Calm Before the Storm

This post will be relatively short as I will likely take the next week off from posting and have a larger post the following week that encompasses two weeks.

Personal Updates

This past week regarding my body I have planned to start prepping for a max out test prior to the last week of May because I will be away from gyms. I want to get a new baseline for my strength levels before going into the summer and I think this is the best time to do so. I have struggled with weird and random injuries and maybe taking a week off from the weights and doing strictly band and bodyweight work I will be set for the summer body-wise. I am excited to really get after it this summer and continue to get into great shape so I can finish out my football career strong and play at my best.

I was also able to go down to Princeton and visit this weekend for graduation which was really nice. I got to see a lot of my friends that I have not seen in over a year and it was nice to see things opening up a bit more. The most recent update on masks and social distancing for the vaccinated has been pretty good news across the board and I am pretty confident that this fall will be relatively normal regarding life on campus both in athletics, and on the social scene.

Books/Podcasts

I really have not been reading that much lately as my schedule has gotten progressively more packed and I have squeezed different things in as substitutes, but I hope once I get in a routine for the summer that I will be able to get back to reading a lot again, even if I am reading more slowly. I think that I need to definitely stop using my phone as much and I need to have alternatives that I enjoy so being selective about the books I am reading or content I am consuming will help with that.

Podcast-wise I have caught back up on both of the main podcasts that I have been listening to which are an investing podcast and the Daily Stoic. I think that I will maybe venture out and try some other popular podcasts, maybe looking for guests that I know of or have read their books because sometimes you need to hear information over and over again and in different formats in order for it to really sink in.

Gratitude

I definitely feel that I have had this as my gratitude post before but I would like to reiterate my gratitude for my friends. I have definitely felt isolated for the past several months with not as many people around and just doing the same thing over and over again more or less staying at home. It was great to be able to see so many people that I have not seen in person for over a year and to feel all the energy and happiness that graduation brought about. I am excited for this next week to spend more time with these various friends and to switch up the pace of what I have been doing.

Another thing that I think helped to give me some perspective was walking around campus and seeing different friendgroups together made me realize how isolated I am on campus. I do not really venture out much beyond my major, club, or athletics, and so I want to make it a goal next year to branch out to different groups and meet some of the various super interesting people that make up my new class. I saw a lot of people meeting people for the first time on graduation day which while better than not meeting at all, is kind of bittersweet. I hope that I will be able to start with the members of my club and hopefully get introduced to more and more people next year and really take advantage of the limited time that I have in such a unique environment.

The Battle Against Biology and Evolution

The Battle Against Biology and Evolution Thoughts as of 6/6/24 Something that has come up again and again in my quest for physical fitness and happiness is the unavoidable fact that we are products of evolution and at the mercy of our biology. The problem is, we have escaped the food chain and these systems no longer serve us. The more you learn about the processes of the body whether it be chemical balances, circadian rhythms, impacts of light, exercise, and food, etc. etc. there are evolutionary reasons why things are the way that they are. We are beings that are optimized to survive and reproduce and things that serve that purpose give us good feelings and things that do not, do not. This does not lead to optimum behavior in today’s world. One example of circadian rhythms and our biological clocks is in the impact of light on biological processes. If it were up to us, we would probably want to divorce these clock signals from light exposure so as to be able to stay up late using art...

The Adventure of Truth

The Adventure of Truth I have heard from several disparate sources in the past few weeks the notion that following the truth is the most adventurous way to live one’s life. Initially, this sounds like some trite saying you would see on a bumper sticker or a t-shirt that someone wears to the gym, but the more I have thought about it, the more it has resonated. The best thing about reading books and articles and listening to podcasts and audiobooks across different fields has been the connection of ideas and principles that start to take shape. The core attestation in the truth equals adventure claim is that by using truth as a guide, we cede control to the powers that be outside of our rational mind and operate by some “feeling” instead. This sounds a bit woo-woo, but then again, the esoteric is what I find to be the most interesting when it comes to thought experiments. I heard from another source - the creator of Veggie Tale’s autobiography to be exact - that there is almost assuredly...

THE TRUTH

God is Real. Jesus is Exactly Who He Said He Was. That’s the message. Simple. Complete. If you know, you know. If you don’t yet, maybe this will help you start to see it. I’m not a preacher. I’m not a prophet. I’m just a guy named David Hoffman who stumbled into the most beautiful truth there is, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it. My only job is to point. Like a decoder. Not to tell you what to think, but to help you look where I looked. The SparkNotes to Finding the Truth Life is messy. Painful. Loud. But there’s an order behind it all, like music underneath static. Here's the shortcut: Pray – Even if you don't believe, even if it feels weird. Get on your knees. Ask for help. Ask for clarity. Pray to whatever you think might be listening. You're not alone. Look and Listen – The signs are there. Always have been. In music. In movies. In the people around you. They start as coincidences, but eventually you'll see the pattern. God is subtle, but never silent. Beli...

Nobody Cares

Nobody Cares Not to sound too pessimistic, but I think it is true at the end of the day. This is more from a principles perspective than anything else. I think it is probably beneficial to live your life thinking that nobody cares about what you are doing. A chip on your shoulder attitude is part of this mindset, in that it may be helpful to live life as if you have something to prove and that you should make people care about you. However, I feel like the more important interpretation of this quote that is likely fundamentally true, is that people think about you a heck of a lot less than you think they do. In my life, if I take the portion of my waking thoughts that are about my own thoughts, feelings, biases, actions, past, present, and future, and put that over the portion of externally focused thoughts, it would probably round to zero. Not that I am overtly selfish or have a huge ego, but it is just impractical for 99% of people to genuinely think about others more than them...

Diet and Nutrition

Thoughts as of November 2024 - subject to change as I learn more - feel free to poke holes, always happy to be corrected. Many people over the past few years have asked me for tips and tricks about diet and nutrition. I have gone into detail with people on an individual basis over text/dm, on phone calls, or in person, but I felt it would be helpful for me and others to spell out some of my thoughts in greater detail. This serves a dual benefit of forcing me to list out my thoughts and having something to point to for others to look into at their convenience. Also, over time it will be interesting with new studies and experiences to see how I revise my own beliefs My advice to you People often get annoyed with me when they ask a simple question about nutrition. “Is this good?” “Is this bad?” The answer is, it depends. Some will ask what brands of products that I use, and sure, I could tell someone to eat xyz food or use this supplement, but if you do not understand the reasoning behind...

“How do you do life without a coach?”

“How do you do life without a coach?” Thoughts as of 6/12/24 This question comes from a recent conversation with a friend contemplating life post athletics. For people not involved in athletics past a certain level, this may not resonate. However, I think that the longer one stays within a sport, and the more of one’s time that sport takes up (highly correlated I’d imagine), this will likely strike a chord. Further, I think it is more of a commentary on the schooling system writ large rather than something narrowly confined to athletics. The lesson should ring true to anyone finding themselves in the midst of uncertainty, but an example will be helpful in illustrating the point. Speaking from my own experience, I had always been involved in competitive sports. I started at probably 5 years old and continued until I was 22. The myriad benefits of athletics have been widely touted my whole life, such as increased discipline, teamwork, leadership, etc. but I think that there is a som...

You Are What You Eat - Literally!

You Are What You Eat - Literally! Thoughts as of 5/30/2024 These thoughts have been percolating for a few months now since I first heard the concept mentioned on a podcast. It seems so incredibly simple and obvious, and yet, after 25 years of living, I was and am blown away. We have all heard the saying, “You are what you eat.” It sounds trite and meaningless, and until I heard it expressed in this specific way, I dismissed it as nothingness. In fact, I imagine most people do the same, and I am not sure the originator of the quote intended the meaning in the way I now interpret it. As an athlete, I would always hear analogies along the lines of treating your body like a racecar. You need to take care of the racecar to make sure it is operating at peak efficiency. When it came to food, this was more so fuel for the racecar, or gasoline. You would not just put any old thing into a racecar and expect it to perform at its best. Similarly, as an athlete who wants to perform at a high level,...

Ego - Lifting and Otherwise

Ego - Lifting and Otherwise Thoughts as of 4/15/2024 These thoughts have been percolating for some time, and there are many more illustrative examples outside of lifting, but I feel that the point is easier made with lifting. In terms of religious or philosophical concepts, I have a lot of work to do to understand what exactly the ego is, and what exactly pride is, but I know they are both very dangerous. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity made me think about pride more seriously for the first time. All of the quotes about pride being the worst sin, or compared to the devil himself I was able to brush past as hyperbole, but upon reflection, it makes sense. Similarly, ego I have never taken all that seriously; however, books like Ryan Holiday’s Ego is the Enemy, and other schools of thought that warn of the dangers of ego have been a part of my knowledge consumption over the past few years. One of the catalysts for taking these concepts more seriously was an instance in the weight room and...

Weekly Updates 4/3-4/6/2025

"I know that I know nothing” - Socrates This one goes out to all my fans! Just kidding. I yearn for the days when these posts got zero views. I have been perfecting the art of the shake and bake lately. A lot of shaking over the past few weeks, currently still baking. Still shaking, for that matter. Shake, and then bake. Stay Tuned...

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