IOL Strength and Conditioning

Tim Ferriss
474 pages, plus 75 pages of appendices and a 16-page index

You don’t have to tell me—I already know there’s controversy in our field over Tim’s new book, stretching the truth to its absolute limits or beyond and, or perhaps especially, his self-promoting marketing methods. And these negatives have merit, as I’m certain my review partners would happily argue as long as I’d listen. But you still have to give a hat-tip to a regular gym rat who can make it to the New York Times bestseller list with what’s really just a collection of musclehead trial and error. In fact, the publisher in me is speechless at the concept—think of this, a guy writes a handful of articles developed from his elaborate training logs, does some interviews that he thickens up with personal commentary, and ends up with a bestseller solely on his social media efforts and through the force of his personality. A few years ago, this couldn’t have happened, and a few years before that, when the big publishing houses held all the cards, this book wouldn’t have been published at all. This is the power of the internet, and that alone is worth stopping to marvel.

I haven’t met Tim, but I had a personal interest in the book because the biggest chapter was about Gray Cook’s work, which Tim described as “for a high percentage of readers, it will be the most important,” plus there’s a good bit about Tracy Reifikind’s weight loss through kettlebell swings. And imagine my surprise when I got to page 172 and found a rehash of Bryon Chandler’s T-Handle, with Tim’s thanks to Dave for Byron’s work. Oh yes, I laughed, although Dave interrupted my giggling to tell me he did indeed weld one of these at SquareD back in the early ’60s… only he used it for pullovers instead of swings.

I also had a personal interest in the poorly named 4-Hour Body because it’s so rare for someone any of us might bump into at the gym to be a strong presence at a high level of publishing. I simply love that part of this story, can’t get enough of it. And when you think of it, a mainstream bestseller like this is going to introduce literally millions of people to things we take for granted. Most adult readers have never heard of a kettlebell, don’t have a clue what Pose running is and know even less about hormones. There’s value there, no question.

Dan John is leading a book discussion in the forum about Tim’s book, and his latest query was, What ‘sticks’ in this book? And here’s where I might question the value of the book for many people—will they use any of it, or will it  be just a scan on a Sunday afternoon. Now here, I’m just not sure, although I found the section on sleep issues particularly interesting. We’d love to hear your input in the discussion if you’ve tried some of his body hacks, or if you’re planning an experimental journey.

Now for my bottom line: Tim’s a smart guy, often funny, and he’s curious, meticulous, open and bold, an interesting combination that makes for fascinating reading. I suspect I won’t go to town on any of his ideas, but I’m glad to know about them, and I have them all handy here in this hefty tome if I ever want to revisit them. How many besides Tim will take long ice baths? Probably only the athletes who get paid a really lot of money and have no choice. Will his endurance training program get me to the Marine Corp Mud Run without any distance training… hmm… seems doubtful, but since I’m not going to give it a fair try, I guess I shouldn’t comment.