I lost the battle against life, and I have thoroughly mastered the lean muscle theory.

On September 9, Justin Sun announced the meta answer for the new era: Sun Studies, Blonde Guy, Lean Muscle.

To explain what the "meta answer" means, using Honor of Kings, Sun's favorite game, as an example, it refers to the most successful playstyle for each season, the success philosophy that best fits the era.

In the new set of success philosophy courseware, "Sun Studies" has gained relatively wide popularity, while the terms "Lean Muscle" and "Blonde Guy" are relatively niche, proposed by another founding figure Shao Allen.

The meaning is easy to understand: the Lean Muscle theory advocates that men should pursue a lean, defined physique with clear muscle lines, which not only builds physical fitness, but also enhances male charm and personal competitiveness.

The Blonde Guy theory advocates learning the laid-back attitude stereotypically associated with the "blonde guy" archetype, especially in romantic relationships: not being constrained by social norms, daring to think and act, and having a strong sense of self-worth.

The implied meaning of Chifeng sesame seed pancake is "accept your losses gracefully", while the core of the Lean Muscle and Blonde Guy theory is a smooth path to success. The two sets of theories respectively govern physical state and mentality, pursuing both material progress and spiritual progress. After mastering them, one can join the ranks of elite men in the new era.

Constant thinking will eventually bring an echo. A month later, Justin Sun and Shao Allen held a historic meeting, with a 4-hour live discussion themed "How Young People Can Seize Opportunities in the AI Era", the core of which includes the following three points:

Zero cost, no money required, not a single cent to spend.

Since then, the Lean Muscle and Blonde Guy theory became an instant hit, and the new internet "win philosophy" ushered in a theoretical explosion. Follow-up theories such as the Plenty of Water theory and the Plenty of Sleep theory emerged one after another, with continuous major theoretical innovation achievements coming out.

The Plenty of Water theory advocates drinking 1-liter large bottles of mineral water, which is clean and hygienic, healthier than coffee and milk tea, cheap and does not cause heartburn; the Plenty of Sleep theory is even simpler: sleep for at least 8 hours a day, sleep as much as you like, and you will reach the peak of life.

From body management, romantic relationships to daily water intake and sleep schedules, a theoretical system covering all aspects of life has taken shape rapidly, and is even listed as one of the four great classics of contemporary times.

Mankind has officially entered the era of grand theories.

Grand Theories

The origin of all this starts with Shao Allen, the godfather of lean muscle.

Shao Allen originally ran a Bilibili channel focused on awkward cross-server English chats and paid English teaching courses. Through random video chats, pranks and small talk with foreign netizens, he let audiences get exposed to spoken English in entertainment and persuade them to pay for his courses.

But this track is crowded with players at home and abroad including New Oriental and Duolingo. Even Daniel Wu could not make a success here, so ordinary people have no way out (damn the capital). Therefore, Shao Allen decided to build his own personal IP.

Possibly inspired by influencer Feng Ge, Shao Allen transformed into a contemporary male life mentor, published his landmark work "Why Do I Advise All Men to Train for Lean Muscle?"[1], put forward a brand new meta answer for men, became famous overnight, and was honored as the godfather of lean muscle.

The guiding ideology of this theory is that men should not just be thin, but also have muscle; having muscle alone is not enough, if your body fat percentage is too high, the hard-earned muscle lines will be covered. After weighing the pros and cons, the optimal solution comes out: lean muscle.

It can not only build physical fitness, but also attract the opposite sex. 40 minutes a day, and you will see results if you persist.

With the theoretical framework in place, a methodology is still needed. A few days later, Shao Allen released the "Bible of Lean Muscle": "How to Build Lean Muscle? Training, Diet and Fat Loss Explained Thoroughly in One Go"[2].

From progressive overload to protein intake, from calorie surplus to fat loss methods, he has paved a bright road called lean muscle for the majority of men.

According to the godfather, the most important thing about fitness is to let people re-establish the connection between action and result: go to train today, increase the weight tomorrow, persist for a long time, and your body will change. What you get from this is not only muscle, but also willpower, self-confidence, and a sense of control over life.

Lean muscle practitioners are strategic reserve resources for the country, lean muscle is the strategic reserve resource for the practitioners, muscle is the personal bank account. Eating more protein to build muscle is equivalent to making bank deposits. You can earn money again if you lose it, and you can make a living doing heavy physical work even with lean muscle.

Justin Sun's beloved teacher Claude also told him: you may be rich materially, but you are poor physically[4].

A set of fitness tutorials has completed the theoretical leap from body management to life philosophy.

Shao Allen claimed that with his contribution of lowering the body fat percentage of Chinese men by 2%, his achievement is perfectly better than that of a Harvard graduation certificate, and the next step is to enter the hall of fame to choose his favorite drink.

On September 15, Shao Allen further released "You Need Blonde Guy Mindset"[3], adding new content to the theoretical system.

East Asian honest people have mixed feelings about the blonde guy archetype: the blonde guy does not listen in class, fails exams, rides a modified scooter ostentatiously through the streets, has no good qualities at all, but surprisingly the goddess that the honest people have been chasing hard will sit on the back seat of his electric bike.

The Blonde Guy theory emphasizes that you do not need to research chat lines, do not need to repeatedly figure out a girl's attitude, do not act as a bootlicker or loser, just be a layabout and enjoy everything.

Netizens' comments when they saw someone taking notes

With a solid theoretical foundation, Shao Allen invited Justin Sun to join the Lean Muscle Club. The two co-hosted a 4-hour podcast, and the Lean Muscle theory swept the internet.

Later, the Plenty of Water theory, Plenty of Sleep theory, and Big Meal theory came out one after another, which not only enriched the theoretical system, but also served as a quick guide for growing accounts on Douyin and Xiaohongshu. The success philosophy circle on Chinese internet has ushered in a period of letting a hundred schools of thought contend.

The Plenty of Water theory requires a daily intake of 1.5 liters of pure water, the Plenty of Sleep theory requires strictly 8 hours of sleep every day, the Big Meal theory advocates healthy eating, and the Big Pot theory emphasizes controlling oil and salt intake.

In general, it is summarized as "four bigs and three smalls": plenty of water, plenty of sleep, plenty of exercise, plenty of protection, low sugar, low sodium, low spice.

You can achieve cognitive upgrading just by drinking water, sleeping and cooking, you only need to buy a 1.5-liter bottle of bottled water to get on board. Not spending a single cent, you can become a winner in life.

Grand Problem Solving

Grand theories, grand success, grand results, all boil down to grand problem solving.

Problem solving is a specialty of the education system in the East Asian cultural circle that treats students like pigs being fattened for slaughter, which is embodied in categorized courses, meticulous management, and highly unified assessments.

Its core is an extreme form of instrumental rationality:

It has clear secular goals (getting into university), clear instrumental means (doing a large number of exercises), quantifiable calibration methods (national college entrance examination), all unhelpful activities (playing games / dating) should be abandoned, and every second of energy should be put into practical things.

This system is highly controversial, but it is undeniable that problem solving provides a precious thing for social individuals: certainty.

By calculating input and output, comparing cost and benefit, you can find the path with the highest efficiency and best return. Roll up your sleeves and get pumped up, every effort pays off, no pains no gains.

Why do middle-aged people start working out as soon as they can? Because fitness, like problem solving, is also a form of instrumental rationality:

It has clear secular goals (health), clear instrumental means (exercising), quantifiable calibration methods (body fat percentage), and visible positive feedback (physique).

The pain of middle-aged people is that the problems in the college entrance examination are specific, but the problems in life are abstract. They can handle the last big math problem on the test paper with ease; but they can't figure out for a whole weekend why the 5 users converted from AI red envelopes did not stay active.

It is Q4 again soon. Compared with the DAU that can hardly be boosted even with all efforts, and the user retention that cannot be improved no matter what methods you try, working out is the thing that allows people to taste the long-lost happiness of "no pains no gains".

The moment when East Asian people secrete the most dopamine is when they realize "I have done this problem before".

The underlying color of all grand theories is grand problem solving:

The Plenty of Sleep theory tells you that if you sleep 8 hours a day, you will have abundant energy easily; the Big Meal theory tells you that eating 500g of green leafy vegetables every day can reduce inflammation and control calorie intake; the Plenty of Eggs theory tells you that eating 3 boiled eggs a day can meet your daily protein requirement.

The grand result theory divides beauty levels into small beauty and top beauty, and uses the Tian Ji's horse racing strategy to achieve class ascent; the Lean Muscle, Plenty of Water and Blonde Guy theories take the self as the method, achieving low cost and high effect. All things that can bring returns after effort are quantified as test points.