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He's a human optimization expert, totally legitimate, and not a snakeoil salesman, who just so happened to put on 34 lbs of muscle IN A MONTH following a style
by 634636346 3y ago
He's a human optimization expert, totally legitimate, and not a snakeoil salesman, who just so happened to put on 34 lbs of muscle IN A MONTH following a style of training, HIT (not to be confused with HIIT cardio), that the scientific literature has largely debunked, that was used as a marketing ploy to sell exercise machines and ultimately a company (Nautilus), and has historically only been used and promoted by a small minority of bodybuilders, the most famous of whom (Mentzer & Yates) may not have even used it, and were voracious users of PEDs even by professional bodybuilder standards (Mentzer used meth before workouts, and died at 49 of a heart attack). As Tim describes (can't link to it without getting caught in the spam filter):
> I weighed 152 lbs. for four years of high school, and after training in tango in Buenos Aires in 2005, that had withered to 146 lbs. Upon returning to the US, I performed an exhaustive analysis of muscular hypertrophy (growth) research and exercise protocols, ignoring what was popular to examine the hard science. The end result? I gained 34 lbs. of muscle, while losing 3 lbs. of fat, in 28 days.
He's written a series of human optimization guides, including the 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman. Totally legit.
- expertentipp 3y agoAmericans would admit they owe their looks and fitness to everything but plastic surgery and steroids. I'm waiting for an American book "How to lose fat and gain muscles by dozen surgeries and a range of substances inserted into your orifices and injected into your bloodstream.. and have cosmic sex too". I would pirate this book, obviously.
- 634636346 3y agoI never implied he used steroids. His claims of muscle gain were never rigorously, independently verified, and were likely invented partially or whole-cloth. He named a researcher at San Jose State University, and said she did hydro-static before/after measurements confirming his results, and she apparently took issue with him using her name and institution for commercial purposes, and also couldn't publicly disclose and confirm his purported results due to the terms of the consent form he signed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2100335 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2100335 Ultimately we have no before/after DEXA scan confirming any muscle gain in any timeframe, and just Tim's word and some questionable before/after photos. And even with copious steroids, 34 lbs. of muscle in a month would be insane.
- laratied 3y agoHe clearly doesn't have 34lbs extra of lean mass in the before and after pictures unless it is all in his back. He at best looks to me like he gained 10lbs, at best.
- elorant 3y ago[flagged]
- trogdor 3y agoIt's code for "a charlatan."
- operatingthetan 3y agoI find it a bit odd the poster a few up joined HN just to defend the author in great detail that I don't think someone would be able to come up with off the top of their head.
- trogdor 3y agoI was thinking the same thing.
- 634636346 3y agoAre you two talking about me? The irony in my "defense" of him was anything but subtle, and you should have had no difficulty construing my implication that he's a BS artist with a history of making obvious BS claims, like 34 lbs. of muscle in a month, to market himself and his products.
- AmericanChopper 3y ago> Upon returning to the US, I performed an exhaustive analysis of muscular hypertrophy (growth) research and exercise protocols, ignoring what was popular to examine the hard science. The end result? I gained 34 lbs. of muscle, while losing 3 lbs. of fat, in 28 days. Gaining 34 lbs of muscle in a month is impossible to do naturally. Gaining 34 lbs of muscle in a year would be incredibly unlikely to happen naturally. Gaining half of that in a month of blasting Tren would only happen to hyper-responders. He’s definitely lying about that, and probably juicing too if he did anything close to that over anything close to that period.
- laratied 3y agoI like Tim's podcast sometimes but "after training in tango in Buenos Aires in 2005" has to be the most douche thing I have ever read and Astor Piazzolla is one of my fav musicians. Hardly shocking though a guy who wrote the four hour work week is a bullshitter.
- 634636346 3y ago> bullshitter No, he's not a bulshitter. It's just his "hustle." Totally different. Or in the YC/PG sense, he's a bit "naughty": http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html Right now, you're being mean (and I guess I am, as well), and we should be mindful of the fact that Mean People Fail: http://www.paulgraham.com/mean.html http://www.paulgraham.com/mean.html Nice people like Tim succeed.
- laratied 3y ago[flagged]