Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha

your calories for non-workout days. This number is how many calories from fat you need.
    8. Divide this number by 9. This is how many grams of fat you need.

    Now here’s what it looks like in terms of food. Again, we provide examples of Roman and our fictional character, Steve. As you’ll see, there is no shortage of good options.
    With all of that covered, let’s move on to the workouts for Phase II.

    THE TRAINING
    What Is Training Density?
    Before we can talk about adding density training to your program, it’s probably best to define the concept so you can understand why it’s so effective. To compute your training density, you’ll look at two very specific factors of training: volume and duration.

    Volume: Your total workload—that is, how many total sets and reps you perform in a given workout
    Duration: The length of time your workout lasts

    By looking at these two things, we arrive at your training density, which is the measure of how much work you do (volume) in a given time period (duration).
    Basic Methods for Increasing Training Density
    For the most part, there are two simple and relatively well-known ways to increase training density. Both have been used effectively in the past.

METHOD 1—SUBTRACT TIME FROM THE DURATION
As an example, if you’re doing 10 sets of 10 reps on the bench press, you’re doing 100 total reps. Let’s say this normally takes you 40 minutes; if we tell you that you must complete that workout in 30 minutes, then that will call for a drastic increase in training density—we’re asking you to complete an identical amount of work in 25 percent less time.
METHOD 2—ADD MORE VOLUME WITHIN THE SAME DURATION
Staying with that same example, you have another option. Keep the duration static at 40 minutes and simply add more sets within that time period. Rather than just doing 10 sets, you’d aim to complete as many sets as possible. You might wind up with 12 or even 15 sets. (This style of training is commonly known as escalating density training, or EDT. Charles Staley created it in 2001, and it has helped thousands of people gain muscle and lose fat since then. We’ve built on previously existing density protocols like EDT to make them even more effective.)

    With both of these methods, you would have to increase training speed and decrease rest periods in order to fulfill the demands placed upon you by the new workout parameters.
    Speaking generally, trainees seeking to increase density focus on one of the above. It comes down to either doing the same amount of work in less time or doing more work in the same amount of time. In the most extreme cases, a trainee in extremely good condition could potentially end up doing more work in less time and see phenomenal results.
    Keeping in mind that increasing training density essentially increasing the amount of work you’re doing in a given time frame, it stands to reason that over time you will also increase your ability to do work over any time period.
    We call this your work capacity, and this determines how much you can realistically accomplish in the gym. Performing density-based training in any form increases your overall strength endurance and work capacity, and burns a huge amount of calories.
    All of those things mean that not only is this great for fat loss, but increasing work capacity and strength endurance also has implications for increasing the rate of muscle hypertrophy. Translation: it becomes a lot easier to build muscle. And for most guys, that’s usually the biggest hurdle. Well, this is your solution.
    That alone would make it a good fat-burning protocol. But that’s not enough for us. We developed a density-based protocol that takes fat burning to a whole other level.
    In traditional density workouts, you simply seek to exceed the number of reps for each exercise on subsequent workouts. In that system, you’re gauging progress from session to session. That’s good, but we’ve found a way to add a dash of Alpha to density training. In Alpha density training, you see progress during the workout. In addition to performing more reps during the second set, you’ll also be increasing the weight.
    All told, the Alpha density workout consists of three circuits: A, B, and C. Each of these should be performed for the prescribed length of time and then repeated. In the case of circuits A and B, the weight should be increased prior to repeating the circuit. Circuit C maintains the same weight.
    Circuit