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How to Naturally Flood Your Body With Fat Burning Hormones
November 29, 2008
By John Alvino
If your goal is to lose fat and build muscle as fast as possible, it is absolutely crucial that you focus your efforts on maximizing your production of the powerful fat burning hormone known as growth hormone (GH). GH is released by the pituitary, and GH levels in the body tend to peak during puberty, and then slowly (yet steadily) decline with age. GH plays a key role in the building and/or maintenance of muscle, as well as the burning of body fat.
Recent studies have confirmed that boosting GH levels leads not only to increased muscle and bone mass, but decreased body fat levels as well.
For years, bodybuilders have injected synthetic GH to experience the amazing effects it has on their body composition. Unfortunately, the synthetic version of this hormone is very expensive, hard to obtain and causes undesirable side effects.
The good news is that you can increase your GH levels naturally, and without any side effects! All you have to do is engage in a targeted hormone stimulating training program. You can start jacking up your own growth hormone today by applying some of these key elements to your workouts:
Natural Growth Hormone And YOUR Training Program
- Exercise intensity- Training intensity is an extremely important variable when it comes to activating a GH response in your body. You want your workouts to be fast and furious, working very intensely while keeping total workout time no greater than 50 minutes. It’s important to note that training beyond the 50 minute mark will have a negative effect on the hormone response in your body.
- Exercise volume- You’ll have to do as much quality work as you can possibly can during the 50 minute time period. To do this effectively you must alternate sets of exercises in such a way that you train different muscles that don’t interfere with each other. Alternating sets involves going from exercise A to exercise B with minimal rest in between.
- Rest Periods- Keep your rest intervals as short as possible. Your rest interval is only there to allow recovery so you can perform another quality set. Resting any longer than that is a complete waste of time. To maximize GH output, keep most of your rest intervals between 60-90 seconds.
- Rep Range- Most of your sets should be around 8-12 repetitions. This will increase lactic acid levels, which in turn activates the release of growth hormone.
- Sprint- This is one of my little secrets. I use it on my clients regularly, and with great success. At the end of your workout you will engage in a short sprint workout. Just perform six 30-second sprints. This really triggers peak GH output.
If you follow these simple steps, you will naturally maximize your fat burning hormone output. Your workouts may become somewhat more difficult, but the fat loss and muscle building results will be well worth the effort. Start this program today and you will be LEAN and MEAN in no time!
Stop the Insanity
November 22, 2008
Sometimes I wonder how guys trained before the internet was around. I mean if you can’t visit 493 different message boards per day and post your workout in order to get the approval from at least half the world’s population before hitting the gym that day how could you ever make progress? It’s bewildering to me.
Or where would the variety in your training come from? Everyone knows the fastest way to make gains is to routinely switch on a monthly basis from the Russian Pyramid Scheme to Indonesian Drop Sets to Hungarian Hypertrophy Training to 5×5 to 3×3 to 5,4,3,2,1 to Super Squats to Power Factor Training to Dinosaur Training to ABCDE to GVT to OVT to HST to HIT to Max OT to AT& T to OPP, Hip Hop Hooray and motherfuck me.
Oh, the insanity…
There are a few very important factors that need to be remembered if you want to make significant progress.
Consistency, dedication, commitment.
You have to be willing to put in the time and pay your dues. You have to pick a plan and stick with it. Results won’t come overnight. You have to be patient and consistent. If you are trying to get bigger and stronger you have to add weight to the bar; AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. You have to eat way beyond the point of being uncomfortable. I’m talking about having a fork in your mouth for the majority of your waking hours. There are some guys who will argue that you can gain size on a caloric intake at or slightly above maintenance. They will talk about “dry muscle” and other nonsense. This is good advice to follow if you want to remain a pencil necked geek forever. If you want to gain size as rapidly as humanly possible you have to eat inordinate amounts of food and lift incredibly heavy weights. There is no way around it.
If you don’t want to get fat in the process you should do cardio, time your carb intake and make healthy food choices. Although the truth of the matter is if you allow yourself to get fat while getting bigger you will reach your goal faster. More calories, more weight gain and better leverages to lift heavier poundages will lead to faster hypertrophy gains. It won’t be the prettiest look in the world but you can slowly diet the extra fat off later. That’s the fastest way. I’m not saying it’s the most attractive option for everyone. But you’ll get big and strong in a hurry. If you try to stay under 8% bodyfat year round while trying to gain size, you’re going to be in for a long battle ahead.
Decide what it is that you really want to accomplish with your training and do it. Don’t over analyze the shit out of everything because I can promise you that you’ll never get anywhere. Don’t question it. Don’t think about it. Just pick a solid, proven training plan that has a good track record of success and stick with it. For at least 8 weeks. Don’t ask everyone you meet what they think of your training program or what they are doing. Just commit to making the fastest gains possible in the next 8 weeks, train hard and heavy, eat a lot and you’ll be blown away by the progress you can make when you actually believe in yourself and what you are doing.
Good luck.
For a proven muscle building program that will remove all the guesswork for you and has helped thousands of guys get huge and strong in a hurry click HERE now.
Just Another Victim
November 19, 2008
It happened again this morning, another victim claimed by the flat bench press. My buddy called and told me he tore his pec while benching heavy over the weekend. It didn’t shock me at all. This lift has been destroying shoulders and tearing pecs since the beginning.
Back in the golden days of the Iron Game, when the military press was the upper body exercise of choice, nobody ever heard of rotator cuff injuries or pec tears. It was only after the bench press achieved extreme popularity that shoulders and pecs started getting obliterated at record rates.
The bottom position of a heavy bench press puts your shoulders in a very vulnerable and dangerous position. Some people can tolerate this for decades. For others it will only take a few years. But sooner or later it’s bound to happen. It’s really not a question of if, but when. The flat bench press will eventually lead to some kind of shoulder problems or pec tear in the majority of lifters who do it heavy enough and long enough.
Like a lot of you, I was obsessed with bench pressing for a long time. And I always trained athletes who were getting tested on it. I proudly proclaimed it to be a great size and strength building lift and measure of upper body power. Nothing made me happier than helping one of my guys add 50 pounds to his bench in the off season and watching him go to camp and destroy the competition.
But after 20 years in the game, having been witness to far too many injuries resulting from the flat bench press and getting my own shoulder cut open recently, I have finally had to look myself in the mirror and admit the truth that I have been hesitant to come to grips with for far too long…
Bench pressing sucks!
I have discussed this issue with many of the worlds top shoulder specialists in recent months and they are all in full agreement.
That’s not to say that you can never bench again. I know many of you will refuse to stop and I can relate to that mindset. If you get tested on the bench or compete in powerlifting, of course you have to do it. For the rest of you, who still love to press big weights and impress your friends and gym members I recommend you do so with extreme caution.
Make sure your technique is picture perfect and you bring the bar down to the right spot while properly activating your upper back and lat muscles. Secondly, don’t use the flat bench for more than 4-6 weeks without switching to a safer version of a barbell press like an incline or floor press.
The smartest route, however, is to get rid of this destructive exercise forever. There are far more effective movements that will build mind blowing strength and size in your chest, shoulders and triceps while saving you years of frustrating and costly injuries.
While the bench press is probably the most dangerous exercise most of you are doing on a regular basis, it is not the only harmful one. Unfortunately many of you are probably doing damage to other body parts without even realizing it.
To discover the most effective and safest exercises that will replace the bench press and many other useless movements, check out the brand new, completely updated version of Muscle Gaining Secrets at http://www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com/ today… before it’s too late.
Train smart,
Jason Ferruggia
Get Stronger, Get Better
November 17, 2008
I was talking to my buddy before the big UFC fight this weekend and he said he hoped that, if nothing else, Brock Lesnar’s success would help make more people realize how important maximal strength training is for MMA. I couldn’t have agreed more. To this day there are still tons of guys who scoff at heavy strength training for combat sports. Conditioning is the most important quality a mixed martial artist or amateur wrestler needs, so that tends to be the main focus of a large majority of combat training programs while the strength work gets neglected.
I have maintained for quite some time now that this is a huge mistake. Sure there are some guys who eschew any type of heavy strength training and are incredibly successful. Their conditioning is unsurpassed, their skill level is second to none, and they are champions because of it. But what if they dramatically increased their strength on top of that? How much better could they be?
Sean Sherk, Matt Hughes and Brock Lesnar have all won fights that they otherwise might not have if they didn’t possess superior levels of strength. That is definitely something to think about.
I know plenty of mixed martial artists and wrestlers that I am easily twice as strong as. Most of these guys would tie me up in a pretzel and break both my arms in the blink of an eye. But if skill and conditioning were equal, the stronger guy will always have the advantage. This fact can not be overlooked if you want to put a few more W’s on your MMA or wrestling record.
Another fact most people overlook is that when you improve your strength, your conditioning usually follows suit. That is because everything you do when you are stronger requires less effort.
Like I have always said, a stronger athlete is almost always a better athlete.
Without his superior strength there is a good chance that Brock Lesnar may have been on the losing end Saturday night. Instead he is the new heavy weight champion of the world. (and he didn’t even have to use the F5 or the moonsault!)
Think about it.
For more on strength training for combat sports, check out…
Fit to Fight: An Insanely Effective Strength and Conditioning Program for the Ultimate MMAWarrior
Swimming For Mass
November 14, 2008
Question: Hey Jay,
I was wondering if it would be possible for me to do a swimming exercise. Before I bought your program, my friend and I already committed to start swimming because he wanted to get better at it and I have always enjoyed it.
I just want to let you know I’m 6′4″ and 150 lbs, so my main concern right now is building mass, but I want to be in cardiovascular shape as well. If there is a way I can swim to burn fat and get in cardiovascular shape without losing mass, I would greatly appreciate your insight.
Mike Ruggles
Answer: Mike,
Swimming is great exercise and will help you get in shape and burn some extra calories. If I had my druthers I would always choose sprinting as the top fat burning exercise but there is also something to be said about doing what you love to do. Personally I would recommend mixing it up and sprinting some days, swimming on others.
However, at 6’4” and 150 lbs I would highly recommend that you do very little of either right now if you really want to gain mass rapidly. You can’t have the goal of gaining 50lbs while simultaneously becoming the next Michael Phelps. You have to pick one or the other as they are conflicting goals. I’m sure you’re not in such horrible cardiovascular shape that you are at risk of a heart attack.
Right now I would hit the weights hard and focus on gaining size while not worrying too much about being in cardiovascular shape. If you want to add in a little swimming here or there that’s fine, but with your stats, I would limit it for a while. The only thing you should be doing like Michael Phelps right now is eating like him.
For a comprehensive muscle building meal plan that will pack slabs of mass on even the skinniest hardgainers, click HERE now.
Spin the Black Circle
November 13, 2008
I finally got the ok from the doctor, yesterday, to go back to training. Nothing overhead and no heavy pressing, but I can ease my way back into everything else and finally start regaining all the weight I have lost this year. It’s been a long time and I couldn’t take much more of it. I feel like it’s Christmas morning right now and can’t wait to get to the gym today.
I got a question about music yesterday and since, along with training, that is my favorite subject in the world to discuss, I will gladly ramble on.
Listing everything I train to would take me all day but some of my favorites are:
- Public Enemy
- Rage Against the Machine
- Slayer
- NWA
- Eminem
- Ice Cube
- Killswitch Engage
- Static X
- D12
- DMX
- Black Sabbath
- Metallica
- Superjoint Ritual
- Pearl Jam
- Metallica
- Nashville Pussy
- Pantera
- Smashing Pumpkins
- Pantera
- Run DMC
- Nas
- 2Pac
- The Game
As far as the newest stuff I have gotten, One Day as a Lion is great. In case you don’t know, that is Zach from Rage Against the Machine and Jon Theodore, the drummer from the Mars Volta. It’s a five song EP and every track is worth the money.
When I return to the gym later I will listen to that along with these other recent tracks that I just added to today’s playlist:
- Dope Boys by The Game
- Sly Fox by Nas
- Tomorrow by Ice Cube
- Kill the Emperor by Everlast
- State of Emergency by The Game featuring Ice Cube
- Black President by Nas
- It Takes a Nation by Ice Cube
To round it out I threw a few older tracks on there which are great songs to train to:
- Ante Up Remix by MOP featuring Busta Rhymes
- 187 Um (Deep Cover Remix) by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg
- Who’s the Man by House of Pain
- I Aint Goin Out Like That by Cypress Hill
Please feel free to share your favorites in the comments section below.
Defiantly
November 12, 2008
theirs nothing i luv more than getting emails that contain absolutely no punctuation proper spelling capitalization or grammar that demand free training advice and personally designed workouts every morning i open one of these emails and have guys asking me for a free program to increase the size of there (their) biceps by two inches and there (their) bench press by 50 lbs in three weeks or telling me about what all they need to accomplish before baseball season starts and can i be sure to include the running workouts to (too) becuase they have early dismissal twice a week and want to run on those days and train on mon wed fri and alos a specially designed diet wold be great they no im buzy but really need to get in shape fast and need my help even tho they cant affored to pay me for my services it means a lot to them because they are poor college students so its great that i am willing to do the good deed for them and they sine off with
thanks a lot bro i defiantly appreciate it keep doing what yer doin
Inevitably these emails always include the misspelling of the word definitely. I honestly believe this to be the most misspelled word in the English language. There’s not a day that passes that I don’t get an email or text message including some misspelling of that word. The most popular version is defiantly. Thanks to my buddy Rob The Bouncer’s imagery I now picture our friend Dave Tate standing “defiantly” in a rain storm with his fist in the air while wearing a cape and spandex suit every time he misspells definitely.
Speaking of Dave and great laughs, I recently had the opportunity to read his new book, Gym Talk: Memoirs of Horny Hungry Gym Rat and found myself laughing my ass off, as I always do when Dave gets in story telling mode. I have heard a lot of these stories in person and was there the first time he told or wrote a few of them. However, they were just as funny the second (or fifth) time around.
If you don’t have the good fortune of knowing Dave personally I defiantly recommend that you check this new e-book out ASAP. For less than seven bucks you get a collection of great stories and hours of laughter from one of the legendary figures in our business.
The Secret to Fast Muscle Gain or a Road to Nowhere?
November 11, 2008
According to some experts, one of the rules of fast muscle gain is that to get a muscle to grow it must be “under tension” for somewhere between 40 and 70 seconds.
Taking a full 40–70 seconds to complete a set of 6–8 reps is one of the most ludicrous things I could possibly imagine. I can barely make sex last that long, never mind a set of chin ups. By lifting this slowly, you severely limit the poundages you can handle on any given exercise which instantly decreases the efficiency of the set. When you intentionally lift slowly and try to extend the time of your sets you increase lactic acid production, but that’s about it. This gives you the burning sensation that some confused people may think equates to muscle growth. You can get a burning sensation by doing 100 crunches… or sleeping with the wrong girl. But neither of those activities is going to lead to significant muscle growth.
The muscle fibers that have the greatest growth potential are the fast twitch fibers, and they are only recruited maximally when you lift heavy weights and your sets are about twenty seconds in duration. That means that doing sets with around 80% of your one rep max (1RM) for 5-8 reps will lead to fast muscle gain much more effectively than using lighter weights for higher reps and a longer time under tension. That doesn’t mean that you should never do sets that last longer than twenty seconds or that you shouldn’t go above eight reps. It simply means that the bulk of your training should be heavy and on the lower end of the rep and time under tension scale. Once you have that covered you can hit some longer sets and try to get your pump on.
It pains me to admit, but there was a time in the early 90’s when the concept of time under tension was gaining immense popularity and I actually got suckered into trying it with a great number of my clients. I took half the clients at my gym and put them on long duration sets for 6-12 months. I figured it was worth a shot, especially after all of the great benefits that I had been reading about this amazing concept.
A year later, almost every single person who had been forced to try this hideous concept, including me, was smaller, weaker and slower. The lucky few who weren’t were no better off than they were before starting the experiment. You live and learn I guess.
Over the last 15 years I have conducted countless other training experiments on myself and hundreds of clients ranging from 14 year old wrestlers to professional baseball players to 45 year old guys just looking to get jacked. I have made all the stupid mistakes so you don’t have to.
Save your time and money by learning from my experiences.
To discover 5 more mistakes that you are probably making in your quest for fast muscle gain, click HERE now.
Some Questions, Some Answers
November 10, 2008
Question: Close grip bench presses and barbell curls kill my wrists. Is there any way to fix or get around that?
Thanks,
Ty
Answer: Ty,
On close grip bench presses you probably have your hands too close. The closest grip you should ever use is about 14-15” between index fingers. If your hands are closer than that the stress on your wrists will be too great.
As far as the barbell curls go you could also try moving your hands out wider. If that doesn’t work then you should just stick with the EZ bar or dumbbells.
Question: Hi, My names Stevie and i’m e-mailing all the fitness and muscle building experts about Static contraction training. I Use this type of training and find it to be a good way of building muscle and strength, but i want your thoughts and opinions about this type of training.
Thanks a million
Stevie
Answer: Stevie,
I am not a big fan of static contraction training as the only method of training employed. There are certain times when isometric exercises are of benefit but they should be worked into a well rounded training program. Doing every exercise in this manner will yield very little results as you only gain strength in a very limited range which does not transfer to full range strength at all. Therefore you would have to include numerous ranges for each muscle group, lift or bodypart and you would be in the gym all day.
We do use certain isometric bridging type exercises regularly for the neck, abdominals and glutes, but that’s about it.
Question: I was wondering if you could please answer a few questions for me?
1. During deadlifts is it ok to take a couple of breaths between reps at the bottom of the movement whilst re-gripping after each rep?
2. During a squat set, is it o.k to take a number of breaths in between reps (like you would for a set of 20 rep squats)?
Thanks,
Nick
Answer: I would try to limit it to one breath on the deads.
For squats, it’s okay but you should be able to bang out the first 5-8 reps with no more than one breath. If you start needing several breaths for each rep the weight is too heavy and it is becoming more work than it should be. Once in a while this is okay but you don’t want every set of squats you do to be a supramaximal effort.
The way we do 20 rep squats is straight through the first 10 with no pause, one breath per rep. Pause at 10 for a couple breaths. Again at 15, and usually a pause for a couple breaths on 16-20. Sometimes as many as 3-4 deep breaths before the last 2 reps.
Question: I work out at home and only have barbells, dumbbells and a power rack. What exercises could I substitute in for face pulls, cable scarecrows, stiff arm pulldowns, and pushdowns?
Answer: My recommendation to you would be to get a pair of Lifeline USA TNT Cables. With these high powered bands you will be able to do all of the exercises you mentioned in a very simple home gym. I personally take them on the road with me whenever I travel and use them outside in parks all the time. You can pick up a pair HERE.
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