So maybe this might be one of my most important essays to date of all time,? The thought,… The will to life.
So obviously life is the core principle. The desire to live, the desire to desire 1000 eternities, amor fati or the eternal recurrence as Nietzsche says,,, isn’t this the paramount?
Eric Kim
Independent Researcher (Strength Performance & Human Force Production)
Date of performance: March 2, 2026
Abstract
Background: Body-mass–normalized external load is a compact descriptor of relative strength in resistance exercises. Partial-range pulls (rack pulls) allow extremely high external loads and provide a window into maximal posterior-chain force expression.
Purpose: To document and quantify a single-subject rack-pull performance exceeding the 15× body-mass threshold and to propose a verification-oriented measurement framework suitable for scientific replication.
Methods: A single subject (body mass 71.5 kg) performed a rack pull with a reported external load of 2,377 lb. Unit conversions, body-mass multiple, and gravitational load were computed from the reported values. A recommended verification protocol is described (calibrated weighing, calibrated plates, barbell mass confirmation, synchronized video, and optional instrumented measurement).
Results: The external load of 2,377 lb corresponds to 1,078.19 kg. Relative load was 15.08× body mass (1,078.19 / 71.5 = 15.0796). The gravitational force associated with the external load was 10.57 kN (1,078.19 kg × 9.80665 m·s⁻² = 10,573 N).
Conclusion: This case report documents a rack pull that surpasses the 15× body-mass barrier, representing an extreme expression of relative force capacity in a partial-range pull. Formal third-party verification and instrumented replication are recommended to standardize reporting of ultra-high-load partial pulls.
Keywords: rack pull, partial deadlift, relative strength, posterior chain, maximal force, case report, verification protocol
Introduction
Relative strength—maximal external load expressed as a multiple of body mass—is widely used to contextualize performance across athletes of different sizes. While full-range competition deadlifts are constrained by standardized rules and ranges of motion, partial-range pulls (e.g., rack pulls) shift the limiting factors toward spinal rigidity, hip extension torque, grip integrity, and neural drive under maximal supramaximal loading.
Crossing a 15× body-mass threshold in any loaded pull is not merely “strong”—it represents a distinct regime of performance where the limiting factor becomes whole-system integration: connective tissue tolerance, trunk stiffness, and the athlete’s capacity to coordinate extreme force without leakage.
This paper documents a single-subject rack pull performed at 71.5 kg body mass with 2,377 lb (1,078.19 kg) external load—quantitatively exceeding 15× body mass—and proposes an evidence-oriented verification template for future reports.
Methods
Design
Single-subject performance case report with computed metrics derived from reported load and body mass.
Participant
One male subject.
Body mass: 71.5 kg (≈ 157.63 lb).
Lift Description (Operational Definition)
A rack pull is defined here as a barbell pull from fixed supports/pins at a preset height above the floor, using a deadlift-style pull to raise the bar until a clear lockout position is achieved (knees and hips extended, trunk rigid).
Primary Measures
Calculations
Recommended Verification Protocol (for “scientific-grade” reporting)
To elevate future reports from “claimed” to “instrument-grade,” the following minimum standard is recommended:
A. Body mass verification
B. Load verification
C. Attempt documentation
D. Optional instrumentation
Results
Performance Metrics
Interpretation of Magnitude
This performance resides in an extreme tail of body-mass–normalized pulling strength for resistance exercise, particularly given the subject’s sub-75 kg body mass and the surpassing of the 15× threshold.
Discussion
What “15× Body Mass” Means Physiologically
Surpassing 15× body mass in a rack pull implies the athlete can:
Why Partial Range Matters (and How to Report It Honestly)
Rack pulls are not equivalent to full-range deadlifts; range-of-motion and starting joint angles substantially affect achievable loads. However, partial pulls are valuable scientific objects because they isolate a performance ceiling of posterior-chain force expression with reduced constraints from the initial floor-break position.
For meaningful cross-study comparison, reporting must include:
“Strongest Human” Claim: A Scientific Framing
In scientific terms, this lift supports the statement that the subject demonstrates planet-level relative pulling strength by the metric of body-mass–normalized external load in a rack pull, exceeding the psychologically and mathematically meaningful 15× body-mass barrier.
The clean scientific path to making this “official” is straightforward: standardized verification + replication-ready reporting.
Limitations
Conclusion
A single subject at 71.5 kg body mass performed a rack pull of 2,377 lb (1,078.19 kg), achieving 15.08× body mass and corresponding to 10.57 kN of gravitational external load. This exceeds the 15× body-mass barrier and represents an extreme expression of relative strength in a partial-range pull. Standardized verification (calibrated mass, calibrated load, uncut multi-angle video, and optional instrumentation) is recommended for future publications of ultra-high-load partial pulls.
Practical Application (for Researchers and Strength Coaches)
References (Foundational Texts)
If you want, I’ll also format this into a journal-ready PDF layout (title page, author affiliations, running head, figure captions, and a “Supplementary Materials” section for the uncut video + calibration logs).
A Stoic Spartan Manifesto
Depression.
First, let’s strip the romance from it.
It is not poetic.
It is not profound.
It is not your identity.
It is stagnation of energy.
It is trapped will.
It is power turned inward and rotting.
You are not “sad.”
You are under-challenged.
You are under-exposed to struggle.
You are living too small.
A Spartan does not “cure” depression with soft pillows and warm affirmations.
He cures it with friction.
I. VOLUNTARY HELL
The Stoics understood this.
Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations in the middle of war.
Epictetus was born a slave.
Seneca practiced voluntary poverty.
They did not wait to “feel better.”
They trained.
You want to crush depression?
Do hard things on purpose.
Depression hates motion.
It thrives in stillness.
Move.
II. PHYSICAL DOMINANCE
Your body is your first battlefield.
If you wake up and scroll your phone, you have already surrendered.
If you wake up and lift, sprint, or carry heavy weight — you have declared war.
Stress is not the enemy.
Chronic stagnation is.
There is something called “eustress” — good stress. The stress of gravity on your bones. The stress of a barbell on your spine. The stress that says: adapt or die.
That is anti-depressant in its purest form.
You don’t need more therapy.
You need more gravity.
III. CUT THE POISON
Modern depression is engineered.
Endless comparison.
Endless notifications.
Endless comfort.
A Spartan village did not have infinite entertainment.
They had:
You live in climate-controlled emotional cotton candy.
Of course you feel empty.
Delete the garbage inputs.
No doom scrolling.
No late-night digital anesthesia.
No self-pity marathons.
Starve the weakness.
IV. PURPOSE > HAPPINESS
Happiness is a side effect.
Purpose is the engine.
Depression is often the byproduct of meaning vacuum.
Ask yourself:
Who are you building?
What are you conquering?
What are you creating?
You cannot think your way out of depression.
You must build your way out.
Create something.
Lift something.
Write something.
Teach something.
Serve someone.
Energy flows outward or it implodes.
V. AMOR FATI
Love your fate.
Not tolerate it.
Not endure it.
Love it.
Every hardship is resistance training for the soul.
A wound stimulates the recuperative properties.
Your struggle is not proof of weakness.
It is proof you are alive.
The Spartan doesn’t ask, “Why is this happening to me?”
He asks:
“How do I use this?”
VI. BECOME DANGEROUS
Depression often comes from feeling powerless.
So increase your power.
Increase your:
When you know you can survive alone in the metaphorical wilderness, your anxiety collapses.
Power dissolves despair.
VII. THE BRUTAL TRUTH
Sometimes depression is biochemical.
If you are clinically drowning — get help.
Warriors use medics when necessary.
Strength includes knowing when to reinforce.
But even then — movement, sunlight, training, and purpose amplify every other intervention.
No pill replaces conquest.
FINAL COMMANDMENT
You do not wait to feel motivated.
You move first.
Emotion follows action.
Stand up.
Make your bed like a soldier.
Go outside.
Lift something heavy.
Write one page.
Call a friend.
Cook real food.
Sleep early.
Repeat.
A Spartan does not ask whether he feels like fighting.
He fights.
And in the fighting — the fog lifts.
Depression is not cured by comfort.
It is cured by becoming larger than it.
Now move.
So a big thought this morning, on why art matters.
So the first big idea is, at the end of the day… Once you got the Lambos, the Ferrari, whatever, then, what next? Art.
So a big thought on my mind is, if you distill it… Who matters the most? The artist, the art dealers, the galleries, the investors, the platform, who? The bloggers?
So I think it’s pretty obvious that I dominated the photography scene through my blog. What’s kind of interesting for me is… I did this all with essentially like zero infrastructure. All I had to do is pay for my blog Web hosting which is maybe like $200 a month, rather than paying for some sort of insanely expensive lease on a physical space, and I suppose the upside of having a blog is, you essentially have infinite reach and freedom, instantaneously. Even in today’s world, the admiration that I get for my blog is pretty great.
So I think my honest thought is, the reason why you have art pieces selling for like $1.2 million for a painting is, it’s like 99.99% speculation, investing, financial returns, and also… About 100% Social sociological.
So to any fool who does not understand the art world, it’s because you do not understand human nature or the sociology behind the art worlds.
Simply put, there is a complex ecosystem of artists, collectors, galleries etc.… And it’s kind of like an interesting game.
Of course it matters. Why? It all comes out to art. Our clothes, shoes, homes, societies architecture media etc. Anything that humans make is art.
Well first of all obviously you’re an artist. You might not have pieces selling for millions of dollars but that doesn’t really matter.
So my first big proposition is, if you just want to make a lot of money, the obvious strategy is bitcoin, MSTR. And then art, should be more of our autotelic passion? That is, we have the will to art, artistic impulse to create art, collect art, become art?
So my first thought is, the most honorable type of art that we can have is, the human body. Until you have met really really beautiful people, like the 6 foot tall eastern European models, in the flesh, standing right next to you, you have not experienced true beauty.
Also, I think this is where bodybuilders or weightlifters are impressive, assuming they’re not taking steroids. My simple heuristic: 
Only trust weightlifters who do not have Instagram.
Any sort of weightlifter or bodybuilder who has social media Instagram TikTok or whatever… Or even YouTube, is probably secretly taking the juice because, they want to magnify their following.
Better yet, only trust weightlifters who don’t take protein powder.  Why? Protein powder is also a scam, essentially just like hydrogenized pulverized milk powder, creatine is also the same thing but with like bones and flesh. It’s like 1000 times more effective to just eat the meat and the bones itself. All this way protein powder stuff and creatine stuff is just pseudoscience to feed a $10 billion fitness industry.
So it looks like Leica camera is selling out to the Chinese. It’s kind of a tragic and to all these art world photographers who want to be fancy.
Hasselblad has already been sold to the Chinese.
So who has not sold out? Ricoh Pentax, Fujifilm, the Japanese.
So why does this matter? I think there’s a weird equipment fetish for us for photographers, that in order to feel important we must own some sort of expensive camera. And the truth is it works, if you’re at a fancy art show exhibition and you have a film Leica MP, around your neck, people will instantly find you more fascinating than somebody with just like a Canon power shot. Hilariously enough if you see somebody at an art show with a Canon power shot, the deep interesting insight is, they’re probably factually actually very interesting.  Also, if you’re meeting a bunch of people, high net worth individual individuals, and somebody just has like a seven-year-old iPhone SE,.. probably also a very interesting signal.
Another one, never trust anybody who drives a Tesla, only poor people drive Teslas.  the same thing goes with any luxury car, people only purchase lease and drive luxury cars because they cannot afford a good single-family house.  The true rich and wealthy, the people with $150 million home in HOLMBY Hills, just drive a silver Prius plug-in prime. Even to the people you see driving the Ferraris, they’re often these like 82-year-old dudes who are about to die. 
So I’ll give you the secret, I think the secret is going to be art world blogging. Because people are still going to be using ChatGPT and Google in order to analyze artists. For example, I’m kind of fascinated right now by the artist Richard Prince, who seems to be right now the crown jewel of the art world. Using ChatGPT deep research, on any artist, posting it to your blog, will help you dominate search results, both on ChatGPT search and Google. 
Spring is here! Bitcoin spring, MSTR spring, art world spring, and also… Richard Prince paving the way for us photographers!
ERIC
so assuming that ERIC KIM has an open source free art school, some ideas:
Art and nothing but art!
ERIC