Friday, July 31, 2015
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This Olympic Medalist and SWAT Team Member Dreams Big--and Succeeds
Adam Wheeler understood his life calling from an early age. As a boy he was strongly influenced by his uncles, who served in the military, and his grandfather, a firefighter. Following in their footsteps just felt right.
"I've always felt that I have a duty to serve my community and serve our country," says the semifinalist in the 2015 Search for the Ultimate Men's Health Guy. "It's always been a part of who I am."
But Wheeler waited a little while to earn his badge. First, he had medals to collect.
After a decorated high-school wrestling career in Southern California, Wheeler joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1999 and became a boat rescue swimmer. During his service, he was asked to join the All-Navy Wrestling Team, where he trained under Olympic coach Rob Hermann.
Wheeler set his sights on the ultimate goal: becoming a member of Team USA. At just 18 years old, however, the wrestler had to put in his time before he could rise up the ranks and catch up with his older competitors. He took his fair share of beatings and went through periods of time without winning a single match.
Years of getting pinned paid off in 2003, when Wheeler earned a scholarship to the United States Olympic Education Center. There, he worked toward a college degree while continuing to train.
Making the Olympics roster as a wrestler would be a tall task, since there can only be one competitor per country. To qualify, you have to be number one in your country and top 20 in the world. Even then, there are trials, finals, and additional matches to ensure the best athlete is selected. "They don't want to be fluked," Wheeler says.
But in 2008, Wheeler made it happen: The then-27-year-old earned the top ranking in the U.S. and a spot on that year's Olympic Greco-Wrestling Team. In Beijing, Wheeler captured the bronze medal.
"I've been very lucky and fortunate in my accomplishments and getting to travel the world," says Wheeler. But after Olympic glory, the only thing left for him to do was fulfill his first destiny.
Post-retirement, he joined the Colorado Springs Police Department as a patrol officer, and soon after, became a member of the SWAT team. As a fiercely competitive athlete, the role was a perfect fit for Wheeler.
"There's a lot of training that goes into it," he says. "I love that feeling of working to get better at a skill."
(For more than 2,000 brilliant tips to help you live a richer, more fulfilling life, check out The Better Man Project, the brand-new book from the Editor in Chief of Men's Health.)
Wheeler's job has its tragic downsides. In 2012, his training officer, mentor, and close friend was killed in the line of duty. "I see his picture hanging up every day," says Wheeler. "It can be very hard to look at. He had such a huge impact on everyone in our department."
Though he says it's tough to keep morale high in trying times, Wheeler unwinds by spending as much time with his wife and two young sons as possible. He also practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and coaches the sport during his downtime.
"I measure success on how I impact the lives of others," he says. "And I feel like impacting others is something that never ends--you just keep doing it," Wheeler says.
That kind of philosophy helped earn him a spot in the Ultimate Men's Health Guy semifinals--a distinction that ranks among his greatest life accomplishments, he says.
"When I was a kid, I used to look at the cover of men's magazines and say ‘I want to be ripped like those guys.' The fact that I'm in the same category with so many amazing men is an honor."
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Is Coconut Water More Hydrating?
How Coconut Water Compares
Coconut water is simply the naturally occurring liquid from the inside of a coconut. Nutrition-wise, pure coconut water contains about 45 calories, 11 grams of carbohydrates (9 grams from natural sugars), 70 milligrams of sodium and almost 500 milligrams of potassium per cup.
Comparatively, plain ol' bottled water has no calories, carbohydrates, sodium or potassium. The nutrient profile of sports drinks varies greatly among brands but, on average, one cup will provide 55 calories, 14 grams of carbohydrates (all in the form of added sugar), 105 milligrams of sodium and just 30 milligrams of potassium.
What the Science Says
Only a few studies have looked at the impact of coconut water on rehydration after exercise, the majority of which report little to no difference between coconut water, traditional sports drinks and water.
A 2012 study compared the effects of coconut water, coconut water from concentrate, bottled water and sports drinks on rehydration and found that the water provided similar rehydrating effects as both coconut waters (fresh and from concentrate) and the sports drink.
Another study also compared the effects of fresh coconut water, plain water and sports drinks on rehydration after exercise but found no significant differences between the three. However, the coconut water did seem to cause less nausea, fullness and no stomach upset, and it was easier to consume in larger amounts compared to both plain water and the sports drink.
A third study even looked at sodium-enriched coconut water--that is, coconut water with added sodium. Both the sports drink and sodium-enriched coconut water were found to rehydrate better than plain water and fresh coconut water, but the sodium-enriched coconut water worked just as well as the sports drink.
It's worth mentioning here that all of these were small studies with 12 or fewer participants. Take these results with a grain of salt, so to speak, at least until larger, more reliable studies are done.
Hydration Takeaway
As far as hydration goes, the evidence suggests that, when consumed in adequate quantities, plain water, coconut water and sports drinks are all comparable. This makes sense, as there is little physiological basis that sodium-containing drinks enhance water absorption as long as your diet contains an adequate amount of salt. For the majority of us who are trying to lose or maintain our weight and work out for 60 minutes or less under normal conditions (i.e., not in extreme heat and humidity), water remains the smartest, and most affordable, hydration choice.
For those exercising vigorously for more than one hour or in extremely hot conditions, sipping on coconut water or a sports drink can enhance performance and promote fluid retention during exercise. Just keep in mind that natural coconut water contains less sugar (muscle fuel) and sodium (an important hydration electrolyte) than the average sports drink, which is engineered to improve and optimize athlete performance.
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Why Strength Is a Matter of Life and Death
If you had seen me walking into my doctor's office on the morning of May 18, 2015, your first thought wouldn't have been, "That fat dad sure needs to lose some weight."
I'm 5-foot-10, and when I woke up that morning I weighed 176 pounds. By the time I got on the doctor's scale, fully clothed and fed, I was all the way up to 179. That put my body-mass index at 25.7, which is why I left the office with a pamphlet describing how to make healthy food choices and instructions to keep my BMI at or below 25.
Mark Peterson, PhD, can relate. As a professor and exercise physiologist at the University of Michigan Medical School, he works with a wide range of age groups, and knows as well as anyone which statistics really matter. "I've always hated BMI," he says. "It can't detect who's at high risk."
That's because, as noted in the article The Problem with BMI, it's just an equation. It can't tell the difference between Dwayne Johnson and Fat Elvis. But Peterson isn't worried about lean, strong athletes being misclassified as overweight or obese. (His own BMI is 27, thanks to a lifetime of lifting.) The real problem is when people with a high body-fat percentage and low muscle mass are classified as "normal" and "healthy."
"That's the worst-case scenario--people who're at high risk because they have no muscle on them," he says.
Peterson is the author of a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that shows a much better way to assess someone's risk for future health problems: handgrip strength. "Higher grip strength is a reflection of greater robustness," he says. "It's a proxy indicator for overall strength."
It's also easy to measure and relatively cheap, as medical equipment goes. The instrument he used, called a handgrip dynamometer, retails for $350. A patient squeezes it several times with each hand, and the doctor records the highest score. "It's almost foolproof," he says, and it gives you "a nearly perfect snapshot of someone's strength capacity."
Researchers have studied the link between strength, health, and longevity for decades. Grip strength was originally used to test frail, elderly people in nursing homes to see which ones were malnourished. (The stronger ones were assumed to be eating enough.) It was also a useful way to predict which patients about to undergo surgery would have the longest recovery and the most complications. Eventually researchers linked a weak grip to a higher risk of death from any cause.
More recently, studies have linked strength and health in surprising ways. One of Peterson's studies, published last year in Pediatrics, showed that the strongest sixth graders had the lowest risk for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms leading to heart disease and diabetes. And a study of Swedish army recruits from the '50s, '60s, and '70s showed that the weakest were at highest risk for premature death from any cause. The strongest were 35 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease and 20 to 30 percent less likely to commit suicide.
Related: 10 Facts You Must Know about Heart Disease
In Peterson's current study, he and his coauthors collected grip-strength data from more than 7,000 Americans from 6 to 80 years old. They then charted how strength rises and falls through that age span.
Absolute strength peaks from 25 to 35. By age 50, the average guy will be a little weaker than he was at 20. At 80, he'll have slightly less strength than he did at 14. But Peterson cautions that absolute strength doesn't matter nearly as much as strength adjusted by total body mass. "Pound-for-pound strength is a better predictor," he says. "You want to be strong for your weight." (If you're looking for a program that builds strength and burns fat, try The Anarchy Workout. One guy lost 18 pounds of fat in 6 weeks.)
By that measure, a guy's relative strength will be about the same from his teen years until his mid-40s, although it will still peak in his late 20s.
Another caveat is that the data doesn't apply to serious lifters. For them, a grip test would only measure the strength of their hand and forearm muscles. But Peterson estimates that this applies to less than 10 percent of the population.
For everyone else, handgrip strength offers a surprisingly accurate prediction of the odds for survival into old age, even if it's impossible to say whether strength itself makes people healthier, or if healthier people are simply stronger. Peterson thinks it's probably some of both. "People who're involved in exercise throughout life will tend to be stronger," he says. "They probably did something that preserved their fitness and health." (For more tips on how to live longer, check out 5 Ways to Add 22 Years to Your Life.)
People like you and me, in other words. If nothing else, routine strength testing might keep our doctors from telling us we need to lose weight until they know what we can do with the weight we already have.
Lou Schuler is an award-winning journalist and the author, with Alan Aragon, of The Lean Muscle Diet.
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Thursday, July 30, 2015
This 20-Pound Weight Workout Destroyed the CrossFit Games Competitors
The exhausted but elated men who took the top three spots at the 2015 Reebok CrossFit Games sat at the post-Games press conference, eating hard-earned Dominos pizza as they waited for the first question.
Then it came: "What did each of you think was the hardest workout of The Games?"
The podium athletes didn't take turns explaining their individual struggles. The answer was quick and unanimous: "Murph," all three competitors--Ben Smith, Mat Fraser, and Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson--said with a cringe followed by a knowing laugh.
Related: How Many Calories Does CrossFit Really Burn?
Murph only requires a 20-pound weight vest. But it's designed to throw you into the pain cave and let you suffer there for as long as you let it.
The timed workout--where you wear a 20-pound weight vest throughout--goes like this: Run one mile, then do 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 air squats, and then run another mile. The winning time was just under 39 minutes, while 10 percent of competitors failed to meet the 55-minute time cap.
It's a brutal event named after Navy SEAL Officer Michael Murphy, who was killed in action in Afghanistan and received the Medal of Honor for his heroics in Operation Red Wings (his story is told in the book and movie "Lone Survivor"). The workout was Murphy's favorite--he performed it while wearing heavy body armor while deployed, and it's since been named in his honor.
Related: 4 Exercises Every Navy SEAL (and Every Fit Guy) Should Do
"My strategy was to not go too hard in the first run," said Guðmundsson who took 1st place in Murph and 3rd place overall. "From there I just tried to keep a good pace."
Fraser, who took 2nd in Murph and 2nd place overall, said his tactic was to pace the first run and the pushups, but go all out on the squats and final run.
"I did doubles [sets of just two reps] on pushups, and then I just knew if I wanted a shot at the podium I'd have to cycle through my squats quickly," he says. "Then in the run I just tried to pick off a couple people in front of me and keep going."
Afterwards, each competitor was fried. "I think it put everyone at a deficit for the weekend," said Fraser.
Dave Castro, Games Director for CrossFit, says he was surprised the toll that Murph took on the competitors. And Daniel Petro, who has competed in the Reebok CrossFit Games, says that the impact Murph had on the athletes was apparent in their subsequent event numbers.
Related: The Anarchy Workout--One Guy Lost 18 Pounds of Pure Fat in 6 Weeks!
"For example, most of them lifted around 30 to 40 pounds under their personal best in the Snatch Speed Ladder." That's an event where competitors take turns trying to snatch--an explosive Olympic lift--as much weight as possible.
If you want to try Murph for yourself, throw on a 20-pound weight vest and do:
1-Mile Run
100 Pullups
200 Pushups
300 Air Squats
1-Mile Run
Follow the strategy of the winning CrossFit competitors: Pace yourself on the first run, and break the bodyweight exercises up into "mini sets," where you never reach muscular failure.
Related: 6 Insanely Fit Guys Tell You One Thing They Do Each Day
The workout requires a very high fitness level--don't be surprised if it takes you well over an hour.
If the workout is too hard--and it will be for most people--try it without the weight vest. Another option: Many CrossFit boxes do "Mini Murph," where they run half a mile, then do 25 pullups, 50 pushups, 75 squats, and then run a final half mile.
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Why Flip-Flops Could Be Bad for Your Feet
Flip-flops might make you feel like you're on vacation, but they're actually making your feet work overtime.
When you wear the thonged sandals, you have to slightly "clench" your toes to keep them on, says Doug Kechijian, D.P.T., doctor of physical therapy at Peak Performance in New York City. And that's not a natural position for your feet.
Related: Are Your Standing All Wrong? Take Our Test
See for yourself: Take your shoes off. Take a step, paying attention to how your midfoot and toes bend at the end as your heel leaves the floor.
Now slightly "clench" your toes, curling them down toward the pads of your feet. Take another step. It doesn't feel the same, does it? Your foot will be stiffer, and the step won't "flow" like the first step.
This constant tension alters your gait, eventually causing muscular issues in your feet and calves. That can lead to the painful condition plantar fasciitis--also called "jogger's heel"--when you run. You'll feel a sharp shooting pain in the bottom of your heels with each step. In extreme cases, flip-flops may even be the cause of other lower-body issues like knee pain.
Related: 10 Exercises That Burn More Calories Than Running
But let's face it: Flip-flops are a summertime staple. So wear them--but put a cap on the distance you travel in the sandals. It's truly the dose that makes the poison, says Kechijian.
"If you have to walk more than, say, 10 blocks, you probably want to wear regular shoes," says Kechijian. "But if you're just walking down to the beach or hanging out at a barbecue, flip-flops aren't going to cause any real problems."
Related: The Anarchy Workout--One Guy Lost 18 pounds of Pure Fat in Just 6 Weeks!
Another option is to find a sandal that stays on easily and doesn't put your foot to work like flip-flops do. "Something that completely wraps your feet in straps is a better option," says Kechijian. A good option is Birkenstock Milanos. ($90; Birkenstock.com)
Just make sure that the toe area of those sandals bends. If the zone where your toes sit is too stiff--and Kechijian says many sandals have this problem--that can also negatively impact your gait.
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See the world in your language with Google Translate
Today, we’re updating the Google Translate app again—expanding instant visual translation to 20 more languages (for a total of 27!), and making real-time voice translations a lot faster and smoother—so even more people can experience the world in their language.
We started out with seven languages—English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish—and today we're adding 20 more. You can now translate to and from English and Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian. You can also do one-way translations from English to Hindi and Thai. (Or, try snapping a pic of the text you’d like translated—we have a total of 37 languages in camera mode.)
To try out the new languages, go to the Google Translate app, set “English” along with the language you’d like to translate, and click the camera button; you'll be prompted to download a small (~2 MB) language pack for each.
Ready to see all of these languages in action?
And how exactly did we get so many new languages running on a device with no data connection? It’s all about convolutional neural networks (whew)—geek out on that over on our Research blog.
Have a natural, smoother conversation—even with a slower mobile network
In many emerging markets, slow mobile networks can make it challenging to access many online tools - so if you live in an area with unreliable mobile networks, our other update today is for you. In addition to instant visual translation, we’ve also improved our voice conversation mode (enabling real-time translation of conversations across 32 languages), so it’s even faster and more natural on slow networks.
Translate Community helps us get better every day
On top of today’s updates, we’re also continuously working to improve the quality of the translations themselves and to add new languages. A year ago this week, we launched Translate Community, a place for multilingual people from anywhere in the world to provide and correct translations. Thanks to the millions of language lovers who have already pitched in—more than 100 million words so far!—we've been updating our translations for over 90 language pairs, and plan to update many more as our community grows.
We’ve still got lots of work to do: more than half of the content on the Internet is in English, but only around 20% of the world’s population speaks English. Today’s updates knock down a few more language barriers, helping you communicate better and get the information you need.
Interview with Bing’s Duane Forrester: Looking Into the Future of Search & Tech
Interview with Bing’s Duane Forrester: Looking Into the Future of Search & Tech was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.
The podcast episode is 30 minutes filled with future-forward perspective on a lot of the search engine optimization industry’s favorite topics — from how and when wearable tech will really take off to the emergence of digital assistants like Cortana and Siri.
Read on for highlights from this exclusive interview with Duane Forrester. You don't want to miss it when he sounds off on:
- hat users really want from mobile search
- The growth of mobile-specific algorithms
- Why Google Glass actually matters
- How Duane uses technology to overcome human flaws
- Bing's approach to SEO wish lists
- Why search engines aren't as transparent as they'd like to be
The Best Swiss-Ball Butt Workout
This Is the Single Best Upper-Body Exercise for Men. Are You Doing It?
Ask me for an upper-body workout, and I'll give you one exercise: the standing single-arm overhead press.
Here's why: It works the deltoids, biceps, triceps, lats, and pecs, as well as all of the stabilizing muscles in your entire body. It even works your glutes since you can't have a weak or sagging butt when pressing a large amount of weight overhead with one arm (it just doesn't happen). And if you do the exercise alongside the squat and deadlift, you have everything you need for a basic total-body training system.
No other exercise comes close to offering that many advantages.
If you already have the overhead press in your workout, great. But I bet you don't have it programmed like this. It's called the 2-3-5 method, and I use in my book Mass Made Simple. The rep scheme follows a simple "ladder" formula that allows you to handle a lot of volume. You can follow it no matter what your goal--sports, hypertrophy, fat loss--because the training effects carry over to all of them.
Tip: A kettlebell works better than other training implements for this workout. That's because the bell's weight can shift, making the exercise harder and activating your muscles more than if you had a stable weight. (Check out The Ultimate Kettlebell Workout.)
How to do it
Left arm overhead press, 2 reps
Right arm overhead press, 2 reps
Left arm overhead press, 3 reps
Right arm overhead press, 3 reps
Left arm overhead press, 5 reps
Right arm overhead press, 5 reps
If you still have gas in the tank, do a set of 10 reps on the left and then repeat on the right. You'll complete a total of 40 reps if you manage to get through the additional sets of 10. However, it won't "feel" like 40. That's because you're constantly changing reps, and switching sides throughout.
(If you're looking for more ways to burn fat and work every muscle, check out The Anarchy Workout. One guy lost 18 pounds of fat in just 6 weeks.)
I suggest most people do the entire workout with only one weight. Let the volume be your limiting factor, not your technique under a heavy load. If you do want to go up in weight, I suggest you do this: Perform a 2-3-5 ladder on each side like outlined above. But do up to three rounds of the ladder, increasing your load each time. Skip the sets of 10 while doing this variation since your goal is to use the biggest bell or load you can in the last round.
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5 Things to Remember When You Wing Your Workout
Winging a workout? We've all done it.
Sure, you know that following a meticulously detailed workout plan is the smartest approach. But sometimes, you just want to wing it. Maybe you forgot your plan at home. Maybe you're between programs. Or maybe you just don't feel like being told what to do today. No matter the reason, there is a right way and a wrong way to wing a workout. When athletes walk into the gym without a plan, they often finds themselves wandering around aimlessly between exercises or engaging in behavior that could be risky to their health. Quite simply, many people are winging it wrong.
That's why STACK reached out to our strength and conditioning experts to put together some simple guidelines you should keep in mind whenever you wing a workout. They will allow your workout to be safe and effective, but still give you the freedom to pick and choose your own exercises. The next time you step into the gym without a plan in your hand, just remember these five easy rules.
1. Always Warm Up
This one sounds basic, but warming up can slip your mind when you're winging it. Jumping headfirst into the meat of a workout without doing some kind of warm-up sets you up for failure. For one, you won't be able to perform your best. Second, you're more likely to injure yourself.
We know warming up can be boring, but you can get an awesome warm-up in a little over five minutes. And if even that sounds too time consuming, you can perform warm-up movements that activate multiple major muscle groups simultaneously, such as Inchworms. They will help you increase your warm-up efficiency and get to the fun stuff quicker.
2. Use Indicator Sets
Since you go off the dome when you wing a workout, you probably don't have an exact number of sets and reps in mind--especially for heavy lifts like Squats, Cleans and Deadlifts.
RELATED: The Ultimate Deadlift Resource
To find the right volume when you're winging it, use "indicator sets." These are basically sets with an amount of weight you use to gauge how you're performing on a given day. Work one in after you perform a few warm-up sets, just as you start getting into heavier weights. An indicator set is one that's challenging enough for you to accurately gauge how you're feeling, but not so tough that you flat out fail if you aren't 100 percent.
Tony Gentilcore, performance coach and co-founder at Cressey Sports Performance, uses indicator sets when he's winging a workout and instructs his athletes to do the same. He says, "We all know a weight we should normally crush on a lift. For me, I know when I'm warming up to my work sets on Deadlift, I can tell how good I feel when I get to 405. If it feels fast, I give myself the green light to go full speed ahead. If it feels slow and just crappy, I'll wing it and change up my plan from there accordingly."
So how do you find your indicator set? Odds are, you already know. It's a set you can crush when you're in the zone, but struggle to complete on days when you're feeling a bit off.
Using how you feel during your indicator set as a guide, you can tweak the sets, reps and weights to se from there on out. So even though you're winging your workout, you'll be doing so in a way that's in tune with how your body feels and perform a safe amount of quality work.
3. A Pull for Every Push
When an athlete is winging it, he or she is likely to perform lots of pushing exercises--Bench Press, Shoulder Press, Leg Press, Push-Ups, etc. These are usually favorites of younger athletes, and it's only natural for them to gravitate toward them if they don't have a workout plan. But issues can arise when you don't also do pulling exercises (Rows, Pull-Ups, Deadlifts, etc.) to balance all that pushing.
STACK Velocity Sports Performance coach Aaron Bonaccorsy highly recommends performing at least one pulling exercise for every pushing exercise you include in a workout. "It's all about staying balanced," he says. "Do a push with a pull--whether it's separate sets or supersets, you need a pull for every push."
Bonaccorsy often has his athletes perform two pulling exercises for every pushing exercise, due to the fact many people are anterior dominant--meaning they more frequently use the muscles on the front side of their body than the back. This can cause postural and performance issues.
"A lot of athletes lack strength in their pulling muscles because they sit at a desk with their arms extended, they drive in a car with their hands in front of them, or they just flat out Bench Press too much," Bonaccorsy says. "So especially for upper-body, doing two pulls for every one push is often a smart idea."
4. Include a Loaded Carry
Winging a workout can lead you to focus subconsciously on the areas of your you like to work out most--usually the biceps and triceps.
RELATED: A Fast Tricep Workout for Bigger Guns!
A workout with nothing more than Curls and Tricep Push-Downs is not the best way to spend your time, so it's always good to include some movements that target multiple muscles simultaneously.
One type of exercise that fits the bill? Loaded carries. The most popular one is the Farmer's Walk, which is a great exercise to perform whenever you wing a workout. It hits multiple muscle groups while also raising your heart rate.
Kasey Esser, CSCS and certified personal trainer, thinks people often forget about loaded carries. He says, "Loaded carries often get overlooked due to their simplicity. But if you want to build muscle and strength while losing fat, pick up some heavy dumbbells and walk for a long distance or time."
Farmer's Walks activate nearly every muscle in you body. Your core, your arms, your wrists, your upper back, your lower body--they all get put to work in a Farmer's Walk. And since all these muscle groups are working hard simultaneously--and you're also in constant motion--your cardiovascular system gets a workout, too.
5. If You're Short on Time, Remember: Squat, Push, Pull, Core
If you're winging your workout but are short on time, doing exercises in a "squat, push, pull, core" circuit can create a challenging workout that doesn't take a whole lot of time. By performing a squat variation followed by a push variation followed by a pull variation followed by a core variation, you're sure to hit all of your major muscle groups. You'll also prevent yourself from taking unnecessarily long rests and getting off track. Just perform this mini-outline and repeat.
Ben Boudro, owner of Xceleration Sports, often uses this format when he wings a workout. "Squat, push, pull, core--it's a full-body approach, and it also combines exercises where you're working the agonist and antagonist muscles one after another, so you won't need much rest," Boudro says. "A lot of rest can lead to a lot of distractions, especially when you're winging it. You start checking your phone or talking and suddenly 15 minutes is gone."
By performing these types of exercises one after another in a circuit, you hit nearly every major muscle group in your body--which sure beats blasting your biceps until your arms fall off and then calling it a day.
This article originally appeared on STACK.com as "5 Things to Remember When You Wing Your Workout."
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The Secret Fitness Tracker on Your iPhone
During a recent pitch meeting, one of our editors said, "Did you know the iPhone has a pedometer that's already built into the phone? It's automatically measuring how far you walk every day!"
To which everyone replied, "Yes, we know."
But then we started asking around. And turns out, it seems that most people actually don't know about this feature.
It first appeared on the iPhone in the fall of 2014, when the Apple Health app was released. That's the one whose icon is a pink heart on a white background.
It appears that many people only glanced at the app when it first appeared. Some say they've never even opened it. But inside is a pedometer compatible with iOS8.
Related: 8 Fitness Gadgets That Are More Than Just Activity Trackers
And it's already "on," tracking your steps.
Here's how to find it, just in case: Tap on the Apple Health app, which opens your health dashboard. Click the step counter. You can look at your data based on day, week, month, or year. (Not an iPhone owner? Download Google Fit for the Android.)
Depending on your job, you may be surprised at how little you actually walk throughout the day. At least when compared to The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommendation of taking 10,000 daily steps--the equivalent of walking about 5 miles.
(If you're looking for more ways to burn fat and incinerate calories, check out The Anarchy Workout. One guy lost 18 pounds of fat in just 6 weeks.)
You probably won't be close to that to start, says Jen Caudle, D.O., assistant professor at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. Most people aren't. "Instead, just try to beat whatever you did the day before," she says.
There is one big drawback to using your phone as a pedometer: You have to carry it on your person everywhere--at least if you expect it to track your steps. (Duh.)
But then again, you're probably already doing that.
What You Can Learn about Family Values from a Marine Sniper
Sgt. Guy Higgins of the United States Marines Force Recon Unit has proudly served his country for 8 years, trekking all over remote regions of the world as a lethal, steadfast Scout Sniper.
But although he fulfilled his duty as an American during nine deployments of decorated, deeply classified military service, Higgins realized he wasn't fully committing to the other two jobs he signed up for: husband and father.
"I had spent most of my life training non-stop to prepare for the next fight," says Higgins, a semifinalist in the 2015 Search for the Ultimate Men's Health Guy. "But I was losing a piece of my family every time I did. About a year ago, I realized I needed to stop getting ready for what was next and really be a part of what was right there in front of me."
Higgins enlisted in the Marines straight out of high school. He swiftly became an expert marksman, plying his trade with the utmost accuracy on missions most Americans won't ever know a thing about.
Even today, most of his work remains secret. "The real bread and butter of being a sniper is this: Are you able to take that shot-that perfect shot-when it needs to happen? I am able to do that," says Higgins, now 27.
Nearly a decade of being a gladiator at the frontlines forged in Higgins an unshakeable mindset: "There's an enemy out there, and he is trying to kill you or your brothers." But that mentality was often at odds with the tenderness required by marriage and fatherhood.
A few years ago, Higgins lost four brothers during a grim and fatal deployment in Afghanistan. While the faces of the fallen haunted his memories, Higgins felt himself drifting away from his family.
One night while deployed, Higgins was dressing for sleep, poking a leg in his pajama pants. A tiny Hello Kitty sock tumbled out of the foot-hole. It was his daughter's.
Weeks later, Higgins learned his son was becoming a marksman in his own right, working a bow and arrow with surprising precision-but without his dad's presence or guidance.
"I was missing all the things I was presumably fighting for," Higgins says. "In the Marines, you see the problem, and you bring the solution. I was in a place where I knew my family needed a solution."
Related: 12 Signs You Need to Stop Working So Much
So a year ago, Higgins channeled his devotion from the frontlines to the homefront and became a Pre-Scout Sniper Instructor at 1st Marine Division Schools in Camp Pendleton, California.
It's a job that allows him to share his years of hard-earned expertise with the next generation of Marines, while spending more quality time with his young family.
"All my life, I've wanted to be the very best and to come out alive, mission accomplished," Higgins says. "If I'm the Ultimate Men's Health Guy, I think it's because I've come to place where I know completely that I can be a Marine and a family man. It's about being fully committed and present for both."
That Time He Accidentally Swallowed His Mother's Ashes
In October of 2006, three men decided to rob a bank.
The night before the robbery, while one guy stayed in the car, two of the men donned Scream masks and forced their way into a bank manager's home around 8pm.
They subdued the bank manager, held him at gunpoint, locked all the doors, and turned off all the lights. Their plan was to wait out the night, go to the bank early in the morning, and use his keys to rob it before anyone else arrived.
All was going according to plan, until midnight, when a key unexpectedly jostled in the lock of the front door. The robbers jumped into panic mode; one guy drew his gun, the other took position in the dark foyer.
The door opened. A man wearing dark leather flip-flops entered. The robber grabbed the man by the arm and pulled him inside. The man screamed.
He was forcibly led to the living room, slammed into a chair, and a shotgun was placed to his head.
Related: What Really Happens During a Gunfight
With this unexpected wrinkle, the robbers were unsure of what to do next. They called their accomplice, who was waiting in the car.
His orders were immediate and succinct: "Kill him. He's done."
* * *
Ten hours later, 350 miles away, I was holding a black box, and standing on the edge of a man-made lake.
For the past three months, following the death of my mother, I had--as her only child--the unenviable task of cleaning out my childhood home by myself. I still had to fulfill one final promise before I left.
I got up the nerve to open up the black box. Inside was a clear plastic bag. I held it up and stared at the grey contents--my mother's cremated remains.
Having never spread human remains before, I looked around the shore, trying to figure out the best way to do this. I didn't want to just dump the contents of the bag at the edge.
I opened the bag and reached my hand inside. They weren't ashes in the traditional sense. There were also little rocks mixed in with it, probably bones that had been pulverized in the last stage of the cremation process.
I quickly pulled my hand out of the bag, closed my eyes, and without taking into account wind direction, tossed the ash and little rocks toward the water.
The wind instantly grabbed the ash and blew it right back at me, a portion of it landing on my clothes, skin, and some of it (deep breath) . . . directly into my open mouth.
I froze. My body gave an involuntary and immediate skeeved-out shiver, and my mouth emitted a strange and sustained "uhhhh" noise.
What the hell do I do? Cremated remains are like glitter--once it's on you, good luck getting it off. I didn't want to just brazenly spit it out. You know, since it used to be a person I loved.
Not wanting to desecrate her remains any more than I already had, I put the bag on the ground, rinsed my hands in the lake, and like a kid trying to scrape away all remnants of disgusting broccoli, scoured the ash from my tongue.
Hoping that my mother wasn't watching this fiasco from some ethereal plane, I said an awkward goodbye/apology to her as I made my way back to my car. I found solace in the fact that she would have found this funny.
I got in the driver's seat and called my uncle--Andy, my mother's youngest brother, one of my favorite relatives, and the person that was hit as hard as I was by her loss.
Related: Faced with the inevitable death of his young wife to cancer, a man contemplates The Most Compelling Evidence Ever for Always Living in the Moment.
He had invited me to come stay with him and his family for a few days, and since I was about to make the 8-hour drive to his house, I wanted to let him know I was about to be on my way.
He answered on the third ring. He sounded odd.
Later that night, I arrived at Andy's home. Before I even had a chance to tell him about my day, he told me about his.
The night before, around 11pm, Uncle Andy received a phone call from the wife of his best friend, Jimmy. She was working an all-night graveyard shift at a hospital, and Jimmy had not returned any of her calls. She asked Andy to check on him, and Andy agreed.
He grabbed Jimmy's spare keys, put on a pair of dark leather flip-flops, and walked out the door.
Forty-five minutes later, he arrived at Jimmy's house. All the lights were out, but Jimmy's truck was in the garage. Andy walked around to the front door and stuck the spare key in the lock.
The next thing he knew, two men wearing Scream masks had pushed him into a chair, placed a shotgun to his head, and received an execution order by a man on the phone.
There was a tense negotiation-slash-pleading. New information emerged. What proved Andy's worth (and what kept him alive) was the coincidental fact that he also worked at the same bank. The robbers had now inadvertently stumbled across a two-birds-with-one-stone scenario.
To assure his compliance, the robbers pulled Andy's driver's license out of his wallet and read the address to the man on the phone. They told Andy that this man would do the unspeakable to his wife and children if he didn't abide by their plan.
Andy had no choice. He acquiesced and they all waited out the night.
An hour before sunrise, Andy, Jimmy and the three robbers (all still wearing their Scream masks) drove to the bank. Andy's job was to corral every bank employee that entered into a conference room; thereby sequestering them while the bank robbers did their business.
Related: What It's Like to Have a Gun Pointed at Your Head
The robbers were successful and stole $75,000 cash. They stole Jimmy's truck, drove it a couple of miles away to the waiting get-away car, and disappeared without a trace.
The police were called and arrived within three minutes, the FBI within the hour. Andy then spent rest of the day talking to law enforcement, recounting his tale of being kidnapped, held hostage, and forced to rob a bank.
I had called while he was in the midst of that, which was why he couldn't talk.
I leaned back in my chair, completely dumbfounded. Two thoughts went through my head.
1) No matter how bad you think your day was, someone else's was worse.
2.) Another beloved family member almost died.
I had spent the last three months grieving my mother, focused solely on my solitary despair, and living in my own voluntary exile. I had pretty much forgotten about the world around me. This was a wake-up call, a reminder to not be so insular and to appreciate the people I have, while I still have them . . . because you never know what, or who, is waiting around the next corner.
Without saying a word, I got up, walked over to the couch, and gave him a solid man-hug. During the embrace, the dam broke and emotions poured out of both of us.
I told him how much I sincerely appreciated him and how undeniably happy I was that he was still a part of my life. He reciprocated the sentiment.
We broke the hug, and as I wiped away my tears, I smiled.
"Now, do you want to hear about how I got some of my mother in my mouth?" I asked him.
Circuit Week 2015! The Ultimate Upper-Body Workout
No upper-body muscle will be left untrained during this circuit workout from B.J. Gaddour, C.S.C.S., Men's Health Fitness Director.
"You'll move between various pushing and pulling patterns for complete development of your arms, shoulders, chest, and back," Gaddour says. "And you'll finish with some ab work so you carve up your entire torso." (For a routine that works your entire body and torches fat all over, check out Bodyweight Cardio Burners.)
Watch Gaddour perform the workout in the video above, and see below for further directions. And then check out Circuit Week's Home Page for four other routines.
How to do it
Perform the following 5 exercises in a row: chinups, dips, dumbbell alternating rows, close-grip pushups, standing band resisted curl, and long-lever planks.
For each movement, perform as many reps as possible in 30 seconds, and then rest 15 seconds. Try to aim for 8 to 15 reps during the weighted exercises and as many reps as possible for the bodyweight exercises. Hold the plank for the full time. Finish all 6 exercises to complete one circuit. Do 3 to 5 total circuits.
So, Can You Run a Fitness Photo Shoot?
Being the fitness director of the largest men's magazine brand in the world involves a lot more than knowing reps and sets--and this episode's challenge provided a novel introduction for the three finalists in the Next Top Trainer competition, sponsored by EAS.
The three guys had to work with an attractive, petite female fitness model in a simulated photo shoot. Their task: to ensure that the photo shoot produced accurate, informative images of eight exercises. And did we mention the model was petite, attractive--and tasked with sabotaging them?
What followed was one comical, photo-bomb-tastic session. Check it out (above), along with all the episodes so far in the Next Top Trainer competition.
How to Treat a Groin Hernia
You're toweling off after your shower when your hand stops at something unexpected on your groin: a big, brand-new bulge--and not the kind you'd hope to find.
This could be a hernia, which occurs when parts of your organs or tissues protrude out through a weakness in your abdominal wall. Approximately 27 percent of guys will experience some kind of groin hernia in their lifetime.
What the hell is happening down there? Here's how to tell--and how to get rid of it.
(For more must-have medical advice and 2,476 tips to help you take total control of your health, check out The Better Man Project.)
Groin Hernia Symptoms
Sometimes groin hernias--also known as inguinal hernias--don't cause any symptoms at all. But in many cases, you'll feel a lump in the crease where your leg meets your pelvis.
Usually, the stuff pushing its way up against your skin is fat or intestines, so the bulge can feel a bit squishy. And it'll also be reducible, meaning that when you're lying down, you should be able to press the lump back into your body, says Peter L. Geller, M.D., the director of the Columbia University Hernia Center. (This sets hernias apart from more serious conditions like cancerous lymph nodes, which can pop up as lumps in the groin area, too.)
You may also feel pain or a heavy sensation in the area around the hernia, especially when you're straining, coughing, or exercising.
How Did I Get a Groin Hernia?
Hernias develop due to a weakness in muscles or fascia, a thin sheath of connective tissue. But even if you regularly work your core at the gym, you're still vulnerable.
"Being in good shape doesn't prevent someone from getting a hernia," Dr. Geller says. "There are regions of the abdominal wall--like the inguinal area--where there's no muscle. Even if people exercise and develop the rest of their abdominal wall, these areas remain weak."
(Want to get in the best shape of your life, starting today? Try The Anarchy Workout--an intense new fitness DVD from Men's Health that will help you obliterate fat in less than a month and a half!)
Despite what you may have heard, heavy lifting doesn't quite give you a hernia. "Strenuous activity may bring on a hernia, but only in people who are already predisposed to it," says Dr. Geller.
As a guy, that means you. And you can thank your anatomy for it: When you were a fetus, your testicles descended from an area in your abdominal cavity down to your scrotum. They were able to do so because a space there didn't contain any muscle to hold them back--only fascia. This left your groin area vulnerable to hernia development.
People can be born with incomplete formation of their abdominal walls, which puts them at greater risk of developing a hernia down the line. But the unavoidable process of aging likely plays a role, too.
That's because as you get older, the quality of your collagen--proteins in your body that give your connective tissue flexibility--declines. And this weakness makes it easier for a hernia to develop and push through, says Dr. Geller.
People with a family history of groin hernias, as well as those who smoke or suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), may also be at greater risk.
How to Treat a Groin Hernia
If you feel a bulge on your groin, or experience pain or any other kind of discomfort there, see your doctor. He or she will perform a physical exam, and may also order tests like CT scans or ultrasounds to nail down the diagnosis.
The treatment for hernias that cause symptoms is usually surgery, says Dr. Geller. Your doc will reinforce your abdominal wall to make it stronger, so its contents don't poke through again.
But if your hernia doesn't bother you--and you'd rather not go under the knife right away--you can take a wait-and-see approach, Dr. Geller says.
Your doc will check in with you after 6 months to a year to see if the hernia has grown larger or if you've started to feel any pain. If either of those happens, you'll likely be told to have surgery.
The Calorie-Killing Countdown Challenge
When you hear the word "cardio," what comes to mind? Maybe pounding the pavement or rides on an uncomfortable bike seat or any form of torture. But your mindset will change after this countdown challenge from Men's Health Fitness Director B.J. Gaddour, C.S.C.S., because he's about to make cardio a heck of a lot more exciting. (Lose your gut without ever stepping on the treadmill again. Here are 10 Exercises That Burn More Calories Than Running.)
The routine is simple, but super-effective. You'll grab a stopwatch, and time yourself doing only two bodyweight exercises--the blast-off pushup and the lateral lunge with hop--as a countdown. So you'll perform 20 reps of the blast-off pushup, and then immediately do 20 reps of the lateral lunge. Next you'll perform 18 reps of each. Then 16 reps. As you work your way down the ladder, you'll continue to decrease the number of reps by two until you make your way to zero.
"You're cramming a ton of work into a short amount of time with minimal rest, which increases the intensity," says Gaddour, who demos the workout in the video above. And he's not kidding. By the time you're finished, you'll have completed 110 fast-paced reps of each exercise or 220 reps total. 

A good time to shoot for is about 10 minutes, but you should write down your score and compete against yourself every week. (For more fitness tests sponsored by Degree, check out The Get Moving Challenge.)
Find yourself slowing down? Gaddour offers up regressions--removing the pushup and the hop from the exercises--so you can keep barreling forward. You can also start with a lower number, like 12 or 14, and work your way up each week to improve your fitness.
Why You May Be 12 Percent More Likely to Die This Month
It's a bad month to get sick. That's because in some hospitals, death rates spike in July. In fact, patients are between 4 and 12 percent more likely to die than they are in other months, according to a review from the University of California.
The reason: Even doctors have their first day on the job. And in teaching hospitals, all the new M.D.s start on the same day: July 1.
(Reduce your chances of needing to visit a hospital in the first place with The Better Man Project, the new book from the Editor in Chief of Men's Health. You'll find more than 2,000 small ways to improve your health every single day.)
Fresh out of medical school, the incoming class of residents--a quarter of the hospital's doctors--is brand new to treating patients. At the same time, all the other trainee docs move up a level when the new crew rolls in: The second-year residents are scrubbing in on their first surgeries; the third-year residents are taking on a new set of responsibilities; and so on.
"It's a huge jump, overnight--and you're the same person!" says study author John Q. Young, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at Hosftra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.
The rookies are closely supervised, Dr. Young says, and hospitals have safeguards in place. But still, it's inevitable that the huge turnover will affect patients.
"The team providing your care is going through a transition," Dr. Young says. "There's been a drop in experience. People are in new roles. Your care may be somewhat less organized."
That may result in fatal mistakes: A separate study from the University of California found that deadly medication errors increased by 10 percent in July. And other research has found that complication rates are higher than in other months.
Take the steps to below protect yourself. (And in the meantime, try some of these 50 Ways to Add Years to Your Life.)
Also, it bears noting that none of this is to suggest that young physicians aren't qualified or good care-givers, but rather to shed light on the research and offer advice on how you can get the best treatment possible.
Don't delay healthcare
The gamble of putting off seeing a doctor is far more dangerous than going to a teaching hospital in July, Dr. Young says. If you're sick or need a procedure, don't think twice--just go.
However, if you have an elective procedure that's not time-sensitive--an arthroscopic knee surgery, for example--you may want to consider waiting. But only if there is reason to believe that your care may be compromised. (See below for questions to ask your docs.)
Choose your hospital carefully
Say you need surgery in July, but you have time to research your hospital choices. You could avoid the "July Effect" altogether by crossing all teaching hospitals off your list. (About one in four hospitals in the U.S. is a teaching hospital, Dr. Young says--check a hospital's "About Us" page to find out if it's a training facility.)
"But there are so many other factors to consider," Dr. Young says. Where are the best surgeons? Which hospitals are in your insurance company's network? (If a facility is out of network, you could wind up paying astronomical fees. Beware of these 50 Most Expensive Hospitals in the United States.) Are residents even involved in your procedure?
Bottom line: "Factor it in, but still go for the overall best quality," he says.
Grill your doctors
This goes for any time you're getting surgery, but it can be especially helpful at a teaching hospital in July. Find out:
• Who will be in the operating room?
• Who will prep you for surgery?
• Who will actually be doing the cutting?
• Who will take care of you afterward?
• If residents are involved, how are they supervised?
If trainee docs play a central role in your procedure and they're not closely supervised, it might be worth considering going to another hospital, Dr. Young says.
Speak up for yourself
If you're ever worried that your doctor isn't taking good care of you, you always have the right to ask to speak to the attending (the senior physician on staff), Dr. Young says.
And don't forget about the nurses, says Alexandra Robbins, author of The Nurses: A Year with the Heroes behind the Hospital Curtain. They may have more experience than your resident, and they're there to answer questions and advocate for you if you suspect something is off with your care.
30 Exercises You Can Do Anywhere
The number one reason to train with just your bodyweight is ridiculously obvious: You can burn calories and work your muscles anywhere. But if your bodyweight arsenal only includes basic pushups, situps, and squats, it's time for a major upgrade.
In the video above, watch Andy Speer, C.S.C.S.--creator of The Anarchy Workout--rip out 30 equipment-free movements that you can use anywhere, any time.
When You Should Say No to Sex
Guys are expected to be horndogs, ready for sex at the drop of a bra. But that's a lot of pressure, says Men's Health Sex Professor Debby Herbenick, Ph.D.
"Sometimes men end up accepting sex because their partner wants it, but they're not that into it," she says. "Then they have difficulty with erections, and it sets them up to feel like they have ED."
So the next time her booty call feels more like a duty call, ask: Do I really want this now? And if the answer is no, be honest: Tell her you're too tired or stressed, and promise that the sex will be hotter if you two wait a night.
Follow four more smart, sexy tips from Herbenick:
Wet Her Sexual Appetite
"Men think of lube in terms of ‘need.' Instead, think ‘want.' Studies show people who use lube enjoy more sexual pleasure. Plus, women can take 15 minutes to warm up, and their vaginal walls can be dry even when aroused. I like water-based lubes like Pure Naked, or organic gels from Good Clean Love."
Related: Pick the Perfect Lube for Your Penis
Listen Her Panties Off
"Love and emotional intimacy are big predictors of orgasm. You can't make yourself fall in love, but you can make experiences more intimate. At dinner, my partner and I always ask each other about our day, and it's not just idle chitchat. It's good to vent and to know that someone loves you enough to listen."
Do Sex and Reps Together
"Need a reason to work out together? I've developed a training program that can increase arousal for two-thirds of women; it's in my book The Coregasm Workout. This type of pleasure doesn't come easily. It's only when women's bodies are fatigued--after intense cardio or sets of knee raises."
(For the smartest sex and relationship advice--and 2,476 genius tips to help you take total control of your health--pick up The Better Man Project, the brand-new book from the Editor in Chief of Men's Health.)
Compliment Her Lips
"Genital self-image is a hot research area. My studies show that women who are comfortable with their vulvas and vaginas have more orgasms and more-positive feelings toward sex. Next time you explore south of her belly button, tell her just how beautiful she is, how great she tastes, and how sexy she feels."
Stimulate New Muscle Growth with This Unconventional Exercise
There's no doubt that conventional exercises like squats, pushups, rows, and lunges work. That's why these movements should make up the majority of your workouts.
But there's a great reason you should try some unconventional exercises, too: New challenges can train your mind-muscle connection in a novel way, which can unlock neural pathways and help you stimulate new muscle growth. And this is true even if you think they're awkward looking or don't allow you to use enough weight to be useful.
Related: Why New Exercises Feel So Hard--Even Though You're Strong
One such movement: the medicine-ball side-lunge flow, says David Jack, creator of the Men's Health 60-Day Transformation--a high-intensity fitness DVD that packs 10 cutting-edge workouts.
It challenges your body in multiple ways by requiring total-body balance and coordination, strength in your legs, hips, and core, and the ability accelerate and decelerate quickly, says Jack. All of which helps make you a better athlete, and can also help you perform better in the gym.
Watch the video to learn how to perform the medicine-ball side-lunge flow.
7 Things You Need To Know before You Get a Tattoo
You expect a bit of pain while getting a tattoo. But there may be some other unexpected consequences from the ink. A study in the journal Contact Dermatitis found that 10 percent of people who got tattoos had an adverse reaction such as itching, swelling, and delayed healing. What's more, 6 percent reported a chronic reaction lasting more than 4 months.
Reactions are unpredictable, but a little knowledge can go a long way in preventing some uncomfortable--and sometimes serious--consequences. Here, 7 things to consider before you get inked.
(For 2,000 more tips on how to live your best life, check out The Better Man Project, the new book by the editor in chief of Men's Health.)
Your skin condition might mess up a tattoo
Skin disorders such as psoriasis and eczema can cause serious problems. "Patients with psoriasis are at risk of experiencing something called a Koebner phenomenon, in which you can get more psoriasis in areas where there's trauma to the skin," says study author Marie Leger, M.D., Ph.D., a dermatologist at New York University Langone Medical Center says.
Besides being uncomfortable, the development of new, scaly lesions over the tat can compromise its appearance--sometimes for the long term, she adds.
People with eczema, on the other hand, tend to have skin that's super-sensitive to things like trauma or other irritants, she says. So it's possible that getting a tat can prompt an allergic response.
Certain meds can spike your infection risk
Tattooing boosts your risk of infection, so people with a vulnerable immune system need to be especially cautious, says Dr. Leger. This means those taking certain immunosuppressive drugs, like ones used to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, or Crohn's disease.
A conversation with your doctor may also be warranted if you take blood thinners like aspirin or Plavix, since they can affect your body's ability to clot. There have also been reports of impaired healing and scarring while on the acne drug Accutane, so it may be a good idea to wait at least 6 months after you're finished the treatment to get inked, says Dr. Leger.
Related: 5 Over-the-Counter Medicines You Should Never Take Together
Your tat will be sun-sensitive
Freshly tattooed skin is extra sensitive to the sun--and that continues to some extent even after the skin has healed. UV light can react with the tattoo ink to create a painful sunburn-like reaction, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. This can happen with any color ink, but is most likely to occur if your tattoo contains yellow or red.
"Ideally, choose an area that's rarely exposed to the sun or assess how you're going to protect it with sunblock whenever you're outside," Dr. Leger says. Obviously, a tattoo on your back is harder to lather with sunscreen on your own. (Find out The Body Part Most Vulnerable to Skin Cancer.)
You also might want to rethink a particularly mole-y area: Getting a tattoo there can make it more difficult to detect changes that can signal skin cancer.
Sterilized packages are the only way to go
Have the artist open the needle package in front of you. "Nearly everything in a tattoo shop should be single-use, especially if it's something that will be touching your skin such as the needles," says Mike Martin, president of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists. Dirty needles can transmit serious infections such as hepatitis and HIV.
You'll know that a tattoo parlor is the right place for you if you feel comfortable asking lots of questions. A particularly important one: How do you clean any reusable tools?
A reputable shop should be using an autoclave sterilizer, which uses heat, steam, and pressure to wipe out any bugs, Martin says. In addition, make sure the artist wears protective gloves and changes them any time he or she touches any object besides your skin.
The tattoo process is like a medical procedure
You wouldn't show up for a root canal or mole removal drunk--and you shouldn't for your tattoo, either. "Alcohol affects healing, it can make you bleed more, and it affects your ability to sit still," Martin says.
In fact, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center found that as few as two drinks can affect your platelets' ability to clump together, which is essential for blood clotting.
"I tell my clients to make sure they get a good night's sleep, are well-hydrated, and eat something about an hour before their procedure to help them stay calm and aid the healing process," Martin says.
Shaving yourself isn't a great idea
If your tat is going on any area covered with hair, stay away from a razor beforehand.
"A lot of times people who try to do it on their own can tear up the surface of the skin, which can increase their risk of infection and other problems," Martin says.
Artists in Martin's shop often use barber clippers and an electric razor to get the job done. "The artist will have more experience removing hair than most clients do," he adds.
Related: 7 Tricks You Must Follow When Grooming Your Guy Parts
After-care is extra important
Ask for the instructions before the artist puts needle to skin. That way, you can have all of the stuff you'll need--such as antibacterial ointment and lotion--on hand ahead of time. Following the after-care instructions will help ensure your tattoo heals properly so it'll look just like you imagined it would.
For example, never pick or peel a tattoo. Doing so could affect the color. And only use water-based lotions or creams to moisturize the area, because petroleum-based products can cause the ink to fade.
How an Angry Young Man Became an Ultimate Men's Health Guy
Omari Grey doesn't quite grasp the concept of downtime.
On any given day, you'll find him teaching calculus at a charter school in Washington, D.C.; coaching youth basketball; owning and operating a fitness center in Virginia; converting his 50 acres of land to a non-profit retreat serving at-risk youth; and co-parenting his eight children, ages 18 months to 8 ½ years old.
If that sounds like a schedule befitting a certain Man of Steel, it's intentional.
"When I was a kid, I was always looking for a role model, trying to get some idea of what an ‘ultimate guy' is--and for me, it had to be Superman," says Grey, a semifinalist in the 2015 Search for the Ultimate Men's Health Guy.
"Here was this low-key, kindhearted guy just doing his job well and humbly, and taking care of business," says the 37-year-old. "And then he was also this fierce and noble warrior completely committed to helping other people."
But Grey didn't don his red cape right away. "I was a failure in life," he says. "Ego, pride, and a terrible sense of entitlement" led him to squander the many opportunities he received as a gifted teenage basketball player.
Grey was granted full rides to several Division I schools, but opted instead for mid-major Towson University, figuring coaches would quickly see his superlative skills and play him every minute of every game.
"I didn't want to watch--I wanted to play," Grey says. "I wasn't interested in becoming a better player. I was a horrible teammate, I was impossible to coach, and I was a dumb, dumb kid."
After 2 years of sketchy behavior, Grey was axed from the team. His roster slot filled and locker reassigned, he and his soon-to-be wife decided to move to the Middle East, where they didn't know anyone.
"We just knew that we had to do something quite new," says Grey. He hoped that what came next would provide lessons in self-improvement.
(For more than 2,000 brilliant tips to help you live a richer life, check out The Better Man Project.)
In Yemen and Jordan, Grey taught math at private schools and in Palestinian refugee camps, witnessing the ravages of third-world poverty. But when one of his employer's organized crime connections identified Grey's passport as a lucrative piece in a convoluted extortion plot against the American, Grey and his wife were essentially held hostage in a foreign land, until sympathetic friends facilitated their escape to Kuwait.
"Living overseas shifted my paradigm dramatically and reaffirmed my belief in family and community," says Grey. "If you think you have it hard in America--and a lot of Americans really do--then you probably have no idea how hard billions of people have it in other parts of the world."
After nearly a decade abroad, Grey and his family returned to the States and set up camp in Northern Virginia. Grey and his wife now raise their children to live self-sufficiently off the Virginia acreage he was deeded as part of reparations for his ancestors' enslavement in the 1800s.
Grey hopes to transform the property into a place for personal growth and development for underprivileged kids. He plans on offering no-cost workshops on physical fitness, mindfulness meditation, agriculture, woodworking, community engagement, and humility and compassion.
Those are the kinds of traits that transformed Grey from a teen with an attitude into an Ultimate Men's Health Guy.
"In fitness, there are often challenges and sometimes there is pain as you're growing and getting stronger, but you push through and you cross new thresholds," Grey says. "It's about constantly redefining your personal best. I want to keep getting better and I truly believe that it's in serving other people that we become our best."
How to Tell If You're Peeing Too Often
Sprinting to the bathroom is normal when you've got a bladder that's about to burst. But if you're making mad dashes multiple times a day, it could spell a more serious health problem. Are you peeing too much? Here's how to tell.
(For other answers to life's everyday problems--and for 2,000 more tips on taking total control of your health-- check out The Better Man Project, the new book by the Editor in Chief of Men's Health.)
How much is too much?
If you're peeing more than 7 times a day, something might be wrong, says Benjamin Brucker, M.D., an assistant professor of urology at NYU Langone Medical Center. (But even if you aren't quite reaching that number, anything different from your normal routine can indicate a problem, too.)
Answering nature's call 2 to 3 times a night can also be a red flag, since most people can get a regular night's rest without having to use the bathroom at all, he says.
Uh-oh. I exceed the normal pee limit. What gives?
When your bladder fills up with urine, nerve signals tell your brain you need to take a leak. But if you have an overactive bladder--like 1 in 6 Americans do--those signals fire even when you're low on urine.
And while there's not really any medical downside to frequently dashing off to the toilet, it could impact your quality of life by contributing to depression or messing with your sleep. Docs aren't sure what exactly causes an overactive bladder, but as you get older, your risk increases.
Other potential culprits include diabetes, urinary tract infections, and an enlarged prostate. The gland pushes on your urethra--the tube you pee through--and squishes it, making your bladder need to work harder to push the urine out. This extra activity inflames the nerves, sparking that panicked feeling.
What's more, the squishing of the urethra can cause a weak flow, which prevents you from emptying your bladder completely and makes frequent bathroom trips more likely.
Say you pee a lot, but your urine dribbles out especially slow. While that could point to an enlarged prostate, it also can signal something called a stricture, which is a buildup of scar tissue in your urethra. This could be due to previous surgery, an accident, or prior sexually transmitted infection (STI). The condition is painful, and can cause urinary retention--which, if left untreated, can damage your kidneys--so treatment with cystoscopy or surgery is often recommended.
All that stuff sounds serious. Could it be that I'm just drinking a lot during the day?
That could certainly be your answer, especially if you drink diuretics like caffeinated tea, coffee, or alcohol. Guzzling these beverages too late at night can have you waking to pee at night. So for a better night's sleep, try avoiding these drinks for about 4 hours before you hit the sack.
Feeling anxious or uneasy can also spark that gotta-go feeling, even if you just peed a little while ago. "Some people when they're stressed have a nervous stomach or nervous bladder," says Dr. Brucker. Focusing on something else to distract your mind from that feeling can help the urge pass. Using calming breathing techniques can be effective, too.
So when is it time to call my doctor?
If your frequent trips are starting to seriously impact your day, make the call. You should also ring up your doc if you feel pain while peeing or if you see blood in your urine.
Both of those symptoms can be signs of a bacterial infection of the urinary tract, or even something more serious, like bladder cancer.
Related: What Does Your Pee Mean?
What can I expect at my appointment?
Your primary care doctor will do a simple blood test to check for any underlying medical conditions--like diabetes--as well a urine culture, which can rule out any infections. He or she may also perform a rectal exam to feel your prostate and see if it's enlarged.
Your doc might ask you to keep a log of your dietary and bathroom habits. This can help rule out anything lifestyle-related, like drinking too much caffeine.
Before your doctor diagnoses overactive bladder, he or she may need to rule out other causes first. For instance, your doc may order an ultrasound to check for something like kidney stones. Then you may be sent to a urologist for further testing.
Treatment depends on the cause of the problem: Your doc may prescribe antibiotics to fight any bacterial infection. For overactive bladder, he or she may have you try pelvic exercises like Kegels. If that doesn't help, your doctor may prescribe meds that relax your bladder, like Vesicare, Detrol, or Ditropan.
In some cases, Botox can be used to calm your bladder and reduce the urge to go.
With successful treatment, you can improve your quality of life and reduce your non-stop toilet trips. Overactive bladder doesn't ever really go away, but you can learn to manage it and, in some cases, eventually stop your meds.
This Man Just Ran 50 Ironmans. In 50 States. In 50 Days!
James Lawrence holds the world record for most Ironman races completed in one year, at 30. It's a bonkers achievement--and he just shattered it.
Dubbed the "Iron Cowboy" thanks to his penchant for running the 26.2-mile portion of the Ironman (which also includes a 2.4-mile swim and a 112-mile bike) in a cowboy hat, Lawrence recently completed 50 Ironman races . . . in 50 states . . . in 50 days.
Technically, the 38-year-old triathlon coach and personal trainer didn't go down in history for the feat, because the 50 races were unofficial. Lawrence and his family plotted the courses.
"Logistically, we had to figure out how to physically get ready for this," he says. "And then we had to figure out how to travel between every single state to find every course," including spots in far-flung Hawaii and Alaska.
So why the heck undergo such a beastly challenge if glory wasn't the endgame? "For me, it's not about the world record," says Lawrence, who is one of the finalists for the 2015 Search for the Ultimate Men's Health Guy. "It's about impacting people's lives."
Lawrence ran to raise awareness and funds for a non-profit that combats childhood obesity. At the end of every running portion of his Ironmans, he invited supporters from around the U.S. to join him and run the final 5K of the race with him.
(Looking for a calorie-blasting physical challenge that will kick your butt--and get you in the absolute best shape of your life? Try The Anarchy Workout. One guy lost 18 pounds of pure fat in just 6 weeks!)
The marathon of mega-marathons kicked off June 6 at midnight in Kauai, Hawaii, and concluded July 25 in the native Utahan's home state. Along the way, Lawrence raised $68,000.
"It was awesome," says the man who biked 5,600 miles, ran 1,310 miles, and swam 120 miles in 50 days. "We had a lot of people that didn't think we could do it, and we just charged through and did it. You have to stay positive to survive something like that. It came down to having a fantastic team that kept me on my toes and kept things light and made it fun."