The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman

There are plenty of varying reviews here so I would like to start by explaining where I'm coming from and what I got out of this book. For a more concise review, skip to the bottom. I am the type of person who needs to find the 'perfect' solutions to my issues, weight having been one of them. I need A LOT of research before starting anything. I have read all of the 'popular' weight loss and fitness books and articles, and then moved to the obscure and 'cutting edge' ones. All of this research and I have come to one conclusion. This industry can come to absolutely no consensus about anything. Want to reduce body-fat but not bulk up? Book A says 'heavy-weight, low rep" and book B says 'light-weight, high rep.' You log onto any of the fitness forums and all you see is people arguing back and forth over the 'best' way to do things. Whole Wheat, No Wheat, Wheat doesn't matter. Cardio, No Cardio, HIIT only, lifting only. Most of the time they are advocating complete opposite approaches. Add to this the fact that every day there are 'brand new studies' that basically say that everything you thought is wrong, here is what you should be doing. This industry flip-flops back and forth and no subject is universally accepted. This is very apparent in some of the reviews here. Needless to say, I was frustrated. Enter Tim Ferriss and "The 4-Hour Body." I started this book the same way I started all of them. "God, I hope THIS is the right way." It was, but not for the reasons I anticipated. Right from the start you know that your in for something different. His chapters are goal centric, and he recommends skipping to the relevant chapters for what you are looking for. Throughout each of these chapters Tim balances entertaining dialog, background information, key concepts, rules & options. You begin to pick up on an underlying theme to all of the sections - Tim's endorsement of Self-Experimentation or as I have come to refer to the concept: 'Do - Tweak - Do.' It is a mindset of working for a desired result, and adjusting based on your personal results. If a section of this book doesn't apply to you? Throw it out and move on. Find that something works better then something else? Do more of the former and less of the latter. This mindset was the game-changer for me. It has allowed me to really apply all that I can without ever getting frustrated and quitting. I have adapted it to other areas in my life as well. Start toward a goal, continuously observe the outcomes, tweak my game plan to incorporate them, and keep heading toward my goal. Tim gives you great suggestions, some new (to me at least) and others I've heard before. The difference here is that he is able to give you a starting point and a direction. He leads you there as best he can but always subtly stresses that you do as he did - make it work for you. At a minimum, this book prepares you to do all the things it promises. At it's best, it guides you there effortlessly. THE BOTTOM LINE: It's been said before, but the truth bears repeating. There is so much great information packed into this book that if you find value in only ONE chapter, it is worth it. The narrative throughout is refreshing, bringing you from topic to topic. It is a very fun read that leaves you informed and excited about trying the things listed. It can help you identify your goals and gives you a defined game plan for accomplishing them. My Goals? Loose Weight (covered), Reduce Body-Fat (covered), Run Farther (covered), Run Faster (covered). Look through the Table of Contents, if you see something even remotely related to one of your goals - this book is for you.

This book is simply amazing. It has rocked my world, and I am never looking back! Simplicitiy: I have eaten twice as much as normal, worked out 1/2 as much as i normally do on my MAINTENANCE routines, and I've experience the best results I've EVER had. I hate diets, yet this one is so easy. The workouts are intense but fun, short and incredibly effective (note - recently a pretty girl in my gym was with her trainer, but when she saw my workout, she said: 'shouldn't I be doing it that way? That looks like an awesome workout.') I was so pumped. Results: I have never met my 6 pack, and i would say i am 2 weeks away, after just over 2 weeks of a combo of slo-carb diet and Geek-to-Freek with 1/2 the portions of supplements that tim used (although i don't think you even need the supplements to get nearly the same impact). I'm down 15 Lbs of fat and put on 3-4 lbs of muscle easy with no cravings and literally 1/2 the gym time of my maintenance(!) routine. Went from 178 to 169 in 3 weeks and you can see a lot more definition - i've been to the gym 6 times, which is the same, if not less, than usual but half the time of a normal workout. I am still working on perfecting the Pose running method, but i have never(!) run that fast with as little effort before - it feels like you are flying. Value: This book is full of so much amazing info, that i photocopied 10 pages to carry with me at all times and those 10 pages are worth 10x what the book cost me. You may not use all of the material in this book (remember Tim spent a decade compiling the info) but so many things i use from it on a daily basis are so easy (cinammon in coffee instead of sugar, ice pack on neck, water with lemon before meals, 60-90 seconds of air squats or pushups before/after meals) are enough to make this book worth 10x the money. And the interaction with the website is so great/fun that it feels like a huge encyclopedia of info, not just a 500 page book that you can't wait to put to use. And recall tim is an effeciency expert, so there's no wasted words here. I only wish i had this book when i was a skinny geek in high school or a fat beer gut guy in college. Conclusion: Follow the book and it will change your world, for $20. To me its worth a fortune in terms of time-saved, effectiveness, knowledge, etc. THANKS, TIM!!

Update II: After 3 months without exercise or supplements I've lost 20 lbs. The weight loss seems to be flat-lining now - which is why I'm about to begin a vigorous exercise regimen in combination with the diet. But again, don't listen to naysayers and people who say something can't be done just cause they've never done it. Update: Doing the Slow Carb diet now for 12 days and already down 10 lbs on the digital scale. Which is amazing because outside of the cooking and prep time for food -- this diet is effortless and definitely doesn't leave your feeling deprived. It really feels like I've lost weight without making some giant sacrifice in portions. Today is my free day so I'm off to get some Cadbury chocolate bars. Don't listen to naysayers - listen to results. Can't wait to try the other stuff out. Original Review: After finally reading the Four Hour Body for myself (as much of the 600 pages total that I plan to read in this first sitting), I intend to write a review that is comprehensive and critical while contending with the claims of other reviewers which I've read here. This is a long review, but the gist of it is that it is imperative for all potential readers to think for themselves! Think for yourselves because too many people are reviewing the author and not this book. Think for yourself because this book cannot be all things to all people; we all have different bodies and different starting levels of both fitness and fitness education - what this book will be to you depends on you. From reading the book, I think it can have tremendous value for a large cross-section of fitness novices and fitness freaks alike; for novices it can be a broad discussion you've never heard of and for fitness freaks it can be one little thing you didn't know before. Let me start off with identifying myself -- because apparently there are some paranoid people who think that every review must either say "this is impossible" or else it is an Indian outsourcer being paid by Tim Ferriss to write it. I am not now nor have I ever been on Tim Ferriss's payroll - and have only met him twice. Once, by chance on the streets of New York for 10 minutes; and recently he had a launch party here in NYC for this book that I attended and exchanged about 40 seconds worth of pleasantries with him. Maybe it is because I have seen the man breathe that I don't feel the need to either deify or demonize him to the extent that others here have. Let me also add that I read his previous book, the The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Expanded and Updated, With Over 100 New Pages of Cutting-Edge Content. , and have been impressed by his ideas ever since; only because I saw the results I wanted when I tried his methods. I truly wish it was possible to review the Four Hour Body(4HB) without any reference to the Four Hour Work Week (4HWW); but the strong emotions that Ferriss evokes from people who love him and hate him are in large part inspired by that first book. In short the first book was entirely ground-breaking! It advocated that people should work only as little as necessary and get the most done in the time they are working. Ferriss believes many emails/conversations/meetings in a corporate work environment are make-work devices and that some of the hours we spend at work everyday can be safely eliminated or efficiently automated and/or outsourced. He also challenges the idea that we need to work first then retire by introducing the concept of mini-retirements - which is breaking up the idea of a long retirement into distributed periods of rest throughout your life. The Four Hour Workweek is a book title -- but it is not an actual, literal number of work hours that the author is advocating you should work. Yet some people, whose intellectual faculties I hold in contempt, seem to interpret the book as advocating exactly that. These people hate Ferriss, they think he's a snake-oil salesman who is advocating a slacker lifestyle; they say that it's impossible for you to work only 4 hours a week even though Ferriss doesn't advocate that himself; they say society would collapse if everyone only worked four hours; and that no real business that actually adds value to society can function if the owner works only four hours a week. Never mind that my dry cleaner and his wife sometimes go to Korea for 6 months at a time - while his son in law runs the place; apparently their business doesn't provide value. I shamefully admit that I have read the false critiques of Ferriss by these types of people and ignored or even welcomed them because it was good for me. If everyone was on Elance hiring Indian illustrators to create logos (as I have since reading the 4HWW)then the cost of Indian labor on Elance would rise. So if you don't do it because you read a misguided review and were too stupid to think for yourself - then good for me. The 4HB is different however, whether you do it or not doesn't affect me; which is precisely why I think it would be wonderful if everyone tried the advice in this book. So let me transition into a review of 4HB which oddly can be wrapped up in a two paragraphs below. Most of the negative reviews of this book make only a few arguments. Some people bought the book on here so they could make an "Amazon verified purchase" review even though they had no plans to read the book. Their criticism pretty much says "This book is snake-oil - and everything in the book is available elsewhere." This is a highly incoherent criticism because if all the insights in this book are available elsewhere then why isn't it snake-oil when other people say it?!? Most reviewers never address that fundamental flaw in their logic. They also say that certain examples Ferriss talks about in the book are simply *gasp* "impossible." And I maintained an open mind to that claim of his critics as I read the book -- then I came across the section on Michael Phelps (the Olympic swim champ). The section is all about the effect of temperature on weight-loss. Ferriss uses an insight by a NASA scientist to show that cold temperatures can help to activate more rapid weight-loss. This is a huge realization which I have never read anywhere else and which made the book worth the money for me. But the other takeaway from that section for me was the discussion of how many calories Michael Phelps consumes a day - 12,000! If the section had been about Philip Michaels (someone you don't know) then the critics here would have been saying it was impossible; and that no Olympic athlete could consume that many calories without looking like a house and falling out of performance conditioning. Yet because Phelps has been on TV eating his high calorie breakfast - no-one challenges that claim with the "it's impossible" mantra. I can't imagine that Random House Publishing or Tim Ferriss the angel investor & start-up advisor would do the sort of damage to their name that would come from blatant lying. Yet many reviewers here, without any evidence other than their own incredulity, accuse them of just that. His critics here also accuse him of gaming the reviews - because they find it hard to believe that advance copy reviewers (many of whom are Tim Ferriss fans already) would have liked the book and made a review on the first day. And finally his critics here just lie; one said he doesn't address stretching even though there is a discussion on that; another said he mentions lifters' results without mentioning 'steroids' - even though there are four pages just on steroids and pro-abuse of steroids. No-one can write a definitive review of this book without trying out the things Ferriss describes. I've made actual money because I read his first book - not earth-shattering yet but I'm still on the journey. For this book I have my annual physical coming up next week. Then, I'm going to do the Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength 12 week cycle (which I've done before) while on the Slow Carb diet Ferriss talks about. And while on it I will use the Cold Temperatures Ferriss introduced to me in this book. If it works or not I will edit this review to let you know. But I strongly encourage you to do the same - buy the book and try the stuff. At the every least it is an intriguing and informative read that has already provided me with hours of conversation topics.

Okay, First, let's talk about reviews. If you read 3 negative or 3 positive reviews about one book, movie, car, whatever and base your decision to move forward on that without taking into account the rest of the reviewers then you'll probably get what you want based on what you perceive. If you tend to favor positive reviews on things you'll probably trend positively; same goes for negative reviews. EVERYONE has an opinion. Often, those opinions are incredibly, emotionally powerful--one way or the other. I'm giving Tim's book full stars. The reasons are simple... The author is crystal clear about asking us, his readers, to experiment, to try for a short period of time his method and to track the changes. Face it, we're all where we are because of steps we made yesterday. I'm 47 years old and while not in terrible shape neither can I say that I'm in good shape. Clothes hide the effects of the steps I made daily to get... here. So I started reading and was instructed by this author to focus on 4 chapters: Fundamentals, Ground Zero, The Slow-Carb Diet I and II, and Building the Perfect Posterior. Those chapters focus on effective weight loss. Sure I read the rest of the book, four times through now, and can see how some have gotten confused by what might appear conflicting information. But again, he breaks out what to read for what you're looking for: Fat loss, muscle gain, strength gain, or sense of total well-being. Most of us would think, "Well, I want all that!" So, we dive in and try to do it all. Stop! Re-read his Five Rules in using the book: 1. Think of this book as a buffet. 2. Skip the Science if it's too dense. 3. Please be skeptical. 4. Don't use skepticism as an excuse for inaction. 5. Enjoy it. For me, my first priority is getting rid of fat. Then I'll look at muscle gain, then strength gain, then well-being. How's it worked so far? Actually, extremely well! I started at 200 pounds with a target of 170. My focus has been only on those four "Fat Loss" chapters. I started 3 weeks ago and am at 185. I've had some ups and downs with the eating plan and can clearly see why. I'll share more on that shortly. In addition to reading the book several times through I've also spent a lot of time on his blog. Please, please remember folks... This author is asking us to step out of what we've been doing in the past and try something different. On the surface that sounds easy. But it isn't. Most of the posts I've read basically ask "permission" to step out of the guidelines he's asking of us: Can I have bread if it's healthy? Can I have juice if it's organic? Can I, can I, can I? Sure you can! But then what you're doing is the same you've done yesterday, and the day before, etc. And I've done it too. Better yet, it's okay. But it won't result in change. Most of us pick up a book like this because we want change. We would like to look a little better, feel a little better, and have the ability to do more with our families and friends. Great reasons for change! But remember, CHANGE IS HARD. Remember that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again while expecting different results. We all do it, but that doesn't mean we can't do things differently. Tim has made this process easy for us. How about for 2 months, just 8 weeks trying this: (Note: he's asking just 1 month. I'm asking to try for 2.) Avoid "white" carbohydrates Eat the same few meals over and over again Don't drink calories Don't eat fruit Take one day off per week That's it! But... the hard part: Our brain is already gearing up to bargain with us... "But I can't start my day without my healthy cereal." "I get bored with the same meals." "But I have to have my Coke Zero." "My doctor says that fruit is healthy." (Note, most of us don't gripe about the taking one day off part.) This author has shared through example and humor how HE has created change in his life. (You might also like his, "Four Hour Work Week.") But he's also been clear that it takes work, focus, and the importance of measuring and managing as we go. For me, yeah this has been hard. I messed up on my "cheat day" and didn't follow his suggestions on how to best (and easily) care for myself on that day. I was surprised that I gained back more than I lost. BUT, I began again and quickly reversed that trend. Walk through the few chapters he offers you to focus on what you are most trying to do. Don't make it hard. My g/f is walking through this with me and it took her a while before she started seeing results. It really helped to read that is VERY normal for a woman over 40 who's had children to see quick change right off the bat. Don't give up. Keep trying. She is also seeing movement in the direction she's hoping for. Take measurements. Take photos. If you see you're not losing weight go back and see if you've lost inches or body fat. If not, DO NOT stop. It's too easy to stop, we've all been doing that all our lives. Trying one thing for a short amount of time and then sliding back into our comfortable habits. Instead of trying how about doing? Yoda reminds us that there is no "Try," there is only "Do." Do these steps. Live them for a while. Put them on and see how they fit. Yes they are different than what you've been doing. Yes it will be tough. But each moment of each day you will be doing the steps of your life. I know this review has been long. But I also feel that this is very, very important. It's important for me to quit feeling run down, out of energy in the afternoon, having crappy sleep, etc. It's important for me to feel good in my body, that my partner finds me attractive, more importantly that I find me attractive. I LOVE being 47 and can't wait for my 50s! But I want that decade to be different than this one. These steps really do work. This is a great book and I'm grateful for the time Tim put into it. There will ALWAYS be negative comments about anything you might be interested in. This isn't a fad, it's not a scheme, and it's not a quick fix. I am not connected to Tim in anyway other than being an interested, thankful reader. Take my comments as just that, my comments. All the best to you and yours in this Journey! Zane Remember too: If you want tomorrow to be different than today, then you must take different steps today than you did yesterday. It really is as easy as that.

WEIGHT LOSS SECTION Last summer I lost 18 pounds, getting down to 6% body fat. This enabled me to finish 29th in the Pikes Peak Ascent, which climbs nearly 8000 feet in 13.5 miles and was the 7th Annual World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) Long Distance Challenge. I received the award for 1st place in the 45-49 age group. Ferriss advocates keeping your blood sugar even, i.e., avoiding spikes and drops by eating low on the glycemic index. I've done this for nearly 25 years and I believe it's the most important dietary advice. Ferriss should have mentioned that Barry Sears' Zone Diet books go into more detail on low-glycemic eating; there are more health benefits besides losing weight. Sears' website also sells products that help with this diet, e.g., high-protein, low-glycemic index pasta. Ferriss recommends lemon juice or cinnamon to lower the glycemic index of foods, something I'd never heard of. He could have mentioned that Celestial Seasonings makes a cinnamon tea, called GingerBread Spice, that you can drink with a meal instead of putting cinnamon in foods. Even though I've eaten low-glycemic foods for nearly 25 years my weight had crept up a little each year. Last summer I tightened up my diet but lost only 3 pounds in 7 weeks. I then discovered a technique that Ferriss doesn't mention: "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and supper like a pauper." A thin French friend told me this is how Europeans stay thin. I ate big breakfasts with protein (fish, lean meat, eggs, etc.), protein shakes with spirulina around noon, big lunches around 3pm, and then just a green salad or fruit salad in the evening, enough to not go to bed hungry. I then lost 15 pounds in 12 weeks. Ferriss has good advice for eating low on the glycemic index: not eating white sugar, white flour, and other refined carbohydrates; and not drinking calories, e.g., fruit juice packs a lot of sugar. He also says to eat the same few meals over and over. This makes staying on your diet easy. Ferriss recommends not eating fruit, because fructose converts to glycerol phosphate that facilitates fat storage. I'm skeptical of this, because fruits are more than just fructose, e.g., they have fiber. Just because a reaction occurs in vitro (in a test tube) doesn't mean the same thing will happen in vivo (in a living person). Given his huge fan base maybe he could ask a few hundred of his blog readers to divide into two groups, one of which eats fruit and the other doesn't, and see who loses more weight. I'll bet the non-fruit eaters will substitute another sweet that is more fattening and lose less weight. Ferriss recommends taking one day off a week from your diet and eating anything (and everything) you want. He says that this "binge" day will support weight loss by keeping your metabolism high. Again, I'm skeptical and I'd like to see a clinical trial. However, last summer I did a "binge day" every week without realizing it. I had a race every week and after each race ate whatever I wanted the rest of the day. Ferriss recommends not eating dairy, as it has a high insulinemic response despite its low glycemic index. When Ferriss advocated a high-protein diet, recommending that I eat almost 200 grams of protein per day, my first reaction was "What about the China Study?" This book, by Colin and Thomas Campbell, correlated animal-based diets with cancer, and recommended eating a plant-based (vegan) diet. Ferriss's website has a link to Christopher Masterjohn's critique of "The China Study." Colin Campbell's study with rats fed aflatoxin (one of the most potent carcinogens) found that a diet with 20% casein (one of the proteins in milk) led to every rat developing cancer, when none of the rats whose diet was 5% casein developed cancer. Apparently casein signals your cells to grow, which is good if you're a baby but not good if you have cancer. Masterjohn then shows how the Campbells extrapolated this one study to say that all milk proteins facilitate cancer growth, when whey (another milk protein) doesn't facilitate cancer growth, and to say that all animal protein facilitates cancer growth (also not true). Ferris says that canned and frozen foods are just as good as fresh. I agree with him regarding canned beans, but I believe that fresh fruits and vegetables are necessary for my health. Ferriss correctly points out that my grandmother, born in Poland in 1904, ate one orange each year, on Christmas. But my grandmother was tiny compared my cousins and myself. One of the clerks at the natural foods supermarket near my house is 25 and was diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. He switched to a raw foods diet and all of his health problems disappeared. He told me that previously he ate a "standard American diet," i.e., packaged processed foods. I've always eaten big salads, both green salads and fruit salads. If I don't eat raw foods, e.g., when traveling, after a couple days I crave raw foods. I don't know whether raw foods diets work due to something in raw foods, e.g., enzymes that are destroyed by heat, or if these diets work because of what's not in them, e.g., packaged processed foods. Ferriss recommends eating slowly, and raw foods take time to eat. When I make a big salad for breakfast with greens, beans, and smoked salmon it takes me all morning to finish it. Ferriss doesn't mention spirulina. I put two tablespoons in my mid-day protein shake. Spirulina is arguably the perfect food, if you can handle the swamp taste. It's high in protein, with balanced amino acids; includes essential fatty acids; vitamins, especially the B vitamins lacking in vegetarian diets; minerals; and photosynthetic pigments, i.e., it's really green. Ferriss suggests cold exposure (cold showers or ice baths) to lose weight, gain muscle, treat insomnia, boost immunity, treat depression, and increase testosterone and sperm count. Dathan Ritzenhein used a cryosuana, exposed to -275 degree nitrogen vapors for 2.5 minutes, the day before the New York Marathon, where he finished 8th in 2:12. At first I was skeptical of Ferris's claim that cold exposure aids weight loss because I keep the house cold all winter and exercise outside 2+ hours a day, often in sub-zero temperatures, and I gain weight every winter. Then I realized that Ferriss is right. Cold exposure makes me crave peanut butter sandwiches and other high fat, calorie-dense foods. In the summer I resist cravings relatively easily but in the winter the cravings are more powerful. I'm sure that if I resisted cravings brought on by cold exposure I'd lose weight fast. I like this book because it's a collection of new ideas that Ferriss personally tried. 25 years ago I felt like Diogenes with his lamp, except instead of looking for an honest man I was looking for new ideas. In the 1980s new ideas were few and far between. Now with the Internet I feel blessed to live in an age in which new ideas circulate rapidly. Typically each new idea has a single advocate so it's hard to compare whether this idea is better than that idea, unless you take the time (and expense) to try several ideas. Ferriss did just that and is reporting his experiences. In contrast, Andrew Weil writes about the same materials but with an affect of authority, as he's a doctor and reads scientific studies. Ferriss's affect is "I'm a regular guy just like you, I'm not an expert, but I'm intelligent and I can read scientific studies too, and here's what happened when I tried this..." Another reviewer said that Ferriss's book is his new "bible." I don't agree with that. If you want a "bible," read Andrew Weil. If you want interesting ideas and personal experiences, read Ferriss. ADDING MUSCLE SECTION I'm not interested in body building so I skimmed this section. However, this section made me realize how different bodybuilders are from outdoor athletes. Or at least how different Ferriss and I are. Later he talks about learning to run and to swim, i.e., these are new skills for him. He doesn't mention cycling or playing team sports. Before reading this section I hadn't realized how many drugs bodybuilders take! (Ferriss suggests googling "Andreas Munzer autopsy".) Ferriss doesn't include a chapter about integrating exercise into your daily life. E.g., riding a bike to work instead of driving, or joining a mixed-gender softball team to meet singles. I don't like going to gyms, I only exercise when it's fun or there's a purpose. IMPROVING SEX SECTION This section starts with how non-orgasmic women can learn to masturbate, e.g., by reading Betty Dodson's book. I watched Dodson's video about ten years ago and one item remains with me clearly: Dodson tells women to schedule three to four hours when they want to masturbate! Ferriss shows some improved positions for couples. My wife and I tried these and she was unimpressed (but then she's never had problems with orgasms). The next chapter explains how Ferriss increased his testosterone 2.5 times: vitamins, ice baths, and cholesterol (egg yolks and steaks). I nearly tripled my testosterone (from barely over 300 to just under 900) by taking a contact improv dance class. Three times a week a dozen sweaty young women and I rolled our bodies over and under each other. (Contact improv is like gymnastics except you use your partner instead of vaults and balance beams.) The pheromones in young women's sweat increases men's testosterone. Someday someone will make a fortune collecting young women's sweat and selling it to middle-aged men. There were also young men in the class, whose sweat literally made me weak and nauseous until I showered. Ferriss doesn't say that lifting weights in gyms surrounded by sweaty young men might lower your testosterone. Ferriss doesn't discuss why you might not want to increase your testosterone. Testosterone causes baldness, and your hair doesn't grow back if you later lower your testosterone. Testosterone doesn't make you faster: gelding race horses are just as fast as stallions. Ferriss says that when his testosterone was high he literally turned women's heads in restaurants. My experience in the dance class was that the young women literally jumped in the laps of the gay men at the start of class. If they couldn't partner with a gay man then they partnered with women. Every class I'd look around when the instructor said to find a partner, and the only available partners were the other two straight men. We'd do the first exercise together half-heartedly and then ask women to partner with us. Testosterone may have made the women avoid us. Ferriss doesn't mention that women might want to increase their testosterone. I've read that testosterone is the most effective anti-depressant for women. It also increases their libido. Listen to This American Life's podcast #220: a transgender female-to-male talks about what it was like to receive testosterone injections; and a man who had a medical condition that eliminated testosterone in his body, with the result that he achieved a Buddha-like state of desiring nothing. I performed these two characters in a play, my favorite line was from the transgender man: "Testosterone makes life challenging, but it makes you love the challenges." The next chapter is about declining sperm count. Ferriss suggests getting your sperm frozen before you're 35, which I did. His other advice is to not carry your cellphone in your pocket (I don't). He barely mentions other ideas such as not drinking out of plastic bottles, avoiding soy foods, and wearing loose boxer shorts instead of tighty whities. OTHER SECTIONS The next section is about insomnia. He suggests all sorts of gadgets, cold baths, foods, etc. but doesn't suggest cutting out caffeine. Getting back to cold exposure, I support Ferriss's claim that cold exposure aids sleep. In the upper Midwest people say "good sleeping weather" to describe cold nights. I sleep well when I let the house drop below 50 degrees and pile blankets on my bed. Next is a section on reversing "permanent" injuries. My massage therapist (whose wife is a physical therapist) was impressed with this section, esp. the Egoscue recommendation. Next is a section on medical tourism (saving money by going to foreign countries for medical treatment). Next, Ferriss recommends preventing injuries by getting a Functional Movement Screen (FMS) test. FMS measures left-right differences in strength and balance. I'm putting this on my to-do list. RUNNING SECTION I'm 48 and this year ran a 5:08 mile, an 18:09 5K, and a 37:48 10K. I qualified for All-American in a 3000-meter race and I win an age group award in most races. I only run about 3 hours a week: two 45-minute track workouts plus a 1.5-hour club run. An exercise physiologist was amazed that I have a VO2-max of 59 and run this fast on 3 hours a week. Then I said that I walk my dog 2 hours a day, plus we hike twice a week, mixing speedwalking, easy jogging, and stopping to pee every 30 feet. The exercise physiologist said that I have the perfect training plan: a base of daily easy exercise with a few short but intense workouts. Ferriss recommends running with the Pose technique. I've done this for five years and this has been the best thing I've ever done to improve my running, both for increasing speed and minimizing injuries. Ferriss doesn't mention that the same technique has other names, including Chi Running and Evolution Running. Ferriss' description of the Pose technique is excellent but he only has photos of himself (before and after). His "before" photos are clearly wrong but his "after" photos aren't much better, likely because he just doesn't run fast. (His 24-minute 5K is what we politely call "mid-pack".) He should have included photos of faster runners who do the Pose Technique better. Ferriss' 12-week workout schedule is good. The main workout is 800-meter repeats, beginning with two the first week and moving up to six in later weeks. Ferriss doesn't explain why this workout is so important. Running workouts (to oversimplify) either train leg speed or cardiovascular (heart and lungs). 800 meters is three minutes for Ferriss. If you run intervals longer than 3 minutes you don't maximize leg speed. If you run less than 3 minutes you don't maximize heart rate. 3-minute repeats are two workouts in one, training both leg speed and cardiovascular. Ferriss should have explained that you run three minutes, not 800 meters, i.e., a slower runner could run 600 meters, when I run 900 meters and a pro might knock off 1200's. Do two of these the first week and gradually build up to five, or six if you're an animal like Ferriss. All should be equal distance, which means that your first interval feels easy and the last interval is maximum effort. Ferriss' schedule also includes 100-meter and 200-meter leg speed workouts. This is excellent advice for slow runners trying to get faster. Too many joggers run for miles at a slow pace and never get faster. He also did longer 5K and 10K runs to build endurance, and did some hill repeats to build the strength necessary for trail running. He doesn't mention that the 100-meter repeats should be barefoot on grass, to teach you good form. Ferriss recommends Inov-8 running shoes. I use Nike Frees. He rightly denigrates Newtons and warns against running barefoot (e.g., Vibram Five Fingers), except for strides on grass. Fueling during long races is an important subject that Ferriss doesn't adequately cover. But I'll give you a tip that'll make your next race faster. Clear your gastrointestinal tract by not eating solid food for at least 12 hours before the race (i.e., drink only juice and energy drinks). Digestion demands up to 40% of your blood so not having anything in your gut at the start line will provide more blood to your muscles. GETTING STRONGER Here's where Ferriss presents weightlifting for runners, based on Barry Ross (coach of Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix). I don't do weightlifting so these ideas were all new to me. Ferriss gives two reasons why runners should do strength training (weightlifting). First, distance runners have weak sodium-potassium pumps. The sodium-potassium pump is what enables muscles to return to relaxation after contracting. The discoverer of the sodium-potassium pump won the Nobel Prize. Strength training improves the sodium-potassium pump. Second, greater ground force support (applying force to the ground at landing) is more important than moving your legs faster. The recommended strength training is in three stages. First, speedwalking 15 minutes three times a week. I do speedwalking because it gives me leg speed without wearing me out. Ferriss says to start with four weeks of speedwalking. The second stage is weightlifting. Three times per week you do dynamic stretching, then bench presses or push-ups, then deadlifting, in which you lift the weights only to your knees. Ross's athletes deadlift three times their bodyweight! Finish with an exercise called the Torture Twist to strengthen your core muscles. The third stage is speedwork on the track. The distances are short. Ross's sprinters, who don't compete in distances longer then 400 meters, don't run more than 70 meters in training. No advice is given for distance runners, but Ferriss's other coach telling him to run 800-meter repeats to train for a 50-kilometer race sounds similar to Ross's short interval speedwork. Ferriss doesn't mention the one type of weightlifting I do, which is essential for avoiding calf injuries when running with the Pose Technique. Some people call these "toe lifts," I call them "heel lifts." Stand barefoot on a stair on your toes. Lower your heels below your toes. Then raise yourself as high as you can. This strengthens your calf muscles. Start with both feet, then go to one foot as you get stronger. SWIMMING SECTION Ferriss recommends Total Immersion Swimming. I did Total Immersion Swimming about five years ago and agree with Ferriss. Before, I panicked and tried to swim fast to avoid drowning. I could swim only two lengths of the pool before reaching anaerobic fatigue. Total Immersion Swimming first taught me to float in the water without panicking. Then you learn to paddle around slowly. Then you improve your form step by step to become more efficient (hydrodynamic), so effortless paddling actually moves you through the water easily. Eventually you're swimming back and forth across the pool completely relaxed. Another chapter teaches you to hit baseballs harder. Another chapter explains how to hold your breath for three minutes. LIFE EXTENSION SECTION First, Ferriss rejects calorie restriction as it's a miserable life. He similarly rejects restricting ejaculations (i.e., Dr. Strangelove). He rejects resveratrol because it interferes with estrogen. I stopped taking resveratrol because it interferes with thyroid function (I'm hypothyroid). He rejects some other life extension drugs. He recommends creatine monohydrate for preventing Alzheimers, Parkinson's, and Huntington's if your family has a history of these diseases. He also recommends intermittent fasting or just not eating protein for a day. He also recommends that men donate blood to reduce iron. Ferriss doesn't talk about DHEA, the anti-aging hormone I take. DHEA is the most abundant hormone in the body. It's related to testosterone and estrogen but men and women have it equally. It peaks at 25 then gradually declines. Low DHEA is associated with many diseases of old age, and many studies have found DHEA supplements reverse these diseases in older people. Ferriss recommends having SpectraCell Laboratories test you for nutritional deficiencies. He doesn't mention that they also have a telomere test. This tests your body's biological age, in terms of cell reproduction (i.e., how close your cells are to being unable to reproduce and your body wearing out). Lifestyle, e.g., diet and exercise, affect this. I'm going to get both of these tests done. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS This book isn't perfect or complete. But I'm giving it five stars because it gave me new ideas. I'm sure that an expert could pick apart any chapter and find mistakes or missing info. But that's OK. This book isn't the Bible; Ferriss doesn't want you to blindly repeat what he did. He investigated interesting ideas and saw what worked or didn't work for him. That's how you should use this book. P.S. Several commentators have suggested that I write a book. I've written three books. Two are about stuttering therapy. My third book is "Hearts and Minds: How Our Bodies Are Hardwired for Relationships." It's written somewhat like "The 4-Hour Body" in that I present scientific research about relationships and then describe my experiences applying these ideas to dating and in relationships. Amazon sells all my books.

I admire the author; he's a clever dude, a polymath, an original thinker and a successful self promoter. On the other hand, he's a lousy, disconnected writer who basically published an out of order synopsis of his training log, and a lot of what he's touting here is nonsense or unactionable or unactionable nonsense. How do I know this? Well, like most self-respecting men, I've thought about these sorts of things before. While I'm not a former ranked fighter or tango dancer, I have similar interests and unlike the author, I am an actual scientist, so I know a lot of places where he is wrong. It's easy to be wrong with this stuff. When it comes to training, you're generally changing a lot of things all at once, and so you can mistake one thing for another. Funny story about bodybuilding history: at one point, the muscleheads became convinced that isometrics was key to radical muscle growth. People tried this for years and got none of the results of the big famous meat-heads: even very smart people like Bruce Lee were taken in by the reports. Later, we found out the real reason isometrics caused such huge growth spurts: the meat heads where also testing this new drug called dianabol while on their isometrics program. I don't know if it was an honest mistake or not, but it's possible that it was, and that sort of mistake happens all the time in sports training. Bodyfat chapter: good stuff here. How to measure, how to have abs (hint: it's generally your lard, not your abdominal muscle conditioning: my ab muscles are enormous, but they only show when I'm lean). Some of the examples of low bodyfat are not so low as he says, but whatever: they're visual goals. Slow carb diet is sensible, though probably more oriented to regular people (who are really fat) than people who are already athletic. Cissus; good stuff -though I think it's dangerous to use for leanness; it should be for joint injuries only. R-ALA is a much safer supplement which allows one to eat too many carbs without becoming too lardy. PAGG ... maybe: stimulants will always work better. Ice packs on your neck? That's silly by inspection; the reason Everest climbers lose so much fat is the same reason people who take DNP lose fat: their metabolisms don't work right when there isn't enough oxygen. I mean, icepacks may have an effect: but it's doubtful. The glucose meter thing is pretty awesome, and seems to verify an intuition I had: many muscleheads seem to think as soon as you put food in your gob, it enters your bloodstream. No. The digestive tract takes some time; hours, before the stuff reaches your blood. First rate work there; particularly the cinnamon and vinegar bits. KB training: yes -very effective, as are most protocols of this nature: my favorite is Tabata. Women preserving their hourglass: thank you for writing this, Tim. I see these women who are shaped like bricks furiously doing sit ups ... and growing enormous muscles in their midsection making them even more brick-shaped: it makes me sad. So much effort which produces exactly the opposite of the intended result. I don't buy the recommended exercise though. The best one is probably to do pilates or yoga type exercises and avoid heavy cardio. Overall a good job on leaning up. Personally, though, I have found crazy diets like the "lean gains" intermittent fasting diet, or Dave Draper's "tuna and water" diet work wonders where other diets won't. Those would go into my fat loss personal manual anyhow. He does mention intermittent fasting, though only in the context of "life extension." Might work for that purpose; kind of hard to tell though. It definitely leans you up really well. Growing muscles: like Arthur Jones, the author cheats a little. He points out he's gained 20lbs of muscle on at least four occasions. Since he starts out at 150, and he doesn't now weigh 230lbs of veiny protoplasm, that means he more or less gained and lost the same 20-30lbs of muscle numerous times. I could diet down to 160lbs, in a few months, and then get back up to 180 or 190 in a relatively short period of time also: it's called muscle memory. Remember, this dude was a ranked fighter -weight yoyoing is common with such people. As such, I don't really believe in the program for regular joes. Regular folks will be better off with conventional programs like 5x5 or Pavel's "bear." Though many swear by glutamine, I've read research which says it is bunk. It's in whey: just eat some whey, and you're covered. Creatine ain't bunk, however: very useful stuff. Either that, or do it "walrus moustache and singlet" old school style and suck down a bunch of bovril (beef contains much creatine). I really appreciated learning about the Yates row: Iv'e added it to my routine. Worth the price of the book, that was. The sex chapter: Asking the Bay Area "sexpert" dirtbags he did: probably the worst people in the entire world to ask about such things. They're the type of people who think it is progressive to teach an 8 year old how to put a condom on a banana. Try Stuart Brody as a starting point for proper hetero-sex research. He's a real scientist, unlike the creeps interviewed by the author. While I'm giving advice; try dating women who aren't neurotic Bay Area twits who are all wrapped up in their heads. Of course these yoyos need to read a book or go to workshops to learn to have an orgasm: the same women need to read a book or go to workshops to learn how to fry an egg. I recommend Eastern Europeans or Brazilians who are all born with properly functioning naughty bits and the ability to fry eggs. True story: ask me how I know. HGC -no, it doesn't directly stimulate male libido. Believe it or not, the spikes in estrogen it produces are probably the culprit. Cod liver oil and brazil nuts as libido boosters? Yeah, any kind of grease helps: nothing special about those particular flavors, even if Weston Price was a demigod of nutrition research. Eating cheese before sleep is king in this department. It has all the necessary grease, plus lots of calcium and magnesium and probably some unquantifiable components. He's right about sauerkraut and kimchee. No idea why. Ever notice how happy Koreans are? One high point: if I were a young guy and knew what he told the reader about Nina Hartley... my life might have turned out differently. Nina's observation is closest to the truth, even if her physiological suggestions are as useless as the others: self consciousness is the root of most frigidity. Don't know how helpful knowing that is: probably just makes the poor things self conscious. The "boosting your testosterone" chapter is a good one: he's touting the old Vince Gironda method of eating lots of animal fats. I'd say he gets causality wrong in some cases; I have no doubt that trips to Nicaragua are more testosterone boosting than eating lots of grass fed beef (or the other high fat diets he recommends for the purpose) in San Francisco. Trips boost test. I looked jacked to the gills when I returned from my last trip abroad, though I hadn't worked out in weeks. His speculation that cell phones lower testosterone is laughably insane. More like, a dude who carries a cell phone is likely to be a cubicle dwelling gelding whose boss and wife enjoys bothering him at all hours, wheras the guys who don't are likely to be working class, poor, or simply don't care to be dangling on other people's telephone wire like an electric marionette. As such, the latter have higher mean testosterone than the former: this has been abundantly proven by science, though you can tell by just looking at people. Storing sperm? What is he? A neurotic career woman? Take HCG (the stuff he touts as boosting libido) if you want kids when you're older, or just grow up and knock someone up now. Also, he's taking cinnamon all the time; I don't think he ever notices the effect of the stuff on SHBG. Cinnamon lowers SHBG. Google it if you don't believe me. I learned that from a big meat head in the gym. Listen to big meat heads: they know stuff. Sleep: I feel for the guy -I am high strung and have problems sleeping as well, however, he misses the obvious. Dude takes a bunch of stimulants, wonders why he don't sleep right. Hm, could there be a connection here? Naaaah, just use a nighwave pulse light, or eat almond butter or huperzine or whatever. He actually does have some good advice here, but most of it is common sense; keep the room dark, and at a sensible temperature, eat a heavy meal, and don't drink before you go to sleep. Oh yeah, since he forgot this one: don't take too many stimulants. They screw up your sleep. Duh. His "light" melatonin dose is way too heavy: it's very effective at smaller doses, and makes you have insane dreams about fighting zombie hordes. Probably ultimately horrible for you, but it's easier to find than huperzine, which is probably also bad. The polyphasic sleep trick is a good one, but it's also something which makes you miserable. I know: I went to grad school. Injury reversal: The soup he injected into his body seems insane to me, other than the IGF-1, which is probably what actually healed him. Meat heads regularly use IGF-1 to heal injuries. Of course, it greatly increases cancer risk (as will anything which increases rates of healing: think about it -which is why you shouldn't take cissus to lean up any more than IGF-1), but you pays your money and you takes your chances. Postural therapy; yeah, whaddever: there's some new fad in this every couple of years. He covers a few of them I prefer stretching and the Swedish exercises from the late 1800s. Maybe if I were a pro fighter or something, I'd be more interested in such things, but they all seem like fads to me. Medical tourism for injuries: good idea -American treatments cost too much. Not enough info to act on the idea though. One injury reversal trick he really should share with people: how to fix a bad back. Probably legal reasons why he didn't; it would suck of someone with wonky disks tried healing their back with deadlifts, which is the cure for most wonky backs. Running: no idea if this will work. I hate running. I can do it: I just don't think it's a good idea. I like having knee cartilage. I occasionally test myself by doing the Marines physical. When i do it, I just run (and walk, like he suggests) until I'm where I need to be. It seems to work. Never tried to run seriously though. Running a Marathon? Have you ever looked at people who do that? You guys do realize the dude who ran the first one dropped dead, right? No thanks. People who run marathons are doing themselves a disservice, unless they enjoy looking like skeletor. Getting stronger: he mixes up too much stuff in these chapters. Increasing your bench? Why? Only power lifters and insecure adolescents worry about bench press max. Sane trainers will avoid this exercise (or at least max efforts on this exercise), because most people don't have the correct physique to perform it safely. A much better pressing exercise is overhead pressing, which is actually good for the shoulders. If you don't want to do this, do handstand push ups: they rock, and require no equipment. The overall prescription is more or less true: low reps, heavy weights. Do it all the time (like, longer than 4 hours a week), and you will get stronger. Swimming? Hitting a baseball? Holding your breath for a long time? Life extension tricks? I don't know about these or care very much. I might learn to swim one day. I think Ben Franklin wrote a book on it, back when it was an uncommon skill among Westerners. Real superman type skills which most people can learn would be more like ... how to break a brick with your hand, or how to throw a proper punch, or one of the many martial arts trick punches, like the one Bruce Lee used to show off in demonstrations. The supplementary chapters on self experimentation and spotting bad science are quite good: the best in the book. I suggest readers of the book should skip right to the chapter on self experimentation, read through the bad science section, then move on to the rest of the book. Yes, I realize this should be a blog entry, but my blog is about physics and finance.

My wife and I were fortunate to receive an advanced copy of the 4 Hour Body last week and we have been reading it non-stop ever since. --------------------------------------- What is the one thing I would say about this book? --------------------------------------- I wish I had written it! This is the book I would have loved to spend three years doing research on... and I would have been proud of the end result if it turned out anywhere close to the product that the author has. I know that this book will be extremely helpful to millions of people. --------------------------------------- Why do I like it? --------------------------------------- The 4 Hour Body is a wonderful blend of practical "how to" suggestions and advice mixed in with entertaining stories. As someone who has struggled with my weight for the last 20 years, The 4 Hour Body connects with me on a level that no other book or program has done. Why? Instead of preaching, it provides a set of tools to pick and choose from and helps foster a productive way of thinking about one's body. 1) start with small goals targeted to MY NEEDS, 2) track everything, and 3) compare & challenge with a group. --------------------------------------- My top 3 "likes": --------------------------------------- It's practical: The 4 Hour Body was crafted in sections so that if someone is primarily concerned with a specific goal (ie. weight loss, muscle gain, strength gain, well being) there are a group of chapters that are recommended reading just for each desired outcome. So even though the book is 550 pages, someone can read 150 pages and take away what they need for their desired outcome. It also focuses on the "individual". We are all different and we must create and test our own individual programs for optimal outcomes. He also includes great resource links that encourage immediate action. It's entertaining: The 4 Hour Body is probably the most entertaining health related book I have read. It does dive into the details, but Tim has a wonderful style of weaving interesting and fun stories into each chapter, which makes reading easy. Better sex! Ok, I confess. When we received the book last week the first chapter my wife and I dove into were the chapters on Improving Sex. The reality is that like everything in life, good sex comes with education, attention and practice... and we are always open to learning new things. Most people have no idea what they are missing and settle for sub-par relationships that include minimal if any sex at all. And, watching porn is not sex education. Even talking about the subject in any detail seems to have become taboo. In these chapters, Tim has done a great job of researching, laying out practical suggestions and then providing research links. We have been turning off our computers and TV and instead have been reading the chapters out load every night in bed - which in of itself has had a great bonding effect on us as a couple. --------------------------------------- Conclusion: --------------------------------------- I highly recommend The 4 Hour Body. I have enjoyed it so much that my wife and I have purchased another 5 copies (in different orders because of the 3 book limit!!) of the book and an audio copy to give to family & friends. I liked it so much that it compelled me to take the time to write this review - my first review ever.

This book has an amazing amount of information. These fields of information are always advancing fast so some of the information can be a little out of date. Such as it is probably a good idea not to try the daily sleep cycle of 6 20 minute naps a day. But still interesting and provided motivation for me to look more at current studies on naps which is very interesting. This book was a very fun read for me. Fascinating information. A little about me. I am now 58 and was looking to recover some health and lose some weight. I have successfully used the Atkins diet to lose 55 pounds down to 158 at 6'1". However due to a health problem I gained it all back. I have since come to the belief that it is not good to do such diets over and over. I have also been into fitness since I was a teenager. Boxing, karate, yoga, gymnastics, bodybuilding and weightlifting. I got a few nuggets out of this book that were very worthwhile. the slow carb information was great. Using this and a once in awhile cheat day and using the minimum amount needed to put on some muscle I have lost 30 pounds in less than 5 months and also put on some good solid muscle. My wife was very surprised I was able to do this. I am now 183 pounds and must turned 58. utilizing slow carbs to not be carb starved has been great and is the missing piece to the controlled carb diets. I just use what seems like okay portions and don't count anything. Due to hip and knee issues I swim and machine bicycle. For swimming I use 'Snorkle Bobs' Moflo2 snorkel as I don't like swallowing pool water, and wanted more oxygen than a regular snorkle provides (dead air space) as I am training for my general health. However this snorkel does leak some but a forcefull outward breath now and then while swimming clears it out no problem. As for working with weights the Colorado experiment I believe was totally true and the key part for us mere mortals is to not over train.I bought a few more books here on HIT (high intensity training) and for me a 20 minute workout twice a week has worked great. I have shown steady strength and muscle gain. Plenty for me as I am really looking for healthy maintainable muscle size for the long run. I also just started alternate day fasting experimentation which he also talks about under living forever and life extension. A free kindle book The IF Diet speaks more to this. Great stuff and I have hopes for this. At my age being within my BMI and fitness and health is most important in my opinion. This has been a great book with a wealth of information. My only complaint is you should get a free kindle edition as there is so much information that it is hard to put this into a plan for yourself health wise and it is a little hard to skip around finding what you want But there is so much great information for such a reasonable price that it deserves no less than 5 stars. As a small reward thing the looks I got at the pool on vacation felt great. Hawaii and Vegas both. For my weightlifting purpose just do 1 set each movement with good form and full range of motion to failure twice a week or once every 4 days. sometimes 3 days and sometimes 5 days. Do a cardio workout or at least a 10 minute cool down cardio workout of some kind after lifting weights to avoid artery hardening as recent research shows. No one knows why yet. Listen to your body and if some joint starts hurting then change the exercise and/or your way you do the exercise. There is so much fun information and inspiration that my review cannot really do it justice. If you are looking for a fun inspirational read to get you going on your own health program again this could be it for you.