MARCH 2020
MUSCLE MADE EASY Blitz Calories All Day Long Meals for Instant Power The Best Body Hacks
PLUS:THE NEW RULES OF TESTOSTERONE
SAVED BY THE (KETTLE)BELL The Ultimate Gym Training Tool
THE MH COVER GUY: DURANG ATEMBE
GIVE ZERO F**KS Join the Latest
Self-Help Movement
SPECIAL REPORT
ALL MEAT. ALL THE TIME.
ISSUE
03269
9 771027 687000
R60.00 (VAT INCL) Namibia: N$60.00 Other countries: R62.50
ADVERTO RIAL - MAH IN DRA
It’s here: Mahind Mahindra has the pe answer for leg day a heavy traffic – the a new Mahindra Pik Up S11 Automatic.
Mahindra has launched the 11 Automatic
1 Karoo, but its power delivery
model after a year of arduous testing of the
characteristics have been matched with the
new transmission and engine combination
smooth, new transmission. This means that
at the Gerotek testing facility in Pretoria
the S11 offers 104 kW at 3 750 rpm and a
and additional testing across South Africa.
healthy 320 Nm of torque in a flat torque
Using South Africa as the global test bed
curve between 1 500 and 2 800 rpm.
for this new model confirms Mahindra’s
available on dealership floors
All S11 Automatic models will offer a
commitment to the country.
sequential self-shifting mode, which allows
as a double cab model in top-
With the local testing completed, the
the driver to manually override and shift
of-the-range S11 and S11 Karoo
model is proven and ready for any on- and
the transmission, while all 4x4 models will
off-road application. It also means that the
offer the familiar shift-on-the-fly selection
new six-speed automatic transmission
between two- and four-wheel drive modes.
and 2.2 litre mHawk turbodiesel engine
The 4x4 models of the S11 Automatic are
are perfectly matched to deliver smooth
also equipped with a hill decent control
and linear power, while the engine mapping
system, which slows the vehicle to crawl
has been fine-tuned to work perfectly with
speed on steep declines in technical off-road
the standard cruise control system, for
driving. This system is linked to the cruise
effortless long-distance cruising.
control buttons inside the cabin, which allow
The mHawk S11 Automatic Pik Up is similar
the driver to perfectly control the bakkie’s
to the engines found in the S10 and
speed in off-road conditions.
The new flagship Mahindra Pik S11 Automatic will be
specification levels, making South Africa the first country in the world to offer the new model.
ADVERTORIAL - MAHINDRA S11 Automatic – a full house
As the most luxurious model in the range,
luxurious models in the range, they share
There is no mistaking the new S11
the S11 also has all the luxury and safety
the same tough and durable DNA of their
Automatic Pik Up for any other Pik Up
features of the manual S10 models. This
siblings.
model in the range.
includes two airbags, traction control,
All Pik Up Double Cab models feature a
The new model features a standout new
electric windows with automatic front
standard ground clearance of 210 mm, an
windows and automatically locking doors
approach angle of 34º and a departure
nge topping Pik Up.
The King of Pik Up models – S11 Karoo
angle of 15º. The high standard ground
t the rear of the new model, an S11
Mahindra first launched the Karoo Special
clearance and narrow-fitting side rails
utomatic badging and integrated reverse
Edition late in 2018 to celebrate the
mean that the Pik Up has a very impressive
mera - that has to date not been
successful opening of its local assembly
breakover angle of 18º.
ailable on any Pik Up model - round off the
facility in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
Among the many benefits of owning a Pik
pgraded design.
Since its launch, the Karoo has proven to
Up are its heavy-duty Cushion suspension,
uxury abounds
be extremely popular – in both S6 and S10
which allows the 4x2 double cab models to
To further boost the premium appeal of the
specification levels – and this has prompted
load up to 1 095 kg, while 4x4 models can
all-new S11 Automatic Pik Up, Mahindra
Mahindra to design a special S11 Karoo
easily transport up to 995 kg. As on other
has added a host of new luxury features as
model with a refreshed design theme and
models, the S11 also offers a double walled
standard on all models.
even more standard equipment.
load bay for extra durability.
Taking centre stage is a brand-new 7” touch
The all-new S11 Karoo Automatic will feature
The Mahindra Pik Up double cab range is
screen infotainment system with a capacitive
a unique decal design, which will distinguish it
certified to tow a braked trailer of up to 2
interface. This new system offers Bluetooth
on the side panel and on the thick nudge and
500 kg, and all double cab models are fitted
connectivity, a multitude of entertainment
styling bars. This model also has a custom-
with Mahindra’s mechanical differential lock
and vehicle information screens and full
designed lockable roller deck system for the
(MLD), which it developed in partnership
turn-by-turn navigation as standard. The
load box as standard, while all S11 Karoo
with Eaton.
infotainment screen also displays the image
models will have a rubberised load bay.
Lastly, the Pik Up has a comprehensive
of the in-built reverse camera in full colour.
Rounding off the new design are special
range of accessories, including approach
All S11 models will further offer an automatic
off-road-ready alloy wheels that feature a
and recovery bumpers and rock sliders,
climate control system in place of the
blacked-out design with chrome detailing.
which can be fitted under warranty by any
standard manual air conditioning system,
The introduction of the S11 Karoo AT has
and all models have an adjustable multi-
also prompted Mahindra to update the S6
For more information on the all-new S11
function steering wheel that controls the
and S10 Karoo editions, with new decals
Automatic and S11 Automatic Karoo,
infotainment, phone and cruise control
and, on the S10, a new tonneau cover.
please visit www.mahindra.co.za or your
systems.
Built on the Pik Up DNA
rille design with squared-off chromed serts that are reminiscent of the ahindra Scorpio in S11 specification. The -new grille is flanked by new headlamps, th chrome inserts housed in and behind ear screens. New chromed fog lamps in ylish new chrome foglamp bezels round off e front design changes. addition to the new front design, the S11 utomatic Pik Up has chrome-finished side irrors with integrated indicators, which elp to make this model stand out as the
and S11 Automatic Karoo are the most
nearest Mahindra dealership.
BI MAH19-1210-03-E
While the Mahindra Pik Up S11 Automatic
Mahindra dealership.
CONTENTS MEN’S HEALTH MARCH 2020
COVER STORIES & FEATURES 30 BLITZ CALORIES ALL DAY LONG
Get on the lawnmower flow.
31 THE BEST BODY HACKS
We assess the bold claims bio-hackers make.
56 MEALS FOR INSTANT POWER
These 16 oat meals will start your day strong.
102 SAVED BY THE (KETTLE) BELL Get to grips with the Kettlebell World Cup.
108 THE SHADY PAST AND BRIGHT FUTURE OF... ...Self-help’s new superstar.
114 THE NEW RULES OF TESTOSTERONE More muscle, more sex, more energy?
120 ALL MEAT. ALL THE TIME.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BYRON KEULEMANS
Would you try the carnivore diet?
126 THE ADVENTURIST
Who knew hitting a wall could be a good thing?
P.90
WHAT IS STRENGTH FOR? 11 South Africans are here to show you exactly what their strength is for.
CONTENTS
P.84
CALM BEFORE THE STORM Herschel Jantjies went from unknown prospect to local legend.
50 Take a seat in the make-up chair.
MH LIFE
53 Find out why everyone
is talking about fasting and whether you should try it.
58 This is what happens
when you crave junk food.
59 Find out which boozy beverage comes out on top; beer or cider.
60 The best gear to hit MH HQ this month.
61 Turn your uninspiring desk into a productivityboosting, stress-busting workstation.
62 We pit two cars against each other in a tar-tearing battle.
64 Here’s why you should go on a sexcation and where should head.
68 “I hate spooning. What’s
my alternative?”
70 We cut through the BS of binaural beats and biohackers.
72 And another thing! Some sound advice.
8 Monster Energy
16 Why some people shouldn’t deadlift. 17 Bale or Affleck? Find out
brought high-flying, death-defying mountain bikers to Stellenbosch for an adrenaline-pumping experience.
which Batman you chose as your favourite.
12 Dig deep and find
20 Why you don’t need
strength; the kind of strength that matters.
MH WORLD
15 Solid advice from some of the world’s strongest men – worth its weight in dumbbells. 6
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
18 Pack a punch with Nicole Bessick. motivation.
MHBODY
25 Build your best body
with this month’s Cover Guy, Durang Atembe.
32 Your back-up plan: fix
pain, gain strength.
34 What’s really causing your lower back pain. 38 How this sales
manager traded his junk food for barbells and lost 14kg.
MHSTYLE
40 Upgradeyour
senseofstyleand your scentsofstylethis season.
48 Get ahead of
the game with these innovative timekeepers.
75 How to train your memory.
82 It’s time to look on the bright side.
On the Cover COVER GUY
Durang Atembe PHOTOGRAPHER
Byron Keulemans PHOTOGRAPH BY BYRON KEULEMANS
UPFRONT
MH MIND
A REAL, FILTER-FREE LOOK INTO WHAT MATTERS THIS MONTH.
UNFILTERED
Massive jumps, mind-boggling tricks and bone-rattling slams – Monster Energy’s darkFEST is a rider’s paradise. / BY KIERAN LEGG
The Dust Devils
ERIC PALMER AND GRANT MCLACHLAN
PHOTOGRAPHS
VUURBERG WINE ESTATE
LOCATION
8-9 FEBRUARY 2019
DATE
DARKFEST 2019
Dirt ramps appear without warning like volcanoes along the sea floor, looming tall over the nearby, tranquil countryside. But this course is not the work of nature. Instead, it’s born from the collective minds of a group of adrenaline-junkies dead set on maximising velocity, verticality and the very, very gnarly. It’s the Hellsend Dirt Compound, a slice of prime mountain biking real estate situated on the grounds of the Vuurberg Wine Estate. Last year, it was the centrepiece for darkFEST – a twoday showcase of the world’s best riding talent. (darkFEST is part of Monster Energy’s FEST series, rider-driven freeride mountain biking sessions taking place around the globe). In last year’s darkFEST, participants threw themselves at these gargantuan jumps, daring each other to land increasingly more difficult tricks. This year (on 7-8 February) they did the same. Many bailed; most rose to the challenge. And as the dust settled, they agreed to meet up and do it all over again. Turn the page to find out how it all went down during the 2019 event.
1 Brendan Fairclough, from the UK, is known as a “free racer”, the type of rider who’s just as comfortable on the World Cup race track as he is landing mammoth jumps. 1 2
3
4 5
2 darkFEST’s
designated (digger) driver Nico Vink spotted catching inhuman amounts of air.
Scan to watch videos from darkFEST 2020
10
3 Andreu Lacondeguy, of Spain, flexes his biking muscles after tearing through the course.
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
4 In a battle
of man versus terrain, riders rack up the offroad mileage on the grounds of Vuurberg Wine Estate in Stellenbosch.
5 The organisers
spent hours digging and building darkFEST’s memorable course. Their goal: create massive jumps that double down on the “gnarly” factor.
7
6 8
9
6 Adolf Silva scooped up “Best Trick” after landing a double flip on the ominously-named Rocket Launcher jump. 7 Local rider Theo
Erlangson bails after attempting a flip.
8 Andreu Lacondeguy and Nico Vink fly from ramp to ramp. 10
9 Canadian Matt MacDuff lands a daredevil flip. Organisers credit his flexibility to regular yoga sessions. 10 darkFEST is an event for riders created by riders. After days of designing, building and riding, the team celebrates by posing for a group photo.
11
11 Course architect Clemens Kaudela in the barber’s chair for a quick shave before the real work begins.
darkFEST By The Numbers 15 Riders 1 Broken Wrist 2 Lost Bikes 9 Tattoos 1 Snapped Chain 12 Burst Tyres 1 Set of Broken Drone Wings 235 Hours of Shuttle Runs
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
11
LETTER FROM THE
EDITOR
Danielle Weakley Editorial Director
Robert Cilliers Editor & Creative Director
Mind.Set. I have something small in common with the guy on p.123. (well, actually not so small). Almost eight years ago I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. It is more common in younger guys. Not for one second did it cross my mind that it would be cancer. For about two weeks I had really sore balls, but one Sunday I was at a braai and the ache became almost too painful to bear. The next day I went to my GP. He thought I had a twisted testicle, hence the ache. He sent me for a sonar scan. As I was lying there being scanned, I noticed on the screen that one ball looked like a solid mass of coal. The other was fleshy and normal-looking with some white spots. By the time I got back to my GP he had booked me to see a urologist. The diagnosis: left testicle had full-blown cancer; pre-cancer on the right. The plan: remove the one immediately before the cancer spreads and try to save the other with chemo. I did a couple sessions of chemo. That was a tough time; extreme nausea and deep depression. Then the doc recommended I remove the other and therefore the risk of it turning cancerous. I have this unrelenting attitude that I can overcome anything. And in the midst of my battle with cancer, this mindset gave me strength, as did the support of my mates. Sure, I lost my nuts, but I feel if I can beat cancer, I can pretty much over come anything. It’s not the worst thing I’ve gone through. (Try heartbreak, that’s far worse.) And to be honest, now that I’d kicked cancer’s ass, I supercharged my outlook. I am now the strongest version of myself. Which brings me to the most important story in the issue: What is Strength For? (p.90). Men’s Health journalists Megan Flemmit and Kelleigh Korevaar colloborated to find inspirational guys with tales of true mental grit. Guys that might not squat 220kg, but have found the inner strength to rise above their challenges and become the strongest versions of themselves. We salute you, we thank you for your stories, and we’re grateful for the lessons you’ve shared.
WANITA NICOL Deputy Editor AZEEZ JACOBS Fashion & Grooming Editor NADIM NYKER Digital Editor MARK ARENDSE Art Director MEGAN FLEMMIT Multimedia Journalist KELLEIGH KOREVAAR Features Writer KIERAN LEGG Contributing Editor KIRSTEN CURTIS Contributing Digital Editor THAAQIB DANIELS Content Producer NADIA EKSTEEN Fashion Assistant Shared services: Kerry Nash (Production Manager) James Garaghty (In-House Photographer) Amina Essop (Office Administrator)
CEO MEDIA24 Ishmet Davidson CEO PRINT MEDIA Rika Swart GENERAL MANAGER, LIFESTYLE Minette Ferreira CMO MEDIA24 LIFESTYLE Nerisa Coetzee CFO, LIFESTYLE Jameelah Conway FINANCIAL MANAGER Melanie Leeman
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ALL SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENTS TO: Men’s Health, PO Box 16428, Vlaeberg, 8018 REPRODUCTION Media24 PRINTING Novus Print DISTRIBUTION On The Dot 011 402 1205 Copyright © 2009 Media24 (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission by Media24 (Pty) Ltd. Men’s Health does not endorse the use of chemical or related slimming products that promise instant or long-term results. Slimming products should not be used as a substitute for a healthy diet and/or exercise. All prices recommended retail selling price.
MAGAZINES INTERNATIONAL SVP/EDITORIAL & BRAND DIRECTOR Kim St. Clair Bodden DEPUTY BRANDS DIRECTOR Chloe O’Brien EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CONTENT SERVICES Shelley Meeks
Global Editions / INTERNATIONAL EDITORS AUSTRALIA Scott Henderson, CHINA Yuqing Feng, CROATIA Krešimir Šego, GERMANY Arndt Ziegler, HUNGARY Zsolt Ribansky, ITALY Piero Bacchetti, JAPAN Kazushige Ogawa, KOREA Seungkwan Baek, LATIN AMERICA Victor Martinez Ranero, MIDDLE EAST, NETHERLANDS Olivier Heimel, POLAND Piotr Makowski, PORTUGAL Pedro Lucas, RUSSIA Max Semelyak, SERBIA Stefan Tosovic, SPAIN Jordi Martinez, UNITED KINGDOM Toby Wiseman, USA Richard Dorment
ROB CILLIERS LL S EDI ITOR Instagram
@robdcilliers
Email: tellmh@media24.com Twitter: @MensHealthZA Facebook: MensHealthSA Instagram: @menshealthza Youtube: Men’s Health South Africa 12
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
From the editors of Men’s Health magazine
O N LY
R95 Chiseled pecs, sleevebusting arms, abs that cast shadows; you can have it all – if you train smart. This training guide will help you do just that. What you get: a 98-page guide featuring the best workouts from the world’s best trainers. Each plan mixes cardio and strength moves to torch fat, ramp up your metabolism and build solid muscle. (Plus, we’ve included bonus routines to target areas you want to improve most.) But you’ll do more than sculpt an incredible body; you’ll also forge the functional strength, speed, power and stamina you need to be the most athletic version of yourself. Let’s go!
ON SALE NOW
Fight Like a Girl Why You Shouldn't Deadlift Spar With the Witcher
COMPILED BY THAAQIB DANIELS
Strongman Secrets Being a strongman goes beyond just lifting heavy things. There’s a lot of preparation, technique and focus required to execute the physical feats these guys make look so damn easy. These are their lessons – take note and take ‘em to the gym.
Hafthor Björnsson, “ The Mountain” in Game of Thrones
“Deadlifts shouldn't be taken lightly – so don't ever just throw as much weight on the bar as you can and pull away. Instead, start with lower weights with pause deadlifts. You'll get the same benefits in your lower back, core and lower body, and build up to moving massive loads like the Mountain. Start by adding four sets of low reps to your workout and really work on nailing the form.” (menshealth.com)
Mat Fraser, Four-time CrossFit Games Champion
Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Terminator
Eddie Hall, World’s Strongest Man (2017)
“Free stand squats are probably the best thing you can do to train your calves, leg press as well. What you find with a leg press is that when you get it in the right position, you actually push on your toes quite heavily without realising it. And again, that's doing your calves really well." (menshealth.com)
“[A Bad habit I see is] when [guys] do half a rep, or when they do chin-ups and they just go half way up. Or if they do a pull-down exercise or curls and they just sit there and do half a curl. You have to concentrate when you do everything. You've got to feel the bicep, you've got to squeeze it and do it the right way because then that rep really has an effect, otherwise it doesn't have any effect and therefore you're wasting your time… It drives me nuts when I see them in the gym. gym " (LADBible) (L
“It can be counterproductive to stretch in static positions for long minutes before a short and intense workout. To be effective, each mobilisation exercise, and the time allowed, should be chosen according to the context in which you are doing it. This kind of detail makes the difference.” @mathewfras, Instagram
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 15
WORLD
MARCH
M E N ’ S H E A LT H B E Y O N D T H E P A G E
Download your digital copy at zinio.com Works on iPad, Mac or PC.
3 POST-WORKOUT FOODS TO HELP YOU RECOVER FASTER
WORKOUTS
20
The percentage of men who should never deadlift. According to exercise physiologist Dean Somerset, some people just don’t have the anatomy to do deadlifts without risking injury. One
1/ Whole Eggs In a University of Illinois study, researchers found that the musclebuilding response from whole eggs was about 40% greater compared to egg whites alone.
limiting factor, says Stuart McGill, the author of Back Mechanic, is the thickness of your spine. That’s a trait you inherit. The thicker your spine, the heavier the load the bones in your back can handle. A thinner spine is more flexible but can’t handle heavier loads consistently. MH.CO.ZA/FITNESS
2/ Smoked Salmon Research shows that higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids may translate into lower levels of delayed onset muscle soreness after resistance exercise.
QUESTION: Should I upload my weight loss to social media?
According to online fitness coach Dave Watkeys, you shouldn’t search for approval online. “The [weight-loss] journey is for you. Your health and fitness levels, relationships around you and even your career will be impacted by the new you. Focus on what you are doing every day, not what you see elsewhere.” MH.CO.ZA/WEIGHT-LOSS
ARE YOU A GYM BRO? TAG US! @MENSHEALTHZA #MENSHEALTHZA
3/ Sweet Potato A report in the Journal of Applied Physiology shows that consuming carb-rich foods like potatoes, grains and fruit can cushion the blow your immune system might take after intense exercise.
Visit mh.co.za/food-nutrition for more on post-workout fuel.
@menshealthza
@MensHealthZA
Waseem Salie @was—eem
16
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
Alex Badelt
@alexbadelt.co.za
Khanyiso Makubalo @kan_makubalo
See all the stories featured by scanning the QR code below.
GETTY/GALLO | IMAGES SUPPLIED (INSTAGRAM)
MensHealthSA
THE (Above) AVERAGE GUY
HELPFUL
HOW DO YOU RATE?
USELESS
THIS MONTH
PollsApart
WE WANTED TO GET TO KNOW YOU BETTER, BUT INSTEAD OF SLIDING IN EVERYONE’S DMS UNPROVOKED, WE PLAYED A RANDO OM GAME OF PICK-ASIDE WITH OUR INSTAGRAM AUDIENCE – BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT ONE DOES IN 2020, RIGHT? HERE’S HOW YOU RESPONDED. / BY THAAQIB T DANIELS Why did you start gymm ming?
Would You Rather…
% 70%
GYM WITH RIPPED THOR OR CHILL WI HUBBY THOR?
Ripped T or
Y
NO
GYM SELFIES OR NAH?
80%
No, they’re annoying
20% Yes, gotta post the gains!
22%
MONAMAKELA/GETTY IIMAGES
David Attenborough
36% Chubby Thor
Which one is worthy? You chose hammer curls over a Fortnite session with the supersized God of Thunder.
To loo ok bette er
Christian Bale
34%
Grudge Match: Batman edition
To get stronger
Neck on the Line: Tie vs. Bow Tie
83%
WHO’SS YOUR FAVO WHO FAVOURITE…
Tie
28% 2 Kit Harington
OR
Henry Cavill?
72%
Looks like you believe that Jon Snow, in fact, knows nothing about sword-fighting when compared to GeraltofRivia – nearly three quarters of you chose to toss a coin to your witcher. Who would narrate your life?
WITH VOICES THAT MAKE EVERYTHING SOUND COOLER, DAVID ATTENBOROUGH UGH AND MORGAN FREEMAN ARE THE OGS OF VOICE-OVERS. BUT IF YOU HAD TO CHOOOSE ONE TO NARRATE YOUR LIFE, MOST OOF YOU PREFERRED FREEMAN.
78% Morgan Freeman
17% Bow Tie
To get in on the voting action be sure to follow us on all of your favourite platforms:
MANY HAVE PORTRAYED THE PROTECTOR OF GOTHAM, BUT THE TWO MOST RECENT CAPED CRUSADERS – BEFORE ROBERT PATTINSON, WHOM WE’VE YET TO SEE – HAVE RAISED A DEBATE OVER WHO WAS THE BEST BRUCE WAYNE. YOU CHOSE: THE DARK KNIGHT SERIES’ CHRISTIAN BALE OVER JUSTICE LEAGUE’S BEN AFFLECK.
30%
Ben Affleck
Instagram & Twitter: @menshealthza Facebook: MensHealthSA YouTube: Men’s Health South Africa Website: mh.co.za
1
MH WOMAN
In Your Corner THERE AREN’T MANY PEOPLE WHO WOULD JUMP INTO A RING HAVING NEVER THROWN A PUNCH BEFORE, BUT AS BINNELANDERS STAR NICOLE BESSICK WILL TELL YOU, SHE’S NOT MOST PEOPLE. THE 25-YEAR-OLD SAT DOWN WITH MH TO TELL US HOW SHE GOT THE NICKNAME ACTION BARBIE, WHY TRAINING IS SO IMPORTANT AND WHAT IT TAKES TO IMPRESS HER.
18
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
Actress, celebrity boxing champion and self-confessed adrenaline seeker, Nicole has been breaking stereotypes since she first stepped onto our screens as the rebellious Chloe Hendricks on eTV’s Broken Vows. Now starring as feisty Xenia Samuels in Binnelanders, Nicole is taking the entertainment industry by storm. And off screen, she’s busting stereotypes one punch at a time. It all started when she was challenged to a celebrity boxing match to raise awareness about bullying. Nicole had never boxed before but she believed in the cause, so she took up the challenge anyway. And she’s never looked back.
Total Knockout Nicole leads an action-packed life, but she makes sure she never skips the gym. The actress starts her day with a training session with renowned bodybuilding coach Stefan Estment. Then, after a day of filming, she heads to Apex in Bryanston for a fight session of either boxing or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “Since taking up fight training, I’ve become a lot more balanced and protective of my energy. It’s reinforced time management, discipline and dedication. But most importantly, it’s taught me the importance of rest, recovery and recharging.”
WORLD
W O R D S : C H A N D R È D AV I D S | P I C T U R E S : S U P P L I E D
Action Barbie Whether it’s in the ring, weightlifting or on the mat, Nicole is no stranger to stepping into male-dominated spaces. “There’s a long list of stereotypes around what women should look like and how they should behave. I like to throw these stereotypes square on their head. That’s how I got the nickname ‘Action Barbie’. When you look past the lashes and nails, you’ll know I have a healthy appetite for extreme sports and adventure.”
Support System In the age of Twitter trolls and anonymous haters, no one is safe from criticism – especially when you’re in the public eye. Nicole has learnt that strangers can be downright mean (and she’s not immune to the toxicity). But she’s also learnt that the key to staying positive and strong is to keep your inner circle small. “I have an incredible support system made up of tight-knit
family, supportive friends and fierce allies. They keep me going on tough days, remind me of how far I’ve come and most importantly, make sure that I’m not too hard on myself.”
Her Kind of Guy You might get punched if you assume Action Barbie needs a Ken – Nicole is a firm believer in doing it for yourself. “Women of the world have undergone changes in mentality and these days are able to finance, fuel and treat themselves. Essentially, we’re becoming the men we once wanted to marry,” she says. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t open to being impressed. “If a guy was to win me over, it would have to be through chivalry and assertiveness. Chivalry will open doors that the best pick-up lines cannot. And as for being assertive? Well, there’s nothing sexier than a man who doesn’t beat around the bush and is honest and direct in his expression of love for you.”
NICOLE BESSICK THE SOCIAL
@Nicole_Bessick on Instagram and Twitter THE SKILL
Actress, Celebrity Boxing Champion, unofficial PhD in Badassery T H E P LU G
Watch her in Binnelanders as Xenia Samuels
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 19
You Don’t Need Motivation
THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
IF PROCRASTINATION IS A FOUR LETTER WORD, MOTIVATION IS A EUPHEMISM. / BY KIERAN LEGG
not only battling your conscious thoughts but the endless depths of your subconscious, too. And it’s why, even when you visualise the positive results of completing a task, it’s often not enough to push you to take those first steps because, as I’ve mentioned, you
We’veallbeenthere,sitting and waitingfor thatspark.You knowthat
almost anything you can think of just to stop feeling pain. It’s in our coding. It’s a mental
can’t trick yourself into pretending that it isn’t going to hurt. Fortunately, there’s a cure. It’s a
beautiful, elusive momentofinspiration that
litmus test to determine whether we’re safe.
technique that doesn’t rely on the fickle beast
you’re sure – damn certain – willsupercharge your productivity. But, and seriously, this shouldn’t be
While it worked when safe refuge meant the difference between being eaten by a hulking
that is motivation. Three words: Minimum Viable Action. Let’s say you want to run a
surprising,nothinghappens.Eageranticipation giveswaytopointless browsing.Forme? I’m
predator or not, in a modern society our
10km race, but you’ve never finished a jog. The idea of lacing up and putting in the steps is
usuallyneck deep in a wormhole ofRedditposts before that unfiltered partofmybrain delivers the bad news: “Yeah, it’s not happening fam.” It’s known as the motivation trap, and it’s one we willingly toss ourselves into every time there’s hard work ahead. It’s important to take note of why we wait for motivation. We don’t do it because we want to get things done. And we don’t do it because we care about the task ahead. We wait because it feels good, because “I need inspiration/motivation” is a euphemism for telling the world: “Fuck it, I’m procrastinating.” When you delay with so-called good intentions, you’re tapping into those instantly gratifying pleasure centres with a rationale that vindicates your decision. But don’t kid yourself, your intentions are just as lazy. Trust me, I’m guilty of exactly the same thing. In a desperate bid to cure my dysfunctional relationship with motivation, I started scouring the net (which in hindsight, was just another avoidance tactic). It’s when I stumbled onto Jeff Haden’s The Motivation Myth. In his book, he challenges popular thought around motivation in attempt to root out its true value. He posits that motivation isn’t the spark, instead the sparks are the actions you take in spite of your internal protestations, and that instead motivation is “the fire that starts burning after you manually, painfully, coax it into existence, and it feeds on the satisfaction of seeing yourself make progress.” Painful is a word that stuck with me. I feel a lot of life is spent running from pain, medicating for pain, eating for pain, doing
20 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
“Aversion to the real difficult stuff doesn’t last once you break a sweat.” aversion to pain has made us scared creatures who dodge even minor confrontations. When it comes to getting shit done – whether it’s an assignment or dragging yourself to the gym – you’re confronting varying degrees of pain. Whether it’s the softcore anxiety of completing a tedious task or the real hardcore, existential crisis of doing something completely foreign and humbling, we’re primed to delay, delay, delay. Keep that in mind. That’s your natural instinct. You’re pushing up against something so deeply coded into your DNA that you’re
daunting. Instead, you spend fifteen minutes calibrating your Fitbit and call it a day. Instead, ask yourself, what is the smallest possible step I can take towards realising my goal? Don’t shoot for a full 30-minute session, but try five minutes instead. Still too daunting? Just make it out the front door with your running shoes on and do a few stretches. That’s where the magic starts to happen, because aversion to the real difficult stuff doesn’t last once you break a sweat. You’re out there already, may as well try run for a few minutes. That wasn’t too bad, maybe just another lap around the block. Before you know it, by tackling each painful, tedious task in small increments, you’ve got a proper run under your belt. It’s an approach that gets you over the hump, and gives you the momentum to reach those goals, even the big, lofty ones. You want motivation? Go out and earn it.
PROMOTION
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THE #MHBEASTMODE COMPETITION ENTER TODAY! Each month you could win an amazing Shower to Shower Men product hamper, R2 000 cash and be featured in Men’s Health magazine! Visit beastmode.mh.co.za to enter. HOW IT WORKS To enter your video (or someone else’s) into the #MHBeastMode competition, all you need to do is tag #MHBeastMode and #ShowerToShowerMen in the comments of any Instagram post. (Note: the account must be set to public.) That’ll put it into the BeastM Mode feed on our site, beastmode.mh.co.za a. We will choose hoose our top three videos for the month, and then you vote for your favourite. The monthly winner receivess a Shower to Shower Men hamper and R2 000 POWERED D cash. Then, at the end of four months, we’ll BY choose an overall champion who will earn the Beastmode 2020 title and R15 000 cash.
WE ARE IN AN ERA OF ESCAPISM
Let us bring your brand to life by creating emotional and memorable connections through shared experiences. Contact us on 011 713 9147 or live@media24.com
YOUR FULL SERVICE EVENTS AGENCY SIGNATURE SERIES EVENTS
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BESPOKE EVENTS
Go With the Flow Nix Back Pain (For Good) Swap Bad Habits for Big Gains
COMPILED BY MEGAN FLEMMIT
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
RONG
DURANG ATEMBE MAY BE YOUNG, BUT HE’S ALREADY LEARNT THAT WHEN LIFE KNOCKS YOU DOWN, YOU JUST HAVE TO KEEP GOING. THIS IS HOW HE FOUND THE STRENGTH TO CARRY ON AFTER BEING FORCED TO PUT HIS RUGBY ASPIRATIONS ON HOLD.
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 25
BODY
Lightning Round
Favourite Exercise: Flat Chest Press with Dumbbells Least Favourite Exercise: Calf Raises Workout Anthem: Meek Mill’s Dreams and Nightmares Cheat Meal: McDonald’s Favourite Movie: Flight Hero: My dad
ANG D U RM E ATE B SON
RA AL T
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An injury to his ankle during a game against the Griquas forced Durang Atembe to hit pause on his dreams of being a professional rugby player. The flanker’s career was just taking off. He’d worked hard at school, earning a spot at Craven Week and then later at Grant Khomo, before finding a home with the Bulls U21 squad after matric. But fate had other plans for Durang. The injury to his ankle forced him to reassess his future. “Being injured as a player is really bad for your career. I was more off the field than on it, and that was bad for my contract because they were basically paying me for nothing.” After speaking to his agent, Durang made the tough decision to take a break from the game. Playing rugby had been his life since he was 12. “It was a painful decision to make. I felt like I was losing everything and I just felt lost.”
A New Purpose Stepping away from the game took a toll on Durang’s mental health. “I was young and I was scared about what was coming next,” he recalls. While battling to come to terms with the fact that he would no longer be playing the game he 26 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
loved, Durang worked up the courage to tell his father about his decision. “I didn’t come from a rich background and playing rugby was going to be the way I gave back to them,” he explains. But despite his fears, the conversation gave him peace of mind. “He told me that everything was going to be fine. He said, ‘You’ve worked hard you entire life, you tried’.” Those words allayed his fears. And slowly Durang started finding his feet again. “I just had to be mentally strong. I needed to decide what I wanted to do for my future and for my family.” The 21-year-old packed his bags and moved back to Cape Town. There he decided to work on his other passion – fitness. The gym was a place where he could take his mind off difficult times. “Since I started gymming at 16, the gym became my happy place,” he says. Beyond that, he enjoyed mastering different exercises and helping others with their form. He connected with Andrew from SWEAT1000 who took Durang under his wing and taught him the ins and outs of being a personal trainer. “I was just inspired by his energy. I learnt a lot of things from him – like money doesn’t matter, it’s more about helping people and always being yourself.”
Wake-Up Call Last year Durang entered our cover guy competition and placed in the top seven. In the five months since, he’s transformed his entire life. “The competition justmade me realise a few things. I realised I wasn’t as fit as what I neededto be,Iwasn’tdoing the right things, I wasn’tdedicatedenough.” Those realisations inspiredDurangto change his approach to trainingas wellas his diet. “Before, I used to just eat meat, meat, meat all the time. But that made me tired and puffy. Now I eat more greens and less chicken. I’ll even opt for vegan mealsoccasionally,andI’ve found my body has really responded to that.” As for training, since he’sbegunoperating from The Armoury Boxing Gym, he’s started incorporating more functionalwork and boxing into his exercise repertoire. “I just wanted to have a differentyearthisyear,” he explains. Durang may have been knocked off track, but his passion for fitness allowed him to come back stronger than ever. He no longer feels directionless. Now he knows what he wants and is working towards making that a reality. “I just want to be healthy and one day have my own gym.”
WORDS: MEGAN FLEMMIT | PHOTOGRAPHS: BYRON KEULEMANS
PER
Build Your Best Body
Warm-Up
Do as many rounds as you can in five minutes of:
FORGE FULL-BODY STRENGTH WITH THIS WORKOUT DESIGNED BY DURANG. YOU’LL NEED A SET OF DUMBBELLS, A KETTLEBELL, A BARBELL AND A RESISTANCE BAND. COMPLETE A FIVE-MINUTE DYNAMIC WARM-UP BEFORE YOU BEGIN. THEN THESE MOVES IN ORDER.
10 Deep air squats
ShouldersandBack
1
Banded Lat Pull 2 x 10
Loop a resistance band around a sturdy upright pole or pullup bar. Grab the band in one hand, arm extended, and kneel down, just far enough away that there’s slight tension in the band (a). This is your start position. Keeping your elbow close to your body, pull the band to your chest (b). Extend back to start. That’s one rep. Do all, then repeat on the other side. (a)
(a)
10 Forward-back lunges
(b)
10 Thoracic rotations in a deep squat position 10 Resistance band shoulder rotations
(b)
(c)
(a)
(b)
2
Scap Pull-Up 2 x 10
3
Seated Press 2 x 10
Hang from a pull-up bar with an overhand grip (a). Engage your core and squeeze your lats to pull your shoulders down away from your ears (b). Lower back to start, then immediately pull the bar to your chest, so your chin clears the bar (c). Lower back to start. That’s one rep.
Grab a barbell with an overhand grip in a frontrack position, then sit on a bench, feet apart and planted flat, back straight, shoulders back and core engaged (a). Keeping your core tight, press the bar overhead (b). Lower back to start. That’s one rep.
(b)
(a)
4
Barbell Bent-over Row 3 x 10
Grab a barbell with an underhand grip, arms extended (a). Hinge at the waist, keeping your back flat and your core and glutes engaged. Squeeze your lats to pull the bar to your sternum, keeping your elbows tucked in as much as possible (b). Lower back to start. That’s one rep.
TIP: Use a bench with a back rest to avoid arching your back. MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 27
BODY Legs (a)
(b)
(a) KEEP YOUR BACK UPRIGHT AND CORE BRACED
KEEP YOUR CORE BRACED AND BACK UPRIGHT
(b)
1
2
Buffalo Leg Press 4 x 8
This is a great alternative to the leg press machine. Secure a heavy kettlebell in the middle of a medium-strength resistance band, then stand with your feet wider than hip width apart, the ends of the band under your feet, holding the bell in both hands at arms’ length. Squat down until your thighs are parallell to the floor (a). This is your start position. Push through your legs and feet to stand (b), then lower back to start. That’s one rep.
(a)
3
(b)
(a)
Side-to-Side Squat 4 x 8
Start standing tall with an empty barbell across your shoulders behind your head (a). Take a big step out to one side, sinking into a squat on your lead leg and keeping the other leg straight (b). Push through the lead foot to return to start. Repeat on the other side. That’s one rep.
(b)
Sumo Deadlift 4 x 8
Stand behind a barbell with your legs slightly wider than shoulder width and feet turned out slightly. Bend your knees and grip the bar with a mixed grip, your hands on the inside of your legs (a). Keeping your back flat and shoulders back, squeeze your glutes to stand (b). Reverse back to start. That’s one rep.
(b)
5 4
Romanian Deadlift 4 x 8
Hold a barbell with an overhand grip, legs about shoulder width apart, shoulders back and core braced. Keeping your spine neutral, engage your glutes and lower the bar to the ground (a), then squeeze your glutes to stand (b). That’s one rep. 28 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
Banded Kettlebell swing 4 x 8
Loop a resistance band around the horns of a kettlebell. Stand with your feet in the band about shoulder width apart, and planted securely (a). Holding the kettlebell with both hands and arms extended, bend your knees slightly, engage your core and pop your hips to swing the bell up to shoulder height (b). Keep the momentum going until you’ve completed all reps. NOTE: This is not a squat and shoulder raise. You’re looking to drive the move with your glutes and let momentum carry the weight up.
EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS: WANITA NICOL
(a)
(a)
(b)
ChestandArms
1
Incline Dumbbell Press 3 x 10/12
Set a bench to a 45-degree incline and grab a pair of dumbbells. Sit on the bench, your back flush with the back rest and your feet planted on the floor, knees bent 90-degrees. Hold the weights at your chest with an overhand grip (a). Push the weights straight up to the ceiling simultaneously (b). Lower back to start with control. That’s one rep. (a)
2
Floor Flat Chest Press 3 x 10/12
Lie on your back on the floor, knees bent and feet flat, holding a pair of dumbbells at your chest with an overhand grip (a). Squeeze your chest to push the weights towards the ceiling simultaneously (b). Lower back to start with control. That’s one rep.
(a)
(b)
(b)
4
Biceps Concentration Curl 2 x 10
Sit on a bench, holding a heavy dumbbell in one hand. Squeezing your biceps, hinge at your elbow to curl the weight up, palm facing up. Lower back to start with control. That’s one rep. Do all, then repeat on the other side. TIP: Propping your elbow against your inner thigh and keeping your shoulder still will help isolate the biceps.
Finisher
(a)
(a)
Work your core for four minutes by doing each of the below moves for a minute before moving on to the next.
(b)
1. Russian Twist 2. Plank 3. Alternating Heel Touch
(b)
4. Heel touch
3
Standing Biceps Curl 2 x10
Stand with feet hip width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing forward and abs braced (a). Keeping your elbows close to your body, curl the weights up to shoulder height simultaneously, squeezing your biceps at the top (b). Lower back to start. That’s one rep. TIP: Don’t swing the weight. Your arms should move at the elbow only, not the shoulder.
5
Dumbbell Row One Arm 2 x 10
Lean against a bench with one hand, core braced, spine neutral. Grab a single, heavy dumbbell in the other hand with an overhand grip, palm facing in, arm extended (a). Keeping your elbow tucked close to your body. Squeeze your lat as you pull the weight up to your chest (b). Lower back to start. That’s one rep. Do all, then swap sides.
Scan to watch this workout online. MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 29
BODY
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
#TRYTHISNOW
CUT OUT BOREDOM WITH A STRENGTH-BUILDING MOVE FROM OUR FAVOURITE FLOW MASTER. / BY LAUREN BEDOSKY
You’ve seen a lot of flow in Men’s Health recently. You know, those moves that essentially chain several exercises together. They help you burn calories, develop muscle and learn coordination and athleticism. And the best part: they’re fun. The brainchild of kettlebell specialist Eric Leija, the lawn mower flow is as fun as it gets. It blends three movements to build muscle where you need it most (your back and core). It also bulletproofs your shoulders and slashes calories faster than a riding mower cuts the grass. “T These are three moves you can do o individually,” says Leija. “I co ombined them so they wouldn’t bee so boring.” Do this flow right and you’ll tig ghten your posture and help allleviate shoulder pain. Aim to do o 4 sets of 5 to 8 reps per side, wiith plenty of rest between sets. Beecause, hey, mowing the lawn is hard work!
1
GET INTO POSITION OS O
Start in a split stance, right leg straight behind you, a kettlebell next to the inside of your left foot. Keeping your back flat, lean over your lead leg. Grip the kettlebell with your right hand. Brace your core.
ROW YOUR BELL
Resist the urge to twist at the chest as you pull your elbow back to your right hip, rowing the kettlebell tight against your ribs. Squeeze your shoulder blade at the top. Keep your shoulders squa are with the floor; aggressively tighten your abs to do this.
WHAT YOU’LL W GAIN...
3
Healthy shoulders
GET RACKED
Lower the kettlebell with control, then explosively pull it to your shoulder. As you do d this, thi drive d i your hips hi forward and drop your right knee to the floor. Squeeze your glutes and keep your core tight. You’re now in a half-kneeling position.
Total-body strength
Serious calorie burn
4
PRESS AHEAD P
P Press the kettlebell ead, keeping your overhe core tight. Avoid arching back. Continue your b squeezing your glutes. y lower the Slowly bell back to your kettleb der. Return it to should the floor and position elf for another rep. yourse
30 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
2
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALLIE HOLLOWAY
The Lawn Mower Flow
START HERE
BODY UP
Internal Investment
LUST FOR LIGHT
Not feeling the urge much lately? Exposure to bright light – used to treat sleep problems – can also help boost testosterone and fire up a low sex drive. University of Siena
FROM BUTTERY COFFEE TO BRAINWAVE RESEARCH, WE ASSESS THE PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING SHORT CUTS BIO-HACKERS SWEAR BY
UP
FLOAT AN IDEA
Take the weight off and clear your mind. One hour in a sensory deprivation flotation tank can sink anxiety levels and lift your mood. Dive in – figuratively, of course. Plos One
The “eight-hour diet” that Hugh Jackman used while preparing for The Wolverine can lower your appetite, blood pressure and insulin levels. University of Alabama
Good news for those with seasonal affective disorder: shining a bright light into your ear canals can ease symptoms of depression by 67%. BMC Psychiatry
UP
ALPHA MALE
Aerobic exercise generates your brain’s “alpha” waves, helping enhance creativity. Swap a pen and pad for a skipping rope when you’re brainstorming. Cortex
HOLD
FASTER THAN A…
…speeding bulletproof coffee. Butter contains MCT fats, which lowers inflammation and improves stamina, while caffeine gives your performance a shot in the arm. Plos One
DOWN
NOOTROPIC THUNDER
Modafinil is one of the most popular smart drugs, but a joint study by three universities found it to be no more effective than a placebo. Wellcome Trust
HOLD
WORDS: MATT EVANS | ILLUSTRATION: INFOMEN
Classical music can lower stress, improve sleep patterns and enhance your focus. Turn up the Mozart to achieve a “flow state”. University of Southern California
UP
EAR TO THE GROUND
The whole-body cryotherapy sessions favoured by elite athletes are only as effective as ice packs (or a bag of frozen peas) in the treatment of muscular aches and pains. Sports Medicine
LISTEN AND LEARN
LUCKY EIGHT
UP
FROZEN ASSETS
UP
RISERS AND FALLERS
DOWN
CARB TARGET
UP
Download now HOLD
Default settings DOWN
Malware detected
DOWN
LITTLE AND OFTEN
Polyphasic sleep breaks your shuteye into naps, supposedly increasing your
productivity while slashing total sleep. But doing so can slow your metabolism and disrupt your hormones. National Sleep Foundation
Researchers found that lowcarb keto dieters have shorter life expectancies than those on moderate eating plans, with a 32% higher mortality risk. Anyone for chips? European Society of Cardiology
DOWN
SNAKE OIL
Oils containing triglyceride, suchas coconut, can benefit cognition in some cases of
Alzheimer’s, but they do little for your immediate brainpower. New York Academy of Sciences
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 31
BODY THE STRENGTH ISSUE THE MH ULTIMATE SERIES
The Best Back Blast Ever
(b)
One key to the strength you need every day: serious back muscle.
A STRONG BACK does way more than just finish out a superheroic body. Thick, powerful back muscles help you stand taller, and well-developed rhomboids (the muscles between your shoulder blades) injury-proof your shoulders and make you a beast at everything from mowing the lawn to dominating work’s annual teambuilding game of tug-of-war. This month, you’re going to build that ultrastrong back, thanks to Eric Leija, a kettlebell coach. Leija specialises in kettlebells, but you can easily use dumbbells for this workout instead. Either way, you’ll pack on the strength and muscle you need to improve your posture and minimise shoulder and back issues.
DIRECTIONS: Do this workout 3 times a week, using either dumbbells or kettlebells. Rest 1 day between back sessions. On days you don’t do it, aim to do 3 sets of 20 bodyweight squats, 3 sets of 15 pushups, and 3 thirty-second planks.
THE WORKOUT Do each of the following exercises in order. Do paired exercises as a superset: Do a set of the “a” exercise, then immediately do a set of the “b” exercise, then rest for 30 seconds.
1
Child’s Pose with Thoracic Rotation
Kneel and sit on your shins, toes touching and knees spread wide. Bend forward, reaching your hands out as far as possible; keep pushing your butt back as you do this. This is the start. Keeping your right hand on the floor, thread your left arm under your right arm (a). Pause here, then pull your left arm out and reach toward the ceiling (b). That’s 1 rep; do 10 per side.
(a)
(a)
(b)
Keep your head relaxed as you do this.
Kettlebell Clean
Stand with feet shoulderwidth apart. Hinge forward and grip the kettlebell with your right hand (a). Explosively stand up, pulling it to your chest and keeping it close to your body. Once it’s higher than shoulder height, “catch” it at your shoulder and stand up straight (b). Lower. That’s 1 rep; do 10 per side. EB SAYS:
2a
Kettlebell Hollow-Body Pullover
Lie on your back and hold a kettlebell overhead. Press your lower back into the floor and lift your legs a few centimetres; lift your shoulder blades and arms two centimetres as well. This is the start (a). Keeping your core tight, pull the kettlebell up so that it’s above your chest (b). Pause, then return to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 10.
32 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
Keep your arm relaxed throughout the lift. Your hips create the explosion, not your arms.
EB SAYS:
Can’t keep your lower back glued to the floor? Raise your legs a little higher.
(a) PHOTOGRAPHS BY KAT WIRSING
WORDS: EBENEZER SAMUEL | GROOMING: NATHAN ROSENKRANZ AT HONEY ARTISTS
2b
(b)
YOUR MUSCLE MASTER
Ebenezer Samuel is a certified strength and conditioning expert who has trained with professional and Olympic athletes.
3a
Kettlebell Plank Row
Set up in plank position, with your left hand on a bench in front of you. Hold a lightweight kettlebell in your right hand, arm hanging naturally. This is the start (a). Tighten your core and glutes, and row the weight to your right rib cage (b); pause for a moment, then return to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 10 per side.
BACK FLOW FINISHER
b)
Work through this flow. Do 1 rep of each exercise, chaining the moves together. Repeat p p 3 to 5 alternating reps per arm. Do 3 sets.
1
Single-Arm Deadlift
(b)
Stand over a kettlebell in an athletic stance. Hinge at your hips, push your butt back, and grip the kettlebell with your right hand (a). Working to keep your hips and shoulders square, stand up, squeezing your glutes (b).
(a)
(a)
3b
Gorilla Row
Stand over 2 kettlebells, feet wider than shoulder-width apart, knees bent. Hinge forward so your torso is nearly parallel to the floor. Grasp the weights (a). Keeping your shoulders and hips square to the floor, row the right weight until your upper arm is nearly parallel to your torso (b). Return to the start. Repeat on the other side. That’s 1 rep; do 8.
(b)
2
(b)
Single-Arm Gorilla Row
Hinge forward and push your butt back to return the kettlebell to the floor (a). Tighten your core. Pull the kettlebell upward with your right arm, until your upper arm is nearly parallel to your torso (b).
(a)
EB SAYS:
(a)
4
Lift the kettlebell only as high as you can while still maintaining clean posture.
Incline-Bench Row
Set an incline bench to a 45 degree angle. Position yourself with your chest and abs on the bench, legs straight. Hold 2 kettlebells, arms hanging naturally. This is the start (a). Keeping your torso stuck to the bench, pull the weights upward until your upper arms are parallel to your torso (b). Pause, then return to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 3 sets of 10.
(b)
3
Single-Arm Snatch
Return the bell to the floor. Explosively stand, pulling the bell upward and keeping it close to your torso (a). As the bell rises (b), punch it into an overhead position (c). Lower it to your shoulder, then to the floor.
(c)
(b) (a)
EB SAYS:
Go slowly your first time through, then gradually speed up.
(a)
GIVE ’EM HELL! Scan the QR code to keep the momentum going with a kettlebell workout by Grant Hartzenburg designed to give you full-body strength.
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 33
BODY
AS MANY AS 80 PERCENT OF SOUTH AFRICANS WILL HAVE BACK PAIN AT SOME POINT IN THEIR LIVES, AND ALMOST NONE OF THEM HAVE HEARD OF THE MUSCLE THAT CAN CAUSE IT. DAVID FERRY HELPS FIX THAT. IT WAS A DEADLIFT THIS TIME. There I was on the gym floor, half bent
and looking like some sort of sick animal, afraid to stand up. Again. Last time it was moving a couch; before that it was reaching under a car seat; before that it was getting out of bed the wrong way. A familiar future unspooled before me: a week or two on the couch in cranky agony, a month of tenuous recovery, and, as with the approximately 80 percent of South African’s* who will suffer from back pain, a lifetime of knowing that it’ll all probably happen again. But before I could straighten up and try to drag my body out of the gym, a trainer called
34 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
THE DISK MYTH Like kale and the Kardashians, herniated disks get way more attention than they deserve. The truth is that muscles, ligaments, and arthritis are responsible for about 85 percent of back-pain episodes. “Only a small percentage of patients have a herniated disk, and an even smaller percent will have something that requires surgery,” says Dr. Matthew Varacallo, an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in sports medicine and joint
ILLUSTRATIONS BY BEN MOUNSEY-WOOD
SOURCES: *NETCARE; **HEALTH24
The Mystery Muscle Behind Back Pain
over to Dara Lampe, one of the gym’s massage therapists. Coaxing me onto a nearby table, Lampe asked if I’d ever had a massage to treat my back pain. Of course not, I thought. No muscle could produce this hellpain. Like plenty of other folks with back pain, I was sure I had a disk problem. Herniated disks –when the jellylike cushions between your vertebrae bulge out of place and squish against your nerves – affect men twice as often as women. They’re responsible for the kind of anguish that’s resulted in spinal fusion surgeries becoming one of the three most common back surgeries in SA**, even though studies show that these surgical interventions help barely a third of sufferers. Herniated disks sound serious, and each time my back left me immobilised, I was convinced they were the culprit and never gave my back muscles any thought. Lampe, a beacon of grace, nodded sympathetically. Then she rolled me over, jammed a knuckle beneath my bottommost rib and set my brain on fire. Lampe had found my quadratus lumborum (QL), a little-known muscle that plays a big role in back pain. I swore as she manipulated the part of my back in which a boxer would lay a kidney shot, experiencing a whole-body rainbow of agony and release. What I learnt from that was a revelation that would change my relationship with my spine – and could reduce the pain that thousands of South African’s live with each year.
QUIET DOWN YOUR Q reconstruction. Google searches might make you think you have a herniated disk, Lampe says, “but I’d say the QL is the most overlooked muscle when it comes to low back pain.” Varacallo adds, “Nobody comes in and says, ‘I have a strained QL.’ ” But they probably should. The QL is one of the deepest muscles of the trunk. (Technically, that’s QLs, since there’s one on each side of your spine.) It fans out from the vertebrae just below your rib cage down to your iliac crest, at the top of your hip bone. It’s like a tension cable that keeps your spine upright and your entire trunk steady. It’s not designed to do the job alone; your glutes, along with all of the other trunk muscles, help out. Unless you’re a typical desk worker, that is. Thanks to poor posture and prolonged sitting, these helper muscles do practically nothing all day, so your QL potentially works harder and harder to pick up the
Certified strength and conditioning specialist and physical therapist, Dr. Daniel Giordano, sees a lot of patients with back pain caused by the quadratus lumborum, which too often gets overworked in exactly the wrong way. Here’s what he prescribes to make things right:
STRETCH THIS WAY
LATERALLINESTRETCH:
Standing up with your feet hip-width apart, move your right foot behind your left, planting it at approximately 7 or 8 o’clock. Stretch your right hand to the ceiling and, moving from your hips, not your waist, gently lean toward the left. Hold 5 seconds. Repeat 10 times; switch sides.
90/90 QL STRETCH:
MOBILITY BALL MANIPULATION:
Lying on your back – knees bent, feet on the floor – place a lacrosse ball to the right of your spine, a few fingers’ width above your pelvic bone. Bring your right knee to your chest, hold 5 seconds, and release. Repeat 10 times; switch sides.
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Sit on the floor with knees bent at 90 degrees, right foot behind you, left foot in front of your right knee. With your chest tall and pelvis pushed to the floor, raise your left hand up and over your body. Do ten 5-second stretches; switch sides.
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BODY FARMER’SCARRY:
SIDE PLANK WITH ROTATION:
SOURCES: *NETCARE; **HEALTH24
In a high side plank, pick up a light weight from beneath your body. Rotate your torso to lift the weight into the air, then rotate it down. Follow the weight with your focus. Do 3 sets of 8 reps on each side.
slack. You go to stand up or deadlift, and the QL, now tense from being on duty by itself, is stuck with even more work. Which it’s not designed to do, and you feel it in the form of a spasm or low back pain. So what do you do when you’re in my shoes, crumpled on the gym floor and terrified at the prospect of standing up? Lampe’s targeted massage helped loosen
Stretch your body and your budget
PLANK PULL-THROUGH:
Get in a high plank, feet shoulder-width apart. Place a weight behind your left hand, then use your right to drag it across the floor under your chest. Keep hips and shoulders level; don’t arch your back. Repeat on the other side for 1 rep. Do 3 sets of 8.
my spasming QL (I had a couple more massages over the next two weeks) and shortened my recovery time. But that was no long-term solution. Although I’m still sitting at my desk all day, trying my best not to hunch over my keyboard, I now break things up with simple QL stretches (at right) to keep it agile and less spasm-prone.
Hold a kettlebell – about 10kg – in one hand by your side. Keeping your torso erect and hips and shoulders level, walk 10 paces, then turn around and come back. Switch hands after each carry. If you lose stability, the exercise is done. Ideally, walk 10 paces 8 times.
I’m working with a trainer, too, on exercises (also at right) for my dilapidated trunk stabilisers and hip muscles, plus weighted squats for my glutes and endless lat pulls for my upper back. Nobody’s gonna say, “Nice QL!” if they haven’t seen me for a while. But if the time I spend on the muscle prevents it from taking me down, I can keep on training everything else.
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LOST 14KG!
Pursuit of Power / BY THAAQIB DANIELS
We’re creatures of habit, and sometimes those habits are so deeply embedded in our routines that we don’t even realise they’re derailing our fitness goals. Lampies Lambrechts, a sales manager from Polokwane, was always chowing down while driving long distances as part of his job – but the options for padkos weren’t exactly the healthiest. That’s the kind of habit that’ll net you a dad bod and frequent trips to the GP. Instead of surrendering to the boep, the 34-year-old went back to the drawing board and swapped bad habits for big gains.
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THE PROBLEM
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THE CHANGE
“For the longest time, I lived a very unhealthy lifestyle. I ate what I wanted and was barely active. And that pushed up my weight along with my blood pressure and cholesterol… by a lot. A visit to the doctor gave me a muchneeded wake-up call. I was left with a choice: either change my ways immediately or I’d have to take prescribed meds for the rest of my life. I chose to join the gym.”
“After training without any guidance and suffering a few minor injuries here and there, I tore my left bicep in 2018. This forced my training to a complete standstill. After 5 months of recovery I came across a 10-week body makeover challenge run by Hennie Kotze from Body Guru (Pretoria). I immediately made contact with Hennie to take part in the next available challenge. Then we got to working.”
THE LESSON: Make the conscious decision to change today, because you might not be able to do it tomorrow.
THE LESSON: Find someone that can give you the knowledge and understanding to achieve your goals and maintain consistent results.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY NTEBATSE MOKONE
LAMPIES LAMPRECHTS
BEFORE
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THE STRATEGY
“My goal was to win the weight loss challenge and push myself harder than I had ever done before. Hennie coached me for the first four weeks, helping me understand the purpose of his programme. My family and I then moved to Polokwane and I was able to train on my own with some online guidance from Hennie. I trained twice daily: 45-minute cardio sessions in the morning and then up to 60 minutes of weight training in the evening. Meal prepping and nutrient timing was crucial because I was balancing training and a full-time job.” THE LESSON: A good support structure
will help you achieve your goals. My wife helped with meal prepping and my coach was there to motivate me when it got tough.
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AGE: 34 LOCATION: Polokwane, Limpopo Province HEIGHT:189cm OCCUPATION: Sales Manager WEIGHT BEFORE:124kg WEIGHT AFTER: 110kg DURATION OF TRANSFORMATION: 10 weeks
THE RESULT
“I lost 14kg and my body fat dropped from 24% to about 8% by the end of the challenge. After seeing the results, Hennie kept training me and pushed me for another four weeks to make my dream of competing in an amateur bodybuilding competition come true. I feel like a completely new person. My concentration is better and I’m the fittest that I’ve ever been.”
We want to hear your weight-loss and personal success stories! Email us at tellmh@ media24. com.
THE LESSON: Every challenge you face along the way preps you for the next one. And it’s going to be tough, but make sure you enjoy the ride.
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 39
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Scents of
This season you don’t have to stick with the usual style suspects when there are plenty of new options out there. Here, we show you a few simple ways to trade in plaid for fresher prints and patterns. Plus we asked five wine experts to decode the complex notes of this season’s scents, armed with their knowledge of the finest crus. BY AZEEZ JACOBS , PHOTOGRAPHY JACQUES WEYERS
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Well Seasoned MARK PARDOE, WINE BUYER
Choosing a perfume is akin to wine-tasting: you analyse the components, then make a judgement on the overall balance and composition. I’m always impressed by the ability of winemakers and perfumers to capture the purity of base elements, whether they’re floral or spicy. Shiraz is a piquant grape variety. The classic description of Shiraz from cooler climates is “cracked black pepper”. In those from warmer, New
World countries, however, you’ll detect sweeter, more exotic spices: cinnamon, cloves and five spice. Zinfandel has a similar profile. Just as with wine, when you smell these spices in a fragrance, they instantly give it an exotic character. Spicy fragrances tend to have greater concentrations of essential oils, giving them more intensity. It’s why heady fragrances are better suited to evenings – just like full-bodied, spicy red wines.
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Star Bottle: Wildekrans Barrel Select Reserve Cape Blend 2014 R420 for 750ml makro.co.za Region: Bot River, Walker Bay Spice notes: cloves, fynbos Drink it: with flavourful curries and venison – its bold, complex character complements rich food
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Ripe for Picking MARTIN WILLIAMS, RESTAURANTEUR
Like wine, perfumes have base notes and secondary aromas. Whether in a glass or on your skin, the fruity aromatics can be equally enticing. Climate plays a key role. In white wines made in England, for example, the grapes don’t get too much sun, so you’ll find sharper notes: apples, cranberries and currants. On the other hand, a warmer environment such as the Côte d’Azur results in bigger flavours: citrus fruits, strawberries, peaches,
pineapple and mango. Such origins also colour the way that fragrances make you feel. Those with exotic fruit notes are warm and summery; those that call to mind tarter fruits are crisper and cooler. Fruity scents evoke strong memories of taste sensations. Lime reminds me of fresh ceviche, but white peaches make me think of sipping rosé by a pool in Provence.
Star Bottle: Quoin Rock Chardonnay 2108 R350 for 750ml wine.co.za Region: Elim/ Stellenbosch Fruit notes: Ripe citrus, orange peel Drink it: with most seafood dishes, crayfish with homemade mayonnaise
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Budding Favourite ANDREW DUNCAN, WINE BUYER
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We all relish the colours of spring after a drab winter, and this helps explain why we find floral scents and wines so uplifting. Apple and citrus blossom are common notes in young Rieslings and champagne, while elderflower often denotes a Sauvignon. Floral aromas associated with reds can be harder to discern but are alluring, like a subtle note in a perfume. Rose and violet can be found in fragrant reds such as Sangiovese, Pinot
Noir and Malbec, while there might be hints of lavender in Rhône varieties. Like a complex fragrance, wine offers a rich tapestry of aromas. Winemakers and perfumers are alchemists. They decide what the end product should be and use their skills to get there. For example, does a wine need an oak influence to give it a specific flavour or aroma? Perfumers have similar processes to enhance scents.
Star Bottle: Colmant Cap Classique Brut Chardonnay R265 for 750ml colmant.co.za Region: Franschoek Floral notes: lime blossom Drink it: at a summer picnic as a complement to delicate seafood, parmesan, asparagus, artichokes and parma ham
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Verdant Brews JAMES HART, WINE BAR OWNER
Whether there’s a dominant grape or a blend of grape varieties, a skilled winemaker will balance the notes, keeping the profile of the aromas and flavours in harmony. A perfumer does the same with scent compounds. Herbaceous notes aren’t always the first things that you notice in wine, but they give a fragrance a sense of intrigue and complexity. Herbs add nuance to meat, fish and vegetables. Likewise, the aromas of mint, rosemary,
sage and basil are fascinating when you come across them in a wine or fragrance, adding further layers of complexity. I’m drawn to scents that use these aromas to create an air of sophistication. You wear a scent because it says something about you – about the places and experiences with which you identify – and this can also apply to the wine you drink.
Star Bottle: Savage White R280 for 750ml winecellar.co.za Region: Western Cape Herbaceous notes: mint, freshly cut grass Drink it: as a summer aperitif, or with freshly grilled fish
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Time Warp LEAVING THE TREND FOR RETRO REVIVALS FIRMLY IN THE PAST, WATCHMAKERS ARE FIRING UP THE FLUX CAPACITORS AND TAKING THEIR DESIGNS BACK TO THE FUTURE. GET WELL AHEAD IN THE HOROLOGICAL GAME WITH THESE INNOVATIVE TIMEKEEPERS.
Thanks to the efforts of Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton and Kim Jones at Dior, among others, the men’s suit is back in business. But it’s not just in business; the new style rules give you the green light to mix and match your two-piece in any situation, whether you’re in a boardroom or a bar. What kind of watch complements such progressive fluidity? Switzerland’s recent obsession with vintage reissues and mid-century tributes suddenly feels a little archaic. Your timepiece can’t seem backward when the rest of your get-up looks ahead. Just in the nick of time however, a new vanguard of watchmakers is going back to the future. Their timepieces are turning things inside out, bringing their microengineered mechanics and functionality to the fore. Here, the telling of the time plays second fiddle to the way it is displayed. And, like a supercar’s high-performance engine, all of this horological innovation rides your wrist in bodywork straight out of a science-fiction blockbuster. When anything goes, the choice can be overwhelming – especially if you’re already torn by which pattern to clash with which colour block. But with watches that buck the classic codes, that’s precisely the point. Anything goes – so everything goes with everything. Buckle up, Marty.
48 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
NOTHING TO HIDE The future of watchmaking design is where you can see everything, including the very architecture and functioning of time. Skeleton X plays off the transparency of its powerful movement by intricately cutting away as much material as possible, without jeopardising tolerance or shock resistance. It’s constructed from next-generation carbon composites – a resistance-tolightness ratio with a stunning marbling effect that never repeats, making each watch case absolutely unique. Ulysse Nardin Skeleton X POR Boutique Haute Horlogerie
INTO THE DEEP A magnificent example of a tool watch and symbol of adventure, the Pelagos is one of the most complete traditional mechanical divers’ watches available today. It’s waterproof to an impressive 500 metres and has an automatic helium escape valve – an indispensable device designed to safeguard the watch during ‘saturation’ dives. Tudor Pelagos LHD R70 450 tudorwatch.com
STYLE
WORDS BY ALEX DOKE AND NADIA EKSTEEN
ICE COLD With its rugged, shock-resistant construction, robust water resistance and luminosity, Luminox created an impressive timepiece to fit the bill for the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue (ICE-SAR) team’s daily duties. In addition to harsh environments, ICE-SAR also has to deal with limited daylight visibility as Iceland remains in partial or total darkness during several months in winter. So, in order for ICE-SAR to conduct their missions, Luminox created a unique self-powered illumination system – providing constant glow for up to 25 years. They can also navigate by using the unique bezel as a sun compass. Luminox Ice SAR Arctic 1 200 series R13 999 bellaluna.co.za
GET SMART The new Frederique Constant Hybrid Manufacture combines traditional horology with modern tech. This hybrid timepiece combines true automatic movement with smart watch functions – activity tracking, sleep tracking, fitness coaching and more. All controlled by a dedicated app and charged with a rotator charger box. Frederique Constant Hybrid Manufacture R59 995 picotandmoss.co.za
PLAYING THE FIELD Magnetic fields strongly affect the rate of mechanical watches by magnetising the components in the movement. This timepiece was designed to keep ticking even in situations where external magnetic fields threaten to throw things off course (think scientists dabbling in the cutting edge). Unlike ordinary watches, that can only withstand 100 gauss – the fields created by a small bar magnet – Rolex’s watch sports a magnetic shield that can handle 10 times that. Bottom line: it’s a juggernaut, and it looks damn good. Rolex Milgauss R118 400 rolex.com
For those who like to stand out a little more, a bold colour is a sure way of tying in a timepiece to your overall look. And an interesting face adds character to a simple silhouette.
WORLD TRAVELER The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere honours the Heroes of mountain climbing with a professional-grade, innovative timepiece. The watch features a new world-time complication – two domed globes, turning in opposite directions. Both are surrounded by a scale with the 24 time zones, along with day and night indications. Perfect for those who travel the world in their perpetual quest for exploration. Montblanc 1858 Geosphere R80 200 montblanc.com
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Undercover Brother
03 SKIN PRIMER If you decide to apply foundation all over your face, consider using a primer as a base layer. It’ll help smooth out the skin so you don’t have to touch up your foundation later. A primer is also good for guys with facial hair, so the foundation doesn’t get caught in the stubble. Sorbet Prep & Poreless Primer 25ml R150 sorbet.co.za
MEN’S MAKE-UP IS ON THE RISE. YES, MEN’S MAKE-UP. HOLD THE EYE ROLLS AND HEAR US OUT: WE’RE NOT TALKING FRANK N. FURTER. BUT MAGICALLY MAKING A ZIT DISAPPEAR OR SUBTLY TONING DOWN RED CHEEKS IS AN INSTANT CONFIDENCE BOOST. THE QUESTION IS: ARE YOU MAN ENOUGH? / BY AZEEZ JACOBS
There’s a reason actors and news anchors spend hours in the make-up chair before stepping in front of the camera. And that reason is simple: the director wants the audience’s attention focused on the action, not on the giant studio guest that looks like it could star in an episode of Dr. Pimple Popper. The same could be said for you, presenting a sales pitch to new potential clients or having your first IRL dinner with that promising Tinder match. Do you want
01 COVER STICK Just a few quick dots or swipes on problem areas can make all the difference to your skin. And cover sticks don’t have to cost a small fortune – particularly if you’re still on the fence about the men’s make-up trend. Find the right shade and it’ll blend seamlessly with your skin, covering up the parts you don’t like, from pimples to redness. The result: confidence for days. RVB Lab Cover Stick R375 Orleans Cosmetics
them to remember your wit and charm or the bags under your eyes? These basic products are like taking your car for a wax. You’ll look polished, but not done up enough for anyone to notice.
03 Find Your Shade In natural light, dab some on your jawline. It should blend with your skin tone.
02 UNDER-EYE CONCEALER There are many reasons people suffer from dark circles, ranging from simple genetics to lack of sleep. No matter the cause, there’s a way to make that problem go away. This brightening concealer helps give the skin under the eyes a fresher, more energetic look. Sorbet Under Eye Concealer 1.2ml R126 clicks.co.za
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04 LIP BALM You may not think of lip balm as make-up, but it’s an important step in putting together your look. The best lip balms for guys are those rendered in a matte finish, so you don’t actually feel like you have stuff on your lips. This multi-purpose balm can be used on your lips, eyebrows and cuticles. It can also heal that scorching sun burn. Paw Paw Original Balm 25ml R110, dischem.co.za
05 BROW DEFINER Adding some thickness, shape and definition can do wonders for framing the entire face and achieving a well-groomed look. This tool instantly makes your brows look denser and thicker. Some brow tools can also be used to fill in your hairline, sideburns and beard — and camouflage those pesky grey hairs. Tom Ford Brow Definer R865 Tom Ford
GROOMING
06 BRONZING GEL Tom Ford, who started his luxury grooming line for men in 2013, developed this bronzing gel because he wanted to use it himself. It’s a water-based, oil-free gel bronzer that blends naturally into your skin, mimicking that “just got back from the beach” look. Tom Ford Bronzing Gel 75ml R885 foschini. co.za
07 TINTED MOISTURISER A tinted moisturiser contains the same hydrating, skin-healthpromoting and sometimes even sun-protecting ingredients as regular moisturisers. The difference is they have a little bit of colour added, so they’ll even out your skin tone, camouflage zits and make you look like you’ve got your own (tasteful) Instagram filter. Dolce & Gabbana MILLENNIALSKIN On-The-Glow Tinted Moisturiser R815 edgars.co.za
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08 CC CREAM BB or CC Creams are like the multitool of your toiletry bag, moisturising, concealing and sun protecting all in one. They can be used on top of your moisturiser or worn on their own. Start with a little dab – because you can always add more, but you can’t remove it without washing your face and starting from scratch. This enhanced formula also helps improve your skin’s texture and visibly reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Chanel CC Cream Super Active Complete Correction SPF 50 R1 125 edgars.co.za
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08 PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMES GARAGHTY | STYLING: NADIA EKSTEEN
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Wash Your Face We like to think you’re already washing your face before bed – ‘cause, well, personal hygiene. But just in case: never go to bed with make-up on – it’ll ruin your skin (and your pillows).
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PROMOTION
Young,Authentic &Modern
Tsogo Sun Hotels says hi to an out-of-the-ordinary new brand
T
sogo Sun Hotels is moving into a new space with unique and bold hotel brand: hi Hotels. Designed to continue delivering on the group’s promise of creating great experiences, this exciting new brand is young and funky, authentic and friendly, modern and spacious, and best of all, comfortable and affordable. The rooms have luxurious walk-in showers, 48-inch TVs, big windows, blackout curtains, coffee and tea stations, USB ports and laptop-sized safes. From the ‘living lobby’ – which provides a space to work and play – to the convenient deli for meals and snacks on the go, every element is designed for your comfort and convenience. At the heart of this new brand is a focus on technology. It’s the first hotel within the group to offer online and self-check-in facilities. The hotel’s media system allows guests to cast movies, shows and music from their devices to their room TV. You’ll have access to free, uncapped high-speed WiFi for every minute of your stay. The first hi Hotel is set to open at Montecasino in Johannesburg with 123
bedrooms (46 double doubles and 77 queens) that are modern, uncluttered and comfortable. The hotel – which has been built using modular design is located just 100 metres from the outdoor piazza with easy access to the many varied restaurants, bars, theatres, shops, conference and event venues, and other entertainment options in Montecasino, Gauteng’s premier entertainment destination. “There is a segment of the market that is looking for an affordable, comfortable and well-designed space to stay, rather than a hotel with all the bells and whistles,” says Tim de Raedt, hi Hotels’ Director of Operations. “They want convenience and some creature comforts, and a base from which they can explore the city, go about their business and enjoy what the neighbourhood has to offer. hi Hotels provides all that.” Several sites have been identified for a further rollout of the brand in the next two years. “We’re proud to be breaking new ground with this fresh brand – and we look forward to introducing people to the hi Hotels offering,” adds De Raedt.
For more information, visit hihotels.co.za or follow hi Hotels on Facebook (@hiHotels) or Instagram (@hi_hotels_sa)
COMFY, UNCLUTTERED ROOMS
UNLIMITED, FAST & FREE WIFI
IN A GREAT LOCATION
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COMPILED BY KELLEIGH KOREVAA
Fast? IT WAS THIS PAST SPRING, and Jack Dorsey, the tech entrepreneur who cofounded Twitter and Square, was on biohacker Ben Greenfield’s podcast to divulge the newest tool that helped him work the long, demanding, intensely focused hours required to run not one, but two billion-dollar companies. “Fasting
The hottest thing to eat for a new kind of energy and a better body is... nothing. Should you join the cult of fasting? BY MICHAEL EASTER
has been a new dimension,” he said. “For the past two years, I have only had dinner. The other thing I’ve been playing with recently is... I’ll go from Friday till Sunday. I won’t have dinner on Friday. I won’t have dinner or any meal on Saturday. And the first time I’ll eat will be Sunday evening.” MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 53
MORE FOCUS
THE CLAIM: THE FACTS:
Dorsey is another high-profile face in a swelling movement of self-proclaimed “top performing” men for whom when to eat is now just as important as what to eat. Jimmy Kimmel, Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth have all fasted. Not to mention average guys – fasting books are ticking up the sales ranks of Amazon, and WeFast, an online network of people who connect over their lack of meals, has around 20 000 members. Going anywhere from 12 to 72-plus hours without a single calorie, these guys believe, is the ideal diet strategy for the demands of the modern world. It allows humans to get more shit done in less time (“It’s like time slows down,” Dorsey said of his first long fast) while also helping them live longer or cut weight. For some it’s a lifestyle – short fasts every day – whereas others tackle longer fasts weekly, monthly, or annually to capture some magic or to “reset” after a bout of unhealthy eating or drinking. But not everyone agrees that there’s any magic to be had. Not everyone even agrees on what fasting is. “Intermittent fasting” or “timerestricted eating” means eating all of your daily calories within a specified window. What that window should be, however, is up for grabs. Responses to Dorsey’s fasting regimen came fast and hard, with people accusing him of both promoting and suffering from disordered eating, and of peddling pseudoscientific nonsense. Except he and other fasters aren’t onto anything new. They’re just more guys in a long line of people who have used time away from food to enter a new level of religious experience, biological revision and physical metamorphosis, says Stanford researcher Dr. Adrienne Bitar, author of Diet and the Disease of Civilization. Abstinence is having a moment across the culture and lifestyle board – you probably know someone doing a fast in an effort to earn their way to something that’s missing. Like control. Detoxification, whatever that means. Self-improvement. A new way to be righteous. Or proof that they’re stronger than a sufferfest. The Internet spoons out plenty of reported benefits of food fasts. But beyond participating in a social trend, are people really getting anything out of it besides hunger pangs? We looked into what fasting could do for you.
54 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
testosterone, cortisol and a host of
Fasting adopters
lesser-known biochemicals that signal
say that going
your body to mobilise and burn energy
without food
stores, says biochemist Dr. Trevor
allows them to do more work – and do it
Kashey, founder of Trevor Kashey
better – than they’ve ever been capable
Nutrition. “Your body generates energy
of, and it’s not just because they spend
by burning fat, while arousing it with
less time dealing with meals.
adrenaline, which increases your alertness and focus.”
It may have something to do with adrenaline, sleep or both. You’ve fully
Other research shows that people
metabolised your last meal after ten to
who stop eating a few hours before bed
16 hours, depending on how much you
sleep better, says Dr. Satchin Panda,
ate. That’s when your body transitions
author of The Circadian Code. That
from “fed” to “fasted,” releasing a
could lead you to be more focused the
symphony of hormones including
next day.
LESS DISEASE
THE CLAIM: THE FACTS:
since there are long hours between
From Hippocrates
feedings – reduced heart disease and
in 400 BC. to
diabetes in monkeys. Restricted eating
American doctors
also lowered cancer rates in the monkeys,
in the 1800s,
possibly by leveraging an evolutionary
medical minds have theorised that
mechanism that cleans your body, Panda
fasting could cure diseases like cancer.
says. When your body flips into fasted
These guys may have been too bullish,
mode, it doesn’t burn its finest tissues for
but some science suggests that fasting
energy. “We get rid of a lot of dead and
could have an effect on chronic disease.
damaged cells,” he adds. Is fasting much better for your overall
It may reduce inflammation and improve blood-sugar and lipid levels. And
health than a normal, balanced diet?
studies from the University of Wisconsin
Probably not. “Fasting doesn’t make you
and the National Institute on Aging found
healthy so much as overeating can make
that calorie restriction – a form of fasting,
you unhealthy,” says Kashey.
THE CLAIM:
LESS FAT
THE FACTS:
eating after 8pm, “that’s a big chunk of
Wars are raging
calories automatically removed from
over which fasting
your diet.” You just have to make sure you
diet is “best,” but
don’t overindulge in your eating window.
the research
A recent study in the American Journal of
community does agree on one thing: if
Clinical Nutrition found that fasting diets
you burn more calories than you eat, you
and plans that had you simply eat fewer
will lose weight. Because the average
calories led to equal weight loss.
person in South Africa eats three meals a
Since there’s no magic food-timing
day, plus snacks, nixing some of these
formula yet, you can choose a plan
can cut calories and result in weight loss.
according to lifestyle and personality.
“It’s another way to set parameters
Or if you’re not convinced, you can
around eating,” says nutrition exper Dr.
always eat normally. Just keep it
Chris Mohr. Let’s say you used to have a
healthy.
beer or ice cream before bed. If you stop
LIFE
MAKE THIS FAST Redditors, wellness gurus, and more than one tech boss have turned the very simple idea of going without food into a complicated, even mystical lifestyle, all swearing by a different number of food-free hours. If you’re fasting-curious, here’s how you’d tackle the three most popular approaches.
YOUR FAST:
DIFFICULTY: Novice
No Food? NBD.
I’m interested, but is there a fast that lets me eat?
Okay, I’ll fast, but I’m not skipping family dinner.
12 to 16 hours
YOUR SITUATION:
YOUR SITUATION:
YOUR SITUATION:
YOUR FAST:
Two days on, five off
DIFFICULTY:
Intermediate
YOUR FAST:
36 to 72+ hours
DIFFICULTY: Expert
You’ve surely slept in and missed breakfast – and survived, right? Do that again, except on purpose. Aim for 12 to 16 hours without coffee or food. Short, daily fasts are practical. And if you eat only an 800-calorie lunch and a 1,200-calorie dinner, you can still go to bed feeling full. Suffering? Push breakfast later by 15 minutes each day for a week until it’s within a couple hours of lunchtime. Then drop it completely.
For two days a week, you satisfy just 25 percent of your usual caloric needs. The other five, you eat normally. It’s considered intermittent fasting (also called 5:2), since you can’t graze all day if you’re eating only 500 or 600 calories. It’s popular with the weight-loss crowd thanks to the best-selling book The FastDiet, and research has found 5:2 effective, as long as you don’t go crazy with food on your regular eating days.
Yeah, you’ll be hungry, but the hunger builds and subsides. Long fasts like these may even reduce your appetite during normal eating hours through a cascade that happens when appetite hormones decrease, research suggests. Aim to end a long fast in the morning so you won’t be tempted to overeat with a massive dinner. Ease yourself into a light breakfast, then have your normal lunch and dinner.
Who’s done it:
Who’s done it:
Who’s done it:
Justin Theroux
Terry Crews
Jimmy Kimmel
Hugh Jackman
J. Lo
Benedict Cumberbatch
Jack Dorsey
Gandhi
Tim Ferriss
GETTY/GALLO | ILLUSTRATIONS: SARAH LEITUALA
OTHER TRENDY FASTS
Food isn’t the only thing you can forgo.
1 ALCOHOL FAST
Even for those who drink moderately, a “dry January” can help reboot your life. In a study done at the University of Sussex, dry-January participants said they had better sleep, increased energy, and even weight loss.
2 PORN FAST
Colloquially called “nonut November” – yeah, we know – it’s 30 days without porn and masturbation. Health guru Tim Ferriss claims that time off getting off helped him concentrate and accomplish more.
3 SEX FAST
Terry Crews and Rebecca King-Crews are famous practitioners of this three-month mutual abstinence, which the couple say helped them reconnect (and assisted Crews in kicking his porn addiction, too).
4 SOCIAL-MEDIA FAST
The Happiness Research Institute found that people who stayed off Facebook for a week had higher life satisfaction and better concentration than those who continued their Facebook habits. —JOSHUA ST. CLAIR
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 55
LIFE
WILD OATS! 1
Steel-cut, rolled, organic – no matter which kind you buy, oats are still, well, bland. Here are 16 ways to break that breakfast boredom and wake up your morning bowl. BY MATTHEW KADEY
Prep Your Base
Skip instant oats, which always turn soggy and soupy. Instead, switch to the steel-cut kind, which are hearty and soak up liquid while retaining their slight chew. Yes, they take longer to cook, but that’s why it’s best to make them while you sleep. In a medium-sized pot, add 2⁄3 cup steel-cut oats, a pinch of salt and 1¾ cups water. Bring the water to a slight simmer (a few small bubbles breaking the surface) over medium heat, remove the pot from the heat, place a lid on it, and let the oats soak overnight.
2
Build Your Bowl
In the morning, stir in a couple splashes of milk and any of the add-ins that follow. Then heat everything over medium low for 5 minutes, stirring a couple times. Transfer to a bowl and then apply your toppings. This makes enough for 2 servings. W H Y OAT S A R E WO R TH IT One cup of cooked oats contains four grams of fibre and only 166 calories. Fibre, as you may know, promotes heart and gut health and helps improve blood-sugar levels. If you’re not eating enough fibre, oats are a great place to start.
56 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
MOCHA MUSCLE Add: 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, 1 tsp instant coffee, ¼ tsp cardamom Top: 1 cup sliced strawberries, ¼ cup chopped almonds
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHELSEA KYLE
CARROT CAKE
THEE HOUND DOG OG
Add: ½ cup shredded carrot, 2 Tbsp dried currants, ½ tsp vanilla extract, ½ tsp allspice
Ad dd: 1 mashed ripe ba anana, 2 Tbsp p eanut butter, pe ½ tsp t cinnamon n
Add: 1 tsp lemon est, ½ tsp ze giinger powder, 2 tsp honey
Top: o 4 strips ooked bacon co
Top: o ⅔ cup ricotta cheese, 1 cup c bllueberries
Top: ¼ cup sliced pecans, 2 tsp maple syrup
BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE HEESECAKEE
MANGO TANGOO
B IG FIG
R ED VELVET
Add: ⅓ cup chopped dried mango, 1 Tbsp chopped mint, 1 tsp grated fresh peeled ginger
Add: ⅓ cup hopped dried ch gs, 1 tsp orange fig est, ½ tsp ze giinger powder
dd: ½ cup Ad grrated beetroott, 2 Tbsp ground axseed, 1 Tbsp fla p brrown sugar, ½ tsp cinnamon n
Top: 2 Tbsp cashew butter
op: 2 Tbsp tahini To
To op: 1 cup ra aspberries, 2 Tbsp cacao nibs
ITALIAN STALLLION
GR EEN MACHINE NE
SALMON AND SPINACH SA
Add: 2 Tbsp chopped sun-driied tomatoes, 2 Tbsp p sliced Kalamata olives, ½ tsp g Italian seasoning
Add d: 1 tsp matcha pow wder, 2 Tbsp shredded conut, ½ tsp coc ginger powder
Add: 1 cup spinac ch, ½ cup sliced roa asted red pper, 1 sliced pep een onion, ¼ tsp gre bla ack pepper
Top: 1 fried egg, ¼ cup crumbled feta
Top p: 1 cup chopped pineapple, ¼ cup chopped pistachios
APPLE PIE
T HE DARK NIGGHT
TH E SWEET SPPUD
Add: 1 grated apple, ¾ tsp vanilla extract, ¼ tsp cloves
A Add: 30g chopped dark ch hocolate, ½ tsp cinnamon
Top: ¼ cup chopped walnutts
Top: o ¼ cup chopped ha azelnuts, 2 Tbsp dried ta art cherries
Add: ½ cup mashed sweet pottato, 1 scoop van nilla protein pow wder, ¼ tsp nutmeg
CHAI TOWN
RA ISH RAISIN BRAN-ISH
TTHAI TWIST
n Add: 1 tsp golden milk powder or (Google a recipe o use tumeric), 2 Tbsp chia seeds, 2 tsp honey
Ad s, dd: ¼ cup raisins 2 Tbsp T bran, ½ tsp t cinnamon
A Add: 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp chilli garlic s ed sauce, 1 tsp mince fresh ginger, ½ tsp fish sauce
Top: 1 cup choppe ed mango, ¼ cup coconut chips
Top: 1 cup ain or vanilla pla Grreek yoghurt
Top p: 115g flaked smoked salmon,, 2 Tbsp chopped d dill
Top p: 2 Tbsp alm mond butter, 2 tssp maple syrup
T Top: 2 links chopped c cooked sausage, 2 T Tbsp sliced green o onions MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 57
LIFE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN...
…I Crave Junk Food? YOUR URGE TO GORGE ISN’T A WEAKNESS – IT’S A DESIRE HARD-WIRED BY EVOLUTION. RESET YOUR SYSTEM TO RESIST THE GOLDEN ARCHES
01 BRAIN FUEL
04 CONTROL YOURSELF
Early man’s gorging on sugars helped us to evolve large brains and let us outrun the rest of the food chain. This evolutionary impulse to load up on energy-rich foods explains why cravings today have little to do with hunger. Instead, they’re a physiological response: carbs light up your brain more than any other macro, which is why they’re the hardest to cut back on.
The majority of the research on cravings focuses on how to manage them when they crop up. Resist the biscuit tin for five minutes, or get up and take a walk, and the craving should disappear. Mindfulness is becoming a popular avenue for controlling cravings: spend time clearing a little headspace and you’ll be better able to focus your thoughts away from that lunchtime Bar One or post-draught pizza.
04
02
01 03
02 HAPPY MEMORIES
Your cravings begin in your brain’s reward centres, rather than in your hunger circuitry. The signals are intended to make you feel good when you engage in activities crucial to survival, such as eating and sex. When you devour a Big Mac meal, a “pleasure” neurotransmitter called dopamine is released. Your brain remembers this link between Big Mac sauce and happiness and encourages you to repeat the experience.
5 58 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
05 RECORD RESULTS
03 TRIGGER WARNING
Breaking habits isn’t easy, especially if you associate your behaviour with a positive feeling. While the food itself may not have addictive properties, the release of dopamine plays a major role in getting you hooked. A study in
Nutrition Review found that “environmental cues” and “sensory, metabolic, endocrine and neural pathways” conspire to trigger your cravings. In other words, your brain and surroundings work against you. Which explains the campaign to stop children being exposed to junk food ads.
Still struggling? Try keeping a food diary, recording not only what you eat and when, but also what you crave and when. Use this to identify patterns. More importantly, keeping a close eye on your eating habits should ensure your blood sugar and energy levels remain steady, putting a lid on hunger. Meanwhile, sharp tastes (such as those of lemon juice and Listerine) can curtail cravings. So, if all else fails, wash your mouth out.
WORDS: TOM WARD | ILLUSTRATION: PETER GRUNDY | EXPERT: RACHAEL EDEN, DIETITIAN AT BUPA UK
05
vs
BEER
CIDER
HO OT WEATHER AND ALC COHOL MAKE FOR A PLEASANT COCKTAIL, BUT WHICH BOTTLE RISKS PU UTTING YOUR HEALTH H AMBITIONS ON ICE? WE PRESENT OUR GLASS-HALF-FULL ANALYSIS
5 000BC
55BC
One of the oldest beverages, people have been quaffing beer for 7 000 years in Iran, and there is evidence it was flowing in Egypt and Mesopotamia, too
WORDS: BEN WELCH | PHOTOGRAPHY: JOBE LAWRENSON | ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY | *WITHIN THE RECOMMENDED WEEKLY LIMIT OF 14 UNITS | **CONSCIOUSNESS AND COGNITION | †UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA
South Africa i the 12th largest beer producer in the world, according to the Beer Association of South Africa. And craft is taking over; there are now around 215 craft b breweries i accor CBASA. S
The earliest recorded mention of cider was in 55BC, when Julius Caesar planted orchards after tasting the local tipple during his first British invasion
12th
POPULARITY
2nd
HEALTH
Moderate beer drinkers have a 42% lower risk of heart disease than non-drinkers, claim scientists at the Mediterranean Neurological Institute. We’ll drink to that.
Looks like Saffers took the advice of an apple-a-day quite seriously y with our craving for cider second only to the UK. We’re one of the world’s biggest cider markets.
In addition to those benefits found in beer, scientists have found as many antioxidants – which help to fight dementia – in cider as in red wine, just at a far lower alcohol level.
HIGHS AND LOWS*
Cuts diabetes risk
Healthy kidneys
Strong bones
Can’t get the creative juices flowing? Have a beer. Researchers** found the buzz of a liquid lunch cleared mental blocks and increased problem-solving powers by a fifth.
A draught boosts your recovery better than a sports drink, with one caveat – salt must be involved†. So, make a packet of Simba chips a part of your post-race care package.
THE MH VERDICT
Beer belly
Serotonin boost
MIND
FITNESS
Growth hormone hit
Improved satiety
Sugar crash
In moderation, cider floods your brain with endorphins, lifting your mood. But go too far and your endorphin levels crash, and the extra alcohol can lead to depressive symptoms.
The acid in cider promotes iron absorption, which is important because iron is a key part of your haemoglobin, which fuels your muscles with oxygen during exercise.
CIDER WINS! While beer is far and away the green-and-gold nation’s go-to drink, it pays to switch to cider when the sun shines. They share the myriad benefits of moderate alcohol consumption, but a splash of antioxidants gives cider extra fizz in the health stakes. You know what they say about (a glass of) apples a day…
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 59
LIFE
THE BEST GEAR TO HIT MH HQ THIS MONTH
INSTAX MINI LINK The Instax Mini Link is a portable smartphone printer (and one of the best life hacks money can buy). Just a bit wider than a smartphone, it’s small enough to fit in your backpack ready to use on any adventure. We took it on the off-road kind and printed snaps along the way to share amongst our group. The gamechanger: the Mini Link App which has plenty of options to print from your smartphone, from fun frames to collages to even printing from video. This one’s a keeper. R1 890, takealot.com
STAFF CHOICE
OSMO ACTION
OSMO ACTION After the t success of the Osmo Pocket, the teaam at DJI came out with another small-scale camera that’s packed with perforrmance power. The Osmo Action is a rugged ed yet elegant action camera that’s that s built to capture high-quality video (4K at 60fps) and images during outdoor adventures. The Action has both back and front touchscreens which lets you go from behind the scenes to full-on vlogger mode in an instant. Shaky footage? RockSteady stabilisation has you covered. This device is also waterproof up to 11m. R6 999, incredible.co.za
NINTENDO SWITCH A console l doesn’t d ’ get more versatile than the Switch, and while they've already sold over 49 million units, the Japanese company continues to up their game. Nintendo recently introduced their Ring Fit accessory which allows you to physically take part in gaming adventures by capturing fullbody motion. The Switch is a great portable, handheld system that doubles up as a plug and play console when hooked up with your TV. Plus, the graphics compete with the other console heavyweights. And thanks to the built-in battery, you can use it during load shedding, too. R6 740, takealot.com
60 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
IMAGES: SUPPLIED
FITBIT VERSA 2 What comes to mind when you think of Fitbit? For me, it’s the die-hard build, lightweight design and a unrelenting focus on improving my fitness and giving me calorie-busting motivation. The Versa 2 ticks all those boxes, plus it’s smarter and more stylish than previous models. It features Fitbit’s fastest processor yet and a battery that lasts over five days. But what sold me, is its smart wake technology which gently rouses you at the most ideal moment in your sleep cycle (within 30 minutes of your alarm going off). Did I mention it also has an AMOLED display? R3 900, takealot.com
LIFE THE
WEALTH REPORT SCREENSHOT
Reduce eye (and back) strain by positioning your monitor at a height so the top of the screen is at eye level. Keep the screen about an arm’s length (50cm) from your face. Source: ergotron.com
STAND-IN
Stop sitting on your ass: 6 out of 10 workers who switched to standing desks reported increased productivity. Can’t wheel in a full replacement? Try DeskStand’s adjustable options that convert your desktop into a standing setup. (From R1 299, deskstand.com)
MARCH Turn your uninspiring desk into a productivityboosting, stressbusting workstation with our MH-certified research and advice.
TUNE IN
Listening to nature sounds while working can boost your mood and improve concentration.1 We like: “Ocean Surf with Distant Thunder”, but “Calming Waves on a Pebble Beach” is a bop, too.
WORDS: KIERAN LEGG | ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA1 | NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY2 | UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND3
HIGHLIGHTS
WATERWORKS
Workers with access to natural light stayed focused on the task for 15% longer than those left in the dark.2 Can’t get a desk with a view? Take short walks outside during breaks to score some of these sunbaked benefits.
Staying hydrated isn’t just important to your health. Keeping liquid levels topped up will net you a 14% gain in productivity. Source: University of East London
POTLUCK
Indoor air quality is five times worse than outdoor inhalations. A desk plant will strip CO2 from the air. (Plus desktop greenery has been shown to boost productivity.3) Go with a low-maintenance potter that won’t wither indoors. Our pick: the snake plant.
PERSONAL TOUCH
Workers permitted to personalise their workspaces snagged a 25% boost in productivity, according to research conducted by psychologist Craig Knight. Whether it’s a family snap or collection of Marvel action figures, make your space your own. “Just make sure to replace old photos with new ones to keep things fresh,” recommends decluttering guru Heidi Meyer of Cloud 9 Organised.
CLUTTER BALL
According to a Cornell University study, clutter – including desktop clutter – can spike your anxiety levels and trigger unhealthy coping mechanisms (such as eating junk food or binging Youtube videos). Take stock of what’s on your desk, says Meyer, if you’re not using something every day, it belongs in a drawer.
“WHAT PRODUCTIVE GUYS KEEP ON THEIR DESKS” According to a study conducted by Lucidchart, when compared to the so-called “coasters”, the productive guys in the office are: 9% more likely to keep sticky notes at their desks
9% more likely to keep photos of their kids
8% more likely to keep healthy snacks on hand
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 61
LIFE
Supra Natural
WANT A PRESTIGE CAR WITHOUT THE BADGE TAX? TOYOTA’S LATEST (AND GREATEST?) OFFERING IS A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING. / BY ANDREW CHESTERTON
IT’S NOT OFTEN
that BMW and Toyota find themselves competing for the same customers. Like someone sweeping through Gucci and Versace at Sandton City, stuffing coats into their trolley like a Kardashian at Christmas, and then swinging by Mr Price to see what bargains have popped up in the ‘Priced 2 Go’ aisle, the German premium brand and Japan’s icon of mass-market motoring just don’t appear on the same radar. But that all changed last year when the BMW Z4 joined the new Toyota Supra in SA, and in the process, finally put an exact rand figure on just how much more someone will pay to park a premium badge in their driveway. Should the mood take you, you can now duck down to your local Toyota dealership, step past the rows of Corollas and RAV4s – back slowly away, palms up, from the Camry – and place an order 62 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
for the Supra. Supra In its cheapest GR Track, you will find yourself parting with R972 100, with that money buying you a thumping turbocharged straight-six engine pumping out an exciting 250kW and 500Nm, and feeding that grunt to a pair of hard-working rear tyres via a quick-shifting eight-speed automatic gearbox. Should you prefer the blue-andwhite sparkle of the BMW badge, however, then you can head to a BMW dealership and plonk down R1 064 000 for the Z4 M40i – complete with (though you’ve probably already guessed) a thumping turbocharged straight-six engine pumping out an exciting 250kW and 500Nm, feeding that grunt to a pair of hard-working rear tyres via a quick-shifting eight-speed automatic gearbox. That’s because the Z4 and the Supra are essentially the same car, developed jointly (but there is more BMW than Toyota in
“ This is the kind of Toyota that hasn’t existed for decades” both cars’ DNA, including the chassis, engine, gearbox and interior technology) by the two car companies to save on production costs.
TWIN VIRTUES And so just like that, one of motoring’s most enduring questions has finally been answered. What price is badge credibility? Exactly R91 900. There is one critical difference between these near-identical twins, though. And it’s one that, in theory, should actually make the Supra the better performance car. The Japanese version is fantastic – a light-feeling, responsive and always engaging
box of fun that shines equally bright whether you’re attacking a public road or a racetrack. Critically, though, the Supra also has an actual metal roof. BMW’s Z4 – exclusively a soft-top convertible proposition – does not. And if you’ve ever seen a house mid-demolition, you’ll know that removing the roof from something never does much for structural integrity. That effect is usually doubleddown in the world of convertibles, where the windscreens and steering wheels are prone to sudden shaking fits, the dynamics turn all weird and wobbly and the extra weight of the roof mechanicals drains the fun from
PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED
the driveexperience like someone pulling the plug from a bathtub. But BMW’sengineeringteam haspulledoff a kind of minor miraclehere.Consider this: the Z4 M40iisactually fasteraround the infamousNurburgring than the BMWM2,knocking almost three fullsecondsoff the time managed by thesmallest(but still very,very good)full-blown M car. Infact, BMW’sspannerwieldershave told us there’sno plan for aproperM version of the Z4, simply because theydon’t thinktheycould makeit much faster. Asis, thisM40i willhit 100km/hin just 4.6 seconds,and itwillpush on to a top speed of 250km/h. Bestofall, it will do all that with itsfabric roof stored and the sunshining in onthe driver. BMW also claimsa perfect 50:50 weightdistribution, and there’s heapsof cleverM kit, includingadaptivesuspension, bigger brakesand an MSport differential, alldesigned to squeezemaximum fun from the drive experience. Inthe city,the Z4 still somehow managesto trot around in relative comfort, feeling something approachingbenign in itsmost comfortable settings, with the suspension, gearbox and accelerator all appropriately numbed andthe fabric roof keepingmuch of theoutsideworld at bay. But engaging the Sport
settings utterly transforms the Z4’s character,theM40i tensing like asprinter crouch hed ona starting block, the steeriing getting heavier, theaccelerattor response sharper andthe gearbox suddenly willing to kung-fu grip its lower gears as a you scream out of corners.
POWER PACT Infact, the change between its i two driving modes is so severre that you really can’tleave it inSport in the city, like you would in some cars. It’sjust too hard, too uncomfortable, tobe truly liveable. But on the right road, this Hulk-from-Banner transformation is fantastic. And scary. The combination of rear-wheel drive and a short wheelbase can see the Z4’s bottom suddenly overtaking its bonnet when you get too aggressive on the exit of a corner, sparking a moment of pure panic before the traction control intervenes and pulls you back to safety. All of which isvery BMW – especially one with an M, evena little one, somewhere in its title – and so not overly surprising. What is more surprising, though, is the smile you’ll find painted on your face when you climb out of the Supra, your heart thumping and pulse racing in a way that’s totally
foreign to the often boring world of modern Toyotas. The Japanese giant is rightly famed as the automotive equivalent of sensible shoes: reliable, comfortable but as exciting as a tax audit. And yet here we are, fizzing like Mentos in a Coke bottle, and with a Toyota key swinging from our fingers. Like the latest BMW Z4, the fairly recently released Supra is rear-wheel drive, and there’s plenty of extra performance trickery working in its favour, like a sports differential and adaptive suspension, as well as perfect 50:50 weight distribution. Happily, the traction control can be set to a half-slip mode, too, meaning it will allow for some tail-sliding – much like the Z4 – but will (hopefully) drag you back into a straight line when things get out of hand. But the real pulse-quickening
fun of the Supra is how featherlight andfunit feels, with this most un-Toyota ofToyotas quick to respond to steering and throttle inputs, tucking into even the tightest of corners with a cat-like deftness. But it’s when you blast out the other side of that corner, the rich note of that six-cylinder engine bouncing around the cabin, and with g-forces scrabbling at your face and neck, that you realise that this is truly the kind of Toyota that hasn’t existed in decades. There’s not one part of the Supra that stands above any other. It’s more the overall sense of sharpness, of completeness, that makes it so much fun. It might be a co-built performance car, but it feels like a worthy successor to the famed and Ferrari-bothering twinturbo Supras of the mid-1990s. In fact, it feels a lot like a very good BMW. Only it's almost R100 000 cheaper. MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 63
THERE’S A REASON HOLIDAY SEX IS SO GOOD – AT LEAST FIVE OF THEM, ACTUALLY. NOW BRING THAT EXCITEMENT HOME EVERY DAY
Sexcation? ARE YOU READY FOR A
BY ANNE RO D ERIQ U E-JO NES
64 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
LIFE I CAN ATTRIBUTE my happy
marriage to a disastrous train ride in France. Or the time we sank our rental car in a muddy river in Costa Rica. Or that flight on a Mexican airline that went out of business while we were in the air, stranding us in Acapulco. But these weren’t failures – they were experiences. Travelling with a partner can lead to some great memories, many with an R rating – or at least a rom-com glow. A US Travel Association survey confirms that holidays can strengthen relationships, help couples communicate and reduce the odds of divorce. Escaping from work, laundry and kids is liberating. Add in mountain views or salt air, and new sensations help “bring you into your body”, says relationship coach Celeste Hirschman. It all aids sexual arousal. Your brain loves to travel. “Variety and adventure open up the dopamine response,” says sex coach Patti Britton. That flow of feel-good hormones brings a sense of excitement that most couples lose over time. These trips stand out for my partner Nate and I. No need to copy them exactly; use them as inspiration. With a little planning, you won’t need a lot of money – or, in some cases, clothes.
1
ISLAND ESCAPE Purpose Fulfilling a fantasy The Getaway Hawaii I know, I know: cliché alert! But the connection between beaches, sex and romance should come as no surprise. For one thing, ocean environments make us feel good. Research from 2017 suggests that exposure to such “blue spaces” may have mental and physical benefits. And then there’s all that skin. That’s probably why Hawaii is such a popular honeymoon destination – it’s straight-up paradise. On a recent trip to Kauai, Nate surprised me by renting a convertible, something I never imagined us driving in our “real” life. Our top-down exploration included roadside coconuts, poke picnics and cooling swims. We even took a surfing lesson. By evening, we drank wine on the lanai and googled real estate we couldn’t afford. THE TAKEAWAY Sensory overload. As beautiful as Hawaii looks, its smells and sounds are equally astounding. “Changing your sensory input can be quite stimulating,” Britton says, especially if your home base is a city like, say, Joburg. Flowers, salty ocean air and crashing surf combine to create pure bliss. As for visual stimuli, watching water droplets tracing her curves on the beach can make your mind wander to the fun times you will have back at the hotel room, says psychologist Benna Strober. DO IT YOURSELF If you want to make an island escape on a budget, head to Zanzibar. Mango airlines does some great packages to suit almost all budgets (flymangotravel.com). We recommend staying on Nungwi beach. It’s on the slightly pricier side of the island but it’s not affected by tides, meaning you can enjoy the crystal blue water all day long and even swim with turtles nearby. Plus, it’s where most honeymooners go, making it a spot filled with romance.
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 65
2
LIFE
SEXY SEQUEL Purpose Recapturing romance TheGetaway Wherever you went (or dreamed of going) for your honeymoon Nate and I spent our honeymoon at a Mexican resort, swilling Tecate and applying moisturiser to each other’s sun-seared skin. When we returned years later, not much had changed – but we had. I brought the same bikini (still fit!) and Nate packed his beloved team’s visor so we could redo some photographs. But we realised that time had made us more in tune with each other. We took naps, read books, swam in our private pool and spent hours reminiscing at dinner. It was more romantic than our honeymoon. And no sunburn. THE TAKEAWAY New appreciation. Visiting a faraway place, especially on a honeymoon, can be stressful. When you go back, many of the stresses are gone. “You know your way around,” says Art Markman, a professor of psychology. “Plus, you get to share the joy of thinking about how young and clueless you were the first time.” DO IT YOURSELF Can’t swing a return trip? Try a lowcost alternative, like the hotel you stayed in on your wedding night. If you went to Bali, try an Indonesian restaurant. France? Watch a French movie with a nice Bordeaux and cheese. It’s about memories, men.
THE NEW IDENTITY Purpose Playing a role TheGetaway Vegas, baby!
66 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
ekdays Nate and I are in 10pm – after our nightly ot, right? The rules changed when we lost our Vegas virginity. Research shows that couples who share novel and arousing activities – as opposed to mundane pursuits like watching game shows – see a boost in relationship quality. We stayed at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in a room overlooking the fountains and the Strip. Our suite had a velvet sofa and a Japanese soaking tub for two. Tempting. But Vegas has a way of pulling you out of your comfort
zone and your fancy hotel. We drank cocktails at breakfast and umbrella drinks in a cabana by the pool. I wore short dresses and a skimpy bikini and we danced until dawn. The next day, we slept past Wheel of Fortune. THE TAKEAWAY A new you. One cure for monotony: “Give yourself permission to let loose and fantasise about being someone else,” says Strober. Role-playing shows that you trust your partner with your deepest fantasies, she says. That vulnerability can boost your
relationship – and sex life. DO IT YOURSELF Slip on a sport coat and play James Bond in inner-city Cape Town, home to a sophisticated cocktail scene, nightlife and gambling (no passport required). Affordable alternatives? Try Grand West or Montecasino. Or role-play locally: talk about your turn-ons and settle on a scenario. (Into taboos? Pretend you’re cheating lovers.) Agree on a signal to alert each other if one of you needs a break, says Hirschman.
4
THE EYE OPENER
Purpose Anewperspective TheGetaway A boutique cruise
5
I’ll never erase the image of my husband rubbing aloe on 70-year-old Phyllis’s shoulders during a seven-day cruise to Mexico. Sure, he’s in the medical field, but it was the sweet gesture that turned my insides to mush. Now, we’re not into cruises. But this was different: a small ship (fewer than 100 people, not thousands) that could reach nooks and crannies in the Sea of Cortés. No dressing up for dinner, lots of drinking and talking. We snorkelled, paddleboarded and swam with sea lions. Everyone else was over 65, but check your prejudices: we learnt tons about life and love – and ourselves – chatting with them. Every one of those couples stressed that travelling together improved their marriage. The best part?
THE TAKEAWAY An open mind. New settings can reveal sides of your partner you never noticed before, says Markman. And lose your bias against group travel. Sure, it’s not your usual crowd, but there’s a good chance you’ll make unexpected friends, too. “Meeting new people and getting to know them is almost always an overwhelmingly positive experience,” Markman says. “That good feeling then
expands to the relationship itself as couples build new memories together that strengthen their foundation.” DO IT YOURSELF Go to crystalcruises.com and filter by where you want to go. In Africa, Crystal Cruises can take you to 22 countries, 34 ports and show you over 199 excursions and it’s not too far from home. Plus, you can even choose between ocean, river and yacht cruises.
“That wild side of you may spice things up and help her see you in a different light”
TIMELESS TRAVEL Purpose Unplugging The Getaway Havana
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SEAN LAURENZ & GETTY IMAGES | MODEL: JESS LEE BUCHANAN
Teaching them t Cards Against may have taugh relationships (l helps), but only the “assless ch
The average iPhone user unlocks the device 80 times a day. In 2016, according to one report, Android users clicked, swiped or tapped a screen 2600-plus times a day. (Touch your partner that often?) In Cuba, Internet access is scarce. But trust me: in Havana you don’t need Instagram. With the music, the cocktails and the steamy heat, this city radiates sexiness. Nate and I spent our mornings in bed, our afternoons sipping mojitos in leafy courtyards and our evenings dancing until we were soaked in sweat. My lingering mental gif: zipping around in the
backseat of a classic car, my hair blowing in the warm wind and my husband looking at me with a big smile. Didn’t need a photo. THE TAKEAWAY Focused connection. Put down the phone to solidify your relationship: “Technoference” is a term from a study that found that seven in 10 people see phones as interrupting or getting in the way of interactions with their mate (like texting while talking). When it happens often, relationship satisfaction drops. Without your phone, you relax into your partner’s company and reconnect, says therapist Rachel Sussman. You’ll be reminded of the early days, when you two were young, carefree and getting to know each other. DO IT YOURSELF Seek out a digital detox programme or a retreat like Retreat Yourself happening this month (26 - 29 March) which is only an hour and a half drive from Cape Town and doesn’t have signal. You disconnect to reconnect.
.CO. A/
arch 2020 67
LIFE THE
MARCH Ask anything – and we mean anything – about love and sex.
I’m a “big and tall” guy and my wife is tiny. How can we make sex more accessible? — Calvyn, Windhoek
Being a lot larger than your sex partner simply means you’ll have to get inventive, which is always a good thing in bed. Change positions so she doesn’t feel crushed – i.e., skip missionary – and use props! You could stand at the edge of the bed and have her lie on a wedge-shaped sex pillow (or sturdy couch cushions, if you’re in a pinch) to elevate her hips to the right height. Or, if you’re both adventurous, you could rig up a sex swing: you stand and she sits in the harness. Finally, remember that many “tiny” women find size a turn-on (and not just down there). Pick her up, turn her over and be the big guy she loves. 68 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
I hate spooning. What’s my alternative in the cuddling department? — Ezra, Sunninghill Lots of other positions count as cuddling: arm around shoulder on the couch, legs intertwined in bed, hand-holding as you fall asleep. You don’t have to do a full embrace if it’s uncomfortable. Stay with me here: you can also lie butt to butt. You’re touching, but you still get your own space. I know I need to call things off with my current girlfriend. When is the right time to end it? — Benny, Bluff Do it now, especially if holidays or big events are looming. If you wait, look at what you might be denying her: R1 000 saved on the present she
would’ve bought you (and you will also get to save that money in the bank!). Another upside of ending it before a holiday is that she’ll likely be with family and friends who can help her drink cocktails and heal her sorrow. Do her a favour and let her use that time to get over you. There’s no use dragging the process out because you aren’t sure how best to do it.
The woman I’ve been seeing for three months still gets alerts from dating apps on her phone. I assumed we were exclusive. Is she still curious about other people? — Frank, Bloemfontein She might be. Maybe she’s just been too lazy to delete the apps, but it’s also possible she’s keeping them as a safety net in case you don’t turn out to be such a great guy. If it makes you uneasy to think of her scrolling through her feed for an upgrade, bring it up and use it to cue your “define the relationship” convo. Be direct: tell her you’ve trashed your own apps and you aren’t dating anyone else but her. Her response should give you some clarity on her current status. Naomi Piercey is the Girl Next Door. Feel free to ask her anything about love and sex.
MARK LAITA/GALLERY STOCK (DOGS) | JOEL ARBAJE (PIERCEY).
I go down on her all the time, but I haven’t had a blowjob in three years. Is it weird to ask for one? — Katlego, Port Elizabeth It’s not weird to ask for oral... if you do it correctly. Your first step is a freshly showered and scent-free groin. A sprinkle of baby powder in the upper thigh region will help keep fumes at bay. A little grooming also goes a long way. Trim, buzz and tidy the area. When it’s time to ask, don’t just push her head in that direction. Vocalise your desire: “I’ve always loved it when you go down on me. Can we do it again?” (Positive reinforcement helps: “Babe, that feels great!”)
LIFE
The Sound of Success
WE CUT THROUGH THE NOISE OF BINAURAL BEATS AND SENT A JOURNALIST TO TEST THE CLAIMS OF BIO-HACKERS. CAN SOUND WAVES ENHANCE PRODUCTIVITY AND DROWN OUT STRESS? / BY MILLIE WEST
In this brave new world of bio-hacking, the time-worn, scientifically sound advice that you should eat well and train hard is becoming a tough sell. If the Instagram posts are to be believed, myriad quick fixes can improve every aspect of your health. This month, we trial a trend that promises an easy solution to two common modern ailments: sagging productivity and the stress of sleeplessness. Binaural beats are a form
of “brainwave entrainment”, in which the right and left ears are made to listen to different frequencies, in the hope of activating specific neural systems. There are five frequencies to choose from – delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma – each theoretically capable of providing wideranging benefits (see below). There’s no high-end tech involved: you just need to listen to a Spotify playlist for 30 minutes a day. Let’s plug in.
01/
delta wave therapy helped to
SCIENCE SAYS
alleviate mild symptoms of
Though the bio-hacking
anxiety, while a trial in
benefits of binaural beats
Richmond, Virginia, found that
are touted across Silicon Valley,
theta waves eased symptoms
there is as yet limited evidence
of chronic pain by 77% more
to substantiate the claims. One
than a placebo. That’s a
study conducted at Duke
promising start, but much
University found that
needs to be done before
participants listening to beta
sound-wave therapy gains a
beats performed
scientific seal of
consistently better
approval
in “vigilance tasks”,
comparable to
which means it
health all-stars
could be useful the
such as the
next time you’re
Mediterranean
compiling a report for your boss. Another study by Montreal’s Clinique Psyché found that
TURN ON, TUNE IN
DELTA WAVE 0.5HZ | 4HZ Promise: Deep sleep, anti-ageing, pain relief, healing.
THETA WAVE 4HZ | 8HZ Promise: REM sleep, relaxation, meditation, creativity.
ALPHA WAVE 8HZ | 12HZ Promise: Stress reduction, positive thinking, fast learning.
BETA WAVE 12HZ | 38HZ Promise: Increased focus and cognitive powers.
GAMMA WAVE 38HZ | 42HZ Promise: High-level cognition, memory, peak awareness.
MH’S TEST SUBJECT Millie West is a journalist looking for effective ways to stress less, sleep better and boost productivity. Time is money, after all.
diet, or plain, old 30 minutes of exercise a day.
ILLUSTRATION: ANDREA MANZATI AT SYNERGY
03/
04/ AT A GLANCE
USER FEEDBACK
Affordable?
02/
could really be a cure-all.
DID IT WORK?
Let’s be clear: this is not
EASY LISTENING
When you’re a freelancer –
music. It’s noise.
Much of the
Simple to maintain?
like I am – time is money. The
Interestingly, by listening to
wellness industry is
Possible with basic kit?
more work I can squeeze in,
“calming” theta waves for 30
after your money, so it’s
On the go?
the more cash I can squeeze
uninterrupted minutes
refreshing that you can stream
out. There is a pressure to
before bed, I was able to fall
free, on-demand playlists.
Enjoyable?
maximise productivity, and I
asleep faster and stay asleep
often find it tough to clock
longer. But outside of the
off at 5pm. That makes me
bedroom, binaural beats hit
TIME POOR
Research approved?
the embodiment of modern
a dud note, particularly the
With late nights at
Allows progression?
work culture, and therefore
pounding beta playlists
the office and
Score
the perfect guinea pig for
promising productivity. Give
catch-up TV to squeeze into
this hack. However, I was
me the buzz of a cup of
your schedule, half an hour of
sceptical that something as
coffee over a monotonous
mind-numbing sound can feel
basic as a Spotify playlist
thud, any day. After a week, I
like a big ask.
Multiple benefits? Trackable results?
6/10 05/
THE VERDICT
slept better but never achieved the high-level focus I'd hoped for.
Easy to use?
Binaural beats are a promising, if JUST NOISE?
unspectacular, introduction to the weird
The lack of cast-iron
world of bio-hacking. Compared to other
supporting evidence
transhumanist hacks, it’s straightforward
is discouraging, but new studies
and inexpensive, with thousands of
into the therapy are under way.
playlists online designed for specific benefits. The scientific evidence is thin on the ground, but it’s early days. So, if only to tap into the placebo effect, we suggest that tuning in is worth a try.
PLAYING IT BY EAR COULD TAKE YOUR CAREER TO THE NEXT LEVEL
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
71
LIFE AND ANOTHER THING
Sound Adv
WHETHER YOU’RE BLOCKING OUT YOUR LOC CAL GYM’S GO-TO ELEVATOR MUSIC PLAYLIST OR R BANGING OUT BURPEES IN YOUR LOUNGE, SO OUND CAN MAKE OR BREAK A WORKOUT. THE MH TEAM T RECOMMENDS THE BUDS, BARS AND SMART SPEAKERS THAT’LL MAKE YOUR NEXT SESSIO ON EPIC.
KELLEIGH KOREVAAR RECOMMENDS…
JBL X UNDER ARMOUR FLASH I’m not a fan of wired earphones or big wireless headphones that are usually accompanied by loud grunts at the squat rack. That’s why I love these buds. Loud enough to drown out excuses but not too loud that they drown out the world. Thanks to AmbientAware tech,, I always feel safe no matter where I’m m working out. The ey’re also waterproof and lock into place, stayin ng secure no matte er what. Just make sure you y find the fitting that’s right for your ear or you m might lose a bud mid-b burpee (R2 999, connoisseur. co.za).
THAAQIB DANIELS RECOMMENDS…
T H E B EO S O U N D STAG E Simple. Elegant. And Powerful. The Beosound Stage brings the rich sound of Bang & Olufsen to any TV. The best part: you can’t even tell it’s there. The low-profile design helps it disguise as art in your living room. With 11 custom designed speaker drivers and the Dolby Atmos 3D sound effect, effect it still packs a punch when it comes to audio quality. q (R47 000, Bang & O Olufsen stores country ywide).
ROBERT CILLIERS RECOMMENDS…
SONOS ONE Smart speakers are packed with features, but few have the sound quality to sub in for more traditional setups. That’s what I dig about SONOS’s flagship offering – a compact device capable of pumping out rich audio at ridiculous volumes. And those “smart” features are still there – voice control and compatibility with all the important apps – plus you can add another speaker to create a stereo setup or complement your home theatre system. (R5 999, takealot.com).
72
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
KIERAN LEGG RECOMMENDS…
S E N N H E I S E R H D 5 59 S Tech these days is designed to fail, with pricey gadgets conking out after just a few years of use. The antidote: Sennheiser’s range of open-backed headphones. My last pair gave me a decade of glorious, rich audio before I opted for the upgrade pictured here. These sound even better, are just as comfortable and built to take a beating. (R2 240, takealot.com).
H UAW E I F R E E L AC E In most photos, I’m the guy with earphones around his neck. These ones in particular: I just can’t part with them. The Huawei Freelace is new-age cool, it turns on automatically when brought to my ears and talks to me when the battery is low, or it’s pairing or switching on. Its flexi neckband means it can be shoved just about anywhere, making it futuristic and functional. (R1 899, takealot.com).
WORDS: KELLEIGH KOREVAAR | PHOTOGRAPHS SUPPLIED
NADIM NYKER RECOMMENDS…
PHOTOGR APH: HANRO HAVENGA
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Find Your Memory Lane Master the Art of Forgetting Boost Your Brain Power
COMPILED BY MEGAN FLEMMIT
HOW TO
TRAIN
YOUR
MEMORY
There’s no such thing as a “bad” memory. There are only untrained ones. So what exactly tones our gray matter? Experts have a lot to say about that. BY GINNY GRAVES DR. ALEXANDRA NICOLE TRELLE, a
memory researcher at Stanford University, is in the middle of explaining why dozens of research centers around the country are feverishly trying to understand the most effective ways to prevent big memory
ILLUSTRATIONS BY EDMON DE HARO
problems. “There are huge studies in parts of Europe as well, so the scope is really ...” she says, leaving dead air where more words should be. “International?” I fill in. “It’s an international effort,” she says.
It’s a minor lapse, Trelle’s inability to come up with the word international – nothing like the time I blanked on my next-door neighbour’s name when I was introducing her to a friend. But the fallibility and fragility of memory are precisely why so
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 75
MY MEMORY BOOST 10 J Q K A
manyincrediblemindsarestrivingtofind effectivewaystoprotectandevenaugment oneofthebrain’smostvitalfunctions. There’s some seriously Black Mirror stuff in the works. Neuroscientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, for instance, recently completed the first-ever human trial of an implant that delivers electrical pulses to the brain’s memory centre – it enhanced participants’ recall by 37 percent. A team at MIT improved memory in mice by exposing them to a combination of flashing strobe lights and a rapid clicking sound. Even more sci-fi, researchers at both MIT and the French National Centre for Scientific Research successfully inserted false memories into the brains of mice – a feat that proves the malleability of memory. And Facebook and Elon Musk are (separately) working on brain-computer interfaces that may allow our minds to one day merge with digital memory banks. The scientific frenzy is driven in no small part by an everyday mystery that, odds are, worries you too: why do so many of us who almost certainly don’t have diagnosable memory problems forget the name of the movie we watched last week, or stride purposefully into the lounge, then stand there, slack-jawed, unable to remember what we came for? My search for answers led me to the Stanford Memory Lab, where Trelle, 29, who has been studying the inner workings of memory for the past eight years, agreed to show me around. I expected to find a sterile-looking facility with dozens of beeping machines, or at least a beaker or two of mysterious liquid. But the “lab” is a nondescript room with a couple of computers and a TV—a blandness that belies the significance of the research taking place there. Over the past decade, hundreds of study subjects have submitted to hours of memory testing while lying inside the high-res MRI machine tucked away in an adjacent room, allowing scientists to peer into their brains and watch what happens as they form, and then try to retrieve, memories. “We set up the MRI to optimise our ability to measure what’s happening in the hippocampus,
76 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
an area of the brain that’s critical for memory,” says Trelle, the study’s lead postdoc. “We can actually see very distinct neural signatures when people successfully remember versus when they forget.” The memory tests are sensitive enough to pick up subtle changes in recall – some of which are due to the gradual dulling of memory with age. Others may indicate something more serious, like the proteinbuild-up calling cards of Alzheimer’s. By watching memory lapses in action and comparing people’s performance over time, Trelle and her colleagues hope they can identify the early signs of memory decline and uncover its causes, as well as clues about how to prevent it. It’sunsettlingtoimaginescientists peeringatone’sbrainasitflounders.“What causesthoselapses?”IaskTrelle.“Why can’tIrememberthenameoftherestaurant Iwenttolastweekbutcanstillrecallthelook onmyfriend’sfaceadecadeagowhenshe toldmeshewasgettingdivorced?” It’s pretty simple, she says. “When you don’t remember, it’s because you weren’t paying attention. Memory and attention are inextricably linked.” If you’re only halfheartedly attending to new information, it doesn’t get deeply encoded in your brain, so it’s more likely to blow away like loose topsoil on a windswept plain. That’s normal, by the way. It happens to everyone, from execs who are killing it to Jeopardy! savant James Holzhauer. When it comes to memory, there’s a vast range of normal, but wherever you are on the spectrum, you can make it better. Scientists like Trelle go as far as saying, maybe a little hyperbolically, that unless there’s a real problem, there’s no such thing as a “bad” memory; there are just trained and untrained ones. Thechallenge:Weliveinaworldwith moredistractionsthanever,wherepings andchirpsvierelentlesslyforourattention. (Really,whenwasthelasttimeanyofus fullypaidattentiontoanything?)Infact, ourculturaldistractibilitymaybethemain reasonmoreandmoreofushave thedisquietingsensethatour memoryisfailing.Fortunately,
A DR. ALEX MULLEN, threetime winner of the World Memory Championships, a decathlon of memory skills One of the ways I try to keep my memory in shape is by memorising the order of a deck of cards each day. I wouldn’t be a true memory competitor if I didn’t!
researchershavebegunexposingthecostof ourinattentiveness–andhavesomeideas forkeepingourbrainsontrack.
BEING “ON” MAY TURN MEMORY OFF SOMEOFTHEBEST insightintowhatwe’re
upagainstthesedaysisbeingrevealedatthe StanfordMemoryLab,whereresearchers havedevotedconsiderabletimetoseeing ifandhowmodernlife–specifically,media multitasking–ismessingwithourmemory. “Thehumanbrain,bydesign,canonlyfocus ononethingatatime,”saysDr.Anthony Wagner,theMemoryLab’sdirector. Think you’re a proficient multitasker? That’s like saying you’re a good drunk driver. Sure, it feels like you’re masterfully juggling two or more things at once. But your attention is actually flitting, like a hummingbird, from one thing to another, with predictable consequences. Wagner and his team at Stanford discovered that heavy media multitaskers score lower on tests of working memory, the brain’s temporary scratch pad, where we store information about what we’re doing in the moment. And that may have long-term effects. Multitasking may also interfere with the ability to encode and retrieve long-term memories. Checking Instagram while binge watching isn’t the only tech-related reason your conversation is increasingly peppered with phrases like “what’s his name” and “that movie with Chris Hemsworth.” Indeed, there’s a growing list of potential ways our favourite digital tools may subtly
6439758039
chip away at our recall. Simply knowing that you can check Google for information you’ve just learned, for instance, makes you less likely to remember it. Typing notes instead of writing them in longhand may reduce your ability to recall the material. And reading text solely on screens, which we tend to skim more than immerse ourselves in, may undermine your capacity to remember what you read. (Australian researchers may have a solution; they’ve developed a difficult-to-decipher typeface that demands extra concentration. Called, memorably, Sans Forgetica, it significantly bolsters recall.) There’s even some evidence that taking pictures of your experiences blurs your memory of them. Call it the Selfie Effect. “There’s mounting evidence that when we engage with technology while we’re trying to experience something, it shortcircuits the memory-encoding process and diminishes our ability to recall the experience later,” says Dr. Jason Chein, director of Temple University’s Brain Research & Imaging Center.
LOAD YOUR MEMORY RIGHT EVEN IN OUR tech-tethered world, most
COURTESY STANFORD MEMORY LAB (2)
of us have the potential to remember far more than we actually do. Ironically, this is where technology may help save us. For instance, Dr Adam Gazzaley, a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and his research partners have created and published research on MediTrain, an appbased meditation programme designed to improve your ability to regulate your attention and tune out distractions, just as meditation has been doing for thousands of years. Until the programme is available in another year or two, regular meditation and brain-training games may help, too. Ultimately, we need to adapt
not just using tech programmes to enhance our focus but making room for non-digital methods that do so as well. “You can dramatically improve your attention ten- to 15-fold,” says Dr P. Murali Doraiswamy, director of Duke University’s Neurocognitive Disorders Program. His research shows that although memory and attention peak in our mid-to-late 20s, we can improve, regardless of age. “After 25 sessions of cognitive training, 40-year-olds may outperform untrained 20-year-olds – but it takes effort,” he says. By “effort,” he means doing things like turning off your devices so you can actually listen, challenging your intellect, and spending hours immersed in a single task like reading an actual book. Yes, you’ve heard that before, but experts like Dr. Doraiswamy keep repeating it, because we’re not getting the message. Training your attention is a big piece of the remember-more equation. If you sit in a meeting without making an effort to retain what’s being said, roughly 50 percent of what you hear will disappear in a day or two and 90 percent will be gone within a month, warns Doraiswamy. The same goes for books, movies, conversations. Poof. To remember something, you need to remind your brain it’s important. Take notes after meetings or when you finish a book. Explain interesting things you’ve picked up during the day to others. At the very least, think through information after you hear it. By giving it as much richness and context as
MIND
IF YOU’RE HALFHEARTEDLY ATTENDING TO NEW INFORMATION, IT’S MORE LIKELY TO BLOW AWAY LIKE LOOSE TOPSOIL. possible, the pieces of it are more likely to be distributed throughout your mind’s memory network – the neural equivalent of hitting your brain’s “save button.” Deep memory encoding – cementing information into your mind so you can recall it months or years from now – works best when you relate the information to existing memories or knowledge in a meaningful way, says Trelle. Which explains why my friend’s divorce details are still so vivid and why nearly everyone remembers what they were doing on 9/11. So next time you meet someone you want to remember, don’t just repeat their name. Try to find a shared interest. Make a connection. By doing so, you’ll encode the name more deeply into your brain’s existing web of memories, and it will become part of your personal lexicon. “In the memory world, we call this depth of processing, but it’s really just being curious and interested about new people or places or ideas or information,” says Trelle. And being curious and interested does more than bolster your memory. It makes you better at life.
our use of technology to our brain, rather than the other way around. That means SUCCESS, IN RED Memory is really complicated: This fMRI data from the Stanford Memory Lab shows the numerous areas of the brain (from two different angles!) that are recruited during successful memory retrieval. MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 77
The Fine Art of Forgetting
IT WAS ONE OF THE WORST THINGS I HAD EVER SEEN, BUT THREE MONTHS LATER I’D ALL BUT FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT. WHY? / BY BILL GIFFORD I H A D A L M O S T R E AC H E D my exit
when the traffic suddenly slowed. I had been invited to a braai, and I was annoyed because it meant I would probably be late for it. Then I heard the sound of skidding tyres. A motorcycle careened into view on my left, out of control. It bounced off two cars before it tipped over and slid under the bumper of a car just in front of me. I remember feeling relieved that both riders were wearing helmets and long pants and that it had all happened at such a slow speed. Everything was going to be okay. Except it wasn’t. “You’re trying to kill me,” the bike’s passenger wailed, as her friend (who’d been driving it) pulled her out from under the bike. He was moving quickly, urgently, like he knew something was wrong. She stood up and swayed as two more people appeared and steadied her, guiding her toward the side of the road. She was wearing jeans and a white top. I got out of my car and saw that there was a white stump of bone and bloody flesh where her right hand should have been. Fuck. In the distance, we could already hear sirens. For days afterward, whenever I closed
my eyes, all I could see was this poor woman’s bloody arm. I heard her plaintive cry, again and again. And most of all, I remembered that powerless feeling, that there was nothing any of us could do to fix her. It seemed like it wouldn’t ever go away, even after I burnt through two therapy sessions talking about it. “That’s textbook PTSD,” my therapist said. But then, three months later, I was trying to think of bad things I’d experienced, and the motorcycle crash did not even come to mind. That was weird. The crash was one of the worst things that I had ever witnessed outside of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Three months later, I’d all but forgotten about it. Why? Memory is tricky and, as any prosecutor (or criminal-defense attorney) knows, highly unreliable. It fools us, but sometimes that’s to our advantage. For example, I still mourn my late dog, whom I put down when I was 16, as a sweet old girl, when in fact she was a complete pain in the ass most of the time. Yet I have only vague, fuzzy memories of her twin brother, whom (sorry) I loved much more. The dog
W H E R E TO GET EXTRA BRAINNPOWER Caffeine A shot of espresso before an important meeting could help you absorb key facts. It’s a stimulant, which can improve certain types of memory.
MOST POWERFUL
78 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
IInterm fasting Think of this as the opposite of a food coma. Fasting may help release specific brain chemicals that protect memory networks.
Crossword puzzles These can help you concentrate and recall words – which makes you better at these puzzles, not at remembering other things.
Musi c
king
Jamming means helpful focus. Singing may be even better. Spoken and sung words use different pathways; it’s like having backup cellphone towers.
Sleep Your brain’s like a librarian at night, archiving the day’s “books.” Without that, Doraiswamy says, “you can’t make sense of the library the next day.”
GETTY IMAGES (11)
Dr. Doraiswamy weighs in on whether today’s most popular memory boosters work or not.
MY MEMORY BOOST
DR. DANIEL AMEN psychiatrist, brain-disorder specialist and competitive table-tennis player My favorite activity is table tennis, which is the world’s best brain sport. [He has been nationally ranked, by the way.] It’s highly aerobic, sparking the growth of new neurons in the brain’s main memory centre. It also boosts blood flow to the brain, and low blood flow is the number-one brain-imaging predictor that a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease.
of my heart, he died unexpectedly and too young. It’s as if my brain is trying to protect me from that traumatic episode, the way scar tissue makes the site of a wound tougher than the surrounding skin. “Our brains are basically forgetting machines,” says Dr. Tracy Wang, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Texas at Austin. Wang recently published a study that used brain imaging and machine learning to discover that when we want to forget an image, the best course is neither to try to ignore it nor to fixate on it; her study found that images that were “moderately activated” became
Sugar
Fish oil
Cocoa
CBD
Ginkgo biloba
Ginseng
Glucose is your brain’s preferred fuel, so a dose of sugar may improve your memory immediately. But it gets fed just fine with healthier fare.
Omega-3 fatty acids in fish help build grey matter and improve whitematter integrity. Whether that helps your memory? Not clear.
Memory improvement has been measured with 500mg of cocoa extract in recent studies; its anti-inflammatory effect may be why.
The trendy weed-derived ingredient could have calming effects, but it likely won’t help (or hurt) your memory.
This extract might help prevent dementia in older folks, but there’s no evidence that it improves a young person’s memory.
Some claim this herb can boost your memory and energy, but studies have not proved either, and it could cause health problems.
SORTA POWERFUL
LEAST POWERFUL
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 79
most susceptible to forgetting. And we can actually expend more brain energy trying to shake those memories than we do on memories that we wish to retain. “Your brain has to figure out what’s important and what’s not,” she says. “If you remembered everything, you would have difficulty going through life. But you need some memories to inform future behaviour.” Just not all of them. Forgetting is critical. “Imagine a football game in which
players have to ‘forget’ plays in order to adopt new ones,” says Wang. “Or dancers learning new choreography need to forget outdated old choreography. In each case, forgetting must be intentional in order to overlay new information.” Memory, in other words, is both selective and adaptive; we retain information that might help or protect us while discarding most of the rest. In the weeks after the accident, I would replay it almost every night when I tried to sleep,
or whenever I drove on the freeway. I came to terms with it, and that’s the key to forgetting something you don’t want to remember. That poor woman’s life will never be the same, and I feel bad for her. But I didn’t know her, and the accident did not affect me directly. It was just a thing that I had seen, and while the image is slowly fading away in my mind, I will never forget its “adaptive” lesson: don’t ride a motorcycle on a freeway during peak hours.
Strength-Train Your... What Was I Saying?
BRAINHQ
PEAK
LUMOSIT Y
ELEVATE
If you love to learn about the research behind your habits, this brain-training app is for you. BrainHQ shares the science behind each of its 29 exercises. One drawback: Unlike Lumosity, which gives comprehensive tutorials at the start of each game, BrainHQ sets you loose without a whole lot of direction. You might have a rough start to your first few games before you get the hang of things. Available on iOS and Android*.
If you value healthy competition, consider Peak. The app allows you to compare your scores on more than 45 brain-training tests with those of friends and even other people in your profession. As you get better at each game, you’ll move up in status from Novice all the way to Graduate. If you get a little too competitive, Peak also offers relaxing tasks to help you stay calm and focused. Available on iOS and Android*.
The OG of brain training serves up five daily game workouts for your mind. If that’s not enough, you can choose among the 60-plus other games, more than any of these popular apps. This combined with performance data that helps contextualise how you’re doing is what makes Lumosity shine. Caveat: some games can seem tedious. Available on iOS and Android*.
Marketed to execs as a way to improve communication and analytical skills, Elevate claims to have memory benefits as well. The app’s 35-plus games are designed to boost your abilities in five areas: speaking, reading, writing, listening and maths. You get to customise what you’d like to improve (e.g., focus while reading or retaining more of what you read). Available on iOS and Android*.
80 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
*FREE TO DOWNLOAD BUT PAID SUBSCRIPTION FOR FULL ACCESS
Scientists don’t fully understand yet how brain-training apps improve your focus and memory. One thing the apps can do is boost your confidence in your memory, which can enhance your mental performance in other aspects of your life, too, says brain-health expert Dr P. Murali Doraiswamy. The most popular picks:
MIND
MY MEMORY BOOST
7 7
7
77
?
7
7
SHAAN PATEL, founder of the test-tutoring program Prep Expert, who earned a perfect score on his SATs
This May Be WHY Your Memory SUCKS It might be worse than your parents’ at your age because you’re... BINGE DRINKING. Blackouts not only
block your memory of that night; they can affect your mind forever. When Yale researchers scanned people’s brains, they saw that the heaviest drinkers had reduced activity in areas related to spatial working memory, the kind that helps you find a shop you’ve been to before.
SCR AMBLING ALL THE TIME . You
rush from work to pick up your kid from soccer and continue at a frenetic pace until your head hits the pillow. “If you’re always rushing and not giving anything deep, deliberate thought or making deep connections, then you don’t form good memories,” says Doraiswamy.
SKIPPING THE GYM. Cardio workouts are
helpful, but so is strength training, says Dr Steven Masley, author of The Better Brain Solution. His research on older people showed that boosting the number of pushups they could do by at least 10 percent raised scores on cognitive-function tests by 18 percent.
Since how well you remember is related to how well you pay attention, take this unscientific but revealing test. See how much you noticed about the spot illustrations we sneaked onto the past six pages. No flipping back (yet)! 1. The creature that appears in the illustration of a gray head in the lead story about how your memory works is a/an: A
Hummingbird
B
Elephant
C
Squirrel
D
There are gray heads in that story?
2. The cards in the box on page 76 form: A
Three of a kind
B
A royal flush
C
A pair
D
No winning combination
3. Look at the phone number in the gray head on page 77 for 30 seconds, then flip back here. The phone number is: A
643-975-8309
B
643-975-8039
C
643-935-8039
D
I outsource all my phone-number remembering to Siri.
4. The battery level in the gray head on page 80 is: A
Panic-inducingly low
B
Almost fully charged
5. How many boosters on pages 78 and 79 can really increase your memory power (i.e., are in the green section)? A
Uh...none that I’m currently doing
B
One
C
Three
D
Five
ANSWERS: 1) A; 2) B; 3) B; 4) A; 5) D
My seventh-grade science teacher told us that if you see something seven times, you remember it. I don’t know if this research is true, but I made it the basis for my memorization strategy in high school – I repeat to myself what I need to remember seven times – and it has worked ever since.
Test Your Memory
How did you do? GOT ALL FIVE RIGHT?
THREE OR FEWER?
Your memory is awesome.
Pay more attention.
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 81
MIND
Becoming Mr. Brightside OUR MINDS ARE PROGRAMMED TO FOCUS ON THE NEGATIVE. BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO SURRENDER TO THE BARRAGE OF BAD SH*T IN YOUR LIFE. / BY JOSHUA ST. CLAIR
HUMANS ARE hardwired for negativity. We dwell on the bad. We assume the worst. We’re way more likely to remember that one time our boss told us we were sloppy than the ten times she told us we were great. And as much as we try to look on the bright side of half-empty (-full!) glasses, we’re just not built that way. The human brain developed millennia ago, when danger roamed the savanna, ready to ambush and kill us at any moment, and that led to what Dr. Roy Baumeister, a professor of social psychology at Florida State University, has dubbed the “negativity bias” that still governs how we think. The only trouble is that for all the times it might keep us alive, negativity bias also has a way of causing us a ton of unnecessary stress. “The negativity bias gives us a warped view of the world,” says John Tierney, who worked with Baumeister to coauthor the book The Power of Bad. We focus only on what’s going wrong (in the present) and assume that it will keep going wrong (in the future). We despair, lose hope and conclude that things won’t change. As if that weren’t already bad enough, Twitter, Instagram and other feeds hit us with crisis after crisis. But there’s some hope: through their research, Baumeister and Tierney have found real solutions that can help us fight our instincts and keep us out of a daily emotional funnel cloud.
1. UNLEASH THE POWER OF THE RULE OF FOUR Five to one. That’s the famous Gottman Ratio, a predictive formula showing that couples tend to stay together when they have five times as many positive 82 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
experiences as negative ones. Baumeister thinks of it as a positivity ratio, and when it comes to your kids, your spouse, your underlings and bosses, he recommends aiming for a more attainable ratio of about four to one. For every negative comment you feel compelled to make, make four positive ones. Baumeister even believes that this four-to-one ratio applies to other aspects of your life. For instance, if you’re having sex with your partner four times for every one argument (sex because of arguments probably doesn’t count), then your relationship is likely positive.
2. REMEMBER THE HONEYMOON Nostalgia used to be a dirty word. People prone to indulging in nostalgia were thought to be depressed or living in the past, says Tierney. But recent research has shown something else entirely. Far from keeping you down, nostalgia – yearning for past positive events or relationships – can actually pick you up. In one study, people who were prompted to think of an experience that made them “long for the past” before work reported feeling more motivated and therefore worked harder than those who were asked to think of an ordinary life event. Another study even showed that people experiencing nostalgia judged a room to be warmer than those remembering an everyday event. Your move: Spend a moment before your workday begins to relive a special memory. Then extend the good vibes by writing down four keywords that best describe that memory.
3. PLAY THE (GLAD) GAME You may not like tooting your own horn,
but a proven way to combat negativity is to heighten positive experiences, and highlighting the positives gives them extra power. “When something good happens, sharing that good news with people you care about makes it more important, gives it a bigger impact and it helps you develop a bond with the person you’re sharing with,” explains Tierney. Pay attention to and celebrate other people’s victories, too. If they share good news with you, really hear it. A “That’s great!”/“Amazing!”/“Tell me about it!” ratchets up positivity. Even better if you put down your phone for the story and your response. On the flip side, you can also draw strength from negative experiences. Baumeister points to Shelley Taylor’s research on breast cancer patients. “The surprising thing was that most of them ended up talking about it as a positive experience,” he says. They saw it as an ILLUSTRATION BY NEIL WEBB
WHEN BAD IS GOOD
Employ these strats from social psychologist Dr. Roy Baumeister, and journalist John Tierney to use the negative to your advantage. 1. DON’T RELY ON THE CARROT
Rewarding your children for good grades (by giving them money) is less powerful than punishing them for bad (grounding them). Things are a little different in the workplace: motivating employees with both punishments and rewards has been shown to increase productivity.
2. STRIVE TO FAIL
opportunity to make positive changes: to appreciate life, to focus on the present, to manage stress. One way to reframe is to think about what you can learn from a negative experience, not how it holds you back.
4. CHECK YOURSELF “Why do you think you’re a good relationship partner?” That’s what Baumeister asks in his senior psych class at FSU. Many of his students list what they do well, saying that maybe being a good listener or a good sexual partner gives them an edge. It’s good to be good. “But what makes more impact,” says Baumeister, “is not doing the bad things.” Because bad always outweighs good, what you do is less important than what you don’t do. Sometimes that means holding your tongue, he adds, and putting a lid on the
judging or curtness for minor infractions.
5. FOCUS ON THE PRESENT For the majority of us, our greatest negativity is behind us – in our tendency to dwell on past mistakes and regrets, according to Baumeister’s current research. The future also carries negativity: stress about outcomes and potential failures. The present, however, is something of a golden mean, a place away from all that. “The mindfulness people are right,” Baumeister says. “Keep your attention focused on the here and now.” Catch yourself regretting the past? Bring yourself back to now. Worrying about tomorrow/next month/dinner tonight? Bring yourself back to now. If that’s too hard, just write down one thing you’re grateful for every day. That pushes away the negative and lets the positive flow in.
“It’s the mistakes you make – that’s where you learn and improve,” says Tierney. For instance, one study showed that students who attempted and failed a first round of maths problems later outperformed their peers who had been immediately taught the correct strategy.
3. PAY ATTENTION TO THE ONE-STARS
If you’re a business owner, Baumeister suggests being attentive to negative feedback. That’s because negativity can hurt a business more than positivity can help. Going out of your way for customers is important, but it’s not nearly as effective as focusing on how to minimise their unhappiness.
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 83
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
BEFORE THE STORM
Clinical. Courageous. A fighter. Herschel Jantjies went from unknown prospect to local legend in the space of a single year. But this meteoric rise isn’t a miracle, it’s the perfect storm: when a bulletproof mindset meets finetuned athleticism.
H E R S C H E L
J A N T J I E S
WO RD S BY KI E R AN LEG G PH OTO G R APH S BY BYRO N KEU LE MAN S
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 85
With a 120kg giant barrelling towards you, you’ve got two options: fight or flight. It’s tempting to sidestep the human bulldozer, but on the rugby field – where victory is a story told in centimetres – you have to dig in your heels and take the hit. “When you grow up like we did, you get used to the hard knocks,” says Herschel Jantjies. “My environment made me fearless.” The Stormers scrumhalf’s trademark grin falters and his features settle into an expression of quiet contemplation. It’s a brief window into the relentless drive and unwavering focus that fuels his predatorial instinct on the pitch. While he’s got a reputation for being one of the jokesters in both the Stormers and Springboks squads, he’s also built a brand around his ability to sniff out gaps in the defence and leverage his speed and athleticism to put digits on the scoreboard. We’re sitting at a café at Balmoral Battery Park, a concrete enclave at the entrance to the V&A Waterfront. Herschel is in the midst of pre-season training, with a big match against the Hurricanes just more than a week away. While he may have lifted the Rugby World Cup last year – a moment he’s still struggling to describe – he feels like he’s got a lot to prove as part of the Stormers. “We didn’t have a great season last year,” he says. While the club netted a few wins, they finished 10th overall in the 2019 Super Rugby tournament. A poor showing for the oft-dominant franchise. But Herschel is confident about their chances in 2020. It’s partly that the club has mixed up its training. For example, they’ve brought in a wrestling coach to help the team work on their breakdowns. Players now spar on a regular basis, grappling on the ground to power up their movements and positioning. (Herschel, true to prankster form, challenged Siya Kolisi to a session on the mat.) It’s partly that the team chemistry is in that sweet spot somewhere between cohesion, competition and camaraderie, he says. And finally, it’s that Herschel feels mentally and physically prepared to take on the world. “Preparation, that’s a big one,” he says. “My motto: if we’re playing on Saturday, I’m ready on Wednesday. By the time I step onto the field, I’ve played that game thousands of times in my head.” This approach stems from something his dad told him when he a boy: “You can only control the controllable.” If it’s out of your hands, keep it out of your head. So, when he first stepped onto the field as a kid, he tried not to focus on the fact that everyone 86 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
was at least a head taller than him, but how he was going to close that gap. And later, it wasn’t about whether he’d get picked for the national team, but what he could do to make sure he was ready when he got the call. “That way you’re not clouding your thinking, you’re not getting distracted,” he says. “You start the day and you ask yourself: what can I do right now to reach my goals?” We’re interrupted as a fan takes advantage of a pause in the conversation to come over and shake Herschel’s hand. “You’re a legend,” he tells Herschel. “Seriously.” It opens the floodgates as others find the courage to approach the scrumhalf. Born in the Western Cape, just outside of Stellenbosch, he’s a homegrown hero after all. But watching him pose for pictures, it’s clear fame and the associated adoration is still a strange fit, something that I sense he may never get used to. “I had very humble beginnings,” he explains when he finally sits down. “We grew up in Kylemore… it’s hard to explain what it is – and people there aren’t going to like this – but it’s basically a farm,” he laughs. “We never had much,” says Herschel. “But what we did have meant a lot.” While his parents, Sammy and Adeline, were hard workers, money was often scarce. However, when it came to sport, and by extension Herschel’s biggest interests, “they were always incredibly supportive”. Whether it was driving him to rugby matches 13 hours away or erecting a homemade cricket net in the back yard, “they did everything they could to make sure me and my brother had what we needed to succeed”. He never takes this for granted. It’s why success carries such weight. It’s not an ego thing, at least not entirely. He’s making good on an unspoken promise he made as a kid: that those sacrifices, that belief, it would lead to something great. When he made his debut for the Springboks, scoring two tries – an unheard of feat from such a young player – his parents were in the crowd. They were screaming, shouting, crying and smiling. They watched their son become a local hero. For Herschel, there’s no better way to repay their constant support and unquestioning belief. From playing for the Boland Under-13 team to securing a spot on the Paul Roos Gymnasium first team to club rugby at home and overseas to winning the World Cup, it’s a trajectory that at every upward turn pays tribute to his roots. Hence, why, when he crosses that try line, he thumps his chest where a tattoo of his parents’ initials (and his brother’s) is etched into the skin beneath the green and gold.
WHEN YOU GROW UP LIKE WE DID, YOU GET USED TO THE HARD KNOCKS, MY ENVIRONMENT MADE ME FE ARLESS.
“
GEAR: ADIDAS WATCH: GARMIN
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 87
“Before every match, I take a moment to think about my parents. I remember how I got here, and why I’m here – I take that time to remember my purpose,” he says.
THE MAN AND THE MACHINE
Body confidence. It’s a loaded phrase, and one fundamental to success on the field. Knowing what your body can do, and knowing how hard you can push it turns sport into second instinct. It’s what Herschel strives for. He doesn’t want to be sitting in the locker room on game day second guessing his approach. “Once your mind and body are synced, there’s literally nothing that can stop you,” he says. But achieving body confidence isn’t easy. He talks about how an injury, even a minor one like a “shoulder niggle” can throw you off your game. “You’re just not going to be tackling with that shoulder… like at all,” he says. “It really messes you up.” It’s why he’s constantly putting his body to the test. Why he’s wrestling with Siya Kolisi instead one of the smaller guys. Why he embraces new training techniques. Why, even after a full day of squad training, he hits the weights room. It’s research and development; he’s analysing, recalibrating and then finetuning his body to achieve true body confidence. When you watch Herschel play, when you see him cut through a defence and fly over the try line like he did in his debut for South Africa, you may be mistaken for thinking the moment materialised out of thin air. But in a way, it’s a surge, a play, that’s been days in the making, one he may have already run a thousand times in his head. When he sees that gap, he already knows whether or not he can make it. He’s putting himself in position, and if he gets the ball – you’ll see the proof on the scoreboard. Springboks’ assistant coach Mzwandile Stick sums it up best: “He’s clinical with the basic aspects. He has a good pass, and when the opportunity presents itself, he will snipe around the rucks and score tries… Even for his size, he makes a lot of tackles on those big forwards, so he is courageous and also a fighter.”
“WE NEVER HAD MUCH, BUT WHAT WE DID HAVE MEANT A LOT.” Scan for more of our interview with Herschel..
88 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
“MY MOTTO: IF WE’RE PLAYING ON SATURDAY, I’M READY ON WEDNESDAY. BY THE TIME I STEP ONTO THE FIELD, I’VE PLAYED THAT GAME THOUSANDS OF TIMES IN MY HEAD.” FIELD OF DREAMS
Some guys tend to dwell on the past. Others are constantly in the present, jumping on each moment with rabid enthusiasm. And while Herschel likes to reminisce, and knows when to focus on those actionable seconds, his favourite topic – besides talking Yeezy’s – is the future. “I think it’s just that I’m excited,” he says. “There’s so much ahead of me, to work on, to do, to experience… How must I not be excited?” He has a keen sense of his potential, of what he can achieve in the next week, the next year, the next five, if he puts in the work right now. When he speaks about his gym routine, it’s always couched in the potential those small movements will have down the line. Do they add speed? Can he be stronger and throw more weight behind his tackles? If he does this, will he get injured? (“I never go too heavy, that’s one thing I’m scared of, injuring myself.”) And he’s thinking about how he can emulate his role models, like All Blacks scrumhalf Aaron Smit, to ramp up his performance on the field. When you’re able to visualise how you will improve, and quantify exactly how much you will improve, it’s hard not to be excited about the future. In many ways, Herschel has achieved so much for a guy who is only 23. But he doesn’t measure himself based what he’s done, but what he’s going to do, and in sport, where realising your potential can mean the difference between becoming a legend or a bench warmer, that’s a powerful mentality. “I’ve moved into my own space now,” he mentions. “Out from my parents’ place. I’m branching out. It’s nice having your own place, but there are new challenges. I think you get so used to things being one way, so it’s easy to get lost. That’s my main goal: just stay focused. It’s a new chapter, and I’d like to keep the momentum going. “I know one thing for sure: this isn’t the time to rest on my laurels.”
MH Profile
HERSCHEL JANTJIES AGE: 23 POSITION: SCRUM HALF TEST MATCHES: 10 SUPER RUGBY GAMES: 16
HEIGHT WEIGHT
SQUAT
WHAT IS
STRE
Stuart Calder stared down cancer and beat it.
This year marks the 23 r d year
of Men’s Health making better men. In this time, we’ve become known for building strong bodies, shredding abs and burning fat fast. And while we’ve spent more than two decades helping you, our readers, craft cover-worthy bodies and superhero strength, we know that not all strength is designed to tally up likes on Instagram.
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
WORDS BY KELLEIGH KOREVAAR AND MEGAN FLEMMIT
Parathlete Mpumelelo Mhlongo is on track to break records and stereotypes.
Strength goes beyond the aesthetic goals and testosterone-fuelled drive to lift heavy things. The guys on these pages embody the kind of strength forged not with iron, but with an iron mindset. It’s strength that inspires, strength that persists under pressure. These are their stories.
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
STRENGTH IS FOR
SHOWING WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF LEONARD BAILEY, Athlete, age 30, 164cm, 103kg
THE WALLS OF LEONARD ‘Lenny’ Bailey’s family home
are lined with gold, silver and bronze medals. There are 80 in total. Along with the medals are newspaper clippings and certificates showcasing his athletic achievements. Lenny first started athletics in Grade 1. Born with Down Syndrome, he attended the special needs school, Dorothea Primary. Although Lenny tried track first, it was clear that he was best suited for field events such as shotput, discus and javelin. Once he made the switch, he was a dominant force – even in Primary School. In 2003 he became the Boland, Western Cape and SA champion for his events in his age category. A feat he managed to repeat every year until 2010. “I really love athletics,” he says. “I always try to do my best and practise hard for all the events.” With each passing year, Lenny’s best becomes even better. In 2010 he attended his first World Down Syndrome Championship
LIVING LONGER
IMAGES: BYRON KEULEMANS & SUPPLIED
DENNIS TITUS, Part-time marketing agent, age 70, 165cm, 74kg
WHEN DENNIS TITUS went to support his friend at a bodybuilding competition last year, he didn’t expect to come home with a prize himself. Since the age of 19, the now 70-year-old was always physically active. “When I was a youngster, I used to marvel at guys like Hercules – these strong guys who would do whatever was necessary to solve a problem. And that motivated me to want to get into the gym and train.” In his late twenties, Dennis entered a few bodybuilding competitions. “Everyone at the gym entered these competitions and persuaded me to try it out.” But he soon realised the stage was not for him. Instead he stuck to gym training and playing soccer. “When there wasn’t a gym nearby, I would play soccer. And when we moved and there was a gym in the area, I would go back to training and I would stop playing soccer,” he explains.
And although he hung up his soccer boots at the age of 55, he continued going to the gym. His persistence paid off when he reluctantly found himself once again standing on a bodybuilding stage last year. “The MC called for three strong men to come forward,” he says. “I wasn’t paying attention to him, and my trainer David Isaacs told me they were calling me, so I stood up.” It was only when he stood up that he realised he’d volunteered to compete. Slowly he made his way to the front where he joined the other volunteers. One by one they were asked to take their shirts off and pose for the audience. When Dennis realised what was happening, he tried to back out. “I said: ‘No, I’m not going to take off my top. But then people started cheering, so I said okay fine I’ll do it. “As I took my top off and turned to the audience, the two guys who went before me couldn’t believe it. With my clothes on you can’t tell
in Mexico where he won a gold medal in Shot Put and a silver in discus and javelin. In 2012 at the championships in Portugal he broke the world record for shot put. In 2015, he broke his own World Record for javelin and shot put, while snagging a silver in discus. Records he once again broke in 2016, but this time he also broke the World Record for discus. Since then he’s been an unstoppable force, racking up medals at every event. “I’m beginning to run out of space in my living room,” jokes his mother, Angeline. Angeline has been by his side from the beginning. Even when he was a boy, she taught Lenny to be self-sufficient, making sure he tidied his room, made his bed, folded his clothes. And it’s this same discipline that he takes to the practice field. For two hours a day, twice a week, Lenny trains hard at Bellville Stadium with his coach Mogamat Zain Lamara. Nothing else matters when he’s on the field. It’s his happy place. What makes Lenny’s wins over the years even more remarkable is the fact that for most of his life he didn’t have a coach. Instead Angeline would practise with her son. She knew the sport made him happy and so she practised with him. “He’s really talented,” she says. “Even though he was born with Down Syndrome, he never let his circumstances stand in the way of becoming the champion athlete that he is today.”
what shape I’m in, so they were all surprised when I took my things off,” he laughs. When it came time to vote for a winner, the crowd went wild – cheering for Dennis. It’s how he ended up leaving with a prize of his own. That win motivated the part-time marketing agent to train even harder at the gym. “You know at my age I have to work harder to stay in shape. My skin naturally wants to sag, so of course I have to work harder than the younger guys.” He’s entered four other competitions since then, coming home with a trophy each time. And while winning awards at the bodybuilding competitions makes Dennis proud, maintaining his regular gym routine has helped him keep his health in check. He’s had two hip replacements and a spinal fusion. The latter he underwent as a result of excruciating back spasms and chronic aches in his legs. But when the surgery failed to improve his
condition, doctors suggested they try again. “I told them: ‘No, I’m done with it. Because every time you go for [a spinal fusion], you have trouble bending.” Instead Dennis opted to stick to medication and hitting the gym. “Ever since I’m training, I haven’t had any pain. No cramping, no limping. And when I stop training the pain returns. So for me, staying in the gym keeps me healthy.”
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BREAKING NEW GROUND
MPUMELELO MHLONGO, Parathlete, PhD candidate for Chemical Engineering, Co-founder of a healthcare start up, age 25, 184cm, 76kg
MPUMELELO SPRINTED across
the finish line at the 2019 Dubai World Championships, smashing the T44 100m record in the process. Over a cheering crowd, Napoleon Hill’s words echoed in his head: “To succeed you must choose a definite desire”. And in this moment, Mpumelelo stood at the pinnacle of success. He’d just broken his own record for the third time that year. 94 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
That was last year, and being a world class athlete isn’t an easy feat. Mpumelelo references Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, which describes how the sporting system favours those who are the oldest in their age group. They get more training opportunities and more support giving them the edge of their peers at an elite level. But that isn’t Mpumelelo’s story, he didn’t start off running towards his goals, uninhibited.
He was born with amniotic band syndrome which resulted in a club foot, his right leg being shorter than his left and several of his fingers affected, too. Doctors told his parents he would never walk and for the first six years of his life, he didn’t. But after he took his first steps, nothing could stop him from sprinting into the record books. And while he’s breaking records, he wants to shatter stereotypes, too. “I compete for the kid that has always been told that they will not amount to anything in this world, for the kid that can be as successful as they like but will forever be ignored and kept out of the gaze of the public. The kid that has been robbed of a chance to see how the impossible manifests in people who are cared for and supported by society.” It’s that kid, representing one of the 80 million living with a disability in Africa, that motivates him to push harder when he reaches his breaking point. And his journey hasn’t been without those moments. “In keeping honest and vulnerable, I have had two complete breakdown moments.” In 2016 Mpumelelo was doing his honours at university and prepping for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio at the same time. Then, he burnt out. He had to take it one day at a time, relying on his diary and friends who would keep him updated, force fed him at scheduled times and even let him nap in their cars. In 2017, his uncle died by suicide. It was a devastating moment, one that gave him a window into the impact of mental health. “It was a long process of introspection and finally forgiving myself for what I cannot control,” he says. It’s this mindset, and the support structures he’s had, that helps him seize every opportunity that comes his way. He wants other people living with disabilities to have access to those same opportunities. He fights for that every day. He started the Mpumpi2020 campaign to highlight the plight faced by disabled people in Africa, the same plight he was confronted with growing up in a township in Durban. “It has given my sporting career a purpose beyond myself,” he adds. Every time he lines up to compete, there’s that kid at the end of the finish line counting on him to power through.
IMAGES: BYRON KEULEMANS
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
STRENGTH CHECK NO. 1 T H E BEST T WO EXERCISE SUPERSET
We don’t always have the time to spend hours in the gym banging out hundreds of reps but there’s no denying the benefits of strength training. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends adults do muscle-strengthening activities that involve all major muscle groups at least two days a week. Do this superset designed by strength and conditioning coach and former MH Cover Guy, Joshua Capazorio, that targets all the major muscle groups to hit your minimum goal WEEK 1: 8 reps of each, 5 rounds/ 60sec rest WEEK 2: 8 reps of each, 7 rounds / 60sec rest (heavier) WEEK 3: 10 reps of each , / 90sec rest /8 rounds WEEK 4: 12 reps of each, 8 rounds / 90sec rest (heaviest)
LIFTING YOURSELF HENDRIK VAN DER MERWE, Parathlete, MH cover guy finalist, author, age 29, 175cm, 62kg
FOR HENDRIK VAN DER MERWE, swimming was a way to escape the world. It was an antidote to the chaos inside his school hostel, where the other kids were often fighting, bullying and arguing. In the water, he was safe from the aggressive kids who would target him during study hour. Hendrik was born with Spina Bifida, a birth defect wherein a child’s spine doesn’t develop properly. But he wasn’t raised to believe he had any limitations. And he’s grateful for that. It enabled him to have a normal childhood, one where he could go fishing, swimming, skateboarding, climb trees, you name it. “If I wanted to do it I’d find a way and execute it. Our potential is only limited by the story we tell ourselves about ourselves in our minds on a daily basis. If you change your mind, you’ll change your life,” he says. Nothing is more indicative of his positive mindset than his nickname ‘Legs’. He earned the name during a swim tour on the way to Cape Town in Grade 8. The name stuck, and now almost everyone calls him Legs. He’s embraced the name, it fits right in with his sense of humour. And it’s this attitude that helps him rise above even the darkest times. “When you hit rock bottom the only direction you have left to go is up,” Hendrik recites the old adage adding an important clause, “… should you choose to do so.” And Hendrik refers to his rock bottom as a lesson well-learnt. He’d swum at multiple World Championships, was ranked top 10 in the world for his event and had even qualified for three Paralympic games in the past. But he was never selected for the final team. The last time was for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. “When I heard I didn’t make the final cut for the third time it really hit me hard, but it was a blessing in disguise,” he says.
DUMBBELL MUSCLE CLEAN TO LONG PRESS
STABILITY BALL RENEGADE ROW
Start with a relatively heavy set of dumbbells by your side on the floor , muscle clean them up to shoulder height, squat down with them below 90deg, pause at the bottom for 3 seconds and then squat up immediately pressing the dumbbells over head to complete a rep. Pause at the top then lower the dumbbells down to your side before you start the next rep.
Start with one hand planted on a firm medicine ball or elevated step while the other arm is holding a dumbbell on the floor, brace your weight on the arm that is based on the medicine ball. Row the dumbbell up towards your rib cage without turning your hips or losing position. Pause at the top then slowly lower the weight down to the floor keeping the abs tensed the whole time, complete a push up before you row the dumbbell again with the other hand and end off with another push up.
He’s spent the last three years learning from that and adapting in preparation for the 2020 Paralympics. A typical day in the gym starts with a fasted 4km swim (i.e. swimming in a fasted state). The fasted cardio theory was founded in 1999 by bodybuilder Bill Phillips who posited that the human body maximises fat burn on an empty stomach. Some days he just swims, other days he hits the gym to take on boxing, weight training, arm cycling and battle ropes. But he limits his weight training as he doesn’t want to be too heavy in the pool. Then he ends off his sessions by packing some heat with the sauna to burn extra calories. His multi-disciplinary approach gives him the ability to adapt and still perform under pressure, giving him an extra edge. “I think man’s greatest gift is the ability to adapt to circumstances,” he says. And he believes more than physical strength, it’s the strength of your motivation and dedication that will ultimately determine whether you succeed or not. “It is always important to have a vision, a purpose or a passion. After all how do you know where to drive to if you don’t have a final destination in mind?” MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 95
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
FORGING DEEPER BONDS IAN FURMAN, Business Owner, age 52, 187cm, 120kgs JUSTIN FURMAN, Student, age 18, 194cm, 115kg
OVERCOMING YOUR DARKNESS
THEMBELA “NYMLESS” NGAYI, PR practitioner, artist, conversation starter, age 33, 165cm, 90kg
“I NEVER REALLY knew anyone personally that was diagnosed with depression. It was something I saw on TV and always thought it was a white people thing,” says Thembela. Even in 2002, when one of his peers committed suicide, people said he was bewitched because he was a straight-A student and set a good example. No one knew that he was suffering from depression. But the reality is sobering; 14 South African men die by suicide every day. “Where I grew up. we did not have the resources to deal with mental health issues, so young men [turned to] substances like alcohol and drugs as outlets to deal with their feelings.” Having received no form of education at school or home about mental health issues, depression didn’t exist. But when he found himself in the grips of depression at age 27, he was hit with with a stark realisation; this abstract concept was a harsh reality and he was suffering through it. To deal with his depression, he traced these feelings back to their roots and worked on the underlying problems. It was a slow process, but soon he began to get excited about life again. He used his own experience to start a conversation. The conversation started without words, at first. “I could not put it into words, I use photography as a medium,” he says. He produced a series of works entitled: The Great African Horror. It drew from his upbringing where mental health issues were often dismissed as witchcraft. “I wanted to show how both families and victims are affected and how each carry the burden of being stigmatised by society because of mental health [issues],” he explains. “What I could not describe in words, could be felt by another person through these images.” And his work is evoking feelings and starting conversations further away than he ever imagined. Recently, he got a message on Facebook from a lady in Congo with a video of her sitting under a tree with a group of men who were looking at his photos and discussing the messaging. She said she’s been using the images to encourage men to talk. Ultimately, searching for the strength to overcome the darkness led him to encourage strength in other men. “We’re afraid of being vulnerable because we’re taught that showing emotion is a sign of not being strong. Strength is not only physical, but also psychological, too.” 96 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
powerlifter. But as he lay bench pressing at his local gym in 2000, a powerlifting coach recognised the businessman’s potential. The coach persuaded the then 32-year-old to try out the sport. “Starting late meant I took longer to work up to a competitive standard compared to those who had been competing in the sport for a while,” he explains. Despite his late start, Ian soon dominated the competitions. A year later, he received his Protea colours as he represented South Africa at the Powerlifting World Championships in New Zealand. “It was an amazing feeling to represent my country on the international stage,” he says. “I was also really proud of myself in that all my hard work had finally paid off.” But earning his Protea colours wasn’t the only thing he celebrated that year. He also celebrated the birth of his son Justin. As he grew older, Justin watched his father rack up numerous wins at the SA Equipped and Raw Benchpress competitions. In time, Ian became the South African Bench Press record holder as well as the African and Commonwealth Bench Press record holder – titles he still holds to this day. Having grown up in the powerlifting environment, Justin knew the impact the sport could have. And when he needed to step up his rugby performance at the age of 14, he turned to powerlifting to boost his strength. But just like his father before him, Justin displayed a natural aptitude for the sport. After seeing his son’s rapid progress in Powerlifting, Ian encouraged his son to participate in competitions. After three years of hard work and dedication, Justin received his Protea colours. While he qualified to participate in the World Powerlifting Championships in Sweden last year, he developed a serious injury to his leg two weeks prior to the event. The injury left him feeling distraught, but luckily he still had the African Powerlifting Championships to look forward to. Justin’s leg injury healed within three months, allowing him to participate in the event, where he won gold in his division. Justin attributes his success in the sport to his father’s influence. “My father is excellent in keeping me calm and nominating lifts during competitions which allows me to focus solely on performing my best,” says Justin. “Through powerlifting, he has instilled in me the trait of having to fight and push hard to achieve my goals.” Ian also designs his training programmes and makes sure they both follow a proper diet. “It is an amazing feeling to be able to coach my own son and to see him achieve his own goals,” he says. “It’s given me a renewed passion for the sport.” The pair train together five times a week. “The many hours spent training together and planning training sessions has developed a closeness and trust that is more special being both a father and a coach,” explains Ian.
IMAGES: ROWYN DE KOCK & SUPPLIED
IAN FURMAN had no intention of becoming a
STRENGTH CHECK NO. 2 A R E YO U M H ST R O N G ? Take this test to find out if you’re MH strong. All tests must be done as strictly and honestly as possible. Remember: if you cheat, you’re only cheating yourself.
1 CLAP PUSH UPS
Start in push up position , push up off the ground explosively to clap your hands together and land back in the bottom/ start position again, repeat for 60 seconds without losing rhythm or stopping. <5 REPS: 1 point , >6REPS: 2 points , >8REPS: 3 points,>10 REPS: 4points,>15 REPS: 5points
2 TACTICAL PULL UP
Do a dead hang pull up, without swinging to initiate the movement. Your chin must clear the top of the pull up bar. End each rep with your arms straight at the bottom before beginning a new rep. Once the chin does not clear the top or you come off the bar you are finished. >1 REP: 1 point, >5 REPS: 2 points, >10 REPS: 3 points,>15 REPS: 4points,>20 REPS: 5points
3 BROAD JUMP
Mark a starting point, measure out 3m with a measuring tape. Starting at 0m , feet together standing still , jump as far forward as possible, landing on your heels in a quarter squat position. Mark the back of your heel and measure the distance jumped. >1M: 1 points, >1.5M: 2 points, >2M: 3 points, >2.5M: 4points,>3M: 5points
4 EXTENDED PLANK (HOLD FOR TIME)
Go into push up position but walk your hands as far beyond your head as possible , keeping them locked out. Tuck your butt in as to not arch your lower back. Squeeze your butt and tighten your abs as you hold this position for max time. Time stops when you lose this position or you lower yourself down to the floor.
<=30 SEC: 1 point, >30 SEC: 2 points, >45 SEC: 3 points,>60SEC:4points,=>80SEC:5points
- SIT HOLD ON 5 LPULL UP BAR
Hangingwithstraightarmsonapullupbar, straightenyourlegsinfrontofyoucreatinga 90degreeangle.Holdthispositionwithout loweringyourlegsformaximumtime. =10SECS: 1 point, =15SEC: 2 points, =20SEC: 3 points, =30 SEC: 4 points, =45SEC: 5 points
MH STRONG SCORE : 0-5 Points 6-10Points 11-15Points 16-20Points 21-25 Points
ROOM TO GROW GYMGOER PHYSICAL SPECIMEN STRENGTH ENTHUSIAST OX STRONG
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STUART CALDER, Regional Manager for a Brand Marketing and Sponsorship Agency, age 30, 174cm, 76.5kg
A WEEK AFTER FINISHING
chemotherapy, Stuart Calder was back on the rugby field. “As someone with a sporting background, I wanted to get back as soon as possible,” the former WP Seven’s rugby player explains. “I wanted to prove to myself that the cancer phase of my life was over and a new phase had begun.” It was the worst decision he could have made. He became dizzy as he ran around the field, nearly passing out. After twenty minutes he decided to call it quits. Stuart gave himself a reality check, reminding himself of the past nine weeks of chemo he had endured. Three months earlier, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. After feeling a dull ache for weeks, his wife finally persuaded 98 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
him to get himself checked out. And while his GP thought it was unlikely anything was wrong, a scan confirmed that he did have a tumour. Stuart immediately scheduled an operation to have it removed, hoping that would be the end of it. But his post-op scans showed the cancer had spread. He would need to undergo chemo to remove it. His oncologist scheduled three consecutive rounds of chemo, an aggressive but necessary series of treatments. “Being diagnosed was a shock. But the worst part of the entire experience was the chemo,” admits Stuart. “It was like waking up with the worst hangover you could possibly have for sixty three days straight.”
IMAGES: BYRON KEULEMANS & SUPPLIED
FIGHTING CANCER
With each passing day of his therapy, Stuart noticed changes in his body. His skin became papery thin, he lost his hair and his vision worsened. “You always have expectations when going through this process,” he says. “Mine was ‘I’m fit, I’m healthy, I’m strong, this isn’t going to faze me. But I was wrong.” The treatment took a toll on Stuart’s mental health too. Alone with his thoughts he would often think, “Why me?”. But his wife, who was pregnant at the time, asked friends and family to write to him. Each day he received a note from a family member or friend with a picture of the two of them. He drew strength from the support of the people around him. And when he finally managed to beat his cancer he collated all the notes into a scrapbook, which he looks at during tough times. “You worry about all these intangible things, but for me to pick up that book and see what I had been through, which was the hardest part of my life so far, but to look at that and know that if I overcame cancer, I can overcome all of life’s other stresses.” A month after that fateful rugby practice, Stuart went back to the gym. There he slowly worked his way back to a fitter, stronger version of himself. He started by walking around in the shallow pool, cycling slowly and using light weights. “Going back to the gym helped me both mentally and physically. Being back to the familiarity of the weights gave me great comfort. It was also vital to my recovery. I don’t know if I would have recovered as quickly if it hadn’t been for the gym.” He’s not alone. Studies have shown that patients who are physically fit before their diagnosis are more likely to survive the treatment. While, according to the American Cancer Society, patients who do light resistance training for thirty minutes thrice a week improve their chances of survival and quality of life. And while Stuart’s rugby career is over, his rebuilt fitness comes in handy while taking care of his daughter. “I do miss playing rugby sometimes. It’s starting to feel like I played a lifetime ago. But I’ve come to the realisation that I have to move on and now I’ve moved on to the next phase of my life, which is my family. And I couldn’t be happier.”
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
FINDING BALANCE
STRENGTH CHECK NO. 3
DIEGO BALDI, Qualified holistic health coach, Yoga teacher, age 31, 177cm, 68kg “YOGA IS NOT FOR MEN.” It’s a phrase Diego, a qualified Holistic Health Coach and yoga teacher, has heard countless times from reluctant men who feel more at home in front of a barbell than a yoga mat. But this misconception is one that is the most detrimental to men. “It’s a huge misconception because men can benefit hugely from learning to relax and manage stress, becoming more productive in training, work and life in general.” And the science supports it – yoga has been found to increase the body’s ability to respond to stress more effectively by reducing your heart rate, blood pressure and ease breathing in stressful situations. And with research published in Neuroscience & Behavioural Reviews showing that men might be more vulnerable to depression caused by stressful events than women, stress management is more important than ever. But yoga isn’t just about strengthening your mind. “Yoga is about balance between both strength and flexibility, in a functional and mindful way.” Of course, he says every sport
requires a different type of strength, but when you’re just trying to be a better, stronger man, there’s a lot more in common between sports like soccer or basketball and yoga than you might think. “I actually think there are more similarities with regard to movement, the mental strength that’s required to be disciplined and even the demands that are placed on your body.” And Diego has been honing these skills for over fifteen years – and challenging misconceptions in the process. He went to his first yoga class when he was 13 as a way to improve his breakdancing. But he instantly became intrigued during that first class, wanting to explore more of his body’s potential for movement. And since that first class he’s gone from strength to strength. And the downward dogs haven’t just made him more flexible physically, he’s more flexible in his everyday life, too. “Mentally it has helped me develop more focus and clarity. It’s helped me get through the fluctuations of life with more acceptance and ease.” But most importantly, it’s helped Diego find strength and balance.
C A N YO G A B U I L D S T R E N G T H ?
When you think of yoga, you don’t usually think of the physical strength-building benefits. These 3 beginner yoga poses from yoga teacher Diego Baldi are fundamental standing poses that strengthen and stretch the legs, hamstrings, groins, and the “core” of the body including the diaphragm, abdominals, pelvis, QL and muscles along the spine.
VRKSASANA (TREE POSE) Standing on a yoga mat, distribute your weight evenly. Shift your weight into your right foot, lfiting your left foot off the floor. Keep your right leg straight without locking your knee. Bend your left knee and bring the sole of your left foot high onto your inner right thigh. Take 5 to 10 breaths then lower your left foot and do the other side.
TRIKONASANA (TRIANGLE) Standing with your feet about 1 metre apart, extend your arms at shoulder level. Inhale and raise your right arm by the side of your head. Exhaling, bend your right arms towards the left side, keeping your body weight equal on both feet and ensuring your right arm becomes parallel to the ground. Return to your starting position and do the same on the other side.
PRASARITA PADOTTANASANA (WIDE-LEGGED FORWARD BEND) Step the legs about a metre apart with feet parallel and toes turned slightly inward. Bend your body forward at the hips and stretch the spine. Place your hands on the floor in line with the feet and then bend your elbows so that your torso and head lower into a full forward bend. If possible, let the crown of your head rest on the floor.
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FORGING CONFIDENCE
GORATA NZIMANDE, Executive Associate, age 28, 175cm, 71kg
STANDING IN FRONT of a mirror
dressed up in a blue tunic, silver ribbons around the waist and hair tied up very neatly in a bun, six year old Gorata couldn’t help looking at the reflection staring back and ask the question “Why do I look like a girl?”. “I felt that I was supposed to be in shorts, with short hair and getting my knees scraped outside. I just remember being disappointed, heartbroken and not having the language to explain why. My childhood was wild and adventurous when I was outside and then it was filled with many thoughts and unanswered questions when I had to get back into the house. “In grade 7, a soccer coach named Mr. Clark Jr saw something special in me and allowed me try out for the boys’ U13 soccer team – in a league that had no girls. His decision was welcomed by my teammates. But it was a shock to the system! Our squad did pretty well that year.” And the sport streak continued well into high school. “When I was 17, our high 100 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
school ‘Strongman Team’ participated in a number of events and my teammate and I did exceptionally well. I remember going home with a painful back after busting over 20 deadlifts with a 120kg load. I wasn’t big, I just had a very big heart that refused to back down. I was not expected to excel and I did. Excellence is not found in gender or sexual characteristics. The world told me to dress a certain way and I refused to adhere. The world taught me that I was born to fit into a category that required me to behave a certain way and I refused to assimilate. “Sport and working out played such an important role in not only my physical fitness but my mental health and selfconfidence. As I got into my health and fitness journey, I realised that the harder I worked in the gym and with my nutrition, the better I stated to look and feel. This good feeling extended beyond my gym sessions, I was actually able to smile outside. “I began my medical transition in 2012 by attending therapy sessions with a psychologist for six months.
The WPATH standards of care advise this step as mandatory for trans and gender diverse people; this is in line with the guidelines for safe and effective pathways to achieving lasting personal comfort, to maximise overall health, psychological well-being, and self-fulfilment. “In 2013, I started testosterone therapy which is administered via intramuscular injections at the dose as stipulated by the Endocrinologist. This process is then followed by optional surgeries to further affirm one’s gender as desired. “A few weeks after having had my chest reconstruction surgery, I was finally able to wear a T-shirt and have a flat chest! I had envisioned it for so long and imagined how I would feel. When that day finally came, all I could do was sob uncontrollably. I was happy.” Through the process, Gorata not only forged confidence, but he forged the body that he felt comfortable in, using Men’s Health as fuel. “Men’s Health magazine helped me by playing the role of an invisible personal trainer and fitness coach. My first issue of the magazine was one that I stole from my father’s stash. I kept on taking one issue after another because reading the magazine helped me. I learnt how to shave, I learnt the Zottman curl, I learnt a few tips on how to dress in winter. I learnt many different things that helped me mould into my own definition of a man or of masculinity.”
IMAGES: ROWYN DE KOCK & BYRON KEULEMANS
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
SAVING THE DAY CRAIG WILLARS, Professional Lifeguard, age 21, 178cm, 67kgs CRAIG WILLARS nearly drowned when he was four years old. The next day his parents enrolled him in swimming classes. “I’ve been in the water since then. I enjoyed it so much, I started swimming at school galas.” While participating in one of the galas at the age of seven he was scouted to join the Nippers at Big Bay. “I thought why not? And ever since then I have been at the beach every single day.” Now, employed by the City of Cape Town as a senior lifeguard at Big Bay, Craig spends all his days at the beach, making sure beachgoers respect the water and rescuing those caught in the tides. And while most of the time he’s able to save someone’s life, there are times when things take a turn for the worse. He recalls a recent incident wherein he received word that a 17-year-old girl was drowning nearby. Along with a fellow lifeguard, he jumped into their rescue craft to try and save her. Two kilometres out, they spotted her limp body on the rocks. After maneuvering between the rocks, Craig managed to retrieve her and headed to shore. Despite attempts to resuscitate her, she passed away on the beach. Not long after they were informed that her cousin was also missing, which led to extensive search to locate the 15-year-old boy. But they couldn’t find him. A week later his body was located. While Craig had been involved in unsuccessful rescue attempts before, this incident hit him the hardest. “This time I was first on the scene, and the fact that we couldn’t find the boy made me feel even worse.” As he
got to shore he broke down in his father’s arms, and later went for counselling. Talking through it helped him deal with the incident. But only when the boy’s body was found did he finally get a sense of closure. After losing someone, Craig is plagued with thoughts questioning whether he did enough and wonders whether he could have saved that person if he’d been a few seconds quicker to react. “You need to be strong enough to process what happened and realise that everything you did was what you were trained to do,” he says. In times like this, Craig reminds himself of all the lives he’s saved – like the Kite Surfer who
suffered a pneumothorax and would have died if they hadn’t gotten to him in time, or the little girl in Silverstroom whose life he saved because he witnessed a wave knocking her off a tidal pool wall. “It can be hard to think of all the lives you saved,” he says. “But even just remembering the people you pulled out of the water when they were caught in a riptide helps.” “People think the strength of a lifeguard is always physical, which is obviously part of it because you need to be in shape to save someone’s life,” he explains. “But in situations where you lose someone, it’s your mental strength that gets you through it.”
HELLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ONCE A HUMBLE FARMING TOOL, THE KET TLEBELL HAS BEEN REPURPOSED AS A SIMPLE YET VERSATILE FITNESS DEVICE
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S L O N G B E F O R E C R O S S F I T B E C A M E T H E U LT I M AT E T E S T O F AT H L E T I C I S M , T H E R E W A S K E T T L E B E L L S P O R T: A B R U TA L , C O M P E T I T I V E F O R M O F F U L L- B O D Y T R A I N I N G . H E R E , J O I N I N G T H E E L I T E I S A S M U C H A B O U T M E N TA L M A S T E R Y A S P H Y S I C A L S TA M I N A . G E T T O G R I P S W I T H T H E K E T T L E B E L L W O R L D C U P WO R DS BY LU K E B E N E D I CT U S â&#x20AC;&#x201C; P H OTO G R A P H Y BY JA SO N L E E
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
ames Ross has a Masters degree in the kettlebell snatch. That’s not just a figure of speech: he has written a dissertation on the subject and is now immersed in a PhD on the kettlebell swing. Aged 35, Ross is the founder of the Richmond Gym, a functional fitness space in Melbourne, Australia. He also happens to be an amateur kettlebell world champion; his powerful build and the calluses on his palms attest to countless hours spent wielding the bells. The man is obsessed. So, when it comes to kettlebells, Ross is a difficult man to impress – but today, he’s twitching with excitement. The final stage of the International Union of Kettlebell Lifting (IUKL) World Cup is set to be held at his gym, and he’ll be hosting the best grouping of kettlebell athletes on the planet: the Russians. “These guys are incredible,” Ross says. “They are the elite.” They’re intimidatingly tough, too. To give you some idea of the condition these competitors are in, Ross suggests attempting the following challenge: pick up two 16kg kettlebells and see how many times you can press them over your head without stopping. “These guys could probably do close to 300 reps,” he says. Ross’s zeal for kettlebells was born of his respect for their transformative power. Growing up, he immersed himself in Australian football and athletics and started lifting weights at the age of 15. In other words, he was fit. Then, he was introduced to kettlebell sport, which involves performing as many reps of the snatch (one bell) or jerk (two bells) as you can in 10 minutes. The intensity of the workouts left him gasping. “You do five minutes of that and you’re just cooked.” 104 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
Ross discovered that kettlebell training was, in essence, a total-body workout system requiring only a single instrument. “It has been described as ‘the original CrossFit’, because you train a wide range of qualities but with fewer exercises that you gradually get mastery of,” he says. “It’s a time-saving approach and not that expensive, so it’s like a great home gym.” It also delivers multiple crosstraining benefits, from strength and endurance to power, flexibility and speed. Kettlebells can build that rare creature in the fitness world: the truly well-rounded athlete. Ross recalls a kettlebell veteran who once visited his gym. “He only weighed around 75kg, but he deadlifted 230kg, then ran a marathon on the same day, just to prove that he could.” A Russian guy? “No,” says Ross. “He was from
TOP LEF T: PREPAR ATION IS KE Y. A COMPETITOR POLISHES THE HANDLE OF A KET TLEBELL TOP RIGHT: THE RUSSIAN CHAMPION, ANTON ANASENKO, IN THE HE AT OF BAT TLE BOT TOM: IN KET TLEBELL SPORT, ATHLETICISM, POWER AND MOBILIT Y ARE AS IMPORTANT AS BRUTE STRENGTH
Kyrgyzstan. He doesn’t like the Russians much.”
BEAST FROM THE EAST Russia has long been the dominant force in the kettlebell world, and one of its most celebrated athletes is Anton Anasenko. A multiple European and world champion, the Siberian former sambo wrestler is at the apex of the sport. On the day of the World Cup, MH meets Anasenko at a nearby café, where he sits sipping an espresso. With his shaven head and steely blue eyes, he’s the stereotype of a Bond movie henchman, his lean, muscular physique hinting at the coiled power within. Anasenko is calm and composed. He carries himself with the kind of self-assurance reserved for next-level tough guys with
POWER PL AY: CALM AND COMPOSED, THE FORMER WRESTLER ANASENKO J ERKS THE KET TLEBELLS OVERHE AD WITHOUT WASTING ANY ENERGY
nothing left to prove. With an accent as thick as reinforced concrete, Anasenko explains that kettlebell training is ingrained in modern Russian history. “It has been a system of sport in military since 1966,” he says. “Very nice, very good. Why? Just kettlebell… Simple tool for developing power and endurance.” Probe a little and you find that the sport’s roots go even deeper. Originally, says Anasenko, kettlebells were weights used by Russian farmers to measure units of grain. “Each family had kettlebell in the garden. My mum used it to cook. She press meat, and maybe cabbage with salt,” he says. “She used it for press.” Growing up, Anasenko specialised in sambo, the devastating hybrid of wrestling and martial arts designed by the Red Army and increasingly seen in MMA with the influx of Russian and Dagestani fighters. But when the Soviet Union disintegrated (“It was broken,” says Anasenko, matter-of-factly), there was a shortage of training facilities and coaches. “It was a problem for us kids. We wanted to train, and we had no possibility because a lot of gyms closed. That’s why kettlebell: because it was very simple and in each garden of each family. So, we started to train, step by step.”
TOP: LIF TING T WO 32KG BELLS, PAVEL CHUEV – THE 21-YE AR-OLD RUSSIAN CONTENDER (RIGHT) – MAINTAINS A RELENTLESS PACE BOT TOM COMPETITIVE LIF TING DEMANDS STEELY FOCUS TO OVERCOME THE PAIN OF E X TREME E XERTION 106 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
For Anasenko, kettlebell sport was the ideal replacement for the intensity of sambo. While the disciplines may look straightforward, they make grievous demands on your stamina and strength. The snatch, for example, activates nearly all of your muscles while igniting your fast-twitch fibres – the game changers for building size and strength. Chasing that elusive six-pack? The snatch has you covered: the uneven weight distribution of the bell forces your core and stabiliser muscles to fire up, hard. But these benefits have to be
ILLUSTRATIONS: SONNY RAMIREZ/ILLUSTRATIONROOM.COM.AU
POWER TOOLS
earned. Long-cycle kettlebell work, in which moves are repeated continuously for 10 minutes, can be draining both physically and mentally. “The hardest part? The middle of the distance, maybe five and six minutes,” Anasenko says. “Because your mind and your body have a battle. Body says: ‘Stop!’ Mind says: ‘No, go! You must, you must, you must.’ It’s like a battle, bam, bam, bam. Every time.” That’s a world of pain, even for a veteran champion. To cope during competition, Anasenko breaks it down to minute-by-minute survival. “If you think about the whole time, it can kill you,” he says.
STRENGTH OF MIND Back in the gym an hour later, things are heating up. Techno music blares from the speakers as participants line up to compete in groups of three. The rules are simple, but the task is savagely difficult, even to the seasoned pros. Competitors tackle one of two disciplines – the snatch, or the jerk. Once the clock starts, they must crank out as many reps as possible in 10 minutes. With the snatch, they are permitted to change arms
once during the time period. Otherwise, there’s no respite. What quickly becomes apparent from the competitors’ pained expressions is that, when you’re trying to fight your way through a lactic-acid whirlpool, 10 minutes can feel like an ocean of time. First up are the novice lifters, who use 16kg bells. Then come the amateurs, with 24kg bells. When the final siren sounds, the competitors drop to their knees, soaked with sweat and holloweyed with exhaustion. Then it’s the main event for the pros in the sub85kg weight class. In the jerk, Anasenko is taking on Sydney contender Kristian Karlsen and Russian compatriot Pavel Chuev. At 21, the fresh-faced Chuev is one of the sport’s rising stars and a former junior champion. He looks ominously strong. Standing side by side, the three men dust their hands with chalk and swap cordial fist-bumps before the competition begins in earnest. Picking up a pair of 32kg kettlebells, they swing them back
“EACH REP IS NOW AN ACT OF RESISTANCE AGAINST THE 64KG LOAD”
TEST YOUR METTLE
Want to benefit from the bell? This will smoke your shoulders, triceps, core, glutes and legs, while opening up your hips. But be warned: it’s not for the faint of heart
What to do Use a ladder format. Do a rep of each exercise, then two, then three, until you hit 10 reps. Now, descend back to one. Repeat for 15 minutes. Got through all the reps? Increase the ladder to 12, or add 2kg to the kettlebell.
03/ One-Arm Back-Lunge Thruster (Right) Perform the first exercise with the sides reversed, so you’re holding the kettlebell in your right hand. 01/ One-Arm BackLunge Thruster (Left) Step back with your right leg into a lunge, with the kettlebell at your left shoulder. Drive through your left heel to punch the bell overhead, until you’re back up with your arm extended.
02/ One-Arm High Pull (Left) Stand with your feet just beyond shoulder width, gripping the kettlebell. Using your hips, swing the weight to your hairline. Keep your spine straight and your core tight.
04/ One-Arm High Pull (Right) Now, repeat exercise two, with the bell in your right hand.
between their legs and launch them into the rack position. There’s a pause on the exhale. The bells are thrust overhead with straight arms. Then they do it again. And again, and again… Anasenko and Chuev soon settle into a steady rhythm, banging out reps every eight seconds or so. They move almost in unison, matching each other jerk for jerk, flawless technique masking the strain as they sync the reps to their breathing. On the far left, Karlsen is working at an exceptional pace, too (he will go on to set a new Australian record of 61 reps). Nevertheless, the Russian competition soon leaves him trailing. Five minutes in, Anasenko takes a sidelong glance from beneath his sweat-drenched headband to check on his main rival’s progress. Chuev’s pace is still relentless, while the older athlete is starting to breathe a little heavily. With each rep, Chuev edges ahead. Anasenko clings on, maintaining his rhythm, hoping to reel him in. We’re in the mindover-matter zone, now. Each rep is an act of resistance, a bloodyminded refusal to submit to the laws of gravity and the burn of the 64kg load. Yet, somehow, the 21-year-old continues to power on. As the siren blows, the final scoreboard reads: Chuev 86 reps, Anasenko 84 reps. It was an extraordinary display of athleticism, perhaps signalling the changing of the guard among the kettlebell elite. But it also demonstrated the truth of what, Anasenko believes, makes this such a rewarding pursuit. “It’s a good sport for muscle, for endurance, for ligaments and for mind,” he says. “But maybe, most of all, for the mind.” Yes, kettlebell training will chisel your physique and upgrade your aerobic capacity. However, Anasenko suggests it goes further, to forge something more significant. Gracious in defeat, he explains: “Kettlebell sport teaches you fight.” MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 107
THE Y D A H S PA S T A ND
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A L L I E H O L L O WA Y
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THERE ARE alotofreasonstolisten
toMarkManson.Hehastheunvarnished wisdomofabartenderinafishingtown,for onething.Withhis2016megabestseller, TheSubtleArtofNotGivingaF*ck,Manson setouttocontradicteverythingalltheother self-helpbooksweresaying:“Ifotherselfhelpbookssayyou’respecial,I’mgoingto writeachaptercalled‘You’reNotSpecial.’ Ifotherself-helpbookstellyoutobelievein yourself,I’mgoingtotellyounottobelieve inyourself.Ifotherself-helpbookstellyou, ‘Justsayyes,’I’mgoingtowriteachapter thatsays,‘Justsayno.’” The Subtle Art has sold more than 6 million copies, and Manson’s recent follow-up, Everything Is F*cked, was on the best-seller list for 13 weeks. His blog, MarkManson.net, boasts more than a million monthly readers, with half a million paid subscribers. Still, Manson has an aura of approachability. It could be his soft, friendlylooking features, or the way he seems comfortable in every chair, even when he’s onstage. It could be the swearing. At first, I think the fucks sound a little forced, in the context of his latest books’ titles – like a kid who swears because he knows it’s going to get a rise out of his mom. But the curse words become more frequent when Manson is talking passionately about something and less frequent when he’s considering every word. He’s just a swearer. In his books, Manson, 35, flays himself: The Subtle Art, in particular, draws heavily on his personal highs and lows. Some moments are funny, and some are unexpectedly gutting, as when he describes his friend Josh’s drowning when Manson was a teenager. “Josh’s death marks the clearest before/after point I can identify in
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mylife.Pre-tragedy,Iwasinhibited, unambitious,foreverobsessedandconfined bywhatIimaginedtheworldmightbe thinkingofme,”Mansonwrites.“Posttragedy,Imorphedintoanewperson: responsible,curious,hardworking.Istill hadmyinsecuritiesandmybaggage–as wealwaysdo–butnowIgaveafuckabout somethingmoreimportantthanmy insecuritiesandmybaggage.” It’sfeeling-speak,butit’sanchored byrawstorytelling(andtheoccasional fuck).EverythingIsF*ckedislessmoored toManson’sownexperiencesthanThe SubtleArt,butintheformerhecushions hisphilosophiesinyarns–thebookopens withastoryofHolocaustheroism.Notlong ago,MansonreadareviewofEverythingIs F*ckedthatdescribedhimalongthelinesof “thelocaldrunkwhospenttoomuchtimein thephilosophysectionatthebookstore.”He wasunruffledbythereview.“Ireadthatand I’mlike,‘That’sprettyaccurate.’” Strikingly, Manson’s books appeal to both men and women, who have historically been shuttled into separate lanes by the self-help industry: Men self-improved by getting swole or getting rich, and women selfimproved by finding husbands and laying out all those husbands’ work outfits for the week on Sunday night. Manson estimates that his events’ audiences are two-thirds female and one-third male, but he says that men are way more likely to come up to him afterward, to tell him how he’s changed their lives.“My most fervent fans are always guys. I’m probably one of four authors that they really like,” he says. He explains that besides publishing books about making money, as well as a wave of “creepy pickup books” in the aughts, the self-help industry hadn’t really found a way to address men. It’s not that men
aren’t interested in achieving emotional maturity or distilling their values, Manson adds. It’s just that when most writers hold forth on those subjects, they kick a masculinity trip wire: there’s still a stigma attached to men discussing their mental health and, more nebulously, their feelings. Manson is unnervingly well-read in the works of the industry’s old vanguard. He’s able to summarise and belittle entire bodies of work in a single sentence. (“He’s good. He’s really, really good,” he says of life coach and fellow mega author Tony Robbins. “But with that many people” – meaning with an audience that far-ranging – “you’re going to fuck some up.”) Manson studied how Robbins buried advice about needs and values in business advice, and he saw how the pickup books did the same thing with romantic advice. “I think if there’s been a breakthrough in my work,” Manson says, “it’s that I have found a way to appeal to a lot of men – to make it okay for them to read a book that talks about feelings, and values, and relationships – without also alienating women.” There are plenty of self-help writers with accessible voices and good stories who don’t alienate women, but none of them have Manson’s audience. What sets him apart is his ability to cast himself as the clear-eyed voice of reason in an industry of nuts. He did it recently, with the self-help industry, and he did it years ago, with the pickup-artist community. And that is perhaps the most compelling reason to listen to Mark Manson: at a time when male comebacks seem unlikely, even impossible, he has managed to successfully rebrand from professional bad dude to professional good dude.
AS OF 2005, Manson was, in his words,
“a poor, sexless neophyte.” That was the year he discovered The Game, a pickup-artist manifesto from writer Neil Strauss, the personification of a swipe left on Tinder. Manson became a disciple of the pickup-artist community, then quickly rose to a sort of nerd regency. Throughout his childhood in Austin and college in Boston, Manson played a lot of video games. When he had to choose a pseudonym for online pickupartist forums – his nom de douche – he resurrected his gamer name, Entropy. He spent the next seven years travelling, delivering dating advice on his nowdefunct blog, and working as a wingman for hire for the kind of guys who would seek out a wingman for hire. He charged clients about $800 a day. Manson volunteers that he began his career in “dating and relationship advice” but not that he actually was a pickup artist. When I ask direct questions about that period, though, he answers them candidly and casually. I searched for cached pages from Manson’s old website, PostMasculine.com, and I was surprised at the Neil Strauss–ness of some of his early posts. On his blog, he wrote at length about subjects such as “Ethics: Bride at Her Bachelorette Party” (“In hindsight, pursuing her was wrong”) and “How to Pick Up Girls in College,” a post Manson published in 2008. “As soon as you can tell a girl is attracted to you, make a move on her. Girls at college parties are drunk, inexperienced, stressed out and many of them are looking to hook up. There’s no place for subtlety here,” Manson wrote. “You can kiss them within minutes of meeting them. Ifyoumovethingsfastphysically, and get them horny, you Mark Manson in can get them in the London on the bedroom within 30 British leg of his international book minutes.” tour for Everything When I mention Is F*cked this year. this post to He’s sold more than 8 million books Manson, he sounds worldwide and is so uncomfortable also in high demand that I apologise. as a public speaker. “I definitely wrote something like that, and it’s definitely making
me cringe a little bit right now,” he says. “I have a number of guy friends that I met in that community. And they’ve moved on – nobody thinks about it anymore. But every once in a while, I’ll have a conversation with one of those friends and be like, ‘I can’t believe we did that.’ You know? And they’re like, ‘Yeah, but we grew a lot and we matured a lot.’ And it’s like, ‘Yeah, but we did a lot of kind of shady shit, too.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, kind of.’ There’s definitely conflicted feelings about it. I think, overall, for most of the men, it was probably a net positive.” Another deleted post heralds his exit from that milieu. “After spending five years in the Pick Up Artist community, I’ve taken my leave,” Manson wrote in 2010. He then began repudiating pickup artistry more frequently and offered advice for transitioning to “civilian life.” He also appeared on various blogs, did AMAs on Reddit and devoted a blog post to dismantling The Game. “Now, I’m not here to start a smear campaign,”
Manson wrote of Strauss in 2010, after an introduction in which he expressed his gratitude to the writer for exposing him to the idea that it’s possible for any man to improve in matters of seduction. “But everyone I’ve met who lived in that house [Project Hollywood, Strauss’s pickup-artist mothership] has come away with a bad taste in their mouth, and many of them openly don’t like the guy. You be the judge.” He went on: “Pick Up Artist advice up until about 2007 or so was – and I’m being brutally honest here – horrible. Completely ineffective at best and outright manipulative and misleading at worst.” He decried The Game as a marvel of marketing, a dating get-rich-quick scam. “He launched THE single biggest product launch in Internet marketing history at the time, bringing in over R140 million,” Manson wrote. “He then launched his business StyleLife which has over 40,000 members each paying [R500] per month. You sure it wasn’t a sales job?”
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NOT SPECI AL.’ ”
“IF O T HER S E L F- H E L S AY Y P B O O K S OU’R E , L A I C E P S G N I O G M I’ E T I R W O T A CH AP TER C A LLED
E R ’ U O ‘Y
(On his own website, Manson touts his R600 annual subscription in a Wikipedialike appeal: “I’m an independent writer. What that means is that I’m not under contract at a magazine or newspaper, I’m not beholden to some overbearing editor/ publisher and I’m certainly not whoring myself out to some big media conglomerate... I have you. My readers. People who love what I do enough that they’re willing to help me keep being able to do it.”) In July 2011, Manson self-published the book Models: A Comprehensive Guide to Attracting Women on Amazon and on his website. The following year, he released a revised edition, calling it Models: Attract Women Through Honesty. In a foreword to the revision, he explained that he wanted to address consent more directly. “This was always implied in earlier versions of the book,” he wrote, “but after being horrified at some of the emails I get from men and how they interpret the book, I’ve decided to be more explicit about this.” Manson has left Entropy behind. His old blog posts were accompanied by a photo 112 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
ofaslimmer,youngerMarkManson–eyes verygreenbutalittledead,asmughalfsmile onhislips.Nowthe“AboutMe”sectionof MarkManson.netfeaturesaphotoofhimin alight-bluebutton-upshirt,armscrossedin frontofhim.Helookshealthyandcorporate andnotatallentropic.HelivesinNewYork withhiswife,Fernanda.Hedidmeetherina nightclub,hesays,butheapproachedheras acivilian.“Ihadnoline,”herecalls.“Itwas ‘Hi,I’mMark.’” Beyond being important from a personal-development standpoint, Manson’s well-engineered departure from the pickup-artist community was a prototype for the rest of his professional life. He is a serial disrupter, and if there’s one thing he can teach us, it’s how to make yourself the face of an industry’s aha moment. MANSON WAS a welcome upstart among
the old woo-woo institutions. Dale Carnegie, of the very old vanguard, gave us tips in 1936’s How to Win Friends & Influence People, which is still in circulation. Gentle
earth uncle Eckhart Tolle encouraged us to quell the damaging, ego-driven thought patterns keeping us from finding our true purpose. The Secret’s Rhonda Byrne suggested that single people sleep on one side of the bed and use only half the space in their closets – it will be as though they have already found the perfect partner, she reasoned, and then the Universe will send the perfect partner their way. “I know I’m a self-development blogger and I’m supposed to keep everything light and airy and full of poop jokes, but fuck it – I hate it. It’s an awful book,” Manson wrote of The Secret in 2015. His campaign was one of radical change, and Byrne was his counterpoint. He argued that her philosophy of all-the-time positive thinking was in fact very destructive. “Call me crazy,” he wrote, “but I believe that changing and improving your life requires destroying a part of yourself and replacing it with a newer, better part of yourself. It is therefore, by definition, a painful process full of anxiety.” Nobody called him crazy. Manson rejected the industry’s emphasis
COURTESY AUTHOR (WIKING, HELMSTETTER) | JEFF WATTS (KENDI) | GETTY IMAGES (VAN NESS) | THE GOTTMAN INSTITUTE (GOTTMAN)
on promising readers concrete steps toward self-improvement. These action items are often arbitrary and unscientific, but they’re very seductive. “My publisher really wanted me to put those things in there, and I told him, ‘Absolutely not. They don’t work. I don’t want to write them,’ ” Manson says. “Some conventional self-help people read the book and were like, ‘There’s nothing actionable in here, so this is a waste of time.’ ” Instead of giving readers a step-by-step road map to a perfect life, he recommends that they learn how to accept life’s imperfections. If other self-help books are crash diets, then Manson is the tough-love dietician, sitting us down and telling us to stop eating doughnuts. “I say, ‘Thirty days is not enough. You have to manage your relationship with the [doughnut] for the rest of your life.’ ” It is an unsexy philosophy, delivered by a man whose professional qualifications amount to “I’ve had a blog for a while.” “People are like, ‘Why should I listen to you?’ ” he says. “I’m like, ‘I don’t know. Don’t.’ I’m not going to stand up here and say that I’ve got it all figured out – here are my 18 degrees. I just started writing about my problems and my issues and how I dealt with them. And people liked it and kept asking me to write more.” But Manson feels no less qualified to proselytise than any other industry kingpin is. Rather, he views his ability to recognise when he’s out of his depth as a strength. He’s the fun aunt of life advice. He’s also a great peacetime babysitter, up for changing the occasional nappy, but when things get really shitty, he hands us off to the people who know best. He tells me that a self-help writer can either choose to be honest about what he doesn’t know or delude himself into thinking that he can solve everyone’s problems. “I stay in the shallow end of the pain pool,” he says. “I’ve written on the site that I specialise in ‘mild life problems.’ Like if you’ve had a breakup, a major career decision or a midlife crisis, I’m your guy. I get questions from people who are schizophrenic or bipolar and I’m like, ‘Hey, man, I’m not qualified for this.’ And I give them resources, links, and phone numbers for people who are.” I ask Manson why his strategy of setting himself up as the counterpoint to bullshit might make his work particularly appealing
tomen.HespeculatesthattheInternethas madepeoplemoreskeptical–evenalittle bitparanoid.“Becauseweareexposedtoso muchinformation,andweareawareofthe uglyundersideofalotofthings.Whenyou’re abletostandupandbelike,‘Thisgroupis bullshit,andhere’swhy,’thatgeneratesalot ofattention,”hesays.Men,hesuggests,have alwayshadthedesiretoimprovethemselves andtheirrelationships,buttheysensedthe self-helpindustry’sphoniness.“Itjustfelt bullshittytothem.Mycriticisms,Ithink, justputwordstowhatalotofthemfelt.Ihear thatallthetime,too,actually:‘Ineverliked self-helpstuff,andIdidn’tknowwhyuntilI readyourbook.’” AFTER TheSubtleArttookoff,Mansonhad
abriefexistentialcrisis.Hewantedtokeep writingbooks,butheknewanywouldbe unlikelytooutsellthatone.Hewasgrappling withaquandarythatfacesadisrupterof anymajorindustry,frommattressesto happiness:Onceyou’vepoppedthebubble, howdoyoukeepgrowing? “Ithinkmywholecareerhasbeenmekind ofascendingwithinagenreoracommunity andthensteppingoutofit,kindoflike movingontosomethingbroader,”hesays. “Thesameway,whenIwas27or28,thatI said,‘Idon’twanttobewritingaboutdating stufftherestofmylife,’Idon’twanttobe writingaboutself-helpstufftherestofmy life.Ifeellikethere’safiniteamountof thingstosay,andthenonceIsaythem,Ijust wanttomoveon.” Therearewritersineverygenre,but particularlyinself-help,whospendtheir entirecareersrehashingthesamematerial. Indeed,anoccasionalcritiqueofTheSubtle Art,whichseemstorankleManson,is thatwhenyoupeelawayhisno-nonsense toneandhisanalysisoftheindustry,he isn’treallysayinganythingnew.Iaskhim whetherhefelthewasrepeatinghisideas whilewritingEverythingIsF*cked.He concedesthatsomeofthetopicsinthe booksareparallelbutsaysthatEverything IsF*ckedisthecalculustoTheSubtleArt’s algebra:amorecomplex,nuancedversion ofthefirstbook’ssimplerprinciples.Yet heisawarethatthere’sonlysomuchyou cansayaboutself-improvement,andonly somanydifferentwaystosayit,beforeyou startrepeatingyourself.Notthatwriting thesamebookoverandoveragainisalways
S O M E OT H E R SELF-HELPERS YOU SHOULD GIVE A F*CK ABOUT Kristen Meinzer, cohost of the podcast By the Book distinguishes the new men in the betterment space. 1. MEIK WIKING
Longing for a bit more joy and comfort in your life? There’s no better source than the man who runs the Happiness Research Institute in Denmark and made hygge a household word. Check out The Little Book of Hygge. 2. DR. SHAD HELMSTETTER
Helmstetter is the dad voice we all deserve to hear in our heads. His message: be a little kinder to yourself. He lays out his methods in his primer, What to Say When You Talk to Your Self. 3. IBRAM X. KENDI
Want to face (and fight) your own biases and contribute to making our society a more equitable place? Dive into How to Be an Antiracist, i which is part memoir, part guide. 4. JONATHAN VAN NESS
Van Ness’s message isn’t about telling people they’re flawed but rather embracing and loving who they are. Catch him on Queer Eye, on his podcast, or in his new book, Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self Love.
bad,Mansonadds,everhedgingacriticism. Somepeopleenjoyknowingthatthey’re goingtofeelcenteredandmotivatedforthe fivehoursittakestoreadabook. “I don’t think it would’ve lasted this long or been this big if there wasn’t some good that came from it,” he says of the industry. “I think the question is just: what is it? And my argument is that most self-help material is really just designed to make you feel good.” While Manson’s books may not fluff readers up with promises of the bounty of the Universe, like The Secret, or arm us with easy tricks for getting what we want, like The Game, they are designed to make us feel good: nothing makes us feel better than being wise to a scam.
LAUREN LARSON lives in Brooklyn and is a Men’s Health contributing editor. MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 113
THE S T R E
114 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
N G T H IS SUE
More muscle, more sex, more energy? Maybe. We shake down the oversimplified and overrated myths about testosterone to bring you what you need to know about it now. WORDS BY KEVIN DUPZ YK | PHOTOGRAPHY BY THE VOORHES
FEELING TAPPED OUT. Foggy. Just not all that into
sex. Gotta be your testosterone, ads would have you believe. And we’re believing it, too, with the number of T-supplement users tripling from the early 2000s through 2016. Don’t get us wrong: testosterone is one critical hormone. Babies first encounter it in utero, when it triggers the differentiation of boys from girls. In puberty, it contributes to your bone growth and muscle mass, and continues to affect functions including your red-blood-cell production and mood stability. But the message those ads are sending plays right into the economic and social anxieties men are facing. It’s like when antianxiety meds such as Valium first came onto the scene, says urologist Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler. “All these middle-aged women were addicted to Valium, because that was the solution to everything. Testosterone has become the new answer for a life of quiet desperation.” More and more of us are feeling the exhaustion of uneasiness. We are being asked to do more with less. We’re just trying to get through the day alive. “Men think, Well, if I just get a little testosterone, I’m going to feel great!” Kavaler says. “And that’s not the case.”
There’s so much information out there about T – much of it speculation and lore – that leads us to jump to conclusions about it. Men put all kinds of psychological weight on their testosterone number – a low one makes you think you’re somehow less manly; a high one means you’re basically Siya Kolisi – and that’s where we get things wrong. There’s little evidence for those stereotypes. Low doesn’t automatically imply you’re weak or retiring; high doesn’t guarantee you muscles or World Cup-winning performance. A low number might not even be a low number for very long. It might just indicate that you haven’t been treating yourself very well. A high number doesn’t mean you’re programmed to be aggressive. As long as your T is in the normal range, there’s nothing about a high number that’s better than a low one, or vice versa. In the name of science and good journalism, I got my testosterone tested twice while writing this story. It put my assumptions up against a pretty big test, too. (See page 124.) What do you really know about this famous hormone? Here, we break down the best and latest information to give you the clearest picture yet of what T means for you.
LACK OF LIBIDO
THINGS T CAN’T DO
IT CAN . . .
IT CAN’T...
Build muscle mass
Grow connective tissues and ligaments (meaning if you’re using T to get jacked, all the extra muscle could end up being unsupported, leading to injury)
Boost red-blood-cell production, increasing oxygen-carrying capacity Improve libido Promote erections Help keep mood stable
Make your penis bigger Make your erections last longer Make her love you again
Sort of. It’s the lack of your base-level sex drive – that sudden feeling of being turned on by the sexy person you spot on the street – that indicates low T, according to Dr. Tobias Kohler of the Mayo Clinic. It’s not considered low libido when you don’t want to have sex on a Thursday night after you’ve been crushed by work all week.
ERECTILE PROBLEMS
BUT TOO MUCH ALSO CAN . . .
BUT IT ALSO CAN’T . . .
Thicken the blood, creating a clot/ embolism risk
Give you ’roid rage (at least not on its own – aggression stems from a variety of factors)
Cause acne
Increase odds of prostate cancer
Cause man boobs
Create heart problems (it may even reduce them)
Shrink your testicles
LACK OF ENERGY
You’re lethargic – not like you didn’t get enough sleep last night but like no matter what you do, you never feel rested. Having a dad bod doesn’t mean you have low T – but it could be one indicator.
Sometimes it gets too much credit; sometimes it gets too much blame.
Help maintain bone density
Common symptoms of below-normal T, which affects 1 in 4 men over the age of 30.
A PAUNCH
WHAT TESTOSTERONE CAN – AND CAN’T – DO THINGS T CAN DO
HOW WOULD YOU KNOW IF YOUR T WERE LOW?
Only precipitously low T will keep you limp. But if you have problems getting it up, you may have other issues to solve, which may require a visit to a doctor. Or a little blue pill. Or couples therapy.
So do you have a problem? 116 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
“
We act like it’s destiny but it’s just biology.
”
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 117
How You Measure Up WITH TESTOSTERONE, as
with life, normal is nuanced. And fraught (but shouldn’t be). What to know about finding your T: GET TESTED. You should have at least two blood tests, since T is constantly in flux. It peaks in the morning, so if you’re young and on a typical sleeping schedule, aim to be tested by 10am. If you’re over 50, it doesn’t matter as much. Also note: vitamins with biotin can lower your score, so skip them for three days before testing. DON’T READ TOO MUCH INTO IT. A T level of 264 to
916 nanograms per deciliter of blood is generally considered normal. If you are close to 264 and you feel fine, then you’re no less healthy than a guy whose level is 700 and also feels fine. There’s an exception to that, though. (See “What the Numbers Mean.”) NOT READING INTO IT IS HARDER THAN IT SOUNDS.
I got my first test at the tail end of a busy week. I’d slept less than five hours the night before, then scrambled to the phlebotomist in a daze. My number: 287. That’s in the normal range, but just barely. I have no symptoms
of low T, but it was hard to shake the feeling that there was something wrong with me, even though I know that normal is normal, no matter where it is in that range. Eleven days later, I was tested again. My number was 429. Why such a dramatic change? It might be because I’d slept better and cut out my multivitamins. Irrational or not, I felt like more of a man. The whole experience was a microcosm of our relationship with T. We act like it’s destiny, but it’s just biology – easily misunderstood and more varied than we think.
WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN A T level of 264 to 916 is generally considered normal, with this exception: if your T is below 300 and you have low-T symptoms, then docs would consider you in a low-T category. 8–60 NG/DL:
150–263 NG/DL:
Normal T Adult Woman
<150 NG/DL:
Low T Adult Man
Severely Low T Adult Man
3,000 NG/DL:
264–916 NG/DL:
Bodybuilder who’s supplementing his T
Normal T 19- to 39-Year-Old Man
HOW YOUR LIFE CAN AFFECT YOUR T
Even social factors and health habits can change your T. Check out what makes it move.
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. In the new book Testosterone: An Unauthorized Biography, scientists Rebecca JordanYoung and Katrina Karkazis point out that T levels even respond to social factors like feedback. They highlight research like a study from Poland’s Institute of Sport that saw that rugby players who watched
videos of good game plays and got positive feedback had up to a 50 percent increase in T compared with guys who were shown their mistakes and received critical assessments. LIFTING WEIGHTS. Resistance training can give you a short-term boost in T. Cardio doesn’t elevate T levels as much in normalweight men, says
118 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
Dr. Jesse Mills the director of the Men’s Clinic at UCLA. But here’s the thing: Jordan-Young and Karkazis dug through the research to find that T levels alone don’t deserve the credit when it comes to an athlete’s performance. HOW MUCH SLEEP YOU GET. One study saw daytime testosterone levels
dip by 10 to 15 percent when guys got only five hours of sleep a night for about a week. BEING A DAD. Men’s testosterone levels drop when they become a father, but the sound of a baby crying can raise them. EXCESS WEIGHT. Your fat turns T into oestrogen. (See more about that on the next page.)
If Your T is Truly Low You’ve got three courses of action, says Mills, in order of increasing aggressiveness:
1
LIFESTYLE ADJUSTMENT
The best thing you can do to boost levels is be healthier. Avoid stress, get more sleep and lose weight – an enzyme in fat tissue turns T into oestrogen. Yep, flab can lower your T. That’s why overweight guys can develop moobs, and why bodybuilders who juice often sport their own pair – their T levels are so high there’s tons more to convert to oestrogen. Thinking of T as “the male sex hormone” oversimplifies the complex hormonal interactions that make our bodies work. So, if you can avoid it, you don’t want to go with the needlein-the-butt routine to boost T.
2
A TESTICLE STIMULANT (PLUS LIFESTYLE ADJUSTMENT)
If your level is low enough to warrant more aggressive treatment, your doctor can prescribe a drug that causes your pituitary to tell your gonads to make more testosterone. The typical choice is clomiphene citrate (Clomid), a common fertility drug for women. Using it doesn’t exempt you from needing to get healthy, though, as it doesn’t diminish the risk of losing T to bad sleep and a beer belly.
3
TESTOSTERONE-REPLACEMENT THERAPY (AND YES, YOU’LL STILL NEED TO ADJUST YOUR LIFESTYLE)
This should be your last resort. When you give your body T, it stops making its own and there’s no guarantee it can start again. Before you replace it, find a doctor who can help you choose from the following delivery systems, and be glad that we’ve moved past the early days of replacement therapies, like one in the 1920s that involved transplanting goat testicles into men.
GEL
PROS: Easy – you just lather it in, probably on your upper arms. CONS: If it rubs off on your partner or your kids, it can give them extra T.
SUBCUTANEOUS PELLET
PROS: After six to 12 of these rice-sized pellets are inserted under your skin, they last about three to four months, the longest of all methods. CONS: Until recently, when compounding pharmacies started making them, they were expensive.
INJECTION
PROS: Can provide a major boost. Lasts anywhere from one to ten weeks. CONS: This requires precise calibration and is generally only used by docs who specialise in testosterone therapies.
PILL
PROS: It’s even easier to use than the gel and can deliver higher levels. CONS: You have to take it twice a day, and you have to take it with a fatty meal. (Might not be a con.)
LIGHTNING ROUND:
HOW TESTOSTERONE AFFECTS MUSCLE GROWTH Getting ripped the smart way.
Will testosterone help me build muscle mass? Yes. Of course, you’ll still have to work out. Testosterone provides the signal for muscles to get big when stressed – but you’ve got to supply the stress. Can I get T over the counter? No. It has to be prescribed by a doc.
Can I get some from the boot of a car in a parking lot?
Probably.
Should I? No. But what about muscle mass? Bad things can happen to you with too much T, as we’ve pointed out. Plus, if you juice and then come off the regimen, your body’s ability to make T might be kaput. But I really want to be ripped! Lift! Go heavy and hard. Do multijoint exercises like deadlifts, bench presses, and weighted pullups; use weights you can do just three to five reps with.
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 119
PH OTO G R APH S BY JAS M I N S C H U LLE R 120 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
.
THE STRENGTH ISSUE
ANY QUESTIONS? The 100 percent carnivorous, veggies-be-damned diet is the apex of the new extreme-eating trend. Its followers claim weeding out plants can help you lose weight, build muscle faster and even reverse chronic illness, while dieticians have a serious beef with almost everything about it. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s our (no-bull) analysis. BY RI C HARD G O DWI N , WITH AD D ITI O NAL RE P O RTI N G BY J O S H UA ST. C L AI R
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 121
a story about human carnivores – people who believe that the best diet is one composed only of meat. No bread or potatoes. No salads. Definitely no kale. Just animal flesh. Or, in the case of the infamous Canadian psychologist Jordan B. Peterson and his daughter, Mikhaila, just beef, salt, water, and the occasional glass of bourbon. HIS IS
“I know how ridiculous it sounds,” Mikhaila says. But that’s how the carnivore diet began, with people like her concluding that the standard nutritional advice wasn’t working for them. Mikhaila now credits her all-meat diet with easing her debilitating autoimmune conditions, fatigue and depression. Her father, too, claims he has lost more than 20 kilograms since he began following his daughter’s lead. He says he now feels magnificent, even if the diet is “dull as hell,” and he has turned into a vocal supporter of the plan. When you mention this meat-only diet to an omnivore or herbivore, their reactions tend to fall somewhere between disbelief and anger. And understandably so: your BS detector is on high alert when it comes to celebrity-endorsed miracle cures, and Jordan Peterson’s “cow plan” sounds like the bullshit bull’s-eye. After all, if vegans are associated in the popular imagination with environmentalism, progressive causes, liberalism and compassion, carnivores must surely stand for the opposite, right? It sounds like a parody diet for climate-changedenying, coal-rolling, gun-toting, toxically masculine (ahem) meatheads. Such is the age we live in – nothing just stands for itself. And so, in a weird way, this is also a story about science and ideology, carbs and fat and the ever-fuzzy line between healthy scepticism and conspiracy theory.
The Carnivores Rise
IF THERE’S one guy who personifies the meat-only
lifestyle, it’s Shawn Baker, a 52-year-old former orthopedic surgeon. He’s a beast – a 1, 95 metre rugby-playing powerlifter who eats about 2 kilograms 122 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
of steak per day. Through his commitment to eating carnivore, Baker has become something of a leader for the nutritionally disenchanted. Profanity-studded, pro-meat screeds are common across his socialmedia accounts. “Those who were going carnivore ten years ago did so because they’d been chronically sick,” he says. “They had been vegetarian and vegan. They had been on all kinds of medication. This was the only thing that worked for them.” Baker sells books and diet plans to would-be carnivores. He’s ripped like a cartoon henchman. Maybe that’s why people are listening, despite the fact that he lost his medical licence in 2017 due to incompetence and for “failing to report an adverse action,” according to the New Mexico Medical Board. Baker, to his credit, does say that a meat-only diet is not for everyone and stresses that those who are interested in trying it should do their own research. What’s helping this meat tribe bond is the Internet, the destination where people with niche interests usually find one another. A computer scientist named L. Amber O’Hearn blogs extensively about the subject at empiri.ca. Her tagline is “Eat meat. Not too little. Mostly fat.” (It’s a nice spin on Michael Pollan’s advice from his 2008 book, In Defense of Food: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”) But where the carnivore community really comes together is on Reddit, with forums like /r/zerocarb (which has around 74 000 subscribers) and/r/carnivore (4 800 subscribers). On these message boards, the carnivorous help each other troubleshoot issues like constipation and proper hydration, as well as share success stories
40
THE PERCENTAGE OF CALORIES DIETICIANS SAY PEOPLE SHOULD GET FROM CARBS. THOSE ON THE CARNIVORE DIET EAT NONE.
THE NUMBERS : HOW THE CARNIVORE DIET STACKS UP THE DIET
OUR IDEAL
KETOGENIC
CARNIVORE
YOUR MACRO TARGETS
30% protein, 30% fat, 40% carbs
20% protein, 75% fat, 5% carbs
40% protein, 60% fat, 0% carbs
SAMPLE MEAL
Grilled chicken breast, baked sweet potato and vine tomatoes
Almond-crusted salmon with sauteed kale and mozzarella
Rib-eye steak and chicken livers seasoned with salt and pepper
SUPPOSED BENEFITS
Easy to follow and uncontroversial; also, the established thinking is that carbs are delicious.
Basing your meals around fats forces your body to burn its own fat for fuel, though it’s difficult to pull off.
Anecdotally said to stabilise energy and cure chronic illness. Note “anecdotally,” not “scientifically.”
about losing weight and overcoming irritable bowel syndrome. Intriguingly, some of these carnivore-diet followers report that they used to be vegan, having tried various food-elimination regimens to address an illness or persistent weight gain. “Carnivore diet” was also one of the top diet searches of 2018, according to Google search reports, and the term started trending in 2018 after Jordan Peterson appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. One listener was Luke Irving, 29, an /r/zerocarb member, swimming instructor, and former personal trainer. “Before going carnivore, I considered myself relatively healthy,” he says. “I would work out a lot and eat a diverse range of whole grains, vegetables, fruit and lean cuts of meat. I basically flipped my old way of eating upside down.” Irving says hearing Peterson’s story sparked his interest in the carnivore diet, since the message ran against the traditional nutrition guidelines that he had been taught and followed all of his adult life. Irving admits that although he was living a supposedly healthy lifestyle, inside he didn’t feel great, pointing to mild depression, anxiety and bloating, among other ailments. While some carnivores, like Irving, quit all nonmeat overnight, others ease into it by trying the ketogenic diet first. “Keto” is a very low-carb, high-fat diet that was originally designed to treat epilepsy in children. More recently, it has gained a cult following among factions of the fitness community. When deprived of carbohydrates, your body switches its energy supply from glycogen to ketones, which are derived from the breakdown of fat. Many people lose weight on the keto diet, and its advocates claim that it lessens the symptoms of a suite of conditions, including Alzheimer’s and type 2 diabetes, though the scientific consensus doesn’t back those effects. Keto comes with significant risks – nutrient deficiencies and disordered eating – and is hard to maintain. Irving went full meat in 2018 and says he’s experienced mostly positive changes. He’s lost weight. He feels better when he exercises. He’s less socially anxious. But he’s also been sick with cold-like symptoms several times over the past two months and says he isn’t sure whether this new susceptibility to illness is part of the “adaptation phase” or something else. A typical day of eating for him involves a ten-egg omelette reinforced with heavy cream plus salmon cooked in butter for breakfast and about five to six 115g burger patties with cheese for dinner. (He skips lunch.) “I accept a variety of meats and organs for dinner, but it’s usually beef,” he says. Like many others on the all-meat eating regimen, Irving says he was surprised that the diet appears to be working and that he feels great overall. That said, “in the first MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 123
four to five weeks of being on this diet, my GI tract had trouble processing the abundance of fat I was giving it,” he says. Beyond six weeks, however, the symptoms abated. Still, anecdotes like Irving’s are not data. There simply isn’t rigorous, long-term scientific research on the carnivore diet yet. But with unprecedented levels of obesity and type 2 diabetes in South Africa and abroad, sceptics wonder if the current approaches to nutrition are even the right ones to follow. Hence, all these people who eat only meat.
But Is It Good for You?
THE CARNIVORE eating regimen, by all traditional
nutrition standards, is entirely out of whack. For comparison’s sake, the ketogenic diet requires that 75 percent of your daily macronutrients come from fat sources (avocados, salmon, bacon, etc.), 20 percent from protein, and 5 percent from carbohydrates. “Even keto or Atkins – as limited as they are – still include vegetables, and you can still have some lowsugar fruits,” says registered dietician Abby Langer. “But the philosophy of carnivore is that carbs, fruit and vegetables aren’t healthy. “Yes, you’ll lose a lot of weight,” she continues. “But that’s because you’re cutting out every other food except for protein.” Research shows that eating 25 to 30 grams of protein can help you fill up faster during a meal and feel full for longer after. So eating only meat may reduce your total caloric intake significantly due to these factors, says Langer, which may lead to weight loss. But just because a diet helps you lose weight doesn’t mean it’s healthy, she says. In fact, it may be downright unhealthy – and quite possibly dangerous. For example, going without fruit and vegetables would limit your intake of vitamin C, an essential nutrient your body can’t produce. Not eating enough vitamin C means that you’ll miss the nutrient’s powerful disease-fighting antioxidants, and you may put yourself at risk of scurvy. And then there is the absence of fibre, a type of carbohydrate known for decreasing your risk of illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. Carnivores believe that by not eating carbs, they don’t have to worry about spikes in blood sugar. But, Langer explains, “even if you’re not taking sugar in, it still doesn’t mean that your blood sugar is going to be nonexistent.” Plus, she says, “fibre nourishes gut bacteria, and we’re just learning how our gut bacteria may be responsible for everything from our immune-system status to our mood.” And everyone knows that fibre helps with your regularity. Registered dietician and certified strength and conditioning coach, Brian St. Pierre, takes issue with the way the diet is being hyped. “When you think about ‘eating like a man,’ what are the connotations of that statement? It’s eating red meat, having a steak. 124 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
90
THE PERCENTAGE OF VITAMIN C, AN ESSENTIAL NUTRIENT, THAT HUMANS CONSUME FROM FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.
They’re somehow attaching their eating choices to their manliness, their virility, their powerfulness.” Even if the diet is about virility, it’s far from clear that a carnivorous lifestyle actually maketh the man. Just consider the athletes and ironmen whose diet includes plants – basically, all of them – making it hard for carnivores to claim, as some will, that their own diet is the only route to absolute physical prowess. As it turns out, they may actually have it all backward. “To think that you can’t build muscle while eating plants is a misnomer and a straw-man argument,” emphasises St. Pierre. “The current state of musclebuilding research suggests that the carnivore diet would actually be suboptimal when it comes to muscle building. Now, folks can still gain muscle mass eating this way, but on average or compared to intelligent omnivorous eating, it would likely be less effective.” Yet carnivore-diet Reddit forums abound with glowing testimonials and photographic evidence of men who report leaning down after adopting an all-meat diet. And Baker, he’s proud to report, is very happy with his regularity. “It’s always important to not outright dismiss approaches,” says St. Pierre. “There can always be nuggets of validity even if there are elements that are unsavoury or untrue. So yes, there could be some
viability to [the carnivore diet] for some people, particularly if they suffer from GI issues that plants might aggravate. For a small subset, a very small subset of people, maybe it works. Do I think that’s broadly applicable, that the arguments made are broadly applicable to wide swaths of the population? No. I don’t think the research supports that.”
The Evolutionary Debate
THEN THERE’S the environment. A much-cited report
published in Nature claims that greedy Westerners must cut beef consumption by 90 percent in order to reverse climate change. If cattle rearing is destroying the planet, a lack of vitamin C may well prove to be the least of your concerns. Regardless of how you feel about the future of the planet, you need to consider how the carnivore diet fits into our history as meat eaters. Eating only meat challenges the whole idea of what it is to be human. It suggests that humans may have taken a wrong turn with the development of agriculture. This claim has been levied against keto and paleo and contends that a diet based entirely (or almost entirely) on meat and protein bucks basic evolutionary logic. Shawn Baker, the unofficial carnivore king, argues that given the choice between killing a nutrient- and calorie-rich mammoth that would feed a family for weeks and scrabbling around for nuts and berries, an Ice Age hunter-gatherer would invariably have chosen the mammoth. This may be true, but not all huntergatherers had access to meat, let alone mammoths. There’s also evidence indicating that humans were consuming grain long before the so-called agricultural revolution – like tens of thousands of years before. “When you actually look at paleolithic research, there is no such thing as a paleolithic diet,” says St. Pierre. Early humans ate what was available where they lived. They didn’t have the choices of modern carnivores and consumed what they could in order to live and reproduce. And they weren’t just eating meat. “If humans had evolved to be pure meat eaters, we would have the digestive system of a carnivore, which we do not. We have the digestive system of an omnivore, someone who will eat a mixed diet.” There are the obvious external anatomical differences, too, including the size of your jaw muscles and, of course, the shape of your teeth. Though you have incisors meant for cutting meat, your molars are squared, designed for chewing. The molars of animal carnivores are sharply serrated compared with those of humans. “Humans can exist on a wide variety of diets,” says Dr. Timothy Spector, a genetic epidemiologist and author of The Diet Myth. “Some have adapted to eat high-meat diets, such as the Inuit, Maasai or Mongolian people. But most don’t tolerate it.” There is, after all, a huge chasm between low-carb and nothing but meat.
THE MATH ON MEAT Carnivores argue that animal protein gives you all the nutrients you need. Maybe, but that’s not always practical.
VITAMIN C You’d have to eat...
37.6
tablespoons of fish roe to eat the equivalent of...
1
navel orange VITAMIN E You’d have to eat...
35
raw egg yolks to eat the equivalent of...
¼
cup of whole almonds FIBRE You’d have to eat...
450
grams of sliced ham to eat the equivalent of...
1 pear
FOLATE You’d have to eat...
85
grams of duck liver to eat the equivalent of...
2
cups of Cheerios
To suggest that humans somehow evolved while eating only (or even primarily) meat would be anthropologically inaccurate. To then suggest, as carnivores might, that humans somehow took a “wrong turn” along the path of evolution, well, that would be to claim something else entirely. Evolution doesn’t care about right or wrong; evolution cares about survival.
Gut Reactions
THE CARNIVORE DIET seems to somehow defy logic
and science. Even some carnivore redditors are complaining that ever since Jordan Peterson came out as a supporter, a certain “madness” has descended on what was once a quirky little community. Many of the more bizarre posts link to a YouTuber named Sv3rige, who makes videos about his experiments with feasting on raw meat and drinking pigs’ blood. Sv3rige’s channel also spouts flat-earth conspiracies. Various carnivores suspect that the movement has been infiltrated by Russian disinformation bots. The idea that many of the more extreme carnivorediet posts are “fake” isn’t so far-fetched: Russian trolls were discovered to have been spreading antivaccination theories in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. The wider aim seems to have been to undermine faith in experts and to foster division. This theory plays into a current thread of distrust in science and the government. All the extremity is a sign of uncertain times, explains Langer: “It says that we’re getting to a point where the more extreme, the better, and that we revere things like strength and willpower.” But people are also looking for comfort, she adds. The carnivore community, like any subculture, provides a sense of belonging, of being in the right, of knowing more than the experts. “It’s become antiestablishment,” says Langer. “[Carnivores] think that plants are like a symbol of the establishment. And then they want to distance themselves from that.” One Reddit discussion centred on such doubts. Even if, anecdotally, many carnivores feel better, shouldn’t the reality that their diet contradicts all of the established advice give us pause? “I think doubts are a sign of healthy skepticism,” came one reply. “This goes entirely against what is currently considered healthy by the vast majority of people... That said, my doubts are very small. When I was eating what my doctor told me to, I felt terrible: gut pain, bloating, low energy, brain fog, heartburn, and high blood pressure. Now I’m eating exactly the opposite, and I feel incredible... I’ll never go back to eating how I used to.” In these modern times of uncertainty, it seems that some people, fueled by frustrations that come from following the standard and falling short, are ever more willing to trust their gut. MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 125
Adventurist
The
ONE IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE. A MONTH TO TRAIN. GO!
WORDS BY JUSTIN GUTHRIE
Hitting The Wall Climbing perilous heights at speed takes nerves of steel, unfaltering grip and months, if not years, of practice. Naturally, we gave our man just three days to get the hang of it. This is how his gym-honed fitness stacked up.
126 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
PHOTOGRAPHY: JAMES CARNEGIE, NIKE SWIM | ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: RED PADDLE CO
MICHAEL LETS IT ALL HANG OUT ON THE 30M TOWER
I
’m pretty fit. At least, I think I am. I tick off five CrossFit classes a week, I can perform 20 unbroken pull-ups and I deadlift more than double my bodyweight for reps. Earlier this year, I ran the Great North Run half-marathon in an hour and 43 minutes, so my cardiovascular fitness isn’t terrible, either. However, standing at the bottom of a speedclimbing wall in the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (EICA), Europe’s largest indoor climbing space, built into an old quarry in the Scottish capital’s countryside, my bravado is waning. This is a far cry from the workouts I’m used to. The arena has played host to championships, World Cups… and now a Men’s Health junior fitness editor way out of his depth. My challenge is to scale the 15m speed climb as fast as I can. By pressing a big, red button at the bottom of the wall and then again at the top, my score can be recorded by a digital timer. To help me hold my own on the wall, the EICA has put me in the capable and well-chalked hands of Robbie Phillips, one of Scotland’s top climbers. On his Instagram (@robbiephillips_), Phillips describes his climbing style as “pure, unadulterated… no bullshit”. He’s just returned from spending a week suspended off an 800m rock face in Madagascar, where a friend fell from a 100m height and broke his leg (which doesn’t help to settle my nerves). Clearly, Phillips is the type of man who is drawn to danger. I avoid it at all costs, so the next few days should be interesting. The earliest and only experience I have of climbing is watching the likes of Hunter and Wolf chase after challengers on Gladiators. The wall in front of me isn’t too dissimilar, minus a muscleman in spandex dragging me down. Phillips elects to give me zero pointers on my first climb to see how I cope. I hastily hit the buzzer at the bottom of the wall to start the clock. The climb is much harder than I thought it would be, and there’s no hiding how sluggishly I move – confirmed when I eventually push the button at the top, registering an embarrassing time of 36 seconds. Back at ground level, I’m told I’m more than seven times slower than the record of 4.9 seconds. By the end of my three-day crash course in climbing, Phillips has challenged me to halve my time.
MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 127
Once I’ve got my breathing back under control, Phillips points out that I’m expending more energy than necessary by putting all the tension on my arms. I know this, of course, as my forearms and biceps are painfully pumped. Instead, I should be generating the power from my legs. “How many more air squats can you do in one go compared to pull-ups?” Phillips asks me. “A lot more,” I reply, making his point for him. He suggests I go again, but the damage to my forearms has already been done. That night, I can barely hold chopsticks to eat sushi (First World problems, indeed). I won’t head back to the speed wall until the final day, as Phillips says the best way to improve my time is to build my technique on other walls.
GET A GRIP The next morning, Phillips takes me over to some of the bigger walls that tower around the EICA. “I know you’re used to moving in the sagittal plane [your basic flexing and extending] and at right angles in the gym, but use climbing as your chance to be more creative,” he suggests. I learn to turn my body in all directions to overcome obstacles, gliding – not jerking – up the wall, initiating my movements from my legs instead of relying on my upper body. With each ascent, it becomes ever clearer that climbing is neither about pull-up prowess nor cardiovascular fitness. Phillips sums it up as a combination of applying technique, problem-solving, moving intuitively and being functionally fit. “You can have all the strength in the world, but that doesn’t mean you can 128 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
CHALK BOARD
Upscale your climbing by getting to grips with the technical terms
BELAY A technique used to create tension on the rope so that, if you fall, you won’t fall far.
PINCHES A hold with your fingers on one side and thumb on the other.
SMEARING When there are no footholds, press your sole into the wall to gain vertical ground.
OVERHANG A wall with a slope of more than 90 degrees, i.e., it slopes beyond the vertical.
The
ELEVATE YOURSELF We plotted Michael’s progress on the 30m climbing tower
30m 4:54 minutes 47kcal Total calorie burn from the 30m ascent and fullbody workout.
24m 3:15 minutes HR 89bpm Michael’s heart rate slows down for the flatter portion of the climb.
CLIMBING REQUIRES MENTAL GRIT, NOT JUST PHYSICAL STRENGTH 21m
2:52 minutes 30 seconds Another break to shake arms out and compose himself for final ascent. 18m 2:09 minutes HR 105bpm His heart rate rockets as he battles the overhang.
climb fast,” he says. My next ascent proves that point. Phillips wants me to develop a technique known as “smearing”, which will come in handy for the speed test. It’s employed when there are no distinct holes to support your foot, so you’re forced to press the soles of your feet hard into the flat wall. I’m having to keep my body completely side-on and use the counter-pressure of my hands pulling and feet pushing (a technique known as “laybacking”) to ascend a crack. Halfway up, I hit the wall – literally, swinging into the rock face (known as “barn-dooring”). I’m frozen, unable to figure out my next move. “A weighted foot never slips,” Phillips shouts up, reminding me to use the fail-safe smearing technique. I start to smear and move slowly. When I reach the top, I’m proud I didn’t give up. It turns out that grit is a significant part of the climbing equation, too.
NEED FOR SPEED By my last day, I’m beginning to move intuitively without Phillips’s constant direction. To prepare before I take on the speed wall for the second and final time, I make three accelerated ascents on another wall of a similar height, with Phillips setting me the goal of moving faster each time. The key to speeding up, I’m told, is to work out a sequence, think three or four holds ahead, and embed it in my brain. “You need to have a commitment
mentality,” Phillips says. “You can’t go into a speed climb half-heartedly.” My competitive nature kicks in as I record times of 31, 26, then 24 seconds. The pain running through my arms and the calluses on my hands are tempered by my excitement to go faster. I feel as ready as I’ll ever be to take on the timed wall again. Standing in front of it, I’m quietly confident. I’ve trusted the process and done everything Phillips has asked of me. My first climb is too cautious, but still: 19 seconds is a marked improvement on my previous 36. Unlike on day one, I’m able to find the mental strength to blunt the muscle burn that paralysed me after one attempt. On the second run, I start to develop a flow, shaving off another two seconds. On the third, I’m moving much faster, using my legs and employing smearing – I feel like I’m barely holding the wall as I scramble to the top and hit the buzzer, stopping the timer at 12.04 seconds. It’s a far cry from 4.9, but I’ve exceeded my and Phillips’s initial goal. I’m thrilled with my time, but happier still that I’ve discovered a genuinely functional way to use my fitness, rather than for box jumps and burpees alone. If you’re hesitant about signing up for a new challenge – whether it’s a marathon or mixed martial arts class – climbing has taught me that, with a bit of grit to see a process through, the sky is your limit.
15m 1:34 minutes 30 seconds Length of hold as Michael rests and maps out the route in his mind.
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP HAYNES
6m 22 seconds HR 72bpm He is composed on the first few holds at the start of this 30m climb. START HERE MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020 129
The
TRAIN LIKE A ROCK CLIMBER These are the exercises climbers do off the wall to increase their power, improve their mobility, and prevent injury. They’ll build stabilising strength for nonclimbers too.
1 CORE
The foundation of total-body tension begins with hollow-body holds, a favourite of gymnasts. Add a dynamic anaerobic move like mountain climbers to mimic the core-centric movements of climbing. Alternate between them as a HIIT Tabata. Repeat 8 times for a 4-minute routine.
Hollow-body hold
Lie on your back. Press your lower back into the ground. Extend your arms behind you. Raise your straight legs and shoulder blades a few centimetres off the ground. Hold for 20 seconds. Rest for 10 seconds.
Mountain climbers
Turn over into a pushup position, arms straight. Pull alternating knees up toward your chest and then back out again, as many times as possible for 20 seconds. Rest 10 seconds.
3 PULL POWER
When climbing, you pull yourself upward from odd angles. Hone that ability with the Frenchie pullup variation.
Frenchies
On a pullup bar or large climbing holds, pull up so your chin is at hand level; hold for 3 seconds. Lower until your elbows are at 90 degrees; hold for 3 seconds. Lower again to 120 degrees; hold for 3 seconds. That’s 1 rep. Do reps until failure. Repeat for 3 sets.
There are no perfect pullup bars in climbing, only odd grips. Holding and maneuvering on those grips demands hand and finger strength that’s best developed without weights. Instead, use a bucket of rice.
Rice-bucket drill
Kneel in front of a 20-litre bucket that’s three-quarters full of dry rice or sand. Do each move for 20 seconds. Stab your open hands in the rice and make fists. Pull your hands out.
Build the posterior chain needed for climbing. Do reps for 20 seconds, then rest for 10. Do 2 minutes per side.
Kettlebell clean + lunge
Stab your straight hands deep into the rice and spread your fingers wide. Pull them out.
Grasp a kettlebell on the ground with your right hand, knees bent and hips hinged.
Stab your fists deep and rotate them in circles, going in each direction for 20 seconds, then going back and forth.
Stand explosively and pull the kettlebell to your right shoulder.
Grab fingerfuls of rice. Grab and release handfuls of rice as quickly as possible.
130 MH.CO.ZA/ March 2020
4 EXPLOSIVE REACH
Immediately step back with your right leg, bending your right knee. Stand up, and lower the kettlebell back to the ground. That’s 1 rep.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY HANA ASANO
2
GRIP AND FOREARM
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