Men's Fitness South Africa January 2017

Full steam ahead… Brace yourself. It’s time for all those “new year, new me” social media posts. You should also prepare yourself for the brace yourself meme with Robert Downy Jnr rolling his eyes while saying that. Yes, it is a new year and why should it not be a year full of new possibilities and exciting opportunities? Why not finally get into the best possible shape, the way that you said you would at the start of 2016, when you were in that coma from all the overeating around the Christmas period? I know I am guilty of that, and I have made the personal commitment to actually follow through. The easiest way, really, is to have some small realistic benchmarks and goals. If you start to map that…

STRENGTH TRAINING CJ Murphy, M.F.S. Owner, Total Performance Sports, Everett, MA Jim Smith, C.S.C.S. Owner, Diesel Strength & Conditioning Zach Even-Esh Owner, Underground Strength Gym, Edison, NJ Ben Bruno Personal trainer, Los Angeles, benbruno.com PHYSICAL THERAPY Jay Dicharry, M.P.T., C.S.C.S. Director of biomechanics, Rebound Physical Therapy; coach, USA Track & Field; coach, USA Cycling, Bend, OR WEIGHT LOSS Bob Harper Fitness expert; best-selling author of Jumpstart to Skinny; trainer, NBC’s The Biggest Loser Chris Powell, C.S.C.S. Trainer; author; transformation specialist, ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss Frank G. Bottone Jr., Ph.D., R.D. Author, The Diet Denominator: Fill Your Tank for Less NUTRITION Elizabeth M. Ward, M.S., R.D. Award-winning writer, nutrition consultant, spokesperson Angela Lemond, R.D.N. Owner, Lemond Nutrition; spokesperson, American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics FOOD Danny Boome Celebrity chef, currently on…

HARD-HITTING NEWS FROM THE CUTTING EDGE OF MODERN RESEARCH Get just a bit more dressed up than the people you work with, and you’ll also generate bigger ideas and think on a higher, more abstract level. How so? According to new research, when you outdress your co-workers to even a subtle degree, it makes you feel more powerful; that, in turn, allows you to feel and think more like a leader, reports the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. “Wearing more formal clothing leads to more big-picture thinking,” says study co-author Michael L. Slepian, PhD And it doesn’t even matter how dressed up you get, he says: “What’s key is that you’re wearing clothing that’s more formal than your peers.” So if your office is full of chinos and button-downs…

Science has proven that eating a sensible amount of “good” (mono and polyunsaturated) fats, like those in avocados, nuts, and fish, can lower your risk of heart disease and stroke, while saturated fats — the kind doughnuts and chips are dripping with — can raise cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. But, a warning: Just five days of fat-bingeing — eating 55% of your daily calories in fat — can muck up your metabolism and open the door to disease, according to an American new Virginia Tech study. In it, healthy college-age guys ate a typical diet of 55% carbs, 15% protein, and 30% fat (11% of which was saturated fat) for a week, to normalise their diet and set a baseline; they then loaded up on super-high-fat…

Talk about getting lucky: Have an orgasm daily (or nearly that) and you’ll lower your risk of prostate cancer by 33%. That’s right: Men who ejaculate more than 21 times a month are one-third as likely to get prostate cancer as those who get off only four to seven times a month (and yes, doing it alone counts, too), according to prepublication reports of the 10-year follow-up of a US Harvard study from 2004. The study’s authors hypothesise that getting rid of all that baby batter releases beneficial hormones or that flushing out the old sperm regularly may purge precancerous cells. And though they can’t comment on the record about their research until the results are officially published, we’re going to take their word for it and get started ASAP.…

Whether you’re a full-time desk jockey, a 911 operator, or a Supreme Court Judge (dude, it could happen), science has discovered an important trick you can use to stay healthier and live longer. According to an American University of Utah School of Medicine study, getting up and walking for at least two minutes every hour can lower your risk of early death by 33%. And no, just standing up doesn’t cut it. “When getting up, try light-intensity activities like casual walking or going up stairs”, says study lead Srinivasan Beddhu, PhD. “Activities of very low intensity, such as standing, aren’t as beneficial.” To remember your healthy hourly stroll (you may want to give your boss a heads-up first, lest he/she read some intrigue into your wanderings), set an app or…