Intermittent Fasting and Growth Hormone
February 7, 2012 by Mike Westerdal
Filed under Articles, Fat Loss, Hormones, Nutrition, Recent Posts
A Fat Loss 1-2 Punch that TRIPLES Fat Loss
Guest Post By John Romaniello creator of Fat Loss Forever
Yesterday, I told you about Intermittent Fasting, which is quickly becoming one of the hottest and most successful nutritional practices around. Today, I want to focus on one of the (many) reasons why: hormones.
We briefly touched on the hormonal benefits of fasting in yesterday’s article, including an increase in one of the most powerful hormones around: Growth Hormone, or GH. Also known as “the fitness hormone,” GH has a myriad benefits, ranging from increased sleep quality to enhanced metabolism.
While a full description of this amazing hormone is beyond this writing, it’s enough to say that the more GH your produce, the faster you can lose fat and gain muscle.
And so today, I want to share with you the top three instances when you naturally produce more Growth Hormone, and show you a way that you can combine all three to get the best possible outcome–a synergistic BURST of GH production, all leading towards incinerating fat.
Let’s take a look.
Three Instances of Naturally Increased Growth Hormone
1) When you sleep
2) When you are in a fasted state
3) When you train with weights.
That’s correct — you product the MOST growth hormone when you sleep, when you eat, and when you train. So, how do we use this knowledge to increase fat loss?
Well, let’s look at it. We know you’re producing tons of growth hormone when you’re fasting–which means you’re NOT producing it when you’re eating. We also know you’re producing it when you sleep.
So, if you’re producing GH when you sleep…why do you STOP producing it when you wake up? EASY–because, when most people wake up, the first thing they do is EAT…which we just said stops growth hormone production.
Which means that by doing something as simple as skipping breakfast you can extend the natural secretion of growth hormone that occurs during your sleep cycle; in addition, staying in a fasted state will actually help you product MORE growth hormone.
With just that simple change, you’ve double your fat burning production of GH. And…forgive me for sounding like an infomercial host, but this is the perfect time to use this line…
“But wait, there’s more!”
Because, it actually does get even better.
You see, we also know that you produce a ton of growth hormone during and after your weight training session; now if only we could figure out a way to combine that knowledge with the previous points to increase GH further…
Oh, wait: that’s exactly what we did!
You see, imagine what would happen if you put your GH producing weight training session at the end of your GH-producing fasting session…which was used to extend the effect of your natural GH-producing sleep?
Exactly: you would create a perfect storm production, sending growth hormone production into overdrive, allowing your body to burn fat at an accelerated rate, while you’re already in a calorie deficit.
Here’s the abbreviated cheat sheet:
1) Get a good night’s sleep
2) Push your breakfast back until after your workout
3) Train with weights any time between 12 and 2pm.
Follow those three simple steps, then have a healthy mea—do those things, and you’re on your way to losing fat, and keeping it off forever.
Can you imagine that? By simply skipping breakfast and having a workout, you can burn triple growth hormone secretion and burn up to three times as much fat.
Incredible results with minor changes—that’s what Fat Loss Forever is all about. To put this concept into practice right now visit: http://criticalbench.com/goto/Fatlossforever
CLICK HERE FOR FAT LOSS FOREVER
Fat Loss Forever (FLF) Review
February 7, 2012 by Mike Westerdal
Filed under Fat Loss Reviews, Recent Posts, Reviews

John Romaniello & Mike Westerdal
For most guys, shedding unwanted body fat is a persistently difficult task. And while there is no shortage of fat loss diets and programs, few of them seem to work as promised. However, few fitness professionals know and understand the dynamics of fat loss better than John Romaniello, the well-known fitness author, expert and founder of Roman Fitness Systems. Based in New York City, John has worked with clients of all kinds and is regarded as one of the premier body transformation specialists in the fitness industry.
For his latest effort–Fat Loss Forever–John has teamed up with Dan Go, an internationally-renowned fitness boot camp instructor and real-world fat loss expert.
The basic premise of FLF is that many of the supposed experts are either using the wrong approach to fat loss or they are touting a strategy that only works for those who are overly or morbidly obese. For example, the metabolism of the very obese man functions very differently from the one in the guy who just needs to shed a few pounds of excess fat. So what works to shed fat in the very large guy will not be effective in ‘not-so-fat’ guy. The fact that they have built-in, self-sabotaging ‘guilt triggers’ is another reason that John and Dan say many other fat loss programs miss the mark. FLF is a breakthrough program that overcomes those inherent and takes an entirely different approach to fat loss. Let’s take a look at the program and see what it’s all about.
First, let me start by saying that Fat Loss Forever is not just another ‘fat loss’ book. In fact, it’s not a book at all but a complete program that includes a nutrition manual, training manual, diet calendar, food guide and grocery list, supplementation guide and a complete set of workouts, all of which total 10 volumes. Of these, the Nutrition Guide is really the heart of the program because it really all starts there. If you don’t have the proper nutritional foundation, you’ll never achieve your fitness goals, whether it’s shedding fat, gaining lean mass, or both.
Strategic Fasting Boosts Anabolic Hormones!
FLF is presented as a 12-week program that John and Dan say is intended to do two things: 1) help you burn fat faster than ever before; and 2) help you maintain your results throughout your entire lifetime. That second point is important because studies show that the overwhelming majority of people who lose weight or fat end up putting it back on over time. This is because most diet or fat loss programs are only geared towards short term results. They don’t really care what happens to you in the long-run.
The Nutrition Guide opens with a brief introduction and discussion about the basic problem with most diet approaches, which is that they focus on the symptoms, not the systems. Focusing on the symptoms is like treating a headache (the symptom) by taking aspirin, when in reality the cause (system) of the headache is the fact that you’re hitting yourself in the head with a hammer. In other words, treat the system (the hammer hitting you in the head) and you eliminate the symptom (headache).
A concept known as Intermittent Fasting is the core component and underlying foundation of the FLF approach to nutrition and fat loss. Intermittent Fasting is defined as strategically alternating periods of not eating (fasting) with times where you are allowed to eat (feeding period). FLF includes varying levels of fasting, depending on where you are in the program. While Intermittent Fasting may sound unpleasant, it really does produce remarkable results. It does so because it stimulates the production of powerful fat-burning hormones—including muscle building Growth Hormone—while simultaneously suppressing the fat-producing hormones.
The rest of the Fat Loss Forever Nutrition Guide outlines the various approaches to Intermittent Fasting that you can utilize to achieve your fat loss and muscle-building goals. The book also includes a section that helps you determine the appropriate levels of macronutrients (protein, carbs and fats) that you should be consuming every day. It also includes a brief section on pre- and post-workout supplementation and some tips about organization and water intake.
The Food Guide and Grocery List and Diet Calendar provide all the support you need to carry out the nutritional component of the FLF program. The Training Manual presents four different training modalities: 5-4-3 Dynamic, Growth Hormone Surge, Density-Based and Complexes. Each of these focuses on a targeted approach towards burning fat, increasing strength and gaining muscle. The Training Guide provides the overall direction of each modality, with each being supported by a specific workout guide.
I’m happy to say that John and Dan have put together an excellent program that presents a solid foundation for effective fat loss. The guys use a straightforward approach that’s easy to follow and not difficult to read. For anyone who has been frustrated in his efforts to shed unwanted fat, you ought to consider the FLF approach—it’s built on solid science that can deliver the desire results!
http://criticalbench.com/goto/Fatlossforever
How To Burn Fat Around The Clock 24-7
November 9, 2011 by Mike Westerdal
Filed under Fat Loss, Interviews, Nutrition, Recent Posts
Download the exclusive “audio interrogation” with Joel Marion and Craig Ballantyne and special guests John Romaniello by right clicking the link below and selecting “Save Target As”. You may also left click the link to stream the audio without downloading. 53-minutes of UNCUT rapid fat loss information, yours FREE!
After listening to the interview be sure to check out Joel and Craig’s Greatest Hits program called 24-7 Rapid Fat Loss which takes all the best features from their programs combined into one foolproof system for burning fat every minute of everyday.
Right Click Here To Save the MP3
Training Techniques To Combat Stubborn Fat
March 16, 2011 by Mike Westerdal
Filed under Hormones, Life, Muscle Building, Nutrition, Recent Posts, Reviews, Tangents, Training
Summary by Mike Westerdal
Unfortunately, shedding unwanted fat is a lot more complicated than just cutting back on calories and adding in a few extra cardio sessions each week. The problem is that our genetic programming gets in the way, making getting rid of fat a lot more complicated than we’d like. When we start to cut calories and burn more energy our bodies think that we’re facing a food shortage. In response, it releases a flood of hormonal responses that are designed to conserve energy and make sure we’ve got fat reserves to draw on for the upcoming ‘famine.’
These hormonal responses are what stand in the way of our fat loss goals. There are three in particular that inhibit fat loss–estrogen, insulin and cortisol. When we do the things we do to shed unwanted fat, it triggers the release of these hormones. And when released, each of these tells the body to increase residual fat storage, especially around the waist area. The good news though is that we can ‘fight hormones with hormones’ and manipulate our metabolic systems to overcome these fat loss roadblocks.
The secret to this strategy is identifying the nemesis for each ‘bad’ hormone–or in other words, the ‘good’ hormone that does the opposite of what the ‘bad’ hormone does. For example, testosterone is the ‘opposite’ of estrogen. Testosterone is the male sex hormone and estrogen is the female sex hormone. To combat the fat storage effects of estrogen, we want to increase the amount of testosterone our bodies release.
There are several ways you can naturally increase the amount of testosterone the body releases. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by lifting weights. In particular, increasing training density has proven to be an excellent technique to stimulate testosterone production. Training density refers to the amount of work you perform within a given timeframe. You can increase training density by lifting more weights, performing more repetitions or by reducing the rest periods between sets.
To fight the stubborn fat around the mid-section of the body, you can really increase training density through a modified circuit training technique. A key difference between this and other types of circuit training is that here, instead of focusing on doing a certain number of reps, you perform as many reps as you can within a certain time period for the first set. Then, you increase both the weight and the number of reps you perform for the second set.
Similarly, there are training techniques you can employ to combat insulin and its impact on body fat storage. Here, training techniques focus on increasing insulin sensitivity and boosting Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1), which counters the effects of insulin. Dynamic training–which is based on combination movements–is particularly effective at boosting the amount of IGF-1 in the bloodstream. Higher amounts of IGF-1 negates insulin resistance and increases the body’s fat-burning capacity.
We can also combat the fat gaining effects of cortisol by increasing the amount of Growth Hormone (GH) our bodies produce. GH is the single most effective compound your body produces to affect both fat loss and muscle gain. The more GH the body produces, the more fat you burn and the more lean muscle mass you add.
Like the other two fat-fighting hormones, certain training techniques stimulate the production of GH. Lactic acid training is one technique that is especially effective. Lactic acid is what causes the ‘burn’ you feel when you train your muscles really hard. As annoying as that feeling may be, it does trigger the release of cortisol- and fat-fighting GH. You can boost the release of lactic acid by lifting very slowly and then quickly (but carefully) returning to the starting position. Another way to increase GH production and diminish cortisol production is by sleeping. Yes, a good night’s rest triggers the production of GH while simultaneously diminishing the production of cortisol.
So there you have it–three fat-fighting training techniques from Roman’s Final Phase Fat Loss at your disposal. Include these in your training arsenal and you’ll be able to fight hormones with hormones and win the battle against stubborn fat, once and for all.
Attention Men and Women: If you’ve been struggling to lose those last 10 to 15 pounds, battling with slow fat loss, OR suffering from nagging “problem area” fat storage in your lower body, love handles, or belly this could be the most important web page you ever read. http://www.finalphasefatburning.com
John Romaniello’s Final Phase Fat Loss 2
March 4, 2011 by Mike Westerdal
Filed under Recent Posts
by Mike Westerdal

John Romaniello doing some modeling
John Romaniello–aka Roman–is a well-known fitness coach and author whose articles have appeared in some of the most widely-read online and print media health publications in the U.S. He’s been a force in the fitness industry for the last ten years, serving as a strength coach for people from all walks of life and of all athletic abilities. Roman says he’s basically a ‘normal’ guy who growing up, always struggled with his weight–in particular, getting lean. He learned a lot through his struggles, found a solution and is sharing some of that knowledge with us in his latest work, Final Phase Fat Loss.
For anyone who has tried to shed fat before, the inevitable ‘stop point’ has got to be one of the most frustrating things imaginable. You’re tooling along losing fat and all is well, but then suddenly your progress screeches to a halt–regardless of what you do–leaving you discouraged and annoyed.
This is one of the first topics that Roman tackles in Final Phase Fat Loss 2.0, providing a great discussion about how we’re genetically built to store fat. The more fat we lose, the harder the body fights to hang on to it, just in case we run into a food shortage or famine. This is really the basic premise of Final Phase–how to get past that ‘fat-loss plateau’ and get lean.
It’s a basic universal truth that in order to lose weight (fat) you have to burn more calories than you consume. Unfortunately, when it comes to shedding unwanted fat, it’s a lot more complex than that. This is the basis of the next several chapters, where Roman talks about the role hormones play in regulating the body’s metabolic systems. In particular, he focuses on the hormones that are primarily responsible for fat storage and fat burning functions. These chapters present a lot of great background information about how our bodies operate.
With the basics out of the way, Roman then launches into his fat loss methodology. Here, he explains the concepts behind his fat loss strategies. What he’s done is design a multi-pronged system that incorporates a variety of different training styles and approaches, all for the purpose of keeping the body guessing, and in the process, avoiding the dreaded fat loss plateaus. He hasn’t just thrown together a bunch of different training styles though–he’s selected each one specifically for its ability to essentially bypass our genetic programming to store fat so you can get lean.
In the following sections Roman discusses the various training modalities he incorporates into his system. The training modalities he favors include Dynamic Training, Lactic Acid Training, Density-Based Training and Strength-Based Training. None of these are the traditional training techniques you see most guys using at gyms every day.
Roman’s belief is that the reason most fat loss strategies fail is that they’re pretty much based on a single training approach that the body quickly adapts to, halting the progress along the way. By combining multiple modalities and regularly switching among them, the body never has a chance to adapt to any single one, meaning that the fat loss plateau can be avoided all together.
Roman explains his Final Phase training techniques in the following chapters, providing handy charts so you can implement the system yourself. The way he’s laid it out makes it really easy to understand and follow, which is something I like. I’ve seen plenty of great programs that were really based on some solid theories–but when it came down to implementation, the instructions were so complex you’d need a PhD to follow them. After the workouts, Roman addresses cardio. Like his other modalities, his approach to cardio is based on variety and keeping things mixed up so the body doesn’t get comfortable.
Part 7 of Final Phase is focused on nutrition. This is a pretty basic section with Roman providing some simple formulas to help you approximate the number of calories you should be consuming each day. He also provides some pointers and several handy charts to help you on your way. The last section is dedicated to supplementation. He makes a few recommendations about supplements he likes to use but really focuses on using a particular brand, which he sells through his website rather than just providing general information about what’s good and what’s not so good.
What’s New About FPFL 2.0 vs. the Original?
There are 12 new workouts with expanded training explanations which include guidelines for warm ups and soft tissue work.
The diet and supplement section has been beefed up.
New exercises have been added to the exercise library.
There is also some new info on body fat testing and a huge FAQ section that helps you modify the program if you don’t have gym access.
With these updates, I really like Final Phase Fat Loss 2. It’s simple, straightforward and easy-to-follow. Roman provides lots of extras like worksheets and training logs to make it even easier. I don’t have any doubts that if you follow Final Phase as Roman intends you to, you’ll get some great results in https://www.australia-casino.org/pokies-for-real-money.
Flavia and Vince Del Monte Wedding Trip
July 2, 2010 by Mike Westerdal
Filed under Life, Recent Posts
My wife and I just returned from Niagra Falls, Canada where our friends Flavia Dragos and Vince Del Monte just got married.
Congratulations to the happy couple. They both come from great families. It was a time to celebrate and rejoice and to thank the Lord for bringing them together.
The food was amazing. After the ceremony which took place at the Niagra Parks Botanical Garden we headed over to Club Italia which was founded by Vince’s grandfather.
We got there at 5:30 and didn’t stop eating until 10:30pm. It was awesome. The wedding was a blast. Check out the video below to see the wedding parties do a dance routine during the introductions. That was really cool. We also heard some really really passionate and well prepared wedding speeches along with a video presentations. Good times all around.
I got to meet up with some of my fitness buddies like Lee Hayward, Dave Ruel, Adam Steer, Mike Geary, John Romaniello, Joel Marion, Eric Wong, Patrick McGuire, Craig Ballantyne and a crew of other people.
I didn’t realize it but Niagra Falls, Canada is like a mini-Vegas. Lots of stuff to do from boat rides, helicopter rides, tours, bike paths, a wine trail, casinos, bars, clubs, a space needle building, a sky wheel, haunted houses and more. We didn’t have time to do half the activities we wanted, but there’s always next time.
Here are some pictures from the trip.

Niagra Falls, Canada

Me, Karine and Dave Ruel aka The Muscle Cook

My Wife Courtney & I Before Ceremony

Patrick McGuire, Dave Ruel, Mike Westerdal, Lee Hayward

Here Comes the Bride!

Vince Anxiously Awaits His Bride

Exchanging Vows

Time To Party - Pic From Video Below
Vince Del Monte and Flavia Dragos introduced as Mr and Mrs. Del Monte for the first time. Very entertaining wedding party dance routine. The girls dance to Beyonce’s Single Ladies. Check out Joel Marion’s dance moves in the background.
They both looked phenomenal for their special day. They’re off on their honeymoon in Europe right now and totally enjoying themselves because they both have been busting their butts in the gym to get ready for the wedding and the honeymoon.
Do you have an event that you’re trying to get in shape for?
If so check out Vince’s The Best Of Series. It features all of his best muscle building and fat loss exercises on DVD.
The cool thing is you can keep using the same workout your on right now and just use some of these exercises in your program.
Looking For Joel Marion’s Xtreme Fat Loss Diet?
May 4, 2010 by Mike Westerdal
Filed under Nutrition, Recent Posts, Reviews, Training
What is The Xtreme Fat Loss Diet?
The Xtreme Fat Loss diet is a 9-component highly strategic diet and training program specifically designed to yield the most rapid fat loss results; 25 days in duration
Revolves around a 5-day diet/training schedule that is repeated 5 times.
Diet includes Cheat Days, Fast Days, Shake Days, Moderate Carbohydrate Days, and Protein-only Depletion Days
Training regimen includes brand new FPFL-esque Lactic Acid, Strength, Dynamic, and Density workouts from John Romaniello. Eight unique workouts that are used 3 times each over the course
of the 25-day program.
The diet days and workouts are scheduled very strategically to yield a synergistic effect. Here is the schedule:
Day 1 – Cheat Day: Density Training – Each cycle begins with a Cheat Day to boost leptin and fat burning hormones to ensure the body is extremely primed for fat loss over the course of that cycle. A “bodybuilding” style Density workout is performed on this day to capitalize on the high calorie intake, protecting lean mass during the diet and potentially even allowing for gains in lean body mass over the course of the 25-day program (just ask Vince Del Monte)
Fast Day: Lactic Acid Training – After a Cheat Day, the body is extremely primed to burn fat. On this day, we create a massive caloric deficit through strategic fasting as well as metabolically expensive lactic acid training. Packed out glycogen and intracellular triglyceride stores from the prior day’s Cheat Day easily fuel the workout (along with strategic BCAA supplementation)
Shake Day: Strength Training – The shake day is another low calorie day in which all the day’s nutrition comes via nutrition shakes. The “shake only” nature of the day helps to increase adherence dramatically by keeping the diet focused on one thing. Strength training is done on this day to maintain strength levels, promote lean body mass maintenance, and to allow recovery from the higher volume workouts performed previously.
Moderate-carb Day: Dynamic Training – This day is a more “typical” diet day consisting of a 40/30/30 macro breakdown and more carbs/calories than other days. This gives the dieter a ‘break’ from the “extreme” nature of the diet right in the middle of each cycle, while fueling the workout of the day, Dynamic training, chosen to strategically promote further fat loss due to it’s metabolic demands.
Protein-only Depletion Day: Lactic Acid Training – The function of this day is to depletion glycogen and intramuscular energy stores to “make room” for the caloric surplus of the cheat day, minimizing any fat storage concern on this day. It’s also another great fat burning day of the cycle coming after the carbohydrate bump the
day before. Lactic acid training is strategically performed because of its depletion and fat loss effects.
To learn more about how you can lose up to 25 pounds of fat in 25-days visit this link: