Men's Fitness South Africa July - August 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…

Avid fitness buffs had a stunning 10–20% lower risk of getting three of the four most common cancers. Want to lessen your chances of getting the big C? Keep moving! Consistent physical exercise may be the king of the cancer killers, according to a ‘yuuuge’ new meta-analysis from the American National Cancer Institute. Researchers sifted through 12 studies on 1.4 million Americans and Europeans and found that those who worked out the most had a 10–20% reduction in three of the four most common cancers in the U.S. — lung, breast, colon and rectal cancer — along with myeloma, head and neck cancers, and bladder cancer. And, amazingly, they found that these avid exercisers had a greater than 20% reduction in oesophagal, liver, lung, kidney, stomach, and endometrial cancer, and…

Dietitians often caution against eating lots of high-energy foods, like nuts, to avoid putting on kilograms. But a one-year study presented at a recent Experimental Biology conference in the USA found that when subjects ate up to 15% of their daily calories in walnuts, it had no effect on their body weight, and even reduced their LDL (bad) cholesterol levels compared with non-nut eaters. And that wasn’t the only great walnut-centric revelation to come out of the meeting: A USDA study found that just 43 grams of walnuts a day can change your gut bacteria in a way that helps decrease inflammation and cholesterol, potentially improving heart health. Another study from the University of Georgia, USA, showed that diets high in polyunsaturated fats — like those found in walnuts —…

You’re not just texting — you’re turning off a part of your brain. It’s simple: Texting at the wheel doesn’t just distract you a little or take your eyes off the road for a few insignificant seconds. It also short-circuits the part of your brain that keeps you driving in a straight line on the road. And not even an ace car jockey like you is a match for a brain that’s gone AWOL. Researchers from the University of Houston, USA, hoping to learn why drive-texting is so deadly (see the frightening stats below), put students in high-fidelity simulators and distracted them with texting as well as complex and emotional questions. In all cases, their car handling became jittery — but only texting caused dangerous lane deviations and unsafe driving,…

Is she inquisitive and open to new experiences? If so, my man, you’re in serious luck. Bet right now you’re feeling pretty curious yourself, huh? So here’s the deal. Researchers from the Florida State University in the US asked 278 heterosexual newlywed couples to keep a sex diary of the frequency and quality of their sex during a two-week period. They also completed a personality profile measuring conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience, neuroticism, and extraversion. When analysed, the diaries showed that how frequently the couples had sex (the average was three to four times in two weeks) depended on the personality of the woman: In the couples who had sex the most often, the woman was more agreeable or open to new experiences. Interestingly, the man’s personality had no effect…

When you think it’s time to do the next set — wait longer. Lifters fall into two camps: Those who believe short rests between sets are best for pumping up muscles, and those who say longer rests boost both muscle recovery and performance. Now a study in Experimental Physiology may have settled the fight. In it, 16 untrained men did leg presses and extensions with one or five-minute rest periods between sets. Muscle biopsies were then taken post-workout, and at 4, 24, and 28 hours after. What the biopsies showed: : Lifters who rested 5 minutes between sets had 152% muscle protein synthesis compared with 76% for those who rested just 1 minute. To reap the benefits, researchers suggest rests of at least 2 to 3 minutes. (It’s OK to…