The complete system for transforming your body, mind, and life. Everything that actually works. You know that feeling after a heavy session followed by sauna and cold plunge? That levitating buzz where everything just clicks?
Most men feel that maybe once a month. If they're lucky.
Waking up before your alarm actually excited to attack the day. Weights moving like butter. Walking into a room and people noticing. That quiet confidence where you don't need to prove anything.
That's what this is really about. Not just looking good. Becoming the kind of man who operates on a different frequency.
Here's everything I've learned getting there.
I've tried EVERYTHING.
Morning routines. Cold plunges. Journaling. Macro tracking. Meditation apps. 50 books a year. No alcohol. No sugar. No fun.
Still wasn't where I wanted to be.
Self-improvement had become a prison. A never-ending optimisation loop. Busy but never transforming. Weeks of being "perfect" followed by crazy blowouts. Self-sabotage. Guilt. Back to optimising again.
16 years of training. 30+ countries. Building a business from nothing. Nearly dying in a boat accident in Bali. That's what it took to figure out what actually works.
This is all of it. Just stuff that's made a difference.
Skip around if you want. But if you apply even 20% of this, you won't recognise yourself in 60 days.
I – Modern self-improvement is broken
Most men will lose 2026.
Not lazy. Not stupid. Playing someone else's game without realising.
Goals in January. Motivated for a few weeks. Drift back to exactly where they started. Scrolling. Consuming. Reacting instead of creating.
December comes and they wonder where the year went.
I see it constantly. Guys who've never been in a gym debating canthal tilts. Men at 25% body fat asking about jaw surgery. Kids biohacking before they can cook a proper meal.
Obsessing over micro-details. Ignoring what moves the needle.
Micro-optimisation is a cope for avoiding real work.
Easier to research the perfect morning routine than wake up early. Easier to debate supplements than train hard for years. Easier to watch productivity content than sit down and do the work.
You don't need another system. Another app. To optimise your canthal tilt or circadian rhythm or dopamine receptors.
You need to stop consuming and start building.
II – Three forces working against you
Before the system, understand what you're fighting. Can't win a game you don't see.
Pendulums
From a book called Reality Transurfing by Vadim Zeland. Obscure, but stay with me.
A pendulum is any structure feeding on human energy. Social media. News. Political movements. Trends. Drama. Outrage culture. Even your friend group.
Pendulums don't care about you. Only your attention and energy. Fear, anger, excitement, outrage, whatever keeps you hooked.
React to the news, feed a pendulum. Get outraged online, feed a pendulum. Compare yourself to someone on Instagram, feed a pendulum.
When you're reacting to pendulums, you're not living your life. You're living theirs.
How many of your opinions are actually yours? How many goals did YOU decide you wanted versus things you've been told to want?
Most men get pulled around by pendulums their entire lives. Wake up, check phone, immediately start reacting. Notifications. News. Other people's content. Other people's drama. Other people's lives.
Simple equation: energy going to pendulums means no energy left to build your own life.
Brain rot
Your attention is under attack.
Dopamine from scrolling, notifications, endless content, rewiring your brain. Killing your ability to focus, think deeply, build anything.
The symptoms. Can't read a book for five minutes without reaching for your phone. Need constant stimulation to feel normal. Doom scrolling before bed, first thing in the morning. Start tasks, can't finish. Brain fog.
Your brain got hijacked. By people smarter than you. Engineers, psychologists, designers paid millions to keep you scrolling. Keep you hooked. Keep you coming back.
Not accidental. By design. Infinite scroll, no stopping point. Autoplay, don't even have to choose. Notifications pulling you back. Variable rewards like a slot machine.
Costing you EVERYTHING.
Your physique - every hour on your phone is an hour not training, prepping food, sleeping properly.
Mental clarity - constant stimulation rewires the brain. Need more input just to feel normal. Shorter attention span. Worse memory. Can't think deeply.
Discipline - every time you reach for your phone when bored, you train yourself to avoid discomfort. Building anything worthwhile requires sitting with discomfort.
Relationships - physically present, mentally checked out.
Purpose - hard to find when you never sit in silence long enough to hear yourself think.
The identity trap
Deeper issue.
You aren't where you want to be because you aren't the person who would be there. Think of someone with results you want. Impeccable physique. Successful business. Commands attention walking into a room.
Do they have to "grind" to do what got them there? Seems like it on the surface. But they can't see themselves living any other way.
Fit guy doesn't force himself to train. Forces himself NOT to train. Successful entrepreneur doesn't discipline himself to work on his business. Forces himself to take time off.
If you want a specific outcome, you must have the lifestyle creating that outcome long before you reach it.
Someone says they want to get lean but "can't wait until they're done dieting to enjoy food again".. I don't believe them. Don't adopt the lifestyle that got you lean, for life, and you'll go straight back.
When you truly change, habits that don't move the needle become disgusting. Deep awareness of what kind of life those actions compound into.
III – Treat life like a video game
If you grew up playing video games, this makes perfect sense.
I was a nerd for RuneScape as a teenager. Way too many hours grinding skills, levelling up, chasing milestones.
Funny thing - no problem spending 8 hours clicking a virtual tree to get Woodcutting from 70 to 71. No complaints. Pure focus.
And in real life. Couldn't stick to a gym routine for two weeks.
Difference was the XP bar. RuneScape, you could SEE progress. Every action counted. Every little thing moved you closer to the next level.
Started thinking about real life the same way.
The XP system
I don't track this stuff in a spreadsheet. But I'm always aware of it.
Good session? XP. Morning sunlight and a walk? XP. Deep work block on the business? XP. Stayed off my phone for a few hours? XP.
Scrolled for an hour before bed? Lost XP. Skipped training? Lost XP. Ate garbage? Lost XP.
You feel it. You know when you're stacking days and when you're leaking energy. The XP framing just makes it obvious.
Compound effect
One workout changes nothing. 300 workouts and you're a different person.
One piece of content builds nothing. 500 pieces and you've got a platform.
One deep work session builds nothing. Stack them daily for a year and you've built something real.
XP system works because it shifts focus from outcomes to actions.
Can't control whether clients come this week. Can't control whether content goes viral. Can't control results.
Can control daily XP. Whether you showed up. Put in the reps. Stacked another day.
Focus on XP and the level-ups take care of themselves.
Boss battles
Every game has boss battles. Moments testing everything you've built.
In life - hard conversations, rejections, failures, moments you want to quit.
Most people avoid boss battles. Stay in safe zones grinding easy XP, never progressing.
Can't level up without fighting bosses.
Client says no. Content flops. Goal feels impossible. Not obstacles - that's the game. Where the real XP lives.
I get DMs every week asking how to grow an account. "How long until it works?" Few posts in with no real consistency for at least a few months and they're ready to quit.
Took me 3 months of posting into the void before anything clicked. 3 months of flopping. 3 months of wondering if it was even worth it.
That was the boss battle. Most people tap out before the loot drops.
Same with YouTube. Same with business. Same with your physique. The rewards are on the other side of the bit that makes you want to quit.
Embrace boss battles.
IV – 90% of how you look is just this
Truth about appearance nobody wants to hear.
90% of looking good is getting lean and building muscle.
That's it. The secret the looksmaxxing community dances around while overcomplicating everything.
Mewing won't fix your face. Losing 10% body fat will.
Your jawline is under there. Just can't see it yet.
Excess body fat accumulates around your face. Jaw disappears. Cheekbones flatten. Features blur together.
Drop to 12-15% body fat. Jaw sharpens. Cheekbones emerge. Whole structure changes.
Seen it hundreds of times. Guys thinking they had weak jawlines actually had normal jawlines hidden under fat. Face they were born with was fine. Just couldn't see it.
The golden ratio
Certain physiques just look better than others. Not random. Not just genetics. Geometry.
Wide shoulders. Narrow waist. V-taper.
That's what makes a physique aesthetic. Not size. Not bulk. Proportions.
You can be absolutely massive and look average. You can be moderate size with the right ratios and look incredible. Seen it a thousand times.
The golden ratio is 1.618:1 - shoulder circumference to waist. Looksmaxxing forums go mental over this. Guys measuring themselves weekly, obsessing over decimal points.
I've never measured mine. Not once. Competed natural for years, never pulled out a tape measure for ratios.
You don't chase the number. You create the conditions for it to happen naturally.
Get lean enough that your waist actually shows. Train your delts and back properly. The ratio sorts itself out.
When I'm sitting around 12% body fat with my shoulders and lats developed, the V-taper is just there. Didn't calculate it. Didn't need to.
What actually matters:
Shoulders - lateral head specifically. That's what creates width. Front delts get hammered from pressing. Side delts need direct work.
Back - lats for the V-taper from behind, upper back for that 3D look from the side.
Legs - Squats and deadlifts drive the whole system. Hormonal response, overall muscle mass, and honestly nothing looks worse than a big upper body on toothpicks.
Arms - balanced with your frame, not oversized. Nothing kills proportions like arms that overpower everything else.
Neck - genuinely the most underrated. A thicker neck completely changes how your face sits on your body. Makes everything look more masculine.
The formula's simple. Lean enough to show waist. Build shoulders and back. That's it. The golden ratio everyone obsesses over is just a byproduct of doing the basics properly.
Stop measuring. Start training.
90-day protocol
This is what I'd tell you if we were sitting down right now. Same stuff I run my clients through. Same stuff I've done myself more times than I can count.
Phase 1, Days 1-60: Get lean first.
Lean is law. I say this constantly because no one wants to hear it.
You've got to see what you're working with before you build on it. Otherwise you're just guessing.
Had a lad message me last year. 24% body fat, fully convinced he needed jaw filler. Been down the looksmaxxing rabbit hole for months. I told him give me 60 days before you book anything.
Eight weeks later - 15%. Same jaw. Completely different face.
He didn't need filler. He needed to stop eating like he was still a 12 year old.
Here's what that actually looks like:
Deficit - 300-500 under maintenance. Nothing crazy. You're not on a deadline, you're building something sustainable. I see guys crash dieting into 1000 cal deficits then wondering why they look worse at the end. You lost muscle mate. That's why.
Protein - 1g per pound. Minimum. This is what saves your muscle while the fat goes. Most guys think they're hitting this and they're not even close. Track it properly for a week. Bet you're shocked.
Training - Keep lifting heavy. Heavier than feels right while cutting. The weights tell your body to keep the muscle. Drop the intensity and you end up skinny-fat. Seen it a hundred times.
Steps - 8,000+ daily. Morning walk, take calls while pacing, podcast, whatever. This is where the extra burn comes from without hammering your recovery.
Sleep - 7-8 hours. I'm genuinely religious about this. Your body does the actual repair work while you're unconscious. Skimp on it and your hunger goes mental, your willpower vanishes, everything gets harder than it needs to be.
60 days of this and you'll look different. Not because it's complicated. Because you actually did it properly.
Phase 2, Days 30-90: Build the ratio.
Notice the overlap. Around day 30, you're visibly leaner, we start shifting focus.
This is where the V-taper comes from.
Lateral raises - I do these almost every session. 4-5 sets, light-ish weight, proper control. Side delts build the width. They're small muscles, they recover fast, you can hammer them frequently. Most guys go too heavy and turn it into a trap exercise. Ego gets in the way.
Overhead press - Foundation stuff. I like standing. Feels more athletic, hits the core, and honestly there's something satisfying about pressing heavy weight overhead.
Rows and weighted pull-ups - This is where the back thickness comes from. Lats give you the V from behind, upper back gives you that 3D look from the side. Weighted pull-ups changed my back more than anything. If you can't do bodyweight yet, that's goal number one.
Neck - 2-3x a week, direct work. Curls, extensions, harness if you've got one. This is the most underrated thing I'll tell you. Thick neck completely changes how your face sits. More masculine. More presence. Most guys never train it. I don't understand why.
Compounds underneath all of this obviously. Deadlifts, squats, bench. The big stuff builds the foundation. The isolation work builds the illusion.
The details:
By now you're lean. Frame's coming together. This is the stuff that amplifies it.
Skincare - Keep it dead simple. Beef tallow for my face, coconut oil for my body. That's it. No 10-step routine, no expensive serums. Just consistent. Your face is what people see first. If you're training hard but your skin looks rough, you're shooting yourself in the foot.
Haircut - Find a good barber. Pay more than you want to. Ask their opinion on what suits your face shape. They do this all day mate, they know more than you do about it. Stop getting the same cut you've had since sixth form.
Wardrobe - Your body's different now. Clothes that fit at higher body fat look baggy. Get stuff that actually fits the new frame. Doesn't have to be expensive. Just has to fit properly. Honestly, a plain black fitted tee is unmatched. Shows the shoulders, shows the V-taper, goes with everything.
Posture - All that back work helps here. Shoulders back, chest open, chin tucked slightly. Few minutes of mobility work daily. Good posture makes you look taller, more confident, more like you've got your shit together. Bad posture undoes everything.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
90 days. Nothing revolutionary. Just the basics done properly with some consistency behind it.
I've watched guys completely transform doing exactly this. Not because they found a secret. Because they finally stopped overcomplicating it and just did the work.
V – Protecting your mind
Attention is the most valuable thing you own. Most people give it away free.
Morning protocol
No phone first hour. Non-negotiable.
Charge in another room. Buy an alarm clock. Whatever it takes.
Instead: stillness, meditation, journaling. Movement, sunlight, cold water. Most important task.
Meditation - I've been going deeper with this recently. Not the app-guided stuff. Proper stillness. Some sessions I get full-body goosebumps, lose track of time completely. Hard to explain but the clarity that comes after is unmatched. Start with 10 minutes. See where it takes you.
Win the morning, win the day.
Deep work
Schedule 2-3 hour blocks. ONE thing. Zero distractions.
Phone in another room. No notifications. Single task.
Where real progress happens.
Information diet
Treat information like food. Most is junk.
Curate ruthlessly. Unfollow anyone not adding value. Scheduled consumption only, not reactive. Books over social media.
Sleep
Where most people sabotage themselves without realising.
10 rules:
Morning sunlight within 30 minutes of waking
No caffeine after noon
Consistent bed and wake time (within 30 minutes daily)
Hard training 3+ hours before bed
Finish eating by 7pm
Dim lights after 8pm, no overheads
Screens off by 9pm
Cool dark quiet bedroom, 16-19°C
Magnesium before bed
Bedroom for sleep and sex only
Follow these and you sleep better than 90% of people.
VI – Stop optimising, start living
Where I diverge from most self-improvement advice.
Perfect morning routine, optimal supplements, ideal training programme and guess what? Still miserable.
Optimisation without living is just avoidance.
Why chasing doesn't work
You can't have what you need.
Chasing money, women, status it repels them. Needy energy pushes things away. You've felt it. Texting a girl too much. Begging for the job. Desperate for the sale.
The guys who have everything.. they don't need it. That's why they got it.
Desired frequency first. Desired reality second.
Become the person who already has the life you want in your mind, in your actions, in how you carry yourself. The external catches up.
Four pillars
Retardmaxxing
Stop thinking. Start doing.
Most men paralysed by analysis. Planning perfect routine. Researching optimal approach. Never doing anything.
Retardmaxxing is doing the stupid obvious thing.
Want to get fit? Go to the gym. Don't spend six months researching programmes.
Want to meet people? Go out. Don't optimise your social strategy.
Stop researching. Decide quickly. Trust intuition. Do stupid shit with mates. Be spontaneous.
Guys winning at life don't have perfect plans. They just do things.
Socialmaxxing
Network is net worth. Not cringe LinkedIn way.
Real friends. Deep conversations. People who push you. Family you spend time with.
Loneliness epidemic is real. Men isolated. Stuck in bedrooms optimising morning routines while relationships fall apart.
No amount of self-improvement replaces people you love.
BBQs. Dinners. Trips. Time together. That's what life's about.
Adventuremaxxing
Stop watching other people live on your phone.
Go on the trip. Book the flight. Take the side quest.
Camp under stars. Drive somewhere random. Stogies with the boys. Say yes more.
Life isn't optimised in a spreadsheet. Best memories come from spontaneous chaos.
Spent most of my early 20s to late 20s doing this. Living long-term three months at a time in LA, Bali, Australia, Albania, Madrid, Valencia, Cyprus, Barcelona. Best years of my life.
Not because I had everything figured out. Didn't. But I was actually living.
Healthmaxxing (non-autistic kind)
Jacked, healthy, full of energy. Not obsessing over every macro.
Train hard. Real food. Sunlight. Sleep properly.
Goal is energy and vitality, not perfection.
Should be able to eat steak at a BBQ, wine with dinner, still look like a Greek god. That's the balance.
Enjoy life while being healthy.
VII – Daily protocol
Practical. What a winning day looks like.
Morning (6-9am)
Sacred time. No phone. No input. No pendulums.
Wake early, same time daily. Sunlight in eyes within 10 minutes. Movement.. walk, stretch, blood flowing. Hydration with electrolytes. Short routine.. meditation, journaling, reading. Deep work, 60-90 minutes on most important project.
Afternoon (12-6pm)
Training if not done morning. Client work, business tasks. Content creation. Meetings.
Evening (6pm onwards)
Finish eating by 7pm. Lights down by 8pm. Screens off by 9pm. Read, journal, decompress. Bed by 10pm.
90-day stack
Think quarters, not years.
90 days = long enough for real change, short enough to stay focused.
Days 1-30, Foundation: Lock in daily protocol. Fix sleep. Remove obvious garbage. Build momentum.
Days 31-60, Acceleration: Add complexity. Push harder in training. Stack XP. Compound effect starting.
Days 61-90, Breakthrough: Systems running automatically. Energy and clarity highest ever. Visible transformation. New baseline.
VIII – The choice
Uncomfortable truth.
Every single day, you're choosing.
Scroll or build. React or create. Stay same or transform.
Nobody coming to save you. Nobody doing the work for you. Responsibility is entirely yours.
Never met a lean jacked guy worried about his canthal tilt. Never met a successful entrepreneur spending hours debating morning routines. Never met someone living a great life still scrolling through other people's highlight reels.
When you're actually building, actually living... that stuff stops mattering.
Guys who look best aren't the ones with best genetics. Ones who've been consistent longest.
Guys who built real wealth aren't the ones who found a secret. Ones who showed up every day for years.
Guys living best lives aren't the ones who optimised everything. Ones who went out and lived.
No surgery gives you confidence that comes from building something yourself.
Knowing you earned it. Carrying yourself with quiet certainty of someone who's put in the work.
That's the real transformation.
Get lean. Build muscle. Protect attention. Stack XP. Actually LIVE.
That levitating buzz doesn't have to be once a month. It can be your baseline.
— Achilles
If you want help with this - the training, nutrition, mindset, identity work, all of it done properly with someone who's been through it - I take on a handful of guys each month. DM me "ACHILLES"
