

Tim Ferriss' New Book: Become a Superhuman - BRadmin
http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/15/tim-ferriss-new-book-become-a-superhuman/

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reedlaw
I asked a body-builder friend if Tim Ferriss' workout could actually achieve
the results Tim claims. He replied that a person can only gain weight that
quickly with steroids. Research has shown that under optimal conditions, less
than ten pounds of muscle can be added in a year.

Ferriss claims to have gained 34 pounds of muscle in 4 weeks:

[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/)

Here is a discussion by steroids users that confirms what my friend told me:

[http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/anabolic-
steroids/10-pound...](http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/anabolic-
steroids/10-pounds-muscle-year-11595.html)

I couldn't find the relevant research that says ten pounds a year is the max,
but here is a Google Books search result that confirms it:

[http://books.google.com/books?id=VnpCA-Z1qcsC&pg=PT166&#...</a><p>"Unfortunately,
the average bodybuilder finds it nearly impossible to gain even ten pounds of
solid muscle tissue in a year's time..."

~~~
psykotic
Not a Feriss fan but it's not at all impossible to gain way more than ten
pounds of muscle in a relatively short time if you aren't already very strong.
His exact numbers sound excessive but I suspect he's gone up and down with
that muscle mass several times in the past, which makes it a lot easier to
rebuild it.

~~~
jambalaya
Why is it not all that impossible to gain way more than ten pounds of muscle
in a relatively short time? From what are you basing this?

I haven't read Tim's books but this seems like a reason to not like his work.
This isn't science. Now, if he said body weight from water etc. Which he could
have for all I know.

~~~
psykotic
What makes me most skeptical about his claims in that blog post is the time
frame and the simultaneous loss of body fat in absolute rather than relative
terms.

When I first started training Olympic weight lifting seriously I gained nearly
fifteen pounds of muscle in six months (along with five pounds of fat; even
vain bodybuilders who are obsessed with body fat have to alternate bulking and
cutting cycles because it's very hard to gain a lot of muscle while keeping
off the fat) and my coach has replicated that routinely starting with
relatively weak beginners. About six months into a program like that, your
efforts start to yield diminishing returns. This is true for total performance
as well: when you're starting out, for the first six to eight months, it's
easy to work out 3-4 times a week, do heavy squats every time, adding 5 kg to
your old record with every single session, but once you get to about 2x body
weight (around 150 kg squats in my case) on the bar you not only can't add
things as fast anymore, but you have to totally change the nature of the
program, and this is despite the fact that 5 kg represents an increasingly
smaller percentage of your maximum capacity, so you might naively think it
would get easier, not harder, over time to keep up a constant rate.

------
PStamatiou
I stopped reading after "Everyone knows that building the perfect body takes
years of hard work and an iron will. Everyone except Tim Ferriss."

~~~
callmeed
I stopped reading after "Tim Ferriss"

~~~
michaelfairley
It'd be beneficial to everyone if you would voice some specific complaints
again Tim. I know a lot of people around here don't like him, but I've never
seen a criticism longer than "Pff. Tim Ferriss is a load of crap." The article
has some reasonable complaints against him, but I'm interested in why the
opinion around HN is the way it is.

~~~
callmeed
I gave a few details previously: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=663858>

Basically, I found few original ideas in his book–it read like a get-rich-
quick-scheme aimed at tech-savvy middle managers who are stuck in a cube farm.

I don't want to work 4 hours a week ... because I actually _enjoy_ the things
I choose to work on.

~~~
GHFigs
_I actually _enjoy_ the things I choose to work on._

That's why Ferriss defines work as the stuff you do primarily for money and
would prefer to do less of. Even if you love your job, there is going to be
some of that in there.

~~~
callmeed
But he seems to advocate outsourcing your workload to zero. If all of us
outsource everything, who's gonna do the actual work in this world? Oh, right
... all the non-Westerners.

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theschwa
I don't really care about the claims. I'm more interested, like the
singularityhub, in personal fitness research. Does anyone know of any
resources on the topic? Even good phone apps or tracking programs would be
cool.

I'm interested in the place where health, science, and startups combine.

