Tools Of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers

Copyright © 2017 by Timothy Ferriss

Illustrations © 2017 by Remie Geoffroi

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TOOLS OF TITANS, TIM FERRISS, TIMOTHY FERRISS, THE 4-HOUR, THE 4-HOUR WORKWEEK, THE 4-HOUR BODY, THE 4-HOUR CHEF, SLOW-CARB DIET, OTK, and 5-BULLET FRIDAY are trademarks or registered trademarks, all under license. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Brian Moore

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Publisher’s Legal Disclaimer

This book presents a wide range of opinions about a variety of topics related to health and well-being, including certain ideas, treatments, and procedures that may be hazardous or illegal if undertaken without proper medical supervision. These opinions reflect the research and ideas of the author or those whose ideas the author presents, but are not intended to substitute for the services of a trained health care practitioner. Consult with your health care practitioner before engaging in any diet, drug, or exercise regimen. The author and the publisher disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects resulting directly or indirectly from information contained in this book.

Tim’s Disclaimer

Please don’t do anything stupid and kill yourself. It would make us both quite unhappy. Consult a doctor, lawyer, and common-sense specialist before doing anything in this book.

Credits

page  xxvi: By Herman Hesse, translated by Hilda Rosner, from Siddhartha, copyright ©1951 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. page 154: Excerpt from Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering Happiness Within by Chade-Meng Tan, copyright © 2016 by Chade-Meng Tan. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. page 156: From The Power of Gone by Shinzen Young, copyright © 2012–2015 by Shinzen Young. Used by permission of Shinzen Young, shinzen.org. All rights reserved. page 276: From The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk! by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Copyright © 1993 by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. page 334: The Canvas Strategy from Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday, copyright © 2016 by Ryan Holiday. Used by permission of Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. page 362: Excerpt from Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts, copyright © 2002 by Rolf Potts. Used by permission of Villard Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. page 463: Excerpt from The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss, copyright © 2007, 2009 by Carmenere One, LLC. Used by permission Crown Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. page 489: Reprinted with the permission of Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from We Learn Nothing by Tim Kreider. Copyright © 2012 by Tim Kreider. All rights reserved. page 522: From The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer, copyright © 2014 by Amanda Palmer. Used by permission of Grand Central Publishing. page 556: The Guest House by Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks. Reprinted by permission of Coleman Barks. All rights reserved. page 556: Excerpt from Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach, copyright © 2003 by Tara Brach. Used by permission of Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. page 601: Reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. From Buck Up, Suck Up . . . And Come Back When You Foul Up by James Carville and Paul Begala, copyright © 2002 by James Carville and Paul Begala. All rights reserved.

Dedication

First, gratitude to you all, my companions on the path, as James Fadiman would say.

Second, a portion of author royalties will be donated to these worthwhile causes:

After-School All-Stars (afterschoolallstars.org), which provides comprehensive after-school programs for keeping children safe and helping them to succeed in both school and life.

DonorsChoose.org, which makes it easy for anyone to help a high-need classroom, moving us closer to a nation where all students have the tools they need for a great education.

Scientific research at institutions such as the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where entheogens are being studied for applications to treatment-resistant depression, end-of-life anxiety (in terminal cancer patients), and other debilitating conditions.

Third, for all the seekers, may you find much more than you’re looking for. Perhaps this book will help.

Foreword

I am not a self-made man.

Every time I give a speech at a business conference, or speak to college students, or do a Reddit AMA, someone says it.

Governor/Governator/Arnold/Arnie/Schwarzie/Schnitzel (depending on where I am), as a self-made man, what’s your blueprint for success?

They’re always shocked when I thank them for the compliment but say, I am not a self-made man. I got a lot of help.

It is true that I grew up in Austria without plumbing. It is true that I moved to America alone with just a gym bag. And it is true that I worked as a bricklayer and invested in real estate to become a millionaire before I ever swung the sword in Conan the Barbarian.

But it is not true that I am self-made. Like everyone, to get to where I am, I stood on the shoulders of giants.

My life was built on a foundation of parents, coaches, and teachers; of kind souls who lent couches or gym back rooms where I could sleep; of mentors who shared wisdom and advice; of idols who motivated me from the pages of magazines (and, as my life grew, from personal interaction).

I had a big vision, and I had fire in my belly. But I would never have gotten anywhere without my mother helping me with my homework (and smacking me when I wasn’t ready to study), without my father telling me to be useful, without teachers who explained how to sell, or without coaches who taught me the fundamentals of weight lifting.

If I had never seen a magazine with Reg Park on the cover and read about his transition from Mr. Universe to playing Hercules on the big screen, I might still be yodeling in the Austrian Alps. I knew I wanted to leave Austria, and I knew that America was exactly where I belonged, but Reg put fuel on the fire and gave me my blueprint.

Joe Weider brought me to America and took me under his wing, promoting my bodybuilding career and teaching me about business. Lucille Ball took a huge chance and called me to guest star in a special that was my first big break in Hollywood. And in 2003, without the help of 4,206,284 Californians, I would never have been elected Governor of the great state of California.

So how can I ever claim to be self-made? To accept that mantle discounts every person and every piece of advice that got me here. And it gives the wrong impression—that you can do it alone.

I couldn’t. And odds are, you can’t either.

We all need fuel. Without the assistance, advice, and inspiration of others, the gears of our mind grind to a halt, and we’re stuck with nowhere to go.

I have been blessed to find mentors and idols at every step of my life, and I’ve been lucky to meet many of them. From Joe Weider to Nelson Mandela, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Muhammad Ali, from Andy Warhol to George H.W. Bush, I have never been shy about seeking wisdom from others to pour fuel on my fire.

You have probably listened to Tim’s podcasts. (I particularly recommend the one with the charming bodybuilder with the Austrian accent.) He has used his platform to bring you the wisdom of a diverse cast of characters in business, entertainment, and sports. I bet you’ve learned something from them—and oftentimes, I bet you picked up something you didn’t expect.

Whether it’s a morning routine, or a philosophy or training tip, or just motivation to get through your day, there isn’t a person on this planet who doesn’t benefit from a little outside help.

I’ve always treated the world as my classroom, soaking up lessons and stories to fuel my path forward. I hope you do the same.

The worst thing you can ever do is think that you know enough.

Never stop learning. Ever.

That’s why you bought this book. You know that wherever you are in life, there will be moments when you need outside motivation and insight. There will be times when you don’t have the answer, or the drive, and you’re forced to look beyond yourself.

You can admit that you can’t do it alone. I certainly can’t. No one can.

Now, turn the page and learn something.

—Arnold Schwarzenegger

On the Shoulders of Giants

I am not the expert. I’m the experimenter, the scribe, and the guide.

If you find anything amazing in this book, it’s thanks to the brilliant minds who acted as teachers, resources, critics, contributors, proofreaders, and references. If you find anything ridiculous in this book, it’s because I didn’t heed their advice or made a mistake.

Though indebted to hundreds of people, I wish to thank here the many guests who have appeared on my podcast and who grace the pages of this book, listed in alphabetical order:

Scott Adams (p. 261)

James Altucher (p. 246)

Sophia Amoruso (p. 376)

Marc Andreessen (p. 170)

Sekou Andrews (p. 642)

Patrick Arnold (p. 35)

Peter Attia (p. 59)

Glenn Beck (p. 553)

Scott Belsky (p. 359)

Richard Betts (p. 563)

Mike Birbiglia (p. 566)

Alex Blumberg (p. 303)

Amelia Boone (p. 2)

Justin Boreta (p. 356)

Tara Brach (p. 555)

Brené Brown (p. 586)

Bryan Callen (p. 483)

Shay Carl (p. 441)

Dan Carlin (p. 285)

Ed Catmull (p. 309)

Margaret Cho (p. 538)

Paulo Coelho (p. 511)

Ed Cooke (p. 517)

Kevin Costner (p. 451)

Whitney Cummings (p. 477)

Dominic D’Agostino (p. 21)

Alain de Botton (p. 486)

Joe De Sena (p. 38)

Mike Del Ponte (p. 299)

Peter Diamandis (p. 369)

Tracy DiNunzio (p. 313)

Jack Dorsey (p. 509)

Stephen J. Dubner (p. 574)

Dan Engle (p. 109)

James Fadiman (p. 100)

Jon Favreau (p. 592)

Jamie Foxx (p. 604)

Chris Fussell (p. 435)

Cal Fussman (p. 495)

Adam Gazzaley (p. 135)

Malcolm Gladwell (p. 572)

Seth Godin (p. 237)

Evan Goldberg (p. 531)

Marc Goodman (p. 424)

Laird Hamilton (p. 92)

Sam Harris (p. 454)

Wim Hof (p. 41)

Reid Hoffman (p. 228)

Ryan Holiday (p. 334)

Chase Jarvis (p. 280)

Daymond John (p. 323)

Bryan Johnson (p. 609)

Sebastian Junger (p. 420)

Noah Kagan (p. 325)

Samy Kamkar (p. 427)

Kaskade (p. 329)

Sam Kass (p. 558)

Kevin Kelly (p. 470)

Brian Koppelman (p. 613)

Tim Kreider (p. 489)

Paul Levesque (p. 128)

Phil Libin (p. 315)

Will MacAskill (p. 446)

Brian MacKenzie (p. 92)

Justin Mager (p. 72)

Nicholas McCarthy (p. 208)

Gen. Stan McChrystal (p. 435)

Jane McGonigal (p. 132)

BJ Miller (p. 400)

Matt Mullenweg (p. 202)

Casey Neistat (p. 217)

Jason Nemer (p. 46)

Edward Norton (p. 561)

B.J. Novak (p. 378)

Alexis Ohanian (p. 194)

Amanda Palmer (p. 520)

Rhonda Patrick (p. 6)

Caroline Paul (p. 459)

Martin Polanco (p. 109)

Charles Poliquin (p. 74)

Maria Popova (p. 406)

Rolf Potts (p. 362)

Naval Ravikant (p. 546)

Gabby Reece (p. 92)

Tony Robbins (p. 210)

Robert Rodriguez (p. 628)

Seth Rogen (p. 531)

Kevin Rose (p. 340)

Rick Rubin (p. 502)

Chris Sacca (p. 164)

Arnold Schwarzenegger (p. 176)

Ramit Sethi (p. 287)

Mike Shinoda (p. 352)

Jason Silva (p. 589)

Derek Sivers (p. 184)

Joshua Skenes (p. 500)

Christopher Sommer (p. 9)

Morgan Spurlock (p. 221)

Kelly Starrett (p. 122)

Neil Strauss (p. 347)

Cheryl Strayed (p. 515)

Chade-Meng Tan (p. 154)

Peter Thiel (p. 232)

Pavel Tsatsouline (p. 85)

Luis von Ahn (p. 331)

Josh Waitzkin (p. 577)

Eric Weinstein (p. 523)

Shaun White (p. 271)

Jocko Willink (p. 412)

Rainn Wilson (p. 543)

Chris Young (p. 318)

Andrew Zimmern (p. 540)

Contents

FOREWORD

ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

READ THIS FIRST—HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Part 1: Healthy

Amelia Boone

Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick

Christopher Sommer

Gymnast Strong

Dominic D’Agostino

Patrick Arnold

Joe De Sena

Wim The Iceman Hof

Rick Rubin’s Barrel Sauna

Jason Nemer

AcroYoga—Thai and Fly

Deconstructing Sports and Skills with Questions

Peter Attia

Justin Mager

Charles Poliquin

The Slow-Carb Diet® Cheat Sheet

My 6-Piece Gym in a Bag

Pavel Tsatsouline

Laird Hamilton, Gabby Reece & Brian MacKenzie

James Fadiman

Martin Polanco & Dan Engle

Kelly Starrett

Paul Levesque (Triple H)

Jane McGonigal

Adam Gazzaley

5 Tools for Faster and Better Sleep

5 Morning Rituals that Help Me Win the Day

Mind Training 101

Three Tips from a Google Pioneer

Coach Sommer—The Single Decision

Part 2: Wealthy

Chris Sacca

Marc Andreessen

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Derek Sivers

Alexis Ohanian

Productivity Tricks for the Neurotic, Manic-Depressive, and Crazy (Like Me)

Matt Mullenweg

Nicholas McCarthy

Tony Robbins

Casey Neistat

Morgan Spurlock

What My Morning Journal Looks Like

Reid Hoffman

Peter Thiel

Seth Godin

James Altucher

How to Create a Real-World MBA

Scott Adams

Shaun White

The Law of Category

Chase Jarvis

Dan Carlin

Ramit Sethi

1,000 True Fans—Revisited

Hacking Kickstarter

Alex Blumberg

The Podcast Gear I Use

Ed Catmull

Tracy DiNunzio

Phil Libin

Chris Young

Daymond John

Noah Kagan

Kaskade

Luis von Ahn

The Canvas Strategy

Kevin Rose

Gut Investing

Neil Strauss

Mike Shinoda

Justin Boreta

Scott Belsky

How to Earn Your Freedom

Peter Diamandis

Sophia Amoruso

B.J. Novak

How to Say No When It Matters Most

Part 3: Wise

BJ Miller

Maria Popova

Jocko Willink

Sebastian Junger

Marc Goodman

Samy Kamkar

Tools of a Hacker

General Stanley McChrystal & Chris Fussell

Shay Carl

Will MacAskill

The Dickens Process—What Are Your Beliefs Costing You?

Kevin Costner

Sam Harris

Caroline Paul

My Favorite Thought Exercise: Fear-Setting

Kevin Kelly

Is This What I So Feared?

Whitney Cummings

Bryan Callen

Alain de Botton

Lazy: A Manifesto

Cal Fussman

Joshua Skenes

Rick Rubin

The Soundtrack of Excellence

Jack Dorsey

Paulo Coelho

Writing Prompts from Cheryl Strayed

Ed Cooke

Amanda Palmer

Eric Weinstein

Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg

8 Tactics for Dealing with Haters

Margaret Cho

Andrew Zimmern

Rainn Wilson

Naval Ravikant

Glenn Beck

Tara Brach

Sam Kass

Edward Norton

Richard Betts

Mike Birbiglia

The Jar of Awesome

Malcolm Gladwell

Stephen J. Dubner

Josh Waitzkin

Why You Need a Deloading Phase in Life

Brené Brown

Jason Silva

Jon Favreau

Testing the Impossible: 17 Questions that Changed My Life

Jamie Foxx

Bryan Johnson

Brian Koppelman

Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide

Robert Rodriguez

Good

Sekou Andrews

CONCLUSION

THE TOP 25 EPISODES OF THE TIM FERRISS SHOW

MY RAPID-FIRE QUESTIONS

THE MOST-GIFTED AND RECOMMENDED BOOKS OF ALL GUESTS

WHAT WOULD YOU PUT ON A BILLBOARD?

FAVORITE FILMS AND TV SHOWS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

Read This First—

How to Use This Book

Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center. Big, undreamed-of things—the people on the edge see them first.

—Kurt Vonnegut

Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.

—W.H. Auden

I’m a compulsive note-taker.

To wit, I have recorded nearly every workout since age 18 or so. Roughly 8 feet of shelf space in my home is occupied by spine upon spine of notebook upon notebook. That, mind you, is one subject. It extends to dozens. Some people would call this OCD, and many would consider it a manic wild goose chase. I view it simply: It is the collection of my life’s recipes.

My goal is to learn things once and use them forever.

For instance, let’s say I stumble upon a picture of myself from June 5, 2007, and I think, I really wish I looked like that again. No problem. I’ll crack open a dusty volume from 2007, review the 8 weeks of training and food logs preceding June 5, repeat them, and—voilà—end up looking nearly the same as my younger self (minus the hair). It’s not always that easy, but it often is.

This book, like my others, is a compendium of recipes for high performance that I gathered for my own use. There’s one big difference, though—I never planned on publishing this one.

As I write this, I’m sitting in a café in Paris overlooking the Luxembourg Garden, just off of Rue Saint-Jacques. Rue Saint-Jacques is likely the oldest road in Paris, and it has a rich literary history. Victor Hugo lived a few blocks from where I’m sitting. Gertrude Stein drank coffee and F. Scott Fitzgerald socialized within a stone’s throw. Hemingway wandered up and down the sidewalks, his books percolating in his mind, wine no doubt percolating in his blood.

I came to France to take a break from everything. No social media, no email, no social commitments, no set plans . . . except one project. The month had been set aside to review all of the lessons I’d learned from nearly 200 world-class performers I’d interviewed on The Tim Ferriss Show, which recently passed 100,000,000 downloads. The guests included chess prodigies, movie stars, four-star generals, pro athletes, and hedge fund managers. It was a motley crew.

More than a handful of them had since become collaborators in business and creative projects, spanning from investments to indie film. As a result, I’d absorbed a lot of their wisdom outside of our recordings, whether over workouts, wine-infused jam sessions, text message exchanges, dinners, or late-night phone calls. In every case, I’d gotten to know them well beyond the superficial headlines in the media.

My life had already improved in every area as a result of the lessons I could remember. But that was the tip of the iceberg. The majority of the gems were still lodged in thousands of pages of transcripts and hand-scribbled notes. More than anything, I longed for the chance to distill everything into a playbook.

So, I’d set aside an entire month for review (and, if I’m being honest, pain au chocolat), to put together the ultimate CliffsNotes for myself. It would be the notebook to end all notebooks. Something that could help me in minutes but be read for a lifetime.

That was the lofty goal, at least, and I wasn’t sure what the result would be.

Within weeks of starting, the experience exceeded all expectations. No matter the situation I found myself in, something in this book was able to help. Now, when I’m feeling stuck, trapped, desperate, angry, conflicted, or simply unclear, the first thing I do is flip through these pages with a strong cup of coffee in hand. So far, the needed medicine has popped out within 20 minutes of revisiting these friends, who will now become your friends. Need a reassuring pat on the back? There’s someone for that. An unapologetic slap in the face? Plenty of people for that, too. Someone to explain why your fears are unfounded . . . or why your excuses are bullshit? Done.

There are a lot of powerful quotes, but this book is much more than a compilation of quotes. It is a toolkit for changing your life.

There are many books full of interviews. This is different, because I don’t view myself as an interviewer. I view myself as an experimenter. If I can’t test something or replicate results in the messy reality of everyday life, I’m not interested. Everything in these pages has been vetted, explored, and applied to my own life in some fashion. I’ve used dozens of these tactics and philosophies in high-stakes negotiations, high-risk environments, or large business dealings. The lessons have made me millions of dollars and saved me years of wasted effort and frustration. They work when you need them most.

Some applications are obvious at first glance, while others are subtle and will provoke a "Holy shit, now I get it!" realization weeks later, while you’re daydreaming in the shower or about to fall asleep.

Many of the one-liners teach volumes. Some summarize excellence in an entire field in one sentence. As Josh Waitzkin (page 577), chess prodigy and the inspiration behind Searching for Bobby Fischer, might put it, these bite-sized learnings are a way to learn the macro from the micro. The process of piecing them together was revelatory. If I thought I saw the Matrix before, I was mistaken, or I was only seeing 10% of it. Still, even that 10%—islands of notes on individual mentors—had already changed my life and helped me 10x my results. But after revisiting more than a hundred minds as part of the same fabric, things got very interesting very quickly. For the movie nerds among you, it was like the end of The Sixth Sense or The Usual Suspects: The red door knob! The fucking Kobayashi coffee cup! How did I not notice that?! It was right in front of me the whole time!

To help you see the same, I’ve done my best to weave patterns together throughout the book, noting where guests have complementary habits, beliefs, and recommendations.

The completed jigsaw puzzle is much greater than the sum of its parts.

What Makes These People Different?

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

—Pierre-Marc-Gaston

These world-class performers don’t have superpowers.

The rules they’ve crafted for themselves allow the bending of reality to such an extent that it may seem that way, but they’ve learned how to do this, and so can you. These rules are often uncommon habits and bigger questions.

In a surprising number of cases, the power is in the absurd. The more absurd, the more impossible the question, the more profound the answers. Take, for instance, a question that serial billionaire Peter Thiel likes to ask himself and others:

If you have a 10-year plan of how to get [somewhere], you should ask: Why can’t you do this in 6 months?

For purposes of illustration here, I might reword that to:

What might you do to accomplish your 10-year goals in the next 6 months, if you had a gun against your head?

Now, let’s pause. Do I expect you to take 10 seconds to ponder this and then magically accomplish 10 years’ worth of dreams in the next few months? No, I don’t. But I do expect that the question will productively break your mind, like a butterfly shattering a chrysalis to emerge with new capabilities. The normal systems you have in place, the social rules you’ve forced upon yourself, the standard frameworks—they don’t work when answering a question like this. You are forced to shed artificial constraints, like shedding a skin, to realize that you had the ability to renegotiate your reality all along. It just takes practice.

My suggestion is that you spend real time with the questions you find most ridiculous in this book. Thirty minutes of stream-of-consciousness journaling (page 224) could change your life.

On top of that, while the world is a gold mine, you need to go digging in other people’s heads to unearth riches. Questions are your pickaxes and competitive advantage. This book will give you an arsenal to choose from.

Performance-Enhancing Details

When organizing all of the material for myself, I didn’t want an onerous 37-step program.

I wanted low-hanging fruit with immediate returns. Think of the bite-sized rules within these pages as PEDs—performance-enhancing details. They can be added to any training regimen (read here: different careers, personal preferences, unique responsibilities, etc.) to pour gasoline on the fire of progress.

Fortunately, 10x results don’t always require 10x effort. Big changes can come in small packages. To dramatically change your life, you don’t need to run a 100-mile race, get a PhD, or completely reinvent yourself. It’s the small things, done consistently, that are the big things (e.g., red teaming once per quarter, Tara Brach’s guided meditations, strategic fasting or exogenous ketones, etc.).

Tool is defined broadly in this book. It includes routines, books, common self-talk, supplements, favorite questions, and much more.

What Do they Have in Common?

In this book, you’ll naturally look for common habits and recommendations, and you should. Here are a few patterns, some odder than others:

More than 80% of the interviewees have some form of daily mindfulness or meditation practice

A surprising number of males (not females) over 45 never eat breakfast, or eat only the scantiest of fare (e.g., Laird Hamilton, page 92; Malcolm Gladwell, page 572; General Stanley McChrystal, page 435)

Many use the ChiliPad device for cooling at bedtime

Rave reviews of the books Sapiens, Poor Charlie’s Almanack, Influence, and Man’s Search for Meaning, among others

The habit of listening to single songs on repeat for focus (page 507)

Nearly everyone has done some form of spec work (completing projects on their own time and dime, then submitting them to prospective buyers)

The belief that failure is not durable (see Robert Rodriguez, page 628) or variants thereof

Almost every guest has been able to take obvious weaknesses and turn them into huge competitive advantages (see Arnold Schwarzenegger, page 176)

Of course, I will help you connect these dots, but that’s less than half of the value of this book. Some of the most encouraging workarounds are found in the outliers. I want you to look for the black sheep who fit your unique idiosyncrasies. Keep an eye out for the non-traditional paths, like Shay Carl’s journey from manual laborer to YouTube star to co-founder of a startup sold for nearly $1 billion (page 441). The variation is the consistency. As a software engineer might say, That’s not a bug. It’s a feature!

Borrow liberally, combine uniquely, and create your own bespoke blueprint.

This Book Is a Buffet—Here’s How to Get the Most Out of It

Rule #1: Skip Liberally.

I want you to skip anything that doesn’t grab you. This book should be fun to read, and it’s a buffet to choose from. Don’t suffer through anything. If you hate shrimp, don’t eat the goddamn shrimp. Treat it as a choose-your-own-adventure guide, as that’s how I’ve written it. My goal is for each reader to like 50%, love 25%, and never forget 10%. Here’s why: For the millions who’ve heard the podcast, and the dozens who proofread this book, the 50/25/10 highlights are completely different for every person. It’s blown my mind.

I’ve even had multiple guests in this book—people who are the best at what they do—proofread the same profile, answering my question of Which 10% would you absolutely keep, and which 10% would you absolutely cut? Oftentimes, the 10% must keep of one person was the exact must cut of someone else! This is not one-size-fits-all. I expect you to discard plenty. Read what you enjoy.

Rule #2: Skip, BUT do so intelligently.

All that said, take a brief mental note of anything you skip. Perhaps put a little dot in the corner of the page or highlight the headline.

Perhaps it’s skipping and glossing over precisely these topics or questions that has created blind spots, bottlenecks, and unresolved issues in your life? That was certainly true for me.

If you decide to flip past something, note it, return to it later at some point, and ask yourself, Why did I skip this? Did it offend you? Seem beneath you? Seem too difficult? And did you arrive at that by thinking it through, or is it a reflection of biases inherited from your parents and others? Very often, our beliefs are not our own.

This type of practice is how you create yourself, instead of seeking to discover yourself. There is value in the latter, but it’s mostly past-tense: It’s a rearview mirror. Looking out the windshield is how you get where you want to go.

Just Remember Two Principles

I was recently standing in Place Louis Aragon, a shaded outdoor nook on the River Seine, having a picnic with writing students from the Paris American Academy. One woman pulled me aside and asked what I hoped to convey in this book, at the core. Seconds later, we were pulled back into the fray, as the attendees were all taking turns talking about the circuitous paths that brought them there that day. Nearly everyone had a story of wanting to come to Paris for years—in some cases, 30 to 40 years—but assuming it was impossible.

Listening to their stories, I pulled out a scrap of paper and jotted down my answer to her question. In this book, at its core, I want to convey the following:

Success, however you define it, is achievable if you collect the right field-tested beliefs and habits. Someone else has done your version of success before, and often, many have done something similar. But, you might ask, what about a first, like colonizing Mars? There are still recipes. Look at empire building of other types, look at the biggest decisions in the life of Robert Moses (read The Power Broker), or simply find someone who stepped up to do great things that were deemed impossible at the time (e.g., Walt Disney). There is shared DNA you can borrow.

The superheroes you have in your mind (idols, icons, titans, billionaires, etc.) are nearly all walking flaws who’ve maximized 1 or 2 strengths. Humans are imperfect creatures. You don’t succeed because you have no weaknesses; you succeed because you find your unique strengths and focus on developing habits around them. To make this crystal-clear, I’ve deliberately included two sections in this book (pages 197 and 616) that will make you think: Wow, Tim Ferriss is a mess. How the hell does he ever get anything done? Everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about. The heroes in this book are no different. Everyone struggles. Take solace in that.

A Few Important Notes on Format

Structure

This book is comprised of three sections: Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise. Of course, there is tremendous overlap across the sections, as the pieces are interdependent. In fact, you could think of the three as a tripod upon which life is balanced. One needs all three to have any sustainable success or happiness. Wealthy, in the context of this book, also means much more than money. It extends to abundance in time, relationships, and more.

My original intention with The 4-Hour Workweek (4HWW), The 4-Hour Body (4HB), and The 4-Hour Chef (4HC) was to create a trilogy themed after Ben Franklin’s famous quote: Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

People constantly ask me, "What would you put in The 4-Hour Workweek if you were to write it again? How would you update it?" Ditto for 4HB and 4HC. Tools of Titans contains most of the answers for all three.

Extended quotes

Before writing this book, I called Mason Currey, author of Daily Rituals, which profiles the rituals of 161 creatives like Franz Kafka and Pablo Picasso. I asked him what his best decisions were related to the book. Mason responded with, [I] let my subjects’ voices come through as much as possible, and I think that was one of things that I did ‘right.’ Often, it wasn’t the details of their routine/habits, so much as how they talked about them that was interesting.

This is a critical observation and exactly why most books of quotes fail to have any real impact.

Take, for example, a one-liner like What’s on the other side of fear? Nothing. from Jamie Foxx. It’s memorable, and you might guess at the profound underlying meaning. I’d still wager you’d forget it within a week. But, what if I made it infinitely more powerful by including Jamie’s own explanation of why he uses that maxim to teach his kids confidence? The context and original language teaches you how to THINK like a world-class performer, not just regurgitate quotes. That is the key meta-skill we’re aiming for. To that end, you’ll see a lot of extended quotes and stories.

I’ve occasionally bolded lines within quotes. This is my emphasis, not the guest’s.

How to Read Quotes—The Micro

 . . . = Portion of dialogue omitted

[words in brackets] = additional information that wasn’t part of the interview but may be necessary to understand what’s being discussed, or related info or recommendations from yours truly

How to Read Quotes—The Macro

One of my podcast guests, also one of the smartest people I know, was shocked when I showed him his raw transcript. Wow, he said. I generally like to think of myself as a decently smart guy, but I use past, present, and future tense like they’re the same fucking thing. It makes me sound like a complete moron.

Transcripts can be unforgiving. I’ve read my own, so I know how bad it can be.

In the heat of the moment, grammar can go out the window, to be replaced by false starts and sentence fragments. Everyone starts an ungodly number of sentences with And or So. I and millions of others tend to use and I was like instead of and I said. Many of us mix up plural and singular. This all works fine in conversation, but it can hiccup on the printed page.

Quotations have therefore been edited in some cases for clarity, space, and as a courtesy to guests and readers alike. I did my best to preserve the spirit and point of quotes, while making them as smart and readable as possible. Sometimes I keep it fast and loose to preserve the kinetic energy and emotion of the moment. Other times, I smooth out the edges, including my own stammering.

If anything sounds silly or off, assume it was my mistake. Everyone in this book is amazing, and I’ve done my best to showcase that.

Patterns

Where guests have related recommendations or philosophies, I’ve noted them in parentheses. For instance, if Jane Doe tells a story about the value of testing higher prices, I might add "(see Marc Andreessen, page 170), since his answer to If you could have a billboard anywhere, what would you put on it? was Raise prices," which he explains in depth.

Humor!

I’ve included ample doses of the ridiculous. First of all, if we’re serious all the time, we’ll wear out before we get the truly serious stuff done. Second, if this book were all stern looks and no winks, all productivity and no grab-assing, you’d remember very little. I agree with Tony Robbins (page 210) that information without emotion isn’t retained.

Look up von Restorff effect and primacy and recency effect for more science, but this book has been deliberately constructed to maximize your retention. Which leads us to . . .

Spirit animals

Yes, spirit animals. There wasn’t room for photographs in this book, but I wanted some sort of illustrations to keep things fun. It seemed like a lost cause, but then—after a glass or four of wine—I recalled that one of my guests, Alexis Ohanian (page 194), likes to ask potential hires, What’s your spirit animal? Eureka! So, you’ll see thumbnail spirit animals for anyone who would humor me and play along. The best part? Dozens of people took the question very seriously. Extended explanations, emotional changes of heart, and Venn diagrams ensued. Questions poured in: Would a mythological creature be acceptable? Can I be a plant instead? Alas, I couldn’t get a hold of everyone in time for publication, so drawings are sprinkled throughout like Scooby snacks. In a book full of practicality, treat these like little rainbows of absurdity. People had fun with it.

Non-profile content and Tim Ferriss chapters

In all sections, there are multiple non-profile pieces by guests and yours truly. These are typically intended to expand upon key principles and tools mentioned by multiple people.

URLs, websites, and social media

I’ve omitted most URLs, as outdated URLs are nothing but frustrating for everyone. For nearly anything mentioned, assume that I’ve chosen wording that will allow you to find it easily on Google or Amazon.

All full podcast episodes can be found at fourhourworkweek.com/podcast. Just search the guest’s name, and the extended audio, complete show notes, links, and resources will pop up like warm toast on a cold morning.

In nearly every guest’s profile, I indicate where you can best interact with them on social media: TW = Twitter, FB = Facebook, IG = Instagram, SC = Snapchat, and LI = LinkedIn.

Your Send-off—The 3 Tools that Allow All the Rest

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is recommended by many guests in this book. There is one specific takeaway that Naval Ravikant (page 546) has reinforced with me several times on our long walks over coffee. The protagonist, Siddhartha, a monk who looks like a beggar, has come to the city and falls in love with a famous courtesan named Kamala. He attempts to court her, and she asks, What do you have? A well-known merchant similarly asks, What can you give that you have learned? His answer is the same in both cases, so I’ve included the latter story here. Siddhartha ultimately acquires all that he wants.

Merchant: . . . If you are without possessions, how can you give?

Siddhartha: Everyone gives what he has. The soldier gives strength, the merchant goods, the teacher instruction, the farmer rice, the fisherman fish.

Merchant: Very well, and what can you give? What have you learned that you can give?

Siddhartha: I can think, I can wait, I can fast.

Merchant: Is that all?

Siddhartha: I think that is all.

Merchant: And of what use are they? For example, fasting, what good is that?

Siddhartha: It is of great value, sir. If a man has nothing to eat, fasting is the most intelligent thing he can do. If, for instance, Siddhartha had not learned to fast, he would have had to seek some kind of work today, either with you, or elsewhere, for hunger would have driven him. But, as it is, Siddhartha can wait calmly. He is not impatient, he is not in need, he can ward off hunger for a long time and laugh at it.

I think of Siddhartha’s answers often and in the following terms:

I can think → Having good rules for decision-making, and having good questions you can ask yourself and others.

I can wait → Being able to plan long-term, play the long game, and not misallocate your resources.

I can fast → Being able to withstand difficulties and disaster. Training yourself to be uncommonly resilient and have a high pain tolerance.

This book will help you to develop all three.

I created Tools of Titans because it’s the book that I’ve wanted my entire life. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Pura vida,

Tim Ferriss

Paris, France

1

Healthy

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

—Lao Tzu

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

—J. Krishnamurti

In the end, winning is sleeping better.

—Jodie Foster

"

I’m not the strongest. I’m not the fastest. But I’m really good at suffering."

Spirit animal: Carp

Amelia Boone

Amelia Boone (TW: @ameliaboone, ameliabooneracing.com) has been called the Michael Jordan of obstacle course racing (OCR) and is widely considered the world’s most decorated obstacle racer. Since the inception of the sport, she’s amassed more than 30 victories and 50 podiums. In the 2012 World’s Toughest Mudder competition, which lasts 24 hours (she covered 90 miles and ~300 obstacles), she finished second OVERALL out of more than 1,000 competitors, 80% of whom were male. The one person who beat her finished just 8 minutes ahead of her. Her major victories include the Spartan Race World Championship and the Spartan Race Elite Point Series, and she is the only three-time winner of the World’s Toughest Mudder (2012, 2014, and 2015). She won the 2014 championship 8 weeks after knee surgery. Amelia is also a three-time finisher of the Death Race, a full-time attorney at Apple, and she dabbles in ultra running (qualified for the Western States 100) in all of her spare time.

* What would you put on a billboard?

No one owes you anything.

* Amelia’s best $100 or less purchase?

Manuka honey bandages. Amelia has scars all over her shoulders and back from barbed-wire wounds.

* Most-gifted or recommended book

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski: This is a book that you have to hold, because there are parts of it where you need to turn it upside down to read it. There are certain pages where, you are reading it, and it turns in a circle. . . . This is a book that’s an entire sensory experience.

Amelia’s Tips and Tactics

Hydrolyzed gelatin + beet root powder: I’ve consumed gelatin for connective tissue repair in the past. I’ve never stuck with it long term because gelatin takes on a seagull poo–like texture when mixed into cold water. Amelia saved my palate and joints by introducing me to the Great Lakes hydrolyzed version (green label), which blends easily and smoothly. Add a tablespoon of beet root powder like BeetElite to stave off any cow-hoof flavor, and it’s a whole new game. Amelia uses BeetElite pre-race and pre-training for its endurance benefits, but I’m much harder-core: I use it to make tart, low-carb gummy bears when fat Tim has carb cravings.

RumbleRoller: Think foam roller meets monster-truck tire. Foam rollers have historically done very little for me, but this torture device had an immediate positive impact on my recovery. (It also helps you sleep if used before bed.) Warning: Start slow. I tried to copy Amelia and did 20-plus minutes my first session. The next day, I felt like I’d been put in a sleeping bag and swung against a tree for a few hours.

Rolling your foot on top of a golf ball on the floor to increase hamstring flexibility. This is infinitely more helpful than a lacrosse ball. Put a towel on the floor underneath the golf ball, lest you shoot your dog’s eye out.

Concept2 SkiErg for training when your lower body is injured. After knee surgery, Amelia used this low-impact machine to maintain cardiovascular endurance and prepare for the 2014 World’s Toughest Mudder, which she won 8 weeks post-op. Kelly Starrett (page 122) is also a big fan of this device.

Dry needling: I’d never heard of this before meeting Amelia. [In acupuncture] the goal is not to feel the needle. In dry-needling, you are sticking the needle in the muscle belly and trying to get it to twitch, and the twitch is the release. It’s used for super-tight, over-contracted muscles, and the needles are not left in. Unless you’re a masochist, don’t have this done on your calves.

Sauna for endurance: Amelia has found using a sauna improves her endurance, a concept that has since been confirmed by several other athletes, including cyclist David Zabriskie, seven-time U.S. National Time Trial Championship winner. He considers sauna training a more practical replacement for high-altitude simulation tents. In the 2005 Tour de France, Dave won the Stage 1 time trial, making him the first American to win stages in all three Grand Tours. Zabriskie beat Lance Armstrong by seconds, clocking an average speed of 54.676 kilometers per hour (!). I now use a sauna at least four times per week. To figure out the best protocols, I asked another podcast guest, Rhonda Patrick. Her response is on page 7.

* Who do you think of when you hear the word successful?

Triple H is a great example [of someone who’s transitioned extremely well from athlete to business executive]. So, Paul Levesque. (See page 128.)

Random Facts

Amelia eats Pop-Tarts as part of her ritual pre-competition breakfast.

Her record for unbroken double-unders (passing a jump rope under your feet twice with one jump) is 423, and is thus able to impress all CrossFitters. Unbeknownst to them, she was a state jump rope champion in third grade. Also unbeknownst to them, she ended at 423 because she had to pee so badly that she peed her pants.

Amelia loves doing training runs in the rain and cold, as she knows her competition is probably opting out. This is an example of rehearsing the worst-case scenario to become more resilient (see page 474).

She is a gifted a cappella singer and was part of the Greenleafs group at Washington University in St. Louis.

Spirit animal: Coywolf

Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick

Rhonda Perciavalle Patrick, PhD (TW/FB/IG: @foundmyfitness, foundmyfitness.com) has worked alongside notables including Dr. Bruce Ames, the inventor of the Ames mutagenicity test and the 23rd most-cited scientist across *all* fields between 1973 and 1984. Dr. Patrick also conducts clinical trials, performed aging research at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and did graduate research at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where she focused on cancer, mitochondrial metabolism, and apoptosis. More recently, Dr. Patrick has published papers on a mechanism by which vitamin D is able to regulate the production of serotonin in the brain and the various implications this may have for early-life deficiency and relevance for neuropsychiatric disorders.

The Tooth Fairy Might Save Your Life (Or Your Kids’ lives)

Dr. Patrick introduced me to using teeth for stem-cell banking. If you are having your wisdom teeth removed, or if your kids are losing their baby teeth (which have a particularly high concentration of dental pulp stem cells), consider using a company like StemSave or National Dental Pulp Laboratory to preserve them for later use. These companies will send your oral surgeon a kit, and then freeze the biological matter using liquid nitrogen. Costs vary, but are roughly $625 for setup and then $125 per year for storage and maintenance.

Mesenchymal stem cells can later be harvested from the dental pulp of teeth for useful (e.g., bone, cartilage, muscle, blood vessels, etc.), life-changing (e.g., motor neurons for repairing damaged spinal cord), or potentially life-saving (e.g., traumatic brain injury) treatments using your own biological raw materials.

Heat Is the New Black

Hyperthermic conditioning (calculated heat exposure) can help you to increase growth hormone (GH) levels and substantially improve endurance. I now take ~20-minute sauna sessions post-workout or post-stretching at least four times per week, typically at roughly 160 to 170°F. If nothing else, it seems to dramatically decrease DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness).

Focusing on endurance and growth hormone, here are some observations from Dr. Patrick:

One study has demonstrated that a 30-minute sauna session twice a week for 3 weeks post-workout increased the time it took for study participants to run until exhaustion by 32% compared to baseline. The 32% increase in running endurance found in this particular study was accompanied by a 7.1% increase in plasma volume and 3.5% increase in red blood cell count.

Two 20-minute sauna sessions at 80°C (176°F) separated by a 30-minute cooling period elevated growth hormone levels two-fold over baseline. Whereas, two 15-minute dry-heat sessions at 100°C (212°F) separated by a 30-minute cooling period resulted in a five-fold increase in growth hormone. . . . The growth hormone effects generally persist for a couple of hours post-sauna.

TF: Hot baths can also significantly increase GH over baseline, and both sauna and hot baths have been shown to cause a massive release in prolactin, which plays a role in wound healing. I usually stay in a hot bath or sauna for about 20 minutes, which is long enough to significantly elevate my heart rate. I push a few minutes past dynorphin release, which usually makes one feel dysphoric and want to get out (but *not* to dizziness or lightheadedness). Generally, I’ll listen to an audiobook like The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman during the heat, then cool off for 5 to 10 minutes using an ice bath (I put 40 pounds of ice in a large bath to get it to roughly 45°F; more details on page 43) and/or by drinking ice water. I’ll repeat this cycle 2 to 4 times.

* Three people Dr. Patrick has learned from or followed closely in the last year

Dr. Bruce Ames, Dr. Satchin Panda (professor at the Salk Institute in San Diego, California), Dr. Jennifer Doudna (professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at UC Berkeley).

"

If the best in the world are stretching their asses off in order to get strong, why aren’t you? "

Spirit animal: Falcon

Christopher Sommer

Christopher Sommer (IG/FB: @GymnasticBodies, gymnasticbodies.com) is a former U.S. National Team gymnastics coach and founder of GymnasticBodies, a training system that I’ve tested for the last 8 months (no affiliation). As a world-renowned coach, Sommer is known for building his students into some of the strongest, most powerful athletes in the world. During his extensive 40-year coaching career, Coach Sommer took meticulous notes on his training techniques—his wins and failures—so that he could translate the best elements into a superior exercise system for both high-level and beginner athletes. His four decades of careful observation led to the birth of Gymnastics Strength Training (GST).

Back Story

The combination of GST and AcroYoga (page 52) has completely remodeled my body in the last year. I’m more flexible and mobile at age 39 than I was at age 20. I’m going to skip explaining a lot (e.g., Maltese, Stalder press handstand) that is best seen in video or pictures, though I’ll describe the most critical (starting on page 53). Google is your friend.

On Working on Your Weaknesses

If you want to be a stud later, you have to be a pud now.

Coach first told me this when I was complaining about slow progress with shoulder extension (imagine clasping your hands together behind your back, arms straight, then raising your arms without bending at the waist). When in doubt, work on the deficiencies you’re most embarrassed by. My biggest weaknesses are shoulder extension and bridging using the thoracic spine (versus lower-back arch). After improving them 10% over 3 to 4 weeks—going from making coach vomit to merely making coach laugh—a host of physical issues that plagued me for years completely disappeared. To assess your biggest weaknesses, start by finding a Functional Movement Screen (FMS) near you. Related from Sommer: You’re not responsible for the hand of cards you were dealt. You’re responsible for maxing out what you were given.

Flexibility Versus Mobility

Sommer’s distinction between flexibility and mobility is the most concrete and clear I’ve heard. Flexibility can be passive, whereas mobility requires that you can demonstrate strength throughout the entire range of motion, including the end ranges. See the J-curl and pike pulse exercises on pages 15 and 18 for two examples of mobility, which can also be thought of as active flexibility. The pike pulse is a particularly clear demonstration, as it tests compression strength in a range that most people never experience.

Consistency over Intensity

Slow down. Where’s the fire? This is Coach’s constant reminder that certain adaptations take weeks or months of consistent stimuli (see page 160). If you rush, the reward is injuries. In GST, there are surprising stair steps after long periods of zero progress. Roughly six months into doing his hamstring series with minor gains, I seemingly doubled my max ranges overnight. This was completely unsurprising to Sommer.

I used to tell my athletes there are stupid gymnasts, and there are old gymnasts, but there are no old, stupid gymnasts because they’re all dead.

Diet and Exercise → Eat and Train

Coach Sommer dislikes the fitness fixation on diet and exercise. He finds it much more productive to focus on eat and train. One is aesthetic, and the other is functional. The former may not have a clear goal, the latter always does.

They Failed Warmup!

Coach describing his first-ever seminar for non-gymnast adults, in roughly 2007:

"We’ve got all of these beasts there [advanced lifters], and they’re strong. I tried to do my entry-level plyometric group work and some floor work with them. The stronger the athlete, the faster they went down: knees, lower back, ankles . . . from baby stuff. We’re not talking anything hard. We’re talking about standing in place, and, with knees straight, being able to bounce down the floor using just your calves.

"No way. Their tissues couldn’t take it. They hadn’t done anything like it. [To show you] how bad mobility was, we had 15 minutes on the schedule to stretch. Nothing intricate, nothing intense—just an easy, basic stretch. Get them loosened up for the day. That stretch took an hour and a half to complete. There were bodies lying everywhere. It was like I was in Vietnam or filming a war movie. I turned to my staff, and I’m like, ‘What the fuck am I supposed to do now? They failed warmup. They failed warmup.’"

Why Those Olympic Boys Have Gigantic Biceps

Male Olympic gymnasts don’t have biceps the size of their waists from curls. It comes largely from straight-arm work, especially Maltese work on rings.

But how on earth can you practice a Maltese as a novice? I use a 50/50 pulley system to cut my body-weight resistance in half, which is similar to the Ring Thing (Power Monkey Fitness) or generic dream machine that Jason Nemer (page 46) loves using. I combine this with power levers, strap-on metal gauntlets that allow me to attach the ring ropes to my forearms anywhere between the elbow and the fist. This allows me to use progressive resistance, starting near the elbow and moving out to the hand. The best versions are currently only available in Europe, but there are vaguely similar iron cross trainers available in the U.S.

3 Movements Everyone Should Practice

J-Curl (page 15)

Shoulder Extension: Lift a dowel behind your back (standing), or sit on the floor and walk your hands backward behind your hips.

Thoracic Bridge: Elevate your feet enough to feel the bulk of the stretch in the upper back and shoulders, not the lower back. The feet might be 3+ feet off the ground. Ensure you can concentrate on straightening your arms (and legs, if possible), holding the position, and breathing.

Good Goals for Adult Non-Gymnasts

The following goals incorporate many different aspects of strength and mobility into single movements:

Beginner: J-Curl

Intermediate: Straddle Press Handstand [TF: I’m working on this]

Advanced: Stalder Press Handstand

Sometimes, You Just Need a Vibrator

Coach Sommer introduced me to a Russian medical massage specialist who recommended I use the plug-in (not cordless) model of the Hitachi Magic Wand on its high setting. I’ve never experienced such heights of ecstasy. Thanks, Vladmir!

Just kidding. In this case, it’s for relaxing hypertonic muscles (i.e., muscles that are tense even though they shouldn’t be). Just place the wand on your muscle belly (not insertion points) for 20 to 30 seconds, which is often all it takes at the proper hertz. Tension headaches or a stiff neck? It’s great for relaxing the occipitals at the base of the skull. Warning: Having Hitachi Magic Wands lying out around your house can go terribly wrong—or terribly right. Good luck explaining your hypertonic muscles. As one friend said to me, I think my wife has that same problem. . . .

Gymnast Strong

Unusual and Effective Bodyweight Exercises

In less than eight weeks of following Coach Sommer’s protocols, I saw unbelievable improvement in areas I’d largely given up on.

Try a few of my favorite exercises, and you’ll quickly realize that gymnasts use muscles you didn’t even know you had.

QL Walk—An Unusual Warmup

Coach Sommer borrowed this exercise from power lifter Donnie Thompson, who calls it the butt walk. Donnie Super D Thompson is the first person to hit a power lifting total of more than 3,000 pounds (bench press + deadlift + squat). The QL walk is intended to get your glutes and quadratus lumborum (QL) firing, the latter of which Donnie calls an angry troll in your back:

Sit down on a mat (or gravel, if you want to turn your ass into hamburger meat). Legs are extended in front of you, ankles can be touching or slightly apart, and your back should be straight. I keep legs together. This is pike position, which I’ll refer to quite a bit in this book.

Lift a kettlebell or dumbbell to your collarbones (think front squat). I weigh 170 pounds and use 30 to 60 pounds. I hold the kettlebell horns, but Donnie prefers to support it from underneath.

Keeping your legs straight (no bend at the knee), walk your butt cheeks—left, right, left, right—across the floor. I typically go 10 to 15 feet.

Reverse direction and go backward 10 to 15 feet. That’s it.

Jefferson Curl (J-Curl)

Think of this as a controlled, slowly rounded, stiff-legged deadlift. From Sommer: Progress slowly and patiently. Do not rush. For this type of loaded mobility work, never allow yourself to strain, grind out reps, or force range of motion. Smooth, controlled movement is the order of the day. The ultimate goal is body weight on a bar, but start with 15 pounds. I currently use only 50 to 60 pounds. This can perform miracles for thoracic, or mid-back, mobility, all while helping the hamstrings in the pike position. When I asked Coach Sommer how often I should do these, he said, We do these like breathing. In other words, at a minimum, J-Curls are done at the beginning of every primary workout.

Begin by standing up straight, legs locked, holding a bar waist-high with your arms shoulder width apart. (fig. A) Think dead-lift top position.

Tuck your chin tightly against your chest (keep it tucked for the entire movement) and slowly bend over, one vertebra at a time, from the neck down. (fig. B) Keep your arms straight and the bar close to your legs. Lower until you can’t stretch any farther. As you become more flexible, stand on a box (I use a Rogue plyo box), with the goal of passing your wrists below your toes. Keep your legs as perpendicular to the ground as possible, and try to not push your hips back until your head is below your waist.

Slowly stand back up, rolling one vertebra at a time. Your chin should be the last thing to come up. (fig. C) That’s 1 rep. Repeat for a total of 5 to 10 reps.

Dips with RTO (Ring Turn Out)

So you can do 10 to 20 regular dips? Fantastic. I challenge you to do 5 slow dips on rings with proper turnout at the top (support position). Imagine the lines of the knuckles pointing to 10 and 2 o’clock at the apex. Perform this without piking (bending at the hips) or leaning your torso forward. This requires the brachialis to work like a mofo at the top, and it requires good shoulder extension at the bottom—my nemesis. Curse me, then thank me in 8 weeks. If you can’t do 15 regular dips, consider starting with push-ups with RTO, which Kelly Starrett (page 122) first showed me. For the push-ups, ensure that you use the hollow and protracted position from cast wall walks on page 19.

Hinge Rows

This is an excellent low-risk option for smashing your mid-traps and external rotator cuff muscles, which are used for handstands and just about everything in gymnastics. Visualize popping up like Dracula in a coffin, then hitting a double bicep pose. The catch: Your hands are holding rings the entire time. Once you can do 20 reps of hinge rows, Google lat flys and progress to those.

Set up a pair of rings to hang about a foot above your head when you’re sitting on the floor.

While sitting on the floor, grab the rings. Keeping your heels on the floor, lie back, and—arms straight—lift your hips off the ground.