AUSTRALIAN

AUGUST 2019 $9.50

NZ $9.99 INC GST

SHRED HACK YOUR

BODY+MIND
YOUR
CORE
THE BEST MOVE
YOU’RE NOT DOING
23TIPSTO
CHILLTHE
F#*K OUT
SUMMER
MUSCLE: EVERY
QUESTION
MADEIN YOU EVER
HAD ABOUT
WINTER EATING
WELL

Dacre Montgomery On Turning His Fitness Upside Down

 THE FIRST WATCH
WORN ON THE MOON

On the 50th anniversary of the first

lunar landing, OMEGA is reflecting on
the golden moments that defined that
iconic day. While our own Speedmaster
was strapped to the wrists of the
astronauts, George Clooney was
looking up towards the moon where
his heroes were making history.

#MOONWATCH

OMEGA Boutiques
SYDNEY 20 Martin Place • Westfield Bondi Junction
MELBOURNE 179 Collins Street • Chadstone • Crown Casino
BRISBANE 188 Edward Street
 CONTENTS 0 8 .19

COVER GUY:
DACRE MONTGOMERY
PHOTOGRAPHED BY:
CHRIS MOHEN

70
The inimitable BodyHack
presenter Todd Sampson
simply won’t back off,
engaging in ever more daring
physical challenges in pursuit
of total control of his mind.

PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL LINNET

4 menshealth.com.au
 INSIDE THIS ISSUE

M IND

p76 23 Serotonin Boosters

Triggering a surge in your happy neuro-
chemical just got simple.

p86 Visions Of Perfection

What if dabbling in psychodelics could
unlock your brain’s potential?

FITNESS

p30 The Viper Press

Shake up your lunch gym sessions –
and shred your core – with this move.

p115 Never Settle

CrossFit’s James Newbury has turned
recovery into a science project.

TACTI C S

p36 Get Out Of Town!

This guy swapped the rat race for the
simple life. Could you follow suit?

p92 Man On Fire

Here’s how to douse your volcanic
rage and learn to go with the flow.

NU TR I TI O N

p28 You Cane Do It!

46 32
How clued up are you on sugar’s
Steph Claire Smith Attack The Flank
health-wrecking ways.
The kick-arse businesswoman reveals Team a fibre-rich side with a hunk
the qualities she most values in a man. of protein for a feed that delivers.
p80 Eating Well, Made Easy
Confused about how the heck to feed
yourself optimally? Look no further
than this no-BS report.

MUSCLE

p120 Your Lifelong Power Plan

Hit pause on ageing with these mus-
cle-building, life-extending workouts.

p126 The World’s Fittest MC

Find out how superstar emcee
Nick Cannon used cinder blocks
to get jacked.

119 98
Turn Your Training Upside-Down An Exhaustive Guide To Cardio
MH’s fitness director has a radical plan to Know this: you have a high-performance
grow your delts: the handstand push-up. engine inside you. It’s time to turn the key.

August 2019 5
 E D I T O R’S L E T T E R
Men's Health Australia @MensHealthAU @MensHealthAU menshealth.com.au

WALK THE WALK

Somehow, just like that, we find ourselves more than halfway
through the year. And while that’s a scary thought, what might
be scarier still is looking back on the goals you set yourself back SCOTT HENDERSON Editor
on January 1. Have you achieved what you set out to do? Or have BEN JHOTY Deputy Editor
you written those goals off – primed, perhaps, for a fresh crack DANIEL WILLIAMS Associate Editor
in the new decade? DAVID ASHFORD Creative Director
The good news is that when it comes to your health, you JASON LEE Deputy Art Director
don’t need a new year, a new month or even a Monday to make KATE FRASER Head Of Pictures – Fashion and Health
a change. You can choose to improve your health at any second.
LAUREN WILLIAMSON Digital Content Manager – Health
And as the grip of winter tightens and your best intentions take
ALEX PIEROTTI Digital Content Editor
a backseat to days on the couch and comfort food, picking up
HARRIET SIM Editorial Coordinator
this issue of Men’s Health is a great place to start on your quest
for self-improvement. TODD LIUBINSKAS Fitness Director
When it comes to staying motivated through winter, first JEFF LACK Style Editor
things first: conquer your mind. Kick the winter blues to the ERIN DOCHERTY Grooming Writer
curb with a serotonin boost (p.76) and get a handle on your rage
(p.92). Once you’ve silenced the negativity in your head, you’re
ready to unleash on your physical goals – because it’s not too
late to turn those resolutions into reality.
My goals and sources of inspiration change weekly, even
daily, often depending on the stories we’re sharing and the CLARISSA WILSON KATHY GLAVAS
Brand Solutions Director Head of Health
people I’m fortunate to meet. Being surrounded by health
JESSICA LAY COURTENAY McDERMOTT
professionals and hearing, day in and day out, incredible tales Brand Solutions Manager Senior Marketing Manager – Health
about the search for better living, I can’t help but be influenced ELLIE FLETCHER
CALVIN SIMPSON Marketing & Events Executive
by those guys our team talks to. Society lauded its poets and Brand Solutions Coordinator
later its rock stars. Now we have “influencers”. At Men’s Health, PAUL KING
ANDREW CAMERON Production Manager
we choose ours carefully so you have a clear path to a better life. Executive Creative Director
The truth is, everyone has a sphere of influence. Our words ALLAN WEBSTER
ALEX DALRYMPLE Advertising Operations Manager
and actions affect those in our immediate reach. For me, the Multimedia Content Producer
JEREMY SUTTON
best influencers are those who walk the walk, who remain true Group Subscriptions Manager
to their values and seek to influence not to enrich themselves
but to help others improve their lot. Choose your influencers
wisely and feel pushed to be a better man every day. GEREURD ROBERTS Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Magazines
Just this month, spurred on by recent MH cover guys and GUY TORRE Chief Financial Officer
features, the entire MH team has committed to tackle the LOUISA HATFIELD Group Content and Brand Director
Blackmores Running Festival in Sydney. It’s a huge leap out of NICOLE BENCE Commercial Director
the winter-induced comfort zone for many of the team. But as
MARK BOORMAN Group Production Manager
with those we look up to, it’s important for us to walk the walk .
. . or shuffle the shuffle as the case may be.

RICHARD DORMENT KIM ST. CLAIR BODDEN

Editor in Chief, SVP/Editorial
Men’s Health US & Brand Director
Scott Henderson SIMON HORNE CHLOE O’BRIEN
menshealth@pacificmags.com.au SVP/Managing Director Deputy Brands Director
Asia Pacific & Russia SHELLEY MEEKS
RICHARD BEAN Executive Director,
Director of International Licensing Content Services
and Business Development

Pacific Magazines, Media City,

8 Central Avenue, Eveleigh, NSW 2015
Phone: (02) 9394 2000 Fax: (02) 9394 2319
Subscription enquiries: 1300 668 118
Henderson, setting
Printing Bluestar Web, 83 Derby Street, Silverwater NSW 2128. Distribution Gordon & Gotch.
an example for Team Published 12 times a year. Registered business name Pacific Magazines Pty Ltd, (ABN) 16 097 410
MH, is training for 896. All rights reserved. Title and trademark Men’s Health © Hearst Magazines International.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission.
a half marathon. Men’s Health is a registered trademark and the unauthorised use of this trademark is strictly

6 menshealth.com.au
 ASK MH

PARENTAL PLAYBOOK

My teenager is a total slob.

How do I get him to clean his room? –AK

You don’t . . . necessarily.

Understand that a child’s teenage
years are his transition years, when
he begins to build and create his
own world. “You can think of his
room as archaeological layers,”
says organisation and productivity
consultant Julie Morgenstern,
author of Time to Parent. “He’s got
leftover things from childhood and
new objects emerging from
adolescence.” A messy room
doesn’t always indicate a dysfunc-
tional room. If he has a messy
room but can find everything he
needs and is comfortable in that
space, then just close the door and
walk away. If he is not functioning
– losing his homework, always late
for school, never able to find his
favourite shirt and going to school
stressed or less confident because
of it – that’s when you intervene,
advises Morgenstern. And when
you do intervene, don’t think of the
experience as a battleground.
Organising a kid’s room with them
is one of the greatest ways to
get to know your child. “You
get to see how they think,
what they value and how their
interests are changing,” says
Morgenstern. “It should be a
peaceful and fun process, not
– Pick up all this crap!”

A MESSY ROOM
MIGHTN’T INDICATE
CHAOS. EXCEPT
WHEN IT DOES.

8 menshealth.com.au
 ANCIENT SOLUTION TO
A MODERN PROBLEM
THE BIG QUESTION
Q I worry about getting an
incurable disease and dying
a slow, painful death. DE
How hard should I go foam-
A “We are more often frightened
than hurt, and we suffer more
rolling? It should hurt, right? –SC

in imagination than in reality.” First off, it’s not compulsory to use a causing more problems.” When foam
Seneca, Roman Stoic, b. 4BC foam roller. It is a choice. “For some, it rollers are used correctly, though, you
may help with mobility or temporary will experience minor discomfort.
pain relief, as the pressure enacts Still, there should be no ongoing pain
changes within tissue and the or discolouration of the skin after
TEXT A PT nervous system,” says trainer Bill
Hartman, who specialises in recovery
rolling. Self-applied pain is a personal
choice, but more is not necessarily
Hey. The mirror’s telling me and bouncing back from injury. But better. “Some people tend to overdo
that my weight training is you should never use a foam roller for or overvalue the ability to tolerate
delivering! Except my a bone issue, Hartman warns. “Pain discomfort,” says Hartman. “But with
shoulders still look puny. here could just mean pain, or you rolling, too much pain can actually
could be irritating a fracture or prevent gain.”
Congrats on the gains you’ve
made elsewhere. You just need SOLVE THE PRICKLY
to treat your delts as a lagging ISSUE OF FOAM-
body part. ROLLING BY
GAUGING PAIN.

What does that mean,

in practical terms?

It means implementing the

principles of Priority Training
– an old bodybuilding concept
made famous by Joe Weider
and Arnie himself.

It’s pretty simple. Your training’s

focus becomes bringing your
shoulders up to speed with the
rest of you.

Training them more often,

you mean?

Yes. If you’re hitting them twice

a week, up that to three. And/or
increase sets. Also, move delt
work to the start of your
sessions when you’re freshest.

And if you’re not feeling broad,

don’t neglect the width-building
medial head, best targeted via
lateral raises.

Ben Williams PT,

pymble@northshoregym.com.au

August 2019 9
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 FEEL THE
GET TO GRIPS WITH
CHILLI TO FIRE UP
YOUR TRAINING.

(FAT) BURN
Hot-wire your progress with the only food
that’ll make you sweat as much as CrossFit
IF YOU’RE THE TYPE of man who
disregards the consequences of
ordering his madras with added chillies,
or douses his Nando’s with extra hot
sauce, we applaud you. No matter how
unflattering the immediate aftermath,
your bravery is laudable and, according
to new science, you will be rewarded.
According to researchers at the Tianjin
Medical University, a compound found
in chillies can fire up your muscles at
the cellular level.
In a study, men who ate chilli
peppers several times a week
performed better in strength tests than
those who opted for a lemon and herb
dressing, an advantage that could
translate to extra pull-ups or a
double-your-bodyweight deadlift. The
more chillies they ate, the more force
they were able to demonstrate.
Be warned, however, that mild
capsicums won’t cut it, because they
contain far less of the active ingredient
capsaicin. This compound is what sets
your tongue on fire when you overdo
the Tabasco and reduces YouTubers
who chomp down on a Carolina reaper
into blubbering wrecks. The Chinese
WORDS: LOUEE DESSENT-JACKSON; PHOTOGRAPHY: ROWAN FEE

scientists believe that capsaicin

supports strength training partly by
boosting the production of
mitochondria in cells. That allows your
muscles to convert more nutrients into
energy, so you can squeeze off a few
more reps before burning out.

PLAY WITH FIRE

How much heat can you take?
Consult the Scoville chilli scale MILD MANNERED HOT’N’HEAVY

RED JALAPENO SERRANO CAYENNE ORANGE GHOST NAGA CAROLINA PURE

CAPSICUM 2.5K 8K 30K HABANERO PEPPER VIPER REAPER CAPSAICIN
0 150K 800K 1.38M 2.2M 15M
August 2019 11

August 2019 11
 WAKE UP FITTER
WITH A PILL TO LAY
DOMS TO REST.

WORDS: LOUEE DESSENT-JACKSON; PHOTOGRAPHY: JOBE LAWRENSON; *APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY | **AMERICAN ACADEMY OF SLEEP MEDICINE | †TAIPEI MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
RHYTHM
AND SNOOZE
Use our timeline to get your
circadian clock in order and
sleep like an infant

07.00
Rise’n’grind. Train early to
fall asleep fast at night. Or

BUILD STAYING
stick to weights in the pm*.

POWER IN BED 13.00

Light-filled office? You’ll
sleep 46 minutes longer
Melatonin’s effects on deep sleep are well known. But this than cave-dwellers**.
hormone can also supercharge your muscles overnight
WORK AND WORKOUTS too often Thankfully, there’s a pill for that, and it Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test
conspire to sabotage your sleep. actually works. Scientists at Manouba (similar to a bleep test) after waking, 17.00
We’ve all been there: putting in a late University have found that melatonin the supplement helped them to Office feuds wreck sleep.
shift to hit a deadline, then racking up will put sleep trouble to bed and make outperform their own scores from the Clock off early to link with
some reps before bedtime. But rather you a fitter man come morning. previous night by 82m. friends for a tipple.
than knocking you out, this Athletes who popped 10mg of Melatonin is not a lolly, and we
overexertion can leave you buzzing, melatonin after an intensive 8pm suggest consulting your doctor before
which plays havoc with your health training session slept 25 minutes use and sourcing it only for the nights
and progress. Not only is missing out longer on average than a placebo you really need it. For everyday 20.00
on Zs linked to heart trouble, but deep group. But the Tunisian researchers benefits, a pre-bed snack of pineapple After dinner, have some
sleep is also when your body floods found that the benefits went well and banana naturally boosts melatonin kiwi and yoghurt for
your system with the restorative beyond a better rest. When members by 300 per cent. That’s a rock-solid dessert: the combo will
hormones HGH and testosterone. of the study group were subjected to a go-to before upping the ante. help you drift off†.

12 menshealth.com.au
RAISE A
GLASS TO
ENHANCED
FERTILITY
Post-work beers could give you a
better shot at expanding your fit
fam in 2019. Cheers to that

BETWEEN 1995 AND 2014, births in

Australia regularly peaked in Septem-
ber. As the mathematicians among you
will have worked out, that means festive
joy is no myth. Despite this, male fertility
is in a state of crisis: according to
scientists at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, sperm counts in the western DR’S ORDERS
world have more than halved in the You don’t have to ditch booze
past 40 years and are falling at an to drop kilos. Choose your
annual rate of 1.4 per cent. While the tipple wisely, and you can
precise cause for the decline has yet to have your metaphorical cake
be determined, a new paper published and . . . er, drink it
in the Andrology Journal suggests a
timely solution.
In a study of 323 men, Italian
researchers found that a few beers VODKA AND SODA
each week can boost your fertility. Of A shot of vodka contains little
these subjects, those who drank more than 210kJs and soda
between four and seven units of water adds nothing. But on its
alcohol per week (one bottle own, this can be as bland as
of beer contains roughly 1.7 units) had a tap water – so add some lime
higher median semen volume and
for flavour and vitamin C.
greater sperm concentration than
teetotallers. Cheering news, especially
when your abstemious peers are
trying to pressure you into various GIN AND
joyless months of abstinence. DIET TONIC
But before you prop up the bar, be THE MOST With its fresh taste and just
warned that the relationship between SOCIABLE WAY TO 420kJs, this is a tried-and-
BOOST YOUR ODDS tested tonic for joint pain.
alcohol and fertility is U-shaped. After Meanwhile, the juniper
OF CONCEPTION.
eight or more units per week, the
WORDS: HARRY BULLMORE; PHOTOGRAPHY: COLIN BEAGLEY

berries in the gin contain

positive effects level out; after serious flavonoids that may help
overindulgence, your sperm count to lower your risk of
declines. As with most things in life, heart disease.
moderation is key. If your priority is your
body goals, cut back on booze, by all
means – but if your aspiration for 2019
is to bulk up your family, say yes to a WHISKY ON
guilt-free fireside drink with friends. THE ROCKS
The first round’s on you. The lack of sugary mixer
makes this another light
option: a generous shot
contains minimal carbs and a
reasonable 500kJs. Its
ellagic acid also helps to
kill pre-cancerous cells.

14 menshealth.com.au
 SPECTRE FOLIO
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YOU CAN
ADD A SPRINKLE
OF MAGIC TO YOUR
FAT-LOSS PLAN.

POP A CAP
IN FAT MASS
Should you deviate from your best-laid meal
plans, science has found a tasty antidote.
Make some shroom for a little indulgence

NUTRITIONAL SLIP-UPS are a fact of life: MUSH

your post-work drinks that ended at a ADO ABOUT
train station kiosk, say, or downing a EVERYTHING
nut-butter-laden shake, despite having Match the mushroom to
phoned in a gym class. But your error your health and fitness
needn’t be remedied with ascetic goal, then hit add to basket
abstinence. Helpfully, the Journal of
Obesity has offered up an insurance
policy for your dietary wobbles.
Australian researchers found that CREMINI
shiitake mushrooms, a common This humble ingredient will
east-Asian variety you can pick up at the help you to combat one of
supermarket, trigger a kind of backstop man’s biggest killers: heart
in your fat cells, which means the extra disease. Filled with the
kilojoules you haven’t burned won’t
antioxidant ergothioneine, a
serving will help to protect
necessarily be turned into fat. The
your body from harmful
scientists used doses of shiitake powder oxidative stress.
equivalent to 340g of fresh mushrooms,
so you’d need to buy in bulk. Yet the
effects were significant. The more
shiitake given to lab rats over the
six-week trial, the lower the rodents’ fat OYSTER
mass at the end, despite being A mild-tasting option that
consistently in a kilojoule surplus. contains more iron than most
Scientists speculate that the other varieties, improving
mushrooms’ beta-glucans – a soluble
blood supply to your muscles
to boost gym performance.
dietary fibre – could be preventing fat This pairs especially well with
absorption, or that bioactive substances crisp white wine, too.
in the fungi can ramp up your
metabolism. Whatever the precise
mechanism, we suggest you make
shiitake a new shopping-list staple, so
the next time you’re faced with a choice MAITAKE
between indulgence and monkish Save this for the morning
abstinence, your weight-loss goals after. Fry it up and serve with
needn’t fall between two toadstools. a slice of buttery toast and its
WORDS: LOUEE DESSENT-JACKSON; PHOTOGRAPHY: ROWAN FEE

naturally higher levels of the

antioxidant glutathione will
soothe and help to detoxify
your liver.

16 menshealth.com.au
 Advantage+
STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME

18 menshealth.com.au
 A+
COVER GUY

STRONGER
THINGS
Dacre Montgomery, the breakout star
of hit show Stranger Things, has the
world at his feet. Find out how he turned
his life ‘upside down’ to get there
BY BEN JHOTY
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MOHEN
STYLING BY JEFF LACK

DACRE MONTGOMERY is skylarking about

on the top-floor balcony of his new apartment
in Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Erskineville.
Barefoot, in a grey suit with a white flat cap
and gold tinted glasses, he moves easily for
the camera, performing a highwire act on
the balcony ledge that’s causing his publicist
considerable alarm. “Please be careful,
Dacre,” he repeats a couple of times.
Montgomery, who’s absorbed in a variety
of freeform poses, seems oblivious to the 30m
drop on the other side of his balcony’s narrow
herb garden. He looks every inch a movie star,
his blue-eyed, sharp-jawed intensity recalling
Hollywood heartthrobs of yesteryear, not least
original bad boy James Dean.

Emporio Armani
double-breasted
jacket with peak
lapels and patch
pockets in silk
cotton $1600
Pleated trouser in
silk cotton $950
Cotton poly mode
shirt $670
Dacre’s own rings
on left hand,
necklace, glasses
and cap

August 2019 19
 A+
COVER GUY

“I’VE NEVER GIVEN

UP ON MYSELF AND
PEOPLE HAVEN’T
GIVEN UP ON ME”
20 menshealth.com.au
 Indeed, Montgomery looks as at ease with
his burgeoning success as he does in any of
the outfits he’s wearing today for MH’s shoot.
His scene-stealing turn as beefcake villain
Billy Hargrove in Netflix’s megahit Stranger
Things (season 3 out July 4) has made him
one of Hollywood’s hottest properties at just
24. Watching him tap-dance so assuredly
against the rooftop skyline, you can’t help
feeling his seemingly meteoric rise has an air
of inevitability about it.
Appearances, of course, can be deceiving,
as Montgomery knows better than most. Just
seven years ago he was a bullied, overweight
teen from Perth with nothing more than
passion and a pipedream. His ascent to the
precipice of superstardom was as unlikely as
it is for any of the millions of wannabe actors
out there.
His current self-possession, it turns out,
is a product of his lifelong self-belief. “I have
always wanted it really, really, really badly
and I’ve never given up on myself and I’m
lucky that I’ve been surrounded by people
that haven’t given up on me,” he says of
becoming an actor, as we chat on the floor
of his Bali beach-house inspired bedroom.
Vaulting from obscurity to reach the
heights Montgomery now finds himself
involved starting at the bottom or,
in the vernacular of Stranger Things,
emerging from ‘the upside down’. Because
sometimes, to make your name, you’ve got
to flip the script.

ROLE REVERSAL
Montgomery’s opening scene as Billy
ABOVE
Hargrove in season 2 of Stranger Things
ranks among the more memorable small- Emporio Armani soft
grey double-breasted
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as heavy metal blares in the background.
The archetypal bully, Hargrove is initially
LEFT
cartoonish in his malevolence, giving
Tan cord jacket
the show’s geeky gang of kids a flesh-and- by G-Star $200
blood foil almost as menacing, at least in
Tan cord jeans
a high school context, as the hollow-faced by G-Star $160
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thus far. In the upcoming season 3, Billy
breaks badder still, going from flirty, cougar-
courting lifeguard in the opening episode, to RIGHT
fully-fledged force of evil. Right hand gold ring
Montgomery landed the role after by Thomas Sabo $449
submitting a now-legendary audition tape White singlet by
in which a shirtless, unhinged Billy burns Bonds $16.95
Black denim jeans by
up the screen as he dances to 80s classics by Rollas $159.95
Duran Duran and Dexys Midnight Runners. Grey knit shirt by
That Montgomery is convincing in Orlebar Brown from
the role is perhaps not surprising – it was Matchesfashion.com
$321
both informed and inverted from his own
Black leather biker
experiences and encounters as a teenager. jacket by Neuw
“I had a really tough time in high school and $659.95

August 2019 21
 A+
COVER GUY

Utility suit by I feel like there’s a lot of people in my life

One Teaspoon $199
that have possessed those types of qualities
that I represent in the show,” he says. “You
know, any bully or person that you’ve had in
your life that has been antagonistic towards
you. It was about finding those qualities and
representing them.”
While it’s tempting to picture
Montgomery as the theatre nerd bullied by
the jocks, it wasn’t as simple as that. The
drama school community wasn’t any more
welcoming to him than the footy team, he
says. “I was kind of ostracised from that
community as well,” he says. “I don’t think
I was ‘theatre’ enough for those kids and I
wasn’t good-looking enough for the other
kids. I didn’t play sport, so it had me in
this really unique place. High school was
really tough.”
Painful as it was and as successfully as
Montgomery has drawn on those experiences
to play Billy, the role could easily have been a
caricature but for the nuance and complexity
he brings to the character. “Everyone has a
story behind that antagonism,” Montgomery
says. He points to a scene from season two
between Billy and his abusive father. “That
scene with my dad humanises the villain.”
It also wrongfoots the audience and subverts
expectations. Which is handy, for chances
are if you can do that just enough, you’ve got a
shot at a long career.

BODY SLAM
Bullying wasn’t the only thing Montgomery
battled in high school. In year 12 he weighed
90kg. “I was a really big kid,” he says.
Montgomery discovered exercise after
taking a gap year after school, during which
time he lost 25kg. “That was purely
just going to the gym and getting on the
treadmill and running,” he says. From
there, he tried to stick some muscle on his
frame, lifting “really heavy” before suffering
injuries that put him off shifting large loads
of iron for good.
He subsequently dabbled with yoga and
stretching and took up surfing this year
after being introduced to it by his girlfriend,
model Liv Pollock. But Montgomery found his
true exercise calling while preparing for his
first major role in 2017’s Power Rangers.
“I started doing night-time boxing classes at
the gym and that gets you really cut,” he says.
“I loved that.”
For Stranger Things he needed to muscle
up again. This time, instead of weights
he used resistance bands, doing a mix of
light weight, high reps and static holds.
“I think the best type of muscle for me is
creating, not big muscle but dense muscle,”
he says. “I wanted to do this meatier,
chunkier jock thing so I still worked out a
ton, but I also did a lot of boxing and ate a
heap. My carb intake was higher, my meat

22 menshealth.com.au
“THE BEST TYPE OF
MUSCLE FOR ME IS
DENSE MUSCLE”

August 2019 23
 A+
COVER GUY

HAIR TODAY, GONE intake was higher and I just built this
TOMORROW: MONTGOMERY chunkier, more muscly version of myself.”
DREW ON PAINFUL MEMORIES Along with getting him in shape, exercise
TO PLAY BAD BOY BILLY. has also helped Montgomery manage anxiety
and fill the downtime that plagues many
actors between roles. The best piece of advice
he ever got, he says, was from a screenwriter
on Power Rangers. “He said, ‘You need to
know how to kill Wednesday’,” he says. “To
kill time. It’s a huge part of being, not just an
actor, but any freelancer, so that you don’t
go crazy and worry too much about what
the future is going to hold. I’ve become very
proficient at killing Wednesday.”
That’s perhaps understating the manner
in which he destroys downtime. He dabbles
in interior design and lately has been working
on an intriguing podcast series that drops
this month, in which his beat poetry is set to
improvised scores from artists like Angus
and Julia Stone. If that weren’t original
enough, Montgomery then plans to turn each
podcast into a cologne – a thoroughly holistic
approach to an area he’s keen to explore in the
future: the intersection of art and commerce.
“Hopefully the audience fall in love with
the sound they hear and everything that
encompasses and then we can build a scent
around that,” he says.
So, yes, laying waste to Wednesday isn’t a
problem in itself. What he really finds hard,
he says, is the initial decompression period
after a shoot wraps and he returns to daily
life. It’s a discombobulating experience he
compares to FIFO miners. “The comedown
after you work 80 hours a week, every week
for months on end and then you come home
and it’s this quiet, dead place,” he says. “It’s
really hard. You get really anxious.”
Montgomery’s lucky, he says, that his
girlfriend travels with him and mates come
and visit. “It keeps me grounded because you
get so consumed when you’re in it,” he says of
filming. “Your mates are always there to tell
you, you know, you’re being a dickhead or to
be as blunt as they can be.”
It also helps, he says, that his mates are
just as driven as he is. “Surrounding yourself
SUPPLIED BY NETFLIX

with people with similar ideas or goals is so

important because they keep reinforcing
where you want to be.”
The more you talk to Montgomery the
more inexorable his ascent looks. He grew
up on sets – both his parents worked behind
the camera. That gave him, he says, a
granular appreciation of the filmmaking
process. “A film set is like nothing else,” he
says breathlessly. “It’s like Wall Street in

“A FILM SET IS LIKE terms of the adrenaline and the anxiety and
the passion around it and I love it. I feel like

WALL ST IN TERMS I have a duty to my parents to understand

everything that goes into filmmaking.”

OF THE ANXIETY Montgomery’s success may not have

been inevitable. No one’s is. But the passion

AND THE PASSION” and dedication he possesses, those things

can create momentum that’s hard to stop.

24 menshealth.com.au
 RAPID FIRE
Favourite exercise
Skipping. It’s like tunnel
vision. You just get lost
watching the rope come
over and over

Least favourite?
Chin-ups – my lats are
really weak

Cheat meal?
My whole diet right now

Book you’d recommend?

Sapiens by Yuval Noah
Harari – it’s dense but I
loved it

Karaoke song?
I’m not a singer

Last time you cried?

Watching that Netflix
show, When They See Us.
I was weeping

Hero?
Mum – she’s just
supported me all the
way through

Motto?
If you have the fire and
the passion in your belly,
keep stoking it until you
make it

Right hand gold ring

by Thomas Sabo $449
White singlet
by Bonds $16.95
Black denim jeans
by Rollas $159.95
Grey knit shirt by
Orlebar Brown from
Matchesfashion.com
$321
Black leather biker
jacket by Neuw
$659.95

August 2019 25
 A+
HEALTH

Invest In
UP UP
DRINK UP INSTA RESULTS
Aspiring fathers are Ashwagandha is not

Generation
told to avoid alcohol, just hipster Instagram
but Italian researchers fodder. An Indian
found that a few study found that 5g
beers each week can per day raised sperm
count and motility.

Gains,
actually boost fertility
(see p14). King George’s UP
Andrology Medical University COUNT YOUR
CHICKENS

Now
Your Tupperware
chicken does more
than feed your
biceps. Poultry eaters
have a 13 per cent
higher fertilisation
Bring fertility rates rate than vegetarians.
out of recession Harvard Chan Public
Health School
with the science
UP
that’ll leave your GO NUTS
family-man dreams Snacking on foods rich
in antioxidants (such
in credit as almonds, hazelnuts
and walnuts) can
boost the number
and quality of your
sperm, so grab some
UP between meals.
C THE Universitat Rovira
DIFFERENCE
Make vitamin C HOLD
your go-to supp. SNOOZE
Scientists found YOU WIN
that taking it twice
As with all aspects
a day for two months
of health, it pays
increased sperm
to prioritise sleep.
count by more than
Men who get seven
100 per cent.
to eight hours each
Dubai Specialized
night are more fertile
Medical Center
than those who get
less than six. So,
sleep on it.
Fertility & Sterility

HOLD
UP MAKE
KEEP IT REAL HEADSPACE
Choose steak over Spend 10 minutes
sausage. Too much with a mindfulness
processed meat in app in the evening
your shopping basket to lock work out of
can damage the the bedroom. Office
potency of your sperm stress has a negative
in the long term. impact on both sperm
Harvard Chan Public motility and quality.
Health School

RISERS
AND
WORDS: BEN WELCH; ILLUSTRATION: INFOMEN

FALLERS

DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN UP

AGILE Buy
BALLS DEEP TOXIC WAIST BITTER PILL
DOWN WORKING nappies
A hot bath after Overweight men tend Studies have linked
NO JOY to have a lower sperm chronic ibuprofen Spending hours
training raises the HOLD
temperature of your WITH SOY count and motility, so use to male infertility. with your laptop on Still
testes, killing sperm. Researchers found break up your day So, the next time you your lap will demote trying
An ice bath, though, men who ate the most at the desk with a have muscle aches (or your fertility: a rise in
will soothe your soy had 41 million lunchtime workout. a hangover), simply temperature of 1°C can
harm your testicles’
DOWN
muscles with no fewer sperm per ml. First Affiliated adopt a stiff upper lip.
sperm production.
False
impact on your fertility. Harvard School of Hospital of Zhengzhou University of
Public Health University Copenhagen State University alarm
University of California
of New York

26 menshealth.com.au
 A+
NUTRITION

YOU CANE DO IT! *

Take this quiz and see how much you know about the effects
of sugar on your health. *The Men’s Health staffer who wrote
this corny headline has been told to lay off the Skittles

Let’s get the most

1 important sugar
delivery out of the way.
Chocolate: good or bad?
A Bad

B Bad(ish)

C Good(ish)!

Depends. If you choose highly processed

and sugary milk chocolates, you’re missing
out on flavonols, beneficial plant
compounds found in higher levels in dark
chocolate. These may help enhance the
function of blood vessels, decrease blood
pressure and improve cholesterol levels.
Unless you eat too much, and then there’s
the bad-for-your-heart obesity thing.
Answer: C

Kill a sugar craving

2 laying:

A B C
Khalid Volleyball Video games

Stay in your seat: a University of Plymouth

study found that three minutes of Tetris
can weaken cravings for food.
Answer: C

You’re most likely to

3 want sweets when:
A Tired

B Angry
C Tangry!

Anger makes you do lots of things you

regret, but inhaling sweets isn’t usually one
of them. Late nights give sugar cravings the
upper hand: sleep loss blunts activity in brain
regions needed for decision-making,
according to UC Berkeley research. Fatigue
also amplifies activity in parts of the brain
A SOFT-DRINK HABIT IS that control desire, making it hard to keep
CAUSING YOU A “gotta-have-it” urges in check.
MOUNTAIN OF Answer: A
POTENTIAL TROUBLE .

28 menshealth.com.au
 Research shows that
TO ENJOY CHOCOLATE 8 sugary drinks speed up
WITHOUT RISKING YOUR
HEALTH, SWITCH TO
cell aging by how many years?
THE DARK SIDE.

A B C
1.5 4.6
4 7.3

A mere 1.5 years is wishful thinking. People

who drink 590ml of soft drink per day have
DNA changes typical of cells a little bit older.
Answer: B

The best way to get some

9 energy before training is
to reach for:
A A sports drink

B A banana
Sugar does the following Adding sugar to your coffee
4 to your sperm: 6 can f___ your memory. C That vending-machine Snickers
you declined earlier in the day
A Makes it swim faster A -ocus
B Tanks its quality B -orestall Heavy weights and sugary foods make for
bad training partners. A 75-gram hit of
C -uck with
If you won’t cut back on soft drink for added sugar causes a 25 per cent drop in
yourself, do it for your grandchildren. High testosterone levels, according to Clinical
intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is A UK review found that combining your daily Endocrinology. Peel a banana instead.
linked to poor sperm motility. caffeine fix with sugar helps with cognitive Answer: B
Answer: B performance. But over time, a sugary diet
disrupts brain-cell communication and can
hinder learning and memory, UCLA
researchers say.
10 Which of these can make
5 You’ve hit the 3pm slump. dessert sweeter without
Answer: A and C
Instead of a Snickers from extra kilojoules?
the vending machine, go for:
Honey is better for
7 you than sugar.
A True A B C
B False Your The Your
silverware lighting companion
Molasses, corn syrup, brown sugar, cane
A A Twix, a Milky Way, M&M’s ... sugar, fructose – and honey: they’re all Oxford researchers found that heavier
B A walk around the building still sugar. spoons trick us into finding food sweeter.
Answer: B Company also helps us better enjoy food.
C A look at Instagram Answer: A and C

Research from Germany suggests that all

that #foodporn on Instagram may actually
induce spikes of ghrelin, a hormone TALLY UP THE ANSWERS YOU GOT RIGHT TO SEE IF YOU’RE . . .
responsible for stimulating appetite. A brisk
15-minute walk, on the other hand, can
chase away sugar cravings, different 0-4 5-7 8-10
research found. Sugar Oblivious In the Sweet Spot A Sugar Savant
Answer: B What you don’t know You know when sugar The facts shouldn’t keep
about sugar could be cravings hit and how to you away from all sweet
keeping you in the cycle counteract them the stuff all the time. A little is
of reaching for it. right way. really okay.

August 2019 29
 A+
MUSCLE

Scale Up Your S

2
COIL UP
Slowly sit your

Lunchtime
glutes onto
your heels and lean
TAKE A KNEE back. Support the two

Gym Sessions
Begin in a kettlebells at your chest
kneeling by contracting your
position on the abs. Hold this position
floor and set for a second to make
sure you’re in total
SHRED YOUR CORE, FILL YOUR SLEEVES AND up with two
control of the rep.
kettlebells held
UNCOIL BACK PAIN WITH THE VIPER PRESS at your collarbone
– A MOVE THAT HAS IT ALL. BUT BEWARE, in the front rack
IT HAS SOME BITE position. Keep your
elbows high to engage
your shoulder muscles
from the start.
WE LIKE TO WALK a fine
line at MH, and that line lies
between proper functionality
and aesthetics. Yes, we want to
move well, but we’d be lying if
we said we didn’t want to look
good, too. And we’re after both
from the 45 minutes we have
in the gym before lunch. If you
feel the same, it’s time to inject
some venom into your training
with this new movement.
“It’s called the ‘viper press’
because you coil up, sitting
back, ready to spring forward,” THE BEST
says movement coach and EXERCISE
the move’s creator, Richard YOU’RE NOT
Tidmarsh. The exercise DOING
incorporates the best elements
of a crunch and an overhead
press, targeting your core,
shoulders and arms.
The hip extension then
encourages mobility in your
spine and hips, releasing
the joints most susceptible
to the pitfalls of sedentary
life. “It’s an antidote to sitting,
teaching you to use your hips,”

3 4
says Tidmarsh. “And it’s great
for both mirror muscles and AND STRIKE THE FINAL PUSH
functionality.” Now, engage your In a fluid movement,
Try five sets of eight reps glutes hard to push use the upward
at the start of your workout for forward through your momentum to push the
four weeks, and you can attain hips. This will take you kettlebells overhead. Slowly
both dynamic movement and back up into a kneel. As lower them to your shoulders
a shredded core to be proud of. you do so, uncurl your and sink into the next rep
abs until you’re as tall as for a one-stop form and
possible. You’re not done function overhaul.
just yet.

WHAT YOU’LL GAIN

+ + +
S H RE DD E D IMPROVED M ON STE R POW E R FUL
SIX-PACK MO BIL ITY SHO UL DE R S TR IC EPS

30 menshealth.com.au
 A+
NUTRITION

ATTACK THE FLANK!

What’s 30/10? Those are the minimum grams of protein
and fibre you need at each meal to help you build muscle
and fill up. This month: grilled flank steak

THE PROTEIN
Flank comes from the underside of BUY IT
the cow in an area called the drop Most prepackaged supermarket flank
loin. This unsung cut is a steak steaks weigh between 680-1130 grams
lover’s prize: deeply meaty and and come trimmed of most of their fat,
tender if cooked right. Although the gristle and silver skin. Look for a cut
cut does have some fat, it’s relatively that’s nicely marbled, with intramuscular
lean compared with, say, a rib eye. streaks of white. That fat will help flavour
Flanks take well to marinating and the meat as it cooks.
fast cooking, especially on the grill.

COOK IT Seared Flank Steak with

Green Lightning Sauce

WORDS: PAUL KITA; PHOTOGRAPHY: MIKE GARTEN

You’ll want to grill this cut of beef to rosy, juicy medium-rare.
That’s because overcooking flank steak will turn your meal into
a jaw-endurance challenge. Flash-sear the flank and then
smother thin slices with a simple fresh-from-the-herb-garden sauce.

INGREDIENTS: 1. Remove the flank steak from the

• 900g flank steak fridge and allow it to come to room
• 1 cup fresh parsley, temperature as you preheat your
finely chopped grill to high. In a medium bowl,
• 1 cup coriander, finely combine the parsley, coriander,
chopped chives, oregano, garlic, lime juice
• ¼ cup fresh chives, and zest, chilli flakes, olive oil. Salt
finely chopped and pepper to taste.
• 2 Tbsp fresh oregano,
finely chopped 2. Brush the steak with olive oil and
• 3 garlic cloves, finely season well with salt and pepper
chopped on both sides. Transfer the steak to
• Juice and zest the grill and sear, about 8 minutes
from 1 lime per side for medium-rare. Transfer
UPGRADE IT
• Big pinch crushed the steak to a cutting board and
You can make this meal even
red-pepper flakes let it rest at least 5 minutes before PER SERVING: 1425 kilojoules,
more delicious with any one of
• ¼ cup olive oil, plus slicing against the grain and 32g protein, 2g carbohydrates
the steps that follow. You can
more for brushing serving with the sauce. Feeds 6 (0g fibre), 22g fat
even do all three (show-off).

32 menshealth.com.au
 THE FIBRE

KALE, CH
HE R OMA
OM
MAT
AT ,
AND CHICKP SAL
ALAD
D
In a large bowl, combine 1
(400g) can of rinsed and
drained chickpeas, 1 medium
minced shallot, 1½ cups halved
mixed-colour cherry tomatoes,
1½ cups packed baby kale, 1
Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp white-wine
vinegar, and salt and pepper
to taste. Allow to sit 30 minutes
before serving. Makes 4 servings
PER SERVING: 1075kJ, 11g
protein, 43g carbs (11g fibre),
5g fat

BERRY
WHEAT BERRY
YS AD
Cook 1 cup p of wheat berries
according to package
instructions. Drain and allow
to cool to room temperature.
Transfer to a large bowl and
Y H .. mix with 1 cup raspberries, 1
cup blueberries, ¼ cup mint
5 MI le on 10 MIN N. Before you
y 4 Fl s s ow (finely chopped), 2 Tbsp roasted
out n p m s e o the
on he c tt g rin d el li e sunflower kernels, 1 Tbsp
on e r b r ess
ss t boaroard sel d v ll t o o e o l, balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp olive
te H heatt ta
ake he a a of o oill nd m ic loves
v an and d f w oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
e out
o of c t s rv
rves
e e Sca e ome f y s o f e he re
e all
all Makes 4 servings
t b ht a s qu e e the
s. s saltalt Th
hen lett h ste k i
in e Ma ini a in zi p bag PER SERVING: 275kJ, 9g protein,
sm y ce e o r the sli
slic
l st ak. th s m n of go d e s. t le s 4 ourss. Ei
Eig ’ss te .
ter 44g carbs (10g fibre), 8g fat

August 2019 33
Over 1,500 exercises,
workouts and training plans
Ideal for any fitness level
Download now for free!

Your Reliable Training Partner.

The Men’s Health Personal Trainer App.
Search for Men’s Health Fitness Trainer in your favourite app store
 A+
NUTRITION

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN…

…I Crave Junk Food?

Your urge to gorge isn’t a weakness – it’s a desire hard-wired
by evolution. Reset your system to resist the Golden Arches

1 4
BRAIN FUEL HEED THE RED STAY STRONG
Early man’s gorging on FLAG OF A DIRTY The majority of the
HANKERING.
sugars helped us to research on cravings
evolve large brains and let focuses on how to manage
us outrun the rest of the them when they crop up.
food chain. This Resist the biscuit tin for five
evolutionary impulse to minutes, or get up and take
load up on energy-rich a walk, and the craving
foods explains why cravings should disappear.
today have little to do with Mindfulness is becoming a
hunger. Instead, they’re popular avenue for
a physiological response: controlling cravings: spend
carbs light up your brain time clearing a little
more than any other headspace and you’ll be
macro, which is why better able to focus your
they’re the hardest to thoughts away from that
cut back on. lunchtime Snickers.

2 4

3
5

WORDS: TOM WARD; ILLUSTRATION: PETER GRUNDY; EXPERT: RACHAEL EDEN, DIETITIAN AT BUPA UK
5
RECORD
RESULTS
Still struggling?
Try keeping a food diary,

2
HAPPY MEMORIES recording not only what you
Your cravings begin in eat and when, but also what
your brain’s reward you crave and when. Use
centres, rather than in your this to identify patterns.

3
hunger circuitry. The signals TRIGGER WARNING More importantly, keeping a
are intended to make you feel Breaking habits isn’t easy, especially if you associate close eye on your eating
good when you engage in your behaviour with a positive feeling. While the food habits should ensure your
activities crucial itself may not have addictive properties, the release of blood sugar and energy
to survival, such as eating dopamine plays a major role in getting you hooked. A study levels remain steady, putting
and sex. When you devour in Nutrition Review found that “environmental cues” and a lid on hunger. Meanwhile,
a Big Mac meal, a “pleasure” “sensory, metabolic, endocrine and neural pathways” sharp tastes (such as those
neurotransmitter called conspire to trigger your cravings. In other words, your brain of lemon juice and Listerine)
dopamine is released. Your and surroundings work against you. Which explains the curtail cravings. So, if all else
brain remembers this link campaigns to stop children being exposed to junk food ads. fails, wash your mouth out.
between Big Mac sauce and
happiness and encourages
you to repeat the experience.

August 2019 35
 A+
M2M

Just because your life’s pretty good, now seemed noisy and polluted.
I wanted something quieter
Dangar Island, a speck off Sydney
with a population of 300; and
is that a reason not to overhaul and greener. I’d grown up in the Byron Bay.
it? This guy packed up and went suburbs but had no wish to go back. We took our time making
On the other hand, the idea of our choice, holidaying over the
searching for something better going further afield tantalised me. next three years at each location
How often do thoughts like and gradually whittling down
BY QUENTIN PIEPER this come to nothing? Maybe they the contenders. The Blue
blow away on the next breeze or Mountains and Hobart are both
your partner dismisses them out charming but too icy for my wife.
of hand. But in this case my wife Bellingen wasn’t quite what we
THE PRECURSOR to any life- was as curious as I was. So one expected. Dangar Island was a
changing decision is, I suppose, night we sat down and started little too quiet.
a feeling of dissatisfaction. I had adding flesh to the bones of That left the hipster paradise
this gnawing sense that my life a plan. of Byron Bay, where we stayed for
wasn’t as good as it might be. I Step one was clarifying a week on three separate visits
was in my forties at the time. My the sort of place we wanted to in three different areas. Without
wife and I had a one-year-old son call home. We agreed on a left- feeling we’d found the perfect
and we were living in the inner- leaning enclave with a sense spot, we decided to rent in the
west of Sydney. We were happy of community – after all, this area and explore it further as
enough and yet a realisation was wasn’t conceived as a retreat into residents. We soon discovered
dawning on me: this wasn’t a isolationism. We also wanted Broken Head, about 10 minutes
great place to raise a kid. enough land to grow fruit and south of Byron. It’s a beachside
In my salad days, inner-city vegetables and to maintain our hamlet, quiet and leafy, and we
living had suited me. I’d relished own water supply. ended up buying a house there on
the proximity to a pulsating We came up with five 40 hectares of community land.
night life. But you get over that, possibilities: the Blue Mountains, That was four years ago and it’s
don’t you? A place I’d hitherto west of Sydney; Bellingen, on the the best thing I’ve ever done. Here
seen as loaded with possibility NSW mid north coast; Hobart; are the questions I get asked all

36 menshealth.com.au
 BY MOVING TO BYRON buddies a lot. I see them once or
BAY, THE WRITER twice a year, which isn’t enough
SWAPPED PEAK-HOUR but that’s the price you pay for
TRAFFIC SNARLS FOR getting everything else right.
SUNSET BEACH WALKS.
Do you think this has been
good for your son?
He’s living the dream. He wakes
up in a single-child household
that backs onto the bush and is
close to the sea, with parents
who dote on him and have time
to listen to him, play with him,
take him to school and to footy
training, where his dad’s the
coach. Longer term, this perfect
upbringing might prove to be a
double-edged sword: maybe he’ll
run into difficulties when life
gets tougher and he needs to show
strength and independence. But
he gets so much confidence from
knowing he’s loved and valued,
and from never being told, “Sorry,
we don’t have time for that”.

Would you come back to the

city to live?
If something were to go wrong
and we had to return to Sydney
and resume working, I think
it’s quite possible I’d become
depressed. Six weeks after we
moved to Byron I had to fly back
for a funeral. From the air I saw
the harbour and the red roofs,
and for a lot of people those
the time by old friends – and what OK, so you don’t have to work, of years we had no TV but we familiar sights inspire a sense
I tell them. but don’t you miss it? have one now so we can watch big of belonging. But this time I
Not at all. I accept that some sporting events together. thought, “I don’t want to be here –
What about work? people, psychologically, need to this isn’t my home anymore”.
I was a lawyer in my previous life, work. What I’m doing wouldn’t Uprooting from your old home It was like meeting up with
working at a large bank managing suit everyone. But I was never a . . . how hard was that? an old girlfriend at a party and
complex litigation. You’re not person who couldn’t wait to get Not very. I know it’s hard for thinking, “Yeah, I used to love you
going to find work like that in the to work. On the contrary, I was some people, who accrue a lot of but now you’re just someone from
bush, but I negotiated with my someone who couldn’t wait to get stuff and find it harder to toss my past”.
boss to work remotely except for out of there. crap. I could move tomorrow.
twice-weekly commutes – 150km I like having a reason to cull Could I pull this off?
each way – to our Brisbane office. So what do you do all day? possessions down to the Possibly. But we’ve seen others
After a while I cut those down I get this a lot. The answer is, minimum. It’s liberating. come here for two years and try
to once-a-week before quitting “Whatever I want!” We breakfast their darndest but then head
altogether 18 months ago. My as a family before my wife and I Don’t you miss your friends? home because they couldn’t make
wife, who was an IT project drop our son at school and park That’s the one downside. Look, it work. The big thing’s work.
manager in Sydney, took charge ourselves in a café to read the you can make new friends in That’s make or break. You can’t
of the local markets for a while paper. After that, I’ll hit either your forties, though it helps to really get sustainable, satisfying
but that was a thankless, high- the gym or the beach. In middle have a kid. You need a shared work up here – unless you like the
stress role and she quit too. age I’ve taken up surfing – I’m concern to give you a reason to idea of working in a coffee shop.
hopeless but loving it. After speak to someone. Through the You may need to approach your
So how do you live? lunch, I’ll tend to our garden community school I’ve made boss and ask how feasible it would
In truth, you can’t do what we’ve and stretch out with a book on friends with a bunch of lovely be for you to work remotely. There
done without something behind the daybed on our back veranda. blokes – really interesting are people here who do that, and
you. We live modestly from I’ll pick up the boy from school and fun guys. But you need there are others who commute
income off several investment and take him to footy practice that shared history to feel the weekly to Sydney or Melbourne. It
properties that my dad pushed or music lessons. The evenings I connection you have with your comes down to this: how badly do
me to acquire before I knew my devote to him: talking, reading, oldest mates. Luckily, I don’t you want a quieter, simpler life?
ass from my elbow. playing with Lego. For a couple get lonely easily. I miss my old And could you handle it?

August 2019 37
 A+
MUSCLE

INFLATE
YOUR GYM
POTENTIAL
At 50, comedy actor Terry Crews
has finally balanced physical
brawn and mental strength.
Get a slice of the action

To make your strength funny, you have to

be really strong – comically strong. And
Terry Crews is. For some, he will forever
be the guy singing “A Thousand Miles”
in White Chicks. Now, he plays a pec-
dancing cop in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
But his life hasn’t always been defined
by laughs.
For Crews, strength used to entail
proving it all the time. “My father made
sure, every time he came home, that we
were uncomfortable. That meant, ‘Now
I have respect’,” says Crews. “That’s
so many men. That was me.” Playing
American football for the LA Rams,
San Diego Chargers and Washington
Redskins, Crews pushed his body to
its limits. This, he believed, was simply
what strong people did.
Then it all changed. In 2006, Crews
narrowly avoided prison. A man had
hassled him for an autograph, then
became aggressive. Crews and his wife
had just learned that she was pregnant.
When the man jabbed her, Crews
snapped. “I ended up stomping this guy
on the pavement,” he says. His wife told
him his temperament needed to change.
So, when he was sexually assaulted
by a Hollywood executive, rather than
squash him, Crews left calmly and sued
him. He had built a new inner strength to
match his external brawn, providing the
balance to stay at peak condition and
make people laugh in his sixth decade.
Every morning, he wakes up before
5am and takes a variety of pills: essential
fatty acids, multivitamins, a fat burner
and more. He mixes amino acids in water
and hits the gym. Then, he eats nothing
until 2pm. It’s fasting, together with a
strict training plan, that Crews credits
for his physique. Despite the 16 hours
without food, he couldn’t be further
from “hangry”: he is jovial and energetic,
entirely at ease with himself. He is in bed
by 10pm and rises at dawn to train again.
“Because now,” he says, “it’s about HEIGHT
Healthy Terry.”

38 menshealth.com.au
 FITTER PILLS TO SWALLOW
Add some extra bulk to your daily supps stack with Terry’s list

GARLIC EXTRACT
This cooking staple is full of allicin, an antibacterial
compound that the University of Guadalajara found
can charge up your immune system.

GLUTAMINE
According to Dalhousie University, this amino
acid can reduce muscle soreness and delay
fatigue, adding extra kays to your cardio.

BODY FAT HORNY GOAT WEED

This can be used to boost libido (the clue’s in
the name), but Shantou University found it
also stimulates extra testosterone production.

WEIGHT
TAILORING: YELENA TRAVKINA; PRODUCTION: ENIKO PERHACS
PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER YANG ; STYLING: TED STAFFORD
HAIR: LEANA MCKNIGHT; MAKE-UP: OLIVIA FISCHA FOR

PECTORAL
CELESTINE AGENCY; SET: FAETHGRUPPE

REFORM
Use Crews’s four-set, 01/ DB CHEST PRESS 02/ DB INCLINE PRESS 03/ DB CHEST FLY
descending ladder structure 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 4 reps 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 4 reps 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 4 reps
– lowering your dumbbells Hold two dumbbells above your chest on a flat Lift the bench to a 45˚ angle and, once again, Hold some lighter dumbbells together above
very slowly for each rep – to bench. Brace your core and lower the weights start each rep with the dumbbells above your your chest. With a slight bend at the elbow,
craft dancing pecs at any age over four seconds, pause, then push them chest. Lower the weights over four seconds, lower the weights sideways to chest level over
back up to the starting position. pause, then push them up again. four seconds. Pause and reverse.

August 2019 39
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McWilliam’s Wines encourages responsible

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 A+
HEALTH

A New Hope for

Curing Dementia
The latest research suggests that Alzheimer’s
may be caused by everyday germs. We put
this theory under the microscope

FORGETTING WHERE you’ve TEND TO BASICS

parked your car in a multi-storey TO PLANT A SEED FOR
is one of life’s guarantees. For LIFELONG ACUITY.
some, it’s nothing more than
a slip of the mind; for others,
however, short-term memory loss
can signal the onset of dementia,
a destructive condition that
affects around 450,000 people
in Australia.
To find a cure, many
researchers have swapped
lofty hypotheses for simple
theories. They now believe that
Alzheimer’s is caused by germs:
not an exotic new pathogen,
but the microscopic organisms
responsible for gum disease and
FORGET ME NOTS
While researchers focus on
THE MED DIET
The promise:
PUB WITH
FRIENDS
Filling your basket The promise:
cold sores. As the blood-brain bacteria, we rate the everyday with oily fish, nuts and a bottle Loneliness can trigger anxiety,
barrier becomes more porous preventatives that will help to of red is now linked to slowing which is linked to Alzheimer’s.
with age, these germs infiltrate protect your grey matter until the progression of Alzheimer’s. Staying socially active reverses
your neural cortex to instigate the science catches up It’s the dependable option for this by releasing endorphins,
the onset of Alzheimer’s.
better health. improving your mood.
The protein fragment beta-
amyloid is known to form plaques
in the brain, which contribute to
the development of the disease, Verdict: Solid science and an Verdict: Fire-up WhatsApp
and autopsies have detected viral excuse for a glass of Barolo. and we’ll see you at the bar.
DNA in amyloid plaques. When
patients have been prescribed
antibiotics or antivirals, they
BLUEBERRY EIGHT HOT
have displayed improvements
VINEGAR HOURS’ KIP CHOCOLATE
in symptoms. The promise: The promise:
The promise:
Scientists have yet to Inadequate shut-eye increases Cocoa contains sky-high levels
Tests show that it breaks down
find a cure for dementia, but brain beta-amyloid production, of flavanol antioxidants, which
acetylcholine – a compound that
these findings suggest that a which forms plaques and has possess strong heart and brain-
negatively impacts memory – in
breakthrough may be imminent. been linked to the onset of protecting properties, reports the
the brains of animals. Its efficacy
Perhaps we’ve had the solution dementia. So, hit the sack. Neurology journal.
in humans is unknown.
to dementia all along. The race
is now on to determine the exact
strain of germ we need to target.
For the time being, however, Verdict: Hard to find and tastes Verdict: The benefits of sleep, Verdict: Treat this as an
prevention trumps cure. bad. Don’t ruin your chips. it seems, are boundless. indulgence, not a habit.

August 2019 41
 A+
TACTICS

1 FIRST:
WHY YOU ESTIMATE THE AMOUNT OF TIME AND
EFFORT IT WILL TAKE - THEN DOUBLE IT.

DON’T Why? Because when you’re

in the throes of your initial
enthusiasm, you’re overly
If things went smoothly,
they predicted it would take
roughly 27.4 days.
Yourself the Gift of Done,
and failing to account for it
is one of the most common

FINISH
optimistic, and as a result, Wrong, and superwrong. reasons people abandon
you underestimate how hard The average time it took was projects midway through.
the project is going to be. 55.5 days. If doubling the time you

THE . . .
When Canadian researchers You can’t blame youth for allot sounds daunting,
asked undergraduate the misjudgment. Building Acuff suggests downsizing
psychology students how the Sydney Opera House your projects instead.
long they thought it would took a decade longer and Aim to clean off half your
There’s a phase in the middle take to complete their theses cost 14.5 times as much workbench or write three
– if “everything went as as the architects initially blog posts a week rather
of every project that threatens poorly as it possibly could” projected. It’s called the than seven. “ ‘Shoot for the
to sink it. Ginny Graves helps – their average answer was planning fallacy, says Jon moon’ is a recipe for failure,”
48.6 days. Acuff, author of Finish: Give he says.
you find your way through

MAYBE IT’S THE GARAGE clean-

out. Maybe it’s your side-hustle
documentary. Maybe you’re
. . . writing a piece for Men’s Health.
Regardless of the project, the story 2 THEN:
arc is usually the same: you embark BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU
on the journey feeling exhilarated TELL PEOPLE UP FRONT.
and capable. Fast-forward a few days,
a week, maybe even a month. Now Conventional wisdom holds slap you on the back and Why eat your vegetables if
there are half-empty boxes all over that you should state your say, “Good for you!” You you’ve already had dessert?
the driveway, reference materials intentions openly, the theory get the high of finishing If you do tell someone, ask
burying the dining-room table, tools being that when other before you start, and them to be your ally and
in the hall. And what are you doing people know what you’re that can undermine your check in with you once a
instead of finishing your project? (Is up to, you’ll be forced enthusiasm once you’re week and ask you what
that Fortnite? Are those Doritos?) to finish – or be forced to immersed in the hard work. you’ve accomplished.
There’s a reason many of us have publicly own up to the fact
something like a half-painted that you didn’t. But sharing
kitchen weighing on our conscience, has a serious downside,
according to Harvard Business says Acuff. Say you tell
School professor Rosabeth Moss your friends you’re going
Kanter, author of Confidence: How to landscape the backyard.
Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks What do they do? They
Begin and End. In between the thrill
of starting a project and the joy of 3 BREAK
PROP STYLING: MEGUMI EMOTO/ANDERSON HOPKINS

completing it lies the interminable IT DOWN INTO

middle, where enthusiasm sputters SERIAL STEPS.
and your effort takes on the grim
patina of failure. “The middle is
where the project gets hard and you
have to face reality,” says Kanter. It’s Obvious, right? Well, yes that. Say you want to build a this: call Jim Smith xx finish
taking longer, costing more, other and no. We often get treehouse for your kid. The treehouse. “The ‘xx’ serves
people are saying WTF. Getting bogged down in the first step could be as simple as a separator between your
stuck in the middle is so cartoonishly middle because we’re as calling a neighbour current action step and the
predictable, Kanter says, that you can overwhelmed by a project’s with a cool treehouse and goal line,” he says. “Seeing
plan for it and possibly even prevent scope. So instead of picking his brain, says both together is a reminder
it. Your best moves: thinking about everything Frank Buck, an organisation that every small task is
you need to do, define the coach. Buck suggests bringing you closer to your
next small task and focus on writing down each step like ultimate goal.”

42 menshealth.com.au
EVEN THE BEST OF US
COULD USE A SYSTEM
TO HELP US FINISH
WHAT WE START.

6 FINALLY,
UNDERSTAND THE
COSTS OF
NOT FINISHING.

“Unfinished projects don’t

go away. They become
ghosts that haunt
you,” warns Acuff. If you
repeatedly give up, the
person you’re betraying is
you. Finishing, on the other
hand, shields you from the
spectre of projects past,
helps you trust yourself
– and gets the boxes out
of the garage.

5 AIM TO
FRONT-LOAD MOST
OF THE WORK.

In 2011, when he was 23,

Scott Young, a writer in
Vancouver, decided to try
to complete an informal
version of MIT’s computer-
science curriculum in one
year – 33 classes, including
physics, chemistry and
economics. (MIT puts
some classes and exams
online.) “It wasn’t the
exact MIT curriculum,
but it was a pretty good
approximation,” he says.
By then, he knew himself
well enough to recognise
that he would burn out
as time went on. So
he structured the MIT
Challenge to account for
project fatigue. “I finished
the first 10 classes in three
months, which gave me
Acuff once set out to read it’s a graphic novel’. At momentum and made
the last half easier than
MAKE
100 books in a year – and first it made me question
4 began posting about it the whole project. Then the first.” It worked. He
YOUR on social media. “People I thought, ‘Who gets to didn’t get credit, but he
OWN RULES. would say, ‘That book judge?’ And I realised I do. completed all 33 classes
doesn’t count because My project, my rules.” in just under a year.

August 2019 43
 A+
MOTORING

Should you prefer the blue- the Supra the better performance
and-white sparkle of the BMW car. The Japanese version is
badge, however, then you can fantastic – a light-feeling,
head to a BMW dealership and responsive and always engaging

SUPRA NATURAL
Want a prestige car without the badge tax?
plonk down $124,900 for the Z4
M40i – complete with (though
you’ve probably already guessed)
a thumping turbocharged
box of fun that shines equally
bright whether you’re attacking
a public road or a racetrack.
Critically, though, the Supra
Toyota’s latest (and greatest?) offering is a straight-six engine pumping also has an actual metal roof.
out an exciting 250kW and BMW’s Z4 – exclusively a soft-top
wolf in sheep’s clothing 500Nm, feeding that grunt to a convertible proposition – does
pair of hard-working rear tyres not. And if you’ve ever seen a
BY ANDREW CHESTERTON
via a quick-shifting eight-speed house mid-demolition, you’ll
automatic gearbox. know that removing the roof from
That’s because the Z4 and the something never does much for
IT’S NOT OFTEN that BMW and more someone will pay to park a Supra are essentially the same structural integrity.
Toyota find themselves competing premium badge in their driveway. car, developed jointly (but there That effect is usually doubled-
for the same customers. Should the mood take you, is more BMW than Toyota in down in the world of convertibles,
Like someone sweeping you will soon be able to duck both cars’ DNA, including the where the windscreens and
through the chinchilla section down to your local Toyota chassis, engine, gearbox and steering wheels are prone
in Harrods, stuffing furs into dealership, step past the rows interior technology) by the to sudden shaking fits, the
their trolley like a Kardashian at of Corollas and RAV4s – back two car companies to save on dynamics turn all weird and
Christmas, and then swinging slowly away, palms up, from the production costs. wobbly, and the extra weight of
by Aldi to see what bargains have Camry – and place an order for the roof mechanicals drains the
popped up in the ‘special buys’ the new Supra. In its cheapest TWIN VIRTUES fun from the drive experience
aisle, the German premium brand GT trim, you will find yourself And so just like that, one of like someone pulling the plug
and Japan’s icon of mass-market parting with $93,730, with that motoring’s most enduring from a bathtub.
motoring just don’t appear on the money buying you a thumping questions has finally been But BMW’s engineering team
same radar. turbocharged straight-six engine answered. What price badge has pulled off a kind of minor
But that will all change this pumping out an exciting 250kW credibility? Exactly $31,170. miracle here. Consider this: the
year when the Toyota Supra joins and 500N, and feeding that There is one critical difference Z4 M40i is actually faster around
BMW’s new Z4 in Oz, and in the grunt to a pair of hard-working between these near-identical the infamous Nurburgring than
process, finally puts an exact rear tyres via a quick-shifting twins, though. And it’s one that, the BMW M2, knocking almost
dollar figure on just how much eight-speed automatic gearbox. in theory, should actually make three full seconds off the time

44 menshealth.com.au
 “THIS IS THE KIND OF
TOYOTA THAT HASN’T
EXISTED FOR DECADES”

managed by the smallest (but still on a starting block, the steering heart thumping and pulse racing corners with a cat-like deftness.
very, very good) full-blown M car. getting heavier, the accelerator in a way that’s totally foreign to But it’s when you blast out the other
In fact, BMW’s spanner- response sharper and the gearbox the often boring world of modern side of that corner, the rich note of
wielders have told us there’s no suddenly willing to kung-fu grip Toyotas. The Japanese giant is that six-cylinder engine bouncing
plan for a proper M version of the its lower gears as you scream out rightly famed as the automotive around the cabin, and with g-forces
Z4, simply because they don’t of corners. equivalent of sensible shoes: scrabbling at your face and neck,
think they could make it much reliable, comfortable, but as that you realise that this is truly
faster. As is, this M40i will hit POWER PACT exciting as a tax audit. And yet the kind of Toyota that hasn’t
100km/h in just 4.6 seconds, and In fact, the change between its here we are, fizzing like Mentos existed in decades.
it will push on to a top speed of two driving modes is so severe in a Coke bottle, and with a Toyota There’s not one part of the
250km/h. Best of all, it will do all that you really can’t leave it key swinging from our fingers. Supra that stands above any other.
that with its fabric roof stored and in Sport in the city, like you Like the BMW, this new Supra It’s more the overall sense of
the sun shining in on the driver. would in some cars. It’s just too is rear-wheel drive, and there’s sharpness, of completeness, that
BMW also claims a perfect hard, too uncomfortable, to be plenty of extra performance makes it so much fun. It might be
50:50 weight distribution, and truly liveable. But on the right trickery working in its favour, like a co-built performance car, but it
there’s heaps of clever M kit, road, this Hulk-from-Banner a sports differential and adaptive feels like a worthy successor to the
including adaptive suspension, transformation is fantastic. suspension, as well as perfect famed and Ferrari-bothering twin-
bigger brakes and an M Sport And scary. The combination 50:50 weight distribution. Happily, turbo Supras of the mid-1990s.
differential, all designed to of rear-wheel drive and a short the traction control can be set to a In fact, it feels a lot like a very
squeeze maximum fun from the wheelbase can see the Z4’s bottom half-slip mode, too, meaning it will good BMW. Only a whole hell of a
drive experience. suddenly overtaking its bonnet allow for some tail-sliding – much lot cheaper.
In the city, the Z4 still when you get too aggressive on like the Z4 – but will (hopefully)
somehow manages to trot around the exit of a corner, sparking a drag you back into a straight line
in relative comfort, feeling moment of pure panic before the when things get out of hand.
something approaching benign traction control intervenes and But the real pulse-
in its most comfortable settings, pulls you back to safety. quickening fun of the
with the suspension, gearbox All of which is very BMW Supra is how feather-
and accelerator all appropriately – especially one with an M, even a light and fun it
numbed and the fabric roof little one, somewhere in its title feels, with this most
keeping much of the outside – and so not overly surprising. un-Toyota of Toyotas
world at bay. But engaging the What is more surprising, quick to respond to
Sport settings utterly transforms though, is the smile you’ll find steering and throttle
the Z4’s character, the M40i painted on your face when you inputs, tucking into
tensing like a sprinter crouched climb out of the Supra, your even the tightest of

August 2019 45
 A+
MH GIRL

STEPH
CLAIRE
SMITH
The Instagram sensation and
emerging mover and shaker
wants you to be a little
kinder to yourself

BY DANIEL WILLIAMS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE BACCON

CAPED CRUSDADER:
SMITH’S FIGHTING TO
MAKE THE PURSUIT OF
HEALTH AND FITNESS
REWARDING FOR ALL.

46 menshealth.com.au
As Jerry Seinfeld might say, Steph Claire Smith has all the
qualities that would appeal to the superficial man. For her
part, however, the Melbourne model and Women’s Health
cover girl has been busy shedding a self-image based on her
looks. Once upon a time Smith would show up for castings
at which success or failure turned on height, hair colour and
proportions. “Now they’re booking me for me,” she says.
And who is me? A businesswoman, for one. Smith’s Keep It
Cleaner empire, which she cofounded with best friend Laura
Henshaw and includes a thumpingly successful fitness and
lifestyle app (keepitcleaner.com.au), has stamped her as
an entrepreneur on the rise. “I’m the most content I’ve ever
been,” she tells Men’s Health. “I still have goals and a lot of
ambition, but I’m really proud of how far I’ve come.”

THE MAN OF HER DREAMS point where she’s started to ponder a

Sorry to say, it’s not going to be question: how much success is enough?
you. This November, Smith is set to She’s not sure. But nor is she backing off
marry childhood sweetheart Josh just yet. “There’s so much more to go. We
Miller, a cofounder with Smith of just want to keep growing everything.”
sunglasses company Soda Shades. While keen to remain relatable to her
But she’s happy to reveal the three young admirers, Smith holds concurrent
qualities she values most in a partner: thoughts of grand conquests. “But we’re
trustworthiness, a supportive not going to launch into the States or the
disposition and a sense of humour – UK until the program is completely up to
ideally of a goofball, Jim Carreyesque scratch for those markets,” she says.
variety. “Even on the worst days,” she
says, “Josh can make me laugh.” FASTER FOOD
Your secret to cleaner eating is the same
TRAIN FOR PERFORMANCE as hers, Smith says: preparation. Getting
Whether lifting heavy weights or home from work late feeling wiped and
doing HIIT, Smith works out, she ravenous is a recipe for a blowout. “I try
says, to feel strong and energised. to make the best use of my Sundays,
She urges you to follow her lead and which means shopping for, cooking and
not to care so much about the size freezing meals that are nutritious and
of your biceps. “I’ve always been ready to go.” That said, the odd takeaway
competitive,” she says, “not with other meal needn’t be catastrophic: “You can
people but with myself. I go into every still make smart choices”.
session with a performance goal.”
Not chasing aesthetics doesn’t mean THE MALE PHYSIQUE
going to seed, she clarifies. “I love Smith doesn’t want you seeing a Thor
looking after myself from the inside flick and figuring you need to look like
out. I know physical appearance Chris Hemsworth by spring. “Some guys
comes with that, but it’s not at the top can get ripped really quickly, some take
of my values anymore.” years to build muscle and some live a
healthy life but will never have abs,” she
SUCCESS STORY says. “I can appreciate a guy’s body in
Smith’s business has reached a any shape or form.”

August 2019 47
 Download the Men’s Health
LO·V$GYRFDWH
0HQ·V+HDOWK'HY
Episode 1
Devil’s Advocate podcast
on your favourite
streaming app or visit
menshealth.com.au
 A+
MH DAD

Soooooooo . . .
It is my belief that you don’t DON’T NEGLECT
get better as a parent the more YOUR WORK JOB . . .
kids you have. You just get older. I did a podcast to promote a

Many Kids
And more tired. I have, however, comedy special, and the host
in my older age, developed a asked me if I’d achieved the
few forms of mental jujitsu that perfect work/life balance. I
make parenting easier on me laughed and answered that
WHAT’S THE SECRET TO RAISING and, hopefully, on everyone else instead of holding the baby so
in my family. that my wife could rest her back,
MORE THAN ONE CHILD?
I was recording a podcast. I also
BY W. KAMAU BELL ACCEPT don’t know how to be the dad
DIMINISHING RETURNS who is in my kids’ lives “enough”
Being a parent is like being a fire while being the dad who is out
I’M PRETTY SURE I just spilled just helped me. I’m counting truck. Can a fire truck put out in the world earning “enough”
Thai food on my four-month- “wwerdasjuobbbwwwerttytgh” one house fire? Of course. That’s money to feed, house, clothe,
old daughter’s head. Don’t be as a word. And thanks to my exactly what it was made to do. educate and entertain them.
alarmed. It’s fried chicken over daughter, I have been able to use But can a fire truck put out two The sooner you accept the lack
fried rice and, luckily, because “wwerdasjuobbbwwwerttytgh” house fires at the same time? of balance, the less unbalanced
it’s four hours old, it’s cold. I four times. And what if the burning houses you’ll feel.
didn’t microwave it to reheat it. I Okay, I’m back. After I wrote want to watch two different TV
don’t have that kind of time. that last part, I drifted away to shows and there is one TV and . . . OR YOUR HOME JOB
I agreed to write this when Twitter. Or was it YouTube? I the iPad just died? What does the My daughters are three of the
my wife was still pregnant with can’t remember. My brain feels fire truck do then? It puts out the coolest people I have ever met.
our third child, Asha. I thought like it has been turned to soup by fires it can. But yes, occasionally I wish I
it would be safe to write about exhaustion, and I am swimming were one of those 1950s-era dads
being a dad because I could through that soup looking for WATCH LOUD MOVIES who left the house at 8:30am
do it from home. But writing the chunky brain parts. I need As hard as it was to stay up with and returned at 7pm after a stint
anything well – an essay, a to find the chunky brain parts a baby, I remember enjoying at the bar. I wish when my wife
to-do list, your name – requires so I can think clearly enough to all the late-night kung fu tried to hand me my daughter
more than four hours’ sleep do simple things, like finish this movies. This time, there aren’t at 10pm I could look at her like,
and fewer than three forms piece and eat lunch at lunchtime enough movies that can keep “Why are you trying to hand me
of distraction. It requires and [funny third thing]. me awake after 2am. They need a baby? I’m a man”. I can’t do it
wwerdasjuobbbwwwerttytgh. The sad thing is that I knew to be loud and engaging with that way. Doing some faux-’50s-
I didn’t just type this brain-soup thing was lots of changes in action. Not dad thing and pretending like I
“wwerdasjuobbbwwwerttytgh”. coming. I have experienced this plot changes. Action changes. don’t want to be around for every
My four-year-old daughter before. Twice. I also have the Volume changes help. I don’t minute of it would be harder
jumped into my lap and started aforementioned wordsmith, care about plot at all. Maybe now than what I am going through
typing. I could erase it, but I’m Juno, and my oldest daughter, is the time to catch up with the now. It’s mayhem. But there’s
being paid by the word, so she the seven-year-old Sami. Fast and the Furious series. nothing about it I want to miss.

“THE SOONER YOU

ACCEPT THE LACK
OF BALANCE, THE
LESS UNBALANCED
YOU’LL FEEL”

August 2019 49
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YOUR PASSPORT TO WELLNESS

T
08 19

Picture
HIKE USA

Perfect
Jaded? Venture into Yosemite National
Park and let the power of exquisite
natural beauty blow your mind
BY SCOTT HENDERSON, MH EDITOR

August 2019 51
HIKE USA FROM LEFT: AN AMPED HENDERSON
PARACHUTES INTO PARADISE; THE POSTCARD-
PERFECTION OF YOSEMITE; TAKING A
BREATHER AS HE CHANNELS ALEX HONNOLD.

F
rom the moment I arrive glimpse of snow-capped peaks midst of an immense pine forest, human state, then hurl yourself
in Yosemite, I know I’m eliciting the kind of excitement although ‘camper’ is misleading from a plane towards a mountain
in trouble. It’s not the associated with an imminent given the luxurious interior of the range below.
prospect of a bear foray into the wild. AutoCamp trailer. And the touch Feet back on the ground, heart
attack or getting lost in Before the main event of of luxury is a welcome start as I rate descending from triple digits,
the wilderness that has me Yosemite National Park, however, prepare for a day of death-defy- I make the quick trip to the
concerned. No, the biggest I take in the closest town – the ing adventure. wholefood markets for a refuel
challenge facing a journalist charming, Wild West-invoking My first glimpse of the iconic before hitting the rapids for a raft
visiting this natural playground is Mariposa. The wooden facades valley is from the back of a ride on the notorious Merced
finding the words to do it justice. of its local stores wouldn’t be out one-seater plane. That’s right: a River. The rapids flow through the
How do you describe the most of place in a John Wayne movie, one-seater. It’s all that’s needed as middle of Yosemite Valley and out
breathtaking natural beauty you and you’ll be fighting the urge to the plan isn’t to stay aboard for into Mariposa County, where I’m
could imagine? Well . . . I guess act out a duel on Main St. long. There’s just enough room guided by Maggie of Zephyr
that’s a decent start. This is a history-rich township for the pilot, my Skydive Yosemite Whitewater to take on class 2-4
Have you ever questioned the that nowadays plays host to the tandem-skydive instructor and rapids. I’m told this is quite an
limitations of the human mind? If world’s rock-climbing elite. And me. While terror inevitably takes extreme rating – and can now
your answer was a firm “no” right on cue I bump into climbing hold as we prepare to jump, attest to that fact. While hardly
accompanied by an eyeroll, then pioneer Ken Yager. This man is a seeing the distant outlines of comparable with falling from the
you couldn’t have been to legend, evidenced by the excited famed rock faces El Capitan and sky for inducing naked terror, the
Yosemite. Fair warning: this piece whispering of locals. Later, on Half Dome lowers my heart rate duration of the raft ride still has
will contain the kind of purple the outskirts of the township, and clears my mind. It’s a view me contemplating my mortality.
prose usually confined to B-grade with Yager in tow, I hike the that many guys, including me, Having successfully expanded
fiction. But in this case, I reckon flower-lined hills of the Merced might recognise from their the vocabulary of the young Irish
it’s warranted. The walls that form River Canyon, where the ruins of screensavers, though the reality family in my boat, we scramble
the Yosemite Valley are awe-in- mining huts and carts tease the elicits a sense of calm never once ashore dripping wet, and I’m
spiring. To stand among the modern explorer. Before I know delivered by a digital facsimile primed for recovery in the
sheer granite rock formations it, the sun has vanished and it’s while driving the desk. confines of the Airstream.
is to experience a humility time to find rest at the behest of Plummeting out of the sky,
bordering on the indescribable. my jetlag. however, brings an entirely FREE SOLO
This is a beauty not replicable in different cavalcade of emotions, Day 3 brings a much-anticipated
any architecture and beyond FREE FALLIN’ encompassing fear, awe and entry to the park. And words
capture in the finest photos. On my second day, I awake in humility. If you ever need begin to fail me. Driving along the
To prepare for the sensory my own Airstream camper in the reminding of the fragility of the Yosemite Valley floor your fixed
onslaught, follow this guide. With
the help of trip.com, we’ve done
the work for you. All you have
to do is conquer your fear of
fear itself.

GETTING YOUR BEAR-INGS

After an overnight flight into San
Francisco, the hop across Central
California to Yosemite is a
tolerable four hours, with the first

52 menshealth.com.au
 D E P A R T U R E S 08 19

Dawn Wall (yes, the one from

Netflix). It’s then I hear scratching
behind a fallen tree some 50
metres away. The journalist in me
needs to investigate, and I
approach less cautiously than I
might have given this is bear-in-
fested woodland. Sure enough,
Yogi’s head pops up and checks Let Trip.com take care
me out.
FLY of it all. They have a
It’s all par for the course in dedicated Yosemite page for
Yosemite, I realise, as another adventurers too busy exploring
“Plummeting out of the sky tourist jogs past, notices the bear
and continues on his way
the real world to surf the net.

brings an entirely different unruffled. Apparently there’s

never been a bear attack in
STAY . $ Yosemite Blue
Butterfly Inn
cavalcade of emotions” Yosemite’s history. Nonetheless,
I keep a respectful distance.
yosemitebluebutterflyinn.com

notions of nature succumb cliffs of the valley. Truth be told, The bear encounter kicks off $$ AutoCamp Yosemite
to new possibilities. The pristine the climb is hard. Surprise, a day of hiking, during which I’m autocamp.com
beauty alone is enough to surprise: it turns out there’s a vast schooled in the history of the
turn any hardened soul into difference between your local valley by Yosemite local and $$$ Tenaya Lodge
a conservationist. climbing gym and the sheer business owner David Gregory of tenayalodge.com
Of course, like every adven- vertical faces found in nature. I Yosemite Outfitters. If adventure
ture sports fan, I’ve been caught place a lot of faith in my climbing sports aren’t your thing, this is the Skydive Yosemite
up in the phenomenon of Free partner and find myself testing one experience not to forgo. The
DO skydiveyosemite.com
Solo, the Oscar-winning doco his attention and willingness to natural history, indigenous @ skydive_yosemite
that follows Alex Honnold as he catch the rope should I fall. mythology and pioneer heritage
attempts to, well, free solo (climb My reward comes on reaching are so rich in these valley walls, Zephyr Whitewater
without ropes) El Cap, Yosemite’s the top, where the view is and I feel the stories I’ve heard Expeditions
gnarliest rock face. something you’d never see from from Gregory merely scratch the zrafting.com/rivers/merced
Always one to jump on a a campervan window. It’s nothing surface. Our hike culminates in a @zephyr_whitewater
good bandwagon, I decide that short of breathtaking . . . or cliffside meditation – not
climbing is a must on this trip and perhaps that sensation is a result normally my thing, but this one Yosemite
my activity for the day. But of the arduous climb. allows me to absorb my Mountaineering School
free-soloing El Cap? No, thank A change of accommodation surrounds and try to come to Travelyosemite.com
you. I opt for a climb with the to the Yosemite Blue Butterfly Inn grips with the past few days.
Yosemite Mountaineering School, provides a dose of classic Upon reflection, I realise my YOSEMITE OUTFITTERS
which uses a 400m rock wall American hospitality, as well as visit to Yosemite National Park yosemite-outfitters.com
just to the side of the behemoth a safe haven to lick my wounds. has ignited a fire within, a burning
of Yosemite. A home-cooked meal with desire to better myself as a writer, EAT
“Are you scared of heights?” authentic company makes me conservationist and athlete. As
EAT $ Food Trucks
I’m asked before beginning feel like I’m staying at the home a result of my immersion into Sample international flavours,
the ascent. of a lifelong mate, rather than a this natural wonder, I want to Cali-style, in Mariposa,
“I respect them,” I lie. B & B in the world’s most famous climb higher, explore further next door to the Mariposa
Climbing is a must-do while in national park. and do more to protect these Museum & History Center
Yosemite, which has become the pockets of perfection that still mariposamuseum.com
unofficial home of the sport in the INTO THE WILD exist in our world.
US – perhaps the world – with After such an adrenaline-filled These ideas dominate my $$ Tenaya Lodge’s
climbers young, old, experienced fews days, a spell on terra firma is thoughts as the peaks of Sierra Restaurant
and green flocking to the granite more than welcome. A solo run at Yosemite shrink in my rear-view Classic American cuisine
sunrise would have, in and of mirror and notifications begin in the luxury surrounds of
itself, made this trip worthwhile, lighting up my phone. As I slip Yosemite’s top lodge. The perfect
FROM LEFT: HENDERSON’S LUXURY
and on my final day I grab the back into the world of 24/7 post-massage indulgence.
SHELTER – THE AIRSTREAM
CAMPER; A MOMENT’S CALM ON chance to explore the valley floor connectivity, I’m reminded of an tenayalodge.com
THE NOTRORIOUS MERCED RIVER. on foot. anonymous quote: “There’s no
Staying in the park and rising Wi-Fi in nature, but you will find a $$$ The Mountain Room
early affords me the rare opportu- better connection”. I’ve always Dining Cedar
nity to experience the park in loved this quote. And now I’m Take in Yosemite Falls as you
peace, free from the campervans convinced that whoever first enjoy equally wonderful cuisine.
and tour buses that haunt it by spoke these words must have travelyosemite.com/lodging/
day. I stop mid-run to take in the visited Yosemite Valley. dining/yosemite-valley-lodge

August 2019 53
J UST GI V E H IM
S O M E S PAC E
Omega’s iconic “Moonwatch” turns 50 this year.
Here’s why you want one on your wrist BY LUKE BENEDICTUS

“Houston, we’ve had a problem here . . . ” Those were

the immortal words of astronaut Jack Swigert
after the explosion that crippled Apollo 13.

An oxygen tank had blown

up, damaging the Service
Module and sending the
spacecraft spinning off course.
If it had re-entered the Earth’s
atmosphere at that trajectory it
would have bounced into orbit,
never to return.
The challenge facing Flight
Commander James Lovell was
grave. He had to manually
adjust the course of the craft
by using the Earth’s horizon as
his sole guide. To pull this off,
Mission Control calculated it
would take a 14-second burn
of rocket fuel. As Command
Module pilot, Swigert’s task
was to time the manoeuvre
with absolute precision.
“We used the watch that Jack
had on his wrist and I had to
control the spacecraft,” Lovell
would recall. “Jack timed the
burn on the engine to make
that correction to get back
home safely.”
The watch that Jack had to contend with. NASA was induction. NASA wanted to function buttons on the side
on his wrist that fateful day acutely aware of these demands. collaborate with Omega to ensure might get bashed or bent on
was, of course, an Omega That’s why, in the early ’60s, well the watch was fit for the task. As intergalactic manouevres, he
Speedmaster chronograph. before the first lunar mission, it James Ragan, the NASA engineer requested a redesign of the case
Apollo 13’s narrow escape in bought a range of chronographs responsible for the qualification to include a little recess to protect
April 1970 showed that, in space from different makers in a bid tests explained: “The watch the buttons. “This configuration
travel, accuracy is a matter of life to find the best watch for their was a backup. If the astronauts became the new version of the
and death. But the inconvenient astronauts to wear in space. lost the capability of talking to chronograph,” he says.
truth is that outer space is an The watches were subjected to the ground or the capability of Today, the classic Moonwatch
unforgiving environment for a a series of 11 rigorous tests – the their digital timers on the lunar retains its distinctive black dial
timepiece. An astronaut’s watch most exhaustive examination surface, then the only thing they and tachymeter scale with the
must, for example, be able to in the history of horology (see had to rely on was the Omega indexes and hands coated in
withstand forces topping 7Gs “Not Rocket Science”, left). On watch they had on their wrist. Super-LumiNova. A hesalite
as the rocket blasts out of the March 1, 1965, the test results It needed to be there for them crystal protects the watch face
atmosphere. On the moon itself, were in: the Omega Speedmaster if they had a problem.” indented with the chronograph
temperatures can vary wildly was the only watch to pass. Ragan worked closely sub-dials. Space may be the final
from -153° to 107°C. Plus there’s But that was just the start of with Omega’s watchmakers. frontier, after all, but you still
the sizable issue of zero-gravity the Speedmaster’s deep-space Concerned the chronograph want a handsome watch, too.

54 menshealth.com.au
 WA T C H E S

NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

– just a very hard test
Famously, only one watch managed to pass all 11 of NASA’s tests (see
below). To this day, the Omega Speedmaster Professional remains
the only watch certified for extra-vehicular activity in space

1 / HIGH TEMPERATURE: 48 constitute failure to pass this

hours at a temperature of test. The ambient
71°C, followed by 30 minutes temperature shall be
at 93°C. maintained at 71°C.
2 / LOW TEMPERATURE: Four 6 / SHOCK: Six shocks
hours at a temperature of 40 Gs, each 11
of -18°C. milliseconds in duration,
in six different directions.
3 / TEMPERATURE-
PRESSURE: Chamber 7 / ACCELERATION: The
pressure maximum of 1.47 x equipment shall be
10-5 psia (10-6 atm) with accelerated linearly from 1 G
temperature raised to 71°C. to 7.25 Gs within 333 seconds,
The temperature shall then be along an axis parallel to the
lowered to -18°C in 45 longitudinal spacecraft axis.
minutes and raised again to
8 / DECOMPRESSION: Ninety
71°C in 45 minutes. Fifteen
minutes in a vacuum of 1.47 x
more such cycles shall be
10-5 (10-6 atm) at a
completed.
temperature of 71°C and 30
4 / RELATIVE HUMIDITY: A minutes at 93°C.
total time of 240 hours at
9 / HIGH PRESSURE: The
temperatures varying
equipment to be subjected to
between 20°C and 71°C in a
a pressure of 23.5 psia (1.6
relative humidity of at least 95
atm) for a minimum period
per cent. The steam used
of one hour.
must have a pH value
ONE SMALL STEP FOR A between 6.5 and 7.5. 10 / VIBRATION: Three cycles
MAN WAS ONE GIANT of 30 minutes (lateral,
LEAP IN THE HISTORY 5 / OXYGEN ATMOSPHERE:
horizontal, vertical), the
OF HOROLOGY. The test item shall be placed
frequency of varying from 5
in an atmosphere of 100 per
to 2000 cps and back to 5 cps
cent oxygen at a pressure of
in 15 minutes. Average
5.5 psia (0.35 atm) for 48
acceleration per impulse
hours. Performance outside
must be at least 8.8 Gs.
of specification, tolerance,
visible burning, creation of 11 / ACOUSTIC NOISE:
toxic gases, obnoxious 130 db over a frequency
odours or deterioration of range of 40-10,000 Hz;
seals or lubricants shall duration: 30 minutes.
Finally, on July 20, 1969, Neil Today, the space race has
Armstrong made his “giant leap expanded. But while astronauts
for mankind” by stepping onto of the future may be armed with
the lunar surface. But he wasn’t teleporters and tractor beams,
actually wearing his wristwatch. when he or she makes it to Mars,
Before his historic moonwalk, the Ragan believes he or she will be
electronic timing system on the wearing a mechanical timepiece.
Lunar Module went haywire, so “There will always be a
Armstrong left his chronograph requirement for a personal
on board to serve as a backup. chronograph on all future
Nineteen minutes later he was manned missions,” Ragan says.
joined on the moon by Buzz “I also believe that when the
Aldrin, who – thankfully for first astronaut sets foot on the
Omega marketing execs – was Martian soil, the chronograph
wearing his trusty Speedmaster. will be an Omega.”
After years of meticulous
development, the Moonwatch Omega Speedmaster Professional
had finally landed. Chronograph 42mm; $6825

August 2019 55
I N PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H

THE CHANGING
FACE OF PAYNE
56 menshealth.com.au
FRESH OFF HIS MH COVER, FORMER ONE
DIRECTIONER-TURNED-FITNESS ADDICT LIAM PAYNE
HAS TURNED HIS HAND TO FASHION, TEAMING WITH
HUGO BOSS FOR A ONE-OF-A-KIND PARTNERSHIP

“I knew if I wanted to do fabric selection, working in the world

something in fashion it should of men’s style has been a steep
be with HUGO,” says the sing- learning curve for Payne, who, with a
er-songwriter. “They design clothes touch of his trademark modesty,
that guys like me want to wear. admits to experiencing the odd
Fashion started out as a hobby for difficulty. “I know fuck-all about what
me, but I’m loving being part of the production entails,” he says. “So I
creative process.” can’t really tell people what to do
The German fashion house has in that respect.”
also collaborated with Liam on an Advance interest in the collection
exclusive ‘HUGO x Liam Payne has been huge – good news for fans
capsule’, inspired by the singer’s of the collab as it seem this won’t be
personal style. The capsule is due the last you see of Payne and HUGO
to be revealed during July’s Berlin working as one. “Some of the things
Fashion Week, accompanied by a that I wanted to do, we haven’t been
concert and presentation, with the able to get done in time,” says Payne.
collection available to buy immedi- “So there will be more.”
ately after the event.
“Liam is not only a very talented
musician, he’s also got great style”,
says Peter Deirowski, brand and
creative director for HUGO. “This
type of creative partnership is
something we’ve never done before
and we can’t wait to show everyone
what we’ve been working on behind
the scenes.”
“Designing the capsule itself has
been really, really fun and I actually
knew more about it than I thought I
would,” Deirowski continues. “I
could look at something and kind
of go, ‘Oh, good idea if we did
this’, and everyone was kind of
with it. So it’s been super easy.”
And while the singer has
been deeply involved in every
aspect of the design, including
GROOMING

SUPER STYLIN’
Four quick and easy hairstyles every guy needs to kn
now

You know the feeling when you’ve just had a fresh cut, but have
no idea where to start when it comes to product, tools and
styling techniques? Yeah, it sucks. There’s nothing worse than
that conspicuous glob of hair gel that’s just sitting there with no
purpose. So, what’s an unkempt head of hair supposed to do?
Don’t worry: we’ve got you covered. We asked hairstylist and
Uppercut ambassador Tommy J – from Hair By Tommy J in
Sydney – for his best tips and tricks for styling your locks.

THE THE ‘PREPPY’ IVY

‘MESSY’ LOOK LEAGUE LOOK
How to nail it: “The How to nail it: Add a
thing you have to remember touch of pomade to your hair
with hairstyles is that it’s not (while it’s damp, work it through
one size fits all,” says Tommy J. the mid lengths and ends using a
“To really get that tousled look comb). Next, perfect the part.
you need length and a slight “Draw in your part and use a blow
wave to the hair. The tools you dryer and brush to push the hair
will need are a blow dryer and into the desired shape. As the hair
a great product like Uppercut dries, the product will help set the
Easy Hold. Basing this style off hair into a neat style while
a loose throwback, you want keeping any volume you create,”
to be able to run your fingers says Tommy J. Finish with a touch
through your hair while blow- of hairspray (try Laybrite
drying it back to create volume. Grooming Spray). “Longer looks
Finish off the style with a touch suit this much better, as the
of Uppercut Easy Hold to weight of the hair cut should hold
create separation.” with minimal product.”

THE THE SLICK

TEXTURED QUIFF SIDE PART
WORDS: ERIN DOCHERTY
How to nail it: “The How to nail it: One of
textured quiff is fairly easy to the main tips for nailing a slick
style and works best with hair side part? Get yourself a
that has a wave to it and medium-to-high shine pomade
straight hair,” says Tommy J. He like Reuzel High Sheen Pomade.
says the key is to blow-dry your “Once you come straight out of
hair using a quiff roller, as this the shower you want to find
will create volume, before your natural part by combing all
finishing with a scoop of matte your hair back and letting it fall
pomade (try Patricks M3 Matte into place. Then, blow-dry the
Strong Hold Pomade). “The front back again using a quiff
best tip is to shampoo and roller to create some volume,”
condition the hair beforehand, says Tommy J. “After blow-
because any built-up product is drying, smooth the product
going to weigh down the style around the perimeter of the
and you won’t get the texture style then work through with
or volume you want.” a comb.”

58 menshealth.com.au
 THE

W I N T E R R E
STYLING BY JEFF LACK

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BEL JONES

WORDS BY HARRIET SIM

60 menshealth.com.au
 STYLE

WHETHER YOU CLEANED UP

ON THE BLACK DIAMOND RUNS
OR CRASHED AND BURNED,
HERE’S HOW TO TRANSITION
FROM SLOPES TO CHALET

Ski season brings out three kinds of

mountain men: those who see
themselves slaloming down
snow-capped peaks; those keen
to partake in the fireside apres-ski
scene; and those up for both!
Whatever the case, packing the

T R E A T
right kit is crucial.
Sure, last year’s gear will do the
job. But for the man who wants to
shine in the cold, it’s time for a
seasonal upgrade. Your best bet?
Go retro. Think Robert Redford
ruling the mountain in his signature
aviators. “Nail the alpine aesthetic
with a nod to the ’70s,” advises
MH Style Editor Jeff Lack.

Moncler 1952 jacket $2640

Huffer pant $129.90
Zegna boots $2495
One Point Seven Four sunglasses
Belstaff Magnum $470
Zegna gloves $1135

August 2019 61
62 menshealth.com.au
 STYLE

LEFT

Zegna top $955

Zegna outerwear vest $1015
Zegna pants POA

Regardless of your talent level

on the slopes, ski boots are calf
killers. After a day’s activity,
ditch the hardware for a cosier
alternative. Your feet will thank
you. “Play with patterns but
keep it heritage when it comes
to footwear,” advises Lack.

While the desire to raise your

body temperature may override
all other concerns, rugging up
needn’t mean sacrificing style.
Embrace the autumnal tones of
your surroundings and opt for a
crisp merino sweater, not your
team’s hoodie.

BELOW

Ferragamo jacket $3790

Tommy Hilfiger jeans $219
Bally boots $1750

August 2019 63
 WANAKA GUIDE
Jetstar flies direct to
FLY
Queenstown from
Melbourne, Sydney and the
Gold Coast. jetstar.com

Aurum Some of these shots were

STAY
taken at this exclusive private villa
with breathtaking views of Lake Wanaka.
releasenz.com
Westlands Large, stylish home with
incredible 360° views and just five minutes
by foot to Lake Wanaka. releasenz.com

Cardrona and Treble Cone

SKI
Two world-class ski areas located
within 40 minutes’ drive from Wanaka.
cardrona.com/winter
treblecone.com

KIKA Innovative sharing-style plates

APRES
in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
Be sure to try the sprouts! kika.nz
Cardrona Distillery Warm up after the
slopes and sample bespoke whisky, gin
and vodka. cardronadistillery.com
Maude Tasting Room Custom-built Otago
winery amid the stunning backdrop of Lake
Wanaka. cardronadistillery.com

TOP LEFT

Mountain Designs backpack $230

North Face jacket $650
North Face beanie $40
One Point Seven Four sunglasses
Belstaff Hayford $560

ABOVE

Huffer jacket $519

North Face gloves $100
Chimey sunglasses $159

When venturing into an icy

realm, staying warm enough to
perform at your peak can be
challenging. “Ski jackets are the
hero of outerwear,” says Lack.
”Have fun with patterns and
embrace pops of colour for
maximum visibility.”
For the wanderer of the
group, high-performance
threads mean hours of
insulation, which should keep
you toasty until the snow patrol
arrives. As for your impatient
mates at the end of the trail? We
hear the alpine bar has some
great winter warmers. This
round’s on you.

LEFT

Bally cap $350

Bally jacket $7600
Mountain Designs cargo
pant $150
Ferragamo boots $1590

64 menshealth.com.au
 STYLE

Zegna hat $1275

Hugo Boss jacket $549
MJ Bale cable knit $139
Zegna pants POA

August 2019 65
STYLE

STYLING ASSISTANT: STEPHANIE TARLINTON; MODEL: KIERAN PRICE @ N MODEL MANAGEMENT

LEFT

Boda Skins jacket $975

Zegna knitwear $2735
Huffer pant $129.90

66 menshealth.com.au
 BRUSH UP ON YOUR GROOMING

THE LATEST
NEWS,TRENDS
AND EASY
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AND BODY
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beautycrew.com.au
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FREE
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70 menshealth.com.au
 FITNESS

THE STRENGTH OF SAMPSON

Your mind is holding you back. Body Hack presenter
Todd Sampson reckons it’s time to regain control by
harnessing your physical potential. Here’s how . . .
BY LUKE BENEDICTUS PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIEL LINNET

“I SEE THIS 150-KILO WRESTLER, covered seat at a wrestling match to film a quick
in blood, come flying out of the ring and he intro to camera. That’s when he was rudely
lands on the ground right beside me. And interrupted by the aforementioned blood-
I’m thinking: ‘Okay, what the fuck’s going splattered heavyweight . . .
on, now?’” “So then the other wrestler comes out
This is what Todd Sampson is like. of the ring and hits this guy who stumbles
We’re midway through the photo shoot back and lands right in my lap. I’m thinking,
– the interview hasn’t even begun yet – but ‘Okay, this is a joke, right?’ But then this
already he’s tossing out electrifying tales, 120-kilo massive guy just starts running
the by-product of his all-action lifestyle. towards him. I was like: ‘No! No! No!’ But
For this particular caper, Sampson was he smashes into him, we break through the
filming an episode of Body Hack, where he chair and this huge wrestler lands right on
was set to undergo a two-week crash course top of me. That’s when he cracks my ribs . . .”
in Mexican wrestling before putting his body Sampson copped two broken ribs on day
on the line (again) in the ring. On arrival one of filming (“I couldn’t breathe well and
in Mexico City, Sampson took a ringside the pain was so bad because it then seized

August 2019 71
 up my neck as well”). Most normal people
would have quit at this stage. Sampson just
necked some painkillers and knuckled down
to his Lucha Libre training, which basically
amounted to a fortnight of getting pummelled
by masked brutes.
It’s fair to say Sampson has learned to
expand his pain threshold over the years.
He hasn’t really had much choice. There was
the Body Hack episode when he was knocked
unconscious while training to take on a
professional MMA fighter – “That busted
my jaw a bit,” he admits. And the time when
he attempted a high-wire walk between two
22-storey buildings with no safety net (let that
sink in for a second). When he suddenly fell,
Sampson just managed to grab hold of the
wire to avoid breaking his back, but he tore his
rotator-cuff and biceps in the process.
The new series of Body Hack opens with
Sampson travelling to Gaza and getting
pitched straight into chaotic violence as
Israeli soldiers open fire on Palestinian
protestors. “When I heard the bullets
whizzing by and a kid got hit behind me, my
heart rate was going so fast,” he says.
Amid such daredevil exploits, it’s easy
to forget that, until quite recently, Sampson
worked in advertising. He scaled the heights
of the industry to become the CEO of Leo
Burnett Australia, inventing the Earth Hour
initiative along the way. Today, while he’s
knee-deep in his second reincarnation as a
TV presenter and documentary maker, he
retains a foot in the corporate world as a board
member of Qantas and Fairfax.
The point is that Sampson isn’t some
crazed thrillseeker chasing down his next
dopamine hit. He’s just an optimistic guy
with a “can-do” mentality who’s hell-bent on
redefining his limits. In that respect, the only
BREATHE AWAY FEAR difference between you and him is between
Feeling nervous? Whether it’s pleading
with your boss for a pay rise or asking a your ears.
cute girl out for a date, use Sampson’s
tactic to trick your brain into feeling
more confident
Sit with a straight back and take a deep
breath in, then breathe out. That’s one.
HUNT FEAR
Repeat 10 times. If you can hit double “I’m scared a lot,” Sampson says of his
figures straight with no mind drift then
do another set of 10 breaths. challenges. “It’s just that I’ve learned over
“If you can get through 10 sets of 10 then time through life experience to better
you should start a cult,” Sampson says.
“But that’s not going to happen.” manage it.”
“Here’s what will happen for 99.9 per Fear is a constant companion. It was there
cent of us. On the third set at about
seven, your mind will drift – ‘I’m fat. My when Sampson embedded with Iraqi Special
wife hates me. What about my future…’
That’s when you start again at one.”
Forces in the battle of Mosul and when set
This process achieves two things. Taking on fire while training to be a Bollywood
just eight controlled breaths, Sampson
explains, can kick-start your stuntman. Many of his escapades are hard to
parasympathetic nervous system, stomach (much like the freshly killed baboon
which lowers your heart rate and
blood pressure to leave you feeling he ate with Tanzanian nomads despite having
less stressed. lived meat-free for more than 20 years).
But this exercise also works as a
self-awareness technique to identify So why does this father-of-two choose to
your personal trigger points. “It’s a way
of understanding the songs that you
put himself through the broken bones and
sing to yourself over and over again.” warzones? Why does he risk his life for TV?

72 menshealth.com.au
 FITNESS

“My fundamental belief, and it’s

really at the heart of the series, is that
we humans are arguably the greatest
adaptable survival machine on the planet,”
he says. “What we can do is incredible. Our
potential is incredible.”
Yet this potential is invariably stifled,
Sampson suggests, because modern life
insulates us from the growth stimulus of
physical danger. In the process, it detaches us
from those heightened senses and
primal instincts that enable us to do
incredible things.
“In the western world, when we’re cold,
we turn on the heat. When we’re hungry,
we eat straight away. So those evolutionary
switches are mostly just switched off,” he
says. “We have the ability to switch them
back on. But to do that, we have to put
ourselves in uncomfortable situations and
allow our bodies to adapt and believe that
we can adapt.” more than you can possibly imagine.
Sampson is very much a true “When you think you’ve hit the wall
believer. In his shows, he puts this physically and in life, for the majority
faith to the test, whether it’s shadowing of us, you’ve got 30 per cent more to go,”
Sherpas on Himalayan peaks or being Sampson says. “You are not near ‘the
blindfolded, chained and dropped into wall’. What we think is the wall is
a four-metre swimming pool to attempt neurological failure; it’s mind failure.”
a Houdini-style escape. Through his “To take yourself to the brink of real
gonzo adventures, he’s explored the failure, you have to be a seriously good
ceiling of human potential first-hand athlete. You have to be mentally so
and in a way that few other men have strong. But you can push well beyond
ever done. What he’s learned is that that 70 per cent because the human body
your mind and body are capable of far is built to succeed.”

“WHEN YOU THINK YOU’VE HIT THE WALL ,

YOU’VE GOT 30 PER CENT MORE TO GO ”
August 2019 73
 breakfast as he practises intermittent fasting
FIT FOR PURPOSE for the immune-system benefits). Cup in
Sampson can speak with more than a little hand, Sampson then dives into his daily
authority on physical conditioning. That’s fitness research. Via the Flipboard app on
because he’s painstakingly trained himself his iPhone, he receives an aggregated feed of
to be, well, a serious athlete. Hidden beneath material on exercise physiology, performance
those quirky T-shirts lurks a physique with psychology and research on the latest training
the sort of muscle definition that would make methods. “Every day I’m reading something
Bruce Lee proud. And Sampson, don’t forget, new about fitness in some way, shape or
is 49 years old. “I’m seriously into fitness,” he form,” he says. “Then I go to my workout.”
insists. “I study fitness every single day.” Sampson’s workouts don’t follow a
This is no exaggeration: Sampson trains standard template because they’re purpose-
hard and has done so religiously for the last built to prepare him for his next challenge.
30 years. Every day, he wakes around 5.30am, Right now, he’s readying himself for a stint
meditates for 30 minutes and then goes to as a circus performer. “So I’m doing lots of
his local Bondi coffee shop (he doesn’t eat functional training with a focus on whole-
body, lateral movements.”
If he’s rebuilding himself after a gruelling
challenge, Sampson’s go-to is German
Volume Training, the notoriously intense
regimen designed to forge muscle via a system
of 10 sets of 10 reps. Otherwise he switches
things up regularly. “My programs change
every three weeks because, when you’ve been
training as long as I have, your body adapts
really fast,” he says. “So I might do a Navy Seal
program for three weeks and then swap into
an AFL program.”

MIND OVER MATTER

There’s one part of Sampson’s training
that remains consistent: he swears by
visualisation. In the gym, whenever he’s
undertaking a complex move like a deadlift,
he’ll first watch an expert on YouTube
demonstrate the move with perfect form.
With their example fresh in his mind,
Sampson will close his eyes and imagine
himself performing the lift step-by-step. It’s
only then that he finally squares up to the bar.
“If you can’t visualise perfect form in an
exercise, standing with your eyes closed, then
you should never do that exercise because
you’re not ready to do it,” he says. “The best
athletes in the world use visualisation.”
Sampson also depends on this technique
when the stakes are significantly higher.
He visualised his wire walks “thousands of
times” before stepping off the side of that
building. Similarly in Gaza, to prepare
mentally for the ordeal, he visualised all the
gunfire and madness. “But it was worse than I
visualised. More random.”

“I’M SERIOUSLY INTO FITNESS.

I STUDY FITNESS EVERY SINGLE DAY”
74 menshealth.com.au
 FITNESS

This reliance on visualisation stems

from Sampson’s belief in the mind/body
connection. Whenever he’s plunged into a
hairy situation, he’ll focus on controlling his
physical reactions – calming his heart rate
and slowing his breathing in order to calm
his mind. Whenever the going gets tough,
Sampson uses mental tricks to push through.
That strategy was put to the limit in Body
Hack when he joined the French Foreign
Legion for elite jungle warfare training
in the Amazon jungle. “It was,” he says,
“unbelievably punishing.”
During the preliminary assessment,
Sampson slid down a rope and burned the
skin off his fingers. He was told he had two
options: leave now or go into the jungle and
attempt the course.
Predictably, he elected to stick it out, but
what followed wasn’t pretty. For the next 10
days he battled sleep deprivation, mud and
physical exhaustion, wading through snake-
infested swamps with every task reopening
the wounds on his shredded hands. “They
smashed me. They smashed me,” Sampson
says. “That brought me to my 30 per cent.
“I had to keep telling myself over and over
again: ‘I can do it. I can handle this. I have to
try. I have to at least try . . .’ And what I learnt
is that even in that condition, surprisingly,
most things you can still actually do okay.”
At the end of the course, the sergeant
who’d tortured Sampson shook his hand.
Deposited in his palm was a Foreign Legion
medal that civilians never normally receive.
The sergeant felt compelled to make an
exception. “You deserve this,” he said.
What that dark ordeal underlined for
Sampson was that “we are in control of our
bodies and our minds are linked up”. In the
depths of the jungle, it was Sampson’s head
that kept him in the game. But the willpower
that sustained him was largely forged in the
Question: Are you as stron as Todd Sampson?
thousands of gym sessions that preceded it, Answer: Probably not
the mental and physical disciplines bound
Do 10 push-ups. SHOCK & AWE
together in an endless, self-reinforcing loop. Rest for 10 seconds. Here’s how Sampson conditions in the gym
Training your body, in other words, will himself to withstand
tand the physiological effects
fortify your mind. Master control of both and of terror

your horizons will expand to the stars. Grab a stopwatc ch and

This is why he’s so evangelical about hit the airbike
Pedal flat out fo
or
fitness. As a guy determined to reach his Do 10 close-grip chin-ups (underhand)
20 seconds
Rest for 10 seconds
potential, Sampson knows his body is the Rest for 30 seco onds
vehicle that’ll get him there. Albeit via some Repeat for six and
a half minutes
mind-blowing adventures en route . . .
“Fitness has been an enabler for my whole
life,” Sampson says. “And there’s nothing “Physically, that’’ss the equivalent of being
equivalent
scared shitless,” Sampson says. “Your heart
unique about me, so I think it could be a key rate’s up, your blood pressure’s up, your
enabler for a lot of other people, too.” That’s one round. How many can body’s pumping and you’re saying to yourself
you complete back to back? The ‘If I don’t catch my breath now, that 30
day we meet, Sampson had seconds is going to be over and I’ll have to go
Todd Sampson’s Body Hack airs Tuesdays at cranked out 16 rounds. again!’ It’s going to be punitive . . .”
8 .30pm on Channel 10.

August 2019 75
76 menshealth.com.au
 MIND

(LEGAL)
23
WAYS TO
BOOST
YOUR
SEROTONIN
The so-called happy hormone is your body’s in-built mood-
improving switch. But securing a regular buzz needn’t
mean indulging your more libertine impulses. Use our
score sheet to enjoy a healthy high, whenever you want it.
Consider it self-care without the scented candles
WORDS BY LOUEE DESSENT-JACKSON AND SCARLETT WRENCH
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROWAN FEE

August 2019 77
 1 4 FAST
FIX! 8 10 – 12
GET A GRIP ON YOUR MOOD TAKE THE PLUNNGE DRRINK IN THE SCENERY HAPPY MEALS
Skin-on-skin contact is a proven When it comes to pumping up Optimise the way you feel,
Go wild swimmin ng.
antidepressant: simply holding yo
our mental well-being, even the one bite at a time
Cold-water imme er-
hands with your partner releases beest gyms can’t match the great
sion fires up yourr
serotonin, as well as regulating ouutdoors. Training in green Breakfast
endorphin produ uc-
your heart rate. Or, for a more sp
paces will brighten your day, but Swap out trending plant
tion, which givess
high-octane hormone hit, take up loo
ok for blue to really give your milks for kefir in your oats.
you a warming hit of
a close-contact sport such as brain a lift. A University A study in Beneficial Microbes
serotonin. Plus, just
Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Grappling with of Essex study found that found that the fermented drink’s
think how good tthat
your foe will flood your body with waaterside training is the best way probiotics raised serotonin levels
warm towel will feel.
stress-relieving chemicals. A to improve your mental health. in overworked medical students.
chokehold isn’t so different from Try a soft-san
ft sand jog, or, better still, Just what the doctor ordered.
a cuddle, is it?
5 book a holiday.
Lu
Lunch
WAIT FOR THE DROP Opt for egg mayo in your

2 That “chill” you feel at the

crescendo of a well-loved song
lunchtime ssandwich. The
tryptophan n it contains helps the
LIVE IN THE PAST is a sign that your brain iss brain to m
make serotonin. The
The irrepressible popularity pumping out dopamine, a effect is sso strong that
of mindfulness meditation might “reward” neurotransmittter the Leideen Institute found men
have you convinced that “staying closely linked to seroto onin. In were twice as likely to donate to
in the moment” is the key to fact, a study in Nature Neurosci- good ccauses after eating it. Good
enlightenment. But that, ence found that levelss of the eggs, iindeed.
ironically, is old news: San chemical rose nine per p cent in
Francisco State University found those listening to sp pine-tingling Dinn
ner
that nostalgia correlates strongly eason to
tracks. It’s a valid re Fish and chips. Research in
with life satisfaction and that
looking at photos of loved ones
upgrade your sound system. tem
9 FAST
FIX!
Neuuropharmacology found fats in
oily
y fish increase serotonin
will trigger the production of BOOK GIG
IG TICKETS
TICKE sy
ynthesis, while carbs aid sleep.
mood-improving hormones. It
seems that Facebook Memories 6 FAST
FIX!
Alternatively, go to a live show
show.
When enjoying music as part of a
might have a purpose, after all. LIGHT A BONFIRE crowd, your feelings of self-worth
The sound, smell and sight of and closeness to others rise by
crackling flames will trigger your 25 per cent, according to

3 relaxation response, reports

Evolutionary Psychology.
research by Goldsmith’s
University. Until the stampede forr
START A NEW Marshmallows help too. the last train, presumably.
PET PROJECT
Not only does man’s best friend

7
provide plenty of fodder for your
Instagram feed, but a University
of Missouri study found that a
#doggo can keep depression on
a tight leash. Just a few minutes
spent petting a dog releases MAKE YOUR PERFECT PIT CH
serotonin, as well as the For the average desk monkey, life in n
feel-good “bonding hormone” the urban jungle cuts exposure to
oxytocin. No pet of your own?
daylight well below optimal levels,
Volunteer as a dog-walker and
you will enjoy the healthy disrupting the production of sleep
brain-chemical boost that hormone melatonin – and an off-
altrui estows. kilter sleep cycle will sink your moood.
But there’s a simple solution. A studdy in
Current Biology found that a weekeend
spent camping can bring your body y clock
forward by 100 minutes. That’s eno ough to
get you out of the woods after a sleep
pless week.

78 menshealth.com.au
 MIND

1
BUY NEW THREADS
The priciest of spices may be
worth its weight in gold, but
16
saffron could justify the outlay. MAKE DO AN MEN
An eight-week study by Creative pursuits ve a
Murdoch University found
that supplements containing
purpose far beyon padding
saffron extract had a similar out your dating p ile.
effect to drugs that act on the A study published in the
brain’s serotonin receptors. journal Art Ther y
Sprinkle some onto your seafood
paella or, if you want a sweeter
that 45 minutes off craft work
way to help the medicine go can reduce serot
down, combine 20 threads of levels by 75 per cent, hile knitting has been
crushed saffron with 450g of
shown to lower heart es b m. Our tip? Tr
strawberries to make a jam
that will, ahem, preserve your woodwork: scientists fo touching wood (yes, we
mental well-being. said it) stimulates your bo s relaxation response.

14 17 FAST
FIX! 19
STREAM SOME MAKE WAVES BOOK IN WEIGHT FOR I
PEACE AND QUIET If two minutes of a woman A TWEAK T ood squeeze from a
The snappily named running a hairbrush over a A Cardiff Unive ty study fou end will, under the right
autonomous sensory meridian microphone (see tip 14) is a bit that people who struggled circumstances, flood you
response (ASMR) is best much for you, try an ocean-wave to frown following Botox were with feel-good hormones. Hug-
described as a pleasant “tingling” sounds app, which studies show happier than those who could. mimicking devices such as
that is triggered by specific can improve sleep – and your Being ID-ed at after-work drinks weighted “therapy” blankets
soothing sounds, such as that of mood tomorrow. ought to brighten your day, too. encourage the release of
a person whispering or a cat serotonin and melatonin, lulling
purring. You’ll find plenty of clips you into a recharging slumber.
purporting to activate this
response on YouTube. Sound like
20 Check out gravid.com.au for
your heaviest sleep yet.
a load of pseudoscience? A GEET DOWN AND DIRTY
Sheffield University study found Acchic fitness studio with staff
that subjects’ well-being
improved after listening to ASMR
onn hand to disinfect the mats
and dish out bottles of 22 FAST
FIX!

clips, with their heart rate a

alkaline water may sound like DRUM UP SUPPORT
dropping by 3bpm. Sounds a wellness utopia. However, Alternatively, you could
rather lovely, doesn’t it? to get the most out of your just hit things loudly with sticks.

18 workout, you need to get your

hands grubby. Really grubby.
Weekly drum sessions can
reduce feelings of depression by
EAT
EA BEIGE FOODS
15 a factors at play in
There are many
The University of Bristol found
exposure to soil bacteria can
38 per cent, according to a Royal
College of Music study.
FAKE IT your post-lunch slump: low blood have a similar effect on the
Marathon world-record-holder sugar, tiredness, the prospect of brain to antidepressants. So,
Eliud Kipchoge uses “periodic
smiling” to break through the
another three hours spent
grappling with multiple Google
to unearth greater mental
well-being, rep out burpees in 23
pain barrier. You can employ the docs. Some researchers believe h park,
the k or spendd an arvo SOAK IT UP
same technique at work: forcing that our serotonin levels may also tending to your garden. Finally, wash away the blues with
yourself to crack a smile at dip at this point in the day. a bath. According to a University
random intervals keeps your Crashing? Starchy carbs help to of Freiburg study, two soaks per
heart rate lower during stressful reverse this. Swap your mid-after- week will improve your mood
tasks, as well as releasing noon berry-based snack for a more than aerobic exercise. In the
endorphins and serotonin. It thick slice of peanut butter on study, baths followed by chill time
might not take the sting out of toast. Peanuts contain trypto- in a warm towel reduced
a marathon, but we bet you phan, which plays a vital role in depressive symptoms more than
just tried it . . . serotonin production. an interval class. Not a hard sell.

August 2019 79
80 menshealth.com.au
 NUTRITION

Every
Question
You Ever Had
About Really
Eating
Well
(Answered in 12 Minutes)
Nutrition is a maddening
business. Foods are in one
day, compost the next;
vitamins that cured ills
last week are promptly
debunked. We all want to
eat better, but who has the
time to sift fact from fad?
Rest easy because this
is your easily digestible,
bite-sized guide to doing
precisely that

By Scarlett Wrench
Photography By Sun Lee

August 2019 81
Q:
which nutrients you might be I wouldn’t recommend getting for superfoods. They can’t be
short on. it all from shakes. Roughly categorised by racking
So, I don’t need dairy, but I speaking, you’d need about six up their antioxidant
don’t have to give it up if I don’t protein bars a day for an 85kg concentration.
want to? man. Or, for a more balanced Nor the frequency with
Exactly. There are other menu, a couple of fish fillets, five which they feature on
ways to source your calcium: eggs, a block of tofu and a portion Goop, presumably?
leafy greens, nuts and soya all of rice. Though you’ll find protein Quite. Plenty of the foods
work. In this case, environmental in most things you eat, even veg. awarded arbitrary “super”
and ethical arguments for Wait, rice? Did you mean status are very good for us when
avoiding animal products might quinoa? Isn’t that the one with it comes to nutrient density –
be more convincing. all the protein? blueberries, leafy greens, wild
Yes, I’ve seen that Netflix Quinoa is a good source of salmon – but they don’t possess
Give it to me straight: which documentary. But eco props essential amino acids, and it any special powers.
of my vices do I need to give up aside, is veganism any better offers a good variety of vitamins Not even coconut oil?
for good? for me? Or is it just a marketing and minerals. But so do many Nope. In fact, overdoing
A: We’re talking strictly food- ploy to sell cauliflower steaks? other wholegrains and seeds. it can increase your “bad”
related, presumably? Let’s be clear here: Bourbon Eat it, by all means, but don’t cholesterol levels.
Let’s say yes. Or else that’s a biscuits are vegan. There are restrict yourself to it under the How about powdered
whole other conversation. vegan “sausage” rolls. Stripping assumption that it’s superior. charcoal?
Then, unless you have an out animal products does not It’s not a real superfood, We’d steer clear of that one.
allergy, a persistent medical automatically make a meal then? Is there anything in the
condition, or adhere to a healthier. Think in terms of There are no set criteria organic section that’s actually
prohibitive religious doctrine, additions, not eliminations: eat worth buying, then?
there’s nothing in particular you more vegetables and pulses or If budget allows, there is
need to cut out. beans. A 10-year study from the plenty of nutritional benefit
As in… nothing? University of Navarra in Spain

FOOD STYLING: NICO GHIRLANDO AT HERS

Nothing. In fact, we’d caution found that omnivores who eat
against this kind of intervention. more plant-based foods and cut
Variety and flexibility in your back on meat – going down to
diet are crucial to maintaining a about 140g per day – almost halve
healthy relationship with food. their risk of obesity compared
More pertinently, eliminating to those with more carnivorous
specific foods can reduce your appetites. It’s not a case of one or
tolerance to them, making it the other.
hard to reintroduce them to your But what about the protein?
diet when the wind changes on What about it?
the latest nutritional thinking. I need more, right? That’s
Does that mean I should why everything is fortified with
switch back to dairy? the stuff.
Well, you could argue that If you thought to ask, chances
cow’s milk is more nutrient are you’re doing all right. Our
dense than plant milks, which protein needs vary according to
tend to be fortified with extra our activity levels and body goals,
vitamins and minerals. But, but most men require something
ultimately, they’re just different, like 1g or 2g per kilo of their
with their own kilojoule counts weight.
and macro balances. It depends Can you give that to me in
on what else you’re eating and litres of protein shakes?

Voices of Reason
MH’s no-nonsense nutrition experts

Steve Grant Rick Miller Adam Collins

A specialist in A leading clinical A senior tutor
nutrition, athletic and sport dietitian in nutrition and
performance and rick-miller.co.uk metabolism
functional medicine nutriffic.com
stevegranthealth.com

82 menshealth.com.au
 NUTRITION

to choosing organic vegetables, to a banana milkshake alongside Don’t lose sleep over it. Some If you’d like, yes.
which often have a higher your regular breakfast could animal studies have inferred As many steaks and sausages
antioxidant content, and grass- bump you into a kilojoule surplus. a link between chemical as I want?
fed meats, which have a better Ah, but I never add any sweeteners and the development Hang on. An excessive intake
ratio of healthy fatty acids than sugar. I sweeten mine with of certain cancers, hence the of red meat has been linked to
meats from grain-fed animals. organic date syrup. headlines you’ve seen. But the colon cancer, so best keep it to
Just don’t be fooled by rebranded As far as your organs are dosages applied to create this two meals a week, while putting
junk food: a $10 bag of kale crisps concerned, that’s still sugar. effect are way beyond what further limits on anything that
is still a bag of chips. But… it’s made from fruit. humans consume. Trust us: has been cured or preserved
I blend my kale into shakes. By that logic, you could argue no one’s taking that many Diet when possible.
That must be good, because Joe that sugar cane is just a grass Coke breaks. So, while we would Because salt is bad?
Rogan does it. from south-east Asia. Sweeteners personally limit sweeteners, the It’s not as much about the
Shakes and juices offer an such as manuka honey, maple current research suggests that salt as you think. In fact, the
easy way to squeeze more fruits syrup, coconut sugar, and so a normal amount of exposure is latest evidence suggests that
and veg into your diet, but they on, might bring a few extra unlikely to be a major issue. a moderate salt intake might
can also be a very concentrated nutrients to the table, but there’s So, which foods will give not be damaging for those with
source of quickly absorbed not a lot in it. me cancer? healthy blood pressure readings.
kiojoules and carbs. That can be Surely they beat artificial Try not to think of it in those The link is more likely to be
good thing or bad, depending on sweeteners. I’ve heard they terms. Yes, some studies have caused by chemicals present in
what your goals are. cause cancer. correlated certain foods with red meat itself, as well as nitrite
What if I want to lose a little In reality, research into the an increased risk, but these preservatives. But there are a
bit of weight? impact of artificial sweeteners on figures are often manipulated whole host of other factors at play
Ensure those shakes contain our health is still pretty limited. or exaggerated by the media in your chances of developing
satiating fibres and proteins, Wait, that sounds ominous. for shock value. Remember: cancer – an inadequate intake
and view them as light meals, not I was joking about the cancer correlation is not causation. of fibre and omega-3 fats, for
drinks. Downing what equates thing, you know? So, I can still eat red meat? example. Red meat is far from the
lone gunman, and that goes for its
links to heart disease, too. It’s one
piece of the puzzle.
Still, that’s the “carnivore
diet” crossed off my list. But
what about this new ketogenic
diet that everyone’s talking

Which oil is best?

Monounsaturated fats (olive,

“VARIETY AND FLEXIBILITY IN YOUR DIET

rapeseed, avocado) are good for
dressings. Saturated fats
(coconut) are more stable when
ARE CRUCIAL TO MAINTAINING A cooking on high heats.
Polyunsaturated oils (sunflower,

HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD”

canola) are best avoided.

Wait, what’s a nitrite?

Nitrates and nitrites are
preservatives: they’re the reason
why processed ham has a
bright-pink hue. When they
interact with natural compounds
in red meat, they can create
harmful chemicals. So, make
those bacon rolls a weekly treat.

Full-fat or skimmed?
Recent research suggests that
not all animal fats are bad.
A 22-year study from the
University of Texas Health
Science Center linked dairy fats
to a lower risk of heart disease
and stroke.
August 2019 83
about? How does that work? Sweet potatoes are fairly gut bacteria, or even your There is plenty of evidence to
Essentially, you deplete your nutrient dense, though less so genetics. It’s sometimes called suggest that fasting can play an
body’s stores of glucose, its when deep-fried, and wholegrain “carbohydrate tolerance”. important role in health. A well-
preferred fuel, by eating mostly bread will have a gentler impact Oh, I don’t have a problem functioning body should be able
fats instead. This tips your on your blood glucose. But it’s all with that. If anything, I think to go without food for more than
body into a state called ketosis, about where they sit among the I’m a little too tolerant of my a few hours with relative ease.
which mimics the effects of rest of your diet. Even good carbs, carb habit. However, this is a skill we quickly
fasting. But it’s not new: it dates when eaten in large portions or Look, in short, carbs are good, lose without practice. If you want
back to the 1920s, when doctors without other foods, can lead to but we all thrive with different to give it a try, we’d recommend
first developed it as a way to energy crashes. amounts, so pay attention to introducing it slowly. Gradually
manage seizures for patients Is that why I feel so tired your body’s signals. If you mostly increase the gaps between meal
with epilepsy. Even so, keto is after lunch? choose low-glycaemic-load times, eating dinner earlier and
still best considered a selective Perhaps. Carbs don’t affect carbs, paired with protein-rich breakfast later. It’s not always
therapeutic diet. all of us in the same way. For foods, and eat the bulk of them easy, but it shouldn’t make you
No, wait – you must be example, you could split around training or on days when feel ill and lethargic.
thinking of something else. your sandwich with a friend . . . you’re particularly active, you’re Is fasting better than a
I’m talking about the one No chance! probably on to a very good thing. detox?
A-listers use to get lean. Those We’re speaking hypothetically That all sounds a bit too How do you define “detox”?
UFC guys do it and maybe a here. The point is, if you each ate simple. No meat, no booze, no
Kardashian. half of the exact same sandwich, The truth often is. sugar, that sort of thing. Raw
It’s one and the same. When it would affect your blood sugar I still want to lose a little bit vegetables for dinner.
your body runs out of glucose, in very different ways. This could of weight, though. If I’m not You’ll always see benefits
it starts to burn its own fat for be due to your body composition, cutting out carbs, how about from cutting back on processed
energy. In this way, the keto diet recent exercise habits, your intermittent fasting? foods and alcohol, particularly
often leads to quick weight loss. if you’re also increasing your
However, it’s very difficult to intake of phytonutrient-dense,
sustain, and it can be hard to high-fibre foods. That’s
ensure you’re taking in enough just common sense. But
fibre, vitamins and minerals, those benefits will be
since you’re limiting your intake reversed once
of fruits, vegetables and beans. you revert to your
It’s low on protein, too, which former habits.
can impair muscle repair But isn’t it
if you’re training hard. supposed to make my
I saw a recipe for keto bread
rolls the other day. What’s
that about?
Not the foggiest.
I think it was made with
“EVEN GOOD CARBS, WHEN
mulched nuts. Speaking of
which, is bread still considered
EATEN IN LARGE PORTIONS
bad? The real kind, not
the keto rolls.
CAN LEAD TO ENERGY CRASHES”
Again, it depends on the
context. If you need to
refuel quickly – after
intense exercise, say,
or midway through a hike – there
can be an argument for choosing
foods that have a faster impact
on your blood glucose levels,
known as their “glycaemic load”.
Bread can scratch that itch.
Generally speaking, however,
it’s neither very beneficial nor
particularly harmful. Keep in
mind that nothing you eat can
be viewed in isolation. Pairing
those two slices with a filling
based around healthy proteins
and fats will slow the release of
glucose, keeping your energy
steady. A chip sandwich will do
the opposite.
But what if my chip sanger
is made from wholegrain bread
and sweet potato fries? Those
are “good carbs”, right?
84 menshealth.com.au
 NUTRITION

body less acidic? Though I’ve also improve the absorption of I assume you’re talking about metabolise caffeine very slowly
never been entirely sure what certain vitamins. An undressed the theory that you burn more kJs are more likely to experience
that means . . . plate of lettuce and cucumber has digesting some foods than you issues such as heart palpitations,
The theory is that certain minimal nutritional value. It’s absorb from them. Regrettably, sleeplessness and anxiety, so if
foods, such as meat, refined mostly water. All it really offers to this is a myth. Even a piece of that rings true, you might want
sugar, dairy and caffeine, cause your health is a low kJ count. celery will provide more kJs than to keep tabs on your intake.
your body to produce acid. Should I be counting kJs? you’ll expend chewing on it, However, in most people, three
Ostensibly, this can then be The whole concept feels a unless you have some fairly weird to four cups a day are linked to
counteracted by eating more bit dated now. Isn’t there a eating habits. Stick to using it as a a lower risk of diabetes,
alkaline foods, which tend to be better system? hummus spoon. depression and liver damage. As
mostly fruits and vegetables. Maintaining a kJ deficit What about green tea? That long as those cups you’re sinking
Does it work? – burning more energy than burns kilojoules, doesn’t it? aren’t quadruple-shot grandes,
Not as advertised, no. Most you’re taking in – is still a good Barely – assuming you’re you’re probably doing yourself
of the diet’s benefits are sold on basis for managing your weight not ingesting it in some good.
the idea that it will influence the and body composition, but it’s not pharmacological doses. And I don’t need to put
pH of your blood, but blood pH is an exact science. For example, In that case, I’ll stick to grass-fed butter or turmeric
tightly regulated and minimally it requires more energy to break coffee. I can still drink coffee, syrup in it?
affected by what we eat. Any down 100kJ of protein than it can’t I? Absolutely not.
benefits you experience will does 100kJ of carbs, so the net How much are you drinking? Final question, and this
come from – you guessed it – an effects on your body aren’t equal. Two cups a day. Okay, maybe is the big one: I can still drink
increase in your vegetable intake. But the concept roughly holds three or four if I’m hungover, or booze, right?
Raw veg pots are still the true, yes. it’s a Monday. You can, but would you listen
answer, then? What about negative- We all metabolise caffeine if we told you to stay within
There’s no real reason to kilojoule foods? at different rates. Those who the recommended two-drink
eat all of your vegetables raw. daily limit?
Cooking some foods can “unlock” I certainly intend to . . .
their nutrients (as is the case Then consider this: take two
with carrots and tomatoes) and consecutive days off each week,
reduce bloating (broccoli and never free-pour your spirits,
other leafy greens). So, we’d avoid using sugary mixers
advise a mixture of cooked and – and always, always eat a
raw vegetables. Adding a little proper dinner. That last
fat in the form of olive oil or even prescription, at least, shouldn’t
a drizzle of melted butter can be too tough to stomach.

Is gluten still evil?

There is such a thing as “non-
coeliac gluten sensitivity”,
so if you find yourself reacting
badly, you may have cause to cut
it out. But the condition is not
common, so we would advise
against jumping to conclusions.

Is my body toxic?
Dairy, grains and meat are not
“toxins”. They’re just foods.
Your liver does a solid job of
removing most bad things from
your body, and surviving on
laxative tea for 24 hours will not
get the job done quicker.

Can I microwave
them instead?
Some studies suggest
microwaving depletes
nutrients; others disagree.
It’s better than boiling
them to death, though.

August 2019 85
 Visions of
Perfection
The quest for self-improvement has entered an edgy new
realm: microdosing with psychedelic drugs. Proponents say it
could unlock your true cognitive potential. But does it work?
And how far would you go in the pursuit of your best self?

BY JACK PHILLIPS

86 menshealth.com.au
 MIND

August 2019 87
 “It’s not so much about seeing the
face of God, just clearer code.”
IN A WHITEWASHED start-up space peppered Peak Performance
with green ferns and old movie posters, two men “Perhaps we’re finding a way to unlock untapped
lounge on oversized beanbags, their laptops potential?” asks Paul Austin, founder and
perched precariously on their laps. Two more director of Third Wave, an online compendium
sit hunched over a desk by the window, a view of of information and research on psychedelic
Sydney’s Surry Hills beneath. All are furiously substances. He says people are taking sub-
typing as house music roars from a UE Boom threshold doses of psychedelic drugs in an
speaker by the door. attempt to spike creativity, boost energy, create
It’s an innocuous scene, save for the water emotional balance, improve performance and
cooler in the corner, concealed by a blanket, its temper anxiety, depression and addiction.
little blue spout peeking out the bottom. I’m “Microdosing is just part of the wider
told the cooler is covered to block light from conversation we’re having right now,” he says.
reaching the LSD that’s been dissolved in the For me, those small sub-threshold doses
water. Two of the four men in the room claim come via droppers. A few drops under the
the hallucinogenic drug helps them reach their tongue twice a day and you’re done. No freak
“peak potential” when it comes to coding out, nothing fancy. To an observer, you’d be
crunch time – certainly a less lofty goal than forgiven for thinking it was a medicinal
the glimpse of the almighty one of them had treatment for halitosis.
referred to earlier. As humdrum as that sounds, I have to admit
“Using LSD is illegal here. We kind of have my first dose still felt transgressive and loaded
to be careful,” explains the 25-year-old Elon with possibility. Even though, in my case, I was
Musk wannabe, surveying his little slice of taking a non-psychoactive substance, I couldn’t
workplace nirvana. “I’ve always been interested help expecting a ‘high’ or a ‘come up’ or any of the
in biohacking and this microdosing thing just other descriptors recreational drug takers use.
seemed like it was worth a go. I’ve been dosing Something like the blue-iris moment Bradley
every three days for a few months now. My mind Cooper experiences in Limitless. Alas, no. I
is clearer for sure.” perhaps felt a wave of endorphins shoot around
Taking small amounts of psychedelic drugs my jawline in anticipation of a boosted IQ, but
to boost brain power is a trend that’s been other than a strong medicinal taste there was
intriguing Silicon Valley’s finest minds, athletes little in the way of an ‘effect’.
and scientists for years. Lately it’s been titillating That’s kind of the point. Unlike comedian,
the more intellectually curious and innately podcaster and fight commentator Joe Rogan’s
adventurous among us, as well as those of an famed commentary on tripping on LSD
aspirational bent seeking that elusive ‘edge’. and DMT, with microdosing – whether it’s
Collectively, this clandestine group of people psychoactive drugs or something else – there is
are known as ‘dosers’. no existential removal from planet Earth. You
I myself am a doser, of sorts. take a dose and go about your day. You can leave
I have always been intrigued with the the pink ponies at home because you’re off to
concept of biohacking. Don’t get me wrong, I’m work like everybody else.
not a reckless fool who treats his body like an It’s been three years or so since dosing for
ongoing lab experiment. Unlike my start-up productivity became the latest trend to hit
friend, I’ve swerved the LSD for something a California’s 20-something start-up community.
little more accessible: legal mushroom extracts And if the American press is anything to go by
from Aussie firm Life Cykel. Because, truth be there are hundreds, if not thousands taking up
told, I’ve always wondered how the world would microdosing in a bid to boost their brainpower.
reveal itself to me if I had Hawking or Sidis But is there any science behind the individual
levels of smarts. I want to solve unfathomable claims or is it just another case of placebo BS
mathematical equations, invent the thing after talked up by influencers?
the next thing, discover an object worthy of its “Right now, the results are preliminary,”
own Wikipedia page. But, if that proves beyond Austin says. As with any ‘trend’ or ‘fad’, there
me, I’d settle for jumping a few IQ points so I can is often a misrepresentation of the facts when
better enjoy an episode of The Chase. it comes down to the science. And where

88 menshealth.com.au
 MIND

“With microdosing,
there’s no existential
removal from planet
Earth. You take a
dose and go about
your day”

August 2019 89
 microdosing is concerned, it’s no different. clearer, my writing flowed from my fingertips
A couple of clinical studies have been done, a tad easier and I slept deeper – dreams became
including one that involved microdosing DMT more profound and longer too. Ever so
in rats that showed it helped with neurogenesis slightly, the world seemed a little closer to
– the birth of new neurons – and relieved being within my grasp.
depression. It also decreased anxiety. Taken
together, the effects are similar to those people Dabbling In Divinity
are reporting with microdosing, Austin says. If we’re being honest, it’s anecdotal accounts
Current research shows what the journal that are really propelling microdosing forward
Scientific American called “encouraging” among business leaders, athletes and the
and “intriguing” results. Perhaps the most chemically-curious. Nobel Prize-winning
interesting evidence for efficacy came late last American biochemist Kary Banks Mullis credits
year from a team in the UK who conducted LSD dosing for his ability to “get down with
a placebo-controlled trial. They found small the molecules”. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have
amounts of LSD noticeably “altered subjects’ admitted to using LSD in the past.
sense of time”, allowing them to more accurately So, what’s at the heart of this cult of chemical
“reproduce lapsed spans of time”. (This isn’t enhancement? Ayelet Waldman, author of A
Common quite as trippy as it sounds. Basically, you can Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega
Psychedelic better determine how long a kettle took to Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My
Microdosing boil and replicate that time period, useful if Life, believes interest in the field is indicative of a
Drugs you’re weighing up a cup of tea during an ad grey cloud hanging over modern society.
break.) Although it doesn’t quite prove LSD “There is a general, worldwide malaise,
Psilocybin is a definitive cognitive enhancer, the study even among those of us who have everything,”
FOUND IN:
does point to the drug’s potential for increased she explains to me on the phone. “It’s the
Mushrooms or truffles
creativity and focus. same reason anti-depressants are so widely
LEGALITY IN AUSTRALIA:
Brad Burge, director of strategic prescribed. People are seeking answers and
Illegal
communications at MAPS, a non-profit solutions. Additionally, there are those who seek
DMT research and educational organisation focusing performance enhancement, though I would
FOUND IN: on psychedelics, admits a global revival of argue that has its roots in insecurity as well.
Plants, predominantly in research into the therapeutic benefits of MDMA, People want to be better, stronger, faster because
South America psilocybin, ketamine, ibogaine, ayahuasca and they don’t feel like they are enough.”
LEGALITY IN AUSTRALIA: LSD is taking place. Much of that research, he So where to now? Commentators and the
Illegal adds, has been focused on full doses combined scientific community agree that the initial signs
with various forms of therapeutic support. are encouraging and that additional research
LSD
“The media headlines have routinely will quickly follow. Austin points to double-blind
FOUND IN:
exaggerated the extent of the research that placebo-controlled studies in human subjects as
Ergot fungus
LEGALITY IN AUSTRALIA:
has been completed,” he says, but cites a Dutch the next step but admits “we’re still two or three
Illegal study that found that psilocybin (found in years away from any of those being finished”.
magic mushrooms) had no noticeable effect on As a doser-in-training, I can see why
CBD and THC problem solving or rational thinking but did millennials, entrepreneurs and biohackers
FOUND IN: improve creative thinking. This is echoed by are looking to ancient substances to boost and
Cannabis another study from the University of Oxford improve brainpower. Why wouldn’t they? It
LEGALITY IN AUSTRALIA: that found people injected with two milligrams seems there is a lot to be gained from bigger and
Illegal
of psilocybin – enough to trip – “destabilised” better brains. The world’s problems are there
logical thought and encouraged “mind to be solved. There are financial crises to fix,
Ayahuasca
wandering” and creative thinking. environmental disasters to avert, narcissistic
FOUND IN:
Ayahuasca vine and Julian Mitchell, cofounder and CEO of political leaders to topple and planets to colonise.
chacruna shrub Life Cykel, says these symptoms are also Microdosing is perhaps the latest example
LEGALITY IN AUSTRALIA: commonly observed by users of his non- of how some among us are no longer willing
Illegal psychoactive products. As an Australian to accept the natural limits of their mental
proponent of mushroom biotechnology, his and physical powers and are instead looking
Ibogaine company originally started out growing and to accelerate evolution. Nowadays, there may
FOUND IN: selling speciality fungi before diversifying into be little attraction in “seeing the face of God,”
Plants from Central Africa
mushroom extracts using legal reishi, lion’s but there is certainly a desire to be more than
and Amazon
mane, turkey tail and cordyceps varieties. we are. And if microdosing allows me to safely
LEGALITY IN AUSTRALIA:
It’s this creative dimension that excites me access my untapped potential and achieve
Illegal
the most. I write, I draw, I make videos, I write more, I’d consider myself a fool not to dabble.
4-ACO-DMT scripts for TV shows that will never be made. But if it does little more than give me a two
Synthetic psychedelic So, naively, I didn’t think my creativity needed a per cent placebo-induced edge to beat an
LEGALITY IN AUSTRALIA: boost. Turns out it did. I noticed that when impossibly smug ‘chaser’ from my couch on
Illegal I’d been dosing regularly my thoughts seemed a Thursday afternoon, I’ll take that, too.

90 menshealth.com.au
 MIND

“People want to be
better, stronger,
faster because they
don’t feel like they
are enough”

August 2019 91
MAN ON
Frustration lies everywhere for some men, with the
most trifling inconveniences triggering volcanic
outbursts. Discover how one man set about taming
his temper and freeing himself from a life of fury
BY LUKE BENEDICTUS

92 menshealth.com.au
 MIND

FIRE
August 2019 93
 t’s ea
a eveeni an nd I’m waiting for the
li t in
n my arttmeent blo ock
k. y two-year-old son
is tchiing my ha , whilee his baby brother is
h piily droolli ov ver leeft shoulder. We’re
heea inng off to t e parrk. he lift door opens and
o t c mees my neiig ou ur rom across the landing.
Hey Mon nica,” I say
y, “ ow are . . .”

“I’ve got a migraine!” she snaps. her apartment slams shut. It’s act like a dick. It can also have a
“You’ve had the door open to your only then that I notice that my toxic effect on your health.
flat and the smell of whatever bewildered toddler is cowering Sydney University
the hell you’re cooking is so behind me and the baby has researchers found you’re nine
strong that I haven’t been able to begun to cry as I’m gripping him times more likely to have a
concentrate on my work. I’ve had way too tight. heart attack in the two hours
to spray my expensive perfume Outside in the park, I feel after a heated outburst. Other
all around my apartment just light-headed. The visceral thrill studies show anger can weaken
to cover up the smell! Why keep of letting loose has already your immune system, decrease
your door wide open?” curdled into a familiar sense your lung capacity and crank up
“Hang on, I’ve just got back of remorse. I’ve just lost my your risk of diabetes, back pain
from work. What’s happened?” temper. Again. and stroke.
“And your children make Clearly, anger is self-
such a bloody row! Screaming. MAD AS HELL destructive. But that’s not why
Crying. Carrying on. Day and Bad avocados. Queue jumpers. I want to learn to cage my rage.
night. Can’t you think about The nanny state. Yappy dogs Partly it’s because I’m fed up with
your neighbours?” in offices. World politics. Matt allowing piddly little incidents
I feel a slight tightness in my Preston’s cravats. UEFA officials. to yank me into a tailspin. Partly
shoulders. “Uh-oh, have the kids People who wear beanies in the it’s because I’m not always a nice
been causing a ruckus?” gym . . . These are just a few of the person to be around and don’t
“Keeping your pram outside niggling, serotonin-sappers that want to snipe and bicker my way
the door is so dangerous, too. I’m have already riled me up today. through life. But it’s also because
going to report it as a fire hazard. It’s barely 10am. when my son regrettably learnt
I’ve had a migraine all day.” Yes, they may seem trivial to say the word “shit” last week
“Look Monica, I’m sorry for (beanie-wearing gym-goers he was, of course, copying me.
any bother. The good news is notwithstanding). But my Since then, I’m more painfully
we’re actually moving out in a brain often feels trapped in a aware than ever that my
couple of weeks.” demolition derby where fresh behaviour plays a defining role
“You’re moving out? irritations jolt it from every in my kids’ actions. Frankly, I
Fantastic! What date?” direction. Some days, I just feel need to set a better example.
There’s something in angry at the world. And yell fewer obscenities at “It’s a reflection on our greater
her gleeful tone that does it. It seems like I’m not alone, taxi drivers that cut me off sense of entitlement,” reasons
Suddenly it’s like my mind has either. Right now anger is all the at the lights. McInnes, an avuncular figure
been hijacked. rage. When the latest Australian in spectacles and tweed. “Social
I tell Monica that she’s got a Wellbeing report came out last DOUSE YOUR IRE media has made us impatient.
fucking nerve lecturing me on November, it reported that 75 It doesn’t exactly look like Now people need everything to be
being a good neighbour after I’ve per cent of us believe our society a palace of Zen. Anger- resolved quickly.”
lived opposite her for 13 years and is becoming angrier and more management specialist Robert Or they take matters into their
she still doesn’t even know my aggressive. Worldwide the McInnes operates from a own hands, often with disastrous
name. I tell her she’s so loathed pattern is the same: in Gallup’s windowless room with yellow consequences. Like one of
in this building that most people annual Global Emotions Report, walls that sits above a hairdresser McInnes’ former clients who held
take the stairs rather than share 22 per cent of respondents told in the Melbourne suburbs. Right up a liquor store with a shotgun
a lift with her. I tell her she’s a the organisation they felt angry now, he’s busier than ever. for two bottles of Jim Beam, then
mean-spirited, old cow. And I – the highest proportion since When McInnes started his shot a passing driver and stole his
go on and on and on – the words the question was first asked. counselling practice nine years car. “An angry man,” McInnes
spilling from my mouth with This isn’t a positive ago, ‘explosive anger’ represented concedes with a sigh.
murderous ease. development for anyone. That’s about 15 per cent of his client Like most of McInnes’ clients,
She backs away but I keep because anger doesn’t just make base. Today, it accounts for over that man didn’t come to see him
on ranting until the door of you overreact, punch walls and 50 per cent. So what’s happened? voluntarily. Of the 25 new clients

94 menshealth.com.au
 MIND

“YOU’RE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE

A HEART ATTACK IN THE TWO
HOURS AFTER AN OUTBURST ”

that sign up each week for his my issue. When I feel provoked sounds like you have minor trust
one-on-one sessions or online – as with the Monica incident issues because your father died Why
course, 70 per cent are sent by a – my response is often way out when you were at a vulnerable Mantras
court after being slapped with a of proportion. In fact, I almost age. I think you trust your
Work
restraining order or following an pounce on those chances to partner, but this is really about
Actions may not
incident of domestic violence or unleash my frustrations. “A bit if you’re pushed: can you trust speak louder than
criminal assault. But McInnes like a soft-cock version of yourself to control yourself?” words. University of
believes he can help them Michael Douglas in Falling In the context of McInnes’ California
with the anger-management Down,” I suggest. more colourful clients, “minor researchers found
technique he’s developed to get McInnes jots down some notes trust issues” are fairly benign. repeating a key word
fast results. and begins gently probing my But his anger-management or two can slash your
“What I’ve worked out is life. We talk about the death of my technique is the same whether stress levels. When
how to change your habits father, my mother’s depression, you’re a violent armed robber 66 people silently
said a mantra during
subconsciously so that you ex-girlfriends, sibling rivalry or a grumpy journo belatedly
tense times, 83 per
change without even and my relationship with my overcompensating for a lifetime
cent felt less
thinking,” he says. “I got the long-suffering wife. At the end, of not asserting himself enough. stressed. Anything
idea from hypnosis.” McInnes frowns thoughtfully Essentially, the aim is simple: to from ‘Shalom’ to
Sitting across from each and delivers his verdict. “This train your subconscious brain to ‘Take it easy’, works.
other in armchairs, I explain is just theory,” he says. “But it stay calm during the 90-second

August 2019 95
 Red Alert
Necessary corrective
measure or crazy
overreaction? Find
out if your anger is
out of control. In
Anger: Taming the
Beast, therapist
Reneau Peurifoy
proposes a three-
part test to decide
whether your anger
is constructive or
damaging. Next time
you blow your top
ask yourself these
questions:

Did a real
threat exist?
Was the level
of your anger
proportionate to
the threat?
Did your actions
effectively reduce
the threat with the
least amount of
harm to yourself
and others?

burst during which any emotion figure that now is as good a time I ask her. She waits a split-second Trying to be polite all the
is at its most volcanic. as any to start. “Stop. Find Calm. too long before answering. “Well, time is exhausting – I feel like
For my rage-reduction Big Picture,” I repeat. “Stop. Find you’re very impatient,” she says. a chained zoo bear. Meanwhile
homework I am given a mantra Calm . . .” But there’s a Mitsubishi “Plus you roll your eyes a lot. the pressure is on, too, as I’m
that I must repeat for five Pajero hogging the middle lane Look, there you go again.” working round the clock on a
minutes a day when driving of the freeway while dawdling at I storm off to stew on her start-up while rushing to finish
or performing any activity 60km/h. Hemmed in, I flash assessment. Yet I know that I a deadline for a book. Then one
that keeps my mind off the my lights, but the driver could actually do with some morning I wake up with a dull
actual words. repeatedly ignores me. I pointers. Our family has just ache in the left side of my jaw.
“Say these five words: ‘Stop, gesticulate and honk. What is moved interstate and we’re This quickly degenerates into an
Find calm. Big picture’,” McInnes this moron playing at? Returning staying with the in-laws until evil throbbing that will turn out
explains. “Don’t think about to my mantra, I realise this is we find our own place. It’s a to be a tooth abscess.
what you’re saying. Just keep going to take some time. convenient arrangement and Suffice to say, this does
repeating it. It is a mantra, not my wife’s parents are kind- nothing to improve my mood.
positive thinking. The phrase is BOILING POINT hearted folk. Just as long as the The pain makes it hard to
a direction from the conscious But I persevere because my wife conversation steers clear of race, concentrate on anything. But I’ve
mind to the subconscious mind.” reckons this is long overdue. “Do the economy or the environment. got a big work project to deliver
On the rainy drive home, I you think I’m an angry person?” Unfortunately, it’s election time. so need to be on my game and,

96 menshealth.com.au
 MIND

“I’M REMINDED OF A DALAI LAMA Your Rage-

Reduction
QUOTE: ‘THE TRUE HERO IS ONE Tool kit

WHO CONQUERS HIS OWN ANGER’” WEEK 1:

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN
Whether silently or
aloud, repeat the
phrase: “Stop. Find
preferably, stop punctuating wakes at 4.30am without a sense because there’s no context, he Calm. Big Picture”.
You need to say this
every sentence with “Oh, for of humour. For the next three explains. You don’t know whether
mantra for five
fuck’s sake!” hours he’s impossible. Between you’re being asked about your
minutes, everyday
So I cling to the mantra. I a maelstrom of tears and family, your values or your work. for a week while
repeat it to myself when I’m tantrums, he manages to break But there’s one question you do doing a low-level
rocking the baby, when I’m a lamp and push his brother constantly need to ask yourself, physical activity like
washing the dishes or mowing headfirst into a bucket of Lego. he insists: “Who are you now?” walking, driving or
the lawn. During my second attempt to This is the final piece in vacuuming. “The
Astonishingly, after a few cajole him through breakfast, McInnes’ tool kit – basically phrase is a direction
days, it seems to kick in. When he erupts because his porridge a mindfulness tactic for hot- from the conscious
for example, I discover the isn’t in the right-coloured bowl. headed loons. The idea is to mind to the
subconscious mind,”
local dentist is closed due to As soon as I’ve completed the retune your mental antennae
McInnes says.
“electrical work on the street” switchover to the orange one, to synch with your current
(what sort of provincial hellhole he demands the other bowl with situation. Ask yourself “Who WEEK 2:
is this?) I still feel a surge of the bunnies. Which he promptly am I now?” when you get into EYES ON THE BALL
blinding rage. But then “poof!” upturns over the floor. work, for example, and your Stare at an empty
Somehow it magically disperses I shut my eyes. answer might be: “I’m a team chair, then drop your
before finding expression. My Playing the ball here, I realise, leader”. Rather than, say, a head to look at the
subconscious is apparently is simply to persevere and coax disgruntled commuter still floor and say the
submitting to the mantra, even some food into my son in the raging because your train was 25 word “ball”. Bring
while my conscious is plotting hope it’ll make him slightly less minutes late. your eyes back to the
chair and repeat the
to have all my teeth extracted demonic. I turn on Play School, By adjusting your mindset
process. Perform this
and to subject me to a diet clean up the mess and make him to the task at hand, the aim is to
exercise for two
of pumpkin soup for life. some Vegemite toast. Eventually, park your ancillary problems to minutes daily for a
he eats a few soldiers and his stop them infecting your new week. The next time
PLAY THE BALL mood brightens. scenario. Make an effort you’re confronted
It’s session number two. I’m back Heady with triumph and a to keep your head in the game with a frustrating
in the windowless room (after contented child nestling in my that you’re actually playing, situation, look down
expensive/extensive dentistry) lap, I’m reminded of a recent McInnes suggests. “Try to for a second, then
eyeballing McInnes once again. Instagram post I saw quoting the focus on the present.” back at the person.
As we’re in Melbourne, with Dalai Lama. “The true hero is one I walk out of the session into Focus on their
behaviour not
thudding inevitability the who conquers his own anger,” I the autumn sun, feeling an
the person.
conversation turns to AFL. whisper into my son’s ear. Within unlikely sense of hope. After
“When you watch good footy the hour he’s scrawled a felt- all, from sour-faced neighbours WEEK 3:
players, they’re focused on the tipped mural on the kitchen wall. to emergency root-canal work, FIND YOUR FOCUS
ball,” McInnes says. “That’s bad things are always going to Faced with a trigger
how they can best influence the MOMENT OF TRUTH happen. All you can really control situation, ask
course of the game. Bad players Returning to McInnes’ yellow is how you respond (note to self: yourself: “Who am I
that don’t have any skill? They’re room, I tell him that I feel like do not hold up liquor stores now? You are only
forced to resort to going for the I’m making progress. I’m calmer, with a shotgun even when ever in the now, not
man instead.” less indignant and not getting seriously peeved). the past or the
future,” McInnes
McInnes wants me to apply sucked into so many internal I walk over to my car and
says. “Ask yourself
this same principle to those fantasy arguments about issues can scarcely believe what I find
whether you’re
tinderbox situations that that never materialise. I’ve also waiting for me: there on the solving the problem
threaten to ignite a flare-up. I realised that losing my shit window is a parking ticket from as a father, employee
need to focus on the mechanics of rarely ends well. Monash City Council. I pluck it or friend. Once
the problem rather than taking a “Who are you?” McInnes asks. off the windscreen and crumple you’re focused on
verbal swing at the perpetrator. The question throws me. it up into my fist. Then I take a who you are, then
“Separate the behaviour from the Disorientated, I mumble and breath and smile. you can focus on
person,” he says. “That way you’re stall, before McInnes finally what you want and
focused on finding a solution.” intervenes. Everyone finds
Robert McInnes’ online anger- how to get it.”
management course is available at:
The next morning my son that a hard question to answer cognitiveprinciplematrix.com.au

August 2019 97
GUIDETO

Stamina. Endurance. Gas. Call it what you will,

your cardiovascular system is the engine of your
real-life fitness, and the good news is that it’s easy
to upgrade. Our user manual will dismantle your
body’s mechanics to provide more power, improve
your economy and push you further and faster
than ever. We all have a high-performance engine
inside of us. You simply have to turn the key
By The Men’s Health Team Photography By Peter Crowther

98 menshealth.com.au
 FITNESS

A well-oiled
cardio plan will
put more fuel in
your tank.

August 2019 99
 YOUR PRIMER

Cardio? That’sJustRunning, Right?

If the mere mention of the C-word conjures images of wiry 10K-ers
stoically looping the local park, your understanding of “cardio”
is in need of an update. Here’s the rundown
Don’t Waste Your Breath
Your ability to use oxygen can be
Supply and Demand measured with your VO2 max or
“maximum oxygen uptake”. The
At its core, cardio is “aerobic”
higher your score, the more
training – any activity during which
efficiently you can work. It’s
the heart is able to supply enough
genetic in part (we can’t all be Mo
oxygenated blood to fuel your
Farah), but few people operate at
efforts, whether you’re skipping or
anywhere near their potential. To
squat jumping. In anaerobic
boost yours, you need to train at a
training, however, your O2 reserves
minimum of 75 per cent of your
dry up. Without sufficient oxygen,
max heart rate (below), reports
you’re limited to brief, intense
Research Quarterly for Exercise
bursts. Put simply, if you can
and Sport. Slow and steady won’t
grind out an exercise for two
win this race.
minutes non-stop, that’s your
aerobic system at play.
Know Your Type
Not all muscles are created equal. Your slow-twitch
muscles are built for stamina, while your fast-twitch
muscles power short blasts. Developing the former with
endurance exercise can boost their mitochondria, the
body’s energy generator. But it’s not all jogging, jogging,
Hit You jogging. Low-rest circuits will get the job done, too.
Your m
r Max
ax hear
t rate =
220 – y
So, if yo our age
u’re 35 .
to work and aim
at 80% ing
of your
you wa max,
nt to st
ay at
about 1
48bpm

PACE SETTER

HIITor THE LONG-RUNNER

Yes, he wants to shift
THE JUST-IN-TIMER
The clock is ticking before
THE STRESS TESTER
This overburdened office
THE SLOW GRINDER
This dedicated marathon
THE FIRST TIMER
The total beginner. He

LISS? a bit of weight, but

this man is well aware of
the march of Father Time
he leaves for his annual
fortnight on the beach,
but chaos at work is
worker is too busy to think
about his six-pack. What
he does worry about is
runner is a cardio-head
who, despite his weekly
mileage, isn’t getting any
knows jogging is good for
him, but it looks pretty
boring. He’s heard that
Unsure if you
should be and wants exercise to sabotaging his body having enough faster. He wants this to be going hard promises
thinking fast or increase his lifespan as goals. He is after headspace the year he finally greater fitness and
slow? Use this well as decrease his BMI. maximum fat burn in the to stay sane as the smashes his PB. fat-burn
guide to pick the minimum time. deadlines close in. in far less time.
speed you need The Method The Method
LISS The Method The Method HIIT The Method
HIIT noun HIIT LISS LISS
High-intensity interval The Final Kicker The Final Kicker
training. Short bursts of A study by Brigham The Final Kicker The Final Kicker The University of Western The Final Kicker
hard effort with Young University found Short and very sharp Anxiety may be at a Ontario found that six Start slowly. A study
recovery periods. steady-state running for interval sessions won’t record high (3.2 million weeks of sprint interval in the American Journal of
30 minutes per day could clog up your diary cases in Australia), but the training resulted in Medicine reported a case
LISS noun be the most effective but will keep your humble jog is a true tonic: greater jumps in of rhabdomyolysis, a
Low-intensity steady exercise to beat the metabolism burning Frontiers in Psychiatry VO2 max and running condition commonly
state. Longer-duration Reaper. On average, kilojoules at your desk. A showed a correlation times than regular associated with military
cardio at a steady, runners live nine years daily 15-minute session between aerobic exercise endurance training. Get bootcamps, in a healthy
consistent effort. longer if they lace up can cut 5 per cent body and a reduction in mental faster and train less. but basically untrained
before work. fat in just 45 days. health problems. newcomer to HIIT.

100 menshealth.com.au
 FITNESS

FUEL YOUR ENGINE

TheBreakfast There are smarter ways to prepare for endurance

sports than putting yourself in a pasta-induced

of Champions
coma. We asked James Moran, a performance
nutrition expert who advises Olympic athletes, to
rewrite your recipe for success

Simply combine
your core
ingredients to
form batter,
then fry.

Your Starter pancake For… Easy-Effort Training For… Hard-Effort Racing

• Free-range eggs, 2, whisked • Low-fat Greek yoghurt, 100ml • Oats, 30g
• A ripe banana, mashed • Almond butter, ½tbsp • Mango, handful, diced
• Whey powder, 2 scoops • Fresh berries, handful • Honey, 1tbsp
22g Carbs, 38g Protein, 12g Fat 37g Carbs | 53g Protein | 21g Fat 75g Carbs | 30g Protein | 14g Fat

Why it works: “Endurance athletes often Why it works: A breezy 10K planned? Why it works: “For heavy training, carbs
overlook protein, focusing on carbs,” says “It’s common for elite endurance athletes aren’t just crucial for energy: they also fuel
Moran. But protein is crucial for tendons to split up their carb intake to match the the immune system, which will be under
and ligaments, as well as haemoglobin demands of their training,” says Moran. increased stress,” says Moran. Replace
(oxygen transporters) and mitochondria Topping your pancakes with yoghurt, nut half of the whey with oats, then
(muscles’ energy source). Tailor your butter and berries keeps the carb count top with quick-acting carbs. “As a loose
toppings to stack up the benefits, whether fairly low. Opt for blueberries or cherries: rule, your pre-event meal should pack
fuelling a regular jog or the big race. they contain anti-inflammatory nutrients 1g of carbs per kilo of your bodyweight.”
that curb muscle soreness, so you can
go harder tomorrow.

August 2019 101

 GOLDEN AGE CITY SLICKNESS

The Eleventh-Hour Athlete

While your squat strength and six-pack might peak in PutYour
Commute
your twenties, your capacity for cardio endurance is
relatively unfettered by age. Keith Simpson – a 69-year-old
with 26 marathons under his well-worn running belt –
gives your excuses the runaround

“I DID VERY LITTLE exercise before “I’ve seen my body shape change,
To Work
You might not expect to set PBs on
my sixties, when, inspired by my especially my leg muscles (2), and
your way to the office, but
daughter’s running, I took up marathon running has given me better knee
your journey in can form a key
training. At 64, I set myself the and ankle joints. The only downside
challenge of completing 26 marathons, is that I’ve shrunk in height by a few
part of your fitness plan. Choose
in alphabetical order, in 26 different millimetres, due to running on hard the right kit to streamline your
countries. The first, in Athens, took me surfaces, which has compressed my efforts and your training can
four hours and 49 minutes. My PB is now spine. That’s why I prefer trails now. I beat the train in
three hours and 51 minutes, and I’ve don’t do any speed training, since I don’t
progressed to ultramarathons. I’ve even need it for ultras.
got my eye on a 100-miler. “As I get older, I fare better at longer
“I built up distances slowly. My distances (3). Psychologically, the
original motivation was to lose a few endorphins from running give me a
kilos, but running soon became a hobby. huge boost, which lasts the whole day.
I run three or four times a week, at least The feel-good factor from running spills
10 miles (16km) per run, nearly all on over into the rest of my life.”
trails. I am fitter now than I’ve ever
been, and I can eat more because of the
kilojoules I’m burning. Not to mention
I get a real buzz out of finishing races in
front of people who are half – or even a
third of – my age (1).

1
Pain Killer
Co-developed by mobility maven Kelly Starrett,
this deep-tissue massage ball is small enough
to pop in your desk drawer, but tough enough to
(1) Time Lords A study by the University of dig into the gnarliest of knots in your legs and
Madrid found an average 18-year-old
glutes. You might not be able to perform a full
completes a marathon in the same time as an
average 60-year-old. (2) Muscle Up While MobilityWOD in the office lift, but it will fend off
fast-twitch fibres are smaller in older people, DOMS better than foam rolling. MobilityWOD
the slow-twitch endurance muscles are less Supernova 80mm ($55; rogueaustralia.com.au)
affected by ageing, according to the Lund
University Hospital in Sweden. (3) Long Game
Experts at the University of Zurich found the
age of peak performance in distance running
increases with the race duration.
2
Light Touch
This reflective body
wax can be applied to
your arms and legs – or
anywhere else, if face
paint is your thing –
ensuring you stay visible
to drivers. Sweat won’t
wash it away, but a
shower fortunately will.
Safety Skin Reflective
Skin Spread ($18.95;
safetyskinproducts.com)

102 menshealth.com.au
 FITNESS

RATE OF IMPROVEMENT

3 THE2019
Hard Case
This backpack has smart compartments to keep
EFFORT SCALE
You don’t need to be covered in
your laptop secure and work attire uncrumpled, wires to know how hard you’re
plus string attachments for
pushing. Consult our updated
your shoes. Crucially,
it also weighs less
intensity chart
than 1kg, and strong
IF YOU CAN ACTUALLY
waist and sternum
CONCENTRATE ON A PODCAST
straps with “anti- Training Zone: Endurance
bounce tech” Heart Rate: 60-70 per cent
keep it in place. Best for: Recovery
Backpack Pro
($244; fastgear. We mean genuinely following the
com.au) intricacies of your favourite true crime
series without realising you’ve zoned out
and skipping back 20 minutes. Slow runs,
easy Wattbike rides or even a long-ish
DOMS-busting walk, really.

IF YOU CAN JUST ABOUT

TALK TO SIRI/ALEXA
Training Zone: Stamina
Heart Rate: 80-90 per cent
Best for: Lactate threshold

Don’t loses “Alexa, play next track!” should be

your focuetch? what you can manage. Think rest periods

during easier intervals, or steady,
-free str
Pedestrian d of
point ahea up-tempo rows. This is lactate
Fixate on a ich
ext sandw threshold stuff, which will help you
you – the n it
– to reach sit comfortably at 50-80 per cent
shop, say
t faster of your max.
23 per cen

IF YOU CAN’T MENTALLY

RECITE POSITIVITY MANTRAS
Training Zone: Speed
Heart Rate: 90-100 per cent
Best for: Peak performance

4 Close to, or up to, your max effort: you’re

Power Player doing hard intervals, deadlier CrossFit
Roadside workouts don’t mean you have to ditch workouts or running far too fast for far
your Spotify playlist. Try these wireless earbuds, too long, considering your last 10K
the first specifically designed for runners, was in 2010. Triathletes, sub 3-hour
marathoners and masochists need
featuring JBL-charged sound and Bionic Hearing
to hit this level.
to stay conscious of surrounding noise. That way
your final push-to-the-finish power track won’t
block out oncoming buses. (UA True Wireless IF YOU CAN’T EVEN INSTAGRAM
Flash Headphones ($249.95; jbl.com.au) HOW HARD-CORE YOU ARE
Training Zone: Sprint
Heart Rate: 110 per cent
Best for: Vomiting

Max effort sprints of any sort, repeated

ad nauseum. That taste of battery in
your mouth is lactic acid trying to
escape. Ideal for building mental
fortitude. Not ideal for doing anything
afterwards except lying down.

August 2019 103

WE’VE BEEN REAL DICKS WITH OUR PENISES LATELY.
UNWANTED PICS AND STIS, BAD BEHAVIOUR AND TOO-TIGHT
PANTS. AND YET! THE PENIS IS ABOUT JOY AND SEX AND
LOVE, TOO. HERE’S A HUGE UPDATE ON THE LITTLE GUY
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEVI BROWN

SP ECIA L
R EPORT

the

104 menshealth.com.au
 HEALTH

Australian men disagree on a wide

range of issues – climate change,
superannuation, immigration, along
with which of our football codes is
superior. Yet for all our differences,
there is one thing that binds male
Homo sapiens together, helping to
distinguish us from our double-X-
chromosome’d female counterparts:
a borderline familial relationship
with our genitalia. But with family,
it’s always complicated.

Intersecting not only with sexuality but

with issues like privacy, technology, power
and public health, the penis is a symbol of our
desires, our vices, our wellness. To investigate
the nature of this relationship, Men’s Health
partnered with scientists, investigative
reporters and a phallically shaped wind
puppet named Flappy to examine the State of
the Penis. What it’s got going for it. What it’s
got working against it. How we can make the
most of it.
Consider the dick pic. One third of male
respondents in a new Men’s Health survey
admitted that they had sent one, while more
than half of female respondents shared that
they had received one. Once the territory of
D-list Hollywood, dick pics have infiltrated
the news cycle on a regular basis, ensnaring
everyone from Anthony Weiner to Jeff Bezos
to Warnie. And if the richest man in the
world is taking hackable pictures of himself,
does this mean we’re more confident about
our penises? That we always had the urge to
show them off but were waiting for technology
to allow us to? Or does it mean that we’re
somehow less confident?
In a dick pic, a penis is merely a subject.
Yet we treat it as if it took a selfie. Almost 40
per cent of respondents blamed their penis for
flirting with someone they shouldn’t have, for
causing horny thoughts that led them to, say,
text or email something they regretted, for
causing injury to their penis, or for
leading them to illegal activity, like
having sex in public.
Which is, in a word, nuts. The penis itself
isn’t determinative. It’s not doing anything
wrong . . . or even right. It’s doing what our
brains tell it to. It’s along for the ride.
As we look forward to a future filled
with both creeping uncertainty and endless
possibility, let’s figure out what this thing is
and what it isn’t and what it needs from us.
Understanding the penis doesn’t need to be
so hard. – Spencer Dukoff

August 2019 105

 his colleagues use n their semi 2015
review of previous clinical studies. That
dy, which identified previous studies
t met its criteria and ended up using the
bined data from 521 men at least
years old with healthy penises, concluded
t the average erect dick (based on four
evant studies) is 10cm long and has
average circumference (based on two
evant studie of 11.69cm. Muir noted
t the data came largely from Caucasian
T H E R IGH T WAY T O M E A SU R E A PE N IS . Middle Eastern men, making it unlikely
K H AY V E ST IG AT E S W H Y
captured a truly global penile average
Seeking to get a better sense of natural
probably think it’s pretty m while flaccid and placing a woo erections, and possibly pull data from a
easy to measure a dick. Whip er atop them, butted up against thei er field of subjects than expensive and
out. Grab a ruler. Get it hard. vis. But the first study of average penis geographically restricted clinical stud
Have a look. Men do it all the time – s t arn pe researchers have
h MH survey said they had
per centt iin the father of sexual research, Alfred Kinsey. His opted for self-reporting that tries to
measured it – with a ruler (42 per cent) or investigation, published in 1948, concluded control for the kind of overstatements that
tape measure (18 per cent) or other device that the average stretched penis was about proliferated in Kinsey and company’s data.
(2 per cent), whether out of boredom, 16.73cm long. “And because he asserted Debby Herbenick, a professor and sexuality
curiosity, insecurity or any number of other [his] expertise of science in sexual matters,” researcher, and her colleagues at Indiana
motivations. Scientists do it all the notes Dr Alicia Walker, a sociologist who has University published a notable paper in
time as well. Their efforts have generated explored the relation of penis size to male
data on average penis sizes, which many self-esteem, “others assumed he really did
media outlets, educators and average know” the best way to do this research.
men take as gospel. In retrospect, though, Kinsey used
But think for a moment about all shoddy science. He interviewed 4000
the ways you could measure your penis mostly white and university-aged men and Compared with
and you’ll pretty quickly find it’s not asked them to estimate their penis size. the AVERAGE GUY,
as straightforward as it seems. Do you They were each given a take-home card with
do you
measure from the top or the side? Flaccid
or erect? Morning or evening? Scientists
instructions to measure themselves, then
send the card back with data. Some 2500
think you are:
have been pondering these issues for replied. Kinsey’s figures have been 2.5-
decades, developing varied measurement 4cm longer than many subsequent clinical LARGER
tactics. But as researchers reported in a studies found, as often happens when you
study on some of these approaches last year, ask people to measure their dick and just tell 17%
“little data exists on the best technique you about it. Thanks to Kinsey’s influence
to measure penile length”. That could be and the fact that no one questioned his
ABOUT
cause for concern, as getting a solid sense methodology, length data was a little THE
of average penis sizes is important for spotty throughout the mid-20th century.
SAME PROP STYLING: MIAKO KATOH. KEVIN SWEENEY/STUDIO D (TAPE MEASURE).

more than just personal interest. Accurate In fact, Gordon Muir, a urological surgeon 57%
measures may aid in developing better- in the UK who has worked on some of the
fitting condoms with lower tear rates or more influential studies on penile length
help men with confidence issues who in recent years, contends that “all the data SMALLER

believe their penis is smaller than average. gathered before 1980” on this subject “is
So it’s worth taking a look at when, where completely unreliable”.
26%
and how some of the most common figures More often than not, modern researchers
on average penis sizes were determined have turned back to the 1942 methodology
and understanding exactly how much of having a clinician stretch a flaccid penis
uncertainty remains. and measure it with a ruler laid atop it and Answering “larger” was more
common among younger guys. In
Doctors have been trying to gather pushed through the fat toward the pelvis. regard to income, the bigger
solid data on average penis lengths since (Jamming the ruler against the pelvis your salary, the bigger you think
the early 1940s. One of the earliest papers emerged gradually as the best way to control you are: 23 per cent of men
on the subject dates from 1942, when two for body-fat levels, which can make penises earning more than $175K
answered larger.
researchers in New York measured nearly of exactly the same size seem to differ.)
200 boys’ and men’s members by stretching This was the gold standard Muir and four

106 menshealth.com.au
 HEALTH

sed 166 self-measurements

led from a larger study on condom fit.
estigating how condom fit influenced
E YO
ction, they found an average erect leng
14.14 BITS KILLI
Herbenick’s study revealed yet anoth
nkle for researchers, however. She
ieves her team was the first to explore
the mode of arousal may influence OUSE O
D S T H AT’S J UST WA I T I NG T O C OM E
size of an erection. “Men who reported
eiving oral sex in order to get thei K I N D OF DAY (DAY A F T ER DAY) T H AT C A
ction for measurement,” she says, “had SET YOU U P FOR A BON E R DISA ST E
ger measurement” on average than
used other methods of stimulation.
s raises all new questions about :0
researchers can find a real aver E UP EXHAUSTED
ypes o erection you’ll lose. It’s a terrible rhyme,
arousal might yield perceptibly different but the science is airtight. Even in younger 3:00 PM
measurements of the same penis, even on men, less than five hours of shut-eye per SKIP THE GYM
night could slash daytime testosterone Activity is an erection preserver, says Helle
the same day. Gerbild of Aalborg University’s Center for
levels by up to 15 per cent.
Ultimately, according to Dr Nicole Sexology Research in Denmark. It’s also a
Prause, a neuroscientist and sex researcher, reviver: 40 minutes of at least moderate
“there are no studies that have measured exercise four times a week for six months
the naturally erect male penis. So we really 9:00 AM may improve erectile problems.

don’t know what the average size of a truly RIDE YOUR BIKE TO THE OFFICE
Bicycle seats can kill boners, especially
wild, representative erect dick is”. She is narrow saddles. The pressure on the
still dreaming up new ways of taking penile perineum – the real estate between the
10:00 PM
“FORGET” TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH
measurements and muses about using 3-D anus and genitals – can damage erectile
If you don’t brush and floss for your
imaging or thermography technology for tissue, argues Dr Irwin Goldstein, director
smile, do it for your penis. Periodontal
of San Diego Sexual Medicine.
more accurate readings, to be conducted disease can make you more likely to
perhaps while a subject watches an erotic suffer from ED.
film in isolation to get naturally aroused.
That plan might provide a more reliable 10:00 AM
measurement – of girth as well, a metric
POP PILLS FOR A NAGGING KNEE 10:15 PM
that has been far less studied and debated. Multiple studies have found that the WATCH TV IN BED
But it would likely do little to tackle the consistent use of nonsteroidal anti- “Use it or lose it” is true, but it doesn’t take
sample-size and composition issues that inflammatory drugs (like Ibuprofen) much to see improvement. A 2007 Finnish
is related to decreased testosterone study found that men who had sex just once
plague measurement studies, or the issue a week – compared with, well, men with any
levels, ED and loss of desire. See a doc or
of unclear turgidity differences across amount less than that – were 50 per cent
physiotherapist, already.
time and stimuli. The truth is, creating a less likely to have ED. Three-times-a-week
practical study that could tackle all of the guys were 80 per cent less likely to have it.
The blood flow that a boner brings prevents
complications of dick measurement is way
scar tissue that can cause ED.
harder than you’d expect.

August 2019 107

 W H AT YO U R P E N I S I S A PURPLE OR

TELLING
SPLOTCHY PENIS
An inexplicably purple p pen
nis
is alarming. It might jusst be
the way your blood vesseels
react to all the extra bloo od

YOU
flowing to the penis during g
an erection. Or it could b be a
“rupture of the fibrous la ayeer
that surrounds the erecttile
cylinders,” says urologoist D Dr
James Kashanian – mea aning
RIGHT NOW you’ve fractured your peniss via
a “significant bending in njury”
YOU CAN TELL a lot by taking a close look d ing sex.
dur
at your penis. Sometimes you look at it FIXA
XABILI
B TY: If you feel a
and everything seems perfectly normal. “po opp”” during sex, followed
Other times it can feel fraught with danger, by bruii ing or swelling,
covered in lumps, spots, nodules and seek im mmediate medical
protuberances that all look like evidence of attentio on. As if a penile
your certain doom. We’re here to help you fracture weren’t bad
separate the facts from the panic attacks. enough, not getting
imm di diate attention
can lee d to ississues
ues yo
y u
A CURVED PENIS WHITE, YELLOWISH, OR don’t want to have to o
It could be Peyronie’s disease, a REDDISH BUMPS dea a w h, in including
l
condition caused by scartissuethat These are often just enlarged “sign nificant erectile
pullsyourpenistowardoneside. oil glands, called Fordyce spots, dyysfunction,” says Dr.
FIXABILITY: It can be treated says Dr Elizabeth Kavaler, a Kas
Ka asshanian, or
with drugs, injections or even urology specialist at Lenox “ppenile deformity”.
surgery, but the third option Hill Hospital. No treatment
is for the worst cases, says Dr is needed, and they typically
Larry Lipshultz, a professor of disappear on their own
urology at Baylor College after a few years. They
of Medicine. If it can resemble an STD, such as
curves less than 10˚ the bumps you see with herpes, A SMALL, CLEAR BLISTER
in either direction but aren’t painful or itchy and If it pops and scabs over,
and you can still don’t pop and scab over. it’s usually herpes, says D
Dr
have sex that FIXABILITY: Time is all Aaron Spitz, author
doesn’t hurt either it takes. of The Penis Book. “The b blissters
of you, leave it alone. can also be tender
or painful,” he says. “As a

#F RE ET HE EG GP LA NT
The Fast Times of 2010 _ The debut of the eggplant.

the Eggplant Emoji Angela Guzman, who helped design

the original 500 emojis, explained 2014 _ Rapper B.o.B.
years later that her drawing Instagrams a selfie in
To paraphrase Freud, some- becoming a go-to phallic symbol revealing sweatpants
times an eggplant is just tagged #EggplantFriday.
an eggplant. Unless it’s an emoji, and Soon IG bans the eggplant
then it’s definitely a dong. For most of emoji from its search
history, bananas were the universally 2013 _ Fred Benenson, who crowdsourced algorithm. Fans respond
accepted metaphorical penis. But it’s now translating Moby-Dick entirely into emojis, with #FreetheEggplant.
impossible to look at an eggplant and see suggests that eggplant emojis are ideally
anything but a purple pecker. How we got here: suited for “sexual innuendo”.

108 menshealth.com.au
 HEALTH

D F U L M A S T U R B A TION
general rule, if it’s on
your penis and it hurts,
call your doctor.”
FIXABILITY: If you see something
M NI IS A THING
suspicious, it’s important to get
tested right away. If it’s herpes, H E R E’S HOW T O E X PA N D W H AT YOU T HOUGH T
you can’t rid yourself of the W ER E YOU R SE X UA L L I M I T S
virus; it can lie dormant in you.
But you can get antiviral drugs So the mindfulness trend relationship counsellor. “How experiences doesn’t mean you
to reduce outbreaks, and using has hit masturbation now? does your skin feel? What have unresolved feelings for a
condoms can lower the risk of Stay with us for a second. For temperatures, textures and former partner. “People are
spreading the infection through many guys, masturbation is sensations do you experience?” capable of having fantasies that
sex by 30 per cent. about focusing on one organ she says. You’ll become more they don’t want to make a reality,”
and getting the job done as focused on your senses rather Lehmiller says.
quickly as possible. But to than just on your ejaculation.
mindfully masturbate involves You’ll start to slow down and I guess, but I still feel weird
“utilising your whole body, and experience sex in ways you might about this.
all your senses,” says sex therapist have been too impatient to notice You shouldn’t. First of all, those sex
A CAULIFLOWER-SHAPED Chris Donaghue, author of Sex before. And if you only masturbate throwbacks in your memory bank
GROWTH Outside the Lines. That means with porn, take a porn break. aren’t very accurate. And second,
If there’s no pain or itching, you’re not racing for the finish they’re less about your memories
you’re likely dealing with line and your orgasm isn’t the No porn? Then what gets me of your ex and probably more
genital warts, says primary goal. in the zone? about your memories of yourself.
Kavaler. They’re caused by Each of us has an inventory of
exposure to human papilloma- Then what’s the point? sexual experiences, both fictional What does that mean? I’ve
It can make sex better by and real, that we can draw on been getting off thinking
virus (HPV), which will infect
broadening your horizons. When while masturbating to get us to of myself?
around 80 per cent of
masturbation becomes so that next level. A poll earlier this The hottest memories in your
people in their lifetime formulaic that we’re depending year from dating website vault may be of you being a sex
and can sometimes lead on certain habits and techniques IllicitEncounters.com found that god in a past relationship – even if
to penile cancer. every time, “it neurologically wires these fantasies can run the gamut it’s not true. A 2014 Duke
FIXABILITY: “Genital warts our body and arousal in a limited from coworkers (27 per cent) to University study found that men
do not regress on their own,” and rigid way,” Donaghue says. friends (25 per cent) to complete were more unreliable narrators
says Kashanian. Treatment strangers (29 per cent). But the than women when it came to
can include topical lotions, Okay, fine. So how do I do most popular material, picked by certain aspects of their sex
cryotherapy (freezing them off), this mindful thing? 55 per cent of respondents, is sex backstories. “And when men were
Try other approaches: see if your with an ex. in a great mood, they recalled
laser therapy or having them
body might like something having better erections and better
surgically removed. If you’re not
different just as much as (or more If I’m with someone new, orgasms than they actually did,”
going to avoid sex until they’re than) your standard session. “Do should I really be thinking of says Dr Kevin P. Weinfurt, the Duke
gone, you’ve got to glove it. you always sit? Try standing. Are an old flame? professor of psychiatry who led
“However, the virus can you always quiet? Make some Yup. “This is perfectly normal,” the study. That distorted memory
still be transmitted by noise. Try it all,” says Donaghue. says Justin Lehmiller, a research of yourself may help you feel more
direct skin-to-skin contact,” Pay attention to everything, says fellow at the Kinsey Institute. confident and valid the next time
Kashanian says. – E S Jessica O’Reilly, a sexuality and Reliving or replaying past you have real sex. – ES

2016 _ The Emojibator, 2018 _ In a survey by Plenty of Fish,

a nearly five-inch vibrator 75% of singles say they’re unlikely to
that resembles an eggplant, respond to an online flirtation that uses
2016 _ The American goes on sale for $32. an eggplant emoji, because gross.
Dialect Society dubs the
eggplant the year’s Most 2019 _ The Unicode
Notable Emoji. Linguist Consortium approves 230
Ben Zimmer notes that it 2017 _ Comedian Anders Holm new emojis. One of them,
refers to “male genitalia . . .  hosts a Twitter poll on which the pinching hand, rapidly
and eggplants”. end is the tip. Almost 35,000 becomes the small-dick
people vote, and the green emoji, and the eggplant’s
end just barely wins. archnemesis.

August 2019 109

 Q U E S T I O N S T O A S K YO U R S E L F send a dick pic to someone from their death grip and be
who is not already intimately running around the room with
BEFORE SENDING A acquainted with the dick it shouting, “Pee-pee picture!

DICK PIC
in question. Pee-pee picture!” It’s smart
to preface any dick pic with
something along the lines of:
DOES THE RECIPIENT “I’m so hard, want to see?”
WANT A DICK PIC?
Even when someone is
DO YOU KNOW THE sometimes bring their owners intimately acquainted with HOW CONFIDENT ARE
RECIPIENT? critters they’ve killed – cats your dick – even if you’ve YOU THAT THIS PERSON
In general, men are more enjoy eating dead animals, so sent them oodles of noodle WILL NEVER SHARE YOUR
familiar with erotic visuals (i.e., when a cat leaves one, dead or pics – they might not want to DICK PIC?
porn) than women, which partly dying, in his owner’s bed, he see it right then. They might Before you send a sexy
explains why I periodically thinks he’s bringing her a tasty be babysitting, and in the photo, you should make two
receive unsolicited dick pics treat. To clarify: a dick pic from same instant you send your assumptions: first, that the
from strangers on dating apps. a stranger does nothing for dick pic, the babysittee might recipient will save it in her
It’s comparable to how cats women. It is a dead vole. Never have wrestled their phone phone as collateral in case you

110 menshealth.com.au
 HEALTH

one day wrong her; second, that

you will become a politician. Women: Have you ever received a DICK PIC?
(See also: Anthony Weiner.) If All Women By Age
you don’t completely trust the YES
Our results revealed
YES 51% NO
recipient to use your dick pic
NO 49% a generational gap:
74 per cent of
for good and not for evil, don’t women aged 18-29
send it. and 60 per cent
of those 30-44 have
received dick pics.
IS THERE ANYTHING UNSEXY That drops to 40 per
cent for ages 45-60
IN THE BACKGROUND? 18–29 30–44 45–60 >60
and 19 per cent for
I probably won’t notice whether The preferences are: 60+. Guys, take note:
you’ve manscaped or not, but most women said
I will definitely notice that 10% UNPROMPTED,
AT ATTENTION 2% UNPROMPTED,
HANGIN’ LOOSE they’d prefer a pic of
unidentifiable stain on the your abs or another
towel hanging behind you.
27% AT MY REQUEST 61% NONE. SEND PIC OF
ABS OR OTHER PART. body part.

Avoid taking any sexy pictures

in your bathroom – there’s
nothing attractive about your

BEYOND VIAGRA
toilet, and mirror selfies in “We already have excellent ED treatments that work,” says Dr
poor lighting are so Myspace. Tobias Köhler, a Mayo Clinic urologist. But they’re not immedi-
I recommend taking a photo ate and often require effort – as in exercising, losing weight
or quitting smoking. So researchers keep looking
in your bedroom, where the
New Biohacks for ED for that quick fix that will lead to boners on demand
magic happens. If you’re having
trouble positioning your phone
THE GOOD THE BAD
without a mirror, put your laptop

BOTOX
on something waist height,
Botox, otherwise known as botuli- The effects last for several months,
open up Photo Booth, and do a num toxin type A, is injected into so it would be a four-to-five-times-
quick spin to make sure there’s the penis. Yes, with a needle. The a-year procedure rather than a
nothing embarrassing in your toxin paralyses the smooth muscles pop-a-pill-every-time-you-want-sex
shot. Besides bathroom stuff, inside the penis, which, surprisingly, situation. Scientists still haven’t
ends up stimulating blood flow. figured out why using Botox doesn’t
other things that will distract leave guys “wandering about with
from your dick include: a pile an erection,” says Dr Nicole Prause,
of laundry, a pile of dishes, and a neuroscientist and sex researcher.
your child. (See also: Anthony

NITROGLYCERIN
Weiner, again.) One in four men with ED reported What good is an erection if you’re
an improvement in their erections not awake to enjoy it? Nitroglycerin,
after using a topical gel containing explains UCLA urologist Dr Jacob
IS THIS DICK PIC REALLY 
ON-BRAND FOR YOU?
GEL nitroglycerin, according to a recent
study. The gel gives your body a hit
Rajfer, “makes your blood vessels
dilate. And when they dilate, your
of nitric oxide, which causes the blood pressure drops and you get
A lot of men think every dick muscles of the penis to relax so it light-headed”. You may get an erec-
pic has to be a full-frontal shot can become erect. tion from the gel but may feel faint,
of their throbbing dong. But if or even lose consciousness.
you’re new to dick photography

STEM-CELLS
or just feeling shy, I recommend Stem cells are extracted from various Those Danish results sound great
starting out with something parts of your body and injected until you read the fine print and
a little less self-serious. One directly into your penis, says Dr notice that the study was so small
particularly Photoshop-gifted Jesse Ory, a urologist at Dalhousie that only eight guys achieved erec-
University in Canada. Animal studies tions. Not enough for anyone to
boyfriend would decorate his have shown promising results, and flush their blue pills down the toilet
dick pics with little hats or, on a Danish study with humans found just yet. And stem cells are tricky;
one occasion, Joe Biden’s face. that nearly half the guys got boners they don’t always turn into what you
(Not not arousing.) I appreciated sturdy enough for “penetrative sex”. want them to, says Köhler.
that his dick pics reflected his
personality. His photos also
made me really comfortable SHOCK-WAVE Low-intensity extracorporeal shock-
wave therapy involves shooting
sound waves through erectile tissue,
Shockwave therapy is effective for
short-term treatment of erectile dys-
function, but its efficacy declines
sending him funny-sexy photos
in return, and why are you THERAPY which clears plaque from blood
vessels and may promote the growth
after two years, particularly in those
with initial severe dysfunction,
giving out nudes if not to get of new blood vessels. according to a study published in
nudes back? The Journal of Urology. – ES

– LAUREN LARSON

August 2019 111

 THE P E N I S DIET
The
Surprising,
Thriving
Life of STIs
N U T R I T ION IST M I K E R O U S S E L L R EC OM M E N D S
E AT I NG T H E SE EIGH T FO OD S T O BO O ST YOU R Only nine per cent of men in our
T E ST O ST E RON E L E V E L S , WA R D OF F E R ECT I L E DYSF U NCT ION survey copped to having had an STI
A N D GET YOU R SPE R M S W I M M I NG FA ST E R! although data from the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare
Getting older is brutal on your penis. Testosterone levels plummet about 1-2 per shows STIs are on the rise. But
prevention is easy. “Wear condoms,
cent a year after you hit 30, which can impact your erection. ED affects around
look for sores, blah blah. What else
40 per cent of men at age 40 and 70 per cent of men at age 70, according to the is there?” Quite a bit, actually.
Massachusetts Male Aging Study. Fortunately, there are simple diet fixes that
help you stay hard. And because your brain, heart and penis are intimately We’re breaking STI records.
Research from the Kirby Institute
connected, these foods are good for your overall health, too.
found the number of annual cases
of gonorrhoea in Australia has more
than doubled in just a decade.
Meanwhile, cases of syphilis have
more than tripled, while cases of
chlamydia have increased by 43 per
cent. Plus, there are more than 35
different types of infectious organ-

SARDINES BEANS AVOCADOS OYSTERS isms recognised as being sexually

transmitted. Not every STI comes
One 85g serving One of the best High in fibre and Just two of these with symptoms, so if you have a new
contains 28 per cent ways to boost heart-healthy fats, shellfish satisfy partner, get tested.
of your daily intake of testosterone and avocados lower your your daily intake of
vitamin D. The D, the reproductive health LDL cholesterol zinc, a mineral that’s A urine test isn’t the only test.
vitamin, is a critical is to be lean. Beans, a and promote vital for maintaining Many people get a urine test for
nutrient for healthy high-fibre carb, help blood-vessel healthy testosterone two common STIs – gonorrhea and
T levels, which is control blood-sugar function, including levels, as well chlamydia – but don’t realise they
important for the D, levels and keep the plumbing as sperm numbers weren’t tested for other diseases,
the organ. you fuller longer. for your erection. and motility. like syphilis and HIV, that require a
blood test, says Dr Mellissa Withers,
an associate professor at the Keck
School of Medicine at USC. Make
sure you’re getting a complete STI
screening panel.

Herpes “types” are mixing.

Herpes simplex virus type 1, the

SPINACH SPROUTED- SALMON BOK CHOY

virus commonly associated with
cold sores used to live in a different
This leafy green
houses a range
GRAIN BREAD Salmon contains
vitamin D, selenium
Cruciferous veggies
like bok choy (and
universe from herpes simplex virus
type 2, associated with genital her-
Men who eat a pes. “Due to the current popularity
of vitamins and and magnesium cabbage and brocco-
diet rich in of oral sex, you can get oral infec-
minerals, including – all of which li) contain glucobras-
inflammation- tions from genital infections, and
magnesium, a key are necessary to sicin, a compound
fighting whole genital infections from cold sores,”
nutrient for sustain- support testos- that helps your body
grains are less says Dr Bryan Cullen, director of the
ing healthy testos- terone levels and clear excess estro-
likely to suffer Center for Virology at Duke Univer-
terone levels as you healthy sperm. gen. That can help
from ED. sity. Don’t assume these viruses will
age. Eat it daily. boost your sex drive.
stay where they originated.

Underwear Party Here are three ways to pamper and protect your privates

Hammock-Like Protection from Even Easier Access

Support Pouch Phone Radiation via an H-Front
Saxx Ultra boxer Owayn boxer Tommy John 360
briefs made with Sport 2.0 Color-
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112 menshealth.com.au
 HEALTH

THE FUTURE OF CONDOMS

T H E Y H AV E BEC OM E T H I N N ER One problem is that no matter how
A N D SL ICK ER , BU T C ON D OMS much you innovate, a balloon is still
T ODAY A R E PR ET T Y M UCH T H E
SA M E CLU MS Y T ECH NOL O G Y just a balloon, says Dr Robert Gorkin,
YOU R GR A N DFAT H E R F U M BL E D an associate professor and biomedical
W I T H N I N E MON T HS BEFOR E engineer at the University of Wollongong.
YOU R DA D WA S BOR N.
TH A NK FULLY, TH AT’S CH A NGING, Gorkin and his team received one of the
A S M A R K H A M H E I D R EP ORTS grants and are developing a condom made
from hydrogels, the nearly frictionless
material used to make soft contact lenses.
Condom-related hijinks are funny on “Our hydrogels are skinlike materials –
TV, but their sensation-numbing, user- they feel like nothing’s there,” he says. The
unfriendly design means a lot of men either hydrogel condom is odourless, tasteless and
don’t use protection or do so improperly. doesn’t come with any of the allergy issues
In our survey, 30 perc ent of men said they associated with latex. But since condoms
would never use a condom, because are considered medical devices, bringing
it ruins sex. As for guys who wear a new one to market requires clearing
condoms, as many as 60 per cent regulatory hurdles. “A $1 million clinical
make mistakes that increase the trial involving more than 35 couples
risk for unplanned pregnancy should begin this year,” he adds.
or STIs, according to Kinsey Some innovations are already
Institute research. Millions of available. Another Gates-
people worldwide would be grant recipient developed an
spared infections – some “applicator” that allows you
deadly – if condoms were to slip on a condom in less
easier to use. than five seconds ($9;
Recognising this instantcondom.com).
lack of condom One offers condoms
innovation as a in 60 different sizes
problem, the ($10; myonecondoms.
Bill & Melinda com). And Lelo now
Gates Foundation makes a condom with
announced in 2013 that it was awarding a hexagonal rib design ($35; lelo.com).
$100,000 grants to help bankroll the“next It’s a start, but unless people wake up and
generation” condom. So far, the foundation remember what’s at stake when they’re
has dished out 22 grants to scientists and not wearing a condom – STIs, unwanted
product developers. So far, though, there’s pregnancy, etc. – then no innovation in the
been no real game changer. world is going to help.

Do you usually
WEAR A CONDOM?
22 %

%
%
%

30
24
24

Really guys? Of men aged

E
M

ER

18-29, only 22 per cent said they

TI

TE ,
ES S
D
E

U E
TH

wear a condom with a new partner.

PA H
RT

Q TI M

SE
T
LL

EW I

That increased to 36 per cent among

N ,W

S
RE E
A

IN
IF OM
A ES

IT O,
S,

men 30-44. Time to lift your game!

RU
YE

N
S

August 2019 113

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 TRAINER
119 Nail the ultimate delt-builder 126 The world’s fittest emcee 129 Take your training to the wild side

B E C AU S E F I T I S T H E N E W R I C H

NEVER SETTLE
CrossFit champion James Newbury is proof that no
matter how bang-on you think your training is,
there are always ways to make it better
DANIEL WILLIAMS DEAN K YRITSIS

August 2019 115

 BEAST OF BURDEN
James Newbury will carry his own high
expectations into the CrossFit Games, having
first identified, then crushed, his weak link

For a busy guy who’s been up since the aiming for a career-best takeout: there’s no endpoint as an unfixable deficiency
predawn, James Newbury is in high spirits: showing at this month’s in this game, just steps along (and hope like crazy it
loquacious, solicitous – and apologetic, even Games in Wisconsin, the way to getting closer to wouldn’t be exposed),
though I’m the nong who’s forgotten about beginning August 1. your best self. Newbury chose to attack
the time difference between the eastern “I definitely think I’m it, late last year hiring
seaboard and his home city of Adelaide, and going to be in the best shape DEMOLISH DEFECTS six-time CrossFit Games
phoned early. Turns out his mood’s copped a I’ve ever been in,” he says. “I CrossFit competition is like a veteran, Montreal resident
boost from his having just eaten for the first want to go out and show my school exam: you don’t know and “pocket rocket” Michele
time today – at 10am – breaking a fast that best, which I don’t feel I have what’s coming. As a result, Letendre as his long-distance
had started early the previous evening. at my first three Games. I you have to be prepared for strength coach.
think this year will be a very anything. Certain “I just got back from a
“I have an eating window That’s a sound indicator different story. In terms of components of fitness come week’s training camp with
now,” says Newbury, who’s of how Newbury operates. placings, I’d be happy if I was naturally to Newbury, who in her and I’ll be heading back
juggling tasks at Soul 365, At 28, he’s been one of in the top 10. I’d be stoked if I his teens was eyeing a career over there to do a month-
the inner-city gym he’s Australia’s best athletes for could be in the top five.” in the NRL. Running, for long camp before the
owned and run since 2013. seven years, placing 18th in While you mightn’t be example: he can cover 400m Games,” says Newbury, who
“With all the training I do, and the world at last year’s bound for Trump’s America in 53 seconds and five kays in credits Letendre for raising
the amount of oxidative CrossFit Games. By virtually to perform in torturous 18:44. He’s strong on a bike his maximum clean and jerk
damage that I’m doing to any yardstick, he’s a stellar events alongside some of the and excels in bodyweight from 150kg to nearly 160kg
myself, I feel I need to go performer. But he wasn’t world’s most imposing workouts. But if he’s had a and his peak snatch from
through a daily period of satisfied. At the gym and in physical specimens, tapping weakness it’s been the 120kg to 128kg. “She’s very
fasting to activate the purge the kitchen, he was into Newbury’s quest for Olympic lifts – hoisting small but super strong,” adds
of cells that aren’t working convinced he could do things continuous improvement will Hurculean loads above his Newbury. “She’s also very
quite the way they should better. And on the back of help take your fitness and hirsute noggin. smart and analytical.”
be anymore.” various refinements, he’s health to new heights. The Rather than accept this How do you improve at

116 menshealth.com.au
 NEVER SETTLE

something? You do it more like, what it’s going to smell a higher quantity, it’s helped benefits: the shedding of
often for starters. You like, so I can just attack me to max out during those about 3kg of surplus tissue
that has left an 87kg
ELITE POWER
prioritise it, says Newbury. straight away.” high-intensity workouts that Do 5 rounds of this
“I’m in the gym for 10 Regular doses of last between 10 and 15 Newbury “moving better in E2MOM, go-to
sessions per week. And each sunlight. Earthing. Ice baths. minutes.” Carbs such as the pool, running and riding Newbury circuit.
session lasts anywhere from Yoga. Nose-only breathing berries and bananas, better while lifting heavier”. Advanced trainers
1-3 hours. Right now, for me, during moderate aerobic potatoes, basmati rice, Recent testing put his body only; 8 reps per move
60 per cent of those sessions exercise. Sauna. Meditation. organic Canadian maple fat at an abs-popping 7.8
are heavily focused on All these have a place in syrup and raw honey now per cent. 1
weight lifting. Because that’s Newbury’s regimen. Does he comprise 60 per cent of his As he matures as both POWER SNATCH
what’s required.” believe that, collectively, they total kilojoules – or about athlete and man, Newbury Swot up technically
give him an edge? “This is 400g daily. is looking beyond his next before launching
BOUNCE BACK into this Olympic
stuff I’m super-passionate But he’s most excited competition to his prospects
lift, which hits
You’d struggle to find an about,” he says. “I’ll always about his foray into for a long life. Presently, for every muscle group.
athlete in any sport more have an open mind to new intermittent fasting. For now, example, he feels he needs
clued up than Newbury on ideas, whether they end up his eating window is about 10 2-3 servings of meat per day
the finer points of recovery. being true or false. My feeling hours. He’d like to extend for strength and repair. But
An early adopter of is a lot of the other guys are that to drill deeper into the when he finally hangs up his
floatation, he uses it not being told to jump into a process of autophagy, where knee sleeves, he’ll cut that
only to infuse his muscles sauna, say, but they don’t your energy-starved body back to one serve per week,
with DOMS-alleviating truly understand, or buy into, starts gobbling up damaged he says – maybe even one
magnesium, but also its potential benefits.” cells. But right now, while a fortnight. And while his
to disconnect from all he’s training 3-6 hours a day, current training load is
2
electronic stimuli. FUEL THE FIRE he believes he needs a longer massive, only 10 per cent of it
CHEST-TO-BAR
Floatation is, he says, the If any of the above practices eating window to cram in the involves redlined intensity. Use kipping to add
perfect environment for an belong on the fringes of 16,700kJ he consumes daily. “I want to play the smart serious oomph to
advanced form of sports science, Newbury’s “I feel like fasting’s a game,” he says. “For me, your pull-up,
visualisation. “As someone much nearer to the centre natural process for our longevity is key. If I wanted to raising
be smarter about things and your chest
who’s about to compete at with tweaks he’s made to his bodies to go through,” says
to bar
my fourth Games, I know all diet. In this area he has an Newbury. “I feel like it’s going live to 110 years old, I level.
the sights and sensations ally – partner Kayla Banfield to invigorate my wouldn’t be doing the
I’m going to experience,” is the brains behind the mitochondria to work better amount of training I currently
he explains. “And I can replay online nutrition service The and it’s going to activate all do. But in saying that, I go
them back in my head while Method. Until recently, the things I need – better above and beyond what
I’m in the float tank. So when Newbury says, with the best hormonal production, better most people do in terms of
it comes time to compete, of intentions he was eating sleep, a longer period recovery. I’ll push myself hard
everything’s familiar. By too much fat and protein and dedicated to repair rather when I need to, but it won’t
the time I’m there, I already not enough carbs. “But than digestion.” It’s certainly be at a cost to how I can 3

know what it’s going to feel having reintroduced carbs in delivered more tangible operate when I’m 50.” POWER CLEAN
Bring a bar from
floor to chest,
“I go above and beyond NEWBURY HAS
HONED BOTH HIS
going no deeper
than a quarter-

what most people do in SNATCH, LEFT, AND

PRE-TOURNAMENT
squat.
Stand
up.
terms of recovery” MENTAL ROUTINE.

4
TOES TO BAR
As in move 2,
employ
a kipping
motion
– this
time
to
raise
your
feet to
touch
the
bar.

August 2019 117

 !
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 TURN YOUR TRAINING UPSIDE DOWN

HEADED FOR GLORY

Work through moves 1, 2 and 3 over a
month before trying move 4. In time,
aim for 3x10 of the target exercise. Gun!

1
BOX PUSH-UP (a)
Place your knees
on a box and your
hands on the floor
beneath you (a).
Hinge at the
elbows and lower
your upper body
under control
towards the floor.
Push back up (b).
(b)

2
WALL WALK-UP
Get into a push-up
position, feet
against a wall.
Brace your core and
walk up the wall
– carefully (a).
Keep going until
you’re at or near
vertical, back
straight (b). (a) (b)

3
KICK-UP INTO HANDSTAND HOLD
Assume a sprinter’s start position (a).
Use leg and glute power to kick up into a
handstand, feet against a wall (b). Now

TURN YOUR TRAINING raise the stakes! Hinge your elbows to

lower your head to the floor,

UPSIDE DOWN
simultaneously bending your knees (c).
Kick out to return to vertical (d).

Splice the handstand push-up into your workouts and

get a whole new perspective on what fitness looks like
DANIEL WILLIAMS JASON LEE

NO ONE’S arguing the to superhero delts, the of where your limbs are in (a) (b) (c) (d)
classic military press is handstand push-up is more time and space – a key
suddenly out of fashion. than just a shirt-stretcher. “By attribute not just for acrobats
Same deal for the lateral forcing you into an unfamiliar, but for any guy aiming for
raise, upright row and reverse precarious, upside-down total fitness.
fly. But how does a radical position, it’s demanding your “Something else I like
change-up sound? A move body respond by turning on about the handstand
4
bordering on a party trick your back, butt and abs,” push-up is that it reveals
HANDSTAND
that not only hits all three says Liubinskas. He’s not inefficencies or imbalances in
PUSH-UP
heads of your shoulders for wrong: if it’s been a while your musculature, like tight The time has come!
big and balanced gains, but since your last high-school shoulders,” says Liubinskas. If Kick into a
has the potential to deliver gym class, the sensation of some part of the movement handstand (a). Now
numerous other benefits being suddenly upside down feels anatomically bend at the elbows
besides? If you’re nodding could send you into a state of impossible, you may want to to lower yourself to
the floor (b).
vigorously then you’re ready mild alarm. Hang in there. book a session with a physio. Keeping your legs
to attempt the handstand (Or, better still, follow the “One very important tip: straight this time,
push-up – “the hardest progressions in “Headed For keep your spine neutral drive back up. (b)
functional movement you’ll Glory”, right.) through the move,” adds
complete,” says MH fitness Upside-down training Liubinskas. “Prolonged (a)
director Todd Liubinskas. will rapidly improve your hyperextension could really
While it’s a proven shortcut proprioception, or your sense hurt your back.”

August 2019 119

 THE POWER PLAN FOR
LIFELONG FITNESS
Hit pause on ageing with two workouts that will build muscle mass and
enhance your stamina, whatever your stage of life. Your age is no
longer an excuse for half-arsed training. Execute our plan and then
stand by to unveil your sharpest-ever physique

2b

1a

1b

2a

ES
WORDS: MICHAEL JENNINGS; PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP HAYNE

1|| FRONT SQUAT 2|| DEADLIFT

LASTING STRENGTH (4 sets of 6 reps) (4 sets of 5 reps)
All aspects of fitness – speed,
flexibility, mobility, endurance – Start your session with a Switch to another compound
squat variation that builds exercise to develop your
require a base of strength. But strength in your legs and posterior chain – the base
strength, if not maintained, wastes positions the weight to fire for all athletic movement.
away as you grow older, causing up your abs. With a barbell With your back straight,
problems all along the way. This resting on the front of your bend down to hold the
workout from PT Luke Worthington shoulders, your palms up and barbell in a shoulder-width,
recruits the four fundamental fingers underneath (A), drop overhand grip (A). Tense
your hips back to sink into your back and think about
movements – squat, hinge, push and a squat (B). When you are as driving your hips towards
pull. Perform it at least once a low as possible, hold for a the bar as you stand,
fortnight to ensure you get stronger second, then drive up. Rest lifting the weight in front
for every candle on the cake. for 90 seconds between sets of your thighs (B). Reverse
on all moves. the movement back down.

120 menshealth.com.au
 THE POWER PLAN FOR LIFELONG FITNESS

THE
SPEC
D

MIN
RESULTS
FOR
LIFE
LEVEL
3a ALL

4a

3b

4b

3|| HALF-KNEELING RM K’BELL ROW

4|| ONE-AR
LANDMINE PRESS (3 sets of 10 reps per arm)
(3 sets of 8 reps per arm)
essing to pulling
Go from pre
Undo muscle imbalances by and build muscle acr
working one side of your body entire back. W one
on
ne hand
hand
at a time. With a barbell in a and knee on the
e enc
landmine attachment, half- a kettlebell next to
kneel with one knee on the bench with your other and,
floor and the other leg bent xtended below your
your arm ex
in front. Hold the barbell in A). Form a solid
shoulder (A
the opposite hand to your your back leg out
base with y
front leg (A). Keep your e Row the weight
to the side.
elbow under your wrist as you towards your waist, not your
press the bar forward and up shoulder (B). Slowly lower
(B). Lower under control. the dumbbell.

August 2019 121

 2b

1a

2a
1b

S
1|| ROW 5 ROUNDS 2||THRUSTERS 5 ROUNDS
SUSTAINING STAMINA d)
(Going up by 100m every round) (G i up by
(Going b 5 reps each
h round)
d)
The idea that your fitness spirals
inexorably downward the older you Rowing will raise your red This compound move will send
get is flawed: you can improve it blood cell count, feeding your metabolism soaring.
more oxygen to your muscles. Hold a dumbbell in each hand
incrementally your whole life. This With your knees bent and at the top of your shoulders
circuit from trainer Callum Nicholls arms straight (A), drive and squat down (A). When you
uses conventional cardio kit, your your legs away. Keep your reach the bottom, drive up
bodyweight and a pair of dumbbells arms straight until your and lift the dumbbells
to build functional endurance as you legs are fully extended, simultaneously, so you
increase the intensity each round. then pull the handle towards finish standing with your
your chest (B). Beginners arms extended (B). Start
Perform this session at least once start at 100m; intermediates with five reps, using a
every two weeks to ensure that your at 200m; advanced at 300m. weight with which you can do
stamina is in it for the long run. Increase by 100m each round. 25 reps in your final round.

122 menshealth.com.au
 THE POWER PLAN FOR LIFELONG FITNESS

THE
SPEC

UT

MIN
3b
RESULTS
FOR
LIFE
LEVEL
ALL

4b

3a

3||BURPEES 5 ROUNDS, 4|| RUN 5 ROUNDS,

(G
(Going up by 5 reps each round) (Going up by 100m every round)
4a
This bodyweight staple Complete the circuit with a
boosts your VO2 max. Squat stamina-sspiking shock.
and place your palms on the Beginnerss should start at
floor in front of your feet. 100m, inteermediates at 200m
Jump your legs back and bring and advannced at 300m,
your chest down to the floor increasinng the distance by
(A). Bring your feet back in ach round. Keep
100m in ea
and jump up in the air, your shoulders down and
touching your hands together elbows in and drive your
overhead (B). That’s one rep. gh
knees hig
Do five reps in round one, breather when
then increase by five reps in your dis nc B then head
B),
each round that follows. to the rowee r round two.

August 2019 123

3
 UNWRAP IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE
UNWRAP & ORANGE PROTEIN BARS
IN CASE OF WRAP UP FIVE BARS AND TAKE ONE WITH YOU
EACH DAY FOR AN INSTANT HIT OF MUSCLE FUEL

EMERGENCY 710
KILOJOULES
What you’ll need
1
2
Oats, 100g
Amazonia RawFIT protein,
Method
STEP 1 This meal prep
couldn’t be easier. Throw all
Rich Dark Chocolate of your ingredients into a
When afternoon hunger strikes, satisfy your flavour, 50g
large bowl. Feel free to mash
sugar craving while dodging artificial 3 Dark chocolate chips, 25g
up your banana first to make

5FATG Chia seeds, 15g

4
sweeteners with a week’s worth of muscle- mixing easier.
5 Banana, 100g, mashed
building protein bars. No baking needed 6 Peanut butter, 25g STEP 2 Thoroughly
7 Orange juice, 40ml
combine the components.
You should aim for a “solid”
19 G
CARBS
consistency. If needed, add a
splash of extra juice to soften
the mixture, or scatter in
GO ONE BETA more oats to firm it up.
20g per bar
Oats are one of the richest
sources of cholesterol-
improving beta-glucans.
11G
PROTEIN
STEP 3 Separate your
mixture into five and mould
Paired with the equally
fibrous chia seeds, you’ll into rectangles. Wrap each in
enhance your heart health in cling wrap, twisting the ends
just a couple of bites. to keep them tight. Set
in the fridge. Grab one before
leaving the house – you’ll
need it at some stage.

BUTTER UP
5g per bar
Gram for gram, peanuts are
even higher in potassium than
bananas. These bars have
both. They’ll top up
electrolytes lost during
training, plus reduce lactic
acid for faster recovery.

HAPPY JUICE
8ml per bar
The orange juice that binds
your mixture is a godsend
post-workout. It’s bursting with
the antioxidant
vitamin C, which, along with
the dark chocolate, cuts
inflammation and fights
free-radical damage.
Opt for freshly squeezed.
WORDS: MICHAEL JENNINGS; PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL HEDGE

A SCOOP YOU CAN TRUST

10g per bar
Amazonia RawFIT protein is a
premium plant-based formula
designed to support muscle
growth and accelerated
recovery. The protein comes
from peas and brown rice
rather than cows. Choose the
chocolate flavour and you’ll
enjoy an even tastier bar.

August 2019 125

 HUMMER DRAGS AND
CINDER-BLOCK WORK
HAVE HELPED CANNON
PACK ON FOUR KGS IN
THE PAST SIX MONTHS.

THE WORLD’S FITTEST EMCEE

Nick Cannon’s early-morning workout is as wild as his career

The only thing in front of him is a pile of cinder when he was the opening he was hospitalised while
blocks, an empty parking lot and a one- act for Smith’s concerts as vacationing in Aspen in 2012.
metre-high cinder-block wall. And for some a teenager. He was later diagnosed with
reason, this has Nick Cannon grinning. He “Will Smith told me, ‘Even lupus, an incurable
grabs a pair of 15-kilogram concrete slabs, if you’re not the most autoimmune condition. That
hoists them onto his shoulders, and starts talented person in the room, began a year of meds,
lunging toward the wall. Once there, he stacks you still need to outwork the chemotherapy and a diet free
the blocks on the wall, then trudges back most talented person in the of meat and processed
toward the pile. “This,” he says, “is great.” room,’” he says. foods. When he recovered,
Cannon’s training Cannon adopted the
The metaphor can’t go down, and building it up.” reminds him of the effort he crack-of-dawn body blast.
unacknowledged – and it And it’s only one of needs at the office – as well “I’m doing this to stay alive,”
was Cannon’s idea. To spice many unorthodox moves as what he’s capable of. he says.
up his workouts, he bought that the 38-year-old host and Before his 90-minute grind is Working on his wall
more than 100 cinder blocks producer of Fox’s sleeper hit done, he’ll smack a tyre with centres him. “It’s a
and made a small wall out of The Masked Singer packs an 8kg sledgehammer, do meditation,” says his
them in the parking lot at his into his workout on this sets of upside-down pull-ups, trainer Arron Sain. It
Ncredible Studios office in rain-splattered morning at and drag his 3000kg can be monotonous,
Los Angeles. Every few days, the gym just outside his Hummer across the parking but it’s uncomplicated
he breaks it down, studio. This isn’t a normal lot. “You pull that truck,” he – a perfect foil to
unstacking the blocks and workout. But by Cannon’s says, “and you feel like you hosting The Masked
rebuilding the wall in a new rationale, he’s spent his could move a mountain. I Singer, recording and
spot 10 metres away. whole career working hard in feel like a new human after collaborating with artists
“It’s the mental side of Hollywood, so why not do it a workout.” under the title Ncredible
training,” Cannon says. in the gym? It’s something he Cannon’s dedication to Gang, and leading
“You’re breaking a wall learned from Will Smith his health started when conversation on his

126 menshealth.com.au
 THE WORLD’S FITTEST EMCEE

BETWEEN POUNDING
TYRES AND NAILING
HANDSTANDS, CANNON BREAK OF
HAS THE FITNESS
CAPER COVERED.
BRAWN
Bodyweight ab
workouts take you
only so far. That’s why
Cannon chisels his
core with weight-room
moves. He ends most
workouts with this ab
crusher from trainer
Arron Sain. “Weighted
ab exercises provide
resistance and aid
in muscle growth,”
says Sain.

1
CABLE CRUNCH
Fix a rope
attachment to a
shoulder-height
cable column. Kneel
in front of it,
grasping the rope
so its handles are
near your ears,
torso still
upright. Pull your
elbows to your
knees. Reverse the
move. That’s 1 rep.
Do 4 sets of 25.
Rest 30 seconds
between sets.
REALLY LOVES TOTALLY HATES
Strongman Moves Squats 2
“Anything to get core strength “Everybody’s always making D-BELL
I love. We do a lot of stuff fun of my legs. But I hate BENCH V-UP
with tyres and wheelbarrows” doing squats” Sit on a bench with
your legs hanging
off one side and
your torso off the
other, a light
“Pull that truck . . . you YouTube show about college,
Cannon’s Class.
rice.” That said, he’s never
managed to shake his sweet
dumbbell on the
floor wedged

feel like you could He’s constantly running

between projects on next to
tooth. The man loves lollies
– or candy as he calls it. “I
between your feet.
Hold the edges

move a mountain. I
of the bench and
no sleep. “I don’t like to live couldn’t have it when I was a lean back. Lift the
by man’s clock,” he says. kid, so now that I’m an adult, I dumbbell and pull
feel like a new human Unless the clock says
5am, precisely when his daily
like to have it around. I have
candy stores in my house. I’m
your knees to your
chest. Reverse the

after a workout” workout begins. “Just

knowing I’m out here getting
building a candy store
downstairs. It’s more like to
move. That’s 1 rep.
Do 4 sets of 25.
it in, that makes me feel like have it, like an arcade.”
WORDS: ANDREW HEFFERNAN; PHOTOGRAPHY: IAN MADDOX

3
I’m doing more than most,” When it comes to liquid, RAINBOW
he says. Then he hoists Cannon could hardly keep LEG RAISE
NICK’S PLAYLIST another block. things simpler. “Water saved
my life,” he says. “It’s the fuel
Hang from a chin-up
bar, legs straight.
# Title Artist that keeps you going. Just Raise your feet in
FEED THE FURNACE a wide arc to the
1 “NoBody Else” Ncredible Gang like two gallons [7.5 litres] a
right, then upward
2 “Solid” The Black Squad Cannon has an unusual day. There’s a reason they call in front of your
relationship with food. it the fountain of youth and torso. Lower them
3 “Diddy Dum Dum” Hitman Holla
“I eat during workouts,” not the dessert of youth. It’s in a wide arc to
4 “Lifestyles of the Justina Valentine he says. “Since I don’t like to definitely water that’s the key the left; return
Sick and Brainless” to the start.
eat, it kind of makes it an to life.”
5 “Short Summer” Joe Budden That’s 1 rep. Do
exercise, because otherwise, It’s a sentiment that 4x12, alternating
6 “Hit ’Em Up” 2Pac like sitting down and eating, I would have pleased his directions on
7 “Victory” Notorious B. I. G. never finish my food. I eat a workout hero, Bruce Lee. each rep.
lot of salmon, broccoli and Two ferocious trainers.

August 2019 127

 T H E U LT I M AT E L I V E E X P E R I E N C E

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 N AT U R A L R E M E DY

Cool off to Save your soles

enjoy a stamina
breakthrough.
FROZEN from office shoes.
ASSETS
Grit your
chattering teeth
through an ice
bath and you’ll
enjoy some
red-hot health
benefits for body
and mind

Fat Flight
Mode
Sudden
exposure
to icy
temperatures
causes your 5
body to
produce brown DO I NEED
fat cells that
eat into body ANY SPECIAL
TREND SECRETS fat, according KIT?

R E -W I L D I N G
to the “An important step is to
University re-wild your feet,” says
of Nottingham.
Riddle. “It’s the basis for
all movement.” But while
the sensory feedback you
Truly Air receive from training with

NATURAL REMEDY
Raising unrestrained feet is
The cold could crucial, you might be
raise your VO2 worried about what your
WORDS: AARON TOUMAZOU; PHOTOGRAPHY: HENRY BOOGERT; ILLUSTRATION: BEN MOUNSEY|*NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY|**MAASTRICHT UNIVERSITY

max by a third
Freeze out creature comforts and embrace the wild. and long- colleagues would think
Going back to nature means getting back to your best distance of you doing the same
running speed in the office. Thankfully,
by 29 per cent, Vivobarefoot offers
1 thanks to
formal and casual shoes
WHERE DO I START? narrowing
blood vessels to mimic this connection,
Outside, obviously. Re-wilding is the process of restoring your body and a harder- alongside its popular
to a more “natural” state, and it combines cold therapy, natural working training range.
heart*.
movement techniques, breath work and survival skills. Check out the
philosophies of experts like Tony Riddle and re-wilding doyen Wim
Hof. Or cross the ditch to New Zealand for a retreat (liana.kiwi.nz).
Dial down
Diabetes
2 4 Shivering at
home may not
WHO’S IT FOR?
Stressed workers who feel suffocated
IS THERE A SIGNATURE seem like a 6
MOVE TO MASTER? good idea, but
by office life. “Breathing techniques
Controlled hyperventilation is central to Wim a study** found WHAT
and submerging yourself in ice water
Hof’s method. Fill your lungs 30 times with
that turning SHOULD
will teach you to find peace in times of
short breaths. Then, without force, exhale
your
thermostat I AVOID?
anxiety,” says Riddle. Ironically, down by 6°C Don’t rush it. The
– and don’t breathe in again until you really
ditching modern comforts can make reduces the aim of re-wilding
need to. Repeat twice, aiming to extend the
you more comfortable in the long run. symptoms
is to regain the free
period before inhaling. This enhances your of diabetes.
oxygen efficiency, raising movement that
3
your core temperature and static lifestyles have
WILL IT GET ME RIPPED?
improving your muscular stolen, with jumps,
“You only have to look at today’s
endurance. Not convinced? Golden balances, rolls and
untouched tribes to see those dudes goosebumps
See how many more primal exercises.
are ripped AF,” says Riddle. More Cold showers
push-ups you can But go at it too hard
importantly, they’re capable AF. cause skin
complete receptors to and fast and you
Training in colder climes boosts your
afterwards. send anti- could do yourself
metabolism and allows more oxygen depressive
to your muscles for added endurance. impulses to harm. It’s all about
“But for me,” says Riddle, “it’s about the brain, reclaiming your
building mental fortitude.” according to natural capacities –
Boosting your the Virginia
strength is as School of so listening to your
easy as breathing. Medicine. body is crucial.

August 2019 129

 ONE WORD ANSWER

QUESTION
Which body part will
help you respond to
danger and make
better decisions?

ANSWER

Nose

DANIEL LARUSSO IS TIRED. A Jersey boy their nostrils, they accomplished this
transplanted to suburban LA, he is with far more speed and accuracy than
tormented by a local karate gang and now, when breathing through their mouths. With
for reasons he can’t quite fathom, he finds your limbic system whipped into
himself polishing a handyman’s collection a state of heightened synchronisation
of classic cars. by the air streaming through your nostrils,
He attempts to complain – after all, he your ability to make good emotional
came to Mr Miyagi for martial arts training, judgements is enhanced.
not to volunteer as some sort of valet – but Nasal inhalation can also help you
the old Japanese-American growls, “No in other ways. The same study noted
questions! Wax on, wax off”. significant improvements in your brain’s
What makes for memorable cinema ability to encode memories as you breathe
might not always translate to good life in, while separate research points to a
advice, as anyone who has ever tried potential 10-20 per cent increase in the
to wax-on or wax-off his way out of a uptake of oxygen during workouts.
WORDS: YO ZUSHI; PHOTOGRAPHY: COLIN BEAGLEY

fight will attest. Yet what Miyagi says Meanwhile, after learning of her electoral
immediately after those famous four words defeat to Donald Trump in 2016, Hillary
has a solid basis in neuroscience: “Breathe that deliberate nasal breathing helped Clinton steadied herself through the ancient
in through nose”. Doing so could help you to coordinate activity in the piriform cortex practice of breathing in through one nostril
respond faster and better to danger, be that (linked to your sense of smell), and out through the other – a technique
in the form of a cobra kai black belt or your the amygdala (your emotions) and linked to relief in “acute stressful situations”
boss in a foul mood. the hippocampus (your memories). by researchers at Manipal University in
In a study recording electrical activity on Participants were presented with images of India. As Mr Miyagi says to Daniel-san,
the surface of the brain, researchers faces and asked to identify “fearful” “When you feel life out of focus, always
at Northwestern University found expressions. When inhaling through return to basic of life . . . breathing”.

130 menshealth.com.au
WEEKEND
BRUNCH
SORTED.
For eating spots that care about farm animal
welfare and are serving cage-free eggs
search choosewisely.org.au

choosewisely.org.au | @RSPCAchoosewisely