A client of mine who I had previously trained for a Spartan Race in Chicago, IL (she did superb, qualifying for a national event) recently recommended that I read a book called The 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss. If you want the details of the book, read it. What I find most interesting is that Tim Ferriss is most well known, not within the world of fitness but, for his accomplishments in the business start-up world. Ferriss has strong connections with the likes of Twitter and Evernote, as well as his ability to speak seven languages fluently and holding the world record for most tango spins in a minute.
What first peaked my interest in this book is that Tim Ferriss is NOT a world class athlete or personal trainer. He is, however, a meticulous data cruncher and number annalist with access to the world's most elite athletes and brilliant doctors. This provided him to be the "dark horse" of the fitness world and conduct hundreds of experiments and collect a plethora of data on himself over the course of many years. The book is less a self-help book and more "here are the keystones, now do the work yourself" manual. It covers everything from better sex to polyphasic sleep, gaining mass to losing fat, and is an excellent reference book for the physically minded who want to "hack their brains and bodies" so to speak. Within minutes of the a promotional trailer being posted on my Facebook wall I downloaded a PDF copy of the book. Though I have the digital copy for reference, I will probably end up purchasing the physical book to support Ferriss's work. It is definitely worth a trip to Barnes and Noble or a scowering of Google to pick out the chapters of the book most interesting to your or beneficial to your needs and goals. I highly recommend the book, not as a fitness Bible (I do not believe it is intended to be such, nor do I believe that such a single volume exists), but simply for reference, research, and "food for though" options to explore.
That being said, I am a competitive Jiu Jitsu player and Mixed Martial Arts fighter. My "season" ended in August of 2011 (on a rather rugged note) and as it turned out, time, lack of motivation, stress, and the holiday feeding/binge season took a nasty tole on my weight. This was appalling to me because I had taken so many painstaking efforts to achieve and great pride in the accomplishments I had produced in terms of my weight, body fat, and athletic performance. Over the course of eight months I had lost 17 lbs and entered my first MMA (mixed martial arts) fight. Through the next six months I competed in several Jiu Jitsu tournaments and progressively lost another 20 lbs. However, through the rather tumultuous months that followed and holiday festivities I gained back 18lbs in a matter of only four months. What took over a year to accomplish was quickly being destroyed and surely on the path to full ruin.
Something needed to be done as I could see the road I was headed down if I continued the poor habits I had once again become accustomed to. After Christmas 2011 I entered the endeavor to revitalize my diet and self-esteem. If you have read anything in this blog you know that I'm pretty meticulous myself in regards to my eating habits and physical performance training. For the last week of 2011 and began playing the numbers game again and adjusting my calorie consumption and macro/micro nutrient intake. For the first week of 2012 I have been experimenting with and customizing what I have learned from Ferriss to accompany what I have already learned and experienced to be effective. The final diet prescription should be ready to go when I head to the grocery store within the next couple days.
This is the first in what will be long series of posts detailing my "Four Hour Body Experience." I will present here weekly results as well as any changes and adaptations that I make to the training procedure and diet prescription. The next post will be a description of my training and dieting schedule as of the date it is posted. The final post in the series will be an analysis of the experience itself and comparison of beginning/end data that has been compiled.
For more information on Tim Ferris, his blog can be found here. A link to the website for The 4 Hour Body is posted here. I do not have any financial or political connections with Amazon, Tim Ferris, Barnes and Nobel, Google, or any other links or referenced contained in this post.
You have only yourself to blame for not being exactly who and living the way you want to be.
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