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- Your gym membership lapsed. Your cells didn’t.
Your gym membership lapsed. Your cells didn’t.
Your muscles aren’t the only ones keeping receipts.
Greg Sullivan
October 28, 2026 • Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes
“A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.”
― A.A. Milne
Your gym membership may be collecting dust, but your body has a longer memory than you think. We've got encouraging science on that front today, plus Erik Barnes' remarkable account of an Australian motorcyclist and the unlikely crew that came to his rescue. And with Halloween just around the corner, it's time to settle another important question: How much effort should a grown adult really put into a costume?
Health
Getting back in shape might not mean starting over.
You were doing so well. Three workouts a week, feeling stronger, maybe even enjoying yourself. Then life happened. Work got busy, you got sick, the holidays arrived, and suddenly my your membership became a monthly charitable donation to the gym owner. (You’re welcome, Aaron!) All that hard work, down the drain. Or was it?
Here's some encouraging news for anyone whose exercise routine has suffered an extended intermission. Scientists are discovering that your body may keep a surprisingly detailed record of your fitness history, even after the benefits of all that sweating seem to disappear.
As exercise physiologists Diego Hernandez-Saavedra and Yi-Heng (Hank) Huang explain, researchers have been studying what happens when subjects train, stop exercising, and eventually start again. Their findings suggest muscle memory runs much deeper than remembering how to ride a bicycle. And it's not just your muscles getting in on the act.
Yesterday we begged someone to paint Michelle’s lighthouse. GOOD reader Bob Nemens went straight to the source: Monet’s garden in Giverny, France. (Bob’s from Ohio. Monet is not.)
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Build our perfect Halloween: The costume
How much effort are we putting into Halloween costumes?We’ve handled the movie and candy. Now we need a dress code. |
Yesterday’s Results
Yesterday, we asked: What belongs in our Halloween candy bowl? Candy corn is out, and its small but loyal fan club is taking it hard.
Candy corn. Some of us still respect tradition. (6.3%)
I won’t spoil anything, but in this regard you have chosen… wisely. Keep voting as we build our perfect spooky Halloween night, to be revealed Friday.
Nostalgia | Courtesy of Upworthy
 | ||
25 long-forgotten everyday items that only your grandparents would recognize | ||
We’re not talking rotary phones. These legit feel like they’re from another world. | ||
By Heather Wake | ||
Time passes and things change, not just in the broad collective strokes of how we approach health, family, love, and work, but even in how we navigate day-to-day life. Especially when it comes to convenience. Objects that seemed cutting edge back in the day now seem like arduous relics. Seriously, can you imagine going back to a time when Alexa didn’t play your morning jams and read off our to-do list for the day? No thank you! | ||
On that note, someone asked, “What were some everyday objects from your youth or your parents/grandparents’ youth that an adult today wouldn’t know about?” Elaborating further, they added, “I’m not talking about a rotary telephone or the milk man coming by the door. I’m talking about ubiquitous things no one can even remember.” | ||
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World
A Brisbane commute went very wrong, very fast.
Tyler Wiebe was riding to work through Brisbane when a car veered the wrong way, clipped another vehicle, and sent the wreckage straight into his motorcycle. He was thrown from the bike and dragged beneath a car weighing more than 3,300 pounds, his head and chest pinned flat against the road.
For roughly two minutes, the physics were merciless. The weight was cracking his ribs, collapsing a lung, and stopping his heart from beating. Blood ran from his eyes, nose, and mouth. "Initially it was 'can I get out?' and then it was 'man I am dying, this is it,'" Wiebe said. "[My] wife and two kids are not here, and this is it."
Rescue came from the last place anyone would look for it: the used car dealership across the road. As Erik Barnes reports, the salesmen heard the crash, spotted two motionless legs under the wreck, and came running. Their first attempt to lift the car failed. So they did what the best kind of stranger does, the same instinct that sends teenagers off their bikes for someone they've never met: they went for more hands. How many it finally took, and the gift Wiebe brought them weeks later, is the part worth staying for.
On October 28, 1965, workers completed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, fitting the final section into place 630 feet above the ground. Designed by Eero Saarinen, the stainless-steel monument had been built upward from both sides, requiring astonishing precision to make the two halves meet.
The result was the tallest monument in the United States, a giant steel curve that has defined the St. Louis skyline ever since.
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💬 From the group text…
It’s a thematic stretch to call this a spooky season post, but it’s a good enough excuse for me!
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Until tomorrow, put some thought into what you’re putting in the candy bowl and how hard you’ll be willing to work at the gym next week to work it back off.