Printable High Intensity Training Log
By Brick | March 18, 2008
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A few days ago, I described a high intensity workout that forms part of my own Geek to Freak program. This program is based loosely on Timothy Ferriss’ famous blog post From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks. Part of this program involves recording every workout in detail, including the date, the time of day, your weight, your mood, the order of exercises, reps, and weight/resistance.
As I mentioned earlier, a high intensity workout is characterized by a one-set-to-failure method. What this means is you only do a single set of each exercise and you keep doing reps until you cannot lift/move the weights any longer. In my case, each workout session consists of eleven different exercises covering the whole body. I perform a single set of each exercise using a 5/5 cadence (5 seconds up, 5 seconds down) which eliminates momentum and ensures a constant load. I choose the weight so that I reach exhaustion somewhere between 8 to 12 reps. If I can do 12 reps it is an indication to raise the weight next time. If I cannot do 8 reps it is an indication that the resistance is set too high. I prefer machines over free weights for this program because I feel machines have a better chance of ensuring both a full range of motion and discipline in each movement. I space my workouts by at least 48 hours.
I created this workout log to track of my progress. Here is how it works:
First, you enter the date and start time of the workout. I track my weight, but you may also like to track other vitals such as waist size, arm diameter, chest size, etc. I also track my mood. I know this is subjective, but I feel it is a major factor in the performance of exercise.
Next, you perform a single set of each exercise in sequence (so as to not alter the order of the exercises). For each exercise you fill in the weight or resistance used and the number of reps you performed. For example, if you lifted 100 lbs. for 10 reps, you would write in “100 X 10″ in the spaces provided.
At the end of the workout, you capture the finish time, at which point you can calculate the duration of the workout. You can take this log home and enter the results into a spreadsheet, database or simply place it in a simple file folder. This can be used for tracking your progress over time.
In the hope of conserving a little paper, I formatted things in such a way as to allow two log forms to be printed on one sheet of 8 1/2 X 11 paper. You can simply cut the page down the middle and you have a log form for two workouts! Hopefully it helps you keep track of your own high intensity training which hopefully pays off in four weeks. So far, I have found this very useful.
Give it a try and let me know what happens!
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Topics: High Intensity Training | 3 Comments »
links for 2008-03-18
By brick | March 18, 2008
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A good article on the difference in calories and carbohydate content between regular and light beer. The authors suggest that the loss of taste and body is not worth the minimal “gain” achieved when switching to light beer in terms of calorie and carbohyd
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I admit I am a documentary junkie. This points to a pretty good set of online sources for documentaries. So much for an information diet!
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High Intensity Workout
By Brick | March 16, 2008
One claim made by Timothy Ferriss in his blog post From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks seems rather incredible. Given my new daily schedule, I decided a week ago that I would devote my scheduled workout time to testing the ideas in Tim’s post. After all, who does not want to become an intimidating hulk while only spending 4 hours a month in the gym (fortunately I am already intoxicatingly attractive!)? In Tim’s own words:
The end result? I gained 34 lbs. of muscle, while losing 3 lbs. of fat, in 28 days…all of this was done with two 30-minute workouts per week, for a total of 4 HOURS of gym time.
Source: Timothy Ferriss’ Blog.
Is this another case of questioning assumptions leading to revolutionary results, or a case of unsubstantiated infomercial-esque claims?
The Theory
As far as I can tell, the program Ferriss describes in his post is a cross between high intensity training and the Aitken’s diet. The ideas are not really new at all, but both are somewhat controversial in their respective domains.
The idea behind high intensity workouts is that exercises should be, well, intense! - meaning that one uses heavier weights, for a limited number of repetitions until exhaustion. The corollary being that workouts are brief and infrequent (the typical regimen is to do one set of each exercise three days a week). Supposedly this kind of exercise will cause large increases in muscle size. The controversy surrounds the fact that this type of workout is facilitated by Nautilus style equipment, equipment which came to market at the same time as this style of training was first advocated. One could wonder whether these claims were made for the express purposes of selling such equipment.
Aitken’s diet is a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. A quick and dirty version of this diet might be described as simply eating what you eat today, but cut out the bread, potatoes, rice, fruit, desserts and sugar. If you are hungry, eat whatever you want as long as it is not part of the aforementioned list. This diet is controversial because it is more or less mute on the topic of eating fat - the reduction of which is usually the pillar of standard diets and nutritional programs. Having tried a low carbohydrate diet in the past, I believe it can be effective. One would think it is easy to do as there does not have to necessarily be a reduction in food quantity - as long as the carbs are cut out. However, after a month of low carb’ing it, you would be surprised how enticing a simple bowl of steamed rice or a bun appears.
I want to state emphatically that I am not an expert on high intensity training, or the Aitken’s diet. Furthermore, I am not an athlete, personal trainer or a doctor (unless I am trying to meet women in a bar). The above is just my simple understanding, I encourage you to investigate everything further, and I am hardly advocating that either works or is even healthy (I don’t know!).
My Geek to Freak Program
Here is how I have decided to implement my own kinder, gentler “Geek to Freak” program:
- I am following the high intensity training one-set-to-failure method (see the Colorado Experiment). Unlike Ferriss, I am going with the more regular frequency of three workouts per week with 48 hours rest between sessions, which amounts to me doing the training on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The 4 hour per month claim simply sounds too incredulous.
- I am performing every repetition with a 5/5 cadence (5 seconds up, 5 seconds down). As Ferriss points out, this eliminates momentum and ensures a constant load.
- I am doing 11 exercises per training session, working the entire body each workout. I am favouring machines over free weights to ensure discipline and full extension in each movement. My exercises include: Leg presses, extensions and curls, shoulder press, seated rows, chest press, biceps curl, triceps extension, chin-ups, cable cross-overs and calf raises.
- On the diet side, I am avoiding bread, potatoes, rice, fruit, desserts and sugar. I am not going out of my way to eat enormous quantities of protein however by cutting out carbohydrates I am no doubt eating more protein. One thing I need is sugar in my coffee. I am only putting in half a teaspoon per cup (I would put in a teaspoon per cup before).
- I think I will keep the number of exercise sessions per week static even if I increase in strength, size and good looks, as it just works well with my daily schedule. I will do cardio or play hockey or another sport on Tuesday and Thursdays.
- I am recording every workout in detail, including the date, the time of day, my weight, my mood, the order of exercises, reps, and weight.
I’ll keep you posted and get some stats up regarding this experiment as soon as possible!
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links for 2008-03-13
By brick | March 13, 2008
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Free excerpt from the new, updated Lifehacker book: Chapter 1, Control Your Email.
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Interesting post on how the web is migrating towards services over sites. We are seeing this play out today as more and more web brands offer API’s.
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This is the table of contents for the second edition of the Lifehacker book. What’s nice is that they provide links to related posts on their website. A nice organized list of email, organization, getting things done and computer tips all in one place.
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The 4-Hour Workweek Hype Cycle
By Brick | March 10, 2008
Gartner uses the Hype Cycle to describe how the hype regarding a new technology is often followed by a period of disappointment and subsequently by a period of more modest practical benefits:
Source: Jeremy Kemp / Wikipedia.
If we also consider management fads and personal productivity movements as technologies, I think one would find that the hype cycle equally applies to these as well. For example, there has been a lot of talk in the blogosphere about GTD entering the “trough of disillusionment”. Where in the hype cycle is The 4-Hour Workweek?
Personally, I think it is still in the “peak of inflated expectations” phase. The book remains wildly popular. My prediction is that people, specifically salaried employees, are going to have problems liberating themselves from the office environment. If they can even achieve mobility in the first place, the next challenge will be automating sizeable amounts of work via personal outsourcing (the single biggest issue I hear from 4-hour workweek readers is “what can I outsource?” often accompanied by explanations built around client confidentiality, etc.). I have already commented in my post The 4-Hour Workweek: Easier Said Than Done on some of the reasons to be skeptical. So, like almost all personal effectiveness movements, I am certain The 4-Hour Workweek will go through the inevitable trough of disillusionment. I am also equally sure it will rebound, especially since some have already been successful in applying the principles - so there is something real here.
Where do you think The 4-Hour Workweek is in its hype cycle? Do you even think the hype cycle applies?
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Seven Habits - Habit 1: Be Proactive
By Brick | March 10, 2008
Due to the similarities between the Time Management Matrix of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People and my own Life Management matrix, I decided to read the book again. I had first read the book in the early 90’s and while I am not the type of person who reads books a second time, I am already glad I went back to it. I am also the kind of person that likes to start from the very first page and read sequentially forward until the end (although I have picked up the useful habit of giving up on a book if I find at any point that I am truly not enjoying it - in and of itself a great time management tip).
After an inspiring introductory chapter, Covey starts on his 7 habits, the first being the habit of being proactive. It starts with a discussion on how we react to various stimuli in our environment. Here are two models to consider:
Model 1: Conditioned Response
In this model, we are conditioned to respond in a certain manner. Perhaps genetically we are predisposed to alcoholism. Perhaps as a child you learned from your parents to deal with upset by losing your temper. Perhaps your spouse is pushing all of the right buttons to trigger a conditioned response!
Model 2: Choice
In this model, we choose a response to any given stimulus. While we still may not control the actual stimulus, we consciously choose how to respond. Perhaps your spouse is pushing all of the right buttons that would ordinarily make you lose your temper, but you decide not to get angry. You decide that the underlying issue is not that big a deal and you go outside to take a walk instead, maybe to reflect on what might really be getting at your better half. You come back refreshed and ready to have a civil conversation. The basis of Habit 1: Be Proactive is built upon accepting that this model is valid and superior.
Which Model Is Best?
Here is what I think: both models are accurate descriptions of how we do, and can, deal with stimuli to produce a response. I think the difference lies in what level of thought these two models reside within. In my opinion, a conditioned response is an unconscious response, while a conscious decision on how to deal with a situation is exactly that - a mental action that takes place in the conscious domain of thought.
One thing you might ask is why do we most often operate according to the first model - conditioned responses - when the second model is so superior? The answer, I believe, is that having the freedom to choose one’s response to a given stimulus is not always the superior model! There exist situations where we do not have the time to make a conscious decision on how to react. Conditioned responses allow us to act according to a genetic or learned behaviour, virtually without having to take the time to think about it. There are situations where this time save is critical (e.g. running away from a lion). We can imagine that in times past, this mechanism of a conditioned response was probably critical for humanity’s very survival.
We can also imagine that given the importance of conditioned response to our very survival, we are biologically predisposed to acting according to conditioned responses. Acting according to conditioned responses is therefore easier, which is probably why we continue act out according to conditioned behaviour for much of our lives regardless of the specific stimulus.
Like most things, it is probably not an all or nothing proposition. There is a time and a place for conditioned responses and conscious decisions. In the past, we can imagine that the a optimum distribution of unconscious to conscious reactions probably favoured conditioned responses:
As we leave the cave, this predisposition to conditioned responses may not be as ideal as it once was. Who knows, maybe as a species we will evolve to the point that making conscious decisions on how to act will become as easy as our conditioned responses. However, as basic survival becomes less of a concern, we are probably much more effective when we make conscious choices in most everyday situations. That doesn’t mean that all conditioned responses are bad, and in fact, without adequate time to think about a response, we still need to rely on conditioned responses. We can image that the optimum distribution of unconscious to conscious reactions probably now favours conscious responses:
The Importance Of Time Management
So, let’s assume that (1) acting according to conditioned responses is easier, (2) that in most everyday situations, conscious choice is usually superior to conditioned responses, yet (3) conscious choices require more time to generate a response. One can clearly see that without adequate time, we almost have no option but to act out according to conditioned behaviour. If conscious choices will provide the basis for proactivity and greater effectiveness as Covey suggests, we need the luxury of time to make these choices. If we have too much on our plate, I can see how we will inevitably slide into conditioned response mode - out of sheer necessity. Therefore, while I mostly accept Covey’s proposition, it rests, in my opinion, on the fundamental need to organize your time so as to have the time to make conscious decisions.
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4-Hour Workweek: Easier Said Than Done?
By Brick | March 7, 2008
Shortly after starting this blog, I decided I needed to extend the scope beyond the confines of The 4-Hour Workweek. I realized that the main epiphany for me when reading the book was Timothy Ferriss’ insistence that we should abandon the deferred life plan where we work like hell in the prime of our lives, save as much as we can and then retire - a plan that is ultimately just a “socially reinforced illusion”. Life does not have to be this hard, instead we could choose to master time and mobility and create fulfilling lifestyles today. I realized that it is this questioning of unquestioned assumptions that often leads to paradigm shifts in our lives. The 4-Hour Workweek is but one example of someone stepping outside the box of conventional wisdom.
That being said, The 4-Hour Workweek offers a lot of tactical and practical advice on how to work less and live more. I still want to work a 4-hour workweek, I still want to dreamline, and I still want to develop new and novel revenue sources to fund my new lifestyle, and so, this blog remains a 4-Hour Workweek Journal. However, in reading my own posts, I sometimes get the feeling I have given an all knowing, all perfect, almost omniscient quality to Mr. Ferriss. I suppose I have become a bit of a disciple, but my initial desire to journal my following his advice was bourne out of both a hope that his methods would prove helpful and a healthy dose of skepticism.
Since I have provided my fair share of glowing praise for The 4-Hour Workweek in my posts, in the spirit of balance I thought I would also share a little more explicitly what makes me a bit of a sceptic:
It’s Easier When You Start Rich
Let’s face it, Ferriss was already making a good chunk of change before preaching his work-less, live-more mantra. Its seems to me that he was somewhat rich the old fashioned way before he reduced his work week down to four hours and joined the newly rich. This suggests that one might be more successful in attaining a 4-hour workweek if one were starting from a position of relative wealth and means.
Easy Money
I think Ferris may recognize this and so to get us into the same position of wealth, he suggests how we might create self running businesses, or muses as he calls them, that will supply us with an endless cashflow to fund our new found desire to trot the globe. All you have to do is market a product on the Internet and outsource the fulfillment of orders and the handling of customer service. Its that easy! Besides giving a few examples of what others have done, he does not really discuss how we comes up with or find these magical products. I don’t mean to sound too harsh, but sometimes it comes off sounding a bit like Don Lapre (this is the guy from the early 90’s with the late night infomercials claiming that by placing “tiny classified ads” in newspapers he was able to make $50,000 per week from his one bedroom apartment). Tiny classified ads… Google Adsense…
What About the Kids?
While he goes to great pains to explain how his method applies equally to salaried employees and people with kids, in the end, he started as a business owner and he does not have kids. I’m just saying.
I Still Hope
I just wanted to share what makes me skeptical. It is nothing more than my opinion - the opinion of a man still living, one could argue, an at least somewhat “socially reinforced illusion”. In fairness, I do want to reiterate my first point: regardless of the meat of the book, Ferriss opens our eyes to our unconscious acceptance of the work-hard-now-enjoy-life-later plan. This, in and of itself, is of immense value. At minimum, this creates an opening, allowing us to have a conscious choice and to consider new options. Lastly, it was the reading of The 4-Hour Workweek that got me started on the idea that things could be different and more fulfilling in my own life. It is still early days for me, and my first steps have been rather timid and safe, but already I feel like things are better. My attitude has improved and things just seem brighter. Can we still be friends Tim?
By the way, this is for those of you who remember the infamous Don Lapre:
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Time Management Guest Post
By Brick | March 7, 2008
Yesterday I wrote a guest post titled Time Management: Sometimes Things Change over at the Diary of a Four-Hour-a-Weeker. In this post I expand on my rethinking of time management. I discuss how Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix can be recast into a Life Management Matrix to reflect the principles of The 4-Hour Workweek. Lastly I touch on the fact that task importance is a dynamic quality and therefore the need to revisit how we grade our tasks over time. I encourage you to check it out. Rex, the man behind the Diary of a Four-Hour-a-Weeker is also on a quest to work less and live more. He’s written on some of the challenges in applying the principles of The 4-Hour Workweek on his site - great material for us 4-Hour workweek fans!
Odds & Ends
I am pleased to be a part of the new 4-Hour Workweek Feedburner Network: A network of blogs devoted to the idea of living more while working less (but more effectively!). The discussions on this network are all about defining your dreams, liberating yourself from the 9-5 grind, eliminating low value work and automating the rest. If your blog is following these kinds of ideas and you would like to join the network, please leave a comment below.
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My Daily Schedule
By Brick | March 3, 2008
About two weeks ago, I became inspired by two 4-Hour Workweek blogs which posted on the topic of creative daily schedules: The Great Schedule Experiment and A lifestyle design experiment… working 7 days a week. While these schedules don’t address the issue of reducing one’s working hours, they do discuss rearranging one’s typical 40 hour workweek in ways that compliment one’s own daily rhythm and therefore enhance productivity. Given that I have been largely successful in developing the habit of waking up early, I figured it was time to thoughtfully rearrange my own working schedule based on my new waking hour:
Early Start
When I wake up, I go straight into work. The first benefit is that there is virtually no traffic so the commute is completely minimized. My job requires a fair amount of heads down work, and this work is performed faster and better early in the morning when there are no distractions. I take a break at about 7:30 to eat and/or grab a coffee (or two!). By 8:30 I am back at my desk and process my email. I am nicely prepared for the day before most people have even arrived. Also, no matter what happens in terms of “emergency” meetings and other distractions, I get two and a half hours of absolutely solid, productive work accomplished every single day.
Gym
When I started waking up at 5:00 am, I figured I would work out first thing in the morning and get it out of the way early. This would ensure that I exercised every day, and perhaps more importantly, put my own needs first. The reality for me has always been that too many things pop up in the evening and after work workouts often get ignored or forgotten. I still think that this was not a bad plan, but I made a couple observations during the first month of early rising:
- My gym does not open until 6:00 am so I had to do something from 5:00 am until 6:00 am. It started to feel like wasted time.
- The period after lunch was definitely my least productive. I attribute that to my becoming a little physically lethargic by that point in the day.
By working during the lunch hour or shortly afterward I found that I got a boost of energy that made the rest of my day more productive and enjoyable. I end up being more awake and energized for activities after work. Crucially, by simply ensuring the workout occurred before the end of the traditional work day, it was pretty safe it would always happen.
Wrap Up
I go back to the office after the gym and work for about one more hour. This is an excellent time for me to process my email, my inbox and set priorities for the next day. It also gives me a window to support afternoon meetings or phone calls if required. Leaving at 3:00 pm ensures that traffic is still reasonable and I now pick my kids up from school every day - a huge bonus.
Bedtime
As I mentioned before on how to wake up early guaranteed, I go to bed when I am tired. It could be 8 pm or 12 am, it does not matter. I sleep when I am tired - so simple!
Wednesday is the New Saturday
Jed at The Newly Rich turned me on to this practice. In his own words:
Although Tim (in The 4-Hour Workweek) applies the “break up your work and play” principle to long-term career planning and mini-retirements, the same principle can bring benefits on a micro level. Why save your weekend for the weekend?
Source: The Newly Rich.
If we are not out of town on the weekend, I will work on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 5:00 am to 7:30 am. My kids and wife do not wake until after 7:30 am so this is easily accomplished and basically goes unnoticed by my family. By putting in 5 hours on the weekend, I can leave the office at 8:00 am on Wednesdays! Besides breaking up the week, it makes Wednesdays a great day to run errands and do the grocery shopping (which I only do once a week because of our menu planning).
I have been at this new schedule for almost two weeks and it is great! I would love to read some comments about how you might have reengineered your work week.
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Topics: Time Management Tips | 3 Comments »
Crowdsourcing With Kluster
By Brick | February 28, 2008
I came across a site this morning called Kluster:
kluster is a place to harness the power of community collaboration to get stuff done. everyone has ideas, we provide a platform to get them out of heads and into the world…where they belong.
Source: Kluster
Crowdsourcing refers to outsourcing a task to a large group of undefined people often in the form of an open call to participate. For example, author Timothy Ferriss has put out an open invitation to edit his best selling The 4-Hour Workweek in preparation for the next edition of the book.
Kluster seems like an innovative way to enable and formalize the crowdsourcing process. It would appear to work like this:
- You post an idea (for example a product idea, an event, a design task) and a reward.
- The idea, called a project, gets broken down into phases which represent smaller manageable deliverables.
- The community proposes solutions for each phase. These proposed solutions can be critiqued, improved and refined by others in the crowd.
- The community can invest in the various solutions (like a stock market of solution candidates).
Kluster then uses an advanced decision making algorithm to determine the best solution in each phase:
Rather then just choosing the most popular item, kluster uses advanced algorithms to make decisions. All the activity and participation on kluster is stored and analyzed. The data is used in the decision-making process. Each user’s successes, failures, reputation, areas of expertise, and overall history are considered. This encourages users to earn respect, to act positively, and most importantly, enables extremely educated decisions to be made using real world logic.
Source: Kluster
The reward gets paid out according to who invested in the winning solutions. By formalizing and facilitating the crowdsourcing process, Kluster could allow you to have one more rather interesting outsourcing option. Check out the Kluster tour:
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