials show statistically significant PFAS reduction, the pilot studies were short (four weeks), conducted on men with high PFAS exposure, and don’t account for ongoing exposure.
The verdict: A daily scoop of gel-forming fiber might just be your simplest, most feasible weapon against the stealthy “forever chemicals” - but don’t toss out caution (or your doctor’s number) until the research runs longer and broader.
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