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TThhee HHaarrddggaaiinneerrss GGuuiiddee ttoo GGeettttiinngg BBiigg && RRiippppeedd

By Jason Ferruggia

2

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You must get your physician�s approval before beginning this exercise

program. These recommendations are not medical guidelines but are for

educational purposes only. You must consult your physician prior to starting this

program or if you have any medical condition or injury that contraindicates physical

activity. This program is designed for healthy individuals 18 years and older only.

The information in this report is not meant to supplement, nor replace, proper

exercise training. All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks. The editors and

publishers advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and know their

limits. Before practicing the exercises in this book, be sure that your equipment is

well-maintained, and do not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude,

training and fitness. The exercises and dietary programs in this book are not

intended as a substitute for any exercise routine or treatment or dietary regimen

that may have been prescribed by your physician.

Don�t lift heavy weights if you are alone, inexperienced, injured, or fatigued. Always

ask for instruction and assistance when lifting. Don�t perform any exercise without

proper instruction.

See your physician before starting any exercise or nutrition program. If you are

taking any medications, you must talk to your physician before starting any exercise

program, including Muscle Gaining Secrets. If you experience any lightheadedness,

dizziness, or shortness of breath while exercising, stop the movement and consult a

physician.

You must have a complete physical examination if you are sedentary, if you have

high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes, if you are overweight, or if you

are over 30 years old. Please discuss all nutritional changes with your physician or a

registered dietician.

3

This publication is intended for informational use only. Jason Ferruggia and

www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com will not assume any liability or be held responsible

for any form of injury, personal loss or illness caused by the utilization of this

information.

4

TTaabbllee ooff CCoonntteennttss

Chapter 1- Introduction 7

Chapter 2- The Everlasting Bond 10

Chapter 3- The Importance of Physical Strength 12

Chapter 4- The Training Effect 15

Chapter 5- The Seven Critical Factors 18

• Exercise Selection 18

• Training Volume 20

• Number of Reps Used 24

• Rep Speed 29

• Rest Intervals 30

• Training Session Length 30

• Training Session Frequency 34

Chapter 6- Intensity 36

Chapter 7- Neck & Shoulder Training 39

Chapter 8- Back Training 43

Chapter 9- Chest Training 54

5

Chapter 10- Arm Training 57

Chapter 11- Leg Training 63

Chapter 12- Extreme Stretching 71

Chapter 13- Putting it All Together: The MGS Workouts 75

• The Beginner Workout Plan 76

• The Intermediate Workout Plan 78

• The Advanced Workout Plan 85

Chapter 14- Fat Burning Cardio 96

Chapter 15- Recovery Methods 110

Chapter 16- Mass Building Nutrition 116

Chapter 17- The Truth About Supplements 150

Chapter 18- Training Partners 174

Chapter 19- Training Music 178

Chapter 20- Questions & Answers 182

Chapter 21- Conclusion 192

About the Author 196

6

CChhaapptteerr 11:: IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn

�A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you

believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the

dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice

the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are

worthwhile, it can be done.�

Vince Lombardi

When it comes to muscle building genetics I am probably at the bottom of the barrel.

Neither of my parents are over 5�7� or 140 pounds soaking wet. In fact, almost no

one on either side of our family is even close to what you would describe as �big.�

There is one exception, however, and that is my Uncle Rory from Scotland. Uncle

Rory stood six feet, three inches tall, and was one of the biggest guys I�ve ever seen.

He had traps that touched his ears and forearms so massive that Popeye would have

been jealous.

Uncle Rory loved to lift heavy weights and was a regular competitor in the Highland

Games which is Scotland�s traditional strongman contest. I remember going to

watch him as a kid. Sometimes while he was warming up I would try to move one of

the anvils or lift the caber, which is basically a telephone pole, slightly off the

ground. Uncle Rory would look at me and say �Whit ye doin, ya wee bugger? Ya

cannae bloody well lift that.� Then he would pick up the object like it was a feather

while roaring with laughter. �One day,� he told me. It was then and there that I

decided I wanted to be big and strong when I grew up, just like my Uncle Rory.

I started lifting weights when I was 13 years old and a few months away from my

freshman year of high school. I was officially the world�s biggest weakling at the time

and weighed less than 100 pounds. I hadn�t seen Uncle Rory in a few years, but my

cousin had started dating a professional wrestler and he became my new inspiration.

He wrote me a training program and I began my quest.

7

Four years later, I graduated high school at six feet tall and a whopping 147 pounds.

If I turned sideways, you�d have a hard time seeing me. I was still relying on advice

I got from the muscle magazines and from a 285-pound, steroid-using professional

wrestler.

Twenty years later, and after thousands of hours spent training, studying,

researching, and experimenting, I�m confident that I finally know what truly makes

for effective strength training. It took a long time, but I wouldn�t have changed a

thing. It was how I learned everything that I am about to share with you in this

training manual. This information is battle tested and has been proven thousands of

times over, and that is why you should trust every word you read here.

Many years ago I decided that I wanted to make a living training others, so I opened

up my own underground, hardcore gym in New Jersey. For years and years I have

had clients come to me with one goal in mind��I wanna get huge,� they tell me.

Often times these are high school or college kids who only have 12 weeks in the

summer to train with me before they head back to school. Time and time again I

have granted their wishes and helped them pack 20 to 30 pounds of muscle on to

their physiques in three months or less. Now before you say, �Well, it�s easier for

kids to grow than it is for adults,� I must inform you that I have had equal success

using these types of programs with clients of all ages. A close friend of mine came to

me shortly after his 40th birthday and said the same thing, �Help me get big.� Sure

enough, after doing everything I told him, he had packed on over 20 pounds in just

three short months.

I decided to write Muscle Gaining Secrets when I finally got fed up with all the false

promises that are being promoted out there by scam artists who are only out for

your hard earned money. Every time I surf the web lately I see someone else selling

a new muscle building system. The credentials of many of these authors are very

questionable, and the fact that they have never trained a single solitary soul is even

more disheartening.

The information you are about to discover is the culmination of 20 years of extensive

research and in-the-trenches experience. For over two decades I have studied the

8

work of the Iron Game pioneers and wouldn�t be where I am today if it weren�t for

them. For this reason I must dedicate Muscle Gaining Secrets to the legends of Iron;

men like: Paul Anderson, Arthur Saxon, George Hackenshmidt, Vince Gironda, Bill

Pearl, John Grimek, Arnold Shwarzenegger, David Rigert, Louie Simmons, and too

many others to name.

And respected researchers like: Robert Roman, Leonid Matveyev, Dr. Mel Siff, Dr.

Yuri Verkoshansky and Professor Vladimir Zatsiorsky.

Over the course of my training career I have taken everything that I learned from

these great pioneers and countless other world renowned strength training experts

(many of whom I now call personal friends) and combined it with thousands of hours

of real world experience to create what I believe to be the most effective muscle

building system on the planet.

I must warn you, however, that if you are looking for a bunch of scientific terms and

references you are going to be disappointed because I have included very few.

Although I have read just about every study ever conducted in regards to strength

training and nutrition, I realize that most of you would care not to. For that reason I

have taken all of the science and all my years of experimentation on thousands of

human guinea pigs, and condensed it down into one easy to read manual containing

only that which you absolutely need to know in order to get massively big, strong

and ripped.

The information contained in Muscle Gaining Secrets is time tested and proven to

work, without fail. I have used these methods with hundreds of high school, college

and professional athletes, armed forces members, Hollywood stars and thousands of

every day regular people. The results have been astounding and the program works

every time.

Follow the plan to the letter and you will get mind blowing results.

Now let�s get to it.

9

CChhaapptteerr 22:: TThhee EEvveerrllaassttiinngg BBoonndd

"The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen

to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard.

The Iron will always kick you in the real deal. The Iron is the

great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver,

always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the

iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me,

never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred

pounds is always two hundred pounds.�

Henry Rollins

I �train�, I don�t �work out�. I have never �worked out� in my entire life. There is a

huge difference between the two. I can�t work out. I don�t know how. Even if I did I

would never do it. It�s what �they� do, and I will never be one of �them.� I only know

one way and that is to go to the gym and train hard. If I can�t do that, I won�t bother

going. Mindlessly going through the motions to get a �good workout� is not

something I have ever been interested in.

I train and I constantly strive to make progress.

Training is so much more than working out. It helps you get to know yourself better.

It shows you what you�re really made of and how hard you�re willing to work and

persevere to overcome an obstacle. Training is a release. It's a time to leave all the

problems of the world behind and go to battle with yourself or your training partners.

The iron can be your best friend and your worst enemy all at once. But it will always

be there for you when you need it. When you establish this kind of relationship with

the iron you will have something so much more meaningful than those who simply

go to the gym to get a pump, pick up girls, and socialize.

Working out is what the general public does to get in a little better shape. They go to

the gym because they have to. They don�t love it, and they don�t live for it. But to

10

those of us who feel most at home pushing heavy weight in some hole-in-the-wall

hardcore gym, training is our passion.

I've gone to battle with the iron and come out on the losing end many times. I've

strained, pulled, and torn muscles and ligaments. I've screwed up my back and

injured my knees. I've sweat, bled, and puked�all in the same workout. But I do it

because I love it.

The quest for strength is one of man�s basic instincts. It is something that has been

pursued fervently since the beginning of time, because, as the old cliché goes, only

the strong survive.

Lifting weights can have an endless array of health benefits, but let�s be honest�

that's not why we do it. The people at the local fitness center do it for those

reasons, but not us. We do it for that feeling of going to battle, the rush of hitting a

new max, and to meet the challenge of pain and suffering that come along with it.

We do it because we love to set goals and bust our asses in pursuit of them. We do

it because it allows us to release all our pent-up anger and aggression. We do it

because we know most others don't have the balls to train like we do. We do it for

that feeling of camaraderie and competition amongst training partners. We do it for

the feeling that you can only get when you have a mind-numbingly heavy weight in

your hands, straining for all that you're worth, while your training partners are

screaming in your ear, Slayer is blasting on the radio, and you�re slowly grinding

toward that goal you've been chasing. That is why we do what we do.

11

CChhaapptteerr 33:: TThhee IImmppoorrttaannccee ooff PPhhyyssiiccaall SSttrreennggtthh

There are few things more important in life than physical strength. This may sound

outlandish to some of you given that the technology in today�s world has replaced

the need to do so much manual labor, but it�s true. This has been true since the

beginning of time when we had to fight for our survival and it will remain true no

matter how many machines they build. There is no more basic alpha-male instinct

than the quest for strength. The old saying �only the strongest shall survive� has

never lost its meaning or relevance because it is an eternal and universal truth.

Though we no longer need to capture and kill our food and we now have the comfort

of modern amenities, physical strength is no less important. Every physical task that

you engage in will be significantly easier and done with much greater proficiency if

you are strong. High levels of strength boost confidence levels and help you survive

in today�s society. Given the statistics on crime and other unforeseen problems such

as storms, natural disasters and car accidents that the average man can encounter

on a regular basis, it is almost irresponsible not to maximize your strength levels

which in turn maximize your chances of survival.

Without strength, how can you even consider yourself a real man? How can you look

in the mirror and live with yourself if you see a pathetically weak image staring back

at you? How can you protect your wife or girlfriend, command the respect of your

peers, or be a role model to your kids?

Strength is what separates the men from the boys in today�s society, and despite

what certain individuals may try to tell you, the quest for it is nothing to be ashamed

of. Those who put you down for going to a gym to lift heavy weights are ashamed of

who they are. They call us �meatheads� and make jokes when we are not around

(they rarely have the balls to say them to our faces), but it�s their own lack of

strength, and their lack of the discipline it takes to make gains that makes them feel

inferior. They have either tried to improve their bodies and failed, or they never had

the guts to try at all. They�ll try to tell you you�re wasting your time��be normal and

12

come out drinking with us instead of going to the gym,� they�ll say. Forget about

them. If you were satisfied with being normal, you wouldn�t be reading this. Train,

eat, sleep, read this manual, and stay the course�you�ll make fools of those people

in no time.

Now I know that some of you may be thinking to yourselves right now, �I just want

to get big, I don�t care about getting strong.� Not only is that the wrong attitude to

take but it will cause you to fail in your attempt to build massive amounts of size.

For those that don't already know, there are a few different ways to make progress

in your workouts; you can increase the load (lift heavier weights), you can increase

the density (do more work in the same time frame), and you can even do the same

amount of work in less time.

But I can guarantee you that if you are still using the same weights today

that you were using two years ago, or even two weeks ago, you are not

making progress. You simply cannot get significantly bigger without lifting

heavier weights. You can set the stopwatch and do all your little supersets and

drop sets until you are blue in the face, but a 185-pound squat is still a 185 pound-

squat, no matter how you do it.

The fastest and easiest way to ensure continued progress in the weight room is to

constantly strive to lift more weight and get stronger. People want to make every

excuse under the sun and will try every system they can find to get around this

simple fact. One of my favorite excuses is that what I am suggesting is impossible

because no one can continue to get strong forever and continually add weight to the

bar. If that were possible, then the world would be filled with 1,000-pound bench

pressers, they say. As opposed to all of the 405-pound benchers out there, right?

Right. I mean how many times do you ever see a single human being in a public gym

bench press 405 pounds?! One guy out of 1,000 maybe? Give me a freaking break!

Yes, it�s true; no one can keep adding weight to the bar indefinitely. But who (name

me one guy you know personally) has ever maxed out their strength levels?! Not one

person! Not a single, solitary soul! Why don't you see tons of extremely strong guys

13

in the gym everyday? Because most people have no idea how to train properly and

make progress.

To further emphasize my point about the importance of getting brutally strong, I ask

you to look at powerlifters�guys whose only purpose in training is to lift really heavy

weights� and the incredible size and thickness they possess (this holds true even

with lighter powerlifters). Tons of people lift weights on a regular basis; many of

them would even consider themselves bodybuilders. But why aren�t more of them

significantly bigger? Why do so many people who use light weights and pumping

workouts not possess anywhere near the muscularity of the average powerlifter? I�ll

tell you why; it�s because the only way to build that kind of real, lasting size is with

heavy weights.

THE BOTTOM LINE

If you only take a few ideas from this manual, this is one of the most important

ones. You must continually strive to get stronger and constantly be adding weight to

the bar if you ever want to see significant, head turning muscle growth. If this wasn�t

the case then why is it that everyone who is incredibly strong is also usually

incredibly big? Have you ever seen someone who can bench press four hundred

pounds or squat five hundred that is small? Probably not, because not too many of

those people exist.

Remember�Only the strong survive.

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CChhaapptteerr 44:: TThhee TTrraaiinniinngg EEffffeecctt

Most people spend the majority of their time in a state of homeostasis. This means

that they are not building muscle and they are not losing muscle. The only way to

disrupt this state of homeostasis is to impose great stress on the body.

Stress can come in many different forms, such as mental, emotional, and physical.

For the purpose of building muscle, we want to focus on physical stress.

Here�s a basic example of the effects of a physical stress. When a person lies out in

the sun for the first time at the beginning of summer, he is applying a form of stress

to the body. The body adapts to the stress by darkening the skin�either burning or

tanning. If you lie out for just the right amount of time, you will get tan. If you lie

out for too long, you will get burned. The body will adapt one way or the other.

Let�s assume that you didn�t overdo it and were able to get tan in the 15 minutes

you spent lying out. What would happen if you laid out again the next day for

another 15 minutes? Would you get tanner? No, you wouldn�t, because you have

already adapted to that stress and are prepared for that demand the next time you

impose it upon the body. That is your new level of homeostasis. To achieve a deeper

tan, you will need to lie out for a longer amount of time or use less sunblock. But

doing the same thing again will not elicit an adaptation response.

You need to remember this important point when you are training: doing the exact

same thing for a second time, be it lying out in the sun for the same amount

of time or lifting the same weight for the same number of sets and reps, will

not force the body to adapt in any way.

Another example of this is a person who just starts a manual labor job. The new

demands placed upon the body will leave the worker extremely fatigued at the end

of each day. The body, however, will begin to accept this level of activity as the new

homeostasis and, in time, will adapt. Eventually the worker will not be overly

15

fatigued from his daily regimen because the body will have successfully adapted to

it.

You need to impose stress on the body in a way that it is not used to in order to

force adaptation. For the purposes of building size and strength that can be done by

lifting more weight, doing more reps with the same weight or increasing your

training volume. Once you impose the new demands, your body will adapt and reach

a new level of homeostasis.

After imposing a new demand on the body, the initial response is always fatigue. The

body will fight to return to its previous level of homeostasis, but will not stop there.

It wants to be prepared for that demand the next time it�s faced with it, so the body

will actually super or overcompensate and build itself up bigger and stronger. That is

the training effect.

How do you know if you have recovered and thus achieved the training effect? It�s

very simple; you will be able to exceed your previous performance in the gym (lift

heavier weights or do more reps with the same weight). If you can�t exceed your

previous performance you either did too many sets, trained for too long, didn�t take

enough time between workouts, didn�t eat or sleep properly, or didn�t use proper

recovery methods (as discussed in Chapter 16)

THE BOTTOM LINE

Remember, effective training in its simplest form is applying a new stress to the

body that it is not used to or prepared for which forces adaptation and then

recovery. This can also be called the law of progressive overload. The end result is a

bigger and stronger muscle. This is why you must always strive to beat your

previous week�s performance and constantly be adding weight to the bar or doing

more reps with the same weight. You simply can not do the same thing even once or

are you are wasting your time and will never get anywhere. Your body adapts to the

same weights and reps in just one workout. When you repeat that workout for a

second time you have absolutely no choice but to go up in weight or reps. This point

can not be overstated and must not be forgotten. Every workout is essentially a

battle between you and your training journal, and you must do all that you can to

16

ensure that you emerge victorious each and every time. If you don�t adhere to this

crucially important rule you will never develop the muscular physique you�re after.

17

CChhaapptteerr 55:: TThhee SSeevveenn CCrriittiiccaall FFaaccttoorrss

When it comes to constructing the ultimate training plan, there are seven critical

factors that need to be addressed and they are:

• Exercise selection

• Training volume

• Number of reps used

• Rep speed

• Rest intervals between sets

• Training session length

• Training session and body part frequency

FACTOR # 1: EXERCISE SELECTION

The best exercises are always multi-joint, compound, movements such as

squats, deadlifts, rows, dips, chin ups and military presses that use free

weights or bodyweight as resistance. There are no machine exercises that could

ever compare; end of story. My advice is to avoid them all like the plague.

Here�s another good rule of thumb: Any exercise that makes you look like a fruitcake

in any manner is instantly disqualified as a useful exercise.

Remember that important tip.

Another characteristic of the best exercises is that they are usually those that allow

you to use the most weight. The more weight you can handle for a particular body

part, the greater the growth stimulus. For example, a close-grip bench press is way

more effective than a triceps extension because you can use triple the amount of

weight. A Romanian deadlift is a far better hamstring exercise than a leg curl for the

same reason. Along those lines, bench presses will always blow flyes and cable

crossovers off the map because someone who can bench 315 usually can only use

40�s on a flye. That�s more than a 200-pound difference between the two exercises.

18

Yet another marker of a great mass building exercise is that it allows you to move

your body through space instead of simply moving your limbs. Let me explain�

Every four years, when the Summer Olympics roll around, I am, without fail, asked

the same question on an almost daily basis. �What do I have to do to look like those

Olympic gymnasts?� With gymnastics being one of the most widely covered Olympic

sports, everyone talks about the awe-inspiring physiques displayed by these amazing

athletes. What�s really interesting about gymnasts is the fact that they do not train

for size, yet they display unbelievable levels of muscularity. This is because of the

kinds of exercises they do.

Every exercise a gymnast does involves moving his body through space. He never

moves a fixed object around his body (like you do with most weight training

machines). By moving your own body weight or your own body weight plus added

resistance (such as when you do a traditional barbell squat) through space, you

increase neuromuscular activation. A higher level of neuromuscular activation means

that the nerves are sending a stronger signal to the muscles to recruit more fibers.

This is very important because the nerves control muscle maintenance and

development. If you cut a nerve to a muscle you will find that atrophy begins almost

immediately. The loss of a nerve signal will actually induce muscle loss faster than

lack of use. On the other hand, when you force the nerves to organize the action of a

lot of muscle fibers at once, you allow for a lot of growth and strength to develop.

Besides just moving your body through space, most gymnastic exercises require

balance and coordination, which further increase the nervous system activity.

Stabilizer muscles are also called upon heavily to steady the load, so you get more

complete muscular development. Finally, any exercise that has a fear factor

involved, such as a heavy squat or, in this case, the fear of falling off the rings and

severely injuring yourself, can greatly increase the activity of the nervous system,

and therefore muscle recruitment.

So any movement where you are moving your body through space is far more

effective than one where you are merely moving your limbs, even if it means you

have to use slightly less weight. An example of this would be the superiority of

19

squats over leg presses. You can normally use nearly double the weight on a leg

press that you can on a squat, however this does not make a leg press more

effective. In fact, leg presses, while being an extremely effective mass building

exercise, aren�t even in the same ballpark as squats; no leg exercise is. This is not

only because you are moving your entire body through space when you squat but

because you are also using every muscle in your body to stabilize the weight. A

1,000-pound leg press is still a machine exercise where you move your limbs instead

of your body.

How many different exercises should I use?

A huge mistake that a lot of people make in their training is that they use too many

exercises. Constantly switching exercises and rarely repeating the same one more

than a few times per year is a good way to guarantee yourself a complete lack of

progress. By regularly rotating through countless exercises you never have anything

to gauge your progress against and don�t know if you are actually getting stronger

because the weight you�re able to use varies so much between different exercises.

On the opposite side of the coin are those people that rarely ever switch the

exercises that they use. I have seen some people do the same few exercises for an

eternity. You have to remember that your body is constantly adapting and will

eventually grow accustomed to the exercise and you will reach a point where you

can no longer go up in weight. This will usually happen within 4-8 weeks of using the

same exercise and will signify that it is time to move onto a new one.

The best thing you can do if you want to continually get bigger and stronger is have

a list of the 4-8 most effective exercises per body part. Stick with those and rotate

through them throughout the year. More exercises than that are really not needed

and will do very little to help you make faster progress.

FACTOR # 2: TRAINING VOLUME

Training volume can basically be defined in its simplest form as the total number of

sets you do at any given workout. A more complete definition would be the total

amount of weight lifted during the workout. This can be determined by multiplying

the weight lifted by the total number of sets and reps. Therefore if you squatted 150

20

pounds for three sets of ten the formula would look like this: 150lbs x 3 sets x 10

reps= 4500.

How many sets should I do per exercise?

I hope you are sitting down because what I am going to tell you will probably shock

you. I know most of you are used to doing at least three sets per exercise. After all,

three sets of ten is the most popular set and rep scheme on the planet. Some of you

may even be doing more sets than that. I was right there with you several years

back. I was told by certain so called experts that I had to do at least four to six sets

per exercise if I ever wanted to get big. Unfortunately that approach led to me

remaining small and getting injured quite frequently.

The real deal, bottom line truth is this-- there is very rarely any need for you to

ever do more than two work sets at the same rep range, with the same

weight, per exercise. If you can�t accomplish your goals with those two sets you

are probably not working hard enough or smart enough.

But don�t just take my word for it; listen to what one of the most successful and

massive bodybuilders of all time, seven time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates had to say on

the subject:

�I'll do one or two sets per exercise. If you haven't done the job by then, it's not

going to happen." (Blood & Guts, 1993)

The only exception I make to this rule is with absolute newbie beginners. That is

because as a beginner you need more exposures to the same stimulus because you

have not maximized the firing efficiency or your central nervous system just yet.

Also, beginners are doing exercises for the first time so they need to do them more

often just to master perfect technique.

How many sets should I do per workout?

Some fitness experts claim that high volume training is needed to gain muscle mass.

They are even willing to fight to the death to defend their views. However, in my

experience working with thousands of trainees I have found that in most

21

cases, 10-12 total sets per workout are all that�s needed to achieve mind

blowing muscle gains. That, my friends, is a far cry from what you see in 99% of

the muscle building programs out there today. I would never recommend a

traditional high volume bodybuilding workout to skinny guys looking to gain size

rapidly. Less is almost always more when it comes to weight training. Most people

are over trained because they do too many sets and reps while neglecting to ever lift

heavy weights. A lot of people also have poor recovery ability because they don�t eat

properly, don�t sleep enough and are stressed out of their mind in today�s busy

society. For this reason, a lower training volume is better for most people, most of

the time than a higher training volume� especially for skinny guys and hardgainers.

If I had to take a guess I would say that most people do between 20 and 30 sets per

workout. If that describes you, then let me ask you a few questions.

What are you accomplishing by doing so many sets? Are the extra sets making you

stronger? Are they making you bigger? What exactly is all that training volume

doing?

"Well,� some people argue, �Arnold did it and so do all pro bodybuilders."

Ok, but that doesn't convince me of anything. Some people succeed in life in spite of

what they do, not because of it. And when making this argument you need to

understand that all pro bodybuilders have superior genetics for building muscle, and

most are on enormous amounts of steroids. Some spend upwards of $60,000 per

year on these drugs. But even so, not as many of them as you think are using the

30�50 sets that you read about in the bodybuilding magazines. The shady truth

behind that is that many magazines have paid these bodybuilders to write about

their training programs and grossly exaggerate what they do in the gym. This is all in

an effort to do two things: create larger than life superhero types and, most

importantly, sell supplements. If they can sucker you in to doing this 50�set

workout, you definitely won�t make progress, and you will mistakenly start looking

for some magical supplement to help you get bigger and stronger. It�s a dirty

business.

22

Having said that, the fact still remains that there are large numbers of pro

bodybuilders who do use a training volume that is way too high for the average guy.

If I were to ask any of these bodybuilders why they do 20 sets per body part, I

would be anxious to get an answer that would actually make sense and persuade me

that there is something I'm missing. And please don't tell me you're hitting the

muscles from a variety of angles, blah, blah, blah. That subject has been debated to

death and I don�t believe it to be remotely true. A muscle either contracts or it

doesn�t. And when it contracts it does so from origin to insertion. You can not isolate

a certain part of a muscle. There is no such thing as training the inner or outer pecs

or the upper or lower biceps.

So, I ask of all the high volume junkies, can you honestly give me an explanation

that you believe in as to why you are doing that many sets? And if you still want to

use the "what about bodybuilders" argument, let me again refer you back to the

great Dorian Yates, who said, "I don't believe in doing the traditional 15-20 sets per

bodypart. That's too much work.�(Blood & Guts, 1993)

Traditional bodybuilding dogma tells us that we need to do a certain amount of

damage to the muscle and break it down, then let it rest and build itself up stronger

before training it again. Well, if I do 16 sets for chest today, and then five to seven

days later come back to the gym and my bench has gone from, let�s say, 300 pounds

for six reps to 300 pounds for eight reps, why would that be any different than if I

only did two to four sets for chest and still made the exact same progress? What

exactly would be the difference?

For one thing, if I did the higher-volume workout, I would have depleted my amino

acid pool and glycogen stores, which would take away from my recovery ability. The

high volume would probably cause extreme levels of soreness (Delayed Onset Muscle

Soreness, or DOMS) which has been shown to decrease insulin sensitivity� so if I

eat as many carbs as normal, they�re more likely to make me fatter than help me

recover. Furthermore, my cortisol (a fat-storing stress hormone which eats away

muscle tissue) levels will go up and my testosterone will go down. None of these are

good scenarios.

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For all of these reasons I highly recommend that you steer clear of the traditional

15-20 set per bodypart, high volume training that most bodybuilders and trainers

recommend if you ever want to build enormous amounts of size and strength.

FACTOR # 3: NUMBER OF REPS USED

From the beginning of time, it seems, the typical muscle building rep range has been

8-12. Every bodybuilding magazine and program under the sun always recommends

that you do 8-12 reps in your efforts to build bigger muscles. However, I am here to

tell you that they are way off.

The best rep range for building massive muscle is 5-8 reps.

There is rarely a need to go below five because sets consisting of 1-4 reps increase

strength by improving the nervous systems firing efficiency but do little to build

muscle. On the other hand, eight is actually the highest number of reps you should

do on a regular basis. Read that again and let it sink in before you ever consider

doing another pump up set of 15-20 reps.

Usually, when you do more than eight reps you build up too much lactic acid and

residual fatigue, thus the quality of your sets starts to suffer. Secondly, if you now

understand that the key to getting bigger is to get stronger, you will find it

increasingly difficult to add weight week after week the higher up you go on the rep

scale. It�s easy to continually add weight to your five rep sets but not quite as easy

to add weight to your twelve reps sets. This is a phenomenon I have observed not

only with myself but with hundreds of trainees over the years.

I don�t know who ever came up with the 8-12 rep range but I can tell you for a fact

that it is NOT the best rep range to be using in your quest to get bigger and

stronger. If you go to the gym simply to get a pump then by all means do 8-12 reps

per set. Hell, why not do 20-40? That will give you an even better pump. But I do

hope you realize that getting a pump doesn�t mean you are building muscle. A pump

is the incredibly tight feeling you get after doing a large number of reps. However, a

pump is nothing more than blood engorging the muscle. You increase the blood flow

to the muscle through the high rep activity and the extra blood gets trapped in there.

24

This leads to that skin stretching, tight feeling that we all love so much and that

Arnold famously said in Pumping Iron, was better than sex.

You can get a great pump from treading water but everyone knows for a fact that

you will not grow an ounce of muscle from such an activity. Remember, the body

does not want to build muscle and be bigger than it has to be. You have to force it

do it what it does not want to do by lifting extremely heavy weights and leaving it

with absolutely no choice but to grow.

This can not be done with high reps. Most of the times when you exceed eight reps

in a set the weights are simply too light to force any kind of adaptation effect

whatsoever. Sticking with the target range of 5-8 allows you to use brutally heavy

weights and targets the muscle fibers that have the greatest potential for growth.

Not only that, but lower rep training is actually easier to recover from and less

stressful on the body. The old timers like the great Eugene Sandow, Paul Anderson

and George Hackenshmidt rarely trained above five reps. They said that this type of

low rep training produced a �tonic� effect on the body and actually made you more

energized as opposed to being completely wiped out like you are when you train with

high reps. The Russians and Bulgarians also frowned upon the use of high reps and

kept all of their training on the low end of the scale.

Now that I have gotten your attention and hopefully made you realize how effective

the rep range of 5-8 is I am now going to tell you that there are some cases when

you can actually do more reps than that. I know, I know, I just got done imploring

you to never go above eight reps but bare with me here as I explain the instances

when you will want to train with slightly higher reps. It will all make sense when I�m

finished. I promise.

Certain muscle groups or exercises should not be trained incredibly heavy for safety

reasons. Also, some muscle groups just seem to respond better to a slightly higher

rep scheme. Below I have listed the instances in which you can and should go above

the 5-8 rep range.

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Injured Areas or Prehab Exercises: 8-15 reps

If you have suffered an injury it is best not to overload that muscle or joint with

heavy weights. Instead you want to work in a higher rep range with lighter weights

until you have completely healed and rehabbed the injury. Doing this will still allow

you to regain some size and strength while you�re hurt, and will prepare you for the

heavy lifting you will be doing again when you get healthy. Also, if you know that

you are prone to shoulder injuries and include prehab (injury prevention) exercises

in your program for that area such as face pulls, band pull aparts and external

rotations, you should do these exercises in the 8-15 rep range as well. That is

because some of them put your shoulders in a precarious position and just due to

the fact that the musculature you are training with these movements respond better

to higher reps.

Neck Extension and Flexion Exercises: 12-25 reps

Neck exercises should not be done for less than 10-12 reps. The reason for that is

simply a safety issue. When you start loading the neck you have to be extremely

cautious in order to prevent possible injuries. For this reason you want to keep the

reps higher and the weights lighter. I personally prefer to stick with 12-25 reps on

neck exercises. Don�t fret, however, as you will still build muscle. The muscles of the

neck are postural muscles that are slow twitch by nature because they are designed

to hold your head up all day. For this reason they respond exceptionally well to

higher reps.

Parallel Bar Dips: 8-12 reps

This exercise places a lot of stress on the shoulder capsule in the bottom range. It is

for this reason that I recommend lowering yourself only to the point where your

triceps are parallel with the floor and absolutely no lower. Even doing that is not

enough, though. To ensure safety on this exercise you want to keep the reps higher

once you progress past the beginner level and are able to hang significant amounts

of weight from your waist while performing it. As long as you don�t go below eight

reps on this exercise you should be able to hit it hard and heavy without having any

problems.

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Wrist Curls: 10-20 reps

Any time you do a regular or reverse wrist curl you put stress on the wrist joint and

not just the forearm muscles. This is completely fine and not dangerous at all, as

long as you keep the reps on the higher side. I personally prefer 10-20 reps on most

forms of wrist curls. The only exceptions to that rule are behind the back wrist curls

and suitcase wrist curls which place very little stress on the wrists at all and can be

done for as low as five reps. Also, the forearms have been shown time and time

again to respond more favorably to a higher rep scheme and thus will grow more

efficiently when trained in this manner.

Any Kind of Squats or Lower Body Exercises: 5-20 reps

Since the beginning of time lifters have reported great size gains in their legs from

high rep squats. It was the basis of several training books and a favorite method of

many old school bodybuilding authors such as John McCallum. The legendary

professional bodybuilder Tom Platz was known for having the biggest legs of all time

and credited much of his development to high rep squatting. One of my favorite leg

training workouts for intermediate to advanced lifters is one or two incredibly heavy

sets of 5-8 reps followed a few minutes later by one grueling death set of 20 reps. If

you can�t get bigger and stronger from doing that you need to find a new hobby.

One of the reasons high reps work so well on exercises like squats is that you can

still use a very significant load. Whereas a high rep dumbbell curl would force you to

use too light of a weight to stimulate muscle growth, high rep leg training is still

done with respectable poundages. When you load a muscle with a brutally heavy

weight for a long period of time, it has no choice but to grow. High rep squats do just

that.

Calves: 6-20 reps

The calves also seem to respond quite well to higher reps. Standing calf raises can

be trained heavy but should also be hit with higher rep sets on a regular basis as

well. This has to do with the fact that we spend so much time on our feet and that

the calves have adapted to that imposed demand. They require a high load and long

time under tension in order to elicit a growth response. Seated calf raises should

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always be done for at least 10 reps in order to ensure optimal growth. That is

because the seated version of calf raises train the soleus muscle, which is slow twitch

by nature.

What about the supposed �inverse relationship between reps and

training age?�

Nearly everyone who has ever written about training has emphatically stated that

beginners should use high reps on every exercise. They then go on to explain that

the longer you have trained the lower your reps should get. So beginners should use

twenty reps across the board, intermediates should supposedly use ten reps and

advanced lifters should never go above five reps.

This is complete and total nonsense!

In fact, this rule is actually one hundred percent ass backwards. Beginners need to

learn proper exercise form. This can only be done with low rep sets. They simply

don�t have the muscular strength, control or coordination to hold certain positions

safely at their level. For example, a beginner should never squat for more than five

reps because his lower back and abs will fatigue long before his legs do which could

result in a serious injury.

Also, you have to realize that as a beginner you will not be able to handle extremely

heavy weights anyway. So why would you want to lighten the load even more by

doing sets of twenty? It�s ridiculous. You want to lift as heavy as you can with proper

form and this can only be accomplished by sticking with five reps per set.

So the real deal, bottom line truth here is that beginners should always use low reps

and avoid high reps at all costs!

As far as advanced lifters using nothing but low reps goes, this is another

recommendation that doesn�t quite make sense and the truth is actually closer to the

180 degree opposite. When you have been training for more than ten years and have

built up a great deal of strength you will be able to use mind bending weights on

many exercises. If done too often, this can take a toll on your joints and leave your

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body feeling beat up. For this reason, I often recommend to older, more advanced

lifters that they increase their rep range slightly.

FACTOR # 4: REP SPEED

Muscles are made for speed. Don�t ignore this fact and try to force them to do

something they are not meant to do. Any time you see a program written with a slow

concentric (the lifting portion of the exercise) speed, get up and walk away; it's

garbage. You should never lift a weight slowly if you are trying to get big and strong.

It makes no sense. When would you ever consciously lift something slowly in real

life? If you bend down to pick up a box, do you count a full four seconds on your way

up? Of course not. It�s a ridiculous and incredibly flawed concept. The fact is your

fast-twitch muscle fibers have the greatest potential for growth, and are only called

upon maximally when a load is either heavy or the attempt to move it is made with

great speed. A slow rep speed ensures that the load cannot be incredibly heavy, nor

will it be moved with great speed�so it basically limits the involvement of the fast-

twitch fibers and thus the potential for growth. Brilliant idea, huh?

What about lowering the weight slowly? You should always control the eccentric (or

lowering) portion of every exercise you do�never drop the weight, but do not

intentionally go extremely slow! I simply want you to lower the weight under control

and I want the lowering portion of the exercise to be slower than the lifting portion.

That�s it, though! Just be sure that if you had to you could stop the exercise at any

point in the range of motion; it should not be just flying down out of control. But I

don�t want you getting overly concerned about it or thinking that the negative has to

last a certain amount of time. The last thing I want you doing is counting while you

are under a heavy barbell. A controlled two second lowering phase and maybe three

seconds for taller lifters on certain exercises is the range you want to be in. As long

as you are in control of the weight and don�t just drop it, you will be fine.

The problem with using slow, heavy eccentrics on a regular basis is that doing so

takes a lot out of you and leads to much greater levels of soreness. The result is that

you are not fresh and ready to train as frequently as you should be. If you want to

get stronger faster, then you need to be able to train a muscle or lift more

frequently. The more frequently you can train the same muscle group or lift, in a

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fresh and recovered state, the faster your results will come.

What about pausing? Pausing is ok, especially in exercises where an extreme stretch

can help you grow. Any kind of calf raise is a perfect example of this. You should

always pause and get a skin-ripping stretch at the bottom of a calf raise. Sometimes

when a muscle is tight, the connective tissue around it will not allow the muscle to

grow.

FACTOR # 5: REST INTERVALS BETWEEN SETS

Rest intervals are dependant on a few different variables such as the exercise being

used, the size and experience of the lifter and the desired training effect. In simple

terms, long rest periods (2-4 minutes) allow for greater recovery of the

nervous system and are linked with an increase in testosterone production.

Shorter rest intervals (45-90 seconds) target the metabolic system and are

linked with an increase in growth hormone production.

For the best of both worlds, and to get the most out of your muscle building efforts

you should incorporate both long and short rest periods in your training program.

Beginners can get away with shorter rest periods than more experienced lifters. They

do not have the capability of recruiting a large number of motor units and thus do

not tire out as easily. Beginners are also weak, in most cases, so they are not using

very heavy loads that would demand longer recovery periods.

A bigger, heavier lifter will require more rest between sets than a lighter lifter. Even

at the same body weight, a stronger lifter will require more rest as well. This is

because the stronger lifter is more neurologically efficient and is able to recruit more

muscle fibers, which is more draining and takes longer to recover from.

What this means is that as a beginner you can recruit, let�s say, 70% of your

available muscle fibers. As you get more advanced you can recruit a greater

percentage of muscle fibers, maybe upwards of 90 or even closer to 100%. This is

far more demanding and requires a longer rest period.

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If someone is in great anaerobic condition, he requires less rest than his not-so-well

conditioned counterparts�all other factors being equal.

Another thing that needs to be addressed when you are picking the optimal rest

periods is that they can vary widely from one exercise to the next. You do not need

anywhere near as much rest after a set of seated calf raises as you do after a set of

deadlifts. So it is actually the exercise, how many muscles it works, how much

weight you are able to use on it, and how draining it is on the body that needs to be

considered when determining optimal rest periods.

Even though you might be able to use more weight on a standing calf raise than you

can on a dumbbell military press, the dumbbell military press will still demand a

greater rest period because more muscles are being used and it causes greater

overall fatigue throughout the entire body.

The rest periods you select are also influenced by the way in which you perform your

sets. If you use straight sets, you will need to use longer rest periods than if you use

antagonistic supersets. The two options are explained below.

STRAIGHT SETS

This is the typical approach to training that nearly everyone uses. Straight sets

means doing one set of a particular exercise, followed by a rest period, and then

another set of the same exercise and so on. You do not mix in another exercise

between sets; you simply continue to do the same exercise you are doing until you

have completed all of the prescribed sets. This method is usually used with speed

work such as Olympic lifts and jumps and with full�body exercises like squats and

deadlifts. However, straight sets are not very time-efficient, and in a lot of cases,

using them is not the optimal way to train.

ANTAGONISTIC OR NON-COMPETING SUPERSETS

These are very time efficient and highly effective techniques that should be used as

often as possible. Antagonistic supersets are when you pair up exercises that work

opposing muscle groups, such as the pecs (chest) and lats (back). These muscles

31

move the arms and shoulders in opposite directions, so by training them together,

you can work a lot of muscle in a short time and see that both areas get equal

attention (helping guarantee muscle balance). You do a set for one muscle group,

rest, then a set for the other muscle group, rest again, and repeat for all the

prescribed sets.

For example, after a brutally heavy set of eight reps on the bench press, it may take

you four or five minutes to be able to repeat that effort. Rather than just sit on the

bench waiting for all that time, you could alternate your bench presses with an

antagonistic exercise like an incline dumbbell row and divide the rest period in half.

So now you would rest two minutes after your bench presses and then move on to

the rows. After the rows, you would rest another two minutes and then go back to

the bench press, and so on until you completed all of the prescribed sets.

Below is a list of antagonistic muscle groups which this technique works extremely

well with:

Chest / Back

Biceps / Triceps

Chest / Biceps

Back / Triceps

Shoulders / Lats

Calves / Tibialis Anterior

Neck Flexors / Neck Extensors

Forearm Flexors / Forearm Extensors

When you are using full body workouts there will be times when you won�t be able to

pair up antagonists effectively. This is where non-competing supersets come in. Non-

competing supersets usually pair muscles that have no apparent relation to each

other, such as the legs and back. For example, you could alternate glute-ham raises

with chin ups or, for chest and legs, incline dumbbell presses with leg presses. You

can even do this with smaller muscle groups at the end of a workout. Some

examples of this would be alternating calves with neck or forearm/grip work.

32

When should I rest even longer than normal between sets?

There will be a few times in your training when you will want to increase your rest

periods beyond what you normally do. These times will be when you are sick, highly

stressed out, or during extreme dieting.

If you are sick, chances are that you will be breathing harder than normal and will

have a harder time recovering with the same rest periods you always use. In a

situation like this it only makes sense to extend your rest period.

When you are extremely stressed out, your body�s recovery ability is drastically

reduced. To account for this, you need to rest a little bit longer than normal between

sets.

Finally, during times of extreme dieting, you are going to have to increase your rest

periods beyond what is normal. The reason for this is that you don�t have the

calories or the glycogen storage to train like you normally do. Utilizing short or

incomplete rest periods in a calorically-depleted state will lead to the use of very

light weights, which in turn will cause great losses in size and strength. While most

peoples� first inclination is to decrease their rest periods when they are dieting for fat

loss, you should, in fact, do the opposite if you want to hold onto as much size and

strength as possible.

FACTOR # 6: TRAINING SESSION LENGTH

When you begin a training session, your body starts to release growth hormone and

testosterone. The release of these anabolic hormones peaks at about the 27-minute

mark and falls back to baseline at around 45 minutes. Training for any longer

than 45 minutes starts to increase the release of cortisol, which is a

catabolic hormone that eats away muscle tissue and increases the storage

of body-fat. Going beyond 45 minutes also severely decreases the production of

testosterone. This is what is known as the testosterone/cortisol ratio. When trying to

remain in an anabolic state (a condition wherein your body can build muscle), you

want to keep your testosterone levels higher and your cortisol levels lower. For this

reason I recommend that you always limit your workouts to 30-45 minutes,

max.

33

This is a secret that the Eastern Bloc countries have known forever and it�s why they

have all of their Olympic athletes keep their workouts very short, and one of the

reasons why they achieve such spectacular results.

After the 45-minute mark, you will also find your performance starting to suffer. Your

mental focus will begin to fade. It is difficult for most people to give all they have,

set after set for much longer than 30-45 minutes. Limiting your workouts to this

amount of time ensures that your mental focus will be high right from the get go and

remain so throughout the duration of your workout If you enter the gym knowing

that you have two hours ahead of you, it can often be difficult to get fired up enough

to really attack the task as hand. If you know you will be in and out of the gym in

30-45 minutes, it�s a lot easier to get amped up for the hard work ahead.

Shorter training sessions also allow you to train body-parts more frequently. That is

because you recover much quicker and more efficiently from short workouts. None of

my clients are ever allowed to train for longer than 45 minutes. Even if they haven�t

completed their workouts I make them stop at the 45 minute mark (excluding warm

up time). Every workout I write always lasts 30-45 minutes. I have found this to be

the optimal time frame for producing the best results. Going longer than this only

leads to overtraining and losses in size and strength or potential injuries.

For all the reasons listed above, I highly recommend that you set a stopwatch, watch

the clock, and do whatever you have to do to keep your workouts in the 30�45

minute range and never go longer than that. This is one of the best ways to

guarantee consistent progress and to avoid overtraining.

FACTOR # 7: TRAINING FREQUENCY

I have personally worked with hundreds of clients during all my years in this industry

and several hundred more over the Internet and via phone consultations. I have

observed that in 99% of the cases, most people get their best size gains by training

no more than three to four days per week, with three usually being optimal.

34

Intense training places a huge demand on the body and you need to allow ample

time to recover from that if you ever want to get big and strong.

As we discussed earlier, stress comes in many different forms, and all of them are

constantly cutting into your recovery ability. Just because you don�t work a job that

includes a ton of manual labor doesn�t mean that your job doesn�t negatively affect

your recovery ability. If you have a very high stress job, this has to be accounted

for. Maybe you have a ton of stress in your personal life or are just a highly stressed-

out person in general. All of this needs to be considered because stress of any kind

will make recovering from training that much harder.

Forget what you have read about your favorite bodybuilder training six days per

week. This only works for genetic freaks that are on tons of steroids. This will never

work for you! Training more too frequently doesn�t allow your body enough time to

grow and instead you will end up getting smaller and accumulating a host of nagging

injuries.

For all of the reasons mentioned above I highly recommend that you don�t train

more than three days per week.

THE BOTTOM LINE

In order to devise the optimum training plan all seven of the critical factors must be

addressed. To recap, the ultimate muscle building system will consist of:

1. One big, compound exercise per bodypart, per workout.

2. One to two sets per exercise.

3. Five to eight reps per set.

4. Always lowering the weight under control and lifting it as fast as possible.

5. Resting 60-120 seconds between sets. (or sometimes more on squats or

deadlifts)

6. Workouts that last 45 minutes or less.

7. Three to four workouts per week.

35

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By Jason Ferruggia

2

Total Body Exercises

Dead Lift- The dead lift is probably the single greatest size and strength buildingexercise there is. Dead lifts work your traps, upper back, lats, lower back, biceps,forearms, glutes, hamstrings, and quads. If you could only choose one exercise, thiswould be the one to do.

A proper dead lift begins with the right bar placement and proper grip and stancewidth. Set the bar about an inch away from your shins, taking a shoulder width gripand a slightly narrower stance. Unless you are a competitive powerlifter I recommendthat you use a double overhand grip and lifting straps when needed. If you are acompetitive powerlifter then you really have no choice but to pull with a mixed grip.

With your head straight and back arched, your body should be at approximately a 45degree angle in the starting position. Start the lift by pulling up and back towards you,being sure to get a strong leg drive. Return to the starting position by sitting back andthen lowering the bar, trying not to squat down until the bar clears your knees. Let theplates touch the ground and repeat.

A major mistake many people make is to allow their hips to rise up before theirshoulders and upper body. Doing this turns the exercise into more of a stiff leggeddead lift and is very stressful on the back and puts you in a weaker position. Be sureto allow the shoulders and hips to come up at the same time and pace.

Although the dead lift is the best exercise there is, it also has its drawbacks. Deadlifting is extremely stressful on the body and the CNS. As a beginner you might beable to dead lift three times per week but as you get more advanced you need todecrease the frequency at which you perform dead lifts. Intermediates can get awaywith pulling once per week and more advanced lifters would be better served to onlydead lift once every ten to twenty one days.

3

Trap Bar Dead Lift- This is performed like a standard dead lift except for the factthat your weight and center of gravity is distributed differently. This bar allows lifterswho can not get into a proper dead lift position because of flexibility or other issues todead lift with relative ease. It is easier to maintain an upright posture with the trap barand thus it is less stressful to the lower back. Execution is exactly the same as theregular dead lift. If I had to pick only one lower body exercise to use with clients forthe rest of my life, this would be it.

Rack Dead Lift- This is a standard dead lift performed off pins in a power rack. Thepins can be set anywhere from an inch off the ground all the way up to lower thighheight. The higher you set the pins, the more weight you will be able to lift. Thesewill do wonders for your upper, middle and lower back development and greatly aidin helping your full range dead lift. For those who crave incredible trap development,this is one of the greatest exercises you can do. The highest starting position youshould use for a rack dead lift is about three to four inches above the knee. Using ahigher starting position than this is a major mistake because it allows you to use toomuch weight and puts your back at risk of injury.

4

Snatch Grip Dead Lift- This is a dead lift performed with an extremely wide grip.Your index fingers should be in the outside rings when doing this exercise. This willincrease the range of motion and add slabs of muscle to your hamstrings. You will notbe able to use as much weight on this exercise so that should be taken intoconsideration when performing it for the first time.

Dead Lift off mats, plates or boxes- Stand on a stack of rubber mats, forty fivepound plates or a three inch box to perform this exercise. This will obviously increasethe range of motion and put more stress on the lower back and hamstrings. Be sure tostart light on this exercise and keep your back arched tightly.

5

Sumo Dead Lift- This is a style preferred by many powerlifters because it shortensthe range of motion and, depending on your strengths and weaknesses, may allow youto use more weight. To perform the sumo dead lift you need to take a very widestance and grab the bar with your hands inside of your legs. Before you drop downinto position to start the lift, be sure to fill your belly with air and push it out againstyour belt on the way up. Pull the bar up and back towards you while attempting toalmost fall backwards to use your bodyweight to elicit a see-saw like effect and helpyou pull more weight.

Dumbbell Dead Lift- This is done exactly like a standard dead lift except instead ofholding a barbell you hold dumbbells in each hand. Begin the same way by standingup tall with your shoulder blades back and your chest out. Begin the descent bybreaking at the hips and sitting back and down.

6

Hang Clean- Begin with a shoulder width grip on the bar, your arms straight, yourback arched and the bar just above your knees. Your shoulder blades should be back,chest out and head up. Initiate by popping your hips forward and explosivelyshrugging your shoulders. As the bar passes your abdomen, pull up as high as youcan, explode onto your toes as you flip the bar and catch it by throwing your elbowsforward and underneath the bar.

DB Hang Clean- This is done exactly like the barbell hang clean except withdumbbells. This version is best reserved for higher rep hypertrophy and conditioningmethods as it is very difficult to use and control heavy dumbbells. At the top, the rackposition will be very different as you won’t be able to throw your elbows forward butwill, instead, catch them in the bottom position of a dumbbell military press.These should be done for ten to twenty reps at the end of a workout.

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Hang High Pull- This exercise is exactly like the hang clean except that you don’tflip the bar and catch it at the top, you simply pull it straight up like an explosiveupright row. The bar should come up to around nipple height or until your triceps areparallel with the ground.

Hang Snatch- Grab the bar with a very wide grip (your index finger should be in theouter power ring). Start like a hang clean, with the bar just above your knees, backarched and knees slightly bent. From there you explode upwards by shrugging yourshoulders and extending your hips. You also want to get up on your toes and thinkabout jumping as high as you can. Pull the bar up as high as your elbows will allowyou to go. When you reach that position, you will finish the movement by flipping thebar straight up overhead to lockout. The whole movement should be done as onefluid, explosively fast movement. Lower the bar back to your chest like the eccentricportion of a military press and then from there bring it back down to the startingposition, under full control.

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Hang Clean & Push Press- This is definitely one of the best mass building exerciseson the planet. To perform this exercise you begin with a shoulder width grip, yourback arched, chest up, arms straight and the bar just above your knees. Initiate themovement by popping your hips forward and shrugging your shoulders explosively.As the bar passes your sternum, pull up with your arms and then flip the bar over andcatch it at chest height by throwing your elbows forward. To catch the bar you will bein a quarter squat position; from there you will get a strong leg drive to assist you inpressing the bar straight over head. Lower and repeat.

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DB Swing – Hold a dumbbell with one hand and bend down by pushing your hipsback as far as you can. At the starting position you should be in a half squat with thedumbbell between your legs. Begin the movement by popping your hips forward andstanding up straight. The dumbbell should swing forward and go all the way up to eyelevel. At the top, your hips should be completely straightened and you should be onyour toes. Be sure to control the weight on the way down and keep your shoulderfirmly locked in the socket. Allow the weight to swing all the way through your legsbefore repeating the next rep. The trick here is to think about the momentum andpower generated from your explosive hip drive to move the weight and not just turnthe movement into a Romanian dead lift plus a front raise.

DB Snatch- The starting position for this is exactly the same as the dumbbell swing.The difference is that in the swing your arm stays straight the entire time. In thesnatch you are going to bend your arm and pull the weight straight up overhead in oneexplosive movement. Be sure not to turn it into a clean and press. You want to pullthe weight straight up and keep it in close to your body the entire time. As it passesyour head, you simply flip it over and lock it out. Another difference between thesnatch and the swing is that you are actually going to jump when you perform thesnatch. As you pop your hips forward to start the movement, you are actually going toattempt to jump straight up in the air. Your feet should land at the exact same time asyou lock out the weight over head.

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Posterior Chain (Lower Back/Glutes/ Hamstrings)

Romanian Dead Lift- With an extremely tight arch in your lower back, begin bysticking your glutes straight back and out as far as you can. Be sure to keep your chestout and your shoulder blades squeezed together. Descend until your upper body isparallel with the floor and then return to the starting position by explosively pushingyour hips forward and squeezing your glutes.

Dumbbell Romanian Dead Lift- This is executed in the exact manner of a barbellRomanian Dead Lift with the only difference being that you hold dumbbells at yourside instead of holding a barbell in front of you.

ENGLISH VERSION

VERSIÓN ESPAÑOL

Free Chapters of The Workout ManualEnds Here...

http://tinyurl.com/ENRenegadeDiet

“I have been following The Renegade Diet for about 10 monthsnow and I love it. I’m a busy guy and don’t have time to stop andeat every 2-3 hours like I used to think you were supposed to. Thistype of eating fits my lifestyle great and is easy to follow andimplement. I’m also stronger and bigger than ever. I’ve actually hadto cut back on eating a little bit in the past month because I’mgaining too much weight and have weight class restrictions. A yearago I was walking around about 205-208 at around 12% body fat.Now I’m walking about 212-215 at the same body fat. My wifealso follows this style of eatingand is actually using it to dietfor a bikini competition. So nomatter if your goal is fat loss,muscle gain or improvedperformance you can’t gowrong with The RenegadeDiet.”

—Chase Karnes, BS, CSCS,National Level StrongmanCompetitor

PRAISE FOR

“Forget what you think you know about dieting and read thisbook. The Renegade Diet a byproduct of a real life search for the bestway to build muscle and burn fat. It’s a compilation 20-plus years ofexperimentation, hundreds of clients, and a bottom line you canappreciate: New information, effective and easy-to-understand tips,and results that you will appreciate. Basically, it’s everything you’dexpect from Jason Ferruggia.”

—Adam Bornstein, Editorial Director of LIVESTRONG.COM

“As an office worker, the greatest thing about the Renegade Diet isthat it has drastically reduced a) the amount of food I bring into theoffice and b) the amount of time I waste preparing/eating/cleaning upfood at the office. This allows me to get a lot more done in my time atthe office and spend less time thinking and worrying about eatingwhen I'm away from home. Once I get home in the evenings, I canrelax, enjoy a big, satisfying dinner knowing that I'm doing my bodysome good. The second biggest benefit to me is that I find myselfmuch less stressed since I started the Renegade Diet. I'm better able tolaugh off annoyances and ignore inconveniences. ”

—David Jarzebowski

“I do not consider the Renegade Diet a diet plan. It is astraightforward strategic methodology that will enable you to reachyour health goal, without a lot of suffering. It will quickly becomepart of your lifestyle, and it's extremely flexible. In my case, I wantedto lose fat and add muscle. The fat disappeared quickly, and leanmuscle stayed. I followed the recommended adjustments to add size,and now the fat is still gone and I continue to add more lean mass.How many diets can do that for a 42 year old with years of trainingexperience? Best of all, I have never felt better or more energetic.”

—Marc Lockwood

“After trying different eating protocols over the past few years mydiet is the one thing I struggled with staying on task. It took someadjusting as the Renegade Diet exposes many of the common mythsthat have been preached forever. The Renegade Diet has not onlygiven me the best results of anything I have tried but is the easiest tofollow! It can be followed when I am on the road or in the officewithout much work at all.”

—Scott Volquarsten

“I have been following the Renegade for the last year. It seemedlike such a bad idea and shock from the onset because it went againsteverything I thought I knew to be true. Since I trust all of Jason's

work I dove in without hesitation and havenever looked back. I am an activeoutdoor/sport enthusiast and busy owner of2 gyms and a personal trainer. This wouldleave me scrambling to get all 6 of my mealsin and worry about the macros, quality, etc.With the Renegade Diet I have been able toeliminate all my "diet" stress and maintainsinge digit body fat while slowing gainingmuscle. Simply put, it is now even easy tolook good on the beach, dominate pickupgames, and have a social life withoutlooking like a tool carrying aroundcontainers of food all day.”

—Gary Deagle, BS, CPT

“Jason's Renegade Diet has taught me more about nutrition thatany other program I have ever read. Personally, I lost over 40lbsfollowing his advice. I was able to re-compose my physicalappearance to a level beyond my expectations but more surprisingwas the nutritional knowledge I gained. As a result, I have become astudent of the subject. I find myself interested in agriculture, theorganic movement, nutrient timing, nutrient density, vitamins,minerals and their fundamental effect on the body.

Before the Renegade Diet my health was suspect. My bloodpressure, cholesterol, body fat, and stress levels were high. A fewmonths into the program my doctor gave me a clean bill of health! Assomeone with a family history of obesity, heart disease, hypertension,and other health risks it's imperative I stay on the right path. I canhonestly say the Renegade Diet has given me the tools necessary tocontinue to live a healthy lifestyle.

Thanks Jay!”

—StronbB04 from Renegade Inner Circle Forums

“I was stuck in the eat six times a day, weight train 2 hours a dayand do daily conditioning sessions mindset...then I discovered theRenegade Diet. The Renegade Diet ensures that you eat what youneed to eat to build muscle and lose fat, without constantly worryingabout the timing of your next meal.

With work and family commitments, my time is very limited andover the past few months I have achieved great results by followingthe Renegade Diet, weight training (with Jason's programsexclusively) 2-4 times per week and doing little to no conditioning.”

—Alex

“The Renegade Diet is indisputably healthy and very easy toadopt. If you're looking for a nutrition plan you can stick with therest of your life that will always keep you lean and strong-and won'thurt your enjoyment of food-this is the one."

—Sean Hyson, C.S.C.S., Group Training Director forMuscle&Fitness and Men's Fitness magazines

“I have always loved training but my only problem has been tryingto eat 5-6 times a day without feeling miserable. With the Renegadediet I was able to gain muscle, get leaner and also feel much moreenergized throughout the day and get my love for eating good foods

back! As abusiness owner Ican now get a lotmore work donethan beforewithout having togo to the kitchenevery 2,5 hours!”

—Etchfit fromRenegade InnerCircle Forum

TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroduction..................................................................1

Problems We Need to Fix .............................................9

Dietary Myths .............................................................23

The Basic Premise.......................................................35

The Fasting Phase.......................................................41

The Under Eating Phase .............................................47

The Over Eating Phase ...............................................53

Losing Fat & Gaining Muscle Simultaneously ...........65

How to Fix Your Broken Metabolism.........................77

More Muscle Gain Modifications...............................81

Morning Training Options ..........................................91

What I Personally Do..................................................99

Supplements.............................................................107

12 Step Quick Start Guide .......................................113

Renegade Diet Rules ................................................117

Shopping List............................................................123

Training Considerations............................................127

Questions & Answers ...............................................133

About the Author .....................................................155

1THE RENEGADE DIET

I N T R O D U C T I O N

et me start by saying that every diet or nutrition planI’ve ever designed has been aimed at those interested inextreme physique transformation and the highest level

of performance training. I don’t do things with the averagecouch potato in mind. That said, everyone can benefit fromThe Renegade Diet, but those who are really in tune with theirtraining and eating habits will get the most out of it.

Diet is a four letter word. Most people hate the thought ofdieting almost as much as they hate the thought of publicspeaking. The Renegade Diet will change all that because it’snot really a diet at all, but rather a very simple way of eatingthat goes back to prehistoric times and works with yourbody’s natural chemistry. The Renegade Diet will help correctnumerous health and digestive problems you may beexperiencing by teaching you to eat the way nature intended,the way we were designed to eat through millions of years ofevolution. There is no suffering involved, no extremediscipline required and you even get to eat as much as youwant for dinner every night.

Sweet deal, right?

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The added bonus is that you will lose fat rapidly andeffortlessly, slow down the aging process, naturally optimizeyour hormone production, improve your digestive andimmune system health and end up looking and feeling betterthan you ever have.

As with any diet there is a brief adaptation period.However, after the first week or two you will experience moreenergy, mental clarity and focus along with an improvedability to tolerate stress. Many people will notice clearer skinand improved sleep quality as well. One of the biggest benefitsto those of you over the age of 35 will be the reduction ininflammation that this diet provides. Joint pain and otherissues slowly start to become a thing of the past.

You’ll also experience improved recovery times fromexercise, less cortisol and estrogen and more testosterone andgrowth hormone.

I know it sounds too good to be true but stick with me here.

Over Two Decades Worth of Experimentation

Over the last 23 years I have experimented with everysingle type of diet and training system there is. And nothing…I mean NOTHING has been as life changing or has made as abig of a difference as The Renegade Diet.

I did super high protein and got nowhere.

I did high carbs and got fat.

I did ultra low carbs and got small and weak.

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3

I’ve done carb cycling, ketogenic diets, cyclic ketogenicdiets, rotation diets and everything else you can think of. AndI’ve tested them all out on hundreds, if not thousands ofclients over the years.

I’ve also done the old six meals a day thing for almost twodecades. I’m sure many of you have tried the same and havebeen disappointed with the results, not to mention theinconvenience.

Who has the time or desire to eat (not to mention, prepare)six meals per day? I certainly don’t. I did it for nearly twodecades and was fed up.

A More Convenient, Effective Solution

What I always wanted was to find something that worked,that didn’t require a ton of time and that, most importantly,game me some freedom and allowed me to live my life theway I wanted to.

During the day most of us are busy and have very littletime or desire to be sitting down to big meals. I’d rather bedoing something more productive.

I read The Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler for the first timewhen it was released in 2002 and had an epiphany. It all madeso much sense to me that I was sure it would work.Unfortunately, I only gave it a short run and forgot about itbecause, although I was dropping bodyfat at a faster rate thanever before, I ended up getting weaker and smaller. That’sbecause Ori wasn’t as concerned with maximizing muscle massand optimal performance and physique goals as many of us are.

THE RENEGADE DIET

The Warrior Diet was geared more towards the averagemale or female who just wanted an easier way of getting inshape than it was for those who train Renegade style andwant to optimize performance while developing the shreddedphysique of a Greek god or goddess. So after a brief run Idismissed it.

Then in 2008, I was headed to LA with my friend, KeithScott and for some reason decided to bring the book and readit again. This time I was even more intrigued than before. Butfor the purposes of the goals of most of my clients I wouldhave to make significant changes to Ori’s original system. So Istarted to experiment and play with it over the next few years.

The Birth of The Renegade DietI took Ori’s original concepts and modified them for people

who trained hard and often, for those who wanted to buildmuscle or just get absolutely shredded while trainingRenegade style several hours per week. I also had numerousathletes to consider and wanted to figure out a way to makethis type of eating work for them.

Finally, I wanted to create the absolute healthiest eatingplan I could. When my step dad got sick with pancreaticcancer in the spring of 2009 I immersed myself in functionalmedicine, life extension and all things health and nutritionrelated. I wanted to ensure that nothing like that would everhappen to anyone I was close to again. I wanted to give all ofmy clients so much more than the ability to lose fat and buildmuscle. I wanted them to experience supreme health, the likesof which most people never come close to.

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5

It’s my goal for everyone I work with and all of youreading this book right now to live to 125 years old and beable to train and do whatever you want to do, till the end,disease free.

Years ago I never realized the importance of health. I wasonly concerned with muscle building, fat loss and improvedathletic performance. The reality, however, is that until youmaximize your health, and most importantly your digestivehealth, you will never be able to look your best or perform atthe highest level.

Like I said, I’ve tried every method of dieting imaginablewith myself and thousands of clients over the last twodecades, and nothing has ever held a candle to the system I’mabout to explain to you in full detail. The Renegade Diet isn’tjust some meal plan or faddish diet. It’s an all encompassinglifestyle.

Since 2009 I have used The Renegade Diet successfullywith hundreds of clients and members of my onlinemembership site. The results have been nothing short ofastounding. Almost without fail people are experiencing:

• Faster fat loss• Lean muscle gains with less added body-fat• More energy during the day• Improved mental focus and clarity• Better digestion• Improved immune system functioning

Along the way I have learned from friends and colleagues,far more knowledgeable about nutrition than me, such asBrad Pilon, Robb Wolf, Dr. Chris Mohr, John Meadows,Martin Berkhan (who could be considered the godfather of

THE RENEGADE DIET

intermittent fasting and is most responsible for it’s currentpopularity), Arthur DeVany, Paul Check, Loren Cordain,Chris Ashenden and numerous others, and liberally borrowedtheir findings and modified them for the goals of my ownclients (apologies to anyone I forgot).

As with all of my writings I have tried to keep things verysimple throughout so that anyone can easily understand all ofthe concepts and implement them immediately.

So sit back, forget everything you ever thought you knewabout nutrition and get ready to change your life forever.

6 THE RENEGADE DIET

THE RENEGADE DIETC H A P T E R 1

PROBLEMS WENEED TO FIX

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C H A P T E R 1

he Renegade Diet is designed to optimally manipulateyour body’s hormonal output more effectively thanany other way of eating you have ever tried before.

Most people suffer from all of the same problems when itcomes to getting healthy and transforming their bodies. Alarge number of these problems can be related to your bodyfatbeing too high. When it comes to addressing a lot of the issuesthat plague most people the fix can be as simple as losing fatand getting ripped. Someone at 20% bodyfat is almostguaranteed to have high estrogen as well as a host of otherproblems that would be virtually non existent at 10%bodyfat.

So the most important thing to remember is that you needto get lean and stay lean first and foremost. That will do morefor your health and performance than just about anythingelse.

Getting lean will also make it significantly easier to buildmuscle and get bigger. That’s because when you are lean youhave better insulin sensitivity and can tolerate carbs and

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overeating a whole lot better. This means that a greaterportion of extra calories consumed will be used to buildmuscle instead of stored as fat.

The problems plaguing most people who have troubleachieving the kind of body they desire are listed on thefollowing pages. I’m sure most of you will recognize some, ifnot all of them and may be suffering from many of thesymptoms.

By following The Renegade Diet and lifestyle plan we caneffectively address and correct each of these problems.

Low Testosterone LevelsFor those who don’t know, testosterone is the male sex

hormone. It’s responsible for building muscle, burning fat andmaking sure your equipment works properly. Females alsohave testosterone, just in lower amounts than males. That’swhy they typically have less muscle and more bodyfat.

These days, however, almost everyone has lowertestosterone levels than they should; both male and female.This is an epidemic and nothing to be taken lightly. It must beseriously addressed if you want to maximize yourperformance and get in the best shape of your life. Theaverage male today has a dramatically lower testosterone levelthan the average male from fifty years ago. Females needtestosterone too, that is if they want to stay lean and buildmuscle. Only, in this day and age, they are also likely to havemuch less than they should have.

Having high testosterone is a sign of virility, vitality,strength and power. It’s what makes you feel like a man. It’swhat builds muscle and burns fat. If your testosterone is low,

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as is the case with most people these days, you will alwaysstruggle to get in shape or perform (in more than one way)optimally.

THE RENEGADE DIET

How to Fix Low Testosterone Levels

• Eat only organic foods.

• Avoid all fake and processed foods.

• Eat raw organic nuts. Almonds are the best.

• Eat an adequate amount of Omega 3 fats.

• Eat healthy, saturated fats like grass fed beef and coconut oil.

• Perform high intensity strength training like weight lifting orsprinting, 3-6 times per week.

• Avoid traditional forms of cardio as they have been shown toincrease cortisol and thus lower testosterone.

• Limit your workouts to 45-60 minutes.

• Get 20 minutes of sunlight per day to boost your Vitamin D levels.

• Have sex more often. At least three times per week should be the goal.

• Compete in something.

• Get 8-9 hours of sleep per night.

• Minimize stress.

High Estrogen LevelsThis is the female hormone that increases fat around the

chest and hips. Males want this to be low as possible.Unfortunately most men these days have a serious problemwith this due to numerous environmental factors, plastics andlow food quality. Women need estrogen but not nearly asmuch as what they are dealing with these days. Our water andfood supply is to blame for the early development of femalesthat is so prevalent in recent years. If you want to lose fatoptimally you absolutely have to tame estrogen and keep yourlevels in check.

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How to Fix High Estrogen Levels

• Avoid commercially grown produce. The pesticides used areknown to increase estrogen.

• Eat only organic, grass fed meat and wild caught fish. Factoryfarmed meat and fish contains numerous estrogenic compoundsand antibiotics.

• Avoid drinking or eating out of plastic.

• Avoid drinking beer as the hops have been linked with increasedestrogen levels.

• Detox your liver. All estrogenic compounds must pass through theliver. If yours is stressed from an unhealthy diet and too muchbooze you will never be able to rid your system of excessestrogen. That means you will never be able to lose the spare tireor the man boobs.

13THE RENEGADE DIET

High Cortisol LevelsCortisol is the stress hormone that eats away muscle tissue

and increases body fat storage. If you have too much of it, dueto excessively high stress levels and not enough sleep, cortisolcan also screw with your cognitive abilities, leaving you in abit of a brain fog and with an impaired memory. In today’shigh stress world having elevated cortisol levels is about ascommon as brushing your teeth in the morning. Unless you dosomething to consciously lower it you will never lose the sparetire and get lean. High cortisol levels can also lead tonumerous health issues as well, a lot more serious than a fewextra pounds of fat around your waist.

One thing I must make mention of is the fact thatintermittent fasting, which is a big part of The Renegade Dietis sometimes not the best idea for those currently dealing withexcessively high cortisol levels. Until you bring your cortisollevels back down to normal it’s recommended that you starteating a bit earlier in the day. This will be discussed in furtherdetail later in the book.

How to Fix High Cortisol Levels

• Avoid stress. I know this is easier said than done but a seriouseffort must be made.

• Limit your workouts to 45-60 minutes.

• Don’t do excessive amounts of aerobic exercise.

• Get 8-9 hours of sleep per night.

Adrenal FatigueHigh cortisol levels and adrenal fatigue go hand in hand. If

you have one your probably have the other. Most people areover worked, over stressed, over caffeinated and possibly evenover trained (although that’s the least likely of the three). Thecombination of these things is what leads to adrenal fatigue.The adrenal glands control most of what goes on inside yourbody. When they are fried from too much stress nothing willfunction properly and you will basically feel like a walkingzombie all the time. Getting lean with poorly functioningadrenal glands will also be next to impossible.

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• Cut gluten out of your diet.

• Surround yourself with positive, happy people. Get rid of thenegative deadbeats who bring you down.

• Supplement with transdermal magnesium. This will help you relaxand sleep better which can lead to reduced cortisol levels. It alsohelps improve testosterone levels.

• Meditate daily for 30 minutes per day. This is very important yetmost of you will ignore this advice. A great program that canlower your cortisol levels and change your life are the HolosyncMeditation CD’s http://jasonferruggia.com/meditationcd. I listen to them for a half hour every day and have noticed adramatic reduction in stress levels and improved quality of life.

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Poor Insulin SensitivityThis simply means that your ability to tolerate carbs is

impaired. In other words, carbs will make you fat. If you’rehealthy, with normal insulin sensitivity you should be able totolerate a moderate amount of carbs without blowing up intoa whale. If you are lean and have excellent insulin sensitivityyou will be able to consume a pretty decent amount of carbswithout any problem.

Unfortunately most people have horribly bad insulinsensitivity so even as much as a small sweet potato cansometimes seemingly lead to fat gain for them.

THE RENEGADE DIET

How to Fix Adrenal Fatigue

• Get to sleep by 10:30pm every night.

• Get 8-9 hours of sleep per night.

• Cut out the stimulants like caffeine, ephedrine, etc.

• Take 3-6 grams of Vitamin C per day.

• Drink licorice root extract tea.

• Don’t train to failure or anywhere close.

• Reduce your stress levels.

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Toxic LiverNo matter how healthy the food is that you eat the fact of

the matter is you are still ingesting tons of toxins and otherdamaging compounds that are found in even organic foods.Whatever passes through your body, be it a piece of fruit orsome sunscreen with dangerous chemicals in it, must beprocessed by the liver. If it is constantly over worked, as is thecase with the majority of people, your ability to burn fat andfunction at the highest level will be seriously compromised.

How to Fix Poor Insulin Sensitivity

• Lose bodyfat and stay lean. This means a bare minimum of 15%bodyfat for males and 22% for females. Abs should always be atleast fairly visible.

• Keep carbs low for 16-20 hours per day. This will help reduceinsulin production, making it very difficult to gain fat.

• Eat most of your carbs during the post workout period and/or inthe evening.

• Supplement with alpha lipoic acid.

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How to Fix Detoxify the Liver

• Cut down on the booze, first and foremost.

• Eat only organic foods.

• Fast/ undereat each day for extended time periods to give the livera break.

• Drink fresh squeezed vegetable juices. (Small amounts of appleand grapefruit juice are allowed as well).

• Eat cruciferous vegetables.

• Eat citrus fruits.

• Drink 1 cup of hot water per day with the juice of an entire lemonsqueezed in it.

• Drink fresh pressed organic cranberry juice. Mix ½ cup in 16-24ozof water.

• Use herbs such as milk thistle (Although recent research showsthat this may have a negative affect on androgen receptors.Something to keep in mind if gaining maximal muscle is your goal)and spices like tumeric, thyme and oregano.

• Take two grams of NAC per day on an empty stomach.

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Severe InflammationThere are numerous causes of inflammation but probably

the biggest is diet. In particular, the consumption of sugar,legumes, corn and all corn based products, pasteurized dairy,soy, and most grains. When you consume those foods everyinternal organ in the body along with all of your joints canbecome inflamed. The end result is that your immune systemis compromised and your joints feel 10-20 years older thanyou. By simply eliminating these foods you can instantlyreverse joint pain and dramatically improve your ability torecover from training.

How to Fix Severe Inflammation

• Eliminate most grains, sugar, corn, pasteurized dairy, soy andlegumes from your diet.

• Give the digestive system a break by fasting and undereating for aprolonged amount of time each day.

• Eliminate or reduce stress.

• Eat healthy fats like grass fed beef and Omega 3 fish oils.

• Take systemic enzymes.http://jasonferruggia.com/systemicenzymes. Use coupon code JASONFE for a 15% discount at checkout.

19THE RENEGADE DIET

High Acidity in the BloodThis is related to inflammation and has a similar effect on

your performance in that if you are in a highly acidic state it’svery difficult to recover from training. This is the primaryreason you often hear about MMA fighters following analkaline diet which is extremely high in greens and eliminatesthe consumption of sugars, grains and dairy and whileminimizing red meat intake. I personally think that grass fedbeef is a great food for physique and performance goals so Iwouldn’t eliminate it. In fact, the fat in grass fed beef canactually decrease inflammation.

The best way to keep your body in an alkaline state is toeliminate or minimize the intake of grains and pasteurizeddairy while keeping your intake of green vegetables as high aspossible. Roots and tubers (yams, squash, pumpkin, beets)should replace most other starchy carbs such as breads andpastas, although the occasional post workout serving of whiteor brown rice won’t be the end of the world.

Poor DigestionThis may be the single most important factor that is

holding you back from achieving your goals. Whatever youwant to improve physically, whether it be your ability to losefat or build muscle, clear up your skin, boost your immunesystem, improve your memory or just feel significantly betteron a daily basis, it all starts with gut health. Gut health is themost overlooked and underrated aspect of overall physicalwell being. All diseases and problems start in the gut. If youhave poor gut health you will never function at 100% or losefat and build muscle at an efficient rate.

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How to Fix Poor Digestion

• Fast and undereat for 16-20 hours per day in order to give thedigestive system a break.

• Don’t follow the typical six meals a day bodybuilding style diets.

• Supplement with probiotics.

• Eat probiotic containing fermented foods such as kimchi, raworganic sauerkraut and raw goats milk or kefir.

• Use apple cider vinegar with your meals.

• Eliminate or minimize the consumption of legumes, grains, sugarand pasteurized dairy.

• Chew your food a bare minimum of 50 times before swallowing.

• Don’t drink liquids while eating as it dilutes your stomach acids.

• Drink a glass of hot water with lemon 15-20 minutes beforeeating your main meal to naturally boost your levels of HCL in the gut.

THE RENEGADE DIETC H A P T E R 2

DIETARYMYTHS

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C H A P T E R 2

verything you have been told and thought you knewabout nutrition is wrong.

Strong words, I know. But I once bought into all the samelies and myths myself, and suffered with the consequences foryears. The list of dietary myths is endless but I’d like toaddress a few in particular that will have the biggest impacton you reaching your goals as rapidly as possible.

Breakfast is the Most Important Meal of the Day

I’m sorry to tell you this, but mom was wrong. My mom,your mom, everybody’s mom. And your doctor; he was wrongtoo. After an overnight fast your body is in prime fat burningmode first thing in the morning. That’s for a few differentreasons. One of them is because insulin is very low at thistime. When insulin is low you burn fat more effectively. Whenyou eat carbs insulin becomes elevated which means that fatburning comes to a screeching halt. Therefore the last thingyou want to do in the morning is sit down to a bowl ofoatmeal or cereal.

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Cortisol is another important hormone to manipulate byskipping breakfast. In normal individuals cortisol levels peakbetween 7am and 9am each day. Many people are familiarwith cortisol and its role as a catabolic hormone; meaning thatif you train too hard, for too long cortisol will increasebeyond a healthy level and will start to break down muscletissue. First thing in the morning, however, cortisol will helpbreak down body-fat by increasing the release of fatty acids tobe burned for energy.

Growth hormone levels will also increase during the earlymorning but only if you keep insulin low by skippingbreakfast. Growth hormone, as you probably know, burns fatand builds muscle.

So by “following the rules” and eating breakfast you areactually doing yourself the greatest disservice possible becauseyou are flipping the OFF switch on your body’s fat burningfurnace.

Now, some might ask if they could simply remove carbsfrom their breakfast and have protein and fat instead.Unfortunately, this isn’t a good option either because proteinalone can stimulate a small degree of insulin release.

If that wasn’t enough to prevent you from eating breakfastmaybe this will be- you will have far more energy if you don’teat in the morning. Upon rising the body will be operating inthe sympathetic nervous system after an overnight fast. That’sbasically “fight or flight” mode. When you eat a heartybreakfast you take yourself out of sympathetic mode and gointo parasympathetic mode. That means you will be groggyand lacking energy which is why so many people needmultiple cups of coffee to make it through the first half of theday. By not eating your energy levels and cognitive abilitieswill be significantly enhanced.

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So if you want to be burn far less fat each day and be in astate of mental fog and lethargy all morning I would highlyrecommend following the mainstream advice and sittingdown to a “healthy” breakfast.

If, however, you want several extra hours of enhanced fatburning per day, along with far more energy and mental focusthan you have right now, skip breakfast entirely.

You Must Eat Every 2-3 HoursI’ll start by addressing the old bodybuilding myth that you

must eat every 2-3 hours to “stoke the furnace” and keep themetabolism running. This is all nonsense. That’s not how weevolved as a species and the body is not designed to eat thatoften. Back in our hunter-gatherer days we foraged around forfood during the day gathering twigs and berries to snack onwhile in search of a kill. One large meal per day was thenorm.

Great warriors of the past such as the Greeks and Trojanswould go out to battle all day on very little food and thenreturn at the end of the day to a feast. This is how we evolvedthrough millions of years. All of the original bodybuilders andlegendary strongman all ate three meals per day. That was thenorm from the dawn of time until one day back in the 70’swhen someone decided that in order to make more money bypushing bodybuilding supplements and protein powders itwould now be the normal recommendation to eat six mealsper day from that day forward. Nobody could possibly eat sixsolid food meals per day so of course they would be forced tobuy the low quality meal replacement powders being pedaledby the supplement companies.

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Eating every few hours wreaks havoc on your digestivesystem and never allows it a chance to rest. Your body’senzyme pool, which is so vital, gets depleted and is never giventhe proper chance to replenish itself. You liver getsoverwhelmed with toxins and can no longer metabolize fatproperly.

So lesson number one is that we need to stop eating sodamn often.

Infrequent Eating Sends YouInto Starvation Mode

This one is laugh out loud hilarious. Partly because I said itmyself about a thousand times during the first 12-15 years ofmy career in the fitness industry. The reality is that your bodyis designed to go for long periods of time without food andcan function just fine when doing so. You will not lose muscleand start storing body-fat. That is a complete and utter assbackwards myth, again purported by supplement companiesand paid off “researchers” all in an attempt to sell you moreof their meal replacement powders.

According to studies your metabolic rate is not negativelyaffected from complete fasting for 60-92 hours! So that meansthat all that nonsense about going longer than four hourswithout eating sending you into a catabolic state is completebaloney.

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You Need Ultra High Amounts of Protein to Gain Muscle

This is not true as there have been countless cases of peoplewho have built muscle on fewer grams of protein per day thanthe daily bodybuilding norm. The better your insulinsensitivity and nutrient assimilation is and the lower yourbodyfat the less protein you will need because you will be ableto get away with eating more carbohydrates.

Animal protein is a requirement for optimal health andmaximizing the ability to build muscle, but too much of itmay cause the body to become acidic and thus delay yourrecovery from training. There has to be a fine line. For mostpeople that is somewhere around 1-1.25 grams of protein perday per pound of lean body mass. That means that if youweigh 200 pounds with 18% body-fat your lean body masswould be 164 pounds. Therefore you would need to consumea minimum of 164 grams of protein per day and a maximumof 205 grams. Although, in truth, most people would be fineat the lower end of that spectrum and might not even needthat much.

There is nothing inherently magical about the musclebuilding effects of protein. Without carbs it will besignificantly more difficult (but it is possible) to build muscle,no matter how much protein you eat. Despite what somesupplement companies may tell you building muscle isn’t assimple as adding more protein to your diet. If it was therewould be a lot of ripped, 250 pound guys walking aroundbecause all you’d have to do is drink an extra couple ofprotein shakes per day. I’m sure we’ve all tried that and havecome to the realization that it doesn’t work.

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In my opinion the bigger benefit of protein is that you canover eat it and also eat it more frequently than carbs with lesslikelihood of becoming fat. This is very important for thosewho are trying to gain muscle mass. When you want to gainmuscle you need to consume slightly more calories than youburn. You have three choices then when it comes to foods youwill over eat. If you over eat carbs or have them too often youwill get fatter. You can eat fat all day but an overabundance ofit will also lead to increased body-fat. That leaves protein asyour best choice. That right there is the simple reason whyeating a hefty amount of protein is a good idea.

However, the numbers we select for daily proteinrequirements will never be anywhere near the normalbodybuilding recommendations simply because that’scompletely unnecessary. Especially because of the fact thatThe Renegade Diet makes you much more metabolicallyefficient, allowing you to do more with less.

Skinny Guys Need to Force FeedCarbs All Day to Gain Muscle

This is a myth although somewhat true… kinda, sorta…

Skinny guys who stay naturally ripped (I mean somewherebetween five and ten percent body-fat) do need to eat a lot ofcarbs to bulk up. There’s no way around it. Protein, fat andveggies just won’t cut it. These guys need to really load up onthe potatoes and rice. But they don’t need to eat them all day,nor should they.

Skinny guys who have a high percentage of bodyfat aretrue hardgainers. In the past I thought that all skinny guyswere hardgainers. But the ones who stay ripped are really just

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too lazy to eat. They have it easy. They’re really more like easygainers than hardgainers. Being skinny-fat, as so many guysare these days due to high estrogen and cortisol levels is awhole different story which requires a different plan of attack.These particular individuals can not tolerate a lot of carbs; atleast when they try the traditional way of eating.

If they’re doing the old eat-every-two-hours bodybuildingmeal plan and even try going the high carb route they will endup gaining an equal amount of both fat and muscle. Thatwould be the best case scenario, however. The worst casewould be that they would gain fat to muscle at a 2:1 ratio,which ends up happening more often than not.

By following The Renegade Diet hardgainers will be able toget away with eating more carbs, thus helping them buildmore muscle, while maintaining a lower body-fat percentage.

High carb diets are great for building muscle but somepeople will simply not be able to tolerate that many carbs nomatter how their daily eating plan is set up. If that describesyou it’s not the end of the world. Plenty of people have builttremendous physiques on a moderate carb diet. The benefit isthat you will stay very lean while gaining size.

For most people who are under 15% body-fat copiousamounts of vegetables, one or two servings of healthy fruiteach day along with a few potatoes or a bowl of rice aftertraining will do the trick. I know a ripped 250 poundbodybuilder who consumes no more than 250 grams of carbson training days and about half of that on off days.

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You Need a Huge Excess of Calories to Build Muscle

This is another old bodybuilding myth which refuses to die.When you look at muscle growth on a cellular level from arealistic viewpoint you will see that it takes place at apainfully slow rate. This is frustrating and unfortunate but it’sthe sad truth.

Beyond your first two years of training gains will usuallycome at a snails pace. A gain of one pound of real, solidmuscle tissue without any fat gain, per month, would beoutstanding progress for someone who has been trainingproperly for more than three years. I know that sounds veryminiscule but when you add it up and realize that two yearsfrom now you could have an additional twenty four poundsof muscle on your frame you’ll see that it’s pretty impressive.For validation head over to your local butcher and check outwhat twenty four pounds of lean steak looks like. Nowimagine that spread evenly across your shoulders, arms, chest,back and legs. Not too shabby if you ask me.

And how many people have actually made that kind ofprogress after their first few years of training? Probably veryfew. They cycle back and forth between bulking and cuttingand usually end up nowhere.

For that simple reason alone you should see why you don’tneed to be 1000 calories per day over your maintenanceintake. If you were gaining muscle at a rate of one pound permonth that would come to a half an ounce per day. Howmany extra calories do you think are required to build anextra half an ounce of muscle per day? Not a lot, I’ll tell youthat. More than you burn, that much is for sure; but notsignificantly more than that.

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You’re probably regretting wasting all that money on extrafood and weight gain powders right about now. Don’t worry;I’ve been in the same boat.

For more real world proof of why this myth is so ridiculouslet’s take a look at prisoners. Whenever you see footage ofprisoners working out you always see a lot of jacked guys. Ican promise you that these men are not being fed a hugecaloric surplus each day. Hardly. In fact, I have discussed thispersonally with a few prison guards and they said the inmateswould be lucky to be getting 2000, low quality calories perday. They grow simply from training and getting stronger. It’snothing more than work-induced-hypertrophy. It should alsobe noted that the average prison inmate has a highertestosterone level than the average guy on the streets. Whichproves what I have always said; that what people really needis more testosterone, not more calories. (We’ll address how toincrease testosterone naturally in just a bit).

Next, let’s look at powerlifters who compete in a weightclass. There are many lighter guys who eventually, after manyyears of training, are forced to move up out of the weight classthey competed in simply because they can not make weightanymore. The fact that they have gotten so much stronger hasled to enough muscle growth that is has forced them out oftheir weight class even though they were dieting to stay in it.This is proof that as long as you are getting stronger anddoing more work muscle growth can occur, caloric surplus ornot (of course it will happen much faster with a slight caloricsurplus).

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There are cases of this everywhere you look from thesoccer players with big legs, despite never having increasedtheir calories to the manual laborer who gains muscle despitebeing at a caloric deficit or even maintenance levels just fromhis daily work load. Eventually the gains stop for the soccerplayer and the manual laborer, though, because they are nolonger following the principle of progressive overload. Theymake gains at the beginning despite not eating what “should”be required for muscle growth but the gains stop once theirbodies have adapted. The only way to induce further musclegrowth would be for the soccer players to increase theirtraining volume or even practice with a weighted vest on. Thelaborer would have to do more work on a daily basis orincrease the average load he is lifting. But regardless of that,the initial size gains they make do prove that a caloric surplusis not always a requirement for muscle growth.

Finally, I point to female gymnasts. If you’ve seen them inthe Olympics you know that they all possess exceptionallymuscular physiques despite the fact that they are… well,teenage girls! That means that they don’t have ultra hightestosterone levels nor do are they sitting down to probodybuilder sized meals every 2-3 hours. They probably eathealthier than normal teenage girls but the last thing they aretrying to do is gain weight. In this case it’s simply the volumeand frequency of training that has stimulated the musclegrowth. Case in point yet again, that loading in the gym ismore important that loading in the kitchen.

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THE RENEGADE DIETC H A P T E R 3

THE BASICPREMISE

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C H A P T E R 3

he basic premise of The Renegade Diet is quite simple.You fast for 14-16 hours each day (say, from 9pm atnight until 1pm the following day), then you under

eat for four hours, consuming no carbs other than vegetables,then you overeat and consume carbs for four hours at night.This follows the natural human cycle of under eating andovereating like we did in hunter-gatherer days.

It could be simplified as eating one main meal per day atnight (although you could very easily have two or three duringthe overfeed period), as that’s what it really comes down to formost people who follow the diet, although there are manyvariations that will be discussed throughout. The version thatis ideal for you will be based on your activity level, goals andbody-fat percentage.

To simplify it even more we could break it down like this:

• Skip breakfast.• Start eating 14-16 hours after you finished dinner the

night before. • Eat lightly during the day, consuming only protein, fat

and green veggies in small to moderate quantities,while avoiding all fruits and starchy carbs.

• Overeat at night.• Have all your carbs at the end of the day, which would

preferably be right after training.

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The great thing about this style of eating is that it worksincredibly well for active, busy individuals. Who has the timeor desire to eat 5-6 meals per day?

Therefore the diet provides you with an incredible sense offreedom and adds productivity to your day. Without all thetime spent preparing and eating food you will have ampleamounts of time to do more productive things.

You will also have infinitely more energy during the daybecause of the fact the diet turns on your sympathetic nervoussystem, aka “fight or flight mode.” Most people are used tooperating in the parasympathetic nervous system and that iswhy they have such low energy levels throughout the day.

After using The Renegade Diet with hundreds of clientsand hearing all of the amazing feedback I can almostguarantee that you will have more energy than ever before.Nearly everyone who has tried it has reported off the chartsenergy levels and mental focus during the daytime fasting andunder eating portions of the diet.

The Hormonal Effects ofIntermittent FastingGrowth Hormone

Most of you have heard of GH (growth hormone) and it’smyriad of benefits such as burning fat, building muscle,increasing protein synthesis, boosting the immune system andslowing down the aging process. What you may not know isthat fasting and under eating promote an increased growthhormone release.

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IGFIGF (insulin-like growth factor) is another hormone

responsible for tissue repair, muscle growth and fat burning.Some of you who follow bodybuilding will recognize IGFbecause of the fact that so many of the pro’s inject it to getabsolutely huge and shredded. If you don’t want to resort toillegally injecting it the good news is that its production isincreased naturally through fasting and under eating.

InsulinThis is arguably the most anabolic hormone in the body,

even more so than testosterone. It’s known as a storagehormone. The bad news is that one of the things it stores isbodyfat. So while you definitely want a big insulin spike tobuild muscle you don’t want insulin to be present in the bloodtoo often for too long. The best way to manage insulin is tokeep carbs low for 16-20 hours per day as you do in TheRenegade Diet. Then when you eat at night, especially if themeal follows your workout, you get a huge insulin releasewhich leads to a tremendous anabolic response, helping youbuild muscle while staying lean at the same time, simplybecause, in the post workout period it’s nearly impossible forthe body to store fat.

The Mental Aspect- Sacrifice & Reward

Another great benefit provided by The Renegade Diet isthat it makes the act of dieting a lot easier, mentally. If youknow that you get to eat a big, satisfying, delicious meal atnight, dieting isn’t the torture it usually is when you have tosuffer for weeks and months on end before you get to enjoy asatisfying meal.

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It’s very easy to sacrifice during the day, when you’re verybusy and active, if you know that you get rewarded everynight. Fasting and keeping carbs low really isn’t that hardwhen you only have to do it for about 8-12 waking hours perday. Then when the day is over you get to relax with familyand friends and eat till your hearts content (with somelimitations, of course).

Also, the hunger issues normally associated with dietingseem to be non existent after your first one to two weekadaptation period. Nearly everyone has reported this acrossthe board and many have even told me that they could go farlonger without eating. Ironically, it’s the moderate sized mealsevery few hours that causes a lot more hunger thanintermittent fasting or a few low carb meals, appropriatelyspaced out.

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THE RENEGADE DIETC H A P T E R 4

THE FASTINGPHASE

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C H A P T E R 4

ne of the main components of The Renegade Diet isthe 14-16 hour daily fast. This was not specified inthe original Warrior Diet but after much

experimentation and research it seems that 16 hours is justabout right for the majority of people. Studies have shownmaximal fat loss to take place around 18 hours but you maystart risking some muscle loss beyond the 16 hour mark andthat’s simply not worth it. Longer fasts will also make it moredifficult to meet your caloric requirements each day as youwill have a smaller window in which to eat. Shorter fastsmight work better for those trying to gain large amounts ofmuscle or those with severe adrenal fatigue. Start with 12hours at first, and then increase it to 14, and finally 16. Theonly exception here is that if you are trying to gain muscle youmight be better off cutting the fast by an hour or two.

During the fasting period you will eat nothing from dinnertime the night before until some time the following afternoonor late morning. So if you finish eating dinner by 8pm youwould start eating again the next day at around noon. If youfinish dinner late, around 10pm, you would then fast untilaround 2pm the next day. An early 6pm dinner would have

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you starting to eat at 10am the following morning. I’m sureyou get the point and can do the math.

The daily fast accomplishes a few things. Firstly, it helpsreplenish your body’s enzyme pool. Many functional medicineexperts and life extensions have said that when your enzymepool finally runs out so does your time on the planet. Whenyou constantly over stress the body by eating all day yourenzyme pool never gets a chance to replenish itself. This leadsto accelerated aging and a weakened immune system.

The act of eating and digesting is, in itself, very stressful tothe body. No matter how healthy your diet is you are stillplacing stress on all of your internal organs when you eat. Soideally you want to spend more time per day in the fastedstate and less time in the fed state. That is, of course, if youare interested in being healthy, avoiding sickness and disease,reducing inflammation, slowing down the aging process andburning fat like crazy.

Even if you eat the same amount of calories per day butpack them into a smaller window the difference will bedramatic in how you look and feel.

One thing you will notice while on The Renegade Diet isthat your energy levels go through the roof. Your mentalclarity, focus and ability to deal with stress will be at an alltime high. That’s because fasting flips the switch and putsyour body into what’s known as sympathetic nervous systemmode. This is fight or flight mode when your senses areheightened and you are wide awake and alert. Energy levelswill skyrocket during the fast, rather than plummet as somany people would expect. When you eat a large meal,especially one containing carbohydrates, your body switchesover to parasympathetic mode and that’s when you get tired.Think Thanksgiving.

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The next benefit of fasting is increased secretion of bothgrowth hormone (GH) and insulin like growth factor (IFG).Elevated levels of GH land IGF lead to a decrease in bodyfat,an increase in muscle mass and a reduced rate of aging.

As previously mentioned, insulin sensitivity is a majorproblem for most individuals. By following The RenegadeDiet and going 16-20 hours each day without carbs yourinsulin sensitivity will be markedly improved. This is hugewhen it comes to losing fat or staying lean while attempting togain muscle.

In the presence of insulin it is next to impossible for thebody to burn fat. With this diet you get 16-20 hours of fatburning per day since insulin will remain low!

The fasting period also allows the liver to detox. Each dayyour liver is forced to work over time as every chemical orforeign compound that enters your body either in the form offood, topical lotion or injection, has to be metabolized in theliver. Even healthy individuals put a strain on their liver if theydon’t have a fasting period each day. It’s just part of the worldwe live in. When your liver gets continually stressed on a dailybasis for years on end it will eventually break down. This, ofcourse, leads to potentially fatal diseases. The good news isthat this can be avoided.

Finally, most people suffer from poor digestion and guthealth. I firmly believe, and numerous doctors, functionalmedicine experts and life extensionists agree, that gut health isthe key to EVERYTHING. You have to improve your guthealth, first and foremost, before addressing any other issueyou may have going. By incorporating daily fasts and eatingthe way nature intended you will find that your digestion willimprove.

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Remember how, as a kid, you could eat burgers, chips,pizza and ice cream all in one sitting and feel fantastic? That’sbecause your gut health hadn’t been damaged just yet like itmost likely is now… from years of burgers, chips, pizza andice cream. Daily fasting and undereating during the earlyafternoon hours will allow you to restore your gut health anddigestive powers to their normal capacity.

Finally, be sure to drink a lot of water during the fastingperiod and throughout the day. Your goal should be to drinkhalf your bodyweight in ounces of water each day. So if youweigh 190 you should be drinking 95 ounces of water eachday.

Summary of The Fasting Phase

• Stop eating each night somewhere between 7 and 10pm.

• Upon rising in the morning have nothing but water.

• Continue to drink as much water as possible before the undereating phase begins. Your goal should be to consume half of yourbodyweight in ounces of water per day.

• Start eating somewhere between 14 and 16 hours after youfinished eating the night before.

THE RENEGADE DIETC H A P T E R 5

THE UNDEREATING PHASE

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