8 ms·

The 4-Hour Body: (Quickly) Hacking The Human Body

92 points by swombat 16y ago

RobertKohr 16y ago
anyone want to give the short-short version of this. The transcript was way too long, and was all over the place, and I didn't have the patience for the video.
- thereddestruby 16y ago
  1. Measure what you eat. 2. Brief, intense, and regular workouts. 3. Repeat every day.
  - wazoox 16y ago
    Don't workout every day, only twice a week.
    - aik 16y ago
      5. It matters what you eat. 6. Stay dedicated to the routines partly through limiting your choices and partly through creating accountability
AndrewWarner 16y ago
What I tried to capture in this interview is Tim's belief that you can get 80% results with 5% effort. And that the other 95% effort (or whatever the %) is either the facetime that we feel we must put in to feel we earned our result, or an attempt at perfection. I'm not sure I agree with him completely, but my goal in the interviews is to learn, not to argue for "my side." My other goal here was to find out how he identifies that 5% that gets outsized results. The salient part of his answer was that he find people who achieve freakish results, then he mimics their approach. (If you read those last 2 sentences, you may not have to listen to my hour-long interview, which strengthen's Tim's 80%/5% message.)
- noodle 16y ago
  as someone who took his advice a few years ago about weightlifting, i can tell you firsthand that what he said then was reasonably accurate. my efforts, by generally doing what he suggested, produced generally similar results.
  - AndrewWarner 16y ago
    Now what I need to do in my future interviews is get an understanding of the 5% of my guests' work that produces the big payoff. It can't be the only thing I focus on, or else the interviews won't have depth and integrity. But if I can pull that out, I can give my listeners a payoff for the hour they invest in my interviews.
    - dantheman 16y ago
      You can't get everything, but you can pull out things that you found especially interesting and surprising. The interview is there for anyone who needs an introduction to the subject with everything spelled out, the summary should be for those who are familiar with it.
  - danielharan 16y ago
    can you link to the protocol you use, and explain what results you got?
- bobf 16y ago
  I found that to be true with school. 5% effort usually gets you a B, while the closer you wanted to get to "perfection" (100%/A+), exponentially more effort is required.
  - detst 16y ago
    And most people would be quite happy with a "B" body. The most important thing for me, as someone that tends to come up with the "perfect plan" before starting, is that doing a little will get you on the path to improving yourself. But then when I do a little, I realize it's often enough to get me where I wanted.
dpritchett 16y ago
It should be noted that Ferriss wrote a 2008 article describing how to effectively put on 30 pounds overnight by dehydrating oneself before a weigh-in and then rehydrating before competition begins. [1] The fact that the miracle muscle gains mentioned in Tim's new book are also roughly 30 pounds should not go unmentioned. [1] fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/01/18/how-to-cut-weight/
- bgraves 16y ago
  Tim specifically addresses the 34 lbs of muscle gain in 28 days in the Mixergy interview. It's not the same routine of dehydration/rehydration for competition. I think I see here 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days. How did you do that? Timothy: So that was just so people know the circumstances. I was supervised by a Ph.D. at San Jose State University, and we used hydrostatic weighing, which is underwater weighing, for body composition. The way I did it was with two 30-minute workouts per week, which means it was literally four hours for the month. So in this case it is the 4-hour body. And there were a number of protocols that I followed. The first was the exercise protocol, which was and we’ll talk about this I’m sure more, following the minimum effective dose. So how many seconds of tension with a specific weight or load do I need to trigger muscular growth in certain body parts? And you can figure this out. So I was using a very slow safe protocol to achieve that eliminating momentum to the extent possible, tracked everything like a scientific experiment. And then the second protocol was the eating protocol. So you have to eat a lot to gain 34 pounds of muscle. I also lost three pounds of fat and lowered my cholesterol from 222 to 147. And that involved eating, but improving insulin sensitivity so that was preferentially put into muscle tissue as opposed to fat tissue. Then also taking supplementation to improve protein synthesis and things like that. So at the end of the day it was a combination of very small things used together.
  - dpritchett 16y ago
    I'm sure he has more exhaustive logs that support his claims but the quote above (the same story was in Wired a few weeks back) isn't detailed enough to prove that Tim gained 8.5 pounds of muscle per week. I was unfamiliar with hydrostatic weighing so I looked it up. Hydrostatic weighing appears to measure water displacement to figure out the body's density and hence fat to muscle composition. The density of muscle is 1.06 g/ml and fat is 0.92 g/ml. [1] A gain of 30 pounds of water (1.0 g/ml) would show up as roughly equal gains in fat and muscle since water's density is about at the midpoint between fat and muscle. Ferriss's claim is +34 pounds of muscle and -3 pounds of fat. I'm certain Ferriss gained lots of muscle in his four-week trial. His methodology isn't all that different from Gallon Of Milk A Day (GOMAD) plus the Starting Strength workout plan, both of which I've personally used to some success. That said, the freely available quotes don't give all of the necessary information. If you happen to buy the book, please share with us. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/576481.html http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/576481.html
weeksie 16y ago
The muscle building seems similar, though even more extreme than HST training: http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html I switched to HST after a long time of doing typical weight training routines and now do 1-2 sets per body part each time I'm in the gym. It's not nearly as extreme as what he's describing but I've cut my workouts down to 3 40 minute sessions each week and my gains have increased a LOT. Of course when I tell people that they freak out because there's an irrational belief that you have to put in tons of sets to see benefits. Interesting stuff.
- dpritchett 16y ago
  I'm enjoying a two days a week interpretation of Starting Strength. It also focuses on progressive loading and low rep, high weight sets. http://startingstrength.wikia.com http://startingstrength.wikia.com
  - zacharycohn 16y ago
    Starting Strength is amazing. Paired with GOMAD and it is hands down the most effective strength building program I've ever come across. Enjoy it!
- kscaldef 16y ago
  Just wondering... Does anyone actually want to look like that guy on the HST page? I took one look at that and said "this is not the workout routine for me".
  - jonhendry 16y ago
    And I bet the person pictured was heavily using steroids.
  - weeksie 16y ago
    Yeah, that's not something you just accidentally end up looking like. I'm not into being that big at all but there would be fair warning well before hand ;)
steve19 16y ago
The reviews on Amazon look really suspicious. http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-Superhuman/dp/030746363X/ http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-Superh... In the past few hours since the book was put on sale, there have been 90+ five star reviews. Either this is one of the best book every published, of the publisher/author has been organizing or paying for reviews.
- kmfrk 16y ago
  This is always the case with movies and videogames, so I think the same applies: the people who are interested in the product go to see/watch/read it first. Eventually, "everyone else" gets around to try it out, and the score drops accordingly.
  - WillyF 16y ago
    Not sure that's going to happen here. Look at the reviews from the updated version of The 4HWW: http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Expanded-Updated-Cutting-Edge/product-reviews/0307465357/ http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Expanded-Updated-Cutti... The original edition didn't do quite as well, but it still has a huge quantity of great reviews: http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/product-reviews/0307353133/ http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/p...
    - jonhendry 16y ago
      It's a bit of a cult. But there are a more reasonable number of 1, 2, 3-star reviews.
- dchest 16y ago
  Some publishers/authors really organize reviews by sending preview copies of books to reviewers.
  - PStamatiou 16y ago
    I am one of those. I had an advance copy, loved it and posted my review. Feel free to challenge anything in my review: http://amzn.to/hDRfVB http://amzn.to/hDRfVB
edw519 16y ago
Andrew, I think mixergy is one of the coolest things on the web. You've done great work bringing so much content to inspire us. So I'm surprised and a little disappointed to see you interview the likes of Tim Ferriss. Don't get me wrong; I understand that you're a journalist and want to keep an open mind. No question about the popularity of this person and his subject. I just don't think that he or his message are very inspiring. While most of us here work hard building stuff for the benefit of others, this guy just hacks the system for personal benefit. Whether it's gaming the rules to win a martial arts contest, front loading phony book reviews, or making outrageous claims that spawn counterproductive behavior, I really don't want to know about it; I've read enough. The world already has enough hustlers, charletons, and posers. I'd rather see you spend your time continuing to bring us the real inspiration the has given mixergy such a great track record. Just my .02. [EDIT: Just a quick follow-up to those who have disagreed. I don't hate Tim Ferriss. I don't accuse him of lying or deceiving. And I don't question whether or not his methods are effective. (Spam is effective, something else I would never do.) When I read his last book, I was totally turned off when he claimed winning a martial arts contest by finding a loophole in the rules and shoving his opponent out of bounds. I have never done anything like that and have no intention of learning anything similar. There's so much inspiring stuff to read here and in books that I see no need to follow up on something I've already ruled out. I was just a little surprised to see Tim Ferriss and mixergy in the same post. That's all.]
- poppysan 16y ago
  Ive seen a few "Marketers" and such on Mixergy that I don't exactly trust their methods, but it does fit with the goal and purpose of the show.
- FluidDjango 16y ago
  I appreciate my life choices for not having such a fellow on my radar (spelling is Ferriss - I discover by searching on Amz). Yet I wonder how I could have become so cynical as to doubt the "socially redeeming value" of an ~author~ who gets a book published by including claims such as: > YOU WILL LEARN (in less than 30 minutes each): > How to lose those last 5-10 pounds (or 100+ pounds) with odd combinations of food and safe chemical cocktails. > * How to prevent fat gain while bingeing (X-mas, holidays, weekends) > * How to increase fat-loss 300% with a few bags of ice > * How Tim gained 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days, without steroids, and in four hours of total gym time > * How to sleep 2 hours per day and feel fully rested > * How to produce 15-minute female orgasms > * How to triple testosterone and double sperm count > * How to go from running 5 kilometers to 50 kilometers in 12 weeks > * How to reverse “permanent” injuries > * How to add 150+ pounds to your lifts in 6 months > * How to pay for a beach vacation with one hospital visit
bodybuilder 16y ago
Tim Ferriss is correct that it takes 4 hours to get a body like his. However, to be accurate, he should have said 4 hours per DAY. 2 hours weights + 2 hours cardio will get you in shape like him. Not drinking milk and expecting to lose 10 lbs = fail. the guy is a sales/marketing genius.
- swombat 16y ago
  A great many people (also known as "hard-gainers") will not gain any muscle whatsoever by exercising every day - let alone exercising for 4 hours every day. If you're a hard-gainer (I am), you will need to: * Do the right kinds of exercises (squats, deadlifts, bench press, pullups, inverted rows, etc) * Rest enough in between sessions (2 days between sessions at least) * Eat enough, including enough protein from a variety of sources If you do those things, you will put on muscle no matter what your body type. Exercise 4 hours a day, and you will only put on muscle if you have awesome genetics.
  - bodybuilder 16y ago
    you dont do the same routine every day; you do a 3-day split. I guarantee you if we did a study of 1,000 americans who did 4 hours per day and rotated their weights and cardio vs. Tim's method; 95% would be in much better shape my way. and the 5% who dont cant put on weight. " 1 point by swombat 3 minutes ago | link | parent A great many people (also known as "hard-gainers") will not gain any muscle whatsoever by exercising every day - let alone exercising for 4 hours every day. If you're a hard-gainer (I am), you will need to: * Do the right kinds of exercises (squats, deadlifts, bench press, pullups, inverted rows, etc) * Rest enough in between sessions (2 days between sessions at least) * Eat enough, including enough protein from a variety of sources "If you do those things, you will put on muscle no matter what your body type. Exercise 4 hours a day, and you will only put on muscle if you have awesome genetics." exactly; the same kind of "superhuman" genetics tim ferriss (and me) already have. thing is; if we don't do 4 hr/day, we get fat just like most of America!
    - sedachv 16y ago
alexyim 16y ago
In this article, http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_truth_about_bulking http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_trai... It claims that your body can only synthesize about 2 pounds of dry muscle mass per month. 34 pounds in 28 days is roughly a pound of muscle per day. I've always found myself wanting more evidence to back that up, or even just seeing more examples of people saying they've done that. The closest I've heard to getting that kind of result are people who add drinking a gallon of milk in addition their regular diet, and even then they gain a fair amount of fat in addition to muscle and it's way less than that number.
- Bostwick 16y ago
  You can synthesize more than 2lbs of muscle per month, if the muscle you're synthesizing has been in a trained state previously. This is how athletes can return from injury in a few weeks. It's also how most before/after shots for health products and supplements are made. I've done GOMAD (Gallon of Milk A Day). It's tough to drink that much milk. In the end, I gained ten pounds of muscle over a period of two months.
  - alexyim 16y ago
    > You can synthesize more than 2lbs of muscle per month, if the muscle you're synthesizing has been in a trained state previously. Do you have a link to that by any chance? It does make sense though. Perhaps that's what happened with him, but without that key bit of info it's fairly misleading.
    - Bostwick 16y ago
      Start with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Experiment. Then read http://blog.legendarylife.com/the-colorado-experiment http://blog.legendarylife.com/the-colorado-experiment. Anecdotally, here's one guy's attempt at repeating the Colorado experiment. http://www.placeintheground.com/2008/07/21/testing-out-the-colorado-experiment/ http://www.placeintheground.com/2008/07/21/testing-out-the-c... http://www.placeintheground.com/2008/09/25/colorado-experiment-results/ http://www.placeintheground.com/2008/09/25/colorado-experime... Re-reading this makes me think that Tim Ferriss is probably advocating the Colorado Experiment's methods in his book. One of the other comments mentioned five-seconds-up, five-seconds-down.
gursikh 16y ago
Every Tim Ferris thread I see on HN, has nigh 10 - 20 posts that all essentially say: "Tim Ferris is a charlatan. He's relies on spin and marketing to sell his products. His methods encourage people to be lazy and not make a genuine effort to reach their goals. His advice is counterproductive." But while Tim makes every effort to support his claims using facts, anecdotes and citations these sorts of comments are rarely supported by anything other than the commenter's opinion. I'm not saying people shouldn't post Tim-hating comments, to the contrary I'm asking for Tim-haters to form a strong argument against his ideology by citing studies and literature that clearly contradict what he preaches.
- andre 16y ago
  Exactly. And when he's talking about winning the martial arts fights, he goal was to "WIN", not to play the game. And like gursikh says, either put up or shut up. We need concrete examples! Overall, I think Tim has done a lot for a lot of people with the ideas that he shares in his books.
  - onan_barbarian 16y ago
    Exploiting rule loopholes in obscure Chinese kickboxing events doesn't constitute much of a "WIN", especially with his subsequent presentation of himself as a "world champion" and "experienced mixed martial artist". All up, a call for "concrete examples" is exactly what should be going on. From Tim. Not from the unbeliever. The cliche is "the onus of proof is on the believer". Tim's extraordinary claims about drug-free muscle gain, for example, should have had a third-party drug test involved as well as being put in context with his previous and subsequent physique. His extraordinary claims to be a martial arts champion should come with names, dates and number of competitors in his division. Etc.
    - gursikh 16y ago
      You have misunderstood me. It doesn't matter if Tim is wrong, if we don't know what is right. If you substantiate your criticisms by finding counter-evidence or disputing his evidence, you add value to the conversation by pointing people in the right direction.
onan_barbarian 16y ago
Someone on IronGarm (don't look it up if you're easily offended) put it best: "Tim isn't very strong and is a Jenga of fairly serious injuries that a smarter trainee would avoid." "Gaining" (actually regaining) large quantities of muscle in a short period of time is an old Iron Game trick (the "Colorado Experiment" with the Nautilus guy and Casey Jones IIRC). You can't gain nearly as much muscle as someone else can regain. As for the other strategies to 'gain' this much 'muscle' while 'clean', the high points are (a) dehydration, (b) steroids and/or exogenous testosterone and (c) a modicum of fat gain (which on a normal muscular physique won't be that notable and, most importantly, (d) a willingness to claim that you haven't done a/b/c whether it is true or not. Tim is a master of 'hacking' these kind of demos but it would be more impressive if he tried doing something more sustained where there isn't a short-cut to success. For example, compete in a sport where there is a lot at stake and a high number of well-prepared competitors. Not, for example, by finding a rules loophole in some obscure Chinese kickboxing event and winning it through a combination of extreme weight cutting and pushing other people over (one of his claims to fame as a martial artist).
TheSOB88 16y ago
Andrew, great interview. I was just wondering if there was a reason you don't ask people to repeat themselves when the video cuts off? It seems to take away a little from the video. (I did notice the sly handling regarding the "blue light" cutoff)
dkarl 16y ago
Update: Tim says if you buy 3 copies of his book and email him your receipt, he’ll send you a chapter that his publisher edited out of the book. This on top of an incredible claim caused my informational immune system to close the tab. If any reasonable person made such a discovery, they would be concerned about skepticism, about looking like a huckster. And about being wrong! They would look for some way to validate their work and would see if they could convince someone credible in the field before they started pitching it to the general public. This guy is going out of his way to look like a charlatan. Conclusion: he's looking for suckers and is weeding out everyone else right up front.
candre717 16y ago
Tim is our generation's chuck norris. I've seen his Tedtalk - it's like he walks on water. He's a genius at self-promotion, but too much cloud in the sky goals and success, and you start to see the fluff.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
tyrmored 16y ago
I bought Ferriss' book on a whim at an airport. I have no qualms in saying I think it's perhaps the worst waste of $20 in my life. The guy's a charlatan.

92 points by swombat 16y ago

anyone want to give the short-short version of this. The transcript was way too long, and was all over the place, and I didn't have the patience for the video.

thereddestruby 16y ago
1. Measure what you eat. 2. Brief, intense, and regular workouts. 3. Repeat every day.
- wazoox 16y ago
  Don't workout every day, only twice a week.
  - aik 16y ago
    5. It matters what you eat. 6. Stay dedicated to the routines partly through limiting your choices and partly through creating accountability

AndrewWarner 16y ago

What I tried to capture in this interview is Tim's belief that you can get 80% results with 5% effort. And that the other 95% effort (or whatever the %) is either the facetime that we feel we must put in to feel we earned our result, or an attempt at perfection. I'm not sure I agree with him completely, but my goal in the interviews is to learn, not to argue for "my side." My other goal here was to find out how he identifies that 5% that gets outsized results. The salient part of his answer was that he find people who achieve freakish results, then he mimics their approach. (If you read those last 2 sentences, you may not have to listen to my hour-long interview, which strengthen's Tim's 80%/5% message.)

noodle 16y ago
as someone who took his advice a few years ago about weightlifting, i can tell you firsthand that what he said then was reasonably accurate. my efforts, by generally doing what he suggested, produced generally similar results.
- AndrewWarner 16y ago
  Now what I need to do in my future interviews is get an understanding of the 5% of my guests' work that produces the big payoff. It can't be the only thing I focus on, or else the interviews won't have depth and integrity. But if I can pull that out, I can give my listeners a payoff for the hour they invest in my interviews.
  - dantheman 16y ago
    You can't get everything, but you can pull out things that you found especially interesting and surprising. The interview is there for anyone who needs an introduction to the subject with everything spelled out, the summary should be for those who are familiar with it.
- danielharan 16y ago
  can you link to the protocol you use, and explain what results you got?
bobf 16y ago
I found that to be true with school. 5% effort usually gets you a B, while the closer you wanted to get to "perfection" (100%/A+), exponentially more effort is required.
- detst 16y ago
  And most people would be quite happy with a "B" body. The most important thing for me, as someone that tends to come up with the "perfect plan" before starting, is that doing a little will get you on the path to improving yourself. But then when I do a little, I realize it's often enough to get me where I wanted.

dpritchett 16y ago

It should be noted that Ferriss wrote a 2008 article describing how to effectively put on 30 pounds overnight by dehydrating oneself before a weigh-in and then rehydrating before competition begins. [1] The fact that the miracle muscle gains mentioned in Tim's new book are also roughly 30 pounds should not go unmentioned. [1] fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/01/18/how-to-cut-weight/

bgraves 16y ago
Tim specifically addresses the 34 lbs of muscle gain in 28 days in the Mixergy interview. It's not the same routine of dehydration/rehydration for competition. I think I see here 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days. How did you do that? Timothy: So that was just so people know the circumstances. I was supervised by a Ph.D. at San Jose State University, and we used hydrostatic weighing, which is underwater weighing, for body composition. The way I did it was with two 30-minute workouts per week, which means it was literally four hours for the month. So in this case it is the 4-hour body. And there were a number of protocols that I followed. The first was the exercise protocol, which was and we’ll talk about this I’m sure more, following the minimum effective dose. So how many seconds of tension with a specific weight or load do I need to trigger muscular growth in certain body parts? And you can figure this out. So I was using a very slow safe protocol to achieve that eliminating momentum to the extent possible, tracked everything like a scientific experiment. And then the second protocol was the eating protocol. So you have to eat a lot to gain 34 pounds of muscle. I also lost three pounds of fat and lowered my cholesterol from 222 to 147. And that involved eating, but improving insulin sensitivity so that was preferentially put into muscle tissue as opposed to fat tissue. Then also taking supplementation to improve protein synthesis and things like that. So at the end of the day it was a combination of very small things used together.
- dpritchett 16y ago
  I'm sure he has more exhaustive logs that support his claims but the quote above (the same story was in Wired a few weeks back) isn't detailed enough to prove that Tim gained 8.5 pounds of muscle per week. I was unfamiliar with hydrostatic weighing so I looked it up. Hydrostatic weighing appears to measure water displacement to figure out the body's density and hence fat to muscle composition. The density of muscle is 1.06 g/ml and fat is 0.92 g/ml. [1] A gain of 30 pounds of water (1.0 g/ml) would show up as roughly equal gains in fat and muscle since water's density is about at the midpoint between fat and muscle. Ferriss's claim is +34 pounds of muscle and -3 pounds of fat. I'm certain Ferriss gained lots of muscle in his four-week trial. His methodology isn't all that different from Gallon Of Milk A Day (GOMAD) plus the Starting Strength workout plan, both of which I've personally used to some success. That said, the freely available quotes don't give all of the necessary information. If you happen to buy the book, please share with us. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/576481.html http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/576481.html

weeksie 16y ago

The muscle building seems similar, though even more extreme than HST training: http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html I switched to HST after a long time of doing typical weight training routines and now do 1-2 sets per body part each time I'm in the gym. It's not nearly as extreme as what he's describing but I've cut my workouts down to 3 40 minute sessions each week and my gains have increased a LOT. Of course when I tell people that they freak out because there's an irrational belief that you have to put in tons of sets to see benefits. Interesting stuff.

dpritchett 16y ago
I'm enjoying a two days a week interpretation of Starting Strength. It also focuses on progressive loading and low rep, high weight sets. http://startingstrength.wikia.com http://startingstrength.wikia.com
- zacharycohn 16y ago
  Starting Strength is amazing. Paired with GOMAD and it is hands down the most effective strength building program I've ever come across. Enjoy it!
kscaldef 16y ago
Just wondering... Does anyone actually want to look like that guy on the HST page? I took one look at that and said "this is not the workout routine for me".
- jonhendry 16y ago
  And I bet the person pictured was heavily using steroids.
- weeksie 16y ago
  Yeah, that's not something you just accidentally end up looking like. I'm not into being that big at all but there would be fair warning well before hand ;)

steve19 16y ago

The reviews on Amazon look really suspicious. http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-Superhuman/dp/030746363X/ http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-Superh... In the past few hours since the book was put on sale, there have been 90+ five star reviews. Either this is one of the best book every published, of the publisher/author has been organizing or paying for reviews.

kmfrk 16y ago
This is always the case with movies and videogames, so I think the same applies: the people who are interested in the product go to see/watch/read it first. Eventually, "everyone else" gets around to try it out, and the score drops accordingly.
- WillyF 16y ago
  Not sure that's going to happen here. Look at the reviews from the updated version of The 4HWW: http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Expanded-Updated-Cutting-Edge/product-reviews/0307465357/ http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Expanded-Updated-Cutti... The original edition didn't do quite as well, but it still has a huge quantity of great reviews: http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/product-reviews/0307353133/ http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Workweek-Escape-Live-Anywhere/p...
  - jonhendry 16y ago
    It's a bit of a cult. But there are a more reasonable number of 1, 2, 3-star reviews.
dchest 16y ago
Some publishers/authors really organize reviews by sending preview copies of books to reviewers.
- PStamatiou 16y ago
  I am one of those. I had an advance copy, loved it and posted my review. Feel free to challenge anything in my review: http://amzn.to/hDRfVB http://amzn.to/hDRfVB

edw519 16y ago

Andrew, I think mixergy is one of the coolest things on the web. You've done great work bringing so much content to inspire us. So I'm surprised and a little disappointed to see you interview the likes of Tim Ferriss. Don't get me wrong; I understand that you're a journalist and want to keep an open mind. No question about the popularity of this person and his subject. I just don't think that he or his message are very inspiring. While most of us here work hard building stuff for the benefit of others, this guy just hacks the system for personal benefit. Whether it's gaming the rules to win a martial arts contest, front loading phony book reviews, or making outrageous claims that spawn counterproductive behavior, I really don't want to know about it; I've read enough. The world already has enough hustlers, charletons, and posers. I'd rather see you spend your time continuing to bring us the real inspiration the has given mixergy such a great track record. Just my .02. [EDIT: Just a quick follow-up to those who have disagreed. I don't hate Tim Ferriss. I don't accuse him of lying or deceiving. And I don't question whether or not his methods are effective. (Spam is effective, something else I would never do.) When I read his last book, I was totally turned off when he claimed winning a martial arts contest by finding a loophole in the rules and shoving his opponent out of bounds. I have never done anything like that and have no intention of learning anything similar. There's so much inspiring stuff to read here and in books that I see no need to follow up on something I've already ruled out. I was just a little surprised to see Tim Ferriss and mixergy in the same post. That's all.]

poppysan 16y ago
Ive seen a few "Marketers" and such on Mixergy that I don't exactly trust their methods, but it does fit with the goal and purpose of the show.
FluidDjango 16y ago
I appreciate my life choices for not having such a fellow on my radar (spelling is Ferriss - I discover by searching on Amz). Yet I wonder how I could have become so cynical as to doubt the "socially redeeming value" of an ~author~ who gets a book published by including claims such as: > YOU WILL LEARN (in less than 30 minutes each): > How to lose those last 5-10 pounds (or 100+ pounds) with odd combinations of food and safe chemical cocktails. > * How to prevent fat gain while bingeing (X-mas, holidays, weekends) > * How to increase fat-loss 300% with a few bags of ice > * How Tim gained 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days, without steroids, and in four hours of total gym time > * How to sleep 2 hours per day and feel fully rested > * How to produce 15-minute female orgasms > * How to triple testosterone and double sperm count > * How to go from running 5 kilometers to 50 kilometers in 12 weeks > * How to reverse “permanent” injuries > * How to add 150+ pounds to your lifts in 6 months > * How to pay for a beach vacation with one hospital visit

bodybuilder 16y ago

Tim Ferriss is correct that it takes 4 hours to get a body like his. However, to be accurate, he should have said 4 hours per DAY. 2 hours weights + 2 hours cardio will get you in shape like him. Not drinking milk and expecting to lose 10 lbs = fail. the guy is a sales/marketing genius.

swombat 16y ago
A great many people (also known as "hard-gainers") will not gain any muscle whatsoever by exercising every day - let alone exercising for 4 hours every day. If you're a hard-gainer (I am), you will need to: * Do the right kinds of exercises (squats, deadlifts, bench press, pullups, inverted rows, etc) * Rest enough in between sessions (2 days between sessions at least) * Eat enough, including enough protein from a variety of sources If you do those things, you will put on muscle no matter what your body type. Exercise 4 hours a day, and you will only put on muscle if you have awesome genetics.
- bodybuilder 16y ago
  you dont do the same routine every day; you do a 3-day split. I guarantee you if we did a study of 1,000 americans who did 4 hours per day and rotated their weights and cardio vs. Tim's method; 95% would be in much better shape my way. and the 5% who dont cant put on weight. " 1 point by swombat 3 minutes ago | link | parent A great many people (also known as "hard-gainers") will not gain any muscle whatsoever by exercising every day - let alone exercising for 4 hours every day. If you're a hard-gainer (I am), you will need to: * Do the right kinds of exercises (squats, deadlifts, bench press, pullups, inverted rows, etc) * Rest enough in between sessions (2 days between sessions at least) * Eat enough, including enough protein from a variety of sources "If you do those things, you will put on muscle no matter what your body type. Exercise 4 hours a day, and you will only put on muscle if you have awesome genetics." exactly; the same kind of "superhuman" genetics tim ferriss (and me) already have. thing is; if we don't do 4 hr/day, we get fat just like most of America!
  - sedachv 16y ago

alexyim 16y ago

In this article, http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_truth_about_bulking http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_trai... It claims that your body can only synthesize about 2 pounds of dry muscle mass per month. 34 pounds in 28 days is roughly a pound of muscle per day. I've always found myself wanting more evidence to back that up, or even just seeing more examples of people saying they've done that. The closest I've heard to getting that kind of result are people who add drinking a gallon of milk in addition their regular diet, and even then they gain a fair amount of fat in addition to muscle and it's way less than that number.

Bostwick 16y ago
You can synthesize more than 2lbs of muscle per month, if the muscle you're synthesizing has been in a trained state previously. This is how athletes can return from injury in a few weeks. It's also how most before/after shots for health products and supplements are made. I've done GOMAD (Gallon of Milk A Day). It's tough to drink that much milk. In the end, I gained ten pounds of muscle over a period of two months.
- alexyim 16y ago
  > You can synthesize more than 2lbs of muscle per month, if the muscle you're synthesizing has been in a trained state previously. Do you have a link to that by any chance? It does make sense though. Perhaps that's what happened with him, but without that key bit of info it's fairly misleading.
  - Bostwick 16y ago
    Start with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Experiment. Then read http://blog.legendarylife.com/the-colorado-experiment http://blog.legendarylife.com/the-colorado-experiment. Anecdotally, here's one guy's attempt at repeating the Colorado experiment. http://www.placeintheground.com/2008/07/21/testing-out-the-colorado-experiment/ http://www.placeintheground.com/2008/07/21/testing-out-the-c... http://www.placeintheground.com/2008/09/25/colorado-experiment-results/ http://www.placeintheground.com/2008/09/25/colorado-experime... Re-reading this makes me think that Tim Ferriss is probably advocating the Colorado Experiment's methods in his book. One of the other comments mentioned five-seconds-up, five-seconds-down.

gursikh 16y ago

Every Tim Ferris thread I see on HN, has nigh 10 - 20 posts that all essentially say: "Tim Ferris is a charlatan. He's relies on spin and marketing to sell his products. His methods encourage people to be lazy and not make a genuine effort to reach their goals. His advice is counterproductive." But while Tim makes every effort to support his claims using facts, anecdotes and citations these sorts of comments are rarely supported by anything other than the commenter's opinion. I'm not saying people shouldn't post Tim-hating comments, to the contrary I'm asking for Tim-haters to form a strong argument against his ideology by citing studies and literature that clearly contradict what he preaches.

andre 16y ago
Exactly. And when he's talking about winning the martial arts fights, he goal was to "WIN", not to play the game. And like gursikh says, either put up or shut up. We need concrete examples! Overall, I think Tim has done a lot for a lot of people with the ideas that he shares in his books.
- onan_barbarian 16y ago
  Exploiting rule loopholes in obscure Chinese kickboxing events doesn't constitute much of a "WIN", especially with his subsequent presentation of himself as a "world champion" and "experienced mixed martial artist". All up, a call for "concrete examples" is exactly what should be going on. From Tim. Not from the unbeliever. The cliche is "the onus of proof is on the believer". Tim's extraordinary claims about drug-free muscle gain, for example, should have had a third-party drug test involved as well as being put in context with his previous and subsequent physique. His extraordinary claims to be a martial arts champion should come with names, dates and number of competitors in his division. Etc.
  - gursikh 16y ago
    You have misunderstood me. It doesn't matter if Tim is wrong, if we don't know what is right. If you substantiate your criticisms by finding counter-evidence or disputing his evidence, you add value to the conversation by pointing people in the right direction.

onan_barbarian 16y ago

Someone on IronGarm (don't look it up if you're easily offended) put it best: "Tim isn't very strong and is a Jenga of fairly serious injuries that a smarter trainee would avoid." "Gaining" (actually regaining) large quantities of muscle in a short period of time is an old Iron Game trick (the "Colorado Experiment" with the Nautilus guy and Casey Jones IIRC). You can't gain nearly as much muscle as someone else can regain. As for the other strategies to 'gain' this much 'muscle' while 'clean', the high points are (a) dehydration, (b) steroids and/or exogenous testosterone and (c) a modicum of fat gain (which on a normal muscular physique won't be that notable and, most importantly, (d) a willingness to claim that you haven't done a/b/c whether it is true or not. Tim is a master of 'hacking' these kind of demos but it would be more impressive if he tried doing something more sustained where there isn't a short-cut to success. For example, compete in a sport where there is a lot at stake and a high number of well-prepared competitors. Not, for example, by finding a rules loophole in some obscure Chinese kickboxing event and winning it through a combination of extreme weight cutting and pushing other people over (one of his claims to fame as a martial artist).

TheSOB88 16y ago

Andrew, great interview. I was just wondering if there was a reason you don't ask people to repeat themselves when the video cuts off? It seems to take away a little from the video. (I did notice the sly handling regarding the "blue light" cutoff)

dkarl 16y ago

Update: Tim says if you buy 3 copies of his book and email him your receipt, he’ll send you a chapter that his publisher edited out of the book. This on top of an incredible claim caused my informational immune system to close the tab. If any reasonable person made such a discovery, they would be concerned about skepticism, about looking like a huckster. And about being wrong! They would look for some way to validate their work and would see if they could convince someone credible in the field before they started pitching it to the general public. This guy is going out of his way to look like a charlatan. Conclusion: he's looking for suckers and is weeding out everyone else right up front.

candre717 16y ago

Tim is our generation's chuck norris. I've seen his Tedtalk - it's like he walks on water. He's a genius at self-promotion, but too much cloud in the sky goals and success, and you start to see the fluff.

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tyrmored 16y ago

I bought Ferriss' book on a whim at an airport. I have no qualms in saying I think it's perhaps the worst waste of $20 in my life. The guy's a charlatan.