The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [172]
• Wrap a resistance band around the knob of an open door and wrap the band around your calves, ensuring a downward 45-degree angle.
Then:
2. • Bring your tailbone and your navel together, and slowly sit up without allowing your feet to lift up or to slide toward you.
It’s much harder than it looks: even if you can do 50 normal sit-ups, don’t be surprised if you can’t complete a single proper Janda sit-up in the beginning.
In this case, start with lowering from the top position (negatives) only.
The “rule of 10 reps” can be applied here. For instance, you might start with five sets of two (5 × 2) negatives and then progress through the following rep schemes as you get stronger: 2323 (“2323” means four sets total: 2 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps, and 3 reps), then 343, then 235, and then 2 × 5. Once you can do these negatives under control, you can start doing full reps using the same progression or another “rule of 10” combination.
Remember to maintain a continual speed for negatives: don’t stay in one spot forever and then free fall to the floor. Hold on to something with your hands if necessary, such as a table leg or a resistance band around a door knob.
“Chronobiology” is the science of investigating time-dependent changes in physiology.
Muscle strength and short-term power output peak in the early evening (4:00–6:00 P.M.), which coincides with daily maximum body temperature.15 Pain tolerance, at least for arthritis and fibromyalgia, is also highest between 4:00 and 5:00 P.M.
But 4:00–6:00 P.M. workouts never produced the best results for me. I believe this is because the ideal window depends on circadian rhythm and therefore wake time. These variables are almost never accounted for in studies.
If we assume an average wake time of 8:00 A.M. for most subjects who have work or classes beginning at 9:00 A.M., and if peak power output and pain tolerance is between 4:00 and 6:00 P.M. in their studies, this corresponds to 8–10 hours after waking.
I am a night owl, and my average wake time is 11:00 A.M. Using this average,16 8–10 hours after waking would put my ideal window between 7:00 and 9:00 P.M.
That’s how I arrived at an optimal workout time of 7:00 to 9:00 P.M., which has allowed me to add two to three repetitions to most exercises when using less than 85% of a one-repetition maximum (usually a set of six reps or more).
This doesn’t mean you have to train at night, but you should keep training times consistent so you can accurately gauge progress.
TOOLS AND TRICKS
Over-unders Dynamic Warm-Up (www.fourhourbody.com/over-under) This is a demo of the hip mobility movements using a single bar. Focus on the side hurdle (0:30) and under-the-hurdle side squat (1:30), which, when alternated, constitute the over-unders Barry recommends as a dynamic warm-up.
Underground Secrets to Faster Running by Barry Ross (www.fourhourbody.com/underground) Allyson Felix used this strength training system right before she ran the fastest 200 meters in the world back in 2003.
“High-Speed Running Performance: A New Approach to Assessment and Prediction” by Matthew W. Bundle, Reed W. Hoyt, and Peter G. Weyand (www.fourhourbody.com/hsrp) This is the original study from Rice University that developed the ASR speed algorithm. In Barry Ross’s words, “What they found was the Holy Grail to faster running speed.”
ASRspeed (www.fourhourbody.com/asr) The actual sprinting program that Barry Ross discussed in this chapter. Any athlete who plays a sport requiring sudden bursts of forward speed (sprints, basketball, baseball, football, soccer, etc.) can benefit tremendously by using this program. It will largely eliminate the need for hill runs, sled towing, parachutes, and all the other tricks and toys people use to get faster.
“How to Add 100 Pounds to Your Squat in 13 Weeks with the Smolov Cycle” (www.fourhourbody.com/smolov) The Smolov Cycle is a Russian strength training routine designed by Master of Sports S. Y. Smolov. This cycle, though complex and very brutal, can easily add 60–100 pounds to your squat. You can also download an Excel