An Uncensored Conversation with Dr Eric Serrano, MD
Dr. Serrano has been a good friend of
Sandy and me for a number of years. He is always there to help us
whenever we call. He is also involved in our product development
here at Beverly. Eric has worked with countless amateur and
professional bodybuilding competitors, as well as professional
athletes from all walks of life. Dr. Serrano received his medical
degree from the University of Kansas and is Board Certified in
Family Medicine.
Understand this interview is
centered around what amateur and professional bodybuilders are
doing. However, THIS is exactly what
YOU should be doing as well if achieving the
maximum level of fat loss and condition your genetics will allow is
your goal. Any other way is wasting time, effort, money, and
results. You're being let in on secrets
only a select few elite athletes in the world are privy to. Utilize
this information (as well as more you'll find throughout my
site) to maximize your level of fitness and health.
(Roger Riedinger) Roger:
Eric, would you mind if I interviewed you for Beverly International?
Eric: I would love it. Your
company makes products that do what they say. You won't believe
how many guys call up and want me to recommend their products.
Before I'll do that I have the product analyzed, if it's good,
I'll talk to them, if it's not, I won't. Your guys' products have
come up good every single time I've tested them. And this goes all
the way back for the past ten years.
Roger: Well, we're really
pleased to have your column in the No Nonsense Newsletter
again. We're going to ask you a few questions, feel free to tell it
exactly how it is ... Don't just build up Beverly, our readers want
to hear the truth, not some magazine hype. My first question is,
"Why do you recommend the Beverly International line in your
seminars and to your private clients?
Eric: First of
all, after many, many, years of working in the industry, even
helping some other companies put some supplements out, I've found
out that a little bit of their money will go for quality
ingredients and a lot of their money goes for the advertising to
sell their product. What you end up with is not what you paid for.
You're paying for a cheaper product; you're paying for a lot of
advertising and for a product that's not going to work. Then you
try it and say, "oh, such and such doesn't work. Well, how would
you even know? You're not paying for a supplement that even has a
chance of working; you're paying for a cheap imitation. Sometimes
I have analyzed things that are as much as 99% off what
the label says. This means only 1% of what the label says is
actually in the product. I don't want to talk about particular
companies, but there's two big companies out there that are making
a lot of money and right now they sell a lot of whey, and their
whey is nowhere near as good quality as what they say it is.
Like I said before, your
products work because they are 100% the real thing. I have done an
analysis on some of your products that have come up over 100%
label claim! (Note: Just got the latest analysis
of one of our branched chain formulations, it came in at
102.8% label claim.)
Roger: Liver tablets have
been getting a bad rap lately. Sandy and I always recommend our
liver tablets to our clients, how do you feel about liver tablets?
Eric: I will tell
you what my opinion is on the liver tablets. First off, they are
one of the best supplements anyone can take. I recommend every
bodybuilder take them. Here's why:
Number one: We have yet to
identify all the important elements in nutrition. We think we
know; but then every year we discover new micronutrients and new
kinds of antioxidants in our food sources. So when you hear a
company telling everybody, "Oh, if you take this meal replacement
powder, you'll get everything you need." That's just not true. We
don't even know yet what everybody needs.
Here's an example of an
experiment they did with rats. They gave them a food powder, which
we'll call an MRP (meal replacement powder) for rats. Every rat
got the same amount of calories and the same amount of protein,
but some of them were given liver as part of their total protein
source. Well those rats that were given liver survived 41 extra
days than the rats who were given everything else the same, but
not the liver. So, that alone shows you how much a difference your
liver tablets can make.
And to make another point,
to top that, Beverly International will go as far as Argentina in
getting a top grade liver. People don't know the grading of the
liver; they don't know what they're getting. You might say, "Oh
yeah, liver is liver." But, you don't know. The liver you're
buying could have a very high fat content, or maybe it doesn't
have what it should. Also, liver can have DNA, RNA, and a lot of
other substances that help build our bodies at the cellular level.
So, we need to be very careful when we say, "Oh, if you take such
and such supplement you'll be okay." No, we also need to eat whole
food all the time and liver tablets are actually a real meal
substitute because they contain not only high doses of protein and
B-Vitamins, but also all of the essential nutrients that it takes
to maintain life.
Roger: OK, so you would say a
good liver tablet, like Ultra 40 should be a mainstay in everyone's
supplement program. What's the latest research you've conducted
using BCAA's?
Eric: It took me
over 8 months of experimentation to come up with this. First, I
started my clients with what most people recommend, 6 GMS a day.
Well, I found out that dosage doesn't give you any results,
whatsoever. So, instead of giving up and saying branched chains
don't work, I tried increasing the dosage.
I found that when you go to
.25 GMS/kg that this is where you get tremendous performance
effects - more strength - less fat - reduced bodyfat % and more
stamina.
With branch chain amino
acids, I can guarantee you that within a month, of your using .25
- .35 GMS/kg, you will see results. Another thing is you need to
buy high quality branch chain amino acids. Are there good ones on
the market? Well, the best ones I've seen are from these three
companies: 1) Beverly International - I know that you sell Beverly
International, but I've analyzed it, I know they're real. 2)
Carlson Labs 3) Joe Weider, believe it or not, and I know what
most of your readers are going to say, but his branch chain amino
acids, I've found to be good.
Roger: I read a research
article out of Italy on branch chain amino acids, and it said that
if you take branch chain amino acids on an empty stomach, the body
will look at it as your muscle protein breaking down and will
immediately turn over and start burning fat for energy to preserve
muscle. Have you ever used that theory?
Eric: Oh, yes. Let
me tell you this. The American College of Sports Medicine puts out
a yearbook related to research in the sports medicine field. In
this yearbook you get a large amount of research packed into a few
pages.
Research I've read there
shows that when you feed branch chain amino acids to a person in
higher dosages, they can be used as an energy source that will
preserve muscle, because the body will burn the branch chain amino
acids instead of your muscle tissue. Also your body recognizes the
branch chain aminos being burned so it switches over and
metabolizes more fat for its energy needs. So what happens is
you're gonna have increased energy, you're gonna have increased
muscularity, and you're gonna have a decrease in fat.
Roger: Okay, what supplements
would you recommend for somebody that's going to compete in a
bodybuilding show say 6 months from today.
Eric's
recommendation:
- I would make good and sure
that you're taking the right amount of calories
- Make sure you're taking
the right amount and right kind of fats - and you have to include
flaxseed oil or fish oil for sure. If you were over 35, I would
include Omega 3 because the body's enzymes do not work as good.
But if you were under 35, I would use flaxseed oil
- Of course, I would use a
good multi vitamin, and I recommend your Ultra 4 to everybody or
Whole Food Base by Schiff, and there's another company that makes
a product called Catalan
- If you were gaining mass,
I would recommend creatine. I would not recommend creatine for
females because they tend to hold water
- I would recommend a
good protein supplement based on whey, egg, or casein, and I will
say this very clearly now, some people have allergies to different
protein sources, so you need to find out what's the best protein
source for you.
Roger: What about at 3 months out when all of a sudden you're
done building mass and you want to keep as much mass as you can
while cutting up?
Eric: Okay, most people don't believe in amino acids,
most people don't believe in branch chain amino acids, most people
don't believe in glutamine. Well, I've got answers for you.
First of all, use glutamine .35 gm/kg, you will increase your
strength within one workout, you can see it. You multiply .35
times your weight in kg that will give you the correct dosage. You
will use that an hour before your workout and you will see results
immediately, you will see it in your strength.
Next, I covered branched chain amino acids in an earlier
question, but they are even more important as the contest gets
closer. Remember take at least .25 grams per kg of bodyweight for
best results
Third, use a full spectrum amino acid product with a very high
nitrogen content. How do I tell if it has a high nitrogen content?
I analyzed over eleven products. Only BEVERLY INTERNATIONAL and
one other company that we're working with but not allowed to talk
about yet, had a good nitrogen content. If you're going to buy
amino acids, if the tablet tastes semi-good, smells good ... it's
no good. If they smell like shit, they taste like shit, and if you
break it in half - it's so bitter and so bad tasting that it may
even make you gag, then it's probably good.
Finally for pre contest, I recommend the ephedrine, caffeine
stack. I would not start this immediately like the dosage they
tell you on the bottle. I would start with one in the morning, one
at lunch. I'd do that for two days, then I'd increase it to two in
the morning and one at lunch, do that until I get to two or three
capsules, three times a day.
Roger: You've answered everything I have on my paper here, but
do you have anything that's earth shattering or anything that you
would like to share?
Eric: I will tell you guys, that there are a few new products
that are gonna hit the market. I'm going to help Beverly
International develop some new supplements. Beverly
International is tops. A few other good supplement companies
that I've tested are Twin Labs, Weider's Metaform tested well,
so did MetRx, also Champion and Pro Labs are good companies. You
don't hear as much about Beverly as some of these others because
Beverly International doesn't spend money on ads; they spend
money on product development and on quality in their products,
so I would stick with them.
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