Morning Brew - ☕️ Dumbbell shortage

Good evening. Your pilot for tonight’s Essentials is Ryan Duffy, who normally flies the Emerging Tech Brew plane. The 30,000-foot metaphors are subconsciously coming to me because I think I actually miss flying. Weird, I know. 

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Francis Scialabba

I’ve been known to skip leg day on occasion. Okay, I lied. I’m a serial skipper of leg day. 

But I miss having access to gym equipment so much that I’d be willing to do a leg workout no questions asked. Gyms have reopened in parts of the U.S., including my home state of Texas, but actually going to the gym is a no from me...and many others. 

Instead, U.S. consumers and fitness junkies have embraced home gyms as an alternative to their former go-to spots. As a result, the U.S. is experiencing a massive dumbbell shortage. 

Vox put together a great breakdown of the headwinds facing our national dumbbell stock. 

1. Demand is way up. One fitness exec said sales in May were 600% higher than in 2019. 
2. Supply chains are shot. 95% of the world’s dumbbells are manufactured in China, leading to bottlenecks.

Now, retailers including Dick’s, Modell’s, and Big Five “all have low to zero availability and aren’t shipping their weights,” per Vox. 

What about secondary markets for weights? This is a non-scientific and completely anecdotal dispatch, but on Facebook Marketplace in Austin, dumbbell sets are routinely priced at hundreds of dollars more than what they cost before the pandemic. 

Since a million dumbbells won’t become available overnight—and not everyone is willing or able to go back to gyms soon—we have to embrace alternatives. I’ve included some ideas below.

Stay fit: No iron, no problem. Here are some bodyweight workouts and here are some more once you finish the first. Finally, check out these 23 easy at-home workouts. My personal challenge is to run one mile/day. It sounds crazy, but once you get in a rhythm, it’s not too bad. Then again, I’m at 611 consecutive days, so maybe I’m not normal. 

Stay up to date: I know we have a large readership in NYC and the tristate area. Check out the city’s plans for reopening; the state is currently in Phase Four. 

Stay relaxed: I swear this $13 neck massager is the best, most economical purchase I have ever made on Amazon. 

Stay...weirded out? In keeping with the fitness theme, Amazon recently announced the Halo wearable band, which I covered in depth in Emerging Tech Brew. TL;DR: The gadget bundles some interesting technology, but is raising concerns about consumer privacy and Amazon cross-selling products based on bodily indicators. Is Halo something you would try? Reply and let me know. 

While we’re on the topic of Emerging Tech: We recently published The Human’s Handbook to Computers that Think, a comprehensive guide that breaks down artificial intelligence. You’re guaranteed to learn something new.

ZITS BE GONE!

We used to think standing in front of the mirror and loudly berating our zits would banish them from our faces. Our poor pores didn’t deserve that. 

So we got Hero Cosmetics’ Mighty Patches. They solve our pimple emergencies—overnight. Instead of boisterously banishing our blemishes, we apply a magical Mighty Patch, hit the hay, and voila! 

You’ll rise and shine, pimple-free. 

Its zit-fighting formula effortlessly extracts pimples while you sleep without hurting your skin. It’s non-drying, great for sensitive skin, and totally drug-free.

Tell your zits sweet dreams and use code BREW20 to get 20% off your first Mighty Patch purchase.

New-ish documentary: Akashinga: The Brave Ones profiles the Zimbabwean female rangers who protect key animal species against poaching and extinction. Avatar’s James Cameron was an executive producer. 

Wanderlust: The Drive & Listen web app shows you the feed of a car driving through a few dozen global cities with local radio playing.

Listen: A speech synthesizer sings “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.

Disney

I was an emotional wreck all weekend after hearing about the death of Chadwick Boseman, an actor and role model in so many ways. 

"He was a gentle soul and a brilliant artist, who will stay with us for eternity through his iconic performances over his short yet illustrious career," said Denzel Washington, who once paid Boseman’s tuition at a British acting academy. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler wrote an excellent tribute to Boseman’s life and legacy. ABC aired Black Panther commercial-free last night, followed by Chadwick Boseman–A Tribute for a King. 

If you’re looking for a recent performance from Boseman, check out Netflix’s Da 5 Bloods, a Spike Lee-directed film about four Black veterans returning to Vietnam decades after the war. 

Boseman worked the last few years between surgeries and chemo while battling colon cancer. It’s a heartbreaking illness that I’ve also lost a relative to. If you’d like to make a donation in Boseman’s honor, consider the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

I recently drove from Texas to New York and back in a week. Here was my route. 

Google

My favorite picture from the trip: an aerial shot of Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid in Memphis, TN. Some call it the Eighth Wonder of the World (only I call it that).

Ryan's drone

For more pics like this, follow my drone on Insta. It’s a budding photographer. 

Thanks for tuning in. Share The Essentials with a friend if you think they’d enjoy any of the recommendations enclosed within. We’ll catch you on the flipside.