Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha (13 page)

Boost Intelligence

Some of the smartest and most successful people in the world also happen to be the fittest. Look at Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, and Tim Ferriss as three prominent examples. Some might chalk this up to pure coincidence. We're not part of that crowd.

You might have heard that your brain is a muscle. Although doing bicep curls won't make your brain any bigger, it will keep your brain active—which is like steroids for your mind.

While many people simply assume that slowing brain function is a natural part of aging, it's actually something that starts in your thirties. And one of the best ways to prevent your brain from hitting snooze is to stay active. Canadian scientists found that physical activity and burning calories are directly linked to boosting brain activity and fighting off Alzhei- mer's. The reason is simple: exercise promotes blood flow. You know this because when you do curls you feel the pump—that's just more blood going to your biceps. But that blood flow isn't limited to the muscles you're working; it occurs throughout your body, which includes your brain. The blood flow in your brain promotes activity, and that activity keeps you sharp and smart, rather than dull and aloof.

That's how exercise and your hormones directly influence your mind. But the indirect benefits are just as important. That's because as you become heavier, the extra fat on your waist does not just slow down how quickly you move—it also slows down how quickly your brain works. That's the message from the American Academy of Neurology. When analyzing more than six thousand people over the age of fifty, the researchers found that those with more fat experienced 22 percent more cognitive decline than those who were normal weight. Although the study didn't investigate why this occurred, prior research sheds some light onto how a poor diet is not only bad for your stomach but also terrible for your mind. Your weakened brain might also be affected by your avoidance of healthy foods. Scientists at the University of Oregon found that better brain size and function are directly related to diets high in antioxidants, vitamin B, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Does this mean that fat people are stupid? Of course not. Our brains are capable of some incredible feats, and slowing down cognitive processing does not mean you lose the ability to function or even work at a high level. Some of the most brilliant minds are not people you'd see inside the pages of your favorite fitness mags. But remember that our approach is all about optimization and living up to your full potential. Do you want to take on life with one hand tied behind your back? We sure as hell don't. Life can be difficult enough, so we want every advantage we can get, which is why we share this information.

All of this is to say your diet and exercise program goes far beyond your looks and your general health. It literally controls how well your mind works—everything from mental acuity to the rate and intensity of your emotional fluctuations. Now, that may sound like something you'd read in
Cosmo,
but it's some serious shit. We will not only show you how to make sure you never fall victim to the deleterious effects of fat controlling your mind, but we'll also make sure that the natural diseases that occur with aging are less likely to take hold of your life. After all, researchers from the National Institute on Aging, in Bethesda, Maryland, discovered that intermittent fasting (yep, there it is again) protects your brain from cognitive decline, mental weakness, and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. And we're not talking massive changes—strategically dropping about 500 calories just two days a week can improve your brain health and keep you on top of your game.

Beat Depression

Remember how we just told you that your hormones would make you smarter? Well, the same hormone that influences your intelligence—BDNF—also could prevent you from feeling depressed. Now, before you start with some unsubstantiated claims that guys don't get depressed, understand that the national rate of depression has been trending upward for men, and NIH researchers estimate that between 7 and 10 percent of men are currently depressed. Think about that—that means about 1 out of every 10 of your buddies is depressed. And that's just clinical depression. Feelings of loneliness, sadness, or extreme frustration could easily be affecting many more people.

BDNF is your body's natural antidepressant. In fact, when you take antidepressants, those drugs signal BDNF to increase in your hippocampus, which is the part of your brain where depression occurs.

So how are we going to increase BDNF? Once again, through the power of intermittent fasting. Strategically timing your eating patterns—in a way that fits your schedule—will cleanse your brain so it signals feel-good hormones to keep your mind feeling good in spite of any stressors in your life.

Make More Money

You've probably heard that people who are taller make more money. What the hell does this have to do with anything? Well, for one, neither one of us is tall. So if you were feeling a little down, we were hoping this would level the playing field. But more importantly, while you certainly can't control your height, there are several other factors that can be improved by hormonal optimization and will help you fill your bank account as you build your biceps. And these factors are ones that you
can
control.

Whether you like it or not, the working world is influenced by appearance. Research shows that people who are perceived as more attractive make more money. And while beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder, certain traits and characteristics are universally associated with looking good. It's why scientists have also found that people who are overweight make less money and are more likely to be perceived as dumb. Is this a fair judgment? Of course not. In fact, we think it's a little crazy.

But we tell you this because this is your frustrating reality: the aesthetic image you exude and the perception it creates are influencing your ability to earn higher-paying jobs and workplace advances. In fact, a study by Professor Vasilios Kosteas at Cleveland State University, published in the
Journal of Labor Research,
found that people who exercise and are rated as “in shape” make on average 10 percent more salary per year than people who aren't.

What's more, the researchers took their study a step farther and determined that the more time you spend in the gym, the more money you earn. Based on their calculations, working out three times per week increases your earning potential by 20 percent.

The reasons are numerous. Exercise improves brain health, confidence, energy, and even your mood—all of which are positive attributes in the workplace and for those deemed fit for upper management positions.

Translation: your health is literally your wealth.

But muscles that you can see through your suit aren't necessary to become an executive. Simply optimizing your hormones and becoming the Alpha create the confidence you need to climb the corporate ladder. Confident people make better decisions. And in the office, the more good decisions you make, the more people will respect you and the more your superiors will notice your work. In the end, success isn't always about the smartest and most competent person rising to the top; we know plenty of broke, frustrated Ph.D.s.

If you look at our society's entertainment, bosses in the movies are usually overly confident but highly incompetent. That's Hollywood's commentary on the reality of the working world, the best example being Michael Scott from
The Office
. Confident people rise to the top.

Sure, money won't buy happiness. But confidence will drive your success, which will build happiness and ultimately leave you a richer person in every aspect of your life.

Reduce Stress

While money can't fix everything, it does solve the problem of not having money. Not having money causes stress. That's a simple fact of life, and it happens to be the leading cause of stress in individuals and in interpersonal relationships. Money is the leading cause of marital problems, leading to more divorces than any other issue. And when you consider that the divorce rate is greater than 50 percent, it's not hard to see how sorting out your finances is essential to your relationship and your health.

We've already explained how we're going to help with the money situation, and there are more details to come. For now, you must realize that your finances are an indirect stressor. We want to eliminate those, but we also want to attack your stress in a direct way. Stress is caused by a psychological awareness of a lack of control, which literally causes a physiological reaction that makes you feel awful.

You should never feel that bad. That's why we've designed a program that puts you back in control. We want you to feel like you can shift your world in a real way. By creating this new reality where you can effect change, you will successfully remove one of the biggest causes of stress from your life.

That all starts with a diet and workout approach that is so powerful that you have no choice but to feel better. If this sounds too good to be true, we understand. But this is legitimate science. Even if you've never worked out before, you've probably heard about endorphins. These feel-good hormones are produced by biochemical reactions that occur when you exercise. They can help offset bad hormones, like cortisol. We'll talk more about cortisol in chapter 5, but if you've stayed up late at night watching TV, you've probably already heard about cortisol. It's the pitch made in every single infomercial for a fat-loss product. Stop cortisol, and you stop fat gain. That's partially true, but those infomercials use twisted science and crappy supplements that really don't fix the problem.

Put simply, if you're stressed, you produce more cortisol, which makes you fatter, more irritable, and in need of about five espressos to start your day. If that wasn't bad enough, the presence of cortisol increases the production of more cortisol and causes more stress. It's easy to see why we blame cortisol for so many problems, but there are simple solutions that are much more effective than pills.

Even if you've been crushed by cortisol for years, adding in certain exercise and diet strategies can reduce the impact of cortisol. Strategies like lactic acid training and intermittent fasting (see part 3) also produce GH, which further reduces cortisol. This cocktail will offset all the problems caused by cortisol and in particular will remove your belly fat. And if you've ever been stressed by belly fat, well that's just one less thing that you'll have to worry about.

 

OPEN YOUR EYES

Unlike many people who miss the Call to Adventure because they never see it—you no longer have that excuse. We have portrayed this as directly as possible in an attempt to help you do what you might think is impossible. The only way we could make this more obvious is if turning this page opened a holographic image of a princess asking for help. Or perhaps a small Italian lady asking for thirty white polo shirts.

CHAPTER 5

Discovering the Answers

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HORMONES

LUKE SKYWALKER:
I'm looking for someone.

MASTER YODA:
Looking? Found someone, you have, I would say, hm?

 

NEW YORK CITY, 7:48 A.M.

JOHN ROMANIELLO'S APARTMENT

“W
ell,
that's
not a fun way to wake up.”
Being called an idiot, that is. Which is what I was being called, more or less—and first thing in the morning, to boot.

Like every morning, I began checking my e-mail at 7:45. It was now 7:48
A.M.
, and I had sorted things into their correct folders, deleted the spam (no, I would not like a bigger penis, thankyouverymuch), and prepared to dive headfirst into the shit storm that is my inbox—until the very first e-mail stopped me in my tracks.

It was from one of my clients who had a rather simple message to share: I didn't know what the fuck I was doing.

Well, to be fair, he didn't say that
exactly;
it was implied fairly strongly, however, at least in the sense that incredulity and disbelief were evident in every line of the e-mail.

It was from Colin, a forty-nine-year-old powerlifter who'd decided for the first time in his life that he wanted to get lean. He signed up for my coaching program, and within twelve hours and six minutes of receiving his instructions—according to my sent mail log—Colin had sent a three-page e-mail telling me exactly what was wrong with everything I had designed.

Of course, he didn't specifically say, “Roman, you're wrong.” Nothing so direct. Instead, he questioned everything I had laid out for his new workout program.

Colin wasn't aggressive, but he was defensive of his ideas, his understanding of the training world, and what he “knew to be true.” My ideas ran counter to all that, and his perception—and, in a sense, his
ego
—was going to be difficult to reconcile.

Like anyone else, I am prone to experiencing the whims of ego, and so my first instinct was to be offended and indignant that anyone would question my work. That instinct exists in every person and in every profession. Again, it's ego. It's based on a feeling of being right—and believing you're right.

Like Colin, I felt challenged, felt like my understanding of the world had been challenged—and I felt the urge to push back. That urge was quickly sublimated.

Instead, I took a deep breath and put myself in Colin's shoes. I read through his e-mail again and quickly realized that he wasn't challenging
me
as much as he was declaring the way my program confronted his view of the world. And, in fairness, the program was radically different.

Colin was a competitive powerlifter, a guy who routinely benched 350 for 3 reps and deadlifted more than 450 pounds for 3 reps. He'd been training for years—more years than I had, certainly—more years than I had been alive, in fact. And everything he had achieved was based on his training methods and his thoughts on his approach.

My program was not based on those same principles, not dependent on what Colin “knew” to be true. In order to accept my programming as effective, Colin was going to have to accept the fact that what he had done in the past wouldn't necessarily work for his new goals. Colin had to accept the fact that there are different methods for different goals.

Accepting my program required Colin to resolve the dissonance inherent in his confronted worldview—that was going to be a challenge for him, and that was going to be his first step. And it was
my
challenge to help him accomplish that.

But before either of us could take that step, Colin first had to accept that I knew something he didn't—that someone twenty years his junior was privy to secrets he was not.

In order for
anything
else to happen, Colin had to accept my role in his quest: his guide, his friend, and his teacher. Just as Luke realized in that swamp on Dagobah, Colin had to realize—as you must—that Jedi Masters come in all shapes and sizes.

 

ENTER THE MENTOR

Within the context of the monomyth, the first real transition—the first step in moving out of the Ordinary World and into the Special World—is known as Crossing the First Threshold, which is stage four in the journey, for those keeping score at home.

At this point the hero (you) has been shown that there is more to life than what he's experienced. He's come to an understanding that although he may not live in the Special World, it
exists
—and that realization fills him with fear and longing in equal measure.

The hero is made aware that there's a world outside his job—or his farm or his hometown, or whatever other incarnation of familiarity he is bound to—that there's success outside his cubicle, that there's a body he can't (yet) see in the mirror.

Unfortunately, mere
awareness
isn't enough to pull the hero from the Ordinary World into the Special one. Crossing the First Threshold is often the hardest part of the journey, but of course it
must
be crossed in order for the story to advance—you must take the hardest step, the first step, in order to move forward in your development.

In many cases, the idea of moving past the familiar and into the unknown is too great and leads to Refusal of the Call.

At that point, the hero requires something—or
someone
—to help him get over the proverbial hump. It is no surprise that stage four often overlaps with another extremely important event: Meeting with the Mentor.

 

 

It should come as no surprise that mentors play a role in creating a better life. Almost every successful person has a mentor, and the mentor archetype—or wise man—appears with the hero in nearly every story you've ever heard, from antiquity to pop culture;
^*
in fact, it's so familiar that it's sometimes easy to overlook just how ubiquitous it is. Just to drive home how important it is for a hero to have a mentor to guide him on his quest, we've compiled a list of examples from some of the most popular books and movies of our time (see chart on previous page).

In the above table, we touched on the first
Star Wars
film, but the relationship actually appears in nearly every episode. It changes a bit from film to film, but it's there. Here's a breakdown, arranged in order of the story's chronology:

 

 

In fact, the only episode that doesn't prominently feature the hero/mentor relationship is
Return of the Jedi
. The reason for this is that George Lucas is a bit of a Campbell geek and recognizes the importance of the monomyth storytelling—and at the point that
Jedi
occurs, Luke is already a developed hero.

No matter, Campbell—and apparently, most screenwriters—agree that mentors are hugely important, so whether it's Mickey or Merlin or Mr. Miyagi, this character is omnipresent. When it comes to Crossing the First Threshold, the mentor's encouragement is often needed to help bolster the hero's confidence, allow him to push through the internal resistance, and pass into the Special World.

This was the situation facing Colin. And it's probably what's preventing you from breaking down the barriers in your own life too.

You picked up this book for a reason. You have a very clear idea that what you're doing isn't working. People want change, and they look for it. But when a new reality doesn't immediately resonate, it's met with resistance. When something is too different from what they were doing, it can make the idea of evolution too unrealistic.

The only way to resolve that is to not think about the method or the process. The only way that you can resolve this issue is to believe it. And the only way to believe it is to stop thinking about what you're doing—and to start focusing on
who
you're trusting.

Anyone can be a teacher, but very few can guide you toward success that you can see, understand, and replicate. Transparency is key, which is why we waited so long to create this book. We've seen enough mentors fail that we understand our social responsibility to do the research and guide you effectively. And now, that's exactly what we're here to do; to be your mentors and make sure that you see all the hurdles in your way, navigate around them, and provide solutions to your specific problems.

Ultimately, trusting your guide gets you over the hump, and finding a guide you can trust is the key. You don't need to believe the method at first. What you need to believe is that your mentor knows more than you do and that he has your best interests at heart. If you can come to that point, then you don't have to understand the process. You don't need to “get” the Force. You don't need to comprehend the physiological methodology of the insulin reset, how hormones work, and how your metabolism can be rewired. All of that can be taught. What can't be taught is overcoming mental hurdles. That can only be resolved with trust.

If you trust us, then let us take your hand and lead you.

We've earned the trust of all our other clients, Colin in particular. We had to justify the training, go through all of his concerns, overcome his objections, and let him know that we understood. And because we had demonstrated success with other people who had achieved goals similar to his own, he was able to establish trust. That allowed him to take the step, cross the threshold, and be willing to try the new methods even if they seemed outlandish or different.

To this day, Colin is the prototypical success story and a representation of a man who is living his best life.