Module 23: The Cancer-Proof Physique (Part II)
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An Uncensored Interview With Dr. Squat [PART 2]
MATT: So let’s talk about what happened after power lifting. Did you still keep training and are you still training now? And how does your training differ from what you were doing back then?
Fred: O heavens.
MATT: How has your training changed after you quit power lifting and what you do now if your still training?
Fred: Right. Well, you know. The way that I would highly recommend anybody to train is to, is to, first of all, establish what it is you want to accomplish. When I wanted to lift heavy weights, I wanted to lift heavy weights. So I trained to lift heavy weights. But I don’t want to lift heavy weights any more. I want to be fit, and I want to be uh, slim and trim and healthy.
So that’s how I train nowadays. And in the intervening years I had a little bit of a problem. I found out that I had cancer. And so I went in something about five years or there about, to have my prostrate removed and in the process, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. They nicked something in there and everything seeped into the abdominal cavity and my kidneys shut down and I damn near died on the operating table.
MATT: Wow.
Fred: They never really fully removed all of the cancer when they took my prostrate out. Some of it was hiding in the lymph nodes just under the prostrate, they never removed that, and the cancer had metastasized by way of the lymph into the skeletal structure. And long story short, they got, the doctors gave me three months to live after they found this out. And uh, you know, you know when when you get cancer in the bones that’s kind of a death warrant, it seems.
MATT: Sure.
Fred: Well, right around that same time, I hooked up with a buddy of mine who is a research scientist at the University of South Florida and uh, he recommended that I try a ketogenic diet. I’ve been on a ketogenic diet before you know when I was working with Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation.
I had all the boys get on a ketogenic diet in order to control their body fat down and get off of the anabolic steroids, which Vince was under, under indictment for by Federal Grand Jury. (Laughs). So I know all about the ketogenic diet and I didn’t think it was going to work.
But I tried it anyways you know he had such high hopes, my friend, Dr. Dominic D’Agostino. Anyways, about 9 days later, I had biopsies done of my skeletal, of my bones and the doctor said, ‘There isn’t a trace of cancer anywhere in your body, you’re fine’. And I said, ‘How is that possible? Just 9 days ago, all three of my doctors gave two or three months to live.’ He scratched his head and said, ‘I don’t know. That’s the way it works some times’. But I’m as confident as I can be that that ketogenic diet played a very large part.
MATT: I’ve read the interviews and the news stories, but I never heard the part that it happened nine days later. That’s incredible.
Fred: Yea, 9 days. That’s what it was.
MATT: Wow. So do you still follow a ketogenic diet to this day or are you a little bit looser?
Fred: About once every two months or so I go back on a ketogenic diet for 5 days you know because that’s what Dr. D’Agostino told me would keep everything on the up and up and on par. So that’s what I do. And to this day, I haven’t had, my PSA hasn’t risen past zero. And I’ve been about as healthy as a horse and I’m getting better and better. So I’m still taking a blocker called Lupron. What that does is keep my level of testosterone down around zero because cancer loves testosterone especially prostrate cancer.
MATT: Right.
Fred: And I mean I’d love more than anything to go back on a cycle of hormone replacement therapy. At my age, that would probably be an appropriate thing to do. I’m 71 after all. But I can’t do it because it would probably kill me. So I put up with the uh, ‘feminizing’ side effects of the Lupron and I put up with it.
MATT: Sure.
Fred: But I’m healthy, I feel great. I have no problems except I feel like a menopausal woman. (Laughs).
MATT: Right, so just 5 days out of every two months you go back to the ketogenic diet, and I assume it’s just the basic ketogenic diet with high fat and almost zero carbs, correct?
Fred: Yea, zero carbs and I eat all the protein and fat I want. I’ve never been a big one on fat so you know I don’t know how many, what percentage of my calories come from fat but probably 50% or less and I eat a lot of protein for five days, and I’m fine.
MATT: Can you give me a quick sample day of what you would eat during those five days?
Fred: Well I mean it doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination you know. I’ve gotten really good at preparing meat.
MATT: Sure.
Fred: Different kinds of rubs and different ways of cooking and so forth. So but I eat meat and I eat eggs.
MATT: Yea.
Fred: And I eat very, very little from the you know the plant life of any sort. You know, I’ll have a little bit of broccoli, a little bit of kale or something like that just for the fiber content but almost nothing.
MATT: Do you include cheese and dairy or not so much?
Fred: I do cheese and dairy yea. Yea.
MATT: I’m just fascinated that not only it cured you in 9 days but also that you can, you know only have to go back to it for five days every two months. That’s amazing.
Fred: Yea, it is amazing. I’ve read just about all of the research that has been done in this field so far, to date, and there’s a lot of really exciting research being done. I’m happy with the results and I highly recommend it to anybody who’s got who’s got cancer or even who’s precancerous. Just do it. Don’t even think about it. It’s not going to hurt anything. Just do it.
MATT: Right. Yea I have a couple of friends actually got diagnosed with cancer this year. And I was just asking them, ‘When you went in for the actual diagnosis, did anybody tell you anything about diet? Did they give you any instructions on ‘Hey, try this!’? And of course, nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Fred: In the traditional standard of care in the world of cancer treatment, they do not regard cancer as a metabolic disease but Dr. D’Agostino and a lot of doctors now believe that it is indeed a metabolic disease and that it’s not a genetic disease.
MATT: Yea, I’ve started dipping my hands in some of the research and I know what you’re saying. Yea, it’s incredible.
Fred: To answer your question, I lift a little bit of weight, I do a little walking. I’m trying my best to get walking harder to get my heart rate up to a reasonable level. I’ve got to the point now that I can walk a mile or two with my heart rate at about 130, 135. At my age, that’s pretty dog gone good.
MATT: Yea.
Fred: You know, that’s about as good as I can get. If I push it beyond that I’m exhausted and there’s not much point to that either. You know, I’m not training for any marathon. I just want to be fit and in shape and I don’t want to die young. I want to die very, very old.
MATT: Right. And how often are you training?
Fred: Every day. I train every day. I lift 3 or four times a week. Then the rest of the time I’m walking a lot. I’m riding my bike a lot. And doing treadmill a lot. I even, I found, I even put a uh, one of those cute TRXs hanging in my garage so when the spirit moves me I can do some body weight exercises. I love that TRX. I think it’s a great little thing.
MATT: It’s fun. I like it too. The gym I go to just got one and uh, yea it’s...no one else will use it but I think it’s fun.
Fred: Yea, yea. For a guy like me, it’s perfect. Yea, would I like to lift heavy weights again? Sure. But I can’t. So I don’t. Simple as that.
MATT: Right. So what about, if someone’s...say a 16 year old kid came up to you today and said, ‘Mr. Hatfield, I really want to, I want to get big and strong!’ Are there any books or courses that you would recommend him to start with today? I know I haven’t seen, I know you have another book, The Scientific Approach to Power Lifting?
Fred: Yea, A Power Scientific Approach, Bodybuilding: [A] Scientific Approach and the sequel I wrote to Bodybuilding called Hardcore Bodybuilding [: A Scientific Approach]. Those are the three books that I would recommend. But before I even recommend those. I would recommend that this person just get his act together with his nutritional intake.
You know, to me a very, very important part of what kind of athlete you become has to do with how well you are eating. Now mind you, I’m not talking about in the short run. I’m talking about in the long run. I, I am, am very aware that a lot of kids from the ghetto, for example, eat garbage for food. You know, they will eat Cheeto’s and McDonald’s and still become great athletes. Well that’s just because they’re young. You have to remember something. I wasn’t breaking world records until I was 45 years old. (Laughs).
MATT: Right.
Fred: And I’d like to see those guys doing that sort of stuff when they are 45.
MATT: Yea, uh, you see it a lot with the professional football and NBA players. As soon as they stop competing, as soon as they stop running 6 miles a day, they get humongous because their diets are so poor.
Fred: Yep. So anyway those are the three books that I would recommend you know if you’re into body building and looking good. Then Bodybuilding and Hardcore Bodybuilding are great books. But if you want to get strong, Power [: A Scientific Approach]. The book Power is a great way, a great place to start. And uh, you know, every once in a while. I go back to those books myself to see what it is I wrote back in those days and I still stand by most of it. I still think that most of what I wrote back in those days is still absolutely state of the art. I have not come across very much at all in the way of training programs that can stand up to my earlier programs. There are a few exceptions, but very few.
MATT: I’m definitely going pick those books up and go through them. Any others?
Fred: In fact, I just got through writing a brand new book called The Complete Guide to Dumbbell Training: A Scientific Approach. I did it with a friend of mine by the name of Josh Bryant. I don’t know if you recognize that name.
MATT: I do.
Fred: But Josh is one of the strongest guys to ever walk the face of this earth. He is an amazing fellow, Josh Bryant is. He lives in Texas and he and I put together this book on training with dumbbells. And I love it. I think, I think it came out beautiful.
MATT: All right. Thank you. Have a good night!
Fred: All right.
MATT: Bye.
Matt Marshall, certified personal trainer and founder of Fitness Under Oath
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