18 Solcast - Episode Eighteen ft. Forrest Munden: Becoming Masculine, Magnesium and Western Individualism

So, Forest Mannon, welcome to the podcast, the Soulcast. Glad to have you here. So for those that aren't aware of who you are, why don't you give us a little bit of a background of, uh, how you got into the space you're in now, um, and just a little bit of context.

Yeah, so for those of you guys who— I, I feel like at this point in time I've met most of your audience on at least Instagram. I'm completely new to like the Twittersphere, but on Instagram I feel like most people just know me by this point as just the guy who who has just started a podcast, um, started a podcast last year, and it basically was just a quest of talking about masculinity. Now obviously, when you start talking about masculinity, it's so complex. There's not just one day, one way to be a, quote, masculine man, or to be a good man, even defining what it means to be a good man. Is difficult. So I started a podcast. I saw the other day that you started to get into online journaling— or sorry, journaling— but, um, I did the same thing.

I literally put it into a podcast.

Yeah. And, and it's like, I don't— I tried doing the physical podcast or the physical journaling, but then I was like, you know what, I'm going to create a podcast to kind of be my journal, you know what I mean? And then of course, the natural ways of the internet, it kind of just catches on, and then people are essentially listening to my online journal. Um, really good for helping me articulate my speech and my ideas and stuff like that. So as of right now, I'm just a podcaster that talks about mythology, um, ancestral appreciation, masculinity. I dive into some topics about religion, symbology, um, and then I want to get— see, this is the tricky part too, is that I want to get more into talking about women and interacting with women and how to find a good good woman, red flags and stuff. But it's so— it's been hit upon so much in the manosphere community and like the Rollo Tomasi type things that I feel like I'm just going over the same things that they did. Um, but yeah, moving forward now, I got a new job last year, which is, uh, I'm in the Army, for those of you guys who don't know, U.S. Army. I'm a drill sergeant now, which is basically just, uh, a glorified babysitter. Uh, that's what we call ourselves. Um, so yeah, it's been a really interesting last year. This has honestly all happened within the last year.

Yeah, well, that all sounds good. I mean, a few things there. Masculinity itself, uh, there seems to be, you know, one guy thinks masculinity is this, another guy thinks it's this, and it's really about, I think, becoming, uh, you know, there are a few core tenets of like being honest, you know, sticking up for who you care about, yourself, uh, providing for those around you as much as possible, sticking to your ideals, you know, having things like honor, whatever that means, uh, in your life. Uh, but it is very variable, like you said. Like, one guy, just because he's not into masculine things or traditionally masculine things, that doesn't mean he's any less of man. It just means they have different interests, you know. I think a lot of young guys, they'll— they sometimes get stuck in the weeds because they think they're not out shooting guns and, you know, fighting people, that that's— that they're not masculine. And I think to a point you have to be aware that that's not the be-all and end-all of being a man. I think there's more to it. I think obviously being responsible, with your family, with your friends, with yourself, you know, sticking true to yourself and keeping your word is a huge one. But there are so many things that go into the whole picture of being a man. And I think also is like, uh, some people will— if you start talking about masculinity, if you are not the apex of the alpha male all the time, 100%, they think that, that then you like, those words don't ring true. But I think it's all a part of sharing our experiences being a dude, you know. I'm, I'm still young myself and I don't pretend to have all the answers. I just know that there are some things that have worked for me and there are some things that I, you know, maybe I've read about through other people, other knowledgeable people that have studied this for their entire lives. I know you're huge on reading as well. One thing that people ask me is like, how did you get your knowledge? And I go, most of the time it's reading other people's books and listening to other people that have been delving into the same kind of stuff over the years. Like, all of this stuff, it's not new, it's not this groundbreaking stuff really. I think a lot of the problem with current day masculinity and young dudes not finding their way or whatever is like they don't know, they've never been exposed to that traditional masculinity or they don't have role models as such. So reading the, the older books or people that have been talking about this and are experts in it is a great way to kind of get a framework of how to be masculine in today's world if you don't have those masculine, you know, masculine father or other role models in your life.

There's a lot of good points that you hit on there. What I always tell my audience that— because this is the thing about social media, is that they look at, like, for example, you and me and other people who are in podcasts and stuff like that, and they just think, how is it? I mean, they're just like, how does this guy know so much? And the truth is, is that I always tell my audience that I merely stand on the shoulders of giants. And what I mean by that is like, I look at the most successful people in the world, not just American, you know, history, but in the world. I look at what they do and to a certain extent I mimic them and I copy them and I stand on their shoulders. And I've noticed that a lot of my role models, including, you know, obviously my father, who's a great dad and has taught me a lot— you need to have role models. And a lot of my role models are actually dead, to be honest, like Ulysses S. Grant, Robert Bly. He wrote Iron John, one of the most, I would say, influential books that I've ever read. But the thing is, is like, I read about what these men have done, and to a certain extent, you take little pieces of their knowledge and your wisdom and you kind of just plug it into your brain. And when you discover a new piece of knowledge, you just feel those electrodes light up and it completely changes your worldview and your perspective. I remember, dude, there was some books that I've read— if we're on the topics of like, you know, reading and stuff like that— there were some books that I've read. I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but I— it just left me in a state of cognitive ecstasy, kind of like a trance where you just read something so profound that it knocks you on your ass for days, dude. For days. And yeah, that was like— yeah, reading has been a really big part of my life. And then moving forward about what you said about— you kind of hit on the topic of Man Must Become. So man is essentially, to a certain extent, a blank slate, and only through his choices and his actions is he able to reach his maximum potential. But, you know, the, the thing is, is that your quest for being a good man or to reaching, you know, your peak masculine height or whatever, however you want to put it, depending on who you listen to, being the alpha male or being the sigma, whatever, uh, it never ends, dude. It never ends. And this is the thing that I tell my audience is that every day I'm progressing towards that goal, and that goalpost just gets— it just changes. It just changes. And the only thing you do is strive to get to that next area of progression, you know what I mean?

Yeah, there is no end point where you go, oh, I'm a man now, it's all done, you know. Um, and that goes for every kind of area of progression, not just, you know, being a man. But I think if every day you can just get a little bit better, a little bit wiser, a little bit stronger, a little bit more present, a little have a little bit more control over your emotions, you're doing well. And over time and through years, that's going to result in the progression which makes you into, you know, quote unquote, a good man or whatever. Uh, and there will be days where you slide back a bit. Uh, there would be days where you fuck up, but that's just a part of being human. And I think a big key to that is to not, not dwell on it, but because, you know, it's the idea that the past is the past. It's already happened. You can't change it. So, any time that you're spending the present living in the memories of the past, then that's just wasted time. So, you're doubly fucking up if you're like living and dwelling on the mistakes of the past, which has already happened. You can't change it. That's literally it. So, look forward, be in the present now, and try and do better next time and learn from it. There's like A lot of people will beat themselves up for years and years and years over the same mistake, you know. There's one of the ideas in the book The Four Agreements is that humans have the most vindictive judge of all time. You think about the typical court judge, he hears about the actions or misdeeds of a person, he hands out a sentence, they complete their sentence, and then they move on. Within our brains, there's this judge that lives in our heads and judges and punishes us for our mistakes over and over and over and over again. And everyone's experienced this. Everyone, you know, the memory of some— something that they said or did or didn't do that they'll be like, oh, fuck, man, why did you do that? You know, punishing yourself over and over and over and over again for the same mistake is just madness, and it's not beneficial to you, and it's not going to help you avoid doing those same mistakes in the future. So things like that, you know, take stock of what you've done, think about what you could do better and learn from it and then move on is what I would say for the most part.

Yeah, that. So I read The Four Agreements a long time ago. I would say like 2 or 3 years ago. I think that guy actually has multiple books.

Yeah.

And I read it and that judge.

Yeah.

So that is the voice, you know, that's the voice, that's your ego or id or whatever you want to call it. And you know, at one point in time, man, I— that voice when I was younger, I would say pre-25 years old, because I feel like at age 25—

how old are you now?

Develops and you can— I'm 26. Yeah, about to be 27. Oh nice. So you— I don't know about for you, but I mean, when did you really start getting your shit together? You know what I mean? Because for me, pre-25, I would say around 24, I would say I started to really hone in on myself and get that focus that I have now.

Yeah, I think it's around the same. Like, I was always— I wouldn't say— yeah, I didn't have my shit together, and I still don't completely now, obviously, but I'm much more on track than what I was before. I think that those years between 18 and 25, uh, like you said, there's a lot of experimentation, there's a lot of fucking up, but there's a lot of discovery and self-discovery and figuring out who you are. And I think that's fine as a dude. Like, like you said, that whole your brain is still developing, and that's not to say that that's an excuse or whatever to be a dickhead for those years. But for me, definitely, like, I never— like, I feel a lot more mature in the last 2 years than I did, you know, for that whole time period of 6 years or whatever. So I definitely think there's validity to that. I would say to young guys as well, like the issue is that again, social media, people at 18, they'll look at guys who are like 35, killing it, have their life sorted, or at least, you know, the image of it online and success in their chosen careers. And they, they get despondent because they think, oh man, I'm fucked. I'm 21 and I still haven't achieved anything in my life. It's like, bro, you're still a kid. Pretty much. Like, it's— and that's not to discourage people or say that you can't achieve things in those younger years if you do have your head screwed on straight and things, but it is pretty typical for guys to still be like buck wild and fucking around and doing things like that. And all of that is learning as well, like life experience. Like, I didn't really know— like, I was studying at uni for most of those years, doing my degrees, and Like, I was just figuring it out, you know. I was traveling as well. I was learning how the world works and social interaction and life experience in general, which has made me, you know, you can read stuff in a book all day, but until you experience it and figure out how it actually works in the real world, uh, it's a different kettle of fish in that sense. So I would always say to guys who, like, I get the question, how do I figure out what I want to do in life? And I say, look, it's a multifaceted question, but I would say try a whole bunch of shit. Try the laboring job that will teach you how to work with your hands and how to use your body and all the rest of it. That's a life skill that you'll use as a guy for the rest of your life, whether it's like working around the house or, you know, progressing into like you work your way up in laboring jobs and things like that. And then try doing a sales job. Something like that where you have to learn social, you know, cues and communication to try and convince someone to buy something. And all those things are going to be just added to your life experience and the skill set that you have as a dude that are going to lend you the rest of your life. And then couple that with continual reading of the people who have lived their entire lives. And, you know, books are so important because you can have the condensed wisdom of Roman emperors accessible to you. Like, that has never been— it's never been like that before the internet, really. You had the advice of your elders around you, uh, if you had a strong community structure, uh, or, you know, folk tales, and that's about it. Or people you run into if you were fortunate enough to travel. But now we have access to everyone's information, some of it good, some of it bad, but the cream rises to the crop a lot of the time. You know, there are great books and great philosophers who It would be stupid to not take advantage of that, uh, and, and see the condensed wisdom of male lives, you know, their entire lives condensed into books. So yeah, just a few little tips on what would you say to guys that want to figure out what they want to do in life? Um, cause I know that's pushed a lot of guys, like you have to select a major if you go into college and you're selecting a major, you think it's like, oh, this is what I'm going to do the rest of my life. And that's pretty daunting. And I know at 18, 19 when I was selecting my major, it's like, I don't fucking know what I want to do the rest of my life. I know. And part of it is like, yes, you can choose your major, but for the most part you're going to be changing careers and jobs a lot, at least in the modern world. You don't stay in one company and work for 40 years and eventually become partner. And, and some people do, but I don't think it's really the best option now for most people. I think if you're at college, great, do your marks, get good marks so you can use that for other things. But for the most part, you're going to be learning and trying a lot of different things over your life. So, not to worry too much about picking the right thing at 18.

Yeah, that's actually such a good point. I did an episode on this the other day on my Patreon. I talked about Because, because I had to reevaluate my— at least in America, man, college, it's not less, it's not non-valuable, but it's not, not as valuable as it was in like, let's say, post-World War II when all these soldiers were getting out of the military, they were getting their GI Bill, and they were getting jobs from their degrees. And now I look at a lot of these guys who, you know, go get out of college, which I still recommend you get a degree, by the way, for those of you guys who are listening, don't think that I'm saying don't go to college. Um, people for some reason take you a lot more seriously when you have a degree, no matter how smart or dumb you are. And, uh, yeah, yeah. So it's so daunting as an 18, 19-year-old to graduate high school. You're still a child, and then you're supposed to pick a major that you're supposedly supposed to have for the rest of your life. Uh, yeah, that doesn't really work out because every year, if you're progressing, you know, whether in a good way or a bad way, you look back on your previous self and you're a completely different person. I'm 25 years old, I look back on my 24-year-old self, I'm like, wow, I was an idiot. And it should be that way. So how can you possibly expect somebody to go into college and then pick what they wanna do for the rest of your life? So on the topic of, you know, discovering your path, path, you know, getting in the right direction, you hit the nail on the head when you said experience. I have learned so much just from getting out there and making the most ridiculous mistakes you can possibly imagine in your life. But I guarantee you, I'll never do them again. I did this, uh, episode about last week called The Terrible 20s. I had to split it between early 20s and late 20s. So, uh, early 20s being like 18, you know, after high school, up to 25. My advice for young men younger than us, right, is to go out and make mistakes. Get experience in like what you just said, get experience in multiple facets of life. Do some traveling, but don't think that backpacking across Europe is going to solve all your problems. It's not. I've tried it. It's not. But you know, go out. It is super fun.

Yeah.

And I miss it. And but, you know, get out and try different jobs, different career paths. And but my main piece of advice is don't be afraid to fail because the fear of failure often holds a lot of us back. I can't tell you how many times that I would avoid something just because I was afraid to find out if I would fail or not. And then, you know, in the early 20s, you— oh man, you're so merciless on yourself. You talked about that judge in The Four Agreements, that voice in your head that is just kind of just constantly whipping you and telling you that you're not good enough. You have to remember that that voice, that judge will develop through time and you kind of have a more beneficial relationship with your mind as you get older. So if you're in your head right now and you're constantly just beating yourself up, you're not feeling good enough, you know, you're feeling like you're constantly making mistakes, just know that your 20s is kind of the place to do that at. You would much rather be making the mistakes in your 20s that you're making now rather than in your 40s or 50s, which I see all the time. Um, but yeah, that would be like my main piece of advice. And then you also hit on another good point, which I'm glad I didn't forget, is you talked about the balance of essentially philosophy and action. So I have gotten caught up in literature before where you're just reading all these self-help books, right? You're— which is great, I'd recommend that— reading all these books about this and that and that and that, and then it comes time to like make a move and you're like, oh, I can't You kind of get stuck, you know what I mean? So don't get too caught up in thinking that you're just going to make your life better just by reading a bunch of books. The key is taking what you learn from these giants and using that into your own life. Very difficult balance, uh, but it's something that I've noticed that has helped me a lot, you know what I mean?

Yeah, no, I agree entirely. Um, You can read a lot, but if you're not really soaking it in and applying it to your life, then it's just pretty much wasted time. The other thing I just want to like say, there's connotations with the word like mistake and failure. And I think it's really important to conceptualise that as, you know, you think like, oh, I made this mistake and this failure, and if I hadn't made that, then my life trajectory path would be infinitely better and, you know, I would be succeeding by now. But it's almost like a requirement of being successful is failing. And I think it should just be considered as learning. It's like you try something, you— okay, you fail in the sense that you don't achieve what you wanted to do. But that's the problem with having expectations on anything in life as well, is that Once you have the expectation that something is going to turn out the way that you think it will, when it doesn't turn out that way, you experience dissonance. So I think a better way to look at it is have the best intentions and the best hopes, but don't be upset if it doesn't go your way. And that goes for anything. That goes for in the gym, that goes for business, that goes for relationships. It's like you figure out, okay, why did I not lift? 100 kilo bench press when I wanted to and I thought I was ready to. You know, maybe I didn't eat enough in the days leading up to it, uh, maybe my form was wrong, maybe I didn't warm up properly, uh, and all of that adds to life experience that I don't think you should call it a failure or a mistake. And it's like, okay, it didn't go the way you wanted it to, but the early 20s, you know, I'll be making mistakes for the rest of my life, uh, if you want to call it that way. And not to like be like, no, I made a mistake, now my life is not going to go the way I wanted it to. You know, that's— it's all part of living and it's all part of learning. And I think having that mindset of, uh, being the eternal student is one that to really hammer home and not to again beat yourself up, judge yourself because it didn't go the way that you expected.

Yeah, I— that's a good point. And that also it's kind of like what you hit on earlier about, um, what did you say? You said it like emotional control, right? So when you make a mistake or you have a perceived failure or something, don't just get into a fit of rage and just crumple, but instead, uh, kind of have the awareness to say, hmm, maybe this mistake, uh, is a lesson, which 99% of the time it is. Actually, it is almost every single time. Uh, and then to kind of see that the obstacle is the way. So yes, I'm quoting Ryan Holiday here for those of you guys who know that book. There's a really good book that I would recommend every young man read. Go on Amazon, um, and search Ryan Holiday's books, and he talks about— in this book he talked about the obstacle is the way, and it's about reevaluating your perceived mistakes or blockages or failures and seeing your failures as what you said, as lessons, as potential fuel, a weird source of energy, and reevaluate. Because like I said earlier, if you're going to be afraid to fail or make mistakes, you're not going to progress. You're not— you're going to be stagnant. You're going to be unable to move. But that's one of the things that I want to tell the audience too, is there's, uh, there's books on this stuff about Stoic philosophy. Check out Ryan Holiday's books. Have you read them, by the way, yet?

Is that, uh, War on Masculinity?

No, it's a different one. It's probably a different one. I read, uh, these were so long ago, but there's— he, he just writes about Stoic philosophy. And Stoic philosophy for me has really helped me in controlling my emotions and, um, just not letting my emotions get the, the best of me, especially when it comes to like my anger and rage. Um, yeah, Stoic philosophy, for those listening who aren't necessarily aware of it, it's just picking and choosing what you want to give your energy to and your emotions to. Because to a certain extent, you can choose how to emotionally react to certain things, no matter how freaking difficult it is. It is possible.

Yeah, uh, Stoicism is a good topic to kind of segue into. It's like The, I guess, the central tenet of it is if you can do something about it, then do something about it. If you can't, then don't worry about it. Don't devote emotional energy to it. Don't devote time to it. Because, you know, you literally can't do anything about it. You can't change the weather, so don't be upset about the weather if that fucks up your day's plans or whatever. You know, you can't control how other people feel and how other people react. The only thing you can control is yourself, your reactions, and your actions to things. Um, so Stoicism is a great tool to learn about, uh, as a young dude. When to use it and when not to use it, I think, is, uh, is a beneficial one. It's like, I always harp on about the idea of holding two conflicting bits of information but being able to use either one at different situations in your life. And that's a superpower, if you will. You know, being stoic when everything seems to be going to shit around you and not getting upset over things that are outside of your control. But yeah, don't then become an emotionless husk without passion because you also, you know, Stoicism does say don't let wins affect you and don't let losses affect you. Right. But that doesn't mean that if there are positive emotions that you feel that you shouldn't ever express them because I think, uh, that kind of goes back to as well as with women. If you're this guy that never gets excited about anything, then you're boring, plain and simple. Or just people in general. Do you like the guy that's like always, you know, flat emotionless on his face? Uh, you know, he may think that he's being like this cool stoic guy. And that, that may be true, and he might not be affected by negative things in his life, which is good. But then if you don't let the throes of life passion enthrall you once and again, you know, that's, that's going to be a net detriment to your life.

Yeah, that's, um, that's something that I struggled with when I first started getting into Stoic philosophy, is that you kind of have this misconception of it that it is emotional repression. Right? So you think— dude, I did this— where you think that because you're practicing Stoic philosophy that you just, uh, that if you don't understand it, you just think that this means not feeling things or feeling significantly less. So at one point in time, you know what, I got so good at, quote, being Stoic that yes, I was able to counter my negative emotions, which there are benefits to negative emotions, but it repressed the positive emotions that I was having, you know. Um, it made me very— if you get too far into the spectrum of just thinking that emotions are bad, you kind of have this disconnect from other humans, especially females who are, you know, obviously very emotional, and it makes it harder to connect and interact with them. So my balance, dude, when it comes to, uh, emotions and then being a man is like, at one point— I'm not even joking— looking— remember I told you that every year I look back and I'm like, wow, that's cringe. Like, 2 years ago, I just shut off all emotions, and I just didn't feel anything. And it took me a long time to get to the point to where I realized that there's nothing wrong with, you know, laughing with your gut or smiling at people or greeting people or giving them words of affirmation or compliments. There was a— I was listening to your podcast the other day, I don't remember what episode it was, but you basically hit on gratitude. And, you know, saying hi to people. And is that you or is that somebody else?

Uh, I'm sure I would have said something like that before.

Yeah, I don't know if it was from one of your posts or what. Yeah, but, um, yeah, a lot of myself included, when it comes to Stoic philosophy, we just think that it means not feeling anything at all, when in actuality it's literally what we talked about earlier, just picking and choosing what you feel. But you hit on the point of also having a general passion for life. Now, that doesn't mean like a passion of decadency and being lazy and video games, like, my passion is this. It means a passion for things that push you in the right direction, that help you develop as a man. And women love passionate men. They love ambitious men. When you talk to a woman about the things that you're passionate about, oh my God, dude, they are so attracted to that. That was something I noticed also.

Yeah. It's like, I think one of the misconceptions that at least I had growing up as a young dude was that being a man means to never, you know, if you're unreacting and stoic all the time, then you're a man, you know. Serious, grumpy, and you see a lot of older guys who think that being like the patriarch of a family means that they can never smile and laugh and be silly. And I think that that's, again, it is just a repression of innate human sensibilities and ones that leaves you this, you know, at some point it's like being a sociopath. You don't feel emotions in a way and you can't relate. Like I have a friend whose dad is like that and Guess what? They were— they've never really become close as you would hope a father and son would be because he was always scared of the, you know, this is my analysis of the situation, but the dad was always, you know, repressing that side of him, that quote-unquote feminine side of being passionate and loving to his son to the point that they can never develop any meaningful emotional connection because he thought that is very, you know, traditional Italian family where, you know, the dad took care of things and had a business and everything and he came home and he was grumpy and all the rest of it. And I think some guys get trapped in that because they think that that's what a guy should be. And I think it's, uh, don't fall into that trap because you're just going to end up not developing emotional connections, uh, as much as you should or could. Um, But yeah, especially with girls as well, you know, you want to be the guy that's able to talk about what he's working on and, you know, get excited about it and energize other people around you and, you know, multiply that positive energy and let that out because that's a, it's just a, it's letting yourself rise to the surface in a positive way and that's never going to be a negative. Uh, really you want to, you want to, if you feel the emotions of anger and you know, despair, despondency, don't let those control you and don't spew those to the people around you. But if you feel happy for someone, you know, smile and beam at them and compliment them. And if you feel like you want to share those kinds of things, like say I love you to your friends, that's not unmasculine to do. If anything, it's more masculine because you are so, uh, comfortable with being yourself and you know, you're comfortable with the man that you are that you don't care that you might be seen by other people as like feminine or whatever. It's almost like a, the bro level of masculinity of like you have to be man all the time, otherwise you're not a man, you know? Yeah. That's something that I would recommend guys move away from. Cooking with Sol Brah, your complete guide to eating with vitality. Cooking with Sol Brah details how and why to eat for optimal life and fitness success. This book will set the framework for your eating for the rest of your life. Over 65 pages of quality recipes, health nutrition advice, and glorious aesthetic photos of the meals you are about to create. Take advantage of my years of experimentation to find out what's the best way to eat exactly how I cook my daily dishes, tasty treats that you can feel great about eating, and tips and tricks to staying on the path of healthy diet. Check it out, guys. Gumroad.com/SolBrah, all one word.

Yeah, it's, um, that last part— you, you just posted a picture, um, like 20 minutes ago, and it was funny. It was Pepe the Frog, and it was like, what was it? Hug your friends or something like that.

Friends. Yeah, yeah.

Hug your friends. Um, a lot of young men think that it's unmasculine to show emotions to their friends, you know, their brothers. And I think, yeah, guy friends. And I think that comes from, uh, modern— the modern world's weird fetishization of masculine relationships, over-sexualizing them from Hollywood to these shows that you're watching. And dude, I can— for as a young man in the Army, uh, when I like— I've been in the Army since I was 17, so quite a progression there. Um, yeah, you were considered gay if you showed your friends like any vulnerable emotions, right? If you opened up to them, if you talk. So, but the thing is, is like I look back at historical warriors, right? Like the Spartans. And I read this book called Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield And in that book, I was taught about vulnerability as a man. So the common misconception of vulnerability as a man is that, uh, yeah, don't be vulnerable, don't cry, you know, don't show emotions. It's not that. The key to proper masculine vulnerability with other men is being vulnerable to men who are of similar caliber to you, whether it's, uh, fellow warriors, maybe your, your dad or your brother or your close friends. And anyways, in this book, these Spartans after battle would literally just sit there and cry on top of each other, and they would comfort each other. And that gave me a really good perspective into healthy masculine vulnerability. I did an episode on this also. I, I told young men that what you don't want to do is just go slobbering and crying over your girlfriend or wife for any tiny little thing, um, and emphasize healthy vulnerability with bros, you know what I mean? I have friends, dude, who, you know, they have that misconception of stoicism where you can't talk to them, you can't— there's just this barrier, there's this wall in between them. And maybe they are kind of sociopaths, or maybe they're just, quote, repressed, or whatever it is. Um, but yeah, that was something, you know, if we're talking about, you know, expressing emotions and stuff like that, it's help— it's healthy to express emotions with your guy friends. And it feels good. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I do know what you mean. And I think the trap that some people, some dudes fall into is when they get into a long-term relationship and the prevailing social commentary is to say, you know, share your feelings with your partner and all the rest of it. And that's true to a degree. Uh, but not to just vomit your negative feelings onto them all the time because that is just going to lead to, you know, you don't want to give your emotional baggage to your partner. You know, there are some things that you, of course you support each other through. There are, if you're in a long-term relationship, you're a partnership and you'll work through stuff together and you progress together, hopefully, ideally, but You have to work on your own stuff and have your own stuff locked away and then bring your balanced self together in the relationship. You don't want to rely on your romantic partner to solve your emotional issues because that's just going to end up causing strain. Everyone— not everyone, but a lot of people have experienced what it's like to have to always comfort maybe a really needy girl, uh, or the other way around. It's like, it's, it's just emotionally draining and you don't want to put that pressure on, uh, someone that you're romantically involved with because it's just going to end up messing things up over the long term. So if you do have guy friends, like, I think it's, it comes from the fact that we've been told in modern Western world that it's, you know, gay to share your feelings, uh, with your bros, um, which it's not. I think that's the best way to talk through things is like, hey man, I'm having this problem. Do you mind if I just, you know, be the bouncing board for me for a while? And of course most guys, if you have good close relationships, of course they're going to be, um, fine with that. But doing that is just a much healthier way and you also just get a perspective from them, whether it's like maybe you are being a bit sensitive, or maybe, you know, it's just a question of being like, all right dude, you're gonna have to deal with this, whatever it is. It's good to get that sometimes, like a more practical view, rather than like the girlfriend who's gonna be like, oh, it's okay, like, sweetie, I'll look after you, whatever. It might not necessarily be the harsh words that you need, you might need to here, but whatever the case, sharing with your friends is almost all you need a lot of the time is just to tell someone else. And that's a quintessential part of the human experience is offloading things to other people. You obviously don't want to do the same thing by constantly be dragging someone else down with your emotional stuff, but the, one of the points of having a close friendship with someone is that sharing of emotional baggage to some degree and supporting each other so that you can then go back into the world and be better off for it.

Yes, there is a significant difference between sharing your thoughts and feelings with your woman and then sharing them with your guy friends. Women are— this is their gift, to be honest. They are more emotional, right? They operate in the inner world. Then you have, you know, talking to your guy friends and they operate in the outer world and they, they're a lot of times guys are more optic, they're more rational to a certain extent. And, um, they'll give you your honest— if you have good friends, they will give you their honest opinion about what you're doing right or what you're doing wrong. And this goes back to another thing that, um, I think a lot of people in their 20s should work on is their circle of influence. Do you have friends that you can talk to, that you can relax with, that you can relate to, that inspire you, that motivate you? Are they the wind in your sails, or are they the anchor? Are they just weighing you and dragging you down? I have friends right now where I know that if I went over to his house— his name is Sergey, he's a good friend of mine— that we would just chill out and we'd have wine and we'd talk about, you know, everything, and I would leave his house feeling reinvigorated, energized. Then I know I have old friends who I don't hang out with anymore who, if I wouldn't hang out at their house, I would feel literally hungover because maybe we were drinking too much. I would just feel dirty, like kind of depressed, you know, those nihilistic friends. So you have to pick and choose who you allow into your circle of influence, especially when it comes to other guy friends. Uh, yeah, I can't tell people how much trouble I saved by kind of just, um, picking and choosing who I talk to. You know, friends.

Yeah, uh, it's that whole idea of you're the average of the 5 people that you spend the most time with, and that's true to a degree. Um, it is a question of maybe maturing a little bit and seeing where your true values lie, uh, and honestly looking at past relationships, even if they're the person that you, you know, grew up with, if they lived on your street as a kid and you hung out every summer You know, there comes a point if you're progressing as a human that if they are stuck in their old ways and every time you hang out with them, they're always like, maybe they're annoyed at the same old things. That's the only true failure, is if you're making the same mistakes over and over and over again and not learning from them. And some people get stuck like that. Or if you raise a business idea with them and they immediately shit on it and why it wouldn't work and that'll never work out. That is a negative influence that you can see and be like, okay, well, maybe you're not someone that I should spend my very limited time with, um, until you've changed or whatever. And to a degree, like, you don't— you don't want to instantly cut out everyone that you've known just because they don't fit into the box of like being super killing life all the time. So there is a balance there, but there is a point. Like, for instance, when I, you know, writing and progressing all the stuff that I've done with Sol Brah, it's like I've had to say no to a lot of old friends that have been like, come out this weekend, blah blah blah, and get fucked up. And, you know, you've— the next day you feel like shit. Monday you're still not really 100%. And, you know, that's a third of your week that you're compromised in that sense where you don't have the extra energy to, you know, work on things, especially if you have a full-time job and stuff. So you do have to cut those kind of ties and honestly look at them and say, okay, do you fit into where I want to be in a year? And are you helping me get there? Uh, probably not a lot of the time. And that's hard, and it can feel a bit like, you know, if people can feel guilty because they're letting go of those relationships. Uh, but it is a question of just you have to be selfish with your time and, and decide who you want to share your time with because your time is your, is your most valuable resource. Uh, we have a finite amount of it and you can't get it back. So you do need to really be aware of, uh, who you're spending your time with all the time if you want to progress and develop as a man. The other thing I wanted to say is that, uh, I get a question a lot of time is like, how, how can I find high-value friends? And males that I can hang out with. And my point on that would be, it's like, you have to develop into a high-value man really on your own time, and then that opens up doors through which, through your progression as you develop, you will meet other people and you will be brought into the lives of other people that are on a similar wavelength as you. So it's, it's kind of a chicken and the egg scenario. It's like you You can't, as, you know, a young dude with no life experience, suddenly jump into a circle of fucking killers who are smashing life. Like, it doesn't work like that. You won't have the same social circles and you won't be, uh, invited to the same things. Like, it just— there's no crossover there. So it's not like you have to achieve that and work your way up initially yourself, and then that opens doors and opens relationships to those people that are gonna help boost you, uh, in whatever domain that you're doing. And you might be able to touch more on this, uh, than me, but one of the paths through that is, uh, martial arts. Like, I can never say anything— people ask me, what should I do with martial arts? Like, I don't fucking know, dude. I haven't done it personally myself. I've done like 2 Muay Thai classes. Um, but I think that's, uh, for young dudes, a great way to get into the sphere of people that are dedicated to a practice such as martial arts, no matter what it is, you know, that, that whole thing of discipline and commitment, you're going to find other people in that world that are able to beneficially motivate you. So would you say that that's a good way to do it? And maybe just talk about martial arts and what you've learned from it in general.

Yeah, absolutely. Actually, I'm glad you brought that up. Um, I would say that because you're right, you're not just going to go into any sphere of influence and just, you know, be among these top-tier big dogs and just be like, try to fit in. It doesn't work. I don't really believe in fake it till you make it to a certain extent. Um, but when you get into like, let's say, a martial arts, um, whether it's jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai— I think people are training like judo. So I train jiu-jitsu. I've been in jiu-jitsu like, uh, 3 days a week for the last 2 years. And what I've noticed is that the one of the best things that you can do for yourself is not only are you progressing physically but you're identifying your weaknesses among your strengths. And in jiu-jitsu, I think one of the things that men are desperately lacking in the modern world is a tribe of other men. Uh, not a tribe of losers, not a tribe of shitbags, not a tribe of druggies or alcoholics, which are very easy to get into, those tiny circles, but a tribe of men who compete with each other. This is another episode, episode I just did, and I kind of tied it into jiu-jitsu. But to raise yourself, uh, in value, you need to compete with other men who are, like I said, of similar caliber to you. You know what's so funny? I, for years, dude, I didn't want to get back into jiu-jitsu. I wrestled in high school a little bit, and then I would walk by this jiu-jitsu gym every single day, and I noticed one of the biggest reasons for me not wanting to go into the gym because I was afraid to compete with other males. Because when you compete with other males, it kind of puts things into perspective on if you've been lacking in physical aspects of your life, whether it's endurance or your muscular structure, your physiology, or whatever, your ego and stuff like that. Um, I highly suggest that every man gets into some type of martial art. You have the benefits of progression, you have the benefits of competing with other men, and it feels good to obviously know that you can defend yourself. But my— honestly, the thing that keeps me going back to jiu-jitsu is that I know that I have a tribe of other men who I've been hanging out with for the last 2 years now, and that I can just go in there and they're all my friends, and I know them closer than some family members. I posted a quote the other day that says I'll fight a man for 45 seconds and know more about him in that time than the 5 hours of conversation at a brewery or something, you know what I mean? Um, so yeah, I really think that every young man should get into some type of martial art, but I know it's— I know it's not for everybody. It's not the only way to kind of find and surround yourself with other men of value, but it's a great start, I'll tell you that.

Yeah, again, it's like if you're not punching people in the face, you're not necessarily less of a man. It's just one of those great ways that, uh, we can kind of develop that, uh, muscle, if you will. Um, one of the points that I'd written before that I just wanted to— obviously you're a drill sergeant, um, yeah, you would see kind of the same problems or issues or development of young guys that come through basic training. What would you say are like the main things that you see, or, uh, maybe points that you can touch on with young guys that come in knowing nothing? And what are the things that you try to instill in the guys as part of that basic army training?

So one of the things that I've noticed, that when a lot of these trainees are coming in— and they vary from ages of 17, most of my trainees, I want to say, up 17 to 25 4. Uh, most of them that come in are physically so weak. Like, I'm not talking about weak as in they're just young and you're naturally weak. I'm talking about like they've never done a single sport in their entire life. So you start from ground zero and it's a huge pain in the butt. Um, they're vomiting after, what, a quarter mile and stuff like that. But that's, you know, that's trainable, right? It's basic training. You'll get it out of them. I always say, I'll get it out of you. Which means like, yeah, you can be lazy, but in the end of the cycle you're gonna be more fit. But, but this is the thing that I've noticed a lot of young men, um, social abilities, uh, so their ability to interact with other men their age. Why? Because a lot of them spent— dude, 90% of my trainees before they came into basic training spent all their time on Fortnite, Call of Duty, uh, Reddit, the internet. You know, I'm essentially computer, and to a certain extent raising the children of the internet. And but one of the things that I preach on the most on day frickin' one, the moment that they come into my bay is I have to start hitting on masculine attributes. So a really good example is honor. I wrote about this in a book that I'm writing.

I had—

I asked my trainees, I said, what is honor to you guys? They were lined up that we call toe the line. I have 50 or 25 on my left side, 25 on my right. I'm in the center. They're scared, they're shivering. You literally look at their knees, they're shivering, uh, just scared shitless, man. Their life was turned upside down overnight. Most of them are regretting it. They have no idea why, why they joined the army. And, uh, and, uh, can you hear me okay still?

Yeah, yeah. Can you hear me? Oh, you've cut out now. Hey, can you hear me? Hold up, I'm gonna recall you.

Cut out at 49. Yo, hey, can you hear me okay?

Yeah, I'm back.

Okay. Yeah, I don't know why I cut out for a second, but, um, we just cut out at 49 so that way we know how to edit it.

Yeah, all good.

Okay. Um, anyway, so sorry guys, we just lost connection for a second. Um, I, I don't know what you guys last heard, but basically what we're talking about is how I put both my trainees on each side of the line and I ask them questions about masculine attributes. So the first one that I talk about is honor. I ask them what honor is. 90% of them can't— they, they give me these definitions like, uh, you know, honor is doing what's right when nobody's looking. Okay, no, that's integrity. Um, honor is being strong. Okay, no, that's literally strength. So then I have to start— you teach them about these things that I feel like maybe a couple hundred years ago was inherent, right? Yeah. So honor is basically your— the way I described it is your— it's your reputation among other men. It is exclusive. It's bound towards tribes. Platoons, squads, clans, whatever the heck you want to call it. But I really kind of let them know that they are, as an individual, especially in the Army, you're weaker alone. The lone wolf is a dead wolf. And if you're not willing to cooperate, this is a— dude, this is a lesson for life. If you're not willing to cooperate and interact with other men, if you think that you're so good that you don't need any help with anybody, you're gonna get left behind. And, uh, so I, I mean, obviously it's the job of a drill sergeant to kind of like, like this, like break them out of that individualistic mindset. But this goes back to— this is pre-civilian, you know. I mean, this is pre-army. They, um, Americans are taught that you need— you're a rugged individualist, you don't need any help from anybody, you know, just live alone. And, and the, you know, I always say the individualist dies alone. Uh, but you kind of have to get them into the mindset of you need to work with other men to succeed, and your reputation is important. You should care what other men think. You should do right by them. And I let them know that if you screw up, if you're a shitbag, if you're lazy, if you're putting the platoon in a bad position, that you're going to lose honor and you're going to be shamed by your peers. Most of these guys have never experienced anything even relatively close to that. Uh, then you can get into all the different things like, now the Army only allows us to do 5 push-ups at a time. Dude, I have these trainees, I can't make them do more than 5 push-ups. Can you believe that? 5.

You're not allowed to, or they just can't do it?

Well, I can't make them do more than 5 push-ups by regulation. Army Regulation 350-6. I cannot make my trainees do more than 5 push-ups within the first like month, and then after the second month preventing injury. Because you got to remember, like, a lot of these train— it's so, it's so bad. Like, I can't make them do more than 5 push-ups. I hope no trainees are listening to this right now because now they're going to go to basic training and be like, oh, I can't do more than 5 push-ups. Uh, but you can't make them do more than 5 push-ups. I can't. And then after the second month, it's like no more than 10 to 15, you know what I mean? Uh, so yeah, they just come in and they're generally weaker and stuff like that. But the first thing I hit on is just masculine attributes and getting that mindset of work together or you're gonna die.

Yeah, pretty much. Um, yeah, Western culture sings the values of, uh, the individual, uh, and unfortunately humans aren't like that. You know, we are not the tiger that has hundreds of hectares of jungle that it patrols by itself. You know, we're social animals. Uh, we have, you know, even biological markers, like the number one of the biggest causes of death in older people and people in general is loneliness. You know, there are a lot of, um, biological hormone levels that go down when you're not exposed to other humans. Again, you can't share anything, you can't talk, you know. So that's why one of the big things with the whole social distancing and social isolation and not being able to see your grandparents and things is such a, such a big issue. That's like, yes, you know, we want to reduce the spread of COVID and all the rest of it. But there are other things behind the scenes that we also have to consider that aren't talked about as much, one of which being social isolation. So, there's that, there's the Western ideal of, you know, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, do everything yourself, otherwise, you know, you're not a man or whatever. And to a point, you have to like be by yourself and do work by yourself. But if you ever want to achieve anything meaningful, you have to have mentors, you have to have friends, you have to have business partners because you can't do everything alone. You know, I, I think one of the things that I've discovered, at least doing through Sol Brahman things, is like there are experts and guys who know how to do this thing. So outsource that to them and develop a relationship with them and, you know, cherish those relationships because you can come to someone whose wheel of expertise is X and you need an opinion on an X on what to do next with your thing. So there's that, uh, with business if you want to succeed and things like that. But the grander scheme of like, we are all in this together, you know, we think just because we are only privy to our mind, we know we exist as the individual and our point of consciousness is I myself. The ego obviously helps, um, create that distinction between us and that's essential just in terms of, you know, interacting with the physical world instead of just the mental world. We need the ego, that corollary, to kind of navigate the physical world. But it does mean that if you get too sucked up in that, of this idea of I and me and I need to win and at other costs to other people, is like, that's not sustainable long term. And I think, uh, that that's like Another thing is the guy that's like— there's a bit of a, I think, a misconception with the person that like steps on heads to really like kill other people where he needs to get where he's going and succeed and win, and he doesn't care, like backstabbing other people. That guy's never going to succeed long term, you know. Maybe 1 out of 100,000 times he'll rise to the top, but the best course of success is navigating, uh, social relationships and a give and take, supporting other people, and just in general, uh, not being by yourself because otherwise you won't get anywhere. And, you know, it's a kind of a responsibility that we have once you develop as a, as a guy and move away from that egoic centricism, is if you're contributing to the happiness of other people around you as much as possible, that's going to magnify in the world around you and you're going to feel better about yourself. You know, I think that that's the end result that people get to in, you know, spiritual and philosophical development is like, oh fuck, the best thing is really just to help other people as much as possible because that's going to be the most nourishing and most rewarding thing, uh, in the world. That's why if you see a lot of people who succeed in business turn to philanthropy is because they realize, okay, I've got the money now. I don't have to worry about that. What can I do next? What's going to be the best thing? And that is helping other people and guiding other people. And it's part of the reason that, you know, we do this social media thing is because we get messages that are like, hey dude, uh, your content has really helped me through a hard place in my life. And there's nothing better than that. And this— that's what we should all strive towards, because if we're all working together and benefiting other people, it's just a a net negative— sorry, a net positive that's going to bring everyone else up. You know, a rising tide raises all ships, um, is that idea. And yeah, individualism versus collectivism— collectivism wins all the time.

Yeah, totally. You're stronger together. And then this was one of the things that I was thinking about too when you were saying that is, uh, essentially— I don't know if you've ever— are you a fan of Jordan Peterson, by the way?

Uh, I think he has some good points for sure.

Yeah, so I, I used to really, really like Jordan Peterson, but, uh, to a certain extent I don't agree with him about his concept of individualism. But I really like how he hit on you're the node within the network, and that basically means that it is very, very easy as an individual to think that you have absolutely no impact. It's a very doomy nihilistic idea to think that what you do is irrelevant and what you do doesn't matter. But in actuality, you are a node within a network, meaning that what you are connected to other people socially, what you do matters. When you treat people shitty, when you treat them well, it's going to influence other people. It kind of like rocks the web, you know what I mean? The, the impact that one person can have on the world in both good and aspects is insane. We have an incredible amount of responsibility that we need to uphold as humans. Um, even more so men to do right by other people. Dude, I had this mindset, uh, a couple years ago, especially in business, that I don't need help at all, that, you know, like, I just am so strong. And, uh, I think it comes from this idea, uh, I think it comes from Hollywood, to be honest, because these Hollywood movies give us this hero who doesn't need anybody, doesn't need help from anybody, you know, he kind of just rides off into the sunset onto the next adventure. So I remember looking at these guys and thinking, oh, my heroes, in these movies, they don't need anybody, you know. They don't need no true— they don't need any tribe. They don't need any, you know, brothers or anything like that. Um, but when I started embracing, you know, interacting with other people and fully understanding that what I do has social consequences and it is important, my life started to change. And then another thing too, when you help, I noticed that in social media, for me I, like I said, like you said, one of the best messages that you can get is knowing that you helped at least one other person. Because let's think about that. Let's say you help one guy push his life into the right direction. Who knows where that dude's gonna go? What if he goes— what if you pushed him into the direction of like, who knows, writing a book that helps as a New York Times bestseller and helps 30,000 other people? But because you helped him one time and pushed him into the right direction, You know, it just goes back to the node within the network theory, which I, which I tell my audience a lot.

Yeah, um, most people only need one person to believe in them to do the things that they're meant to do in this life, you know. And it's tragic that whether through their family structures that aren't too great, or, you know, they just aren't exposed to the right people, uh, unfortunately I would say most people are more stuck in the egoic, central, centrism, individualism view. But if you can be that person that if someone comes to you and say, hey man, I'm thinking about doing this, and you go, fuck yeah, dude, do it, go for broke, you know, who, who cares what happens, what the end result is. I'm sure that if you pursue it with all you have, you'll succeed, you know. That's so fucking powerful. And even if it's a compliment on someone, like I always say to people, like if you see someone that has a sick jacket on and you like it and the thought pops in your head, like, that looks really good on that person, tell that person, even if it's a stranger, even if it's a dude or whatever, because they'll think about that all day, if not for the next week, you know, and just be happy about it. And like, all it takes is you surmounting your social anxiety about, oh, they might think I'm weird, or hitting on them. It's like, yeah, no, it's just a part of being, uh, part of your community and just trying to increase the net total amount of happiness and love in the world. And if we can all do that and encourage each other, then the world's going to be better off.

Yeah, I like how you, uh, mentioned that, uh, you know, complimenting somebody, it'll really stick with them. Dude, I have this memory of like 4 or 5 years ago when I was peak aesthetics, right? Which is actually something I want to talk to you about later— aesthetics.

Yeah.

Um, but I was lifting for aesthetics. I was about 9% body fat and, uh, you know, as strong as I've ever been. And I was walking through a gas station, I was having a really shitty day, I don't remember why, but I was walking through a gas station, I had a Gold's Gym tank top on, a string top.

Hell yeah.

And this dude walks up to me and he goes, he's like this— I don't know if you understand like, uh, American, like, Southern Black accents, but they're very hard to stand. But he goes, damn, this boy buff as hell! And he just walks past, doesn't even look at me, does it? He just goes, yeah, damn, this boy buff as hell! And the dude— I've never forgotten that. And I remember for some reason I was like, why did that make me feel so good? I was like, because it just affirms, you know, your progress and your change. So going back to like just looking at somebody, you notice that maybe they did their makeup a little bit different today or their hair or they're wearing jackets or you like the way that they dress or whatever. It makes you feel good. It makes them feel good. You're not hurting anyone. You know what I mean?

Yeah, exactly. And I think it's, it's, it's receiving a compliment without any ulterior motive hits different in a way. Because, you know, maybe someone hits on you, but you know that they want to try and sleep with you. And then it's like, okay, is this genuine or do they just want to get in my pants kind of thing? So when it comes from a stranger, then it's like, and then there's no like follow-up or whatever. It's just a compliment. Then that seems to stick in our heads more.

Yeah, it does. I don't know why. Why it's so weird that from a, maybe it's because they don't, know you. Like, I don't know, I get compliments from my friends and I'm like, ah, like, that's nice.

Yeah.

And then I get compliments from like random strangers that know nothing about me, like that dude in the gas station. And why is that so much more powerful? You know what I mean? Yeah, that makes no sense. But it does, it makes a significant difference. And if you don't mind, I actually wanted to ask you about, um, I don't know, I kind of want to segue here because this is something I— because I've been following you for months now, man. And I've noticed that, uh, your aesthetics— for you, why is aesthetics important and why is it something worth striving for, both physically? And then obviously you have, um, that artwork page, which I don't know if you noticed, but I share that like all day because I'm just like, I don't know where this guy's getting his artwork. But, um, for you, why is aesthetics important? So I don't—

okay, so I've always had an eye for what looks good, um, whether that's like the exact placing. You know, it started when I was making reports in high school. It was like I noticed that it would look better if the title was framed this way and there was an extra space here. And it's almost like a natural feeling that I've had that I think is inherent to everyone. Like, everyone can kind of look at something, they'll look that looks good and say, oh yeah, that looks good. Like there's a certain art to it. And you look at some things which are like presented poorly or whatever, and we have an inherent like, ugh, okay, that looks a bit strange. So I think that's important. So it's several things. So it's biologically, uh, what is aesthetic is usually biologically healthy because it's like an outward indicator of of biological health. If someone has clear skin, you know, they look good, they look healthy, then they're going to be healthy on the inside. So that's attraction just in general. But I think it's more of a philosophy as well because just having nice things around you and making sure that what you do— it's like how you do one thing is how you do everything. If you have this idea to always present yourself in a good way and, you know, put a bit of thought into what you're wearing and how you look, you're going to feel better. First of all, that's the main thing is like how you feel in yourself. If you feel like you look good, then you're just going to feel better in your social interactions. You can have more confidence. So there's that side of it as well. But there is also like an innate satisfaction of, um, doing your best in a way. And I think there's like a balance between, again, the two conflicting ideas, but being able to use both of them. You want to look good, but you also want to separate your feelings from looking good, uh, and from like, if you have disheveled hair one day or whatever, like you're not going to dwell on that and think like, oh, I look like shit and feel like shit and cry about it. Oh, but I think there is inherent value to like even in your bedroom, make sure that you're making your bed, you know, put away things where they're meant to have your books stacked neatly and maybe like I color coordinate my closet just so that it's easier. Uh, it seems like silly in a way, but it all relates to like your subconscious and and how you perceive the world and how you feel about yourself. Um, and then there's the whole bodily aesthetics thing, right? So training with those ideas of proportions in mind rather than just trying to get as huge as possible and not really worrying about it, like making sure that your rear delt muscles are also developed, not just your front delt. That's going to prevent shoulder health issues and things like that. So, so there like a functional side of it as well in terms of the physical training. But then there's also, if you look good and you look well put together, people are going to take you more seriously. It's just like—

they do.

That's just a fact, you know. That's emphasized in the Army, is, you know, you've got to shine your boots, you gotta tuck in your shirt, all those kinds of things, which, um, I think maybe were instilled in me through high school. I went to a, you know, private school where we had to wear proper button-up shoes and— sorry, shirts and tuck in our shirts and all the rest of it. So maybe that was some of the influence there. But I think as well, it's like a duty to other people. And again, that collectivism thing. If you look good, people get to look at you and they like feel maybe inspired or they just have something nice to look at. I think that's good to do for other people. And yeah, I guess it's just a question of, you know, aesthetics as well. They sell, you know, you're going to be taken more seriously in a business meeting if you have a nice tailored suit on. That's just the way of the world, and you'd be a fool not to take advantage of that. Um, within the gym, there's the ideas of like the golden ratio of bodybuilding, having your shoulders like, I think it's 1.2 times the size of your waist kind of thing. Yeah, um, the golden ratio exists in nature, I think, for a reason. You know, there's like certain mathematical relationships that show in like sunflowers in terms of the spiral of, um, the seeds and things like that. You know, it's— I think it's just a question of, um, our inherent— like, we feel good when we look at something that looks good. You know, great works of art, there's a reason why humans have museums of art, to look at beautiful things and be inspired. And I think having that and extolling those virtues within your own life is something to strive towards, and it's going to benefit you overall because of that.

Yeah, that's beautifully put. Especially, I looked at aesthetics not completely, but, but from a philosophical perspective. Um, but I like how you tied in general well-being with aesthetics for a— whether the physical reasons, meaning that if you have, you know, your, your— if you have muscles, you know, you said about the rear delts, shoulder health, you know, chest, etc., it all makes a difference physically. But then you said something really interesting, which I think is important, is that your striving for aesthetics, uh, in the outward world is an outward display of your subconscious. So or your consciousness. So if I am mentally just a mess, right, like I'm constantly beating myself up, if that judge is constantly punishing me, if I have low self-confidence, you know, you're just generally in a bad place, it's going to reflect outward in your room. I notice in cars, by the way, I could tell a lot about a person by how well they keep up their car and how clean they keep it. And, um, I actually heard a quote one time, I don't remember what it was, but it's like, I can tell you everything I need to know about a person's car or something. I don't know, probably ridiculous, but Uh, it is an extension of your consciousness. And I noticed— this is one of the things I noticed too— if I'm having a bad day where I generally just feel off, or maybe like sad, which does happen, I'll clean up my house, like thoroughly clean it. I'll like mop my floors, you know, I'll clean my tables really well, I'll organize things, you know. It just— you feel better when you strive for the aesthetics. And then, um, I did this episode I don't know what you think about this, but I think it makes sense. But I did this episode called Ego and Aesthetics, and I think that— I think that we should strive for aesthetics in the physical realm because the modern world wants you to be so weak and so distracted and so, you know, just not where you should be, because you're easier to control. So now I've kind of adopted this idea that aesthetics, chasing aesthetics and beauty in all things, in thought, in, in the physical realm, is a form of rebellion. Because what does the modern world want now? They want you to consume. They want you to buy your McDonald's, your Del Taco. They want you to go watch, you know, every single Avengers Marvel movie. They want you to play all the video games. But when you make Uh, striving for an— for aesthetics, kind of like a philosophy, it gets you to that next level. And I don't know why, but the modern Western world has a really weird way of demonizing people and making them look like bad guys for gaining muscle, caring about how they look, you know, strength training and stuff like that. Um, and then you hit on the topic of The Power of Appearance, which is a great book by— have you ever read Power of Appearance by by Tanner. I can't remember his last name, but he talks about how if you look good, you feel good. And yep, in America at least, dude, I did not care what I looked like for the longest time. And to a certain extent, yeah, you shouldn't. But I have looked at some of the most, uh, prestigious warriors that have ever existed, like let's say the Spartans, uh, they obviously cared about how they looked. They had these beautiful bronze helmets with those, you know, with the, the fabric on the top of it that comes down to the back of their neck. They kind of look like horsetails. Yeah, they had crimson cloaks. And that was because when they, when they got stabbed and they bled, the enemy didn't know that they were bleeding because, you know, imagine if you had a white, crimson, a white cloak and then you got stabbed and you're like, oh, they're wounded. So played a psychological effect. But I think caring about how you look aesthetics is an inherently masculine trait. For the longest time, I was like, I'll— caring about how I look is feminine, you know what I mean? It's kind of like that, that dad approach to, to, uh, to aesthetics. But that was something I've been wanting to ask you for a long time, was your idea of aesthetics. And now I know, my audience knows, that you, uh, you correlate aesthetics directly towards health.

Yeah, so it's several things. It's like, yeah, the Western world, there's this idea pushed, real men don't care how they look. Yeah. And like you said, you go back to the greatest warriors and conquerors of all time, Alexander the Great, you know, go look at his golden lion helmet. That shit is fire. You know, like imagine that cruising over a hill on a horse looking at you. You just look like a glorious warrior. You know, that's That's fucking sick. You think he wasn't a real man because he cared about his appearance? No, it's, it's just a cope. Um, you know, it's, it's like mediocrity being pushed because it's like, oh dude, girls like dad bobs. They prefer dad bobs.

I hate that.

You know, and that's become a bit of a meme at this point, but it does like signify the, the grander idea that You know, it is hard. Uh, it's easier to let yourself go and look like shit and not iron your shirts and, you know, not clean up your room and not have everything nicely put away and evenly placed on your desk, like all of those things. But it is, I think, one of the first things you can kind of— it's like, um, makeover shows, you know, they'll have a guy who's wearing baggy jeans, New Balance runners and like a— yeah, the New Balance shitty t-shirt. And then they give them a makeover, a haircut, a trim, maybe they work out a bit and they look a million bucks. And you can see it on their face that they look— they feel so much better. And when you feel better, you're going to have more energy to do the things that you need to. You're going to be nicer to other people. So it's all just like a grander life philosophy and it can start with you know, tucking in your shirt or organizing your room properly, whatever those small things are that positively benefit you and your brain and your subconscious is going to reap dividends in the end. And also, of course, there's the other thing of, um, attracting girls. If you want to attract a higher tier mate, uh, a better relationship, you're going to have to look good. Do you think that you deserve or should get a hot model to your girlfriend when you don't take care of yourself? No, it just doesn't make sense. So yeah, there's so many benefits to it that I think having it as part of your life philosophy is, is really good to do. And like you said, it is a bit of a signifier and a rebellion. Your spirit is still intact and still, you're still kicking, you're still here fighting and, um, And part of that is just looking good and doing your best to embody aesthetics in every way that you can.

Yes. And then, and you know, aesthetics too displays a general sense of awareness because it's really easy to look at the men in the modern world and I kind of see a lot of them unfortunately as like these, uh, these zombies who just kind of float through the world. They're lost. But when you, uh, you practice aesthetics, it just brings a general sense of awareness and vitality to your life, and women also like that. And then, uh, you know, I've been studying aesthetics so much. Yeah, like, dude, I'm not gonna lie, I only started recently really caring about how I dressed, maybe a year ago. And it's not that hard. It's not that hard to dress nice. I go on— there's YouTubers that I follow, I can't remember their names, they're all on my playlist, but there's YouTubers where I follow where I just listen to other men talk about fashion and how they dress. You know, you have I highly suggest everybody listening to this go check out The Power of Appearance because he breaks down the golden rule in fashion and he talks about like what type of shoes to wear during each season, shirts, flannels. You have different looks like rugged and, um, yeah, yeah, how you feel or how you look is, is how you feel.

Yeah, I think, um, just quickly something to maybe like a more practical way to do that is if you don't have any good outfits or whatever and you've never really considered that is to, you have to find your own personal sense of style that you can stick to that you feel comfortable in because what you wear and look good in might be completely different to what another dude can wear and look good in. So I don't think, you know, you can't just buy a Gucci button-up and expensive shoes and wear that and then think you're going to look good. It doesn't work that way. You have to take into account, you know, the fit of your shirt, getting the right size of things, and also something that just suits your personality. Like I have several outfits that I'll wear for when I'm going out, for when I'm in the gym, color coordinating my outfit to some degree. But it's not like there's a huge amount of research and time going into it because then that does lean into this, the side of like caring too much about your appearance to the point where you can care about your appearance to the utmost degree for your own self. But when you externalize that approval to other people and you want to look good and wear expensive clothing because you might think that it will get other people to like you, that's where you trip up and that's where it's not healthy. So it's just that balance of like doing it for yourself and for your own spiritual or philosophical ideals so that you feel good, look good, do good, uh, rather than wearing expensive clothes because you saw some other dude wearing it and you think it'll look good. The other thing I would say was aesthetics and clothing is that a fitted plain black t-shirt, jeans, and some sneakers, like good quality ones, when you're fit and healthy and jacked is going to look 100 times better than the fat dude that's wearing Gucci. You know, that's just how it is. So I think in terms of outfits or whatever, like I personally, as much as possible, I don't wear clothing. You know, if I'm out and about on a hike or something, the shirt will be off. I'll just be wearing sports shorts. So it's not like the aesthetics thing. You take away those like external signifiers of of fashion, like clothes or jewelry or whatever. To think— I think developing the aesthetics within yourself is— because no one's gonna— no one can take your body away from you. They can take your clothes, you can lose your money, but you still have your body. And if you look good and feel good within yourself, and that, that goes into account, like if you're going to promote your athleticism and your flexibility and you can move properly, you can run, you can leap, that all makes you more athletic, makes you more aesthetic. to other people. So I think working on the body and cleaning up your diet, making your skin better, you know, getting a tan, going outside, all of those have corollary effects on your aesthetics that is not just limited to, you know, what you wear as well.

Yeah, and you know what, um, so I followed— when I first started following your page, one of the things that I noticed that you talked about the most was tanning. Okay, so tanning in correlation with aesthetics. Americans have this general idea that tanning is a naturally feminine hobby, or whatever you want to call it, or a pursuit. What is your rebuttal to somebody who says, oh, tanning's for girls? I don't know if you ever get that, but I get that.

Hmm. Well, you know, first of all, don't give a fuck what people are saying to you online about what you choose to do in your life. Of of course. But yeah, I would say that, you know, my tan or whatever, it's more— so there's several things. It's like the health of it. Exposure to sun, uh, is going to mean you're getting increased vitamin D. Uh, if you're lacking in vitamin D, you can't produce testosterone as much. Vitamin D is going to improve your bone strength. Um, it's going to time your circadian rhythm when you're exposed to the sun, especially in the morning. If you can get sun on your body. I recommend everyone do that as, as soon as possible upon waking, because when the light hits your eyes, there are a lot of biological timers and things that are processes that are going on behind the scenes that will eventually make it easy to fall asleep at night. If you spend a lot of time in the sun during the day, I guarantee you'll be more tired at night. So there's all of those kind of biological things that is beneficial to be in the sun for. But I think maybe not to focus on tanning as such, but just go outside and do things outside with your shirt off because it's healthy, it's natural. Um, you know, humans have been outside working in the sun, uh, for thousands of years and hunting in the sun, to the point that like now the modern idea is that the sun's bad for you. I don't think that's true, you know.

I don't think so either.

Exactly. I don't use sunscreen, uh, for the same reasons that like there's a lot of information coming out now that things like oxy- benzene or whatever it's called, they accumulate in the body. So if every time you're going outside you're covering yourselves in this toxic chemical slop that we haven't really done any long-term studies to see if, you know, it is 100% healthy, which is probably not, right? There are other things like endocrine disruptors that if you're constantly putting something man-made on your skin— anything you put on your skin, it's like you're eating it, right? It gets absorbed inside. So I personally don't use sunscreen. I'll you know, if I need to limit my sun exposure, I'll go in the shade, or I'll put clothing on, or a cap or something. There's no need to have these chemical things that are going to protect you from this, or quote, protect you from the sun, which is healthy. But, uh, one thing I would say is, of course, don't— if you have no sun exposure for months at a time and then you suddenly go out, oh, Sol Brah, so to tan, and then you get burnt, it's like, no, just go out, you know, maybe in the morning sun or the afternoon sun to begin with and just work your way up to it. Even like 15 minutes is enough and you'll feel, you know, increased circulation. Your mood increases as well.

Oh yeah.

It's like the sun exposure can mean the difference between being depressed or not. You know, seasonal affective disorder is a huge problem in the countries that don't get a lot of sun all the time is that people feel depressed and negative and anxious when they aren't exposed to the sunlight. And it's like, that alone tells me that the sun is good for us, uh, and that we shouldn't be scared of the sun, and we shouldn't be putting all these random man-made things that we've only had for like, you know, 30 or 40 years to prevent us from the thing that, you know, we've naturally evolved alongside and gives us all of this life in the world, um, to the point where it's like, you know, tanning, being outside, it's good for you. You're going to look better, you're going to feel better, your skin's going to clear out. There's so many biological processes and everything that are going to benefit from the sun exposure that I recommend it to everyone. It's not just a feminine thing or whatever.

I actually thought about that the other day because I'm not gonna lie, you kind of, um, you got me back into sun exposure again because it's not really— if you work from let's say indoors, you're not out inside a lot. I noticed that there's a direct correlation between my mental health and when was the last time I was exposed thoroughly to the sun. And then if you look at the states in the United States, which there's plenty who get sun or don't get sun 60% of the year, you know, you have like Seattle, uh, different parts of Oregon, you know, Northern California, dude, they'll go 3 to 4 months without seeing the sun at all. And then you look at their suicide rates compared to like, let's say Southern California where they get sun, you know, 80% of the year, there's a significant difference between the two. And then another thing goes back to like, if I'm having a bad day, I'll ask myself, when was the last time I like went outside, took off my shirt and just walked around in the woods and got sun? Then I'll go do that and then I'll feel significantly better within what, like maybe 20 minutes for a couple of reasons. One, I'm outside again. It's really easy when you work from home with like podcasts and writing stuff to be inside all day under the artificial lighting and stuff like that. Yeah, but then I go outside for 30 to 40 minutes, sometimes even hours, and then I just come back in and I feel good. I, uh, took your recommendation on coconut oil, and then I used coconut oil a lot on my skin, and then you also recommended it in your hair. I use a little bit in my hair now, but then But then I started asking myself the same question you did, is what exactly are we putting on our skin from sunscreen and stuff like that? And then, uh, then I thought it, it's the weirdest thought to think that our ancient ancestors were running around, you know, in the sun worried about skin cancer and stuff like that, when actually all they did is, uh, I'm burning, I'm going to reduce my time in the sun, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. But So there's several strategies as well. Like you mentioned the 9-to-5 worker. Luckily I'm not in that anymore, but when I was, I would really make a point of, you know, if you commuting, maybe it's not that sunny, but you're in a car anyway for the most part or on public transport, you're not being exposed directly to the sun. And then you go into a building with fluorescent lighting, which is, you know, horrible for you as well. And then you, you know, I would always make a point of on my lunch breaks getting outside. You know, don't take lunch in the break room. Get the fuck out of the building. Take your shirt off. Go to a park or something nearby. Hopefully you have something. And who gives a fuck if you're in a park and people see your shirt off and they like, you know, you're worried about what my people think of you. It's like, okay, go somewhere where your direct work colleagues won't see you if, you know, you have to keep up that bullshit image of professionalism or whatever. And people might judge you for getting sun exposure, which is so crazy to me, you know, like, oh my God, he has his shirt off and he's outside, like, oh, you know, that's the kind of, uh, I— that's the attitude that a lot of, uh, 9-to-5 office workers have now. It's like, dude, this is what humans have done for hundreds of thousands of years, and I'm the weird one for going back to that, you know. That's a lot of the ways to improve your health is just look at what we were doing in nature for most of human history and what are we not doing now and fixing those things. Like you said, if you're working at home and things, I'll go out every hour just to walk around the block and just get some fresh air. That's the other thing. It's like the recycled air that we have inside and we're breathing all the time, even in office buildings, you know, that's not good to have recycled air and your productivity and everything is going to go up when you're getting fresh air and sun and you're just feeling better and you get outside. Like, there's so many things that, um, it's not just a question of wanting to look better, it's a question of taking your health more seriously, not caring what other people are going to think of it, uh, on the whole. Yeah.

And one of the things that I noticed that you were doing recently, which I want to get into but I physically can't where I live because I'm surrounded by like thorns and shit, is walking around barefoot. And then I thought about like how our ancestors were walking around barefoot all the time, how their feet were probably structured different, and how— you know what, do you believe that you actually gain like energy through the bottom of your feet? You know, like grounding? Or are you in it for like the circulatory reasons or like the structural reasons?

So it's both, right? So, okay, I think, um, saying you know, receiving energy through your feet. It sounds a bit woo-woo, but you know, there's certified scientific studies that show that you're receiving what's called a negative ion balance from the Earth. So most of the buildings and things that we are in, all of the electronic stuff and lighting, they emit positive ions, right? And then the Earth is negatively charged. This is a, you know, electromagnetic fields can be measured. It's a fact. It's not a question of like energy fields or whatever. It's like, that's literally what it is. And things like going to the beach and being in the water, that's negatively charged. Um, whenever you're in contact with grass and things like that with your barefoot, because a lot of rubber soles there will eliminate that positive ion flow— sorry, negative ion flow. But there are certifiable— and I have a thread about this if anyone's interested, search Sol Brah grounding but I have the studies linked there where it shows that things like, you know, anxiety decrease, inflammation decreases, wound healing increases, like the rate of wound healing, all these things when we're getting this surge of negative ions from the earth that we were so disconnected from now with footwear. And but just because we're not outside in nature all the time, it's like, that's a scientific fact. This is real. So it's not even a question of like, you know, the woo-woo stuff, but it's a way to decrease inflammation, of course, which is going to benefit you across the board. You're going to feel less anxiety, less stress, and just recover as well better if you're getting those negative ions from the ground. Swimming in rivers, things like that, natural rivers and lakes, that's going to be a great way to soak it all up. So there's that side of it, but there's also the side of it in terms of the barefoot nature, where if you look at, you know, untouched tribes that have never worn shoes in like the Pacific Islands and things like that, you look at their feet and they almost look like Hobbit feet. You know, they're wide, they're thick, they have this huge toe spread. And what I've noticed since really making it a point of going barefoot as much as possible is that my foot and toe strength has increased. Increased, and you feel like you're gripping the ground as you walk, almost like you have, you know, hands on your feet. You know, we use our hands for a lot, but we have more traction. We have just a better feeling of being in contact and touch with the ground, to the point where now, like, I wear barefoot shoes with the toes, you know, uh, whenever I train, because you get a much better feeling for things like squatting when you don't have a massive heel that's putting off your angle of where your foot touches the ground. So you're going to have a better locomotion and, you know, a better path of, um, of the squat when you're doing that. Um, the other thing is that like when you're running, you know, the invention of like the Nike running shoe has been pushed on Western society as being, you know, you need good running shoes to run. It's like, well, hold up, dude. Humans have been running for hundreds of thousands of years without shoes and without these shoes that we're told that we need to run. So I only run with either barefoot or with my barefoot shoes now because they, you know, you don't want to step on a stone and like pierce your foot or whatever until your— the soles of your feet have kind of strengthened up a bit. So the Nike shoe will kind of allow you to run in a manner that's not, um, what's the word, biomechanically optimal. And we have heel strike instead of landing on the forefront of our shoe. So what that's going to do is when you land on your heel each time, because you have that fat buffer in fat— in thick running shoes— is it gives a shock to the body and it jars your knee, and then that travels up to the hips, and it makes running this like jarring sensation instead of like a light roll off the, the ball of your foot where you're transferring from the back of the ball of your foot to your toes and then you're springing off again. That's our natural running gait, um, in terms of the path of movement there. So when you're landing on the heel all the time, because that's what these running shoes enable you to do, you're actually fucking up a lot of— like, you're not using your foot muscles the way they're intended to. You're going to develop ankle pain, knee pain, hip pain because of that. And that's like, yeah, a lot of the time— well, pretty much 100% of the time, we're not barefoot in the Western world. We, we wear these constrictive shoes, which I can barely fucking wear anymore because my foot muscles have expanded and developed and my toes naturally spread out to the point where I put them in like a Nike shoe now and it just feels constricted. It feels like I'm wearing binding my feet almost, you know. It's really noticeable. And I think that, like, if you're not taking that into account as an athletic fitness trainer or whatever, you're having people squat in these high-heeled shoes pretty much, then you're just, you know, you're missing a huge part of the equation in terms of developing athleticism. And you're also just gonna feel better. Like, I have so many people that have said to me, hey man, I've started just even just barefoot walking around, um, when you go for your walks, which I encourage too, um, they feel better and like their knee pain and the hip pain disappears because you're just returning to the way that your legs are meant to operate and your feet are meant to operate. So there's the negative ion grounding effect you get when you're completely barefoot, but there's also a lot of biomechanical advantages that you just go back to our default state of being and running and walking. When you wear barefoot shoes or you just go barefoot out and about. One thing I would just say if you want to try this is not to instantly go out and run the same amount that you would run in your Nike shoes because your foot strength hasn't developed and you're just going to end up, you know, completely fucking your feet. So initially just start walking around with your barefoot, you know, really try and spread your toes and grip rip the ground on each stride and just get used to the feeling of being barefoot. And then initially work up the longer runs that you're going to be doing with them, and I guarantee that you'll feel better. You know, YouTube natural running gait, there's tons of information out there that you look at the Tarahumara people. So these are these indigenous people in the mountains of Mexico. They are world-renowned as like the greatest, or some of the greatest runners that have ever existed. And you'll see that they wear just these very, very thin sandals, uh, to, you know, there's not much, it's just to protect against larger stones and things. But they'll run for miles and miles and miles in these things. And you might think like, man, how are they so good at running in, in these tiny little things? It's like, it's because their feet have developed in the natural way. And it's really, we've moved away from that and we're sort in society, uh, to a large point, that that's why we need things like, you know, uh, what's the word, like a foot doctor. Yeah, um, yeah, foot doctor. We need special insoles and all that, whatever it is. Orthopedic. There you go. I had to have orthodontic, like, inserts, um, so orthopedic inserts to, like, fix my leg pain as a teenager. And then when I started just walking around normally that's just eliminated itself. So it's like we have a lot of these modern fixes and medical fixes for things that will just right themselves when you return to the kind of natural way of being. That was a long spiel.

So no, no, that's actually really good because, um, that's something that— it's so funny because we forget about that kind of stuff, right? Like how easily just changing your shoes can affect, you know, the Because dude, for me, I don't know if barefoot's going to help me, but I get really bad shin splints and I've gone to the army's orthopedist or whatever the heck they call them and they're like, oh, change your running form. I'm like, okay, I'll change my running form. Okay, run on your heels or run on your toes. And then I'm like, all right, none of this is working. Walking is excruciatingly painful. Not, not so much anymore, but running is excruciatingly painful. Anything past a mile just feels like my shins are exploding. And then I was— the other day I was looking at my running shoes because they were, uh, they're like Under Armour, and I'm like looking at them, and then for some reason my primitive brain came back. I'm like, these are so weird, like these things on my feet, like these pieces of weird, you know, fibers and cloth. It just feels so unnatural. But, um, and then when the whole time you were talking too, I was also thinking about how good I felt as a kid and running around on a grass field and just feeling so fast and feeling like I can maneuver, you know, so easily.

Yeah.

And just feeling that I get general health and well-being. So that's something I want to look more into too, is barefoot walking. And it's so funny because people are like, oh, that's such a hippie thing, that's so stupid. And I'm like, okay, well, it's helping. And then that, that was something that I thought of too. And then also I took some recommendations on supplements. That you actually recommended. Actually, you know, one of the supplements that kind of changed my game— I don't know if I posted about or not— was, um, was boron. So you, you recommended that, I think, like 2 weeks ago, 3 weeks ago, and I bought it. And then I was thinking, like, boron, like, that's such a weird supplement, I never heard of before. But then I did more research into it, and then I was really interested in its effects in helping you harness free-flowing testosterone. So apparently, yeah, the average male can only successfully, uh, what's the word, harvest or use 2% of his free-flowing testosterone. But what boron does is helps you utilize more of that. So, uh, when I'm training jiu-jitsu, dude, I've noticed a significant difference. I don't know what it— I don't know if it goes from 2% up to what percentage, I don't know. Yeah, but I've noticed a reinvigoration in my energy levels. It's not like I'm supercharged or super human, but my endurance has, has, um, prolonged itself just through a simple change, you know. So it's, it's these little changes that people need to take into account. Walking barefoot, you know, this tiny little supplement that maybe you're not getting through your food. So I think for your content, one of the best things that you're doing for people is just these little tiny changes that seem insignificant at first glance you know, walking around barefoot, a boron supplement, or changing your lighting. But in actuality, it makes a world of difference. And in a way, it's kind of like, um, going back to the old ways, you know. So that's the kind of stuff that I've always appreciated on your page.

Yeah, I, I get that. Like, one of the things that initially, at least when I was initially tweeting, it's like people like just a little bit of information, just a tweet that, that is easily insertable into their life that they can then notice the difference of. And whether it's things like supplementing boron or supplementing magnesium— because if you're not taking magnesium, you should— but there are a lot of things in the soil, uh, that we used to get just through our food because the soil, um, had it in it, and then thus the food has in it. You can't have good food without good soils. So now because we're using the same soil over and over and over again with crop farming, and then also using pesticides and herbicides and things that kill all the little creatures in the ground that help make these minerals and other things available because they're doing things in the ground to, you know, change this into that. All of that stuff is lost with modern farming. So a lot of the supplements that I recommend. They're not things that, like, you know, will necessarily supercharge you or whatever, but they will in the sense because you're just fixing those nutritional imbalances that we used to get from our food from days of old, um, that aren't in our food anymore. You might be eating something, it's like on the, on the label it's like, yes, uh, this has blah blah blah in it, but it doesn't actually have the levels in it that it's supposed to have that, you know, they've nutritionally analyzed that this food has this in it, but because it's like empty farming, it was like high water content because they want to pump up the size of the fruit or the size of the meat, you know, they fatten up things because they're sold as the farmers per kilo, but it's not actually got the nutrition in it that we need to do all the things and have all the biological processes and, you know, or activating free tossol testosterone and things like that that I recommend. It's like some supplements are just a way of buffering against the modern world and getting back to what we should naturally have in our body, and that's when you're going to feel the best.

Yeah, I was, um, right now I was looking at some of the questions. I don't know if you want to start diving into some of these questions that our audience has for us, but one of the questions is— okay, all right, let me open this up. So one of the questions said, Sol Brah, what has been one of the supplements that has changed your general well-being the most? Is there any specific one?

Um, okay, so I would say magnesium. Uh, magnesium is used for over 300 different processes in the body. Um, we kind of view it as like the master stress mineral. Whenever you're stressing the body through, uh, exercise through the stress of, you know, fluorescent light is a stressor on the body, um, mental stress, anxiety, all those kinds of things, they deplete magnesium. And magnesium is used to kind of buffer against that. So if you're not taking adequate magnesium in the body, you don't have what your body needs to protect against that. So I take magnesium glycinate with food, with every meal, uh, 400 milligrams or so, and that Taking that consistently, like if I forget to take my magnesium, the anxious thoughts and my recovery from the gym are noticeably worse when I'm not taking magnesium. It's as simple as that, you know. I'm not as stressed. I have a more even keel, uh, in terms of my, uh, outlook on life when I'm taking magnesium. And you can delve into the science behind it. I don't, you know, I could list hundreds and hundreds of different processes in the body that it's used for. Um, another way to take magnesium that I like is, uh, magnesium chloride spray. So that's just magnesium chloride and water. It's called oil sometimes, but it's not actually an oil. It's just like feels a bit oily, but it's magnesium chloride dissolved in water. So what I like to do, uh, is spray a little bit of that in my morning water. When I wake up, I have a liter of warm water, fresh lemon juice squeezed in that, some boron about 6 milligrams, and then also magnesium chloride. And I'll shake all that up and I'll just pump that, and that's the first thing I get into my body in the morning. And that will really set you up well. Oh, and also Celtic sea salt, like a pinch of that dissolved in there as well. It's going to get you some trace minerals, which are really good. So magnesium chloride as well can be applied to the neck and brainstem. So you can use it and spray on any, any muscle in the body if you feel something's tight or whatever, you're getting cramps, it's usually because of a lack of some either sodium or magnesium or whatever that's causing that. So you can spray it on a muscle and massage it in. Again, anything you put on the skin is going to be soaked into your body. So magnesium chloride spray is another good one that I'll do, use on the neck and the brainstem upon waking and before sleep, is also another way to just kind of really feel a deep relaxation and, and calm and wind down from the stresses of the day. Like, I'll smash some magnesium chloride spray and then do my pre-bed stretching, uh, as a bit of a routine or ritual, uh, which is another thing. So if you're not taking magnesium now, I guarantee you that magnesium is gonna help you and make you feel better, noticeably so. Uh, there's also like a bunch of things, like you need magnesium in the body to make iron available. So if people have anemia, low iron, then That's probably also one of the reasons is because they have low magnesium. So it's really like, if I could just pick one supplement that I recommend— I mean, there's a couple that I would recommend, but magnesium is up there.

Okay, man, I've actually never thought of magnesium, one of the supplements that— like, because I take very basic supplements right now. So I just took your recommendation of, uh, I, I took the powder beets, uh, beet powder for the electrolytes and stuff like that. Um, Boron made a significant difference to me. I don't know if you're taking creatine, but I've been taking creatine for a few years now.

Yeah, it's a good one.

Definitely noticed. Yeah, it's creatine. But you know, there's these common misconceptions with creatine now that it just makes you fat. Uh, I don't think creatine makes you fat. It never made you fat. It was the water retention that was getting people a lot, uh, back in the old formula. But I think, correct me if I'm wrong, the new formula for creatine isn't so heavy on water retention. So that's another supplement that I highly recommend to the audience is creatine. I, I imagine that most of them are taking already, but I'm sure there's a few that aren't. And then obviously boron has helped me a lot. A lot of the questions that I'm looking at for you, um, is just general questions on like well-being and supplements and stuff like that. And then this is a really good question. Um, honestly, you know, a lot of these are whole episodes which we don't have time to get into, but this Guy asked what food, uh, is essential for cutting out. So a lot of, uh, a lot of people are, uh, should be cutting out certain foods.

Yeah, so in terms of the framework that I employ for food, it's— there's several things. The first steps would be to eliminate anything processed, pretty much anything that isn't a whole food that you can just pick up, like, this is an apple, this is meat, this is whatever. Like, that— if you stick to just those whole foods, and, um, you're pretty much golden, you know. Like, obviously organic is best, you want the highest quality, shop at local farmers markets instead of supermarkets and things. But for the most part, I don't eat a single thing that comes in a packaging and sits on a shelf. If something can sit on a shelf for months at a time and not degrade, uh, it's probably not good to put into your body, you know. Like things like Cheetos, you know, obviously people know that that stuff isn't good for you. But if you can only shop in like the fresh grocer section of the supermarket, not really go to the aisles where there's so many things inside that you don't really think about— yeah, stay on the outside. They're set up to get you to kind of walk in between the aisles to get to the things that are essential so that they can sell you different things that you don't necessarily need, like junk food. But you know, everyone knows what is good and bad for you on the whole, right? So these questions of like, what should I cut out first? You know that you shouldn't be eating Twinkies. You know, most of them, you know, you know, you shouldn't be woofing down fucking IPA beers every night. You know, like all of these things like It— once it's been processed and manufactured in a factory, there's usually things that they add to either increase the palatability. They also— another thing that goes on with processed foods is, so your body responds with hunger when it needs nutrition, right? It doesn't necessarily need food, it needs nutrition. If you're eating food that doesn't have any nutrition in it, you're just going to stay hungry. Because your body's like, fuck, we still don't have the things that we need to repair our body. Keep eating. So when you're eating things like chips that are manufactured, what they actually do is take out the stuff in there that's nutritious for you. So it's just empty food because they want to sell as much as possible, right? So they don't want to sell a food that's going to nourish you and make you eat one serving and then you're good because that's not a very good business model, you know. So They take out the stuff that's good for you in the processed foods. They increase sugar. They increase other, you know, chemical flavor enhancers and preservatives and all of these things which are stressful on the body to process and are going to fuck you up in a whole number of ways. Um, the other thing to avoid is anything with processed industrial vegetable oils, things like canola seed oil, soy oil, um, a few others, but I have a thread on this if you want to go into a bit more detail. Vegetable oils, uh, Sol Brah, etc., uh, that is pretty much present in most processed foods. It's fucked how much they've, uh, put it into almost unnecessarily. Like, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, uh, is primarily canola oil, you know, kind of mixed with some other garbage. It's like, just eat normal butter, you know. You don't need to eat these fake approximate approximations of real food that we've eaten for hundreds of years that had only recently come now. And everyone's like, yeah, this is, uh, actually better for you than saturated fats. No, you know, you got to think about who benefits from you buying these foods. And you also got to think about, like, sometimes the authorities aren't right. A lot of the time they're not right. You know, that food pyramid that's pushed on us the last 30 years where they have processed grains as the largest part of your, um, you know, the largest part of the food intake that you're meant to have. That's so far from the truth that, you know, it's just empty calories in that sense. You're not getting nutrition from it. So the seed oils, you can look at the ingredients list and you'll usually see like vegetable oil or canola oil or soy oil or whatever it is. Like, the, the issue with these oils is that they're— if you're having like a low-fat diet and these are the only fats that you're getting, they're polyunsaturated fats, right? Which means they have unbonded oxygen atoms within the chemical structure. And when they're unbonded, it means that they're more likely to oxidize. So when you're taking in these fats as your only source of fats, and they're very inflammatory to the body— the other thing you got to think about is that seeds don't want to be eaten necessarily, you know. So you're getting this oil that's, you know, they have to do a bunch of, you know, with petroleum and process and things to get this kind of weird oil from smushing a whole bunch of seeds together that ends up fucking up your body because we're not meant to process that stuff. The seed doesn't want to be consumed. It wants to be, you know, spread and put into the ground and germinated. So what it does is it releases these oils that fuck with digestive processes in the body. It's kind of like a mechanism to prevent from being eaten. Um, so when you have this as your only source of fats in the body, you're going to experience a lot of inflammation. Uh, and the other thing is that when you have those oils within your body, because they're oxidizing and they get kept in all the skills in your all the cells in your skin, um, you're actually more likely to sunburn when you have these oils. Like, a lot of people have messaged me and said, hey, I've cut out these seed oils, I've cut out processed foods, and now I, I don't really get sunburn anymore. So what that is, is, is because the oils were present in these people's bodies, the sun heats them up and then they oxidize, and then they cause an inflammatory response, and your skin gets red and you feel like shit. When you cut all that processed stuff out, uh, not only is your body not going to have to deal with that, um, you're going to be able to go out in the sun better and you don't have to use the sunscreen. Um, oils that I would recommend— so I cook with ghee, which is clarified butter. Uh, it has a higher smoke point than normal butter, so that's a good just animal fat that you can cook with. Uh, and then I also consume a lot of extra virgin olive oil. So some people say that they stay away from olive oil because it's also polyunsaturated fats. So the ratio is a little bit lower, which is good. There's more saturated fats in olive oil. Avocado oil is a good one. But the basic crux of it is that if you smush an olive, you're gonna get this olive oil, right? If you smush a canola seed, you're not going to get the canola oil without this extra processing step. So that initially, like, if you smush a coconut, you're going to get the coconut oil. So that kind of sniff test or whatever tells me at least that that's— it's just more natural. So your body's gonna be able to process a lot more. Like, you need unsaturated fats in some degree, like omega-3s, in your body for things. But like, you don't want to have only one or only the other, omega-3s, omega-6s. But if you stick to things like extra virgin olive oil, I smash on all of my food, it's delicious. You have to be careful in America at least because because a lot of extra olive oils are sold as olive oil, but they actually have canola oil in them as like a, to save money, because it's very cheap to produce and sell. And that's obviously why it's been propagated so much. It's very cheap to produce and, you know, use as a filling and a shortener. And it's also in all these processed foods. It's just extra unseen calories. So they don't really measure the effect of the vegetable oils within as the caloric content. So if you're consuming only processed foods which have this calorie number, then you're still putting on weight because you have all these extra things, extra calories from these garbage oils inside it. So if you're interested in this, read Deep Nutrition by Catherine Shanahan. She goes into detail as to why these seed oils are kind of leading cause of all the heart disease that we're seeing, Alzheimer's, you know, they really, really are bad for the body. And we're only seeing this increase of heart disease and all these degenerative disorders that we are seeing partly because of these industrialized seed oils that are now in pretty much every processed food. So it's pretty wild how pervasive they are within society. I would stick to cooking either with coconut oil, with Ghee with a higher smoke point is better. Putting extra virgin olive oil is a really good one if you're looking to bulk up as well. With some quality oils, it's easier of course to eat a higher calorie value with a lower volume when you're consuming more fats, uh, if you want to weight gain. So that's like obviously a negative for people eating processed foods and getting obese, but positive if you're skinny and you just smash extra virgin olive oil. Uh, but yeah, seed oil is bad.

Yeah, I, I didn't think about seed oil at all until you started posting about it, to be honest. And then I switched off because, dude, I'm not gonna lie, when I go through the grocery store, I just need oil. I'm just like, yeah, that's the cheapest. But then you started posting about it, and then I made the investment, you know. Uh, I used to cook with coconut oil all the time, but it's just one of those things you kind of just forget about. And then I started cooking with coconut oil, and I noticed a significant difference in how I felt. But then you commented on how you sunburn less you know, with like natural oils like coconut oils and stuff like that.

Yeah.

Compared to, you know, these, uh, these more processed oils. And then I think a really good last question to ask you is actually something that I was curious about myself, um, your thoughts on alcohol. Are you consuming alcohol at all? Do you moderate it, or have you just completely cut out alcohol? Um, because I— dude, for me, I don't really drink anymore because it just makes me feel like shit, but the only thing I'll drink now is red wine, like post-jiu-jitsu, because it just relaxes my muscles and stuff like that. Are you still drinking alcohol, or are you done with it?

Yeah, I'm still drinking alcohol, you know, like yourself. Um, I will have a glass of a quality Malbec red wine, uh, with dinner amongst friends, because there are, you know, some small benefits. Um, in terms of the resveratrol, the tannins and things that are in a good quality red wine. Um, alcohol, I would not say, you know, for the most part I'm drinking like maybe one night every 3 or 4 weeks I'll have 2 glasses of red wine. That's the extent of my alcohol consumption now. Uh, coming up to summer where I am, so if I go out and about I'll likely drink a little bit more of alcohol Uh, if I'm going out on the town, I'll have like double vodka sodas with lime. So that's just a good quality vodka, soda water, and then fresh lime squeezed within it. So that's like trying to drink without all the processed stuff. It's pretty relatively low in calories. Like soda water is obviously just fizzy water, so you're hydrating to some degree with each drink that you have. Even then, um, I'll have maybe 8 standard drinks max and then the rest of the night just have waters. So just to get a bit of a social buzz on, because there is, you know, that is a benefit of alcohol if you're going to use it. It does relax you a little bit, opens you up, especially if you're talking to new people. I would say that if you want to make significant changes in your life and you're not— your physique isn't where you want it to be or whatever else, just have a hard rule of no alcohol. Like, that's the safest thing to do. Like, it dehydrates you, uh, it makes you feel like shit in the morning, uh, you make decisions that you wouldn't necessarily make when you're sober, bad decisions. Um, everyone's got those stories, uh, and it is really like one of the leading causes of a lot of bad things in our society, whether it's breaking down social relationships, whether people are alcoholics and not looking after their families. Like, all of those things that are, you know, it's kind of swept under the rug just because we've socially drunk alcohol in our societies for a long time. And I think it's 100% something to minimize if you're serious about living well. Uh, and you don't miss it is the other thing. It's like, once you're used to it, like, one of the things that I recommend people is like, go out once where you don't have any alcohol amongst other people that are drinking, and that'll be one of the biggest motivators for you not drinking when you look how stupid everyone else looks when you're drunk, which is obviously you when you're drunk, you know. Um, but at the same time, I don't think that it's the end of the world if you've hit your workout, you're eating well, you're still hydrating, um, to have a glass of wine amongst dinner amongst friends to just celebrate life. And there's also the The energetic thing, uh, one of my friends on Twitter, Deja Roo, he, uh, he said that he has a theory with alcohol that it's good for you when you're using it to celebrate, but it's bad for you if you're using it to escape things. So if you're smashing like your sales targets or you just sold a business and you have a night where you're drinking with your friends and you're happy and you're celebrating life and living then that's good, you know, that's going to be energetically and spiritually beneficial to you. But if you're at home, your life sucks, you just want to escape it, you want to numb your mind, and you're drinking by yourself in your room, that's bad for you. You know, it's that kind of distinction that there's, there's more to it than just the calories or just the health effects, um, with alcohol especially. But you know, there's a reason why it's called spirits and You know, the— there is some old kind of folk tales where alcohol acts as a kind of demonic possessive spirit or a being in some people because it negatively affects you and makes— like, I'll also notice if I have a big night out that I'm anxious, more than anxious, more than usual. Like, I'm not anxious at all usually in my day-to-day life because I take care of myself and I eat the right things. Um, but I'll notice like almost like a 2-day lag after I've had a big night that I'll just feel more anxious than usual. And it's all— always can be traced back to a lot of alcohol, uh, on the previous weekend. So that's another thing that people consider. It's like it's gonna increase your anxiety, and all around it's probably not the best. If you are going to drink it, have a nice quality organic natural red wine if you can. Vodka sodas if you're gonna drink a bit more. Stay away from pounding like 12 beers because you're gonna get all those excess carbohydrates and other preservatives and things which are not good with anything mass-produced. As usual, goes back to the other point of cutting out anything processed and all the rest of it. So yeah.

Yeah, my, my thoughts on alcohol real quick are pretty much the same. I'm not a— people have this conception of me, which is probably my fault, that I'm a Puritan and I'm just like totally anti-alcohol. But I use it for social reasons. So going out with friends and having a good time, and like what you said, just generally celebrating life. One of my good friends, James, somebody I do business with, he actually told me— he gave me a rule, and it was stay less drunk than everyone else. It's pretty much like what you were saying, how just go hang out around drunk people when you're sober, and it'll really put things into perspective. Another thing is that I have a theory about that lag that you're talking about real quick. I think what happens is you get drunk and you obviously have the hangover, but then you have this weird dopamine and probably a serotonin hangover where your body's not producing it correctly or not enough. Because there's been times where I would just, you know, in the past I would just come completely shitfaced, man. And then let's say on Sunday night I drink heavily. I won't fully mentally recover until Wednesday. You know, night. And then I do feel more anxious and I feel nervous. I'm like, what's going on? I think it's, uh, throws your body's chemical, you know, the way that your body produces those chemicals that keep you confident, that keep you healthy, willing to talk to people. It neutralizes them. Uh, alcohol has changed a lot in the several thousand years. I know the Spartan— I, I was reading this book about the Spartans too, and this is an interesting thought, but their alcohol was like an energy drink. It was a really good, uh, source. Uh, their wine was a really good source of carbohydrates and sugar and energy.

Yeah.

And they would always drink it between battles or breaks or training. And I was like, what? That's like, why aren't you getting drunk? Alcohol has changed a lot. It went from like this energetic, religious, spiritual drink down to a depressant, down to a neutralizer, and then obviously the social effects that come along with it. But Yeah, that was, uh, that was a question that I've been wanting to ask you for a while, is are you even drinking alcohol? So I'm glad we got to get that out to the audience.

Yeah, well, my pleasure. This has been really great, man. I'm sure we could go another 4 hours, so we'll have to do this again sometime. But thank you so much for joining me on the Soulcast. And, um, any, any links or things you want to promote, just right at the end?

I think, um, I just— the best place you guys can reach me is just my Instagram. I'm mostly on Instagram. Um, so it's just Munden, M-U-N-D-E-N underscore Forest. And then I have the Backbuilders Podcast, which is on almost every platform now, especially Spotify. And then I have a Patreon, which I post these exclusive episodes on everything from nutrition to women to mythology towards, um, anything like that, uh, daily. So you guys can check me out there. On Twitter, I just go— I'm not really familiar with Twitter handles. I think my Twitter handle is just Munden Forest. Too. But you guys can see that he just reposted, um, one of my tweets, uh, or repost my handle yesterday and today, so you guys can find me on there also. But no, man, I genuinely, uh, appreciate you bringing me on the Soulcast. I've been a fan of your podcast for months, and I also discovered your podcast through, uh, the Glorious One actually, which is— I'm also a fan too. So yeah, that was a good one, man. But anyways, I definitely appreciate you having me No worries, man.

Uh, well, thanks for listening, guys. I hope you enjoyed, and we'll catch you next time. See you, Forrest.

Thanks.