Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2024 i Men's Health

I HAVE A MONDAY-MORNING RITUAL I LOOK FORWARD TO: MEDITATION, A MORNING RUN, A QUIET WORKOUT AT MY LOCAL PARK, AND A GLASS OF HOMEMADE COLD BREW.–CHARLES THORP I’M A BIG FAN OF THE SAUNA, SNUGGLING WITH MY BERNEDOODLE, AND JOURNALING MY FEARS SO I CAN STARE AT THEM ON THE PAGE AND FACE THEM.–DREW RAMSEY, M.D., MH ADVISOR I WIND DOWN EARLY—TAKE A SHOWER, WASH MY FACE, BRUSH MY TEETH—AND SETTLE IN TO WATCH A GREAT MOVIE.–EVAN ROMANO BY STAYING FOCUSED ON MY ROUTINE (ERRANDS, PILATES, MEAL PREP) AND ENDING THE NIGHT WITH A TV SHOW OR BOOK.–RACHEL EPSTEIN I SET MY ALARM TO THE ROCKY THEME SONG SO I CAN WAKE UP READY TO GO.–KYLE OROZOVICH I CATCH SOME Z’S, LIMIT SCREEN TIME ON MY PHONE, AND MAKE…

THE CLAIMS Beetroot capsules, powders, chewables, and drinks have the power to boost your energy, enhance athletic performance, and/or promote brain and heart health—all because research shows that beets improve blood pressure and circulation. Or at least that’s what supplement companies advertise. WHAT’S TRUE Beets—as in the from-the-ground food—are really good for you. “Beetroot contains two types of bioactive constituents: betalains and nitrates,” says Kirsten Brandt, Ph.D., of the Human Nutrition & Exercise Research Centre at Newcastle University. Betalains have heart-protecting properties, and your body converts nitrate into nitric oxide, which helps reduce inflammation. WHAT’S MAYBE TRUE All the positive effects of real beets—a healthier heart, better workouts, muscle recovery—have turned up only in small studies of people taking beetroot supplements. Science needs larger clinical studies to prove a stronger…

THE DUDE MAY have preferred his White Russian boozy and with heavy cream. But if you want to cut back on calories, swap the cream for almond milk and ease up on the vodka. And if you think that’s weird, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man. HOW TO MAKE IT In a rocks glass filled with ice, pour 1 to 2 oz vodka and 1 oz Kahlúa. Stir. Top the drink off with vanilla almond milk. VODKA LEVEL UP Who are you calling a neutral spirit? Vodka has range. These White Russian–friendly bottles are proof. START HERE SMIRNOFF NO. 21 An American classic for a reason: It’s crisp and clean and elevates the rest of the ingredients in the cocktail. $13 THEN TRY STOLI This mild vodka is…

DYLAN O’BRIEN HAS been known, from time to time, to wear the same clothes (he’s been photographed doing so). But the 33-year-old doesn’t care what people think. “Even when I was in school, I remember kids making fun of me for rewearing the same T-shirts all the time. It’s just always how I’ve been. But also, I stand on that,” O’Brien says. “I’m like, what the fuck? I’m not going to wear a shirt and then burn it.” He recently got the chance to try out a whole new wardrobe—one from 1975, in fact. Playing Dan Aykroyd in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, O’Brien helps tell the story of the chaotic 90 minutes before the very first episode of Saturday Night Live. His mustachioed Aykroyd is charming and quick, a source…

IN C A SE YOU H AV EN’ T HE A R D the stat: The median savings-account balance of Americans is $1,200, according to a 2023 survey from the Motley Fool. (That’s regardless of income—and down from $4,500 in 2022.) If reading that stresses you out, I know how you feel. I’ve heard it from so many people in the financial field: A savings account’s primary role is to step in and support you in an emergency, yes, but having a cushy financial airbag also works wonders for your peace of mind. Just knowing the money is there helps. There’s evidence that when people don’t have enough saved, they give up on aspects of the good life. In a 2024 MarketWatch survey, roughly 94 percent of respondents said they…

FROM THE OUTSIDE, it would appear nothing spectacular happens in the two nondescript buildings at the end of a street in Los Angeles. Tall, brown, and mostly glass, the sunlight not bouncing off the windows but kind of lying atop them, sighing through the plainness of their own existence. The street itself might seem nondescript to someone who, in their maneuvering of it, doesn’t notice the expensive cars backed haphazardly into nearly every parking spot. This is the home of Klutch Sports Group, the powerhouse agency founded by Rich Paul in 2012. Paul, a close friend of LeBron James for more than two decades, has built an enterprise that represents hundreds of athletes across multiple sports. The elevator ascending to Klutch opens its doors and it is, at least a little…

HASSAN PAIGE, a 54-year-old behavioral-data analyst, was 12 when his father discovered that an employee at their family deli in Philadelphia had been stealing from them. “One of the guys from the neighborhood that was a customer,” Paige says, “said to my father, ‘Mr. Paige, you’re not upset? If that was me, I would have done this, that, and the other thing to them if they stole from me.’ And I remember what my father said like it was yesterday. He said, ‘What am I going to get upset about? It already happened. I can’t change that. The best thing I can do now is figure out how it’s not going to happen to me again.’ ” These sage words would prove prophetic for Paige in 2019 when he suffered…

GROWING UP IN Detroit under a rough, gruff, blue-collar, beat-cop, short-fused, heel-clack, ramrod-straight code, Ryan Lennon knew his marching orders. Feeling sad? Swallow it. Angry? Channel it. Johnny took your G. I. Joe? Get it back. Leave the couch-moaning, kumbaya, touchy-feely crap to the civilian suckers willing to pay $200 an hour. So what does Lennon do? He becomes the “psych boss” for the U. S. Navy—a shrink, a therapist. “I know,” Lennon says, chuckling. Okay, he took on the psych-boss role after a few years as a combat engineer; after he made a name for himself playing rugby, turned his carved arms into tattoo sleeves, and, most recently, landed an assignment at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, overseeing the mental health of the legendary 1st Marine Division. Still. How…

I STARTED WORKING out fully in college because I just wanted some abs. I was going to Queens College for accounting and economics. I worked at a firm for about two years. Then I figured out it wasn’t for me. There’s very little blueprint to follow in terms of being Asian in fitness. Most of the media coverage is on non-Asian people. Not being in fitness is the expectation of Asians. Like, “Oh, you should be a doctor, you should be on Wall Street or do finance”—which I was. People don’t really expect me to be a trainer. The pivotal moment for me was seeing my parents and grandparents struggling with their health, in part because they got too little physical activity. That’s what drove me to help other people find…

MEET THE NEW GROUP. PIO-FRANCO BADAJOS 25, New York “I’d like to make real training knowledge a simplified process.” TAYLOR BEEBE 40, California “I believe in strength training for the confidence it breeds.” BRANDON CHU 23, New York “My perspective on fitness broadens beyond just having goals. It’s one facet of my life.” JORDAN FARRELL 32, North Carolina “My perspective on fitness is grounded in the realization that fitness is for everyone.” QUINCY FRANCE SR. 51, New York “I treat all clients as individuals.” CHICO HUGGINS-MARSMAN 33, Massachusetts “I’d like to create spaces where both clients and trainers can feel comfortable to let their guard down.” TONYAEL MILLER 37, Georgia “I want moms and caregivers of color to rediscover their happiness.” JEROD NIEDER 42, Kentucky “I want to leave a legacy…

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE EXPERTS, ADVISORS, AND READERS WHO BRING MEN’S HEALTH TO LIFE. Assault bike. @mseagrav Battle ropes. @mk_l.15 The handle on the front door of my gym. @sixeightpete Rowing machine! @daveandrew2776 The elliptical. It’s great cross training but using it just looks so stupid. @jkoontz_24 The freakin’ ab wheel… so simple… so much pain. @ewafit To discover the best parts of the best gyms, go to page 15 for our favorite places to work out in America.…

BEST OUTDOOR SWEAT MILO – LIMITLESS FITNESS, DEL MAR, CALIFORNIA OVER THE PAST decade, Milo F. Bryant, C.S.C.S., has evolved the programs at Milo – Limitless Fitness (aka the Playground) to combine fun and strength. (In his spare time, Bryant is also an MH advisor.) His 12-year-old outdoor facility lets all comers build athletic skills with programming that can help you jump higher or swing a golf club faster. Net climbs and monkey bars test strength, balance, and agility. An Olympic weightlifting platform and free weights ensure it’s not just fun and games; you can still train heavy. HIT THIS PLAYGROUND SESH! All you need is a bar to blast your back and abs. • PULLUP: Do 4 sets of 10 reps. • HANGING KNEE RAISE: Hang from a bar with…

WHEN ANDREW CHAN, M.D., became a gastroenterologist two decades ago, he had to get used to the brutal reality that seemingly healthy young people would show up in his office with colorectal cancer. Even though he specialized in high-risk cancer genetics, they didn’t all have family histories of the disease. Some were marathoners. Some were vegetarians. Some didn’t drink. At the time, “early onset” patients made up less than 10 percent of his caseload. Then about a decade ago, he started getting more of them. Today it’s more than double that—a trend he calls “truly stunning” because they’re his age or even 20 years younger. Dr. Chan, a professor at Harvard Medical School, just turned 50. So he decided to help solve one of the decade’s most disturbing medical mysteries: Why…

From the moment Jim Gaffigan reaches out to shake my hand, I sense that he’s not sure he belongs here. We’re on the 16th floor of Hearst Tower, where Men’s Health is painstakingly and lovingly produced and where Gaffigan is set to be photographed. Even though he and I are wearing the exact same outfit—what I’ve come to lovingly call the “big guy’s best friend,” a black T-shirt, black pants, and white sneakers—Gaffigan isn’t a big guy anymore. “I think I’m a better fit for Men’s Antihealth,” he says to a room of people too busy to laugh. Gaffigan’s weight loss was a shift, not just visually but comedically. If you know his work, you know a sizable portion of his comedy centers on food—particularly food that’s not great for…

1. CRUISE THE CAYS Bermuda’s 180-plus islets and cays are best explored with a paddleboard or Boston Whaler (no license needed) from KS Watersports. Mustsee: the HMS Vixen, a gunboat scuttled near Daniel’s Head. 2 JUMP! At Admiralty House Park on the north shore, hurtle from a 20-foot-high volcanic cliff into Deep Bay. Sea-level passageways carved into the rocks take you up and through the caves and back to the clifftop for another go. 3. FISH YOUR DINNER Try Paradise One Sports Fishing Charters. (I hooked a 15-pound barracuda with them.) The owners will even cook a catch at their restaurant, Lost in the Triangle. 4. SWEAT THE RAILWAY Run or bike (Oleander Cycles has rentals) the 18-mile trail from the Royal Naval Dockyard to St. George’s. Forested tunnels. Epic…

IT’S ALARMING to realize just how much of our lives we spend not doing things we want to or should be doing. We talk about “not getting around to things” as if it were merely a failure of organization or of will. But often the truth is that we invest plenty of energy in making sure we never get around to them. It’s an old story: Some task—or some entire domain of life—makes you anxious whenever you think about it, so you just don’t go there. You’re scared that a pain in your abdomen might be a sign of something serious, so you avoid seeing a doctor. Or you’re worried that raising a sensitive subject with your partner could lead to a blazing argument—so you never do. Several times, I’ve…

NOAH GALLOWAY, 43 After winning the 2014 title, Galloway published a memoir, Living with No Excuses, and launched the No Excuses Charitable Fund. He’s also now an F45 Athlete and a father of four. TIM BONIFACE, 45 The 2015 winner left his job in finance after 9/11 to become a firefighter and an EMT. He’s still battling blazes in Kentucky, though he’s now Lieutenant Boniface. He and his wife are raising three girls, and he wants to be a stand-up comedian. AYDIAN DOWLING, 37 The first transgender man to appear on the cover of Men’s Health, Dowling was 2015’s Reader’s Choice winner. He’s since launched the nonprofit Point of Pride and the TRACE app; both support transgender individuals. JEDIDIAH BALLARD, D.O., 42 Dr. Ballard went from U. S. Army Ranger…

COMING HERE WAS not a good experience for me. I was ashamed of being a Mexican from Mexico. A lot of kids would pick on me and call me “wetback” [editor’s note: a slur that targets Mexicans who entered the country by swimming to the U. S.]. Latino kids would call me that. The racial thing came from my own people. I was proud to be Mexican, but I was ashamed of being from Mexico. Hispanics get into combat sports because boxing traditionally was free. When I was 12 years old, I did boxing because it was free. Karate isn’t free. My parents couldn’t pay for martial-arts lessons. They couldn’t even afford to buy me a pair of shoes. I didn’t play football until my senior year in high school because…

I GREW UP under very challenging circumstances, because I was a gay Latino and the son of two immigrants in Chicago where everybody identified as straight and white. I spent the greater part of my youth yearning for inclusivity. When I saw this opportunity to foster and grow the community at Barry’s, I wanted to ensure that employees and clients—no matter who they were—felt like it was a place where they could belong. When I started taking classes at Barry’s, it was a place where anyone felt welcome walking in but not necessarily walking out. If you couldn’t hang on the floor, sometimes you got kicked out. The way things operated felt very out of line with my values. Things changed with the official rebrand in 2014, when we dropped “Bootcamp”…

WARMUP/RECOVERY SNACK WALKOUT TO SCORPION ▶ START STANDING, THEN lean forward and place your hands on the floor. Walk them out slowly until you’re in pushup position (a), then lower your chest to the floor. Keeping your chest glued to the floor, lift your right leg and drive your right foot toward your left elbow, aiming to touch it to the floor (b). Reverse the movements, then repeat on the other side. Do 5 reps per side. Do this several times throughout the day or as a warmup for any of your workout snacks. DUMBBELL SUPERSET SNACK DIRECTIONS: Do 3 rounds of this superset. Rest 30 seconds between rounds. 1a DUMBBELL SWING ▶ STAND ABOUT 2 FEET in front of a moderate-to-heavy dumbbell. Push your butt back, then place your…

WITH RISING fast-food prices setting off a national outcry, rents outpacing wages, pundits not letting the whole recession talk die, and your daily burrito looking way smaller than it used to, it’s no wonder you’re feeling financially frazzled. It’s not just you. Forty-seven percent of American adults say they’re stressed about money and their mental health is suffering because of it, according to a May report from Bankrate. Turn to social media for a “break” from all that and you’re inundated with posts about “money dysmorphia,” “loud budgeting,” and “financial fasting.” It’s a lot. If you can’t shed your money stress, some experts say, it might be because you’re going about it backward. “On the surface, finance seems like it’s all nuts and bolts,” says Spencer Sherman, founder and financial…

In 2023, the national obsession with ice baths boomed, and so did RYAN DUEY’s company, Plunge. It nearly tripled in revenue, grew more than sevenfold in employees, and expanded from home cold-plunge pools into saunas, too. As co-CEO, Duey needed new strategies to deal with the growth—and the headaches that came with it. Here’s how he puts his stress on ice. 5:30–6:00 A.M. TRAIN EARLY I struggle to get out of bed, so I need something to be accountable for or to. Three out of five days in the week, my trainer shows up first thing, so I have to be up. I go to a yoga class the other two. I love getting a workout in early. Sweat solves so many problems. 7:00 A.M. PLUNGE, THEN COFFEE Plunging gives…

10 JORDYN POLLACK, 32 ENTREPRENEUR AND PHOTOGRAPHER • TEX AS Pollack transitioned in 2016 and has built a new body through lifting, running, skating, wakeboarding, and snowboarding. “Twice a week I do contrast therapy to help me relax and de-stress after a long day or week,” he says. And his friends help him wind down, too. “I am a very social person,” he says. “I love connecting with other transgender individuals through social media, as that has been amazing, meeting others who understand me.” 9 DUANE EHREDT JR., D.P.M., 40 PODIATRIST • OHIO In addition to his work as a clinician, Ehredt is an associate professor at Kent State University, a naval-reserve officer, and a dad. On top of all that, he’s always looking for a way to challenge his…

I FOUND POWER LIFTING by hearing stories about how strong my dad was and how he won a state title [when he was younger]. My initial goal was to be stronger than my dad. I’ve been working out since I was about 12 and entered my first meet when I was a high school sophomore. It took me longer to reach that goal than I expected—around 2021. But the journey was worth it. I decided that I would continue doing this for as long as I can. I went to an Indigenous high school where our curriculum was taught in Cherokee. That helped mold who I was going to be. I didn’t experience any culture shock until I went to Oklahoma State University. I found that it was a lot…