victorvdm

21 year old thinks about the meaning of life

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You also have this thing where…

When driving, your mind starts wandering off and you start thinking about all these deep, philosophical topics about life?

Well, I do.

Yesterday I was driving home from work when it happened again.

I don’t remember why, or what triggered me to think about it, but I started thinking about the ‘meaning of life’.

Now,

Why is a 21 year old thinking about the meaning of life instead of going out with his friends on a Friday night?

Because I’m not a normal 21 year old.

I mean, heck.

I’m balancing a full time job with an online business, eating healthy, training 3-4 times a week, while looking for an apartment.

Anyway,

So I was thinking about the meaning of life.

And my conclusion was the same conclusion I always come to when I think about that topic. (Yes, I think about it quite often.)

For me, the meaning of life is:

Improvement

You could call it ‘Kaizen’ or ‘Continues self-improvement’ or ‘1% better everyday’, whatever.

What you call it doesn’t matter.

But for me, my best days. My days where I go to bed feeling good about myself…

Those are the days where I’ve done something that made me better.

Could be developing a skill, learning something new, doing something out of my comfort zone… Or just sticking to my diet and workout schedule.

Especially that last one.

I just know that when I stick to my plan. Good things happen.

More,

It has a ‘ripple’ effect on everything else I do in my life. It’s the habits that get the ball rolling and build momentum for everything else (good) in my life.

And the opposite is true as well.

If I don’t get in my workout, or don’t sick to my diet. Or I don’t sleep well… It has a negative effect on everything else.

And that’s why for me, the whole point of living is to keep improving.

Because, if not… life’s just sad.

So, if you haven’t yet, this is your sign to get your workout in and go bake some eggs.

And if you have any questions related to that, ask away.

Victor Vandermoere

No Pain, No Gain.

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This phrase is painted on the wall of my gym. (Super original, I know.)

Whenever I feel a bit demotivated I just start staring at it like a psychopath while thinking unpleasant thoughts about people I don’t like. Get’s me ‘in the mood’.

What? Stop looking at me like that! I know you do it too.

Here’s the thing…

I always thought this saying meant, you need to lift heavy until it hurts in order to make gains. But the more I learn about weightlifting and fitness, the more I realize that’s not always necessary.

Sure,

Lifting weights is always going to hurt a little bit. If it doesn’t burn at least a little bit you’re probably not lifting heavy enough.

But I think the most important ‘pain’ here is not the pain of lifting itself.

It’s the pain that comes before the lifting. The pain that makes you decide to start lifting. The pain that drives you to make a change in your life and sign up for a gym membership.

You know what pain I’m talking about?

For me, it was the pain of being single. The pain of looking in the mirror and thinking: ‘damn, I’m skinny, non wonder girls don’t want me.’

Until one day I finally snapped.

I signed up to a gym and started going religiously 3 times a week. This was a massive change for me at the time. I never committed to anything that hard in my life before. (Except videogames.)

And now 2 years later I have the body I could only dream of back then. And the confidence to speak to girls. And they finally start showing some signs of attraction too.

Still single though, so don’t think having muscles immediately will help you find a girlfriend.

I warned you.

Gotta go to work now, so I’ll end it here.

But let me end this email with a question for you.

What pain caused you
to start lifting weights?

Send me a reply. I’d be very interested in hearing from you.

Victor Vandermoere

Should you only workout one muscle group per workout day?

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This is a question I read while scrolling through Quora.

And since this is a newsletter about fitness & bodybuilding called ‘The Bro Split’ and a ‘bro split’ is a workout split where you train one muscle group per workout…

I thought It might be a good idea to answer that question in an email.

Because -despite my newsletter literally being called ‘the bro split’- I never recommend actually doing a bro split to anyone. Ever. 

Here’s why: 

There’s simply too many muscles in your body to train them all individually and fit them inside a week. (Believe me, I tried) Also, even if you manage to fit them all in one week, that also means you’re only training them once every week. Sure, you do more sets on a given day than you would normally do when using a different training split. But then you’re waiting a whole 7 days before you stimulate those muscles again. 

More, 

Doing more sets in one workout isn’t necessarily better. In fact, it’s less effective than dividing them throughout 2 days instead. 

Example: 

Let’s say you’re doing a bro split and training chest: You do 5 exercises, 3 sets of every exercise. And then you take a whole week before you train your chest again. That means you do 15 sets of chest (per week). 

Now let’s take a PPL split: 

Day 1, you do 2 exercises for the chest, 3 sets each. Day 2, you do another 2 exercises, 3 sets each. That’s 12 set’s total. 

Now, that means Bro split wins, right? Because more volume means more gains, right? 

Not exactly. 

Because here’s the thing: by the time you’ve done your first 2 exercises -if you do them properly- your chest is chattered. And now you need to do another 3 exercises (with diminishing returns, because you get progressively more tired with each set) with your muscles at maybe 50-60% capacity. 

Now, by dividing those exercises over 2 days, you get 2-3 days of rest in between, therefore making you able to do all 4 of those exercises at full capacity. 

So, which scenario do you think is best for your gains? 

Another reason I wouldn’t recommend a bro split to anyone ever is: 

You have to train… Every. Single. Day. Now, unless you’re a professional bodybuilder, there’s absolutely not a single reason why you should do that. 

Look, if you have the time, if you don’t have anything better to do, if you don’t care about ‘optimal’, and if you’re just having a buttload of fun and you LOVE a good bro split with the bro’s. By all means, do one. 

But if you’re anything like me, and you like weightlifting but don’t want to make it your entire life…

There’s better ways to train. 

My Aesthetic Physique program for example. Where I personally help you to build a lean, attractive, and Hollywood-worthy physique in the fastests, most efficient way possible.

If you’re interested, send me a reply. 

Victor Vandermoere

11 reasons why building a top-tier sexy physique is making the world a better place.

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I hear a lot of people who say that training for aesthetics is ‘shallow’ or ‘Selfish’. 

I disagree. 

I would argue that actually, looking -or at least trying to look- better is the best thing you can do not only for yourself, but for the world as well. 

Let’s start: 

  1. Everytime you look into the mirror you feel proud. This improves your mood. When you’re in a better mood it has an effect on the people around you (they get in a better mood too). They will, in turn, impact the mood of other people, and they will improve the mood of other people, and on and on and on…
  2. People like looking at good-looking people. This is a good thing.
  3. You might inspire people around you to start working on their body as well, and thus improving their own mental and physical health in the process.
  4. People smile at you more. (Smiling is a happiness booster)
  5. You attract a partner that’s also more attractive. That means ‘better’ genes get spread more, in return creating more beautiful-er children.
  6. Those children will also have a higher chance of being attractive. Thus lowering the chances of them getting bullied by other kids, developing low self-esteem or getting depressed.
  7. People don’t pick fights with you. (Even if you can’t fight if your life depends on it. They don’t know. You look like you could and that’s enough to keep them away.)
  8. That improves the safety of yourself, but also the people around you. Your family, friends, children, etc.
  9. People take you more seriously, respect you more, and listen to you more.
  10. You can use that newfound ‘authority’ to create something positive and good in the world.
  11. Or bad, if your dream is to become a movie villain. But that’s not what this list is about so let’s keep doing good okay?
  12.  Euhm, I said 11 didn’t I. Let’s wrap it up here.

 There you go. 11 reasons why building an aesthetically pleasing physique is not only good for you, but for the world as well!

So if you’re finally convinced it’s what you want to do…

Then I’d gladly help you with that.  

Send me a reply and I’ll send you the details.

Victor Vandermoere

Stop Hoping for a Completion of Anything in Life.

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Chapter 1 of The Way Of The Superior Man by David Deida reads:

 —

“Stop Hoping for a Completion of Anything in Life.

Most men make the error of thinking that one day it will be done. They think, “If I can work enough, then one day I could rest.” Or, “One day my woman will understand something and then she will stop complaining.” Or, “I’m only doing this now so that one day I can do what I really want with my life.” The masculine error is to think that eventually things will be different in some fundamental way. They won’t. It never ends. As long as life continues, the creative challenge is to tussle, play, and make love with the present moment  while giving your unique gift.”

—

I apply that same mindset to my fitness journey.

See, when I started my ‘Gym Arc’ 2 years ago, I didn’t have any grand expectations. There was no “I want to gain 10 kg’s in the next 6 months!” kinda stuff going on. No, from the start, I made the decision that if I was going to do this properly, I was going to do it for the rest of my life. 

And that’s still the mindset. 

I frankly cannot imagine a future where I won’t be going to the gym somewhat consistently. (At least 3 days a week) And I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon. 

More, 

My opinion is that, if you’re not planning on doing this ‘fitness thing’ for the rest of your life… you shouldn’t even bother starting. 

That’s right.

And here’s why: 

Let’s say you decide to finally do something about those skinny arms of yours, or your belly, or whatever it is… so you do what everybody does, you start going to the gym, you start eating properly, counting calories, protein, supplements… all the good stuff. And after a few months you start seeing some fantastic results. Awesome, life is good. 

Now what?

Are you just gonna quit because you achieved your goal? 

Hell no! 

You keep going. Because once you get there, the goal shifts from ‘getting in shape’ to ‘staying in shape’. And that’s something you’re gonna have to do for the rest of your life. You don’t have a choice. 

After all, who cares if you got in shape for a few months out of your 60-70+ year life? This is a lifelong journey, whether you like it or not. 

Like I said. You don’t have a choice.

And if you want to start your ‘lifelong journey’ the right way, it’s important to get the foundations right. 

And I can help you with that. 

Send me a reply to get the details.

Victor Vandermoere

Fat runs in the family.

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The other day I was talking to a friend of mine. 

She was having ‘difficulties’ with her weight, and felt demotivated to do something about it. Here’s what she said to me (Paraphrased, it’s been a while): 

“Victor, I don’t know what I can do. I eat healthy, I exercise, I take care of myself… but still, when I look at the scale it just keeps going up. It’s just genetics. Fat runs in the family. I’m always going to be this way.” 

I sympathize with her. 

Because she is right. She does take care of herself. Or at least, that’s what it seems like to me. I don’t know what she’s doing ‘behind the scenes’. That’s only for her to know. But that said, I trust her honesty. 

So what is it then? What’s causing her to still -despite all the effort she puts in- to still not see results? 

Honestly. I don’t know. 

But I do know this: 

Blaming it on her ‘’genetics’ is for sure not going to help her. In fact, it’s only going to make it worse. Because by doing that, she’s putting it out of her own control. And that’s the worst thing you could ever do if you want to achieve your body goals. 

Why?

Because if it’s not in your hands, what’s the point? Why go to the gym? Why go on a walk? Why eat healthy? It’s not gonna work, because it’s out of your own hands, right? You can do nothing about it, right?

Wrong.

You absolutely can do something about it. For some people it just takes more time, and more work. Sure, genetics make a difference. But it is possible. For everyone. Of that I am very, very certain. 

And if you’re ready to make a change yourself, book a consultation call with me. 

Send me a reply and I’ll send you the details.

Victor Vandermoere