4hr body impressions
TLDR: 4Hr body is a must-buy for those trying to lose weight and get fitter (ie, everyone)
4 weeks ago I started a low carb diet from Timothy Ferriss’ aweeesome new book The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman
If you haven’t heard of Tim Ferriss, he’s basically a rich dude who is all about getting things done in the most effective and efficient way possible. He’s a life hacker; and in life hackery spirit, this book is about doing the least amount of work possible for more strength, muscle tone, sex drive, all that.
So, my goal after picking up the book was to lose the belly I’ve amassed after 2 months of snacking and nomming in Malaysia. Objectively, this meant:
• A tighter stomach – My pecks/man boobs should be further out than my stomach. Incredibly scientific, I know.
…and if that worked…
• Abs – Definition on my stomach. Essentially, you can see the 6pack
…and if that worked…
• More Strength and stamina – More overall definition. The ability to exercise for longer, lift heavier weights. Recover faster.
I should note that I’m a pretty fit guy. I run a lot, and I tend to keep my upper-body strength in good condition. This isn’t a ‘From Jabba the Hut to Ken-doll’ campaign. This is a semi fit dude removing a 2 month binge belly and seeing what other improvements can be made.
So, I started working on steps for a tighter stomach: The Low Carb Diet. Eat whatever I want for 6 days a week; just make sure it’s as low in carbohydrates as possible. Day 7 of that week is all access. Eat bread, eat chocolate. Eat anything and everything. Awesome.
Week1, day1: 85kg
The first 2 days were met with military obedience. No bread; no rice; no potatoes, no milk. It was hard. Real hard. The bread and rice I can go without, but banning lattes in this diet drove me stir-crazy. I had to make exceptions, and so on day 3, I started low-carb diet v2.0: Latte edition.
Week2, Day1: 83kg
After week 1, I was down to 83kg, and I was feeling pretty good. Because I changed nothing outside of my regularly scheduled week other than removing most carbs, I became convinced that this would work the way it was intended. The next week I began 2 prescribed abdominal exercises which took around 10 minutes each morning.
Week3, Day1: 84kg
After week 2, I popped back up to 84kg. My guess is this is due to my milk intake – around 3 lattes a day. I was feeling fantastic however, and the definition in my tummy was already showing. Little ridges, but still some definition. I was shocked – It had taken me months to get to this level with regular crunches. I had to try more.
After week 3 I had integrated Occom’s Protocal into my gym sessions, taking me from 10 minutes to around 30 minutes on days where I started adding weights. Occom’s protocol is essentially 2 workout routines which are undertaken every 2 days. On Monday I’ll do routine A, and on Wednesday I’ll do routine B, and so on, and so forth. I was at 83 again, but my muscle gain was showing.
Week4, day 7: 81.5kg
As I end Week4 with a gluttonous cheat-day, I’m at 81.5kg. If I’d cut all carbs, I’m pretty sure I’d be much further along, but that’s not the point of this post.
The point is that even with a few exceptions, this diet (and most of what Tim goes through) is bang on perfect. I’m not going to stop doing this because I feel uber-loads better, and look more and more cut each week.
So Tim gets my giant-assed stamp of approval and some sort of drink whenever I meet the dude. Really, there’s no reason to not try this out. Doooooooooooo!
Oh, and hey, if you’re a twitter user, you can follow Tim at http://twitter.com/tferriss
btw, thanks loads to Darren Yeow for suggesting I broaden this blog to lifestyle and games. <3 dude!
