I have often said that when you are successful in one area, that success often “spills over” into other parts of your life.

Recently, I assumed the self-inflicted task of winning an argument with my cardiologist. More precisely, I am looking to remove recurring disagreements we have on the trajectory of my long term care and how best to achieve lower blood pressure.

One of the recurring disagreements is treating my hypertension with medication, rather than behavior modifications. Doctors have little faith in behavior modification as viable treatment for chronic illnesses among the general population. Their lack of faith is not disturbing – it is well warranted.

Most people DO NOT change.  Nor will they alter their established behaviors significantly and consistently for achieving positive outcomes.  What my cardiologist may not adequately recognize is that I do not represent the general population. Instead trying to talk my cardiologist into taking me at me word, I decided to SHOW HIM.

Talk is cheap. Speak with your action.

“I love you”, for example, is an easy phrase to throw at your spouse or child. SHOW THEM. Show them consistently, quietly, and without the need for recognition.

I knew from my MANY years of bodybuilding and bodybuilding contest preparation, that BODY WEIGHT is tied to BLOOD PRESSURE directly. Generally, if your body weight is inflated, so is your blood pressure. The reverse is also true – the lower your body weight, the lower your blood pressure, relative to YOU. Numerous studies have confirmed this phenomenon (STUDY, STUDY, STUDY), but simple common sense should tell you this is true.  Personally, although I enjoy being big and muscular, I feel healthier at a lighter body weight.  Uncontrolled hypertension is one of the many reasons medically defined “obesity” is a serious health risk.

So, somebody like me, walking around at 6’1″, 230-235 pounds,  even with a low body fat percentage (~10%), is probably going to have high blood pressure.  And, even though, much of my inflated mass is muscle, I am still labeled overweight by medical standards.   At 240 pounds, I am considered obese.  And my blood pressure has always, and currently does, run high.  “Normal” for me, even on 10 mg/day of Lisinopril (blood pressure medication) is 140’s over 90’s (i.e. 143/92).  It’s worth noting that I do know a few guys that have perfect blood pressure even when they weigh over 300 pounds (at 6’1″ tall).

I agree my blood pressure is high.  Higher than it should be.  Higher than is safe to be, if my goal is to stay on the planet.  Over a decade ago, without medication, and at a high body weight (still mostly muscle), it was as high as 200/110, and rarely below 170/100.  Alarming – I know.  And there are symptoms that go along with those types of readings that I largely ignored back then.  Not good.  I eventually paid the price of my ignorance.

Anyway, the Doc and I both agree that it is smarter for me to have a lower blood pressure, rather than I higher one.

We just disagree on how to get there.  I can see him almost transform into an eye-roll emoji when I say stuff like, “I am going to drop my weight down to approximately 215 pounds”, as I stand there fully dressed weighing in at 234 pounds on that particular day.  I can almost hear him whisper (scoff), “sure you will”.  I’m laughing too inside because I know how full of shit most people are when they make promises like that.  “I’m going to quit drinking”, “I am going to quit smoking”, “I am going to stop eating junk food”, “I am going to quit drinking soda”, “I am going to start exercising”, “I am going to start stretching more often”, …  SURE YOU WILL.  Well, if it’s true, stop making false promises to everyone and JUST DO IT.

One of the very few things I fear is being a man who says he will do something, and not do it.  I am careful not to say things that I MIGHT not do.  Generally, I do not allow failure as an option.  And, if I promise something to anyone, it WILL happen.  Often, I imagine myself in my mind already accomplishing what I will ultimately achieve.   I have already imagined, many times, showing up to my follow-up visit at Tufts Medical Center in September 2019, having my blood pressure read, and it being somewhere below 110/70.


I had my appointment with my cardiologist on June 27th, 2019.  It’s been 70 days (today is 9.6.2019) since I decided to accomplish my goal.  And it’s been 70 days of not making a single diet mistake and 70 days of an extra 20 minutes of cardio every day, in addition to my standard exercise program that looks like this:

• Day 1: Quads and Core
• Day 2: Chest and Back
• “Off/Mini” Day A: Olympic Lift Drills + 20 minutes cardio
• Day 3: Hams and Core
• Day 4: Shoulders and Arms
• “Off/Mini” Day B: Olympic Lift Drills + 20 minutes of cardio
• REPEAT

NOTE: Some amount of exercise is performed every single day.

Similar to the first rule of investing, which is to PRESERVE your current wealth, my first rule of dieting for fat loss is to PRESERVE muscle.

There is such a thing as losing weight too quickly.  The human body can only lose body FAT so fast.  Outside of the initial 2 weeks of “cleaning up your diet”, if you notice a sudden precipitous drop of body weight, YOU LIKELY ARE LOSING MUSCLE, and you should slightly increase your food for a couple days, or figure out what is wrong with your training program.  I’m not saying this is a justification to go out and eat a large cheese pizza by yourself, but certainly adding a couple more cups of rice, a couple more potatoes, or a couple more avocados is well warranted.

For me, the only significant “on paper” change I made to my program was to commit to adding an additional 20 minutes of cardio, every single day.  However, I feel what really accelerated my fat loss was a key adjustment I made to my “Olympic Lift Drills” (see above).  So, some days, I am performing two 20-minute bouts of cardio that are separated by 4-6 hours and a minimum of 2 meals.  This arrangement of training sessions is CRITICAL to the success of my efforts.  Some days my total workout volume may be 120 minutes of strength training and 40 minutes of cardio, for a total of 180 minutes (3 hours) on that given day.

This volume of exercise seems outrageously high to some of you reading this.  It’s not.

Some might suggest I am “over-training”.  My results suggest otherwise.  THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS OVER-TRAINING.  Your lack of results is not due to over-training.   Your lack of results is due to under-training, or simply training incorrectly, and/or having a terrible diet.  Please know, for your own sake, that “over-training” is a myth perpetuated by “entrepreneurs” to sell you unnecessary health and fitness products.

The fact is that the simple act of adding an additional 20 minutes of cardio to my program led to “spillage”.

Committing to the simple act of pedaling my Assault AirBike for 20 minutes, in addition my baseline program,  radically accelerated the results of my exercise efforts, but the discipline of committing to this constructive action spilled over into other parts of my life.  I GAINED energy.  I stopped having that afternoon crash of energy when you feel like you need a nap.  I lost body fat.  My sleep improved.  I require less sleep now.  My mind is clearer.  I felt more aligned with my long term goals.

The discipline spilled over into my work activities (Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual).  I am more organized.  I read more books.  I did more research.  I started completing items on my list of “things I need to get done” quicker and more consistently.  I showed up early for appointments more often.  I wasted less time.  I completed more daily business tasks.  I cleaned my house more often.  I took my son to do activities more often.  I got more organized.  My strength training increased in intensity.  I made successful changes to other components of my exercise and eating program.  My soreness from lifting heavy weight resolves more quickly.  I acted as a more effective coach to my personal training clients.   My BLOOD PRESSURE WENT DOWN.

SPILLAGE.  When success in one small part of your life spills over into other areas of your life.

My body weight reached a low of 213 pounds on Sunday, September 1st, 2019 – down from 231 pounds.  To find out what happened when I had my follow up visit with my cardiologist, check out Win or Learn.