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JUNE 2020 $9.50 NZ $9.99 INC GST

Home-Made

MUSCLE Your Guide to Training in Isolation

Eating Keto Made Easy Dating Deﬁned

More Knowledge, More Power?

Decoding Modern Romance

The Genius Paradox Explained

Robbie Williams

DR. KIERAN KENNEDY

DOCTOR, PSYCHIATRY RESIDENT, AND COVID19 FRONTLINER

Let Him Enter-train You

The Heroes of the Pandemic

ZIN_MH_0620

ESSENTIAL LOCKDOWN HACKS

CO N TE N TS

54 In the face of COVID-19, men like our cover guy, Dr Kieran Kennedy, have risen to the challenge. May their deeds inspire you to find your most heroic self.

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COVER GUY:

AUSTRALIAN

DR KIERAN KENNEDY PHOTOGRAPHED BY:

JAMES GEER

Home-Made

Eating Keto Made Easy

MUSCLE Your Guide to Training in Isolation

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Dating Deﬁned Decoding Modern Romance

More Knowledge, More Power? The Genius Paradox Explained

SURV

Robbie Williams

DR KIERAN KENNEDY

DOCTOR PSYCHIATRY RESIDENT AND COVID 19 FRONTLINER

Let Him Enter-train You

THA

The Heroes of the Pandemic

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ESSENTIAL LOCKDOWN HACKS

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

T AC T IC S

p16 Better Man Superstar Robbie Williams reveals how he swapped demons for angels.

p94 WTF Our foul-mouthed writer turns to hypnotism to clean up his act.

M IN D

p34 Change Your Story When you correct your skewed perceptions of the past, contentment awaits.

This Is Fifty No point telling this group of superfit fiftysomethings that it’s time to back off. Learn their secrets to turning back the clock.

60 Snack-Sized Workouts Lockdown is your perfect opportunity to try this revolutionary approach to muscling up. Sayonara, endless training sessions.

The Health Snob’s Guide to . . . Ancient Grains Another serving of brown rice isn’t the only way to top up your tank. We delve into the distant past to find these new/old sources of energy.

p74 The Genius Paradox While just about everyone wants one, a soaring IQ can chip away at your sanity.

N U T R IT IO N

p80 The Fast Lane

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Intermittent fasting is all the rage. But which protocol works best?

p124 Keto Made Easy Not getting out much? Seize your chance to try a fat-melting diet.

H E AL T H

p11 Sleep Medicine Pre-vaccine, here’s your single best tactic for dodging COVID-19.

p38 Take Remote Control In this new world, it’s time to become your own OH & S expert.

R E L AT IO N S H IP S

Man of Action Former Royal Marine sniper Aldo Kane has come through more hair-raising scenarios than most blokes have had hot dinners. Now a TV adventurist, he shares his secrets on staying cool when the heat’s on.

p14 Hemmed-in Harmony How to keep things calm at home when you’re seeing a lot more of each other.

p108 MH Dating Dictionary Zombieing? Our A-Z guide to the minefield of modern courtship.

JUNE 2020

EDITOR’S LETTER

menshealth.com.au

“Hindsight is always twenty-twenty” Billy Wilder They say you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone . . . and ain’t that the truth in 2020. Although, on the flip side, perhaps what’s ‘gone’ isn’t of the utmost importance right now. What is important is what you gain from your loss or from the hardship you endure. For me, that’s a profound sense of gratitude – a spirit we’ve endeavoured to capture with this month’s cover. Author Dan Brown suggests that a change of perspective is all it takes to see the light and that’s what we at Men’s Health hope to share in this month’s issue. As we’ve all been forced to slow down and live with our thoughts a little more, it’s been comforting to look back on past experiences with a renewed sense of gratitude. It’s an attitude I suspect will be crucial in coming out of this pandemic stronger. In the decade since 2010, I’d become guarded, sceptical and ever so slightly jaded about the world around me. These are undoubtedly among my lesser qualities, yet this experience has already changed me, increasing my vulnerability immeasurably. What I see happening around us right now is perhaps the single greatest act of global solidarity in history. Acts of selflessness and inspiration are everywhere (p.54), restoring my faith in humanity. New heroes are emerging. They’re not my idols from the sporting field or the big screen; they’re medical experts, sanitation workers and public service employees. ‘Essential’ workers, as they’ve so accurately come to be known. The changes in our day-to-day lives have also fostered a new appreciation for the perceived burdens of yesteryear. What a privilege it was to stare down the barrel of a full schedule of meetings, social engagements and travel. What a blessing it is to have the lessons of prior trials under my belt. Break-ups, loss and hardships that were handled terribly in the moment, at least on my part, have ultimately formed a road map for successfully navigating a crisis. And how fortunate to be ‘cursed’ with a borderline obsession with health and fitness, something we here at Men’s Health share with you, our fellow travellers. First and foremost, however, this period of personal reflection has led to the liberating realisation that I’m not smart enough to handle a situation like this on my own. Rather, I’m smart enough to have surrounded myself with those who are, both professionally and personally. They form a mental health support network that is unmatched. The world will make it through this period. And judging by the way we’ve all banded together, we will emerge stronger.

Men's Health Australia

@MensHealthAU

SCOTT HENDERSON Editor BEN JHOTY Deputy Editor DANIEL WILLIAMS Associate Editor DAVID ASHFORD Creative Director JASON LEE Deputy Art Director LAUREN WILLIAMSON Digital Content Manager – Health ALEX PIEROTTI Digital Content Editor HARRIET SIM Editorial Coordinator/Junior Writer TODD LIUBINSKAS Fitness Director ERIN DOCHERTY Grooming Writer

ANN-MAREE MULDERS

KATHY GLAVAS

Brand Solutions Director

Head of Health

CHRIS MATHEWS

COURTENAY MCDERMOTT

Brand Solutions Manager

Senior Marketing Manager – Health

NATALIE WARD

JOHN GUMAPAS

Client Partnerships and Brand Integration Director

Production Controller

ALEX DALRYMPLE

Digital Imaging Specialist

Multimedia Content Producer JEREMY SUTTON

Group Subscriptions Manager

menshealth@paciﬁcmags.com.au

Working it out: Henderson with Mick Fanning, one of our daily live guest trainers on @menshealthAU.

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ALLAN WEBSTER

Advertising Operations Manager

GUY TORRE Chief Financial Officer LOUISA HATFIELD Group Content and Brand Director

ANDREW BRAIN National Sales Director MARK BOORMAN Group Production Manager

RICHARD DORMENT

Editor in Chief, Men’s Health US

KIM ST. CLAIR BODDEN

SVP/Editorial & Brand Director CHLOE O’BRIEN

SVP/Managing Director Asia Pacific & Russia

Deputy Brands Director

RICHARD BEAN

Executive Director, Content Services

Director of International Licensing and Business Development

Scott Henderson

PHIL CAMERON

GEREURD ROBERTS Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Magazines

SIMON HORNE

‘Everything’s OK in the end. If it’s not OK, then it’s not the end’ – John Lennon

@MensHealthAU

SHELLEY MEEKS

Pacific Magazines, Media City, 8 Central Avenue, Eveleigh, NSW 2015 Phone: (02) 9394 2000 Fax: (02) 9394 2319 Subscription enquiries: 1300 668 118 Printed by IVE. Distributed by Ovato Retail Distribution Australia. Published 12 times a year. Registered business name Pacific Magazines Pty Ltd, (ABN) 16 097 410 896. All rights reserved. Title and trademark Men’s Health © Hearst Magazines International. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission. Men’s Health is a registered trademark and the unauthorised use of this trademark is strictly prohibited.

AS K M H COVID19 SU RVIVAL

Protect yourself from COVID-19 infection by training in the sweet spot.

THE BIG QUESTION

Will working out really increase my resistance to COVID-19? – MB Good question, MB. And recent work in the field of exercise immunology will allow us to give you an evidence-based answer. In short, go for it. Working out is one of the best things you can do to fend off this infernal virus. However – and this is important – don’t flog yourself into the carpet. A review last year in the Journal of Sport and Health Science confirmed the findings of earlier research that found people who did moderate levels of exercise reduced their risk of contracting upper-respiratory tract infections (of which COVID-19 is one) by more than 30 per cent compared

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to inactive types. “Moderate” means at least one hour of exercise per day, but not all of that has to be full-bore efforts; walking, for example, counts. Each bout of exercise ramps up your immune system – the whole shebang of immunogloubins, anti-inflammatory cytokines, T cells and the rest. “With near-daily exercise,” the review authors found, “these acute changes operate through a summation effect to enhance immune-defence activity.” It is possible to over-train, however – never a good idea but particularly inadvisable now. There’s a point at which training crosses over from boosting immunity to undermining

it, with excessively high workloads causing “immune perturbations, inflammation, oxidative stress and increased illness risk”. (Up to 18 per cent of athletes get sick after international meets.) Exactly what constitutes “repeated cycles of heavy exertion” will vary between individuals. You’ll know whether your training is having the effect of energising or flattening you. One more tip: you can help counteract any negative effects of vigorous training by consuming carbs during your workout. Fruit juices or sports drinks, or sugar-dense fruits such as bananas, are ideal.

ANCIENT SOLUTION TO A MODERN PROBLEM Q How do I stop fretting about getting sick and society collapsing?

ASK THE GIRLS IN THE ZOOM ROOM Ask the MH girls the questions you can’t ask anyone else. They’re three women who speak their mind, so don’t expect sugar-coated answers

A He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary.” – Seneca The Younger; d. 65AD

TEXT A DOCTOR Hey doc. I’m struggling to cope with social distancing and forced lockdown? Any suggestions? LIZZA

HARRIET

Sure. Try to keep some sense of routine in your day. Get up and go to bed at your normal times. Go through your morning routine – don’t just stay in pyjamas all day. If you’re working from home, schedule work and meetings as you would when you’re in the office. What about the social side of things? I hear you. Social distancing and isolation protocols are incredibly important right now but try to make some form of social contact – like a Zoom or Skype call with a mate – a part of your day. Cool. Anything else? Test out a mindfulness practice like progressive muscle relaxation or deep breathing. There are some great apps for both of these. Right. What about the news? It’s stressing me out. Yeah, I’d be careful about the misinformation and myths flying around on social media. Info overload and buying into myths around the virus have caused a lot of anxiety. Get your info from reputable sources only. Okay, will do. What about exercise? Good point. Make it a priority to keep some form of activity and exercise up every day [see left]. Running and walking are easy ones. Invest in a home weights set-up if you have the space and get into virtual bodyweight workouts (like the ones MH offers on Insta). Doing communal exercise in your lounge can help you feel connected. Dr Kieran Kennedy, Neuropsychiatry resident, Melbourne

LUC Y

I’m a single guy looking to date. How do I go about it in this time of social distancing? - Matt Harriet: It’s funny. I read this story about a guy in New York who flew a drone to a girl in the next apartment with his number attached. It’s kind of endearing. Could be a bit creepy, though! Lucy: Something similar happened to my friend, minus the drone. Basically, there was all this back and forth sticking notes in the window, and every time they’d come to the window they’d checked for a reply.t. Lizza: But these examples only work if you live close by, right? Harriet: True. But would you really want to start

dating someone new during these times? Lucy: I think I’d be more inclined to date and use apps in quarantine than not. I just think it takes a lot of the pressure off. Lizza: I agree. It also feels safer. Obviously, it’s physically safer, but it’s also emotionally safer because of the distance. You can control how fast you get to know that person. Harriet: I’m pretty sure ‘Bumble’ even has a built-in Facetime feature. You could give that a go? Lizza: There’s also a lot of sex toys geared up for long-distance dating . . .

Harriet: Have you guys ever done a long-distance relationship before? Lizza: I have and it wasn’t easy, but it makes you work out if that person is worth feeling all this angst over, you know? I think it’s harder to create connections on screen. Harriet: Agreed. But it’s also a good opportunity to get to know someone first without rushing it. You could schedule a ‘Netflix Party’ where you stream a movie and chat at the same time. Lucy: It’s kind of making you go back to more traditional forms of dating. I like that.

Fire off your query to facebook.com/MensHealthAU

JUNE 2020

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YOUR MONTHLY DOWNLOAD OF THE LATEST LIFE ENHANCING RESEARCH

QUIT DREAMING AND SLEEP OFF THIS VIRUS NIGHTMARE

SULTAN OF SLEEP

Quality slumber proving elusive? These tips from sleep guru Matthews will have your eyelids feeling heavy

Until scientists develop the magic bullet to stop COVID-19 in its tracks, quality sack-time is the closest thing you have to a vaccine

RISEANDSHINE HERE’S THE TROUBLING thing about a COVID-19 vaccine: we may never have one. “Vaccines are very hard to do. We’ve spent years trying to create a universal flu vaccine and haven’t quite got there yet,” says Professor Eddie Holmes, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Sydney. No vaccine came to the rescue in the MERS (2012) or SARS (2002) outbreaks, nor a century ago when the Spanish Flu infected 500 million people and killed at least 20 million before running out of victims to infect. In fact, there’s never been a vaccine for any coronavirus. That’s not to say many brilliant minds aren’t working on one for this latest scourge. They are. And around the clock. At last count, some 60 candidate vaccines are in preliminary testing, two in Australia by the CSIRO. Best-case scenario: you’ll get your COVID-19 jab sometime next year. So, what to do in the meantime? Well, along with all the recommended hygiene and social-distancing measures, and

upgrading your diet [see next page], your best defence is to lie down, shut your eyes and sleep like a log for seven-plus hours per night. “Sleep plays a vital role in the function of the body’s immune system,” says Dr Raymond Matthews, a sleep and fatigue researcher at the University of South Australia. “When people suffer from a lack of sleep, they’re reducing their body’s natural killer cells – the white blood cells that hunt down virallyinfected cells – which means they may be compromising their immune system and increasing their risk of getting sick.” Looking ahead, Matthews says getting on top of your sleep will boost your response to a COVID-19 vaccine, if and when it arrives. “Research has found that a lack of sleep reduces the effectiveness of the influenza vaccination by half, indicating just how important sleep is for producing the necessary antibodies required to fight infections.”

Adequate sleep will fortify your anti-viral defences.

A morning dose of sunshine sets your cicardian rhythms for daytime activity/nighttime shutdown. Get out early.

SKIPTHEPMCOFFEE Depending on your sensitivity to caffeine, a single cup of coffee post-lunch could derail your ability to fall and stay asleep. Skip it.

MAKELIGHTWORKOFDINNER Even some healthy foods (steak, beans, broccoli) are a poor choice for your evening meal because your body has to work overtime to digest them. Another culprit: tomatoes, which trigger the release of the stimulatory neurotransmitter norepinephrine. Peas, please.

SWITCH OFF TV – even a comedy – before bed is unhelpful because the artificial light interferes with sleep hormone melatonin. Anxiety-inducing coronavirus coverage is the double whammy. Try a book instead.

JUNE 2020

06 20

Vegetables are your allies in the COVID-19 war.

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TIME TO EAT LIKE AN ANIMAL Getting primitive with food choices will help you get through this pandemic unscathed WHEN LIFE FEELS out of control, taking charge of your diet can be soothing. For some of us right now, eating well could mean the difference between getting sick or not, between feeling subpar for a bit and a stint in an ICU. David Raubenheimer and Stephen J. Simpson, scientists based at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney and the co-authors of Eat Like the Animals (HarperCollins Australia), argue this is the perfect time to copy our animal friends. “They know how to listen to their nutrient appetites, which guide them to make healthy food choices – including when they’re sick,” Raubenheimer and Simpson tell Men’s Health. “They can change their diet to self-medicate.

VIRUS BUSTING FOODS

Close in on impregnability with these tips from dietitian Hayley Blieden, founder of The Australian Superfood Co

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Our favourite example is an experiment where we infected caterpillars with a lethal virus. What we found was that infected caterpillars shifted their diet to a different macronutrient mix and when they did, they survived the infection far better than others kept on the normal diet that is best for uninfected caterpillars.” For COVID-19, the risk of suffering a more severe case rises with three factors: older age, the co-presence of chronic conditions and poor metabolic health linked with being overweight. “Both the rate at which we age and chronic diseases are very closely tied to diet,” the authors say. So, how does someone gear their diet for maximum immune health? Raubenheimer and

Simpson talk about balancing your macronutrients, and getting enough fibre and vitamins A, C, D, E, B2, B6 and B12, as well as folic acid, iron, selenium and zinc. Which sounds complicated. Except it needn’t be. “All it takes to change your diet to support immune health is to avoid junk food and replace it with whole foods, including lots of fruit and veg, healthy fats such as olive oil, and your favourite high quality protein foods (lean meat, fish, eggs, pulses, nuts and seeds),” the authors say. “With such a diet, you will automatically get minerals and vitamins without needing supplements, and your gut bugs will be ecstatic. Add a good dose of sleep and exercise and you will be well set.” Thanks, fellas.

LOAD UP ON VEG

DRINK UP

JOIN THE CULTURE CLUB

EAT THE RAINBOW

Gor for 5-10 daily serves for their phytochemical punch.

Water is crucial in flushing out germs. Think you’re getting enough? Drink an extra 1-2 glasses daily.

Probiotic foods, like yoghurt, boost immunity and may diminish illness severity.

Red, orange, green, purple. All help in different ways.

06 20

ID-1A9L COV RVIV SU

Don’t let cabin fever rip you two asunder.

KEEP THAT LOVIN’ FEELING DURING COVID-19 CONFINEMENT

PLAY TIME

These inhouse activities will inject positivity into your relationship, says Karantzas

Seeing a whole lot more of your partner could trigger trouble in paradise. Here’s how to maintain harmony amid upheaval MOST LIVE-IN couples settle into a weekday pattern of parting ways in the morning for about 10 hours, leaving just evenings and weekends to savour each other’s company. And for a lot of pairings, that level of togetherness feels just right. Alas, a global pandemic has a way of upending every part of your life, and the temporal dynamics of your key relationship are no exception. Tensions arising from both of you suddenly working from home can emerge rapidly, observes Gary Karantzas, an associate professor of psychology in the Science of Adult Relationships Laboratory at Deakin University. “Irrespective of how much we love our partner, people are used to having some personal space in which to do their work or decompress,” says Karantzas. “Those things we took for granted have been challenged 14

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or flipped upside down.” The most vulnerable couples in the weeks or months ahead are those whose relationship was already showing cracks; cabin fever has a way of turning cracks into chasms. On the other hand, for an essentially healthy relationship, a fourpronged strategy should keep it that way, reassures Karantzas. Rule 1: Draw up a schedule. Don’t assume you’ll be able to be singleminded about your work anymore. “Your first shift might be from 6-10am, after which you look after the kids or prepare lunch.” Your second shift might kick off in the mid-afternoon, once your partner’s knocked off some of their commitments. Rule 2: Be ready to forgive and apologise. These are tense times in which we’re having to learn new skills on the run. There will be blow-ups. “You need to give

each other permission to make mistakes,” says Karantzas. “The couples that do well . . . it’s not that they don’t argue. It’s that they move quickly towards a resolution.” Rule 3: Ease each other’s anxiety. Even if you’re keeping it together, your partner might not be. You may need to give comfort if the barrage of grim news is freaking them out. “Empathise. Normalise those feelings. And point out all the things you’re doing as a couple to minimise the threat.” Rule 4: Have some fun. “Something we know is that what makes relationships negative is not just the presence of negative things, it’s the absence of positive things.” So, find them in captivity [see right]. Play it smart and your relationship won’t be a coronavirus casualty.

GOLDEN OLDIE Rewatch the first movie you ever saw together.

COMFORT FOOD Cook a dish with sentimental significance for both of you.

TALK THERAPY Chat with mutual friends online. Mutual is the key word.

REVEAL YOUR DREAMS Make shared plans for when this is over, remembering that trip to Greece may be a way off.

SITTING PRETTY: WILLIAMS HAS FINALLY FOUND CONTENTMENT AND PURPOSE.

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ADVANTAGE STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME

BETTER MAN Pop superstar Robbie Williams got in fighting shape while beating his mental demons into submission. Here he reveals how he pulled off perhaps the biggest transformation of them all BY BEN JHOT Y

JUNE 2020

MH: You’re in the best shape of your life. Can you explain to us how you got there? RW: Well, it’s a process of elimination. Also, unfortunately, it has been a case of progress, not perfection. The progress has been millimetre by millimetre. And then it’s been a case of three steps forward, five steps back on the way to finding some sort of balance. I’m naturally inclined to do extreme things that don’t work to my benefit. You know, slimming pills, restricting what you eat, all of the above. Everything that you can possibly imagine, other than educating yourself properly. I’ve released 13 albums. At the start, this is how it would run for me. I’d start an album, do the promo and I wouldn’t have eaten anything. So I’m thin. And by the time Christmas comes and I’m three months into it, I’m fat. Then I’d

ROBBIE WILLIAMS is sitting alone in a sprawling hotel suite at Crown Towers, almost 40 stories above the Melbourne skyline. “It’s as if Scrooge McDuck in the ’80s had a hotel suite of his own,” says Williams, admiring the stunning view and the sheer size of the blank TV that reflects his silhouette. It’s 8.30 on a Thursday night. A half-eaten plate of sushi sits in front of him, alongside a giant platter of oranges. Williams is two days out from cancelling a concert and going into self-isolation due to COVID-19. Just like the rest of us, he’ll try his best to shield himself and loved ones from an invisible, indiscriminate menace. It’s unchartered territory for everybody but it’s perhaps a particularly novel experience for Williams, a man more used to grappling with a formidable collection of internal demons – depression, anxiety, alcoholism, drugs, body dysmorphia, sex addiction and agoraphobia – that have haunted him throughout his iconic 30-year career. “I’m addicted to anything that changes the way I feel,” he says plainly. “You know, I haven’t had a drink for 20 years. I haven’t done cocaine for a long, long, long time. But I will always drift towards self-sabotage. There’s a magnetic North. And in that magnetic North is just self-destruction.” And yet here he is, as irrepressible and irreverent as ever. One of the most successful British solo artists of all time with 12 No.1 albums and over 75 million records sold globally, 18

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Williams has either beaten or brokered a truce with most of his vices. The one exception and, indeed, the hardest one to combat, is food. But with the help of WW (formerly Weight Watchers), he’s well on the way to reaching a détente with that one, too. “I probably have to live a life that other people will find extreme,” he says, speaking slowly and deliberately. “But not extreme in a bad way. Just like, ‘Okay. A, B and C are making me feel really guilty and full of shame, where I don’t want to go out because I don’t look my best and I don’t want people to see me. So, what am I going to do to guard against feeling like that?’ I look after myself.” This points-tallying, step-counting version of Williams is something of a revelation. He notched up 13,000 steps today playing 18 holes of golf, he tells me proudly. At first, he was mystified as to why that was 2000 fewer than the previous day before deciding it must have been a reflection of his performance. “I realised I hit it straighter today,” he laughs. This is what happens to popstars if they get old. If you manage to survive the crucible of super fame and its chorus line of potential saboteurs – decadence, debauchery, self-denial and destruction – you’re going to be transformed. Because Lord knows, when you’ve soared as high and sunk as low as Williams has, if you do make it to the other side, you can’t help but be a better man.

T A C T IC S

spend the next six months trying to lose the weight that I gained from the previous three months, to varying degrees of success and failure. I just got fucking sick of the cycle of mental torture, shame and guilt. But I’m 46 and I walked through the horizon. I thought that as a 21-year-old with very low self-esteem, huge depression, no self-worth, that I would walk through the horizon and when I’d get there, everything would be fixed. I’ve come to realise that food is the last thing for me to conquer to actually feel whole and content. I wish that I would have reached this place 15 years ago, but I didn’t. But now, I am here. Today has been a very successful day with what I’ve eaten and hopefully tomorrow will be a very successful day, too.

MH: The way you’re talking about food – day by day and vicious cycles – it sounds like you could be talking about any number of substances. Would you group it with the other things that you’ve struggled with? RW: Oh, absolutely. I’m an addict. But as a 46-year-old with four children and a wonderful wife, I now have laser-accuracy purpose. Daddy goes to work. Daddy has to be the best version of himself. My wife’s husband has to be loving and caring and not grumpy and miserable, to the best of his ability. There was a person that I always thought that I could be, but it was camouflaged and bogged down underneath so much shit that it was becoming impossible to be that person. As it happens, the person that I always thought I could be, I’m becoming. But fuck me. It’s taken its time. But it’s here now and

it’s a blessing and it’s beautiful. It’s just a shame that in my prime and in my pomp, I was just completely and utterly devastated with depression and misery. MH: Would you say that getting on top of food as a vice helps you across the board? Is food at the root of everything for you? RW: Well, it is when you get rid of absolutely everything else. It becomes the last obstacle to overcome. It’s a constant. Because if you’ve stopped doing coke, you don’t see coke. I don’t seek it, so I don’t see it. It’s not around me. If I don’t want to drink, I don’t have to drink. I don’t have to go to the pub. I don’t have to go to the club. And that’s all right. I’m fine with that. But with food, you have to eat it. So, you’re constantly triggered in some way with some

D RAPI

FIRE

Favourite exercise? Boxing. Least favourite? Running. Cheat meal? Fries. Last week I had fries with caviar. Karaoke song? I don’t do karaoke. If I did, it would be Journey, Don’t Stop Believin’. Hero? My beloved, departed manager, David Enthoven. Motto? If it’s got tits or wheels, you’ll have problems with it sooner or later. Advice to yourself as a 20-year-old? Don’t release Rudebox as the first single from the album, Rudebox.

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form of self-abuse that you have to consume to be alive. So, it’s different. It’s different than sex addiction, coke addiction and booze addiction because you don’t have to have those things. MH: I hadn’t thought about it like that. RW: Well, I’m like a pack of Pringles, I am. Once I pop, I cannot stop. MH: For someone with that kind of addictive personality, how big a fear is mortality and that rock star cliché of men who surrendered to their appetites? RW: It does creep up as a thought every now and again, but I go, ‘What’s the point?’ What’s the point in indulging in that thought?’ I’m very much, ‘What will be, will be’, with that kind of stuff. It’s not one of my thousand fears. MH: Well, you’ve said in the past that obesity is your greatest fear. Is that still the case? RW: Yes, I suppose it is. But you say that and people will then say, ‘Well, you’ve got four kids. Aren’t you worried about their wellbeing?’ That’s another one of those thoughts that I don’t have. I’m like, ‘My kids are fucking great today’. I’m sure there are bigger fears, but the one that affects me all day, every day, is food. MH: It’s obviously amplified for you, because you’re in the public eye. Seeing yourself on camera must heighten everything? RW: I’ve been abused and vilified. At a time in the ’90s when bullying was acceptable, a lot of bullying did happen to me. I was already incredibly over-sensitive. Those things go into the computer and they make me malfunction and make me unhappy and make me sad.

Because my image of myself wasn’t that great already, without the “Blobby Robbie” headlines I received. MH: Were struggles with poor body image behind the agoraphobia you experienced in the mid 2010s? RW: In 2006, I was living a life that’s inhabited by very, very few. The intense spotlight on me was probably shared by four or five other people that were, as they say, ‘Box office for tabloids’. Life was unbearable and unmanageable. I think that I would have suffered with depression anyway, but that definitely didn’t help. These days, if I happen upon the paparazzi, it’s because they’re going somewhere to see somebody else and they get me by mistake. But back then, I was being followed 24 hours a day and there was like, six car-fulls of guys. It’s difficult for people to imagine what that feels like, but I can tell you that not many people come out of it alive or feel whole. You’re being abused on a daily basis by sociopaths that have zero empathy, who are putting landmines in front of you. If a policeman tails somebody for 500 miles, even if you’re the safest driver on the planet, you’re going to get a ticket at some point. It’s like nobody was there following me to record and write about the best bits about my life. There was abuse, bullying, being maligned, chipping and battering away at my self-esteem. It was an awful, awful period. I don’t think there’s anybody on the planet that doesn’t go crazy when that happens. I don’t think anybody manages it well, because it’s inhumane. MH: Let’s look at where you are now. Why would you say something like WW works for

you? Do you need a template when it comes to food? RW: Do you know what? What happened was I was smoking because I had done this extreme diet. And because it was so extreme, I needed something to calm my emotions because my body was starving itself. So, I started smoking again. My wife said to me, ‘January 1st, you’ve got to give up smoking’. I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea’, because I don’t want to die like that. Then after December, she went, ‘It’s January the 1st’. I raged inside. It was like, ‘You can’t control me’. But I thought, ‘Well, it’s for the best. I just have to reframe this’. I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to give up smoking and I’m going to lose weight and I’m going to get really fit’. And then the next day, the phone rang and it was WW. They said, ‘We want to pay you to get really healthy, give up smoking and be really fit’. I was like, ‘The fucking universe spoke to me’. I went, ‘Yes, universe. Thank you’. I started to do the boxing, but I was still eating. I was a WW person, by name. I thought that the boxing was going to do the trick and it did. I felt healthier, but I was still eating the same. And then April of that year, I was like, ‘Do you know what? I’m going to give this points thing a go’. I think that the parameters they give you are very achievable. I haven’t been depriving myself of anything food-wise for the last year now. Once you learn how much the points are for different things, you can’t unlearn them. So, when I had that mammoth chocolate binge that would always happen on the weekends, I would go and look at the points system and find out how much damage I’d done. I can’t do that to myself anymore. It’s like once you go to an AA meeting, you know that every drink you have is laced with the knowledge that you have a

POUND FOR POUND, THE TOUGHEST POP STAR ON THE PLANET?

MEN’S HE ALTH

T A C T IC S

MH: Throughout your career you’ve been very open about your mental health, long before a lot of other celebrities started talking about their issues. Where does that vulnerability come from and why is it important for you to be so open? RW: I don’t know. I just have a compulsion to expose my inner dialogue. I’m not in control of it. It wasn’t planned and it is never planned on a day-to-day basis. I just know that I have to. It’s a feeling inside me where I have to tell people what’s going on. I know that a lot of the time, it can be brutally frank, but I have no control over my own compulsion to tell people how I feel.

BL ED WILLIAMS IN MORE TROU T) GH (RI 2.0 IE BB RO D TIMES AN

problem. I suppose that with WW, it’s a similar sort of thing. Once you learn the points, you can’t unlearn those points. MH: So, what do you enjoy about boxing? RW: I like getting my aggression out. I like learning the technique. I also really like the fact that I can throw a really, really hard punch. I think for whatever reason, it’s important for a man to know that you can protect yourself. You know, that you are capable of throwing this left and right and whoever you’re going to hit is going to be affected by that. I like the fact that I’ve got a bit about me. I also like the serotonin levels going up. It’s fun throwing punches. Because me and my mates will get padding on and we’ll go about it. We’ll hit each other. That’s a load of fun. I can’t get on that treadmill – it’s so boring. I’m not bothered about being on a bike and doing the same thing for 45 minutes. With boxing, there’s so much more discipline to it and different things that you can do. An hour passes by without you noticing it.

I JUST HAVE A COMPULSION TO EXPOSE MY INNER DIALOGUE. I’M NOT IN CONTROL OF IT

MH: So, you could definitely beat Liam (Gallagher), then? RW: I would absolutely destroy him. Absolutely. That’s why he won’t fight me, because he knows I will destroy him. MH: What does a typical session involve? RW: We’ll start with a little bit of a jog and then there’ll be stations. The pad work is the gift during those stations of lunges, sits-ups and push-ups. You get to beat up on the mitts for a minute. MH: A lot of addictive personalities like golf, perhaps because it’s a game you can’t conquer. What do you like about it? RW: I like the fact that it gives me purpose. I like the fact that for three-and-a-half to four-and-ahalf hours, all I’m thinking about next is hitting that little white ball. If all I’m thinking about next is hitting that little white ball, I’m not thinking about me. I can spend a lot of time, too much time, thinking about me. I like the fact that it’s incredibly difficult and it’s

incredibly frustrating and you will never complete it. But the journey to get to a better version of yourself playing that game is, for me, compulsive and addictive and joyous and heartbreaking, all at the same time. MH: Have you ever got fully into weight training? Or do you worry that it would lead to a whole other kind of obsession for you? RW: Put ‘Robbie Williams muscles’ into your computer and have a look at the images. There’s one of me with a pair of jeans on in the dressing room with absolute joke-sized arms. I looked like a doorman for a little while. MH: And how did you find that? RW: Look, my logic was that because I’m working with a naturally bigger frame, instead of trying to be Jim Morrison, why don’t I try to be The Rock? Because that’s what I’ve got going on. So, I would have these tremendously long workout sessions where I would work out for like two-and-a-half to three hours. But then I would eat Minstrels for three hours, too. So, because I’d be burning so many calories I’d be wanting to replenish myself. But I wasn’t replenishing myself with the right stuff. So, eventually, the workouts became that extreme that I couldn’t keep up with myself. So, I stopped working out and just had the chocolate instead.

MH: Your publicists must love it. RW: Well, it’s worked in my favour, because I think that everybody in my line of work, works at everything to do with their voice, their songwriting ability and their image. But no one gives a fuck about their personality, you know? If you look at the charts, there are a few people that stand out as having a personality, but not many do.

MH: You’ve said that you only started enjoying being a pop star and performing live three or four years ago. What changed? RW: Kids. I was just going around bumping off hotel rooms and sort of getting onto planes and being unhappy and thinking, ‘What the fuck is the point? What’s the point of anything?’ Because that was the lens I was looking through. And then when the children came, I was like, ‘Oh. Purpose. Daddy goes to work’. So, I have a tremendous job and it is a job. Whereas before, it wasn’t. It was neither a vocation nor a job. It was just something that was fucking happening to me, that was happening on the outside of my very being and not to me. Now, I’ve got four kids. I’ve got a wife. And I have the ability to give them a life beyond my wildest dreams. I love being able to do what I do for a living and give them what I can give them. And in the process, I’ve become a better popstar. I’ve become a better person, husband, friend. So, because of the children, I now have this mountain of purpose underneath me that propels me forward. I’m now wanting to go towards it, instead of wanting to shy away from it and minimise it and rubbish it and be nihilistic. I’m really fucking disappointed that I didn’t do this for me a lot earlier, but you can only know what you know at the time. It’s about fucking time, to be honest with you. JUNE 2020

M U SC LE

YOUR STAND ROUTINE FOR 1 FOUNDATION LEVEL

Lying on your back, rest the sandbag over your left shoulder and hold it with your left hand. Bend your left knee with your right arm out to the side, ﬂat on the ﬂoor, and right leg outstretched.

Simple swaps yield heavyweight results. The SANDBAG GET-UP upgrades an all-star move to sculpt your back, core and legs. Build your foundations on sand YOU DON’T NEED a strongman gym to build functional fitness. Simply grab a sandbag to elevate the classic turkish get-up to new heights. “The traditional move is a masterclass in control and finesse,” explains fitness trainer Andrew Tracey. “But this variation has more in common with the wrestling ring than the weights room.” Strongman and functional training are trending for a reason. “The unpredictable load means no two attempts will be the same, giving your core, back and legs a new stimulus with each rep,” he adds. This move is perfectly deployed on its own as an AMRAP (as many reps as possible). Pick a short timeframe – five minutes will give you plenty of time under tension to fuel your gains – and push through as many high-quality reps as you can. Whatever your score, that’s the number to beat the next time. This finisher might just finish you off.

THE

EXERCISE YOU’RE NOT T DOING

MEN’S HE ALTH

Move up from youur right elbow to your right hand, before liftinng your hips off the ﬂoor to form a bridge. Shooot your right leg underneath your body, positioning yourself on your right knee. Brace your ccore to hold steady.

4 STAND PROUD

TREETRUNK LEGS

Take your hand off the ﬂoor and get into a kneeling lunge. Drive through your front foot to stand tall. You’re halfway. Reverse the move slowly, then go straight into the second rep. You’ u re on the clock, reem mbbe ber.r. ber

WORDS BY MICHAEL JENNINGS; PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHIL HAYNES

LEAN CORE

Unlike with a kettlebell get-up, don’t try to sit up in one go. Instead, roll to your right, aiming for the gap under your right armpit. Keeping the bag secure, use the momentum to get up onto your right elbow.

3 TAKE A KNEE

What You’ll Gain

STRONGMAN STRENGTH

2 ON A ROLL

THE HEALTH SNOB’S GUIDE TO

ANCIENT GRAINS Brown rice isn’t the only way to refuel. Take your fitness back to its roots with these potent, truly long-term energy sources

IN W ITH THE OLD

The endless debate around carbohydrates can be tiresome: low carb or low fat? Vegan or paleo? The short answer is that, with the right ingredients, carbs can power all of your healthy ambitions. But knowing this doesn’t make yet another sweet potato any more appealing. The solution is to heed the lessons of history – ancient history. Enter Chantelle Nicholson, chef patron at Tredwells, who’ll help you turn these grains into meals that will satisfy any 21st-century appetite.

A Amaranth Whether popped, puffed, or ground into ﬂour, this Aztec staple is rich in niacin, which boosts levels of good HDL cholesterol and lowers harmful triglycerides, protecting you from cardiovascular disease.

B Farro A mainstay in heart-healthy Mediterranean diets, farro has a satisfying, rice-like texture and packs 15g of protein per 100g serving, making it a useful ally for vegans who want to build new muscle.

R E A P TH E R E WA R D S

Adding more grains to your diet, ancient or otherwise, will require a lot of boiling, so a proper saucepan is a prerequisite. Circulon’s anodised pans ($119, circulon.com.au) are twice as hard as stainless steel and don’t scratch or chip, so you can even run metal utensils through your grains to fluff them up. Kilner jars ($19.95, kitchenware.com.au) are a smart next step for storage: put an end to those supposedly resealable supermarket packets leaking tiny grains all over your floor. Finally, though these ancient carbs are flavourful, adding extra punch with fresh herbs, citrus zest and garlic is very much encouraged. A Microplane grater ($26, petersofkensington.com.au) will extract the maximum flavour from lemons and cloves, while a mezzaluna ($17.95, everten.com.au) will sharpen your skills as you finely chop your herbs. Your energyboosting meals will taste a cut above.

The ﬁbre-rich new kid on the block (or, at least, your supermarket shelves), this produces short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate when digested, improving your gut health and lowering your colon cancer risk.

D Quinoa The OG of the AGs, this South American import contains all nine essential amino acids and is also particularly high in ﬁbre. That means it’ll help you lose weight, but none of your gains.

MEN’S HE ALTH

WORDS BY MILLIE WEST; PHOTOGRAPHY BY LOUISA PARRY

C Buckwheat

NU T R I T IO N

3 AGA IN S T TH E GR A IN BOW L Outgun the bland offerings of the flavour-averse wellness brigade with these moreish, nutritionally potent recipes from Nicholson and Tredwells. They’re all batch cooks, too, so you can box up the leftovers for a deluxe al desko refuel tomorrow.

OLD-SCHOOL ELIXIRS There were superfoods long before turmeric lattes – don’t let the old ways die

HeartyChicken rty & Amaranth Stew

Veggie Mu uscle Farro Fritters

SERVES 4 • Amaranth, 300g • A medium whole chicken • Carrots, 2, quartered • Celery sticks, 2, quartered • Onions, 2, quartered • Bay leaves, 2 • Sage leaves, 8, shredded • Leeks, 2, ﬁnely chopped

SERVES 4 • Farro, 150g • Zucchinis, 6, grated • Salt, 2tsp • Vegetable oil, 4Tbsp • Shallots, 4, diced • A garlic clove, diced • Cumin, 2Tbsp, crushed • Plain ﬂour, 4Tbsp • Cheddar, 70g, grated • Zest of a lemon • Chopped parsley, 3Tbsp • Chilli ﬂakes, ½tsp

METHOD Place the chicken, carrots, celery, onion and herbs in a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil, simmering for an hour. Remove the chicken and vegetables; separate the meat from the bone and chop up the veg. Add the amaranth and leeks; simmer for ﬁve minutes. Drop the meat and veg back into the stew and reheat. When the amaranth is cooked, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

METHOD Boil the farro for 20 minutes, then drain and set aside. Grate the zucchini and sprinkle with salt. Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a pan; add the shallots and garlic and fry until soft. Throw in the cumin and transfer to a bowl. Squeeze out as much liquid from the zucchinis as possible for extra crispness. Add the ﬂour, cheese, farro, zest and parsley. Shape into eight balls, then ﬂatten into patties. Fry the patties in the remaining oil. Sprinkle with chilli for a spicy hit.

PorkScratchings This UK pub classic is, in effect, con oncentrated collagen, n so your go-to snack coul uld be responsible for thatt post-pub skin glow. That, or the pale ale.

Liver Don’t scoff at your granddad’s hankering for liver and onions. One 100g serving is s loaded with cop pper, crucial for hea althy blood vess sels.

Lard Swapping to ma argarine would be a step backwards for your health, research suggests. Lard, meanwhile, contains three times the omega-3s of butter.

HappyBellyBuckwheat Meatball

Lamb and Quiin a ra

SERVES 4 • Toasted buckwheat, cooked, 200g • Beef mince, 600g • Parsley, a bunch • Tomato sauce, 8Tbsp • Worcestershire sauce, 6Tbsp • Onions, 2, diced • Vegetable oil, 4Tbsp • Chopped tomatoes, 400g • Dijon mustard, 1Tbsp • Cheddar, 200g, grated

SERVES 4 • Quinoa, 180g • Lamb, 600g, diced • Onions, 2, diced • Cumin, 1tsp, crushed • Tomato purée, 2Tbsp • Red wine, 250ml • Bay leaves, 2 • Rosemary, 5 sprigs • Chicken stock, 600ml • A carrot, diced • A parsnip, diced • A sweet potato, diced

METHOD Combine the mince, parsley and half the tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and onions. Divide into 16 balls. Fry the rest of the onions in oil. Add the tomatoes, mustard, 100ml of water and the remaining tomato and Worcestershire sauces. Simmer for 10 minutes, then blend until smooth. Add the buckwheat. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brown the meatballs, place in a dish and cover with the buckwheat sauce. Top with the cheese and bake for 20 minutes.

i g Fuel

METHOD Coat the lamb in ﬂour and salt, then brown and set aside. Heat the onions and cumin with some oil in a casserole dish at 140°C until caramelised. Add the purée, red wine and herbs and reduce to a syrup. Pour in the stock and 200ml of water, then simmer for a further 15 minutes. Add the lamb, cover and bake for two hours. Throw the carrots, parsnip, sweet potato and quinoa into the stew and simmer for 20 minutes. Resist the urge to tuck in early.

JUNE 2020

YOU GUYS

GOOD GUY, BAD DRINKER When booze is involved, you might not be as charming as you think you are, writes Lauren Larson IL LUS T R AT ION BY NATHALIE LEE S

MEN’S HE ALTH

GOOD DRUNKS are all alike; every bad drunk is bad in his or her own way. I, for example, am a self-destructive bad drunk. I’m pleasant until my fourth drink, after which I can be found weeping in the street, wondering where my phone is. (I am also prone to gifting my personal effects to strangers.) Other drunks are bad in outwardfacing ways. They’re belligerent and defensive. They take their pants off at corporate events. They get “handsy”. Case in point: in August 2017, I was sitting at a bar with friends. I was pre-weepy, somewhere between drinks two and four, when I felt something on my right thigh. For a second I thought it was my skirt bunching up, so I did a little wiggle to dislodge it. Then I realised the

R E L AT I O NS H I P S

“Everyone knew someone had to address the man’s missteps, but nobody wanted to do it” skirt-bunch was my friend’s hand. His thumb began stroking my thigh, unseen by the others, as the conversation carried on around us. I sat stock-still, horrified, until it went away. The fondling was completely irreconcilable with my friend’s sober persona, and I had no idea how to talk to him about it, or whether it was my responsibility to do so. I felt certain that if I brought it up, he’d say he didn’t remember. I was relieved, a year later, when he announced he’d decided to stop drinking. I still hadn’t gathered the courage to bring up the handcident. (I still haven’t, and we aren’t friends anymore.) We all know men who are good guys when they’re sober – and not just “good guys”, but real paragons of sensitivity and self-awareness – yet become touchy, unaware pests when they drink. When someone behaves differently while drinking than they would behave sober, I usually assume the cause was a “lowering of inhibitions”. That’s definitely one shot in the cocktail of bad behaviour. In 1995, two scientists reviewed existing research, then developed a model to explain why alcohol can compromise our behavioural standards. They found that even a belief in the disinhibiting effects of alcohol makes it more likely that alcohol will act as a disinhibitor. I remember taking one tiny sip of Jameson in high school and feeling suddenly emboldened to talk to my crush at a party. There’s no way that tiny sip had lowered my inhibitions on a chemical level, but I felt as if it had. And I acted as if it had.

D RU N K E N C R E E P Earlier research suggested we might behave badly when we drink because we think we can attribute our behaviour to the booze, or because social standards are more relaxed whenever we’re in situations where alcohol is present. (For the record: blaming it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol is never a valid response to an accusation of unwelcome verbal or physical attention. Booze is to blame for bad behaviour as much as a pizza is to blame for everything that follows after I, a lactose intolerant, eat it.) But there’s another, more insidious layer to drunk creepiness. In a 2001 study in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, researchers presented participants with a “date-rape analog” – audio of a hypothetical hook-up that slowly escalates to rape – and told them to press a button when they thought the woman wanted the man to stop making further

sexual advances. Even at low levels of intoxication, men were more likely to rate the woman’s arousal higher, and to take significantly longer to press the button, compared with men who hadn’t consumed a drop of alcohol. Chemically, alcohol may trick you into thinking you’re engaged in amazing consensual flirtation, the same way weed tricks you into thinking you’re “an even better driver” when you’re high. You’re not. You’re simply too blissed-out to notice you just took off a parked car’s side mirror. Recently I’ve heard the phrase “nonverbal cues” a lot. It refers to the often-subtle clues people give off when they’re uncomfortable. I first heard the term two years ago, when Aziz Ansari was accused of sexual misconduct after a date. “You ignored clear nonverbal cues; you kept going with advances,” Ansari’s accuser texted him the day after their encounter. “You had to have noticed I was uncomfortable.”

TA K E THE HINT Nonverbal cues are difficult enough to interpret when you’re sober: most people aren’t going to come right out and slap someone when they feel uneasy. They’re going to look at their feet. They’re going to cross their arms in front of them. And any hesitation to articulate discomfort can be magnified when a woman is drinking. For some people, even small amounts of alcohol make it much harder to pick up on and respond to those already-hard-todetect signals. But you’re unlikely to know if you’re one of those people. I never confronted my friend about the ‘handcident’ because it’s horrible to be the one to tell someone something bad about themselves. A friend informed me recently that he’d been “nominated” by a woman to talk to a mutual friend of theirs about his behaviour. The woman said she’d heard of instances when the man made inappropriate jokes over drinks with female professional acquaintances. (In general, if you find yourself using the word girth in a professional setting, you’ve erred.) Everyone knew someone had to address the man’s missteps, but nobody wanted to do it; eventually that responsibility hot-potatoed to my friend. He dithered for a month trying to find a way to broach the subject. Finally, he just blurted it out: “Hey, uh . . .” The discussion was awkward, but ultimately his

friend was glad to have been told. He’d genuinely had no idea. So if you’re a friend of a creepy drunk, take a deep breath and talk to him. Friends tell friends when they chronically embarrass themselves. An intervention will feel much less tense if it comes from you, a concerned third party, than if it comes from me, an indignant gropee, or from his employer. And if you’re a person who drinks, ask your friends for feedback. If you wake up with blank interludes from the night before, text someone who was with you: “Did I do anything embarrassing last night?” If everyone is talking about how you made a slurred pass at a colleague, a good friend will let you know. I’m not one to tell anyone to stop drinking. I drink all the time, even though I know there’s a distinct possibility that after a few gin and tonics I’ll give my credit card to a stranger in the bar bathroom line. But if you do learn that you’re a creepy drunk, think about how that could affect your relationships, your career and the women in your orbit. Think about whether those extra martinis (or any martinis) are worth the cost. If they’re not, the decision to scale back – or even stop altogether – becomes much easier. (I should add that if you have been accused of creepiness, and especially if you’ve been accused of assault, quitting drinking is just the first of about 900 changes you need to make.) Fortunately, we’re living in a golden age of sobriety. In 2017, the average Australian male drank some 280 fewer beers than his mid-1970s counterpart, reports the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Alcohol-free bars are popping up in cities across the US, albeit with more wholesome, sober grand openings. Heineken recently rolled out its first nonalcoholic beer, Heineken 0.0. Bitters and soda is the new tequila and soda. The so-called sober-curious movement has given problematic drunks an easy out. We should all be mindful that we’re no good at reading people when we’re drinking. That lack of social awareness can result in low-stakes annoyance – imagine your long-winded friend, two drinks in, unaware that everyone has lost interest in her miles-long complaint about the filing system at work. But it can also end in high-stakes disaster, like when my handsy pal couldn’t tell that his palm on my thigh was making me very uncomfortable. In that sense, there’s really no such thing as a good drunk. JUNE 2020

ADV ERTO RI A L F E AT URE

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H E A L T H

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN

The pressures of work and family life build up over time. Increased stress is linked to poor sleep, low energy and sugar cravings. Enjoy refined carbs sparingly: an expanding waistline is a sign of insulin resistance, in which the body loses control of blood sugar, leading to cravings and weight gain. To break this cycle, prioritise your mind and spend more time relaxing or training in the outdoors.

…I START MIDDLE-AGE SPREADING?

IG HT 1WE XEPEC TATI O N S

With age comes knowledge, financial security and self-assurance – but there’s often some extra, unwanted baggage, too. From the age of 30, your levels of testosterone, HGH and the sex hormone progesterone start to decline. As a result, your muscle mass decreases and your mood and libido can go into freefall. The only thing that rises is fat retention (hooray), as your body slips from Adonis to adipose. Unless, that is, you fight back.

LLY 4 FU L OA D E D

DODGE THE MIDLIFE SLOWDOWN WITH OUR HEAVY-DUTY ADVICE.

O U T SID E CHANCE

U NN AT U R A L E NE MIE S

The increasing dominance of oestrogen (and lack of testosterone) in your body contributes to weight gain – a situation exacerbated by xenoestrogens in your food, put there by pesticides. Adjusting your macros to get more protein and fewer carbs, especially with a focus on organic meat, can reverse this, and will ensure that you’re battling only against Father Time, not chemicals, too.

As the spread starts to take hold, the temptation is to lean more heavily on cardio. But slogging away on a treadmill isn’t your smartest strategy. Healthy levels of HGH can be sustained by activating type 2 (or “fast-twitch”) muscle fibres with weights and strength building. Done to excess, endurance training can increase cortisol production and, therefore, fat retention. Slow it down and go heavy.

BA L A N C IN G AC T

If you want to turn back time in the long term, the solution is not a sudden, dramatic transformation but moderation. As men reach middle age, the drop in hormones leads to a reduction in muscle mass. This decline means that less glucose can be used for energy and is stored as fat instead. Add size in all the right places with a barbell and cut back on carbs at dinner, and you can strike a successful balance that’ll keep you in your old 501s.

JUNE 2020

OUR KIND OF GIRL

Morgan Mitchell

The eye-catching star of the track has stopped running from a troubled past and is doing things her way. Get used to it BY HARRIE T SIM

I’M CHATTING WITH Australian Olympic

runner Morgan Mitchell when I find myself in the crossfire of a lively debate. “Did you eat all the Oreos?” the 25-year-old Victorian quizzes her boyfriend, US Olympian Devon Allen. Mitchell’s M.O. is to tell it like it is. Ask about her first memories of the track and she’s quick to admit her heart wasn’t always in it. “Truthfully, I was just going to training for the food and my friends,” says the two-time Australian 400m champion, 30

MEN’S HE ALTH

who switched last year to the 800m. “Afterwards, I’d run to the canteen and grab all the lollies, hotdogs and Sunnyboys I could get my hands on.” Mitchell, whose father is African-American, was inspired by the gold-medal run of Cathy Freeman in 2000. Whether combating the stigma around vegan athletes in the Netflix doco Game Changers or recounting the night she had YOLO (You Only Live Once) inked across her inner lip, Mitchell does everything with style.

O U R

K I ND

O F

G IR L

The World According to Morgan Mitchell TR AC K R EC OR D “I remember stepping onto the track [at the Rio 2016 Olympics], and they call out your name when you set up your blocks. And I remember thinking, ‘Fuck, this is actually the Olympics!’ It just hit me in the face like a baseball bat. I don’t think anyone can prepare you for the emotional stress of the Olympics. It’s the ultimate rollercoaster of highs and lows. The one thing my mum always used to tell me was, ‘You don’t know if you don’t try’. It’s quite simple and obviously not too deep, but it helps me realise that I should take every opportunity because you just don’t know what can come of it. [Earlier in my career], I discovered certain people were trying to pave my path for me, rather than asking me what it was that I wanted to do. Switching events to the 800 and having to start afresh with a new team made me realise I’m allowed to say yes or no, and I’m allowed to take control of my own career.”

G ROW THRO U G H W H AT YO U G O THRO U G H “One of the hardest things I’ve gone through was being a victim of domestic violence after my 18th birthday and ending up in hospital. I was caught up in all of that for a good seven years, and it wasn’t until I completely broke down in 2018 that I realised I needed help. I felt like no one was listening to me and I was trying to fight the world all the time. When I finally sat down with a psych, I said, ‘Look, I need to get my mental health right, because this is ruining relationships with every single person around me’. In hindsight, it was also probably one of the best challenges I’ve ever overcome because it taught me a lot about life in general and the way you see and relate to people. I am more open about [my mental health now], and I’ll tell my team, ‘This is how I’m feeling right now’, because people do want to listen and help – you just have to trust in the people you have around because that’s why they’re there.”

TH I S I S M E “I’ve learnt to be more assertive in life. I used to try to people-please and say yes to everyone, so now at least once a week I’ll put aside a good five hours and do nothing. I won’t answer emails on weekends unless it’s life or death. I like my weekends to be about Morgan Mitchell the person, not the athlete.”

“I USED TO TRY TO PEOPLE-PLEASE. NOW, ONCE A WEEK I’LL PUT ASIDE A GOOD FIVE HOURS AND DO NOTHING” BA L A NC ING AC T “When I first went vegan I thought I could just jump into it quite easily, and so for the first six months all I ate were potato chips, fries and veggie burgers. I had no idea what I was doing and felt like crap. What I didn’t realise is that change takes time. Once I put in the time and effort, my energy levels went up and it was easier to get to race weight. I also seemed to recover a lot quicker than all of my training partners. It’s funny: when you run badly people want to believe it’s because you’re vegan, but when you run well, they say it’s your training. I don’t think I’d be running as well as I am now if I wasn’t vegan. I think people are too stuck in their ways and that’s why it’s hard for them to change or want to do things differently. I think we just need to be more accepting in talking about that, because I still have days where I eat like shit or have cheat meals or whatever, and we need to understand that that’s okay. There’s not one way. You can’t eat healthy all the time, and balance is good.”

H E R K IN D O F G U Y “I met Devon at the airport in 2017 when my race manager introduced us. Around my birthday later that year, he flew to Australia to ask me out. I think we work because we both like our space and value alone time. And it’s funny because we generally act very similar but we’re also complete opposites – he’s a hothead and I’m quite chill. He’s definitely not my other half. I’m my own person and he fits in [to that], and I think that’s good. It’s more like a best friend kind of thing. He knows I’m not very affectionate and lovey-dovey, and I think he enjoys that because I’m not girly-girly or one to say, ‘Oh, babe’ – ugh, yuck! Devon is honestly just a regular guy who likes to play video games and hang out with his mates. He doesn’t talk about track unless someone asks. We’re still competitive, trust me. But it’s mostly light-hearted banter, like who can get the higher place. And he’s such a freak, you can already tell it’s going to be him . . . but, then again, who’s to say?”

@morganmitch JUNE 2020

F I TNES S

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE Knowing when to crank up the heat or keep your cool can lift your training to a new degree. We take the temperature for your fitness

HOT

COLD

110ºC -15 VS

wing of A downward sw 260°C drops you u to the deep freeze use ed in cryotherapy cha ambers, favoured by Neyymar and LeBron James in their recovery routines.

MUSCLE GAIN

Finnish researchers found that a post-gym sauna can aid muscle growth. The humidity and heat boost circulation, supercharging the delivery of oxygen to muscle cells.

After 10 days’ acclimatising, a group of cyclists was taken for warm-weather (38°C) workouts. Their VO2 max improved by 8 per cent, powering up their stamina*.

Exercising at 40°C changes the way your body uses fuel, say Spanish researchers. In the heat, your muscles choose carbs and your fat-burning potential falters.

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland found that men who use a sauna a few times a week have a lower risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s.

In another study from sauna-loving Finland, researchers found that 30 minutes in a sauna that uses infrared light helps you defeat DOMS after a strength session.

FITNESS

WEIGHT LOSS

HEALTH

RECOVERY

Cold weather training may not give you extra gains, but a study in Plos One e did show improvements in muscle performance during the e winter compared to the summer.

In fact, acclimatisation can boost stamina in any conditions – the same cyclists also trained in cooler climes (13°C) after heat exposure, with VO2 max surges of 5 per cent.

For a study**, athletes trained on a static bike at -10°C and 22°C. When they trained in the cooler conditions, they expended 13 per cent more energy, burning off extra weight.

Cold-water swimming brings holistic health beneﬁts: low temperatures increase your production of lymphocytes, which ﬁght off disease and power up your immune system†.

A review of studies found that cryotherapy eases muscle damage, pain and inﬂammation. Even 15 minutes in an ice bath will markedly improve your endurance next time out††.

THE MH VERDICT: HOT WINS! While the latest research suggests that cold is the more potent recovery tool, there’s far more to ﬁtness than that. At the elite level of health and performance, athletes are making the mercury rise in the pursuit of heavier lifts, faster runs and greater longevity. Consider this our hot take. 32

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WORDS BY BEN WELCH; PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUN LEE; *J OURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY; **JOURNAL OF MEDICINE AND SCIENCE IN SPORT AND EXERCISE; †EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY AND OCCUPATIONAL PHYSIOLOGY; ††INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE

The sauna world record, set by Timo Kaukonen in 2003. The Finn sweated through 16min and 15sec – not the safest way to enjoy the beneﬁts of heat.

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HOW TO CHANGE YOUR STORY For a third of my life, I lived in an endless replay of the story of how I never measured up – a loop that kept me locked in a spiral of shame and meaningless hustling. Then I got the nudge to do some fact-checking BY SE AN HOTCHKISS ILLUS TR AT ION BY ALE X ARIZMENDI

WHEN I WAS FIVE, my parents divorced. Shortly after, my father met Sandy, first at a cocktail party and then again at a tennis league for single 30-somethings. She was brilliant, anxious, fast-talking, and from old money. They were engaged within two years. Sandy was a perfectionist and held us, her family, to the same standards. She placed yellow Post-it to-do lists around the house, sent my new stepbrother and me to etiquette classes (our dog wasn’t spared, either), and could cut me to shreds with a single remark and gesture to my father: “He’s wearing that?” I understand now that if Sandy was hard on us, she was even harder on herself. But when my mother dropped me off for the weekend, I’d hide out in the garage to avoid facing her. At dinner, I’d fix my eyes on the floor. I saw my father’s growing affection for my stepbrother and wondered, “What the hell is wrong with me?” We all have stories in our histories we’re holding on to – tragic plotlines that seem to run through everything we do. I’ll never find true love. I’ll never be a success. I’ll never get past what happened to me. The more we believe them, the more our prophecies seem to self-fulfil. And let’s be clear: my initial trauma wasn’t all that tragic. There’s a generic mildness to it that survivors of all kinds of harsher abuse or tragedy might resent. But the story that Sandy had seen some fatal flaw in me ran deep. I believed I was inherently bad and inferior, that nothing about me was okay. Author and self-help guru John 34

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Bradshaw calls this condition “toxic shame”, the feeling that no matter what we do, we’re wrong. And it doesn’t take a five-alarm altercation or hellacious abuse for it to start festering.

D ON’T K ID YO U R SE LF To cover up, I went out into the world trying to be perfect. If I impressed everyone I came into contact with, maybe I’d feel okay. The powerful, important, rich and influential came into my crosshairs. They represented Sandy for me, and

winning these types of people over became an obsession. In college, I dated a fabulously wealthy young woman and tried to integrate into her milieu of private jets and lavish holidays. Years later, I set my sights on the world of high fashion as a magazine writer. I thought rising to the highest ranks would prove to everyone – myself most of all – that I was worthy of being alive. It didn’t work. No matter how many times my face or my byline appeared in print, no matter

MA N

“I tried spirituality as a remedy for feeling inferior, but there’s not enough meditation in the world to ﬁx an old story that says, ‘I’m a piece of shit’”

how beautiful the women I dated or how impressive my Instagram feed, I felt unfulfilled. I even tried spirituality as a remedy for feeling inferior, but there’s not enough meditation in the world to fix an old story that says, “I’m a piece of shit”. Meanwhile, the anger and confusion I carried about Sandy came out in strange ways. For instance, any woman in my life who became angry with me or who held a position of authority – girlfriends, bosses, editors – I took a special

interest in torturing. I turned my back on them, burned them, left them hanging. It was like I was getting back at Sandy through them. Sandy and my father divorced in 2005. He embezzled money from her, and she caught him. Not long after, he committed suicide. In the following years, I shut the door on Sandy. Her e-greeting cards on my birthday most years went unanswered. I tried to forget she existed. But in 2016, while digging through some old files, I uncovered the program from my father’s memorial service. I read the speech Sandy had given that day and felt myself go rigid at the final lines: “But most of all, Sean, he loved you, his son. And that is the message and image I so very much need for you to hear right now.” I felt the pain of loss well up in my chest. I remembered that afternoon at the service, sitting there, still unable to make eye contact with Sandy as tears streamed down my face. I told my therapist, Jacob, about the memory. “Maybe you should go see her,” he said. The thought of talking to Sandy terrified me, but Jacob explained to me that the scariest place I didn’t want to go was actually where the wisdom was. That’s what sets you free. And I wanted to be free.

THE ONLY WAY O U T I S THRO U G H That spring, I reluctantly began a series of meetings with Sandy that would span three years. The first, a four-hour lunch at her country club, was simply a reintroduction. Sandy sat across from me tanned and freckled, the deep creases on her face showing her age. She spoke anxiously, smiled often, and even got a little teary when we said goodbye. The meeting seemed to touch her. I asked my mother on the phone later that afternoon: “Is it possible that as an adult I actually like Sandy?” During our second meeting, Sandy trusted me with sensitive information about my father’s deceit and their resulting divorce. And at our third, we again spoke for hours, sharing stories. She even apologised, telling me: “If I was ever hard on you, I regret it.” With each of our meetings, I realised that all the work I’d done in therapy and on my recovery was freeing me from the expectations I’d had for Sandy that had been clouding my perception. I could see her more clearly now. She wasn’t scary. In fact, with each meeting, I saw more of her pain, more of her humanity. It’s been my experience as a life coach that behind whatever kind of trauma we’ve been through – sexual, physical or emotional abuse – addiction, divorce, suicide, being cut from a sports team – is a core story we have about ourselves. Common ones include: I’ll never be enough. I don’t deserve love. I’m better off dead. As long as these stories exist, we find ways to perpetuate them.

T O

M AN

R E W R ITE YO U R S T O RY There’s a funny thing about these stories, though. They tend to crumble under examination. This can be done in many ways, including with a therapist, life coach, support group or twelve-step sponsor. It can also be done by going back and facing the very thing we fear. I painted Sandy as the enemy for most of my life, which kept me angrily trying to prove her wrong, and it nearly buried me. But thanks to my therapist’s suggestion and my willingness to follow through, the story I’d been carrying around all these years was being proven untrue. Sandy clearly didn’t hate me. And if that wasn’t true, maybe I wasn’t terrible. Maybe I’d never had anything to prove. As I stopped feeling like I had to impress everyone, I became less angry. I started treating myself better. The critical voice inside my head that I’d always identified with Sandy began to fade, replaced by a gentler message. I’m okay. In fact, I got so okay that I started thinking about how I could help others. So when I went home last October, I decided that instead of continuing to hold it over Sandy’s head that she’d never cared about me, I’d do something revolutionary: I’d show up ready to care about her. My stepbrother was back home with his new fiancée, and we all gathered at Sandy’s house for dinner. We sat at the old dining-room table where we’d eaten dinner hundreds of times during my childhood. I could see Sandy was anxious, that she wanted to make me feel welcome, so I tried to set her at ease. “It’s good to be here,” I told her. Later that night, I sent her an email: “I was angry with you for many years,” it said, “but I’m not angry with you anymore. You’re the only stepmother I’ll ever have, and it’s important to me to have a relationship with you.” The next morning, walking along the ocean in my hometown, I had a vision of the four of us – my father, Sandy, my stepbrother and me – all in my dad’s old truck, laughing wildly. It was the first time I could remember having such a happy memory from my childhood, and I knew that it meant I was free. I’d finally let go of the old story. Old stories will always replay until we examine them, but out beyond the stories we tell ourselves is opportunity. When we have the courage to challenge and drop an old narrative, it’s often rewritten better than we could have imagined. Letting go of the story that Sandy would never be the stepmother I needed because there was something wrong with me allowed her to become something I actually wanted: someone who can support me on this tougher-than-I-ever-imagined road of being human. And that’s all I can ask for. JUNE 2020

ENTER THE BEAST Big, fast and ultra high-performing, Mercedes’ latest offering could make a grown man cry BY ANDRE W CHE STERTON

I DON’T CARE how masculine you are. Even if your chest hair is tough enough to cut diamond, your walls are lined with hunting-trophy heads and you shave only with a bowie knife like Crocodile Dundee, there is absolutely no way you won’t find yourself making an involuntary, high-pitched squeaking noise the first time you properly plant a foot in the Mercedes-AMG GLS 63. It’s not just that it’s staggeringly fast, although it most certainly is that. The new bi-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine under that endless stretch of bonnet, along with the extra oomph on offer from the bonus electric motor, pretty much guarantees it. It’s not even the sheer size of this thing, even though we’re talking five metres and three tonnes of SUV, and one stuffed with seven seats, giant screens and enough leather to fill the Hellfire Club (may it rest in peace) twice over. No, what will really have you squeaking like a puppy’s chew toy is when those two factors collide in 36

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the middle with all the ferocity of the Earth smashing into the sun. The fact that something this big and this heavy, can accelerate in the way that it does simply bends the mind. Stand on the accelerator and the GLS 63 lunges into the future like it’s been fired from a gun, chasing down 100km/h in a squeak-inducing 4.1 seconds. That’s faster, for the record, than a Porsche 911 Carrera – and in a vehicle the size of an office block. That engine, which fires 450kW and 850Nm towards all four tyres via a nine-speed automatic, is just one of the areas AMG has waved its magic performance wand over. There’s also the exhaust, of course, which rumbles like approaching thunder, even when you’re merely cruising, but there’s also some important under-the-skin changes to ensure that, when you approach a corner at speed, you’re a better-than-average chance of emerging unscathed out the other side. The adaptive dampers and air

suspension pair with two electrically operated stabilising bars (one at each end of the car) that help to ward off body roll – of which there should be loads in a vehicle this tall and heavy. It’s super-clever tech that uses some sort of dark magic to prop up one side of the car when you barrel into a tight corner, keeping you balanced and flat until you explode out the other side. The air suspension can also lift the car by 50mm in off-road mode, or drop it by 10mm in its sportier settings.

R ID E OF YO U R LIFE All of which combine to make the GLS 63 something of a sledgehammer (even AMG says it’s less a precision tool and more a blunt instrument), effectively bludgeoning corners into submission rather than dancing through them as a smaller sports car might. The power is relentless, the grip staggering, and on the right road, this biggest of AMGs feels downright unstoppable – and,

occasionally, more than a little bit terrifying. It’s not quite as rewarding as, say, sending a Porsche 911 up a twisting alpine road. But it’s plenty of fun in its own hulking way, and the Porsche can’t carry seven people and a week’s worth of luggage so you can actually stay at your destination, rather than turn around and come home. That’s a hell of a party trick, especially for a car that remains so seriously adept at carrying the family in comfort. Away from the twisting stuff, like on a freeway, behind the wheel of the big AMG is a grand place to be, comfortably surfing its huge wave of torque to wherever it is you’re going. Benz pitches the GLS as an SUV genuinely capable of fitting seven adults (as opposed to those ‘sometimes’ seven-seaters that require human-origami expertise to get anyone taller than 100cm into the back row), and there is plenty of room for full-sized humans no matter which seat you want to plonk them in.

G A R A G E

KING OF THE ROAD: SOMETIMES, GOOD THINGS COME IN BIG PACKAGES.

While in there, you’ll find comfy Nappa leather seats, a flatbottomed AMG wheel and Mercedes’ terrific Widescreen Cockpit (think two 12.3-inch screens butted up against each other, one in the driver’s binnacle, the other in the centre of the dash), which is equipped with performance-measuring features you’ll almost certainly never use. It also looks pretty fetching, with its massive and whale-shark-like AMG grille, 21-inch wheels and quad exhaust tips lending a menacing, Vinnie Jones kind of road presence, guaranteed to put a fright through the neighbours. But while bigger is mostly better with the GLS 63, there’s one super-sized factor you might not like quite so much, and that’s the expected $250,000 price tag when the jumbo AMG arrives in Australia towards the end of the year. So, can a seven-seat family SUV really double as a credible performance vehicle? You bet it can.

“There’s also the exhaust, of course, which rumbles like approaching thunder, even when you’re merely cruising”

THE DASH HAS FEATURES YOU MAY NEVER USE. BUT MAN, IT’S GOOD TO KNOW THEY’RE THERE. JUNE 2020

COVVIDIV1A9L

SUR

TAKE REMOTE CONTROL

Working from home using furniture that isn’t built-for-purpose could take a toll on your body. MH editor Scott Henderson went hunting for solutions EVER FEEL LIKE you live at the office? In this, the era of social distancing, an entire workforce has become swiftly acquainted with the oft-dreaded, more oft-embraced concept of working from home. The standard for corporate attire has plummeted from suits, collared shirts and leather shoes to sweats, T-shirt and Uggs – and that’s when you’re ‘dressing up’ for a videoconference. For some, working remotely will send productivity skyrocketing. For others, the lure of an afternoon of Tiger King will prove too strong. Either way, we’re bound for a few months of sitting and staring at our screens at home. Understandably, given the rapidly evolving circumstances, most households were set up as pre-COVID escapes from our professional lives. We weren’t planning on letting our colleagues into our living rooms with each Zoom conference, and our furniture certainly wasn’t designed for long stints of work. Welcome to the brave new world of back pain, wrist tenderness and neck ache. “Don’t let that faint whisper of back pain develop into a disc bulge,” advises Rebecca Feros, a physiotherapist on Sydney’s northern beaches. Feros, who’s been in demand in recent weeks from clients seeking ergonomic home set-ups, spoke to MH in an effort to ensure these ailments don’t strike you before your time. “When you’re young, it’s just the pits, so I’ve been working hard to get out there and hopefully prevent any long-term damage,” explains Feros between dishing out advice that would be equally appropriate upon a return to the office. In the words of Fifth Harmony’s prophetic 2016 hit Work From Home, “you don’t gotta go to work, but you gotta put in work”. As for help with your sloppy at-home work fashion choices, that’s all you, mate.

“Intheoffice, youwouldn’tsit slumpedin yourchair,legs onyourdesk“ 5

4 3

I S O D O’S A ND D ON’T S If you’re not willing to splash cash on a brand-new ergonomic set-up (and who could blame you?), Feros has some baseline tips on protecting your body from the perils of at-home labour. Heed her expert advice on ‘social-distancing’ yourself

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HE A L T H

from painful and unnecessary ailments: • Pretend a co-worker is in the room with you. When you’re in the office with colleagues, you wouldn’t sit slumped in your chair or with your legs on the desk, so don’t adopt those postures at home. • Avoid working from the couch simply because it’s there. Sure, the temptation to lounge on a bed of pillowy goodness is attractive, but save it for your off-duty Netflix binges. There’s bound to be plenty of them coming up. • Set a timer on your phone to get up and move around the house for stretching and short walks. Gone are the days of walking to meetings, coffee runs and moving your car from the 2-hour parking zone, so replace those with in-house mobility runs at the same intervals.

• Track your snacking. With the fridge and pantry so easily accessible throughout the day, the lure of constant snacking will be ever-present. However, if you apply your office routine, including the times you eat, to your new home set-up, you’ll be on track for kilojoule maintenance.

LABOUR FORCE USE THESE FIVE STRETCHES TO STAY LOOSE AND LITHE ON THE HOME FRONT

LI V IN G A L D E SKO

Chair Make sure yours is cushioned with lumbar (lower back) support to keep your trunk upright and spine neutral. The height should be set so your elbows are positioned at 90° to your desk. Keep your feet flat on the floor and avoid crossing ankles and legs.

CHIN TUCK Stand tall. Tuck your chin into your chest and nod slowly for 10 reps. Think of yourself as the home-ofﬁce yes-man.

Screen If possible, extend your laptop to a second, larger display, keeping your work as central as possible. If you’re lucky enough to work off two sceens, position yourself equally between them, keeping the screens an arm’s length away. Set your screens at a horizontal angle of 0°-20° to your direct eye gaze. In layman’s terms, your eyes should be looking slightly downwards. If working solely off a laptop, ensure the screen height is elevated and use a wireless keyboard and mouse.

SHOULDER & CHEST STRETCH Place your hands on either side of a door frame. Step forward, feeling a stretch across your chest for 10 seconds. Repeat.

Keyboard and mouse Maintain a neutral wrist position whenever possible while using both your mouse and keyboard, even using a rolled up hand-towel under your wrists to reduce pressure. The best indicator of proper typing form? Elbows positioned at 90°.

PELVIC TILTS

Documents Prop up the pages or use improvised document holders to allow neutral eye gaze. Same guidelines as for your screens.

Sit straight, hands on hips. Tilt your pelvis backwards and hold for ﬁve seconds, then tilt forwards and hold for ﬁve more.

ILLUSTRATION BY SONNY RAMIREZ; ILLUSTRATIONROOM.COM.AU

Lighting Ensure warm lighting is abundant. Open your blinds, letting in as much natural light as possible, and move a lamp into the room to support the overhead lighting.

Standing workspace From time to time, you may want to relocate to a bench to replicate a standing desk. Make sure its height allows for your elbows to maintain a neutral 90°, with shoulders relaxed. Distribute your weight evenly between your feet, favouring a split-stance position, alternating your foward foot. Avoid tilting, advises Feros. Reduce ground-reaction forces on your body by wearing supportive shoes and by standing on soft ground, like carpet or a rubber mat. Avoid standing on floorboards and tiles barefooted.

ILIOPSOAS STRETCH From a lunge position, push your front knee forward while keeping good posture. Hold for 15 seconds and switch legs.

SUPINE LYING Stretch out on a foam roller, feet ﬂat on the ﬂoor. Extend arms to feel a stretch. Sometimes it’s okay to lie down on the job.

June 2020

LAYER PLAYER

AS THE AIR TURNS CRISP, HANDLE YOUR BUSINESS WITH THESE KILLER LIGHTWEIGHT JACKETS

S T Y L ING BY

TED STA FFORD

PHOTOGR A P H Y BY H A IR BY

V INCE GA RCI A

GROOMING BY MODEL:

JUC O

NEICY SM A LL S

T Y RE SE GIBSON

THE SUPERCHARGED SPORTS BLAZER

Wrinkle-resistant and stretchy, this Calvin Klein two-button can bounce from Monday’s 9am meeting to Friday’s happy hour without a crease in sight. Jacket ($350) by Calvin Klein, track jacket ($125) by Polo Ralph Lauren; pants ($170) by G-Star Raw; sneakers ($90) by Nike; watch by Audemars Piguet.

MEN’S HE ALTH

STYLE

THE PACKABLE, CRUSHABLE, UNKILLABLE WINDBREAKER

Nylon yet super breathable, this ultralight Nike jacket is made for your gym bag or stuffing in drawers. Try your best – it won’t wrinkle when you scrunch it up .

Packable jacket ($180) by Nike ACG, shirt ($70) by Calvin Klein, jeans ($215) by AG.

JUNE 2020

E GREAT ACKETS! THE ULTIMATE CTIVEWEAR Gym wear has never looked so sharp. Rhone’s retroflavoured coach’s jacket ($118) has elastic cuffs on the sleeves and an stable draw-cord the hem, leaving dry in the drizzle.

“I’D RATHER WEAR A GREATFITTING REGULAR SUIT THAN TOM FORD. I’M A SIMPLE GUY ”

THE UPGRADED RAINCOAT On wet mornings, Mack Weldon’s Stormchaser jacket 198) keeps you dry, but it’s breathable enough that you n’t overheat when the rainy weather blows through.

THE NEW WORKDAY UNIFORM day you’ll be back he office and when u are you’ll want to up your game with Rowing Blazers’ R otton-twill varsity zer ($295). Light ough for indoors but with the heft to block l breezes when you step out.

THE YLISH MAC Pair Banana epublic’s timeless mac ($160) with a k sweater or basic e and you’ll add a layer of protection d sophistication.

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THE CAN’T-MISS, ALL-WEATHER PARKA With a detachable hood and inner vest, Lacoste’s water-resistant parka is a combination three-inone jacket, ideal for when you’re not sure where you’re going but you’re excited as hell.

Water-resistant jacket ($415) by Lacoste; cardigan sweater by Michael Kors; T-shirt ($72) by John Elliott; pants ($198) by Citizens of Humanity; sneakers ($80) by Adidas Originals.

STYLE

FAST LOOKS F9’S TYRESE GIBSON ON LOOKING FRESH AND SHARP

TYRESE GIBSON has a lot going on – and not just with his bold, bright style. He’s got the ninth installment of Fast & Furious (and his sixth in the saga) on the way. He’s dipping into the Marvel universe, costarring in Morbius, the upcoming comic-book adaptation about a scientist turned rabid vampire. Offscreen, Gibson still tours as a musician and is working on a follow-up album to 2015’s Black Rose. And he keeps himself busy on social media, posting motivational messages for his 40 million followers. Splitting his time between L A and Atlanta, the 41-year-old says his clothes are a reflection of the moment and largely depend on his mood. That could swing from casual sports jackets and slacks to super-relaxed tracksuit tops and bottoms. Before he was famous, Gibson admits, he didn’t know what worked for him, but with the success of his 1998 debut album (Tyrese) and his first Fast & Furious appearance, he had much more to choose from. “When you go from living in the ghetto to finally making money, you want to go to Louis Vuitton and Gucci and spend a whole lot of money on bullshit,” he says. These days the actor’s taste is less about flashy brands and more about versatility: what fits and moves well, what’s comfortable and fresh. “I’d rather wear a great-fitting regular suit from a brand no one’s heard of than put on a Tom Ford suit,” says Gibson. “I’m a simple guy.” – Josh Ocampo

IN THE BAG If you’re living fast, you’re going to need an accessory that keeps up, doesn’t slow you down and helps you avoid the furious. Invest in a functional belt bag, with a hands-free design that keeps essentials close at hand. Our pick? The COACH Rivington Belt Bag ($550). Like the NYC street it’s named after, the Rivington mixes downtown cool with professional good looks. NOS not included.

JUNE 2020

STAR TRACK

SNEAKERS HAVE TAKEN OFF! DISCOVER HOW THE RIGHT PAIR CAN HELP YOU CREATE A LOOK THAT IS OUT OF THIS WORLD BY

SC OT T HENDER SON

P HOTOGR A P H Y BY

EDWA RD URRUTI A

A staple in any Men’s Health reader’s wardrobe, the humble ‘sand shoe’ – traditionally reserved for the gym or the track – is increasingly infiltrating every facet of our lives. It started with the emergence of ‘athleisure’, an enticing blend of fashion-forward style and gym wear that somehow managed to cement the previously shaky relationship between comfort and aesthetics. At the same time, lines between formal and casual wear began to blur. The result? A classy pair of kicks has become a fashion must-have. In the luxury sector specifically, that’s seen sneakers quietly move – okay, ‘sneak’ – from hip-hop videos to boardrooms and social outings. Quite frankly, this desk-jockey couldn’t be happier. Autumn/Winter 2020 styles are finally reflective of the men wearing them: active, brave, stylish, successful and professional. Get involved with our top picks for this season, along with complete outfit advice from men’s fashion specialist Arrnott Olssen.

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This black and white sneaker from Mr.P is the perfect transitional shoe, ably taking you from formal to casual. Team with a slim-cut navy suit and a white shirt, or throw on a pair of dark blue jeans and a white linen shirt for a fresh, relaxed look.

Leave No Trace Pink, salmon, blush . . . whatever you want to call it, this colour has permeated men’s fashion in a huge way. Be brave: embrace it. Team these bad boys from Moncler with a relaxed pair of light-blue ripped jeans and a simple tee. Need a little something extra? Add a navy blue bomber jacket for a look that’s right on trend.

Isles Camo

Larry Suede Sneakers

MONCLER

STEVE MADDEN Camo seems to be the style gift that keeps on giving, being on trend and perfectly comfortable teamed with a sportsluxe look. This one is deﬁnitely for Saturday coffee or Sunday brunch.

MR. P

With a grey mull track pant in a modern tech fabric, a lightweight sports tee and a sporty tech jacket, you’re all set for weekend hangs or Sunday yum cha with the fam.

COACH City Sole Court These almost-white kicks from COACH require a certain amount of sartorial swagger. Try skinny black jeans and a vintage rock ’n’ roll tee, holes optional. To add a little urban cool, team it with a bucket hat – sun-safe and street smart.

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COACH City Sole (Colourblock) A great pair of leather sneakers is a must in any modern gent’s wardrobe. Keep to a solid colour palette, like these from COACH, to anchor almost any outﬁt. For a dressy look, team with navy blue chinos, a white V-neck tee and a burgundy linen sports jacket. For a more casual vibe, swap the chinos for shorts and a chambray shirt . . . hey, we told you they were versatile.

MONCLER Regis

TOD’S NO_CODE X Red and white teamed with denim is a match made in style heaven. Your favourite pair of jeans, whatever the colour, will work a treat. Keep the top simple with a plain tee or shirt and throw on a denim jacket just for the fun of it. Remember, you want the sneakers to be the hero of this outﬁt.

Cuff up a pair of ﬁtted chinos – think beige or olive – and throw on a fun printed shirt and you have the perfect outﬁt for these multi-coloured beauties. Swap the printed shirt for a polo and you’re ready for the links or a weekend lunch date.

JUNE 2020

WINTER-SKIN MVPS DRY, ITCHY, FLAKY SKIN? NOT ON OUR WATCH. HERE’S YOUR NO-BS GUIDE TO PREPPING YOUR SKIN FOR THE COLD BY

ERIN DOCHERT Y

P HOTOGR A P H Y BY

EDWA RD URRUTI A

YOU KNOW HOW WINTER can suck your face dry, right? It’s the worst. Especially when you don’t know what to do about it. Whether it’s the chilly air, or the dry, indoor heat, or the icy wind from the ‘insane powder’ you’re tearing up on the slopes (we’re impressed, don’t worry), winter and skin just don’t get along. Your lips crack, your complexion roughens – and the irritation leaves you more prone to breakouts. Don’t despair. In the past you might’ve let winter have its way with your skin. Those days are over. Something as simple as switching up your routine and rethinking what you’re putting on your face can help you maintain skin that looks good and feels nice to (her) touch. We cornered Sydney dermatologist Dr Natasha Cook from Darlinghurst Dermatology to find out exactly what you should and shouldn’t be doing with your skin in the chillier months.

1/ Wash Like A Gentle Man If there’s one product you need to commit to in winter, it’s a cream cleanser. Now we’re not shading foaming cleansers, but the fact is they can do a real number on your face at this time of year. “Foaming cleansers will strip the skin dry and accelerate sensitivity, leaving your skin looking dull, lacklustre and flaky,” says Cook. “Anything that foams, run a mile.” Nonfoaming cleansers like CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser, $12.99, are a great option because they contain friendly ingredients like ceramides and hyaluronic acid that help lock in moisture while leaving your face feeling fresh.

2/ Scrap Scrubs In winter, the only place for ‘gravel’ is on your driveway. “Scrubs create mayhem, leaving your already dry skin stripped, dehydrated and damaged,” says Cook. Instead, focus on using gentle exfoliating ingredients, like lactic acid, to skip the irritation. “Lactic acid is a clever ingredient that works for you, not against you. It gently removes flaking skin while boosting moisture levels.” Try: Peter Thomas Roth Pro Strength Lactic Pore Treatment, $145.

3/ Join The Balmy Army If you aren’t using a balm, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Whether we’re talking lip balms, face balms or post-shave recovery balms, this is the ideal time to get into those denser, thicker formulas. While no two are the same, the word ‘balm’ is a good indicator it’ll protect your skin against the winter elements. If you’re struggling with irritation post-shaving, NIVEA MEN Sensitive Post Shave Balm, $11.36, can be your go-to.

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GROOMI NG

4/ Slick Operator If you’ve never been an oil kinda guy, make the switch. While balms can protect the skin, oils seep in deeper and contain ingredients like squalene or argan oil to heal and calm signs of irritation. Give your skin the best chance of retaining moisture by slathering on a nourishing face oil like Biossance 100% Squalene Oil, $50.

5/ Masked Man All that cool, dry air can wreak havoc, so it pays to give your skin an uber-hit of moisture. Bypass those charcoal face masks and instead reach for a hydrating one – you’ll often find them in the form of sheet masks or overnight creams. Lather it on once a week, admiring how creepy you look. We like Garnier SkinActive Hydra Bomb Pomegranate Tissue Mask, $5.95.

6/ Moist Wanted

A lot of guys tend to skip moisturising because they don’t like the feeling of heavy creams. But hear us out: newer products like Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel, $26.99, are light, absorb quickly and won’t leave your face feeling like a stickydate pudding. “Well-hydrated skin prevents sensitivity,” says Cook. “For winter, find a moisturiser that has humectants [like glycerine] and occlusives [these bad boys stop moisture evaporation].” You’re all set.

CHANNEL WIM HOF Fact: steaming-hot showers are the absolute jam when it’s freezing outside. Alternative fact: your skin hates them. “We often make things worse for our dry skin by having long, hot baths and showers,” says Cook. “They may feel great, but the intense heat breaks down the lipid barriers in the skin, leading to moisture loss.” Okay, no need to blow your mind in an ice-cold shower (though be our guest); but try to settle for warm rather than piping hot. Sorry!

JUNE 2020

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SMART COOKIES FITTER, HEALTHIER, SHARPER – THE NEXT GENERATION OF SMAR ERE BY

LUK E BENEDIC TUS

FOR WRISTWEAR traditionalists, moving to a smartwatch can involve a certain amount of mental gymnastics. The well-oiled narrative behind Swiss watches, after all, is that your watch isn’t just a timekeeping device – it’s a potential heirloom that’ll last for generations, so long as you take care of it. Our relationship with technology is more promiscuous. You might love your current iPhone, for example, but within the next five years or so you’ll no doubt have your head turned by some upgraded model that offers 3-D face mapping and a bullet-proof screen. Yet as they evolve, smartwatches are becoming increasingly hard to resist. Packed with genuinely useful tech – particularly when it comes to health and fitness – many now feel more like luxury mechanical timepieces than ever before. The new 1 TAG Heuer Connected ($2800) is a case in point. Rather than trying to do everything in-house – as they did with the previous two incarnations – this time TAG Heuer outsourced the tech to Google Wear, who’ve responded by delivering an expanded range of sporting apps and a hi-res OLED touch screen. This, in turn, allows TAG Heuer to concentrate on their own strength, namely designing top-notch watches. The steel-cased 48

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version, in particular, is a highly polished timepiece that wouldn’t look remotely out of place with a suit. It’s a similar story with the 2 Frederique Constant Horological Smartwatch ($2250). While this ticks the usual sleep and step-tracking boxes, it comes in a refined dress-watch package with Roman numerals, pin-thin hands and a smart leather strap. Just as office-friendly is the 3 Montblanc Summit 2 ($1580). Beneath its pleasantly classic dial, it hosts Google Wear’s operating system so you can tap into the digital PA that is Google Assistant. Frequent flyers might also be intrigued by Timeshifter, an app that uses the latest in circadian neuroscience to purportedly help minimise jet lag (when that becomes a factor again). Other Swiss brands take a more rugged approach. Aside from monitoring your hydration levels and heart rate, the 4 Alpina Alpinerx Alive ($1895) tracks your stress and even offers guided breathing exercises. The 5 Breitling Exospace B55 Yachting ($9890), meanwhile, is a smartwatch built for the nautical action man. Among a raft of features, it boasts full smartphone compatibility and up to seven independent daily alarms.

3 2

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5 8 4

“PACKED WITH GENUINELY USEFUL TECH, MANY SMARTWATCHES FEEL MORE LIKE LUXURY MECHANICAL PIECES THAN EVER BEFORE”

The best thing about the 8 Samsung Galaxy Active 2 (from $449) is the rotating touchscreen dial that allows you to swipe your finger around its edges to navigate between apps and notifications. It’s also capable of tracking 39 different exercises, ranging from crunches to swimming. Be aware that, because it runs on Samsung’s exclusive Tizen operating system, the apps you can download are limited, even if the biggies like Spotify, Uber and Map My Run are still there. 6

Moving into the more utilitydriven space, the 6 Garmin Forerunner 945 ($999) is designed for triathletes and is packed with a number of tracking apps to monitor your performance metrics to help you calibrate your running, swimming or cycling. 7 Fitbit’s Versa 2 ($330) is another workout buddy on your wrist coming with built-in Alexa, music streaming, Fitbit Pay and some of the best exercise tracking available on the market. It’s capable of tracking your workouts in real time, so whether you run, bike or hit the weights, you’ll be able to see real-time stats on screen as well as getting postworkout summaries.

7 9

Finally, to Apple, the top dog of the smartwatch space. The tech behemoth is estimated to have moved nearly 31 million units last year – and there’s a reason why they’re the most popular wristwatch of any kind. Impeccably designed, the 9 Apple Watch Series 5 (from $649) allows you to tap into thousands of apps to keep an eye on everything from your daily mindfulness to the efficiency of your stand-up paddleboarding strokes. And don’t miss our favourite Apple Watch fitness feature: not only can you share your activity levels with someone but, by clicking on their name and “compete”, you’ll start a seven-day competition in which you go head-to-head and try to beat each other in meeting and exceeding your own individual rings. Hit the button and let the trash-talking begin. JUNE 2020

MH RADAR

One Final Lap ON THE MID-MARCH, pre-lockdown eve of the subsequently cancelled Australian GP, the Men’s Health team descended on the recently refurbished BOSS Store on Collins St to launch the exclusive Porsche x BOSS capsule collection. The night was a welcome distraction from the issues facing the world at the minute, with an upbeat special guest and face of the collection, Mark Webber, joining us for an in-store Q & A with guests. Webber, the affable nine-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner, is one of motorsport’s most popular and high-profile stars. A true Aussie legend who, despite the trappings and glamorous lifestyle of F1, has stayed true to his laid-back roots. Life is a touch slower these days, explained Webber as he took to the stage dressed in a white, slim-fit polo shirt from his collection. But he’s relishing the opportunities presented to him as a Porsche global ambassador and enjoying dipping his toes into the world of fashion with this latest Porsche x BOSS capsule collection. The only downside? Having mates hit him up for free clothes. “‘That looks really great’, they say. ‘Well, it won’t look good on you!’” Webber shoots back. “I wind them up. It’s elegant. It’s not showy. It’s just really classy and it works.” He’s not wrong. The collection defies sartorial logic: something so aesthetically pleasing shouldn’t feel this comfortable. It’s literally as though you’re wearing the clothing equivalent of a Porsche 919. We were lucky enough to feature Webber in Men’s Health last year, so it was an incredible honour to play host and dig a little deeper into both his career and new ventures on stage. No question was off limits as rivalries were exposed, near-death experiences relived and the future of both racing and fashion explored. The night was a celebration of German design and performance, with a special BOSS presentation of the new Porsche x BOSS collection kicking off formalities. Guests were treated to a Chivas Regal tasting bar to sample delectable 15-year-old and 18-year-old Scotch whisky, as well as a Pommery tasting bar serving the finest in French Champagne. As a sports fan, it was a career highlight to anchor such an amazing event in Melbourne, Australia’s home of sport and fashion. Many thanks to the BOSS team for hosting such a great night, to Mark Webber for the open and honest chat, and to everyone who attended. In what might be our last event for a while, we couldn’t have hoped for a better send-off.

WINNING FORMULA: F1 legend Mark Webber shared his success secrets with editor Scott Henderson.

THE BOSS: Matthew Keighran, Hugo Boss Managing Director, SEAPAC. 50

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MH RA DAR

FAST FASHION: The racing-inspired range by Porsche and BOSS.

MAKING HIS MARK: Webber made his presence felt on Collins St.

PRIX DE MELBOURNE: Guests were treated to a night of European style.

WEBBER OF INTRIGUE: The guest of honour had patrons in the palm of his hand. TRACKS SUITS: German design and engineering are at the forefront of the collaboration. JUNE 2020

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When the going gets tough . . . the tough put others first. Here we salute some of the more selfless and courageous responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Why? Because hope and optimism are catchy. And in this time of crisis it’s worth remembering that the virus isn’t the only thing that spreads by BEN JHOT Y photography by JA MES GEER

COVID-19 has decimated healthcare systems and economies across the globe, claiming lives and destroying livelihoods. Social distancing and forced lockdown have changed the way all of us live, work and play. But amid the ‘unprecedented’ turmoil, many people are finding ways to be positive, helping others less fortunate, inspiring those who feel helpless and in the case of healthcare workers – like our cover guy, Dr Kieran Kennedy – ploughing on and doing their jobs under the most trying of circumstances. Here, in their own words, some of those who have stepped up in the short time since COVID-19 reshaped our lives reveal what drove them to find the best in themselves.

JUNE 2020

The Jack-of-all Trades DR KIERAN KENNEDY is a neuropsychiatry resident in Melbourne’s

public hospital system. As a mental health specialist he works across many departments, including emergency. Here he details the psychological toll COVID-19 is having on patients and healthcare workers and the importance of staying active “Right now, the whole landscape of the healthcare system has changed, almost in an instant. It feels like we’re in the calm before the storm, preparing for battle. We’re hunkering down and all these plans are being made. I think that’s where Australia and New Zealand are lucky in the sense that social distancing and lockdown have done what we hoped they would in terms of stemming some of the flow. Seeing what’s happened to Italy, the UK and America is scary. As a doctor, imagining what it would be like to have that many patients presenting to hospital and not having beds or equipment for them would just be such a gutwrenching situation. As doctors, we’re used to being in control and feeling like we can help. To think that there might be a scenario where that can’t happen is just surreal. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic, but to put yourself on the line, to do what you’re trained to do, knowing that

Scrubs on or off, Kennedy embodies the strength of our healthcare system.

you could get sick, is difficult. I think healthcare workers, doctors and nurses are very aware of some of those cases overseas – that aren’t that infrequent, either – of young, fit, healthy doctors passing away. That really is quite anxiety provoking. I saw a patient a week or so ago and there wasn’t any indication at the time that I needed to be in protective gear. When I’m doing an assessment of a patient, you’re with that person for quite

a long time sitting reasonably close together. I found out afterward that the person had some family connection to someone that may have been positive, which meant that I had to get tested. I was like, ‘Oh, God. I think I do have a little bit of a sore throat’. It was quite confronting for me. I was thinking, ‘I might have it now’. Acknowledging the mental side of things is really important. Change, stress and any kind of impact on our routines is going to have a massive flow-on effect to our mental health. Routines are things we use to keep ourselves feeling good mentally and physically. But they also give us a sense of who we are as well. We kind of are our routines. I’m in the same boat as a lot of guys who are like, ‘What do you mean the gym’s closed?’ That’s a really important part of my week in terms of stress management. I straddled my ironing board on top of two bean bags as a makeshift bench to do some flys. It sounds crazy but I know for myself how important exercise is for me. And for everyone, particularly in a situation like the one we currently face, the benefits to our mental health can’t be overstated.”

DR KENNEDY’S FULLBODY TREATMENT Kennedy does this iso upperbody combo using dumbbells and weight plates each morning before hitting the hospital wards

DUMBBELL PUSH-UP-TO-ROW: 4x12, 60-second break btw. sets • Keep core stable and body straight through push-up movement. Tuck arms close to body and pull the weight up toward your rib cage for each row. PLATE FRONT RAISE: 4x12, 60-sec breaks • Hold arms with a slight elbow bend, hands at 3/9 on plate. Engage core and raise arms up slowly to parallel and back down. STANDING PLATE PRESS: 4x10, 60-sec breaks • Press a moderate weight plate between each palm with arms extended. Focusing on pressing in firmly on the plate, move hands inward to your chest and back out. DUMBBELL SHOULDER PRESS: 4x10, 60-90 sec breaks • From standing position, start with dumbbells held at shoulder height with palms outward. Slowly raise dumbbells above your head until arms are almost fully extended, then lower back to starting position. BENT-OVER DUMBBELL ROWS: 4x10, 60-sec breaks • Bend forward from the waist, just above parallel. Keep your back flat while pulling dumbbells up toward your body. ARM SUPERSET: 4x10 each with 30-second break between each pair • Standing dumbbell biceps curls. Superset with standing dumbbell triceps extensions. Ditch the breaks for a crazy-good pump.

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THE HELPING HAND

PETER DARMOS, a 62-year-old lawyer from Melbourne, was so distressed by the queues for unemployment benefits he rushed to the bank and withdrew $10,000 in one-hundred-dollar bills. He then headed to his local Centrelink and handed them out

“It was just before lunch and I was sitting on the couch watching TV, seeing these people who’d had their lives turned upside down overnight. I got an anxiety attack watching them. I started shaking. It was a bit of self-preservation, I think. My mind was saying, ‘You need to get off your arse. You need to do something to stop this anxiety attack. What can you do?’ And I thought, ‘Well, these people need food. You’ve got plenty in your fridge for your kids; they haven’t’. I went to the bank. As I was driving there I thought, ‘Food. Food on the table that night’. There was a bit of rigmarole taking the money out but they gave me the $10k. I rocked up to Box Hill and saw the queue. It was quite an experience handing the money over because you don’t want to be seen as some sort of hero. That’s the last thing I want. It was difficult to approach people but once I approached one, I was okay. I didn’t know what to say, but I said, ‘I’m so sorry about what’s happened – would this $100 help you buy groceries for your family?’ I had to keep my distance, of course, but some

wanted to hug me, some wanted to kiss me, some started crying. At the same time, the fear I saw in people’s eyes just devastated me. But something did happen that uplifted me, which was a thousand times more powerful than my deed. There were two young guys in the queue. I said I was sorry for what’s happened, and you know what they said to me? ‘Thank you so much. We’re going to be right for a few weeks. There are people in the queue who need it more than us’. They didn’t take so others could. I came to Australia as a sixyear-old from a village in Greece called Karyes, where we were starving. It was the hunger in the village and an appreciation of that 30-day ship journey to Australia that set my values up. I’m still the village boy deep down. And I made it a point never to go hungry again. I think that’s what caused the anxiety attack. Seeing those people in the line brought back the memories of the hunger. I don’t get anxiety attacks. But this was an uncontrollable jolt and it came from the village. I know it came from the village.”

THE TRAILBLAZER

DR MUKESH HAIKERWAL was the first GP in Victoria to offer drive-through testing for COVID-19 “We had our ﬁrst near miss – someone who thought they might have COVID but didn’t – in early February. We were just heading off from Melbourne to Sydney on a cruise, believe it or not, and then we got a call to say somebody had been tested for COVID. So, we were not well prepared. We had the stuff, because we do that for accreditation. But what we found is that once a room has been used for testing you have to shut it down and do what’s called a deep cleanse. So, we thought, ‘Gee, if you’ve got a four-room practice and you’ve got four patients, you’re stuffed’. We’re an 18-doctor practice, so we can’t just shut down. We’ll leave 30-40,000 people in the area without care. The other thing that happened at the same time that prompted us to do something was that anybody who had a respiratory condition – cough, wheeze, phlegm, temperature – could have COVID, but they could just have a cold or a ﬂu. And they’re all being sent to hospital because they couldn’t be seen in local clinics. I decided a drive-through operation at our clinic was the safest way we could do testing in large numbers, keeping my staff, my other patients and myself safe. So, we decided to start this process of testing people in the car park. We didn’t ask permission. We just did it. Of course, you do feel anxiety doing the testing. Always. But we minimised the risk. The

patients ring ahead. They’re told to come and wait in the car park. We then do a video consult with them. We reassure them, talk them through what’s happening, explaining that somebody will come out with a mask, a gown, gloves and a toothbrush-length swab. We stick it in their throat, not their nose, which isn’t pleasant. And they have to cough up some spittle. It sounds horrible, but after that you go home and self-isolate for 14 days. If your test comes back negative, you can go back to work. At ﬁrst people loved the idea. But then they said, ‘Oh, we can’t go there. It’s like a leper colony. It’s full of people with COVID’. To be honest, you can get COVID anywhere and in those places nobody is wearing PPE (personal protective equipment). But we were getting trash-talked: ‘We don’t want you to be here. Not in my backyard’. On the one hand they want the facility, but please put it somewhere else. If you take a bit of leadership and put your head above the parapet, you get shot down. In the end we just got on with it. We haven’t had a positive test yet, thank goodness, but if we did, at least we wouldn’t have to shut down the practice. Other clinics have followed us and I’m really happy about that. That’s what medicine is about. We collaborate, cooperate and make sure that everyone is looked after.” JUNE 2020

THE INSPIRATION

TIM FRANKLIN, a 36-year-old triathlon coach from Brisbane, wanted to inspire his athletes in isolation. So, one morning, he got up and ran a marathon in his two-bedroom apartment

“The virus just ﬂipped my entire world on its head. I coach at Brisbane Girls Grammar School and at a football club, as well as my tri squad and it all got suspended. So the initial concern for me was ﬁnancial. ‘What do I do?’ But then it was how do I use this really shitty situation to make sure that people are still working hard, maintaining activity and staying positive? A friend of mine tagged me in a post about some guy in France that had done something similar on his balcony. I thought, ‘Ah, well, that’s a bit of fun, a bit of a challenge and it might get people to smile at a time where there’s not a lot of smiling going on’. I roughly stepped out the course and then a mate of mine said, ‘Oh no, let’s measure it properly. Let’s make this legit’. We actually tape-measured every section of it, so we got it exactly. I didn’t think too much about it before I started. As absurd as it

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sounds, running 42 kilometres isn’t going to kill me just by jogging it. But I didn’t actually know what I was in for. I think that naivety probably wasn’t the worst thing. It took me about 10-12 seconds a lap, so every 10 laps was taking me just under two minutes. I had a pen in my left hand and I’d just change it to my right hand every 10 laps. Then, as I ran past the fridge, I put a dash. The biggest problem physically was I couldn’t really run. It was a constant shufﬂe with turns every few metres or so. I got into a rhythm but never a stride. Then, after a couple of hours it was just mind-numbingly boring. That was the hardest thing, just to keep moving when there was no one around and it wasn’t for anything. I could’ve just sat down and been done with it and no-one would be any the wiser. In a real race there’s always people around you and spectators.

The lack of atmosphere was strange. I just kept thinking, ‘What am I going to do? Now that my income streams have been slashed, what does my world look like? What do I need to change to adapt to what could become the new normal?’ That occupied most of my time. I was also listening to some podcasts and I had the TV on but it was funny because I couldn’t quite pick up the shows because I’d run onto my balcony and then back out, so I’d miss something and think, ‘I wonder if that was integral to the plot?’ So, that didn’t really work. I ended up doing it in 6.46. My best time for a marathon is 3.08. I did this for a laugh, to send out to my squad. I didn’t envisage it going bonkers like it has. The fact that it’s inspired other people to do it is awesome. All I wanted to say was, ‘In shit times, stay active, stay motivated and no matter what happens, there’ll be a tomorrow’.”

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The Leader “I personally worked on the HIV ward back in the early 1990s and this brings up a lot of very similar emotions around community anxiety and not really knowing much about the virus. It’s also similar in the way our frontline workers are putting themselves forward. I’ve not had one member of staff say to me, ‘I don’t want to work with somebody who might be COVID-positive’. This hospital was caring for people with Spanish flu back in 1919 just as we’re dealing with this virus today. There’s a real legacy here. For me personally I have laservision focus on doing everything we can to prepare while we have the opportunity. My greatest fear is regret. I would much rather that we’re over-prepared and that at the end of this we look back and say, ‘Thank gosh we didn’t need all the ventilators that we got.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ANTHONY SCHEMBRI is the CEO of St Vincent’s Health Network in Sydney. Right now, his job is to prepare his staff for a battle he hopes they won’t have to fight

Thank gosh we didn’t need all the beds we prepared’. There are three things we’ve been doing. The first is working differently. We’ve ramped up our ‘Hospital In The Home’ program and expanded our telehealth service. Secondly, we’re ramping up testing. Here at St Vincent’s and at our Bondi Beach pop-up and our fever clinic we’ve tested close to 6000 patients. The more people that are tested the more we’re able to quarantine. Thirdly, we’re building additional capacity. We’ve doubled our intensive-care unit capacity. We’re working in partnership with our private hospitals in the St Vincent’s group to double our bed base. We’re repurposing wards, we’re retraining our staff to respond to COVID. Lastly, we’ve established an emergency operations centre

that is coordinating our efforts. Because of our location we have a high rate of tourists and visitors coming into the community. A lot of the hotels where people are being quarantined are in inner or Eastern Sydney, so we’re right in the middle of it. We’ve tested passengers from a range of cruise ships who’ve been subject to quarantine. Some have required medical care but not COVIDrelated care. In terms of testing, we’re pretty consistent with the rest of the state at around a 5 per cent positive rate. We’re fortunate we haven’t had any deaths from

COVID – thank God. But we’re the largest provider of palliative care services in NSW, so end-oflife care is taking a particular focus in our preparation. We’re all working seven days a week right now. But I’d much rather be tired and exhausted than sit back and think that I personally wasn’t doing enough. That’s a value that’s shared by all healthcare workers. When I eventually get to put my head on a pillow, whether it’s the lounge in my office or at home, I don’t want to think that I haven’t done everything I possibly could, that day, to make sure that we’re prepared.”

“I’D RATHER BE EXHAUSTED THAN THINK I PERSONALLY WASN’T DOING ENOUGH” JUNE 2020

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Purpose-built for the busy man, microworkouts could make you stronger, fitter and more mobile. The best part? You can do them in self-isolation and integrate them into your working day BY

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LURKING BENEATH James Newbury’s blond dreadlocks is a mighty athlete. A national CrossFit champion who’s been named “Australia’s fittest man” four times, Newbury finished fifth in last year’s world CrossFit Games. Years of testing himself against psychotically tough competitors mean that he’s not easily wowed by mortal feats of physical prowess. But the 29-year-old still remembers one man whose pound-for-pound strength left a gobsmacking impression. Ten years ago, Newbury was pushing to become a semi-pro rugby league player in Brisbane. One of his teammates in the South Brisbane Magpies Under-20s was Toby Hook, a guy Newbury had known from back home in Adelaide. But something had happened – Hook had undergone a dynamic transformation. “When I met him again, Toby looked a lot bigger and a lot more shredded – his shoulders were huge,” Newbury recalls. “I was amazed at how strong his upper body was in comparison to mine. I used to crush myself in the gym – a lot more than he did – but he was always so much stronger.” Hook weighed around 84kg but could comfortably bench-press 160kg. He could also bang out 30 strict handstand push-ups with ease. “He’d just got much stronger than everyone else in the team.” The secret of the man’s power wasn’t down to steroids, plyometrics or drop-sets. His mythical strength, in fact, stemmed from a more prosaic source: Hook had started working as a bricklayer. “He put it down to constantly lifting and moving stuff around throughout his day,” Newbury says. “Lifting the bricks gave him really good grip strength while picking up wheelbarrows gave him a good deadlift, too.” Newbury mentions his old teammate not to extol the honest virtues of manual labour, but because Hook is a real-life demonstration of a training methodology that’s gaining momentum. It can make you stronger, healthier and more mobile. It doesn’t require

lengthy gym sessions and is almost purposebuilt for the time-poor man. The best part in these unsettling times of COVID-19 – you can do it in self-isolation with minimal equipment, too. Commonly known as “exercise snacking”, the idea behind it is simple. Instead of condensing your training into a single, sweat-drenched session, you chunk it up into “microworkouts” that are drip-fed throughout the course of your day. At regular intervals – perhaps every 30 or 60 minutes – you might drop down and punch out a quick superset of, say, push-ups and mountain-climbers. Taken as a one-off, this workload is fairly painless and can be completed in under two minutes. Yet by the end of the working day, if you’ve repeated the microworkout a bunch of times, you can accumulate some serious volume. Trialling the idea to write this story, for example, I did that aforementioned superset one day and completed 600 push-ups and five-minutes worth of mountain climbers. And, one benefit of working from home in these strange times is you don’t get weird glances from colleagues when you’re grinding out push-ups by the side of your desk.

BANG FOR YOUR BITES Exercise scientists are now unlocking the benefits of microworkouts. Last year, Canadian researchers at McMaster University completed a study where they recruited 24 healthy but inactive college students. Turning up at the physiology building’s stairwell, the students were told to hurry up three flights of stairs – 60 steps – as quickly as they could, one step at a time, in ascents that lasted about 20 seconds. That was the sum total of the workout. The students performed this exercise snack three times a day for six weeks. By the end, they’d increased their aerobic fitness by about 5 per cent and also boosted their leg power. These positive findings were consistent JUNE 2020

Try these microworkouts from exercise physiologist Drew Harrisberg during your working week. Each snack is made up of 2 x 1-min AMRAPs (as many reps as possible)

with another study from Bath University in the UK that focused on older adults aged between 65 and 80. Tasked with doing simple exercise snacks every day over the course of a month, the volunteers’ muscle strength improved by 5 per cent and thigh-muscle size increased by 2 per cent. That’s all positive news. But while the results of these studies were heartening, they still focused on idle students and doddering pensioners. What about the benefits of microworkouts for more active men? Can exercise snacking really get you jacked?

Monday: Core

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

1. V-up Lie face-up on the floor with arms above the top of your head. In one movement, lift your torso and legs as if you’re trying to touch your toes so your body forms a letter “V”. 2. Superman Lie flat on your stomach with arms straight out in front of you. Raise your arms and feet off the floor, keeping your core flat on the ground. Hold for three seconds then lower.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Paul Haslam was “living the bodybuilder’s dream”. A Herculean specimen with unfeasibly large shoulders, Haslam was running a gym in Belmont North, near Newcastle, that was located in a shopping centre giving him easy access to a butcher, greengrocer, bakery and supermarket. With all his immediate needs catered for, Haslam could devote single-minded focus to his training goals. Having represented Australia in a series of international bodybuilding contests, he was now targeting the national heavyweight title. There was just one problem: the size of his calves. Whatever Haslam tried, he just couldn’t grow them any bigger. So Haslam began to supplement his already intensive training with microworkouts. He started to perform one

SNACK ATTACK

Tuesday: Power 1. Start with clap push-ups and transition into regular push-ups when explosiveness tapers off. 2. Start with squat jumps and transition to regular squats when power tapers off.

Wednesday: Isometric 1. Wall sit. Back flat against the wall, bend your knees to form a right angle so your thighs are parallel with the floor. Brace your abs as if you were about to be punched in the gut. 2. Half-way push-up hold. Lower down into a standard push-up but hold the pose when your chest is 5cm from the ground, maintaining full-body tightness.

Thursday: Cardio 1. High-knee running on spot 2. Mountain climber

Friday: Mobility 1. Hold a deep squat. 2. Hold a hip-flexor stretch with back foot on sofa, back knee on the floor and front leg grounded at 90° (this helps perform a posterior pelvic tilt, leading to a more effective stretch).

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set of 15-20 standing calf raises and a similar set of seated calf raises “on the hour, every hour for 12 hours per day”. The additional effort paid off. Haslam promptly scooped the title of Mr Australia two years in a row. And while he doesn’t believe exercise snacking is necessarily better than conventional training, Haslam is convinced that it can build muscle. “High volumes with lighter loads can still elicit a hypertrophic response that assists in muscle gain,” he says. Anyone who doubts whether a ‘little and often’ approach can add size, he adds, should take one look at Rafael Nadal’s left arm. Moreover, if you’re stuck in a training plateau, exercise snacking could help you burst through it as the sheer volume of reps will shock your body to respond. “For many, microworkouts will be a novel stimulus and that in itself will be enough to promote new gains,” Haslam says. One caveat if you’re trying to build muscle – exercise snacking doesn’t lend itself to going heavy. Training closer to failure is proven to result in better gains but due to the loads involved it demands a thorough warm-up. Prepping for 15 minutes before confronting a big lift simply doesn’t make sense if you’re planning to repeat your snack every hour throughout your working day. Yet the disadvantage of lighter loads can be offset by volume. “Many studies have shown that, if the intensity is the same, volume delivered over a longer

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“ANYONE WHO DOUBTS A ‘LITTLE AND OFTEN’ APPROACH SHOULD LOOK AT RAFAEL NADAL’S LEFT ARM”

timeframe will elicit a very similar response (to heavier weights),” Haslam says. There are other potential benefits. When it comes to muscle-building programs, an all-time classic is German volume training (GVT), where you complete 10 sets of 10 reps with the same weight. The physical intensity of GVT means that it’s recommended only as a short-term program. The beauty of exercise snacking, Haslam suggests, is that it can help you achieve similarly high volumes in a way that you can maintain without as much soreness and central nervous system damage. “If a microworkout program is designed well – for example, rotating exercises – it can be very sustainable.”

Can microworkouts help you lose body fat? The bottom line is that, if you burn more kilojoules than you consume, you’ll fast-track your route to visible abs. Exercise snacking could help you create that deficit – particularly if tacked onto a broader training regimen. “If your daily total energy expenditure is increased through the microworkout system, then yes, they can lead to decreased body-fat levels,” Haslam says. Admittedly, there are drawbacks. Compared to working out in a well-equipped gym, there’ll probably be a limited number of exercises that you can perform. More importantly, you’ve still got to actually do the work. You might find it harder to knuckle

down to repeated sets rather than dedicate the time to a single session (multiple workouts = multiple distractions). Nevertheless, it’s worth giving a go as the benefits might amount to a lot more than adding an extra couple of centimetres to your arms.

NOURISH YOUR HEALTH Working from his Bondi apartment, Drew Harrisberg handles most of his clients over video conferencing. But after each appointment, the exercise physiologist steps away from his laptop and drops to his livingroom floor. Methodically, he performs 12 push-ups, focusing on textbook form and slow momentum. From there, he goes straight into JUNE 2020

“MICROWORKOUTS ALLOW YOU TO WEAVE MORE EXERCISE INTO YOUR DAY”

12 deep squats, lowering until his hamstrings rest on top of his calves, before snapping out 12 quick-fire burpees. “That’s my exercise snack,” Harrisberg says. “I see how many times over the day I can accumulate that.” As you’d expect from someone with a background in sports science (not to mention a cover-model physique), the composition of these moves is not accidental. Just as from a dietary perspective, the ideal snack would combine all of your primary ‘macros’; Harrisberg deliberately balances moves with different benefits. The push-up delivers an upper-body muscular contraction, the deep squat helps with hip and ankle mobility, while the burpees lift his heart-rate, work his posterior chain and lengthen his hamstrings. But the reason Harrisberg religiously performs what he’s come to call “Drew’s Daily Dozen” is not to burn fat or build muscle. He 64

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executes them to safeguard his health. Despite being a healthy, active guy, Harrisberg was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 22. Monitoring his condition to try and stay on top of it, he made a discovery. “What I found was that the more time that I spent sitting and literally not moving at all, the worse my blood glucose control became.” Punctuating his desk time with any sort of movement – from a two-minute walk to 10 bodyweight squats – made a discernible difference. Research from New Zealand shows that Harrisberg’s finding wasn’t a one-off. Microworkouts do indeed help control blood sugar in people with insulin resistance more effectively than one daily 30-minute session. But for Harrisberg, the implications go way beyond diabetes.

Microworkouts, he insists, allow you to weave exercise into the fabric of your day in a far more effective and holistic way.

INCIDENTAL BENEFITS Even if you train on a daily basis, think about the rest of your waking hours, he urges. For most of us desk-jockeys, that remaining time will be scarily inactive beyond the occasional amble to put the kettle on. “If you’re sitting on your arse and you think that one hour in the gym is enough to mitigate the effects of all that sitting then you’re dreaming,” he says. Harrisberg points out that, in the world’s longevity hotspots, like Okinawa and Sardinia, structured exercise is rare. The inhabitants are not lyra-clad gym-rats doing CrossFit, HIIT or Pilates. They’re simply living in environments that promote regular

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THREE THINGS I LEARNED FROM A WEEK OF MICROWORKOUTS THE GUINEA PIG: I try to get to the gym three times a week and generally manage once (if that). Good intentions are invariably derailed by the killer combo of work and small kids. WHAT I DID: Taking a DIY approach, I repeated one superset of exercises throughout each working day. I aimed to perform them every half hour; sometimes it ended up being more like an hour. I picked a different superset every day. THE EXERCISES: Push-up x Mountain Climber Lateral Raise x Bodyweight Squat Bicep Curl x Diamond Push-up Kettlebell Swing x Dumbbell Row Dumbbell Thruster x Plank

1 SET YOUR PARAMETERS: The best thing about microworkouts is

they’re quick enough to stitch into your working day, so avoid heavy weights that’ll entail lengthy warm-ups. But how do you pick the ideal weight or number of reps? Paul Haslam recommends considering your rate of perceived exertion (RPE), whereby effort is assigned a figure of one to 10. “I would recommend an RPE of 8/10,” he says. With push-ups, for example, my max is 80, so I started off doing sets of 60.

2 DON’T BE A REP MONSTER: I departed from that initial rep plan

because I found cranking out so many push-ups was leading to flickers of joint pain. Instead, I found it was far better to try and slow my reps down and really focus on perfect form. “Slow motion or isometric holds (pausing at the bottom and/or top of the movement) for 5-15 seconds will reduce the numbers of reps while still being productive,” Haslam suggests.

3 IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR HEADSPACE: This was a real bonus. Not only did the drip-feed of endorphin hits throughout the day lift my mood, exercise snacking also helped my productivity. I started dividing my work into 30-minute sprints with the microworkouts becoming a sort of cognitive breather. “The mental stimulus of this type of workout is profound,” Haslam agrees.

CONCLUSION: I’m a definite convert. For starters, I happily stuck to the program so completed far more exercise than I normally manage during a deadline-heavy week. Perhaps the biggest revelation was the benefit of the mobility work. I’ve got sciatica, but a day of deep bodyweight squats meant zero back pain, despite hunching over my laptop for eight hours. I’ll always include a mobility element to my exercise snacks moving forward. movement throughout the course of the day. “Their exercise is carrying groceries, gardening, walking up hills, constantly moving, never sitting down too long,” Harrisberg says. “That incidental physical activity adds up and they’re living proof that you don’t have to spend an hour in the gym every day to be lean and healthy.” Microworkouts may sound like a sexy new form of training. But the fundamental idea of adding more exercise to your day in bitesized chunks is, in fact, what we’re physically evolved to do. Exercise snacking offers a fresh way to integrate more movement into your daily life. Yes, it’ll improve your muscle tone but, more importantly, it could deliver the antidote to your sedentary lifestyle. Pick up your phone and set the timer – the countdown to your next set of push-ups starts now. JUNE 2020

KUMAIL NANJIANI CANDO ANYTHING TRANSFORM HIS WHOLE BODY

REIMAGINE A MARVEL HERO REDEFINE THE ROLE OF LEADING MAN AND (OF COURSE) MAKE US LAUGH BY

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BRI A N R A F TERY

PHOTOGR A PH Y BY

EMILY SHUR

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MAVERICK BALLER

Nanjiani jumped at the chance to re-create Top Gun’s epic beach-volleyball scene. “Tom Cruise has such an iconic look with the aviators,” he says. “There are so few movie stars left, and Tom’s stayed an action star – he’s still doing the type of movies he could have done in the ’80s.” On Nanjiani: Sunglasses by Ray-Ban; jeans by Levi’s; chain (dog tags) by Kaufman’s Army & Navy. On model (as Goose): T-shirt by Jockey; trunks by Onia.

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very day in the gym, as he was torturing himself to get into superhero shape, Kumail Nanjiani would hear that phrase in his head – part mission statement, part plea. The words first came to him early last year. That’s when the 41-year-old actor and writer began the workout regimen that would prepare him for this November’s Marvel adventure The Eternals, in which he plays an ego-swollen, muscle-packed alien among men. Nanjiani devoured comic books and action films while growing up in Karachi, Pakistan, and has spent the past few years quietly positioning himself for Marvel supersizing. When it finally happened, he thought: I’m playing the first South Asian superhero in a Marvel movie. I don’t want to be the schlubby brown guy – I want to look like someone who can hang with Thor and Captain America. And so, for months, Nanjiani would leave his home in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Los Feliz and head to a discreetly located megagym in Beverly Hills. During the hourlong trip, he would be filled with dread. He’d been hitting the gym since he was 16 years old but had never trained as intensely as he would for The Eternals; at one point, electric shocks were involved. The early workouts were so brutal he’d come close to vomiting. All Nanjiani could do was try to dissociate from the pain. Leave your body, he’d keep repeating. Please – do the movements, and leave your body. It didn’t work. For a while, the only joy in this daily routine came from the relief Nanjiani felt when he drove away, aching and exhausted and more than a little shellshocked. “At first, whenever he came home from a workout, he wasn’t able to focus on anything,” notes his wife, writer-producer Emily V. Gordon. “He was still a functioning person, but for an hour, you couldn’t really count on him to have a conversation. His body was adjusting.” Soon Nanjiani realised that if he was going to complete his transformation, his mind would have to adjust as well. That’s the way it’s been throughout his life: in his 20s, he quit a full-time job to pursue a high-risk stand-up career. In his 30s, he decided to jump into acting and then somehow made that his second career. He’s always looked at whatever opportunity was in front of him and thought, Get good at this! Also: “He’s obsessive,” says Gordon. “When Kumail gets into things, he gets really into things.” After several merciless months, Nanjiani adopted a new workout philosophy. It was the exact opposite of his leave your body directive. And for someone who’s played his fair share 68

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X-MAN FOR HIRE

Nanjiani – who grew up obsessed with comic books – is a big admirer of Wolverine and Hugh Jackman. “He’s one of those actors who can do everything – he can do action, he can sing and dance, he can do comedy.” Pants by Todd Snyder.

INKALOTOF COMEDIANSSECRETLY ASPIRETOBEATOUGHGUY” of easily relatable nice guys, and who once recorded a stand-up special called Beta Male, it was surprisingly intense. But over time, it worked: Chase the pain. Chase the pain. Chase the pain.

JUST FOR LAUGHS Almost a year later, on a bright late-January afternoon, Nanjiani is sitting outdoors at a café near his home, eating an egg-white omelette and happily chatting about his Eternals agony. There are a few strands of grey in his hair, and he’s dressed in a tight, mustard-coloured T-shirt, black Puma track pants and blue-and-white

Tiger sneakers. Over the next two hours, Nanjiani occasionally breaks into a sincere, and sincerely charming, tight-lipped smile, and not without good reason: last night, he attended a party for Little America, the critically adored Apple TV+ series he cocreated with Gordon, and he allowed himself his first brownie in a year. But this morning, he was back at that megagym in Beverly Hills, getting in some shoulder-and-chest workouts just for fun. Not so long ago, the mere thought of that hour-long drive “really fucked with me”, Nanjiani says. “Today, I drove to that gym and five minutes into my workout, my mood brightened. I love it.” Nanjiani’s good cheer is mostly due to

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the fact that he’s finally home after the busiest 12 months of his life. He began last year by shooting the romantic comedy The Lovebirds, in which he and Issa Rae star as an on-the-brink-of-a-break-up couple who get pulled into a murder caper. Then he had his sixth and final season playing Dinesh, the quietly fuming brainiac on HBO’s tech-world takedown Silicon Valley. At the same time, he was getting in shape for The Eternals, which he finished shooting less than a week ago. For a while, Nanjiani had to keep the movie hush-hush – he couldn’t explain why he was spending so many hours in the gym. One of the few to be clued in was Thomas Middleditch, his Silicon costar. Through the years, the two men have shared

their fitness aspirations: Middleditch recalls a time when Nanjiani became fixated on the super-ripped Pakistani model Abbas Jafri. “Kumail would show us pictures of him while we were on set and he’d look kind of envious,” says Middleditch. “Neither of us has a hesitation about going, ‘I wish I had his jawline or arms or whatever’. I think a lot of sensitive weirdo comedians secretly aspire to be the tough guy. And when they finally get a reason to totally change their body – like becoming a superhero – they’re more incentivised.” Middleditch, who’s known Nanjiani for more than a decade, wasn’t surprised by his friend’s commitment to his Eternals routine: “When Kumail’s given a shot at

something, he’s going to take it.” Nanjiani’s showbiz trajectory bears that out. His path has been genuinely wild, the result of ceaseless curiosity and hardcore hustle. Nanjiani arrived in the US as a teenager to attend Grinnell College in Iowa, a school he knew little about, in a country he’d never before visited. (Some of his Western popculture knowledge came from old Mad magazines he’d found in a Karachi bazaar.) “I was scared, and I didn’t want to do it,” he says. “But I had no other options, no plan. My first two weeks there were among the worst in my life.” Soon, though, he began making friends – some of whom would be in the audience several years later, watching JUNE 2020

Nanjiani onstage at a local coffee shop for his first-ever stand-up gig. He’d spent his university years becoming enthralled by comedy, recording and rewatching stand-up specials before writing his first jokes. And although he has no recollection of what he talked about for nearly half an hour that day, it remains “one of the best sets in my life”, Nanjiani says. “It was magical.” He then relocated to Chicago, where he worked full-time at charter schools, helping kids with their computers, while pursuing stand-up at night. Those early gigs weren’t always great, and for the first five years he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make a living out of comedy. But he never thought about giving up. Even after a bad gig, he says, “I wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’ll quit’. I was like, ‘Now

YIPPEE-KI-YAY

For Nanjiani, 1988’s Die Hard is the goldstandard blockbuster. “It’s a perfect movie filled with all these little moments. In the director’s commentary, they talk a lot about how a movie should have joy – and I want a movie that has joy in it.” Pants by Todd Snyder.

I know what that feels like’.” By 2007, he felt secure enough in his stand-up to quit everything and head to New York to focus on comedy. Nanjiani’s material mixed stories from his personal life with riffs on Star Trek and movies like The Thing. “He had all these little observations about popular culture and what he found funny about them wasn’t the most obvious thing,” notes Michael Showalter, who first spotted Nanjiani around that time and went on to direct him in The Lovebirds and 2017’s The Big Sick, the Oscar-nominated rom-com-drama Nanjiani and Gordon wrote about their relationship. “While a lot of comedians can be very aggressive, Kumail’s comedy was silly and whimsical.” Showalter hired Nanjiani as a writer on his

2009 series, Michael & Michael Have Issues, and even offered him a role as a fictitious version of himself. Nanjiani was in his early 30s, and although he’d had cameos on The Colbert Report and Saturday Night Live, he’d never seriously considered acting before. “I’d always thought the writers do the real work and the actors are just saying the words,” he says. “I was very confident in my stand-up, but I didn’t feel confident acting. I was like, ‘This is very difficult, and I want to learn more’.” Michael & Michael was cancelled after just seven episodes, devastating Nanjiani, who’d been convinced he was going to spend the next several years on the show. In order to “get away from the scene of the crime”, he jokes, he decided to move to LA. Once there,

TACT ICS Nanjiani treated his semi-accidental acting career with his usual seriousness – Get good at this – and began taking acting classes. “It was like therapy,” he says. “I’d trained myself not to feel emotions, to push them away, because emotions are scary. And as soon as I started taking acting classes, I started crying at movies and commercials more. All these emotions I’d learned to suppress, I was now learning to get in touch with. It made my life better, made my anxiety better.” The classes also made him a more at-ease performer, and Nanjiani slowly accrued a series of breakout TV roles. He was the virtual unknown who was sorta everywhere: there he was as a grating cell-phone salesman on Portlandia, or a too-eager numbers nerd on Veep, or a legally savvy agoraphobe on

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Favourite exercise Dips. I just like the feeling of holding up my body and how it feels on my pecs. It just feels like I’ve been doing something. Frenemy exercise Leg raises. I really feel how effective they are, so they’re important to do. But they’re just so exhausting. Workout anthem Live Bruce Springsteen, “Brucelegs”. And podcasts. Cheat Meal Dessert – a layered strawberry-jam cake or something. Something really, really simple. TV show you’ve recommended A British show called Taskmaster. It’s these comedians doing all of these silly challenges. Euphemism for sex My wife Emily’s family calls it “wrapping presents” – and I really like that.

31 episodes of Franklin & Bash. By the time Silicon Valley debuted in 2014, he’d made a name playing gently nerdy (and not-sogently needling) young men. Nanjiani was Hollywood’s go-to cerebral smartarse, at a time when that type was in high demand. “A few years ago,” Nanjiani says, “I was working with a great guy – I won’t say who, but he’s a very handsome, really in-shape guy – who was making fun of me for being doughy. And I was like, ‘I could weigh another 50 pounds (23kg) and I’ll still work. But if you gain ten, you’ll never work another day in your life’.”

SERIOUSLY FUNNY Halfway through our lunch, an old writer friend of Nanjiani’s strolls by, flashes a knowing smile, and says, “It’s been a while. Do anything . . . noteworthy lately?” Nanjiani’s Eternals stint may have begun in secrecy, but eventually word got out that he’d gone Marvel. He first met with producers about the role in

late 2018, though that wasn’t his first attempt at breaking into the superhero world: years before Silicon Valley, he auditioned for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and was crushed when he didn’t get it. But later, when he saw comedy performers like Chris Pratt and Paul Rudd being converted into superheroes, he started entertaining the idea, however far-off, that he could become part of the Marvel universe as well. “It was a pipe dream,” says Nanjiani. “But I was very strategic about it.” He turned down supporting parts in other comic-book projects, worried they’d take him out of the running for his own big role. And he made it clear that he didn’t want to play some techloving sidekick. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to be just part of a Marvel movie; I want to be a Marvel superhero’. ” Finally, in the same year he got an Oscar nod for his Big Sick script, he joined The Eternals. The movie, which also stars Angelina Jolie and Kit Harington, follows a group of centuries-old immortals who secretly live on Earth, with Nanjiani as Kingo, an arrogant, cosmic-powered being who lives in the present day as a buff Bollywood star. It’s not a character he knew too well; as a young comic fan, he relied on whatever random titles and one-off issues he could get his hands on, and The Eternals was hardly a mainstream must-read. But he knew exactly how he wanted to play Kingo: the same way Bruce Willis played the wry, weary, machine-gun-toting hero of 1988’s Die Hard, one of Nanjiani’s favourite films. “That movie’s life-or-death and Eternals is life-or-death, too,” he says. “I was like, ‘How can a character crack wise but still have tension and not make it feel like you’re making fun of the whole thing?’” Willis’s Die Hard turn has a historical connection, as well. As Middleditch notes, it’s not unusual for a comedy star to get ripped nowadays. “It happens here and there, where they become a hot-bod boy: the Kevin Harts, the Joe Rogans and, I guess, the Carrot Tops.” But Willis was among the first to make that transition seem credible, having turned from a smirky prime-time rom-com actor on Moonlighting into a shirtless action-movie dynamo without losing his light touch. (He kept the smirk intact.) There’s a throughline that runs from Willis’s yippee-ki-yay makeover to Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder to Nanjiani in The Eternals. Nanjiani had his own ideas for just how buff Kingo should look. “I wanted Kumail to have the freedom to interpret his character, especially his physicality,” says The Eternals director Chloé Zhao. So he looked to Bollywood stars he admired, like Indian box-office eternal Hrithik Roshan, who’s played the superhero Krrish in a series of JUNE 2020

smash films. “I went to my trainer and said, ‘I want to look like this guy’,” says Nanjiani. To achieve it, he’d have to lean heavily on Marvel for help. When The Eternals began filming, he met with a studio chef, who grilled him on his food preferences; soon Nanjiani was being delivered five meals a day, including on weekends, all of it carefully planned out. “They were like, ‘If you’re going to have a can of Coke today, let us know in the morning so we can adjust and account for it’,” he says. Nanjiani usually had the same breakfast – steak and eggs or eggs and chicken – but for six months, he never repeated the other meals. And while he was encouraged to eat what he wanted on weekends, he had so successfully cut out such hazards as added sugar and gluten that when he went crazy one night with some sticky toffee pudding, he felt it the next day. “Just 12 hours of physical pain,” he says. 72

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That was nothing compared with the anguish of his workouts. He’d exercise during lunch breaks on Silicon Valley; on weekends in a London gym; and on the Eternals set, with its 24-hour-a-day on-call trainers. But it was in those early months last year, in that Beverly Hills compound, that Nanjiani did the most training, physically and emotionally. He’d gone from being a dutiful gym rat to having electric shocks administered to his biceps in order to build more muscle. “I realised, if this is what working out is, I’ve never really worked out a moment in my life,” he says. It was around that time that Nanjiani decided the only way he’d make it through the training – the only way he could get good at this – would be if he embraced just how awful the workouts were making him feel. If he opted to simply leave his body, he wouldn’t get anywhere. “I had to change my relationship

with pain,” he says. “You’re so designed to avoid it, but in that situation you really have to be okay with it. You have to want it. It’s almost trying to rewire your brain.” For a while, he wasn’t sure how he wanted to announce the results of all that rewiring and reshaping to the world. But last December, figuring he was in the best shape he’d ever be in, he posted a pair of photos of himself, bare-torsoed and sharp-abbed, to Instagram. The images promptly ate up Facebook and Twitter, and later anchored a segment on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Nanjiani’s newly ripped torso even wound up on Pornhub, as the thumbnail image for the site’s “Muscular Men” category. “Half the messages I got that day were from people being like, ‘Hey, I want to have sex with your husband’,” says Gordon, “and the other half were from people

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“I REALISED, IF THIS IS WHAT WORKING OUT IS, I’VE NEVER REALLY WORKED OUT A MOMENT IN MY LIFE” PSYCHO EXERCISER

KUMAIL’SBODYBLAST Kumail Nanjiani built superhero muscle and serious abs with intense bodybuilder-style workouts – and these moves from his trainer, Grant Roberts. Add them in once a week to muscle up your routine.

DUMBBELL CURL THREE WAYS Curl the right DB toward your left shoulder, twisting the pinkie-side head of the DB up. Lower, then repeat on the other side; do 7 reps per side. Follow with 7 hammer curls (palms facing your torso). Finish with 7 standard curls (palms facing forward). Rest 90 seconds; do 4 sets.

To get into shape like American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman, Nanjiani says, “I tried all the different diets: paleo, keto, fasting. I’d go for a couple weeks, hit a plateau and then switch. Now I take all of the lessons I’ve learned from all of them combined”.

ZERCHER SQ

Boxers by Polo Ralph Lauren; EQT Support RF sneakers by Adidas Originals.

making sure I was okay with my husband’s naked body being everywhere.” She compares the experience to that of The Big Sick: “It took a very private thing from our lives and made it incredibly public. And all I could be was really proud, because he looks amazing.” Nanjiani didn’t quite feel the same way – at least not before he shared his new physique with the masses. “I don’t want to discount people who genuinely have debilitating body issues,” he says. “I don’t have that. But I did start getting some body dysmorphia. I’d look in the mirror and I’d see my abs – and when I looked again, they would fade. I would just see the flaws.” The Instagram photos helped. “When I saw that reaction was when I was like, ‘Okay, I clearly don’t see what’s actually there’. It’s something that I’m trying to be aware of and be better at,

because that’s not a good way to be. You want to be easy on yourself.” That’s where Nanjiani is at the moment: trying to be a little easier on himself while figuring out his non-superhero identity in the immediate future. “This is a key time to establish how it’s going to be going forward,” he says of his post-Eternals lifestyle. “Because it could very easily go back to how things were. And I can’t do that.” But while he enjoys his workouts in earnest now, Nanjiani would still rather spend his time rewatching old Harrison Ford movies or playing video games or just going for a walk around the neighbourhood with Gordon. “The goal is to get energy from the gym so I can go do other stuff,” he says. “People ask me, ‘Do you think you’re more intimidating now?’ And I’m like, ‘Not at all’. These muscles are useless. They’re decorative.”

Stand holding a bar d with a relatively heavy wei , i e crooks of your elbows. Tighten your shoulder blades, core and glutes. Bend at the knees and push your hips back, lowering into a squat. Stand back up. That’s 1 rep; do 4 sets of 10.

EARTHQUAKE ABS SERIES Get in plank position, forearms on a stability ball. Move your elbows forward, rolling the ball forward, then pull back. Do 10 reps. Then do 10 reps rotating the ball clockwise. Follow with 10 reps rotating the ball counterclockwise. Finish with 10 more reps rolling the ball forward and backward. Do 4 sets.

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Whether you have it or not, you probably regard high intelligence as an asset. And fair enough: it certainly has its pluses. But for many smart guys thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a flipside to elevated brainpower that can turn everyday life into a struggle for acceptance, direction and clean mental health BY

DA NIEL W ILLI A MS

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MIND

The smartest guy in the room rarely boasts about his IQ. He could be the bloke in the cubicle next to you.

JUNE 2020

When he was three,

Tom Grace recited a poem for a group of teachers at his preschool. While its title is untraceable, the poem was an aggregate of twee lines such as “Snowflakes are the purest white” and “Pink like the blossoms in the spring”. Also present at the recital was Tom’s dad, who filmed it. The recording shows a thin, dark-haired boy speaking with immaculate enunciation, while approaching his task with a touching earnestness. It was some time later that one of the preschool teachers took Tom’s mother aside. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, Mrs Grace,” she said, “but your son is very intelligent.” In fact, Tom’s parents were well aware of their first-born’s cognitive flair. As an infant, Tom had been quick to talk and highly curious, and he continued to thrive through childhood. Aged five, he sat down on the back doorstep at his home in Sydney and refused to budge until he’d counted aloud to 1000. Aged six, while on a family beach holiday, he was taught to play chess by his dad, whom he was outplaying within a year or two. When he was nine, Year 3 pupils at his school were required to sit for an IQ test. Tom’s score was 135+, which qualified him as “gifted” and placed him inside the top two per cent of the population for intelligence. Three years later, he romped it in as dux of his school. At this point, Grace looked set for a sparkling career in whatever field he chose to pursue. And, sure enough, after excelling at high school and university, he spent almost two decades as a top-flight solicitor, in time raking in close to a seven-figure salary. That success lasted until his early-40s, when the ground gave way beneath him. Gripped by anxiety, Grace stopped working entirely for 18 months and quit corporate law forever. Now in his mid-50s, he works part-time while consulting regularly with

a psychiatrist. Grace is content but also fragile. And you don’t need to be a genius to trace that fragility – at least in part – to his high intelligence. What smart people have suspected for millennia – and what science only recently has been able to show – is that being unusually clever is a doubleedged sword. As a child and adolescent, sky-high intelligence can be alienating. At a stage of life when fitting in feels paramount, being ahead of the pack in terms of speed of comprehension, sophistication of language and range of interests often serves as a barrier to forming bonds with your less cognitively blessed peers. “I spent a good part of my school years feeling like a fish out of water,” says Grace. “At the time I don’t know that I felt smarter than everyone else, just different.” Smart cookies are notorious overthinkers. And overthinking leads nowhere good. Disproportionately represented in the ranks of the mentally ill, the ultra-sharp can struggle to play effectively with the hand they’ve been dealt. Like all gifts, high intelligence comes without a manual.

IQ: A PRIMER

Fascination with intelligence sprouted in the late 1800s, when French anatomist Paul Broca and English statistician Francis Galton argued it could be determined by measuring the size of the skull: the bigger it was, they figured, the smarter the person. In 1904, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon devised the first modern IQ test as a way of distinguishing mentally challenged children from their normal, but undisciplined, peers. While IQ testing has progressed since then, questions remain about what, precisely, the tests measure – and, more fundamentally, what intelligence is. Most experts subscribe to what’s called the

Theory of General Intelligence: intelligence as one general ability (G factor). G factor has multiple parts – visual perception, abstract reasoning, pattern recognition, spatial orientation, analytical thinking – but all these are correlated, it’s argued, meaning the chances of you being outstanding in one and clueless in another are vanishingly small. Complementary to G factor is the more inclusive Theory of Multiple Intelligence, credited to Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardner. It postulates nine distinct forms of intelligence [see “Gifts Galore”, right], including emotional, musical and bodily intelligence. Bodily intelligence? Sure. Why not? The finest surfers and gymnasts may seldom dazzle with their wit. But doesn’t athletic mastery – the symphony of muscular coordination that defines sublime performance – signify a type of smarts?

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SIT THE TEST: Go to test-iq.org and have a crack at the Brain Metrics Initiative-certified IQ test. For $15, you’ll receive a detailed report on your results.

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GIFTS GALORE Even if you wouldn’t blitz a standard IQ test, you may possess in spades a specific form of intelligence, such as any of these nine types identified by American developmental psychologist Howard Gardner in his Theory of Multiple Intelligence

Naturalistic intelligence You have acute outdoor sensibilities and a strong connection with nature.

Musical intelligence You have a talent for identifying pitch, rhythm and timbre.

Just as they can tire of unstimulating jobs, smarties may become bored in relationships.

“Is there any way to raise your IQ – or that of a child’s? Seemingly not”

Logical/mathematical intelligence You’re adept at deduction and logical reasoning, and numbers seem to be your first language.

Existential intelligence Your mind is geared towards philosophy and grappling with the biggest questions of existence.

Interpersonal intelligence “Absolutely,” says Jean-Marc Genesi, chairman of the Australian branch of Mensa, the world’s largest high-IQ society. “I love soccer, and it’s a sorry finding that three out of every five Premier League players declare bankruptcy in retirement. But with a ball at their feet, many of these same players reveal a kind of genius. Yes, I’m prepared to call it genius.” Genesi prefers the term “talent” over “intelligence”, whatever form it takes, and is adamant it needs perseverance and imagination to flourish. He also distinguishes between above-average cleverness and truly soaring brainpower, quoting Arthur Schopenhauer: “Talent,” said the German philosopher, “hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.” “Intelligence is absolutely hereditary. It’s passed along through the family line,” says Alan D. Thompson, the Perth-based founder of Life Architect, an international lifecoaching practice supporting exceptionally high-ability families. Thompson says US

research shows your IQ will be generally within five or 10 points of your siblings’, and within 10 points of your parents’ and grandparents’. Is there any way to raise your IQ – or that of a child’s? Seemingly not. IQ appears to be remarkably stable through your lifetime, regardless of how that life is spent. All things being equal, if you were to sit for an IQ test today, you would achieve the same score you achieved on an IQ test you did when you were seven, give or take a point or two. You can, however, utilise your intelligence more effectively in daily life by developing ancillary skills like concentration and organisation. As for what, exactly, intelligence is, Thompson says academics tend to lean on traits such as memory, processing speed and reasoning. “However, based on two decades of applied practice, working with prodigies and high performers, I can say that while these traits apply, no two gifted individuals have ever been the same. Even some of my clients who are twins are wildly different.

You have a strong sense of what others are thinking and feeling.

Bodily intelligence You exhibit a remarkable control over your body. Think dancers.

Linguistic intelligence You are good with words, written and spoken, and may learn new languages easily.

Intrapersonal intelligence You have an advanced understanding of yourself. Think of this not as egotism but self-awareness.

Visual-spatial intelligence You’re a born navigator and highly observant, routinely noticing details others miss.

JUNE 2020

GET OUT OF YOUR OWN HEAD The overthinking linked with high IQ can drive you mad. US educator James Bierly* offers these four tips for turning down an overactive brain

BE A BODY FOR A WHILE

AGREE WITH YOUR INNER CRITIC

“Pick one physical activity and apply your intelligence for a week to how to make that activity so consuming, so physically engaging, that you think only about your body for a time.”

“What if you told yourself you have a right to exist no matter what your faults? Then you wouldn’t have to argue with yourself all the time. You could just be.”

GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO BE IRRATIONAL “When you feel the need to give a reason for everything and explain everything, you take away your ability simply to live. Make it a goal for a week to do one completely irrational thing that puts a smile on your face.”

PRACTISE CARING, NOT THINKING “There’s a sort of solipsism to most of the problems associated with high intelligence. When we’re busy caring intensely for the needs of another, it puts our own life into perspective.”

The only connecting factor is that intelligent individuals have an advanced brain. How this plays out is fascinating to see.”

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Before delving into what can go wrong for the highly intelligent, let’s take a look at the positives. Compared to their peers, smarter children and adolescents do better in school (no surprises there), are more likely to go to university (ditto) and go on to earn higher incomes as adults. What’s less predictable, perhaps, is that smarter adults also live longer. We know this because of a massive study conducted in Scotland during last century. For the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932, almost 88,000 11-year-olds sat for an IQ Test on the same day. Researchers then followed up the participants all the way into old age and onto death. They found that, on average, those who were at a 15-point disadvantage in IQ compared to the highest-IQ individuals were only 79 per cent as likely to live to age 76. Compared to others, higher-IQ people were significantly less likely by their 70s to suffer from heart disease or any form of cancer, or to have perished in a car accident. While there are various theories about what’s behind all this, the most compelling is 78

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that higher-IQ individuals are simply better at keeping themselves healthy. “The cognitive demands of preventing illness and accidents are comparable,” concluded a retrospective on the Scottish Mental Survey in Current Directions in Psychological Science. “Remain vigilant for hazards, remove or evade them in a timely manner, contain incidents to limit damage.” Likewise, while others might struggle to follow treatment plans recommended by their doctor, the smarter man complies with ease. All of which is applicable to life right now. For instance, it might be instructive to test the intelligence of those who thought the start of a pandemic was a good time to spend a day on a crowded beach.

THE PERILS OF OVERTHINKING

By the time he hit 40, Grace felt disillusioned in his work and lonely in his marriage. And while those feelings can strike anyone, he’s convinced they were intensified in his case by an all-too-common corollary of high intelligence – overthinking. “When you start sliding into desperate unhappiness for whatever reason, it’s accentuated by your inability to stop thinking . . . just dwelling on things, over and over, obsessively,” says Grace. “You’re trying to think through your problems, meanwhile

exaggerating their scale. Catastrophism. I’m sure it’s a sign of intelligence because you have more imagination than most people. You’re able to envisage what can go wrong.” Over time, Grace believes, his rumination led to a mental breakdown. And the science backs him. In 2018, Ruth Karpinski of Pitzer College in California led a team that surveyed 3715 members of American Mensa. She subsequently reported in the journal Intelligence that about 20 per cent of respondents revealed having been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, while nearly 27 per cent had been diagnosed with a mood disorder such as depression or bipolar disorder – at least double the rates you would find in the general public. Karpinski attributes the discrepancy to “psychological overexcitability” – basically, the smart person’s tendency to ruminate and worry. For example, a high-IQ person might be told he looks pale. This could prompt him to fret about his health for a week. [See: “Get Out of Your Own Head”, top left]. Psychological overexcitability goes hand in hand with its physical equivalent: the Mensa participants also reported high rates of allergy, asthma and autoimmune disease. Karpinski observes that a marker of high intelligence is an extraordinary capacity

* MEDIUM DAILY DIGEST

“Myself, I can remember almost everything, including those things I’d prefer to forget”

MIND

for seeing and internalising the vast uncertainties, problems and possibilities in the world. This attribute, she says, can be either a catalyst for empowerment or a predictor of debilitation. “Intelligence research most often focuses on the flashes of lightning seen in this rare population. But in order to serve this group of individuals fully, we mustn’t neglect to acknowledge the rumbles of thunder that follow in the wake of their brilliance.”

LIFE AS A SMART MAN

There are the downsides of enhanced brainpower that science has taken the trouble to prove. And then there are the internalised crises and everyday experiences of high-IQ people that can chip away at their enjoyment of life. Another commonly shared mixed blessing appears to be an elephantine memory. “Myself, I can remember almost everything from a young age, including those things I’d prefer to forget,” says Mensa chairman Genesi. So, instead of consigning useless and corrosive fragments of their life to the mental dustbin, high-IQ people retain for intermittent replay and re-analysis snippets of their past that serve only to make living a little more painful than it needs to be.

John Bolton, 41, the Victorian state secretary of Mensa, is a qualified mortgage broker who’s writing a novel in his spare time. He sounds faintly sheepish discussing his work, as though he feels he’s underachieved. This is a recurring theme among high-IQ people, he says. “People in Mensa tend to try something, get bored and try something else. They can lack the grit that others have.” Consequently, “there are a lot of people who are bitter about wasting their higher intelligence. They’re 78 years old and have done nothing great with it, and that frustrates them.” These same tendencies can undermine your personal life. “As in careers, you get bored in relationships,” Bolton says. Or, it could be your partner who initiates the break-up, because she’s fed up sharing her life with someone who will wax lyrical on Newton’s laws of motion but can’t manage to put the milk back in the fridge. “Functioning in life is not a skill that high intelligence helps,” says Bolton. “The minutiae of life just doesn’t do it for a lot of high-IQ people, and they need a partner who picks up the slack on everyday tasks.” For many braniacs, finding a partner who’s their intellectual equal isn’t a priority, says Mensa director Hal Hancevic-Grabic.

“They’ll tell you their partner is not Mensa material and they don’t care. They say, ‘What is the point of being with someone like me – who’s good at solving puzzles! – if I can’t rely on them?’” It’s a custom of Mensans that they don’t disclose their membership to outsiders. That’s partly for self-protection: apparently there are a lot of insecure bosses out there who don’t want to risk being shown up. Also, people tend to make assumptions about you when you mention Mensa. And not just that you’re smart – you’re probably a little off the wall, as well. “The public is wonderfully tolerant,” observed Oscar Wilde. “It forgives everything except genius.” There’s an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer discovers the cause of his subnormal intelligence is a crayon that’s been lodged in his brain since he was six. When it’s removed, his IQ shoots up by 50 points. But instead of life getting better, it nosedives. Colleagues and friends turn against him, and jokes and movies that once amused him now seem dopey. Eventually, he decides to have the crayon reinserted, but not before he writes a letter to daughter Lisa, explaining he’s taking the coward’s way out but now has a greater appreciation for her after realising what it’s like to be smart like she is. It’s a storyline Hancevic-Grabic can relate to. “Yes, I sometimes feel alienated when I hear a joke that I find stupid but everyone else is laughing,” he says. His response? “I try to laugh along. You can be the smartest person, someone who changed the world, but IQ doesn’t really matter. People will remember whether you were kind, whether you were friendly. I think it’s more important to show people kindness than to prove how intelligent you are.” Which might just be the smartest advice you’ll ever get.

SIGNS YOUR CHILD IS A BRIGHT SPARK

Alan D. Thompson, who coaches gifted and talented children and their families (LifeArchitect.com.au), tells you how to spot high IQ in your pre-schooler Fast learner Highly curious Vivid imagination Strong sense of fairness Great sense of humour

JUNE 2020

FAST NDTHE SPURI US -19 D I V O C VIVAL

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The biggest trend in food is forgoing it entirely. Intermit an speed up fat loss and extend your lifespan, but there’s more to it than skipping brekky. Lockdown is the perfect time to test-drive a new eating regimen, so peruse our guide to make sure going without gives you exactly what you want BY

BOBBY PA LMER

P HOTOGR A P H Y BY

ROWA N FEE

FASTING appears in many guises. There are cleanses, purges and digestive resets. There are various restricted “eating windows”. But ultimately, they all amount to the same thing: a drastic reduction in your kilojoule allowance for a designated period of time. The concept is nothing new. Fasting is arguably the original “diet” (the practice gets a fair few nods in the Old Testament), but its popularity has swelled in recent years and now every man and his spotter is seemingly singing its praises, whether for health and performance or for more aesthetic benefits. But there are myriad iterations and, with so many handbooks and cookbooks purporting to help you turn hunger pains into fitness gains, 80

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it can be hard to cut through the noise. Will stuffing in a day’s worth of fuel at dinner help you crush it in the gym tomorrow? Is alternating between feast and famine any better than a steady diet? Forced lockdown fosters a spirit of experimentation, meaning there’s no better time to find out. We consulted the experts to help you separate the absurd from the abs-defining.

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Could surviving on a night-time feast be the best way to skewer fat?

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WARRIOR DIET

What is it? Supposedly based on the habits of ancient Greek and Roman soldiers, this intermittentfasting regimen involves consuming next to nothing during the working day, then gorging in the evening.

How does it work? Author Ori Hofmekler’s militant approach to intermittent fasting might better be referred to as the 20:4 diet. Like the better-known 16:8 plan (see following page), it consists of a daily fasting window and an eating window. However, in this case, the latter window is much shorter and is most commonly limited to one enormous feast. The system is allegedly inspired by the lifestyles of ancient Roman

and Spartan warriors, who would eat very little during their active days, then reward themselves with an epic night-time blowout. The problem is that for all his personal experiences in the Israeli Special Forces and his romantic ideas about ancient warriors, Hofmekler’s approach is lacking in concrete science. There is scant evidence that his plan is any more effective than the simpler 16:8 diet, while chronobiologists have pointed out that humans are most insulin sensitive during daylight hours – making a large meal in the afternoon, rather than in the evening, theoretically more conducive to weight loss. While the warrior diet allows a small amount of snacking on nuts and fruits throughout the day, the prolonged fasting hours could cause your blood-sugar levels to drop. Researchers at the Yale University School of Medicine have found that this can increase junk-food cravings, feeding your desire to indulge in low-nutrient, high-kilojoule foods during your end-of-day feast. “The average office worker isn’t a warrior,” says Daniel O’Shaughnessy, director of the Naked Nutritionist. “An ancient warrior wouldn’t have the opportunity to gorge on processed food like we do. This diet seems likely to promote an unhealthy relationship with food.” If your resolve is forged of iron and you fear no hunger, this might not be an issue. But there are easier ways to fight weight gain.

The digested take Not worth the battle – JUNE 2020

2 THE

WATER FAST What is it?

No food, no juice – just water. Some people might water-fast for 24 hours once or twice each month, while others advocate doing it for as long as three consecutive days. That’ll slim down your food bills . . .

How does it work? This is the least complicated of all the fasting diets. It’s also one of the most difficult. A popular iteration of water fasting is “Eat Stop Eat”, which follows the same framework as the 5:2 but dials it up a notch. Instead of restricting your kilojoules on fasting days, you take in none at all for 24 hours. For example, you could eat a late breakfast at 10am, then subsist on water until 10am the next day. On the non-fasting days, you simply eat as normal (if your growling stomach permits it). Others advocate fasting for lenghtier periods of 48 or even 72 hours, the latter of which should only be attempted under medical supervision. As with all fasts, the goal is autophagy, the process by which your cells recycle themselves. Fasting will accelerate this activity; theoretically, the bigger your kilojoule deficit, the more impressive the results. Naturally, you’ll lose weight. 82

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“I DON’T KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS COMPLETED A WATER FAST AND NOT SEEN THEIR TRAINING SUFFER”

However, you stand to lose other things, too. “I don’t know anyone who has completed a prolonged water fast and not seen their training suffer,” says Rick Miller, principal dietitian at King Edward VII’s Hospital. “It’s inevitable that you’ll lose some muscle mass, even if you do see rapid weight loss.” As for hitting the gym on a diet of H2O, Miller doesn’t recommend it. “When you’re

in a starved state, you’re going to have very low blood glucose, and you’ll potentially be disorientated,” he says. Add to this a heightened risk of hyponatremia (water poisoning) due to a lack of salts and electrolytes, and you’re better off just having a sandwich and crushing a CrossFit session.

The digested take An empty promise –

An extreme plan will almost certainly dilute the beneﬁts.

NU TR I TIO N

Look beyond the buzz to see if the claims measure up.

THE

16:8 DIET What is it?

The name refers to the ratio of daily hours spent fasting to when eating is allowed. You fast overnight (and usually all morning), then consume your food in an eight-hour window.

How does it work? The diet of choice for A-list beasts such as Hugh Jackman and Terry Crews, the 16:8 diet has gained popularity thanks to the relative ease with which it fits into modern lifestyles. After all, research suggests that almost half of Aussies don’t eat a proper breakfast anyway. Like other forms of fasting, it works by limiting your eating time to a strictly defined period. Not only does this cap your kilojoule intake by default, reducing your ability to graze, it also improves your body’s ability to burn fat by lowering your insulin levels. The 16:8 has more scientific clout than most of the fasting diets. A University of Illinois at Chicago study found that it lowered blood pressure, and it’s also well suited to those

who want to get Wolverineripped: a review in the journal Behavioural Sciences notes that rates of fat loss when fasting were just as high (sometimes higher) than regular low-kJ diets, while a study in the Journal of Translational Medicine shows that the time-restricted feeding approach can help you lose fat while maintaining your hardearned muscle. Skipping your morning oats might look like the easiest way to implement the 16:8, but make sure you’re tailoring your fasting window to your workout time. “If you’re training in the morning, try to have breakfast shortly after your workout to fuel your muscles, then have an early dinner,” says O’Shaughnessy. “If you’re training late in the day, I would skip breakfast and eat a bigger lunch instead.” And on rest days? Just do whatever works. Unlike other fasts, the 16:8 doesn’t demand unwavering adherence and sticking to a rigid routine to deliver.

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BULLETPROOF DIET What is it? The brainchild of bio-hacker Dave Asprey, this divisive diet takes the basis of the 16:8 but adds buttery coffee to an otherwise empty morning menu.

The digested take

How does it work?

Flexible benefits –

Of all the fasting approaches out there, this one is probably the most . . . out there. It’s another schedule of timerestricted eating, but with a unique addition: Bulletproof coffee, your regular cuppa blended with grass-fed butter and brain-sharpening MCT oil. When you’re not slurping this down, you consume the bulk of your kilojoules during a set time window, but with a keto focus: high-fat, low-carb foods, including lots of red meat, fatty fish, avocado and eggs. Portion sizes aren’t restricted, but how much rib-eye can one man eat? This might seem a bit nonsensical, but it’s based on an established dietary principle. Ketosis is the process

Cut into bellyy fat with a with

by which a body starved of glucose begins to burn its own fat stores instead. A high-fat diet promotes ketosis alongside the preservation of muscle mass – which is why it’s big among bodybuilders. But it’s hard to sustain when a serving of rice can throw you out of your ketogenic state. Plus, Asprey’s coffee meets 75 per cent of your daily allowance of saturated fat. At best, it’s contentious. With that in mind, it’s easy to see why some feel Bulletproof coffee is no better than snake oil. To Miller, it’s more trend than treatment: “It’s funny, really, because a tablespoon of butter is around 400kJ. So, if you’re having a couple of cups, you might as well have scrambled a couple of eggs.” A less revolutionary idea, perhaps, but a habit that’s more likely to stick.

The digested take Fat lot of good –

JUNE 2020

Do the maths: can a lean 48 hours equal sustainable fat loss?

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5:2DIET What is it?

For five days, you eat normally. For two, you limit yourself to a gruelling 2500-3350kJ per day – not recommended on consecutive days.

How does it work? If you’ve tried fasting before, there’s a good chance you’ve tried the 5:2. It was first popularised by journalist Dr Michael Mosley, who studied cyclical-dieting protocols – the kind already popular with bodybuilders – and adapted them for the masses. His book on the subject quickly became an international bestseller, and the diet has since been endorsed by everyone from Benedict Cumberbatch to Beyoncé. It owes its popularity in part to its relatively unrestrictive nature: while the two lowkilojoule days can be brutal, followers can revel in the freedom to eat however they want on the other days (though you are meant to eat sensibly, rather than indulging in quintuple cheat days). From a scientific perspective, there’s plenty of evidence that these low-kilojoule days can be beneficial for fat loss. Some 84

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studies suggest that a temporary reduced kilojoule intake can also boost the production of white blood cells, which play an important role in your immune system, as well as curbing the risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and type 2 diabetes. The main sticking point is what to eat on the fasting days. Miller says you should take most of the popular 5:2 “recipes” with a pinch of salt – and a dash of egg white. He suggests beefing up the “soup and crackers” approach with higher-protein meals, so you don’t start losing muscle mass. It’s worth noting that, since his plan’s original publication, Mosley’s suggested

daily kilojoule intake for men has been generously upped from 2500 to 3350kJ. When it comes to training on low-kilojoule days, Miller recommends “active rest”, which can include anything from a brisk walk or an easy bike ride to a quick runaround with the kids. “It sounds like a paradox, but it just means don’t sit around doing nothing,” he says. “Don’t waste the opportunity to be active, but still recognise that you are under-fuelled.” As an extra perk, tomorrow’s breakfast will taste all the better.

The digested take A reliable fast fix –

“IT OWES ITS POPULARITY TO ITS RELATIVELY UNRESTRICTIVE NATURE”

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6 THE

JUICE FAST

Relying only on liquids can put the squeeze on muscle, as well as your belly.

What is it?

This is exactly what it says on the carton. Ingest nothing but liquefied fruits, roots and vegetables for a set period – anything from 24 hours for beginners to an entire week for the hardcore.

How does it work? The concept has been buoyed by numerous high-profile Hollywood endorsements, as well as the widespread assumption that anything green is good for you. The juice fast purports to reverse digestive damage and flush toxins from the body. There are a few drops of truth to those claims: a UCLA study observed an increase in participants’ general wellbeing after a threeday cleanse, along with a rise in healthy gut bacteria. Kale juice has been associated with a rise in HDL cholesterol (the “good” kind), while citrus and carrot have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease. However, don’t click “like” just yet. An article published by the Harvard Medical School is critical of the general lack of scientific evidence for most of juicing’s benefits,

especially the vague claims that it can “detoxify” the body and counteract chronic diseases. Sure, kale and other healthy foods will support your body’s natural healing processes, but the science suggests that they work just as well when sautéed as drunk. A juice-only diet might help you shed some unwanted kilos, too (you’ll probably struggle to knock back the 10,500kJ that the average man requires every day), but this comes at a cost. By

stripping the fibre out of fresh produce, you concentrate the sugar. “Even if you’ve got plenty of vitamins and minerals, all of that sugar means you’re raising your insulin levels very high,” says Miller. “Most juices don’t include any protein, either, so you’re not getting the nutrients needed to support muscle recovery.” Juice fasting might be viable for the sometime yogi on a meditation retreat in Bali, but a zero-protein, high-sugar

diet is likely to leave you suffering burnout on an average rainy Monday. If you’re still tempted, though, fast for just one or two days, ideally when you don’t have much on, and supplement your juice with a blended bean broth for satiating fibre and a touch of protein. Oh, and there’s no need to pay $70 per day for a delivery box. That’s a squeeze you can do without.

The digested take An unfruitful life – JUNE 2020

Getting trashed: a wasteful attitude could be costing you time and money.

TACT IC S

WASTED! The busy man’s guide to not squandering what matters most: money, food, energy, your life – and maybe even the planet by DAVID FERRY photography by HANNAH WHITAKER

HOW NOT TO WASTE . . .

UP TO 2.5 MILLION tonnes of edible food is wasted by Australian households each year, equating to around 300kg per person, according to Foodbank Australia. These three rules can help you turn that around:

BE REALISTIC WITH WHAT YOU’RE BUYING. People are aspirational at the grocery store, says Dana Gunders, interim executive director of an anti-food-waste group ReFED. “They hope to cook more and eat better, and then life happens. By Wednesday, they’re ordering pizza and the food is rotting. Beware of overbuying and plan for lazy nights. We all have them.”

GIVE LEFTOVERS A LIFT. Fun fact: casserole means “Ah, nasty, not again” in French. Okay, not really. Regardless, don’t suffer through another one. Instead, enjoy these meals, which give life to leftovers.

FOOD

SAVE (AND SAVOUR) YOUR SCRAPS. Recipes (and food Instagram accounts) train you to eat the nice-looking parts of foods (broccoli crowns) while ditching the “ugly” parts (broccoli stems). Gunders has another name for those less “liked” parts: delicious. THE SCRAP

THE TREAT

Cauliﬂower stalks

Cauliﬂower “rice”. In a food processor, pulse chopped stalks into a rice-like texture. Sauté with butter.

Carrot or beetroot tops

Fresh pesto. Combine tops with pine nuts and grated Parmesan. In a food processor, blitz, then purée, drizzling in olive oil until sauce-like. Season as you like.

Potato skins

Chips! Heat a pan with half a teaspoon of oil over medium high. When the oil shimmers, add skins and cook till crisp.

Slightly expired eggs*

Mayo. In a blender, mix yolks, a little lemon juice, Dijon mustard and salt. Add olive oil, drop by drop, until thick.

* PRO TIP: USE-BY DATES ARE ONLY SUGGESTIONS Except for baby formula, use-by dates on food don’t have to do with safety and no regulatory body oversees them. Smell okay? Taste okay? It’s probably okay.

YOU HAVE

MAKE THIS

Leftover vegetables, a can of tomatoes, some slightly stale bread, eggs

Shakshuka. Heat tomatoes and veg in a pan till bubbling. Stir in some cumin, red-pepper ﬂakes, salt and pepper. Drop in the eggs, cover and cook till the whites are set. Serve with toast.

Vegetables, meat, random fresh herbs, leftover grains, bottled dressing

A grain bowl. Toss the vegetables and meat in a little dressing; layer over the leftover grains. Microwave, then scatter herbs on top.

JUNE 2020

HOW NOT TO WASTE . . .

KILOJOULES

If you’re trying to lose weight or just not gain any, you have to watch out for wasteful, empty kJ. These formerly heavier guys know that – and how to fight back AVOI D E DI B LE FOR KS .

“I don’t do what I call ‘vehicle carbs’ – food where the whole purpose is to put other food into your mouth. Chips, buns, tortillas – they’re just edible forks. And you consciously eat slower if you’re using a real fork.” – JOSH HOHBIEN; lost 68kg

E ASY ON TH E PROTE I N BARS .

“I learned to like them because they were helping me meet my fitness goals, but all of a sudden I was bingeeating them. You can’t just munch on them, especially if you’re not reading the label.”

S NACK S MARTE R .

“I avoid any food that you can’t have just one of: chips, popcorn – even ‘healthy’ protein popcorn. They don’t affect your appetite, they don’t give you that satiated feeling and you keep eating and eating them.”

– NICK LAUSTRUP; lost 48kg

HOW NOT TO WASTE . . .

PLASTIC

PEOPLE BUY 1 million plastic bottles – per minute (and only about 23 per cent are recycled). Yes, plastic is choking our oceans, lakes and rivers. Microplastics are making their way into our seafood. And as if that weren’t bad enough, researchers believe that chemicals in all that plastic may disrupt endocrine activity, which can lead to lowered fertility and cancer. I thought I was pretty careful about plastic, but when I tracked my waste for a day, I was shocked to find it everywhere (toothpaste! gym shoes! beer cans!). For ways to cut back, I looked up Rob Greenfield, who wore all the trash he produced for 30 days in 2016. By the end, he was carrying 38kg of plastic bags, water bottles and plastic-lined food containers. “I was barely able to move,” he says today. Most disturbing, he says, is single-use plastic. “Think about, say, a bag of potato chips. It takes five minutes to eat it. But that bag will be around for 500 years,” Greenfield says. “Does that make any sense?” It didn’t to him, which is why he’s aiming to cut plastic from his life entirely. You don’t have to go that far. Just pick your level – life’s hard; no judgment – and try his tips. 88

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–DUSTIN HALL; lost 144kg

HOW NOT TO WASTE . . .

MONEY

Entry-level Don’t just recycle old to-go containers: consume fewer of them. Bring reusable ones to your usual takeaway spot and have them put your meal in there. Cheap clothes are loaded with plasticky synthetic fabrics like nylon and polyester. Cotton feels better, anyway. (Ditto wool and cashmere.)

Advanced Food packaging fills up garbage bins – one more reason to avoid processed food. Use cloth bags for produce and choose items not packed in Styrofoam. Trawl Gumtree for older power tools – modern ones have many plastic parts. Better yet, chip in on one with your neighbour.

Pro Clean up your bathroom. Personal hygiene products like shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste are often packaged in and loaded with plastics. Turn to brands that don’t use them in their products. Consider bottle-free bars for shampoo and conditioner and plastics-free cleaning detergents.

Everyone tells you to stop buying coffee to save cash and everyone, apparently, wants you to be angry and tired at work. Instead, keep your coffee and use your pleasant demeanour and abundant energy to knock out these cost savers

Today:

Delete your saved payment info from e-commerce sites so that there’s a little “are you sure?” pause between you and the final purchase.

This week:

Rethink meals that don’t mean much. Experiences like fine dinners make people happy, so keep them in the budget. But if you take home $20 an hour, is that crappy takeaway worth two hours of work?

This Decade:

Don’t buy (or rent) more house than you need. Extra square metres adds up to so many drains – energy, cleaning time, furnishings, searching for things you’ve lost. Who needs a home theatre in 2020?

TACT IC S

“Money is a tool, a means to something”

HOW NOT TO WASTE . . .

MENTAL ENERGY There’s this Silicon Valley story about “shaving the yak” that goes a little like this . . .

“I should clear out the closet today,” you think. “Damn, I still need to build those shelves in the garage to store everything. I’ll have to go to the hardware store to buy some wood. “But Larry has my saw! “Damn, I can’t get my saw back until I return the stuffed Tibetan-mastiff doll my son borrowed from him, though.

Time to toss: life’s too short to pursue things or goals that don’t have meaning to you.

“And we haven’t returned it because some of the stuffing fell out and we need to get some yak hair to restuff it.” HOW NOT TO WASTE . . .

LIFE

STACEY STAATERMAN meets a lot of people at the top of their professional life – and unhappy. She’s a career strategist and coach who spends her days advising workers who feel like they’re wasting their life. “Is there value in what I’m doing?” her clients ask. “Am I wasting my best years in this career I don’t love?” For these folks, Staaterman pulls out a homework assignment, one she completed 17 years ago when she felt directionless. “I ask people to write on a single page what they want their life to be like: a paragraph on your home, family and friendships, work, hobbies, mind,

body and spiritual life – anything that matters to them,” she says. “Notice that money is not on the list. Money is a tool, a means to something.” Look at the list and rank what matters most to you. Then build your life around them. If time with your family is key, then maybe the hustle isn’t worth it. If you need money now, then overtime might be the right call. Sceptical? Staaterman’s one-pager from 2003 is on her office wall. “You can take care of your situation now or wait until you’re nearly dead,” she says. Because life, indeed, is a terrible thing to waste.

And the next thing you know, you’re at the zoo, shaving a yak, all so you can clear out your closet. Yak shaving is the enemy of us all, says tech entrepreneur Seth Godin, author of This Is Marketing. Thinking your way to inaction wastes time, energy and productivity. To avoid it, Godin says, focus on what’s in your control now. If you’re at the hardware store, stop and evaluate your project: what is the single achievable goal you can reach today? Not tomorrow. Not next Monday. Not after you get your saw back from Larry. Then do what you must to hit that project target. You may be back at the hardware store tomorrow, but at least it’s better than yak shaving.

JUNE 2020

HOW

25 YEARS OF THE

GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL CHANGED

HOW MEN COOK What happens when an ageing prizefighter, a quirky gadget and iconic ’90s marketing combine to take over the world? BY

MEN’S HE ALTH

K E V IN PA NG

PHOTOGR A PH Y BY

DA N FORBE S

NUT R IT ION

JUNE 2020

“You did not come here today to box, right?” Nelson asks Foreman. “Not at all,” he says, before tossing off the robe to reveal that he’s wearing a red apron beneath it. “As a matter of fact – da-da-dada!” (Yes, Big George made his own transformational sound effect. And it worked.) Over the next 30 minutes, the semiofficial-sounding “George Foreman Grilling Show” introduces the concept of a cheap electric grill with slanted vertical ridges and a press-down lid: George Foreman’s Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine. Plug it in and it gets hot quickly. Toss on some meat, lower the lid, place the tiny grease tray in front, and—voilà! In minutes, your food emerges grease-free and evenly cooked (often well-done, to be exact). Foreman hams it up, making clear that his target isn’t Joe Frazier or Ken Norton but burger fat and chicken grease. At one point, he points to his own embossed signature on the top of the device. “Hey, we gonna eat what we want, but we gonna knock the fat out,” he says. Burgers sizzle; the audience oohs and ahhs. This is campy, melodramatic ’90sera selling at its best. When the infomercial first hit the air, Foreman was in his mid-40s, fresh off one of the greatest career comebacks in boxing history. He’d won Olympic gold in 1968 and gone pro, knocking out Frazier in 1973 to become the heavyweight champion. He was KO’d by Muhammad Ali a year later, and at 28, he retired to become a minister at his own church in Houston. Ten years later, Foreman returned, going on to knock out Michael Moorer, a man nearly 20 years his junior, to reclaim the heavyweight title. Foreman arrived on our TV sets as a guy who could still go toe-to-toe with anyone, bringing along the promise that 92

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there was an easier way to cook healthy and perhaps stay that way. And that onetwo punch would spark a cultural shift in how men – or at least this man, and every guy I went to uni with – cook and eat.

The thing is, George Foreman obviously didn’t invent it. In early 1993, Michael Boehm and Robert Johnson, a designer-engineering duo from Illinois, filed a patent application for an electric cooking device with the lower cooking plate sloped at a 20˚ angle. They called it the Short-Order Grill. In his book The Art of Sales, Marketing & the Spokesperson, Leon Dreimann, then CEO of a kitchen-equipment company called Salton that would purchase the design from Boehm and Johnson, writes that this contraption was originally positioned as a taco/fajita maker. The angled surface meant grilled meats could be scraped directly into a tortilla. He attached the “lean, mean, fat-reducing grilling machine” slogan to play off the “Mean Machine”, Burt Reynolds’s team of rowdy prison footballers in the hit 1974 movie The Longest Yard. Salton’s other appliances included gizmos like the Juiceman Juice Extractor and the Ron Popeil Pasta Maker. These had complex infomercials in which a pitchman or the actual inventor – generally older, wonky white guys – tried to explain the health, taste and mechanical advantages of their marvels. Honestly, it worked pretty well (shopping by phone itself was novel), but Dreimann eventually recognised that his grill might catch serious fire if pitched by an already well-known showman. A friend had somehow gotten one to Foreman. The boxer reportedly wasn’t interested but after playing around with

his own recipes finally agreed to some unique terms for a celebrity spokesman: he wanted a back-end cut on sales. Salton would cover the up-front costs and Foreman would take 45 per cent of all profits, period. Dreimann agreed and the grill debuted at the Gourmet Products Show, a cooking trade exhibition in Las Vegas, in 1995, along with an infomercial that opened with 12 seconds of boxing footage featuring Foreman in the ring. And then: nothing. Sales of the grill were initially sluggish and 18 months after it came on the market, Dreimann says, a friend’s wife suggested he rethink the infomercial. He replaced the opener with a dad vibe: Foreman making burgers with his children in their home. “On a Tuesday, I flew a film crew to George’s house. It was on air by the following weekend,” Dreimann says. “On Monday, all hell broke loose.”

I bought mine because everyone else had one. As a first-year uni student in the ’90s, I remember viewing cooking as a one-way transaction: whatever my parents cooked, I ate. Whatever the school cafeteria near my dorm served, I’d mindlessly scarf down. So goes the kilojoule-churning metabolism of an 18-year-old. I was always hungry. There’s a magical quality to the best kitchen appliances. Like a Mr. Coffee or an Instant Pot, the George Foreman grill reduced seemingly complicated cooking procedures to the literal push of a button. (Early versions didn’t even have a button, just a red light to indicate when the cooking surface was hot.) For all those reasons, Salton at first expected the grill would appeal to seniors who maybe wanted to stay fit yet cut back on their culinary ambitions. But the registration and warranty cards that came back told a different story: the company had a hit with uni students. A big one, and by 1999, Salton was selling $160 million worth of George Foreman grills every year, over the phone and in stores, with the white, spaceship-looking device sitting atop thousands of dormroom mini fridges. As many as 150 million units have been sold to date, even with Foreman retiring from the ring in 1997 and later parting ways with Salton. (He declined to be interviewed for this story.) The company went on to sell nearly 90 versions of the grill under the George Foreman imprimatur, and the quintessentially American ideal of cheap convenience went global:

PROP STYLING: BIRTE VON KAMPEN (PREVIOUS PAGE) MARGARET C. NORTON/NBCU/GETTY IMAGES

In case you missed it, this is what the world’s most successful infomercial looks like: George Foreman – buff, bald and swaggering – sports a maroon boxing robe as he strides into the made-for-TV kitchen of his exceptionally cheerful cohost, a woman named Nancy Nelson. It is 1996, and her mind is about to be blown.

NUT R IT ION Jackie Chan starred in a commercial alongside Foreman to help pitch it in Asian markets. In France, a model came equipped with a function to make steaks “bleu” with a quick burst of heat that browned the outside but kept the interior rare. By conservative estimate, Foreman was probably raking in tens of millions annually. Salton eventually offered him $137.5 million to use his name in perpetuity. “If not for Nike’s signing of Michael Jordan in 1984, George Foreman’s deal with Salton . . . would undoubtedly be considered the best endorsement deal in sports marketing history,” wrote sports business journalist Darren Rovell in a CNBC analysis in 2010. The formerly impoverished kid who admittedly bullied and mugged people before harnessing that rage, ultimately made more from grill sales than he had in the ring. He joined an emerging pantheon of black athletes crossing over to promote everyday products, including O. J. Simpson for Chevrolet and Hertz and Michael Jordan for Gatorade. My Foreman grill lived up to the basic hype: it cooked stuff. It also busted oncevillainised fat: in-house tests conducted by Spectrum Brands (which now sells the grill) show that your average patty emerges with a nutritional content similar to that of a burger cooked to medium-well that’s been pan-broiled and carefully blotted. On basic burger grind, around 40 per cent of the fat melts out, minus the hassle. For me, the true appeal of the Foreman grill was that it was versatile and sort of idiot-proof. The same process worked for burgers and pork chops. My first recipes were remedial. I seasoned chicken with salt and then cooked it for 15 minutes to serve with Heinz 57 sauce. Still, it was an important nudge forward in my cooking evolution. For a young guy, the idea of experimenting on an electric, let alone gas, stove was overwhelming, even if I was doing things outside the kitchen seemingly far more reckless. In recent years, Spectrum has enlisted Food Network personality Jeff Mauro as the grill’s hypeman. He’s over 40, hosts a couple of cooking shows, and is a former victor on Food Network Star, a cook-off competition series. Like all the guys I knew at uni, Mauro made the grill a staple of his survival. He felt “unencumbered” because he didn’t need a kitchen. “I could cook a burger patty and moments later make a panini,” he says. (In a 2006 episode of The Office, Michael Scott used his to make bedside

bacon. He ended up burning his foot.) In a recent YouTube ad, Mauro doesn’t even waste time showing how it works; he just stands in front of one, riffing on all the kinds of meat he likes (and, okay, some vegetables, too). The proteincentric sales pitch plays to what men are hankering for right now while betting that they’re actually willing to go make it. Compared with 1995, it’s estimated that the average American today consumes nearly 10kg more meat per year. (In Australia, meat consumption has been relatively stable, although poultry is now more popular than beef). Is it a coincidence that this change occurred at the same time that the George Foreman grill was invading kitchens everywhere? It might be. Or it might not. Either way, a 2018 study in Nutrition Journal showed that over the last decade and a half or so, there’s been a substantial increase in the proportion of men who are cooking, and we’re spending even more time in the kitchen.

The design

hasn’t been altered much in 25 years, but the George Foreman grill is still a hot commodity. Another 3 million are expected to be sold this year, says Jonathan Schaefer, Spectrum’s vice-president of marketing. Yet the grill, which can reach a temperature of 200˚ Celsius, remains essentially a blunt instrument. Its

website currently features recipes for tenderloin steak and Greek pork chops alongside recipes for s’mores and peanutbutter banana paninis. Scour Reddit and YouTube and you’ll find there are plenty of Foreman faithful still using it for amazing oven-free life hacks, like frying an egg (producing strange egg-white tentacles) and making crisp griddled cheese. For his part, Mauro applauds those who use the tool to reheat pizzas. “You also melt the cheese on top,” he says. Someone even solved one of my chief complaints: you can cover both the top and bottom grill surfaces with foil for easier cleaning. Foreman moved on. He’s pitched many other products, from Meineke mufflers to Doritos, even selling his own meat via mail order at George Foreman’s Butcher Shop and a pain-relief cream with his own “knockout” formula. And I guess I’ve moved on, too. I no longer own a George Foreman grill. Between midlife moves, mine ended up at a secondhand store, the final resting place of countless others. Foreman didn’t improve my cooking the way a Michael Ruhlman or Alice Waters cookbook did. But he did feed my imagination. He made cooking cheap flank steak something an 18-year-old goof like me could accomplish – no skillet or butter for a Maillard-enabled sear required. That’s 30 bucks well spent, even if I now prefer both for a nice home-cooked rib eye.

THERE ARE PLENTY OF FOREMAN FAITHFUL STILL USING IT FOR AMAZING OVEN-FREE LIFE HACKS A HUGE HIT: ON THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO IN JUNE 1996, FORMER HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING CHAMP GEORGE FOREMAN PROMOTES HIS SAME-NAMED GRILL AS A HEALTHY, EASY WAY TO COOK. STUDENTS ATE IT UP.

JUNE 2020

P* #×K!

# K*# ×*ER!

MEN’S HE ALTH

TACTIC S

LUKE BENEDICTUS HAS A BIG PROBLEM: HE SWEARS ALL THE F#%*ING TIME. AFTER A SERIES OF FAILED ATTEMPTS TO CLEAN UP HIS ACT, CAN HYPNOSIS FINALLY HELP HIM TO REGAIN CONTROL? JUST BEFORE DINNER, I tiptoe into my youngest son’s bedroom to check if he’s finally asleep. Peeking into his cot, I find him lying awake but happily burbling away so I lean over to make out what he’s saying. “Shit. Oh, shit. Shit,” he repeats. “Shit. Shit. Oh, shit . . . ” Articulating each syllable with brazen delight, the words tumble from his one-yearold lips like some evil lullaby. Sometimes you’ve got to accept responsibility – this is all my fault. Admittedly, my language has never been great. I’ve always sworn less like a trooper and more like Nick Kyrgios after he’s just trodden in dog shit following another futile run-in with the umpire. It’s hard to pinpoint the cause of all this. Admittedly, my mother is from Queensland (despite being an English teacher, she was never shy of littering her conversation with toecurling profanity). Yet I blame a lifetime working in journalism, too. I’m not sure whether it’s to compensate for the slightly effete nature of the work, the remorseless grind of deadlines or the impending sense of professional doom, but magazines and newsrooms are godless places full of casually hurled perversities that’d make a bricklayer

wince. The men aren’t much better, either. Needless to say, this is neither big nor clever. But the upshot is that I’ve developed an ingrained habit where “f*cking” is the default substitute for “very” and the c-word an affectionate term for old mates. Swearing is my instinctive response when anything goes wrong and, given that I have two young kids, mishaps occur on a 10-minute basis. Life is a multi-car pile-up of nappy blowouts, tantrums over the “wrong” shaped toast and copping one in the knackers from a clumsily wielded toy light-saber (better than a real one, I suppose). But I don’t want my kids to pick up my potty-mouthed habit. Not

B* #T× RD!

JUNE 2020

“HALF-COCKED NED FLANDERISMS FAIL TO PROVIDE VERBAL CARTHARSIS” before they start using actual potties at least. Witnessing my son’s performance in his cot marks a turning point: I’m determined to clean up my act. To kick off I try that age-old deterrent: the swear jar. I’ve just polished off a jumbo-sized jar of picked jalapeños and vow to throw in $5 for every verbal transgression. It doesn’t work. The problem is that, in this cashless society of ours, I never carry real money anymore. I’ve become one of those jerks who rocks up to the Surf Club sausage sizzle and tries to pay $2.50 on my credit card. Initially, I write the swear jar “I.O.U.” notes but, after finding myself $85 down in two days, I realise honouring these promises will send me bankrupt. “Just tone it down instead,” sighs my wife, who’s accustomed to my lack of self-control. “Find some non-offensive alternatives.” This sounds like a more frugal tactic at least. I experiment with “Holy cow!”, “Shiitake mushrooms!” and “Oh, Fraggle Rock!”. But these half-cocked Ned Flanderisms fail to provide any verbal catharsis and offer a similar release to alcohol-free beer. Blasphemy proves slightly more effective – perhaps a touch of indecency is a vital ingredient? – but it’s still not ideal. As

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Mark Twain acknowledged, “Under certain circumstances, profanity provides relief denied even to prayer.”

**** My resolve begins to waver. Does swearing really matter anymore? Is our confected outrage over certain words just heightening their taboo power? Frequent use, after all, tends to neuter words of their offensive force. My mother-in-law, for example, a silverhaired lady who loves her gardening and Thursday night tennis, regularly uses the word “bugger” in a way that, to all intents and purposes, has nothing to do with anal sex. Swearing isn’t inherently bad, agrees Monika Bednarek, Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Sydney. Its effect depends entirely on context. “For example, who is swearing, which words are used, in which type of situation, and who is addressed and how? Is it a negative, aggressive situation or is it a positive, friendly, humorous exchange between equals?” The aim of swearing isn’t necessarily to cause offence either, she insists. Its functions can range from expressing pain to adding emphasis. In fact, Bednarek’s ambivalence even extends to protecting your kids from four-letter words. “For children, words that are ‘forbidden’ might actually hold some allure,” she reasons. “Perhaps it’s more important to teach them about the difference between formal and informal situations and the importance of who they are talking to and how.” Bad language, in other words, might not be so bad, after all. Indeed, a range of scientific research shows it can even prove a positive force. Studies have shown that sweary folk are more honest and verbally fluent. In his book Black Sheep: The Hidden Benefits Of Being Bad, British psychology lecturer Richard Stephens shows how swearing can also foster social cohesion and help people cope with pain. Given this overwhelming evidence, I’m tempted to shrug my shoulders and say f*ck it. Then something happens that forces a change of heart. I’m standing in a suburban toy shop trying to buy a gift for a child’s birthday party. After lengthy rumination, I settle on a miniature plastic chainsaw (seriously, when won’t that be useful), when I hear a commotion from the neighbouring aisle. There’s a kid arguing with a middle-aged woman who, for some reason, I suspect is not his mother. He wants a bag of kinetic sand (yep, me neither) but she refuses to be swayed. It’s the classic toy shop stand-off, but things escalate fast. “F*ck off!” snarls the kid to the woman when she refuses to buy it. “You

TACT IC S certainly aren’t getting it now,” she replies. “Oh yeah?” replies the kid. “Well, you’re a dumb c*nt.” And I’m floored by the stinging violence of the words. When I wander around to the aisle – gift-wrapped chainsaw in hand – the woman has stormed out. Standing there forlornly clutching a bag of blue sand that he’ll never possess is a seven-year-old boy in a black cap, who’s just realising the extent of his self-sabotage. I’m hit by a conflicting mix of shock and pity. But one thing’s for sure: my kids can’t turn out like this little shit. That’s when I decide to get hypnotised.

**** The credibility of hypnotism is still recovering from the old vaudeville days, when a hokey showman would swing a clock and compel some hapless punter to squawk like a chicken. Yet Brett Cameron, a Newcastle

F#×K

hypnotist and vice president of the Australian Hypnotherapists Association, believes the practice also suffers because it’s unregulated. “Unfortunately, anyone can go into a weekend workshop and put up a shingle that says ‘I’m a hypnotherapist’,” he admits. But athletes have long seen beyond the quackery to use the science of suggestibility to get a performance-enhancing edge. Back in 1956, the Soviet team took 11 hypnotists with them to the Melbourne Olympic Games and finished top of the medal table. Ever since, a variety of elite sportsmen, from Tiger Woods to Michael Jordan, have also tapped into this psychic superpower. Over the years, Cameron himself has treated a variety of golfers, triathletes and pro footballers to sharpen their focus, overcome anxiety and silence selfdoubt. “It’s all about getting your mind into the right space.” Increasingly, hypnotism is also being used as a clinical tool (“acceptance is certainly

growing” Cameron says). Today, hypnosis is credited with helping people conquer addiction, lose weight, cope with IBS and boost confidence. “More than half of my clients are seeing me for anxiety,” Cameron adds. “Hypnosis is extremely effective in that realm.” Hypnotherapy works by evoking a deep sense of relaxation before deactivating the area of your brain that handles analytical thinking. Bypassing your critical faculties opens your unconscious mind to the power of suggestion. “That’s the part of the mind that holds onto our old habits, emotions, memories and behaviours,” Cameron says, “And if we can reach an agreement with that part of your mind: voilà – magic happens.”

**** The following Tuesday morning, I find myself enveloped in a deep leather chair in the

YEA H! C* #T!

MOTH ERF # * K×R!

JUNE 2020

“SWEARING IS LIKE NAIL-BITING – YOU DON’T EVEN REALISE YOU’RE DOING IT”

#K!

practice room of Dr Bruce Alexander. I’ve picked Melbourne Clinical Hypnotherapy in the leafy suburb of Kew because their website claims they treat an exhaustive range of conditions, from sleepwalking to kleptomania. Unfortunately, my personal vice isn’t on the list. “Swearing is a particularly tricky one,” admits Alexander, a burly, auburn-haired fellow with a direct but friendly manner. It’s easier to treat problems like smoking or drinking, he explains, as completing the action requires a longer chain of movements. With smoking, for example, first you have to buy the cigarettes, then extract one from the pack. Next you have to spark it up before, finally, taking a wheeze. “But words happen a split-second after thought,” Alexander says. “Swearing is more like nail-biting – where you don’t even realise you’re doing it.” Nevetheless, he’s willing to give it a go. Alexander quizzes me about the specifics of my swearing to gauge the true extent. “Is it a response to something that is stressing you out or do you use it in the normal day-to-day?” (Both.) “Would you swear away if you had lunch with the Prime Minister?” (Tempting, given his immigration policy, but

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MEN’S HE ALTH

probably not.) As the questioning continues I feel a pang of guilt. I’ve instantly warmed to my hypnotist’s matter-of-fact nature – a former medical research scientist, Alexander is erudite and smart. But I don’t fancy his chances of curing me. This isn’t just because I believe that my mind is a fortress. No, the reason I fear I’m going to waste Alexander’s time is that my commitment is wavering once again. I’m aware that hypnotism doesn’t work unless you want it to and I’m suddenly questioning if I really do. Swearing, it seems to me, is a red-blooded expression of Australia’s larrikin spirit that’s increasingly crushed under the boot of political correctness, the nanny state and, let’s face it, slightly higher levels of common decency. But then Alexander reframes the issue in a brilliant way. Some people, he suggests, can stay ice-cool even under the craziest pressure. He mentions an old buddy of his called Ron, a WWII veteran who he used to sail the SydneyHobart yacht race with. “Ron was a great person to have on the boat because he was so rock-solid,” Alexander recalls. Together they braved all sorts of nautical disasters, from hitting a whale to getting stuck in a 50-knot gale. But whatever the calamity, Ron would remain unflappable. “And he never got seasick either.” Eventually, Alexander was moved to ask Ron how he maintained his stoic composure. “Look, I survived WWII,” came his reply. “I remember kamikazes coming straight for me when I was on the gun trying to shoot them down. After that, life is a piece of cake . . .” The implication here is that I need to be more like Ron (AKA the personification of Kipling’s If ). And that’s when Alexander pulls the focus back to our session. “Swearing isn’t just bad for your kids,” he says. “It’s a sign than you’re getting emotional. This is an opportunity for you to mature into someone who can stay calm and doesn’t get so rattled.” The hypnosis begins. Alexander gets me to close my eyes and focus on my breath. He guides my attention to the background noise of traffic and gentle music wafting from his stereo. Gradually, he compels me to relax and dissolve any physical tension before imagining that my arms are made of “heavy lead”. I drift into a sort of twilight state – half-asleep but still mentally lucid – as Alexander guides me through a succession of vivid scenes. In one, there’s a

TACT IC S

MIND OVER MATTER CURB DENTAL ANXIETY Fifteen per cent of the population suffers from serious dental anxiety. A study published in the Journal of Physiology found that when dental-phobes were hypnotised they had reduced activation in the areas of the brain associated with fear.

Sceptical about hypnosis? There’s growing evidence this mind-melding tool works as a clinical treatment for a number of mental maladies

QUIT SMOKING Hypnosis may help you stub out the habit for good. A 2013 Swiss study found that people were less likely to experience nicotine withdrawal symptoms after just one group hypnotherapy session.

blackboard on which I have to chalk up the word “POISON” before rubbing it out. In another, I’m told to hold a glass of vomit and take a stomach-churning sip. “The body has a natural tendency to reject things that are poisonous,” he intones. He conjures a scene involving a gang of violent drunks trying to force its way into my family home. “You call the police,” he suggests. “Things that are bad are simply rejected.” And then I’m walking down a long staircase. At the bottom is a room with two TVs both showing images of myself. One shows my current incarnation: brittle, overreactive and jumpy. The second reveals a new and improved version: “chilled, powerful, strong – more in control”. The session ends. Come back in a week, Alexander advises. As I get up to leave with a yawn, he asks me if I’ve ever driven a car in America. The effects of hypnotism, he says, can be similarly gradual. “At first, it takes a lot of concentration to put the car on the other side of the road,” he says. “After a month, you’re driving like everyone else.”

SLASH STRESS A study published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice found that people who listened to a self-hypnosis CD for 12 weeks reported a decrease in pessimistic thinking and perfectionism.

BEAT PAIN A US study on chronic pain found that not only did patients get a better handle on pain management after hypnosis, but they also reported better sleep and a greater sense of control.

example of a relapse. I mention telling a story about a good mate who’s struggling through a messy divorce. Watching it unfold at close range, I’m struck by how traumatic it is. My depiction of his troubles is not very poetic: “I said that ‘Divorce has really f*cked him’,” I sheepishly admit. Alexander considers my choice of words, then shakes his head in sympathy at the plight of my mate. “In that situation, that might’ve been the best word to use when you think about it,” he admits. And that’s the nub of this swearing business. Most of the time you can keep things clean, but certain matters do warrant the strong stuff. As Ron would have discovered shooting down his kamikaze planes, sometimes you need the heavy artillery.

P* # ×K!

B#×CH!

**** But it doesn’t take long at all. As soon as I leave the office, it’s as though my brain is channelling a slightly calmer bandwidth. I’m not being actively vigilant about the swearing, but it’s as though I’m self-censoring at some deeper level. Over the following week, my language is 90 per cent more sanitised. The odd reflex expletive is still blurted out – when a bird flies into my car windscreen, for example, I still yell out “shit!” At the same time, I’ve also become hyper-aware of any such backsliding. When I return to see Alexander the next week, I explain how things are progressing. I share the overall improvement but confess my swearing isn’t totally eradicated. “I wasn’t expecting that,” he says, before asking for an JUNE 2020

THIS

AND BEYOND. HERE’S HOW ALL OF US CAN FOLLOW THEIR LEAD AND GET BETTER AT GETTING OLDER BY

MH W RITER S

TURNING 50 used to mean a lot of things, and not many of them good. It meant your best years and peak performances and PBs were behind you. It meant sagging and flagging and coasting into the soft, blurry-edged couch phase of life. Not anymore. All kinds of 50-something men and women, from Brad Pitt to Vin Diesel to Jennifer Lopez, are proving you can extend your prime far longer than what was once thought possible. On the following pages you’ll discover how men who reached the top of their fields, like former NBA star Reggie Miller, actor Cameron Daddo and skateboarding GOAT Tony Hawk, are finding new ways to prolong their physical prowess as they redefine what a man’s midlife can look like – hint: it’s a lot like your youth minus the feeling of invincibility. You’ll pick up tips on getting the most out of your body from elite 100 MEN’S HE ALT H

trainers like Mark Verstegen, 50. And you’ll see whether fitness writer Ebenezer Samuel, who isn’t even close to 50, can survive a series of workouts with J. Lo’s trainers. (Spoiler alert: his glutes are still sore.) Fifty isn’t the new 40, or even the new 30. It’s way better. You have the wisdom, insights and network you’ve developed over a long career – by the time they hit 50, most people have had at least 10 different jobs! – and you’re better at making decisions and owning them. Plus, when you invest the time and energy into taking care of your body, you build the foundation to become fitter, stronger and leaner than you’ve ever been. This isn’t the middle, fellas, and it’s definitely not the end. Fifty is when we’re just getting started. And no matter how old you are today, you can learn a thing or two from the 50-something killers shown here.

Y CHANGE

FITNESS GEARS Reggie Miller, the former Indiana Pacer and current NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst, stays in shape by grinding up steep trails

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL DARTER

FI TN ES S

54 GO FURTHER Reggie Miller mountain biking in the hills outside Malibu, California.

GO TO Reggie Miller’s Instagram feed, @reggiemillertnt, and you’ll see that every other post is about riding mountain bikes: the 54-year-old father of two trekking up a dusty California fire road, a GoPro video of a pulse-spiking descent, Miller with his six-yearold at a kids’ race. He currently races as a Cat 2 rider – two below pro – and has a coach. Miller’s first ride was in 2002, when Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford recognised him at a restaurant and invited him to come on a ride that included big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton. On a heavy, borrowed bike, Miller, who still played for the Pacers,

found himself huffing and puffing to keep up. And he was impressed by his companions’ athleticism. “To see [Hamilton and Commerford] get after it,” he recalls, “I was like, ‘Yeah, this is what I want to do’. ” He bought himself a Giant bike immediately, but because injuring himself could be considered a breach of contract, he rode only occasionally until he retired in 2005. At that point, he turned to cycling as a way to stay in shape – he wanted to look good in his suits. Then he started going on longer rides, exploring the canyons near his home in Malibu and fell in love with getting way out there.

But the real game-changer happened in 2016, when George Mota, a local racer, reached out to Miller and asked him to be his partner for a six-hour endurance relay. “I didn’t want to finish last,” Miller remembers. “I didn’t want it to be like, ‘Oh, you had Reggie’. ” To his relief, the duo finished mid-pack – and Miller was hooked.

Miller swapped the court for the canyons.

Taking Out The Trash Today, he competes in individual cross-country and endurance events. “The 50-plus guys are really fast. I have to do a lot of work.” Miller – one of the NBA’s most notorious trashtalkers, known for having, on JUNE 2020 101

Youthful Enthusiasm Miller initially turned to pro mountain biker Sonya Looney for riding advice. Now he works with Jason Siegle from Carmichael Training Systems. Typically, he does interval and skills work for the four days a week that he rides during basketball season. (He travels the other three days for games.) He recently had his VO2 max tested for the first time and says that it opened his eyes to the more technical aspects of interval training. Miller also does strength work, something he started after a crash in 2017 left him with a fractured scapula and a black eye. “Actually, the crash was the best thing that happened,” he says. “I was taking Chain reaction: Miller enjoys the grind of his new sport.

102 MEN’S HE ALTH

shortcuts. I had to get in the weight room.” He says that his height, an asset on the court, makes it more difficult to get into the low position for descending. So he works with a trainer two days a week to improve his core strength and balance. “Being on the bike and starting this all new again brings back memories of the grind,” he says. “Pee-wee and high school basketball, waking up at six or seven in the morning to go to the gym and work on my game.” It’s a feeling he likes but had lost touch with as a pro basketball player. “It’s the best,” he says. “The whole Drake song ‘Started from the bottom, now we’re here’. I like it.” Miller is also aware that he’s changing perceptions. “As kids, we all wanted a bike. But a lot of people don’t have that opportunity, especially in the inner city. Hopefully, when people see me riding bikes and trying to do this at 54, they’ll see that there are other avenues besides baseball, football, basketball. I wish I would have been doing this when I was younger.” – Gloria Liu

STRETCH YOUR

LIMITS

How do you move like a 20-yearold in your 50s? If you’re actor and TV presenter Cameron Daddo you maintain the same rigorous fitness regimen for 30 years. And you stretch

CAMERON DADDO rarely feels his age while he’s exercising. He could be slicing through the chop at Sydney’s Shelly Beach or hiking trails near his home on the northern beaches. It’s the next day he feels his 55 years. “After a big, long swim or a workout, I often feel much younger,” says Daddo, who completed a 90-minute hike with his dog earlier this morning. “It’s the next day that I feel older. That’s when it hits me that I haven’t got that bounceback factor. But I feel like I can still do everything I could do when I was 25.” That’s probably because in terms of activity, he hasn’t changed much in 30-odd years. The constants in Daddo’s exercise regimen – rising early and salt water – are embedded. “In every city I go around the world, I will jump in a pair of Speedos or boardies and swim,” he says. Daddo began logging laps in the ocean when he moved to Sydney in his late teens, he and his mates knocking out the point-to-point swim at Bondi five days a week. “That was before the poo pipe was taken out of there,” he laughs. “We used to swim through a strip of almost raw effluent and come out with all sorts of infections. But that’s where it started for me and it hasn’t stopped since.” But while the ocean – be it for swimming or surfing – provides the fulcrum of his

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL DARTER; TIM ELWIN - URBAN RIPPLES

separate occasions, provoked both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant into fistfights – takes a different approach on the trails. “I’m more forgiving and humble on the bike,” he says. “Growing up playing on the streets, you made your name by talking mess. Out here, I see myself lending a hand a lot more. Everybody’s lending a hand to me.”

FI TN ES S

“I CAN DO EVERYTHING I COULD DO IN MY TWENTIES. SOME OF IT BETTER”

55 MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY Cameron Daddo, surfing near his home on Sydney’s northern beaches.

physical regimen, he mixes it up with mountain biking, hiking and golf (he plays off 15), as well as doing a kettlebell workout three times a week. Perhaps his favourite session, though, is the Freshwater Fast Fives each Friday morning. “We do the ins and outs where we line up on the sand and sprint out into the water to the back of the breakers and then catch one in and run all the way back up to the wall five times. It’s a great workout.” The COVID-19 lockdown has seen him swap the ocean for his backyard pool, where he’s rigged up a harness to log laps on the spot. He’s also keen to keep motivation bubbling with a challenge, having just come off a 30-day, 100-burpee effort.

Cruising For A Bruising Underpinning all this movement is a dedicated stretching routine Daddo picked up on set years ago. “I remember I was working with a dude who was absolutely shredded, just ripped,” he says. “And I’m like, ‘What do you do?’ And he said, ‘I stretch for 40 minutes, seven days a week. That’s all I do’.” Daddo quickly adopted the regimen, finding a daily 30-minute session opens up his body while allowing his mind to roam. “If you can sit down and do four or five different stretches and hold them for four minutes at

a time, not only does your body go through a change, your mind does, too,” he says. “That’s when I problem-solve and have ideas.” Remarkably, Daddo’s only suffered one major injury in three decades. Of course, it involved playing touch gridiron with Tom Cruise. “I was running backwards to catch a pass from the quarterback and I ran and jumped,” he recalls. “As I landed my boot caught in the grass and I went straight over the top of my knee so that it hyperextended.” Daddo remembers lying on the ground screaming in agony before Cruise attempted to work some Hollywood magic. “People are going, ‘Don’t curse, man. Don’t curse. Tom will fix it’. The next thing I’ve got Tom Cruise over the me like a healer and I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ He put his hands on my knee, and he’s like, ‘It’s okay, man. It’s okay’.” Alas, Cruise couldn’t fix this one but he did arrange for the doctor of the LA Kings hockey team to do the surgery on Daddo’s ACL.

Fast Results In terms of diet Daddo’s made two main changes over the years. He began fasting two years ago, employing an 8pm-10am protocol. He’s also become more conscious of portion size after consulting a vet about how much to feed his dog. The vet told him to picture the

Sea dog: the ocean’s been Daddo’s gym for over 30 years.

size of a dog’s stomach. After contemplating the mutt’s belly, Daddo began thinking about the size of his own stomach. “So now I try to visualise how big my stomach is and that’s how much I eat,” he says. With age comes refinement. Daddo does everything he did when he was younger, just a little bit smarter. “I just keep myself to a level where I can participate,” he says. “If someone says, ‘We’re going surfing today’. I can go. If we’re riding up the hills on mountain bikes, excellent, I’m there. I can do everything I could do in my twenties. Some of it better. I’m more efficient. I know more.” - Ben Jhoty JUNE 2020 103

FI TNE S S

THE J.LO-DOWN

Build core strength, flexibility and coordination with these moves from Lopez

INSPIRE AWE Jennifer Lopez in pole position.

TURN

UPSIDE DOWN

OFFSET-POSITION LEG LIFT

Grasp a pole or rope with both hands. Tighten your core and hold your legs together. Squeeze your abs, tucking knees to chest, then lower. That’s 1 rep; do 3 sets of 8.

What this MH writer learned trying to keep up with the fittest 50-year-old on the block I’M HANGING upside down, legs straddled, hands white-knuckling a 4-cm-wide pole at Milan Pole Dance Studio in Miami. Then I’m flipping over and pulling my torso close to the pole, biceps and core flexing. “Let’s do it one more time,” says the architect of this madness, choreographer Johanna Sapakie. I flinch. I’d vastly prefer a gazillion push-ups. “You said you wanted to train like J. Lo,” says Sapakie. “Work it!” Nobody knows Jennifer Lopez’s training better than Sapakie. She introduced the actress to pole dancing last year, when Lopez trained for about eight weeks for the film Hustlers. So back to the pole I go, battling to keep up with J. Lo, who’s so fit at age 50 that she can break the Internet with her agedefying look and gravity-defying routine at the Super Bowl one day and lift with fiancé Alex Rodriguez the next.

Pole Power Just 75 minutes into this two-hour session, my forearms are on fire and my core is exhausted

HALL OF FAME

We scored these guys out of 10 in five categories (fitness, energy, influence, look and relevance). Here’s who landed on top p 104 MEN’S HE ALTH

from the equivalent of 100 hollow-body holds. “Yes, the pole hurts!” Sapakie says. I can feel it forging core strength, too, since the most basic act – climbing and hanging in place – requires me to tense my abs, glutes and hamstrings. Not that Lopez sculpts her body on poles alone. Two days later, I catch up with David Kirsch, fitness director at Core: Club in Manhattan, for an hour-long weight-room session. He’s worked with Lopez and many other famous 50-somethings. Kirsch’s secret with all celebs: dynamic plank variations dropped into vicious circuits that also include split squats, walking lunges and battle ropes. By the time I’m done, my glutes and abs are on fire (again). I already use planks frequently in my own workouts, but I’ll pack more into circuits. I can’t train on a pole every day, but I’ll integrate more gymnastics-style holds using climbing ropes. They ignite your core, glutes and entire posterior kinetic chain. No problem with that, especially if it helps me move more like J. Lo. - Ebenezer Samuel

BOY WONDER

MARK FERGUSON, 54

ASSKICKER

DONNIE YEN, 56

ROTATIONAL CAT-COW

On all fours, arch your back, then rotate your torso to the right. Round your back and rotate your torso to the left. That’s 1 rep; do 4 reps to each side.

PLANK PULLDOWN

Get in plank position facing a cable column, left hand grasping the handle. Pull the handle to your shoulder. Return it. That’s 1 rep; do 3 sets of 15 per side.

AQUAMAN Q

LAIRD HAMILTON, 56

FAST DR DRIVER

VIN DIESEL, 52

FI T NESS 1995 25

1997 27

1998 28

2006 36

2008 38

2010 40

2012 42

2015 45

2018 48

LOOK

2020 50

20 YEARS YOUNGER How Paul Rudd, winner of the Men’s Health Ageless Award (the runner-up is Baby Yoda), does it

AS THE internet has pointed out, there’s almost no difference between 1995 Paul Rudd and 2020 Paul Rudd, save for a Marvel franchise. We’re going to go out

WEAR SUNSCREEN DAILY

UV-light exposure is the single biggest risk factor for premature skin aging. Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturiser SPF 30; $14

SHAKE SHAKER

40 DANIEL CRAIG, 52

on a limb here and say it’s not because the 51-year-old actor is a vampire but because he actually takes care of his skin. Since he isn’t giving up his

PROTECT WITH ANTIOXIDANTS

Free radicals can damage collagen and cause inﬂammation and wrinkles. Drunk Elephant C-Firma Day Serum, $116

Oil, sweat and pollution accumulate on the skin and promote premature aging. La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle Cleanser; $33

E DATE EDATER

41 BRAD PITT, 56

WASH YOUR FACE AT NIGHT

secrets, we asked dermatologist Dr Joshua Zeichner for his top four tips for taking your face from ruddy to Rudd-y. – Garrett Munce

REPAIR WHILE YOU SLEEP

Collagen-stimulating ingredients such as retinol can reduce signs of aging. Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Serum; $37

SEX ( AND ROCK) ROCK GOD

42 LENNY KRAVITZ, 55

PAUL RUDD The actor who may have a grotesque selfportrait in his attic.

TASTEMA TASTEMAKER

JAY Z, 50

MOTORM MOTORMOUTH

JOE ROGAN, 52 JUNE 2020 105

LEARN DANCE TO

Advice from Tony Hawk, 51, to his younger self and fellow 50-somethings still getting after it. As told to Chris Dixon

PHOTOGRAPHY BY J. GRANT BRITTAIN

TOUCH THE SKY Tony Hawk drops a backside ollie at Clairemont skate park in San Diego.

FI T NESS

LET YOUR PASSION SET THE PACE FOR YOUR PURSUIT. When I was a kid, once people turned 18, they had to get a job. They had to quit skating. The looming sort of reality was that, Look, you can’t do this physically – into your 30s even. So when we started to make a living at it, it was like, Oh wow, we can do this into our young-adult lives. My biggest secret is that I never quit. Physically, that was the key to being able to continue. I enjoyed skating when I was a kid. I enjoyed it when it was this huge success in the ’80s. I enjoyed it when it was in a lull. The hype was never my motivation.

DEDICATE TIME TO HELPING YOUR BODY RECOVER. Skating’s been my only true form of exercise, and my body’s paid the price. If you see me in person and you see me turn my neck, I always get comments: “Oh, is something wrong with your neck?” “Yeah, about 30 years of whiplash.” All of those falls – they take a toll. I get worked on at least once a week – massage, acupuncture – and it helps. I don’t do yoga, but I’m sure that it would benefit me. It’s hard to find time. If I have an hour, I gotta skate.

GET SERIOUS ABOUT WARMING UP. I used to be able to drop in right off the bat and do a McTwist just to show off. When

you’re younger, you can compensate, and you can just do it. That’s not happening these days. You definitely have to start out slow. I mean, if I drop in nowadays on my first run, I know my body won’t react the way I need it to.

ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES AND EVOLVE YOUR TRICKS. If I don’t skate vert for a week and I go back, I’m like, What? This ramp’s big. It looks scarier. If you’re not consistently doing it, it will slip away from you faster in your old age. To be clear, I don’t want to be doing the tricks I was doing in my 30s anymore, because the risk factor is too high. So I’ve let these more high-impact tricks go in favour of more technical tricks that will actually be more appreciated by skaters. Moves that are low-impact – a little bit more “dance-y”. That has allowed me to stay progressive into my older age but also feel relevant.

LET YOUR KIDS LEAD. BUT SHUT ’EM DOWN WHEN YOU MUST. I got very lucky in that my first son, Riley, had a very good sense of his limitations but also the desire to push those limits. What I didn’t realise is that there’s a definite element of nature over nurture. The following children were all different. My next son, Spencer, had a really good sense

of balance and ability but didn’t like to push himself. And then the son after that, Keegan, is crazy. He’ll try anything. He doesn’t want to go through the process of learning the foundation of what he’s trying to do. I’ve had to shut him down for his own safety.

REMEMBER, YOU’RE IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL NOW. A helmet and pads – they’re crucial when skating transitions or anything over three feet high. And be a little more conservative, obviously. There’s something to be said for building up your stamina. Just because you have a full hour to skate, don’t skate for that full hour if you’re going to get worn out and not be able to skate for a whole week afterwards. Build up little by little, like a marathoner.

YOU’RE NOT HAVING A MIDLIFE CRISIS JUST BECAUSE YOU WANT TO SKATE INTO OLD AGE. There’s a few elements to this idea. One is that guys our age have kids who are interested in skating – and that will kind of snap you back into it, where even your kids are surprised. Like, “What, you rode a skateboard?” Also, the number of great new facilities. Then there’s just the idea that, Hey, we were doing this in our youth. Why do we ever have to quit?

FUTURE-PROOF YOUR BODY Mark Verstegen, 50, the OG of functional fitness, shares his top tips to help you perform at your best before and after you turn 50 1

To stoke motivation, set 6-8 fitness goals per year and tailor your training to each one. To train efficiently, alternate strength workouts (heavier lifting with reps in the 4-8 range) with high-intensity circuits (with reps in the 10-15 Start standing, arms out. range). Do active recovery (yoga, walking, Tighten your core and lift etc.) on days you don’t train. your left foot. Keeping your left leg straight and your core To maintain power, which plummets as you tight, hinge forward at the age, master an explosive low-impact move hips. Go as far as you can like the kettlebell swing. before letting your back To be accountable, call BS on your own bad round. Flex your right glute, raising your left leg. Return exercise and dietary choices. You’re making to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 3 the decisions; you’re not a victim. sets of 8. Too easy? Add a To stay mobile, grease your hips by doing weight vest, kettlebells these 3 moves daily. or dumbbells.

INVERTED T

BEST STRETCH EVER

Start standing, then step your left foot back into a deep lunge, placing your left hand beside your right foot. Reach your right arm upward, opening your chest. Then lower your right hand to the outside of your right foot and straighten your right leg, shifting your hips upward. Bend your right leg, release your hands and stand up. That’s 1 rep; do 5 reps per side.

LATERAL LUNGE

Start standing, arms out in front of you. Tighten your core, then step about 60cm to the left with your left foot, keeping your right leg straight. With feet ﬂat and toes pointing forward, bend your right knee, sitting back and leaning forward, aiming to get your right thigh parallel to the ﬂoor. Press back up to standing. That’s 1 rep; do 3 sets, alternating, 10 per side. – E.S.

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So, you’ve been breadcrumbed by a serial obiter and now they’ve ghosted you because you couldn’t DTR. No idea what we’re talking about? Brush up on the latest in dating terminology with our linguistic guide to modern love The contemporary dating scene is a bit like a paranormal horror flick. It begins with a chase. There are riddles, suspense and unforeseeable red flags, but if you can manage to dodge the hordes of ghosts and zombies (more on them later), you might just reap the rewards. To help you navigate this terrifying milieu we’ve compiled an essential guide to the language of love. And while we can’t guarantee it will land you a date, it will equip you with a command of the lexicon that’ll get the ball rolling . . . or at least, help you make it out alive! Good luck. BY ILLUS TR ATIONS BY

H A RRIE T SIM

50s V INTAGE DA ME

ILLUSTR ATIONROOM.COM. AU

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DATI NG

Freeclimbing

Apps The truth about dating apps is they work . . . well, sort of. Sure, Tinder and Bumble are great places to start, but try refining your search with some of the more niche apps on the market. Love dogs? Try Twindog. Not into commitment? Hud has your back. Fixated on meeting someone IRL? Give Happn a whirl. If you can think of it, there’s probably an app out there for it. Happy swiping.

Eclipsing

Breadcrumbing You know that fairy tale where the kids leave a trail of crumbs so they can find their way home? Well, this is like that, except the crumbs are a trail of flirty texts. Unlike the fable, though, there’s no happy ending – the trail-maker ultimately strings you along down a path of false hope. Needless to say, if you don’t see anything wrong with this approach, you’re probably the witch.

Cloaking So, the time has come to meet offline. You’ve cleared your schedule, donned your best shirt and arrived hot and ready. The plot twist? Not only is your date a no-show, but when you go ask them why they’ve stood you up, you discover you’ve not only been blocked, but your entire text exchange has been deleted leaving you cloaked in confusion and disappointment. Chin up – disappearing acts usually work just once. Hopefully the next bit of magic you see involves a rabbit and hat.

Ever started dating someone and then suddenly they’re reffing your tennis match, patrolling the beach while you body-bash the waves or tagging along to your F45 class? Then you’ve probably experienced ‘eclipsing’. This is essentially when the person you’re dating starts adopting your hobbies. Let’s hope your gym membership has a no lock-in policy.

Fighting the urge to ask your new date about her cousin’s trip to Hawaii in 2002? Then you might be familiar with ‘free climbing’. This is when you search through the social media accounts of a prospective date (all in the name of research, of course) and risk accidentally liking an old photo. Just like the extreme sport, it’s dangerous and should be left to the pros. We’ll take it from here.

Ghosting The modern equivalent of being stood up, ‘ghosting’ is when you’re flirting via text, then, out of nowhere, the other person cuts off all communication without explanation. Unlike being stood up IRL at, say, the movies, you don’t have the option of being able to emotionally eat your way through a choc top and a box of popcorn. Brutal.

Haunting If ‘ghosting’ had a crueller, more cunning older brother it would be ‘haunting’. This is when someone from your romantic past lingers in your digital present by occasionally watching your social media stories or sporadically liking your posts. Confusing to say the least . . . and if someone finds out what they want, please let us know.

I Iceberging They say a picture paints a thousan nd words, and if someone’s dating profile sho ows them only from the neck up, there are on nly two words you need to employ: swipe left.

DTR Not to be confused with DTF (down to f**k – we’ll leave that conversation to you), ‘DTR’ (Define The Relationship) usually arises when either party realises they no longer want to see other people and instead would prefer to be exclusive. JUNE 2020 109

Orbiting When an old fling lets you know they’re still interested by liking your social media posts. Best of luck to them.

Jaywalking

Layby

There are three unspoken rules of dating: don’t date if you aren’t single; never admit to Facebook stalking; and steer clear of mates’ and siblings’ partners. Can’t commit to the latter? Looks like we’ve got a ‘jaywalker’ on our hands. The offence? Crossing the damn line.

A term presumably coined by serial monogamists (you know, those mates who seem to jump from one long-term relationship to the next), ‘layby’ is a contingency plan for when you’re not happy in your relationship but not ready to end it. So, you start laying the groundwork with other women you might want to date next.

Kittenfishing If ‘kittenfishing’ was a person, it would be a poorly disguised protagonist in a sub-par thriller (think Joe Goldberg in You). Unlike ‘Catfishing’, where someone uses a fake identity to deceive a potential date online, kittenfishing is more subtle – like wearing a beanie if you’re bald or using a photo from a few years back. Our advice? Ditch the hat and sunnies. You want someone who likes you for you . . . and by ‘you’ we don’t mean the you from your European summer of ’08.

Micro-cheating One of those buzzy hyphenated terms that have popped up in 2020 (see micro-dosing and micro-meditation), ‘micro-cheating’ is a term for small acts of emotional infidelity. This usually occurs through apps or texting, but is risky because it can be a gateway to more dangerous territory. Remember, small moves can have big consequences.

Negging Not to be mistaken for the age-old tactic of ‘treat ’em mean, keep ’em keen’, ‘negging’ is when someone delivers backhanded compliments or takes subtle digs at you to undermine your confidence and increase your need for their approval. 110 MEN’S HE ALTH

DAT IN G

Phubbing

Quarantine

Forget candlelit dinners, nothing says modern romance like the blue light of a smartphone illuminating your date’s face across the table. In case you hadn’t guessed, ‘phubbing’ is when your date ignores you in favour of their phone. Your best bet in this scenario? Text her your bank details when it comes time to split the bill . . . at least you know she’ll get them.

Whether it’s drones delivering phone numbers, dinner dates via FaceTime or old-school signs in the window, the internet is awash with clever ways singles are spreading the love from afar. Just because you’re social distancing doesn’t mean you have to retire from the dating scene, so get creative.

dating

Rossing Navigating the dating landscape is like entering the depths of uncharted waters. Throw the question of ‘exclusivity’ into the mix and you’ve now entered the Bermuda Triangle of romantic pitfalls. Goodbye moral compass. Playing on the ‘We-were-on-a-break!’ joke from Friends, Rossing (named after the character Ross), is when a person justifies sleeping with someone else due to a lack of exclusivity in the relationship, maybe because you haven’t had ‘the talk’ yet (see DTR) or you were on a break. Either way, do us a favour and learn from Ross’ mistakes.

“NOTHING SAYS MODERN ROMANCE LIKE THE BLUE LIGHT OF A SMARTPHONE ACROSS A TABLE” JUNE 2020 111

Slow fade The ‘nice guy’ approach to ghosting. Instead of disappearing abruptly you let the person down gently by replying less often and keeping your messages briefer, giving them time to (hopefully) take the hint.

Thirst trapping Shirtless photos get a bad rap, because let’s face it, if Michelangelo and Botticelli had access to smartphones during the Renaissance, their works would be less prized, certainly widely shared and thus, relentlessly ridiculed – ‘OMG dude, we don’t need to see your junk!’ Truth is, there’s an art to ‘thirst trapping’ (posting a shirtless photo on social media to attract attention). Too posed and it’s off-putting. Not flattering enough and it defeats the purpose. Your best bet? Recruit a four-legged friend.

Vulturing Much like the scavenging bird of prey, ‘vulturing’ is when you specifically take advantage of someone who is in a weak or vulnerable state. This is also used for when you sense a relationship is on its last legs so you swoop in to pick up the scraps.

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Uncuffing season

When the mercury drops and your single mates retreat indoors with other unpartnered friends, you know cuffing season is upon us. The good news? For every cuffing season, there’s an uncuffing season to counteract months of slim pickings and third-wheeling on your mates’ dates. Mark your calendars.

Whelming Ever felt swamped, burdened or inundated with messages from potential dates? Turns out there’s a word for that pang of panic you get when you pick up your phone – and it’s called ‘whelming’. Essentially, this is when someone takes a long time to respond to people (or can’t find the time to reply at all) because they have so many matches. Our thoughts are with you – it must be tough.

DATI NG

X-rated pics Don’t get us wrong: exchanging pics can be fun. And during a time of social isolation, it can be one of the only ways to be intimate (without being intimate). But, before you unzip, here’s a few things to note: dick pics aren’t the best icebreaker; grooming helps; consent is important; and make sure your backdrop is camera ready. Okay, you’re ready for your close-up.

“DICK PICS AREN’T THE BEST ICEBREAKER”

Yellow carding Just like when the ref issues a card for misconduct during a game of football, yellow carding is when you call someone out for their poor dating etiquette or behaviour. Fair play.

Zombieing Still recovering from the date that ‘ghosted’ you? Turns out they might not be such a lost cause. There’s a chance that you could be ‘zombied’ (when a former fling/ghost comes back from the dead). What a time to be alive (or dead). JUNE 2020 113

122 YOUR BEST “IN-LOCKDOWN” WORKOUT

B E C A U S E

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124 YOUR FAT-BURNING DAY ON A PLATE

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128 5 MOVES FOR ALL-OVER BRAWN

R I C H

MAN OF ACTION

You may not know Aldo Kane. After all, he spent years in hiding as a sniper for the Royal Marines, before masterminding film productions in hostile environments. Now, he’s a rising star of the small-screen, ready to share his secrets BY TED

L ANE

PHOTOGR APHY BY DAVID

VENNI

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Kane has conquered land and sea, but he remains in pursuit of the next peak.

COURAGE UNDER FIRE

Aldo Kane is a master of holding it together in the most extreme circumstances. Even better, he’s ready to spill what he knows

IF YOU’VE EVER watched a Netflix documentary and wondered how members of a TV crew can get up into the jungle canopy, safely dive through underwater caves, or negotiate with AK-47-wielding smugglers who are high on coke, it’s because someone like Aldo Kane has got their backs. Kane has been a stunt rigger on an Avengers

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movie, journeyed with Tom Hardy and Henry Cavill on Driven to Extremes, worked with Steve Backshall on Expedition and gone head to head with Ed Stafford for First Man Out. Now, in the BBC documentary Tigers: Hunting the Traffickers, Kane finds himself the star attraction. He still does the hard graft behind the

scenes with his extreme locations company Vertical Planet, but producers have clocked both his talent and charisma. They’re not alone. A few years ago, after an appearance on a TV show, the Scottish Sun ran the headline “Telly’s Hottest Adventurer Scotsman Aldo Kane Will Get Ladies in a Lava With New Volcano

Show”. Which was pretty much a statement of fact. As MH sits down for coffee at the Ham Yard Hotel in London’s Soho, it’s undeniable that Kane is a good-looking chap. And though his thick beard gives him a rugged edge, his soft Scottish lilt and smiling eyes are at odds with what must have been (and continues to be) a brutal career. “Honestly, I enjoy the graft,” he says. “The harder it is at the time, the better the secondary sense of happiness and accomplishment is afterwards.” Lately, he has been channelling his grit into his role as an ambassador for Veterans for Wildlife. In this capacity, Kane has been helping ex-soldiers to overcome their mental health problems by providing them with a purpose, harnessing their skills to train anti-poaching units in Africa and Asia. It was this campaign that Kane chose as the focus of his new BBC show. “I used a lot of what I learned in the military while filming Tigers,” he says. “It was about staying hidden and doing good recon.” The reconnaissance was on tiger farms in Asia, where the big cats are held and killed to quench China’s thirst for tiger bone wine. Had Kane been caught, he would undoubtedly have been shot.

GREEN RECRUIT Kane’s wild journey began in the less exotic (but no less adventurous) surroundings of Kilwinning, south-west of Glasgow. He was in the Scouts and out every weekend, walking or climbing with his twin brother. “Dad introduced us

to it when we were young, but we took it from there,” he says. It’s what inspired Kane to join the Royal Marines at the age of 16 (his brother is still a physical training instructor for the Marines). “We didn’t join to fight or kick doors down. We joined to get an outdoor education. It was about adventure.” Most 16-year-olds today are busy Snapchatting their way through exams and getting drunk at music festivals. Kane was surviving the hardest military training in the world. “It was mental, but I think it was the best time I could have done it, because I didn’t have any other frame of reference,” he says. “I didn’t have 10 years as a mechanic behind me. I had nothing to compare the pain and suffering to – that was just what it was. That was the job.” He went straight from being a paper boy doing the rounds with the Sunday supplements to signing up. And it has stood him in good stead. “When you join the Marines, you’re taught loads of skills, and many of them are very technical – how to fire a rifle, how to stage an attack, how to climb a rope. But the stuff that stays with you for eternity is the ‘Commando Spirit’: courage, determination, unselfishness and cheerfulness in the face of adversity,” he says. “Life is difficult, whatever you’re doing. You need a good sense of humour to get you through the dark times.” His dark times, you suspect, may be darker than most. Despite rigorous training and a career as an elite sniper, he says that nothing can prepare you for the first time someone

shoots at you. “You’ve not been trained for that. How you react is how you react,” he says. “What you can do is put people in a situation that stretches them. It teaches you how to deal with fear when it’s out of your control. Do things that make you shit yourself, but in a controlled environment.” Those lessons are universal, Kane believes, extending well beyond the rank and file. He encourages sedentary city workers to book themselves into a survival course at the weekend, or simply climb a hill with a mate: take yourself out of your comfort zone and into a totally different environment. “It will have a direct impact on your performance at work and in life,” he says. “It helps with clarity of mind and the decision-making process, when things really go to shit.”

FIRE STARTER Leaving the military has made life no less hazardous for Kane. It’s only since he hung up his fatigues that he has been charged by a rhino and found himself inside an erupting volcano. It was a row across an ocean, however, that pushed him to the brink. While he was preparing to compete in the 2016 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, he learned that the organisers wouldn’t allow a five-man team. “So, rather than leave a man behind, we thought, ‘Bollocks!’ and went from Portugal to Venezuela on our own,” Kane says – a jaw-droppingly laissez-faire attitude to such a colossal feat of human endurance. “Off the coast of Cape Verde, at the darkest part of the night, we got hit by this

Ex-soldier Kane has learned the hard way how to keep rising fear and panic in chains.

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IF YOU’RE IN A TOUGH SITUATION, BREAK IT DOWN: FOCUS ON GETTING THROUGH THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES// 30ft wave,” he says. “It was a maelstrom of madness.” At that point, the closest person to them was Tim Peake on the International Space Station. “In those instances, the very first thing you have to be is lucky,” he says. “If the boat capsizes and something twats you in the side of the head, you’ll very likely drown. That’s luck. But in that initial fight-or-flight response, the best thing you can do is react.” Kane leans in over his latte with the intensity of a man who has clearly been saved by this advice. “When something bad happens, people’s first reaction is often denial, due to shock. They’ll then deliberate and fuck around – like if there’s a fire on a train and people spend time collecting their bags. All that shit people aren’t meant to do. “If you can cut out those first two stages and start making decisions, it puts you back in the driving seat mentally. Even though you didn’t create the situation, you’re in a position to take control.” Kane preaches against paralysis by analysis: to him, the most successful people are those who make bold calls. Eight out of 10 decisions you make might be terrible, he concedes, but if you own them, you’re in a better position to succeed. Having people around you helps, too. The man Kane relies on most is his best friend of 20 years, Jason Fox of SAS: Who Dares Wins. “Foxy” was best man at his wedding

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last year. For the 2018 series Meet the Drug Lords, which Fox presented, Kane worked behind the scenes as a negotiator. “We spent three months down in South America with narcos,” he recalls. “We had a lot of sketchy situations, people high on coke, pointing guns at our head. Over time, you suffer from a profound fatigue that comes with being strung out for so long.” Surviving immediate danger is the first key constituent of Kane’s mental fortitude. The second is overcoming the constant “What if?” at the back of your mind while navigating trouble. “One time, we had a crash. A metal pole that had been strapped to the roof of the vehicle we collided with shot through the window of our car like a javelin, taking out the headrest behind me,” says Kane. If it had been another 15cm over, it would have taken his head clean off. “I turned and said to Foxy, ‘Fucking hell! That nearly killed me!’ And he just went, ‘Well, it fucking didn’t’.” Kane pauses and smiles. “It was nice to be reminded that all the eventualities I was playing around with in my head were made up.” And though that was a terrifying cauldron in which to learn that lesson, he’s right. The stresses of work, the fictional arguments with the boss mulled over in the shower that cause your cortisol levels to spike – they’re not real. But surely this kind of

terse directness can take its toll? For many of us, being able to talk through our fears, man to man, is essential to our mental health. Does Kane’s stiff-upper-lip mentality preclude him from venting his bottled-up emotions? Thankfully not. “Foxy and I chat all the time,” says Kane. “He’s done well at getting the mental health side of things out there and spoken at length on Who Dares Wins about his troubles with PTSD. Male suicide is a critical thing. Two of our friends have died in the last three months from it. And talking is the starting point.”

MIND OVER MATTER While rowing across the Atlantic over the course of two months, Kane never slept for more than an hour and 15 minutes in one go, and only ever for three hours per day. “There’s nothing that can train you for coming on shift when you’ve lost all the weight from your arse, and your long bones are digging into the seat, and there are sores and chafing from the salt,” he says. “I’m 42 years old now, and I’ve done some incredibly arduous things, but that was the first time I’ve had to be mindful.” As much as he says he “hates” that term, it was meditative tactics that were most helpful. It’s unlikely you’ll be rowing across the Atlantic any time soon, but if you’re ever faced with a similar situation, he advises breaking it down: survive the next five minutes in

order to survive the next hour and survive the next day. Kane says it was his mind that got him through, not his muscles. Kane is walking, talking proof that there’s more to fitness than physique. Sure, he can pick up a very big bag and go. He can push through 14 runs up and down the inside of a volcano in one day. He

clearly has a high level of functional fitness but says it’s a resilient mindset that makes the difference. “Your body is very good at keeping up,” he explains. “Your mind is more likely to go first. By making your brain resilient through experience – grinding through tough shit – you’ll be able to drag your body along with you.”

Kane’s fearless attitude has helped him rope in true resilience.

That’s not to say he does all of his training in volcanoes. His preferred gym work is strength training, with a focus on powerlifting and Olympic lifting. “That’s when I do the big, compound moves,” he says. “Then I do my calisthenics circuits to keep myself moving.” He is most passionate, however, about the benefits

of training outside. It combines the two things he believes are crucial to all-round wellbeing: fresh air and movement. “I’m really busy at the moment, rushing between meetings, and I can already feel myself slowing down and getting pissed off.” But not even Kane can schedule an escape into the wilderness every day. Instead, he relies

on green spaces in the concrete jungle to get his fix. “I’m going to run around the park before my next meeting and work through a bodyweight circuit, just to get the blood pumping.” The fact that a man forged in extremes still finds pleasure down the local park is part of what makes Kane so admirable. Humble and earnest, he reminds

you that you needn’t be a muscle-bound maniac to achieve the extraordinary. Instead, you need to realise that where the mind wants to go, the body will usually take you. Kane flashes a smile once more as he quick-draws his wallet to settle the bill and offers a final insight – how, at 42, he feels fitter than he did in the Marines.

“Your physical capacity may be going down as you age, but your mental capacity can still be going strong. With experience on your side, you can achieve far more than you first imagined.” Kane’s new online fitness series, Expedition Fit, is available now at AldoKane.com

JUNE 2020 119

ESCAPE YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Execute Kane s f challen ind together with these t wo workouts, designed to be tackled twice a week

EXPEDITION CONDITIONING E

GO-FASTER THERAPY

“I ﬁnd the best way to build mental stamina is to grrind through the aerobic red zone a couple of tim mes a weeek,” says Kane. “It’s also a mega way to ugh calories.” Set aside 30 minutes and burn u throu ork thro gh this gruelling circuit, attempting to i through the maximum kilojoules, metres and s each time. Gulp down as much oxygen as p sible in your rest minutes – you’ll need it.

Sprints are simple and free but, well, theey suck. This session works to exhaust your lowerr body and put you in a position where you’re forrceed to dig deep. You’ll need to summon maximum m effort for the ﬁnal effort. The reward is a long, slow w, calming walk back to the start. Use it well. Kane believes b that conquering each sprint clears you ur head as effectively as it boosts your card dio ﬁtness.

Double-Under AirBike

(5 sets of 50 reps, no rest) In a relaxed stance, hold the rope, letting it hang down on the floor behind you (A). Pogo up high, with your legs straight but lifted slightly in front for extra air time. Whip your wrists (B) to bring the rope around you twice before hitting the ground for the next rep.

(7 sets of 60sec, no rest) Set the seat at hip height and climb on. Stand up for the first couple of pedals and use your weight to get the fan moving fast and your energy burn up to speed. Sit back in the saddle and pump your arms and legs in unison (A) to generate as much power as possible (B).

2 2 B

AirSquat Rowing machine

(5 sets of 50 reps, no rest) Drop the rope but keep the focus on your legs with this simple lower-body move. Standing tall with your feet at shoulder width, push your hips back and sink into a squat, until your thighs are parallel with the floor (A). Now, push back up through your heels to standing (B), then repeat.

(7 sets of 60sec, no rest) That will have hurt, but jump off the bike and try to strap into the rower while the wheels are still turning. With your legs bent, sit tall with your arms outstretched. Push off and straighten your legs, extending through your lower back as you pull the handle to your chest (A). Return (B) and repeat.

3 3 Sprint Burpee

120 MEN’S HE ALTH June 2020

(7 sets of 60sec, 60sec rest) Be brave, now. You have a rest coming up. From standing, kick your legs back behind you and drop your chest to the floor (A). Jump your legs back in and pushh all the way up into a jump, clapping your hands above your head as you do (B). Dig deep and push for the full minute.

PHOTOGRAPHY: PHIL HAYNES

(5 sets of 50m, 60sec rest) Start in a three-point stance: your feet staggered, left hand on the floor, your right cocked behind you (A). Basically, just do your best Usain Bolt impression. Swing your right arm forward and pump your legs, coming up gradually (B). Go allout for 50m and duck for the line.

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HOME IS WHERE THE KICK-START IS

COVID-1 9 SU RVIVAL

Just because you’re confined to barracks for the forseeable future doesn’t mean your weight-loss progress needs to stall. This 15-minute home bodyweight circuit is simple and effective. Once you’re done, you’ll be glad that your sofa is close at hand

CLEAR A SPACE in your living room and find a sweat towel. For this no-equipment kilojoule burner, follow an “every minute, on the minute” format: at the start of each minute, you’ll begin an exercise and work for either 20 seconds (beginner), 30 seconds (intermediate) or 40 seconds (master). Use what’s left o of the minute to rest, then launch into the next move with the ssame timings. Work through the circuit, take three minutes’ rest, then start again. Go all out – there’s no time to lose.

Kick sit

(2 setts of 20sec, 30secc or 40sec) At thee start of your first minute, prime your body for what lies ahead. Set up on all fours with a straight back and your knees 2-3 centimetres from the floor (A). Use your core to kick your left foot forward, keeping your left hand on the floor (B). Bring your leg back in and quickly transition to repeat the move on the other side.

3 Jumpinglunge

(2 sets of 20secc, 30sec or 40secc) After a brief resst, reset in a high plank annd perform a push-up (A). Lift your left leg to your right elbow (B), which works your abss harder than a regular mountaain climber. Drop yourr lleg bbackk andd repeatt on your rigght. Perform P a push-up, tthen do it all again. Quickly annd strictly.

(2 sets of 20 0sec, 30sec oor 40 0sec) Optimise thhe kilojoule burn by workingg your biggest musclees – your y legs. Lunge forward and lower your back knee unntil itt’s t s 22-3cm 3cm above the flooor (A A). Push through your froont foot f to jump, switching your switc y legs in mid-air (B). LLand w with soft knees and dropp into an opposite lunge and repeat r – lots.

A B

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WORDS BY MICHAEL JENNINGS; PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHIL HAYNES

Cross-climber topush-up

6 Hollow-holdrock

(2 sets of 20sec 20sec, 30sec or 40sec) Lie on your back annd lift your feet and shoulderss off the floor, with your arm ms behind you (A). Contract your y core and push your lower back into the floor and rock forward f and back (B). Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be blowing hard after the burppees, so keep your breathinng controlled, then prepare for round two.

Beastreach

Burpee

(2 sets of 20sec, 30sec or 40sec) Take the pressure off your legs (a bit) and make your abs aand shoulders pick up the slackk. Start on all fours,, extendinng your arms to sit bback on yoour glutes. Keep your knees offf the floor (A). Shifft your weeight forward into a higgh plank aand simultaneously bbring your right knee up tow wards youur chest h t (B) (B). Sit backk andd repeat with thhe opposite knee. Then speed it up.

(2 sets of 20sec, 30sec or 40sec) No bodyweight metcon is complete without the ultimate on-the-spot kilojoule burner. Squat and place your palms on the ground. From here, kick your feet back and drop your chest to the floor (A). Quickly push up again, hop your legs forward, then jump up and clap your hands above your head (B). Land and drop into your next rep.

A B

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-19 D I V O C RVIVAL

EATING KETO MADE EASY

Stuck inside? Not moving as much as you were pre-pandemic? There may be no better time to try ketogenic eating. Ramp up your body’s fattorching capacity with these moreish options from nutrition coach Matt Hodges

OPTION 1

LOW-CARB PANCAKES

• Large eggs, 2 • Extra virgin olive oil, 2Tbsp • Maple syrup, 2Tbsp • Vanilla extract, ¾tsp • Himalayan rock salt, a pinch • Baking powder, 1tsp • Almond flour, 120g • Almond milk, a glug

MEN’S HE ALT H

OPTION 2

BACON, EGGS & AVO

• Smoked, streaky bacon, 3 rashers shers • Half an avocado • Cream cheeese, 40g • Asparagus spears, 5 • Kimchi, to taste t

OPTION 3

NUTTER BOWL

• Coconut yoghurt, 250g • Keto protein, protein 1 scoop • Almonds, 30g, chopped • Peanut butter, 20g

PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL HEDG

BREAKFAST

Find a large bowl and throw in the eggs, oil, syrup and vanilla extract. Add a pinch of salt and baking powder, then sieve through 120g of almond flour with a splash of almond milk. Whisk to a stodgy batter. Drop a lump of grass-fed butter into a preheated pan. When it’s melted, add 3-4 dollops off pancake mix and fry until golden brown on one side e, then flip. Once they’re cooked, remove them from m the pan and leave to rest for one minute. Serve with an egg and some bacon iff you like your pancakes savoury, or peanut butter and a touch of extra syrup if sweet is your thing.

LUNCH OPTION 1

HOT SALMON BROCCOLI AND KALE SALAD • Salmon fillet • Broccoli, 100g • Flaked almonds, 3Tbsp • Cayenne pepper, ½tsp • Nutmeg, ¼tsp • Cinnamon, ¼tsp • Chopped kale, 2 handfuls

Brush the salmon with oil and roast for 15 minutes. As it cooks, steam your broccoli, but only for a few minutes. Keeping it al dente helps your body absorb cancer-fighting antioxidants. Plus, who likes mushy vegetables? Crush the almonds with a rolling pin and mix in the spices. Combine the broccoli and kale and top with the salmon and almond powder.

OPTION 2

HALLOUMI, CABBAGE AND KIMCHI BOWL

• Halloumi, 100g • Cabbage, 80g • Kimchi, 60g • Mushrooms, 5, uncookedd • A zucchini, chopped and uncooked

OPTION 3

PASTRAMI SALAD

• Pastrami slices, 80g • Baby spinach, 80g, washed • Kimchi, 60g • Cream cheese, 50g

OP PTION

BEE BA

• Pastured • Bluue chee • Spinach, 6 • Sauerkraut, 60g • Mayo, a drizzle

Make an effort with this one. If possible, find a loc farm and hunt down quali meat. Get out the barbecu and fire up the coals. These will blow your mind.

UNE 2020 125

OIL CHANGE

Prime your body to run on ketones with this daily drink

Water, 300ml • Water • Apple cider vinegar, 1Tbsp • Fresh ginger, 1tsp • Fresh turmeric, 1tsp • Himalayan rock salt, a sprinkle • Lime juice, a squeeze

SNACKS OPTION 1

PARMESAN CHIPS

• Parmesan, about half a triangle per portion, grated • Dried basil, to taste • Salt, to taste Pepper, pp , to taste

126 MEN’S HE ALTH

OPTION 2

These couldn’t be simpler. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grate some Parmesan – as much as you want to eat – then add the dried basil, salt and pepper. Mix it all and make little piles on a baking tray. Level them out and place in the oven until golden brown. And bang! They’re done. You can thank us later.

OFFICEDRAWER STAPLE

• Biltong, 100g, open packet; eat.

OPTION 3

SPICY BROCCOLI

• Broccoli, 80g, roasted • Chopped chillies, 10g, roasted

DINNER OPTION 1

PEANUT PRAWNS AND CAULIFLOWER RICE • Ca 00g • Co • • awns, g, raw chees Crushed pea Fresh chive ,c

Chop the cauliflower into small florets and put them in a saucepan to boil. Put the onut oil in a pan and turn ove. Wait until the is pipin o ot, then throw the green be wns. Saut he ns prawn the mas a for the cream am cheese cheese, nuts and chi M well. ’re good to

OPTION 2

OPTION 3

BEEF RAMEN

STUFFED CHICKEN

• Beef, 150g • Pak choi, 60g • Lemon grass, 2 sticks • Half a red pepper • Brazil nuts, 30g, chopped • Chopped kale, 50g • Bone one broth, broth t taste

• Free-range chicken, 150g • Pak choi, 60g • Chopped kale, 80g • Artichoke, 50g • A boiled egg • Ancho A hovy fillets, 6 • Mustaard mayo, a drizzle

127

FIVE MOVES FOR TOTAL-BODY MUSCLE

COVID-19 SU RVIVAL

Say you don’t have time to pick a muscle to train today. The fix: train every single one of them in this five-exercise, 25-minute routine that boosts your heart rate while building critical muscle. Do it three days a week, resting one day between sessions

THE WORKOUT Set a timer, then perform the exercises in order. Do four one-minute intervals of each move, doing reps for 40 seconds, then resting for 20 seconds. Focus on form, even if it costs you a few reps each interval.

1 ElevatedPlankRow

Get in plank position with your left forearm on a bench or a box. Your legs should be shoulder width apart. Grasp a dumbbell in your right hand; let your arm hang naturally. This is the start (A). Row the dumbbell toward your rib cage; keep your hips square to the floor as you do (B). Return to the start. That’s one rep. Switch sides every set.

2 Glute Bridge Floor Press

Lie on your back holding dumbbells directly over your shoulders, arms straight, feet near your butt. Tighten your abs and squeeze your glutes, raising your butt. This is the start. Bend at your elbows and shoulders, lowering the dumbbells until your elbows touch the floor; pause, then straighten your arms. That’s one rep.

128 MEN’S HE ALTH

WORDS BY JAY T. MARYNIAK, NASM AND EBENEZER SAMUEL; PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIACOMO

MH SAYS “It’ll be tempting to let your rowing-side hip shift upward. Battle that by actively squeezing your core and glutes as hard as you can.”

3 Reverse Lunge into Single-Arm Overhead Press

Stand with a dumbbell at your side in your right hand (A). Step your right foot back, placing your toes on the floor, and bend at your knees and hips, lowering your torso until your left thigh is parallel to the floor. Curl the dumbbell towards your chest (B), then press it overhead (C). Reverse the movements back to the start. That’s one rep. Switch sides every set. Struggling to press? Stop with the curl.

MH SAYS “Protect your lower back by continually refocusing on your abs, contracting them hard once you’ve lowered into the reverse lunge and again right before you press overhead.”

Dumbbell Hollow-Body Flutter Kick

Lie on your back, arms straight, holding dumbbells above your shoulders. Press your lower back into the floor, tighten your abs and lift your shoulder blades off the floor. Lift your straight legs 10 centimetres off the floor. This is the start (A). Flutter your legs back and forth (B), raising the left a few centimetres as you lower the right, and vice versa. MH SAYS “You must keep your shoulder blades off the floor. That’s what makes the hollow body worthwhile – and makes your abs cry after 40 seconds.”

5 Goblet Jump Squat

Stand holding a medium-weight dumbbell at your chest, feet shoulder-width apart, shoulder blades squeezed, core tight. Bend at your knees and hips, lowering your torso until your thighs are nearly parallel to the floor (A). Stand explosively, squeezing your glutes and jumping off the floor (B). Land and immediately do another rep.

JUNE 2020 129

Chalmers’ win broke a 48-year drought for Australia in the pool’s blue riband event.

That Changed My Life… “ONCE I CAME OFF THAT TURN, I BECAME AWARE OF HOW MUCH ENERGY I STILL HAD IN THE SYSTEM” DATE: 11 AUGUST, 2016 NAME: KYLE CHALMERS FEAT: Kyle Chalmers, an 18-yearold outsider, stuns the world to win the 100m freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympics

STANDING BEHIND the blocks I stared down to the other end of the pool, then looked to my left and right and just smiled. I knew how much hard work I’d done to get to this point. I was ranked eighth in the world so I probably wasn’t expecting to win. I was just focused on swimming as fast as I could. On my right, I had the American Nathan Adrian, who was the defending Olympic champion. Next to him was Cameron McEvoy, who at that point was the fastest man in the world by close to half a second. They were the two guys to keep an eye on. But standing there on the blocks, I reminded myself that everyone was in the same situation. We all had a lane, we’d all done the work to be there. It was just about who’d manage not to crack under pressure. “It’s my race,” I said to myself. “No one can take it from me.” I remember hitting the water but then, it’s funny – you train for such a long time that you need almost

to stop thinking and just let your body take over. But I did think that I’d probably gone out a little bit too easy. My start isn’t my strength, and when I turned at the 50m mark I was seventh out of eight. The guy next to me was a whole bodylength-and-a-half in front. But swimming is all about staying relaxed and backing yourself. I knew the second 50m was my real strength. And once I came off that turn, I became aware of how much energy I still had in the system. Suddenly I was confident that I could get myself into a position to really come home strong. I breathe to my right-hand side. So, on the closing lap, I could see only three people and I knew that I was ahead of those guys. But I couldn’t see the other four people in the race. All I knew was that I had to give everything to try and get my hand on the wall first. You touch the wall, but you still don’t know if you’ve won. Obviously swimming’s a very, very close sport – a

lot of races can come down to 0.01 of a second. I turned around to look at the clock and that’s when I saw my time: 47.56 seconds – with the number one next to my name. I was ecstatic. But at the same time, my great mate Cameron McEvoy – who I was rooming with in Rio – hadn’t done as well as we’d hoped for. I didn’t want to rub it into his face too much that I’d won. But Cam immediately came across into my lane and lifted my arm into the air and told me to enjoy the moment. That showed the type of man he really is. I got up on the lane rope to celebrate and I just remember looking into the crowd to see where my parents were. It was so special to be able to share that moment with them. I’d never seen that sort of emotion on my dad’s face before. Winning the 100m in Rio was an overwhelming moment that I’ll cherish forever. But I’m working very hard every single day in order to experience it again.

– Kyle Chalmers is a friend of the brand for TAG Heuer and wears the TAG Heuer Aquaracer

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