Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Men's Fitness UK

ISSUE 276 APRIL 2023 For every one runner who makes it past the initial discomfort, there’s another who decides it’s not for them: dismissing it as being either too boring or too hard. There are also those put off not by experiences, but assumptions: if it’s not bad for your knees, it’s bad for your hard-earned muscles – after all, you need to be stick-thin to be any good at it. If you’re in the latter group, hopefully this issue goes some way to convincing you that running is well worth the perseverance. And if you’re already a convert, you’ll find plenty to help you push performance to new heights. Elsewhere, elite HYROX athletes reveal their best advice for building the functional strength and aerobic engine required to race well,…

Men’s Fitness is about more than rippling muscles, or chicken and broccoli dinners. These days, we’ve expanded our remit slightly. Our extensive collection of workouts, strength training tips and nutrition advice will help you look the part, sure, but it’s an unfortunate fact that big muscles don’t equate to happiness. Which is why in the pages of our monthly issues and online at mensfitness.co.uk, you will also find the tools you need to improve all the unseen aspects of your health, too. If you’re looking for celebrity training plans or quick-fix diets, you’ll be better served elsewhere. However, if you want to learn how to make a healthy way of living second nature – no matter how busy you are – we’ve got you covered. Isaac Williams Editor…

‘You can’t outrun a bad diet,’ McDougall writes. ‘No matter how many miles you put in, you’ll continue to store body fat, as long as your eating causes your blood sugar to spike.’ He recommends a food regime called the Maffetone method, based on the research of nutritionist Phil Maffetone. It urges runners to think of their body as a furnace. Fill up the furnace with slow-burning logs and it will run ‘smooth and strong for hours’. But, if you load the furnace with paper and petrol-soaked rags, it will ‘burn hot, rattle the pipes, and die out until it’s fed again’. For that reason, McDougall suggests runners embark on Maffetone’s two-week test to restore their natural metabolism. ‘You’ll crave better foods because they’ll make you feel good, instantly,’ he…

There are different schools of thought. However, the typical endurance body type, ectomorph, is, according to leading US nutritionist John Beradi and his team at Precision Nutrition, better able to metabolise carbohydrates and do well eating a diet that predominantly consists of healthy, slow-release carbohydrates. Go low-carb. Others, such as well-known author and running expert Professor Tim Noakes, argue that many runners are too carb-dependent. They point out that the primary fuel used when running is fat, so we should therefore eat more fat and fewer carbs in order to fuel our running (you can find out more about the Banting diet and running ultramarathons on low-carbohydrate diets at realmealrevolution.com). Stick to the plan. When it comes to general health and staying slim, it seems the most important thing to…

WHY IT MATTERS Iron deficiency symptoms include tiredness, shortness of breath, restless legs and an elevated heart rate. You may feel tired and lack motivation to train. Iron plays a key role in energy metabolism, immune function and providing oxygen to the working muscles. Plus, iron makes haemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the working muscles, and has obvious implications for endurance athletes. DEFICIENCY Research published in the Journal of Internal Medicine found that more than half of runners suffer from an iron deficiency. There are many factors that affect a runner’s iron levels. Runners have a larger blood volume, so need higher levels of haemoglobin and serum ferritin. Sweat and urine can contribute to iron loss. Add to that 85% of runners test positive for blood in their stools, and…

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One sled push and sandbag lunge at a time, Hyrox, billed as the event for every body, is taking the fitness world by storm. There are a number of different categories you can enter – in countries around the world – with the generic workout being the same across the board: a 1km run, followed by a functional move (such as wall balls), repeated eight times [see below]. At time of writing, the current Men’s Open world record is a baffling 55 minutes and 40 seconds, set by German Dieter Schwarzkopf. The Men’s Pro world record is an even more ludicrous 55 minutes and 9 seconds, set by multi-discipline endurance monster Hunter McIntyre. Those times are superhuman – the average finisher last season completed the course in 1 hour and…

GARLIC helps to keep your arteries healthy, by suppressing the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or ‘bad’) cholesterol in the bloodstream. SWEET POTATOES provide the powerful antioxidant beta-carotene, which helps to lower LDL cholesterol in the blood. BLUEBERRIES contain the compound pterostilbene, which helps the body to break down fat and LDL cholesterol. CARROTS are high in the soluble fibre calcium pectate, which helps you feel full and also binds with acids in the body to reduce LDL cholesterol. CHICKEN is a source of muscle-building protein as well as vitamin B3, which helps to lower LDL cholesterol.…

SIMPLY CHICKEN KOFTAS WITH GARLIC YOGURT SAUCE INGREDIENTS (serves 4): For the side salad: For the yogurt: PER SERVING Kcals: 499 Protein: 45g Carbs: 52g Fat: 13g METHOD: 1. Place all the kofta ingredients into a mixing bowl, reserving a pinch of the parsley. Season with salt and pepper. 2. Use clean hands to mash into a smooth paste mixture until well combined. 3. Divide the mixture into balls the size of golf balls, then use your hands to shape into small sausage shapes. 4. Place onto a tray, then chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking. 5. For the salad, simply put the ingredients into a bowl, season and mix together. Set aside. 6. For the yogurt, mix the ingredients together in a small bowl and season…

In endurance sport, much is made of the I power of the mind. Conquer your thoughts, the thinking goes, and anything is possible. But research has tempered that romantic idea slightly, with a study from Duke University suggesting no matter the activity, everyone hits the same metabolic limit: a maximum possible level of exertion that humans can sustain in the long-term. Whether an athlete is competing for days, weeks or even months, researchers found humans can only burn calories at 2.5 times their resting metabolic rate. “There’s just a limit to how many calories our guts can effectively absorb per day,” said study co-author, Herman Pontzer.…

DIRECTIONS • Each workout consists of 6 exercises, performed in 5 continuous rounds. • Perform 12 reps of each exercise in the first round, 10 in the second, 8 in the third, 6 in the fourth and 4 in the final circuit. • Rest as little as possible between exercises and rounds. WORKOUT 1 1. PUSH PRESS • With your feet shoulder-width apart, position the bar on your upper chest, keeping your chest upright and your core braced. • Bend at the knees to go into a quarter squat, then stand up and press the bar directly overhead. • During the lifting phase, keep your core braced and don’t tilt your hips forward. • Lower the bar back to your chest. 2. FRONT SQUAT • Rest the bar across your…

HOW MANY? Aim for 3-4 sets of 5 reps each side. Want to build bigger shoulders as well as a stronger core? Of course you do! Crunches won’t get you there, but the half Turkish get-up certainly will. The first stage of the TGU is the money part of the move: it puts massive tension on your abs and obliques, while forcing you to keep your shoulders and core tight. And because you’re stopping halfway and reversing the move, then carrying on to complete the reps, it packs in loads of time under tension, which is exactly what your muscles need to grow.…

TESTING TIMES ENDORSED: Products that receive Men’s Fitness Endorsed badges have been rigorously tested by the Men’s Fitness team and our expert, independent reviewers. A MF endorsement is a stamp of approval for the products we rate highly and believe can make a real difference to our audience’s general health, fitness and wellbeing. EDITOR’S CHOICE: The Men’s Fitness Editor’s Choice badge is our ultimate accolade. Having been through a comprehensive testing process, products awarded Editor’s Choice are those that MF ’s editor personally recommends. There’s a reason the elite speed demons who dominate the track and road marathons opt for shorter shorts. When it comes to all-out, hammer-down performance, stripping your shorts back (and we mean right back) has a lot of benefits. For starters, 3-inchers are light, airy and…

Running a marathon, conquering a triathlon or cycling your way to sportive success are all hard things to do. The appeal of endurance sport lies in the unique challenge of testing your physiological and mental limits. But while there are many ways to optimise pre-race prep – from being dedicated to your training plan and sacrificing your Sundays, to waxing your legs and spending a fortune on fancy shoes – one non-negotiable is your nutrition. Putting as much intent and effort into optimising your nutritional approach can elicit huge returns in both your performance and recovery. It doesn’t require you to reinvent the wheel or follow ultra-specialised plans. It just requires some purposefulness in your food choices, consistency in your approach and a little practice along the way… TIME IT…

Red wine and dark beer carry cancer-protecting polyphenols. Red wine also contains the cholesterol-fighting antioxidant resveratrol (also found in the skin of grapes). The antioxidants in red wine increase levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the good cholesterol) and protect against artery damage. Red wine also contains iron, potassium and magnesium. As with all alcohol, moderate what you drink. Beer contains folic acid, vitamins, iron and calcium. Research has found that beer drinkers have 30% more vitamin B6 in their blood plasma, which prevents the build-up of a chemical that causes heart disease. A 2011 study found that moderate consumption of ale and lager can reduce the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, and can even help people lose weight. Another study found that beer is great for rehydration.…

I made the switch from the track to marathon because I needed a new challenge. I felt I’d accomplished all that I wanted on the track and started to think, What’s next? For the type of person I am, I need a challenge to motivate me and make me hungry. I didn’t need to dramatically change my training, though, it was just tweaking a few things, like longer tempo efforts and a longer long run. I was already running 120 to 130 miles a week, which didn’t need to change. The hardest part about the switch was not being able to race as often. I’m a competitor and I love testing myself against the best in the world. I liked being able to race, see what I need to work…