In the ample Instagram documentation of Marcuss life, he is loose and muscular from frequent workouts and engagement in adult play. Since the ideal dayas road-mapped in his 2018 book, Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping, and Sexbegins with sun exposure, his skin is an impossible rose-gold color, and its covered in tattoos featuring indigenous imagery. He could be the taller, younger, chiller, American brother of Tom Hardy. Marcuss stated mission is to help as many people as possible, and because one aspect of that mission is accomplished by demonstrating the physical effectiveness of the Onnit principles, he is often shirtless. Which is why, when Marcus enters the penthouse at the Line hotel in Austin wearing a blazer with a large black-and-white floral print, I dont immediately clock him.
Onnit Founder Aubrey Marcus Is on a (Trippy) Quest to Be a Better Man
THE FIRST TIME I see Aubrey Marcus, at the winter holiday party for his fitness empire, Onnit, I dont recognize him. I should. There are thousands of videos and photos of him modeling a program called Total Human Optimization, which is exactly what it sounds like: Marcuss quest for perfection via Onnit workouts, aggressive introspection, and high-end nootropic supplements from his line of Alpha Brain products. Marcuss version of optimization involves activities like throwing an ax while smoking a cigar, recording a podcast episode on seeking out discomfort (Do Hard Shit) with his business partner Joe Rogan, and soliciting money for the further study of psilocybin mushrooms. Paradise. Here. Now, the 38-year-old offers over the kind of flower-opening, wave-crashing footage seen in Terrence Malicks headier films. They say life is suffering. Fuck that!
Marcuss arrival is heralded by a susurrus of excitement from Onnit staffers in formalwear. Aubrey is here! they say to one another, delighted. The groupmostly men, mostly white, mostly very athletic, all extremely devoted to Marcusis his tribe. Many of them found Marcus while they were looking for meaning, cobbling together a nontoxic way to try to be better, relying on everything from sustainably farmed Onnit krill oil to the usable remains of old-world maleness. If they werent with Marcus, you might see them kipping at a CrossFit box or being the most intense person at a 6:00 a.m. SoulCycle class. You could catch them quoting Marcuss buddies Jordan crisis of masculinity Peterson, Tim 4-Hour Workweek Ferriss, and Rob outrage porn Holiday. You might read their Reddit threads discussing keto, ayahuasca, and fasting, stuff they first heard about on The Joe Rogan Experience, the number-one podcast on iTuneswhich is, of course, hosted by the Onnit co-owner. Since Marcus is the archetype of the brolosophercatholic in his curiosities, secure in his insecurities, unsettlingly earnest, and always DTFits no wonder that he has become his own source of purpose with his followers.
MARCUS KNEW HE was qualified to lead people to human optimization when he was 14. Were sitting in his office at Onnit HQ, a room in a converted warehouse space that feels as though Justin Bieber decorated a shamans tent. There is a replica skull holding a crystal in its golden teeth; a painting of a woman with hearts shooting out of her eyes and branches growing out of her head; a kettlebell that looks to be modeled after the Joe Rogan Experience avatar, complete with a third eye.
After finishing an intravenous banana bag of what the traveling nurse from IVitamin tells me is vitamins, minerals, and saline while recording a promo encouraging viewers to revisit his interview with Jordan Peterson, Marcus tells me how I started to get the inclination that I had something to contribute. His parents had just moved to Austin from Los Angeles in 1995, and he discovered Texas has what he calls a lot of capital-R Religion. Marcus continues, I saw a lot of people who were suffering from a lot of fear and a lot of guilt and a lot of shame about things that didnt make sense to me. At first he believed that he might, like Christopher Hitchens or the Latin philosopher Lucretius, help ease peoples pain by telling them, Listen, all of this is nonsense. Stop being superstitious.
But then, he says, I went on my vision quest when I was 18, and I had my first experiential experience with what I felt like was an authentic spirituality to me: a psilocybin journey in the mountains. Marcus recounts how he felt that his body evaporated while his consciousness remained. He realized his mission was not to dispel the myth of God; it was, he says, to refine what that is. Its just to actually talk about whats real. Just as a musician knows when an instrument is out of tune, Marcus says he can tell what is true and what isnt and has used this bullshit meter to sift through ideas like Toltec beliefs (big on personal freedom) and the work of literal sorcerers apprentice Carlos Castaneda (there are no blessings or curses, just challenges). He studied classics and philosophy at the University of Richmond, where he was also in a fraternity.
The high-low, fuck-yeah-big-ideas style persists. After Marcus tells me that his aptitude for naming truths is invaluable in conflict mediation, I ask how he would have handled a situation I was in recently, when two women started yelling at me at a Celine Dion concert. You look at someone like Viktor Frankl, Marcus says of the writer and Holocaust survivor in a contemplative tone. He was in Auschwitz. And he says, The last of the human freedoms is the ability to choose our attitude toward any given situation. He couldnt get out of Auschwitz. You couldnt get away from these bitches.
Marcus has a dizzying conversational effect; its hard to tell whether youre soaring toward galaxy-brain revelations or just getting high on hot air. He is able to take an idea that is inherently truesay, that humans used to spend more time outdoors and be more physically active and that both things are goodand use it to tell you why you need to buy Alpha Brain nootropic supplements featuring ingredients like oat straw and cats claw; or get an Onnit-brand steel mace, a warrior-training tool first used in ancient Persia; or sign up for Fit for Service, a $12,500-a-year series of retreats that purport to ready you to help others by first helping yourself (airfare not included). The most important things are free, Marcus says. How are you breathing? Are you getting enough sunlight? Are you drinking enough water? Are you moving? Are you having sex? These are the things that shouldnt have a monetary value associated with them. Most of us do have money that we spend on stuff. So this is just one option that I think is a good place to spend money: optimizing the self. As a non-Onnit member of the elite fitness community tells me, Aubrey is really good at coming up with stuff to sell. Using a kettlebell is not rocket science, but Onnit will make it rocket science. Aubrey is calculatedly genuine.
Marcuss journey from spiritual awakening to lifestyle mogul was certainly a savvy harnessing of a seemingly authentic impulse toward physical and spiritual health. In his 20s, he created a personal blog called Warrior Poetand you have to believe this was an honest-to-God calling, because no one plans to get rich on a poetry empirethen started a podcast in 2011. Ten years ago, in podcastings nascency, Joe Rogan launched The Joe Rogan Experience, which at that point did not have any advertisers. Luckily enough, Marcuss stepfather happened to be the founder and owner of the masturbation--assistance-tool company Fleshlight and was willing to buy ads for the sex toy on Rogans show. Was this an overture to Marcus and Rogans eventual business partnership? I always definitely felt like me and Joe had a lot in common, so its fair to say that I hoped some kind of friendship would develop, Marcus says carefully. But! I didnt have any objectives from that meeting. I didnt have another company or any kind of way that could benefit me at the time.
That didnt mean there wasnt one coming. Over the next two years, Marcus began appearing on Rogans podcast and founded Onnit with a combined $110,000 investment from a contact made during his brief time working in the finance industry and from a friend, Olympic gold--medal skier Bode Miller. (That was a very good investment, Marcus says of Millers founding stake. About 100 times [return].) The companys initial aim was to help people on a baser level: with hangovers, which Marcus sold supplements to prevent and cure. (FDA regulation for supplements is much less strict than it is for drugs.) But despite filling a need that was (at least for the then-hard--partying Marcus) real, the company was failing. So after taping an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Marcus asked his new buddy, Hey, man, what supplement would you like the most? Rogan said, Well, I would like a nootropic, a natural cognitive enhancer. Marcus responded, All right, well, Im going to try to make the best one thats ever existed. Rogan told him to go for it, and he launched what would be Alpha Brain. Developing a line of products was more feasible for Marcus than it was for the average supplement entrepreneur because his stepmother, Janet Zand, was a specialist in herbal and natural medicine. When Marcus was growing up, Zand would test the effect of products on his academic and athletic performance. After Alpha Brain sold out three times before the first payment was due to the manufacturer, Rogan and Marcus officially went into business together.
In 2014, the duo opened the Onnit Gym in Austin. Marcus says that because we didnt really have a strong foundation in fitness education, they partnered with veteran trainer Joe DeFranco, who opened DeFrancos Gym at Onnit Academy based on a grounded, classical approach to strength training. Eventually, Marcus met John Wolf, the trainer who would develop Onnits techy approach to primal moves, the kind of intricate kettlebell flows and mace and club wielding you can see Marcus showing off on Instagram. We felt that our own training methodology was as good as or better than DeFrancos for what our needs were, Marcus says of the switch to Onnits signature style in 2016which, of course, requires a specific set of Onnit--supplied tools to take part in. It just made sense to say, Hey, thank you for everything so far, but weve got it from here. Its all love from here on out.
Ian Desmond was working in Onnits smoothie shop in 2017 when Marcus hired him as his assistant, eventually promoting him to chief of staff. (The 32-year-old still sometimes makes Marcuss smoothies.) Desmond, who has a borderline-psychic ability to amiably anticipate Marcuss needs (a seltzer, a moment of peace), is explaining that his boss is about to embark on a social-media fast and then a two-month sabbatical when a 29-year-old man sporting a novelty Christmas jacket walks up. What do you do at Onnit? I ask. This is Erick Godsey, Desmond says. Then he jokes, Hes director of fire. Godseys roommate, video producer Wyatt Hagerty, tells me, Erick sees into every part of you. Its like living with a mystical owl. Im Aubreys external brain, Godsey kind of explains. Later he more helpfully clarifies that, in addition to serving as director of content, he leads seminars on dream interpretation. A lot of people have dreams about Aubrey, Godsey says. Two days from now, Desmond, Godsey, and I will take part in an ecstatic dance based on the heros journey.
Before Marcus gives his end-of-year speech urging his 190 employees to think about the impact of Onnit rather than its growth to $70 million a year in revenue, Desmond leads me to the bar to meet him. Marcuss skin appears to be lit by Christs halo, or Kim Kardashian Wests selfie mirror. He does not wear deodorant but smells of sandalwood. His warm handshake exerts the amount of pressure precisely in the center of the Venn diagram of power and comfort. Can you eat that food? I say, pointing to the spread of roast beef and aggressively un-keto bread. Well, the more I eat, the more Ill have to drink, Marcus says, sighing and tinkling the ice in his mescal. (In Own the Day, he recommends being a cheap date and imbibing on an empty stomach after a workout so intoxication is reached with less alcohol.) I compliment him on both the attractiveness and friendliness of the Onnit staff and ask if hes a good judge of character. Im good at reading people, Marcus says with a smirk halfway between beatific and skeptical. But Ive made mistakes before.
THE ONNIT EMPIRE co-belongs to Marcus and Roganthe gym and attendant merch, the Austin chain Black Swan Yoga, and Alpha Brain, which is frequently mentioned on The Joe Rogan Experience. But, Marcus says, Aubrey Marcus owns Aubrey Marcus. He is the sole proprietor of his eponymous personal brand, the spiritual wing of the operationencompassing Fit for Service and his books and other courseworkand the element that sets Onnit apart from most other lifestyle companies. Today, five of Onnits employees also work closely on Aubrey Marcus.
Theres some crossover in my personal brand, Marcus says. Obviously theres mutual benefit to things like my podcast, because I get to talk about Onnit and put in Onnit commercials for free and things like that. My social media also benefits Onnit. The bigger my following is when I promote Onnit, the more that benefits it. In other words, Onnit is bigger than Marcus, but Marcus is more than just Onnit. And their symbiotic relationship is, in Marcus--speak, a perfect example of flow: a state of being in the zone (or, yes, on it) that leads to a nearly flawless, and in this case very lucrative, run.
All this stuffthe vocabulary, the use of proprietary items like the HydroCore water dynamic weight bagfeels like currency you can only spend with the Aubrey Marcus tribe. But pledging yourself to it can have value. I meet two people who were hired after doing Fit for Service, and Erick Godsey came on after taking Marcuss Go for Your Win course. (He was so active in commenting that when Marcus announced a job opening, Godsey says the other members of the community told Marcus he should hire him.) Acolytes are natural employees when the business is, well, you. No wonder Marcuss own teachings have been probably my best talent--acquisition tool, he says.
The people around Marcus tend not to be consumers of news or politics. (I feel like it will trickle down to me if I need to hear it, Godsey tells me.) Many are proponents of plant medicine like mushrooms and ayahuasca, which theyve traveled to South America to partake in. Nothing holds us accountable like the plant holds us accountable, Marcus says. On a 49 degree day in December, I watch Godsey and Hagerty remove their shirts and walk around the office park to get some sun. Marketing and advertising manager Sky King finds a tweet he wrote five years ago, when he was 21, and reads it aloud to his colleagues. Imagine that your life is nothing more than a story, he says. Whoa, Godsey responds. Screenshot that and send it to me. We were meant to meet. I talk to a few women who work for Marcus: Caitlyn Howe, a 36-year-old Fit for Service coach who used to date Marcus and is a friend, and 31-year-old art director Stefanie McBride, who describes the work of cultural feminist writer Wednesday Martin and is greeted by a lighthearted round of derision. Yeah, the patriarchy is so terrible, one of her male colleagues says.
Pew Research Center reports that 22 percent of millennials, the age bracket overwhelmingly encountered at Onnit, never attend religious services. And perhaps youve noticed the deadening effect of social media. Marcus has given the victims of this condition a framework for a relatively virtuous, if insular, life. If you look at the number-one killer, people think its being overweight or people think its smoking, he says. But loneliness has the biggest effects on human health. I think community is one of the biggest things were missing. So Marcus has given his followers a community...of people just like themselves. Hes given them the mission to help as many people as possible...who are willing to join that same community.
The implicit promise of Onnit and Marcuss personal brand seems to be that if you follow the rules, you will one day be as good and beloved as Marcus. It feels like the same kind of top-shelf wellness aspiration that Gwyneth Paltrows Goop is selling. I actually think that works against us more than for us, Marcus says. People end up saying, Well, Ill never be Gwyneth or Ill never be Aubrey, so why the fuck even try? What we keep trying to reinforce is: Your best is really whats important. Your best version of you is just as good as my best version of me.
To spread the gospel as widely as possible, Marcus must record himself exemplifying it. But isnt it tiring to be on a fully displayed quest for perfection? I spend only three days with Marcusand merely watch, rather than participate in, the podcast he records and the volleyball game he plays and the elaborate, boulder-stacking photo shoot he takes part inand I feel like Im coming down with something. (Chief of staff Desmond gives me some vitamin C and some Onnit immunity-boosting supplements; I dont wind up getting sick.)
Yeah, Marcus says, looking like hes ready for his winter sabbatical to start now. It gets exhausting when Im so focused on where Im going rather than just enjoying the process of doing it. On August 11, 2018, Marcus lost consciousness while driving his Tesla. When he awoke, the car was totaled and his face flayed by the guardrail. Metaphysically, he says, I think I was in a position of extreme stress and taking care of a lot of people, both in my intimate romantic relationships and through the company. And I think some subconscious part of me wanted to stop taking care of people and get taken care of. Marcus leans back and considers his current level of happiness. Have I always enjoyed myself the most? he asks, crossing one Gucci-sneakered foot over the other. No, I havent. And if I have any single regret in my life, I wish it was more fun. That doesnt mean that the ego doesnt like it. Because ultimately the ego adjusts to what you normally get and is always reaching for more; its insatiable. It always wants more, more, more, more, more.
To Marcuss credit, he shares his failings as freely as he does photos of his abs. This past November, he very publicly embarked on a six-month sex fast that ended nine days later in his hand. I finally came to the conclusion that the reason why it was so hard and the reason why I was suffering so much was because I didnt love myself independently of other women loving me through sexual intimacy. That was how I received their love: Okay, you say you love me, but will you sleep with me? Thats what was in my head. So without that external source, then I was completely miserable. Soon after Marcus masturbated, he coincidentally received a book by Kamal Ravikant called Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It, which gives a framework for the titular self-love.
Marcus plans to practice during an upcoming seven- to ten-day darkness retreat in Frankfurt, Germany. If he doesnt tap out early, he will have no light at all during that time. Im either going to go mad or Im going to go sane, Marcus says. What Im hoping to gain from it is freedom from having to do everything and just be radically with myselfwhom he will hopefully learn to love more. He also hopes to kick his sleep-aid habit; hes taken Xanax or Valium at night for years. (All those medications are crutches, says Marcus. In certain situations, applying a crutch like that is helpful. But if you used a crutch for too long, then your muscles are going to atrophy, and youre not actually going to get stronger. Youre going to get weaker. And I think thats the same with a lot of these pharmaceuticals. They all play their role, but more intelligent and more personal ownership about the utilization of them is important.)
Given Marcuss newfound quest to untether from external validation, it seems safe to assume this will be an intensely personal experience. But, he says, if I knew that I could never talk to anybody about what I learned from the darkness retreat, I would have far less motivation to do it. Thered be less of a value proposition on the other side. So when Im at day three in that darkness retreat, and Im like, I just want to get the fuck out of here, I know that if I stay, Ill be able to share that value with more people. If a man finds enlightenment in the dark and doesnt Instagram about it, did he even find enlightenment at all?
THE LIFESTYLE GURU'S challenge is to always have just discovered the new secret to getting it right. Yes, that means they were doing it wrong before, but now they have it down, they swear. Well, they think they do. Come on this journey with them and buy into the program and youll figure it out together. But is it really a trick if Marcus admits that hes merely shambling along like the rest of us, albeit in a better-looking package? Is it actually a scam if his followers appreciate that a religion whose text is written in tweets and podcast transcripts is ephemeral enough not to be dogmatic? That it allows their leader to admit his mistakes and evolve? The heros journey is the cycle that Marcus believes we continually experience in our lives as we take on new challenges, and that serves as the basic plot structure for everything from The Wizard of Oz to Star Wars. When I ask Marcus how far along he is on his journey, he of course says hes seizing the sword, the stage directly following the ordeal.
Appropriately, the ecstatic dance hes hosting at Onnit is themed around the heros journey. Twelve songs, twelve stages, from living in the ordinary world to returning with the elixir. This unrestrained dance, free and open to the first 60 people who RSVP, is normally done in the dark and is supposed to provide emotional release, especially for men. No fewer than three of his male employees explain to me that men have restricted their patterns of movement and that Ill see grown men cry tonight. However, there is a photographer from Mens Health here, so the freedom of not being seen has been removed. But Marcus wants the athleisure-clad group to know that this is in fact a good thing: Were giving the world the opportunity to learn about ecstatic dance!
Wanna Be a Baller plays, then the Glitch Mob, and eventually Marcus loses his shirt and tells the photographer to leave and were alone in the dark, dancing ecstatically, guided through our journey by Marcuss reassuring, fuck-laden speech. Godsey is in front of me in a wide, hip-wiggling squat, arms and face spread to the sky. Desmond leaves at one point to tell the DJ to turn the music up, because he senses Marcus is displeased with the volume. We end on the floor, flush and glowing with sweat. T-Pain is playing.
When the lights come up and I go to say goodbye to Marcus, he shakes my hand and his palms are cool. Did you have fun? I ask. Yes, he says, beaming. Then he turns and poses for a selfie with a fan.
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