“Battle Your Biology? Fat Chance,” proclaimed a headline recently in the health section of the New York Post newspaper. Quoting new research and citing psychologists, dietitians and physicians, the article says that more and more evidence proves that your weight is genetically determined, and if you’re fat, “it’s not your fault.”

“We’ve known for a while that genes – more than environment and behavior – explain obesity” argues Dr. James Rosen, an eating disorder specialist and professor at the University of Vermont.

While genetics are definitely a factor, believing you are destined to be overweight for life because you’ve inherited “fat genes” is the most disempowering and self-defeating attitude you could ever adopt. The only way you’ll lose weight permanently is to accept total responsibility for yourself and acknowledge the fact that you have the power to change, regardless what mother nature has given you to work with.

There’s no denying that heredity plays a major role in how difficult it will be for you to lose fat. You inherited a body type, a predetermined number of fat cells, a metabolic rate and body chemistry just as you inherited your eye color and hair color. In the 1930′s, Harvard psychologist Dr. William H. Sheldon developed a classification system for these different body types called “somatotyping.” While there are no absolutes, Sheldon identified three basic somatotypes: ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs.

Ectomorphs are the lean, lanky types. They are usually very thin and bony, with fast metabolisms and extremely low body fat. An ectomorph can eat like a horse without gaining an ounce. Mesomorphs are the “genetically gifted.” They are lean, muscular and naturally athletic. Mesomorphs lose fat and gain muscle with ease. Endomorphs are the “fat retainers.” Characterized by round features, excess body fat and large joints (“big bones”), endomorphs usually have great difficulty in losing body fat. They have slow metabolisms, they are often carbohydrate sensitive, they gain fat quickly if they eat poorly or don’t exercise, and they lose fat slowly – even on a healthy diet.

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Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Click here for Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program.

The tendency of endomorphs to store fat easily can be partly attributed to metabolic problems. For example, endomorphs often metabolize carbohydrates inefficiently. Normal people can eat lots of carbohydrates – up to 60% of their total calories – and they still stay lean. Endomorphs produce too much insulin when they eat carbohydrates and this leads to increased fat storage and difficulty in losing existing fat. This condition is known as “insulin resistance” or “Syndrome X.”

Scientists claim that the tendency to gain weight easily may also be due to chemical imbalances in the brain that cause people to overeat. Researchers at Johns Hopkins recently announced the discovery a compound called C75 that blocks an appetite-regulating hormone in the hypothalamus. In mice injected with the substance, 30 percent more weight was lost because the drug caused the mice to eat less. More research is planned to develop a similar appetite-suppressing drug for humans. Unlike Xenical, which blocks fat absorption in the intestine, this new drug would affect the brain’s chemistry so that people feel full sooner.

Many physicians and health professionals consider these metabolic disorders and chemical imbalances as genetically transmitted “diseases” that require medical treatment. “Obesity is a disease and should be treated like one” says Jackie Newgent, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association . This idea should be viewed with a great deal of suspicion however, because weight loss is potentially the biggest market in the world for drug sales.

According to Justin Gillis, a staff writer for the Washington Post, more than 45 companies worldwide are trying to develop new obesity drugs, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Gillis writes, “In world where a blockbuster drug is worth $1 billion a year in sales, analysts give $5 billion as the low estimate for sales of an important obesity drug. If a company developed a truly safe, effective weight loss drug, and sold it for $3 a day to one quarter of the 97 million American adults estimated to be overweight, sales would exceed $26 billion a year in this country alone.”

Basically, what the medical community is trying to tell you is that if you are overweight, it’s not your fault; you were born fat, so don’t feel guilty – and don’t worry, we have a drug that can “cure” you. Sounds like there’s an ulterior motive at work here, wouldn’t you agree? Before you run to get a prescription for the next “miracle” drug, you’d better wonder whose interests are being served; yours or the pharmaceutical giants.

Besides, drugs can never be the solution if they treat the symptoms and not the cause. Drugs should be considered a last resort for the morbidly obese who have already tried everything else without success and who will face serious health consequences if they don’t lose weight. The editors of obesity.com said it best: “Weight loss drugs do not take the place of diet, exercise, patience, and perseverance.”

“Dieting can be an uphill battle against your genes.” says Post writer Joyce Cohen. Unfortunately, if you’re an endomorph, Cohen is right. Losing weight is definitely easier for some people than for others and that doesn’t seem fair. But that’s the way life is. Life isn’t fair. Let’s be honest; not everyone is going to become an Olympic Gold medallist, a Mr. America or a fitness model. But don’t despair – you are not doomed to live a life of fatness if you don’t have “athletic genes.”

Obesity is the result of many influences. Genetics is only one of them. Like it or not, the primary cause of obesity is your own behavior. Most of the factors that affect body composition are entirely under your control. These factors include how much you eat, what you eat, when you eat, what type of exercise you do, how frequently you exercise, how long you exercise and how hard you exercise.

If you have the genetic predisposition towards obesity, you can lose fat like everyone else, you’re just going to have to work harder and longer at it than other people. “There is a genetic component to weight,” Says Dr. Thomas Wadden, a psychologist from Syracuse University, “but no one is destined to be obese. If weight has been a major problem in your family, you may not be able to become as thin as you’d like, but you can lose weight.”

If you find losing weight to be a slow and difficult process, the empowering thing to do is to look at it as asset, because overcoming this obstacle will force you to develop discipline, determination and persistence. These traits will carry over to other areas of your life and make you a stronger person all around. Arnold Schwarzennegger said, “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strength. When you overcome hardships, that is strength.”

The first thing you must do if you want to lose weight or succeed in any area of your life, is to accept complete responsibility for your situation. In a short but powerful little book called “As Man Thinketh,” the author James Allen wrote, “circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him.” What he meant was that we are not products of our environment or our heredity (our “circumstances”), instead, we products of our own thinking and belief systems.

We create our own circumstances through positive thinking and positive action and we create negative circumstances through negative thinking and lack of action or wrong actions. In other words, we are responsible for where we are, what we have and how our bodies look.

Some people get very angry with me when I tell them this: They say, “Wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me that when bad things happen to me, it’s my own fault? That I brought unemployment, financial hardships, failed relationships, weight gain or even health problems onto myself? Because if that’s what you’re saying, that’s totally unfair!”

Well, my friend, with very few exceptions, (some things really are out of your control) that is exactly what I am saying.

If you refuse to accept the fact that you are 100% responsible for your weight, you will never be successful. When people find themselves in undesirable situations or they aren’t getting the results they want, it’s all too easy to make excuses: It’s my genetics, I have big bones, I have a slow metabolism, I don’t have enough time to exercise, etc. etc., etc. Making excuses is relinquishing control. It is conceding that you a victim of circumstances instead of the creator of your circumstances. Stop blaming and start taking responsibility for your life. Take action! Start working out. Eat better. Do something – do anything – but don’t just sit there on the couch and curse your chromosomes.

So, are you a frustrated “endomorph?” Do you feel like dieting is an uphill battle against your genes? If your answer is “yes,” please don’t just quit and chalk in up to “bad genetics,” and don’t believe that drugs are the answer either – they’re not. Your genetics will largely dictate your athletic ability and how easily you will lose weight. That doesn’t mean you can’t get lean; it only means that you’re going to have to adjust your diet and training to fit your body type and you may have to work harder and be more persistent than the “genetically lucky” ones.

Maybe obesity really should be classified as a genetically inherited “disease.” But frankly, if you have a “disease” that forces you to learn more about exercise and nutrition, to eat nutritious foods, to adopt a healthier lifestyle, to develop a strong work ethic and to become a more persistent person, that sounds like a blessing in disguise to me.

Take a moment and think about the sum total of everything you’re currently doing to improve your health, fitness, physique and athletic performance. Think of every detail you can – the workouts, the dieting, the level of effort, the sweat, the time – everything.

Now grab a pen or pencil and draw a small circle – about the size of a golf ball – in the center of a sheet of paper. Imagine that all the work you’re doing is contained in that small circle. Inside your circle, write the words, “Where I am now: My comfort zone.”

Next, take your pen and draw another circle outside the first one so you have two concentric circles. (If you didn’t draw the first one yet, go ahead and do it now so you have a visual).

The larger circle represents personal growth, increased performance and positive change. In the fitness arena, that might mean better health, higher levels of cardiovascular fitness, increased strength, larger muscles or decreased body fat. In sports it might mean performing a skill or event at a higher level of competency.

If you’re not seeing the changes you want – a frustration so many people are experiencing today – it means you’re staying completely inside that circle of comfort most of the time. In order to make a positive change in your life, you have to expand your boundaries by climbing outside your comfort zone.

If that’s all there is to it – if a little step outside your comfort zone is all it takes to grow and improve, then why don’t more people do it? What makes that little step so difficult?

The answer is simple: In the space between your two circles, write the word, “pain” a few times, all the way around the circumference.

You see, the second you leave your comfort zone, you experience pain, DIS-comfort and awkwardness. Since all positive changes take place outside the comfort zone, change is painful. The very instant most people feel the pain, they pull back inside the comfort zone. This is the reason why most people fail to improve themselves or create lasting changes in their lives: They are unwilling to put up with the pain of change.

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Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Click here for Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program.

The pain we’re talking about may be: (1) the physical pain of muscles aching and lungs burning, (2) it may be the emotional “pain” of feeling awkward and clumsy at doing something new (such as a complicated exercise or athletic maneuver), or (3) it may be the “pain” of discipline and sacrifice. (For example, saying no to dessert, getting up at 5:30 a.m. for cardio, or passing up on a night out at the bars with your friends). Most likely, it’s all three types of pain.

The statement “no pain, no gain,” has been misinterpreted, criticized and labeled a fallacy by many. However, the people doing the criticizing are almost always “comfort zoners” who haven’t achieved much with their lives. Don’t listen to them. Never follow the herd (unless you want to step in a lot of manure). Instead, follow the small percentage of people who step out and achieve great things.

Achievement expert Brian Tracy says, “90% to 95% of people will withdraw to the comfort zone when what they try doesn’t work. Only that small percentage, 5 or 10 percent, will continually raise the bar on themselves; they will continually push themselves out into the zone of discomfort, and these are always the highest performers in every field.”

Studies at the University of Chicago by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience”, concluded that the highest achievers are those who consistently push themselves out of their comfort zones. Instead of withdrawing to their comfort zones when they don’t get immediate positive results, they force themselves to stay at this awkward, uncomfortable and painful (but higher and better) level of performance until the pain finally subsides and they become comfortable at the new higher level.

Here’s something important you need to know about pain: Tom Hopkins, a sales trainer and one of the world’s top motivational speakers, taught me this lesson many years ago and It’s been burned into my brain ever since. He said, “The pain of every change is forgotten when the benefits of that change are realized.”

If you ask a champion in any field of endeavor, you will find that rather than avoid pain, they embrace it and accept it as part of the game they must play to win. Champions realize that pain equals growth and the benefits far outweigh the discomfort.

Seven-Time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenneger said, “I realized that pain could become pleasure. We were benefiting from pain. We were breaking through the pain barrier and shocking the muscles. I looked at this pain as a positive thing, because I grew.”

Cyclist Lance Armstrong put it this way: “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit however, it lasts forever.”

Muhammad Ali said it like this: “I hated every minute of the training. But I said to myself, bear the pain now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

Go back and look at your circles again. Do you realize that it may be entirely possible to continue expanding your circles to infinity? Draw a third one. And a fourth. Imagine yourself climbing up out of your comfort zone to these higher levels and look back at how small the space is that you used to occupy. You have far greater potential than you’ve ever imagined.

In William James’ essay, “On Vital Reserves: Energies of Men”, he wrote, “Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are dampened, our drafts are checked. We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources. The human individual thus lives usually far within his limits; he possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. He energizes below his maximum, and he behaves below his optimum.”

It’s a widely accepted fact that we only use a tiny fraction of our physical potential and even less of our minds. However, no true expert in human potential today would ever dare set a definite limit on what we are ultimately capable of achieving because for all practical purposes, our potential is literally infinite.

Have we seen any slowdown in athletic, intellectual, spiritual and scientific advancement during our lifetimes? Quite the opposite; the curve of progress is accelerating thanks to the brave souls who had the courage to step out their comfort zones. Meanwhile, the mediocre masses are left further and further behind because they would rather pull back into the apparent comfort and stability of their small “circles” rather than step forward through pain and into growth.

Ironically, when someone says, “I’m happy just staying right where I am,” he or she is demonstrating their ignorance of a basic law of nature. It’s the natural law that all things in the universe are either growing or decaying. There is no standing still. “Comfortably maintaining” is an illusion. Truth is, you must grow. You must push yourself beyond what you’ve done in the past if you want to avoid falling behind.

You don’t necessarily have to aspire to become Mr. Olympia, Tour De France winner, or heavyweight champion of the world, but you must continue to grow, whatever that means to you. All you have to do is step outside your comfort zone and endure the “pain” of effort, discipline, sacrifice, frustration and hard work, and your reward of growth is as certain as the sun rising in the East tomorrow.

Soon the pain subsides, you enjoy the benefits of the change, and the pain is forgotten. You’ve reached a new, and higher plateau of achievement. Be on guard, though, for it’s not long before that higher level becomes your new comfort zone, and then it’s time to press on again.

Ultimately, you can’t avoid experiencing pain of one kind or another. Project yourself into the future for a moment; see yourself in your final days, reflecting on what you’ve achieved in your lifetime…and reflecting on what you wanted to achieve, but never attempted. As you visualize this scene, remember the words of Jim Rohn: “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”

In the first installment of “How to Gain Lean Body weight” we discussed how to determine the optimal number of calories to consume in order to gain fat-free body weight. While knowing your ideal calorie requirement is important, there are other factors that must also be accounted for. All calories are not utilized in the same fashion by the body. 3200 calories of ice cream, pizza, doughnuts, potato chips and soda obviously won’t have the same effect as 3200 calories from egg whites, lean meats, rice, potatoes, vegetables, fruits and whole grains. While calories are the chief element in the muscle-gaining formula, meal ratios, meal frequency and food choices also must be factored into the equation.

Macronutrient ratios

Once you have determined your optimal daily caloric intake for weight gain, the next step is to divide those calories into the right ratios of protein, carbohydrate and fat and eat foods in the proper combinations at every meal. The ideal macronutrient ratios for weight gain are 55% carbs, 30% protein, and 15% fat (give or take 5% either way).

While carbohydrates may need to be reduced on a fat-reducing program, to gain muscular body weight, natural, unrefined complex carbs should make up the bulk, or approximately 2/3 of your calories. A moderately high carbohydrate intake is essential to maintain high energy levels for hard training. Carbs are also protein sparing; they prevent the breakdown of lean muscle mass for use as energy. Don’t worry; carbohydrates are not fattening as long as you select natural, unrefined complex carbs over processed, simple sugars and you keep portion sizes under control.

One-third of your total daily calories or approximately 30% should come from protein. Forget about the “Recommended Daily Allowances” (RDA’s) of 12-15% of daily calories from protein. The RDA’s do not account for increased requirements for intense training and muscular weight gain, nor do they account for the calorie surplus that is necessary for weight gain. The RDA’s are merely a minimal standard for maintaining health, not for achieving optimal performance and growth.

Fats should be kept under 20% of total daily calories, with the ideal amount being about 15%. There is no reason to ever go on a high fat diet just for the sake of gaining weight – if you do you’ll gain weight alright – pounds and pounds of ugly lard right around your midsection! Excess fat in the diet is stored easily as body fat and also increases risk of cardiovascular diseases. But not all fats are bad. Removing all the fat from your diet can actually slow down muscle growth, decrease strength and decrease energy levels. A low-fat diet is much better for growth than a non-fat diet. In fact, the inclusion of a small amount of “good fats” such as flaxseed oil can actually be a great aid to gaining lean body weight. One or two tablespoons a day will add 130 – 260 additional calories and provide essential fatty acids necessary for energy production, muscle growth, joint health and strength development.

So how do you know if you’re getting your calories in these ratios? The most accurate way to measure nutrient ratios is to use a computer spreadsheet to generate your menus. However, you can easily tabulate your macronutrient ratios with a calculator and a simple formula. Take your total caloric intake for the day and multiply it by the desired percentage of each macronutrient. Then, divide the total daily calories from each macronutrient by the calories per gram for each macronutrient (4 calories per gram for carbs and protein and 9 calories per gram for fats)

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Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Click here for Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program.

Example of daily totals for 3200 calorie per day diet Carbohydrates: 55% (.55) X 3200 = 1760 calories from carbohydrate 1705 carb calories/4 calories per gram = 440 grams of carbs

Protein: 30% (.30) X 3200 = 960 calories from protein 960 protein calories/4 calories per gram = 240 grams of protein

Fat: 15% (.15) X 2000 = 480 calories from fat 480 fat calories/9 calories per gram = 53.3 grams of fat

The most important thing to remember about these ratios is that they are not just for the entire day; they are for every individual meal. This means you are combining protein and carbohydrates together at each meal. Eating carbohydrates by themselves, especially refined and simple ones, cause a rapid rise in blood sugar and insulin levels. High glucose and insulin concentrations in the bloodstream are not desirable because they promote fat storage and rebound hypoglycemia. By combining foods properly with each meal, you effectively control blood sugar and insulin. This in turn, will keep your energy levels steady and increase muscle gain while keeping fat storage at bay.

Example of per meal totals for 3200 calorie per day diet Carbohydrates: 55% of 3200 calories = 440 grams of carbs 440 grams of carbs divided by 6 meals = 73 grams of carbs per meal

Protein: 30% of 3200 calories = 240 grams of protein 240 grams of protein divided by 6 meals = 40 grams of protein per meal

Fat: 15% of 3200 calories = 52 grams of fat 52 grams of fat divided by 6 meals = 8.6 grams of fat per meal

The importance of small frequent meals

One of the biggest challenges you’ll face in your quest to gain weight is how to put on lean mass without also gaining fat. There is only one way to do this; you must eat five or six meals a day each spaced two and a half to three hours apart. If you were to divide 3200 calories a day into the typical three meals that would be 1066 calories per meal; that’s far too much for your body to process at one sitting. Even the biggest bodybuilders don’t need more than 700-800 calories at a time. Eating smaller meals more frequently will prevent you from over-consuming calories in one sitting; it’s simple portion control. More is not necessarily better; your body can only utilize so much at once. You can’t “force feed” yourself into growing. Excess calories in any one meal will always be converted into body fat.

Eating small, frequent meals promotes muscle growth because it helps to regulate insulin levels. While the large output of insulin that follows a high blood sugar level is undesirable, insulin must be present in the bloodstream constantly so that amino acids and glucose can be transported into the muscle tissue. Insulin is a powerful anabolic hormone. One of insulin’s major roles is to shuttle the amino acids into the muscle cells where they can be used for recovery and muscle growth. Unlike carbohydrates, amino acids cannot be stored; they are only available for protein synthesis for about three hours after the ingestion of protein. By eating a moderately sized meal every three hours you maintain a steady release of insulin so it can fulfill its growth-producing role.

Eating small, frequent meals is also anti-catabolic because it helps to prevent the breakdown of muscle tissue associated with long periods without food. Your body does not posses the ability to store proteins and use them at a later time for muscle growth. Since amino acids remain in your bloodstream for only about three hours after a meal, it is crucial to eat a meal containing a complete protein every three hours. If you do not supply your body with sufficient protein at regular intervals, it will be forced to breakdown its own muscle tissue for its amino acid needs.

Eating more protein at each meal to compensate for fewer meals doesn’t help; your body can only utilize so much protein at one sitting:. If your ideal protein intake for weight gain is 240 grams per day, then it would be most efficient to split that amount into five or six smaller meals of 40 – 48 grams per meal. Consuming more than this at one time is pointless; although protein is the least likely of all the macronutrients to be converted to fat, too much of anything, even protein, will be stored in the form of subcutaneous body fat. At best, the extra protein is simply wasted.

It’s not uncommon for large, active bodybuilders to need upwards of 4000 calories a day or more to gain weight. Sometimes it’s difficult to get this many calories from food. For many people, it is not practical to eat 5 or 6 times per day because of work, school, or other time commitments. If this describes you, it’s OK to substitute one or two meals with a meal replacement drink. Be wary of commercial weight gain powders. Many of them are 80% sugar with very little protein. Find a weight gainer with a ratio of one part protein to two parts carbs (for example, 80 grams of carbs to 40 grams of protein) Alternately, you could use a low calorie meal replacement product like MET-RX or MYOPLEX. At 280 calories per packet, they are too low in calories by themselves to count as an entire meal for a weight gain program. However, if you mix them with skim milk or juice and maybe blend in a piece of fruit, you now you have a 500 to 700 calorie, high protein weight-gain shake! Just remember that meal replacements should be used for convenience only – they are not designed to take the place of food and they are not better than food.

Food Choices: Quantity vs. Quality

Many people see going on a weight gaining program as a license to eat anything they want, including a lot of high fat and high sugar junk food. Don’t let this happen to you! It is possible to gain lean body mass with no increase in body fat, but only by eating “clean.” Don’t just be concerned with calorie density, you should also be concerned with calorie quality. Your muscle gaining diet should contain a wide variety of foods from every group including grains and starches, vegetables, fruits, low or non fat dairy products and lean proteins. You should choose foods that are as natural and unprocessed as possible. The less processed your food choices are, the better; eating foods in their natural state the way they came out of the ground is ideal. Your best choices for carbs are rice, potates, yams, beans, whole grains, pasta, oatmeal, fruits and vegetables. Great sources of protein for muscle development include egg whites, low fat dairy products, chicken, turkey, fish and lean cuts of red meat. If you can’t get enough quality protein from food sources, then a good whey protein supplement can be helpful.

So there you have it: The dietary formula for gaining lean body weight is:

1) Determine your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE)

2) Add a minimum of two calories per pound of body weight so you are in a positive calorie balance. This is known as your optimal calorie intake for weight gain

3) Divide your optimal calorie intake for weight gain into the proper macronutrient ratios of 55% carbs, 30% protein and 15% fat

4) Spread out your calories into five or six small meals per day.

5) Divide your calorie and macronutrient totals by the number of meals daily to determine the calorie, carbs, protein and fat content of each individual meal. Make sure you consume your foods in the proper ratios not just for the day but at each individual meal as well.

6) Eat clean. Choose natural, unrefined foods. Don’t use trying to gain weight as an excuse to pig out.

7) Expect to gain lean mass at a rate of ½ lb. to 1 lb. per week. If two weeks go by and you haven’t gained anything, increase your calories by another 300-500.

Now that you know how to construct your ideal weight gaining diet, in the third and final installment of “How to Gain Lean Body weight,” we will discuss how to train in order to gain.

The secret to gaining lean bodyweight is calories. Most people who want to gain weight and are having a difficult time doing so just aren’t eating enough. Simple isn’t it? Of course there’s more to it than just calories; like the nutrient density, calorie density, meal frequency and the ratio of calories from carbohydrate, protein and fat. There’s also proper training, recuperation and sleep to factor in too. But when it comes to gaining lean weight, calories are the bottom line just the same. No matter what you eat and no matter how hard you train, if you’re not eating enough it is physiologically impossible to gain muscle.

There are many factors involved in gaining lean bodyweight, but the starting point is to calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which is the number of calories you require to maintain your bodyweight. According to exercise physiologists William McArdle and Frank Katch in their excellent textbook, Exercise Physiology, the average TDEE for women in the United States is 2000-2100 calories per day and the average TDEE for men is 2700-2900 per day. To calculate TDEE you must first determine your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is defined as the minimum level of energy required to sustain the body’s vital functions in the waking state.

Here’s a simple formula developed by Dr. Fred Hatfield of the International Sports Sciences Association that you can use to estimate how many calories you burn in a day based on your bodyweight in kilograms. (One kilogram is 2.2 lbs.)

Men’s BMR = 1 X body weight (kg) X 24 Women’s BMR = .9 X body weight (kg) X 24

Example: You are male You weigh 172 lbs. (78 kilos) Your BMR = 1 X 78 X 24 = 1872 calories

The formula above is based on total body weight, not lean body mass, therefore it will be fairly accurate provided your body fat levels are not above the average ranges (14-19% for men, 20-25% for women). If your body fat is substantially higher than average, then basing caloric needs on total bodyweight alone will overestimate calorie expenditure.

Muscle to Die 4 Recommends: Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Click here for Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program.

If you know your lean body mass, then you can get an even more accurate estimation of your BMR. This formula from Katch & McArdle takes into account lean mass and therefore is more accurate. The difference in calorie expenditure between men and women is due to the fact that men generally have a higher lean body mass and a larger total body surface area. Since this formula accounts for lean body mass, it applies equally to men and women.

BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

Example: You are male You weigh 172 lbs (78 kilos) Your body fat percentage is 14% (24.1 lbs fat, 147.9 lbs lean) Your lean mass is 147.9 lbs (67.2 kilos) Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 67.2) = 1821 calories

Now that you know your BMR, you can calculate TDEE by multiplying your BMR by the following activity factor.

Activity factor Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 Moderately active = BMR X 1.55 Very active = BMR X 1. 725 Extremely active = BMR X 1.9

Continuing with the previous example: You are a 172 lb. male with 14% body fat and a BMR of 1821 Your activity level is moderately active (work out 3-4 times per week) Your activity factor is 1.55 Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1821 = 2822 calories

Once you’ve determined your TDEE, the second step is to increase your calories high enough above your TDEE that you can gain weight. It is a basic law of energy balance that you must be on a positive calorie balance diet to gain muscular bodyweight. If you consume the exact amount of your TDEE you will simply maintain your weight. Generally speaking, you’ll need to add another 300-500 calories per day onto your TDEE in order to gain weight. To be more specific, add a minimum of two calories per pound of bodyweight on top of your TDEE to determine your optimal caloric intake to gain weight.

Continuing with our example: Your weight is 172 lbs. Your TDEE is 2822 calories Your additional calorie requirement for weight gain is 2 X 172 = 344 Your optimal caloric intake for weight gain is 2822 + 344 = 3166

Using the formulas above, we have determined that our “typical” 172 lb. moderately active male will need 3166 calories to gain weight. Keep in mind that this is merely an estimate: All calorie expenditure formulas are estimations. Due to genetic factors, there may be a 20% variance of BMR either way. Age is another factor that you may want to take into consideration. According to Dr. William Evans, PhD., one of the world’s leading authorities on exercise and aging, we may need as much as 100 calories less per day per decade to maintain our body weight. Also consider that certain athletes train so frequently and so intensely that their TDEE can be off the normal activity scale limit of 1.9. Daily energy expenditure can be much higher for competitive athletes or extremely active individuals. Some triathletes and marathon runners have been reported to require as many as 5000-6000 calories per day or more just to maintain their weight!

Don’t just focus on gaining weight. It doesn’t do you any good to gain weight if most of it is fat. The goal of a weight gain program is to gain lean muscle mass with little or no increase in body fat. If you have access to body fat testing, get it done every 1 -2 weeks. If you find yourself gaining fat, first add in 20-30 minutes of cardio 3-4 days per week. If, after adding cardio you still gain fat and the quality and quantity of calories is correct, then you will need to begin cycling your calories up and down in a “zig-zag” fashion. Three high calorie days at your optimum calorie intake for weight gain, followed by three lower calorie days at or slightly below your maintenance level (TDEE) will allow you to add solid weight while keeping your body fat in check.

Using these calorie guidelines, you can expect to gain muscular bodyweight at a rate of 1/2 to 1 lb. per week, or slightly slower if you are female. If two weeks go by and you haven’t gained any weight, you’re doing something wrong; most likely, you’re not eating enough and you should increase your calories. After 3 – 4 months, the rate of muscle gain tends to slow down closer to 1/2 pound per week. Eventually, as you get closer and closer to your genetic limit for carrying muscle mass, the rate of muscle gain will slow down to 1/4 lb per week. Even at this rate, that’s still 13 pounds of solid muscle per year.

The next installment of “How to Gain Lean Bodyweight” will discuss meal frequency, meal ratios, caloric density and proper food choices for packing on the muscle.

The quest to develop a stunningly fit, lean and attractive body is a long, slow journey. It’s not something you achieve overnight by popping a few pills or strapping an electric gizmo to your belly.

Which reminds me, did you know that by the time the FTC finally blew the whistle on the electronic ab belt scam, the makers of those “ab zappers” had swindled over $100 million dollars from unsuspecting consumers? Fortunately, some of those companies had to pay it back, and then some! The FTC charged three companies – Fast Abs, Ab Tronic and Ab Energizer – with false advertising and deceptive warranty practices for these “ABSurd” products.

But I digress… back to what I was saying about the journey to a better body…

Last week I looked out my window, and where there was once nothing but a dirt-filled empty lot, there stood a sprawling six story brick condo complex. If someone looked at this massive completed structure for the first time, they might not be impressed. However, since I observed the entire construction process unfold from my living room window, I was impressed – amazed even – at what goes into erecting this kind of structure.

I remember watching the crew humming around diligently every day like busy bees, laying one brick after another. From one day to the next, it didn’t seem like much changed. But slowly, over a period of a year and a half, I watched the building gradually morph into the finished product.

When you look at someone with an incredible body as a finished product, you often tend to dismiss the long, arduous journey and hard work it took to build that body. Unless you were side by side with that person in the gym (and in the kitchen), observing the work involved, it’s easy to attribute such a chiseled physique to genetics or give credit to a supplement (they just took product XYZ and voila – overnight abs). What you don’t see or appreciate are all the months and years of sweat and hard work.

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Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Click here for Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program.

Getting in shape is a lot like a construction project. First, there must be a picture in the mind. Then the vision goes onto paper as a blueprint. It takes months just to lay the foundation. More months of work will follow. On a daily basis, it doesn’t seem like much is happening. You look in the mirror and appear, for the most part, the same as you did yesterday. But sure enough, the small improvements are slowly accumulating like compounding interest in the bank. One day, you look in the mirror and “suddenly,” your blueprint has become reality.

The body of a fitness pro or bodybuilding champion is no more likely to be built overnight than a high rise is to be built overnight. It’s not physically possible. Accepting the idea that any type of pill, powder, drug, supplement or machine of any kind will make it happen sooner is pure folly. You can’t force it.

Growth and development of any kind always requires a gestation period. For a baby, it’s nine months. For corn, I believe it’s about three months. If you were an expectant mother, would you want to hurry the process? Could any new development in nutrition or medical science speed up this wonderful miracle even one iota? If you were a farmer, would you try to harvest your crop before it was ripe? Would you dig up your seeds to see if anything was growing down there?

The answers are obvious. If only we would adopt the same patient, nurturing “mother’s” or “farmer’s mindset” towards getting in shape, then no one would waste their money on “fast abs” or “exercise in a bottle” or any such silliness ever again. We would understand that one must sow first, then reap the harvest, but that you can’t sow and reap in the same season.

If you ever get frustrated with your rate of progress (and who doesn’t), just remember; success is always guaranteed to the persistent. Nothing in the world can stop someone who knows what they want and is willing to continue paying the price until they get it. It just takes time.

Become the architect and builder of your own dream body. You WILL build the body you want eventually if you’re patient enough and you refuse to quit. And set your goals HIGH! Create a fantastic blueprint. Michelangelo said, “The greatest danger is not that we set our goals too high and miss them, the greatest danger is that we set our goals too low and we reach them.”

Envision a castle – a veritable Taj Mahal of a body! There’s nothing wrong with building castles in the sky, as long as you patiently work at putting the foundations underneath them. There are very few unrealistic goals; only goals with unrealistic deadlines. So keep laying those “bricks” – every day – one at a time – and sure enough, eventually, you’ll build yourself a palace.

Publisher: IronMan Magazine

Without a doubt, the most coveted and respected lift in the iron game is the barbell bench press. Ironically, no other lift is the source of so much frustration either. Sticking points and plateaus seem to trouble nearly everyone at one time or another. It’s not uncommon for someone to spend months or even years benching the same amount of weight with no improvement at all – but it doesn’t have to be that way. With a few small changes in your technique, a good dose of hard work and some patience, a 300, 400, or even 500-pound bench press is within your reach. If you’d like say goodbye to sticking points and finally break through the plateau’s that have plagued you for so long, then put these 15 powerful bench-boosting principles to work and you’ll smash through previous limitations and send your bench press soaring into new territory faster than you ever believed possible.

1) Position your body properly on the bench.

The first step in boosting your bench press is also the simplest; positioning yourself on the bench. Proper body positioning and alignment can increase leverage, improve mechanical advantage, decrease the distance the bar has to travel and provide a powerful foundation to press from. There are four steps to proper body positioning:

a) Lie on the bench with your eyes in line with the bar. If you slide too far up on the bench, the bar may hit the uprights as you are pressing. If you’re too far towards the foot of the bench, you have to struggle just to get the bar off the rack. Even with a lift from a spotter, you’re still wasting strength, and an awkward liftoff could throw you off balance.

B) Place you feet firmly on the floor and close to the bench. Putting your feet up on the bench, straightening your legs, or just letting your feet lightly brush the floor are cardinal benching sins – they can all reduce your power and throw you off balance. If you’ve got your feet planted firmly on the floor, you can draw power by pushing from that base when you hit the sticking point. With your feet close to the bench, it’s also easier to maintain the arch in your back.

c) Keep your shoulder blades tight, retracted and firmly planted in the bench. To bench press big weights it’s important to create stability. If you lift your chest up and retract your shoulder blades, your back stays firmly in contact with the bench, providing the solid foundation you need.

d) Maintain a tight torso and a slight arch in your back. Keep your torso tight and your chest raised and expanded. Your lower back should be slightly arched, not pressed into the bench. Excessive arching, or thrusting your hips in the air can injure your lumbar spine. A raised chest with a slight arch in the lower back is safe and will reduce the distance the bar has to travel. The shorter the distance the bar has to travel, the more weight you’ll be able to lift. Australian strength coach Ian King says, “Arching is probably the most powerful of all benching techniques and can give you as much as 20% extra on your one rep max.”

2) Get a firm grip

You can increase your bench press simply by improving your grip strength. Grip the bar tightly; imagine squeezing it so hard that you leave your handprint in the steel. The tighter you grip the bar, the more control you’ll have. Always wrap your thumbs around the bar. There’s no advantage to a thumbless grip; if the bar slips out of your hand, you could suffer a serious injury.

The most common grip mistake is holding the bar too high in the palm near the base of your fingers, which causes your wrist to bend backward. Instead, grip the bar low in the palm towards the heel of your hand and keep your wrists straight. Straight wrists allow you to transfer the power of your chest, deltoids and arms directly through to the bar. A locked wrist also helps prevent injury.

3) Maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses with the proper grip width and arm position.

The dreaded “sticking point” is usually caused by a weakness in one muscle group compared to the other muscles used in the lift. When the lift approaches the point where the weak muscle is involved the most, the bar will stall. For example, the most common sticking point in the bench press is the mid point where the front deltoids are involved less and the pecs and triceps take over. If your pecs and triceps are weaker relative to your front delts, you’re more likely to get stuck. One remedy is to take a grip width that minimizes your weak muscles and maximizes your strong ones.

Because people have different body sizes, limb lengths and strong points, the ideal grip width and arm position can vary greatly from one individual to the next. In his book, The Complete Guide to Powerlifting, Fred Hatfield identifies several critical anatomical factors that you must adjust your benching style for:

Long arms – elbows out, wider grip,
Short arms – elbows in, closer grip.

Weak pecs – elbows in, narrower grip
Strong pecs – wider grip, elbows out

Weak front delts – elbows out, wide grip
Strong front delts – narrower grip, elbows close to torso

Weak triceps – elbows out, wider grip
Strong triceps – elbows in, closer grip

4) Use assistance exercises.

Adjusting your form to accommodate a weak muscle group is important, but in the long run it’s little more than a band-aid. The ultimate solution is to bring up your weak areas with assistance exercises. If you want a stronger bench, you must get strong triceps, deltoids and lats, not just strong pecs.

Of all the assistance work you could do, developing stronger triceps will probably have the greatest impact on your bench press. Work hard on the basics, including various types of heavy extensions and close-grip bench presses (flat and incline).

Strengthening your front delts will also bring major improvements to your bench press. Assistance work for front deltoids should include military presses and all kinds of front raises (dumbbell, barbell, with a 45 lb. plate, etc.).

Your lats are involved in the bench press to a greater degree than you might think. Your lats help you maintain your arch and stabilize your torso. They also help you lower the weight by providing a “cushion” to lower against and push from at the bottom. The best assistance exercises for lats are rows, rows, and more rows! Barbell and dumbbell rows are the best assistance exercises for the bench press because they train the back through the same horizontal plane as the bench press.

5) Lower and press the bar through the optimal path.

Always have a spotter lift the bar off for you – it conserves energy. Once the bar is over your chest, go right into the lift; don’t just lie there holding the bar at arms length over your chest or you’ll waste energy. Do your psyching up (more on that later) before you lift off the bar.

Lower the bar to a point even with the nipples or slightly below them. Touching the bar low on the chest recruits the triceps and powerful front deltoids to the maximum degree to assist the pectorals. If you lower the bar too high on the chest, your arms tend to rotate externally. This puts more strain on your shoulder joints and reduces your leverage. You’ll have the best leverage if your hands are directly above your elbows.

When the bar reaches your chest, pause for about one second. Never bounce the bar off your chest; not only can this cause an injury, but it’s also cheating (and it wouldn’t pass in a powerlifting meet). This is not to say you should never bench quickly with no pause, but training with the brief pause eliminates the momentum, overloading the target muscles more effectively.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so it seems logical to push the bar straight up. Many great powerlifters such as Louie Simmons, point out that pressing straight up allows you to lift more by decreasing the distance the bar has to travel, and it reduces the chance of injuring your pecs or shoulders. Most people, however, press the bar in a path that curves slightly back towards the face. This arc is known as the “J-curve.” This curve occurs because you unconsciously change the path of the bar to accommodate your weak joint angles (the delts are usually stronger than the triceps). So what’s the ideal method? Ultimately, you should work on developing the necessary tricep strength to press straight up, but don’t force yourself to follow any particular path if it feels unnatural.

6) Breathe out on every rep, but hold your breath briefly at the critical moment

Novice lifters are often afraid to hold their breath at all because they’ve been warned that this practice is dangerous. Prolonged breath holding is dangerous (you could black out and wake up later with a barbell wrapped around your head). However, you’ll never bench anywhere near what you’re capable of without proper breath control. Breath holding at the right moment is critical because the increase in intra-abdominal pressure helps get you through the sticking point. It also gives you a feeling of confidence and stability during the lift off. Without this tight feeling, you’d feel as if you were being crushed under a heavy weight (and that could blow the lift for you mentally before you even started the descent). As you begin to lower the bar, breathe deeply and inhale all the way into your belly – not just a shallow breath in your upper chest. Hold your breath as you change direction and continue holding until you’ve pushed upward through the sticking point. Then breathe out and inhale again as you start the next rep.

7) Choose the optimal eccentric and concentric tempos

It’s a general rule in bodybuilding to do your reps with a two-second concentric (lifting) movement and at least a three or four second eccentric (lowering) movement. Slowing down the eccentric part of the movement can increase the time under tension, decrease the use of momentum and isolate the target muscle better – all of which help to increase muscle size.

When you’re training purely for strength, doing negatives too slowly can be counterproductive. Resisting the weight with a slow negative requires more force, so it actually reduces the number of reps you can do. For example, if you can do three reps with 275 lbs. using a five second negative, you can probably get five or six reps with 275 lbs. using a one or two second negative.

In his column at Testosterone.net, bodybuilding writer Doug Santillo explains it like this: “A lot of emphasis in bodybuilding literature has been placed on lowering the weight slowly. For the purposes of hypertrophy, the majority of the time should be spent using slower eccentric speeds. But there’re times when lowering the weight fast can be advantageous. In training for maximal strength, the primary goal is to force your nervous system to more efficiently recruit fast twitch fibers. With a faster eccentric speed, you give the nervous system more of a break between each explosion, since the tension is reduced. By doing this, your muscles must contract from a more relaxed position, thereby forcing your nervous system to adapt. For a bodybuilder, since his priority is gaining muscle mass, not maximal strength, a good choice would be to alternate between fast and slow eccentrics during his strength phases.”

If you’re after size gains, your best bet would be a slow negative, but if you want more strength, use a faster eccentric speed – not an uncontrolled, cheating fast, but a “controlled” fast.

Finally, EXPLODE the weight upward. Apply the maximum force possible. Fred Hatfield has named this technique “Compensatory Acceleration.” With lighter weights, this means the bar will travel upward very quickly, so you’ll have to “put on the brakes” at the top of the movement. With heavier weights, the bar will be moving slowly, but no matter how slow it seems to creep upward, you should still push as hard as you can through the entire range of motion.

One reason sticking points are common in the middle or top part of the bench press is because you don’t have enough velocity coming out of the bottom. Push up HARD from the bottom and don’t push less or give up if the bar starts to slow down or stall. Make a conscious effort to accelerate and keep pushing hard through the entire lift. Practiced consistently, this technique can completely obliterate sticking points.

Do the ideal number of sets and reps – not too many, not too few.

Overtraining is a major cause of bench press plateaus. When it comes to benching strength, more is not better. Cutting back on volume doesn’t mean doing one set to failure, it simply means you should reduce your volume to a level that allows you to gain strength consistently.

In the tradition of Arnold Schwarzenegger, most people follow high volume bodybuilding routines that look something like this:

1. Bench press 4-5 sets 8-12 reps
2. Incline press 4-5 sets 8-12 reps
3. Dumbbell flyes 4-5 sets 8-12 reps
4. Cable crossover 4-5 sets 8-12 reps

With the exception of genetically gifted people (like Arnold), this is too much even for an advanced bodybuilder, but it’s way too much for building strength. Most powerlifters and strength athletes who bench 400 -500 lbs. or more use extremely simple routines – sometimes only one or two exercises per body part. Doing too many sets and exercises is a sure-fire way to hit a plateau. It may seem hard to give up your high volume workout routines, but you’ll be amazed at how much stronger you’ll get when you cut back.

Six to twelve reps is probably the single best rep range for muscle size gains (bodybuilding). However, if you want to get strong, you’re going to have to do a fair share of your training in the one to five rep range. In his book, “the Poliquin Principles,” strength Coach Charles Poliquin recommends the following parameters for strength gains:

1 – 3 exercises per body part
1 – 5 repetitions per set
5 – 12 sets per body part
3 – 5 minutes rest between each set

(Charles should know: he’s trained over 400 Olympic and professional athletes and his clients are brutishly strong).

“Rest about one minute between each set.” That’s the standard guideline that’s been tossed around in gyms for years. It’s a good recommendation for bodybuilding or general fitness, but longer rest intervals are an absolute must for benching super heavy weights.

To use the maximum weight possible on every set, you must allow your muscular and nervous systems to fully recover between each set. The shorter your rest intervals, the less you will recover. The ideal rest interval for strength development is four to five minutes. Beyond five minutes is not effective because you’ll start to cool off.

9) Warm up properly but don’t waste your energy.

An important part of benching heavy weights is energy conservation. Out of all the ways you could waste energy, excessive warm up is the biggest culprit. It’s important to warm up thoroughly to avoid injury, but if you do too many warm-up sets, you’ll squander your energy and become fatigued before you get to your heavier “work sets.” This will limit the amount of weight you can use on the final sets that really count. Your goal is to warm up without burning out.

Lets suppose you have a 315 lb. max. For maximal strength gains, you need to work with at least 85% of your max (267 lbs). Using a typical bodybuilder’s workout, you’re so fatigued before you reach this weight that you only get one set of three measly reps at 85% of your max – not a very effective workout for strength gains. What follows is a typical, ineffective routine and the new, improved routine:

Typical bench routine: (too many high rep warm up sets tire you out)
1 X 15 reps X 135 lbs
1 X 12 reps X 185 lbs
1 X 10 reps X 225 lbs
1 X 8 reps X 245 lbs
1 X 6 reps X 255 lbs
1 X 3 reps X 265 lbs
(You tired yourself out before getting to your effective work sets, so 265 X 3 is as heavy as you can go)

More effective routine:
1 X 8 X 135 (warm up)
1 X 6 X 185 (warm up)
1 X 5 X 225 (warm up)
1 X 5 X 265
1 X 3 X 275
1 X 3 X 285
1 X 2 X 295
(Conserves energy for the heavy work sets, but still warms you up sufficiently)

10) Do singles – but don’t overdo them

One of the biggest benching blunders you can make is to max out at every chest workout. Seeing how much you can bench at every chest workout is building your ego, not your strength. On the other hand, avoiding singles completely is also a mistake. Maximum singles definitely have their place, but they must be used wisely.

The reason max singles help you bench more is because they develop neuromuscular efficiency and prepare your body psychologically for the “feel” of heavy weights. Here’s what coach Poliquin says about them:

“The nervous system is the forgotten component of bodybuilding, and training with maximal weights targets this area by improving the link between the central nervous system and the muscular system. By using this method, the trainee will learn to access a greater percentage of motor units in a given cross-section of muscle tissue.”

Our suggestion is to do maximum singles on the bench press once a month. On assistance exercises you can use maximal weights more often, as long as you rotate the exercises regularly. Never max out on the same exercise week after week or you’re asking for an injury.

11) Use lockouts to get your body used to heavy loads, to strengthen connective tissue and to smash through sticking points.

Lockouts are performed for the same reason as singles: to train your muscles, brain, and central nervous system to handle super heavy weights. Lockouts also help to develop tendon and ligament strength. A lockout is simply a bench press performed with extremely heavy weights in the top third or quarter of the range of motion. Lockouts will help build confidence with heavy weights and will help you become stronger through the final quarter of the movement, where many people get stuck. For safety, make sure you have a very strong and competent spotter or do your lockouts is in a power rack.

Lockouts can be done with near maximal, maximal or even greater than maximal weights. Because you are using a partial range of motion, you ‘ll be able to handle weights greater than your max. For example, if your max is 315, you could add 5% and do lockouts with 330 lbs.

The best way to incorporate lockouts into your routine is to add one or two sets of 3-5 reps at the end of your regular bench workout. Like singles, lockouts should be used sparingly. Doing them too frequently can quickly lead to overtraining and injury.

12) Train your chest once every five to seven days and train no more than two days in a row.

Overtraining can rear its ugly head in many ways. One way we already discussed is too many sets. An equally insidious form of overtraining is training too often. Opinions on training frequency abound, and there is no single best method because frequency is a highly individual matter. One thing is for certain; if you don’t allow enough recovery time between workouts, you simply won’t get stronger.

Complete recovery has two components; specific and systemic recuperation. Specific recuperation is the amount of time you allow each muscle group to rest between workouts. For optimal bench press gains, we suggest using a split routine working your chest once every five to seven days. Some strength athletes train chest more often – up to twice a week. This can also be effective, but with this frequency, every workout should not be heavy; one session is heavy and the other is lighter, with a minimum of 72 hours between sessions.

Systemic recuperation means allowing your entire body and nervous system to recuperate by not training too many days in a row. Individual muscle groups need to rest between training sessions, but so does your entire body. If you train too often, it puts excessive demands on your central nervous system. To ensure complete recovery, two days in a row is the most you should train without taking a day off.

13) Apply the law of progressive resistance

You’ll amaze yourself at how strong you get when you systematically apply the law of progressive resistance, but few people have the patience or discipline to do it consistently. The law of progressive resistance says that a muscle will only grow and increase in strength in response to the ever-increasing demands made upon it.

There are many factors involved in building strength, but in the long run, the only thing that really matters is that you progressively overload your muscles. Progressive resistance is the number one key to gaining strength and muscle mass. There are many ways to overload a muscle, such as decreasing rest intervals, increasing volume, slowing rep speed, increasing time under tension, doing more repetitions, and using stricter form, but the granddaddy of them all is simply adding weight on the bar. The more weight you can lift in strict form, the bigger and stronger the muscle will get, period.

To track your progress, a training journal is an absolute must. Keeping a training journal allows you to pre plan every workout in advance and to go to the gym with a goal for every session.

Constantly adding weight at every session can sometimes seem like an insurmountable task, but the best way to achieve this goal is to make tiny, incremental increases consistently over time. Don’t attempt large jumps in weight loads too quickly. If necessary, aim for adding just 2.5 lbs to 5 lbs with every workout. During a strength phase, you must make progress in some form at every single workout or you are wasting your time. You may not be able to increase the weight at every workout, but you must do at least one more rep with the same weight. If you’re not going to add more weight or do more reps, there’s no sense in even going to the gym – you might as well stay home and watch TV.

14) Practice your technique with light to moderate weights until it is perfect.

Did you ever notice yourself starting to squirm, twist, or lift your butt off the bench when you hit a sticking point? This might help you get up that last rep, but it won’t help you get stronger. Using sloppy form or momentum to lift a weight takes the stress OFF the areas you’re supposed to be targeting. It also increases your chances of getting hurt. Sloppy form and cheating will get you nowhere.

Stay with light to moderate weights until you have mastered all these techniques. It’s more productive to use moderate weights with perfect form than heavy weights with sloppy form. If you have to, unload the bar and start all over again from scratch with the proper form. Then gradually build your poundage back up again with your newly acquired perfect form.

15) Harness the powers of your mind.

Sometimes it’s your mindset you need to change, not your benching technique. Benching is a mental feat as much as a physical one. Visualization, the practice of mentally picturing the lift in your mind’s eye first, is incredibly powerful. Your mental pictures always become your physical reality. Everything you ever achieved had to happen in your mind first before it happened in the real world. You always act on your mental pictures and you become the mental pictures you hold of yourself. If you can see yourself benching a particular weight in your mind first, your body will soon follow. If you can’t see yourself benching a certain weight mentally, you’ll never bench it in reality.

You’re probably familiar with the story of the three-minute mile: For thousands of years, it was believed that running a mile in less than four minutes was physiologically impossible. Roger Bannister didn’t set any mental limits and he proved everyone wrong. But that’s not the best part of the story. The best part is what happened afterwards: Within one year after Bannister broke the three-minute mile, 37 other runners did it too! How do you explain this? Nothing changed in the runner’s bodies; nothing changed in the laws of physics; there were no new breakthroughs in running techniques. It was simply the runner’s beliefs of what was possible that changed – the mental barrier was broken.

Be a no-limit person! Don’t succumb to the awful habit of setting mental barriers. There are certain thresholds such as 300, 315, 400, or 405 lbs. where it’s all too easy to tell yourself, “This is HEAVY!” or “I don’t know if I can do this.” Have you ever been guilty of telling your spotter, “Watch me; I’m going to try for 5 reps?” Never “try” anything – DO IT! The things you say to yourself before and during your workouts have a tremendous impact on your performance. Change your negative self talk to positive self-talk. Instead of saying “This is heavy,” say, “This weight is child’s play!” Repeat the affirmation; “Light weight, light weight, easy weight, easy weight!” “I’m gonna toss this weight around like it’s nothing!” “I’m gonna destroy this weight!” Then, after you conquer it say, “That was easy!”

Back “in the day” when I was a full time personal trainer and I met with weight loss clients in person at my New Jersey Health Club, the first thing I would always ask during the initial consultation was:

“Tell me what you want… and I’ll show you how to get it.”

Typical reply from client:

“I want to lose 20 pounds fast.”

My reply:

“Are you SURE that’s what you want? …If I can show you how to lose 20 pounds REALLY fast, will that make you happy?”

They nodded their head affirmatively as their eyes lit up in anticipation of the rapid weight loss secrets I was about to reveal…

Their face went white when – with a totally straight face – I pulled out a hacksaw and started walking towards them…. menacingly.

Not sure whether to laugh or run in sheer terror, they said,

“What the heck are you doing?”

“You said you wanted to lose 20 pounds fast. This is the easiest, surest, most effective way I know to take 20 pounds off you FAST! In fact, I figure that right leg of yours might even weigh 25 pounds!”

I kept walking closer and started to get into sawing position, wielding my fast, effective and guaranteed weight loss tool…

“Bear with me because this IS quick, but sometimes it takes a few minutes for me to cut through the bone.”

By this time, my client (and I) are either completely cracking up, I have seriously scared the living you know what out of them, or they just think I’m a complete lunatic… (depends on whether I was able to keep a straight face or not)

Finally, the light bulb goes on, and my client would see where I was going with this:

“Okay, smart alec,” I get it… I don’t want to lose WEIGHT, I want to lose FAT.”

Sometimes I would be having so much fun, I would just keep on playin’…

“But why not? This is easy, fast and guaranteed – just what everyone wants these days… it’s even better than taking a pill! Come on… let me hack it off! You’ll be my next testimonial: ‘I lost 20 pounds in 5 minutes!’ Imagine what that will do for my business!”

“Very funny. I told you, I get it! I want to lose FAT, not muscles and bones. I need my leg!”

Naturally, of course, I don’t always have to pull out my trusty blade. Every once in a while… about as often as a total solar eclipse… a client answers my question like this:

“What do I want? Tom, I want to lose 20 pounds of body fat in the next 12 weeks. I want to do it slowly, safely and healthfully and then keep it off permanently. I want all the fat around my hips and thighs completely gone and I want a firm flat stomach. I want muscle all over my body while still looking feminine. I’d like to see myself at about 16% body fat and maintain all my muscle or gain a few pounds of lean mass if I can, especially in my arms. This is important to me because I want to set a good example for my kids, I want to be healthy and live to at least 90 and I want my husband to look at me and say, “I love your body,” and I want to be able to *honestly* say back to him, “me too!”

Muscle to Die 4 Recommends: Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Click here for Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program.

It is on these rare occasions that I know there is still intelligent life on this planet.

If you could answer the question, “What do you want” with the lucidity, clarity and specificity that this woman did, I don’t think you would ever have any difficulty reaching your health and fitness goals… or any other goal in your life, for that matter.

Her answer was what you call a very “well-formed” goal, backed up with lots of emotional motivation-inducing “reasons why.”

“I want to lose weight” is a poorly-formed goal.

“Weight” is not the same as “fat.” Weight includes muscle, bone, internal organs as well as lots and lots of water.

If you only learn ONE thing from all my newsletters, articles and books, PLEASE learn this:

WHAT YOU REALLY WANT IS TO BURN THE FAT, WHILE KEEPING THE MUSCLE!!!!

FAT LOSS is what you want, not weight loss.

If your body were 100% rock-solid muscle, with absolutely nothing that jiggled (unless it was supposed to), would you care how much you weighed?

I bet you wouldn’t! And if that’s true, then…

STOP WORSHIPPING THE SCALE AND START MEASURING YOUR BODY COMPOSITION!

By measuring your body fat, you take the guesswork out of your health and fitness plan and you get an accurate picture of what’s really happening in your body as a result of your diet and exercise program.

Instead of worrying about whether you are losing muscle, or wondering if you are losing fat, you can measure it and KNOW for sure. (I always get a good chuckle when someone tells me they’re worried about losing muscle when they don’t even measure how much muscle they have!)

Instead of being confused by all the “opinions” from weight loss and exercise “experts” who are all telling you something different, you can MEASURE your body composition and based on the results, you can KNOW for sure whether your program is working.

A very wise man once said,

“A single measurement is worth a thousand opinions.”

So, how do you measure body fat?

Thanks to technology, there are some methods today that are so accurate, they can tell you whether your left pinky has more fat than your right pinky! Unfortunately, many of them are either too expensive or they are inaccessible, being found only in hospitals or research facilities

If you want to learn a LOT about various body fat testing methods, chapter 3 of my e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (www.burnthefat.com) goes into great detail about the pros and cons of all the various fat testing methods. Instead of re-hashing it all here, let me give you three quick and easy, practical suggestions:

Suggestion 1: Have a trainer or fitness professional measure you if this service is available at your local health club. Sometimes, there’s a charge – usually $15 – $25, although some clubs offer the service for free to all their members.

Suggestion 2: Purchase an Accu-measure skinfold caliper. Do a google or yahoo search to find a reseller.

The Accu-measure was designed to allow you to measure your own body fat in the privacy of your own home (you don’t need someone else to measure you)

Some people wonder if this is really accurate. Truth is, it’s not quite as accurate as a multi site skinfold test from an experienced tester, but what’s most important is not the “accuracy” per se, but the reliability and consistency of your measurements so you can track your progress. Skinfold calipers in general are not accurate or inaccurate, it’s the person doing the test that is accurate or inaccurate.

Suggestion 3: If you have a spouse, roommate, or friend who can measure your body fat, you can purchase a Slim Guide body fat caliper (or just about any brand of caliper) from Creative Health Products: chponline.com

The Slimguide is the best inexpensive caliper available (about $20), but it wasn’t designed for you to measure your own body fat like the Accu Measure. You’ll need someone to measure you with this caliper. Other models of body fat calipers (if you want to splurge), range from $150 to $450. (At our health clubs, I use the electronic “SKYNDEX” caliper with the 4-site “Durnin formula.”)

The calipers come with instructions, or you can use these formulas, which I have used and found to be very accurate:

4 Site formula for men (abdomen, suprailiac, thigh, tricep)

% fat = .29288(sum of 4 skinfolds) – 0.0005(sum of four skinfolds squared) + 0.15845(age) – 5.76377

4-Site Formula for women (abdomen, suprailiac, thigh, tricep)

% Fat = (.29669)(sum of 4 skinfolds) – (.00043)(Sum of four skinfolds squared) + .02963(age) + 1.4072

[Source: Jackson A S, Pollock, M (1985) Practical assessment of body composition. Physician Sport Med. 13: 76-90.]

Body fat percentages vary based on age and gender, but 20-25% body fat is average for women (15-19% is ideal), while 15-20% is average for men (10-14% is ideal). I have detailed charts for body fat charts in my e-book if you’re interested.

Once you know your body fat percentage, then weigh yourself and record your weight and body fat on a progress chart such as the one found in my Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle Program (a fat loss program, not a weight loss program). This chart is how you will track your progress and “keep score.”

You can calculate your lean body mass (muscle and other fat free tissue) very easily just by crunching some numbers:

For example, if you weigh 200 pounds and you have 10% body fat then you have 20 pounds of fat (10% of 200 = 20). That means you have a lean body mass (LBM) of 180 pounds.

Now we’re talking! With this data, you can get a really clear picture of how your exercise and nutrition program are affecting your physique.

Losing weight is very easy. Losing fat – and keeping it off without losing muscle – is a much bigger challenge. If you simply wanted to lose weight, we could just chop off your leg.

Or, (slightly less painful), I could show you how to drop 10 – 15 pounds over the weekend just by dehydrating yourself and using natural herbal diuretics. Wrestlers do it all the time to make a weight class. But what good would that do if it’s almost all water and you’re just going to gain it all back within days?

You don’t have to “throw away your scale” like many “experts” tell you to. By all means, keep using the scale, the tape measure and even photographs and the mirror – the more feedback the better – but body fat is where it’s at.

By the way, I recently bought a chain saw and a shiny new axe from Home Depot, and I’ve been practicing my “American Psycho” and Jack Nicholson, “The Shining” impersonations… so if you want to come to my office any time soon for personal consultation, you’d better have the right answer to my question, “What do you want?”

One last thing – If you found this information useful, then you’ll be very interested in the new e-book I recently wrote about body fat testing, called “How to Measure Your Body Fat In the Privacy Of Your Own Home.” Normally the retail price is $19.95, but you can get it for FREE at www.burnthefat.com with the purchase of my fat loss program, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM), and it won’t be available much longer. (Note: BFFM is a FAT LOSS program, not a WEIGHT LOSS program!)

Remember that movie with Jim Carey, “Dumb and Dumber?” And remember the sequel to that movie, “Dumb and Dumberer?” Well, the low carb mania that is sweeping the globe today has reached a level beyond dumberer… It’s more like dumberererer (try to say that five times real fast).

There is an epidemic of “low carb stupidity” running rampant among millions of people throughout the world today — and fast food restaurants, food product manufacturers, supplement companies, and weight loss programs are capitalizing on it in a big way!

The low carb diet is not inherently “stupid,” however. It can be quite beneficial within certain parameters and under the right circumstances. The problem is that many practitioners are uninformed, misinformed, or simply lack the common sense and intuitive bodily wisdom to utilize the low carb approach intelligently.

Many low-carbers don’t even know why they are on a low carb diet, they’re just following the followers (Not intelligent!) Doing what everyone else is doing is always one of the surest, straightest routes to arrive at mediocrity! If you want to be a success, your chances are far greater if you look at what the masses are doing and do the exact opposite!

Fortunately, there is such a thing as “low carb intelligence.” Hopefully, by reading my brief rant, you will increase your carb IQ, and soon join the ranks of the extraordinarily fit, lean and healthy “carbo geniuses!”
Low carb stupidity #1
Selecting your beer or liquor carefully to make sure you have the brand with the fewest grams of carbs.
Low carb intelligence
Avoiding alcohol if you’re trying to lose body fat.

Drinking only in moderation if you’re trying to maintain your weight and be healthy.
Low carb stupidity #2
Believing any of the following: Low carbs diets are the only way to lose fat, low carb diets are the best way to lose fat, no one should ever eat a high carb diet, high carbs always make you fat, starches and grains make everyone sick and unhealthy.
Low carb intelligence
Adjusting your approach according to your health status, your goals and your body type, not according to generalizations preached by dogmatic diet “gurus.”
Low carb stupidity #3
Going on the Atkins diet (or any other very low carb/ketogenic diet) with absolutely no idea why you’re doing it or how the diet works (going on it because “everybody” is doing it and because you see it advertised everywhere.)
Low carb intelligence
Studying the physiology and biochemistry of the low carb diet and completely understanding all the pros and cons.

Then making an informed decision whether to restrict carbs based on your own personal goals, needs and heath status.
Low carb stupidity #4
Thinking that very low carb (ketogenic) dieting is a maintainable “lifestyle.”

Muscle to Die 4 Recommends: Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Click here for Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program.

Low carb intelligence
Understanding that reasonable (moderate) restriction of carbs can be a helpful short term strategy for fat loss, a good way to reach a peak, a legitimate method to control appetite, and an effective way for some people to control insulin. But also understanding that a balanced diet of natural foods is probably the most suitable of all the diets for health, lifelong maintenance and weight control.
Low carb stupidity #5
Believing calories don’t count if you just cut out your carbs (or not counting calories because it’s “too much work.”)
Low carb intelligence
Knowing that fat loss always did and always will boil down to calories in vs. calories out. Taking the time and effort to crunch your numbers (at least once), typing up your menu on a spreadsheet, keeping a diary, and/or using nutrition tracking software.
Low carb stupidity #6
Staying on a low carb diet that has stopped working (or never worked in the first place).
Low carb intelligence
Adjusting your diet according to your results; understanding that a common definition of insanity (and/or stupidity) is to continue to do the same things over and over again, while expecting a different result.
Low carb stupidity #7
Believing that you don’t need exercise because all you need to do is cut carbs.
Low carb intelligence
Knowing that dieting is the worst way to lose fat and that exercise is the best way to lose fat (Burn The Fat, don’t starve the fat).
Low carb stupidity #8
Using the argument; “There’s no such thing as an essential carbohydrate” as justification for low carb dieting.
Low carb intelligence
Realizing that textbook definitions of “essential” can be taken out of context to promote a fad diet and that just because there’s technically no “essential” carbohydrates (as there are essential amino acids and fatty acids) doesn’t mean carbohydrates aren’t “essential” in other respects.
Low carb stupidity #9
Using the argument, “You have to eat fat to lose fat” as justification for a high fat, low carb diet, without explaining it or putting it in context (exactly how much fat and what kind of fat?)
Low carb intelligence
Understanding the importance of essential and omega three fats (the good fats), but not taking any single nutritional principle to an extreme (such as, “If a little fat is good for you then a lot is even better.”)
Low carb stupidity #10
Saying, “All carbs are bad” or “All carbs are fattening.”
Low carb intelligence
Avoiding generalizations, and instead, having multiple distinctions about carbohydrates (and other foods) so you can make better choices. For example:

* Low GI vs. high GI carbs
* Simple vs. complex carbs
* Starchy vs. fibrous carbs
* Natural vs. refined carbs
* High calorie density vs. low calorie density carbs

Low carb stupidity #11
Not clarifying your definition of low carbs.
Low carb intelligence
Realizing that there are “very low” carb diets, “low” carb diets, and “moderate” carb diets and that you cant lump them all together. (Some people consider The Zone Diet, at 40% of calories from carbs, a low carb diet, others consider 40% carbs quite high).
Low carb stupidity #12
Believing that carrots are fattening because they’re high on the glycemic index and because a popular fad diet book says so.
Low carb intelligence
Have we lost all vestiges of common sense? With an average carrot clocking in at 31 calories and 7.3 grams of carbs, do you really think that this orange-colored, nutrient-dense, low-calorie, all-natural, straight-out-of-the-ground root vegetable is going to make you fat? (if so, you are in “carbohydrate kindergarten.”)
Low carb stupidity… Lucky #13
Eating lots of processed and packaged low carb foods (including those protein “candy bars”)… and thinking you’re “being good” and “following your diet.”
Low carb intelligence
Realizing that natural, unrefined foods are one of the keys to lifelong weight control and that anything man made and refined is NOT an ideal “diet” food – including the highly processed low carb foods that are all the rage this year. (Doesn’t this bandwagon reek of the late 80’s and early 90’s “no fat” craze, when all those ”fat free” foods were being passed off as healthy diet food, but were really highly processed and full of pure sugar?)
— End of Stupidities—
Forgive me for the obvious dashes of sarcasm, but sometimes I just can’t help myself and I end up going into “rant mode”… I think the last time this happened was in my newsletter almost a year ago… that was the issue where I wrote about the ad for the candy bar that increases your bench press by 50 pounds? Yeah… I heard those bars are especially effective when you combine them with low carb potato chips (weren’t those low fat potato chips a few years ago??? Oh nevermind… it’s all soooo confusing!)

Tom Venuto: Now, when you start talking about “alternative health” or “natural cures”, there is obviously some great interest in this subject today because many people want to avoid taking prescription drugs at all costs. There may be some real and legitimate alternative or natural solutions to drugs for helping to control blood pressure. The problem is, the word “quack” often comes up in the same breath as the word “alternative medicine” and the supplement industry is not tightly regulated and the FTC simply can’t keep up with all the claims being made on so many products. Maybe there are some real legitimate natural alternatives to drugs, but if they’re mixed in with all these bogus products, what’s a consumer supposed to do?

Frank Mangano: I know what you mean, Tom. It can be very overwhelming and confusing. You need to thoroughly do your homework and look at the list of ingredients carefully. Learn as much as you possibly can about the product. Try to find evidence that the product is as effective as the manufacturer claims. The key to choosing the right product comes from researching the product and the company that makes the product to find out which products have been tested and what studies have been conducted.

Also, steer clear of supplements that contain artificial binders, fillers, sweeteners and preservatives. Another tip is to purchase supplements in capsule form rather than tablets. Capsules are a better choice because they don’t include as much filler as tablets do and the nutrients can be more efficiently absorbed into the body.

Tom Venuto: Okay, well, just to prove the point of how confusing the marketplace is, I did a google search on high blood pressure remedies before this call and just like for obesity or any other health problem, you are bombarded with advertisements and all kind of claims. It’s pretty unreal what you come up with online after a few searches. I’m not an expert on blood pressure or blood pressure treatments so personally I found the claims and mass amount of information to be pretty overwhelming and even I wasn’t sure what to believe at first without doing some serious homework.

So I’m going to tap into your expertise some more and rattle off really quickly a whole list of blood pressure remedies that I found online and the claims that came with them and I’d like you to very quickly give your opinion along with your thumbs up – it helps, or thumbs down – its hype, ok?

Frank Mangano: Okay, fire away Tom

Tom Venuto: Okay first one, pure essential oils. Lavender, rose, ylang ylang. Rub it on your wrist and in conjunction with your blood pressure medication your blood pressure will drop. Pretty cheap, only $14.95 and it says this will last for 6 months.

Frank Mangano: This might have some impact on blood pressure, but not completely from a nutritional standpoint. For example, lavender is an essential oil with a calming aroma. This can be used as a stress reliever, which we know lowers blood pressure. The rose is a good source of vitamin C, but has to be ingested. There are much better ways to get and assimilate vitamin C. The ylang ylang works like the lavender as an aroma therapy.

Tom Venuto: Alright, next one and you can’t miss this one online. Hyprava. The ad says it will lower your blood pressure 20, 30 or 50 points without drugs or harmful side effects. This is a bunch of herbs like hawthorn, garlic, ginger, ginkgo, valerian and bunch of other stuff, and it’s $67 a bottle.

Frank Mangano: All of the herbs you mentioned may help to lower blood pressure. What would be important about this supplement is to check the reputation of the manufacturer and the purity of the ingredients. You can make $67 worth of garlic and ginger go a long way in your cooking and add flavor and nutrition to your diet that way. The valerian root helps with stress reduction and the ginkgo improves circulation so all of these ingredients are good, if they are well formulated in the supplement.

Tom Venuto: Angioprim. I really couldn’t find an ingredients list of what this is, just gives a lot of warnings of what will happen to you if you don’t take it and that its an alternative to unplug blocked arteries…. $299 for six month supply.

Frank Mangano: Angioprim contains three key ingredients: Caysine, which is a synthetic blend of amino acids; Lysine, an essential amino acid and Cystine, a non-essential amino acid. Amino acids are important to cardiovascular health. Lystine in particular cannot be manufactured by the body and must come from food sources such as potatoes, soy products, fish, and eggs. Cysteine is an unstable amino acid that converts to L-Cysteine and vice versa and both work as antioxidants as the body needs them for detoxification purposes. This supplement is promoted as an alternative to angioplasty surgery, which opens small arteries and eases the symptoms of angina. I would not make this decision on my own if I had been told I had a blocked coronary artery. If your doctor agrees that it is safe to wait and try this blend of amino acids, then I’d consider it. You just might be able to non-surgically relieve symptoms with this and other antioxidants.

Tom Venuto: Okay, this one sounds exotic. Muktavi. Ayurvedic herbal remedy for hypertension, anxiety and insomnia. Fast results in 3 to 4 days. It’s a whole bunch of Indian herbs. 1 month pack, $19.95 British pounds.

Frank Mangano: There are a lot of lesser known and exotic herbs in the Ayurvdiec remedy. If anyone is going to take such a supplement, it is important to know what each herb does and how it interacts with other herbs. You have to remember, that most modern pharmaceuticals are based on herbs, so herbs can cause powerful reactions in the body, just like a drug. I will tell you that there are less exotic, equally effective ways to get antioxidants and lower blood pressure.

Tom Venuto: This next one is said to be nature’s answer to lowering high blood pressure. Hawthorne, coleus forskolli – I’ve seen coleus in some diet pills too – olive leaf extract, odorless garlic, and B vitamins. A year’s supply about a hundred bucks.

Frank Mangano: Hawthorne is an excellent herb for lowering blood pressure because it directly works on the blood vessels. It causes them to dilate much like the Doxazosin, but without the side effects. Hawthorne also helps restore the heart muscle that has been overworked if blood pressure has remained high for long periods of time. Hawthorne contains many B vitamins and Vitamin C. Garlic also lowers blood pressure by improving circulation by its blood thinning action. Olive leaf extract is lesser known, but does improve blood pressure. Just look at the Mediterranean diet. Most people there eat plenty of garlic and olive oil and have relatively few problems with blood pressure. Again, much of the benefits of this supplement can be obtained through diet, or a single herb supplement.

Tom Venuto: I’m glad you keep mentioning that a lot of this stuff can be obtained from the food you eat – garlic, ginger, olive oil and so on. Ok, next one is Hyperexol. It says drops your blood pressure 30 points in 30 days or it’s FREE. That’s pretty specific and convincing with the guarantee. It says it’s a doctor approved formula, all natural ingredients. The ingredients list is magnesium oxide, calcium carbonate, potassium, alum sativa, hawthorne berry, vitamin C, cayenne pepper, taurine. Buy 2 bottles get 1 free $114.

Muscle to Die 4 Recommends: Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Click here for Tom’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program.

Frank Mangano: It’s correct in its claims that this supplement contains ingredients proven to lower blood pressure. The next thing I look at when choosing a supplement, then, is the reputation of the manufacturer. Since herbs are not approved or regulated by the FDA, the industry must regulate itself. In the case of Hyperexol, this formula was devised by a naturopath who is board certified by their governing agencies. The website for the product also gives consumers easy to find and clear contact names and number – another good sign that this is a reputable company. While I’m not endorsing a particular brand of supplements, I can recommend that consumers contact the manufacturer of whatever supplement they are considering and ask them for their research information. You can ask such questions of the manufacturer as, “Where do you obtain your herbs? How are they processed? What studies have you conducted?” A good manufacturer will have this information readily available to send to you.

Tom Venuto: Okay last one, more herbal stuff, I’ve seen that all over the internet – herbs for blood pressure. This one is advertised as a natural remedy. Comes in capsules or liquid $36.95 a bottle. Most of the stuff in here I’ve never even heard of, then again I’m no herbalist, but I’ve heard of a few of these ingredients. Taraxum I’ve heard of – that’s dandelion – it’s often put into weight loss pills or herbal water pills or natural diuretics. There’s also olea europea, agathosma betulina, that’s butchu – also an herbal diuretic I’ve hear that one too, actually this whole formula looks to me like an herbal diuretic.

Muscle to Die 4 Recommends:Frank Mangano’s Silent Killer Exposed
Frank Mangano is a health advocate who dedicates his life to finding solutions for people interested in reducing their risk of health problems and improving their overall quality of life naturally without the use prescription medication. As an active member of his community he works diligently providing assistance to senior citizens and probing as a health advocate to discover new and innovative ways to promote well being. The hard work and persistence that Frank has invested in recent years is reflected through his writings. He is the author of The Silent Killer Exposed, The Truth About Hypertension, which can be found on the web at: The Silent Killer Exposed
Click here for Frank’s The Silent Killer Exposed.

I do know for a fact that some of these natural herbal diuretics can temporarily remove water retention and I know about this from bodybuilders who use natural diuretics because they go into drug tested contests and prescription diuretics are banned or they just don’t want to mess with them. In fact, famous pro bodybuilders have died from taking lasix. But what about in the context of blood pressure, would an herbal diuretic be of any benefit?

Frank Mangano: Herbal diuretics are beneficial in controlling blood pressure. What I would caution people about is that diuretic use can cause severe potassium deficiencies. In fact, some of the prescription diuretics used to lower blood pressure are “potassium preserving” so that this doesn’t happen. A mild diuretic is okay, but I’d rely more on drinking plenty of water.

Tom Venuto: Let me fire a few quick questions at you point blank about all these advertised remedies. One, how do you know this stuff works? Do you take an advertisers word for it? Two, how do you know which one to choose – there’s so many – and these were just a few websites I found inside 10 or 15 minutes. Three, should people be self prescribing and self medicating after doing a little Internet research like I just did – is it safe? Is it even necessary or could healthy nutrition and exercise and losing excess fat be enough?

Frank Mangano: Those are all good questions, Tom. A little information can be dangerous, especially when it comes to health problems. There is little monitoring going on about what claims are true or false when it comes to herbal supplements too. Unfortunately the FDA doesn’t get involved until people start getting seriously injured and complaints are filed, such as with ephedra usage. Under the FDA’s Dietary Health and Supplement Education Act of 1994, the manufacturer is responsible for ensuring their products are safe before it goes to market. It doesn’t mention the effectiveness of the claims, but states the manufacturer must make sure the product label is truthful and not misleading. It leaves a lot of wiggle room for manufacturers that are not completely reputable to make unsubstantiated claims. Again, I’ll caution everyone who is listening that you need to get background information on a manufacturer before taking that supplement. The FDA does publish on their website tips for making informed choices about supplements. It’s found at FDA.org, and called, “Tips For The Savvy Supplement User: Making Informed Decisions And Evaluating Information.”

The basic vitamins, minerals and herbs that you need to maintain healthy blood pressure can be supplied – for the most part – by the foods you eat. It’s all about setting up a nutritional plan specific to supporting good blood pressure. If you do that, little, if any, supplementing will be need.

Tom Venuto: On the subject of supplements and natural or non-drug remedies, are there any that the medical establishment and scientific community give almost unanimous support for in the treatment of hypertension?

Frank Mangano: The medical community has really come to embrace fish oil supplements. They recognized through extensive research the benefits of the essential fatty acids and that the lack of these nutrients in the American diet especially is responsible for numerous health problems. There are a lot of other herbs that have been studied and the results of these clinical trials are often published by the National Institutes of Health and other federal health agencies or in prominent medical journals.

Tom Venuto: In your own personal opinion, are there any supplements that might fall under the “Alternative health” umbrella that the medical establishment and scientific community is hesitant to support or where they say maybe, but “more research is needed’ but which you think have potential?

Frank Mangano: There are a lot of supplements that the medical community just doesn’t want to embrace. But they haven’t vetoed them yet either. The problem with mainstream healthcare is that they are looking for ways to bottle and market a remedy and in doing so lose touch with what is already available to consumers. I know that they do this to ensure safety and purity of the remedies, but it is often at the expense of getting important information to the consumer. One example of this is with Vitamin C. This vitamin is known to boost the immune system, yet the medical establishment won’t necessarily recommend it for that purpose because more proof is needed – and that proof takes time and money.

One that has huge potential in lowering blood pressure but doesn’t have the full support of the medical community yet is L-Arginine. Herbalists consider arginine essential to controlling high blood pressure, yet the medical community believes that most people produce what they need and doesn’t support taking a supplement. If someone has a fatty liver and slow healing wounds or hair loss, then they may need to get more of this amino acid in their system.

The problem is not so much that the medical community believes these nutrients won’t help, it’s just they are not prepared to stick their necks out and take a definitive stand on most natural remedies.

Tom Venuto: And why is it that these potential solutions are not better known? What is it, some kind of conspiracy? I see this guy on TV all the time talking about natural cures “they” don’t want you to know about. Who is “they?” Is it really possible that the pharmaceutical industry has so much economic power and influence that they can suppress a natural remedy because that would cut into their drug profits, or is that too outrageous to be true.

Frank Mangano: I don’t believe any legitimate physician or scientist would want to hide the fact that there is a natural way to get healthy if they believed it would work. They often just don’t have the facts themselves, so they can’t pass this information along. I believe the drug manufacturers do have profits on their minds, but disguise this with scare tactics about how there has not been sufficient testing about how safe or effective natural remedies are – which just isn’t true. If more consumers demanded natural remedies, more would be done to test and educate. It’s happening already. There is a lot more activity in this area than just 5 or 10 years ago. That is making scientists and doctors more interested in finding out for themselves. The same thing happened with organic foods. Once people understood the benefits, there was a higher demand for them, and they started to be more readily available and affordable.

Tom Venuto: We’re almost out of time, but before we wrap this up, I want to ask you a question on a completely different note that is related to a personal interest of mine. I’m a natural bodybuilder as you know, obviously I do a lot of weight training, and a lot of people really believe that lifting weights raises blood pressure. My understanding of this is that lifting can cause a temporary rise in blood pressure during the exercise, especially on exercises where you do the Valsalva maneuver, which just means that you temporarily hold your breath through the sticking point of an exercise which will increase intra abdominal pressure and help you get through the difficult part of the lift. For example, you inhale on the way down on a leg press exercise, then at the bottom you reverse direction, hold your breath for a split second and then push through the sticking point and breathe out.

What I have read in the strength and conditioning literature is that this is only a transient rise in blood pressure and that if anything, a weight training program does not increase blood pressure long term, there is either no change in resting blood pressure or a decrease, depending on the person and the nature of the weight training program in question.

Here are my questions for you. Has your research found the same thing I did? Second, what about people who are not healthy and who have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. Should they be doing weight training? If so, how should they modify their workouts – I mean should they be doing heavy leg presses, squats and deadlifts and so on? Or what about higher reps and lighter weights? And last but not least, have you found any new research that’s just come out recently on whether weight training could either raise or lower resting blood pressure long term?

Frank Mangano: My research shows basically the same as what you found. Yes, there is a short-term raise in blood pressure during weight lifting, especially for those maneuvers where the breath is held. For a person who is in good cardiovascular health this isn’t a problem. For those who already have high blood pressure, weight training may even lower it, but the valsalva maneuver should be avoided until their every day blood pressure is consistently good.

Weight training, as you know, creates lean muscle mass, which increases metabolism and helps in weight reduction. Losing weight lowers blood pressure. To use weight training as a means of losing weight and lowering blood pressure I recommend the lower weight – higher reps workout. The circuit training approach is a great way for pre-hypertensive individuals to get control of their blood pressure before it becomes a dangerous health problem.

Tom Venuto; Well Frank, we’re just about out of time, so I want to say thank you, this has been a great interview and some great information I appreciate you sharing your time and expertise with my listeners. Even as a fitness professional myself, I’m learning new things here in the health field and expanding my perspectives and my definition of exactly what natural health, natural fitness and natural bodybuilding mean, because once again it means a lot more than just muscle, low body fat and looking good on the outside. Before we go, why don’t you give us your website address so if anyone listening wants to check out your e-book,
“The Silent Killer Exposed”, they can just go online and read more about it.

Frank Mangano: You’re very welcome, Tom, it’s been my pleasure. You can find out everything you need to know about my book by visiting: www.TheSilentKillerExposed.com

Tom Venuto: Awesome, thanks again Frank

Tom Venuto: Okay, now here is a question that is going to be of great interest to the listeners in my audience. What is the relationship between blood pressure and obesity? Is it a direct relationship? If you’re overweight, does your blood pressure necessarily go up right in line with your weight, or does only the probability of hypertension increase? And what if you’re obese or even morbidly obese? Are you virtually guaranteed to have high blood pressure?

Frank Mangano: Being extremely overweight or obese and having high blood pressure are so closely related that it has even been given its own name: obesity hypertension. Of all the cases of hypertension in the U.S., 75% can be directly attributed to obesity. Deaths directly from hypertension or that had high blood pressure as a primary contributor totaled 310,707 in the U.S. in 2002. It’s a chain reaction: obesity=hypertension= heart disease=death and that all begins with how fat a person is.

It’s not just how much you are overweight, but also where you carry your extra weight that can have a great impact on blood pressure. Risk factors are increased when added weight is in the abdominal area. This is because people with a so-called spare tire also have increases in blood sugar, which causes the fat to be deposited there, and then starts a cycle of sodium and water retention. To summarize, there is a significant risk factor for developing high blood pressure if you’re obese.

Tom Venuto: Yes, and I think it’s worth emphasizing the part about abdominal obesity because abdominal obesity which is 35 inches or more for women or 40 inches or more waist measurement for men, combined with high blood pressure are both part of a group of risk factors called metabolic syndrome or syndrome X. If you have metabolic syndrome you’re at risk for some serious health problems. So let’s take that situation in reverse. If you’re obese and you start losing weight are you guaranteed that your blood pressure going to drop?

Frank Mangano: There’s a direct correlation between obesity and hypertension, so it makes perfect sense that losing weight can lower blood pressure. The proof is in the numbers. Blood pressure is measured in mm/hg. A reading of blood pressure as the heart beats and as it relaxes, creates the dual number of X over Y giving you your final blood pressure reading. For every 2.2 pounds of weight lost, blood pressure falls 1 mm/hg. Of course, this is just one very positive byproduct of weight loss.

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Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
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Tom Venuto. Okay, so we’ve talked mostly about the problem, although we talked a little bit about stress relief and losing weight as two potential solutions, let’s start talking about even more solutions now. I’ve read your book and I’m also familiar with the Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension, also known as DASH, so we know there’s not just one, but many different strategies for reducing blood pressure naturally, and in fact it may be ideal to combine several strategies to get the best results, but let me ask you, if you were consulting someone that had high blood pressure, what would be the ONE single most important step to take right now, today, the second they finish listening to this interview, that would make the biggest difference of all?

Frank Mangano: That’s a great question, Tom. The very first thing I recommend to my clients is to begin by evaluating their daily regimen and immediately start planning some permanent lifestyle changes. Planning is the key to achieving those healthy numbers. I’m such a believer in this that I have a “60-Day Plan” in my
silent killer exposed e-book, which helps my clients build a solid plan to help them reach their goal. It’s important to slowly incorporate your changes so you stick with them. Focus only on one change at a time. Eventually, each small change will add up to bigger results.

Tom Venuto: You know, that’ seems like the most obvious step – planning – but I don’t think that’s what most people were expecting to hear, but I agree 100% and I think it’s great advice. I tell my clients the same thing about training and fat loss- put your goals in writing and map out your plan first, but most people want one single magic bullet type answer, some type of easy overnight solution that doesn’t require work or thought, but it’s not that simple is it?

Muscle to Die 4 Recommends:Frank Mangano’s Silent Killer Exposed
Frank Mangano is a health advocate who dedicates his life to finding solutions for people interested in reducing their risk of health problems and improving their overall quality of life naturally without the use prescription medication. As an active member of his community he works diligently providing assistance to senior citizens and probing as a health advocate to discover new and innovative ways to promote well being. The hard work and persistence that Frank has invested in recent years is reflected through his writings. He is the author of The Silent Killer Exposed, The Truth About Hypertension, which can be found on the web at: The Silent Killer Exposed
Click here for Frank’s The Silent Killer Exposed.

When most people talk about reducing high blood pressure, the very first thing that pops into their mind is sodium intake. In fact, if you surveyed 100 people off the street, I bet 99 of them would bring up sodium in a conversation about high blood pressure. But if I understand this correctly, the role of sodium is misunderstood and although sodium is definitely a contributing factor, reducing blood pressure is not quite as simple as just cutting down or cutting out sodium. Is that correct and would you tell us about the relationship between sodium and blood pressure and what your recommendations are for sodium intake?

Frank Mangano: Very true, Tom. Sodium may be just one part of the problem but it’s important to know that excessive salt in the diet has been linked with hypertension. Sodium is hidden in packaged foods and in higher quantities that you may be aware of. I don’t suggest totally eliminating sodium from your diet, as that can be dangerous in itself.

Sodium is a mineral nutrient found in nearly all foods and exists in a balance with potassium that is critical for the normal functioning of every living cell.

It’s also interesting to note that eating unprocessed fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish provides all the sodium your body needs (about 500 mg a day). My recommendation for sodium intake is no more than 2400 mg per day and this is especially for individuals with high blood pressure.

Tom Venuto: Frank. I love my Starbucks – in moderation of course – and I drink mostly the organic stuff too, but I don’t really want to give up my cup or two a day. I don’t have high blood pressure, but if someone has high blood pressure, is caffeine off limits?

Frank Mangano: I know what you mean Tom – I enjoy my coffee too. Here’s the deal; caffeine does raise blood pressure but only temporarily. So you should be able to continue to have drinks that contain caffeine, unless you are sensitive to it or if you have heart disease and your doctor tells you not to have any. In a nutshell, you shouldn’t have to completely give it up, however I recommend drinking coffee in strict moderation if you have high blood pressure. That goes for the cola drinks too, because even if some brands don’t have as much caffeine as coffee, they are a hidden source of sodium. Remember, if you’re one of those people who keep a constant flow of caffeine in your system, you’re not giving your blood pressure much of a chance to go down.

Tom Venuto: Anything else in the diet that people with high blood pressure should avoid?

Frank Mangano: Absolutely. For starters, alcohol should only be consumed in moderation. I’m serious about this. The American Heart Institute also says that more than three drinks per day can raise blood pressure. Don’t go overboard. If you’re a smoker, do I really need to get into specifics on why you should quit smoking right here, right now? Smoking not only contributes to heart disease, stroke and cancer but also increases blood pressure, at least temporarily. I highly recommend that you seek professional help if you can’t quit on your own. Your heart will thank you for it.

Tom Venuto: It’s crazy how many people still smoke, isn’t it? What else, without giving away everything that’s in your book, are a few other non-drug ways to reduce high blood pressure?

Frank Mangano: Tom, I know you’ll agree with me when I say that you just can’t say enough good things about exercise! Did you know that walking could actually be more beneficial for high blood pressure in the long run than strenuous exercise? If you ask me, that’s fantastic news because not everyone is going to be able to start a vigorous exercise program! Just 30 minutes per day can make a positive impact. Try recruiting a friend to walk with or if you have a dog, take him/her with you on the walks! I also recommend using different routes so it doesn’t get boring. You can also bring a Walkman to listen to some of your favorite tunes. I’m a big oldies fan Tom so I enjoy bringing a CD packed with oldies hits!

Another way to be proactive is to drink water. Water is a great way to cleanse and refresh every part of the body, even your blood vessels. Many of the drugs prescribed to lower blood pressure are basically diuretics. Water is a natural diuretic. Drink 8-10 glasses each day to flush out excess salt and toxins that make their way into the blood stream. You can use water to replace some drinks containing caffeine that temporarily raise blood pressure.

Tom Venuto: I don’t think we can emphasize the exercise part enough. Everyone wants the magic solution – well, you want real magic? Then get off your butt and exercise. Just move, just burn calories. I’ve been teaching this for years, don’t go on diets, burn the fat, don’t diet the fat. It’s not only the real solution to losing fat it’s a true miracle for your health. And whats really sad is that we have more and more personal trainers and so called fitness guru’s these days telling people to exercise LESS today! Can you believe it? Stop and think about that for a minute. I mean, sure, there are people like executives, with great need for short, time efficient workouts, but the popularity of always looking for “the next big thing” in diets while at the same time down playing the importance of exercise is just unfathomable to me, whether we’re talking about weight loss or blood pressure or any other health issue.

But you know it’s all about selling whatever the popular program of the day is, whether that’s a few minutes in the morning to 6 second abs or whatever. I do think everyone should know that all exercise is good exercise and even short bouts of 10 or 15 minutes of exercise have health benefits, and if you’re a beginner, you can and should start slowly, but more exercise has even more benefits. Like you said, 30 minutes a day of walking is a great start, and if you add 30 or 45 minutes of weight training 3 days a week on top of that, your health and your body will just transform.

Ok, let’s change gears for a minute and talk about drugs. Blood pressure medications can be a complex topic because there are a lot of them. Are drugs the standard medical treatment for high blood pressure? Can you give us blood pressure drugs 101? Cliffs notes version.

Frank Mangano: I’ll try to keep this as simple as possible for our listeners. Blood pressure medication causes one of three main reactions. They either increase the size of the blood vessel (vasodilator); flush out the blood vessel of salt and water and create freer blood flow with less volume (diuretic); or slow down the heart beat (beta blockers). Here are the top 3 high blood pressure medications:

1. Doxazosin (brand name Wytensin) is a vasodilator that relaxes blood vessel walls.

2. Hydrochlorothiazide (under brand names Carozine, HydroDiuril or Diaqua) is a potassium reserving diuretic. It is intended to hang on to the potassium, an important mineral in lowering blood pressure that can get dangerously low with diuretic usage.

3. Acebutolo (brand name Sectral) is a beta blocker intended to decrease the heart rate and blood flow.

Tom Venuto: What are the down sides to using drugs to treat high blood pressure?

Frank Mangano: The downside to these drugs is the long list of side effects. Often the side effects are so bad that other medications have to be prescribed to counteract them. Some of the side effects include but are not limited to rapid heartbeat, impotence, fluid retention, gastrointestinal problems, dizziness, muscle weakness and especially cramping, lowering of the good cholesterol (HDL), dryness of the mouth, fever, anemia, a stuffy nose, diarrhea, heartburn, possible nightmares, swelling around the eyes and aches and pains in the joints.

Now Tom, keep in mind that all the prescription blood-pressure-reducing drugs don’t have all these symptoms all the time. But if just seeing that list of potential side effects isn’t enough for you to turn and run the other direction, what would be?

Tom Venuto: Yeah, there’s a side effect or two in there that I would definitely like to avoid. Ok, so how would you approach implementing your natural strategies if you were already on drugs? And I would assume that you would never advise someone to just stop taking their medication. How would you work with a physician on this and how open are most doctors to the idea of alternative natural approaches?

Frank Mangano: That’s correct. I would never advise someone to stop taking his or her medication. That can be dangerous. Only a qualified healthcare professional can help their patient make that choice. If the doctor has approved an all-natural approach, then they will most likely be weaned off their prescriptions carefully and slowly, under the care of the physician while following the all-natural approach. This is the correct path to take.

Here’s the thing, Tom. Most (not all) doctors will never tell you about all natural methods. Simply put…they can’t tell you what they don’t know. They can’t recommend something that they don’t know about. What do they know? They know that for almost every ailment, they can write a prescription for some drug that the greedy pharmacy companies are pushing. It’s not their fault. It’s how they’re trained in med school. The truth is I very much enjoy the benefits of NOT being a doctor for this reason!

A lot also depends on the relationship you have with your doctor. You should be able to openly discuss any questions or concerns you have. This is important. If you’re not comfortable with talking to your doctor, or your doctor doesn’t want to hear of an all-natural approach, I highly suggest finding another doctor you can work with and who is willing to work with you.

You don’t even have to go to the extreme of using a chiropractor or naturopath as your primary care, although these are two types of physicians who are focused on natural treatments. There are MDs out there and qualified nurse practitioners who are interested in the whole person and natural approaches to healthcare over getting patients in and out as quickly as possible.

Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not against doctors and I’m not saying that no one should be taking medication. It’s just my belief that, in most cases, traditional medicine is NOT the answer and that doctors are often way too quick to pull out that prescription pad. It is also my belief that we are an over-medicated country!

Tom Venuto: I couldn’t agree more and I appreciate you saying that. In your book, you were talking about adding certain natural supplements to a diet that’s lacking in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that are known to keep blood pressure at healthy levels, but then you said “dietary supplements are one way, but nothing is really better than a healthy eating plan that incorporates as many of the nutrients as possible in natural form.” It’s always a breath of fresh air to me when I hear someone say that, because it seems like someone always wants to sell you some miracle cure in a bottle.

In the fitness and weight loss field, I’m pretty well known for being a supplement skeptic. I don’t believe in taking pills to lose weight, for example, because I believe that even if you’re doing something like suppressing appetite successfully with a pill, and you eat less and lose weight as a result, you are still treating a symptom. If there haven’t been lifestyle changes and removal of causes, and there’s been no nutrition education, the fat will come back.

On the other hand, I’m so not into drugs, that I have a very open mind for any natural or non-drug alternatives for addressing health problems. In the case of using certain nutrients, and that could mean in the form of supplements, or specific foods, would you tell what if any natural solutions have solid scientific support for use in addressing blood pressure?

Frank Mangano: My book, “The Silent Killer Exposed” details what natural supplements and vitamins you need to help maintain a healthy blood pressure, but I’ll give you my top three or four to start with. First of all, a good whole food supplement and multivitamin gives you a good base. Other than obesity, something that triggers high blood pressure is a lack of certain nutrients. Potassium is a good example. Those with high blood pressure often have potassium deficiencies. My recommendation for potassium is that you get it from food sources only and not a supplement unless directed by a doctor. That is because too much of a good thing can harm you. You should be able to get the recommended 3,500 mg daily of potassium from foods such as bananas and potatoes. Your whole food supplements and multivitamins also provide a small percentage of the recommended daily dose too, but more importantly, they give you a base for well-rounded nutrition.

If you could only choose one other supplement to add to your diet, I would recommend a good source of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. This comes from the fish oil supplements or from fresh, wild harvested fish.

Fish oils that provide the essential fatty acids have more health benefits than you could talk about in a 10 hour program. It lowers blood pressure, controls cholesterol, makes the arteries more flexible and has even been studied as a way to manage mental health. When it comes to blood pressure, fish oil helps by keeping blood platelets from clotting together along the artery walls. This keeps the passages open and the blood flowing through freely so that there is less pressure on the arteries.

A fish oil supplement should supply at least 3,000 mg of the cold water fish oils. Ideally you would have about three servings a week of salmon, cod or halibut, but if that isn’t happening week in and week out, you should be taking a supplement. One caution is that fish can have high levels of mercury or other metals. Wild harvested fish is less likely to contain the mercury. Supermarkets are required to label fish as wild harvested so you’ll know it wasn’t raise in a hatchery. Also, you need to check with the manufacturer of fish oil supplements about how much mercury theirs contains. It is not usually on the label, but information they keep on file.

Another addition to the diet should be lecithin. This is best when it is used in a granule form. You just stir about a tablespoon into your slow cooking oatmeal in the morning and you’ll lower both your blood pressure and cholesterol. It also works cleaning up the sticky residues from the artery walls. Lecithin contains choline, which scientific studies have proven prevents arteriosclerosis and improves brain function and memory.

Grape seed extract has been studied extensively to see how it impacts blood pressure. The second University of California-Davis study on humans was recently done and verified that grape seed extract can significantly lower blood pressure. In this case 24 participants lowered their systolic blood pressure by 12 millimeters and diastolic blood pressure by 8 millimeters in one month with just 150 mg daily supplements. That study also gave one group 300 milligrams per day of the grape seed extract to see if it lowered blood pressure more. The larger dose did not significantly lower blood pressure more, but it did have a positive impact on cholesterol.