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MARCH 2021 $9. 9.50 NZ $9.99 INC C GS GST

menshealth.com.au

Hammer Time

Lessons From Lockdown The experts weigh in

Brutal Home Workouts

CHRIS HEMSWORTH IS CHANGING THE WORLD… ON HIS OWN TERMS

That don’t actually suck

Jacked To The Rafters

The transformation of Hugh Sheridan

DAYS OF 6-PACK RECIPES

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Mentally, Physically & Emotionally

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BUILD MUSCLE

TORCH FAT

LIFT YOUR SPIRITS

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CO NT E NTS 03/ 2 1

64 Chris Hemsworth is riding a career wave that doesn’t look like breaking. More than that, he’s doing it on his terms, living and working in ways that match his values, predilections and stage of life.

MEN’S HE ALTH

COVER GUY:

CHRIS HEMSWORTH PHOTOGRAPHED BY:

GEORGES ANTONI

INSIDE THIS ISSUE T AC T I CS

p18 Host with the Most

How The Bachelor’s Osher Günsberg converted COVID captivity into coin.

p32 Holmes and Hosed

Our Kind of Girl Abbey Holmes spills on kicking goals on and off the park.

M U S C LE

p102 Jacked to the Rafters Health’s Snob Guide to Shakes Make sure your post-workout brew isn’t just a protein powerhouse but a flavour-packed sensation you’ll blend again and again.

Everything to Gain This guy was too asham until he teamed up with himself an epic goal: to

Hugh Sheridan needed to dig deep to pull off this stunning transformation.

p122 Your Inner Gymnast The physique of a true bodyweight master is in your (chalked) hands.

N UT R IT IO N

p26 A Whole Lot of Fish

White, fleshy seafood plus fibre is your ticket to lean muscularity.

p78 Six-Pack Recipes Lessons from Lockdown Nothing like a pandemic to yank you out of your comfort zone. But for these eight leaders it’s also been a catalyst for a paradigm shift in perspective. Time to re-route your life’s path?

We have 30 days of meals covered so you can uncover your abs.

H E A LT H

p41 The Agony of It All

Sore knees? Yelping lower back? The solution starts with rethinking pain.

p44 Heart of the Matter

A new-generation cardiologist reveals how he protects his ticker.

FITNESS

Clever Clocks Welcome news, time lords. You can now have it all when it comes to smartwatches: a piece that combines state-of-the-art functionality with sleek design and old-world appeal.

p31 Hitting the Wall

Mid-race collapse isn’t weakness. It’s a fuelling issue you can fix.

p96 Reinventing the Box

Can new blood at the top save fitness giant CrossFit from disaster?

MARCH 2021

EDITOR’S LETTER

menshealth.com.au

Men's Health Australia

@MensHealthAU

COME WHAT MAY, BELIEVE Back in 2014, carefree and in the early stages of my journalistic life, I found myself anticipating another dispiriting season as a NSW Waratahs supporter. Following years of woeful results, the ’Tahs launched an aggressive marketing campaign that summer to reengage waning fans. The campaign amounted to a desperate plea for supporters to “believe” in the team, with the word plastered across TV, print and playing fields alike. So unlikely did a successful season seem that the campaign verged on the comedic, and my mates and I made a pact that if the ’Tahs happened to win the Super Rugby comp that year, we would get a permanent reminder of their triumph inked on our torsos. In pre-pandemic times, nothing seemed more improbable than a ’Tahs’ victory celebration. Six months later, however, there they were, holding the trophy aloft. And while the accurate boot of Bernard Foley and coaching prowess of Michael Cheika probably had more to do with the turnaround than my ‘believing’, the latter sure made the prospect of another season more bearable. Heck, it was even a little bit fun. As a man of my word, I now carry the word ‘believe’ under my shirt. After six years of covering and ignoring my self-inflicted disfigurement, what was once a rueful reminder of a great season of footy spent with mates took on a new meaning in 2020. Amid everyone’s year from hell, I decided to take heed of the ’Tahs’ marketing machine/my own skin and simply . . . believe. And to my surprise, research born from an abundance of free time (read: lockdown boredom) led me to discover that belief, faith and positivity have the scientifically proven capacity to reduce physical pain, boost circulation and reduce the risk of heart attack. On the back of some sustained belief, it is with great pleasure that I can officially say, after a 10-month pause, welcome back to the Australian edition of Men’s Health. It’s been a long road home and it would be remiss of me at the start of this comeback issue not to extend a huge thank you to everyone for their support during our hiatus – our readers, our friends, our family, our brand partners and the team that worked so hard to bring us back and who believed in what we stand for. Nobody is going to forget 2020 in a hurry. You don’t need an editor to tell you that it was tough for most, unbearable for some – events unfolding in ways unimaginable only 12 short months ago. The psychological impact of disaster can long outlast the medical and economic effects, and the events of the past year have only strengthened our commitment to taking a holistic view of health upon our return. As it did for many, 2020 gave the MH team an opportunity to pause and reflect, while also taking comfort in the very same inspirational stories we’ve compiled over the past 22 years. At a time when health has never been more important, we were lucky to have a stockpile of home workouts, recipes and, perhaps most importantly, mental health strategies with which to meet some of the challenges our new world continues to dish out. We never stopped believing Men’s Health would regain its place in the Australian media landscape. We return under new ownership, into a world where health dominates the news cycle. As a team, we are reivigorated. As a magazine, we are better positioned than ever to help you become the best man you can be. When all’s said and done, where would we be without belief? The belief that all will be okay? That we will get through this? That better things are coming? We need to believe in all these things. Otherwise, what would be the point of it all?

SCOTT HENDERSON

Editor BEN JHOTY

Deputy Editor DANIEL WILLIAMS

Associate Editor JASON LEE

Creative Director CHRISTOPHER RILEY

Contributing Editor NIKOLINA SKORIC

Digital Editor

IAN BROOKS

Chief Executive Officer LLOYD O’HARTE

Executive Director LEE MCLACHLAN

Creative Services JULIE HUGHES

Subscription Manager subscribe@paragonmedia.com.au ANN-MAREE MULDERS

National Commercial Director NATALIE WARD

National Brand Manager RACHEL SULLIVAN

National Sales Manager MICHELLE BAYLEY

Marketing & Sales Strategy Consultant CHRIS MATTHEWS

Sales Executive

DEBI CHIRICHELLA

KIM ST. CLAIR BODDEN

President, Hearst Magazines

SVP/Editorial & Brand Director

INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS

Australia, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, UK, US

CHLOE O’BRIEN

Deputy Brands Director

PARAGON DCN PTY LTD

ABN 73 627 186 350. PO Box 81, St Leonards, NSW 1590 14/174 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest NSW 2062 Ph (02) 9439 1955, paragonmedia.com.au Published and Distributed by Paragon DCN Pty Ltd by Permission of Hearst Magazines, Inc., New York, New York, United States of America. Printed and retail distribution by Ovato Limited. Published 12 times a year. All rights reserved. Title and trademark Men’s Health © Hearst Magazines International. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission. Men’s Health is a registered trademark and the unauthorised use of this trademark is strictly prohibited. issn 13293079. © 2021 Paragon DCN.

Scott Henderson scott@menshealth.com.au

MEN’S HE ALTH

Both the paper manufacturer and our printer meet the international standard ISO 14001 for environmental management. The paper comes from sources certified under the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification scheme (PEFC™). Please recycle this magazine – or give it to a friend.

ASK MH THE BIG QUESTION

Autumn is around the corner. Can I skip legs day? – CT Though it’s always tempting to swap deadlifts for biceps curls, drop the bro science in favour of, well, actual science and you’ll realise that it’s a bad idea. A true stacksman knows that, even when their ironclad quads are confined to long trousers, total fitness hinges on hard work below the belt. “Fat loss, cardio fitness, lean mass – whatever your aim, you won’t achieve it without lower-body strength,” says personal trainer Mun Dhariwal. “For starters, legs days not only provide a chance to exercise while your upper body recovers, but they also strengthen the injurypreventing stabilising muscles in your midriff and below.” Research

confirms this: the University of Central Florida found that your risk of serious injury increases fivefold if you’re unable to leg press 1.7 times your bodyweight. Even if your sole goal is to maximise mirror muscles up top, lower-body workouts are still essential. Working below your waist spikes testosterone and growth hormone levels that benefit your whole body. According to Danish research, deploying a legs day within an upper-body program boosts biceps strength by 10 per cent. And if a six-pack is next on your wish list, you’d better fire up your pistons to ignite your body’s

metabolism. “The route to washboard abs is from the ground up,” explains Dhariwal. “To incinerate calories and strip abdominal fat, you need to work your body’s largest muscle groups, and the biggest single muscle of them all is your glutes.” But there’s more to it than squats. Introduce step-ups to your routine – they activate your glutes twice as effectively as deadlifts, according to a recent Journal of Sports Science & Medicine study. For an added kick, carry half of your bodyweight in dumbbells, reaching at least 20 steps on each side. To finish strong and hit your 2021 body goals, you need a leg up.

PHOTOGRAPHY: STUDIO 33; JOBE LAWRENSON, JASON LEE

Don’t bury your head. Legs day has beneﬁts all year round.

MEN’S HE ALTH

ANCIENT SOLUTION TO A MODERN PROBLEM Q Why do I stress out before a Zoom call with my boss? A If you are depressed you are the past. If you are anxious y living in the future. If you are you are living in the present. –Lao Tzu; b. circa 4

TEXT A THERAPIST Today 05.01pm The Sunday fear is kicking in. Got a chill pill, doc?

Your starter for Zen: send calming signals to the brain by taking five big breaths that expand your belly.

ASK THE GIRLS IN THE OFFICE 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

I’m all for the COVID vaccine, but the girl I’m seeing is an antivaxxer. Can this work? - BV Lucy I don’t think it’s necessarily a deal-breaker. Personally, I’m not anti-vax but I do think there are arguments on both sides. Harriet I’m thinking it is a total deal-breaker. It’s like getting together with someone and you want to have kids one day and they don’t. It’s a core issue that comes back to core values. A lot of other beliefs go along with being anti-vax, so sorry to say it but I think you’re always going to be clashing.

Lizza And there’s no compromising on this one. No meeting halfway. Lucy True, you can’t have half a vaccine. Maybe you’re right, on reflection. Harriet I’d definitely say have the conversation first – hear them out before writing them off. Is there any chance they might change their mind when you lay out the facts? Lucy Hmmm, chances are they feel passionately about this. Harriet And I don’t like to

generalise, but sometimes anti-vaxxers will think the world is flat, too. Lizza And that climate change isn’t real . . . Harriet Big red flag. Lucy What about if the relationship’s casual, though – you know? Lizza Casual’s fine. Harriet It would still kind of annoy me. Lucy Bit of an awkward first-date discussion. Harriet Yeah, leave it till maybe the third or fourth. Then, see ya.

Fire off your query to facebook.com/MensHealthAU

Hmm. It’s a good start, but deep breaths won’t help me sleep before tomorrow’s . . . presentation… OK, write a list of your worries in two columns: one for things you can’t control and one for things you can. Spend 30 minutes thinking through them all. “Free-roam worrying” helps you identify what is worth your mental energy. Hint: other people’s reactions aren’t one of them!

Today 07.45pm I’m still a bit stressed. Any more ways to achieve calm before bed?

LIZZA LUC Y

The simplest tricks are often the best. Switch off your phone and leave it out of reach. Then just do something you enjoy, preferably with a caffeine-free hot drink. HARRIET

Footy replay and a camomile tea it is. Cheers, doc! Dr Peter Meades, psychotherapist

MARCH 2021

THE

03 21

YOUR MONTHLY DOWNLOAD OF THE LATEST LIFE ENHANCING RESEARCH

LOSE WEIGHT WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED

HARDLY AT WORK, HARDLY WORKING

Dreaming of throwing off unwanted layers? Science shows that a good night’s sleep has you covered SQUEEZING IN an extra workout class, batchcooking healthy meals, the early-morning cycle to work . . . following weight-loss advice would be easier if you had a few more hours in the day. But resist the temptation to rise an hour earlier or to push back your bedtime. Allowing your new regimen to eat into your sleep is only sabotaging your body goals. Though research in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that low-kilojoule dieters achieved the same amount of weight loss whether they slept for an average of 5.5 or 8.5 hours per night, the devil is in the detail. If you lose sleep, most of the weight you cut will come from lean mass, not fat. In other words, if you start burning the candle at both ends, you’ll inadvertently torch through your hardearned muscle. Just a quarter of the weight lost by

Sleep isn’t the only way to burn kilojoules without breaking a sweat

people getting fewer than six hours’ sleep came from fat. Conversely, those who were catching the recommended nightly amount of Zs lost twice as much. It gets worse for sleep dodgers. In the experiment, both groups were assigned the same amount of food by the researchers. But without a lab assistant on hand to rein in their impulses, those who underslept ate twice as much fat and more than 1200kJ extra the next day. This was attributed in part to the fact that a lack of sleep causes a spike in the hormone ghrelin, which makes you feel hungry, and a fall in leptin, which signals to your brain that you feel full. Not to mention the risk that, by spending three more hours awake, you’ll spend more time snacking. Take our advice and sleep on it.

7AM: DRINK UP

Sink two glasses of iced water before breakfast. You’ll burn extra energy as your body warms the liquid.

10AM: TAKE A FIDGET SPINNER TO WORK It might drive your colleagues mad, but you can expend 1400kJ per day simply by fidgeting.

2PM: CHEW SUGAR-FREE GUM AFTER LUNCH You’ll freshen your breath while burning kilojoules. Plus, it’ll help you resist the biscuit tray.

WORDS: LOUEE DESSENTJACKSON; PHOTOGRAPHY: ROWAN FEE

Scale up your fat burn as you sleep.

7PM: EAT MORE PROTEIN, BE IT CHICKEN OR TOFU It will increase the “thermic effect” of your meal, melting additional kilojoules as you digest it.

MARCH 2021

THE FEED

0321

LIVE LONGER WITH A GLASS HALF FULL

IRON OUT YOUR NEGATIVITY

Far from protecting you from disappointment, pessimism could sink your chances of a long life. Drink in the latest science for a sunnier outlook WHERE OUR AMERICAN friends are notorious for their exhausting optimism, Australians tend merely to hope for the best and deal with any disasters as they arise. But it turns out our pragmatic mentality is not a longevity booster. According to the latest science, Instagram-worthy positivity is good for your health. We have long known optimists live longer than pessimists, but scientists assumed that a positive outlook was just an outcome of good health, not its cause. Now, researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine have discovered that it works both ways. Their long-term study of 70,000 older people found that, on average, the most optimistic participants lived 15 per cent longer. Though it’s true that the upbeat individuals were more likely to take active steps to overcome life’s challenges

This 10-minute kettlebell circuit will pump you full of endorphininduced positivity

– taking up running if they became overweight, for example – the study showed that optimism alone accounted for a 9 per cent rise in lifespan, regardless of behaviour. You can take practical steps to break the negative cycle and trick your mind into adopting a brighter outlook. Research by the Harvard Medical School found that daily meditation helps to disconnect brain regions that induce fear and anxiety, while strengthening those connected to empathy and rational thinking. If being “in the moment” sounds too ethereal, try living in the past. Studies have found that a dose of nostalgia in the morning can improve your levels of optimism throughout the day. Which, to us, sounds like a great excuse to pump up the 1990s playlist and belt out “Things Can Only Get Better” in the shower.

01/ KETTLEBELL PLYO PUSH-UP (3 sets of 10 reps) Set up in a plank with one hand on a kettlebell (A). Lower to the ground, then push back up and swap hands (B). Drop into another push-up in one ent.

B A

02/ TURKISH GET-UP

(3 sets of 4 reps each side) Lie with a kettlebell in your extended left arm. Step your left foot up to your right knee (A). Push through your right hand and left foot to stand up tall (B).

03/ CLEAN AND PRESS

Raise a glass to optimism’s heady health beneﬁts.

MEN’S HE ALTH

(3 sets of 8 reps each side) Squat holding the kettlebell at knee level (A). Pull it up to your chest, then move your arm underneath the weight and stand proud, pressing the kettlebell overhead (B).

WORDS: LOUEE DESSENTJACKSON | PHOTOGRAPHY: JOBE LAWRENSON

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Zipping into style Progressive, urban aesthetic meets extreme flexibility in this smart shoe you won’t want to take off Set on a highly original sole with a design inspired by a zip, the ECCO ZIPFLEX shoe is as dynamic as it is versatile, cushioning you in supreme, state-of-the-art comfort. With its fluid, one-piece sole that’s ultra-flexible and exceptionally bendy, the ECCO ZIPFLEX is designed to take you from city streets to off-road terrain with ease. While supplying an ideal balance of cushioning and rebound – thanks to cutting-edge ECCO FLUIDFORM Direct Comfort Technology – this statement shoe offers enhanced support with a footbed engineered to follow the natural curve of your foot. Strategically placed rubber inserts in the customised sole ensures full ground contact and takes the shoe’s exceptional stability and secured footing next-level by gripping your foot for faster, more in-control take off. The ECCO ZIPFLEX takes its design from a European brand steeped in authenticity and tradition. Strength of innovation, ethical production and quality craftsmanship is at its heart, proudly featuring DriTAn Leather Technology, which allows for a more sustainable production. It’s little wonder the ECCO ZIPFLEX is coveted internationally for style, performance and superior wearability.

TECH SUPPORT Boosted with SHOCK THRU technology – ECCO’s most innovative shock absorption yet – this ultimate all-terrain shoe delivers bounce, vitality and all-day comfort with every step. This accelerated version of the original ECCO Zipﬂex has been upgraded with innovative mesh panels and cut-out design for enhanced breathability, encompassing a fresh street-style with an urban aesthetic that’s impossible to ignore.

Discover ZIPFLEX and the new ECCO autumn collection instore now or at au.ecco.com

THE FEED

0321

EASTERN DELIGHTS These Asian superfoods are perfect for anyone hungry for better health and fitness

YOU NEED TO GO DEEP If you want a strength-building ingredient worth its salt, research shows that wakame can turn the tide on a training trough

THE JAPANESE have grown and eaten wakame seaweed for centuries, but it has yet to drift into the Western mainstream. Our loss: studies show that the marine algae is swimming with nutrients that could help you gain strength and shed fat, fast. Wakame, which you’ve already tried if you’ve ever slurped down a hot bowl of miso soup, deserves to be a staple outside the sushi bar. According to a study in Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, it contains fucoxanthin, a carotenoid that promotes fat oxidation. It’s also a source of hesperetin, a flavonoid that stimulates the formation of muscle tissue and provides a boost to bone health as you age. It’s little surprise, then, that when scientists at the Korea Food Research Institute studied the effect of wakame on mice over eight weeks, they

observed a powerful range of benefits. The distance the animals could run improved by about 15 per cent, as did the size and health of their muscles. Blood flow to their muscles increased, and the mitochondria in their muscle cells (the central powerhouses that convert nutrients into energy) had grown substantially. What’s more, the gains recorded by the researchers were largely in the category of “fasttwitch” muscle fibres – the kind involved in short, powerful movements, such as those needed for your next deadlift PB. That’s more than enough reason to take the plunge and grab some dried wakame from your local health food shop. Serve with prawns and crunchy cucumber and start making waves after your next big session.

01/ SASHIMI

Raw fish contains more omega-3, for a cardiovascular health boost.

02/ PAK CHOI

This is a source of sulforaphane, with anti-cancer properties. Stack on gains by adding wakame to your bulking plan.

03/ WOOD EAR MUSHROOMS

04/ RAMEN

Contains dissolved collagen, to slow skin ageing.

05/ MISO

Fermented soya beans are full of probiotics, for gut health.

MEN’S HE ALTH

WORDS: LOUEE DESSENTJACKSON | PHOTOGRAPHY: ROWAN FEE

Packed with staminaboosting polysaccharides.

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HOST WITH THE MOST Last year, when COVID-19 halted TV production, former MH cover guy and The Bachelor host, Osher Günsberg, could have found himself at a loose end. Instead his side hustle, the podcast Better Than Yesterday, suddenly became that rarest of beasts: a passion project that pays the bills BY BEN JHOT Y

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PHOTOGR APHY BY OSHER GÜNSBERG

ADVANTAGE S TAY A H E A D O F T H E GA M E

OSHER GÜNSBERG is speaking to me from his ‘Pod Cave’ in the downstairs section of his new house. It used to be a nursery, he says, but after moving in back in December 2019, he promptly liquid-nailed soundproofing to the walls. Seated at his desk with his computer in front of him, Günsberg’s headphones are plugged into his RØDECaster studio console, as he speaks through his ‘good mic’. Around him lie the remnants of a virtual gameshow he hosted the previous evening with the guys from his regular Wednesday evening poker night. “I’ve been playing with the same guys for the last 15 years,” he says. “We’ve all been to each others’ bachelor parties and weddings and we’ve slept on each others’ couches after divorces. We’ve been there for each other through thick and thin. So, I’m running a quiz show for us. I’m not a half-arsed kind of guy, so I’ve got a graphics package and a green screen and sound effects and music. And I put on my fancy game show jacket and I do the whole damn thing. It’s a lot of fun.” It’s one of the ways Günsberg adapted to our ‘grave new world’ after production on season 8 of The Bachelor was suspended last March due to the COVID-19 lockdown (the show eventually resumed to finish the season). “When you’re making a show that involves people pashing on and then a global pandemic hits, you can’t really keep making a show about people pashing on,” he laughs. “It was like, ‘We’ve got to keep people safe’.” But while many who work in the creative industry either leaned into TikTok or tried to find MARCH 2021

new outlets to express themselves, Günsberg already had one that had been bubbling away in the background for years: his podcast, Better Than Yesterday. Isolation meant spending a lot more time down in the Pod Cave. “I’ve been doubling down on podcasting,” he says. “It’s going from strength to strength. That’s the revenue stream that I have at the moment.” That’s a rather prosaic way to describe what is both entertaining ear candy and aural floss, with regular deep-dives into philosophical issues and nuanced discussions on mental health. Günsberg, a 46-year-old veteran of TV and radio, is fast becoming Australia’s answer to Joe Rogan, delving headfirst into the psyche of well-known guests to reveal the person behind the public image. That sometimes jarring duality in turn reflects the dichotomy in Günsberg’s own professional output: the emotional density and at times heavy themes of the podcast stand in stark contrast to the gloss and froth of his day job. Günsberg seems to relish the dissonance. “Why is one person only allowed to be one thing?” he shouts, almost joyfully down the line. “No one is one thing. I’m the guy that counts flowers and I’m the guy that sits down and talks to the Premier about what we’re going to do when Tamworth runs out of water. Everyone is like that. We all are many, many things and we all have many motivations and things that drive us.” As it turns out, versatility, agility and the ability to tap into the many facets of what make you whole are pretty handy skills to have . . . and not just when you’re scrambling to adjust to a global pandemic, either.

POD COMPLE X Günsberg had the idea for Better Than Yesterday in 2013 when he was living in LA. But it was while he was back in Australia for 10 weeks shooting the first season of The Bachelor that he actually made it real. “I’d been living in Los Angeles for eight years and got a front-row seat to the opening rounds of the first successes of podcasting,” he says. “I remember hearing various podcasters and going, ‘Holy shit. Half a million people are listening to this’. And those kinds of numbers made me go, ‘Bloody hell. They’re commercial broadcasting numbers’. But then you look at the business model of it. It’s you, an audio producer, maybe a salesperson and that’s it.” While back in Australia, Günsberg accompanied his mate, comedian Luke Heggie, to some stand-up gigs, where he bumped into fellow comedian and broadcaster Scott Dooley. Without really thinking about it too much, he 20

MEN’S HE ALTH

I’M THE GUY WHO COUNTS FLOWERS AND TALKS TO THE PREMIER ABOUT WATER asked Dooley to join him on his non-existent podcast the following Tuesday. “Now, Dools didn’t know that I didn’t have a podcast,” says Günsberg gleefully. “Dools didn’t know that I didn’t know how to record a podcast. Dools didn’t know that I had no microphones. That’s fine. I just went, ‘Okay, I’d better learn how to record a podcast’.” And that’s what he did, purchasing some mics and figuring out how to use them over the weekend. By Tuesday he was ready. “It was like, ‘Oh, hey man. Here we go’. I hit record and off we went.” If that sounds like a slap-dash, rather whimsical way to start your podcast career, it’s in large part a reflection of the medium. Many pods flame out as quickly as they were conceived. If you’re lucky you might win a

small but devoted audience. And if you’re really fortunate and, let’s face it, good, your voice may accompany people from Sao Paulo to Saint Petersburg on their morning commute. The point is, while barriers to starting aren’t prohibitive, you still have to, you know, start. “I’ve found that it’s always the way that if you commit to something just a little bit outside your ability level you go, ‘Now I’ve got a deadline, I’m just going to have to figure it out’,” Günsberg says. “That’s what happened and here we are 335 episodes later.” The appeal, and indeed, the success of the medium lies in its simplicity and the intimacy that allows. The fact that the audience accesses shows through their most prized possession

TACT I C S

– their phone – usually through earbuds, only increases the closeness and affinity between the host and the audience, Günsberg says. “You and this voice are connecting together the same way you take a phone call,” he says. “It’s such a one-on-one form of communication.” And without the financial imperatives of commercial radio, where you have to break for ads every two minutes, you have the freedom to natter away for hours, digging deep into your subject and their life. “Once we find some commonality, then we have that first thread,” Günsberg says. “Hopefully we then find another thread and then another. Then you might have a bit of a twine and from there maybe you get up to a rope. Soon enough, you’ve got a connection that you can hold onto.”

SONIC SELF-HELP Günsberg spoke at length about his mental health, particularly Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the last time he chatted to MH back in 2018. It’s been one of the podcast’s recurring themes, reflected in the title, Better Than Yesterday. Indeed, one of Günsberg’s more memorable chats was with his wife, Audrey, the two engaging in a frank discussion on what it’s like to live with someone who suffers from mental health problems. It was ground Günsberg had covered in his book Back, After The Break but felt needed to be addressed in greater depth. “The book was about me losing my mind and trying to find my way back,” he says. “But a massive part of that was Audrey, who helped me

POD OF SMALL THINGS: GÜNSBERG DRILLS DOWN INTO THE DETAILS OF HIS GUESTS’ LIVES.

MARCH 2021

I WENT FROM THE COUCH TO RUNNING THE BOSTON MARATHON OF MENTAL HEALTH IN FIVE YEARS so very much. The way she framed what it was like to have a conversation with someone who is slipping into paranoia and going through intense anxiety and can’t leave the house and what it’s like to care for someone like that. And the incredible gift she gave me of being able to see me and my sick brain as two separate things.” The other podcast that had particular resonance for Günsberg was one he did with Jamie Simmonds, a man who in 2011 took charge of relocating the town of Grantham, just outside of Toowoomba, out of the way of floods. One of the ways Günsberg’s OCD has manifested has been through constant, intrusive thoughts and anxiety around climate change. To talk to someone like Simmonds, who had confronted the fallout of a changing climate so directly, was a prospect Günsberg found terrifying. “Five years ago I would’ve run from the room, run down the street,” he says. “I’m not even joking. For someone like me who’s gone through episodes of psychosis that manifested in paranoid delusions to the point where anything climate-related would set off a quivering, wanting to vomit and run at the same time kind of fear response, to now have the ability to be with that discomfort is very, very powerful.” The fact that he could have the conversation was a testament to the work Günsberg, his doctors and his wife have done. “I have a psychiatrist and a psychologist. The way I refer to it, is it’s as if I was a rally driver; the psychiatrist is the mechanic and the psychologist is the navigator. But I have to do the driving. And then Audrey is the cheer squad, the backup crew and the reason to get to the finish line.” The scale of the psychological journey he’s been on is, if not the Dakar Rally, something equally monumental. “I went from the couch to running the Boston Marathon of mental health in five years.”

E X ERCISE YOUR DEMONS That Günsberg uses exercise as a metaphor to talk about his mental health probably isn’t that surprising. Along with the aforementioned pit crew of professional care and medication, training has been the other force behind his recovery. Almost two-and-a-half years ago he appeared on our cover after doing a 12-week challenge he credits with helping him “manage the brain I was born with”. Two-and-a-half years on that remains the case, although he’s quick to add that he no longer boasts athlete-level body fat. “My body fat percentage hasn’t been that low since that day and that’s fine,” he says. Instead he’s added a 22

MEN’S HE ALTH

little more muscle, while keeping up his cardio and conditioning work with Zwift cycling sessions and kettlebell workouts, plus a weekly 100-rep sandbag-burpee session, interspersed with chin-ups. “In the words of my friend, Luke Heggie, ‘A chin-up bar will keep you honest’.” As for the sandbag: “You can utterly smoke yourself with those things.” And smoking himself, he says, is exactly what his mind needs. “I know that if I want to change my mood state from, ‘I feel a bit shit’ to ‘I feel better’, I need to release certain hormones – dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine and endorphin. To do that I need to train and, in particular, activate the bigger muscles in

my body. It’s like a bowl of oranges. You’ve got to squeeze them to get the juice out. A couple of sets of dead-lifts and a few burpees with a sandbag? That’ll do it.” You also need a high base level of exertion, he says, to trigger a physical transformation. “If there’s one thing I learned from doing the cover, it’s that the hormone response to create the body composition shift did not start to happen until I went to a point where, at the end of a set, I had to lie down on the floor,” he says. “It’s just volume, dude. You’ve got to understand that when you think you’re gassed, that’s you at 60 per cent. You’ve got more. Your body won’t adapt unless you push it to that point.”

TACT I C S

PICK OF THE PODS OSHER’S TOP LISTENS

TOFOP “I check in with Wil Anderson and Charlie Clausen on TOFOP every week. They are the two guys chatting at the pub and I’m just the bloke in the corner listening to them and that makes me feel like I’m connected.”

50 THINGS THAT MADE THE MODERN ECONOMY “It’s a very nerdy podcast from the BBC. It takes about 10 minutes and it’s very, very good.”

13 MINUTES TO THE MOON “Extraordinary storytelling.”

Appropriately enough, Günsberg now comes full circle, comparing the ability to endure and adapt to being physically uncomfortable during exercise to being able to manage his anxiety around climate change. “You’ve just got to be willing to be with how uncomfortable it is but understand that if you’re willing to do that, you will adapt. I know my brain will eventually get better at it and slowly, slowly, slowly, I’ll get better at being able to deal with more of it. But then you’ve got to increase the weight and that’s why you then have harder and harder conversations.” If we’re lucky, some of those will take place in the Pod Cave.

CHAIN REACTION: GÜNSBERG USES ZWIFT SESSIONS TO TRY AND BREAK THE CYCLE OF DEPRESSION, ANXIETY AND OCD.

THE BLINDBOY PODCAST “He’s a polymath out of Ireland, who wears a plastic bag on his head to maintain anonymity. He talks a lot about training, mental health and politics. Super nerdy, but he’s fucking good.”

MARCH 2021

MU S CLE

MORE NORSEPOWER FOR YOUR ENGINE A mighty weights-free combination, the SISSY SQUAT TO NORDIC CURL builds stability and raw strength in your lower body to supercharge your pavement and pedal power. Move slow for more go

THE

BEST

EXERCISE YOU’RE NOT DOING

GOING ALL OUT under a barbell with big compound squats is all very well, but it pays to be specific, too. And if you want to run further or pedal faster, you sometimes need to pump the brakes. This combination of two little-known exercises will slow you down for speedy gains. “The Sissy squat – named after Greek mythology’s Sisyphus – is one of the best quad-isolating moves you can do,” says veteran PT Scott Laidler. “And the Nordic curl works on your hamstrings to balance out your progress and injury-proof your lower body.” Together, the exercises target the two major muscles of your upper leg, building levels of power and speed worthy of an epic hero. Laidler stresses the importance of maintaining good form throughout. Your swift progress in the saddle and out running is won through controlling the movement. “The Sissy squat won’t feel natural, so to make it easier, you can attempt it in a squat rack, holding the bars,” he advises. “Four low-rep sets with plenty of rest will provide a strong start.” Get this right and all your goals will fall into place.

MEN’S HE ALTH

Now, lower yourself to the ﬂoor under control, balancing on your toes as you descend. Try to keep your core tight, and resist the urge to arch your back. Remember, good form is key.

3FALL GUY

Once your knees have reached the ﬂoor, keep the rep moving ﬂuidly. Contract your hamstrings to control your descent as you lean forward.

4FALL OUT

Eventually, gravity will take over and you’ll drop. Aim for a 10-second rep to create enough time under tension across the move. Jump back up, then give us four more.

INJURYPROOF MUSCLE

WORDS: MATT EVANS; PHOTOGRAPHY: PHIL HAYNES

IRON QUADS

Stand tall, with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms crossed and raised to shoulder height. Quickly ﬂex your quads to switch on the correct muscle ﬁbres and bend your knees.

2DOWN TIME

What You’ll Gain

PEDAL POWER

1STAND AND DELIVER

NU T RI TI ON

A WHOLE FISH – If you eat 30 grams of protein and 10 grams of fibre at every meal, you’ll optimise musclebuilding and weight loss. This month, find your protein in a grilled-fish feast and your fibre in sides that are jammed with something chicken and steamed broccoli don’t have: tonnes of flavour BY JOE KITA

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTOPHER TESTANI

ON THE GRILL!

10 G The Fibre 30 G The Protein White fish cooks fast and turns flaky and luscious on the grill. Go with red snapper (or striped bass or sea bass). They all have at least 26 grams of protein for fewer than 2552 kJ per 110g serving

These two simple side dishes enhance the flavours of the fish and help you hit your g ff

COOK IT Fish with Orange Sauce

BUY IT Ask the person behind the counter to “scale, gut and clean” the fish, but leave the head on for presentation value. Fresh fish should have a clear eye, a clean (not fishy) smell, and no slick of slime on the skin.

UPGRADE IT

Skin-on fish is notorious for sticking to grill grates and generally making a mess. Prevent all that with a technique called reverse searing, in which you cook the fish with indirect heat first, then crisp the skin over direct heat WHAT YOU’LL NEED 1

WHOLE WHITE FLESHED FISH (A B O U T 680G), S CA L E D , G U T T E D AND CLEANED ¼ C U P S OY SAU C E ½ O RA N G E , J U I C E D 2 T B S P S E SA M E O I L 2 TBSP MINCED GINGER 2 G A R L I C C LOV E S , MINCED 2 T B S P B R OW N SUGAR 1 T B S P S E SA M E SEEDS 3 SPRING ONIONS, T H I N LY S L I C E D

1. Preheat your grill to high. Oil and season the fish inside and out with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients except for the spring onions. 2. Place the fish on a well-oiled grill over indirect heat and close the lid. Cook until the flesh is cooked through, about 10 minutes, flipping halfway with a large metal spatula. Then move the fish to direct heat and cook until the skin on both sides is nice

and crispy, 3-5 minutes per side. 3. Carefully transfer the fish to a serving platter, top with the spring onions, spoon on some sauce and serve with more sauce on the side. Feeds 4-6. Per serving: 970kJ, 28g protein, 7g carbs (1g fibre), 9g fat

Gochujang Eggplant In a small pan, melt 2 Tbsp butter with 2 Tbsp gochujang and 1 tsp soy sauce. On a medium-high-heat grill, place 4 Japanese eggplants, halved (or 2 small regular eggplants, quartered), and cook, turning and basting with the butter, until charred, about 7 minutes. Cover and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Plate and top with ¼ cup each peanuts, pomegranate seeds and coriander. Feeds 4-6. Per serving: 860kJ, 6g protein, 25g carbs (10g fibre), 11g fat

If you have the extra time, here are three ways to elevate this recipe to extra-special status IF YOU HA IF AV VE . ...

MINUTES

HOUR

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’Shrooms and rice In a medium pot, cook 1¼ cups brown jasmine rice with 1¾ cups vegetable stock. In a large pan, heat 2 Tbsp canola oil over medium high. Add 450g sliced mushrooms and cook till browned, about 10 minutes. Add 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced, 2½ cups thawed shelled edamame, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp fresh thyme and pepper to taste. Mix with the rice. Serve. Feeds 4. Per serving: 1785kJ, 18g protein, 62g carbs (11g fibre), 12g fat

MARCH 2021

SAY YES TO NO Everyone gets rejected, but some guys are better at dealing with it than others. Lauren Larson explains what to say when she’s just not that into you ILLUSTR ATION BY GARY TA X ALI

CROCODILES OFTEN SWALLOW rocks, which can then tumble around harmlessly in their stomachs for years. A bellyful of rocks may even help crocodiles control their buoyancy and digest prey. (There’s a point to this, I promise.) There live among us people who take romantic rejection very well: I call them super-rejects. Like the rocks in the belly of the crocodile, rejections can pile up inside these super-rejects without causing any damage, until they are passed into the riverbed, unnoticed. When you turn down one of these super-rejects, they do not send you a multi-text dirge. They do not spiral or reach for whatever bottle of dark liquor is lurking in the back of the 28

MEN’S HE ALTH

cupboard. They experience a healthy moment of woe, and they move on. The chillness of the super-reject often awes me, and then instantly unsettles me: did he want me to break it off? But there have been a few times when I’ve turned down a guy after a few dates, or even after a slurred pickup attempt in a bar, and he’s gone off. The opposite of the super-reject is a guy I barely know who just can’t let it go. That can be really scary. Like many women, I think about the day in 2014 when a young man killed six people and injured 14 more near a University of California campus to “punish” women for not being attracted to him. I think about a man I read about in

R E LA T IO NS H I P S

“REJECTION IS BAD, BUT THERE’S NO REASON TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE PAINFUL BY PILING ON EMBARRASSMENTS” November who used an app he’d installed in his ex-girlfriend’s car to stalk her – the app also allowed him to control the car’s stop-and-start function. Granted, it’s just as scary when a scorned woman overreacts. Last year, a woman in New Jersey burned a man’s house down after he reportedly booty-called her at 4am but fell asleep before she arrived. (The woman was “intent on having a hot date anyway,” wrote a New York Daily News reporter.) Female stalkers are almost as likely as male stalkers to threaten physical violence against their victims. But men are far less likely to be stalked. According to the latest National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey from the CDC in the US, one in 17 men says he’s felt fearful or believed that he or someone close to him would be killed as a result of stalking, but one in six women has. That’s why a super-reject is such a relief. A man who takes rejection in his stride, or even one who pretends to take rejection in his stride, is so attractive that it often makes one want to unreject him. (Of course, that should not be the goal of a rejection response – the goal should be freeing yourself from a cycle of shame and self-judgment.) I once had the pleasure of rejecting a superreject. After two dates, I sent him my go-to: “Hey!!! I had fun hanging out with you, but I just don’t feel a spark here. Sorry!!!” (I always gag at the earnestness of a “spark,” but there really isn’t a less Bachelorette word.) Then I held my breath. He responded about 30 minutes later: “Nooo!!!! Thanks for letting me know, I had a really great time as well. No worries!” I bet that when he doesn’t get a job, he writes an email like that and they hire him a year later. Maybe we’ll get married down the line. First, he nodded to his disappointment, which is cathartic for the reject and flattering for the rejecter, and he did it in a funny way. (“Nooo,” I should point out, is very different from “NO.”) When he said that he’d also had fun on our dates, I stopped imagining him seething in a basement over the hours of his life that I, a tease, had wasted. He used a lot of exclamation points, which made him seem completely nonthreatening. “No worries” let us both off the hook. It is the breeziest, most final sign-off. His was a magnanimous response, but responding to a rejection like that doesn’t just soothe the rejecter. An explicit rejection is an opportunity to reclaim your dignity. Some people can do that by not responding at all, but I think it’s helpful for everyone to acknowledge receipt. Here’s how to handle several hypothetical rejections like the self-assured and laissez-faire super-reject we know you can be.

YOU GOT GHOSTED Everyone maintains the right to ghost until, say, date four. But it is the cardinal dick move, because it denies the ghostee the chance to politely and generously accept the rejection. The only way to keep your dignity when you get ghosted is to cut your losses and remain silent, because literally anything you say will appear mournfully desperate. Especially a 900-word rant about “UGLY B****ES who think they can just GHOST men like ME”.

YOU HIT ON SOMEONE IN A BA R , A ND THE Y W EREN’T INTO IT The near certainty of immediate rejection is what makes flirting with a stranger so bold. If you take your shot in a bar and get rebuffed, just say, “Sorry, have a good night!” Do not approach her again. Do not say, “Come find me later if you change your mind”. Do not say, “But I bought you a drink”. If she darts to the bathroom, don’t follow her to tell her how unconcerned with the rejection you are. Just disappear into the night. Hitting on a stranger isn’t inherently a bad choice; it’s just the inability to accept a rejection that gets people into trouble.

YOU RECEI V ED A “NO SPA RK ” TE X T A F TER A FE W DATE S Use the formula of the super-reject’s text above. First, briefly and cheerfully acknowledge your disappointment (“Bummed to hear that!”). Thank the rejecter for being honest and, implicitly, for not ghosting you. Then deliver a final-feeling sign-off: “Good luck with [that thing she talked about for three hours]!” Delete her number, then spend the next 15 minutes cataloguing her faults in your mind. Watch an episode of King of the Hill. Move on.

YOU T WEET AT GAL GADOT A LOT, BUT SHE STILL LOVES HER CLEVER, RICH HUSBAND AND STILL HA SN’T NOTICED YOU [Long, pitying silence]. Rejection is bad, but there’s no reason to make it even worse by piling on embarrassments. Nobody has ever regretted not sending an angry missive in response to a ghosting or a disappointing text. Be the mighty crocodile. Fill yourself up with rejection rocks until you can digest an entire capybara in a single day. Take a tenuous metaphor to its logical conclusion! Just don’t send that indignant text.

MARCH 2021

Great for shakes, Probiotic Kefir is a fermented pourable yoghurt made from real milk. With 90+ billion good bacteria, amino acids, protein and 10 x more live cultures than regular yoghurt, it’s an easier way to a healthier gut. Available at Coles in Natural and Lactose Free*.

FI TN E SS

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN

STOPPING DISTA NCE

It comes down to basic maths. The average person burns 400kJ per 1.6km. So, 32km in, you’ve used up your 8000kJ glycogen supply. The solution is carb-loading: a few days before the race, tweak your diet so that 85 per cent of your kilojoules come from carbs, and maintain this to build up your reserves gradually. Bingeing will only lead to PB-derailing cramps on race day.

…I HIT THE WALL? Crashing up against the proverbial wall mid-run is not a sign of mental fragility – it’s a fuelling issue. To help keep you moving, here’s some food for thought on your next race

3 FINE-TUNING

Mid-race nutrition requires careful monitoring, too. Ultrarunner Robbie Britton recommends 1g of carbs per kilo of bodyweight per hour of racing. Drinks such as Maurten are your best bet: its ratio of maltodextrin and fructose means your body can process more of those carbs faster. Experiment during training to identify the premium fuel for your tank.

2 32km

JOG ON: MONITOR WHAT GOES IN YOUR SYSTEM TO KEEP YOUR LEGS GOING.

RUNNING ON EMP T Y

ILLUSTRATION: PETER GRUNDY

In sporting parlance, ‘hitting the wall’ refers to the moment during physical exercise when you feel like you can’t go on. We often associate it with long distance running: typically, it happens around the 32-km mark of a marathon, when you’ve torched through the 8000kJ or so of glycogen that you usually carry in your liver and muscles, forcing you to downshift to your fat supplies for fuel.

A ND 4 MIND M AT TER S 5 LOUD PROUD Of course, carbs can’t carry you all the way. Even when your glycogen levels are up, Samuele Marcora at the University of Kent suggests you employ a “focus forward” protocol: break the race down into small, manageable chunks. You can also look ahead for a competitor who is suffering, then focus on catching them. It sounds brutal, but the instant sense of achievement will reinvigorate body and mind.

Ultimately, a marathon is about testing your limits. If you start feeling fatigued, psychologists recommend self-talk to push yourself across the line. Research shows that speaking to yourself as a coach – ‘You can do this!’ – is more effective than telling yourself, ‘I can do this!’ Become your own biggest fan, feed off anyone in the crowd emitting positive vibes and watch the wall become but a tiny speed bump on your run to glory.

MARCH 2021

OUR KIND OF GIRL

Abbey Holmes The former AFLW star talks survival tactics, on and off the field BY HARRIET SIM

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O U R

KIN D

O F

G IR L

The World According to Abbey Holmes YOU CAN DRAW several parallels between playing professional footy and surviving on a remote island. Both require a fair degree of physical strength – and a clever game plan. And if you can make it through the long days and nights away from family and friends without resorting to calling your football ‘Wilson’, then you might just make it out alive. Abbey Holmes can tell you plenty about both experiences. After playing for the Adelaide Crows in the 2017-18 AFLW seasons, she dug deep during two stints on Australian Survivor, the second as a contestant on last year’s All Stars version on the Fijian island of Vanua Levu. While most of us would have returned home craving a burger and a hot shower, Holmes’ first thought after being unexpectedly booted off the island was to launch her own range of aptly titled leisure apparel, Blindside. A good sport whatever the arena, Holmes – who in 2014 became the first woman in an established football league (the NTFL) to kick 100 goals in a season – has learnt to take setbacks in her stride. “You pick yourself up and go again,” says the 30-year-old South Australian, who’s also dabbled in bodybuilding and worked in real estate, modelling and AFL television commentary. Versatile? You’d better believe it.

WORK OUT TO CHILL OUT “Working out is the best kind of therapy for me. It keeps my mental health and emotions in check. It’s also a huge stress reliever and the time when I do a lot of my thinking and planning. I try to get in at least 45 minutes of exercise a day, which could be a HIIT class, a walk around the block or Pilates. Training and fitness aren’t something I do just to look my best. They’re something I do to feel my best and operate at my full potential.”

FOOD A S FUEL “When it comes to nutrition, I try to keep it simple with a daily blend of carbs, proteins and fats, with plenty of fresh produce. I truly believe that the way you fuel your body for a workout is just as important as the session itself. As important as it is to conquer your fitness goals, it’s just as crucial to listen to your body. I can feel it within myself when I need a break or when it’s time to schedule some downtime. One thing I’ve had to learn – because my life can get pretty hectic – is to look after yourself first and foremost.”

SURV I VA L INSTINC T “My mindset is something that I’ve always been really proud of. I am the kind of person who sets her mind to something and nothing will stop me from achieving that goal. It’s not easy, though. You have to back yourself. It’s important to know that you won’t always succeed and that’s okay, because more often than not, great things are

“I WANT PEOPLE TO LOOK AT ME AND SEE A WOMAN WHO NEVER GIVES UP” born out of your failures. For example, after being blindsided in Survivor twice, I launched my apparel line Blindside, and the initial stock sold out within 10 days. Competing on Survivor was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life, but also the hardest. You are putting your body under the utmost stress and the challenges are brutal. I’ve always been in a team-sport environment so going into Survivor, where it’s every person for themselves, was really challenging. I think my social game and mental strength were my biggest advantages, because I didn’t go in with any preconceived ideas of trying to be anybody else but myself. And I think that’s something that I try to apply to all areas of my life – just being authentic.”

HER K IND OF GU Y “The first time I competed in Survivor, in 2019, I didn’t hear from my fiancé [former West Coast Eagle Keegan Brooksby] until day 43 out of 46. It was brutal. We both work hard and have played AFL, so I completely understand all the commitment to training and the long days and nights. We don’t spend a hell of a lot of time in the same state, so we organise a lot of Skype and FaceTime calls. The key is definitely to make the most of the time that you have together and make sure that during those moments you are present and in the moment. Trust and communication are also crucial, and it helps that Keegs is very handsome and super nice. I think some of the most attractive qualities in a guy are kindness, understanding and drive.”

GA ME CH A NGER “I want people to look at me and see a woman who never gives up, no matter how many times she is brought down. I’ve always been in the women’s sports space, so inspiring young girls in the AFLW to back themselves and have confidence and hit the ground running is really important to me. I want to show young women that being physically and mentally strong, independent and driven is something to be proud of. I hope the legacy I leave behind is one of belief and perseverance.”

@abbeycholmes MARCH 2021

FI TNE SS

CLASH AND BURN Both the trending AirBike and classic rower are effective and brutal. But who has space for both in a home gym? We reveal your best bet

KCAL

12.8 SEC

The total calorie burn VRPH ½WQHVV ½HQGV

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ta on an AirBike. You can a pain’s your thing.

FAT LOSS

“The AirBike is best for intervals,” says PT Faisal Abdalla. “The harder you work, the more resistance you face.” This torches calories fast, but the total burn is lower.

“The rower is low impact,” says Abdalla, “so it’s ideal if you’re a novice, have more time and want to burn more calories.” Row in your lunch hour and you can cull about 700kcal.

CELEB

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300. “I went nuts for a

MUSCLES

Triceps

Quads

Hamstrings

“It’s amazing for building aerobic capacity without impacting on muscle,” says Abdalla. Going hard on intervals will build speed endurance, so you can go faster for longer.

Assault Fitness AirBike

1299; P DX

from ridge arts.

Back

CARDIO

STA

Biceps

Quads

“The rower’s better for endurance exercises,” says Abdalla. “But it requires more technique than an AirBike.” Stay on form and you’ll build serious stamina – both physical and mental.

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Concept2 Model D ($1595; concept2.com.au)

THE MH VERDICT: ROWER WINS! First, know that you can buy them together for less than the price of a gym-standard treadmill. But, should you have room for just one in your life, the rower’s greater versatility – from brutal intervals WR JULW \RXU WHHWK VORJV ° PDNHV LW WKH VPDUWHU EX\ LI \RX ZDQW WR SXOO WRZDUGV D ½WWHU OHDQHU ERG\ 34

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Core

WORDS BY TED LANE; PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHILIP HAYNES

Shoulders

Little Urchin Natural Sunscreen

ALONG FOR THE ADVENTURE

CHPAUS 31175-0220A

#ReefSafeMeSafe www.littleurchin.com.au Always read the label. Follow the directions of use. When using sunscreen always wear a hat, protective clothing and sunglasses. Avoid prolonged high-risk sun exposure. Reapply sunscreen frequently or use in accordance with directions.

SUPERCHARGE YOUR DOWNTIME A new industry of products wants you to believe that tech can speed up your recovery. Chris Mohr spent a month putting its claims to the test ILLUSTR ATION BY ZOHAR L A Z AR

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MY FINAL REP was a failure. As I crumpled on the bench of my home gym, I raised the Garmin Fenix 5 (1) that was strapped to my wrist and flipped through the data. My VO2 max had gone into the purple “superior” section and, on the next screen, my recommended recovery time until my next workout had risen from one day to two. I’d achieved my goal: to push myself hard enough to have technology bestow upon me another rest day. The idea of recovery has evolved rapidly. It used to be that, after a workout, you’d simply ice, rest and hydrate. In essence, you’d let your body take care of itself. But these days, trainers are pushing for a far more active approach. “Early in my career, I focused all of my attention on training,” says strength coach Joe DeFranco, host of the Industrial Strength Show podcast. “Now, when I get a new client, I map out recovery strategies first, because I realised that a workout is only effective if the athlete is able to adequately recover from it.” You can credit the original Fitbit – which monitored two key recovery markers, sleep duration and quality – for raising awareness of this reality. Now, centres geared entirely for recovery have begun to pop up in Australian capitals. The value of the recovery drinks market is expected to grow by 6.2 per cent annually from 20182023, according to an industry report. And companies are marketing gadgets purported to improve rest between workouts. I was sceptical of these gizmos. To me, they were expensive shortcuts to wellness. But as a man in my forties

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with two kids who lifts almost every day, plays tennis and swims, while travelling for my job and habitually overworking, I’ve begun to feel more pain. I know what my body is trying to tell me, but maybe these products could help me grow stronger, sleep better and feel more energised? It was worth a shot. So I began to incorporate more than $7000 of wellness gadgetry into my life – starting with my bedroom. It’s 8pm, and my Oura Ring (2) tells me: “Bedtime’s approaching. If you want to prepare yourself for goodquality sleep, now’s the time to start winding down your body and mind”. When I’m in bed, it keeps track of my body temperature, movement, breathing, deep sleep, REM sleep, heart rate and more, giving me a report on the effects of my other sleep-centric recovery tools. I adjust my Ooler Sleep System Mattress Pad (3) to 13°C. I slip into my Under Armour Recovery Sleepwear (4) and don my Under Armour Tuned Recovery Glimpse glasses (5), which block out blue light. My daughters, both now the colour of Smurfs, roll their eyes at me. I lie down on the Helix Dawn Luxe mattress(6), which feels pleasantly cool, likely due to technology that encourages air to circulate through its layers. Spread over the mattress are Molecule percale sheets (7), made from the type of cooling wicking materials you might find in a workout T-shirt. A Gravity Blanket (8) locks me into place for a restful night of sleep. It feels sort of like those weighted aprons you wear when you get a dental X-ray. Sleep-recovery products tend to fall into two camps: those that cool you down and those that power you down. Research shows that a cool environment between 15.5°C and 19.4°C helps you fall asleep faster and achieve deeper sleep, an effect attributed to your body’s circadian rhythms. And those blue-tinted glasses are designed to protect your eyes from the blue light emitted by devices, which can disrupt a good night’s rest. Some of the products had little to no effect. For example, the recovery pyjamas, though comfortable, felt no different from the PJs I normally wear and provided no measurable benefit. My Tuned Recovery Glimpse glasses, which turned my children into Smurfs, just felt silly. But many of these products did help my sleep. After three weeks, my Oura reported that I had slept eight to nine hours at least six nights a week. I was less “awake” during sleeping hours, and my heart rate, normally about 52bpm when sleeping, fell to 48bpm. With my new-found energy from a better night’s rest, and armed with the Garmin, I started tackling my workouts with renewed vigour. Which is how I came to own a gun. The “percussive massage device” looks like a high-end drill, except that the bit is a hard, rubber disc that tenderises sore muscles. A 2014 study in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research found that those who underwent five minutes of vibration therapy had significantly less muscle soreness when compared with a control group. Sure enough, after using the Hypervolt (9) on the left side of my body, it felt less sore than the right side and far less sore than it would be after my usual five to 10 minutes’ foam rolling. The Theragun G3Pro (10) is louder but holds a charge longer. The Recoup Cryosphere (11) stays cold for up to six hours and adds ice to the benefits of massage. And the less brutal CTM Band (12) is an exercise band with soreness-soothing nodules along its length. On the days I used these, my Fenix reported that I could return to exercising faster. And my Oura told me I was moving less at night, which may have been a result of my reduced soreness. But I was also beginning to feel overburdened by the devices. All this recovery was, frankly, starting to wear on me.

LAB RAT RATING OUR PICK OF PRODUCTS DEDICATED TO GIVING YOUR HEALING A HAND

FENIX 5 1GARMIN

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T U N ED R ECOV ERY EL I X DAW N GL I M PSE GL A SSES E MATTRESS 5 UA 6 HLUX Ease of Use

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THE BOT TOM LINE These tools aren’t the last steps towards better health. They are the first. They didn’t always lead to dramatic results, but they did increase my understanding of recovery. The spectre of the Fenix’s data motivated me to work harder in the gym, and the Hypervolt pushed me to rest better for the sake of the Oura data. The more I repeated this, the stronger I grew. There’s also a downside: you can become obsessive. I found myself assessing how I felt by the data my devices presented, instead of by how I actually felt. That’s not right. Though I’m grateful that my month as a recovery lab rat helped me start the process of taking care of myself, I’m sure I can take it from here. MARCH 2021

MI ND

10/ TAKE THE LEAD Waltz to better mental health with three months of dance classes. A study found that they can help you beat longterm anxiety.

PROVEN WAYS TO LIFT YOUR SPIRITS

11/ TEAM EFFORT Loneliness is a killer, due to its impact on your mood. Kick out dark thoughts with a weekly ﬁve-a-side match.

Outwit anxiety and low moods. Our collection of quick tips will pick you up when life weighs heavy

01/ BREAK IT DOWN Three 10-minute sweats can boost your mood as effectively as one 30-minute workout. There’s always time to beneﬁt from training.

09 SOAK IT UP Among those with depression, a hot bath twice a week can sink dark moods even better than aerobic exercise.

03/ WATER RELIEF Ensuring that you drink 2.5L of water per day is the simplest way to ﬂoat your spirits. Bottoms up. 04/ DO PORRIDGE High-GI foods are a risk factor for depression. So, swap your croissant or sugary cereal for slow-cooked oats. 05/ GET CREATIVE More than two-thirds of people with creative hobbies, such as playing guitar, say it builds selfesteem. Get strumming. 06/ HAND SOLO Your brain produces oxytocin during orgasm, countering emotional pain. No partner? Go it alone.

In a study involving nearly 1900 people, regular weightlifting significantly reduced symptoms of low moods, including lethargy. It’s a heavy-duty pick-you-up.

14/ PUB CHAT Support from your peers – whether over the phone or over a beer – has been found to be as beneﬁcial as CBT. 15/ SPEAK UP Equally, psychotherapy has been shown to be as effective for treating depression as meds. Try talking it out before resorting to pills.

07 POWER UP

13/ GREEN SHOOTS Simply entering a room full of plants can lower your blood pressure, which calms anxiety. Vote green at work.

16/ HIGH BROW Rub the muscles above your eyebrows. This mini-massage reduces anxiety-inducing signals in your brain.

RAISE THE BAR ON YOUR MENTAL WELLBEING.

17 PENCIL IT IN In a study, four days of sketching was enough to quash symptoms of depression. Life drawing class, anyone?

SHINE A LIGHT Deficiency in vitamin D has been widely linked to unhappiness. Take a lunchtime walk: nine minutes in the sun will keep your levels normal.

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18 GO FISH Ditch the wrap for sushi at lunch to reel in extra omega-3 fatty acids. Those with fish-rich diets tend to dodge the blues.

WORDS: MATT EVANS; PHOTOGRAPHY: JOBE PHILIP HAYNES

02/ HOLD STEADY Steady-state runs work, too. Aerobic exercise reduces your levels of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, so lace up.

12/ BLUE SCREEN Make a solo cinema trip to see a sad ﬁlm, not a feel-good ﬂick. Counter-intuitively, it boosts endorphins.

NEW!

Introducing our new soda range SIMPLY MIX WITH QUALITY SPIRITS FOR THE ULTIMATE LOW CALORIE SPRITZ OR HIGHBALL

Italian Blood Orange Soda Sicilian blood oranges blended with bergamot, mandarin and quinine for the ultimate spritz or highball.

Pink Grapefruit Soda Hand-picked Florida grapefruits make this the ultimate soda for the Paloma and other summer cocktails. PLEASE ENJOY RESPONSIBLY

Lime & Yuzu Soda Mexican limes from Yucatan and Japanese Yuzu from the Shikoko Island and Oita province for the ultimate take on a lime & soda drink.

Challenge yourself and make a splash for youth mental health 19th - 21st February splashthestigma.com.au

Image by Stephen Govel Photography

Missed out on taking part? You can still donate and make a difference.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

H EALTH

ARE WE TALKING ABOUT PAIN ALL WRONG? On a scale of zero to 10, how outdated is the way we describe and document our discomfort? Enough to make some very smart doctors very worried BY MEGHAN R ABBITT

THE IMPACT OF CHRONIC PAIN CAN HAVE SUFFERERS AT BREAKING POINT.

AS A 20-YEAR-OLD university student, Kevin Boehnke just wanted to play ultimate frisbee to unwind. But over the course of several months, he developed a stabbing pain in his hands and wrists that made it hard – and unpleasant – to play. Soon he couldn’t even play beer pong without the intrusive hurt. So Boehnke did what you’d probably do, too. He went to a doctor and got it diagnosed. Tendinitis, they said. Yet after several weeks of ibuprofen and physical therapy, he was still in agony. When pain started radiating into his elbows, shoulders, back and neck, Boehnke visited other doctors for more opinions. Each one had the same numerical approach toward gauging discomfort: “Where do you fall on a scale of zero to 10? Zero being no pain and 10 being the worst you’ve ever experienced”. And no matter what he said, no one could pinpoint a cause.

You might well find yourself in a similar predicament at some point (if you haven’t already), given how Australia’s collective health is trending. About one in five Australian adults now suffer from chronic pain, most commonly neck and back aches. Some suffer every day. The longer you live, the higher your odds of discomfort. Weight gain, accidents, cancer treatments and sports injuries can all have uncomfortable complications. To gauge – and hopefully assuage – the hurt, many medical professionals have been asking some version of the pain-scale question since at least 2001, when the US Joint Commission introduced the idea of pain as the fifth vital sign – a metric that should be tracked alongside blood pressure, heart rate, temperature and breathing rate to certify normal health. Pain, after all, is a symptom of real trouble somewhere in your body. Assess it better, the logic went, and

our pain problem could be treated with much greater precision. That hasn’t happened. Like a lot of other chronic-pain sufferers, Boehnke kept seeing doctors and saying numbers. The higher the number, the more stressed he got about his situation, which only made him feel worse. In 2009, after 13 months of suffering, Boehnke finally landed in the office of Dr Dan Clauw, a specialist in chronic pain and fatigue. And Clauw asked him some questions he hadn’t heard before. Instead of focusing on sheer pain level, he wanted to know how Boehnke was living with it. What was his pain preventing him from doing? What had he tried that made him feel better or worse? Boehnke was intrigued. All of a sudden, he was talking about his pain in a new way. He was explaining not just how much it hurt his arms and back but also how it hurt his life and his ability MARCH 2021

to deal with it. And that opened the door to effective methods of managing it. Not only had Boehnke discovered how to communicate about this better, but Clauw was also able to determine the true culprit, fibromyalgia, a chronic-pain disorder involving the central nervous system. More doctors, nurses and scientists are feeling Boehnke’s pain and speaking up about the problems that stem from using a simple numerical pain scale in clinical practice. “Merely answering the pain scale keeps most of us from talking about pain in more useful ways,” says Mark Hutchinson, a neuroscientist at the University of Adelaide. “And our reliance on it is likely keeping us in pain.”

HOW THE SC A LE ROSE The original zero-to-10 scale isn’t intended to diagnose your pain at all. It was designed for something far more specific: to assess how well treatments are working in clinical trials. And it’s still good at that. The problem is that in the early 2000s, hospitals and doctors’ offices adopted it as a sort of better-than-nothing shorthand, and it continued to spread. “There are no language barriers with the numeric pain scale, and a number is something you can get over the phone,” says pain specialist Dr John Farrar. Easy is one thing; helpful is another. Part of the issue isn’t even the scale itself; it’s our human response to picking a number on it. Pain is so relative that two guys with the same backache might rate it totally differently, even though neither of them can sit at a desk for an hour at a time. And the difference between saying something is a 4 and a 6 can change the treatment you receive. Many docs deem a score of 5 or higher as the point at which meds are given for acute pain. The number scale is particularly fraught for men, who often downplay how much things hurt. One study found that men tend to underreport their pain to female practitioners. Technology may eventually be able to pick up some of the slack. Researchers are working on next-generation methods to help doctors objectively quantify pain. That includes Hutchinson, who is developing a blood test that could track chemicals that are released when the body’s hurting. It could measure the severity of someone’s discomfort within minutes. Other inventions are looking at how our pupils respond under stress, or how brain-wave frequencies can shift. “Doctors don’t just ask someone if they have a fever; they use a thermometer,” says

THE PAIN SCALE 2.0 0

PAINFREE

VERY MILD

CHASING MIRACLE CURES FOR CHRONIC PAIN CAN SEE PATIENTS GET BURNED.

Dave Thomas, a member of the NIH Pain Consortium in the US. “We need to get a better biological picture of pain so we can treat it better, and I think we’re pretty close to bringing technology that does that into clinical settings.” Until these are ready for the real world, you can still use the pain scale: It can be a convenient way to communicate change quickly. But also try the following strategies to take the discomfort and irritation out of the whole pick-a-number conversation.

THE PA IN OF MISSING OUT Say what your pain prevents you from doing. “A lot of us are moving towards asking pain patients two or three things they can’t do because of their pain that they’d like to do, whether it’s playing a round of golf or picking up their kid,” says Clauw. If your doctor doesn’t ask, volunteer the information. “When we can get people to focus on those things, it’s more likely to inspire them to try different therapies and be okay with steps in the right direction. It’s a lot more motivating than getting their pain score down from a 6 to a 4.” Or trying to get to the mythical zero. Shifting the focus to how you can get back to what you enjoy doing may also stop pain from stopping you. That’s what happened with Boehnke, now 33, who learned to ditch the ‘I’ll always be in agony’ frame of mind. “I went from rushing around trying to manage a high pain-scale number to paying attention to what was helping me have fun with my girlfriend or play ultimate frisbee again,” he says. “I also learned to check in with myself and adjust what I do on a given day based on how I feel. That helps me set realistic expectations, which in itself tends to lessen my pain.” Shifting away from numbers also helped Boehnke avoid looking for a ‘six-over-thesightscreen’ solution and instead ‘nudge singles’ with a mix of therapies, which for him include acupuncture, massage and yoga. So eye-opening was Clauw’s approach that Boehnke is now working in his lab, aiming to better understand how certain drugs might be useful for chronic-pain management.

THE BIG PIC TURE Describe your pain throughout the day. “The pain scale gives us a point-in-time reading, whereas tracking symptoms across a day or week gives us a more complete picture of what you’re up against,” says Clauw. That gets doctors

DON’T JUST RATE THE HURT; RATE HOW IT’S AFFECTING YOUR LIFE

DISCOMFORTING

TOLERABLE

DISTRESSING

VERY DISTRESSING

INTENSE

VERY INTENSE

UTTERLY HORRIBLE

EXCRUCIATING/ UNBEARABLE

UNIMAGINABLE/ UNSPEAKABLE

NO PA IN

MINOR

M O D E R AT E

SEVERE

You’re living life as per usual.

Pain doesn’t limit your activity; you’re still living a normal life with a little bit of pain added in.

Your pain is somewhat disabling – you might avoid activities that exacerbate it.

Your pain is extremely disabling. It has drastically affected your quality of life and is always on your mind.

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WHAT ELSE TO MENTION Whether your doctor asks you or not, you should provide an answer to this question, says Dr Sean Mackey, chief of the Division of Pain Medicine at Stanford University

What do you believe caused your pain? In the typical doctor-patient scenario, the patient isn’t usually encouraged to hazard a lot of guesses about this.

“The number scale is particularly fraught for men, who often downplay how much things hurt“ closer to a diagnosis and treatment plan. In the category of annoying but potentially really helpful: download an app like My Pain Diary that prompts you to record your symptoms daily. Then all you need to do is show your phone to the doc to indicate how your pain waxes and wanes. Discuss which treatments you’ve already tried. If you have a chronic condition, it’s important to track and share with your doc everything you’ve done so far – from acupuncture to steroid injections to yoga. “Talking about the stuff that failed redirected

me toward treatments and therapies that ultimately worked better,” says Boehnke. “And talking about the things that did work, even if they felt like very small wins, helped me stay hopeful and stress less.” Over the past 13 years, Boehnke has figured out how to talk about his pain – both to his doctors and to himself – and he says it’s been key to helping him feel relief. “I started out just trying to defeat my pain,” he says. “Now my goal isn’t to get to a zero.” It’s to have a full life. It may include pain sometimes, but, then again, that’s life.

But here’s why it’s important to mention: If you have back pain that you think is caused by a disc protrusion and you’re concerned that if you move, you’ll become paralysed, you need to bring it up and the doctor needs to pay attention, Mackey says. This mindset could affect your willingness to try movement-based treatments like physical therapy, even when those therapies may be recommended and safe. A doctor has to know your perspective so you can work through it together. And that’s key when it comes to pain. Feeling like you’re collaborating can go a long way. There’s some evidence that if you believe in your treatment and in the doctor prescribing it, you’re better able to tone down or manage the hurt.

MARCH 2021

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FRONT LINE

A DOCTOR’S GUIDE TO THE HEART Young cardiologists are doing things a little differently now. Here’s how Dr Christopher Kelly, 35, takes care of his heart USED TO BE that doctors could plausibly claim ignorance and indulge in bad habits with a clean conscience. My grandfather would smoke a pipe while seeing patients – and he was a pediatrician. Now, however, my colleagues and I can’t ignore the evidence that good habits help keep us from ending up in the same worrisome place as our patients. So we do the usual – eat whole foods, emphasise vegetables, exercise daily and try to get enough sleep. But as millennials, we go a little further. Here’s what else I do.

AIM FOR BALANCE

Nearly half of doctors have at least one symptom of burnout, and depression in the Western world is widespread. Both increase the risk of heart disease. In response, many young physicians are prioritising work-life balance. It’s not always possible to detach from your job, but take every opportunity to try. Spend time with friends and family, and commit to not checking your phone when you’re with them. As I’m often reminded at the hospital, none of us knows how much time we have left.

COUNT BEATS, NOT STEPS

ASK YOUR GP ABOUT STATINS FOR RISK REDUCTION

Doctors prescribe statins when your LDL cholesterol is over 4.9mmol/L, since that level greatly raises your risk of a heart attack or stroke. You’ll also get a prescription if you’re older than 40 and have either diabetes or a 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease at or above 7.5 per cent. But many of my colleagues self-prescribe statins even if they don’t strictly meet the usual criteria, since the benefits are so large and the side effects fairly uncommon.

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INSIDER TIPS: TAKE YOUR HEART-HEALTHY PLAN UP A NOTCH.

DON’T BE LURED IN BY FAD DIETS

If you’re prepared to do keto or paleo indefinitely, go for it. But incremental changes are more likely to be sustainable. My own diet overhaul started when I jettisoned soft drinks for carbonated water. Once I did that, I was ready to ditch red meat and ultra-processed foods. I’m now mostly vegetarian, avoiding indiscriminate meat intake.

ILLUSTRATION BY SCIEPRO/SEBASTIAN

Though most of the world fixates on step counts, my cardiologist friends and I know that heart fitness really benefits from getting our pulses pounding. You should exercise hard at least 75 minutes a week. During medical training, we’d compete to see who could survive longest on the treadmill stress test. (I still track my performance – 14 minutes!) If your endurance drops, you may need to increase your aerobic exercise.

The world’s number one almond milk brand and Sally Fitzgibbons’ favourite

GUIDE TO

POST-WORKOUT SHAKES Your protein supps should taste like victory, not another endurance test. Mix up your water-and-powder combo with these expert-approved recipes

W HIZ Z IN THE K ITCHEN

Though few self-respecting Aussies would identify with the gym-culture trope of the shaker-toting bro, many of us regularly reach for the protein scoop. About half of us take supplements every day, and we’d wager that it’s not a pleasant experience for all of them. However, done right, shakes can deliver not only prime muscle fuel, but also be a delicious antidote to your bland eating plan. Follow our nutritionist-certified guide and give ’em a whirl.

A Whole Egg Throw it in, shell and all: it contains calcium carbonate for strong bones and collagen for healthy joints. Unlike in the pa hig ghh chug w

B Kiwi This furrry, green nearly double the an oran nge. The plays an es bolsterri whic . t

As well as spooning in an extra punch of protein, the healthy fats in this delicious addition also help you main tain testosterone levels in your body – a one-two combo that fuels serious gains in both s

D F T s i a t o

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SMOOTHIE OPER ATOR

There’s no need to chug your shake within minutes of your final rep. Take your time and head for the kitchen. PT Peter Parasiliti recommends you give yourself a more generous hour’s window to sort your post-workout nutrition – your muscles are still at their most receptive to the fuel you gulp for repair and faster growth. Next, choose a quality protein. Cheap powders strip away the amino acids vital for muscle growth. A new wave of proteins increases the benefit of every scoop. We like True WPI 90 Whey Protein Isolate ($65 for 1kg; trueproteincom.au). A new blender will help, too. We tried 11 and two reigned supreme. The best splurge was the Vitamix A2500i ($945; rawblend. com.au) – no other blender matched its ability to pulverise. The NutriBullet Blender Combo 1000 ($189; thegoodguys.com.au) was a close second. It’s a quick, efficient blitz, and the base holds handy to-go cups.

WORDS BY MILLIE WEST; PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHELSEA KYLE

C Peanut Butter

N U T RI T I ON

3 SPIN CL A SS Upgrade these recipes by using a blender that can hold twice the volume of what you’ll be shaking, says Richard Ludescher, a food scientist at Rutgers University. The aeration will break down any clumps before you send it down the hatch.

LIQUID Q ASSETS Whether dairy or non-dairy, strategically select your milk to suit your goals

LeBron’s on Cho hoco cola late late e Smo oot othi hie hi e

Berry Blastt Su Supe p r Sh S ak ake

The Blender: LeBron Jam am me es, s, NB NBA BA le legen legen end d

The Blender: Brian St Pierre, Precision Nutrition

INGREDIENTS • Peanut butter, 1Tbsp • A banana, frozen • Chocolate plant protein powder, a scoop • Unsweetened almond milk, 250ml • Ice cubes, a handful

INGREDIENTS • Mixed frozen berries, 175g • Strawberry whey protein powder, a scoop • Baby spinach, 225g • Flaxseed, 1tsp, ground • Semi-skimmed milk, 250ml

METHOD Throw the peanut butter, banana and protein powder into your blender and blitz. Add the almond milk and ice cubes and blend again. BIGGEST BENEFITS A 26g hit of protein, heart-healthy fats and enough energy to withstand endless Michael Jordan comparisons.

METHOD Combine the berries, protein powder, spinach and ﬂaxseed in your blender and purée. Finally, add the liquid and whizz again until ready. BIGGEST BENEFITS This delivers a healthy 6g of ﬁbre and a substantial chunk of your daily fruit and veg requirements.

AlmondMilk Its vitamin E is a key ingredient in many anti-ageing products, so if you’re training to look good,, this milk could even help to reduce wrinkles.

Semi-Skimmed Milk Dairy milk actually has a lot more carbs than the alternatives. These sugars will ensure that your muscles are well stocked.

Oat Milk F iﬁ d with ih Fortiﬁed energising B-vitamins, this dairy alternative can provide the extra boost you need when training hard. Try it and power on.

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Sweet Gree een ee n Sm Smoothi Smoo th hie ie with ith Ho it Honey

The Blender: Ar Arn Arn Arnold r old Sc Schwa hwarze rze ene negger neg ger er, acto acto ctorr, pol polit iticia iti cian n, GOA GOAT

The Blender: Kevin Curry, author of Fit Men Cook

INGREDIENTS • A raw egg (shell option onal) al)l) • TTart cherry juice, 50ml • A banana • Vanilla protein powder, a scoop • Oat milk, 250ml

INGREDIENTS • A kiwi fruit, peeled • Spinach, a large handful • Half an avocado • Matcha green tea powder, 1Tbsp • Raw honey, 1Tbsp • Vanilla extract, 1tsp • Unﬂavoured plant protein powder, a scoop • Oat milk, 250ml

M ET HOD METHOD D In a blenderr, comb ombine ine th thee egg egg, ju juice ice,, ice banana ban ana an andd pr protein t ein po powder and blitz until well combined. Then add the oat milk and whizz again until the desired consistency is achieved. BIGGEST BENEFITS A powerhouse of protein, plus brain-boosting choline from the whole egg – and permission to shout, “Get to da choppa!” before blending.

METHOD Blitz the ﬁrst seven ingredients until they’re well combined. Pour in the oat milk and spin it all again until smooth. BIGGEST BENEFITS A payload of vitamins, a buzz from the green tea and a hue closely resembling the Hulk.

MARCH 2021

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THE HOME ADVANTAGE Find out why saddling up in the comfort of your lounge room could catapult you to the head of the pack

FEBRUARY CAN BE the cruellest month. You’re itching to get in the saddle and build on your hard-won cardio gains, but soaring temps and humidity and late-summer super-storms are draining a lot of the joy out of those marathon rides. Thankfully, your workouts no longer need to be pure torture: with Zwift, you’re home and (relatively) dry. First, let’s be clear: this is not spinning. Connect your road bike to a smart turbo trainer and watch on a screen as you outpace your fellow heat dodgers in real time. The trainer adjusts the resistance to reflect the course, so your legs will experience every digitally rendered hill IRL. There’s even a structured e-coaching plan that will take your performance up a gear. Here’s how Zwift reinvented the wheel.

MH GAME CHANGERS

ZWIFT CYCLING ZWIFT MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP $15 (ZWIFT.COM).

1.2BN The number of kilometres Zwift subscribers have cycled to date: nearly 25,000 quadmelting laps of the world.

43,000 The highest number of people recorded riding on Zwift simultaneously. Since it launched in 2014, people from more than 190 countries have climbed on the virtual saddle.

WATOPIA You can tackle courses in six real-world locations, from London to New York, or transcend reality by touring Zwift’s virtual island, Watopia.

73 The total elevation in metres achieved by Germany’s Olympic champion triathlete and Zwift fanatic Jan Frodeno.

THE GREAT INDOORS Chase down your endorphin high indoors with our pick of the top home-workout tech

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Hydrow

Mirror

Jaxjox Kettlebell

Echelon

This rower’s 22-inch HD screen transports you to the water and mirrors every stroke, so you can race ahead without a river.

ngth mirro turns into an interactive studio, using your biometric data to optimise every workout.

Why use six weights when you can use one? Press a button to add or drop weight in seconds and swing towards your goals.

If spin is your jam but a Peloton is too costly, get in lane with Echelon, which uses your phone screen for its display.

WORDS BY ANNIE HAYES; PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOBE LAWRENSON

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The number of 2019 Tour de France cyclists who trained using Zwift, including 2018’s winner, Geraint Thomas. Try keeping pace with that peloton.

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ONE IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE. TWO WEEKS TO TRAIN. GO

AN UPHILL BATTLE THE STEEP PATH TO FITNESS CAN LOOK A LITTLE DAUNTING. TO GIVE YOU SOME PERSPECTIVE, WE SENT OUR MAN TO COMPETE IN A 400M RACE UP A SKI SLOPE. READY TO LACE UP?

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MIKE CHRISTENSEN

The adventurist clambers up a slippery slope to peak ﬁtness.

LONGER AGO than I care to remember, I bragged to a girl that I preferred running up hills rather than down them. At the time, I was training for my first marathon while living in the country, where I had an endless supply of both gradients and rubbish chat-up lines. It’s a small mercy that youthful remarks of this kind rarely come back to haunt you. However, in my case, the girl to whom I was bragging is now my wife. When Men’s Health calls to hand me my first assignment as the Adventurist – a 400m sprint up a disused ski jump in Slovakia – she is thrilled and only too happy to remind me of my preference for running upward. I am less enthusiastic. Austrians Andreas Berger and his wife, Monika, are to blame for my imminent ordeal. One summer a decade ago, they were driving home from the south-eastern city of Graz through the Austrian Alps when they passed a snowless ski-jumping hill. Berger mused out loud, “Do you think it’s possible to run up that thing?” To which his wife replied, “I don’t know. Let’s try!” And the rest, as they say, is extreme sports history. “We managed, but we found it… tricky,” they conceded to me. Berger estimated the distance to be about 400m, which is considered to be the toughest sprint discipline on an athletics track. A three-minute presentation to Red Bull later, the Red Bull 400 was born. The beauty (read: horror) of the Red Bull 400 is the false sense of security that the number 400 inspires in you. What’s the worst that can happen in 400m, after all? Berger tells me en route to the start line, MARCH 2021

Runners scramble up the vertiginous 95m incline.

ANTISOCIAL CLIMBER Before I go into the most painful self-induced five minutes of my life, I want to clarify why I enjoy running uphill. I enjoy the challenge of keeping my arms and legs pumping, my cadence and breathing consistent, my core stable and my posture aligned, driving myself to a summit at pace. It always feels good to reach the top. If you’ve ever powered up an incline with a bounce in your step, you’ll know 52

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what I’m talking about. It makes you feel unstoppable. Fast-forward five minutes and eight seconds, and I’m exhausted on the floor with fifth place to my name and a medal around my neck. At no point did my reasons for preferring uphill runs help me as I climbed to this grossly uncomfortable point. Nothing could have prepared me for the deep, burning sensation running all down the back of my legs, as lactic acid giddily feasts on my shell-shocked thighs and calves. I have never gasped for oxygen like this, and I’m still gulping it in for a good 10 minutes afterwards. My back and shoulders seize up, which is new. It strikes me, too, that I had never stopped mid-race for a breather before but, faced with the reality of a 155bpm heart rate and thighs full of napalm, taking a little break this time felt unavoidable. The first 100m is breezy, a light saunter towards the real test. Shortly before the race, Berger counselled me to conserve my energy – he said I should try not to see this as a chance to sprint ahead and gain a lead of a couple of strides, as it would

“MY ATTEMPTS TO PUMP MY LEGS OR ARMS DESCENDED INTO BEAR CRAWLING” only hinder my attempts at the next 100m. Pretty soon, I see his point. Just like that, the gradient greets me at close to a 90° angle. My vain attempts to pump my legs or arms quickly descend into bear crawling. So, I decide that my best bet is to submit and clamber on all fours. I feel far from

unstoppable. Nonetheless, I put my head down and try, desperately, to get into some sort of rhythm. For the moment, the sharp acid burn in my tiring legs and my ragged breathing are all I know. Come 300m, we’re granted a short respite (where ski jumpers would take off), and everyone

PHOTOGRA PH HY: FILI NA GYY/R ED B ULLL MEDIA HOUSE U

“It’s possible to run up, for more or less everybody”. As we arrive at the bottom of Štrbské Pleso’s thoroughly intimidating slope – a full 95m below the finish line – it becomes painfully apparent to me that a 95m ascent in 400m might actually not be for everyone. As I stand waiting at the start line in the idyllic sunshine, I can’t help but think how perverse my supposed preference for running uphill in my youth really was. Ordinarily, I don’t suffer from nerves. But I feel woefully unprepared and a bit sick. I steel my mind with the knowledge that it will be over in no time. Nutritionally, there’s no need to carb load. It’s not an endurance race, so a banana and an energy drink at breakfast are ample fuel. It’s dry underfoot, so my trusty pair of trail runners should have more than enough grip to get me to the top. Physically, I’m in good shape… but a quick glance down at the ol’ Garmin confirms that my heart rate is having a moment (30bpm above resting) as my brain processes the pain that I am inevitably about to endure. I am also aware that I can feel my quads and hamstrings tightening at the mere prospect of taking on such an obscene incline.

Part run, part climb . . . and all agony.

starts running again. Then it all comes down to a potent cocktail of determination, adrenaline and Red Bull to make it through the final 80m. By the time I approach the end, any illusion I had of making a sprint finish has been dispelled. I gratefully collapse over the line. It’s all I can do to roll myself out of the way to make space on the ground for the people finishing just behind me.

LEGS OF STONE Twenty minutes later, my legs are like jelly. (The next day, they’re

more like rocks, and two days after the race, they are the sorest they have ever been.) After catching my breath, I am reminded the hard way that what goes up does indeed have to come down. You likely know the torture of going down a flight of stairs after a heavy legs day, so you can imagine the sheer torture that was navigating the descent. Looking back up from the bottom, the lactate increasingly flooding my body with stiffness, I can’t help but feel satisfied. You don’t have to go to such an extreme to experience the elation

of reaching the top of a hill on a run, nor should you have to feel so sore for days afterwards that putting on your trainers again is an impossibility. It was hard, yes, and the pain in your legs floods your senses. But for me, it was worth it. Crawling up that ski slope in Austria, I could hear my muscles screaming. I could taste each agonising metre. But somehow, after all of it, I think I actually still prefer running uphill – though I’m no longer one to brag. For more details, see redbull.com

THE GEAR This tracker monitors your cadence, heart rate and stride length (it’ll be small), while its VO2 max training feature will help you keep tabs on changes in performance caused by altitude and heat – both key factors in this adventure. Garmin Forerunner 945 ($999 garmin.com)

MARCH 2021

Clever Clocks

Early smartwatches attracted disdain from the old guard, but the emergence of truly capable, appealing incarnations from leading tech firms has finally forced Switzerland’s hand. Five years on, the market is rich – and even if specs and tracking are your main concerns, there’s no need to compromise on watchmaking appeal by CHRIS HALL

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photography by PAUL ZAK

WATCH ES

Hublot Big Bang E ($7200) Though it marks Hublot’s entry into the arena of premium smartwatches, there’s nothing that is tentative about the Big Bang E. The luxury house takes all it learned from creating a bespoke watch for World Cup referees in 2018 (and borrows plenty from LVMH stablemate TAG Heuer) to create a piece that boasts all the smartwatch functions you’d expect, only with an extra dose of character. To this end, Hublot collaborated with French artist Marc Ferrero on a conceptual eight-dial design that swaps and changes throughout the day. Expect plenty of similar partnerships to come. Cased in black ceramic or titanium, at 42mm, it is no bigger than a standard Big Bang.

Tissot T-Touch Connect Solar ($1475) More watch than device, this Tissot model retains physical hands, with a hidden screen in the lower third of the dial. However, it offers a host of functions, from activity tracking, calorie logging and weather reports to notifications and multiple time zones. As befits its sporty disposition, it’s cased in titanium with a sapphire crystal and ceramic bezel, is water-resistant to 100m and is available only on a rubber strap. The watch offers compatibility with iPhone, Android and Huawei operating systems; Tissot boasts that no provider or third party will be able to access any user data. And, as the name suggests, it’s solar-powered, so it promises an almost indefinite battery life. MARCH 2021

TAG Heuer Connrcted ($2600) Back in 2015, TAG Heuer was among the ﬁrst Swiss watchmakers out of the gate in response to the tanks-on-their-lawn launch of the Apple Watch. Now available in titanium or steel and with added chronograph-style pushers for improved ease of use, the 2020 version of the 45mm Connected is distinguished by TAG Heuer’s newly launched Sports app. As well as providing generic exercise data, the app supports in-depth tracking for walking, running and cycling. TAG Heuer also offers a dedicated golﬁng model, with a detailed guide that features thousands of courses across the world and a white leather strap with a dimpled, ball-like texture.

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WATCH ES

Montblanc Summit 2+ ($1580) Montblanc’s latest Summit model declares war on the conventional smartphone with the addition of Google Wear, which allows for internet connectivity and calls directly from the wrist. Its new apps include Timeshifter, which offers personalised advice on beating jetlag; a virtual ﬁtness coach that works with the watch’s biometric sensors; and a travel Info app that offers not only local intel but, thanks to the built-in speaker and mic, live translation services. The functions are housed in a 43.5mm case, available in steel with plain, black, rose gold or bronze ﬁnishes.

MARCH 2021

Frederique Constant Vitality Smartwatch ($1385) The fourth generation of Frederique Constant’s “horological smartwatch” sees the overall package continue to improve in terms of neatly ticking both boxes. The dial houses a digital display that’s all but invisible until you press the crown, at which point it reveals dual time info, your latest messages, a heart-rate readout, the weather forecast and more. Signiﬁcantly for the Vitality, the watch is more handsome than its predecessors, which relied on a cluttered mechanical display to interpret its range of smart functions. It’s available in stainless steel or gold case ﬁnishes, with grey, blue or black dials and a range of straps.

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WATCH ES

Apple Watch Series 6 (From $599) King of the incremental upgrade, Apple recently released the sixth version of its laconically named Watch. Its new features include a blood-oxygen monitor (handy for all your high-altitude triathlon training); extra case colours and straps; and a range of display options that nods to traditional watchmaking. These include a classic Rolex-esque GMT design that lets you set any colours you like for day/night, and a “Count Up” mode that apes a stereotypical dive watch. It’s faster, brighter and – perhaps surprisingly for Apple – cheaper than its predecessor was at its launch, at least in its most affordable trim.

MARCH 2021

Boost Your Face Value Grooming has become unnecessarily complicated. Strip your routine back to the basics with our foolproof guide to men’s skincare

by SUNAYAH ARSHAD

photography by LOUISA PARRY

FIRST OFF, WHY SHOULD MEN MOISTURISE?

Male skin is 25 per cent thicker than women’s and contains more collagen and elastin. Though the signs of ageing may appear more slowly than on women, male skin tends to be rougher and more oily. A good moisturiser will prevent skin from getting dry and dull and keep it looking healthy. Your razor can also cause irritatation, so it’s especially important to condition your skin after shaving. It’s why many moisturisers for men contain soothing ingredients, such as aloe vera, to reduce itching and redness.

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G R O OMING

SO, WHAT DO I LOOK OUT FOR?

It depends on your skin type. For normal skin, choose water-based moisturisers that offer hydration without leaving your skin feeling heavy. Dry skin requires thicker, oil-based creams with nourishing emollients, such as shea butter. Oily skin is best served by matte-ﬁnish moisturisers that contain ingredients designed to tackle excess sebum. Those with sensitive skin should seek out calming creams containing chamomile or aloe. Mature skin beneﬁts from anti-ageing ingredients, such as retinol. Choose wisely.

We tested 25 men’s moisturisers to identify the very best. These three will leave your skin feeling soft and hydrated all day long

Holistic Healing Wellman’s cream hydrates and protects your skin for 12 hours and treats dry patches, leaving them soft. It contains nourishing antioxidants, as well as arginine and niacinamide to smooth and strengthen. The formula also includes aloe vera, which soothes irritation, and ingredients that help to regulate excess sebum (that’s oil) production. Wellman Daily Moisturiser ($44; desertcart.com.au)

Post-shave Rescue

ARE WOMEN’S PRODUCTS DIFFERENT?

Beyond the obvious differences in design and the range of fragrances on offer, men’s products often contain a higher concentration of active ingredients. That’s because they are specially designed for thicker skin with more oil-producing pores, which means that they can address male-speciﬁc skin issues more effectively.

5OUR CREAMS OF THE CROP

g air dry, irritated skin, moisture levels through the ry cream that will beneﬁt rience stinging, burning or aving. It left testers’ faces nd well hydrated. Empowering Cream ($132; m.au)

ANY EXTRA TIPS?

If you have sensitive skin, choose a scent-free cream, because fragrances can often cause irritation. Plus, any cream that has built-in SPF is a bonus. If yours doesn’t have any, make sure you add protection regularly. Sunlight is the leading cause of skin ageing.

Shooterr iﬁcally for male skin, Bulldog’s no-nonsense moisturiser won’t leave your face and hands greasy. Use it twice daily, in the morning and evening, and the high vitamin E content – along with other antioxidants it contains, like rosemary and echinacea – will ensure that it slows the appearance of wrinkles. Bulldog Age Defence Moisturiser ($14.49; chemistwarehouse.com.au)

MARCH 2021

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Rolling CHRIS HEMSWORTH HAS MANAGED TO NAVIGATE HOLLYWOOD ON HIS TERMS, FORGING A CAREER THAT’S REACHING NEW HEIGHTS FROM THE PLACE HE ALWAYS LONGED TO BE: HOME BY

BEN JHOT Y

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PHOTOGR APH Y BY

GEORGES ANTONI

Home truth: Hemsworth calls the shots from his Byron base.

MARCH 2021

HRIS HEMSWORTH is sitting on the deck of his sprawling hilltop property in the Byron Bay hinterland, looking out to sea. After a week of torrential rain and flooding, the lushness of the countryside is that little bit denser, the hills a more verdant green. “I love the post-rain humidity and this freshness and energy it gives the landscape,” says Hemsworth, as birds chirp in the background. “It’s beautiful.” With the kids out for the morning at nearby nature reserve, Macadamia Castle, he’s excited by the hint of swell. When we’re done chatting, he says, he’ll probably jump in the ocean for a surf. To be honest you’d be kind of disappointed if he didn’t. This is Chris Hemsworth, the man who so effortlessly embodies the Australian male aesthetic ideal – golden locks, piercing blue eyes, rippling physique, Vader-like vocal register – and one who’s carved out a modern version of the Australian dream – a house overlooking the sea in freakin’ Byron Bay. He bloody better be going for a surf. Hemsworth created this Aussie Eden for himself – slowly, deliberately, precisely – in the process establishing an enviable template for working life. Navigate a career on your terms. Work from home. Be close to your family. Most Aussie actors – most of us full stop – don’t have the clout to pull it off. Then again, Hemsworth isn’t like most of us. He made Hollywood come to him. He’s just wrapped filming on the Gold Coast on sci-fi thriller, Escape from Spiderhead (due to stream on Netflix later this year). In January he started shooting the fourth instalment of Thor in Sydney. “That was going to be in Atlanta or the UK and I was kind of digging my heels in and saying, ‘This is the best place in the world to shoot’,” he says. “This is preCOVID. And then eventually, they said, ‘Okay, cool. We can make it work’.” It was all the 37-year-old father-of-three could have hoped for when he and wife, Elsa Pataky, made the bold decision to leave Hollywood for Byron six years ago. “When I first decided to move back here, it was, ‘Well, how are you going to make it work with all the travel and so on?’ And I guess my gut told me it was going to work out fine and so I stuck to my guns on that. And just as I sort of laid out my dream scenario, I thought, ‘Why wouldn't anyone else want to be here?’ We’ve got such diversity in our landscape to double for just about anywhere in the world and then there’s the amount of talent that's here.” A global pandemic certainly wasn’t part of that dream scenario, yet with Australia relatively unscathed by COVID, at least compared to other countries, it’s only reinforced the need to work locally. “Lucky for all of us that it turned out that way, because I don't think we'd be shooting these films if we'd been anywhere else,” Hemsworth says. But while Hemsworth is fortunate to be able to work at a time when many productions around the globe have 66

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ground to a halt, the pandemic has given him pause for reflection. To ponder his life and his job and reach a crucial realisation, one that given the irresistible momentum powering his career, he may not have had otherwise: you can’t really control anything. “I've spent 15 years looking into the far end of the future about what my perfect career would look like or what I want my life to be,” he says. “And then I'd get to that point and then very quickly adjust that to further in the future and you just keep missing everything. We can spend our whole lives trying to control what is completely out of our grasp. The only thing we really can control is our perspective on things.” That’s solid advice for anyone who’s in the habit of scanning the horizon, attempting to impose your will on the vagaries of fate or shadow box with the whims of chance. Because if you don’t stop to appreciate all you’ve accomplished, a dream, perhaps by definition, will always remain out of reach. You won’t be able to go for that surf.

BIGGER THAN BEN-HUR The last time MH spoke to Hemsworth, for a cover story two years ago, the world was a different place. 2020 was a round number that generally inspired optimism. COVID-19 didn’t mean much to anyone beyond a few bats in Wuhan. Hemsworth had just arrived home after shooting in India and Thailand on a little action flick for Netflix. At the time he spoke enthusiastically about the project, as you would expect any star to do. But as good as he felt about the shoot and the experience, he really had no idea what he had on his hands. The film was Extraction, which after being released at the height of the pandemic (or what was then considered the height), went on to become one of the streaming service’s biggest hits, with over 99 million streams in the first four weeks alone. So successful was the film, in fact, that it has a decent shot at rivalling, if not supplanting, in the public consciousness, the role for which Hemsworth is most famous – you know, the guy with the hammer. Certainly, with sequels already slated, it gives him a second bankable franchise to hang his hat on. “Throughout my career I've taken shots at a lot of different genres and different things,” he says of a resume that runs the gamut from gritty – Red Dawn – to goofy – Ghostbusters. “Some worked, some haven't. But the Marvel train has always been there for me to keep pushing forward. To launch another franchise that's a completely unique idea and then have it work on such a scale was great. We were all incredibly proud of that.” Such successes are worth celebrating, particularly in an industry where if you’re unlucky you could be a stinker away from a Where Are They Now fan page. “I think you have more misses than wins in this business. It’s just the way it goes,” says Hemsworth, whose films have grossed anywhere from $25 million for Michael Mann thriller,

MH COVE R G UY

Blackhat, to $4.6 billion for Avengers Endgame. “You want to be able to reach people with your films. You don't want to spend a couple of years of your life pouring your heart and soul into something and then it comes and goes in a weekend, no one sees it or it gets bashed critically. That doesn't feel good, regardless of how thick your skin is.” The success of the movie on a streaming service represents an interesting inflection point for the film industry, with COVID only hastening the trend toward small-screen releases. Hemsworth hopes that in a postCOVID world we’ll be able to enjoy films in both mediums. But while he’s happy to work in the streaming format, he’s not overly keen on locking himself into a multiseries prestige TV show for years on end. Instead, he favours a limited series, like say, True Detective, or having the flexibility to pop in and out of a project, like Tom Hardy in Peaky Blinders. “I'm very fortunate to be able to jump on a film for a few months and then that's it, put it aside,” he says. “But a limited series, sure. Then you get to make some pretty bold choices. Not having to carry the film or be the lead, you get to roll the dice a bit.” Again, though, if he can, he’d like to do it on his terms. Any series would ideally be shot in Australia, he says. And he'd want to produce it. Give him those things, then sure, he’s open. It’s about putting in place your nonnegotiables and being prepared to stand by them. Either someone comes to the party or they don’t. As the last year has taught Hemsworth, that part isn’t really in your hands, even if it’s easy to believe that in the afterglow of success. “Things can happen so easily and you think, ‘Oh, wow. Look at this. I wanted this to happen’. Then you realise, ‘It's just because the business has provided that’. It's actually nothing to do with you.” But that doesn’t mean you don’t make your case. The downside if it doesn’t come off? Your ego takes a hit. Your pride’s dented. Two things less damaging than you might think. Especially when you compare them to the upside. In Hemsworth’s case, he’s now known as the guy who produces his own TV shows, creates jobs, keeps an industry alive. It’s all hypothetical, sure. But so was the idea of shooting Thor: Love and Thunder locally, until Hemsworth “dug his heels in” . . . and circumstances conspired to make it happen.

EFFORTLESS BY DESIGN For a bloke who manages to straddle the line between masculine and macho, to appear stylish without striving, it’s perhaps surprising to learn that Hemsworth’s ethos when it comes to what he wears and how he looks comes from an unlikely source: Jewel. “My dad used to always say – he's not fashionable at all, by the way – but he'd quote Jewel, the singer, who sung, ‘You were fashionably sensitive, but too cool to care’. I don't know how that sits with me, but it's a nice little tag. I always feel like I've been a little bit behind, if I'm totally honest. By the time I caught on to a more fitted jean or

“THE ONLY THING WE CAN CONTROL IS OUR PERSPECTIVE ON THINGS”

“GETTING INTO YOUR BODY AND OUT OF YOUR HEAD IS THE BEST SHORTCUT TO HEALTH AND HAPPINESS”

RAPID FIRE Favourite project? Thor: Ragnarok Least favourite? Not one that I can say, because I’d be criticising a studio that may want to hire me again Go-to exercise? Chin-ups Least favourite? Running Cheat meal? Choc mint ice cream Hero? My parents Workout anthem? ‘Intergalactic’, Beastie Boys. That was one I went, ‘Oh, I haven’t listened to that in years. This kind of gets me psyched’ Wardrobe staple? A good T-shirt First international holiday destination when borders open? Fiji

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Blue steel: Hemsworth shows off his suits of armour.

a fitted suit pant, everyone else had been doing it for a few years. I like to say I catch up eventually.” Not surprisingly, given his rugged image and active lifestyle, Hemsworth prioritises comfort and functionality. He also values authenticity. After a number of years as an ambassador for BOSS Bottled cologne, it was a natural move, he says, to begin representing the clothing arm of the fashion powerhouse. “It's about being comfortable in what you're wearing,” says Hemsworth, in a nod perhaps to a youth that included stints on a Northern Territory cattle station. “Even in suits. BOSS has a sort of elasticity and a stretch fabric in a lot of their suits now, which looking at them, you wouldn't even know. You could pop out a couple of lunges or push-ups or squats and be fine. You wouldn't be tearing the back end out of them.” Squats in a suit? You’d expect nothing less from a man who once famously went for a surf in a BOSS suit and makes a living pulling hammers from stone and rescuing hostages from hellholes. It’s also not a bad look for the founder of one of the most successful health and fitness apps of recent years, Centr. The app was already a runaway success when the pandemic hit and the appetite for premium remote health and fitness content skyrocketed. Suddenly everyone wanted minimal equipment, home-style workouts. “Myself and the team found ourselves being forced into different spaces to train,” Hemsworth recalls. “It showed

you can still get a sweat on, keep your heart rate up and build muscle with the right specific movements.” Hemsworth is proud that the sense of community the app fosters has helped people struggling alone in their homes during lockdown. “Getting into your body and getting out of your head is the best shortcut to health and happiness,” he says. “I know in my struggles and the times I've faced big challenges, movement and exercise has always brought me out of that space, even if it’s just temporary. It's a great release.” Of course, there are worse places to be locked down than Byron Bay. And like a good local, Hemsworth was wary of the influx of visitors escaping Sydney last year. At the same time, he can understand the appeal as well as the possible environmental payoffs of decentralisation. “Maybe that's what it forces us to do, just spread out a little and not live on top of each other so much. And be a bit more self-sufficient and consume more local produce. It would be a huge positive if that was the by-product of this experience.” The state of the environment has become an increasingly pressing concern for the actor, with events of the last couple of years bringing it closer to home. Brother Liam lost his house in the 2018 California forest fires and has since moved back to Byron. This time last year it seemed the whole East coast was ablaze. And in the week prior to our chat, Northern NSW was under water. MARCH 2021

“YOU’VE GOT TO BE AN EXPLORER IN THE WORLD OF FITNESS AND EXERCISE”

“I don't think there's anyone that doesn't feel the extremes in our weather right now and feel that it isn't glaringly obvious that we need to make some drastic changes,” says Hemsworth, who donated a million dollars to bushfire relief and in 2019 took part in the Global Climate Strike with his family. While he continues to do his part personally, the time has come, he says, for governments to act. “There are far more intelligent people than myself who are the decision makers. I know all of us are decision makers individually, and need to stand up and have our voices be heard about what we want the future to be for our kids. But then it does fall upon our governments and leaders to go, ‘Okay, we're going to now collectively make some big and better choices and commitments to carbon neutral energy’."

HAMMER TIME At the time of writing, Hemsworth was gearing up to return to the character that has defined his career and, to some extent, his body. Yes, Asgard’s own Mr Universe entry. You could forgive him if the thought of that prospect and the work involved elicited a certain fatigue – Hugh Jackman has talked about the drain of training for Wolverine in the past. But while Hemsworth’s finding he does need to consume more calories to support his system when he’s putting it under stress, on the whole he relishes giving his body a good hammering. “My body shuts down when I stop working out,” he says. “I just don't feel good. I like it for a couple of days, then everything just starts to hurt. I get achy and there's inflammation, my back's stiff. I’m just well aware that in order for me to live healthier and happier, I've got to keep moving.” Imperative as it may be for his physical and mental wellbeing, however, one of the reasons Hemsworth is able to sustain his enthusiasm for training is that he’s constantly mixing things up, looking for things he actually enjoys. “I speak to plenty of people who are like, ‘Oh, I just hate training’. I'm like, ‘What do you do?’ ‘Oh, I just run. But I just don't like running’. I'm like, ‘Don't run then!’ I don't run. I do a lot of different things. You've got to be an explorer in the world of fitness and exercise and constantly be on the lookout for something fresh.” In that respect, you could say Hemsworth found a new fitness frontier recently, working with UK adventurer Ross Edgley on the National Geographic documentary Limitless. “His whole motto is to ‘Smile in the face of adversity’,” Hemsworth says. “He lives and breathes it. You won't meet a more positive person, especially in a space where you're physically and emotionally being battered. He’s just an animal.” Interestingly, Edgley managed to teach Hemsworth, someone who knows his way around the iron, a thing or two in the gym. “I felt like I'd kind of seen and heard it all,” he says with a chuckle. “And I start training with him and your whole world’s turned upside down.” 70

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In the lead up to Thor: Love and Thunder, Hemsworth, Edgley and trainer Luke Zocchi, set about ramping up intensity to another level again. “We’re shocking the body beyond where it's been shocked before,” he laughs. If that sounds like a hellish place to be, the truth is, it’s actually Hemsworth’s sweet spot. Where you’ve never been before is where muscle fibres break, PBs are smashed, performances nailed and, perhaps most importantly, resilience forged. And after a year like the one we’ve just had, it’s a metaphor Hemsworth feels extends to life in general. “The biggest lessons for me have always come from the hardest times,” he says. “If you want to build a stronger character then you've got to confront your demons. You've got to confront those things that make you uncomfortable and learn to exist in that space.” He pauses for a beat. What he says next is instructive, for while he may play a character who hails from the heavens, Hemsworth somehow, always, manages to remain down to earth. “You hear that all the time and I'll forget it tomorrow and remember it the next day, hopefully. As we all do.”

Scan the QR Code to shop Hemsworth’s BOSS looks.

HEMSWORTH’S HOME-GYM ESSENTIALS CHIN-UP BAR “Although it’s predominantly a back workout, you’ve got shoulders and biceps that are all coming into play. It’s also great for lengthening of the spine. Plus, you can do leg raises and core exercises on it.”

KETTLEBELLS “You can use them as dumbbells for a shoulder press or you can do all sorts of ground work with them. I like a pair of 15kg kettlebells. You can hold the two of them and then you’ve got 30 in your hands or you can go singles. It’s all about the time under tension, so if the weight isn’t that heavy, do a few more reps until you get that burn.”

BATTLE ROPE “Good shoulder and arm workout. And you can do seated core workouts side to side. You can also tie your kettlebells to the end of it and drag them.” MARCH 2021

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I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

It was Winston Churchill who said amid the darkness of World War II, “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. Which makes us think there must be something of value to be plucked from the COVID-19 wreckage. Here, eight movers and shakers reveal what the pandemic has taught them about themselves, their fellow man and life itself, and how it will illuminate better ways of doing things once the rain is gone BY

DANIEL WILLIAMS ILLUSTR ATION BY PE TER SAMMUEL SSON

MARCH 2021

THE VOICE OF CALM Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has learned he can handle extreme stress and 100-hour workweeks – so long as he maintains a vigorous exercise regime “I was at my son’s cricket on the 1st of February last year when Brendan Murphy, then Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, sent me a message saying there was now sustained human-to-human transmission in China beyond Wuhan. I jog or walk laps while I’m at the cricket. On this morning I just kept walking while making calls to various people including the PM. At the end of it, one of the dads said, ‘Oh, you had a fairly serious look on your face’. I said, ‘Yeah, it wasn’t just my ordinary walk’. We closed the borders to China that night and from then on nothing was the same. Luckily, I came into this crisis at pretty much peak fitness for me. I’ve been obsessive about my running for a long time. Over the course of a year, I average about 20,000 steps a day. When I’m in Canberra, I’ll start early by walking 4km to work. I’ll work for an hour and then run up Red Hill, which is another 6km all up. So, I’ll have a lot under my belt – with more walking to come – before the first leadership meeting at 8:30. In late January last year, I did a 5km park run in 23:30 – pretty good going for a bloke in his mid-50s. The workload has been considerable. When we were rebuilding Medicare and taking it online and rebuilding the hospital system while managing all the

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communication . . . that was the most intense and stressful period I hope ever to go through in my life. At various times I’ve averaged between 90-100 hours a week. But in the process I’ve confirmed something about myself. So long as I get exercise each day – if not 20,000 steps then 10,000 – and so long as I see my wife and kids, then I’m fine. If I can do those two things there’s no problem. Collectively, the Australian people have been extraordinary in the best possible sense of the word. The PM, myself and Brendan decided very early on that we would communicate in a factual way, neither underplaying nor overstating. There’s still that magnificent Australian cheeky response to government, but when it really mattered everybody understood that their actions were about protecting themselves and others. The response has built for me an even deeper respect for who we are as a people.”

“LUCKILY, I CAME INTO THIS CRISIS AT PRETTY MUCH PEAK FITNESS FOR ME”

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THE JETSETTER

THE PRINCIPAL

What happens to a travel writer when travel is banned? Ben Groundwater pines for the character-building experience of venturing abroad, tedium and all

For Phillip Heath, head of Sydney’s Barker College, the pandemic has exposed his own limitations while renewing his faith in the next generation

For adventurist Richard Bowles, the pandemic has confirmed his view that we should all expect – and prepare for – sudden outbreaks of mayhem

“I saw a piece by the author Christos Tsiolkas that got me thinking. He’d been in London at a festival that was cut short by the virus and was sitting in Dubai Airport. He was looking at all these people who were fleeing back to their homelands when he had this epiphany. He turned to his partner and said: ‘All this movement, all this travel – it’s unnecessary. We don’t need to be doing this’. But this lockdown has made me feel the opposite. It’s made me believe in the absolute necessity of movement. I firmly believe travel has a good effect on the world. The world shrinks when we experience other ways of living and thinking. Without that we fall into nationalism and patriotism, which are concepts I’m not comfortable with. We become more tribal when we don’t travel. Travel is not without risk but it’s a risk that’s good for you. By facing up to it you show yourself what you’re capable of. I’d visited 90-odd countries in the past 12 years. I’m missing things I never thought I would. All the mundanity: the security queues in airports, the terrible coffee, the long-haul flights, the headphones that don’t work properly, the substandard hotels. Those things feel like privileges now. If coronavirus has done anything it’s made me long for that middle seat on the plane. And airline food would be fine by me right now. I’d taken the act of travel for granted and never thought for a second it would be taken away. It’s made me appreciate the freedom we had.”

“The common mind sees young people as essentially self-serving, entitled, full of hubris and narcissistic. And, of course, we’re all those things to some extent, aren’t we? But I have been constantly inspired by them through this. We underestimate not only the resilience and grit of young people, but their altruism, the patience, the trust, the willingness to be flexible and cooperate, the humanity and kindness. Some time ago I received a letter from the resident of an aged-care home. For a period, the occupants of these facilities were terrified – and with good reason. This person wrote a letter saying thank you to the ‘silent angel’ who’d written letters to everybody in this facility – all 50 – to check in that they were okay. He left his number and offered to do the shopping for them. This child just did this. He didn’t tell me. No one had organised it. The pandemic has challenged me to the deepest core of my being. It has been so pervasive, so hidden, so limitless in its threat and impacts. I’ve learned that my capacity for frustration is less than I thought. I found that I don’t do well with frustration, and I thought I was pretty good at this. I’ll be a different head after this because I will know and understand my limitations more. I’ll embrace my own powerlessness more. I’ll realise that I can rest at night without having to know everything or control everything. I’m restless as a personality. And that restlessness is good at times. Every leader, I think, should be about five per cent uncomfortable with their world because any kind of complacency is dangerous.”

“One of the few things that surprises me about what’s happened is that so many people have been surprised. The fact is something like this can always happen. We’re vulnerable creatures. You can wake up to any kind of chaos or crisis. It doesn’t have to be a global pandemic. And that’s where people have gone wrong. We’ve created a society that’s all about fake positivity. The way I live is the opposite. That may sound pessimistic but it’s simply being aware that on any given day some bad shit can go down. That’s just life and the way it works. I’m constantly prepared for any kind of crisis, small or large. I’m all about undertaking experiments that yank me out of my comfort zone. For instance, shortly before all this I threw myself into living as a rickshaw wallah on the streets of India. I lived for a week with these guys, sleeping rough and surviving on two bucks a day. Down the track I plan on going to live as a dump scavenger in the Philippines. If you haven’t liked your response to all this, you could see it as an opportunity to seek out a bit of internal order because that’s the first step to managing external chaos. Fear and anxiety are emotions. You can’t get rid of them but you can control them. And when you do you have far more clarity. And with clarity you have some confidence. And with confidence you can have some courage. You’ve got to understand that something like this will happen again. And it doesn’t matter what it is. Fear is the same whether you’re on the edge of a cliff or in the middle of a pandemic or about to have a difficult conversation with your boss. If you can work out a strategy for nipping fear in the bud before it takes over, you’re on your way to a better life.”

THE DANGER MAN

MARCH 2021

THE GUARDIAN The emergency response to COVID-19 has shown environmentalist Tim Flannery a blueprint for achieving action on another existential threat “For me, the pandemic has caused a general slowing down that changes your orientation to everything, from family to food to cooking. But it’s also allowed me time to think more strategically about climate change – the nature of the problem, the messaging and all the rest of it. There are striking similarities in the response to each threat. In both cases it looks like we’re acting at the last possible moment. Back in March last year COVID-19 cases were doubling every four days before the Prime Minister stopped shaking hands with people and started listening to the scientific advice. We did catch it in time, though only just. The virus is an invisible agent that spreads in the atmosphere, and its symptoms are not always easy to detect – very much like climate change. For both threats, the imperative is to act before we feel anything like the full force of the potential consequences. To combat the virus, our country has done things that would otherwise have been unthinkable. Consequently, the argument against climate-change action – that it would destroy the economy – just no longer holds water. We’ve seen we can act. And yes, there are costs. But there are also benefits. We are right now in the very last moments of being able to act effectively on climate change. The chances are we are going to see tipping points this decade and these will be catastrophic. We have to act now and in a way that’s every bit as comprehensive as we have with COVID. I will apply the pressure and draw the parallels. For both threats, containment works up to a point but it’s not the answer. Developing a vaccine required a huge amount of research and development in the face of great uncertainty. And for the climate response the vaccine equivalent is drawdown. It’s finding a way to get the CO2 out of the air.”

THE ORACLE

John Brogden, survivor of a suicide attempt and chairman of Lifeline, has received a jolting reminder of human vulnerability

“Many of us will reach a point in our lives when we start searching for what makes us unique as individuals. We remove various masks and ask, ‘Well, at my essence, who am I?’ What we find is that there is a unique layer but beneath that we are bound by a common humanity. And the essence of that humanity is our capacity for compassion. Australians’ willingness to make personal sacrifices has been remarkable, uplifting and somewhat surprising given we like to portray ourselves as larrikins and individualists. When I see the relatively deserted streets and empty railway stations I think of that as a mass act of love. Love in the sense of compassion. It is a sign of a community that understands what interconnectedness means. When it comes to the crunch we know we’re not isolated individuals. We know it’s not all about me. We know it’s not a competition. This compassion is in the street but it’s also in the digital world. Emails and texts, often peremptory in tone, have been longer than usual and always containing messages of support. We even have conservative governments around the world, including our own, using terms like ‘the common good’. Suddenly they’ve looked at and implemented solutions that a socialist government would be proud of. The pandemic has revealed a deep truth about leadership in general: the essence of good leadership is compassion. Everything else follows from that. If you feel compassion – kindness, respect, inclusion – towards the people you’re leading or managing then all of the other leadership and management skills flow from that. But if it’s missing, that’s when people complain about working for a heartless boss or a heartless organisation.”

“Through my involvement in Lifeline I’ve had a view into this crisis not many people have had. It has brought home to me that people are reacting very differently. People who thought they were strong have been struggling. Calls to Lifeline reached an all-time high in our 58-year history. We’re finding a lot of loneliness and anxiety. You’re asking people to embrace loneliness to some extent, while the anxiety is about everything – money, family, jobs, health, the future. Being home with my family more has made me realise how lucky I am. Even though I’ve had depression and suicidal ideation, they’re under control and I’m managing them well and I think I’m adopting the right work practices. Managing my work, getting out of the house and exercising with the family . . . that’s been fantastic. The last time I had this kind of time at home, my wife and I had one child and another on the way. It was after my suicide attempt and I wasn’t working for a year. And despite the difficulty of those times I remember saying to friends that every father should spend six months off work to spend time with his children. Because it’s just a magic time. I’m also chairman of Furlough House, a little retirement village on Sydney’s northern beaches. Now, a 90-year-old man dies in a nursing home from coronavirus. Well, the argument goes, he could have got the flu and passed away. But the pandemic has crystallised for me that there are few more important tests than how we treat our vulnerable. Treating someone in the same way you’d hope to be treated yourself is what makes our society civilised.”

“THE PANDEMIC HAS REVEALED A DEEP TRUTH ABOUT LEADERSHIP: ITS ESSENCE IS COMPASSION”

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THE PROTECTOR

Social researcher Hugh Mackay has peered into the soul of a people in crisis and discovered a reservoir of compassion

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THE FRONTMAN Presenting harrowing updates each morning to his Sky News audience hasn’t fazed a battlehardened Peter Stefanovic, for whom COVID-19 has sharpened his appreciation of life’s simple pleasures “It’s been an extraordinary story to cover, particularly in the early days when developments were breathless. Before the virus started taking off here you had these terrifying events unfolding overseas – hospitals overflowing with patients and authorities constructing provisional morgues. In Australia, two images will stay with me. The first is the fights that broke out in supermarkets over toilet paper. The second is the queues that formed outside Centrelink offices when thousands and thousands of people lost their jobs in an instant. Personally, I’ve been okay. I had something of a mental breakdown many years ago from a lot of war that I’d experienced in 2011 and never really talked about because I lived on my own. I had to learn how to decompress and that’s stood me in good stead whenever I’m dealing with a story that involves a high volume of death and heartbreak. I’ve always loved my work and I love it even more the older I get. You always miss the road but I did it for so long in a previous life when I didn’t have a family. Now I enjoy bunkering down and working on the studio stuff. As soon as I finish the show I come home and I’m on the phone helping to get tomorrow’s show organised. My wife Sylvia and I have been using this time to get to know our son Oscar, who was born last February. I’ve got to see all his quirks and mannerisms, and his personality coming through. I’m a pretty introverted guy so isolation hasn’t meant too much of a change for me. Having said that I do look forward to going to a pub at the end of all this and ripping in like everyone else.”

MARCH 2021

DAYS OF 6-PACK RECIPES

Fuel your goals with a macro-calibrated recipe for each day.

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If there’s one thing that unites all diets, it’s “can’t”. Diets tell you what you can’t eat, how much you can’t eat, and now, with the rise of intermittent fasting, even when you can’t eat. Yes, cutting back on food will lead to weight loss. But eating well is as much about what you gain as what you lose. It should help you harness more energy, build muscle and fuel your workouts. Experts agree the easiest way to burn fat while improving your wellbeing is to consume at least 30g of protein and 10g of ﬁbre at each meal. The former promotes muscle growth and repair, the latter tames hunger and cravings. We’ve crunched the numbers to give you 30 macro-balanced recipes, one for every day of the month. They also feature generous quantities of another ingredient: ﬂavour. by PAUL K ITA & SCARLETT WRENCH

photography by CHRISTOPHER TESTA NI

Breakfast begin the day feeling satisﬁed and ready to smash through your cardio commute and morning meeting

01 Breakfast Stack

03 Berry Bowl

Halve a wholegrain English mufﬁn and ﬁll it with a grilled chicken burger patty, a grilled slice of tomato, a small handful of sautéed spinach and two fried eggs. 2021kJ

Top a 350ml serving of Greek yoghurt with a sprinkle of each of the following: sliced strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, unsalted pistachios and coconut ﬂakes. 2598kJ

02 Green Eggs Make a three-egg omelette with 30g of grated cheddar and a large handful of sautéed baby spinach. Serve with half a smashed avocado on a thick slice of brown toast. 2389kJ

Step away from the “lite”. Studies have surprisingly linked full-fat dairy to a lower risk of obesity, reports the Harvard Medical School. Plus, cheddar contains 7.5g of protein per 30g.

Anthocyanin-rich berries can improve fat burning and blood sugar balance in overweight men, according to a study in Nutrients.

04 Salmon Toast Slather wholemeal toast with cream cheese, then top with smoked salmon, capers, dill, sliced red onion and a squeeze of lemon. Eat with a pear for a ﬁbre top-up. 2305kJ

05 PB Porridge Cook 45g of oats, then stir in two tablespoons of peanut butter and a scoop of chocolate whey powder. Top with half a sliced banana and a tablespoon each of raisins and chopped walnuts. 3096kJ

06 Apple and Vanilla Oats Combine 45g of oats with a grated Braeburn apple, half a grated carrot, 25g of crushed pecans and a scoop of vegan vanilla protein. Add water and leave to set overnight. 2079kJ

07 Turkey Hash Slice, dice, then fry up 110g of turkey, a pre-cooked potato, a quarter of a red onion, a small zucchini and a handful of shredded Brussels sprouts in a glug of olive oil. Top with hot sauce. 2678kJ

Sprouts are a potent source of glucosinolates, which support cell repair and growth when you’re training. In short? Get muscles from Brussels.

08 Cheat’s Burrito Fry two diced tomatoes with half a red onion, a smashed garlic clove and some red chilli. Add two eggs and mix well. Stuff this all in one end of a wholemeal tortilla, along with a handful of chopped coriander, and wrap it up. 1736kJ

As well as ﬁbre, wholegrains can be a surprising source of protein. A tortilla wrap contains 5.5g, which is as much as a small egg.

09 Super Waffles Using a pancake mix, cook your batter in a wafﬂe iron and top with 200ml of yoghurt, two sliced peaches and some unsalted pistachios, ﬂaxseeds and torn mint. 2631kJ

10 The Bermuda Roast a 110g piece of barramundi and cover with salsa. Plate up with a diced roast potato, a quarter of an avocado and a hard-boiled egg. 2423kJ

MARCH 2021

Lunch 11 BBQ Kale Salad Top a bed of chopped kale with 120g of BBQ pulled pork, two tablespoons each of black beans and sweetcorn, a few slices of roasted red capsicum and half a diced avocado. 2385kJ

12 Power “Pasta” Spiralise two large zucchinis, then sauté in olive oil with a punnet of sliced cherry tomatoes. Grill two chicken thighs, pull off the meat and

serve it atop your zucchini with a handful of basil. 2920kJ

13 Lean Beef Salad Slice 100g of cold leftover steak and serve with a handful each of rocket, romaine and watercress. Top with 120g of chickpeas, a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds, sliced roasted red capsicum and two tablespoons of light Italian dressing. 2201kJ

14 Protein Platter Assemble 75g of hummus, three Ryvita crackers, two hard-boiled eggs, six baby carrots and a chunk of Swiss cheese. Snack away. 2561kJ

The amino acid tryptophan, found in the chickpeas in hummus, boosts serotonin, lifting your mood while easing your afternoon cravings.

15 Seitan Balls Blitz 200g of seitan, then fry with a diced onion, two crushed garlic cloves and seasoning. Add 75g of breadcrumbs and two tablespoons each of ﬂour, vegetarian suet and water. Shape into balls and bake for 10 minutes. Serve with sautéed spinach and kidney beans. 2282kJ

A vegan meat substitute made from wheat gluten, seitan is about three-quarters protein and is a good source of energising iron.

16 Tuna Melt Mix a can of tuna with 50ml of low-fat Greek yoghurt and season with salt and pepper. Pile atop a slice of wholemeal toast and a thick slice of mature cheddar. Heat under the grill or in the microwave until the cheese melts. Eat with a bowl of red grapes and a few celery sticks. 2778kJ

17 Tempeh Chilli Fry a sliced onion with two minced garlic cloves and a pack of crumbled tempeh (about 250g), then cook with a tin of chopped tomatoes and drained cans of kidney beans and chickpeas. Season, portion up, reheat as needed. 2200kJ (Serves 3) Cut away at belly fat with a salad that maximises ﬂavour.

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18 Salmon Mayo Mash together 170g of canned salmon with a tablespoon of mayonnaise, two tablespoons of minced celery, a juiced lime and 100g of navy beans. Pile between slices of dark rye. 3118kJ

Rye has a beneﬁcial effect on both gut bacteria and insulin responses: crucial factors in both fat loss and your overall health.

19 Soba and Swordfish Season and roast a 170g swordﬁsh steak. Douse it in half a juiced lime and serve over 60g of cooked soba noodles, 100g of shelled edamame, and two sliced radishes. Drizzle with soy sauce and top with coriander. Serve with three heads of cooked baby bok choy. 2314kJ

A near unbeatable fat-loss food, a 100g serving of edamame beans contains 11g of protein and more than 5g of satiating ﬁbre.

20 Chick’n’Slaw Mix chilli powder, lemon zest and a dash of olive oil, then rub it over a pre-cooked chicken breast. Serve with a coleslaw made from 70g of shredded red cabbage, a grated carrot, half an apple and a tablespoon each of white vinegar and olive oil. 1958kJ FOOD STYLING: JAMIE KIMM; PROP STYLING: MEGAN HEDGPETH

Prep these at home for a midday power-up that’ll keep you burning fat all afternoon. They’re guaranteed to mute the siren song of your nearest sandwich shop

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Slay your hunger and put your mid-afternoon grazing habit to the sword. MARCH 2021

Shell out for faster fat burning with the copper in clams. 82

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Dinner Whether you’re in a hurry or you’re craving time to unwind in the kitchen, these easy dishes will ensure you wake up lighter, brighter and ﬁtter tomorrow

21 Buttered Clams

24 Fish Tacos

In a big pot, cook a bag of littleneck clams (about 25) in 60ml of white wine, with two cloves of thinly-sliced garlic, two tablespoons of butter and a large, thinly sliced shallot, until the clams open. Eat with some crusty wholemeal bread and 300g of sautéed green beans. 3426kJ

Season and roast a salmon fillet, then flake it and fill three small corn tortillas, along with two tablespoons of black beans, a tablespoon of guacamole and a sliced radish. Add some hot sauce and coriander to taste. 1707kJ

25 Bacon Noodles Seafood is good for more than just omega-3s. Clams contain copper, which plays a key role in fat burning, reports the University of California, Berkeley.

22 Surf’n’Spud In an oiled cast-iron pan, sear six large scallops over a high heat for a minute on each side. Serve with a roasted sweet potato, topped with a knob of butter and a handful of pomegranate seeds, plus 150g of halved, sautéed and seasoned Brussels sprouts. 1891kJ

23 Spicy Dog Stuff a large, grilled vegan sausage into a wholemeal roll and top with 150g of warmed sauerkraut and spicy brown mustard. Serve with 150g of potato salad. 2736kJ

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27 Prawn Pasta

29 Buffalo Bun

Sauté four large, peeled prawns in a tablespoon of olive oil, with two crushed garlic cloves, 35g of chopped unsalted almonds and 100g of chopped rapini. Toss with 60g of cooked wholegrain spaghetti and Parmesan. 2962kJ

Slide a grilled, skinless chicken breast into a wholemeal bun with a tablespoon of hot sauce and two tablespoons of crumbled blue cheese. Then cleanse your palate with a bowl of raspberries for dessert. 1602kJ

28 Sweet Lamb Chops Sear two seasoned lamb chops and serve with two tablespoons of balsamic glaze and 1 Tbsp of chopped mint. Serve with 60g green lentils and a grilled tomato. 1665kJ

30 Chicken Curry Combine 100g of cooked chicken, 100ml of coconut milk, a handful of green beans, half a sliced green capsicum and a tablespoon of green curry paste. Warm on the stove until the veggies soften. Serve with 125g of cooked red and white quinoa. 1904kJ

Rich in creatine, lamb contains histidine and CLA fats, linked to reduced body fat.

Cover 60g of dry noodles with boiling water. Add a quarter of a stock cube, a dash of soy sauce, a teaspoon of grated ginger and a handful each of sliced shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts and spinach. Top with a sliced bacon rasher. Microwave for 10 minutes, then throw in a soft-boiled egg. 1862kJ

One animal study found that shiitake can offset weight gain and lower unhealthy levels of triglyceride.

26 Tofu Stir-Fry Heat a tablespoon of rapeseed oil and fry half a block of ﬁrm tofu, 100g of edamame and the following ingredients, chopped: half a bunch of asparagus, a handful of broccoli ﬂorets, half a red capsicum, a handful of water chestnuts and a handful of sugar snap peas. Season with rice wine vinegar and soy sauce to taste. 2218kJ

As well as boosting gut health, sauerkraut contains a chemical called IC3, which supports healthy testosterone production.

Chop and change your protein source to lamb and spike your weight loss.

MARCH 2021

Obstacle Course

What We Talk About When We Talk About

Running

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F IT NE S S

Fell Running

you just haven’t found your tribe. Today, the ever and it can help you chase down functional strength and . With summer almost behind us, there’s no better time to lace up BY KIER AN

ALGER

PHOTOGR APH Y BY

PHILIP HAYNES

MARCH 2021

1 Obstacle Course

What is it? Obstacle course races (OCR) can be run anywhere between ﬁve and 50km, mainly off road, often in mud and with, um, obstacles. It’s a test of guts as much as it is of stamina Who’s it for? If you pride yourself on the functionality of your ½WQHVV 2&5 ZLOO EH a natural addition to your WUDLQLQJ *RRG PRELOLW\ solid grip strength and the DELOLW\ WR KHDYH REMHFWV ZLOO SURYH YDOXDEOH ZHDSRQV LQ \RXU DUVHQDO <RX QHHG EUDLQV EUDZQ DQG RIWHQ EUDYHU\ WR complete challenges such DV WKH 7\UROHDQ WUDYHUVH EDUEHG ZLUH FUDZOV DQG PRQNH\ EDUV RYHU LF\ ZDWHU <RX FDQ UXQ VROR EXW 2&5 VXLWV SHRSOH ZKR like to suffer in teams. 0DQ\ HYHQWV DUH VXLWDEOH IRU DOO EXW LI \RX FDQ UXQ D . DQG OLIW \RXU RZQ ERG\ZHLJKW WKDWµV D strong start. What are the gains? 2&5 UHTXLUHV DOO URXQG ½WQHVV DQG DJLOLW\ EXW XSSHU ERG\ PXVFOH DQG D URFN VROLG FRUH DZDLW WKH REVWDFOH PDVWHUV 7KHUHµV FURVVRYHU ZLWK VWURQJPDQ WUDLQLQJ WRR Where do I start? “Pick \RXU HYHQW E\ VXVVLQJ RXW \RXU JRDOV ³ VD\V 0LFKDHO $GHQLUDQ DQ REWDFOH UDFH YHWHUDQ ZKR KDV FRQTXHUHG HYHQWV ²7RXJK 0XGGHUµV WHDPZRUN HWKRV PDNHV LW DZHVRPH ZLWK PDWHV 86

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2 Track Club

What is it? Weekly track-side meets take HIIT-style cardio sessions out of the boutique studio. They focus mainly on technique drills to improve your agility and reaction times and interval training that’ll enhance your speed endurance

Who’s it for? This is a GLVFLSOLQH IRU PHQ ZKR DUH FRQFHUQHG ZLWK DHVWKHWLF JRDOV %\ HOHYDWLQJ WHVWRVWHURQH DQG PHWDEROLVP sprints put you in the fast lane WR D OHDQHU PRUH GH½QHG torso. Track is a smart choice IRU DQ\RQH ZKR ZDQWV WR LPSURYH WHFKQLTXH DQG JHW IDVWHU WRR 0RVW VHVVLRQV DUH KHOG RQ PLGZHHN HYHQLQJV VR WKH\µUH SHUIHFW IRU SRVW ZRUN GHFRPSUHVVLRQ

What are the gains? LungEXVWLQJ LQWHUYDOV ZLOO WXUERFKDUJH \RXU FDUGLR ½WQHVV ZKLOH UHFUXLWLQJ \RXU IDVW WZLWFK PXVFOH ½EUHV LPSURYHV SRZHU VWUHQJWK DQG HQGXUDQFH $ VROLG EHW IRU WKRVH ZKRVH SULPDU\ JRDO LV WR VKHG IDW ZLWKRXW VDFUL½FLQJ PXVFOH PDVV Where do I start? Most ROG VFKRRO UXQQLQJ FOXEV KROG WUDFN FODVVHV ,WµV LPSRUWDQW WR OLVWHQ WR \RXU ERG\ ²6RPH

F IT NE S S

3 Fell Running

What is it? A thorough beasting with quad-busting climbs and descents. Similar to trail running, but its unmarked courses, unpredictable weather and wild terrain mean it’s more raw

Hit the fast lane to develop a leaner, meaner physique.

people get excited by the lights and the energy on the track and end up pushing too hard, too soon,” says Omar Mansour, coach and cofounder of Track Life /'1 ²%XW ZKDW ZH ZDQW LV FRQVLVWHQF\ IURP \RXU ½UVW lap to your last and, crucially, for you to enjoy the session enough to want to come again. So, we advise easing into this kind of speedier running gradually. Don’t be a hero.”

Who’s it for? Accomplished athletes, eager for a new challenge. “Fell running is tough, physically and mentally. You need to be strong and hardy,” says Ben Mounsey, former British fell-running champion. “There are no easy races. You have to be willing to embrace the pain and push your body to the extreme.” If crushing PBs is your chosen form of stress relief, fell running offers unparalleled mental KHDOWK EHQH½WV FRPELQLQJ WLPH LQ QDWXUH ZLWK D ¾RRG of endorphins. What are the gains? The steep, challenging climbs will build strength in your core and legs, while handling hair-raising descents at breakneck speed will hone your focus and coordination. It will also activate the stabiliser muscles that will keep your lifting form on-point back in the gym. Where do I start? In terms of training, the gym alone won’t cut it: regular hill climbs and descents are necessary for any aspiring fell runner. A

typical race costs around $10 to enter, but the basic kit list is long. It includes a waterproof jacket, compass, map, whistle, hat, gloves (depending on the weather) and emergency food. “It’s seriously important that you always check the requirements before the race. Otherwise, you’ll be refused entry,” says Mounsey. “This is an extreme sport. You are UXQQLQJ RQ GLI½FXOW WHUUDLQ in very rural, exposed areas. The right kit might save your life.” Get inspired Read Feet in the Clouds by Richard Asquith. Or watch Run Forever, an awardZLQQLQJ ½OP DERXW 1LFN\ Spinks’ 210km Double Bob Graham Round, the fell run of all fell runs. Get involved For true fell running you’ll need to head to the UK (someday). Find trail runs at runningcalendar.com.au. Crucial kit Inov-8’s Mudclaw G260 shoes offer comfort, durability and that all-important grip over the roughest terrain.

Get inspired Watch I Am Bolt, a documentary on the life of the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, and pick up some sub-10-second technique tips. Get involved Find a club through Athletics Australia (athletics.com.au) or your state athletic body. Crucial kit Grab a running watch such as the Garmin Forerunner 45 to track interval splits and effort. MARCH 2021

A weekly cardio time trial will ensure your progress never stalls.

Parkrun

What is it? Every Saturday morning, nearly 700,000 runners around the globe rock up and run, jog or walk a timed 5K around their local park. Australia’s 400 locations vary from ﬂat and fast to hilly and hard, on tarmac, trails and ﬁelds. It’s also free, managed by teams of local volunteers

Who’s it for? Consider Parkrun your gateway to getting in shape. It’s ideal for the lapsed gym-goer who’s struggling to get back in his groove. It’s suitable for people of all abilities, says Darren Wood, who has run a world record of 750 Parkruns: “It’s up to you whether you walk it or try to clock a sub-20-minute 5K.” Due to its formatted structure, it can also act as a reliable benchmark, helping you spot plateaus in your progress and letting you know whether your gym habits are translating into UHDO ZRUOG ½WQHVV $ JUHDW option if you’re time-poor on the weekends. Quicker 88

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than 18 holes, that’s for sure. What are the gains? Maintaining a base level of cardiovascular endurance will ensure that you don’t gas out during your interval sessions or circuit training. Push hard and the 5K distance will help you build a mighty engine. Where do I start? “Register at parkrun.com.au in advance and print out the bar code that’s used to record

your time,” says Wood. “Then you can just turn up and run any Parkrun in the world.” Research the routes to pick an easier run, but choosing a location that’s close improves your chances of becoming a regular. Consistency is key. Get inspired Download the XQRI½FLDO 3DUNUXQ SRGFDVW Free Weekly Timed. It’s hosted by running-mad UK Breakfast Show sidekick

9DVVRV $OH[DQGHU DQG RIIHUV interviews, tips and news. Get involved Search Parkrun’s interactive map to ½QG \RXU QHDUHVW ORFDWLRQ There are also Facebook communities for many of the individual events. Crucial kit If poor weather doesn’t put you off completely on soggy Saturday mornings this autumn, invest in a weatherproof bar-code wristband.

F IT NE S S

5 The Race Scene

What is it? Race junkies relentlessly chase ﬁnish lines – and medals – in organised events ranging from 5Ks to full marathons. Because who doesn’t like a bit of bling? Who’s it for? Fitnessclass regulars who thrive on the spirit of competition and covet their spot on the F45 leaderboard. The race community offers plenty of chances to compare Strava routes and data (as well as opportunities for a SRGLXP VHO½H &DUGLR endurance helps you complete races, but ½QHO\ WXQHG UHFRYHU\ gets you to the start line LQ WKH ½UVW SODFH ,W DOVR helps if you love getting up early on weekends and can travel. Deep pockets are useful, too. What are the gains? Following a structured plan in the lead-up to an event will help you maintain focus, purpose and motivation, while whipping your cardio ½WQHVV LQWR VKDSH Experienced racers can hammer out halfmarathons and marathons at the drop of a backwards cap. Where do I start? “People don’t set out to become race junkies,” says Jacquie Millett,

veteran of more than 200 marathons and one half of mother and daughter EORJJLQJ WHDP 7KLV ,V +RZ :H 5XQ ²,WµV D slippery slope but, to my mind, the best slippery VORSH HYHU ³ ,WµV ZRUWK remembering that you can’t run your fastest time every time. “Pick out your ‘A races’,the ones you are going to push hard at,” says GDXJKWHU &DPLOOD Langlands, who has more than 160 marathons under her belt. “Then just enjoy running the others at a steadier pace.” Get inspired Get the latest news and tips from the Marathon Talk podcast, hosted by former international runner Martin Yelling and Parkrun guru Tom Williams. Get involved When health authorities give us WKH DOO FOHDU ½QG UDFHV DW runningcalendar.com.au Crucial kit *HW D &RPSH[ Fit 3.0 electric muscle stimulator to increase EORRG ¾RZ DQG VSHHG XS post-race recovery.

6 Ultramarathon

What is it? Anything over a marathon – the most common distances are 50K, 100K and 160K. Terrain tends to be wild, and you can be on the go for 24 hours or longer Who’s it for? Those who enjoy exploring the extremes of their physical DELOLW\ ,WV DSSHDO LV VLPLODU WR &URVV)LWµV DQG it will help you forge the mental grit required for ERWK /LNH &URVV)LW ultrarunning is about personal achievement, rather than anything so WUL¾LQJ DV NLORMRXOH burning. (Weight loss is not guaranteed. The vast amount of kilojoules you’ll need to fuel yourself can offset any bodyFRPSRVLWLRQ JDLQV ²<RX could say it’s great for people who don’t love running,” explains Adharanand Finn, author of The Rise of the Ultra Runners. ²,WµV OHVV DERXW pure ability and more about adventure and bonding with others.” What are the gains? The biggest boost is to your mental endurance. You’ll hone the resilience to take on even the most unholy of workouts, along with RWKHU FKDOOHQJHV ½WQHVV related or otherwise. Races with a lot of elevation also develop lower-body strength. Where do I start? ,W KHOSV if you’ve run a marathon, but some skip straight to

training for an ultra. However, you’ll still need to build up your mileage gradually. Unless you’re planning on a road ultra, seek out your nearest trails to experience running on bumpy terrain. Once you’ve laced up your trail shoes, you can cast aside any doubts you have about your running ability. “Ultras level the SOD\LQJ ½HOG ³ VD\V )LQQ “Age, build and gender largely become secondary to a strong mind and good problem-solving. Running an ultra could even be easier than a marathon because you go at your own pace with less time pressure.” Get inspired Read Finn’s aforementioned book. Then watch Ethan Newberry’s documentary Where Dreams Go to Die, WKH WDOH RI &DQDGLDQ runner Gary Robbins’ battle to complete the Barkley Marathons. Get involved Find races at aura.asn.au. Crucial kit ,QYHVW LQ D JRRG running vest, such as the Salomon Advanced Skin Set (salomon.com SHUIHFW for carrying hydration bottles, food and other race essentials. MARCH 2021

Ring of ﬁre: blow a hole in your fat stores.

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W E I G H T LO S S

(Plus the Stuff That’s Worth Forgetting) Is fat loss a complex feat of biochemistry or an elementary case of eating less and moving more? Neither view is fully satisfying. You don’t need to enter ketosis or subsist on alkaline water to drop a couple of kilos – but there are some clever cheats that can help. This is your primer on the theory and practice of fat burning. Call it your cutter’s choice BY

SCARLET T WRENCH

PHOTOGR APH Y BY

JOBE L AWRENSON

MARCH 2021

What Happens When I Lose Weight? Think about it in terms of gains, not losses. Ditching fat can give your health a lift

Losing game

When your body requires more energy than you’re putting in, it breaks down the molecules in fat cells to burn them for fuel. Most of what you “lose” is exhaled as carbon dioxide, while the rest is lost as water.

The slow burn

Quick weight loss causes your metabolism to drop, as your body fights to conserve energy. But that doesn’t mean you’re doomed to a life of lentils. Try intermittent fasting: a study in Plos One noted an increase in kilojoule burn among men who ate larger meals, less frequently.

Seek small victories

Even men of a regular BMI with excess fat around their middles are at a higher risk of heart disease. Losing 5-10 per cent of your weight – say,

from 89-83kg – lowers your odds. Losing just 3kg can have a similar effect on your blood pressure as a hypertensive tablet would.

Maintain your gains

If you’re not eating enough, it will be hard for your body to synthesise new muscle tissue. A study in Obesity found that when people followed an extremely low-kJ diet, 18 per cent of their weight loss was actually from muscle. Keep your deficit at 2100kJ or fewer.

Keeping your heart rate in the fabled “fat-burning zone” is said to accelerate weight loss. But do proponents have their ﬁngers on the pulse? Leading exercise physiologist Tom Cowan decodes the science

“WHETHER YOU’RE pacing around the office or running on a treadmill, contracting your muscles requires energy. This energy is derived from a mixture of stored fat and stored carbohydrate, which is found in the muscles and liver as glycogen. At lower intensities, fat is your fuel source. However, as the intensity of your work ramps up, a greater proportion of this energy comes from carbs. The fat-burning “zone” is a point around 60-65 per cent of your max at which your body is oxidising the biggest amount of fat possible. “Here’s the rub: that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to get leaner. Weight loss is predominantly determined by calorie balance, regardless of how those calories are stored. Burning glycogen isn’t inherently inferior. For the best results, you need to vary your training intensity, working in multiple heart-rate zones, so you can easily tap into either energy source.”

Swerve the crash

Losing fat improves your body’s sensitivity to insulin, rebalancing appetite and energy. But when you’re starting a new fitness plan, post-training blood-sugar crashes are common. Factor in a carb refuel to fight back the urge to binge.

B I G FAT L I E

YOU C A N’ T A DD MUSCLE A ND LOSE W EIGHT

Your muscles contribute to a hefty 20 per cent of your metabolic rate, according to the International Journal of Obesity, while your fat mass uses up a mere 3 per cent of your energy. That means adding muscle through strength-building exercises is crucial to staying lean. 92

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W E I G H T LO S S B I G FAT L I E

YOU NEED TO S WA P SAT FAT S FOR “GOOD” FAT S

“Most foods contain a mixture of both types,” says nutrition consultant Steve Grant. “It’s not one way or the other.” What’s more, the sat fat in grass-fed rib-eye contains roughly the same kJs as the supposedly healthier salmon. Plus, feta weighs in lighter than nuts.

Choose It to Lose It The best eating strategy is the one you can stick to. But which of these popular plans is suited to your lifes Q1

How do about A Not t Go B I like Go

PALEO No missed meals or stingy portions

Ever tried going vegan? A Are you serious? Go to PALEO B I’m partial to a chickpea curry Go to Q5

Are you hungry before 10am? A I’m always hungry Go to PALEO B Very rarely Go to 16:8

But could you give it a break? A I’d cave within day Go to Q6 B Yes, if I had to Go to Q4

Do you eat out a lot? A Yeah, a fair bit Go to Q5 B Only if Subway counts Go to Q6

Carb-blockers and stimulants are more likely to give you stomach cramps than a six-pack. The best fat-loss drugs don’t sell themselves as fat-loss drugs. Here’s our daily supps plan

Are you a feaster or a grazer? A I’m a big meal man Go to 16:8 B Habitual snacker Go to CICO

6am Multivitamin Keep it simple and cover all bases. Falling short of your micronutrient RDIs – particularly mood-supporting vitamin D and energy-boosting B – contributes to fat gain.

8am Caffeine Whether taken as a smooth flat white or a punchy cold brew, caffeine improves your mood, energy and exercise motivation. Useful for your power walk into work.

Taken 30 minutes before a workout, this amino acid can improve your fat usage. It’s also linked to a reduction in cortisol, a stress hormone that triggers weight gain.

2pm Inulin Powder Add this potent prebiotic to your afternoon shake. It’ll keep your gut bacteria healthy, which in turn will ensure that your metabolism is firing on all cylinders.

9pm Magnesium Spray Finally, spritz this on the back of your knee (where your skin is thin) before bed. High-quality sleep is crucial for supporting fat loss. This will help you get it.

CICO This stands for “calories in, calories out”. No food is off limits, so long as you burn it off over the day – but you’ll need a ﬁtness tracker to keep tabs on your output. You need to ensure you’re eating enough protein (100g) and ﬁbre (30g) to support post-exercise recovery and satiety. See page 100 for #inspo.

Your KJ-Crushing Crucible With a kettlebell and a few metres of space, this brutal circuit engages the huge muscle groups of your lower body to torch as much fat as possible. Make it through each set without dropping the bell. Shoot for four rounds

Swing 11am Phenylalanine

THE 16:8 Best suited to the sort of man who often “forgets” to eat when he’s busy – or enjoys a big lunch/dinner. Simply limit your kilojoule consumption to an eight-hour window (eg 12pm to 8pm), ensuring your gym sessions are in sync, so you’re never skipping your refuel. A 2017 study found it led to greater fat-loss in men than simply reducing portions.

The Drugs Th Do Work

here. This plan, modelled on the foods we (supposedly) ate in the Palaeolithic period, eschews processed foods and grains for meat, veg, fruit and nuts. Purists swerve legumes, too, but the extra carbs can beneﬁt your training. A Brazilian study found that going paleo led to 3.5kg of weight loss, largely by boosting satiety.

((20 reps) Begin by hiking B tthe weight back between your legs, bending only slightly at the knees. Thrust your h hips forward to propel the weight up to eye level.

Lunge

((10 reps) Hold two KBs by your sides. Lunge forward with L your back straight until your rear knee u ttouches the ground, then push back to starting position. Repeat on other leg. R

Goblet Squat

(15 reps) s With feet shoulderderwidth apart, hold d the bell by the sid des of the handle, un nder your chin. Drop into ve a squat then driv through your heels p. to stand back up

Kneeling Press

((10 reps) Begin in a halfkneel, your left leeg forward and a KB B in your right hand, in the front rack. Prress KB up, then loweer. Do five reps, then n swap sides. MARCH 2021

HIITor

Combining these two training methods is the surest route to sustainable fat loss. Use this guide to learn how they work – and when to deploy them – to maximise your fat loss

HIIT High-intensity interval training involves quick bursts of all-out effort, with recovery periods in between. Use it HIIT sessions should be kept short, so it’s ideal if you’re time-poor, and they’ll hike your metabolism for an impressive after-burn. But HIIT also stresses your body, so keep it down to three non-consecutive sessions per week.

LISS Low-intensity steady state – keeping your heart rate at a sustainable pace. Use it On the days between HIIT sessions, or when

EMOM Complete a set of reps every minute, on the minute, resting for the remainder. So, if 10 thrusters takes 40 seconds, rest for 20 seconds.

AMRAP Do as many rounds as possible of your circuit over a set time frame. Finish your reps on one exercise, then progress to the next and keep going.

(30-50 nger kJ at loss ker, so sooner.

Unsure where to start? that, ll work hen, get m using one of the two common exercise ch can be adapted for S training style.

For 15min HIIT

For 40min LISS

Choose heavier weights and work at a pace you can hit for only 30 seconds before you start slowing down. Your rest periods should be getting shorter by the time you’ve hit the halfway mark.

Opt for lighter weights that will allow you to maintain good form consistently throughout the workout. You should be able to sustain a fairly even pace.

As before, you need to be working close to your max. Rest only when your form is slipping, but ideally not at all.

Either slow down to maintain a consistent intensity, or rest enough between rounds that you’re ready to hit the next one at a similar pace.

B I G FAT L I E

AM Tim

In ord traine not jus what y “LET’S way: ca the bas That’s t of whet that, me huge im to use t advise meals a session based your wo carbs a “Ens fuelled on your workou harder, burn m depleti stores. plan, w your int calories can be perform spread

C A RB S A RE THE ENEM Y

Oh, 2010 called, and it wants its meal plan back. Some people can thrive on minimal carbs, but there’s no need. Aim for 1g of carbs per kilo of bodyweight in the hour after training: the optimal formula for storing those grams as muscle, not fat. 94

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W E I G H T LO S S B I G FAT L I E # 4

RE S T DAYS A RE CRUCI A L

True, y same count your q

Cortisol

When levels peak, the stress hormone cortisol triggers enzymes that instruct fat cells to grow. Not a soothing thought. Game it Hitting the gym when you’re burned out or underslept is a common culprit of elevated cortisol levels. The easiest way to decipher when – and how hard – you should train is to check your heart-rate variability, a key marker of recovery. Download an app such as Elite HRV, or buy a tracker such as the Whoop strap.

Testosterone

As well as supporting the growth of new muscle mass, adequate levels of testosterone help your body to burn belly fat. Game it Increase your morning sun exposure. Not only will this raise levels of T-supporting vitamin D, it’s also one of the best ways to rebalance your circadian rhythm, making it easier to sleep. A single week of bad sleep can result in daytime testosterone levels dropping by 15 per cent.

The Hormone Playbook Diet and exercise tell only half of the story. Science is becoming increasingly alert to the role of hormones in how our bodies respond to healthy habits

Irisin

This newly discovered hormone turns kJ-storing “white” fat into mitochondria-rich, energyburning brown fat. Game it To raise your levels, schedule in daily prolonged exposure to cold temperatures (19°C or lower) by training outdoors in the early morning or late evening. For bonus points, fire up your endorphins before each session with a chilly pre-gym shower. Just grit your teeth.

Growth Factor

The hormones HGH and IGF-1 break down fat and use that energy to strengthen your muscles and ligaments. Game it You can spike them (without the needle) by performing full-body lifts to the point of fatigue once a week. And avoid eating anything two hours before sleep: it subdues the natural surge in growth hormone that your body experiences in the early hours of the night.

Insulin

Thyroid Hormones

This energy importer takes fat and sugar from your bloodstream and stores them in your body. You want to keep it in check. Game it A study from New Zealand’s University of Otago found taking a 10-minute walk immediately after eating had a more beneficial effect on insulin levels than a longer walk at a different time of day. A trip up and down the stairs after lunch will reduce the likelihood of those carbs being stored as fat.

The chemicals T3 and T4 tell your cells how much energy to produce and expend: your metabolic rate, in other words. Game it This nutrient is critical for thyroid health. Include seafood and iodised salt in your diet and don’t cut carbs entirely. “If you cut them out completely, the body down-regulates production of T3,” says Chris Walton, lead trainer at Embody Fitness.

MARCH 2021

CAN CROSSFIT’S TECHY NEW CEO, ERIC ROZA , AND ITS CONTROVERSIAL EXERCISE PICASSO, DAVE CASTRO, TRANSFORM THE TOXIC FITNESS GIANT AND LEAD IT TOWARD A HEALTHIER, MORE INCLUSIVE AND MORE EXPANSIVE FUTURE? BY

MICHAEL E A STER

MEN’S HE ALTH

PHOTOGR APH Y BY

CORY RICHARDS & CODY PICKENS

F IT NE S S

MARCH 2021

n June 27, 2020, Eric Roza masked up and flew from Boulder, Colorado, to San Jose, California, where he rented a car and began driving south. A tech entrepreneur who made his name and fortune with a data company he sold to Oracle for $1.5 billion in 2014, Roza, 53, had just spent, according to one source, $250 million buying CrossFit Inc., the largest fitness chain in the world, somewhat bigger than Dunkin’ and somewhat smaller than Domino’s. At its peak, you could have found one of the more than 15,000 CrossFit affiliates at most latitudes and longitudes around the world – in Nuuk, Greenland; in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; in Païta, New Caledonia; in Gillette, Wyoming. Roza had big ideas that he believed could radically change the brand. And despite the Starbucks-level ubiquity of CrossFit boxes and the titanic role the company has played in the functional-fitness boom of the 21st century, CrossFit needed to change – desperately.

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sort of fitness SETI experiment. This was all well before grandmothers and Matt Damon started doing WODs. But Castro knew that his beloved brand needed an overhaul. Its trajectory was plateauing, growing 11 per cent from 2016-2018, versus 60 per cent from 2012-2014. So was participation in the CrossFit Open, an elimination contest for the CrossFit Games that anyone can enter. It went from roughly half a million athletes in 2018 to about 350,000 and 240,000 in 2019 and 2020, respectively (and the Open finished months before the pandemic struck). By April 2020, COVID-19 lockdowns had closed 89 per cent of affiliates worldwide. Then on June 3, Alyssa Royse, who owned Rocket CrossFit in Seattle, wrote a letter. Royse had run her CrossFit box for nine years and, due to her work counselling the brand on trans inclusion, had been dubbed by members of leadership “the conscience of CrossFit.” In her 2700-word letter to CrossFit leadership, she conveyed that Rocket CrossFit was unlikely to renew its affiliation, since the brand’s hands-off approach to business was no longer working. The pandemic was in full swing and a social-justice movement was sweeping across the world, and through it all, CrossFit had been silent. “The absence of real leadership didn’t matter much when the world wasn’t in crisis. But it matters now, a lot,” Royse wrote. And over recent years, CrossFit had displayed, she wrote, “incoherent brand identity that is losing value, absent leadership at a time when leadership is most important, and a moral ambiguity that doesn’t jibe with the zeitgeist or our own values.” “I’d had very open dialogues [with CrossFit corporate] about pretty much

everything,” she says today. “And I sent the letter in that spirit.” Glassman responded two days later. “You think you’re more virtuous than we are. It’s disgusting,” he wrote. “You’re doing your best to brand us as a racist and you know it’s bullshit. That makes you a really shitty person.” On June 5, Royse published her email and Glassman’s response. So began Glassman’s meltdown. Over the next four days, he would write an offensive tweet (belittling the pandemic and the death of George Floyd as “Floyd-19”) and BuzzFeed would publish audio from a Zoom call in which Glassman says, “We’re not mourning for George Floyd. Can you tell me why I should mourn for him? Other than that it’s the white thing to do . . . .” “When that came out, I was like, ‘Oh, we’re not supporting this at all anymore,’ ” says two-

Greg Glassman in New York City in 2013.

After 80 km, Roza turned off Highway 101 and onto a dirt road leading to a hilly 26-hectare ranch anchored by a warehouse filled with squat rigs, barbells, med balls, rowers and more. This was the CrossFit Ranch in Aromas, California, made famous as the site of the first CrossFit Games, which have tested the bodies and minds of the world’s fittest masochists since 2007. Ruling over this sprawl was Dave Castro, 43, the director of the Games, who is widely considered the architect of the CrossFit ethos. He had built the company alongside founder Greg Glassman, creatively translating Glassman’s elegant formula for fitness - “perform constantly varied functional movements at high intensity” - into public displays in the CrossFit Games and, probably, in some CrossFit workout of the day you ripped off the Internet once. The two had been the equivalent of Jobs and Woz. Glassman the brilliant but mercurial big-idea guy, Castro the fastidious engineer and executor. And things at CrossFit were great. Then fine. Then not very good at all, which is why, at the time of Roza’s visit to the ranch, Castro was finishing up a short stint as the company’s CEO and about to have a potentially awkward conversation with his new boss and CEO. “I wasn’t sure how Dave would respond,” says Roza. (Picture a Colorado-y Jason Statham who includes “he/him” in his email signature and shops at Whole Foods.) “[Castro] is a hard-ass. He’s lived in the world of the Navy SEALs and CrossFit his entire professional career.” Castro was the type of person who was CrossFitting when CrossFit was a garage gym that had a shitty website blasting unconventional workouts and training theories into the universe, a

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The 2020 CrossFit Games winners; Alyssa Royse at the 2019 CrossFit Games, during the All Inclusive Partner Row.

“WOULD A GUN-LOVING SEAL BE THE RIGHT FIT FOR THE NEW KUMBAYA CROSSFIT?” time Games competitor Elijah Muhammad, one of the sport’s most prominent Black athletes and the owner of the Iowabased box Unorthodox Fitness, which de-affiliated immediately. Reebok, Rogue Fitness and many other companies quickly announced they would end their partnerships or relationships with CrossFit. So did superstar athletes like Chandler Smith and Rich Froning Jr. “I was leaving money on the table, but I couldn’t ethically support CrossFit anymore,” says Smith, who is Black. Froning, who is white, announced on Instagram that he “cannot and will not stand with these comments or beliefs”. A list of nearly 500 boxes deaffiliating or considering de-affiliating circulated around the CrossFit community. Glassman stepped down as CEO on June 9. Castro replaced him and immediately issued an open letter promising to fix HQ and create programs to effect positive change. Many CrossFitters, Muhammad included, didn’t think the brand’s issues could be solved so long as Glassman maintained full ownership. Then, on June 20, the New York Times published a story detailing how women at the company were systematically mistreated and faced “lewd assessment of their bodies”. On June 24, Roza announced that he had teamed up with an investment firm, Berkshire Partners, and bought CrossFit from Glassman. Roza had actually first eyed buying CrossFit in 2013, after getting hooked on the workouts and building a CrossFit box for employees at his tech firm. “Glassman would never sell” was the response he received. But the mistake of one rich guy led to an opportunity for another, and Roza had his shot. Immediately after the paperwork went

through, Castro and Roza, who had never met in person, held a Zoom call streamed over YouTube Live to the CrossFit community. Castro opened by acknowledging the recent turmoil before introducing Roza, noting that he owned an affiliate, CrossFit Sanitas in Boulder, and had been doing CrossFit for a decade. To save the brand, Roza believed it needed to evolve and be more like Roza himself: techy, corporate, progressive and woke. In the 27-minute stream, he talked business and let everyone know there was no ambiguity: “We are committed to being a really broadly inclusive community”. But whether those 500 or so CrossFit affiliates and famous athletes would return to Roza’s evolving CrossFit was anyone’s guess. Roza needed an ally. Someone to signal that the brand would, yeah, maybe be a bit more sensitive but would remain ruthless when it came to the training methodology. But would a hard-charging, gun-loving SEAL be the right fit for the new, more kumbaya CrossFit?

ROGUE ONE The 2020 CrossFit Games were just a couple of weeks away when I, like Roza, went to the ranch to speak with Castro. We spent an hour rucking a trail that winds five kilometres through hills and gullies and were blurting sentences through heavy breaths as we climbed out of a ravine. Castro, who is a skinny-strong 183cm tall, told me he tried CrossFit as an active-duty Navy SEAL in 2005 and immediately saw many benefits. “I had a tonne of endurance hiking and was more explosive on targets.” The Navy then stationed him in Monterey, California – a 45-minute drive from both his home and Glassman’s original CrossFit gym.

“I just started volunteering for stuff. I had an official role within seven months.” CrossFit was always run like Burning Man. Anyone could attend a $1250 two-day certification, then pay a $3800 annual fee to license the CrossFit name and put it over their gym. Corporate’s role was to license the name, hold training-certification seminars and defend the trademark at all costs. But it offered a strong value proposition to gym owners. It takes an estimated $38,000 to open a CrossFit gym, while big-box gyms require an initial investment of $1.2 million to $5.1 million. The benefit to CrossFit members was that for anywhere from $120 to $380 a month, they’d receive professional coaching, make a bunch of new friends in group workouts – and get freakishly fit. By 2007, CrossFit had 250 affiliates. “Which is when [Glassman] came to the ranch,” says Castro. “He said, ‘We should have a Woodstock of fitness here’. ” Castro, the military man with a creative streak, was tasked with designing and running it. The annual Games set CrossFit apart from other fitness methods, attracting new members to boxes and giving CrossFitters a reason to train harder and test their fitness. It also bred a sense of shared purpose – like a sweatier church. Researchers at the Harvard Divinity School report that CrossFit for many is replacing traditional faiths by “blending a sense of community and self-awareness in resemblance of religion”. By 2011, CrossFit had 3000 boxes and 26,000 people competing in the Open. That year’s Games were held at a packed Home Depot Center in Carson, California, and broadcast on ESPN, and CrossFit had inked a 10-year sponsorship and athletic-wear deal with Reebok. “That’s when I realised [CrossFit] was going to be huge,” says Castro. Glassman owned 100 per cent of the company, had no board of directors and was “a fighter by nature. He thrives on conflict and friction,” says Castro. Detractors? Heaps. CrossFit was the fitness equivalent of Donald Trump, Collingwood FC or pineapple pizza. You either loved it or hated it. Glassman’s response to the haters: “There are whole communities, they just hate my fucking guts. And, you know, that’s something I’m proud of. Why? ’Cause they’re losers. They’re fucking idiots. Obvious idiots,” he told Outside in January 2020. (Glassman could not be reached for comment.) But Glassman’s bravado, until recently, only cemented CrossFit as something hard and authentic in an increasingly soft, censored world. By 2014, there were 10,000 boxes and the money was flowing in. He started spending most of his time out enjoying himself, says Justin LoFranco, founder of the Morning Chalk Up, a CrossFit MARCH 2021

news outlet. A private plane, mansions, souped-up muscle cars, etc. Castro, meanwhile, stuck to his mission of perfecting the Games. The CrossFit Open and Games events drew inspiration from Castro’s varied interests – classic literature, theatre, firearms (a point of criticism) and more. He evolved into the public face of CrossFit corporate, gathering more than 750,000 Instagram followers for the Games. Eventually Glassman got jealous, unceremoniously fired Castro’s handpicked media and operations staff overnight in 2018, and downgraded the Games, instead focusing the company’s resources on general health. Numbers at the Open fell, and in 2019 the games lost CBS as an official broadcaster. Some of Glassman’s decisions seemed erratic and deleterious, says Andre Crews, owner of 150 Bay Fit in Jersey City (which de-affiliated following Glassman’s comments). After Glassman axed community-building regional events, he also abruptly shuttered the brand’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. “It turned into this radio-silent organisation that was just taking money from you,” says Crews.

OUT-OF-THE-BOX THINKING Castro and I were still in our workout clothes as we sat at Dona Esther’s Mexican restaurant in San Juan Batista. He was telling me about his month-long tenure as CEO. “I was getting hit with claims that I was complicit in racism and that CrossFit headquarters had a problem with diversity,” he said. “I was surprised and, frankly, disappointed that nobody mentioned or pointed out that the new CEO of CrossFit was Mexican American. I’ve experienced racism. I was hurt by and struggled with some of the feedback from the community. And more often than not, it was white people screaming at me about the diversity thing.” He also addressed the New York Times article about the company’s treatment of women. “Greg was an asshole,” he said. “Yes, he was an asshole to women. But he was also an asshole to men.” He set his fork and knife down. “That’s from my perspective. And I understand there are individuals who had different experiences that I never saw. And that’s part of the dynamic here, too.” Castro didn’t want to say much more than that. He still seems to hold something of a conflicted soft spot for his previous boss. “Greg saved my life,” Castro had mentioned while we hiked. “When I decided to go fulltime at CrossFit, I was planning to do eight more years in the SEALs, and in that time with that job I could have died four times over.” 100 MEN’S HE ALTH

would get more BIPOC coaches in gyms.” The brand also has offered scholarships in Portland, Oregon, and in Nashville and made its hierarchy more diverse, hiring former SoulCycle SVP Gary Gaines as new GM of international and Dilan Gomih, former project lead of Harvard Business School’s Anti-Racism Task Force, as the director of strategic initiatives. It has created a $9 million endowment for public-health programs in underserved communities, including free or low-cost CrossFit. “The knee jerk for a lot of organisations is to just come in and do,” says Trish Gerlitz, CrossFit’s vice president of culture and inclusion, Chandler Smith a new role created by Roza. Instead, competing at the 2020 they are “listening”, opening the lines CrossFit Games. for affiliates and members to voice Other corporations, like Papa John’s, have their opinions. made full recoveries after replacing toxic The challenge is respecting the founding CEOs. Before he’ll re-affiliate, traditionally laissez-faire business model Muhammad would like to “see CrossFit that franchise owners bought into while make ways for gyms to be more diverse,” he also improving the culture and diversity says. “It takes conscious effort to improve within boxes. diversity. The brand always stated that One of the huge strengths of CrossFit (and it was for everyone. Everyone. We’re not a reason it grew so fast and has potential to seeing everyone.” Meantime, Muhammad help solve the problem of fitness deserts in has started Project Onyx, which gives free marginalised communities) is that starting memberships and CrossFit-style courses to a box is cheap. Yet it’s still unaffordable for Black community members. many people. Roza says that, upon taking the Castro himself has led or participated in job, he was surprised to learn that “there are similar programs, including one with Rancho over 300 [CrossFit] gyms in K-through-12 Cielo Youth Campus, a social-services center schools in the US. There has never been any for underserved youth in Monterey County. market development there.” Teens in the program, who were all Mexican Some of the important paths to more American, regularly came to train and learn diversity may be indirect, says Smith, who about CrossFit. Seeing the benefits of that placed sixth in the 2020 Games. He hopes program, Castro, in one of his first moves as to see a rebuilding of the CrossFit media team. CEO, started a scholarship that hosts free “If you’re not telling stories, then whatever Level 1 trainer certifications for teens in the prevailing narrative is takes over,” he at-risk communities. says. “I go to a lot of different boxes and The first scholarship drew teens to it’s always been welcoming. I’ve met more CrossFit Downtown Atlanta over the second members of the LGBTQ community, weekend of July. “We’re not just teaching young and old, people with different views, them how to do CrossFit,” says Castro, who through CrossFit.” acted as an instructor at the event, something This is also why some people argue he hadn’t done in years. “We’re giving these that CrossFit’s problem hasn’t been with youth an opportunity for a skill set where, the fitness methodology or what happens down the road, they could open a gym and inside the boxes. It’s been at the corporate make a living off it.” The program, Castro level. Gerlitz hired a third party, Diversity thought, would also arm young people with Solutions, to help with its inclusivity fitness and nutrition information that may initiatives. “And we’re launching a diversity allow them to make meaningful health-care council,” she says. changes in their communities. “I’ve seen [diversity measures] be Royse, the conscience of CrossFit, would done badly by people who were well-meaning,” like to see scholarship spots expanded to all adds Roza. “We have to build inclusion Level 1 trainer certifications. “Affiliates can into the institutional fabric of the brand. only hire CrossFit-certified coaches. When And what I’m hearing from people is, ‘We I ran my affiliate, I was limited to hiring want you to focus on race, but we also need people with CrossFit certifications, and more to be more sensitive around people with often than not, those people were white,” she different religions and belief systems, gender says. “Say, five or six spots in every single preferences and identities, body shapes certification for BIPOC coaches. That – and more’. ”

F IT NE S S

OPPOSITES ATTRACT When a SEAL and a computer nerd meet, the SEAL will always have the upper hand, in coolness, toughness, life experience (even if the nerd ends up saving the SEAL later). And so it was that at their initial meeting at the ranch in June, Roza was “uh . . . reticent. I’m not usually a reticent guy, but I was, you know, throwing out new ideas,” he says via Zoom from CrossFit’s temporary HQ in Boulder. In the back of his mind, he assumed Castro was thinking, “Who the hell is this guy? What does he know? What does he know about CrossFit, the CrossFit Games and live events in general?” Roza says. “To be fair, the answer would be zero. Zero-point-zero would be the right answer. “But,” Roza says of Castro, “he was really cool and welcoming of outside perspectives.” Perhaps Castro was just buttering up his new boss up for a big request: “He said, ‘We’ve got to do the Games and get it right’, ” says Roza. This was late June 2020, and major sports were starting to come back in pandemicaltered ways. Holding the Games, Castro believed, would be a first step towards reuniting the fractured community. It would show the sponsors who’d bailed that the new regime was committed to moving forward. The Games launched in late October at the ranch in a pandemic-conscious format. With Glassman gone, HQ was able to scramble to regain sponsors like Goruck, U.S. Army, Whoop and Rogue. “We got CBS to come along as a broadcaster,” says Roza. Roughly 400,000 people tuned into the CBS broadcast, part of the 11.5 million total who watched the Games on television and various streaming

platforms, up 31 per cent from 2019 figures. Castro believed that, under Glassman, he’d been held back from making CrossFit into one of the biggest sports in the world. Bigger than the UFC. “In our sport, we can have a majority of people who are watching the sport also going to affiliates and participating in the sport and involved in the community,” he says. Roza has an objective of his own. “In 10 years, my goal is to have 100 million people doing CrossFit,” he says. The competitions, already global, with the top 30 men and 30 women representing 15 countries, serve as an annual, international reminder that the WODs really work. Building the competitive side of CrossFit, the two think, can also serve as a launching pad for a longer-term goal: pulling more people from different backgrounds into the fold. “Dave and I spent a lot of time thinking about how we can make the future Games even more inclusive for more people to participate,” says Roza. For the first time, the 2021 Games will include adaptive categories for people with disabilities. But Roza will face a few business conundrums. A common experience among CrossFitters is looking for a “good” CrossFit box – a box with competent trainers, a friendly atmosphere and an approach to the method that will push but not injure them. Which is why Royse’s letter called out CrossFit’s “incoherent brand identity”. “If you ask strangers on the street what CrossFit is, you’ll get infinitely varied answers,” Royse says. “Anybody walking down the street should be able to see a CrossFit gym and have a baseline

“CROSSFIT COULD BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST SPORTS IN THE WORLD. BIGGER THAN THE UFC. THE GOAL IS 100 MILLION PEOPLE IN TEN YEARS” The ﬁrst scholarship event in Atlanta, July 2020.

expectation of what they will find.” High-intensity, functional-training gym chains like Orangetheory and F45, Royse says, are gaining ground on CrossFit by delivering customers a predictable experience in all of their locations. “The beauty of CrossFit is that [the affiliates] are all different, but there needs to be some agreed-upon standards,” she says. Roza says he understands the upsides of Glassman’s laissez-faire model. But taken to the extreme, it ignored many opportunities. He’s planning to create best practices, scalability and robustness in the business through automation and information sharing. Affiliates will be networked so they can swap advice. (When running CrossFit Sanitas, he found that mothers bring in the most new members, whereas most CrossFit coaches try to attract amazing athletes.) He’ll also develop a consumer app, and CrossFit will “use technology to translate information, so people don’t have to speak English to be CrossFitters”. Making concerted efforts to grow CrossFit around the globe, Roza says, will add a lot of different people and could get him to 100 million. Brazil, for example, saw its number of affiliates rocket by more than 50 per cent in 2018 to 1150. But all these changes are happening in the context of a pandemic that created a massive ripple in the gym model. More people are now doing CrossFit at home and will be in the future. And any paid apps would have to offer a better product than what can be found online for free. WODwell, a free searchable database of thousands of CrossFit workouts maintained by the community, for instance, has seen more than double the traffic to its website during the pandemic. But is a religion a religion without the church?

PROOF OF CONCEPT? Soon after his trip to the ranch, Roza called on another person. “Mutual friends connected us and said, ‘You guys should really talk,’ ” says Royse, who agreed to speak to the new CrossFit owner. The two, along with Gerlitz, spoke about Royse’s experience as an affiliate owner, her letter, the recent fallout and what CrossFit plans to do to move forward. “They have a huge job ahead of them. A huge job,” Royse says. “I left my conversations with all of them thinking that I believe these to be good people. That’s a really positive change.” But she says she’s not immediately jumping back on as an affiliate. “I would like to come back. But not being an affiliate hasn’t hurt us at all. I can hire and have access to a more diverse collection of coaches. I’m looking for reasons to come back. But I need to see the systemic changes. They’re saying all the right things. We need to actually see it.” MARCH 2021 101

MH TRANSFORMATIONS

JACKED TO THE

RAFTERS

ACTOR HUGH SHERIDAN BEGAN A 12-WEEK TRANSFORMATION EARLY LAST YEAR BEFORE COVID-19 CHANGED THE WORLD. WITH HIS CAREER ABRUPTLY PUT ON HOLD AND DOUBTS ABOUT WHETHER THIS STORY WOULD EVER MAKE IT TO PRINT, SHERIDAN CHOSE TO KEEP TRAINING IN ISOLATION. THE EXPERIENCE WOULD STRETCH HIM TO HIS PHYSICAL AND MENTAL LIMITS, BUT IN THE PROCESS HE WOULD FIND STRENGTH WITHIN HE HAD FORGOTTEN HE POSSESSED BY

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BEN JHOT Y

PHOTOGR APH Y BY

JA SON IER ACE

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Pool your resources: lockdown forced Sheridan to get creative in his training. MARCH 2021 103

BEFORE

As he hit his mid-thirties Sheridan’s waistline was beginning to wander. Keen to tone up and add muscle, he began this challenge filled with optimism. Then came COVID . . .

WEIGHT

89KG

BODY FAT

14%

AFTER

Despite formidable obstacles and numerous crises of confidence, Sheridan managed to nuke his love handles and carve eye-popping definition. In the process he built something else: character

ROLE OF A LIFETIME “I’m probably not the person you think I am. I play someone that’s the quintessential Aussie bloke, great at footy, great at surfing, all that sort of thing. I can play Ben Rafter, because I know him. And a huge amount of that character probably is me, but there’s a great deal about him that’s not me at all. Growing up, I did play a bit of AFL. I wasn’t very good. I don’t want to say I was a wuss, but I just wasn’t really into getting hit. I was much more of a drama kid. Before I was five, I wanted to be a singer like my dad. And then when I turned five my parents put me into acting class. From then on I was like, ‘I’m going to be an actor’. But I’ve never been a very confident person, which a lot of people might find strange. I was really bullied at school because I wasn’t sporty and I was different. I was a pretty introverted kid. I also had acne. But I found ways of getting through, one of which was movies. I loved movies. When I turned 16, I auditioned for the Australian Ballet School and got in. It was so hard mentally and physically. I have so much respect for dancers. In Australia we have such incredible dancers, but I don’t know whether we appreciate just what goes into it. I think that dancing background is why I’ve found it a little bit easier to condition my body, at least for most of my 20s. If you’re training at an elite level when you’re only 16 or 17, which are such important years of growth, you’ve got a better chance of that sticking around. I saw this 12-week challenge as an amazing opportunity. Perhaps because I didn’t grow up a hugely sporty person, I have an insecurity that I’m not good enough. I think I’m doing this just for me, to say you can be this person. It doesn’t matter whether you were sporty at school or not. You can grow up and be that person.

SHOCK THERAPY The first session with Jono [Castano], my trainer, I felt dizzy and sick pretty quickly. I 104 MEN’S HE ALTH

M H T RANS FO R MATIO N S

WEIGHT

79KG

BODY FAT

“Because I didn’t grow up a sporty person, I have an insecurity that I’m not good enough”

MARCH 2021 105

Rocky terrain: Sheridan’s road to ripped hit plenty of bumps.

was trying to act cool. He wasn’t giving me heavy weights or anything, but I was like, ‘I’m going to vomit. I’m going to the bathroom’. I swore I was going to throw up and then I just started seeing dark spots. I said, ‘I’m going to faint. I’m going to faint’. So, I sat down on the floor and I thought because I was boiling hot, I’d put my head on the tiles to cool off. But they were heated. So, I was lying on these heated tiles, I couldn’t move and I was so ill. I was the most out of shape I’ve ever been. I really just thought, ‘What the fuck have I done? This is awful’. As I lay there I honestly didn’t know if I was going to be able to do this. But I thought about it and I was like, ‘No, you can. You have to. Because what are you going to do? Just give up?’ I was like, ‘If I can’t do it now it’s going to be even harder next time’. Going into the challenge, my biggest fear was time. I never felt like I had the time to do it. For example, I would be shooting all day in Sydney on Back to the Rafters and then I’d fly to Melbourne to shoot Five Bedrooms on a Friday morning. But then I would fly back to Sydney that afternoon to shoot here and then fly to Adelaide that night. Saturday was my solo show at The Fringe. I would have two 106 MEN’S HE ALTH

shows that day. One at 4:30 and one at 11pm and then two on Sunday. Then I’d fly back here and I’d be shooting again. That was hard for Jono and it was hard for me. But what I’ve learned is that you do have time. It just depends how much you want the result. One of my housemates had a saying written on his wall that said, ‘Discipline is just the difference between choosing what you want now and what you want the most’. That really resonated with me. It could be as simple as not looking at Instagram before you go to bed or deciding whether or not to make a phone call. It’s about making the time. I really had to make the most of everything.

SCRIPT, FLIPPED We were in the middle of shooting Back to the Rafters, like actually filming a scene, and we got called out into the backyard and they said, ‘Everybody put down your tools, it’s time to go home’. It was a little bit scary. All of my jobs stopped at the same time. And that created a whole new array of problems. I had been really looking forward to Back to the Rafters finishing, because then I would only be shooting Five Bedrooms and I thought that I was going to be able to really

M H T RANS FO R MATIO N S

“I was looking in the mirror and just picking myself apart” focus on the training. There had been times when I’d been like, ‘I wish I could just focus on my body’ and then suddenly you do have the time. But the challenge that came with COVID was that the gyms closed down. Suddenly, there was a lot to learn about how this was going to be possible. But I said to myself, ‘I’ve come so far. I just want to keep going with this’. It was the one thing that I’d started that was going to be consistent in my life. And so, I thought, ‘It’s good to hang onto that because a lot of people have lost their work and they’ve lost everything, they don’t know what to do’. And I thought, ‘Well, at least I’m still going to have this goal’. So, I stuck with it. I bought a bunch of weights and put them out on my deck. I put together a very makeshift gym. I had dumbbells. I didn’t have a bench, so I’d set up towels on the ground to do bench presses and then use a deck chair to try and do shoulder presses. And I got my basketball and started using that for core work. Before COVID happened, Jono left to go to LA for three weeks. I rang around some friends in Bronte where I was staying and they recommended this trainer called Sean Aalders. I said, ‘I’m kind of struggling a little bit’. And he said we could train in the park

across the road with the son of a friend of his. So, the three of us would train at a safe distance in the park. I started to realise one of the benefits of lockdown is that in separation there’s also a lot of coming together. At the same time, I did have to train on my own a lot and that started to challenge me in different ways. I’d wake up and go, ‘How the hell am I supposed to keep doing this?’ One of the things that initially frustrated me when we lost the gym was that I wanted to gain more size. I basically had to rely on doing lots of bodyweight reps because none of my weights were anywhere near as big as what they had at the gyms and you couldn’t really hire equipment. It was frustrating because when we started I would look in the mirror and even though I don’t think I was so terrible to begin with, there was a lot about myself that I didn’t like. I felt like I was starting to lose the mass that I’d put on before COVID in the gym. I started looking in the mirror and just picking myself apart, which I guess a lot of people probably do in isolation because you’ve got time to do it. You’ve got more time to go, ‘Oh God, my arms are shrinking’ or ‘My abs are disappearing’. So, one morning I put on a meditation. There’s a great motivational speaker I love

called Esther Hicks. She said, ‘All I want is for you to look in the mirror and like what you see’. And then she said, ‘Once you like it, everything will start to change’. So, I stood there in the mirror and took the time to really look at myself. I said, ‘Hugh, you’re doing a really good job. The transformation is working’, and basically, ‘I love you’. Then I laughed. I felt like an idiot and I enjoyed that. Then things did start to change. My attitude to training by myself changed and I actually started to go, ‘This is good. This is fun. I’m going to put on music. I’m going to do the best that I can and watch the results come’.

STRENGTH LIES WITHIN I’d been thinking about an idea for a movie for about four years. I’d never written a film before but in this period of isolation I sat down and I started writing about when I was 16 and left home to study ballet. I had gone through some old boxes and found diaries from that time. They were a real eye-opener. I’d forgotten how hard it was. I couldn’t believe that I was writing this stuff when I was 16. It was great inspiration for the film, but at the same time it was a massive inspiration for me in training because I was starting to remember how strong I am. I was writing about the only time in my life where I’d suffered depression. Going back to that time reminded me what an amazing achievement it was that I got through it. And I felt like, if I got through that – and it was very hard – I can totally get through this. Because I had forgotten. I’d forgotten who I was. The film poured out of me. My most creative time for writing was at night. I would be typing away, then the next thing you know you hear the kookaburras and the sun’s coming up. Then I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to train today. What the hell am I doing?’ It came down to relinquishing control and saying, ‘It’s okay, this is an unusual time. You’re going to get through this one way or another. Just keep going’. The film is called The Dance. A guy that I know from the early Packed to the Rafters days is going to produce it. I’m really proud of it but the truth is I never would have done it if it hadn’t been for COVID. I never would have actually sat down and written a film that was so healing for me to write. This transformation has been far better than I could have imagined because of the obstacles I’ve faced. All the odds were stacked against me, but I managed to get here. I never thought that I would be able to get through this. But that’s because I forgot. When I looked at those diaries I was like, ‘You are strong’. And it reminded me, we are all capable of so much more than we think.” MARCH 2021 107

“All the odds were stacked against me, but I managed to get here”

Happy ending: writing inspired Sheridan’s unlikely transformation tale.

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WORKOUT

Broadband of brothers: Castano kept Sheridan’s training on track from far and wide.

REMOTE CONTROL

AFTER A DISASTROUS BEGINNING, TRAINER JONO CASTANO (@JONOCASTANOACERO) REVEALS HOW HE AND SHERIDAN BATTLED DISLOCATION AND ISOLATION TO ACHIEVE A RESULT THAT SPEAKS TO STRENGTH OF MIND AND BODY “The first session with Hugh really kind of shook him. Most people think of intense training as around 70 per cent of your max. But when you have a trainer there’s no mucking around. It’s 100 per cent and there’s no skipping reps, you’ve got to be accountable. I know he got sick. It was just new to him and it really affected him. There’s always going to be obstacles and that shows the character of who you are. He had a lot of travel, then I had to go to LA as well. So, there was a lot of online communication between us, even before COVID. At the end of the day, you can’t rely on being with a trainer every single day. It just shows that if you learn the program and you stick to it, you can get great results, even if you’ve got a busy schedule or you’re travelling. The first six weeks we were in a gym. We never really went too heavy because of his schedule. With an actor, if you go heavy, he could get injured or he could be too sore the next day, to the point where he physically can’t act. So, what I did was lower the load, focus on the tempo and then really just got creative with the choice of exercises. As soon as COVID started the gyms shut. To build muscle solely through bodyweight movements is very difficult. Sure, you’re going to create a lot of tension, but there’s no progressive overload. He was kind of fighting for survival with these 12kg dumbbells. So, we did what we could. He trained on his balcony with two dumbbells, a mat and a basketball. It just shows how effective dumbbells and bodyweight can actually be if you’re committed to it. With nutrition, he used a company called Bondi Meal Prep. Week one to six he was consuming around 8300kJ a day. And then the last few weeks, we brought it down to 5800-6200kJ. The meals were simple. In terms of protein it was beef, salmon, chicken. For carbohydrates it was sweet potatoes or white potatoes and rice. For fibre you’ve got broccoli and beans. He was using a WPI for protein and amino acids during his workouts. And he took multivitamins as well. Overall, he managed to keep a lot of the muscle in iso that he’d built in the gym. That’s a testament to him, his character and determination.”

SOLITARY REFINEMENT Sheridan’s iso regimen

PUSH-UPS

DUMBBELL BENCH PRESS

100 reps for time Assume a push-up position, then lower your body until your chest touches the ground. Push back to the starting posititon. Track progress each week.

20,15,12,10, 5 reps Lie on your back with a set of dumbbells raised above your chest. Lower slowly until your arms touch the ground, then push back up.

HOLLOW HOLD

BASKETBALL SIDE CRUNCH

30 secs on, 15 off x 5 Lie on the ground with your arms by your side. Lift your legs together while raising your neck and hold. Lower back to the starting position.

15 reps each side x 5 Lie on your side with your feet together. Hold a basketball above your head and lift your torso as high as you can. Lower to the starting position.

TRICEPS DIP

SEATED SHOULDER PRESS

20,15,12,10, 5 reps Grip a chair with your feet extended. Lower your body until your arms are parallel to the ground before pushing up. Raise feet for added tension.

20,15,12,10,5 reps Sit in a chair holding dumbbells at shoulder height. Raise above your head until dumbbells touch, then lower back to the starting position.

MARCH 2021 109

EVERYTHING TO Maynor De Leon is on an epic quest to shed 225 kilograms. What’s it gonna take? BY

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BRYAN SMITH

PHOTOGR APH Y BY

NOLIS ANDERSON

W EI GH T LO S S

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t was just a mirror. Hung on a wall in his family’s apartment. It had been there so long it was just another piece of furniture, as uninteresting as a table lamp. Except for him. For him, it almost glowed. It radiated a kind of menace. It taunted him. Look at me. That’s what I thought. You won’t. You afraid. Shit. In his west Chicago neighbourhood of Pilsen, fear was a luxury that could get you killed. Even if you felt it, you didn’t show it, didn’t admit it, even to yourself. Afraid? Look at him. He was big. Huge. More than 300 kilos. Afraid? Say something. Call him a name. Call him fat. Then get ready. They didn’t. Not anymore. They had learned that if they did, he would shut them down real quick – either with fists or through a roast that would leave their cheeks burning. The mirror, however, didn’t play that. The mirror knew his soul. That he was afraid. Ashamed. And it knew his darkest secret: that he despised himself. Who he was. How he’d let himself get to this point. On the rare occasions he allowed himself a glimpse, those things would crash over him like a wave, so that eventually when he would pass by the mirror, any mirror, he would ignore it, recoil from it – anything but look into it.

Big Trouble Before he was an unlikely Instagram star with 150,000 followers and a deal with Nike, Maynor De Leon was big. For as long as he could remember, he dwarfed his friends and, in girth at least, his three older brothers. By first grade, he was wearing size 10 “grown man” shoes. Kid shoes were fine lengthwise but way too narrow. Within days of getting a new pair, the sides would blow like an overfilled tyre. To make the adult shoes work, he stuffed the front ends with socks. As for clothes, he stuck to triple-XL shirts and trackpants. In primary school, he would have loved to be invisible. But his size not only made that 112 MEN’S HE ALTH

The Start: Maynor De Leon, age 24, in Chicago in 2016, when he was at his heaviest, over 300kg.

impossible; it made him more conspicuous, a target. He wasn’t just bigger than everyone else. He looked older. At age 12, people assumed he was 16 or 17. “Damn, you fat” was the least cruel taunt he would hear, but it wounded him every time. Deep down he was a thoughtful, smart, empathetic kid who loved people. But on the gang-thick city blocks where he lived, you didn’t dare cop to such things – not if you didn’t want to be laughed at, bullied or worse. One of his earliest memories was of a teenager being shot and killed right outside his home. He ran to the window when the gunfire rang out and watched the kid bleed out. His brothers, father and friends shrugged it off – life in the ’hood. For him, the moment was profound, frightening. Maynor’s appearance only compounded the need he felt to come off as hard, especially when gang members would stop and “check” him – ask who he was affiliated with. “No one,” he would answer. “I’m just a kid wearing baggy clothes.” At home, he clashed with his father, his attitude one of rebellion fuelled by anger. His mother ached for her son and tried to make peace between the two, with little success. Once he entered high school, Maynor realised he could go one of two ways. He could be shy and “soft”, as small as possible, at least with his personality or he could do the opposite, become bigger, tougher, defiant in his heaviness. He wouldn’t wait for someone to call him fat – he would do it first and dare anyone to take it further: “Yeah, I’m fat. I can

lose weight, but you ugly and stupid and that don’t never go away”. It didn’t help that he lived in a food desert, with few grocery stores offering fresh fruit and vegetables. Instead, it was filled with fastfood places and corner stores. What’s more, the junk food was far cheaper. For breakfast he’d often eat a couple of cinnamon buns washed down with three or four juice boxes. Far from discouraging Maynor, his family celebrated food, at least in his early years. His mother was from Mexico and his father from Guatemala – and meals, particularly during the holidays, filled the house with the aroma of tamales and empanadas. His nickname, gordito – little fat man – was used with affection: “Mira, gordito, ven a comer un poco de este pollo!” (“Hey, chubby, come have some of this chicken!”) As he grew older, Maynor’s most cherished memories involved food set out for holiday meals. It represented warmth and love and happiness. Family. Everyone eating, laughing. Food was home. But by the time he reached high school, food had become, in effect, a comforting drug, one supplemented by a more common form of escape: alcohol. He had started drinking beer at age 13. By high school, he would pour vodka into his Gatorade in the morning. When worry crept in over his drinking, he would default to nihilism: what does it matter? I’ll be dead by 25 anyway. Might as well enjoy myself. When he graduated, the 175cm Maynor weighed more than 270kg. He had high blood

W E IGH T LO S S The work: trainer David Carson says Maynor is seriously strong, in part because he had to carry around over 300kg every day.

“‘DAMN, YOU FAT’ WAS THE LEAST CRUEL TAUNT. IT WOUNDED HIM EVERY TIME” pressure and severe sleep apnoea. He could no longer rise from the couch without help. To get out of bed, he had to heave himself to a sitting position, slowly swing his legs over the edge, then try to stand. Such struggles made him more depressed, which he covered up with more food, which made him more depressed still. He was trapped and, worse, both in denial and stubborn. He was the big guy no one messed with, a star in his own way, made so by his extraordinary size and his “I don’t give a fuck” facade. He thought he would carry this weight forever.

Judgment Day One day in 2015, however, Maynor noticed he’d developed a leg infection. His parents took him to University of Illinois Hospital, where a doctor said he needed surgery to determine the extent of the infection. “If it’s in your bloodstream,” the surgeon explained, “we would have to amputate so it doesn’t go to your heart.” Wheeled into surgery, Maynor started to panic after a breathing tube was inserted. At that moment, a sedative began to take effect. He kept thinking, I’m so sleepy and I can’t breathe. I’m so sleepy and so fucking . . . tired. He’d accept whatever came next. If I die, his last thought went, I die. Maynor was swimming. Up through pain, through sadness and anger, churning,

fighting, up and out of unconsciousness, a diver pulling his way to the surface. When his eyes fluttered open and the details of where he was slowly sharpened, he felt a tube in his throat. He looked around, at the bed, the IV pole, the green lines oscillating on a screen a few feet away. Directly above him was a light fixture with a reflecting panel. There was no way to avoid looking at it. The thing he would be staring at for the next 10 days as he recovered: his own image. At first, he was angry. Angry that he was in a hospital bed that he couldn’t get out of, angry that he could not eat to cover up those feelings, angry that he wasn’t the person he wanted to be. Rage became depression; depression became despair. Maynor wasn’t a crier. He wouldn’t let himself be vulnerable like that. But several days into his hospital stay, he broke, and all the emotions, the fear and the self-hate that he had numbed with food over the years flooded out. His mother, who had come to see him each day, was worried. His dad had stayed at the hospital with him for the first six days, round the clock. They had never seen Maynor so down. The biggest part of his depression welled from how much he despised himself. It had fed his acting out, his rebellion, especially against his father. The two had gone after each other hard.

Maynor was not sure what to expect when his father – “my old man,” as he calls him – said he wanted to talk. Averting his gaze, Maynor listened as his dad uttered words that were as healing as any medication dripping into his veins. “No matter what we go through from here,” he said, “you are still my son. It doesn’t matter what you weigh. I love you, and I got you.” The 10 days he spent in the hospital were the worst and best days of his life. “If I would have died right there and then, no one would have went, ‘Oh, damn, that’s a surprise. Maynor’s fat ass died’,” he says. “I realised I had a second chance.” A couple months after he was out of the hospital, on April 30, 2016, Maynor sat down on a couch in his home, propped up his smartphone and tapped the video app. “I am a little over 700 pounds (317kg),” he said in a sombre yet warm voice. “I know I need to make a change, because if I don’t, my weight is going to kill me. I have a long and harsh road in front of me.” Maynor couldn’t stand social media. Bunch of trolls and haters. Why would people want to put themselves out there to be roasted? But what if he did it differently, created an Instagram account that was raw and revealing, one in which he admitted his struggles as well as celebrated his successes? Yeah, people would hate, but so what? This was his journey, and social media was a way for him to tell his story rather than have people look at him and make up their own. It would also be a way to hold himself accountable. He started going to a local gym, then to a boxing gym, walking on a treadmill, hitting the heavy bag. He began posting at @thatbigguy700. His goal was hugely ambitious: losing 500 pounds or 227kg. Ten followers became a hundred. A hundred became a thousand. Viewers responded. Not with the hate he expected but with support. “You inspire me.” “I’m fat, too, and I want to do this.” “Man, you have a lot of courage. Much respect.” After a few months, Maynor had built a following of 70,000. When the inevitable troll would weigh in – “Why you such a fat ass?” – Maynor didn’t even need to respond. His fans would do it for him, bombarding the person with angry blasts. Nike took notice and used him in a short “Just do it” video that went viral. Suddenly he had trainers pleading to work with him, though he got the sense that they weren’t really in it for him and didn’t understand him. Maynor had lost some weight, but he needed help. He needed someone good and someone who got him.

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appears to personify success. But he has endured his own dark journey. As a college basketball player at Purdue University Fort Wayne with NBA aspirations, Carson was driving home to Chicago from Indiana for his graduation party on June 5, 2010, when he was hit head-on by a woman trying to kill herself. She died. Carson, however, was cut out of his car by emergency workers. He had suffered a broken arm, a broken leg, a fractured sternum and eight dislocated toes. “You were lucky,” one rescue worker told him. Lucky? he thought. I was driving along minding my own business and, in a flash, my entire world is turned upside down. My career is over. I’m lucky? Carson sank into a deep depression. Nightmares tortured his sleep. He couldn’t be in a car – either as a passenger or as a driver – without fighting panic attacks. He was irritable. He had been on the brink of possibly playing in the NBA, his lifelong dream. That was now dead. Why me? he asked himself over and over. Carson stopped working out for several months – resuming only when his mother, who was dealing with health problems brought on by being overweight, asked if her son could help her. He did. After working with him, she lost 68kg in one year. Carson had found his calling. Clients flocked to him, not only because of his skills as a trainer but also because of his ability to connect with those who were struggling, an empathy he admits was born only from the crash. Carson opened 24Life, housed in a hangar-sized gym on Chicago’s hot Near North Side. His ethos: “Your health is more than the hour or two you spend in the gym. Health encompasses your entire life. How well do you eat? Do you positively affect your community?” Nike originally made the recommendation that Carson and Maynor work together, but friends had also pointed the trainer to Maynor’s story. He immediately knew: “I want to work with that guy. I want to help.” But their first session, in June 2019 at Carson’s

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gym, went poorly. To Carson, Maynor seemed not just wary but put off. To Maynor, Carson came off as too super-trainer guy, all platitudes and workout-speak. Carson was so eager to work with Maynor that he forgot what worked for him: sharing his own story. As it happened, another trainer shared it for him, telling Maynor all about Carson’s accident, his journey, his sincere desire to help. Maynor was stunned when he heard about Carson’s depression. He called the trainer shortly after that first workout and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?” Carson apologised and then added something that echoed what Maynor’s father had once said: “I want you to know that no matter what, whether you regain a few pounds or struggle, I got your back. We’re in this together – not just as trainer and client but as friends helping each other”. For their partnership to work, Maynor would have to be patient, in it for the long haul. Reality shows like The Biggest Loser were fine as far as they went. Contestants did indeed quickly shed hundreds of kilos and looked and felt dramatically better. But in many cases, they put the weight back on after the season ended. Losing weight rapidly significantly lowers a person’s resting metabolism, so they have to eat less and less. At the same time, hormones are battering the brain

relentlessly, signalling a feeling of hunger. If Maynor really wanted this, he would have to change everything about his life – his diet, his sleep habits, his workout regimen – and continue his emotional growth, including confronting the demons that had led to his overeating in the first place. It would be the hardest thing he’d ever done, and it would require more strength than he ever thought he had. But he would also have to be realistic. Carson was not perfect and neither was he. And that was okay. That said, Carson was not going to baby him. “I want to train you like I train an Olympic athlete,” he told Maynor. It would be a four-year plan. The initial goal, he said, was for Maynor to be able to “own his weight” – that is, be able to carry himself with balance and strength, get his body to cooperate when doing various exercises. Lots of planks, squats, step-ups and walking. That would take the first year. “I want to get to a place where if you lose your balance,” Carson said, “It isn’t, ‘Oh, shit’, but ‘All right – I’m strong enough to balance on one leg’.” The reason, he continued, is that “People have a fear of falling, so they protect themselves, but that self-protection prevents them from progressing”. “I’m down,” Maynor said. “Let’s do this.”

“IT SUDDENLY HIT HIM: HE WAS STARING INTO A MIRROR AND IT WAS FINE”

WE IGH T LO S S

Keep On Grinding The workout space On Your Mark is a massive landscape of weightlifting machines, walking tracks, heavy bags and benches. On a Wednesday morning in January, Maynor, now 28, is in the middle of it, as he is five days a week now. He’s bright, confident, quick to smile. He hoists a heavy canvas ball over his head and slams it down with a guttural “HUMPH!” five times, over and over, the impact echoing through the gym. Boom! Boom! Carson, as usual, stands by his side, spotting, correcting, encouraging. In between sets with the ball, Maynor steps laterally, up and over, back and forth, between two yellow hurdles. “Ten seconds,” says Carson. “Give me 10 seconds.” Maynor marches back and forth, pulling his knees up, setting his feet down. Back to the ball. “Give me five more. Let’s go.” Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Back to the hurdles. “Ten seconds. Starting in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . ” His face shining with sweat, Maynor marches, Carson touching his shoulders to help him maintain balance in what looks like a workout dance duet. Next, Maynor pounds the heavy ball into a nearby wall, flinging it with thudding force, five on the left, five on the right. “Two more.” Seconds later, with a Kanye West track thumping through the gym, Maynor pulls the handle on a cable, doing biceps curls. And on it goes, for an hour. Maynor is dripping with sweat by the end as he lifts a water bottle and gulps. Carson gives him a light shoulder tap and points. “Good job.” Smiling The Future: Maynor is 60 per cent of the way to reaching his weight-loss target. When he hits it, he already has a next goal: run a marathon.

The journey: Carson and Maynor working out at On Your Mark. First they focused on movement; now it’s strength.

through the perspiration, Maynor nods, then claps, then throws back his head and shouts, “YEAHHHH!” It isn’t glamorous. After some of his sets, Maynor bends at the waist, looking up, sweat streaming, only to have Carson in his ear, urging him on. None of the exercises is easy. Pushing a sled, as Carson rides on it, shouting at him, is a particular dread. He hates it because it sucks. And he loves it precisely because he hates it. Because he isn’t here to front – to strut around the gym or stand around shooting the shit. His Instagram video for today won’t be filmed from flattering angles to make him look better. He’s here, as he puts it, to “get dreams and get there by being uncomfortable”, and in order to do that he has to be real – with himself and his followers. Maynor still loves food. He says his greatest struggle is resisting the temptation to eat. When he feels hungry he asks himself, Am I really hungry? Or stressed? Now he monitors all his meals, following a plan that emphasises satiating proteins and fibre-rich vegetables. He’s replaced juice boxes with water. His daily target is 11,500kJ. He batchcooks for the whole week: ground chicken stir-fry with mixed chillies, peas and broccoli; salmon cakes on red cabbage and green beans; a bean bowl with black beans, chickpeas, capsicum and tomatoes. Maynor has had his share of setbacks. The difference is that if he can’t catch himself, he will at least make the food he eats healthy. Gone are the Big Mac binges – instead, he’ll

grill some chicken and vegetables. If he has an ice cream sandwich, it will be one he made out of high-protein waffle mix and low-fat frozen yoghurt. And he remembers that he will have to cop to the backslide on Instagram – although, again, that makes his story more relatable, meaning he wins more support, which motivates him more. Four years into his journey, and after one year working with Carson, Maynor has lost nearly 135kg and now weighs 188kg. He has 100kg to go. The weight fell off quickly at the start, but it’s slower now. Carson says they have adjusted their weekly goals to focus more on performance than on weight loss. In fact, they no longer do weekly weigh-ins. “We’re looking for strength gains in the deadlift and squat,” says Carson. “If we hit the strength goals, we’ll get there with the weight, because muscle burns more calories than fat. His metabolism will do the work.” Maynor feels better physically, of course, but the payoff doesn’t end at his increased mobility and strength. Through social media, he has developed a group of close supporters who have become more than just fans – they are friends. Carson is one of his best. When the two aren’t working together, they have long talks – not about new exercises or progress but about life, where each of them is at emotionally.

Man In The Mirror A fter a recent workout, Maynor felt something strange. He ran his hand over his left arm, then his right. Were they lumps? Nah, on both arms, in the same spot? Standing nearby, Carson watched, smiling. “You’re starting to get definition,” he said. “Muscles.” If, in that moment, Carson had walked up to Maynor and held out a lottery scratch card worth a million dollars, Maynor would have been more excited about hearing those two words used to describe him. Muscles. Definition. “Get the F out. Me?” “It’s true. Go look.” Before he realised what he was doing, Maynor found himself standing in front of his old enemy, facing his old monster, that which he’d avoided for so much of his life. He allowed his eyes to drop to his body. There, in the mirror, he could see that he was still big. He was still a long way from his ultimate goal. But hell if his trainer, now his friend, wasn’t right. Maynor could see outlines of muscle. He looked back up and saw his own face, still round but less so. It suddenly hit him: he was staring into a mirror and it was fine. And then he knew. It wasn’t ever about the mirror. He looked back at his changing body, and then he did something he never thought he’d do. Maynor flexed.

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NEW PODCAST

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122 A GYMNAST’S PHYSIQUE IS YOURS FOR THE BUILDING

B E C A U S E

F I T

I S

T H E

126 TRAIN LIKE A RAPPER

N E W

129 MASTER THE PUSH-UP

R I C H

PERPETUAL MOMENTUM

Junior gymnast, Afghanistan veteran, celebrity PT: Adi Gillespie has taken many forms. He talks to Daniel Davies about how training has been a constant support PHOTOGR APHY BY :

DAVID VENNI

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FLIP YOUR TRAINING STYLE

Learn from a can-do guy who trains to live, and not the other way around. Results – in and out of the gym – are all but guaranteed

INSTA FOLLOWERS

80kg WEIGHT

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ADI GILLESPIE is out of his comfort zone. When you consider that we’re talking about a man who joined the UK’s Royal Air Force (RAF) at 17 and served in Afghanistan, who was employed as a personal trainer to a member of the Saudi royal family and has travelled the world playing rugby, that’s quite a statement. But Gillespie’s latest project has him rattled. At least, a little. “It’s probably been the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” he says. “All of the things I did before this involved a physical aspect – and that kind of stuff I find quite easy. But this has been just completely different.” At 30, he is now the creative director of his own luxury fashion label, Indigo Burg. For the first time, his physical prowess gives him no advantage, and that’s daunting. After all, knowing how to nail a calisthenics workout – and Gillespie knows how to do that better than most – doesn’t give you a leg-up when selecting fabrics or learning about pattern cutting. “When I started, I could describe exactly how I wanted the brand to look and feel to everyone else,” he explains. “But in terms of talking to factories and discussing the 20 different seams you could have, I didn’t know. I had to show them what I wanted, because I don’t have that background.” While Gillespie may be learning on the job, his excitement about his new career is palpable. During our interview, his voice rises a few decibels as he passionately outlines his hopes of getting Indigo Burg into the biggest stores in the world and onto catwalks in

YEARS IN RAF

If I’m bored by my job, I end up sawing the branch I’m standing on. It’s not enough for me// Paris and Milan. When he discusses how upset he was after a skateboard injury ruined his chances of making it as a professional rugby player, or the “slog” of completing RAF basic training, the contrast is obvious. The man we’re talking to now is Gillespie at his most vulnerable – but also at his most alive.

BEHIND THE WIRE Gillespie was once just an energetic kid with an extraordinary aptitude for sport. At six years old, he was already training with national-level gymnasts and, by the age of 11, the strength he had added to

his mobile frame equipped him with the perfect build for rugby. Gillespie was a natural and, within a few years, he was chosen to play for a regional under-15s team, before making it past thousands of other hopefuls to play for South-West England’s Rugby Academy. But just as he was about to enter the national Schools program, he fractured his wrist in a skateboarding accident, which put him out of action for a year. Dejected, Gillespie considered packing rugby in altogether. Around the same time, some of his friends were starting careers in the

military. Living near the Royal Marines training base Lympstone Commando, Gillespie had ambitions of one day wearing a green Royal Marine Commando beret, too. His regional rugby coach Craig Townsend – brother of the current Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend – visited him at home to try to keep Gillespie on the path to becoming a professional player. But he couldn’t sway him. “My coach came and said, ‘If you stay, you can go and train with the [Exeter] Chiefs twice a week while you’re still in college,’” remembers Gillespie. “But I’d already

made up my mind, and I ended up applying for the military when I was 16. I joined at 17.” On the advice of his dad, Gillespie chose not to apply for the Marines (“I guess it’s a bit of an ego trip, but he said the novelty would wear off…”) and instead joined the RAF. With his fitness background, he navigated the basic training relatively easily, though he describes officers “beasting you for no reason, really”. He went on to complete just over a year of technical training, before finally graduating as an aircraft electrician. Unlike the experiences of the other ex-servicemen

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visible in popular culture right now, what shines through about Gillespie’s military life is the mundanity of it all. He explains how he’d work shifts, doing “three days on, two nights off, that kind of thing”, adding: “You’d work 12-hour shifts, so you’d be in at 7am to get a brief from the team that was in before you on what aircraft had landed that day, and you’d fix it. It would be like that the whole day, really. You would just be ticking off whatever jobs needed doing.” During his time in the military, Gillespie served in Afghanistan, doing 12-week tours providing support from “behind the

wire”, rather than on the front line. He also took up rugby again, travelling all over the world to play in rugby sevens tournaments for clubs such as Samurai, London Wasps and Rosslyn Park. But after spending six years in the RAF, there was little left for him to achieve. Serving had given him some amazing opportunities, not least the ability to play competitive rugby in Dubai and the United States. However, when he looked around, all he saw were men who had been in the service for 10-15 years longer than he had but didn’t seem to have a lot to show for it. “I think if I do a boring job for long enough, I just end up sawing the branch I’m standing on because it’s not enough for me. I need some creative endeavours to keep me going,” says Gillespie. “While I was in the military, I was putting out these videos and that was enough at the time, but I’d grown out of that and wanted to actually build a business. Looking back, it was a good time for me to jump ship.”

FITNESS FOR LIFE Gillespie left the RAF with a rough idea of what he wanted to do next. He had already

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amassed a social media following of around 150,000 people with the functional training videos he was putting out while he was serving, but a career as a fitness influencer would have to wait. Gillespie met a member of the Saudi royal family while on a double date with his then girlfriend. Fortuitously, the Saudi royal was on the lookout for a personal trainer. “He basically just said, ‘I need a trainer’, and I offered to coach him while he was in London, then we kind of just carried it on from there.” For the next two years, he travelled the world supplying his client with the kind of functional workouts he had been perfecting while in the military. “I got to travel to all these amazing places. It was quite a crazy period.” Crazy though it was, it was still fitness, and fitness was what he did best. While he was training his royal client, Gillespie was building his Instagram following, which currently stands at 200,000 followers. He also launched the online and IRL training club UVU, which fused his love of fitness, training and content creation. Go to YouTube and you can still see the hyper-stylised and wildly popular content that came out of Gillespie’s UVU training sessions, where a

Much of life isn’t in our control. Keeping my training on point makes the rest a lot easier//

WORKOUTS PER WEEK

178cm HEIGHT

group of like-minded, six-pack-wielding men would meet up on the grimy outskirts of London to train. Gillespie says simply, “We’d all get together, play some music and do calisthenics.” But in the background, he was already working on his next project. For over a year, Gillespie has been burrowed away, working on turning Indigo Burg into a reality. Gillespie sees the brand – which is named after the Mark Rothko painting Indigo on Burgundy – as being about more than just luxury fashion. Like the UVU project that preceded it, Indigo Burg will be as much about the content it influences, as it will be about fashion. While Gillespie is no longer part of the workout industry, he certainly hasn’t forgotten about fitness altogether. He says he is in better condition now than ever before, with his training providing him with an element of control while the rest of his life is in flux.

FORGING AHEAD “Training is massive to me now, more so than at any other time,” he observes. “In any creative business, you don’t know where it’s going to go and what you’re going to do next. A lot of it’s in your control, but there’s so much that isn’t. So by training and keeping that side of my life very much on point, it makes the rest of it a lot easier.” Fashion and fitness, clothes and content: Adi Gillespie has time for them all. The conscientiousness he crafted in the military, and the calisthenics workouts that have anchored his career since, will inform, not impede, what he does next.

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WORKOUT #1

PRESSING MATTERS

This workout zeroes in on your pressing muscles, combining the gravity-defying movement of the high-flying gymnast with bodybuilding techniques to give you the best of both worlds. Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes, resting as necessary. Ensure you perform all the reps of each movement with good form before moving on.

RELEASE YOUR INNER GYMNAST

The physique of a true bodyweight master is not out of reach. By dialling back the difficulty and putting in the work, you can lift your core definition and upper-body strength to a new level. Time to chalk up

PHOTOGR APHY BY PHILIP

HAYNES

THERE IS an odd dichotomy in fitness. Sure, we all gaze in admiration at feats of bodyweight mastery, such as the muscle-up, the human flag or an effortlessly executed back lever. However, at the same time, we tend to write off bodyweight training as the endeavour of beginners – something we should progress beyond as quickly as possible, or maybe even bypass altogether. The best way forward, as ever, doesn’t lie at either end of the spectrum. Bodyweight mastery is a long-term goal: it’s all about making seemingly implausible movements possible through a lifetime

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of practice. Much like progressively putting more weight on a barbell to elicit strength gains, the budding gymnast has level upon level of progressions that must be overcome. But unlike strength training, these progressions are rarely incremental. But fret not. With the introduction of just a few of these easily achievable movements, you can build a fully fledged gymnastics workout regimen, unlocking hidden strength, gaining new poise and control of your body and maybe even attracting some envious looks in the gym. Do these workouts on alternate days, with a rest day in between.

Pike Push-up

Ring Dip

(5 reps) Place your feet together on a box, with your toes down and your hands on the floor in front of you. Straighten your legs and arms until you’re in an inverted L shape (A). Slowly bend at the arms, lowering your head to the floor (B). As soon as your head reaches the ground, press upwards explosively to full lockout, then repeat.

(10 reps) Now that your shoulders are fatigued, we can get to work on your chest. Jump up to support yourself on a set of gymnastic rings with your arms locked out (A). Slowly bend at the elbows, keeping them close to your body for stability. Lower until you feel a full stretch across your chest (B), before pressing back up. Repeat.

BUILDING BLOCKS

DEFY GRAVITY

An awesome feat of body strength and control, a full planche tears up the physics rule book. Nail these progressions and you’ll be on your way to owning this mystical movement. Master!

STRADDLE PLANCHE LEAN (4 X 30SEC, 60SEC REST) Assume the top of a push-up, then open your legs as far as possible into a straddle position. Lean forward until your shoulders pass over your wrists and your feet are outstretched. Hold, staying light on your toes.

2B 4A

FEET-ELEVATED PLANCHE LEAN

(4 X 30SEC, 90SEC REST) Perform a planche lean but elevate your feet onto a box or bench. Throughout the hold, attempt to lift one foot at a time from the bench for as long as possible.

Parallette Push-up

Hollow Rock

(15 reps) Next, force your triceps to take the weight. Grasp a set of parallettes or dumbbells, shoulder-width apart, and assume a strong push-up position above them (A). Keeping your arms close to your body, slowly lower your chest past the handles (B), then explosively press back upwards. Go again.

(20 reps) Now that your chest, shoulders and triceps are nicely engaged, focus on your core. Lie flat and extend your arms straight ahead. Lift your feet around 15cm and pin your lower back to the floor (A). Generate a little momentum with your arms and legs to create a rocking motion (B). Brace your body throughout, keeping your feet and hands elevated.

BAND-ASSISTED PLANCHE (4 X 30SEC, 120SEC REST) Loop a resistance band around a low bar and assume your planche hold position, with your feet inside the band. Try to lift your legs out of the tension of the band and hold for as long as possible, before allowing the band to catch you.

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WORKOUT #2

BACK TO BASICS

It’s easy to neglect building strength across our backs: after all, what we can’t see in the mirror tends to be forgotten. But these muscles not only account for the largest proportion of your upper-body strength, but are best placed to give you the coveted V-taper physique of gymnasts. As before, complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes.

1B 3A 1A

2A 3B

L-sit Ring Chin-up

Ring Row

Superman Raise

(5 reps) Start by taking the edge off an old classic. Grip a set of rings and place your feet on a box. When your arms are fully extended (A), make sure you don’t sink too low below your feet. Now, dig your heels into the box. Maintaining tension in your legs, pull yourself up, rotating the rings until your hands touch your chest (B). Lower and repeat.

(10 reps) With your feet back on the ground, grab the rings and hang. Position yourself with your heels in front and your arms fully extended. Ensure that you’re rock-solid from your shoulders to your ankles (A). Flex at the elbows to pull your chest up to the rings, pause (B), then lower yourself back to the start position under control.

(5 reps) Let fly with this movement to light up everything from shoulders to glutes. Lie face-down with your legs straight and your hands at your temples (A). Lift both your arms and legs around 15cm from the floor and hold for a few seconds, creating tension through your whole body (B). Slowly lower to the floor. Go again.

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THE MASTERY MATRIX

TRAIN TO YOUR STRENGTH The key to this workout is to go at your own pace. Use this matrix to identify your optimal intensity level

PILGRIM

BODYWEIGHT

Use your legs to assist, up and back down

Perform on a ﬁxed bar, around chest height

Perform raising one arm and one leg at a time, alternating

DISCIPLE

MONK

RESISTANCE s to way up only

n rings, body at ° when ms are ght

Superman raise (as shown)

MASTER

CONSTANT TENSION

LOADED TENSION

Feet-supported L-sit ring chin-up (as shown)

Perform without box, maintaining a straight-legged L-sit position throughout

Ring row (as shown)

Use a box to raise your feet, so that your body is parallel to the ground with straight arms

Perform holding a weight plate with outstretched arms

Perform on a hyper-extension chair, or with a partner anchoring your legs on a bench

Ring Plank Hold (30 sec) Finish with this core-busting, shoulder-strengthening hold. Place your toes on a box and grip the rings. Assume a push-up position with your body parallel to the floor (A). Maintain straight arms and a tight, rigid core. Push the rings away throughout. Hold for 30 seconds, then dismount with care (B).

Perform traditional bent-arm plank on ﬂoor

m on rings, our feet on d your body 45° to ground

Ring pla pl l nk ho (as as show as

Loop a band through a weight and wrap it around your waist during hold

MARCH 2021 125

METHOD MAN

Insomnia pushed the legendary Wu-Tang rapper into the gym. Now fitness fuels his days – and helps him sleep easy at night

BY MARK

LELINWALL A L PERRY

PHOTOGR APHY BY ANDRE

CLIFF SMITH grunts as he wraps his hands around the barbell, bends his knees and lowers his 190cm frame towards the floor. He tenses his entire body, exhales twice, and starts pulling 205kg upwards. His legs shake as he stands fully upright, and then he lowers the weight, breathes deeply and does it all over again. He does five reps, then drops the bar and smiles. “Ain’t even winded,” he says. “Holla at me.” The five reps are a personal best for Smith (better known as Method Man), who loves starting his day by chasing PBs. On this

126 MEN’S HE ALTH

morning, he’s in a Staten Island gym pondering his next milestone birthday (he turns 50 in March) and crushing sets of deadlifts, pull-ups and barbell rows. “I gotta get my roses now,” he says, “because I’m almost 50 fucking years old. Damn near 50 years old, bruh.” The Grammy Award– winning rap veteran has lent his voice and creativity to a host of projects lately. He appeared on Starz’s drama Power Book II: Ghost; he voiced the character Ben Urich in Marvels, a narrative-fiction podcast; and he’s working on his next album, ‘Dirty P’,

a collaboration with Mobb Deep’s Havoc. His morning workout has readied him for all that – and it’s kept him from pre-dawn video-game marathons. In 2018, Smith says, he was battling insomnia, frequently waking at 2am and playing NBA2K. Realising he was “just wasting time,” Smith searched for a more productive use of his early-morning hours. “So at 4am, I find myself in the gym working out,” he says. “Two days turned into three days. Three days turned into five days, and I’ve been consistent ever since.”

Bonus: His insomnia is gone, bruh. Smith now weighs 99kg, 6kg less than he weighed when he first started training. Here’s the program: he hits legs Mondays, shoulders Tuesdays, back Wednesdays, chest Thursdays and arms Fridays. Weekends are free. “He’s a beast,” says his trainer, Joey Crespo. “Our routine has only been heavy, heavy, all year round.” At the moment, that means gritting out three sets of seated lat pulldowns, followed by a core exercise that has him

on his knees, rolling a wheel forward, challenging his abs. He finishes the session by sitting on a bench with a harness connected to his forehead, a weight hanging in front of his chest. He lowers his head to look at the ground, then flexes his neck muscles to raise his head and look straight ahead, an old-school neck exercise that few gym goers will do. Smith does it regularly. “Regardless of how tired I get, no matter what the workout is, I at least will try it,” he says between deep breaths. “I’m not going to say no to anything.”

By training heavy, Smith has attained signiﬁcant myoﬁbrillar hypertrophy – meaning hard, dense muscle mass.

At ﬁrst, Smith didn’t enjoy deadlifts but he worked on the move anyway and can now do ﬁve reps at 205kg.

He also does long-forgotten movements like neck curls, which can help develop trap strength. His workouts typically last for nearly two hours.

BETWEEN SETS All-time fitness idol? Mr. Olympia Phil Heath, because he shouted me out on Instagram.

Favourite celeb on a fitness journey? I respect any of them that do it. Right now the person that I’m really saluting for getting his ass in the gym is Snoop Dogg. I’m rooting for him. 2

Favourite exercise?

HOME WORK!

You may not have Method Man’s fancy neck-training gear or his deadlift weight. But if you have a resistance band, you can try his favourite athome regimen

Push-ups Do 25 -30 reps. Aim for 5 sets.

Deadlift. Once I started doing those, everything else went up, from squats to bench. Definitely prefer dumbbells.

Least favourite exercise? Lunges. I’m too fucking tall, for one, and I still have a problem with form, because I’m so focused on just getting those shits over with.

Banded Curl

He’s pondering his next milestone birthday while crushing sets of deadlifts, pull-ups and barbell rows//

Stand on a resistance band, its ends held at your sides, your core tight. Curl up, squeezing your biceps; then lower. That’s 1 rep; do 15- 20. Do 5 sets.

Banded Shoulder Press Stand on a resistance band, its ends held at your shoulders, your core tight. Tighten your shoulder blades and press the band overhead. Pause, then return to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 1520. Do 5 sets.

Favourite cheat meal? I never get a cheat meal, but if I did, it would be pizza – New York pizza.

Current workout playlist? Griselda Records. Griselda reminds me of ’90s hip-hop but with a modern feel.

MARCH 2021 127

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PUSH YOURSELF

The push-up is the definitive bodyweight move for a reason: its popularity is a testament to its power to make gains. If it’s not already a key part of your training arsenal, it’s time to drop and give us 20

BY ANDRE W

TR ACEY

ILLUSTR ATIONS BY HARVEY

SYMONS

NATURALLY PRESSED The ability to push up from a horizontal position is written into your DNA – if you’re struggling, it just needs unlocking. Hone your push-up with these progressions

A BOX PUSH-UP

MAKE A STRONG START

6 SETS OF 30SEC WORK, 60SEC REST Rest your hands on a box to take some weight off and perform 30 seconds of continuous reps. Rest for a full minute, then repeat five times.

B PUSH-UP OFF BLOCK

PUSH PAST THE STICKING POINTS

5 SETS OF 10 REPS, 30SEC REST Place a yoga block on the floor directly below your chest, resting your weight on it. Now, push yourself up. Lower, rest, then go again. And again.

MAKE IT PERFECT C PUSH-UP

5 SETS OF 20 REPS, 60SEC REST Start with an unshakeable plank, with your hands and elbows stacked below squeezed shoulders and your glutes tense. Slowly let your chest graze the floor. Pause, then drive upward explosively, straightening your arms.

D RING PUSH-UP MAKE IT HARDER

5 SETS OF 10 REPS, 90SEC REST With your feet on a box, grasp a pair of gymnastic rings; set them up so your torso is parallel to the ground at the bottom of a push-up. Grip those rings tight and execute a perfect push-up. Don’t give in to the pain.

Press harder and smarter for an upper-body power-up.

THE BEST MOBILE GYM: YOUR BODY

Beyond supercharging your pectoral muscles and triceps, the push-up has a wealth of welcome side effects that will help you build true functional fitness

GOT YOUR BACK Push-ups engage your serratus interior – small but important muscles that help to move your shoulder blades and regulate your posture. By exaggerating the range of motion and pushing your back towards the ceiling at the top of each rep, you can improve your posture, back health and your bench-press numbers to boot.

KEEP IT MOVING Planks and other holds are excellent for building static core strength, but maintaining that same level of tension against the explosive motions of high-rep sets teaches your body to stabilise itself against movement. This ability can then be successfully transferred to real-world tasks.

A LOAD OFF YOURJOINTS Performing high reps of the bodyweight staple can help to strengthen your joints without the risk of wear and tear associated with adding resistance, reducing your likelihood of injury. Performing them between days of heavy training can pump in oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood that can enhance your recovery.

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DATE: One night in 1988 NAME: JOCK ZONFRILLO FEAT:

MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo seizes his chance to become a chef for the very first time.

WHEN I WAS 12, I became obsessed with buying this Specialized pushbike. It was a top-of-the-range bike with carbon-fibre wheels, but it cost a huge amount of money. I already had a couple of paper rounds and worked Saturdays in my dad’s barbershop in Glasgow. But I quickly realised it’d take me 10 years to afford this bike unless I got another job. I ended up knocking on the door of this very posh, country house-type restaurant. They gave me a part-time job washing up that was cash-in-hand, because I was too young to go on the books. I started working there after school four nights a week. Inside, the kitchen throbbed with this cacophony of noise and excitement. It was crazy, with chefs flinging pans past my head while I was washing the dishes. I absolutely loved it. But one evening the head chef David Auchie pulled me to one side. “One of the chefs has had a motorbike accident – he’s been taken to hospital,” he said. “I need you to cook the vegetables tonight.” At that moment, I knew that I had to stand my ground. My dad had always told me, “Don’t be a ‘yes’ man”. I knew I had to stand up for myself. “I’ll do it on two conditions,” I said. “First thing, I want a pay rise. The second is that I’ll never have to wash dishes again.” Immediately, I got moved from the sink room to the kitchen. That night, the other chefs guided me through service, showing me how to cook the carrots, broccoli and green beans in these beautiful copper pans.

All my veg had to be ready at exactly the same time as the main courses in the other parts of the kitchen. So I quickly realised that each station in the kitchen relied upon each other and that communication was vital to synchronise the timing. It was the first time in my life that I’d ever felt like a critical part of a team. If I wasn’t there or if I messed up, then other things would fall down. Not only did I feel wanted, I also felt useful. But just as exhilarating was the opportunity to understand food in a completely different way. As a kid, your mum and dad put your dinner on the table and you don’t really think about it much. Now in the restaurant, I experienced cooking food for customers, who’d sometimes finish their dinner and stick their heads in to say: “That was the best meal I’ve ever had!” The emotions of all that for a 12-year-old were just out of control. After that first night in the kitchen I was so wired that I couldn’t sleep. I remember going to school the next day really tired and sitting at the back of the classroom. I suddenly realised that I didn’t want to be there anymore. I knew exactly what I was going to do with my life. I was going to be a chef. That was the beginning of my career in food. It

“AFTER THAT FIRST NIGHT IN THE KITCHEN I WAS SO WOUND UP I COULDN’T SLEEP”

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was all I concentrated on from that point on and I flunked out of school, because I only cared about getting an apprenticeship as early as possible. Thirty years later, I’m still cooking. But that moment in the sink room with David Auchie defined my career path and changed me from being a boy to a man. Never did get that bike, though. – Zonfrillo will be appear in the upcoming series of MasterChef on 10.

BE E BRILL ILLIIAN IL ANT A N AND INSPIR NSPIRED, SPIRED E DR DRIN RINK RESPONS SP IBLY BLY. BLY Y © 2019 201 B BOM OMBAY BA SAP APPHI H RE E AND ITS TRADE T DE DRE DRES SS S ARE TRADEMAR ADEMARKS. DEMAR ARK

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