Friday, July 31, 2015

Unplanned Pregnancy – How To Handle It?

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So you’ve missed a period, and had been wondering about it, when this nauseating feeling also starts troubling you. Then, the urine test comes out positive.
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The Heartbreaking Moment That Changed This Cop’s Life Forever

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Brian Munoz was on a routine night shift in Clearwater, Florida when he met a young child whose words still haunt him. 

The police offer answered a call about a domestic disturbance. The case: A widowed father, who had resorted to drinking after losing his wife, was having a disagreement with his three children.

Nobody was hurt, but Munoz took the opportunity to talk to the youngest son, who was feeling “pretty blue about the whole thing.” The boy asked Munoz a devastating question: “Could you be my daddy?”

In the moment, Munoz remained stoic–police officers shouldn't show much emotion on duty, he says–and offered the boy words of encouragement and a promise to get the family the help they needed.

But when he returned to his cruiser, he broke down. 

“I cried like a little baby, as embarrassing as that may sound,” Munoz says. The boy looked identical to Munoz's own son, Anthony, “except he was depressed, dirty, motherless, and basically abandoned by his biological father.” 

From that pivotal moment, “I became much more appreciative of my family, and of the kind of father that I was being to my kids,” says Munoz, 34, a semifinalist in the 2015 Search for the Ultimate Men's Health Guy.

As a cop, SWAT team member, and volunteer coach for his son's soccer team, strives to show his kids what it takes to be a good man. Though he's actually an artist by trade, holding a degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, a stint in the military made him realize he wanted to serve and protect other people for a living. 

His career choice was sealed when he determined he could help others–and still be with his family–by becoming a local police officer. 

Two years into his tenure in Clearwater, “it seemed liked all the prior military guys and ‘tough' guys were on the SWAT team,” Munoz says. “So I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to be part of the elite.”

It turned out to be a natural fit: Munoz was nominated as the top dog in SWAT school and has been on the team for the last 8 years.

As a member of the SWAT team, staying fit isn't just a hobby–it's an essential part of his job description. 

“I prioritize fitness because I believe that my safety as an officer, the safety of my fellow officers, and public safety rely on my physical fitness,” says Munoz. “If I'm fit and I'm in shape, then I can respond appropriately when the time comes.”  

(Want to get in the best shape of your life, starting today? Try The Anarchy Workout–one guy lost 18 pounds of fat in just 6 weeks!) 

In 2012, Munoz accidentally founded a personal-training business when he helped a fellow officer work out consistently. The colleague lost 50 pounds in about 6 months, and a new venture was born. 

“I got hooked on that feeling of helping other people become the best versions of themselves,” says Munoz. “That's something everyone has to define for themselves: what their version of being better is. My intention is to facilitate them reaching their potential,” he says.

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Thursday, July 30, 2015

30 Exercises You Can Do Anywhere

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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.

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Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Reverse Aging Through Yoga – I (Yoga and Lifestyle)

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The ancient scriptures would certainly seem to suggest so. The “Vedas”, have referred to the earliest generation of humans as “sat-yug ” or the generation where people lived up to a thousand years.
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Stimulate New Muscle Growth with This Unconventional Exercise

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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.

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Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Precision Nutrition Coaching revealed. A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives.

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For over a decade, people have wondered exactly how Precision Nutrition gets such remarkable—and sustainable—results with clients. Today the step-by-step formula is revealed. Want to change your own life? Try the ideas yourself. Want to improve as a coach? Try them with your clients.

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Ever wondered what it really takes to accomplish something big?

Like the overweight person who loses hundreds of pounds of body fat.

Or the scrawny person who gains strength, along with dozens of pounds of muscle.

Or the lifetime dieter who finally achieves a healthy relationship with food. 

At Precision Nutrition, we see this kind of change every single day. Through our work with almost 100,000 clients and students, we’ve learned that seemingly impossible goals can be achieved remarkably quickly and easily… if you follow the right process. 

Read on to learn our previously top-secret formula for helping clients lose weight, build strength, and change all aspects of their lives. 

Breaking goals into skills; skills into practices

There’s a lot of emphasis on goal setting these days.

We’re taught to think about what we want to accomplish: Our goal. Then we’re supposed to make it specific, measurable, attainable, blah, blah, blah.

But what happens once we’ve done all that? When we’ve set the ultimate goal?

For most people, not much.

That’s because goals aren’t achieved through the mere act of setting good ones. And goals aren’t achieved through sheer force of will.

So if it’s not rational, thinky-brain firepower, and it’s not white-knuckled willpower, what is it?

We’ve found that goal achievement only happens—reliably—when you do two things. 

  1. First, you break down the thing you want to do (your goal) into specific aptitudes (skills).
  2. Second, you build those aptitudes (skills) through strategic daily actions (practices).

The formula pretty much looks like this: 

Practice daily to build skills.
Build skills to achieve goals. 

Do this well and you can accomplish your goals more quickly (with less effort) and maintain your results.

How we do this at Precision Nutrition 

At Precision Nutrition we are masters of this process. 

Through our personal coaching programs we use this method to help people lose weight, build strength, and develop healthier relationships with food.

And through our certification programs we use it to help health and fitness professionals become world-class supercoaches.

Here are two examples of how we do it.

Weight loss example

Goals
Let’s say it’s your goal to lose weight. You know that to lose weight you’ll need to eat better consistently. So that’s your real goal: Eat better consistently. But you don’t have all the skills to do it just yet. So you have to break it down into…

Skills
Which skills are required to eat better consistently? At PN, we’ve identified hunger and appetite awareness as the most important initial skill for making progress. But that’s not totally actionable. So you have to break it down into…

Practices
At PN we use eating slowly (practice #1) and eating until satisfied, not stuffed (practice #2) to build the hunger and appetite awareness skill. Clients eat slowly for two weeks. Then they practice eating until satisfied for two weeks.

Therefore, over the course of a month, the daily practices of eating slowly and eating until satisfied, not stuffed will build the skill of better hunger and appetite awareness. 

And that is one of the necessary skills for eating better consistently.

Professional coaching example

Goals
Let’s say it’s your goal to become a world class, in-demand supercoach. You know that to become a supercoach you’ll need to consistently deliver client results. So that’s your real goal: Consistently deliver client results. But you don’t have all the skills to do that yet. So you have to break it down into…

Skills
Which skills are required to consistently deliver client results? At PN, we’ve found that helping clients take action in their lives is an important initial skill for making progress. But that’s not totally actionable. So you break it down into…

Practices
At PN we’ve identified that clarifying a client’s values and priorities (practice #1) and translating those into action steps (practice #2) are the best ways to build the skill of helping clients take action in their lives. Students spend two weeks on practice #1. Then two weeks on practice #2.

Therefore, over the course of a month, the daily practices of clarifying a client’s values and priorities and translating those into action steps will build the skill of helping clients take action in their lives.

And that is one of the skills needed to consistently deliver client results.

These are just two examples from our personal coaching program and Level 2 professional certification program. Over the course of each program we build dozens of other skills through very specific and well-defined daily practices.

Each practice is built from our “Five S Formula”.

Precision Nutrition’s Five S Formula

When we break skills down into practices, each practice must be:

Simple

The best practices are small daily actions that can be done in the context of real life. If you ask yourself or your client, “On a scale of 0-10, how confident do you feel you could do this practice every day for the next 2 weeks?” the answer should be a 9 or 10. Anything lower and the practice is too challenging or intimidating. 

Segmental

Most goals are too big, or complicated, to try for in one go. Most skills are the same way. So you break them down into defined and organized segments. Just like when learning / teaching complex exercises, you need to chunk bigger things into their component parts.

Sequential

Breaking things down into segments is great. But you also have to practice those segments in the right order. If you do “thing 4” before “thing 1” you’re less likely to succeed. So start with thing 1, then do thing 2, then thing 3, and so on. Do the right things in the right order and success is a reliable outcome.

Strategic

Think this process sounds slow? Fact is, if your practices are strategic, the whole process goes quicker. That’s because strategic practice addresses the thing that’s in your way right now. Focus on that one thing—and only that thing—and a difficult process becomes easier and faster. 

Supported

Practices work best when they’re supported by some form of teaching, coaching, mentorship, and accountability. More on each of these in a minute.

Try the Precision Nutrition process on yourself

Want to try out the Precision Nutrition process for building skills? Use our “From Goal to Action” worksheet.

Here’s what you do:

  1. Download the worksheet.
  2. Pick a goal you’d like to achieve. Any goal works here from lose 10 pounds, to increase bench press by 30 pounds, to learn to play “Hey Joe” on the guitar. Write your goal in the top box.
  3. Brainstorm the key skills needed for that goal. Any skills are fair game. If you’re not sure, take a guess. Write those skills in the next set of boxes.
  4. Brainstorm which practices would help develop those key skills. Think about small things you can do every day to build your skill set. Write those practices in the next set of boxes.

Tip: You can always consult an expert later on to help you nail down the segments, sequence, and strategy. For now, just have some fun and see what you come up with.

worksheet-goal-to-action
From Goal to Action worksheet.

When you need support

If you’re ridiculously motivated—and relentlessly tenacious—you might be able to figure this stuff out and lone ranger your way toward your goals.

Maybe.

In our experience, though, most people need some amount of coaching and support.

And that’s okay. It’s not a sign of weakness or incompetence. In fact, it’s the way most humans do most things.

It’s how we learn to read, write, walk, and talk. It’s how we learn to do a job and improve professionally. It’s how we become better parents and partners. It’s how we grow as human beings: with coaching, support, and accountability.

The individualist hero who accomplishes big things all by themselves is a myth.

On the other hand, the following ingredients breed success: 

Encouragement during the courage phase.

The “courage phase” is the gap between committing to something and possessing the skills to accomplish it. At this moment, you’re committed, but not quite capable. Moving forward takes courage.

At times like this it’s nice to borrow courage from a coach or mentor who’s been through the process themselves. In our coaching programs we provide that kind of support when you need it via coaches, mentors, and workshop leaders.

A known cadence of accountability.

We all know accountability—regularly checking in with someone—is important. The social commitment helps us stick with what we started. 

But did you know accountability works best if it happens at regular, expected times? Whether through an app, in a group, or one-on-one, accountability should have a known cadence.

For example, our coaching check-ins happen once a month through group workshops; if you’re working with a personal coach, check-ins are more frequent.

Interesting fact: In our survey of over 10,000 people, over 80% of respondents ranked accountability as a “very important” part of getting in shape. However, nearly 80% of those folks said they didn’t have a way of keeping themselves accountable. That’s why we recommend coaching.

A respected coach.

Most people don’t  want “a coach”. They want a leader, an expert, someone they trust and respect. And most people don’t want someone in their face “coaching” them 24/7. They just want the confidence of knowing someone is there if they need it. 

That’s why we make world-class coaches available to all our clients either full time (in our personal coaching program) or a la carte (in our on-demand coaching program). 

Clients also get to work with me and Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon once a month in a group format. We lead them through activities and thought exercises that help them recognize critical progress factors, problem-solve, and obstacle-proof their success. 

Positive progress focus.

Most of the fitness industry hasn’t gotten the memo: Comparing yourself to some superhero ideal doesn’t work. It makes you feel inadequate. Like you’ll never get there. Which is why it’s important to seek out—and shine a light on—any and all positive progress. Bonus points for celebrating that progress when it happens.

In our coaching programs we relentlessly look for this sort of thing. Sometimes that means standard metrics like weight loss or calories consumed. But mostly we track unconventional things that point to the real progress a client is making.

Even if clients aren’t seeing physical results yet, if they’re showing up, good things are happening. By identifying and celebrating that stuff, the physical progress will follow.

Proactive obstacle identification.

Of course, it’s not all high-fiving and progress celebration. Sometimes real challenges come up. That’s a fact of life. Strategies are required to move past these inevitable obstacles.

What’s better than solving a problem? Avoiding that problem in the first place. That’s what great coaching can do. 

Experienced coaches can give clients get a heads up—in advance—about what they’re likely to come up against. That way clients know what problems to look out for, and they’re less likely to get derailed.

Help when you’re stuck.

Even with the best daily practices, ongoing progress tracking, accountability, and proactive obstacle identification, sometimes clients get stuck. That’s when an expert guide can help. Someone who’s “been there, done that” and knows how to navigate.

Once again, that’s why we make world-class coaches available to our clients, either full time (in our personal coaching program) or a la carte (in our on-demand coaching program).

Looking back, looking forward

Have I got you thinking about your own progress? If so, try our  “Looking Back, Looking Forward” worksheet.

Here’s what to do. 

  1. Download the worksheet and put it somewhere handy.
  2. Begin to work towards your next goal. (I recommend using the “From Goal to Action” worksheet to plan your curriculum).
  3. After a few weeks of working towards that goal pull out this new worksheet. Answer the first five “looking back” questions. They’ll help you realistically appraise your progress.
  4. Once you’re done those, answer the next four “looking ahead” questions. They’ll motivate you and help you strategize around future obstacles.
pn-looking-back-ahead-worksheet
Looking back, looking ahead worksheet.

What to do next

Of course, we can’t shoehorn the entire Precision Nutrition Coaching process into a single article. But hopefully you’ve gained some insight into how we coach, and more importantly, learned some new ideas. 

Here’s a quick summary: 

  1. Think about any goal you want to achieve.
  2. For fun, download our “From Goals to Practices” worksheet and write your goal at the top of the page in the “goal” box.
  3. Now brainstorm what skills may be needed to achieve your goal. They don’t have to be perfect—just get your brain working. Write your ideas in the “skills” boxes.
  4. Think up some practices that may help you build those skills. Again, perfection not required. Write your ideas in the “practices” boxes.
  5. Once your worksheet is complete, review the plan. Do you have the expertise to know whether it’s right for you? If so, consider the right time to get started. If not, is there someone who can help review the plan and help you revise it?
  6. When you’re confident with the plan, consider what you’ll do for support and accountability. Who will you check in with? How frequently? What can they help with?
  7. Get started. Begin with your first 2-week practice and continue your curriculum of practices from left to right on your worksheet.
  8. Download our “Looking Back, Looking Forward” worksheet.
  9. Every month or so, fill out the worksheet to celebrate how far you’ve come and plan your upcoming success. Either keep your answers to yourself or share ‘em with your coach.
  10. If you get stuck at any time, find help. Don’t try to go it alone. There’s someone out there that can help you overcome obstacles or re-route your plan.

And remember: This process works for any goal.

I’ve personally used it to eat better, lose body fat, compete in masters level track and field, learn gymnastics, become a better leader at work, and become a better partner and parent at home. 

If you give it a try, I’m confident it’ll work for you.

Want some help?

Twice per year we accept new clients in our Precision Nutrition Coaching Program, where we coach men and women to help them eat better, exercise smarter, and improve their health.

And in our Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification Program and Level 2 Certification Master Class, we work with fitness and health professionals to help them become elite supercoaches in their communities.

Since we can only work with a small percentage of the people who express interest in our programs, when we open up spots, they usually sell out within hours. That’s why, if you’re interested in working with us, it’s important to place your name on one of our presale lists.

By being on one of these lists, not only will you get the chance to register 24 hours before anyone else, you’ll also get a discount on the program.

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His Parkinson’s Hasn’t Slowed Him Down–It’s Only Made Him Run Harder

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Three days into the 2009 Marathon Des Sables–a grueling, 156-mile footrace through the Sahara Desert–Alex Flynn realized he was lost.

Separated from his group, Flynn stopped, did a full 360-degree spin, and saw barren horizons in every direction. It was a blisteringly hot day. He had a liter of water in his canteen, 30 pounds of gear on his back, severe chest pains, and a fresh diagnosis of Young-Onset Parkinson's disease. 

“I'm lost on my own in 9.75 million square miles of desert,” recalls Flynn, now 43. “It was one of the most sobering and scary things that ever happened to me. Forget the Parkinson's diagnosis. Getting lost in the desert when you've got absolutely nothing in sight, and no hope, really is a wake-up call. It was just me.”

After saying a few prayers, Flynn scanned his surroundings once more. In the distance, he spotted a Moroccan native riding a rusted, motorized scooter. “Come with me,” the man told him. Flynn ran beside his new guide and eventually reunited with his fellow marathoners.

Due to his chest pains, Flynn ultimately had to abandon the race. But this failure gave way to an idea that would change his life, and the lives of many others.

Flash back to Flynn's diagnosis in 2008. One morning, the U.K. native was working as an attorney when he picked up a coffee mug and noticed his hand tremoring. After a slew of tests spelled Parkinson's, Flynn found himself in the “blackest place I've ever been.” 

But soon enough, Flynn's anger turned to defiance. He had already been preparing for the Saharan adventure before receiving his diagnosis, so he resolved to carry on training. After the race was cut short, Flynn returned home, licked his wounds, and decided to double down.  

Not only would he continue to run long distances, he declared. He would hoof it 10 million meters while raising 1 British pound per meter in the name of Parkinson's research. 

(Want more inspiration to help you live a totally kick-ass life? Check out The Better Man Project, the brand-new book from the Editor in Chief of Men's Health.)

In the last 6 years, Flynn has logged the distance–and then some. He has run 150 miles across the Bavarian Alps; trekked from Santa Monica to New York; hiked the Amazon jungle, the Dolomites, and the Rockies; completed the Des Sables in 2010; and roped in more than $ 500,000. 

He has also managed to seriously slow the progress of his disease.

“Parkinson's is an inability to move,” Flynn says. “The more I move, the better off I am. Although [activity] slows down the rate of decline, it doesn't reverse it. But if I don't do it, and I sit down and I wait around, then I'm going to lose everything. 

“I'm not going to let this disease do that to me. I'm going to fight, every single day and every second.”

Flynn's 10-million-meter accomplishment helped him secure a place among the 10 semifinalists in the 2015 Search for the Ultimate Men's Health Guy–an achievement he feels “bloody lucky” to have earned. 

But even with half a million dollars raised for charity and many people hailing him as a symbol of strength and courage, Flynn still doesn't quite feel like such an inspirational figure. Not yet, at least.

“I know people have said I've given them hope, and that's important,” says Flynn. But I don't feel like an inspiration. I feel like anybody can do what I've done. If you they put their mind to it, they can achieve things that they never thought were possible. 

“You've got to make life the life you want it to be.”

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Monday, July 27, 2015

Exercise at the Office: Finding Time to Make Time

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New York restaurateur Shelly Fireman, who oversees Bond 45, Brooklyn Diner, Red Eye Grill and Florian says he keeps on top of things by being in the best shape possible.
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WSJ.com: What’s Your Workout

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Precision Nutrition Coaching. [Infographic] A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives.

Workout Tips

For over a decade, people have wondered exactly how Precision Nutrition gets such remarkable—and sustainable—results with clients. Today the step-by-step formula is revealed.

++

Ever seen someone change their life? Dramatic weight loss, muscle gain, or any other impressive transformation can seem like magic.

But there’s a science to it.

At Precision Nutrition, we’re pros at the process of skill development. This is our no-longer-secret formula to helping people attain their goals, and sustain those results.

Here’s how we help people eat, move, and live better.

precision-nutrition-coaching-secrets

Want to take these tips everywhere? Click here for a fully printable version of this infographic.

Want the full formula? For a complete explanation of this infographic, check out the complete article Precision Nutrition Coaching revealed: A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives.

Want some help?

Twice per year we accept new clients in our Precision Nutrition Coaching Program, where we coach men and women to help them eat better, exercise smarter, and improve their health.

And in our Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification Program and Level 2 Certification Master Class, we work with fitness and health professionals to help them become elite supercoaches in their communities.

Since we can only work with a small percentage of the people who express interest in our programs, when we open up spots, they usually sell out within hours. That’s why, if you’re interested in working with us, it’s important to place your name on one of our presale lists.

By being on one of these lists, not only will you get the chance to register 24 hours before anyone else, you’ll also get a discount on the program.

The post Precision Nutrition Coaching. [Infographic] A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives. appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

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Precision Nutrition Coaching. [Infographic] A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives.

Workout Tips

For over a decade, people have wondered exactly how Precision Nutrition gets such remarkable—and sustainable—results with clients. Today the step-by-step formula is revealed.

++

Ever seen someone change their life? Dramatic weight loss, muscle gain, or any other impressive transformation can seem like magic.

But there’s a science to it.

At Precision Nutrition, we’re pros at the process of skill development. This is our no-longer-secret formula to helping people attain their goals, and sustain those results.

Here’s how we help people eat, move, and live better.

precision-nutrition-coaching-secrets

Want to take these tips everywhere? Click here for a fully printable version of this infographic.

Want the full formula? For a complete explanation of this infographic, check out the complete article Precision Nutrition Coaching revealed: A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives.

Want some help?

Twice per year we accept new clients in our Precision Nutrition Coaching Program, where we coach men and women to help them eat better, exercise smarter, and improve their health.

And in our Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification Program and Level 2 Certification Master Class, we work with fitness and health professionals to help them become elite supercoaches in their communities.

Since we can only work with a small percentage of the people who express interest in our programs, when we open up spots, they usually sell out within hours. That’s why, if you’re interested in working with us, it’s important to place your name on one of our presale lists.

By being on one of these lists, not only will you get the chance to register 24 hours before anyone else, you’ll also get a discount on the program.

The post Precision Nutrition Coaching. [Infographic] A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives. appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

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Precision Nutrition

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Precision Nutrition Coaching. [Infographic] A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives.

Workout Tips

For over a decade, people have wondered exactly how Precision Nutrition gets such remarkable—and sustainable—results with clients. Today the step-by-step formula is revealed.

++

Ever seen someone change their life? Dramatic weight loss, muscle gain, or any other impressive transformation can seem like magic.

But there’s a science to it.

At Precision Nutrition, we’re pros at the process of skill development. This is our no-longer-secret formula to helping people attain their goals, and sustain those results.

Here’s how we help people eat, move, and live better.

precision-nutrition-coaching-secrets

Want to take these tips everywhere? Click here for a fully printable version of this infographic.

Want the full formula? For a complete explanation of this infographic, check out the complete article Precision Nutrition Coaching revealed: A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives.

Want some help?

Twice per year we accept new clients in our Precision Nutrition Coaching Program, where we coach men and women to help them eat better, exercise smarter, and improve their health.

And in our Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification Program and Level 2 Certification Master Class, we work with fitness and health professionals to help them become elite supercoaches in their communities.

Since we can only work with a small percentage of the people who express interest in our programs, when we open up spots, they usually sell out within hours. That’s why, if you’re interested in working with us, it’s important to place your name on one of our presale lists.

By being on one of these lists, not only will you get the chance to register 24 hours before anyone else, you’ll also get a discount on the program.

The post Precision Nutrition Coaching. [Infographic] A practice-based formula for helping clients change their lives. appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

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Precision Nutrition

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Liberation and Labor

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There is no Liberation without Labor”. This is one of many Yogi Bhajanisms that I share with my students. What is Labor?
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What Do EMOM, T2B, and C2 Mean? Here’s How to Speak the CrossFit Language

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CrossFit has truly created a culture all its own. And with that, its own language, too. Here's how to speak CrossFit, even if you haven't yet stepped in a box. 

AMRAP: as many repetitions as possible. Perform them within a prescribed amount of time or until failure.

Related: 8 Pushup Routines That Are Better Than ‘AMRAP'

Box: a gym where you do Crossfit workouts. It's often a warehouse or large, stripped-down space containing only the essential exercise equipment to CrossFit like free weights, benches or boxes, suspension trainers, medicine balls, climbing ropes, mats, and pullup bars. 

BP: bench press

BS: back squat

BW: bodyweight exercise or workout

C&J: clean and jerk

CLN: clean

C2: Concept2, a brand of rowing machine used at boxes. (It's also one of the 5 Best Cardio Machines on the Planet.)

DL: deadlift

EMOM: every minute on the minute. Do a prescribed number of reps or exercises at the top of every minute.

Firebreather: an extremely fit athlete

FS: front squat

The Games: an abbreviation for the CrossFit Games, an annual competition to find the fittest male and female CrossFitter.

Globo Gym: a mass-market gym like Planet Fitness, YMCA, or 24-Hour Fitness

Girls: several benchmark workouts named after females like Cindy, Fran, or Nancy. These are used to test an athlete's progress over time. 

Related: How Many Calories Does CrossFit Really Burn? 

HRPU: hand-release pushup

Heroes: benchmark workouts named after law enforcement officers, soldiers, and firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty. The workouts are a way of honoring the fallen.

KB: kettlebell

K2E: knees to elbows, a core exercise. Hang at arm's length from a pullup bar and bring your knees up to your elbows.

ME: maximal effort. Go all out for the time or reps prescribed. 

MetCon: short for metabolic conditioning, a type of short, high-intensity workout, designed to improve your cardiovascular capacity and rev your metabolism

MP: military press

MU: muscleup (This is one of the most difficult upper-body exercises. Here's How to Do a Muscleup.)

OHS: overhead squat

Paleo: a diet based on the theory that humans should eat the foods available to them in nature. It's based on Dr. Loren Cordain's book “The Paleo Diet.” 

PC: power clean

Pood (PD): unit of weight measurement for the kettlebell. One pood equals 35 pounds.

PP: push press

PR: personal record

PSN: power snatch

PU: pullup or pushup 

Related: 4 Tests Every Fit Guy Should Be Able to Pass 

Pukie: an unofficial CrossFit mascot. Pukie is a cartoon drawing of a clown throwing up after a tough workout–which is seen as a badge of honor in some CrossFit communities. 

Rx: as prescribed. Don't change any weight or reps during a workout.

SN: snatch

SQ: squat

TGU: Turkish getup, a total-body exercise. (Learn how to perform the movement with the 7 Secrets to the Turkish Getup.) 

T2B: toes to bar, a core exercise. Hang at arm's length from a pullup bar and raise your toes to touch the bar.

Uncle Rhabdo: a controversial, unofficial CrossFit mascot representing the concept of “no pain, no gain” to the extreme. The condition, rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo) can occur when the muscles work so hard that individual fibers break down, releasing proteins into the blood stream. In extreme cases, it can lead to kidney damage or even failure.

WOD: workout of the day. A box's coach may create his or her own WOD or there's an official WOD published on CrossFit.com daily.

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Sunday, July 26, 2015

Why He Quit a Lucrative Banking Career to Become a Firefighter

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When Tim Boniface was 6 years old, he took a field trip with his classmates to a fire station. He was mesmerized by the ambulances, the trucks, and the men and women who shared stories of saving lives. 

“This is what I want to do when I grow up,” he thought. The childhood dream did come true many years later, but only after a detour in finance–and the shock of September 11. 

In the late 1990s, Boniface logged time working at a bank in New York City. Each day on his walk to work, he grabbed coffee across the street from a fire station near his Brooklyn apartment.

“I would talk with the firefighters every morning,” he says. “When I came home after work, I'd chitchat with them again. They were really nice guys, and they were into fitness like me.”

In August 2001, Boniface relocated to Virginia for a job at a bank across the water from the Pentagon. One month later, he watched the destruction of 9/11 in disbelief–and thought of his friends back in Brooklyn. 

“When I heard how many firefighters died and lost their lives, it got me rethinking my whole life strategy,” says Boniface, who lost two friends in the World Trade Center attacks. “That renewed in me the desire to serve.” 

(What inspires you to live a more fulfilling life? Find tons of motivation in The Better Man Project, the brand-new book from the Editor in Chief of Men's Health.) 

So he quit his job and set his sights on Lexington, Kentucky, home to an ultra-competitive fire department with a great reputation. He even moved to the city before being hired.

In his third application and final interview with the department, Boniface won the board members over. “I said, ‘Hey, look. You all know me by now. You know my face. You know this is what I want to do. If you don't hire me this time, I'll be back the next time–and the next–until I get in.'”

The pitch worked. Now 36, Boniface is a paramedic with the Lexington Fire Department. He spends his days in Emergency Care #4 (EC4), one of 11 ambulances that respond to 85 percent of all calls. 

Earlier this year, Boniface's team responded to an emergency call concerning a baby who had been in an accident, and transported the child to a nearby pediatric trauma unit. Months later, the family showed up to the station–with healthy baby in tow–to thank Boniface and his crew. “One of the other guys who responded and I got a little emotional,” he says. “It's nice to see a good outcome.”

Boniface lives for those kinds of happy endings. “Our job finds people in the worst situations–and often, the worst day of their life–and we are there to respond and help,” he says. “That makes me feel accomplished and fulfilled. I sleep better knowing I'm helping people.”

That gives Boniface all the satisfaction he needs. Being named one of the top 10 semifinalists in the 2015 Ultimate Men's Health Guy Search is an added bonus. 

“It's an honor and a privilege,” he says. “I'm humbled. I feel like I'm getting hired by the fire department again.”

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Saturday, July 25, 2015

With Grace You Can Win Any Race

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This saying, or metaphor, which is the title for this issue’s article, is a saying coined by Yogi Bhajan, the Master of Kundalini Yoga.
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Aydian Dowling Vies to Become First Trans Person on Men’s Health Cover

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Nearly 1,000 men entered this year's Ultimate Men's Health Guy Search, all with a story of personal transformation to share.

But Aydian Dowling, one of the 10 semifinalists in the contest, has a transformation tale that's a bit unlike any other contestant's. 

The 28-year-old from Eugene, Oregon is vying to become the first transgender man to be on the cover of Men's Health–a feat that would have seemed unthinkable 25, 10, and even 2 years ago. But in 2015, Caitlyn Jenner has undergone a male-to-female transition, Amazon's trans-centric series Transparent is the reigning Golden Globes winner for best comedy, and trans actors have prominent roles in major movies and TV shows, like Laverne Cox in Orange Is the New Black.

Dowling, who won the readers' voting portion of the Ultimate Guy contest and its reserved spot in the top 10, is hoping to make a similar wave. “Having a trans person on the cover would tell people that no matter who you are, you can be the man you want to be,” he says. “It's fully possible if you put the time and effort and balance it takes to find the man in you.” (Want to know who else made the cut? Meet the Top 10 Ultimate Men's Health Guys.)

It took 21 years for Dowling to find that man. Dowling was born female, and says “there were definitely signs” that he identified as male at an early age. “I just wanted to act a certain way,” he says, “but I was told that was not how girls act.”

At 13, Dowling developed a crush on a girl, and at 16, had come out as a lesbian to friends and family. By 21, he was dressing in masculine clothes, but it wasn't until his then-girlfriend asked the pivotal question–“Have you ever wanted to be a boy?”–that Dowling gave any thought to being transgender.

“I didn't want to be trans,” says Dowling. “I was scared, and I thought being a lesbian was hard enough.” But one night, as he stared at his pink bedroom walls and the pile of men's clothes crowding his floor, he reached his tipping point.

“If you removed the color from my walls, you'd think you were in a boy's room. So that's when I broke down. I was sick of not living my life just because this is the one I was given. Becoming myself is what made me more confident.”

In October 2009, Dowling began his first dose of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and since then, has injected 0.5 cc's of testosterone in his muscles every week. The changes were radical at first–“I never knew how hairy men were!” he says–but they never struck him as odd, or foreign. “It just felt like I had finally finished growing up. I simply grew up as a female, and transitioned to a male.”

Dowling had his breasts removed in a procedure called top surgery in 2012, but hasn't yet changed his bottom–and may never.

Dowling openly addresses the anatomy question–along with hundreds of other trans topics–on his popular YouTube channel, ALionsFears. He also created the Beefheads Fitness channel “because there was no one on YouTube making fitness videos for trans people,” he says. “Most females train to build a female body, and most men train to get a more masculine body. So when you're a biological female trying to gain a masculine physique, you're going to train a little differently. I wanted to provide a space where we can encourage each other at the gym, even if we might not know what we're doing.”

Dowling's ripped body demonstrates his commitment to fitness, through which “I really learned to love myself,” he says. “I work out 5 days a week, I go on hikes with my wife, and I test myself to see how much my body can accomplish. It's usually way more than I ever thought I could.”

He also trains two trans friends in Eugene, and donates portions of the profits from his clothing company, Point 5cc, to trans men who need financial assistance for their own top surgeries. Such endeavors make Dowling a role model to many, which he finds “flattering, but crazy.”

“I feel like I have people I look up to, so to think that people look up to me makes me want to be even better,” he says.

Though he's earned adoration and accolades in the trans community, Dowling uses another metric to measure his achievements.

“My confidence is my success,” he says, and the same goes for all men. “Success is any time you have a moment of feeling happy. Success is this interview. Success is any kind of barrier you break down in your life.”

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Friday, July 24, 2015

Circuit Week 2015! Extreme Endurance

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Get ready to “feel the burn.” In today's circuit workout, you'll work your muscles as hard as possible for 45 seconds, while only resting for 15 seconds. If you're not used to training like this, it'll be tough. Extremely tough.

“Using lighter loads for longer work periods and shorter rest periods places a ton of metabolic stress on your muscles,” says B.J. Gaddour, C.S.C.S., Men's Health Fitness Director. “Your muscles will be screaming, but the payoff is huge. You'll get both a strength workout and a conditioning workout in a single routine.”

(For a full program that combines strength and conditioning training to attack your spare tire, check out The Anarchy Workout. One guy lost 18 pounds of fat in just 6 weeks.)

And since all the exercises in this circuit are unilateral–or one-sided–you'll also prevent muscle imbalances and increase total-body stability. This will help you lift greater loads and build a more symmetrical, bullet-proof body, Gaddour says.

How to do it
Grab a 15-to 20-pound dumbbell. Perform the following 5 exercises in a row: single-arm Bulgarian split squat, single-arm crab press, single-arm kneeling row, side plank lateral raise, and single-arm half-kneeling curl to press.

For each movement, perform as many reps as possible in 45 seconds, and then rest 15 seconds. You'll do a move on your left side first, rest, and then do it on your right side. Finish all 5 moves on both sides to complete one circuit. That's 10 minutes. Do 3 total circuits for a 30-minute endurance workout.

Watch Gaddour perform the workout in the video above. And then check out Circuit Week's Home Page for a new routine every day.

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Thursday, July 23, 2015

Meet the Megaformer

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Sebastien Lagree, creator of the machine, says it works muscles from many angles to strengthen using intersecting forces of gravity.
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Meditation Part IV – Prior to Meditation

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In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which is the authoritative treatise on yoga philosophy and practice, there are eight parts for realization. These are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
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The Light-Weight Suit You Need to Wear This Summer

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Seersucker may conjure up images of garden parties, but you don't have to be a croquet-playing preppy to pull off this look. It's time all guys get to don this light, breathable fabric. From an outdoor wedding to a weekend getaway, here's how to make this summer suit work for you.

Shirt: J. Crew

Suit: Bonobos

Shoes: Toms

Bowtie: The Tie Bar  

Pocket Square: The Tie Bar

Watch: Timex

Editor's tip: Look for a brogue or oxford shoe to keep the suit sleek. 

(Check out Men's Health Look of the Week and follow us @menshealthstyle for more fashion advice.)

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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Are You Standing All Wrong? Take Our Easy Test

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Stand up. Now grab your butt. Is it tight? If your glutes aren't slightly contracted, you're standing all wrong. And that could be why your squat numbers are stagnant, why your low back hurts, and why just can't seem to get into correct form on your favorite exercises, says Doug Kechijian, P.T., coach at Peak Performance in New York City, New York.

Most men stand lazily, with their shoulders slumped, their weight shifted into their right hip (all people are predisposed to favor their right side), and their feet flared out, says Kechijian. In fact, you're probably standing like this right now.

“When you frequently stand that way, your body almost gets ‘stuck' there,” Kechijian explains. “Your hips always return to that shifted position and your shoulders always slump.” It becomes your “home base.”

So when you hit the gym, you're in trouble. Your compromised stance can cause your hips and shoulders to become tight over time. And that stiffness leads to immobility, making it impossible to use correct form in many exercises.

Lift with bad form and you not only get a smaller return on each rep–which means less strength gains and less fat loss–but you also increase your risk of injury. For instance, if your hips can't move in their full range of motion, you won't be able to get into a low squat position.

To compensate, your torso must tilt forward, which causes the bulk of the weight to shift into your low back. This form adjustment might seem minor, but it can trigger serious, sidelining injuries like disc bulges. (Correct posture can help prevent back pain–and so can these 4 core exercises in The Fit Man's Back-Saving Workout.) 

The Right Way to Stand

The “ideal” way to stand is with your feet forward instead of flared out (actively try to “screw” your feet into the ground), glutes and abs slightly contracted, and shoulders externally rotated (to find this position, place your palms on your pecs), according to Kelly Starrett, P.T., creator of MobilityWOD.com and author of Becoming a Supple Leopard. Try to maintain this position for as long as possible whenever you are on your feet.

When you inevitably tire–and you will, it's hard to keep your butt and abs like that all day–don't return to your regular, old standing position, says Starrett. Instead, prop your foot on a low box or bench in front of you while keeping your shoulders externally rotated and your glutes activated, he says. The more you look like Captain Morgan, the better. Switch feet whenever you feel the need to. 

Related: 4 Daily Exercises Every Navy SEAL (and Every Fit Guy) Should Do

Another option: “Stand with your right foot slightly in front of your left. That helps you shift your weight to your left leg and into your left hip,” says Kechijian. “That will help to offset your right-side bias.” 

But don't get ‘stuck' here, either. You want to divide your time between your left and right hip. Switch sides about every 10 minutes.

In order to prevent your shoulders from rounding, readjust them every so often, too. Practice the external shoulder rotation cue: Place your palms on your pecs, without “shrugging” your shoulders. Freeze. Keeping your shoulders in this exact spot, drop your arms to your sides. This is where your shoulders should be every time you stand.

(For more simple ways to improve your body, read the Better Man Project. It's the new book from the Editor in Chief of Men's Health, and it's jam-packed with more than 2,000 tips and life hacks to help you improve your health, fitness, career, and sex life.)

The biggest point you want to remember: Never get too comfortable, say Kechijian and Starrett. You want to move often and check in on your posture whenever you stand. Work toward fostering a new “home base” so you can reach new levels of strength and muscle. And whatever you do, don't sit back down.

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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

A Fan of Pilates Adds Cardio, Music

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Melody McCloskey, chief executive of StyleSeat, a beauty and wellness booking service, gets the benefits of Pilates and yoga plus cardio from a workout blending classes and running.
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Yoga Does Not Mean Exercise (Yoga and Lifestyle)

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The word ‘Yoga’ reminds us of ‘Yogasana’ here is a very close relationship between Yoga and Yogasana. Really speaking, ‘Yogasana’ is a part of ‘Yoga’.
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How Much Fat Is Covering Your Abs? (You May Be Shocked!)

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There are, as I see it, four classic ways to be lean:

1. There's hunger-striker lean, achieved with starvation, and not recommended by any major medical organization.

2. There's heroin-addict lean, achieved most notably by Iggy Pop during the early seventies…and mysteriously retained for decades after he quit using drugs.

3. There's marathon-runner lean, which is a lot healthier than the first two but probably not what you had in mind when you clicked on this article.

4. And there's cover-model lean, which I assume everyone reading this aspires to.

That fourth look–made famous by the men who fronted Men's Health magazine in the nineties and early 2000s–is achieved with a combination of the most muscle you can maintain and the lowest body-fat percentage you can achieve. As we discussed in “How Much Muscle Can You Gain?“, the two processes are inextricably linked. You can't gain a lot of muscle without also gaining some fat, and you can't lose a lot of fat without sacrificing some muscle. 

Since we addressed muscle building in the first article, we'll talk about losing fat here.

Lean in

Let's start by examining how lean a man can naturally get, based on the best example we have: natural bodybuilders. That's the full shred, with abs that are visible from space and skin so tight you hurt your fingers trying to grab enough to pinch.

(On a quest to get lean? Try The Anarchy Workout–one guy lost 18 pounds of fat in just 6 weeks.)

Eric Helms (3dmusclejourney.com) knows what it's like to get down into that range. He's a Ph.D. candidate at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and a pro natural bodybuilder who has reached an estimated 5 percent fat at a body weight of 181 pounds. That means he carried just nine pounds of fat on his 6-foot frame.

How difficult is it to get to that point?

“At the end it's harder than boot camp,” Helms says. He means it literally: He served in the Air Force, and has compared notes with friends from other military branches.

Related: 4 Daily Exercises Every Navy SEAL (and Every Fit Guy) Should Do

We'll get to the details in a moment. First, though, we'll take a closer look at the challenge of body-fat reduction, what the leanest of the lean do to reach that impeccable condition, and what guys like us can learn from their experiences to help achieve a realistic body-fat level–one that probably won't get your picture in a supplement ad, but will definitely get you closer to that ideal than you are now.

Long road to a hard body

The average American male has an estimated 28 percent body fat. (I say “estimated” because dissection is the only way to know for sure. That's a little extreme, even for aspiring underwear models.) Even guys at “normal” weight–meaning they have a body-mass index lower than 25–are at 22.7 percent fat, on average.

A relatively strong and fit gym rat, Helms says, probably has body fat in the range of 12 to 16 percent. That guy probably can't see his abs yet–not all of them, anyway, and not all the time. But he has the consolation of knowing he's in the top 5 percent of all American men. (Seventeen percent fat is the cutoff for the 5th percentile.) To get from there to a pose-worthy physique, with low-single-digit body fat, Helms says he'd probably need to lose 20 to 40 pounds.
Even a working fitness model, someone whose living depends on his abs and is almost always the best-built guy in the room, is probably 10 to 20 pounds away from being as lean as he could possibly be.

Not all of that lost weight will be fat. In three recently published case studies of competitive natural bodybuilders, they lost a lot of muscle–between 20 and 43 percent of the total weight they dropped.

Related: 5 Bodybuilding Techniques That Have Stood the Test of Time

Helms thinks those numbers sound a little high. “I would say the normal range is between 20 and 30 percent,” he says. “If you lose 20 percent or lower, you did a good job holding onto muscle mass.” Still, there's no way to get around this fact: The leaner you get, the higher the proportion of muscle you'll lose.

The key, Helms says, is to give yourself plenty of time to reach your goal, no matter what it is. A bodybuilder starting with low-double-digit body fat needs, on average, about six months to become “totally peeled.” That's with a diet that gets progressively restrained and a workout program that becomes incrementally more time-consuming. By the end he'll be eating just nine to 12 calories per pound of body weight while lifting four to six days a week and doing some form of cardio four to seven days.

The leaner you get, the harder your body fights back, and that's when it starts to mess with your mind. (Fight back with 3 Ways to Build Extreme Mental Toughness.)

“Emotional stress levels get much higher than normal, especially at the end,” Helms says. “Libido disappears at a certain point. Lethargy hits pretty bad, and irritability and obsessiveness get out of control in most people.”

“Good enough” is actually great

That leads to this surprising advice: “The average guy simply should not try to cut to 4 to 5 percent body fat,” Helms says.

For one thing, the final result may not give you the look you wanted. Picture this: You start out as a 175-pounder with 14 percent fat. You lose 20 pounds to get down to 5 percent. Your loss includes 15 pounds of fat and just 5 pounds of lean tissue. The friends who see your shirtless selfies on Instagram will indeed marvel at your magnificent, ultralean physique.

But to the rest of the world, the people who see you every day? Unless you work as a lifeguard or a stripper, or find some other way to spend a lot of time undressed, you'll just look like a guy who lost 20 pounds for reasons that mystify most of the people you know.

For another, it's unsustainable. “Most guys who diet to sub-8 percent just end up overeating themselves back to where they started, or higher, within weeks of achieving the goal,” Helms says.

Related: 6 Guys with Ripped Abs Tell You Why It's Not Worth It

A minuscule percentage of males can maintain super-low body fat, but Helms estimates it's one in a thousand. For everyone else, it's psychologically damaging to try. “It lends itself toward disordered eating,” he says.

A more reasonable goal is to work toward your “settling point.” That, Helms says, is the lowest body-fat level you can sustain while still making progress in the weight room and without making yourself miserable. Whatever it is, it is. It's not a measure of your courage or self-discipline. And most of all, it's not a contest. One guy may be able to sustain 8 percent fat with less effort than it takes you to stay at 12 percent. That's just the luck of the draw, and very few of us are gifted with a settling point in the permanent-six-pack range.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. “I joke that when I'm single-digit body fat, if my wife walked in front of me completely naked, holding a pizza, I wouldn't notice that she was naked,” Helms says.

So that's your standard: If you spend more time thinking about pizza than sex, it's probably time to back off your diet and start enjoying life with the physique you worked so hard to build.


Lou Schuler is an award-winning journalist and the author, with Alan Aragon, of
The Lean Muscle Diet.

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Monday, July 20, 2015

Cardio Week 2015! Hop and Tap

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You might see the name of this workout and think it's a children's recess game or a new dance move. But don't let the title fool you. If you go hard and you go fast, this 4-minute workout will leave you drenched. (Want more workouts that'll make you sweat? Try The Anarchy Workout. One guy lost 18 pounds of fat in just 6 weeks.)

You'll perform the following four exercises in a row: front-to-back hops, pushup-position hand taps, side-to-side hops, and pushup-position shoulder taps. Do each movement for 20 seconds, and then rest 10 seconds before moving on to the next exercise. That's 1 round. Do 2 rounds total.

Watch the video above to see Men's Health Fitness Director BJ Gaddour perform the exercises. And don't forget to check out the other workouts from Cardio Week 2015. Come back tomorrow for a new one.

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Sunday, July 19, 2015

Meditation – Part II

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There are various types of meditation that are being marketed in the western world by various Ashrams and their disciples, who have branched out on their own.
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What Drugs to Take If You Get Sick in a Foreign Country

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If your summer vacation plans are taking you out of the country, the last thing you need to worry about is medicine.

Let's say, hypothetically, that you've decided to spend a relaxing week at a Mexican resort. Your “To Do” list is probably full enough already, with making sure your resort isn't anywhere near that erupting Colima Volcano (nothing ruins a day at the pool like lava ash raining from the sky) and telling yourself repeatedly that the odds of running into El Chapo, and him thinking you look kind of Donald Trump-y, are slim to none.

But what happens if you get there, and out of nowhere you get that familiar itchy feeling in your eyes and throat?

Or you end up in the bathroom with some powerful diarrhea?

Or after a big meal, you've got some nasty heartburn?

It's not like you can run down the block to the CVS and get the same stuff you always use. You're in another country, and that means everything–incluidng the medicine–is different.

RELATED: 9 Things You Must Keep in Your Carry-On

Relax, we've got you covered. Whether you're traveling to France or Russia, Germany or China, we've got the definitive guide to finding relief in any foreign pharmacy. Click on your vacation destination below, and find the right treatment for any unexpected malady.

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY THAILAND  
RUSSIA TURKEY GERMANY CHINA SPAIN

Mexico

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY THAILAND  
RUSSIA TURKEY GERMANY CHINA SPAIN

France

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY THAILAND  
RUSSIA TURKEY GERMANY CHINA SPAIN

Italy

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY THAILAND  
RUSSIA TURKEY GERMANY CHINA SPAIN

Thailand

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY THAILAND  
RUSSIA TURKEY GERMANY CHINA SPAIN

Russia

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY THAILAND  
RUSSIA TURKEY GERMANY CHINA SPAIN

Turkey

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY THAILAND  
RUSSIA TURKEY GERMANY CHINA SPAIN

Germany

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY THAILAND  
RUSSIA TURKEY GERMANY CHINA SPAIN

China

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY THAILAND  
RUSSIA TURKEY GERMANY CHINA SPAIN

Spain

Sources: Elizabeth Macias Barrera, M.D. (Mexico); Marie Plisson-Saune, M.D. (France); Santi Mario Spampinato, M.D. (Italy); Pokchat Chantraphen, Pharm.D., Surat Chotamphaikorn, M.S. (Thailand); Susan McGladdery, M.D. (Russia); Mehmet Melli, M.D., Caglar Efelerli (Turkey); Ben Kruskal, M.D., Ph.D., Christoph Bamberger, M.D. (Germany); Jean-Pierre Dhenin, M.D., Vivian Wang, Pharm.D. (China); Hector Gonzalez de la Cruz, M.D. (Spain)

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Saturday, July 18, 2015

Why I Stopped Masturbating For 10 Years

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I didn't set out to abstain from masturbation for 10 years, but that's what's happened.

It started because a friend told me hadn't masturbated in two and a half years, and I wanted to know how long I could last. Call it an experiment in willpower.

I stopped on Valentine's Day. My wife was working during the day and I was working at night, and there was no real time to consummate our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. I could have done what I always did when my wife wasn't around and I needed a release. But today was special. It signified something. I wanted Valentine's Day to count for something in the memory bank.

So I held off.

RELATED: Do You Masturbate Too Much?

Three days later, I still hadn't masturbated. And it was harder than I thought. But it was also powerful, too, in its discipline. I was doing something–or not doing something–that literally everybody I know felt compelled to do at least once a day, sometimes more.

I know recovering alcoholics, and former smokers. But it's rare to run into somebody who has also gotten the masturbation monkey off their backs.

So I kept going, and going, and going.

The tide started to turn for me around after about 90 days. That's when I realized I was going entire days without thinking about how I wasn't masturbating.

I started to notice benefits, like I was being more attentive to my wife. When you're not masturbating, your wife or significant other is your only chance for an orgasm. So you start to take seduction more seriously. You can't just go off to your man cave and milk yourself into oblivion.

RELATED: 6 Phrases to Get Her Into Bed Tonight

Not masturbating also helped me stay in the moment. During my heavy masturbation period–i.e. many times throughout my adult life–it didn't take much for my attention to wander. If you talked to me, I might look like I was listening, but in my head I was thinking, ‘Okay, okay, get to the point, buddy. I have a computer full of sweet JPGs and MPGs waiting for me at home, and they're not going to jerk off to themselves.'

Once I stopped whacking, that was one less thing taking me out of the moment. I could really be with people and not be distracted by the orgasms I wasn't having.

When you're not masturbating, the amount of time you save is amazing, and you get back a lot of mental real estate. It makes you more powerful. Or at least that's how I felt.

When I meet a person for the first time, it's tempting to shake their hand and say, “Hi, I haven't masturbated since February 14th, 2005. How long has it been for you? Since this morning?”

It's not like my sexuality has just disappeared. I've had about a half a dozen nocturnal emissions (or “wet dreams”) since I began this experiment, and they have always been a pleasant surprise. If your body needs that release and you're not providing it, nature has a way of taking care of it for you.

RELATED: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Your Orgasms

I know I could not have done this if I wasn't in a committed relationship. It also helps that I'm in my late 40s and don't need to be fed like a vampire daily. I can make do if I have sex once every three or four days, sometimes longer.

My friends are fascinated by it, although they don't believe me sometimes. My wife doesn't even believe me. Heck, as I'm writing this and doing the math in my head–Has it really been 10-plus years? Yep, I guess it has–even I don't believe me.

But it's all true. And I'm going to keep abstaining. Why would I start up again? So far, it's only made my life better. I'm more focused, less high-strung, more attentive to my wife, and the periodic wet dreams are more exciting and less shame-induing than they were in my youth.

Maybe you're scoffing at this. “Give up masturbating? This guy is insane.” Sure, I understand. I scoffed too when I first heard about it. Giving up masturbating seemed as stupid as vowing to never drive a car again. But it didn't take long for me to change my mind.

It's up to you. Diddling yourself is fine. Nobody knows how to please your body better than you. But you might be surprised at how much of life you're missing with all that mindless whacking. Take 21 days off and see what comes from it. I dare you.

 

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Friday, July 17, 2015

Yoga, longevity and quality of life

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The issues of longevity and quality of life as related to Yoga, seem to be important reasons why people start Yoga practices in the first instance.
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Snag a Front-Row Seat at New York Men’s Fashion Week–without Leaving Your Couch

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From the razor-sharp street style to the rush of the runway, there's nothing like the hype at New York Men's Fashion Week. But you don't need to be in Manhattan to see the newest trends for spring 2016–we're bringing the magic to you.

Take a look at John Varvatos's newest collection–without having to give up your spot on the couch. Press play to watch it live at 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 16.  

Follow us @MensHealthStyle for more style and grooming tips.

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Thursday, July 16, 2015

Should You See Your Doctor, Go to an Urgent-Care Clinic, or Head to the ER?

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Your trusty first-aid kit will only get you so far during a medical emergency. Sometimes, your symptoms warrant an immediate visit to the nearest ER, a same-day trip to your local urgent-care clinic, or an appointment with your doctor in the next few days. 

Here's how to determine your destination when these six common ailments strike.  

(For 2,000+ more tips on how to take total control of your health, check out The Better Man Project.)

1. Cut

A run-of-the-mill scrape requires little more than a clean scrub, some ointment, and a Band-Aid. But if the cut won't stay closed, you should seek medical treatment to avoid blood loss and infection. 

Head to the ER if:

It's located in sensitive areas. A deep cut on your hands, face, joints, or genitals requires immediate action because it could cause permanent damage, says Jonathan Arend, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. For example, if you have difficulty moving your fingers or experience loss of sensation in your hand due to a cut, you could have nerve damage that needs to be addressed right away. 

Go to urgent care if:

It's a bleeder. “A cut that continues to bleed beyond 20 minutes with direct pressure needs to be evaluated by a physician because it probably requires stitches,” Dr. Arend says. 

It's longer than ¾ of an inch or deeper than ¼ of an inch. You'll also need to stitch up the cut it gapes open when you push it together, says Dr. Arend.  

Wait to see your doctor if:

It looks like it has become infected. Telltale signs include redness, swelling, tenderness, or pain around the wound; yellow or greenish pus; or fever. You may need an antibiotic to get rid of the infection, says Reshma Patel, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at New York University Langone Medical Center.  

2. Headache

The majority of headaches aren't life-threatening, but there isn't much middle ground between benign and deadly kinds, Dr. Arend says. 

(If you chalk up your headache to a little too much booze, follow these 11 Ways to Ease a Nasty Hangover.) 

Head to the ER if:

It's the worst headache of your life. A brain buster this excruciating, especially if it comes on within seconds or minutes, could be due to a ruptured aneurysm in your brain, which may be fatal.

It comes with a fever or stiff neck. These are telltale signs of meningitis–inflammation that occurs around your brain and spinal cord that can cause permanent brain damage and death. However, getting treated as quickly as possible, often with an antibiotic, can reduce your risk of death to below 15 percent, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

You're weak or numb on one side of your body. You could be having a stroke. The earlier you seek treatment, the sooner doctors can stop it and preserve more of your brain tissue. And older men aren't the only guys at risk: Per the CDC rep, 34 percent of people hospitalized for stroke are under age 65. 

Go to urgent care if:

You suffered a blow to the head. You may have a concussion. Without proper treatment, it could result in long-term brain damage and may increase your risk of dementia. “As long as you didn't experience loss of consciousness, nausea, or vomiting, it's okay to get treated for a concussion at urgent care,” Dr. Patel says. “But if you have those symptoms go to the ER since you probably need a CT scan.”

Wait to see your doctor if:

Your headache persists. A headache that lasts for more than 24 hours and doesn't improve with over-the-counter pain relievers could indicate a migraine, which may require prescription medication. If you have one, you may also experience sensitivity to light, sound, and smell; nausea; eye pain; throbbing on one or both sides of your noggin; and seeing flickering lights, spots, or lines. 

3. Fever

Take your temperature. If you exceed 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit and you show some of the severe symptoms listed below, head to the ER. If your temp is as high as 103 but you don't have any of these issues, give your doc a call. 

Head to the ER if:

You experience red-flag symptoms: These include a rash, difficulty breathing, headache, neck pain, seizures, severe nausea or diarrhea, or pain in your abdomen, and are all signs of serious infections and require emergency treatment.

Related: 5 Strange Causes of Diarrhea

You recently traveled to West Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Middle East. You may have picked up an illness such as MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), yellow fever, malaria, typhoid, and others. 

You were recently hospitalized. There's a chance you may have picked up a serious bacterial infection such as MRSA or C. diff during your stay. Signs include a red, swollen, or painful bump on the skin or severe diarrhea, respectively.

Go to urgent care if:

You're also coughing and sneezing. You may have the flu. “If you get treated with Tamiflu within 72 hours of the onset of symptoms, you can short the duration of the flu by about a day,” Dr. Patel says. 

Wait to see your doctor if:

You have an immune system deficiency. Fevers can be a sign of more dangerous diseases if you have cancer or HIV, or if you take meds that suppress your immune system, like for certain types of arthritis.

Your fever persists for more than a week. “If you also experience congestion or sinus pressure, you could have a sinus infection and may require antibiotics,” Dr. Arend says. 

4. Chest Pain

Even if you're a young, healthy guy, don't shrug off chest pain. Many of the risk factors for a heart attack, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, often occur without any symptoms. 

Head to the ER if:

You have other heart attack symptoms. Dial 911 if you also experience difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, pain in your left arm, or jaw pain. 

You have risk factors for heart disease or heart attack. Get your chest pain checked immediately if you're overweight or obese, or if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or a family history of heart disease.

Go to urgent care if:

You lifted something heavy. Whether you set a new personal record or hauled around your 30-pound toddler, you may have strained a muscle in your chest wall. If you experience tenderness when you press a finger along your sternum, and don't have any other symptoms of a heart attack, it's a muscle pull. “And if the doctor at urgent care thinks it might be something more serious, they can do an EKG to find out,” Dr. Patel says.

Wait to see your doctor if:

You just ate. If you frequently experience chest pain after eating and no other signs of a heart attack are present, it could be gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Dr. Arend says. You may experience symptoms such as burning in your chest or throat, difficulty swallowing, and a bitter or sour taste in your mouth, thanks to juices from your stomach backing up into your esophagus. 

You spy a rash on one side of your body. You may have shingles, which is caused by the same virus that triggers chickenpox. The rash may wrap around your left or right side of your body from your back toward your chest. In fact, you may experience pain, tingling, or numbness in your chest days or weeks before the rash appears, as well as flu-like symptoms. 

5. Vomiting/Diarrhea

Most cases of vomiting and diarrhea are due to viruses that leave you glued to your toilet seat for 24 hours before they resolve on their own. If your illness exceeds this timeframe or comes with any of the symptoms below, be sure to seek appropriate care.

Head to the ER if:

Your vomit or stool contains red or black material. Both indicate internal bleeding, which may be due to issues like a stomach ulcer or diverticulosis that could require immediate treatment to stop the bleeding. Blood in your stool could also signal colorectal cancer, so it's crucial to get it checked out ASAP. (These are the 10 Cancer Symptoms You Shouldn't Ignore.) 

It feels like an elephant is sitting on your chest. If you vomit and feel pain or tightness in your chest, or experience any other symptoms of a heart attack, dial 911. 

Go to urgent care if:

You can't keep anything down. If you're unable to eat or drink, you risk dehydration and may need to receive IV fluids. Signs of dehydration include muscle cramps, weakness, dry mouth, dizziness, confusion, and very dark urine.

Wait to see your doctor if:

Your diarrhea lasts 7 to 10 days. It could be due to bacteria such as campylobacter or parasites like giardia, which can be treated with an antibiotic, Dr. Arend says.

6. Burn

Pain isn't actually the best indicator of how bad a burn is. That's because underlying nerve endings are more likely to die with a more severe burn, says Dr. Arend. Instead, check the size–see a doctor for any burn more than 3 inches wide. 

Head to the ER if:

Your burn is blistering and only painful with deep pressure. Chances are, it's a third-degree burn and involves more than the skin–like underlying fat–and should be treated immediately to reduce long-term and widespread damage. 

It affects sensitive areas. “Any burn that involves your face, hands, feet, or genitals are reasons to seek emergency care because scar tissue that forms as they heal can interfere with how these areas function,” Dr. Arend says. 

Go to urgent care if:

The burn is painful and blisters. You likely have a second-degree burn. Your doctor will determine whether you need antibiotics to treat an infection and may apply a dressing to keep it protected and aid healing. 

Anything that's smaller than 3 inches and doesn't blister can be treated at home. Run the area under cool running water, moisturize the skin with an aloe vera lotion or gel, and keep it covered to prevent an infection.

Wait to see your doctor if:

It's not getting better. If a superficial burn still looks pretty gnarly after a few days of treating it at home, you may need an antibiotic to address an underlying infection. “Your doctor may also give you the topical medication Silvadene, which creates more of a protective barrier than Neosporin or Bacitracin,” Dr. Patel says.  

 

 

 

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