I've been spending a lot of time in a mountain town in Vietnam called Dalat.
Dalat was created in the late 19th century as a cool-air health resort city and is now famous for farming.
I'm here enjoying the cool weather and looking at agricultural investment opportunities.
In the surrounding mountains of Dalat are tribes of ethnic Vietnamese farmers.
The farmers are very poor. So poor I can barely explain to westerners how poor.
So poor that they have never been inside of a restaurant. If they're able to purchase food, they purchase food that has been cooked on the side of the street and sold from a bicycle.
It was at a local gym I met one of these farmers.
(The gym smells like cat urine and is filled with weights you wouldn't find at the worst USA gym. I pay 75 cents per day to visit, and that's foreigner price, so I assume Vietnamese pay 25 cents per day.)
The ethnic Vietnamese boy was the fellow in the gym with the 2nd best physique.
I introduced myself to him with the international sign for “good physique” which is a thumbs-up.
We exchanged names and pleasantries in broken english, and I asked him what supplements he takes (knowing full well that the supplements available for sale at the gym have an inch of dust on them).
He said “no, nothing, I only eat a little rice. Nothing else.”
I said “what about protein?”
He said “no, nothing.”
I said “how about Chicken?”
He said “no, only when I have a little money can I eat chicken. Every day I just eat a little rice and every day I must do some very hard work” and with a big smile he said to me “I am farmer“.
A lot of people would look at his physique, which is very, very good, and the first thing they would say is…
When it comes to muscle shape and muscle insertion, genetics can be a big help - but genetics don't drive you to the gym.
Each time I've been to this gym at night I have seen the farmer boy working hard (I have never seen him in the daytime at the gym).
It takes quite a bit of cognitive dissonance to say the farmer boy has a good physique because of good genetics….
…knowing that he goes to the gym every day and lifts weights, he diets constantly and he does physical labor at elevation all day, every day.
(Mountain air has less oxygen, making it difficult to breathe until you acclimate. Endurance athletes will train at altitude to gain a cardiovascular advantage over their opponents. After you work hard at altitude, sea-level cardiovascular work seems easy).
It takes wilful ignorance to discount his hard work and label it “good genetics”.
His genetics give him an advantage of having a physique that “flows well”.
But genetics never lifted weights for him, genetics never kept candy out of his mouth, and genetics didn't build his muscle - work did.
The stone cold reality is that people with good physiques play sports or they go to the gym or they do some hard work.
There isn't anyone alive who has a good physique and does no physical activity - it takes work to achieve.
Genetics mean shit if you don't go to the gym. No one is gifted a good physique and no one is gifted an iron will.
To get what you want you work for it and that's it.
Achieving the Gorilla Mindset
If you want a good physique, if you want money, if you want fame, if you want peace, if you want anything…..
You work for it.
Even if you were born with shit. Even if you were born in hell. Even if you thought it wasn't possible.
I have a friend named Mike Cernovich.
Mike and I have a lot in common. We both lived in hell, for example, and escaped to the light.
Victor Pride (far left) and Mike Cernovich (far right) enjoying cigars in Saigon.
Mike stayed at Pride Castle for half a year.
It was there he finished his book Gorilla Mindset (which could have been titled This is how you change your life, step by step).
Below is an excerpt from Gorilla Mindset by Mike Cernovich.
I grew up as a child on welfare. I had holes in my clothes. My parents were well-meaning and good people, but they had no concept of how to make or save money. They made mistakes and did the best they could, which is all you can expect from anyone.
Not only was I usually the poorest kid in school, I was also the fattest. I was “naturally” chubby and was picked on, ridiculed, and beaten up. I was afraid to walk home from school, as more often than not people would follow me. I’d be called names and beaten up.
My dad told me to start taking martial arts, and he even started taking classes with me. I was not naturally athletic. I was clumsy and out of shape, and couldn’t even do a single push-up. I hated martial arts classes and would have quit had my dad not been there taking classes with me. I went through the motions, but I had no natural talent or belief in myself.
One day a bully beat me up badly. It was humiliating. My sister had to pull my attacker off of me. I felt demoralized and powerless. We had a mattress in our garage. I went to the garage, laid down, and cried myself to sleep. When my dad came home from work, he opened the garage door, looked down at me with part pity and part contempt, and asked me one question that changed my life.
“When are you going to get serious?” Those words, coupled with the expression on his face, were a wake-up call for me. I made the decision right then and there: I would get serious. Very serious.
I would train until my body was exhausted and would hit the heavy bag until my knuckles bled. When I read in a martial arts magazine that Thai fighters do 10 rounds on the heavy bag, I decided to do the same. When I learned that Thai boxers would roll up magazines and hit their shins and legs to toughen themselves up, I did that as well.
I learned that when you consciously put in work, you will make progress. You might have terrible genetics, you might not have potential to be in the Olympics or win a UFC title, but you will improve.
I earned my black belt in Tae Kwon Do, boxed, and began beating up the bullies who had bullied me. I had a hair-trigger, and would even look for reasons to fight. But I was never happy, and my social skills were poor. I was awkward and weird. My mindset was based on vengeance rather than on exploration, connecting with people, or being happy.
At one point I was invited to attend a school “lock-in” at the YMCA with a bunch of other classmates. I was so wrapped up in “fight mode” that I put on Tiger Balm to keep my joints warm, lest someone decided to start a fight with me.
I also didn’t perform well in school, with every teacher having the same line for my parents at PTA meetings: “Michael is so smart. He does not live up to his potential.”
It wasn’t that I enjoyed getting into trouble, but I grew up in a poor neighborhood. Where I came from, getting good grades and doing homework wasn’t the norm. I’d get into fights, steal sandwiches from the local grocery store, and shoot out car windows with a BB gun (which was also stolen). When one of my acts of vandalism made the local newspaper, I clipped out the picture with pride.
To change my life, I had to change my own mindset.
That poor white trash boy grew up and became a rich lawyer with powerful associates and attractive friends.
Was he born rich and successful?
Obviously he wasn't, you just read about his childhood.
So if poor, white trash from Jerkwater, Illinois can do it, why can't anyone else?
Changing your life is as easy as changing your mind and deciding to live the life you need to live.
Step by step instructions now exist - so there are no excuses for living poor, or living fat, or living dead behind the eyes.
There's no excuse for living in hell, when all it takes is the decision to see the light.
If you want to change it, then you decide to change it, and you work every single day in every single way to get what you require.
If you don't live the way you dream, it's because you didn't work for it.
And that's the world's easiest fix….
Just start right now.
Until next time.
Your man,
-Victor Pride
PS - Gorilla Mindset is available for sale on amazon. Do yourself a favor and buy it, read it, follow the worksheets, and for heaven's sake - take it seriously.
First comment. Great article.
Wow first comment…
You’re special.
Don’t you hate these cunts that always post “first comment” like who gives a shit? I don’t care if your the first or the last, add value or shut up
Don’t be mad just cause you didn’t get the first comment. Lol
Congrats on first comment bro :)
I’m a beginner, but I would like to know what kind of ping is required in order to be a first commentor?
Do you work at a datacenter or stock exchange?
Thanks in advance for any tips.
You keep writing what men want to hear.
Good job Vic.
-Jossie
I picked up Gorilla Mindset and I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s a real eye opener and gets you really thinking about how you perceive yourself. I really like how Mike has you taking action throughout the book with the various mindset exercises. Highly recommended.
Who are the two other guys in the picture, Victor?
Some fellows who worked for me in Saigon.
One of them looks like Samuli Tapio if I’m correct? His website and Twitter content has been down recently.
That’s correct.
Great piece, VP.
Back on form…
Great article, I can definitely relate to Mike’s story. I grew up in a similar environment, in similar shape. Now people step aside when I walk by and I have the life of my dreams.
Look forward to getting his book, keep up the good work Vic, love the site.
Loved the post, good job!
I see a pattern here. People who are sick of struggling are the ones who make changes happen. If you’re not absolutely fed up with where you’re at in life, you’ll never change it. Period.
Get fed up.
Get angry.
Get shit done.
I guess this also proves that you dont need to worry so much about the protein intake. Just to the work :)
Yes, Gorilla Mindset is a MUST READ.
And it’s written by someone who has been-there-done-that. Mike has applied the lessons he shares in the book to his own life with great success.
It’s the most amazing book of it’s kind I’ve read in a long time.
Thank you, Mike, for writing and publishing it.
I say Gorilla Mindset is a must DO.
Vic, this was so good that I wanted to buy the book AGAIN! Very powerful writing.
Just paid for it, hope its worth it :)
Only men can lay bare their past, present and future for all to witness in all it’s truth.
Much respect.
Way to kick off my Monday! Inspirational, as always. Vic, any chance we can expect some more audio from the Victor Pride Broadcast in the near future? Always enjoy listening to the podcasts during my morning commute to the gym. Thanks for all you do.
Yeah, for the readers who want a Q&A podcast ask your questions here.
Question for the podcast:
Vic,
Your story about leaving the United States and building a new life for yourself overseas is truly inspiring to me. The one thing that stands in the way of myself doing the something similar is my physical health. I am in good shape, but have been living with a chronic (but manageable) disease since I was 16. It requires semi-annual specialist doctors appointments and prescription medications. To be honest, I don’t really know jack shit about how health insurance and medical care actually work, especially in a place like Thailand. How could I do it? How do you take care of your healthcare costs…especially as an entrepreneur?
Thanks for everything you do,
Lawrence
What is the most important thing for a man? How to get back that sense of pride and honor that our ancestors had and how to command that respect without being ostrazised and hated?
PS : great article uncle Vic’, as usual.
Respected men aren’t ostracized and hated, that’s a complete contradiction. So your first step, is don’t believe things that aren’t true. Pride and honor comes naturally when you fulfil your destiny and do whatever it is you were meant to do. It’s a by-product of success.
Can you go in depth on your wholesaling, the marketing, the process, what really got you into the business and how much you made.. Im really interested in your transformation into real estate investing.
I think alot of people would find value in that
No. The knowledge I have (had) is worth a lot of money, but I’ve been out of the game 5 or 6 years and I left for a reason.
You seem to have a natural talent of explaining hard concepts into simple layman’s explanation of different concepts.
Did you acquire real estate license in order to do wholesaling and learn from mentors or did you just jump in and learn by trial and error?
I know It’s not easy to develop list and portfolio of buyers/customers and networks and contacts with real estate.
Trial and error. I found it to be very easy.
Hey Compadre Victor Pride
I have five quick questions for you
1)How can you find and attract a shy girl here in the U.S?
2)Will you improve and re-release your books on Amazon cause I have problems reading on screen?
3)How do you treat women so they can be good to you and not a pain in the ass?
4)Reading any interesting books lately?
5)How can a guy stop being very shy?
That’s it I hope you do a podcast cause reading on screen isn’t something I enjoy.
Alright good day to you Bro
1) look around for one,and read “how to be 3% man” by coach corey wayne
3)find a “good” woman,also read victors “shy girl” post.
5)work out,stop masterbating and watching porn,go out and talk to strangers.
Vic, do you see yourself ever writing a book (or even a post for that matter) that delves into your past/adolescent years? It seems based on other posts of I’ve read, you’re a very different person from who you were in your youth. A lot of us here would be interested in hearing how that transformation occurred.
Great article, first because of the Vietnamese kid, second because of Mike’s book, and third because of the way you tie them together.
It’s good to see people with low-level resources do high-level things.
Just when I needed man.
Thanks Uncle Vic you have helped me out tremendously. I’m gonna build my foundation one brick at a time.
I want to do professional wrestling, many say I can’t do it because the WWE is a hard place to get too but the funny thing is that I prove everyone wrong like when I made it to states this year. I’m already wrestler and I work my ass off! I’m 18 but a dreamer and believe that since we only live once why not do the best we can right? Victor inspires me to do it even more!
Hello Viktor. I enjoy your site and stop by once in awhile. I have some ideas now for my own ventures aside from technical consulting and have started putting together a website. The consulting has been good but I need to get some other nickels coming in.
As my wife is from Vietnam I have seen many of those sinewy farmers at the beach. Small in stature but solid muscle.
Her father was a Saigon shoemaker during the 1960s. After the communists took over life was difficult for them for many years. But when the govt relaxed on private business my wife and her best friend started making and selling shoes on the street. They could not meet demand. Eventually they built a factory operation that now employs about 30 Cambodians. Her cousins also have a factory making of all things RC model aircraft. Looking forward to my next trip there.
“If you wany anthing, you work for it”
I’ve been blogging 8 months and have had more success than I expected to have at this point. However, I’ve worked VERY hard. There are no short-cuts, either do the work or keep dreaming.
Mike has always provided great insights and has had a big impact on my success. I’m not even going to read the reviews on the book before ordering it because I’m sure it’s great.
-Alex
Out side of the box results are always enlightening. If his story is legit, it’s pretty impressive. I personally feel it could be true. His head appears huge compared to the rest of him, which only helps support his story. I’ll bet he weighs about 120 pounds. I’m gonna keep eating meat daily, but this definitely proves the mass media approach is nonsense as usual.
I too had a really rocky past with no real reason to change it other than choice. In this modern world it becomes increasingly more difficult to surround oneself with like minded focused individuals. It’s nice to know that there are others out there. Whether or not personal meetings ever take place is irrelevant to me. It’s just good to know there are others. Great post!
So you really believe him when he says he only eats a little rice and nothing else?
Alhtough he could be lying and taking supplements or anabolic steroids the boy could be saying the truth. If he is 25,has been working out for 10 years and also working as a farmer since he was 10 he could have possibly built that body only with rice. These asians do crazy things some times. However it doesn’t sound legit to me either, but you never know.
@Damian, rounded shoulders give away any and all steroid-heads. The Viet boy’s shoulders are flat and his traps don’t pop and this photo was taken while he had a gym pump. Spotting a juice-head 101. He isn’t a juicer and that’s obvious. Re: Supplements. Supplements don’t build muscles (especially the sawdust supplements they sell here) so that’s not a real discussion. When I asked him about supplements I was actually probing him to see if he was juicing.
Yeah shoulders and traps is how you spot a juicer. I think it’s because deltoids and traps have the most androgen receptors and when you juice they get swole easier.
“Yeah shoulders and traps is how you spot a juicer. I think it’s because deltoids and traps have the most androgen receptors and when you juice they get swole easier.”
Correct.
“Spotting a juice-head 101″…
hmmm now that would be an article worth reading and kept as bookmarked.
I mean sometimes the signs are obvious like big bulky guy with perfect shredded abs and/or hardened veins popped up but sometimes there are guys that are like out of shape (not fat or big but small and skinny, skinny-fat) and seen those guys lift serious heavy weights that I couldn’t imagine… is there like strength based steroids only? or does all steroids increase your muscles mass and size?
I think you recommended superdrol, ephistane (?), and for supplement you said liver tabs were the best (and knowing that you don’t recommend most supplements)
Ever since I read your bodybuilding articles, I can only feel gobsmacked whenever someone keeps mentioning “genetics” when referring to big muscles. I mean I see these comments almost everywhere from bb forum to youtube channels with people saying… “he got great genetics” …
Yes, a LOT of fat guys on juice you’d never be able to tell. It’s all diet. The powerlifters eat like slobs, then people think because they aren’t ripped they’re natural. They aren’t.
Superdrol is a scheduled drug in the US, illegal. I think epistane might be illegal now too.
These are the best legal supplements right now: http://johndoebodybuilding.com/the-best-legal-alternative-to-steroids/
http://johndoebodybuilding.com/super-size-and-super-strength-on-super-mandro/
http://johndoebodybuilding.com/hypershock-and-joyful-joints-pre-workout-energy-and-joint-support-that-works/
@Victor Pride
Thank you for the links.
Of course I believe him. Have you been to Vietnam and met poor people? They don’t have money for food and I’m not joking or playing when I say that.
I know they are poor, my father went there a couple of times in past years, he once paid 400$ for a local company to dig a well for people to have access to water. I just find hard to believe you can be muscular as he is only with a little rice. Looks like the human body can adapt to a lot more than we think. So much for people who always talk about overtraining.
Leanness goes a long way. The leaner you are, the bigger, more muscular you appear. I look way, way, way bigger at 180 lbs than I do at 200 lbs.
Actually there is an abundance of protein in the rice fields in the form of snakes, amphibians, snails, crabs, and fish. Even insects are part of their diet. They will eat everything. Harvesting this food source is very labor intensive though. I suspect our man gets a steady amount of fish protein. And they eat every part of that fish including the skin. Wasn’t until I met my wife that I realized how much meat is in the head of a fish. Not to brag but I posted an essay on Spearhead some years back titled “A Man Wants a Wife, Not a Co-Worker” that featured my wife’s cooking. The Spearhead has been taken down but some remnants of that essay are here : http://www.rooshvforum.com/archive/index.php?thread-19401.html
I eat like that every single day. There is no way to get my wife to slack off on the cooking. Her entire culture revolves around cooking, family, and friends.
This is all true, but rice is not a big crop here. I’ve not seen a rice paddy here. Rice is harder to grow in the mountains and produces a smaller crop. Here in Dalat they grow vegetable, fruits, and coffee. re; protein, they’re so poor here they’ll buy fish heads, chicken heads, pig feet etc rather than a steak or a chicken breast. Cooking is big here, yes. The first question they’ll ask you is “have you eaten?”.
You are right, I was thinking more of the delta and its abundant waterways.
Well after reading your post Victor I went ahead and checked out Mike’s “Gorilla Mindset” on Amazon and read the few pages that Amazon gives you to read for free. After I read those few pages I went ahead and invested in a Hard copy version!
The reason I want people to see me reading it!
I’m definitely looking forward in learning about the “Gorilla Mindset”.
Kudos to you Mike! and Kudos to you too Victor!
Jose
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Vietnamese boy?
How old is this guy? the farmer?
He looks bit old to be a boy to me… maybe in his late 30s… did you ask him how old he is?
He isn’t late 30’s. Probably mid 20’s.
Yeah. He’s in his twenties. He just has wrinkles because western sun screen is expensive. Also farming is hard work too.
I’m Vietnamese and could tell if he was in his thirties.
Vic, what’s the language barrier like over there?
There’s no barrier. Anything can be said with words or hand gestures. Everyone speaks a little english.
Hey Victor,
Great post as usual! :) What’s up with your arm in a cast?
It was broken. Old pic. All better now.
Perhaps I should check this book out since I’ve been hearing good things about it.
The Vietnamese guy is crazy, if he only eats a little bit of rice then how can he ever achieve a caloric surplus to build muscle? That being said, thumbs up for this guy
Hey Vic and Mike, God bless you guys. You truly inspire the hell out of me. I just purchased Mikes book. Mind set is deadly serious when focusing on what you want to accomplish. I do not have any patience for the candy asses here in the U.S. Who complain all the time and want entitlements. You guys are true warriors of life’s battles. That is what it takes to succeed and not listening to the stupid masses, which are asses.
Sure “Genetics” doesn’t lift weights and you cannot discount him completely, however you are underestimating that genetics plays a HUGE ROLL in the success or failure. The fact that the guy has the OPPORTUNITY to go and lift weights and get buff is much different from the guy who goes and lift weights and does the same amount of work and see’s less results. Genetics is the KEY to building muscle, either by steroid use or through naturally high levels. Sure you need to get your ass to the gym but get this if you don’t have a high enough TESTOSERONE Level it don’t matter how often you go to the gym. So this guy is blessed in the sense he has good genetics. It’s almost comparable to someone who wants to be an actor who has all the connections and everything they need to pursue an acting career, sure they have to work their ass off to be a success! Then you have the guy from the hood who wants to be an actor but has to go through every possible obstacle he faces in real life with no real connections just to become a success. The fact is, some people have to go through much more obstacles and that is simply because of genetics, you can deny it all you want but the fact remains the only way to build true muscle if from roids or having naturally high test:
Read this :
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/steroids-vs-natural/
James,
you said
“Sure you need to get your ass to the gym but get this if you don’t have a high enough TESTOSERONE Level it don’t matter how often you go to the gym.”
Which is WHY you go to the gym and lift heavy weights so that you can increase your testosterone levels. Which is why you keep lifting and making sure it becomes part of you and you NEVER quit.
If you want to increase your testosterone, there are many ways; one of them being the -> lifting heavy weights.
When people keep mentioning genetics and try to reason it with why they couldn’t make it in life or can’t build muscles…. to me it sounds like cop out excuse.
It’s a KNOWN fact if you have LOW TESTOSERONE you will struggle putting on muscle. If you have Test Levels of 300 and you go to the gym it’s only going to slightly raise your levels. Going to the gym doesn’t solve the actual problem in itself. The only reason guys really get big is because they have high test either naturally or unnaturally, most of which are unnatural. They’ll lie to your face and tell you it’s all about protein powders and going to the gym, when they know the real truth, it’s about juicing up if you aren’t reaching your full potential, of course they won’t ever say that because they want to be looked up as a hero of some sort who came out of no where.
well in that case, couldn’t one take TRT or Hormone treatment to get their levels back to normal and then start building muscles by lifting weights?
I used to live with a Chinese family. Every day we would eat mountains of vegetables(to the point I ate till I threw up a few times) and a lot of fish(heads included). Let me tell you: I’ve never been so ripped or full of energy in my life, even though I didn’t work out at all during this period. I think that the body adapts to WHAT you eat more than it does to how much. Case in point your Viet farmer buddy here. Don’t forget that even though the amino acid profile is incomplete, rice does have a decent amount of protein.
BTW I grabbed a copy of Gorilla Mindset. I’ll start reading when i can free up a big enough chunk of time. Good stuff Vic. I was beginning to think you’d dropped off the face of the earth. Also(and I hope I’m not being too intrusive), what’s the deal with Nate’s beard guide being moved to his site? Do you only put up guest posts temporarily?
It’s right here: http://victorpride.com/the-gentlemans-guide-to-growing-a-beard/
I think by little rice he means 1 KG of rice. We asians are big rice eaters. Our meals usually consists of just small meats with 2-3 plates of rice!
Great Post Vic!
Hey Vic, for a bit more professionalism for the site, download All in one Favicon. Go to your dashboard > settings > All in one Favicon. Then, upload the original BOLD.png that you converted to favicon (the orange BOLD that is currently on the site as the favicon) to the apple touch icon frontend section. This way your BOLD icon will appear when viewing your site from Apple devices. Right now, all there is, is a speedometer. You can check it yourself if you bookmark your page with your iPhone.
Also you can make B&D multilingual with a few clicks of a button. Download Transposh and place it right above your email subscription box. This way when you get views from other countries (with other languages of course) they will see the language option first. Should help expand your reach worldwide.
All the best,
Brandon Greatheart
Administrator of Perfumer Talk
The Kick in the ass i needed. It also drove me to purchase 30 days of discipline, i have been reading your blog but holding off on buying. Today i will choose to win! Thanks Victor.
Hey Vic, do you have official facebook profile?
http://facebook.com/boldanddetermined
Tnx. That’s cool. Do you have a FB profile under your real name, like Victor Pride or something?
And do you ever plan to settle down, to marry someone have a family and kids?(lets say ten years from now?
And what can I do about insertional Achiles tendonitis, I cant get rid of it …?
tnx
I don’t use any personal social media.
Victor my name is Sipho and I live in South Africa. I love your “no nonsense” articles and they way you seem to have a positive mental attitude. I would like also to take up that blogging offer on BadNet. Only thing I have not clue what to blog about. How do I get ti decide what to Blog about and also seeing I am on the other side of the world.
What do you live everyday? How can you help someone? What can you offer? That’s what you blog about.
Hi
So the 3 blog posts that you offer as part of the free service will be on which topics?
Thanks
I read the Gorilla mind book in one day. I found it easy to digest and a simple read. I feel the book is written for beginners in personal development and nutrition and exercising. There was nothing new in the book that anyone who has did some reading in personal development and exercising would not have discovered within a first read of some Books. However, the Author seems reasonable and fair and very honest. If you are a beginner to these worlds I mentioned it is a great start before you go on to higher level things in personal development. All in all it is worth a read for sure.
Good genetics is such a played out excuse…
The real development is in the habits. It’s all about habits, as Warren Buffett talks about all the time. Habits of consistency and progress are what this dude and anyone else who as achieved things had to develop.
Simple to the one applying them, baffling to the one observing who hasn’t done anything.
Even science is showing now that through something called epigenetics, genes and actual DNA structures can be changed through our environments and habits…
Which REALLY leaves us no excuse at all because it’s even more up to us than we ever thought before
What a good write-up and exposition.I like the question the dad asked Micheal “when are you going to get serious”that question is the hub.Every single day from today,i will ask my self the same question.Thanks Micheal.Keep inspiring and impacting lives.God bless.