12 top articles of 2025 + Thanks
What we learned together, and what's next
Thanks to everyone who subscribes to Two Percent, and double thanks to the Members. Two Percent wouldn’t exist without our Members.
We have a big mission: cut through wellness noise and get to the heart of what actually improves the health, fitness, mindset, and well-being of real people in the real world. That is to say, you.
We’re building a strong, supportive community of like-minded, cool-as-hell people. The Two Percent comment section is my favorite place on the internet. It’s less conspiratorial than Reddit, less batshit crazy than Twitter, and infinitely more useful than LinkedIn’s circle of self-congratulation.
I learned so much from all of you this year.
I also heard from many of you. Thanks to what you read here, some of you lost a significant amount of weight, vastly improved your fitness, took on outdoor adventures that changed your self-conception, or made a subtle tweak that had a massive impact on your mindset. Together, we all expanded what we’re capable of.
That’s the tense of living we’re after.
I believe it’s easier for all of us to live in that tense when we have constant reminders of what that tense is, where we find it, and how we stay in it and squeeze it for all it’s worth. That’s why I wake up and write this newsletter every single day.
So: Thanks again for being here and making this place truly great.
Ok, enough with the sincerity. I’ve reached my annual allotment.
Today we’re covering the best Two Percent post from each month of 2025.
Pinning down these 12 posts was not easy. There were many contenders. It was like trying to determine which puppy is cutest or which cable news host is the most full of shit.
I analyzed everything we published this year, jotting down the names of posts that I not only learned from and was thrilled to publish, but that also helped our community. I ended up with a big list.
These posts shed new light on trends, helping us understand and get the most from them.
They gave us actionable information we used to perform, live, and think in new and more useful ways.
They had epic comments we all learned from.
They made us all better.
Quick housekeeping before we start
If you need a last-minute gift, consider giving someone a year of Two Percent. We’re putting annual gift subscriptions on sale (10% off) from now through 12/25.
If you love the person, they’ll get information all year that makes them even more lovable and helps them live better and longer.
If you hate the person, you can take pleasure in knowing that our monthly Burn the Ships workouts will make them suffer once a week.
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Get your engines ready for a new Two Percent Challenge, happening the entire month of January. It’ll help you sever the head of 2026 and mount it on your wall.
Audio version
Let’s roll …
January: How to lose more fat
The nutrition world loves telling us that exercise won’t help us lose fat. “It’s all diet,” they say. And they even cite research.
But it turns out those studies were rigged—not intentionally, just poorly designed. Most exercise programs were too easy.
A team of Danish researchers wondered what would happen if they compared people who only dieted to those who dieted and did an exercise program that was actually … hard.
The findings have important implications for long-term health and exploring the edges of performance—even if you’re not trying to lose weight.
February: Do Something
When we face challenging times, we often think that more planning and analysis is better. We tend to go into director mode, overthink everything, and search for the perfect choice as if it were the Holy Grail.
Spoiler alert: The Holy Grail doesn’t exist, and more thinking often just leads to more inaction.
This post covered five significant downsides of over-planning and overthinking—and a lesson from combat that can help us get out of our heads, act, and move forward.
The lesson launched my writing career and aligns with recent scientific discoveries about optimal decision-making.
March: SUPERMEDIUM Calculator
Your body size is critical for different fitness goals and getting what you want out of life.
This post shows the optimal body size for different fitness activities. Using your height, you can calculate the ideal weight for your goals. Think of it as a SUPERMEDIUM calculator—the Goldilocks zone where you’re not too big, not too small, but just right for whatever epic thing you’re trying to accomplish.
It’ll help you find the right body size—and balance between strength and endurance—to perform and live longer and better.
April: 6 Sleep Myths
The world of sleep is like a cattle ranch: So much bullshit everywhere.
And that misinformation around sleep is driving up sleep anxiety—i.e., we worry we’re not sleeping “right” based on bad sleep info, which ironically makes our sleep worse.
This extensive dive into the research takes an evolutionary look at sleep, helping us suss out what matters. The big takeaways:
Evolution programmed us to all sleep differently (it was a survival mechanism).
Understanding the nuances of sleep can help you figure out what’s good and bad about your sleep habits.
Then pair it with its followup post—8 Sleep Tips That Actually Work—and you’ll rest easier.
May: The Don’t Die 8
Anyone else notice that the world of longevity is becoming increasingly bizarre and neurotic? I’m talking about people high strung over fringe, obsessive methods that suck the soul out of living.
I.e., doing all kinds of shit you hate so you can squeeze out a few more years (of doing shit you hate).
The good news: You don’t have to become a monk or human guinea pig.
Scientists analyzed the habits most closely associated with living longer and identified the eight highest-impact ones. I call them the Don’t Die Eight.
Think of this post as a ranking of the highest-impact longevity practices. None of them are neurotic. All of them let you keep your dignity and let you get more from your years.
June: Resilience is Normal
Psychologists used to think that people weren’t inherently resilient. They assumed that when bad things happen, most people were permanently and negatively impacted—basically broken forever.
Turns out the psychologists were wrong.
They started looking at wild case studies—POWs, disaster survivors, people who went through horrific experiences—and discovered something positive: Resilience is the norm, not the exception. Most people bounce back. We’re tougher than we think.
But there is a creeping problem: Cultural forces may be pushing us toward less resilience through a theory psychologists call “concept creep.”
This post explains how to build resilience and combat concept creep—I.e. how to be mentally tough and avoid becoming a fragile mess.
Pair it with its followup post: A Mental Toughness Tool.
July: Exercise Overhype
Whenever I think I’m living in a bubble, I start looking for needles to pop it.
Over the summer, I felt like I was part of a growing trend of health thinkers pitching exercise as a miracle cure for everything. Exercise cures depression! Exercise prevents [insert any disease ever]! Exercise will fix your relationship problems and teach your dog to stop pissing on the carpet!
Exercise is good, no doubt. But the claims were getting too good to be true.
So I found a needle: a well-designed study that raises questions about whether exercise actually improves lifespan and suggests the benefits are more nuanced than the fitness industrial complex wants you to believe.
I called the study’s primary author to learn more and spoke to other scientists.
I walked away with a more refined view of exercise—why I do it in the first place and what I really get from it—that has enhanced my thinking, workouts, and how I use my time.
As Ed Abbey put it, “Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.”
August: Why Huberman and I are obsessed with this dorky habit
I appeared on the Huberman Lab podcast in June (watch or listen to the episode here).
In our conversations, we realized we both have a dorky habit that’s vastly improved our lives.
It leans on our evolutionary wiring, costs nothing, requires no special equipment, and can be applied to fitness, learning, health, parenting, and more.
We can use it to improve our health, thinking, happiness, and just make life better.
September: Stuff that works: 14 best health purchases
Our money is limited, so if we’re going to spend on health, we should spend it on items that actually move the dial—not B.S. gizmos that longevity gurus carnival bark about.
I combed through the research and spoke with Dr. Bobby Dubois, who holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. in public health policy, making him the perfect skeptic and professional bullshit detector.
We came up with 14 items that deliver a massive bang for your buck, helping you get more health from every dollar you spend. Some of the items really surprised me, but the numbers don’t lie.
Math is relentless like that.
October: Long live Stockton
One of my best friends, de facto editor, and desert running buddy left this world to start a new adventure this year.
I wrote about five things I learned from him.
No jokes here. Just gratitude.
Ok, one joke: Leah and I agree that heaven for Stockton is an open field full of bunnies to chase, flanked on all sides by an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. I hope it’s perfect, buddy.
November: The Misogi Framework
I gave many public talks in the fall. One question I kept getting: “If you’re constantly doing new and harder Misogis, don’t you get to a point where you just can’t go any further?”
That question hints at one of the most common traps people fall into when doing Misogis. (For those who don’t know, a Misogi is an epic annual challenge we take on for growth. Think vision quest meets organized suffering.)
The trap is thinking “harder” always means “better.” It doesn’t. Sometimes it just means “dumber.”
There are six features you should look for to ensure you’re doing a Misogi that actually moves the dial on your life. I also covered 7 Misogi examples that help you avoid turning your growth opportunity into a pointless exercise in self-flagellation.
December: Why your energy has nothing to do with your performance
Many readers commented that this post was something of an eye-opener. A few said it pissed them off because it destroyed their favorite excuse.
It explores why “energy”—despite being wellness marketing’s favorite word—is a scientifically meaningless term. It’s like “toxins” or “clean eating.” Sounds important, means nothing.
Then we explained why getting clear about “energy” can help you feel better and get more done—without buying a single supplement, optimizing your mitochondria, or whatever the hell else Instagram is pitching this week.
Thanks for reading. I’m looking forward to 2026, when we’ll do it all again, but hopefully better and weirder.
Have fun, don’t die, and thanks for being here this year.
-Michael
Thanks for helping us sort through the noise! This is my favorite Substack and source of practical health information! Happy holidays and here’s to an amazing 2026!
"I no longer suffer through boring “zoned” treadmill protocols because they supposedly extend my life."
Thank you! Thanks for a great 2025. Cheers.