These questions stem from a personal 10-year battle with runaway high blood pressure. If you’ve read my story, you know that at one time my resting blood pressure was 190/110. This is borderline stroke-level pressure. I attribute this terrible fact to several aspects of my lifestyle, including:

Longtime use of ephedrine and caffeine

In my earlier years of weight training, and in a vain attempt to ‘get ripped’, I did what other ‘hard-core’ bodybuilders did: take thermogenics. Thermogenics are supplements or drugs that increase the body’s core temperature, allowing you to burn more fat at rest. And they ‘work’, no doubt about it…but at a tremendous price. Some are lucky and don’t have the genes that backfire on them when doing such idiotic stuff. I wasn’t so lucky.

A horrible diet

Years and years of pizza, burgers, sugar and other junk. My insulin levels were way out of control…a huge contributor to high blood pressure. Not to mention the 30,000 mg of sodium I was consuming in a day! I’m lucky to get 2500mg of sodium nowadays.

Lack of relaxation and moderate exercise

I was working 80-hour work weeks and took no time at all to ‘relax’. When I did take time off, it was usually do to something very intense, like wreck dive or jump out of an airplane-not exactly a good idea when it comes to lowering blood pressure! Plus I never meditated. My meditation now is in the form of daily prayer and at least 15 minutes of ‘still time’.

Bad genes

This is the only one of the four reasons that I wasn’t directly responsible for. Thanks mom! Seriously, my mother has fought high blood pressure, but not nearly to the extent to which I have. Then again, she wasn’t on a suicide course as I was, either. Once again, it gets back to MY personal responsibility, both for my poor health as well as my good health.

The Decision Is Made

I finally decided to get really serious about controlling my blood pressure. It took almost a full year for me to ‘totally’ change my diet and lifestyle, but at least I was on the right course for the first time in my life. First, I made it a point to simply work less. Needless to say, this came with a financial sacrifice, as I’m self-employed. But what good would be serve to have a $10 Million dollar funeral?

I developed a plan that succeeded, without the use of drugs, in reducing my resting blood pressure to near normal levels. These levels now range from 119/78 to 135/83—well within the ‘normal’ clinical range. However, it will be a several-year challenge to lower my blood pressure to 120/80 or lower 100% of the time (sans during exercise, of course). Plus I take thyroid medication by necessity, which slightly elevates blood pressure. But still, a marked improvement to say the least.

Other Issues

So what’s the problem, you may ask. The problem was the mini-stroke I suffered in 2001 while in the gym! Now don’t get too freaked: There were good reasons for this, and the type of stroke I’m referring to, called a “TIA”, or transient ischemic attack, is rather common and usually leaves no lasting damage in the brain. I was fine moments after the attack. But read this carefully: a TIA is a ‘clear’ red-flag warning that something isn’t quite right, and a possible indicator of a future ‘real’ stroke. In fact, according to WebMD, about 30% of people who experience TIAs have a full stroke within 5 years! You would be shocked at the number of people, especially those who weight train or exercise intensely, have a TIA, or several, an never know it. According to my doctor, some people have a TIA, blow it off as a “crick in the neck” or low blood sugar, and wake up the next morning paralyzed! Despite the odds against such a severe outcome, this is serious business. Needless to say, I was taken aback. But, once again, there were several good reasons for this event:

1) My training had progressed to the point to where it was too much of a focal point in my life. I basically needed a ‘tap’ from God to get me to slow down. Call this silly if you wish, but it worked.

2) “But my blood pressure is normal!” That was my cry to the doc. This may well be the case, BUT the years and years of high blood pressure had, in all likelihood, weakened the vessels to such an extent that a momentary surge in blood pressure could cause damage—damage that might not be caused in a normally healthy individual with no history of high blood pressure. A good lesson learned.

3) I had changed rep schemes from my then one set of 6-12 rep sets to near failure (or failure) to four reps for two sets instead of one. I just wanted to see what it would feel like. Needless to say, it didn’t feel too good! And I picked a doozy of an exercise to experiment with: the squat. I had 400lbs on the bar, and had the TIA during the bottom portion of the 4th rep of the second set. This is important, as I’ll explain later.

4) That day, just an hour prior to training, I had encountered several personal and work issues which caused me to lose my temper…something I rarely do nowadays. It used to be commonplace, but now I’m considerably more even-keeled. But, I slipped and lost it—kicking the printer, throwing stuff, you name it.

So, once again, the responsibility was square on my shoulders.

Solutions That Last

The question was what to do about it? One doctor said, “Stop training!” Another said, “Train with less weight and moderately.” He might as well have told me to stop training as well, as this would do little if anything to promote muscle mass. Neither solution would work for me, and the benefits to training still outweighed the potential danger. And, as my rant on American medicine continues, most doctors are simply clueless as to the needs of athletes. Because of the limitations imposed by litigation—happy insurance companies, many doctors give the most conservative advice possible. Consider that statistic on WebMD: 30% of TIA sufferers eventually have a stroke. Well, a little more probing into the matter revealed that the majority of TIA suffers were elderly and not under a 400lb squat bar! Something tells me that I’m in the 70% category of individuals who will not suffer a stroke—as long as I’m responsible and careful about my training.

I began to research how to train ‘safely’, or as safely as possible, when faced with the possibility of such an occurrence happening again. If you are suffering from OR formally suffer from high blood pressure and want to bodybuild or merely train with weights, here’s some things to consider. Remember: run all this by your doctor first!

Avoid Low-Rep Training

The obvious: never do low-rep training. I define this as training with less than six reps—you may require more or less. Dr. Conrad Earnest at the prestigious Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas comments, “Blood pressure readings during 4-rep squats have been measured in healthy individuals at levels exceeding 400/200.” 400/200!! That’s enough to blow anyone’s gasket, let alone someone suffering from high blood pressure—OR formally suffering from it.

Put A Governor On Intensity

Train intense, but not too intense (i.e. failure on every set), and train infrequently when using maximum poundages. Even 8-12 rep training at intensity levels required to stimulate hypertrophy will momentarily increase blood pressure rather dramatically. In fact, blood pressure will increase during ANY form of exercise in just about anyone. Of course, blood pressure returns to normal within a short period of time for those in good condition. Still, infrequent intensity is best. My blood pressure has decreased to normal training infrequently, but if I were to train as intensely as I train every day, this could present a hazard. Elevation of blood pressure forces the aorta and vessels to expand, thereby, in theory, making them more ‘flexible’, thus lowering blood pressure over the long haul. Note: my current training works very well at controlling both blood pressure and heart rate during the session, which is…

Fasting, Early Morning Sessions

Try training in the morning on an empty stomach, or near-empty stomach. I know this sounds tough, and it’s something I never would have considered a year ago. But several things convinced me to try it, and I’m thankful I did. First, my blood pressure is the lowest in the morning, therefore it made sense to train when blood pressure was at it’s lowest so the spikes would be less. Common sense prevailed—this works beautifully for me, and I get the added benefit of a lowered heart rate during training, allowing me to work out a bit longer and within my fat-burning zone. Second, when there’s no blood in the stomach the heart doesn’t have to work as hard to push the blood into the muscles being worked. Believe it or not, this makes pumps better despite the fact you’re training on empty. Finally, you’ll burn a ton of fat training on an empty stomach due to increased lipolysis (fat burning) after a short fast. This works great for me—try it and let me know. By the way, I usually have a small glass of skim milk and a multi prior to training, along with 6 grams of L-glutamine. So biochemically speaking I’m not fully on empty.

Stroll, Baby, Stroll

Be sure to include daily walks and meditation. Relax! Walk to recuperate. Walking is probably the best exercise for both fat loss and lowering blood pressure gently.

The White-Knuckle Death Grip Is Out

NEVER grip the bar too tightly. I had no idea I was taking (literally) a ‘death grip’ on the bar, but I was. Roland Jehl, one of Dallas’ premier trainers for over 30 years, informed me that this increases blood pressure during weight training.

You Look Silly—And Your BP Goes Up

Keep the grimaces and grunts out of the gym. Believe it or not, this increases blood pressure while training as well—severely, according to Dr. Ellington Darden. In fact, while training this morning I noticed a rather skinny guy (with a trainer, of course) screaming at the top of his lungs—during Hammer delt presses. Man, that’s whacked. I was tempted to ask “when the baby was due to arrive”, but opted to ignore the guy instead.

Moderate Cardio Sessions

Be sure to get your cardio in. Train mostly within 65-80% of your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age will roughly determine your maximum heart rate, but this varies from person to person). I personally do ‘bursts’ of brief 60-90 second intervals of 85-90% MHR followed by a recovery period to where my heart rate decreases to about 130-140. I’ll do 3 or 4 sets of these bursts, but I only perform this about once every 10 days. That, along with moderate cardio and quite a bit of walking, keeps me as safe as possible.

The Miracle Of Gingko

Gingko really saved my life in numerous ways. Not only has my blood pressure lowered slightly, but more importantly, the blood flow to my brain has increased. I know this because I am no longer lightheaded after even moderate workouts—something I suffered from for years. Great stuff.

At one time, I required a low-dose blood pressure medication. I now no longer require it—however, due to genetic factors, I may remain on it to keep my pressure lower than it should be as we high blood pressure types tend to have spikes in the day. Those spikes can come a precarious moments, and the risk is not worth it…at least to me.

Carbs And Blood Pressure

Finally, we come to nutrition. For me, it’s low carbs = low blood pressure. This is not true for everyone, but in my case it works like a charm. Here’s why. Since I am ‘carb-sensitive’, meaning I overproduce insulin when eating just about any type of carb, my pancreas is already working a double-shift. Insulin causes drastic spikes in blood pressure. Keeping insulin low and blood sugar level controls adrenaline surges, which of course keeps blood pressure down.

Also, carbs elevate triglycerides. This is true in almost everyone, but in carb-sensitive people, the carb/triglyceride connection cannot be ignored. It’s documented in hundreds of studies, and I’ve seen it for years in myself and others.

Normally, high trigs will not necessarily produce high blood pressure. However, I have another genetic ‘gem’ to contend with—elevated fibrinogen. If you’ve never heard of fibrinogen, you should look it up and then check your own levels. The combination of high fibrinogen, high triglycerides, and high hemoglobin (mine is only 16.8, but that is too high for an athlete) makes the blood viscous, like a thick syrup. The result is greater pressure on the vascular walls and, in my case, far too little oxygen making it to the brain during training.

This is why Ginkgo had such a profound effect on me—it is a vasodilator, meaning it increases the width of blood vessels, particularly those in the brain. The extra width proved to be what I needed to get enough oxygen to the brain and cease the dizziness after training. Bear in mind that my dizziness was not a result of blood pressure. I even checked it during my workouts! No, this was a mystery that was only recently solved. Now that it is, I can resume my normal training and my goals to peak again in August. This is the best news of all.