Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2025 i Men's Health

QUALITY SLEEP. I JUST INVESTED IN AN EYE MASK/HEADPHONES COMBO SO I CAN PUT DOWN MY PHONE AND GET MY ASMR ON.—KENGO TSUTSUMI STRETCHING, BECAUSE TOUCHING MY TOES SHOULDN’T BE A ONCE-A-YEAR ACHIEVEMENT.—ELYSSA AQUINO MORE RUNNING. I STARTED RUNNING AGAIN, AND IT HAS CHANGED HOW I APPROACH MY HEALTH, FROM FOCUSING ON SLEEP TO BEING MORE MINDFUL ABOUT CARB AND PROTEIN SOURCE.—DEZI ABEYTA, RD, MH ADVISOR SPENDING MORE TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS. COMMUNITY IS WHAT SUPPORTS ME EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.—DAVID OTEY, CSCS, MH ADVISOR FIGURE OUT HOW TO DRINK MORE WATER WITHOUT HAVING TO PEE SO MUCH.—NOJAN AMINOSHAREI WALK EVERYWHERE I CAN, WHENEVER I CAN.—RYAN BROWER…

WHAT IT IS Simple: Eat 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. Then do 30 minutes (30-30-30, see?) of steady-state, low-intensity cardio, keeping your heart rate below 135 beats per minute. The method went viral in 2023 when biohacker Gary Brecka posted about it. THE PROMISE Working out in a fasted state forces your body to burn lean muscle (not what you want) instead of fat (what you do want). A protein-rich break-fast reverses that by giving your body the glycogen stores it needs for the 30-minute workout. THE GOOD Breakfast and protein are always good ideas. Protein helps you fill up—and stay full between meals—which may lead to weight loss, says Sarah Keathley, RDN, at Top Nutrition Coaching. Plus, according to a 2023 study, people who…

I REMEMBER WHEN I first heard the Dead. It was about a week into COVID lockdowns. I had listened to the Grateful Dead at length before the pandemic, but there was something about “Sugaree” live from Veneta, Oregon, on August 27, 1972—blasted into my ears sometime in March of 2020 in the Mojave Desert outside Las Vegas—that sent me on a new adventure that wasn’t just sonic. That listen led me to a group of people I’ve come to love, stand among at live shows, converse with online, and, ultimately, belong to: Deadheads. Community. Belonging. It’s a necessary part of us that we can’t get on our own. It takes stepping outside ourselves and interacting with others, agreeing on and uniting around something larger than us all. Die-hard sports fans.…

Abe Ngoma, 62 THE WAKE-UP CALL _ I was shocked when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 20 years ago. I was always a lean, active guy, but the disease ran in my family. To control my diabetes, my doctor prescribed me metformin. All was well until, right around 2011, I started losing weight. I felt dizzy when I ran marathons or rode long distances. My diabetes was winning. THE FIX _ My doctor wanted me to get an insulin pump, but I couldn’t see that working with my active lifestyle. So we settled on my taking three types of insulin. Then I saw an ad for Abbott’s Free Style Libre 2—a continuous glucose monitor. It let me know exactly what was happening when I ate one fruit versus…

Jimmy Choi, 49 THE WAKE-UP CALL _At age 35, eight years after I was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease, I weighed 250 pounds and had to use a cane. I fell down the stairs carrying my 10-month-old son. He wasn’t hurt, but I knew I had to do something. THE FIX _ In 2010, I was accepted into a clinical trial looking at the benefits of exercise. Working out felt good, so I started doing more—walking small distances and then eventually running. I lost about 60 pounds. I completed the Chicago Marathon in 2012 and did a TEDx Talk on my illness in 2018. In 2017, my 10-year-old daughter, an American Ninja Warrior fan, encouraged me to compete on the show. I added strength training and plyometrics, and I…

BEHINDTHE SCENES WITH THE EXPERTS, ADVISORS, AND READERS WHO BRING MEN’S HEALTH TO LIFE. Getting my body fat under 12% at 44 years old! @jay_7_fit Sub 9 minute 1.5 mile. @rugbyryan3 (←Yes, that’s our latest Ultimate Men′s Health Guy winner, Ryan Lennon) To set a new fitness goal, check out page 11 for our list of the best races and events in 2025. Finding balance after years of training! @manlike_tai Benching 300 pounds! @tomoconnorsayswhat Lost 120 pounds and I’m in the best shape of my life. @vancebrown22 Riding my bike down the Pacific Coast—San Fran to L.A. (422 miles, 17,000-feet elevation)! @steve_howell_…

1. PITTSBURGH DIRTY DOZEN OCTOBER, $65+ • Test your hill training by completing 13 (a baker’s dozen) of Pittsburgh’s toughest climbs. The 13 to 20 percent grades offer no mercy in this bike race. 2. GRAND CANYON RIM-TO-RIM SEPTEMBER, $4,000 • Quad-busting downhills. Extreme temperature shifts. Narrow ledges. About 11,000 feet in elevation change. The iconic run features a 20.6- or 23-miler, depending on which way you go. Most people DIY it; you can also raise money for charity via Run2Revive and do it as a group. 3. MEMPHREMAGOG WINTER SWIM FESTIVAL FEBRUARY, $250+ • It’s winter in Vermont, so why not carve a pool in the ice and hold a swim meet there? No neoprene allowed. 4. SPECIAL OLYMPICS PLANE PULL VARIOUS DATES ALL YE AR, ABOUT $100 •…

IF YOU’D LIVED in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1945, you’d have been one of the first people in America to sip fluoridated tap water. As of 2024, about 73 percent of us get the mineral in our water supply. And for almost 80 years, there’s been non-stop drama around that addition. In 1956, Clive McCay, a researcher at Cornell University, wrote that water fluoridation “is being considered as a panacea by one party and a poison by another.” Yes, it is. Last year, TikTok posts described the mineral as “toxic.” On X, Health and Human Services secretary appointee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., called it an “industrial waste” associated with numerous diseases. Dentists and many public health advocates say it’s very important for your health. The controversies haven’t always been just…

MUSCLE LOSS IF YOU DROP 15 to 25 percent of your body weight, 15 to 60 percent of that could be lean mass (muscle, bone, anything but fat). Strength training helps counter that. In one study of people on liraglutide (Saxenda), those who lifted four times a week held on to muscle mass better than those who only took meds or only exercised. Also, “make sure your new diet is rich in muscle-building protein,” says Paul Titchenell, PhD, at the University of Pennsylvania. LOWER BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS GLP-1s (YOU MAY remember) were developed as diabetes meds. So they lower your blood sugar and the telltale marker of how that sugar is doing over time, called A1C. Bonus: “By lowering your A1C, you also have a reduced risk for the complications…

THIS MONTH’S COOL DAD: DAVON LOEB is the author of The In-Betweens: A Lyrical Memoir, and his work has been published in The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. WHEN I PICTURE my 3-year-old son, he is almost always in a karate stance with his fists balled tight. He’s wearing only Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle boxer briefs, a blue tie-on headband, and a turtle-shell-shaped backpack stuffed with an arsenal of toy weapons. He’s looking for a fight. Together, he and I have watched every episode of TMNT, from the original late-’80s animated series to the early-2000s reboot to 2023’s seriously amazing Mutant Mayhem movie. Most cultural moments fade. Ass-kicking anthropomorphic reptiles are forever. I remember the feeling: As a young aspiring Leonardo myself, I would watch four crime-fighting superheroes…

FIND SOMETHING, ANYTHING BUT IDEALLY, it should bring you joy. Identify something helpful, or thoughtful, or downright weird or nerdy that excites you. Volunteer for a cause. Join a group that does trail maintenance or cleanup. Try a pickleball or cornhole league. Watch your favorite team at the bar known for being that team’s bar in your city. Start a book club. “Libraries came up as an important community hub in our research,” said Kothari. “And also schools, for community connection for parents, but also for grand-parents and neighbors.” GO OFFLINE A BIG STEP toward belonging is showing up, Kothari told me. Any awkwardness is easy to get around by asking questions, she said. “Showing up with authenticity and curiosity often leads to more questions and more connections and more…

IT WAS A typical start to a typical math class in my fourth-grade room: My students had returned from lunch along with the cafeteria teacher, who needed to speak to me; three of my boys, habitual offenders of lunchroom volume and behavior rules, had done it again. At the same time, two students from the neighboring class ran up to complain that one of my students (a boy) had been sprinting down the hall. Yet another boy reported a classmate (a boy) for turning off the bathroom lights. I put out these little fires while ushering everyone into the room; we had to start math; the clock was ticking. Instead of following our established math routine (bring your whiteboard and marker to the carpet), two boys decided they would rather…

HE WAS SOARING. Forty, fifty, sixty feet high. Catching air was not a new feeling for Jesse Williamson. He’d felt it many times as a motocross racer, braaaping his dirt bike up a mound and rocketing off a ramp. That kind of air felt good. This feeling was agony. It was a long way from the Cascade foothills of his hometown of Monroe, Washington, to the top of a Humvee turret in Bakwa, Afghanistan, and on that day, August 6, 2009, he and his squad were returning from a two day mission supporting their sister platoon, which had been attacked by the Taliban. As they churned out of a dry riverbed, the world suddenly turned orange and red. Though he has no memory of it, Williamson would later learn that…

1. PROTEIN-PACK YOUR MORNING Consume 100 grams (yes, that much!) of protein before noon to boost muscle protein synthesis and curb hunger. Start with a high-protein breakfast, like an omelet and a multi-scoop protein shake (which should have 50 to 75 grams of protein). 2. PERIODIZE YOUR CARBS Pack your carb intake around your workouts. Consume 25 to 50 grams of carbs before you train (think bananas and oats) and 50 to 75 grams after to aid in recovery. 3. POST-LIFT FOCUS Follow each workout with a meal that includes lean protein, healthy fats, and fiber-rich carbs. Think 4 to 6 ounces of salmon, a baked potato, and 2 to 4 ounces of broccoli—all of which will promote recovery and muscle growth. 4. DON’T DITCH FATS The cardinal sin of…

1. SunLife Organics Apex Superfood Powder Slater’s go-to add to any smoothie is this mix of 27 nutrient-dense superfoods.  SunLife also has a national chain of cafés that feature a GOAT smoothie on the menu, named in Slater’s honor. $48, sunlifeorganics.com 2. Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster Slater finds comfort and calm playing music. This hybrid guitar sounds just as awesome unplugged, which also prevents him from waking up the entire family during late-night sessions, he says. $2,000, fender.com 3. Apple AirTags “I am traveling nonstop, either for a competition or work, and losing a bag is not an option.” These geolocators let his phone triangulate the location of any missing luggage via Bluetooth. $29, apple.com 4. Groove Fix Line 360 Ball Marker Slater loves golf. His putting coach, Brad Faxon, swears by…

BURT ROSEN, 59, is a mountaineer and innovative marketing guy who, as he puts it, “happens to have two cancers.” Each cancer is its own complex case—one is in a kidney, the other involves metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors—and together they require a whole network of specialists. As you can imagine, his patient portals are something, so much so that he recently asked ChatGPT, “If I upload CT scan results, can you translate it into English so I understand it?” In seconds, the doctor-speak came back with bold subtitles, simpler wording, and a nice summary. “AI is my helper now,” Rosen says. While many people haven’t touched artificial intelligence yet, it’s already widely used in health care. Doctors are using AI to help diagnose and document, and patients like Rosen are…

Log on to any streamer and one thing’s clear: We’re approaching Peak Sports Documentary. Netflix has documentaries and docuseries that are athlete specific (Beckham, Zion, McGregor Forever), team centered (Untold: Swamp Kings, The Last Dance, The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox), position focused (Receiver, the followup to Quarterback), and even fan-inspired (The Turnaround). Hulu hosts The Ultimate Fighter, Apple TV+ has not one but two Lionel Messi doc series, and Max has the unrelenting procession of Hard Knocks. The field is becoming even more crowded as athletes jump into the game, producing sports content about… themselves. Stephen Curry’s production company, Unanimous Media, has produced both a docuseries and a feature doc about its cofounder. And Tom Brady quarter-backed a 10 episode Apple TV+ series that charted his own career. The…

THE TRANSFORMER MICHAEL BANCE, 48, thought he was healthy for his age until a routine physical in 2023. “My doctor told me I was prediabetic and 46 pounds over-weight,” he says. The next day, Bance rebalanced his diet, cutting back on empty carbs, and pushed his workouts harder with bodyweight exercises like planks, pushups, and squats. After 90 days, he’d already noticed a difference: His shirts fit better, his pants felt looser, and his belts cinched tighter. The sales manager, who lost 48 pounds, used his newfound energy to start a side hustle as a personal trainer. THE NEW FIT Athletic builds like Bance’s do well with clothes that have structure. Take Banana Republic’s merino wool half-zip sweater, which highlights built shoulders. Straight-leg flannel wool pants show off a lean waist.…

BEFORE COVID came and weirded out the world, a job was something you went to. Five days a week, eight hours a day. Frequently in an office with water coolers and plants and those strange triangular phones in conference rooms. Work was work, life was life. Then bam! We underwent the most revolutionary change in workplace culture in at least a generation. The lucky ones who could do so worked from home, choosing when, where, and how—unlike workers in the Apple TV+ series Severance, who have no awareness of one part of their life when they’re in the other. IRL, work became life, life became work. Everything got scrambled. Whereas once work and life felt like counterweights that were meant to be balanced, the two are now so fragmented that…

I’VE BEEN PRACTICING psychiatry for more than 20 years, and I can’t help but notice significant changes in my patients from when I started my career. The modern world is taking its toll on the human brain. We’re tethered to our phones and social media yet feel more isolated and disconnected than ever. We’re experiencing dramatic deficits in nature and engagement—both things known to help our brains thrive. We’re stressed to our breaking points, at work and at home. Our lives are filled with natural and man-made toxins, worming their way into us with every breath we take. It’s affecting our mental health. Even people who don’t meet the criteria for having depression or anxiety tell me they just don’t feel good. Something is missing from their lives, but they…

˜ Matthew Grzesiak, 41 THE WAKE-UP CALL _ In 2022, I was always tired, unmotivated, and my doctor told me I had dangerously high blood pressure. I knew that if I kept eating poorly, my symptoms would only get worse. THE FIX _ I focused on a diet of whole foods—lots of eggs, avocado, greens, lean protein, rice, fruit, nuts—and started walking. On one of those walks, I found Pure Barre Ann Arbor Downtown and gave the class a try. I loved it—the flow, the total-body workout, the focus on continual improvement. I didn’t even mind that I was in the male minority. Barre empowered me to work on myself without judgment. THE REWARD _ After six months of Pure Barre classes, I got a clean bill of health from…

JUST TWO YEARS ago, Darren Waller appeared to be living several dreams. He was an All-Pro tight end for the Las Vegas Raiders and had inked a three-year contract extension worth $51 million in 2022. On his arm, his future wife: WNBA champion and model Kelsey Plum. Most important, he was five years clean from substance abuse and alcohol addiction. Then, in November 2023, a viral infection sent Waller to the hospital, rendering him unable to stand or feed himself. It forced him to think about what was really important. “It looked like all the boxes were checked, but I was so far away from a fulfilled life,” he says. “I wasn’t doing drugs and alcohol anymore, but the hole was still there. There are still childhood traumas that needed…