Soma's View

80% of a man's problems disappear when he fixes two things: his body and his money. Sounds too simple. It isn't. Here's why. 1. Your body Get lean and strong, and almost any man can become an 8/10. But it's not just looks. Training 3–4x a week changes how you sleep, how you think, and how you carry yourself. Confidence stops being an act. 2. Your money Most money stress doesn't come from earning too little. It comes from having no plan. Invest consistently in boring, broad index funds. Don't chase hype. Don't panic-sell. Give it 10, 15, 20 years. Time in the market does the heavy lifting. Your job is just to not get in the way. 3. Make it who you are Don't treat this as a 90-day challenge. You're not a guy who's "trying to work out." You're a guy who trains. You're not "trying to save." You're a guy who invests every month. Once it becomes who you are, it stops being hard. 4. What happens next When your body is strong and your money is quiet, you stop making decisions out of fear or insecurity. You stop chasing. You start attracting. Become a good man, and a good woman will find you. Your life settles. Your direction becomes clear. Eventually you end up where you need to be, with who you're meant to be, doing what you should be doing. Start with two things. The body. The money. Everything else follows. I'll be sharing everything life has taught me about building strength and wealth the long way. Follow along for the journey.

Change my view: You can tell how much hope a generation has by the anime they watch. We grew up on Dragon Ball and Naruto. Stories where you train harder, take the hit, and eventually win in the real world. Today, the biggest genre is isekai ("reborn in another world" anime). Stories where the only way out is to die and get reborn in another world. That isn't because Gen Z is lazy. It's because they look at the real world and don't see a way to win. Very few humans are strong enough to beat their environment. Mocking them fixes nothing. Instead, show them the one unfair weapon they still hold: time. Teach them how to build a body that doesn't break. Teach them steady investing and let compound interest do the heavy lifting. When you see a path that actually works, you don't need another world.

Don't lend money to your friends. If you can afford to give it to them, just give it. If you can't afford to lose it, don't lend it. I learned this the hard way. When a friend first asks to borrow money, they're the one asking for a favor. They promise they'll pay you back on time, and that you won't have to worry about a thing. Then the due date passes, and you're the one who has to bring it up. Suddenly, the roles have reversed. Now you feel like you're asking for a favor. You feel guilty for bothering them, even though it's your own money. And somehow, you become the bad guy just for asking for what you're owed. I've seen this ruin good friendships. Give what you can give without expecting it back. Never lend what you need returned. Don't let money turn a friend into a debtor.

Try this an hour before you train: A banana and a pinch of salt. Hungrier? Sourdough toast with banana slices, peanut butter, honey, and a little salt. Fast carbs for energy. Salt for the pump. Simple, cheap, and it works for me.

Some people say working out helps you live longer, but you'll spend all those extra years exercising anyway. So why bother? Maybe there's some truth to that. But here's what they're missing. Think about the last 10–20 years of your life. Do you want to need a cane just to walk around? Will you be able to enjoy spending time with your grandchildren? Or will you have to depend on your children to take care of you? It's not just about living longer. It's about how you live those extra years. You don't want to spend the last 20 years of your life barely being able to move. You want to enjoy them. The choice is obvious.

Cardio clears out your past. Lifting builds your future. When your head is full of yesterday's regrets and stress, sweat it out on a run or a walk until your mind goes quiet. When you're ready to see who you can become, pick up the weights and build yourself one rep at a time.

Most lower-back injuries in the gym don't come from lifting too heavy. They come from skipping these 4 spine rules: 1. Maintain a Neutral Spine For most strength-training exercises, keep your spine in its natural alignment. Brace your core and avoid excessively arching or rounding your lower back, especially under heavy loads. 2. Learn How to Hip Hinge A hip hinge means bending at your hips rather than rounding your lower back. Imagine your torso and legs moving like a LEGO figure, with the motion coming from the hip joints. Push your hips back while keeping your core braced and your spine neutral. Not every exercise is a hip hinge, but it's essential for movements like deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts (RDLs). 3. Be Extra Careful During Deadlifts and Leg Presses Deadlifts: - Keep your spine neutral and your core braced throughout the lift. - Hinge at your hips instead of rounding your lower back. - Stand tall at the top without hyperextending your lower back. Leg Presses: - Keep your lower back and hips planted firmly against the pad. - Stop lowering the sled before your pelvis rolls backward and your lower back rounds off the seat. - Use a range of motion you can control with solid form. 4. Know When Spinal Rounding Is Intentional Your spine is meant to move—the key is load and control. Ab exercises like crunches and cable crunches intentionally use controlled spinal flexion (rounding your upper torso) to target the abs.

"If I could start the gym over, here's what I'd do differently." or "I wish I knew this when I started" Those videos are everywhere. Guys with 3–4 years of training listing everything they wasted time on. Here's the problem. If they'd actually trained that way from day one, most of them would've quit. Everyone knows legs matter. But start a beginner on heavy leg days, and a lot of guys won't last a month. Year one isn't about the perfect program. It's about falling in love with training. Fix efficiency later. One thing at a time.

If you have kids, make sure they have time to run around and exercise. Want them to do better in school? Start with P.E., not just extra study hours. Cardio pumps fresh blood to the brain, clears out mental fog, and helps flush away what clouds their focus. Strength training builds muscle that releases signals to help a growing brain stay sharp and resilient. A strong body isn't a distraction from studying. It's the foundation for it.

One of the biggest traps today is chasing massive goals, building grand plans, and stressing out when you can't stick to them. Big goals aren't bad. But taking one small step that looks like nothing to others beats standing still with a perfect plan. Social media makes you feel like moving slowly is pointless. Someone out there wishes they had your pace. Don't rush, and don't quit. Just keep walking at your own speed. Let's grow together!

Should you train to failure every set? No. Especially not in your first year. 1/ Year one Don't lie to yourself. Work hard. But stop each set with 1–2 good reps left in the tank. Your goal this year isn't one brutal session. It's showing up for the next 300. 2/ You won't lose gains Research shows stopping 1–3 reps short builds nearly as much muscle as going all the way to failure. Much less fatigue. Almost the same growth. 3/ Intermediate and beyond Sure, push to true failure sometimes. Once every week or two is plenty. Every session to failure drains you, even as an advanced lifter. 4/ Pick the right exercises Failure on curls, lateral raises, or machines? Fine. Failure on heavy squats, deadlifts, or bench? That's how people get hurt. If you go to failure, save it for the last set. Train hard enough to grow. Not so hard you can't come back tomorrow.

저는 INTJ입니다. 몇 년 동안 직접 겪으며 배운 것들을 나누면 좋겠다는 생각을 1년 넘게 해왔어요. J라 그런지 계속 계획만 짜고 정작 시작을 못 하다가, 어느 날 문득 "운동이랑 투자도 그냥 시작하자고 마음먹고 해왔는데, 이것도 일단 시작하자" 싶어서 계정을 열었습니다. 영어가 더 편해서 평소 글은 영어로 올라가겠지만, 앞으로 따뜻하게 지켜봐 주세요. 사랑합니다!

One of the best things about lifting: it's the only thing in life that gives you a preview of your future self. A good pump shows you what your body will look like in 6 months if you don't quit. Best motivation to keep going.

Been training for over a year? Here are 4 things to change. 1. Change your exercise order You probably started every session with chest or back. That means they got your best energy, and everything else got the leftovers. Now they're ahead of the rest of your body. For the next 6 months, start with shoulders or legs instead. 2. Train what you've been skipping Now's the time for arms, core, and legs. Core: not just light crunches. Add weight. Arms: give them their own day. Warm up first. Legs: start simple. Day 1: hip abduction + leg press. Day 2: hip adduction + leg extension. Then build toward squats and Romanian deadlifts. 3. Take deload weeks At some point you'll walk in, feel exhausted, and realize you can't push. That's your sign. Do the same exercises, lighter weight, 2 sets of 8. Focus on form. Even better, cut caffeine that week too. Next week, you'll feel brand new. 4. Buy clothes that fit Your body has changed. Your clothes should too. Looking good in what you wear keeps you going. Year one builds the habit. Year two builds the body.