In This Issue...
Tim Ferriss has been described as the Indiana Jones for the digital age. His apparently limitless energy, enthusiasm and commitment to all-out exploration resulted in mega-sales for his first book and number-one
New York Times best seller
The 4-Hour Workweek, which is now in 35 languages. For his next project, he set out to find ways to create a healthier, stronger, leaner body. Out of shape himself, he put on 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days and -- using uncommon techniques -- helped his 65-year-old father lose 90 pounds of fat. Ferriss was deeply bothered by the huge numbers of otherwise successful people who had accepted living in mediocre bodies, and so he spent the next three years traveling around the world and studying fast, effective -- if sometimes highly unusual -- methods of bringing about needed changes. Those are the ideas that now fill the pages of
The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman.
Now, as I picked up the book and took a good look, it was obvious that the title was the kind of extravagant overstatement designed to grab customers' attention and ensure a large volume of sales. The question: Would this very hefty book deliver anything close to the content it promised? I sat down to talk with the author, and the question quickly answered itself. It turns out that Ferriss knows whereof he speaks. He ran a sports nutrition company for eight years and had access to leading doctors, athletes and scientists. He talked to them, learned from them and put a lot of advice into practice after first using himself and the people around him to test the theories that he details in his book. In fact, Ferriss says, he personally tests everything he writes about.
Ferriss is adamant in his belief that being in charge of your body gives you power in life. "It puts you in the driver's seat," he says flatly. In my recent conversation with him, Ferriss talked about the discipline that helped him create a leaner, healthier body and a life that is decidedly not mediocre. He also told me more about ways readers can start on their own pursuit to becoming "superhuman"…
Daily Health News: You manage to do a gargantuan amount of work. You have written two very large best sellers (the most recent one is 571 pages) -- and you're a Guinness Book of World Records holder for the most tango spins in one minute (37) besides! You exercise daily and zoom around the world making presentations, talking to experts, putting their theories to work for yourself and for others. Where does that kind of energy come from?
Tim Ferriss: A lot of it comes from how I was nurtured, but I would say that the turning point was when I went to Japan at age 15 as an exchange student. Living in such a different culture from ours, I realized how many of the rules we follow are completely arbitrary and certainly "challengeable." I began to think about what would happen if I did the opposite of what I was told to do, or if I followed only the first two or three rules instead of all of them. I put that into practice and I learned Japanese and earned a Judo black belt in just one year. I returned to the US with a newfound sense of confidence, not in myself but in the process and in the tool set that I had developed. Success begets success, and I have continued to be guided by this principle ever since. Really, at its most simple, we're talking about thinking for yourself and questioning basic assumptions.
Daily Health News: Your drive is unique. What is at the root of it?
Ferriss: Philosophies are the "operating systems" we have for life -- rules that allow us to make decisions, hopefully better and faster. I am attracted to Stoic philosophy and learning to value only nonmaterial things that cannot be taken away easily, such as close relationships -- and not to overreact emotionally to things you cannot control. This is much like some teachings in Buddhism. Both philosophies have been tested in warfare with its high stakes and immovable deadlines. I find you can learn a lot from extreme situations that you can then apply to more moderate circumstances.
Daily Health News: You are endlessly positive about people's ability to reach their potential, but you say that, ultimately, the basis for motivation is what you call the "Harajuku moment." This describes what happens when someone replaces seeing a goal as something "nice to have" with seeing it as a "must have." How can people propel themselves to that level of commitment?
Ferriss: To get to a goal, the psychological behavior you set up is as important as the method you use, and there are several ways to engineer a "Harajuku moment." For example, our society focuses on positive psychology too much, in my opinion. The fact is that negative prompts are extremely useful. Magnifying the pain your problem causes you can be a great motivator. To see how, let’s suppose that you are trying to lose weight. You could constantly think about other people who already have great physiques. But what if, instead, you make your current state extremely visible -- take a picture of yourself in a bathing suit with plain lighting and your hands on your head so that your fat hangs out in all its glory -- and place it where this painful sight of yourself is an unavoidable and regular occurrence? This actually tends to work better. Another way to build motivation is through peer pressure and public accountability -- maybe forming a betting pool with friends that features friendly competition in which the one who loses the most weight or gains the most muscle wins the pool. I offer a number of case studies in the book that use clinically tested setups like this.
Daily Health News: You write that when working toward a goal, it's helpful to remember that by mastering just 2.5% of the total subject area you can achieve a good 95% of the desired results. You give the example of learning Spanish -- 95% of conversations contain just 2,500 words, so knowing them is enough to be perceived as fluent. The question is, though, how do people identify what parts of a given area make up the critical 2.5%?
Ferriss: The first answer, not surprisingly, is to let the experts in your target field do the initial round of testing for you. Then go beyond the mainstream by talking to the outliers -- those people who are working toward the same particular goal in an untraditional way. Let's say, for example, that you want to train for a marathon or triathlon. Common wisdom says that you'll probably need 20 to 30 hours of training per week, at least if you want to perform well in an Ironman competition. Now let's say that you ignore the party line and common prescriptions for training, and opt instead to find people who run very long distances who shouldn't be able to -- overweight people or those who don't have the typical body build of a runner. Find out what their strategies for success are. Then use the knowledge from both groups to make your plan.
Another way to make progress toward a daunting goal is to start small with short-duration experiments that last only two weeks or so. My 65-year-old dad finally lost 90 pounds of fat and gained 20 to 30 pounds of muscle with less than four hours of resistance training per month because he started with a two-week experiment, rather than considering this a change that he had to make a permanent part of his life. He was willing to take on a two-week trial and see where it was going. Taking this reversible "baby step" took the pressure off.
Daily Health News: Then, of course, you have to keep up the motivation that will get you all the way to your goal, which your book makes clear involves having measurable achievements. What is that about?
Ferriss: I take a very strict business approach, which I base on a tenet of the management guru Peter Drucker -- that what gets measured gets managed… and if you can't measure something, you can't manage it. With weight, for example, I like to have people use more detailed ways of measuring than just the scale. Body fat is a good measure, but you can also simply measure circumferences using a basic tape measure on the mid upper arm, waist, hip, and midpoint on the thigh and track the total inches you lose in fat, or the inches you gain in muscle if that's your goal. This body measuring is particularly useful for women. The fact is that inches often come off before pounds do, when measured on a scale. What that represents is a positive small increase of muscle, in addition to fat loss. Sadly, when women measure their progress only by the scale, they are apt to get frustrated and quit.
Daily Health News: I like the concept you have that what you gain in one area transfers to other areas of life. Can you elaborate on that for Daily Health News readers?
Ferriss: It is hard to sell people on making an effort for their health -- as a mission, it's just too far off and nebulous. But if they start with one goal of improved performance and one goal of improved appearance, the other health benefits come with it. This "transfer" is like a Trojan horse, but one that helps you. And it goes far beyond the physical.
Richard Branson, the Virgin empire billionaire, was quoted in my book as saying he gets three to four more productive hours of work done per day by working out. Improving the physical machine, and breaking limits, changes everything. People see how what they thought was physically impossible has become possible, and then they start to think about what else they haven't changed in their lives that they could change, whether doubling their income, asking for promotions, traveling the world for a year, etc. Their confidence multiplies in a cascading effect. That is why I believe for the sake of mental health, business, relationships, family dynamics -- everything -- the first thing people should do is improve their bodies.
New INSTANT Cure for Extra High Cholesterol -- Cholesterol Drops 100 Points or More
Several years ago, lots of people were horrified to learn that certain prescription painkillers -- Vioxx and Bextra, in particular -- were dangerous and put them at significant risk for cardiovascular problems. Not only were these people rightfully outraged at having been misled about the safety of the drugs they were taking, they were outraged as well at the prospect of having to endure more of the pain they were trying to escape. Many ended up taking other, more well-known, over-the-counter brands of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as Advil, Motrin, Aleve and others. Now a new study delivers yet more painful news -- it seems that these drugs also carry stroke risks.
In January 2011, a group of researchers at the University of Bern conducted a meta-analysis of more than 30 randomized trials with a combined total of 116,429 patients taking placebo or NSAIDs. The researchers found abundant evidence of a heightened risk for cardiovascular events and found that taking drugs containing ibuprofen, including brand names such as Motrin, Advil and Nuprin, and those containing naproxen (such as the brand Aleve and a few others) raises the likelihood of suffering a stroke.
These are everyday drugs that sit in most of America's medicine cabinets right now. So, even though this finding is based on a "study of studies" rather than a customized clinical trial that is the gold standard, it's an important one -- as many people take these drugs often and without giving it much thought.
To get a clear interpretation of the results, I called one of our regular expert sources, Harlan Krumholz, MD, professor of cardiology at Yale School of Medicine and author of the book
The Expert Guide to Beating Heart Disease: What You Absolutely Must Know. He explained that the reason NSAIDs carry cardiovascular risk is that these drugs "disturb the balance of the blood's clotting system, and some of them tend to cause clot formation." He cautions that everyone who takes NSAIDs is at some risk for heart problems from them. "In particular, people with heart disease should avoid using these medications," Dr. Krumholz said.
Since there is also some risk (albeit small) associated with products containing acetaminophen (such as Tylenol), Dr. Krumholz said that for people with heart issues, aspirin is probably the safest pain reliever. It is, after all, recommended for this group as protection against future heart attacks.
Important: Help your friends live more healthfully -- forward this E-letter to them. Better: Send it to many friends and your whole family.
This is a free e-mail service of BottomLineSecrets.com and Boardroom Inc.
Need to contact us?
http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/cust_service/contact.html
Boardroom Inc.
281 Tresser Boulevard
Stamford, CT 06901-3246
ATTN: Web Team
Privacy Policy:
BottomLineSecrets.com Web Site Privacy Policy
Required Disclaimer: The information provided herein should not be construed as a health-care diagnosis, treatment regimen or any other prescribed health-care advice or instruction. The information is provided with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in the practice of medicine or any other health-care profession and does not enter into a health-care practitioner/patient relationship with its readers. The publisher does not advise or recommend to its readers treatment or action with regard to matters relating to their health or well-being other than to suggest that readers consult appropriate health-care professionals in such matters. No action should be taken based solely on the content of this publication. The information and opinions provided herein are believed to be accurate and sound at the time of publication, based on the best judgment available to the authors. However, readers who rely on information in this publication to replace the advice of health-care professionals, or who fail to consult with health-care professionals, assume all risks of such conduct. The publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions.
Bottom Line's Daily Health News is a registered trademark of Boardroom, Inc.
Copyright (c) 2011 by Boardroom Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment