Matt's Mix Tape, Vol. 130
Hi, I’m Matt Tillotson, and this is Matt’s Mix Tape: essays + links on living a healthy and creative middle life.
This week’s Mix:
How to get 1,000 email subscribers
50% of fitness influencers are on roids
Systems vs. willpower, in fitness and writing
Florida photo
How to get 1,000 email subscribers
This newsletter passed the 1,000 subscriber mark. Thank you for reading and sharing—it means more than you know.
Ellen Donnelly’s The Ask also recently went over 1,000 subs and she wrote an in-depth article about her most successful growth strategies and tactics.
How she started The Ask:
The first post I ever wrote was whilst drunk at home in my flat lockdown in March 2020. Remember that time anyone?! Not unlike my state of mind during that time, it was shockingly bad.
I always say, “just start.” Drunk or sober.
My favorite insight from Ellen’s piece:
Because writing a great newsletter is not really about writing a great newsletter.
It is about discovering and exploring ideas, learning, and self-development. It is about commitment, habit building, and showing up even when you don’t feel you have anything new to say (you always do).
So how did Matt’s Mix Tape get to 1,000 subs?
I just kept writing it.
Looking forward to 10,000.
Half of male fitness influencers are on steroids
Physique is street cred in the male fitness influencer space:
the personal trainer and nutritionist Harry Smith said he estimates about half of fitness influencers take some form of performance-enhancing drug, or PED, whether it's steroids, human growth hormone, or even insulin (which can reduce body fat).
Steroids drive unreal expectations in the industry:
By presenting their steroid-induced muscle growth as the result of workout and diet plans that their followers can purchase, influencers are making money based on false claims, steroid researchers and industry experts told Insider.
Which leads to dark places:
And in the process, they're creating a body ideal that's unattainable for even the most dedicated gymgoers, which could lead to body dysmorphia and eating disorders.
This dysmorphia is called “Bigorexia:”
Bigorexia is … a body dysmorphic disorder that triggers a preoccupation with the idea that your body is too small or not muscular enough.
Bigorexia creates unhealthy behavior: Obsessing, overtraining, and body-altering drug use.
(Women face similar or greater pressures, of course. Which can also lead to steroid use, but also eating disorders and botched surgeries.)
As you look online for fitness information, remember:
The physiques you see online are often unnatural and/or unhealthy.
We have natural limits. My incline bench and shoulder press haven’t improved in ages.
Compete with yourself, not an unhealthy ideal.
The actual point of the health and fitness business is, you know, health.
Systems vs. willpower
A: I am very good at going to the gym when I don’t feel like it.
B: Conversely, I’m very bad at writing when I don’t feel like it.
I never listen to my inner whiner when it’s time to work out. But with writing, sometimes I can’t get out of the starting block.
Why can’t I transfer behavior A to task B?
I asked Twitter.
When writing flows, it’s fun. Otherwise, it can be brutal.
Yup.
With workouts, I only care that I showed up. I did the work. That’s a process-oriented approach. I need to do the same with writing.
Environment matters, also:
I’m working on it and found these insights helpful. Thought you might, also.
This week’s Florida photo
The way the light from the setting sun hit the sky was celestial. If angels playing harps had a visual output, it would look like this.
Congrats on the 1k subscribers, that's an amazing milestone! 🥳