Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha

more insulin sensitive you are, the more nutrients (especially from carbs) will be directed into your muscle cells rather than your fat cells.
    Inevitably, this is what will allow you to take in more carbs without becoming fat—and what will help turn cheat days into fat-destroying splurges.
    During this initial phase, you’ll be eating slightly below what is known as maintenance calories. Don’t worry, once you see the menu of steak, bacon, and eggs, you’ll realize that you’ll be eating more than enough to be satisfied. The reason we’re dropping your calories is to help burn off extra fat. Whereas most guys think they need to add muscle first and then cut fat, the best way to add more muscle is to start by dropping fat and improving insulin sensitivity. And that’s exactly what you’ll accomplish.
    Just as important is what the introduction of intermittent fasting will do for your growth hormone (GH) levels. Before we even begin to focus on what training will do, simply adding intermittent fasting to your lifestyle can cause a 2,000 percent increase in GH, according to research published by cardiologists at the Intermountain Heart Institute.
    How can you get up to a 2,000 percent increase? Easily. Eat more before you go to sleep. A lot more. And then get at least six hours of rest. When you wake up, don’t eat. Your GH peaks in the night and then shuts off the moment you have your morning eggs. Instead, drink some water, tea, or coffee, and push back breakfast a few hours. And just like that, your GH levels have surged and you’ve created a better environment for building muscle, melting fat, and fighting off aging. Not only is the burst more intense, but you’ll also experience more frequent increases in GH throughout the day, which will keep the fat melting off your abs.
    We’ve found that the insulin reset can be a difficult adjustment for some for about three to five days, as you adjust to a new style of eating. After that, you adjust and wonder why you ever ate any other way—your energy will be increased, your focus better, your stomach always satisfied, and your weight dropping. In fact, by now, you’ll be in love with fasting and your body will be as insulin sensitive as possible without having to abstain from carbs for years. Again, this means that everything you eat is more likely to wind up packing mass on your arms instead of fat on your ass.
    The Training
    As with everything in this program, the diet is only half of the equation. Your first month of training (Phase I) is designed to improve your insulin sensitivity as well as start increasing production of testosterone and GH. We start with an intensive focus on fat loss, as that’s the best and fastest way to reset your insulin. While the workouts are metabolic and crank up your ability to burn calories—both in and out of the gym—they are also designed to teach and reinforce the movement patterns that you need to master in order to get the most out of the program.
    This is an important distinction between our approach and other fitness books. We want to mimic the approach you would receive if you worked with us one-on-one rather than just throw you into a program that expects you to automatically squat and deadlift like a pro. That’s what frustrates us more than anything and why it’s so hard for us to train in commercial gyms. No one teaches anymore. It’s not your job to know how to exercise correctly; it’s your job to be shown and to learn. The workouts in Phase I will give you the same benefits as very technical exercises without forcing you into mastery at such an early stage. Even if you’re already a vet of the gym, this progression will make your body more efficient and will inevitably increase your strength gain and your fat loss. Just trust us on this. It’s not as much one step back as it is three steps forward—without you even realizing it.
    The Mind-Set
    Phase I is also about getting your head right. This is arguably the hardest stage because we’ll be introducing new strategies—like fasting—into your world. This is your trial by fire. This phase, while only the beginning, determines your worth and how suitable you are for the quest. Think of it like a knight’s challenge or a test to become a Jedi. Like any threshold, this one is difficult to cross, but it prepares you for greater challenges. More importantly, once you get through this phase, your body will adjust and the entire process will become