Men's Health Australia March 2019

Meeting your heroes is always a risky game; can they ever truly live up to the hype? In the case of this month’s cover guy, Chris Hemsworth, I’m pleased to say that all expectations are immediately surpassed. From the moment he arrives on the steamy Byron Bay set of our shoot, Hemsworth lives and breathes his personal motto: “do stuff, be nice, have fun” (p.75). “Working” with Hemsworth for the day, we could easily have been just a group of mates hanging out. And by the end, that’s essentially what it felt like, with the actor showing me home movies on his phone, swapping surfing tales and even uttering a friendly “f*ck you” after being asked to curl one too many dumbbells. And having a new mate on the cover…

There’s been a lot of news lately about the value of extremely short workouts. And while there’s interesting new research to suggest that as little as two minutes of high-intensity exercise can stimulate local changes in the metabolic function of muscle, this kind of exercise shouldn’t be confused with an alternative to regular, lengthier aerobic or anaerobic workouts. Why? Your body has both acute (short-term) and long-term responses to exercise. Acute responses are the physiological changes that happen as a result of the individual exercise. Long-term responses are a result of the body recognising the stress associated with a single bout of exercise, by gradually increasing its ability to withstand the stress associated with that stimulus. Think about training for a marathon and slowly building up endurance. You wouldn’t get…

Your confusion is understandable, RW, because even fitness fiends tend to use these terms interchangeably. But each has a distinct meaning. Time to spell these out. Q There are so many diets out there right now my head is spinning. And so many claims to primacy. How do I sniff out BS? AS Respected nutritionist David Katz offers the following as the best advice for not getting duped by a health fad: “To navigate the world of health claims, consider Bertrand Russell: ‘The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts’. Those who are not legitimate experts often speak in certainties, says Katz. “They use definite language, like ‘the way’, ‘the cure’. They use words like ‘guarantee’.…

04 WEEKS TO LOSE 4KG BY IGNITING YOUR WEIGHT-LOSS PLAN WITH THE SIMPLE act of reading this magazine, you have taken a positive first step to achieving your mental and physical goals this year. As you are no doubt aware, each month we present a broad church of progressive advice that can edge you towards success. There is no magic pill, no quick fix – or so we thought. Scientists have stumbled upon a new supplement, cissus quadrangularis, that could have a profound impact on your weight-loss endeavours, and we think it’s worth a pop. Apart from having a name that’s near-impossible to pronounce, this supplement – a member of the grape family – is notable for its use in traditional Ayurvedic culture to heal broken bones and damaged joints. And now,…

“HOW VAIN IS IT to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live?” This sharp-edged quote from 19th century philosopher Henry David Thoreau haunted modern-day adventurer Ross Edgley. Early last year, Edgley had just rewritten the book on fitness (literally, in the form of The World’s Fittest Book) and felt the pull of some unspecified challenge that would support his claim to know-how. Despite already being one of the most qualified people in the world to write a book on conditioning, his yearning for validation continued to fuel his humble heart. In the 10 years leading up to the book’s release, Edgley had used himself as the ultimate test subject. Training at altitude in the Ecuadorian mountains, fighting gnarled Russians and subjecting himself to the toughest military…

Let me propose an eminently doable remedy: try meditating for one minute on most days – for just one month. The results may surprise you. Forming healthy habits is hard, and there’s a reason most of our best intentions ultimately go up in flames. We may be wired to fail. Evolution has bequeathed us a brain that optimises for survival, not long-term health planning. Natural selection primed us for detecting threats and finding food and sexual partners, not for flossing our teeth. The fact that we are up against this evolutionary challenge is why I like this modest, month-long proposal. Two aspects make it easy to adopt. First, aiming to meditate most days, rather than every day, is a good goal. Consistency counts – the more often you meditate, the easier it…