More Results, Less Effort

In January, I started a couple of new habits and routines. The cool thing is, now days starting and maintaining new habits is so much easier. Because I've had practice doing it the last four years, the discipline to stick to a new habit is a lot less difficult.

My New Source of Info.

My new routines come from the book by Tim Ferriss titled The 4-Hour Body. His philosophy of what he calls "Minimum Effective Dose" as it relates to training, eating, or supplementation regimens fits really well with my one-habit-at-a-time approach.

Minimum Effective Dose refers to the least amount of an exercise, diet, or supplement needed to get an acceptable result. For example, let's say you can get 100% results from doing 100 crunches, but it has been found that 80% results can be obtained by doing just 50 crunches. I am a lot less likely to abandon the routine with 50 crunches, and I still get 80% of the results. Besides, 100% of zero crunches is still zero results if I give up on the tougher routine. It makes planning, and sticking to any new protocol much easier.

Two of the regimens I have adopted from Ferriss' book are his "Slow Carb Diet" and "Occam's Protocol" resistance training method. The Slow Carb Diet helps lower body fat, while supporting lean muscle growth, and Occam's Protocol is a mass-building weight-resistance regimen in keeping with the "Minimum Effective Dose" philosophy.

I am weight training only twice per week for 45 minutes to one hour with this routine. So far (after six weeks), I have gained three pounds, and have seen a slight reduction in body fat percentage. I am currently working on some adjustments to Occam's Protocol to maximize results. So far I am pleased, especially considering I am weight training about half as much as I was.

Should I Do It?
I have been thinking about a couple of ideas that will help motivate and inspire me to reach the results I am after. I've been maintaining roughly 10% body fat for a year now. While lean muscle is slowly increasing, dropping that last two to three percent of fat is proving to be a little tougher challenge. One idea I had is to post monthly belly photos here.

While I know it would be very motivating, it could also be a little embarrassing. Then there are all of these other thoughts like: is this a silly goal (seeing my six pack) for a 45-year-old man to be reaching for; am I being too vain; or is posting belly pics going to be a little too shocking for those who might stumble across my blog? On the other hand, I will be motivated; reaching the abs goal brings all of the other benefits with it; and maybe I'm just being too afraid of what other people think.

We'll see. I'm still mulling it over. I just know I need something to help push my progress.