Steve Kamb
Rebel Leader of NerdFitness. Author of Level Up Your Life
Discussion
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
Hi -- I'm Steve Kamb, founder of nerdfitness.com, a worldwide fitness community dedicated to helping nerds, desk jockeys, and self-aware robots level up their lives. I spent six years trying to get fit and made every mistake in the book, so I wanted to help others avoid those problems and get real, factual, unbiased info. I’m also the author of “Level Up Your Life” Http://levelupyourlife.com. The book is my attempt to give people a blueprint for prioritizing adventure, growth, and happiness by turning life into a giant video game.
ALL DONE! Thank you guys for coming to hang out with me on here! See you over on http://nerdfitness.com, http://twitter.com/stevekamb, and http://instagram.com/SteveKamb
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Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
Hey Steve! What's something you used to fundamentally believe that you now see as misguided?
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
@eriktorenberg hey Erik! I LOVE THIS QUESTION. I'm constantly learning new things. I remember the first time I ever heard about the Paleo Diet, I thought it was the craziest/dumbest thing I'd ever heard of. Fortunately, I dug into it and discovered a logical argument that was a solid mental model for adjusting my relationship with food. Here's our beginner's guide to the Paleo Diet: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/...
But the one I held most closely was probably the "You have to eat breakfast" / "eat six small meals a day to stoke the metabolic fires" nonsense. I haven't eaten breakfast in 2 years (I eat all meals between noon and 8pm) and in those 2 years I've lost 10 lbs of fat and packed on probably 30 lbs of muscle. Not sure if this instagram link will work...
https://www.instagram.com/p/_XKV...
Your metabolism isn't that smart. Eating carbs after 4pm won't make you fat...unless you've already eaten more calories that day than you've burned. I've learned that meal timing is way less important than how you eat and what you're eating. So don't just eat 6 small meals because you think yo have to. Read this for more info: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/...
Jonny Miller
@jonnym1ller · Cofounder @Maptia
@stevekamb firstly I’d just like to say that levelupyourlife.nerdfitness.com – is f*cking awesome. I love the insane level of detail (it’s essentially a product/book launch combined) so huge kudos! I also grew up as a Zelda obsessed kid and for me my epic quest was learning to surf in Indonesia at 19... asking locals for directions to secret spots, paying for a new hand-shaped board in what felt like a made-up currency, riding a moped on sketchy roads and chartering fishing boats on a quest for the perfect empty wave. I have so many questions... but here’s the main one that I'm most curious about:
Q. How to you balance pursing your epic quest vs. staying open to serendipity, knowing that the most amazing thing out there might be something that you haven’t considered yet? Or to phrase it another way… what have been some of your unexpected ‘Level Up’ moments that maybe weren’t on the list, but if someone turned your life into a movie (which they might!) would make the final cut?
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
@jonnym1ller hey Jonny! Firstly, Zelda fans unite! Next - love your story about Indonesia and paying for a hand-shaped surfboard. Next, I love your question about balancing checking things off the list + staying open to serendipity.
On my big trip, I had a series of quests and missions to complete in each city/country, but I left plenty of time between each to do unexpected things or take up opportunities as they came along. Kind of like instead of moving onto the next dungeon in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, chasing to spend an hour just fishing in that pond off Lake Hylia!
For example, last summer I had a trip to Croatia for Yacht Week, but once I came back from that adventure I had a free week of time in Croatia to explore. Because I had dropped my phone to the bottom of the Mediterranean while on the boat (fell right out of my shirt pocket while docking!), I had to actually hand draw maps to get me to bus stations and up to Plitvice Lakes. I didn't speak a word of Croatian, but thanks to my hand drawn maps and some friendly locals I found the jackpot: the most beautiful 2 days of hiking these eyes have ever seen: 
Favorite moments: spending a week instead of a day on Waiheke Island off the coast of New Zealand. I just hung out and had fun, cooked meals with other travelers, and just couldn't get myself to leave. I met a Nerd Fitness reader in Shanghai who actually allowed me to stay with him and his family for a few days (he had the cutest kids ever). Hanging with a traveler and trading stories over beers in a dive bar in Peru. Exploring Killarney National Park (Forest?) while in Ireland for a few days just by myself.
I think goals are important, but some of my most vivid memories are the days that are unplanned, so I try to "plan" for both :)
Favorite moments: spending a week instead of a day on Waiheke Island off the coast of New Zealand. I just hung out and had fun, cooked meals with other travelers, and just couldn't get myself to leave. I met a Nerd Fitness reader in Shanghai who actually allowed me to stay with him and his family for a few days (he had the cutest kids ever). Hanging with a traveler and trading stories over beers in a dive bar in Peru. Exploring Killarney National Park (Forest?) while in Ireland for a few days just by myself.
I think goals are important, but some of my most vivid memories are the days that are unplanned, so I try to "plan" for both :)Jonny Miller
@jonnym1ller · Cofounder @Maptia
@stevekAamb haha, awesome – I remember “wasting” a tone of time fishing in Lake Hylia too. Stoked to dive into your book this week!
Jake Crump
@jakecrump · Community Team with Product Hunt
What does a typical work day look like for you?
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
@jakecrump When I'm not traveling, I'm up at 6AM. Black coffee and reading 30-60 minutes of a book (usually Personal Development, Behavioral Psychology, Leadership, or Health and Fitness focused). Then it's 3 hours of uninterrupted writing. My team knows not to ping me before 11AM, and I use a program called Freedom to block all time wasting websites. Phone is in DND mode.
After writing, I then head to the gym (4 days a week, 60 min each session) to do either an upper body (gymnastic rings) or lower body (barbell squats or deadlift) training day, then I head to Chipotle for my first meal (rice, double chicken, guacamole, lettuce, and a tiny bit of cheese).
I come back and check in with Team Nerd Fitness on various projects, meet with people, do interviews, etc. Then my evenings is usually meeting up with friends, playing music (I play an hour a day or so, split up during my frequent breaks throughout the day, working on piano, guitar, or fiddle).
And then I'll play some video games (currently Assassin's Creed; Syndicate and Starcraft 2), and try to power down things by 9PM. read for an hour or so (fiction - currently Gentleman Bastards), and get to sleep between 10-10:30.
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
Hey, Steve! What's the most impactful thing you've learned from the last book you read?
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
I read the Lies of Locke Lamora, a fantasy novel about a group of thieves getting into and out of crazy situations. So what I learned from that book: words are powerful - they can influence and help or hurt many...use them wisely :)
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
What is your take on the way Tim Ferriss 'hacks' physical fitness?
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
@bentossell Full disclosure: I'm a big time Tim Ferriss fan. His 4 Hour Workweek was the initial impetus for NerdFitness.com. So I love how he turns himself into a guinea pig, I agree with a lot of what he does and I know he also looks for elite level hacks, whereas I'm mostly looking for what's going to work for the greatest number of people from every angle (health and nutrition + behavioral psychology + gasification, etc.)
We both like to heavy train and we both dislike running, so there's quite a bit of overlap between how he trains and eats and what I do. Though I'm sure he's eaten way more strange stuff than I have :)
Mike Coutermarsh
@mscccc · Code @ Product Hunt
hey steve! When you do a heavy legs day / squats. Do you foam roll immediately after? Or only before? Heard recently that it doesn't help immediately after (unlike running). Better to wait a couple days before foam rolling?
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
@mscccc hey Mike! Many would consider this sacrilegious, but I actually don't do any foam rolling with any regularity. I do it occasionally, but most of my time when I'm not picking up weights is spent with mobility drills and locomotion type stuff. I'm also not lifting tremendous amounts of weight (390 DL, 210 SQ), but I'm also recovering from a messed up spine (http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/...) that mentally kept me afraid for years to go heavy and these days, every day I'm setting a tiny PR (one rep, or adding 1 lb to the bar). My position on foam rolling may change as I get higher and higher on both lifts, but for now I don't overthink it.
Nick Blanche
@nick_blanche · Digital Designer
Hi Steve,
Just finished reading your book and I loved it! My question for you is what/where was your favourite place in New Zealand and why?
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
@nick_blanche hey Nick! That's great to hear, so excited to know that you loved the book. I had a few places in New Zealand that I loved. Okay actually I loved the whole country and I want to go back. I fell in love with Waiheke Island off the coast of Auckland. I took a boat over there for the afternoon and on the ride over, I realized that the pamphlet describing the island had a picture of a very specific bench that I had unknowingly been using as my desktop background for YEARS (to motivate me to travel):
once i realized that this bench I had been looking at for years was on the TINY island off the coast of NZ, I knew I had to go. So I found that bench, sat on it, and reread Tim Ferriss's Four Hour Workweek, the book that inspired my initial journey. It was a very cool moment for me.
In addition to Waiheke, I loved Queenstown: I went bungee jumping, which is where the happiest photo of me was ever taken:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53...
skydiving (I felt like I was diving into Middle Earth, and loved walking through the town and reading by the lake. I loved many other parts of New Zealand: Abel Tasman, Fox Glacier, and that time I flew a Stunt Plane in Nelson:
once i realized that this bench I had been looking at for years was on the TINY island off the coast of NZ, I knew I had to go. So I found that bench, sat on it, and reread Tim Ferriss's Four Hour Workweek, the book that inspired my initial journey. It was a very cool moment for me.
In addition to Waiheke, I loved Queenstown: I went bungee jumping, which is where the happiest photo of me was ever taken:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53...
skydiving (I felt like I was diving into Middle Earth, and loved walking through the town and reading by the lake. I loved many other parts of New Zealand: Abel Tasman, Fox Glacier, and that time I flew a Stunt Plane in Nelson:
Nick Blanche
@nick_blanche · Digital Designer
@stevekamb That's an epic video! I grew up in a small town 30minutes from Queenstown, a place called Cromwell. Living in Auckland now. If you've ever back over hit me up mate! Would be keen to go on one of your epic quests
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
What is your take on the standing desk?
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
@andrewmettinger I'm not opposed to it, but I don't do it. I am way more creative when I sit, so I sit in a good desk chair (Aeron), and set a timer to get up every 15 minutes and do some mobility. Sometimes I sit in a squat on the ground and answer emails from my laptop, or put the laptop on a counter and do them that way.
I know plenty of people who use standing desks and love them. I tried them and found I struggled to do great writing with them, so I write while sitting, and do other tasks while squatting or standing. Don't overthink it though! The best thing you can do is MOVE frequently.
Alex Carter
@alexcartaz · Operations @ 60dB. Ex-PH Podcasts 😻
Hi Steve, what are your top 3 recommendations to folks just starting to try to get into shape?
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Steve Kamb
@stevekamb · Owner, Nerd Fitness
@alexcartaz Hey Alex! Top 3.
1) Gradual changes that you stick with permanently win out. Don't do a 30 day cleanse or a 90-day sprint and then go back to what you're doing. Start going for a 5 minute walk every day. Do JUST THAT for 1 month, and then add another tiny change.
2) Stop waiting for motivation, instead cultivate discipline. Motivation fades quickly. So create a system that makes it easy for you to do your small habit every day. Recruit a friend to walk with you. Sleep in your walking clothes, put your alarm clock across the room. Have your friend pay $50 to a political cause you hate every time you miss your walk. Reward yourself with a new pair of shoes if you can build the habit for 30 days. I cover this more here: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/...
3) DIET IS EVERYTHING. Sugar is the worst thing that we eat. Get rid of it. Slowly cut back on sodas. Slowly phase out juices. Sugar is what is making us fat. Cut back on sugar and processed foods. Just like #1 though, do this SLOWLY.