{"id":4013,"date":"2013-08-01T08:05:11","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T12:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alifeofproductivity.com\/?p=4013"},"modified":"2022-09-02T17:22:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T17:22:10","slug":"body-composition-experiment-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/body-composition-experiment-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"My Next Productivity Experiment: Gaining 10 pounds of muscle mass, dropping to 10% body fat"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I’ve posted two updates about this experiment! The amazing connection between food and productivity<\/a> and 5 simple ways I gained 15 pounds of muscle<\/a>.<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n
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Takeaway:<\/b>\nOver the next 7-9 months, I’m going to gain 10 pounds of muscle mass, while dropping my body fat from 17% to 10%. I’m doing so by eating impeccably to cut my body fat, and by hitting the gym to gain muscle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEstimated Reading Time:<\/b>\n5 minutes, 57s.<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

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Mad props to\u00a0Erin Murphy<\/b>, a good friend of mine, for snapping the great photos for this article. And just as many mad props to\u00a0Ryan Wang<\/b><\/a><\/span>, another friend of mine, for his photoshop wizardry on the picture above, and for color correcting the rest of the images! (My friends are 10x more talented than I am.)<\/div><\/div>\n

\"weight-1\"<\/p>\n

I’ve conducted a few crazy productivity experiments for A Year of Productivity so far, including spending 10 days in total reclusion<\/a><\/span>, and meditating for 35 hours over seven days<\/a><\/span>. But this experiment easily takes the cake for my biggest productivity experiment yet.<\/b><\/p>\n

The experiment<\/b><\/h1>\n

For this experiment I’m going to lower my body fat percentage from 17%, which is average, to 10%, which is considered very athletic. This by itself would be very difficult, but while I’m reducing my body fat, I’m also going to gain 10 pounds of lean muscle. To put that in perspective, imagine 10 pounds of meat at the grocery store<\/b>. I’m going to add that much muscle to my body, while<\/i> almost halving the amount of fat in my body. This is easily the largest change I have ever made to my body.<\/b><\/p>\n

Pretty much every person I know (including me) struggles with eating well and working out, and this is a struggle I’m going to explore over the coming months. I’ll be totally honest with where I succeed and fail, and the experiment will take about 7-9 months to complete. While it’s going to be a long, grueling, and exciting ride, the true purpose of this experiment is to learn as much as possible, and share everything I discover with you.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I’m also very lucky to have a personal trainer and nutritionist on board for this experiment – more on them below!<\/p>\n

Needless to say, I expect to learn a ton, and I think you will too.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"allthebacon\"<\/p>\n

The productivity twist<\/b><\/h1>\n

There are literally hundreds of benefits to working out and eating well.<\/b><\/p>\n

\"ball-1\"Here’s an example of just one study that illustrates the power of exercise<\/strong>. An experiment conducted by researchers at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia enrolled a bunch of participants in a study on self-control. For the experiment, researchers only manipulated one variable to measure someone’s self-control: whether or not participants worked out.1<\/a><\/sup> When the results came in, researchers were shocked by what they found. Participants who exercised more not only had greater self-control, but almost every other variable researchers measured also improved<\/b>. Participants:<\/p>\n