The Slow Boil

🧠 Progressive Normalization (The Slow Boil)

I trained legs the other day with a dear friend.
There’s something about training with another bro that unlocks my lizard brain.
A few sets in, that primal, caveman urge hit—must prove dominance in leg press. More plates. More reps. More guttural noises.

And… fair. This is our “run through the sprinklers on a sunny day” moment as adult men. I’m all for that energy. Opportunities are rare—take them when they come.

However, I haven’t been training legs much lately (once a week, minimal volume). They’ve been quietly marinating on the back burner while other body parts soak up the gains.

So I told him—look, the inner meathead in me is ready to die under a barbell, but it’d be dumb to go full kamikaze when even a half-hearted effort, compared to my recent baseline, is enough to spark growth.

Progressive overload gets all the glory in training talk—because it works. But no one talks about the status quo side of the slow boil. It’s not just physiological—it’s psychological.

Push too hard too soon, and you risk hating the thing.
Feed your brain just enough novelty to keep it interested—without setting off the “danger, change incoming” alarms—and it’s way more likely to stick.

That’s the magic: when the thing that once took willpower slides quietly into habit.

And, as a typical meathead with too much time between sets, I started thinking about where else I already apply this:

• Work: Chipping away at this newsletter, 30 minutes at a time when inspiration strikes—until it feels weird not to.

• Relationships: A weekly ritual with Erica that’s become part of the furniture of our life. We’ve gotten back into our Friday Promenades—no computers, no work talk, just catch-up and connection. Her with a glass of wine, me with a primo Stoag.

• Home: Cleaning as I cook. A swipe under the cutting board, putting the pickled beets back in the fridge right after I take what I need—micro-cleaning moves that feel like nothing in the moment but keep me from staring at my finished dish in a full-blown kitchen war zone.

The trick isn’t maxing out—it’s showing up until the work stops feeling like work. Raise the baseline so slowly, your brain doesn’t notice… until one day, it’s just you.

🍮 Bro Pudding

Started making this many years ago as a dessert to hammer in the rest of my protein for the day and satisfy my insatiable sweet tooth. The base: Greek yogurt, cottage cheese (I like the texture it adds), and Jell-O brand sugar-free pudding mix.

As of writing this, there are only 5 or 6 flavors of the stuff, which is frankly criminal. Can we petition for more? At least swap out pistachio for something more versatile—like Cookies & Cream, Peanut Butter, or literally anything that doesn’t taste like your grandma’s sewing kit.

If you saw my IG stories yesterday, you caught a version of this. But really—this is less a recipe and more a framework. A guide for how nostalgia and mouth pleasure can harmoniously fit into your physique goals. This one’s for the sweet tooth crowd who will never be caught dead taking a bite at a fancy restaurant, hand to their mouth like an anime schoolgirl whispering, “Good, but too sweet.”

Recipe (1 big-boy portion)

• 1 cup Greek yogurt

• 1 cup nonfat cottage cheese

• 1 cup cashew milk (sub any milk or water)

• 1 packet sugar-free Jell-O pudding mix (flavor dealer’s choice)

• 1 tsp salt

• 30–60g sweetener of choice

Mix everything together, chill for at least 30 minutes. It’ll thicken as the pudding mix does its thing. Top with cereal, cut-up fruit, or whatever your freaky little fat-kid minds can think of. Big fan of going banana pudding vibes with this—banana sugar-free pudding mix, cut-up bananas, Nilla Wafers, and fat-free whipped cream. Like Nana made… if Nana was also on Var.

📚 Things Worth Your Time

🪄 Pepper Mill
Our pepper mill broke last week (long story involving Erica filling it, the difference between peppercorns and juniper berries, and me learning that we apparently own juniper berries). Ended up getting a new one and rediscovering my love for fresh-cracked black pepper. Do yourself a favor—ditch the pre-ground floor sweepings and get a mill. Not just the pre-packed Trader Joe’s ones, but something sexy. A mill that can live proudly next to your salt bowl and whisper inspiring words of garnish encouragement as you plate your food. I like this one.

📖 The Abolition of Man — C.S. Lewis Paperback
One of the wildest parts of this audience is the conversations I get into in my DMs—401-level discussions on philosophy, art, and biology with straight-up cerebral bros. My people. A fellow reader recently recommended this one to me. It’s short, sharp, and basically a defense of objective values in a world that’s obsessed with subjectivity—a vocabulary for life’s certainties. Couldn’t be more aligned with my own curiosities.

🍗 Legacy Takeout
Erica and I love a Sunday takeout. We have 4–5 spots in heavy rotation, vetted through years of patronage. They’re yummy, consistent, and worth the implicit angst that comes with delivery. Do yourself a favor—build your own list of go-to spots. Think of it as a meal plan for your cravings. Sure, there’s room for spontaneity, but more often than not, Sunday night rolls around and we’re craving the same thing. Uniforms aren’t just for closets—they’re for dinner orders too.

🔜 Coming Up This Week...

8/10 — SUNDAY GRAVY SCHOOL – (IG)
Hot Isn’t Subjective, It’s Math
The second installment in my infinity-part series Beauty Explained. A few seemingly unrelated events - our backyard patio renovation, the UV index, math, and lipstick - all coming together in what I’d call pure Cinemagraviness™.

8/17 — SUNDAY GRAVY SCHOOL – (IG)
You Are Going to Die
Had a thought at 5 a.m. while making coffee. I multitask my way through the pour on my Moccamaster - putting away dishes, downing supplements, doing six other things in the name of… what, exactly? It’s like my subconscious tipping its hat to my imminent demise. This one wrote itself. No idea if it’ll resonate with the tribe; it’s not algo bait, it’s a 60-second soul dump. Straight therapy.

8/24 — CINEMAGRAVY (YouTube)
Why the Gym is the Easiest Part of My Day
Started as a mini-manifesto on lessons the iron paradise has taught me about life, and evolved into a Trojan Horse experiment in how I package my YouTube videos. Expect it front-loaded with bro-isms, ending with the real gems—insights I’ve picked up over the years on discipline, passion, and becoming an Olympian-level life liver.

✌️ Until Next Time…

T-minus 10 days until I pack it up for Greece. As of writing this, I have yet to take delivery on a single piece of clothing I’ve ordered. If it all goes well, the biggest challenge will be fitting 10 days’ worth of vacation fits into a carry-on. There’s a joke about “Spartan fashion” somewhere in here, but I’m too anxious to think of it.

IG DMs are still the best way to connect with me. See ya next week, my Cinemagravy babies—don’t be a stranger.