march 5, 2026
the following is a pic of me
i look meh, poverty abs.
thats me barely working out, 2x a week max, but often its more like once a week. just looking “okayish” because i have a good diet and i move around a lot.
often just 1 real workout every week, then the rest was just random cardio throughout the week to get to that physique in the pic above.
i chased the surfer physique. its good enough to get attention from girls when i have the shirt off. but with clothes on, i look like a boy, skinny. functionally? i look athletic enough, but any time i need to carry load like carry a girl up the stairs or wrestle with a guy, that is where i would struggle.
there is so much physical improvements left on the table.
looks isnt everything, but being jacked is a good signal for real athleticness. so enough about having a surfer physique, lets get jacked.
today, march 5, 2026, i decided to lock in on a workout program and take my nutrition a bit more seriously, first going on a lean bulk for several months then cut by around the end of the year.
for the after photo, i’ll update this post by the end of the year.
lets win.
december 31, 2026
i will update this section at the end of the year to post the “after photo” to show off if weve seen any progress, as well as i will also have a writeup on what succeeded and what didnt for this year which would include an image.
weights training
Long term consistency trumps short term intensity — Bruce Lee
imo the best training routine is the one that’ll get you consistent
engaging in researching what is the most optimal workout to look “shredded”, or “balanced”, or a to look like some hollywood/athlete/MMA icon you admire will just lead you down to a rabbithole of rumination instead of execution
look at my physique on the pic above, i got there from working out just 1-2x a week simply by increasing the weights. progressive overload over months and eating enough protein was enough
optimize for consistency always
Judo focused
the following is the routine i mostly stick by because for me as someone who lifts at his home gym i find it easy to follow
Chest day
- Incline Barbell Bench - 3x5
- Incline Dumbbell Bench - 5x8
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise - 4x12-20
- Pushups to 100 reps
- Ab Wheel 4x8
Back day
- Weighted Neutral Grip Pullup 3x5
- Chest Supported Single Arm Dumbbell Row 3x5
- Chest Supported Single Arm Dumbbell Row 3x10 (lower weights)
- Dumbbell Rear Delt Flye 3x12-20
- Dumbbell Farmer Carry to Shrug superset
Squat day
- Barbell Back/Zercher Squat 4x5
- Dumbbell Lunge/Split Squat 4x10
- Cable Rope Ab Crunch 4x8
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise 4x12-20
Arms day
- Chinups 3 sets to failure
- Barbell Overhead Press 3x5
- Dumbbell Zottman Curls 4x8
- Cable Rope Tricep Extension 4x8
Hinge day
- Barbell Deadlift 2x5
- Barbell Hip Thrust 4x8
- Kettlebell Swing EMOM, target at least 10 minutes
- Hanging Leg Raises 3xAMRAP
Weekends
- 2x Judo @ 3 hours per class
i like it as its based on the setup of my home gym. it does not require me much movement around the gym like racking of weights or switching to a different bar/location which i find is a big factor in making me lazy at working out. like for example just did a deadlift? well since the barbell is already in the ground, why not take some plates off then do a hip thrusts since the barbell’s already there.
Judo x BJJ routine
when i feel like doing sports training 3-4x a week, I reduce the lift days to 3
Judo and BJJ training
- Judo: Weekends (Sat, Sun), 1-2x a week
- BJJ: Weekdays (Tues, Thurs), 1-2x a week
- Do quick abs/core work during judo/bjj days
Lift Day 1
- Deadlift 3x5
- Barbell Shrugs 3 sets to Failure
- Incline Barbell Bench 3x5
- Incline Dumbbell Bench 4x10
- Pushups 2 sets to Failure
- Dumbbell Lateral Raises 3x12-20
Lift Day 2
- Pullups 2 sets to Failure
- Squat 3x5
- Barbell Hip Thrust 4x8
- Chest Supported Dumbbell Row 5x8
- Dumbbell Lateral Raises 3x12-20
Lift Day 3
- Weighted Neutral Grip Pullup 3 sets to Failure
- Barbell Overhead Press 3x5
- Dumbbell Curls 3x8
- Cable Rope Tricep Extension 4x8
- Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises 4x12-20
what i like
- lift days: 3+ days of lifting is actually A LOT if youre also doing sports. personally I am not consistently chasing PRs anyway and mostly doing hypertrophy loads. i know my body well enough when to deload and take breaks.
- injury proofing via depth: if youre lifting, go deep, like do deep lunges, or incline dumbbell benches more than incline barbells. deep weighted reps builds the necessary strength in your tendons to handle real world output like MMA or judo. injuries in sports happen because you didnt bulletproof your tissues enough at that range of motion. but still remember to always load the right amount of weight you can handle.
- do sports: for athleticism. I like having Judo as core, then dropping in for BJJ, boxing, or tennis sessions whenever I want
- decompress spine after a heavy lift: right after the morning workout, do dead hangs or some form of stretch to negate some pressure in the discs of your spine after a heavy compound lift. its just injury proofing so you wont have some disc to slip hours later while youre doing MMA/BJJ. also, decompressing feels good, i like hanging from my pull up bar, i just do 3-4 sets of 60 seconds. if you want something more active, swimming is 10/10 for decompressing the spine.
- play with squats variation: a zercher squat is better for the spine and builds up the core quite well for grappling sports
- sports vs lifting in AM/PM: when choosing which to do first, always lift in the morning then do the sports later in the day. If you do a 3-hour BJJ class in the morning, you will fatigue the hell out of your CNS and stabilizer muscles needed for lifting, and that will make you more prone to injury. meanwhile if you lift heavy in the morning, you’ll find that you can still do a good zone 2 run, or BJJ/MMA training later in the day. basically:
- lift in morning
- eat fast acting carbs and protein, de-compress spine with a deadhang and stretch
- hydrate well and go on with your day
- eat some potassium and sodium to prevent cramps, i like sardines and bananas, or just bananas and salt and eggs. then eat some carbs for your sports session later
- roughly 6 hours after your lift, you’d be good to go for BJJ
- heavy weights: in wrestling, a key chunk of being “explosive” is having the necessary strength. therefore i like having sets of low reps (but high load) for compounds
- injury proofing: hamstrings, groin, lower back, and shoulder stability work are necessary. also, focus on building lower extremity strength
- kettlebell swings: i do it EMOM-style, usually for just 10 minutes. it builds stamina well. people across the internet (and including me and my friends) have also noticed it also impacts your running stamina too. very good for cross-training cardio. lots of studies about swings being good for improving your gas tank on the net, go use GPT/Gemini Deep Research to fact check me. also it feels good to do, feels like thrusting the air, good for the bedroom
- wrist roller: elite equipment, so damn cheap and works your wrist well
- plyometrics: the fountain of youth. builds explosiveness and develops the tendons and joints. ive added somme to my routine and they make a difference, especially as you get older. only takes like 5 minutes to do
- nutrition:
- cut: cutting is easy. vegan protein is good if i want to cut, you can eat like sardines (~18g protein) mixed with 75g TVP/textured vegan protein (~38g protein) in 1 sitting. another is eggs, its very easy to eat 5 eggs in 1 sitting (~30g protein), usually i take it as a snack after breakfast and it takes me like 7 minutes to chow 5 eggs. those 2 (5 eggs and mix of TVP+sardines) combined is already ~80g protein and ~930g calories, which unless you weigh more than 180 lbs, that’d already be at least 60% of the daily protein intake you need to grow your muscle. you can literally just eat a couple bananas, then a burger or chicken and rice, and a protein shake and thats it for the rest of the day.
- bulk: bulking is whats hard. especially for a hard gainer like me, you got no choice but to really track your diet. to bulk, peanut butter sandwiches, oatmeal, and liquid calories are the main weapons. lactose free milk. sugar free bread for bulking, it provides 2x more calories and a 200g white bread (roughly 4-5 slices) will give 16-20g protein while 200g rice would be only 5g.
diet
4 meals a day
heres a sample of what i use
- breakfast: whatever meal is in the office (free food, usually served with eggs and rice)
- lunch: tuna, eggs, vegetables especially brocolli, add soy (like TVP) for more protein
- pre-workout: usually sandwiches or a small rice meal for carbs
- dinner: chicken breast 200g
athleticism
i dont believe in “functional weightlifting/fitness” trends that try to make you look athletic. imo if you want to be athletic, then just pick up a real activity
the weightrooms should only be there to supplement your athletic potential
you gotta sports-maxx
- tennis
- surfing
- boxing
- running or hybrid athlete/OCR type races
- rock climbing or indoor bouldering
- golfing
- hiking
- swimming
- rowing or dragonboat racing
- BJJ/brazilian jiu jitsu
the above are ranked by:
- what girls tell me are attractive/keep telling me to pick up, - opportunities available to meet friends
- and ones I actually like
such as BJJ is a good third place, but others like a bouldering gym just absolutely decimates it in terms of expanding your social circle and having a personal tribe that’ll support your career and personal growth
tennis continuously is at the top of the list of sports that girls i’ve met from various countries keep telling me as a sport they’d like to learn. and lately, ive now started seeing even the strength & conditioning coaches for combat sports havev started recommending it too, for the purpose of having modality
tennis teaches you things you wont see while training judo or jiu jitsu, things like acceleration and deceleration, explosiveness while being elastic, tendon + feet + calves work that become important as you age, the coordination to catch and chase an object
explosiveness = youth. being springy is sex appeal. sports like tennis are a fun way to awaken the human instinct to throw, track, chase, intercept, and smash an object - which in this case, is flying at a speed of over 100 kilometers an hour.
i highly recommend some modality to your training. like an MMA/jiu-jitsu athlete adding sprints or assault bikes to his lifestyle to have better explosiveness and fight stamina
be multimodal
you need to get jacked
on the day of writing this post, paul graham, published an essay called the brand age. and with it, it made me think about the importance of signalling yourself in the AI era.
skill alone is no longer the threshold when information is cheap and automated knowledge workers (AI agents) makes output hard to differentiate.
you need = competence + proof + identity.
the market has shifted from:
can you produce this output
to the new world of:
are you and your output trustworthy
getting presentable is the highest all-terrain signal a man can own.
- dating arena
- career/business competence
- online and irl identity
- self-image
having a good physique sharpens the face and makes you more energetic, gives you the vitality to be more focused during business deals and long meetings, ready to execute on a moment’s notice. you become someone that looks dependable, a powerful feature for a low trust society.
you need to get jacked NOW
