Stiff
Well, I guess I have officially started Occum’s protocol.
No, not really.. not yet. Monday is go day.
Occum’s precept was created in the 13th century by William of Occum, in jolly old Britain as it was known back then. You may have heard of it as Occum’s Razor?
Simplifying it: “the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one”
In Tim Ferris’ book Four Hour Body, he talks about something called minimum effective dose. It borrows on Arthur Jones’ minimum effective load which is a take off Occum’s way of viewing things.
Confused yet? 
Basically, how can you trigger results with the minimum work?
See, when you go to the local gym, you’ll see two types of people. Those that know what they’re doing, and those that just started. Those that know what they’re doing are usually pretty good size. They have been training hard and it shows. Sure, some take extra things to gain size, steroids etc but that’s not what this blog is about. I view steroids as a personal choice. It’s a trade off, really. Fine for some, not fine for others. Who am I to say which is right or wrong? Not right for me, that’s all I care about.
The thing with the bigger guys in the gym, is that most of them buy into the same mindset that to get to that size, it takes hours of dedication per day. Some of these guys spend 20+ hours per week in the gym to look that size. Sure it works, but Arthur Jones, the creator of Nautilus (you’ve heard of this company I take it, they’re one of the best known gym equipment franchises in the world) had an idea, again, based off Occum.
What if you didn’t have to spend so much time in the gym? What is the minimum effective load to reach the desired outcome? How much weight and how often need one person lift to create a response in the body for growth?
Occum’s protocol as it is referred to in Tim’s book Four Hour Body, again, suggests that you don’t need to spend hours in the gym. To the typical gym rat this is offensive. They have spent their lives in the gym, it’s who they are. To tell someone they over did it, or wasted a lot of time, is, well, offensive to them. I get it, I’d be pissed to.
Still, one cannot refute the data that suggests that less, is indeed more. This is a huge conversation starter, and honestly, many a meathead (as they’re referred to often) would love to argue the shit out of this. I guess it depends what your goals are. If you’re trying to become 250-300 lbs of pure muscle, you’re going to need steroids. Simple. If you want to be 160-200 pounds of muscle, you can do this through proper eating, hydration and of course, weights.
Imagine working out once time for about 20-40 minutes every four days and gaining 10-30 pounds of muscle per month. Sounds insane. No way it’s possible, right? Wrong. It’s been proven, time and time again with different people from different age groups different walks of life. It’s how you’re doing it that is the key. Minimum effective dose.
To remove stored fat: do the least necessary to trigger a fat loss cascade of specific hormones.
To add muscle in small or large quantities – do the least necessary to trigger local or systemic growth hormones.
Here’s let’s view it another way…
Let’s say you want to boil water. What is the temperature you need to reach to boil water? 100 degrees C / 212 degrees F right? If you boil it to 150C or 400F, is it more boiled? No. Boiled is boiled. there is a magic number that has the water boil. Thing is, it’s not magic.. it’s science. 100C and you’ve got boiling water.
Now, apply this to muscle growth.
If ripping a muscle occurs with X weight on X reps… does adding more weight or more reps rip it more? No. Ripped is ripped. DAMAGE though, does occur. Damage is what sets you back when working out. It’s the difference between sore and not moving. Many of us know this feeling well, having overdone it at some point or other.
So the thing with Occum’s protocol, is for you, what is X weight and X reps you need to do to create the desired effect? (in this case, building muscle.)
I went and bought 300 lbs of free weights, plates, large bar etc. Yates bent rows, overhead bench press, basic squats. I’m all about change and to get change, you have to be willing to say the way yup’ve been doing things, perhaps, is not as effective as it could be.
I did some baby exercises the other day, just playing around, trying to find my failure point. I wasn’t sore in the least even though I was lifting various weights. Then last night, Bryci and I went bowling.. and by the time we got home, I could barely move.
I wake this morning and my quads feel as if they were replaced with a larger man’s quads. I ripped some shit, no question. So, glutamine and protein, 1/2 gallon of milk per day (2L) and in no time, I’ll be back.
I know I often speak of Tim’s book and I am sure some of you read this and you buy into negative press that Tim is wrong, or this makes no sense etc. His book can be had on Amazon for $14.00. It will change your life, if you’re not too pig headed that is to accept that maybe the way you’re doing things isn’t as effective as it could be. All Tim really does is rewords what Arthur Jones, creator of Nautilus started in the 70’s. It’s not a new principal, but it is one that works.
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