8 Ways to be an Alpha Male

These expert-endorsed lifestyle changes will rev up your testosterone levels, turn your body into a fat-torching machine, and boost your libido at the same time.
We have an important newsflash. You’re a man. You’re a bro, bro. And if you haven’t heard, your testosterone levels are dropping. And they’re not dropping when you’re 60—they’re dropping today. Research indicates that men’s testosterone levels are more than 20 percent lower than they were 20 years ago. And more than one out of every four guys has below average levels of testosterone (which sucks because below average this day in age means really low). What does this mean for you? All your work in the gym, all your time dieting: It’s all going to waste.

Want to ensure that your lifestyle isn’t crushing your ability to build muscle, burn fat, or have a sex life? Adopt these eight alpha-male traits as habit:

Fitness Model Workout: Sebastian Mansla

Age: 25 Weight: 76kg/167.5lb Height: 172cm/5ft.6inches

Fitness Model Workout: sadik hadzovic

Sadik is an IFBB men’s fitness competitor. At 24 years of age, this NYC native is taking ground as the new up-and-coming top model in the fitness and fashion industry. Sadik has earned himself a huge following as being the muse of many professional photographers statewide. He is 5’11.5″ and 180lbs.

Workout Finisher: Get Thick With Dips

Finish off your workout strong and bulk up your chest, shoulders and triceps with this basic bodyweight move.

If you're looking for a single exercise to see gains across your chest, shoulder and triceps, dips are your go-to answer.

Next time you're wrapping up your routine, head over to the bars and give this quick routine structure a run through.

One-Off Workout: Push and Stretch Your Chest

Super-size your chest with these three supersets.

MOVE ONE - Barbell Incline Chest Press

3 sets x 6 reps
* demonstrated above.

> Lie down on the incline bench and make sure your upper chest is aligned with the barbell.

> Using a pronated grip (palms facing forward) that is wider than shoulder width, unlock the bar from the rack and hold it straight over you with your arms locked. This will be your starting position.

15-Minute Workout: Pump Up Your Pecs

If you have only 15 minutes to train, don't mess around with fancy exercises that waste time.

The best workouts aren't always flashy—plenty of simple routines get the job done. We've got one that blasts your pecs with heavy weight and hits the muscle fibers from every important angle.

Directions
To keep the workout to 15 minutes, you'll need to rush your warm-up on the bench press a bit. Steadily work up in weight, resting only as long between warm-up sets as it takes to change the plates. This hustle means you won't be optimally prepared to lift your heaviest possible load for four to six reps—so you should therefore use a slightly lighter weight—but that's the tradeoff for getting the workout done quickly. To minimize the problem, rest two minutes after your last warm-up set before you go heavy.

Alpha-Male Training

You can’t deny it -- part of the appeal of lifting weights and building muscle is to look and feel more powerful than the next guy. To be the alpha male among your buddies. But to do this, you have to be willing to work harder and more fero- ciously than they are. This month, we bring you a plan that’s excerpted from our book Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha. It builds muscle, shreds abs, and streamlines your gym time, so you can rule the weight room and then get back to ruling your world outside it. This is highly evolved fitness.