Day 21

So one huge thing! Tim Ferris commented on the last blog post - which is AWESOME. Here's how it happened. I went back to the http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/ site to look through the blog again and get new inspiration and Tim had a contest up on to design the book cover for his next book tentatively called: Becoming Superhuman. So I summoned my best printshop skills and submitted my design. Low on artistic quality and high on concept, I tried to depict a human specimen (in this case in the form of a picture of mr. ferriss ripped of his blog) along side a mixing board - illustrating the directions in the book will allow you to adjust the qualities of your body on command like lowering the terrible or upping the mids. I'd be stoked to win the $250 bucks for the top four of 'tim's favorites' but I'll have some pretty intense competition - here is the front runner from Anthony Adams:


So took last week of the blog to see how it affected my performance, after all the point of the experiment is to see the best results with the least amount of input, ie WORK. So I noticed from Week 1 to Week 2 my biggest change was that I did not keep as accurate of a record of my lift weights. I had the gym loop down. I pretty much new what weight was going to get me close to faliure after 8 reps. The recording of each lift (weight / rep) was just slowing me down, so I stopped. I concentrated on getting to faliure rather than focuding on increasing reps or weight and did not miss a beat. So from Week 2 to Week 3, I figured I try the same thing with the blog. Was the blog just a waste of time and I could achieve the same results without putting time into it? The answer is no. Without posting my food intake daily I did not have the daily motivation to focus as intently on what I was eating and I was more likely to indulge without the looming daily blog post of how I had failed. Now that my Tim Ferriss blog comment is a week old, I will be back to daily blogging for the last week, I plan on being perfect eater this week and having a great wrap up post!

Day 14 - HALF WAY!!

Halfway through my 28 day Tim Ferriss experiment. If you are new to the blog check out Day 1 and read up from there. If you've read through all of the posts you can see one distinct trend from Day 1 to Day 14: The gradual shrinking of the length of the posts. This is due to the repetitive nature of the plan and is what I think what makes this a great tool for the masses trying to get in shape, get healthier and loose a little weight and not necessarily just for the FREAK-hopefuls trying to fit into their affliction shirts so they can go out in Campbell (California). The simplicity of both the diet and exercise program takes the choice out of the whole process and with that eliminates the option NOT to follow the program (at least from the front of your mind). Eating as much as is pleasing of a small select number of foods takes the impulsivity out of food choice and the self defeating internal mechanisms that perpetuate the urge to eat recklessly. The same goes for the work out plan, just 1-hour a week in the gym is impossible to skip. One set per exercise, to failure, ensures at the very least, for that short amount of time, you'll be doing something productive. I'll be under 200lbs for the first time since before Capstone sometime early this week (-6lbs in two weeks). I expect the fat loss to accelerate as I continue to add muscle. So far so good!

Day 13

Dieters gone wild day! Didn't go tooooo wild, I was a BBQ and had salami and cheese and tacos, it was grand. Even had a beer.

Day 12

NOT NOW CHEIF! Yea, that's right, I got a new hair cut and yes, I'm in the zone.  My big victory today was a lunch at the Los Gatos Brewing Company.  I got the flank steak and didn't touch the fries on my plate OR the bread.  It was glorious.  I am an oak.  I celebrated by munching on some home made honey wheat bread at dinner at Willow Street.

Food Intake:

Spinach Bolonis

Large Cup of Coffee

Steak 

Mixed Greens

Willow Street Steak and Spinach Salad Server Special

Glass of Red Wine

Day 11

Back in the Gym: I omitted standard dead-lifts to avoid further back tweaking (subbed curls, romanian dead lifts w/ light weight and the groin machine) and concentrated on 5/5 ratio of lifts.  The results of this focus were mixed.  Take for instance the weight that will bring my quads to absolute failure in the 8-12 rep range on the leg press sled  is currently 3 x 45lbs plates + 1 25 lbs plate on each side.  Its difficult to drag the negative motion (down) out to a five count.  Its next-to impossible for me to drag the push out that long.  Like Brian said, the 3/3 ratio is a more accurate description the reality of my lifts.  The problem I found as I tried to focus on the 5/5 is that if I dropped the weight to a point where I could do it properly, I didn't get as close to exhaustion.  

1 Protein Shake

Spinach Turkey Rolls w/ Black beans (4 servings)

Mixed Green Salad w/ grilled veggies

2 Diet Pepsis

2 Chicken Breasts

2 Robyn Vegan Health Biscuits 

Day 10

I'm starting to feel something going on... I'm getting some definition back in my shoulders and chest. PLUS I woke up at 202lbs - I was waking up around 206 for about 2-3 weeks before I started this. So, does that mean I've def lost at least 4lbs of fat? And more depending on the amount of muscle I've put on? Back in the gym tomorrow!

Food Intake:
Large black peets coffee
1 Protein Shake
Turkey Black Bean Spinach Wraps w/ mustard
Quinoa (how many different ways can you spell it) bowl w/ cherry tomatoes and garbanzo beans

Wasn't really hungry most of the day... weird

Day 9

I'm super bored with the food I'm eating!

Food Intake:
A spinach bolani
1 cup of blueberries
2 protein shakes
Bean salad
A bowl of Quinoa and mixed veggies
Spinach Turkey rolls