From the desk of Victor Pride
Subj: Back in the saddle again
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After my first 30 days in strict Monk Mode, I relaxed a little bit.
I went to bed just a little bit later and woke up just a little bit later.
I went back to eating 3 meals per day instead of the one monk meal.
What happened?
I didn't feel very good. I became anxious, I wasn't calm any longer. Little things got to me. Everything made me annoyed.
So I decided to go back into Monk Mode.
This time it wasn't to complete a project, it was to feel great (because I remember how terrific you feel in Monk Mode).
So I went back in and within 6 days I felt like a million bucks.
Let me tell you what I've been doing…
I've gone back to eating one meal a day (of course all carnivore).
I find this is the best way of eating you can imagine.
After a while you eliminate hunger and your body recompositions right before your eyes.
The fat drips off and the muscles start to pop.
Recently I took one meal a day one step further and did a 48 hour fast.
I ate my evening meal on a Saturday, on Sunday I ate absolutely nothing.
When I woke up Monday morning I went to the mirror and my body had grown leaner and more muscular in one day.
“Holy shit!” is what I said to myself. “I've found the key to getting lean easily.”
Want to know the secret to getting lean?
Stop eating for a day or two.
“But doesn't that eat your muscle too?”
In my case, no.
Fasting seems to me to be muscle sparing and there are many articles on google and videos on the YouTubes discussing this same phenomenon.
(Update: I actually did three 48 hour fasts in one week. I'll bring you the results a little bit later.)
Not eating for a day or two makes you a lean, mean, killing machine.
I once did a 5 day vegetable juice fast that made me skinny fat.
But when I do a true fast (no calories whatsoever) I turn into a spartan soldier.
Speaking of soldering, I've been training like a soldier. I haven't been to the gym in a couple of weeks.
Instead, I've been training with nothing but bodyweight exercises.
Specifically, I've been doing at least 600 pushups every single day.
It may sound hard and crazy, but it's actually quite easy.
Here's how I do it…
I do 10 pushups every minute for 60 minutes.
I did this for two days in a row and on the 3rd day I was quite sore so I took a rest day.
On the 4th day as I went to get my first set of 10 pushups I felt that I was instantly stronger.
I have never gotten so strong so quickly as by doing 600 pushups those 2 days in a row.
That was one week ago. I have now done at least 600 pushups every single day since then and do not plan to take a day off for at least 30 days.
This is one of my old training secrets…
Overtraining, followed by a brief rest, followed by training again triggers crazy new strength and muscle growth.
My testosterone lately has been through the roof. Better than it has been in two years.
It is hard to say what the cause is because I have been taking Red Growth for 3 weeks now.
Is it the pushups? The diet? The Red Growth?
Probably a combination of all 3.
But I can say conclusively that Red Growth works really damn well.
Before I started Red Growth I was training only 2-3 days per week and if I'm being honest, struggling with it.
I'm back to the old ways.
The way of overtraining = the only kind of training that actually works.
When you reduce your training frequency you get worse results and your body feels worse and it's harder to recover.
So your mind plays tricks on you and you start to think that overtraining is real and so you train less, all the while getting worse recovery and worse results.
When you jump into training every day no matter what, you get sore for the first few days to a week, then you start to recover like a soldier.
Nothing hurts anymore. You're strong everywhere.
At any time of the day or night you could take an hour to do 600 pushups. You feel mentally strong enough to skip eating food for 48 hours.
Not only is skipping a day of eating not a problem, it's downright easy when you make the mental decision to not eat food that day.
Everything becomes easy when you decide to do it.
Things are only “hard” when you haven't made the commitment yet.
I first did 600 pushups nearly a year ago. I was sore for an entire week afterwards. Know why? Because I didn't do the pushups every day after and I let the soreness win.
When you do the pushups every day the soreness goes away. When you decide to do the pushups every day the soreness makes no difference. Even if you feel a little sore, it will go away in the first hundred or so pushups.
Nike already said it a thousand times, JUST DO IT.
Absolutely goddamn right, just do it. No excuses. No whining. No caring.
Train every day or remain the same. Actually, you don't remain the same when you reduce your training frequency.
When you reduce frequency you devolve, you lose gains, you lose fitness, you lose drive, you lose willpower. You easily give in to temptation.
“I'll just skip the gym today and eat garbage, you know, to recover.”
Active recovery works, eating the right food recovers you. Eating junk and skipping the gym devolves you. You go back from Superman to slobman.
What is the right food for recovery?
The right food is the exact opposite of everything they say to eat. Always do the opposite of what they say.
They say train moderately, I say train daily. They say eat grains and vegetables (peasant food) and I say eat meat and organs (King food).
They say eat 4-6 small meals a day, I say eat once a day (and sometimes less). As of this writing I haven't eaten in 36 hours.
I am writing this article from a local coffee shop sipping on a decaffeinated coffee. When I got here this morning at 7am they were frying some bacon and the smell was wonderful, but I had no issues with hunger.
Later today, perhaps around 5 pm, I will break my fast. What will I eat?
I eat like a real man, like your great ancestors ate.
I will take one 1 lb of grassfed ribeye and cut it up with my buck knife into bite sized chunks.
I will take 6 ounces of grassfed beef liver and cut it up into chunks.
I will take 3 pastured eggs and crack them into glass.
I will sprinkle some celtic sea salt on my ribeye.
I will set the plate of ribeye and liver and the glass of eggs on the ground.
I will get a paper napkin and I will sit on the ground, Indian style.
I will look at my food, I will bless my food, I will use my will to send positive energy into the food, then I will eat it with my hands.
I will eat it raw just like our caveman ancestors, and I will eat it slowly.
I never rush when I'm eating. It will probably take me one hour to eat.
This meal, ribeye steak, beef liver, and raw eggs, is always satisfying to me.
But if I am still hungry after not eating for 48 hours, I have some raw goat milk cheese, I have ground yak meat, and I have some ground meat labeled as dog food which is ground heart, ground kidney, and ground tongue.
If I am still hungry I will fry up some ground meat on the frying pan, perhaps melt some cheese over it, perhaps not, and I will eat that and kick my feet in the air like a happy child.
I feel awesome when I fast intermittently and I feel awesome when I eat real food.
This is true happiness, this is true health, and because health is the real wealth, this is true wealth.
(Also, I make a ton of money during the day so I'm rich in multiple ways.)
People complain about how hard the life of a soldier is and I just laugh… “Fella, if you only knew how easy it actually is.”
Meanwhile, they do everything the hard way and get no results at all.
Training 2 days per week is harder on your body that training 7 days per week. Eating 3-4 meals per day is harder on your body than eating once per day (sometimes less).
Working a job like a regular slob is harder than buckling down, going into Monk Mode, and building the business of your dreams.
So I do things the easy way…
I just go into Monk Mode and get every damn thing I want.
It really could not be easier.
Until next time.
Your man,
-Victor Pride
Hey Vic,
Just wanted a word of advice on how to schedule Monk Mode around my job.
I work irregular shift patterns, so sometimes I start at 5am, sometimes I don’t start until 6pm (and usually work up to 10 hours shifts).
How can I fit monk mode around this?
Thanks
I was wondering this as well. Bought Monk Mode this morning, but I’m unemployed and I have to get a new job soon since I’m running out of money quick.
What does he state exactly? I don’t think the times matter so much as your mindset. Just cross off the times and make your own times and stick to them as if Vic wrote them.
Awesome article, awesome book!
You article reminded me of Pavel Tsatsouline’s work. I love Beyond Bodybuilding more than others. There are so many really cool training tips. Like when you squat, you imagine that there is a crack of earth below you and you trying to spread the world apart. After this tip I felt my glutes and quads activated like crazy.
Sometimes I even think that Jeff Cavaliere (ATHLEAN-X) takes Pavel’s tips from this book.
10 push-ups a minute is similar to Russian Spetsnaz and American SWAT push-up training.
Did you read Pavel Tsatsouline and what do you think of him?
Never read him, I’ll have to check him out.
Pretty sure cavemen cooked their meat brother.
Damn. I’m that guy you mentioned yesterday who has to decide.. do I want the peanut butter or the apples.. except I dont have a girlfriend. Time to strap up and work a job I hate tomorrow so I can get paid to buy this book. I’m so broke and tight for food right now I can only afford this one meal a day I’m giving it a try.
Great article Vic.
600 pushups a day good job! I use to do 500- 1000 for wrestling. I would count with pennys, nickels, and dimes. Pennys would be 10, nickels 20, dimes 30. I would try to keep rest very brief. Sometimes i would down the number if i did squats in the same period. Next day I would go for 200 chinups in the same fashion and car pushing in my dads yard.
I found keeping basic lifting movements like deadlift,rows, farmer walks on one day the bench, front squats, waiter walks the next day give a good bang for the buck.Four times a week. Got one wrestler training this way and the kid is a beast. Also got him doing side crawls, 6 100 yard wind sprints and the cherry on top is a 40 lb kettlebell toss. Instead of the swing everyone is familiar with we got him starting with it on the ground lifting then bumping it with the hips then throwing it over head by suplexing it and seeing how far it will go while hitting the ground with his belly. Sprint repeat for 4 minutes. The team just first in their area and are neck and neck with the number one team. State duals this weekend!
For all the guys saying your old. 21,27,32 you are not. It takes some a bit longer to wake up and give a crap but when you do you attack attack and attack. Stop getting drunk, video games, smoking weed, jerking off. I was 34 when I stopped the bs. Now i got a life trajectory that I want. Im almost 38 now strong and lean, making money,Clear mind. Wife and daughter. Hint want higher T screw the woman in your life multiple times a day. Possess her mind and body and good things will happen.
Interesting routine I’m curious to learn more.
What does the 4 day workout routine look like? Does this include the body weight stuff as well or is that a separate routine?
Great article Vic! I have done fasts for many years. Mental clarity and mental toughness are the results. Highly recommend it! Keep up the great work Vic.
Long time reader but rarely comment but had to as this one hit home a little bit. I spent most of last summer keeping a food diary with how I felt throughout the day and was shocked to learn right away the days that I ate I felt like shit an hour after, depressed, anxious, angry, etc….. The days I ate just once a day in the evening only or fasted all day I felt fantastic. I tried to eat few different small things in early afternoon some days and at first I would get a 30 minute surge of good mood but inevitably it was followed by depression, anxious, etc…. Did eventually discover if I only ate a little bit of chicken (meat no carbs) in the middle of the day I would retain all the positive mental benefits I had all morning while not eating. Long story short eventually went back to the old way of eating in the fall but stopped after feeling like crap too much. I’ve went recently back to the not eating till the evening and notice right away again how much better I feel during the day. Will likely be doing this rest of my life.
Yo Uncle Vic! Appreciate all your hard work and knowledge. Will we see a Kindle edition of Monk Mode? All the best in 2019 brother!
Hello.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on true fasting and daily exercise.
Extended fasting has kept me lean (10-12%, visible 4-6 pack) for over a year with absolute ease.
My issue is that I break my fast on junk food often. I stay lean because I fast often and estimate the calories while eating a crap load of food.
However, I seek to become truly ripped (6-8% body fat). I have conquered many addictions, but the junk food one is a hard one to kick for me.
Hey Vic, long time reader, just a couple questions. For one, if I’m fasting until the evening (OMAD) but lift in the mornings, should I have any BCAAS or a scoop of Whey post workout? Or nope, muscles will be fine until evening meal?
Secondly, is it safe to eat raw beef like that? Also, did it take a while to appreciate the taste of it?
Thank you sir for answering.
Fasting means no calories whatsoever. Is it safe to eat beef? Yes.
Working out while in a fully fasted state produces amazing results. I reach new PR every time I hit that gym fasted. But I cannot duplicate when I have eaten before.
Have you ever fasted for 5 days????
I did and it was mind blowing enlightening mentally and physically my energy went to the moon.
5 days is no joke and it has been proven to develop new stem cells in all the cells of the body. You are literally a new you!
Vic, what are your thoughts on Brexit?
Victor,
Long time fan here. Great book and thank you for everything.
See you at the top.
-D
Hi Victor,
I know monk mode is designed to eliminate distractions such as women, but what if my goal is to find a wife? Can monk mode be applied to that kind of endeavor?
If your goal is to find woman, you will never find the best place than goodlookingloser.com
When our ancestors were hunters there was cultures as some archeological studies has shown that the average height were 6ft…. With the surge of the agriculture the average went to 5ft3……… Why? Because meat became luxury… only the meat and animal consumption went up in the last 2 centuries that the world average heights started to grow…. There’s a tribe in Africa that their diet is eat 1 meal a day, this is meal is made of meat, blood, and goat milk… Their avatar height is 6’1…
So that’s the conclusion want your kids to be taller? Give them the carnivorous fasting diet. they will have more growth hormone, because of the fasting and no carb consumption, the insulin is the enemy of growth hormone, they will have a fine hormonal development because of the animal fat. I wish I had eaten less sugary food and more animal food in childhood an d puberty days. My parents used to live 8n extreme poverty when they were kids, animal protein was luxury, so they turn out to be really short people, dad 5’3 and mom 4’11…. I had childhood much better access to animal protein than them, although I liked more surgery junk food. I was able to reach 5’7.
Same here, I wish I knew about the raw meat diet since I was a kid…
I grew up eating mostly American food like chef boyardee raviolio, macaroni and cheese, instant cup noodles, rice, sugary drinks like Tang, gatorade, candies, few amount of meat from Cheeseburgers, pizza…. and even in my teenage years, I ate mostly fast food. …
They say that adult man stops growing between age 21 to 25… but since I don’t trust anything these days especially what is considered mainstream …. I’m always on research on height increase and believe that height increase is possible even after that age (although it’s just my belief) ….
Hey Vic I’m trying to go into monk mode and jump start my life however I’m in the army and about to go into a month of training. My sleep times will not be consistent and my food will be prepackaged food older then myself filled with carbs sugars and salts. My question to you is should I try as much as I can to keep my body weight exercises up. Thinking push ups squats crunches. Starting at 100 daily then will adjust based on training schedule and energy exertion. With the diet food will only be that prepacksd would you recommend just one meal of the prepackaged once a day since it is a calorie dense meal it’s just shit calories. To at least get my body used to the fast and used to the one meal or how would you deal with this dilemma?
Good shit my guy, however definitely not a soldier! LOL being a soldier is easy huh?