Seminar med FRANK ZANE

[Deff]

Synes denne seminar-rapporten fra et seminar med Frank Zane fra 1977 fortjente en egen tråd. En av de legendariske profilene innen kroppsbygging.
Her kan man lese at det må hardt arbeid til for å bygge en flott kropp, og man trenger ikke være 100kg. Legg merke til at Zane brukte en low-carb diet siste måned, og at han jogget 3 km 5 ganger per uke. Han spiste maks 200 gram protein på det meste under sine intense forberedelser til Mr.Olympia.

A 1977 Seminar with Frank Zane


by Dennis B. Weis “The Yukon Hercules”


Picture of Frank Zane Doing the Vacuum Pose

The comments and suggestions contained in the seminar and interview are what worked for Frank Zane personally at the present time, and in no way means you will become Mr. Olympia caliber by following them. However, I am sure you will gain a wealth of useful information as I did. Here's the Frank Zane 1977 Bodybuilding Seminar.
How much value do you place in vitamin supplements?

Certain vitamins in high dosages can have almost a drug-like effect on your body, but only taken in high dosages will this be achieved. One example is the B vitamin. B1 for example is lipotrophic ­ it helps carry fats through the blood stream. Anyone who wants to get more muscular would take more of this vitamin. Vitamin B6 used in conjunction with Vitamin C (in the proper potencies) can help your body throw off excess water. This is much better than using diuretics. B6 is also very important in protein digestion. In general, all the B vitamins are very important. ONE WORD OF CAUTION WHEN TAKING VITAMINS OF ANY TYPE. Never take them on an empty stomach (before a meal). Taking them in this manner could harm the stomach internally. It is best to take them while you eat because vitamins need a carrier. The ideal way to do this is to eat small quantities of food (or small meals) or 30 gram protein snacks every two hours and take your vitamins throughout the day with these feedings.

How do you train with maximum effort with a minimum of time?

Remember when you have minimum time, you can't have maximum effort. Really, if you can rest a little longer, you can put more effort into your workout. When you compromise on time, you minimize the amount of weight you use. The amount of weight you use on an exercise is what makes the muscle bigger. So when I am training for size, I rest longer so that I can use heavier weights. Now, the last month before a show, I'll start training faster, but I won't reduce my poundages. My goal is to get to a poundage the month before and then cut down on the rest periods while maintaining the heavy weight I worked up to while I was resting longer. I don¹t increase the weights at this point.

How long do you rest between sets the last month before the contest?

I don't rest at all. There are different ways I train, sometimes in the last month I start adding things like tri-sets (3 exercises in a row) doing five cycles of this while adding weight every set. Right now (June, 1977) I am training with the single set system adding weight whenever possible.

When you are training for size, how do you determine how long your rest periods will be between sets until you are ready to do another set?

That comes from experience. My main emphasis in training is to completely clear my mind so I can go to the gym and train while not really thinking. Thinking in a sense will separate you from your workout. When you really get into your workout, the last month before a contest, the CONCENTRATION is so keen (no talking, and almost no rest) going through maximum effort each set. It's sort of like everything disappears except what you are into at the time. This is called an altered state of CONSCIOUSNESS. IT seems you shift into a different sphere where everything is super clear. Your CONCENTRATION has to be so strong that you can hold it in that place.

Zane's Seminar Comments: Last year, I got into some research with amino acids. I began to do a lot of reading about the amino acid Tryptophan. Tryptophan is what is called a neurotransmitter to the brain. It is the transmitter substance between the nerve cells of the brain. I started taking Tryptophan after some consultations with some nutritionists. I found out it was a very powerful natural tranquilizer. Taken in amounts of 1000 to 2000 grams, it will put you to sleep in about one-half hour. This really relaxed me. I would go to the gym from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. each morning. Then I'd come home and have breakfast and some supplements. Along with this, I would take 2-3- or 4-thousand milligrams of Tryptophan and wait one-half hour. Then I would fall into this very deep relaxed sleep. I would sleep about three or four hours and get up and take care of some business or just lie in the sun. Then I would have another meal and supplements and go to the gym again. Then I would go to bed at around 9:00 p.m. and sleep to 5 a.m. I would repeat this cycle every day. So this amounted to four or five hours of training and ten to twelve hours of sleep a day. I found that the rest helped me grow bigger physically. While Tryptophan is powerful, it is hard to obtain and also expensive.

I would take a gram of CALCIUM before going to sleep. I use MAGNESIUM in conjunction with CALCIUM. Calcium taken in too large dosages is thrown off in waste matter and will cause constipation. Magnesium helps counteract this reaction.

What brand of supplements do you take?

I use Blair's and that is where most of these combinations come from. (Note: Frank is referring to the listed nutrients on the written Olympia materials he passed out at the beginning of the seminar.)

I like Blair's supplements because they are in a gelatin capsule and act fast in the blood stream. I also use Blair's milk and egg protein powder. I won't use it the last month of training when I am trying to get muscular. The way that I do use it though is to take some mixed in a drink one hour before I begin training. This raises the blood sugar in the body and in this way, I get an extremely good pump. This is one of the real secrets to a good workout.

What about carbohydrates?

I am really down on simple sugars, of any kind (raw, white, honey, etc.). When you eat sugar, your blood sugar in your body shoots very high in a 20-minute period. Now about one and one-half hour later, it declines lower than it was before you took in the simple sugar. So you can see, it goes high and low. To keep my blood sugar up, I eat some type of protein every few hours and certain complex carbohydrates (starch for example). Vegetable sources ­ such as baked potatoes and avocados are FANTASTIC. The assimilation or digestion of certain food components look like this: carbohydrates are in a long chain; starches a very long chain; and sugars a very short chain. So proteins, starches, and fats in small amounts every few hours will keep the blood sugar at a higher level for a longer period of time compared to the short chain of assimilation of simple sugars.

Zane's Seminar Comments: I eat around 200 grams of protein a day. That averages out to about 1 gram for every pound of bodyweight. I find no need to get anymore than that amount. Most of it comes through my food. I have three yeast drinks a day for 30 total grams. Along this line, I will have three protein drinks for another 30 grams. Maybe one pound of meat for another 50 grams, some fish 20-30 grams and finally some eggs. I have found eggs to be extremely valuable to the bodybuilder. If you are training hard, you don't have to worry about getting a high cholesterol from the eggs.

Do you find any value in taking Saunas?

Saunas are very good for taking poisons and toxins out of your body. Like if you are coming down with an upper respiratory infection. Also, if you are over training or train very intensely, this is where a Sauna might help.

Do you believe that a Sauna will help to cure a sore throat due to a cold?

A sauna would also be good in that case. What is good for a sore throat is to take some granulated Vitamin C in crystal form in a glass of hot water. This will help quite a bit.

What is a good way to hide the disgusting taste of brewers yeast powder brink?

You might mix it with tomato or V-8 juice.

Zane's Seminar Comments: I believe that liver is very good. It has some high energy factors in it. I now only take about fifteen tablets of liver a day. I used to take a lot of food supplements, a lot of capsules before a show. I have sort of gotten away from that, because the room that your stomach takes up with pill or capsule supplements could be used for natural foods instead. You just have to find the proper balance in this area.

Do you have a certain poundage you will always try to use each workout?

No. It's all by how I feel. Let¹s say I am doing D.B. presses. Now the first set I'll start with 60 pounds for 12 reps, then 70 pounds for 11. Maybe to 80. Now depending on how the 80's feel, I'll either stay with the 80's and do a couple of sets, or move up to 85 or 90 pounds. IT'S ALL IN HOW I FEEL AT THE TIME. If I am ready for a new weight, then it just happens.

What do you think of Dumbbell Training?

I do quite a lot of it in my training. It gives better shape to the muscle.

Do your feel that NUTRITION is 80 per cent of bodybuilding success?

The supplements are only one thing. Like Arnold when he was in his early training in '69 and '70. He would use heavy quantities of supplements. Then in his last few years of competition, '73, '74, '75, he didn't use any supplements at all. He still got into fantastic shape. You can do it with them or without them. They do have a lot of advantages. Some people don't need them. That's not to say they would be better if they used them, we don't know that. The way I approach training is this way. THERE IS NO ONE THING THAT DOES IT. It isn't the training or the nutrition or your mental attitude or how much sleep you get. IT IS NONE OF THAT, BUT ALL OF IT. You can't rely on any one thing as the SECRET to bodybuilding success. Something by itself may add a little to your training or it may add nothing. Put them all together, and we get what is called a SYNERGISTIC effect. All of the combined give you more than the sum of its parts.

Zane's Seminar Comments: Each week after all of my training was completed, I would analyze whether I had good or bad workouts, poundages, sets. I would look back over all of this and see how I could improve on it for the next week's training sessions. One thing in training is to set a GOAL for yourself by contest or whatever you want to train for, to get in better shape. Realize that you have only so much time to do this. For example, if I have nine months before a contest, I use the intensity factor in my workouts in that they get harder and harder over the months so that the last week before the contest, I am training my hardest ever. This is done by adding more weights or less rest or just longer workouts. I make a workout graph for each month of my training. Now each workout day, I will write down the number of sets. I choose sets as my guide because each set is a MAXIMUM EFFORT. I don't believe in going to absolute failure as Arthur Jones suggests. I will use 80 to 90 percent of my maximum so it is pretty stable. My intensity really increases after school is out in June.

What do you use as a gauge for determining your pre-contest training from month to month?

I gauge my progress by having photos or color slides taken every ten days or so. Color slides are valuable in this respect. I use the photos and slides to go along with the workout graphs. I save these graphs and pictures and in this way, I can make comparisons to relate where I am at a particular month in my training. Then I go from there.

Zane's Seminar Comments: There are five categories for being in shape. The worst one is FAT. This condition exists when a person is in a layoff from training and not eating properly. Next, SMOOTHNESS. This means you don't have flab on the body. The body mass is hard and you can see the shape of the muscle, but there is not a great deal of separation. There is still a substantial amount of fat between the muscle and skin surface. It may eve appear a bit puffy. The next condition is HARD. This is still not extremely muscular, but with a proper tan, you can look quite good. Right now (June) I consider myself in this category. I still have two more phases to go. The next one is CUT. This is when you are really getting into good shape. Very muscular. After Cut there is the final phase called RIPPED. You are so cut up and muscular and the striations are so deep, it looks like you don't have any skin.

The VASCULARITY is very pronounced. Now this is the way you have to be for the Mr. Olympia.

What about using high reps and light weights to get this type of condition?

All this type of training will do is make your muscles smaller and stringy. Cutting out dairy products the last months before contest will help.

What are your thoughts on using carbohydrates in your contest training diet?

O.K. Let's say I have been on a low carb diet the month before the contest. Now I will go on zero carbs for five days in a row. Now I might be physically drained so what I might do when I get up on the 6th morning is have a small carbohydrate feeding. It might be a baked potato. I try to do this earlier in the morning before my workout. This one feeding seems to get me through the next few days once again. I can keep up my energy level these days with almost zero carbohydrates just by increasing my fat intake. The yeast, amino acids and liver supplements will help you get around the low carb intake.

Zane's Seminar Comments: Beef ­ This is a very good food for eating for muscle mass. I will usually eat a pound of this a day; any kind of steak (Spencer, Porterhouse, etc.). Let's say I'm doing this in July. In August I will be getting away from beef; will be eating more liver and pork. Pork is a very good energy food due to the fat content. September comes around and I will begin eating lamb. This is really a tremendous ENERGY food. Lamb, liver, and fish are the best foods for MUSCULARITY and ENERGY.

Can a person gain much size by including a vegetable protein supplement into the diet?

I don't think so. Milk and egg proteins would help you gain. Your body will only assimilate 40 percent of a vegetable or soya supplement. In general, amino proteins are the better source. Right before a contest (two days before) a person should go off a strict diet (low carbs ­ high protein) and include more carbohydrates for energy.

(Author's note: Frank has various levels or phases of training he will go through during his nine-month preparation for 1977 Mr. Olympia contest. Due to the extreme length of this seminar report , I will only be including the phase he is following from June to contest time.)

Zane's Seminar Comments: Very briefly, this is how I am training this summer until the contest.

Monday-Wednesday-Friday (Mornings) ­ Thighs and Calf: This workout lasts about one hour fifteen minutes. I really want to bring my total leg development up for the '77 Mr. Olympia contest. I find my legs respond best to three days per week schedule. High reps.

Tuesday-Thursday (Mornings) ­ Lats.
Monday-Thursday (Afternoon) ­ Delts, Biceps, Forearms, Abs.
Tuesday-Friday (Afternoon) ­ Chest, Triceps, Abs.

Do you work for maximum pump?

I get a pump the very first set and this remains with me throughout my sets.

Do you have any suggestions on posing?

I like to do a special thing the last week or two before the contest. I pose and tense my thighs and abs for ten minutes without relaxing. This really helps at the contest because if you are in good shape, you won¹t have to strain in your poses. You will also look very muscular standing relaxed.

Do you find any value in having a workout partner?

I will only train with someone who will train exactly as I do. I find that when I start following someone else's ideas, especially if it is an exercise I haven't done for some time, I begin to experience injuries.

What do you think about incorporating jogging into a bodybuilding schedule?

It is very good because it builds up endurance. This really helps to cut down on the rest periods between sets. It is also very valuable for getting muscular. I run five days a week for about two miles. I work at cutting my time for running the two miles down when possible.

Have you had any experience training women who are out of shape?

Yes, I have had some experience, but my wife has had more than I. She will be opening a studio in the next two months. Basically, the way she trains is to do a lot of work for thighs and hips. She does high reps with stretching movements and no rest periods.

What's your future in competitive bodybuilding, Frank?

I don't know. I find it pointless to plan over a year in advance. Right now, I am working toward the Mr. Olympia in October. After that, I don't know.

What about your competition?

I am not really worried about my class. While Coe, Corney, and Grant are very good, I have beaten them before. I think my main competition will come from the heavier weight class. Robbie Robinson is in very good shape.

Do you still practice regular squats?

Not anymore. I used to do them quite heavily, but I have experienced lower back injury over the past years. Squats seem to aggravate this condition. I stick mainly to Hacks and leg presses. These movements keep pressure off my lower back. Even bent over rowing used to put pressure on this area. I have found that if I put a block of wood under my heels this elevated position tends to shift the pressure off my lower back. My position in this movement has my chest resting against my knees. I am using 200 pounds for this movement. Another thing which helps my back is to hang by my feet in a pair of special boots. In fact, I started doing rowing in this position with 100 pounds and this really helped to bring up the lats.

You mentioned you do 200 to 350 reps for the abs. Is that all at once?

I am not really extreme in my abs training right now. I do 100 Roman Chair Sit-ups non-stop and four sets of 25 reps on the incline leg raise. I may even add some tension sit-ups. I do this at the end of my workout session.

What do you do to achieve cuts in your thighs?

Well, I find that high repetitions in the leg press and especially the leg extension work very good. If cuts are lacking do leg extensions every day the last few weeks before the contest. Twenty-five to thirty reps per set. Another good way is to do one leg extensions staying on the machine until you have done five sets of 25-30 for each leg. Practice tensing the thighs a lot.

Zane's Seminar Comments: If you haven't done it, you should begin practicing a posing routine three or four weeks before the contest. First write down the poses which will complement your physique. Now, arrange them in the order you will be doing them at the show. The best way to practice is to hold each pose as long as you can (about two or three minutes). This may seem like a long time to hold each pose, but it will really help you at the contest. There won't be any second effort and it will come naturally.

You seem to be one of the most symmetrical of the modern day bodybuilders. Was this natural, or did you do certain exercise routines to achieve this effect?

This came from heredity. A good way to see what your body symmetry is like is to see a silhouette of your body. If you can see yourself this way, you can tell a great deal about your symmetry.


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Her er et intervju til fra 1993.

Frank Zane Interview

MUSCLEMAG Magazine OCTOBER 1993 Star Profile
by T.C. Luoma

That was my first impression of Frank Zane. He was polite, as Mr. Spock would be, and his
answers were forthright, honest, and above all, logical. I kept imagining that his right eyebrow
would suddenly arch up and he'd look at me quizzically much the same way as Leonard
Nimoy's pointed-eared character became famous for.

At first Frank Zane's answers about his past were slow in coming as if he had to access that
part his memory files. He seemed a little bored by it, maybe because those types of questions
didn't particularly interest him. He also isn't the kind of guy you feel comfortable in asking what
his favorite color is, what he likes to eat, or any of those typical Star Profile-type questions.
He'll answer you alright, but you get the idea that he feels that there are far more fascinating
things in life to ponder. That became evident when I began asking him questions about
concepts, or ideas -- questions with a little meat on them. He drank those questions up
quickly, drank them as the cactuses that abound on his Palm Springs hideaway, otherwise
known as "The Zane Experience," drink up water. It was then that this three time Mr. Olympia
winner ( '77, '78 and '79) opened up and began to show what I perceived to be "human"
emotions.
In retrospect I realized that my perceptions about him were a little off-base. It wasn't that he
was bored by my questions - what I thought was a lack of was simply his calmness, his
oneness with the universe, so to speak. Talking to Zane is like drinking a glass of warm milk
after a jacuzzi -- relaxing. It's almost like his voice is lulling you, hypnotizing you into forgetting
your anxieties. Interestingly, that's one of the things he teaches at his Zane Experience through
a variety techniques, including brain-wave synchronization. Excuse me? Yeah, you heard me
all right, but it's not really as weird as it sounds. In fact, it makes a whole lot of sense, just like
Frank Zane.

MMI: Where and when were you born?

FZ: I was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania in the end of June in 1942.

MMI: How long did you live there?

FZ: Well, I grew up there, and I attended high school there. I attended Wilkes University for four
years in nearby Wilkes-Bane and graduated in 1964.

MMI: What kind of a kid were you? Were you a homebody or were you active?

FZ: I was pretty active. I liked sports. I used to play baseball, football, and even basketball a lot.

MMl: What did you want to be when you grew up?
FZ: I was strongly urged to get involved in electronics from an early electronics, science,engineering --
because my father was an electrician and he also a radio and television repairman.

MMI: How did you feel about all this?

FZ: I like science and all that, but I wasn't sure if that was exactly what I wanted to do, so when I
registered for college, I registered as an electrical engineer -- and I didn't even know what electrical
engineers did! I switched into chemistry after just a week. I knew what that was, at least.

MMI: What kind of neigborhood did you grow up in?

FZ: It was a rough neighborhood, but peaceful sort. I wasn't interested in fighting anybody, but my
brother was precocious -- he was two years younger than me - and always competing with people who
were my age. He was always making them angry and fights would start, so I figured that I'd better arm
myself.
I discovered weight training and that sort of helped protect both of us. I was fourteen then.

MMI: Who were your heroes when you were a kid?

FZ: Well, I read bodybuilding magazines, but I never really picked anybody out until I saw the Steve
Reeves movies. I had been training for three or four years by then. That was the kind of look I was
starting to get anyway.

MMI: I mean before bodybuilding. Did you have any baseball heroes, or cowboy heroes, or anything
like that?

FZ: I liked the Chicago White Sox. I had my cap with "Sox" written across it. I also liked the Detroit
Lions football team, but I was interested in solitary pursuits like archery. I used to spend a great deal of
time with that.
MMI: Does that mean you didn't have many friends?

FZ: No, I had friends, but I liked doing things by myself, because I could do a better job. I wasn't
anti-social. I got interested in things I could do on my own, like making things with my hands. One of
the earliest toys I got when I was young was an erector set, and I became fascinated with shapes and
building things. I don't know where these ideas came from, but when I was quite young I was building
things like skyscrapers and Ferris wheels out of erector set parts. I just had a good imagination.

MMI: What kinds of things were you good at in school?

FZ: I was particularly good at math and science. I graduated first in my class in high school. I got the
chemistry award and I was right up there in mathematics. I ended up getting a scholarship to Wilkes
University.

MMI: Were you in any organized athletics in high school?

FZ: There were 60 in our graduating class, and they had football and basketball. I wasn't really that
impressed by the teams -- they were losing teams and they were negative -- but my brother was very
gung ho about going out. He went out for football when I was in my junior year, so I did, too. We both
made the starting lineup. They all thought that lifting was pretty bad and that I'd get muscle-bound.
Nobody did it, and everybody warned me against it. But I couldn't wait until the football season was
over so I could get into bodybuilding. I really got into weight training very heavily during my senior
year in high school.

MMI: What was the most memorable thing about growing up for you?

FZ: Well, it was probably trying to prove myself to people, that what I was doing was worthwhile.
When it came to weight training especially, everybody thought that was a waste of time, except maybe
for about four people I met up until the age of eighteen, and they were powerlifters. Actually, that was
before powerlifting. They were called odd lifters back then, and the three lifts we did were the curl, the
bench press, and the deadlift.

MMI: Why did you decide to become a teacher?

FZ: When I graduated and went to college and got into chemistry, all that changed, because I had no
time to train. It was extremely hard and there were long lab. hours. For two years it was like that. After
two years I decided I really didn't want to get into the chemical industry anyhow, and teaching seemed
like a good idea. I was motivated to be a teacher through the poor teachers that I had throughout my
life. I'd say, "Geez, this guy's a teacher? I can do better than that right now." So I went into teaching
chemistry. Besides, I wanted a job that would allow me to train. By this time training was my top
priority. I had to have a job that allowed me to support myself, and that would allow me to live where I
wanted to. The other thing that motivated me to go into teaching was the draft. I saw my friends being
drafted and being sent to Vietnam. I sure as hell didn't want to go over there, so I got an occupational
deferment as a teacher, and I taught math for thirteen years.

MMI: Where was your first teaching job?

FZ : I got a job near Reading, Pennsylvania teaching math to Pennsylvania Dutch kids. There was only
one chemistry teacher per school, so I opted for teaching high school math. I even ended up starting a
weightlifting club. There were three foundries in town, and one of the foundries donated thousands of
pounds of weights they made plates for York Barbell Company. We had all kinds of
equipment, and I trained there. This was in 1964-1965. The second year I taught in New Jersey, and
then I moved to Florida and taught there for three years -- met my wife there, got married in 1967, and in
'69 we moved to California.

MMI: What kind of teacher were you? How do you think your students would have described you?

FZ: (Pausing) Actually... I can't categorize myself in any one way. I was different at all times. I had good
rapport with them, and they respected me because of bodybuilding, especially when I came
to California. They appreciated bodybuilding -- even the roughest kids. I had occasions to go into the
inner city and give talks and demonstrations on bodybuilding, and they respected the body --
they were very physically oriented.

MMI: How long did you live in the Venice area?

FZ: I lived in Santa Monica from 1969, all the way up to 1985, but only part-time from 1980 to 1985 since
I split my time between Palm Springs and Santa Monica.

MMI: Why did you pick Palm Springs to establish your Zane Experience (formerly the Zane Haven,
where bodybuilders come to learn more about their sport from Frank)?

FZ: When I was driving out, I liked the scenery, for one thing. When I started coming to Palm Springs, I
felt it was a big relief from all the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, and I always felt I
could do a better job when I was able to get away from things and concentrate rather than to be lost in
the crowd -- to be battered back and forth between components and get caught up in little
games.

MMI: How did you meet Christine?

FZ: Her younger sister was a student where I taught (in Florida) and she introduced me to her. And
then we started to go out.

MMI: You two have been married pretty long by any standards, but particularly bodybuilding
standards. What's the formula for a long-lasting relationship?

FZ: We'll have been married 26 years this December. We weren't both competitive bodybuilders,
although Christine dabbled in it in the early years. She was never really that interested in it - she just
did it to travel. She was a tremendous motivator for me when I was competing and she helped me a lot.
She was also my photographer, and I think you need somebody like this to be successful. A lot of
times these bodybuilding marriages don't last because bodybuilders tend to be concerned with their
bodies -- their own problems, their own issues - but my wife isn't so much like that. We've always
communicated, and we're the same in a lot of ways. People sometimes say, "Marry your opposite," but I
think you should marry yourself, to some extent.

MMI: Tell us about the Zane Experience. How is it different from when it was called the Zane Haven?

FZ: Well, we used to have a hotel where we would have people stay with us. It started out as a five-day
program. In 1988 we moved to a different location and changed the program. Now everything's done
privately, one on one, and people don't stay here. We work primarily with private clients who live here
(in Palm Springs). People have one session, usually 2 to 2-1/2 hours long, that's basically for people
who just want to get a program together. We also have a program where people go for three 2-1/2 to
3-hour sessions. And that's the same program we ran before, at least the instructional part of it.

MMI: What's the idea behind the Zane Experience?

FZ: The main concept is to help people get the most out of their training by giving them what I feel
would benefit them at this stage of their lives. Most people are either doing too much, or they may not
be doing enough, or they're doing it incorrectly, and they're almost always eating wrong. I introduce
them to topics like stress management, deep relaxation techniques and brain- wave synchronization.

MMI: Do you miss all the publicity that you were once accustomed to?

FZ: It seems to be the all or nothing phenomenon. When I was winning the Olympia, it was so much
attention that I didn't know what to do with it. When I retired, I couldn't do anything to get publicity,
and now, finally, after ten years of that, people are starting to notice again because I'm still in good
shape. Actually, in some ways I'm in as good shape as I was when I was competing. I'm still working on
that. This year I'll be 51, and I still want to be better this year than I was last year and last year was the
best shape I had been in since I retired from competition. So I'm still motivated, and I'Il do anything it
takes to get like that, short of taking drugs and risking my health. I have the kind of physique that the
average person is interested in, so I tend to get more offers for commercials and photos and projects
when I'm in great shape.

MMI: Do you train differently now than when you were competing?

FZ: My training is not that much different from what it used to be. It's still competition training, and I'm
training three days in a row and resting the fourth day. I also come back in the evening and do extra
abdominal work, along with an extra half hour on the stationary bicycle. I wear one of the brain-wave
synchronizers on the stationary bike, and it transports me into another realm. I see a light show.

MMI: If you were just starting out in bodybuilding today, would you even want to compete, given the
state of the sport?

FZ: Well, if I were just starting out, I wouldn't have all the facts, and I'm pretty smart now, I think, in
terms of what's going on in bodybuilding. Knowing what I know now, I would not compete -- I would do
something else. But not knowing what I know now, I sure as hell would compete. I'd do everything and
I'd probably make faster progress.

MMI: Is there any other career you think might have been interesting?

FZ: Possibly a medical doctor.

MMI: Do you read medical journals and try to keep np with new developments?

FZ: Well, I do. I can understand research because I got my master's degree in experimental psychology
so I can understand literature. I also have a chemistry background, and I'm versed in all that stuff --
medical terms, psychological, physiological stuff, and also physics. I don't have a tremendously deep
areas. Right now I'm interested in the use of sound to alter states of consciousness -- to relax, energize
or motivate through the use of sound or even the human voice. I studied that as part my master's degree
and got certified as a hypno-therapist. These audio tapes I created are based on all those principles. An
audio tape is a much better tool for practicing hypnosis, or, if you will, self hypnosis, because you
actually do it to yourself. I have a recording studio out here, and I make special audio tapes. I'm also
interested in how light impulses affect brain-wave activity, or translating voice inflection into light
impulses. I've been working on that lately. I've been able to produce tape recordings that hook up into
special instruments that allow you to hear the voice in different ears, and because of the intonation of
the voice, it sets up a complex delta- wave light pattern which is the slowest wave pattern you can have.
It's what the brain is going through when you're releasing growth hormone. It's tremendously relaxing.

MMI: If you could have anybody, living or dead, visit the Zane Experience, who would it be?

FZ: The Buddha, probably.

MMI: Really? Are you Buddhist, or somebody who's just interested in Eastern philosophy?

FZ: I'm only a Buddhist if a cloud is a member of the sky (tongue only partially in cheek). I don't think
answers are that important. I think questions are the most important thing in life.

MMI: Do you spend a lot of time studying Easten philosophy?

FZ: I don't study as much as I used to. There are different sources of knowledge. A lot of my ideas are
directly intuitive now, from meditative-type stuff -- the mental technology, the light- sound machine and
audio tapes. I go into periods of deep relaxation and I solve all sorts of problems and come up with creative
solutions and even inventions. They come to me as visual images. Also, I write that way. I wake up with
words and ways of saying things. I'm very much into dream life, too. If I have any kind of problems or
emotions that are enough to affect me, I always have to dream about it -- that resolves the problem. I can
honestly say that I live my life by those dreams. There's this deep source of inner knowledge that's there,
and I just have to stay in touch with it.
MMI: You seem very spiritual and in touch with metaphysical things, but would you say you're religious?

FZ: I wouldn't say that I'm religious. I don't practice any form of religion, except for bodybuilding. I'm very
religious about that.

MMI: Do you think today's bodybuilder has evolved at all, not just physically, but emotionally or
mentally?

FZ: It might be unfair to make a judgment of them, based on the amount exposure I've had to advanced
bodybuilders in the last ten years. If I had to, I'd say no, based on what I've seen in the bodybuilding
magazines and what's emphasized. But I have been impressed with some of them by talking to them and
seeing how sharp they are. For example, I was impressed by Kevin Levrone. He's an interesting, funny guy,
and he's intelligent, but just looking at him you might say, "This guy's a monster -- he can't know
anything." Stereotypes are working in everybody's minds, even mine, and so bodybuilders are really given
unfair treatment based on their appearance. They don't necessarily deserve that treatment but because they
work very hard at what they do, but they set themselves up for alot of this stereotyping and ridicule by
dressing and looking the way that they do.

MMI: they should tone it down in public and be a little more modest. That way you don't bring criticism on
yourself. You set an example. I think today's bodybuilders should practice a holistic lifestyle. Bodybuilders
need to concentrate in a lot of different areas if they want to take their sport to the maximum. They really
need to take advantage of other areas like psychology, biochemistry, kinesiology, and equipment
technology -- they need to know all of this stuff. They need to know about posing, and sculpture, and art,
and the more they know, the better they are.

MMI: You seem to live very much in present.

FZ: I choose to live as much in the present as I can. Now that's almost impossible. It's not easy, because
we're not living in the present. The present is a fleeting moment - it keeps slipping into the past. We're living
in the past... we're living in what just happened.

MMI: I have to ask you some more mundane Star Profile-type questions now. For instance, would Frank
Zane sit around and watch a comedy on TV?

FZ: Sure. I watch some television most nights. My favorite show is Northern Exposure. There's more to it
than meets the eye -- it's very metaphorical and I like things like that. But there's a lot of mindless shit on
TV. It's just awful. It could be such a good medium. I think there should be more educational programs
available entertaining but educational. But there's nothing, nothing. If something's good, it doesn't fit a
formula, and then it doesn't last long on television. They're all afraid to try something new because they
might lose money. They pound everything to death.

MMI: Do you like to watch movies?
FZ: Yes. We see a lot of movies. It's one of our major forms of entertainment. I like anything that's good and
different. I don't like a lot of violence in movies, but if it's going to be violent, I think it should be realistic
violence. In the Amold movies, for example, it's pretty realistic violence. It shows what actually happens
when people shoot guns. In one of his movies, after a guy gets killed, Amold uses him as a shield. I mean,
bullets can actually kill you.

MMI: Do you have anybody that you'd consider a favorite actor or actress?
FZ: I would prefer to see talented people who are unknowns and whom you don't see as a particular
personality in a role. I'd rather see them as the character that they're portraying. I like Al Pacino as an actor.
He's good at what he does, but it's hard not to see him as the Godfather -- he was so memorable in that.

MMI: What kinds of things to you like to do?

FZ: I like discovering things that I don't know about my own life -- becoming aware and conscious of those
things that I never knew about myself before. In other words, making the unconscious conscious in my
own life. That's all part of the growing process. I also like discovering new things, new ways to train, or new
exercises, and I'm very much involved in nutrition as well. I'm very curious to see what the possibilities of
my body are. I also like thinking of new ways to train, or developing new pieces of exercise equipment, like
my leg blaster.

MMI: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

FZ: I can only see myself a year at a time. I can't see ten years. It's not real. It's sort of nebulous. I'm talking
about really seeing it in my mind's eye. I'm not just talking about some sort of vague conception of what I
might be like. I have goals, but you know, I really have no idea of how these things that I like, that are my
goals, will happen, because if I give them long enough, they always do. So I can't be ultraspecific and say
that this will be in ten years.