The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [80]
Think gaining 34 pounds in 28 days is impossible? I might have, too, if it weren’t for bumping into the curious case of Casey Viator.
The “Colorado Experiment” was conducted in May 1973 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. It was designed by Arthur Jones and supervised by Dr. Elliott Plese, Director of the Exercise Physiology Lab in the Department of Physical Education. It was intended to be a brutal example of minimalist training.
Casey Viator’s results, produced from three workouts per week, were otherworldly:
Increase in bodyweight: 45.28 lbs.
Loss of bodyfat: 17.93 lbs.
Muscular gain: 63.21 lbs.
Photos by Inge Cook, provided courtesy of Ellington Darden PhD
That same month, Arthur Jones followed in Viator’s footsteps and gained 15 pounds in 22 days. How did they do it in workouts that averaged just 33.6 minutes each?
First, negative-only sets were often used, wherein the weight was raised with the legs using a lever and then lowered with the target muscle, allowing heavier weights than could otherwise be lifted. Second, exercises were paired into supersets to prefatigue a muscle (e.g., quadriceps with leg extension) prior to taking it to failure with a compound movement (e.g., squats). Third, Casey ate 6–8 meals per day like it was his job. That’s not a metaphor. He had a cash incentive per pound of muscle gained. It was his job.
Here is one of Casey’s actual workouts. Keep in mind that, unless rest is indicated, there is no rest between exercises:
1. Leg press 750 for 20 reps
2. Leg extension 225 for 20 reps
3. Squat 502 for 13 reps
4. Leg curl 175 for 12 reps
5. One-legged calf raise with 40 lbs in one hand for 15 reps (Two-minute rest)
6. Pullover 290 for 11 reps
7. Behind-the-neck lat isolation 200 for 10 reps
8. Row machine 200 for 10 reps
9. Behind-the-neck lat pull-downs 210 for 10 reps (Two-minute rest)
10. Straight-armed lateral raise with dumbbells 40 lbs for 9 reps
11. Behind-the-neck shoulder press 185 for 10 reps
12. Bicep curl plate loaded 110 for 8 reps
13. Chin-ups bodyweight for 12 reps
14. Tricep extension 125 for 9 reps
15. Parallel dip bodyweight for 22 reps
If you’re a normal human, you would finish this workout by retching into a garbage can or dying. Both the Denver Broncos and Dick Butkus of the Chicago Bears visited Fort Collins to observe the fast-paced training, which is hard to appreciate unless you attempt it.
Though far from easy, the basic workout template is simple. The following was sent to me by Casey Viator himself:
Leg press × 20 reps
Leg extension × 20 reps
Squats × 20 reps (increase weight 20 lbs once you hit 20, then work back up to 20)
(Two-minute rest)
Leg curl × 12 reps
Calf raises 3 × 15
Behind-neck pull-down × 10
Row × 10
Behind-neck pull-down × 10
(Two-minute rest)
Lateral raise × 8
Press behind-the-neck × 10
(Two-minute rest)
Curl × 8
Underhand chin plus weight for reps
(Two-minute rest)
Tricep extension × 22
Dips × 2213
The Colorado Experiment has, no surprise, faced incredible criticism. For starters, the study was neither published nor repeated. Casey has been accused of simply regaining weight he’d lost following a car accident. Not one to speculate, I asked Casey directly about all of this and more.
His answer: he dieted down for two months as instructed pre-experiment (this had always been transparent) and lost approximately 20 pounds of muscle mass. Casey has no financial interest in the Colorado Experiment more than 20 years later, so I assume this to be the truth. Ditto with his response to questions about anabolic steroid use:
There has been a lot of questions regarding steroid use. Many people claimed that I loaded up for this experiment. I can honestly say that there was no use of steroids during this study, which is a very important point. I was closely monitored in a closed-door environment. Believe me, I would have done anything to have gained that weight, but I knew my rebound potential and I also knew I would