Author delivers insight on productive workouts
Paul Burke copes with multiple sclerosis, develops own regimen
BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer

Paul Burke

From the circus, to the Air Force, to the big screen, body builder Paul Burke has done it all. Burke, 50, of Marlboro and Massachusetts, recently added author to his long list of achievements after his book, “Burke’s Law: A New Fitness Paradigm for the Mature Male,” was published at the end of 2005.

Burke said his book teaches people which exercise is best for different skeletal types. According to Burke, every person has a different skeleton and different muscle groups that go on different size bones. He said the key is to learn how to measure parts of the body in order to know what exercise is best suited for a particular individual.

The book also details the history of human food consumption and teaches readers what foods to eat and which foods to avoid.

According to Burke, the best foods to eat include an oily salmon, which he said builds muscle; egg whites because they are complete proteins; and all colored vegetables because the more color the vegetable contains the more nutrients it has from the ground.

Foods to avoid include all refined flour (cereals and breads), which Burke said the pancreas reacts to as sugar; and carbonated beverages, which he said ruins the acidic breakdown of amino acids.

Burke said his life experiences led him to write the book at this point in his life.

Over the years, Burke said, he has made his way around the job market, starting with his years in a traveling carnival and circus at the age of 16. He said his job taking down the rides by hand every night is what sparked his interest in lifting weights.

Burke attributed his determination in body building and training to being a skinny child who was often picked on by his father. Burke said that when he eventually met Arnold Schwarzenegger, he thought, “If I could look like that, no one would mess with me.”

After a few years of teaching himself how to lift weights and imitating people he saw in body-building magazines, Burke joined the U.S. Air Force, which is where he won his first body-building contest. While stationed in England in 1980, Burke won a contest and was named “Mr. Titan.”

During the course of his life Burke experienced many other positions related to the field of body building. His résumé includes arm-wrestling champion, bodyguard for actor Yul Brynner, gym owner, actor and editor for fitness magazines. His Web site also notes that he holds a master’s degree from Cambridge (Mass.) College.

“I had a very free spirit and always have,” Burke said of his numerous professions.

It was during his work in the early ’90s as a trainer and assistant for billionaire Bill Koch (America’s Cup) that Burke’s life began to take an unlikely turn for the worse. In 1995 he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative disease of the central nervous system.

Burke said when he heard the news he thought, “How could I, the biggest, strongest, most athletic guy who everyone knew as just those things, be headed toward the crippling prospects of multiple sclerosis?”

But instead of letting the disease take over his life, Burke decided to take charge and overcome the pain he was feeling.

Following extensive research on which training method works best and the foods which are the healthiest to eat, Burke began experimenting with what he was physically able to do. With this research in hand, he designed his own workout, which he believes will work for everyone.

Burke said the most important part of a workout is not to do it every day, but to only work out when fully rested. According to Burke, his is a brief, but intense workout that requires an every-other-day routine. He said this allows the nervous system to recover fully, which allows the muscles to grow faster and to burn fat quicker.

The key thing to remember while working out is what Burke calls maximum muscle stimulation, which is when the muscle being worked out that day is stimulated and pushed as much as possible until the point of failure.

Now that his book has been published, Burke is working on a one-year study that he believes will help to solidify Burke’s Law as the best way to work out. The study involves training 20 men all over the age of 40. Burke does one training session with each individual in person and the rest is done over the phone and via the Internet.

The individuals Burke trains for the year will be compared to about 20 people who are trained during one-on-one everyday sessions by New York trainers.

Burke is also working on writing another book and is expected to continue lecturing and teaching at various locations.

“Burke’s Law” can be purchased online at several Internet Web sites, including www.trafford.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.waldenbooks.com and www.amazon.com.