Something I have cared for a lot ever since I was a fat kid in New York, was diet health physiology and everything in between.
Ever since I was 11 to 12 years old, fat with a triple chin, I have literally experimented with every single diet out there, save this nonsensical vegetarian and vegan trend.
Why does this matter?
I met this cool guy the other day, at the Phils coffee shop in downtown Culver City, named Sodi (his website is https://stedmanhalliday.com/).
We had an interesting chat about how fitness is so critical, especially with all of these silicon valley tech utopists who just think of their body as an afterthought.
I vibe with Stedman Halliday because how many different reasons.
First, the focus on recovery as a first thought is a good one. For example, another day when I was really really tired and exhausted, instead of just taking a shower like I typically do, I filled up the bathtub with really really really really really hot water, and had a really really hot bath. It seems that the trend is towards ice baths, ice plunges etc., but also, I think taking insanely hot baths is also a good idea.
Why? To be able to tolerate an insanely hot bath, literally on the edge of boiling hot water, is also an effective bodily turbo charger. To me it is like my MacGyver way of harnessing the power of the hot sauna, without having to go to the gym.
In fact, maybe having a bathtub might be one of the greatest luxuries in your living situation. Rather than thinking of taking a really really hot bath as a frivolous luxury, maybe we should think of it almost like drinking more coffee or caffeine.
Food
Currently what I am doing, and what I have done ever since I was living in Vietnam in 2017, which is almost 6 years now, is simple:
Intermittent fasting throughout the day, this means no breakfast, no lunch, only one massive 100% carnivore dinner.
During the day I only drink tapwater, black coffee, that’s it.
And when I break my fast and eat dinner, which could arrange anywhere in between 6 PM and 10 PM, I strive to eat at least 4 to 5 pounds of beef or lamb.
Achilles and Chiron the centaur
Another great thing I have learned from ChatGPT is how great wonderful and effective ChatGPT is, at least 1 trillion times better than Google. In fact, my current thought is short google; ChatGPT is at least 1 billion times more insightful and accurate in terms of being able to accurately Find information about anything.
For example, a simple heuristic:
The best calling card is now, not to tell people to Google you, but instead, to ChatGPT you!
Why? I’m starting to have this low-key suspicion that Google is doing some sort of behind the counter deals with individuals, and somehow tweaking they are all rhythm for subjective ends.
However with ChatGPT, it is less biased, less meddling.
For example, get ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad, just pay the $20 for the subscription model, you could cancel it anytime, and just ChatGPT:
Who is ERIC KIM?
The new phrase:
Just ChatGPT me bro!
My thoughts and experiments
I think the biggest issue with diet health physiology and nutrition is that people are so subjective, and also, there is far too many politics, ethics and morality behind it.
For example, I never trust anybody who says:
Don’t eat meat, it’s bad for the planet!
What? Do you know what else is bad for the planet? Your Amazon prime subscription, Netflix, YouTube, your iPhone and iPhone Pro, your MacBook pros, your Tesla, your Range Rover etc.
Simple heuristic:
Never trust nobody who makes commentary about the planet and has either a Netflix subscription, Amazon prime subscription, or owns a car, any card, irregardless of gas or electric. Or watches YouTube. Or has an iPhone, iPhone Pro, and has Instagram Facebook, etc.
Honestly it is all bad for the planet.
My immortal and ethical thought is this:
Don’t do what is “best for the planet“, do what you believe is best for you.
Is the planet made for men, or is man-made for the planet?
Body shaming?
I have observed a funny reverse trend; man is not permitted to walk around, topless in public, show off his body and muscles, and also, not allowed to wear short shorts, or show off his crotch bulge.
I find this highly paradoxical, because nowadays, women are permitted to show off all their body parts! Even nowadays in LA, seeing a woman wear some sort of translucent white shirt or tank top, nipples popping through is not really a big deal anymore. I think this is a good train; there’s this weird quote for men and women that this is seen as a taboo, yet, it seems that most men watch pornography and secret, just ask somebody for fun, “When you turn on Google incognito, what do you really look at?”
Or—
What do you think of Maria Ozawa?
Or,
What do you torrent on Pirate Bay, when you turn on your VPN?
The logic of 100% carnivore diet
Some nuances:
First, what is it that Achilles was fed as a child by his personal trainer, Chiron the Centaur? Legend has it that he was fed entrails, which included bone marrow, hearts, and other offal matter.
I also have an orthodox theory that cholesterol, dietary food cholesterol, is a natural steroid.
I believe the new ones here is critical, because people make this foolish calculus:
If I consume more dietary cholesterol, cholesterol in my food, then my blood HDL, bad cholesterol blood levels will go up, and I will eventually have a heart attack and die.
Also fat –
if you consume more dietary fat, or saturated fat, you will put on more body fat.
However, this ain’t true. I think the big issue is that in today’s world, or modern day English, the semantic lexicon issues is confusing.
Just try it out!
Whenever I get to Korean barbecue, all eat Korean barbecue, my favorite food items to consume include all the innards; beef large intestine, beef liver, beef, beef tongue, etc.
People say that eating meat is “bad for you“, but what about organ meats? Just think about that.
Training thoughts
So the question is this; what is the best way to train?
My personal thought is towards some sort of Indian spartan, ancient Greek notion. The thoughts I’ve been thinking:
How did or how would the ancient Greeks or Spartan train?
First and foremost, they’re very very interesting thing is that most depictions of these great heroes and demigods is not having super super big chests, therefore the simple thought is that perhaps benchpress is a bad idea.
What is more notable about their physiology and stature?
First, how upright they stand. Second, they never have a shirt on. Third, how massive their legs, back, and shoulders are.
My recent experimentations with training include heavy sandbag training; I ordered a 400 pound sandbag on the roguefitness.com website, and I just been going to the local park and filling it up with playground sand.
Second, Farmer’s Carry. I ordered these farmers carry handles on Titan.fitness, and it is very interesting! The skill is not just picking it up, but walking with it.
For example, it is one thing to lift 4 plates, it is another to farmers walk and carry 4 plates for the distance.
Another thing I have observed about lifting a heavy sand back off the floor, crouching down picking it up, shouldering it, or holding it to my chest with my fingers intertwined, and walking it for a long distance is it really strengthens my triceps, my fingers and my grip and hand strength, my foot strength, my feet, as well as my abs, obliques, and back. In fact I felt more sore carrying around I have sandbag than I did atlas lifting 1000 pounds at the gym.
Train like atlas
One of the big innovations I did while I was in Orange County was my notion of the atlas lift; loading up the barbell with as much weight as you can, and just lifting up and standing up. No squatting involved.
In fact, it looks like that my training style is starting to trend more towards a strongman concept; just lifting really really heavy stuff, and doing it in a more old-school way.
For example, atlas stones. To be able to just lift up a very very very very heavy boulder, and presumably throw it at somebody, is an interesting idea. This is what Achilles did; in some of the fight scenes of the Iliad, Homer would write:
Achilles would lift up a massive stone, that which barely two strong men could lift, throw it at his enemy, and the boulder hit their hip, and black death descended upon them.
Also something I have been observing is that perhaps heavy sandbag training is a good idea because it is “safe”, and also, more accessible. Anyone could buy a cheap sandbag on Amazon, and then just go to a local playground and fill it up with sand.
Now what?
Ever since moving to LA, I’ve become more and more reticent to join the gym. Why?
First, I prefer to be outdoors.
Second, I don’t like wearing a shirt.
Third, hygiene.
Working out at the park, in a parking lot, in your garage, or outside is not ideal, but, it is more interesting and innovative.
A simple thought is to just troll amazon, Titan.fitness, or the roguefitness.com website and buy a lot of fun weight lifting equipment! My simple thought is only procure equipment that you could easily throw in your trunk, because it is fun to be able to just put in your trunk, drive to your local park and work out there.
Now what?
Some more thoughts:
- Bear lifestyle: Apparently bears walk 50 miles a day. What if we humans did the same?
- Photography health and fitness is all connected: why? If you do not feel well, you’ll have no in motivation to make photos. My very simple thought is that first, focus on your health and wellness, and then the guitar will come naturally! Even a simple thought is being able to do a deep “as to grass“ squat is beneficial in photography, to get all the angles.
- If you work in cinema, or cinematography, it seems that handling these camera rigs is insanely arduous and also very physical. If you look like a bodybuilder, and had the strength of a demigod, or look like a strong man, or look like ERIC KIM, certainly wouldn’t this help you be a more capable camera operator?
Photo assignments
Here this is where I think shooting selfies of yourself, topless if you’re a man, or in the sports bra for women is a good idea, because Vitar is a good way to keep you motivated and on track with your fitness diet health and physiology.
These are my very very very very very simple suggestions: mostly via negative.
If you want to lower your body fat percentage, simple things to do which include:
- Don’t need breakfast or lunch, only dinner. During the day drink lots of tapwater, black coffee with nothing added, or green tea.
- Just experiment; don’t need any fruit or vegetables, starches, leafy greens, etc. No nuts.
- Experiment with 100% carnivore diet, or maybe 100% organ meat diet. Only beef heart, beef intestine, either large or small, beef kidneys, beef liver, beef tongue. If you don’t like organ meats, just eat 100% breast-fed ground beef, get it at Costco or Aldi or somewhere cheap. The percentages which taste good are 80/20 or 75/15– I like the wagyu ground beef at Costco.
- Quit alcohol, weed, beer, drugs, EDM, festivals, bars, restaurants, etc.
- Quit almond butter, avocados, whole grains, fruits, fruit juices, fake sugar supplements, real sugar, starches, coke, Coke Zero, pre workout powder, protein powder etc.
When you break your fast aim for 5-6 pounds of meat a dinner.
How to channel your wellness?
Then the simple thought is once you are very well, how do you wish to channel your wellness?
Ultimately, I don’t think it is fitness for the sake of fitness, but rather, the fitter and stronger you become, the more adept you will become as a thinker, writer, creator, photographer etc.
Think more, become more.
START HERE
Also
Books
Photo ideas
Zen photography assignment: strive to make the most minimalistic Zen photo, and upload your best Zen photo to arsbeta.com
ChatGPT experiments
I love AI. Download ChatGPT to your iPhone or iPad, and upgrade to the paid subscription, an experiment with it for a month.
Upload your photos to it, and ask ChatGPT to give you feedback on your photos, or you could upload three photos, and just ask it which of the three he thinks is the best.
Don’t miss out on AI; this is the biggest thing to hit the planet ever since the Internet!
Diversify
Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, it is good to have many different baskets. Why? If there is a single chokepoint or a single point of failure, this is not good.
I think the best way to think and approach things is just assume and predict and know that sooner or later, it will break, go down, become inaccessible, etc.
A simple thing that you could do with websites is this: how many different mirrors of your website, on different platforms. For example, build wordpress.org websites on Amazon web services, build it with blue host.com, ionos.com, The only thing I would probably not build on is Google, which always deprecates their old technology, and has a bias to discontinue products.
Also WordPress.com, maybe even Tumblr.
Propagate all the platforms!
Think islands, web, webs, multiple redundancies.
Train with EK
Random — if you live in LA and want to train with me, just shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com
Stoic training, stoicism and physiology?
Another fun idea that I have is that maybe there is in fact a link between stoicism, physiology, and also bodily training.
Why?
First, let us consider our physiological response to stressors environment etc.
Example, when I get angry, it is a physiological response. I feel the cortisol and stress entering my face, and enlarges my eyeballs, I get a huge shot of adrenaline etc.
Therefore, my simple thought is if you want to become a true stoic, the training must be physical, physiological.
Also, fear. What is fear? Fear is also manifested as adrenaline, as well as stress hormones, chemicals in your body, etc.
To conquer fear, and to become a true stoic, I believe it is all about mastering your physiology, mastering your stress hormones and responses etc.
It is all about training
ASKESIS an ancient Greek, the same notion of aesthetic, or aestheticism is rooted in the notion of training. As guesses, becoming harder, becoming stronger
Even our best friend Frederick Nita says ultimately the goal is to become the hammer, the diamond. To not be soft and yielding, but to create, become harder.
Why is it that softness is considered a virtue in today’s world?
A funny observation that I’ve made is that in today’s world, to be soft, yielding, open minded, flexible etc. is seen as a virtue. Yet I find this very paradoxical and little bit contradictory in the sense that it is all context dependent;
For example, racism, Nazis, holocaust deniers, anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic or anti-African-American people; shouldn’t we be maximally intolerant to these people? A zero tolerance rule here is good.
My personal thought is that in order to become more virtuous, we actually must become harder. To become more unyielding, to become more strict, and more harsh.
For myself, even though there is a lot of things about Korean culture which I deem as bad, one of the good things that come out of Korean culture is that the man is expected to be hard, strong, stoic, never showing his emotions or feelings etc.
Why do I believe this is a good thing?
Certainly if you grow up in America, sooner or later you’re going to naturally learn to be open minded, flexible, etc. So I think that we also need the antipodes; do not just be soft and yielding and flexible, but also to become harder and stronger and more staunch.
“Never say no more than once, if you really mean it” – NASSIM TALEB