Men's Fitness South Africa September - October 2023

STRENGTH TRAINING CJ Murphy, M.F.S. Owner, Total Performance Sports, Everett, MA Jim Smith, C.P.P.S. Owner, Diesel Strength & Conditioning Zach Even-Esh Owner, Underground Strength Gym, Edison, NJ WEIGHT LOSS Bob Harper Fitness expert; trainer, NBC’s The Biggest Loser Chris Powell, C.S.C.S. Trainer; author; transformation specialist, ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss Frank G. Bottone Jr., Ph.D., R.D. Author, The Diet Denominator: Fill Your Tank for Less FINANCE Roy Cohen Career counselor; author, The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide; careercoachny.com Chris Bart, Ph.D. Business consultant; author, A Tale of Two Employees DERMATOLOGY Tina West, M.D. Board-certified dermatologist; founder of the West Institute, westskinlaser.com Annet King, Director of global education, the International Dermal Institute and Dermalogica PHYSICAL THERAPY Jay Dicharry, M.P.T., C.S.C.S. Director of biomechanics, Rebound Physical Therapy FOOD Danny Boome Celebrity chef, currently…

Few discoveries in fitness will likely ever match this for sheer excitement: The recent finding that three 20-second intervals of all-out exertion the same health benefits as 45 minutes of moderate exercise. In a 12-week study at Canada’s McMaster University, 27 sedentary men performed three weekly training sessions, one group doing three intense 20-second cycle sprints, the other, 45 minutes of moderate cycling. Yet both groups showed a 19% rise in cardio ability and better insulin sensitivity. Sounds like a brilliant way to get fit in no time flat, right? Not so fast. Though the untrained subjects did benefit from the short HIIT bursts, untrained people will always benefit from increased activity; chances are fit folks won’t see the same gains. And studies show that 20–30 minutes of HIIT helps…

Ancient peoples made the first “aspirin” using acetylsalicylic acid, an ingredient found in plants like willow trees. Over the centuries, salicylic concoctions became known as the most effective anti-inflammatories and pain relievers on earth. Now aspirin’s reputation as a wonder drug is getting another good polishing: The US Preventive Services Task Force has declared that a daily dose of the little white pill can cut the risk for heart attacks, strokes, and colon cancer for people over 50. Taking aspirin regularly also lessened the likelihood of tumours in 4000 brain cancer patients, according to a study presented at an annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. The drug is thought to block a body compound linked to inflammation and tumours. Study scientists also checked to see if other…

What do America’s top surfer Kelly Slater and NBA Orlando Magic’s player Aaron Gordon have in common? Their love for underwater workouts. Water is 800 times denser than air, so resisting it as you raise weights or do squats gives you a super-intense workout without stressing your joints. Slater runs on the ocean floor carrying rocks to boost lung power and muscle strength; Gordon became a high-leaping dunk king by carrying a huge kettlebell across the bottom of a deep pool. To start, go to mensfitness.com/underwater for some great H2O workouts and links to underwater-exercise videos from Speedo USA, then find yourself a beach or pool and some kettlebells or dumbbells and hop in. Speedo gear ■ To make underwater training more comfortable and effective for land-dwellers, Speedo has unveiled…

Yet another nail in vegetable oils’ coffin: A recent study in the British Medical Journal confirmed that not only is vegetable oil not healthier to eat than butter, it may actually be worse. Researchers focused on the cholesterol levels of more than 9500 seniors and found that those who used oils high in linoleic acid — like corn, soybean, and sunflower oil — died at an earlier age than those who stuck with butter. They also found that switching from butter to veggie oil did nothing to reduce heart disease or overall mortality. To add even more, uh, fat to the fire, a newly released 15-year study on 3000-plus adults who ate higher levels of full-fat dairy products came to the happy conclusion that full-fat dairy is even healthier than…

How many blondes does it take to change a lightbulb? Just one — and she’s smart enough to know she doesn’t have to spin the ladder or the house to do it. American Ohio State University researcher Jay Zagorsky, PhD, compared data on more than 10 000 14 to 21-year-olds who’d been included in a US Longitudinal Survey and had also taken the Armed Forces Qualification Test, which measures IQ and lists race and hair colour. What he found: Among Caucasian women (Hispanics and African-Americans were excluded from the study), blondes average IQ was the highest, at 103.2; brunettes followed at 102.7, with redheads next at 101.2, and raven-haired women at 100.5. This doesn’t mean that blonde women, with their 0.5-point lead, are actually smarter than nonblondes, says Zagorsky, just…