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FIND IT IN THE COFFEE AISLE. Available in single-serve pods and multi-serve bottles.

Starbucks ® and the Starbucks logo are registered trademarks of Starbucks Corporation used under license by Nestlé.

STRONGER, FASTER, BETTER

STRENGTH +HOPE The Heroes and Healers in a COVID-19 Hot Zone Featuring

JOSEPH GALIZIA

New York City Paramedic

Sweat Away

STRESS

Cook Once,

EAT FOR DAYS

Backyard

FITNESS BLOWOUT

06.2020

CARLOS POLANIA 29, respiratory therapist

DIANA BRICKMAN, R.N. 32, nurse

RAHUL SHARMA, M.D. 45, emergency physician

CHRIS REISIG, M.D. 38, chief resident, emergency department

FEATURES

62 TWO DAYS IN A HOT ZONE

On the cover: Joseph Galizia, Eugenio Mesa, and Alexander Fortenko, M.D., photographed by Benedict Evans exclusively for Hearst Magazines.

In the middle of the pandemic, 12 New York City health professionals share what it’s like to risk their own lives to save others. These are their stories.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BENEDICT EVANS

72 DON’T FORGET TO PLAY

80 THE MIRACLE OF FORT WORTH

BY EBENEZER SAMUEL, C.S.C.S.

BY TOM VANDERBILT

So things are stressful. All the more reason to ditch the home gym, head to the backyard or local park, and forge fitness with these seven exercises.

Longevity expert Dan Buettner uses science and ancient wisdom to fix unhealthy places. But is he any match for one of the largest cities in Texas?

86 COOL DAD: SUPERPOWER SPECIAL! Fatherhood demands certain skills, like superhuman amounts of patience, creativity, and strength. Hone yours with help from Mike Birbiglia, David Chang, Max Brooks, and more.

94 “ALEX, DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?”

Val Kilmer, the man behind some of Hollywood’s most iconic roles, opens up about success, cancer, and the uncertainty of death.

BY ALEX PAPPADEMAS

MEN’S HEALTH

/ June 2020

1

GROOMING 20

TIME TO ’SHINE

20

AWARDS

Modern moonshines are totally delicious (and totally legal). These are the bottles you need to try now.

(See page 38.)

56 GROOMING

AWARDS 2020

We tested thousands of grooming products to find the stuff that’s best for your body and the planet.

26 Forget marathons.

The mile is the full-body challenge for our time.

28 The immune-system power rankings: What really works and what really doesn’t.

LIFE

31 Pellet-fed grills are

reinventing outdoor cooking. Master a whole new way to barbecue.

34 30/10: Fuel your

morning with this protein-powered meal.

36 Drink better-than-

the-barista’s cold-brew coffee—at home.

38 Why you should be

sipping moonshine (yes, moonshine) now.

40 Ask Her Anything:

Will sleeping in separate beds crush our sex life?

43 Collection-worthy

watches you can afford.

MIND

science of the perfect mental-health day.

MH WORLD

7 Home-workout hacks, one man’s epic journey to drop weight without giving up his social life, and other stuff to get excited about this month.

BODY

13 Unleash the power

of sling training: Moves that target chains of muscle to make you stronger, faster, and more flexible.

16 Two dumbbells. Six

exercises. One ultimate home workout for totalbody fitness.

2

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

18 6 A.M.: How Craig

Melvin, Today anchor, stays fit with old-school weightlifting splits.

20 Home Health

Special: Meet YouTube’s most famous doctor, make the most of virtual wellness visits, and stock your medicine cabinet the smart way.

52 CNN chief medical

correspondent Sanjay Gupta on the secrets to building a stronger brain.

54 A new, radical

behavioral therapy helps rightsize your expectations. But will it work for you?

+ 100 Metrogrades: The heart-healthiest cities.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHELSEA KYLE

Food styling: Drew Aichele. Prop styling: Astrid Chastka/Hello Artists.

49 The art and

Small batch bourbon born of time and effort.

Thank you for your patience.

CL

KN

CR O BE R M O

K E EN T

YOU WAITED NINE YEARS FOR THIS BOURBON, WHETHER YOU KNEW IT OR NOT.

Richard Dorment

Jack Essig

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

SVP/PUBLISHING DIRECTOR

Jamie Prokell Creative Director

Chris Peel Executive Director, Hearst Men’s Group

EDITORIAL Ben Court, Mike Darling Executive Editors Ben Paynter Features Editor Nojan Aminosharei Entertainment Director Jordyn Taylor, Spencer Dukoff Deputy Editors Marty Munson Health Director Paul Kita, Josh Ocampo Senior Editors Ebenezer Samuel Fitness Director Brett Williams Associate Fitness Editor Melissa Matthews Health and Nutrition Writer Evan Romano Associate Editor Joshua St. Clair, Temi Adebowale Editorial Assistants

ADVERTISING SALES NEW YORK (212) 649-2000 Caryn Kesler Executive Director, Luxury Goods John Wattiker Executive Director, Fashion & Retail Doug Zimmerman Senior Grooming Director Kim Buonassisi Advertising Sales Director Kyle Taylor East Coast Automotive Sales Director John Cipolla Integrated Account Director Brad Gettelfinger Sales Manager, Hearst Direct Media CHICAGO (312) 964-4900 Autumn Jenks, Justin Harris Midwest Sales Directors LOS ANGELES (310) 664-2801 Patti Lange Western Ad Director Anne Rethmeyer Group Sales Director, Auto SAN FRANCISCO (510) 508-9252 Andrew Kramer Kramer Media DETROIT (248) 614-6120 Marisa Stutz Detroit Automotive Director DALLAS (972) 533-8665 Patty Rudolph PR 4.0 Media

ART Liz Chan, Lou Dilorenzo Contributing Art Directors Eric Rosati Designer Matthew Montesano Digital Imaging Specialist HEARST VISUAL GROUP Alix Campbell Chief Visual Content Director Fabienne Le Roux Executive Visual Director Sally Berman Visual Director Justin O’Neill Contributing Visual Director Amy Wong Senior Visual Editor Sameet Sharma Associate Producer Giancarlos Kunhardt Visual Assistant FASHION Ted Stafford Fashion Director Adam Mansuroglu Senior Style & Gear Editor COPY Janna Ojeda Assistant Managing Editor John Kenney Managing Copy Editor Alisa Cohen Barney Senior Copy Editor Connor Sears, David Fairhurst Assistant Copy Editors RESEARCH Jennifer Messimer Research Chief Darren Reidy Research Editor Nick Pachelli Assistant Research Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dan Harris, Garrett Munce, Lauren Larson, Michael Easter, Naomi Piercey VIDEO Dorenna Newton Executive Producer Tony Xie, Elyssa Aquino Video Producers Mariah Oxley Social Video Producer Ericka Paparella Associate Producer HEARST MEN’S FASHION GROUP Nick Sullivan Fashion Director Alfonso Fernández Navas Fashion Assistant MEN’S HEALTH INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latin America, Middle East, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, UK

Samantha Irwin General Manager, Hearst Men’s Group Karen Ferber Business Manager Paul Baumeister Research Director Alison Papalia Executive Director, Consumer Marketing Chris Hertwig Production Manager Aurelia Duke Finance Director Everette Hampton Executive Assistant Zoe Fritz, Toni Starrs, Annie Merrill, Erica Miller, Samantha Wolf, Olivia Zurawin Sales Assistants PUBLIC RELATIONS Nathan Christopher Public Relations Executive Director Lauren Doyle Associate Director, Public Relations MARKETING SERVICES Cameron Connors Executive Director, Head of Brand Strategy and Marketing Stephanie Block Integrated Marketing Director Jaclyn D’Andrea Marketing Coordinator Alison Brown Special Events Director Jana Nesbitt Gale Executive Creative Director Michael B. Sarpy Art Director CIRCULATION Rick Day VP, Strategy and Business Management PUBLISHED BY HEARST Steven R. Swartz President & Chief Executive Officer William R. Hearst III Chairman Frank A. Bennack, Jr. Executive Vice Chairman Mark E. Aldam Chief Operating Officer

MEET THE MEN’S HEALTH ADVISORY PANEL We know a lot about health and fitness, but we don’t know as much as the doctors, scientists, and trainers who keep us honest and up-to-date.

BRAIN HEALTH:

P. Murali Doraiswamy, M.D. David Perlmutter, M.D.

CARDIOLOGY:

John Elefteriades, M.D. David Wolinsky, M.D.

DERMATOLOGY:

Brian Capell, M.D., Ph.D. Adnan Nasir, M.D., Ph.D.

EMERGENCY MEDICINE:

Jedidiah Ballard, D.O. Robert Glatter, M.D. Travis Stork, M.D.

ENDOCRINOLOGY:

Sandeep Dhindsa, M.D.

EXERCISE SCIENCE:

Martin Gibala, Ph.D. Mark Peterson, Ph.D., C.S.C.S.*D Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., C.S.C.S.

GASTROENTEROLOGY:

Felice Schnoll-Sussman, M.D.

INTEGRATIVE HEALTH:

Brenda Powell, M.D.

INTERNAL MEDICINE:

Keith Roach, M.D.

MENTAL HEALTH:

Gregory Scott Brown, M.D. Thomas Joiner, Ph.D. Avi Klein, L.C.S.W. Drew Ramsey, M.D.

NUTRITION:

Chris Mohr, Ph.D., R.D. Mike Roussell, Ph.D. Brian St. Pierre, R.D., C.S.C.S.

PAIN MEDICINE:

Paul Christo, M.D., M.B.A. HEARST MAGAZINES, INC. Troy Young President Kate Lewis Chief Content Officer Debi Chirichella Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Catherine A. Bostron Secretary Gilbert C. Maurer, Mark F. Miller Publishing Consultants Simon Horne SVP, General Manager & Managing Director Asia & Russia Kim St. Clair Bodden SVP/Editorial & Brand Director Chloe O’Brien Deputy Brands Director Shelley Meeks Executive Director, Content Services

SEX & RELATIONSHIPS:

Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., M.P.H. Justin Lehmiller, Ph.D.

SLEEP MEDICINE:

Mary Carskadon, M.D. W. Christopher Winter, M.D.

SPORTS MEDICINE:

Michael Fredericson, M.D. Dan Giordano, D.P.T., C.S.C.S. Bill Hartman, P.T.

TRAINING:

HOW TO REACH US: Customer Service: To change your address, pay a bill, renew your subscription, and more, go online to menshealth.com/customer-service, email mhlcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com, or write Men’s Health Customer Service, P.O. Box 6000, Harlan, IA 51593-1500. Editorial offices: 300 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. Feedback: mhletters@hearst .com. Licensing & Reprints: Contact Wyndell Hamilton, Wright’s Media, (281) 419-5725, ext. 152, hearst@wrightsmedia .com. Absolute satisfaction guaranteed. Scent-free subscription available on request. From time to time we make our subscriber list available to companies that sell goods and services by mail that we believe would interest our readers.

If you would rather not receive such mailings by postal mail, please send your current mailing label or exact copy to: Men’s Health, Mail Preference Center, P.O. Box 6000, Harlan, IA 51593-0128.

Men’s Health carries the latest health, fitness, and nutrition reporting to provide you with useful information about your health. But every body is different; individual diagnoses and treatments can come only from a health care practitioner. Printed in USA.

4

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

Men’s Health is a registered trademark of Hearst Magazines Group, Inc.

Mike Boyle, M.Ed., A.T.C. Ben Bruno, C.F.S.C. Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S.*D David Jack David Otey, C.S.C.S. Don Saladino, NASM

UROLOGY:

Elizabeth Kavaler, M.D. Larry Lipshultz, M.D.

WEIGHT LOSS:

David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., FACPM, FACP Jeff Volek, Ph.D., R.D.

Š 2018 Tyson Foods, Inc. Copyright Philippe Halsman/Magnum Photos.

WORLD MAKING HOME WORK

You’re stuck at home. Your gym’s closed. And dumbbells are sold out. So we asked you on Facebook: What are the most inventive ways you’ve been training? (MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel maxed out his lunges with water jugs.)

BEHIN D THE SCEN ES W ITH THE EX PERTS, A DV ISORS, A N D R E A DERS W HO BR ING MEN’S HEA LTH TO LIFE.

Do a rep of 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 squats, 10 leg lifts, and 10 jumping jacks every commercial break.

Too bad I’m mostly watching Netflix. @AlohaAllens

Luckily, here I gym on the farm. But since lockdown, I’ve worked 150 pushups a day doing sets of 30 and hitting a tire with a big hammer is great cardio for me. @pieterhuyser.huyser

Working in some sets in between house chores. @samuel.park.501151

5 minute pushup rep challenge: Do a day, rest a day, see your chest and tri’s get bigger!

Jennifer Samuel

@jason.perez.545

Home gym, and cutting grass for cardio. @IronliftersUSA

Banging loudly on the drums. It’s cardio and stress relief all in one. @John.Townsend.948

CALL & RESPONSE

Q+A WITH THE E.I.C.

What HEALTH and FITNESS trends will come out following the

COVID-19 CRISIS?

—@mike_z19

I’VE BEEN thinking/pontificating/stressing about

this question for about two weeks, hoping to buy myself some time to get a better sense of what “following the COVID-19 crisis” is actually gonna look like. To give you some context: I’m writing this in the middle of April, a month into working from home, a month into Zoom meetings and homeschooling, a month into worrying about everything while occasionally “exercising” (read: not really exercising), and there’s still no clear path to what will eventually pass for a new normal. “Following the COVID-19 crisis” remains, at best, an abstract concept for a lot of us, so as much as I want to tell you that home-workout technology is going to get more sophisticated, or that your next medical checkup will happen over video, or that we’re all meal (slash doomsday) preppers now, my guess is about as good as any Magic 8-Ball’s. CANNOT PREDICT NOW. ASK AGAIN LATER. What I do know is that there are some staggering feats of mental toughness and inner strength on display across the country. Thousands of health-care professionals are risking their lives every day to treat the sick and the dying, and on our three covers this month—and in the special portfolio starting on page 62—we’re honored to feature a handful of the men and women battling COVID-19 at the NewYork-Presbyterian hospital network in New York.

Our photographer and inter viewer, Benedict Evans, met them at their hospitals over two days 8

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

THE PHOTOGRAin early April, just as the pandemic PHER BEHIND THE in New York City, which had become MASK is Benedict the world’s worst hot zone, reached Evans, who most recentits peak. Reading these people’s stoly shot Men’s Health’s ries (and watching their interviews on March 2020 cover story MensHealth.com) is humbling and (Kevin Hart). In the inspiring, and I came away struck by a midst of the COVID-19 few common themes: the personal sacpandemic, Evans rifices they’re making as they isolate embedded himself at the from loved ones; their clear-eyed assessNewYork-Presbyterian ments of COVID-19 as a terrifying, myshospital network, where tifying, and ultimately beatable foe; and he spent 30 minutes each their sense of obligation, to one another with nurses, doctors, and to all of us, to give their all in this and other first respondfight. “Everyone’s working together to ers on the front lines of beat this—paramedics, EMTs, doctors, fighting the coronavirus. nurses, patients, support staff,” says Evans—masked up—put Joseph Galizia, a 30-year-old criticalhis own health at risk care paramedic who transports the to document the people sickest of patients when he isn’t responddoing that every day for ing to emergency calls. “This is my job.

Men’s Health. You can I’m trained to do it, and I want to be check it out on page 62. here. I’m proud to be helping in the way that I am, and I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” To me, and to all the New Yorkers who open their windows + Have a question for Rich?

Tweet us at @MensHealthMag at 7:00 every night and clap for the hoswith the hashtag #AskMHRich pital workers changing shifts, that’s and ask away. what a hero sounds like.

I’m sorry I don’t have a better answer to your question, Mike. Part of my job here is to try to anticipate what folks are going to be thinking about and doing many months into the future. But as for what any of us are going to be thinking about and doing next month or the month after that, I’m stumped.

One of the only things I know for sure is that whatever next-gen fitness tech or quarantine food fads await us on the other side of all this, Joseph Galizia, like all of his colleagues at New York Presbyterian and at hospitals around the country, will be there to see us through.

LIKE WHAT YOU SEE? Men’s Health looks even better on your front steps. Subscribe at subscribe.menshealth.com.

Benedict Evans (Galizia, Mesa, Fortenko). Marion Grand (Evans).

WORLD

#GOALS MEANWHILE,

TRANSFOR-NATION!

ON INSTAGRAM . . .

HOW KAMRON HAKEMY LOST WEIGHT WITHOUT GIVING UP ON GOING OUT The Setback I had a rough breakup in 2018 and quickly put on 60 pounds in just over two months. Though it felt great to pig out on junk food, it left me immediately feeling worse. I would get self-conscious eating in public, thinking everyone was judging me. My holiday sweaters could no longer hide the bulges around my belly, and Instagram filters could no longer fade out my double chin. I felt terrible.

The Wake-up Call After my physical in February 2019, my doctor read out my blood pressure and cholesterol (my LDL was 133), and then she started listing diets: Mediterranean, paleo, keto, etc. I knew this was medical for “Bruh, you’re fat!” Then she told me I weighed 210 pounds.

That was an all-time low,

WORLD

emotionally. I knew I needed to make some changes.

The Food At first, I ate lots of salads.

But they only left me feeling hungry. Breakfast became oatmeal or eggs. My morning snack was apples or pineapples. Lunch was turkey meatballs with riced cauliflower. My afternoon snack was peanuts, carrots, or string cheese. Dinner?

Those turkey meatballs and cauliflower rice again.

To prevent total boredom, I allowed myself a cheat day every few weeks.

When it came time to hit the bar with friends (I wasn’t giving this up!), I traded super-syrupy cocktails for a gin gimlet or whiskey soda.

The Fitness I didn’t go insane with training. I just showed up every day. Yes, every day. I

. . . KUMAIL NANJIANI shared himself newly jacked on the cover of our April issue.

The celebrity endorsements piled up.

KAMRON HAKEMY STATS AGE: 29 LOCATION:

Los Angeles, California OCCUPATION:

Digital marketing BEFORE WEIGHT: 210 AFTER WEIGHT: 165 would lift weights for three days a week, an hour each day, usually doing presses, curls, rows, and squats.

(Squats were surprisingly good at building my core and back.) The other four days I would do something practical: swimming, yoga, running outside. I’d run on the beach or along hiking trails for a fun burn.

The Reward I can now take off my shirt at a pool party or at the beach and not feel insecure. By redefining setbacks along my journey, I learned to embrace the fitness challenge. It was all about finding ways to look and feel confident. After four months, I had dropped 45 pounds. My goal is to keep it off until the holidays. Then I’ll cheat, just a little.

Kumailn

healthmag!

I’m on the cover of @mens yshur! mil @e Pics by the amazing raftery! rian @b me eso Story by the aw ! bio in Link to story

@chrishemsworth (actor and fellow MCU star) Damn! Makin us all look average mate! Epic work

@Kumailn @chrishemsworth we gotta do a workout session together someday so I can feel humble again

@emilyvgordon (Nanjiani’s wife and Big Sick cowriter) Goooooooood morning!

@juddapatow

Courtesy subject (Hakemy). Emily Shur (Nanjiani).

(producer/director) Is that what I am supposed to look like? Is this why Leslie is sad?

@edgarwright (director) Big Sick Energy.

WHERE TO FIND US

We’re on all your favorite platforms.

Follow, tweet, comment, like, respond, and tag us. You could be featured in MHWorld.

Instagram & Twitter @menshealthmag

YouTube & Pinterest /menshealthmag

Facebook /menshealth

On the web menshealth.com

And send us your feedback at MHletters@hearst .com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

MEN’S HEALTH

/ June 2020

9

WORLD

FUN WITH POLLING

THIS MONTH IN THINGS YOU’RE

PSYCHED ABOUT WHAT’S YOUR GO-TO STREAMING COMFORT WATCH? A sitcom I’ve seen before vs. True crime vs.

Something with lots of explosions vs. A comedy movie Based on 1,104 responses to @MensHealthMag.

Something with lots of explosions

A sitcom I’ve seen before

19.7%

26%

True crime

A comedy movie

WHICH OF THESE TIMELESS AUTHORS DO YOU MOST ENJOY READING? J. K . Rowling vs. J. R . R . Tolkien vs. Stephen King vs. John Grisham Based on 3,233 responses to @MensHealthMag.

18.8%

19.2%

J. K. Rowling

16.7%

Stephen King John Grisham

45.3% J. R. R. Tolkien

YOUR NEW FAVORITE T-SHIRT

MEN’S HEALTH polling shows that 97 percent of you consider mental health important. That said, fewer than half of you have opened up to a friend about how you feel. That’s why this month we’re joining forces with premium performance lifestyle brand Rhone for Men’s Health Month with our new (MEN)TAL HEALTHY campaign. Pick up our limited-edition T-shirt ($48, rhone.com). All the proceeds benefit FitOps, a foundation that helps veterans transition out of the military and become certified personal trainers. Founded by Performix CEO and Army veteran Matt Hesse in 2016, FitOps has seen more than 300 vets graduate its three-week program. “Our goal,” Hesse says, “is for veterans to understand the role that fitness plays in their mental health—and civilian life.”

THE MEN’S HEALTH TWITTER POLL

WHAT’S YOUR SUMMER DRINK OF CHOICE? Beer vs. Spiked seltzer vs. Cocktails vs. Just water, thanks Based on 1,729 responses to @MensHealthMag.

To help your arms bulge out of your sleeveless button-up with flamingos on it, our fitness director, EBENEZER SAMUEL, C.S.C.S., created the biceps-blasting workout on page 16. But maybe arms aren’t your thing. So we asked: Which part of your body do you spend the most time working out?

Based on 1,845 responses to @MensHealthMag.

26.6% My legs.

47.4%

7.6%

14%

31%

Beer

Spiked seltzer

Cocktails

Just water, thanks

Help Dad

GROW STRONG 10

FOR FATHER’S DAY, do better than with Paradigm, a gym-equipment supplier, to create a line of fitness gear. The collection includes a Cardio Stair Stepper, but for Ebenezer says “Dad, I’m giving you the gift of sweat” like the HIIT Rower.

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

31.4% Gotta get that chest pump.

23.9% Eb knows: It’s arms.

18.1%

My back and shoulders.

EB SAYS: “There isn’t a better at-home cardio activity than rowing, which fires up your entire posterior chain.

And the HIIT Rower is a solid beginning rower for anyone looking to kick-start their fitness journey.” $499; amazon .com and walmart.com

Courtesy Paradigm (rowing machine). Getty Images (drinks, handcuffs, car on fire, banana peel, television). Alamy (Seinfeld). Chase Pellerin/Rhone (T-shirt).

19%

35.3%

m

PROGRAM BY GERREN LILES

HIGH POWER HIIT DOWNLOAD

MensHealth.com/AllOutApp

15775

15775

SLING INTO ACTION Hot-wire every muscle in your body on every exercise you do by mastering the science of the sling.

BY ANDREW HEFFERNAN, C.S.C.S.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KYLE RM JOHNSON

PICTURE SUPER BOWL–winning quar-

terback Patrick Mahomes launching a deep ball. Before the release, he steps forward with his left foot, arches his spine, and rotates his hips back to the left. The force then travels through his hips and core into his right shoulder.

Amateurs laud Mahomes’s great arm strength. But movement experts know the truth: Mahomes most accurately has an efficient anterior oblique sling.

“A throw is not a single muscle working,” says Arizona-based trainer Josh Henkin, C.S.C.S. “It’s a series of muscles working together called a sling.”

This sling subsystem is a set of muscles that runs from your feet to your hips to your core to your arms. Your body has several slings, and learning the exercises that train them can help you build real-world strength and athleticism. Working slings (instead of muscle groups) alleviates stress on indiv idua l muscles and

MEN’S HEALTH

/ June 2020

13

BODY

14

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

All Sling Systems Go According to influential massage therapist Thomas Myers, author of the book Anatomy Trains and an authority on slings, more than a dozen slings exist in the body. Physical therapists and trainers, though, emphasize four. Add these moves to your workout to start training your slings—or combine them into one workout, doing three sets of each, for a sling-powered total-body blast.

The Anterior Oblique Subsystem

Attach a resistance band to something at hip level behind you.

KEY MUSCLES: Internal and external obliques, adductors This runs diagonally across the front of your torso, helping you pull down and across your body. Think of a tennis serve or the act of giving a friend a high five.

TRAIN IT: Half-Kneeling Band Press Attach a resistance band to something at hip level behind you; grasp it with your right hand. Kneel on your left knee, right foot flat on the ground in front of you, a dumbbell held at your left shoulder. Press your right arm forward, keeping your core tight.

This is the start. Now press the weight overhead with your left hand. Return it to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 8 to 10 per side.

The Posterior Oblique Subsystem KEY MUSCLES: Lats, glutes This runs diagonally across the back of your torso to your gluteus maximus, helping you lift and rotate. Think of starting a lawn mower.

TRAIN IT: Step-Back Staggered-Stance Deadlift Stand with a dumbbell in your left hand. Step back with your left foot as you bend at the hips and push your butt back, lowering the dumbbell to the ground.

Pause when you start to feel your back round, then step forward with your left foot. Squeeze your glutes and return to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 8 to 12 per side.

Model: David Jack. Trainer: Sarah Gwynn.

challenges your body to move with greater efficiency and coordination. That’s why a growing number of trainers are building slings into workout programs. “We’re tying the kinetic chain together,” says Henkin.

“That’s a step beyond functional fitness and way beyond muscle isolation.”

Sling science reveals that muscles, once viewed as discrete motion-producing units, work together in long chains, linked by fascia, the weblike substance surrounding muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments. These slings control your body like a system of pulleys, passing through your torso and creating movement at key joints. Training while focusing on slings optimizes athletic performance and makes every exercise both a core burner and a full-body challenge.

The concept of slings has its roots in research from the 1980s, when Canadian physiologist Serge Gracovetsky, Ph.D., observed quadruple amputees “walking” on their hip sockets by rocking their torsos backward, then swinging their torsos forward. Gracovetsky posited that the basis of human movement lies in rotational actions in the spine, lower back, and hips. Arm and leg muscle movements, he wrote in his book The Spinal Engine, begin in the spine. That led movement experts Diane Lee and Thomas Myers to separately develop similar theories that the muscles that drive those movements are organized into slings. Their approach was adopted by innovative physical therapists working with elite athletes in the late ’90s.

About five years ago, the rise of functional fitness caught the attention of Henkin and other trainers—but they wanted more. They looked to physical therapists for smarter movements. Back squats are great, and sure, they’re functional. But they don’t replicate total-body athletic movements. Slings could.

Not all gyms embrace sling exercises, and they’ve taken so long to catch on because they’re complicated. Just try the Hero Clean and Press (the move on the previous page).

You have to rotate your hips to the left—like a boxer throwing a cross—while bending to grab a kettlebell, then rotate back to the right and pull the bell to your shoulder. And then you have to lunge and press the bell overhead.

But five reps on each side pushes shoulders, lats, abs, and glutes to their limits —and it does more than that, says Henkin. It teaches dozens of muscles to work in concert, just like they should when you run, jump, and throw. Oh, and you’re spiking your heart rate and burning calories, too. Ready to give sling training a shot? We’ll show you how.

The Deep Longitudinal Subsystem KEY MUSCLES: Glutes, lats, lower back This runs vertically from your neck along your back down to your foot. It helps you stand up straight, extending your hips and spine.

Whenever you do a deadlift, you’re training the DLS. TRAIN IT: Snatch to Reverse Lunge Stand holding dumbbells at your sides. With a flat back, hinge at your hips, pushing your butt back and bending your knees slightly until the weights are at knee height (1).

This is the start. Explode upward, punching the weights overhead (2), then step your left foot backward and lower into a lunge, left knee on the ground (3). Shift your right foot backward so you’re kneeling (4). Reverse the moves back to the start.

That’s 1 rep; do 5 per side.

1.

2.

3.

4.

The Lateral Subsystem KEY MUSCLES: Hip rotators, glutes, core

This includes the small muscles of your pelvis and groin, your gluteus medius and minimus, and your thigh and knee muscles, which help you balance on one foot and perform single-leg movements like lunges and stepups.

TRAIN IT: Lateral Lunge to Row Hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides, feet wide. Hinge forward at your hips, bending your knees slightly and keeping your back flat, until your torso is parallel to the ground. Bend your right knee as you sink into your right hip; lower the dumbbells as you do this. This is the start.

Now row the weights to your chest and straighten your right knee as you bend your left knee and shift your weight to the left. That’s 1 rep; do 8 alternating reps per side.

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BODY TWO DUMBBELLS. 25 MINUTES.

Total-Body

“Once you learn

strength building. You’ll rely on them during this workout, a four-day-a-week total-body session that’ll add strength, boost endurance, and blast fat in 25 minutes a day.

BY EBENEZER SAMUEL, C.S.C.S.

DIRECTIONS: Do this workout up to 6 days a week, aiming for at least 1 rest day.

On days you don’t train, stay active by taking a 20-minute run. Begin every workout with 3 rounds of this warmup: 5 Superman holds, 5 alternating reverse lunges, a 30-second plank, and 10 jumping jacks. Then get to work.

2 your feet and grasp it with both hands.

explosively (you may rise onto your toes as you do so) and pull the dumbbell up

THE WORKOUT Do this workout as a 3-round circuit, using medium-weight dumbbells. Rest 30 seconds between each exercise.

1

Dumbbell Deadlift

Place 2 dumbbells at the sides of your feet. Hinge at the waist, bend your knees, and grasp them, keeping your core tight. This is the start (a). Stand, pulling the dumbbells off the floor and squeezing your glutes (b). Return the dumbbells to the floor. That’s 1 rep; do 10.

(b)

EB SAYS:

(b)

“Focus on keeping your shoulders above your hips at all times.

Your goal is to feel this in your hamstrings and glutes, not your lower back.”

(a)

16

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

SHORTS BY NIKE; SNEAKERS

BY NEW BALANCE.

(a)

3

Paused Dumbbell Close-Grip Press

Lie with your back on a bench, feet on the floor, glutes and abs tight, dumbbells held directly over your shoulders. Bend your elbows and shoulders, keeping your elbows close to your body as you lower the dumbbells to your rib cage (a). Pause for 1 second, then press them upward (b).

That’s 1 rep; do 8 to 10.

EB SAYS:

“No bench, no problem. Do this as a floor press: Lie on the floor, feet flat on the ground, glutes squeezed. You’ll lose some range of motion on the bottom of the press but can focus on squeezing your chest and triceps hard at the top.”

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PHILIP HAYNES

Fitness model: Tom Kemp. Styling: Jessica Punter. Grooming: Susana Mota. Kyle Hilton (Samuel).

Set a timer for 5 minutes. Repeat the moves in order, working to complete as many rounds as possible. Rest as needed, but keep your rest periods short.

EB SAYS:

“Dealing with shoulder issues?

Instead of holding the dumbbells directly overhead, hold them at your shoulders.”

6

Farmer’s Carry to Farmer’s Hold

5

Overhead Carry

Stand holding medium-weight dumbbells overhead, abs and glutes tight, rib cage in, and arms straight. Walk forward 20 steps.

In tight confines? Walk ahead as far as you can, then turn back and walk to the start, aiming for 20 total steps.

Stand holding the dumbbells at your sides, core and glutes tight, shoulder blades squeezed. Walk forward 20 steps, aiming to keep your hips and shoulders square. (If you don’t have room, walk back and forth for 20 total steps.) After you finish walking, stand, holding the dumbbells at your sides, for 20 seconds.

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No crazy WODs here: Melvin relies on bodybuilding exercises in most of his gym workouts. The approach works for him, too.

He still fits into the tux he wore to his 2011 wedding with Fox Sports anchor Lindsay Czarniak.

THE 6 A.M. WORKOUT W/

The Anchorman For Today’s Craig Melvin, an old-school weight-room workout keeps both body and mind in TV-host shape.

BY LINDSAY BERRA

C

could be forgiven for slow-rolling a bit. energy he has left. The host of But that’s not him. “This,” he adds, “is the NBC’s Today is breathing heav- final challenge of my workday.”

Three times a week, Melvin makes ily midway through his fifth set of sprint intervals on a treadmill with fittingly that challenge count, putting himself breathtaking views at the eighth-floor through an hour-long swole session that company gym at New York’s iconic Rocke- blends a cardio warmup with bro-style weightlifting. Sometimes he does it at feller Center.

Melvin’s going 30 seconds on and 30 sec- 30 Rock; other days he hits the elliptical onds off, peaking at a nine-mile-per-hour and lifts at his home gym in suburban Connecticut. (He relied on pace. Leaning forward, he that home gym in March, stomps his tree-trunk legs when he was quarantined down even harder on the due to COVID-19, running spinning belt. When time’s Try this speedy a nd bi k i ng a nd doi ng up, he plows onward for ten Melvin mobility session pushups with his children more seconds. “Just wanted when you’re on the go.

Do 3 sets of each move. on his back.) to give you a bit more,” he 1 Touch-Toe Hamstring No matter the location, says. It’s 3:30 P.M., but techStretch, 3 reps his workout comes at the nically he’s been up and 2 World’s Greatest tail end of a grind that after it since well before Stretch, 5 reps per side starts while most of the dawn. Since he’s been work3 Stability-Ball Dead nation is deep asleep. ing for nearly 12 hours, he Bug, 8 reps per side RAIG MELVIN isn’t sure how much

HOME WORK

18

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GIACOMO FORTUNATO

BODY The old-school dumbbell alternating biceps curl is one of Melvin’s go-to exercises, partly because he loves a good arm pump. He’ll frequently finish out sessions by doing a biceps move followed by a triceps exercise.

BETWEEN SETS Favorite gym music?

As the anchor of both Today, which airs from 7:00 to 11:00 every morning, and MSNBC Live, which runs from 11:00 to noon, Melvin rolls out of bed at 3:45 A.M. He’s in Manhattan by 5:15, prepping for the shows and going over last-minute scripts, and then he straps in for five hours of continuous airtime. The 40-yearold says he’s at his most megawatt when he cohosts the third hour. Then he gets a quick breather before that hour of Live.

By early afternoon, Melvin’s extra-earlybird schedule leaves him zapped, but after two decades in front of the camera, he’s discovered that that’s precisely when you need to give a little more. It’s certainly healthier than the alternative he once embraced at Wofford College, where he

built his diet around French fries and beer. By the time he graduated in 2001 and started as an anchor and reporter at WIS in Columbia, South Carolina, his waistline had ballooned.

Melvin sought out a trainer, who helped him shed the extra pounds by introducing him to a thing called running. “I enjoy the fellowship of food, drink, and merriment,” he says. He has learned to find a healthy balance, which keeps him at a solid 210 pounds. Being on TV has plenty of looks-based pressures, but his objective remains basic. “I have to stay reasonably fit,” he says.

The workout stays reasonable, too.

There are no lung-crushing, CrossFitstyle WODs. After doing stretches and light ab work, Melvin hits the weights.

He starts with 3 sets of walking lunges, resting 30 seconds between each. Then it’s on to 3 sets on the leg press before he finishes with a superset of biceps curls and triceps pressdowns.

He revels in keeping things simple, offsetting the chaos of the rest of his day.

“It’s nice to know exactly what’s coming next,” he says. When it’s over, his T-shirt is drenched. He’s pumped and smiling, even though there are no cameras. “That’s exactly what I wanted,” he says.

“I have a playlist called ‘Sweat, Craig, Sweat’ that I’ve added to over the years. J. Cole, Jay-Z, Kanye, Eminem, DJ Collins, Drake, Outkast, Imagine Dragons, Chance the Rapper. My three top-played songs of 2019 were Lizzo, ‘Good as Hell’; Cardi B, ‘I Like It’; and Kendrick Lamar, ‘Humble.’ ” Go-to breakfast?

“Yogurt with nuts and usually blueberries.

Greek yogurt, 0 percent. Boring, like me.”

Least favorite exercise?

“I hate pullups. They make me feel so weak, so I don’t even try.”

Favorite cheat meal?

“My mom’s mac and cheese is probably more of a cheat meal. Two kinds of cheese, two kinds of milk—condensed and whole—and a whole stick of butter.”

Favorite training partner?

“My wife. We used to run together more, but now it’s harder.”

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BODY

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DR. MIKE WILL SEE YOU NOW

T

HE CORONAVIRUS pandemic has

left us waiting for divine intervention: an antiviral treatment, herd immunity, a vaccine, a cure.

But what counts as a miracle in the age of COVID-19 is delivered on YouTube by a 30-year-old man who looks like a cast member from Grey’s Anatomy but is, in fact, a real-life physician—albeit one who, until recently, was mostly posting YouTube videos with titles like “Real Doctor Reacts to Grey’s Anatomy.”

“Oh my God,” Doctor Mike says from a couch in his Manhattan home office in a March 8 YouTube video. “There is so much misinformation going on with this novel coronavirus, it boggles my mind.” Then, as 20

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

the self-appointed ombudsman of public health, he dismantles each of those pieces of misinformation.

He’s aghast that CNBC commentator Rick Santelli suggested it might be better for everybody to get COVID-19 at once because “then in a month it would be over.”

That’s not how to flatten the curve and keep hospitals from being overwhelmed, Doctor Mike points out. Another dispatch, titled “Doctor VS Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories,” features a thumbnail of Homer Simpson and dispels the myth that you can sanitize your hands with Tito’s vodka. In one of the (many) others, Doctor Mike uses the evocative term “germ hang time,” which brings to mind Michael

Jordan’s iconic 1997 flu game.

“I like to call it edutainment,” Doctor Mike tells me over the phone in March.

(We couldn’t meet in person because, well, because.) “Where it’s like educationslash-entertainment.”

Doctor Mike films some of these videos in monogrammed scrubs—the cursive D and M combine to resemble a floridly coiled stethoscope—and presents his gospel of truth with eyes wide enough to express his concern and show how blue they are and a mouth open enough to clearly enunciate each medical term and expose his perfect teeth. His energy is carefully calibrated to keep viewers, as he says in many videos, “alert, not anxious.”

Courtesy Doctor Mike

The doctor-turned-YouTube-sensation offers his own brand of “edutainment” to counter medical misinformation. But is it really a good idea to get health advice from a hot stranger on the Internet? BY ANNA PEELE

Home Health HQ

But is it really a good idea to take advice from strangers on the Internet? Though Doctor Mike is careful to direct his audience to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—there is a link underneath all of his coronavirus videos—he’s competing for eyeballs and attention in a digital environment where hacks and hucksters run wild and where solid, unsexy health advice rarely performs as well as videos promising magical heal-alls.

Other, more conventional doctors have seen viewership spike during the pandemic: MedCram’s YouTube channel increased its subscribers by about 50 percent, and Dr. Franz Wiesbauer earned hundreds of thousands of new views after switching to COVID-19 explainers. But Doctor Mike is proving that we want our facts with flair, something plenty of board-certified healthfluencers are trying to adopt.

His channel has more than 5 million subscribers and over 500 million views, impressing even skeptical New York Times media columnist Ben Smith, who described the osteopathic physician as a “solid” source of health facts for young people. (Osteopaths approach wellness holistically, and osteopathic physicians are fully licensed with the same privileges as traditional M.D.s.) Like tricking a dog into swallowing medicine by smothering it in peanut butter, Doctor Mike knows that the way to convey crucial medical data is in short, colloquial videos, delivered by someone quite knowledgeable and quite hot.

Michael George/The New York Times/Redux

BEFORE HE became Doctor Mike, Mikhail

Varshavski was born in the Soviet Union in 1989. When he was a child, his family moved to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, because, he says, his father “worked in the local [Russian] police force as a doctor but knew that he could never go past that rank, simply because he was Jewish.” When Oskar Varshavski got to the U. S., he had to repeat his education.

Around this time, a young Mikhail figured he’d received enough secondhand information from his father’s studies to treat his classmates’ sports injuries when they asked him for advice. Watching his

father redo medical school gave him the awareness to see “how much BS there was out in the world of folks making claims for snake oil,” Doctor Mike says. “I’ve always grown up with the theory that you can make money but also be authentic and achieve great things.”

This is the dilemma of someone succeeding in a crisis. Though Doctor Mike still practices family medicine in suburban New Jersey, he estimates that 99 percent of his income comes from media appearances and his YouTube channel, where subscribers have jumped about 20 percent since he started posting coronavirus videos. But is it profiteering if the thing making you money is the dissemination of vital public-health information?

Doctor Mike’s initial career goals were, if not impure, at least perhaps less noble than curbing a global pandemic. While he was studying for his osteopathic medical boards at the New York In s t it ut e of Technology in 2012, he says, a nursing student introduced him to Instagram.

He remembers colleagues telling him, “Mike, you do really well in medical school, but you also have a really healthy balance of exercise and social life. Why don’t you tell people about it?”

By 2015, Doctor Mike had gained enough of an Instagram following that BuzzFeed published a deeply horny article called “Um, You Really Need to See This Hot Doctor and His Dog,” featuring Doctor Mike cavorting with his similarly cobalt-eyed husky, Roxy. He says he was approached by producers from The Bachelor, Steve Harvey, and Ellen, where he elected to make his television debut in September 2015. But his Ellen appearance was bumped by Hillary Clinton coming on the show to talk about her run for president.

Then Doctor Mike had an epiphany: He could Trojan-horse discussions of preventive care through his hot-doctorness. “I said, Wait, what if I make this my own, and we do the hot-doctor thing to get people to watch, but then we don’t have to corrupt the medical information?”

Doctor Mike began turning up on Good Morning America, Today, Rachael Ray, and Maria Bartiromo’s Fox Business show.

In 2015, he was named People’s Sexiest Doctor Alive. Three years and well over a couple hundred videos ago, Doctor Mike launched his YouTube channel. The first entry is a flex: Doctor Mike modestly introduces himself, cuing b-roll of him getting

Doctor Mike films his YouTube videos at home, a process that he can easily continue in times of turmoil.

out of bed, pulling his dripping muscles out of a pool, and heading to the hospital to save lives, all over sound bites from Chris Harrison and Dr. Oz extolling his vast attractiveness and vast number of followers.

Yes, with his videographer and lone creative partner, Daniel Owens, Doctor Mike has made videos about nose picking and the inaccuracies of the TV series House.

But he also uses his platform to debunk the kind of miracle cures espoused by his fan Dr. Oz by employing his own panacea: honesty and sourcing.

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BODY

And that is why on January 29, eight days after the first U. S. case was confirmed by the CDC and four days before President Trump erroneously claimed any outbreak had been “pretty much shut down,” Doctor Mike began creating videos about a disease called COVID-19. He explains what a novel coronavirus is (an animal virus that can mutate to infect humans), what the symptoms are (fever, cough, shortness of breath), how it spreads (airborne and surface particles), and what to do if you think you have it (call your doctor if symptoms persist in case you need supportive care).

Because the pandemic is evolving so rapidly, these videos have a shorter shelf life than, say, “How Much Coffee Is Too Much?” And though much of the coronavirus material has gotten millions of views, it doesn’t have the views of Doctor Mike’s medical-meme reaction videos.

But it has turned a family physician into one of the faces of authority during a pandemic, without his needing to leave home.

“I think this coronavirus has been the best proof of concept ever for what I wanted to achieve,” he says. “Folks are panicking.

They don’t trust the media. And they’re coming to my channel for reassurance.”

AS DOCTOR MIKE becomes more popular,

he will test his theory that you can make money and achieve great things with the scientific rigor we expect of him. He’s talking with production companies about creating his own show on which, he hopes, “we’ll replace the doctors of yesterday.”

But it’s a lot easier to maintain your

“

Folks are panicking.

They don’t trust the media. And they’re coming to my channel for reassurance.

—MIKHAIL “DOCTOR MIKE” VARSHAVSKI

purity when you’re filming ten-minute videos in your room than when you have to produce five hour-long shows a week.

(Don’t forget that before Dr. Oz was being called out by the establishment for peddling silver bullets on daytime TV, he basically was the establishment.)

One solution for Doctor Mike is to sign endorsement deals only when he won’t have to guarantee positive coverage. He has taken money to showcase products from Audible, Thrive Market, and the health app Lifesum on YouTube and with his 3.6 million Instagram followers. His biggest partnership is with Nike; he was supposed to document his experience training for an April half marathon before it was canceled due to COVID-19.

That’s more exacting than the generally laissez-faire community standards of YouTube, where there’s very little governance

”

over what influencers can and can’t say, even when they’re conveying information that can affect lives. “It’s difficult to know exactly what someone’s personal views are or what you might find on social media,” says Amir Barzin, D.O., of the University of North Carolina’s Department of Family Medicine.

So far, when Doctor Mike has realized that he’s caused controversy or confusion (or heard from commenters that he has), he has responded with updates. For now, we can keep our earnest faith in him—or, at the very least, in his ambition to be famous for telling the truth.

At the end of our conversation, Doctor Mike apologizes; he has to go. He tells me he plans to buy $50,000 worth of N95 masks for the hospital where he works, which is experiencing a shortage. He needs to go deliver them. And, oh yes, he made a video about it.

DOCTOR MIKE RECOMMENDED: HOW FIVE POPULAR YOUTUBE DOCS STACK UP

22

Medlife Crisis

Mama Doctor Jones

Chubbyemu

Strong Medicine

ZDoggMD

55 vids, 193,000 subs

79 vids, 344,000 subs

278 vids, 1.3 million subs

288 vids, 325,000 subs

894 vids, 211,000 subs

Rohin Francis, M.D., is a cardiologist who factchecks pop culture and explains both the idiotic and idiomatic, like why (romantic) heartbreak actually hurts.

As a physician and mom, Danielle Jones, M.D., reacts to other YouTube videos and answers surprising questions about birth, pregnancy, and women’s health.

This video-game blog turned into real anecdotes from Bernard Hsu, PharmD, and his colleagues. Ever hear about the boy who ate 25 laxative brownies?

Stanford’s Eric Strong, M.D., conducts an essential course for doctors in training and premed students wondering what the hell they’ve gotten into.

Zubin Damania, M.D., is nothing short of the “Weird Al” Yankovic of health care, and his videos are your best prescription for

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

Home Health HQ

MAKE THE MOST OF A VIRTUAL DOCTOR VISIT Telehealth promises to save time, money, and even lives.

But not all services are equal. BY MARTY MUNSON

W

ITH MEDICAL care going the way of everything else—becoming faster, easier, accessible from your phone—the natural next question is “Is that a good thing?” Telehealth (getting medical care via video chat, phone, email, or even text message) grew exponentially in March. One of the best-known services,

Teladoc, had about 100,000 visits in the second week of that month alone, up 50 percent from the previous week. Other online health-care companies saw similar spikes, users saw delays, and companies sought more docs. Should you get your health care this way all the time, even when it’s not the middle of a pandemic? Here’s what to know.

THERE ARE THE UBERS, AND THERE ARE THE CHAUFFEURS TO DELIVER care, numerous providers use the Uber model. A cadre of doctors are at the ready—even at 2:30 A.M.—for when your coughing fit won’t stop or your pee is burning. You talk on their secure video chat or on the phone with whoever is on call. They listen, ask, diagnose, and maybe prescribe, and you can each go your own way. That’s what you can get with providers like Teladoc, Doctor on Demand, and Amwell.

But if you prefer more of a steady relationship, companies like PlushCare let you put a virtual primary-care provider—whom you see all the time—in charge. You’ll pay a monthly membership fee ($15), plus either your insurance copay or $99 ($59 for subsequent visits). Some employers partner with the “Ubers” to offer this virtual PCP service. For people with a chronic disease like hypertension or diabetes who need frequent check-ins, having a PCP to partner with is a smart way to go.

IF YOU LIKE WHAT THEY OFFER, CHECK THEIR CREDS THE IDEAL way to

virtually see a doc is to see your doc, so find out if yours offers telehealth. If not, the gig economy hasn’t escaped medicine—some physicians sign with companies for a certain number of hours. (Others work full-time for one place.) Either way, before choosing a service, check who the docs are. Don’t sign on if they’re not listed. Or “go through a trusted brand, like Walgreens or CVS,” says Joseph Kvedar, M.D., president-elect of the American Telemedicine Association.

“They have more at stake if they do something wrong than an unknown brand does.”

IF IT’S URGENT, GO TO URGENT CARE STICK WITH WHAT telehealth is best at. Obviously, if you have chest pain, you need 911, not telehealth. “Think about the office visits you’ve had in your life where the doctor didn’t really need to examine you and didn’t need to do a test,” says Dr. Kvedar. “Those are good instances for telehealth.” If you have something that needs hands-on care, like earwax removal or a throat culture, then save yourself the virtual-visit copay and go directly to urgent care. If you don’t have insurance, virtual doctor visits can cost roughly $55 to $100. Dermatology and mental-health visits often cost more.

TELEHEALTH FOR YOUR MIND ANXIETY, stress, isolation, depression, major life changes, relationship issues: Anytime you’d like some perspective, online therapists help with all of that. The big players in the telehealth space—Teladoc, Doctor on Demand, Amwell—all offer this type of service, and you can see the same therapist all the time. Or find someone to talk to at a therapy-specific online provider, such as:

BetterHelp Talk to a therapist by video, voice, or secure messaging. About $40 to $70 per week. BetterHelp.com

Talkspace Made famous by Michael Phelps, this app uses an algorithm to help match you to a therapist, taking some of the hassle out of finding someone you click with. About $65 to $100 per week. Talkspace.com

Crisis Text Line This is kind of like 911 for your mind. Text HOME to 741741 for crisis intervention. For crisis intervention via talk, use the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255.

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BODY

COUGH MEDICINE Instead of reaching for a cough suppressant, which just diminishes the cough reflex, use an expectorant with the ingredient guaifenesin (such as Mucinex expectorant). This acts on the cough itself: “Guaifenesin puts a thinner layer of watery mucus under the thick stuff so things can move out,” Dr. Blazek says.

ACETAMINOPHEN OR IBUPROFEN generally works better for you, says

A

2020, a lot of us wondered whether our home stash of health-care products was up to the task. (Narrator: It was not up to the task.) We spoke with experts about what’s crucial to stock up on—and what’s not—for whatever bites, sunburns, fevers, or chills summer throws your way.

BY EMILY WILLINGHAM

THE MUST-HAVES

MASKS COVID-19 made face coverings a must-have in 2020. If they’re available, it’s useful to have one in your medicine cabinet. N95 respirators filter out 95 percent of very small particles; surgical masks are looser, less efficient filters but are

HAND SOAP AND HAND SANITIZER You and the entire country were told to wash your hands at least 50 times a day this spring. Many people focused on hand sanitizer—useful when you’re away from home or if you (or your kids) don’t wash up that well. But don’t forget about soap. “It’s cheaper, and it works just as well,” says Allison Blazek, M.D., an internal-medicine physician in Houston.

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June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

pain. To protect your liver, keep acetaminophen under 3,000mg a day. (That’s just six extra-strength pills.) Ibuprofen (Advil) also tackles pain and fever and, in addition, fights inflammation. Keep this to the recommended dose as well (1,200mg per day, six 200mg pills). Too much can create problems, including kidney disease.

THERMOMETER It doesn’t matter what kind you have—a little imprecision among different types isn’t a big deal, says Tim Lahey, M.D., an infectious-disease doctor and ethicist at the University of Vermont Medical Center. Americans’ “normal” body temperatures have been dropping over the past 150 years. But the fever threshold, according to the CDC, is still 100.4°F.

Home Health HQ

PEDIALYTE OR TOPO CHICO Fever and diarrhea can dehydrate you and deplete electrolytes. Products such as Pedialyte and even Gatorade can support replacement.

Dr. Blazek favors Topo Chico mineral water; it has numerous electrolytes but less sodium

ALCOHOL AND BLEACH Isopropyl alcohol is useful for cleaning thermometers.

Bleach is a good choice for wiping down common shared household surfaces, like doorknobs and counters, Dr. Lahey says. You can use bleach-infused wipes or put a capful of bleach in a gallon of water and clean with that.

Philip Friedman/Studio D (medicine cabinet). Courtesy Topo Chico (Topo Chico). Getty Images (all others).

MENTHOL RUB Applied to your chest, it can help thin mucus and works as a decongestant, says Peter ChinHong, M.D., an infectious-disease

like the smell or are allergic to its trick—hot tea and honey—can have similar effects.

NETI POT Nothing you put up your nose will “wash away” viruses, but this might relieve pressure if your nasal passages are seriously congested. Just use distilled water, not tap, to mix your saline, or go an even easier route and try a premixed saline rinse,

THE NO-NEEDS ANTIDIARRHEAL DRUGS

× This is okay to have,

but “keep it on a shelf you can’t reach,” says Dr. ChinHong. Unless diarrhea is caused by a condition like food poisoning or traveler’s diarrhea, you generally don’t want a medicine that slows intestinal motility, such as Imodium. “Whatever is in there needs to get out,” says Dr. Blazek. Exception: If you have severe diarrhea (more than five times a day for a day or two, or you have bloody stool), consult a doctor.

GLOVES

×

Handwashing, not gloves, is the key intervention. “Gloves can be contaminated just as soon as your skin can,” says Dr. Lahey. However, the CDC does mention using gloves to clean and disinfect surfaces and to handle soiled laundry from a sick person. It still advises handwashing after glove removal.

OXYGENSATURATION MONITOR

×

Some published reports of personal struggles with COVID-19 have mentioned home oxygen-saturation (“O2 sat”) monitors, but they’re not needed unless you already have a chronic lung disease, Dr. Chin-Hong says. “Your clinician is going to react more to hearing, ‘I feel really winded, and it’s not my usual,’ regardless of what the O2 sats say.”

YOUR SUMMER STASH INSECT REPELLENT This is vital if you plan to be outdoors, says Dr. Chin-Hong, because of the creeping expansion of mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue, West Nile virus, and Zika. For mosquitoes, products with a 30 percent concentration of lemoneucalyptus oil are effective for about six hours. For both ticks and mosquitoes, use a product with at least a 20 percent concentration of picaridin or one containing DEET. Concentrations of DEET above 50 percent don’t fend off more bugs; they just last longer.

SUNSCREEN People might think that being in their backyard isn’t technically being in the sun, but “the sun is the sun wherever you are,” Dr. Chin-Hong says. Use an SPF 30 broad-spectrum sunscreen—and seek the shade.

ALLERGY MEDICINES Inhaled OTC nasal steroids (Nasacort, Flonase) are often the first thing allergy docs recommend. If those don’t tame your allergies within three to seven days, physicians often suggest a nondrowsy antihistamine, such as Claritin.

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25

s I e l i The M New the

n o h t Mara

-got u o y g n ythi r mp e v u e b s s i s h e t n r t Train fo print to get a fi s ts. NSON h g i r g n ggi M A R ISSA STEPHE a r b d n a Y B

people and cardiovores have tried to one-up one another with epic training efforts, competing on the number of miles they run, the number of Ironmans they do, and the number of ultra-early-morning sessions they knock out. Yet one of the most effective ways to train—and one of the most beneficial for your physical and mental health—has always been the shortest and the simplest: mastering the mile.

“The mile is an amazing blend of speed and endurance, and a good indicator of your overall cardiovascular health,” says Danny Mackey, head coach of the Brooks Beasts, an elite pro track team. “You can hammer it, and because it doesn’t take long to recover, you can run it again soon to see how much you’ve improved. You can’t say that about a marathon, where most people are just trying to finish.”

Even better, Mackey says you’ll notice yourself getting faster in three weeks.

While a typical in-shape guy can run a mile in ten minutes, running one in 6:30—under the 6:47 average time for a man in the 5th Avenue Mile, the largest one-mile race in the country—can win you bragging rights. (The fastest finishing time in that race last year was 3:52.)

Here’s exactly how to get after it.

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June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

3 KEY WORKOUTS TO

RUN YOUR FASTEST MILE

To incinerate your current mile PR, tackle each of the following workouts from Mackey every week for eight weeks. Order doesn’t matter, as long as you’re taking a day in between workouts to give your body time to soak up your gains and recover.

200-METER REPEATS

HILL ENDURANCE SESSION

Run 200 meters // Rest // Repeat 10 times

Run up a hill for 60 to 90 seconds // Walk back down // Repeat 8 times

Run these repeats at a pace that’s 2 to 4 seconds faster than your mile pace. However long it takes you to run one, rest for three times that long before the next repeat.

(If you do the 200 in 45 seconds, take a 2:15 rest.) Run the tenth sprint as fast as the first.

Sprints build the muscle strength and power it takes to hold speed over the entire mile, and doing them in this repeating format will help you dial in your form.

Find a long hill outdoors or set a treadmill to an incline. (The hill should be steep enough that running up it feels like a nine out of ten in terms of effort.)

This increases your stamina and prepares you psychologically to go all out in the homestretch. “It will be painful in the final 400, and this gets you familiar with that feeling,” Mackey says.

TEMPO RUN Run 3 miles Start at a pace that feels like a six out of ten in terms of effort and gradually increase to a seven, Mackey says.

This should be about 45 seconds to 1 minute slower than your mile pace and feel consistently challenging.

A tempo run pushes you out of your comfort zone with a pace that feels just a touch faster than you’d want to be running, and this constant effort builds your endurance for race day.

Jeff Vallee/Gallery Stock

F

OR THE PAST few years, Iron-

Own Your Workout Smart Technology. Built and Tested by our Editors.

No Excuses. Only Results!

BODY

The Definitive

Immunity POWER Rankings

ELDERBERRY EXTRACT, COLLOIDAL SILVER, MUSHROOM POWDER —your social feeds are lousy with a witch’s brew

of supplements that promise to boost your immunity. But your immunity isn’t a switch—it’s a network. That means many factors come into play to keep it strong, not one magic bullet. Science shows there are smarter ways to protect yourself against disease. We broke down the research to dispel the bull. BY CHRISTIE ASCHWANDEN

SCIENC E SAYS: H E LPFUL! SCIENC E SAYS: CAN’T H URT

Consuming alcohol in moderation

Having sex

Taking cold showers

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

SCIENC E SAYS: H E LL NAW

28

While there’s some research indicating that people who have sex once or twice a week have higher levels of immunity-related proteins, the science isn’t great. Other research linked arousal and orgasm from masturbation to increased immune cells, but . . . ditto. Still, don’t let this stop you.

2

Meditating regularly

intensity or for longer than 60 minutes per day

If you exercise too long or too hard, your immune system actually weakens, according to research from Appalachian State University.

Follow the 60/60 rule: Exercise for 60 minutes or less, with an average intensity of about 60 percent of your max heart rate.

Note average intensity: You can still do HIIT workouts as long as you take it extra easy during the recovery periods.

1

Taking vitamin C supplements Taking probiotic supplements Using elderberry extract or mushroom powder

Surprise! Taking vitamin C supplements does not reduce your risk of catching a cold, according to a 2013 review of 29 clinical trials. Plus, supplements are not closely regulated and may have impurities. Last fall, authorities recalled a vitamin C supplement after they found it contained a prescription erectiledysfunction drug. Oops?

3

There haven’t been any rigorous, long-term clinical trials showing that probiotic supplements offer tangible benefits for people who are already healthy, according to a viewpoint article by Peter Cohen, M.D., published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Now, probiotic foods like yogurt, kimchi, and miso? Those may help.

4

Courtesy Fitbit (Fitbit). Getty Images (remaining).

Sleeping at least seven hours a night (or, better yet, eight)

Exercising with moderate intensity for 60 minutes or less per day

~os Tangy citrus and spicy jalapen

create the kind of tension you can cut with a pizza wheel

Get a whole new outlook on plant based tacos, learn how a pizza cutter can save you time cutting cilantro, and uncover hundreds of recipes made with heart-healthy* California walnuts at walnuts.org.

Per one ounce serving. *California walnuts are certified by the American Heart Association.® Heart-Check food certification does not apply to recipes unless expressly stated. See heartcheckmark.org/guidelines. Supportive but not conclusive research shows that eating 1.5 ounces of walnuts per day, as part of a low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet and not resulting in increased caloric intake, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. (FDA) One ounce of walnuts provides 18g of total fat, 2.5g of monounsaturated fat, 13g of polyunsaturated fat including 2.5g of alpha-linolenic acid – the plant-based omega-3.

So Simple. So Good.®

50% plant protein 50% angus beef 40% less calories* 60% less saturated fat*

Š 2019 Tyson Foods, Inc.

*Compared to all beef 80% lean/20% fat pa ies.

FIND IN THE FRESH MEAT CASE

LIFE

36

................ THE

BEST COLD-BR EW COFFEE IS HOMEM A DE COLD-BR EW COFFEE

38

...............

IT’S MOONSHIN E TIME

40 ....... W HEN E X ES CR E ATE “OH”S 43

.................. THESE

WATCHES A R E WORTH YOU R TIME

FIRE IT UP

Take your backyard barbecue to greater levels of deliciousness by using a pellet grill and a recipe from innovative pitmaster “Phil the Grill” Johnson. BY DAVID JOACHIM AND PAUL KITA

F

IRST, we dug holes in the ground to

cook with fi re. Then, as we evolved, we constructed drums, barrels, and boxes to better harness heat. But now a new form of flame is gaining power within the world of outdoor cooking: More and more of us are switching to pellets to fuel our backyard culinary pursuits, on machines that are part grill and part smoker, and can be operated via WiFi and smartphone apps.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KYLE RM JOHNSON

MEN’S HEALTH

/ June 2020

31

LIFE Slow-smoking barbecue with compressed, pill-shaped wood pellets has been around since the 1980s. The pellets themselves are made of apple, hickory, cherry, and other popular barbecue woods.

They burn hot, with some smoke, and ignite almost immediately when they hit the flame, unlike charcoal, which takes . . . a while.

It wasn’t until November of last year that pellet cookers reached the mainstream. That’s when Weber, the king of backyard grilling, debuted the SmokeFire EX4 Wood Fired Pellet Grill. It operates largely the same as other pellet cookers: Plug the grill into an electrical outlet, which powers an auger that feeds pellets into a fire. But unlike old-school grills, the SmokeFire (and some of its ilk) regulates cooking via WiFi technology. Want to smoke brisket? Fill the hopper with pellets, set the unit to a lower temp, add the meat, and walk away until an app tells you it’s time to return. Want to grill steak? Using those same pellets, crank the heat to charcoal-hot temps and sear rib eyes as you would on a traditional grill. Some units can change temperature midcook and power down to keep the food warm when it’s done.

The cookers have even converted some of the country’s top pitmasters. “I advise everyone at home to have a pellet grill,” says “Phil the Grill” Johnson, owner of Trapp Haus BBQ in Phoenix, where he cooks exclusively with pellets. “My dad used to burn everything to a crisp until I got him a pellet smoker,” he says. “You can rig these things to do anything.” Here’s everything you need to do anything.

“Phil the Grill” Johnson readies a rubbed brisket (recipe on next page) for a run through a pellet cooker.

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR RIG

32

Green Mountain Grills Davy Crockett

Grilla Grills Chimp Portable Wood Pellet Grill

Weber SmokeFire EX4 Wood Fired Pellet Grill

Traeger Ironwood 885 Pellet Grill

This unit weighs 57 pounds (with an empty hopper, which holds up to nine pounds of pellets) and fits two rib racks.

The legs fold for transport, and the machine runs via 12V or 120AC adapter if you’re taking it camping or tailgating, which you totally should. $329; greenmountaingrills.com

The Chimp is portable like the Davy, though quite a bit heavier at 90 pounds. But you will find more cooking surface area. (The Davy has 219 square inches; the Chimp, 460.) And the hopper houses 15 pounds of pellets, allowing you to smoke longer and/or stronger. $529; grillagrills.com

An ample 672 square inches of cooking surface provide the room. A DC-powered engine regulates the precision-temperature consistency.

And the signature Weber coating of porcelain enamel you’re used to from that kettle grill you’ve had for ages delivers the durability. $999; weber.com

There’s a whopping 885 square inches of cooking space—enough to roast ten chickens, seven racks of ribs, and nine pork butts. The DC motor can target temps by five-degree increments, and a “super smoke” option ratchets up the speed of the built-in blower. $1,500; traegergrills.com

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

Courtesy of brands (grills)

The easiest solution: Match your grill to your level of dedication.

COLLECT YOUR GEAR

Enhance your cooking experience with these tools, says Timothy Hollingsworth, a James Beard Award–winning

Smithey Ironware Company No. 12 Cast Iron Skillet “There is just something to be said about American-made iron and cooking out of a preseasoned surface.”

It’s pellet-smoker safe. $200; smithey.com

Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt “It’s the salt I’ve used for years,” Hollingsworth says of this flaky-crunchy variety. “I believe you should find a salt brand you like and stick with it; that way, you learn how it feels in your hand.”

Town Cutler Cleaver “Not only is it beautiful and a statement piece, but its quality and balance make chopping large cuts of meat or fish very easy.” From $250; towncutler.com

Snake River Farms Wagyu Brisket best meat you

love over the past 20 years.” From $159; snakeriverfarms.com

START COOKING “PHIL THE GRILL” JOHNSON’S BARBECUE BRISKET

Courtesy of brands (gear items)

WHAT YOU’LL NEED A Saison “When I am cooking and tasting food all day, it’s nice to have a beer that’s not too heavy on the palate. I love the barrel-aged saisons from Homage Brewing in Pomona, California.” Other good ones: Saison Dupont, Boulevard Brewing Co.’s Tank 7, Brooklyn Brewery’s Sorachi Ace.

1 (12 LB) BRISKET 1 CUP OF YOUR FAVORITE RUB

M A K E IT 1. Season the brisket all over with the rub, and allow the meat to sit at room temperature as you preheat your smoker to 280°F. 2. Add the brisket to the smoker, fat side down; drop the temp to 200°F; and cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the brisket reads 156°F, 4 to 6 hours.

3. Carefully remove the brisket from the smoker; wrap tightly in butcher paper or aluminum foil; and return to the smoker, fat side up.

Cook until the meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 198°F. 4. Remove the brisket from the smoker, open the wrapping to vent for 5 minutes, rewrap tightly, and transfer to a dry, empty cooler to rest for 2 hours.

5. Remove the brisket from the cooler, unwrap, and transfer to a cutting board.

Slice the meat against the grain and serve with the juices from the foil.

Feeds 24

HUNGRY FOR MORE? Because no man can live on brisket alone, there are also recipes for smoked potato salad, pork chops with garlic rosemary sauce, and baby-back ribs with blueberry reduction for you over at MensHealth.com/pelletrecipes. Get to it.

MEN’S HEALTH

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LIFE

TEX-MEX POWER BREAKFAST

Eating breakfast every morning is important. Cooking breakfast every morning is a freaking chore. So cook it once, in a large pot or pan, and reheat it all week. This egg-andsausage bake has your 30 grams of muscle-building protein, and the sides push you over the ten-gram fiber threshold for feeling full. BY PAUL KITA 30 10

34

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHELSEA KYLE

3 0 G THE PROTEIN First, we’re talking about Mexican chorizo, which is fresh pork sausage that’s heavily seasoned, often with garlic, paprika, and chile peppers.

Do not confuse this with Spanish chorizo, which is frequently cured, smoked, and waaaay different in texture and flavor. Mexican chorizo has about 17 grams of protein in a four-ounce serving.

C OOK IT

BU Y IT Mexican bodegas sell chorizo; Walmart does, too. (We like the Cacique brand.)

Fresh Mexican chorizo often comes packaged in a tube. You can also find it as sausage links, but you’ll want to remove the casing before cooking.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED 1 1 2

TSP CANOLA OIL LB FRESH CHORIZO MEDIUM RUSSET POTATOES, DICED 1 CUP BLACK BEANS, RINSED AND DRAINED 4 CUPS BABY SPINACH 10 EGGS, WHISKED 1 CUP SHREDDED PEPPER JACK CHEESE ¼ CUP CILANTRO

UPGR A DE IT

1 0 G THE FIBER These two simple side dishes enhance the flavors of the bake and help you hit your ten grams of fiber at mealtime.

Chorizo & Pepper Jack Egg Bake 1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. In a large Dutch oven or highwalled cast-iron pan, heat the oil over medium. Add the chorizo and cook until it releases its fat, about 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring, until they begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the black beans and spinach. Cook, stirring, until the spinach wilts, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Add the eggs to the mixture, top with the cheese, and bake in the oven, uncovered, until the eggs are set, 10 to 15 minutes.

Wearing oven mitts, remove the cooking vessel from the oven and allow to cool slightly before slicing and serving topped with cilantro and plenty of hot sauce.

Feeds 6 PER SERVING:

541 calories, 35g protein, 24g carbs (4g fiber), 35g fat

Dress ½ pitted and peeled avocado with the juice from ¼ lime, a big pinch of flaky sea salt, and a shake or two of Tajín seasoning. (Find it in the Mexican section of the supermarket or online.) Feeds 1 Per serving: 164 calories, 2g protein, 10g carbs (7g fiber), 15g fat

If you have the extra time, here are three ways to elevate this recipe to extra-special status.

Food styling: Drew Aichele. Prop styling: Astrid Chastka.

I F YO U H AV E . . .

5

15

30

MINUTES

MINUTES

MINUTES

Raid the spice aisle or head to penzeys.com to pick up some dried Mexican oregano.

It has a bolder, more savory flavor than dried Italian oregano and goes really well with the egg bake. Add a pinch or two when you season with salt and pepper.

As the egg bake cooks in the oven, heat a little oil in a small pan over medium high. Grab a handful of cherry tomatoes, slice them in half, and add them to the pan with a little salt and pepper. Cook, shimmying the pan now and then, until slightly blistered, 3 to 5 minutes. Throw the tomatoes atop the finished egg bake.

Make salsa verde cruda. In a blender, toss 6 tomatillos (husked, rinsed), 1 jalapeño (roughly chopped), 1 garlic clove, and 1 cup fresh cilantro (roughly chopped; stems are fine). Blend, season with salt, and spoon onto the egg bake.

Want more 30/10 meals in your life? You’re covered with 30 of them at MensHealth.com/30-10.

In a large bowl, add 2 each mangoes, guavas, and papayas (peeled and cubed). Toss in 2 cups watermelon (cubed), ¼ cup fresh mint (chopped), and a big pinch of flaky sea salt. Feeds 4 Per serving: 213 calories, 3g protein, 54g carbs (7g fiber), 1g fat

MEN’S HEALTH

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LIFE

THE

DIY GUIDE TO

COLD-BREW COFFEE So you like your coffee chilled this time of year: You can go with either iced, which is meh, or cold brew, which is not meh and is, in fact, amazing—especially when you make it yourself. Here’s how. BY CLINT CARTER

BUT SHOULDN’T YOU JUST BUY IT? Fair question.

And you can, but as many of us learned this spring, coffee shops aren’t always open when you need them to be. Plus, too often big chains and bad baristas take shortcuts. They’ll use crummy beans, pull the brew too early, or (worse yet) chill hot coffee—which is actually iced coffee, not cold brew. Then they load it up with sugar to conceal the taste of coffee that’s burned or weak. Well-made cold brew doesn’t need that. It tastes naturally sweet and malty— 36

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

almost as robust as craft stout on nitro, and as smooth.

“A lot of customers look at me funny when I explain what it is,” says Ryan Park, co-owner of Flat White Coffee in Cypress, California. “They’re like, ‘What do you mean you brew the coffee with cold water?’” That may give you the sense that making good cold brew is complicated, but it’s not. You just need a few tools, a little downtime, and a thirst for flavors that go beyond whatever caffeinated milkshake the doughnut shop is pushing this summer.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTOPHER TESTANI

1

SELECT

YOUR BREWER

You know how much energy you have for making coffee when you’re undercaffeinated. Base your brew system on that knowledge.

JUST. WANT. COFFEE .

1. ALTO COLD BREW FILTERS

2. OVALWARE COLD BREW MAKER

3. OXO COMPACT COFFEE MAKER

Fill one sockshaped bag with grounds, stuff it into a mason jar or pitcher, and steep overnight. The bags hold a surprising amount of coffee, so you can brew big batches.

Drawback: You have to restock the brew socks. $12; altocoldbrew.com

This system takes inspiration from Erlenmeyer flasks.

Fill the insert with grounds, steep, and drink (well, eventually). While the stainless-steel sieve is a little fussy to clean, it’s also the simplest way to filter coffee without paper. From $30; ovalware.com

Pour coffee into the plastic cone until you hit the bean line, top with water, and wait.

Then set the cone on the glass jar to release the brew.

Each batch is small—24 ounces is the max—but the process is so easy you won’t mind. $30; oxo.com

2

Food styling: Michelle Gatton/Hello Artists. Prop styling: Carla Gonzalez-Hart.

I’M DEDICATED

BUY

WHOLE BEANS You can make cold brew with any ol’ bag of beans and it’ll turn out delicious. But roasters have started selecting and roasting beans that work especially well with no-heat brewing. We tasted the latest crop to find

4. UKEG NITRO Nitrogen bubbles give Guinness its velvety texture, and as it turns out, you can apply the same treatment to cold brew. Make the coffee inside the growler-size uKeg, load a nitrogen cartridge, and spend the next few days pouring luscious cold brew. $199; growlerwerks.com

IF YOU TAKE YOUR COFFEE BLACK, DRINK . . .

You’ll taste some bitter chocolate, a little black licorice, and a touch of almost-burnt bread. If those things are your things, get on this. $15; coldbrewlab.com

IF YOU TAKE YOUR COFFEE WITH CREAM AND SUGAR, DRINK . . .

It’s a medium-roast bean, which means you’ll taste a more chocolaty sweetness, but also hints of blackberries and caramel. $16; ptscoffee.com

IF YOU’RE MORE OF A TEA GUY, DRINK . . .

COLD BREW LAB COFFEE

PT’S COLD FRONT SIGNATURE BLEND

THE CHOSEN BEAN COLD BREW This blend of four beans (from Sumatra, Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Mexico) delivers an easy-drinking brew with a strong hit of orange. $15; thechosenbean.com

IRVING FARM COLD BREW BLEND It’s vegetal, dark, and spicy. It’s also polarizing for those very same reasons, but if you’re looking for something different, here it is. $15; irvingfarm.com

3 BREW! Hot coffee is brewed one pot at a time. Cold brew is more like meal prep. Ryan Park of Flat White Coffee provides the method.

1. START ON COARSE

Pre-ground beans produce a weak brew. If you have a grinder, use the coarse setting on whole beans. Or have your local barista grind them. (Just tip them for doing so.)

2. POUR IN THE WATER

After loading the coffee into your brew vessel, add roomtemp water. Park uses roughly half a gallon for a 12-ounce bag of beans or a quarter gallon for six ounces. “Stir it for 20 or 30 seconds,” he says— just enough to saturate—“and then let it sit, covered.”

3. GO DO SOMETHING ELSE

For 18 to 20 hours. So if you begin at noon Sunday, you’ll have cold brew by 6:00 A.M. Monday. If the beans soak longer than 24 hours, the brew will taste nasty.

4. DILUTE IT

What you brewed was actually a concentrate. (Surprise!)

“Dilute it with a one-to-one ratio of water,” says Park, in either your cup or a pitcher.

It’ll taste best within the week.

MEN’S HEALTH

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LIFE

NOT YOUR GRANDPA’S

It used to mean bootleg hooch from a makeshift backwoods still, but now craft distillers across the country have turned moonshine into some knock-youon-your-heels-good booze. Bonus: The taste is clean and the ingredients are simple, so you don’t need any sugary mixtures to compensate. BY DAN Q. DAO What exactly is moonshine?

Then: A catchall slang term for illegally distilled spirits.

BELLE ISLE MOONSHINE 100 PROOF This offering uses corn and only corn instead of adding barley as some other bottles do. That means it tastes clean and slightly fruity—the perfect substitute for garden-variety vodka in summertime cocktails. $35 Buy it: In most states

Now: A clear, unaged, corn-based whiskey, from 80 to 100 proof.

SOUTHWIND MOONSHINE This bottling is the result of a 50-day, 1,712-mile Mississippi River steamboat trip during which two distillers collected corn from farmers in ten states.

If that sounds complex, wait until you taste it: cornbread and oats on the nose; grass, pears, and hay on the tongue. $48 Buy it: In select states

MAKER’S WHITE One of America’s oldest bourbon brands offers this 90-proof gateway moonshine that showcases notes of cinnamon and vanilla. Even though Maker’s has released the moonshine for eight years, it does so in very small quantities. $35 Buy it: At the distillery

High-quality corn (it’s a thing) is the focus of this release from San Diego’s Cutwater Spirits.

The distillers use the same premium maize that tortilla makers do and then ferment it at low temps. This results in a surprising sweetness, even at a stiff 98.6 proof. $30 Buy it: Anywhere

DRINK IT: You should enjoy any moonshine 90 proof or higher cold—and sipped.

Shots of moonshine aren’t a good idea for many reasons, but you won’t be able to taste the nuances if you shoot it.

38

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

MIX IT: Swap moonshine into any recipe with bourbon or vodka. Try a boozy Arnold Palmer with equal parts lemonade and sweet tea, plus two ounces of hooch. Or make Norwegian karsk: one part coffee, two parts ’shine, and a dash of sugar.

COOK WITH IT: “I like to use it in a brine for chicken, pork chops, and mahi mahi,” says Kenny Gilbert of Cut & Gather in Raleigh. “I mix it in with spices, OJ, honey, salt, and water, then let the protein sit in it overnight.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHELSEA KYLE

Food styling: Drew Aichele. Prop styling: Astrid Chastka/Hello Artists.

DEVIL’S SHARE MOONSHINE

$'9(57,6(0(17

HEALTH

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LIFE YOUR EXPERT

Naomi Piercey answers your questions about sex and relationships that Google can’t.

turn-on? Maybe the voyeur in you wants to watch your wife going at it—or perhaps you like the power dynamic of “allowing” her this transgression. Coordinating an IRL cuckolding situation is pretty complicated, so you might prefer to role-play the idea. Pretend to be a stranger or talk her through what it would be like for you to watch her with another man. The fantasy can still be hot without the third party.

THIS MIGHT BE A DUMB QUESTION, BUT . . . CAN I GIVE MY WIFE AN ORGASM WHILE SHE’S PREGNANT? —SAMUEL, Raleigh, NC

We’ve been married seven years and recently began sleeping in separate beds because we get better rest that way. Is our sex life doomed?

—LUKE, Portland, OR

Lots of happy couples are opting for “sleep divorce” or “sleep-cations” due to snoring, light sleeping, or odd work schedules, and I see no problem with it. You and your spouse will probably end up having more sex, and in different rooms, too. Getting the right amount of sleep will boost your energy, which means more of an appetite for sex—maybe even tomorrow morning in the shower. I recommend creating a nightly ritual so you can connect before bed. (“Your bunk or mine?”) Knowing you’re bidding each other farewell for the night can be a really big turn-on.

40

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

I SWEAT CONSTANTLY ALL SUMMER LONG. HOW DO I MAKE SURE I DON’T SMELL DOWN THERE? —DEAN, Atlanta, GA

We ladies realize men can emit some fairly spectacular groin smells at times, so if you’re worried about a waft, fear not: We know it’s temporary. Just don’t expect us to go down on you until you’ve showered (and maybe returned the favor?). To freshen up your junk, try using a body powder like Gold Bond to make sure your skin folds glide instead of stick, and opt for looser-fitting cotton boxers to keep things ventilated and reduce sweat.

IS IT WEIRD THAT I’M TURNED ON

BY THE THOUGHT OF MY WIFE HAVING SEX WITH ANOTHER GUY? —TED, Orlando, FL

Don’t worry: You’re not a sexual deviant, just a little kinky. You’re talking about a common fantasy known as cuckolding. What’s the

I’M GOOD FRIENDS WITH AN EX, BUT MY NEW S.O. WANTS ME TO STOP TALKING TO HER. IS IT A CONCRETE RULE THAT YOU CAN’T KEEP EXES IN YOUR LIFE? —AMAR, New York, NY

Nope. The issue isn’t whether your ex is in your life but rather how she’s in your life. If you’re close enough to text weekly, or you get all giggly when you’re around her, I can see why your new S.O. would be suspicious. These behaviors point to a lingering attraction you can’t shake. If choosing between your S.O. and your ex feels impossible, it sounds like you might have some unfinished business to resolve.

Alamy (spoons). Kyle Hilton (Piercey).

ASK HER ANYTHING

You sure can, and you sure should! Unless your doc has said otherwise, intercourse and orgasm during pregnancy can be an amazing release. Sex drive, on the other hand, is much more up in the air. Some pregnant women feel too nauseated or bloated for sex, while others actually have a spike in libido! You’ll have to adapt to her changing needs— including finding a comfortable position: Missionary, for example, will start to pinch her spine in the third trimester, but spooning and reverse cowgirl can feel great.

Has the Prescription Opioid Crisis affected you or someone you know?

You could be compensated from the Purdue Pharma L.P. Bankruptcy.

File Your Claim by June 30, 2020.

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED. PARA INFORMACIĂ&#x201C;N EN ESPAĂ&#x2018;OL, VISITE EL SITIO WEB.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?

If you think youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been hurt by Purdue Pharma L.P., a U.S. limited partnership, its general partner and its subsidiaries, including Imbrium 7KHUDSHXWLFV / 3 $GORQ 7KHUDSHXWLFV / 3 *UHHQ HOG %LR9HQWXUHV / 3 Avrio Health L.P., Rhodes Technologies, and Rhodes Pharmaceuticals L.P. (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Purdueâ&#x20AC;?), or Purdue prescription opioids, like OxyContinÂŽ, or other SUHVFULSWLRQ RSLRLGV SURGXFHG PDUNHWHG RU VROG E\ 3XUGXH \RX FDQ OH D claim for compensation in the Purdue bankruptcy proceeding. The GHDGOLQH WR OH D FODLP LV June 30, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

WHAT IS A CLAIM AND WHO CAN FILE?

$ Č&#x160;FODLPČ&#x2039; PHDQV D ULJKW WR VHHN SD\PHQW RU RWKHU FRPSHQVDWLRQ <RX PXVW OH a Proof of Claim Form so it is actually received E\ WKH GHDGOLQH ,W FDQ EH OHG E\ \RX E\ D OHJDO JXDUGLDQ E\ VXUYLYRUV RU E\ UHODWLYHV RI SHRSOH ZKR KDYH died or are disabled. All Personal Injury Claimant Proof of Claim Forms and DQ\ VXSSRUWLQJ GRFXPHQWDWLRQ VXEPLWWHG ZLWK WKRVH IRUPV ZLOO EH NHSW KLJKO\ FRQ GHQWLDO DQG ZLOO QRW EH PDGH DYDLODEOH WR WKH SXEOLF You do not QHHG DQ DWWRUQH\ WR OH D SURRI RI FODLP IRU \RX Additionally, partnerships, corporations, joint ventures, trusts, governmental XQLWV DQG 1DWLYH $PHULFDQ 7ULEHV PD\ DOVR OH D SURRI RI FODLP DJDLQVW 3XUGXH Go to 3XUGXH3KDUPD&ODLPV FRP WR QG D FRPSOHWH OLVW RI LQVWUXFWLRQV RQ KRZ WR OH D FODLP <RX ZLOO DOVR QG D OLVW RI WKH RSLRLGV SURGXFHG PDUNHWHG RU VROG E\ Purdue. <RX PD\ OH D 3URRI RI &ODLP HYHQ LI D VHWWOHPHQW LV FRQWHPSODWHG LQ WKH 3XUGXH bankruptcy so that your claim can be considered as part of any settlement.

WHO DOES THIS AFFECT AND WHAT ARE MY RIGHTS?

If you think youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve suffered harm from Purdue or its prescription opioids, you KDYH WKH ULJKW WR OH D FODLP HYHQ LI \RX PD\ DOVR KDYH UHFHLYHG UHLPEXUVHPHQW IURP LQVXUDQFH ([DPSOHV RI FODLPV WKDW PD\ EH OHG LQ WKH 3XUGXH EDQNUXSWF\ LQFOXGH GHDWK DGGLFWLRQ RU GHSHQGHQFH ORVW ZDJHV ORVV RI VSRXVDO UHODWLRQVKLS EHQH W IRU WKLQJV OLNH FKLOG UHDULQJ HQMR\PHQW RI OLIH etc., or Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (sometimes referred to as â&#x20AC;&#x153;NASâ&#x20AC;?), among others.

7KH GHDGOLQH WR OH D FODLP LV -XQH DW S P (DVWHUQ 7LPH If \RX GR QRW OH D FODLP E\ WKH GHDGOLQH \RX ZLOO ORVH WKH ULJKW WR OH D FODLP DJDLQVW 3XUGXH DQG \RX ZLOO ORVH DQ\ ULJKW WR VHHN SD\PHQW RU FRPSHQVDWLRQ you may have had. Proof of Claim Forms, a list of opioids produced, marketed RU VROG E\ 3XUGXH DQG LQVWUXFWLRQV IRU KRZ WR OH D FODLP DUH RQOLQH DW 3XUGXH3KDUPD&ODLPV FRP. You can also request a claim form by mail, email or phone: 3XUGXH 3KDUPD &ODLPV 3URFHVVLQJ &HQWHU F R 3ULPH &OHUN //& 7KLUG $YHQXH 6WH %URRNO\Q 1< (PDLO SXUGXHSKDUPDLQIR#SULPHFOHUN FRP 3KRQH

LEFT TO RIGHT: 22â&#x20AC;? Sapphire Pendant Necklace (1/3 ct. t.w.) in Sterling Silver, $625; Link Necklace in Stainless Steel and Black Ion-Plate, $250; Diamond Link Bracelet (1/10 ct. t.w.) in Black Ion-Plated Stainless Steel, $400.

THIS IS ONLY A SUMMARY OF THE INFORMATION.

Is Purdue out of money? No. For more information concerning Purdueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bankruptcy, Frequently Asked Questions, Proof of Claim Forms, examples RI SHUVRQDO LQMXU\ DQG RWKHU FODLPV WKDW FDQ EH OHG LQVWUXFWLRQV RQ KRZ WR OH D FODLP DQG LPSRUWDQW GRFXPHQWV LQFOXGLQJ WKH %DU 'DWH 1RWLFH YLVLW

PurduePharmaClaims.com, or call 1.844.217.0912.

E XC LUS I VE LY AT

THE COCKTAIL PARTY YOU CAN HAVE AT YOUR DESK

JUST A LITTLE BIT FANCY © 2020 Tyson Foods, Inc.

WATCH TIME

START WITH THIS GUY Steel has never looked so sharp. This stylish Seiko diver’s watch is as durable as it is refined, built with a spring-drive movement for precision in harsh conditions and a silicone band for casual comfort.

Prospex diver’s watch ($525)

by Seiko.

Prop styling: Megumi Emoto/Anderson Hopkins

E V A S

E M I T built e s o p r u are p t a h t s g ired ri p s ven. i n r i d y e r c a n it rma o f r e and mil p d an

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEFFREY WESTBROOK

MEN’S HEALTH

/ June 2020

43

WATCH TIME

STEEL

W O H S THE

THE ALL-AROUND CLASSICS If you haven’t owned a watch before, start with steel and never look back. Lightweight, hard to scratch, and totally resilient, steel is the ideal material for a sports watch, able to endure any rugged condition.

Even better, it’s also water resistant, so it’s a lot less likely to rust over a lifetime of deep dives and boat rides.

From top: HydroConquest diver’s watch ($1,600) by Longines; El Primero A384 Revival watch ($8,200) by Zenith; Series 800 watch ($1,295) by Movado; Milano XL watch ($119) by Timex; Aquaracer watch ($2,300) by TAG Heuer.

, T E S , Y READ

N O I T C A

THE RUGGED, ALL-TERRAIN FIGHTER Based on a watch worn by servicemen during World War II, the A-15 Pilot is a cool-as-hell, modern spin on a classic, with upgrades like its three-hand automatic movement and smooth sapphire crystal.

THE ALL-WEATHER, ALL-PURPOSE TIMEPIECE Water-ready and with an 80-hour power reserve, the Captain Cook Automatic pays homage to the explorer in all of us. Best of all, you can easily change the strap for an instant style transformation.

A-15 Pilot watch ($695) by Bulova.

Captain Cook watch ($1,950) by Rado.

THE INDESTRUCTIBLE, ECO-FRIENDLY WARRIOR Go green with Citizen’s Eco-Drive, powered entirely by light (and not just solar), which means you’ll never need to replace a battery—ever.

The strap’s patterned stitching and olive color add casual safari flair.

THE TOTALLY INGENIOUS, UPGRADED SMARTWATCH When buying a smartwatch, you don’t have to sacrifice appearance for smartness. This sleek Armani Smartwatch 3 has a built-in speaker and 8 GB of storage for all of your music and app needs.

Chandler chronograph ($275) by Citizen.

Smartwatch 3 ($375) by Emporio Armani.

MEN’S HEALTH

/ June 2020

45

/HW·V QRW Party Meet up Bro-hug Defy

/HW·V Stay put Binge watch Video-happy-hour Save lives Visit coronavirus.gov for the latest tips and information from the CDC.

#AloneTogether

TOGETHER, WE CAN HELP SLOW THE SPREAD.

JUST PRESS PAUSE

Relax! It’s possible to slow down, recharge, and ultimately end up way ahead. The MH guide to taking a mental-health day.

BY PETER ANDREY SMITH

PHOTOGRAPHS BY FREDRIK BRODEN

J

OE VAN WYK, a 55-year-old por-

trait photographer from Austin, makes a living capturing people’s best moments, even when his life feels totally out of focus.

The business is going to dry up, he thinks sometimes. Things are going to be taken away from me.

The most irrational part is that these doubts crop up when he’s actually working hardest. He calls the inner monologue “the turbulence” and has come to recognize it as a sign of burnout, a feeling that, for him, leads to anxiety that can quickly spiral into deep depression.

You may feel trapped in your own version of work-life turbulence these days.

A 2018 Gallup poll found that nearly 70 percent of Americans who work full-time

MEN’S HEALTH

/ June 2020

49

involves physical action. Morgan lives in Bellingham, Washington, and is a cofounder of Uproar, a conservation nonprofit. He also has a wild podcast-production schedule.

“I love it and I do too much of it,” he says. “I can feel stress building like a pressure cooker.”

On his recently scheduled day off, Morgan hopped on his BMW R1200

an unpaved logging road, dumped the bike, and hiked as far as the path would take him. The tree time pays off. “I can go in a basket case and come out totally grounded,” he says.

Some doctors are actually prescribing similar adventures. Stacy Stryer, M.D., is a pediatrician who works with Park Rx America, a physician-initiated partnership with the U.S. Forest

Weekends are different, so every other Sunday is slotted for his mental-health vacation.

He’ll hit the dog park with his three Labs—Belle, Beau, and Nina—and then do yoga. But the true focus has always been meeting up with 15 to 20 people either at a local café or more recently via video chat. His crew call themselves SurThrivers, aka “SurThrivers of Narcissists, Borderlines, and Antisocials,” a local group of people who’ve been through abuse and trauma and want peer support to share their experiences.

Johnson had a difficult childhood, which led to issues with relationships. The group shares stories, looking for advice on building healthy boundaries. “Some people see mental-health days as a way to escape, seek shelter, and protect their wounds when life gets stressful,” Johnson says. “A wound doesn’t heal when it’s all bandaged up. It needs oxygen.” That includes him: “I would be nowhere without them,” he says of his fellow members.

Johnson is a former football player and a U.S. Army veteran, so he thinks of these days as a form of highintensity emotional training followed by a period of recovery. “The more I heal, the easier nontraining days are, the more I realize everyone operates from their own wounds, so I don’t take anything personally,” he says. Each day ends with a mental cooldown: more dog time, some writing, and watching comedy shows.

anxiety as a way to gain perspective.

Genevive Meredith, a public-health researcher at Cornell University, recently led a review that found that as little as ten minutes in nature can boost happiness and reduce anxiety.

“Getting into a space where there’s green around you can have a restorative effect,” Meredith says.

Morgan goes solo and covets that.

because they’re so informal, which can make opening up easier. (If you’re not into sharing freely but want the spiritual support, try yoga as a good starting point.)

But Johnson’s method may be particularly helpful for staying ahead of the burnout curve because it’s so frequent. According to Irvin Schonfeld, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the City College of New York, the “half-life” of vacation relaxation tends to be around two weeks. To keep the glow going between sessions, Jor-El Caraballo, a licensed therapist and cofounder of Viva Wellness in Brooklyn, recommends you also try to end every day with the GLAD technique—write down one thing that makes you Grateful, that you just Learned, that you Accomplished, and that Delighted you. It’s a mind-set-improving method for taking a minute to appreciate daily moments. “It actually helps you see more positive things more frequently the more consistently you do it,” Caraballo says.

If that doesn’t work, consider consulting a mentalhealth professional. Just be sure to call ahead if you want to reach Dr. Muskin. On a weekday earlier this year, he was out renewing his license at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Manhattan. It was a looming stress, so he took a whole day off to stop feeling anxious about it and ended up with time left over to go for a recumbent-bike ride, cook dinner for his family, and watch some TV. All in a good day’s work.

MIND

YOUR BRAIN, ONLY BETTER

Want to keep your brain young, resilient, sharp, and healthy?

Use these tips from neurosurgeon SANJAY GUPTA, M.D., CNN’s chief medical correspondent.

BY JULIE STEWART

W

ALWAYS BE PREPARED TO TRAIN 52

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

MOVE THINK OF INACTIVITY AS A DISEASE “Every time I’m about to sit, I ask myself: Do I need to sit right now?” Dr. Gupta says. “That may go further in terms of the benefit of movement on your brain than even going to the gym. I don’t have a chair in my office.” If you can stand or walk during meetings, phone calls, and other activities, do it. Think of inactivity as the disease rather than working out as the cure, he says.

Exercise boosts blood flow to your brain, tamps down inflammation, and promotes growth of new brain cells. You need at least 150 minutes a week.

“Wherever I am, I have running shoes, a swimsuit, and resistance bands,” says Dr. Gupta. He keeps weights in his bedroom and has a pullup bar in his office.

WALK, TALK, GRIPE Take a brisk walk with a friend and talk about your problems. It’s a brain trifecta: moving, socializing, and releasing stress. “Doing those three things ends up measurably detoxifying your brain,” Dr. Gupta says. “I used to train very solitary, but walking more with friends has really changed my brain health. I can feel it.”

ILLUSTRATION BY MENGXIN LI

Mitch Mandel (running shoes)

HEN I FINALLY get on the phone with Sanjay Gupta, M.D., in March, after he has rescheduled three times because he’s prepping for CNN’s first COVID-19 town hall, he’s relieved to be talking about something positive: brain science. “We’re seeing evidence that lifestyle changes can significantly improve brain health and even reverse brain disease,” he says. “That may not sound that significant, except that we really never thought of the brain that way until recently. We thought of the heart that way, and some other organs, but the brain was always this black box.” The 50-yearold is best known for his CNN gig, but he’s also a practicing neurosurgeon at the Emory University School of Medicine, removing tumors and clipping aneurysms inside that black box, often while listening to the Gipsy Kings. In his spare time, he does triathlons (of course) and meditates (duh!), and he’s working on his fourth book, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age, due out early next year. It’s an evidence-based exploration of the latest science on brain health and what tactics are working for Dr. Gupta himself. Here he shares his favorite tips and strategies.

NOURISH FUEL FOR FOCUS To protect your brain, you need to control your blood sugar. Sugar in excess can be toxic, causing neurons to die and possibly triggering cognitive decline. Dr. Gupta experienced this firsthand when he cut added sugar from his diet for a 60 Minutes story and saw his “cognitive day” (how long you can be productive) increase. He advises using the Global Council on Brain Health’s framework to prioritize what to eat.

C-LIST FOODS to limit

A-LIST FOODS

B-LIST FOODS to include

to consume regularly

Fresh vegetables, especially leafy greens Whole berries Fish and other seafood (but not fried!)

Healthy fats, such as extra-virgin olive oil, avocados, whole eggs Nuts and seeds

DRINK

INSTEAD OF EAT

Beans and other legumes Whole fruits in addition to berries Low-sugar, low-fat dairy, such as plain yogurt and cottage cheese Poultry Whole grains

Fried foods Pastries, sugary foods Processed foods Red-meat products, such as bacon, salami, hot dogs Red meat, such as beef, lamb, pork Whole-fat dairy high in saturated fat, such as cheese and butter Salt (use lemon juice, spices, or vinegar instead)

SHOULD YOU

GET TESTED

TRUST YOUR ENTOURAGE Dr. Gupta avoids most supplements.

Real food contains a multitude of components that help beneficial ingredients (such as omega-3 fatty acids) travel through your body or even help unlock receptors so those beneficial ingredients can do their jobs. Doctors call this the “entourage effect,” and it’s why real food, like fish, is better than supplements, like fish-oil capsules, for brain health.

“We often mistake thirst for hunger,” says Dr. Gupta. “Even moderate amounts of dehydration can sap your energy and your brain rhythm.” After all, your brain is primarily made of water, and just 2 percent dehydration has a measurable impact on memory, processing speed, and analytical thinking. Dr. Gupta carries a 60-ounce water bottle with him and aims to finish it each day.

DISCOVER

Getty Images (food items)

Make Time for Your FRIENDS “I saw social activities and things like that as very much an indulgence for most of my life,” Dr. Gupta says. Not anymore. Now he prioritizes them: His house is like Grand Central for his friends, his wife’s friends, plus his three daughters’ friends and their parents. “I spend time with people. I discover—which really engages all parts of the brain—and I kind of find my purpose in there as well by spending time with people, understanding their lives and letting them in on mine.” Research shows that individuals with large social networks are better protected against the cognitive declines related to Alzheimer’s than those with smaller networks.

FOR THE

ALZHEIMER’S GENES?

First off, although about a quarter of Alzheimer’s patients have a strong family history of the disease, 1 percent or less inherited a gene that causes early-onset Alzheimer’s. These patients can show signs of the illness as early as their 30s, and many choose to enter clinical trials to help doctors better understand it. As for the more common late-onset Alzheimer’s, the APOE4 gene can raise your risk two to 12 times. It’s present in about 25 percent of people. However, it’s not deterministic, and experts are divided on whether it’s worth getting tested for it, because your lifestyle and habits influence your brain health more than genetics, says Dr. Gupta. If you want to get tested, do so under the guidance of your physician and a genetic counselor.

TRY THE BUBBLE METHOD Dr. Gupta practices analytical meditation, a technique he learned from the Dalai Lama himself. (Both admit that meditation is hard.) With your eyes closed, think about a problem you are trying to solve and separate it from everything else by placing it in a large, clear bubble. This helps you isolate the problem from your emotions and solve it logically, he says.

MAINTAIN IKIGAI Ikigai is a Japanese word meaning “your reason for being”; it’s used a lot in Okinawa, where dementia rates are low. There’s power in forging a sense of purpose, says Dr. Gupta. “From my own trial and error, it’s too hard to just sit down one day and ask: What is my purpose?” In researching his new book, he typically found that actions preceded thought. “It was just an activity, something that you were interested in, and through that you find purpose, whether it’s volunteering, coaching, music, writing, art.”

He says he gains meaning from helping people, whether sharing medical information or treating patients, as well as from his family and friends.

THE

PRESCRIPTION

FOR

PER FECTION ISM

Some guys look like they’ve got it all under control, but underneath that veneer is a whole lot of distress. There’s a new kind of therapy to help them—and all of us—deal with anxiety.

BY NICK KEPPLER

A

B O UT 1 8 months ago, Brian

Astrachan, the classic portrait of success—high school va ledictorian, NCA A tennis champ, top salesman at his company, daily gymgoer, cocreator of an app as a side gig—started having dark, intrusive thoughts.

“I would be halfway through a meeting and my mind would be focused on death,” says Astrachan, now 26. He wasn’t suicidal; he just obsessed over the inevitability of his demise and the uncertainty of an afterlife. It was like some impulse pushed his brain into experiencing this incomprehensible set of worries. He began to sleep 54

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

poorly. “I would wake up at three or four in the morning,” he says, “sure that someone was trying to break in.” No one ever was.

He wasn’t sure what to make of such nebulous anxiety. He didn’t let it show, and he certainly didn’t talk about it with anyone.

“It’s like they teach you in tennis,” Astrachan says. “Don’t let them see you sweat, and use that to your advantage.” But after about three months, these feelings bothered him enough to allow one person past that barrier of confidence—his father, who encouraged him to speak to an aunt who is a therapist. During their conversation, she asked a particularly revealing question: “Do you have any close friends nearby?”

He had friends, but none he considered close enough to divulge these feelings to.

That cued his aunt to suggest he try a new kind of therapy called Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy, a mouthful that goes by the initials RO DBT and has been taking off in the past two years. It aims to help people like Astrachan, who seem to possess an abundance of excellence but have what therapists call an overcontrolled coping style, where too much focus on being perfect can lead to rigidity and painful isolation. “I was very rules oriented,” he says. “Those self-disciplining techniques and socially valued traits could also be very damaging coping mechanisms.”

ILLUSTRATION BY FABIO CANSOLI

Source for “Is RO DBT Right for You?”: The Skills Training Manual for Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Clinician’s Guide for Treating Disorders of Overcontrol, by Thomas Lynch

MIND

Thomas Lynch, Ph.D., the inventor of RO DBT, started noticing this overcontrolisolation connection as a researcher at Duke University in the ’90s. Working with severely depressed patients, he became aware that an overcontrolled subset “behaved very differently,” he recalls.

“They didn’t express as much emotion.”

Instead, they tended to focus on giving the “right” answers in therapy or voice bitterness over perceived failures.

Lynch had a theory that people with issues stemming from overcontrol could benefit from tools to help them signal their emotions and establish social connections. Prior to this, much of the research on emotional problems addressed people with a lack of emotional control. But Lynch thought to look at the other side of the coin—people who had an excess of it.

He tested his ideas in clinical trials and, in February 2018, released the official treatment book for his therapy. Events that certify therapists in this technique have sold out ever since.

We’re killing ourselves by killing ourselves to get ahead at work, in our personal lives—everywhere. Maybe that’s driving the popularity of this therapy. Optimization culture teaches that every spare minute should be spent doing burpees or practicing a language on Duolingo. “Our society values always succeeding,” says Kirsten Gilbert, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Washington University School of Medicine. “We say, ‘Work as hard as you can. Achieve a high social status.’ ” For overcontrolled people, this leads to misery over small mistakes, a deep need for control, and agony over failure to meet high expectations. They create rules and stress about breaking them. (Astrachan says he felt anguish if he didn’t fulfill his six-daysa-week gym quota.) These impulses can manifest as obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, or despair over an inability to live up to one’s self-image.

Most of all, Lynch says, overcontrolled people feel lonely. They have many admirable traits: They can be ambitious, efficient, and even funny (like they’ve prepared jokes). “These are the planners and the fi xers,” he says. “They are the guests that help you clean up after the party.

They are often seen working late, making sacrifices for the good of the tribe, but they suffer.” They fear emotional chaos or

a downgrade in the appearance they proj- out planning. The idea is to put clients at ease with the loss of composure that comes ect if they reveal vulnerability.

For many, this is a long-established and with unplanned social interaction. As with even hereditary behavior pattern. Overcon- any specialized therapy, you may have to trolled adults “tend to [have been] shy, anx- look harder or travel farther for it.

RO DBT is especially popular among ious kids,” says Gilbert. These children don’t like novelty and may do the same activities eating-disorder specialists, says Lynch. with the same kids. “When plans change, For many people with such conditions— the kid could have an emotional meltdown. about a third of them male—food rituals They may be a perfectionist or need to have and target weights are manifestations of their hair parted in a certain way.” But a larger need for control and a desire for society encourages them. Overcontrolled masking what they believe are deep imperchildren do well in school and create few fections. And a lot struggle with emotional problems (as long as routines are followed). intimacy, says Julianna Gorder, Psy.D., “From the outside world, you would never of the University of California San Diego Eating Disorders Center. know how much suffering The month before he is happening,” she says. started therapy, Astrachan Throughout childhood had lunch with a “close” and adolescence, “underfriend but couldn’t open up. controlled” children— After he began treatment, those who cause trouble he “outed himself” by tellor don’t pay attention in ing his brother about one of cl a s s—a r e f re q uent ly PEOPLE WITH an his experiences. “It was the tagged for intervention, abundance of self-control person I am supposed to be says Gilbert. Parents and who also experience closest to, and he had no teachers don’t worry about emotional isolation tend to idea what was happening,” the boy who stresses over be good candidates. says Astrachan. He later one B+ or the girl who won’t But what exactly does that told his friend the same tolerate missing her piano look like in real life? thing. “My deepest feelings practice for fear she won’t You believe it is really were kept to me, and that’s get into Juilliard. Their important to do things pretty hard,” he reflects. neurotic tendencies are the right way.

“Going from that to shardownright encouraged.

You are extremely ing with people—it sounds And some are finding their cautious and careful and simple, but it’s a shift.” It way to RO DBT now. plan ahead before acting. let some pressure out of the Done in a combination You prefer order and echo chamber where his of group classes and indistructure. dark thoughts resided. The vidual sessions, RO DBT You find it easy to thoughts of death “have teaches the skills that delay gratification and gone from a 10 to a 2.” commonly elude overconinhibit impulses.

Astrachan now has a trolled people. It comes You are quiet, restrained, girlfriend—a very “uninwith its own clinical vocaband very reserved t ende d” r el a t ion s h ip ulary; patients learn to “out by nature. sparked with a coworker. themselves,” revealing You are very hard He credits the different way more personal thoughts to impress. he’s been carrying himself: than they are comfortable It takes a long time to more open body language sharing, and to “make an get to know you. and an easier rappor t ask,” considering another You wait to reveal with people. In past relaperson’s perspective and thoughts and opinions tionships, he swallowed then conveying their own. until you get to know his feelings, as opposed to (Astrachan says he often someone very well. working through conflict. uses the second for work “I don’t think I would have meetings.) They also pracIf you identified with six or more of these statements been ready for a real relatice dropping “guarded” and are dealing with anxiety tionship before RO DBT,” facial expressions. Some and loneliness, it may be worth he says. “I always had my classes include exercises considering this therapy. guard up.” such as participation with-

IS

RO DBT

RIGHT FOR YOU?

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MH

GROOMING 20

20

AWARDS

GROOMING This year’s best and most healthand eco-friendly new products to help you get cleaner and feel fresher than ever.

2020

Clockwise from top left: Bathing Culture Mind and Body Wash; Kelsen Signature Pomade; Ursa Major Sublime Sage Spray Deodorant; Odacité 552M Soap Free Shampoo Bar; Aesop In Two Minds Facial Hydrator.

ORGANIC, NATUR AL , AND NONTOXIC used to be a niche section of the grooming-products aisle, a hippie outpost for patchouli deodorants and peppermint-oil soaps.

Slowly, though, organic, natural, and nontoxic took over the women’s aisle, and now those kinds of products are arriving in full force in the men’s section. And why wouldn’t they? They’re better for your body than whatever’s in your bathroom, and (bonus points!) they’re usually good for the

environment, too. None of this would matter, though, if they didn’t work, so for this year’s Grooming Awards, our 20 fearless testers put thousands of these products to the test. From new “clean” brands to old-school classics, we found the best grooming stuff that also happens to be the best for you and maybe the environment. Look for the Green Leaf icon next to the most eco-friendly products, and use our recs to make looking good and staying clean a breeze.

BY GARRETT MUNCE AND THE EDITORS OF MH

PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE VOORHES

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June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

S H AV E BEST SHAVE CREAM The soothing aloe found in The Body Shop Maca Root & Aloe Softening Shave Cream for Men ($16) is grown organically in Mexico and helps this rich cream deliver a smooth shave without irritation. It left our skin feeling soft and conditioned without a bump in sight.

BEST RAZOR The special blades on the Gillette SkinGuard Razor ($10) are designed with sensitive skin in mind. Guards within the blades minimize pull, but we found that doesn’t sacrifice closeness.

The swiveling head navigates well around your jaw and neck so you never miss a spot.

HEAD & SHOULDERS SCALP FRIENDLY STYLING PRODUCTS, $10 EACH These new gels, pomades, and creams contain pyrithione zinc, an ingredient found in anti-dandruff shampoos, to help minimize irritation even if you style your hair with product every day.

BATHING CULTURE MIND AND BODY WASH, $30 This organic, biodegradable, multipurpose wash is gentle enough for your face and hair but strong enough to keep postworkout odors at bay. Best of all, it comes in a reusable and refillable glass bottle.

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THE ART OF SHAVING SANDALWOOD STUBBLE BALM, $30 Everyone knows the worst part of growing a beard is that first, itchy month. This lightweight moisturizer softens short facial hair, making the process feel more comfortable.

HIKI ANTI-CHAFE STICK, $14 A swipe of this stick anywhere on your body protects chafe-prone skin with its all-natural ingredients like coconut oil and aloe. It’s much easier to apply than powder and lasts well after your workout is over with.

DERMAPORE PORE EX-

sonic waves

OLD SPICE THICKENING SYSTEM, $10 EACH

way to extract than squeezing them out

Our testers found that the biotin-rich shampoo and the thickening spray, which contains natural hair-plumping castor oil, made their hair look and even feel thicker.

BEST BEARD BALM Silicone-free Beardbrand Four Vices Styling Balm ($37) helps tame flyaway hairs and hold your beard’s shape all day but still rinses out easily, without product buildup all over your chin. The earthy scent smells like a fancy cologne but won’t overpower the actual cologne you’re wearing.

BEST BEARD TRIMMER The powerful Philips Norelco Multigroom 9000 ($90) outshone the competition because of its quick trim time, long-lasting charge, and sturdy size. It was also the most versatile, thanks to its attachments of multiple lengths.

BEST BEARD CONDITIONER Moisturizing facial hair is one thing; moisturizing the skin underneath is another (and equally important) thing.

American Crew 2 in 1 Skin Moisturizer and Beard Conditioner ($18) does both well without making hair or skin feel greasy or heavy.

Products tagged with a Green Leaf incorporate sustainable and ecofriendly practices in their making.

GROOMING 20

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AWARDS

$90

cinnamon and orange flower but then gradually wears down to something earthier—sandalwood and tonka

FREDERIC MALLE VETIVER EXTRAORDINAIRE, $230 Nothing gives a fresh kick like the aromatic grass vetiver; it’s the power note of this casual but luxurious scent. Doses of sandalwood and cedar evoke a bright, young vibe.

ARMANI ACQUA DI GIÒ PROFONDO, Think of this as a more grown-up version of the classic Armani.

Botanicals like rosemary and lavender combine with woods like patchouli to create a striking, mature scent.

CALVIN KLEIN ETERNITY EAU DE PARFUM, $72 The list of ingredients reads like an inventory for a garden (apple, sage, geranium) and makes you smell like one—in a good way.

ADIDAS SPORT STRK, $20 You’d think ingredients like green apple and lavender oil might make this spray overly sweet.

In reality, it has a subtle, clean smell that’s perfect for a postworkout body spray.

MOSCHINO TOY BOY, $96 At first spray, this cologne is fresh and floral, but it evolves into something darker and spicier. It’s like starting your night at a romantic dinner and ending it on the dance floor.

BOTTEGA VENETA ILLUSIONE, $88 If the smell of a hike could be bottled, it’d be like this woody cologne, a citrusy mix of lemon, fir, and vetiver.

BEST BAR SOAP Sulfate-, preservative-, and chemical-free, Tom’s of Maine Prebiotic Bar Soap ($6) is formulated to cleanse skin effectively without stripping your natural microbiome of any good bacteria.

BEST SUNSCREEN Avoid that chalky white cast on your skin with Sun Bum SPF 30 Whipped Mineral Sunscreen Lotion ($18), which has zinc, an eco-friendly alternative to other harsh chemicals.

BEST BODY WASH Creamy, gentle Beast Everyone Wash ($29, without bottle) contains aloe and shea butter to leave your skin soft and clean. Buy the aluminum reusable Beast Bottle so you can lather up without the waste.

BEST BODY LOTION Packed with natural ingredients, Seaweed Bath Co. Uplift Energizing Body Cream ($15) harnesses the power of vitamin C and nutrient-rich seaweed to hydrate and protect skin.

GROOMING FOR GOOD At one point in time, the idea of metal straws and linen tote bags being everywhere might’ve seemed like a tree hugger’s fantasy, or like living on San Francisco’s Haight Street on any given day. Now we’re turning to these eco-friendly alternatives out of necessity, as states like New York and California wage the war against plastic waste. Plastic packaging, like shampoo bottles and deodorant containers, makes up about 40 percent of all plastic usage, which is a lot. One way you can help is to put your empty bottles in the recycling bin instead of the trash. (Pro tip: Rinse them out fi rst to make it more likely they’ll actually get recycled.)

Another way is to look for products that come in glass, paper, or aluminum packaging, which is recycled more often than plastic. Bonus points if you go for refi llable options.

BEST ANTIPERSPIRANT The 72-hour odor and sweat defense provided by Degree Men Advanced Protection Power Antiperspirant Deodorant Spray ($6) proves unbeatable against long sessions at the gym.

BEST ALUMINUM-FREE DEODORANT Formulated without potentially irritating aluminum, Ursa Major Sublime Sage Spray Deodorant ($18) lasts well throughout the day (and night).

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BEST TEXTURIZER A godsend for fine or thinning hair, Bumble and Bumble Thickening Dryspun Texture Spray ($31) produces insane volume without any of the weight of some other products. A quick spray of this stuff instantly gives shorter hair height and fullness.

LABEL DECODER! What does it actually mean for a product to say it’s nontoxic or 100 percent compostable? And what the hell are all these sulfate things that people want to be free of? Use this decoder to help find out what’s really in your shampoo, soap, and body wash.

ORGANIC, NONTOXIC, CLEAN

($29) the ability to control your hair and hold it in whatever shape you want without weighing it down or turning it greasy. Plus, both the pomade formula and the packaging are microplastic-free.

BEST STYLING CREAM A dime-sized amount of Fellow Styling Cream ($25) provides shape and texture to all lengths of hair without making it look shellacked or stiff. Natural oils and vitamins smooth and protect hair, and the 100 percent natural fragrance won’t overpower your cologne.

One way to avoid the plastic-packaging problem is to get rid of it completely. Our testers loved the Odacité 552M Soap Free Shampoo Bar ($29) because it cleansed just as well as traditional shampoo and left their hair feeling soft, without the need for waste.

SELF-CARE S TA N D O U T S

BEST 2-IN-1

While USDA organic means something—certified foods must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients—cosmetic brands can use the term without any kind of certification. Clean is equally nebulous. Nontoxic generally means a product is free from ingredients that are known to be harmful to people or the environment. These terms may indicate a commitment to using safe ingredients and a marketing spin to appeal to woke consumers.

SULFATE-FREE Sulfates are cleansing agents that create lather in liquids like shampoos. If you have a sensitive scalp, you might avoid them, as sulfates may cause dryness or irritation. (At one point in time, there were rumors that sulfates could even cause cancer, but those have been debunked by researchers.)

PCR (POSTCONSUMER RECYCLED) PLASTIC

and tea-tree oil lends a fresh feeling,

Some grooming products are as much about how they make you feel as how they make you look. In the interest of self-care, these winners took our grooming routines from utilitarian to swanky.

This means the container is made from that rare kind of plastic that was actually used, recycled, and turned into the container that you see in front of you. A percentage on a label means a portion of the product was made from this material.

BIODEGRADABLE To use the term biodegradable, items must break down naturally within a year. Still, certain biodegradable ingredients may decompose into harmful contaminants that seep into their surrounding environments.

COMPOSTABLE

PORT PRODUCTS MARINE LAYER INTENSE RECOVERY TREATMENT MASKS, $44 FOR A FOUR-PACK

The gel of this sheet mask fixes hangover skin quickly, and its hydrating seaweed will leave your face looking fresher than ever.

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NATUREOFTHINGS FORTIFYING MAGNESIUM SOAK, $36 Throwing these magnesium-rich salts into a postworkout bath relieved our muscles, and the addition of CBD, which seemed to relax some of our testers, is a total game-changer.

DERMALOGICA PHYTO REPLENISH BODY OIL, $53 For those times when lotion feels a little too heavy, this ultra-moisturizing body oil uses avocado and sunflower-seed oils to hydrate dry skin without making it feel greasy.

As is the case with biodegradable products, compostable items break down naturally. The catch is that they often require industrial composting systems to degrade— meaning they’re not the kind you can throw on your backyard compost pile and expect similar results from, though it doesn’t always say as much on the label.

GROOMING 20

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AWARDS

BEST ACNE PRODUCT Typical acne remedies target one of three causes (bacteria, excess oil production, or inflammation). The Perricone MD Prebiotic Acne Therapy Kit ($89 for a 90-day supply) attacks all three to help get rid of acne quickly and keep it away. One of our testers said their acne-prone skin had “completely changed” within a month.

BEST CLEANSER There are no alcohols or fragrances that could overdry your skin in HoliFrog Superior Omega Nutritive Gel Wash ($36), but we like it because of the cooling gel formula that still gave us the deep clean we want

BEST FACE SCRUB The exfoliant in Goodfellow & Co. No. 03 Moroccan Mint & Cedar Face Scrub ($6) is made from ground walnut shells small enough that they don’t feel like they’re scraping your skin.

There aren’t any sulfates or dyes, but there is a nice, woody scent.

BEST FACE SUNSCREEN Unlike your standard sunscreen, Bare Republic Mineral SPF 30 Face Sunscreen Gel-Lotion ($17) comes out of the tube clear and smooths over your face effortlessly without any greasy residue. It’s also free of chemicals that damage coral reefs.

BEST MOISTURIZER Choosing a moisturizer can feel like a Goldilocks decision—too heavy, too light, or too greasy. With ingredients like witch hazel and sandalwood, Aesop In Two Minds Facial Hydrator ($60) is

mal skin alike

TEETH BEST TOOTHBRUSH The sturdy handle and ergonomic design of the Oral-B Clic Toothbrush ($15) make brushing a breeze, but we especially love the replaceable head. It means wasting less plastic by not throwing out a toothbrush every few months.

on your face.

BEST TOOTHPASTE The smooth-textured Arm & Hammer Advance White Extreme Whitening Toothpaste ($9 for a two-pack) uses peroxide to remove stains without compromising the all-important enamel on your teeth.

BEST MOUTHWASH Hello Hemp Seed Oil + Coconut Oil Extra Moisturizing Mouthwash ($7) left our mouths feeling clean and fresh without any added dyes or flavors. It’s also alcohol-free, so it didn’t cause that dry leftover feeling in our mouths.

BEST FLOSS Terra & Co. Brilliant Black Dental Floss ($10) is made from bamboo fibers and coconut oil and does a way better job of cleaning grime between your teeth than your plastic floss.

BEST WHITENING TREATMENT The combination of LED light and enamel-safe hydrogen peroxide whitening gel in the Colgate Optic White Advanced LED Whitening Kit ($145) gave us noticeably whiter teeth (we’re talking a few shades) in just ten days.

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KEITH MALLEY, R.N., 46

Intensive-care-unit nurse

“YESTERDAY and the day before

and the day before and the day before—they all kind of just melt into one at this point. This is my 28th day in a row. It’s just each day you come in and it’s a new crisis.

We try to deal with them as quickly and as professionally as we can.

COVID-19 is not like anything we’ve ever seen. It’s very slow. These patients, they stay sick for so much longer than what we’re used to. So each day the hope is that there’s gonna be an improvement. This disease is attacking everyone’s lungs in such a bad way. And it’s so furious. And it’s relentless. And then when we actually do get somebody off a ventilator, it’s what keeps us going.”

TWO DAYS IN A

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At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic this spring, in the middle of the hardest-hit hot zone in America, 12 front-line medical professionals from the NewYork-Presbyterian hospital network took a deep breath, stopped moving for a few minutes, and allowed our photographer to document what healing, heroism, and hope look like.

PHOTOGR A PHS A ND INTERV IEWS BY

BENEDIC T E VA N S

HOT ZONE

WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU WERE IN A HOSPITAL? AS THE PATIENT. Maybe it’s been a while. Maybe not since your child was born. Maybe not since you were born.

Here’s how it goes, usually: You’re in the bed. Seven A.M. is shift change, at which time you hear some vague activity in the hall. The night nurse comes in—she’s going home, so she makes sure everything is all set for the day nurse. (You think you know what nurses do, but until you spend a day in a hospital, you have no idea. Nurses run health care.)

A guy shuffles in to take the trash. He’s being a little loud, you think, bumping the can. He whips the new bag in the air, and the noise is like a firecracker.

Does he not know I’m sleeping?

You didn’t sleep much, what with the soft beeping of the machines, the whirring of the IV, the blue glow of the screen logging your pulse, blood-oxygen level, and every other damn vital sign. The patient in the next bed, murmuring into his phone.

A woman comes in to wipe everything down. The bracing smell of the disinfectant cools your nostrils. There’s something comforting about it—everything is clean now. You lift your head a little and say thank you as she leaves, and she smiles and backs out the door.

Soon the doctor will burst in, a phalanx of residents and fellows trailing her.

You’ll rub your eyes.

Is breakfast here? I ordered it last night, on the little sheet, like they said.

A few of them will be wheeling in computers on pedestals, reading off your history and the last time you had a bowel movement. The doctor will speak loudly, and you’ll wonder why so loud. So many people, you’ll think.

When you’re in the hospital, all you think about is leaving. You’re sick or you’re hurt, and you’re not thinking about who these people are—the guy taking out the trash, the woman wiping down your bed rails, the surgeon, the nurse. They aren’t 64

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people with families and back pain and a bag lunch in the fridge down the hall.

And that’s okay. Nobody works in a hospital for the glory. Their calling in life, if you really think about it, is to get you out of the hospital.

But now? Amid a pandemic? This is when the nurse, the trash guy, the bed-rail lady—this is when we are reminded that in this work, they are heroes. They have always been heroes, just as firefighters were heroes long before 9/11.

We just didn’t know it.

What’s a hero? Someone who puts himself or herself in harm’s way to help another person. That’s it. Here is what harm’s way means right now: Days after these photographs were taken, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that between 10 percent and 20 percent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States were likely health-care workers, and 27 had died.

The other thing about heroes? They don’t ask to be congratulated. Basketball players are wonderful, but they are not heroes.

So here’s what we did: On April 9 and 10, when the COVID-19 crisis was at its height in New York City—when New York City was once again ground zero of a vicious attack—we sent a courageous, quarantined photographer, Benedict Evans, and

his assistant, Marion Grand, to two of the biggest, most central, and (arguably) best hospitals in Manhattan: Weill Cornell Medical Center, on East 68th Street, and NewYork-Presbyterian, on West 168th Street. Evans stationed himself wherever it was safe to set up his simple apparatus: in an ambulance bay, in a courtyard, on some untrodden steps. We partnered with the hospitals to make sure that our work would not impede the administering of care in any way.

In those two days, he photographed 12 of the most remarkable people you will ever lay eyes on.

Oh, they’re not heroes—that’s what they’ll tell you. Just doing their jobs. Well, we’re just doing our jobs, too, and we’re freaking magazine editors. No one is dying in our hallway, no grandmother is wheezing in our arms, no father is begging us to let him touch the glass partition that separates him from his daughter, one last time, before the end he knows is coming.

We are proud to publish these photographs, and the stories behind them.

With any luck, you won’t be in a hospital anytime soon. But if you are, try not to get too pissed off at the guy taking out the trash. Or the nurse who let the door close a little too loudly.

They’re just doing their jobs.

—RYAN D’AGOSTINO

JOSEPH GALIZIA, 30

Critical-care paramedic

EARLY WARNING “We had a patient who was younger than what we were expecting. Patient was in their 30s, and they were very sick. It was a big wake-up call. That was March 16.”

HIGH POINT “What I’m seeing—because I see things from street level, all the way up to the ICUs—is everyone’s working together to beat this. Every time I come into work, that’s a high point, because we’re all showing up still.”

TOUGHEST TIME “Trying not to really think about the low point, because if you focus too much on that, there’s too much low point. I guess the low point would be: It’s still here tomorrow, knowing that tomorrow is going to be another day of this.”

MY INSPIRATION “My colleagues in the health system, in the hospitals. The people that are still going to their jobs day-to-day. And not just the health-care workers [but] the people that are delivering food, sanitation, the police, everyone that’s still trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy—that’s what’s really inspiring. Because we are in this together, and everyone contributing their part is really making a difference.”

STAYING STRONG “I’m trying to make things feel as normal as I can while I’m at home: eating, working, studying as much as I would normally do. The best thing we can do is try to maintain a sense of normalcy as much as we can so we can stave off any anxiety. Because things are different now, but they don’t have to be that different while we’re at home.”

LESSONS LEARNED “I really hope that people have a much bigger understanding of how we’re all connected—at a smaller level, like neighbors in a community, and also on a global level. The one thing we’ve seen is how this spread rapidly from one singular area in a foreign country to the entire world in the span of weeks. How we interact with each other day-today can and will impact people around us.”

GREGG ROSNER, M.D., 40

weeks, I’ve been at the hospital.

I feel terrible for my wife. I have “WHEN YOU SEE a patient three children isolated at home, who’s sick, and when you go to including a four-year-old, and the chart and see the patient’s they take the brunt of this. And COVID test is positive, you say, so a lot of the stuff falls to her.

‘Wow, this is real.’

I’ve gotten into reading. I’ve Working in the cardiac read a couple of books that are intensive-care unit for the past about resiliency. Unbroken, seven years, I’ve been around which is the story of Louis sick and dying patients. In the Zamperini. I read The Boys in first week of the COVID-19 out- the Boat. Humans are capable break, the number of patients, of incredible things. And I just the ages, male, female, wealthy, think trying to stay positive poor, any religion, any job— is the only way, the only option, there was no one that was being to get through this. spared. And it’s something I What I’ve learned? I think had never seen in my career. we’re always worried about I think after that first week, materialistic stuff. I had never I became numb. And in order to eaten dinner with my family do this job, you have to be able, in the past. I have a ten-yearin some ways, to separate out old—I don’t think in ten years the suffering of the patients, that we were sitting down and the families, to do your job. I eating dinner together. And tend to be mission oriented. And so, just as a society, we need to slow down and reorient our valthe mission is: Come in, take ues—what’s really important, care of patients, do everything what’s not important. And you can to make them better. community is important.”

Essentially for the past four

Special thanks to Marion Grand

Cardiologist and intensivist

AYA ISLAMOVA, R.N., 35

Critical-care nurse

“We knew that it was coming, but we were not prepared.

I was at work, and we had an emergency meeting with our manager. We stopped what we were doing, and it was announced that our unit was COVID-positive. It was very frightening. It was a feeling that I want to leave this place and I want to go home to my loved ones.

But obviously you can’t because you have patients to take care of; you have five, six patients at a time.”

WALLACE CARTER, M.D., 64

Emergency-medicine physician

“I SIGNED UP FOR THIS. This is what I love

to do. This is what I’m good at. I was one of the earliest paramedics in New York City, in 1977, and I’ve been through just about every disaster in New York City: both of the New York City World Trade Center events, plane crashes, the HIV/AIDS epidemic back in the ’80s. What gets me, what inspires me, is to come to work every day and realize that we can make a difference and that my being here is important to the institution, to the patients, to our colleagues, and I’m making a difference. I do the best I can to take care of myself and make sure that I’m protected, but they know this is my job. No different from cops or firefighters or, you know, fighter pilots. This is what we’ve signed on to do. And this is what we love to do. So we’re gonna keep doing it, and it’s a privilege to be able to be here.”

TRUDI CLOYD, M.D., 35

Emergency-medicine physician “I ACTUALLY TESTED positive, and I had

12 days at home quite sick. About three days after I was isolated, my daughter started walking. And I mean, we must have been waiting for, like, three months every day for her to start walking. It was like, ‘When is she gonna let go of that last finger?’ And then that day, she stood up and walked out of the room like she always could have. And my wife called me, and it just broke my heart. I had been so looking forward to that moment.

Honestly, when I go into work these days, I feel like I’m going into battle. I try to make sure to be hydrated, to be rested, to be fed, ready to go, just because once you go in there, you don’t really know when you’re going to get a chance to do any of those things.

Being somebody that’s recovered from this illness myself, I’ve enjoyed having the chance to talk to the patients about their symptoms, because I can identify with what they’re experiencing. It was very scary for me as well. You cannot breathe. You are very light-headed.

I’ve been through those symptoms and I’m on the other side, and it will get better.

There have been many very low moments.

I’m never gonna forget the day that I went back. I was at our smaller community site.

I walked around and every single person in every room was on a vent or on a nonrebreather, and it was so eerie. It was like I was in some alternate universe, out of some movie or something. It was like: What happened? In 12 days, the world had turned upside down.

Wearing so much protective equipment and basically the major risk being the doffing— taking off the gear—it has put a whole other level of risk on drinking from a water bottle or eating a snack. You might be fully gowned up, masked up, two masks, a shield, a head cover.

I wear it for six or seven hours before I take a break for five minutes and take everything off.

By that point, your face hurts. Your forehead hurts. Your ears hurt. It’s a big change.

I’m doing more yoga. I try to do that every day now. A lot of us are starting to explore either mindfulness or meditation, because we have to take care of ourselves psychologically.

A lot of us have difficulty sleeping. A lot of us have nightmares. We cry all the time. Just happens. You never know when it’s coming.

I think humans really can’t deal with threats they can’t see. And it’s been very frustrating on, you know, international, national, institutional levels. It’s just hard to prepare adequately for these things when you can’t see your enemy.”

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ALEXANDER FORTENKO, M.D., 33

Emergency-medicine physician

NEW NORMAL “I have an eerie feeling every time I go to work. I used to really, really love my job, and I still love my job, but I now sense something that I never really sensed before, which is, you know, a sense of worry and fear when I go to work.”

HIGH POINT “The camaraderie in the ICU is the good moment. So we take care of a critically ill patient, we do a good job. It’s a dance, and the more we do it, the more choreographed and synchronized it is. We all thrive in that teamwork; in that moment of camaraderie, we all support each other. We have each other’s backs.”

TOUGHEST TIME “The lowest point is having to walk these patients through saying goodbye to their family, whether that’s on the phone or through FaceTime. We don’t know what happens once we put a patient on a ventilator. Some people don’t make it, and so one of the most challenging parts of this whole disease is that we have to witness people saying goodbye to their families potentially. It’s really hard.”

STAYING STRONG “A coworker started a text-message thread with daily workouts you could do at home. So we’ve been keeping each other honest, making sure that we’re still maintaining our physical fitness. My physical fitness manifests also in my mental well-being.”

FUTURE HOPE ”COVID-19 is a reminder that we’re all the same, that we’re all united by our humanity and our ability to live in this world.”

ANDREW AMARANTO, M.D., 42

Emergency-medicine physician

“I probably check in with my family more frequently than I used to, just a phone call or a text. That’s grounding for me. Because of my exposure, my sixyear-old is staying with my in-laws. He’ll come out of the house and we maintain distance. He brings the dog and we go on these long walks. Sometimes we’re going at night because when I come home, it’s late.

My son invented shadow hugs, where we stand just so that the streetlights hit us and our shadows. When the streetlights hit us just right, we get our shadows to hug and give high-fives, and those are the best five minutes of my day.”

CARA AGERSTRAND, M.D., 40

Pulmonologist

NEW NORMAL “Because I ride a bike, I look down these empty streets of New York that are normally bustling with people and cars, and they’re deserted.

Yesterday I was riding in listening to ‘Mad World,’ thinking, How have we found ourselves in this situation? And thinking, The streets are so empty, but the hospital is so full of so many sick people.”

HIGH POINT “My specialty within the field of intensive-care medicine is something called ECMO, which is an artificial heart or artificial lung that’s used for very severe patients, on patients who are extremely sick. And yesterday we were, you know, able to use this technology to hopefully save three patients. Despite the number of patients, despite how sick so many people are, we could still use a very specialized device that’s very resource intensive to take care of those who had no other options and otherwise would have likely died.”

FACING FEAR “I feel personally afraid for my own health, for—albeit it’s small— the risk that is out there. Seeing friends get sick, and seeing colleagues critically ill, I think definitely makes this entire crisis take on a whole different meaning.”

CALIBRATING RISK “I’ve never felt personally at risk in the hospital. What makes me the most nervous is when I’m biking to work or out for a run in the park and I notice somebody cough or sneeze ahead of me, and I think, How many feet are they away from me? How fast can that sneeze travel? The risk out in the community is definitely what makes me the most nervous. For my own peace of mind, wearing a mask and knowing there is at least some level of protection—that just makes me feel better, whether or not it’s effective.”

LESSONS LEARNED “I hope the message that the world takes away from this and that our country takes away from this is that we are all connected in a way that cannot be denied. And while in medicine we always look out for that one patient in front of us, as a society we have to look out for each other.”

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CARLOS POLANIA, 29

Respiratory therapist

“THIS COVID VIRUS is affecting a lot of differ-

ent people, even people with no known medical histories or, you know, present comorbidities.

But people who do have medical histories such as hypertension, diabetes, smokers—they’re really being affected by it, like, severely, some even to the point of death. So I just hope that after all this is over, people learn to take better care of themselves.

Whenever we have a patient who succumbs to the disease and perishes, it doesn’t matter how old or young they were; it’s always sad. And you always wish that you could have done more, but 70

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

at some point, you know, you can’t—there’s only so much you can do.

The high point in the last couple of days would be that I was able to extubate a couple of patients who were on the mechanical ventilators. Yeah. Extubation basically is the opposite of intubation, so to be able to extubate somebody is to remove them off the ventilator, take out the breathing tube, and have them be well enough to breathe on their own.

I would say that I’m feeling a little hopeful.

You know, it took a while ever since all this started for us to see some progress and see patients become healthy enough to breathe on their own again. Now we’re seeing several of them every day. So it’s very rewarding.”

JAMES ZABALA, R.N., 37

Staff nurse

MY INSPIRATION “My mom. She was a nurse. She’s been through a lot raising the three of us—my sister, my brother, and me. Also, I’ve been in the U. S. Marine Corps, so I’ve been through wars. I’ve been deployed to Iraq. I got through that; I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get through this. Kind of looks like, ‘Hey, I’ve been through worse, and we can get through this. We’re New Yorkers, you know?’ ” REBOOTING MENTALLY “I really like music, so I’ll turn on my favorite track for the day. I focus on a specific, a treble or a bass, or rhythm, like boom, boom, boom. I tune everything out. For a minute or two, I’m out of my situation or whatever call bell’s ringing. It puts me into myself a little bit and does my mind a lot of good.”

STAYING STRONG “I work out as much as I can. The gyms are closed. I like to run for the most part. But I have a five-year-old and a three-year-old. So as soon as I’m home, it’s Daddy mode.

They take my mind off whatever terrible things are happening.

They’re, like, so elated to see me as, like, ‘Oh, Daddy!’ I’m not a nurse anymore. I’m Dad.”

EUGENIO MESA, 28

Environmental-services worker

“My supervisor called me to the side and asked me if I had a problem going into these rooms with COVID patients. I said, ‘No, I have no problem. As long as I have the proper PPEs and the equipment, I wouldn’t mind going in.’ If that was me in that bed, I would like people to come inside and, you know, clean for me, make sure that everything is clean.

Because that’s what we’re here to do: Make sure everything is clean and organized and there’s no garbage, so the doctors and the nurses can do their jobs. Make it easier for them. Of course, I’m tired and stressed, but I feel good about it, because I’m helping out. I’m contributing to this cause. I feel like the word that describes me is brave.

Not just me, but also my coworkers.

The few of us that are going inside these rooms—we’re brave.”

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BY E

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH YOUR AVERAGE WORKOUT: It’s, well, a workout. After a while, that’s just not any fun. The right moment to get away from that routine is now. Outdoor season is here, so ditch the free weights to master your bodyweight.

You’ll still be on your way to your cut/ripped/ jacked/swole goals, but you’ll “deload” your body, giving yourself a break from all the heavy lifting that pushes your muscles and joints to the limit.

You’ll keep sculpting your core, though, while improving strength and fine-tuning the way you move. Freed from holding dumbbells, you can explore new body positions.

Start with these tests, each designed to liberate you from gym boredom. Pick a different challenge every day of the week. After four weeks, expect to slay them all—and have a blast doing it.

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ELEVATE YOUR

PUSHUP GAME

Few moves are as versatile (or as accessible) as the hands-elevated pushup, which can be done on anything from beach pillars to your kitchen counter. It’s actually easier than a standard pushup, but that’s far from a problem. An easier pushup means you get to make it harder by focusing on and perfecting the little things.

That’ll make your regular pushups stronger, and it’ll fire up your triceps more than you’d think.

Do 4 sets of 15 reps, and concentrate on the three ideas at right to dominate the standard version and become a pushup beast.

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by EA7 Emporio Armani.

PERFECT PLANK

“A pushup is a plank,” says Marvel’s go-to trainer, Don Saladino, NASM. “Make sure you’re squeezing your glutes and abs.” Often, as people lower, they drop their hips or sag through their abs. Fight that here, forming a straight line from feet through shoulders.

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WORKOUT?

OWN THE BOTTOM

Let your chest come within an inch of the ground, but don’t rush up. “Too many people don’t appreciate that bottom position,” says Saladino. “Let your body face that tension.” This position challenges your entire body if you focus on full-body tension.

HANDS SCREW IN

As you press up, screw your hands in. Twist your palms toward each other, rotating them outward. This will engage your lats, which will make you stronger.

You’ll contract your chest that much harder as you press up.

Start with 15 reps of decline pushups. Rest 14 seconds, then do 14 reps. Rest another 13 seconds and do 13 reps.

Keep laddering down until you’ve done just 1 rep with a 1-second rest. You’ll wind up doing 120 pushups. And yes, you’ll feel the burn.

JUMP, JUMP,

JUMP AROUND!

Deadlifts and kettlebell swings are classic glute and hamstring destroyers, but neither tests your explosive athleticism quite like the broad jump. You’re attacking the same muscles during a broad jump while challenging yourself in a different way. Here you get to unleash your strength and power and channel it athletically.

Styling: Ted Stafford. Grooming: Jen Navaro/Creative Management. Production: HG Producers.

To do a broad jump, stand with your feet shoulder width apart, knees bent, butt pushed back. Throw your hands back, then throw them up and forward as you leap ahead as far as you can. Do 3 sets of 3 leaps.

HOW DO YOU STACK UP? Measure your best broad jump and see where you rank, calculating the distance from your starting line to where your heels land (and you must stick the landing!). Aim to improve before the month’s done.

ELITE More than 8 feet

SOLID Less than 6 feet

FEET

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

SPECTACULAR 6 to 8 feet

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WORKOUT?

Broad jumps are the ideal explosive piece in a total-body circuit. Try this one: Warm up, then do 3 broad jumps, a 30-second plank, and 10 pushups. Rest 30 seconds.

Repeat for 4 rounds.

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TAKE IT

ON THE CHIN There are pullups and chinups, and then there’s the hollow-body chinup. And to hear Equinox trainer David Otey, C.S.C.S., tell it, this may be the true gold-standard bodyweight back move. Pullups attack your lats, sure, but the chinup challenges both lats and biceps, growing both groups. “I’m a chinup guy,” says Otey. “Use more muscle!”

The hollow-body position pushes it further.

To do it, squeeze your straight legs together and tighten your abs and glutes, building core strength. Aim to do 3 sets of 6 to 8.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!

Mix up your chinup practice with these variations.

BEGINNER: CHINUP HOLD Pull your chin above the bar, maintaining a tight hollow-body position. Pause and hold for 10 seconds (or as long as you can). Do 3 reps.

ADVANCED: HALFWAY-PAUSE CHINUP Pull your chin above the bar, then lower. Pause when your upper arms are parallel to the ground, then lower all the way. Do 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps.

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WORKOUT?

Do 4 to 6 chinups, then release the bar and do a 10-second hollow hold. Do 5 sets. You’ll master your chinup form and build those six-pack abs you want, too.

MOVE

LIKE A CRAB

Get ready to stretch your chest and work your abs, glutes, quads, and hamstrings. The crab toe touch seems simple, but it requires a surprising amount of balance. How cleanly can you execute it? That’s the bigger challenge.

Start sitting, then plant your hands just behind your butt. Lift your butt off the ground and tighten your core. This is the start. Lift your left arm as you straighten your right leg; touch hand to toe. Return to the start. Repeat on the other side. Work back and forth for 30 seconds. Rest 30 seconds; do 3 sets.

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PERFECT IT! You likely can pull off the crab toe touch now, but can you do it flawlessly?

HIPS SQUARE! Try not to bounce. Tighten your core and glutes, keeping your hips completely level on each touch.

DON’T LET YOUR BACK ROUND. Keep your abs tight the entire time.

CAN YOU PAUSE? Hold for 1 second in the toe-touch position, the ultimate test of crab-position body control.

RE ADY FOR A

WORKOUT? Do 30 seconds of crab toe touches, followed by 30 seconds of bodyweight squats.

Do 4 rounds without rest for 4 minutes of conditioning.

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by Asics; shorts ($46)

by Tommy Sport; sneakers ($130) by Reebok. Opposite, left: T-shirt ($80) by On; shorts ($45) by Fabletics; sneakers ($175) by EA7 Emporio Armani. Opposite, right: Shorts ($68) by Fourlaps; sneakers ($100) by Puma.

CHEST AND TRICEPS

IN ONE MOVE

Few exercises target as many upper-body muscles as the archer pushup. The great thing about it is you’re essentially loading just one side of your chest. To do an archer pushup, set up in pushup position, with your hands slightly wider than normal, fingers facing out. Keep your right arm straight as you bend your left elbow, shifting your torso toward that left arm. Keep looking at your right arm, and let your torso turn that way. Repeat on the other side. You’ll attack your chest and triceps, building not only strength but also body control.

Work up to 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps. It won’t come easily, so take it step by step.

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WORKOUT?

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Take on this push-pull sequence: Do 6 alternating archer pushups. Then do 10 Superman holds: Lie on your belly, hands and legs outstretched. Raise your arms and legs off the ground. Hold for 2 seconds, then release. Do 3 sets.

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

THE ARCHER PUSHUP PROGRESSION Directions: Do 2 sets of each pushup variation, then move on to the next one, treating this like a full workout. When you reach a step that’s difficult, do 2 extra sets of it. Stop there and aim to progress more the next time you tackle this challenge.

STANDARD PUSHUP: You’ve done this before (and the hands-elevated pushup can help!).

Do 10 reps.

WIDE PUSHUP: Set up in pushup position, then move each hand out a hand’s width. Turn your palms out. Do 10 reps this way, squeezing your shoulder blades as you lower each time.

SEESAW WIDE PUSHUP: Set up in widepushup position. Do a pushup, shifting your body slightly to the right side as you do. Push back to the start. Do another pushup, shifting your body slightly to the left side. Push back to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 5 this way.

ARCHER PUSHUP: Now you’re ready for the archer. Start with 3 reps per side.

LUNGE FOR

LIGHTNING SPEED! The forgotten part of a strong running stride: knee drive. Driving forward with your knees helps lengthen your stride, propelling you forward. Train that with the sprinter lunge.

Start standing. Step into a reverse lunge with your left leg, knee never touching the ground.

Stand back up explosively, driving your left knee forward and pressing up onto your right toes, jumping off the ground. Land softly. Do 3 sets of 6 to 8 powerful reps per side.

ALL ABOUT THE DRIVE! Don’t just lift your leg. Drive it hard (and develop explosiveness) by focusing on these three cues.

KNEE HEIGHT! Elevate your knee as much as possible. It should be higher than your hips at the top of every rep.

ARM SWING! Whatever knee is driving forward, the opposite arm should drive up.

DORSIFLEX! Flex your elevated foot hard. If this were a true running stride, that’s what you’d do.

Hone those mechanics now.

SHRED

RE ADY FOR A

WORKOUT?

Tap into your inner Usain Bolt with this one: Do 1 set of 4 sprinter lunges per side, then sprint for 15 seconds. Rest 2 minutes. Repeat 4 times.

YOUR ABS The hanging L-sit is a gymnastics-style move that pushes your abs to hold your legs straight. Think of it as a harder version of a leg lift or a toes-to-bar.

Do it by hanging from a bar, with light tension in your shoulder blades, then kicking your legs out in front of you. Glue them together and flex your feet. Your abs will be on fire. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds; do 3 reps.

GETTING THE HANG OF IT! Once you’ve mastered the L-sit, try these three variations.

L-SIT FLUTTER KICK: Start in L-sit position, then flutter your legs back and forth. Do this for 10 seconds.

L-SIT IN-OUT: Start in L-sit position, then tuck your knees toward your chest. Extend back to L-sit position. Do 3 reps.

L-SIT TOES-TO-BAR: Start in L-sit position, then raise your straight legs to touch the bar. Return to L-sit position. Can you do 2 reps?

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WORKOUT?

Pair L-sit holds with V-ups for the ultimate ab burn. Do a 5-second L-sit, then descend from the bar and lie on your back, arms and legs straight. Tighten your core, raising your arms and straight legs, aiming to touch your hands to your toes. Do 5 reps. Rest 30 seconds. Do 5 sets.

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THE MIRACLE OF FORT WORTH AMERICA’S CITIES ARE MAKING US FAT, UNHEALTHY, AND ISOLATED. LONGEVITY EXPERT AND SALESMAN DAN BUETTNER THOUGHT HE COULD FIX THAT. RIGHT IN THE HEART OF TEXAS.

By Tom Vanderbilt

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June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

B

Y THE TIME longevity expert

Dan Buettner arrived at the buttoned-down boardroom of the Fort Worth Club in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, in early 2014, the city was suffering the same problems as most major American cities—and then some. Cowtown, U.S.A. (current population pushing 900,000), had earned its nickname by being a stockyard stronghold in the late 1800s, but now its residents just loved beef, often in large portions. Among the top city officials and businessmen who joined him, not everyone appeared all that healthy.

Fort Worth had other problems, too.

The Alliance for Biking & Walking ranked it dead last among the country’s 52 most populous cities for commuter walking and biking—and even then one in five people killed in traffic accidents was a pedestrian.

The body mass index of its residents beat the national averages, with 65 percent of people overweight and 32 percent of that group qualifying as obese. Residents still smoked in restaurants and even parks, which ranked near the bottom third of the Trust for Public Land’s “ParkScore” list.

As he stood to address the audience, Buettner, who was then in his mid-50s, looked lean and radiated energy. He’s known as the founder of Blue Zones, a research-project-turned-consultancy-group that, over the past several decades, has been backed by the National Geographic Society and the National Institute on Aging to trace the lifestyle habits in places where people live the longest. Buettner formulated the Power 9, a set of principles to live by for those of us who want to hit old age in stride.

He markets them with cheeky code words around their values, like exercise (Move Naturally), outlook (Purpose, Downshift), eating wisely (80% Rule, Plant Slant, Wine at 5), and connecting (Right Tribe, Loved Ones First, Belong).

Buettner told the group that there was a way to “make the healthy choice the easy choice.” But in order to achieve that, the city would need to completely reimagine how its policies, grocery stores, compa-

THE MIRACLE OF FORT WORTH

M

ORE THAN a decade ago, with

his book The Blue Zones—a study of five places where people live longest—a New York Times best seller, Dan Buettner found himself making the rounds on television talk shows.

“The greenrooms were full of fad-diet or fad-workout authors,” he recalls. He found this frustrating, having just spent a good chunk of National Geographic Society money trying to construct a scientifically backed theory of wellness.

Buettner wanted to dig deeper. He wondered if there were unhealthy places in the world that had been transformed. He discovered one compelling case abroad: In 1972, North Karelia, a rural region in eastern Finland, had the highest heartattack rate in the world. The country tasked Pekka Puska, M.D., Ph.D., an intrepid health researcher, with improving people’s health. But the traditional health-education and weight-loss challenges failed.

Karelians were still frying their cheese in butter. So Dr. Puska tapped scientists to cultivate a new variety of canola oil that would grow regionally. His team convinced dairy farmers to plant berries; Karelians 82

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

wouldn’t give up sausage, so they asked local sausage makers to reduce fat by mixing in a mushroom filler. The key lesson, for Buettner, was that it’s hard to change people’s behavior. Instead, you “change the defaults.” Targeting the entire population a little works better than heavily targeting the most at-risk.

All this tracked with his research on Blue Zones like Okinawa, Japan; and Sardinia, Italy. (The others are Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California.) “Nobody’s pumping weights or gobbling supplements or jumping on the latest keto diet there,” Buettner says. “They’re just living their lives.”

It just so happens that these lives play out in places where it’s easier to eat vegetables, fruit, and fish and where walking makes more sense than driving a car. In the right kind of culture, people don’t have to think much about making the right choices. They’re simply living them.

When it comes to longevity, it’s environment, vastly more than genes, thatt dete determines outcomes. A famous studyy of Danish D sh twins estimated genetics contribute abo bute about it O e of the regulators of the epigenome of et o me iiss a sset genes that sense the environment h n n then men and turn on the right genes at the right times,” es ig t ti says David Sinclair, Ph.D., a Harvard Uniniar rd U versity genetics professor. In other words, he word healthy environments might activate te act more Blue Zones genes.

Buettner wondered if he could engineer his own Blue Zone. In 2009, he convinced the city of Albert Lea in Minnesota to give it a try. His approach was simple: Make changes to people’s surroundings. Offer a “menu” of some 30 evidence-based policy initiatives. Hit people where they spend most of their time, like at work or school. And make it all voluntary. “As soon as you start telling people what to do, they say, ‘You’re treading on our freedom,’ ” he says.

The five-year program was a success.

Residents lost weight and saw an uptick in life expectancy; health improvements among city and school employees, meanwhile, resulted in reduced health-care costs. Soon Buettner was getting requests from other places.

He’d found a second act that jibed with his own lessons about building a stronger community and having purpose. There was just no proof that any of it could be transformative on a larger scale.

B

U E T TN E R H AD walked into the Fort Worth Club on a long shot: His Blue Zones CEO, Ben Leedle, had once run Healthways, a company that helped employers lower health-insurance costs through wellness programs. They both dreamed of far greater change, so Leedle worked his connection with Texas Health Resources—a former client—to get everyone into the room for the pitch.

Buettner came armed with some data that got their attention. Gallup had crunched the numbers and ranked Fort Worth near the bottom—185th out of 191 metro areas—on the Gallup Community Well-Being Index, a national survey that asks residents to rate factors essential to overall well-being: purpose, social, financial, community, and physical. Give him five years, he said, and if you don’t see improvement on those metrics, he’d refund a fair amount of his consulting fee.

(Although he won’t disclose what he makes per city, it’s obviously substantial.)

Mayor Betsy Price, who at age 70 is still a platinum blonde and favors leopard-spot high heels with her power suits, broke the silence in the room. “I think we ought to give Dan a chance,” she said. After months of planning, the project kicked off in February 2015 with Mayor Price, Berdan at

Previous spread: Edward Linsmier (Buettner)

nies, and schools might work together to help change people’s daily routines.

While Buettner spoke, Barclay Berdan, the CEO of Texas Health Resources, a large nonprofit health-care provider in North Texas, remembers watching the group grow increasingly restless. “We had some folks raise their hands and say, ‘I’m not going to quit eating red meat,’ ” he says. People in his own organization wondered why THR might want to take this on.

“Because if [people] actually get healthier, they won’t need hospitals.”

As resistance swelled, so did Buettner’s sense of urgency: Fort Worth had the potential to prove that his theory of wellness could help people on a grand scale, to prove that a major city could transform and buck the modern obesity trend. But the city’s sense of rugged independence ran deep. Exasperated, he finally closed his laptop. “You guys are not ready for this,” he remembers saying. “You should just keep doing what you’re doing.”

It drove home the insanity of saying no: Who wouldn’t want not just a longer life but a better life? Except that Dan Buettner’s most ambitious project appeared to be dying right in front of him.

IOFOTO/Alamy (cityscape). Courtesy Blue Zones Project Fort Worth (yoga). David McLain (swing).

In 2014, the city of Fort Worth agreed to adopt Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones principles on a grand scale. That meant finding subtle ways to gradually shift how residents ate, moved, and connected.

Texas Health, and Bill Thornton, the president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, leading the charge. They hired 30 full-time Blue Zones staffers, many with existing ties to community groups, and recruited hundreds of volunteers to serve on committees meant to reimagine how people “live, work, play, or pray.”

Several major companies agreed to help fund the effort. The key, Price says, was not to make the program appear to be some top-down limitation of people’s choices.

“We would just make gentle nudges,” she says, in a nod to the theory of libertarian paternalism espoused by Cass Sunstein, J.D., and Richard Thaler, Ph.D., in their influential book Nudge, the gist of which might be: Get people to make better choices without restricting their freedom.

Buettner’s biggest gamble was that he didn’t need to reach everyone all at once to make change happen. He planned to recruit just 15 percent of the city’s population to nudge things in a better direction.

When I arrived in Fort Worth this past

February to see how things were panning out, I had the sense, early on, of this sort of subtle manipulation. I parked in a designated Blue Zones spot intended to encourage walking. It didn’t change the fact that I’d just traveled down a ten-lane highway lined with neon signs advertising the dual promise of things like CAR WASH . . . TACOS!—the car-centric and sedentary ideology a Blue Zones Project city has to beat. What Fort Worth appeared to need most was a shift in its food, exercise, and public spirit.

E

ATING A LITTLE LESS and adding

more vegetables to your diet sounds easy. But I was barely into the chips and salsa at Los Vaqueros, a popular TexMex restaurant in Fort Worth’s historic Stockyards neighborhood, when I realized that I was going to have trouble abiding by one of the pillars of Blue Zones’ research: Hara hachi bu, an Okinawan principle to eat only to 80 percent satiety.

Los Vaqueros is a Fort Worth institution, and it often does several thousand meals a night. In August 2015, co-owner Vicki Cisneros debuted the new Blue Zones menu, with only about 5 percent of the items specially marked. Gaining Blue Zones certification involves making

a number of nudge-like changes, such as: “Do not offer soda, chocolate milk, or fruit juices as default beverages for children’s meals” and “Offer half-size portions of top-selling entrees,” to support customers trying to have a lower caloric intake.

At Los Vaqueros, soft drinks were removed from the children’s menu. Salt and pepper shakers were taken off the tables. It started serving one-egg omelets for brunch, and a plate-sharing charge was dropped. Cisneros still laughs about how people reacted.

On the day of the new-menu launch, a crew of large men came in and sat down to order, but the hostess forgot to give them anything other than the Blue Zones breakfast menu. Rather than question it, they all got fruit and smaller omelets. The sales of Blue Zones items increased over the first year and have kept climbing.

One of the classic nudge approaches is to change the way food is presented—put the healthy stuff up front, make the less healthy stuff harder to reach. As the project has expanded, many businesses have gotten onboard with that. In late 2017, Darin McBryde, the district general manager of Canteen, a national vending-machine company, worked with Blue Zones and Lockheed Martin—a major area employer—to MEN’S HEALTH

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put healthier options at eye level and adjust prices so sparkling water was cheaper than sugary sodas. Sales of healthier options doubled in blue-collar locations.

Tinkering with vending machines hardly seems the stuff of social change. But Buettner says it’s the little things that matter. “So as people mindlessly move through their day, they make incrementally better decisions,” he says. “When you add those all up during the day, they make a difference.”

I found these small changes scattered over Fort Worth—less a silver bullet, as Buettner told me, than “silver buckshot.” At Central Market, a grocery chain, Blue Zones signs peeped from displays of healthy ingredients and even Sardinian wine. A Blue Zones checkout lane featured smart graband-go snacks, especially at kid height.

Stuart Lane, the store’s director of perishables, walked me through the aisles. “I was one of those can’t-eat-a-meal-withoutan-animal-on-the-plate kind of guys,” he told me. But today he’s looking more trim.

“I switched to a vegetarian diet and stuck with it. It’s changed my life for the better, and so I do nothing but talk about it.”

Central Market started making changes in 2015, and the effort spread to an entire chain of local Albertsons stores. That doesn’t solve the issue of neighborhoods where these chains don’t have stores. But in 2018, Sam Moulegiet, who owns Ramey Market, a bodega in the historically impov-

Staying in the Zone: From left, mayor Betsy Price, farmer Gregory Joel, and activist Roxanne Martinez (wearing backpack) all found new ways to nudge Fort Worth toward better health.

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erished Stop Six neighborhood, decided to start carrying fresh fruits and vegetables after being approached by the Blue Zones Project team, which was trying to find healthier after-school snacks for kids.

Neighborhood high school art students painted a mural with images of fresh fruit on the side of his building, and locals now walk there for lettuce, bell peppers, carrots, and onions. At the same time, Blue Zones sponsored healthy-cooking demos around the city—eventually drawing more than 16,000 participants.

Many of these people also backed Blue Zones–proposed changes to city ordinances, so mobile vendors could sell fresh fruit and not just chips and candy, and urban farmers might be able to grow and sell more food inside city limits. The demand for healthier options was there, even if, halfway through the project, they were not always readily accessible.

S

TAY I N G A C T I V E a lso sounds

easy. But when Roxanne Mart i nez , a mot her a nd neig hborhood activist, attended her son’s youth football practices in the Diamond Hill neighborhood in the fall of 2016, she saw many parents lounging in camp chairs. She encouraged everyone to sign a Blue Zones pledge to walk together each Wednesday. “I was surprised by the number of parents who got up out of their chairs,” she says. “And it just grew from there.” Once they started connecting more, some people began running together on other days; some joined fitness boot camps.

In late 2017, she convinced the local youth sports association to adopt the idea and share it with its teams. A year later, she persuaded a community center to do the same thing. When I met Martinez there, we watched a group of older residents holding their daily moai, a sort of walking support group that’s a staple of life among older Okinawans.

It’s one of numerous moais that have sprung up in Fort Worth—Blue Zones says some 1,500 people eventually signed up—and includes both aging women with Fitbits tucked into their sneakers and older men who still favor flannels and broad-brimmed cowboy hats. Some moais encourage the elderly and parents to walk kids to school for a win-win.

Personal transformations take time, but they’re happening. At Mother Parkers, a tea and coffee company, for instance, workers were encouraged to stretch together before shifts, have standing meetings, and use those designated Blue Zones parking spots. Michael Edwards, a former Division I basketball player, eventually shed nearly 30 pounds of postcollege weight. “It’s all a mind-set,” he says in a promotional video Blue Zones released in 2019. “Honestly, I feel a lot better. I wake up in the morning ready to go. I feel like a person who has purpose in life.” At city hall, the mayor now holds walking meetings, and one city employee has lost more than 100 pounds.

The Blue Zones wave rolled out slowly: In 2015, only 14 work sites participated. A year later, once Blue Zones had negotiated how to add healthier food and exercise into schools, whole school districts started joining, with students introducing

Truitt Rogers (Price). James Wolfe (Joel). David McLain (Martinez).

THE MIRACLE OF FORT WORTH

the ideas to their parents. The number of companies participating then quadrupled.

By 2018, close to 60,000 people had signed the Blue Zones pledge (which exhorts that adopting a dog may help you stay active).

And there have been more changes made around town, even if big hurdles are clearly still ahead.

The city has continually improved its Trinity Trail system—when I met the mayor there, her cowboy-booted security detail shouted, “Bike!” with each passing cyclist— but it still doesn’t have a great overall walkability score. Outside the Applied Learning Academy, a Blue Zones Project–approved school, I was shown a marked crosswalk that had been revamped so that the running club could use an adjacent park for running. Before that, a teacher told me, “we were playing Frogger.” But the crosswalk stretched across what was essentially a high-speed six-lane highway. It still seemed pretty Frogger.

F

ORT WORTH isn’t going to trans-

form into a Sardinian village where people walk across fields to sip wine and eat bitter greens with their octogenarian friends. But if you nudge people in enough new ways, the momentum can be surprising.

After the Ramey Market got a face-lift, it became clear that nearby residents would walk to get fresh food. Then Blue Zones– affi liated community advocates encouraged the city to convert Bunche Park—an unused plot of land nearby—into another spot to relax, complete with a playground, picnic tables, and walking trails.

I FOUND THESE SMALL CHANGES SCATTERED OVER FORT WORTH—LESS A SILVER BULLET‚ AS BUETTNER TOLD ME‚ THAN “SILVER BUCKSHOT.” In Diamond Hill, Martinez and her troop of active parents started thinking about how to help the rest of the community. That included being part of a pilot program that brought a mobile fruit cart to practices and games, something they could do because it was now legal. They introduced the program to the high school football team, and, in 2018, the team just so happened to snap a 77-game losing streak. A year later, it won its first district game in more than a decade.

The most obvious sign of new progress is Opal’s Farm, a furrowed five-acre field that runs along the eastern bank of the Trinity River and is surrounded by several major highways. It’s named for Opal Lee, a celebrated local community activist in her 90s, who recognized that the nearby United Riverside neighborhood was not only a food desert but that people would happily work to change that.

Situated on previously unused Water District land, the farm grows everything from green beans to watermelons. “I’m still pulling turnips,” said Gregory Joel, the burly, gray-haired farm manager, on the day I visited. Last year, the farm produced more than 4,500 pounds of food, part of which is donated to food banks while the majority gets sold at farmers markets (where more Blue Zones converts tend to gather) and at a reduced cost in nearby neighborhoods (where people need it the most).

This year, the farm expects to quadruple its harvest thanks to new grants for seed, compost, and supplies that the Blue Zones team helped secure. But it’s also given volunteers of all ages an outlet for activity and a larger sense of purpose—things that align with Power 9 mantras like Right Tribe and Belong.

Fort Worth finally passed a strong smoking ordinance that goes much further than other cities’ and covers vaping. But people are thinking bigger now. Concepts like “Vision Zero”—eliminating traffic fatali-

ties—and implementing “active transportation plans” to reduce car use were once political nonstarters but now have gained traction. “We’re having conversations we never could have had before about health and wellness,” says Matt Dufrene, a vice president at Texas Health. As of this past March, a total of 143 employers, 47 schools, 66 restaurants, 20 groceries, and 59 neighborhood or community groups in Fort Worth are Blue Zones participants. The Blue Zones team estimates it has nudged more than 91,000 people.

From its near-bottom position on the Gallup index, in 2018 Fort Worth’s scores placed it at 31 out of 157 U.S. cities. The Gallup result was striking for several reasons. The rest of the U. S. was trending downward in well-being during this time.

And some of the biggest improvements came in geographic sectors like East Southeast, which includes neighborhoods like Stop Six, previously shown to have the greatest disparities in well-being.

For every dollar Fort Worth spent on these programs, Blue Zones estimates the city gained five back in measures like reduced health-care claims and increased productivity. (For proprietary reasons, Buettner declined to give exact figures.)

No other well-being initiative of its size “guarantees the return,” says Leedle.

Next up, Buettner is thinking even bigger: He’s trying to Blue Zone the entire state of Hawaii. (Native Hawaiians, in particular, have high rates of obesity, diabetes, and asthma, and increasing concerns about access to mental-health care.) Buettner is nearly 60 but figures he has plenty of time to keep pushing. Wherever you’re living, he hopes one day you’ll feel the same way, too.

TOM VANDERBILT is the author of the bestseller Traffic. His next book, Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning, comes out in January.

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: D A D L O O C

NESS! K R A D E H T E ✓ ILLUMINATTIENCE! ✓ AMASS PA SANITY IN QUARANTINE! ✓ P R E S E RV E

SU PE RPOW ER #1

EMBRACE thor a comedian and the au ne, d memoir The New O of the new fatherhoo s adapted m which this story wa

By MIKE BIRBIG LIA,

fro

S A CHILD, I felt like I lived in this town where every-

one was pretending to be happy and pretending to be in a good marriage and pretending they had a nice house with a nice living room. I thought, I need to get out of here.

So I went to college as far away as I could think of: Washington, D. C. Everyone at college was pretending to have a lot of friends.

And pretending to be smart. And pretending to be well-read. And pretending to have a plan for the future. So I moved to New York City. And I met all these comedians who were pretending to be confident and pretending to be successful. Now my wife and I have a daughter, Oona, and we live in a neighborhood full of parents who are pretending to love their lives. Our daughter loves dress86

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ILLUSTRATIONS BY KYLE HILTON

SU PE RPOW ER # 2 ing up as a fairy and a princess and a bunny. It’s practically the first thing we teach her. To pretend.

When Oona is several weeks old, I’m strolling her around the neighborhood. Part of the stroll is spent dodging potholes and the other part is spent staring at these zombie parents who I am convinced are pretending to experience joy. I may be wrong. This is just how I experience it. One strange twist of having a child is that people expect you to experience joy. One day our neighbor spots me strolling Oona and says, “Is it the most joy you’ve ever experienced?” The most joy? Um . . . I don’t know. Maybe?

I don’t say this, of course. I think it. I feel like saying a lot, actually. I feel like saying, I didn’t experience joy before.

I don’t have to start now. Don’t impose your unrealistic expectations on me. I will be a good dad. A decent dad. The #1 dad in America, according to several ceramic mugs. But my dad did a decent job and he didn’t experience joy.

pot through a watermelon. Light joy is when a puppy licks your face. Dark joy is when a lady at a bar licks your face. Light joy is flying a kite at the beach. Dark joy is having sex on a broken kite. Light joy is watching YouTube videos of cats. Dark joy is watching waterslide accidents.

When I was single, I had a lot of dark joy. Dark joy is abundant in your 20s when you don’t care what happens in your life.

Dark joy occurs when people tell you “life is sacred” and you think, Nah, fuck that. I’m gonna eat 19 pounds of chocolate and roll the dice. I’m gonna stay out till 5:00 A.M. and get advice from a guy wearing a snake.

So that’s gone. Which is probably for the best because with dark joy, when the joy goes away, you’re literally in the dark.

When you have a kid, you can no longer watch yourself living. There’s just not enough time. And some parents try to do it. They pull out their phones when anything remotely exciting happens: “MABEL JUST POINTED AT HER TEETH!!! DO IT AGAIN, MABEL! ROLL-

I WILL BE A GOOD DAD. A

DECENT DAD. THE #1 DAD IN AMERICA, ACCORDING TO SEVERAL CERAMIC MUGS. I experience joy but it’s also a little lonesome, because my wife and child adore each other and I’m perhaps even more lonely because not only am I lonely but I’m not allowed to say I’m lonely. I have to say, “I’m the luckiest man in the world.” My stiff and fake grin creates the expression of a serial killer. My hair juts in five directions, my face is unshaven, my back aches, my shirt buttons are in the wrong holes.

I’m the luckiest man in the world.

I experience joy, but I’m starting to understand joy in a new way. There are different types of joy. There’s “light joy” and “dark joy.” Light joy is eating watermelon in the summertime. Dark joy is smoking 88

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ING . . . AND ACTION. SAY THE THING ABOUT YOUR FUCKING TEETH, MABEL!! Oh, great, we missed it. This whole shoot’s been a fucking waste!”

I’m strolling Oona through the neighborhood when it occurs to me: Maybe having a kid is the darkest joy of all.

Because the stakes are so high. Your child could grow up and cure cancer or solve climate change, but she could also be a junkie or a runaway or kidnapped or have a life-threatening disease. There is literally no way you could know. That’s some dark stuff. It’s possible that the only way to cope with these dark possibilities is to pretend.

e author

By MAX BROOKS , th s of World War Z and hi latest, Devolution

“

HAT WAS IT LIKE

growing up with Mel Brooks?” I get asked.

A lot. And I know what people want to hear. They’re expecting me to tell them about a life of luxury and constant hilarity. I don’t blame these people for assuming that I must have had a privileged childhood.

I did! But my privilege didn’t come from my father’s money or fame. My privilege came from being a son of Corporal Mel Kaminsky, the World War II veteran.

At 17, my father enlisted in the Army and was sent, briefly, to Virginia Military Institute before heading to artillery school at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. During his time in the military, he traversed the U-boat-infested North Atlantic in the dead of winter. He served as an artillery spotter, then a combat engineer. He marched from the French coast into the heart of the Third Reich, mopping the tail end of a battle known as the “Bulge.” And then, mercifully, he came home. With advice. Loads of it, which he would later share with me, often over dinner, without prompting. Here are a few of the anecdotes I remember.

When a 155mm artillery piece goes off nearby, make sure you’ve got cigarettes jammed into your ears.

When firing your Springfield rifle on the range, stuff a towel between your

▶ ▶

gun and your shoulder to avoid bruising.

When probing for a buried German S-mine, don’t try to defuse it yourself. Just dig around the edges with your bayonet—and call for the sergeant.

When radioing in an artillery strike from your jeep, don’t dawdle. Get out of there fast. The enemy can triangulate your position and call in a counterstrike within seconds.

When coming upon a farmhouse that the German army has just abandoned, make sure you sweep every room for booby traps. Especially the toilets. They may hide a “potato masher” grenade hooked to the flushing chain.

When the ground is frozen too stiff to dig a foxhole, wait for the engineers to blast one out with explosive charges.

And when you’re hunker-

▶

▶

▶

▶ ▶

ing down for the night in that freezing hole, do not sleep with your boots on. That’s the best way to lose a couple of toes to frostbite. Take off your boots and your socks, rub your feet vigorously for a few minutes to get the blood flowing, then smear bacon grease from your K rations over them before putting your socks back on. Two layers of socks, if you got ’em.

You would think I would have been traumatized, or at least scared, by these war stories. Instead, I was in awe.

My father had courage and resilience. He thought on his feet, and under tremendous pressure. He needed to confront his enemies while depending on his friends.

He couldn’t feel entitled to anything, even his own life.

He had to fight for that, and every scrap of success that

followed. And through it all, he remained deeply loyal and passionately grateful to a country that he felt privileged to be born into.

Growing up, I learned that the world can be a very hostile, dangerous place. Even in the best of situations, that world would never love me like my parents did. I learned that I would need survival skills to make it outside the bubble of my bedroom.

Of course, I don’t teach my father’s exact, Nazi-fighting lessons to my son (although the Nazis do seem to be making a comeback these days). It’s the lessons behind the lessons, the larger themes that I’m so grateful for.

I never had to go to war, and I pray to God my son doesn’t, either. But everyday life comes with challenges that require survival skills.

That’s why I push my son to challenge himself and let him fight through difficult situations.

It kills me sometimes not to step in and save him, either from the world or from himself. Nothing is more painful for a parent than watching their child suffer.

But as I always tell him, “I’ll never let you take on something you can’t handle.”

I would never put my son in an impossible situation any more than my dad’s platoon would let him go into combat alone. I can support him, guide him, help him to a certain degree, but he’s going to have to do his part to grow up.

And this is also why I always—always—sneak a small container of bacon grease into his lunch bag. It’s up to him if, when the time comes, he wants to use it.

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C ED E S O M E

C ON T ROL

m e star of the Fox sitco ovie The Subject and the upcoming m

By JASO N BIGG S, th

Outmatched

HAD NEVER BEEN so sure

of anything as knowing I would be the father of a daughter. When people asked if I ever wanted to be a dad, I’d picture myself sipping fake tea with my preschool-aged daughter or joke-threatening her high school boyfriend.

Then my wife had a boy. And 90

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then another. But, expectations aside, there was also something else, and, okay, I’ll admit it: I pee sitting down. I don’t necessarily think this is exclusively the result of living in a house with mostly girls.

In fact, this is not a practice my dad adheres to, though he admits to being overly cleanly.

The combination of female influence and an impulse to sanitize is why, I believe, I continue my bathroom behavior.

I knew I still had time, if only a few diaper-laden years, to continue to live comfortably without having to explain myself to my boys. Even through potty training, my oldest son sat to pee because he knew that’s what I did.

But then that same son came home from preschool and told me that other boys at school stood when they went, and he wanted to know why I didn’t.

What pigs, I thought. How do men live like this? Then I thought of myself living in a home with little-boy pee splattered on every surface of every

bathroom. Gone were the days of my peeing with peace of mind. I began to retch.

But I resisted detailing all of this to my son. In fact, not only haven’t I made a fuss the couple of times I’ve caught my son standing up to pee, but I’ve encouraged him to do so. I have declined the role of enforcer of the “correct” or even “normal” way. How I thought guys should pee was my hang-up.

Demanding my kids do the same would be selfish. From the exact moment the doctor told me I would be the father of a son and not a daughter, I’ve learned that my expectations as a parent—toilet related or otherwise—hardly ever play out. All the hand-wringing

SU PE RPOW ER # 4

WITH

WOR D S

a cocreator of or, Tim & Eric’s Tom Goes to the May Beef House Bedtime Stories, and

By TIM HE ID EC KE R,

over what my sons would think of me as a “sit down to pee” dad was unnecessary. When my son came home from school that day, he wasn’t accusatory.

He was curious. My oldest saw something different and accepted it as just that: different.

Which way he decides to pee is up to him, as is how he feels about the way I’ve decided.

When I cede control to my kids to make their own decisions, my anxiety about a messy bathroom and, perhaps even more important, my anxiety about parenting the “right” way drop. That’s freeing for me—and for my wife and kids. Even if I have to sidestep a few puddles on my way to put down the seat.

HAVE TWO KIDS, a six-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. I love them to bits, but there’s one tradition that’s gotten old real quick: bedtime stories. I know that reading to my kids is as important as having them brush their teeth. I know that reading helps them with their speech, learning, and writing. But I’m thinking about none of those things when my kids march into our bedroom carrying approximately two to 12 children’s books.

Now, there are some good children’s books out there, but let’s be honest: There’s a lot of trash. While my kids may be vibrating with excitement to re-re-re-re-rereexperience the Berenstain Bears losing a tooth, I fill with dread at the prospect.

To escape all this (and by that I mean provide a more enriching experience for my children), I’ve turned to telling bedtime stories instead of reading them. I thought this would be easier, but it’s not. At least it wasn’t, until I learned the levels.

LEVEL 1: NOT GOOD These are your “Once upon a time” character-driven stories. I tried telling my daughter one about the princess of Pizza Kingdom, but I quickly ran out of gas and my daughter began to pick out plot holes. I also tried telling my son one about the first kid astronaut (!), but I hit the most exciting part of the story too early and the tension never recovered.

Like Tom Cruise movies, these bedtime stories have a strong lead but no real structure. What I thought I really needed was a narrative.

LEVEL 2: STOLEN GOODS Over the course of several nights, I told my children the basic story line of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not only is 2001 a

thoughtful reflection on mankind’s quest for truth and knowledge, but I thought it would be fun if I lodged the imagery of apes, monoliths, and HAL into their memory banks so that, years from now, when my children are teenagers and watching the movie for the first time (likely in some interactive VR chat-room app on their wrist), they’ll already understand the intricacies of these themes. Except that my kids had no interest. I even offered to play Also Sprach Zarathustra off the soundtrack as I read. But there’s a difference between a story I want to tell and a story they want to hear.

LEVEL 3: THE GOODS I knew that what I needed wasn’t character or plot development. What I needed was drama. After much testing, here’s my popular (i.e., with my kids and one other person I’ve told this to) version of story time.

First, you must insist that the story you are going to tell is extremely serious.

It’s not only serious, but sad, tragic, and important. You will not tolerate any giggling or laughing. If they laugh, you will threaten to “storm out of this room immediately.” Then, after a very dramatic pause, you begin the story as such: “This is the story about Daniel Diarrhea . . .”

Boom! Huge laughs. You storm out of the room, as promised. And then you return to say: “Hey! What did I say about laughing? This is a serious story.”

The kids clam up, tightening their lips, and promise to keep things somber.

A beat, and then: “Okay, I will continue.

Now, Daniel Diarrhea worked at the Poopie Stink Garbage Factory . . .” They crack. Big laughs again. This time, you really make a big deal about it. “Come on!

This is not funny!”

You give them one last try. Then you deliver the killer line: “You see, Daniel Diarrhea had a pumpkin butt . . .” This is the kicker. (For some reason.) They explode. You quit. You can’t handle the insubordination, the disrespect.

Of course, the kids know the deal. They realize they are playing a part in a game, and after the second time, their laughter is forced and over-the-top. It’s a lot of fun and perhaps strengthens their own creativity and improvisational skills and perhaps but probably not their reading comprehension and vocabulary.

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I’ve seen this look before—

In the months that fol-

My son is the most demand-

SU PE RPOW ER # 5

UNLOCK

PURPOSE

ofuku e founder of the Mom Netflix, st of Ugly Delicious on ho , re pi em nt ra au st re memoir Eat a Peach and author of the new

By DAVID CHAN G, th

FTER MY SON HUGO

was born, I spent a few days eating baby food. As a chef, I was curious as to what the hell companies actually put into all those tiny jars, cups, and pouches.

As a new father, I felt like it was my duty. I mean, why not eat baby food? If I wouldn’t 92

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eat it, why would I feed it to my son? Most of the premade meat blends, as you would expect, contained weird ingredients and tasted bland.

(Even in the darkest of times, I’d avoid shelf-stable turkey breast liquefied with water and thickened with corn starch.) Many of the pureed

fruit and vegetable pouches were . . . pretty good, but they seemed pricey for what they were. I could do better. I’m a chef, after all, and as a new dad who previously felt like I was nothing more than a house butler, I thought I’d at least promote my role in the family to head cook.

When Hugo was three months old, I served him his first meal that I had made: some avocado pureed with breast milk. (I did not taste this.) I have a video of him taking that first bite. As his mouth closed around the spoon, his face did whatever the baby version of “What the fuck is this?” is and then he looked at me.

kitchen stove, a big pot of something simmering on it.

I sit by his high chair, peeling the membrane off his clementine oranges. I now know that if Hugo doesn’t want to eat, it’s not always the food, but maybe too many people are in the room, he’s distracted by a toy, or the sunlight is too bright for his liking.

To me, feeding Hugo is like playing throw-and-catch before we can play throwand-catch. This is how he and I commune. Early in fatherhood I kept asking myself, What is it, exactly, that dads do? Now I have not only something to do, but something to do with him.

That’s rewarding—especially when he lets me share a bite of his gruel.

SU PE RPOW ER #6

C O M M A ND

SILENCE

Fring ll as Better Call Saul, as we on Breaking Bad and + andalorian on Disney Moff Gideon on The M

By GIAN CARLO ES PO

SITO, who plays Gus

HEN OUR THIRD daughter, Syrlucia, was seven years old, my ex-wife bought her a puppy.

Because my ex-wife and I are cordial, I was invited over to her house for dinner to mark the occasion. Before we sat down to eat, Cia locked the dog in a room. During dinner, and unbeknownst to all of us, the puppy also made a meal of the bottom of the wooden doorframe.

I chased the dog around the house. Cia chased me. I told Cia to get me a rolled-up piece of newspaper. She kept repeating, “No, Papa! No, Papa!” The pursuit ended in Cia’s bedroom, me with the newspaper

girls. But the Puppy Incident proved to me that I could still be threatening and dictatorial even if I wasn’t yelling. What I should have been then was silent.

My daughters are now all grown, and although I’m no longer tempted to raise my voice at them, I am tempted to interject in their life decisions my opinions, suggestions, and general “advice.”

Instead, I presented them with an offer: Come to New Mexico, where I was filming Breaking Bad and am still filming Better Call Saul, and hike with me in the foothills of the San Andres Mountains. It’s so quiet there that I am forced into silence.

I APOLOGIZED. AND I LEARNED AN IMPORTANT LESSON THAT DAY: A GOOD FATHER SHUTS UP. baton at the ready and explaining that the dog needed “to register the punishment with the event,” the dog cowering in a corner, and Cia finally crying out, “No, Papa! That’s not the way you raised me!” I left the room. I cried. I came back.

I apologized. And I learned an important lesson that day: A good father shuts up.

My father had a voice that could stop anyone—dog, human, horse—dead in their tracks. It was loud and booming— and it was a weapon, if he chose to employ it. I’ve tried my very hardest not to yell as a father, which sometimes is in direct conflict with me trying to help raise four (yes, four) independent and powerful

The sky is huge. The peaks tower, unmoving. Everything is still.

On those hikes, I don’t say anything. I wait, and, inevitably, my daughter will ask me a question and we’ll talk. I’ll ask her questions back. I rarely give advice unless solicited. What often results is a lot of me listening, hardly any of me talking, and almost always a sincere “Thank you” from one of my daughters. This last fact is always amazing to me. As a father, I thought that, like my mother and father, I had to be direct and powerful to have an effect on my children as a parent. My mother used to say, “Do as I say, not as I do.” My version: “Do as I do, which is not to overdo.”

HOW TO

FIGHT A SUPERVILLAIN THREATENING

THE WORLD

C

BY JEREMY GLASS

LAD IN OVERSIZED aqua-green scrubs, I sat outside the operating room anxiously waiting for the goahead to join my wife, Mary, and witness the birth of our first child. I’d never felt so alone before: my family hundreds of miles away in Vermont; Mary’s parents holed up feet away in the hospital lobby, prohibited from being in the same room as their daughter.

As COVID-19 spread, with every passing hour in the hospital a new piece of bad news would pop up, and our tiny room began to feel like the only safe place for my wife and baby. Mercifully, without major event, my wife gave birth to our daughter. Suddenly I stopped worrying about the death toll.

Things were more challenging after discharge. Neither my parents nor Mary’s would be able to see their granddaughter for weeks. They’ve never looked into my daughter’s big gray eyes, touched her soft feet, or smelled that distinct peanuty newborn smell that emanates from the top of her head. Strangely, there are certain similarities between life with a newborn and life in selfisolation. My wife and I had planned on spending six weeks indoors. We’d planned on feeling afraid and exhausted. Our freezer has been stocked with meals for months. Through dumb luck (or sheer terror) we had already adopted a “shelter in place” attitude.

Despite the handwritten WASH YOUR HANDS signs strung up in our building and the general hum of panic coming from every tenant, I know I’ve never been happier. I love holding our child in my arms.

I even like doing diapers.

If there’s any takeaway from all of this, it’s that my wife and I can get through anything. We’ll eat pasta, drink coffee, feed this baby, and down glass after glass of red wine while watching Below Deck. With the world in chaos, I’m grateful for our little world.

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BY

ALEX PAPPADEMAS

“ALEX‚

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

GOD ?”

AL KILMER embodied confidence, competence, and an eerie kind of cool playing icons like ICEMAN, JIM MORRISON, DOC HOLLIDAY, and BATMAN. Behind all the mythic roles was a man grasping for meaning wherever he could find it. Here he riffs on cancer, strength, honey badgers, and the cosmic uncertainty of death.

June 2020 /

95

/ MEN’S HEALTH

Val Kilmer began selling his original artwork on the Internet. Kilmer has been making art for a long time. He takes photographs and creates scrapbook-style media collages with atmospheric abstract paintings resembling blooms of underwater lava. His neon sculpture of a dyspepticlooking Mahatma Gandhi hung for a while in the restaurant of a fancy hotel in South Beach, and he once cast a tumbleweed in 22-karat gold.

But the project he’s become most famous for is an ongoing series of quasiself-portraits—Warholian pop-art images of Kilmer in character as Batman or Doc Holliday or Jim Morrison, rendered using stencils and brightly colored enamel paint on 12-inch-by-12-inch squares of reclaimed steel. Sometimes he’ll superimpose a stenciled word like L OV E on the image, or a variation of a quote from one of his movies, such as CHICKS DIG THE CA R. His website didn’t have any Doc Holliday paintings at press time, but for a fan-friendly $150, you could still acquire a portrait of Kilmer as Tom “Iceman” Kazansky—Tom Cruise’s nemesis and beach-volleyball rival in Top Gun— in a range of colors, from neon green to red and blue to eerie red-on-black.

These are not the most technically complex or conceptually weighty paintings.

They are not even technically complex or conceptually weighty by the standards of other paintings by Val Kilmer. But there’s an additional layer of meaning to them, because they’re portraits of Val Kilmer by Val Kilmer.

The pictures feel like a sincere effort on his part to use the tools at his disposal to make sense of his own relationship to a postmodern character called “Val Kilmer,” who is less a person than a collection of symbolic echoes, and who casts a long shadow over the real Val Kilmer’s life despite existing solely in the media landscape and the public’s mind. There 96

June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

is nothing inherently interesting about a piece of steel with a stenciled image of Val Kilmer as Batman on it, but a piece of steel on which Val Kilmer himself has painted a stenciled image of Val Kilmer as Batman as part of a project involving the painting of dozens of Val Kilmer-as-Batman images becomes an act of introspection, a commentary, a reflection on reflections and the indelibility of iconicity.

One afternoon in early March, I discussed all of this with Val Kilmer over the phone. “Yes,” he said. “By repainting the exact same thing using a stencil, it was a way of contemplating the subject while being very strict with what I was inviting myself to do.”

I asked him if the paintings were a way for him to work through the feeling of being known without being known, to process the weirdness that comes with everyone looking at you and seeing Iceman or the Lizard King. “It’s not so much me thinking about myself,” he said. “It’s more about the icon. The icon of the warrior. Or the gunslinger—that black-and-white justice that’s part of American history. That’s Doc Holliday. And then Jim Morrison is an iconic rock ’n’ roller, a poet.

“I also found there was a surprising number of fans who wanted original paintings,” he continued, as if to puncture the self-importance of talking about this work in this way. “I sold an embarrassing number of them.”

Page 94: Tom Stratton

SOME YEARS AGO,

I think he laughed when he said this; I’m not positive. It was a strange conversation, because there was no way for it not to be. Kilmer, now 60, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015. In the opening pages of his new memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry, he has lost his New Mexico home as a result of the 2008 financial crisis and finds himself convalescing at an ex-girlfriend’s place. This is a book of absurd juxtapositions; the home happens to be an Italian Renaissance–style palazzo in Malibu overlooking the ocean, because the exgirlfriend happens to be Cher. He is there when his condition takes a fateful turn.

“Cher dipp ed out for a f t er no on errands,” he writes. “Night fell, and I fell asleep. Suddenly I awoke vomiting blood that covered the bed like a scene out of The Godfather. I prayed immediately, then called 911.” Eventually he endures two tracheotomies. “The cancer miraculously healed much faster than any of the doctors predicted,” he writes, but adds, “It has taken time, and taken a toll. . . . Speaking, once my joy and lifeblood, has become an hourly struggle.” He describes his new voice as sounding “like Marlon Brando after a couple of bottles of tequila. It isn’t a frog in my throat. More like a buffalo.”

Kilmer and I both live in Los Angeles.

COVID-19 had not yet rendered in-person interactions verboten, so I suggested we could talk in person, but he wanted to speak over the phone, through an interpreter—his high school friend and business partner, Brad Koepenick. I would ask a question, I’d hear some indistinct buffalo growls on the other end of the line, and then Koepenick would repeat Kilmer’s response to me in his own voice. We spoke to each other this way for about an hour.

At first there were a few people speaking in the room, and I asked Koepenick if he could identify himself. “I’m Brad Koepenick,” he said. After that, I heard Kilmer speaking—rarrrggh rarrrggh rarrrggh— and then, speaking for Kilmer, Koepenick said, “I am Spartacus.” For all his responses, for clarity, when Koepenick is speaking Kilmer’s words, I’ve attributed them to Kilmer, and I’ve attributed Koepenick’s occasional comments to Koepenick.

To understand Val Kilmer, in all his incarnations, it’s important to recognize that he has been a Christian Scientist since the age of seven or eight. Founded in 1879 by the author Mary Baker Eddy,

Christian Science is a form of metaphysical Christianity whose adherents believe, among other things, that physical illness and infirmity result from mental misconception or “negative thinking.” All of Kilmer’s answers to questions regarding physical matters reflect these beliefs—as he writes in his memoir, his physical difficulties have led him deeper into spiritual practice: “When one sense weakens, another grows strong. I have more time to play in the metaphysical forests.”

It says something important about Val Kilmer’s mind, however, that the only historical figure who seems to loom as large in his personal pantheon as Mary Baker Eddy is Mark Twain. Twain was a contemporary of Eddy’s, and while he spoke approvingly of Christian Science’s core principles on occasion, he saw its founder as a charlatan.

In 2012, Kilmer began portraying Twain—whom he views as “the first media-literacy educator”—in a one-man stage show, Citizen Twain, and has spent years working on the script for a movie depicting a fictional meeting between Twain and Eddy, which he still hopes to direct. “Twain is the antagonist in the story,” Kilmer says. “Mary Baker Eddy is the protagonist. Mark Twain can’t help his pride and ego, his madness.”

I asked if this was what Kilmer related to about Twain as a character.

“His madness?” Kilmer asked, and then Koepenick, the interpreter, laughed.

Sure, I said. His pride, his ego, his madness. “Yeah,” Kilmer said. “We all have pride to work through.”

Jessica Katz

I WANTED TO TALK to Val Kilmer about

pride. When he was young, he was beautiful, and moved through the world with the ease of someone beautiful, from school plays to Juilliard to the movies, such as 1984’s Top Secret!, which instantly made him a movie star for playing a rock star.

One year later, with Real Genius, he was already a hyper-opinionated pain in the ass on set—he admits as much in his book—and a year after that came Top Gun, and with it great fortune.

Kilmer was a stage-trained actor with grand aspirations—he writes with chagrin about turning down the lead in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet due to the script’s sex-

ual content and cops to badgering Stanley Kubrick for a meeting he never got. But by the mid-’90s, he’d become an A-list leading man who was reportedly receiving $6 million per picture, which was a different kind of grand.

His movie career hit its zenith in the first five years of the ’90s, when he played Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, Elvis’s ghost in True Romance, the gunfighter Doc Holliday in Tombstone, Robert De Niro’s demolitions-expert partner in Michael Mann’s bank-heist epic Heat, and Batman in Joel Schumacher’s

have here described myself as a man with lofty goals, and I have a solid two decades’ worth of work that I’d describe as less than lofty”).

There are true gems in Kilmer’s postMoreau filmography, like the David Mamet human-trafficking thriller Spartan, Shane Black’s manically inventive Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and MacGruber, in which Kilmer plays a Bond-style villain named Dieter Von Cunth. His hazy-eyed performance as the doomed ’70s porn star John Holmes in 2003’s Wonderland is a riff on his Morrison but funnier and

Val Kilmer training in a Suzuki Method class at the Juilliard School, New York. At 17, he was the youngest drama student ever admitted in 1981.

goofy, garish Batman Forever. Those last two came out in 1995, and after that the going got weird. Whether Kilmer walked away or was released from his contractual obligation to play Batman again due to difficult behavior is unclear. His next projects were the film version of the 1960s TV series The Saint—in which he disappears behind a series of increasingly ludicrous wigs and glasses like somebody who really, really wants you to know he went to Juilliard— and a remake of The Island of Dr. Moreau, which became one of the decade’s most infamously cursed productions.

In the pages of Huckleberry, Kilmer is equivocal about his reputation as a temperamental collaborator (“In an unflinching attempt to empower directors, actors, and other collaborators to honor the truth and essence of each project . . . I had been deemed difficult and alienated the head of every major studio”), but he talks straight about much of the work that followed (“I

sadder, the Lizard King as lost soul. But for all intents and purposes, Batman was his farewell to franchise-hero parts. Having grown up watching Kilmer in blockbuster movies and then appreciating his work in smaller films, I never thought of him as a cautionary tale about hubris or ego, but Huckleberry points in that direction. His last thought on turning down Lynch is a poignant plea: “Maybe it’s not too late,” he writes. “Maybe one day we can finally work together. A character who lives up on Mulholland and doesn’t speak much? David, I am so sorry I never explained myself.”

We never got around to talking about Lynch, though, because we started talking about death, which led us to God, which left no time for much else. Shortly after a 17-year-old Kilmer left his home in L. A. for Juilliard, his younger brother, Wesley, suffered an epileptic seizure in the family’s Jacuzzi and died on the way to the hospital.

I asked Kilmer about how he managed to MEN’S HEALTH

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97

avoid letting this loss define him.

“You have to not see it as a loss,” Kilmer told me. He writes in the book that he’s heard Wesley’s voice on occasion, admonishing him from beyond the grave: “No one wants to see or hear a handsome, successful, talented writer-actor-director who gets the most impossible-to-get girls in the world complain about a damn thing.”

“I’ve had experiences with lots of people that are departed,” Kilmer said on the phone. “For instance, my mother passed on recently, and a few days after, I was aware of her—you could call it her spirit.

And she wanted me to be happy, because she was having a reunion with her son Wesley and the love of her life, Bill, her

REAL GENIUS

TOP GUN

second husband. And they were just all so happy. It was a great release of a burden— because my mom, I felt, wasn’t so happy sometimes, here on earth.”

Kilmer’s access to the unexplained and extrasensory is a major through line in his book. At 24, in New Mexico, he encounters a black-robed figure in a vision, whom he recognizes as the Angel of Death’s opposite, the Angel of Life, who pulls out Kilmer’s heart and gives him a bigger one. At a comic-book convention, across a table where he’s signing Batman stuff for Batman fans, Kilmer meets a Native American fan who asks him, “What is acting?”—a question that unlocks the meaning of a recurring dream Kilmer’s father had about dying in battle with another Native American man on the frontier. On a backpacking trip in Kenya with his then wife, Joanne Whalley, Kilmer steps outside his tent, and there’s a nine-foot-long monitor lizard sitting there.

I asked Kilmer if he’s thought much about why these messengers and symbols 98

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appeared to him, if he believes they were put in his path for a reason, and if all of us could interact with the metaphysical world in this way if we paid closer attention to its manifestations.

“Yes,” Kilmer said. “I do think it has to do with paying attention. And also asking for [those signs]. I’ve always had a very strong relationship with wild animals, especially animals like the kudu, which are very hard to spot, or the badger, or the black leopard, or the black panther.”

Kilmer said something else after this, and Koepenick, confused, repeated it back to Kilmer as a question: “Kanye forever?” Kilmer said the words again,

WILLOW

clarifying, and Koepenick, to me, said, “Wakanda forever.”

“My translator’s higher than hell,” Kilmer said.

“I’ve got to lay off the ganja, you’re right,” Koepenick said.

Is it possible, I asked, to summon these things into your life? To seek out these encounters with animals and other spiritual beings?

“I think so, yeah,” Kilmer said. “I mean, I’ve never been interested in hunting. But at the same time—this is a true story that sounds unreal, but I’ve been back to the same spot in South Africa, a hunters’ spot that you have to rent. It’s very expensive because all the animals there are very mature, so their horns are very big. And I’m not a hunter, but I rent the whole area so I can have as wild an experience as possible with very big game. And the most vindictive animal out there is the Cape buffalo. The Cape buffalo has a phenomenal memory, much better than the famed elephant.

“And I’ve been to the same spot three times. And the second time I went there, [a Cape buffalo] smelled me, even though I was the third in a line of humans, and he trotted over until he was right in front of me.

And then he stared at me for half an hour, as if to say, ‘Your move—I’m ready.’ And then the third time I went, he did the exact same thing. Except it was more extreme because the wind was blowing harder. And he was very specifically putting his nose in the air, as if he was displaying—I’m smelling, I’m smelling. But this time it was almost like a playful kind of dance over to me. And I had the same guides [as before], and the guides were freaking out. They were babbling in their native tongue: He knows you, he

THE DOORS

THUNDERHEART

knows you. He’s coming to say hello. They were freaking. And I was like, ‘I know.’

“But that happens a lot,” Kilmer said.

“Like honey badgers, you know? Impossible to see in the daytime. I’ve seen them in both the daytime and the nighttime.”

YOU’VE PLAYED all these heroes over

the course of your career, I said to Kilmer.

There’s a tendency in our culture to frame illness in heroic terms, as a fight for life or an occasion for bravery, particularly when we’re talking about someone we think of as heroic in another context. We make shirts about kicking cancer’s ass and write headlines like VAL KILMER BATTLES CANCER. For someone who’s been through it, is the idea of a brave battle with cancer the wrong way to think about it?

Kilmer answered without really answering. He talked about mental attitude. “It’s half of the healing—making sure the mind is free, in the morning, of limitations.”

Later, at the end of the call, Kilmer gave me his email address in case I had any follow-up questions. After a week or so, I wrote him an email in which I asked him a few fact-checking questions about the timing of his diagnosis and his recovery, and whether it was difficult to balance his Christian Scientist beliefs with traditional medicine. He didn’t answer, though this might be because I also asked him, very gently, if he had any regrets about being a jerk on movie sets.

That day on the phone, I let the conversation go where it wanted to, reluctant to steer it back to Moreau’s island. I asked Kilmer if it was hard to get to that place of being free and clear, if it was something he

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images (Real Genius). Ronald Grant Archive/Alamy (Top Gun). LUCASFILM/Album/ Alamy (Willow). Moviestore Collection Ltd./Alamy (The Doors). RGR Collection/Alamy (Thunderheart). Photo 12/ Alamy (Tombstone). Ronald Grant Archive/Alamy (True Romance). TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy (Batman Forever). PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy (Heat).

TOMBSTONE

throughout an odd and stilted back-andforth is that he’s been through something and emerged from it that much more certain of the one thing he believes most strongly, which is that mental attitude can have transformative effects. As an inveterate doubter, I wanted Kilmer to express doubt or regret or otherwise admit to a sense of powerlessness, which I suppose is contraindicated in a worldview based on the all-importance of mental attitude. It was the paintings conversation all over again—I wanted him to talk about the gulf between our heroic notion of the movie star and the actual flawed human behind it, but he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see it in those terms.

So I asked him what the most surprising

TRUE ROMANCE

had to cultivate. Kilmer said no, that his spiritual practice had been part of his life since childhood. Then he asked, “Alex, do you believe in God?” I stammered something about being a skeptic, because suddenly I felt guilty telling Christian Science Batman that God does not play a role in my life.

“The infinite,” Kilmer said. “Have you had a sense of the infinite?”

I confirmed to Val Kilmer that I have had a sense of the infinite and stammered again about psychedelics and the notion that something must exist outside the boundaries of our consciousness.

“And I think the physical science is catching up with that,” he said. I asked Kilmer if having cancer tested his faith, if there were moments when he wanted to give up hope. He quoted what turned out to be a line from the Gospel According to Mark, about faith in the face of doubt, about doubt as a specific crucible for faith: “Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief.”

What you can tell about Kilmer even

BATMAN FOREVER

thing was about his illness. He paused for a minute and then said, “Well, something that was reaffirmed to me—on such a level, it was almost shocking—was a sense of universal love, a kind of power and a different sense of love. It was coming into my consciousness and my body while I was at the hospital.”

At one point, Kilmer said, one of his doctors saw him and became animated, even overjoyed. This specific doctor, he said, turned out to have been present during a moment when Kilmer almost slipped away.

“He lost me for a while, and he was just so happy I was back. He wanted me to be happier. I was grateful, but I was not surprised.”

Why not?

“Because I don’t believe in death,” Kilmer said.

I asked him how he managed to shake a belief that defines life itself in a fundamental way for so many people on this planet.

He spoke again about his little brother’s death, how even though he’d spent years by that point reading and thinking and praying on the Christian Scientist concept of

death as an illusion, “having to live it out becomes quite a different proposition.”

Christian Scientists believe any malady can be overcome through mental effort, death included. “And this is what Mrs. Eddy meant when she talked about reinstating primitive Christianity. That’s how she thought Jesus was teaching—teaching others to heal themselves. And that’s what made him a dangerous man. Because he taught people how to be independent, and that’s always a very, very radical thing to do in society.”

I don’t know enough about science, much less about faith, to argue with Kilmer.

And yet, sitting there on the phone, I realized I envied his ability to believe, his con-

HEAT

fidence in the face of cosmic uncertainty.

I envied the security he derives from what he thinks he knows.

It’s extremely human, when faced with adversity, to fall into wallowing and selfishness and sadness and not wanting to go on, I said to Kilmer. How do you avoid surrendering to those feelings?

“Sometimes you have to be aggressive about finding a way to be courageous,” he said, “and not believing what your physical picture may be demanding you accept as real. Like if someone came into the room, and they were sleepwalking, and they were screaming that their feathers were on fire, what would you do?”

Well, you’re not supposed to wake a sleepwalker, I started to say, and then Kilmer interjected.

“You have to find a way to wake them up,” he said, “because they don’t have feathers, and so they’re not on fire.”

ALEX PAPPADEMAS lives in Los Angeles and writes about pop culture.

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METROGRADES

H E A LT H I E S T

1. SEATTLE, WA 2. SAN JOSE, CA 3. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 4. MADISON, WI 5. SALT LAKE CITY, UT 6. DENVER, CO

THIS MONTH

America’s Heart-Healthiest Cities Ah, June. Father’s Day! The longest day of the year! And . . . Men’s Health Month, when our national health institutions buzzkill the whole summer vibe by reminding us, among other finger wags, that HEART DISEASE is the number-one killer of men and we should probably get that overdue lipid panel. Fair enough, though, because you’ll want to enjoy plenty more Junes. We looked at public health data for the 100 largest cities in the U. S., and THESE ARE THE CITIES WITH THE HEALTHIEST (AND UNHEALTHIEST) HEARTS.

7. SAN DIEGO, CA 8. AUSTIN, TX 9. LINCOLN, NE 10. RALEIGH, NC U N H E A LT H I E S T

91. BUFFALO, NY 92. OKLAHOMA CITY, OK

AUSTIN

TOLEDO

WASHINGTON

TEXAS

OHIO

Seattle had the fewest smokers and has been aggressive on smoking and vaping in public, including a recent temporary ban on the sale of flavored vape products.

Vaping may be just as bad, if not worse, for your heart, according to a 2019 study by scientists from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. One factor: potentially harmful additives that companies mix into vaping products.

Austin-based cardiothoracic surgeon Brannon Hyde, M.D., says the city’s high rating may be due in part to its specialized hospitals, staffed with informed heart doctors who teach preventive tactics: exercising daily, avoiding high-sodium packaged foods, and getting a CT heart scan if you’re over 40 (or ten years younger than a relative when they had heart disease).

Holy Toledo. The city ranked second worst in measures of physical activity and cardiovascular disease and also had the highest obesity rate of all. Even if you’re young, simply being overweight (not obese) increases your risk of suffering a stroke or developing heart disease later in life, according to a 2018 study published in the journal Circulation.

To see where your city ranks, go to MensHealth.com/hearthealthycities S T O P B Y N E X T M O N T H F O R A M E R I C A’ S L O N G E V I T Y C I T I E S .

94. CLEVELAND, OH 95. LOUISVILLE, KY 96. JACKSON, MS 97. TULSA, OK 98. BIRMINGHAM, AL 99. DETROIT, MI 100. TOLEDO, OH METHODOLOGY To calculate our rankings, we assessed stats from national and state government sources on physical activity, smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, coronary disease, and incidence of heart attack and stroke. (Whew.)

The last two were given more weight than the others because they represent major coronary events.

Men’s Health (ISSN 1054-4836) Vol. 35, No. 5 is published 10 times per year, monthly except combined issues in January/February and July/August and when future combined issues are published that count as two issues as indicated on the issue’s cover, by Hearst at 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019. Steven R. Swartz, President & Chief Executive Officer; William R. Hearst III, Chairman; Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman. Hearst Magazines, Inc.: Troy Young, President; Debi Chirichella, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; John A. Rohan Jr., Senior Vice President, Finance; Catherine A. Bostron, Secretary. Copyright 2020 by Hearst Magazines, Inc. All rights reserved. Men’s Health is a registered trademark of Hearst Magazines, Inc. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 507.1.5.2); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address changes to Men’s Health Customer Service, P.O. Box 6000, Harlan, IA 51593-1500. IN CANADA: Postage paid at Gateway, Mississauga, Ontario; Canada Post International Publication Mail (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40012499. Postmaster (Canada): Send returns and address changes to Men’s Health magazine, P.O. Box 927, Stn Main, Markham ON L3P 9Z9 (GST# R122988611). Mailing Lists: From time to time we make our subscriber list available to companies that sell goods and services by mail that we believe would interest our readers. If you would rather not receive such mailings by postal mail, please send your current mailing label or exact copy to: Men’s Health, Mail Preference Center, P.O. Box 6000, Harlan, IA, 51593. You can also visit preferences.hearstmags.com to manage your preferences and opt out of receiving marketing offers by email. Customer Service: Visit service.menshealth.com or write to Men’s Health Customer Service, P.O. Box 6000, Harlan, IA 51593-1500.

100 June 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

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