

Ask HN: Hacking your body? - richtaur

Most HN readers are probably hackers. Hacking on and improving soft/hardware is what drives us daily, and I've read that many of you have taken your hacking skills beyond tech. I enjoy hacking outside of my computer too (using tricks to improve cooking, wardrobe, daily life, etc.), but I've yet to find a good way to get into shape and stay that way.<p>Do any of you have hacks you've used on yourself or others to improve fitness/health?
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bgraves
In a nutshell, get Tim Ferriss's book: The 4-Hour Body [1]

I got it last December and have slowly, but steadily implementing some of the
strategies he prescribes. You don't necessarily have to follow everything he
suggests (and probably couldn't) but it's full of good advice.

[1] <http://goo.gl/38rZ6> (amazon affiliate link)

~~~
polyfractal
I haven't actually read the book, and some of his tips may be useful, but I
stopped reading when I saw this in the book synopsis:

"How Tim gained 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days"

I'm a biologist and I'm calling bullshit on this claim. It is physiologically
impossible to gain that much lean muscle mass in a month under the best
conditions. Your body can only synthesize about 2lbs of lean muscle per month.
The rest of those 32 pounds is likely glycogen (water weight) and fat.

~~~
bgraves
Well, here's how he did it [1] I would be interested in your opinion -- you
aren't the first to be dubious of his claims.

[http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-
to...](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to-freak-how-
i-gained-34-lbs-of-muscle-in-4-weeks/)

~~~
perucoder
This sounds like so much bullshit. Aside from it being physically impossible
to add so much muscle in such a short time, here's a few things that jump
right out as being obviously fake:

Suit size went from 40 short to 44 regular. The short and regular is the
sleeve length. I'm not seeing how this changes regardless of how much muscle
you put on.

The before photos look obviously bad, visible shadow. The after pictures look
much better, better lighting.

No tan in the before pic but tan and hairless in the after. Bodybuilders do
this to give the appearance of more muscle.

The distance from camera changes in the before pics. Gives the appearance of
being smaller or it stretches him out so he looks skinnier.

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allenp
Two things for you to consider:

1\. Creating and maintaining routine is the best way you have to reach your
fitness goals. This is probably more important than what you eat or how you
exercise. Cut out bad habits one-by-one, add good practices slowly, and
practice having good health.

2\. Every single workout and every single diet has worked for someone - but
not all diets and exercise routines will work for you. The problem is that all
of our bodies really do respond differently and your job is to be the expert
on your body and how it works. Don't get caught up in what everyone else is
doing - focus on the results you're getting instead.

~~~
bgraves
This is good advice, but what about non-fitness goals? I think it's helpful to
have a systematic approach to all aspects of your life, but figuring out where
to start can be difficult.

For instance, if you feel sleepy or sluggish and it's a problem that you'd
like to correct, you might be inclined to adjust your sleeping habits. But
what if your sluggishness is a function of your eating habits or your mattress
quality? I agree that there's no perfect formula that one can follow, but I
think it's more of finding a "system" that you can apply to your life to break
down the problems and correct them one by one. So, you might call up your area
mattress shops with a 30-day return policy and pick one out that suits your
budget. Sleep on your new mattress for 30 days and return it if it doesn't
produce the desired results. _That's body hacking._

Finding the "system" is what intrigues me most about body/fitness hacking (and
hacking/technology in general)

------
tunaslut
Here's my take:

Remove any mindset that exercise is something you _do_ 30 minutes three times
a week....that's bulldust. You live in your body 24/7. Any moment is a moment
to exercise. Sitting at the pc? pay attention to your body - are your
shoulders relaxed? are your forearms relaxed? are you breathing easily?
Standing at the bus stop or in a bar by yourself with nothing to do? about to
pull out your iphone to check HN? NO - check your posture - feel where your
hips are, feel where your head is, drop your shoulders, lift your head
gently.....any moment, any time, anywhere you can do some work on your body.
How small can you make a movement....can you rotate your hips in such small
circles that nobody else notices? Play, explore.

Learn some basic anatomy - the body is to a certain extent, just a set of
levers and pulleys - muscles, tendons, bones....those three interact to create
movement. Learn the various joints in the body and how they should move.
Knowing this alone, you can probably check any exercise you do to make sure
you aren't damaging yourself :)

Posture Good posture will not only make you "look" better, but make you feel
better - hunching over a desk blahblahblah you know the rest....the best 2
exercises that I've picked up (especially good for people who spend a lot of
time sitting) 1) stand with your back against the wall, heels and head
touching the wall as well. Gently try to flatten your spine and raise your
head. Do this a few times a day for about a minute. 2) find a corner or door
frame - position yourself so your spine is on the corner - your shoulders and
scapula should be in fresh air. Pull the scapula towards the spine as if you
are trying to pinch the corner or doorframe between the two long muscles on
either side of your spine (the erector spinae).

Movement Basically movement is fun - if you approach it as fun rather than
something you have to do, you'll enjoy exercising....I like to explore how we
can move...breaking it down to up, down, left, right, forwards,
backwards....then combining them...so do up and backwards together or left and
forwards.

Figure out how your joints move. Rotate them, one at a time and all at once.
Move slowly and keep awareness on what you are using to move...are you using
the minimal amount of effort? are you relaxing muscles that you don't really
need to engage to do the movement? play with that it is infinitely
entertaining.

Now you want to pick up something heavy and swing it around? Sure why not.
Keep the same in mind - minimal amount of effort to accomplish the movement,
keep it fun. Do something functional, dig a hole, shovel snow, pitch some hay.
Or try <http://www.shovelglove.com/> :)

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hcho
I applied lean methodology to my weight loss problem. I gave about 3 months to
everything I tried, ditched the one's that didn't work, kept the one's that
did.

Calorie restriction didn't work, low carb did. Eating 6 small meals a day
didn't work, fasting did. A lot of cardio didn't work, a mixture of lifting
and cardio did. I guess you get the idea.

~~~
bgraves
Awesome! Sounds like you had a very systematic approach to figuring out what
works and what didn't. I would be interested in reading more about what you
tried and the results you got. Did you capture any interesting data with your
experiments?

~~~
hcho
I regret not having kept that data. But my goal was to add 1kg per month(about
2.8 lbs) to my weight loss. So if something I tried didn't come close to
increasing 3kgs after 3 months I ditched it. Of course I left room for
decreasing effectiveness of methods I applied earlier.

The sequence of things I tries was something like this: * get active, i.e
start using stairs instead of lifts, walk more, sit less (worked) * cut sugar
altogether(worked) * start going to gym with a program mixing cardio and
lifts(worked) * limit calories(didn't work, couldn't control hunger) * lower
carb consumption(worked) * cardio focused workout(didn't work; went back to my
original program) * eat 6 small meals(didn't work, made no difference) *
fasting(worked)

It was effectively a journey of discovering what my body and mind reacts to.

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perucoder
Try these 2 articles, first is about how to exercise properly and the second
is how we destroy our feet using modern footwear and what to do about it:

[http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-
fitness...](http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-
lie/)

<http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/>

------
brudgers
> _"a good way to get into shape and stay that way._ "

I started refereeing soccer this past year. The emphasis placed upon on field
performance was sufficient substitute for competition and because of the many
levels at which the game is played, there have been ample opportunities at an
appropriate level as my fitness has improved. Most importantly, as I have
received progressively more competitive assignments it has allowed me to
reframe exercise (which connotates a certain amount of drudgery in my mind) to
training. The fact that refereeing pays for the shoes it requires and doesn't
require space in the house beyond that required for a gymbag, is a plus as
well.

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lupatus
Warning, NSFW: chaosandpain.blogspot.com. An aggressive, foul-mouthed
intellectual's take on power-lifting and nutrition.

~~~
lupatus
For those at work, his advice boils down to this...

DO'S:

-Low repition, heavy weight, full-body lifts

-Boost your testosterone levels through things like a high protein diet

-Read more and be intellectually curious

DO NOT'S:

-Avoid soy or other foods/activities that lower your testosterone levels

-Avoid endurance exercises (modern marathoning, etc.) that wear-out your joints and cause cardiac disease

-Avoid blindly accepting the conventional wisdom on health and fitness

~~~
scorpioxy
I didn't check the site yet since i'm at work, but endurance exercises cause
cardiac disease?

Aren't endurance exercises meant to strengthen the cardiac muscle and thus
having a positive effect on your cardiac health?

~~~
lupatus
Too much endurance exercise, like marathoning, can cause myocardial damage.
Some discussion here:
<http://forum.lowcarber.org/archive/index.php/t-403371.html>.

If you want to run, do sprints.

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NZ_Matt
It's pretty simple really:

Eat plenty of good foods & lift weights and you'll get bigger and stronger.

Eat 500 calories under maintenance and lift weights and you'll lose weight
while also getting stronger.

<http://www.liamrosen.com/fitness.html>

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capedape
This guy (Berkeley professor) does some interesting self-experiments and body
hacking <http://blog.sethroberts.net/category/self-experimentation/>

