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The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

mixergy.com

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Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#11

Post by dpritchett »

bgraves wrote: post #8
dpritchett wrote: post #4

It should be noted that Ferriss wrote a 2008 article describing how to effectively put on 30 pounds overnight by dehydrating oneself before a weigh-in and then rehydrating before competition begins. [1] The fact that the miracle muscle gains mentioned in Tim's new book are also roughly 30 pounds should not go unmentioned. [1] fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/01/18/how-to-cut-weight/

Tim specifically addresses the 34 lbs of muscle gain in 28 days in the Mixergy interview. It's not the same routine of dehydration/rehydration for competition. I think I see here 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days. How did you do that? Timothy: So that was just so people know the circumstances. I was supervised by a Ph.D. at San Jose State University, and we used hydrostatic weighing, which is underwater weighing, for bo…

I'm sure he has more exhaustive logs that support his claims but the quote above (the same story was in Wired a few weeks back) isn't detailed enough to prove that Tim gained 8.5 pounds of muscle per week.

I was unfamiliar with hydrostatic weighing so I looked it up. Hydrostatic weighing appears to measure water displacement to figure out the body's density and hence fat to muscle composition. The density of muscle is 1.06 g/ml and fat is 0.92 g/ml. [1]

A gain of 30 pounds of water (1.0 g/ml) would show up as roughly equal gains in fat and muscle since water's density is about at the midpoint between fat and muscle. Ferriss's claim is +34 pounds of muscle and -3 pounds of fat.

I'm certain Ferriss gained lots of muscle in his four-week trial. His methodology isn't all that different from Gallon Of Milk A Day (GOMAD) plus the Starting Strength workout plan, both of which I've personally used to some success. That said, the freely available quotes don't give all of the necessary information. If you happen to buy the book, please share with us.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/576481.html

Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#12

Post by weeksie »

The muscle building seems similar, though even more extreme than HST training: http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html

I switched to HST after a long time of doing typical weight training routines and now do 1-2 sets per body part each time I'm in the gym. It's not nearly as extreme as what he's describing but I've cut my workouts down to 3 40 minute sessions each week and my gains have increased a LOT. Of course when I tell people that they freak out because there's an irrational belief that you have to put in tons of sets to see benefits.

Interesting stuff.

Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#13

Post by jonhendry »

bgraves wrote: post #8
dpritchett wrote: post #4

It should be noted that Ferriss wrote a 2008 article describing how to effectively put on 30 pounds overnight by dehydrating oneself before a weigh-in and then rehydrating before competition begins. [1] The fact that the miracle muscle gains mentioned in Tim's new book are also roughly 30 pounds should not go unmentioned. [1] fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/01/18/how-to-cut-weight/

Tim specifically addresses the 34 lbs of muscle gain in 28 days in the Mixergy interview. It's not the same routine of dehydration/rehydration for competition. I think I see here 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days. How did you do that? Timothy: So that was just so people know the circumstances. I was supervised by a Ph.D. at San Jose State University, and we used hydrostatic weighing, which is underwater weighing, for bo…

And Pat Robertson can leg press 2000 pounds, as he says while trying to sell you his protein shakes.

http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/shake.aspx

http://www.slate.com/id/2142567/

Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#14

Post by dpritchett »

weeksie wrote: post #12

The muscle building seems similar, though even more extreme than HST training: http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html I switched to HST after a long time of doing typical weight training routines and now do 1-2 sets per body part each time I'm in the gym. It's not nearly as extreme as what he's describing but I've cut my workouts down to 3 40 minute sessions each week and my gains have increased a LOT. Of…

I'm enjoying a two days a week interpretation of Starting Strength. It also focuses on progressive loading and low rep, high weight sets.

http://startingstrength.wikia.com

Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#15

Post by detst »

bobf wrote: post #7
AndrewWarner wrote: post #3

What I tried to capture in this interview is Tim's belief that you can get 80% results with 5% effort. And that the other 95% effort (or whatever the %) is either the facetime that we feel we must put in to feel we earned our result, or an attempt at perfection. I'm not sure I agree with him completely, but my goal in the interviews is to learn, not to argue for "my side." My other goal here was to find out how he id…

I found that to be true with school. 5% effort usually gets you a B, while the closer you wanted to get to "perfection" (100%/A+), exponentially more effort is required.

And most people would be quite happy with a "B" body. The most important thing for me, as someone that tends to come up with the "perfect plan" before starting, is that doing a little will get you on the path to improving yourself. But then when I do a little, I realize it's often enough to get me where I wanted.

Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#16

Post by steve19 »

The reviews on Amazon look really suspicious.

http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-Superh...

In the past few hours since the book was put on sale, there have been 90+ five star reviews.

Either this is one of the best book every published, of the publisher/author has been organizing or paying for reviews.

Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#17

Post by dchest »

steve19 wrote: post #16

The reviews on Amazon look really suspicious. http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-Superh... In the past few hours since the book was put on sale, there have been 90+ five star reviews. Either this is one of the best book every published, of the publisher/author has been organizing or paying for reviews.

Some publishers/authors really organize reviews by sending preview copies of books to reviewers.

Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#18

Post by jonhendry »

steve19 wrote: post #16

The reviews on Amazon look really suspicious. http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-Superh... In the past few hours since the book was put on sale, there have been 90+ five star reviews. Either this is one of the best book every published, of the publisher/author has been organizing or paying for reviews.

That'd be a natural thing for him to outsource.

Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#19

Post by kmfrk »

steve19 wrote: post #16

The reviews on Amazon look really suspicious. http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-Superh... In the past few hours since the book was put on sale, there have been 90+ five star reviews. Either this is one of the best book every published, of the publisher/author has been organizing or paying for reviews.

This is always the case with movies and videogames, so I think the same applies: the people who are interested in the product go to see/watch/read it first. Eventually, "everyone else" gets around to try it out, and the score drops accordingly.

Re: The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

#20

Post by edw519 »

Andrew, I think mixergy is one of the coolest things on the web. You've done great work bringing so much content to inspire us. So I'm surprised and a little disappointed to see you interview the likes of Tim Ferriss.

Don't get me wrong; I understand that you're a journalist and want to keep an open mind. No question about the popularity of this person and his subject.

I just don't think that he or his message are very inspiring. While most of us here work hard building stuff for the benefit of others, this guy just hacks the system for personal benefit. Whether it's gaming the rules to win a martial arts contest, front loading phony book reviews, or making outrageous claims that spawn counterproductive behavior, I really don't want to know about it; I've read enough.

The world already has enough hustlers, charletons, and posers. I'd rather see you spend your time continuing to bring us the real inspiration the has given mixergy such a great track record.

Just my .02.

[EDIT: Just a quick follow-up to those who have disagreed. I don't hate Tim Ferriss. I don't accuse him of lying or deceiving. And I don't question whether or not his methods are effective. (Spam is effective, something else I would never do.)

When I read his last book, I was totally turned off when he claimed winning a martial arts contest by finding a loophole in the rules and shoving his opponent out of bounds. I have never done anything like that and have no intention of learning anything similar.

There's so much inspiring stuff to read here and in books that I see no need to follow up on something I've already ruled out. I was just a little surprised to see Tim Ferriss and mixergy in the same post. That's all.]

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