Health and Fitness: How to live in the body & mind you have.

ISSUE 08 · SPRING/SUMMER ’26

EN / USD

How To: Health & Fitness

THE HOW TO CO. — EDITION 08

VOL. 08 — LIVE ISSUE

52 GUIDES THIS WEEK

2 LANES · 1 HANDBOOK

NO MEDICAL ADVICE. EVER.

How to live

in the body &

mind you have.

Two lanes — health and fitness — one calm, plain-spoken handbook. Big questions, small answers, nothing prescriptive.

how to

sleep throug

ASK IRIS

Ask anything. Iris answers what she can — and tells you when she shouldn’t.

SLEEP

WARM-UP

BREATHWORK

PULL DAY

HABITS

MOBILITY

HYDRATION

REST DAY

COVER · ATLANTA + DC · APRIL ’26

Both lanes

Health only

Fitness only

How to fall asleep faster

Warm-up in five minutes

Stretch when you’re stuck at a desk

Pull day for beginners

Drink enough water without thinking

Walk ten thousand steps without trying

Take a real rest day

Eat enough protein, finally

FATHER'S DAY 2026 · A NOTE FROM THE FOUNDER

The Things He Never Talked About

On the silence men keep around their own health — and the kind of strength that turns out not to be strength at all.

Read JT's essay · Health · 5 min

EDITOR’S LETTER — ISSUE 08

BY JT · FOUNDER, THE HOW TO NETWORK · ATLANTA

The (skinny) elephant in the room.

I

fyou’re going to build a How-To network, it probably makes sense to start with the number-one How-To search of all time. We didn’t.

“How to lose weight” — and every variation of it — is the most-searched How-To on the internet. It’s not particularly close. Diet, workouts, macros, fasting, whatever angle you come at it from — it all points to the same question, and people are asking it constantly.

So why is Health the eighth edition to launch instead of the first? Two reasons. First, I’m just not that smart. Second — and this one actually holds up — anything touching health, fitness, or the human body carries real liability. If we send you somewhere in Uruguay and you don’t have a good time, that’s on you. If we tell you five ways to clear your skin and something goes wrong, that’s a different conversation entirely.

We’ve been cautious. Intentionally. But we’ve dodged it long enough, so here’s where we stand.

§ I — WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS.

The consensus is pretty simple: burn more than you take in. Most doctors will tell you that. Most science will back it up. And most doctors will also tell you to talk to them before you do anything dramatic — so we’ll say the same thing here.

Beyond that, it gets complicated fast. What works for one person doesn’t work for the next. Some people run and the weight drops. Some people just change what they eat and that’s enough. Some people do everything right and nothing moves. Some bodies can’t process carbs without it affecting everything. I’ve worked with someone who ate candy all day and was thin as paper. It just varies that much.

There is no universal answer. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.

§ II — WHAT THIS SITE IS, AND WHAT IT ISN’T.

HowTo: Health is meant to be useful. It’s meant to be interesting. It is not the final word on anything. It is not medical advice. It is not a substitute for your doctor, your nutritionist, or your own good judgment.

Think of it the way you’d think of a conversation with someone who reads a lot and pays attention. Worth hearing. Worth considering. Not worth betting your health on without doing your own homework.

We’ve tuned Iris — the AI that powers this site — tighter here than anywhere else in the network, with the possible exception of Beauty. If you’re searching for something and she’s telling you she can’t help with it, that’s not a glitch. That’s a decision. There are things we simply won’t publish because the risk isn’t worth it from our end, and more importantly, isn’t worth it from yours.

Our only real goal here is that you walk away knowing something you didn’t know before — and that you’re around long enough to use it.

Be well. Be safe. Live fully.

SEE MORE →

No. 01

Two lanes, one handbook.

EQUAL WEIGHT

—DIFFERENT RHYTHMS

01

LANE 01 — HEALTH

For your whole self.

Sleep, breath, mood, the long view. Habits that compound, not hacks. Six ways in — pick where you are today.

Body

02

Mind

03

Soul

04

Prevention

05

Care

06

Recovery

OPEN THE HEALTH LANE

LANE 02 — FITNESS

For the work itself.

Programming, mobility, fuel, recovery. General principles, not personal prescriptions. The basics, done well, for years.

Train

Move

Fuel

Diet

Build

Recover

OPEN THE FITNESS LANE

No. 02

Featured this edition.

NEW VOICE · HEALTH

—MADRID BY WAY OF BOGOTÁ

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR · NO. 03

Lorena

Women’s health, the nervous system, and the quiet science of feeling at home in your body.

Lorena joins the Health lane this edition, writing from Madrid by way of Bogotá. A health & wellness consultant by training, she covers the parts of women’s health that rarely make the front page — hormones, stress, the long conversation between mind and body. Her first guide is now live.

Read Lorena’s profile

Her first guide

No. 03

Quick answers.

EIGHT THINGS YOU

CAN READ IN FIVE MINUTES

HEALTH · NO. 01

How to take a real rest day.

Less guilt, more couch. The case for doing nothing on purpose.

3 MIN

READ →

FITNESS · NO. 02

How to warm up in five minutes.

The short list that beats the long one — every time.

HEALTH · NO. 03

How to fall asleep faster.

What we’ve seen work. What we won’t pretend works for everyone.

FITNESS · NO. 04

How to start lifting at home.

Two pieces of equipment. One short list of moves. No excuses.

HEALTH · NO. 05

How to stretch at a desk.

Six small movements you can do without standing up.

FITNESS · NO. 06

How to build a weekly routine.

How to pick three days, stick to them, and let the rest go.

HEALTH · NO. 07

How to drink enough water.

A boring guide to a boring habit that quietly fixes a lot.

FITNESS · NO. 08

How to walk ten thousand steps.

Without standing on a treadmill staring at the wall.

No. 04

This week at a glance.

A GENERAL SUGGESTION

—NOT A PRESCRIPTION

NEW THIS EDITION · THE DROP

The Invisible Roller Coaster.

Lorena’s first guide — a letter to anyone fighting the silent war inside their own head, and the quiet courage of opening your eyes again.

By Lorena · Health · 3 min

Week of April 27.

GENERAL FITNESS

BEGINNER

ENDURANCE

STRENGTH

MON

27

FITNESS

Pull day, easy.

45 min · general strength · pulling patterns

TUE

28

HEALTH

Mobility, ten minutes.

10 min · hips, shoulders, ankles

WED

29

Easy zone-two run.

30–40 min · conversational pace

THU

30

Breath + walk.

20 min walk · 4-7-8 breathing on the way back

TODAY

FRI

Push day, sharp.

45 min · pressing, low rep

SAT

Long, slow effort.

60+ min · whatever you enjoy outside

SUN

REST

Rest day. Mean it.

Couch · book · long shower · early night

No. 05

The two voices behind the lanes.

ATLANTA + DC

—ONE SHARED STANDARD

CONTRIBUTOR · NO. 01

— J.

LANE EDITOR — FITNESS · ATLANTA

Jenna

Strength, programming, and the case for boring consistency.

Jenna leads the Fitness lane from Atlanta. Former collegiate athlete, current evangelist for showing up three days a week and not making it a personality. She believes in the basics, done well, for years — not weeks.

PROGRAMMING

BEGINNER-FRIENDLY

ATLANTA

9yr.

COACHING

184

GUIDES PUBLISHED

Atlanta

HOME BASE

READ JENNA’S GUIDES

CONTRIBUTOR · NO. 02

— T.

LANE EDITOR — HEALTH · WASHINGTON DC

Torrie

Sleep, breath, and the long view on a healthy life.

Torrie runs the Health lane from DC. Background in behavioral science, allergic to hacks. He’ll talk you out of three new supplements before he talks you into one habit — which is exactly why we hired him.

QUIET AUTHORITY

WASHINGTON DC

11yr.

ON THE FIELD

212

DC

READ TORRIE’S GUIDES

HOW TO:

HEALTH & FITNESS EDITION

A plain-spoken health and fitness magazine for training, food, recovery, care, and everyday wellness.

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NEWSLETTER

The Health & Fitness Letter is where the week gets edited down.

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DISCLAIMER

Content on this site is for general information only. It may not reflect current codes, regulations, professional standards, or the needs of your body.

HowTo: Health & Fitness provides general wellness and movement guidance only. Not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before changing anything that affects your health.

© 2026 HOWTO: HEALTH & FITNESS EDITION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PART OF THE HOWTO NETWORK - THEHOWTONETWORK.COM