Man did I procrastinate this post on my 4 Hour Body results! And it wasn’t for any other reason than I was just too lazy to type it. So what happened? I added 10 pounds. I gained some muscle (4 pounds) but not a lot. I gained weight and mostly it was fat (six pounds).
I learned that lifting weights with that protocol is harder than it sounds. And I learned that what you eat and how you eat will effect the results more than anything. I have some before and after pictures that are so unimpressive that I am not posting them because, well, I look not so good. I’ll save you the visual.
So can you get those results by following that protocol? It’s entirely possible I guess. It didn’t work for me though but I did not do it exactly as listed. I didn’t eat as well as I should have. I found the workouts a little boring and harder (because of the cadence) than expected.
So what have I been doing? I have been playing basketball more. I play a couple of times a week.
Here are some of the alumni that played at Minnesota. Trent Tucker, Willie Burton and Voshon Lenard all played in the NBA. Then there is the rest of us who didn't practice enough.
I am still lifting weights and am experimenting with some minimalist type workouts: 2 to 4 exercises with heavy weights and low reps, three days a week. I’ll do that for a while and see what happens.
I’ll post some more this month. Later.
Hey David. I am probably in the minority but I am convinced that the techniques in the 4 hour body do not work. At-least on the muscle building side of things. His fat loss principles are brilliant. Cutting carbs out of one’s diet will always melt the fat off. Nothing new there.
If you frequent the body building forums, where there are experimenters aplenty, you’ll find that Tim Ferriss’s ideas are not popular. His problem is that his protocol violates many of the muscle building principles i.e. volume & true progressive load.
I also heard that he used ‘Casey Viator’ as evidence to support his claims. That story was one of the greatest marketing stories of all time. Nautilus equipment has enjoyed a great boost in sales thanks to that story. It would have been great if it was as transparent as people would have us wish to believe. Casey, who purportedly gained 60 something pounds in an impossibly short period of time, was a recovering bodybuilder. He already had the capacity to grow to that size because his body had been there before. Unfortunately, for many of us, we won’t be able to put anywhere near that size with our bodies breaking new barriers.
This brings me to Tim Ferriss who supposedly ‘used’ this method to great effect. I’m sure you’re aware that Ferriss needs to sell books. He’s an author. Hype does quite well for his business. in the four hour work week, he outlines that he has a body built for fighting and ‘putting on muscle’. He’s always been stocky and well built. He specifically slimmed down and ‘added’ on the weight using his ‘special technique’. This is classic marketing. Did you also notice how his ‘before pics’ were untanned, unwaxed and unshaven.. and suddenly he is clean cut and well tanned. Again, all for a dramatic effect in an attempt to make the change more drastic.
I’ve also noticed that you seem to be very tall. You might know more about fitness than me but I am almost convinced that it’ll take a lot more than a minimalist approach to muscle your body up.
How about trying a conventional body building approach? Remember, a lot of Tim’s ideas are embedded in traditional bodybuilding workouts anyway. The idea of cadence and slow lifting on the eccentric movements is nothing new. Just about every bodybuilding guide/book will tell you to lift in a 202 or even a 402 tempo.
Anyway, I’m not sure how busy you are but if you want to discuss about muscle.. maybe a podcast we can put on our sites, then hit me up on my email address. I would also recommend Stuart McRobert’s Beyond Brawn. Very dry and repetitive.. but also extremely informative.
Cheers,
-Tank A.
Tank Armstrong Muscle Product Review Site´s last [type] ..Beginner’s Yoga – What You Need To Know
I’ve ventured over to the Four Hour Body forum before, and from what I could gather there, it seemed like most people used the book to transition to something else. For example, people went from using Tim’s slow carb diet to Mark Sisson’s primal diet. I haven’t tried the Four Hour Body program before, but from my research, I wasn’t all that impressed by the results.
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Long time no post ey? How has the lifting and progress coming?
Aaron Bradley – MusicForMuscles.com´s last [type] ..Best Bodybuilding Supplements for Muscle Growth & Body Function