Men's Health - March 2016

LEAN FIT &FAST!Ditch Your Love Handles. Blitz Your PBs. Surpass Your Rivals.

NUTRITION

EAT STRONGER WITH THE MH PROTEIN COOKBOOKMUSCLE

BUILD A V-SHAPE BACK WITH ONE NEW MOVE!FITNESS

THE CARDIO SCEPTIC’S TRIATHLON KIT BAG

BULKING FOR BEGINNERSP139

MARCH 2016 £3.999 771356 743132

03

Burn Fat All Day, Every Dayp94

THE MH GUIDE TO

DENIM

HOW TO MAKE JEANS WORK AT WORK

A DENIM SNOB’S GUIDE TO SELVEDGE

WHY WHITE IS RIGHT & GREY IS BACK

18 MEN’S HEALTH MENSHEALTH.CO.UK

MUSCLE

P41 IMBALANCE OF POWERStability is an overrated virtue. Send your

weight training out of whack for solid gains

P54 RYAN REYNOLDS’ WORKOUT The Deadpool star unmasks his programme

for superhero strength and anti-hero abs

P72 THE GYM THAT TIME FORGOTFashions fade; muscle is eternal. MH steps

into the USA’s most authentic sweatbox

03/16 K

NOW

LEDG

E IS POWER

FITNESS

P33 SPEED RESISTANCERun strong and push your PBs by doing

your heavy work in the weights room

P50 ALL BARRE NONEAre you man enough to plié? We tried ballet

workouts to find out if you should, tutu...

P140 BUILD A SUPERBOWL BODYThis two-week NFL plan will amp up your

muscular stamina. Huddle up: it’s game time

TECH/GEAR

P42 GIVE YOUR KICKS A NEW SPIN MH trials the latest high-spec cycling shoes

to keep your riding perfectly on track

P45 THE RISE OF THE MACHINES?Reclaim the whole gym and find out why free

weights might have been keeping you down

P147 TRI YOUR HARDESTFinish your first race in style with our run of

elite triathlon gear for the everyday man

NUTRITION

P36 STOCK RECIPESBone up on broth. We skim the nutritious

benefits from the wellness industry bumph

P46 DELIVER THE GOODSCraving pizza? Dodge the Domino’s efect

with our high-protein (de-greased) slices

P135 FORM IN A TEACUPGet Speedy Gonzales in the kitchen and prep

our cheat’s chilaquiles in five minutes flat

STYLE

P110 ENTER THE GREY AREAThe denim rules aren’t black and white – but

both shades should be part of your wardrobe

P115 WORKWEAR FOR WORKThe smart man’s guide to making the blue

collar uniform a boardroom power suit

P124 LABOUR FORCEFour men of action get hands-on with the

hardwearing fabric’s intended purpose

HEALTH

P49 GO WITH YOUR GUTYour stomach is called your ‘second brain’

for a reason. Belly up for a mental boost

P63 CRASH-PROOF WILLPOWER New Year resolve starting to crack? This is

how to strap on hard-core mental toughness

P100 DRAW FIRST BLOODWin the battle against disease before it can

begin with our preemptive medical tactics

MEN’S HEALTH 19MENSHEALTH.CO.UK

COVER CREDITS PHOTOGRAPHY TURE LILLEGRAVENSTYLIST BRIAN BOYÉGROOMING KRISTAN SERAFINO, TRACEY MATTINGLYT-SHIRT MAJESTIC JEANS 3X1

ON THE COVERP31 V-SHAPED IN ONE MOVEWalk the plank to uncover an

upper body you’ll treasure

P66 NO MORE LOVE HANDLES The simple fitness hack that

will fire up your fat-burning

P80 MH PROTEIN COOKBOOK Man’s favourite macro has

never been more popular.

Make sure you get your fill

IN THIS ISSUESOLID ADVICE FOR HEALTHY FOUNDATIONS

MENSHEALTH.CO.UK MEN’S HEALTH 19

P88 FIGHT FOR YOUR CAREERHow the UFC battled tooth

and nail to hit the big time

P139 BEGINNER’S BULK-UP Eight iron rules to make light

work of heavy-duty training

P145 BLITZ YOUR PBShake up your post-exercise

nutrition with a bacon (yes,

that’s bacon) recovery drink

IF YOUR WILLPOWER’S CRUMBLING, TURN TO

P94 AND FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN BURN FAT ALL DAY, EVERY DAY

20 MEN’S HEALTH

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MENSHEALTH.CO.UK

THE EXPERT PANELAS YOU SETTLE IN TO 2016, THIS MONTH’S SMORGASBORD OF SPECIALISTS WILL KEEP YOUR FITNESS IN FINE FETTLE

40 RESEARCH SCIENTISTS

15 HEAD CHEFS

13 MEDICAL DOCTORS

6 STRENGTH & FITNESS COACHES

6 WORKOUT INSTRUCTORS

5 UNIVERSITY LECTURERS

4 UFC AUTHORITIES

3 SLEEP PSYCHOLOGISTS

3 PHYSIOLOGISTS

3 DENIM SPECIALISTS

2 REGISTERED DIETITIANS

1 NFL ANALYST

1 MENSWEAR BUYER

AND 1 OCTOGENARIAN GYM OWNER

TOTAL

103 EXPERTS

LIFT YOUR GAINSDUNCAN FRENCHTo hit your true potential,

you need to befriend the

machines. The English

Institute of Sport’s S&C

coach explains why p45

THIS ISSUE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY…

CHIP AWAY AT FATDAN JOHNHit a weightloss plateau?

Adopt pro fitness coach

John’s no-fuss lifestyle

hacks and lose stubborn

belly fat for good p94

ROCK THE AGESDOUG EIDDThe 80-year-old owner of

Doug’s Gym (est 1962)

shares a fitness formula

that’s still going strong

after 50 years p72

LOAD YOUR WEAPONSDR RICHARD PULSFORDLaunch a pre-emptive

strike against disease with

routine tweaks you won’t

even notice, says the

health researcher p100

EDITOR

TOBY WISEMANDEPUTY EDITOR

DAVID MORTON

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

DECLAN FAHY

PHOTO DIRECTOR

RACHAEL CLARK

FEATURES EDITOR

DANIEL MASOLIVER

ART DIRECTOR

JAMIE SAGE

STYLE DIRECTOR

ERIC DOWN

PRODUCTION EDITOR

SCARLETT WRENCH

MEN’S HEALTH IS PUBLISHED IN THE UK BY HEARST RODALE LIMITED, A JOINT VENTURE BY HEARST MAGAZINES UK, A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF THE HEARST CORPORATION, AND RODALE INTERNATIONAL, A DIVISION OF RODALE INC. MEN’S HEALTH IS A TRADEMARK OF, AND IS USED UNDER LICENCE FROM, RODALE INC. HEARST RODALE LTD, 33 BROADWICK STREET, LONDON W1F 0DQ. TEL: 020 7339 4400. FAX: 020 7339 4444. RODALE’S MEN’S HEALTH (ISSN 1356-7438). COPYRIGHT © 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MEN’S HEALTH IS PRINTED AND BOUND BY WYNDEHAM HERON, THE BENTALL COMPLEX, COLCHESTER ROAD, HEYBRIDGE, MALDON, ESSEX CM9 4NW. DISTRIBUTION BY COMAG. PUBLISHED 11 TIMES A YEAR. CONDITIONS APPLY. FOR ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES, PLEASE CALL OUR ENQUIRY LINE ON 0844 848 1601, INTERNATIONAL +44 (0)1858 438794. BACK ISSUES, CUSTOMER ENQUIRIES, CHANGE OF ADDRESS AND ORDERS TO: MEN’S HEALTH, HEARST MAGAZINES UK, TOWER HOUSE, SOVEREIGN PARK, LATHKILL STREET, MARKET HARBOROUGH, LEICS LE16 9EF (0844 848 5203; MONDAY TO FRIDAY, 8AM-9.30PM AND SATURDAY, 8AM-4PM. CREDIT CARD HOTLINE: 0844 848 1601). MEN’S HEALTH, ISSN 1356-7438, IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 11 TIMES PER YEAR BY HEARST RODALE LIMITED. C/O DISTRIBUTION GRID. AT 900 CASTLE RD SECAUCUS, NJ 07094, USA. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT SECAUCUS, NJ. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO MEN’S HEALTH C/O EXPRESS MAG, PO BOX 2769, PLATTSBURGH, NY 12901-0239

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JUNIOR FITNESS EDITOR

JACK HART

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

ALEX HARRIS

DIGITAL DIRECTOR

ED VANSTONE

MENSHEALTH.CO.UK

FEEL LIKE A HERODON SALADINOThe PT to the stars helped

cover star Ryan Reynolds

look and perform like an

Olympian for Deadpool.

Find his workout on p54

ASSOCIATE EDITOR (STYLE)

MATT HAMBLY

DEPUTY DIGITAL EDITOR

TED LANE

DIGITAL EDITOR

ROBERT HICKS

ASSISTANT DIGITAL EDITOR

THOMAS LING

MAKE SLEEP IMPACTDR GUY LESCHZINERA consultant neurologist

at Guy’s and St Thomas’s,

Leschziner uncovers the

lesser-known benefits

of powering down p35


EDITOR’S LETTERMAKE YOUR 2016 A VINTAGE YEAR TO SAVOUR

T his year is to be one of many

significant anniversaries; 2016

marks a long century since the

bloody Battle of the Somme,

400 years since Shakespeare

shufled of this mortal coil, and 950

since King Harold caught an arrow in the

eye around the Hastings area. Of much

more importance than all that,

however, I am turning 40.

At least, that’s what I’d been

telling myself, in accordance with

the conventional narrative that

middle-age, spare tyres and bad

jokes start with the dreaded Four-Oh.

Then I reconsidered. What a fool to buy

such outmoded, fatalistic bunkum! I edit

Men’s Heath, for chrissakes, and we’ve

been rewriting the script for years.

So instead, at the start of January, I

pledged to make 2016 a year in which I’d

hit 40 in better shape than I was at 39. If

I can do that then perhaps I’ll have a go at

making 42 trump 38. Small steps, maybe,

but ones I think get to the heart of what

this magazine is all about and with which

you, our reader, identifies. Cover stars,

too: this month’s leading man, Mr Blake

Lively, also looking down the 40-barrel,

talks with humility and humour of his

own ways of dealing with the challenges

that growing older presents. Turns out

he’s doing pretty well.

The fact is we’re not prepared to give

up anymore; going to seed just isn’t an

option. And it’s that mulish attitude that

inspired this issue. From psyche tricks to

keep your metabolism stoked to quick,

gourmet protein recipes with both

palates and #gains in mind, plus cycling

gear, NFL workouts and long-term health

hacks, we’ve got your back covered.

Now it’s time to act. In April, I will be

running the London Marathon – 16 years

since my last outing. How about you?

TOBY WISEMANBSME EDITOR OF THE YEAR

54PA

GE

94PA

GE

80PA

GE

88PA

GE

10

0

PAGELaunch a pre-emptive

strike on illness

before man’s biggest

killers spot their

chance to attack

10

7

PAGE The dogma

on denim has

shifted. Our

jean-decoder

will give you

the selvedge...

Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds

may be pushing 40, but he’s

fitter (and funnier) than ever

before. He shares the workout

that keeps him action-ready

Quick-fix diets are

doomed to collapse.

Chip away at your

fat stores all day,

every day, instead

MMA has gone mainstream.

Here’s how the blood sport

choked out its opponents to

become a $1.7bn industry

Had your fill of shakes?

Yup, us too. Enjoy your

protein just as nature

intended with our gourmet,

macro-balanced menu

DO YOU EVEN BROTH, BRO? TAKE STOCK ON P36


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ASK MHYOUR RDA OF RAW FACTS WITH NO MINCED WORDS

If you’re worried that where

there’s smoked, there’s fire,

don’t fret just yet. Yes, there

has been a lot of tabloid noise

recently – there always is.

But studies linking processed

meats to bowel cancer have

not only been inconsistent,

“they originate from countries

where their diets are not

comparable with that of

your average Brit,” says

Dr Christian Abnet of the

National Cancer Institute. In

IT’LL BE A LONG WHILE BEFORE YOU MEAT YOUR MAKER

IAIN, WARRINGTON

QFIRST IT’S BACON, THEN IT’S SAUSAGE ROLLS… ARE ALL PROCESSED MEATS OFF THE MENU?

THE BIG QUESTION

short, a 10-pack of streaky

isn’t necessarily akin to

a 10-a-day ciggy habit.

Even so, other dangers do

inhabit cured foods. Most

processed meats are high in

salt (a pack of salami slices

contains your entire RDA),

which can ramp up blood

pressure, according to the

Journal of Hypertension.

And scientists in Switzerland

found that people who ate

50g of processed meat daily

– equivalent to four slices of

ham – were 11% more likely to

develop colorectal cancer.

So while we’re afraid to say

the risk looks real, moderate

sausage-munchers needn’t

worry. Studies do vary, but

nutritionists generally agree

it’s all in the dosage (140g

per week is fine), while other

lifestyle choices also play

a major role. In other words,

a bacon sarnie on Saturday

morning isn’t going to kill you.

01\ CASSEROLE WITH ITThrow some beans into the

mix: their resistant starch

counteracts the cancer risk

associated with meat, says

Cancer Prevention Research.

02\ LICENCE TO GRILLMarinating meat in a dark

ale reduces the formation

of potential carcinogens.

Beer-poached bangers are

now backed by science.

03\ HAVE FRIES WITH THATA sweet potato has as much

blood pressure-curbing

potassium as a banana, the

USDA reports. Just keep

your hands of the Maldon...

HOW TO SAVE YOUR BACON

Reluctant to ration your rashers? Try this instead


POP IT OR DROP IT?Simon Maxwell, professor of clinical pharmacology at Edinburgh University, examines the risks behind your chemist’s counter

PARACETAMOL Perfectly fine

when taken in the

advised way: 4g

a day maximum,

for the shortest

required duration.

VOLTAROLBy applying this

directly to the

problem area, you

can kill pain faster

and reduce the

amount absorbed.

CO-CODAMOLParacetamol

combined with

a mild morphine;

leads to nausea

and drowsiness

in some people.

IBUPROFENKeep tabs on

your habit. With

overuse, these

can damage the

stomach lining,

causing ulcers.

JESSE, BOURNEMOUTH

It’s less about what you take and

more how much. In 2005, NSAIDs

such as naproxen and ibuprofen

were required to carry labels stating

that they might increase your heart

attack risk. Now, labels use much

QPAINKILLERS SEEM TO BE GETTING AN

INCREASINGLY BAD REP IN THE PRESS. WHICH ONES ARE SAFE?

sterner language. An FDA analysis

found that taking NSAIDs regularly

can increase your odds of heart

issues by 10-50%. These drugs can

harden arteries and elevate blood

pressure, says Dr Steven Woloshin

of Dartmouth Medical School.

However, taking a low dose for a

week is safe for a healthy guy. So if

you wake with a bastard behind the

eyes, pop away. But if pills are starting

to replace breakfast, think twice.

Q AT WHAT AGE IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO START USING

ANTI-AGEING CREAM?

Q I WAS OUT UNTIL 2AM, SLEPT FOR THREE HOURS AND NOW

I’M PRESENTING TO CLIENTS. HELP!

HARRY, BIRMINGHAM

Congratulations for risking opprobrium

by asking such an emasculating question.

Because it’s a good one, and the answer

is: too soon is almost as bad as too late.

Your skin ages in your late twenties as

production of collagen

and elastin slows, says

dermatologist Dr Annie

Chiu. But slathering on

collagen creams can

actually worsen natural

collagen production.

Instead, try retinol,

a form of vit A that not

only boosts collagen but

helps replace dead skin cells. A study in

Drugs and Dermatology found applying

retinol cream daily for a year reduced

fine lines by 44%. Try Neutrogena’s Rapid

Wrinkle Repair. It’ll make you no less of a

man. But you will be a better-looking one.

DECLAN, CORK

Resist the urge to emulate Mark from

Peep Show and hide in the car park.

There is a better solution: “Around

45 minutes prior to a big meeting, drink

a double espresso and pop 200mg of

L-theanine,” says Dr Mike Roussell, Penn

State Uni nutritionist. “L-theanine pairs

with the cafeine to boost brain function

while easing java jitters.” So, no sweaty

palms. “30 minutes before presenting, do

five minutes of deep breathing: inhaling

through your nose, exhaling through your

mouth. This lowers your heart rate,” he

says. A doctor just saved your career.

So you think you’re allergic

to the gym, eh? Pull the

other one. We’re banking

on a simpler explanation.

Working out causes your

blood vessels to dilate,

drawing blood to your skin,

says Dr Anatoli Freiman,

medical director at Toronto

Dermatology Centre. Your

brain can misinterpret the

increased bloodflow as an

allergic reaction and release

itch-inducing histamines.

Short-term, you can pop

an antihistamine roughly

30 minutes before your

next few training sessions.

If the issue persists, consider

ditching the compression

tights as friction can trigger

AM I NORMAL?

EXERCISE MAKES ME FEEL ITCHY. AM I GOING MAD?

Q

JAMES, BATTERSEA

ASK MHSCRATCHING THE SURFACE

your body to pump out the

compound. An obvious fix is

looser gear: try Icebreaker’s

merino wool range, which

is light on the skin. And buy

your shirts a size up; nipple-

revealing Ts have never

been a good look anyway. .

BE ITCHING TO TRAIN, NOT AS A RESULT

OF IT

EDITED BY DEAN STATTMANN

RING THE BELL FOR A NEW BODYPAGE 41

10 BARRE EXCESS FATPAGE 2250

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If your core routine is growing a little humdrum, incorporate some original pirate workout material and

Like the largely forgotten internet meme, planking can get tired: if you’re riding it out for five minutes, your

time could probably be better spent. Intensity is the key to progression. “This move is an adaptation of a handstand conditioning exercise,” says celeb trainer Al Jackson (realstrong.co.uk), who calls it Wall-Walking The Plank. “It’s my favourite because planking with your feet against a wall forces you to maintain maximum core-firming tension – or you quite literally face the consequences.” Going vertical also strengthens your arms, shoulders and rotator cuffs, while budding park gymnasts will find it’s a great progression to a proper flat- back handstand. Jackson advises three ‘reps’, with 90 seconds’ rest between each, at the start of your workout so tired arms don’t let you down. A warning: wear trainers. Socks and slippery walls are a potentially painful combination.

01LIFT OFFAssume a plank

position with the

soles of your feet

pressed against

a wall. Tighten your

core but keep your

breathing relaxed.

Or at least try.

02STEP UPHold for 10 seconds.

Then walk your feet

and hands up until

you’re at 45 degrees.

Squeeze your glutes

to tuck your tailbone

and aim to keep

your core engaged.

01SHIP-SHAPE

MUSCLETHE BEST EXERCISE YOU’RE NOT DOING

03WALK ONCount to 10 again.

Then walk your feet

up and hands in all

the way, toes just

touching the wall. For

good technique, let

your shoulders cover

your ears slightly.

04GO LOWMade it to 10? Then

walk back down,

hitting each stage

again for another

10. That’s one rep. If

that’s too hard, start

by mastering stage

one – and work up.

WHAT YOU’LL GAIN

SHORED-UP SHOULDERS

AN UNSHAKEABLE MIDSECTION

STRONGER-FOR-LONGER ARMS

WALL WALK THE PLANK


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CARDIO NEW

SFEED 03.2016

05BURN FAT OFF-ROAD

04STEP UP

YOUR RUN

03WHEAT RELIEF

02RAISE YOUR

GAME

Park your running shoes and feel the weight upon your shoulders. As distance-running season looms large,

your performance could benefit from a pick-up. That’s according to Italian scientists, who discovered that heavy lifting twice a week can improve your VO2 max as much as running, with the added bonus of improving your form to boot. Participants in the study saw a 6% VO2 max boost using this tactic –

GIVE YOUR RACE TIME A LIFTHard yards and miles on the clock will only get you so far. To accelerate your speed, you need to lift for victory

5 THINGS THAT BURN MORE FAT THAN A RUNBecause pounding the pavement can

be a pounding headache for some

A FAST FINISH IS WORTH THE

WEIGHT

A

01/ BURPEES One rep burns 1.4kcal, says

Spartan coach Jef Godin,

while 10 reps are shown

to rev your metabolism by

as much as a 30sec bike

sprint. Having ‘no time’ for

the gym no longer flies.

02/ KETTLEBELL SWINGS A Uni of Wisconsin study

says they work muscles

around the glutes and

quads – and your heart

– hard. A session will burn

20kcal a minute, pumping

your heart rate up to 93%.

03/ ROWINGYou can burn 377kcal

during 30min of vigorous

rowing, or about 12.5kcal

per minute, according to

Harvard University. Plus

no amount of jogging will

build a V-shape, will it?

04/ SKIPPINGModerate-intensity rope

jumping – that’s 100 to

120 skips per minute –

burns 13kcal per minute,

says the Compendium of

Physical Activities. Take

the Rocky road to fat loss.

05/ X-COUNTRY SKIINGDelivering a better cardio

workout than running at

the same pace, a tough

cross-country ski burns

over 12kcal a minute. It is,

however, somewhat harder

to do on your lunchbreak.University of Tasmania

A gluten-free diet has no effect on athletic performance. (Unless your name is Novak Djokovic, presumably)

The steps-per-minute rate that yields the best

running economy in well-trained people.

Start counting those trophies

European Journal of Sport Science

157

a number big enough to make any cardio junkie jog to the free weights. That extra strength, plus better mechanics, can also enhance your running economy and cut injury risk, says PJ Newton, founder of Strategic Athlete. For best results, enrol in a functional-training programme such as CrossFit, or simply reacquaint yourself with the squat rack at your local gym. The stronger you are when queuing up at the start line, the faster you’ll break the tape.

YOUR WINNING HALF-MARATHON CHECKLIST

Set of at the

scheduled

race time and

get familiar

with the route.

Start downing

around 15ml

of water per

pound of your

weight daily.

Half a gram

of carbs per

pound of your

weight is ideal

on race day.

Research

shows that

women pace

better, so get

behind one.

Ignore sports

drink bumph:

guzzling only

when you’re

thirsty is fine.

Set mini goals,

eg pass one

person, then

move to your

next target.

T-14 DAYSRUN IT DRY

T-7 DAYSDRINK UP

T-2 HOURS CARB LOAD

MILES 1-4 CHASE A GIRL

MILES 3+ SIP SMARTER

MILES 9+V STAY STRONG

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30MIN

A06PILLOW TALK

01 BINGE ON SLEEPBook-ending a long workday

with a gym class and a Netflix

marathon can result in you

going without sleep for up

to 20 hours. For your brain,

it’s akin to being over the

drink-driving limit, warns Dr

Guy Leschziner of the Sleep

Disorders Centre. Tuck in just

two hours earlier to hit the

recommended minimum for

sleep-induced sobriety.

04 DOZE UP ON HGHWhile there are proven ways

to marginally increase your

human growth hormone

(heavy squats, for example)

60-70% of your HGH –

responsible for everything

from metabolism to hair

growth – is produced during

sleep. Moreover, a Harvard

study linked insuficient sleep

to less eficient production.

No way around this one, chaps.

05 FACE THE FACTS Your body also uses sleep to

eliminate toxins from the skin,

says Sleep School founder

Dr Guy Meadows. People who

skimp on sleep take 30%

longer for their skin to recover

after a hard day, reports the

University Hospitals Case

Medical Center. Cleanse, then

apply a quality moisturiser –

just don’t let the midnight oil

spill over onto your face.

02BEAT FAT IN BED Logging five hours or less

raises your risk of obesity

by 15%, reports a US study.

Fluctuations in ghrelin and

leptin, the hormones that

regulate metabolism and

appetite, are to blame says

Leschziner. Freeze them out

by setting the thermostat

below 18°C: it triggers ‘non-

shivering thermogenesis’

for overnight weightloss.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN…I LOSE SLEEP?

You might be winning on the resolutions front, but if you don’t snooze, you’ll lose. Use these strategies to triumph in World War ZZZ – and you can avoid a full-scale health nightmare


03 RESIST DISEASE People who get only five

hours of sleep typically have

an increase in cardiovascular

disease and can become

insulin resistant, according

to Professor Adrian Williams

of the London Sleep Centre.

Work to blame? Walk away.

No, don’t quit: a study found

walking 30 minutes a day, five

days a week, can prevent and

reverse insulin resistance.

01 02 03

0504

While its fabled powers to revive the dead are greatly exaggerated, animal stock is having a revival of its own. MH separates the benefits from the bone-headed buzzwords

Natural SelectionIn the same way that green juice is the distillate of vaunted

veg, bone broth claims to be the nutritional concentrate of

animal products in a more digestible form. But just like any

successful (or unsuccessful) beer hall brawler will attest,

knowing which bones to pick is key. Scavenge accordingly.

01

ii) PORKThe closest you’ll get to cheating

your cheat day. Amino acids in the

gelatin from pork knuckles and

feet protect your liver from potent

toxins (like Jaegerbombs) and help

you absorb any healthy nutrients

encountered while pigging out.

iii) CHICKENYes, we get it: chicken broth is

‘nourishing’. It’s not that we don’t

give a cluck, but we’d rather cosy

up to words that actually mean

something. Like carnosine – the

anti-inflammatory compound that

keeps your immunity up to scratch.

iv) FISHLoaded with brain-boosting DHA

and EPA, fish broth is arguably the

most nutrient-dense of the lot. It’s

also the cheapest and quickest to

prep; flat fish like sole or flounder

require only 40 minutes, while cod

and bass are good after five hours.

i) BEEFBuilding muscle forces your joints

to work harder to support the extra

weight. Simmering cow bones as

you beef up extracts glucosamine

and chondroitin, which German

research showed can help increase

joint strength and mobility.

THE HEALTH SNOB’S GUIDE TO

02Lock Your Stock In Smokin’ BarrelsThe only thing you really need to make bone

broth is a pot with a lid on it. That said, a heavy

meat cleaver (£110 selfridges.com) will come

in handy when chopping Flintstone bones

down to size, while a stainless steel strainer

(£42 selfridges.com) will benefit anyone

looking for a silkier stew. Fortunately, broth’s

benefits needn’t be reserved for weekends and

rainy days: with a programmable slow cooker,

you can leave your kitchen without fear of your

creation evaporating away because you opted

to visit the gym after work. Alternatively,

suggest Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley, authors

of Good + Simple, a pressure cooker (£200

lakeland.co.uk) can cut your prep time to

just three hours – cooking the stew at a higher

pressure extracts nutrients faster. Leaving

you very few bones

to pick with stocking

up on the vegetables.

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MEN’S HEALTH 37

SERVES 1• Bone broth, 300ml

• Grated fresh ginger,

1tsp, or ground

ginger, ½tsp

• Ground turmeric,

½tsp

• Ground cayenne,

pinch

• Lemon juice, squeeze

• Sea salt, pinch

INGREDIENTS• Bones

• Lemon juice or

apple cider

vinegar, splash

• Water

• Bay leaves

(optional)

SERVES 6• Mung beans, 550g

• Coconut oil, 1½tbsp

• Onion, finely sliced

• Ginger, 2 thumb-

sized pieces, sliced

• Garlic, 4 cloves,

minced

• Coconut milk, 400ml

• Bone broth, 750ml

• Tamari, 400ml

• Pepper to taste

• Greens, 6 handfuls

SERVES 2• Bone broth, 600ml

• Grated fresh

ginger, 1tsp

• Unpasteurised miso

paste, 2tsp

• Eggs, 2 (optional)

• Sea salt to taste

• Lemon juice, squeeze

• Chilli flakes

(optional)

ii) PEP-UP BROTHi) BASIC BONE BROTH

iv) MUNGO BROTHiii) GINGER MISO BROTH

METHODFor this recipe, we suggest going

with chicken broth for all of its

aforementioned immune-boosting

properties. Add it to a pan with the

ginger and bring your stock to

a boil. Reduce to a simmer for a few

minutes to heat through. Transfer

to a bowl and stir in the turmeric,

cayenne pepper, lemon and sea

salt to further bump up your broth’s

cold-beating properties.

METHODAdd the bones to a pot along with

your lemon or vinegar and a few

bay leaves. Cover with 5cm of cold

water, bring to a boil, then reduce

to a simmer. Close the lid and leave

for six to 12 hours, skimming of

any foam that rises to the top. Once

it’s done, strain the broth and use

immediately, or leave to cool before

storing. Bone broth will keep for

up to a week in the fridge.

METHODSoak the beans overnight in double

their volume of water. Heat the oil

and sauté the onions, ginger and

garlic for eight minutes, or until

the onion softens. Add the drained

mung beans, coconut milk and

broth, then simmer until the beans

are tender – up to 60 minutes. Add

the tamari and pepper. Chop the

greens, add and simmer until soft.

Your superstew is served.

METHODBring the broth to a boil in a pan

and reduce to a simmer for a few

minutes to heat through. Turn of

the heat and grate the ginger into

your pan, adding the miso paste.

Crack in a couple of eggs if you

want to benefit from an extra 12g

protein. Whisk until smooth, pour

into a bowl and stir in the sea salt

and lemon juice. Now top with chilli

flakes and slurp. Miso brawny...

FLASK AND YOU’LL RECEIVEBroth, do you even lift? Why,

yes, actually. The gelatin in

broth is a ‘protein-sparer’,

which means it increases the

biovailability of protein you

consume with it. Pack some

in your gym bag and sip it on

the way home from training

after chugging your shake.

SOUP UP YOUR DEFENCESWhen a cold descends, most

Brits turn to tea, maybe with

some immune-aiding ginger

plopped in. Opt for a cup of

broth instead: you can keep

the ginger, while adding new

flu-busters like garlic and

thyme, which you’d never

dare stir into your cuppa.

ThrowYourself A BoneThree ways bone

broth can make you

fitter and happier

08SPECIAL BREWS

07RAISE YOUR

STOCK A

03Marrow Victories Broth’s bare-bones appeal

makes it a winning formula

for gains on the go (and on

a budget). But as these

recipes from the Hemsleys

demonstrate, you don’t have

to stop there; your broth

can lay a nutritionally solid

foundation for soups, stews

and other dishes such as

ramen. And the longer you

simmer your stock the more

powerful – and, yes, the

more nourishing – it will

become. Note: When

a recipe calls for ‘bone

broth’, use the Basic

Bone Broth recipe.

GO WITH YOUR GUTOne of the reasons why

people go on juice cleanses

is to give their digestive

system a break. But you

don’t have to limit yourself

to lemon water. Broth is low

in fibre, making it equally

gentle, and its gelatin helps

to repair your system.


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The boom in workout classes such as Fight Klub and Speedflex means you can stay fit without setting foot in a gym again. That said, keep in mind that Barry doesn’t

care whether you drag yourself to Bootcamp or not. But for men with even middling motivation, classes provide the most cost-effective option, albeit a less personal one.

VS

THE MH VERDICT: CLASSES

CLASS WARFAREIs supervised foam-rolling worth the super FOMO? Once the cheaper option to a PT, classes are the new home to the fitness elite. Which is worth your time?

A09HEALTHY RIVALRY

VERSUSTRAINERS VS CLASSES

WORKOUT CLASSES

PERSONAL TRAINER

4KGWeight you’d lose

doing SoulCycle twice a week

for six months

COST

££££25 £20 Price of a single class at Barry’s Bootcamp: roughly 2p for every calorie you’ll torch in a session

Price of a PT session outside the capital (Londoners can split the

cost at ptfindr.com/share-my-pt)

MOTIVATION

8.5 11 People prompted by a personal coach lasted this much longer

per workout (Stanford Uni)

Those who trained as part of a team exercised for this much longer (Michigan State Uni)minutes minutes

AFTERCARE

LOWLikelihood of your PT offering you complimentary Malin+Goetz products. It’s classes #FTW

Odds of your spin instructor texting to ask “how ur quads feel post-sesh”. That’s a win for PTs

AFTERCARESTRENGTHS

Specific goals Banging tunesAccountability Greater varietyBespoke plan New friends

Personal issues Strong kit gameOwn protein shake Business cardsGym card Friends

BRING YOUR...

ZERO

10%The bodyweight lost by subjects who were assigned a PT for a six-month study*


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IMBALANCE OF POWER Stability is an overrated virtue when it comes to building muscle. For fast results you need to start shaking things up

MUSCLE N

EWSFEED 03.2016

MH’S 6-PACK PRESCRIPTION FOR STEADY

GAINS, PUT THE KETTLE ON

Isometric exercises yield the

best results, extending your

core’s time under tension, says

the University of Waterloo.

Master their ‘Big Three’ below:

International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance

Your muscles grow five times faster when there’s less oxygen in the air. (We’d rather fixate on the gym than be asphyxiated by it.)

Science has spoken: these moves are the final word on sculpting your core. And there’s not a sit-up in sight

02/ THE BIRD DOGGet on your hands and knees

and raise your left arm and

right leg until they’re in line

with your body. Hold for 10

seconds. Repeat the move

with your right arm and left

leg. Continue alternating.

03/ THE SIDE PLANKLie on your right side, with

your legs straight and body

propped up on your right

forearm. Raise your hips and

hold for 10 seconds before

repeating on the left side.

01/ THE PLANKAssume a press-up position,

weight on your forearms, and

hold for 10 seconds. That’s

one rep. Lower your hips to

the floor and rest for two or

three seconds between reps.

Exercise in both long and short

durations is good for your body

American Medical Association

Even for the most fervent of gym-goers, waking up to the realisation that it’s legs day can feel

like being blindsided before breakfast. Somehow the knowledge that it’s the most important tool of your transformation can’t quite make up for the nauseating feeling that comes as part of the package. You need to get in and out quick – that means making your session count.

Our solution? Put the kettle on. According to sports scientists, ditching the plates and hanging kettlebells from your bar engages more muscles by creating an unstable load

during your squats. This fires up more of the fibres that count. In

a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, scientists found that activation in participants’ core rose by 86% – that’s a hefty number for such

a simple swap. Just grab kettlebells that

weigh 50-60% of the load you’d normally squat and

hang them from the bar with resistance bands.

Five sets of 15 reps is all it takes before you can turn your attention

to something more palatable. Forget all

that bro nonsense about going big or going home.

It’s time to go fast then head home smiling.

10BEND THE

BAR

12CORE

BELIEFS

11CHOKE OUT

MUSCLE A


Of the three contact points where body meets bike (not counting the face-to-handlebar

contact point; that only happened once), where your feet meet the pedals is the most important. This is where you transfer power through your legs and fear through the hearts of your rivals – even those in the mirror at your Monday morning spin class.

When it comes to maximising output on your bike, clipping in right can make all the difference. From mountainous switchbacks to Psycle class (and tapbacks), efficient power delivery is the key to riding faster, longer and, crucially, more comfortably.

But resist the urge to pick up the first shoe your local bike shop tries to peddle you. To help you find one that clicks with your goals, we put the top offerings to the test – both in the great outdoors and in the gym on a Wattbike. The road and trail tests showed how the shoes handled the elements, while the Wattbikes allowed for specific performance tests. Time to truly find your cleat.

PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARDCleats prosper: the right cycling shoes will boost performance and give you an edge over your rivals. MH took the best for a spin

THE MHINSTITUTECYCLINGSHOES

MAKE A SMOOTH TRANSITION

A triathlon-specific bike shoe is all

about providing lightweight, no-frills

performance. The Trivent SC does it all

for the triathlete, but helpfully, those

features will also cross over to the most

intense of indoor training sessions.

EXPERT VERDICT Stripped-back design,

open mesh for drying quickly post-swim,

sockless comfort and one large strap for

speedy transitions make the Trivent SC

fit for purpose. Use them sparingly in

training, though – the minimal design

won’t last forever – and avoid them on

cold days if you like to feel your toes.

TRI YOUR BEST 7.5/10 Specialized Trivent SC £200

Comfort ••••••••••Fit ••••••••••Design ••••••••••Durability ••••••••••Price ••••••••••

BE READY FOR ANYTHING What type

of pedals do the bikes at your favourite

spin studio have? Exactly. This capable

shoe comes with hole patterns for both

SPD and SPD-SL cleats, so with minimal

fuss you can clip into any pedal type

and get riding, indoors or out.

EXPERT VERDICT The two Velcro

straps and one ratchet strap locking the

foot in place make this a solid option

at a budget price point. What this shoe

lacks in finesse and performance (it’s

not the stifest shoe we’ve tested), it

more than makes up for in function and

value. A sturdy choice for casual spinners.

THE INSIDE EDGE 8/10Shimano RP5 £90


BEST

FOR

TRIATHLONS

BEST

FOR SPIN

CLASS

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RIDE

13FIND YOUR

CLEAT A

Your Cleat SpotThe cleat should

sit under the ball

of your foot. With

your shoes on,

align it with the

big toe joint.

Metal Your PedalWith Fly Pedals

(flypedals.com)

you don’t have to

clip in – attach a

cleat to convert

them into flats.

Marvel ArchesSmash your PB

with insoles from

cyclefit.co.uk.

Opt for standard

high-arch or go

fully customised.

GO UP A GEAREnhance your

setup with three

technical tips

SMILE THROUGH GRITTY TEETH If you

like playing in the mud, the Empire VR90

is designed to deal with the dirt while

delivering race-ready performance on

any terrain. If your aim is to tear up the

trails during the weekend and the turbo

trainer on weekdays, these are for you.

EXPERT VERDICT Combining Easton

EC90 carbon fibre and Vibram rubber

was smart of Giro; they have created an

outer sole that is grippy in the grit, but

stif underfoot, enhancing your power

transfer. Mild heel slipping meant laces

needed to be done up tight, but once

adjusted they provided all-day comfort.

DIG THE DIRT 8/10

Empire VR90 £219.99


LOOK THE PART If the wall of black

and white bike shoes at your nearest

cycling shop gives you Pink Floyd vibes,

crank up your style with the Dromarti

Race Classic – a British-styled race

shoe with heritage looks, all backed up

with modern-day technology benefits.

EXPERT VERDICT The Race Classic

isn’t all style over substance. The

quality leather upper and laces ofer

a robust and comfortable shoe best

suited to longer rides out on the road.

While perfectly capable, wearing these

shoes for intervals looks like strapping

on a pair of double-monks for deadlifts.

CYCLICAL FASHION 8/10

Dromarti Race Classic £224


TAKE COST OUT OF THE EQUATION

If you’re a performance man, the Bont

Vaypor S is your shoe. The BOA retention

system allows for fit adjustments

mid-stroke, while an anti-stretch layer

keeps the fit snug. You can also

heat-mould the shoe using an oven.

EXPERT VERDICT The Bonts feel a little

odd on first use – there’s considerable

built-in medial arch support to stop

pronation – yet their comfort and

stifness is unquestionable. Just make

sure you avoid walking too far in them;

these shoes are very much designed

for use on the bike and not much else.

STEAL THE LEAD 8.5/10Bont Vaypor S £270

Comfort ••••••••••

Fit ••••••••••Design ••••••••••Durability ••••••••••Price ••••••••••

BEST

FOR STYLE

POINTS

MHWINNER

BEST

FOR THE

MUD

BEST

FOR ELITE

PERFORMANCE

MEN’S HEALTH 43

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If your goals are more aesthetic,

machines make it easy to assemble

your ideal physique. Bodybuilders do

machine biceps curls, calf raises and

triceps extensions to target specific

muscles they want to pump up.

Remember that muscles don’t know if

you are using a machine or a free weight,

and any resistance training will trigger

a hormonal response 2 , which enhances

muscle growth. Muscles simply respond

to force and tension. So the heavier you

lift, the bigger they will grow.

Machines are much more versatile than

you may realise, too. On a leg-press

machine you can do double-leg presses,

switch to single-leg presses, move your

feet wider to work your glutes, move them

narrower to hit your quads or even do

straight-leg calf raises. And the solid, safe

movement patterns of machines make

them perfect for eccentric training:

(lowering the weight slowly for 10 seconds

on each rep adds extra tension and is

proven to build more size into your

muscles) 3 . Elite Olympic athletes even

use machines for power training – like

leg-press throws, where they allow the

plate to release 2-3in off their feet – but

these are advanced techniques, best done

with a trainer, if you want to avoid ending

up on YouTube.

This doesn’t mean you should throw

free weights out the window. (NB never

throw free weights out the window.) All

the science shows they are superior for

athletic performance. And without the

balance and coordination they develop,

you’d be useless in any sport. But embrace

fixed weights and you can supercharge

your workout. After all, machines are built

to make life easier, so why not let them?

Gym bros who camp out in the free weights area might scorn, but machines can help you hit your body goals, injury-free

ALL HAIL TO THE MACHINES

You can push yourself hard and crank through fatigue without fear of your form derailing

If you think that toying with weight

machines is the gym equivalent of a

grown man driving a car with L-plates,

you’re misinformed, champ. There is

more than one reason why those bolted-

down machines in your gym are a fixture in

the workout regimes of professional

bodybuilders and Olympic champions.

Misguided gym snobbery

could be denying you

access to powerful tools

that can help you build

cyborg strength and a set

of alloy abs to go with it.

Even before you

consider the unique

muscle-building

capacities of machines,

think about another

valuable commodity:

time. While the New Year

fitness hordes clang

metal in the weights room, machines often

stand by, unused. From now on, consider

them your private workout facilities. Instead

of wrestling with bars and plates, machines

allow you to switch loads with the simple

tweak of a lever, so you can power through

workouts. You don’t need to wait around

for a spotter and you’ll never waste time

searching for the missing 16kg dumbbell.

In physiological terms, machines are

excellent for forging Man of Steel strength

and size. You will always move

more weight on a leg press machine

than you can squat with a barbell.

That’s because free weights require

your muscles to multitask. But on

a machine, those extra

challenges – coordination, proprioception

– are removed. Working along a fixed plane,

you can push your muscles harder and crank

through fatigue without fear of your form

derailing. For that reason, machines are

a great way to overload your muscles with

those short sets of maximal effort that will

trigger the hypertrophy you crave 1 .

SATAN’S LITTLE HELPER Duncan French

is a strength

and conditioning

coach at the

English Institute

of Sport

1 PRESS HEREBench machines up

your three-rep max

by 8% against free

weights, says The

Journal of Strength

and Conditioning.

2 IRON GIANTThe barbell squat

may be the king of

legs moves, but

studies say machine

leg presses similarly

raise testosterone.

SLOW DOWNFixed is safest for

eccentric training

(3 x 8 reps at 60%

1RM, lowering for

10sec) and is shown

to speed growth.

THE DEVIL’S DETAILS>3

A16GROW

FASTER

THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE


15FIXED

RESULTS

46 MEN’S HEALTH

FAT30g

PROTEIN64g

CALORIES892

109gCARBS

MUSCLE KNEADSTOP UP ON PROTEIN FOR A DINNER TO GROW

A slice of pie doesn’t have

to be boxed in to cheat day;

at least, not if you banish

Signor Domino from your

contacts. With a few tweaks

pizza can become your

perfect post-weights room

muscle meal. This pan-

cooked version packs a

protein triple-threat, with

chicken, mozzarella and

eggs providing 64g of the

stuff in a serving. The oats

in the dough base steadily

replenish glycogen levels

in your muscles, while the

manganese stuffed crust

will ensure your frame

can hold all that new, lean

mass – the mineral is key

for bone health. And the

spinach isn’t there just to

look pretty; Rutgers Uni

showed it speeds up the

conversion of protein into

muscle. This is your

regular, blow-out Meat

Feast, minus the guilt

and the shirt stains.

SERVES TWO• Coconut oil

• Eggs, 4 whites,

1 whole

• Gluten-free

oats, 120g

• Coconut flour,

1tbsp

• Tomato puree,

20g

• Red onion, ½

1/ BLENDS WITH BENEFITS Heat some coconut oil in a non-

stick pan. Meanwhile, chuck your

egg whites, oats and coconut

flour in a blender to create a

smooth batter. Multitask like

a pro and fry an egg on the side.

2/ ADD A WARM LAYER Pour the mixture into the pan

and spread it out evenly. By now

the pan should be hellishly hot,

but you don’t want to carbonise

your base, so turn down the heat

once the batter has gone in.

3/ TOP UP THE GAINS When bubbles start forming on

the base, flip it and check it’s

cooked evenly on both sides.

Take it of the heat and add the

tomato puree, cheese, chicken,

red onion, spinach and your egg.

4/ INTO THE INFERNO Fire up the grill, then slide the lot

in, pan and all, to finish it of and

melt the cheese. A few minutes

should be all it takes to perfect

a pizza that’ll add inches to your

chest, not your waist.

WHEELS OF FORTUNEPizza might seem an unlikely ally whether you’re looking to slim down or pack on size, but if you’re willing to deviate from the Neapolitan formula, you have the base for some serious gains

BU

LK

UP

BULK UP,SLIM DOWN PIZZA

>

BULK-UP EXTRAS• Mozzarella,

50g

• Chicken

(cooked), 50g

• Spinach,

handful

MENSHEALTH.CO.UK

METHOD SERVES TWO

MEN’S HEALTH 47

A17EXTRA LARGE

MUSCLE

18SLICE AWAY

KILOS

CALORIES473

PROTEIN28g

FAT10g

69gCARBS

METHOD SERVES TWO

4/ TOAST YOUR EFFORTS Flick your oven to the grill

setting and then put your freshly

topped work of art on the high

shelf for a few minutes. When the

veg has softened and the cheese

has started to melt, you’re all set.

3/ MAKE LIKE PICASSO Next, take the base out of the

oven and add your toppings.

Slather on the tomato puree,

then artfully sprinkle on your

vegetables and cheese as per

the healthful masterpiece above.

2/ LAY AN ACE OF BASE Place the mix in a non-stick tray

and spread out to form the base.

Slide the tray into the oven at

high heat and bake until the

crust is nicely browned – about

10 minutes. Keep an eye on it.

1/ THE FAT-KILLER COMBO Peel, chop and boil a large sweet

potato until cooked – around

10 minutes should do it. Blend it

on full power along with one egg,

the whites of two more eggs, the

flour, tomatoes and basil.

SERVES TWO • Eggs, 1 whole,

2 whites

• Buckwheat

flour, 30g

• Sundried

tomatoes, 7

• Basil, 1tsp

• Tomato puree,

20g

• Mushrooms,

3 sliced

• Red pepper,

⅔, sliced

DELIVERED FROM EVILPAN EXCESS FAT TO TRIM A DOUGHY MIDDLE

True, this leaner, greener

pizza couldn’t be further

from anything to have

graced the gloved hands of

a Papa John’s delivery boy.

Hell, it might just make an

Italian cry. But trust us, it

hits the spot without making

a home for itself there.

Broccoli helps fill you up

without filling you out, being

rich in phytochemicals that

keep obesity at bay. And

if you chow down after

a workout, the beta-carotene

in the sweet potato will have

you back in training faster

– Osaka Gakuin Uni found

that it aided recovery after

intense exercise. Replacing

mozzarella with cashew

cheese brings its own

benefits, too: a report in the

American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition found men who

swapped other foods for nuts

lost half an inch from their

waist. It’s pizza, but just the

thinner end of the wedge.

THE TASTEMAKER

Name: Anna Sward

Job: Chef and author

Sward is a food writer and founder of

proteinpow.com. Find her fare, tailored

for elite athletes, in her book, The

Ultimate Protein Pow(d)er Cookbook

SLIM D

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SLIM-DOWN EXTRAS• A sweet potato

• Broccoli, 3

florets

• Cashew

cheese, 30g

MENSHEALTH.CO.UK


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22NEVER BEAN

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21CHAMPIGNON

OF HEALTH

Personalised nutrition is the latest buzzphrase doing the

fitness hipster rounds, thanks to a recent Israeli study that revealed how different people can have different – even opposite – reactions to the same healthy foods. It was an interesting, if inconclusive piece of work, that led to some credulous types being convinced that we’ve all been eating incorrectly and should enlist personal dietitians to dictate our eating plans.

Relax. As Flavor Flav well knew, the hype is not to be believed. Researchers reckon

the key to these differences lies in the health of our gut microbiome – the bacteria ecosystem that helps us break down foods and absorb vital nutrients. When your microbiome is in balance, healthy fare does its job; if the inside of your digestive system looks more like a scene from The Hangover, not so much. Fortunately, popping probiotics is proven to regulate gut bacteria, and a UCLA study found that regular supplementation can even stave off depression and anxiety. So stop worrying, save your money and trust your gut.

GO WITH YOUR GUT FEELINGS Bespoke health treatments tend to be big on bluster, less so on the hard facts. For optimum nutrition, it pays to go pro

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DIY DRUGS

SHROOMS FOR IMPROVEMENT

THE PROS OF THIS DIET OUTWEIGH THE CONS

If you’re looking for a natural

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during the last leg of cold

season, Lithuanian scientists

say that eating mushrooms

is worth the trip. The study,

published in Medicina

journal, revealed that

biologically active molecules

in mushrooms, called

beta-glucans, can strengthen

your immune system

by enhancing the

efectiveness

both of white

blood cells and

also ‘natural

killer cells’ –

your immune

system’s tactical

front line. What’s

more, loading up on shrooms

can help you pop a cap in

cancer stats; the same study

found beta-glucans help to

protect against carcinogens

and put the brakes on tumour

growth and metastasis. Give

disease what spore.

L ACIDOPHILUSEssential to human

health, lactobacillus

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digestion and aids

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L RHAMNOSUS GGThis potent strain is

a powerful immune-

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L HELVETICUSThe starter culture

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increase both sleep

quality and duration.

B LACTISBifidobacterium lactis

helps the body absorb

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cancerous tumours.

NO STRAINS NO GAINSMake sure your probiotic packs these proven beneficial strains

Drink this many cups of coffee per day to reduce your risk of

both cardiovascular disease and diabetes

Harvard TH Chan School

19POP YOUR

BELLY

IT’S MURDER ON THE DANCEFLOORA man walks into a barre… and is forced to rethink his prejudices about ballet. Can dance and six-pack abs be good bedfellows? It’s hanging in the balance

TREND ON TRIAL BARRE CLASSES O

ne doesn’t have to look too far

back to a time when yoga was

practised almost exclusively by

hairy women, hippies and Sting.

Then it had a swish makeover, athletes

like Ryan Giggs started swearing by its

powers and suddenly gym bros were

down with the dog. But while we may

have overcome those stereotypical

hurdles, the bar has been raised once

more – and this one’s a real stretch.

With its meshing of Pilates, yoga and,

yes, a ballet barre, the clientele of barre

classes is predictably about 90% female.

And yet its promise of flexibility, balance

and core strength, along with the claim

it lengthens muscles (helping to ofset

those big lifts) suggests that men are

missing out, especially since sessions

are more likely to feature free weights

and resistance bands than frilly tutus.

The enlightened among us are

starting to catch on, however: the list

of exponents for this high-intensity,

low-impact exercise grows ever larger,

taking in NFL players, marathon runners,

swimmers and, um, Mick Jagger. Never

one to shirk a challenge, Men’s Health

sidled up to the barre to find out more.

50 MEN’S HEALTH

MH’S LAB RAT SAM ROWE

STATS 5FT 9IN, 78KG

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MODERATE

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COST £13 FOR EACH 45-MINUTE CLASS MOVEYOURFRAME.COM

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TOOLS BALLET BARRE, PILATES BALL, YOGA MAT, RESISTANCE BAND

TAGLINE IT’S NOT JUST FOR GIRLS

BARRE CLASSES

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DANCE DANCE EVOLUTIONPulse and plié your abs to centre stage with these quintessential barre moves

YOUR CL AS S PRIMER

ATTITUDE 12 each sideHold the bar with the ball

tucked behind your right

knee. Raise your leg so your

thigh is parallel with the floor.

Go on tiptoes on your left

foot; pulse your right leg.

PLIÉ 30 repsWith feet past shoulder width,

legs turned out and back

straight, squat so your knees

are bent at 90 degrees.

Come up onto the

balls of your feet.

SEATED PLIÉ 20 repsWith feet wide, hands on the

barre, squat into a deep plié,

keeping your heels of the

ground. Rise until your

thighs are parallel with the

floor, then lower again.

THE VERDICTYou will be ribbed, no doubt. There

will inevitably be those who think

that skipping squats for arabesques

is hilarious, if not ridiculous. More

fool them. If you can forget about

the Swan Lake connotations for just

a moment, what’s actually on ofer

here is a high-intensity, energy-

sapping, full-body workout. Yes,

you’ll learn to stand on tippy toes,

but you’ll also do planks, squats,

press-ups and maybe even some

new movements you can transfer

to the gym floor. Moreover, keep it

up and you’ll increase flexibility,

improve balance and test your core

in a way no Insanity video will get

near. To dismiss Barre because it’s

en pointe is to miss the point. I, for

one, will be going back for more.

The sheer range

of movements

– many of which

target muscles

untouched by

barbells – is

sure to deliver

wholesale gains

You may well be

the only man.

Whether this is

a plus or not is

your opinion.

Either way, we

politely suggest

you get over it

If you aren’t

blessed with the

poise and grace

of a ballerina,

expect to be bad

at barre. Practice

will, however,

make progress

TEST SECTIONDespite stepping into the studio of the

hip East London gym with an open mind,

I cannot help but be struck by the fact

that there are 17 women in the room

and just one, awkward-looking man: me.

But there’s little time to ponder my fate.

Of the 45-minute class duration, the first

10 are devoted to a comprehensive

warm-up activating all the muscles we’ll

work during the session. The resistance

band moves are manageable, while my

limited yet passable knowledge of yoga

lets me assume cobra poses without

eyeballing my instructor for help. Good

job – she’s in no mood to hang around.

As the barre takes centre stage for

a plié sequence – again using bands to

open our hips and engage our lats – it’s

here that my heart rate begins rising and

muscles burning. Needless to say, my

look is more pink elephant than Black

Swan. Next comes a gut punch of core

work with a Pilates ball, including pikes

(or jackknifes, for the less experienced),

plank variations and The Hundred, a

gruelling move similar to a static V-sit.

A chronic lack of balance makes even

a few reps of each exercise a tall order.

Rest time is scant and after a blur of

standing leg rotations (using the Pilates

ball), barre press-ups (resistance band)

and some final postures for the glutes,

lats and pecs, our instructor calls time.

While my seasoned co-trainers roll up

their mats and filter out smiling, I collapse

in a heap. Even so, as I try to relocate my

dignity, the endorphin rush is palpable.

I feel like I’ve just performed an encore.

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24NO FAME NO GAIN A

THE FANTASY FITNESS LEAGUEComplete with lasers and Dwayne Johnson, Hollywood training centre Unbreakable offers up next-level amenities worthy of a sci-fi film set

GYMUNBREAKABLE PERFORMANCE CENTER

LOCATIONHOLLYWOOD, LA, USA

WEBSITEUNBREAKABLEPERFORMANCE.COM

Usually, when a gym with a name like Unbreakable is located behind an unmarked entrance above

a gaudy taco joint, you’d expect it to be teeming with the lumbar belt- wearing ‘no pain, no gain’ set. But you won’t find anyone testing their one-rep max here. Stranger still, this may be the only LA gym without a single StairMaster or elliptical.

In a town where age is the enemy, Unbreakable focuses on longevity.

13UFC knockouts under

MMA coach Chuck

Liddell’s belt. You’re in

safe hands, so to speak

24Seconds into the intro

to HBO’s Ballers when

you’ll see Unbreakable’s

owner, Jay Glazer

£1373Monthly membership

cost. The gym’s strict

vetting process is on

par with Soho House

6 INUnbreakable’s $120,000

laser treatment targets

areas of inflammation

6in beneath the skin

No pain, just gains – and an arsenal of training apparatus with names like ReACT, Sproing and Surge 360, not to mention an inflammation- fighting laser with a six-figure pricetag. “We want you to have all the same amenities as pro athletes”, says owner Jay Glazer, whose MMA-infused training formula has attracted athletes and A-listers from The Rock to Australian rugby player Jarryd Hayne, who trained here before joining the San Francisco 49ers and rocking the NFL.

Of course, curling dumbbells with Diddy doesn’t come cheap: once you’re in you’ll be greeted with your first $2000 monthly payment. Best chase that experience with one of Pink Taco’s frozen margaritas.

THE BEST GYMS IN THE WORLDNO.3

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54 MEN’S HEALTH

THEAMAZING REBIRTHOF

FORGET THE FLOP THAT WAS GREEN LANTERN – DEADPOOL IS THE COMIC-BOOK MOVIE THAT WILL REMIND YOU ALL JUST HOW COOL RYAN REYNOLDS REALLY IS.

C O V E R M O D E L M U S C L E

R YA N R E Y N O L D S

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>

AS A NEW FATHER APPROACHING 40, BRINGING THE SUPER-ANTIHERO TO LIFE MEANT WORKING OVERTIME.

HERE HE EXPLAINS WHY BEING A DAD DOESN’T MEAN YOU HAVE TO WEAR THE BOD TO MATCH

REYNOLDS IS SHOULDERING THE WEIGHT OF A VERY DIFFERENT

MARVEL FRANCHISE

WORDS BY JAMIE MILLAR PHOTOGRAPHY BY TURE LLILGRAVEN

matinee idol looks and onto his natural

charisma and katana-sharp wit – traits

that his big-budget washouts have tended

to blunt. But equally, you might have

excused him if he saw the mask as a built-

in excuse to let a suitably buff stuntman

do all the work while Reynolds phoned in

a voiceover. No such dice.

“Honestly, when we were going into

shooting I was thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going

to get to see my baby daughter a little bit

more on this movie: I’m in a suit, there’s

some stunts,’” he admits. “But it became

much more time-consuming than

I imagined. So many of those moments

are character-based. And as much as

I would have loved to hand over to

a stunt guy 100% of the time in those

action sequences, we just couldn’t do it.

But that’s not to say that the stunt guys

didn’t work their asses off to make me

look like an absolute physical stallion.”

There’s an artfully filtered shot on

Reynolds’ Instagram (@vancityreynolds)

of Deadpool pirouetting over a car, twin

pistols in hand, with the caption: “Stuck

the landing. With my mouth.” He’s quick

to give credit to the stuntmen: “They’re

magicians; they defy gravity. One of them

is in Cirque du Soleil and can cross a

public park without touching the ground.”

POWER PLAYSpeaking to Reynolds’ trainer, it’s clear

that the actor is also being modest. “What

people don’t realise about Ryan is that

he’s an exceptional athlete, especially

for his height,” says Don Saladino

(donsaladino.com). “Once, he and I went

to do some gymnastics practice, and he’s

there throwing standing backflips at 6ft

2in. We have this line in our industry: ‘all

show and no go’. It means you look pretty,

“I love laughing at me,” says the

Vancouver-born actor. “There’s

nothing funnier.”

Hence why the teaser trailer for his

new superhero film Deadpool introduces

him in a mock-gravelly voice as “five-time

Academy Award viewer Ryan Reynolds”.

He came up with that line himself.

Or why the same teaser also includes

the line: “From the studio that

inexplicably sewed his fucking mouth

shut the first time…” That would be

a reference to Reynolds’ first appearance

as Deadpool, in 2009’s execrable X-Men

Origins: Wolverine. In a radical and

disastrous departure from the source

material, “the Merc with a Mouth”, one

of the coolest, most wisecracking

characters in comic books, was reduced to

a gimp without a gob – and dispatched by

Hugh Jackman at its denouement.

Undeterred, Reynolds has been

determined to do right by Deadpool ever

since. “I’ve been a fan of the character for

10 years, and we’ve been in varying stages

of development for the same amount of

time,” says the 39-year-old. “So to finally

be on set shooting was a real pinch-me

moment. We got to put the most authentic

Deadpool on screen, as if he was ripped

from the pages of the comic, totally in line

with the canon of the character.” Indeed,

despite Reynolds’ complicity in the literal

and metaphorical butchering of their cult

favourite, the fanboy reaction to footage

of this new film has been uniformly

nerdgasmic – not least because of that

self-referential humour.

“Sometimes you think of a joke that’s

very funny, but also very mean, and

I don’t really like to work in that space,”

says Reynolds, whose comic CV ranges

from Van Wilder to Family Guy. “So

I redirect it towards myself. I still get to

make the joke, but filtered through self-

deprecation. I love that, and Deadpool

gave us the opportunity to do that stuff.”

MENSHEALTH.CO.UK56 MEN’S HEALTH

STRONG SUITFor non-fanboys, Deadpool is a meta

antihero for our superhero-saturated

times, a breath of foul-mouthed, fourth

wall-breaking fresh air. For example,

when his alter-ego Wade Wilson, a cancer-

stricken former Special Forces soldier

turned gun-for-hire, is being wheeled in

for the operation that will save his life

and grant him powers – at the cost of

hideous facial scarring – he stipulates:

“Please don’t make the super-suit green.

Or animated.” Fanboys will know that’s

a swipe at the 2011 super-flop Green

Lantern, which starred Reynolds himself

in a green CGI one-piece. Interpreted

by many critics at the time as career

kryptonite, the film wasn’t however a total

bust: his love interest was Blake Lively,

now his wife and the mother of his one-

year-old daughter, James. (Reynolds was

previously married to fellow superhero

Scarlett “Black Widow” Johansson.)

The aforementioned facial deformity

– “like a testicle with teeth” to use

Reynolds’ words – is the reason that the

sword-wielding assassin wears a mask.

You might think that Deadpool will

refocus attentions away from Reynolds’

RYANREYNOLDSIS PRETTY FUNNY.

.

THE

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...AND CUT!From his wit to his abs and now a shiny new

set of swords, Reynolds has more sharp

edges than a Messermeister knife block. But

the Blade star wasn’t always R.I.P.D. We chart

his change on a scale of one to six-pack.

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VAN WILDER (2002)

BUYING THE COW (2002)

BLADE TRINITY (2004)

THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (2005)

THE PROPOSAL (2009)

GREEN LANTERN (2011)

DEADPOOL (2016)



REYNOLDS FOUND HIS FOOTHOLD IN FAME. NEXT UP: FATHERHOOD

DEADPOOL’SA RASCAL.WE WANTEDHIM TO BEMORE LITHETHAN YOURTYPICALSUPERHERO”

“


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3/ SUITCASE CARRY20-45 METRES The real-world application of this move

should be immediately apparent. Pick

up a heavy kettlebell and walk, keeping

your posture upright and core tight.

2/ OVERHEAD MED BALL SLAM3 SETS OF 10 REPSSlammer time. Grab a med ball and rise

onto your toes as you hoist the ball over

your head. Slam it down super hard,

catch it on the bounce, then continue.

1/ TUCK JUMP3 SETS OF 10 REPSFeet shoulder-width apart, slightly bend

your knees, then jump high, tucking the

knees into your chest. Land with knees

bent and go straight into the next jump.

SPEEDNow for what

Saladino calls

“jump, throw

and carry”.

While the types

of moves they

use are the same,

the precise

exercises vary

every session.

A

B

A B

1/ INCLINE BARBELL BENCH PRESS 5 SETS OF 5 REPSStart with a dynamic warm-up and some

foam rolling. Ready? With hands just

past shoulder width (and a spotter), lower

the bar to your chest, then drive it up.

STRENGTHEach session

hinges around

a big lift: bench,

squat, deadlift

or press – high

load, low reps.

At four-week

intervals, drop

the reps and up

your weights.

A

B

3/ LOW TO HIGH CABLE3 SETS OF 15 REPSSet the pulleys to low. Hold the handles

and step into a staggered stance. Pull

them up until they’re at chest level, then

lower. Have a well-earned chimichanga.*

2/ PRESS-UP 4 SETS OF 12 REPSPlace your hands just beyond shoulder

width and lower to just above the floor,

keeping your back flat. Now push up,

squeezing your chest. Pause; repeat.

1/ ALTERNATING DB PRESS 4 SETS OF 10 REPSWith the dumbbells either side of your

chest, press them up to full extension.

Lower one side until you feel the stretch;

pause, then return. Swap arms; repeat.

SIZEThe last part

focuses on what

Saladino calls

“getting blood

into the muscle”:

a bodybuilder-

style high rep

range, with

short rests of

30-40 seconds.

A B A

B A

B

POOL YOUR RESOURCESDON SALADINO DEVISED AN ADAPTABLE TRIPLE-THREAT PROGRAMME FOR REYNOLDS THAT EMPHASISED SPEED, STRENGTH AND, YES, CONSIDERABLE SIZE

*A FORM OF DEEP-FRIED BURRITO TO WHICH DEADPOOL IS PARTICULARLY PARTIAL, AND AN UNOFFICIAL CATCHPHRASE (HE JUST REALLY LIKES SAYING THE WORD).CUT

OUT

AND

KEEP

EVEN A LITHE SUPERHERO NEEDS TO FILL OUT HIS SUIT

’


but you can’t move. Ryan can move.”

“We didn’t want that hulking superhero

body for Deadpool,” explains Reynolds.

“Deadpool’s a rascal. We wanted him to

be more lithe than your typical superhero

guy.” While Ryan might not have done

all his own stunts, he did do all his own

muscles. “Some of the early prototype

suits had them built-in,” he says. “We all

sat around and said, ‘That’s just not going

to work – it needs to be me under that

suit.’ So we pulled everything out.”

The work required to deliver this

labour of love to the screen was made

harder by the arrival of a baby. “I was sleep

deprived,” he says. “But you can’t use that

as an excuse. I trained for about seven

months, and I took breaks – when James

was being born I wasn’t running out to

a gym or anything like that.”

Bro, you didn’t even lift? “I know, right?

I call myself an actor,” he shoots back.

“But after she was born I would find

myself training on two hours’ sleep. That

probably wasn’t the best idea. But for me

it was a psychological thing, like I just

needed to get it done: ‘If I don’t do it today,

then I probably won’t do it tomorrow.’”

MORTAL TOILSStill just the right side of 40, Reynolds

is constantly learning new tricks. “I’ve

approached it completely differently

each time,” he says, “simply because I’m

not 22 anymore.” Sticking landings with

your mouth becomes distinctly less funny

with age, of course, and unlike Deadpool,

Reynolds doesn’t possess a superhuman

healing factor nicked from Wolverine.

“When I jump off a building and hit

cement, it’s not hilarious anymore: it

fuckin’ hurts,” he says. “So I’m dealing

with a ton of nagging injuries. Over

15 years of intermittent action movies,

you get your ass kicked.” This is typical

understatement: after an on-screen dust-

up with Denzel Washington in 2012’s Safe

House, it transpired that one persistent

ache was, in fact, two cracked vertebrae.

“I’ve broken my neck; I’ve separated both

my shoulders; I’ve got a wrecked disc in

my back,” says Reynolds. “You end up

with this long laundry list that nobody

wants to hear about.”

Knowing yet more excuses wouldn’t

wash, he went at Deadpool with gusto.

“I’ve trained Ryan for a lot of films,” says

Saladino, “and I think he looked his best

for this film. He shouldn’t have done – he

and his wife had just had a baby – but

he did.” Not that Saladino was the one

cracking the whip; Reynolds often

trained alone. “Don gave me a plan so I

could train whenever I needed to,” says

Reynolds. “It made things manageable.

And if I wanted to spend more time with

my daughter in the morning, I could.”

Having Mr Jackman on speed-dial

didn’t hurt either – “He loves sharing tips,

he could be a world-class trainer” – but

Saladino never had any worries about

Reynolds. “He’s such a hard worker,” he

says. “One day he came to see me after

having trained alone and I was like, ‘Holy

shit!’ He looked like a different person.”

KEEPING IT REALMachine he may be, but there is a human

edge to Reynolds not often visible in

Hollywood stars. Maybe it’s the Canadian

in him, but the puritanical LA wellness

culture remains foreign: “I’m on a full-

gluten diet right now,” he jokes. While he

obeys the nutritional commandments

of protein, slow-burn carbs and healthy

fats, he also has cheat days: “Six days

a week you have to be religious. But one

day a week you eat whatever you want.”

(Either that or go trick-or-treating in

your Deadpool costume with a group of

kindergarten-age X-Men – try YouTubing

the expletive-filled video. “I said, ‘I waited

10 years to do this movie. I’m leaving with

a fuckin’ suit.’”) Ultimately he tries to be

“somewhat healthy” without becoming

a Californian breadbasket refusenik.

It helps that Reynolds lives in upstate

New York, which is surrounded by dense

woodland. Despite running the New York

City Marathon in 2008, he’s no cardio

junkie (“For me, sustained running is

tough, mechanically speaking”). But his

surroundings make getting his

aerobic fix easy. “I love being

outdoors,” he says. “There

are forests all around and

I get to hike, mountain

bike... I even bring

the baby. It’s a great

workout because

you’re adding to

your bodyweight.”

That’s one way

to beat a dad bod. But

what other advice has

he for new dads? “Oh boy,”

he exhales. “It’s almost meta

to say this but: watch the advice.

People are going to fire it at you.

But becoming a parent is an

experience that’s unique to each

individual. As frightened as you are, you

just figure it out.” Reynolds, it seems,

at last has it all worked out.



THE FOURTH ABDOMINALRENOWNED FOR HIS CUT MIDSECTION SINCE BLADE: TRINITY, HERE’S HOW YOU CAN CARVE REYNOLDS’ ABS

1/ HANGING LEG RAISE

4 SETS OF 15 REPSHang with legs straight, hands slightly

wider than shoulder width. Pull your

pelvis back and use your abs to raise

your legs as high as you can, then lower.

A B

2/ CABLE CRUNCH4 SETS OF 12 REPSAttach the rope to the pulley and kneel

down facing it, handles just above your

head. Crunch your head to your thighs,

hands behind your head, then return.

A

B

3/ LANDMINE4 SETS OF 10 REPSSecure one end of a barbell in a landmine

holder. Load up the other then hold it with

both hands. Twist your torso as you lower

the bar to waist level, then reverse. Boom.

YOU’RE NOT SUPERMAN, YOU KNOWTo get long-

term gains,

consistency

trumps intensity.

“Ryan’s in there

day in, day out,”

says Saladino.

“People think it’s

all about that

‘push till you

puke’ mentality.

That’s bullshit.”

Instead, listen to

your body. “If

you’re exhausted,

and your nervous

system is telling

you to back of,

trying to crush

a workout can

screw you up for

days,” he says.

“Just do the best

you can that day

and don’t overdo

it. Your body will

respond better,

and tomorrow

you’ll probably be

even stronger. A

lack of pressure

really helps you

develop. Stress is

such a killer on

the physique.”

REYNOLDS REFUSED TO LET STRESS SLOW

HIS PROGRESS

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Does the body rule the mind,” sung Morrissey, plaintively, “or does the mind rule the body?

I dunno.” Well, neither have many experts until now. The connections between the two have tended toward the woolly: running makes you happy, for instance, or yoga curbs stress. However, new research in the Journal of Obesity delves further.

The study specifically links high-intensity interval training to the hypothalamus, the part of your brain responsible for appetite regulation, cravings and

15SECS TO TRAINYOUR BRAIN ANDBOOST WILLPOWER

addictions. So, finishing a gym session with 15-second sprints on a bike, followed by one really easy minute, repeated 10 times, is enough to lower levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin. In other words, it’s practically telling your brain to choose a healthy post-workout meal as opposed to junk.

Tricking your brain like this has benefits beyond the waistline. A short burst of HIIT before a night on the tiles won’t just pump up your disco muscles, it can help you stub out that ‘social’ cigarette. And with all that extra willpower on tap, you might not need a Resolve the morning after, either.

BULK UP YOUR PAY PACKET

Pick the perfect exercise to galvanise your

grey matter and earn yourself a promotion

LIFT YOUR WORKLOAD

Weightlifting perks up your

prefrontal cortex, improving

your ability to multitask. That

to-do list is looking leaner.

JOG YOUR MEMORYRegular aerobic exercise

increases the volume of your

hippocampus – the part in

charge of memory – by 2%*.

POWERPOINT POWER PLAY

Go to 5-a-side the evening

before a presentation. Sports

drills stimulate the basal

ganglia, to conquer nerves.

GO HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH CRAVINGS AND OUTPACE IMPULSE

TIMEWORDS BY TED LANE / PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOBE LAWRENSON

“

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BRINGING THE GYM TO YOU

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AB WHEEL £24.99With hand and foot straps,

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It assists with stretches

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Congratulations! 2016 is the year you’ve finally made morning workouts stick. You’re shifting weight from

your waistline and making your gym membership pay. Well, you are, aren’t you? Assuming so, now it’s time for bigger investments.

What you choose to eat after you train has ramifications for more than just your belt notches. In fact, the right post-gym nutrition plan can be a health pension contribution in its own right.

One glass of soya milk a day decreases your prostate cancer risk by 30%, say Loma Linda Uni epidemiologists, owing to its richness in isoflavones, a cancer-combatting compound in soy. The curious thing, however, is that this more than doubles to 70% if you up your dose to two glasses.

But there’s no need to chug pints of the stuf: whip up our protein-packed pancakes to build muscle and help stop a killer in its tracks. At breakfast, as in life, we have your ass covered.

03MINUTES TO FLIPTHE FINGER ATPROSTATE CANCER


There’s no need to pull on

your chef’s whites when

you’re wiped out post-

workout. Simply blend the

ingredients to form a thick

batter – enough for eight

pancakes. Now ladle it into

your frying pan and drop

on the berries. Flip after two

minutes and remove when

golden brown. Drown in

maple syrup and devour.

• Soya milk, 2 cups

• Egg whites, 4

• Vanilla protein powder,

8 scoops

• Oats, 8tbsp

• Blueberries, handful

STACK UP THE YEARSTuck into some

longevity with

the breakfast of champions

PANCAKES MADE MEDICINAL? MILK IT FOR ALL ITS WORTH

TIME

30MINUTES TO BURN48% MORE FAT ONTHE TREADMILL

Running – or ‘jogging’ as it was rather quaintly known in the ’80s – tends to be dimly regarded among

the fitness fraternity. Its criticisms range from the specious to the snobbish: it erodes hard-earned muscle; steady-state cardio doesn’t burn fat; running is what newbies and sweat-panted old people do; and so on.

New research published in the European Journal of Endocrinology, however, could just help change

TIME

NEW ON THE SYLLABUS: WATER BURNS FAT

these perceptions. While you might think 30 minutes on the treadmill is not enough to warrant a hydration bottle, it turns out that making a conscious efort to drink half a litre of water over half an hour’s running increases your production of growth hormone by 48% compared with a dry run. Now, you see, we’re talking.

Growth hormone is, of course, a key factor in building muscle, but it’s also a potent fat-burner, meaning a leisurely albeit well-lubricated stint on the treadmill is a useful weapon in your battle against the bulge. So for New Year, New Youers who’d rather ease themselves into a new exercise regime, may we suggest drinking on the job? It will ramp up your weightloss potential.


RUN FOR REWARDSHere are three more research-

backed reasons to don your

running kicks in 2016. Guess

the weights will have to wait...

PROJECT RUNWAY

McMaster

University

found two

30-minute cardio sessions

a week can reduce wrinkles

and take 40 years of your

skin. Another reason why

male models are so lean.

SAYONARA, SAD

Pounding the

pavements can

lower your risk

of depression by 19%, reports

JAMA Psychiatry. It’s enough

of a boost to give Seasonal

Afective Disorder, caused by

winter gloom, the runaround.

RUNNER’S DELIGHT

A Brooks survey

found regularly

running six miles with your

partner sets a PB for passion,

upping the number of times

you have sex per week. A far

more enjoyable form of cardio.

NIKE

FRE

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WHAT YOU GETNot only do you get the satisfaction of knowing

you conquered more than 100 obstacles over a 10K

course, but you also get a technical T-shirt, a

finisher’s medal and a goody bag teaming with stuf.

This year’s bag included products from:

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Popchips

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Urban Fruit

Blockhead Energy Gum

Bounce Energy Balls

Sun-Maid raisins

Bulldog Skincare

Trek protein bars

Mars and Snickers

protein drinks

New Balance socks

ORS Hydration Tablets

Yushoi snapea

rice sticks

Men’s Health Lab

Energy Release

Jack Black skincare

Graze box

Pro Performance

Diet Whey

03DAYS TO INCREASEYOUR STRENGTH WITH LESS EFFORT

If you’ve recently gone from months spent surfing the sofa into a feverish training plan, the strain on your nervous

system can cause your fitness goals to cough and splutter to a halt. That’s why good intentions too often morph into broken dreams come February.

To get your form back without breaking your back, you need to train smart – which is to say less. While bros like to venerate masochism on the weights floor, it’s a relief to learn that new research shows less really is more. A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that doing workouts mixing strength moves (bench press, squats) with power moves (medicine ball slams, box jumps), three times a week, increases your body strength by an average of 23% compared to a standard session done twice as often. That means rest days in the bank.

So, armed with a new workout plan and our duvet day tips, right, you won’t have to live (and die) at the squat rack to see results.

TIME

HANG UP YOUR GYM KIT TO GET A GRIP ON YOUR GOALS


AS THEY SAY, THE REST IS VICTORY

Strength and fitness coach

Brett Durney helps you get

the most from your day of

MAKE MEMORIESMemory sets

provide active

recovery and

DOMS relief. Do 100 reps,

in sets of 20, of your lifting

exercise. For your squats, do

bodyweight reps at home.

CARB LOADTake rest

day nutrition

seriously. Load

your plate with carbs – think

sweet potato, not pizza – to

restock glycogen supplies

and energise your muscles.

BED DOWN

Top up with

a magnesium

pill before bed.

Famed for its sleep benefits,

recent studies show it also

aids protein synthesis to

help you wake up stronger.

It may not elicit much sympathy from the women in your life, but being seasoned experts in the

male constitution, we know full well just how torturous man-flu can be. We also happen to know that there is a far more efective way of dealing with an attack than overdosing on zinc, vitamin C and Day Nurse. It’s called yoga.

According to researchers from the University of Texas, just four days of downward dogging is enough to supercharge your immune system and safeguard against bugs and colds. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re an experienced yogi or still have trouble pronouncing “namaste”,

04DAYS TO FLUPROOFYOUR BODY AT ASIMPLE STRETCH

TIME

LAUGHTER REALLY IS THE BEST MEDICINE Three helpings of health-

boosting science that are

definitely not to be snifed at

THE LOVE DOCTOR Possibly the most

entertaining way

to boost cold-

fighting antibody immunoglobin

is to have more sex. It’s the best

excuse you’ll have this month.

Psychology Report

GROUP BENEFITS

Start sending out

your invitations

– studies link

strong social networks to even

stronger immune systems.

Cause for celebration, we say.

Carnegie Mellon University

LAUGHING MATTERS

Surf Netflix for

a good comedy.

Research revealed

having a good chuckle works

to cut cortisol and increase

antibodies that destroy viruses.

Loma Linda University

either. An hour of stretching each morning increases the number of lymphocytes in your blood by trebling gene expression – that’s the process of producing flu-fighting cells to you and us.

So rather than engage in petty competition with your better half over who is allowed to feel worse this winter, appeal to her good sense and suggest saluting the sun together. Yes, you may have the flexibility of a girder and the spirituality of a libertine, but to keep both illness and quarrels at bay, we think it’s a worthy bribe.

SALUTE THE SUN TO BEAT COLDS THIS WINTER


STILL PUMPING

IRONThe door to Doug’s Gym in the US is a portal to the past, where old iron and stale sweat frame American history. MH meets the octogenarian

owner refusing to let newfangled fads muscle inWORDS BY HARRY CLAY PHOTOGRAPHY BY FREDRIK BRODEN

01

DOUG’S GYM

THE GYM TIME FORGOT01\ A far cry from

the ever-evolving

gimickry of the

modern gym, Doug’s

ofers all you really

need: heavy metal

and a space to work

02\ The decor pays

homage to fitness

icons of eras past.

Best leave the Apple

Watch and Lycra

leggings at home

02

74 MEN’S HEALTH

duty-bound to uphold. “In the 1950s

everybody in the gym business had a

place like mine,” he says. “Then they got

swamped. The owners simply couldn’t

take the time to show all the people the

free weight exercises. As a result it was

much easier to get them using machines.

The machine was invented to get more

people in the gym with a minimum

amount of obstruction. If the volume had

never come to this business you would

have never seen a machine. That’s all it

was – mass production for mass profit.”

FIFTY YEARS OF SWEATDoug’s Gym may have a rich history,

but it certainly doesn’t look like it’s

had any experience of mass profit.

At first sight you might say the gym

is dilapidated, dingy even, though its

dedicated members choose to see things

slightly differently. “Everything just

feels like it’s been appreciated,” says

Derik Scott, 28, a lawyer and Dallas

local who’s been going to Doug’s for the

past three years. And it’s not so much

despite its anachronisms as because of

them that this gym is so venerated. In

2012, the gym’s 50th anniversary, Doug

was awarded an honorary plaque for

These days, Doug’s Gym is a unique

relic, a beautiful snapshot of a simpler,

tougher time. A time before creatine

supplements and green juices and calorie-

tracking apps and HIIT workouts. A time

when working out was a niche activity,

a specialist pursuit.

The paint may be peeling off the

walls and the floor etched by iron plates

and bars, but it is still a place for doing

business. Dumbbells range from 10-100lb

(if you like your units metric, you’re in

the wrong place). There are fixed barbells

that stand on end against the wall, squat

racks, medicine balls, cables, benches,

and chinning bars. Machines are few and

far between. Don’t even bother looking

for a treadmill – cardio here means hitting

a heavy bag, or simply jogging laps

around the gym floor.

The lack of modern accoutrements

may sound uninviting to the Fitness First

newbie, but it’s a standard Doug feels

ix days a week, Doug Eidd will arrive at

2010½ Commerce Street in Dallas, Texas,

shortly before 11am. He’ll jog up a creaky

flight of stairs and unlock the door to his

gym, revealing 5000 square feet of fitness

history that may be the most durable

monument to physical exercise still

extant outside of a museum.

He’ll be greeted, as he has been for

the past six decades, by a familiar array

of well-loved apparatus, including the

incline bench press station, which offers

little more than a plank to lean your back

against, and a vibrating belt machine of

the kind that gained fame jiggling Lucille

Ball’s backside in her ’50s sitcom. Letting

the door hang open behind him, Doug

will sit at his desk and smoke his pipe and

watch his members train, just as he has

nearly every day since he first entered the

room in 1962. He is 85 years old.

If you’d not heard about Doug’s Gym,

you wouldn’t think much of it from street

level. A faded sign hangs high above the

pavement, perched uncomfortably over

a 7-Eleven convenience store. Below it,

the light bulb arrow hangs lifeless and

limp, welcoming members and visitors.

Most of the lamps blew years ago. They’re

unlikely to be replaced any time soon.

03

04

GODFATHER OF GAINS03 Doug still runs

his gym from the

ofice he’s occupied

since the ’60s. Few

other members like

to smoke a pipe

04\ Members range

in age from teens to

guys who’ve been

working out here for

more than 40 years

05\ Doug’s fitness

ethos is eficiency

through simplicity.

Music and machines

are just distractions;

it’s all about efort

05

STILL PUMPING IRON

76 MEN’S HEALTH

STILL PUMPING IRON

his “tireless dedication to serving the

fitness community”. The gym’s historical

significance can’t be underestimated; it

even predates the more famous Gold’s

Gym in Venice, California, which opened

three years later in 1965. As a young man

in the late ’50s, Doug bounced around

Texas trying to earn a living as a personal

trainer. It wasn’t easy. Back then the idea

of working out was still a nascent force.

Then he met a man from Dallas who had

just opened a gym on Commerce Street.

“He told me he didn’t think it was going

to work,” recalls Doug, his slightly frail

southern drawl the only telltale of his

advancing years. “He said come on up and

take a look at it and we’ll let you in on it

real cheap.” Doug promptly made a down

payment of $1000 and in September 1962

National Health Studios on Commerce

Street, Dallas became his. A year or two

later he changed the name to Doug’s Gym,

marking the last of any major renovations

that the business would undergo in more

than half a century.

OLD-SCHOOL ATTITUDE Visit Doug’s between 11am and 8pm,

Monday to Saturday, and for a $10 day

fee you – anyone – can train there. But be

warned, the equipment might take some

getting used to. “I don’t think I’ve ever

been to another gym that has cambered

bars,” says Scott, referring to barbells that

Doug’s Gym

HALLOWED GROUNDS06\ The walls may

be peeling and the

set-up sparse, but

Doug’s has played

host to pro-athletes

and celebrities

07\ Some moves

need no upgrades:

static chair holds

are as efective now

as 50 years ago

08\ The medicine

ball was a staple of

functional training

long before UFC

stars championed it

09\ Doug’s antique

equipment gets a lot

of outside interest

– this vibrating belt

predates modern

power plates

have a curve in the center, allowing for

a deeper range of motion on exercises

such as a bench press. “And the pulley

machines don’t have cables; they have

chains, like a motorbike,” says Jake

Morgan, a model and personal trainer.

“For the lat pull-down, there’s no seat.

You just have to sit on the floor.”

For those used to the polished

comfort of standardised gym

machines and high-tech workout

aids, such drudgery might be beyond

the pale. But to its legions of fans,

it’s precisely this stripped-back, no-

nonsense approach that gives Doug’s its

charm. There are no speakers blaring out

treadmill techno and charmless EDM.

Just the clang of steel on steel and the

grunts of (mostly) men lifting it.

“At Doug’s there’s none of that

mainstream fitness hoopla,” says

Morgan. “In recent years there’s been

06

07

08

09

STILL PUMPING IRON

THE BEAT GOES ON10\ Calisthenics

collaboratives and

#LadiesWhoLift:

Doug has watched

50 years of fitness

trends come, go and

come back again

11\ Large fans work

in place of aircon.

Expect to break a

serious sweat in the

hot summer months

12\ The treadmill is

dead. Shadow boxing

and bag work are

the closest you’ll get

to cardio at Doug’s

10


a shift towards people wanting a classic

physique – the kind you see in the old

pictures of bodybuilders on Doug’s walls

– and you realise that all these guys ever

had was the kind of equipment you see

here. You don’t need an elliptical machine

or a juice bar. You just need hard work.”

UNFILTERED FITNESSTraining done, you’re welcome to chat to

Doug himself. You’ll probably find him

manning the gym’s only telephone (if he

isn’t, it doesn’t get answered) or perhaps

by the fire escape behind the gym,

catching some sun. Failing that, he’ll

be on the gym floor itself. He may be

85 but he still trains four days per week,

30 minutes at a time. The weights are

lighter than they used to be, he says

wistfully, before boasting that he’s never

fallen ill as a result.

Doug will gladly tell you about how

his members heard the commotion

when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald

across the road in November of 1963. Or

he’ll regale you with anecdotes about

the countless times celebrities caught

a workout here, including personal

favourites such as the actor Chuck Norris

or the pro wrestler Rocky Johnson –

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s father.

How much longer any of this will

remain the case, however, is moot.

Doug is under no illusions that time will

eventually run out for both him and his

gym. He expects that when he gets too

old to run it, he’ll simply close up shop.

At this point in time, the gym doesn’t

make much money, but the overheads

are low. He has no potential successors in

mind, but, “everybody already wants to

buy the equipment,” he says. “You can’t

find it no more.”

The glory of Doug’s Gym may be faded,

but in an age of cross-trainers and power

plates, online PTs and celebrity workout

DVDs, it stands defiantly, refreshingly,

as a symbol of fitness at its purest.

“Sometimes when I sit here alone after

everybody is gone I get goose pimples

thinking, ‘How the hell did I do this?’” he

muses quietly. “I’m astonished myself.”

11

12

GUTT

ER C

REDI

T

TheBigProtein Cook Book


It builds muscle. It burns fat. And now, it seems, we can’t get enough. From supermarket aisles to bespoke nutrition deliveries, protein has never been so popular. But to feel the full benefit, you need the right amount. Are you getting your fill? MH ran the macros then enlisted 12 top chefs to create your ultimate muscle-kitchen bible WORDS BY EDWIN SMITH - PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN MATTHEWS

MEN’S HEALTH 81

P

MACRO

ECONOMICS

12 RECIPES

35% PROTEIN

STRONGER YOU

YOUR PROTEIN FIX, NOW OVER-EASY

MENSHEALTH.CO.UK

rotein is everywhere. This much is axiomatic. What’s unusual, however, is precisely where. It’s not just hanging from the butcher’s hook or filling the chilled aisle. Protein is now emblazoned across cereal boxes, ice cream tubs and snack bars. Food marketeers have cottoned on to the fact that protein is now seen as an elixir, the ‘healthy’ solution to our needs, be they weightloss, muscle gain or general wellbeing.

This is good, up to a point. It is good that we’re finally seeing a collective shift

away from refined carbs toward protein and fats. But it is

unquestionably bad if some hapless shopper

thinks fortified Frosties are the

key to a trim physique.

The solution lies not in labels but in numbers. Gym wisdom has for some time held

that the magic number is 30 – as

in, 30g of protein being the optimum

amount the body can process at any one time.

This is nonsense, says Caspar Rose, COO of Fresh Fitness Foods,

a macros-minded nutrition service. “It’s bad science: your body can absorb far more, processing it from your gut into amino acids in your bloodstream.”Forget grams, says Rose, it’s far better to think in terms of percentages: “For lean growth, the number you should have in mind is 35%.” In other words, from breakfast to dinner, you should aim for 35% of the calories going down your gullet to come from protein.

If the prospect of a day’s eating gives you maths lesson flashbacks, fear not. We’ve crunched the numbers for you and, with the help of men who know their way around a kitchen, concocted 12 meals – each 35% protein, each 100% delicious. And perhaps even more surprising, there’s only one chicken breast in sight.


01 Bone Up On Meat-Free Muscle

02 Add Punch To Your Patties

Edamame Tofu Puree & Pickled ShiitakeBy Miles Kirby,

Caravan

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• EDAMAME BEANS, 200G

• SILKEN TOFU, 350G

• SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS, 200G

• SOY SAUCE, 4TBSP

• MIRIN, 4TBSP

• SAKE, 4TBSP

• TOASTED SESAME SEEDS, 2TSP

• CORIANDER LEAVES,

ROUGHLY CHOPPED

Turkey & Quinoa BurgerBy Stephanie

Johnson, The

Recovery Café at

Transition Zone

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• TURKEY MINCE, 250G

• COOKED QUINOA, 250G

• DILL, PARSLEY AND MINT

• LEMON, JUICE AND ZEST, ½

• GARLIC CLOVE, MINCED

• PAPRIKA, ½TSP

• HIMALAYAN SALT, ¼TSP

• SEEDED PITTA BREADS, 4

• HOUMOUS, 2TBSP

• SALAD & CORIANDER

1\ Use a food processor

to pulse the edamame

and tofu together until

they have the consistency

of a coarse puree. As well

as being a superb source of

vegan protein (there’s only

so much mammal a man can

eat, after all), both contain

high levels of isoflavones,

manganese and magnesium,

which all contribute to

adamantiumesque bones.

2\ In a small pan, fry the

sliced shrooms until they’re

soft and wet. Add the soy,

mirin and sake to the pan to

make a sauce, then remove it

from the heat and put to one

side until it cools.

3\ Spoon the edamame

puree into a pot or bowl,

scatter the mushrooms on

top and pour over the sauce.

Garnish the dish with the

toasted sesame seeds and the

coriander, and enjoy, bub.

1\ Mulled wine aside, the

real reason you experienced

such good cheer over

Christmas may have been your

dinner. Turkey is a top source

of tryptophan – an amino

acid with proven mood-lifting

powers. Place the mince in

a bowl with the other burger

ingredients, then roll your

sleeves up and mix with your

hands. Once combined, divide

into four small patties.

2\ Fry the patties, in a dash

of oil for six minutes on one

side, then five minutes on

the other, before serving in

a seeded pitta with tomato,

chopped cucumber, mixed

leaves and fresh coriander.

3\ This burger’s flavour

alone is enough to put

a smile on your face, but seal

the deal with an extra dollop of

tryptophan-rich houmous in

place of your usual (and likely

sugary) condiment.

MAGIC BEANS FOR GIANT GAINS

HAPPY MEALS WITH EXTRA VALUE

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

EDAMAME 11G

TOFU 12G

SHIITAKE 2G

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

QUINOA 8G

TURKEY 28G

PITTA 11G

MEN’S HEALTH 83

03 Go Wild For Performance

04 Raise Your Bar Snacks

Salmon With A Ragu Of Trompette De La MortBy John Watson, No

Man’s Grace

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• TROMPETTE DE LA MORT, 400G

(OR OTHER WILD MUSHROOM)

• COCONUT OIL, 30ML

• SHALLOTS, 2, FINELY SLICED

• GARLIC CLOVES, 4,

FINELY SLICED

• SKINLESS SALMON FILLETS, 2

• CHICKEN STOCK, 200ML

Lean Venison Scotch EggBy Dom Hamdy & Oli

Hiam, Scotchtails

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• EGGS, 6

• FLOUR

• THYME LEAVES, HANDFUL

• VENISON MINCE, 400G

• GRATED NUTMEG, ½TSP

• PANKO BREADCRUMBS

1\ Mushrooms regulate

blood sugar and support

cardio endurance, according

to University at Buffalo– ideal

if you’re hoping to go from

10K trudger to marathon man

this year. Wild varieties taste

awful unless you clean them

thoroughly, so scrub them

then trim the tough bottoms.

2\ Put a saucepan over a

medium heat, add half the oil

and a pinch of salt, then sweat

the shallots for five minutes.

Add the garlic for three more.

In a frying pan, sear the fillets

in the rest of the oil until

golden brown. Take it out of

the pan and leave to rest.

3\ Put the frying pan back

on a high heat. Add the

mushrooms and toss for two

minutes. Add the shallot mix,

the stock and stir, until the

stock has reduced. Serve, with

the salmon fillet on top. Take

your time – this isn’t a sprint.

1\ Boil four eggs in salt water

for exactly six minutes and

15 seconds before transferring

to a bowl of ice water. Leave

them for five minutes, then

dry, peel and dust with flour.

2\ In a bowl, mix the thyme

into the mince, season with

salt and pepper and shape into

four patties, before wrapping

them around the eggs. You

won’t miss pork – Purdue Uni

found that meats similar to

those eaten by Palaeolithic-

era man have a better ratio of

brain-boosting DHA-rich fats,

so venison makes for a smart

tweak to this pub grub staple.

3\ Put some flour and

nutmeg, two beaten eggs and

the breadcrumbs into three

bowls and coat the eggs in

each one (in that order). Then

double-dip in the eggs and

breadcrumbs before shallow

frying for 14 minutes. Serve

hot, with a helping of smug.

REEL IN A NEW PERSONAL BEST

ANOTHER WAY TO GET YOLKED

The Big Protein Cook Book

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

SALMON 40G

SHROOMS 3G

STOCK 2.5G

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

VENISON 22G

EGGS 10G

BREADCRUMBS 3G

FOOD

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: NIC

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IRLA

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05 Have Your Cake And Cheat It

06 Maca Yourself Unbreakable

Chocolate Protein CheesecakeBy Caspar Rose,

Fresh Fitness Foods

Serves 10

FOR THE BASE

• GROUND COCONUT, 50G

• GROUND ALMOND, 100G

• HONEY, 20G

• COCOA POWDER, 50G

FOR THE CHEESECAKE MIX

• COCOA POWDER, 50G

• COTTAGE CHEESE, 300G

• EGG WHITE, 300G

• QUARK, 700G

• VANILLA ESSENCE, 10G

• HONEY, 30G

Andina Superfood Power SaladBy Martin Morales,

Andina

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• COOKED QUINOA, 70G

• AMARANTH, 35G

• RAW TUNA, 100G

• BUTTER BEANS, 50G

• RED CHILLI, ½, CHOPPED

• TOMATO, ½, CHOPPED

• SMALL RED ONION,

½, CHOPPED

• BLUEBERRIES,

HANDFUL

• AVOCADO, ½, CUBED

• MACA POWDER, 10G

• SACHA INCHI OIL, A DRIZZLE

• LIME, A SQUEEZE

1\ If dessert is something

you only eat on cheat days,

you’re doing it wrong. Mix

the ingredients for the base

in a food processor then press

them into a square baking tray

lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes,

then leave to cool.

2\ Using your trusty

food processor, blitz the

cheesecake mix ingredients

together until smooth,

and pour onto your base.

Sales of quark – the once-

unfashionable low-fat, high-

protein cheese – shot up by

38% last year. Your depleted,

post-workout muscles are

about to find out why.

3\ Turn your oven down

to 150°C and bake the

cheesecake for about 15-20

minutes. Leave it to cool

before slicing into 10 portions.

Paul Hollywood himself

would shake your hand.

1\ If a tough week in the

office (or at the gym) has

sapped your strength, bin the

takeaway menu and prep this

energy-restoring salad. Tip the

quinoa and amaranth into a

pan with double the volume of

water. Simmer for 15 minutes.

2\ Cut the tuna into 1cm

cubes and mix in a bowl

with the beans, chilli, tomato,

onion and blueberries (an

antioxidant powerhouse).

Place the avocado cubes on

top of your salad and season

with lime juice, salt, pepper

and Sacha Inchi oil.

3\ Add a few teaspoons of

water to the maca to make

a puree. Ignore limp boasts

of it being ‘nature’s Viagra’ –

the hard science shows that

this plant’s real power is its

ability to release energy from

food. Squeeze the puree onto

each corner of the plate and

unleash your meal’s potential.

ENJOY YOUR JUST DESSERTS

FINE-TUNA YOUR MENTAL POWERS

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

QUARK 9G

ALMONDS 2.5G

EGG WHITE 3.5G

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

TUNA 12G

QUINOA 2.5G

BEANS 1.5G


07 Freeze Out Sugar Cravings

08 Ram Your Risk Of Illness

Sugar-Free Oat Cookie Ice Cream SandwichBy Keith Goddard,

Arch 65 Private Dining

Serves 10

INGREDIENTS

• OATS, 50G

• BUTTER, 125G

• EGG YOLKS, 3

• HONEY, 1TBSP

• SALT, 1 PINCH

• FLOUR, 125G

• BAKING POWDER, 5G

• WATER, 50ML

• WHEYHEY CHOCOLATE

ICE CREAM, 500ML

• GROUND ALMONDS, 50G

Grilled Lamb Loin, Carrots And CapersBy Stevie Parle,

Craft London

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• POTATOES, SLICED, 60G

• CARROTS, CHOPPED, 160G

• BUTTER, 40G

• WATER, 150ML

• DRIED CHILLI, PINCH

• LAMB LOIN, 400G

• OLIVE OIL, 2TSP

• CORIANDER SEEDS, 2TSP

• CAPERS, 2TSP

• VINEGAR, 2TSP

• MINT LEAVES, 20

1\ OK, so this isn’t an ice

cream sandwich like

mamma used to make, but

then again, mamma wasn’t

trying to pack on 5kg of lean

muscle. Preheat the oven to

180°C and mix everything bar

the ice cream and almonds in a

large bowl. Scoop 20 spoonfuls

of the mix onto a lined baking

tray, leaving space between

each; they’re going to expand.

2\ Bake for 10 or 15 minutes

then leave to cool. Take a

spoonful of ice cream and

dollop on top of one cookie,

then put another on top to

form a sandwich.

3\ Roll your sandwich over

the ground almonds –

studies show the nuts boost

weightloss and, combined

with low-GI oats and satiating

protein in the ice cream, this

will satisfy your sweet tooth

without compromising your

efforts on the Wattbike.

1\ Take your potatoes and

carrots – fit to burst with

cancer-fighting carotenoids

– and add them to a saucepan

with butter and water. Put

the lid on and cook. After 25

minutes, add salt, pepper and

a little chilli to the pan and

boil off any remaining water

by removing the lid. Mash the

vegetables into a puree.

2\ Season the lamb loin with

salt and pepper and place in

a hot, oven-proof frying pan

with a little oil; three minutes

on each side will do. Shove it

in an oven heated to 200°C for

five minutes before removing

the meat and leaving it to rest.

3\ Add the coriander seeds,

capers and vinegar to the

pan and mix together. Slice

the lamb and serve it over

the carrot puree, pouring the

minty, capery pan juices on

top. Your cancer risk is like

a lamb to the slaughter.

A SWEETER DEAL FOR LEAN MASS

ROAST YOUR BIG-C ODDS


YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

WHEYHEY 6G

FLOUR 1.5G

OATS 0.6G

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

LAMB 40G

POTATOES 1G

CARROTS 0.5G


09 Give Up Fat For Lentil

10 Add Fuel To The Fire

Breaded Tofu With Lentils & Sweet Chilli By Alexis Gauthier,

Gauthier Soho

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• LENTILS, COOKED, 50G

• SHALLOT, ½, SLICED

• THAI BASIL, CHOPPED

• CHILLI, ¼, CHOPPED

• OLIVE OIL, 50ML

• BALSAMIC VINEGAR, 1TBSP

• AN EGG

• FRESH MILK, 1TBSP

• FIRM TOFU, 175G

• BREADCRUMBS, 25G

Chilli Con TurkeyBy Christian Coates,

Soulmatefood

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• ONION, CHOPPED

• GARLIC, 6 CLOVES

• TURKEY MINCE, 400G

• CHOPPED TOMATOES, 2 TINS

• TOMATO PASTE, 3TBSP

• KIDNEY BEANS, 1 TIN

• RED PEPPER, 2, CHOPPED

• CHILLIES, 2

• HONEY, 2TBSP

• CHILLI POWDER, 6TBSP

• OREGANO, 4TSP

• CAYENNE PEPPER, PINCH

1\ Put the lentils in a large

bowl with the shallots, Thai

basil, chilli, oil, vinegar, and

salt and pepper and stir well.

Everyone’s aware that chillies

fire up your metabolism, but

did you know this calorie-

burning power is enhanced by

the vitamin B3-rich lentils?

2\ Break an egg into a bowl

and mix in the milk. Dip the

tofu in the mixture, transfer to

another plate and cover with

breadcrumbs. Heat a spoonful

of olive oil in a frying pan –

when it starts to smoke, slide

in the tofu and cook for two

minutes (try your best to stop

it from sticking).

3\ Slice the tofu thinly, then

layer it between the dressed

lentils. Refrigerate it for a

couple of hours before plating

up with a splash of olive oil,

balsamic and some more

chopped basil. Fat loss

is a dish best served cold.

1\ When it comes to

whipping up a mid-week

meal, simplicity is a virtue.

But that’s no excuse to default

to Pain Grillé aux Beans. To

make gains of the temporal

and muscular varieties both,

prep a batch of this chilli on

Sunday night and dine like

a king for the rest of the week.

2\ Start by drizzling some

olive oil into a large pot.

Sauté the onion and garlic for

three minutes. Next it’s time

for the turkey, the criminally

undervalued member of the

protein-rich poultry family.

Add it to the pot and cook

until it’s white all over.

3\ Throw in the rest of the

ingredients and simmer

on low for about an hour.

That’ll give you time to polish

off another episode of The

Walking Dead before divvying

it up into Tupperware, or

devouring on the spot.

STAY ON THE FITNESS PULSE

TORCH FAT, NOT MUSCLE MASS

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

LENTILS 3.5G

EGG 3G

TOFU 11G

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

TURKEY 23G

BEANS 4G

TOMATOES 2G


11 Get The Best Of The Breast

12 Reap Meat’s Raw Power

Chicken With Pistachios & YoghurtBy Ed Sargent, Head

Chef, Aladino’s

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• CHICKEN BREAST, 2

• COCONUT OIL

• ROASTED PISTACHIOS, 50G

• RED CHILLI, 2

• GREEK YOGHURT, 30G

• SPINACH, 2 BIG HANDFULS

• LEMON, SQUEEZE

1\ Chicken breast can seem

like the lowest common

denominator when it comes

to getting your lean protein,

but this easy dish adds a bit

of panache to a tired old bird.

First, sear the meat in a hot

pan using coconut oil, then

transfer it to an oven pre-

heated to 150°C for 15 minutes.

2\ Meanwhile, grind the

pistachios in a pestle and

mortar before chopping and

dicing the chilli. Take out the

seeds if you can’t stand the

heat, but stay in the kitchen

long enough to run the nuts

and chilli through the yoghurt,

adding a squeeze of lemon.

3\ Remove the chicken from

the oven and rest for three

minutes. Serve on a bed of

spinach, top with the dressing

and tuck in. But be warned:

once you’ve tried this, grilled

chicken with a side of broccoli

will be off the menu for good.

1\ With zero cooking time,

you’ll be feasting on this

powerfully nutritious starter

in the time it takes you to chop

up the ingredients. First, slice

the bread very finely, place it

on a tray and brush with olive

oil. Season with the salt and

cracked black pepper.

2\ Warm the bread for five

minutes in a preheated oven

at 175°C. Next, combine the

steak sauce ingredients and

store them in a container.

3\ Mix together the shallots,

capers, gherkins and herbs,

then plate up with the steak

and pour over the sauce.

Serve with the toast and take

a moment to enjoy the fact

that eating raw meat enhances

your body’s ability to absorb

and process protein, according

to a study published in the

journal Molecular Nutrition &

Food Research. Plus it makes

you feel pretty damn manly.


UPGRADE YOUR POULTRY GAINS

STEAK YOUR CLAIM TO SIZE

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

CHICKEN 33G

PISTACHIOS 5G

YOGHURT 1.5G

YOUR PROTEIN

COUNTS

BEEF 32G

SOURDOUGH 5G

SHALLOTS 1G

Steak Tartare With Melba-Style Toast By Chris Zachwieja,

Boisdale Belgravia

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• SOURDOUGH BREAD, 200G

• BEEF FILLET, 300G, DICED

STEAK SAUCE

• TOMATO KETCHUP, 70G

• DIJON MUSTARD, 10G

• TABASCO SAUCE, DASH

• WORCESTERSHIRE

SAUCE, DASH

HERB MIX

• SHALLOTS, 2, DICED

• LILLIPUT CAPERS,

2TSP, SLICED

• COCKTAIL GHERKINS,

2TSP SLICED

• PARSLEY, 1TSP, SLICED

• TARRAGON, 1TSP, SLICED

88 MEN’S HEALTH

Despite its disreputable underground origins, the UFC has punched above its weight to gain status as a mainstream sport in the US. Now, with backers adopting a shrewder stance, it’spoised to extend its stranglehold on the world

Words by Jamie Millar Photography by Sun Lee

MEN’S HEALTHBUSINESS REPORT

THE UFC FOUGHT HARD FOR ITS SPOT AT THE TOP


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ENTS

In 1996, US Senator and former

presidential hopeful John McCain

famously decried Mixed Martial Arts

as a pastime on par with “human

cockfighting”. It was a bloody spectacle,

he claimed, a brutal, no-holds-barred

display of barely caged aggression.

It needed suppressing.

Two decades later, the Ultimate

Fighting Championship is the cock of

the walk. The increasingly acceptable

face of two people knocking lumps out of

each other – within the confines of strict

parameters, of course – is dominating

arenas, airwaves and agendas. In lieu of

the tribal tattoo T-shirts once associated

with the sport, the UFC is freshly suited,

booted and primed for a corporate

takeover of the sporting middle ground.

And that’s just the fighters.

As its popularity rises like a front

kick, you wouldn’t bet against the Las

Vegas-based MMA promotion going the

distance to become a globally supported

athletic pursuit. To a degree, it already

has. By the time you read this, the odds

are that tickets for the UFC event in

London at the end of February will be long

since procured. A similar event staged in

Glasgow last July sold out in two hours.

Seats for another in Dublin last October

were gone in 60 seconds. With great

popularity comes great profitability, and

plainly the UFC is cashing in.

The Slow BurnIn 2014, Forbes, the American business

magazine and universal arbiter of worth,

named the UFC the 10th most valuable

business brand in sport at $1.65bn.

However, the fight club's president and

charismatic impresario Dana White,

a former boxing trainer and bouncer

who looks pretty handy himself, begs to

differ. In an interview with the Financial

Times in March 2014 to coincide with

the UFC’s last London event (attended

by luminaries as varied as Damien

Hirst, Dizzee Rascal and One Direction’s

Niall Horan), White put its true value

at a punchier $3.5bn. “Some would

say more,” he said with characteristic

bombast. “We have numbers.”

Unfortunately the rest of us do not:

the UFC is cagier than an octagon (the

it didn’t have the rules and regulations

that it has today. I lost interest in it after

a short period of time because it was too

rough, even for me.”

Lunardelli’s and Reebok’s interest in

the UFC have since been rekindled to

the tune of a $70m, six-year agreement,

announced in December 2014, to provide

uniforms, not just for the fighters but

also their trainers, seconds and corner

men. The move is part of Reebok’s savvy

‘pivot’ or repositioning away from the

softer sports-fashion sphere and toward

what Lunardelli calls “tough fitness”.

Whether unable or unwilling (or both) to

compete with brands such as Nike and

Adidas in more sanitised sports markets,

Reebok has instead lent its brand equity

to – and profited from – newcomers such

as UFC, CrossFit and Tough Mudder:

“We were looking for a place to call our

own,” he says. It’s a massive, mutually

beneficial arrangement. The UFC gains

Battling AveragesBaseball may be as American as apple pie,

but it can no longer compete with UFC’s

ever-increasing average viewing figures

It was the bloodsport they tried to ban – and succeeded, in 36 states across America.

eight-sided, wire-fenced ‘ring’ in which

its action takes place) when it comes

to revealing financials. But whether

you take White at his word or prefer the

more conservative judgement, neither

is too shabby for an organisation that

essentially began life as a way to settle the

age-old pub argument over who would

win: a martial artist or a boxer.

Indeed, ‘organisation’ would have been

a rather imperious word to describe the

first UFC event in 1993. Held in Denver

and drawing a global audience of just

90,000 via pay-per-view, the eight-man

tournament proudly trumpeted that

“There are no rules!” and displayed as

much regard for weight categories as

a Rocky film. (Interestingly, the original

business plan pitched it as a real-life

version of the notorious contemporary

computer game Mortal Kombat.) In the

first bout, a kickboxer swiftly dispatched

a sumo wrestler with a kick to the face

while he was on the ground. You can

see the ‘fight’ on YouTube, but not the

fragments of teeth buried in the victor’s

foot, an injury with which he fought on

for the remainder of the night.

“I remember watching it with my

friends and not really knowing what

we were looking at,” recalls Michael

Lunardelli, senior business unit director

at Reebok Combat Training. “It was

fascinating but it was pretty violent and

DEFEATING CRITICS REQUIRED INSPIRATION AND PERSPIRATION

UFC 964,000

PER EVENT

MLB

690,000 PER EVENT


Unlike some of his fellow chroniclers of

pugilism, Davies followed the UFC from

the first and has become one of its most

authoritative voices. “You only have to

go around American bars now and the

UFC is on TV along with the NFL, NBA,

MLB and so on. It’s become normalised

because it’s there all the time. That deal

has been so significant in making it one

of the big players in the sports world. It’s

a genuine contender.” Now with the States

conquered, the UFC has set its sights on

global domination. Closer to home, the

BBC has reportedly thrown its hat into the

octagon for the British broadcast rights.

All of which is a clear sign that the

UFC has cleaned up its image problem

and its down and dirty past. “We’re

ambitious. We want to help elevate the

UFC and have it thought of in the same

realm as the other major sports,” says

Reebok’s Lunardelli. Certainly, the

trailer-trash chic of its earliest stars’

attire and the accompanying riot of

sponsor logos wasn’t helping to challenge

any preconceptions of the sport as a

chaotic free-for-all. “It was a bad look

for everybody,” says Lunardelli. “I think

even a lot of the fighters are happy that

it’s cleaned up, to be honest with you.”

Sartorial standards have risen

outside the octagon, too. The trademark

tailoring of Conor McGregor, charismatic

featherweight champ and current UFC

poster boy, is as brash as he is. Even so,

it’s a marked step up from snapbacks

and provides an effective contrast to

his ink-stained chest piece, depicting

a gorilla feasting on a human heart. Then

there’s the number one-ranked, notably

articulate welterweight Rory MacDonald,

who is so dapper that Vice’s Fightland

channel filmed him suit shopping. The

signifiers seem to say: thuggish, moi?

“There are some great characters who

largely are very educated,” claims Davies.

“A lot of them are university grads.” He

cites the example of Chuck ‘The Iceman’

Liddell, whose explosive striking style,

handlebar moustache and mohawk made

him one of the best-known fighters of the

mid-Noughties. Less well-known is that

Liddell studied accountancy at university.

Blood MoneyNot all the fighters are happy with the

UFC’s shiny new image, however. Former

featherweight champ Jose Aldo is one

example. “It sucks, but what can we

do?” he said of the Reebok deal, before

unfavourably comparing the new outfits

mainstream legitimacy, and Reebok an

underground kudos. Both score a very

sizeable amount of cash.

Backing The UnderdogDespite introducing such sanitising

measures as rounds, weight classes

and gloves (as well as outlawing things

like kicking a man in the face when

he’s down), the UFC was a pariah outfit,

near-bankrupt and on the ropes when

it was bought for $2m in 2001 by casino

owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta.

But with Lorenzo’s background as a

member of the influential Nevada State

Athletic Commission in their corner,

they gradually ground and pounded

their way to legality, ratifying the sport

territory by territory. By 2006 UFC events

were hitting a million buys on cable TV.

The real gamechanger in terms of

mainstream visibility came in 2011 when

the UFC signed a seven-year deal with

Fox Sports. “Fox covers the UFC in the

same way that it covers the other big

American sports,” says Gareth A Davies,

The Telegraph’s long-serving, long-

haired boxing and MMA correspondent.

Growing GainsOver the past decade and a half, the UFC’s

value has blown up by over 1500%, making

it one of the world’s most profitable sports

2001 value $2m

2015 value $3.5b

UFC MEANS BUSINESS | REPORT

>

$700mThe reported value of

Fox Sports’ deal with

promoters Zufa LLC,

UFC’s parent company

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to those worn by the Mighty Morphin’

Power Rangers. However, the majority

of objections have not been aesthetic

but economic. While the revenue from

the deal is divided among the athletes

according to their standing, some have

argued that what they gain does not

make up for what they lose in individual

sponsorships. Although these are not

expressly prohibited under the terms of

the new Reebok deal, the terms make it

difficult. Branded kits have to be worn not

just on fight night but for the entirety of

the week preceding, which is prime time

for sponsor exposure.

The UFC counters that any hits taken

in the short term will more than pay

off in the future as the organisation

becomes even more attractive to bigger,

richer sponsors. “The deal is definitely

going to help us elevate our commercial

proposition to the benefit of all fighters,”

says James Elliott, the UFC’s newly

appointed vice president for Europe,

Middle East and Africa, a title which

does little to hide the scale of the outfit’s

ambition. An Englishman down to his

pocket square, who cut his business teeth

at the FA, Elliott is representative of the

sharp executives that the organisation

has squadded up with in recent years.

“I can understand some of the comments

from the fighters,” he says. “But this is

ultimately the best thing for the business

and therefore our roster.”

The Reebok deal has also thrown light

onto the fighters’ earnings in general.

Few people know the precise figures

involved, but wages are understood to be

comparatively low. While competitors can

collect a $50,000 bonus for best knockout,

submission or fight of the night at an

event, their base pay might be as little as

$6000 per match. Many top European

footballers wouldn’t lace up their boots

for 10 times that amount.

A boxer can expect to land as much

as 85% of the revenue from a fight. In

the Premier League, 70% of the money

goes to the players; in the NFL, NBA and

MLB, it’s around 50%. Lorenzo Fertitta

has said that the UFC’s proportion is

“not far off”, but after polling industry

sources, ESPN put it at maybe 10%. In

its own defence, the UFC cites the costs

involved in building the young sport and

getting it legalised around the world. It

is having to act as both promoter and TV

producer – infrastructure that doesn’t

come cheap. Besides, as MMA matures,

it argues, so will the rewards. “In terms of

earning potential, look at where Ronda

Rousey’s gone,” says Elliott of the top

female fighter who has won almost as

many championship fights as she has

graced magazine covers, and whose

name has become synonymous with

badassery. “She’s one of the highest-paid

female athletes on the planet.” McGregor,

meanwhile, claims that he is about to

sign a new contract worth $100m, which

would be a different order of magnitude

altogether, and on a more level financial

Conor McGregor is signing a contract worth $100m – that’s on a level with any mainstream sport

IN THE WORLD OF MMA, PAIN CAN REAP BIG FINANCIAL GAIN

1 billionThe number of homes

the UFC is broadcast

to, in 30 languages

across 149 countriesHE

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playing field with other sports.

White has said he intends for the UFC

to become as big as football, which is the

obvious comparison that the Reebok deal

invites – and not just because you can

now buy a shirt bearing the name of your

favourite fighter. As every cash-strapped

football fan wearing this season's strip

knows, kit brings lucrative new revenue

streams flooding in; while Reebok makes

the shirts, what’s to stop the UFC finding

additional sponsors? “We’re always

looking for new commercial partners

to come on board and that’s something

that’s factored into the plan,” says Elliott.

“Again, it’s something that will help

generate increased revenue for everybody

involved.” And why stop at shirts: what

about selling the naming rights to a UFC

stadium in, say, Vegas? “We have some

exciting things planned in the future,”

says Elliott. “I can’t reveal what those

are yet. But it’s going to be an interesting

few years, that’s for sure.”

Breaking GroundOne of UFC’s greatest strengths has been

not what it has leeched from other sports,

but its own ability to innovate – to roll

with the punches. Ironically, one of the

assets that has best equipped it for future

expansion into the mainstream was

acquired as a consequence of its initial

marginalisation. “The UFC grew digitally

because it was pushed underground after

being banned in America in the ’90s,” says

Davies. Where other sports play whack-

a-mole trying to keep footage offline, the

UFC increased its YouTube views by a

billion minutes in the space of a year.

Despite her shock loss to Holly Holm

in Melbourne last November, Rousey

recently became the most followed

female athlete on social media, with over

18m combined fans across Facebook,

Twitter and Instagram. For perspective,

that’s more than Novak Djokovic, Tiger

Woods and Tottenham Hotspur put

together. The UFC’s own followings

have grown, too, by 57% (Facebook), 78%

(Twitter) and 770% (Instagram) over the

past two years. Meanwhile its streaming

Fight Pass service is booming. The UFC’s

finger on the digital pulse is, according

to Elliott, “probably the single biggest

weapon in our arsenal”.

Another arena in which the UFC is

ahead of the curve – and gaining wider

grow, and it’ll be only matter of time

until there’s a form of mixed martial

arts in the Olympics.”

Heavyweight ContenderFrom spit and sawdust to TV rights

and doping commissions, the UFC has

come an awfully long way. But despite

the quantum leaps it has made since

its inception, the organisation is still

engaged in a period of what marketeers

call “education”. The upside of that is,

like a loosely applied rear-naked choke,

there’s still potential to exploit. “There are

certain pockets of the world where right

now the UFC is mainstream,” says Davies.

“In America, Canada, Brazil, it’s huge.

It’s growing in Europe; it will grow big

in Asia because of the history of martial

arts. MMA can grow into a massive global

sport.” But how big? What remains in

its way? “Some people are never going

to be into fight sports,” Davies admits.

“But when the UFC talks about global

domination and wanting to be as big as

football, they’re not kidding around.”

It’s perhaps not as fanciful as it first

sounds, especially when you drill down

to grass-roots level. “MMA is one of the

fastest-growing sports in the world and

it’s inspiring an increase in the uptake of

combat-style training,” says Lunardelli.

This is something that he will know better

than most because Reebok is selling the

gear. “Our research found that 35 million

people globally were training like fighters;

40% of them had started in the past 12

months. That was conducted over a year

ago, so the number may have grown since

then.” To paraphrase Carl Douglas, soon

everybody could be Ultimate Fighting.

“It’s very much Reebok’s intention to

do for combat sport what Nike did for

running,” says Elliott, who also has “fairly

lofty” plans to roll out a network of UFC

gyms internationally: “People are really

taking hold of the fact that MMA training

is a great way of conditioning your whole

body – and much more interesting than

pounding away on a treadmill.”

Nevertheless, Elliott agrees with

Davies that the burgeoning appeal of

MMA will have its natural limits. “It’s

not for everybody, in the same way that

boxing isn’t for everybody, or rugby, or

cricket,” he says. “But what I do believe

is that once people see this sport, once

they understand it, once they watch it

through our broadcast partners, or even

better, come to one of our live events...

Once you see it, once you feel it, you

can’t help but be absorbed.”

Popularity ContestAlmost across the board, American fans

have fallen out of love with traditional

sports*. One organisation bucks the trend

NA

SC

AR

-12%

ML

B

NB

A

+14%

recognition – is drugs testing. In April

last year, it hired Jeff Novitzky, a former

federal agent for the United States Food

and Drug Administration. His job is to

police what it calls, with characteristic

swagger, “the most comprehensive anti-

doping policy in professional sports”. As

Davies says, that has to be commended:

“Talk to any drug-testing organisation

and they’ll applaud the UFC for what

it’s done.” Decisive action has also been

taken on another sporting hot topic: after

Irish lightweight Joe Duffy suffered a

suspected concussion in training a week

before the Dublin event, he was sent for

testing and, despite being the main draw,

promptly withdrawn. “That just shows

how responsible the UFC is,” says Davies.

“One man’s safety was more important

than having a headline event.”

In many respects, the UFC has

transcended mere promotion to become

a media company in its own right. This

has been advantageous while the sport

hasn’t benefitted from press coverage

in the same way as, say, boxing. But

that outdated view is being refreshed,

according to Davies. “It’s a generational

shift,” says the fight sports veteran.

“There’s a traditionalism about boxing

that makes a lot of the journalists who

cover it slightly suspicious of MMA.

I would say about 20% of the old school

are interested in the UFC. But that’s

changing. My experience is that the

younger boxing journalists also want to

talk to me about Ronda Rousey’s defeat

to Holly Holm and Conor McGregor’s

rise. Some of the great writers – Norman

Mailer, George Plimpton, Bud Schulberg

– have been attracted to boxing. But as

time goes on, the library on the UFC will

UF

C

NF

L

UFC MEANS BUSINESS | REPORT

94 MEN’S HEALTH

Fat Loss Happens

On Monday

WORDS BY DAVID MORTON – PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER CROWTHER

SIX-MINUTE FITNESS REGIMES AND CRASH DIETS OFTEN WORK IN THE SHORT TERM, BUT AFTER A FEW WEEKS THEIR EFFICACY CRUMBLES. INSTEAD, THE CONCRETE WAY TO BECOME LEAN FOR LIFE IS TO CHIP AWAY AT FAT EVERY DAY. THIS IS YOUR ROCK-

SOLID PLAN TO BREAK THROUGH FLAB FOR GOOD. GET CRACKING

MEN’S HEALTH 95

DEMOLISH EXCESS

WEIGHT: ALL YOU

NEED ARE THE RIGHT

TOOLS

96 MEN’S HEALTH

Unless poached

turkey breast and

green tea are all that

your pious quest to

#eatclean permits past your

lips (in which case you should

probably turn to p80) your

day is replete with food and

beverage decisions. Most of

us make more than 200 of

these mini judgement calls

a day but, according to a

study from Cornell University,

we only register about 15 of

them. John’s advice is to

f you’ve been exercising

a bit more and eating

fairly well then consider

your 2016 fitness

resolutions well stuck.

Congratulations. But,

by now, you will have

noticed that the cutting

down and leaning up

– so easy during the

first few weeks –

has begun to thin

out. It is on such

a plateau that many a fat-burner

loses their way; the flat motivational

terrain prompting you to turn back

and retreat at break-neck speed

down the rocky slope up which

you’ve been manfully scrambling.

You will not find a route across

this weightloss tundra in the

realms of new-fangled exercise

regimes or the highest-trending

fad diets. The stubborn, age-old

fat stores uncovered by your initial

successes require more consistent

work to break down. The way to

etch out a new body is to make

almost imperceptible changes to

the way you go about your daily

business. Call them ‘lifestyle hacks’

if you must. But fat-loss mavericks

Dan John and Josh Hillis swear

by their lasting effect.

Their book Fat Loss Happens

On Monday was written to explore

how small things can have a hugely

positive impact on your waist size.

The name comes from their first

rule: begin each week by purchasing

and preparing the right sort of food.

Starting with this job on day one

makes it noticeably easier to stick

to your nutrition and exercise plans

for the next six. If that sounds like

bunkum, ask yourself how often

a missed workout on a Monday

lunchtime turns into an entire week

of sedentary apathy. Listening now?

Good. Because we asked John

for his favourite tricks for shedding

excess weight as part of your daily to

and fro. These are not your everyday

nuggets of advice, granted. But put

your trust in this structure and you

can break off a piece of fat every day,

for as long as you want.

make each choice a visual

one. “Put your hands on the

outside of everything that is

about to enter your mouth,”

he says. “Your left hand is

your starting point – your

right is your goal. Now decide

whether this food or drink

brings you closer to your goal

(right hand nearer and left

further away) or not (left

hand nearer and right further

away). It’s simple, but you

won’t get the value until

you try it. So try it.”

01First Things First...

Make Some Good Choices

MEN’S HEALTH 97

TRUST YOUR CRAVINGS AND YOU WON’T BE CRUSHED BY THEM

FAT LOSS HAPPENS ON MONDAY

GREASE THE WHEELS ON YOUR PATH TO A

TRIM PHYSIQUE

02Shock Your Body By...

Hitting A (Cold) Shower

We have championed

the DOMS-dousing

properties of cold

water many times,

with changes in temperature

helping to flush out the lactic

acid that brings the sting.

But, according to John, a

“Scottish shower” is another

way to put weight gain on ice.

“Always finish with a blast

of cold water for as long as

you can handle,” he advises.

“It triggers a process called

hormesis – a biological

phenomenon that gives you

physical benefits from a low

dose of something that could

otherwise be dangerous.”

In this case, a direct positive

influence on fat-burning. The

fact that cold water has been

shown to improve immunity,

circulation, skin, hair, anxiety

and depression are cool

extras. It might even wake

you up. Should that prove too

Spartan a regime at this time

of year, you can enjoy the

same process of hormesis in

the heady heat of a sauna.

Which is as good a reason to

take a little longer at the gym

as we’ve happened across.

03If You Really Want Something...

Go With Your Gut

Cheat meals happen.

What’s important is

that, once you’ve come

to your decision, you

follow through with it, even

if you’ve picked the

less pure of paths.

If a doughnut is

what you crave –

and you recognise

it won’t realistically

fill the holes in your

nutritional plan – then

tuck in. But no matter what,

stick with your first choice.

“Odd, yes. Drink that beer,

eat that mufin, if you so

wish,” says John. “Here’s

the strange part: we tend not

to keep going down that road

once we’ve made this quick,

mental decision.”

Contrary to what

you might think,

indulging in a big

breakfast doesn’t

automatically usher

in a long lunch and

a slap-up dinner. As long

as you are knowingly pushing

the boundaries of healthy

eating, you are more than

likely to get back into safe

territory after your satisfying

(but considered) excursion.


04Whenever You Eat Anything...

Eat Some Fat, Too

OK, so you’re aware

that fat is no longer

a nutritional bête noir.

That’s not news. But

what you need to get used to

is adding some fat to every

single meal. Those in the

know talk about ‘macros’ but

it can be simplified further.

Imagine each plate of food

divided into sections, says

John. “Always take care of

your protein first, then just

aim for more fats than carbs

on the rest of your plate.”

Eating fewer carbohydrates

will create a much better

weightloss environment in

your body, lowering insulin

and opening up fat stores

to be greedily consumed for

energy. There is a caveat

attached to this mealtime

rule of thumb, however: fat

is great and tastes divine

and that makes it easy to

overdo it. “We always add

a serving too much oil and

butter because we love it.

Even a spoon of peanut

butter gets doubled once it’s

a heaped spoon,” says John.

“Always under-serve slightly

and you’ll be about right.”

BREAK DIETARY DOGMA

INTO DIGESTIBLE

RULES

EVEN A WHOPPER OF A TASK CAN BECOME

MANAGEABLE

MEN’S HEALTH 99

07For Lasting Gains...

Freeze Your Assets

Central heating has a lot

to answer for. The cosy

comfort in which we

live means you expend

very little energy once you’re

safely ensconced at home,

turning your dwelling into

a petri dish for love handles.

The solution, thankfully, is

not ripping of the thermostat

and growing a beard. Instead,

get your chill on the way

home from work. “Each night,

I take the dog for a walk. If it’s

really cold I’ll wear gloves,

but I keep short sleeves on,”

John says. “That chill on your

arms stimulates the body’s

weightloss miracle: brown

fat.” As opposed to regular

white fat, which stores

calories, the brown version

is packed with mitochondria

that burn energy to produce

heat. Regular exposure to

the cold was shown by the

National Institute for Health

to activate brown fat and

grow new brown fat cells,

increasing your natural ability

to burn calories rather than

hoard them. Going without

your goose-down parka on

the way back from the ofice

is all it takes to start the

process. “Also, it’s worth

noting that a lot of fat people

have fat dogs.” Your move.

06Hit The Treadmill...

For Exactly Two Minutes

Spending hours

chugging away at

cardio has had its time

as a staple of your

weightloss schedule. The

well-preened phalanx of

group exercise classes

currently clamouring for your

membership all came to a

crucial realisation a while ago

– feeling like a beginner is the

best way to get into shape.

John agrees: “Never, ever,

go for more than two minutes

on any one cardiovascular

movement. Mix and match

all of your CV work in two-

minute bursts – eg row for

500m, bike for 120 seconds,

then follow it up with 60

hip thrusts to counter all the

folding over you’ve done,”

John says. Use whatever

equipment happens to be

available, or pick a few

bodyweight movements. But

whatever you do, stop before

your body gets accustomed

to what you’re doing. It’s

quicker and a lot less mind-

numbing than pounding

pavement over and over

again. “Don’t worry if you

feel like you’re always moving

on before you’ve got into

a groove,” says John. “Flailing

away like a rookie just means

superior fat-burning.”

05When You Slip Up...

Give Yourself A Break

When brushing your

teeth each evening

before turning in,

conduct a quick

mental review of your day.

Think about any exercise

you’ve done, or how much

water you’ve drunk and pat

yourself on the back all you

like. But then think about

where you deviated from your

plan or ignored it all together.

The side of chips you had

with your salad, for example.

Then, and this is the crucial

part, immediately forgive

yourself. “Rules are going

to get broken,” says John.

“That’s life. But letting

yourself of is the diference

between being a bit better

tomorrow or simply chucking

it all in.” Science supports

this sinktop psychology –

research published in the

Journal of Social and Clinical

Psychology found feeling

guilty about failing on a diet

more than doubles your

odds of bingeing, compared

with forgiving yourself for

missteps. After all, tomorrow

heralds another chance

for perfection. Or not.

FAT LOSS HAPPENS ON MONDAY

CHIP AWAY AT YOUR FAT STORES


Y O U R F I E L D G U I D E T O

P E R F E C T H E A L T H

On the battlefield of health, too often we let our enemies deal the first blow. But rather than waiting for illness to

attack, experts are beginning to think like army generals. If we start issuing pre-emptive strikes, they say, we can

start reversing the march of infirmity altogether

Words by M ark Bailey Illustrations by Son Of Alan1 - 3 9

In the neon-lit corridors of power at the

UK’s top hospitals, calls for change are

growing. Specifically, a change from our

incurious, soporific, Brave New World

culture of pill-popping and symptom-

pacifying, to a potent and pro-active

system of ‘preventive healthcare’.

Experts believe that switching from

reactively treating illnesses to actively

preventing them through simple daily

lifestyle and dietary changes could

save lives – and save the NHS £5bn per

year in the process. It’s elementary when

you think about it. Why sit and wait for

pain, sickness and discomfort to

come to you before resolving

to do anything about it? Far better to

forestall an attack and devitalize the

enemy at source.

“Heart disease, diabetes and obesity

are devastating in terms of their

contribution to global mortality, but they

also create a huge strain on the resources

of an already stretched healthcare

system,” explains Dr Richard Pulsford,

who lectures in preventive medicine

at the University of Exeter. “Promoting

healthy lifestyle modifications, which

may reduce people’s risk of developing

these diseases – rather than simply

waiting for them to get ill

and treating them

– potentially

benefits

everyone.” Indeed, the research shows

50% of all deaths can be attributed to

preventable behaviour – as seemingly

innocuous as lazy habits or sugary snacks

– proving your life really is in your hands.

So why not do something with it? While

the lab bods are focused on delivering

a preventive wallop to cancer and heart

disease, there are plenty of micro sucker

punches you can issue on a daily basis to

help keep malady at bay.

Kick start your front-foot healthcare

campaign today with our complete

blueprint of daily boosters, designed to

ward off disease, and help you live longer.

These simple adjustments will have a

major impact on your health, so you

smash illness before it advances.

0 1LE FT- SWI PE N E C K PAI N

Peering down at your mobile piles weight on your neck – a whopping 27kg(the weight of an eight-year-old child), reports Surgery Technology journal.

To combat this, raise your phone toyour face instead. You’ll dodge around 1400 hours of neck strain per year. And a few lampposts in the process.

04SAY C H E E R S

TO S KE LETAL

STR E N GTH

Glug a post-work drink

for sturdier bones. Oregon

State Uni says moderate

drinkers have higher bone

densities than non-drinkers

because alcohol slows the

rate at which bones shed

old cells. Stick to 3-4 units,

though, so you don’t break

any on the way home.

02B E A F I D G ET

Yes, desk jobs are bad for

your heart, but there’s no

need to quit just yet. British

research showed fidgeting

at your desk torches 50%

more energy than sitting

still. Irritating for workmates,

sure, but good for you.

03

GIVE THE

REAPER A RYE SMILEUS research has proved lowering your calorie intake by just 10% works to cut age-related disease by a third. Just swap your normal toast at breakfast for some appetite-crushing rye bread: the Nutrition

Journal says rye-eaters get fewer cravings from 9am-4pm so eat less over the course of the day.

PHOT

OGRA

PHY:

HEA

RST

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IOS

08

DIAL UP THE HEAT ON ARTHRITISAvoid creaking joints in old age by asking for extra wasabi with your sushi. A Spanish study has confirmed that wasabi has anti-inflammatory properties that protect your joints and fight arthritis. It has also been shown to prevent osteoporosis. Mouth burn has never felt so good.

13B E F LE XI B LE

TO PR E - E M PT

E X H AU STI O N

Stretching banishes post-

lunch slumps before they

happen. A Nasa study

showed pilots who did

standing stretches – try

quad and side stretches –

for seven minutes every

hour displayed less theta

activity (the brain waves

linked to daydreaming)

and increased alertness.

12MAKE LI KE

A F L A M I N G O

Next time you’re styling

your hair or buttoning up

your shirt, do it with one

foot of the ground. A study

from Japan revealed that

standing on one leg for just

20 seconds tests brain

health and is linked to

a lower risk of dementia

and cognitive decline.

09TURN OVER A NEWLEAF ON ODOURIf you’re dousing yourself

in deodorant to mask odour

before a big date, you’ve left

it too late (and, if anything,

might be making it worse).

Better to add spinach to your

sandwich at lunch: Oregon

State Uni proved chlorophyll

in greens works as an internal

deodorant to reduce the pongs

that emerge through sweat.

10STEM THE FLOW OF TROUBLE DOWN BELOWFace the hard truth: erectile

dysfunction haunts 40% of

men by the time they hit 40.

To ensure you stay firmly

in the lucky majority, give

your buddy a workout by

interrupting your urine flow

for five-second bursts every

time you go to the loo. It helps

75% of men avoid floppiness

by strengthening the muscles

used for pitching your tent.

11PILLOW-FIGHT AGAINST BACTERIAYou can scrub your hands like

Lady Macbeth but your pillows

– the actual pillows, not just

the cases – are “wet sponges”

harbouring bacteria such as

the E.coli food-poisoning bug,

reports St Bart’s Hospital.

Wash synthetic pillows every

three months at 60ºC to save

time in cubicle no2.

06FILE AWAY DISEASETurns out your mum was

right: keeping your room –

or even your desk – tidy could

save your life. Duke University

found that well organised,

conscientious types enjoy

knock-on improvements

in diet and exercise, with

27% fewer health problems,

lower cholesterol and less

gum disease. Time to banish

illness to your out tray.

07DON’T OVER-RIPENThe grooming industry will

be worth $6.5m by 2018. Save

your wages while profiting

from a smooth complexion

by chopping a kiwi into your

porridge. The Journal of Cell

Physiology found it doubles

the synthesis of collagen –

a key skin protein – to keep

you looking Bieber-fresh.

14SWEAT YOUR ASSETSBolting a sauna onto your

gym workout burns away

heart disease. A Finnish study

proved that 19-minute saunas

improve your endothelial

function – your blood vessels’

ability to widen and constrict

– slashing your risk by 50%.

Not bad for sitting on your

backside in a towel.

05F I S H FO R LO N G E R LI F E

A single weekly serving of oily fish like salmon hasbeen proven to halve your dementia risk, but the benefits don’t end there: studies have shown doubling that to two servings a week will also cut your risk ofcardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression. One small change, one big shoal of benefits.

F I R S T B L O O D

20 B R U S H O F F

ALZ H E I M E R ’ S

Try holding your toothbrush

with your non-dominant

hand – Australian research

shows mentally challenging

tasks stimulate cognitive

pathways and reduce your

Alzheimer’s risk by 50%.

Well worth that dollop

of Colgate in your hair.

15GET TO THE CORE OF YOUR CANCER RISKEating fibre does more than

just move your bowels; it also

decreases your risk of bowel

cancer by 10% for every 10g

you eat per day, according to

the British Medical Journal.

Snack on an apple after lunch,

add oats to your protein shake

and prep a baked potato for

dinner – you’ll be 20% safer.

16BREAK THE BAD NEWS CYCLENews flash: dark and

depressing stories outweigh

good ones in the media by

17:1. It gets worse. A review in

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

proved a pessimistic daily

outlook significantly cranks

up your risk of heart disease.

So spend less of your time

obsessing over mysterious

plane crashes and the global

terror threat to create some

good news for your heart.

17FORCE POOR RHYTHM TO TAKE THE FLAXSlash your chances of

a heart attack by sprinkling

a tablespoon of flaxseed on

your morning porridge. It

contains alpha-linolenic acid,

which Canadian research

proves can cut your risk of

dying suddenly from heart

rhythm abnormalities. Also

useful if you just found out

your girlfriend’s pregnant.

18PLAY IT SAFE WITH MEAT AND ONE VEGRed meat has a bad rep,

but The American Institute

for Cancer Research says

marinating your steak (try

lemon juice and 2tbsp olive

oil) reduces its carcinogenic

chemicals. Serve it with

some broccoli to pick off

stealthy extra carcinogens.

2 1

D O N ’ T LO S E TH E PLOT

If you struggle to unwind at the end of the day, scour your bookshelf fora well-thumbed novel. While anxiety triples your risk of heart attack,American University in Washingtonsays re-reading an old book promotes

therapeutic self-reflection to slash stress. Just six minutes of reading anything lowers anxiety by 68%. Your g

final chapter remains a long way off.

1 9

TAKE CONTROLOF SICK DAYSPumping yourself fullof bacteriadoesn’tsound likethe smartest way toavoid flu,but the British

Journal of

Nutrition hasn

proved thatconsumingyoghurts fullof healthybacteria cutswork absencesby 56%. So you’ll onlytake sick dayswhen it damnwell suits you.

F I R S T B L O O D

22 H IT R E F R E S H O N

YO U R B R E ATH

Gum has its merits, but

tackling halitosis isn’t one

of them – you’re masking

the smell, not stopping it.

Chew on an apple instead:

Dental Research journal says

this helps to remove food

particles, while adding

cinnamon nukes bacteria.

25DEFEAT FLU WITH FLOWER POWEREchinacea may be a species of

daisy, but it has a heavyweight

impact on flu. A review by

the Cochrane Library showed

that taking three daily doses

can reduce the number of

recurrent infections by 59%.

As soon as your colleagues

start to sniffle, get floral.

26WALK OFF YOURDIABETES RISKTake a stroll after dinner to

blast away your chance of

developing diabetes. Walking

for just 15 minutes after eating

reduces daily blood sugar

surges, found a Diabetes Care

study. Just so long as you don’t

stroll to the kebab shop.

2 7GIVE STRESS THE COLD SHOULDERStress accelerates ageing – the

University of Dundee proved

it even makes you uglier –

so galvanise your mind with

cold showers twice a week.

A German study showed the

shock boosts your ability to

tolerate everyday angst so you

stay ice-cool under pressure.

28VISIT THE GUMCLINIC AFTER LUNCHGiving in to your daily sugar

hit ups your risk of type 2

diabetes 11-fold, according to

the British Journal of Sports

Medicine. Give your willpower

some back-up by chewing

gum after lunch – it cuts sugar

cravings by 10%. Sweet news.

29AVOID TOOTHLESSEXERCISESDeadlifting may be good for

your posture, but it’s a killer

for your teeth. Scandinavian

research found exercise curbs

saliva, damaging the enamel.

Arm yourself by brushing

before you train and swilling

water in the gym to appease

both doctor and dentist.

23C H I LL O UT TO R E ST E ASY

Bad sleep can cause depression and crank up your risk of heart disease by48%. Up your dozing by turning down the thermostat. Research by Sport

Sleep Coach reveals the optimum bedroom temperature is 16-18ºC, rather than the toasty 20ºC most people aim for over winter. Cool it.

24

EAT YOUR GREENS, KEEP YOUR GAINSPairing your meat with a side of kale fights muscle wastage. While meat may be rich in protein, it also creates acids that eat muscle tissue over time, reports Osteoporosis

International. Kale contains potassium and magnesium to buffer these acids and stop your guns withering with age. Consider this a green light for steak night.

F I R S T B L O O D

35

PUT BLOOD PRESSURE ON HOLDThe sound of your ringtone spikes blood pressure by seven points, found Italian researchers, taking you above the healthy norm of 120/80 at various points throughout the day. Put your phone on silent mode (and turn off vibrate) so heart disease and dementia don’t come calling.

39B E N D OVE R FO R

YO U R BAC K

Yoga is your double-

barrelled shotgun to blast

away desk-induced back

pain. Doing stretches like

the sphinx and pigeon pose

twice a week cuts aches by

42%, says the journal Spine.

It also alleviates muscle-

tightening anxiety. Life will

be a lot less of a pain.

36RUN BY THE CLOCK, SAVE YOUR TICKERIt’s hardly news that going

for a jog is good for your

heart, but in the fight against

disease, timing is everything.

Appalachian State University

has shown morning jogs three

times a week are 10% more

effective at lowering blood

pressure than lunchtime or

post-work runs. Long life is

worth getting out of bed for.

37CLEAN YOUR JUNK WITH JUICESwap your morning OJ for

a glass of cranberry juice

to swerve painful urinary

tract infections. Research

in Phytochemistry proved

that proanthocyanidins –

the polyphenols found in

cranberries – stop bacteria

sticking to the urinary tract.

Never (again) will you have to

experience peeing liquid fire.

38METABOLISE THIS, BELLY FATVisceral belly fat doesn’t just

wreck your beach bod – it

also causes heart disease

and high cholesterol. Stay

ahead by supplementing

with L-carnitine – research

in the journal Food and

Chemical Toxicology proves

this compound helps torch

fat when you exercise, so you

look better and live longer.

33GO TO THE PUB, LIVE LONGERIgnoring that text from your

mate inviting you to the pub

could kill you. A German study

showed hanging with other

men cuts stress hormones,

while an Aussie study found

men with close friends outlive

loners by 22%. Pick up the next

round – your life depends on it.

3 4JOG ON FOR A MARATHON MEMORYFight age-related memory loss

with an hour-long weekend

run. As your body learns to

fuel long runs it also fuels the

neurons needed for forming

memories, say Californian

scientists. That’s not to say

you won’t get lost, though.

30GRAB A PEAR FOR YOUR LUNGSChoose wisely next time you’re

in the supermarket fruit aisle.

The International Journal

of Cancer showed a huge

decrease in lung cancer cases

among those who gobbled

fruit from the Rosaceae family,

such as peaches, plums and

pears. Buy one, get cancer-free.

3 1C LE N C H TO

D O D G E D O U G H

Next time you crave fatty

snacks – which an Italian

study (and basic common

sense) has linked to obesity

and early death – clench

your fist for 30 seconds.

The Journal of Consumer

Research found this simple

action helped people to

control their impulses. Just

make sure there isn’t a pie

in your hand at the time.

32D E C L A R E WAR O N BAD V I S I O N

Load up Call of Duty to save your peepers fromy

age-related decline. The University of Rochester proved CoD and other shoot ’em ups boost your D

contrast sensitivity function – the ability to discern brightness in an image – which is one ofthe first visual skills to fade with age. It’s a fairbit cheaper than 40 years of contact lenses, too.

F I R S T B L O O D

It’s the most versatile, egalitarian fabric in your wardrobe, yet it’s the easiest to get wrong, too. From the street to the boardroom, never has there been more choice. Navigate your options with style

THE NEW RULES OF

DENIM

108 / WORKING NIGHTSHow to give black tie a blue edge

110 / GREY MATTERSFour ways to broaden your palette

124 / CRAFTED TO LASTWhere function and form intersect

130 / JEAN MAPPINGOur denim expert’s masterclass

122 / GUIDE TO SELVEDGEGet clued in on quality and care

115 / WHITE-COLLAR BLUESMake office-denim work for you

GUIDE TO STYLE__

03 / 16

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MENSHEALTH.CO.UK108 – MEN’S HEALTH

WORDS BY JAMIE MILLAR

WORKING NIGHTS

Black tie is the stuffiest dress code of all. Denim

allows you to be subversive without flaunting the rules

As a man of the style world, you will

probably be familiar with the phrase

‘Canadian tuxedo’, a pejorative byword

for lamentably one-note attempts at

pulling of double denim. You’re probably

even proficient at combining contrasting

shades. But a denim dress shirt? Allow

us to explain: although this is made from

the same utilitarian material as your

jeans, it’s more show pony than shire.

“The construction and design are

exactly what you’d expect from a quality

dress shirt,” says Sam Kershaw, luxury

buyer at Mr Porter. “That the fabric is

made from denim doesn’t detract from

this, but it does breathe freshness into

what can be a conservative dress code.”

Of course, it helps that the label reads

Brunello Cucinelli – shirts don’t come

more premium than his – but it’s not a

case of working because the price point

demands it must. This is a genuinely

smart way of subverting tradition.

Just under no circumstances consider

wearing it with a denim Stetson. We’re

looking at you, Justin Timberlake.

Blue StealA denim dress shirt is

just informal enough to

wear casually too –

“perhaps with chinos and

an unstructured blazer,”

says Kershaw – while

giving your look an edge

PHOTOGRAPHY BY OLLY BURN

BLAZER PART OF A TUXEDO £4240 SHIRT £510 AND POCKET SQUARE £100 ALL BRUNELLO CUCINELLI BOW TIE STYLIST’S OWN

INSTANT UPGRADE

03 / 16 – GUIDE STYLE / THE NEW RULES OF DENIM

110 – MEN’S HEALTH MENSHEALTH.CO.UK

GREY MATTERSBlue might dominate the denim colour chart but why limit your palette? Master black, grey and white denim shades with some expert advice

THE CLOSE UP

WORDS BY MATT HAMBLY

STYLING BY ERIC DOWN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOBE LAWRENSON

Fade To Black

If your faithful dark jeans are losing their colour, don’t think about discarding them.

Washed-black is making a return this year with Levi’s and Natural Selection ofering

their jeans pre-faded. It’s also a nod to Saint Laurent’s Hedi Slimane, who has brought

back the skinny-rock-star look to catwalks, though if you rarely skip legs day, a denim

jacket under a leather jacket is a more flattering choice. “To keep the perfect shade,

never tumble dry,” says Damien Paul, head of menswear at matchesfashion.com.

LEATHER JACKET £498 ALLSAINTS

DENIM JACKET £170 BLK DNMDENIM SHIRT £30 TOPMAN

JEANS £80 LEVI’STRAINERS £70 ADIDAS

BELT £50 THE BRITISH BELT COMPANY

WATCH £365 VICTORINOX

MEN’S HEALTH – 111MENSHEALTH.CO.UK

Feeling washed out? A hint of camel

will add warmth to an all-grey

ensemble

White Here, White Now

A white jacket will add bulk to your frame – the lighter colour draws the eye up the

body and emphasises your top half – but a precise fit will ensure this is a good thing.

“White denim is coming back strongly,” says Paul, “and wearing it with less formal

items makes it feel less dated.” In practice we would recommend a loopback sweater

(loopback referring to the way the jersey is woven back on itself to wick away sweat

and help prevent pilling), washed grey jeans and minimalist black trainers.

JACKET £50 TOPMANSWEATER £60 GYMPHLEX

JEANS £75 CARHARTT WIPHAT £45 ADYN X OLAF

SUNGLASSES £125 RETROSUPERFUTURE

TRAINERS £265 N0 288BELT £35 THE BRITISH

BELT COMPANYWATCH £1180 G-SHOCK

THE NEW RULES OF DENIM / GUIDE STYLE – 03 / 16


THE CLOSE UP

Trash your boots, not your jeans; keep them rolled up to save the hem

The New Clean

Newsflash: when it comes to white jeans, the pristine look, popular with Euro yacht

owners and certain reality TV stars, is on the way out. “Under no circumstances would

I advise you to pair white jeans with a blazer or boat shoes”, says Paul. Instead, think

sturdy boots and a washed denim shirt as preferable partners, softening the efect of

your crystalline white denim and modernising it. “Keeping them clean is always tough,

but don’t ever be tempted to bleach them,” advises Paul. “They’ll just go yellow.”

SHIRT £98 ALLSAINTSSWEATSHIRT £105 RON DORFF

JEANS £188 AG JEANSBAG £1095 JIMMY CHOOBOOTS £229 RED WING

WATCH £339 THOMAS SABOBELT £55 BRYDON BROTHERS

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A black watch and briefcase break the all- grey monotony without being

garish

Utility Player

“Grey is the lowest-maintenance denim of all. You don’t need to worry about it

fading, and the more beaten up it looks, the better it looks,” says Paul. However,

to avoid looking like a rain cloud, opt for diferent textured items to help break up

the monotony. The brushed wool of this overcoat paired with the washed denim

of the jacket makes for a contrast that demonstrates you know that it’s not

just cut and fabric that mark you out from the masses.

COAT £1995 KILGOURJACKET £65 LEVI’S

SHIRT £99 TIGER OF SWEDENTIE £65 OLIVER SPENCER

SWEATER £25 UNIQLOSHOES £970 JOHN LOBB

BAG £750 MULBERRYWATCH £450 MONDAINEBELT £90 ANDERSON’S


BLUE DENIMWHITE COLLAR

Recently the working man’s uniform has, with a little refinement, been welcomed in the boardroom. Learn how to turn up, not dress down, and watch your stock rise

THE PORTFOLIO



PHOTOGRAPHY BY OLLY BURN

COAT £1450 BALLYBLAZER £610

EMPORIO ARMANISWEATER £65 LE SLIP FRANÇAIS

SHIRT £70 ORIGINAL PENGUIN

DENIM TROUSERS £225 BLK DNM

SUNGLASSES RAY-BAN STYLIST’S OWN

WATCH £800 MONDAINEBAG £1470 TOD’S


Blue is the new black

Would you ever wear a white

suit to work? Liverpool’s

ill-fated 1996 FA Cup squad

aside, the answer to that is:

of course not. The same goes

for your jeans. “In the ofice

your denim should, as a rule,

remain dark,” says Daniel

Rhone, Selfridges’ personal

shopping consultant. “The

benefits to this are twofold:

to better complement your

trousers or jacket, and to

look more professional with

it.” To achieve the latter,

your jeans should emulate

more traditional tailoring in

terms of cut and, crucially,

colour. The only kind of pro

to wear stonewash jeans

tends to have a penchant

for power ballads.

01Dark jacket requiredA dark overcoat contrasts well

with the lighter denim and helps

make everything look smarter,

suggesting that you’ve made an

efort, even if you haven’t.

02Business folderIf you like your jeans longer than a

traditional suit leg – which should

sit on the shoe with little break in

the fabric – a judicious turn up can

work well. Fold neatly, never roll.

03Blue denim, suede shoesSoften the contrast (and therefore

the patent diference) between

your shoes and jeans by opting for

a matte material like suede instead

of high-shine leather. It’s sleeker.

01

02

03

COAT £370 APCBLAZER £2200 KILGOUR

DENIM SHIRT £180 ACNE STUDIOS

JEANS £145 LEVI’S MADE & CRAFTED

SHOES £145 MASSIMO DUTTIGLASSES £185 HYDE’S

SPECTACLESWATCH £800 MONDAINE

BRIEFCASE £425 ASPINAL OF LONDON

THE PORTFOLIO

116 – MEN’S HEALTH

The fabric of business

The stratospheric rise of

Mark Zuckerberg and his ilk

has made the tech-slacker

look acceptable in business

circles. But if your analogue

ofice is still catching up,

the safest way to introduce

denim is not on your waist

but about your person.

“Plenty of denim shirts are

cut formally these days,”

says Rhone, “but no matter

how smart they look, it’s

often sensible to pair with

softer fabrics than that of

a finely milled wool suit.”

Instead, opt for a linen mix,

the texture of which will be

much rougher and look more

at home with the denim.

01 Spread betting The cutaway collar

on this shirt, usually

reserved for more

formal occasions,

shows of as much of

your tie, and its knot,

as possible. Give it

the healthy Windsor

it deserves for a new

take on smart casual.

02 Turn the tideIf all these blues are

getting you down,

end the monotony

with an oatmeal

shawl-neck cardigan.

Its yellowy tones will

complement your

blue denim without

making your outfit

appear scrufy.

03Devil’s detailsYour tie is a perfect

way to add the sort

of colour that you

wouldn’t wear en

masse into your

outfit. As it’s only in

small doses you can

aford to be bold here

and go for something

like maroon.

CARDIGAN £375 JOHNSTONS OF ELGIN

WAISTCOAT £215 AND TROUSERS £285 BOTH POLO

RALPH LAUREN DENIM SHIRT £410 BRUNELLO

CUCINELLITIE £125 DRAKE’S

WATCH £595 88 RUE DU RHONE

02

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MEN’S HEALTH – 117


BLAZER £225 LANDS’ ENDCARDIGAN £159 JOHN SMEDLEY SHIRT £85 AND TIE £85 BOTH

POLO RALPH LAURENDENIM JEANS £185 NUDIE JEANSPOCKET SQUARE £100 BRUNELLO

CUCINELLIGLASSES £150 HACKETT

BESPOKEWATCH £400 UNIFORM WARES

PEN £625 CARAN D’ACHE

02

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Prepped for success

The denim blazer isn’t one

for shrinking violets. While

other looks in this portfolio

are about stealth subversion,

a piece like this announces

itself with a basso profundo

roar. But have the swagger

to pull it of and it’s a good

look. “Don’t dress it up like

a standard woollen suit,”

says Rhone. “Worn with a silk

tie and poplin shirt, a jacket

like this looks ridiculous. Far

better to match with a knitted

tie and Oxford.” This will

lend your ensemble an urban

Ivy League feel, as opposed

to the kind of man who wears

his double-cuf work shirts

with red jeans on a weekend.

01White is rightIf in doubt, do the

white thing. In the

ofice, a white shirt

is your best friend,

whether you take

your style cues from

Savile Row or Bond

Street. This jacket

goes particularly well

with brushed cotton.

02Ties that bindKnitted ties have

more character than

standard silk and

will hold up better

against a competing

fabric such as denim.

Asymmetric knots

like a four-in-hand

work best with more

casual-looking fabric.

03Hanging cuffIt may be constructed

from denim, but a

blazer must play by

blazer rules in terms

of fit and proportion.

That means always

ensuring you can see

half an inch of shirt

sleeve when your

arms are by your side.

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THE PORTFOLIO

118 – MEN’S HEALTH

03

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Hiding in plain sight

Making a statement with your

outfit is a diferent concept

to ‘statement dressing’. The

first suggests using your

clothes to subtly yet forcibly

communicate a powerful

sense of yourself. The other

invariably means looking like

a twerp. The point here is

not to scream about the fact

you’re wearing denim at

work. “Often the best way to

use denim in your outfit is

to draw the eye’s attention

elsewhere and ask people

to focus on a bright coat or

bag,” says Rhone. The denim

becomes a sober part of the

ensemble, not the highlight.

01Find a roll to playA light-gauge rollneck like this one

from Uniqlo is a highly acceptable

substitute for a shirt and tie, and

thus the perfect way to elevate

a denim jacket. Less ironing, too.

02Button yourself upIn this context, a classic denim

jacket by Topman under a topcoat

efectively becomes a heavily

textured shirt. Buttoning it all the

way reinforces the formality.

03Pattern recognitionTraditional workwear detailing

tends not to deviate from lines,

pinstripes and checks. These

patterned strides from Cos prove

you needn’t feel so restrained.

COAT £395 WHISTLES DENIM JACKET £65 TOPMAN

ROLLNECK £25 UNIQLOTROUSERS £79 COS

BRIEFCASE £2400 DIOR HOMME

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MEN’S HEALTH – 119


01

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Working progress

From the Marlboro man to

The Libertines, the denim

jacket hasn’t evolved much.

Which is why our heads turn

any time we see something

genuinely diferent. This

four-buttoned coat is longer

in the body than a regular

denim jacket, complete with

properly cut arms and sleeve

buttons. “Because this cut is

closer to a formal jacket, it

can be worn exactly like one,

too,” says Rhone. “So you’re

not so much subverting the

ofice uniform as playing

with texture.” Note that this

is hard to dress down: great

with a shirt; a T-shirt less so.

01Don’t play it looseGoing tie-less is fine; unbuttoning

to the chest is not. A fastened top

button under a crew neck is just

soigné enough. NB It should never

be referred to as an ‘air tie’.

02Spend less, no sweatMerino wool or cashmere are the

discerning man’s favoured knits,

but for a street-prep feel, sub it

for a classic grey sweatshirt. It’s

arguably warmer in winter, too.

03Pull up the slacksFlat-fronted trousers (as opposed

to suit trousers with an ironed-in

crease) are less formal and pair

with a sweat better. Think Steve

McQueen does The Apprentice.

DENIM JACKET £2794 NEIL BARRETT

JUMPER £190 LYLE & SCOTT LONDONSHIRT £55 FARAH

TROUSERS £190 APCWATCH £695 RAYMOND WEIL

BAG £495 LA PORTEGNA

THE PORTFOLIO




It’s spelled selvedge, not selvage

There’s selvedge and selvedge

The former is the British spelling;

the latter is, like the Texas tuxedo,

an Americanism. It’s a contraction

of ‘self-edging’ fabric. “‘Selvage’

mistakenly leads people to think

it’s ‘salvaged’,” adds Kiya Babzani

of leading denim retailer Self Edge.

Shuttle looms fell out of fashion

in favour of mass-production,

until the vintage-loving Japanese

revived them. Now every high-

street brand is doing selvedge.

“None of it is good,” says Babzani.

As ever, you get what you pay for.

Going For Gold

“The most legit selvedge is made by a tiny

Japanese brand called Strike Gold,” says Babzani.

“It’s always the most exciting thing at the Tokyo

trade shows. The way the stuf ages, you’ve never

seen anything like it. It’s three dimensional.”

Sanforisation is a tragically

widespread process that

prevents your strides from

shrinking, but hampers their

Clooney-like ageing powers.

Selvedge jeans traditionally

come long in the leg. “Back

when denim meant workwear,

all jeans came in one length;

your local tailor would hem

them or you’d roll them up,”

says Babzani. Unsanforised

pairs shrink about 3in when

washed, which is why Babzani

advocates soaking before

wearing and indeed hemming

them. But not climbing in the

bath while wearing them.

SELVEDGEThis fetishised fabric is no longer the

preserve of denim purists, but pick at the threads of what’s labelled ‘selvedge’ and it quickly unravels. MH is on hand to help

A FASHION SNOB’S GUIDE TO...


ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALCONIC

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KAT PISIOLEK

INSIDE LEG

INFORMATION

Selvedge is not proof of quality

Like all pre-’60s denim, selvedge

is made on less reliable shuttle

looms; its irregularities give it

character. “But string up a shuttle

loom with bad cotton and you won’t

get great denim,” says Babzani.

The loom is not the only factor.

Terms Of Engagement

Selvedge is prized for its authenticity and the way it

ages – like a fine wine, only with sweeter fades. But

it’s a word that is bandied about a lot and too often

abused. Consider this your denimhead dictionary.

“For the selvedge look and feel that

that ages the most appealingly,”

“Japanese factories have an eye for

manufacturing garments that I’ve not

really seen anywhere else. A typical

Japanese jean has a stitch count

VSJEANS MADE FROM

JAPANESE SELVEDGESELVEDGE JEANS MADE IN JAPAN

“For the selvedge look and feel that

most people are into, the Japanese

make the best, most interesting fabric

that ages the most appealingly,”

says Babzani. “If you take Japanese

selvedge and ship it to a factory in

Montreal or Los Angeles or Tunisia,

you may have a great fabric but I

guarantee you that the sewing quality

will be nowhere near the Japanese.”

“Japanese factories have an eye for

manufacturing garments that I’ve not

really seen anywhere else. A typical

Japanese jean has a stitch count 20%

higher than a typical good-quality jean

made elsewhere – which is a lot with

something woven that chunky. The

overall feel of Japanese-made jeans

is very diferent. You can just tell.”

Alternatively, you can check the label.

VS


Swerving the laundrette to

‘prevent loss of indigo’ will

wreck your jeans. “Denim gets

brittle over time,” Babzani

says. Washing makes it more

pliable. Stick them in the

machine on cold every five

weeks with a gentle detergent

such as Woolite Black, then

air-dry. Your jeans, not to

mention friends, will thank you.

Only wash selvedge jeans in the sea“Why? You’d have to wash your jeans

normally afterwards anyway,” says

Babzani. “Jeans that have been

washed this way do not smell good.”

Buy a size down as they will stretch“They can stretch up to an inch and

a half in the waist. But only if you buy

them tight. If they’re not tight, they

won’t stretch. Just buy jeans that fit.”

Always hang rather than fold them“The jeans come folded from the

factory. They’re shipped folded.

They’re folded at the retailer. I fail to

see how folding could be damaging.”

Put them in the freezer to kill the bacteria“You don’t need to do that. If that’s

what gets you of and it’s fun, fine:

it’s not going to damage the jeans.

But if they smell, just wash them.”

Cleaning Up Confusion

Mapping Your Jean Type

Most selvedge is marketed as ‘raw’ or unwashed (although some brands

like RRL do sell pre-washed selvedge). Despite that, it’s also been heavily

processed, limiting its character-building potential. “You want your denim

to be as close as possible to ‘loomstate’ – the way the fabric is when it

comes of the loom, before it’s treated,” says Babzani. “The more texture

you can see and feel, the better. You don’t want anything too flat.”

iv / SelvedgeThe actual ‘self-

edge’ is tape-like in

appearance with

a coloured thread or

‘ID’ – usually red, but

originally added to

diferentiate between

brands’ fabrics.

i / RivetsThese are metal

fasteners placed at

high-tension points.

They’re usually brass,

but some brands

have unique designs

or use materials that

age like iron or copper.

ii / Bar tacksStitching reinforces

the aforementioned

tension points. This

is sometimes seen

as a line (or ‘bar’),

sometimes an X,

sometimes coloured.

vii / ArcuateThe stitching that

‘arcs’ over the back

pocket – the arcuate

– serves no purpose

other than to look

cool, diferentiate

brands and spark

denimhead debate.

v / Button flyFiddlier but also

generally sturdier

and longer-lasting

than a zip, a button

fly is also a sign

that the jean is not

sanforised (see left),

as a zip would buckle

with shrinkage.

vi / Pocket liningIt’s perhaps not the

sexiest feature, but

worth looking out for

nonetheless as it

roughly doubles the

life of your pocket

(and halves your

chances of losing

your phone).iii / WeftThis is the extra yarn

that creates the

contrast when you

turn up your jeans to

show of the thin red

line. Traditionally

white or undyed, but

can be coloured.

SELVEDGE MYTHS THAT JUST DON’T WASH



CRAFTED TO LASTToday it proliferates the street, but denim has its

roots in rugged workwear, built to stand the job. Meet the men who still wear it as god – and Levi – intended

MEN AT WORK



PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAM BARKER

GUTT

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The Mould MakerGlen Homer works for a collective of carpenters, fabricators and metal workers called London Mouldmakers. His clothes take a hammering

“Right now, I’m working on

the base of a three-metre-high

Buddha, but a normal day can

go from working with resins to

fibreglass or carpentry. I buy

denim from H&M because the

cost means I don’t mind if they

get ruined (I get through a pair

every six months). I always go

for a medium-weight denim,

especially in shirts and jackets,

because it’s hardwearing

without being too restrictive.”

INSIDE KNOWLEDGE The denim

overshirt Glen is wearing here is

made by British brand Margaret

Howell. The deep indigo will

fade with age and use, creating

a ‘wear pattern’ (referring to

details like the arm creases and

colour loss on stress points)

that’s unique to the wearer.

londonmouldmakers.co.uk

SHIRT £140 AG JEANS OVERSHIRT £145 MHL MARGARET HOWELL

JEANS £140 WHISTLES X EDWIN

APRON GLEN’S OWN



MEN AT WORK

“I have a practical approach to

jeans. I want a sustainable brand

that ofers heavyweight denim;

16oz and over is good as that

lasts. I also like proper rivets and

a bootcut, to fit over my work

boots. The breaking in of the

cloth means the fabric evolves

to fit my body. I do find it curious

that people buy new jeans that

are already worn in. Bronze

pouring means it doesn’t take

long to get that look by myself.”

INSIDE KNOWLEDGE Denim is

traditionally measured in ounces

per square yard. Up to 12oz is

lightweight, 12-16oz is mid-weight

and above that is heavyweight.

The Iron Heart jeans Stephen is

wearing here clock in at 21oz.

stephenmelton.co.uk

The Bronze FounderStephen Melton is an expert in pouring metals, so his denim has to handle the heat of the furnace

SHIRT £75 FINISTERREJEANS £226 IRON HEART

APRON AND BOOTS STEPHEN’S OWN


The ConcreteSculptorAndres Ayerbe considers his hardwearing jeans to be another tool he needs at his creative disposal

The Rag And Bone ManPaul Firbank uses scrap parts to create bespoke furniture. His workwear is built for impact

“I use jeans for work a lot, so they

get messed up pretty badly with

paint, glue, grease and oils. I love

the feeling of wiping of paint

from my hands on a pair of jeans.

My favourites right now have

zipper pockets, which are very

handy to keep stuf in around the

workshop. Before those, my go-to

jeans were a very simple black

pair from Uniqlo. Black is good

for the workshop as they can

get quite dirty and still look OK,

but after ripping them badly,

I decided to cut them of above

the knee. On average, jeans give

me six months of hard wear.”

“You can’t go far wrong with

denim as it wears so well. I’m into

slightly baggy-fitting jeans, dark

blue and the heavier the better

as I put them through a hard day.

I also keep meaning to buy some

motorcycle protection jeans with

Kevlar insides that may just

save the tattoos on my legs if

I were to be in a smash.”

INSIDE KNOWLEDGE As you’ll read

in our snob’s guide to selvedge

(see p122), the old adage that

washing your denim is bad is

wrong. However, to preserve

the inky depths of a new black

pair, wash them inside out, on

a cool cycle and use a denim-

friendly detergent such as Mr

Black’s Denim Wash (£13.50).

noot.club

INSIDE KNOWLEDGE If you wish to

purchase the hardest-wearing

jeans of all, you can find Kevlar

reinforced denim from Triumph

Motorcycles from about £159.

theragandboneman.co.uk

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SHIRT £110 LEVI’S MADE & CRAFTED

JACKET £179 HAWKSMILLJEANS £140 WHISTLES

X EDWINBOOTS £269 RED WING

SHIRT £180 ACNE STUDIOS

SWEATSHIRT £85 NUDIE JEANS

JEANS ANDRES’ OWNBOOTS £90 PALLADIUM



What was the gateway drug

for your denim addiction?

My first jeans-related

memory is that of my mother

buying me a pair of raw

Levi’s to shrink-fit in the bath,

around 1980. But my personal

passion for denim began

in the mid-’90s when I was

living in Japan: I started

buying replicas of the original

Levi’s from the ’40s and

’50s by new brands such as

Full Count and Evisu.

So what’s the pride and joy

of your collection?

My first pair of jeans by

Yamane, the founder of Evisu.

They’re called ‘Labor’ and

pre-date Evisu. They’re real

insider’s jeans; I bought them

from another collector. I also

value the first-edition Levi’s

replicas – the Nevada, for

example. And of course my

beloved Natural Selection

first samples and the No

Evil jeans that we made with

fabric from [US denim

Mecca] White Oak.

You studied maths at

Cambridge. Is there a

formula for perfect jeans?

It’s subjective, but lasting

quality plus fit plus finish,

I would say, in that order.

Which men of note wore

denim best, in your opinion?

James Dean, Paul Newman

and Freddie Mercury.

What are you currently

wearing most?

I wear our light car coat in

navy all the time. It’s good

trans-seasonal outerwear.

As a denimhead, who in the

industry do you admire?

I have a deep respect and

love for 45rpm and Junya

Watanabe Man. 45rpm does

indigo best, and Junya’s

cutting is an inspiration.

Which denim trend excites

you? And which do you wish

would become extinct?

Patchwork is interesting,

although, like most trends,

a double-edge sword if

badly executed. But the

denim fabric that followed on

from the jegging, where it’s

actually a jogging pant made

to look like jeans? Stop it.

Where do men tend to go

wrong with denim?

Too many men think that

because denim is casual, they

don’t have to care about how

they look. Please make sure it

fits. Also, bad washes scream

cheapness. No one thinks

you’re a miner from 19th

century San Francisco, just

that you spilt some bleach.

is about evolution, how has

your own style evolved?

As I’ve gotten older and more

reconciled with my own skin,

my taste has become more

muted and subtle. Luckily,

social media didn’t exist when

I was committing some of my

worst fashion crimes.

What was the dress sense

like in the financial sector?

When I worked in the City

and on Wall Street, most guys

wore suits and looked good

in them. But toward the end

of my time in the industry,

casual Fridays came into play.

It was like the tide going out

on a badly polluted beach.

In a predominantly male

environment, most guys don’t

care about their clothes.

What advice do you have for

would-be entrepreneurs?

Be careful, especially with

cash flow. Don’t be dogmatic:

be humble and ready to evolve.

naturalselectionlondon.com

DENIM JACKET £150 NATURAL SELECTION

NYLON BOMBER £340 NATURAL SELECTION


JEAN MAPPINGNatural Selection founder John Parks quit a career in finance in 2009. These are his best denim investments

THE Q&ASTOCKISTS 88 Rue Du Rhone 88rdr.comAcne Studios acnestudios.comAdidas adidas.co.ukADYN x Olaf adyn.co.ukAllSaints allsaints.comAnderson’s mrporter.comAPC apc.frAspinal of London aspinaloflondon.com Bally bally.co.ukBLK DNM harveynichols.comBritish Belt Company thebritishbeltcompany.co.ukBrunello Cucinelli brunellocucinelli.comBrydon Brothers brydonbrothers.comCaran D’Ache carandache.comCarhartt WIP shop.carhartt-wip.comCOS cosstores.comDior Homme dior.comDrake’s drakes.comEmporio Armani armani.comFarah farah.co.ukFinisterre finisterreuk.comG-Shock g-shock.co.ukGymphlex gymphlex.co.ukHackett Bespoke hackett.comHawksmill hawksmill.comHyde’s Spectacles hydesspectacles.comIron Heart rivetandhide.comJimmy Choo jimmychoo.comJohn Lobb johnlobb.comJohn Smedley johnsmedley.comJohnston of Elgin johnstonscashmere.comKilgour kilgour.comLa Portegna laportegna.comLands’ End landsend.co.ukLe Slip Français leslipfrancais.fr/enLevi’s levi.comLevi’s Made & Crafted levi.comLudwig Reiter ludwig-reiter.com/enLyle & Scott London lyleandscott.comMassimo Dutti massimodutti.comMHL by Margaret Howell margarethowell.co.ukMondaine mondaine.comMulberry mulberry.comNeil Barrett harrods.comNudie Jeans nudiejeans.comNumber 288 endclothing.comOliver Spencer oliverspencer.co.ukOriginal Penguin originalpenguin.co.ukPalladium palladiumboots.com/ukPolo Ralph Lauren ralphlauren.co.ukRaymond Weil raymond-weil.comRed Wing redwingheritage.euRetrosuperfuture retrosuperfuture.comRon Dorff rondorff.comThomas Sabo thomassabo.comTiger of Sweden tigerofsweden.comTod’s tods.comTopman topman.comUniform Wares uniformwares.comUniqlo uniqlo.com/ukVictorinox victorinoxwatches.comWhistles whistles.comWhistles X Edwin whistles.com

JUST BECAUSE DENIM IS CASUAL DOESN’T EXCUSE

LACK OF CARE



THE KIT YOU NEED TO TRI EASIER P/ 147

PERSONAL

TRAINERBecause fit is the new rich

EDITED BY JACK HART

NFL MUSCLE, SUPERBOWL SIZE

P/ 140

SHAKE OFF SORENESSP/ 145

STRETCH YOUR STRENGTH P/ 139 CALISTHENICS

MADE SIMPLEP/ 136

NACHO REGULAR MUSCLE MEAL

P/ 135


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LESS PREP, MORE GAINSPT / 03.2016

A double hit of eggs packs this Mex-fest mug with 18g of protein, rivalling any lumpy shake. Along with avocado’s heart-enriching fats, our cheat’s chilaquiles will fuel your growth and make you the envy of your office amigos

FORM IN A TEACUPMICROWAVE MUSCLE #14

YOU WILL NEED... Tortilla chips,

handful

Eggs, 2

Jalapeños, 1tsp

Mature cheddar,

1tbsp, grated

Small avocado,

½, sliced

Seasoning

TIME TO MAKE

5MIN

PROTEIN

18GCALORIES

405FAT

28G

GIVE DULL AL DESKO LUNCHES MEX APPEAL

014

12

10 8

6

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2

YOUR ANTI-CANCER RANCH SAUCE

A bantamweight dressing

with knockout power

Add 250g Greek yoghurt + 50ml buttermilk

+ bunch of dill + 2 garlic cloves + ½tsp Dijon

mustard to a blender. Blitz the lot together

until the mix is smooth.

Add the juice of 1 lemon

+ salt and pepper, to taste.

Mix with a spoon or give it

another quick blitz.

POWER SAUCE #12

GIVE RANCH FREE REINMost ranch dressing is dripping with fat. This lighter, mightier choice is packed with cancer- crushing garlic, while Greek yoghurt’s protein will repair sore muscles

0-1MINIf your kitchen skills leave

little to be desired, it’s nacho

problem: all you do here is

roughly crumble the tortilla

chips into a large mug.

014

12

10 8

6

4

2

014

12

10 8

6

4

2

1-4MINBeat your eggs with jalapeños

and cheese, then pour the mix

over your crushed tortillas.

Stick it in the microwave and

blitz on high for about 3min.

4-5MINTop the protein fiesta

with tortillas, avocado

and chilli powder to hike

your metabolism. Now

hotfoot it to your desk.

RD

A O F ‘ S U N S HIN E VI T

’ D

50%

136 MEN’S HEALTH

03L-SIT3 SETS OF 10 SECONDSThe prolonged tension here will build

core strength to rival any gymnast. Arms

locked, raise your legs to 90 degrees

(A); keep them straight. Lower after 10

seconds (B) – and try not to wobble.

01STANDARD DIP3 SETS OF 10 REPSStandard dips they might be, but their

efect is anything but. Start with arms

extended (A), then lower until your arms

are at 90 degrees (B). Press back up

with your triceps for enhanced definition.

02DEEP PRESS-UP3 SETS OF 12 REPSAdopt a press-up position, one hand

on either bar, feet raised. Lower slowly;

when your chest reaches the parallettes

(A), press up explosively until you’re

back in the starting position (B).

SET A NEW BAR FOR ABS DEFINITION

Parallettes are your helping hand toward pro-level calisthenics, with the resultant core strength and shirt-filling size. Keeping your body under tension strips fat and boosts growth in one fell swoop, leaving nothing behind but chiselled muscle. It’s time to give your bodyweight training a lift

1 BIT OF KIT, 10 WAYS #9

04STRADDLE HOLD3 SETS OF 10 SECONDSSet the bars close and squat with feet

outside them (A); if yours are too tall,

grab a couple of chairs to get into

position. Brace your arms and shoulders,

then raise your legs to either side (B).

A

B

A

B

PT / 03.2016

A

B

A

B

MEN’S HEALTH 137

06HANDSTAND3 SETS OF 10 SECONDSLet the parallettes take your weight (A),

then throw your legs up; rest your heels

against a wall, if needed (B). Maintain

tension in your glutes and abs.

SPEC

MUSCLES USED

WORKOUT

40 MIN

RESULTS IN

4DAYS

LEVEL

HARD

10PLANCHE NEGATIVE PRESS-UP3 SETS OF 12 REPSFrom a tuck planche (A), lower until your

arms are at 90 degrees (B). Don’t lean

into your arms for support – good form

hurts but builds serious triceps definition.

05TUCK PLANCHE3 SETS OF 20 SECONDSCarve boulder shoulders by tucking your

planche. In a press-up position, feet on

a chair (A), tense your core and bring

your feet into your chest (B). Hold still.

07HANDSTAND PRESS-UP3 SETS OF 8 REPSToo easy? This time, keep your feet on

the wall for stability (A) and lower until

your arms are at right angles (B). Press

up to full extension. Listen for applause.

09CLOSE-GRIP INCLINE PRESS-UP3 SETS OF 15 REPSAdopt a press-up position on a paralette,

hands a few inches apart (A). When your

chest hits your hands (B), press back up.

Widen your grip if your triceps burn.

08INVERTED SHOULDER PRESS3 SETS OF 12 REPSLean forward and bend at the knees to

grip the bars with your palms facing in (A).

Lower until your shoulders are in line with

your hands (B). You’ll feel this in your delts.

A

B

BUILD A CALISTHENICS CORE

DO THE HOMEWORK BEFORE SHOWBOATING WITH YOUR #FITFAM

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Squarer bars provide a more stable platform MH Parallettes £40 argos.co.uk

POWER BARS

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TRADE SECRETSPT / 03.2016

EXPERT Phil Sims

EXPERIENCE Heavy

weights aren’t things

you can pick up in

an afternoon... well,

you can, but first

consult top PT and

online coach Sims

CONTACT

philsimspt.co.uk

NA-MASS-TELifting heavy stresses your

muscles faster than regular

workouts. Forego your

reservations about yoga and

sandwich your weights session

with downward dogs and warrior

poses. It’ll reduce

back pain, oxygenate your

muscles, enhance mobility and

even help you chill out a bit.

WILL GOING HEAVY BUILD SIZE FASTER?

Enter the barbell-swinging contest on your own terms by knowing exactly how hard to push it. These guidelines will make lighter work of heavy going to build more muscle per titanic rep

DOUBLE UPAttempting a 1-rep max holds no real

benefits for anyone other than pro

weightlifters. And it’s a shortcut to

nasty injuries, too. Heavier weights are

fine – and great for packing on bulk – but

stick to a 2-3-rep max tops. Setting a PB

in this range is where the rewards lie.

BIG POPPACafeine pills boost adrenaline and

cortisol, both of which need to be

high if you want a 2-3-rep max

worth all the efort. Keep your

head in the game by popping one

200mg capsule about an hour

before training. Cafeine also has

a positive efect on long-term

memory, found Johns Hopkins

University, so you won’t forget to

brag about your achievements.

BACK TO BASICSGoing barefoot encourages a natural

ankle movement when squatting,

while studies show it also makes deadlifts

more eficient. Keep the rest of your kit on

though; the science only goes so far.

LIFT BIG, REST BIGPiling on the plates will blitz your central nervous

system, so a standard 60-second rest won’t cut it.

Even if you don’t feel fatigued, take a seat for three

to five minutes; the University of Utah found sitting

encourages recovery better than standing.

WRAP UPKnee straps support the

joint during big lifts, while

belts aid your lower back.

Plus Medicine & Science

in Sports & Exercise

found belts improve your

strength by increasing

intra-abdominal pressure.

BURN AT BOTH ENDS

Training for a big performance

means increasing strength

throughout the whole

movement. Focus on lower

weights and a slow tempo

to improve the bottom end

of a rep; use dynamic

lifts to better

the top part.

SPOT THE LIFTER

Boldly going where no you has

gone before is a risky business.

To avoid anything worse than a

red face, train with a buddy when

shooting for a PB – it’s safer,

and gives you an even bigger

rush of endorphins, according

to the University of Oxford.

PT / 03.2016

BUILD SPEED TO BURNThis agility-focused circuit will send your metabolism through the roof. Not only will you shed weight, the rapid movements encourage better coordination and balance in game situations – whether you’re outpacing linebackers or blitzing Thursday night’s five-a-side. Run through these moves one after the other with no rest; break for two full minutes before repeating. Aim for two sessions a week, big guy.

Extremes of athleticism are the power play of the NFL. MH teamed up with top LA football gym Unbreakable to design two circuits that will prime you for a game-changing performance in any sport. Huddle up – it’s go time

02

01B

140 MEN’S HEALTH

PHOT

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PHY:

PHI

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LIPS

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9 TR

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AND

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FIT

SHOR

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BOTH

NIK

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01A

BIG-GAME ATHLETICISM

THE SPECMUSCLES TARGETED

WORKOUT

08MIN

RESULTS IN

2WEEKS

LEVEL

EASY

01

HEEL FLICK30 SECONDSWe’re not just warming

up here: building to a fast

cadence on the balls of your

feet will pay dividends when

dodging 110kg guys in

head-to-toe body armour

– or if you want to pick up

your pace on your next

#parkrun. Place your hands

on your glutes and keep

your back straight (A). With

your knees down, jog on

the spot, flicking your heels

up to kick your hands (B).

02SIDE-TO-SIDE JUMP40 SECONDSBulging quads aren’t forged

sat on the bench; get up and

jump over it. Stand to the

side and place both hands

at the top. Brace your knees,

keeping your head up to

avoid rounding your spine,

and jump from one side to

the other. Make sure to keep

your hands in contact with it

at all times. Don’t be tempted

to sit down when your time’s

up. Go straight on to the next

move without pausing.

MEN’S HEALTH 141

03B

04B

03

QUICK STEP-UP15 SECONDS EACH SIDEFind a platform 12-18in high.

Now prepare to hate it. Step

onto the box with your right

foot and bring your left to

the same level (A), then step

back down in the same order

(B). Too easy? Crank up the

pace: drive your arms faster

to spike your heart rate and

burn more calories, or raise

the height of the platform if

you’re finding it more ‘step’

than ‘up’. No rest yet – move

on to your final exercise.

04

SQUAT JUMP20 SECONDSPowerful plyometric jumps

are the perfect way to finish

your high-speed circuit. With

your feet at shoulder width,

squat to 90 degrees (A).

Jump explosively, driving

your arms up for momentum

(B). When you hit the ground,

sink into the squat and go

again. Rest for two minutes,

then repeat the full circuit.

Consider this your express

ticket to the Superbowl; the

2017 season isn’t far away…

04A

03A

PILE ON MUSCLEAbsolute power competes absolutely, no matter if you’re a behemoth linebacker or simply pushing for a new PB. This circuit uses compound moves to provide unparalleled growth stimulus. Perform all four exercises in a row without any rest, then take a two-minute break before starting from the top to finish the whole routine four times in total. Do it twice a week for jumbotron gains.

01CHEST PRESS10 REPSGrab two dumbbells and lie

flat on a bench. Hold the

weights above your chest,

palms facing away from you

(A). Slowly lower them until

the weights are in line with

your chest (B), then press

up explosively. Draw out the

eccentric (lowering) phase

of the move to six seconds.

Sustained tension stresses

the muscles beyond what

regular lifting achieves, for

greater power in your pecs.

02SQUAT TO PRESS10 REPSThis one’s tough, admittedly,

but combining two huge lifts

into one move boosts your

testosterone levels, charging

your body to build mass and

torch fat. With a dumbbell

held close in front of each

shoulder, palms facing back,

squat to 90 degrees (A).

Power through your heels

to stand up, then use that

momentum to press your

arms up to full extension (B).

Do 10 then move on; no rest.

PT / 03.2016

02A

01B

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01A

02B

03

BENT-OVER ROW10 REPSBy now, you might be sick

of dumbbells but the results

are well worth it. Step your

right leg forward and bend

into a split stance, then hinge

at the hips to grab a weight

in your left hand (A). Row it

up to your chest (B). This

might be a simple move but

pay close attention to form:

tensing your glutes will keep

your back straight – and any

injuries at bay. On the next

time round, switch sides.

04

SISSY SQUAT10 REPSThis last move will ignite

the fast-twitch fibres in your

quads for line-breaking

strength and solid stability.

Grab a dumbbell and set

yourself on your toes with

knees slightly bent, as shown

(A). Lower slowly by bending

your knees while leaning

back to maintain a straight

line from knees to shoulders.

When your legs reach 90

degrees (B), stand back up

again. Not so sissy now.

MEN’S HEALTH 143

04B

BIG-GAME ATHLETICISM

EXPERT Latreal Mitchell

EXPERIENCE As head

trainer at elite LA facility

Unbreakable, Mitchell has

turned NFL bulkers into

professional athletes.

The season starts here

CONTACT unbreakable

performance.com

04A

03B

03A

WORD

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PIG OUT AND SHAKE UP DOMS

CHEAT DAY #09

WINNING STREAKPT / 03.2016

THIS MILKSHAKE BRINGS ALL THE GAINS TO YOUR ARMS


21G OF PROTEIN PER CUP:

AS MUCH AS A PROTEIN SHAKE, BUT MUCH MORE SATISFYING

INGREDIENTS• Banana, ½

• Water, cup

• Sugar, cup

• Bacon, 2 rashers

• Vanilla ice-cream, 3 scoops

• Milk, 60ml

• Peanut butter, 1tbsp

METHODMarinate the banana in

a simple syrup of sugar and

water while you grill your

bacon until it’s crispy. Mind

the smoke alarm.

Chop your banana and

blend with ice cream, milk and

PB. Blitz the whole lot for 30

seconds, or until it develops

a thick, creamy texture.

Crumble the bacon into the

mix – the chunks should be

the size of five pence pieces.

Blitz again, but this time only

for five seconds, so the bacon

isn’t completely pulverised.

Now drink. And smile.

BACON, BANANA & PB MILKSHAKE

100%MORE BACON THAN ANY OTHER DRINK YOU’VE DOWNED RECENTLY

(WE IMAGINE)

If bacon is the food of the gods, we have their nectar. This Five Guys shake packs heaps of muscle-repairing protein, while banana and ice-cream provide sweet relief from whey-in-water

358MG OF BLOOD PRESSURE-

REDUCING POTASSIUM IN A BANANA. SO RELAX

ABOUT THE SALT


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TRI IT ONPT / 03.2016

RACING SLICKSOver 50km of assorted cardio

can chafe. Apply Bodyglide under

your gear for a thin, non-greasy

layer that will safeguard your

extremities and make tomorrow’s

walk to work a lot less brutal.

SHORT AND SWEATIf you’re not ready to commit to

the full tri-suit, these quick-drying,

padded shorts will serve you far

better than waterlogged cycling

pants. You’ll be sitting comfortably.

HEAD FIRSTYou’ll transition swiftly with this

lightweight, breathable helmet

that benefits from Giro’s track

record of reliable construction

and forward-thinking design, with

25 air vents and plush padding.

Balm £10 simplyswim.com

Zoot Performance Tri 8 Inch

£33 wiggle.co.uk

Giro Savant £60 sohobikes.co.uk

Kalenji Belt £4 decathlon.co.uk

GO-FASTER BARSNo need to splash out on fresh

wheels for your first race. Make a

healthier investment for your bank

balance with clip-on aerobars,

which create a streamlined figure

for your commuter time trialling.

Profile Legacy ZB £60 madison.co.uk

SHOTS FIREDYour race number is vital if you

want photographic proof of your

exploits. A race belt keeps it

secure without the faf of safety

pins, and this Kalenji model also

has six loops to hold energy gels.


SUIT UP, LOOK SHARPUnless conditions are absolutely

frigid, pass on the wetsuit for

something more streamlined. A

speed suit gives you a fuller range

of motion, and this one’s Teflon

coating helps cut through chop.

SPRING FOR YOUR STEPOpen-water swimming inevitably

means numb fingers. If laces are

proving a problem in transition,

don’t splash out on slip-on shoes –

try these elastic lace alternatives

with a spring-loaded lock.

Pro Team £145 sailfish.com

DO A DRY RUNDon’t underestimate the spirit-

lifting power of a fresh towel

at the post-swim transition. (It’s

the little things...) Opt for super-

absorbent microfibre to dry of

fast and clip in on the right foot.

Towel £15 milesstronger.co.uk

Laces £6 ultimate-performance.co.uk

POWER VACUUMThe bike is your time to refuel.

Give yourself something to look

forward to: a thermal vacuum

within a lightweight plastic shell,

this bottle keeps cold drinks

frosty so you can turn up the heat.

Polar Bottle 24oz £17 triuk.com

WATCH YOUR BACKThree-times the gear needn’t be

a handful. This bag has a spot to

quarantine your wetsuit, plus it

meets airline carry-on requirements

if you want to swap the Docklands

for a more temperate event.

Blue Seventy Transition Bag

£65 blueseventy.co.uk

TRI IT ONPT / 03.2016

MULTI-AWARD WINNING LEAN MEATS DELIVERED TO YOUR DOORwww.musclefood.com/britishsteakselection

Just £19 for an enormous £53.40 Matured, Free Range Steak & Veg

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we are ofering you £34.40 of because we know you will become hooked!

This stunning selection includes:

• 2 x 6-7oz Matured British Sirloin Steaks

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• 2 x 6oz Great British Hache Steaks

• 2 x 6oz Peri Peri Hache Steaks

• 4 x 70g Matured British Medallion Steaks

• 500g Chunky Sweet Potato Fries

• 500g Shredded Red Cabbage

• Plus FREE: 2 x 4oz British Lite Beef Burgers

Join thousands of athletes, cover models and gym goers across the UK

that are already using Muscle Food to supply them with premium lean

meats, fresh veg, high protein snacks and supplements at low prices.

www.musclefood.com - @MuscleFoodUK - #TweetYourMeat

EARFOLDA simple, quick and efective treatment for the

correction of prominent ears performed in less

than 20 minutes under local anaesthesia with

immediate correction and rapid recovery.

The earFold™ implants are introduced under the

skin of the ear through a small incision.

For the first time in cosmetic surgery the patient

chooses the outcome thanks to the innovative

preFold clips.

www.earfold.com

ACTIVEFLEX BY 883 POLICEPatented technologies in a new selection of high

performance denim. Active Flex for men enhances

functionality and denim, a cutting-edge innovation

designed with an inner invisible technology to

enhance wearability, style and fit. The jeans maintain

a truly rigid, purist look with distinct twill lines and

yarn character, while ensuring ease and versatility for

every lifestyle. The authentic spirit of this resistant

fabric is combined with one-of-a-kind performance

for flexibility and freedom of movement.

www.883police.com £75 RRP

NEW YEAR, NEW GARAGE, NEW YOU!The New Year is full of resolutions, transforming your

garage into a home gym is a great way to achieve

yours! Modular, colour coordinated cabinets with

integrated mini fridge create organised storage,

whilst high level wall units feature a built in TV to

keep you entertained during your work out.

Our PVC floor tiles create the ultimate thermal and

dust barrier for floor exercises and wall mounted

storage helps organise your accessories.

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After successfully introducing

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Look good and feel great with this selection of life-enhancing products

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STEEL & JELLY As part of Steel & Jelly’s limited-edition collection,

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ULTIMATE GIFT FOR HER: THE SPINNING GEM RING BY MERCI MAMANThe back of this stylish and sentimental gift will be engraved by hand with the names, dates or message of

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To advertise in this feature call Hearst Magazines Direct on 020 3728 6260


WORD

S: S

CARL

ETT

WREN

CH |

PHOT

OGRA

PHY:

JOB

E LA

WREN

SON

ONE WORD ANSWER #22

W hen post-work drinks look like

they’re turning into pre-dawn

karaoke renditions of Eye

Of The Tiger, you might be forgiven for

cutting your losses and making a tactical

exit. But being prudish is not the same

as prudence. In fact, being the first man

to take the mic can actually be a smart

social move. New research from the

University of Oxford found that singing

helps people to bond faster than any

other group activity. According to

psychologist Dr Eiluned Pearce, singing

from the same hymn sheet helps us to

“build social cohesion when there isn’t

time to establish one-to-one connections

QUESTION

What’s the best way to win friends and

influence people?

in a group.” Which means a duet with

your line manager could be the best

way to perfectly pitch a decent payrise.

It has also been suggested that singing

can deliver many of the same meditative

benefits as yoga, though we suspect

this depends on the track chosen. For

maximum networking efect, it’s best

to opt for one you can sing in a low

octave: deeper, more measured voices

are linked to authoritativeness and

superior leadership potential. For you,

that means Johnny Cash is in, while

Aerosmith should remain firmly in the

‘Where are they now?’ file. But then,

you knew that already, didn’t you?

Karaoke

ANSWER

STEP UP TO THE MIC AND MAKE IT (PURPLE) RAIN

Documents

Men's Health - March 2016