Review: The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sense and Becoming Superhuman

I've been anticipating Tim Ferriss' new book, the 4-Hour Body, for several months now. He's a regular on the silicon Valley scene, I enjoyed his previous book and the subject matter was of real interest.

Long story short, Ferriss, who has chronicled his workouts for years, shares his findings on a variety of subjects, including weight gain, wight loss, strength gain, endurance running, improving testosterone count, improving sex and much more. At nearly 500+ pages, it covers a lot of ground.

As a relatively "seasoned" endurance athlete who also is an avid reader of endurance magazines, journals, etc - and not having a large body of work within the genre to choose from - I expected to be somewhat bemused but already knowledgeable about most of the subjects covered within the book.

But - Ferriss really exceeded my expectations. I read the entire book over 72 hours and suspect that at some point in time - probably sooner than later - I'll need to go back and re-read certain chapters. Of particular interest to me was the chapters on weight and strength gain (surprise, surprise) and I have already started to incorporate kettleballs into my workouts (and can already start to feel the results). The section on diet was interesting too and I'm giving consideration to radically reduce my gluten intake - something I've been considering well before I read this book.

The one area where I remain a skeptic was his chapter on ultra endurance, where he writes about gong from 5k to 50k in 12 weeks. He writes from the perspective of Cross Fit's approach to ultra running and I am ... well. skeptical. Interestingly, the race he talks most about is last year's Quad Dipsea, in which I was a participant. I saw the Cross FIt guys who he writes about all the way through, and while they definitely did finish the course, apparently on relatively low training volume (respect, regardless) they were very much holding up the rear. Not to take anything away from them - or their approach - but I just have to think that there might be a better and more efficient way.

But, I am nit picking. Overall, I think this book is well worth the value andit comes highly recommended. It absolutely has something for everyone and its main objective - to get folks back on track to leading a healthier life - is certainly a noble one that is deserving of support.