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P12 BASE STRENGTH P25 TIME TO SHINE P21 SCALE IT DOWN
Use this move to iron out weak spots Is it better to exercise in the morning or What happens in your brain, body
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Some shortcuts do work. Research P29 GROWING GAINS P26 NO EXCUSES NOW
shows you can reap bigger benefits Gardening has unexpected health A five-move routine that you can do
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Elevate your training with simple steps The surprising link between deeper Is therapy-speak a sign of self-awareness
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6 MEN’S HEALTH
 IN THIS ISSUE
WE GO UNDER THE COVERS

How
To Have
Sex In
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY
BY SHAYAN ASGHARNIA

ON THE COVER

2023
p60
P40 THE BATTLE OF RAPS
Six hip hop icons challenge
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Training tips from the NFL

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P94 SOCIAL POWER

Can you trust influencers?

MEN’S HEALTH 7
THE EXPERT PANEL
EDITOR IN CHIEF

TOBY WISEMAN HEARST SOLUTIONS

CREATIVE DIRECTOR CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER JANE WOLFSON
SIX OF THIS MONTH’S FIELD-LEADING PROFESSIONALS DECLAN FAHY
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, PRINT
HEAD OF PARTNERSHIPS MARK MCCAFFERTY
HEAD OF CLIENTS JAMIE DOUBLEDAY
HEAD OF DIGITAL SALES RYAN BUCKLEY
DAVID MORTON HEAD OF FASHION, BEAUTY & LUXURY
SENIOR EDITOR SARAH TSIRKAS
CLIENT DIRECTOR, HEALTH & WELLNESS
SCARLETT WRENCH NATASHA BAILEY
EXECUTIVE EDITOR, DIGITAL CLIENT DIRECTOR, BEAUTY LEE BAILEY
CLIENT DIRECTOR, FASHION EMMA BARNES
ROBERT HICKS HEAD OF ENTERTAINMENT & TECHNOLOGY
FITNESS EDITOR KELLY WARNELL
ANDREW TRACEY HEAD OF FOOD & DRINK TIM ROSENBERG
HEAD OF TRAVEL DENISE DEGROOT
DEPUTY DIGITAL EDITOR DIRECTOR, WATCHES AND JEWELLERY
DANIEL DAVIES ANNA O’SULLIVAN
DIRECTOR OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER WILL VILLE
EMILY EMMINS BRANDED CONTENT LEAD JAMIE CARSON
ART DIRECTOR, BRANDED CONTENT
FITNESS WRITER MAIREAD GLEESON
NEIL LIVEMORE MADALAINE MUNRO SCOTT WALKER KATE NEUDECKER SENIOR MEDIA PLANNING MANAGER
BETH RONAN
SENIOR ECOMMERCE WRITER
NUTRITIONIST SEXOLOGIST NEGOTIATOR LUKE CHAMBERLAIN
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:
HEARST.CO.UK/BRANDS/MENS-HEALTH
Minding your macros? If you’re after a little Throughout his career, CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:
020 4553 2900
Livemore delves into bedtime reading, Walker has resolved ART DIRECTOR
the science of calories, relationship therapist crises involving kidnap WILL JACK CONSUMER SALES AND MARKETING
ART EDITORS CHIEF CONSUMER REVENUE OFFICER
and offers tips to help Munro is on hand to and criminal gangs. Find REID HOLLAND
you lose weight – and demystify the modern his tips for talking your NATHALIE BATES CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS DIRECTOR
REBECCA BRIDLE JAMES HILL
not your mind. p21 sexual landscape. p60 way to a pay rise. p82 JADE COOPER-COLLINS
DIGITAL MARKETING & CRM DIRECTOR
SEEMA KUMARI
JESSICA WEBB HEAD OF SUBSCRIPTIONS, MARKETING
& CIRCULATION JUSTINE BOUCHER
DESIGNERS
SOPHIE BROWN COMMUNICATIONS
FLORENCE OGRAM HEAD OF PR & COMMUNICATIONS BEN BOLTON
PR & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, HEALTH
& WELLNESS CALUM FORBES
PHOTOGRAPHIC DIRECTORS
MH LAB
RACHAEL CLARK GROUP TESTING MANAGER, HEALTH &
EMILY MURPHY FITNESS
YANAR ALKAYAT
PICTURE EDITORS TESTER, HEALTH & FITNESS
SARAH ANDERSON JODIE MORRISH
SHANA LYNCH HEARST MAGAZINES UK
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EDITORIAL BUSINESS DIRECTOR
MUSICIAN FITNESS EDITOR HEAD COACH GROUP CHIEF SUB EDITOR/ CONNIE OSBORNE
CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER SURINDER SIMMONS
For hip hop’s 50th MH’s in-house PT has Struggling to beat PRODUCTION EDITOR BUSINESS STRATEGY DIRECTOR
VICTORIA RUDLAND ROMAIN METRAS
birthday, the rapper – a four-week programme your powerlifting PBs? DEPUTY CHIEF SUB EDITORS FINANCE DIRECTOR JULIEN LITZELMANN
along with five of his peers to help you fire up your Coach Speed shares the EDITORIAL BUSINESS MANAGER
MATT BLACKWELL DAVID FOSTER
– shares his greatest metabolism and build a key tip that can help you JAMES BROWN DIRECTOR OF PR & COMMUNICATIONS
ALISON FORTH
health lessons. p40 stronger set of abs. p116 break a plateau. p82 SUB EDITORS DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR MATT HILL
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43 EXPERTS
COPYRIGHT © HEARST UK LIMITED, 2023. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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8 MEN’S HEALTH
 EDITOR’S LETTER
A FAREWELL TO ARMS

This is the last editor’s letter I shall write for biceps and shredded abs. I wanted to focus more
Men’s Health. After 18 and a half years, almost 12 on the mind. We started asking questions: where
of those in the editor’s chair, my time is up. And yes, was the equal priority given to physical and mental
people really have done less for murder. I checked. health as promised in the NHS constitution? How
It’s an odd sensation. On one hand, I’m ready to can it be that suicide is the leading cause of death
go and believe the chance for another editor to call for men under 50? Why is prostate cancer now
the shots is probably overdue. But for someone who killing more people than breast cancer, and could it
has openly felt marginally fraudulent in the role – as be as much to do with male attitudes as physiology?
I’ve admitted on these pages numerous times, I’m The new approach caused some concern among
not much of a deadlifter – I nonetheless find myself my superiors. This was before mental health became
a little muddled. Restive. Nonplussed. a consensus issue, before mindfulness became
I mean, it’s not as if I’ve become institutionalised. a multimillion-pound industry, before purpose
I vacate the position fit, strong-ish and active, though became a commodity. I’d love to be able to tell you
regrettably heavier than I ever have been. My mental that the recalibration represented an unmitigated
health is reasonably good (not always a given), yet commercial success, though of course it didn’t. We
according to a recent go on the Zoe app, my gut have retained our position as the title most men pay
health leaves a lot to be desired. I need to get back for, even if the number of people prepared to pay for
into running a bit more; meanwhile, I could do with magazines per se is not what it once was. We have
drinking a bit less. I’ve just turned 47 and suffer from routinely featured on awards shortlists and received
chronic gout. Maybe now is a good time to take out runner-up medals, though ultimately never got the
a subscription to Men’s Health. recognition I often felt we deserved.
So it’s not a fear of what I leave behind. Rather, Still, some of my favourite brand moments came
my agitation comes from an uneasiness with the from trying to break the mould a little: the time we
question that inevitably springs to mind after a long gave four kids from an inner-city school their own
tenure: have I done a good job? That, of course, is covers to mark a piece about the state of mental
yours to answer – anything else would be hubris. health in young men; attempting to redefine
Even so, here seems as good a place as any to conventional notions of masculinity by giving a
offer a few reflections on my long detention at this platform to Welsh rugby icon Gareth Thomas, the
august brand’s pleasure. first openly gay player, more recently confirmed
When I joined Men’s Health in 2005, it was with as having HIV; our exclusive profile of Patrick
some unease. Cover models invariably looked like Hutchinson following the personal trainer’s heroic
they’d been transported from 1980s Athena posters interventions at 2020’s BLM protests in London;
and emerged smiling from frothy Malibu surf like Alastair Campbell’s interview with Bradley Wiggins,
shipwrecked beefcakes. Even in November. in which Britain’s most famous cyclist revealed that
Coverlines ranged from the bromidic (Big Arms he had been sexually groomed as a young teenager
Now!) to the vaguely misogynistic (23 Sexy Things by one of his coaches. It’s examples such as these of
She’ll Only Do In Summer). But the magazine was which I’m most proud. And I know from the readers
unique in its commitment to service journalism. It who have reached out to me personally over the
provided benefit over indulgence at a time when past decade, stuff like this resonated with many.
health and wellbeing were transitioning from niche It had power and impact.
enthusiasms to mainstream concerns. My role was Whether that constitutes doing a good job or
to help elevate the quality of writing, broaden the not is another matter. But what I do know is that the
magazine’s appeal, come up with new and original next person to pick up the mantle will have a very
ideas. By 2009, we’d overtaken FHM as the different task. In 2023, a print magazine is possibly
biggest-selling men’s title in the UK and won the least relevant platform for a health and fitness
numerous industry gongs. I’m pretty sure I had brand. If my role was to change the way Men’s Health
little to do with that success. is perceived, and to redraw its scope and remit, the
Come 2011 and newly installed as editor, the incoming editor’s job will be to reinforce its position
number-one accolade and bountiful circulation were as the foremost authority on men’s wellbeing in the
both a privilege and a millstone. How to maintain places where our audience goes about its business.
momentum, build on the success and put my own A new membership app is on the way. It will feature
stamp on things meanwhile? All at a time when a interactive training plans, exercise libraries, a PT
pesky thing called the internet was busy upending concierge service, hands-on support, podcasts,
the way we consume media and the recent arrival new videos, online events, newsletters and, yes,
of the iPad was threatening to extirpate the more of the same quality long-form journalism
magazine industry. for which Men’s Health has become renowned.
I decided to trust my instinct. It struck me that It’s an exciting time, albeit one I will experience
a brand going by the name of Men’s Health makes from the sidelines. Thanks for staying the ride.
a pretty bold claim – in effect, to cater for the entire
wellbeing of all manhood. Moreover, it seemed clear TOBY WISEMAN, EDITOR IN CHIEF
to me that it wasn’t quite delivering on that score;
after all, there’s more to being in good shape than big

MEN’S HEALTH 9
 02

1
HIGH SPIRITS,

2
LOW ABV
PAGE 14

01
STRETCH
YOUR LIMITS
PAGE 12

08 10
THE RIGHT WAY TO POWER
MAKE THE CUT HOURS 19
PAGE 21 PAGE 25 WHAT
SUPPS?
PAGE 35

WINS WITH
EASY N S
BIG RET U R
13
TOBER 2023
PERSONAL
GROWTH
OC
PAGE 29

20
EAT, SLEEP,
REPEAT
12 PAGE 37
GYM-FREE
GAINS
PAGE 26 MEN’S HEALTH 11
 A 01
BAND
AID

PRIME YOUR 01
MUSCLES FOR IN THE LOOP
Set up for your first

NEW GROWTH
rep by looping a

02
low-resistance band
from your right foot to
Iron out hidden weaknesses your right hand. Find
a spot on the wall to LEAN IN
and boost mobility to make focus on – this will Contract your glutes
and slowly lift your
every lift feel easier with the help you balance.
left leg straight out
BANDED SINGLE-LEG RDL behind you. Hinge
at your hips and keep
your back flat as you
lean forwards. Keep

F
hold of the band.
or the fair-weather
gym-goer, this is a funny
time of year. Peak beach
season has come and
gone and there’s a limited
window remaining for going
tops-off in the park –

WORDS: MATT EVANS; SCARLETT WRENCH. PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP HAYNES. MODEL: LEE MCLAUGHLIN AT W MODELS. STYLING: ABENA OFEI. GROOMING: LAURA DEXTER
unless you’re the hardy
type. For the MH man,
of course, maintaining
strength and fitness is a
year-round pursuit. But
everyone eventually needs a
break. Now is the perfect time
to ease off the gas and lay solid
foundations for future gains.
‘The banded single-leg RDL THE BEST
is a low-intensity exercise that
improves strength, balance
03 EXERCISE
and mobility,’ says MH fitness
writer and personal trainer Kate
KNEES UP
Find your balance, YOU’RE
Neudecker. ‘It strengthens your
posterior chain, along with the
then reverse the
movement.
NOT DOING
areas that take the brunt of your Engaging
weekly workouts, such as the your core,
shoulders, ankles and hips.’ raise your left knee to
It also works your core and hip height and hold for
improves overhead flexibility, a second with the band
priming your body for more at shoulder height.
challenging lifts. Perform

04
10 slow, controlled reps on
each side for 3 sets in total, and
repeat a couple of times a week.
FINISH HIGH
Stabilise yourself and
WHAT YOU’LL GAIN extend your right
arm overhead. Slowly
return to the starting
position, finish your set
and repeat on the other
CORE INJURY-PROOF BRAIN-POWER PB side. Consider this a
CONTROL SHOULDERS BOOST POTENTIAL hard-core investment.

12 MEN’S HEALTH
 THE NUTRITION SNOB’S GUIDE TO

SMART DRINKS
Delivering the social pros of
alcohol (without the health woes),
‘functional’ tipples could reinvent
cocktail hour. Let’s lift your spirits

01 BOTTLE SERVICE
Modern alchemists are taking on the booze industry
with a new wave of non-alcoholic spirits. These
drinks don’t just sell themselves on the absence
of ethanol, but on the presence of mind-altering
botanicals, from ginseng and green tea to
angelica root and rhodiola rosea. Whether it’s
calm, confidence or concentration you’re after,
proponents say solutions lie at the bottom of a
tumbler. Curious? Here are four places to start:

A BONBUZ
BONBUZ OG
A refreshing, citrus spirit
with a blend of herbal notes,
designed to bring depth to
cocktails. It combines rhodiola

PARISOT AT SALT & SPOON. THREE SPIRITS STRAWBERRY MAI TAI CREATED BY COLLIN NICHOLAS @UNCOMMONCOCKTAILS
rosea, 5-HTP and caffeine from

WORDS: TROY DA COSTA. PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL HEDGE. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES. STYLIST: LOÏC
green tea, a combo claimed to
boost focus and serotonin levels.

B MARIA & CRAIG’S

CBD BOTANICAL SPIRIT 02
Made with cannabidiol – the BRAIN SCIENCE
non-psychoactive chemical in
cannabis – plus juniper, sage, That first sip of booze stimulates the production
orange blossom and camomile. of the neurotransmitter GABA, which has a
Its flavour isn’t dissimilar to an calming effect. But this chemical messenger
aromatic gin, with citrus notes is also found in plants. GABA Labs, helmed by
and a warm, earthy finish.
chief scientific officer Professor David Nutt, has
found a way to harness it.
C THREE SPIRIT
SOCIAL ELIXIR ‘Functional spirits such as Sentia amplify and
Spicy and complex, this herbal tonic accelerate the effect of the GABA plant products in
has a similar flavour profile to amaro the brain,’ explains Rayyan Raja Zafar, a researcher
or vermouth. Its key ingredients are at Imperial College London. He points to Sentia’s
lion’s mane mushroom, which has
use of bioavailability boosters such as piperine
been linked to improvements in brain
function, plus cacao and the purported from black pepper, as well as ingredients that
‘ancient aphrodisiac’ damiana. facilitate transfer across the blood-brain barrier,
as evidence of its scientific credentials.
D GABA LABS As for the rest? Caffeine and L-theanine from
SENTIA BLACK tea are also established mental sharpeners.
The Gaba Labs team is busy
researching molecules that trigger Other ingredients such as CBD, functional
similar neurotransmitters to alcohol. mushrooms and adaptogens are less studied,
A peppery blend of vanilla and particularly in smaller, infrequent doses,
aromatic spices, Sentia Black is but are rising in popularity. Either way,
designed to hit the ‘two-drink sweet
spot’, facilitating social interaction. it’ll certainly do more for your mood
than a trio of tequila slammers.

14 MEN’S HEALTH
 02
BOOZE-FREE
BUZZ
03
MIX
IT UP A
03
SHAKE THINGS UP
Of course, function is just juicer and, ideally, a julep,
part of the appeal. You also hawthorne and fine strainer.
need your tipples to taste Measure, mix, pour – then
good. If neat-on-the-rocks kick back and relax.
isn’t your style, try one of
these recipes. You’ll need
a cocktail shaker, a citrus
OLD MARTINI GLASS, ALL FROM BOROUGHKITCHEN.COM. COPPER PREMIUM HAWTHORNE STRAINER, GENWARE. CHEF’N FRESHFORCE CITRUS JUICER, UKJUICERS.COM
SEKURA COCKTAIL SHAKER, RICHARD BRENDON HIGHBALL FLUTED GLASS, RICHARD BRENDON DOUBLE OLD FASHIONED DIAMOND GLASS, LUIGI BORMIOLI TALISMANO

A B C D
BONBUZ MARIA & CRAIG’S MARTINI THREE SPIRITS SENTIA MOJITO
POMEGRANATE SOUR INGREDIENTS STRAWBERRY MAI TAI INGREDIENTS
INGREDIENTS • 60ml M&C’s CBD Spirit INGREDIENTS • 2 lime wedges
• 50ml Bonbuz OG • 20ml fresh lemon juice • 2 strawberries, quartered • Handful of mint leaves
• 25ml pomegranate syrup • 4 fresh sage leaves • 50ml Social Elixir • 1 tsp sugar
• 25ml lemon juice • 10ml sage-infused syrup • 15ml orgeat syrup • 25ml Sentia Black
• Sprig of rosemary and • ½ egg white • 15ml fresh orange juice • Your go-to tonic
pomegranate seeds to garnish METHOD • 15ml fresh lime juice METHOD
Make your simple syrup with • Sprig of mint and pineapple Muddle the lime wedges, mint
METHOD
equal parts white sugar and slice to garnish and sugar in a mojito or highball
Add the OG, pomegranate syrup
and lemon juice to an ice-filled water, plus three of the sage METHOD glass. Add crushed ice once
shaker. Shake vigorously, until leaves. Mix M&C’s, lemon juice, Add the strawberries to your mixed well. Pour your shot of
a foam starts to form. Pour the the syrup and egg white in a shaker, followed by the Social Sentia Black over the top. Add
mixture into a double rocks glass. shaker over plenty of ice. Shake Elixir, orgeat (a sweet syrup made more mint to garnish and top
Float the pomegranate seeds on and strain into a cocktail glass. from almonds and rose water) up with tonic to taste.
top of the foam to garnish. Garnish with a sage leaf. and fruit juice. Add ice, shake and
double strain into a glass, over ice.

POWER
PLANTS
From ancient
remedies to trendy
LION’S MANE CACAO RHODIOLA ROSEA ANGELICA ROOT
health supps, here
It contains compounds that have Compounds in cacao have been Studies show rhodiola to be Properties in angelica root
are some of the
been linked to brain-cell growth, found to improve blood flow and a versatile adaptogen that may have been shown to induce
ingredients in your
according to lab studies from reduce blood pressure, but it improve resistance to stress if relaxation in animals, though
after-work elixir
the University of Queensland. depends on the dose. taken regularly as a supplement. human studies are lacking.

MEN’S HEALTH 15
 MUSCLE
NEWSFEED
10/23
04
THE LOW
BURN
05
TOP OF THE
DROPS A
DO YOU EVEN
LOWER, BRO?
It’s not how much metal
you move that matters,
GET THE LOW-DOWN
but where you place your TO RAISE YOUR BAR

focus. Think less about

the ‘lifting’ part and you
can score even bigger
benefits from every rep

Y
ou might have heard
it said that you
can’t cheat
your way to
results in the gym.
But that’s not strictly
true. Sure, muscle
won’t grow without and lowered their
a little graft – but you DBs – despite doing
can work the system. just half the work.
Recent research from ‘Next time you’re in the
Edith Cowan University in gym, focus on exploding upwards
PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID ELLIS. MODEL: RICHARD PEARCE AT W ATHLETIC. STYLIST: HAYLEY FORESTER. GROOMING: SABINE CHAMMAS.

Australia reveals that ‘eccentric’ as you push, pull or lift a weight,

contractions (where you lower then slowly lowering it over a
weights, lengthening muscles) are number of seconds,’ says MH
ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP HAYNES. MODELS: ANDREW TRACEY; CHRIS ROBERTS AT VAN DER LAMMIE MODELS

where the real growth happens. fitness editor Andrew Tracey.

That’s compared with ‘concentric’ ‘Think about actively fighting the
contractions, in which your weight all of the way down and
muscles shorten while generating aim to stretch the muscle as far as
force – ie, the more active pull possible, while still keeping the
or push movement, and the movement safe and controlled.’
part many lifters zero in on. For maximum muscle growth,
The researchers had groups add some lower-only moves into
perform three different types of your session, using a slightly
dumbbell curl and measured the heavier weight than you usually
results. Surprisingly, those who do. Have a partner assist you to
only lowered the weight saw the get the weight up, then lower it as
same improvements to muscle slowly as possible. It could be just
thickness as those who raised the thing to give your gains a lift.

WAIT FOR i.ECCENTRIC

PULL-UP
ii.SINGLE-ARM
PUSH PRESS
iii. ECCENTRIC
SPLIT SQUAT
THE DROP Stand on a box or use Use two hands to lift In a staggered stance,
No gym pal to a lower pull-up bar. Grip a dumbbell overhead, with your feet hip-width
spot you? Try it with an overhand grip then let go with one hand apart, lower into a lunge
these eccentric- and jump for momentum and slowly lower the over a count of five. When
as you pull your chin weight back down. Also your back knee is just
only moves ideal
above the bar, then lower works with biceps curls brushing the floor, drive
for solo sessions over a count of five. and chest presses. hard to stand back up.

MEN’S HEALTH 17
PUMP IT UP
IN THE GYM
Your workout playlist
deserves a proper pair
of cans. Our MH Lab
team put the latest pairs
to the test. Get ready to
unleash beats mode

E
ver since Apple
launched its AirPods
back in 2016, wireless
earbuds have been
dominating the personal audio
scene – particularly among
gym-goers. After all, they’re
inconspicuous, lightweight
and small enough to stash
in your pocket when paying
for a post-sweat coffee. MH
But when it comes to audio WINNER
experience, noise cancellation
and comfort on the move, in-ear
models can’t always compete. So,
is it a case of choosing between 01 02
practicality and quality? TRAINING BUDDY BUDGET BUY
Not any more. Once bulky and 94/100 79/100
awkward for exercise, the latest Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Audio-Technica ATH-S220BT
headphones are stylish, sweat- £349, sennheiser-hearing.com £60, audio-technica.com
proof and slip-resistant. The best
Performance Performance
pairs are comfy enough to limit
Design Design
distractions during those big lifts
Comfort Comfort
and will block out the cacophony
around you, so your podcast of
choice isn’t competing with your ALL-ROUND EXCELLENCE: Whether PARED BACK: These cans from the
gym’s questionable playlist. your squats are soundtracked by heavy established brand Audio-Technica
Many designs also include metal or slow jams, these cans will do boast some impressive features, despite
additional features such as your playlist justice. Our audio expert the wallet-friendly price. They offer a
integrated voice assistants, was impressed by the transparency- huge 60 hours of battery life (better
adaptive noise cancellation and mode function, while reporting minimal than many premium models), and you
fast charging, so you needn’t risk sound leakage or distortion, but noise can get 3.5 hours of playback with a
venturing out at 10% battery. cancellation ‘could be better’. 10-minute charge. They also support
To help you find the best EXPERT VERDICT: A smart pick for multipoint connectivity, so you can
pair for your goals, our MH all your workouts, from heavy lifting switch between devices with ease.
Lab experts trialled a range of to sweaty HIIT sessions. In our tests, EXPERT VERDICT: The sound quality
’phones from the biggest brands this pair didn’t budge – even during isn’t going to change your life, but our
and put them through rigorous vigorous exercise – and our testers audio expert was still satisfied with the
testing. Here’s our sound advice. reported that they were extremely performance, describing them as ‘decent’.
comfortable. The smart controls The cans do feel a little bit flimsy, and
were perhaps a little too responsive, they come without a case, but they
but that’s our only criticism. deliver well considering the price point.

18 MEN’S HEALTH
 06
BEAT YOUR
BEST
07
SOUND
ADVICE A

THE
TUNE-UP
Here are the
criteria our MH
Lab experts used
to test and rate
the earphones:

PERFORMANCE
03 A sound 04 05
ON THE MOVE technician
analysed
STAYING POWER PERFECT FORM
90/100 dynamic range, 86/100 88/100
Beats Studio3 Wireless sound leakage, risk Treblab Z2, £126, amazon.co.uk Bang & Olufsen Beoplay
£349.95, johnlewis.com of sound fatigue, HX, £449, bang-olufsen.com
noise cancellation Performance
Performance claims and overall Design Performance
WORDS: PRIYANKAA JOSHI. PHOTOGRAPHY: AGATA PEC. TESTING: YANAR ALKAYAT; ESME NIBLETT

audio quality.
Design Comfort Design
Comfort DESIGN Comfort
We used THE BASICS, DONE WELL: These
each set
THE COMMUTER’S ALLY: The Beats’ for both
fuss-free over-ears may lack the bells STYLE AND SUBSTANCE: B&O is
foldable design helps them stand out; high- and low- and whistles of pricier models, but the known for its sophisticated designs
snap the arms shut, pop them in their intensity workouts, cushioned cups were exceptionally and the Beoplay HX is no different. With
hard-shell case and hook them on to noting how secure comfortable, and the buttons were an aluminium frame, leather headband
your bag. The controls are simple to they were and how responsive and straightforward to and distinctive earcups, they certainly
comfortable they
use, with buttons integrated into the felt for exercise. use mid-session. Most impressively, look the part. They also sound it: our
left cup, and they support spatial audio, they stayed in place during workouts, expert praised the clear, crisp audio
which makes them a good choice for EASE OF USE no headset fiddling required. profile and effective noise cancellation.
watching YouTube on the train home. High EXPERT VERDICT: Our technician Connecting via Bluetooth proved easy
scores
EXPERT VERDICT: These ’phones were
was pleasantly surprised by the overall enough, and the 35-hour battery
boast the superior sound we’ve come to awarded to cans quality, though the ANC wasn’t the life (40 hours without ANC) is more
expect from the Dr, although we would that connected to best and testers reported some leakage than sufficient.
have liked a transparency mode for Bluetooth quickly, (proceed with caution before blasting EXPERT VERDICT: Though pricey,
worked intuitively
outdoor activities. The padded cups your guilty pleasures in the gym). But if these luxe headphones deliver where
and were easy to
are comfortably snug yet breathable, use on the go. you’re after something simple to see you it matters. If you’ve got cash to splash,
and the headset needed readjusting through your dumbbell circuits or long they’re a great choice. Just note that
during workouts. But they’re a solid pair. commutes, these are MH approved. the travel case is on the bulky side.

MEN’S HEALTH 19
 WHAT
HAPPENS
WHEN…
08
STAY ON
TRACK A
…I’M IN A CALORIE DEFICIT?
Reducing your energy intake might be the only sure path
to weight loss, but it has side effects. MH chews the facts

01 04
MIND THE GAP GET A MOVE ON
Put simply, the calorie is a When food appears to be
unit of energy, sourced from scarce, your nervous system
proteins, carbohydrates and might hang on to your energy
fats. A deficit of 300 to 500 reserves (ie fat stores) by
a day is a good benchmark reducing your activity levels.
if you’ve weight to lose. The ‘People might unknowingly
sticking point? When you’re conserve their energy by
low on fuel, your body boosts fidgeting less throughout
production of the hunger the day or down-regulating
hormone ghrelin and curbs physiological functions,’
appetite-suppressing leptin, says Livemore. This might
says performance nutritionist mean you unwittingly curtail
Neil Livemore†. Steel yourself your cardio session. If your
against snacking by shooting 01 02 03 progress stalls, focus on
for 1g of protein per kilo of increasing your activity
body weight per day. It’ll fill and resist the urge to slash
you up and dampen cravings extra calories. If you dip
for refined grains and sugar, 1g 1 kilo below 25 calories per kilo
Rutgers University found. of fat-free body mass, you’ll
WORDS: ANNIE HAYES. ILLUSTRATION: PETER GRUNDY. †NEILLIVEMORE.COM. *SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

04 05 impair muscle-building, risk

02 stress fractures and tank

your endurance capacity.
SHARPEN UP
Your grey matter accounts
for around a fifth of your
05
daily calorie burn, and it BIGGEST LOSER
needs a steady supply of The most effective diet is
energy to function optimally. the one you can stick to,
‘The brain doesn’t have so it can be helpful to make
the ability to store excess a note of your mood, energy
glucose like muscle does,’ levels, muscle soreness and
says Livemore. Starvation sleep quality. ‘If you’re doing
rations will sink productivity, it right, these should be in
not to mention your mood. a reasonably good position,’
Along with prioritising
sleep, one study* suggests
a breakfast that’s low in
03 day is sufficient to improve
health markers such as
says Livemore. If not, try
reducing the deficit by 100

sugar but high in slow-

TRIM THE FAT your cholesterol, blood
calories at a time until things
improve. Taking stock of
burning carbohydrates Cutting back won’t just pressure and blood-glucose
your food intake helps, but
can combat your morning unstick the bathroom levels significantly when
you needn’t log every last
sluggishness. Try scrambled scales; it can also shrink maintained over time – even
gram. Tracking 30% of your
eggs on pumpernickel your risk of metabolic if those markers are already
week’s intake is enough to
bread or overnight oats. dysfunction. Studies by within the healthy range.
glean results, the University
Duke University Medical That’s roughly the calorie
of Connecticut found.
Center found that a modest equivalent of a cappuccino
deficit of just 300 calories a and two biscuits.

MEN’S HEALTH 21
GET HIGH TO
FEEL MIGHTY
This Alpine snow-sports
mecca transforms into
a trail-running paradise
in summer. Take steps
to elevate your fitness

WORDS: RUNNER’S WORLD. PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF TVB PAZNAUN – ISCHGL

22 MEN’S HEALTH
 09
PEAK
CARDIO A
RUNNER’S
WORLD
ISCHGL,AUSTRIA

THE RUN
Challenging but stunning LOCATION
terrain awaits ultrarunners
next summer, as the area’s
signature trail event, the
Silvrettarun 3000, is being
THE LOCATION revamped to become the
The charming mountain Paznaun Ischgl Ultra Trail
town of Ischgl sits in the (PIUT). With four Alpine
Paznaun Valley in Austria’s villages – Galtür, Ischgl,
Tyrol region, close to the Kappl and See – en route, 47.0118° N,
Swiss border. Best known the course covers 83km. 10.2884° E
for its lively après-ski But if you fancy a taste of
scene, it’s a popular Tyrol that’s a bit lighter on
hiking/biking destination the legs, you can take on
when the snow melts the PIUT 18 (17.6km/735m
away. And the views of altitude). Other distances
are pretty spectacular. are available, with the race
taking place on 12 to 13 July.
Go to paznaun-ischgl.com
for more information.
MEN’S HEALTH 23
 MH VERSUS
MORNING VS
10
RISE AND
SHINE
11
CALL IT
A NIGHT A
EVENING

THE POWER HOUR

When it comes to your health and fitness, it’s not just
what you do that matters, but when you do it. Feeling
out of sync? Wise up with our brief history of time

MORNING EVENING
VS

9AM
Schedule meetings for the
morning. Studies suggest
7PM
The time at which we’re our
happiest, reports a survey
we’re more positive and of 5,447 people from 20
less irritable in the AM. different countries.

­­ TIME TO THINK
Front-load cognitively challenging tasks: Counterintuitively, we’re often our most
psychologists believe decision fatigue and creative at times when we’re slightly
depleted willpower reduce our capacity to fatigued, meaning inspiration often
make tough decisions as the day goes on. strikes early risers in the evening.

­­
WORDS: SAM ROWE; SCARLETT WRENCH. PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES; PETER DURKES. *SOURCE: KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

STRONG SUIT
Focused on weight loss? Swedish research* Hit the weights room later. Strength and
suggests that an early morning workout power output are greater in the evening,
might have a greater overall impact on plus PM exercisers take longer to fatigue,
fat metabolism than a later session. a University of North Texas study shows.

­­ ENDORSEMENTS
THE ROCK USAIN BOLT
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Sports records are almost
works out long before the exclusively broken after
cock’s crow, at 4.30am. the sun has gone down.

MEAL TIMES
A calorie’s a calorie whatever time you Resist the lure of the late-night
eat it, but research by the University takeaway. Eating after dark can
of Aberdeen found a bigger breakfast disrupt your circadian rhythm and
is optimal for appetite control. is linked to obesity and diabetes.

MH VERDICT: MORNING WINS!

As the latest research increasingly bears out, our body clocks are personal.
What works for one person leaves another off balance. However, for sharper
focus, faster fat loss and healthier feasting, your golden hours are most likely
those before midday. Best get to bed: you’ve an early start tomorrow.

MEN’S HEALTH 25
 FITNESS FIX
ANY TIME,
ANYWHERE

MUSCLE UP
FROM YOUR
LIVING ROOM
Who needs the gym? This
head-to-toe blast requires
no kit and adds a new twist
to your classic body-weight
moves. Use it to pump up
your legs, back and core

DIRECTIONS: Do this workout 3 to 5 times a

week. On rest days, go for a 20-min run. Do
2 rounds of the warm-up: 30 secs of jumping
jacks, then 30 secs of two-way superman holds.
For the workout, do 3 sets of each move. Rest
30 secs between sets, 1 min between moves. 01
LATERAL LUNGE
TO SQUAT
WARM-UP Start standing. Step your left foot
to the left. Keeping your right leg
straight, bend your left knee and
push your bum back. Lower your
torso until your left thigh is nearly
parallel with the floor. Return to
standing. Push your bum back
to lower into a squat. Stand.
That’s 1 rep. Do 10 per side.

BEAR PLANK
02
REAR-DELT FLY
Get on all fours, hands
TWO-WAY narrower than shoulder width,
SUPERMAN HOLD knees about hip width. Lift
Lie on your stomach, legs stretched and your knees off the floor. This
arms outstretched. Squeeze your glutes is the start. Keeping your hips
and shoulder blades, lifting your legs and and shoulders square to the
arms a few inches off the floor. Hold for 2 floor, lift your right hand.
secs, then lower. Move your arms in front Tighten your shoulder blades.
of you, then lift your legs and arms an Raise your right arm out
inch off the floor again. Hold for 2 secs, to the side. Hold for 2 secs,
then lower. Repeat until the time is up. then return it to the floor.
That’s 1 rep. Do 12 per side.

26 MEN’S HEALTH
 12
BUILT AT
HOME A
YOUR TRAINER
Ebenezer Samuel is Men’s
Health’s fitness director and
a trainer who’s worked with
pro athletes such as American
football player Terrell Owens

03
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP FRIEDMAN. MODEL: RASHAAD SLOWLEY, A FLORIDA-BASED TRAINER AND OWNER OF DOMORE FITNESS @SHAADIEFIT. TANK AND SHORTS, TEN THOUSAND. TRAINERS, NIKE

ALTERNATING ARCHER PRESS-UP

Get in press-up position, fingers pointed outwards, hands a few
inches wider than shoulder width. Keeping your left arm straight,
squeeze your shoulder blades and bend at your right elbow and
shoulder, lowering your chest until it’s an inch from the floor.
Pause, then return to the start. Repeat on the other side. That’s
1 rep; do 8 to 10. Struggling? Place your hands on a step or bench.

04
FRONT-FOOT-
ELEVATED
REVERSE LUNGE
Stand on 2 weight plates or a
low step. Step back with your
right foot. Bend at your knees,
lowering until your left hip
is lower than your left knee.
Pause, then drive through
your left heel and push back
to standing. That’s 1 rep. Do
10 to 12 per side.

05
PLANK TO BEAR
PLANK SHOULDER TAP
Get in plank position. Touch your left shoulder with your right
hand. Pause, then return it to the floor; repeat on the other side.
Jump your feet forwards so your knees are below your hips, shins
off the floor. Touch your left shoulder with your right hand. Pause,
then return it to the floor and repeat on the other side. Jump back
to plank position. That’s 1 rep; do reps for 60 secs.

MEN’S HEALTH 27
 13
GROWTH
PLAN
14
FORCE OF
NATURE A
SOW THE SEEDS
According to a new study
recently published in The Lancet
Planetary Health, simply taking

OF CONTENTMENT
the time to look after plants can
help to improve your sense of
wellbeing and reduce your risk of
mental health problems. Novice
If you feel stuck in the mud, having gardeners were assigned small
green fingers can cultivate plots of land, with researchers
a brighter outlook. We dig from the University of Colorado
Boulder assessing their mood,
into the latest science diet and exercise levels over the
course of a year. Not only did
participants increase their fibre

I
intake and physical activity, but
f an Englishman’s home the months spent occasionally
is his castle, his garden is toiling in the mud also resulted
his kingdom – and, as the in significant reductions in levels
87% of UK households that of perceived stress and anxiety.
have access to a backyard know, The results support previous
ruling a kingdom isn’t all sunshine studies suggesting that gardening,
and roses. From doing battle with whether in the context of an
knotweed to mowing the lawn allotment or at your own home,
when you’d rather have a lie-in, can moderate stress and reduce
tending a garden can feel like a signs of depression. No garden?
chore. Yet it can also be the ‘purest Herbs such as rosemary, thyme
WORDS: YO ZUSHI. PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES. DIGITAL MANIPULATION: SCRATCHINPOST.CO.UK. *SOURCE: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: APPLIED

of all pleasures’, as the British and basil grow well indoors. It’s
philosopher Francis Bacon the easiest way for you to adopt
once put it – and a plant-based lifestyle.
its benefits are
profound.

MIND
NEWSFEED
10/23 GARDENING NOURISHES
MIND AND MULCH ALIKE

GREEN 01/ HEAD TO 02/ COMING 03/ POTS OF GOLD

THE WOODS UP ROSES
GIANTS Stressed Japanese Looking at red roses
If office anxiety brings
you down, try enriching
Three workers tackle burnout by ‘forest can induce relaxation, according your workplace with pot plants.
more natural bathing’ – immersing themselves to a paper in Complementary A UK study* found that rooms
ways to help in woodland. Studies show it has Therapies In Medicine. Test filled with plants not only made
serenity bloom physiological and psychological subjects reported an increase in staff happier and feel higher
benefits, from boosting immunity perceptions of feeling ‘relaxed’, levels of satisfaction, but also
to alleviating depression. ‘comfortable’ and ‘natural’. boosted productivity by 15%.

MEN’S HEALTH 29
GREEN IS GOLD
Emerald dials and grass-coloured
cases were in abundance at 2023’s
watch fairs, but this is no fleeting fad.
Going green has a sustainable future

D
id you know that since around 2018 they
no one has green have become a mainstay
eyes? Some look of most major brands’
as if they do, but collections. Trends in
it’s really just a trick of the the watch business have
light, the same as the sky a habit of arriving and
appearing blue. There’s never really leaving, like
no green pigment in the house guests who can’t
iris whatsoever. It’s also take a hint. Oversized
true that the human brain watches, skeletonised
can distinguish between watches, carbon watches,
more shades of green than blue watches, they all
any colour; that it is from arrived and expanded
Shakespeare’s Othello that our choices. And so it
we associate green with has been with green.
jealousy (‘Beware… the Retailers have reported
green-eyed monster’); huge increases in sales,
that certain shades of but it’s still not a look you
green are calming; and can find on every street
that from 1977 to 2011, corner. It can be hard
Libya was the only to shake the notion that
country to have a totally green is a daring everyday
featureless, single-colour choice for someone
flag: a green rectangle. whose wardrobe errs on
Green is also the colour of the side of the traditional.
the environment, of Islam, But this also presents an
of Ireland, of hope, of argument to be a little
inexperience, of military more expressive. Like a
uniforms and – in the US, pair of trainers or a tie, it’s
at least – of money. an embellishment piece
I offer these nuggets not that can amplify your
only to enhance your pub personal style without
quiz knowledge, but to signalling a full makeover.
show that when talking Of course, you may
about something as broad already be a convert,
as one of life’s secondary pairing watch dials of
colours, you can corral multiple shades with
just about any association elegantly mismatched fits
Test Of Time
into your argument. – maybe even stacking
I won’t try to convince some bracelets along These timepieces are
you the popularity of the way. Whatever your green in more ways that
green watches carries comfort level, here are one. Quality watches are
much by way of deeper five green watches that made to last decades –
meaning, but it’s no less will subtly enliven your the very opposite of
real a trend for all that. look while filling your fast fashion
A decade ago, green- friends with envy.
dialled watches were Chris Hall is Mr Porter’s
practically non-existent; senior watch editor

30 MEN’S HEALTH
 WRIST
ASSESSMENT
GREEN
15
THE COLOUR
OF MONEY A
WATCHES 01 Swatch Blinded
By Neon, £119
Inspired by a 1980s design,
Swatch’s Blinded By Neon is not
for the faint-hearted, pairing a vivid
translucent green dial and crown
with a more grounded dark green
strap. Its green credentials extend
beyond colour: Swatch now uses
a renewable bio-sourced polymer
made from castor oil in place of
the plastic and rubber of old.

02 Breitling Classic AVI

Chronograph 42 Curtiss
Warhawk, £4,950
Part of Breitling’s Classic AVI
collection, which pays tribute to
historic aircraft – in this case, the
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, a Second
World War-era American fighter
plane – this three-register
automatic chronograph pairs
a subtle camo-green dial with
white and red dials that recall the
aeroplane’s best-known livery.

03 Tissot T-Classic PRX

35mm, £320
Something of a sensation for its
1970s styling and wallet-friendly
price, the PRX family welcomed a
35mm model this year. The green
dial counterbalances the small size
to give it more presence; unlike its
bigger sibling, the only movement
choice is quartz, and you can swap
the bracelet for a rubber strap.

04 Tag Heuer Carrera

Date, £2,750
Tag’s Carrera range isn’t all about
chronographs: it also includes
elegant time and date models
like this 36mm stainless steel
number, which takes the brief
for ‘all-purpose everyday watch’
and adds a pastel green dial with
gold hands and numerals. The
result is a discreet timepiece, but
with more personality than your
average automatic.

05 Bell & Ross BR03-A

Military Ceramic, £TBA
Like Breitling’s Classic AVI, the
green in use here comes straight
from the military sphere, but with
Bell & Ross’s clean, stylised lines
and minimal dial. Together with
PHOTOGRAPHY: DAN MCALISTER

a matte ceramic case, the watch

takes on an altogether more
contemporary feel. Inside is an
automatic Swiss movement with
40 hours of power reserve.

MEN’S HEALTH 31
 ALFRESCO
COOKERS
16
GEARED FOR
SUCCESS
17
PLAYING
WITH FIRE A
LET’S TAKE
AGENDA AGENDA
THIS
AGENDAOUTSIDE…
(MEAL) AGENDA
Iciaerum rest,
There’s still volorit
time atisque
to make mo
the most
tet id ut diandant
of warmer days. Andmaxim ipitio
the best 02
blatam
way to doquidebis dolut
it is with oneet
ofplias
the YOUR NEW
PIZZA OVEN
sit utfleet
new molorem cuscitatem
of garden grills Hitting a crust-
blistering 450°C in
15 minutes, it runs on
gas, charcoal or wood
and weighs just 15kg.
Ooni Karu 12G, £379,
uk.ooni.com

F
rom lazy Sunday
barbecues to impromptu
alfresco dinners, there’s
little more in life that
sparks joy quite like cooking and
feasting outdoors. And the latest
machines promise to make it
foolproof. Added tech such as 03
automatic fire-starters, app-based YOUR NEW
temperature control and high- SMOKER
quality smoking and searing This multitasker has
at the push of a button take the seven modes, but it
guesswork out of your meal excels in smoking.
prep – and ensure satisfying Pulled pork, anyone?
results. Get fired up. Ninja Woodfire,
£349.99,
ninjakitchen.co.uk
01
YOUR NEW
GRILL
All the perks of ceramic
units – heat retention,
durability, versatility –
plus precise wifi-assisted 04
temperature settings. YOUR NEW
Kamado Joe SPACE SAVER
Konnected Joe, Despite its size, the
£1,999, bbqworld.co.uk Lumin hits 315°C and
fits six chicken breasts.
Weber Lumin
Electric BBQ, £579,
johnlewis.com
PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF BRANDS

THREE PROPER TONGS CHIMNEY STARTER HEAVY-DUTY

Go extra long (about 18in) Stuff newspaper ALUMINIUM FOIL
MUST-HAVE with a rubber handle and beneath, add charcoal Ball up to scrub greasy
BARBECUE a scalloped grip edge. No
sausage will escape and
and light the paper for
hot coals in 10 minutes.
grates. Enrobe spuds for
coal roasting. Wrap meat
TOOLS hands won’t get singed. Weber makes a solid one. to rest. Cheap and handy.

MEN’S HEALTH 33
AGENDA AGENDA
Y
ou’re right to be concerned.
THE BIG QUESTION Decades spent stooped over

WORK’SAGENDA
AGENDA BEEN
a laptop risk putting your That’s not an excuse to hunker down
health, fitness and mobility all day, however – not unless you plan
on the fast track to early retirement. on climbing the corporate ladder with

FULL ON LATELY. Sitting down for more than eight hours

a day can put you at a higher risk of
a banana-shaped spine. Sitting for
lengthy unbroken periods is associated

CAN MY 6AM
heart disease, type 2 diabetes and even with a cluster of additional issues,
premature death, according to a study including back and neck pain, tight hip
in the journal JAMA Cardiology. Of flexors and increased blood pressure.

GYM FIX OFFSET

course, that’s not especially helpful It can also restrict the flow of blood and
to know if your job involves work that oxygen to your brain, leading to fatigue.
can only really be done seated. For more effective health insurance,

10 HOURS OF So, how much exercise should you

be aiming for? A Norwegian School of
tear yourself away from Excel every
half an hour and sink your teeth

DESK TIME?
Sport Sciences meta-analysis of nine into a few tactical exercise ‘snacks’.
studies suggests 30 to 40 minutes Performing 15 body-weight squats
of ‘moderate to vigorous intensity’ every 30 minutes has been shown
Armin, Chelmsford exercise as a possible antidote if most to preserve muscle mass in people
of your day is spent sat down. That who sit for 7.5 hours a day, according
means anything to get your heart to a University of Toronto study. Or,
pumping hard, from hiking or cycling to spare your dignity on those days
to a gritty dumbbell circuit. If you can that you’re not WFH, march up and
invest in a standing desk – or swap down the stairs instead. And the bonus
a few of your meetings for walk-and- is it could boost your productivity,
talks – that figure will drop. As little too: sitting for more than 20 minutes
as 11 minutes of exercise each day at a time hampers your focus, the

ASK MEN’S might suffice if you’re seated for

less than 8.5 hours in total.
University of Illinois found, with
fidgeting linked to better concentration.
HEALTH Walk away to waste less time.

10/23 EXERCISE ‘SNACKS’

ECLIPSE THE IMPACT
OF SEDENTARY WORK

34 MEN’S HEALTH
 18
RISE AND
GRIND
19
GET A
GRIP A
THE FITNESS FIX

WILL WRIST STRAPS HELP ME HIT A PB?

Ash, Birmingham
TEXT A DOCTOR If poor grip strength or sweaty hands are a limiting factor, you might find
SOBER OCTOBER’S FINE, them helpful, yes – although you really should work on the former. Use
them for your heaviest sets and they can help you shift more weight
BUT HOW CAN I HEAL MY without compromising form. Here are our picks...
LIVER IN THE LONG RUN?
Chris, Cornwall

Today 8.11am
I’ve tried cutting out booze for
a month before. But now I’m more
interested in lasting change...

The good news is that it’s never too

late to take action, Chris. In fact, the
early stages of alcohol-related liver
disease can be reversed by reducing HARBINGER STOIC OLYMPIC WARM BODY
your drinking to safer levels.
PADDED STRAPS LIFTING STRAPS COLD MIND
Define ‘safer’. Can I still have These leather lasso-style These closed-loop Olympic
LASSO WRIST
a few pints on Friday? loop straps are considered straps offer more grip while Made from a heavy-duty
some of the best. The wrist still allowing you to release cotton/neoprene blend
Well, no amount of alcohol is section is padded, stopping the bar quickly when you and reinforced with leather
completely without risk, but the strap from digging into need to. Leather also means patches, these lifting straps
if you can stick to 14 units per your skin, plus they’re rank among the comfiest
week, with a couple of days off, great durability without
you can minimise the damage. incredibly durable. being too bulky. our testers have ever tried.

I’m trying, doc. What about my

gym routine? Can I squat my way
to a healthier liver?
WHAT SUPP? You don’t need to can interfere with its
take any supps if your effects. Pre-bed is best.
ARE
Carrying extra weight increases the
WORDS: ANNIE HAYES; SCARLETT WRENCH. PHOTOGRAPHY: JOBE LAWRENSON. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY:

risk of fat being stored in the liver, diet covers all the food Creatine is usually taken
LUCKY IF SHARP; STEVE GALLAGHER. ARTWORK: PETER CROWTHER. ILLUSTRATION: BEN MOUNSEY-WOOD

groups. And for general with a ‘loading phase’

CREATINE
a cause of liver cancer. Both aerobic
and resistance exercise reduce your health, meat and fish (about 20g per day for
risk, so do what works for you.

SUPPS
have you covered. a week) followed by
However, of all the maintenance (0.03g

WORTH THE
Any superfoods I should purported muscle- to 0.05g per kg of
throw in my shopping basket?
boosting supps, body weight). Try it
Green vegetables such as
broccoli contain compounds that HYPE? creatine has actually
been proven to
and see how you go.

reduce liver fat. More excitingly,

perhaps, two or three cups of I EAT A raise your power
output during
ON Micronised
Creatine Powder
coffee a day do the same thing.
HEALTHY strength training.
‘I’d recommend
This creatine
dissolves in water
A double espresso and a spot of
powerlifting? Works for me
I just hope I haven’t left it too late.
DIET... it to anyone
who takes their
easily and without
undue grittiness.
Steve, Brighton training seriously,’
Your liver has a remarkable says nutrition
capacity to recover from injury. coach and MH
You have to give it a chance. adviser Lee Amico.
A quick tip: don’t
take it alongside your
Dr Keith Grimes works
at babylonhealth.com KG pre-workout, as there
is evidence caffeine

MEN’S HEALTH 35
 NUTRITION
20
REST AND
DIGEST
21
DREAM
DISHES A
NEWSFEED
BEEF UP YOUR 10/23
DIET PLAN FOR EAT
YOURSELF
BETTER SLEEP TO SLEEP
Three more foods
New science suggests stocking that could enhance
your shut-eye
up on protein could enhance
your slumber. We get to the 01/ TOFU
meat of the matter Tofu is packed with
isoflavones, which
are known to boost

B
levels of serotonin,
ritain is a neurotransmitter
a nation that’s crucial to sleep
of poor quality. As a bonus,
sleepers. it contains all
Almost half of nine essential
UK adults don’t amino acids,
get enough rest, making it
and one in seven a complete
report less than protein.
WORDS: YO ZUSHI. PHOTOGRAPHY: JASON LOWE. DIGITAL MANIPULATION: SCRATCHINPOST.CO.UK. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL HEDGE; DAN MATTHEWS

five hours of shut-

eye per night. It’s 02/ SPINACH
a problem worth Spinach is a potent
taking seriously: sleep source of magnesium.
deprivation has been Research shows that
linked with weakened the mineral can help
immunity and conditions to relax the central
such as heart disease, nervous system, and
dementia and diabetes. that having too little
Thankfully, researchers at in your diet can
Harvard Medical School might make it
have a tasty solution. In a recent harder for
animal study, they found that you to stay
higher concentrations of protein asleep.
in the gut can boost the release
of a peptide called CCHa1, which 03/ SALMON
suppresses ‘sensory arousal’ Like many oily fish,
during sleep, promoting deeper salmon is high in
slumber with fewer disturbances. the inflammation-
Of course, there is a line. reducing fatty acids
Previous studies have linked EPA and DHA and
high red-meat consumption– also contains a hefty
usually defined as more than dose of vitamin D.
three servings a week – with This combo could
poorer sleep patterns, in part a good place for you to start. improve
DOES MORE RIB-EYE
because it takes a longer time to About 1g to 2g of protein per kilo = MORE SHUT-EYE?
sleep
digest than other foods. A nightly of your body weight is the general quality by
mixed grill is not the answer. benchmark, depending on how increasing
But if you’ve been struggling hard you train. Whether you get production
to power down recently, assessing your fill from a Tupperware tuna of serotonin.
your macro intake is probably salad or lunchtime steak frites is
not for us to say. But whatever you
pick, don’t lose sleep over it.

MEN’S HEALTH 37
YOUR
PERSONAL
TRAINER ON
THE MOVE
GREAT
REASONS
TO GET THE
DIGITAL
EDITION
 FITNESS FIX SHORTCUT TO STRENGTH

THE ALL-IN-1
BODY BUILDER
Pushed for time? Don’t sweat it:
this workout sculpts total-body
muscle, and turns every move
into a test of your core strength

Subscribe to the digital edition of Men’s Health.

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LIFE LESSONS

RAPPERS AREN’T OFTEN HERALDED AS PARAGONS OF HEALTH. BUT YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE
OPENNESS ABOUT ISSUES SUCH AS DEPRESSION, ADDICTION, POVERTY AND DIGNITY HAS
TO THE VOICELESS. ON HIP HOP’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY, MH SPOKE TO SIX GLOBAL ICONS

40 MEN’S HEALTH
 MH Heroes
Hip Hop All-Stars

FROM HIP HOP

BEEN BORN IN THE BRONX TO HAVE BENEFITTED FROM THE WAY IN WHICH HIP HOP’S
AMPLIFIED THE DISCOURSE AROUND MEN’S MENTAL WELLBEING – AND GIVEN VOICE
ABOUT WHAT MUSIC HAS TAUGHT THEM, AND THE LESSONS IT HOLDS FOR YOU, TOO
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAYAN ASGHARNIA
MEN’S HEALTH 41
 MH Heroes
Hip Hop All-Stars

THE
FITNESS HELPED BUSTA BULLET-
PROOF
BOUNCE BACK AFTER A
PERIOD OF HARDSHIP

POET
50 CENT’s gritty storytelling
energised hip hop, while his
rock-hard abs inspired a
generation of gym-goers.
But strength of all kinds
starts in the mind, he says

Being shot
nine times
transformed Curtis ‘50 Cent’
Jackson’s life. One of those
bullets pierced his jaw, placing

CRAWFORD & CO. GROOMING: TARA LAUREN AT EPIPHANY ARTIST GROUP. BUSTA WEARS: T-SHIRT, POLO RALPH LAUREN. WATCH, RICHARD MILLE. ALL JEWELLERY, BUSTA’S OWN
INTERVIEWS: BONSU THOMPSON. FASHION DIRECTION THROUGHOUT: TED STAFFORD. STYLING ASSISTANCE THROUGHOUT: IMANI GRANGER. PRODUCTION: ZACH CRAWFORD AT
him on a liquid diet for six
weeks in 2000. He shed almost
4st off a frame that had been
stocky since the hustlers in his
area encouraged him to start
boxing at age 12. The discipline
he learned through boxing,
where there are no excuses, gave
him the resilience to learn how

THE LYRICAL
to walk again after the shooting.
‘Strength is not all muscle, it’s
mental,’ he says. ‘I was working

MAGICIAN
out to get myself stronger, ’cause
‘diesel’ [muscular]. Busta recalls who’s to say you’re not gonna
returning from a holiday, when get hit again?’ He also saw
his dad met him at the airport and D’Angelo’s (Untitled) How Does
No one combines energy and wordplay carried them out ‘one in each arm – It Feel video and subsequent
quite like BUSTA RHYMES. And with horizontally’. Trevor pushed him to be female reaction. ‘They were
25 European tour dates to prepare for, an electrician, but Busta realised his talking about a Brad Pitt line!’
he’s certainly not slowing down now gift was ‘not a nine-to-five skill set’. he says, referring to the actor’s
He proved his skills as the lyrical defined pelvis. ‘I’m like, “Wait,
Growing up in Brooklyn in Usain Bolt on his 10 world-class what’s that? That’s important!”’
the 70s, the rapper born Trevor albums, plus the epic verse for 2011’s Cut to 2003 and a shirtless
Smith Jr’s first exposure to Look At Me Now. But he struggled to Jackson sprinting on a treadmill
hip hop was the Cold Crush process the loss of his father in 2014, to a Dr Dre beat in the iconic In
Brothers and Run-DMC. But he was reaching 24st during the pandemic and Da Club video. It’s been 20 years
most inspired by Slick Rick. ‘He having to deal with polyps on his vocal since Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ and
embodied everything I identified cords. His family helped him get back its abdominal ad of an album
with as a child in a Jamaican family,’ on track. ‘I’ve been blessed to have cover consumed the world.
says Busta, now 51. ‘Dance hall culture, people in my life that love me so Today, its author, now 48, is
big jewellery, over-the-top clothes. much that they refuse to let me die.’ still front and centre in hip hop
He understood what it was to be a Today, he’s living his best life – daily culture, with his influence even
character, not just an incredible lyricist.’ workouts, sauna, cryotherapy – and he’s rippling in drill. But Fif has also
Another inspiration was his dad, grateful. ‘Hip hop provided the means morphed into a successful film
Trevor Smith Sr, an electrician who for me to become a man, and a father,’ he and TV producer who boasts
built a gym in their basement and was says. Four of his six children are college 30 shows across 10 networks.
graduates and he’s on tour with 50 Cent.

42 MEN’S HEALTH
 BARBERING: LIONEL JONES. GROOMING: TARA LAUREN AT EPIPHANY ARTIST GROUP. 50 CENT WEARS:
TANK TOP, POLO RALPH LAUREN. JEANS, BUCK MASON. CAP, NEW ERA. ALL JEWELLERY, 50 CENT’S OWN

HITTING IT HARD
NOW HE’S THE ONE
20 YEARS AGO, BUT
50 CENT WAS SHOT

MEN’S HEALTH 43
 OWN BIGGEST FAN
PEACE BY BEING HIS
METHOD MAN FOUND

44 MEN’S HEALTH
INTERVIEW: WILLIAM E KETCHUM III. STYLING: ADAM BALLHEIM AT THE ONLY AGENCY. BARBERING: MARTYSE AT THE CHOP SHOP. GROOMING: TARA LAUREN AT EPIPHANY ARTIST
GROUP. METHOD MAN WEARS: TANK TOP, POLO RALPH LAUREN. TROUSERS, Y-3. TRAINERS, LOUIS VUITTON. GLASSES, DITA. SOCKS, BRADY. BRACELET, METHOD MAN’S OWN
 MH Heroes
Hip Hop All-Stars

THE
MIND- HIP HOP
BODY TALKS ABOUT
KING
To escape depression and
SAFER SEX
EAZY-E’s death forced hip hop to examine its sexuality and helped
substance abuse, METHOD change the narrative that HIV/Aids was the ‘gay disease’
MAN looked towards self-
knowledge and strength It’s 5 October 1995 and Madison Square FTJ: We had heads of our industry asking
training to heal his mind Garden is shaking as people cheer the two questions: was he gay? Was he a drug
Notorious BIG’s proclamations of his love for user? We realised we had work to do to
With a muscular women calling him Big Poppa and Wu-Tang educate. When Lifebeat came about, they
flow (see Bring Clan explains why cash rules everything looked to the record labels for volunteers
The Pain) and emotional depth around them… and in between acts, lessons to help organise the concert.
(see All I Need), Method Man about safe sex are taught, video testimonials
ruled the 90s, loved by men from people with HIV/Aids are played and MH: What impact did the concert have?
and lusted after by women. But condoms are passed out. This all took place
when he felt that admiration at Urban Aid 4 Lifebeat, a five-hour benefit FTJ: We let outlets know HIV and Aids don’t
dip, he spun out of the celebrity concert that would’ve likely never taken place end with Eazy-E. For every Eazy-E, there are
vortex and into depression. if gangster-rap pioneer Eric ‘Eazy-E’ Wright thousands of other black men who are living with
‘It went from this childhood hadn’t sadly passed away at 30 from Aids HIV or Aids, but don’t even know because they’re
joy to this euphoric feeling of complications on 26 March 1995. not being tested. We didn’t want to talk softly
celebrity to feeling not good Wright’s death forced hip hop and its fans about the situation. This was an epidemic.
enough,’ says Method, born to change the way they viewed HIV/Aids, says
Clifford Smith. ‘A lot of PTSD Fred T Jackson, an Elektra Records project MH: How did hip hop change?
that I’d never dealt with before manager who worked at the concert. He
resurfaced.’ He appreciates hip remembers having to hide his homosexuality FTJ: Many realised they couldn’t say they
hop artists’ willingness to speak in an industry that homophobically laughed off were a voice in the community without
about mental health these HIV as the gay disease in the 90s. Meanwhile, realising that HIV and Aids are hurting
days, especially since what he the epidemic was ripping men he loved from the community. There came a realisation
felt was the industry’s shift his life – and not enough people were openly that there are a lot of people out there living
in the 2000s to stop the genre talking about what was happening. a lot of different lives. Hip hop grew up.
from strengthening the black
man’s mind. ‘They shut out Men’s Health: What
Public Enemy, KRS-One, Jungle about hip hop during the
INTERVIEW: KEITH NELSON. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID CORIO/REDFERN/GETTY IMAGES

THE LIFEBEAT CONCERT

Brothers and Native Tongues. 90s made you feel like SPOKE UP ABOUT A
Black pride was shut out and you couldn’t express STIGMATISED ISSUE
traded for mindless thug music.’ your sexual identity?
Smith stopped drinking in
2002 and delved deeper into Fred T Jackson: Hip
his psyche. ‘Instead of valuing hop was still growing up.
other people’s opinions and It was only in its twenties.
being my own biggest critic, Like a person, it was
I became my biggest fan. It’s figuring out who it was
self-love: looking in the mirror and what its voice was,
and honestly saying you love what it wanted to stand
yourself.’ Now 52, the married for. At the time, hip hop
father starts most days with a was not in a place of
blunt, shower, protein shake acceptance.
and workout. This attention
to mind and body gives him MH: How did Eazy-E’s
‘clarity’ and has helped him death change the
earn steady work as an actor. conversation around
HIV/Aids?

MEN’S HEALTH 45
MH Heroes
Hip Hop All-Stars

HIP HOP THE

MOVES INTO TRUTH
FITNESS
MARK JENKINS trained Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs to run the 2003 New York City
TELLER
Marathon, bringing generations of black men to their feet in the process Opening up about abortion and
sexual abuse helped COMMON
find himself and pushed hip hop
In 2003, I worked long run, which was to embrace raw honesty
out of a Reebok double the amount.
Sports Club, and for We added two or Lonnie Rashid
cardio I would just three miles to his Lynn, better
run across the street long runs each known as Common, doesn’t shy
and hit Central Park, time until he got away from heavy subjects. Now
which is 6.02 miles up to 20 miles. 51, he says his deeply personal
around. As I ran On top of that, we approach was validated by a
through the park, I were doing weight fan’s reaction to his 1997 song
thought, ‘There ain’t training three times Retrospect For Life, in which he
no black people out a week because your laid bare his thought process
here.’ I was like the back and your knees about taking his partner to get
only black person take a pounding. So an abortion: the financial and
running. At that time, heavy legs, heavy emotional insecurity, and the
black people paying lower back, heavy guilt, ‘Cause $315 ain’t worth
for training was a core work. We also your soul.’ After a show, a fan
very new thing. Black focused on a high- let him know it wasn’t just his
people are hesitant protein, moderate- story he was telling. ‘He said,
MARK JENKINS AND P DIDDY INSPIRED NEW RUNNERS
to spend money on carb, moderate-fat “My lady and I were going back
something that’s not material that they diet, about 25g of protein and 60g to 150g of and forth about this, and then
can’t physically see, like a car or a watch. carbs per meal, divided into four or five meals, we listened to that song and just
Back then, it was very much, ‘Oh, you got two of which would be protein shakes. cried and said we were going to
a trainer? That’s weird.’ He was partying quite a bit during do this,”’ Common says. ‘That
I thought, ‘I bet I can get some brothers that training and was still able to gut it out. was a turning point for me in
and sisters running if I can get one of my Willpower, man. He never skipped a workout. understanding how valuable
celebrity clients to run the marathon.’ During He never skipped the ice baths. He did telling my experiences can be.’
my first two weeks working with Diddy, he everything. Once we had to do hill repeats Since then, he’s felt duty-
wasn’t very engaged. But he responds well for an hour and a half, just running up the bound to share the weight of
to challenges. One day he was telling me hill and then running back down in Saint- his truths. On his 2019 Let Love

INTERVIEWS: KEITH NELSON. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: RJ CAPAK/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

about how much of a Renaissance man he Tropez in the heat. When I see him now, LP, he opened up about being
was. I said, ‘You’re not a Renaissance man we just look at each other and shake our molested by a family friend. Not
unless you run with the bulls or run the heads to say, ‘That shit was so crazy.’ only did he hear about other
marathon – you’ve got to have a physical P Diddy managed to finish the marathon men sharing similar experiences
endeavour under your belt.’ The next day, in 4:14:54 – which isn’t bad for a beginner. because of his honesty, but the
he told me, ‘I called up MTV. We’re running By the end, he’d raised a total of £1.5m hip hop community embraced
the New York City Marathon.’ for children’s charities and public schools him in a way he doubted it
It was two months before the marathon. in New York City. would’ve done back in the 90s,
Usually it takes someone six months to a If I had one critique, it’s that I wish he when the genre was all about
year of training – and he wasn’t a runner. would’ve turned it into a running clinic or machismo. ‘Back then, hip hop
I went everywhere he went, because we school for kids. If he would’ve taken it a little wasn’t as open to that type of
had to get the work in. We trained on the bit further, we’d be rocking now. If he would’ve vulnerability. It’s liberating for
yacht, going back and forth from Ibiza to Saint- stayed, it would’ve been crazy right now. He me to talk about what I’ve been
Tropez. It was him, Big Meech and his brother, could’ve had his own Bad Boy marathon. Still, through, and it’s part of the
and they brought their girlfriends or wives Puff did a lot for running. It influenced people healing process,’ he says. ‘You
and me. He wasn’t used to taking orders, but to put on their sneakers to start running and become more powerful in it.’
he did it. We started at six miles two or three to believe they could do it because, first, you
times a week, because there was no time to have to believe it’s possible. If you start with
do anything less. On weekends, we had the a mile and build up, you can do it.

46 MEN’S HEALTH
 STYLING: MICAELA ERLANGER AT WITH FALCON. GROOMING: JESSICA SMALLS
AT THE WALL GROUP. COMMON WEARS: T-SHIRT, ABERCROMBIE & FITCH

COMMON FOUND STRENGTH

AND EMBRACING OPENNESS

IN LETTING GO OF MACHISMO

MEN’S HEALTH 47
 LUDACRIS HAS MASTERED

BOTH HIS MIND AND BODY

THE ART OF LOOKING AFTER

INTERVIEW: GERRICK KENNEDY. BARBERING: VINCE GARCIA. GROOMING: TASHA REKO BROWN AT
THE WALL GROUP. LUDACRIS WEARS: TROUSERS, ACTIVELY BLACK. ALL JEWELLERY, LUDACRIS’S OWN
 MH Heroes
Hip Hop All-Stars

THE HIP HOP

PARTY EMBRACES
STARTER
Thanks to his strict health AGEING
regimen and positive outlook
on life, LUDACRIS is crushing Rappers used to be irrelevant in the music industry after the age of 35, but
it in his mid-forties – and still FREEWAY’s diabetes diagnosis – and continued success – is changing that
has decades ahead of him

The Ludacris Hip hop might be turning 50, but the

of today, a 46- culture hasn’t historically embraced middle
year-old father of four, doesn’t age. Favouring the young while expelling
look much different from the the old kept the genre hot but limited which
23-year-old who came up with stories got told. That all began to change
What’s Your Fantasy, a bouncy in the 2010s, when the 20-year-old rappers
(and deliciously raunchy) track of yesteryear grew up. During this decade,
about carnal pleasures. You rappers including Jermaine Dupri and Styles
know, ‘I wanna li-li-li-lick you P began, respectively, to start promoting
from your head to your toes.’ veganism and opening up juice bars.
The thought of rapping to crowds Leslie Pridgen, better known as the gravel-
20-plus years later – and having voiced rapper Freeway, used his health crises
them finish his lyrics – never to help more men feel seen by hip hop. After
crossed his mind. being signed to Roc-A-Fella Records in 2001
‘A rapper would get in their aged 23 and touring for almost a decade,
forties or fifties and that was he was diagnosed with diabetes in 2010.
a stigma – like, “Okay, you’re Five years later, he found out he had kidney
too old to be doing music now,”’ disease, and received a transplant in 2019.
he says. ‘But there’s no more But the 45-year-old still tours and makes
“you’re too old” now. People new music for his fans.
are going to be able to carry on
doing it well into their sixties Men’s Health: Were there people in hip FREEWAY’S DIABETES DIAGNOSIS WAS EMBRACED BY THE INDUSTRY
and seventies. If their content hop who helped inspire some of your health
is speaking towards what’s choices in the 2010s? failure. I was running around with three of the
going on in their life, and the leading risk factors – hypertension, diabetes
music is good, there will be Freeway: We used to be on tour with Jay-Z and just being African American.
INTERVIEW: KEITH NELSON. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: MONICA MORGAN/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

an audience. Listen, I feel and [Roc-A-Fella co-founder] Dame [Dash].

like ageing is a privilege.’ Dame had diabetes. I would see him taking MH: What’s your workout regime and diet
When Ludacris was 29, he his insulin and ask, ‘What are you doing?’ like these days?
lost his 52-year-old father He would say, ‘I’m taking my insulin because
after a battle with alcoholism. I have diabetes. There’s nothing to be F: I do cardio at least five to six times a week.
It was a catalyst to prioritise ashamed of.’ So when I was diagnosed with I try not to eat after 6pm. I eat lean meat. I use
his own health. ‘Pops was the diabetes, I knew there was nothing to be portion control. I stay away from sugars and
most loving person on earth. ashamed of. That helped me with my decision salt. Every now and then, I might drink a soda,
He showed me that you have as far as sharing what I was going through. but I try to drink a lot of water.
to take care of yourself in a
very roundabout way.’ Ludacris MH: How did hip hop react to the news of MH: Do you feel there was space for rappers
practises martial arts often. your kidney replacement? over 35 when you started?
‘I don’t need a psychologist,
because I work out with two F: People embraced me, especially my fans. F: I don’t think so. But I’m 45 now, and I still
different trainers,’ he says. I was going through what so many men go love it. I’m still going hard. It’s something in
‘I’m telling them all of my through. That’s why I chose to stand in front hip hop where we don’t respect the elders to
fucking problems and they’re of it instead of trying to keep it from people. the extent we should. But it’s been changing.
telling me theirs while we work I felt that coming out with my story helped Jay is 53 and Nas is 49, and they’re both still
out. That’s probably why I’m people be more comfortable with it. It also doing their thing.
one of the most emotionally opened a lot of people’s eyes to it because
stable artists on this earth.’ I was then diagnosed with end-stage renal

MEN’S HEALTH 49
MH Heroes
Hip Hop All-Stars

HIP HOP GETS THE

LOUD ABOUT LAID-
MEN’S MENTAL BACK
HEALTH
With depression on the rise and suicide still a leading cause of death among boys and men,
WARRIOR
rapper VIC MENSA breaks the stigma on speaking up about our inner struggles Weight training, martial arts and
his own-brand weed help power
Both in the US and the UK, black and WIZ KHALIFA’s creative process
ethnic minority men are disproportionately and fuel his wild and free way of life
affected by poor mental health. Statistics
published by the NHS in 2021 suggest that When Wiz Khalifa
black British men are four times more likely broke through with
than white men to be hospitalised for mental his number-one hit Black And Yellow
health concerns, and are less likely to seek in 2011, the Pittsburgh rapper was a
help before they reach crisis point. Lack of stringy 6ft 4in and 10st. Over the next
access to services is one barrier – but so few years, he earned more fans with
is a culture of silence. soulful feel-good songs, such as See
A new generation of hip hop artists are You Again and Young, Wild & Free, and
working to break the stigma by sharing their his wholehearted embrace of cannabis.
stories, none more than Roc Nation rapper Khalifa, born Cameron Jibril
Vic Mensa. The 30-year-old has used hip Thomaz, created his own weed brand,
hop to talk about past manic episodes Khalifa Kush, in 2015 and turned it
and suicidal ideations. Honesty isn’t just into a growing empire in and outside
Mensa’s brand; he feels it’s his duty. ‘I think VIC MENSA BELIEVES THAT HIS VULNERABILITY IS A SUPERPOWER of hip hop. ‘Weed’s becoming more
my vulnerability through music is my acceptable and not seen as something
superpower,’ he says. that we have experienced and continue to that will make you lazy,’ he says.
experience every day, along with the amount ‘People like me end that stereotype.
Men’s Health: Does rapping about your of stigma that exists around us when talking Plus, when I have injuries, smoking
mental health help you heal? about our mental health. puts my mind in a good place to heal
the right spots and get better.’
VIC MENSA: Music is therapeutic for me. It MH: Who are some of the first hip hop artists The 36-year-old Khalifa has taken
has been a lifelong journey for me to address you remember discussing mental health in an active interest in martial arts
my mental health. My mind was predisposed their music? since 2017, working with muay thai
to self-destruction; I was suicidal when I was and mixed martial arts trainers to
five years old. I’m turning 30 tomorrow. I’m so VM: Tupac. Geto Boys. Kanye West. Joe pack on muscle: he’s now a slightly
grateful. I have so much to celebrate because Budden. Eminem. There weren’t many. Hip heftier 12.5st. That strength helps
that’s not easy. Surviving has been a product hop has been weighed down by machismo him perform better at concerts. ‘I
of a lot of love. There’s also been therapy, and toxic masculinity. There were entire always had good energy, but now
medication, meditation, plant medicine, decades when artists felt like they had to be my body looks amazing,’ he says. INTERVIEW: BIANCA ALYSSE. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: LAWRENCE AGYEI
mindfulness, mantras, affirmations, books, so hard to sell records. But at its best, hip hop ‘I look buff as hell on stage.’
tears and smiles. is a journalistic and introspective art form. The opposite of a lazy stoner,
Khalifa gets up at 6am most days,
MH: Do fans share how your music helps them? MH: How has hip hop culture’s attitude drops his son off at school and then
towards mental health evolved? hits the gym for a workout. He focuses
VM: They tell me that they appreciate the on a different muscle group every day
transparency and the honesty because VM: When I started rapping, few artists were but the regimen stays the same: one
things like vulnerability and depression can being as transparent as I have been about my hour of weights, followed by one hour
sometimes feel off-limits for us to talk about. struggles. It felt more like, ‘Wow! I can’t believe of MMA. ‘Exercise helps me focus and
My music is, first and foremost, designed to you would say that!’ It’s beginning to change. slow things down and work on the
speak to the experiences of black people, There are artists who are transparent about smaller things and be more patient,’
because that’s the experience of me. Our their mental health. More rappers are opening he says. After some stretching, he
experience with mental health is unique up about therapy, meditation, telling their recovers with a protein shake and,
within the extent of the psychological torture stories unfiltered – that’s a great thing. of course, ‘a fat-ass joint’.

50 MEN’S HEALTH
 INTERVIEW: DYLAN GREEN. GROOMING: KASHA LASSIEN AT THE WALL GROUP. WIZ WEARS : SHORTS, CELINE. TRAINERS, VANS. ALL JEWELLERY: WIZ’S OWN

WIZ KHALIFA IS A MAN THAT

CHANGING THE STEREOTYPE:

HAS PROVEN HE CAN DO BOTH

MEN’S HEALTH 51
 Good Health Starts Up Top

WORDS BY
MARTY MUNSON
–
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
JONATHAN BARTLETT

t I Learned
ha A
W

Growing older needn’t mean

slowing down. Your brain can
change at any age – for the better.
Here’s how to make it happen
MEN’S HEALTH 53
 Head

I
Strong

t’s hard to know whether to call

it dread, foreboding or brief panic,

01
but it’s a feeling that many of the
24 people I’m sitting in a room
with at Arizona’s Canyon Ranch
wellness resort know too well. Build Workout
For me, it’s like the floor has Momentum
opened up and I’m about to fall
through. Like when you’re grasping for a name, a place, Physical activity has a
a detail, a fact – and all that’s coming up is a very real major effect on brain health.
concern about whether this is the beginning of the end. Movement helps your brain
Whether I’ll be sitting at the dinner table some day like be more ‘plastic’ – you create
my mum did, chewing the edge of a napkin, while Dad more dense networks of

02
registers a mixture of terror and heartbreak. I’m trying capillaries to bring blood to
not to be there some day. I’m trying not to panic. brain cells, and brain ‘trophic’
That’s why I’m at Canyon Ranch’s Boosting Brain factors (BDNF, IGF, VEGF)
Health immersion retreat, learning not just what to are released. These improve Optimise
do to prevent dementia, but also how to optimise how connections between brain Your Fuel
I think. Over five days, I’m reminded that what’s good cells and help you lay down
for the body feeds the brain, too. A cast of experts tell new networks for information Getting the best
us how adequate sleep helps the brain do its internal to travel on. Consistent performance from your
housekeeping. They demo a doable-at-home salmon exercise may lower your brain means eating well.
dinner. We try walking meditations and listening risk of dementia and also ‘Don’t put cheap gas in the
exercises. We do a lot, and that’s kind of the point, improve brain volume, Maserati,’ as Dr Carmona
says neuropsychologist and UCLA researcher Robert which could otherwise puts it. You want food that
M Bilder, who’s also the curator of the programme. shrink by around 0.5% will help regulate blood
When it comes to optimising brain health, Dr Bilder or more a year after 40. pressure, keep glucose
says, ‘We go astray by focusing on just one thing.’ ‘All movement is good,’ in check and deliver as
In a way, taking care of your brain is so simple, even explains Canyon Ranch’s many nutrients as possible.
ChatGPT gets it right. When Dr Bilder asked the bot for director of performance Sticking to a healthy dietary
‘closing remarks for a group of highly intelligent adults science Mike Siemens. But pattern of whole foods is
who are interested in boosting brain health’, the meat ideally, aim for ‘20 to 45 more important than zeroing
of its reply was, ‘By adopting a healthy lifestyle that minutes of cardio four to in on specific nutrients.
includes physical exercise, a balanced diet, stress six days a week, and two To see what these meals
reduction, social interaction and mental stimulation, to three days of strength look like in practice, check
you can take an active role in preserving your brain’s training a week’, he says. out the MIND, DASH and
health and cognitive function.’ Consistently. Nothing Mediterranean diets;
Note ‘active role’. Researchers have been studying snowballs faster than a they’re very similar and
‘neuroplasticity’: how your brain constantly changes skipped workout, so you all good for your brain.
by making new connections. These days, scientists need a rescue workout –
prize new and multiple neural connections over the a shorter, ‘plan B’ workout
number of brain cells you have, as these pathways – to keep your momentum
‘probably enhance new learning and protect existing going. Something like this:
memory systems from dissolution’, says Dr Bilder. warm up for three minutes
If you think you’re limited by your genes, think again. with whatever movement
‘Your genes are your personal software packages that is handy (walking, cycling).
you get to programme and reprogramme throughout Then alternate between
your life based on your choices,’ says former US surgeon one minute of pushing
general Richard Carmona, now the director of health your heart rate up (go
innovation at Canyon Ranch. These choices include hard) and one minute
the relationships you have, the air you breathe, the of recovering (move
food you eat and the exercise you do or don’t do. at a relaxed pace). Do
This organ does so much for you, it makes sense you this five times. Finish
can support it in multiple ways. Use these common with two minutes at
and not-so-common strategies to level up your brain. an easy pace and you’re
done – and still on track.

54 MEN’S HEALTH
 Reboot Your Brain

06
Remember,
Forgetting
Is Normal

05
The systems involved in

03 04
both anxiety and memory
formation overlap in the
Reach Past same area of the brain. ‘The
Hide. Seek. Play. Clear Your Head Synthetic hippocampus is essentially
Happiness hijacked by anxiety,’ Dr
At one point in the Sorting through and Bilder says, which disrupts
programme, everyone is clarifying what you’re There’s a reason we turn memory. ‘Lapses in memory
instructed to find a hiding thinking and feeling can to alcohol, junk food and occur all the time, and many
place – even those in their free up space in your head. other substances that don’t times, we see there’s not a
eighties. We hide under Gratitude journalling is help our brains. We’re trying big problem with memory
desks, behind doors. It’s an fine. But if you’re allergic to ‘amputate parts of our but that people are feeling
unexpectedly competitive to that sort of thing, Jenny emotional experience’, says anxious or
game of hide-and-seek.
Adam Smith, a spiritual
Simon, a mental health and
wellness therapist at Canyon
Amy Hawthorne, the director
of mental health and wellness
‘Take a few worried for
other reasons.
wellness provider at Canyon Ranch, recommends a kind at Canyon Ranch. Instead, let minutes to write So the first
Ranch, has put us up to it
to make the point that play
of anti-journalling. Just
dump out on a piece of
yourself feel the discomfort
and try these neurochemical
down your question
when – not if
helps you cope and focus paper what’s on your mind. hacks for happiness. To boost thoughts. This – you feel
in the way a lot of stress
reduction tools such as
Scribble down what has
you feeling peeved, miffed
feelings of connection you get
from the hormone oxytocin,
can boost you’re having
cognitive
meditation do, but with or outraged. Ask the big cuddle or hold hands with your working lapses is,
a sense of light-heartedness.
You’re problem-solving,
questions. Vent. ‘Write
until you’re quiet,’ Simon
someone. To help stabilise
moods, increase serotonin memory’ ‘Might I be
particularly
moving, laughing. You’re says. And then shred it. Just by spending time in nature stressed or
building plasticity without take a few minutes to do it: and meditating. To release distracted right now?’ If
the ‘burdensome rigidity the act can actually lower endorphins that stop you anxiety, worry, stress or
of being deathly serious all inflammation markers in feeling numb, try physical distraction does not explain
the time’, he says. It’s easy your body and boost your activity, sex and laughing. the problems, or if others
not to remember to play. working memory. express they’re worried
It’s important not to forget. about your memory or
thinking, then it may be
good to get an objective
assessment.’ You’ll want
one from an actual doctor.
‘Beware online offerings,’
he adds. ‘The current
generation of online
assessments are mostly
not validated and can’t
be trusted to generate
useful results.’

MEN’S HEALTH 55
 Head
Strong
dudes clad in leather, twink boys and

What Is A
bears. All of them, in their own ways,
disrupting the ideas our culture holds
about what is masculine and feminine,
and who gets to inhabit those roles.

Real Man?
Although I didn’t get it at the time,
these people were showing up in the
world to impress upon me that gender
roles are little more than a human
construct. And this idea is what
perturbs homophobes the most – the
idea that although men and women
Who gets to define masculinity? While differ physically, the same feelings

online blowhards and self-anointed alpha and emotions show up in the same
way in every orientation of either sex.
males dominate the algorithm, other But there are some who don’t want

male voices are left out of the chat. to cede the social power that comes
with the masculine construct. Who
It’s time for a fresh perspective conflate masculinity with strength
and femininity with weakness. So they
WORDS BY BRIAN BROOME | ARTWORK BY PETER CROWTHER hold tight to these roles and to their
contempt for those who flout them.

I
Many political figures on the right seem
n autumn 1988, I was an 18-year- in her house. She too became a ‘bitch’, to pine for the days when women knew
old in my first year of university. but in a more pointed and vicious way. their place and queer people didn’t
I had escaped my small hometown Because of her decision to leave him, she overtly exist at all. When we risked
and made it 80 miles away. I’d felt was also a ‘whore’ and a ‘slut’. It didn’t being jailed for being who we are.
trapped and insisted upon going to uni take long for the crying man to join in It’s queer people, regardless of how
come hell or high water, so I’d worked with the name-calling. I walked by this we present ourselves, who throw a big
in a shop and finagled all the financial spectacle vaguely amused. I never spanner into the myth these people
support I could. My mother didn’t thought about the young woman inside have invested in – based their entire
understand why I wanted to go to who must have been hearing all this. existence upon, even. But nothing
university and often asked why I didn’t And I never thought about that night is immutably true simply because
just go into the military. You know, like again until more than 30 years later. it’s all you’ve known. I wonder if we
the other boys. I’ve known from the time I was about men are still so susceptible to other
One night, I was walking on campus eight that I was gay. As I turned into a men assaulting our self-esteem
and saw a young man in distress. He gay teenager, I realised that if I didn’t that we promote these antiquated
was crying: red face, leaking tears and get out of my small rural town, I would gender roles just so
snot everywhere. The kind of crying perish. Either by my own hand or by ‘Alpha males’ we don’t lose face
that makes the chest convulse and the
words can only escape between sobs.
someone else’s. University was the only
escape plan I could think of. The night
preach that around them. Or
whether we’re still
His situation became clearer the closer I saw the crying man, I didn’t compare feelings such as holding the shame
I got. He was standing in front of the
house of a young woman who must
his situation with mine, because he was,
I presumed, heterosexual. Back in my sadness must we felt when rituals
were enacted upon
have been, until recently, his girlfriend. hometown, I had been called the same be shoved us as children to

down deep
He was heartbroken. Begging. Shouting names he and his friends used that stamp out any
up at her window for her to take him night. But for different reasons. feeling we had
back. He was also drunk. These days, there are new cultural inside or action we took
As I walked closer still, the young conversations around masculinity. that was deemed
man’s friends, equally drunk, found People are examining what it means feminine. In other words: are we still
him in this pitiable state and stopped to – and what masculinity even is. And afraid of being called sissies?
help. The help they offered came in the it feels to me that gay men are being Misogynists such as Andrew Tate
form of calling him names. As in ‘Stop left out of these conversations. It’s as if, preach male dominance and female
being a pussy’ and ‘You’re acting like a by virtue of being gay, we have forfeited submission. Some of these influencers
little bitch.’ They chastised him for his any credibility on the subject. But it boast billions of views on social media.
tears and repeatedly enquired as to the isn’t the case that gay men don’t have They refer to themselves as ‘alpha
whereabouts of his balls. anything useful to add to the dialogue males’ and those who don’t behave the
Men often do this kind of thing to – maybe because we are gay. way they do are called ‘betas’, which
one another, it seems. At university, I went to my first gay is just a new way of calling other men
But the name-calling he endured was club after coming out. It was unlike sissies. What these men preach is
nothing compared with what they were anything I’d ever seen. It was loud and dangerous to both women and the men
doing to the young woman locked away debaucherous. I saw ‘butch’ lesbians, they preach to, encouraging so-called
‘lipstick’ lesbians, drag queens, muscle incels, whose core belief is that women

56 MEN’S HEALTH
 The New Masculinity

owe them something simply because

they are male. When the women don’t
give it to them, it can end in violence.
What the followers of Tate and others
are being taught is that real men aren’t
supposed to feel anything at all. Of
course we feel loneliness, rejection,
insecurity and sadness as acutely as
women do, but alpha males preach that
SHOWING EMOTION IS those feelings must be shoved down
NOT A SIGN OF WEAKNESS:
deep inside until all that’s left is anger,
IT’S HUMAN NATURE
the only emotion to which men are
permitted unfettered access.
Anger erupts in the most terrible
ways. Some believe the spate of mass
shootings in America is solely due to
mental illness. But because the vast
majority are committed by men, I have
to believe something else is at play,
which is that we men are trained to
bury our softer emotions. Sometimes
they find a way out.
I thought about that crying young
man again recently. I thought about
him because a little more than 10 years
ago, I joined a support group and
befriended a woman about my age. Her
husband didn’t like the fact that she
had joined this group and was coming
to grips with some things – one of which
was that she didn’t want to be married
to him any more. She was beginning the
process of leaving him and they agreed
on a time when he wouldn’t be home so
she could pick up her things. When she
did, he trapped her inside and shot her
multiple times. Then he killed himself.
This isn’t just mental illness and it
happens too often. He left a public
message for her on Facebook a few days
before he took her life. It said, ‘I love
you! I miss you! Please talk to me… Life
isn’t worth living without you… I fight
for your love. I’ll never stop.’
I’m left wondering if he just finally
got angry, like the young guy at uni did.
I wonder if his friends called him stupid
names until he called her ugly names.
I’m angered by this – the fact that he
didn’t know how to process his difficult
emotions. Apparently, he thought what
he was feeling was love and he must
have believed she owed him her life.
There’s nothing wrong with
masculinity. But we have to redefine it.
Stop equating it with dominance and
stoicism and begin to recognise that it
also means feeling all the emotions that
come with being alive. New and better
things are required of us. More human
things. Because it’s 2023 and there is no
longer such a thing as a sissy.

MEN’S HEALTH 57
 Head
Strong
How I Keep It Together

Oliver Burkeman
Four Thousand Weeks is the average human lifespan
– and the title of Burkeman’s latest book. Here, the
author shares how he divides up his own hours
ILLUSTRATION BY JASON RAISH

1pm
Get Outdoors
I’ll get moving in nature
BURKEMAN PRIORITISES with a run or a hike, which
DEEP WORK, DESPITE seems to help with the
A NIGGLING TO-DO LIST afternoon energy dip.

5.15am
Find Some Peace 2pm
I do zazen, a form of seated Do More Work
meditation focusing on the The rest of the workday is
breath, to help set the tone more loosely structured. If
for the day. It unhooks me you’re a perfectionist like me,
a bit from my thoughts this is quite radical and often
so that I’ve got a better more productive because
chance of being genuinely you’re not constantly fighting
present the rest of the day. yourself to get things done.

5.20am 4pm
Free Solo 10.30am Call It A day
I’ll have 50 minutes to read Start Writing Of course, I’ll end work
a little and write ‘morning Once I start work, I try not to having failed to do almost
pages’. This free-form writing clear the decks first, getting all all of the things I could have;
helps to clear the mental the small stuff out of the way that’s just maths. So I ask
cobwebs – and sometimes in order to make time for deep myself if I did a handful of
gives rise to ideas or solutions and focused work. Instead, I do things that mattered and
I couldn’t figure out the some of the deep work right away, if I ‘showed up’ – if I was
previous day – before my even though the decks aren’t there while I did them.
six-year-old son wakes up. clear. This is essential because
the decks will never be clear.
The trick is not to make the
6.30am to 8.30am anxiety of all those outstanding
Enjoy Family Time mundane routines; it’s tasks go away by completing
‘Family time’ makes it a mistake to see them as them, but rather to learn to
sound like we spend it in an interruption to ‘real tolerate a bit of that anxiety and
rapt appreciation of each life’ that you need to ‘get focus on the main work anyway.
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES; SUN LEE

other, immersed in life- out of the way’. As C S Lewis 7pm

affirming activities, but once said, what we call the Check Out
of course, it’s really making interruptions to real life After dinner and, ideally,
breakfast, packing lunch are real life. And what an a family walk, my son is
and finding a moderately insane way to live – to define asleep by 8.30pm. While I’d
clean version of my son’s something as important like to claim a whole other
school uniform. I’ve as feeding and clothing chapter begins, the truth is
grown to appreciate these your family as a distraction that we’re in bed ourselves
from what matters. about 90 minutes later.

MEN’S HEALTH 59
 How To H
In 2023
25%
Do it several
times a week

18%
Do it less frequently

15%
Do it at least
once a month

WORDS BY GEMMA ASKHAM AND SCARLETT WRENCH

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROWAN FEE

Have Sex For an act as old as humanity itself, sex has never been so
complicated. According to the headlines, Gen Z are doing less of
it, while middle-aged divorcees are embracing hook-up culture,
and sexual fluidity is challenging heteronormative monogamy.
Feeling lost? Never fear. Men’s Health asked 1,000 Brits to
dish the dirt on their private lives, to uncover what we’re
doing in the bedroom, what we want to be doing and the
shape of things to come. Call it bedtime reading

01/
High Frequency
20%
Have sex
once a week
Men report having sex more
frequently than women:
45% of men say they have
sex multiple times a week,
compared with 35% of
women. Those having
the most sex? Unmarried
men in relationships.

16%
Never
have sex

MEN’S HEALTH 61
If it seems like
things have got This Is How
a little… wilder We Do It
in recent years,
Our nationally representative survey of
1,000 people provides a window into
Britain’s bedrooms. Here’s the hard data:

there might be some truth to that. Recent corporate grind in search of a better
02/
research by dating app Bumble found work-life balance. ‘Others decided to
that more than 40% of its users would step into different types of sexual and He/He/They
describe their approach to sex and romantic relationships that don’t follow
intimacy as ‘open and exploratory’ strict societal norms,’ Neves says. A fifth of straight-
– a trend reflected in our own survey. Monthly active users of Feeld – an app identifying men aged
Across all demographics, more than marketed to the sexually curious – grew 25 to 34 have had
a quarter of British men tell us they’ve by 250% between 2021 and 2022. Around a romantic or sexual
had sex with more than one person at that time, there was a 242% increase in encounter with
once, while 17% have attended a sex club people looking for consensual non- another man, or with
or other group sexual experience – and
a further 28% are open to an invite.
Labels mean less than they once did,
monogamous relationships. Now, as the
cost-of-living crisis makes it harder for
couples to separate, many predict that
someone non-binary
or genderqueer. 1 in 5
too. Among straight-identifying men, ‘creative’ relationship structures could
almost one in 10 have had a romantic become more common. That might
or sexual encounter with another man, include pairing up to start a family, but
or with someone whose identity is non- continuing to pursue new partners.
binary or genderqueer; that rises to Of course, even in this more open-
one in five among men aged 25 to 34. minded environment, satisfaction is not
Across the UK, over a third of men (37%) guaranteed. According to our research,
are unpartnered, rising to more than only half of men feel that their sex lives
half of men under the age of 35. Most of fully reflect their desires and personal
you (70%) now view ‘sexual wellness’ as preferences. But that’s not to say you’re
of equal importance to your physical and an unhappy lot. Our survey shows that
mental health. And almost half of you 65% of British men feel content with
would consider non-monogamy. their sex lives, including 51% of single
‘Intimate relationships are evolving,’ men, 71% of those who are married or in
says James Eve, a psychosexual and a civil partnership and 81% of unmarried 04/
relationships therapist. ‘While many
of the same anxieties remain – around
men in relationships. Still, insecurities
remain: when we asked if you thought
Happy Days
intimacy, infidelity, sexual difficulties other people were having better sex than A fifth of you say
and finding, keeping or leaving a partner you, almost half of you (47%) said yes.
you are ‘very
– marriage and 2.4 children is no longer ‘In some senses, the [sexual]
satisfied’ with your
viewed as the only viable option.’ landscape remains consistent. Namely
sex lives. Factors
One of the obvious factors that has one that is self-conscious, concerned
influenced our expectations around sex with questions such as, “Am I normal?”,
such as age and
is technology. The wide variety of dating and wanting to feel competent and
sexual orientation
apps has opened up new opportunities confident, sexually,’ says therapist Eve.
appear to have
for those in search of casual encounters. Comparison is part of the human little impact. But
But the game is changing for couples, design, he says. ‘We often project men with partners
too. Experts believe the pandemic has that other people are happier, more are more content
altered the way we consider gender roles, successful, or have it sussed… We need than those with
as lockdowns enforced a period of self- to normalise that our feelings about sex bachelor status.
reflection. Silva Neves, a psychosexual are subject to fluctuation and change.’
and relationship psychotherapist, says The purpose of this survey is not to
he has seen more men start to question fuel that urge to compare, nor merely to
‘masculinity messages’ – specifically, sate your curiosity about what your peers
the social pressure to project success. are getting up to between the sheets
While striving to excel professionally, (though it may well do). Our research
he says, some men realised they’d missed shows that there is no ‘normal’ when it
out on time with their families, and had comes to having sex in 2023. Whether
deprioritised the roles of romance and you’re lonely, horny, lost or nonplussed,
pleasure in their lives. Some quit the you’ll see yourself reflected on these
pages. Let’s take it to the bedroom.

62 MEN’S HEALTH
 03/ Pillow Talk
Solo Act
While just 12%
of single† men
declared ‘no
interest’ in
dating, 32% of
single women
said the same.
Similarly, a
higher number
of unpartnered Guilty Pleasures
men are ‘actively Perhaps unsurprisingly, most men
trying’ to meet consume porn (70%) – although
someone. women watch it, too (33%). But our
feelings are complex: almost half of
men who watch porn experience guilt
about their habits, with rates highest
among men aged 18 to 24. Why? As
therapist and clinical sexologist Ness
Cooper points out, while our culture

24%
teaches men that watching porn is
normal, it also reinforces ideas about
what sort of porn men should like;
namely, heteronormative.
INCLUDING THOSE DIVORCED OR WIDOWED

Almost a quarter of
single men are trying ‘Men can feel guilty if they’re aroused
to meet a partner by erotic acts that don’t fit traditional

6%
gender expectations,’ she says. ‘The
idea of being “found out” can trigger
guilt, particularly if you anticipate
But far fewer judgement from a partner.’ Not only is
single women it normal to enjoy both porn and sex
say the same
(and sometimes the two together),
Cooper emphasises that our fantasies
†

with regards to the former don’t

always need to translate to the latter.
Of course, there are murkier, moral
concerns for the modern man. An
estimated 88.2% of porn features

20%
I’m very satisfied
physical aggression against women.
Content subscription services such
as OnlyFans give creators greater
autonomy – and simplify payment
structures – but the manufactured
closeness between the performer

45%
and consumer can sometimes
distort our expectations of what
sex is like in the real world.
I’m satisfied Erika Lust, one of the foremost
ethical adult-film directors, suggests
a question-before-clicking approach.

17%
I’m unsatisfied
‘Are consumers asking where their
porn comes from, as they would with
their food? And are they willing to
pay for it?’ Look to erikalust.com,
frolicme.com or makelovenotporn.tv
for provenance-assured pornography.

13%
I’m very unsatisfied

MEN’S HEALTH 63
15%
05/
State Of Affairs

24%
of women
42% of men

The percentage of men who

turn to their friends for
guidance on sex-related
issues, versus 20% of women

Safety First
While one in five of you insist that
you’re diligent about STI testing –
rising to 27% among gay, bisexual
and pansexual men – 21% of single
men admit they should get tested more
often than they do. So, what’s sensible?
Vikas Mehta, a general medicine doctor
at Mayo Clinic Healthcare, suggests
that anyone having condomless sex
should get checked every three
months. This doesn’t just apply to the
young guns: with the rise of dating
apps, a report by the Local Government While 42% of men believe it is possible
Association found there was a 20% for a relationship to fully recover from
jump in the number of over-65s being sexual infidelity, fewer than a quarter
diagnosed with common STIs in of women agree. Notably, men under
England between 2017 and 2019, 35 are the most optimistic.
with men more likely to be affected.
Discussing sexual health with a new
partner might not be great pillow talk,
but it’s an important chat to have. Breaking Free
For heterosexual couples, the same While many surveys suggest today’s
is true of birth control. Rising awareness young people are having less sex than and understood compared with those
of issues, such as abortion rights, have the generations that came before assigned female at birth. Similarly, men
prompted new conversations, and Dr them, it’s also true that Gen Z has exploring bisexuality or pansexuality
Mehta suggests that these decisions introduced a new vocabulary around might end up facing greater stigma.
should be made collaboratively, rather desire and gender expression. Census ‘The consequences are still high for
than delegated to the female partner. data suggests they’re more than twice those who are defying traditional
‘We know there are potential side as likely to identify with a sexual masculine archetypes,’ she says.
effects of hormonal contraception, orientation other than ‘straight’, while For those who are still coming to
many of which can affect a relationship in England and Wales, there are roughly terms with their sexual self-expression,
on a day-to-day basis,’ he says. ‘It’s 262,000 non-binary or transgender inclusive sex clubs might be a good
good for men to approach these people – which may sound like a place to start. ‘Thanks to the internet
conversations with knowledge and lot, but that’s still a small minority. and more people being out and proud
information on the range of options Anecdotally, Dedeker Winston, a on social media, these events have
available for both partners.’ relationship coach and co-host of the enjoyed a renaissance in the past few
Multiamory podcast, says she sees years,’ says Winston. ‘What’s great is
fewer non-binary people who were that we’re seeing the emergence of
assigned male at birth feeling accepted play parties that appeal to a variety of
interests, identities and sexualities.’

64 MEN’S HEALTH
 Pillow Talk
06/ 07/
Climactic Scenes Screen Time
Almost two in five men
surveyed told us they
orgasm ‘every time’ with their
partner(s). However, a much
smaller percentage of women
could say the same.
26%
I rarely or

39%
never watch
porn Going It Alone
of men One of the more striking imbalances

19% 30% 40%

revealed by our survey was in the
attitudes to dating among heterosexual
I sometimes singles. While almost half of women
feel guilty I don’t feel
of women guilty without partners told us they were
watching ‘open to meeting someone’, men were
porn
considerably more likely to be actively
seeking a romantic or sexual partner
– and were less likely to have written
off a relationship. Irrespective of age,
While most of you told us you watch our results showed that women are
porn, not all of you feel great about it. more comfortable with a solo status.
Our research suggests modern men’s Therapist Eve believes this is likely
to be influenced by the greater ease
relationship with X-rated content is…
with which women form strong
let’s just say, complicated. interpersonal bonds. There’s less
requirement to pursue romance if your
needs for closeness, connection and
kinship are met by friends and family,

41%
08/
he says. Progress towards equal pay
Toys Story and financial independence are other
important factors at play.
I do! Four in 10 men use The good news for the unwillingly
sex toys – including uncoupled is that a post-Covid wave
43% of men aged of break-ups has given the singles pool
55 to 64 – while a a top-up. Plus, dating apps aren’t
further fifth of men obligatory: contrary to popular belief,
most couples meet offline. YouGov
have never tried
data shows that nearly a fifth of Brits
using them but are

21%
met their current or most recent
toy-curious. partner at work (tread carefully…),
while 18% met through mutual friends

62%
and 5% through a shared hobby.
I would do...

A little under two thirds of

men feel comfortable asking
for the kind of sex they want

MEN’S HEALTH 65
 The Low-Down
Meeting a partner might ease dating
angst, but intimacy isn’t without its as you become more familiar or
insecurities. When quizzed about the comfortable with a sexual partner,’
biggest barriers obstructing men from says Dr Stahl. If problems persist, he
The Orgasm Gap a more gratifying sex life, 13% named recommends cognitive behavioural
A happy 72% of men say they orgasm low body confidence as a problem. therapy to disrupt negative thinking
all or most of the time when having sex ‘Difficulty performing’ is an obstacle for patterns, or speaking to your GP for
with a partner of any gender. However, 11% of men, while lack of time or energy advice – and potentially taking a
only 51% of women report the same, were also factors. Only 29% said they medication called PDE-5 inhibitors,
with 15% of women answering ‘rarely’ had no barriers to a happy sex life. which are used to counteract the
or ‘never’. Sexologist Madalaine Munro What goes on up top often finds its effects of stress hormones.
points to the damage done by on-screen way down: urologist Peter Stahl, who While our cultural openness around
sex scenes, which has skewed men’s works with health e-tailer Hims, refers sticky health topics is generally
perception of the ease with which to psychogenic (or psychological) improving, the majority of social media
women can climax. ‘Men often ask erectile dysfunction (ED). ‘It’s more ‘sexfluencers’ are women; sexual
me for specific techniques to make common and age-agnostic than many wellness content aimed at men tends
a woman orgasm, but the truth is that think,’ he says. A 2022 study* of 3,000 to be medical rather than congenial.
the more comfortable a woman feels, Brits found that 59% had experienced Straight men are also less likely to
the more likely she is to orgasm,’ she an issue such as ED, low libido or talk to their straight male friends
says. ‘Scientifically, a woman needs to premature ejaculation. about the ins and outs of their sex
feel safe in order for her nervous system ‘In some cases, anxiety will disappear lives, particularly when it comes to
to change to a parasympathetic state.’ expressing uncertainty or vulnerability.
Munro advises mid-act check-ins,
such as asking, ‘How could this be
better for you?’ This invites specific
suggestions – move higher, go slower, 09/
etc – and is more useful than asking,
‘Is this okay?’, to which the polite Group Project
default response is usually, ‘Umm, yeah’.
Sometimes, however, your partner More than a quarter of men
might not know exactly what’s missing have had sex with more than
– and that’s fine, too. In this case, a one person at once, while a
supportive contribution is, ‘I’m here further third of men who haven’t
to listen’ or ‘There is nowhere we need tried it would be open to it.
to get to, I just love being with you.’
‘These might sound like simple
phrases,’ says Munro. ‘But they can
be life-changing for a woman who is
struggling to experience the pleasure
she really wants.’ Still want a little
guidance? Online platforms such
as omgyes.com offer instructive,
unintimidating videos made by women.

37%
Google is men’s go-to for
sex tips. Almost two in five
name search engines as their
key source of information
11%
of women have
had group sex
26%
of men have had
group sex

66 MEN’S HEALTH
 10/ Pillow Talk
Taking Control

46%
When asked
whether they’d
consider taking
a male-specific of men
contraceptive pill,
if one was made
available, almost Three’s Company
half of men said Perhaps most surprising about the
yes. However, stats on open relationships is not the
only a quarter of number of people who’ve tried it, but
women say that the number who reported that they’re
they would trust open to it – 55% of men in the 35-to-
a male partner 44 age bracket wouldn’t rule it out.
to take it. Women are less certain about the idea,
with almost three quarters giving it a
hard ‘no’. (Those aged 25 to 34 were
most open to the experience.)
Relationship coach Winston believes
this branching away from traditional
structures comes down to two factors:
‘a decade of visibility of queer
relationships’ since the legalisation
of gay marriage in the UK, which has
broadened minds with regards to
what family can look like; and ‘young
people questioning whether dominant

25%
structures are really working, such
as mental healthcare, corporate
behaviours and now relationships’.
Intrigued? Pause before you leap.
of women
‘I often find that men, especially
straight men, are excited by the idea
of non-monogamy until they realise,
11/ “Oh wait, my partners can also date
other people?” Straight men might also
Opening Up have to work harder to find partners,
because many women are suspicious
Almost one of a man who wants to date multiple
in 10 men we women.’ Somewhat counterintuitively,
surveyed had however, research suggests women
been in a may be more likely to initiate a change
consensual in the rules of engagement, as female
and non- desire is thought to wane more
monogamous considerably in long-term relationships.
relationship, The key to success is communication.
‘When you’re colouring outside the
rising to 14%

49%
lines, you can’t make assumptions,’
of men aged says Winston. ‘So, you need to be able
25 to 34. to communicate about uncomfortable
It’s not for me feelings, such as jealousy or loneliness.’
Our expectations around fidelity
are currently shifting, too. Popular
psychologists such as Esther Perel

36%
have subverted the idea that affairs
are ‘the ultimate betrayal’ by unpacking
the complex desires and anxieties
*SOURCE: HIMS & HERS

that drive people to cheat, and offering

9%
I’d be open to it new frameworks for understanding our
romantic relationships.

I’ve tried it

MEN’S HEALTH 67
EVERY
SEAN
MAGINN
CENTRE, RAMS
6FT 3IN, 21ST 4LB
‘Legs too short!’

BODY
IS
STRONG
Few sports chase physical perfection quite
like American football. But it’s also a visceral
celebration of body diversity: whether you’re
taller, smaller, shorter or heavier than the
norm, you can still excel – so long as you play
to your strengths. Ahead of the NFL’s London
Games, MH caught up with a squad of atypical
athletes to steal their training secrets

WORDS BY MATT GAGNE

_
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIC RAY DAVIDSON

68 MEN’S HEALTH
 DAWAND
KAYVON JONES
THIBODEAUX TACKLE, BROWNS
LINEBACKER, GIANTS 6FT 8IN, 26ST 10LB
6FT 5IN, 18ST 6LB ‘Too big and
‘Too lean, with destined to
skinny calves.’ be clumsy.’

MEN’S HEALTH 69
S hould you want to watch 18st behemoths collide this
month, there are options beyond rugby. But while NFL
players might be known for their size, success in the sport
is about more than bulk. It’s about adapting your playing
style to your own unique strengths and weaknesses.
Every position has a prototype – and every position has
stunning outliers who force us to rethink the conventional
wisdom of strength and athleticism. These players can
help us understand how to get the most out of our
bodies. ‘Taller. Shorter. Skinnier. Heavier,’ says trainer
Travelle Gaines, who’s worked with scores of NFL
players at his Los Angeles facility, Athletic Gaines.
‘Once you understand who you really are, that’s when
you turn into who you really are.’
There’s no one better to teach you that than these
three uniquely built giants – and one undersized giant
slayer (see page 73). Steal their training secrets for
next-level gains in strength and athleticism.

MEET THE MISFIT TITANS

Adopt their methods to TRAIN your way to NFL STRENGTH,
no matter the shape or size of your body

THE
SHORT-
LEGGED
BLOCKER
TRAINING TIP #1
The short-armed
SEAN MAGINN
Maginn can’t hold
defenders away, so he On the surface, 6ft 3in, 21st 4lb
actively pushes them Sean Maginn seems like an
away. To build that average offensive lineman. But
power, he does explosive ever since his school days, he’s
bench-press reps using a battled one, erm, shortcoming.
light weight: 3 or 4 sets of ‘I probably have the legs of
2 or 3 ultra-fast reps per a 5ft 10in person,’ he says.
set. Do this twice weekly As a teenager, Maginn
for pushing power. played behind a long-armed,
long-legged offensive tackle.
The next year, he tried to play
like him. ‘I was gonna copy
everything he does,’ Maginn
says. ‘What I couldn’t copy
was his 6ft 5in frame.’
At university, Maginn learned
that he has other strengths.
TRAINING TIP #2 His short legs let him generate
Maginn hones hip power more quickly than
mobility with the other large linemen, helping
butterfly stretch. Several him to push defenders
times a day, he’ll sit with backwards. He maximises
his feet pressed into that with his training. ‘I can
each other, then use his manoeuvre myself around if
elbows to drive his knees I’m pulling on an offensive play,’
into the ground. Hold for he says. ‘I’m not really in an
8 secs; do 3 to 5 reps. uncomfortable situation.’

70 MEN’S HEALTH
 LEFT-FIELD PLAYERS

TRAINING TIP #1
To explode past bigger
blockers, Thibodeaux
needs major glute power.
He develops that with
classic kettlebell swings,
frequently using a 40kg
bell. He’ll do 3 sets of 10
a few times a week
during the off season,
focusing on keeping
each rep super fast.

TRAINING TIP #2
You can hone
bendability with a hula-
hoop and a towel. Place
both on the ground,
towel near hoop. Sprint
to the hoop’s right side,
then around it to the left;
as you do, grab the towel.
Sprint back to the start.
That’s 1 rep; do 3 sets
of 2 to 4 per side.

THE You’d think that Kayvon

Thibodeaux’s 6ft 5in, 18st
on me.’ Such criticisms
ignore his athleticism
the ground, allowing him to
change directions without

FEATHERWEIGHT 6lb frame would be enough.

But the New York Giant,
– and his underrated
superpower: something
losing speed. He harnessed
that late last season with
LINEBACKER who plays in a defensive
role, weighs 20lb less than
coaches call ‘bendability’.
Thibodeaux describes
three sacks (a specific
tackle) in his final four
KAYVON THIBODEAUX the average player in his
position. ‘My calves are
this as ‘being able to create
force and power in awkward
regular-season games.

little; my waist is small,’ positions’. He isn’t just

he explains. ‘That’s how quick; he’s quick with his
people looked down shins nearly parallel to

MEN’S HEALTH 71
LEFT-FIELD PLAYERS

TRAINING TIP #1
Jones builds shoulder-
protecting back strength
with alternating rows.
Hold a dumbbell in each
hand, torso at a 45-
degree angle. Alternately
row each bell to your hip,
then lower it. Do 3 sets
of 5 reps twice a week.

TRAINING TIP #2
Jones sets up with his
feet staggered, knees
bent, right hand on a
light kettlebell. As he
stands, he punches
the bell into a pad.
The exercise trains his
shoulders and forces his
hips to explode. Try it for
2 or 3 sets of 3 to 5 reps.

THE To quote Andrew Berry,

the general manager of
orca-sized lineman, near
26st Mekhi Becton, has
surprisingly athletic. Before
heading to Ohio State, he

XXXL Dawand Jones’ team,

Cleveland Browns, the
barely played in his three
years with the Jets. Gaines
turned down offers to play
Division I college hoops.
OFFENSIVE athlete is ‘human-orca
big’. At 6ft 8in, 26st 10lb,
says Jones knows he must
keep his weight in check, ‘He
He focuses his training on
total-body quickness. ‘If
LINEMAN Jones will be one of the
largest men to ever play
has to constantly manage
and stay on his weight.’
you get first touch on the
defense,’ he says, ‘you can
DAWAND JONES tackle in the NFL when
he debuts next season.
Being an extremely large
lineman comes with a rep
knock them off their path
and disrupt everything.’
But bigger isn’t always for being clumsily slow, but Especially when you’re
better. The NFL’s last hyped Jones has always been Dawand Jones.

72 MEN’S HEALTH
 DEVONTA
SMITH
WR, EAGLES
6FT, 12ST 2LB
‘Tiny. Can he
survive a single
tackle?’

THE
REAL
SLIM
SMITTY
Maximise an undersized
frame by learning lessons from
Eagles star DEVONTA SMITH

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON RICHTER

MEN’S HEALTH 73
SMITH SHOWS OFF
HIS QUICKNESS AND
HANDS WHILE RUNNING
ROUTES AT FLORENCE
TOWNSHIP MEMORIAL
HIGH IN NEW JERSEY

UNDERSIZED. SCRAWNY.
SLENDER. SCRAGGLY.
STRING BEAN
If the first thing you’re going to mention hits him, he’s going to get fucked.
about DeVonta Smith is that he’s a Then, you know, he makes every play.’
walking billboard for skinny jeans, put In 2021, Smith set a franchise rookie body whipped to the ground after the
some respect on his game and call him record with 916 receiving yards. Last crushing hit – and he bounced right
the nickname he keeps earning over season, he made a team-record 95 back up. He has played 85% of the
and over: Slim Reaper. catches and ranked eighth in the Eagles’ offensive snaps since entering
Smith isn’t the shortest player in the league in receiving yards (1,196). He the league, third-best on the team.
NFL, nor is he the lightest. But when it was one of 22 receivers to clear 1,000. ‘The biggest thing is to understand
comes to body proportions and the eye Every other receiver in that elite bunch your game,’ Smith says. Not that he
test, few athletes seem more miscast to weighed at least 12st 12lb. Smith packs had that figured out early on. As a high
play pro football. When the wideout first a mere 12st 2lb on to his 6ft frame. schooler in Amite, Louisiana, Smith
walked into the Eagles’ locker room That lack of bulk hasn’t hurt his wanted to bulk up so badly that any
two seasons ago, veterans wondered if durability. Smith can withstand big time he saw his reflection, he’d do 10
Philadelphia had wasted the tenth pick hits, and he proved it in the opening press-ups. None of it helped him gain
in the 2021 draft. ‘I remember everyone moments of Super Bowl LVII in any weight. He clocked in at just
being like, “Fuck, he is tiny,”’ says Alex February, catching a pass from a 11st 11lb before the 2021 NFL draft.
Singleton, a former Philly linebacker who teammate before getting walloped by But as he’s made highlight play after
now plays for Denver. ‘Like, if someone Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid highlight play, he’s grown comfortable
as he ran down the left sideline. Smith’s with his game. He even ignores Eagles

74 MEN’S HEALTH
 LEFT-FIELD PLAYERS

TRAINING TIP #1
Smith loves this
tennis ball drill: Someone
stands 5m away from
him, then drops a tennis
ball; Smith must run and
catch it before it bounces
twice, then sprint
another 5m, training
reaction time, agility
and coordination. Do
4 reps per set, then rest
90 secs; do 3 sets.

TRAINING TIP #2
To build single-leg
strength and athleticism,
Smith does single-leg
bounds. To do them,
stand on your right foot.
Bend your right knee,
then leap forwards,
landing on your right
foot. Do this for 10m.
Do 2 sets per side.

coaches, who encourage their receivers momentum. Smith can decelerate his he’s trying to run past them or slow
to put their hands on opposing entire body with either leg. He can also down. If the ball does come his way, he
defenders at the start of every play, leap off either leg at almost any angle, turns on the afterburners to blow past
essentially ‘sparring’ with them to create a skill that was on display when he everyone. ‘Deception: just make it all
room to run each route. ‘I just straight up played the Washington Commanders look the same,’ Smith says. ‘I never go
tell them, “No, it’s not going to happen,”’ last September. Just before halftime, up against anyone and feel like I don’t
Smith says. ‘I’m going to do what I’m he sprinted 40m downfield, then have a chance. I’m going to get open.’
good at, and I’m going to stick with it... leaped between two defenders and Despite the big numbers and big
I want to feel comfortable that I’ve done pirouetted his torso to make a catch plays, though, he knows he’s still often
the right things the way I wanted to.’ with his back just shy of the goal line. underestimated. And he’s happy to
Smith prefers to use his single-leg He blends that athleticism with a take advantage of that. ‘Sometimes,
quickness and explosiveness to create repertoire of well-honed fakes. When you know, it’s delivering a message
separation against defenders, and he knows there’s no chance of getting to let them know that this is not what
he leans into these qualities when the ball, Smith will sometimes pump you think it is,’ he says. ‘I’m small,
training. When bigger bodies try to his arms hard, as if going full tilt, while but you’re not going to bully me.’
decelerate or change direction, they slowing to a stutter step with his legs, You’d have to catch him first.
often need a step or two to control their leaving defenders uncertain whether

MEN’S HEALTH 75
 The
Psychobabble
Of Everyday Life
From narcissistic bosses to traumatised exes to gaslighting politicians
to triggered colleagues, the lexicon of the psychiatric couch has
permeated our culture. But does the rise of therapy-speak mean
that we’ve become more emotionally and psychologically
literate? Or is self-analysis just a byword for self-obsession?

Words by Will Self – Illustrations by Celyn Brazier

I
‘And you’re worried that he has…?’ I interrupted I don’t help either, I know, when I
– and he filled the gap as if this were some oral point out to her that, given the nature
multiple-choice test, ‘OCD, yes.’ of this ‘diagnosis’, she might as well say
Here’s another example. A friend tells me about that her cousin has a bad character, so
the difficult time she’s been having trying to help be done with it – and quite possibly her
a cousin. The young woman is capricious, has – at the same time. My friend obviously
unsafe sex with dodgy men, blames everything doesn’t like this at all and simply
on her parents and can’t hold down a job because carries on talking as if I’ve said nothing.
she’s consistently abusive to her superiors. ‘Of My colleague’s case is different:
course,’ my friend says, as if this settles the OCD, or obsessive compulsive
matter, ‘she’s got borderline.’ disorder, certainly exists and there
Got borderline? A strange locution, certainly, is some evidence that it’s associated
but just as with my colleague, I know precisely with an organic dysfunction. But to
what she’s driving at in her desperation for take one instance of nervy fidgeting
asked a colleague how he was and, what we might call – if we were also psycho- as symptomatic of what can be a
being a conscientious parent, he began babbling – closure. By ‘borderline’ she means terrible and disabling malady suggests
talking about the welfare of one of his ‘borderline personality disorder’, a supposed a willingness to pathologise – and
children rather than his own. His son mental pathology – or illness – that has no defined pathologise one’s own child, moreover
is about to sit his GCSEs and revision aetiology, progression or cure. Yes, that’s right: – that’s simply off the scale.
isn’t going well – a bit like the Homer this collection of behaviours-masquerading-
Simpson gag, every time the kid learns as-symptoms conforms to none of the criteria Below The Surface
something new, what knowledge he that actually define an organic disease entity. Or is it? Around the turn of the
already has seems to fall out of the back And yet here’s this intelligent and loving relative 20th century, Sigmund Freud, the
of his head. The other evening, as my bestowing it quite casually on the troubled unfashionably paternalistic father
colleague was trying to help him revise, individual she’s seeking to help. of modern psychotherapy, wrote a
he noticed – to his horror – that his son book called The Psychopathology Of
was aligning all the objects on the table Everyday Life, in which he introduces
over and over again, first one way, then the notion of parapraxis, or, as it’s more
another. commonly known, a ‘Freudian slip’.

It suggests
The idea is simple,
if capable of almost
a willingness limitless elaboration:

to pathologise although the

mistakes we make
that’s simply when speaking

off the scale appear much of

the time to be
altogether random, they are in fact
evidence of our repressed fears,
desires and even opinions.
A banal – if amusing – example
of this would be Robert Peston
accidentally referring to the Chancellor
of the Exchequer as ‘Jeremy Cunt’ live
on his television programme. It’s almost
impossible not to reach the conclusion
that whatever his usual blandishments
when it comes to serving politicians,
Peston thinks Hunt a less than optimal
person. But if Freud and his disciples
view vocal errors as indicative of an
underlying psychopathology that the
individual concerned is unaware of,
what can we make of the commonplace
use of words and phrases drawn from
the psy-disciplines (psychology,
psychotherapy, psychiatry) and
applied to everyday situations?
I’ve decided to call this – in
homage to Freud – the psychobabble
of everyday life; and although I
don’t think this is an exclusively

78 MEN’S HEALTH
 MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

contemporary phenomenon – every borrowed from Carl Jung, Freud’s erstwhile coined in 1970 by the developmental
era spouts its own jargon – I do disciple and rival), and Freud’s own ‘anal’ psychologist, Mary Ainsworth.)
believe we’re reaching a sort of peak and ‘oral’ personality types, as well. Around the same time – and
psychobabble. Moreover, whereas But it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that I noticed again, this originated in the 12-step
the Freudian method allows for the the spread of such technical terms into wider movement and its associated therapies
explanation of such parapraxes – society and their mounting misapplication – as if – people began talking a lot about
and potentially the resolution of shrinks had been indulging in Chinese whispers ‘self-care’, which was something
underlying conflicts they reveal with their clients. The first I can recall being used that we needed to do, especially if
– our psychobabble acts as a sort widely was ‘co-dependent’. This isn’t altogether we’d ‘cathected’ (another Freudian
of smokescreen. One that not only surprising: I’d been in rehab myself and was term meaning ‘attached’) to ‘toxic
obscures our psychology from associating with a lot of people who attended people’ (psychologist Lillian Glass,
ourselves, but also renders us complicit 12-step meetings (AA, NA, etc). The term had 1995). Throughout this period there
with therapies and practices that we been coined in the 1950s specifically to was, unsurprisingly, more and more
neither necessarily endorse, nor even describe people who get themselves trapped babbling about ‘projecting’ – another
entirely understand. in relationships with alcoholics and addicts. of Papa Sigmund’s faves – almost
The idea that there’s something self-destructive certainly an unconscious reflection
Contradiction In Terms about this behaviour has obvious force – and its of the tendency people had to do just
I first noted the rise of psychobabble realisation by the individuals concerned may this by pathologising others.
in… well, to be frank, growing up with well help them to move on. But within a few years By the time we reached the new
a mother who was obsessed with the I heard all manner of people referring to their millennium, our ordinary speech was
psy-disciplines; whose best friend relationships as co-dependent, even though bedizened with these coinages. Now,
was a psychiatrist; and who herself they were with people who weren’t addicts. no conversation about our topsy-
had undergone a relatively early From there on the pullulation of psychobabble turvy lives and our troubled loves is
psychoanalysis in the 1950s. I moved proceeded apace. By the 1990s, plenty of people complete without the addition of a
pretty much straight from babbling to talked perfectly casually about their ‘coping liberal dollop of psychobabble: there’s
psycho-babbling about ‘introverted’ mechanisms’ (first used by psychologist Abraham a lot of ‘processing’, plenty of ‘feeling’
and ‘extroverted’ personalities (terms Maslow in 1941), and the ‘avoidant attachment
styles’ that go with them. (This latter term was

MEN’S HEALTH 79
– although, despite whatever we originally known as ‘shell shock’), I catastrophically. Think pandemic
emote, we still feel ‘unheard’. And even believe that the incorporation of these disease or tsunami – depending which
when we are heard, our hearers aren’t babble-bites into our data-stream end of the world economic spectrum
properly ‘listening’ – inattention that, nevertheless reflects a very real – if your society is situated. Or, if you’re
given our traumatic childhoods, may underlying – state of affairs. The fact in the top five percentile, consider
all too often prove ‘triggering’. is that there probably are more autists the meltdowns you have when the
around today, due to a phenomenon internet goes down.
Not To Scale called ‘associative mating’, whereby So, I’d contend that our psycho-
This last example has been uttered better communications enable all sorts babbling absolutely is an expression
more – and more loudly – than perhaps of people to find others like them, and of a collective psychic reality – but that
any other piece of psychobabble. On so propagate… others like them. the particular frequency it achieves,
the surface, it seems to belong with And I’d hazard that there’s more and the form it takes, are a function
those mushy adaptations of ordinary trauma about in the world nowadays of what might as well be described as
language associated with the more as well, given it strikes hardest when ‘psy-fashions’, so suddenly do they
touchy-feely end of the psy-spectrum. people have lapsed into a sort of emerge, so completely do they possess
But as with the ‘spectrum’ itself, comprehensive inattention – one us and so expeditiously do they depart.
triggering derives from a psychological obscuring the extent to which their Perhaps the best way for us to
condition that – it’s maintained by own safety depends on technologies understand these psy-fashions is to
some psy-folk – has been present in that may fail suddenly and
all times and places, but which has
only been properly identified and
scientifically characterised in our
own wondrous and progressive era.
The idea of a spectrum was
originated to explain the continuities
and congruences between profound
autism and what formerly had been
known as Asperger’s syndrome. Now
it’s used for all other sliding scales
of neuro-atypicality (think ADHD or
dyspraxia). But, of course, it also forms
a spectrum of its own – one that enables
people to situate each other on a snake
slithering down to psychological
suffering. Or a ladder ascending to
that local heaven ubiquitously referred
to as ‘mental health’.
This is a realm where all those
childhood traumas are left behind –
and not just childhood ones, for just as
we’re all on one spectrum or another
nowadays, so we’re all traumatised.
Indeed, such is the ubiquity with
which people subscribe to trauma,
both on their own behalf and that of
others, that the self-same friend who
referred to her cousin as ‘borderline’
has, while I’ve been writing this piece,
texted me casually referring to ‘PTSD’
(that’s post-traumatic stress disorder),
contracted on holiday in Athens, where
she witnessed a particularly noisy
fireworks display.

Digging Deeper
Now, while it may be insufferable to
hear people ascribe to themselves a
level of suffering usually associated
with either a violent accident, or being
under enemy fire without respite for
a period of hours or days (PTSD was

80 MEN’S HEALTH
 MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

unpick them a little. In theory, the diagnosis of a strident campaigns trying to address are defaulting to their prescription
mental illness or disability should put paid to at this stigma, and the inability of the pads, hence the pills.
least some moral judgements when it comes to NHS to practise anything near so- The message this sends is conflicted.
aberrant behaviour – this is enshrined in law as called ‘parity of esteem’ (the allocation On the one hand the patient is being
the idea of ‘diminished responsibility’. We don’t of the same resources to the treatment told their misery is a sort of chemical
normally hold psychotic people to be guilty of of psychological and physical depletion in their brain – one that can
responding, even criminally, to voices we cannot maladies). Most of us have another be alleviated with a little go-go juice
hear – and more recently, it’s spectrum when it comes for neurons. Meanwhile, on the other,
become less acceptable to judge The technical to such judgements: he’s being told he needs to develop a
alcoholics or addicts for drinking
vocabulary severely mentally ill better way of talking to himself about

implies there’s
excessively or taking drugs, as people we tend to absolve his problems, and a concomitant
the ‘disease theory’ of addiction – mild neurotics (who insight into the social and experiential
would imply that they aren’t a solution to nonetheless babble on to origins of those problems.
responsible for their actions
any more than the psychotic. our distress us about their problems),
we’re more inclined to
Under such circumstances, is it so
surprising that people reach into their
This wasn’t always the case. see as blameworthy. grab-bag of terms to describe mental
Of course, the idea that we now collectively ‘Pull yourself together!’ we scream illnesses – and methods of procuring
never judge in this way is nonsense. Bad mental internally, as for the umpteenth time mental health – pretty much at random?
health remains a reason to shun and be shunned they tell us about their – very obviously Often, they’re simply looking for a
for the vast majority, a fact attested to co-dependent – relationship. technical vocabulary that implies that
publicly by the increasingly there’s an achievable solution to their
Doctor’s Orders distress. Yes, it’s annoying, but telling
But if this spectrum runs on one axis, the psycho-babblers to spend a few years
there’s another that bisects it at the – or decades – studying psychology in
perpendicular, and which leads to the all its forms is hardly likely to make you
most egregious mental malapropism. popular. Neither will advocating that
This is the spectrum that runs all psychotic people should be subjected
the way from an entirely physical to exorcism gain you many fans – even
explanation of a mental illness or among practising Christians. Because
disability to one that’s either psychic this confusion between whether
or social. For example, ‘He’s put on we’re mad or bad, and whether that
so much weight precisely because madness is a result of organic or psychic
of the prevailing fat-shaming…’ dysfunction, isn’t only the province of
The British psychiatric bodies like the ignorant and the stupid.
to claim their own model for mental On the contrary, some of the most
pathology is ‘biological-social- learned and intelligent people in our
psychological’, and so gives equal society are just as confused – and their
weight to all of these possible forms of confusions have resulted in precisely
explanation or judgement. But clinical the psy-fashions that give rise to
psychologists and psychotherapists psychobabble. It’s these luminaries
tend to give greater emphasis to the who came up with ‘dementia praecox’
psychic and social causes. The truth is – and then decided it was actually
each of the psy-professions explains ‘schizophrenia’; these sages who
mental illness according to what its coined the term ‘manic depressive’,
own therapies actually address. In then went on to discard it in favour
sociology this is called ‘professional of ‘bipolar’. And it’s also these ‘experts’
closure’: only lawyers can do lawyering. in the human condition who have
The confusion this introduces into been squabbling for more than 150
the lives of those who are mentally years over whether mental illnesses
distressed is only too obvious in are discrete disease entities, or
ordinary medical practice: for the past whether they, too, exist on some
decade or so, the front-line response kind of spectrum.
to patients presenting to their GPs as And throughout this entire period
‘depressed’ has meant to be a referral nothing much has changed when
to a therapist rather than a prescription it comes to – in Papa Sigmund’s
for one of the SSRIs (selective serotonin formulation – turning hysterical misery
reuptake inhibitors – drugs such as into commonplace unhappiness. And
Seroxat and Prozac). In practice, given on that basis, I don’t anticipate any
the costs associated with the talking significant decline in psycho-babbling
therapies – and the lack of actual in the foreseeable future.
practitioners available – doctors

MEN’S HEALTH 81
15 Smart
Ways To
Get Ahead
In Life (By
Doing
Little
Things
Better)
Self-improvement needn’t be a slog. You can
make gains – both marginal and meaningful –
simply by approaching your day-to-day tasks
with a little extra know-how. We raided the MH
archives to compile these truly life-enhancing tips
from our expert contributors. It’s time to level up

82 MEN’S HEALTH
FILL YOUR HEAD
WITH THESE TIPS
AND TOOLS

MEN’S HEALTH 83
 LEARNING THE LINGO?
TRY TALKING TO ANYONE 03 SMALL TALK NEEDN’T
WHO WILL LISTEN
Run A BE A BIG EFFORT

Faster 5K
By Andy Baddeley,
Olympian and former
UK parkrun record holder

The toughest part is

from 3km to 4km.

01
This is where people’s
focus and pace drift.
To run a PB, you need
to hit 3km, then push
(but not sprint).
Avoid early burnout

Master by knowing where

your ‘red line’ is and
A New Language staying on the right
side of it. In training, 04
do intervals with short
Become A
By Benny Lewis, who speaks 10 languages and is the
author of Fluent In 3 Months
recovery times, and
Whatever you practise doing is what you’ll become good
recognise the moment Natural At
at. So, if you write out German cue cards, you’ll just be great
at writing German cue cards. I recommend conversing in the
when you dig too deep
and have to back off. Networking
language from day one. Find an affordable teacher online, The quickest way to By Lynn Scott, business coach and
then find some fluent speakers to socialise with. Totally lose speed – and risk leadership consultant
immerse yourself: read books in the language, listen to injury – is to lose form

(PREVIOUS SPREAD) PHOTOGRAPHY: JOBE LAWRENSON. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: STUDIO 33. DIGITAL MANIPULATION: SCRATCHINPOST.CO.UK
songs, watch subtitled boxsets. Dedicate as much time when tired. Stay tall, Charismatic people make others feel
as you can to it for the first three months – you can good about themselves. So the more
always dial it down a bit after that.
relax your shoulders you think charisma is about impressing
and breathe steadily. the room with your wit and anecdotes,
Done right, a 5K is the less likely you are to achieve this

02
going to hurt. The best aim (and the more likely you are to be
way to prepare for this seen as a self-centred tool).
is to train smart. Keep
Finally Stop your recovery periods
short and get used to
Our attention spans are short,
so you need to make a good first

Procrastinating running on tired legs.

If you can do it in
impression. Never rush as you
enter the room. Take your time
By James Clear, author of bestseller Atomic Habits to look around and find a spot to
training, race-day settle in. You’ll appear in full control.
01/ Focus on identity, to write a blog, sit down and adrenaline will make
not outcomes. Don’t think, write every weekend, even it feel easier. The more nervous you are, the more
‘I want to be great at playing if you have nothing to say. effort you should put into helping
guitar.’ Think, ‘I want to be others feel at ease. Approach the
a man who gives time to 04/ Scale down tough person who’s standing alone and have
his passions.’ tasks. Need to deep-clean a good opening question. They’ll be
the kitchen cupboards? Give delighted someone has made it easier
02/ Be specific about when it five minutes every night. for them, and others will notice their
and where you will do things. Starting is the hard bit. delight and want to speak to you, too.
You won’t paint the hall ‘at
some point’ – you’ll paint 05/ Practise ‘temptation Finally, don’t drink too much. You
it from 11am to 4pm this bundling’: pair dull tasks with might think you’re more charismatic
coming Sunday. things you enjoy to form when you’ve had a few but – let’s be
new, positive associations. honest – the opposite is actually more
03/ Don’t wait for Logging your expenses? likely to be true.
inspiration. If you want That’s Netflix time.

84 MEN’S HEALTH
 Helping Hacks

05 SOUND SLEEP? IT ALL

STARTS IN YOUR HEAD 08
Stop A Add
Stitch As Kilos
Soon As To Your
It Starts Big Lifts
By Stephen Adjaidoo, By Khrys Speed, athlete,
marathon runner, weightlifting coach and
triathlete and the founder founder of Ronin Strength
of LDN Brunch Club
As a weightlifter, I know
Stitches are just it can be tempting to try for
spasms of your new PBs every time you’re
diaphragm and are in the gym. But if you’re
more common in constantly taxing your
people who take system like that, it’s hard to
execute your lifts with quality
shallow breaths and recover properly.
[during exercise]. To get a bigger clean, for
Press two fingers example, you need a bigger

06
upwards at the direct squat – and to get a bigger
point of pain for 10 squat, you need a range of
seconds. Breathe intensities and reps.
and keep pressing My advice would be to stop
maxing out in every session,
towards your ribs. and instead find your own
Stretch, too. Most ‘minimum effective dose’.
stitches are on the
right, so raise your Fall Asleep Faster Yes, it’s fun to try for a new
one-rep max, but if you do
right hand and lean
to the left. In future, (When Your your accessory work and
focus on increasing the

Mind Is Buzzing)
(THIS SPREAD) PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY. ARTWORK: PETER CROWTHER AT DEBUT ART. ILLUSTRATIONS: BEN MOUNSEY-WOOD

avoid high-fat foods amount you can lift using

a 5x5 rep scheme – classic
before you run; they By Alison Gardiner, co-founder of NHS-endorsed for strength development
take longer to digest, sleep programme Sleepstation – it’ll transfer to your top-
which can trigger end strength quickly.
stitches. Save the First, stop clock-watching. Anything that heightens
eggs and avocado your anxiety will only compound the problem. Don’t spend
for afterwards. too long tossing and turning, either. Your brain needs to
associate bed with sleep. Get up for 15 minutes or so and
read a book in the living room; keep the lights dimmed and
get back into bed only when you start to feel drowsy. If that
doesn’t work, try counting down from 900 in sevens. It’s
dull, but complicated mental tasks can help to silence
your inner monologue and put you in a meditative state.
Most importantly of all? Do not touch your phone.

07
Survive A
Caught
unprepared for
your next ‘ideas
meeting’? You
01/ Dominate
The Field
It’s vital that
you open the meeting, not
02/ Engage
On Your Terms
Within the first five
minutes, suggest a date for a
03/ Initiate
Interrogation
Finally, invite an
irrelevant staff member so
Boardroom needn’t resort to
surreptitiously
them – this is your chance
to set the agenda. As an
follow-up meeting to finalise
any decisions. This reframes
you can ask questions on
their behalf (‘Could you run
Ambush googling under
the desk. Take
icebreaker, bring up a recent,
controversial news story. As
today’s talks as more
‘exploratory’ and reduces
through Project X, just so
Mike’s clued up?’). You’ll
By Matthew Ollerton,
former SAS soldier, author control and debate ensues, it’ll buy you the odds that you’ll have to soon be fully briefed, without
and TV personality wing your way more time to think. make any real commitments. giving the game away.
through it.

MEN’S HEALTH 85
09
Harness Your
CLOCK UP A BETTER
MORNING ROUTINE 12
Look
Creative Side Great In
By stand-up comedian, writer and
podcaster Richard Herring
Photos
By Chris Floyd, celebrity
portrait photographer,
Whether it’s a passion project filmmaker and author
or a big pitch, use Herring’s advice of Not Just Pictures
to knuckle down and ignore any
distractions that are heckling you. It comes down to
Set a deadline and make sure
lighting, composition,
you stay accountable. angles – all stuff that
I’m quite a lazy person, but I work well the photographer
under pressure. There’s no hiding place controls. But there’s
in my job and the fear of humiliation one thing that’s under
spurs me on. As long as I have a bit too your control: the
much on my plate, I can create stuff just attitude you take into
in time. It’s painful and scary, but these
can be good conditions for creativity.
the experience. It’s
about how you feel,
Work the way you want to, not how you can relax
and how you respond

10
the way you’re told to.
I try to convince myself that if I worked to the camera and the
hard for four hours every day, I wouldn’t photographer. Be
have to cram in 18-hour writing sessions loose, be open, engage
against deadlines. But, for me, creativity
thrives on fear and chaos. You can slave
with the camera. If
over a routine for weeks, then the perfect you show it love, it
will give you love back.
line will come to you in the white heat
of performance. If lists help you, make Wake Up
them – but I do better with a whirlwind
of pandemonium that I have to harness. Without Caffeine
By Rob Hobson, sports nutritionist
Remember why you started.
In the past, I’ve been too obsessed with Train in the morning – outdoors if the option is available.
my work – but it’s something that I love Or at least walk/cycle to the gym. Exposure to plenty of
and am endlessly fascinated by. If I had daylight in the mornings can help to reset your circadian
another job, this is what I would do in my

PHOTOGRAPHY: JOBE LAWRENSON; ROWAN FEE; DAVID NEWTON. ILLUSTRATIONS: BEN MOUNSEY-WOOD
rhythm. Consider a 30-second cold shower before your
spare time. Accept the struggle. It means workout. It can help improve alertness. Then kick off
you care. It means you want to do your the session with five minutes of cardio to get your heart
job well. People who seem just to breeze pumping. If a post-gym espresso’s off the cards, try
through are either good actors or don’t picking up a ginger shot on the way in to work. Or brew
give a shit about what they’re doing. a spicy ‘tea’ with fresh ginger and lemon juice.

11
Negotiate
‘The last thing
you want to do
is to walk in and
just demand
01/ Come
Prepared
Do your research.
Identify the market rate
02/ Seek To
Cooperate
You’re dealing with
human beings with similar
03/ Listen,
Don’t Ask
It’s not all about
you, so try to understand the

A Pay Rise more money,’

says Walker.
for your role. Practise the
conversation with some
emotions and needs as you.
You need to name these to
other person before being
understood. Bring more
By Scott Walker, former ‘That’s the role-playing exercises ahead tame them, eg, ‘It sounds curiosity than assumption to
hostage negotiator and quickest way of time, identifying likely like you’re frustrated with…’ the table. Listen more than
author of Order Out Of to be shown the objections your boss might Never underestimate the you talk, particularly to what
Chaos: How To Become A door.’ Instead, use so you can raise them power of likeability and isn’t being said. Use open
World-Class Communicator apply these first. Be open to the idea of being pleasant. Building ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions to
And Win Every Negotiation three principles: non-monetary results, too, trust will encourage encourage the other person
such as extra annual leave. long-term cooperation. to help you find a solution.

86 MEN’S HEALTH
 Helping Hacks

13
Say ‘No’ To
Your Boss
15
Deliver A Killer
Presentation
By Greg McKeown, author of
the efficiency bible Essentialism

It’s a difficult word to master, but being By James Healy, communications consultant at TheShift
honest about your workload will save
you a lot of pain. Here’s your new script: Edit out the energy and focus seconds. Try using

14
conditional wondering: what images instead.
MH Hi there, Greg. How’s it going? language. Maybes, was that hairdresser
Great. Look, I know you’re busy, but potentiallys, sort-ofs thinking? Do these Remembering lines
and kind-ofs all work glasses make me look in public rarely
Be More
I need your help with a project…
wonders for Hugh like Michael Caine? makes for a killer

Patient
Grant characters presentation. Learn
McKeown No. written by Richard Heed the word your key phrases,

MH Excuse me? With Curtis. They obscure

clarity and undermine
in the middle of
‘rehearse’. It isn’t
bulletpoint the rest
and use images on
People authority when
presenting. Get rid.
‘arse’ – it’s ‘hear’. If you
haven’t heard your
your slides as your
guide. If you’re
McKeown What I mean is, I’d By Andy Puddicombe, presentation out loud recounting verbatim
love to help if I can. Can you tell founder of meditation Be quick, be clear, a number of times the notes in your
me more about it? app Headspace be gone. Rambling you haven’t rehearsed PowerPoint, you
overtures make for it. Mumbling it in might as well save
We might assume increased airtime in the shower or when everyone the trouble
MH It’s a big job for a big client. And I that kindness which to screw up. walking the dog won’t and send them the
need it done by the end of the week. Always make time cut it. Rehearse at deck to read.
and generosity are
for a final pass to performance pitch.
characteristics that condense your Or you’ll wind up Know your stuff.
McKeown Okay. But I have to occur naturally, presentation to on your arse. Elementary but
deliver on this other piece of work but in reality, they the essentials. paramount.
from the CEO. It’s critical. require cultivation. Never put more
Meditating, even if Hide the self-view than 40 words on Think of your voice

MH This is critical as well.

it’s just for 10 minutes, when presenting a slide. Preferably as a keyboard. When
can help. It helps us online. It’s not normal fewer. It takes the presenting, add three
for human beings to average human 15 more notes to the
to step outside of our look at themselves for seconds to read 40 upper range of it and
McKeown I’m happy to tell the CEO I thinking and realise protracted periods. words. Ideally, you three more notes to
need to reschedule, but I think we can that we have more We all have an ego want the audience lower range. This will
find a better way to approach this. time than we thought. and will often to understand your mitigate the dreary,
We focus less on our expend slide in just three monotone, corporate

MH Can’t you come in early for the rest

internal storylines. significant sound that drives
Then, at the end of emotional many audiences to
of the week and get both done? their phones.
each day, write down
three things that
McKeown If we look at the went well, no matter
work I’m doing, we can discuss how trivial, and list
what you’d like me to de-
prioritise to take on the new task.
three people you
appreciate. These
two simple exercises
MH You can’t get both done? create the conditions
for us to live a kinder,
McKeown If I don’t do a series of happier life, not only
things for one client, then yes, I can. for ourselves, but for
What should I de-prioritise to do that? those around us.

MH Tell you what, Steve can

do it instead. Have a good day.

MEN’S HEALTH 87
 ROPRACTOR
AMOUS CHI
E’S MOST F
UTUB
HOW YO

N YO U TU BE.
R MILLIONSO IS FAST
D J S FO W
OKE BEAU HIGHTO T A TIME E R
NECKS AN RS A
HE CRACOKPSRACTOR TO THE SPTOAP, CLICK AND WINCE
CHIR R HIMSELF, ONE BY LAUREN LARSON
COMING A STA WORDS
BE

88 MEN’S HEALTH
CHIROPRACTOR BEAU HIGHTOWER
HAMMERS OUT THE NECK PAIN OF A
TRUCK DRIVER FOR A VOLVO ADVERT
 top and bottom with orange and yellow
trainers, she appears camera-ready
but for her Ugg slippers. She’s wearing
clinical setting matching brown Lululemon separates and
is the stage looks impossibly dewy and fresh-faced –
on which especially given Albuquerque’s parched air.
he performs She and Dr Hightower have just returned
chiropractic from receiving stem-cell therapy in
adjustments Colombia – face and scalp treatments for
on fighters, her, joint treatments for him – and her skin
fitness models, fellow is as strong a testimonial for stem-cell
YouTube stars and, procedures as I need. (As influencers, the
increasingly, celebrities couple received these treatments for free,
such as Ludacris and which they recommend because stem-cell
Action Bronson therapy is quite expensive.)
for millions of Next, Dr Hightower instructs Waterson
viewers. His to lie on the table on her back. He stands,
YouTube channel, then kneels, behind her head, hands on
@DrBeauHightower, has over 1.6 million either side of her neck. DeLeon Hightower
subscribers and the most watched videos swoops in close on Waterson’s face. This
there are two kinds of chiropractic patients. Some on the channel boast 12m views. will be one of the most replayed moments in
withdraw into themselves, becoming silent and Waterson, who has been a patient for the eventual YouTube video. Dr Hightower,
tense as their therapist applies defibrillator-strength 10 years, is a favourite guest not just of very focused, pauses, building anticipation
movements to their spinal joints. Then there are audiences but also of Dr Hightower, both for what’s to come. Then his hands move,
those who react. The mixed martial artist and model for her facial expressions (she once gazed rattlesnake quick, and the spectacle that
Michelle Waterson is the latter. ‘Ayeeeeeeee,’ she up at him with a look of betrayal so pitiful draws millions of viewers to every video
cries out, as chiropractor Beau Hightower digs his that he dissolved into laughter) and for arrives: a multi-part crack, with each
thumbs into the muscles between her neck and her general theatricality (‘I told you to be subsequent sound as satisfying as a jump
right shoulder, his fingers straddling the strap of her gentle!’). The two talk amiably throughout from a skimmed stone.
lilac crop top. She delivers a long, pitiful mock wail. her adjustment. At one point, she breezily
Dr Hightower, 39, smiles over his white-streaked describes accidentally popping a woman’s HAMMERING IT OUT
black beard. It’s March, and they’re in his office elbow out of place during a fight. ‘Is it Those who understand joint cracks as
on the second floor of the labyrinthine Jackson better to just pop it back in right away?’ metaphysical gifts from our bodies may be
Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New she asks Dr Hightower. ‘I can’t give disappointed by the scientific explanation
Mexico. Dr Hightower is the director of sports specific medical advice on that,’ he replies. for a crack: it’s a chemical reaction in which
medicine at Jackson Wink, and he also takes Although Dr Hightower has a doctorate in some of the liquid in the joints between
patients through the practice he founded in 2013, ‘chiropractic’ – the proper term for this bones becomes a gas, forming a nitrogen
Elite Ortho-Therapy and Sports Medicine, which discipline – from Parker University in bubble. This reaction is caused by a strong
has five offices spread across the United States. Dallas, Texas, and uses the honorific, mechanical force – for instance, the sudden
When Waterson arrived, they made small he does not claim to be a medical doctor. motion of Dr Hightower’s hands. When
talk for 10 minutes before Dr Hightower’s wife, All the while, Dr Hightower’s wife drifts you crack your back on a foam roller, you’re
Brazilian model and fitness personality Lais around with the camera. Because the couple experiencing a bunch of tiny ‘explosions’.
DeLeon Hightower, holding a camera, lassoed typically travel together anyway, she’s Dr The sound you hear, explains Lisa
their conversation with a pleasant but sharp, Hightower’s de facto cameraperson. Before DeStefano, the chair of Michigan State
‘Let’s do this.’ Dr Hightower assumed a showman’s Waterson’s appointment began, DeLeon University College of Osteopathic
volume and intonation instantly. ‘What’s going Hightower had said she was ‘not very good’ Medicine’s department of osteopathic
on out there in YouTube land?’ he asked loudly, at filming, but she moves confidently and manipulative medicine, is actually not
like an old-school radio-show host, facing the steadily, always perfectly positioned to the sound of that chemical reaction
camera and leaning over Waterson, who was capture the higher-drama moments of occurring. ‘It’s the negative force,’ she
laughing at the jarring switch-flip. Generally, the adjustment. There’s nothing casual- says. ‘It’s like,’ – she makes a clucking
he opens the show this way, with a sudden burst clinical about DeLeon Hightower. While
of cheesy animation, and in at least one instance

LIO NS O
her husband wears a black scrubs-like

IL F
he has leaped on to the table, going from a

AT DRAWS M RA CK
TH T C
standing position to all fours with chimp-like

ENT - PA R
THE MOM ARRIVES: A MULTI ED STONE
agility, while delivering the greeting. ‘Today we’re
back with one of our all-time favourite patients

VIEWERS FYING AS A SKIMM

here: Michelle Waterson, the karate hottie.’
‘Please be nice to me,’ Waterson said. ‘I don’t
want to cry today.’

AS SATIS
Now she’s seated on one of two padded tables,
and Dr Hightower is not being nice. The casually

90 MEN’S HEALTH
 POP IDOL

like to hear the crack, and they like

to see a patient reacting to it, too.
‘Clinically speaking, it doesn’t
necessarily matter how loud it is,’
Dr Hightower says of a crack. But he
adds that he’d be lying if he denied
that his and DeLeon Hightower’s
eyes light up whenever a patient
experiences a really loud one.
Dr Hightower does interview
his patients in a sense, though his
questions aren’t just anti-‘gotcha’
but anodyne. Still, it’s compelling
to watch celebrities attempt to
talk about what kind of music they
like, for instance, while they’re in
an extreme state of vulnerability.
He compares the effect to that of
Hot Ones, the star-studded show
hosted by fellow YouTuber Sean
Evans, which features A-list
celebrity guests eating increasingly
spicy chicken wings while they
answer his questions.
Chiropractic videos also offer an
unu­sual intimacy, and Dr Hightower
understands both the ASMR-like
appeal of his work and the fact that
the voyeuristic thrill can easily
veer into something less tasteful.
(For example, ‘massage table’ is its
own pornographic genre.) Viewers
TOP: BEAU HIGHTOWER USES SEVERAL TECHNIQUES
AND TOOLS THAT PLAY WELL ON CAMERA are most likely to click on videos
RIGHT: LAIS DELEON HIGHTOWER OCCASIONALLY that feature heavily muscled men
CO-STARS IN VIDEOS WITH HER HUSBAND or women who ‘have certain curves
or whatever’, he says. ‘We want them
sound with her tongue – ‘we can cluck, to be clickable, but we also don’t
right? And the reason why we cluck is want them to get demonetised or be
because we’re causing a negative force unprofessional.’ So far, he seems to
to occur on the roof of our mouth. The know exactly how far to push.
noise is more or less that negative force
mechanically releasing.’ CRACKING YOUTUBE
For anyone who enjoys the sound Dr Hightower stumbled into YouTube
and the sensation of receiving an fame. A little more than a decade ago,
adjustment, it can be addictive. Dr after he graduated from chiropractic
DeStefano attributes this in part to the system is fully activated as it awaits a response. school, he began working at a national
endorphins created by manipulation. And as soon as that response occurs, the body clinic that specialises in acute pain
When someone is applying pressure to experiences a moment of shock. and muscle and joint injuries. (It’s
a joint, she points out, it’s very difficult If this explanation happens to bring orgasms very anti-crack, instead using chiefly
to relax. ‘You’re anticipating this very (their own genre of explosion) to mind, that’s soft tissue manipulation.) He joined
quick, very small, high-velocity reaction allowed. The autonomic nervous system regulates the company in Dallas and then
from the clinician that you’re going to the body’s involuntary processes, which include switched into a more corporate role
respond to in some way’ – by relaxing, sexual arousal. And in fact it can feel slightly based in Ohio. In 2012, he moved to
hopefully. There’s tremendous erotic watching someone have an involuntary Albuquerque, where his family lives
expectation in those moments before audible reaction to a process occurring under and where, helpfully, Jackson Wink
a crack comes, ‘when they’re adding the skin; some video subjects’ reactions seem was a major MMA destination. Dr
that force and adding it slowly and almost comically pornographic. Viewers Hightower already had experience
getting it right to that sweet spot of Dr Hightower’s videos seem to share in the working with UFC champions at
where all they have to do is a teeny anticipation of adjustments. One time, he the previous clinic, so the facility
little nudge where everything goes made a video in which he cut away before each hired him. Initially, he wasn’t doing
blahhhhhh’. The autonomic nervous crack as an experiment. It turned out to be the
most unliked video on the channel. Viewers

MEN’S HEALTH 91
POP IDOL

any chiropractic adjustments, but when you hover over the progress bar below it, DR HIGHTOWER CRACKS CELEBRITY CLIENTS ON HIS
then several fighters from Europe viewers can navigate right to the climactic cracks. @DRBEAUHIGHTOWER YOUTUBE CHANNEL, INCLUDING
(FROM LEFT) RAPPER ACTION BRONSON, UFC FIGHTER JON
asked for them. Audiences also appear to be enchanted by
JONES, NWA WRESTLER TYRUS, RAPPER LUDACRIS AND
‘We just happened to film it on a clownish-looking oversized mallet and wedge MMA FIGHTERS ANTHONY PETTIS AND MICHELLE WATERSON
Instagram. And we put it up on there, Dr Hightower uses at intervals. The set of hammer
and it got like 800,000 views,’ Dr massage tools are traditionally used in Tok Sen Dr Hightower has noticed that he now
Hightower recalls. ‘So we did it again. therapy, an ancient Thai practice. ‘It can loosen has to be more strategic. He sees that
Same thing. [There] was like a million muscles,’ he explains. ‘If we’re going quickly with his competitors’ traffic is no longer
views. So that’s when we knew there it, it can trick the muscle into thinking it’s longer or booming, and because he and his
was something happening here.’ This shorter than it is, kind of like a vibrational gun.’ He fellow YouTube chiropractors have
happened about seven years ago, adapted the technique from eastern practitioners, historically grown their channels by
when chiropractic communities were he says – the tools are not usually bright red in eastern piggybacking off one another’s traffic,
beginning to form on YouTube. ‘You medicine – and honed it with instruction from a he wonders how this will affect his
have what they call “crack addicts” doctor from Holland. growth. But he’s serene about the
– the people [who] are just addicted More spectacular elements aside, his channel has future of the channel. ‘You have to look
to all these “crack” channels. And you grown exponentially, in part because of well-cast at these topics almost like TV shows,
have MMA fighters. So it was like two patients – the occasional A-lister, sure, but also with a five- or six-year run,’ he says.
overlapping audiences.’ god-tier crackees such as Waterson. Any salacity is He has become meticulous about how
Since then, the genre has earned typically mitigated by DeLeon Hightower’s presence often he posts – and makes sure that
a loyal following, and Dr Hightower’s (female guests are subject to her approval), and Dr what he posts is worth posting – but he
presence has grown wildly on Facebook, Hightower tries to include significant others in videos recognises that the tides of the internet
Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. On whenever possible, even if the titles (‘HAMMERED?! are sometimes out of his control. ‘At
a wall that’s diagonally opposite Dr Geo gets INTENSE BODYWORK while HUSBAND the end of the day, these channels are
Hightower’s diplomas are several WATCHES’) get cheeky sometimes. But audience entertainment. At some point, people
plaques commemorating his major behaviour is distilled in the ‘most replayed’ moments. get bored. The algorithm doesn’t like
YouTube milestones. Along the way, he When the subject of a video is a man, these moments you any more.’ If that time comes, Dr
has become a scholar of the internet, almost always indicate satisfying cracks. When the Hightower will still have Elite-OSM.
building his audience by collaborating subject is a woman, the moments generally include Though surely his channel has helped
with other You­Tubers. (He tends to cross cracks but also the random compromising angle him expand Elite-OSM by virtue of
over well working with ‘gun tubers’, he that might slip into a video. Dr Hightower sometimes expanding his personal brand, he
says.) ‘YouTube is its own animal. You receives criticism for supposedly featuring only keeps the business distinct from his
have to get a title and a thumbnail, women in his videos, which he regards as a reflection work on YouTube. The only nod to
and your timing has to be right.’ of the critics’ viewing preferences. Men actually his videos on the Elite-OSM website
Dr Hightower’s titles are often account for 61% of his guests, he says. is a recent ad he filmed for Volvo to
in all caps and deploy superlatives Whereas at the dawn of the crack-video genre

’S
whenever possible – eg, ‘The Most ‘you could post anything and it’d get a million views’,
*LUDACRIS* Adjustment of ALL

IGHTOWE R
DR H L CAPS
TIME?’ and ‘I CRACKED EVERY BONE

ITLES OF
THE T RE OFTEN IN AL – EG
IN MY WIFE’S BODY’, one of his most
popular videos, featuring DeLeon

VIDEOS ALOY SUPERLATIVESJUSTMENT

Hightower – and his thumbnail
images, sometimes pantomimed at
the end of appointments, frequently

AND DEPST *LUDACRIS* AD ED EVERY

show patients mid-crack, mouths
agape and eyes wide, panic giving

‘THE MO IME?’ AND ‘I CRACK

way to satisfaction. The YouTube
instalments, often about 45 minutes,

OF ALL T MY WIFE’S BODY’

are long even compared to many
contemporary TV shows. But with

BONE IN
YouTube’s ‘most replayed’ feature, in
which a video’s highlights are visible

92 MEN’S HEALTH
 promote the company’s new steering also the name of his practice, and he has Medicine?)’, but to a layperson the practices
technology, in which he did a series of 543,000 subscribers. ‘We show raw patient can appear to be quite similar.
adjustments on a group of truck drivers. experience from the time they walk in the Chiropractic treatment alone is unlikely
It’s as if he’s protecting the business door to the time they leave the adjustment,’ to indefinitely solve an underlying issue of
from the capriciousness of the internet. he says. ‘We don’t edit any of our videos.’ pain, and a significant criticism the practice’s
Johnson says that since he began detractors offer is that it’s built around patients
SPINE-TINGLING ACTION making videos, he’s noticed a shift in returning for treatment permanently. However,
The tension of making entertainment the attitude towards chiropractors, seeing a chiropractor can help to mitigate
out of a medical (or medical-ish) which has surely been catalysed by videos chronic pain in patients’ backs, necks and
process is omnipresent. In some ways, like Dr Hightower’s. Those who grew up shoulders, Dr Hightower says. ‘Which is not
chiropractic was ripe for this type of listening to chiropractic horror stories may nothing,’ he adds immediately, citing a high
treatment, just as dermatology was ripe re-evaluate after witnessing adjustments suicide risk among people with chronic pain.
for Sandra Lee, aka Dr Pimple Popper, on a parade of athletes, who have so much ‘Many of them get hooked on opiates.’
to lance the field wide open for the to lose in handing over their bodies to any Yet it’s impossible to separate service from
disgust and pleasure of a massive professional, and other celebrities (though entertainment, especially when Waterson is
audience. An adjustment yields results in my experience, actors in particular hold on the table. I thought her tectonic neck crack
that are very visceral in the moment, some very witchy beliefs about medicine). would be the climax of the episode, but now,
much like the removal of a decade-old Criticisms of Johnson’s videos, which he as Dr Hightower places her on the office’s other
boil. And the ailments that patients says were ‘hot and heavy back in 2015’ table and as DeLeon Hightower moves in close,
arrive with, such as neck and lower- especially, have dropped off in recent years. I realise that Waterson – and we, as viewers –
back pain, are universal and survivable. But the risks remain, and it can be are in for it again. I cannot imagine what joints
American chiropractor Gregory difficult to tell a bad chiropractor from a on Waterson’s person are left to crack; I feel
Johnson is typically credited with the good chiropractor. Dr DeStefano explains certain I’ve heard every one of her vertebrae
genre’s genesis. After his son suggested that there are manipulation no-no’s that align. But Dr Hightower raises her legs until her
that he make videos, he says, Johnson laypeople wouldn’t necessarily recognise, back is flat against the table, then uses foam
published his first on YouTube on such as simultaneous extension and pins to situate her pelvis for an adapted Ring
1 January 2013. He’s known for his rotation of the neck – this can stretch the Dinger. (Dr Hightower has done an adjustment
slightly nasal voice and his trademark inner lining of an artery so much that the on Johnson in a video, and vice versa.) He’s in
move, the ‘Ring Dinger’, which involves blood can clot, and the clot can then travel the zone now, moving quickly and fluidly. He
raising the patient’s legs to flatten the to the brain. Being able to relax enough wraps a towel around her neck with a flourish
arch of their back, fixing their pelvis in to let someone work your joints requires and shoves a napkin in her mouth, instructing
place with large padded pins, wrapping tremendous trust, she adds. ‘They’re her to chomp down on it so she won’t bite her
a towel around their neck, and pulling totally vulnerable to the hand of the person tongue. She laughs through what is effectively
in a way that the patient experiences that’s doing the manipulation.’ Having a gag, but her eyes widen as Dr Hightower positions
cracks from head to hip. ‘Most of the watched a hundred of Dr Hightower’s himself behind her, putting his hands around
chiro channels have a finishing move videos, I felt, when he cracked my own the towel. I think of the rack, a device that would
that helps them stand apart from the back, that statistically I was likely to live. stretch victims’ limbs, something I learned
regular crackers,’ Dr Hightower says, Dr Hightower seems acutely aware of about on a trip to a torture museum. I remember
laughing briefly. ‘Gregory Johnson the influence of chiropractic’s bad actors thinking even then that it might feel good for a
has his Ring Dinger, and then there’s a on public opinion. Although he does use second (before the excruciating pain set in). He
PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY BEAU HIGHTOWER (ALL IMAGES)

Y-strap, there’s a magic hug and there’s the title chiropractor, he primarily trains pulls, and Waterson cries out through the napkin.
the guy with a hammer. It’s kind of like and hires naprapaths – practitioners When she’s been ungagged and is able to
a video game, where every character who focus on a broader area of tissues speak again, she says, ‘I didn’t know I had all
has their specific special move.’ than those surrounding the spine, the those [cracks].’ Dr Hightower tells her it’s a ‘two
‘It’s the realest deal I’ve felt,’ said chiropractor’s chief purview. (In addition times a year’ kind of move. After a few seconds,
rapper Jack Harlow after his first Ring to his doctorate in chiropractic, he has a Waterson sits up, cheerfully shell-shocked.
Dinger last September. The Ring Dinger naprapathic doctorate from the Southwest ‘I feel like I needed to sign a waiver for that.’
notwithstanding, Johnson is relatively University of Naprapathic Medicine in It’s not all theatrics. When DeLeon Hightower
low theatrics. Most of his patients are Santa Fe, New Mexico.) Dr Hightower draws finally lowers the camera, looking satisfied,
civilians; his YouTube channel is simply a sharp distinction between the two, as he Waterson turns to Dr Hightower. ‘Thanks,’ she
called Advanced Chiropractic Relief, lays out in one video titled ‘WHY I LEFT says, ‘I really needed that.’
CHIROPRACTIC (What Is Naprapathic

MEN’S HEALTH 93
Have We Reached
Peak Influence?
Social media is more powerful
than ever, shaping our decision-
making – whether we realise it or
not – and prompting increasing
numbers of us to search for
ways to commodify our
experiences. Now
AI influencers want
in on the action, too.
Who can we trust?
Words by Taylor Lorenz
Illustrations by Michael C Byers

Y
ou may not have done the
12-3-30 workout (yet), but
you’ve probably purchased
a product or watched a show
you heard about on a podcast, tried
an exercise you saw on Instagram or
turned to a YouTube expert for advice
on fixing something around the house
or adjusting your aching back.
Influencer marketing has become
a multibillion-dollar industry and
the broader ‘creator industry’ is set
to double its worth to almost £400bn
by 2027, according to Goldman Sachs.
Since the pandemic pushed us more
online, these trends are becoming
increasingly pronounced: 90% of
people now trust social media
influencers over traditional celebrities
when making a purchase and some
reports suggest influencers are now
the number-one source of health and
fitness information for people in the UK.
Among 18- to 24-year-olds, 65%
have made a purchase based on an

MEN’S HEALTH 95
CONTENT OVERLOAD
influencer’s recommendation, according to a began to form. When the iPhone
2022 Adweek survey. That figure jumps to 72% was introduced in 2007, things
among 25- to 34-year olds. ‘It’s the niche accelerated. Social media apps
communities that drive trends, purchases and took off and the barrier to creating
behaviours,’ says Brendan Gahan, partner and content became much smaller.
chief social officer at Mekanism, a creative agency. Now you could produce a near-
Those niche communities are growing fast. endless stream of photos and
There are around 32,300 YouTube channels with videos and post them to millions
more than one million subscribers, according from the palm of your hand.
to social medial analytics website Socialblade. Tech platforms grew their user
And there are up to 4.1m active podcasts, bases and gutted the advertising
according to Podcast Index. In March, Substack ecosystem that legacy print media
announced that it had surpassed 35m newsletter relied on. Free information
subscriptions. Instagram, TikTok, Twitch and proliferated and with, access to more
myriad smaller social apps all have their own material, people increasingly sought
swarms of creators. out alternative media sources.
The rise of the influencer industry has been ‘People have lost trust in
economically liberating for millions of people, institutions – media, the
many of whom, such as women and people of government, brands,’ says Lia
colour, were traditionally underrepresented Haberman, who teaches social
within legacy systems. It’s provided a new media and influencer marketing
form of entertainment and a road map for at UCLA. ‘Influencers are
entrepreneurial success. It can be hugely positive. embedded alongside messages
PEAK INFLUENCE
But it’s also an industry with few guardrails. from friends and family, so
The creator economy relies on content to keep people see them as part of their PRIME SCORES $250 MILLION IN REVENUE
running and that content is often extreme. trusted circle.’ In 2022, YouTubers KSI and LOGAN PAUL launched
Influencers who otherwise would have been Social media gives us more Prime, a sports drink that’s made using coconut
constrained by the limits of budget and access options. If you don’t like what’s water. It earned almost £200m that year and is
in traditional media are now free to spread being shown to you, fresh content now the official global drink of the UFC.
misleading information and hawk gimmicky is a swipe away. Algorithms are
products. It’s increasingly an influencer’s world adept at delivering pieces of media
and we have to figure out how to thrive in it. that have been tailored to our exact develop or partner with products
The shift toward a media landscape dominated interests, identities and preconceptions. designed to cater to that audience.
by disparate content creators may feel abrupt, This focus on hyper-personalised For some consumers, this shift has
but it actually started in the late 1990s. Until content has led to a blending of been liberating. No longer do you
then, broadcast television and print media were commerce and connection. Rather than need to hunt across retail websites or
the primary ways to reach a large audience developing a product, then developing shops to find the products you want.
of consumers. But that all changed with the a marketing plan to sell that product You can simply find an influencer
rise of the blog. Suddenly, anyone with an to a certain audience, influencers who resonates with you and offload
internet connection, some rudimentary tech cultivate a specific audience, then the decision-making to them.
skills and a love of writing However, information from most
could publish their deepest PEAK INFLUENCE influencers is not fact-checked.
thoughts online. Wellness influencers peddle unproven
As bloggers and early DOCTORS COMPLAIN ABOUT JOE ROGAN TO SPOTIFY ‘natural’ cures to serious diseases,
podcasters amassed larger More than 1,300 healthcare workers concerned about fitness influencers promote sketchy
audiences, cults of personality misinformation on THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE (11 million workouts and bogus ancestral diets,
listeners) wrote an open letter to Spotify on 10 January 2022. and beauty influencers push body
modification on their young audiences.
Social platforms reward attention
and those with the most extreme
content or ideologies often see their
content climb to the top. These
incentives have given rise to a virulent
misogyny, exhibited by creators such
as Andrew Tate. ‘Extremists and hate
groups are typically early adopters of
new technology, particularly anything
that can be used for propagandising,
recruitment or harassment,’ noted
Megan Squire, the deputy director
for data analytics and open-source
intelligence at the US-based Southern

96 MEN’S HEALTH
 PEAK INFLUENCE

Poverty Law Center, in The Year In MRBEAST BECOMES MR RICH

Hate And Extremism Report 2021. Jimmy Donaldson, the 25-year-old
‘Unfortunately, they are making money YouTuber known as MRBEAST, rose
at it, too,’ she added. to fame making videos involving
There’s no set number of followers personal challenges and, later,
you need in order to become an giving away huge amounts of
influencer. So-called micro influencers money. He is predicted to become
can have as few as 1,000 followers and the world’s first YouTube billionaire.
still secure brand deals and launch
their own small businesses. The real
test of an influencer is if they can
successfully sway another person
to take action, whether it be making
a purchase, attending an event or
changing something about their life.
We’re all so online now that almost
everyone has amassed some level of
influence, even in a small way.
‘Everyday people are getting bigger and
bigger followings,’ says James Nord,
founder and CEO of Fohr, an influencer
marketing firm. ‘You may not follow
any traditional influencers, but you
can have somebody who’s got a few
thousand followers that you rely on.’ creator-dominated world, say the pressure to to the topics they’re interested in,
This has led average people to mimic perform and maximise online metrics is they’re able to monetise from the very
the behaviours of digital influencers, inescapable. ‘Everyone is obsessed with that feeling beginning. A boom in referral-code
commodifying their experiences of going viral,’ says Parker Pannell, a 19-year-old services is allowing average internet
and relationships. Regular internet TikTok influencer with more than 3.1 million users to earn money from product
users now use corporatised, followers who posts short comedic videos. ‘You recommendations or app downloads.
consumerist language to describe start creating this content and you think, I want to And subscription platforms such as
major life events. People speak of achieve this feeling again. I’m addicted to this.’ Patreon and Substack let them begin
‘rebranding’ themselves for the Pannell’s desire to perform well on social media generating subscription revenue from
new year or ‘soft launching’ their even affects how he dresses – he favours bright the minute they sign up. There’s no
romantic relationships. colours that catch people’s eyes better on a screen. longer a threshold you must pass in
Some members of Gen Z, which As more users garner notable social followings order to start making money online.
has grown up immersed in a content-­ or attract attention by creating content related The demand for hyper-personalised
content remains insatiable, but it may
feel as if we’re reaching peak influencer.
That said, the deals will only get bigger,
PHOTOGRAPHY: ICON SPORTSWIRE/GETTY IMAGES (KSI AND PAUL); KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES (MRBEAST)

and creators will only become more

powerful, for now. Industry experts
and marketers say we’re at an inflection
point. Algorithms are getting more
sophisticated by the minute, and
artificial intelligence is set to radically
transform both the creation and the
PEAK INFLUENCE consumption of content in the next few
years, according to Allie K Miller, an AI
THE LIVER KING CONFESSES investor with 1.4 million followers on
BRIAN JOHNSON, aka the LIVER LinkedIn. In the short term, this is great
KING, built a supplement empire news for influencers, who will find it
based on his physique, raw diet and easier than ever to leverage AI writing
energetic IG. On 1 December 2022, and video-­editing tools. ‘I can ask
he released the YouTube video ‘Liver ChatGPT right now to give me 50 new
King Confession… I Lied.’ He admitted ideas for workout videos under two
he was on steroids. His 1.9 million minutes long that I can post on my
Instagram followers didn’t desert him. YouTube channel and it will generate
that in 20 seconds,’ she says.
But this shift will also create more
competition online. ‘The barriers of

MEN’S HEALTH 97
CONTENT OVERLOAD
entry will be reduced, but the bar for
quality will more than likely go up – The Blue MENNO HENSELMAN
@menno.henselmans,

Tick Of
with more content out there, it will be 138K Instagram followers
harder to stand out,’ says Miller. We A physique coach and exercise scientist,
will rely even more on AI systems to Henselman uses his platform to break
find us the answers we’re looking for,
but we could also get higher-quality
entertainment and information.
Approval down complex science for fitness devotees
who are eager to maximise the impact of
their gym time, every time.
Soon it may be difficult to tell what What makes a Men’s
content is made by your favourite Health-approved
influencer and what’s generated influencer? We looked for
through AI. ‘It’s still early days, but
there will be an explosion of AI-
accounts that provide
generated content on social channels, information, inspiration,
given it’s getting much easier to create instruction and uplifting Strength & Fitness
visual content,’ says Liz Snower, content. Did follower
co-founder of Iconiq, which makes
conversational AI characters. ‘It will be
counts help? Of course.
possible for your favourite influencer But certifications were
to have full-blown conversations also important – and
about anything with thousands of experience. Our list isn’t
fans in the DMs at once.’ KHRYS SPEED
Human content creators will
exhaustive, but these @kdotspeed, 17.1K
also have to fend off competition from 20 are worth a follow Instagram followers
fully digital influencers. The next big A professional rugby player turned
YouTube star, podcaster or newsletter national-level British weightlifter
writer might not even be human. and PT, Speed is the sort of coach
Lil Miquela is a CGI character on ANDREW TRACEY other coaches look up to. He’s the
Instagram that’s amassed more than @theandrew.tracey, man to level up your lifting.
2.8 million followers and been involved 51K Instagram followers
with Prada, among other brands. Okay, perhaps we’re a little biased, but
Snower says future AI influencers, MH’s own fitness editor offers daily
which will offer content tailored to the proof that workouts needn’t be confined
viewer, will probably look like Kuki, an to the walls of a gym – and that true
AI-powered chatbot and persona that fitness starts in the mind.
has appeared in influencer campaigns ALAN ARAGON
for the likes of H&M and Vogue. The @thealanaragon, 212K
time will come when platforms such Instagram followers
as Instagram will need verifications to An educator with more than three
make it clear to its consumers what decades’ experience – and a nutrition
is human and what is AI. adviser to MH US – Aragon’s monthly
If AI makes it easy to generate Research Review has long been required
endless virtual influencers, each of KIMBERLEY WILSON reading for those in the know.
which is able to personalise its content @foodandpsych, 162K
to our interests and desires, then Instagram followers
perhaps we’re still only at the beginning The chartered psychologist, nutritionist
of the influencer era. ‘Imagine a creator and author is an expert on the intersection
in Brazil films a portion of a YouTube between what we eat and how we feel.
video and the rest is AI-generated
and customised to viewers around
Come for the science, stay for the food. Food & Nutrition
the world,’ says Miller.
Soon we could all have our own
army of AI-powered virtual characters
that we increasingly view as our
friends. ‘And what’s the most powerful
EXAMINE
form of marketing?’ says Gahan. DANNY LENNON
@examinedotcom, 83K
‘A recommendation from a friend.’ @dannylennon_
Instagram followers
Okay, this one’s actually a team, not a sigma, 22K
Taylor Lorenz is the author of Instagram followers
person. Led by Kamal Patel, who holds
Extremely Online: The Untold Story The ‘nutrition nerd’ is on the Sports
a master’s in public health, Examine
Of Fame, Influence And Power On The Nutrition Association’s advisory
summarises and simplifies the latest
Internet (£14.29, Simon & Schuster). board. His Sigma Nutrition Radio
research for those hungry to learn.
Available 3 October podcast is worth geeking out over.
 OLLIE MARCHON JAMES CLEAR
@olliemarchon, 134K @jamesclear, 1.1M
Instagram followers ESTHER PEREL Instagram followers
The owner of Marchon Athletic, @esther The author of Atomic Habits offers
performance director at the National perelofficial, advice to help his social followers
Fitness Games and former rugby player 1.7M Instagram followers improve their thinking patterns and
(who’s also been an MH cover star) The psychotherapist’s IG reels on topics leave unhelpful beliefs behind.
is your man for functional fitness. such as finding a partner and holding on
to friendships attract millions of views.

KIER
GAINES

Mental Health & Mindset @kier

gaines, 484K Instagram
followers
Posts by the therapist and
YouTuber sit between free
counselling and a friend
CORY WHARTON- offering relationship advice.
MALCOLM
@bitbeefy, 37.8K RICHIE NORTON
Instagram followers @richienorton_, 62.1K
The running coach, author and founder of Instagram followers
west London cardio crew Track Mafia is Blending movement with mental wellbeing, NICOLE
helping to make running more inclusive. the coach and former rugby player VIGNOLA
preaches the benefits of breathwork, @nicole
meditation, yoga, capoeira and time neuroscience, 387K
spent taking in the joys of nature.
PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF SUBJECTS; PABLO RAYA (GAINES); NICK FRANCHER (CLEAR); KATIE MCCURDY (PEREL); JULIAN BENJAMIN (TRACEY, YEO, SPECTOR)

Instagram followers
With 12 years’ experience as
a coach, neuroscientist and
‘neurohacker’, Vignola helps
people manage stress.
LEON BUSTIN RHONDA PATRICK
@leonbusty, 28K @foundmyfitness, 816K
Instagram followers Instagram followers
One half of The Lean Machines – Specialising in nutrition, ageing and the
OGs of YouTube fitness, with 424K brain (and often the intersection of all
subscribers – personal trainer and three), Dr Patrick has a PhD in biomedical PETER
coach Bustin has switched focus to science and is the host of the popular ATTIA
endurance training and provides Found My Fitness podcast. @peter
credible advice to runners of all levels. attiamd, 782K Instagram
followers
The physician, podcaster
and author explores the
science of longevity and
answers common ‘what’s the
Health & Wellbeing deal with...?’ health queries.

TIM SPECTOR
@tim.spector, 460K GILES YEO
Instagram followers ANDREW @gilesyeo, 41.3K Instagram
The no-nonsense diet-book author HUBERMAN followers
and co-founder of the Zoe nutrition @hubermanlab, If weight is just a matter of calories, why is
app is ranked as one of the top 100 4.6M Instagram followers staying lean so difficult for some people?
most-cited scientists in the world. The Stanford neuroscientist’s goal is University of Cambridge professor and
He’s your go-to guy for gut health. to bring ‘zero-cost, science-based genetics researcher Dr Yeo studies the
tools’ to the public for boosting interaction between brain and body weight.
physical and mental health.

MEN’S HEALTH 99
Grooming
Edit 2023

Any man who’s ever typed ‘moisturiser’ into a search engine

knows the volume of grooming products on offer can be
daunting. But trial and error is time-consuming, not to mention
expensive. To spare you the guesswork, MH sifted through a
broad selection from the best brands to compile this list of those
that truly deliver on their promises. Put your best face forwards

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUN LEE – WORDS BY FINLAY RENWICK

 01.

02.

03.

05.

04.

06.
07.

_
The Anti-Ageing All-Stars 01. HEATH LONDON
REPAIR SERUM, £16
400 SPF50, £19.90
06. AESOP PARSLEY
02. ELEMIS SEED ANTI-OXIDANT
We can’t promise the secret to eternal youth (ask Pharrell or Brad Pitt about that), but what we PRO-COLLAGEN EYE CREAM, £63
can do is suggest some of our favourite products for softening the blow of old father time. A solid MORNING 07. MURAD RETINAL
daily moisturiser is a perfectly acceptable building block, but the addition of a couple of other MATRIX, £125 RESCULPT OVERNIGHT
key creams and ointments will aid in defending against the more obvious signs of wear and 03. DR BARBARA TREATMENT, £105
tear. With three decades in the skincare business, Murad formulated its new Retinal ReSculpt STURM HYALURONIC
SERUM, £85
Overnight Treatment to tighten up your jowls (no offence) and smooth out wrinkles.
04. CLARINS FRESH
One of the best aforementioned daily moisturisers around, Elemis Pro-Collagen Morning SCRUB, £26
Matrix is a silicone-free anti-ageing cream that targets skin elasticity, tiredness and the effects 05. LA ROCHE-POSAY
of that very modern affliction – the dreaded blue light from your screen(s). ANTHELIOS UVMUNE

102 MEN’S HEALTH

 The MH Edit

01.

02.

04.

05.
03.

06.

_
The Post-Gym Recovery Set 01. THE GREY
SKINCARE 3 IN 1
05. NIVEA MEN
SKIN ENERGY FACE
FACE CREAM, £79 WASH GEL, £6.49
Even if you’re a member of one of those nice gyms with fresh towels, fancy handwash and an 02. BULLDOG 06. MURAD
expensive graphic design treatment, developing your own little personal post-pump grooming SKINCARE LEMON & CLARIFYING
routine is a smart idea. Natural deodorant can be a bit of a disaster, but by combining the tried- BERGAMOT NATURAL OIL-FREE WATER
and-true, citrus-heavy combo of lemon, bergamot and rosemary with a prebiotic sourced from DEODORANT, £4.50 GEL, £46
chicory root, Bulldog’s clever little roll-on is a safe bet. Plus, you won’t have to step into your 03. HARRY’S SHOWER
GEL, £5.50
morning meeting smelling like a cloud of chemicals.
04. ELEMIS
Applying The Grey’s time-saving 3-in-1 Face Cream post-workout will bring life back to your COOL-DOWN BODY
skin – handy if you made it to the 6am class. A versatile day, night and eye cream, it gets deep WASH, £30
into skin with a mix of retinol, peptides, blue sea kale and antioxidants to restore and repair.

MEN’S HEALTH 103

 01.

02.

03.

04.

104 MEN’S HEALTH

 The MH Edit

05.

06.

08.

07.

_
The Coolest Fragrances For Cooler Weather 01. DIPTYQUE
L’OMBRE DANS
TOILETTE, £100
05. BLEU DE CHANEL
L’EAU EAU DE EAU DE PARFUM
As much as we appreciate versatility, there’s something to be said about matching your scent to TOILETTE, £90 SPRAY, £113
the season. Cooler weather calls for something with warmth, depth and a bit of glamour. Described 02. TOM FORD 06. LOUIS VUITTON
by the man himself as ‘reminiscent of an English gentleman’s club’, Tom Ford’s Tobacco Vanille is TOBACCO VANILLE IMAGINATION, £235
dark and dangerous, with notes of tobacco, ginger and vanilla; it’s the kind of scent that will have EAU DE PARFUM, £220 07. AESOP GLOAM
you skipping the queue and heading straight to VIP. (Or at least feeling like you belong there.) 03. ACQUA DI PARMA EAU DE PARFUM, £140
QUERCIA SPRAY, £219 08. BYREDO MIXED
Perhaps best known for sunny fragrances that transport you right to Portofino on a July
04. FLORIS EMOTIONS EAU DE
afternoon, Acqua di Parma also knows how to deliver an evocative fragrance for the cooler LIMES EAU DE PARFUM, £140
months. Combining the natural, earthy scent of oak moss with signature Italian citrus, bergamot
and petit grain, Querica is a walk through an Italian forest distilled into your next winter EDP.

MEN’S HEALTH 105

 01.

03.

02.

05.

04.

06.

_
The Hair-Maintenance Heroes 01. KÉRASTASE
GENESIS HOMME
CURLING
CREAM, £5.67
THICKNESS BOOSTING 05. MURDOCK SEA
Whether you have locks like Samson or favour a less biblical and more aerodynamic buzz cut, SHAMPOO, £23.08 SALT PASTE, £18
every barnet needs some TLC – and its own tailored approach. Well known for its bestselling 02. UPPERCUT 06. BULLDOG
sea salt spray, independent London barbers and grooming expert Murdock has gone one DELUXE MATTE SKINCARE ORIGINAL
step further with the introduction of its Sea Salt Paste, an ultra-matte finish with a pinch POMADE, £18 STYLING SALT
of salt (a little goes a long way) that promises to give you that fresh-from-a-dip effect, even 03. REMINGTON X5 SPRAY, £8
POWER-X SERIES
if your last trip to the coast is a distant memory.
HAIR CLIPPER,
For a helping hand in the density department, Kérastase Paris Genesis Homme £76.99
Thickness Boosting Shampoo will help protect and nourish thinning hair with ingredients 04. CANTU SHEA
such as creatine and ginger root, while cleansing and refreshing a tired scalp along the way. BUTTER COCONUT

106 MEN’S HEALTH

 The MH Edit

02.
01.

03.

05.

04.

06.

_
The Hardest-Working Fatigue-Fighters 01. ELEMIS PRO-
COLLAGEN VITALITY
05. L’ORÉAL
MEN EXPERT
EYE CREAM, £72 HYDRA ENERGETIC
An easy-to-neglect but oh-so-impactful part of a solid grooming routine is making time to scrub 02. CLARINS MEN EYES, £12.49
your skin once or twice a week. A gentle but effective formula that cleans off any lingering oils, SUPER MOISTURE 06. LAB SERIES
dirt or dead skin, Harry’s Exfoliating Face Wash is the ideal pre-shave prep, with eucalyptus and GEL, £32 ALL-IN-ONE
peppermint providing a one-two punch that will leave your face fresh and tingling (in a nice way). 03. DR BARBARA MULTI-ACTION
A perennial favourite for good reason, the L’Oréal Men Expert Hydra Energetic range lets you STURM ENZYME FACE WASH, £26
CLEANSER, £55
know what it’s all about from the off. This ice-cool roll-on gel has been designed with tired eyes
04. HARRY’S
in mind. Enriched with vitamin C and guarana (a natural source of caffeine), it will reduce the EXFOLIATING
appearance of bags and dark circles when your best option – getting a solid eight hours of FACE WASH, £5
sleep – just isn’t available to you.

MEN’S HEALTH 107

 03.

01.

02.

04.

108 MEN’S HEALTH

 The MH Edit

06.

05.

07.

08.

_
The Ultimate Beard Care Kit 01. PHILIPS
ONEBLADE 360, £49.99
05. KING C
GILLETTE STYLE
02. PERCY NOBLEMAN MASTER, £39.99
Good facial hair doesn’t just happen; it requires upkeep, which can be simplified with BEARD CONDITIONING 06. AESOP SHINE
a few quality tools in your bathroom cabinet. With its interchangeable comb attachments, OIL, £8 HAIR & BEARD
4D blade and pivoting head, the King C Gillette Style Master is designed to shave and 03. BULLDOG OIL, £25
trim in all directions, for peerless versatility. Each charge provides 45 minutes of shaving SKINCARE ORIGINAL 07. HAWKINS AND
time and it’s fully waterproof for easy cleaning. A trimmer to tackle it all. BEARD SHAMPOO & BRIMBLE BEARD
CONDITIONER, £6 BALM, £12
Combining castor and oat kernel oils (for moisture-locking fatty acids) with coconut
04. REVOLUTION 08. MURDOCK
and citrus peel, Revolution Man Conditioning Beard Oil is designed to soften hair and MAN CONDITIONING REDCHURCH BEARD
leave your beard silky smooth, without any greasiness. It’ll help to minimise itching and BEARD OIL, £8 BRUSH, £22
‘beardruff’, too. Pretty slick.

MEN’S HEALTH 109

 03.

01.

02.

04.

05.

06.

07.

_
The Perfect Smile Toolbox 01. PHILIPS
SONICARE POWER
06. BILLION
DOLLAR SMILE
FLOSSER 3000, TEETH WHITENING
There are easier and less painful ways to upgrade your smile than a trip to a Turkish dental £89.99 STRIPS, £22.49
surgery. But you can’t take good care of your gnashers with sub-par scrubbing equipment. 02. SPOTLIGHT 07. ORAL-B
Powered by AI, the Oral-B iO10 offers real-time feedback for fully personalised brushing. Its ORAL CARE TEETH IO10 ELECTRIC
sensors will ensure you never miss a spot, while notifying you if you’re pressing too hard, for a big, WHITENING PEN, TOOTHBRUSH, £800
bright, dentist-impressing smile. And if aesthetics are a plus, it’ll look pretty cool on your sink, too. £14.99
03-05. BOOTS
If you’re after a bit more glint between your gums but don’t want to deal with costly procedures
EXPERT TEETH
or wear a mouthguard every night, then the Spotlight Oral Care Teeth Whitening Pen is the ideal WHITENING KIT
solution. All you need to do is apply a dab of this clever little stick to your teeth to dissolve stains WITH BLUE LIGHT
and brighten things up. ACTIVATION, £18.66

110 MEN’S HEALTH

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02.

01.

03.

04.

05.
06.

07.

_
The Finishing Touches 01. CHARLOTTE
TILBURY AIRBRUSH
05. WAR PAINT
BRONZER, £20
FLAWLESS FINISH 06. FENTY BEAUTY
You’ve put in the hard yards, now it’s time to add the final flourishes to the most comprehensive POWDER, £38 MATCH STIX MATTE
(not that we’re biased) grooming arsenal in the history of mankind. Make-up for men might not 02. FENTY BEAUTY SKINSTICK, £23
have quite cracked the mainstream, but a little dab here and there can be the difference between EAZE DROP BLURRING
blotchy and blemish-free. Notably worn by actor Daniel Kaluuya at the 2018 Oscars, Fenty SKIN TINT, £27
Beauty’s make-up has a number of male fans. Its blurring skin tint is designed for subtlety. 03 & 07. WAR PAINT
BEARD AND BROW
Think of it as a little tune-up, rather than getting slapped in powder to perform at the circus.
FILLER, £12
Fairer-skinned men who want to prolong their holiday tans from the confines of a sunless 04. DIOR SOLAR
office will benefit from Dior Solar The Self-Tanning Gel. Made from 90% natural ingredients, THE SELF-TANNING
it’s an easy-going treatment that delivers an even finish and a subtle glow. GEL, £37

MEN’S HEALTH 111

PERSONALTRAINER
Because Yesterday You Said Tomorrow

GEEK THE BIG

TWEAKS WORKOUT
P124 P116
KEEP YOUR GET RIPPED IN
SPINE IN LINE FOUR WEEKS FLAT

FAST
FUEL
P114
SPREAD YOUR
CULINARY
WINGS

LIFT
YOUR
GAME
P122
PERFECT THE
TOES-TO-BAR

MEN’S HEALTH 113

PT – 10/2023

30/10

YOUR WINGMAN
FOR FAT LOSS
If you think lean chicken
is bland, you’re doing it
wrong. Get creative with
a flock of fresh takes
and ensure your
muscles are getting
the fuel they need

30
PACK IN THE
PROTEIN
For our opening salvo
of protein, bird is indeed
the word. There’s good
reasoning behind athletes’
love of chicken. One
roasted breast contains
54g of protein and only
386 calories, while the
same amount of meat from
a skinless thigh has 42g of
protein and 304 calories.
So, whether you grab a
ready-made rotisserie
at the supermarket or
roast your own at home,
the fowl has your
gym fuel covered.

WHY
30/10?
THESE ARE THE AMOUNTS OF
WORDS: PAUL KITA. PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM

PROTEIN AND FIBRE (IN GRAMS)

YOU NEED PER MEAL TO BUILD
MUSCLE, STAY FULL AND MAKE
KAPLAN; TED+CHELSEA

EASIER WORK OF FAT LOSS

114 MEN’S HEALTH

 FOWL PLAY

7 THINGS TO DO WITH A 10 THE FIBRE

SUPERMARKET ROTISSERIE Serve your bird with one of these easy
make-at-home side dishes. They each
carry a hearty 10g of gut-filling fibre.
Your options are broader than a simple salad. If you’re short on
inspiration, try one of these fuss-free rotisserie chicken recipes, Double the recipe and they’ll taste
for high-protein fat-loss fuel that doesn’t sacrifice flavour for great cold as leftovers the next day
function. They’re easy to prepare and ready in no time

01/ 05/
Pull it apart and add to Over a medium heat, reheat
tomato soup. Top with a shredded chicken breast
parsley, crumbled in a large pan coated with
feta, cubed avocado, olive oil. Add a handful of
crushed tortilla chips grapes, some pitted olives,
and freshly squeezed chopped rosemary and
lime juice. a generous squeeze of
lemon juice. Season with
02/ salt and pepper.
Cover a reheated
chicken breast with 06/
a few spoonfuls of Pile a large slice of
warmed tomato sauce, sourdough with a leaf or
a piece of pan-crisped two of romaine lettuce,
prosciutto and a slice shredded chicken, sliced CHARRED BROCCOLI WITH
of fresh mozzarella. avocado, sliced tomato, LEMON AND PARMESAN
Grill until melted. crispy bacon lardons and In a large bowl, toss the trimmed florets from
chipotle mayo. a big head of broccoli, plus the chopped stalk,
with 2 tbsp of olive oil and salt and pepper. In a
03/ cast-iron pan over a medium-high heat, add the
Reheat shredded chicken 07/ broccoli and cook, stirring occasionally until
in a pan with butter and Throw a few leaves of it’s well charred and al dente – it should take
hot sauce. Tuck into chopped kale into a bowl. 3 to 5 mins. Top with the zest and juice of a
a toasted wrap with Add a pinch of salt and a lemon, plus freshly grated parmesan to taste.
crumbled blue cheese, squeeze of lemon juice.
thinly sliced iceberg Massage until the leaves
lettuce and celery leaves. are softened. Add the
shredded chicken
04/ and top with freshly
grated parmesan.
In a pan, reheat shredded
chicken with your favourite
barbecue sauce. Transfer
to a roll and top with
coleslaw and hot sauce.
PROP STYLING: CHRISTINA LANE. ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES
ILLUSTRATION: BEN MOUNSEY-WOOD. FOOD STYLING: JAMIE KIMM.

HOW TO PICK A WINNER

Follow the advice of Alan Morgan, culinary director
at Whole Foods Market. ‘When picking a chicken, CHOPPED RED CABBAGE QUICK SLAW
I look at the legs to see if the meat has begun to to Finely chop 3/4 head of red cabbage. If your
pull away from the bone, as they get cooked knife skills aren’t sharp enough to really shred
the most. That’s a good indicator that the bird the cabbage, chuck it in a food processor. Dice
has been overcooked and is dried out. And a couple of carrots and an apple, then throw it
avoid any birds with excess juice in the all in a big mixing bowl alongside your cabbage.
container – a clear sign that all of the flavour Toss well with 1 tbsp white vinegar, 1 tsp olive oil
has left the chicken. A great golden-brown and salt and pepper. This is perfect piled up in
colour and shiny, glossy skin indicate a tasty a roll with some shredded bird.
and moist rotisserie chicken.’

MEN’S HEALTH 115

PT – 10/23

THE BIG WORKOUT

BUILD AND BURN

FOR 6-PACK ABS
01B

Whatever your starting point, our four-week

01B
plan for burning fat and boosting metabolism
will shift you one step closer to eye-popping
abdominals. Leave it all on the gym floor...

We’d forgive you foolproof eating guide

for thinking that any over the page). But
programme with the studies show that,
term ‘six-pack’ in while dropping your
the title is not to be calorie intake is the
trusted. Nevertheless, fastest way to shed
there are very few fat, a higher calorie
questions we’re burn might be the
asked quite so often key to keeping it off.
as ‘How do I get abs?’ ‘High energy flux’, as
And the answer is scientists call it, is a
more complicated process by which you
than any one training ramp up your daily
plan. The fact is, you activity levels for
already have ‘abs’ an elevated energy
– that is, a perfectly burn, allowing you
serviceable set of to maintain a more
abdominal muscles. modest calorie deficit,
But what most of us rather than reducing 01A
think of when we hear your meals to rodent
the term ‘six-pack’ is proportions.
visible abs. Crunches Our four-week plan
might make those will ensure that your 02A
muscles stronger – metabolism is burning
but if you want to
see them, you need
to strip back what’s
white-hot. A combo
of muscle-building
supersets, along with
01
DUMBBELL CLEAN
02
DUMBBELL
concealing them: calorie-sapping loaded
layers of fat. carries and max-effort AND PRESS FLOOR PRESS
It may be cliché at sprints, our 40-minute 5 REPS 10 REPS
this point to say that workouts are designed Squat down to grab your The bench press’s brutal,
‘abs are made in the to amp up fat loss dumbbells from the ground, power-building brother. Lie
kitchen’. But it’s true while also maintaining just outside of your feet (A). flat on your back holding
that, if peeling back strength and muscle. Stand up explosively with two dumbbells, your knees
body fat is your sole Repeat each session a slight jump, then use the bent and your feet flat. Press
objective, your efforts in order, three to five momentum to pull the the bells above you, locking
are better directed times per week, aiming weights on to your shoulders. your elbows (A). Lower the
Dip at your knees and press weights slowly until your
towards what’s on to add reps, increase your dumbbells overhead upper arms are resting on
your plate than how your weights and up (B). Lower to your shoulders, the floor (B), pause here for
many plates you lift your daily movement then the ground and repeat. a count before repeating.
in the gym (see our at the same time.
Let’s cut to it.

116 MEN’S HEALTH

 LIGHT THE FIRE

WORKOUT #01 HARD PRESS

Blending full-body soaring. Work in an EMOM all-out effort in the fourth
movements with loaded format (every minute, on minute, rest for 60 secs,
carries, our first workout the minute), beginning then repeat the circuit ANDREW TRACEY
will spike your metabolism a new move at the start 8 times total, for just Men’s Health’s
fitness editor,
and get your heart rate of each minute. After an under 40 mins of work. ‘AT’ is a
qualified PT
with almost
two decades’
industry
experience.

03A

04B

02B

04A

03B

03
FARMER’S CARRY
04
SINGLE-ARM SNATCH
30M 60 SECS MAX EFFORT
A little hack for big gains. Time to ramp up the effort.
Pass the strap of a gymnastic Hinge down and grip the
ring through a set of weight dumbbell between your feet
plates, attach your ring (A). Explosively stand up,
and pull tight. Repeat with pulling then punching the
another set. Grab the rings, bell into the air overhead in
stand tall and brace your one motion (B). Lock your
core (A). Purposefully stride arms, then lower back to
forwards (B). At the halfway the ground, switching hands
mark, drop your weights, mid-air. Repeat as many times
turn around, re-grip and as possible in 60 secs, then
return to the starting position. rest for 1 min.

MEN’S HEALTH 117

PT – 10/23

03A
01A

02B

01B

01
BACK SQUAT
02
DUMBBELL DEADLIFT
02A

5 REPS 10 REPS
Bigger legs mean a With your dumbbells on
bigger metabolism. That’s the floor just outside of your
science. Take a barbell out feet, hinge down and grip
of a rack, rest it securely them with a flat back and
across your traps and neutral spine (A). Engage
stand tall (A). Keeping your lats and stand upright,
your torso as upright as pushing down with your feet
possible, squat down and keeping your chest up
until the crease of your (B). Lower to the ground and
hip passes below your repeat. Avoid rounding your
knee (B). Stand back lower back, keeping your
up explosively, repeat. form tight throughout.

118 MEN’S HEALTH

 LIGHT THEFORTY
FIERY FIRE

WORKOUT #02 THE LEG WORK

Now we’ll zoom in on don’t hold back. Follow for 1 min, and repeating
your lower body, for what’s the same EMOM format for 8 calorie-torching EAT RIGHT
sure to be the toughest
session of the week. But
as used in the previous
workout, completing all
rounds in total. Steel
yourself... it’s going to FOUR-POINT
if you want to see results, 4 moves then resting be a long 40 mins.
FAT LOSS
Our fitness editor shares
his blueprint for lean abs

01 PICK A NUMBER
To find your daily calorie
target, take your goal body
weight in kilos and multiply by
28. Move up or down by 100
calories if you feel sluggish,
or your weight loss stalls.
Remember: it’s the weekly
average that matters.

03B

02 PACK IN PROTEIN
Aim to eat more than double
your target body weight in
grams of protein. So, a man
04B looking to reach 80kg would
be aiming for around 160g of
protein each day. If in doubt,
make sure you’re getting
five to six palm-sized portions.

04A 03 STAY FUELLED

Add in carbohydrates and fats

03 04
according to your personal
preferences. Ensure you’re
fuelling your training sessions
WALKING LUNGE PLATE PUSH to maximise fat loss and
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP HAYNES. TALENT: TOM KEMP. STYLING: ABENA OFEI.

performance. Again, if you

GROOMING: NAT SCHMITT. BACKGROUND IMAGE LOCATION: BXR LONDON

20M 60 SECS MAX EFFORT

It’s like regular walking, We aren’t pushing away lack energy, switch things up.
but way worse. Re-rack your plates in the kitchen, but
bar across your traps and we are here. Place a heavy
stand tall (A). Keeping your weight plate on the ground.
chest up and back straight Drop down on to all fours,
04 FIND BALANCE
at all times, take a long hands on the plate. Lift your
step forwards with one knees from the ground (A). Drink plenty of fluids and try
leg, bending your front knee Drive with your legs, pushing to get the majority of your
until the back knee touches the plates away (B), close calories from wholefood
the ground (B). Stand up the gap and repeat. Turn sources, but don’t be afraid
explosively, pause and around at the halfway mark to include foods you enjoy –
repeat with the other leg. and push back. sustainable beats optimal.
A diet will only work for as
long as you can stick to it.

MEN’S HEALTH 119

PT – 10/23

01B

02B

02A

01A

01
HANG CLEAN
02
BARBELL ROW
5 REPS 10 REPS
Lift your barbell up With feet slightly wider
to waist height with an than shoulder width, step
overhand grip. Hinge at underneath a barbell and
the hips to lower it to just hinge at the hips to grip the
above your knees. Stand bar (A). Keeping your torso
back up explosively with a parallel to the ground, row
slight jump (A), using the the bar towards your hips
momentum to pull the bar (B), squeeze your shoulder
on to the front of your blades together and lower
shoulders (B). Stand up under control to the start,
straight, then lower under then repeat. Control the bar
control and repeat. and avoid moving your torso.

120 MEN’S HEALTH

 LIGHT THE FIRE

WORKOUT #03 HANG TIGHT

Follow the exact same 4 mins, followed by 1 min serious workout, while
8-round format as used of rest. Your third and final flambéing your core for
for the previous two metabolism-charging a stronger set of abs, as
workouts and perform session promises to give a bonus. Now don’t hold
all 4 moves in the first your back and biceps a back on that air bike...

04A

04B
03B

03A

03
DUMBBELL CRAWL
04
AIR BIKE
20M 60 SECS MAX EFFORT
Start on all fours, gripping Set up on an air bike,
a heavy dumbbell in each stationary bike, ski-erg or
hand. Lift one dumbbell and rowing machine. Whatever
reach forwards with that arm, your cardio machine of
ANDREW TRACEY. GROOMING: SUSANA MOTA

advancing behind with your choice, blast it hard and fast

back leg on the opposite for the full 60 secs, aiming for
side (A). Repeat the move maximum output. Don’t hold
on your other side (B). back on the first effort, and
Keep alternating sides, then endeavour to get as
edging forwards as quickly close as possible to your
as possible, while staying calories or metres in each
subsequent round.
GUTTER CREDIT

under control.
TALENT:

MEN’S HEALTH 121

PT – 10/23

FORM MASTERCLASS

RISE FROM
A

THE RANKS
Elevate your abs sessions
A

way above the plankers

with the fiendish toes-to- B
bar move. Learn these four B
progressions and you’ll
raise the standard of your
core workouts for good 01
SCAP RETRACTION
02
HOLLOW AND SUPERMAN
3 SETS OF 8 REPS 5 SETS OF 20 SECS ON,
It’s vital to get to grips with the correct 20 SECS OFF EACH POSITION
shoulder position when attempting the The stages of the swinging motion
full toes-to-bar. Grab the bar and start (‘kipping’) will harness your momentum for
in a dead hang, shoulders by your ears the full movement. Start on your back, arms
(A). Switch into an active position by straight by your head; tense your core to
GET THE HANG depressing your shoulders away from
your ears (B). Keep your arms straight.
raise your shoulders and legs (A). Flip over
and lift your arms and legs off the floor (B).
OF THINGS
This is at the trickier end of
body-weight moves, so training
and strengthening each position
of the rep will clean up your
form when they’re put together.
They can also serve as warm-ups
once you’ve mastered the move. A
A

B
B

YOUR COACH
Richard
Brockhurst
03
BEAT SWING
04
STRICT KNEE RAISE
KNOWLEDGE
Co-founder of 3 SETS OF 2 TO 5 REPS 3 SETS OF 3 TO 6 REPS
3 Aces Crossfit, Now, recreate those same positions Finally, you need to build some extra
Brockhurst draws but while suspended from the bar. strength. Hang from the bar in your
on his experience Hang with active shoulders and start by active shoulder position (A), then
to help his clients performing the hollow, with your head raise your knees (B). Hold for a second,
train smart and back and your feet in front (A). Then, then lower slowly. Strict, controlled reps,
push themselves. switch straight into the superman, with with a steady tempo in the negative
CONTACT your head forwards and your feet back part of the movement will build the
@3acescrossfit (B). Create as much tension in your core strength you’ll require for the full
as possible and swing back and forth. toes-to-bar. Speaking of which…

122 MEN’S HEALTH

 SET A HIGH BAR

WE HAVE LIFT-OFF
The time has come to perform your
first full rep. Use Brockhurst’s tips to
link together the component moves.
High-five yourself at each milestone
and be the envy of other gym-goers.
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP HAYNES. MODEL: WILLIAM GOODGE AT W MODEL. STYLING: ABENA OFEI. GROOMING: JODIE HYAMS AT BACKGROUND BEAUTY

01
ACTIVE START
03
JOIN FORCES
Start off with beat Linking reps together
swings, then go into requires a good exit
a full kip swing. The down from the bar.
difference between

02
Once you have hit the
the two is the range of bar with your toes,
motion. With the kip move your heels
swing, aim to move towards your glutes
further back and PULL YOUR
and extend through
through the bar, while WEIGHT the bar into the
maintaining solid When you go for the superman position.
midline tension. first rep, you want to Now, pull back into
feel you’re pulling the the hollow position
bar down. This moves for the next rep. Start
you back (reducing with small sets
the distance between and build up, but
your feet and the bar). stay in control.
In the rear of the swing,
think knees-to-elbows,
then kick your feet to
touch the bar.

MEN’S HEALTH 123

PT – 10/23

GEEK TWEAKS

GET BACK TO
YOUR BEST
Relieve lower-back pain and
bulletproof your body against
any future flare-ups with these
pointers. You’ll feel better now,
and build back even stronger

Complaints about
back pain increased
during the pandemic,
with experts blaming
the changes in work
set-ups and decreased
levels of activity. About
80% of adults will
experience lower-back
pain at some point in
their lives, according to

01
the NHS. If you’ve ever
felt that sharp zing, you
know that back pain
can be nearly debilitating, HOW DID MY
throbbing during many BACK PAIN
activities. Running, lifting, REALLY START?
sneezing and even trying It’s often tough to
to get up off the sofa can pinpoint the true culprit.
cause pain. But the day Several large muscle
you roll out of bed and feel groups intersect in your
lower back, including back
that twinge running along muscles, such as your lats,
your spine doesn’t need and lower-body muscles,
to be the day you stop such as your glutes and
moving completely. Often, hamstrings. Imbalances in any
a few basic exercises of these regions could lead
can help alleviate pain – to tugging on other muscles,
and maybe even prevent causing pain. Frequently,
future flare-ups. The key is the simple act of sitting
asking the right questions. is the problem, says physical
Do so and you can ditch therapist and MH adviser
Dan Giordano, co-founder of
the heating pads and
Bespoke Treatments. It could
ibuprofen, and muscle prompt you to round your
past back pain in no time. back, leaving your glutes,
a key lower-back stabiliser,
weak. Another common
cause for active people:
poor training technique.

124 MEN’S HEALTH

 NO PAIN, ALL GAIN

MOBILISE, STABILISE,
BOUNCE BACK
Master these three exercises from PT
Dan Giordano to help alleviate back pain.

04
Feeling fine right now? Sprinkle these
moves into your routine anyway; they just
may help you avoid back pain in the future.
CAN I WORK OUT WITH
LOWER-BACK PAIN?
Sort of. Don’t push through
the pain to hit a PB on your
A FEW BASIC MOVES back squat or race in a 5K.
CAN BANISH BACK
PAIN FOR GOOD But moving in smart ways
will help your lower back
recover much better than
just lying in bed and catching
up on Top Boy. ‘Muscles 01 / LUMBAR WINDSHIELD
generally need blood flow to First, mobilise your hips. Lie on your back,
heal,’ says Samuel. ‘And we feet near your bum. Gently shift your hips

03
stimulate that blood flow with to the left, aiming to drop your left knee to
movement.’ Your first moves the floor. Return to the start and repeat on
should be light and low- the other side. Stop the motion if you feel
SO IT’S NOT impact. (Think: walking and pain. Do 8 reps on each side. Do 1 or 2 sets.

MOBILISE
ACTUALLY ABOUT swimming.) Still feel pain?
MY LOWER-BACK Shift to even lower-impact
MUSCLES? physical-­therapy moves,
such as the lumbar
Very often it’s not. That’s

02
windshield (see right).
the tricky thing about lower-
back pain: if another muscle

05
WHAT’S MY BIGGEST is ultra-tight and causing
pain in your lower back, you
TRAINING MISTAKE? can massage your achy back
Not understanding how all day and get little relief. So HOW DO I GET
to bend at the waist – it’s critical to regularly stretch BACK TO REGULAR 02 / CAT-COW
Start on all fours, wrists below your
something you do during other muscle groups, such ACTIVITY? shoulders, knees below your hips. Round
many exercises, including as your hamstrings, glutes Slowly. Don’t expect to do
dumbbell rows, deadlifts and and mid-back muscles. If your back as much as you can, spreading
kettlebell swings two days your shoulder blades. Then arch your
triceps kickbacks. Instead you’re not currently in pain, after a flare-up. Instead,
of bending forwards to get simply bending over to back and squeeze your shoulder blades.
methodically get your body That’s 1 rep; do 1 or 2 sets of 8.
your torso in position, you touch your toes (to stretch ready for action. Start with
need to hip-hinge, says MH your hamstrings) or doing exercises that will create
US fitness director Ebenezer a cat-cow stretch (which movement through your
Samuel. Whenever you bend targets nearly every muscle lower back and hips,
at the waist, aim to push your in your back; see right) promoting much-needed
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP FRIEDMAN. ILLUSTRATIONS: PETER SUCHESKI

bum back first, as if closing once a day can help blood flow. Progressively
a car door with it. Master prevent back issues. increase the range of motion
that move with the Romanian during these exercises. When
deadlift: hold dumbbells at you’re near your full range of
STABILISE

your sides, then push your motion, begin adding gentle

bum back and lower your movements to build lower-
torso until it’s at a 45-degree back stability and strength.
angle with the floor. Stand 03 / BANDED GLUTE BRIDGE
The road map to the right Strengthen your glutes with this one. Lie
back up. Do three or four will get you started. Once
sets of eight to 10 reps on your back, a resistance band wrapped
you can ace that, you can below your knees, feet near your bum.
twice a week. ramp up gradually to more Drive your knees apart, tightening the
challenging activities. band. Squeeze your glutes, lifting your bum.
Lower. That’s 1 rep; do 2 sets of 8 to 10.

MEN’S HEALTH 125

The

ONE IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE. FIVE WEEKS TO TRAIN. GO WORDS BY ALI BALL

Running
Wild Altitude, heat, the odd four-legged
predator... the Lewa Safari Marathon
isn’t short of challenges. Our runner
traded pavement for savannah plains

MEN’S HEALTH 127

‘I s that… a giraffe next to the
runway?’ If it hadn’t sunk in that I’d flown
1,400 other runners, I’d also be sharing
the course with several large African
animals, including 45 lions, 275 rhinos
and roughly 700 buffaloes.

A STEADY START
1,400 RUNNERS BRAVE
THE HEAT, THE HILLS, THE
ALTITUDE... AND THE LIONS

6,000 miles to run a marathon around Race day arrives. I’ve started to wonder
a wildlife conservancy in Kenya, it had what I’ve let myself in for. I’m up at
now. I was stood on Lewa’s dusty airstrip, 4.45am, shovelling down porridge by
along with a handful of international 5.15am, and at 6am I’m on the way to
runners, slightly unnerved by the fact the race village. Despite assurance
that it was already 25°C at 9am. In two that there will be helicopters flying
days’ time, we’d be running in this. overheard to scare off the larger animals,
I’d only agreed to the race five weeks as well as armed rangers positioned
prior, and I was torn between feeling along the course, my pre-race nerves are
well prepared and utterly terrified. I kicking in. I’m picked up by one of the
wasn’t new to the distance – I had seven Tusk-branded Land Rover Defenders,
marathons under my belt, including each of which represents one of Africa’s
one just two months before. But I was ‘big five’ safari animals – lion, leopard,
grappling with a glute tendon issue, rhino, buffalo and elephant. As it
which had upended my running navigates the bumpy dirt tracks,
routine. Then there was the small matter I relish a final moment of calm.
of Lewa being nearly 1,700m above Arriving at the start zone, my pre-race
sea level, meaning oxygen levels would autopilot kicks in. I make a beeline for
be lower. Couple this with 435m of the Portaloos, but I needn’t have
elevation and African humidity and I
was presented with – I’d been told – one
of the most challenging marathons in
the world. I had my work cut out.
Consulting with my coach and physio,
we’d agreed that a hybrid regimen of
shorter runs and longer cross-training
sessions would get me to the start line
in reasonable shape. A hike up Ben
Nevis on a family holiday would serve
as hill training, along with a generous
dose of ‘hoping for the best’. I was also
able to get a couple of altitude sessions
under my belt in Third Space Soho’s
hypoxic chamber, which helped to
build my confidence.
The Lewa Safari Marathon
takes place around Lewa Wildlife
Conservancy, one of Kenya’s oldest
reserves. I was fortunate to be there
as a guest of Land Rover, a partner of
marathon organisers Tusk: a charity
that supports conservation efforts
across the continent. Funds raised
from the race also go towards schools
and healthcare initiatives in Kenya.
The race course is looped, set on
the conservancy’s dirt routes, taking
runners across the savannah plains
and through acacia woodland. The
full marathon is two loops, but it’s not
until I arrive in Lewa that I discover
only 10% of participants attempt it.
Oh, and one more thing: alongside

128 MEN’S HEALTH

 The

strong. This 5km descent takes me

through beautiful acacia woodland.
My legs are grateful for the decline.
At 20km, the path leads me back
under the start line. My watch tells
me I’ve reached halfway in just
under two hours.
At this point, participants are
significantly thinned out – the 102 of
us brave (or foolish) enough to take on
the full distance fanned out around the
conservancy. I’d been warned this part
can be psychologically challenging,
especially if you’re used to relying on the
dense crowds and electric atmosphere
ALI TAKES rushed – the usual one-hour queue the Kenyan spectators and tourists. of city races. Thankfully, I enjoy the
SOME MUCH- you find at city races is reduced to So far, I’m having a pretty nice time. solitude of smaller races and find the
NEEDED a single occupant. I pull on my In fact, I’m starting to wonder what next few kilometres pass by quickly,
SHELTER
hydration jacket, lock in GPS on my all the fuss is about. the next closest runner no more than
FROM THE
smartwatch and head to the start line. Then, approaching a speck of dust
‘The caveat?
KENYAN
HUMIDITY IN The clock creeps towards 7.40am 9km, I spot the first on the horizon.

I’d be sharing
A DEFENDER and suddenly, without so much steep climb. I remove one of my
as a countdown or a gun fire, the ‘Little steps, headphones so I can
crowd begins to surge. We’re off. lean into it,’ echo the course with take in the beauty
The first 5km pass quickly. There’s
little change in the elevation over
the words of Jeremy,
a Lewa marathon
several large of the savannah.
Just before the first
this stretch, so I’m able to settle veteran I’d spoken predators’ incline, a shadow
into a consistent pace. The terrain, to the day before the appears behind
however, is totally different to what race. I power up the hill with me. It’s Alex, a friend from camp,
I’m used to – mostly black cotton surprising ease, feeling reassured and although I’m content with my
soil with some more gravelly tracks. that the altitude isn’t causing me solo adventure, it’s comforting to see a
Though we’ve struck lucky with the many problems, and sink my second familiar face. We run in companionable
temperature – late teens and relatively carb gel in celebration. silence and tackle the hill together.
overcast – I’m aware it’s still early in After this, the hills grow relentless Suddenly, I become acutely aware
the morning, so I’m steadfast with my – a combination of shorter, stony of how warm it is. Passing the next aid
intake of electrolytes at each aid station. climbs and long, steady ascents. station, I grab a wet sponge and drizzle
These are positioned every 2.5km and I manage to keep moving up all of it over my forehead. Temporary relief.
I get a little thrill each time I pass one, them and when the trail finally sweeps
receiving enthusiastic cheers from downhill towards the half marathon
finish and my second lap, I’m feeling

MEN’S HEALTH 129

The

AN UPHILL BATTLE
Up until now, I’ve been ‘chunking’
the race into 5km stints. Now, the
goalposts begin to get a lot narrower.
‘We’re at 28km – we just need to get
to 30km,’ I mumble to Alex, more for
my benefit than his. Just as my watch
clocks 30km, we come across another
friend who had passed us on the first lap.
The three of us settle into a rhythm and
I’m quietly thankful for the company
during this empty stretch of savannah.
My watch tells me I’m averaging a
5:30 min/km pace and I think, ‘Maybe I
can do this in under four hours after all.’
Then, the hills return.
Game face on, I clamber up the first
sharp climb. My pace slows by a minute,
but I’m determined that I will not be
walking. Reaching the top, I glance
round to check on the guys and find
they’re no longer behind me. Looks
like I’m doing this alone now.
With another ascent looming, I realise
it’s time to stop being a hero. I resign
myself to a walk. Except now I’ve stopped,
it’s difficult to get going again. I run for ONLY 10% OF PARTICIPANTS
a few more metres, only to turn a corner TAKE ON THE GRUELLING
MARATHON DISTANCE
and meet another long ascent. Mentally,
I remind myself that if I can just get to
37km, it will be downhill from there.
The next few kilometres are I see the finish line. Digging deep, I Savannah Survival Kit
challenging. I make the most of each aid manage a final sprint. My watch tells Three must-haves for the Lewa Marathon
station, ceremoniously grabbing water me I’ve done it in 4:25. The winner,
and a sponge at each one. I try to drink a Kenyan, obviously, finished in 2:19.
THE SHOES
I opted for the Nike Pegasus
some more electrolytes but they make Though the trip would have been Trail, a supportive and
me feel nauseous. By the time I reach the worth it for the event (and subsequent comfortable shoe for longer
final descent, my legs are overloaded bragging rights) alone, the Lewa Safari distances that offers the perfect
level of traction and
with lactic acid and I can’t bring myself Marathon is about far more than just
ground feel for more
to run for more than a few minutes at the race. It’s tightly packed trails.
a time. The only thing stopping me from
walking the entire way to the finish is
a multi-day
experience,
‘With another £124.95, nike.com

knowing that the guys from camp aren’t including ascent looming,
too far behind me, and my pride is too
great to let them beat me.
sunrise safari
drives, which
I realise it’s THE FUEL
I used a combination of

The shade from the acacia trees is offer runners time to stop Maurten’s Gel 100 and
Solid 225. The hydrogel
welcome, but I’m starting to feel defeated.
A lone ranger smiles and says, ‘Come on,
a closer look at
the surrounds –
being a hero’ technology within the gels
means they don’t clump in
your stomach and cause
you can do it.’ I manage a grimace back. without the lactic leg burn.
any GI discomfort.
At last, I take a left towards the finish. I might have attended as a writer, From £30 for 12 sachets,
I spot two monkeys in front of a sign that but all of the race participants have an maurten.com
PHOTOGRAPHY: OLGUN KORDAL

reads ‘500m to go’ and feel a surge of opportunity to join visits to the local
adrenaline. This is what I came for. I pass schools and community projects that
THE SHADES
another runner who has stopped to benefit from Tusk and Land Rover’s Weighing just 25g, the
walk. It’s my time to give the pep talk. funding (£8m raised to date). It’s rare Sungod Zephyrs are so
‘Let’s go, come on,’ I urge. ‘I’ve got to get a chance to see first-hand the light you’ll forget you’re
wearing them. The scratch-
cramp,’ he mumbles back. difference fundraising efforts like this
proof lenses offer 100%
My optimism lasts all of 200m and can make. It’s certainly like no marathon UV protection and they
I find myself walking yet again. Then, I’ve done before – and it’s one that I’ll fit snugly on your face.
remember for years to come. From £70, sungod.co

130 MEN’S HEALTH

MH CLASSIFIED

THE MH DIRECTORY
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Whatever your goal, Places Leisure is the best place for you to start.
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 MH CLASSIFIED

STAY STRAPPED FOR YOUR PROTECTION – THE FRONTIER X2

Paula Radcliffe, Former Women’s World Marathon Record Holder

Without a doubt, the most One Frontier X2 user states
significant midlife crisis in a man’s that “It’s the only device I’ve
life is the one that takes place in found that tracks critical data
his cardiovascular system. Heart without the need for you to
Disease is by far the leading cause stop and wait, and alerts you if
of death in men, with the CDC you exceed set thresholds.”
reporting that 1 in every 4 male Exercise is a critical
deaths in 2021 were attributed to it. intervention both in the
Fortunately, this is not a problem prevention of cardiovascular
that needs to persist, and the disease as well as recovery
proliferation of readily available from a heart condition.
wearable technology is a key part However, not all exercise is
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an advanced Smart Heart Monitor According to user Tom Gaskell,
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Fourth Frontier that has changed never have known that increasing
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The most distinctive feature of the Frontier X2 is its ability to record high quality point puts excessive strain on
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can record your ECG in a range of situations that a smartwatch cannot provide. increased my exercise: done more,
A sleek and lightweight device, the X2 is easy to use during intense workouts, long faster and for longer, and this
endurance sessions, daily tasks, or even while you’re asleep, giving you deeper and could have impacted my health
timely insights into your heart’s functioning during and following exercise. negatively.”
All this data is great, but sometimes you need information in the present The Frontier X2 has been instrumental in giving people insights that reduce
moment. The Frontier X2 is special because not only does it track critical metrics the likelihood of negative outcomes related to recovery following exercise,
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QOBUZ: REDISCOVERING HIGH-QUALITY

MUSIC IN THE DIGITAL AGE
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digital age swallowed the physical, favouring quantity
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credits slip through their fingers while ‘lossy’ formats
like MP3 became the new norm. Music aficionados and
audiophiles were sidelined as the mainstream drowned
out the art of music curation.
However, Qobuz brings hope. Qobuz champions a
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HAIR TRANSPLANT – Before After

IS THIS THE BEST OPTION?

Patterned hair loss in men affects 70-80%
of men depending on ethnicity and race.
Data suggests it’s an association with low
self-esteem and depression. Treating
hair-loss can potentially reverse or
improve these issues.
Men can often be very vulnerable when
affected by significant hair loss, becoming
easy targets for dodgy hair-transplant
clinics, evident by the rise in botched hair
transplants.
Hair transplants have recently been
trivialised as an easy, quick fix, when
they are not. If these procedures are
performed by the wrong person, by an
unregulated clinic or on a poorly selected
candidate, it can lead to long standing
negative consequences, taking a heavy
psychological toll on the person.
Medical treatments should be the first port
of call as they can halt, slow down and even
thicken existing hair.
Choose a good hair loss clinic which offers
both medical and surgical options. ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS:
My advice when looking for hair transplant – Will the doctor do the graft excisions and site creations? – Are the premises CQC registered ?
clinic would be – – Is the doctor registered with GMC and a national/ – Ask to see real results and speak to old patients.
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STRONGER, THICKER,
DID-YOU-TRAVEL-BACK-IN-TIME? HAIR.
My hair is not how it used to be, and shedding impacts my
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loss is a pressing concern for a substantial 7.4 million men
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How does it work?
Male pattern baldness is characterised by a receding hairline,
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reaction to early hair loss signs and prevention is the key to
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Locate us: thegromingclinic.co.uk, Collins Chemist (London),
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It’s always best

CHILL TUBS: to consult with
EMBRACE THE COLD a healthcare
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Unlock your potential. Break through starting any new
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THE MH DIRECTORY
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HIGH DENSITY HAIR TRANSPLANTS

Before After

Like Lemmings preparing to jump, people who choose Turkey for their hair
transplant procedure, invariably make their choice based on price.
What they fail to understand, is that the Turkish variation is an entirely different THE PERFECT GOLFERS MATE!
procedure.
Designed in the UK, puttmate incorporates a number of putting accessories
For openers, their patients will get up to 25% less density / volume & waste an including a divot repairer, ball marker and alignment line into one purposeful
awful lot of grafts, preventing many of them from having further surgery, should tool. Made of anodised aircraft grade aluminium and stainless steel, puttmate
they continue losing hair. has been built to last. Every element has been meticulously designed, tested
To understand the difference, scan the QR code or and redesigned where needed.
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PERFECT DEFINITION
El Truchan is an internationally acclaimed expert in Scalp Micropigmentation and other male treatments, including Male
Microblading and medical tattoo. For the past nine years, El has been providing highly sought-after services at Scalp Micro
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Before After
TREATMENTS OFFERED:

• Male Microblading
• Scalp Micropigmentation
• Dark Lip Colour Neutralisation
• Male 3D Nipple & Areola Reconstruction
• Vitiligo & Scars Medical Tattooing
• Webbed Toes/Fingers Separator Medical Micropigmentation
• Anti-Wrinkle Injections / Fillers/ Skin Boosters / Anti-Sweat Injections

Contact: 020 8022 1267 | info@scalpmicrodefinition.co.uk | www.scalpmicrodefinition.co.uk | www.instagram.com/scalpmicrodefinition

www.facebook.com/scalpmicrodefinition | www.youtube.com/@eltruchan383

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 ONE WORD
ANSWER #39
QUESTION
What activity
can sharpen your
mind and put
control back in
your hands?

UNLOCK FRESH
IDEAS BEFORE YOUR ANSWER
Origami
MOTIVATION FOLDS

W
WORDS: YO ZUSHI. PHOTOGRAPHY: JOBE LAWRENSON. PAPER ENGINEERING: TOM ASHTON-BOOTH
hen Erik Demaine was hormones in your brain. Working with
seven years old, he climbed Grant’. But origami could take us a your hands for a tangible reward – in
into his newly divorced small step closer to an improved mind. origami’s case, your perfectly folded
dad’s car and watched their home Research at Rostov State University paper crane, say – can re-establish
town of Halifax, Nova Scotia, recede in Russia has linked the ancient your sense of control over your
in the rear-view mirror. It was the Japanese practice of paper-folding environment. This triggers what
beginning of a four-year road trip to a sharpening of test subjects’ motor, Dr Lambert calls a ‘behaviourceutical’
across North America, which ended intellectual and creative abilities. The effect – a positive change in your
in 1993 when father and son returned study’s authors attributed this to an neurochemistry that is potentially as
to allow Erik, who was then only 12, to increase in interaction between the significant as the effects of medication.
take his place at Dalhousie University subjects’ brain hemispheres, which ‘I work on anything I consider fun,’
to study maths and computer science. separate research, published in Brain Professor Demaine said in 2005, sitting
By 20, he was the youngest ever And Cognition, suggests can improve in an office that The New York Times
professor at the Massachusetts the quality of our ideas. Good news described as resembling a ‘geometric
Institute of Technology. The research if you thought all paperwork was by playpen’. Most of us haven’t done any
area that brought him such early definition mind-numbing. origami since primary school and we’ve
success – and joy – was origami. Origami also helps to regulate your let ourselves wander into an adult life
Of course, not all of us can be a mood. According to neuroscientist of offices and abstract goals. But for
prodigy like Demaine, who in 2003 Kelly Lambert of the University of a clearer, healthier mind, perhaps it’s
was awarded the MacArthur ‘Genius Richmond, Virginia, everyday dextrous time we returned to the fold.
activity can limit the release of stress

138 MEN’S HEALTH*