Here is a review of both the program Tim Ferris outline in his lifestyle blog and a review of how I did. The best thing about the diet/plan is that is requires SO little that not doing it is harder to deal with than skipping it. How lazy do you have to be to skip 2 workouts a week? For a somewhate daily breakdown please see past posts on this blog.
Here are the grades I give myself for the experiment based on the instructions:
Gym Time: A+
Diet: C+
I strayed from the diet frequently towards the end of the experiment and now have a greater understanding of the social aspect of the obesity epidemic. Its pretty easy to eat meat, beans and spinach all day. Its also not terribly hard to find substitutes at some restaurants. Here is where it gets hard: When you're in a hurry on the road, at someone's house for an eating event, and going out. When the options are low or when you feel like it would be rude not to partake is when I had the most issues holding to the letter of the diet. I also do not think I was eating enough protein to experience the kind of muscle gain Tim Ferriss talks about in his blog.
The gym time was done as close as I was capable of doing it without a spotter. Not having someone there to catch a barbell before it fell on my throat would have allowed me to push the limits of failure further. It was also the best I could do considering the physical shape I was in before starting this program. I noticed the best improvement in the muscle groups that were in the best relative shape. The one activity I would partake in when I wasn't getting fatter and more out of shape was running so my lower body my better prepared for this, I was able to get to failure with much more weight that other muscle groups. In my weaker muscles, weight selection was much more important. Too much weight and I'd only get two or three reps in and if I brought it down too much it would get up in the 20+ reps.
All in all, it was a good experiment, you could easily mold this into a "Get back on track" Diet and Exercise foundation building regime that doesn't take much time. The 30lbs of muscle in 28 days is a little nuts, but the concept of going to failure is key take away. Its the 20% customer that gives you 80% of your business. Focus your gym time on going to failure instead of increasing weight, reps etc and you will be better off. The thought of applying those the 80/20 rule to my life is the main reason I enjoyed "Four Hour Work Week" so much. It's a wonderful verbalization of where I was at in life in that moment in time. It was a non-fiction "Catcher in the Rye" but with a "Fight Club" attitude towards the established protocols of working life, complete with a how-to plan for the generation of us who are disenchanted with the structure of life set before us.
Here are the grades I give myself for the experiment based on the instructions:
Gym Time: A+
Diet: C+
I strayed from the diet frequently towards the end of the experiment and now have a greater understanding of the social aspect of the obesity epidemic. Its pretty easy to eat meat, beans and spinach all day. Its also not terribly hard to find substitutes at some restaurants. Here is where it gets hard: When you're in a hurry on the road, at someone's house for an eating event, and going out. When the options are low or when you feel like it would be rude not to partake is when I had the most issues holding to the letter of the diet. I also do not think I was eating enough protein to experience the kind of muscle gain Tim Ferriss talks about in his blog.
The gym time was done as close as I was capable of doing it without a spotter. Not having someone there to catch a barbell before it fell on my throat would have allowed me to push the limits of failure further. It was also the best I could do considering the physical shape I was in before starting this program. I noticed the best improvement in the muscle groups that were in the best relative shape. The one activity I would partake in when I wasn't getting fatter and more out of shape was running so my lower body my better prepared for this, I was able to get to failure with much more weight that other muscle groups. In my weaker muscles, weight selection was much more important. Too much weight and I'd only get two or three reps in and if I brought it down too much it would get up in the 20+ reps.
All in all, it was a good experiment, you could easily mold this into a "Get back on track" Diet and Exercise foundation building regime that doesn't take much time. The 30lbs of muscle in 28 days is a little nuts, but the concept of going to failure is key take away. Its the 20% customer that gives you 80% of your business. Focus your gym time on going to failure instead of increasing weight, reps etc and you will be better off. The thought of applying those the 80/20 rule to my life is the main reason I enjoyed "Four Hour Work Week" so much. It's a wonderful verbalization of where I was at in life in that moment in time. It was a non-fiction "Catcher in the Rye" but with a "Fight Club" attitude towards the established protocols of working life, complete with a how-to plan for the generation of us who are disenchanted with the structure of life set before us.
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