Something for every archetype.

Rugged

Clockwise from top left: Wolverine 1000 Mile Boots, Barbour Quilted Jacket, Ace Rivington Oatmeal Sweater, Can You Handlebar Wisdom Beard Oil, Galco Gunleather Canvas & Leather Shell Carrier, Buck 113 Ranger Knife, Timex Easy Reader, The Ultimate American Sock 

Refined

Clockwise from top left: Oppermann London Briefcase, Salt + Dapper Braces, Daniel Wellington Classic York Watch, TRNK Minimalist Playing Cards, Cobbler Union George Boot, Art of Shaving Straight Razor.

Rakish

Clockwise from top left: MyVice Brooklyn Sweats, George Frost Bullet Shield Ring, Nike Flyknit Lunar 2, Beckett & Robb Linen Scarf, Imperial Classic Pomade, Declan Keala Microfiber Pocket Square

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This is going to be a long post, so feel free to tackle it in chunks.

I’ve always been skinny. All of my siblings are. In fact, one brother’s nickname in high school was 2×4. The name all of his friends had for the rest of our family? The 2x Forest.

Because we’re so skinny we’ve always been able to have terrible eating habits. My younger brothers still exist on a diet of Taco Bell, Flaming Hot Cheetos, Five Guys, and grocery store burritos. Unfortunately I, like my dad, started to put on some belly fat around the age of 25.

It was subtle at first, but it slowly started to pack on more and more. Around 26, when I was going through a divorce and dealing with some career stagnancy was when it got to its worst point.

I started to make token efforts to look better. In 2010 I trained for and ran a half marathon – nothing changed. After that I started doing one of Men’s Health’s circuit workouts. I believe it was the Spartacus workout. I did it three days a week for about three months and didn’t see any improvements. Finally, a friend who had just graduated and taken boxing classes while in school asked me to come lift weights with him.

It’s comical to look back on how bad that was. We went to a Planet Fitness and my legs were sore after deadlifting 60 pounds for five sets of five. Between my having a newborn and his wife being pregnant, we would only go sporadically. Again – no change.

In 2013 I got my own membership – again to Planet Fitness, downloaded the Stronglifts app, and started going three times a week. I quickly started to see progress in my lifts, but my form was terrible. In June of 2013 I was squatting 165 on a smith machine (those who know what they’re doing are already cringing). I got about halfway up and felt a nice little tear in my lower back. Being the idiot I was, I tried to finish out that set and ended up limping out of the gym.

I never went in to get my back checked out, but it bugged me for quite a few months. I remember the most painful day was playing a round of nine holes of golf with my boss. When we got to number seven, I was wincing at every step. By the time I got home, it took me a solid five minutes to figure out how to get myself out of the car.

In mid September I got a membership at the local rec center near my home and started doing 5×5 again. That first day I couldn’t deadlift more than the 45 lbs bar without it hurting, but I took it slowly and started to rebuild my strength.

Throughout the entire two-year process of my half attempting to take better care of myself, I went paleo. Most of the time I was really good about it, but the indulgences happened more often than they should have as well. I also didn’t keep track of any calories or macronutrients and at one point I started to see my belly get bigger.

In mid October I was reading over at Kinowear and saw an article talking about a health site called Kinobody. I spent some time digging around the site and learning about Greg O’Gallagher – the man behind the whole operation. Greg was advertising his coaching options and I decided to reach out and see if he was interested in doing some trade. I’d do one of my consultations in exchange for him helping me get into shape. Greg responded fairly quickly and was open to the idea, so we exchanged some basic info and got things rolling.

Here are some basic stats from that first exchange.

Age: 29

Height: 6 feet

Weight: 159 lbs

Waist measurement (right at navel): 32.75 inches

I didn’t give him number of reps, but my current working ranges at the time were

Squat: 95

Deadlift: 85

Military Press: 65

Bench Press: 80

Barbell Row: 60

And here are the photos I sent him:

The first thing I noticed and loved about working with Greg is that he didn’t make me feel like an idiot. I didn’t need to be babied, but it was encouraging to work with someone who was always focusing on both the positives of the progress I’d made, and the attainability of the end result.

He gave me a meal plan, that was based on reaching a certain amount of calories with specific macronutrient requirements, and a three-day-a-week lifting regimen. The mainstay of the lifting program was compound lifts, but there were a few isolated movements that were designed to help bring out my chest and shoulders.

He also sent me a spreadsheet and asked for weekly updates on the key lifts and my primary measurements, along with monthly progress photos.

Conveniently enough we moved the same week that I started working with Greg and there is a Gold’s Gym less than a quarter mile away from our apartment (I’m looking at it right now). Going to a real gym had its pros and its cons. The pros being that I actually had access to the right equipment – so no more smith machine squats. With the biggest con being the fact that I was more than just a little intimidated.

To make an already long story a little bit shorter, I varied between cutting and bulking three times during those first eight months. I cut down to my lowest of 150 lbs by mid March but was still a lot softer than I wanted to be. Greg had me start eating more at that point in order to stimulate more muscle growth. In May, it looked like I was going to be running the Spartan race at the end of June and Greg and I decided to have me start cutting again and supplementing my lifting sessions with some long distance runs and track training. The most difficult thing about those eight months was working out alone. Looking back, I can see that I didn’t push myself as hard as I could and should have because I was afraid of the weight and because my form was poor enough that it prevented me from improving at the right pace.

That race didn’t happen because of a weekend fitting trip to Guatemala. A week after I got back from that trip I had two new guys move into my neighborhood. One – named Treg – was a men’s physique competitor out of Idaho (and now the fitness author for Masculine Style) and the other – Alex – was a firefighter in training who loved lifting weights. I saw both of these guys at church and in the gym and we’d talk, but it took me a couple of weeks to ask them if I could tag along for a workout.

That first round was insane. It happened to be leg day and the approach these two had was killer. Rather than the low volume, heavy weight system Greg had me doing, these two did everything. Some weeks were like Greg’s program, others were complete burnouts with supersets and dropsets, and other still were almost like interval training.

Rather than doing full-body workouts three days a week, Treg and Alex practiced the conventional body builder method of working one muscle group a day, six days a week. I was happy to tag along and have these two spot me, and help me with my form.

Treg had done meal plans before and we talked about my goals and what I wanted to accomplish. As much as I loved what Greg had me doing, I wanted to vary things up a bit and try Treg’s advice. The carbs, protein, and calories went up for three months and then we started cutting 12 weeks before my one year mark.

So what are the results?

Weight: 167.4 lbs

Waist measurement (right at navel): 30.5 inches

Squat: 225 for five

Deadlift: 275 for five

Military Press: 95 for five

Bench Press: 150 for five

And the photos:

I’m conflicted about the changes. It’s easy to see the online gurus and Hollywood superhero transformations that seem to double my results in half the time. I don’t have the six pack I was hoping for and I’m still not deadlifting 400 lbs. All of that being said, there is some serious improvement there and, for a guy who’s 30, has two kids, and never lifted weights consistently before this year, I’m happy with what I’ve done.

Right now I’ve gone back to putting on some more muscle. Calories and carbs are back up, and I’m hoping to get up to 180 to then cut down between 170 and 175. I want to be able to squat 315, deadlift 405, bench 275, and press 135, all by the time I’ve completed year two.

The biggest takeaway is how this has affected the rest of my life. I began getting up at 5:00 in the morning in order to have enough to blog, lift, and spend time with my kids before going to work every day. The discipline to do that wouldn’t have been there had I not already developed more will power when it came to eating right and working out consistently.

I have become addicted to self improvement. If I can control and affect something as gradual as my body, I can exert more influence over every aspect of my life. I’ve never really identified as a victim of anything, but my patience for those who do has decreased drastically as I’ve learned more and more how to developed a central locus of control.

My posture and my breath have improved. My skin is healthier, my sleep is better, and my emotional reactivity is less. I’m more patient with my wife and my kids, but more judgmental of those who are content to stagnate.

And as for style, well my clothes all fit very very differently.

On the left is a shot of me from three years ago. On the right, in a henley of the same cut and size is one of me three weeks ago.

In fact, my biggest hesitation to put on more muscle is that I don’t want to lose more of my established wardrobe. #firstworldproblems, right? While I may have to retire a few suits, slacks, and dress shirts, my T-shirts, henleys, sweaters, and other casual clothing look much better than they did before. I’m not huge, but I’m no longer scrawny.

If you want to know more about what I did, what I liked, what I didn’t, and any other details, sound off in the comments.

No words. Just some inspiration for autumn. Most images pulled from Tumblr.

 

This review has been a long time in the making. In fact, I first created the draft for this post back around the first week of July. At the time of writing, I’d already been shipped two different pairs of Paul Evans shoes and was not happy with the end product. However, I decided to give them a chance to resolve a few concerns privately, before posting anything publicly. I’m glad I did, because I’ve been very happy with the results.

I was first contacted by Paul Evans more than a year ago. At the time, they were just getting off the runway and wanted to let me know about who they were and what they did. We talked about doing a review pair, but their inventory wasn’t going to allow for that until March.

Once their stock came around, we spoke and they sent me a pair of their Brandos – the mainstay in their collection. We went through the basics of sizing, color choices, etc. and a pair was on its way to me.

When they first arrived, I had two major concerns. First, the sizing was wrong, both in the length and width of the shoe. Second, the heel of the insole was raised to a point that made them the most uncomfortable shoes I’d ever worn.

Now, this is a normal part of the review or purchase process. Sizing is standardized but there are always going to be variations between different companies. So thus far, it wasn’t a point against Paul Evans. I reached out, let them know the concern, and we swapped out the pair I had for one a size smaller. Unfortunately, it didn’t alleviate the problem with the width, or with how uncomfortable they were to walk on.

I wore them on three separate days, and each afternoon chastised myself for not bringing an extra pair. They were still too wide – meaning my feet slid around everywhere, and that insole was painful.

This was the point at which I started to write up this review. I wan’t too happy with the shoes and had committed to leaving honest feedback on the site. However, like I mentioned above, I thought it only fair to allow Paul Evans to address the issue privately first.

We had a good chat about my concerns and they asked if I’d give them one last chance by trying out a different shoe – one that was made specifically with a flatter insole (the Martin). I agreed and we swapped shoes one last time.

As can be expected, when this third pair arrived, I was hesitant to even throw them on. But, once I did, all of my concerns dissipated. The width was no longer a concern and the sole, while still having more of a rise in the heel than I’m used to, was minimal enough that it went from being uncomfortable to simply unfamiliar. After two wears, I adapted and haven’t thought about it since.

These shoes have found a regular rotation in my wardrobe.

With Beckett & Robb developing our own shoe line, I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot about what goes into a quality pair. For me, this was never in question with Paul Evans. The Martin is made from one solid piece of Italian calfskin and has a Blake welt. Little details like the shape of the last, the chiseling on the heel, and the texture of the laces are all points in Paul Evans’ favor. It’s obvious that these guys took the time to design shoes that would appeal to men in either hemisphere.

The shape of both pairs I wore was more elongated than those of American brands like Allen Edmonds – making them a little less chunky and a little more streamlined. However, they’re not nearly as pointed and elf-like as many European brands I’ve seen and worn. The balance seems to be just right.

While they do recommend sizing down a half-size, I had to make the jump by a full increment. Men with narrower feet are better off cutting down on the sizing a bit more.

At $399, they’re not cheap. But it should be well established by now that quality comes at a cost. Compared to other shoes in a similar price range, Paul Evans offers up a serious contender from both an aesthetic and a quality perspective.

I, along with many other bloggers, am typically an advocate of timeless style – the idea that there is a difference between style vs fashion; that a man’s clothing should communicate his dignity and rock-solid nature. It’s why I have the Staples series and try to teach men how to define themselves within the Three Archetypes of masculine style. Any long-time reader should not be surprised by this concept.

However, there is always a counterpoint to this argument that has intrigued me.

Being a bit of a history buff, I’ve grown up hearing a quote from Thomas Jefferson

While this is obviously used to teach the principle of having a firm sense of morality. I obviously am drawn to the style aspect of it as well. Sometimes the quote uses the term “fashion” instead of “style,” but the principle is still the same.

Now, we might see powdered wigs, trifold hats, and tights as anything but inherently masculine, but during the life of Jefferson, these were the staples of successful men. We don’t walk out onto too precarious a limb with the assumption that, had Jefferson been a stickler about only wearing country clothing that communicated a more rugged form of manliness, he wouldn’t have been able to exert as much influence with the right people.

But, that’s not the purpose of today’s post. In fact, I believe we’ve significantly beaten that point to death. By now, it should be well understood that a man’s clothing is a tool in his arsenal and it should be used as intentionally and deliberately as any other option at his disposal.

The real gist of this quote – at least when not using it for its intended purpose – is that a little bit of flexibility, trendiness, and fashion sense are appropriate – even for men.

While going through this month’s book, Antifragile, I came across a segment in which the author expresses outright derision for men who wear suits and ties every day. He says that those who wear suits and are clean-shaven are fragile, while those who dress outrageously are antifragile.

I can certainly sympathize with his stance. However, there is a large difference between men who wear suits because they have to, and those who do so because they want to. The former are the white-collar middle management, politicians, lawyers, economists, and other bureaucrats and fragilistas who tend to either tread water or make the world worse. From Taleb, a man at the tail end of the baby boom, the CEO’s, entrepreneurs, and movers and shakers of the world are men who spend more time out of a suit than in one. This aversion to a more buttoned-up appearance is certainly generational and that aspect of it needs to be considered when reading Taleb, but the point is still true. For the Baby Boomers and Generation X, the suit and tie have been the uniform of bureaucrats, not of men with real power. That wasn’t the same for the generation before, and it’s not the same for the up and coming generation either.

Take a look at the above photo. On the left, we see a well-made, well-fitting conservative business suit. This is already hugely better than the expected uniform of the average politician or lawyer, but I wanted to focus on principles other than fit and proportion. Even fitting as well as it does, it’s a conservative business suit. It’s still part of a corporate uniform. On the right, we see an obvious contrast in that this ensemble is pure fashion. The pattern of the cloth in the pants, the height at which they’re cropped, the color of the socks, the length of the jacket, and myriad other details are all indicative of the fact that this outfit belongs nowhere near a corporate environment.

The above binary of style vs fashion is pretty typical. I’ve been guilty of using it myself, but there’s a third element I believe a well-dressed man should consider. It falls between these two extremes, taking the outrage out of the fashion ensemble and the fragile out of the corporate uniform. Let’s call this third type sartorialism.

Unlike conservative business suits, those that Taleb associates with fragility, a sartorialist suit communicates both a desire to dress up, and a bit of the wearer’s personality. On the other hand, unlike an ensemble that’s pure fashion, a sartorial approach isn’t so attention seeking that it’s off putting when out of the specific context in which the outfit is completely appropriate.

Sartorialism is the realm of current trends like stacked bracelets, sockless suits, extra wide lapels, loud sneakers, neapolitan tie knots, and others. These are details that don’t pretend to be timeless, but are still acceptable for the aspiring man to wear without looking like he should never step foot out of the fashion district of a major, coastal city.

A sartorialist approach appreciates old-world details, but turns them on their head. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, it just takes the cart in a different direction. It capitalizes mostly on the Play aspect of the Danger and Play contrast.

In Antifragile, Taleb defines antifragility as the concept of objects or people gaining from disorder. A business suit is a uniform, it contributes to order and is negatively perceived when the man wearing it is taken out of the context of the business world. The same goes for the aggressive fashion ensemble. It certainly creates disorder when worn out of context, but it is intended for a specific, ordered audience. Fashion has little-to-no place in the business world. Sartorialism is antifragile. A suit or ensemble like the two pictured above will communicate abundance and an embrace of risk whether they are worn in a business or casual setting. They create disorder by breaking from the norm, and proceed to strengthen the image of the man wearing them.

So if a man finds himself feeling overly restricted in his traditional business wear, but knows it’s inappropriate to dress like a runway model, a sartorial approach may be just the thing he needs to separate himself from the pack.