Interview with Dan Gallapoo, Editor,
Bodybuilding for the Genetically Average Joe

"Drug-Free Training & Diet Breakthrough"

I recently interviewed Rob Faigin, author of Natural Hormonal Enhancement, via telephone. His book is getting rave reviews from doctors, scientists, and bodybuilders. Many are calling it the most important and revolutionary book ever written on the topic of health and fitness. Having read the book myself cover-to-cover (twice), I definitely agree. I think in terms of the presentation, content, and research it is the best bodybuilding and fitness book I've ever read. For purposes of this interview, however, I will put myself in the shoes of someone who hasn't read the book, so that I can elicit responses from the author. The following is a transcript of our discussion. I believe that you will find Rob's philosophies and his research to be fascinating and extremely helpful in achieving your drug-free bodybuilding goals.

Gallapoo: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, I know your schedule is crazy these days.

Faigin: My pleasure, Dan. I very much appreciate the work you're doing to advance the cause of drug-free bodybuilding.

Gallapoo: How would you sum-up the essence of Natural Hormonal Enhancement?

Faigin: Natural Hormonal Enhancement is the first ever comprehensive system for naturally stimulating fat-burning, muscle-building, and anti-aging hormones.

Gallapoo: Please expand on what you mean by "comprehensive."

Faigin: By comprehensive I mean touching on every aspect of life - diet, exercise, and lifestyle. Supplementation, too, is critical. The fact is that you can't achieve your potential unless you approach bodybuilding and health-building from a comprehensive perspective. All four factors - diet, exercise, lifestyle, and supplementation - work in synergy. Many people place undue reliance on supplementation or diet or exercise instead of using a multi-faceted strategy. For example, if you are taking a supplement designed to increase testosterone levels, but you are over-stimulating cortisol due to a hormonally-incorrect training regimen, you won't get the benefits from the supplement. In this scenario, you are wasting your money - you might as well put the supplement directly into the toilet bowl and save your intestines the trouble. There are countless ways in which you can diminish or negate the effectiveness of a supplement through hormonally-incorrect diet, exercise, and lifestyle practices. Consumers are learning this the hard way, and gradually the magic pill concept is falling into disrepute. Many supplement companies are responding to this trend toward consumer enlightenment by providing information on these other areas. In this way, Natural Hormonal Enhancement can be seen as "user's manual" for prohormone supplement consumers.

Gallapoo: I want to expand on what you mean by "hormonally-correct," but first let me ask you a fundamental question: how much influence do we have on our hormone levels.

Faigin: That question goes right to the heart of the issue. The fact is that we have far greater influence on our hormone levels than people realize - in fact, every day of your life you influence your hormone levels. The problem is that most people are doing so unknowingly, and therefore haphazardly. If you can't build muscle mass, or you have excess bodyfat, or if you look old for your age, or have low energy levels, chances are your "shotgun method" of hormonal enhancement probably isn't working too well. The object of Natural Hormonal Enhancement is to get your entire hormonal army working for you - rather than against you - in the quest for a better body and better health.

Gallapoo: And this also helps you get better results from prohormone supplementation?

Faigin: Definitely.

Gallapoo: Okay, give me another example of how people who are taking prohormone supplements are shooting themselves in the foot.

Faigin: Take, for example, growth hormone releasers. Growth hormone is released in pulsatile bursts throughout the day, with the lion's share released at night during slow-wave sleep, 60-90 minutes after falling asleep. However, high blood sugar levels are powerfully antagonistic to growth hormone release. Therefore, if you hit the sack on a belly full of carbs, you are suppressing the nocturnal GH burst.

Gallapoo: And this suppressive effect happens even if you take a GH secretagogue before bed?

Faigin: Yes, the efficacy of the GH releaser can be reduced by as much as 100% under these circumstances. And this is only one small example of how bodybuilders are cheating themselves out of achieving their physique goals. There are many more examples discussed in the book.

Gallapoo: If understand you correctly, you're not saying that people shouldn't take prohormone supplements, but that they should be aware of the factors that can impact their effectiveness.

Faigin: Right. 

Gallapoo: I want to return to the concept of "hormonally correct" training. What's that all about.

Faigin: A "hormonally correct" or "hormonally intelligent" training routine is one that focuses on the metabolic and hormonal impact of exercise. The fact is that exercise alters your metabolism and exerts a profound influence on your hormone levels. Only recently have researchers begun to map-out the ways in which exercise affects hormone levels within the body. This line of research holds the key to dramatically increasing the effectiveness of your workouts.

Gallapoo: Specifically, how much difference do you think hormonally-intelligent exercise can make for the average drug-free bodybuilder.

Faigin: In terms of results, exercising in a hormonally intelligent manner, as opposed to "flying blind," which is what people are doing who do not understand the hormonal and metabolic dynamics of exercise, can produce three times the results in one-half the time.

Gallapoo: That's amazing.

Faigin: But not difficult to believe when you begin to understand how incredibly powerful hormones are, and when you understand that exercise has the ability to unleash these powerful hormonal forces within your body, either beneficially or detrimentally.

Gallapoo: Give me some specifics.

Faigin: Okay. Exercise can increase insulin sensitivity; or it can decrease insulin sensitivity by raising cortisol levels. Exercise is potentially the most powerful natural growth hormone stimulator known to science, and, therefore, an unmatched anti-aging force, fat-burner, muscle-builder, and immune booster; or it can suppress growth hormone levels. Exercise can send testosterone levels in men soaring, increasing sex drive and sexual performance, and opening the door to all the physiological and psychological benefits of youth; or it can suppress testosterone so low that it is virtually impossible to get an erection, and equally impossible to build an ounce of muscle. Exercise can suppress the catabolic hormone cortisol; or it can cause a catabolic jailbreak, unleashing cortisol and other hostile catabolic hormones to assault your immune system, eat-away at precious muscle tissue, and create generalized havoc within your body. The sad fact is that many people train for months, or even years, without experiencing any noticeable results. As someone who is uniquely in touch with the drug-free or "genetically average Joe" bodybuilder, Dan, you must hear stories all the time about people training regularly and consistently but having very little to show for it.

Gallapoo: All the time.

Faigin: Well, a "hardgainer" is usually someone who is stimulating the wrong kind of hormones and suppressing the right kind.

Gallapoo: So I guess you can say that the "genetically average Joe" may really be the "hormonally challenged Joe." [Laughs]

Faigin: Yeah, I guess you can say that. But keep in mind that the hormonal disadvantage many bodybuilders have is self-imposed, not genetically dictated. There is genetically-ordained hormonal variation among bodybuilders as there is with any other trait - some people have higher baseline levels of certain hormones. But we all have the same arsenal of anabolic and lipolytic hormones and everyone can, and does, influence how much growth hormone, IGF-1, cortisol, insulin, glucagon, and testosterone is produced every day. The reason that most people achieve sub-optimal results from exercise is that their workouts are hormonally-incorrect.

Gallapoo: Specifically, what are the exercise factors that influence fat-burning and muscle-building hormones?

Faigin: Intensity, volume, duration, frequency, load, and exercise selection. Coordinating these six variables for optimal hormonal response is the key to achieving phenomenal results from exercise.