 
### ProNature Fitness:

### Unlocking Radiant Health

### Through Smart Exercise

### By Sergio Gonzalez

Published by Sergio Gonzalez at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Sergio Gonzalez

### License Notes

This eBook is dedicated to all those who wish to unlock the potential for their mind and body to become the ultimate mechanisms to drive them not only to lifelong health and functionality, but to fortune, success, and most importantly, happiness as well.

This eBook was created for your personal enjoyment and improvement, but feel free to share it with others. This information is freely available so anyone can learn how to take control of their health. Also feel free to write a review, I appreciate any feedback I can get!

### Warning-Disclaimer

I wrote this book to provide information in regard to the subject matter covered. Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and accurate as possible to my knowledge.

Participating in ProNature Fitness is strenuous on the body and may result in pain and injury. ProNature Fitness is not meant to be comfortable!

I shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss, damage, or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. The information presented herein is in no way intended as a substitute for medical counseling or medical attention. Always consult a physician before embarking on any fitness or dietary program.

The purpose of this book is to provide information necessary for a healthier and happier life through smart fitness, strategic diet, and healthy lifestyle choices.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Golden Hormone & Its Benefits

Creating the Spark

Varying Fitness Level Applications

Dietary & Lifestyle Recommendations

Supplement Special

PNF Lifting Special

PNF Stretching Special

Final Thoughts

Sample PNF Workouts

Bibliography

# Introduction

The human body is purely amazing. Realize it. It has evolved through time to become a highly tuned piece of magnificent biomachinery. No matter the circumstances, it will fight for preservation by adaptation and efficiency. It is capable of performing miracles that very few people are actually aware of, and best of all, it has the potential to become an ultimate mechanism to drive you to lifelong health, functionality, fortune, success, and happiness. You have it! You have the amazing biomachinery that is the human body! Why not use your body to its fullest potential so it may more readily reward you with the things you want most in life? Anyone, whether you are currently overweight or even if you think you are in good shape, can benefit from these tips and reach an ultimate body state. The key is in Nature and the golden hormone.

Our Body's DNA has been Shaped by our Primitive Ancestors

Let's start by looking at how Nature has shaped the human body's fitness functions with the simple story of Maximus the caveman. Maximus woke up one morning in his cave to the wonderful pangs of hunger anyone has after going a day without hearty food. He picks up his jagged hunting rock and walks into the morning mist of the forest. After a few hours of walking, he spots a giant boar almost as big as him! The hunger drives him to stalk the big hairy boar that is trotting along, which luckily hasn't noticed his presence.

Squatting down low and treading softly, he closes in on the boar swiftly. Maximus then charges at the boar with full speed, fire burning in his eyes for the prize of fresh meat. The boar quickly begins to run away, moving quickly between the trees and shrubs with great agility; Maximus follows the fleeting boar with equal agility, constantly changing directions and accelerating to keep up with the boar. Once he gets within a few feet of the running boar, with a giant leap, Maximus lunges and wrestles it to the ground, engaging in Nature's beautiful battle of survival. Maximus knows he can't mess up while trying to slay the beast, for it may get away. It would cost him too much energy to continue pursuing, or even worse, it may kill him. With an unbending will to kill the boar, Maximus continues to wrestle the boar until he is finally able to slay the beast! Exhausted and breathing very hard, his heart races, but that doesn't faze him even one bit because he has earned his golden reward. Unfortunately, he can't enjoy his victory for too long because behind him is a 1,000-pound wild saber-tooth tiger mobbing towards him! Maximus sprints toward a giant oak in the near distance, jumping onto it and climbing it as fast as he can by pulling himself up from branch to branch. The wild sabertooth tiger quickly starts to climb behind Maximus with fire in his eyes as he knows Maximus is nice and plump after feasting on the wild boar. Maximus thinks: "Why doesn't the stupid tiger just take the scraps of my wild boar!" But Maximus doesn't have time to think with a mouth full of 2-inch saber teeth anxiously waiting for him. He stops on a small branch high up in the tree and rips off another branch with all his might and stabs it at the saber-tooth which has climbed the tree behind him. The tiger has difficulty trying to swat away Maximus' branch and climb the tree at the same time. Maximus has his back against the wall and is fighting relentlessly after having just sprinted some hundred yards and climbing a tree in a few seconds. Maximus then happens to stab the saber-tooth in the eye and the fierce creature slowly backs away with a painful grunt, climbing back down the tree and moving away in defeat. Maximus wants to cry out in victory but he can't because he can barely breathe! He has earned the golden reward once again, making the day a rare occasion.

This short story sums up how our bodies evolved and how they are designed to become ultimate tools of survival. Primal men gathered, scavenged, and hunted for thousands of years before agriculture and domestication became common place. Unfortunately for our bodies, with all the plentiful food agriculture and domestication have provided, it has also caused us to move less, eat more, and survive much easier. Primal men had to walk constantly to conserve precious high-octane fuel and mobilize themselves for long distances in search of food, and then when necessary, be able to use their high-octane fuel to become a fast and strong super organism for a short amount of time. Nature has find-tuned our bodies for short bursts of super exertion and low energy idling-like states, all in the name of survival. Short bursts to hunt precious food and save our lives from predators, and idling to walk and move long distances.

The Golden Reward

Remember the golden reward in the story? No, it's not the wild boar or victory against a giant saber-tooth if that's what you're thinking! The golden reward is the adaptation of your body to the highest level of fitness and health it can achieve. After having sprinted and fought with all strength for food and survival, Maximus' body released a very powerful hormone that makes him vibrant with health and gleaming in superior fitness. The golden reward is the release of this hormone, and you can attain it too! Its benefits will literally transform your body into the strong, fast, healthy, and attractive body you think only exists in your imagination. The golden reward is yours for the taking at any moment because it is resting inside your DNA makeup. Nature gave you this powerful hormone to give you the best chance of survival. It is what gives you every single feature that you think only belongs to young people.

Now you may be thinking: "Just tell me the magical formula I need already!" Not yet my friend! You must first gain understanding before you act because everything has a right and a wrong way of approaching it. Being able to distinguish right from wrong is essential for success in anything. Often times Nature holds the key to doing things the right way, so in order to do things right, we must learn to work with Nature, not against it. In this case, we want to know the right way to exercise for the chiseled, robust, and healthy body we all desire. We must therefore turn to Nature to understand the right way to exercise. Let's take a look at why man has fattened up and how not all forms of exercise are the same.

How We Live Today

In terms of our physical health and robustness, it all went downhill with the technological cornerstones of mankind. Agriculture, civilization, sturdy homes, domestication of livestock, the wheel, the gun, and the automobile were all extraordinary inventions that have fundamentally shaped how we live today, but in terms of our health and robustness, they have seriously hindered us. They have allowed us to physically exert ourselves less, eat more, and worry less about a sabertooth tiger creeping up on us! Over time, the need for man to transform himself into a supreme organism in the name of survival has decreased, reaching a point where it has almost completely disappeared as a necessity of life. We spoil ourselves by not having to physically activate ourselves to a high degree (or even to a low degree for that matter!), while modern day agriculture gives us all the comfort foods (fat storage foods) that we can possibly eat, and more. This desire for comfort is built into our DNA too because primal men always tried to relax and eat Nature's rare fatty and starchy foods whenever they possibly could in order to have a better chance of survival in unexpected times of famine or hardship. It allowed them to conserve and gain large amounts of energy that they would DEFINITELY need in the future.

Today, we enjoy all the comforts of our relatively sedentary lifestyles compared to primal men, and all the fatty, starchy foods we can possibly enjoy (comfort foods that have shifted a long way from being derived from Nature), while DEFINITELY NOT needing all that high-octane energy. Due to our natural instinct of conservation, all that high-octane energy gets converted directly into fat in order to survive potential food scarcities, which in today's day-in-age does not exist. All of this has led to an inferior level of physical health and robustness for the majority of people in the developed world, and many in the developing countries as well. There has been a comeback however in the developed nations (especially the U.S.) to engage in physical activity due to a growing consciousness of the importance of exercise. Great! The only drawback is that you have to be on the lookout because some forms of exercise are actually detrimental to your health.

The Rights and Wrongs of Exercise

It seems like everyone who has a little bit of motivation to exercise is going to the gym, joining fitness groups, searching online for the best ways to exercise, and sharing incredible transformation stories of their health program with others. Some people, knowingly or not, hit the ball right on the head in terms of the perfect way to exercise for superior health, fitness, and body appearance. The majority however do not. Many fall into the trap of exercising in ways that actually harm the body. Let me explain, exercise like is a double-edged sword. One side has the power to slice through fat, defeat saber-tooth tigers, and dramatically increase health through the magical powers of the golden hormone. The other side has the power to burn some fat but does so while stressing the body, making it produce excess free radicals that make it age significantly faster.

No matter what form of medium- to high-intensity level exercise you're doing, once you pass the forty to fifty minute mark, your body starts to say: "Hey, why am I still exercising? Have I not shaken off that saber-tooth tiger yet?" And with that, your body starts to increase cortisol, your body's dark hormone, the antithesis of the golden hormone that you don't want. Cortisol comes from the adrenal glands and serves to break down anything it can for energy because the body is in a state of significant stress. It will even break down your muscles if it has to (1). As with any sort of stress, this automatically increases free radical production; so in the end, you spend all your time, effort, and money just to make yourself age faster! That's not too smart!

Everyone has the free will to choose what exercise they wish to do and what they like best, but in terms of superior health, prolonged exercise is a no-no (this aspect in sports will be covered later). A major point that you need to realize is that it is not about how long you exercise and how many calories you burn during exercise, but rather it's all about intensely you exercise, how much you enjoy your exercise, how much you move slowly afterward, and how you help your body recover when necessary... that is where all the magic happens and the magic is what you want to become leaner, fitter, and healthier.

Another way of exercising that produces a similar effect to prolonged exercise is working at medium-intensity. Medium-intensity raises your heart rate and breathing level, but not to an uncomfortable degree, so you can continue to have a conversation with your workout buddy during the exercise. Medium-intensity activity was not very common to most of primal man, and the times he did use it were probably few and far between. The two intensities that governed the majority of primal man's energy states were low and high-intensity:

 Low-intensity, which was walking and bending over to gather berries.

 High-intensity, which was killing boars and sprinting from saber-tooth tigers.

By spending the majority of his energy in low or high-intensity states, the two levels became healthy levels for primal man's body to engage in. Physiologically this can be understood by knowing your body uses different fuels for different activity levels. High-intensity exercise makes your body primarily use carbohydrate in the form of glycogen for fuel. Medium and low-intensity exercise makes your body primarily use fat as its fuel (2) (3).

Now you're probably thinking "well that's why I do medium-intensity exercise, it burns fat!" but you actually don't want that! Making your body burn fat during exercise will signal your body to store more fat after you finish and are in recovery mode. This is because your body adapts to whatever you do by making you more efficient at it. Therefore burning fat for exercise will make your body respond by storing more fat during recovery, that way it can be more efficient and better prepared the next time you exercise at medium-intensity. On the other hand, burning carbohydrates as your primary fuel source with high-intensity activity makes your body adapt by storing more carbohydrates for the next bout. This is what you want because your body avoids storing fat in order for it to stay light and lean. It stores carbohydrate instead so you are more readily prepared for any bout of high-intensity exercise. This allows your body to burn more fat throughout the day when you are in your other natural state of low-intensity, slow movement(2) (4).

Medium-intensity for a prolonged time then was really never a part of the overall healthy scheme for our bodies, and is an example of working against Nature. What it really amounts to is a nice potion of biological age acceleration! Unhealthily large amounts of free radicals are produced with this unnatural combination so steer clear of it if you are looking for a chiseled body, superior health, and not wanting to get wrinkled quicker. If you choose to follow the way of ProNatureFitness (PNF) but also want to keep your favorite prolonged medium-intensity exercise, that's totally fine. In some cases people actually get healthier by exercising at medium-intensity because they absolutely love it. The choice is yours. This information is to make you aware of the physical consequences of the forms of exercise you are engaging in.

The Importance of Your Legs

The last bit of background you need to know is the importance of the legs and fast-twitch muscle fibers. Your legs are your foundation and your best access to releasing the golden hormone. We are born with a fixed amount of muscle fibers. That number does not change no matter how ripped or skin-to-bone we get (muscle hyperplasia, the growth of new individual fibers, is extremely rare). The only factors that vary are the size of the individual fibers and their composition, so every time you see a body builder you can say "Hey, I have the same amount of muscle fibers as you!" Out of this set amount of fibers that you are born with and will die with, the majority of them are located in your legs. Your legs comprise everything from your feet to your hips, and that is where your largest, strongest, and greatest amount of muscle is (2)..

What does that mean though? Your muscle fibers are split up into two categories. Each fiber is either a slow-twitch fiber or a fast-twitch fiber. Slow-twitch fibers are the ones you use for walking and are the hardest to fatigue because they can keep on contracting due to their high aerobic capacity. Fast-twitch fibers are the ones you use for fighting off boars and sprinting from saber-tooth tigers. They are the ones that make you super-human for brief moments. The caveat with these fibers is that they fatigue very easily and quickly due to the fact they work almost purely without oxygen. On average, we have 50% slow-twitch and 50% fast-twitch muscle fibers in our body, but that number varies slightly from person to person.

The main point here is that your fast-twitch muscles are your key to the golden hormone. Nature made something magical about working without sufficient oxygen because exercising anaerobically is the primary factor that makes us produce the golden hormone. Remember, your fast-twitch fibers work almost entirely with minimum to no oxygen (anaerobic), and your slow-twitch fibers are the ones that can only work with oxygen (aerobic). Therefore, if you do anything to engage your fast-twitch muscles, you are pushing towards activation of the golden hormone because your body is working in a state of minimal oxygen. Now, if we combine these pieces of information we glean the following: (5) (3) (2)

 The majority of your muscle fibers are in your legs.

 50% of your muscle fibers are fast-twitch fibers.

 Fast-twitch fibers are your key to activating the golden hormone.

Now you can see why your legs are your best access to the golden hormone: the majority of muscle fibers lie in the lower half of your body. That means the majority of all your bodily fast-twitch fibers are in your legs! This has serious potential, considering the goal of this book is to inform and teach you how to activate your own magical hormone for superior health and fitness. So remember, your legs are crucial to your success in the activation of the golden hormone and are your quickest and easiest guide towards supreme health and fitness.

Summary

You now have several important pieces of information that help explain why our bodies work the way they do, and how to distinguish the right from wrong forms of exercise in order to maximize the golden hormone output. Every single reason why this way of exercising (PNF) works is already written in your DNA. This book is your 'help to guide' to tailor your exercise, lifestyle, and choice of nutritional components to maximize its output. All the information given in this book is a compiled version of all the books, online articles, and websites I've read on exercise, the golden hormone, and nutrition. I've condensed the information so you may too have the knowledge needed to have a young body and young mind for as long as you want. Please note that I probably left out some minor factors that may influence your golden hormone output because I've adhered only to the principle factors for the purpose of keeping this guide simple. I hope you find in this book a straightforward guide to one of the most powerful tools your body has to improve itself, and that you may implement in your life. If you follow the guidelines and put the effort in, I promise you will become truly radiant with health. Let's now explore the magical golden hormone and what it exactly does to your body to make you supremely healthy and fit.

# The Golden Hormone & Its Benefits

The golden hormone (GH)... what is so special about this hormone? Why is it produced? Why is it golden? What I have referred to as the golden hormone is actually the hormone called "human growth hormone (HGH)." It is produced in the anterior pituitary gland in your brain, which is about the size of a peanut. This gland also produces some other of the most important hormones that regulate the human body. GH is released in a cyclical manner, at certain times of the day it is released just briefly and remains in circulation in the blood for a while (6). Your body produces it naturally at high levels from the time you are born to around the time you reach your early twenties, helping you grow physically and mentally at a relatively fast rate (7). Once you pass your early twenties, your levels of HGH and other important hormones that keep you young start declining evenly year after year, that is unless you do something about it!

Let me make this clear though, you do not have to adopt a self-defeating thinking pattern in which once you hit age twenty-five you say: "Oh gee, I'm going to start getting older year after year from now on because I'm over twenty-five." Most people tend to think that, and as they expect, they age quite quickly. Instead, follow the other route, the route where youth is what is in your head, both metaphorically and literally! Your body can keep producing the GH as long as you give it a reason to. From birth until the time you reach around twenty-five years old, the reason you produce loads of GH is because you need to grow in order to fill out your physiological blueprint. However, you can also give GH a reason to be released through exercise, proper nutrition, and a healthy lifestyle, even if you are seventy years old! Aside from the GH, thinking positively and not believing in the traditional "get old and die" mentality will keep you younger for a longer time as well. Expectation is a very powerful tool that you can use to your advantage. You should definitely use it!

The GH Regulating Components

There are several factors that scientists believe regulate the production of GH. Take note of these factors because you will see them in the chapters ahead. You can split up the factors into three components: sleep induced, exercise induced, and nutritionally induced production of GH. All three components are highly dependent on each other, meaning that increasing or improving one component increases and enhances the others. You want this because the more GH your body is producing, the more benefits you will receive. Even better, all three components are completely under your control. Put in a little time and effort, and it will pay back big time. Here is a brief explanation of each component.

1. Sleep

I started with sleep because sleep is when your body releases the most GH in one pulse. Remember how GH is released in a cyclical, pulsitile manner? Well sleep, and more specifically, deep sleep, is when your body releases the single greatest amount of GH (6). Your body produces the largest amounts of GH at night because it is the time when your body recovers from a long day. Being immobile and unconscious makes recovery efficient and practical. Recovery in general is when your body repairs all the damage it's taken, and restores all bodily functions to normal. Deep sleep is critically important because your body produces more GH in deep sleep than in any other lighter stage of sleeping. If you don't know how to gauge whether or not you reached deep sleep, just ponder: if you had a dream you could remember upon awakening, you definitely reached deep sleep and released a good amount of GH! Daytime naps are also potent GH stimulators. The next time you have the opportunity to take a nap, take it instead of feeling tired and irritable, it will work wonders for you!

Sleep is essential for many functions, like having the energy and motivation to exercise intensely (PNF) and having balanced levels of other hormones, such as leptin and grehlin, which help you not overeat (8) .This is a good example of how improving your sleep component will improve your exercise and nutrition components as well. I'd like to reiterate, make a good night's sleep and occasional small naps an important priority if you choose to follow the path of PNF and the path of youth. Don't go to sleep too late, go to sleep around the same time every day, don't eat a heavy meal before your main sleep at night (try to have your last meal at least two hours before you sleep), kill all lights, kill all sound, kill all electronics (yes, especially that cell phone), and write in a journal if you have a busy mind. With that, you will have high quality sleeping and production of GH (9).

2. Exercise

Here's a fun little caveman-like analogy: think of exercise as flint, and sleep and nutrition as all the kindling and wood logs. The hotter the spark you create from the flint, the easier you will light a flame; the better quality kindling and logs you use, the bigger your flame can potentially become; the bigger your flame, the healthier you are. In this analogy, the flame is your GH production. Lighting the spark (i.e. exercising for GH production) is what this book is mostly about. There are also a few tidbits of additional information, like what kindling and logs to use (i.e. proper nutrition and sleep) to have and maintain a nice fire. As I mentioned in the introduction, one of the biggest factors influencing your GH production when exercising is reaching and pushing past the point of your anaerobic (oxygen-less) threshold. This comes by using your anaerobic fast-twitch muscles. They in turn use lactic acid for fuel to keep on contracting in a low-oxygen state, which then signals your body to produce GH (2). The great advantage about exercising this way is that later on, when you wrap up your day, sleeping becomes one of the easiest tasks imaginable (even naps are sometimes necessary). Additionally, exercising this way makes you consume less food from the time you finish the exercise to the time you go to sleep (this comes from personal experience, I always tend to not want to eat too much after doing PNF workouts). This is an example of how the exercise component affects the other two components as well. Learning how to optimally create the 'spark' will be discussed in the next chapter.

3. Nutrition

This component is absolutely critical for you can easily throw the majority of your GH derived benefits out the window by not eating the right foods before and after workouts. Eating right is always important, whether you are doing PNF or not, but it becomes even more important when you start doing PNF for GH production. Your GH production becomes a frail process after your twenties, so diet and lifestyle take center stage in importance. When it comes to GH inhibitors, there is however one main culprit that stands out from the rest that you must be aware of. It comes solely from your diet and can completely shut off GH production. It's called somatostatin.

Somatostatin is a GH inhibitor, meaning it doesn't allow GH production (6). Your body's natural production of somatostatin increases with age, which explains the mechanism behind your decreased production of GH with age. This is called somatopause (10). One primary way somatostatin is released is by consuming sugars and simple starches (11). Using the analogy of the spark and fire, somatostatin would be the water bucket that you would use to put out the fire. By doing this, you are extinguishing the flame representing GH production in one swift action.

Yes, you have the potential to swiftly put the fire out in an instant, but you don't want to do that! Most people extinguish their beautiful little flames right after they create them (if they even exercised intensely enough) because they don't know about somatostatin and how it shuts of GH production. They believe that they need to refuel their bodies with sugars right after they're done working out. For optimal health benefits, this is wrong, and you'll learn how to _not_ put out your fire in the dietary and lifestyle guide chapter.

Yes, you have the potential to swiftly put out the fire that you absolutely want. Don't do that! Most avid-exercisers do it unknowingly after workouts (in the event they even succeeded at creating the spark), extinguishing the beautiful little fire they created because of the mistaken belief that they need to refuel their bodies with sugars. It's unfortunate because they don't know about somatostatin and how it shuts of GH production. You'll learn how _not_ to put out your fire and optimize GH production in the "Dietary & Lifestyle Recommendations" chapter.

Another important aspect of nutrition for PNF revolves around protein––one of the most important nutrients necessary for bringing out your GH. GH is essentially a protein, so consuming high quality proteins will optimize your GH production (more detail will be covered in the "Dietary & Lifestyle Recommendations" chapter). Protein can also help you sleep better and certain types of protein can provide you with some of the best forms of high-octane energy needed to perform high-intensity exercise. This illustrates how the nutritional component of GH production affects the other two components of sleep and exercise. The ins and outs of protein will be covered later.

Using nutrition for GH optimization also involves a timing factor, or when you consume your meals. Many studies have shown that GH is actually increased during times of fasting; and by combining this with high-intensity exercise, you create one of the strongest productions in GH you can possibly produce through exercise (12). This is why doing your exercise _before_ you eat your first meal is highly recommended. It is one of the best ways towards building a lean and healthy body.

As for all the GH enhancers or GH precursor products available on the market today, you can get those if you want, but the purpose of this book is to teach you how to maximize your own production of GH through lifestyle changes in the way you exercise and eat. If you want supplemental help go for it. There is a section in this book that deals with supplementation recommendations. But just remember, maximizing your GH output does not require you to pay extra dollars or take up additional time from your day than you would have already invested in a normal exercise routine.

The Benefits

Now comes one of the best parts of the guide: listing all the benefits of GH and engaging in ProNature Fitness! With effort, and more importantly, quality effort, comes great rewards. Each time you finish a workout, you can gladly relax and enjoy while you receive the amazing benefits of working with Nature. Each physiological benefit has been scientifically supported and can be verified by any legitimate expert or publication on GH. The physiological benefits of GH have been listed first. These are followed by the other benefits of engaging in PNF that don't involve your body (i.e. time and money savings). There may be more benefits than the ones listed here, but these are scientifically proven and backed by the personal experiences of many PNF followers.

 Stronger Heart. Your heart is like any other muscle in your body, it will grow bigger and stronger if you work it right. If life ever catches you off guard and raises your heart rate rapidly, having a strong heart will allow you to cope with the radical shift in heart rate with ease. Having a strong heart in your later years of life is important as well.

 Powerful Lungs. Your lungs will pump up like balloons, becoming very powerful and allowing you to push and pull air effortlessness Like having a stronger heart, having powerful lungs can also be a life saver when unexpected occasions arise and require your body to go from zero to sixty in a few seconds.

 Improved Athletic Performance. This represents a multi-fold benefit because it encompasses many aspects. You will be able to improve at any type of exercise, giving you an edge over the competition. You will run faster, jump higher, swim faster, lift heavier, bike faster, and fatigue less. Simply put, GH enables you to go farther, faster, stronger. GH transforms your muscles into absolute machines. You will feel empowered to do anything with 100% speed, strength, and power at any time of the day. Power and stamina, the best of both worlds will be yours.

 Torch Body Fat. This is the benefit everybody wants, but only few succeed at obtaining (I mean getting a ripped and defined body with an easily noticeable set of abdominals). GH binds with body fat and snatches it off your body, leaving you incredibly lean (given that you also eat properly). This doesn't mean you will have a 2% total body fat, but your body will look incredible and appear as if you had 2% body fat while still being able to function properly. Sometimes people achieve very low body fats but consequently become unhealthy in the process. That's not the goal here. Health and vitality in a crisply toned body is the goal.

 Bigger Functional Muscles. Taking those forty-pound grocery bags up three flights of stairs will be a walk in the park! I stress functional muscles because a bodybuilder would definitely be eaten by a saber-tooth tiger if he was chased by one. He would run too slowly and tire too fast; the tiger would catch him easily (I don't think the tiger would actually eat the bodybuilder though, too toxic!). The best muscles are those that are functional and can be used with finesse and power whenever needed––that is what makes you truly fit. You will add good, functional muscle all over your body with GH, so expect it. Big, strong, functional muscles are very healthy because they will not only allow you to move and do what you want, but they will keep you independent (out of a wheelchair), make you look good, increase your insulin sensitivity (another benefit that will be explained later in this chapter), and keep you ready for anything life unexpectedly challenges you with.

 Enhanced Immunity. Your body's immune system will become more efficient at striking down disease at its roots with GH, making you less sick and more productive for longer periods of time. This will also permit you to buy less or completely stop buying certain over-the-counter medications you may be taking. You enjoy life more fully when you aren't sick! Any new pathogens exposed to your body will be dealt with swiftly with an enhanced immune system.

 Increased Bone Density. Like your muscles, your bones will get stronger as well because they are what keep all your muscles in place. Powerful muscles need equally dense and strong bones to keep them stabilized. This may help decrease your chances of breaking bones in the future, and if you are prone to osteoporosis, it may reverse your chances of getting it. Bone density and strength is a good indicator of overall health.

 Healthier Skin, Hair, & Nails. Believe it or not, GH can replace many cosmetics that you may be relying on. Your skin becomes thicker, giving you less wrinkles and a vibrant appearance. Your hair grows fuller, making you look younger. Your nails grow normally with a nice color, making your feet and hands look beautiful. All these factors combined will give you an overall attractive appearance.

 Increased Energy. A constant supply of energy will always be there for you given you also have a healthy diet. This will help you accomplish more during those long days when you really need it. This extra supply of energy will also increase your thinking speed and thinking quality, allowing you to make better decisions faster. Having more energy in general is something that is very advantageous to get ahead in life.

 Learn Faster. As mentioned before, with larger amounts of GH being released naturally during the 'youth' ages between your birth and age twenty-five, why do you think learning is done much faster during those ages than at a later age? The answer is GH. GH makes the nerves in your brain very elastic, allowing them to rewire and make new connections quickly; picking up a new language, a new subject, or just doing better with your studies will become easier and be done quicker (13) (14). If you're trying to pick up a new skill, say a better golf swing, GH will also help you acquire the skill faster. It doesn't matter if you're fifty or ten years old, you have the ability to rewire your brain faster with GH.

 Increased Insulin Sensitivity. Insulin is one of the most powerful hormones in your body. If you learn how to sensitize it, it can prolong your healthy years way beyond what you imagine. Neglecting it however will create problems you really don't want to deal with (think diabetes, hypertension, and obesity). Insulin sensitivity is a HUGE factor determining your overall health. Having great insulin sensitivity means your body is very healthy. Having insulin resistance (high fasting insulin levels) means that your body is not very healthy. GH and PNF give you a two-fold punch towards increased insulin sensitivity. Keep note that insulin is an extremely powerful hormone determining how quickly your body ages and how healthy it is.

 Decreased Cholesterol. This one is pretty straightforward, GH will raise your HDL (good cholesterol) and lower your LDL (bad cholesterol). Combining this with a healthy, personalized, natural food diet will keep your cholesterol levels out of sight and out of mind.

 Improved Mood. After finishing a workout, your body releases all sorts of hormones to facilitate your recovery, including some 'feel good' hormones. These hormones make you happier and make you feel good. Having an attractive body with high energy levels will also lift your mood on average. The improved mood raises your self-confidence and self-esteem, making you want to take on all sorts of new challenges.

 Improved Sleep. Performing high-intensity exercise will help you go to sleep much faster at the end of the day, and it will improve the quality of your sleep as well. Sleep is critical, and improved sleep will increase all your other benefits because that's when the most GH is released!

 Anti-Aging. New scientific discoveries have found that high-intensity exercise increases your body's production of an enzyme called telomerase. At the ends of your DNA strands are little tips called telomeres. When you are born, your telomeres are at full length; and when your cells stop functioning (death), your telomeres are close to gone. Through time, free radicals damage the telomeres making them shorter and shorter until they are almost completely gone, signaling cell death. You have no control over stopping your telomeres from shortening, but you do have control over the rate at which they shorten. The discovery of telomerase is critical because it is an enzyme that protects and even has the potential to lengthen your telomeres! Telomerase does the exact opposite of what aging does: it causes the telomeres to stay at the same length or even get a little longer instead of shorten. Therefore, performing PNF will help you increase your production of telomerase, keep your cells youthful for longer, and allow you to age more gracefully. (15)

 Less Time. PNF is quick and will take less of your time. Forget going to the gym for an hour or running for forty-five minutes. All you need is ten to fifteen minutes with a five-minute warm up beforehand. With twenty minutes you can create the spark, and actually, that workout time is ideal because it allows you to exercise without starting to create high amounts of the stress hormone "cortisol." Also, you only have to do PNF workouts three times a week for maximum benefits. That comes out to only one hour a week of total time exercising at high-intensity! This is much shorter than what many people think is necessary, and yet you will get relatively many more benefits by doing it the smart PNF way. Less time working out is saved time that can be utilized elsewhere, a benefit that is self-exclamatory.

 Less Money. To do PNF, you don't need a gym membership or really anything at all. All you really need is effort and determination. I say "less money" because you may still want to spend some money to have more variety in your exercises (local swimming pools, gym memberships, home weights, a bike, etc.), but it is possible to do PNF with great success with no money down whatsoever. The workouts that take less time will also save you money directly or indirectly somewhere because time is money (well, some of it is)!

 Totally Customizable. PNF is applicable for almost anywhere and in any way you desire to carry it out. Once you learn the basics of performing PNF, you will find you can exercise in many locations and in a variety of ways that interests you most. It is completely customizable. You could take hundreds of different approaches within the given guidelines. I strongly believe in variety in exercise because it keeps your body guessing and adapting, the state where you are most prone for GH output. You will learn more about this benefit after you learn the workout and its applications.

Summary

The same benefits that Maximus the caveman enjoyed as his golden reward after his two dangerous encounters are yours for the taking. Effort and determination will get you the entire package, so why not go for it? You will reap awesome benefits: you will be in the best shape ever, achieve the best health you've ever attained in less time, and all while doing workouts that revolve completely around your interests. If that's not a good incentive I don't know what is! However, you must be willing to push yourself and be willing to embrace a whole new mindset toward your workouts. It's only twenty minutes of good, high-intensity workout; then you have the entire rest of the day to relax.

The exercises are strenuous and intense, but also should be fun at the same time. Choose exercises you enjoy the most, always. The exercise should be straightforward, brief, with a set purpose, and designed by you, so make it entertaining. In order to get all the benefits mentioned earlier, you need to leave your comfort zone for fifteen to twenty minutes. This is key, and that that's why I stress doing PNF with your favorite forms of exercise because it's what will motivate you to reach and enter the anaerobic 'Goldilocks Zone' where all the GH magic happens.

On top of the background information you have on general exercise and GH, you now know the wonderful benefits associated with GH production and PNF exercise. Now you are ready to learn how to actually do PNF workouts! Next, you will be guided on how to do your workouts effectively and efficiently by working with, not against, Nature for your ultimate success.

# Creating the Spark

Creating the spark can be summarized as executing the following sequence:

1. Choice of Exercise

2. Preparation

3. Warm-Up

4. Start

5. Reps

6. Finish

7. Recovery*

Sounds simple? Yes, but let's look at each part in depth so you can create your own spark.

*Recovery isn't really a part of the workout, but I included it in the sequence because it is critical that you understand what to do, and more importantly, what not to do right after you finish your workout. You don't extinguish your flame right after you create it!

1. Choice of Exercise

The first part of any workout is deciding what you want to do! This the customizable part of PNF; you decide what you want to do. It can be almost anything! You can run, swim, bike, lift, do a bodyweight circuit, play certain sports at high-intensity, or do any other form of exercise you enjoy.

If you choose to make your exercise a sport game, it will only count as a spark creator if the level of sport is at top-notch intensity (e.g. a hard game of soccer or basketball). Sport is always a great option, and I highly recommend it because the competition factor makes performing intense exercise much easier. Just be sure that the game isn't slow and that conversation does not creep in and dominate the game. It should be pure focus on play. Don't let the factor of time take sports off your list of exercises either. Even if playing a sport takes longer than twenty minutes and your body releases cortisol as a result, it is still a tremendous creator of spark when done right and can be highly rewarding. When you truly enjoy what you do, exceptions should always be made.

As for the other forms of exercise that are not competition-based sports, customize your selected form of exercise to challenge yourself with every new PNF workout. Doing the same workouts over and over again isn't fun and not productive. You want to expose yourself to many different workouts to constantly challenge your body and mind in new ways. If you like running for example, you can change your running workout in a multitude of ways but still run as your main form of exercise. This is totally possible and encouraged. One day you could do longer distance sprints; another day you could do short, quick sprints, like the common ladder drill; another day you could do some intermediate-distance sprints combined with bodyweight jumps and pushups. The possibilities are endless, and that's just if you want to run! The same goes for swimming, biking, or for any other form of exercise. You can create any type of workout you like as long as it follows the guidelines that will be mentioned soon.

Always mix up your PNF workouts though. Both the form of exercise (swim vs. bike vs. lift) and your actual workouts (e.g. doing longer distance sprints vs. shorter distance ladders vs. intermediate sprints with bodyweight calisthenics) should be cycled. Cycle it at least on a weekly basis and ideally on a daily basis (or whenever you do your next PNF workout). It's always fun to exercise in a variety of different forms and design new types of workouts, so do it! The body is always striving to become efficient at whatever you do, and it's when you allow it to become efficient that GH production from exercise declines. When the body encounters something new, it will always release more GH to embrace the change and increase its chance of survival. Mix it up every time and your body will never know what to expect.

Whatever you choose, make sure it involves using your legs as the primary mover and worker. It is even better if the workout is full-body with your legs as the primary workers and your upper body as a secondary worker. Full-body workouts activate more muscle fibers and in turn leads to increased GH production. Remember though, working your legs is critical to creating the spark.

Summing up the above:

1. Choose what form of exercise you want to do.

2. Choose how you want to do it.

3. Make your legs the primary workers.

3. Preparation

High-intensity exercise is not possible with proper preparation. You will not create the spark and you will increase your chance of injury without proper preparation. Intense exercise always requires good preparation, and encompasses both mental and physical preparation. Preparation is _not_ and _should not_ be time consuming. All it requires is a little planning, effort, discipline, and focus on mindset.

Physical Preparation

One of the very first physical preparations you can do is to drink plenty of water. Hydrate well because water is what will allow you to move faster and be stronger during your workouts. Shoot for 8 oz of _water_ every two hours, every day for optimal hydration. Hydration with sports drinks, alcohol, or soda does not count towards optimal hydration. Sugarless or herbal teas are an exception. If you are going to work out right after you wake up (which I strongly recommend), make sure to drink sixteen ounces right after you get up from bed. Keep in mind too much hydration also exists, but if you listen to your body you will be fine. Gauge how hydrated you are by observing your urine color. Clear or light-colored urine means you are well hydrated. Dark, musky urine means you are dehydrated. Good hydration is not only very important for exercise performance, but it is also very important for speedy recovery. Water grants GH to completely circulate throughout your entire body, boosting recovery times (16). Drink water!

Food is the other big physical preparation to take into account. Usually it is best to work out on an empty stomach because your digestive system shuts off during high-intensity exercise to allow your muscles to receive more blood. I highly recommend working out in the morning for this reason. That way you don't have anything in your stomach to slow you down. Plus, you get an extra fat burning, GH boost by working out on an empty stomach (fast + PNF = monster spark).

If you do choose to eat before exercise, your last light meal should be at least 2 hours before the workout. This way, when your body shuts down your digestive system during the workout, you don't have anything sitting in your stomach to ferment into a nasty concoction. Stomachaches can be avoided by eating either eating no food, or very little light food. Eat light foods according to your nutritional type if you do, since they will be digested quickly (eating according to your nutritional type will be covered later in the "Dietary & Lifestyle Recommendations" chapter). Eating right will allow you to work out with a clear focus, and not have your body disrupt you mid-workout because your stomach hurts. Also, do not eat any foods high in fat before the workout. There have been studies that show dietary fat ingested before exercise lowers your GH production during and after your workout (17), so try to eat relatively low-fat healthy foods (ten grams of fat or less) if you eat beforehand.

Mental Preparation

Mental preparation is all about telling your body:

"It's healthy to leave your comfort zone, it's healthy to breathe hard, push the limits for this short time."

Mental preparation is a skill, one you must practice repetitively to become better at with time. The key is to find some type of motivation that works best for you. Start thinking about your workout fifteen minutes before you start, and visualize what you will do. Visualize yourself moving quickly, resting little, and bolstered with strength. Remind yourself that the workout must be short, so the effort must be maximum. If you are feeling sluggish, start firing up your central nervous system by thinking faster and moving quicker.

I like listening to dance and trance music before and during my workouts because it helps me switch to the proper PNF mindset. I highly recommend listening to music! It has been shown by many scientific studies to improve your physical capacities. Do whatever works best for you, but the key is to visualize, fire up your central nervous system, and motivate yourself to do the best you can. This way, you will fly right through your workout and finish strong before you even realize it; delivering all the while a high quality performance.

If you have difficulties with the mental preparation part, just try doing the warm-up and allow your body and mind to fire up by doing movements that are similar to your workout. Consciously feel your muscles through the movements and feel them getting primed. Another option is to not think about the workout at all. Some people find that the easiest preparation for them is not to think about their workout. They just go ahead and do it, like Nike says! I'm confident that by performing the PNF workouts on a regular basis, you'll discover the mental preparation that works best for you.

3. The Warm-up

The warm-up should: one, include the completed setup for the entire exercise that you will be doing; and two, be brief and stimulating. Follow the steps below for a good warm-up.

 Set up your workout. If you have a drill designed for your workout where you have specially arranged equipment, take for example a series of weights prepared for a circuit, make sure you have everything setup completely. This way you won't lose time and concentration tinkering with it during the workout, and you can maintain yourself in the GH 'Goldilocks Zone'. Some workouts may require no setup; in that case, you can skip this part.

 Begin your warm-up. One way to warm-up is by replicating the workout you will be doing with a 60% to 70% level of effort. You should move briskly with full ranges of dynamic motion. This will loosen up your muscles and get you ready to go. The warm-up should only take approximately three minutes, but if you want to go a little longer, go for five minutes. By the end of your warm-up, you want to feel your heart pumping faster, your lungs taking in air quicker, and your muscles warmed up. The best warm-ups are those that loosen your muscles, prepare your central nervous system, and speed up your heart rate and breathing rate so you can engage in PNF.

4. The Start

Once you've done all the preceding steps, your actual workout begins. Your transition from the warm-up to the start of your workout should be within a few seconds of each other. Do not rest for a couple minutes after your warm-up, move directly from your warm-up to the start of your workout. You should be moving at full pace and with full strength from the start of your workout all the way to the end. Right at the start is when you are the freshest, so you will move fast and have great strength, but later on you will start to slow down and your muscles will start to fatigue. That's perfectly normal. Your body uses up its high-octane ATP (energy source) for the first minute or two of your workout, and then it switches to other less powerful fuels.

5. Repetitions

Repetitions are what the majority of the workout is all about. PNF revolves around using intervals. Intervals in exercise are periods of time worked at high-intensity, followed by periods of time worked at low-intensity, which is then repeated until the end of the workout. In one workout, you usually will do eight to ten reps, depending on how you arrange your workout. The high-intensity work times should be within twenty to sixty seconds. You can time them yourself (like when on a bike) or work specific distances instead (200-meter sprints or a four-step ladder sprint drill). The low-intensity rest times will vary, but here is how you should generally gauge your rest time: begin the next high-intensity rep before you reach 100% recovery.

This means you should not let yourself rest until you are fully recovered. It's crucial that you begin the next rep before that point. Doing this over the course of eight to ten reps will make your last reps extremely exhausting. By not allowing yourself to have full recoveries, the overall intensity of the exercise is compounded with each subsequent rep, leaving you in a heavy anaerobic state at the end (Goldilocks Zone). This is exactly what you want! Remember, the goal is to make your body work without oxygen so it uses its fast twitch muscle fibers. They are your key in creating the spark.

The work times must be done at 100% intensity, no slacking. Even during your last couple of reps when you are most tired and hurting, you must push through as hard as possible. You may be moving at a slower pace than your first cycle, but don't let that hold you back. It is actually good that you are moving slower at the end because it means your body is using more slow-twitch muscle fibers (which need oxygen) because the fast-twitch muscle fibers (which don't need oxygen) are being pressed to the max. The pain you feel at the end is a positive sign you've entered the Goldilocks Zone. It is actually not too hard to reach this state once you learn to ignore your body's demands for rest during your workouts. Once you develop an increased pain tolerance, higher exercise intensities can be achieved.

Usually people find it easier to push themselves as hard as they can during the work cycles than they find it to allow themselves incomplete recoveries during the rest cycles. It's always harder to start a ball rolling than it is to keep it rolling. However, it is critical that you begin the next work cycle before you are fully recovered. You will not reach the Goldilocks Zone if you allow yourself to have long, full recovery times. This is where your mental toughness must kick in; your body will tell you to rest but you will have to reply with a stern NO to finish the PNF workout successfully. What if there was a saber-tooth tiger behind you, do you think you would be thinking about stopping and resting because you were tired??? Of course not! You would disregard any notion of tiredness and continue to give a 100% effort until you escape the saber-tooth tiger! Do the same during your workouts. You know you want to stop, but you don't have to. You must continue forward and ignore the idea that your body needs to rest until you finish.

During the rest periods, you should slow down to a medium/low pace. I don't suggest stopping completely because it will take away your workout momentum. Keep moving in some way or another so you don't lull yourself off the path.

The reps are what create the magical spark, especially the last couple reps when done right. In conclusion, here is a simple guideline for performing PNF repetitions to guarantee you create the spark:

 Work as hard as you can for the entire work interval (twenty to sixty seconds).

 Do eight to ten reps, or however many necessary for a solid PNF workout.

 Don't let yourself recover all the way during the rest periods (Begin next rep at around 70% recovery), and be sure to keep moving during your rest periods.

 Continue as hard as you can all the way to the end. Push through pain.

 The workout's total time should be between fifteen and twenty-five minutes (including the warm-up).

6. The Finish

As soon as you finish your last rep, you cross the finish line and you're done! You should be breathing really hard, hard enough that having a conversation is definitely out of the question. As soon as you finish, walk around slowly and put your arms above your head to give your lungs more room for air. Keep moving around slowly until you can gather yourself again. Taking a nice three to five minute walking cool-down is beneficial and recommended. Here are some cues that you finished your workout creating the spark (you can experience several of them or only a few):

 You are breathing hard enough where you can't have a conversation.

 You are sweating profusely.

 Your legs are slightly weak.

 Your muscles feel pulsing.

 Your heart is pounding quickly.

 You continue to breathe hard for a good while after your workout.

 You move, and want to move, very slowly.

These are all perfectly normal states after you finish a PNF workout because they all indicate that you created the spark. Don't worry because they only last for about five to ten minutes, so be happy and enjoy life! If they do last longer, just lie down and focus on relaxing your body.

7. Recovery (Post Workout)

Within five to ten minutes of the end of your workout, immediately start to hydrate with water and only water. As mentioned before, water helps GH circulate through your body easier, so drink plenty when you finish. This is the first stage of recovery. You must also avoid eating or drinking anything, except for whey protein and water for at least half an hour after you finish. Your body will still be funneling all available blood to your muscles, so your digestive system will be in standby mode. Putting food into your digestive system while it's in standby mode can lead to stomachaches. Yes, that means no food, no sports drinks, nothing... only water and whey protein if you wish. This is very important! If you eat or drink something sugary after you finish, you will cause your body to produce somatostatin and shut off GH production. Doing so would almost be equivalent to not working out at all in terms of the benefits received from GH. Somatostatin obliterates GH production, it's that simple, so avoid it!

Not eating is important because insulin has a role in increasing somatostatin, and whenever you eat, you inevitably increase your insulin levels. Not interrupting your GH production with somatostatin allows your GH to run freely and fully throughout your body for maximum effect. You want it to spend a good amount of time running without interruption so you can receive all the physiological benefits that it has to offer. Why create the spark only to put it out once you finish? Many people in the fitness world do this unknowingly: as soon as they finish working out, they munch on their favorite sugar-laced protein bar or they down a high fructose corn syrup sports drink; effectively put out any spark created during the workout (if a spark is even created). They believe their bodies need sugar to recover when in reality they don't. Sugar is detrimental to health, always. Creating the spark requires high-intensity and concentration, and I don't think it is worth throwing away for a sports drink or a protein bar. Only water and whey protein are acceptable immediately afterwards, that's it.

Whey protein is acceptable because it floods your body with the proteins it needs right after performing intense exercise. It changes your body's catabolic state (self-eating state) to an anabolic state (self-building state), and it drives up GH production significantly (18). You can consume ten to twenty grams of whey protein after your workout. More on whey protein and its importance in GH optimization will be covered later on in the "Dietary & Lifestyle Recommendations" chapter.

PNF stretching is also a highly recommended way to recover quicker, although it is not necessary. Stretching will be covered in a later chapter for additional information.

Listen to your body before you engage in your next PNF workout. Make sure to give yourself ample time to recover before your next bout. Many people actually over-exercise by not allowing their bodies to recover. They put their bodies in unhealthy catabolic states that are totally against the PNF principles of becoming healthier. Remember, exercise is a form of healthy stress that when overdone becomes an unhealthy stress. As a general rule of thumb, the shorter the PNF workout (20 minutes or less), the shorter the recovery time (one day or less), and the more frequent your PNF workouts (twice a day or every day), the longer the recovery time (one day or more).

Summary

You now know the basic guide to PNF exercise. I want to emphasize the fact that you can manipulate your PNF in many ways depending on your goals and interests. The main point of the PNF exercise guideline is to teach you how to increase your GH production by intense, 100% effort exercise intervals that push you to your anaerobic threshold (Goldilocks Zone). The amazing physiological and psychological benefits of GH will help you accomplish any goals you have. By using this basic PNF exercise format, you can use your increased GH production to help you improve any aspect of your life: athletics, social life, education, finance, or just pure health to name a few. PNF is very flexible, you just have to follow the basic format and structure it according to your goals.

Now if you are thinking one of the following:

 What if I can't push myself into the Goldilocks Zone?

 What if I don't know how or where to start?

 What if I'm sixty years old or overweight and I can only walk?

 What if I want to incorporate this with something else I do?

 What if I am an avid exerciser and I want to know how to create the ultimate challenges using PNF?

I have the answers to your thoughts! There is always a time and a place to start, no matter where you are, who you are, or what shape you're in. In the next section, I will explain how to go about PNF to obtain the best results depending on whether you are at a beginning, intermediate, or advanced fitness level. What makes PNF so great and flexible is the key principle of pushing yourself to your max, whatever that max may be. As long as you finish your PNF workout with any of the indicators of GH production mentioned earlier (tired, pulsing muscles, fast breathing, etc.), you know you created the spark. You can perform PNF and increase your GH levels starting today, regardless of whatever fitness level you are currently at.

# Varying Fitness Level Applications

There will always be a way for you to use PNF to improve and grow, regardless of your current level on the fitness spectrum. Some people can create the spark with less intensity than others because of their fitness state. Other people need to go full throttle to create the spark, but that has its benefits as well. To put this more simply, an out-of-shape person will do less overall work to create their spark, which consequently is not a powerful spark (less potential GH); while a person that's in-shape will do loads more work to create their spark, but consequently creates a powerful spark (more potential GH).

Your Fitness Level

Your fitness state or fitness level is determined by how fit your body is currently. An easy way to discover your current fitness level is to do a few 100-meter sprints. Do four 100-meter sprints at full speed, with as little rest as possible in between each sprint (essentially half a PNF workout). Time yourself so you know how long it takes you to complete the workout. Also measure yourself intuitively on how you perform each rep: Did you walk? Run? Sprint? Did you take little rests? Did you take long rests? Depending on these two factors of time and performance, you can find out whether you belong in the beginners, intermediates, or advanced level fitness category:

 If the workout took you longer than twenty minutes, with many of the sprints being high speed jogs or walks, you are in the beginner level fitness category.

 If you completed the workout between ten and twenty minutes with some good paced runs, you are in the intermediate level fitness category.

 If you completed the workout in less than ten minutes with high quality sprints, you are in the advanced level fitness category.

There is another way to gauge your current fitness level as well according to your current level of physical activity:

 If you do not exercise regularly (three or four times a week) or you do not do any high-intensity exercise, you are automatically qualified as a beginner.

 If you work out regularly doing medium-intensity exercises like long runs, slow gym sessions, and a few recreational sports games in-between, you are at an intermediate fitness level.

 If you work out regularly doing high-intensity PNF-type exercises (i.e., interval sprints, circuit weightlifting, and high-intensity sports), you are at an advanced fitness level.

OK, now that you know which of my defined fitness levels you are currently at, you can scroll through to your appropriate section. That section will help you figure out how to utilize PNF to your fullest advantage at your current fitness capacity. Work at it hard and it is almost guaranteed you will move up fitness in levels, at which time you can check out what to do next. The beautiful thing about moving up fitness levels is that the more fit you are, the more benefits you receive from GH. It is a really good incentive to motivate you to improve and become fitter. Remember, PNF is flexible and attainable toward everyone that approaches it. Put in the required effort and you will be successful.

Beginners

Beginners will most likely think of PNF, or high-intensity exercise in general, as something out of their scope and capabilities. I have good news for you, it isn't! You can start right now, today, and kick-start your journey of an increasingly more positive life of radiant health. Everyone has their own specific exercise capacities, but as long as you work hard and push yourself, you will be on the right track with PNF. Even if you don't do sprints like those in an advanced state of fitness, you will still be pushing your current capacity to the limit, allowing yourself to improve, get healthier, and get fitter with the aid of GH. Even if you are currently overweight, aged forty and above, not active at all, and don't know where to start... there is a place and time for you to start, and it's now. I know you have the time to 'fit' twenty minutes into your schedule, so don't procrastinate! Push forward with determination, strength, and make that little time in your schedule. The investment will pay back loads. Here are some tips to help guide the beginner towards PNF success.

1. Organize & Schedule.

Start by seeing what days of the week work best with your schedule. If you have a constant work week and are always tired after you finish your day at work, try to schedule a quick morning slot of time to do PNF. Once again, morning workouts before having breakfast are highly recommended. Once you see what days of the week and what times of the day you are available, choose three days of the week and write down when you will do your PNF sessions. Whether you write it on your fridge (even better motivation!), your daily scheduler, or any other place you glance at regularly, mark the days and times that you will be doing PNF. I also suggest scheduling at least one workout on the weekend given they tend to contain more free time. Put some exclamation marks or some eye-catching doodles by your chosen workout time so you don't forget it. Organization and scheduling is the easiest step towards beginning because this way you make the need to exercise stuck in your brain. Once you begin, it will be that much easier to build momentum and progress forward with, and you will be able to consciously recall your workout times whenever.

2. Start Simply, Start Easily.

Workouts do not have to be complex. It's as easy as running (or walking if you can't run) as fast as you can, for as long as you can, for eight cycles with no full recoveries in between. You could also do a bodyweight circuit (some exercises are included at the back of the book), which is an excellent form of PNF exercise for the beginner. Bodyweight calisthenics will give you a better feel for your body and will make you drastically stronger without even picking up one weight. Whatever you do, it does not have to be complex. Choose something that is simple and straightforward so you don't have to constantly think about what you have to do during the workout. Use the basic PNF format to get a good running or biking workout without much thought required. Start by picking at least two different, simple workouts you like and just get better at them. Try to improve your intensity during the work cycles and shorten your rest times every workout. As long as you reach the point where at the end of your workout you are tired, breathing hard, and breaking a sweat, you are doing everything correct and you are on your way to a life-long road of radiant health.

3. Stay Motivated.

Often times beginners plan and start new exercise programs full of enthusiasm and motivation, and then two weeks later, they are back to doing nothing... don't let this happen to you! You will discover how drastically you can change your body by sticking to these PNF workouts. If you feel that you are starting to lose motivation, switch your form of exercise and make a fun, exciting new workout that will 'spark' motivation back into you. Also read all the benefits associated with performing PNF again to remind yourself the purpose of it all. Lack of motivation is one of the biggest problems for beginners because they initially almost always lack the discipline needed to follow through with an exercise program. On the other hand, intermediates and advanced level fitness people work out four to six times a week almost religiously. Find a source of motivation and inspiration that calls for you. One of the best forms of motivation is to have a workout partner, someone who will do the workouts with you. They will not only be there to get you out of bed in the morning to do your workout, but they will also be there to push you to your max during the workout. This will keep you working out regularly and it will also accelerate your improvement. A little friendly competition is always beneficial.

Beginners Summary

As a beginner, the only thing in the world that can hold you back is yourself. Really, beginners that move on to become intermediates and even advanced level fitness people are the ones that don't let themselves get in the way of themselves. They don't limit or hold themselves back. Don't hold yourself back, there is plenty of purpose in doing PNF. There is a rainbow of different benefits hidden within your DNA waiting for you to unlock them. Organize yourself and find the time in your schedule to slip in twenty minutes of good, hard intensity workout, starting with simple workouts. Stay motivated, find a source of inspiration, and find a friend who will do the workouts with you. Once you begin, you will find it only gets easier to continue the longer you stay on the path. Especially as a beginner, you will find that within two months of doing regular and progressively intense PNF workouts, you will become something very different to what you were two months prior. Beginners' immediate gains are the greatest among all fitness level categories. No matter where you are right now, you can always begin today and start a new journey that will last a lifetime, and bring tremendous benefits not only to you, but to your family and friends as well.

Intermediates

Intermediates have the greatest potential among all the fitness level categories because they have the mindset needed to work out regularly, and the discipline necessary to continue to exercise. That potential can be easily converted into many more real life benefits, which are exponentially better than the benefits derived from doing intermediate-type workouts alone. Intermediates are the people that workout fairly regularly, about three to four times a week, doing long distance runs, long bike rides, and/or easy lifting. That's a good start and a perfect base to build upon to something awesomely better, which PNF offers. The biggest jump for the intermediates will not be the change in discipline, but the amount of effort put into the workouts. Many intermediates enjoy their current exercise, and that is great; you don't have to give it up for PNF. You can keep doing your steady paced relaxing runs or bike rides, but by mixing in some PNF, you will reap more benefits and become fitter and healthier. By doing PNF workouts, you will also find that you enjoy your steady-paced workouts more as a result of being fitter. Intermediates can easily harness GH and the many other benefits derived from PNF with a little acceleration.

1. Accelerate, Change Your Speed.

Your workouts now are nice, huh? Nice steady long runs on treadmills and ellipticals in the gym, meditative bike rides through the country side, or medium-paced runs on the road. Always moving at the same speed from the time you start to the time you finish sixty minutes later. Why not put that time to greater use and reap benefits that are ten-fold better compared to what you are receiving now? Even more, you can do it all in less than thirty minutes. You can do this by changing your speed. Make your workouts more intense by simply moving faster, at a pace you cannot sustain. Yes, you will be short of breath and won't be able to talk with your neighbor, but you will have plenty of time to talk at the end of your workout. Make those workout times, _your_ time; time for you to develop yourself. Take hold of it and ring it for all its worth. PNF can be made yours easily, but you must be able to change your speed multiple times during one workout. No more one-speed pony. You must go fast, slow, and then fast again repeatedly. Doing this will require more effort, but since you are willing to invest the time, why not put out the extra effort and make that time much more beneficial to you? You are primed and ready to go fast, so go fast! It's a lot more fun to use the amazing muscles you have and go fast than to go at a boring one-geared pace, neglecting those muscles that are crying for you to use them. You will see what wonders changing your speed in workouts will do for your health.

2. Accelerate, Change Your Direction.

Acceleration is not only a change in speed, but it is also categorized as a change in direction. Mixing up your exercise and workout selection will also do wonders to you, and this is what I'm referring to by "changing your direction." You have made your body so efficient at performing that one speed, one exercise workout you do three to four times a week that your body doesn't expect anything different. When your body doesn't expect anything different, it has no reason to adapt, and hence, produce more GH. Changing your speed will shock your system, and then topping that by changing your direction will make your body so confused that it will overflow with GH production. Your body will never know what to expect, and this is a highly influential factor in increasing GH production. Changing your exercise routine is really simple: choose to do one specific form of exercise (run, swim, lift, bike, etc.) for one week, making each workout different throughout the week, and then choose to do a different form of exercise the next week, with correspondingly different workouts as well. Your body will produce much more GH by implementing these simple changes in exercise and workout selection than by doing the same form of exercise and the same workouts over and over again. It's not hard, extra _smarter_ effort is the only ingredient required. Make every week's form of exercise different, make every day's workout different, and you've got it. Do not allow your body to adapt, do not allow your body to become efficient. Change of direction is as much healthy for the body as it is for the mind and spirit.

Intermediates Summary

The easiest way for intermediates to transition to doing PNF-type workouts is acceleration. Acceleration will release the potential that intermediates have stored up from having limber muscles and the discipline needed to invest the time and effort into exercise. It's the infusion of extra, smarter effort to accelerate that is key for an intermediate's progression and advancement with PNF. Intermediates must spice up their exercise with the variety acceleration offers, and once they do, they will never again stay one-sided. The transition from intermediate to advanced level fitness is much easier than the transition from nothing to beginner, or from beginner to an intermediate fitness level, so take advantage of the opportunity. Plus remember, the fitter you become, the more benefits you receive. It is undoubtedly in the intermediate's best interest to take the step forward and attain an advanced fitness level.

Advanced

These are the warriors, the people that love the burn, the people that push themselves hard, the people that work out four to six times a week, the people that do multiple different exercises and workouts, the people that lament the days they have to take to recover with a melancholy. These are also the elite-level athletes involved in high-intensity sports. Put simply, these people love to exercise at high-intensity in any way, shape, or form, and have extraordinary bodies adapted to being capable of handling large volumes of high-intensity exercise many days a week. Advanced level fitness people are most likely already performing workouts that are very similar to PNF-type workouts. These people are very fit and some of the topics in this book may already be known to them, but it is always great to reinforce and expand your knowledge in a field you are well read in. Advanced level fitness people do not need much guidance to follow PNF, and I'm certain they could perform the PNF workouts tomorrow if they wished. Nevertheless, I do have some advice that they may or may not know that could be unexpectedly useful. The biggest factors that advanced level fitness people must take into account are: one, the importance of recovery, two, proper nutrition, and three, the option of specialization.

1. Recovery

The body responds miraculously to high-intensity exercise. In fact, it responds miraculously to any stimulus presented, but it can only recover if it is allowed sufficient time to do so. Hitting the body with high-intensity exercise repeatedly for too long is not good because it doesn't allow the body enough time to recover. Not to mention that it is actually very harmful to your health to engage in frequent high-intensity exercise. Many advanced level fitness people fall into the trap of overtraining where they perform too much high-intensity exercise over a certain length of time. The result is their stress levels skyrocket and they become weaker. Finding more time to recover between workouts has extraordinary benefits for the advanced level warrior who is performing a high volume of high-intensity exercise. This is called tapering, or strategic de-conditioning, and it can make you even stronger and faster than before. It also primes you for greater release of GH after the tapering period, and serves as a fantastic plateau breaker.

Tapering is all about recovering for a longer time than usual, given a month's span of exercise. It is usually considered after three to four weeks of high-intensity work. For example, if you work out five to six times a week for three weeks, each day doing a PNF workout, tapering would mean doing only light-intensity exercises for the entire following fourth week. This extra time allows your body to recover and become potentiated, or primed for even greater performance.

Remember, the body has two different types of muscle fiber in general, fast-twitch and slow-twitch. The fast-twitch fibers can be divided further into two subtypes of fast-twitch fibers:

 Fast-twitch(a)

 Fast-twitch(b)

They have specific names, but I'm using these character-code versions as an easy way to refer to them. If we were to classify all the muscle fiber types from weakest to strongest, most aerobic to most anaerobic, least powerful to most powerful, most used to least used, it would be like this:

Slow-twitch → fast-twitch(a) → fast-twitch(b)

Looking at that, you can see that the muscle fiber type wielding the greatest GH producing potential is the fast-twitch(b) type. These are the muscle fibers that a desperate mom would use to lift a car off her child; the muscle fibers that break world records in the Olympics; the muscle fibers that do seemingly impossible superhuman feats of instantaneous physical exertion. Having a higher percentage of them will boost your athletic performance and prime you for greater GH production. The role that tapering plays is to increase your overall proportion of the fast-twitch(b) type (19). Here is a theoretical example to help you comprehend it better:

Let's say that out of all your fast-twitch fibers, 15% of them are the fast-twitch(b) type and the other 85% are the fast-twitch(a) type. Let's also say you are currently doing a high volume of PNF, approximately five days a week. You then choose to taper down to only one PNF workout a week with the rest of the time filled with lighter workouts. At the end of that week, theoretically you should see your percentage of fast-twitch(b) fiber type increased significantly.

That extra percentage of fast-twitch(b) type fibers gained from spending down time recovering will boost your performance big time when you hit PNF again, or you compete in intense athletic competition. You are primed and potentiated with more fast-twitch(b) type muscle fibers that contain ultimate power. You also produce more GH because fast-twitch(b) fibers are better 'spark' creators than there fast-twitch(a) counterparts.

In general, recovery is often times overlooked by advanced level fitness people. Paying more attention to it and its effects is crucial for further progress.

2. Proper Nutrition

Good recovery also encompasses putting the right foods and beverages into your body. I cannot stress enough the importance of water and hydration. Actually, it is even vital to the average person who does little to no exercise on a regular basis, so imagine how vital it is for you, the advanced level warrior who does high-intensity exercise! Studies show good hydration improves performance, making you stronger and faster. It makes sense because your muscles must utilize large quantities of water to move you with speed and strength. Moreover, your body needs it to perform all its regular bodily functions. Heck, we are 70% water! Water is critical, drink it all day long. Drink it until your urine has no color and becomes crystal clear. Also make sure your water is clean and free of chemical contaminants. Be aware that most tap water sources are contaminated with hundreds of unregulated, hazardous chemicals. The majority of bottled water is just tap water as well, so if you don't have access to a natural supply of fresh water (a well or a mountain spring source), consider a reverse osmosis water filter for reliably clean water.

Next is the importance of putting proper food into your body. More on this topic will be presented in an upcoming chapter, but I want to stress its importance for the advanced level warrior. Food is fuel. Here is an analogy:

If you like pushing your turbo sports car to the extreme and winning races, are you going to put grade 'A' fuel into it, or grade 'F' fuel (garbage) into it? The car will run optimally with grade 'A' fuel in it, and blow fumes with grade 'garbage' fuel in it.

The same goes for your body. Put grade 'A' fuel into it and you will fly. Put grade 'F' fuel into it and you will not go nearly as far, not nearly as fast, and not nearly as strong as with grade 'A' fuel in your system. Furthermore, good foods will augment your GH production. Think of it as adding better burning wood to the fire (GH production). The upcoming chapter on dietary recommendations will cover what constitutes healthy grade 'A' fuel.

3. Specialization (Optional)

At the advanced fitness level, you have all the tools necessary to reach ultimate levels of success in a given field: discipline, good hard effort, grit, mental toughness. Sticking with only one certain field or form of exercise with PNF will make you extremely efficient at that form of exercise. This has been mentioned previously as something to avoid, but this option could be potentially worthwhile for athletes because it gives them the best possible physical preparation for their given form of exercise. Specializing means narrowing down to one form of exercise, maybe even two if it is done to a small degree, while tailoring the workouts to specifically match your competitions demands. It is done to make your body efficient, using less energy to do more high-intensity work. It goes against the important notion of having variety of exercise, but it comes with the benefit of becoming extremely efficient in a given field of performance. Here is an example:

Let's say you are a soccer player. Specifically, a mid-fielder, the player that does the most back-and-forth, medium-to-longer distance runs in the game. The way to use PNF to your advantage, besides playing the game intensely and regularly, would be devising workouts that revolve around sprinting the same distances you sprint in a soccer game. It could be arranged in a variety of ways, but with the same basic PNF format in place. For example, doing repeated 50-meter sprints.

By doing this, you are essentially preparing your body for this one form of exercise. That way, once you enter in competition, you are physically and specifically conditioned to dominate the opponents with superior 'specialized' fitness. With specialization, the workouts may become slightly longer and involve much more work than usual. This is because the bodies efficiency must be matched with increased effort and volume to further improve your already high exercise efficiency. Specialization will not produce a larger amount of GH as compared to varied exercise, but it makes performing a given type of exercise much easier, which is very beneficial for athletes.

Specialization is an option that advanced level warriors have if they choose to focus themselves further. Otherwise, it is highly recommended to perform PNF with a variety of different exercises.

Advanced Summary

The advanced level warriors may think they have the whole exercise-thing in the bag, but they must check these few details in order to continue their improvement: recovery and proper nutrition. These will prime the warriors to continue to grow and improve, becoming supremely fit and healthy. The option of specialization is also a consideration if the advanced-level warrior wishes, for it may be in the best interest of athletes who want to train in a way that is specifically geared to match the demands of their competition.

Once you are at the advanced level of fitness, you will see that exercising becomes your nature, your essence, and part of who you are. You will rarely ever consciously think about high-intensity exercise as much as beginners and intermediates do because it will become just another part of regular life. Regardless of fitness state though, I do challenge you to continue to improve. The sky is the limit. One of the best experiences in life is improvement and growth, and PNF is the ultimate tool for improvement and growth in physical fitness, health, and many other components of life. Use PNF as a sword and shield to guide you through the battle of life. Use it to cut-down competition, become victorious in accomplishing your goals, protect you against disease, drive you towards healthful longevity, guard you against the signs of aging, stand out amongst your companions, and bring you to the golden gates of success. Stick with it. Put effort into it. Love it. Become an ultimate warrior with PNF.

# Dietary & Lifestyle Recommendations

The purpose of this chapter is to serve as a guideline if you wish to further maximize the benefits from PNF. This chapter is essentially all about 'fueling the flame', or putting higher quality logs on the fire you have already created. By combining successful PNF workouts with these guidelines, you will maximize the benefits derived from performing PNF workouts. You may choose not to follow them, and that is perfectly fine. The information is presented so at least you have the knowledge to further optimize your GH production with sound dietary and lifestyle choices if you wish. Though, I highly suggest following the recommendations so you obtain the most fruit from your effort. It is wise to increase the value of your well invested time and effort for your own benefit. The recommendations are divided between dietary recommendations and lifestyle recommendations.

Dietary Recommendations

What constitutes 'healthy eating' has been heavily miscued by big food companies and their advertisements throughout the decades. Really, it's not that confusing as to what's truly healthy for you and what's not. The problem is that people get bombarded with deceptive, profit-driven, biased information that pulls them away from the truth, and plants them with false information on what is truly healthy. Health and nutrition ends up becoming a confusing subject when you have all sorts of claims being thrown around. What I'm going to present are the most basic fundamentals of eating healthy, the fundamentals everyone should abide by for solid foundational health. Having a healthy diet is not only important for being capable of performing PNF, but it is also important for weight control, disease prevention, and proper bodily functioning. What you eat determines a large part of your near and long-term future wellbeing, both in direct and indirect ways. With that said, performing PNF and eating healthy foods will compound your benefits and give you much, much more than just performing the workouts alone with an unhealthy diet. These recommendations will give your GH production an extra boost rather than blunting your GH production from bad eating. Unfortunately, bad eating is very easy in today's society, but once again, if you put in the time and effort, good health is easily attainable. Here are the do's and don'ts of the dietary recommendations.

1. Eat According To Your Nutritional Type

Everyone's bodies are unique. No two people are exactly alike. You can see this on an external level by observing peoples' appearances, personalities, and habits. Uniqueness also exists on an internal level however, one being the level of specific nutritional demands:

"We have all been subjected to general and often vague food recommendations by so-called experts, even though it has been over 2,000 years since the ancient Roman philosopher Lucretius observed the profound truth that 'What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others.' (Over the years, this statement was re-phrased, and in modern times it is most commonly known as, 'One man's food is another man's poison.')" (20).

The foods that are healthy for you may not be healthy for someone else. Everybody has a different specific nutritional profile of foods that suit them optimally, as well as foods that are terrible for them. Some foods give us satisfaction and sustained energy, and other foods drain us of life and positive enthusiasm.

To find out what foods are best for you, you must listen to your body throughout the day. Figure out what foods make you satisfied for longer and eliminate your hunger; what foods give you positive energy and enthusiasm; what foods make you feel trim and help you maintain a healthy weight. These are the foods you want to be eating (note: no junk, artificial, or fast foods are included with this, only whole natural foods).

You will know if certain foods are NOT for your nutritional type if they cause any of the following effects:

 Make you feel hungry again within an hour or two of eating while still feeling physically full.

 Drain you of energy.

 Make you pack on weight fast.

 Give you wild mood swings.

 Make you feel bloated and negative.

 Just make you feel bad.

They could even be whole healthy foods, but if they provoke any of these adverse effects, they are not meant for your specific nutritional type and you should consequently avoid them.

The order and variety in which you eat your foods is also another important factor, but you must first determine your nutritional type. Dr. Mercola's website is my favorite natural health website. He covers nutritional typing extensively, and offers a free nutritional typing test and a free e-book on nutritional typing for registered members (no fee required). I highly recommend looking over this wonderful source of information, Dr. Mercola is a true pioneer of healthy living and I'm grateful for all the work he has done in informing others on practically everything related to health.

By eating foods according to your specific nutritional type, you will optimize your insulin levels and achieve optimal health. This will in turn lead to noticeable rises in your GH production.

2. Eat Real Food

The title is misconceiving because although it sounds simple, for the majority, it is not. It requires persistence, effort, and a passionate commitment to your health to eat real food instead of fake food on a consistent basis. What is fake food? Virtually any food you can find in gas station markets; the majority of the menu options in almost all fast-food establishments; the so-called 'junk' food that includes chips, pop, cookies, candy, pastries/doughnuts, and many other foods that are too numerous to list. Do not put this garbage in your system! You are much more valuable than that! It's like feeding toxic weeds to a racehorse. Why in the world would you do that! You deserve better. Nourish yourself with the real foods your body was meant to consume.

Real foods are all unprocessed foods: vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, properly prepared legumes (soaked and rinsed), whole sprouted unrefined grains, spices (not chemical, factory made fake spices), certain dairy, meats, fish, and eggs. As a general rule of thumb, you know if a food is refined and processed if: it comes in a package, has five or more ingredients, has artificial additives, has artificial preservatives, and/or has ingredients that should not belong with the food (e.g. high fructose corn syrup in ketchup).

Dairy, meats, fish, and eggs are a bit more difficult and complex. Ideally, for dairy, meat, fish, and eggs, you want the animal sources to be antibiotic free, hormone free, pasture raised, and grass fed for the highest quality. The USDA Organic certification legally requires most of these specifications (all but grass fed) so look for that seal for guaranteed quality. These types of dairy, meat, fish, and egg products can be slightly more costly than the conventional dairy, meat, fish and eggs, but if you can and are willing to make that investment in yourself, fantastic! It is by far the best choice for your health. Otherwise, there are practical alternatives:

 Dairy: Raw milk dairy products are the highest quality dairy foods you can purchase in terms of beneficial nutrients. Yes, even over organic dairy products, which are pasteurized. The raw milk sources MUST come from healthy grass-fed cows however. If you cannot get grass-fed, dairy products, shoot for the organic versions. This applies for milk, sour cream, yogurt, and the wide variety of cheeses. Since this isn't entirely practicable for many, the pasteurized versions are fine in some cases. Every cheese that is not 'American' cheese is in general a healthier cheese; all the yogurts and sour creams that are plain, with only one or two ingredients (no added corn starches or sugars) are better choices. Limit your consumption of dairy to little or none if you: one, can't get either the raw or organic versions, or two, do not have dairy as part of your nutritional type (studies have shown there may be a relationship between lactose and casein, two allergenic nutrients in dairy, and cancer growth in some individuals).

 Beef, Poultry, and Pork: Do not eat conventional processed meats like salami, pepperoni, bacon, or many of the pre-sliced deli meats you find in supermarkets. They all tend to have strong carcinogenic preservatives and come from sick animals. Get regular whole slabs of beef, pork, chickens, and turkeys. If you insist on having traditional deli meats, make sure they come from healthy animals and are preserved with salts only, not artificial chemicals. I highly recommend limiting your consumption of all conventional supermarket meats though. Watch the documentary Food Inc. and you'll understand why. In short, the animals destined to most supermarket fridges are very sick and stressed by being raised in confined operations filled with their own manure. For your health's sake, I would make the choice to buy smaller quantities of higher quality local, organic, healthy sources over buying larger quantities of the conventional meats. Quality over quantity all the way.

 Eggs: Try to find cage-free or antibiotic-free varieties. Many supermarkets are offering these varieties at a price relatively close to the price of regular eggs.

 Fish: Fish is a bit trickier. Because most oceans are heavily polluted with all sorts of toxins, the most notorious of which is the heavy metal mercury, fish are now being caught and farmed with increasing amounts of toxins in their systems. Choosing to eat fish on a regular basis can be deleterious to your health if the wrong types of fish are consumed. As a general rule, smaller fish are OK to eat regularly because they have the least amount of toxins built up in them. Bigger fish are definitely NOT OK to eat regularly because they have large amounts of toxins built up in them. Sardines are perfect small fish to eat regularly; tuna is the perfect large fish to avoid on a regular basis. Wild Alaskan Salmon is a great fish that can be eaten regularly, but the real stuff can be hard to find. If it doesn't say Alaskan, good chances are it's factory farmed. I encourage you to check out and explore gotmercury.org for listings on mercury content in fish. They have a fun calculator that outputs EPA and FDA standardized intake limits of mercury depending on your weight, what fish you eat, and how much of it you have.

As a final recommendation, read food labels in detail and learn about the different ingredients manufacturers put in some foods. It will help you be aware of what is healthy and/acceptable, and what is unhealthy and should be avoided. By being vigilant, you will learn with time how to distinguish whole food from fake food without even thinking at all. Your body will tell the difference. Eating real food is your foundation, the base that will support you to reach superior health and optimal GH production.

3. Eat Good Protein

GH is essentially a protein, so to make more of it you need a complete variety of essential amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Your body makes many of them, but there are some your body cannot produce on its own, so they must be obtained through diet. These are called essential amino acids and they are prominently found in dairy, meats, fish, eggs, and special grain sources like quinoa. Most plant-based foods don't have complete proteins; they lack a few of the essential amino acids necessary to make a complete protein. That's where certain combinations of complementary plant foods, like rice and beans for example, come into play to provide complete proteins through plant foods. Keep note that even though plant-based foods have incomplete proteins, they still serve as optimum protein sources on days you don't do PNF. More on this will follow.

Just like our bodies are programmed to produce GH from anaerobic exercise activities, our bodies are also programmed to burn fat after consuming good protein. This is because when early man, like our caveman Maximus, killed animal game and feasted on it after being in a state of hunger for a long time, the body responded by thinking:

"Times are great! I'm getting all this essential protein after being hungry for a long time!"

In effect, it makes the body cut its body-fat reserves because the times of famish have been warded off.

Consuming complete protein is one of the strongest ways to 'fuel the fire,' or help your body produce more GH. In effect, it helps your body cut body-fat by the dual combination of GH and the metabolic heat production of protein (protein produces more heat when digested than fats or carbohydrates). Be aware however that constant high metabolic activity is not healthy in the long-run. Like running an engine too hot for too long, excess heat wares down everything and reduces longevity.

The catch is to get good, healthy, quality protein, and not consume large quantities of it regularly. What Maximus the caveman ate was wild, free-range, 'organic', pasture-fed, healthy game, and so its protein was of the highest quality (so was its fat for that matter too). He wasn't able to eat it every single day though because such high quality protein was hard to obtain. Meat and fat was a treasure of Nature that he had to work hard for and ration when times were barren. This means two-fold for you: one, stay away from the processed proteins like bacon and hot dogs, and two, strive to eat your largest proportions of whole high quality proteins on the days you do your PNF workouts. On your rest days, good protein sources include nuts, seeds, beans, and certain grains. These are the foods Maximus would have resorted to when the hunt was unsuccessful (except beans and grains). Make these your primary protein sources on your off days as they are not as metabolically taxing as are the complete proteins. These are the proteins that will sustain and cool your engine when you don't want it running strong on your recovery days.

 Whey Protein: One of the best complete proteins available, which I strongly recommend, is whey protein. Whey protein is the golden protein and is GH's best friend. It contains all the essential amino acids, plus it boosts your body's production of powerful antioxidants, it builds muscle, it gives muscle high-octane energy, it burns fat, it is easily assimilated into the body, and has a host of other amazing benefits (21). Whey protein is one of the best inexpensive investments you can make in incorporating high quality complete protein in your diet.

_High quality_ whey protein is the key however. Just like high quality meats and dairies, the best whey comes from grass-fed cows. The whey should be cold processed, micro-filtered (not ion-exchange or hydrolyzed), and sweetened with a natural sweetener like stevia if preferred. Avoid sweeteners like Splenda (sucralose), aspartame, acesulfame K, fructose, and sugar (sucrose).

The best part about this golden protein is that the high-quality whey derived by the best sources and methods mentioned above can be purchased for only one to two dollars per serving! With one serving on your PNF days, your body will be primed for increased GH production. Putting down a dollar on your PNF days towards your health with this super protein is one of the best choices you can make for your overall health and GH production. Consuming whey protein with the PNF workouts is the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a fire. Your GH production will soar. I highly recommend a good, _high quality_ whey protein.

All good, complete proteins in general are amazing GH enhancers. Make sure to add them into your diet strategically though by consuming them mostly on your PNF days. On off days, incomplete proteins are your best bet.

4. Avoid Sugar and Flour

Refined and processed sugar and flour are detrimental to your health and GH production. They have a wide array of different names and show up in practically every junk and fast food. These two overlooked, misunderstood, and taken-for-granted staples of the typical Western diet contribute practically nothing to your overall health. In fact, they actually destroy your body's health. Sugar and flour are hazards to your insulin sensitivity because they cause massive surges in blood glucose and insulin, followed by subsequent massive drops in blood glucose and insulin. These dramatic highs and lows in blood glucose and insulin levels are your one-way ticket to diabetes. Maintaining a constant and steady insulin level is the key to life-long health. By wrecking your insulin sensitivity in this fashion, you also comprise your GH production. Recall that somatostatin release is correlated with insulin levels, so these unhealthy swings in insulin levels will shut off your GH production.

If you really want to maximize your GH production, and your long-term health for that matter, you must avoid these common carcinogens. Cancer thrives off of sugar (22). Sugar is cancer's number-one ideal fuel, so why put concentrated, isolated forms of refined sugar and flour in your body? Flour is no different than sugar if you happen to be confused about their supposed difference. Starches, the complex carbohydrates in flour, are really just longer chains of glucose to your body. When your body digests starch, it breaks it down into its individual glucose molecules, so consuming starch is the equivalent of consuming sugar, just in larger packets or chains. Reducing your chances of getting cancer is as easy as cutting back, or ideally eliminating, all simple sugars and flours from your diet.

Refined sugars and flours are the sugars and starches that come from the heavy processing of a specific, sugar/starch rich plant. Typical plants used for refined sugars and flours are wheat, corn, sugar beet/cane, and soy. Take notice that fruits and vegetables in their natural state provide the supporting nutrients necessary to go with their natural amounts of sugars and starches. Our bodies were designed to process these _whole_ fruits and vegetables from their natural state, not massed isolated parts of the plants. Refining and processing a plant for only its sugars and starches, the parts of the plant you actually want to avoid, is exactly the way sugar and flour is produced. Our bodies weren't designed to consume these isolated forms of sugars and starches without their corresponding fiber, natural vitamins, and encasement in a _whole_ fruit or vegetable structure.

Fructose, a specific type of sugar found mostly in fruits, is probably one of the worst sugars available. You want to avoid its isolated, refined, and processed form (i.e. high fructose corn syrup) at all costs. Fruits are not bad for your health, unless overeaten, but high fructose corn syrup on the other hand is extremely hazardous to your health. Once again, it is the mass isolation and refinement of a single compound, in this case fructose, which is the obvious indicator that it is hazardous to your health. Once fructose is in your body, it is stored immediately as fat, no questions asked. Your body can't burn it off as energy because it can only burn glucose, glycogen (glucose chains), or fat for energy production. The only place it has to go then since it cannot be used upon consumption is directly to body fat storage (22). It also has a very strong correlation with many other chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, and hypertension to name a few; therefore avoid all high fructose corn syrup and other concentrates of fructose.

Avoiding sugar and flour as much as possible will make you and your body age significantly slower, and produce more GH. Be sure to start reading more labels and thinking more about what you are putting in your body.

5. Don't Overeat, Eat Lots of Fibrous Veggies

Overeating is very easy to do (think Thanksgiving) and is sort of preprogrammed into our bodies, so it can be tricky to deal with. The problem with overeating is that it puts more energy into your system than what it needs at one given time, so your body simply stores the excess energy as fat for possible use later on. This energy storage mechanism was very important during caveman times because they never knew when their next meal would be, so feasting during the times they had food plentiful allowed them to store the fat necessary to survive during times of famine. Now it is not so desirable because times of famine do not exist with all the food available to us, and the majority of people are not apt fat burners.

Overeating also throws-off your hormonal balance, so besides directly storing body fat from putting too much energy in your system, it will also make you store additional fat indirectly through imbalanced hormonal effects. Imbalanced hormonal effects can make you feel hungry when your body doesn't need food, or make you eat large amounts of sweets (same as eating against your nutritional type). These imbalanced hormones will adversely affect GH production.

Here is a comprehensive list of habits that you should employ to avoid overeating:

 **Eat slowly and enjoy your meal.** Studies have shown that fewer calories are consumed overall when you take the time to chew well and eat your food slowly. It takes around twenty minutes for your body to signal that you've had enough food and you should stop eating, so it is important to eat slower to allow your body sufficient time to tell you when it has had enough food. You also give due respect to the food that is sustaining you when you eat slower, which I believe is an unquestionable duty that each and every individual must perform every time they eat (especially when you consume meat from an animal). Food gives us life, so respect it, honor it; without it, we wouldn't be able to live.

 **Eat only when you're hungry.** This is pretty effortless and clear-cut. If you're hungry, eat; if you're not hungry, don't eat. If it is breakfast time, lunch time, or dinner time and you find yourself not hungry, don't eat just because it's those mealtimes. Your body is not robotic, it is highly dynamic with differing demands each day. Also make sure you eat according to your nutritional type, that way your body is satisfied and you are less hungry throughout the day.

 **Don't starve yourself unless you do it intentionally (fast).** When you go too long of a time without eating, your body goes into starvation mode. Once in starvation mode, you will want to eat everything in sight, even more so the garbage processed foods. Unless you fast intentionally and control how much you eat when you break the fast, try not to create a large energy/nutritional deficit on yourself.

 **Eat protein with every meal.** Depending on what nutritional type you are and if you did a PNF workout, make sure you arrange what type of protein you eat. Don't consume too much protein in one meal though because your body can only process so much at one sitting, the rest is converted into sugars, which is not what you want. Listen to your body carefully, it will tell you how much it needs.

 **Eat plenty of non-starchy vegetables.** Non-starchy vegetables are beneficial to all nutritional types. They are full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber that everyone needs to thrive. They will help you consume less food and stay satisfied for longer.

 **Stop eating when you're about 80% full.** When you feel balanced and have good positive energy after eating a certain amount of food, stop eating. Eat what you need and move on, it's that simple. Again, listen to your body.

 **Don't eat while distracted.** Watching TV, working on something, using the computer, or having a stressful conversation are all examples of common distractions people engage in while eating. Any scenario that distracts you from your eating can lead you to eat more than your body needs. They lead you away from your primary concern of listening to your body and so you miss your bodies satiety signals. You only need to eat a few times a day when you're healthy, maybe even once, so it is a very small amount of time from your day; therefore when you do eat, take the time to enjoy it to its fullest. This respect and appreciation towards food is one that is highly lacking in today's society. Again, respect the food that is giving you life.

 **Eat on smaller plates.** Our link to food consumption is definitely fascinating from a psychological perspective. Studies have shown that eating on smaller plates will help you eat less food than eating on bigger plates. Eating from smaller plates and bowls helps you control your food intake so you consume precisely what you need; leaving less food wasted which is another major problem in today's society.

 **Eat more veggies!** If you do choose to overeat for some given reason, overeat in the food types and food combinations outlined by your nutritional type. Those would be a safe option for maintaining a positive hormonal balance to help you burn it off later. Vegetables are your best food option to feast on though given they aren't very energy dense (the non-starchy variety). If you are confused about which vegetables are starchy and which are non-starchy, the easiest way to find out is to know whether the vegetables grew above or below ground. If it grew above ground, it is most-likely non-starchy; if it grew below ground, it is most likely starchy. Non-starchy vegetables that you should consume daily to help guard against overeating and improve your health include:

cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, asparagus, cucumber, Brussels sprouts, sprouts, green beans, bok choy, swiss chard, arugula, romaine lettuce, spinach, collard greens, kale, mushrooms, celery, onions, garlic, zucchini, radishes, and bell peppers.

 **Move more.** Performing PNF workouts and staying active throughout the day will also help you eat less throughout the day because it helps sensitize your hunger hormones. That way you 'hear' clearer, correct hunger signals from your body when it needs nutrition.

If you want to get a six pack, watching how much you eat is one of the key components. Diet is has the most influence over your body-fat levels, so recognize that if you eat badly while on a PNF regimen, or any exercise regimen for that matter, you may not end up losing any weight. Even worse, you may possibly gain some weight in body-fat if you don't eat well while exercising. In general, not overeating is a very simple recommendation, but it is one that can be very hard for people to actually practice.

6. Eat Less

Eating less is be very beneficial to your insulin sensitivity, GH production, and your overall health. This is because eating is one of the biggest stresses we put on our bodies. Studies have shown that going longer times without food induces greater GH production, and studies have also shown that eating less slows down aging and consequently increases lifespan (23). Eating less has a strong anti-aging effect while eating more speeds the aging process. It has to do with the fact that primitive man's bodies adapted to times of famine by stopping the aging process until times of food and abundance came around. During the times of famine, they had greater GH production to burn off fat for survival. Their bodies essentially 'hunkered down' to survive. This is another big reason why it is excellent to do PNF workouts on an empty stomach when you are hungry, or right after you wake up: you can achieve the greatest gains in GH production by doing high-intensity exercise in the fasted state (12) (18).

If possible and appropriate, try to do a fast once or a couple times a week where you go the entire day or half a day without any food or drink except water. It can be sometimes easy to do a fast on the days you don't do a PNF workout because your body is an idling state rather than a charged state. Capitalize on this and eat less; you will increase your GH, your body will eat off its fat, and you will preserve lean muscle mass all while on your recovery day.

Lifestyle Recommendations

As with the dietary recommendations mentioned above, lifestyle recommendations are meant to complement your GH output by establishing the right environment for it flourish in. Yes, some of these suggestions may be mundane but they still affect your overall health in tremendous ways. Many people take these simple lifestyle choices for granted even though they are subtly important to your overall healthy being. If a healthy diet is your strong foundation and base, then a healthy lifestyle is the strong wooden beams shooting up from your foundation. Essentially, these lifestyle recommendations offer extra support for your GH production so it can remain strong and steady.

1. Get Sunlight

This is number one on the list because of its health benefits. You need to get at least ten minutes of sunlight each day to be at your best. Getting sunlight makes your body produce vitamin D, a vitamin found minimally in foods, but produced in large quantities by your skin. What vitamin D does is spectacular. It fights cancer, helps build muscle, makes you happy, and regulates your cholesterol (24). Sunlight also stabilizes your hormones responsible for helping you sleep well. All of this is acquired in minutes by spending some time in the sun. Why do you think everyone is much happier in summer than in winter? Sunlight! It is very simple, go outside with shorts and a short sleeve-shirt and do something outside for a while. Make a garden, go for a walk, do a PNF workout, relax, play some Tejo (which I strongly recommend as it is definitely the best new recreational game out there). The vitamin D you produce from being in the sun and the better sleep you will have at night will greatly enhance your GH. Get out and 'fuel the flame' with sunlight!

2. Get Decent Sleep

Much of the importance of sleep was already mentioned in the second chapter, but I'd like to bring it up briefly again. Your largest quantity of GH is released during deep sleep, so make sure you are getting deep sleep. PNF workouts will help you reach deep sleep easier because they make you very tired by the end of the day. Take naps as well, they can have profound impacts on your energy levels. Make sure when you sleep all of your bedroom's fixtures of light and sound are off so you may reach deep sleep with greater success.

3. Think Positive

You may have heard this many times before, but you probably have not realized how powerful it actually is. Studies have shown the beneficial effects of positive thinking to your mind and body time and time again. You gain strength in every sense of the word we you think positive, speak positive, and have a positive posture. Your muscles, your immunity, your cardiovascular system, your digestive system... it all fortifies with positive vibes and leads to greater GH production in some way or another.

A positive attitude will get you out of bed each day with excitement and make you excel in your fitness improvement, or anything for that matter. Thinking positive gives you strength whereas thinking negative sucks away your strength. You may notice that the times you are happiest, you feel like you can do anything in the world. The world is at your fingertips and its one of the most incredible sensations you can experience. You are a positive being overflowing with energy at these times, and creating these times more often is what you want to help you excel in life. Using this power of positivity will give the strength and energy necessary to blast through any fitness plateaus in a single workout.

Thinking positive is not only consciously thinking positive, but subconsciously thinking positive as well. The conscious can only behold one thought at a time, but the subconscious can take an infinite amount of things into its awareness at the same time. Use your conscious to guide your subconscious to positivity, and there you have a key to success. You can do this by consciously thinking positive, but more importantly, 'thinking' less overall and just _feeling_ the positivity and _visualizing_ the positivity more. The subconscious works better with emotion, visualization, feeling, and intuition. Continue to repeat positive thoughts all day. Eventually, if you repetitively drill positive thoughts in your head, you will make your subconscious automatically bring up positive thoughts.

One of the strongest ways of reaching this state is also through listening to music that you like. Listen to music that makes you forget about everything on your mind, and inspires you every time you hear it. Use it in your PNF workouts! Listening to music you like that is upbeat during your workouts has been scientifically shown to improve your performance! It's exactly because of the positivity that is created throughout your subconscious, which the music reaches directly. Strength and energy emerges from inside you while you become wrapped up in the 'now' and not the past or the future. You live in the moment.

4. Keep Track of Your Progress

Whether you make a mental note of how you did each workout, or you write down in a journal how you felt and performed each workout, keep tally of your progress. This helps for improvement, but also for direction. It helps for improvement by showing you what you have already done, and it helps for direction by showing you areas you can improve on.

Judge each one of your PNF workout performances. Judge the effort you put in, how you think you did, how you felt at the end, what you think may have held you back, what helped you perform well... everything that has to do with how you felt before, during, and after the workout. Track it and through time it will serve as your reference point to show you how much you have improved. At the same time, also make goals for the future. Set your sights on where you want to go, and go there. Continuously write down or keep track in your head what you want to accomplish and what heights you want to reach. Eventually, if you put the effort in, you will reach your goal and will be able to set forth new goals to reach.

Direction in life is just as necessary as thinking positive because without direction, power is useless. Having a solid direction and a positive thinking channel will funnel all that positive strength and energy right down your path and propel you to your goals faster than you think.

5. Learn New Stuff

GH does marvelous work on the brain. It improves all mental faculties and sharpens thinking. One way it does this is by making it more elastic, or more flexible. When your brain is more elastic, you create new pathways, learn things faster, and expand upon things you already know (7) (14). Put this benefit to use and learn new things! You will learn anything much faster while performing PNF workouts. Make time each day to explore something new or improve upon something you already know. Create new pathways in your brain and fortify existing ones. GH will aid you, and reciprocally, you will aid it. Learning new material may reciprocally aid your GH production because you will be creating a new stimulus for your body to adapt to, which it will respond to by producing more GH. Pick up a book on your favorite subject, join an intellectual club, do research in an area that interests you, or practice new skills you always wanted to have. You will aid yourself and your GH production at the same time by putting your mind to use.

Recommendations Summary

These dietary and lifestyle recommendations are for you to know if you choose to maximize your GH efficiency and production. Of course, there will always be exceptions and not everybody can follow the guidelines 100% every day of every year. Following the majority of these is not too difficult though, and you will see that once you consciously incorporate them into your daily life, they will become second-nature habits for you.

# Supplement Special

There are many different supplements out in the market for GH. Some stimulate your body's own natural production of GH. Others cause in increase in GH levels by direct infusion of synthetic GH. Supplements can be very powerful tools to aid you in increasing GH levels and making your flame even more potent. You must choose them wisely however, for they are not all the same. If you choose to invest in supplements to increase your GH production, this section will serve as your guide. Otherwise, don't fret, supplementation is not necessary.

Caution

Do not buy any sort of GH replacement therapy or GH injection supplements because infusing yourself with synthetic/artificial GH is not healthy and can have adverse negative side effects. Introducing synthetic GH to your system throws off your body's natural production of GH, creating an imbalance that is not good for your long-term production of GH. Steer clear of any synthetic GH! They are definitely not worth the short-term benefits of increased GH circulation. Also avoid any sort of supplement that does not have natural ingredients. Read labels and make sure you aren't taking artificial, toxic supplements.

For safety, you should consult your physician before embarking on any growth hormone enhancing supplementation regimen. The following recommendations are not intended to be medical advice and you should always seek and follow the advice of a qualified physician first and foremost.

The Good Stuff

I recommend supplements that are GH releasers. Many scientific studies have identified the primary ingredients that are potent GH releasers. GH releasers are supplements that stimulate your body's own natural production of GH, a far better choice than introducing synthetic GH into your system. Even with natural supplements there may be some potential side effects though (mostly from over-dosages), so you should consult your physician to figure out what dosages are best for you. All of the GH releasers tend to be amino acids, some sort of plant extract, a mineral, or a naturally occurring acid, so they are 'natural' ingredients. They are not synthetic chemicals that have almost no direct origin from Nature.

Here is a list of the best GH releasers, brief information on them, suggested dosage, and their potential side effects. Take note: many of the amino acids listed are found in large concentrations in whey protein.

1. L-Arginine

2. L-Glutamine

3. L-Lysine

4. L-Ornithine

5. L-Glycine

6. L-Dopa

7. GABA

8. Melatonin

9. Alpha GPC

1. L-Arginine

This amino acid is one of the most powerful GH releasers of all the amino acids. Many studies have been done on this one amino acid. Its ability to enhance GH production is almost unmatched. One of its main capabilities is its power of shutting off somatostatin (25). GH can be produced much more freely without the inhibitor present in the body. L-Arginine is also a precursor for creatine, an amino substance that increases ATP production, your highest octane energy source. It allows you to exercise much more intensely before fatiguing.

Dosages can range from one to thirty grams, your amount will be unique depending on your weight, gender, physical activity, and health goals. Be aware that it has been shown best not to take L-Arginine before or after exercise for the best GH effect (26). It is also most effective when taken on an empty stomach (no food for about three hours before), and before you go to sleep (27). Some common side effects for L-Arginine, when ingested in unhealthy dosages, are gastric disturbance and headaches (25).

Overall, if you take a healthy, small amount of this amino acid, your GH will be greatly enhanced while avoiding the potential side effects. This is unquestioningly one of the best GH releasers you can take.

2. L-Glutamine

You can almost never go wrong with this amino acid. Only two to five grams are necessary for L-Glutamine to work its magic on your GH (28). L-Glutamine has been shown to have very few side effects, even at high dosages (29), but you still don't need that much of it to have a positive impact on your GH production.

3. L-Lysine

This amino acid is strongest when taken in combination with L-Arginine. It has a synergistic effect with L-Arginine that makes their combination an even stronger GH releaser. One study shows that the GH increase is two to eight times higher when L-Lysine and L-Arginine are taken together as opposed to just taking the latter alone (30). The best dosage of L-Lysine is the same amount of L-Arginine you take, a one to one ratio. Like L-Arginine, it has been shown to work best when taken during rest and on an empty stomach.

Its side effect, which comes only with extended usage, is a possible increase in cholesterol levels. It can also cause other common side effects such as nausea and diarrhea (29). But don't worry, at the end of the section is a description on how to cycle these amino so extended usage is not an issue.

4. L-Ornithine

This amino acid is derived from L-Arginine. Very small dosages have been shown to be effective in increasing GH levels in bodybuilders (31). Not many side effects are noted for L-Ornithine.

5. L-Glycine

This amino acid has been shown not only to increase GH production, but also increase the body's natural creatine synthesis rates, just like L-Argninine (32). Ideally, it should be taken on an empty stomach in the range of five to twelve grams per day. L-Glycine is a non-essential amino acid and does not have reported side effects.

6. L-Dopa

L-Dopa is an amino acid that is a precursor for dopamine, a 'feel good' chemical your body produces when you are happy. Interestingly, this increases GH levels. Go figure. L-Dopa is at the same level of L-Arginine in terms of being one of the strongest GH releasers available. You only need less than one gram to be effective (33). Doses higher than one gram can give you not so 'feel good' side effects though. Two great sources of L-Dopa are actually food sources: velvet beans and broad beans. Look for them the next time you go shopping. That way you don't have to buy a specific supplement bottle of L-Dopa and worry about dosages.

7. GABA

Gamma aminobutyric acid for short, GABA has been proven to both increase GH production and inhibit GH production in certain scenarios. It is like a double-edged sword that you must wield with caution. When taken at rest, GABA has been shown to increase GH levels. When taken right before, after, or during exercise, it has been shown to inhibit GH production (34). Therefore only take it at rest. Five grams should be a sufficient dosage. GABA's only side effect is the slight sedative effect it may give you (29).

8. Melatonin

Melatonin is the hormone your body produces at night to go to sleep. The more melatonin you have in your body, the easier it is to sleep. Melatonin is a great GH releaser because it helps you reach deep sleep much easier, which is the state where GH levels surge to their peak levels. Even though this supplement is most often a synthetic hormone, it is a special exception where its only proven side effect is sleepiness. You just have to make sure you find a healthy source. Usually melatonin comes in sprays so the supplementation is self explanatory.

9. Alpha GPC

Alpha GPC is a form of choline, a very important nutrient the brain uses to function properly. Its primary role in GH production is its proven capability to curb somatostatin levels (35). It also has many other health benefits besides being a GH releaser. Recommended dosages should be found on the supplement bottle. No side effects have been noted.

Summary & Considerations

This list is not all-inclusive, but it is a largely encompassing list of the best GH releasers available. They are tried and proven to stimulate your GH levels. If you find other GH releasers you would like to try, do some research on them first to make sure they have been confirmed as relatively safe from multiple sources.

Here are a couple final considerations you should keep in mind:

 Take notice that the majority of the amino acids are most effective when taken at rest and on an empty stomach, not before or after exercise.

 It is also very important to 'cycle' your intake of amino acids. Cycling means taking the amino acids for a certain period of time and then ceasing supplementation for a period of time. This is very important because it allows your amino supplements to remain effective by not allowing your body to adapt to them. Your body adapts to everything you do, and it will adapt to the amino acids you take as well, rendering them less effective over time. Most cycles revolve around one to two months supplementation periods followed by one month 'off' periods. Doing this will give you a consistently positive GH enhancement over a large span of time.

 Amino acid supplements also work best when they are 'stacked.' This means taking multiple different amino acids at once. Amino acid combinations tend to be much more powerful than solitary, isolated amino acids taken alone. You can see this with the case of L-Arginine, L-Lysine, and L-Ornithine where studies have proven how powerful they are when taken together versus when they are used separately.

 Remember, do not take more than the recommended doses! Anything in excess is bad, especially with these GH releasers. Be sure to follow the right supplementation amounts labeled on the bottle or by expert advice. Use them moderately and responsibly to complement your PNF workouts and they will help push your results to new heights.

# PNF Lifting Special

The one form of exercise that is most distinguished from the rest is weightlifting. I say this because all the other forms of exercise require you to move your body through a great deal of space (i.e., running, swimming, biking), while lifting is a repeated movement of either a weight or your body within a smaller space. Lifting is a term used to abbreviate resistance training, strength training, weight training, or any sort of exercise using weights. You can use it as your primary form of PNF exercise, the type of exercise you do most often, or it can also be highly effective as a secondary choice of exercise, the type of exercise you don't do most often but still do regularly to mix up your routine. Many studies have been conducted showing the benefits of lifting. It is an excellent way to create the spark because you engage a large number of fast-twitch muscles, and it has also been proven to improve insulin sensitivity. What's nice about lifting is you can also note your improvements clearly (increased weight and/or reps). Lifting will put good healthy muscle on you and keep you independent, functional, and strong. This chapter is a special guide towards using lifting for PNF.

Note: this is not meant to be a bodybuilding guide, but rather a guide to applying PNF towards this relatively unique form of exercise.

Starters

To start, you must first learn how to lift safely and perform each lift correctly. This information can be acquired easily through the Internet, consulting somebody you know that lifts often, or working with a fitness specialist. Correct form is crucial for lifting success. I cannot stress it enough. You can injure yourself easily if you do not have correct form during lifts. Always perform each lift with correct form.

Workout & Exercise Schedule

There are probably thousands of different workouts and exercise schedules that exist with lifting. They have mixed days worked, mixed body parts worked, variable reps performed, and variable sets performed. For PNF lifting, you want to work out three to five times a week if it is your primary form of exercise, and one to two times a week if it is your secondary form of exercise.

All body parts should be worked: legs, chest/shoulders, back, and abdominals. Emphasis should be placed on legs, followed by abs. Abdominal work is vital because it's your center of all strength, your stabilizers, the muscles you work with almost each and every movement you do, so strengthening them will help you in practically every exercise.

Every PNF lifting workout incorporates upper and lower body lifts in one total body workout. As for the order, you want to work your legs first because they will help you create the biggest spark when you are freshest, and because it's best to work out biggest muscles down to smallest muscles during a workout. After the legs, you want to work out the next biggest muscle groups, the chest/shoulders and the back. Little muscle groups like the arms and calves are worked well during the bigger compound lifts so they aren't incorporated in a PNF workout. They would take up precious time that could otherwise be used for greater intensity during your main lifts. Finish your workouts with abdominal work.

All of your lifts with PNF are compound lifts, which means they involve multiple joint movements, not just one (isolation lifts). Isolation lifts do not engage nearly as much muscle as do compound lifts, so compound lifts are what will create the best spark. The compound lifts you can switch around are:

 Legs: squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, plate pushes, sled drags, plyometrics.

 Chest/Shoulders: bench-press, dips, cable flys, cable shoulder raises (lateral and horizontal), shoulder press, push press.

 Back: pull ups, lawn mowers, rows, cable pulls, cable reverse flys. More detail on some of these lifts is included in the sample workout section at the end of the book.

 Abdominals: planks, leg raises, and crunches, all with and without added weight, and bicycle crunches.

Weights, Reps, and Sets

Just as the workout schedule was made easy, so too will the subject of reps, sets, and weight. The weight used has to be heavy, but not too heavy. You should be able to perform eight to twelve explosive reps for upper body lifts and ten to twenty explosive reps for lower body lifts with the selected weight before reaching failure. If you don't know how heavy to go, do some warm-up sets to determine what weight would be most challenging for you within the given rep ranges.

Perform two to four sets for each lift within the given rep ranges. The amount of reps and sets you perform will depend on how you are feeling that day, but try to aim for twenty-five to fifty total reps for each lift.

Also perform different lifts for each muscle group (barbell vs. dumbbell vs. machines, different angles, and different forms). This ensures you activate all of your muscle well. If you do one-legged or one-armed lifts, which I strongly suggest, perform two sets for each leg and arm.

For PNF lifting as a primary form of exercise, you want to do the majority of your lifts single-legged and single-armed because they tire and work your cardiovascular system better than two-legged and armed lifts, and thus create a better spark. Now you are probably thinking "holy cow! That's a lot of reps and sets!" That's true, but what distinguishes PNF lifting from typical lifting is the pace at which you complete the workout. Time is always a critical factor for PNF exercise and the same applies for PNF lifting.

The Workout

Every PNF workout revolves around power of movement and pushing into the anaerobic zone. Well, the same goes for PNF lifting. After the warm-up, which is the regular PNF warm-up with 'feeler' sets, begin your leg lifts.

Each and every rep/set must be done with these three requirements:

1. Each rep must be done with correct form.

2. Each rep must be done as fast as possible during the contraction phase (up) and slowly lowered with control during the eccentric phase (down).

3. Each set must consist of non-stop movement (no resting at the top or bottom of a lift).

You should blow through sets effectively by following these guidelines. If you are doing single-leg or single-arm lifts, once you finish a set for one limb, you immediately perform the set for the other limb, back to back with no rest. As for the rests between sets, it's just like regular PNF, you want 80% recovery. You still want to be breathing a little hard by the time you start your next set. The rests should usually be between fifteen and sixty seconds.

The workout is fast, but intense. While you are performing the reps, do not think about the number of reps you are doing, but instead think of your form and speed. Correct form and speed of movement is of higher importance than counting reps. The amount of reps you do will take care of itself. Trust me, you will feel the burn and your muscles will get tired, but you must push through it. Do not give in to the burn or the tiredness for that is your body signaling you to stay in the aerobic zone. Push through and enter the Goldilocks Zone where the magic happens. You can rest all you want when you are done. It's supposed to be a quick workout.

PNF lifting is very similar to circuit-style lifting, which boosts your GH a huge deal in little time. Lifting circuits involve doing several different lifts back to back with no rest between the transitions from one lift to the next. A solid PNF lifting circuit would be starting with your set of legs followed by a set of chest/shoulders, followed by a set of back, followed by a set of abdominals, or however you want to mix up the arrangement. Making legs the first part of the circuit is important though because as mentioned before, they are what you should hit with your greatest high-octane energy to initially wear you down and produce a stronger spark. Following a tough leg set with all of the other body part sets with no rest is difficult, but highly rewarding. Be dynamic with it, crank out as many reps as you can if you're feeling good. You don't have to stop once you reach a certain number of reps, just be sure you at least complete the minimum amount suggested. Conquering this circuit will knock a block off your workout time and greatly increase your GH levels.

As for whether to use free weights (i.e. barbells and dumbbells) or machines more, use both, but spend more time using the former. Free weights activate more muscle than machines do, which is advantageous for GH output. When free weights exhaust your muscles, move onto the machines to finish off the workout. For the upper body, you can also use cable weights. Cable weights give you something certain free weight lifts don't--they work your muscle evenly through its entire range of motion. Lifts perpendicular to the floor include: bench press, dips, pull ups, squats, deadlifts, upright rows, and cable weights. These are the best lifts you can do for that reason. The other lifts that are done with free weights non-perpendicular to the floor (i.e. bicep curls, shoulder raises, and skull-crushers), have a small span in the range of motion where muscles are worked unevenly (top and bottom of the lifts). I wouldn't do them.

Cable lifts are also highly recommended for the upper body exercises because they engage your abs and legs as well. This is because they are executed in a standing position rather than a sitting or laying position as are almost all common upper body exercises. More muscle recruitment means better spark, so look towards the cables more often. Cable lifts are also ideal for one-armed exercises, which I highly recommend because they work your shoulders better than any other exercises. Bigger, stronger shoulders are necessary for bigger, stronger arms. Shoulders are the foundation for the arms, so for those guys that want a pair big, strong, _functional_ guns, give your shoulders some extra attention.

The whole PNF lifting workout should last between thirty and forty-five minutes depending on how you feel. PNF lifting is definitely hard, but also equally fun at the same time. Putting your mind and body to the test to lift heavy weights repeatedly, with correct form, using all your muscles from head to toe, with little rest, explosively is a challenge for the brave and adventurous. When you finish, the feeling is quite incredible!

Recovery

The recovery phase after a PNF lifting workout is exactly the same as the recovery phase after a regular PNF workout. You can consume twenty to thirty grams of whey protein immediately after finishing if you please. Doing so will take your body out of a catabolic state (break down) and into an anabolic state (build up). Many studies have shown the importance of ingesting protein following lifting, and is what is commonly referred to as the 'window of opportunity' for muscle growth and fitness improvement. Remember though, no sugar or starchy foods whatsoever! They will vanquish your spark by creating somatostatin. This approach is geared towards fat loss, muscle maintenance, and muscle building. Not just muscle building alone with fat gain. If you choose not to have protein afterward, make sure to compensate sometime later in your day with high quality complete proteins. This approach is geared toward muscle rejuvenation and recycling.

Summary

When performed and done correctly, these PNF lifting workouts are mega-spark creators that can send your GH levels soaring for up to forty-eight hours. The body takes a long time to recover from the muscle micro-trauma inflicted during the lifting, which is exactly what you want. Longer recoveries means longer times doing less high-intensity exercise while enjoying more GH. Thus, the amount of days you do PNF lifting in a week can vary depending on how you feel. Never go into a PNF lifting workout feeling only so-so, you have to be ready to go 100% or not at all. Gauge how you feel always, not only for the sake of lifting, but for all of your PNF workouts. If you feel you need an extra day to rest, take it, most likely you need it. If you continue to feel sore after a forty-eight hour recovery, that's fine, you actually may be ready to perform another PNF workout. Studies have shown that it is actually best to you go workout again to move your blood and alleviate the soreness. Either way, you should fill your recovery days with plenty of low-intensity movement like walking.

# PNF Stretching Special

Performing stretches is similar to taking a natural supplement. You can take it for enhanced benefits or be fine without it, although the enhanced benefits are highly encouraging. Stretching is regarded as one of the main pillars of physical fitness because it can enhance your physical capabilities immensely. There are many different methods of stretching, each claiming to have scientific evidence backing its efficacy. PNF stretching comes through my personal experimentation of different stretching techniques and is what I think can be appropriately named PNF stretching. PNF stretching is designed to push target muscles into an anaerobic state while at the same time acting as a cool down after a workout. That way, you can receive the benefits of stretching while continuing to augment your GH production during a cool-down period after a typical PNF workout. The whole stretching routine involves only lower body stretches, but go ahead and incorporate other stretches into the basic format if you like. Just be sure to complete the main stretches first. This section will quickly go over the PNF stretching routine and some of the expected benefits.

The Stretches

As soon as your finish your PNF workout and you are breathing hard and drinking some water, gather yourself and find a nice, leveled spot to begin to stretch. The time format for each stretch is the same:

 Ten second preliminary stretch

 Five second static contraction

 Fifteen second final stretch

Each individual leg is stretched following this format; it is one stretching repetition for one leg. There are four main stretches (described on the next page) and the basic format is two stretching repetitions per leg. In total, that is sixteen stretching reps performed: two stretching reps for both legs for each of the four main stretches. But go ahead and do more if you feel the urge to do more.

Stretch One – Hamstring Stretch

 Preliminary: standing on your left leg with the right raised slightly off the ground behind you, bend down as far as you can on your left leg while maintaining a straight knee. Reach for your toes with both hands. Push your hips back and feel the stretch in your left hamstring. Hold this for ten seconds.

 Static Contraction: then stand up, placing your right foot on the ground for support. Point your left foot toes to the sky with your heel firmly on the ground, and push your left heel into the ground as hard as you can for five seconds, feel your left hamstring contracting.

 Final: return back to the preliminary stretch position except this time reach down farther than you did in the preliminary stretch. Hold it for fifteen seconds.

This is one stretching rep for your left leg. Perform the same stretching rep for your right leg now. Perform two stretching reps for each leg.

Stretch Two – Quad Stretch

Note: You may need something sturdy to hold onto for this stretch. It requires you to stand on one leg while holding the other with your hand. If you have good balance, you shouldn't need anything.

 Preliminary: stand on your right leg and grab your left foot with your left hand. If you need help balancing, grab onto something with your right hand. Now pull back your left foot as far as you can behind you while pointing your left knee to the ground and digging your left heel into your left butt-cheek. You should feel the stretch in your left quad. Hold for ten seconds.

 Static Contraction: while in the preliminary position, push down with your left foot (which you are holding) as if you want to straighten it out and kick a ball, except don't let go of it. Keep a hold of it with your hand while trying to straighten it. You should feel a contraction in your left quad. Hold this contraction for five seconds.

 Final: relax and return to the preliminary stretch position, holding it this time for fifteen seconds and stretching the quad further than before.

That is one stretching rep for your left leg. Repeat with your right leg. Perform two reps for each leg.

Stretch Three – Groin Stretch

 Preliminary: while standing, spread your legs wide while having both feet pointing forward. Now bend at your right knee while keeping your feet exactly where they are and keeping your left leg straight. Feel the pull in your left groin. Pull as much as necessary until you feel it being stretched nicely. Hold this for ten seconds.

 Static Contraction: while keeping your left foot exactly where it is, push as hard as you can with the inside of your left foot into the ground. Try to feel the contraction in your left groin. Hold for five seconds.

 Final: relax and return to the preliminary stretch except hold for fifteen seconds and stretch your groin farther.

That is one stretching rep for your left leg. Now repeat for your right. Perform two stretching reps for each leg.

Stretch Four – Hip Flexor Stretch

 Preliminary: lunge forward with your right leg while maintaining your left leg as far back behind you as you can. Don't let your left knee touch the ground, hold yourself up. You should look like you are at the bottom of a lunge except without your left knee touching the ground. You may feel a little burning sensation in your legs but that is fine, they are working to hold you up. Now pull your chest up and back until you feel a stretch in your left hip flexor. Hold for ten seconds.

 Static Contraction: while maintaining the same preliminary position, contract your left hip flexor by pushing your entire left leg into the floor through your toes. Hold for five seconds.

 Final: relax and stretch further in the preliminary position for fifteen more seconds.

This is one stretching rep for your left leg. Repeat for the right. Perform two stretching reps each leg.

Explanation

Those are the stretches! Here are the reasons governing my PNF stretching routine selection:

 The first ten second preliminary stretch is to target your stretching muscle and begin to activate it.

 The five second static contraction that follows must be contracted forcefully yet without movement of the leg, hence the label 'static' contraction. It works the target muscle so it can relax and increase its range of motion right after.

 That's why you then hold the stretch again for fifteen seconds to capitalize on the ability to increase your range of motion with the target muscle.

 The total time for each stretching rep is thirty seconds which puts your leg in a nice anaerobic state because you are constantly contracting it and squeezing blood in and out of it over the entire stretching rep. Make sure to feel the stretch, you should feel a slight pain so you know you are extending your range of motion.

Once you finish a stretching rep for one leg, immediately begin the next stretching rep for the other leg, no rests in-between transitions. Same thing goes for when you finish doing one of the four main stretches, immediately move on to the next main stretch with no rest during the transition. PNF stretching is not tiring, it just requires focus and concentration to really feel your muscles.

Breathing is also important while you are stretching. Take big, deep, slow breaths with your belly. Cleanse your lungs by exhaling every single wisp of air out of you, and then sucking every single wisp of air back in. Maintain a rhythmical breathing pattern throughout the entire PNF stretching routine.

Benefits

 Doing these stretches right after you finish a workout will increase blood flow to your legs. By increasing blood flow to your legs, you are exposing more of your muscle to GH. This is very beneficial because after intense exercise, muscles tend to lock up and restrict some blood flow if you go from intense movement to sedentary too fast. It negates some muscle from the full exposure of GH. By opening the flood gates to all of your leg muscles, your legs will become your super wheels!

 The extra GH exposure to more of your leg muscles also reduces recovery times. Performing PNF stretching on recovery days is another way to help you recover quicker.

 Increased blood flow to your muscles also improves insulin sensitivity (23), a benefit worth stretching for on its own.

 The stretches also give you a big boost in energy. You feel much more energized with better blood flow throughout your body.

 Obviously, stretching also makes you more flexible. This is helpful because increased range of motion makes you stronger and able to run faster.

 The stretches also improve your balance and coordination; more so if you don't use any supports to hold you up during the stretches.

Summary

The entire PNF stretching routine only lasts about eight minutes when done correctly, so time investment is a minimal to enjoy all these extra benefits. Incorporating PNF stretching after and between your workouts will provide you with tremendous benefits, and bolster all of your fitness capacities. Use the concept provided for these main leg stretches to come up with similar upper body stretches. Be creative and use the concepts for other stretching positions for the legs. There are many ways to tinker with PNF stretching. Either way, I strongly suggest taking this 'physical' supplement!

# Final Thoughts

I listed below a few additional items worth mentioning or reiterating again to set you off on your PNF journey.

Vibration Platforms

Another very useful tool for GH enhancement is the vibration platform. Vibration platforms are space-age technology machines you stand on or place some body part on while the base vibrates at a range of different selectable frequencies. The different vibration frequencies stimulate your muscles and make them contract by simulating multiple Gs of force being applied on your muscles. It is a very easy way to create the spark and increase GH levels because it contracts all of your muscle fibers, including the fast-twitch ones, in three dimensions.

The only drawback to the platforms is the price. Each legitimate platform costs around $5,000, so it has no place in the grand scheme of PNF. However, it can be very useful if you want to make the investment. Make sure you research the different brands before you purchase one; some are imitations trying to cheat a couple thousand dollars. Vibration platforms are excellent machines to compliment your GH production in a safe and effective way, but they are not meant to replace PNF.

Constant Movement

Another important aspect of physical health is the simple fact that you must keep moving and stay active. Physical health comprises not only doing high-intensity exercise, but it also comprises of constant movement in your daily life. Constant movement encompasses walking more, taking the stairs more, dancing more, playing more, and sitting less. Our ancestors lived a life of constant movement; Maximus didn't sit on his rock couch for hours watching the latest reality cave drama. He was either up and moving, or laying down and resting.

Studies have shown that sitting for extended periods of time is not good for your health, so get in the habit of getting up and moving around frequently if you have a sedentary job. There are actually some specially designed treadmills for work offices that allow you to walk while you work, check it out. Park further from the store when you go shopping; take the stairs instead of the elevator; stand while you work. Every little bit helps. Staying active and keeping constant movement will aid your high-intensity exercise efforts by priming your body for movement. Do not disregard this seemingly simple and seemingly unimportant component of physical health. It is every bit as important as high-intensity exercise, maybe even more so. PNF doesn't mean just high-intensity exercise, PNF means also constant movement. I personally strive to briskly walk a minimum of two miles a day, and always take the stairs given the option.

Aging Perspective

Your age can be classified in two ways: chronological and biological age.

 Your chronological age is the number attached to your age, and is determined by the number of times you've revolved around the sun. This is a constant, linearly increasing number that is used for identification of how many years you have lived.

 Your biological age on the other hand is the health status of your body, such as its ability to function properly, its strength to fight disease, its energy levels, and its amount of inflammation at the cellular level. A number can be attached to this age, and most often it's a number based off some standardized expectation of an individual's health at a given chronological age. This age is not a constant, linearly increasing number; it is a nonlinear, highly variable number.

You can't control your steadily increasing chronological age unless you leave Earth or travel through time, which isn't practical for many, but you can control your biological age. The majority of people associate aging solely with your chronological age, but it isn't that simple. By taking control of your health, you take control of your biological age; the age that doesn't and shouldn't correspond with your chronological age. Normally, people think twenty-five years of age and younger are the 'young' ages, which coincidently lies within the same time interval you produce the most GH in your lifetime. What people don't normally believe is that your 'young' ages can extend much further than that if you choose.

Let me give you an example. Have you ever judged how old someone is and been totally wrong by either underestimating their age or overestimating it? Well, when you are judging someone's age, what do you do? You examine their body by its appearance, how they seem to be functioning, their energy and enthusiasm, their posture, and what may seem like any illness or physical degeneration. You then estimate their age based off your experience and assumptions of people with similar health status. You are comparing their biological age to what you think is normal for a given chronological age. You can have a biological age of twenty-five and a chronological age of fifty, or have a biological age of fifty at a chronological age of twenty-five. What this means is that your chronological age and biological age are not the same. Aging in general involves both ages, not just the chronological age. This means that if you really want to be young for as long as possible, you can. Of course we all die one day, but that doesn't mean you have to die a frail, crippled, wrinkled, dependent, and thoughtless person. You can die a strong, vital, energy-rich, positive, and inspiring human being, just as Nature intended you to. The key lies in working with Nature by means of proper nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle.

Vector Nature

Luckily for you, you now know how to work with Nature, in terms of exercise, and access the key to youth! By following PNF and the recommendations given, you will transform internally and externally into a new and unrecognizable you. If you have not noticed yet, effort is the only thing you really need to put down on your part to acquire everything this guide has laid-out. The smarts have been provided to you.

You have the correct direction for outstanding health, you just need to back the direction with magnitude. Just like vectors in physics and math, we also have vectors have human beings. Vectors have two components: a direction and a magnitude. Your smarts and knowledge is your direction, and the closer they align with the truth, the clearer your direction is. Your effort and passion in life is your magnitude, and the greater they are, the stronger your magnitude is. When you combine a clear direction with a strong magnitude towards something positive like PNF, you have undeniable success. So use the knowledge you now have and back it with good hard effort; a healthy new you will be waiting for you in the near future.

The start is always and will always be the toughest part of any journey. It's resisting that natural inertia that wants to keep a body at rest that is so difficult to overpower. If you can muster the universal power each and every one of us have been gifted, the super force that can kick any system into motion, and use it for your own entity's sake, you will forever stay in motion...effortlessly...and live with a true, undying radiant glow for the rest of time.

# Sample PNF Workouts

Exercise: Running

Workout Type: Short Repeated Bursts

Primary Targets: Perform each rep as quickly as possible.

Prerequisites: 40 yards of open space (preferably grass), some sort of visible markers.

Setup: Mark the starting point (1); mark another spot 10 yards ahead (2); and mark another spot 30 yards ahead of the starting point (3).

The Rep: Starting at (1), sprint to (2). Once you reach it, sprint backwards (backwards run) back to (1). Repeat one more time. Once you reach (1) again, sprint to (3), don't slow down until you pass (3). Once you pass (3) do 15 explosive jumps in place where you jump as high as you can while quickly exploding back up each time you hit the ground. Aim for minimal time spent in contact with the ground during the jumps. Jog back to (1).

Repeat for 8-10 reps with short recoveries between reps.

**Exercise:** Running

**Workout Type:** Long Sprints + Lunge-jumps + Pushups

**Primary Targets:** Do everything as fast and explosive as possible.

**Prerequisites:** 100 yards of open space, preferably grass.

**Setup:** No setup required, just a marker to know where a 100 yards is from your starting point.

**The Rep:** Sprint the 100 yards as fast as possible, don't slow down until you cross the line. Once you cross the line, do 5 lunge-jumps (squat down in a lunge position, jump up, and switch legs while in the air. Doing jumps for both legs once is one lunge-jump. That's 10 total jumps). Once you finish with the jumps, drop down and do as many pushups as you can.

Perform 8-10 reps, take slightly longer rests but no complete recovery.

**Exercise:** Running

**Workout Type:** Stairs

**Primary Targets:** Move as quickly as possible and do not slow down until you finish.

**Prerequisites:** 5-10 flights of stairs (pick a challenging amount of flights).

**Setup:** Not setup required.

**The Rep:** Quickly sprint up the stairs hitting each step on your way up. Once you reach the top, immediately turn around and sprint back down as fast and as safely possible. Next rep sprint up the stairs hitting every other step and then returning back down like in the first rep. The third rep only go half the flight of stairs you are running, except do it by squat jumps (jumping over three to five steps continuously). For this rep, make sure as soon as you land you recoil and jump up to the next, don't stop until you reach the end.

Perform this cycle three more times for a total of 9 reps, keep rest times short.

**Exercise:** Biking

**Workout Type:** Long Burn Reps

**Primary Targets:** Continue to pedal despite burning sensation in legs.

**Prerequisites:** A bike or stationary bike.

**Setup:** Find some hills, use high gear levels, use high resistance levels.

**The Rep:** Begin first rep at highest resistance level or going up a big hill. Go for as long as you can until you are out of breathe (about a minute). Each rep after, lower the resistance level a little bit and pedal as hard and fast as you can for as long as you can, while pushing through the leg burn. Each rep should last around 30 seconds or more.

Repeat for 8 reps, take slightly longer recoveries (not full recoveries though).

**Exercise:** Biking

**Workout Type:** Medium time, high resistance bursts

**Primary Targets:** Complete every rep on the highest bike resistance possible.

**Prerequisites:** A bike or stationary bike.

**Setup:** No setup required, just use high resistance.

**The Rep:** Explosively pedal for about 20 seconds. Make sure you are pedaling as hard and fast as possible. If the highest resistance level is too light, where you don't feel worked after 20 seconds, increase the work time to 30 seconds.

Perform 8-10 reps, keep rest times short.

**Exercise:** Swimming

**Workout Type:** Long Burn Reps

**Primary Targets:** Keep pedaling your legs despite the burn.

**Prerequisites:** A large swimming pool.

**Setup:** No setup required.

**The Rep:** Swim as fast as you can from one end of the pool to the other (25 meters). Once you reach the other end, put your hands against the wall and using only your legs, kick as hard as you can for about 15 seconds. You will be stationary but your legs will be working hard.

Perform 8 reps, keep rest times minimal.

**Exercise:** Lifting

**Workout Type:** Total Body Circuit

**Primary Targets:** Perform all leg reps and perform as many upper-body reps, all as fast as possible, while maintaining correct form. Do not rest during the transitions from lift to lift during the rep.

**Prerequisites:** Two 20-60 pounds dumbbell weights.

**Setup:** No setup required, just a bit of space around you.

**The Rep:** Holding each dumbbell by your side, begin in a lunge stance with one leg forward and the other behind you. Go up and down using the leg in front of you, touching the ground with the knee of the leg behind you (Stationary Lunges). Perform 20 reps for each leg then immediately begin doing thrusters. For thrusters, bring up the dumbbells to your shoulders, squat down and then squat up while pushing the dumbbells above your head with arms straight (Squat to Push Press). Perform 10 thrusters and then drop down and perform as many pushups as you can followed by as many one-armed rows you can in pushup position. To do this, stay in a pushup position while holding your dumbbells and raise one dumbbell behind you in a row fashion, doing as many as you can for both arms.

Perform 6-8 reps with minimal rest in between.

**Exercise:** Lifting

**Workout Type:** Lower-Upper Body Split

**Primary Targets:** Perform all reps with correct technique as fast as possible. Obey rest times.

**Prerequisites:** Two 20-60 pounds dumbbell weights, cable weights (the weights that have a handle connected by a cable that goes through some pulleys to a weight stack), a two-foot step-up box or a bench.

**Setup:** Not much required, keep everything relatively close.

**The Rep:** Begin with legs. Do 15 step-ups with both legs (one set) using appropriately weighted dumbbells in your hands. Be sure not to let your trailing leg touch the ground for more than half a second. Your working leg must take the full brunt of lifting your body up and controlling it back down. I repeat, your trailing leg must not do any work, do not push up with your trailing leg to help yourself up! Do three sets of the step-ups and then move to the cables. Do one-armed rows, followed by one-armed cable punches, followed by horizontal shoulder raises for 12 reps each arm, each lift. No rest between transitions. That is one set. Complete two sets.

Keep rest times between leg sets to 30 seconds and rest times between upper-body sets to 45 seconds.

**Exercise:** Lifting

**Workout Type:** Total body circuit

**Primary Targets:** Perform all reps as quickly and explosively as possible while maintaining correct form, do not rest during transitions: take off any necessary weights quickly and proceed with the rep.

**Prerequisites:** A barbell and possibly 50 to 100 additional pounds of weights to load the barbell with. A squat rack would be ideal.

**Setup:** Load the barbells with appropriate weights to begin.

**The Rep:** Begin with the barbell at your feet. Perform 15 deadlifts quickly and then bring the bar up to your shoulders. Then perform 15 squat to push presses (thrusters). After the 15 thrusters, do 10 bent over rows as quickly as possible. Lastly, finish the circuit with 20 pushups.

Perform the circuit 6-8 times with short recoveries

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### Thanks for Reading!

It may have been a lengthy investment of time to read ProNature Fitness, but I guarantee you the ROI will more than make up for it! By taking the proper steps necessary towards living a healthier life, you not only redefine your world, but also the worlds of others, and the world at large. We are meant to live healthily and happily, and when we do, the world becomes a better place for everyone and everything. If you liked the book, please encourage others to read it! The more healthy people we have in the world the better. I'm also more than open to any feedback you may have, so please don't hesitate to send your comments and questions my way.

Thanks again and best of luck!

Sergio Gonzalez

### About the Author

Sergio Gonzalez is currently a graduate student at the MIT Technology and Policy Program. He is an active enthusiast of healthy living, environmental protection, and overall awareness in life. He is also actively involved in entrepreneurial and research activities, and is always finding ways to have fun on the side. ProNature Fitness is his first published eBook of many more to come.

### Connect with Sergio

Personal Website: sergioegonzalez.com

Twitter: sgonza33

LinkedIn: Sergio Ezequiel Gonzalez

###
