FULL EK TUBE

695 POUND ATLAS SQUAT HOLD LIFT ERIC KIM HYPELIFTING NEXT LEVEL INSANELY EPIC 7 PLATES + 10 STRONG

The goal:

“Better to be a gay monster than a sentimental bore.” – Galiani

Slow, slow to respond, unperturbed. Lofty, insouciance, not fazed.

Even half a centimeter up is enough for me!

660 POUND HYPELIFTING ZEN ZONE RACK PULL ERIC KIM EPIC

Productive Photography

Some thoughts on how to become a more productive photographer:

1. Shoot small JPEG or extra small JPEG. This will give you less paralysis by analysis when shooting street photography, or any type of every day photography.
2. Strive to shoot 1000 “bad“ photos in a single day. There is no such thing as good or bad photos, all photos are equal.
3. When in doubt, just shoot it.
4. Shoot in P, program mode, and just use auto focus. Even if your photo is out of focus, or blurry, it could actually be accidentally beautiful.
5. Use an in camera JPEG processing setting, like the high contrast black and white mode on the Ricoh GR3X. Other good options include the cross filter process on the Ricoh GR camera, or the classic chrome settings on the Fujifilm cameras.
6. Strive to walk at least 30,000 steps a day. And just bring your camera along. If you walk 30,000 steps a day and just shoot whatever you see, how can you not be inspired to make photos?
7. Get inspired in the HAPTIC SHOP. HAPTIC PRESS books, and resources. All open source.
8. ERIC KIM EXPERIENCES or just attend anybody’s photography workshop, photography tour experience etc. Anything which involves traveling, a foreign place, a workshop experience will always be a productive one. Why? You will step outside of your comfort zone, you will learn new things, you will shoot more.

How to Become Insanely Productive

The point of life isn’t productivity, said all unproductive people.

I am the most productive person that I know. How do I do it? Some techniques and strategies:

1. Intermittent fasting: no breakfast, no lunch, only one massive dinner. And for dinner, beef ribs, top sirloin, bone marrow, beef heart, beef liver, etc. 100% carnivore diet. How is intermittent fasting so good for productivity? First and foremost, you save an insane amount of time. Secondly, you don’t get food coma. Third, you stay mean and lean. When you are in the fasted stage, you are far more focused, and have a keener awareness of things.
2. No music, no headphones, no AirPods: I think in modern day life, podcasts music etc are the ultimate distraction. Just think yourself; is the purpose of your life to glorify the works of others, or for you to just be focused on your own self and work?
3. No Reddit. It is hilarious that all these new modern day Silicon Valley folks praise the virtues of XYZ, yet they are all still addicted to Reddit. Quit Reddit. I actually think that Reddit is worse than porn. In fact, my funny thought is in order to become more productive, whenever you have a temptation to look at Reddit, just watch porn instead. Porn might actually be a better motivator than Reddit, which is essentially a bunch of random distractions. At least porn is motivating.
4. Just do it while walking outdoors. One of the most successful guys I ever met in Singapore, I still remember, he attended my workshop that I hosted with Leica Singapore, and had an M9 titanium, a $30,000 camera, and a .95 Noctilux lens, another $20,000 lens. I asked him how he was so successful, and he told me that he walked around 12 hours a day, doing all of his business meetings on his phones while walking. This stuck with me. I can corroborate with his theory in so far much as when I walk around a lot, I think more, I think better and I am also more productive. My strong feeling is that the future of productivity is iPad Pro, and iPhone. No laptop, no desktop. Laptops and desktops promote for nonmovement. Even if you do a standing desk, it is not good. Standing is better than sitting, but walking is better than standing.
5. Produce much, publish much. Productivity isn’t becoming an email inbox zero ninja. No. Being really good with email is not productive. When you send an email, you produce nothing. If you check your email for no reason you are a slave. Let us consider, productivity comes from the notion of producing. To produce music, produce beats, produce videos, produce blogs, produce photos, produce vlogs, any form of media.
6. Think digital and the internet: The path to the greatest productivity is digital and the Internet. With digital creations, your works are infinitely scalable and also, infinitely distributable around the globe. Instantly. Isn’t this amazing?

Arguments against productivity

You are not your productivity, said all unproductive people.

Why are some individuals so unproductive, yet care about their productivity so much? My theories:

First and foremost, I don’t know if they really like to do what they are actually doing. Maybe they do the work out of a sense of obligation, or self flagellating virtuosity. They believe that their self-worth and their virtue comes from how productive they are.

Second, I think these individuals are just unwell, sick, or physiologically depressed. Poor health, not enough natural light exposure, they don’t have a tan, they don’t go to the gym, they don’t do yoga, etc. I really do believe that if scholars or thinkers or academics or other creators want to become more productive, they should go to the gym at least once every single day, preferably twice. Even for myself, experimenting with going to the gym every single day, it has actually made me more productive and stronger. Also a new innovation is experimenting with working out twice a day, at noon going to the gym and doing weightlifting, and in the evenings doing CorePower yoga with Cindy. This has been actually surprisingly a very effective strategy, I sleep better at night, I have a more voracious meat appetite, and the next day I am even more productive.

Third, constraints of the system. They are still reliant on a sort of external system which requires editors, publishers, peer review, etc. This is not freedom.

Productivity experiments

1. Uninstall email from your phone, uninstall Gmail from your phone, or your mail app. Instead, whenever you need to use email, just do it on your laptop or desktop.
2. Charge your phone in a different room at night.
3. Every day, uninstall at least one app.
4. When you go home after work or whatever in the evening — turn off your phone completely. If you need an alarm to wake up in the morning, buy a standalone alarm clock on Amazon and put it next to your bed.
5. If your passion is to create, but you have to spend a lot of time every day in the car, commuting to work or stuck in traffic, just get a GoPro and vlog yourself and your thoughts while driving, just mount it where you put your smart phone.
6. Don’t own a car or own a home: Hidden with every single type of ownership is some sort of maintenance. The more maintenance you got, the less productive you will be. Why? I would far prefer to make something meaningful, rather than wasting time trying to fix my water heater or plumbing.

Produce what?

Truth be told, I don’t think people care for productivity. What people care for instead is money, wealth, fame, legitimacy, recognition, respect, “meaningful contributions” etc. They don’t care to be productive.

Let us consider, if you want to be productive and produce much, what does it mean? It means that you make a lot of stuff, you publish a lot.

For example, it is my personal aspiration that whenever you visit the ERIC KIM BLOG, or refresh it, or check the bookmark, you’ll always see and discover and experience something new and fresh.

Don’t optimize for views, comments, likes etc.

I am the most prolific YouTuber that I personally know. I think I’m the only YouTuber who uploads several videos every single day, not just one. Certainly the more you upload, the fewer views and exposure you will get per video. Yet, if your real goal is productivity, why do you care how many views you get? I think if you care about views, it is a sign that you are insecure and you are hungry for external recognition and affirmation.

My personal ambition with videos is to create a video or a vlog which is insanely motivational and helpful to other people, irregardless of who they are. Also, I am not going for numbers. I am going for impact. I would rather radically change the worldview, thoughts, or life of one individual, than create a video which is only mildly interesting to a large base of people. I am seeking my elite spartan 300s, not trying to enlist millions of Persian slaves.

How many views is enough? 2. Why? If you watch your own video it may count as a single view. If you have two views on the video, it means that at least one other human being has watched and experienced the video.

What is the point of productivity?

We praise the avocado tree when it produces many avocados. We praise musicians when they produce much music, and we also praise chickens when they lay many eggs.

For myself personally, I am the happiest when I am the most productive. That is, I am the happiest when I am producing much, publishing much, etc.

Therefore my simple formula: in order to become happier, become more productive.

ERIC

Productive Photography

Some thoughts on how to become a more productive photographer:

1. Shoot small JPEG or extra small JPEG. This will give you less paralysis by analysis when shooting street photography, or any type of every day photography.
2. Strive to shoot 1000 “bad“ photos in a single day. There is no such thing as good or bad photos, all photos are equal.
3. When in doubt, just shoot it.
4. Shoot in P, program mode, and just use auto focus. Even if your photo is out of focus, or blurry, it could actually be accidentally beautiful.
5. Use an in camera JPEG processing setting, like the high contrast black and white mode on the Ricoh GR3X. Other good options include the cross filter process on the Ricoh GR camera, or the classic chrome settings on the Fujifilm cameras.
6. Strive to walk at least 30,000 steps a day. And just bring your camera along. If you walk 30,000 steps a day and just shoot whatever you see, how can you not be inspired to make photos?
7. Get inspired in the HAPTIC SHOP. HAPTIC PRESS books, and resources. All open source.
8. ERIC KIM EXPERIENCES or just attend anybody’s photography workshop, photography tour experience etc. Anything which involves traveling, a foreign place, a workshop experience will always be a productive one. Why? You will step outside of your comfort zone, you will learn new things, you will shoot more.

685 POUND ATLAS LIFT // HYPELIFTING INSANE LEG WORKOUT BY KIM — ZEN ZONE EYE CLOSED

7 plates on each side, and a 5 on each side.

EK TUBE

To gain, to seek? To win?

A thought on my mind this morning is in regards to conquer. What does it mean to conquer, to win, even, the notion of conquering the world?

First and foremost, conquering your body, and creating the most indomitable body. I believe this is key. For example, yesterday I went to the gym, did some trap bar farmers walks, and also later that day did a weightlifting yoga class with Cindy. At night age a new meat personal record (meat PR) — 2 full racks of beef ribs, and immediately passed out and slept like a god.

First theory:

In order to even have the chutzpah to desire to conquer the world, one must become like a demigod in the body.

It is often said in fitness circles that working out every day, or going to the gym every single day is bad. However, maybe it is a good idea to work out even twice a day? Hypelifting and powerlifting during the day, some more yoga stuff at night, just get a membership at CorePower yoga.

A simple thought:

Weightlifters should do yoga, and yogis should do weightlifting.

I really do believe that this is the perfect hybrid, between weightlifting and yoga. The more yoga I do, yoga moves, stretching, flexibility stuff etc., the higher all my lifts. Even now, after doing a seven plate atlas hold, or a squat hold, my spine feels like adamantine.

Workout twice a day.

Society Connection

Why is it that I am so much happier and more productive at coffee shops? My joyous interaction with other people, chatting with strangers, natural light, overhearing random conversations, etc. The path to the greatest amount of strength is social.

The road to the best life is the life with maximum social engagement and interaction. In praise of city living over suburban living.

Asia is the future?

America is old, crusty, and stagnant. Instead, we should seek Asia; I find Asia to be the maximally interesting place currently on the planet. Insane amounts of dynamism in Asia, even spending two months in Cambodia, Phnom Penh, I loved it. Also my time in Seoul South Korea, Hadong South Korea, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Saigon, Hanoi, Bangkok, etc.

Why is Asia so fascinating and why is Asia the future? My thoughts:

First and foremost, much more carte blanche when it comes to morals and ethics. For example, notions of labor in Asia are different; there is no notion of “dignity of work”, or the notion that you must “treat service workers with respect”. For example, I consider it a personal tragedy that college educated people in America end up becoming waitresses, servers at restaurants, etc. It doesn’t matter if you’re making $60,000 a year, $80,000 a year, $100,000 a year, or even $200,000 a year in the restaurant industry. To me, restaurant work should be reserved for either high school students, college kids, or, people who are not university educated. Essentially, if you are a server, the word server comes from the Latin servus, which means servant, or slave. Slave work is base and degrading.

Second, the youth. Speaking of Vietnam and Cambodia, because of the personal tragedies, war, death, and genocide, more than 60% of the population is under the age of 30. This is a great sign for a nation, to have more young people than old people. Compare this with America, in which it seems like nowadays, the majority of the population in America is old, diabetic, overfat, sick, and taxing the whole healthcare system.

Even South Korea, the average couple no longer really desires to have kids. They are like America 2.0, everyone just would prefer to have a dog instead. Or even worse, let us consider Japan in which people are not even interested in getting married anymore. Japan as currently experiencing a quick demise, the demise of South Korea will be slower, but considering that South Korea is essentially a new colony of America, America will continue to protect her investment in South Korea, for Hyundai/Kia, the car industry, as well as the semiconductor Samsung industry.

Personal conquering

The great thing about the Internet is that you yourself as an individual are infinitely scalable on the Internet. For example, if you make a blog post, an email newsletter, a video, a Vlog, a podcast, etc., in theory concurrently 1 billion people can consume it at the same time. I still think there is much innovation to be had in terms of solo entrepreneurship, and solo media creation. I truly do believe that media is the future, as it is much more empowering and universal. Everybody loves media. Everyone loves America because of Hollywood in the media industry. Everybody loves YouTube because of all the media personalities. The future is going to be all about you.

How to conquer yourself

Things which are essential to conquer include self hesitation, self-doubt, self anxiety, etc. I think the simple solution to this is just adopting 100% carnivore diet, replete with beef ribs, bone marrow, beef liver, beef heart, etc. The more carnivorous and wolflike you become, the stronger and more courageous you will become.

Second, sleep. To sacrifice sleep is insanely shortsighted, the more farsighted solution is to prioritize sleep above everything. Prioritize sleep over seeing a friend, seeing family, being social, being productive, finishing up your work test, etc. In fact, to become demigod means to sleep at least 8 to 12 hours every single night, like a God. Read the Iliad, even the God sleep at night.

Third, work out twice a day. Become more social. For myself, the more time I spend at home, the more depressive and anxious I become. Once you go out, see all the beautiful people, chat with people, etc., the less anxious you will be.

Fourth, stoicism. Become more stoic. This means become more indomitable to fate, or like Nietzsche says “amor fati”, which means learn to love your fate, learn to love tragedy. Personal tragedy should be seen as a strengthening agent, not as a negative one.

For example, all of my personal scars has made me a stronger and more epic person. If I never experienced personal tragedy or sadness in my life, I think I would be a lot less interesting of a person, and also a more fearful one, and also a weaker one. Because of the difficulties I experienced as a young child, it made me a stoic even from the age of 11 onwards. By the age of 12, I already felt like a grown man.

That which attempts to destroy you will actually end up strengthening you

I don’t believe in the idea of conquering other people, or conquering other nations. To me, it is a waste of energy, time, and physiological effort.

Instead, better to conquer paralysis by analysis, indecision, self-doubt and fear, fear of the judgment of others, etc. What I desire is for you to become more free, more open, more courageous, more risk loving, etc.

What bold new fates await you?

The thought at hand!

Conquer on!
ERIC

Conquering Experiences

EK CONQUER EXPERIENCES:

1. Conquer Fear in Boston
2. Conquer Innovation in Berkeley
3. Conquer Zen in HADONG SOUTH KOREA

Conquer the holidays

This holiday season, a fun idea; ask other people to not give you anything, and also consequently, tell others to not expect a gift from you. The best holiday gift could just be a FaceTime call to a dear friend, family member, etc. Better yet, offered to take them out to a nice dinner, are you Korean barbecue, Fogo de Chão, etc.

Even for myself, the nicest present from somebody would just be $100 worth of beef ribs from the Costco business Center.

Gift experiences to others, if need be. Go with your friend and treat them out to a massage, you pay. Or, if you really care about your nieces and nephews, instead of buying them a toy or gifts, to spend the day playing with them, keep your phone at the house or in the car, this should be the best gift of all.

The gift of 100% undivided attention.

Also, starts taking a friend to the gym, and pay for the gym membership. Or take a friend to yoga, and pay for their yoga membership.

The gift of health. Even just go with them to CorePower yoga and gift it to them.

More thoughts

1. Weightlifting barefoot is supreme
2. Atlas Lift — simply holding an insanely amount of heavy weight on your shoulders is a really good exercise, and strengthening workout. Atlas never skips leg day. Every day is leg day.
3. Following the instructor, we’re having “proper form“ is for suckers. Just do whatever you want, whatever the instructor says or does is simply a suggestion, not an imperative.
4. Becoming demigod is a noble goal.
5. From a marketing or branding perspective, perhaps to just transfer your name into a monogram, or an abbreviation is a good idea. For example, ERIC KIM is now EK. Restoration hardware is now RH. Calvin Klein is CK, and Louis Vuitton is LV.

More thoughts on blog.

Everything in life is a suggestion, not an imperative. Nobody could force you to do anything against your own will.

Even in America, the way that the law is structured is that nobody could ever force you to do something against your own will. The only thing you must do in America is pay your taxes, this is an imperative. Beyond that, everything else is fair game.

For example, if you’re doing a workout class, note that anything that the instructor does, everything they tell you to do is a suggestion. You have the choice and the power of whether to do it or not, whether to just go out for a water break, or just do “micro” reps, and “cheat”.

It is best to lift weights barefoot, why? Maximal engagement and connection with the ground.

For example, if Hadthor deadlifted 501 kilograms barefoot, shouldn’t you?

Go barefoot when doing any form of extreme weightlifting/powerlifting/hypelifting — deadlift, squat, squat hold, atlas hold, atlas lift, rack pull, etc.

I have a fun theory and interesting innovation; I call it the atlas hold. Basically the notion is that you just take the maximum amount of weight on the squat rack, and you just try to unrack it with your shoulder and your legs, and just see the maximum weight you can bear on your shoulders. The reason why I call it the atlas lift is because it is like Atlas; carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Or a squat hold.

The reason why this is such an interesting and innovative concept is that in order to unrack the weight, you still need to push up with your legs. Thus, it is a formidable leg and thigh workout. And by just holding the weight on your shoulders, it will build up your whole body strength. For example, after doing my epic seven plate plus Atlas hold/squat hold, I felt it in my wrists, my shoulders, my traps, my back, my spine, my hips, my thighs, even my feet.

I say so! Hypelifting during the day, yoga at night! Just get a local gym membership and a CorePower yoga membership.

Towards a more strongman concept: