The new wave:

1. Rack pull, not deadlift
2. Atlas Lift, not squat
3. Floor bench press, not normal bench press.

I’m sexy and I know it.

I train like a powerlifter, look like a bodybuilder:

Some longevity thoughts:

Thinking car interiors

I’ve always been passionate about cars ever since I was a kid, and even now as an adult, I am still very interested and passionate about them, even Seneca loves them!

Seneca and I have been spending a lot of time touring different cars, and their interiors, like the Lucid air, all of the Tesla cars, as well as even the more recent Polestar cars.

This is the big thought I have:

All of these interiors, and the touch screens will get dated very quickly.

For example, the UI/UX of the lucid touch screens, as well as the polestar touch screens are insanely ugly, make no sense, and not intuitive. The Tesla touch screens are better, yet even though I find navigating them to be insanely confusing.

Even when you inspect the Rolls-Royce cars, all of these buttons and levers in the cars will get dated, and probably will sooner or later break.

Why all cars are bad

All electric cars are bad insofar much as the battery technology quickly get dated. Can you imagine if you bought a $100,000 iPhone, can you imagine using it for 30 years?

Also with gasoline cars, hybrid cars, plug-in hybrid cars, etc., sooner or later all of these motors and moving parts will require maintenance and will break sooner or later.

Even a superficial thing; when I bought my 13 inch MacBook Pro touch bar in 2017, refurbished and maxed out, now the battery only lasts about a minute or two before I have to charge it in. The thing says I need to replace the battery, but I don’t have time for that.

Speculations and investments for the future?

There are certain trends which are very obvious. If you think long enough.

As time goes on, think to yourself,

In the next 20 to 30 years, will Americans become fatter, more obese, more overfat, or more fit?

Also,

As time goes on, will more people get into photography as an artistic outlet, or fewer?

Also,

As time goes on, will the iPhone camera get better, or worse?

Also,

As time goes on, will freeway traffic get better or worse?

These are some simple obvious long-term thoughts we can make.

Also,

In the next 20 or 30 years, will there be higher crypto and cryptocurrency adoption or less?

Even inspecting some crypto.com marketing news, apparently adoption of people purchasing crypto has gone up!

Economic forecasts

I don’t predict a “recession”, however what I do foresee is that the price of simple stuff will go up. Why? For example, I see that McDonald’s is now hiring for $16.50, starting salary an hour! Also looking at gas prices, the standard is now five dollars and up a gallon.

What does this mean? I think first of all, these starting salaries for menial labor jobs are no longer enticing people. I think the new young generation would probably just prefer to stay at home, smoke weed, play video games, binge on Netflix, and squat in their parents house.

The rich are getting richer

Going to the new Balenciaga collection, seeing the new Adidas and Balenciaga collaboration, I love that you can now buy a pair of cotton socks for $200! And these things are selling like hotcakes. Even my sister Annette Kim who studied fashion at Otis was shocked.

Who are buying these things? A lot of single people, who are into fashion, and probably don’t have kids. Also it seems that the trend is at least in America, more and more people are staying single, or married with no kids, and they have a lot of dispensable income.

Also, thinking international commerce. A lot of really really really really rich mainland Chinese people are still rich, and a lot of these new oligarchs, in Asia, southeast Asia are incredibly rich. They have a lot of money to blow.

So what should we do?

You are alive, you are a tool and instrument to do whatever you please.

I cannot speak for you, but for myself, my personal passion lies at the intersection of entrepreneurship, photography, fitness, life, almost everything.

I am passionate about knowledge and wisdom, and striving to pave and innovate new fields.

Debunking myths?

Perhaps knowledge, and knowledge production is best seen as a “via negativa” thing; that is, much knowledge and wisdom is gained by debunking myths.

For example, the anti-meat conspiracy. I think it is a myth that meat is bad for you; I think the big issue here is correlation versus causation. People who eat more red meat also tend to drink more Coca-Cola and eat more french fries, and tend to be of a more lower socioeconomic status.

Also, with diet health and fitness, and working out—

I have proven that you do not need to eat anything before working out, and you can get insanely strong lifting weights while fasting.

For example, my insanely epic atlas lift of over eight plates, and being able to rack pull over seven plates, and being able to floor benchpress over five plates. Enter the 2000 pound club (vlog), video file.

Also, this myth that you must immediately eat something right after working out, or that you have to eat protein powder, whey protein powder, creatine casein, etc. Much more effective to just eat red meat.

We must be insanely critical; the diet health fitness industry is a several billion dollar industry, and a lot of people have a lot of money to be gained by selling all of these products, for example, weightlifting belts, weight lifting straps, knee wraps, protein powder, pre-workout powder, protein substances, steroids, human growth hormones, etc.

Never use a weightlifting belt. This is the biggest scam of all.

So how do you want to utilize your life?

I think the trillion dollar question is this:

How do you want to utilize your life?

What are you so insanely passionate about and enthusiastic about, that you are willing to utilize your life towards it?

For myself, I want to empower, elevate, and advance humanity. I think this is best done through coming up with different philosophical ideas, innovating and paving new modes of living, thinking about human physiology, lifting weights, etc.

Physiology 101 >

Thoughts move all.

Why am I so passionate about thoughts and thinking?

First and foremost, thoughts are incredibly motivational. Whenever I hear an interesting thought by other people, it leads me down an interesting rabbit hole.

Also, what is philosophy? A love of thinking and thoughts.

How to think more

This is the tricky thing; is there a hierarchy of thoughts?

For example, is it necessarily better to have a lot of thoughts? Or is it better to have a few, really great thoughts?

For me, all thoughts are alike. What matters more is whether the thought is interesting or not to you.

In order to think more, some tips:

1. Walk more. Friedrich Nietzsche once said that the only good thoughts are the ones that come to you while walking. Trust no thoughts which comes to you while sitting.
2. Spend less time driving. For example, if you have the option of walking to somewhere for 30 minutes, or driving there in two minutes, better to just walk. Why? Although we may think that driving helps to save time to be more “productive and efficient“, yet, the thoughts which arise to us while we are spending more time walking, may be superior. In short, better to “waste“ 30 minutes walking, and have at least one interesting thought, than to “save time“ and drive, yet have no interesting thoughts.
3. Lift weights at the gym, with no smart phone or headphones on. Many thoughts can arise to you while working out, while lifting weights. Also as a pro tip, I recommend that you do no types of weight lifting while sitting down. Any seated form of weight lifting is bad. Better to stand, or just lie on the floor. For example, do not do shoulder press while sitting down, just do it standing up. Better for your legs, your back, and also, by using your legs to thrust up the weight, you can lift more heavier weights.
4. Hot sauna. At my local gym, the hot sauna, when really really hot, is like a meditation chamber for me. Just lie down on your back, and let the thoughts come to you.
5. Drive your car without music, or podcasts on. Whenever you drive, do it silent. This will give you the opportunity to think more. And also, whenever you have a thought, you could just say “hey Siri“, take a note, and just jot down your thoughts. If done correctly (don’t drive with music or podcasts on), driving can also help you think.
6. Movement, and variety of terrain and environment: switch up your schedule. Instead of working at home, just go to the local coffee shop, and also don’t always frequent the same places. Switch it up and add variety. I think this jaggedness, this jagged lifestyle can promote more thinking.

How to gain more energy?

Currently speaking, my number one passion in life is this pursuit of getting more energy. Some thoughts:

1. Consume more cholesterol, beef liver, heart, intestines, organ meat etc. More cholesterol, more energy.
2. More time in the natural light, outside. If the weather is not good, just layer up with all of your warmest clothes, down, and spend more time outdoors. Also more time walking, instead of driving. I have an interesting theory, I think even if you’re tired, walking will give you energy, while driving will rob you of energy.
3. When you’re tired, just lie down and take a nap.
4. Go to the gym and lift weights. Once again, the irony is I think when you’re tired is the best time to go to the gym. Why? Once you go to the gym, stretch a little bit and hang out, you might actually gain more energy. Or you could just go into the sauna, lie down and take a nap here.

Is becoming more productive your life goal?

EK CONSULTING — eric@erickim.com for life goal strategizing.

I suppose the interesting thing to consider in life is whether becoming more productive is your life goal. To produce more, to create more, to think more, generally seems like a good idea.

Food thoughts

I am starting to think more and more, this push towards “plant-based“ diets, and more of this trend towards vegetarianism and veganism is profoundly bad for humanity. Why? Certainly meat is bad for the planet, but, I think human physiology, and human grandeur is more important than the planet. And this is coming from a Boy Scout Eagle Scout.

Why do people care so much about “the planet“? I don’t think people really care. For example, I trust nobody who talks about “the planet“, yet owns an REI membership, owns Patagonia clothing, owns an iPhone, drives a Tesla or a Prius or a Nissan leaf, has an Amazon prime membership, has a smart TV at home, goes to Whole Foods, etc.

What about “animal rights“? I think this is also an anemic notion.

We humans are supreme and apex. My profound distaste that the modern day person seems to care more about dogs than children. Now, I ignore dogs. I never talk about how cute dogs are, when humans show too much fascination in dogs, I actually find it quite distasteful. It is hilarious they also call it “pet ownership“, you own the pet. You are the owner, and the pet as your slave and property. You cannot say you are a “human owner”, why apply the same methodology to animals?

Strive to eat 4 pounds of beef or lamb a day

Last night, I ate nearly 4 pounds of ground lamb, I got it from the local Aldi. It was great. Just mix it up with some cumin, and grill it on a cast iron pan on the stove, the skillet, the frying pan, etc.

Another great option is going to the local Costco business center, yes, as long as you have a normal Costco membership you can still go to the local Costco business center. Go to the meat aisle, and get the meaty beef ribs, only $2.99 USD a pound. If there is not a local Costco business center close to you, instead, just go to the normal Costco, and just get the cheapest beef brisket, I think it is only $3.50 a pound or $3.99 a pound.

The first one you thought is actually, eating meat is waaaaay cheaper than eating vegetables. I saw the other day at Whole Foods, they sell asparagus for $4.99 a pound! Let us consider that the average human being cannot actually eat that much meat; maybe 2 pounds at best. Let us say that you buy meat for three dollars a pound, you can feed yourself well on only six dollars a day!

No supplements or protein powders necessary

Also, let’s say that you are into weightlifting, going to the gym, bodybuilding, powerlifting, CrossFit etc. If you want to maximize your strength, your muscles, your muscular growth, performance, recovery etc., eating meat is supreme. There is no need to purchase protein powder, creatine or whey protein powder, or take any of the silly supplements. Certainly no pre-workout powder, which is essentially just sweetened caffeine that makes you fat.

For example, I have not consumed protein powder in almost 6 years, and also let us consider that I go to the gym and lift while fasted. No belt no straps, no BS. And yet I am able to easily lift over seven plates for the rack pull (7 plates and two tens on each side, 715 pounds), and atlas lift over eight plates, close to 800 pounds. As I write this, yesterday I at least lifted eight plates, a 10 and a five on each side, 795 pounds in total. No problemo. Also, floor bench press over five plates, 495 pounds in total. In short, 2000 pounds over.

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Why everyone would benefit from weightlifting

The more I think about it, I think anybody and everybody can and will benefit from weightlifting. For example, even when my mom was with me here, I took her to the gym every single day, and lifted weights with her, my one rep max hypelifting style, she is 67 years old, and she got insanely strong! She was able to atlas lift about two plates on each side and rack pull over a plate and a 25 on each side!

I think the only useful accessory to purchase is weightlifting chalk, just get it on Amazon, the liquid one that comes in the tube, I like it 1000 times more than powdered chalk. Why? Less messy, better grip, more easy to travel with.

When you’re doing rack pulls, for your highest weight, just use weightlifting liquid chalk and a mixed grip, which means that one hand is overhand, the other is underhand, which simply prevents the bar from slipping out of your hands.

A new aesthetic?

If you’re reading this, assuming you’re a man, I like this new concept that we are the new Spartans, strive to become like King Leonidas, just watch the movie 300. Also a mix of John Wick.

The basic thought:

1. What phone does John Wick use? An iPhone SE. Real men use an iPhone SE
2. Your body must look like a Spartan 300. Or simply strive to gain a demigod physique, spend as much time outdoors, in the natural light, with your shirt off. Funny that bodybuilders before going into competition, get this hideous brown spray tan. Far superior to just get it naturally, it looks more beautiful. And it is also healthier.
3. There is a lot of things you cannot control in the world, but, you can control yourself.

BECOME DEMI

EK WORKSHOPS:

CONQUER IT ALL:

1. BOSTON: ERIC KIM CONQUER YOUR FEARS IN STREET PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP 2023 (March 25th, 2023 (Saturday))
2. May 5th: Creative Confidence Online Workshop (9am-11:30am)
3. May 20th: DOWNTOWN LA ART PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP
4. June 19-23rd, HADONG SOUTH KOREA ZEN PHOTO RETREAT

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What now?

1. Hit the gym. If you don’t have a gym membership, just sign up for the closest commercial gym to where you live. Any money you spend on your health and fitness is money well spent.
2. Buy meat at the local Costco business center, if not, just go to the closest normal Costco. My personal favorites include the meaty beef ribs, then the brisket. If you don’t have a Costco membership, you can just buy a bunch of shop cards, if a family member has a Costco membership. Or just get a Costco membership.
3. Just publish your thoughts. Just publish them to your own blog. How to start a blog

More thoughts on EK BLOG >

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Random thoughts on my mind

1. I am really excited for the new John Wick movie, yet, if I had the option of going to the movie theater, or going to the gym, I would just prefer going to the gym instead. Maybe one day I will watch it once it comes out on some sort of streaming service, or when I could just purchase it on Apple TV
2. The other day I saw a Lamborghini Huracan, slammed to the floor, right outside of my gym. I was very unimpressed, it looks so small, both physically and metaphorically. Which made me think, I have never met a car owner, who looks impressive physically in real life. They all tend to be fat obese older guys, geriatric patients, really skinny and scrawny looking guys, or skinny fat guys.
3. Dwayne, The Rock Johnson, seems to be a bad role model. Why? He preaches all this nonsense about hard work and grit, yet he is juicing his eyeballs out with steroids and other weird things. If he wanted to be really authentic, he should just admit publicly that he takes steroids, strange testosterone boosters, etc.
4. The best shoes are Vibram five fingers shoes.
5. After doing my atlas lift, 795 pounds at the gym, I am starting to realize that long sleeve compression shirts are no good. Why? It actually negatively restrict blood flow to my arms. When I am super pumped, and working up to my maximum weight, there is too much negative construction in my arms. The ideal is a T-shirt compression shirt, because there is enough fabric to cover my shoulders. When I once did an atlas lift with a tank top, it broke skin on my bare skin flesh, therefore some sort of T-shirt is good because it covers up your shoulders. I am looking more into the under armor base layer compression T-shirts, yet I hate that a lot under armor has too much annoying branding. Under armor should get rid of their logo, or make it more obscure.
6. I still kind of like my Lululemon vital Drive half compression tights, but I would actually prefer something more like booty shorts, or even like a speedo. When I am doing my maximum lift for my atlas lift and my rack pull, I don’t like any fabric covering up my legs or obstructing my flesh.
7. I am starting to really get into the really really hot dry sauna at my local gym, it is like a meditation chamber for me.

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Forward the thoughts!

If anything here sparked even one interesting thought within you, feel free to forward this to a friend!

EK TURBO THOUGHTS >

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Art is long, life is short

Vita brevis, ars longa (Hippocrates as quotes by Seneca)

The art you create will last a long time, and will outlive you. Yet your life is short. Don’t squander it.

ERIC

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Very simple:

1. Intermittent fasting, no breakfast no lunch, only one massive 100% carnivore dinner a day. Do this forever until you die.
2. No alcohol, no weed. No beer, no wine, no spirits, no hard liquor.
3. No supplements. It seems almost all of the supplements have some sort of fake sweetener or real sweetener or sugar added, which makes you fat.
4. Work out at least twice a day, ideally one trip to the gym and insanely heavy weight lifting, ERIC KIM powerlifting 2.0, hypelifting style, and doing yoga.
5. When lifting weights, never go for repetitions. Only one rep max. That is, the maximum amount of weight you’re successfully able to lift, just once. And also When lifting weights, never go for repetitions. Only one rep max. That is, the maximum amount of weight you are successfully able to lift, just once. And also, every time you lift weights, and to gain a new personal record in your lift. The simple strategy is every time you lift it, just add another 2.5 pounds to each side of the barbell.

8 PLATE, 10, 5: 795 POUND ATLAS LIFT SQUAT HOLD HYPELIFTING ERIC KIM DEMIGOD STRENGTH 2000 LB CLUB

About to hit the 800:

Video