The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [79]
For the ladies not interested in becoming the Hulk, if you follow a Slow-Carb Diet and reduce rest periods between exercises to 30 seconds, this exact workout protocol can help you lose 10–20 pounds of fat in the same 28-day time span.
Before-and-After
I weighed 152 pounds throughout high school, but after training in tango in Buenos Aires in 2005, I had withered to 146 pounds. I remedied the situation with a 28-day schedule based primarily on the work of Arthur Jones, Mike Mentzer, and Ken Hutchins.
Before-and-after measurements, including underwater hydrostatic weighings, were taken by Dr. Peggy Plato at the Human Performance Laboratory at San Jose State University. Though this ridiculous experiment might seem unhealthy, I tracked blood variables and dropped my total cholesterol count from 222 to 147 without the use of statins9 (see pre-bed supplementation).
Here are the results:
Age: 27 (in 2005)
Weight before: 146 lbs
Weight after: 177 lbs (183 lbs three days later)
Bodyfat percentage before: 16.72%
Bodyfat percentage after: 12.23%
Total muscle gained: 34 lbs
Total fat-loss: 3 lbs
Time elapsed: 4 weeks
To put 34 pounds in perspective, the following image is exactly one pound of lean grass-fed beef sirloin next to my fist.
Imagine 34 of those placed on you. It’s no small addition.
Here are some select stats on the four-week change (September 21 to October 23), using combined measurements from Dr. Plato and Brooks Brothers:10
• Suit size: 40 short to 44 regular (measured at Brooks Brothers at Santana Row in San Jose)
• Neck: 15.8″ to 18″
• Chest: 37.5″ to 43″
• Shoulders: 43″ to 52″
• Thigh: 21.5″ to 25.5″
• Calf: 13.5″ to 14.9″
• Upper arm: 12″ to 14.6″
• Forearm: 10.8″ to 12″
• Waist: 29.5″ to 33.1″
• Hips (ass at widest): 34″ to 38.23″ (J. Lo, eat your heart out)
Oh, and I forgot to mention, all of this was done with two 30-minute workouts per week, for a total of 4 hours of gym time.
How Did I Do It?
First, I followed a simple supplement regimen:
Morning: NO-Xplode11 (2 scoops), Slo-Niacin (or timed-release niacinamide, 500 mg)
Each meal: ChromeMate (chromium polynicotinate, not picolinate, 200 mcg), alpha-lipoic acid (200 mg)
Pre-workout: BodyQUICK (2 capsules 30 mins. prior)
Post-workout: Micellean (30 g micellar casein protein)
Prior to bed: policosanol (23 mg), ChromeMate (200 mcg), alpha-lipoic acid (200 mg), Slo-Niacin (500 mg)
No anabolics were used.
From a training standpoint, there were four basic principles that made it happen, all of which will be expanded upon in the next chapter:
1. PERFORM ONE-SET-TO-FAILURE FOR EACH EXERCISE.
Follow Arthur Jones’s general recommendation of one-set-to-failure (i.e., reaching the point where you can no longer move the weight) for 80–120 seconds of total time under tension per exercise. Take at least three minutes of rest between exercises.
2. USE A 5/5 REP CADENCE.
Perform every repetition with a 5/5 cadence (five seconds up, five seconds down) to eliminate momentum and ensure constant load.
3. FOCUS ON 2–10 EXERCISES PER WORKOUT, NO MORE.
Focus on 2–10 exercises per workout (including at least one multi-joint exercise for pressing, pulling, and leg movements). I chose to exercise my entire body each workout to elicit a heightened hormonal response (testosterone, growth hormone, IGF-1, etc.).
Here is the sequence I used during this experiment (“+” = superset, which means no rest between exercises):
• Pullover + Yates’s bent row
• Shoulder-width leg press12
• Pec-deck + weighted dips
• Leg curl
• Reverse thick-bar curl (purchase cut 2″ piping from Home Depot if needed, which you can then slide plates onto)
• Seated calf raises
• Manual neck resistance
• Machine crunches
All of these exercises can be found at www.fourhourbody.com/geek-to-freak.
4. INCREASE RECOVERY TIME ALONG WITH SIZE.
This is described at length in the next chapter, which describes the most reductionist and refined approach to overriding stubborn genetics: Occam’s Protocol.
Occam’s Protocol is what