ERIC KIM ₿

Why lift weights?

First of all, I believe that lifting weights can and will benefit anybody and everybody, irregardless of age gender experience, etc.

For example, everyone wants to become “healthier”. But what does it mean to be healthy? My thought is that health is a non-concept, strength is a real concept.

For example, one of the best predictors for mortality rates in the elderly is in regards to grip strength. People who have a stronger grip end up living longer than people with a weak grip. And the point isn’t to do one of those stupid grip strengthening coil machines, which you grip with your hand, it seems much more effective to just lift really heavy weights.

Even with children, when a child or a baby can grip your finger really really strong, it is a good indicator of health.

But won’t I injure myself?

No. Ironically enough, by not lifting weights, you’re more likely to injure yourself.

Notions of “proper form”

I don’t believe in form, there is no such thing as “proper form”. Why? Everyone has different bodily proportions. There are some people who are 7 feet tall, and there are some people who are 4 feet tall. There are some people with a very long arms and torsos, some people very short legs and hips.

Also, anatomical difference between men and women. Irregardless of your political perspectives, the male body and the female body or anatomically different. Women tend to have wider hips, for childbirth. Therefore, it seems to make sense that when it comes to lifting weights, everyone will always do a little bit differently.

Who is CrossFit for?

A very interesting modern phenomenon is CrossFit, or the notion of “functional fitness“. Is it a good idea? My personal belief is no.

I have witnessed and observed a few CrossFit classes, and to me, it is very bizarre.

I think CrossFit is very very good for people who have never touched a weight before, and they want some sort of group encouragement and motivation. However, once you have figured out how to do things yourself, to have to attend a group class is uninteresting to me.

Working “hard” is not virtuous

In America, we have this bizarre equation that the harder one “works out“, and the more pain one endures, the more virtuous one is. But is this true? I think no. I think this is a slave mentality.

For example, a new innovation that I have been doing is at the gym doing very very heavy rack pulls, and “micro squats”. An interesting observation is that this is seen as “cheating“, or ineffective. On the contrary, my thighs are growing out of control, right now I have Hercules thighs, or turbo thighs. I really think my thighs can move the world.

Also, heavy rack pulls. A few days ago or about half a week ago, I successfully rack pulled six plates and a 10 on each side, which is around 605 pounds in total. Currently, my traps, or my trapezius muscles are insane and out of control. Nowadays even looking at myself in the mirror with a T-shirt on, even I am shocked to see how intimidating my traps have become.

Why everyone at the gym is so myopic

Myopic means nearsighted, and small minded.

A funny observation at the gym is that everyone is so sequestered in their own little silos. For example, the left side of the gym is all of the powerlifters, and the right side of the gym with the dumbbells and free weights are the bodybuilders. Then there is this little corner for that weird calisthenic guys Who can do really good handstands, and then there is a corner for guys to do boxing and kickboxing, and then there’s the center of the gym where people who don’t really know what they’re doing just do the treadmill or stairmaster.

I like this notion of “full stack strength.” I essentially am the only guy I know who does yoga and can rack pull over six plates, and micro squat over six plates. Also, I’m the only guy at the gym who does “hypelifting“, that is, I get really really loud to hype myself up before attempting to lift something brand new.

The funny thing is I like to mess around with peoples perceptions. For example, as a fun experiment, I went over to the free weight section, where all the bodybuilders hang out, and I attempted to rack pull six plates and a 25 on each side. Because I had nowhere to do it, I just did it from a bench press. While I was able to successfully rack pull six plates, I failed at the six plates and 25. The reason why this was so interesting and remarkable was I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do this, that is, just rack pull a very very heavy weight on the bottom rung of the bench press, and just try to rack pull it.

Biases?

Funny biases I’ve discovered between “powerlifters“ versus “bodybuilders“.

Powerlifters tend to be shorter, fatter, and have more of an insecurity bias. Bodybuilders tend to be more fun, interesting, although more guys tend to use steroids or other weird testosterone boosting things.

I like the idea of being some sort of hybrid, lift like a powerlifter, but look like a bodybuilder.

Also, the bias is that bodybuilders are not as strong as powerlifters. Not always true, the other day I saw a dude doing a slightly elevated dumbbell press with 135 pound dumbbells for about six repetitions. Although it is my suspicion the guy is on steroids, his bodily proportions look bizarre, I was still impressed.

Also, powerlifters tend to be more standoffish, and also tend to weirdly try to size one another up, essentially think to themselves, “can that other guy lift more than me or less than me? And if he could lift more than me, how is he doing it in an illegitimate way?”

The funny thing with bodybuilders, is typically they have massive arms and upper bodies, but stick or chicken legs. Powerlifters tend to be more impressive that they have very very muscular and strong legs, but my critique of powerlifters are they are too fat. I think they eat too much carbs and sugar in order to gain weight, in order to try to lift heavier weights. Powerlifters don’t seem to care about their aesthetics enough, they only care about maximizing there one repetition maxes in any of their lifts.

So what is the best way to lift weights?

My personal theory is this: increase the weight, reduce the range of motion.

Several reasons why. First of all, I think it is actually more fun and interesting this way. It is much more fun and interesting to attempt to lift a very very heavy weight, even a fraction of a centimeter, much more so than doing it for repetitions, grinding out hateful reps in the spirit of a bodybuilder.

Also, my theory on injury is not actually the weight you attempt, but actually, doing too many repetitions of a given thing. If you do too many repetitions, without proper sleep or recovery, I think that is actually what causes injury. I think this is why bodybuilders and CrossFitters tend to always be beridden with so many injuries. And actually funny enough, it seems that powerlifters rarely, if ever get injured.

What is the point of lifting weights?

From a philosophical perspective, it is fun and thrilling. Secondly, the heavier weights you lift, the more you will augment your muscle mass, your skeletal muscle. Muscle looks sexy on anyone and everyone, doesn’t matter if you’re male or female.

Third, I believe that weightlifting shifts your hormones in a positive way. I believe that lifting weights will increase your testosterone, which is good for both men and women. Funny enough, I think the reason why a lot of modern millennials have such difficulty getting pregnant is that both the men and women both have too low testosterone. If you want to get pregnant, both the man and the woman should start lifting weights, and also eating more red meat, to increase their testosterone.

For the most part, it seems that the more testosterone you got, the better. The caveat is you do not want to take these weird testosterone injections, oral supplements, etc.

Why intellectuals love weightlifting

I remember when I was in Providence Rhode Island with Cindy, and I would frequent the Brown gym, one of the guys I met loved doing very very heavy squats, above four plates on each side. I asked him why he liked weightlifting so much, and he told me that as a physicist, he could work on a given equation or concept for months without any progress. However with weightlifting, even if he is able to move the weight half a centimeter, he feels successful.

In fact, I think all academics and scholars would benefit from weightlifting. It is my belief that more academics should lift weights, and more weightlifters should also be academic.

Why? A lot of modern academics suffer from the fact that they are too stressed, eat too much sugar and carbs, do not consume enough red meat, and also do not go to the gym. In fact, ever since Cindy has been getting back into weightlifting and yoga, it looks like she has actually become more productive as a scholar.

Even for myself, the stronger I am physiologically, the more turbo my thoughts become.

Physiology philosophy

What is physiology? Matters which pertain to the human body.

In fact, studying physiology, and philosophizing about physiology is actually more effective than philosophizing about the “soul“. Why? Because the soul is the body. Not this ephemeral thing.

ERIC

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What holds us back? Fear of failure. How do we overcome it? Some things which have worked for me:

1. Intentionally try to fail

AUDIO

PODCAST

Ego is bad when it prevents you from attempting the great:

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When is the ego good? When you could yield it like an instrument or a sword to pursue your desired ends. When is ego bad? When your ego prevents you from attempting great things, because you are afraid of fear of failure, or afraid of the fact that others will ridicule you.

What is the best way to become insanely great? Do not be afraid of being a laughingstock, maybe, it might be a good idea to positively try to become a laughingstock. This is a good way to become more courageous.

In other words, become the jester, or the clown, but with insanely high self-confidence, testosterone, and balls.

How I hype myself up:

VID

Rack pull far more interesting than a standard deadlift?