INSANELY JACKED LEGS

I don’t know why, yesterday I guess I walked a lot with Seneca, now that Seneca is giving heavier and heavier… I guess my leg muscles are continuing to adapt and develop.

Today, waking up…  feeling insane vigor and strength in my legs. It feels so good!

Godlike thighs

Currently reading the Emily Wilson translation of the Elliott, and there’s this nice scene in which Ares, the God of war slaps both of his thighs.  It was such a great visual, because I know exactly what that feels like! 

Why the cult of the upper body?

Assuming that your penis in your balls are connected to your Laura after your body… I have a funny theory that if you actually want to increase your manliness, your testosterone, or dominance… Logical option is to 100% focus on strengthening your legs, 1000X.

For example, in the world of bodybuilding, weightlifting, etc.… When you get to the Mr. Olympia levels, the crème de la crème of weight lifting and bodybuilding,  it comes down to your wheels, your legs!

In fact, this is something that I witnessed that almost 100% of the guys at the gym don’t have… Impressive legs!

Remember… When I was still at my old commercial gym, I was doing my normal weightlifting thing, and in the freeway section, there was only one young woman, who randomly asked me “are you a swimmer?” I then said no, why? She said to me “your thighs and legs are massive!” a lot of the other guys at the gym witnessed this, and heard it… I think they were all secretly envious and jealous of me.

start from the bottom up

OK… Another thing that was very interesting is that in the Elliott… Some of the ways that the ancient Greek heroes are described as having insanely strong feet and hands.

A very simple thought to strengthen your feet is to go barefoot as much as humanly possible, or the simple vibram five finger shoes.  walk around with a 60 pound weight vest, and also do types of weightlifting which involve lifting barefoot while standing up! This could be a rack pull, deadlift walk, atlas lift,  farmer’s carries, etc.

Also, the easiest way to strengthen your hands is by not using these weekly straps, and just using plain old chalk, either the powdery stuff or the liquid chalk, both are good, actually the liquid chalk gives you better grip, – and start training your hands to lift heavy dumbbells, barbell, etc.… If you’re using a barbell, for the heavier weights start to use a mixed grip.

For example, even a simple exercise that I did for a while at my old gym was Farmer’s carries with the 150 pound dumbbells, which were the highest or the most heavy dumbbells at the time. Or when I went to the Gold gym Venice Beach… The famous one I conquer the golden 330 pound dumbbells quite easily; just use chalk, and lift up the dumbbells a single 330 pound dumbbell with two hands. Assuming that you could double lift over four plates five plate six plate seven plates eight plates… to lift up a 330 pound dumbbell, especially if it is in between your legs like a sumo lift position, using both hands, and chalk, is actually pretty easy. For a while I was doing the duck walks with it, just as a form of fun training exercises. Unannounced to me, apparently I went viral twice over when some random people were recording me doing it. 

SWAT TRAINING

Kind of a random idea… About adaptation etc.

So, one of my new ideas is this notion of tactical training. For example… I bought this pair of shorts from ten thousand.cc, which are actually not very good they already got ripped at the waistband,  but I was certainly suckered by the marketing, because they were branded as “tactical“ shorts.

There’s this really great scene in John Wick, which I plan on re-watching again… In which he goes to the Somalier, and  one he is getting strapped up and equipped up… There’s this great dialogue and talking in which the Somalier asks John Wick — what occasion? And when he is making his suit jacket, he asks what kind of material to use, and he says “tactical”– so gangsta! Wick essentially gets a suit jacket made, that has built in Kevlar, and he uses as a mini shield, with his suit jacket when he is doing gunfights etc. 
Anyways, I think the whole modern day notion of tactical is very fascinating to me because thinking about king Leonidas and the Spartan 300, the battle of Thermopylae, the hot gates, and also modern day times… What is it that we modern day men lack? War, warfare, battle, Physical valor!

And don’t get at me with these pussy guns. Having a gun makes you a coward. It makes your dick size smaller.  I actually would like this alternate universe in which let us say I snapped my fingers, and men, grown men… If we got into arguments or whatever, we could do it like Brad Pitt fight club style… No guns no knives, no weapons, just your bare fists. And you just have two dudes getting a ring, topless, and just battle it out. 

Boxing

I actually think boxing is quite virtuous, assuming that both parties are wearing gloves, and a protective helmet thing. Why? I think two men often have a disagreement or inimical feeling towards one another, especially when it comes through high school guys were going through puberty or whatever… Just have them let them box it out seems like a good idea.

For example, even when it comes to these technology Titans like Elon musk and… I would love to see them just get into a boxing match together. To see who has the more valor.

American football

One thing that people do not know about ERIC KIM is that I played American football softball junior year, first playing outside linebacker, then my junior year inside linebacker, starting.

Ever since I was a kid, in Bayside Queens New York, I always wanted to become the strongest, the most dominant, the most monstrous. I was the strongest out of all my friends, and everybody knew it.

Anyways, in high school… I then had interest in trying to do the most mainly sport, which was bar none American football. But funny enough, I almost had no idea the rules of American football, and this is also another funny thing I will teach you:

The real players don’t actually fully know how the game is played.

For example, I played defense, because I like to tackle, and I was a tough mofo. I started off as outside linebacker because I had no experience, and then once I proved to my coaches that I was hard and strong, I became middle linebacker my junior year, starting, would call the plays etc. 

KILL!

Anyways, it does put chest on your hair, for example, I remember the first time I ever had to practice doing a kick off, it was probably the most unnatural, fearful thing of all… Essentially You kicked the ball, and it goes down the field… And then a guy on the other side grabs it, and you have two parties, battle armor, sprinting at one another for 100% speed… And when the guy with the ball is trying to penetrate the other side, what he does is he grabs the ball like a child, with two arms protecting it, and then dips his head and his helmet and his body is super super low, and what do you have to do as the other side is to also get super super low, to try to get under him, and then you take on this full on collision, and tackle him.

Two things:

 first, this is very unnatural, and insanely frightening. Why? Once again, it is not natural to sprint and another guy in full battle armor, and you in full battle armor, and collide head on. The risk of injury is high, even with protective equipment.

Not only that, it does take a lot of physical courage, and also mental courage. For example, you have to trust your own strength, your own skill, your own valor.

I suppose my only regret is I wish I played varsity football my senior year, but my tennis coach, who I respect is my Mr. Miyagi, coach Greg Lowe discourage me from playing football because he thought it would be a distraction to playing varsity doubles tennis, in which I also played in high school, and was number one on the team.

Anyways, I think it is wise to have kids, boys, men, young men etc. engaging some sort of physical combat, training, wrestling exercises, boxing, whatever.

Why? True manliness, true courage cannot be divorced from physical reality.

For example, certainly mental courage, is very important. And also having the courage to speak your mind, even though the whole world may hate you for it. 

Or also the courage about Rosa Parks, sitting in front of the bus, and refusing to get up.

Anyways, I think the big issue in today’s world is we have deferred courage into the realm of video games, and other silly things, which are not connected to embodied physical reality.

I was even thinking about it… Tennis, Chas, sports etc.… Certainly they all take skill, but there is no real physical downside to it.

Only sports have a physical downside may be American football or rugby? But beyond that, all these other sports, they are essentially “grass fairies”? (the way that we football players used to make fun of soccer players)

Retention

A few years ago, I give up watching porn. Why? It Just became a little bit ridiculous to me. And also, interestingly enough… I think in ancient China or Korea or somewhere… There was this interesting ocean is that anytime you eject your semen or Seminole fluid, they call it “energy suicide“, and as a consequence, it totally made sense.  no man in his right mind would rub one out real quick, 15 minutes before the big fight. Also, I am pretty certain that half Thor did not rub one out real quick before that lifting his infamous 502 kg dead lift.

I think pornography is fine, and a funny thought…

if you watch porn, but you don’t masturbate to it… And you do not eject your seminal fluid, is it still porn? 

Maybe not. Maybe it is just erotic art?

I think there’s nothing wrong with masturbation or whatever. Apparently it is a supernatural. And probably better for a teenage void to masturbate rather than get a random girl pregnant. Or even worse catch a STD or STI.

Anyways, I think the primary thing to consider is your physiology. Even Nietzsche mentions that some of his writing, his critique of a lot of the modern day German youth was that they spent too much time wasting their energy, “spending” on women, etc.

The seed of life

OK, if you get rid of all this Christian Judeo moralistic guilt about sexual intercourse whatever… And just made it really really primal, biological,… Natural, what do you have?

Even the other day, walking along the nature preserve and seeing two monarch butterflies chasing one another in the air.

Or, peacock with his beautiful feathers and plumage, to attract a mate. 

To mate, to have children, to produce offspring – this is what all the biology, life is all about. Even if you think about bacteria, fermentation, mold, making kefir cheese whatever,  what the bacteria does is very simple; it consumes the lactose sugar protein energy sources, and then it produces offspring. All life, animal life and beyond is all about producing offspring, indefinitely.

I think modern daytimes, the anti-children sentiment is very bizarro. I have some theories.

First, who are the people who are promoting this anti-children nonsense, and all this patently insane ideas that children are the worst thing you do for planet in terms of the carbon footprint or whatever? These are individuals, who have no religion, no values, live in Berkeley California,  a lot of them childless old people in their late 50s, mid 60s, 70s… And they are bitter and salty about life, and as a consequence, what they try to do is to the rest of society, with their strange vegan values.

Vegetarian is natural, it has been around since time of Seneca the younger. But it was still associated with weird cults, that is why Seneca stopped being vegetarian because he did not want to be accused of being part of a weird cult which was anti-empire. And in India, being vegetarian has been around forever.

However, I think the reason why it is good to beat people in the flesh, face-to-face, not via the Internet is because you could judge them, based on their age their height their physiology, their physical health, their food consumption behaviors etc.


 Figure it out as late as possible, ALAP

I have this motto called ALAP, which stands for as late as possible.

 for example, my very simple suggestion is when it comes to weightlifting, fitness, the gym etc.… It is never plan your workout before you enter, once you enter the arena, once you enter the Colosseum… Then figure it out.

The gladiator makes his plans once he enters the arena – Publius Syrus

In modern day times, we have these silly notions of project management, planning, etc. But the reason why it is foolish is because if you think about it from a baye’s theory, bayes statistics — the truly wise and optimal way to do things is you do the action in the moment of, because that is when you have maximum information about everything at hand.

Which essentially what it means is right now, directly in the direct moment, bricolage, taking chances risk taking and making lots of foolish mistakes, but after 99 failed attempts, you get one which is a screaming home run!

> “You still taking advances huh? Me and my niggas we taking real chances uh!” – JAY Z

THE LIFE OF OJ.


What is entrepreneurship?

According to Jeff Bezos, if you already know that something is going to work with 100% certainty before you try it, it is not an experiment.

I think therefore, the ethos of entrepreneurship is paradoxical;

You can study entrepreneurship, study the past, has successes, but what has succeeded in the past may or may not succeed right now or the future. 

For example, Warren Buffett is not a good example because he is about 90 years old, and his recipe for success worked 90 years ago, in America, before bitcoin was invented. So knowledge is very context specific, even if you were Warren Buffett and you did the same exact investing strategy in Brazil… You would not succeed.

I think this is where it is so difficult to think carte Blanche, blank slate. why? If it has never been done before, if nobody has ever succeeded doing it… How do you know if it is possible or not?

You cannot make street photography your living

Back in 2009, 2010… when I was first starting off my photography journey, I had zero intention in turning my passion for photography and street photography into my living, even though I wanted to. I was extremely pragmatic: I did not quit my day job, I knew that it was wise to have a steady 9 to 5 job, at least I could pay my rent with 100% certainty. 

Fresh out of college at UCLA as an undergraduate, making $40,000 USD a year… The year 2010, working for a company called demand media which has rebranded to the “Leaf group”, my first job was online community manager… And I was able to get an internship there a year prior my senior year at UCLA, all things to Cindy for finally it on an email list server.

Anyways, some simple entrepreneurial advice:

Working from home is a godsend.

I still remember… When it was the year 2010, it was actually my fantasy to be able to work from home! Why? I could just do the minimum amount of work possible, to not get fired, away from my overseers, get all my work done in about two hours, and then I could just spend the rest of my time blogging, which was my passion, doing photography street photography and building up my Empire on the side?

Nowadays they call it a side hustle, which is a pretty good idea. 

Pay your rent with your day job, enter the minimum amount of work possible to not get fired, do not seek your promotion or advancement in your career, and devote 99% of your excess energy building up your entrepreneurial enterprise.

The sad truth is 99.9% of entrepreneurial endeavors fail. I was lucky because I have never failed in my life. Everything that I wanted to do and set my mind to it, I succeeded. I think it was about 80% chutzpah and passion and insane drive, and 20% luck and timing.

 The first really big street photography boom 

Individuals who made their mark include Kaiman Wong, Alamby Leung, Lok Cheung, Charlie Kirk, and ERIC KIM. And Bellamy Hunt of Japancamerahunter.com — buy JCH film!