Ever since maybe 2000, around 13 years old, I’ve been watching what I eat and exercising regularly, to varying degrees. But it wasn’t until late 2013 that I started explicitly bodybuilding. And I love it. Here are 5 Unexpected Things I Love About Bodybuilding.

#1 It’s honest

Between 2000–2013, my focus was on performance and becoming a better athlete: faster and stronger. But damn did I want to look good too.

It’s so refreshing just to admit that now. Man, being honest feels great, particularly when you’re being honest with yourself.

As a kid, I was taught that vanity is a bad thing. That content matters more than presentation. Getting jacked isn’t an appropriate goal. Performing better and being healthy are.

Looking back, I wonder how much of my athletic drive was actually an unacknowledged desire to look good. After all, I did start something called #AllAsianBoysHaveKillerAbs.

I don’t regret anything, because while I wasn’t bodybuilding, I was taking on the challenges of other sports and adding to my life experience. However, I do wonder how much further my physique would be if I started earlier, because…

#2 It’s direct

Many (if not most) people go about their food and activities with a fuzzy goal of “eating healthy” or “getting fit.” So they’ll go about their food using diet tips that they’d heard from here and there, without any context as to where those diet tips are coming from, or who they’re meant for. Their exercise is an unstructured mash of workout videos and the latest trendy classes. And they do this all kinda hoping that maybe they’ll start to look better naked.

A competitive bodybuilder’s primary goal is to look better naked. What defines “better” is dependent on the category that they compete in (there are many), but for the most part it means less fat, more muscle. Many men and women have been involved in this sport over the last few decades. And they have come up with the most effective and often the most efficient methods to lose fat, build muscle, look good.

Once I was able to be honest about my goal of looking good, I was able to move towards it in the most direct way possible, by learning from bodybuilders.

#3 It’s artistic

There is the creative challenge of working with a finite amount of time, money, energy, and genetic capability. And there are so many different methodologies that you can read about, think about, and try out. But these are a part of every pursuit, really.

Specific to bodybuilding, Arnold Scharzenegger put it well:

“You don’t really see a muscle as a part of you, in a way. You see it as a thing. You look at it as a thing and you say well this thing has to be built a little longer, the bicep has to be longer; or the tricep has to be thicker here in the elbow area. And you look at it and it doesn’t even seem to belong to you. Like a sculpture. Then after looking at it a sculptor goes in with his thing and works a little bit, and you do maybe then some extra forced reps to get this lower part out. You form it. Just like a sculpture.”

I think of it more like gardening, where you’re not shaping so much as you are guiding organic growth =) Either way, it means you can exercise a great deal of artistic preference in bodybuilding. For example, I like to be really lean. Someone else might prefer more fat, because they like the added size, or they think too much vascularity is gross. It’s your body though! Your art! Your canvas, upon which to express yourself.

#4 It gives me a powerful sense of control

In the modern United States, it seems like if you don’t try, you’re going to get fatter. There are a number of things we could point fingers at, but let’s not go into that. Let’s just acknowledge that our society is set up in a way that will get you fatter and fatter, unless you make a conscious decision not to.

I turn 30 in August. I’ve never had this much muscle, nor this little fat. I know that my physique isn’t a function of youth. My physique is a function of knowledge, and consistent application of that knowledge. This gives me a powerful sense of control, which feels great. I also know that my physique will likely continue to improve for another few decades, because there are so many bodybuilders out there who don’t reach their peak until middle age. And finally, I like the prospect of carrying a good amount of muscle into seniority, allowing me to stay active and prevent falls.

#5 It teaches me to accept things you can’t control

After a successful cut for EDC 2015, I wasn’t able to put on much muscle, because I didn’t have much of an appetite. Suddenly, a year later, my appetite is back. I’m not doing anything differently, at least nothing that I’m aware of! During that time, I didn’t see a growth in muscle size, but I did see an increase in vascularity. Celebrate the small victories.

Sometimes I get sick, or have to travel, and can’t train. There’s no point in getting emotional about these setbacks. The best thing to do is accept it, and work around it. Maybe find something else to do, or just rest up. Then when things are back to normal, I simply ease back into my routine. No guilt, no stress.

BONUS: Bodybuilding culture is hilarious

Just to name a few… There’s all the shenanigans on Bodybuilding.com/Misc. There’s the BroScienceLife channel on YouTube. But my absolute favorite is the Book of Brodin, a collection of classical religions reinterpreted using bodybuilding puns. The Old Chestament begins with the Book of Gainesis.

Thanks for reading! If you bodybuild, what do YOU love about bodybuilding? If you don’t bodybuild, which of the 5 did you find most interesting? Let me know in the comments!

Originally published at www.mtnevan.com on June 24, 2016.

I’ve had a few people asking what my diet and training is like since I started putting up pics from Lightning in a Bottle. You’ll be surprised how simple it is. A lot of this is about what I DON’T do.

First, I’m going to lay it out for you, so you can see how surprisingly simple it is. Then, I’ll expand on each of the points further down.

DIET

1. I get at least 80g of protein per day, usually close to 100g.
2. I don’t worry about other macros.
3. I don’t count calories.
4. When I’m bulking, I eat as much as I can until I’m very full, but not until I’m stuffed.
5. When I’m cutting, I eat as little as I can until I’m a bit hungry, but not until I’m starved.
6. I have milk and a big meal after my workouts. Otherwise, I don’t follow a meal timing or frequency plan. I eat when I wanna.
7. I take 3 supplements: Vitamin D, Creatine, and ZMA. I’m mindful of Omega-3, but I eat fish and eggs rather than supplements.

TRAINING

1. I use a modified version of Wendler 5/3/1, a barbell program.
2. Each workout consists of only one or two exercises. Deadlifts. Bench press and chin-ups. Front squats. Overhead press and hollow pull-ups.
3. Each workout is only 9 sets when bulking, and 7 sets when cutting (incl. warmup).
4. Each workout is only 48 minutes when bulking, and 36 minutes when cutting (excl. stretching and foam rolling).
5. I workout every other day, so that’s 3 or 4 workouts per week.
6. Every 4th week is a lightweight “deload” week, where I focus on form and allow my body to recover.
7. I try to do more reps and add more weight, but safety and recovery are more important.
8. I don’t do any cardio. I dance, but I do that to build the skill, and not to burn calories.

That’s it.

GOALS

“What should I do?”

“Well, what do you want?”

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of my diet and training, every discussion about diet and training should start with goals. For myself, I want…

1. to look good year-round
2. to look great at festivals
3. to make progress
4. to know and accept that progress isn’t linear, setbacks happen, and that’s okay =)
5. to avoid injury
6. to enjoy my training
7. to not stress about my diet

Let me also share what are NOT goals of mine.

1. I’m not trying to enter and win any competitions here (Except for your heart, baby girl).
2. Strength and conditioning come along for the ride, but they are not a priority at this point in my life.
3. I enjoy what I eat, but it’s more important that I don’t stress about what I eat. If I’m hungry now and nothing’s cooked, I’ll eat something as simple as canned salmon with a drizzle of teriyaki.

And now, the Why behind everything I do (and don’t do).

DIET

1. I get at least 80g of protein per day, usually close to 100g.

This is way less than what you see recommended elsewhere (FYI I’m 5’5″ and about 130 lbs). I read an e-book called How Much Protein? by Brad Pilon. In 112 pages, Pilon explains how protein-related studies are conducted, reviews some of those studies, and concludes that 70–120g of protein is enough for most people, including geared bodybuilders.

Now, you do need some protein. Protein doesn’t just supply the building blocks for muscle growth. When you’re cutting, it also mitigates muscle loss and helps you feel full. So that’s why I have a minimum of 80g. How did I get this number? Based on my weight compared to the general population, it seems reasonable within his 70–120g range. It’s also the amount of protein in one pound of raw 80% lean ground beef. In other words, it’s arbitrary, lol.

2. I don’t worry about other macros.

When you’re bulking, the biggest dietary driver of muscle growth will be a caloric surplus (eating more than you need for maintenance). And when you’re cutting, the biggest dietary driver of fat loss will be will be a caloric deficit (eating less than you need for maintenance).

You need fat, not only for the fat-soluble vitamins, but the fat itself is necessary in metabolic processes. It’s arguable whether you need carbs or not, but some really great foods with lots of other nutrients often have carbs. Carbs aren’t the devil. Meals tend to taste best when you have carbs AND fat. Given all the above, I just let taste dictate my macronutrient composition.

3. I don’t count calories.

See 4 and 5 below.

4. When I’m bulking, I eat as much as I can until I’m very full, but not until I’m stuffed.

It’s very difficult to focus on anything when you’re stuffed silly all the damn time. Eating as much as I can without feeling stuffed is the most I’m willing to do with my bulk, so that I’m not taking away from my other goals in life.

On the other hand, I’ve never lost my abs during a bulk. If you find yourself getting too fat during a bulk, you might want to count your calories for a week or so until you get a handle on that.

5. When I’m cutting, I eat as little as I can until I’m a bit hungry, but not until I’m starved.

It’s also difficult to focus on anything when you’re starving all the damn time. So eating as little as I can without feeling starved is the most I’m willing to do with my cut, so that I’m not taking away from my other goals in life.

That said, if you’re not getting any leaner during a cut, you might want to count your calories for a week or so until you get a handle on that.

6. I have milk and a big meal after my workouts. Otherwise, I don’t follow a meal timing. I eat when I wanna.

I usually have my milk in the form of My Daily Kefir Smoothie. Here’s Why Milk Is The Ultimate Post Workout Food.

After a workout, your muscle cells are primed to absorb nutrients, so it’s recommended you put as much of your nutrition after the workout as possible. But, this isn’t nearly as important as the lifting itself, getting enough protein on a daily basis, and caloric intake.

7. I take 3 supplements: Vitamin D, Creatine, and ZMA. Instead of Omega-3 pills, I eat fish and eggs.

Vitamin D is super important and you don’t get enough of it because you’re indoors most of the day and there’s not enough of it in food.

Creatine, despite its somewhat scary name, is actually produced by our bodies. Creatine is legal and is probably the most researched athletic supplement of all time. Very safe, with a ton of other benefits beyond looking swole, such as better training capacity, recovery, and even cognitive function.

ZMA helps with sleep, recovery, and testosterone.

Omega-3’s are awesome for pretty much every organ system in your body. I like the foods that they come in, namely fish and eggs, and these foods are an absolute rave of nutrients.

TRAINING

1. I use a modified version of Wendler 5/3/1, a barbell program.

I love the barbell. You can load anywhere from 45 to 1,000 lbs. on them. They can be used for so many different exercises. That’s why it’s the centerpiece of my office gym.

I love Wendler 5/3/1. Your entire workout is based on percentages of your 1 Rep Max. Every 4 weeks, I take a look at how much I’ve been lifting, plug in some numbers, and in less than 4 minutes of planning, I know exactly what to do for the next 4 weeks. This is my favorite thing about 5/3/1. No decision fatigue here!

I like how you work with different poundages in 5/3/1. With straight-set programs like 5×5, the first few weeks feel easy AF, and the last few weeks leave me #rekt.

5/3/1 is also very easy to customize to your goals. During a bulk, I add 2 drop-sets after the core workout. During a cut, I just do the core workout.

For more info on Wendler 5/3/1, click here.

2. Each workout consists of only one or two exercises. Deadlifts. Bench press and chin-ups. Front squats. Overhead press and hollow pull-ups.

Beauty in simplicity.

3. Each workout is only 9 sets when bulking, and 7 sets when cutting (incl. warmup).

4. Each workout is only 48 minutes when bulking, and 36 minutes when cutting (excl. stretching and foam rolling).

I take rather long rests between sets, during which I read, listen to podcasts, or chat with my workout buddies. I stretch and foam roll everyday, and that is not counted in the time above.

5. I workout every other day, so that’s 3 or 4 workouts per week.

I found this to be the best for me, in terms of recovery. It does make it a bit hard to train with me since my workout days shift: Mon Wed Fri Sun one week, Tue Thu Sat another week, then back to Mon Wed Fri Sun.

6. Every 4th week is a lightweight “deload” week, where I focus on form and allow my body to recover.

This is part of the Wendler 5/3/1 program. This means that 1 out of 4 of my workouts wouldn’t even be considered workouts by people who need to feel destroyed by their workouts.

7. I try to do more reps and add more weight, but safety and recovery are more important.

Progressive overload, which means adding more reps and/or more weight to your training, is the most important thing for muscle growth. But you can’t perform progressive overload if you’re injured or not recovered.

8. I don’t do any cardio. I dance a little, but I do that to build the skill, and not to burn calories.

Cardio is a terribly time investment. It takes roughly 6 hours of cardio to burn an extra pound of fat. It can also slow down, or even take away from, your strength and muscle gains. For more on why cardio is not only unnecessary but detrimental if applied incorrectly, click here.

I dance a little, but I do that to build the skill, and not to burn calories. When you get better at a skill, you end up burning fewer and fewer calories anyways.

If you have a cardio activity that you love, by all means, keep it up. Just know that you may need to cut back a bit to make room for recovery

Timing the Cut

I always time my cuts so that I’m at peak shredz for a big festival. Last year it was EDC, and this year it was LIB. Since I know when these events are, I keep an eye on how my body looks as the event gets closer.

In 2015, I did a 4 week cut, then 1 week eating “normal”. This year, I stayed leaner through my bulk, so I only did a 2 week cut, then 1 week eating “normal”. Both times, I asked my friend Henry around 2 months out when he thinks I should start cutting. He gave me a good estimate both times. Thanks bro.

Patience and Consistence

The last thing I want to say is that I’ve been patient and consistent. I’ve been using this diet and training protocol more or less since late 2013. The input or “work” is very manageable. I designed it that way. The output or “results” aren’t dramatic, but still positive, and predictable. I’ve had to skip training sometimes due to sickness or travel, but I get right back into it. Actually, I should say I ease back into it, with slightly lighter weights or fewer reps for that first workout. Because again, safety and recovery are most important. And I make sure I stay pretty lean year-round. I never have to cut for very long, and I never feel deprived.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully this will help you not only get better results, but also save time and stress less about it all =) See you next year at LIB! We’ll take a flex photo together haha.

Originally published at www.mtnevan.com on June 7, 2016.

For this past New Year’s, my rave fam booked an Airbnb in Beverly Hills. We decided not to go to any events, and just chill and party in the house. A few weeks before it, I had an idea: workshops =D

One of my favorite parts about taking trips with my rave fam is trading art with them. It usually happens spontaneously, which is cool. But one of the downsides of spontaneity is scheduling. If I’m already teaching one thing here, while someone else is teaching another thing there, I’m missing out!

Since we had all this unstructured time with each other, I thought it would be nice to actually schedule some workshops. There’s a couple advantages to this:

1. No scheduling conflicts! You can attend every workshop you want to.
2. The more the merrier! It’s more fun with more people.
3. Easier for the instructor! They don’t have to repeat themselves as much, and students can help each other.
4. Discipline is freedom! With a schedule, we can fit in more activities.

I put up a spreadsheet with timeslots, and told my group that if they have an idea, put it up. We had workshops on how to do magic tricks with cards, how to make sous vide steak, improv, yoga, and stretching. I taught gloving, of course =P. My personal trainer friend wanted to hold a deadlifting workshop and was looking for a gym that we could all get free passes to. I told him I’ll bring my barbell set so we could do it in the house. And the pole dancer in our group brought her pole down from NorCal to teach her workshop!

Originally published on www.mtnevan.com.

I’m here to share a really easy way to start a journaling habit. It’s literally Copy Paste. But first, have you heard about the benefits of journaling? According to The Art of Manliness:

1. Great men keep journals.
2. Your children and grandchildren will want to read it.
3. It can help you make difficult decisions
4. It can help you reevaluate difficult decisions
5. It can help take difficult decisions off your mind
6. Journaling grants you immortality
7. Journaling improves your health

In The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills, Daniel Coyle offers “Tip #4: Buy a Notebook.”

“A high percentage of top performers keeps some form of daily performance journal. Tennis champion Serena Williams and former World Series MVP Curt Schilling use notebooks; the rapper Eminem and the choreographer Twyla Tharp use shoeboxes, which they fill with ideas written on scrap paper. What matters is not the precise form. What matters is that you write stuff down and reflect on it. Results from today. Ideas for tomorrow. Goals for next week. A notebook works like a map: It creates clarity.”

Now that you know the why, let’s move onto the how.

You know the things that you tell your friends and family over conversation?

If these things are noteworthy enough to tell them about, I think it’s noteworthy enough to put into your journal. If it was told over a text medium, then it’s already done, because you’ve already written it. Just Copy Paste =). Another benefit is that, once it’s written, it can be retold with a simple Copy Paste too.

Having all of your noteworthy thoughts and experiences consolidated in one central repository makes it easier to retrieve and reflect on them later. Without Copy Paste journaling, you’d have to dig through multiple apps and scroll through lines and lines of conversation trying to find it.

Give it a try right now!

Open up a chat thread you have with one of your best friends, and take a look at what you thought was noteworthy enough to share with them. Then just Copy Paste it into a Google Doc, and there you go! You’ve journaled for the day.

Another tip I’d like to share is to keep separate journals for separate activities. I have journals for accounting, e-commerce, gloving, relationships, physical training, and a personal catch-all. Most of these are in Evernote, while physical training is in Fitocracy.

How do you journal? Have you had trouble keeping up a journaling habit? Let me know how this copy+paste method works for you =) Happy journaling!

Originally published on www.mtnevan.com.

In 2015, I tried to start a massage practice. My unique selling proposition was that I’d cater it to ravers, mainly by synchronizing the massage to EDM, but with lots of other little details that ravers would appreciate. In this post, I’ll be talking about the background, the process, why I had to stop in the end, and what I learned from it all. Enjoy!

The Idea

“Do you think people would pay for this?”

“Hell yea! Why not? People pay for massages, don’t they? This is a massage, and more!”

Back in April, my buddy Baky had invited me to hang out at a cabin up in Sequoia for a weekend. My friend Matt was there too. He had just successfully launched an online program, The FAI Fix, a nonsurgical solution to heal chronic hip pain. Things were going slow with Chronology due to a production bottleneck, so Matt was helping me think of some other income-generating activity that I could do in the meantime. We came up with a few, but this was the one I was most excited about.

Learning Where to Massage

During my forays into marathon running and powerlifting, and my continued interest in the human body and how it moves, I learned a bit about Self-Myofascial Release. It’s basically massaging yourself, with the use of simple tools like foam rollers and lacrosse balls, for the purpose of releasing trigger points (commonly known as knots). In Kelly Starrett’s MobilityWOD videos, he encourages you to put a lacrosse ball on the ground and use it to “hunt” for tender spots on your body, working them until they release.

Through this daily practice, I got a pretty good idea of where all my knots are. Every person is different, and you can get knots in some pretty random places. But for the most part, what feels good on one person is pretty likely to feel good on another person. If you take a moment to look at someone’s posture, the way they move, and ask about their daily activities, you could predict where knots will be with even greater accuracy. All of that would of course be standard operating procedure for me.

Learning How to Massage

In 2013, I started going to raves. Whether it’s kandi bead bracelets or lightshows, people like to give and trade little favors at raves. Massages aren’t too far behind either. It’s all part of the core values of PLUR: Peace, Love, Unity, Respect. Before I knew how to make kandi bracelets or give lightshows, I knew how to massage. I gave a few and got a pretty good response.

A pivotal moment came in September 2013. After the first night of Beyond Wonderland, my buddy Jenn and I decided to have a “massage-off” with our friend Kieu judging. I went first. Then it was Jenn’s turn. She brought out oil, and as soon as she started, I knew I lost. I could tell, just by watching her, that what she was doing was way better than what I was doing.

See, back then, when I worked on my own knots, I really tried to smash those jerks into oblivion. So when I massaged other people, I really went to town on their knots too. Some people do like it that rough and hard, but a majority don’t. And even the people who do like it rough and hard would prefer what Jenn was doing: slow, steady pressure. You still use plenty of force, but you apply it steadily instead of suddenly, and you move around their muscles slowly rather than quickly. This is often the key difference between giving pain and giving relief.

Finally, my big differentiator in technique is that I use Musicality in my Massage. From my website:

EDM is an ever-evolving sound with intricate layers. Beautiful melodies, soaring buildups, and epic drops.

I use this music we love, and turn it into an art of touch, on the canvas of your muscles.

I’ve been dancing since 2005. From the beginning, I’ve heavily emphasized musicality. Musicality means that I don’t just do moves; I dance to the music. Sometimes a dancer can be so in-sync with the music that it looks like the dancer is creating the music! This is the same mindset I apply to massage. I want to be so in-sync with the music that you think I’m creating the music.

Crafting the Experience

I hit the ground running. It was fun reading about things, practicing it on my friends, getting feedback, and adding it to my well of knowledge. I read books and articles on massage technique, musculoskeletal anatomy, massage marketing, and the full client experience. All of it was interesting, but I enjoyed brainstorming the full client experience the most.

With my shoe business Chronology, I’m very conscious of the customer experience. The best example of this is the inclusion of accessories: shoe bags and red aromatic cedar shoe trees. My original intent was practical. It’s well known among dress shoe aficionados that shoe trees do a lot for the longevity of your shoes. Shoe trees draw out moisture, smooth out creases, and maintain shoe shape. Some of our customers are shoe aficionados. We’ve had some pretty interesting conversation through emails. But we also have a lot of customers who weren’t shoe aficionados. It was only through our unique hybrid product that this second group was introduced to the world of premium dress shoes, and they didn’t know about the benefits of shoe trees yet. I certainly didn’t! I decided to just include shoe trees free with every pair of shoes, so my customers can get more out of our shoes. It’s a way for me to not just tell but show my customers that I care about their interaction with my product far beyond the sale.

Beyond the practicality though, the shoe trees also add a lot to the unboxing experience. First, the aroma. Before you can even see our shoes, you smell the full-grain leather, and before you can even see the trees, you smell the red aromatic cedar. Next, when you take the shoes out from the bag, you’re greeted by a shiny brass plate with our logo. This isn’t something that’s normally included with dress shoes in our price range. The shoe trees delight your senses and let you know that these shoes are special.

One of the ways I wanted to craft a unique experience for MMMM is through the use of scents, too. From chewing gum to Vicks inhalers, ravers love mint. So I use a minty massage oil. During the massage, I also place an essential oil humidifier under their headrest. Not only does this provide a pleasant scent, it also lights up and changes colors. Ravers dig lights that change colors. Watch it in action:

Licensing Requirements

One of the first things I did when I had this idea was to look up licensing requirements. I found out that the State of California does not have any. Sweet! For 2 months, I worked on MagicMtn Musical Massage until one evening. I don’t remember how it happened but I ended up on the City of Imperial Beach’s website and I found out that they have a licensing requirement. Doh.

Licensing requires education at a board-approved school, and that education is something like $15,000 and 500 hours. That time and money would be better spent elsewhere right now.

Lessons Learned

In addition to learning massage technique, musculoskeletal anatomy, massage marketing, and the full client experience, my biggest takeaway from this was how to tell a rich story on a website, using a long-form sales page. Check it out:

MagicMtn Musical Massage

The website was built on Strikingly, which is a really cool pagebuilder. They specialize in single-page websites. It’s a What You See Is What You Get editor, with different types of content blocks that you drag-and-drop into place. I also like how they have that cool text fade-in effect as you scroll down. Mobile responsiveness is also built-in.

Making MMMM’s website also made me realize that Chronology needed a good one-pager as well. Chronology’s website didn’t really explain our shoes. Our story, our design philosophy, our many features and benefits, our values, and our rave reviews were all scattered on different pages.

Back in May, I made A Pitch Deck On My Phone. It’s a sequence of pictures that were a useful visual aid when I told people about my shoes. Using that pitch deck as an outline, I created a one-pager for Chronology shoes. Check it out:

Chronology Shoes

What’s Next?

Having learned a great deal about copywriting and design from these projects, I also upgraded the look of our main website, http://Chronology-LG.com, to match the caliber of the one-pager.

I still enjoy giving massages and learning. I may give the licensing route a shot in the future. But until then, if we’re hanging out and you want a free sample, just ask!

Originally published at www.mtnevan.com