Any chance you've fallen into the trap of the social media vlogs that relentlessly pound the "no pain, no gain" mantra into your head? Time to exorcise it! How? A little context first: after over a decade of relentless self-experimentation and consultation with leading experts in an effort to find ideal fitness regimes, Ferriss came across “Minimum Effective Dose (MED)” – a revolutionary idea by Arthur Jones, a renowned expert in exercise science. MED is the smallest dose of effort that will produce a desired outcome. Anything beyond MED is actually wasteful and counter-productive. It’s similar to how water hits its boiling point at 212 degrees Fahrenheit – boiling it more is pointless, as water can't go hotter than that boiling limit.

Take High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) as an example—20 minutes of intense exercise like sprinting with brief periods of breaks beats 60 minutes on a treadmill at moderate pace. Short, focused workouts are effective. Embrace the "less is more" vibe. In fact, your greatest challenge will be to resist the temptation of doing more.

Now you know the "what" to do. But there's one thing missing. The  "Harajuku” moment. That's the “aha” moment when you just know it's time to actually start doing something. Ferriss’friend and CTO of information and technology company InfoEther – Chad Fowler coined this term. For years, his health and fitness deteriorated until he had a painful moment of self-realization in Tokyo's Harajuku district, where he  struggled to find anything appealing due to him being overweight and shared with his friend, “For me, it doesn’t even matter what I wear; I’m not going to look good anyway.”It wasn't just the ugly truth that hit him. It was hearing that helpless tone in his own voice that really got to him. He was the type of person who put in work, always! But slacked with his health. His "Harajuku Moment" served as the catalyst and he started watching his diet and doing cardio three to four times a week. A year later, he had lost 32 kg. So have your Harajuku moment and look into some MED to adopt. You’ll notice the difference straightaway.

Now are you too drowning in the sea of countless diets, desperately searching for the ONE that guarantees RESULTS? Look no further!

So, tell us. What are you struggling with? Fed up with the burger belly? Or craving more muscle? Whatever it is, Ferriss has the solution. Try Russian Kettlebell Swing! This effective rapid fat loss method was created by Zar Horton, an ex-firefighter.

The Russian kettlebell swing involves three steps:

Step 1: Position yourself, hold the kettlebell between your legs, bend down, ensuring the kettlebell touches the same spot on the ground each time. Then, lift it quickly. 3 sets. 5 lifts in each set

Step 2: Bend down with the kettlebell between your legs like Step 1. Before it touches the floor, swing it back and forth, creating a pendulum motion.

Step 3: Swing the kettlebell far back, reaching behind your legs and up below your buttocks.

Train twice a week for 15 to 20 minutes

Want proof? Tracy Reifkind struggled with weight for most of her life, hitting 111 kg at 41. Tracy's life changed when her husband, Mark Reifkind, a former powerlifting coach, introduced her to the Russian kettlebell swing. Tracy lost over 45.1 kg - losing 20.4 kg of fat in three months.

Now, if gaining muscle is your goal, Ferriss always suggests Occam's Protocol method. It involves weightlifting exercises like the overhead squat, where you perform ten squats while lifting a barbell. Put your feet a bit more wider than your shoulder width (half metre in front of your hip). Keeping thighs parallel to the floor, bend your knees 45 degrees. Neil Struss, Ferriss’ friend, made the best of both worlds by alternating between Occam's Protocol and the Russian kettlebell swing and gained 4.5 kg of muscle in a month.

Ten days into the Protocol, Strauss also noticed an increase in his sex drive. So, let’s talk about that next, shall we?

Sex is crucial for a healthy life, and Tim Ferriss explored orgasms, testosterone, and sperm count by chatting with scientists to hack the body. According to sex researcher Shere Hite, almost 70% of women don't climax during sex. Moreover, the sexologist Alfred Kinsey discovered that nearly 50% of them were unable to experience orgasm at all!

Ferris has some suggestions

Suggestion #1: The angle of penetration should ensure the penis makes contact with the female G-spot. A pillow under the woman's lower back will lift her hips in the missionary position, and the man should kneel to keep his hips close to hers.

Suggestion #2: Apply pressure in such a way that the man’s pelvic bone is in contact with the female’s clitoris. For this, the man can gently shift his hips - tiny circular motions or side to side, ensuring contact between his pelvic bone and the clitoris.

Despite these modifications, most women only achieve orgasm after clitoral stimulation, echoing the words of Shere Hite: “No man can give you an orgasm. He can only help you do it yourself.”

Another thing: work on increasing your libido. For women, it is done by increasing Luteinizing Hormone levels which is directly linked to heightened sex drive experienced by women just before ovulation. For men, testosterone significantly influences sexual health and libido. Consuming a high amounts of cholesterol a few hours before bedtime can temporarily increase testosterone and LH levels. See, testosterone and LH are hormones produced from cholesterol. And cholesterol production is believed to be most efficient during the night, while sleeping. So, by consuming cholesterols the night before sex, say 800 mg which is like four hard-boiled eggs, you are providing the body with an abundant supply of the raw material it needs to get in the mood! Get it? 

Also, focus on consuming foods rich in vitamins E, D, A, and K, incorporate nuts in your diet, and consider cold showers. As a precaution, avoid carrying cell phones in pockets to help maintain sperm count. 

Before improving sexual performance, it is important to improve your sleep to have great results.

Do us a favour, and imagine your bedroom. Imagine your bed. Does it make you want to fall into a deep, uninterrupted slumber? Or does it remind you of restlessness or spiralling anxiety that feeds insomnia? If you said ‘yes’ to the latter, have no fear! Ferriss has some experience with it, too. And some solutions!

One solution is to take a cold bath an hour before bedtime. Back in 2002, during the author's sleep biology class at Stanford, the professor suggested lowering the body temp to promote sleep. The technique is to fill a bathtub with ice, sit in it for ten minutes before sleeping. Astonishingly, it worked for Ferriss.

Here's a unique idea challenging the standard eight hours of sleep: aim for two hours of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep each day. REM sleep is considered the deepest stage of sleep. It helps with dreaming, processing memories, moods, things like that. One of the ways to force your brain into REM sleep by tricking it into believing it won’t get enough sleep is the Everyman method – have a 4.5-hour core sleep and two 20-minute naps. And there’s the Uberman method. Six 20-minute naps every four hours. The key is consistency; going over 20 minutes or missing a nap by more than 30 minutes may disrupt the routine. Adjusting to a new sleep pattern might be tricky at first (first 2 weeks are critical), but once mastered, you could function on just two hours of sleep per day! Mind blown!

Remember, before anything, good physical health unlocks a world of possibilities. Here’s how to improve it.

Reinvent yourself by centering on enhancing your physical performance. Here are two small areas to begin with:

Area #1: Enhancing Your Vertical Jump

To boost your vertical jump, follow the workout regimen crafted by NFL coach Joe DeFranco.

Start off standing tall with your arms straight up over your head. Your shoulders play a big role here, accounting for around 20% of how high you can jump. Next, aggressively swing your arms down as fast as you can while dropping into a semi-deep squat stance. The quicker you can get into that squat position from the arms up start, the higher you're gonna jump. But don't go too low or too wide with that squat. Stay compact and don't let your thighs get parallel to the ground or your feet way out wide. Once you're in that perfect position, just jump off the ground by powerfully straightening and extending your hips, knees and ankles all in one unified upward motion. 

Area #2: Running Faster

To enhance your speed, try the Pose method. The Pose method is a running technique developed by Nicolas Romanov that went viral after a 2005 video where he's RUNNING ON ICE! What's so special about this technique? It emphasizes leaning your body forward and utilizing gravity rather than muscular exertion. You land on the balls of your feet with slightly bent knees. For lift-off, engage your buttocks rather than pushing off the ground using your feet. Aim for a quick stride rate of at least 90 steps per minute per leg. This promotes a more natural, efficient running form with less impact. 

Done? Let’s take this up a notch with competition conditioning.

Ferriss strongly believes that elite athletic skills like sprinting and swimming can be learned. And learned quickly, if you have the right strategy!

Heard of Barry Ross? He’s a sprint coach. He has a technique of training his athletes called "Competition Conditioning". The approach comes from a fascinating study called "Energetics of High-Speed Running." Rather than pounding the pavement for miles, the training involves, wait for it, walking! 

The routine seems laughably simple - walk 100m in less than 23.8 seconds. As fast as possible, for 15 minutes, just three times a week. Seven and a half minutes out, then turn around and walk back in the same timeframe. At first glance, it doesn't seem too challenging. But that's where you'd be wrong. With each successive session, the athlete must walk further in that initial seven and a half minute stretch before turning around to make it back in time. By the end, they'll be fighting an overwhelming urge to break into an inefficient jog. The entire point is to induce that extreme inefficiency – but they must rein in the impulse. Every fiber wants to jog, but you can't. Doubtful about its efficiency? Within a year of training under Ross's unique system, Allyson Felix would go on to break the 200m sprint world record!

Speaking of breaking records, did you know Ferriss learnt to swim double the distance he usually could in 10 days? Yup! That’s what happens when you use the correct strategy. Introducing Terry Laughlin and his "Total Immersion" swim technique. Rather than furious arm-pulling and leg-kicking, Total Immersion focuses on body position and rotation for efficient breathing. By rotating your body properly when inhaling, you can move through the water with far less effort from your limbs. You keep your head position looking straight down. This ensures your entire body maintains a horizontal, streamlined position slicing through the water. About the arms - hands face down, with a full extension beyond the head on each stroke. Prioritize stroke length over rate. That means attempt to glide farther on each downstroke and decrease the number of strokes per lap.

So, there you have it! Weirdly specific, but totally awesome tricks to hack your way to a better body.