GRAB

CONFIDENCE
BY THE PACK
01.2020
“MY BODY
RIGHT NOW
IS PROBABLY
THE BEST IT’S
EVER BEEN.”
—SEBASTIAN
STAN, p. 68

92 30 DAYS OF 30/10
Enough with what you can’t
eat. The 30/10 thirty-day
FEATURES meal plan emphasizes pro-
tein and fiber and will help
68 NO CHOICE you drop weight and gain
BUT TO STAN muscle. Plus, it’s delicious.
After graduating from BY PAUL KITA
Marvel B-character to
leading hero on Disney’s 98 NEW WAYS TO
new streaming series, SEE THE DOCTOR
Sebastian Stan is poised Good primary-care physi-
to take 2020 by storm. cians are hard to find and
BY LAUREN LARSON harder to keep. These six
alternatives will save you
76 BUILD YOUR OWN time, stress, and needless
IRON PARADISE Google searching.
The smartest minds in BY JENNIFER WOLFF
fitness are reshaping
at-home exercise. 104 AMERICAN
Here’s what you need HORROR STORY
for your New Year’s In a small West Virginia
home-gym revolution. town, the estimated cancer
BY BEN COURT rate is 80 percent, doctors
are alarmed, and residents
82 TRANSFORMA- are fearing which of them
TION 2020 will get sick next. Here’s
Whether you’re Jamie how they’re fighting back.
Oliver, Timbaland, or BY AC SHILTON
just a regular guy, all life-
altering changes start On the cover: Sebastian Stan photographed
by Carter Smith exclusively for Men’s Health.
with one thing: a first Styling by Ted Stafford. Set design by Brian
step. Find yours, then Crumley/Rob Strauss Studio. Grooming
improve who you are. by Kumi Craig/the Wall Group. Production by
Kaia Marie Balcos/Kranky Produktions. T-shirt
BY THE EDITORS OF by Alex Mill; pants by Dockers; watch by
MEN’S HEALTH Tudor. This page: Tank by Todd Snyder +
Champion; necklace by Title of Work.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CARTER SMITH MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 1

 GLORIOUS
GAME-DAY GRUB
You can do so much better
than bar wings. Roast.
Sauce. Top. Eat. Smile.

LIFE
35 Curious about
“sober curious”? As
alcohol loses its health
halo, more people
are reevaluating their
drinking habits.
40 Give your game day
wings. These wings.
42 Super Bowl–worthy
supermarket salsas.
Plus: grocery guac!
44 A six-pack of the
best winter beers.
46 Upgrade your
wardrobe, save the
planet. Win-win!
50 Thinning hair?
Excess sweating? Try
these high-tech fixes.
52 Perfect the art of
special-occasion sex.
54 The one text you
should never send
after a date.
56 Ask Her Anything:
What’s the rule on
keeping a former
partner’s sex toys?

MIND
59 Special: The
election year is (finally)
upon us! Here’s how
to get through it with
MH WORLD BODY 22 Plow through
winter with this cold-
your sanity intact,
according to pundits,
congressmen,
weather running gear.
7 New year, new 13 Bite into the fitness
Food styling: Jamie Kimm. Prop styling: Megan Hedgpeth.

therapists, and a former

decade: These real
guys made changes
that transformed
their lives for good.
Follow their lead and
reinvent your next
several decades.
“snacks” trend by 24 The pros and cons campaign manager
breaking up your of pre- and probiotics. (current title: dad).
workouts into five-
minute segments. 26 Demystifying
18 6 A.M.: A Fitbit VP
“detox” ingredients. +
hits the trails before 28 Download this 112 Above Average
hitting the office. app and . . . avoid Guy: Everything Coffee
wearing glasses?
20 Kick-start 2020
with a total-body, back- 32 This playlist will
to-basics workout. power your entire day.

2 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTOPHER TESTANI

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 Richard Dorment Jack Essig
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SVP/PUBLISHING DIRECTOR MEET THE
Jamie Prokell Creative Director Chris Peel Executive Director, Hearst Men’s Group MEN’S HEALTH
EDITORIAL
Ben Court, Mike Darling Executive Editors
ADVERTISING SALES
NEW YORK (212) 649-2000
ADVISORY PANEL
Jordyn Taylor, Spencer Dukoff Deputy Editors Caryn Kesler Executive Director, Luxury Goods
Marty Munson Health Director John Wattiker Executive Director, Fashion & Retail We know a lot about health and
Paul Kita Senior Editor Doug Zimmerman Senior Grooming Director
Ebenezer Samuel Fitness Director Kim Buonassisi Advertising Sales Director fitness, but we don’t know as
Brett Williams Associate Fitness Editor Joe Pennacchio Eastern Automotive Sales Director much as the doctors, scientists,
Melissa Matthews Health and Nutrition Writer John Cipolla Integrated Account Director
Evan Romano Associate Editor Brad Gettelfinger Sales Manager, Hearst Direct Media
and trainers who keep us honest
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Samantha Irwin General Manager, Hearst Men’s Group EMERGENCY MEDICINE:
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Zoe Fritz, Toni Starrs, Jake Heffez, Annie Merrill, Sandeep Dhindsa, M.D.
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Alisa Cohen Barney Senior Copy Editor Lauren Doyle Associate Director, Public Relations GASTROENTEROLOGY:
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MARKETING SERVICES
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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Michael B. Sarpy Art Director Thomas Joiner, Ph.D.
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VIDEO NUTRITION:
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Angela Kim Executive Director, PAIN MEDICINE:
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SLEEP MEDICINE:
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4 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

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 WORLD
BEHIN D THE
SCEN ES W ITH
THE EX PERTS,
A DV ISORS,
A N D R E A DERS
W HO BR ING
MEN’S HEA LTH
TO LIFE.

Keto—lost 100 pounds, and I got married at 63!

finally working in law enforce- Jay Dzik (@blindeye3.0)
ment, fulfilling a lifelong dream.
Tom Costigan, Washington I quit my desk
job and opened
up a gym! 1) Deciding not to care what
Andy Fernandez other people think about
I came out of (@andyplankd) me. Freedom at its finest!
I gave up alcohol, and the closet at 27.
2) Getting back on the mat
learned
arned to be a better person Zach Bruno,
New York at the age of 43 (after quite a
physically, mentally, emo-
few years away)! I’m training
tionally and a better human
6 times a week for a kickbox-
being to my peers.
ing tournament in March.
Andy Rodriguez, Texas
Anybody who tells you you
are too old, well, just don’t
listen to them!
Chris Dinsdale
(@chris.dinsdale.7)
Cleared myself ofo all
pharmaceuticals my
doctors had me on. I stopped
Quit drinking, smoking smoking and
completed a
and lost 127 lbs. full Ironman.
Jason Talbot, New Brunswick Troy Mamangun,
California

No big ones, really. Every-

tting clean
Getting thing was small and incre-
and sober. Having kids.
Stopped my
mental. But the highlights
are: 1. Moving out of home.
Everything carefree lifestyle There’s a reason “Lose 2. Coming out of the closet.
else followed. dead. Made me weight” doesn’t often work 3. Quitting drugs and tox-
Gary Saylor, Ohio grow up, and icity in general. 4. Learning
understand that as a New Year’s resolution. meditation and pursuing
I couldn’t be It’s vague, and that can personal development. 5.
selfish and just make it unattainable. This Learning yoga. 6. Getting
run away from out of debt. 7. Riding a bike
my problems year, take inspiration to work every day. 8. Buying
Making my anymore. from men who kick-started a house. 9. Getting married.
mental health Chris Johnstone
(@chris.
their own transformation Howie Grace, Australia
a priority. johnstone.7311) with a specific goal. Here’s
Jacob Christensen,
Minnesota what some of our followers
said was the greatest Survived cancer by
change of their lives. changing my lifestyle.
Manuel Lozano, Alberta
Getting help. I was near to
Saying ‘No, sorry, killing myself, and then I
found the strength to get
I can’t do that for help. As it turns out, I have
you!’ and sighing bipolar disorder and I didn’t
My underwear.
a sigh of relief! even know. There was a rea- And I hope to do it
Yasmin Bashir Ghani
son for how I was feeling. It’s
still trial and error with the
again one day.
(@yasmin6xlove) Brandon Soyka (@squir1y)
drugs, but I’m hopeful.
Matthew Quinn
(@matthew.quinn.927)

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 7

 WORLD ASK THE EDITORS

ASK
MEN’S HEALTH
Q. What does
“plant-based diet”
mean, anyway?
And should I be
on one?
—EDDIE, Sioux City, IA

A. you
Rich and the Winter
Soldier himself are both Depends who
gearing up for a big 2020. ask! Some
use it interchangeably
with “vegan diet”—
Have a question for Rich? Tweet us at
Q+A WITH THE E.I.C.
+

WHAT’S YOUR
plants only, no animal
@MensHealthMag with the hashtag
products. Others
#AskMHRich and ask away.
mean “plant-forward
diet,” which includes
been working out for a long time, mostly at some meat. “Plant-
view on Pilates gyms. And at gyms, most of the time, there are
barbells, and there are treadmills, and there’s
based” is a pretty mild
term. However, it’s
for men over 40?
—@brianmasefield
maybe something new to play with—look,
it’s a power plate!—but most gyms are pretty
being weaponized
in the diet wars, with
much . . . just gyms, where the potential for some trying to frame
I LOVE A simple question that really only revelation can be limited. plant-based diets as
requires a thumbs-up emoji yet still lets me And that, to me, is what this issue and, anti-meat diets. You
don’t need to eat meat
riff on stuff I’ve been thinking about lately. hopefully, this coming year are all about: dis-
to be healthy, strong, or
covery. Whether it’s boxing (see Timbaland’s
fit. But you also don’t
Re: Pilates post-40, I am . When you know uppercut-fueled physical transformation need to give up meat.
what you’re doing—or, more likely, working on page 82) or one of the wellness crazes that Want to improve your
with a pro who can help you master a re- Sebastian Stan gives a go (page 68), the idea of diet? Begin by eating
former—Pilates can be astoundingly effective trying something new is often the first step to more whole, minimally
at strengthening your core and counteract- a healthier, stronger, happier life. processed foods.
ing all of the weird stability, flexibility, and Before you do anything for the first time, Focus on getting more
balance issues that pile up with birthdays. I you’ve gotta do your research—talk to a doctor, protein and vegetables.
remember going to my first Pilates class a few if you can find one (and we can help with that on
—BRIAN ST. PIERRE, R.D., C.S.C.S,
years ago with one of my sisters—it was the page 98), or talk to a trainer—and if you get the DIRECTOR OF PERFORMANCE NUTRITION
morning after Thanksgiving, I felt lousy, and, green light, give it a shot. Maybe you’ll love it. AT PRECISION NUTRITION

like, how hard could it be? And . . . well, I’ll let
my Instagram caption from that day speak for
it: “Nothing like trying to take a selfie with an
EXTREMELY ENGAGED CORE and having
your hand shake after an hour of spider lunges
and mega donkeys.”
In short: Pilates is great. But what’s even
better, especially for anyone who’s getting a
little older (which would be, uh, all of us), is
trying something new. Like most of you, I’ve
Maybe you won’t. But every new thing has the
potential to become your new favorite thing,
For more on eating
and I am wishing you all a transformative year
well in the new year,
of favorite new things.
check out page 92.
LIKE WHAT YOU SEE?
Men’s Health looks even better
on your front steps. Subscribe
Richard Dorment, Editor-in-Chief
Carter Smith (Dorment and Stan)

at subscribe.menshealth.com.

WHERE TO Follow, tweet, comment, like, respond, and

FIND US tag us. You could be featured in MHWorld.
We’re on all your Instagram & Twitter YouTube & Pinterest Facebook On the web And send us your feedback at MHletters@hearst
favorite platforms. @menshealthmag /menshealthmag /menshealth menshealth.com .com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

8 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

 A walnut pesto that teaches you
how to warm a room
with an ice cube tray

Find out how to make a walnut pesto you’ll

want to enjoy week after week, how an ice
tray can make that simple, plus hundreds
of other recipes made with heart-healthy*
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*California walnuts are certified by the American Heart Association.® Heart-Check food certification does not apply to recipes
unless expressly stated. See heartcheckmark.org/guidelines. Supportive but not conclusive research shows that eating 1.5
ounces of walnuts per day, as part of a low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet and not resulting in increased caloric intake,
may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. (FDA) One ounce of walnuts provides 18g of total fat, 2.5g of monounsaturated So Simple. So Good.®
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 WORLD FUN WITH POLLING

Meanwhile, THIS MONTH IN

THINGS YOU’RE
on Instagram EXCITED ABOUT
This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown ’Grammed his appearance WHICH ACTION FRANCHISE’S RETURN ARE
on our November cover. Celebrity hazing ensued. YOU MORE PSYCHED FOR?
Bad Boys for Life (the Bad Boys franchise) vs.
The King’s Man (the Kingsman franchise)
Based on 573 Twitter responses to @MensHealthMag.

62% 38%
Bad Kingsman
Boys

Mandy Moore,
@mandymooremm WHAT’S YOUR DAY-AFTER-THE-SUPER-BOWL PLAN?
(This Is Us costar) Take the day off work vs. Fight through the guacamole hangover
Dang, SKB. Catherine Bell,
Based on 264 Twitter responses to @MensHealthMag.
@therealcatherinebell
(Army Wives costar)
Oh @sterlingkbrown
I remember the day 35% 65%
on set you let me Day off Fight
fondle that 12 pack!
damnnnnn!!! Congrats
my friend!! So well
deserved!!!!
sterlingkbrown
Honored to be on the cover of
healthmag. Like I told Andrew, when it STAR TREK: PICARD PREMIERES JANUARY 23.
comes to acting, I want to inspire, make the Will Star Trek ever be cool?
world a better place and help people better Based on 559 Twitter responses to @MensHealthMag.
themselves . . . and hopefully I can do that all
the way to 100! Full story in bio . . . now back
to my pull-ups. 12%
#ThisIsUs #Waves #Frozen2 I could get
into this one

Chrissy Metz,
@chrissymetz
(This Is Us costar)
Okaaaaay then!!!!
THE MEN’S HEALTH TWITTER POLL
Dialing back on booze is a thing this time of year. So
much so that we investigated the “sober curious”
movement (page 35). Curious? Looks like a chunk
of our 1,769 Twitter respondents were, too.

10%
No booze in
8%
Beau Grealy (Brown). Kyle Kaplan, © 2019 CTMG, Inc. (

2020 for me.

I’m going to do
Dwyane Wade,
35%
a Dry January.
@dwyanewade
(NBA legend)
47%
I’m just going
What you know about to drink less.
hooping tho haa
I don’t think I’ll
Reply @sterlingkbrown change my drinking
@dwyanewade if your habits this year.
ankles are solid, I can
show you... Based on 1,769 Twitter responses
to @MensHealthMag.

10 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

Don’t be the person
that brings
a veggie platter.

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 A GY M J U MP STA RT

FOR YOU R N E X T RU N

THE
your daily trip
to the gym.
BY ANDREW
HEFFERNAN, C.S.C.S.

T
FITNESS
HIS IS SUPPOSED to be
your moment. January,
start of the new year
and the new, fitter you. The
only problem: It’s harder to

SNACK!
find 30 minutes to get your
sweat on than you thought.
The solution: Learn to
“snack” on your fitness.
Instead of devouring a full
workout, squeeze in five min-
utes here and there for short

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAUREL GOLIO MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 13


segments of exercise—say, a few sets of
20 pushups or a circuit of five squats, five
lunges, and a 30-second plank. These tiny
doses of fitness—let’s trademark them as
“fitness snacks”—help your overall health
more than you’d expect, burning fat and
building muscle over your entire body.
Heck, they may even recalibrate how you
view the term workout. CrossFit, group
classes, and eight Rocky films’ worth of
montages may have left you feeling every
workout has to be epic. “Not everyone can
find time for an hour-long workout,” says
trainer Gunnar Peterson, C.S.C.S., who’s
worked with the likes of Sylvester Stal-
lone and the Los Angeles Lakers. “But
everyone can find a few quick minutes a
few times a day.”
BITE-SIZED BENEFITS!
4 ways a fitness snack pumps up your life.
Sharper Brain Rosier Mood
Function A 15-minute daily
A quick bout session of higher-
of mild exercise, intensity exercise,
like slow like running, can
stationary-bike reduce depres-
pedaling, can sion risk by
improve memory. 26 percent.
14 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH
Spend minutes between meetings
doing the fitness equivalent of chomp-
ing on a handful of almonds (okay, fine:
M&M’s) and you excite muscle fibers and
nudge your heart rate upward without
wiping out your body. And since you’re
never pushing yourself to max levels,
you don’t even need a warmup. “The only
problem with this approach is that no
one believes it’s going to work,” says Dan
John, a Utah-based fitness historian and
strength coach.
Science says it can be effective, though.
A 2018 study from the National Cancer
Institute revealed that short bouts of
vigorous movement throughout the day—
taking the stairs, walking, and clean-
ing—prolonged life span as effectively as
Faster Fat Zippier
Burning Metabolism
Shorter-interval Three 20-second
workouts lead to all-out intervals
greater fat loss can boost insulin
than long, sensitivity for
low-intensity a whopping
sweat sessions. 72 hours.
For a simple fitness
snack, try the wall sit
(above). Want more of
a challenge? Attempt
the L-sit (far left).
longer workouts. A separate Australian
study showed that a few 30-second bursts
of high-intensity training can power up
your mitochondria (the energy dyna-
mos of your cells), reducing your risk of
chronic disease.
This approach has an older pedigree
forged in the gym. In the ’90s, trainer Pavel
Tsatsouline, known for bringing Soviet
workout principles to the Navy SEALs,
championed something he called greas-
ing the groove. That training technique
involved doing, for example, a few sets of
five reps of a difficult exercise every hour
up to ten times a day. It’s still one of the
best ways to master pullups.
Now more and more trainers are
embracing fitness snacks. Sure, they’d
love for you to be in the gym for hours, but
they also know your routine’s greatest
benefits occur early on. “Ten to 15 min-
utes earns you 80 percent of the value of a
longer workout,” says Angelo Poli, who’s
worked with NFL star Aaron Rodgers.
All of this is practical in part because
it’s closer to traditional training than you
might think. Classic bodybuilding seques-
ters you in the gym for more than an hour,
but that includes warming up, changing
weights, and resting between sets. Calcu-
Grooming: Eloise Cheung
late the time actually spent working hard
and it’s often 20 minutes or less.
Or, you know, four daily intervals from
our menu of muscle-building, fat-melting,
and metabolism-fueling snacks.
 BODY

WELCOME TO THE FITNESS SNACK BAR

Order the perfect workout for your craving.

THE STARTER SNACK THE SWOLE SNACK

6 MINUTES Fitness snacks are great 7 MINUTES Yes, you can
for gym vets—and even better for those build muscle with your
who don’t exercise at all. If you’re going bodyweight. Just use a
from a sedentary lifestyle to fitness tempo, says bodybuilding
snacking, expect to see major changes. coach Menno Henselmans.
Rip through this 3-move workout with Do this circuit that way.
no rest 3 times a day.
HANDCUFF
Lie on your stomach, arms lifted.
Keeping your thumbs up, draw
your arms outward in a wide arc.
As they near your hips, bend your
elbows and point your thumbs to-
ward each other. That’s 1 rep; do 8.

TEMPO PUSHUP
Get in pushup position. Lower your
torso to within an inch of the floor;
take 3 seconds to do this. Pause.
Push back up. That’s 1 rep; do 10.
Stand with arms extended. Lift your left foot,
a pad or pillow on the floor under your left
hip. Bend your right knee and lean forward
slightly, lowering until your left shin touches
the pad. Stand up. That’s 1 rep; do 5 per side.

THE STRENGTH SNACK

Get on your hands and knees, hands below
shoulders, back flat, abs tight. Lift your right
leg and left arm off the floor; keep your hips
and shoulders square as you do. Return
them to the floor. Repeat the process on the
other side. That’s 1 rep; do 20.
PLANK PUSHUP
Get in a plank, elbows below shoulders. Put
your right palm on the floor below your right
shoulder; straighten that arm. Do the same with
your left arm; you should be in pushup position.
Return to plank position. That’s 1 rep; do 20.
WALKING SQUAT
Stand with your feet just wider than shoulder
width. Step your right foot 6 inches forward.
Bend at the knees and hips until your thighs are
parallel to the floor. Press back up. Step your left
foot forward, in front of your right by 6 inches,
and repeat. That’s 1 rep; do 10.
3 MINUTES The “every hour
on the hour” workout can
help you improve. Pick a
challenge move from the list
below and, at the start of the
hour, do 2 or 3 reps of it.
You’ll do 18 to 40 reps daily.
L-SIT
Sit on a desk or chair, hands near
your butt. Lift your legs, driving
your knees straight. Straighten your
arms, lifting your butt in the air. Hold
for 3 seconds. That’s 1 rep; do 3.
SUPPORTED ONE-ARM PUSHUP
PISTOL SQUAT Get in pushup position, grasping a support
Stand, then lift one leg off the floor. with one hand (the leg of your desk will
Bend at the knee and sit back, low- work), palm turned forward, arm fully ex-
ering your butt near the floor; hold tended. With your other arm, slowly lower
a chair if needed. Stand back up. your chest to the floor; press back up. That’s
That’s 1 rep; do 3 per side. 1 rep; do 2 per side.

THE WEIGHT-LOSS SNACK SEAL JACK

Start standing, arms in front of you, hands
5 MINUTES Your heart rate stays together. Jump lightly, opening your feet as
elevated after just a few minutes of
ultra-intense activity, so the right
Ben Mounsey-Wood (illustrations)

move at the right intensity can send MOUNTAIN-CLIMBER BURPEE

Start standing, then squat, place your hands on
extra calories. Do these 2 moves
back-to-back and you’ll believe it.

left leg. Do 4 total mountain climbers, then

stand quickly. That’s 1 rep; do 15.

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 15

 BODY

THE 6 A.M. WORKOUT W/

The Fitness-
Tracking
Cyclo-Cross
Fanatic
Nothing calms and
inspires Fitbit VP of design
Jonah Becker quite like
a pulse-pounding, bunny-
hop-filled morning ride.
BY AUSTIN MURPHY

T
HERE’S NOT really another word
for it. Jonah Becker is playing on
his bike this morning, bunny-
hopping logs alongside a trail in San
Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, executing
borderline-balletic dismounts and re-
mounts and hucking up his back wheel,
a move that mountain bikers call an
“endo” or “nose wheelie.”
But Becker, vice president of design at During his sessions, Becker doesn’t
just bike. He leaves ample time
the fitness-tracking giant Fitbit, isn’t on
to stretch, and also practices
a mountain bike. He’s on the shockless, dismounting on tricky terrain.
canary-yellow Canyon that he uses for
cyclo-cross, a 30- to 60-minute race around
a 1.5- to 2-mile loop filled with obstacles.
You dismount your bike and carry it over
logs and hurdles, a midrace challenge that he calls his “lifelong competitive streak.” are done and his heart rate has returned
the 47-year-old loves. “I need a sport,” he In addition to his daily bike commute from from the red zone, he rides nearby trails
says. “I think that’s why I still love jump- his home near San Francisco’s Duboce to hone all those bike-handling skills.
ing rope and doing ladder drills. I like Park to Fitbit’s Embarcadero offices, he It’s a twoish-hour morning routine that
feeling that I can still move athletically.” will spin west to Golden Gate Park for in- takes Becker’s edge off, settling him for an
Becker spends every morning remind- tense interval work on the dirt track encir- otherwise tame day. At home, he focuses
ing himself of that—and indulging what cling the Polo Field. When those “hot laps” on his wife and two daughters. On Fitbit’s

BREAK OF The 5-Minute Warmup

Spend 5 minutes warming
The 15-Minute Bike Primer
Get on your bike and start
The 35-Minute Ladder
Alternate vigorous efforts with

BRAWN
Can you handle Becker’s hour-
long speed session? Try it to
improve your ability to accelerate
up hills. Do this session outdoors
or on a stationary bike indoors.
up your lower body for the
mayhem to come. Do 30
seconds of bodyweight
squats, followed by 30 sec-
onds of walking lunges and
30 seconds of planks. Repeat
3 times without stopping,
then rest for 30 seconds.
pedaling at a relaxed pace; 2-minute recovery sequences.
make sure it’s relaxed enough Battle through the program below.
that you can have a conver-
Minutes Hard Effort
sation. Do this for 10 minutes.
2 3 4 5 4 3 2
Then, for the final 5 minutes,
alternate between 30-second 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
intervals of hard pedaling Minutes Recovery
(you shouldn’t be able to talk)
and relaxed-pace pedaling. The Cooldown
Pedal lightly for 10 minutes.

18 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPHS BY SAM KWESKIN


campus, he’s at his forward-thinking
best, staring at stats and blueprints for
new watches and device updates on a
tablet screen. It’s all unlike his life on his
customized Canyon, which has notches on
the piping so he can grip it more easily as
he hurdles obstacles. “This,” he says, “is
just being in the moment.”
Cyclo-cross is Becker’s chance to test
his athleticism—and not get injured in
the process. He’s dealt with injuries since
his college days, when he majored in phi-
losophy, minored in art history, and oc-
casionally flashed an aggro side as a Cal
Berkeley tennis player. After redshirting
as a freshman, he eagerly awaited his
sophomore season. But he’d trained too
hard that summer, and his shoulder
“basically fell apart,” he says. “I could no
longer lift [my arm] over my head.”
BETWEEN
INTERVALS
Favorite cheat meal?
Almond croissants are prob-
ably at the top, and French
toast is close behind.
Sporting hero?
My grandfather was a two-
sport college athlete, played
baseball and basketball. As
the first grandchild, I spent a
lot of time going to sporting
events with him, and he was
the PE teacher in my elemen-
tary school in his 70s.
Favorite exercise?
Jump-roping. It’s great, easy
to travel with, and has loads
of street cred since Rocky.
Most hated exercise?
I’m not a fan of the stair-
climber machine. Boring.
Who plays you in your biopic?
My wife says Bradley Cooper,
but she may have a different
agenda. I’ll go with a younger
Kevin Bacon, since he’s got
some cycling background.
That ended his tennis career, but not
his habit of practicing like an animal.
Cyclo-cross, however, includes built-in
restraints: Unlike other styles of biking,
“you don’t need to train for hours and
hours and hours,” he says. “You race
hard, but everything before and after
is pretty congenial.”
So Becker rarely skips a practice ses-
sion, and he did five races last year. Oh,
and he had fun. Three laps into one re-
cent five-lap event, Becker was in the lead
when he accepted a shot of peppermint
schnapps from a spectator. (Yes. Midway
through a race.) The shot “did not sit very
well” with his stomach, he recalls, and he
slipped to third place. He didn’t get upset.
“I still had a blast,” he says proudly. When
you pop endos and bunny hops on a bike
every morning, it’s hard not to.
 BODY

YOUR FITTEST YEAR EVER

JUMP START
Begin the year with a total-body circuit. You’ll fire up

bodyweight moves infused with boxing flavor. Do this

sessions. On your off days, go for a 20-minute run.

THE WARMUP
Start with 30 seconds of jumping
jacks, then do 30 seconds of high knees,
running in place while driving your
knees upward. Then do 1 Spider-Man
T-spine stretch (see below) on each
side. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat twice.

(a) core tight. Hinge forward at the waist and push

your butt back until your torso is nearly parallel
to the floor. Let the dumbbells hang naturally.
This is the start. Keeping your core tight, row
the dumbbells toward your rib cage. Pause,
(c)
then return to the start. That’s 1 rep; do 20.

(a)

2  Romanian Deadlift
Start standing (a), and hold
dumbbells at your sides, core tight,
shoulder blades squeezed, and feet
hip width apart. Hinge forward at
the waist and push your butt back,
lowering your torso. Lower until
your torso is parallel to the floor or (b)
you feel your hamstrings tighten—
whichever comes first. Pause (b),
then straighten up, squeezing your
(b) glutes. That’s 1 rep; do 20.
Grooming: Deepti Sadhwani

Spider-Man T-Spine Stretch

Start in pushup position (a). Step your left foot to
your left hand. Keep your right leg straight; squeeze LEGGINGS BY
LULULEMON;
your right glute hard (b). Press your left arm into your SHORTS BY
left leg. Reach your right arm toward the ceiling (c), UNDER ARMOUR;
SNEAKERS BY
feeling the stretch in your back and abs. Step your left PUMA.
foot back to pushup position. That’s 1 rep.

20 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPHS BY KAT WIRSING


3  Reverse Lunge to
Overhead Press
Start standing with a dumbbell
at your left shoulder and core tight.
Step back with your right leg and
lower into a reverse lunge, keeping
your chest up (a). Once your left
thigh is parallel to the floor, pause,
stand, and then press the dumbbell
overhead (b). Return the weight
to your shoulder. That’s 1 rep;
do 10 per side.
EB SAYS:
“Stop lowering before (a)
your back knee touches
the floor. Doing so will
challenge your leg mus-
cles to continue firing.”
YOUR MUSCLE MASTER
Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., Men’s Health
fitness director, is a certified strength
and conditioning expert who has trained
with professional and Olympic athletes.
FEATURED TRAINER Ngo Okafor is a two-time Golden
Gloves boxing champ and the owner/founder of Icono-
clast Fitness Studio in Manhattan. He constructs work-
outs around classic bodybuilding moves, with occasional
dashes of boxing spice, as you’ll see in the burpee below.
4  Pushup
Start in pushup position, core tight and
glutes squeezed, hands directly below your shoul-
ders. Bend at the elbows and shoulders, lowering
your torso until your chest is an inch from the floor.
Pause, then push back up. That’s 1 rep; do 20.
(b)
5  Burpee to Punch Combo
Start standing. In one motion,
place your hands on the floor, get in
(b) (c)
pushup position, and do a pushup (a).
Stand quickly and throw 6 punches
at the air. Start with 2 jabs and 2 hooks
(b). Finish by throwing 2 uppercuts (c).
That’s 1 rep; repeat reps for 60 seconds.
EB SAYS:
“Think of each punch
as an opportunity to
strengthen your abs.
Rotate through your hips
and be powerful.”
(a)
6  Mountain Climber EB SAYS:
Start in pushup position, core and “It’s convenient to let
glutes tight, eyes on the floor directly your butt ride up high
below. Keeping your core tight, lift your when you get fatigued
right foot, driving your right knee to your during mountain
chest. Return your right foot back to climbers. Resist that
the floor and quickly repeat on the left. urge and keep your
Continue alternating, picking up speed butt below (or on the
as you go. Repeat for 60 seconds. same level as) your
shoulders.”
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 21
 BODY

#NOEXCUSES

Cool
Running UNDER ARMOUR
RUSH COLDGEAR
This tight-fitting
Don’t let a polar hoodie is made from
vortex trap you on the a lightweight, min-
treadmill. Dominate eral-infused fabric.
the elements and your The shirt stays close
to your skin, wicking
next 5K or 50K with this away sweat, and it
innovative, lightweight, keeps your face as
weatherproof gear. warm as possible—
a high collar doubles
BY EBENEZER SAMUEL, C.S.C.S. as a face mask. $80;
underarmour.com

TRACKSMITH
INVERNO GLOVES
Touchscreen-capa-
ble finger pads mean
you can change the
songs on your playlist ADIDAS AGRAVIC WINDWEAVE
or check your route INSULATED JACKET
on Strava without Unlike most rain- and windproof
ever taking off these shells, this jacket stretches so
toasty fleece gloves. you can run unencumbered. Hot
$32; tracksmith.com spots (like your armpits) have a
looser weave, and cold zones
(your chest) have tighter panels.
$139; adidasoutdoor.com

2XU WIND DEFENCE COMP TIGHTS

Specially designed front upper
panels block both wind and cold
from your thighs while 2XU’s com-
pression design optimizes blood
flow throughout your legs. NIKE INFINITY REACT
$110; 2xu.com New rocker tech helps you transi-
tion from heel to toe quickly, and
a wider midsole delivers the im-
proved foot stability you want on
slushy runs. $150; nike.com

JEFF DENGATE,
Runner’s World
top dog, shares
two winter rules:

1. No cotton. You FINISHING TOUCHES

don’t want to be wet
and cold. Merino
wool is a good
base layer.

2. As it gets colder,
wear gloves, shorts, Garmin Venu Lululemon Escape AO x Tracksmith
and a tee. When it An ultrabright display and Explore Socks Charles
hits the 40s, add lets you quickly check Thermoregulating Blue polarized lenses
Grooming: Eloise Cheung

a longsleeved tee. heart rate, distance, merino wool keeps reduce icy glare. The
The 30s, add tights. and more anytime. feet warm. $24; shop frames are nonslip.
Below freezing, $400; garmin.com .lululemon.com $255; tracksmith.com
add a jacket.

22 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAUREL GOLIO

 BODY

SUPPLEMENT LAB

Are Gut Boosters BS?

Supplement companies claim that prebiotics (which are one thing)
and probiotics (another thing!) can strengthen immunity, aid weight
loss, and even extend life. MELISSA MATTHEWS fact-checks all that.

PREBIOTICS PROBIOTICS
WHAT THEY ARE WHAT THEY ARE
They’re soluble fibers, so they They’re microorganisms
attract water during digestion. found in fermented foods like
They also contain oligosac- yogurt and kimchi, says Jack
charides, sugars eaten by gut Gilbert, Ph.D., a researcher at
bacteria, says Bethany Doer- the University of California,
fler, R.D., a clinical research San Diego. Companies claim
dietitian at Northwestern Uni- their probiotic supplements
versity. After your gut bacteria can improve your immunity or
feast upon these oligosaccha- help you lose weight. The jury
rides, they release short-chain is still out on those benefits,
fatty acids, which may relieve but science does show that pro-
discomfort in people who have biotics can relieve symptoms
inflammatory-bowel disorders of Crohn’s disease, inflamma-
or conditions like IBS. tory-bowel disease, and food
allergies, says Gilbert.
WHY TAKE THEM
If you’re not hitting the rec- WHY TAKE THEM
ommended 38 grams of fiber You suffer from chronic con-
daily, you’re at risk of constipa- stipation, diarrhea, or other
tion (at best) and heart disease gastrointestinal distress—
(at worst). Prebiotic supple- and your physician recom-
ments help with fiber intake, mends taking something,
but Doerfler says she likes to says David Poppers, M.D.,
see the $30 to $40 per month Ph.D., a gastroenterologist
that people might spend on a at NYU Langone. Everyone
dietary supplement go toward else can save their money,
buying healthy foods that are because there’s no evidence
rich in prebiotics. that probiotic supplements
offer any benefit to already
IF YOU BUY THEM healthy people, says Gilbert.
Go with a mix of soluble fiber,
such as psyllium, and an oli- IF YOU BUY THEM
gosaccharide that has at least Your doctor will recommend
five grams of fiber per serving, a probiotic shown to help with
says Doerfler. (The label may your specific complaints, says
list chicory root, artichoke Dr. Poppers. For example,
hearts, inulin, or oligosac- one bacteria, Lactobacillus
charides—same difference.) rhamnosus GG, is better for
Ignore claims about a com- those with diarrhea, com-
pany’s “signature” blend. It’s pared with other strains,
just marketing. Gilbert says. 
Jamie Chung/Trunk Archive

THE BOTTOM LINE: If you’re a healthy man without GI concerns, you should put your money toward fiber-rich whole foods
rather than supplements. (See page 92 for ideas about where to start.) Head to the doctor, though, if you suspect a food allergy or an
inflammatory-bowel condition is behind your stomach woes. It’s best to let them decide on the pre- or probiotic you should take.

24 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

 Hillshire farm® turkey
is slow roasted for hours.
And devoured in seconds.

®©2017 TYSON FOODS, INC.

®
At Hillshire Farm , right after we carve our deliciously seasoned turkey, we double seal
every slice for freshness. Which leads to the best Turkey, Arugula & Tomato sandwich
you’ve ever tasted. Visit HillshireFarm.com for more sandwich inspiration.
 BODY
A new class of detox drinks and energy potions promise to help you
de-stress, focus, and soothe what ails you. BRITTANY RISHER asked top dietitians
just how effective their “active” ingredients really are.
GREEN TEA
THE CLAIM: Spider-Man-like focus
THE TRUTH: Green tea contains caffeine and the
amino acid L-theanine, which, when combined,
improve performance in attention-switching
tasks, according to a 2017 study review. A separate
review found that the same combo could boost
brain function. Aim for a 40 milligram dose.
TURMERIC
THE CLAIM: Tamps down
disease-causing inflammation
THE TRUTH: This bright orange-
yellow root is indeed an anti-
oxidant. Science doesn’t yet
know how much of the spice
you should consume to reap its
anti-inflammatory benefit—but
consuming it with black pepper
can help with absorption. So
find a drink that has both.
26 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
THE CLAIM: Smooooother digestion
THE TRUTH: There have been no studies looking
at apple cider vinegar’s effect on digestion.
None. If anything, it’ll upset your stomach more,
says Dana Angelo White, R.D., especially if you
have acid reflux or GI issues. Also: It tastes nasty.
Food styling: Jamie Kimm. Prop styling: Megan Hedgpeth.
CBD
THE CLAIM: So you can chill, man
GINGER THE TRUTH: Scientists are still trying to determine
THE CLAIM: So! Much! Energy! whether CBD decreases anxiety and, if so, at
THE TRUTH: While the bite of ginger what dosage. Your best bet: Buy a drink from a
may wake up your taste buds, no company that publishes a certificate of third-
science links it to energy. If a shot party, independent lab analysis, proving that its
promises more pep, check the bottle contains the amount of CBD advertised.
ingredients, because it likely
contains a stimulant (though
ginger is anti-inflammatory).
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTOPHER TESTANI

JUNK OR SCIENCE?
Can You Read
Me Now?
An eyesight-boosting app that helps
fighter-jet pilots see better and may work
as well as Lasik? Maybe. BY CHRIS DIXON
28 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH
S
EVERAL YEARS AGO, while I
was doing final sweeps through
a book I’d just written, I began to
notice that my eyes were having a hard
time speeding through the manuscript.
That didn’t really bother me, because the
protagonist, a big-wave surfer named Greg
Long, had such bad eyesight that he had
trouble spotting giant waves on the hori-
zon, and my situation wasn’t anywhere
near that. Still, this was problematic. I’d
always been a speedy reader who didn’t
sweat small fonts, and I’d never needed
glasses for navigating tricky terrain while
mountain biking, surfing, or skateboard-
ing. Yet one night, there I was, barely
into my 50s, highlighting typos with a
pair of 1.5x readers draped across my
nose. I wondered, Is this my future?
What was happening to me—and will
eventually happen to you, your younger
brother, and Tom Brady—is called pres-
byopia. You don’t notice this condition
initially, but presbyopia can start as early
as age 30. Every five years after that, you’ll
lose the ability to focus on one more line on
the eye doctor’s letter chart. By 40, most
of us will start noticing it, squinting here,
moving the iPhone a little farther away
from the face there, whether or not you’ve
ever worn glasses. And right around the
big 5-0, nearly all of us are afflicted.
Because I’ve never been hindered by a
need to keep track of eyeglasses but I need
to do a lot of reading for work, I dreamed of
some outside-the-box solution rather than
glasses or contact lenses. The first thing I
learned is that presbyopia is correctable
with surgery—monovision Lasik, corneal
implants, or lens-replacement surgery—
but I’m leery of having laser beams or
scalpels etch my corneas.
Then one night while Googling the con-
dition, I was led to an app called Glasses-
Off. It promises to help you read type
50 percent smaller than you can right now
and perhaps improve your reading speed
significantly. There was even research
indicating that it could help you respond a
few milliseconds faster to, say, a baseball
flying at you, by improving a brain activity
called visual processing.
GlassesOff asks you to spend less than
15 minutes three times a week reacting by
touch screen to tiny, blurry striped balls
called Gabor patches as they flash across
a featureless gray background. Early on,
the patches are larger, slower, and better

defined. As you progress, they appear
and disappear more rapidly, eventually
becoming mere ghostly dots that can be in-
credibly hard to see. And that’s the point.
The very idea that this might be effective
seemed suspicious, since nobody I knew
who needed to wear reading glasses was
talking about this $10-a-month app. And
it seems even more far-fetched when you
take biology into account. Presbyopia oc-
curs when your eye’s flexible lens—which
is the shape and size of a soft Skittle—isn’t
so flexible anymore. To focus up close, you
contract the muscles that hold the lens in
place. As you age, that Skittle hardens.
You compensate by squinting, but in time,
not even that helps.
Presbyopia is a game of dominoes, and
your lens is only the first to fall. The next is
neurological: That blurring of everything
you should be seeing hampers your ability
to discern contrast and interferes with
how smoothly your neurons stream visual
data to your brain. Basically, presbyopia
chokes visual processing, slowing down
reading and even response times.
About 12 years ago, a neuroscientist
named Uri Polat, Ph.D., director of the
Visual and Clinical Neuroscience Lab at
Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel,
wondered if he could get around that by
harnessing the science of neuroplasti-
city—essentially training your brain to
process what it is seeing faster and more
clearly. This might have the benefit of
enhancing not only near vision but also
reaction times. Low image quality puts a
load on your visual-processing abilities
“and probably creates a bottleneck for the
cognitive levels of the brain,” says Polat,
now chief scientific officer of the company
that developed GlassesOff.
In a recently published study, Polat’s
app was tested on guys whose visual acuity
really matters: Israeli fighter pilots. Their
visual clarity improved by an average of
THREE
OTHER
APPS
THAT KEEP Improve your hearing
Clear Ears (clearworks4ears.com)
YOU AGILE aims to use neuroplasticity to
improve word recognition,
particularly in noisy situations.
35 percent, and their responsiveness to
visual cues went up 25 percent—crucial
when trying to recognize a camouflaged
enemy plane streaking toward you at 700
miles an hour. Research on American
baseball players showed similar results.
A study by Polat in Nature Scientific Re-
ports found that users were able to speed
through lines in the smallest font they
could discern on a reading chart 25 words
per minute faster than they could when
they started using the app. People with
the most advanced presbyopia had the
greatest gains, raising reading speed from
about 47 to 85 or so words a minute.
Those figures were impressive enough
for me to be intrigued. GlassesOff is not
the only vision-improvement app on the
market, but it’s the only one with any
serious scientific study. (One competitor,
Ultimeyes, was fined by the FTC for claim-
ing that it could improve vision without
having published data to back it up.) But to
believe it, I had to test it myself.
Since I wanted to know whether I was
just imagining things or my eyes had re-
ally changed, I visited Hugh Wright, M.D.,
a lead ophthalmologist with the Roper
St. Francis Hospital System in South Car-
olina, where I live. He measured both my
distance and near vision at around 20/25.
My near vision is better than average—on
a par with that of a person in his late 30s—
but now that I’m 52, my presbyopia is likely
on an accelerating path.
I devoted the recommended ten min-
utes to GlassesOff almost daily and used
it for eight weeks, the minimum required
time to see results. The app is at first
novel and challenging, but the repeti-
tion becomes monotonous. A month in,
though, I was squinting less. Headlights
and road signs seemed sharper. I stayed
with it, and three months after my first
visit to Dr. Wright, my chart vision re-
mained pretty much the same, but I was
Improve your vocabulary
It doesn’t get simpler than the
Vocabulary.com app, which gives
you a “word of the day,” plus a
dictionary at your fingertips.
BODY
now reading without glasses again. What
was tough for me to decipher before—the
five-point fine print on a Dale’s Pale Ale
can—was clear to me now.
It could be because, according to the
app, my contrast sensitivity had increased
by 51 percent and what Polat terms my
“brain processing speed”—the rate at
which I’m able to recognize a Gabor patch
onscreen—shot up by 80 percent.
Dr. Wright wasn’t ready to fully endorse
GlassesOff, saying the evidence is too
limited to wholly support enhancing neu-
roplasticity to reverse presbyopia. But he
didn’t dismiss it, either. “Standard vision
screening in clinics typically doesn’t
assess for contrast sensitivity or visual re-
sponse times, which GlassesOff does,” he
said. “If patients see improvement in these
areas, then I see it as a plus.” Those two
measures are critical when dropping into
a steep wave or skating vert, and that may
matter to me more than what a static eye
chart says. “Neuroplasticity is a very real
thing,” Dr. Wright added. Making more
connections is good for your brain perfor-
mance, regardless of what it might do for
your eyes. But, doctor that he is, he warned
that the app shouldn’t be used in place
of getting your eyes checked regularly or
wearing glasses if you need them.
Ultimately, both men agreed that
nothing will completely halt presbyopia.
Polat, of course, suggested that sticking
with the program’s maintenance regime
(12 minutes a day once every two weeks)
would help prevent my vision from declin-
ing significantly.
Even if it’s not perfect, I’m still a
writer and need to continue reading. And
despite a skateboarding-related broken
shoulder I wrote about for this magazine,
sharing runs at the skate park with my
ten-year-old son is about as rewarding as
life gets. I need all the help I can find, so
I’m going to stay with the app.
Improve your focus
You hone your attention through
the m-word here (meditation),
but the Headspace app makes it
painless and kind of entertaining.
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 29
M E N ’ S H E A LT H X G N C In paid partnership with GNC

HOW SERIAL THE

ENTREPRENEUR
AND ENDURANCE MORNING
ATHLETE ERIC BURN
HINMAN STAYS
While training for
upcoming races, Eric will
swim, bike, or run during
each morning workout.
Two or three days a
week he’ll also focus
on strength training. A

ALL-IN
typical routine for Eric
includes some classic
strength-training moves
with a gymnastic finish.
FRONT SQUATS:
5 sets of 2 at 80% of
one-rep max
POWER CLEANS:

>
4 sets of 2 at 80% of

ALL THE TIME

one-rep max
HIGH VOLUME
THRUSTERS: 4 sets of 8
GHD SIT-UPS:
4 sets of 25
BAR-FACING BURPEES:
As many as 20 burpees,
every other minute for
Eric Hinman is never not moving. The Denver-based angel investor, content creator, 12 minutes
entrepreneur, and two-time Kona Ironman is always working—on his fitness, his portfolio, or HANDSTAND WALKS:
both, often simultaneously—and he’s all-in, all the time. 4 sets of 80 feet each
In that pursuit, Hinman has to “multitask without multitasking.” He achieves this by adhering to a
meticulously crafted personal routine that eliminates decision-making fatigue.
For example, Hinman eats the same salad, every day.
“That’s my meal prep,” Hinman says. “I know every day at 12 I’m gonna be at
Green Seed, I’m gonna have the same salad, and I’m gonna have a meeting or
take a phone call. I put eating on autopilot to allow myself to make other, more
important decisions during the day. It’s not something I have to think about.”
The rest of Hinman’s day is equally regimented to maximize his mental
energy and decision-making potential. Every morning he’s up before 7 (no
alarm necessary), then heads straight to the kitchen for a double espresso; a
24-ounce glass of water; a power-packed smoothie bowl of nut milk, spinach,
plant-based protein, banana, and avocado; and a packet of personalized
vitamins and supplements designed specifically for him by GNC4U.
“Men want to have a system—they don’t want to overthink it. That’s what I
want. I like delegating, automating, and eliminating everything I don’t have
to do,” Hinman says. “I can answer a few questions about how I live my day,
how active I am, and GNC customizes a formula for me that becomes part
of my system and fits my morning routine.”
 That customized daily
vitamin regimen
sure looks good on you.

Joe went to GNC4U.com and took a free quiz. We took his answers, and designed
a regimen just for him. Now, each month he gets the industry’s best vitamins and
supplements, in personalized daily packs delivered right to his door. A personalized
plan would look good on you too.

Go to GNC4U.com. Get started.

 BODY
Better Listening Through Science
Tuning in isn’t just for dropping out. Research shows that your soundtrack
can make you more creative, productive, and non-grumpy. Find out what to play
at what time of day to become ultra-you. BY ELIZABETH BACHARACH AND SPENCER DUKOFF
7AM  Rise Right
Choose gentle,
upbeat tunes like “Coming
Home,” by Leon Bridges,
and “Way to You,” by Brandi
Carlile, that won’t startle
you first thing. Not only are
earsplitting sounds a bad
way to start the day, but they
can affect your breakfast
choices. A loud environment
ratchets up your stress level,
which may lead you to reach
for high-calorie foods.
8AM  Win Your Workout
Ever try to bench
225 while rocking out to
“I’m Yours,” by Jason Mraz?
Us neither. Studies show
that faster, more intense
hits like “Welcome to the
Jungle,” by Guns N’ Roses,
or “People,” by the 1975, can
boost strength, endurance,
and efficiency when lifting
and HIIT-ing.
32 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH
10AM  Switch
Your Music,
Power Your Brain
Music (be it Mozart or Emi-
nem) can keep you energized
when you have mindless
tasks to complete. When it’s
creativity you’re after, make
an effort to go wide: Listen
to unfamiliar songs and
shuffle through a variety of
genres. These can help you
think outside the box, says
Indre Viskontas, Ph.D.,
author of How Music Can
Make You Better.
12PM  Reboot
with Vocals
Lunch is the right time to
slow down and reset. Turn
on some softer, slower vocal
tracks—Sam Smith ballads
could be the ticket—to calm
your heart rate and allow
yourself to be more mindful
and in the moment.
6PM  Recover en Route
Use your commute
to decompress with instru-
mental numbers à la Miles
Davis (or anything mellow,
Viskontas says). You might
want to go with a chorus: A
study in PLOS One found that
listening to soothing choral
music lowered stress markers
in the body faster than nature
sounds or no music. Pro tip:
Avoid boredom and frustra-
tion in an already irritating
train or traffic situation by
changing up your tracklist
regularly. To save you some
searching, just use our recent
adds: “Cover My Tracks,” by
Ruston Kelly, and “Walking
on a String,” by Matt Ber-
ninger and Phoebe Bridgers.
10PM  Power Down
Before you sleep,
press play on something more
Zen, like Brian Eno or yoga
music. (Spotify has hours and
hours of that genre to choose
from.) The tempo is fine-tuned
to promote restfulness, and
you won’t get distracted trying
to follow lyrics.
WEEKEND  Chase
Away the
Dreaded Sunday Scaries
The antidote to your emo-
tional (and possibly physical)
hangover at the end of the
weekend: Reach back in time
to ’80s Billy Joel or Fleetwood
Mac. The potent mix of acces-
Sarah Leituala (illustration). Getty Images (source images).
sible, uptempo nostalgia
jams and heartsick ballads
actually helps soothe Sun-
day-night melancholy. When
the artist you’re listening
to expresses what you’re feel-
ing at that moment, accord-
ing to Viskontas, you get a
hit of oxytocin, a feel-good
hormone, and you lower the
stress hormone cortisol.
 YOU’VE GOT
23 RESOLUTIONS.
AND ALMONDS CAN
BE ALL OF THEM.

Start the new year off

on the right snack with
the 6 grams of natural
protein in almonds.

OWN YOUR EVERYDAY.

© 2020 Almond Board of California.

EVERY DAY.
All rights reserved.
 CURIOUS ABOUT

As alcohol loses its health halo, more

people are reevaluating their relationship
with it. BY AMOS BARSHAD

T
H E F I R S T TI M E I remember
hearing about the concept of
not drinking in January, it was
with my basketball buddies
Dan Saelinger/Trunk Archive
to a group of us how, after the excesses
of the December holiday season, he
liked to take the month off from drink-
ing. To detox. To refresh. To healthify. It

after a rec game in the East Village in
New York City. This was a winter night
more than a decade ago, over a table
of chicken sandwiches. One guy, who
worked in commodities, was explaining
felt like a strange secret from a better,
more progressive place—particularly
coming out in this postgame huddle.
That night, the sweaty dude was just
full of rarefied wisdom.

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 35

 LIFE
Nowadays the concept of a sober January
doesn’t feel so exotic. In fact, as known by
its pop-lexicon title, “Dry January,” it’s
practically a brand. According to a YouGov
poll, 23 percent of Americans over 18 had
plans to attempt a booze-free January in
2019. That would correspond to an astound-
ing 58 million temporary soberers.
I have what I consider to be a pretty
good relationship with drinking. Plainly:
I’m a fan. I wasn’t a young drinking
prodigy. It was when I moved to New
York, at 21, that I fell in love with bars
and the things that can happen in them.
I met some of my best friends that year. I
also puked more that year, quite possibly,
than in the rest of my life combined. Over
time, I’ve calibrated my intake choices
and minorly dabbled in drugs, from
gateway to stronger stuff. It’s all brought
me back to the same initial conclusion: In
drinking, I have all the vice I ever need. 
And yet I’ve been swept up, too: I’ve
attempted Dry January three years run-
ning. Meanwhile, beyond episodic fads,
sobriety has morphed into a lifestyle, the
sober curious, a term popularized by the
author/podcaster Ruby Warrington via
her 2018 book of the same name. These
people don’t just do Dry January—they
hang out at sober bars, download sobriety
podcasts and apps, and consume content
from self-branded sober gurus. “I feel
like alcohol is the new cigarettes,” says
Warrington. “Smoking was completely
socially acceptable 20 years ago. Fast-
forward a couple of decades and people will
drink and use alcohol much differently.”
As Dry January has boomed and
cross-pollinated into sober curious, it’s
also become divisive. If you have par-
taken, you know. Some people get it. But
turn down a drink during the month of
January and someone will declare, as if
they’ve caught you: “You’re doing Dry
January?” You have to be ready—aesthet-
ically, morally, spiritually—to defend
your decision.  thing. But you can temporarily quit meat,
To me, that makes total sense: The rapid
permeation of the sober-curious wave has
given it a slight tinge of mass psychosis.
We’re talking about millions of people,
largely people who don’t believe they have a
drinking problem, giving up the sauce. Why
would anyone willingly stop drinking?
36 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH
PEOPLE DON’T JUST DO
DRY JANUARY—THEY
HANG OUT AT SOBER
BARS, DOWNLOAD
SOBRIETY PODCASTS
AND APPS, AND
CONSUME CONTENT
FROM SELF-BRANDED
SOBER GURUS.
W
ELL, OKAY: YOU STOP drink-
ing because it is, almost surely,
not all that great for you. In
2018, The Lancet published what it called
“the most comprehensive estimate of the
global burden of alcohol use to date.” Its
widely publicized conclusion contradict-
ed years of prior research and general
common wisdom and declared, dra-
matically, that, actually, there is no safe
level of drinking. That even one drink a
day correlates to an increased chance of
health problems. And that more drinking
correlates to, yes, more problems.  son explains, are using “older recipes
While some criticized the study’s obser-
vational tactics and other research points
to the potential benefits of moderate
alcohol intake, its conclusion resonated
widely. Perhaps that’s because sobriety is
attaining an increased cultural cachet.
Sober curious is part of a more general
move to open up decision-making trees
in various aspects of modern life. People
used to be either something or not that
or only do gluten when you’re partying. It’s
not just all-or-nothing. Nowadays there
are all sorts of gradients. There are so
many reasons to choose sober-ish.  sobriety are those on restrictive eating
To learn more, I belly up to the bar
at Redemption in London, where the
food is vegan and the drinks are non-
alcoholic. And there are sober bars like
this across America and, of course, an
app, Loosid, to help you find like-minded
sober folks. Zoey Henderson, head of
ops at Redemption, tells me about how
her cocktail menu has moved away
from “homemade kombucha, shrubs,
tinctures, and essences” and toward an
influx of nonalcoholic “plant spirits”
and bottle brands that replicate gin and
rum flavors in cocktails that are a combi-
nation of “mixology and alchemy.”
The Redemption bartenders, Hender-
and herbal tonics that give you all those
wonderful, positive reinforcements that
you look for in a drink. They make you
feel a bit buzzy. They make you want to
dance.” She specifically recommends
Redemption’s hibiscus sour, “a powerful
botanical elixir.” And as for what a night
out at Redemption is like, it’s “exactly
the same” as a social outing with alcohol,
Henderson says, “except the toilets stay
cleaner, nobody gets rowdy, glassware
is smashed a lot less—all the positives,
none of the negatives!”
Another group of people sliding into
plans. Well-known lifestyle diets like
keto and Whole30 famously restrict
or eliminate your alcohol choices. I
 Introducing

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 LIFE

have two very smart scientist friends
in Boston: Rachel, who is a physician
and scientist at Harvard, and Greg, a
scientist at the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute. Both are paleo. “I use paleo
more as a framework for a low-glyce-
mic-index diet, which is the diet that has
the most data behind it as being good
for overall health,” Rachel explains.
“I do still drink, but being on a paleo/
low-glycemic-index diet has made me
more conscious in general about what I
take in and how I feel after eating/drink-
ing things.” For Greg, paleo helps him
maintain “an overall healthy lifestyle”
and “control in the amount of alcohol
I consume.” And even when drinking,
he stays paleo via grape-based Ciroc.
“Thank God,” he says, “for Diddy.”
While Greg gets loose on grape vodka,
many more are relying on a buzz from a
different botanical source, popularized
by West Coast rappers like Snoop Dogg.
Though the legalization of marijuana
has not impacted the sales of spirits,
it has illuminated a spectrum of usage
that ranges from “cross-fading” (spirits
and weed) to “Cali-sober” (weed only).
Writer Katie Heaney recently chronicled
her Cali-sober journey, detailing how
smoking marijuana has helped take
the edge off cutting back on alcohol. As
However, data on overall alcohol con-
sumption for the past several years does
reveal year-on-year declines, so people
are drinking less, especially millennials.
Annie Grace, another author/influencer/
podcaster, credits social media for this
trend and says young people “don’t want
to be embarrassed on a platform that
lives forever. I certainly am glad there
was no photographic record of what I did
in my early 20s.”
It’s not just about embarrassment,
though. As The New York Times put it in a
recent sober-curious story: “Beyond the
health risks, the booze that flows freely
at fraternity parties or holiday mixers
has started to look to some women like
a tool of oppression in the age of radical
consent.” Grace adds another factor in the
decision-making of millennials and Gen-
Zers: “Their experience with their own
parents drinking. It seems that they feel
alcohol is their parents’ drug.”
Instead, the kids want to get high
on . . . wellness?! You know, yoga, medi-
tation, adult coloring books, wheatgrass
shots, CBD everything, and so much
more. “Once a person begins the journey
into health and wellness, alcohol often
sticks out as a sore thumb,” says Grace.
option. I thought cutting out one twelfth
of my yearly alcohol intake seemed like
a pretty good idea. I’d save money, lose
weight, focus better, blah blah blah. 
I succeeded, with pluck and guile,
in my first attempt. I found that all the
clichés were true. I did want to socialize
less. I did want to eat more ice cream. I
also found out that, after the first week or
so, it got easier. That once I got even a lit-
tle bit of a head of sober steam, the booze
cravings weren’t crowding my brain. I
slept better! I also felt, slightly, like I was
living in stasis. 
There are many reasons to stop drink-
ing, either temporarily or altogether.
For me, the reason is this: I need to check
with myself that, while I love drinking,
I do not need it. And not to get carried
away here, but if you’re not questioning
everything in 2020, as the world tilts on
so many axes, maybe you’re not thinking
hard enough. We should be analyzing
our relationships with our coworkers,
our romantic partners, our families,
our best friends. We should be thinking
about our booze.
We can do that in January. Or we can
do it whenever. And if it’s January and
we’re not feeling good about our fast, we
can just—stop! Years ago, I was with a
pal at breakfast, contemplating getting

I
Heaney told me, “I don’t necessarily PERSONALLY DIDN’T dip a toe a doughnut. I hemmed and hawed and
relate to the more wellness-y aspects of into the sober-curious pool, via Dry muttered to myself how it was “bad for
sober curiosity. I think it’s great if any- January, because of sober bars, sober me.” He looked at me and he pointed
one wants to drink less. But I think that’s gurus, diet, weed, or youth. It wasn’t to his brain and he said something I’ve
a decision most people have to come thanks to the sweaty hoops player either, honestly never forgotten: “It’s good for
to on their own, for their own reasons. but through the wisdom of someone even the mental, though.” 
For some people, having a like-minded more impressive: my girlfriend. Yes, even one drink is bad for you.
community might really help with that, If I were ever to try it, trying it with But even one drink can be damn good
but it’s just not my thing.”  her seemed like the most palatable for the mental.

CRUSH IT
Use these tips to thrive
whether you’re doing
Dry January or leaning
into sober curious.
IF ALCOHOL HELPS YOU DECOM-
PRESS AFTER WORK, do another
activity that helps you relax. It
could be a short workout, like a fit-
ness snack (see page 13), or com-
mitting to a daily stroll. Or some-
thing more explicitly stress-busting
like meditating or writing down
whatever is on your mind, says psy-
chiatrist Drew Ramsey, M.D.
IF YOU ENJOY THE RITUALS OF
DRINKING, plan your alcohol-free
stand-ins at home and out. Think
about what you like most about
your go-to drink and give yourself
alcohol-free options, whether it’s
a nonalcoholic beer or mocktail or
seltzer or kombucha, advises Jenna
Hollenstein, nutritional therapist and
author of Drinking to Distraction.
IF ALCOHOL IS YOUR
SOCIAL LUBRICANT, you may
need professional treatment.
Talk therapy is a proven way
to deal with social anxiety,
says Dr. Ramsey. Or talk to
a doctor about meds. Alco-
hol calms by enhancing the
same neurotransmitter ef-
fects as Xanax.

38 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

LET’S HIT
THE ROAD

road & Track Experiences

A series of high-octane automotive events

JOIN US
E XP E RI E NC E S.R OA DA N D TRACK .COM

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 LIFE

ground pepper. Place the

wings in a single layer on the
prepared racks. Bake until
cooked through, about
35 minutes, flipping once.

2 Sauce
and Top

While the wings roast,

whisk the sauce ingredients
in a large bowl. Then trans-
fer the cooked wings to the SRIRACHA Sauce: 3 Tbsp melted butter, 1 Tbsp cider vinegar,
2 tsp Sriracha sauce, 1 minced garlic clove
bowl, toss to coat, and finish BUFFALO
with the toppings. All this Topping: ⅓ cup crumbled Gorgonzola
makes 4 servings.

40 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTOPHER TESTANI

 Sauce: ¼ cup
mayonnaise,
2 Tbsp yellow zest of
mustard,
1 Tbsp honey,
½ tsp onion
powder, ½ tsp
garlic powder

Topping: 2 Tbsp
chopped chives

Sauce: ¼ cup

2 tsp curry

Topping:

3 Tbsp
Food styling: Jamie Kimm. Prop styling: Megan Hedgpeth.

H U Y FO N G C H I LI C H I P O T LE P E P P E R S I N
GA R LI C S AU C E A D O B O (F I N E LY C H O P P E D)
Tastes like: Sriracha, but with Tastes like: Wooooooowwwieee,
more funk and less bite. that’s hot! Smoky, too.
 LIFE

ese Salsas Are

Th

MILD E
VERD

SPICE LEVEL:
tomato-y flavor” and a “good
things out. Beyond chip dipping,
it works well atop scrambled eggs or
even mixed into meatloaf.
FIND IT AT: Walmart, ShopRite,
Kroger, Whole Foods
your only choices at the
supermarket. Now there’s chipotle,
cantina style, black bean, and
even pumpkin habanero. We taste-
tested 49 (49!) varieties of
dip. These salsas reigned supreme.
SPICE LEVEL:
MRS. RENFRO’S GREEN
Balance is key to a good green salsa.
Too many of those we tried had either
a slimy texture or too much acidity.
This jar, however, had “heat, freshness,
tang—it’s all there,” according to one
tester. Warm some up and spoon it over
a seared pork chop or salmon fillet.
FIND IT AT: Walmart,
Albertsons, Kroger, Hannaford
C ARD
WILD

SPICE LEVEL: SPICE LEVEL:

TENAYO ORIGINAL
So many medium salsas tasted
so . . . mild. “FINALLY SOME HEAT,” one
tester wrote, adding that this smooth,
brick-red salsa was “deep and roasty
up front, slightly sweet in the middle,
with a burn on the back.” Roasted
jalapeños provide that complexity. Try
it as a chicken marinade, too.
FIND IT AT: Walmart, Wegmans
SPICE LEVEL:
SALSA GOD HOT FIRE
ROASTED RED
Habanero peppers team up with
jalapeños to clobber your palate in a
jab-hook beatdown. “There’s an opening
salvo of tongue-popping heat, followed
by a slow-building burn of intense power.
Milk! Milk!” wrote one tester. Careful now.
FIND IT AT: Whole Foods, Albertsons,
Safeway, Tops
JARDINES SASSY
LAVENDER AND PEACH
No, we’d never experienced this
Christopher Testani (chip). Food styling: Jamie Kimm. Prop styling: Megan Hedgpeth.
flavor combination before, either.
But it really works. The lavender,
which tastes a little like fresh oregano,
cuts through the sweetness of the
peach chunks. “Get me some shrimp
tacos,” requested one tester.
FIND IT AT: Walmart, Publix, Kroger

THE BEST GROCERY GUAC: A TIE!

WHOLLY GUACAMOLE CLASSIC and WHOLLY GUACAMOLE CHUNKY
This brand keeps its ingredients list simple—no “natural flavor,” no “ascorbic
acid”—so the guacamole tastes vibrant and clean, not chemical. The classic is awesome
as a sandwich spread or slathered on toast. The chunky is your go-to for dipping.

42 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

 YOU CAN’T SHUT DOWN YOUR NEIGHBORS
BUT YOU CAN SHUT DOWN YOUR COLD SYMPTOMS

THE NIGHTTIME SNIFFLING, SNEEZING, COUGHING, ACHING, STUFFY HEAD,

 1

6
Schmancy ski-town bars hawk mulled wine and
spiced cider as ultimate winter warmers. But the
snow-crazy chefs we talked to said that no drink
fortifies and replenishes better than a beer. Here’s what
they crack open after a long day on the slopes.
Food styling: Jamie Kimm. Prop styling: Megan Hedgpeth.

1. Guinness 2. Ayinger 3. Left Hand 4. Allagash White 5. Cigar City 6. Hitachino Nest
Foreign Extra Celebrator Brewing Milk It’s an old-standby Brewing Jai Alai Red Rice Ale
Stout This 6.7% ABV dop- Stout Nitro 5.2% ABV hazy wheat India Pale Ale The Japanese brew-
By piling more hops pelbock pours the Natural lactose that produces a head This is the 7.5% ABV ery turns to piney-
into its brewing, color of a log cabin sugar softens this like fresh powder. The can of liquid courage tasting Chinook
Guinness reinforces and tastes like a 6% ABV beer, made flavor is peppery and you’re going to need hops to balance the
its classic with a stack of homemade even smoother with citrusy, with a back- to sneak in a few barley in this slightly
pleasant bitterness. pancakes: doughy, nitrogen, which bone of banana. “It more late-day runs. fruity brew, which
At 7.5% ABV, “this is slightly sweet, and creates smaller car- pairs excellently with “It’s light, refreshing, has a touch of sweet-
your wind-down-by- with just a touch of bonization bubbles my favorite cheeses,” and recharging,” ness from the rice.
the-fire beer,” says vanilla. Up to you if and results in a more says Josiah Citrin, says Sarah Simmons, It’s invigorating at
Jon Streep, co-owner you want to drink it luscious pour, says chef of Charcoal Ven- CEO of City Grit 7% ABV. Enjoy it with
of Alidoro in N. Y. C. at breakfast. Streep. ice in Los Angeles. Hospitality Group. a cheeseburger.

44 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTOPHER TESTANI

 THIS IS NOT A BED ™

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 LIFE

Eco-friendly clothing used

to mean hemp and fleece
and all manner of Phish
merch. But as brands get
serious about sustainability
by investing in recycled ma-
terials, waste-mitigating
manufacturing, and clothes
meant to last and last and
last, it’s never been easier
to look good and do right
by the planet. Here, actor
IAN SOMERHALDER
tries on four ways to
show off our green streak.
BY EVAN ROMANO
SUSTAINABLE STYLE

The ultimate
recycled jacket.
WELLEN builds this
cold-weather essential
with recycled nylon, which
doesn’t sound comfortable,
but ohh, man. The pockets
are flannel-lined, so they
double as mittens, and the
coat’s insulation defends
against all elements. In
other words, the jacket hits
the trifecta: It looks cool,
retains heat, and does a
solid for the planet, too.

Jacket ($188) by Wellen, available

at huckberry.com; shirt ($125) by
Tact & Stone; Wellthread jeans
($128) by Levi’s; sneakers ($100) by
Veja; recycled cashmere hat ($69)
by Patagonia.

46 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALLIE HOLLOWAY


Your Guide to Losing Weight
Need to drop some pounds? Take it off
with a morning shake.
BY CHRIS HANSEN
BEING A TRAINER, bodybuilder, and nutrition
expert means that companies frequently send
me their products and ask for my stamp of ap-
proval. Most of the time I dive into research, test
the product out, and send the company honest
feedback. Sometimes, however, I refuse to give
the product a try, because frankly, the ingredi-
ents inside aren’t real food. And I’d rather drink
diesel fuel than torture my body with a chemical
concoction.
Like my father always said, “What you put
inside your body always shows up on the out-
side.”
One protein shake that I received, that will
remain nameless, was touted as ‘the next big
shake’ but really had a list of gut destroying
ingredients. Everywhere I read I saw harmful
DUWL¿FLDO LQJUHGLHQWV DGGHG VXJDUV V\QWKHWLF
dyes, preservatives and cheap proteins; the kind
of proteins that keep you fat no matter how hard
you hit the gym, sap your energy and do nothing
for your muscles.
Disappointed after reviewing this “new”
shake, I hit the gym and bumped into my favor-
ite bodybuilding coach. This guy is pushing 50,
has the energy of a college kid, and is ripped. So
are his clients.
:KLOH,¿UPO\EHOLHYHWKDWWKHJ\PLVDQR
talk focus zone, I had to ask, “Hey Zee, what
protein shake are you recommending to your
clients these days?”
$'9(57,6(0(17
Zee looked at me, and shook his head. “Pro-
tein shakes are old news and loaded with junk.
I don’t recommend protein shakes, I tell my
clients to drink INVIGOR8 Superfood Shake
because it’s the only all natural meal replace-
ment that works and has a taste so good that it’s
addicting.”
Being skeptical of what Zee told me, I de-
cided to investigate this superfood shake called
INVIGOR8.
Turns out INVIGOR8 Superfood Shake has
a near 5-star rating on Amazon. The creators are
actual scientists and personal trainers who set
out to create a complete meal replacement shake
chocked full of superfoods that—get this—ac-
tually accelerate how quickly and easily you
lose belly fat and builds even more lean, calorie
burning muscle.
We all know that the more muscle you build,
the more calories you burn. The more fat you
PHOWDZD\WKHPRUHGH¿QLWLRQ\RXJHWLQ\RXU
arms, pecs and abs.
The makers of INVIGOR8 were determined
to make the ¿UVWFRPSOHWHQDWXUDOQRQ*02
superfood shake that helps you lose fat and build
lean muscle. The result is a shake that contains
JUDVVIHGZKH\that has a superior nutri-
HQWSUR¿OHWRWKHJUDLQIHGZKH\IRXQGLQPRVW
shakes, PHWDEROLVPERRVWLQJUDZFRFRQXWRLO
KRUPRQHIUHHFRORVWUXP to promote a KHDOWK\
LPPXQHV\VWHP2PHJDULFKFKLDDQG
ÀD[VHHGV, superfood greens like kale, spinach,
broccoli, alfalfa, and chlorella, and clinically
tested FRJQLWLYHHQKDQFHUV for improved mood
and brain function. The company even went a
step further by including a balance of pre and
probiotics for regularity in optimal digestive
health, and digestive enzymes so your body ab-
sorbs the KLJKFDOLEHU QXWULWLRQ you get from
INVIGOR8.
While there are over 500 testimonials on
Amazon about how INVIGOR8 “gave me more
energy and stamina” and “melts away abdomi-
nal fat like butter on a hot sidewalk”, what really
impressed me was how many customers raved
about the taste. So I had to give it a try.
When it arrived I gave it the sniff test. Un-
like most meal replacement shakes it smelled
like whole food, not a chemical factory. So far
so good. Still INVIGOR8 had to pass the most
important test, the taste test.
And INVIGOR8 was good. Better than
good. I could see what Zee meant when he said
his clients found the taste addicting.
I also wanted to see if Invigor8 would help
me burn that body fat I’d tried to shave off for
\HDUVWRDFKLHYHWRWDOGH¿QLWLRQ
Just a few weeks later I’m pleased to say,
shaving that last abdominal fat from my midsec-
tion wasn’t just easy. It was delicious.
Considering all the shakes I’ve tried I can
honestly say that the results I’ve experienced from
INVIGOR8 are nothing short of astonishing.
$FRPSDQ\VSRNHVSHUVRQFRQ¿UPHGDQH[-
clusive offer for Men’s Health readers: if you
order INVIGOR8 this month, you’ll receive
 RII \RXU ¿UVW RUGHU E\ XVLQJ SURPR FRGH
³0(1´ at checkout. If you’re in a rush to
burn fat, restore lean muscle and boost your
stamina and energy you can order INVIG-
OR8 today at www.Invigor8.com or by calling
1-800-958-3392.
 LIFE

Purpose-built, planet-
friendly pants.
2 If, like Somerhalder, you travel
often or spend the day shuffling
between meetings, this pair of
travel pants from Paskho will help
get you where you need to go.
They’re made with environmen-
tally conscious Swiss Tech fabric,
which is nice. But they’re also
loaded with pockets for storing
passports, plane tickets, and pro-
tein bars, which is even nicer.

Tech Travel henley ($58) and Tech Travel

trousers ($168) by Paskho; parley
ocean plastic UltraBoost20 sneakers
($180) by Adidas Originals; Eco-Drive
watch ($425) by Citizen Watch.

Stylish sneakers with plans

for the short- and long-term.
3 Some companies pay lip service to going
green. Adidas partnered with NASA’s ISS
National Lab to create the UltraBoost20 run-
ning shoes (above). And Veja’s Esplar trainers
(right) feel great thanks to a lining made of
organic cotton and a sole of wild Amazonian
forest rubber.

Traceable wool jacket ($895) and trousers

($398) by Boss; vest ($60) by REI Co-op; shirt ($125)
by Tact & Stone; sneakers ($120) by Veja.

48 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

 4
Styling: Ted Stafford. Grooming: Losi/Honey Artists. Tailoring: Carol Ai/Altered Agency.

The well-built
boots that
also give back.
Going to the recycling
center: not very fun.
Special thanks to Industrial Carting.

Wearing Timberland’s
new ReBOTL boots:
so much fun. They feel
sturdy even though
Timberland makes them
from up to 50 percent
recycled plastic. And
you can even see that
eco-friendly concept—
the ReBOTL lining is
literally green, right on
top of the Timbs you
know and love.

Sweatshirt ($105) by
Jungmaven; Indigood
jeans ($149) by
Wrangler; ReBOTL boots
($185) by Timberland.

FOR SOMEONE WHO’S been a fi xture on making to more important endeavors.

series like Lost and The Vampire Diaries
for nearly 20 years, Ian Somerhalder,
41, has a relatively basic sense of style—
which is surprising, considering his
shows are anything but basic. “Because
life is so insane and I’m just a dude, the
simpler the better,” he says. That means
jeans and T-shirts, the latter of which
he buys 75 at a time from Alternative
Apparel’s Eco line (which makes use of
nearly 1.8 million recycled plastic bot-
tles annually).
This Steve Jobs-ian attitude of
clothing-as-uniform helps Somerhalder
streamline his wardrobe, buck trends,
and ultimately devote his decision
His passion is tackling climate change:
He helped with the cleanup after the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the coast
of his native Louisiana, and he’s a United
Nations Goodwill Ambassador for its
environment program.
Now Somerhalder is starring on, pro-
ducing, and even occasionally directing
Netflix’s V Wars, a medical thriller involv-
ing a vampiric uprising. If that seems out-
there, the actor gets it. “Not to sound like
a douche,” he says, “but the last two shows
I was on were these tentpole watercooler
shows. I’ve learned enough that I don’t
have any desire for the show to not have
that same impact on an audience.”

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 49

 LIFE

2
4

GROOMING

Extreme You Makeover

It used to be that whatever your lot in life—sweaty, balding, chubby—the best you
could do was try to prevent it or cover it up. Now we have plasma to save your hair, injections to
make you sweat less, and lasers to kill toenail fungus. Is any of it right for you? BY GARRETT MUNCE

PAIN AVERAGE
OLD FIX NEW FIX
RATING TREATMENT

1. Prescription Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is drawn from your blood and then injected into your scalp. Three sessions
Thinning shampoo Studies have shown that several treatments of PRP can increase hair quantity, density, (higher if about a
hair and a hat and stability. “It’s like injectable fertilizer for your hair,” says plastic surgeon Benjamin Paul, scared of month apart
M.D. Around 70 percent of patients see improvement, but the results are not permanent. needles)

2. Hair dye Nowadays transplants can be done with individual hairs instead of large swaths, giving One long
Patchy and a you a fuller beard. “Donor hairs are typically harvested from the back of the scalp and session of three
beard toothbrush divided into single-hair follicles,” says plastic surgeon Jason Champagne, M.D. They are to six hours
then inserted to match the existing beard hair and begin growing in three to four months. 

3. Extra- Botox, commonly used to smooth forehead wrinkles, is also FDA approved to treat axillary One session
Excess strength hyperhidrosis: sweating so much that it interferes with your quality of life. That’s because
sweating deodorant Botox targets the neurotransmitter controlling those glands, says dermatologist Macrene
and a prayer Alexiades, M.D. You’ll sweat less after one 15-minute session, but it lasts only four months.

4. 8-Minute EMSculpt uses MRI-like magnetic waves to contract muscles. One 30-minute session Four sessions
Beer Abs DVD “induces 20,000 supramaximal muscle contractions to burn fat and build muscle two weeks
belly and cutting involuntarily,” says cosmetic dermatologist Paul Jarrod Frank, M.D. Some studies show a apart
carbs 16 percent increase in muscle and a 15 percent decrease in fat after several treatments.

5. Shower “Topical treatments never penetrate the actual layer of the toenail,” says podiatrist Three sessions
Toenail sandals and Suzanne Levine, D.P.M. She uses a Q-Clear Laser. It’s tuned to a specific wavelength to about a
fungus smelly spray target and kill fungi living beneath the surface without hurting the nails or skin. The month apart
treatment can feel uncomfortable, but results are visible after only a few months.

6. Earlier The Gharieni Spa Wave table uses sound and vibrations to slow brain waves, similar to We dare you to
Lack of bedtime and REM sleep. One 30-minute session can decrease stress and anxiety, improve concen- do it just once
sleep eye cream tration, and reduce signs of depression and chronic pain. Think of it more as meditation
than as a sleep replacement, says Men’s Health sleep advisor W. Christopher Winter, M.D. 

50 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH ILLUSTRATION BY REMIE GEOFFROI

 be inspired
Transform Bring out the best in yourself.

Your Body
With One
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MensHealth.com/Kettlehell WW Logo is the trademark of WW International,
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All rights reserved. 19PA065581
15479
 LIFE

The Stress-Free
Guide to

Should you make time for sex on birthdays, anniversaries, and

holidays? Yes. Should it be stressful? Absolutely not. BY JULIE VADNAL

P
LANNING A sexathon on an
anniversary or a birthday may
seem cliché—“Dick in a Box”
came out, what, more than a
decade ago? But that just means you have
to be more creative, because a memorable
sex session makes for one of the best gifts
of all. (Hold the wrapping paper, please.)
“Especially in longtime relationships,
things can get really monotonous, and
having sex around special occasions
spices things up,” says sex therapist Kris-
tie Overstreet, Ph.D. “And there can be a
really big payoff.” As in, stronger orgasms
(for you both!) and increased bonding.
But amping up your game for a special
occasion can also add pressure. How
far do you have to go—in terms of both
adventurousness and budget—to give her
an unforgettable experience? Relax. You
don’t need to hire a skywriter to make
her swoon; oftentimes just expending a
little more effort—like sending an antic-
ipatory text—can have a sizable effect.
“What people will remember most is the
time and energy their partner put in,”
says clinical psychologist Seth Meyers,
Psy.D., eHarmony’s resident relationship
expert. Use these four strategies to make
special-occasion sex even more special.

52 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFFREY WESTBROOK

 CRE ATE AN PARTY
IG FILTER IRL SUPPLIES
These buys make
special-occasion sex
We’re not saying you need to light more even more fun for
candles than the Vatican or scatter rose
everyone involved.
petals everywhere. But there are a few
clever ways to create a mood without
killing it—and yes, one of them involves
candlelight. Candlelight is a real-life
Instagram fi lter, and who doesn’t want
that when they’re naked? Instead of buy-
ing a 50-pack of tea lights from Costco,
which can be a fire hazard, invest in one
statement candle. It’s a gift and a scene
setter all in one.
Besides buying candles, Melissa,
26, a publicist in New York, makes
sure she and her partner can refuel and
rehydrate after a special-occasion
romp. Once, when they hadn’t seen each
other for a while, she says she stocked
the room “with post-coitus snacks—
chocolates and flavored seltzers are
my go-to—so we wouldn’t have to leave
our island of sheets for hours.”
SLOW
(WAY, WAY)
DOWN
We know you want to make her come—
and that’s great!—but challenge yourself
to go slow during foreplay. “Make an
extra effort to spend time kissing,
touching, nuzzling, fondling without
the express goal of the ‘ASAP orgasm,’ or
even penetration,” Meyers says. The less
she feels pressured to climax, the more
she’ll be able to enjoy herself, which ulti-
mately makes a big O more likely.
On a partner’s birthday, Andrew, 28,
a writer in New York, decided to give her
an erotic massage. “It started with just
a regular massage, and when she was
relaxed, I slowly moved into sexually
pleasuring her,” he says. “By the time
we actually had sex, it was incredible.”
Relationship expert Sadie Allison
Leslie Xia (illustrations)
suggests buying a bottle of massage oil
and taking your sweet time. “Do some
gentle stroking while making it a point
to touch every inch of skin on her body,
from behind her ears to under her
arms, all the way down to the bottom of
her feet,” Allison says.
PL AY WITH
POSITIONING
Hopefully you know the surefire ways to
BOY SMELLS please your partner, especially if you’ve
CANDLE been together since before butt motor-
Yup, women are
into those musky boating became a thing. But a birthday
scents. $34; or an anniversary is a chance to try a new
boysmells.com position that skews from your usual moves.
That doesn’t mean you need to install a
hanging sex swing. It can be as simple as
adding this twist to missionary, suggests
OTHERLAND Allison: Get in position for missionary,
CANDLE but scoot her booty to the edge of the bed
Freshen up the room so that you’re standing. Though it’s a
with something
slight change, it makes a big difference in
fruity or floral. $36;
otherland.com your stamina (thrusting while standing
is easier than while kneeling) and gives
you both super-deep stimulation.
Or change up your scenery. “For my
birthday, my boyfriend took us to a spa
SUSTAIN
for a couple’s massage, but they gave you
BODY OIL
Touch her body an hour in a giant tub prior to the mas-
for an hour—if sage,” says Jess, 33, a photo producer
she makes it in New York. “It was clearly for sex, so
that long. $15;
sustainnatural.com
yes, we had sex. It was amazing, and the
feeling that we might get caught made it
extra hot.”
MAKE AN X-R ATED
THE DAME FIN TOY STORY
This finger vibe
creates tingly
sensations. $85;
dameproducts.com Whether or not you’re already using
toys as part of your regularly scheduled
sexing, introducing a new one that stimu-
lates you both will up the ante.
That’s what Melissa and her partner
THE LELO TOR 2
tried to do on their first Christmas
This vibrating ring
gives your power tool together, when he gifted her a “massive”
a boost during sex. butt plug. “It was supposed to be a very
$139; lelo.com romantic evening of us exploring anal
training—something we were both really
turned on by—but because he got the
wrong size, it was a really awkward back-
WE-VIBE UNITE and-forth with lots of lube everywhere
It’s clitoral and before we finally admitted defeat,”
vaginal stimulation
she says. Eventually, they switched to
all in one toy. $99;
we-vibe.com a normal-sized plug—with the help of
Christmas-cookie-flavored lube.
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 53
 LIFE

YOU GUYS a beach in Singapore, à la The Bachelor,

but it’s nice to have an interesting answer

Have a Plan, Man when my friends ask what we did. I would

have done literally any “something” my
date had suggested, short of heroin.
LAUREN LARSON explains why a little The thrill of the activity date does not
mental labor is the sexiest thing a man can do. lie in doing the activity; most activity
dates are kind of lame. The thrill of the
EVE RY N OW AND THE N, someone asks question wasn’t a rage trigger for me yet; activity date is having someone plan
you a question that causes your eye to I thought it was sweet that he was direct something for you. Some men know this
twitch, your limbs to lock, and your loins about his interest. intuitively. Those men are, invariably,
to crawl up into your body. “Do you know I told him I was free the following Tues- happily dating or married to women who
how fast you were going just now?” is one day, and we made dinner plans. The day are way out of their league.
of those questions. “Do you have a second after that, he texted me again: “When do I My date didn’t suggest a “something.”
to chat?” is another one. get to see you again?” The eye twitch began. He wanted all the benefits of seeing me
But there’s one question that hard- I told him my weekend was wide open. without having to do any of the work to
ens my heart to the question asker for- “Great,” he said, “let’s do something.” plan it. He was happy to lead the charge
ever: “When do I get to see you again?” I am a child of the Bachelor franchise, on timing, the easiest part of date plan-
This past summer, I went out with a guy and as such I love a good activity date. I’ve ning, but he wasn’t eager to take on any of
I really liked. On the first date, we went gone on a lot of drinks dates in my time, the actual stress of planning. We would be
for drinks. The day after, he texted me: and it’s always refreshing to do something locked in a passive battle, each of us try-
“When do I get to see you again?” The different. I don’t need to bungee jump on ing to foist the burden of planning on the

54 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH ILLUSTRATION BY KAGAN M C LEOD

 YOUR
EXPERT
In this column
and on
MensHealth
.com, Lauren
Larson writes about the
evolving dynamics between
men and women—from
hooking up to . . . everything else.
other, until one of us died. I texted him
back with some things I like to do: muse-
ums, comedy clubs, zoos, saunas, etc. I
felt like a math teacher trying to guide a
student to an obvious answer—“Does two
plus two equal four, 40, or 400?”—except
there was no wrong answer.
Finally I cracked. I suggested we go see
Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood and get
some dinner. But I’d had it: The next day,
when he asked me again when he would “get
to see” me, I said I had a busy week ahead.
I don’t think I would have spurned him
so coolly if I hadn’t recently dated a man
who, bless his heart, could not plan. When
I’d ask him to pick a restaurant, he’d say,
“But you always pick such great spots.” He
said this with the conniving innocence of
someone saying, “Whenever I help with
the dishes, I break one.”
Good relationships require planning
even when you’re in the Netflix-on-the-
couch-with-Thai-food stage, and I felt like
the burden was always on me. I imagined
myself planning the rest of our relation-
ship, then our wedding, then the minutiae
of our kids’ days. I imagined myself in 20
years snapping and going on the lam.
THESE DAYS, WE (women, especially when
we’re stressed) talk a lot about “mental la-
bor,” the invisible work that happens in a
relationship. The term made one of its earli-
est appearances in a 1996 paper from Susan
Walzer, Ph.D., in the journal Social Prob-
lems—coincidentally the title of my mem-
oir. Walzer explored how the mental labor of
childcare was divided between mothers and
fathers. She divided that load into three cat-
egories: worrying, processing information,
and managing the division of labor.
Walzer described how women are social-
ly programmed to worry about their babies,
even feeling like bad mothers when they’re
not worrying. Men are not worriers and
don’t feel that their lack of worrying reflects
Kyle Hilton (Larson)
on them as parents. Women, in turn, might
worry more because they know the men
aren’t worrying. Women also tended to do
more research into what makes a parent
good or bad—that’s the “processing infor- researched the best new sake bars (man-
mation” part. And mothers spent more aging the division of labor).
time “managing the division of labor,” The flip side of my grievances is that by
meaning they spent more time trying to get planning a date, a man sets himself apart
their babies’ fathers to take a more active immediately. Even if I’m iff y on a guy after
role in parenting. Women were the logistics a first date, if he texts me with a plan (“We
captains of the family. can meet at the 5:30 screening of The Fare-
It’s kind of understandable, then, that well, then walk to a good Ethiopian place
a lot of the men I’m dating now—men who nearby”), he’s getting a second date. The
were being raised in 1996—have an aver- same goes for boyfriends and husbands:
sion to planning. Nobody taught them Most malfeasances can be brushed away
how to do it. There’s really only one type of by a well-planned evening, or even just an
occasion when men do, stereotypically, earnest attempt at a well-planned evening.
have to take over planning from women: If “When do I get to see you again?” is
promposals and marriage proposals. Many one of the most stressful phrases in a rela-
guys panic and turn to the jumbotron. tionship, then “I made a reservation” may
For fathers, the message of Walzer’s be the sexiest.
paper is clear: Don’t be the dad
who’s got everything figured
out. Be the dad who’s freaking
out because one kid has soccer HOW TO PICK A DATE
at 3:15 and one kid has piano an
hour away at 3:20.
RESTAURANT
For husbands, sharing men- Six considerations to
tal labor in the relationship is minimize stress (hers) and maximize
brownie points (yours).
a little less straightforward.
It might mean making sure Convenience: If you’re meeting after work,
you’re sharing in household pick a place she can get to easily from her
tasks, or taking charge of mak- office. If you’re meeting on a weekend, pick
somewhere you can both get to easily.
ing travel plans for the holidays.
For those of us nibbling from Noise level: People noise is fine—a crowded
the fine charcuterie of the meat restaurant suggests that you chose a popular
spot—but loud music is not. You want bustling,
market (dating): Our date is not bumping.
our baby. Our objective is to
plan a date that runs track, Lighting: The restaurant doesn’t have to be
candlelit, but the lighting shouldn’t be fluores-
excels in STEM fields, gets into cent. Fluorescent is the opposite of sexy.
Yale, and coddles us postre-
tirement. I’m happy to take on Reservations: Make one for a reasonable time;
if the only available reservation is at 4:45 P.M.,
planning sometimes—I really find a different spot.
do pick great restaurants—
but sometimes I want to hand Cost: Glance at the menu and make sure you’ll
be comfortable footing the bill. My worst date
over the reins. I don’t want to fear is the look of panic in my date’s eyes when
stress about whether we’ll have he picks up the menu and realizes he suggest-
enough time to get from the ed a place where the cheapest cocktail is $20
bar to the movie (worrying). and the only affordable dish is a side of green
beans. If you’ve eaten at the restaurant before,
I don’t want to spend my day
say, “This place is amazing,” and if you haven’t,
reading up on the best new sake say, “I looked at the menu and it looks amaz-
bars (processing information). ing.” This way, your date will know that you
I don’t want to stress about know how expensive it is.
whether you’ve stressed about Food: Look for a good mix of light “precoital”
whether we’ll have enough time fare and heavy “I’m going to need to lie down and
to get from the bar to the movie not move for five hours after this burger” fare.
or whether you’ve thoroughly
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 55
 LIFE

answers your
questions about sex
and relationships
that Google can’t.

WHAT’S THE SMOOTHEST,

LEAST AWKWARD WAY TO ASK
SOMEONE BACK TO MY APART-
MENT AT THE END OF A DATE?
—JESSE, Queens, NY
“Would you like to come home
with me tonight?”

WHEN MY WIFE AND I GO TO

ASK HER ANYTHING SHE SAYS SHE WANTS ROUGH SEX,
BUT I DON’T WANT TO HURT HER.
Are there preferred words for WHAT’S A SAFE STARTER MOVE?
—CAMERON, Denver, CO
body parts in 2020? Can I still Just because she asked for it
doesn’t mean you have carte
say p*** y and c* ck, or is there a blanche, so whatever you do,
agree in advance on a safe word
new vocabulary I need to learn? that either of you can use to dial
things back in the moment.
—PHIL, Detroit, MI
Then ease into it with some
light hair pulling or spanking.
Vulva. We doubt you’ve heard it from any of your
For hair pulling, grab a fistful
buddies, but the word is gaining traction among near the scalp—similar to
enlightened women as the most accurate way to refer to running your hands through
PARTIES, SHE TENDS TO
GET REALLY DRUNK. HOW DO
I HELP HER REIN IT IN?
—SETH, San Francisco, CA
First of all, this is definitely a
conversation you should have
sober. Confess that her party
habits make you uncomfortable,
since she’s always three steps
ahead of everyone else. Her ini-
tial reaction might be anger or
denial, because you’ve bruised
her pride, but ultimately she’ll
want to know if she’s doing
something that bothers you.
As you talk, try to figure
out what’s causing her to drink
so much. If she just doesn’t
know how to handle her booze,
encourage the 1:1 rule: one glass
of water after every alcoholic
drink. If she’s drinking due to
social anxiety or addiction,
then it’s time to think about
professional help.
I HAVE SOME EXPENSIVE SEX TOYS
FROM A PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIP.
IF I CLEAN THEM, IS IT WEIRD TO
USE THEM WITH A NEW PARTNER?
Adam Voorhes/Gallery Stock (rooster). Joel Arbaje (Piercey).

her hair—and squeeze gently. —STEVE, Jackson, MS

their external sex organs, including the labia, clitoris,
and vaginal opening. Saying it might transport you to
fifth-grade sex-ed class, but since most people still say
vagina when they really mean vulva, you’ll seem rather
cultured if you use it correctly in conversation. (If you
want to sound extra worldly, try the Sanskrit yoni.)
But if you’re in the middle of actually having sex,
p***y and c*ck will never go out of style. I approve of
any dirty talk that turns you and your partner on.
(Even though it’s called hair
pulling, it’s not really about
pulling—it’s more about adding
pressure.) Unless she requests
it, avoid a ponytail grab or
anything else that could cause
whiplash. For spanking, make
sure you hit the meatiest part of
the bum, and nothing above
the cheeks, which can be pain-
ful—and not in a good way.
If those toys went inside some-
one else, then the answer is yes.
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 MIND
61 .................... HOW TO DISAGR EE—
AGR EE A BLY
62 .................... SOMETIMES YOU’V E
J UST G OTTA SAY . . .
SOMETHING ELSE
63 ................... M A NAGE THE CH AOS
66 .............. YOU R 2020 MEDI A DIET

STAY SANE
HOW TO

IN A CRAZY ELECTION YEAR

Twitter, talking heads, fake news, your nonstop
neighbor, your opinionated colleague . . . gah! How to tune out
the noise and keep your mental health intact.

EVERY ELECTION SEASON,

our merciless news cycle starts
taking people hostage. I’ve
been a therapist for about ten
years, and many sessions that
would normally revolve around
my patients’ personal strug-
gles suddenly acquire a politi-
cal flavor—an argument with a
racist uncle, nightmares about
getting fired because of a rant
posted on Twitter, excessive
drinking after checking Nate
Silver’s latest election analysis.
My patients are not an
anomaly. In a survey by the
American Psychological Asso-
ciation after the 2016 election,
57 percent of respondents said
that politics stressed them
out. In another survey, from
the University of Nebraska–
Lincoln, about a fifth of people
reported doing or saying
something they later regretted
as a result of feelings related
to politics. Another 20 percent
said that politics had nega-
tively affected their relation-
ships with friends and family.
I’m thinking of more than
one wedding that was almost
called off because of things
said around the dinner table.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN TOMAC MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 59

 MIND

SWEATING THE ISSUES

Why do we get ourselves into this Texas representatives Colin
state, and how does it happen? There are Allred (left), Democrat, and
Van Taylor, Republican, run
plenty of theories about that, but no mat- you through disagreeing—
ter what gets us to this place, I can tell agreeably.
you what’s happening inside all of us. It
might start with a push notification that
drives you to Twitter to see what people
are saying, then someone’s ridiculous
comment catches your eye, your blood
pressure rises, you text a friend to vent,
and now you’re off to the races. The whole
system has us stuck in a feedback loop
seemingly designed to push our buttons
and activate our stress response.
Having that response on high alert
24/7 isn’t just bad for your relationships
and your social-media feed; it can be di-
sastrous for your health. We keep looking
at the news or talking about politics in
the hope that it will relieve some of this
anxiety. But staying engaged can make
it worse, since we’re powerless to change
the political narrative of the moment,
and there’s always more bad news.
The more we feel threatened, the more
our body relies on the hormones cortisol
and adrenaline to survive. Constant
exposure to cortisol leads to major health
problems: weight gain, poor sleep, heart
disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety—
and that’s not even a full list. And, no
surprise here, the worse we feel, the more
likely we are to lash out at friends, family,
and strangers—or “add to the conversa-
tion” with a witty tweet or comment. We
seem to collectively whip ourselves into a
frenzy with no way out.
But take a deep breath. There’s hope
for surviving this upcoming election
season, and it doesn’t require giving
up your smartphone and moving to the
woods. The truth is, there’s no escape
from partisan politics. People have
disagreed about politics since the first
government was formed, probably even
before that.
Defining the problem is the first step
toward dealing with it. And in this case,
the problem isn’t political conflict; it’s
what we do about it. With the right hab-
its and mind-set in place, you can make
it through the 2020 election with your
sanity and your relationships intact.
—AVI KLEIN, L.C.S.W, psycho-
therapist in New York City and cohost of
Hey, Man—The Advice Podcast for Men.

60 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPHS BY NATHAN PERKEL

 I G H T
THE
R T )
D L E F
(AN
D I SAG R E E
Two Texas congressmen. Two sides of the
aisle. How they make things work.
C 
OLIN ALLRED AND VAN
Taylor have a lot in common.
They’re both freshman
lawmakers in the U. S. House
of Representatives. They’re both from
Texas. They’re both used to being part
of a team: Allred spent four seasons
in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans;
Taylor was in the Marines for nine years.
But there’s one major difference: Allred
is a Democrat and Taylor a Republican,
and at a time when our government
(and seemingly every aspect of life) is
intensely polarized, you’d have every
reason to believe these two aren’t friends
and don’t get along. But they are, and
they do, and Men’s Health caught up
with them during an early-morning
workout to learn how they manage it.
LOOKING OVER THE POLICY SEC-
TIONS ON YOUR WEBSITES, WE
DON’T SEE A WHOLE LOT THAT YOU
GUYS AGREE ON. SO HOW EXACTLY
DOES BEING FRIENDS WORK?
TAYLOR: Colin was the first person I
called to congratulate on election
night in 2018. Our districts are inter-
twined—we have water issues together
and transportation issues together—
and I knew I was gonna have to work with
him. I came to Congress to get things
done for my district, and building
relationships is the first step. A relation-
ship begins with a phone call.
ALLRED: And it does help that we’re
friends. You could spend all your time
focused on where you disagree with
someone. You could have a good argu-
WAY TO
ment every day if you wanted to, but you
wouldn’t get much done. And anytime you
don’t have a relationship with somebody,
it’s gonna be easier to demonize them.
TAYLOR: You want to focus on what you
can work on together. You have to accept
the arguments on the other side as valid
when they are. You don’t want to dismiss
them—at least understand what they
are so that you are able to converse. Be-
cause if you don’t know anything about
what the other side is talking about,
you’re not going to be able to understand
their perspective. 
SINCE YOUR DISTRICTS ARE NEXT
TO EACH OTHER, YOU GUYS AUTO-
MATICALLY HAVE SOMETHING IN
COMMON. WHAT’S THE BEST WAY
TO TALK WITH A COLLEAGUE YOU
EITHER DON’T KNOW OR DON’T
PARTICULARLY LIKE?
TAYLOR: Start with family.
ALLRED: Always ask about their fami-
lies. Then: “How’s life treating you?”
Especially with the new members: “How
are you settling into D. C.?” The older
members: “How did you settle in?” Once
you start talking to each other along
those lines, you pretty quickly realize
how many similarities you have.
TAYLOR: The other key to talking with
people is to know where they are. When-
ever I’m talking to anyone of Congress,
I say, “Hey, this is what I think. This is
why I think you should do this. But you
need to do what’s good for you in your
district.” It’s important to have those con-
versations and be honest with each other.
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 61
 MIND

ALLRED: I always have a harder time
when I feel like somebody’s repeating
talking points. It’s like: I’m trying to have
a conversation with you; you don’t need to
lobby me. You’re also probably not going
to change my mind just with talking
points that we’ve all heard on the news.
HOW MUCH OF THE BICKERING
AND VITRIOL THAT WE SEE
ON TV IS REAL AND HOW MUCH
OF IT IS JUST FOR SHOW?
ALLRED: I don’t think that it’s as perva-
sive as it might seem on TV, but there
are certainly people in D. C. who don’t like
each other.
TAYLOR:  And TV gravitates toward
those people. “Hey, wanna go on TV and
bash the other side?”
ALLRED: Also, it’s not like “Allred and TAYLOR: We need to think about
Taylor Come Together to Work on Moder- these conversations as an opportunity
ate Bill” is raging news.  to educate ourselves and learn from
other people. It’s a smart thing to have
MORE AND MORE, IT SEEMS a diversity of perspectives. No two
LIKE THAT DIVISIVENESS IS people agree with each other all
SEEPING INTO OUR EVERYDAY the time. If you don’t believe me, ask
LIVES. WHAT’S A SOLUTION your significant other.
TO THAT? OTHER THAN ALLRED: And there are important
WORKING OUT TOGETHER. differences! Don’t get me wrong. And
TAYLOR: You can’t just watch cable news that’s what our elections are about.
to get your information. You have to get That’s democracy. That’s healthy. What
out of your ideological bubble. isn’t healthy is when you assume that
ALLRED: Same with social media. We’ve the person who disagrees with you is
got algorithms that enforce your existing also a bad person.  Because if you can’t
worldview. All of us now have to be more disagree without thinking someone
proactive about getting outside of our else is bad or evil, then you start pulling
little bubble and have an understanding apart the seams of our country, and we
of all sides of the issues.  have to be very careful about that.

party chatter. They evolve over time

UNLESS AN UNFORESEEN
The Savvy Guy’s tragedy befalls Randall on This Is
Us, the presidential election will
Guide to Changing be the most important thing to
happen on a Tuesday all year long.
the Topic But that doesn’t mean you have
to talk about it. Why would you
You’re trying to have a nice time. want to? At this stage, very little
Things get overheated. All good can come from additional
you need is a little finesse to get conversation. What’s the best you
could hope for? That you change
the evening back on track.
someone’s mind? LOL, no. Hearts
and minds are not won via cocktail-
through lived experience. So when
the election comes up in conver-
sation—and it will, whether you
want it to or not—you might want
to change the subject, lest politics
hang heavily over your social occa-
sion like a lingering, noxious fart. 
The easiest way to extricate
yourself is to say, “You know, I
haven’t been following it lately.
Instead, I’ve been . . .” and then talk
about literally anything else. Or
pivot with a question. If they say,
“Hey, did ya watch the debate last
night?” you say, “Nope! I watched
the Rockets game. Think those
guys can go all the way?” They say,
“If my candidate loses, I’m moving
to Canada.” You say, “Oh, man,
where exactly will you go?” They
almost certainly won’t have a real
plan; empty threats like this are
just how people talk about politics,
and they’re yet another reason not
to engage. But in the unlikely event
that they’ve thought through their
American exodus, you already
know what to say next: “Can I help
you pack?” —NICK MARINO

62 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH


Chaos Management,
According to the Pros
How to keep from drowning in the
24/7 news cycle, by top journalists who do it.
1 TURN OFF THE
FIRE HOSE
Prize–winning editorial writer for The
Washington Post, an MSNBC contrib-
utor and substitute anchor, and host of
the podcast Cape Up.
THE CHAOS: Capehart’s days are
planned . . . until they’re not. “Ever since
2016, we’ve been on a roller coaster with
no lap bar,” he says. So he expects inter-
ruptions in his preferred routine, which
involves a 6:00 A.M. wakeup, a dose
of Morning Joe and New Day, a scroll
through Twitter and feeds from the likes
of Politico and Axios, then a dive into the
newspapers, including The Washington
Post and The New York Times. If he’s not
writing, he’s nailing down his podcast
or preparing for panels he’s on or moder-
ating, speeches he’s giving, or appear-
ances on news and talk shows. Breaking
news means all bets are off. Here, his
insights on how to survive the ride.
THE STRATEGIES
GIVE THE NEWS A BREAK. YOU
WON’T MISS MUCH.
The best thing I did in terms of coping
was to leave the country last July. I spent
a month in Rome to work on a book I’ve
been toying with for a while. I deleted
Twitter. I only listened to music, and not
TIME OUT Jonathan Capehart
takes a spin through D. C. to
give himself the time and space
to think about things.
once did I turn on the television. I
discovered that by being completely
detached, I became completely recharged.
When I came back, it was like turning
on All My Children if you haven’t
watched it for 20 years. The story line
has advanced maybe a little bit, but
the characters and the themes are
pretty much the same.
Recently I’ve been thinking about how
I can break away to give myself some
mental space. I take long walks—some-
times six to ten brisk miles—to stop
paying attention to what’s going on in the
news and spend more time in my head
thinking, while also paying attention to
where I am, and how the light is hitting
the Washington Monument or the way
tourists are interacting with each other.
BUT WHEN YOU DO TUNE IN,
REALLY TUNE IN
If I were to write the way most people read
news, I’d be fired. News consumers need to
do a better job. I spend a lot of time report-
ing things, and I have yelled at people on
Twitter who react to something I’ve writ-
ten just based on the tweeted headline.
In the press, when we make mistakes,
we’re held accountable for them. News
consumers aren’t held accountable for not
reading the whole story or not clicking
on the links that provide a broader un-
derstanding. When I react to people on
Twitter, I try to hold them accountable.
GET JUST ENOUGH FOOD AND
AN ABUNDANCE OF SLEEP
I used to think I needed to eat a big break-
fast, lunch, and dinner and be stuffed.
Now it’s less about eating until I’m full;
it’s eating so I’m no longer hungry. I don’t
want all that food in my stomach when I
go to bed, and I want enough sleep so I’m
not groggy and can’t think or write.
HANG TIGHT
Just think of this year as one of those
flights where it’s turbulent the whole time
and you hope it’s not going to take much
longer to get through the rough air. It’s
uncomfortable, and it’s frightening, but
you get through to the other side.
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 63
 MIND
2
DISCOVER YOUR
ROUTINE
respondent for CNN, reports all day for
the network, files stories for digital, and
makes on-air appearances on shows like
The Lead with Jake Tapper (4:00 P.M.),
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer
(5:00 P.M.), Erin Burnett OutFront (7:00
P.M.), Anderson Cooper 360 (8:00 P.M.),
and CNN Tonight with Don Lemon
(10:00 P.M.). And he manages to get to the
gym and spend time with his family, too.
We caught up with him between stories to
find out how.
2016 was a crazy year and a crazy election
cycle. There were points when I was on
the trail for 20-plus days a month, and
it took its toll. About a month before
64 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH
Election Day, my mom called me and said
in the kind yet blunt way that only moms
can: “You look terrible.” I’d lost a ton of
weight and wasn’t even trying to manage
my health. A couple of months after the
election, I realized I needed to figure
this out, because it was having a tangible
negative effect on everything else.
I got very regimented in how I ate and
exercised. The key ended up being getting
into CrossFit—something I swore I would
never do. Turns out I love the challenge,
the energy, and how it carries over into
my day. My wife especially appreciates
me not being grumpy. And probably most
importantly, no matter what happens the
rest of the day, I already feel like I accom-
plished something by hitting the gym. It
changes my mind-set and how I operate.
I wake up at 4:00 A.M. every day. I’m
one of those weird morning people that
START WITH A WIN
Phil Mattingly hits the gym
first thing—it lets him chalk
up an accomplishment
before news-cycle chaos
gets going at full speed.
most people hate. After I
make coffee (with heavy
cream to provide calories for
the workout), I start reading
all the major papers you can
think of, fire off a bunch of
text messages to a group of
sources who are also dreaded
early risers, and then I’m out the door
by 4:45. I head over to the gym and work
out from 5:15 to 6:15. I might phone some
sources on the five-minute drive home
to make sure I’m in the right place on
things. When I get home, I make break-
fast for my two boys, who are just waking
up, and give my wife a break from our
newborn daughter before I head to work.
The gym is really the only hour of
the workday when I’m completely off
my phone. (On the weekends, I make a
deliberate effort to put it down. My wife
will tell you that effort is subpar, but it’s
a work in progress.) The gym has almost
become a safe harbor of time, where I
have control when everything else seems
to be spinning out of control. I think the
chaos [of the news cycle] is the reason I’ve
become so attached to my routine—it’s
one thing I can control each day.

I don’t follow any specific meal plan,
but I try to eat every two and a half to
three hours. I keep myself well stocked
with Rx, Quest, and Epic bars so I always
have something to grab if I’m stuck chas-
ing lawmakers in the Capitol or candi-
dates on the road. I definitely have cheat
days, but rarely during the week. The
second I go off the wagon foodwise, it’s
going to be a minute before I hop back on.
We face tremendous pressure both
externally and internally where we’ve
got to break news, not get beat, and, most
importantly, get it right. But the truth is,
after three-plus years, you become con-
ditioned to it all—to some degree, your
metabolism sets itself to that reality.
When news is breaking is weirdly when I
feel the most calm. I can focus and iden-
tify what I need to do and get it done. I
don’t think you exist in this environment
if you don’t love it.
Of course, that doesn’t mean things are
a breeze. There are bad days, days where
nothing makes sense, and days where you
feel like you’re bad at your job. Getting
beat on a big story you know you should
have had is soul crushing.
But the harsh reality is sometimes
you just don’t have it all together. You
oversleep and miss the gym. You make it
to the gym and have a terrible workout.
You eat like garbage because you just feel
like it. The 24/7 news cycle, or requests
from bosses, or public criticism of your
work just kind of overtakes you. And
that inability to pull it back together can
linger for days.
The biggest, probably most important
thing, at least in my mind, is the recog-
nition that it only takes one day—or one
workout, or one good scoop, or one good
night with my family—to get everything
back on track. Figuring that out—and
getting myself to that point—is probably
the most important aspect of handling
day-to-day craziness.
Also, a little perspective helps. I have
friends deployed in war zones, friends
battling cancer, friends dealing with sig-
nificant family issues. I’m beyond lucky to
have three healthy kids, an unbelievably
understanding and patient wife, and a job
that sticks me at the center of history ev-
ery day. —AS TOLD TO MARTY MUNSON
3
FIND CALM IN THE making calls to sources and keeping up
STORM with tweets by newsmakers. You have to be
prepared to walk in front of a camera on a
moment’s notice and answer questions on
NBC News White House correspondent any of more than a dozen topics. I just try
and coanchor of Weekend Today, 43, to focus on what’s immediately in front
appears on Today, NBC Nightly News of me. If you think too far in advance, it
with Lester Holt, and MSNBC. Which can be overwhelming. Just being calm in
means reporting and analyzing the news such a relentless work environment can
on live TV many times a day, starting at be crucial. My sister, who has a rare disor-
7:00 A.M. Here’s how peace, health, and der called Usher syndrome that’s causing
family fit in, too. her to lose her vision and hearing, has
this motto: “Breathe in peace, breathe out
5:10 A . M .: I try to sneak out of bed with- fear.” I’ve tried to adopt that.
out waking up my wife and my four-year- 6:30: Report live for Nightly News.
old daughter, who has surely crawled 7:30: When I get home, I put my phone
in with us in the middle of the night. I down and focus on being with my wife,
check my phone right away, because in- Alison, and our two daughters before
evitably something happened overnight bed and, frankly, before I start working
that’s going to impact coverage. on the next day’s story. The TV is off,
5:45: Breakfast is a couple of hard- there’s often a dance party, and we’re
boiled eggs and fruit and maybe a just together. It’s a head-clearing space,
yogurt; I throw more fruit into my bag which is hard to find. My job requires be-
before I leave. There are usually cashews ing aware of so much at once, but I don’t
or almonds in our White House booth. think anybody can survive that way. You
5:55: Clean up and head out the door; I have to find space and time for yourself.
usually listen to Morning Joe while driv- 10:30: My goal is to get to bed as close to
ing in, and I call in to the newsroom. then as I can. If I get to bed before 10:00
6:10: Arrive at the White House. There’s P.M., which is extremely rare, I definitely
value to having those snacks I packed: feel the difference the next morning.
I can be cooped up in our booth
for 13 hours. You can’t leave the
property for fear that there will
be breaking news, so the goal
with these snacks is to do any-
thing possible to avoid grazing
on junk, especially from the
White House vending machine
that’s just around the corner.
6:20: Call our producers at the
Today show in New York, check in
with sources, and then hustle out
to the White House North Lawn,
and the next thing I know . . .
7:00: . . . I’m reporting live in
front of a national audience.
8:00 to 6:00 P. M .: There’s a
hurricane of information coming
at you all day long. I have six TV
monitors in front of me, and I’m
YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU
When you’re stuck in the White
House booth all day analyzing
fast-breaking news, you stock up on
healthy food, says Peter Alexander.
 MIND
Your 2020
Election
Media Diet
How to stay informed
without the toxicity.
BACK WHEN YOU couldn’t get CNN in your
cave, you were always on high alert for some
crumb of news that would tell you it was
safe to go out and score some dinner. You’d
scan. You’d consume. Same with food. It
was scarce; you stayed vigilant. Scarfed up
every bit you got. Which is a pretty nasty
evolutionary habit to break. Now that we’re
bathing in an easily accessible glut of news,
we’re suffering from a kind of cognitive glut-
tony. We’re just not built to handle what’s
coming at us. So until evolution catches up,
we gathered top experts to outline exactly
what a healthy media diet looks like.
COOL DAD
Make Fatherhood
Civil Again!
How does a former campaign manager talk to his kids about the
nastiest election of our time? He bites his tongue. BY DAVID PLOUFFE
HAVE THREE MEDIA
MEALS A DAY*
Unless your livelihood depends on know-
ing every single nuance of every single
developing news event, you don’t need to
check the news every minute.
Look at the news and your social-media
feeds once in the morning, once at lunch,
and once in the evening, says Mary
McNaughton-Cassill, Ph.D., who has re-
searched the effect of news watching at the
University of Texas at San Antonio. That’s it.
*As with a regular diet, meal frequencies
and sizes can vary depending on individual
factors, such as your personality, profession,
and comfort with ambiguity.
50¢
CUT OUT JUNK
Let’s start with social media, because, like
the checkout counter at the mini-mart, its
very nature is to serve up the most irresist-
ible (and inflammatory) stuff possible.
Cutting back also helps you avoid the ugly
vortex of mindless scrolling. “Many people
scroll when they’re bored, depressed, or
anxious,” says McNaughton-Cassill, and
news-related content can reinforce these
negative emotions. No need to eliminate
everything; just unfollow what annoys you.
And if you see something alarming, click
through to the original source, says jour-
nalism professor Karen McIntyre at Virginia
Commonwealth University.
H
AVING SPENT my entire
adult life working in politics,
I sometimes have to check
myself from trying to treat
the 2020 elections as an extended civics
lesson for my kids. It’s kind of like talking
to them about sex. You may want to avoid
the whole topic, but because it’s a good bet
they’re hearing about it everywhere else,
you feel like you should say something.
Especially now.
Depending on where you live, or what
channel you watch, you may feel as if we
are headed for another civil war. Odds
are you’re frustrated with Washington.
Congress’s approval rating rarely cracks
25 percent. Hemorrhoids, root canals,
and traffic jams are all more popular.
You likely feel compelled to discuss
politics with your kids or when your kids
are around. And maybe you even do so as
you might on social media—with a snide
comment or quick dismissal of whatever
current crisis is threatening to suck the
world into chaos.
I have a 15-year-old son and an 11-year-
old daughter. If I try to force-feed them
how much I think they should care about
something, or how to engage with it, it’s
a virtual guarantee they’ll tune out. But
that doesn’t mean they don’t care. They
 FIGURE OUT IF THAT
BURGER IS IMPOSSIBLE
Fake reported news, like fake meat, is really
good at its game right now. While social-
media giants are making efforts to tag false
information, you can’t expect them to do
the job for you. Refine your own BS detector:
• Boost your analytical abilities with
questions like “If I’m wrong, where can I find
evidence that disconfirms my belief?” says
Michael Bronstein, Ph.D., at Yale University.
• Check what the other side says. Allsides
.com links to articles reflecting the left, cen-
ter, and right views on various issues.
• Visit Factcheck.org, a site that verifies
and refutes claims in news stories.
just don’t seem to care with the same
sense of zealotry or rage that drives most
political “discussion” these days.
Neither of my kids is a fan of Donald
Trump—but they don’t want to hear
criticism of people who are. They know
the country is pretty evenly divided for
and against. They are essentially patriots
playing the long game. As my son put it,
“We can’t write people off just because
they think differently than we do.”
My son has told me he thinks the media
(this includes me, his father) treats
everything that Trump or the Democrats
say as super important when he knows
only certain things are. He wants to
decide for himself what to pay attention
to. A daily monologue from me about the
election or my sharing too much politi-
cal content with him causes him to shut
down. He’s open to hearing what I think,
but not what I think I know.
My daughter is more interested in
rules, especially the Electoral College.
Leslie Xia (media diet illustrations)
She knows that Hillary Clinton collected
more votes in 2016 and wants to under-
stand better why she didn’t win. She
doesn’t like to watch political coverage
on TV because all the pontificators and
gasbaggers just seem “mean” to every-
one. No one seems to talk about the rules,
REACH FOR SOMETHING
REALLY SATISFYING
First, fill up on multiple, credible sources.
No publication is perfect, but Knight
Foundation surveys suggest that people
perceive PBS News, National Public Radio,
the Associated Press, ABC News, and CBS
News to be the least biased news sources.
If that leaves you cold, check the grow-
ing movement in news called solutions And If the
journalism. (Find stories at solutionsjour-
Election Doesn’t
nalism.org.) This will “flip the frame to show
Go Your Way. . . 
how people are responding to problems,”
says McIntyre. Consuming this news may SOMEONE, EVENTUALLY,
make you feel better about negative news is going to win this election—
you read later. —JULIE STEWART which means many other
someones will lose. Perhaps
even your chosen someone
will be swept into the dustbin
of history. If this happens, do
much less abide by them. And as an occa- not despair. Resist the urge
sional pontificator myself, I hear her. to purchase a piñata in the
I understand where all this fervor shape of the winner. That
comes from. This election is important. won’t help. What will help is
The so-called discourse will intensify. The moving off the sidelines and
shouting matches will inevitably grow into the game. Instead of
more mean-spirited. And it is this way channeling your hopes into
largely because we’re thinking not just of someone else, start a little
our futures—but also those of our kids. grassroots activism yourself.
But that doesn’t mean we as fathers March. Organize. Protest.
have to treat our dinner-table or car-ride Boycott. Write an op-ed.
conversations like Facebook or Reddit. Run for local office. You’re a
I’m starting to see this election as a citizen. Act like it.     
way for me to model good citizenship Also, take solace in the
behavior and good parental behavior. Yes, fact that losing candidates
this means making sure that my kids typically land on their feet.
know I believe the outcome of the election John McCain returned to the
matters. But it also means making sure Senate, where in 2017 he cast
that my kids know they can decide what the decisive health-care vote.
matters for themselves. Even John Edwards bounced
In other words, I’m approaching back from fathering a secret
this election like a well-behaved child love child while his wife was
instead of like a poorly behaved adult. fighting cancer; he’s now
That means I listen more and I talk less. a civil rights lawyer. If you
When I do talk, I wait absolutely can’t quit your
+ for my turn. And, candidate, you’ll find a way
David Plouffe is a most difficult of all, if to keep backing them. But
political strategist I don’t have anything frankly, it’s better to move on.
and the author of nice to say when that Whoever loses the 2020 race
A Citizen’s Guide to
Beating Donald turn comes up, I don’t will be just fine. And so will
Trump, out March 3. say anything at all. you.  —NICK MARINO
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 67
LIGHT SHOW
Red-light therapy was
originally used to grow
plants in space. Here
on earth, Stan tests a
Mito device to activate
muscle recovery. $450;
mitoredlight.com
 BY

E
LAUREN LARSON
NO
I C
PHOTOGRAPHS BY

CH T
CARTER SMITH
O
BU
TO
STAN

To keep up with
the Chrises,
SEBASTIAN STAN
upgraded his diet,
training, and whole
way of looking at
the world. Now he’s
starring on his
own new Marvel
series, and 2020 is
shaping up to be
his best year ever.

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 69

THE COFFEE-SHOP staff is having a silent meltdown. The
peppermint tea I ordered was forgotten as soon as Sebastian Stan
walked in. He orders a coffee, receives it instantly, and goes to put
it down on a table. The lid isn’t fully on, and the coffee spills. It’s
almost a “stars are just like us” moment, but then a barista sud-
denly materializes with a paper towel in his outstretched palm.
“It’s wet,” he says eagerly.
Stan, 37, is wearing black shorts, a black T-shirt, midcalf
black socks, and a gray hoodie missing its drawstring. He looks
very off-duty SoHo, which he is: He’s back home in New York City
on furlough from preparations for The Falcon and the Winter
Soldier, an extravagant collaboration between Marvel and new-
born streaming service Disney+.
He’s also wearing a blue baseball cap, which sits slightly
higher on his head than it might on the head of someone with less
va-va-voom hair. That hair sent the Internet into a tizzy recently,
when a poster for Falcon showed Stan with a short cut. In the
past when Stan has played the Winter Soldier (né Bucky Barnes),
he’s had shoulder-length hair. Next to his forehead, which is
giant—the White Cliffs of Dover of foreheads—the longer style
made him look very sinister.
Stan is somewhat less recognizable in street clothes, but women
still side-eye him on their way to the bathroom. Maybe they recog-
nize him; maybe he’s just a little too strapping not to be famous.
As Stan talks, he maintains an unsettling deadpan, verging on a
glower. “People always ask me if I’m okay,” he says, still glowering.
“They’ve said I have ‘serial-killer resting face.’ No matter what I
do, I’ve always had dark circles under my eyes that never really go
away. Lately there might be a little moisturizer happening here and
there, just in case. Preserving a couple years, or whatever.”
The more reserved the actor, the more likely he is to become
part of Hollywood mythology. Between Captain America: The
Winter Soldier (2014) and Captain America: Civil War (2016),
a rumor circulated that he had gotten too ripped for the arm he’d
worn in the earlier film, a wraparound contraption meant to look
like a machine prosthetic. Redditors called him “the Winter
Swoldier” and “Bulky Barnes.”
Stan laughs when I bring it up and clarifies that he used a Stan is not a new arrival in the Marvel
Page 68: Tank by Calvin Klein
new-and-improved arm in each successive fi lm. With the first Underwear; bathing suit by
universe: He made his superhero debut
Emporio Armani; bracelet by
iteration, he had to apply lube to slide his real arm into what was Shinola. Page 69: Tank byin 2011, with Captain America: The
essentially two rigid metal tubes. “It was like having a massive Todd Snyder + Champion; First Avenger. But recently he’s enjoyed
shorts by Armani Exchange;
hammer attached to me,” he says, “but it looked unbelievable in a burgeoning late-term fandom as his
necklace by Title of Work.
the movie, and it actually informed a lot of my body language.” Above: Shorts by Armani roles (and arms) have ballooned. Beyond
Subsequent arms were more mobile, and Stan doesn’t have to Exchange; necklace by Marvel, he starred alongside Margot
Tiffany & Co.; sneakers by
lube up to get in there anymore: There’s a sleeve inside the arm for Nike Air Jordan.
Robbie in 2017’s I, Tonya, as Tonya
his next appearance as the Winter Soldier. But, he concedes, he did Harding’s jackass boyfriend. When we
get too big for the arm used in Civil War. “I was so insecure being meet in October, he’s just returned from shooting the spy fi lm
around these massive fucking guys, so I started lifting really heavy 355 in London, with Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Lupita
and ate a lot. I remember I showed up, and I was a little bit bigger Nyong’o, and Diane Kruger. Another insecurity-inspiring roster.
than I had been in The Winter Soldier. The arm was a bit tight,” he With Stan’s constellation of anxieties—he says he’s “terribly
says. “I was losing circulation.” self-aware, to the point of detriment”—he is uniquely suited to

70 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

stardom in 2020. A decade ago, audiences wanted actors to be
pillars of Hollywood hubris, strutting around in latex Marvel
suits, muscly and impenetrable. We still want the muscles, but
we also want stars to be genuine.
Marvel fi lms can seem at odds with that national craving for
authenticity. Steve Rogers, for example, becomes Captain America
instantly, in the first ten minutes of The First Avenger: He goes
into a machine and emerges fit, huge, and self-actualized. I ask
Stan whether that narrative—man gets muscles and immediately
earns the admiration and attraction of everyone in his midst—
isn’t a dated, unrelatable picture of masculinity.
“When I was watching Steve Rogers,” Stan starts in, “I saw him
question his identity, his alliances, the government. ‘Who am I?
What is this? What made me come into this is very different than
the role I am in now.’ I think it was very timely, in the sense that
you could see that character evolve. Then he gives up his shield
and is like, ‘I’m out. I’m going to do my own thing.’ He chooses his
own life. It’s actually more relatable.”
There’s an obvious metaphor there: Stan is Captain America,
and stardom—and the press tours, the scrutiny, and the training
that come with it—is his government, always invading his care-
fully fortified sense of self. As a result, he can appear very reti-
cent in public, offering only occasional glimpses of the unguarded
Sebastian Stan. Audiences live for those moments.
Stan is the anti-celebrity in the year of the anti-celebrity.
And his ambient hostility toward questioning is offset by the
behavior of his Falcon costar Anthony Mackie. When alone in
interviews, Stan can seem deflective and bored, but he gets an
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 71
enormous kick out of Mackie, who has jumped in to rescue many an
interviewer left to writhe on the hook by Stan. He is the Sebastian
Stan whisperer, midwife to a charm that can be difficult to coax out.
“When I’m trying hard to find the honest moment, he sort of
unlocks me a little bit. We both laugh and we find a way to have a
good time,” Stan says. When I tell him that I’m planning to mine
Mackie for gossip, he laughs. “Here’s what he’s going to say: ‘He’s
way too serious. It’s boring. He slows everything down. It’s always
these questions and, like, the stare. Give this kid a Yoo-hoo! Some-
body get him a chocolate milk. Good God, put a smile on his face!’ ”
Mackie is the enthusiastic extrovert to Stan’s pensive recluse.
Even though I reach him on the phone at 9:00 P.M. after a long day
of shooting in Savannah—“I’m already going to bed,” Mackie says
in a N’awlins drawl that sounds sleepier than usual—he’s forth-
coming about Stan. He describes his costar
as a hermit, a chronic Irish-goodbye-er who
doesn’t offer much of himself at first. “If the
FBI ever needed to get anything out of him,
“I was so
insecure being
they’d be in very big trouble,” Mackie says. “I
don’t know what the male equivalent would
be of ‘resting bitch face,’ but Sebastian has around these
massive guys in
nailed that 100 percent.”
His first impression, which lingered for a
long time, was that Stan was a very quiet, very
reserved actor. They shook hands when they Winter Soldier,
met, but it wasn’t a buddy-com bromance at
first sight. It wasn’t until much later, when so I started
the two were on a press tour for The Winter
Soldier, that they hit it off. Mackie hung out
LIFTING REALLY
with Stan and a few of his closest friends, and
they “unlocked” Stan for Mackie the same
HEAVY and
way Mackie now unlocks Stan on press tours. ate a lot.”
Their chemistry also plays well on set.
They share a dedication to their work, and
they both come from classical acting backgrounds. (“He went to
Juilliard,” Stan says of Mackie. “He can do anything.”) Beyond
that, they’re opposites, reining in each other’s moods to a per-
fect, workable middle. “He calms me down when I’m ready to
rage against the machine,” Mackie says. In turn, Mackie bullies
Stan into having fun.
Case in point: When they were on a press tour in Beijing, they
had one of those endless nights that make press tours seem glam-
orous. “It just went on and on and on,” Mackie recalls. “We had to
do press the next morning, and he’s like, ‘I’m going to bed.’ I’m like,
‘Nope.’ I took his wallet and his cell phone so he couldn’t get into his
hotel room. Then, by the time we got to the press, I was fine. He just
looked like he’d gotten hit by a car.”
Hollywood has always relished actor partnerships—from
Robert Redford and Paul Newman to Ben Stiller and Owen Wil-
son—but now more than ever, buddying up feels like an imper-
ative. Pairs perform, especially on social media. In November,
when Stan and Mackie took over Marvel Studios’ Instagram to
announce that they’d begun filming Falcon, fans were as thirsty
for their friendship as they were for the show. Their dynamic is the
stuff of memes: “[I] want someone to look at me the way Sebastian
Stan and Anthony Mackie look at each other,” one fan tweeted.
I know what that fan meant. When Stan does look at you with-
out suspicion—when, perchance, he laughs at something you
say—it’s like winning a battle.
72 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH
WHEN IT COMES to fitness, Stan has also benefited from
the influence of a charismatic spirit guide. He played soccer and
basketball at his Rockland County, New York, high school, but he
didn’t start running and going to the gym until he was in college
at Rutgers University. And he didn’t get really into fitness until
2005, when he was cast in a film titled The Covenant, which Stan
calls “really classic.”
Really classic, indeed: The Covenant also stars Chace Craw-
ford, whom Stan would later join on Gossip Girl (another clas-
sic), and Taylor Kitsch. Stan plays one of five prep-school boys
endowed with supernatural gifts and sick abs.
“I got a call,” Stan says. “And one of the producers said to me,
‘Look, you’re going to have to look like John Travolta in Stay-
ing Alive.’ He’s just glistening with muscles. It’s ridiculous. I
was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I started to work
out with a trainer, but it was my buddy
Taylor Kitsch who got me into it.” With the
trainer and Kitsch as his gym shepherds,
Styling: Ted Stafford. Set design: Brian Crumley/Rob Strauss Studio. Grooming: Kumi Craig/the Wall Group. Production: Kaia Marie Balcos/Kranky Produktions. Special thanks to Mito Red Light and Nordic Edge.
Stan began exercising in earnest.
Then, in 2013, ahead of The Winter Sol-
dier, Stan teamed up with trainer Don Sal-
adino, who’d also sculpted Ryan Reynolds,
John Krasinski, and Liev Schreiber. That
same year, Stan starred in a Broadway revival
of William Inge’s Picnic, playing a charac-
ter whose defining trait is his hotness.
“Inge was w riting something ver y
important about vanity and how people
were perceived in terms of being quote-
unquote good-looking, beautiful, or pretty,”
Stan said in a Playbill interview in 2013. “In
the play, there’s something shameful and
dirty about it. Our obsession with beauty
has not changed. When we see something
that turns us on, we either appreciate it or judge it. It’s so primal.
We still dismiss people if they’re pretty; we don’t care how they
feel, because they should just be happy looking the way they do.
That’s something we were trying to say with this production.”
Stan is less philosophical about his Picnic bod these days. “I had
to be basically shirtless every night, like eight shows a week,” he
says. “I really zoned in on diet, and everything transformed.”
He prefers exercising on an empty stomach, so he generally
starts his day with coffee—and a rice cake with some almond but-
ter and honey if he’s feeling depleted. Today he was feeling very
depleted, he says, so he had some scrambled eggs with Brussels
sprouts and aioli. “I’m not going to tell you the place where I got
that,” he adds, unprompted and wary, as though I might start din-
ing there daily in a stalker vigil.
Stan is a proponent of “quality over quantity,” but that doesn’t
mean he skimps on his workouts; he just knows that a 20-minute
session that catapults his heart rate into the red zone is as effective
as an hour of low-intensity bullshit. He runs (“I’m not going to tell
you where”) when he’s feeling meditative.
In advance of the Falcon shoot, Stan started lifting weights every
morning and knocking out stunt training for the fight scenes. He
points out that filming an action movie is a
workout in itself: You spend whole days running Opposite:
Sweatshirt by Hiro
around and sweating in a heavy suit. “I mean, Clark; boxers by
next to Evans and Hemsworth and all those Emporio Armani.
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Winter Soldier.
 Rapid
Fire
guys, I feel like I’m 50 miles behind. I don’t think I FRENEMY EXERCISE? explains, but they haven’t. It upset him when they
can get to that size, to be honest,” he says. That aside, Squats are terrible but were the targets of scrutiny, particularly when that
great for you.
Stan feels, in his late 30s, better than ever. “My body scrutiny came from his fans. Stan seems to be look-
right now is probably the best it’s ever been.” LAST APP ing for earnestness in an industry that, on the whole,
YOU RECOMMENDED? disdains earnestness. He “tries hard to find the
The ’80s camcorder app honest moment,” as he himself puts it (much like
THERE’S A PHOTO of Stan, age 15, on his
[VHS Camcorder].
how he saw a profound statement about “our obses-
Instagram. It’s a headshot from Stagedoor Manor, THE MEAL YOU sion with beauty” in William Inge’s horny play).
an acting camp that he attended while in high COOK MOST OFTEN? In this, the Marvel universe is an improbably
school. He’s recognizable from the brow up—he Scrambled eggs. good fit for him. We speak the week after Martin
has the same broad forehead, the same voluminous Scorsese said Marvel films “are not cinema,” and
FAVORITE
hair. His arms look pale and soft, like overcooked EUPHEMISM FOR SEX? Stan is as defensive of the fi lms as he can be with-
linguine, and he’s staring down the camera with Dooooing it. out disrespecting Scorsese, one of his heroes. “All I
theater-kid intensity. know is that all movies affect people,” he says. “I’ve
Stan lived in Romania until he was eight years CHEAT MEAL? certainly experienced firsthand many people who
Pizza.
old. Shortly after the Romanian revolution, he and have been affected and helped by Marvel movies.”
his mother moved to Vienna and stayed there for LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Captain America fans lean earnest. People have
four years before heading to New York in 1995. No, Four days ago. told Stan that Bucky Barnes helped them cope
he says, he didn’t have a foreign exchange student’s with their PTSD. During Q&A sessions, he’s asked
social cachet in middle school. “Maybe if I was from WHY? questions like “What would Bucky Barnes’s major
This is rapid-fire!
France or something. But I am Eastern European. [Silence.] be?” and “What happened to Bucky Barnes when
We left communism,” he says. “When I came here, I he fell from the train?” Stan fields those questions
just wanted to be like everybody else.” EMBARRASSING MUSIC without sarcasm or diversion.
I ask Stan which of his mannerisms are typically ON YOUR PLAYLIST? “They think we are these people,” Stan says,
Bonnie Tyler, Meat Loaf,
Romanian. “You’re kind of putting me on the spot again without condescension. He’s content to take
Starship.
to define a whole nation—a guy who hasn’t been questions about Bucky Barnes, especially if it dis-
there for years,” he says. But he thinks for a second. tracts fans from asking questions about Sebastian
“For me, based on my mother, the ‘Romanian temperament’ is Stan. “Now we’re much more obsessed with the personality rather
perseverance—being able to handle more than you think you can. than the actor. We take people and swallow them and digest them
At 27, my mother was working two jobs in a foreign country where and chew them up, and then we spit them out the other side. Then
she barely spoke the language. There’s a sense of family and per- we’re done,” he says. “We’ve done that with numerous celebrities—
severance that’s deeply ingrained in the blood.” people. I’ve seen people have massive ups and downs and stuff. All
Even for someone who has experienced a certain degree of star- I can do is just try to be as honest as I can. And do my job.”
dom, Marvel fans can be a shock to one’s sense of family. Certain
Marvel stars acquiesce to the attention on some level, greeting fans LAUREN LARSON is a Men’s Health contributing writer who lives
with a Chris Hemsworthian openness to scrutiny. Stan’s bound- in Brooklyn. Her goal for 2020 is to get The Covenant abs.
aries are reflexive and firm, as though his
sense of self is always under attack. (Which,
to be fair, it may well be: “He’s so reserved,”
Mackie says, “but in this day and age that’s BUILD SUPERHERO ABS BY EBENEZER SAMUEL, C.S.C.S.

a very good quality.”) Start the new year off right by ditching winter fat and shredding yourself like a Winter Soldier with
Stan is more protective of his personal Sebastian Stan’s favorite ab workout. Designed by Don Saladino (@donsaladino on Instagram and the
creator of Men’s Health’s Superhero Shred workout video), it’ll help you chisel out your own six-pack.
life than most actors. Celebrities often use
social media to dispense calculated chunks
of themselves in exchange for privacy. Stan
occasionally opens up on Instagram: “Been
working with this guy through years of self
judgement and mental wars when it comes
to fitness and LIFE,” he wrote of Saladino
in a caption accompanying a gym selfie. But
questions about the people in his orbit ping
ineffectually against his poker face.
He attributes this to only-vaguely-
alluded-to incidents in
Pete Sucheski (illustrations)

HANGING LEG RAISE BEAR-CRAWL SERIES LANDMINE ROTATIONS

Opposite:
which his family and Hang from a pullup bar. Get on your hands and Set a barbell in a landmine
Robe and friends were subject to Keeping your legs straight, knees. Raise your knees off (or in a towel in a corner).
bathing suit by squeeze your abs and raise the floor, and take 10 steps Rotate the barbell, then drive
public attention. As a pub-
Emporio Armani; your legs until they’re paral- forward with each hand. it back overhead. Repeat on
necklace by lic figure, he has opted lel to the floor. Lower slowly. Take 10 steps backward. the other side. That’s 1 rep;
David Yurman. into that attention, he That’s 1 rep; do 3 sets of 10. That’s 1 set; do 3. do 3 sets of 10.

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 75

BUILD YOUR
OWN
IRON PAR

PHOTOGRAPHS BY FINLAY MACKAY

 BEFORE

ADISE AFTER

The best part about having your

own gym: You don’t have to share it
(unless you want to!). There’s nobody
“working in” with you on the bench,
no one taking selfies with the battle ropes,
no janky music on the speakers.
No matter your budget or space,
you can create your own
home gym using these tips.

77
 IN YOUR GARAGE
TO HELP PICK THE BEST GEAR and
MH EXECUTIVE EDITOR Ben Court (bottom left) suffers from fitness ADD.
glean tips on how to build an affordable
home gym, we consulted an Avengers-style His favorite workouts involve lots of exercises with different objects to
fitness squad: Hollywood trainer Magnus lift, swing, carry, and slam. Samuel (below) helped him convert his home
Lygdback, who creates home gyms for stars garage into a dynamic space primed for intense metabolic circuits.
like Ben Affleck and Alexander Skarsgård;
B A R S TA R
Cooper Mitchell, editor-in-chief of Garage- Forged from 11-gauge steel,
GymReviews.com; and MH’s fitness Rep’s multigrip bar ($129; repfit-
brains, director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., ness.com) offers a sturdy platform
and associate fitness editor Brett Williams. for pullups and leg raises. Plus, it
doubles as an anchor for a TRX 2
Assuming you don’t have unlimited
($200; trxtraining.com), which links
space or resources, like Dwayne Johnson, to an app with hundreds of exercises.
you’ll need to figure out what you want.
Before you do anything, says Lygdback,
ask yourself these three questions:
1. What do you like to do?
2. What does your body need?
3. Do you want to get better at something?
Then use that info to guide how you
divide your space and budget. If you like
doing bodyweight work and circuits, your
biggest costs may be a bench, a pullup bar,
and kettlebells. If you like classic strength
training, make sure you have enough
room for a standard Olympic barbell,
which is seven feet long. At minimum,
nine square feet should set you up for
everything from deadlifts to broad jumps. H E AV Y S T U F F
Don’t have much space? Technology to Popularized by CrossFit and
military workouts, sandbags
the rescue. These days, there are smarter are awkward to lift, making
do-it-all machines that enable you to per- them good tools for building
form hundreds of exercises, whether they’re functional strength whether
basic like TRX or high-tech like Mirror. you’re doing bear-crawl drags,
clean and jerks, or farmer’s
Like all of us, your home gym is a work
carries. GoRuck’s sandbags
in progress. After three months, take (from $95; goruck.com)
inventory. Ask those three questions are made of rugged Cordura
again, and if need be, evict the stuff you’re and have padded handles,
not using and draft new equipment. It’s so they’re marginally
easier to hold. They are
your gym! Whatever your space or budget, available in weights from
we have you covered. Get after it! 20 pounds to a burly 120.

SWING SET
Some trainers say the only
weights you need in your
BENCH WORK gym are kettlebells—they’re
An adjustable bench like the Rep AB- that versatile. Kettlebell
5000 Zero-Gap ($499; repfitness Kings Powder Coat bells
.com) lets you do standard moves like (from $50; tractorsupply
flat presses as well as incline exercises .com) are cast from one
and ab work. It has seven potential back piece of iron, making them
angles and four seat angles so you can extra durable. They’re avail-
target different muscle groups. Even able in weights from 4 kg to 92
though it’s made of heavy-duty steel, and have a lifetime warranty.
it’s easy to move thanks to its wheels.
INSPIRATION BOARD
A whiteboard is great for listing your workout
and noting PRs. The Office Marshal mag-
netic dry-erase board (from $20; amazon
.com) is easy to mount and clean and comes
in five sizes. The Ikea Kallax ($40; ikea.com)
provides deep, sturdy shelving for boxing
gear, straps, mobility tools, and more.

KILLER CARDIO are great for home gyms be-

Few warmups get the
blood flowing as quickly as a
two-minute spin on the devil’s
bike. The Schwinn Airdyne
AD7 ($899; schwinnfitness
.com) has a bright LCD display
showing calories, watts, dis-
tance, speed, RPM, and heart
rate. Hop on for everything
from max-intensity one-min-
ute intervals to 45-minute
tempo rides. And thanks to its
wheels, you can roll it away
to create space. Med balls
cause of their versatility. Use
them for explosive moves
like slams and floor-based ab
stuff like Russian twists. The
XD Kevlar med balls (from
$26; xdfit.com) are grippy
and durable and are avail-
able in weights from four
pounds to 150. GymNext’s
Flex Timer ($169; gymnext
.com) pairs with your smart-
phone, enabling you to set
intervals and display your
heart rate.

B AT T L E R OYA L E
Onnit’s 40-feet battle ropes ($150; onnit.com)
are made of a flexible but durable nylon-polypro-
pylene blend and have XL end caps, making them
easier to grip. Everlast’s Nevatear heavy bag (from
$50; everlast.com) is made of tough synthetic leath-
er. The Hayabusa T3 boxing gloves ($130; hay-
abusafight.com) have plush padding and are easy
to put on and take off.

POWER BASICS
Don’t waste money on fancy
flooring. Instead, get six-foot-
by-four-foot, three-quarter-
inch-thick rubber Tractor
Supply Co. stall mats ($45;
tractorsupply.com). They’re
made for horse stalls and
provide dense padding, ideal
if you’re doing box jumps or
you drop your weights. Re-
cruit a friend to help you pick
them up. They’re heavy!

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 79

 IN YOUR CLOSET
IF YOU LIVE in an apart-
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Men’s Health associate
fitness editor Brett Wil-
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… SPARE ROOM
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… LIVING ROOM
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80 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

 THE
GYM
BUILT MY FAMILY
I needed a place to store wood. My five
kids needed a place to play. But the space we
made turned into something much bigger.
BY C . J. C H I V E R S
M
IDWAY THROUGH last fall, I
stepped into my yard to find
eight kids brimming with
excitement. One was swinging
from a rope. Another hopped over a set of
weight plates and declared himself “safe!”
as he landed on each one. Two more kids
were leaping from a tractor tire and chal-
lenging the rest to follow.
These kids (only one of whom is mine)
were not exactly working out. They were
enthusiastically marking an unex-
pected turn in my youngest son’s tenth
birthday party, as he and his classmates
commandeered our open-air gym for
play. A workout area that my older sons
trained on for lifeguarding and military
fitness testing had become an imaginary
volcano or pirate ship. This scene fit our
backyard’s evolution: A gym we planned
as a repurposing of firewood storage has
become, on its own, something akin to a
neighborhood park. Along the way, my
children have used the space to develop
agility, stamina, and strength.
It all began in 2015, when my teenaged
sons and I sketched out a design for three
firewood racks. With pressure-treated
lumber, power tools, and plenty of labor,
we began building on New Year’s Day
2016. After two weekends, we had a trio of
racks that together could hold six cords of
wood while also doubling as an alter-
native to a dingy basement gym. To one
rack we added a high wall for wallballs.
To another we fastened a pullup bar. For
the third, we designed an angled beam
THAT
rising about 16 feet in the air, from which
we suspended the climbing rope. To this
rack we also affixed a crossbeam, and
from it hung a TRX set and a pair of rings.
By spring, we had stocked the racks
with firewood and the gym with an Olym-
pic bar, a set of plates, and kettlebells.
Through a friend at her CrossFit gym, my
wife found a free tractor tire.
The gym was not perfect. The weight of
the firewood and the softness of the soil
caused the center rack to sink unevenly,
a tic that remained even after we jacked
up and braced the most offending corner.
With time we came to accept the flaw, just
as I accept my own limits and the joint
pain that has come with advancing age.
Friends teased us playfully. Some
called the space a prison gym. Others
asked if I came up with the idea on a com-
bat outpost in Afghanistan, where I had
previously worked. This latter question
was fair. American troops in remote
positions concoct novel ways to work out
in confined spaces and under the open
sky, often with makeshift equipment,
including dumbbells made from packed
sandbags and tent poles for pullup bars.
My sons and I did not draw directly from
any of those many designs. But war-zone
gyms had proved to be both practical
and fun, and demonstrated something
too many big-box gyms miss: simplicity.
They provided conceptual inspiration.
Remember that word. Fun. Whatever
the merits of this firewood-rack-and-
outdoor-gym combination, once built, it
This outdoor
gym, which doubles
as a woodshed,
thinks outside the
CrossFit Box.
needed no sales pitch. The gym attracted
users on its own. My oldest son, Jack, was a
lifeguard at a state beach in the summers
after his high school junior and senior
years. Between shifts, he conditioned
at the gym; we would see him shirtless,
swatting mosquitoes as he put himself
through wallball and kettlebell circuits,
and mastered rope climbs without legs.
My next oldest, Mick, is a high school
senior with plans of joining the Marines.
Often I see him on the rope or at the pul-
lup bar, headset on, in the zone.
These scenes were predictable. What
we did not anticipate was that our gym
would become a gathering place, too. Joe,
now ten, was six when the gym appeared
in his backyard. My daughter, Elizabeth,
was 11. Both of them took to the gym as
if it were a playground, and their friends
joined them. In the summer, it’s a fortress
to be defended or stormed in a water-bal-
loon war. In the winter, the ammunition
changes to snowballs. Sometimes I look
out the window and see children from up
and down the street clustered around the
tractor tire or rope, engaged in games
they have invented, complete with rules
only they know. We built the centerpiece
for all this training and play for less than
the annual membership cost at the local
fitness centers. Almost five years on, it’s
hard to imagine money better spent.
C. J. CHIVERS is a Pulitzer-prize-winning
reporter for The New York Times Magazine
and the author of The Fighters and The Gun. 
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 81
TRANSFORMATION
2020
No matter your challenge—obesity, addiction, debt—you can change your life. It all starts
with taking a first step. These 14 comeback kings (and queen!) show you how.

“I had a dream that

DEATH WAS NEAR.”
How music producer Tim Mosley—you know him as Timbaland—
stared down death, battled addiction, and shed 130 pounds.

O
  
N OCCASION, Tim Mos- Timberlake. In his run as a producer, per-
ley will pour a glass of former, and label owner, he has thrived
merlot, step through in the mercurial world of popular music.
the sliding glass doors Yet he also understands the elusiveness
of his spacious white of that shimmering view. A few years
Miami home onto a patio ago, Mosley was staring into a different
perched over Biscayne Bay, and, as eve- kind of emptiness, as the most important
ning softens the subtrop- things in life—family,
BEFORE: 2003
ical heat, gaze out over finances, and health—
the waves at the horizon. t u mbled ch a ot ic a l ly
TIMBALAND,
REMIXED As one of Known to the world as around him. He almost
the music industry’s Timbaland, Mosley has lost it all, and that threat
most dedicated and earned this vista. For sparked a renaissance.
tenacious producers,
Tim Mosley has worked more than two decades, It’s a journey he’s still on,
with an extensive list he has helped propel but it has included years
of hip-hop, R&B, and
pop titans. But after
many of this era’s most of b ox ing, dropping
years of neglecting his successful musicians, more than 100 pounds,
physical and mental including Missy Elliott, and gaining a new per-
health, Mosley
decided that he had Beyoncé, Jay- Z, Drake, spective. But first he had
to work on himself. Rihanna , and Justin to kick the drugs.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTAAN FELBER MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 83

↓ Looking back, Mosley wonders if
the problems weren’t inevitable. “I
had to get whipped, because I didn’t
appreciate anything,” the 47-year-
old says in his syrupy southern lilt.
He’s seated at a white stone counter
in his kitchen, dressed in gray work-
out clothes. Mosley, who sports a
goatee with a bleached center stripe,
looks you in the eye when he talks,
searching for signs that you under-
stand what he means. “All my life I
felt it was a little too easy.”
It’s true he has known mostly as-
cent. Success arrived early—work-
ing with Missy Elliott straight out
of high school in Virginia Beach,
then helping to produce Aaliyah’s
double-platinum album One in a Million.
Accomplishment may have come fast, but
Mosley worked hard to keep it up, spend-
ing hours in the studio hunched over mix-
ing boards, headphones on, eating vanilla
ice cream through the night.
Unhealthy eating habits aside, the in-
tense focus on the creative part of his life
made other areas vulnerable. In 2011, af-
ter receiving a prescription for painkill-
ers following a root canal, Mosley started
abusing OxyContin and Percocet. Then
“my arm started bothering me,” he says,
the remnant of an old injury—at 17 he was
shot accidentally while working at a Red
Lobster. More pain gave him an excuse to
ask for more pills.
As pressures mounted, his pill abuse
worsened. Divorce proceedings with his
wife, Monique, which began in 2013,
dragged on for years. His finances fell into
disarray. The IRS filed a $4 million lien for
three years of unpaid taxes, a lapse that he
attributes to confusion and inattention
during his addiction. The painkillers put
him in a place where every-
thing felt all right, even when
it wasn’t. “It put me in a great
feeling of not caring, of just
being free,” he says. “I’m like
traveling, doing shows, pop-
ping ’em, having fun, just be-
ing ignorant.”
He do esn’t rememb er
how many pills a day he was
taking, other than to say it
was “way over the limit.”
He began to feel foggy, dull.
Mosley also started putting
on weight and developed pre-
diabetes. He grew sluggish.
Tired. Lost. And then there
84 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH
was a nightmare. “I had a dream that
death was near,” he recalls. “I saw myself
with a white face.” That’s when he woke up.
Mosley has a daughter, 12, and two sons,
17 and 27. He realized he needed to save
himself for them. “It’s like a bright light
going on in your brain,” he says about rais-
ing children. “That’s how you know what
true love really is.”
Crawling out of the hole his life had
fallen into required strategy and plan-
ning. He moved from a 14,000-square-foot
mansion outside Miami to a 2,500-square-
foot condo downtown. “I had to downsize,
get all that superstar stuff out of the way,”
he says. He settled with the IRS. Then he
worked to settle with his ex-wife. “The di-
vorce at the beginning was very messy, but
now we are good friends.”
That left his addiction, and he decided
to quit all by himself. “Just me and God,”
he says, adding that there was no other
option. “This was the path chosen for me.
God was rebuilding my character.” Mos-
ley, raised a Baptist and today a follower of
THE ABC S OF DBC Mosley
trains at DBC Fitness in Miami.
That stands for “dumbbells,
barbells, and cables,” the
gym’s tools for strength and
performance. But its methods
also hone balance and
coordination to help build
total-body functional fitness.
the nondenominational pastor T. D.
Jakes, would lean heavily on spiritu-
ality in the fight to get clean.
His method was to take fewer
and fewer pills from his existing
stock until there was nothing left.
That took about two weeks. After-
ward came withdrawal. “One of the
toughest things I’ve been through,”
he says, shaking his head at the memory.
“The only things that got me through
it were my kids, my girl, the help of God
keeping my mind still.”
By this point, Mosley’s girlfriend, Mi-
chelle Dennis, had moved to Miami to be
with him. “I have a great woman who stood
by my side through the whole thing,” he
says. It was Dennis who found Punch Elite
Fitness, in Miami’s Wynwood district.
Mosley had never boxed before but liked
the challenge. When he walked into the
gym the first time, he was in rough shape,
weighing about 350 pounds at five-foot-
seven, recalls gym co-owner Ricardo
Wilson. (Boxing coaches remember these
kinds of details.)
“He had a lot of aches and pains,” Wil-
son says. He had “glute and hamstring
deficiencies” from lack of exercise, and
he was hunched due to back pain. Before
he ever stepped into a ring, Mosley had
to work on posture and range-of-motion
exercises, Wilson says, including hip
openers, posture squats, and standing leg
curls. Then came shadowbox-
ing, jumping rope, and hitting
the bag for ten three-minute
Previous page: Kevin Kane/Getty Images. This spread: Christaan Felber.
rounds at a time. Eventually
Mosley graduated to spar-
ring. The workouts were hard,
but nothing compared to with-
drawal. “When you get beat up
the way I got beat up mentally,
this ain’t hard,” he says.
As Mosley began losing
weight, Wilson noticed another
change: “His energy levels in-
creased, and then he started
challenging other clients in
the gym, to push them.” And
Dennis kept pushing Mosley.
 After a year, he had lost 50 pounds, and
the couple started working out twice a day,
boxing in the mornings and doing cardio
and weights at night.
When Mosley had dropped 40 more
pounds, he decided he wanted to “level up”
and train where the athletes train. While
continuing to box on Sundays, he moved
his weekday workouts to DBC Fitness.
The gym specializes in biomechanics
and works with a roster of pros, includ-
ing Dwyane Wade, formerly of the Miami
Heat, and the Dolphins’ Reshad Jones.
For all the progress Mosley had made at
Punch, DBC co-owner David Alexander
still considered him “a work in progress.”
His feet and ankles were not working right,
Alexander says, and he came in “grossly
overweight,” about 260 pounds. So Alex-
ander designed a program around seven
general movement patterns: squat, lunge,
hinge, push, pull, twist, and gait.
“He has a no-quit mentality,” Alexander
says. “He understands that this is his new
life. It’s not something that’s going to go
away in three months. And he’s commit-
ted. Tim is one of the most mentally strong
guys out there.”
Alexander put together a nutrition
plan and hired a chef to create a menu
of weekly meals to be delivered to Mos-
ley’s home. Chicken, salmon, vegetables.
Three and a half liters of water a day.
No processed foods. “If it didn’t run,
grow, crawl, or swim, we don’t eat it,” Al-
exander says.
Mosley’s cheat is a weekend glass of
red wine, poured from a bottle from his
kitchen’s wall-length wine fridge; he en-
joys it on that waterside patio now that
his life has been restored and he is liv-
ing in a luxury condo. He says he’s clear-
headed and newly inspired, focused on
growing what he started nearly 30 years
ago. “I’m more about the team build-
ing,” he says. He recently fi nished work
with big-timers Kanye West and Cold-
play, but he’s also collaborating with
young artists.
“God has me under construction, which
I’m still under,” Mosley says. “I don’t feel
like I’m complete. I don’t want to ever feel
like I’m complete, ’cause my mind would
probably get idle. God needed me to be
clear so I could see what is needed, not
what I want.” —TRISTRAM KORTEN
 ↓
“Heart meds put me in a fog, and I was
100 POUNDS OVERWEIGHT.”
Eric Dencklau, 40, a mechanical engineer, trained seven days a week,
lost 90 pounds, and ran a marathon. He takes you through the steps.

I WAS IN A CYCLE of setting a goal to lose

weight for an upcoming vacation or event,
falling short, and then putting the weight
back on. The medication I was on for my
heart put me in a fog. When I was cleared
of heart issues in 2013, I wasn’t happy with
myself. So I made not a goal but a plan.
FIRST STEP: I committed to working out
seven days a week at the gym. Always. Some-
times that meant getting up at 4:30 A.M. to fit it
in. Sometimes that meant a 9:00 P.M. workout.
NEXT: I improved what I ate. One week I
started packing salads for work. Another
week I dialed back how many times I’d eat
fast food. Then I’d pick something else I could
cut out or cut back on. About 18 months later, BEFORE:
I was 90 pounds lighter. 2017

POWER MOVE: Tenacity. I gradually built

up my cardio endurance and ran a marathon.
I was able to go from 275-plus pounds to doing
BEFORE: something I never thought I would or could
2010 do. —AS TOLD TO MARTY MUNSON

“WE CLEARED $93,000 IN DEBT in 18 months.”

Paul and Alex Spoon were about to hit their 30s still carrying
$93,000 of student-loan debt. It was standing in the way of
their dream of buying a house. Here’s how they dug out of a dark hole.

FIRST STEP: “We decided to
commit to paying this off before
we did anything else,” Paul says.
“Once you know what your prior-
ities are, it becomes pretty easy.”
They created a budget—“You can’t
stick to a budget if you don’t have
a budget,” he says—then made a
spreadsheet and used it to monitor
their expenses. That forced them
it.” That was true even for spends
as small as a $15 toaster. “We’d
go without it for, say, a month and
kind of challenge ourselves about
whether we really needed that
thing. That process really cools off “SLEEP
your desire for something.”
POWER MOVE: Cooking. Daily
meals at home allowed them to
APNEA
save enough to do dinners out with almost
Courtesy Eric Dencklau and Dustin Worth

to make their spending more delib-
erate. The first thing to go: cable.
NEXT: They asked about every-
thing, “Is it worth it?” For big
purchases like cars or even
bookshelves, “we had a policy that
anytime we wanted to buy any-
thing, we could wait,” Paul says.
“We’d overanalyze the crap out of
family and friends. (“We didn’t say
no to anything,” Paul says.) They
chose their hobbies according to
their goal, too, opting for disc golf
felled me.”
instead of traditional golf. A bud- Signing up for a fitness
get and a plan are great, but what challenge was the first step
made this work was being on the
same page. “We kept one another in Dustin Worth’s journey
in check.” —ERIC LUTZ to get back in shape.

B
EFORE DUSTIN WORTH
decided to make a change,
he couldn’t remember a
time in his life when he was
healthy. “As a kid, I was
more into playing the sax-
ophone than playing sports, and I didn’t
know anything about proper nutrition,”
he says. He snacked on too many empty
calories. He avoided the scale. Denial
persisted. “I was like a person who swipes
their credit card but doesn’t look at their
statement. I tried to avoid being in photos
because I didn’t want to be confronted
with the fact that I was overweight.”
Worth reached a breaking point in
early 2018 when he hit 270 pounds. From
the outside, his life looked great. He was
married and a father of four, with a good
Courtesy Anthony Brown
job at Apple, and his photography—a
longtime hobby—was starting to gain
recognition internationally. But inside,
the damage grew. “I was also spending
ten hours a day at a desk and eating a lot
of fast food—mainly pizza and breakfast
combos from Tim Horton’s.”
And his weight started affecting him
in bed. “I had also developed sleep apnea
and would sleep on the couch sometimes
so as not to scare my wife when I woke up
gasping for breath in the middle of the
night. It was my choice: It wasn’t fair that
my lack of health should harm her, too.”
In June of that year, Worth signed
up for Apple’s annual company-wide
fitness challenge. “My wife had recently
completed a marathon, and she was the
motivational spark I needed to take up
running,” he says. “I also wanted to be
closer to her—I was proud of what she’d
accomplished, and she was proud of me,
but I wanted to build something together,
and I thought that running would bring
us even closer.”
Almost every night, in the basement
of his home, Worth racked up the miles.
And the weight started to melt off. In the
first few months, he lost about 20 pounds.
Motivated by the changes to his waistline
and well-being, he turned to his diet, us-
ing the Lose It! app for calorie tracking.
“I’m a numbers kind of guy, which
was why cutting calories appealed to me
early on,” he says. “Once I understood the
fundamentals of energy balance, I felt
agency over my ability to control my body
fat that I’d never felt before. I traded my
extra-large iced coffees for small ones
and the breakfast sandwiches for eggs
with mozzarella cheese. I started drink-
ing protein shakes and eating fish or lean
cuts of chicken.”
Later that year, Worth and his wife de-
cided to move to Florida, which “has been
like a second honeymoon to us,” he says.
“Now we go to the gym together four days
a week; I run with her, and she recently
started weight training with me. It’s like
our lives have become even more en-
twined, and we’re more in love than ever.”
Worth says that he’s now the health-
iest he’s ever been. After dropping to
170 pounds, he added about ten pounds
of muscle while maintaining 12 to 15
percent body fat. His sleep apnea has
disappeared.
“Now that I have this new body, I have
so many more goals I want to hit,” he says,
“everything from climbing the rope at the
YMCA to completing the Skydive Ultra, a
choose-your-own-distance race that starts
out with a skydive.” He and his wife have
signed up for a skydiving marathon in Jan-
uary. Together. —MARIA MASTERS
MEN’S HEALTH
BEFORE:
2009
“I was wearing
4XL T-SHIRTS.”
Counting calories every day helped
Anthony Brown, 35, an
information-technology worker,
lose more than 185 pounds.
AT SIX-FOOT-FIVE, Anthony Brown
had always been a “big guy,” he says,
and a steady diet of fast food didn’t
help. But when his sister was diag-
nosed with diabetes in 2010—and he
was wearing 4XL T-shirts—“I knew
something had to change if I wanted
to save my own life.”
FIRST STEP: He researched healthy
diets. After realizing that he couldn’t
picture himself eating chicken
breast, oatmeal, rice, and broccoli
for the rest of his life, Brown focused
instead on creating a calorie deficit.
If his 375-pound body needed 4,100
calories a day, he figured he’d give it
2,400, in whatever form those calo-
ries took. “My only rules were: Stay in
a calorie deficit, and if you can’t count
it, don’t eat it,” he says.
NEXT: Within six months, he was
down to 300 pounds, but “like most
overweight people, I was afraid of the
gym. I didn’t want to be ‘the fat guy’
everyone would laugh at.” So he eased
into workouts three days a week at his
apartment building’s fitness center.
When the weights there grew too
light, he found himself a bigger gym.
POWER MOVE: Intermittent fasting.
“To maintain a caloric deficit, some
people choose to eat several small
meals that add up to their daily calo-
ries, and they don’t feel full after eat-
ing,” Brown says. “I choose to eat my
calories all at once and feel stuffed.”
—JESSE HICKS
/ January • February 2020 87
↓“Our grand-
Y
OU KNOW THE OLD
adage: Families that
shred together stay
mother died of together. Okay, fine, so
maybe that’s not how
DIABETES.” the saying goes, but it’s
certainly true of the McGillivrays from
How the McGillivray Manchester, England.
Following the death of her mother from
family started working out
diabetes, Sue, 51, and her husband, Roy,
together and lost 91 pounds. 56, decided to start taking their health
and nutrition seriously. Their sons,
Ben, 24, and Simon, 28, were already
gymgoers, and the boys welcomed the
idea of a family challenge, so all four of
the McGillivrays began working with
trainer Anthony Paulhe at Manchester’s
Ultimate Performance Fitness.
Ben and Simon knew their way around
the weight rack, but Paulhe wanted
BEFORE: the entire family to address their diets
2015
before they all started exercising on a
regular basis.
“There’s no need to do any of the train-
ing if you’re not going to sort out your food
first,” Paulhe says. “The nutrition plan is
the first thing you want to tackle.”
Diet was Roy’s greatest hurdle. As
the managing director of a company, he
worked late and ordered pizza, and he
would often grab a breakfast sandwich
on the way to the office in the morning.
Paulhe created a nutrition plan for each
of the McGillivrays. And executing that
plan meant they would have to step up in
the kitchen.
“The main challenge was the cooking,”
says Paulhe. “The dad is 56, the youngest
is 24—they have very different needs.
They all have different jobs and routines
and eat at different times.” As the fami-
ly’s best—and primary—cook, Sue took
Courtesy McGillivray family and SNH Fotok
 on the task of developing meals centered
on a nutrient-packed protein (mackerel,
turkey, haddock, shrimp) and rounded
out with a vegetable (cauliflower, mush-
rooms, asparagus) and a good fat (usually
avocado or olive oil).
Once the family began to eat better,
Paulhe added on the fitness. Roy says the
arduous first leg of training felt like all
pain, no gain.
“I didn’t see myself as obese—maybe
a little unfit for my age, but not overly
so,” he says. “We started out with a lot of
cardio, and that worked well, but then you
realize how weak you are when you start
lifting weights. You think it’s going to be
easy, and it’s not!”
Those first few weeks at the gym were
tough for the whole family, Paulhe says,
but that challenge isn’t unique. “It can
feel like a chore, but within a relatively
short period, it becomes enjoyable. You
start looking forward to your gym session
and your healthy meal. It becomes habit.”
Roy is a convert. “I started to feel ten or
20 years younger,” he says. “It’s only when
you start working on your fitness that you
discover how unfit you were.”
Simon adds that the family dynamics
gave their training an extra layer of ac-
countability: “I worked out a fair bit with
my brother. We’re fairly similar in terms
of our fitness, so things did get a little bit
competitive. Also, having the biweekly
measurements and the progress pics
really helped keep us motivated.” Roy
and Sue fed off the competition between
their sons, and soon the entire family was
comparing pounds dropped and strength
PRs achieved.
And the benefits go beyond the fact
that they all now look amazing. “We’re
a lot more resilient, stronger, more
proactive,” says Ben. “We’d become
guilty of living quite a lazy lifestyle. We
weren’t very active; weekends were all
about TV and junk food. But because we
wanted to get in shape together, we didn’t
want to let each other down. It was really
intense and difficult, but it’s something
we can look back on and say, ‘We did this
together.’ ” —PHILIP ELLIS
WHEN BLOOD SWEATS The
McGillivray family lost weight, sure,
Luke Fontana (Hussain)
but they also decreased their body
fat to a striking degree. Ben went
from 15.5 percent to 8.6. Simon
dropped from 15.2 percent to 7.9.
And Roy almost halved his body fat,
from 25 percent to 14.5.
“Even though I was taking testosterone,
I THOUGHT I LOOKED AWFUL.”
Parker Price explains how the gym
empowered him during his transition.
WHEN I STARTED transitioning, might make me feel better. I found
I thought that I’d start taking a trainer who asked me about
testosterone and, boom, I’d stack my goals. I kept telling him that I
on muscle and look amazing. But wanted to get shredded, but he
when my appearance began to kept asking me why. His prodding
change, I thought I looked awful. made me realize that what I really
Even though I believe that if you’re wanted was confidence and to feel
happy and healthy you can be con- like I belonged.
tent with however you look, that’s This sense of power through
not how I felt about myself. At the fitness became my motivator. It’s
time, I didn’t have a lot of support what pushed me to keep trying
in my life, and so I turned inward after I struggled to do just one
and more negative. pullup. It’s what allowed me to
Then I remember thinking, Man, work up the nerve to ask for a spot-
if I’m going to be in this much men- ter. And it’s what helped me grow
tal pain, maybe going to the gym into the man I am today—a man
and putting myself through phys- who doesn’t just feel more confi-
ical pain will distract me. I figured dent in the gym, but outside of it,
if nothing else, the endorphins too. —AS TOLD TO PHILIP ELLIS
“My blood sugar and cholesterol levels
were pointing to DANGER.”
Tanvir Hussain, a 44-year-old cardiologist, got
his life together by going on a low-carb diet.
IF YOU’VE EVER been to the doctor and been
told either that you’re prediabetic or that you
have buildup in your arteries, you know what
that feels like. You feel some embarrassment,
maybe. There’s a certain sense of helpless-
ness. And then there’s the impending doom
of being faced with your own mortality. Now
imagine that you are a heart doctor being told
not just one of those things but both. Hearing
that my blood-sugar levels and cholesterol
numbers were off—and dangerously so—
jolted me awake. I monitored my food intake
with a calorie tracker and reduced my carbo-
hydrates to less than 20 grams a day. That’s
extreme, but I made sure to eat plenty of lean
proteins and healthy fats for balance. Soon I
found that my mood swings lifted and I was
less hungry (not to mention less “hangry”)
throughout the day. Granted, I also kicked it
into high gear by walking three to five miles
a day and hitting the gym three times a week.
BEFORE: When I go to my doctor now, he’s amazed at my
2018 lab results. —AS TOLD TO JESSE HICKS
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 89
 ↓
“I BARELY RECOGNIZED
MYSELF in a photo.”
Matt Ellengold, 39, who works in private-equity investor
relations, shed 60 pounds in 24 weeks.

IT WAS A “THAT’S ME?” photo that made Matt A CHEF UNDER FIRE An
intense work schedule of
Ellengold realize, after years of promising restaurant management, TV
himself he’d do it “tomorrow,” that he had to go to production, and cookbook
the gym. And not just go, but be held accountable writing caused Jamie Oliver to
pause, rethink, and recalibrate.
for continuing to go. So he hired a trainer, James The result: a more balanced
Ellis-Ford, who he felt had his back. “He believed approach to eating—and life.
in me from the beginning, when I definitely
didn’t believe in myself,” Ellengold says. They
worked out four days a week, while Ellengold did
cardio on his own. Ellis-Ford taught him how to
keep track of his macronutrients (protein, carbs,
fat) in a log, where Ellengold also tracks his train-
ing progress. “I know I need to do at least the same
thing the next time to keep moving forward,” he
says. “I started doing barbell back squats after
about six months. Now they’re my favorite lift.
I love standing back a few paces, focusing on the
bar, telling myself it’s me versus the bar and that
I’ll get through the set. That squat down and
BEFORE:
driving up—really, literally pushing myself up— BEFORE:
2018 I love that.” —MIKE DARLING 2002

“I was a DRUG ADDICT.”

Finding a workout group helped Carlos Hernandez
get clean and off the streets.
EVERYONE EXPERIMENTS when
they’re young, Carlos Hernandez
thought. That’s what he saw his
friends doing. Bad grades and a
tough home life led him to drop out
of middle school, and soon he filled
his free time with partying. Even
though, in his 20s, he was married
and had two kids, the specter of
addiction lurked. A few years later,
Hernandez was homeless and
nearly hopeless. In January 2019,
he went to the Salvation Army Adult
Rehabilitation Center in Dallas,
where he found treatment.
FIRST STEP: Hernandez noticed
that one of his roommates at the
Salvation Army was looking fitter.
“I started asking him a ton of ques-
tions.” That’s how he learned that
BEFORE:
2013
his roommate trained with Back on
My Feet, a nonprofit that helps the
homeless through running.
NEXT: The first time Hernandez
went out with the group, “I only
ran for 200 feet and I was out “I was
of breath,” he says. But he went
back three times a week (a group
requirement) for the next three
PHYSICALLY
months. He lost 50 pounds, and he
completed his first 5K with Back on
and
My Feet last April. He’s remained
sober and has found his own house
and steady work.
MENTALLY
POWER MOVE: Leaning on
others. “Getting a support team
EXHAUSTED.”
behind you that puts their hand out Jamie Oliver, 44, suffered
and says, ‘You’re not alone; we
can do this’ saved my life,” Hernan- burnout. So he recalibrated,
dez says. —EMILY SHIFFER starting with his diet.

Ultimate Performance (Ellengold). Chris Terry/Getty Images (Oliver in apron).
Niki Nikolova/Getty Images (Oliver thumbs-up). Andrew Woffinden/Camera
MH : WAS THERE EVER A POINT
IN YOUR LIFE WHEN YOU REALIZED
THAT YOU WERE NOT PRACTICING
WHAT YOU PREACHED?
OLIVER: When I wrote my Everyday Su-
per Food book [in 2015], it was because I’d
gotten to a point where I was physically
and mentally exhausted. I was only get-
ting a few hours’ sleep and wasn’t taking
enough care of myself. Writing that book,
Press/Redux (Oliver seated).
I really focused in on creating nutritious
recipes that delivered big flavors but were
also good for you, and I also started to
study nutrition around that time. I now
have a Royal Society for Public Health
Level 4 Nutrition Award. It got me back
on track, and I’ve carried all those prin-
ciples forward. I’m really in tune with my
nutrition team now. Don’t get me wrong,
we still have the odd debate, but generally
I know what they expect of me.  and ends of stuff is perfect, as you can just
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE HAS
BEEN THE KEY, BOTH PHYSICALLY
AND MENTALLY, TO YOUR
MAINTAINING A HEALTHY WEIGHT?
It’s all about balance: lots of the good stuff
and a little bit of what you fancy. Embrac-
ing vegetables is a massive part of that. Me
and the family eat meat-free at least three
or four days a week now, and
I think that’s a really healthy
approach to take, both for your
own health and for the planet.
Writing my latest cookbook,
Ultimate Veg, was a total joy.
It gave me the chance to really
celebrate a whole range of won-
derful vegetables and think
about really exciting, fun ways
to cook and serve them.
HAS YOUR VIEW OF VEG-
ETABLES CHANGED OVER
THE COURSE OF YOUR
CAREER, AND IF SO, HOW?
Growing up around food in my
parents’ pub, then working
with Gennaro Contaldo and
later at the River Cafe in
my early career, I’ve always
respected vegetables. A lot
of Italian food is naturally
vegetarian, and when you eat
seasonally, which we should
all be doing whenever we can,
you really get the best out of
veg. So I wouldn’t say that my
view has changed, rather that
it’s been a pleasure to see the
industry and the public’s view
evolve over the years. Veggies
are brilliant, and we should
seize every opportunity to
celebrate them.
IS THERE ONE RECIPE
THAT YOU TURN TO TIME
AND TIME AGAIN WHEN
YOU NEED SOMETHING
HEALTHY AND QUICK?
AND WHY THAT RECIPE?
At the moment, I’m cooking a lot of quick
noodle dishes, especially when I get home
late from work. The possibilities are end-
less, and you can use whatever you’ve got
in the fridge, and actually having odds
shred it all up and chuck it in. In Ultimate
Veg, for example, I’ve got a lovely mush-
room noodle broth, a Malaysian-style
noodle dish that’s more fragrant and
spicy, and even a quick Thai-style noodle
salad. So you can see what I mean: Noo-
dles are a really versatile base to add bags
of flavor to. I’d also say you can’t go wrong
with a big chopped salad. —PAUL KITA
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 91
1. Breakfast
Stack
Between the halves
of a split whole-wheat
English muffin, layer a
sizzled chicken break-
fast sausage patty,
1 broiled tomato slice,
½ cup sauteed baby
kale, and 2 fried eggs.
483 calories, 30g protein,
57g carbs (10g fiber), 16g fat PHOTOGRAPHS BY

CHRISTOPHER TESTANI
 If there’s one thing that unites all diets, it’s
can’t. Diets tell you what foods you can’t eat, how
much food you can’t eat, and now, with the rise of intermit-
tent fasting, even when you can’t eat. Yes, depriving your-
self of food can lead to temporary weight loss. But eating 6. PB Oats
well is less about what you’re losing and more about what Cook ½ cup steel-cut oats and
then stir with 2 Tbsp peanut
you’re gaining. Eating well means you’re building muscle,
butter and 1 scoop chocolate
defending against disease, and harnessing more energy. whey-protein powder.
Eating well involves freeing yourself from batshit diet rules Top with ½ sliced banana, PROTEIN POWDER ISN’T
based on pseudoscience. Eating well makes your life easier, 1 Tbsp raisins, and 1 Tbsp JUST FOR SHAKES.

not more complicated. chopped walnuts. Think of it as an ingredient. Try

740 calories, 42g protein, some in yogurt, pancake batter,
Experts and reams of research agree that the easiest way 84g carbs (13g fiber), 28g fat or the milk of your cereal.
to lose weight and improve your overall health is to eat at One scoop has 20 to 25
grams of protein.
least 30 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber at each
meal. Thirty grams promote muscle maintenance and
growth. Ten grams fi ll you up during mealtime and help 7. The Bermuda
you stay full until your next meal. It’s simple. Except that Top 4 oz roasted cod with 2 Tbsp
you might not know what a 30/10 meal looks like. So here’s warmed salsa, with 1 roughly
one for every day of the month. They also feature another chopped large broiled russet
potato on the side. Serve with
thing most diets don’t: deliciousness. BY PAUL KITA
¼ sliced avocado and a hard-
boiled egg on the side. Skip the
traditional banana.
BREAKFAST 579 calories, 36g protein, 75g
carbs (10g fiber), 16g fat

You could slug back a mug of greasy butter coffee in the name of
feeling “bulletproof.” Or you could start your day feeling satisfied
and ready to tackle your workout—or the workout that is work.
8. Super Waffles
2. Go Greens 4. Berry Bowl Over two Kodiak Cakes high-
protein waffles, divide 1 cup plain
Make a 3-egg omelet with Top 1½ cups plain 2% Greek yogurt, 2 sliced peaches, 2 Tbsp
¼ cup shredded cheddar and yogurt with ¼ cup of each of the unsalted dry-roasted shelled
2 cups sauteed baby spinach. following: blueberries, rasp- pistachios, 2 Tbsp whole
Serve with ½ avocado smashed berries, sliced strawberries, flax seeds, and torn mint.
into 1 thick slice of toasted blackberries, unsalted dry- 629 calories, 32g protein,
whole-grain bread. roasted shelled pistachios, and 85g carbs (13g fiber),
23g fat JUST 1 TABLESPOON OF
571 calories, 34g protein, unsweetened coconut flakes. WHOLE FLAX SEEDS HAS
30g carbs (10g fiber), 36g fat 621 calories, 37g protein, 43g carbs
3 GRAMS OF FIBER.
(11g fiber), 36g fat
They taste great scattered
atop peanut-butter toast,
hash browns,

3. Salmon Toast 5. Turkey Hash

or granola.

On 2 pieces of whole-wheat
toast slathered with 2 Tbsp
cream cheese, divide 2 oz
smoked salmon, 1 Tbsp
capers, some fresh dill, a little
thinly sliced red onion, and
fresh lemon juice. Eat with a
medium-sized ripe pear.
551 calories, 45g protein, 55g
carbs (10g fiber), 19g fat
In 1 Tbsp olive oil, sizzle 4 oz 30/10: OUT TO EAT
finely chopped leftover turkey
breast and 1 large chopped
leftover potato with ¼ minced
9 Au Bon Pain 10 Chick-Fil-A
2 Eggs & Turkey Hash Brown Scram-
onion, 1 small chopped zuc- Sausage on a ble Bowl w/Nuggets,
chini, and 1 cup shredded Skinny Wheat Bagel, a side order of
with a side order hash browns, and
Brussels sprouts. Eat this hash
of mixed nuts. a large fruit cup.
topped with plenty of hot sauce. 740 calories, 37g pro- 745 calories, 34g pro-
640 calories, 47g protein, 81g
tein, 40g carbs (13g tein, 55g carbs (10g
carbs (10g fiber), 16g fat
fiber), 52g fat fiber), 46g fat

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 93

LUNCH START EATING FISH.
Canned white, albacore, and
Unless you have a WFH gig, you’ll have to prep these meals light tuna all have low to moder-
during off-hours. Whatever, though—because they’re simple ate levels of mercury, but not
to make, you can easily double or triple them for meal prep, enough to negate the heart-
and they taste way better than another ham and cheese. health benefits of
15. Tuna Melt eating them.

Mix 1 can drained white tuna

11. BBQ Kale Salad
Onto a bed of 2 cups chopped
dinosaur kale, scoop ½ cup
barbecue pulled pork in the
center. Add ¼ cup black beans,
¼ cup corn, 2 oz roasted
red peppers, and ¾ thinly
sliced avocado. Top with a
southwest-style dressing.
570 calories, 30g protein,
52g carbs (14g fiber), 31g fat
13. Protein Plate
Assemble the following: 1 (2 oz)
single-serving hummus pack,
3 Wasa crispbread crackers,
2 hard-boiled eggs, 6 baby
carrots, and a chunk of
Swiss cheese. Snack away.
612 calories, 35g protein,
50g carbs (10g fiber), 31g fat
with ¼ cup 2% Greek yogurt and
season with salt and pepper.
Pile atop 1 slice of whole-grain
toast and a thick slice of good
cheddar. Heat under a broiler
or in the microwave until the
cheese melts. Eat with 2 cups
red grapes and 4 celery sticks.
664 calories, 58g protein,
76g carbs (10g fiber), 17g fat

14. Beefy Salad 16. Fish on Rye

12. Power “Pasta”
Zoodle-ify 2 large zucchini.
Sautee in olive oil with 1 pint
cherry tomatoes. Top with 2
leftover sliced boneless, skinless
chicken thighs and ½ cup basil.
698 calories, 67g protein,
32g carbs (10g fiber), 36g fat
Slice 4 oz cold leftover sirloin
steak and serve next to a salad
of 1 cup chopped arugula, 1 cup
chopped romaine, and 1 cup
chopped watercress. Top with
½ cup cooked chickpeas, ¼ cup
roasted pumpkin seeds,
¼ cup roasted red peppers, and
2 Tbsp light Italian dressing.
526 calories, 42g protein,
34g carbs (10g fiber), 25g fat
Mash together 6 oz canned
salmon with 1 Tbsp mayonnaise,
¼ cup minced celery, the juice of
1 lime, and ½ cup navy beans.
Pile between 2 slices of dark rye.
754 calories, 62g protein,
81g carbs (11g fiber), 22g fat
17. Tempeh Chili
In a large pot, cook 1 (28 oz) can
crushed tomatoes with 1 (15
oz) can kidney beans, 1 (15 oz)
can chickpeas, 1 (8 oz) package
crumbled tempeh, 2 minced
garlic cloves, and 1 chopped
medium yellow onion until
chili-like. Season, pack,
and reheat as needed.
TEMPEH?
Makes 3 servings YEAH, TEMPEH!
526 calories,
34g protein, 82g carbs It’s a fermented soybean prod-
(20g fiber), 11g fat uct with 34 grams of protein
per cup. It may also help gut
bacteria bolster your
immunity.
Food styling: Jamie Kimm. Prop styling: Megan Hedgpeth.

30/10: OUT TO EAT

18 Wendy’s 19 Panera
Apple Pecan Turkey Sandwich on
Chicken Salad (Full) Whole Grain (Whole)
and a small chili. with a banana.
730 calories, 630 calories,
53g protein, 70g carbs 38g protein, 87g carbs
(12g fiber), 28g fat (12g fiber), 17g fat
20. Soba &
Sword
Season and roast a 6 oz
swordfish steak. Douse
it in the juice of ½ lime and
serve over 2 oz cooked soba
noodles, ½ cup shelled eda-
mame, and 2 sliced medium
radishes. Drizzle with soy
sauce. Top with cilantro.
Serve with 3 heads cooked
baby bok choy on the side.
553 calories, 47g protein,
61g carbs (10g fiber), 14g fat

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 95

 21. A Big Ol’ Pot
of Clams
In a big pot, steam 1 (25 count)
bag scrubbed littleneck clams
with ¼ cup white wine, 2 cloves
thinly sliced garlic, 2 Tbsp butter,
and 1 large, thinly sliced shallot until
the clams open. Top with parsley.
Eat with crusty whole-grain bread
and 2 cups sauteed green beans.
819 calories, 49g protein, 92g carbs
(10g fiber), 28g fat

96 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

 DINNER
If you frequently find yourself pouring a bowl of cereal an
27. Shrimp Pasta
Saute 4 large peeled, deveined
hour after finishing dinner, you might not be eating enough shrimp in 1 Tbsp olive oil with
protein and fiber at suppertime. These meals fix that. 2 minced garlic cloves, ¼ cup
roughly chopped unsalted

22. Surf ’n’ Spud
In an oiled cast-iron pan over high,
sear 6 large sea scallops till done,
about 1 minute a side. Serve with
a medium roasted sweet potato
topped with 1 Tbsp good butter
and ½ cup pomegranate arils,
plus 1 cup sauteed halved and
seasoned Brussels sprouts.
25. Tofu Stir-Fry
In 1 Tbsp canola oil, stir-fry
½ block extra-firm tofu, ½ cup
shelled edamame, and all of the
following, chopped: ½ bunch
asparagus, 1 cup broccoli
florets, ½ red bell pepper, ½
cup water chestnuts, and ½ cup
sugar snap peas. Season with
rice-wine vinegar and soy sauce.
almonds, and 1 lb chopped broc-
coli rabe. Toss with 2 oz cooked
whole-wheat spaghetti and
1 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan.
708 calories, 38g protein, ENJOY PASTA AGAIN.
70g carbs (13g fiber), 35g fat
Some diets label carbs as bad.
Fiber is a carb—and fiber is
good. One 2-ounce serving of
whole-wheat spaghetti
28. Buffalo Bun has 6 grams.

452 calories, 34g protein, Slide 1 boneless, skinless grilled

52g carbs (11g fiber), 14g fat
23. Brat Rolls
Into a whole-wheat steak roll,
stuff a grilled Beyond Brat and top
with ¾ cup warmed sauerkraut
and spicy brown mustard.
Serve with ½ cup potato salad.
654 calories, 30g protein,
72g carbs (15g fiber), 27g fat
530 calories, 35g protein,
37g carbs (14g fiber), 28g fat
chicken breast into a whole-
wheat bun with 1 Tbsp Frank’s
RedHot and 2 Tbsp crumbled
blue cheese. Eat with 1 cup
26. Chop Chops
raspberries on the side.
383 calories, 36g protein,
38g carbs (11g fiber), 11g fat
Sear 3 seasoned lamb chops
and serve drizzled with 2 Tbsp
balsamic syrup and topped
with 1 Tbsp minced mint. Serve
with ¾ cup cooked green lentils
and ½ large broiled tomato.
398 calories, 41g protein, 40g
carbs (13g fiber), 8g fat

24. Fish Tacos

Season and roast a 4 oz salmon
fillet, then flake and tuck into
three 5-inch corn tortillas with
2 Tbsp black beans, 1 Tbsp
guacamole, and 1 medium
sliced radish. Add some hot
sauce and cilantro on each.
408 calories, 32g protein,
42g carbs (11g fiber), 14g fat
BUY CORN TORTILLAS.
One medium-sized corn
tortilla has 1.8 grams of fiber.
A flour tortilla has 1. Whole-
wheat flour tortillas have
more, but they taste
bad.

30/10: OUT TO EAT

29 Red Lobster
Southwest-Style
Tacos with Grilled
Shrimp and a
side Caesar salad.
920 calories,
30g protein, 91g carbs
(10g fiber), 50g fat
30 Chipotle
Chicken Burrito Bowl
with pinto beans, fajita
vegetables, guaca-
mole, corn salsa, and
lettuce. 645 calories,
46g protein, 51g carbs
(19g fiber), 32g fat

PAUL KITA is the food and nutrition editor of Men’s

Health and the author of two cookbooks, Guy Gourmet
and A Man, A Pan, A Plan.
NEW
WAYS
TO
SEE
THE
DOCTOR
Because the old way,
let’s face it, is pretty broken,
and you can get health care in
plenty of different places right now.

Here’s how to find

your best options.
BY JENNIFER WOLFF
ILLUSTRATIONS BY NICOLAS ORTEGA
ANY
DOCTOR will
tell you that every guy needs
a primary-care provider—a
trusted physician who knows
you, knows that your dad had
a heart attack at age 40, helps
you figure out how to tweak
your life according to your
health history . . . and heck,
knows your name without
looking at your chart first.
Except that for most of us, that’s not
how it goes. First, the doctor never
sees us, because the yearly visit has
been called off. “There’s no reason
for healthy men under 40, or anyone
for that matter, to get annual check-
ups,” says Eric Topol, M.D., a profes-
sor of molecular medicine at Scripps
Research in La Jolla, California, echo-
ing the view of the Society of General
Internal Medicine. Having an annual
exam does not reduce your risk of death
or serious disease, according to a review
of 14 studies. When it comes to yearly
checkups, “all the data shows the lack
of value, and they should be strongly
discouraged,” Dr. Topol says.
Second, we move around. “If you take
a 21-year-old male in 2020 and ask,
‘Where are you going to get care today
versus five, ten, or 20 years from now?’
he’s not going to know, because people
change employers, health plans, and
even doctors relatively frequently,”
says Ateev Mehrotra, M.D., an associ-

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 99

ate professor of public health-care policy The New

STRATEGIES
and medicine at Harvard Medical School.
“So the question is: Is that relationship
even possible?”
Add to that issues with cost and conve-
nience and it’s no wonder nearly half of Which ones spare you time,
adults in the U. S. under age 30 don’t have money, and scheduling hassles without
a primary-care physician.
endangering your health.
And—twist you didn’t see coming!—
maybe that’s okay.
There are now many cheaper, more con-
venient ways to get medical help than
waiting for a traditional doctor’s office
to fit you in and potentially having to
travel to get there. And if you’re basically

BY PHONE
healthy, you might do fine with these.
SEE
A
IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE “DR. YOU,” DOC
YOU HAVE TO DO A LITTLE STUDYING.
WITH CHOICE and convenience comes
great responsibility. “Most millennials YOU GET to talk to or videoconference
use urgent care, go online, talk to their with a real doctor without making an
friends, and think that’s health care,” appointment or even leaving your living room/car/
office/campsite. Some big insurance companies
says Allan H. Gorroll, M.D., a professor
have partnered with big telehealth start-ups, includ-
of medicine at Harvard Medical School. ing Teladoc, Doctor On Demand, and American Well,
It’s not. A catch-as-catch-can health so these options may be part of your plan. In 2018,
plan leads to a lot of issues not an estimated 7 million people visited a doc this way.
getting caught. With this approach, You can find and use a telehealth site or app
“some things may be overlooked or pre- yourself, but you’ll have to do some homework
scribed inappropriately,” he says. on your choices before dialing.
So you’ve got to have a plan. Not all of
these answers to medical-system frustra-
tion are equal. Some are welcome, some
dodgy, some outright dangerous, and
some ingenious. THE PROS: THE CONS:
Look, if you have a doctor you love, stick Speed. Ease. Since Not all telehealth pro-
with them. And if you have a chronic you’re calling or video viders are equal—some
illness like diabetes or high blood sugar chatting about a spe- have been scammy.
that’s about to turn into diabetes, or if cific problem, such So when choosing an
as a sore throat, you’ll app, look for one
you’re at high risk for anything else (like
likely be spared the “you partnered with a known
heart disease), then yes, you’re going to
need to lose weight” health-care entity, like
need a main doctor. speech. And research Blue Cross Blue Shield
But today, the old way is only one way to has shown that people or a hospital that you
get what you need. If you’re going to bypass may be more honest in trust. Then see who
a PCP, then let us show you how to navigate revealing symptoms or the doctors are—some
what’s out there so that you find the best undesirable behaviors apps list providers’
route to the best care. like alcohol consump- names and contact
tion when disclosing to information, so you can
JENNIFER WOLFF is an award-winning investigative a computer. check them out online.
health writer who lives in New York City.

100 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

 THE PROS:

URGENT CARE
They’re cheaper and faster than the ER,
GO they can usually send a report to you to
TO
keep on file (and to a doctor, if you have
one), and they’re everywhere.

MORE THAN half of all millennials seek

help from urgent care (like Concentra,
CityMD, and MedExpress) or retail health clin-
ics, found in drugstores, supermarkets, or “big
box” stores. Retail clinics are typically manned
by a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant;
they’re good at managing minor scrapes, colds,
and fevers, and they can give you a flu shot. But
they can’t X-ray you or stitch you up. Freestand-
ing urgent-care centers are for pressing but
non-life-threatening medical issues (so bypass
them for an ER if you have chest pain) and are
generally staffed by a licensed physician.
THE CONS:
They may overprescribe meds. One recent
study discovered that nearly half of people
who dropped into urgent care with an ear
infection, flu, allergies, asthma, bronchitis,
or another viral upper-respiratory infection—
none of which respond to antibiotics—got a
prescription. Retail clinics had the best track
record—antibiotics were inappropriately pre-
scribed only 14 percent of the time there (and
17 percent of the time at a doctor’s office).

SPLURGE MEDICAL
ONLINE RX CONCIERGE
FOR YOUR
OWN
GET
AN

THESE FANCY doctor’s offices/wellness centers

IF YOU NEED a prescription for an issue like

ED, genital herpes, performance anxiety,
or hair loss, a few finger taps can get you one from a
“digital health clinic” such as Hims.
THE PROS:
No embarrassing in-
person doctor visit
needed. Fill out an online
form—you’ll answer a lot of
questions about your issue
and your health history
(you’ve got to be honest)—
to determine if you’re
eligible for the prescription
you’re after. If a doc has
questions or concerns,
they may call you. Your
medication arrives at your
door a few days later.
THE CONS:
The idea of getting meds
with little human contact
ruffles the feathers of prac-
tically every careful human
prescriber we know. But
it might not be as sketchy
as all that: Dr. Mehrotra
sent college students
undercover to test online
prescription apps and
sites. “My initial skepticism
was tempered,” he says.
That’s still not a ringing
endorsement, by the way.
are about as far as you can get from low-contact
telehealth apps. Packages vary by company, but monthly
fees can get you a round of initial diagnostics and a certain
number of appointments with those physicians every
year. The promise is that these docs have extra time to
spend with you not only to solve your health problem but
also to help determine lifestyle changes to keep it in check
and prevent other issues. At a company called Forward, for
instance, members receive genetic testing, body scans,
and a personalized health plan. It considers itself a “supple-
ment” to your insurance plan, not a substitute for it.
THE PROS: THE CONS:
By virtue of the fact that These physicians can
they’re not bound to a feel like partners in your
15-minute reimburs- care, but they’re pricey.
able visit, these doctors Forward runs about $149
can take the time to a month, and Parsley
understand patterns and Health costs about
concerns that aren’t just $150 to $250 a month,
today’s problem. They depending on how many
also help with stress visits a year you want.
reduction and recom- And the testing and blood
mend healthy eating and work may not be included
exercise programs. in the membership fees.

MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 101

 HAVE A
CONSULT
WITH DR. DNA
BY THE START of 2019, more than
26 million Americans had spat into
a tube and sent a DNA sample off to a lab
to check genetic health risks and ancestry.

THE PROS: THE CONS:

TAP
INTO
YOUR DATA Knowing that your
DNA indicates
you’re at increased
risk for certain
diseases, including
It can be jarring
to receive the
news that you’re at
risk for a disease
via a report, and
DIFFERENT WEARABLES can track your heart rate, heart
breast cancer (yes, you need to work
rhythms, blood pressure, and sleep patterns. They also
even men can get with a doctor to
have a hint of Orwellian, Black Mirror creepiness, as some life-
it), age-related mac- retest to see if the
insurance companies have started using them to assess an indi-
ular degeneration, diagnosis is accu-
vidual’s activity level and grant discounts on premiums based on
and blood-clotting rate—then find if
lifestyle. So make sure you’re aware of who’s watching your watch.
disorders, can help what you’re doing
you step up efforts to ward off a dis-
to prevent them. ease is adequate.

THE PROS: THE CONS:

Your wearable may alert you
to a heart problem (the Apple
Watch Heart Rate app). And the
Weill Cornell Alzheimer’s Pre-
vention Clinic uses the Whoop’s
sleep-activity data to track
whether people experience a
decrease in REM sleep, a poten-
tial risk factor for Alzheimer’s.
Wearables can be helpful for
WHAT ONLY A REGULAR DOC CAN DO
monitoring areas of concern,
like not getting adequate
sleep, but they can’t do a
doctor’s work yet. Plus,
watch-based EKGs may
deliver endless data outputs
that send guys in for hours of
fruitless worry and testing.
Monitor chronic conditions.
Encourage you to stop vaping/smoking or
make other behavioral health changes.
Be an advocate when you do get sick. But
no matter how great your doctor is, it’s
useful to have a family member or friend in
your corner to help you with that, too, espe-
cially if you have a chronic condition or a
complex care plan, or you’re in the hospital.

102 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

 Promise Us
YOU’LL CHECK IN WITH
for These Issues
A DOC
IF YOU’RE OPTING for convenience over
a PCP, you still need some regular screen- UR
I N YO
s
IN ADDITION TO regular

0
ings. These can spot trouble and help you

4
keep things from getting too serious, just as you
get much more out of your car for less money
with regular maintenance. You should see a doc
for the following, and we’ve trimmed this list
down to the bare minimum of screenings you
can get away with. Really, these are pretty
painless. You’ve done a lot harder things in life.
blood-pressure and cholesterol
checks and your ten-year
Td vaccine, you need checks for:
TYPE 2 DIABETES Everyone should have a
blood-sugar check at age 45. If you have major
risk factors at any age—e.g., you’re overweight
or obese or you have a family history of diabe-
tes—ask for a fasting plasma-glucose test. It’s
a simple blood test, but it measures your blood
sugar after an eight-hour fast. The diagno-
sis is verified by two tests showing elevated

Y O UR CHOLESTEROL If you have a family history of blood-sugar levels.

s
IN

0
heart disease, get a baseline around age 20. Then check it: Every three years.

2
Then check it: Every four to six years—high num-
bers put you at risk of heart disease and stroke. PROSTATE CANCER The American Cancer Soci-
ety says that the age at which you should start
asking a doctor whether you need screening
BLOOD PRESSURE HIV AND OTHER STDS Okay, you technically
depends on your risk:
Avoid the hundreds don’t need to visit a doc for this. Numerous
Ask at age 40 if you’re at the highest risk
of blood-pressure at-home kits can be ordered online and arrive
(i.e., you have more than one first-degree rela-
apps—unless they in discreet packaging. You can go to a clinic,
tive who had this cancer at an early age).
come with an actual too. But you’ve got to get tested. STDs are
Ask at age 45 if you’re at high risk (African-
monitor—since none on the rise—in 2018, the combined cases of
Americans and anyone who has a first-degree
have proved to be syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia reached
relative who was diagnosed with prostate
consistently accurate. an all-time high in the U. S. One study found
cancer before age 65).
Have this done by a guys posting pics of potential STDs on Reddit
Ask at age 50 if you’re at average risk.
real person. While for others to “crowd diagnose.” Don’t do that.
Then check it: When you and your doctor
you’re there, have Then check it: After each new partner, or at
decide it’s best.
them check your cho- least once a year. And if you have any itching,
lesterol levels, and pain, burning, or swelling in your junk, don’t
a doc can tell you wait for a kit. Let a doc take a look. COLORECTAL CANCER You could avoid seeing
what to do about the a doc for this, too, if you’re willing to put your
numbers that you get. poop on a test card and send it in for testing
EXTRA CREDIT If you haven’t had the HPV every year. But if there’s an abnormal test
Then check it: At
vaccine yet and you’re under age 45, ask result, you may need a colonoscopy. So plenty of
least every two years.
a doc about it—the vaccine helps prevent men just opt for the scope at age 45—earlier if
If yours is 120/80 or
genital warts and cancers in men and women there are risk factors or symptoms like blood in
above, see a doctor.
(including cervical cancer in women). the stool, big changes in bowel movements, or
continuous severe stomach pain or weight loss.
Then check it: Every ten years, if everything is

UR
fine and you’re not at increased risk.
I N YO
s
IN ADDITION TO regular

3 0
blood-pressure and choles-

WHEN TO GO TO THE ER (DON’T MESS AROUND WITH THESE SYMPTOMS)

terol checks, you need:

THE TETANUS-DIPHTHERIA (TD) Chest pain/difficulty breathing Head/eye injuries

VACCINE It’s necessary every ten
years, so it’s time.
Weakness/numbness on one side
Deep cuts that require more
than just a couple stitches
Facial lacerations
Broken bones/dislocated joints
Fainting/changes in mental state
High fevers with a rash
Serious burns
BY
AC SHILTON
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
MATT EICH

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Arbuckle Creek
cuts through
the valley where
Minden sits and
delivers trouble
to its residents.
The
residents
of Minden,
West Virginia,
have been
living—and
dying—on
contaminated
land for
more than
30 years.

They
want out.

But it’s not

that easy.

105
In a narrow shadow of land
between two steep mountainsides in West
Virginia, residents of a town called Minden
are dying. Not in that existential “we’re all
dying a little bit every day” way, but in the
blotchy-lesions-and-tumor-riddled-organs-
that-eventually-stop-working way.
The 250 residents are all that’s left of
a community that peaked at about 1,200
in 1970, and they think they know what’s
picking them off one by one, in a relent-
less, who’s-next roulette. They can’t
avoid it in their homes. Or in their back-
yards. Or on the grounds of the abandoned
factory where kids ride their dirt bikes.
Locals have taken to calling Minden’s
main road “Death Valley Drive.”

Annetta Coffman has
watched neighbor
after neighbor get
cancer. Five years
ago, her son, Dalton
Kincaid (left), was
diagnosed, too.
Annetta Coffman has lived on this
land for all of her 44 years. But in 2018
alone, 15 of her neighbors, people from
age 12 to almost 90, died of cancer.
That’s a full 6 percent of the town’s
current population. “That year was a
nightmare,” she says, her voice more
tired than sad a year after the fact.
Coffman lost her mother to breast,
cervical, and uterine cancer in 2007.
About five years ago, doctors discovered
a tumor on the pituitary gland of her son,
Dalton Kincaid. He’d stopped growing
at four-foot-eleven and couldn’t keep
on weight, even if he ate 5,000 calories
a day. His doctor told him he had to quit
basketball, the sport he lived for, because
he couldn’t afford to burn extra calories.
“My doctor said he didn’t even want me to
play basketball with my friends,” Kincaid
says. No pickup ball, no messing around
on the court on weekends.
Coffman recounts what they’ve been
through matter-of-factly, but her voice
trembles with anxiety. Treatments shrank
Kincaid’s tumors, yet despite a diet of
3,000 to 4,000 calories per day, even now,
at age 20, he’s still extremely lean. High
energy and fast talking, he explains that
he holds down a job at Walmart while
going to school full-time at West Virginia
University Tech. But recently he’s been hit
by blinding light sensitivity, and lately his
eyes have been inflamed, “like he’s having
an allergy attack,” his mom chimes in.
Coffman works two jobs in town, one
at a chiropractor’s office and the other
waiting tables at a restaurant. Minden is
home, but she and the other remaining
residents are desperate to move. Because
they’re sure they’ll die sooner if they
stay. Ayne Amjad, M.D., an internist who
lives 24 miles away and has become an
advocate for the people of Minden, says
her research estimates the cancer rate to
be about 80 percent for those who’ve spent
the majority of their lives in this valley.
Minden is a verdant place where
Arbuckle Creek, the stream that carved
the valley to begin with, runs between
and behind its homes. The trouble is that
when it rains, the water has nowhere
to go but up. The creek bucks its banks
“maybe four, five, or six times a year,”
says Coffman. “And when it floods,”
Kincaid adds, “it runs for days.” When
the waters recede, there’s sediment. In
the riverbed and on the roads. In yards,
in basements, in homes. Residents think
that sediment, which is contaminated
with leftover industrial chemicals, is
what is making people sick. It’s what
they believe has poisoned three—going
on four—generations. For more than 30
years, the people of Minden have begged
for help: from the state, from the feds,
from anyone who will listen.
In 2017, due to their pressure, or just
the way the cards flipped, the Environ-
mental Protection Agency came to collect
soil and sediment samples to determine
whether Minden should be put on the
National Priorities List, a government
punch list of 1,335 places that have been
evaluated and deemed hazardous and
that require cleanup. In 2019, the towns-
people felt they’d finally found an escape
route when Minden was added to that
list. They hoped to get moved, thinking
relocation would offer a new start, as it
has with other toxic sites.
“Relocation was our goal,” says Dr.
Amjad. Brandon Richardson, a member
of the Minden Community Action Team,
says the news had people talking about
the logistics of relocation, like whether
they’d move as a group or take individual
buyouts and each go their own way. But
an October 2019 meeting with the EPA
put residents back to where they’ve been
for 30 years: waiting. “The EPA wouldn’t
even discuss relocation,” Coffman says.
Now Minden is in limbo, the townsfolk
hoping to live long enough so that when
the government finally acts, some people
will be left to benefit.
It’s a tough time to be a resident of a
toxic community. From Minden to the
Navajo Nation—places large and small,
coastal and not—America is dealing with
the health fallout of industrial pollution.
Since 2016, the federal government has
proposed rollbacks on 85 environmental
regulations. A number of these have gone
into effect, and one in particular makes
it easier for coal companies to pollute
nearby streams. In addition, the govern-
ment’s 2018 budget slashed funding for
remediation at Superfund sites—the term
for locations deemed so toxic they merit
federal dollars—by 30 percent. From Love
Canal (one of America’s first Superfund
sites) to the Gulf of Mexico (site of the 2010
Deepwater Horizon oil spill) to Cancer
Alley in Louisiana, there’s a long history of
industry burying toxic waste in American
backyards and of residents having to raise
hell to get it cleaned up. For Coffman, the
sadness inside her at some point shifted to
rage. She’s been holding on to that anger
ever since, and joining forces with other
people in and around town to try to do
something about their plight.
BURYING THE TROUBLE
WHEN THE now-defunct Shaffer Equip-
ment Company started refurbishing
electrical equipment for mining compa-
nies in the 1970s and ’80s, Coffman was
just a child. In much of West Virginia,
coal keeps the lights on, and mining-
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 107
adjacent businesses, like Shaffer, were
welcomed in rural communities.
But at Shaffer headquarters, bosses
were making decisions with far-reaching
consequences: Something had to be done
with the used transformers and oil. The
company reportedly tasked employees
with dumping the oil, which they did at
several sites around town, including an
old mine. Used oil was also repurposed
by the company and local residents as
heating fuel, and it was even sprayed on
dirt roads to keep the dust down.
Later it was discovered that the oil was
contaminated with PCBs (polychlori-
nated biphenyls), heat- and pressure-
resistant chemicals primarily used as
insulating fluid. But those chemicals are
also connected to birth defects, still-
births, and cancer. Based on that and on
the fact that PCBs can take a very long
time to degrade in the environment, in
1979 the EPA ruled them a toxic substance
and banned their manufacture. By then,
however, the waste was all over Minden,
and it was continuing to spread—in the
soil, in the water, and everywhere the wa-
ter went every time the creek overflowed. that PCBs seem to be linked to are the
Minden is so small that it doesn’t have most common forms in the general pop-
its own doctor. But in the early ’80s, ulation, such as lung, colon, and breast.)
in nearby Oak Hill, oncologist Hassan This makes it easy for public-health
Amjad, M.D. (Ayne’s father), began officials to say, Look at the town’s smoking
noticing that a disproportionate number rates. Look at the residents’ diets. Look
of his cancer patients were from Minden. anywhere but at the chemicals. In fact,
He raised an alarm first with the West when West Virginia state senator Stephen
Virginia Department of Environmen- Baldwin recently asked a state official Ayne Amjad, M.D.,
tal Protection and then at the federal about health in Minden, “they said that if picked up the fight
to help Minden
EPA. Soon federal employees in hazmat there are public-health problems here, it’s residents after her
suits were tromping through Minden, because of people’s poor choices,” he says. father, Hassan
testing various places around town, But even without a health study, the Amjad, M.D. (above
including the site of the Shaffer Equip- town had the EPA’s ear for a minute in left), died in 2017.
ment Company. The EPA discovered that 1984. That December, agency workers ar-
one sample, from 4,000 cubic yards of rived touting a new technology that would
oil-soaked soil, was contaminated with help break down the PCBs. It didn’t work.
PCBs—which can leach into ground- The chemicals remained. So the EPA
water or be inhaled. The level in the sample moved to plan B. It would truck out tainted AFTER THE CLEANUP
was 260,000 parts per million. The EPA’s soil and build a berm along Arbuckle THE PEOPLE of Minden were supposed
acceptable limit for those chemicals in Creek to prevent the migration of any to move on with their lives. And they did.
soil is one part per million. remaining PCBs at the Shaffer site. Coffman had a family. Fruit worked as a
Minden residents asked the EPA to con- Percy “Eddie” Fruit, 65, a longtime pipe fitter installing sprinkler systems.
duct a community health study, but the resident whose home is within sight of one He took care of his two daughters and
agency investigator’s response was that of the EPA cleanup locations, remembers spent his weekends and his spare cash
“studies of similarly exposed populations watching trucks roll through town. At fixing up the home he grew up in.
Previous page: Courtesy Annetta Coffman

in the U. S. had not resulted in elevated
PCB blood levels.”
So the elder Dr. Amjad started col-
lecting as much data as he could on his
own. The problem with chemical-related
cancers, especially those associated with
PCBs, is that causation can be tough to
prove definitively. (The kinds of cancers
first, residents—including Fruit and
Coffman—thought the EPA had done its
job. So did the EPA. In December 1988,
an agency team inspected the completed
work and declared that “the restored site
area remained in excellent condition
and that no threat to public health or the
environment existed.” Not quite.
But as the years passed, the residents
kept seeing signs that maybe the job
hadn’t been finished. A cache of barrels
lingered on the old Shaffer Equipment
Company site. And they weren’t empty.
Yet all the while, people let their
kids ride their bikes there, thinking it
was safe, because the area hadn’t been

108 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH

properly fenced off. Both residents and
the EPA would later discover that the
constructed berm isn’t effective if it’s be-
The EPA banned the
ing eroded by the constant flooding that
happens every time the skies open up. manufacture of PCBs in 1979. But by
The town organized and sent letters
to the EPA and to state and local repre-
sentatives, and the agency came back then, they were all over Minden.
to Minden in 1991 and ’92. Things were
looking up even more in 1993, when cleanup turned out to have lied to his em- the millions. Minden isn’t suing Shaffer,
the EPA tried to hold Shaffer accountable ployer. He didn’t have the college degree since there’s no money to be had. (Shaffer
by suing the company to recoup the costs or the master’s degree in organic chem- has since filed for bankruptcy.)
of cleaning up the town. istry he’d claimed. The EPA appealed And the town can’t sue the EPA at this
But more dirt was uncovered: The suit and the parties ultimately settled, with point. Suits typically can’t be brought to
was thrown out of trial court because Shaffer paying $600,000 to partially challenge an EPA remedy at a Superfund
the man the EPA had put in charge of the offset the agency’s costs, now well into site until that remedy has been finalized.
Frustrated by
the waiting and
worrying, Percy
Fruit led a symbolic
march out of Minden
last June, pushing a
barrel like those that
had been dumped
around town.
Minden’s residents are sick and tired,
and they’re also trapped. Living on toxic
waste has made their homes worthless.
“Once the EPA has selected a remedy,
then anyone who has standing could
challenge the remedy and say it’s not
good enough,” says Kenneth Kilbert, an
environmental-litigation expert at the Uni-
versity of Toledo College of Law. In Min-
den’s case, the EPA is still determining what
the final remedy will be. And that’s not as
simple as it sounds. The agency works on
reducing risk to an acceptable level, not
eliminating it, Kilbert says. “From a risk
perspective, that makes sense. But not if
you’re the person living next to it.”
Fruit and his neighbors would agree
with that. Even after additional cleanup
in the early ’90s, some of the residents
still felt as though something wasn’t
right. Fruit noticed that people around
him kept getting sick. “I had a bunch of
neighbors pass away from cancer,” he
says. His gut told him that the danger had
not passed. Soil samples tested in 2017
showed he was correct. The toxins are still
there. And the residents are, too.
ESTABLISHING A LINK
IT’S STARTING TO look like no one is
going to save Minden except the people
who live there. The residents are trying
to draw a direct line between what’s hap-
pening to their health and what happened
to their town. For more than 30 years, the
elder Dr. Amjad pushed to gather as much
data as possible showing the effects of
PCBs on Minden residents.
Proving causation between a chemical
and a type of cancer can take years and
many more dollars than Minden has. But
Dr. Amjad thought he was close to discov-
ering a new type of lymphoma linked to
PCBs when he died suddenly of a heart
attack in 2017, says his daughter, Ayne.
She has her own medical practice, and al-
though her father had always jokingly told
Minden’s residents that she’d someday
take over his advocacy work, she wasn’t
expecting to step in so soon.
But in the weeks after he died, while she
was still processing her grief, “everyone
started calling,” she says. “They didn’t
know what to do and thought everything
he did would be lost.” When she had the
strength to go into his office, she began
sorting through decades of paperwork.
 She hasn’t been able to prove the lym-
phoma connection yet, but she has added
two other strategies to the town’s fight.
The first is an effort to get the state
to help collect more accurate cancer
data. The second is a plan to look beyond
the EPA for a solution.
Despite the fact that Minden is on the
National Priorities List, the state’s De-
partment of Health & Human Resources,
which oversees the West Virginia Cancer
Registry, says that its current data does
not support the existence of a cancer
cluster in the town. That’s largely due
to how the data is gathered. If you live in
Minden your whole life but move and are
diagnosed with the disease while living
elsewhere, you will no longer show up as a
cancer case related to Minden.
The younger Dr. Amjad worked with
Senator Baldwin to introduce legislation
to change that, but the Health Depart-
ment pushed back, saying it would be too
complicated to sort the data any other
way but by where people lived at the time
of diagnosis. The necessary information
can’t just be pulled from basic medical
records. To collate the data by where
residents lived most of their lives would
require in-person interviews, which the
cancer registry doesn’t have the man-
power to conduct.
This means that a lot of cancer cases
aren’t counted. Fruit’s mother, who
cleaned the Shaffer Equipment Com-
pany offices, died of cancer in 1992. She
counts toward Minden’s total. But his
three brothers, all of whom have had
Chris Dorst/Charleston Gazette-Mail
bouts of cancer that they have so far sur-
vived, don’t, because they moved away.
Fruit doesn’t really like talking about
cancer, because it’s been too much of a
presence among the people around him.
Whenever the phone rings, he gets a pang
of worry about what kind of news he’ll be
getting. Rather than talk about cancer
(“If I speak, it’s going to happen,” he says),
he prays. And then he gets busy. “You have
to put your faith into action.”
STEPPING UP AND OUT
ON A HOT June morning last year, Fruit
got out of bed early and headed to Mind-
en’s small community center. “I’m always
in pain,” he says with a dark chuckle, re-
ferring to his hip, which is badly in need of
a total replacement. He knew the uphill,
mile-plus hike out of the valley that Min-
den sits in would cause misery tomorrow.
But that was tomorrow’s problem.
Thirty years ago, on an equally muggy
June weekend, Lucian Randall, a local
activist, led a march out of Minden to
protest the valley’s pollution with PCBs.
Randall pushed an oil drum—like the
ones full of PCB-contaminated oil that
were dumped all over this town—up one of
Minden’s hills.
Fruit was a young man then, off serving
in the Army, but his mother kept him
informed about the fight back home. He
never thought that three decades later, as
a 65-year-old man, he’d be leading a march
up the same hill protesting the same
thing. But here he was, bad hip and all.
The march was supposed to draw
attention to Minden’s ongoing plight—
and nod to the pilgrimage its residents
hope to someday take, marching up and
out of their toxic town, when they get
the funds to relocate.
In one response from the EPA, last
November, the agency stated that “at
this time, the environmental data/risk
does not show that relocation is an
appropriate response action.” Dr. Amjad
is helping the town look elsewhere for
a solution. She’s investigating whether
the consistent flooding in Minden at
least qualifies residents for some level
of disaster relief from FEMA.
But for now, they’re still trapped. Liv-
ing on waste has made their homes worth-
less. Fruit says he’s put $60,000 into his
home over the years. Its value today is just
$38,000. Coffman owes $20,000 on her
double-wide mobile home, which is too
damaged from flooding to move. “So I’m
either going to leave it and be in debt, or
just stay until it’s paid off.” That would be
in another ten years—which is ten more
years of chemical exposure.
Even if the elusive relocation happens,
that still wouldn’t be the end of it. The
residents would have to decide if they
want to move together as a community,
with neighbors staying neighbors in a
brand-new development built just for
them, or if everyone would rather take
a cash buyout for their home and start
over wherever they wish.
Coffman prefers the latter. “We’re
going to get cancer,” she says. She’s spent
the past 30 years raising money for people
who can’t afford funerals; she’s been go-
ing to memorials, making casseroles for
friends, planning candlelight vigils, and
watching people she loves die. If all her
neighbors relocated together, it would be
more of the same. “We’ve been exposed to
it for too long. People are still going to be
dying. And I don’t want to see that.”
Kincaid doesn’t want to leave. But after
he graduates from college—where he’s
studying criminal justice, hoping to go to
law school—he’ll be moving on. “If I have
kids one day, I don’t want them to grow
up here,” he says. The only way he’ll find
himself back in Minden is if, by the time
he’s passed the bar, things still haven’t
changed. By that time, though, he’ll be
armed with a law degree.
AC SHILTON is an investigative journalist
whose work has appeared in The New York
Times, Outside, and other publications.
MEN’S HEALTH / January • February 2020 111
 AND ANOTHER THING!

Coffee lovers take their beans one way: SERIOUSLY. Our staff
picked a bag of beans they loved, then asked the president
of that company to select his favorite coffee product.
The founder of the brand that made that product gave her
pick, and so on, to corral this caffeine dream team.

3. ABIGAIL FORSYTH,
1. MEN’S HEALTH COFOUNDER OF KEEPCUP, 4. ALEX TENNANT, GENERAL
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Getty Images (coffee beans)

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112 January • February 2020 / MEN’S HEALTH