David Zinczenko is making his 17th appearance on the Today show, this time opposite Steve Schirripa — who plays Bobby Bacala on The Sopranos — on the subject of "heavy men." Heavy as in large, overweight and lacking any evidence of abs, quads or tone.

Zinczenko, the editor in chief of Men's Health, is an expert on this topic, having written the 2004 best-seller The Abs Diet. He is trim, a welter to Schirripa's big heavy, and today he is dressed in a gray Prada suit and open-collar white shirt, with his hair carefully brushed to frame a face that might be described as "handsome middle brother."

He is sharing with Al Roker and Lester Holt the current wisdom that a little man flab may be a fine accessory for fall — but, guys, you don't want to throw away those gym memberships.

Zinczenko (pronounced zinn-ZENK-oh) has made a career out of doling out advice to men, helping them muddle through their post-metrosexual worries about their guts, their athletic prowess and their health.

His prime vehicle is Men's Health, a magazine with a circulation of almost 1.8 million — up by more than 100,000 from when he took over in 2000 — that has won readers and awards for its well-researched articles about men's lives.

From that success has come the appearances on the Today show, where he is frequently trotted out as the spokesman for Everyman, combining cheerful quotability with extensive data culled in the interest of getting to know "Him."

"What's the formula for what a man wants in a long-term relationship? How's this? Love us like you've known us for years; surprise us like you've known us for days."

"I've spent more than a decade channeling information for and about men," Zinczenko, 36, said in his ninth-floor office on Manhattan's East Side, not to far from the office yoga studio. "I'm able to come and use this information, with the help of the research, to hand over the keys to the kingdom to women."

Zinczenko's three-year relationship with an actress, Rose McGowan, made him a bold-face name around New York. The couple has since parted, but Zinczenko maintains a medium-high profile.

"David himself has become a bit of a celebrity, and I don't mean that in a negative sense," said Martin Walker, a magazine consultant and the chairman of Walker Communications. "He's identified with the magazine more so than the editors of any of the competitive books. He's on the Today show with frequency, which creates buzz about the magazine."

"If you asked 30 people walking down the street, 'Who is David Zinczenko?' no one would have any idea. I'm more than happy to make it about ... " He paused for the words to describe where the spotlight should shine. "I'm trying to find something better to call it than 'the product.' "

As an interpreter of men for women, Zinczenko is far more optimistic than the Women-Are-From-Venus, Men-Are-From-Mars set. And if a guy is Just Not That Into You, Zinczenko is there to help.

"You see, the truth is that men do share their feelings — their fears, their desire, even their deepest secrets," he writes in Men, Love & Sex (written with Ted Spiker). "They've shared those feelings with me. And now I'm here to share their feelings with you."

Like Men's Health, the new book is less a thing of passion than of science. Men, Love & Sex was based on a survey of 5,000 men and women, and its raw material — sheaves of survey results — is stacked in an unruly pile on the floor behind Zinczenko's desk.

It is the research, Zinczenko says, that makes him different from other lifestyle and relationship authorities hawking their views on TV and in print.

"I've never suffered multiple concussions," he said. "I've never had diabetes. I haven't contracted avian flu. But I'm still able to edit a magazine that covers those topics because the magazine and the staff, the team, draws on the best doctors and researchers and experts to support everything that appears in the magazine.

"I brought that same approach to The Abs Diet and to this book," he said. "The last thing I'm interested in is subjecting readers to some riff based on my personal experience alone."

The research credo has helped Men's Health speak with authority on what's on the minds of guys who don't care about celebrities and who think high fashion is a clean shirt.

Since its debut in the late 1980s, Men's Health has surpassed traditional men's books like Esquire and GQ by following the formula of best-selling women's magazines — by catering to men's anxieties about their bodies and sexual performance. Cover headlines meant to grab a newsstand buyer by the throat — which Zinczenko once described as "mugging" the passer-by — are sometimes written before the articles.

Under Zinczenko, Men's Health won its first National Magazine Award (for personal service) in 2004 and was a finalist in three categories this year. Its cover price was raised to $4.50 in March, but it still trumps its rivals at the newsstand. And its overall circulation is higher than that of GQ, Details, Esquire, Men's Fitness, Men's Journal, FHM and Stuff.

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