43: John Romaniello: Engineering the Alpha

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John Romaniello, one of the most highly regarded experts in the fitness industry, has written for a myriad of publications, ranging from Men’s Health to Fast Company, and has been featured as an expert on a number of television programs, including Good Morning America. Romaniello is an angel investor in addition to his writing, and serves as an advisor to nearly a dozen fitness and tech companies.

Clinically incapable of taking himself seriously, Roman lives in New York’s West Village, shares a strained relationship with the NY Jets, and loves unicorns, sarcasm, poker and writing about himself in the third person.

Favorite Success Quote

“Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.” – Johann Goethe

“Fortune favors the bold.” – Virgil

“There are no statues built to those who lived lives of mediocrity, and on the tomb of NO heroes will you find the words, he played it safe” – John Romaniello

Key Points

1. Changing Your Fitness Will Change Your Life

Often times men think that changing their bodies and their fitness will do little for their lives other than helping them look better naked.

But the truth of the matter is, when you change your fitness, your change your entire life.

When you overcome the mental barriers standing between you and your ideal body and you are able to shed the fat and pack on the muscle, unbelievable changes will happen.

Women will start to find you more attractive, men will start to respect you more, your presence will demand more authority in the board room, your performance in the bedroom will increase, you will feel happier, more energetic, and more alive.

Becoming an “Alpha” in the gym will transform you as a man.

You will start to feel more confident and certain in yourself and doors that you didn’t even know existed will start to open up.

It might sound like hyperbole or exaggeration, but I promise you, once you take control of your body, the rest of your life will change.

2. You Need to Have a High Level of Personal Belief

Whatever goals you want to achieve, you need to have borderline delusional levels of self belief.

The world is bent and shaped by the unreasonable men.

The men who are willing to stare the impossible straight in the face and say “I can make it happen”.

No matter what goals you have set for yourself or what milestones you want to reach, all of your success is predicated on the belief you have in yourself.

Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t… you’re right. ~Henry Ford

3. You Can Take Control of Your Journey

One of the most empowering epiphanies that you will have when you start to take control of your body and your fitness is that you have the power to take control of your entire life.

You are the author of your story and the leader on your heroes journey.

Everything that you want to achieve is within your reach if you are willing to claim responsibility and take control of your life.

Cut the crap and accept that you are 100% responsible for where you are and you have the power to take yourself where you want to be.

With uncommon levels of responsibility comes uncommon levels of success and achievement.

You are the author of your story… so you have the power to determine how the next chapter will unfold.

4. The First Step to Mastering Your Health is Mastering Your Hormones

If you want to take control of your health (and by extension your life) then the first step is mastering your hormones.

It’s not something that is talked about a lot in the modern fitness world (other than by sleazy marketers trying to peddle testosterone pills), but it is bar none one of the most important aspects of health and performance.

When your hormones are balanced, when your cortisol is under control, when your insulin sensitivity is reset, and your testosterone production set to “MAX”, your body composition and over all feeling of well being will change dramatically.

While Roman dives into the ins and outs of the science behind hormonal optimization, there are a few simple ways that you can get started on the journey to hormonal optimization.

Start lifting heavy weights
Sleep at least 7.5 hours a night (in a cold, dark room, preferably before 11 p.m.)
Eat more healthy fats like avocados, red meats, and nuts
Follow an intermittent fasting schedule (16 hours of fasting and an 8 hour eating window)
Have more sex (yes you officially have our permission)

Once you start to implement a few of these tactics into your daily routine, you will be amazed at how much better you look, feel, and perform.

5. Don’t Value Yourself Based on Comparison

There is always a bigger fish in the sea.

No matter how much of a badass you are and no matter how much you accomplish, there is always someone out there who is bigger and better than you are.

Someone else will always make more money.

Someone else will always have a better body.

Someone else will always have a hotter girl or a faster car.

And that’s ok.

Don’t derive your sense of worth and value based on comparison.

This will only lead to frustration and depression.

Instead, focus only on improving your own life and making yourself better and stronger each and every day.

If you can show up each morning just 1% better than the man you were yesterday, then you can consider yourself a success.

Everyone has their own unique journey, don’t degrade yours by comparing it to someone else’s.