On a lazy Saturday in 2007 I finished a book that was recommended to me by a close mentor.

Two hours later I had quit my job as a trainer at a health club, wrote a plan to open my own fitness studio and get into magazines, and booked a weeklong trip to Central America.

(My mom, understandably, flipped out.)

The book wasn’t the cause of my newfound adventure-seeking and impulse decision making; the desire to “do something” with my life had been brewing ever since I dropped out of community college, and I’d already taken the first few steps to live the life of my dreams.

But it certainly gave me a big shove to keep going.

That book was The 4-Hour Work Week, which later became an international phenomenon and catapulted author Tim Ferriss to semi-celebrity status in the area of blogging and lifestyle design.

As fate would have it, Tim and I became friends over the next few years.

So when I learned he was working on a new book, I asked if could help (and quickly learned the subject matter was right up my alley).

I answered exercise and nutrition questions, did a half-dozen interviews, and helped connect Tim to a few world-renowned strength coaches for the The 4-Hour Body, a 500+ page tome dedicated to the art – and science – of rapid body transformation, incredible sex, and becoming superhuman.

Gaining insane amounts of muscle? Check. Experimenting with anabolic steroids for regeneration? Check. Deconstructing the female orgasm? Double check.   

Just like his previous book, The 4-Hour Body is destined to not only become a bestseller, but to provide readers with intelligent, off-the-wall information and cool things to try to dramatically improve their lives.

(Don’t worry, mom. I’m not gonna do anything drastic.)

 - Q and A With Tim About The 4-Hour Body -

 

Nate: How many experiments did you undergo for the book?

Tim: If you count all the blood tests, injections, pills, and potions it was absolutely in the thousands. The book is a culmination of the three years of active experimentation and more than a decade of data.

Why play the human guinea pig role?

Because the rules of publishing and research are skewed. First, to do a study and get it published there has to be a journal for it. Secondly, the experiment has to be viewed as a positive career move for the scientist involved. Third, you gotta have funding for the study.

Given that the type of stuff I’m interested in revolve around everything from boosting testosterone production, increasing maximal deadlift strength, and improving sex, I decided to take it into my own hands and be the guinea pig for other people instead of waiting for the research.

Another thing: self-experimentation is fast. You can do a scientifically valid job of gathering data, and with the websites and new technologies available it’s easy to get data and share your results with thousands of people.

For example, there’s a forum on Immortality Institute website called the “500 Club”. It’s an entire forum dedicated to people who’ve been using 500 milligrams of resveratrol per day for years.

These people have more data than any of the studies that have been published on resveratrol.


That’s awesome. It’s funny how long it takes the “rest of the world” to learn about things athletes and self-experimenters have been using for years. So when did you decide you wanted to become a human guinea pig?

It started when I was a competitive wrestler in high school. I had to cut from 175 pounds to 152 twice per week to make weight.

But to learn how to cut without negatively affecting performance or putting yourself at risk requires knowledge about electrolyte balance, carbohydrate and protein ratios, water retention, thermoregulation and other complex stuff. So I started tracking it all and became obsessed.

Really, this is the book I wanted to write way before the Four Hour Work Week. But I had to do that book first so I could have access to the best doctors, scientists, professional athletes, black market chemists, and guys like you.

I pulled the trigger once I had my way in and could do what I wanted.

Are you worried about the backlash that’s gonna come from this book? I mean, you talk about some pretty controversial things…

I knew I wanted to talk very candidly and objectively about anabolics and other performance enhancing drugs, which very few people do or are willing to do. And I’m sure I’ll be attacked from all sides. But I’m as ready as I’m gonna be.

I don’t have a” publish or perish” academic career to protect or a company to defend, so I’m in a unique position to introduce people to an intelligent scientific view of some very controversial topics. I look forward to that discussion.

One thing I do want to say though is I am not a doctor nor do I play one on the Internet. I don’t suggest people go out with a cavalier attitude and start jamming syringes into themselves.

Yeah, that’s a good call. What are a few of the more interesting or crazy things you found while writing The 4-Hour Body?

Let’s see…I found that timed cold exposure can dramatically multiply fat loss if you do it right. I had some help from a NASA scientist for that chapter and really got into thermodynamics.  

I interviewed a lot of brown adipose tissue specialists (BATS) and became pretty interested in the hormone adiponectin, which you’ll be hearing more about soon. You can tweak it using cold and speed up the fat loss process.
 

What do you mean by “cold exposure”? Like, sitting in an ice bath?

Exactly. I take three bags of ice, dump them in the bath and sit with the ice and water up to my waist and read for 10 minutes. Then I put my book down and lay completely submerged for five minutes with my ears out of the water.

Holy shit.

It’s not as bad as you think. It gets easier, too.

If you want to try it, I recommend that you keep your hands out of the water for the first three minutes of your full submersion, then put them underwater for the last two minutes. At least for the first two weeks. You don’t want to lose heat too quickly.

Also, a cold bath like this is a great way to improve sleep. Try it an hour before you go to bed to see what I mean.

So I was reading the chapter about fat loss and noticed cinnamon came up quite a few times. Care to share what you’ve found?

Cinnamon actually has a few interesting effects that physique and performance athletes will find helpful.

But first, I gotta tell you a quick story. You’ll like this.

I had a next-generation continuous glucose monitor implanted in my side to track my blood glucose 24 hours per day. It’s something Type-1 diabetics use. Very cutting edge. Anyway, I did this for about thee weeks, tracked my food intake, and timed all my meals and workouts to see when my glucose was spiking.

Wait. What? You implanted it into your side?

Yep.

OK…

One of the things I found was that cinnamon proved effective for lowering glycemic response.

Lets say you have two cups of coffee per day and you normally put a quarter cup of milk in each. If you were to replace that milk – which is highly insulinogenic – with a teaspoon and a half of cinnamon and a little vanilla extract, you’d lose body fat. I’ve seen people cut milk out of coffee and lose two to three pounds of fat in less than 7 days.

You gotta be careful with the cinnamon, though. It sound ridiculous, but you can hurt yourself. There are even warning labels on cinnamon in Europe, stating how it can negatively interact with certain prescription drugs. So I wouldn’t go over 6 grams per day.

One final thing: most of the cinnamon you’ll find is garbage. The powdered packaged cinnamon in a clear container is just like buying rancid fish oil. If you’re going to try this you need to get fresh products from good sources. I prefer Saigon cinnamon, especially for taste.

Good to know. So after all of your experiments, do you feel like you’re living a “healthier” life? Do you feel better?

Absolutely. Without a doubt. I feel healthier than I was in college. I’m faster, stronger, and have fewer aches and pains, which is crazy.

Although some parts of the book process were terrifying – like flying stem-cell growth factors from Israel – all of it was satisfying and worth it.

I wanted to make myself the ultimate guinea pig so the readers didn’t have to.

What that’s allowed me to do is narrow down the field from the entire spectrum of possibilities to the handful of things that have proven to be effective, safe and replicable.

There’s a bunch of amazing stuff out there, man.

I talked with molecular chemist in Russia who’s been financed by oil titans to develop technology to help them live forever. He’s already reversing blindness in four or five species of mammals with eye drops of a specially made concoction. I’m talking zero visibility, a couple of weeks of eye drops, and then perfect vision.

It sounds like science fiction, but the future is here. A lot of people just don’t know about it yet.

In fact, I wouldn’t surprised if you and I make it to 120 years old.

++++

Note from Nate: I had a great time helping Tim with The 4-Hour Body, and I know it’ll make a big impact on your life and physique. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an ice-bath to…uh, enjoy.

PS – Want a free copy of Tim’s new book? Post your coolest/most helpful exercise or nutrition tip below and I’ll pick the best one to get a free copy.

 

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