Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha

then lower the weight back to the starting position.
    Weight selection: pick a weight you could lift 8–12 times.

    Alternate C1 and C2 for 4 minutes. The goal is to get as many reps as possible. After this circuit, rest 2 minutes. Then repeat the circuit for another 5 minutes with the same weight.

    PHASE IV, WORKOUT 4
    A1 Barbell Front Squat
5 reps

    Hold a barbell across your upper chest with a clean grip and your feet shoulder-width apart.
    Keeping your lower back arched, lower your body as deep as you can by pushing your hips back and bending your knees.
    Pause, then reverse the movement back to the starting position.

    A2 Weighted Chin-Up
5 reps

    Place a dumbbell on the floor underneath a chin-up bar.
    Grab a chin-up bar with an underhand grip that’s about shoulder-width apart, and then “hold” the dumbbell in your feet.
    Hang at arm’s length and pull your shoulder blades down and back so that your shoulders are as far from your ears as possible.
    Hold at the top position for a second, then slowly lower your body back to the starting position and repeat.

    Alternate A1 and A2 for a total of 5 sets each. There is no need to time your rest periods, but try to get back to work when you feel you’re fully recovered. For most people, that’s 2 minutes between sets.
    Pick a weight that you can complete 5 reps with on the first set. The weight should be challenging, and, in fact, you shouldn’t be able to complete 5 reps on all 5 sets. For instance, you might complete 5 reps on the first two sets, and then 3 reps, 2 reps, and 1 rep. If you complete fewer than 14 total reps on an exercise, lower the weight; otherwise stay at the same weight as you perform more total reps with each passing week. If you can perform 25 or more total reps, then increase the weight you’re using.
    After your last set, proceed to workout set B.
    B1 Barbell Bench Press
5 reps

    Lie on your back on a bench. Grasp a barbell with an overhand grip that’s just wider than shoulder-width and hold it above your sternum with your arms completely straight.
    Lower the bar straight down in a controlled fashion. Make sure you keep your elbows tucked in close to your body so your upper arms form a 45-degree angle to your body in the down position.
    Pause, and then press the bar in a straight line back up to the starting position.

    B2 Alpha Deadlift
5 reps
    Alternate B1 and B2 for a total of 5 sets each. There is no need to time your rest periods, but try to get back to work when you feel you’re fully recovered. For most people, that’s 2 minutes.
    Pick a weight that you can complete 5 reps with on the first set. The weight should be challenging, and, in fact, you shouldn’t be able to complete 5 reps on all 5 sets. For instance, you might complete 5 reps on the first two sets, and then 3 reps, 2 reps, and 1 rep. If you complete fewer than 14 total reps on an exercise, lower the weight; otherwise stay at the same weight as you perform more total reps with each passing week. If you can perform 25 or more total reps, then increase the weight you’re using.

AFTERWORD
    I, Alpha
    TAKING THE FIRST STEP AS A NEW MAN AND MAKING IT LAST
    “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”
    — BOB DYLAN
    “Follow your bliss.”
    — JOSEPH CAMPBELL
    W hen you began this journey, you were a permanent inhabitant of the Ordinary World and—at best—a visitor and outsider to the Special World.
    Despite having a place that felt familiar, you never really had a place to call your own. That’s because you were searching, hoping, or wanting a life that was better. A life that was incredible. A life that was Alpha.
    And now, after having the courage to follow our steps, this became your journey. What started as a story about our lessons has become a book about you and the influence you’ll have on your world and others. This is about your ability to rise up and become stronger. And your decision to accept that a good life is great, but an unreal life is the true quest of the Alpha.
    Your individual rise will spark a charge that can put an end to the current state of the ordinary man. Your ability to become Alpha—to be confident, assertive, and driven to help others is what will make you a better man, and this world a better place.
    Whether you realized it or not, this has been your goal from the beginning. When you picked up this book, it was an acknowledgment of a desire to