I wanted to share my personal challenge and the approach I am taking to succeed.
I am challenging myself over the next month to get back into shape and give myself the best possible results over a 30 day period. My plan is to use a combination of nutrition, lifting, running, martial arts, and cold immersion stacked on top of each other to exponentially increase the benefits of each.
I am going to follow the slow carb diet as outlined by Tim Ferriss in the 4 Hour Body. Anyone who is familiar with Tim's work knows he is a huge advocate of the minimal effective dose (MED) and stacking several MEDs on top of each other for insane returns. For example, if the boiling point of water is 212 degrees, putting the pot on the stove at a higher temperature doesn't make the water "more boiled" - likewise, crushing a 2 hour weight training marathon at the gym, when a 15 minute lift could have achieved the same hormonal response triggering muscle growth, is silly. You will just be exhausted and unable to repeat the 2 hour workout the next day.
I intend to do the minimum necessary to achieve maximum results over several areas for a 30 day period.
Eat:
As I mentioned, I will be following the Slow Carb diet. I have followed the slow carb diet before and have had excellent returns, so I will be again following this, or a slight variation of this so that I don't get bored and am more likely to stick with it. There are 5 rules of the slow carb diet, my favorite being a cheat day once a week where you can go completely nuts and eat whatever you want. I won't go into detail about the diet here, there is plenty of information out there already and I would definitely highly recommend Tim's book if you would like to learn more.
Lift:
My lifting approach will be two-pronged and drawn by two of the strength industry's leading experts: Dan John and Pavel Tsatsouline. It will be a fairly minimalist approach: Deadlifts & Bench Press on Mondays, and Squats & Bench Press on Fridays. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays I will be following the Kettlebell routing outlined in Pawel's book, Simple and Sinister. Which too is a minimalist kettlebell routine primarily consisting of one-armed swings and Turkish get ups. Between these two combined approaches, I should have my strength needs covered for the entire body. I may throw in some glamor lifts on Wednesdays with Shoulders and Biceps, but these aren't necessary or a priority.
Run:
To quote Nike: "Just do it" will ultimately be the most important piece of my running approach over the next month. There are obviously scientific ways to improve running which I intend to (alternating HIIT and slow runs, for example) but the most important thing is that I actually get my ass out there and actually do it for a consistent month, rest days notwithstanding. I have dog-earned some pages of Chris MacDougall's book "Born to Run" for inspiration if needed. Another book I would highly recommend.
Martial Arts:
I belong to a gym which offers Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, boxing, and kickboxing classes. I have occasionally participated in each but only a few times. I think it will be important to do these to break up the monotony of lifting and running only. And if nothing else, I should be more confident in my ability to handle myself and possibly learn a new skill. Plus, I always wanted to be proficient in some sort of martial art for no other reason than it's cool.
Freeze:
Another thing Tim Ferriss outlines in the 4 hour body is the power of thermodynamics and cold immersion. The science behind it is well-documented in the book and on the internet. But if you have never heard of Wim Hof, I suggest you spend some time on youtube watching videos about him - it's fascinating stuff. This piece probably isn't necessary but sort of a low risk, potentially high reward type of situation to add cold immersion into the mix.
Well, there you have it. I am doing this stuff for [at least] 30 days and will report back with the results. I took a "before" Bod Pod metrics scan and some pictures, but I am not going to share that info until the end when I post about my results. Trust me when I say it wasn't pretty :-)
Thanks for reading about my fitness experiment and good luck to anyone else starting or going on their own journey.
