Strength

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 “There are skills you
learn in the gym . . .
discipline, working
through your fatigue,
pushing past what
you perceive as
a limit. ’Cause
there’s greatness
on the other side.”
—DWAYNE JOHNSON, P. 68

On the covers: Dwayne Johnson

photographed by Flannery
Underwood (T-shirt version).
Dwayne Johnson photographed
by Nate Lewis (hoodie version).
Black Adam hoodie and T-shirt
by Under Armour’s Project
Rock. This page: Black Adam
hoodie, shorts, and sneakers by
Under Armour’s Project Rock.

68 DWAYNE’S 74 BOUNCE BACK 80 WHAT FIT 88 THE EPIDEMIC

FEATURES

WORLD NBA star Damian Lillard’s GUYS REALLY EAT KILLING BLACK MEN
The Rock at 50: journey back from a major What, you’re not a Special Report: Opioid
Dwayne Johnson is injury spurred a new celebrity with access overdoses are rising
stronger, fitter, and outlook on life—and his to a top trainer and a in already underserved
funnier than ever. forward-thinking tactics nutritionist? Well, Black communities.
BY BEN JHOTY AND can help you recover from neither are these seven Men’s Health goes inside
BEN COURT disappointment and jacked guys with one treatment center
Flannery Underwood

failure. Plus recovery tips regular day jobs. battling addiction on

from other NBA stars. Here’s how they eat. the front lines.
BY EBENEZER SAMUEL, BY WESLEY LOWERY
C.S.C.S.

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 3

 CONTENTS
MH WORLD BODY
9 Your favorite 15 Fat-tire biking, ice
muscle meal, your climbing, polar-bear
flu and Covid shot plunging, and seven other
questions answered, adventure-packed trips
and what you to keep you fit this winter.
thought of Zac 18 Get results faster this
Efron’s diet. holiday season with these
seven-minute heart-
pounding workouts.
20 6 A.M.: Avatar villain
Stephen Lang’s early-
morning workout mixes
yoga and . . . karate!
22 Hey, your feet need a
workout, too. Here’s how
to build a stronger, more
stable base.
24 A new HIIT-with-
meditation workout wants
to pair hell with Zen.
4 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
PLUS!
THE 2023
TECH AWARDS
Just in time for the
holidays: the hottest
and most useful gear
to stay fit, relax, and
have fun. p. 62
LIFE
39 Drinking is great,
until it becomes . . . not
so great. Here’s how
to do it healthier—and
with less hangover.
42 There’s only one
right way to boil the
perfect egg.
44 5 for $50: Combine
holiday leftovers
with tempeh for
protein-packed meals
to last a week.
46 Why we need
more terrible holiday
slasher movies. You
heard us. Boo!
48 Clear up dark spots
and give your skin
that summer glow all
year long.
49 Freshen your winter
look with these high-
performing, sports-
inspired essentials.
26 Colon cancer is
silently killing more 52 How to take care
men under 50, but of your parents when
there are ways to they’re all done taking
spot it early. care of you.
28 10,000 steps?
Boring. How about a
fun goal? Like walking
MIND
to outer space. 55 Heroes of Mental
Health 2022: With stress,
33 Wait, why depression, and suicide
haven’t we solved rates near all-time highs,
snoring? (Spoiler: these men are on a
It’s complicated, but mission to save lives.
not impossible.)
36 Are fiber supple- +
ments the best way to 96 Six Pack: NBA star
boost your daily intake Jordan Clarkson’s
of roughage? must-have gear.
Courtesy Tribit
 Personnel Question:
TEAM How do you fight the
3:00 P.M. slump?
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6 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

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 BEHIND THE SCENES
WITH THE EXPERTS,
ADVISORS, AND
READERS WHO BRING
MEN’S HEALTH TO
LIFE, AND THEN SOME.

On page 80, we learn exactly what seven super-busy,

super-fit guys eat to stay strong, which got us to thinking—
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MUSCLE MEAL?

Goat’s milk kefir.

Greg Butler
Before: Overnight
oats. After: Bacon
and eggs with
mixed greens.
@ohthatgreg

Venison chili!
Oats with sliced @lukedennett24

banana and almond

milk mixed with
protein powder.
@thefitmusketeer

Peanut butter
tofu over rice.
Lil tacos: Tuna @tbs
with seaweed.
@Dev.her

Chicken,
broccoli and rice.
Joseph Blaskovich
Gallery Stock

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 9

 WORLD EDITOR’S LETTER

ASK
MEN’S
HEALTH
pickup, from light intermittent snacking to Q. Is it okay
big-ass power meals, these guys shared all to get your flu
the ways they eat to live and live to eat. It’s
a great reminder that there’s no one way to shot and Covid
nourish the body, mind, and soul. booster on the
That’s something, I’d add, that the guy on
same day?
our cover knows a little about. If you follow
him on Instagram, you’re aware that Dwayne
Johnson knows not only how to eat but also A. Yes! And you
should be getting them
when and how to be flexible. Most of the time,
he tells us in his cover story, he eats “the now. Flu season is here,
same thing every day for days and weeks and and you also want to
months. It’s very consistent. It’s very boring.” protect yourself from
He regularly posts an epic Sunday cheat meal a potential uptick in
that can run the gamut from mountains of su- Covid cases this win-
shi to giant French toast. (His ultimate cheat ter. Vaccines work by
ASK THE E.I.C. meal? “A combo of a great cheeseburger, presenting antigens to
fries, and a great dessert . . . I like combining the body so it can learn
What’s your a lot of shit with cookies. I’ll do peanut butter to fight them. The num-
ber of antigens in both
and a chocolate-chip cookie. Put some cara-

MEAL PLAN, mel chips in there. I do stuff like that.”) For

him, that weekly respite from routine keeps
flu and Covid vaccines
is incredibly small.
Your body faces thou-
and what do you do for him focused and disciplined the rest of the
week. That’s what works for him, and maybe sands of antigens every

FLEXIBILITY?
it would work for you, too. day, so your immune
Over the years, I’ve been all different system can more than
kinds of eater. I’ve done paleo and Atkins handle two vaccines.
and some version of Whole30 (or what I But while you can get
—@kevstar92
think of as Dirty30) about ten times, and I’ve both on the same day,
always ended up back where I started. Lean some people may want
meats, leafy greens, low carb, no white flour to take a breather
or refined sugar. Oh, and dairy: I avoid dairy. between shots. If you
OF THE MANY, MANY THINGS you’ll find And booze. Mostly. But we’re heading into normally develop
in this issue that might surprise or inspire the holidays, and . . . what was it you asked symptoms from flu or
you—that there are people out there trying about flexibility? Especially this time of other vaccines—like
to walk to outer space (kind of), or that year, I try not to get too rigid about things. If muscle aches, fever,
playing the trumpet might help alleviate I’m lucky enough to be at a great restaurant, and fatigue—I’d rec-
your snoring, or that there’s a place where I’m almost certainly going to order what- ommend getting the
you can swim with 20-ton whale sharks this ever needs ordering. If I’m celebrating with vaccines separately.
winter—I hope you’ll make your way to page friends over drinks, I’m almost certainly Again, getting both
80 for our feature on what super-fit guys going to have another. I take things day by shots on the same day
actually eat. Not celebrities with personal day, meal by meal. I can always eat grilled isn’t dangerous at all;
chefs and on-call assistants. Not athletes chicken or drink club soda next time. it just might mean call-
with team nutritionists and supplement ing out sick from work
endorsement deals. Not even Men’s Health the next day.
editors who think and talk and write about
— KEITH ROACH, M.D., MH
food all day. (Yes, I’m talking about you, INTERNAL-MEDICINE ADVISOR
Kita.) We mean real guys with real jobs,
really tight schedules, fixed budgets, and full
bandwidths, and we asked seven of them how
+ Have a question for Rich?
Allie Holloway

they found their ideal combination of fuel, Tweet us at @MensHealthMag

flavor, and fun. From meatballs to couscous, with the hashtag #AskMHRich
from weekly meal prep to daily takeout and ask away.

10 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 IMPROVED SLEEP

BLUE LIGHT BLOCKING FRAMES

D I F F E Y E W E A R .C O M / M E N S H E A LT H
 WORLD GOALS

MVP
MEMBER
OF THE
IN MY GYM BAG
I don’t even need
to own a gym bag. I
MONTH work out in my garage
with dumbbells, my
Bluetooth speaker, and
a treadmill!

MY DREAM WORK-

CHANGING IT UP
OUT PARTNER
Josh Allen. I am a
huge Bills fan and a
proud member of the
Bills Mafia.
On YouTube, MH October cover
MATTHEW
guy Zac Efron took viewers through HELM THE ONE FOOD
STATS I CAN’T LIVE
past diets—which have included lean
WITHOUT
proteins, lots of Thai food, and AGE: 31 Tacos, definitely tacos.
meals with the Rock—and you all
OCCUPATION:
loved how candid he got.
Dermatologist MY ROLE MODEL
RIGHT NOW
LOCATION:
My dad. We did not
Hershey, PA always see eye to eye,
but I know that no
matter what differences
MEN’S HEALTH MVP members have access to some of we had, he is always in
my corner.
the best health, fitness, and entertainment coverage on
the entire Internet. Each month, we survey our MVPs and MY PUMP-UP JAM
choose one whose story catches our eye. Sign up at join “Bleed It Out,” by
Cliff E. .menshealth.com and you could see yourself here one day. Linkin Park.
Needed this one. Finally an
actor who’s preaching balance MY FITNESS MY NUTRITION HOW I STAY THE BEST PIECE
and also is the same size as GOAL THIS YEAR GOAL MOTIVATED OF ADVICE
me and a lot of short kings can Run a sub-six-minute Less ice cream. My two very active “Slow your life down
relate to. mile and help my My wife would be boys! I want to stay and enjoy each
team win our flag- happy, because I’m healthy so I can moment; busier does
football league! lactose intolerant ;) keep up with them. not mean happier.”
Mike
Is this guy natty?

THE MEN’S HEALTH TWITTER POLL

Steven M
Right now, yeah. DECEMBER IS ONE OF THE BEST SPORTS MONTHS WE’VE GOT.
Baywatch, no. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST?
WORLD CUP
SOCCER
NFL
37.2% PLAYOFF
RUNS
COLLEGE
33.6% FOOTBALL BOWL
GAMES
Callum Williamd
Does anyone know the watch Zac
23.4% CHRISTMAS
is wearing?? DAY NBA
5.8%
MH
His own, a Garmin Epix.
Courtesy subject (Helm)

Mr. Weah
He no longer looks like a
“kid” If he can tweak his
voice maybe he can play
Wolverine now.
Based on 672 responses to @MensHealthMag.

12 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

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 VITALITY STARTS HERE

YOUR
WILD
WINTER
ADVENTURE
GUIDE
Bears hibernate. Men of action? They set out
YOU WANT: on these ten adrenaline-fueled, heart-pumping
PILES OF POWDER, expeditions into uncharted territories.
MOUNTAINS OF PROTEIN BY KATHRYN ROMEYN
HEAD TO: JACKSON, WYOMING
Shredding Tetons backcountry is
bucket-list stuff. Make the Yellowstone-
esque Hotel Jackson your base camp,
and hire help from Teton Backcountry
Guides to explore the 300,000-plus acres
of mountainside. Recovery days might
include a dogsledding tour with Call of
the Wyld or a massage at the Amangani
Nic Alegre/Teton Gravity Research

resort. And most definitely venison, bison,

or the extensive raw bar at the Bistro.
TRAIN FOR IT Any of these expeditions will
include hikes with plenty of gear. Fill a backpack
with 15, 20, or even 25 pounds, then walk for
30 to 45 minutes 2 to 3 times per week.

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 15

 BODY WHAT A TRIP

YOU WANT:
WINTER RUNNING,
BUT FUN
HEAD TO: DENVER, COLORADO
Bust training doldrums with the Mile
High City’s trails, which snake beneath
its skyline, cross creeks, and connect to
foothills. Golden’s North Table Mountain
and Apex Park and Lakewood’s Green
Mountain Trail guarantee a runner’s high.
The new Slate Denver puts you close to Four
Seasons Hotel Denver’s spa, for a recovery
massage, and Chez Maggy, for an upscale
Denver omelet (which, yes, is a thing).
TRAIN FOR IT Aim to run for at least 30 to 45
minutes 2 to 3 times a week in the 4 weeks
leading up to the trip. And simulate the mountain
gain by running hill repeats on one of those days.

YOU WANT:
BIG BOULDERS,
HOT TUBS
HEAD TO: GREATER ZION, UTAH
The temps at local-favorite climbing
spots like Moe’s Valley and Black Rocks
are chef’s-kiss perfect now, and crowds
are nonexistent. The Advenire hotel
puts you within a 15-minute drive of
both and 20 from Xetava Gardens Cafe,
a mountain-view stop with seriously
good vegetarian food. If you’re up for the
worth-it two-hour drive, end your trip at
Mystic Hot Springs Resort’s geothermal
pools and cast-iron tubs, where the water
sits between 99 and 110 degrees.
YOU WANT:
TO SNOWSHOE
(YES, SNOWSHOE!)
HEAD TO: VANCOUVER, CANADA
Specifically, to the Grouse Mountain
ski resort, where the Snowshoe Grind
trail gains 787 feet of elevation over a
much-farther-than-it-sounds 2.67 miles.
Stay at the plush Fairmont Pacific Rim,
with its fully equipped, 2,100-square-
foot fitness center. If you have to leave
the hotel, eat at Salmon n’ Bannock,
a First Nations–owned and –operated
restaurant with all the heart-healthy
omega-3’s you can handle.
Destination Vancouver/Kindred & Scout (Snowshoe Grind). Getty Images/Aurora Open (North
YOU WANT:
Table Mountain). Nicholas Woolsey (Moe’s Valley). Shawn Heinrichs (Sea of Cortez).
PADDLING
WITH BEASTS
HEAD TO: LA PAZ, MEXICO
Don a snorkel and swim beside
47,000-pound whale sharks in the Sea of
Cortez. Or sign on with Eco Migrations
for a morning of sea kayaking to witness
the migration of these massive animals.
Then head to Rancho Pescadero for the
(wait for it) Barbacoa Hangover Experi-
ence, in which a night of Mexican-spirit
tastings around a crackling fire leads into
a breakfast of tacos filled with assorted
slow-roasted meats, complete with torti-
llas fresh off the comal.

16 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH


Getty Images/Jeremy Poland (Sugarloaf). Getty Images/Alex Ratson (Banff). Hayden Ramler (Mauna
Lani). Getty Images/Per Breiehagen (CamRock). Associated Press/Seth Wenig (Coney Island).
YOU WANT:
ICE. WATERFALL.
CLIMBING.
HEAD TO: BANFF, CANADA
Banff Adventures will outfit you with
the equipment (because there’s plenty)
and experienced guides you’ll require to
ascend frozen cascades throughout the
Canadian Rockies. Warm up at the Rim-
rock Resort Hotel, which is basically
next to Banff Upper Hot Springs. Or try
a guided forest bathing tour via Forest
Fix to help you chill. And do at least one
meal inside the private, 360-degree glass
dining dome at Fairmont Banff Springs.
Because nature.
YOU WANT:
CROSS-COUNTRY
AND CARBS
HEAD TO: CARRABASSETT VALLEY, MAINE
Too many resort cross-country
skiing trails are an afterthought. Not
at Sugarloaf, where the vast network
features quasi-backcountry routes,
glides across frozen ponds, and 500-foot
climbs. The Lockwood Hotel, in historic
Waterville, sits downtown, and Front &
Main will hook you up with lobster buca-
tini and Acadian-style savory pancakes
called ployes. School Street Yoga offers
a Slow Flow & Restore class to soothe
trail-weary muscles.
YOU WANT:
MOUNTAIN BIKING
AND BRATWURST
HEAD TO: MADISON, WISCONSIN
The groomed mountain-bike paths
of CamRock, about 20 minutes outside
Madison, are legendary for winter fat-
tire biking through woodlands and over
frozen lakes. Chill out in a sensory-
deprivation float tank at Float Factor to
slow your heart rate a bit. And overnight
at Graduate Madison, a boutique hotel on
Lake Mendota, where an ’80s-summer-
camp-themed rooftop bar that is as
awesome as it sounds serves beer brats,
Wisconsin grilled cheese, and pulled pork.
YOU WANT:
EXTREME
CARDIO
HEAD TO: BIG ISLAND, HAWAII
When winter swells hit the Aloha
State, stay at the humpback-frequented
Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collec-
tion. Through its Kainalu water-sports
program, you can launch a four-man
outrigger canoe into the surf to ride
the waves. Or do a waterman workout,
which involves plunging underwater
holding a large rock . . . then running.
Replenish with black-truffle king crab
legs at CanoeHouse.
TRAIN FOR IT Add loaded carries to your
workouts. Try 4 sets of at least 45 seconds
(bonus if you can use a heavy sandbag).
YOU WANT:
PUNISHMENT
GLUTTONY
HEAD TO: CONEY ISLAND, NEW YORK
The Coney Island Polar Bear Club
hosts limited open-to-the-public swims in
front of the New York Aquarium on Sun-
days now through April. After taking the
plunge, heat up at Mermaid Spa, a Rus-
sian bathhouse with platza treatments,
which involve getting whacked with a fra-
grant bundle of birch. Then head to Coney
Island Brewery for a hops beatdown, and
finally, check into EVEN Hotel Brooklyn,
where the rooms are stocked with foam
rollers. You’re going to need them.
MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 17
 BODY S U P E R . Q U I C K . S W E AT.

SEVEN-MINUTE STORM
Thanks to these two workouts, you don’t need a crushing training plan to maintain
your gains during the hustle and bustle of the season. The first helps you build muscle,
the second hones cardio—and neither will keep you from holiday fun.
BY JUAN GUADARRAMA, C.S.C.S.

Take on 1 of these WORKOUTS

DUMBBELL WORKOUT:
Do 2 rounds of the following circuit.
Rest 60 seconds between rounds.
WARMUP Use medium-weight dumbbells.

INCHWORM TO SCORPION 1
Start standing. Lean forward and place your
hands on the floor, bending your knees just
slightly. Walk your hands forward until you’re
in pushup position, then lower your chest to
the floor. Lift your right leg and reach it over to
the left, touching your right foot to the floor.
Return to pushup position and repeat on the
other side. Reverse the movements to stand
up. That’s 1 rep; do reps for 60 seconds.

2
MIXED-RACK SQUAT
Stand holding a dumbbell in
your left hand at your shoulder
and a dumbbell in your right hand
at your hip, abs and glutes tight,
feet about shoulder-width apart.
Push your butt back and bend
your knees, lowering your torso
until your thighs are parallel to
the floor. Stand back up. That’s
1 rep; do reps for 20 seconds on
one side, then 20 seconds on
the other.

18 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPHS BY T YLER JOE

 T R A I N E R S P O T L I G H T : J U A N G U A D A R R A M A , C . S . C . S . , is one of the M O V E M O D E L : T Y R I E K T AY L O R is a

3
DUMBBELL SWING

BODYWEIGHT WORKOUT:
Set a timer for 6 minutes,
then do each of these
exercises in order.
Complete as many rounds
as possible, resting only
when necessary.
Aim to do 5 rounds.

2 MODIFIED V-UP

Start standing, abs and glutes

tight. Step back with your left leg,
then bend at the knees, lowering
your torso until your right thigh is
Grooming: Eloise Cheung

parallel to the floor. Press through

your right heel and return to the start.
That’s 1 rep; do 10 on each side.
TANK AND SHOES BY UNDER ARMOUR;
SHORTS BY TEN THOUSAND.

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 19

 BODY FOREVER FIT

6 A.M. WITH...

THE AVATAR HEAVY

Thanks to a mix of yoga, weights, and martial arts,
STEPHEN LANG is leaner and meaner and kicking ass
as Colonel Quaritch in Avatar again.
BY MARK LELINWALLA

A PAIR OF DUMBBELLS sit in one
corner of the cramped basement room
that Stephen Lang calls his gym, and ten-
pound plates are strewn across the floor.
Lang stands in the center of the room,
grinning broadly. “This,” he says, “is
where I do the bulk of my workouts.”
Never mind that the space is so tiny that
when Lang raises his arms to the side, he
nearly grazes the walls. The 70-year-old
actor, best known for his breakout role
as the sadistic Colonel Miles Quaritch in
2009’s Avatar, grabs a homemade wrist
roller from the floor. It’s a simple tool
(he loves DIY-ing his own fitness gear), a
foot-long stick with a weight attached to
it by a piece of rope. He holds the stick in
both hands, extends his arms, then flexes
his wrists, one after the other, rolling the
weight toward the stick. He does several
reps just like this, then puts the roller
down. “At this point in my life,” he says,
“what’s important to me is flexibility,
stamina, and strength. And I’ve added one
other thing to that, which is alignment.”
He chases that alignment by entering
this room in his upstate New York home at
least four days a week for a mix of workouts
he’s perfected over the past 12 years. His
training consists of yoga, weight-training
sessions, and karate. Some days he’ll do all
three, but he gives precedence to yoga. It’s
a regimen that’s kept him in fighting trim,
a key reason that he still looks menacing
as the sinister Colonel Quaritch in Avatar:
The Way of Water, out this month.
He hints that he’s in better shape today
than he was while making the original
Avatar. He weighed in at a pumped 190
pounds for the role then, thanks to plenty
of old-school weight-training sessions.
But all that muscle didn’t make his body
feel good. So one year after Avatar, he
changed his training style. He’s down
to 155 pounds now but says his frame
carries this lighter load “much more
comfortably.” “I would date it at 2010
when I became completely committed

20 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEFF ALLEN

 DIY YOUR FITNESS Stephen Lang’s
When Lang doesn’t have weights, he gets creative two-finger pushups
with bodyweight—and any gear he can find. Try his (above) prove he’s
three favorite anytime-anywhere moves. as strong as he’s
ever been. He’s
BUCKET OF BRICKS CARRY Grab a large bucket and fill flexible, too, thanks
to regular karate
BETWEEN
it with bricks—or anything of your choosing. Lift it and yoga sessions.
to your waist, then walk around or march in place.
Work for 30 seconds, then rest 30; do 3 sets.
SETS
TREE POSE Stand tall, then lift your right leg, bend
your right knee, and dig your right foot into your
left inner thigh. Raise your hands overhead, left leg, right foot pinned to left thigh, Bronson. I loved
palms together. Hold for 30 seconds. Want doing a yoga tree pose. He’s tweaked the Bronson, just the way
more challenge? Squeeze towels or vice grips move, though: Instead of simply clasping he moved, the way
to test your forearms. his hands together overhead, he holds he did stuff. Origi-
nally it was kind of
tiny vice grips in each hand, squeezing
Jack LaLanne. I’d
PUSHUPS Old reliable. Do 10 reps. Too easy? Try each tightly to challenge his forearms. be watching and
placing only your fingertips on the floor; now do “They’re somewhat oppositional in a there was something
10. Do 3 or 4 sets. sense,” he says of his three favorite train- so kind of sparky
ing styles. “But there’s a sweet spot where about him.”
they really come together.” FAVORITE
Indeed, the blend of ideas has helped EXERCISE?
for the rest of my life to remain as fit and him build muscle while warding off pain. “I love rabbit pose.
as flexible as I can,” he says. “Because He battles arthritis in his hands yet still It’s a yoga posture.
You come out of it
you become aware of your advancing age; busts out those fingertip pushups. In
and go, ‘Whooo!’ But
you feel your age. And it’s not a question 2014, he had a left hip replacement, but I also really like con-
of staving off age. You can’t do that. But he still shifts into a fighter’s stance late centration curls.”
what you can do is make the most out of in this session to work through the kata, a
what you got.” classic karate flow. PERFECT CHEAT
It all helps him move and feel bet-
MEAL?
This workout does that—especially “I never use the term
today, since he’s mixing all three of his ter—while leaving room for the fun of cheating. I think you
disciplines into one session. Lang exits the biceps curls. As the session nears its earn those meals.
room, then drops into pushup position, end, he grabs a dumbbell, crouches, and But it’d definitely be
pizza. I love pizza:
ripping through 11 reps (his superstition) presses his triceps into his thigh, then
I’ll take Chicago,
so easily that you almost don’t notice his rips through reps of concentration curls Detroit, Boston, New
hands. Rather than having his palms on (seated with his legs spread slightly and Haven, New York.”
the floor, he’s supporting his upper body his elbow in the crook of his knee, pro-
with only his fingertips, a grueling pushup viding stability for the curl). “I also do it,
style he learned in karate. quite frankly, out of vanity,” he says of his
After several sets, he’s back in his training. “I’m fairly vain.” Hey, whatever
“gym.” Now he’s standing tall only on his motivation works.

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 21

 BODY GEEK TWEAKS

FEET OF
Run faster and lift heavier (and harder)
by rethinking how you treat the ten-toed powerhouses
trapped inside your sneakers. BY LINDSAY BERRA

THERE ARE BICEPS BLASTS and core crushers,

and everyone in the gym knows that you never skip
#legday. But what have you done lately for . . . your
feet? With that question, you’ve now been introduced
to the fitness world’s foot fetish. From barefoot-style
shoes to devices that restore movement between your
toes to foot-specific workouts, your feet are increas-
ingly the center of attention.
Trainers are realizing that your feet are critical
for both strength and speed gains. Strong feet play a
key role in everything you do while standing, helping
you drive through every stride and providing a
sturdy base for all exercises. To build your feet into
powerhouses, you’ll need to rethink how you train, a
process that starts with five questions.

1. SO, UM . . . YOU WANT ME

DOING FOOT WORKOUTS?
Your foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, and
more than 100 muscles, ligaments, and
tendons, and building up these muscles
can have serious benefits. “Your feet
absolutely require training,” says biome-
chanics researcher and running expert
Jay Dicharry, M.P.T., “just like any other
body part.” Except the consequences of
not taking care of your feet are more dire
than those of, say, skipping biceps curls.
Your feet are your body’s foundation;
everything builds on that. “If you can’t
feel the position you’re in, your foot can
collapse in or shift out, and then the knee
and hip follow, and then you tweak your
lower back,” says Dicharry. The goal is to
2. DOES THAT MEAN I NEED
TO LIFT BAREFOOT?
Lifting without shoes allows you to be
more aware of your foot position, says
Aaron Horschig, D.P.T., who regularly
posts to his Instagram account,
@squat_university, about barefoot
training. During most exercises, you
want to apply pressure into the floor
with your big toe, little toe, and heel,
says Horschig. That’s not easy to
practice in a thick shoe. This doesn’t
mean you have to be barefoot when
lifting in the gym, though. Powerlifters
swear by classic Chuck Taylors, in part
because they lack the thick heels of
some sneakers. And shoes like the
Bearfoot Ursus simulate the feeling
3. SHOULD I RUN
BAREFOOT?
Not exactly. But it’s time to reconsider
your running footwear—and your run-
ning workouts. Many traditional running
shoes have extra-thick soles that cushion
your foot strike. Unfortunately, all that
fluff prevents you from tapping your true
speed. You generate power as you run by
driving your foot into the ground on each
stride, but thick-soled shoes dull some of
that oomph. In addition, they might actu-
ally cause damage: Shoes with more cush-
ioned midsoles led to greater ankle-joint
stiffness, according to a 2015 University of
Calgary study. This can increase the risk
of injury. But there’s no need to slog ten
miles barefoot. Instead, do your warmups
Jamie Chung

learn how to drive your big toe down for of being barefoot—without showing barefoot, says running coach Jes Woods,
greater stability. the world your dogs. training your feet to properly hit the

22 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH


ground on each stride. Then lace up your
kicks for your run. You get the best of both
worlds: You awaken foot muscles during
your warmup while enjoying the protec-
tion of shoes when you hit the road.
4. DO I NEED TO
“FREE” MY TOES?
Hang out on fitness Instagram enough and
you’ll wonder, thanks to a new wave of “toe
spacers.” If you’ve spent too much time
wearing shoes, there’s a decent chance your
toes are squashed together. And no, that’s
not good. Remember that foot imprint your
parents brought home from the hospital
Courtesy brands (products)
when you were born? Your toes were the
widest part of your foot back then. When
they’re far apart, they give you a strong
and stable foundation. “When the toes
are smashed together,” says Horschig, “it
BE A
FOOT
SOLDIER!
Want to step up your foot fitness
even more? This gear can help.
These toe spacers work when
you’re barefoot—and can be comfort-
ably worn in shoes with a wide enough
toe box during athletic activities.
$65; correcttoes.com
decreases your ability to maintain balance
and increases instability.” That’s another
reason to walk barefoot, at least around the
house. Or find a pair of toe spacers: Start
by wearing them at least 30 minutes a day.
SANDDUNE STEPPER
This step mimics the feel of sand.
That can strengthen your big toe to help Jump, lift, and move on it to challenge
make you faster and more athletic. “The your feet (and ankles) from all angles.
big toe is the last part of the foot to leave the $279; sanddunestepper.com
ground,” says trainer and MH contributing
editor Milo Bryant, C.S.C.S. “If it’s strong
and flexible, it can store more energy and
make your movements more explosive.”
5. HOW DOES ALL
THIS FOOT FOCUS
CHANGE MY TRAINING?
MOBO BOARD
Jay Dicharry developed this unstable
board to sync your hips and core with
Don’t worry; there’ll still be time for your feet for better balance, stability,
arm day. Just work in 1 of the following and power. $89; moboboard.com
2 exercises every day; do 3 sets of each.
The first is toe yoga. Press your little toes
into the floor and lift your big toe. Next,
press your big toe into the floor and lift
your other toes. Do 10 reps to hone coor-
dination. The second will challenge your
balance. Stand on 1 leg, barefoot, holding
a weight of any kind (a backpack works) BEARFOOT URSUS
in 1 hand. Swiftly pass the weight back Designed by deadlift legend Chris
and forth from hand to hand; doing this Duffin, these minimalist shoes are
perfect for any powerlifting workout.
quickly will improve your ankle stability.
From $89; bearfoot.com
Want to push things further? Twice a
week, add some light agility drills. (Think
hopping on and off a short step for 30 sec-
onds per leg.) You’ll build big-toe strength
and sculpt your calves, too.
MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 23
 BODY TREND ON TRIAL
SWEAT
SERENITY
Can muscle-crushing HIIT and soul-calming Zen
coexist in one workout? DIEGO MERCADO finds out during
the Breathe.Burn.Calm class at Mind Body Project.
THE LIGHTS TURN OFF just before
I close my eyes. And now I’m in complete
darkness on my yoga mat. I’m tuned in to
the rhythm of my breaths during a calm-
ing box-breathing drill—inhaling and
exhaling on a four-count led by instructor
Tyler White—feeling my lungs and chest
expand. It’s the way I wish I could feel at
the end of every workout.
Except as I take a peek at the two pairs
of dumbbells (light and heavy) at the
edge of my mat, I realize that this is only
the beginning. Hell is about to follow this
Zen, both for me and for the nine others
in the studio. That’s how fitness works at
Mind Body Project, the Manhattan-based
studio that dares to fuse meditation and
muscle building into one 50-minute mix
of sweat and serenity.
Most high-intensity interval classes
push you to your physical limits with bru-
tal rounds of resistance exercises broken
up by short rest periods, a proven recipe
for blasting calories. While such workouts
strengthen the body and can help you
de-stress, they don’t target mental health,
which has increasingly become a societal
focus. From apps like Calm to studios like
MNDFL, more and more wellness tools
are trying to improve your mental health.
The problem: The tools that focus solely
on your mind can be exhausting.
Mind Body Project, which opened in
May 2021, offers a hybrid fix. Each class
starts with a five-minute Breathe session,
followed by a 40-minute Burn period of
interval training. The workout ends with
five minutes of meditation, dubbed Calm.
The formula is the brainchild of Chris
24 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
BY THE
NUMBERS
CLASS NAME:
Breathe.Burn.Calm
LOCATION:
Manhattan
HOW LONG:
50 minutes
GOAL: Strength and
mental clarity
Stockel, a onetime digital-media exec who
spent much of his life embracing high-
intensity interval training. He quickly
discovered that those workouts carved
his body but left him little time to think.
His solution: the five-minute meditative
periods bookending Mind Body Project
workouts. “At the end,” he says, “I want
people feeling calm and better than they
were when they walked in.”
In my class, as Breathe comes to a close
and Tyler gets us into workout mode, I’m
feeling super calm. This short meditation
didn’t put me to sleep; instead, I feel extra
alert. I bring this sense of focus into the
first block of our Burn section, which is
basically a seven-minute ramp-up. First,
we’re doing cat-cow, on our hands and
knees, alternately arching our back and
rounding it toward the ceiling. Several
other yoga stretches follow, and then sud-
denly I’m doing bodyweight squats and
lunges. I feel my heartbeat start to rise,
just as it does when I bench-press.
Now the hell begins. We start with a
three-part leg circuit. We open on front
squats, our dumbbells held at our shoul-
ders, then drop the dumbbells and do
reverse lunges, then jump squats. Each
move is done for 60 seconds—and only
after that three-minute gauntlet do we
get a brief rest. I’m starting to sweat.
Three rounds later, we’re doing an
upper-body circuit using TRX straps—
and tranquility is a distant memory. I
grab the straps with both arms, sit on
the floor with my legs straight, tighten
my abs, and begin doing pullups. The
PHOTOGRAPHS BY GEORGE ETHEREDGE
 ESTABLISH A
BREATH-WORK
PRACTICE
Find focus and calm with these
breathing drills from Mind Body
Project. Do them whenever you
need to concentrate or relax.

DRILL 1:
BOX BREATHING
Lie on your back. This can help
you be calm and focused.

Start here:
Inhale through
your nose for
4 to 7 counts.
Hold for Hold for
4 to 7 4 to 7
counts. counts.

Exhale for
4 to 7 counts.
Repeat for 3 to 5 minutes.

DRILL 2:
BODY SCANNER
Lie on your back. Think about a muscle
and flex it as you inhale through your
nose. Relax that muscle. Exhale. Do
this for 1 to 13 muscle groups, starting
instability of the straps pushes me to stay into a meditative state. My breaths at your neck and moving down.
mentally engaged on every rep. We do are still coming fast and furious as
pullups, biceps curls, and rows, and my I place a towel under my head and lie
forearms are exhausted. on the mat, eyes closed. a.
a. Neck
Tyler’s not as calm as he was during Tyler calmly leads us through a b.
the breath-work session, but he’s not a body-scan meditation, encouraging us b. Shoulders
d. e.
drill sergeant, either, preferring to give to relax individual muscle groups (see c. Back
f.
each of us one-on-one tips. He circles the right). During this, he instructs us to i. d. Chest
group, then walks up to me and dares me feel gratitude toward our bodies. No, I’d g. e. Biceps
to grind a bit harder. He steers us through never do that at the end of a weight-room j.
f. Triceps
one more circuit, a grueling full-body workout. But here it’s fitting. Hours lat- g. Forearms
blast with no breaks between moves. By er, after I’ve showered and headed home, k. h. Abs
the time I’m done with that, I practically I recall Tyler’s last words during that
collapse onto my yoga mat for a finishing meditation: “I am enough.” i. Lower back
series of core exercises. j. Glutes
l.
Except Tyler has one more challenge for DIEGO MERCADO, pictured above, is a k. Quads
us first, a three-minute cardio “burnout” New York City–based trainer and a mem- l. Calves
of mountain climbers and bodyweight ber of the Men’s Health/Women’s Health m. m. Feet
squats. Only after that does he guide us Strength in Diversity Initiative.

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 25

 BODY SCOPE IT OUT

HIGHEST EFFORT,
HIGHEST ACCURACY
COLONOSCOPY
Docs consider it the gold standard;
patients gripe about the prep. Yet it’s
still the best test we have—and plenty of
people say, “It’s not that bad.”
WHAT HAPPENS: You chug laxatives at
home, then a doctor scopes your colon
for polyps. If any are found, they can
be removed and sent to a lab for analysis
to determine if they’re cancerous, pre-
cancerous, or noncancerous.
WHAT’S TO LIKE: You get a screening,
diagnosis, and removal all at once, says
Danielle Turgeon, M.D., a gastroenterol-
ogist specializing in colon cancer at Uni-
versity of Michigan Health. You only
need to do the procedure every ten years
if you’re at average risk and nothing sus-
picious is found. (It’s every three to five
years if you have polyps, and every one to
three if you’re considered high risk.)
Plus, if any alternative tests find polyps
or suspect cancer, you must follow up
with a colonoscopy anyway. Another
bonus: During the 30- to 60-minute
procedure, you don’t have to do a damn
thing—sedation is recommended—
THE STRAIGHT POOP ABOUT

COLON CANCER SCREENING

though you will need someone to drive
you home after.
WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE: It requires some
work—making the appointment, picking
up the laxative prescription, staying
close to the toilet to empty your colon,
and doing a clear-liquid fast the day be-
There are now seven different ways to detect colon fore and the day of the procedure. You’ll
cancer. We contacted the experts to determine also need to take a full or half day off work
your best option depending on the time you have to undergo the procedure and recover
and the results you want. BY AMY MARTURANA WINDERL from sedation. People who don’t want to
(or can’t) take time off sometimes opt for
a no-sedation colonoscopy. It’s not for the
EVERYBODY LOVES to complain about getting a colonoscopy—how it’s a time faint of heart. Expect cramping-like dis-
suck and how emptying your colon is a pain in the, uh, neck—and then not get one. comfort—“similar to how diarrhea can
That’s scary when you consider that after lung cancer, colon cancer is the second- be painful”—as the scope moves around
deadliest cancer in men. But that’s also why scientists are researching better, your GI tract, says Dr. Turgeon.
easier methods to spot the disease. THE BOTTOM LINE: “Colonoscopy has the
Right now a number of screening options are available: stool-sample tests, a highest sensitivity not just in detecting
blood-sample test, even a virtual test. Tests you can do in the comfort of your own cancer but also in detecting polyps,”
home also require the comfort to basically poop in a cup or on a piece of paper and says Ankit Sarin, M.D., a colorectal
deal with that sample yourself. Then there are tests that require sedation in a doc- surgeon at the University of California,
tor’s office. Most people have no idea about the pros and cons of each or which are San Francisco. The test can detect
easier and/or more effective. Good thing we compiled all the info for you here. cancer with 95 percent accuracy.

26 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH ILLUSTRATION BY QUICKHONEY

MEDIUM EFFORT, LOW EFFORT, WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT
GOOD ACCURACY
MULTITARGET STOOL DNA TESTING
OKAY ACCURACY
FECAL IMMUNOCHEMICAL TEST (FIT)
4 OTHER
(COLOGUARD)
The second most accurate in detecting
Collect a stool sample at home and send
it off for testing. This one requires no Rx,
TESTS
cancer after a colonoscopy, this test allows though—just buy a kit online and it ships
you to do the noninvasive stuff at home. to your home. 1. GUAIAC FECAL OCCULT
WHAT HAPPENS: You collect your poop WHAT HAPPENS: You poop onto a piece BLOOD TEST (GFOBT)
and send it to a lab, which looks for blood of paper spread across the toilet bowl, The gFOBT uses a chemical
and any DNA mutations associated with scrape a sample, stick that sample in a called guaiac to detect blood
colon cancer or abnormal polyps. small bottle, and mail it to a lab that looks in the stool. The test isn’t as
for blood in the stool. Some kits, such as accurate as a FIT or multitar-
WHAT’S TO LIKE: No time off needed. Do it
EZ Detect and Second Generation FIT, get DNA test and has a higher
once and you’re good for three years. rate of false results. This test
even let you test the stool sample imme-
WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE: It’s still work. First, is most often used in limited-
diately at home, with results delivered
you need a prescription for a mail-order resource settings.
within five minutes.
kit. Next, you aim your poop into the kit’s
cup, which fits over the toilet. (Handy!) WHAT’S TO LIKE: No time off needed.
But before you put the lid on and ship it off, WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE: Uh, scraping
you have to scrape a small sample into a around in your poop? That can be too 2. CT COLONOGRAPHY
vial. (Nasty!) You then pour a preserving much for some people. And if you’re go- This virtual colonoscopy
liquid into the main container, close it up, ing to go this route, you have to commit takes CT images of your colon.
and send both parts of the sample for test- to doing it Every. Single. Year. It works, but accessibility
ing within 24 hours. If results are positive, may be an issue. It’s often
THE BOTTOM LINE: Research suggests
you’ll still need a colonoscopy. (Surprise!) conducted on patients who
FITs correctly identify people with colon
aren’t good candidates for
THE BOTTOM LINE: “It’s a great test for the cancer 74 percent of the time, though the
a colonoscopy (e.g., anyone
person that has no risk factors for colon tests are not as good at detecting polyps with severe cardiac disease).
cancer and does not have any symptoms,” as a colonoscopy or multitarget DNA
Dr. Turgeon says. This type of test is test, Dr. Sarin says.
92 percent accurate in detecting cancer.
3. FLEXIBLE
SIGMOIDOSCOPY
WHEN TO START SCREENING It scopes the lower third of your
colon. Depending on where
you live, a sigmoidoscopy
RIGHT NOW cially because the num- syndrome or familial ad- might be more available than
If a sibling was just di- ber of people under the enomatous polyposis. a colonoscopy, and it can be
agnosed with colorectal official screening age of done without sedation, though
If a parent or sibling
cancer, get screened 45 who don’t discover it’s not as thorough. Docs typi-
had colon cancer, you
right away. their colon cancer until cally combine it with a FIT.
should get your first
a late stage is increasing.
If you notice a change screening ten years
in bowel habits that BEFORE AGE 45 before the age they
lasts longer than a few If you have a personal were diagnosed, says
days (narrow stools, di- or family history of col- Dr. Sarin. 4. METHYLATED
arrhea, constipation), orectal cancer or pol- SEPTIN 9 (MSEPT9)
AT AGE 45
you see blood, or you ex- yps; a personal history This blood test is FDA
Anyone of average
perience stomach pain. of inflammatory bowel approved for people 50 and
risk without any of the
You might get pushback disease or pelvic radia- older of average risk who
aforementioned risk
from your doc about tion; or a hereditary col- have refused other screening
factors.
getting screened, but orectal cancer syn- methods, but it’s not as accu-
press for a test, espe- drome, such as Lynch rate as the other tests. Leave
this one on the shelf for now.

| DECEMBER 2022 27
 BODY THINK BIGGER
MY QUEST
TO WALK TO
SPACE
We live in an age of step counting and
virtual goal setting. Why not harness that for a truly
astronomical achievement? BY A. J. JACOBS
I’M NOT A BILLIONAIRE and can’t afford
my own phallic rocket, but I’ve always
wanted to go to space. So I’ve decided to
walk there. That’s been my 2022 fitness
goal: walk to space. Or at least the vertical
equivalent of space. I’m more than half-
way there, and I have no plans to stop.
To back up: For the past few years,
I’ve been dutifully notching the tradi-
tional 10,000 steps per day. It seemed a
reasonable goal and has been moderately
motivating. I live in New York City, and I
do a lot of my errands on foot. I also have
a treadmill desk, and I write my emails
while huffing along, so I usually reach my
10K a couple hours before bedtime.
28 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
But after so many years, 10,000
steps was getting kind of monotonous.
Well-trodden ground, so to speak.
In early January, I noticed that the
display panel on my treadmill tracks not
just horizontal mileage but also vertical
distance. I walk at an 11 percent incline,
so after 45 minutes, I’d climbed 300 feet,
the rough height of the Statue of Liberty.
It sparked a thought: If I kept climbing,
how high could I get? I could probably do
1,000 feet—about one Eiffel Tower—a
day. If I kept going for a few weeks,
eventually I’d summit the Alps. And by
the end of the year, I could really get
some altitude. I looked it up, and
outer space begins 328,084 EIFFEL TOWER
feet above sea level, the
so-called Kármán
line. I could take
a gentle
THE GREAT
PYRAMID
481'
STATUE
OF LIBERTY
305'
ramp
to the exo-
sphere! Watch
your back, Branson
and Bezos.
Since I like accountability,
I decided to announce my goal. I
posted about my “Walk to Space” quest
on Facebook. The post got tons of reac-
tions—encouragement, awe, mockery.
But the best part was that several
dozen people wanted to join me on
the Spacewalk.
Next thing I knew, we had an official
Facebook page with more than 40 Space-
walkers from all over the United States
(and a few in Canada and Chile), some
of whom I knew but most of whom were
friends of friends. Some were traveling
on a treadmill like I was, but others were
heading to space by stairs (including a
teacher who lives in a five-story walk-up
in Manhattan). Some were doing it all
outdoors, like a Boulder-based artist who
is trudging up steep Colorado trails.
Soon my fellow Spacewalkers had cre-
ated spreadsheets. One artist designed
a Spacewalkers logo based on the Space
Force emblem. We traded tips on the
best ways to track altitude. Some used
an app called Strava, others the Apple
Health app; still others were Fitbit fans.
In fact, we discovered that Fitbit has its
own version of Spacewalking, awarding
badges to inspire users. There’s a
Skydiver badge for those who
have climbed 500 floors
and a Shooting Star
MONT BLANC
badge for those 15,771'
who have
climbed
14,000,
ANGEL FALLS
3,212'
1,083'
among
others.
“I’m really
psyched to have a new
metric to track and a
new, creative goal to work
toward,” wrote a personal trainer
from Oregon.
Todd, an airline pilot in Philadelphia,
said he thought it was fun. “I’ve wanted to
go to space my whole life.”
“I just passed Angel Falls!” a man from
California told me.
Of course, not everyone was drawn to
the stars. My wife wished me luck but said
she’d stick to more earthbound workouts.
But for many of my acquaintances,
the Spacewalk really struck a chord. I
wondered why. Why do we find it more
motivating than the 10,000 steps a day?
That milestone, incidentally, is certainly
popular but doesn’t have a lot of scientific
ILLUSTRATION BY RODRIGO DAMATI
backing. According to a Harvard Medical
School study, the 10,000-steps-a-day
metric started as a marketing gimmick
for a Japanese pedometer in the 1960s.
The study also showed that even
7,500 steps a day provides about
the same benefits in terms of
lengthening life.
I called licensed
psychologist Adam
Dorsay, Psy.D.,
the host of the
MOUNT EVEREST
29,029'
AVERAGE HEIGHT AT WHICH
A WHITE STORK FLIES
16,000'
SuperPsyched
podcast and an
expert on resilience and
motivation, to get some insight.
“We are meaning-based crea-
tures,” Dorsay told me. “It’s one thing
to say, Let’s walk 10,000 steps a day.
That’s kind of bland. It’s a whole different
game to say, I’m going to join Kirk and
Spock by going to space. Suddenly, your
motivation changes.”
A big, crazy, novel goal can be
supremely motivating, at least for some
personality types. Just ask Andy van
Bergen. Van Bergen is an Australia-based
entrepreneur who, ten years ago, founded
a worldwide movement called Everesting.
Everesting—it’s a verb—consists of
riding a bicycle the equivalent height of
Mount Everest, 29,029 feet, without stop-
ping. For instance, you can bike a 3,000-
foot hill ten times in a row. Van Bergen
came up with the idea because he wanted
something that his non-biking friends
could understand was an impressive feat.
“When I used to tell them that I biked
6,000 meters uphill this weekend, they’d
say, ‘Great, what else did you do?’ ” So he
hit upon Everest as a graspable symbol
and, better yet, one that caused disbelief.
“When you’re told you can’t do some-
thing, that it’s impossible, for some of us,
that’s like the red rag to a bull,” he said.
KÁRMÁN LINE
328,084'
WEATHER
BALLOON
100,000'
“I love setting out to achieve
something that’s not doable
tomorrow or the next day. Anything in
life that is rewarding you have to work for.”
When I called van Bergen, he told me
walking to space was “insane,” which
was high praise from him. For the record,
space is the equivalent of 11.3 Everests—
though, of course, there’s a big difference
between our two goals. Spacewalkers
aren’t doing it in a weekend. We’re taking
a year.
Or sometimes more than a year. Some
Spacewalkers are on a leisurely pace. It’s
not a race. It’s a supportive group.
We trade tips on how to rack up those
precious inches however we can. When
you climb a stepladder to change a light
bulb, that could count! One guy has a
driveway that slopes upward, giving him
hundreds of extra feet each day.
We talk about our challenges, from
injuries to Covid breaks to just plain sore
legs. We do go in for the gentle mocking—
ahem, “hello, way down below!”—and
like to boast about our skymarks (vertical
landmarks), whether it’s the height at
which a stork flies, a weather balloon’s
altitude, or 111 Eiffel Towers.
Not too long ago, I reached 165,000
feet, slightly past the official halfway
point. To celebrate, I had a glass of orange
Tang. (It’s still available!)
It looks like it’s going to take a bit longer
than a year, maybe a year and a half, but I
plan to hit that Kármán line. And I plan to
say in my deepest baritone (which isn’t too
deep), “One bazillion small steps for man,
one giant leap for fitness motivation.”
After which: Mars, here I come!
MEN’S HEALTH
TRY THESE
EXTREME
CHALLENGES
Walking to space and
Everesting aren’t the only
virtual goals out there. Infuse
your fitness with long-term
fun by taking on one of these:
TANK CURLING
BIG NUMBER: 135,200 POUNDS
Can your guns handle the mili-
tary’s M1 Abrams tank? Chase
this goal with a pair of 20-pound
dumbbells. If you do 4 sets of 10
curls per arm daily, you’ll take
the challenge down in 85 days.
Curl 4 times a week to finish in
5½ months—or twice a week to
finish in under a year.
AIRPLANE PRESSING
BIG NUMBER: 404,600 POUNDS
Yes, your chest is powerful
enough to press the weight of a
Boeing 747. To finish in less than
a year, train twice a week, with
4 sets of 8 reps of 135 pounds to
start each workout. You’ll cover
4,320 pounds in each session to
finish in 47 weeks. Rest at least
2 days between sessions; your
shoulders will thank you.
MISSISSIPPI
MASTERY
BIG NUMBER: 2,350 MILES
Get comfy on your cardio row;
you’ll need 3,781,958 meters
to cover the length of the Mis-
sissippi River. If you row 4,000
meters a day (which should take
about 20 minutes), you’ll finish
in 2 years and 216 days. Those
strokes build posture-honing
back strength and glutes, too.
—Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S.
| DECEMBER 2022 29
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 SLEEP SOUND BODY

for all the products that supposedly

cure snoring, why do we still do it? Maybe you
just haven’t found your fix.
BY PAUL KITA

MORE THAN 40 PERCENT of adult men are habitual

snorers, according to the American Academy
of Sleep Medicine. You would think, given what
we know about snoring’s impact on the body (it
often indicates health-wrecking sleep apnea) and
relationships (duh), that some gung-ho researcher or
intrepid company would have cured snoring. Except
that “snoring is very nuanced,” says W. Christopher
Winter, M.D., a Men’s Health advisor and the author
of The Sleep Solution. “And what’s right for you is
based not only on your health but what you’re looking
for in terms of comfort.” Translation: Fixing your
snoring often requires dedicated trial and error,
which can take years of work. Whatever that solution
is for you, the payoff for navigating this complex
Travis Rathbone/Trunk Archive

world is huge—a lifetime of restful nights that can

dramatically improve your health, strengthen your
relationship with your partner, and maybe even save
your life. Read on, sleep easier.

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 33

 BODY SLEEP SOUND

F I N D Y OU R
SNORING
STEP

TRY ONE OF THESE

inexpensive quick fix might help you reduce or eliminate your snoring.

NASAL DILATORS ORAL APPLIANCES TENNIS BALL T-SHIRT 

Research studies have shown
that adhesive nasal strips like
Breathe Right and NoZovent can
help decrease snoring intensity.
But that’s only if your snoring is
coming from your nasal passag-
es—your tongue and soft palate
could also be the culprits.
Mouth guards for snoring can
help move your jaw into alignment,
which creates more space for
unobstructed airflow. A dentist can
fit you for a TAP, but you may want
to first try a less expensive OTC
Take a tennis ball. Stuff it into a
sock. Safety-pin both ends of the
sock to the middle of the back of an
old T-shirt. Wear the T-shirt to bed.
If you’re an on-your-back snorer,
the tennis ball will be so uncom-

STEP

GET IN YOUR
(TONGUE) WORKOUTS
Lorenzi-Filho, Ph.D., director of the Sleep Lab at the Heart Institute Univer-
sity of São Paulo. People who did 3 sets of 20 daily for 3 months snored
36 percent less frequently and had a 59 percent drop in snoring intensity.

EXERCISE 1: EXERCISE 2: EXERCISE 3: EXERCISE 4: TRUMPET?

Courtesy Bose (earbuds). Getty Images (remaining).

Push the tip of your Suck your tongue Force the back of Elevate your soft pal- Or the didgeridoo?
tongue against upward against the your tongue against ate (the back of the Playing wind
the roof of your roof of your mouth the floor of your roof of your mouth) instruments has
mouth; slide the and press your entire mouth while keep- and your uvula (the been shown to
tongue against it. ing the tip of your fleshy protrusion
improve snoring
tongue in contact that hangs from your
with your bottom soft palate) while
due to its ability
front teeth. making the vowel to strengthen the
sound aaay. soft palate.

STEP z
A doctor may shorten or remove the bones
TURBINATE along the walls of the nasal passages. People
SURGERY in a 2017 study experienced decreases in snor-
ing and sleepiness symptoms as soon as six
weeks after receiving treatment that included
turbinoplasty—though not as pronounced as
results from nasal reconstruction (yelp!) or
surgery to change the shape of the soft palate.
There’s research that shows that tonsil remov-
TONSILLECTOMY al can significantly lessen snoring and sleep
apnea in some people, particularly those
who are overweight and/or have large tonsils.
The two-week recovery period can be rough,
though (pain, nausea, swelling).
Doctors either use lasers to scar and toughen
SOFT-PALATE the tissue in the soft palate or insert plastic
SURGERY pillars within the palate that heal over. Both
methods open the airways associated with
snoring and apnea. Again, though, the recov-
ery can be painful and last up to two weeks
(especially for laser surgery), and reduction
SNORE GEAR FOR
YOU (AND THEM)
CPAP MACHINE
VIA PRESCRIPTION
The devices are more portable, more
comfortable, and easier to use than those
from 20 years ago. Yes, it requires some
maintenance (tube washing, ensuring
fit), but wearing a CPAP may save your
life. “CPAP is the best treatment for
moderate to severe obstructive sleep
apnea and the only treatment that
eliminates it,” says Lorenzi-Filho.
$249; BOSE.COM
“I tried earplugs and a white-noise
machine, but I still heard him, and
it was hard for either of us to hear
our kids. These rechargeable buds
can drown out even his worst nights
with white noise. They muffle crying
children, too—so he’s on night-
wake-up duty.” —Meghan Kita,
wife of the author
| DECEMBER 2022 35
 BODY SUPPL EM E N T CHECK

FIBER, EXCEPT WHAT TO

LOOK FOR
WITHOUT
Find a supplement that has been
third-party tested (Informed
Choice, NSF) so it’s free from

THE VEGETABLES
harmful substances. And ensure
there’s a mix of soluble (psyllium
husk, inulin) and insoluble (also
psyllium husk, methylcellulose)
fiber for the full range of benefits.

In a season when fresh produce seems

as far away as a beach vacation, it’s
tough to eat enough fiber. That’s where SHOULD
supplements can help—if you know
what kind to look for. YOU TAKE ONE?
Sure, if your doc clears you and you
BY DEZI ABEYTA, R.D.N.
can’t hit your fiber goals through
food. Start with half the recom-
mended dose and then ramp up
only after any digestion issues
subside. Also drink plenty of fluids
THE CLAIM to prevent constipation.
Only 5 percent of Americans
eat the recommended 25
to 38 grams of fiber daily—
so why not boost your intake
with a capsule or powder? WHAT TO
WATCH OUT FOR
That way, as the products
advertise, you’ll reduce your
cholesterol, manage your Fiber supplements can lower
blood-glucose level, and the effectiveness of anti-
keep your heart healthy. And depressants like tricyclics,
goodbye, constipation. diabetes meds like met-
formin, heart prescriptions
like digoxin, and even
seizure scripts. Always speak
with your doctor before
taking a supplement.

WHAT’S ACTUALLY FOUR

SURPRISING
TRUE SOURCES OF
Research has shown that FIBER
taking fiber supplements 1. HUMMUS
can improve your choles- 2 Tbsp = 2 grams
terol, blood glucose, heart 2. AVOCADO
health, and, okay, yes, THAT SAID. . . ½ = 7 grams
the regularity of your Supplements should never make up the 3. ALMONDS
bowel movements. majority of your fiber intake. No fiber 2 handfuls =
7 grams
product can replace the many benefits
4. ARTICHOKES
The Voorhes

of eating fiber-rich foods, which have

½ cup cooked
disease-fighting antioxidants, vitamins, hearts = 5 grams
and minerals—and are really delicious.

36 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 10:35 PM

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STAYING ACTIVE
WITH CBD
L
ife really does fly by. Before I knew it, my
40s had arrived, and with them came
some new gifts from dear ol’ Mother
Nature—frequent knee pain, stress, low ener-
gy and sleeplessness. Now, I’m a realist about
these things, I knew I wasn’t going to be young
and resilient forever. But still, with “mid-
dle-age” nearly on my doorstep, I couldn’t help
but feel a little down. That is until I found my
own secret weapon.
It began a few months back when I was com-
plaining about my aches and pains to my mara-
thon-running buddy, Ben, who is my same age.
He casually mentioned how he uses CBD oil to
help with his joint pain. He said that CBD has
given him more focus and clarity throughout
the day and that his lingering muscle and joint
discomfort no longer bothered him. He even felt
comfortable signing up for back-to-back mara-
thons two weekends in a row this year.
That made even this self-proclaimed skeptic
take notice.
But I still had some concerns. According to
one study in the Journal of the American Med-
ical Association, 70% of CBD products didn’t
contain the amount of CBD stated on their la-
bels. And, as a consumer, that’s terrifying!
If I was going to do this, I needed to trust the
source through and through. My two-fold re-
search process naturally led me to Zebra CBD.
First, I did a quick online poll—and by that,
I mean I posed the CBD question on my Face-
book page. Call me old fashioned but I wanted to
know if there were people whom I trusted (more
ADVERTISEMENT
than anonymous testimonials) who’ve had suc-
cess using CBD besides my buddy. That is how
I found out that Zebra CBD has a label accura-
cy guarantee which assures customers like me
what is stated on the label is in the product.
Secondly, I wanted cold hard facts. Diving
deep into the world of CBD research and clin-
ical studies, I came across Emily Gray M.D., a
physician at the University of California at San
Diego (UCSD) Medical School and medical
advisor for Zebra CBD who is researching the
effects of CBD. Dr. Gray wrote “early results
with CBD have been promising and we have a
lot of research underway now. I’ve had several
patients using CBD with good success. It’s im-
portant that you know your source of CBD and
how to use it properly.”
After hearing it from the doctor’s mouth, I re-
turned to my online poll and was amazed by the
number of close friends and family who were
already on the CBD train. Apparently, I was the
only one without a clue! And funny enough, a
couple of friends who commented were us-
ing the same brand as my buddy—Zebra CBD.
There was no consensus as to why they were
using CBD, but the top reasons given were for
muscle & joint discomfort, mood support, sleep
support, stress and headaches, as well as sup-
porting overall health & wellness.
Eventually, even the most skeptical of the
bunch can be won over. With a trusted CBD
source in mind, I decided to try it.
When I viewed Zebra CBD’s selection online,
I was impressed by its array of products, includ-
ing CBD oils called tinctures, topicals, chewable
tablets, mints and gummies. After reading on
their website that all their products are made
with organically-grown hemp, I ordered... and it
arrived within 2 days!
The first product I tried was the rub. Now
this stuff was strong. Immediately after rubbing
it on my knee, the soothing effects kicked in. It
had that familiar menthol cooling effect, which I
personally find very relieving. And the best part
is, after two weeks of using it, my knee pain no
longer affected my daily mobility and it’s helping
me stay active.
The Zebra Gummies, on the other hand,
had a different but equally positive effect on
my body. To take it, the instructions suggest
chewing thoroughly. This was simple enough,
and the taste was, well, lemony. After about 15
minutes, a sense of calm came over my body.
It's hard to describe exactly; it's definitely not a
"high" feeling. It's more like an overall sense of
relaxation—but well worth it. Needless to say, I
will being using these again.
While it hasn’t been a catch-all fix to every one
of my health issues, it has eased the level and fre-
quency of my aches. And it sure doesn’t seem
like a coincidence how much calmer and more
focused I am.
All-in-all, CBD is one of those things that you
have to try for yourself. Although I was skeptical
at first, I can say that I’m now a Zebra CBD fan
and that I highly recommend their products. My
40s are looking up!
Also, I managed to speak with a company
spokesperson willing to provide an exclusive of-
fer to MH readers. If you order this month, you’ll
receive $10 off your first order by using promo
code “MH10” at checkout. Plus, the company of-
fers a 100% No-Hassle, Money-Back Guarantee.
You can try it yourself and order Zebra CBD at
ZebraCBD.com/Men or at 1-888-762-2699.
 CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

SO YOU WANNA HAVE

JUST ONE
DRINK?

No hangover, no hazy
memory, all flavor and fun:
Here’s your six-point plan
to getting the most out of
holiday-season moderation.
BY SUSANNAH SKIVER BARTON AND PAUL KITA
CALL IT THE END-OF-YEAR CHEERS:
On average, men will consume 3.1 alcoholic
drinks on Thanksgiving, 3.6 during winter
holidays, and 5.1 on New Year’s Eve, a 2020
survey by American Addiction Centers found.
Technically, that’s not quite moderation, but
what does moderation even mean, anyway?

PHOTOGRAPHS BY FREDRIK BRODÉN MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 39

 LIFE PA RT Y DOW N

It means two or fewer standard drinks per day for men, accord-
ing to the latest USDA Dietary Guidelines. Now, the term
“standard drink” is based on alcohol content, not just volume.
So a high-ABV double IPA or full wineglass pour doesn’t really
count as standard. And overdoing it (intentionally or uninten-
tionally) is what leads to trouble.
“While there has been some data showing alcohol in moder-
ation may actually be beneficial, in the grand scheme of health
behaviors, drinking less is better than drinking more,” says
Chris Mohr, Ph.D., R.D., a Men’s Health nutrition advisor
(and bourbon aficionado). Even the owner of one of the nation’s
best bars (and our gracious host for this package!) agrees:
“I’d rather sip and enjoy one really high-quality drink that
contains alcohol than two or three low- or no-alcohol drinks that
are just okay,” says Justin Lavenue, the owner and operator of
the Roosevelt Room in Austin. To close out 2022, we’ve devised
five tactics designed to help you stick to that “one or two” limit—
and a sixth just in case you don’t.

TACTIC

1 If You’re Going to Have Just One, Make It a…

Solstice Negroni Black & Blue C&K Manhattan

Try it: Fireside, after a long day. Try it: As a party starter. Try it: For date night.
Recipe adapted by JUSTIN LAVENUE Recipe by SUE STIA, a bartender Recipe by ALYSSA TRIVETT,
of Austin’s Roosevelt Room. at Roots Ocean Prime in Princeton, beverage manager at Louisville’s
New Jersey. Copper & Kings distillery.
H O W T O M A K E I T:
In a mixing glass, add 1 oz aged gin, H O W T O M A K E I T: H O W T O M A K E I T:
such as Citadelle Réserve, 1 oz pumpkin- Muddle 2 blackberries and Add ½ oz amaro or aperitivo,
infused blanc vermouth,* 1 oz 2 blueberries in a shaker; fill with ¼ oz sweet vermouth, 1½ oz
Becherovka, ½ tsp honey, 4 dashes ice, 3 mint leaves, 2 oz vodka, bourbon, and 3 dashes Angostura
wormwood bitters, and 4 drops ½ oz lemon juice, and ½ oz agave bitters into a mixing glass, fill with ice,
Himalayan salt tincture (1 part salt to syrup. Shake and strain into a stir, and strain into a chilled glass.
10 parts water). Add ice and stir. Strain glass over ice. Garnish with mint. Garnish with an orange twist.
into a chilled glass. Top with nutmeg.

*In a container, whisk 1 cup pumpkin puree with one 750ml bottle blanc vermouth. Cover, refrigerate overnight, strain, bottle, and use.

SURPRISE: GREAT TEQUILA is coming from celebrity-backed

TACTIC Upgrade brands. We rounded up eight bottles, blindfolded a panel of tasters,

2 Your
Courtesy brand (tequila)

and sipped. The clear winner: Mark Wahlberg’s Flecha Azul, which

Tequila was balanced and beautiful. “Did you know Marky Mark makes te-
quila?” is also a conversation starter for sure.

40 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 TACTIC TACTIC
ENHANCE YOUR
3 4 HOLIDAY PARTY ORDER
Take your old favorites and elevate them with these more flavorful swaps.

Stock
Your Bar
They are what they sound like:
IF Pumpkin Pastry robust, malt-forward dark beers
YOU TRY laced with everything from
Great gear makes better drinks. LIKE beers stouts peanut butter to vanilla beans
MIKE VACHERESSE of Brooklyn’s to cocoa nibs.
Travel Bar gives the recs.
GOOD!

IF Cabernet
This red varietal is bold and
balanced until the verrrrry end,
YOU TRY Nebbiolo where the surprising finish is
LIKE sauvignon powerfully dry.

Japanese-style jigger IF Hard Hard It combines all the fizz of seltzer

$11; cocktailkingdom.com
YOU TRY with all the tangy-sweet flavors
LIKE seltzer seltzer of kombucha.

TACTIC YOUR TACTIC

5 BETTER-MIXER
MATRIX
6
WHAT MIXERS work well across the board without pump- Minimize
One-liter oak aging barrel
ing a drink full of sugar and artificial flavors? We asked a Hangover
$85; urbanbarrelcompany.com bar owner and consultant JOHNNY SWET to help plot the
IT MIGHT SEEM as if
versatility and healthfulness of popular cocktail modifiers. your hangover gets
worse as you age, but
HEALTHY-ISH the reverse is actually
Lemon
true, according to a
LaCroix 2021 study published
Green juice in the journal Alco-
Club
soda hol and Alcoholism.
Coconut Cold brew The researchers
Zing Zang
Bloody water speculated that pain
Almond milk
Mary Mix sensitivity declines
MORE VERSATILE
LESS VERSATILE

$25; amazon.com
Orange juice as you get older, so
even if the biological
effects of a hangover
Courtesy brands (gear). Getty Images (drinks).

Fever-Tree are the same, your

Refreshingly Tres Agaves perception of the
Light Ginger Q
Elderflower Margarita
Beer Mix
suffering lessens as
Tonic
Simply you mature. “My trick
Lemonade
was always to chug an
AMAZING!

Coca-Cola
entire bottle of water
Jarritos before bed,” says
Monogrammed Grapefruit
rocks glasses Soda Mohr. “Nothing fancy
$28; swankybadger.com but very effective.”
NOT SO HEALTHY

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 41

 LIFE TH E EX PER T : FRA N K PR OT O is the former
director of culinary operations at the Institute
of Culinary Education.

T H E R E ’ S O N LY O N E R I G H T W A Y T O . . .

HARD-BOIL
AN EGG
1
START NEW
Conventional wisdom states
that eggs that have been sitting
in your fridge for a week or two
are easier to peel. Maaaaybe
that’s true, but fresh eggs
are also less likely to have that
weird green ring around the
yolk when hard-boiled. Plus,
if you follow this method,
peeling won’t be a problem.

2
GO BIG
As in, your pot. You want a
cooking vessel that’s wide
enough for all the eggs to
rest in one even layer inside
without overcrowding and
tall enough for at least an
inch of water to cover them—
both factors that lead to even
cooking (and easy peeling).

HOLY SH!T
KITCHEN TRICK
Hard-boiled eggs are bland and
boring, you say? Take a zip-top
bag, drop in whole peeled cooked
eggs, add a few shakes of
seasoning (Old Bay, BBQ rub,
everything bagel), seal the bag,
and give it all a little shimmy.
Getty Images

The eggs will pop out evenly Place them on a paper towel
seasoned and totally unboring. to dry. Then store—or eat up.
—AS TOLD TO DAKOTA KIM

42 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH ILLUSTRATIONS BY STEVE SANFORD

 LIFE 5 FOR $50
MUSCLE MEALS
TO GOBBLE
Transform all that leftover Thanksgiving
turkey into a week’s worth of low-cost,
high-protein meals. BY JENNIFER NICKLE
PREP IT
Make these recipes on Sunday to power
the five meals you’ll pack for the week.
SA L SA V E R D E :
In a bowl, mix ¼ cup
chopped cilantro, ¼ cup
parsley, 2 Tbsp minced
white onion, 1 minced
garlic clove, the zest
and juice of 1 lime, ½ tsp
salt, and ¼ cup plus 2
Tbsp olive oil. Set aside.
T U R K E Y CHILI:
1 Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in
a large pot over medium.
Add 3 chopped onions,
3 chopped garlic cloves,
1 Tbsp ground cumin,
1 tsp oregano, and ¼ cup
salsa verde above.
2 Saute till the onions
soften, about 5 minutes.
Add 2 (19 oz) cans rinsed
white kidney or navy
beans, 1 (8.75 oz) can
SHOP IT
You probably have
cooking oil, a few pantry
staples, herbs and spices,
and about 2 pounds of
leftover cooked turkey.
This grocery list accounts
for everything else.
44 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
corn, 3 cups low-
sodium turkey broth,
and 1 tsp salt. Stir,
then boil.
3 Lower the heat to
medium and cook till
the flavors meld, about
20 minutes. Add 1¼
cups leftover shredded
turkey and 1 cup thawed Cover with cold water,
and drained frozen, bring to a boil, and cook,
chopped spinach. Heat, 10 minutes. Drain, cool,
5 minutes; stir in 2 Tbsp and crumble. Toss in a
chopped cilantro; let medium bowl with 1 Tbsp
cool, cover, and refriger- brown sugar, 1 Tbsp BBQ
ate until ready to use. sauce, 1 Tbsp olive oil,
and 1 tsp salt. Scatter on
T H E E X TR AS: a parchment-lined baking
1 Preheat your oven to sheet and bake till golden
400°F. Rub 1 halved, and crispy, 15 minutes.
seeded acorn squash Let cool, cover, and re-
.
with 1 tsp olive oil and frigerate till ready to use.
an
rid
he
season with salt and 3 In a bowl of cold water,
S
ve
pepper. Add 1 tsp butter soak ½ cup pearl barley.
ae
:M
and 1 tsp brown sugar to Drain, transfer to a me-
ling
sty
each cavity. Roast on a dium pot, and add 4 cups
rop
parchment-lined baking cold water, 1 clove garlic,
ol. P
cCo
sheet till tender, about and 1 Tbsp salt. Boil over
ack M
40 minutes. Let cool, medium heat, cover,
cover, and refrigerate and cook, stirring often,
Food styling: Olivia M
until ready to use. till the barley is tender,
2 Preheat your oven 45 minutes. Drain, stir in
to 400°F. In a small 1 Tbsp olive oil, allow to
pot, add 8 oz tempeh. cool, and refrigerate.
 J E N N I F E R N I C K L E is a trained
Turkey
Nutrition per meal:
510 calories, 39g
protein, 39g carbs
(10g fiber), 25g fat
2 Tempeh
Power Bowl
In a container,
arrange ½ cup BBQ
tempeh crumbles,
½ acorn squash
(sliced), ¼ cup
cooked barley,
½ cup black beans,
and ½ cup avocado.
Top with 2 Tbsp
salsa verde. Reheat
till warmed through.
779 calories, 29g
protein, 80g carbs
(17g fiber), 44g fat
3 Southwest
Turkey Chili
Pack 2 cups turkey
chili topped with
2 Tbsp salsa verde.
In another container,
pack a few tortilla
chips and some
In an Instant Pot, add 4 lb boned chicken legs
NO TURKEY? and thighs, 2 sliced onions, 2 smashed peeled
NO PROBLEM! garlic cloves, 2 cups chicken broth, and 1 Tbsp
poultry seasoning. Cook on high, 22 minutes.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAURA MURRAY MEN’S HEALTH
cilantro leaves.
Reheat the chili
and top with the tor-
tilla chips (crushed)
and cilantro.
584 calories, 26g
protein, 59g carbs
(11g fiber), 28g fat
4 Acorn
Squash with
Turkey Stuffing
Inside the other
½ roasted acorn
squash, stuff ⅓ cup
leftover shredded
turkey, ¼ cup BBQ
tempeh crumbles,
⅓ cup cooked bar-
ley, and ¾ cup diced
apples. Season to
taste and top with
¼ cup shredded
Monterey Jack. To
reheat, microwave
until the cheese
is melted and the
turkey is warmed
through.
776 calories, 35g
protein, 100g carbs
(13g fiber), 29g fat
5 Turkey
Enchiladas
On 1 whole-wheat
tortilla, add ½ cup
shredded turkey
and ⅓ cup rinsed
canned black
beans. Roll up, place
in a container seam
side down, and top
with ⅓ cup salsa
verde and ¼ cup
shredded Monterey
Jack. Reheat and hit
with hot sauce, if
you have any handy.
834 calories, 50g
protein, 39g carbs
(8g fiber), 54g fat
| DECEMBER 2022 45
 LIFE THE STREAM
THE
THE HOLIDAY HORROR MOVIE
This season, take some time to sit down and enjoy the unsung gift
of cold-blooded murder. BY SEAN ABLEY
BACK IN NOVEMBER 1984, a horror
film called Silent Night, Deadly Night
unleashed a killer Santa Claus into movie
theaters across America. The outrage
was immediate: Protesters railed against
the film, Gene Siskel accused the screen-
writer of collecting “blood money,” and
it was ultimately pulled from theaters
ten days later.
Yet during those ten days, Silent
Night, Deadly Night raked in a Santa
sack of $2.5 million—on a $750,000
budget, no less. Home-video sales of the
movie eventually went boom and spurred
four sequels and one remake (so far).
Silent Night, Deadly Night wasn’t the
first Christmas horror movie, but it was
the first to prove something: that what
some people really want during the hol-
idays is to cheer on a jolly old man with a
round little belly that shakes like a bowl
full of jelly while he’s using an ax to chop
people in the face.
This wasn’t just some ’80s thing:
1996 brought us Santa Claws, 2005 had
Santa’s Slay, and come December 2 of
this year, David Harbour will don the
red suit while fending off a barrage of
1 3
5 NIGHTS OF
YULETIDE GREMLINS
TERROR
(1984)
Meaner than
the Grinch, but
Each movie is more intense in a fun way.
than the one before.
How long can you last?
46 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
PURE JOY OF
ruthless mercenaries in Violent Night.
And holiday gore flicks aren’t limited to
Saint Nick, either. There are those fea-
turing maniacal snowmen (Jack Frost),
demented sentient cookies (The Ging-
erdead Man), vengeful European folklore
beings (Krampus), and even a serial-
killing religious zealot (Hanukkah).
Seriously, what’s wrong with us?
“There is an idealized version of
Christmas portrayed in traditional
Christmas movies that is certainly a fan-
tasy,” says Rick Deaton, Psy.D., a clinical
psychologist working in Los Angeles.
“But most of us are a bit disappointed that
our own Christmases are often stress-
ful and tense and bring out the worst in
dysfunctional family dynamics.” Horror
movies help some of us process all that
dysfunction and worst-ness.
Don’t get us wrong: A lot of us crave
a frictionless holiday season—and we
like feel-good movies too. Look at the
ever-expanding Hallmark Countdown
to Christmas movie empire. Or even the
canon of irreverent yuletide comedies
like A Christmas Story, National Lam-
poon’s Christmas Vacation, and Elf.
2 4
ANNA AND
THE APOCALYPSE
(1974)
A genuinely creepy (2017)
Canadian college An end-of-
slasher from A the-world
Christmas Story’s Christmas zombie
writer-director. musical (!).
But unlike those genres, holiday horror
movies almost never end leaving you
with the warm fuzzies. Yes, a hero will
vanquish the savage Santa/reanimated
elf/rampaging snow sculpture, but not
before leaving a wake of blood, guts, and
ruination all over the sacred holiday sea-
son. And isn’t that really what this time of
year is about for many of us—survival?
“How cathartic to watch a Christmas
horror movie with all of those idealized
setups, with a jolly Santa bringing the
perfect gifts to the perfect family, and
suddenly watch them terrorized and
fearing for their lives,” Deaton says.
Witnessing someone literally become
a holiday spirit is fun. It’s a release
valve—a way to de-stress and not take
ourselves so seriously during the most
earnest time of year. I agree with Deaton.
There’s something special about watch-
ing the credits roll on one of these horror
movies and thinking: “There’s no way my
holidays can be that bad.”
SEAN ABLEY is a playwright and frequent
Alamy (Jack Frost, Gremlin, Santa). Getty Images (Santa hat, sleigh).
contributor to Fangoria magazine.
5
SILENT NIGHT INSIDE
(2012) (2007)
A Silent Night, Deadly A pregnant woman
Night remake, this defends herself,
one featuring Santa and her baby, from
stuffing someone into a holiday home
a wood chipper. invasion.
Statement of Ownership,
Management, and Circulation
1. Publication title: Men’s Health.
2. Publication number: 0073-0200.
3. Filing date: October 1, 2022.
4. Issue frequency: Monthly, except combined
issues in January/February, May/June,and July/August.
5. Number of issues published annually: 9.
6. Annual subscription price: $24.94.
7. Complete mailing address of known office of
publication: 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general
business office of publisher: 300 West 57th Street,
New York, NY 10019.
9. Full names and complete mailing addresses of
publisher, editor, and managing editor.
Publisher: Nancy Berger, 300 West 57th Street,
New York, NY 10019.
Editor: Richard Dorment, 300 West 57th Street,
New York, NY 10019.
Managing Editor: Caryn Prime, 300 West 57th Street,
New York, NY 10019.
10. Owner: Hearst Magazines, Inc.,
complete mailing address: 300 West 57th Street,
New York, NY 10019. Stockholders of Hearst
Communications, Inc., are: Hearst Magazine
Media, Inc., complete mailing address:
300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
11. None.
12. Not applicable.
13. Publication title: Men’s Health.
14. Issue date for circulation data below:
September 2022.
15. Extent and nature of circulation:

Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months

A. Total number of copies: 1,315,079
B. Paid circulation (by mail and outside the mail)
1. Mailed outside-county paid
subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 940,727
2. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions
stated on PS Form 3541: not applicable
3. Paid distribution outside the mails
including sales through dealers and carriers,
street vendors, counter sales, and other
paid distribution outside USPS: 38,231
4. Paid distribution by other classes
of mail through the USPS: not applicable
C. Total paid distribution: 978,958
D. Free or nominal rate distribution (by mail and
outside the mail)
1. Free or nominal rate outside-county
copies included on PS Form 3541: 199,548
2. Free or nominal rate in-county
copies included on PS Form 3541: not applicable
3. Free or nominal rate copies mailed
at other classes through the USPS: not applicable
4. Free or nominal rate distribution
outside the mail: 9,747
E. Total free or nominal rate distribution: 209,295
F. Total distribution: 1,188,253
G. Copies not distributed: 126,826
H. Total: 1,315,079
I. Percent paid: 82.39%

16. A. Requested and paid electronic copies: 162,767

B. Total requested and paid print copies
and requested/paid electronic copies: 1,141,724
C. Total requested copy distribution and
requested/paid electronic copies: 1,351,020
D. Percent paid and/or requested circulation
(both print and electronic copies): 84.51%

No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date

A. Total number of copies: 1,215,887
B. Paid circulation (by mail and outside the mail)
1. Mailed outside-county paid
subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 853,653
2. Mailed in-county paid subscriptions
stated on PS Form 3541: not applicable
3. Paid distribution outside the mails
including sales through dealers and carriers,
street vendors, counter sales, and other
paid distribution outside USPS: 35,000
4. Paid distribution by other classes
of mail through the USPS: not applicable
C. Total paid distribution: 888,653
D. Free or nominal rate distribution
1. Free or nominal rate outside-county
copies included on PS Form 3541: 196,346
2. Free or nominal rate in-county copies
included on PS Form 3541: not applicable
3. Free or nominal rate copies mailed
at other classes through the USPS: not applicable
4. Free or nominal rate distribution
outside the mail: 8,952
E. Total free or nominal rate distribution: 205,298
F. Total distribution: 1,093,951
G. Copies not distributed: 121,934
H. Total: 1,215,887
I. Percent paid: 81.23%

16. A. Requested and paid electronic copies: 181,300

B. Total requested and paid print copies and
requested/paid electronic copies: 1,069,953
C. Total requested copy distribution and
requested/paid electronic copies: 1,275,251
D. Percent paid and/or requested circulation
(both print and electronic copies): 83.90%
17. Publication of statement of ownership: If the
publication is a general publication, publication
of this statement is required. Will be printed in
the December 2022 issue of this publication.

18. Signature and title of editor, publisher, business

manager, or owner: Nancy Berger, Publisher

I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and

complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or
misleading information on this form or who omits material or
information requested on the form may be subject to crimi-
nal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil
sanctions (including civil penalties).
Black Onyx Ring in 18k Gold-Plated Sterling Silver, $500; Two-Tone Curb Link 22”
Chain Necklace, $300; Cuban Figaro Link 22” Chain Necklace, $1,000; Heavy Rounded Box
Link 22” Chain Necklace in Gold-Tone Ion-Plated Stainless Steel, $250
Esquire.com/mensjewelry
 LIFE GROOMING

THE ULTIMATE FACE SAVER

It helps clear up acne! It fades dark spots! It reduces redness!
NIACINAMIDE is gaining traction as the ideal skin-care multitasker.
Leverage its powers to look even awesomer. BY GARRETT MUNCE

WHAT IT IS:
Niacinamide is actually the chemical-
compound name for vitamin B3, says
dermatologist and MH advisor Corey L.
Hartman, M.D. “It’s been used forever orally
WHY YOU SHOULD USE IT:
The compound helps with redness,
to help with inflammation,” he says. And acne, dark spots, and wrinkles, says Dr.
that inflammation-fighting power extends Hartman. Dermatologist Ranella Hirsch,
to what it can do for your face. M.D., adds, “We have strong evidence that
it’s a good antioxidant.” Niacinamide
can also control the production of
sebum (the oil your skin secretes), help
retain moisture, and work well for all
skin colors, she says.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

Niacinamide works best when com-
bined with other ingredients, says Dr.
Hartman. Depending on what you’re
treating, look for combos with zinc for
soothing, arbutin or retinol for pigment
issues, or other vitamins for antioxi-
dant protection. In fact, niacinamide
JUST KNOW THIS:
Niacinamide is essentially risk-free, says
may already be in some of the products Dr. Hartman, unless you’re going overboard.
you’re using, like serum or moisturizer. According to Dr. Hirsch, “Studies have shown
that around 2 to 5 percent niacinamide is
solid.” Applying a product with a higher per-
centage (some have up to 10 percent) isn’t
WHAT TO SHOP FOR: always harmful, but if your skin starts to feel
irritated, dial back on your usage.
That depends on which skin issues
you’re looking to fix . . .

ACNE’S UNEVEN DARK

ACNE AFTER- DRYNESS SKIN TONE SPOTS REDNESS
Courtesy brands (products). Getty Images (remaining).

La Roche-Posay Soft Services Topicals Faded The Ordinary

Effaclar Salicylic Clearing Mist, $26 The Better B Niacin- care 10% Niacina- Brightening & Niacinamide 10% +
Acid Acne This body spray amide Serum, $145 mide Booster, $49 Clearing Serum, $38 Zinc 1%, $12
Treatment, $40 helps tamp down Pricey, yes. But the Use this product The power couple of Dr. Hartman likes this
The acid combats bumps as it vitamin B5 and plank- alone or add it to your tranexamic acid and soothing combo,
zits and blackheads, reduces post-acne ton extract soothe moisturizer or serum niacinamide lightens which won’t interfere
while niacinamide dark spots. your skin and retain to help even out dark spots—even on with other products
curbs inflammation. moisture awesomely. your complexion. darker skin tones. or break the bank.

48 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 STYLE LIFE

Win
Und t
erdr er style
the ess and is risky
slop :
es to brrrrrrr Overdr
She r e
-Hu the stre . These ss and
lk: A s y
ttor et seam now-sp ou’ll fe
ney e
at La lessly. J ort-rea l bloat
O e
how SH SEG y cloth d and h
w, s d
A
u ho RR A , br s take y t.
s yo e o
w to e o
thro akout s u from
w it ta
all o r of
n.

STAY PUFFED
This is your new everyday winter
jacket. Nobis’s hefty yet breathable
down insulation protects against sub-
zero temps without restricting move-
ment. Layer it over Helly Hansen’s slim
micro-fleece jacket for added defense.
Reversible jacket ($1,095) by Nobis;
micro-fleece jacket ($85) by Helly Hansen;
shirt ($88) by Ministry of Supply; pants
($200) by Columbia; ski goggles ($235)
by Vuarnet; snowboard ($630) by Burton
Snowboards; Guide Pro Smart heated
gloves ($245) by Eddie Bauer.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KATE OWEN MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 49

 LIFE STYLE

OWN
THE SLOPES
This Brooks Brothers x Spyder
high-performing ski parka is built
with Gore-Tex, which means it’s
water and wind resistant. The
two-way-stretch fabric lets you
really move, and the coat’s sleek
red piping adds extra style points.

Grooming: Erin Anderson. Photographed at Big Snow American Dream, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Parka ($498) and hat ($70) by Brooks
Brothers x Spyder; zip sweater ($185)
by Helly Hansen; sweater ($70) by
Banana Republic; pants ($720) by
Perfect Moment; Guide Pro Smart
heated gloves ($245) by Eddie Bauer.

EASE THE
COMMUTE
Eddie Bauer’s pullover crew is
made for motion. Its medium-
pile fleece construction, plus its
elastic cuffs and ribbed collar, traps
enough heat to take you through
mad dashes. Pull it over snow pants
to deal with gnarly conditions.
EBTek sweater ($99) and Guide Pro Smart
heated gloves ($245) by Eddie Bauer;
sweater ($560) by Stone Island; pants
($540) by Blackcrows; snow boots ($250),
snowboard ($660), and beanie ($25) by
Burton Snowboards.

50 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

KEEP (REALLY) WARM
Chunky knits are a winter must-have
but can quickly veer into ugly-sweater
territory. Not Helly Hansen’s half-
zip fisherman sweater, which is slim
cut and made with ultra-warm (but
not itchy) lambswool. It’s like a hand
warmer—for your whole upper body.
Zip sweater ($185) by Helly Hansen; sweater
($70) by Banana Republic; pants ($720) by
Perfect Moment; DEFY Classic Fusalp watch
($11,000) by Zenith.
DOUBLE PLAY
YES, JOSH SEGARRA is an actor
starring on two very excellent
comedy series: HBO Max’s The
Other Two and Apple TV+’s
upcoming The Big Door Prize.
And yes, he did rock a dark-
brown suit with a (gasp!) black
tank top at the She-Hulk red
carpet earlier this year. But pri-
marily Segarra is a dad.
That means being playground-
ready for his two young boys—
sweats and a Yankees or Mets
ball cap. (Even though he grew
up in Longwood, Florida, the
bilingual actor considers N. Y. C.
home.) But that doesn’t mean he
phones in his style. He says his
Puerto Rican parents would reg-
ularly tell him, “Comb your hair,
papá. Put some gel in your hair,
baby,” before he went out the
door. So he combs and he gels, but
he’ll also throw on a throwback
WWE T-shirt—like his vintage
Ultimate Warrior or “Suplex
City” Brock Lesnar tee.
Segarra says these shirts sig-
nal a sort of secret code to other
playground dads or people pass-
ing by, and the nod of acknowl-
edgment leaves him grinning
every time. It’s in stark contrast
to his role on The Other Two
as Lance, an aspiring fashion
designer known for see-through
raincoats and dry-erase sneak-
ers. But that’s his day job. When
it’s time to be a dad, Segarra says,
“I just have fun dressing like me.”
—SEAN ABRAMS
SET THE SIGNAL
This safety-orange jacket from
Polo Ralph Lauren is stuffed
with 650-fill-power down to
keep you snug in freezing
temps. The neon color is equally
good at attracting skiers in
your group both mid-run and
at the crowded lodge.
Jacket ($298) by Polo Ralph Lauren;
zip shirt ($175) by Rudsak; Tim2-T
technical ski pants ($890) by Bogner;
ski boots, skis, and poles by Head;
Guide Pro Smart heated gloves ($245)
by Eddie Bauer.
MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 51
 LIFE TAKE CARE

PARENTING by the National Alliance for Caregiving and

AARP, from 2020. Although research indi-

YOUR PARENTS
cates life spans are expected to lengthen
over the coming decades, aging parents
likely won’t be any more immune to demen-
tia, diabetes, or other debilitating diseases.
But there are steps experts agree you can
take to help ease the challenges of caretaking.
Parenting your parents isn’t easy—it
At some point (maybe even now), you will have will cost time, money, and certain aspects
of your freedom. With the right approach,
to LOOK AFTER THEIR HEALTH AND FINANCES.
however, it’ll be the next best thing: doable.
Is it fun? Nope. But can you make it less stressful?
Absolutely. BY TRAVIS “YOH” PHILLIPS STEP 1:
HAVE THE TALK,
MAKE A PLAN
JASON LEE WAS NINE when his father, Robert, was diagnosed with dia- You and your parents need to discuss mat-
betes. Robert, a retired university dean with a Ph.D. in psychology, handled it—for ters regarding their pride, sense of senior-
Virina Flora/Shutterstock (family). Halbergman/Getty Images (car).

15 years—until one night when he woke up in a disoriented daze. His blood sugar had ity, mortality, and independence. No big
dropped dangerously low. Jason woke up, too. And that’s when he saw something on deal, right?
his father’s face he hadn’t ever seen before: panic. Charles Pyke, founder of Pyke and Asso-
Robert recovered, with no serious medical complications. But Jason knew his dad ciates, an estate-planning and elder-law
was vulnerable to the unknown and unpredictable, and he figured he could either face firm in Atlanta, has prepped countless
the changes and assist his mom wherever necessary or deny the reality that Robert clients for these discussions. His approach
was aging. He chose the former, and when his mom suffered a mini stroke ten years calls for building trust and maintaining
later, he was ready to step up for her as well. Now, beyond the media skills he’s honed respect while helping parents realize they
for his day job, the 41-year-old knows how to administer insulin in an emergency, read may not be prepared to take care of them-
blood-sugar levels, monitor pacemakers, and manage his parents’ medical records. selves in their final years. And you do that,
Jason had no blueprint for any of these new responsibilities. One doesn’t really exist he says, with questions. A hypothetical:
for him or any of the 53 million others who spend on average 24 hours a week caring You: “Mom, who do you want to make
for ill, disabled, or older family members or friends, according to the latest joint study your financial decisions?”

52 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 Parenting your parents isn’t easy—
you own?” it will cost time, money, and certain
aspects of your freedom. With the
right approach, however, it’ll be
the next best thing: doable.
S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
STEP 2:
Because you will need to budget.
health, financial, and family-dynamic
consequences of running out of cash.
If you’re handling everything else, yes,
you should probably have power of attor-
ney, but you don’t have to—just make sure
someone does before your parents expe-
rience any deterioration of their mental
health that could make them more resis-
tant to change, says Lundquist. The goal
is to find the lowest-stress option for your
parents—and you. Which brings us to. . .
STEP 3:
MIND YOUR
MENTAL HEALTH
First, acknowledge that it’s totally unusual
and downright awkward to do things like
help your parents get in and out of bed (or
a bath), discuss end-of-life care, provide
economic support, move in with them (or
have them move in with you), and take
emotional leadership of challenging cir-
cumstances, says Lundquist.
Even if you have the financial resources
to hire someone to help with your parents’
physical needs, you can’t outsource the grief
of watching them get older and become less
functional. If you’re not already seeing a
therapist, says Lundquist, now’s the time.
“I think people need to have honest
conversations about the reality of safety,
bandwidth, exhaustion, and being pulled
in multiple directions,” says Lundquist.
“Like any big, hard thing in life, you’ll have
to accept ‘Wow, this is not what I thought it
would be. This is really hard.’” Therapy can
help you retain your independence, combat
wishful thinking, and maintain (or even
build) a strong bond with your parents at a
time when they might really need one.
Jason Lee, the media professional, is
proof. Now that he’s his parents’ primary
caretaker and has accepted the emotional
tax of the added responsibility, he says,
“the years ahead aren’t somber or forlorn.
The future looks more like joy and memory
making than fear and anxiety. It looks that
way because I choose it to be so.”
MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 53
 Reshape Your Life
Bluetooth Indoor Training Bike with MyCloudFitness App

S H O P T H E F U L L C O L L E C T I O N AT M E N S H E A LT H . C O M / W H M H F I T N E S S
 OF M WHERE STRENGTH MATTERS MOST
S E
E
N
HERO

TA
L H
•

E
2

A
2 LT
H 20

HEROES
OF

2022
Across America, we’re dealing
with a mental-health crisis:
rates of ANXIETY, STRESS,
DEPRESSION, and SUICIDE
are near all-time highs.
MEET THE CHANGE AGENTS*
who are shifting minds,
creating hope,
and saving lives.
Comedy Central

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 55

 MIND HEROES

BREAKING
THE SILENCE
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, radio cohost, author,
founder of the Mental Wealth Alliance
IN 2017, when Charlamagne
tha God’s book Black Privilege
became a New York Times best
seller, he never imagined he’d
turn into a mental-health advo-
cate next. But writing the book
made him look back on his child-
hood challenges. He started
going to therapy and realized,
Everything I thought I knew
about life, I don’t know. “Ther-
apy was making me unlearn all
these things, all these unwritten
rules we have in our community
and in our culture,” he says.
So he started journaling.
And those notes about his own
anxieties, fears, and crippling
panic attacks led to his 2018
book, Shook One: Anxiety
Playing Tricks on Me, which
blew the doors off the idea that
Black men have to be strong and
silent in order to be successful.
In 2021, he started the Mental
Wealth Alliance to raise money
for mental-health organiza-
tions like Black Men Heal and
the AAKOMA Project. This
year, he’s hosting free expos to
change the conversation about
mental health for Black men.
MH advisor Gregory Scott
Brown, M.D., asked CTG for his
strategies on becoming your
own mental-health advocate.

1 2 3
GET A LET INVEST
NAME FOR YOURSELF IN YOUR
WHAT UNLEARN MENTAL
YOU’RE THINGS. WEALTH.
FEELING. “When you’re “Finding a
“I remember driving Black and you come therapist isn’t easy,
down I-26 and feel- from a certain envi- but when you do get
ing like I’m about to ronment, there’s a recommendation
have a heart attack. so much trauma we or a suggestion for
So I went to the doc- call culture. I love someone you should
tor. It was the first my dad, but he had talk to, just go do
time a doctor didn’t issues with mental it. See what it feels
just say, ‘You have health and you know like to vent and get
an athlete’s heart.’ he raised me wrong some things off your
He said, ‘Man, it in a lot of ways. I chest. Go sit down
sounds like you had had to unlearn a lot with someone and

LETTING
a panic attack.’ So of those things. We talk, because the
when you ask why I have to break that older we get, those

YOUR ROOTS
focus on Black men generational curse inner-child wounds
and mental health, so we don’t pass trau- eventually rise to
it started with me.” ma on to our kids.” the surface.”

F M
GROUND
YOU
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VINCE FLORES-MALDONADO,
• 2
2

A
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LT
founder of Native Music Coalition

Vince Flores-Maldonado,
above right, provides ac-
tivities like a horse camp
to help Indigenous people
connect with their roots
and avoid feeling lost,
lonely, and criminalized.
W 
HEN VINCE FLORES-MALDONADO, 40, be-
gan seeking help for his mental-health issues
Comedy Central (Charlamagne tha God). Sonya Salway
in 2004, he felt as if something was missing.
(Flores-Maldonado). Vince Flores-Maldonado (camp).
His mental baggage included gang life in his
teens, two stints in jail, and drug and alcohol use as a remedy
to erase the shame of the bad stuff he’d gotten into. The expe-
riences left him addicted, depressed, and traumatized.
He tried things he’d heard could help—therapy, church,
a 12-step program. “But I wasn’t connecting with Western
medicine,” he says. “It helped me put a name to what I was
feeling, but I wasn’t progressing and I didn’t feel whole.”
Colonialism, land loss, and historical trauma like the
epidemic of missing Indigenous women have all weighed
MH RECOMMENDS:
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on the psyches of many Native Ameri-
cans. Compared with the general U. S.
population, Indigenous people are
nearly three times as likely to experience
mental-health issues. Substance abuse
tops out at higher rates for Indigenous
populations than for any other ethnic group.
Around that time, Flores-Maldonado was traveling with
his uncle to reservations in Arizona, California, and the
Dakotas to try to reconnect with his Indigenous roots. The
teachings he picked up along the way ended up changing his
life, especially when he attended a sweat-lodge ceremony
high in the barren, windy mountains of southern Califor-
nia. When he shared his rocky past with the men inside, he
felt empathy instead of judgment. “We talked not only about
how colonization hurt our people’s ability to live but also
created the perception that Native Americans are criminals
instead of people who need help when they face hardship,”
he says. “The men made me realize I was someone who
needed help, not a criminal.” After several hours of sweat,
prayer, and conversation, something inside him shifted.
“A sweat lodge represents new life, and when you crawl out
after, it’s like being born. So it represents the chance to
change our ways and overcome some of the things we’re not
too proud of,” he says.
Flores-Maldonado wanted other Indigenous people to
find the same kind of healing. It took more than a decade of
fundraising, but in 2016 he founded the nonprofit Native
Music Coalition in Tucson; it has grown to seven locations
that offer activities that connect participants to their roots
and provide teachable skills. Drum-making classes help
soothe grief, with the rhythm invoking the heartbeat of
relatives who have passed away; beadwork classes train
focus and patience; a horse camp teaches responsibility,
boundaries, and how to overcome fear.
He sees these centers as a way for Native Americans to
access good mental-health care, which is often scarce in
cities and on reservations, and receive treatment that feels
more culturally relevant.
Connecting with his ancestors’ traditional practices
helped Flores-Maldonado kick alcohol and has led to 13
years of sobriety. “If you don’t know who you are, you can feel
very lost,” he says. “I feel like we’re on a pioneering trend for
people to feel good about who they are and get help.”
—MAGDALENA PUNIEWSKA
MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 57
 MIND HEROES

B 
ILL HAWLEY KNOWS that boys
do cry. He’s trying to get men to
see that, too. It’s part of his mis-
sion to encourage guys to talk
about their struggles and feelings to help
solve a big issue in rural Wyoming, where
he works. The state has the highest rate of
suicide deaths per capita in the U. S., and
60 percent of people who died by suicide in
2020 were white men, according to the CDC.
When issues and emotions are stuck
inside, they can spiral out of control. But
bringing them out into the open through
conversation helps you realize that you’re

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images (Hawley). Damian Dovarganes/AP/Shutterstock (Brown).

not alone. Just talking about whatever is
causing the pain, with the partnership of
compassionate people who can guide you
through, can be healing, says Hawley.
Asking men what’s bugging them seems
simple, but it’s a tough sell in rural Wyo-
ming, where many men still follow a tough
cowboy code. They’ve been taught what
Hawley thinks of as “unhealthy paradigms
of masculinity,” like anger being the only

SAVING emotion it’s okay for men to show. Hawley

knows firsthand that the guys are hurting.
As a community prevention manager in

LIVES Johnson County, he sees people struggling

with substance abuse, tobacco addiction,

WITH CONVERSATION
and suicidal impulses nearly every day,
which can be difficult to address in rural
areas, because they tend to have limited
mental-health resources, higher levels of
BILL HAWLEY, poverty, and more isolation. Hawley’s job is
suicide-prevention specialist to connect people with help. —M. P.

M H R ECOMMEND S:

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SPECIALLY
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Within a Black barber-
RUNNING GROUPS
FOR…EVERYTHING
Running is great for your
PARK
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Forward-thinking doctors
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MENTAL the Shop, an initiative of the

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like-minded group might be
even better. Run Talk Run
(runtalkrun.com) and Still I
prescriptions”—actual
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HEALTH a new way and help guys get

Therapy’s not the only
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mind. These go-tos
can help you out with
that, too.
support, such as therapy
and suicide-prevention
services. So far, more than
1,600 barbers in nearly 50
cities have been trained.
Run (stillirun.org) offer
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in a judgment-free
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group at your local craft
brewery can provide vital
community connection.
fill with a group like Hiking
My Feelings (hikingmyfeel-
ings.org), which blends
mindfulness and nature, or
Outdoor Afro (outdoorafro
.org), a network that
connects Black people with
the outdoors.

58 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 F M
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REVOLUTIONIZING
HAWLEY sees men who aren’t used to allowing themselves to feel things,
much less used to talking about what they’re feeling. Along the way, he’s
made some discoveries about getting the conversation started.

CRISIS
ASK SOMEONE,
“HOW ARE YOU FEELING?”
RESPONSE
NOT “HOW ARE YOU DOING?”
“We are human beings, not human
doings,” says Hawley. Doing gets people BE PATIENT.
wrapped up in the successes of their days. “How are you feeling?” can
“Part of toxic masculinity is thinking our be a hard question to answer.
self-worth is based in things that we do or So don’t be afraid of silence,
have done or will do,” he says. But asking and let the other person
how someone is feeling can help them respond in their own time.
zero in on their emotions and be vulner- Just being there with an
able and gives you a better chance to talk accepting vibe and assuring
about what’s going on inside. the person they can always
turn to you can be helpful,
Hawley has found. MIRIAM BROWN,
deputy director at the
Los Angeles County
Department of
TALK ABOUT YOUR OWN STUFF. Mental Health
Hawley has experienced depression, bipolar disorder, and a suicide attempt. THE POLICE have always been a
When he talks about what he’s been through to other men, they find a go-to resource to call in an emer-
camaraderie that allows them to unearth and discuss what’s inside them- gency. But mental-health emergen-
selves, too. Inspired by Hawley’s push for conversation, local veterans cies often aren’t law-enforcement
recently launched a peer-support group in which men can work through issues, and cities are now realizing
their struggles with PTSD, anger, and grief. “When men are kind and gentle that there are better solutions.
to themselves, they can be kind and gentle to others,” Hawley says. This year, Los Angeles County
rolled out its Therapeutic Trans-
portation Program, which sends
mental-health workers to non-
violent mental-health-related
911 calls. “Every crisis doesn’t
need hospitalization or police,”
says Miriam Brown, L.C.S.W.,
who’s helping to build out L. A.’s
program. “It’s just a matter of
de-escalating the situation and
DINNER PARTIES CANINE CLUBHOUSES providing people with the tools
that they need.” That could be as
RIGHT WHEN YOU CALMERS FOR GROWN-UPS simple as a prescription refill;
NEED THEM In the western U. S., First Loneliness is a huge
some crises stem from a resur-
Responder Therapy Dogs concern for older adults, so
The Dinner Party
brings certified crisis- tell your dad about the US gence of paranoia or anxiety.
(thedinnerparty.org) hosts
response therapy dogs to Men’s Shed Association. Its Unlike in the case of a law-
small in-person and virtual
wildland-fire base camps, thousands of clubs around enforcement response, mental-
dinner parties for people ages
fire stations, 911 call the globe provide a space,
21 to 45 who have recently health workers do an evaluation,
centers, and police mainly for older guys, to
experienced loss, offering which can pinpoint new issues or
departments to support the get together and socialize
community support during
the grieving process. Wholly
mental health of first over community-service connect people with care like
responders. Since 2020, projects like building counseling. Other cities—like
needed and wildly successful,
the group has grown to 70 benches or structures
the initiative has connected Denver; San Francisco; Portland,
teams in 14 states. for local parks.
more than 13,000 people Oregon; and New York—have
since its creation in 2014. —KATIE DUPERE
started similar efforts. —M. P.

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 59

 MIND HEROES
REIGNITING
THE PSYCHEDELICS REVOLUTION
MATTHEW JOHNSON,
professor and researcher
PSYCHEDELICS as mental-health tools
are having a major moment, but getting
them to this point was quite the trip.
Although research on compounds like
LSD and psilocybin boomed in the ’50s
and ’60s, things took a turn. Psychedel-
ics were stuffed into Schedule I during
the “war on drugs” in the ’70s, meaning
it was hard, if not impossible, for scien-
tists to get access to them for study. Now
their healing potential is being taken
seriously again thanks to people like
Matthew Johnson, Ph.D., a psychiatry
professor at Johns Hopkins.
Early in his career, Johnson looked
at existing research on psychedelics
and had a hunch that these com-
pounds could be game changers for
mental health. “I’ve never heard of
a single claim from any other drug
class where someone used it once and
had a profound, positive experience
that changed their life, but you had no
problem finding stories like that with
psychedelics,” he says.
With money from private philan-
60 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
F M
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M H R EC OMMEND S:
• 2
2
A
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LT
H 20
DIFFERENT
KIND OF
A new slate of podcasts
offers men a stress-free
glimpse into how a chat
about mental health
can happen. They also
give them the language
to express problems
that were once ineffable.
Some of the best:
thropists and foundations, Johnson
began collecting data. Then he made a
move that helped the FDA and univer-
sity boards feel better about green-
lighting studies on these compounds:
He helped put together guidelines for
how scientists could safely administer
psychedelics in the lab.
He was the first to publish research
showing that psilocybin can help shut
down tobacco addiction and did one of
the largest studies showing it can help
alleviate cancer distress. Other studies
of his have found it may be helpful for
Seth Jacobson (Johnson). Jennifer Bentsen Gordon (Williams).
alcohol-use disorder and depression
and for decreasing suicidal ideation.
In 2020, he helped launch the Johns
Hopkins Center for Psychedelic &
Consciousness Research. As the first
such facility in the U. S. and the largest
in the world, it brought legitimacy to
the study of these promising treat-
ments. They’re not going to solve all
our mental-health problems, he points
out. But what if they open our minds to
what is possible? —M. P.
 MIND-BOOSTING PODCASTS

THE HARDCORE I AM ATHLETE. NEW MINDSET, DEAR THE MENTAL

Former NFL player
SELF HELP PODCAST Brandon Marshall and
WHO DIS? THERAPISTS ILLNESS HAPPY
Anonymous inquiries Author and musician Case Psychotherapist Lori
from men about what’s
the biggest athletes in
Kenny gives listeners tips Gottlieb and psychologist
HOUR
the world hold court Comedians, artists, and
going on in their heads are on how to be a better Guy Winch, Ph.D., let you
with one another others in the creative arts
answered by a licensed version of themselves by listen in on actual
like never before on open up to comedian Paul
psychologist, Robert Duff, offering new ways for therapy sessions they
topics such as raising Gilmartin about how
Ph.D., who gives straight- them to look at their have with average
a trans child, suicide they deal with the issues
forward advice minus minds, their lives, and the people just like you who
attempts, and crying. most people can’t see.
the therapist jargon. people around them. are seeking help.
—KEITH NELSON JR.

CHANGING GYM CULTURE

FOR EVERY BODY
JUSTICE ROE WILLIAMS, founder of Fitness4AllBodies

A 
LL HIS LIFE, Justice Roe Williams felt some chafing BEFRIEND YOUR BODY
at the gym, a nagging feeling that he didn’t fit in Use Williams’s tips for letting
there, even when he became a fitness coach at 38. “I self-judgment go.
learned that fitness was basically about fixing bod-
ies. I didn’t learn that it was about wellness,” he says. “The gym
RETHINK WHAT YOU THINK
was selling all these ideas that we should be a certain way.” YOU KNOW.
That just didn’t fit with Williams’s lived experience as a trans Look back at what you were taught
person with a gay brother and friends of all body types and sizes. about your body from institutions you
Where the world saw boxes, he saw fluidity—no need to punish were part of, he says. Then imagine
someone in a man’s body for not acting within a gender binary. the authority you’d have over your
No need to force a larger body to be smaller. body if you were never taught that it
So instead of training people to reach an ideal, he started was broken or needed to be fixed.
“meeting people where they’re at,” he says. When trans clients
came to him saying, “ ‘I need to build a man body,’ I would chal- ASK QUESTIONS.
lenge them and ask, ‘What does a man body look like?’ ” They’d When you notice you are getting
come up with an answer that was their definition alone—not a judgmental about yourself, Williams
societal definition of what a man’s body is supposed to be—and suggests asking, When do I begin to
one that included what they already liked about their physique. judge? What does this serve? Why do I
Some call the approach body neutrality. Williams doesn’t feel the need to punish myself? To cast
love labels. But he does love the idea of not judging yourself—of off limits, it’s helpful to know more
not holding yourself to someone else’s standards—and feeling about where they are coming from.
included. He does that in his work and began wondering what
would happen if all trainers did that. It could be a revolution
in how people feel about their bodies and the gym. So in 2019 READ BETWEEN THE LINES.
he founded Fitness4AllBodies, a company that offers trainers We have to understand that we exist
classes on how to value and honor all bodies and abilities in in a world with multiple dimensions,
their natural state and to let go of societal standards. It also he says. Yet we punish ourselves if we
serves as a networking and skill-sharing space where fitness don’t conform to the binaries we’re
professionals can learn how to be inclusive. Williams will know taught to live in (boy/girl, good/bad).
his message has gotten through if we all have a sense of belong- Instead of accepting polarities, see
ing where we are in the bodies we have. —MARTY MUNSON the possibilities in between.

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 61

 THE
2O ANNUAL MEN’S HEALTH
TH

BACKBONE ONE: PLAYSTATION EDITION

This PlayStation-inspired controller seam-
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THESE NEXT-GEN GADGETS
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AVENTON LEVEL.2
COMMUTER E-BIKE
Aventon’s latest e-bike has
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its integrated lights mean
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DJI AVATA
This new drone connects to a GOPRO HERO11 BLACK MINI
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This is the budget video camera to buy.
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It offers the same performance as the
you to zip through any room or
iconic Hero11 Black but in a smaller
landscape in 4K. Boasting an
package that’s easier to use, so you
impressive 18-minute flight time,
can shoot clear videos of your extreme
DJI’s second first-person-view
adventures, morning runs, and any
drone really makes you feel like
activity in between. $400; gopro.com
you’re flying IRL. $1,388 (with
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BIOLITE BASECHARGE 600

Housing a massive battery, this porta-
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energy odometer allows you to track
your energy consumption. $699;
bioliteenergy.com

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 63

FORME STUDIO
This sleek 4K UHD
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NIKE AIR MAX SCORPION TECH MERINO
The Swoosh’s new sneaker looks like a floa- MILANO CREW
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This high-tech sweater
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MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 65

 THERABODY SMART GOGGLES
These massage goggles use vibration and
heat while gently kneading your eyes, along
with a sensor that responds to your heart
rate. Wear them during the afternoon as a
midday stress reliever, or at night to help
you drift to sleep. $199; therabody.com

$398; bruvi.com

ROOMBA COMBO J7+

Tired of cleaning up? Get a load of this robot
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to set vacuum schedules and keep floors
spick-and-span. $1,100; irobot.com offerings. Throw them

SONOS RAY
Sonos’s cheapest sound bar is a massive
upgrade to your TV’s built-in speakers, of-
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dialogue clarity, so you won’t have to turn
on closed captioning to understand what
those House of the Dragon actors are say-
ing. $279; sonos.com

66 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 BRAUN SILK-EXPERT PRO5
IPL HAIR REMOVAL DEVICE
Consider this a less aggressive home

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180 degree, auto- the power of heat wraps for a
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movies and shows Think of it as quick postworkout
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samsung.com

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 67

 MEN’S HEALTH ICON 202 2

DWAYNE JOHNSON is entering his 50s—or what he calls his

“fifth level”—in the best shape of his life. Here he explains how he did
it and why, above all else, you should strive to be true to
yourself, even if that means being a bad guy every once in a while.
BY BEN JHOTY & BEN COURT

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 69


THE ROCK, or to use his given name, Dwayne
Johnson, is standing in his home office in Los Ange-
les, a bright, inviting space into which sunlight pours
through French doors. Next to Johnson is a life-size
replica of a T. rex skull, an unapologetically masculine
piece of decor. Behind him on a shelf are bottles of his
tequila brand, Teremana. Johnson is wearing a black
Project Rock muscle tee, with tattoos creeping out
of the sleeves onto his mountainous biceps. He’s also
wearing red shorts and occasionally grabs at his knee.
Needless to say, he is in awesome shape.
Johnson is fresh off the buzz surround-
ing Black Adam (streaming December 22
on HBO Max), a passion project he’d been
thinking about for 15 years. It’s a notable
addition to his canon for a number of rea-
sons. First, as many have posited in rela-
tion to Tom Cruise, you wonder if Johnson
is too big a star for comic-book fare. Are the
power of his personality and the wattage of
his charisma somehow neutered in span-
dex? Time will tell on that one. Second, the
film required the most likable and popular
actor of his generation to play an antihero.
Finally, it also required him to get in the
best shape of his life. “That was our goal, for
me to bring in the best physique possible,”
says Johnson. “So the challenge with that
is not only do you set the bar high—which
is fine . . . bring it on!—but then you realize
you have to maintain that for months.”
Johnson prides himself on being the
hardest worker in any room he’s in—if he
and Cruise were ever to share the screen,
that would be a hashtag-palooza. It’s this
ethic that’s kept him at the head of the Hol-
lywood pack for more than two decades
now. And as he enters his 50s, Johnson’s
not letting up: His day job includes fin-
ishing production on Red One, an adven-
ture comedy with Chris Evans, as well
as shooting several undisclosed movies
and season 3 of NBC’s Young Rock. Then
there’s his work with his brands: Under
Armour’s Project Rock, Teremana Tequila,
and Zoa energy drinks. And he’s a co-
owner of the XFL, set to kick off in Febru-
ary 2023. All told, his net worth is a swole
$1 billion-plus. At home, he’s busy rais-
ing his two younger daughters, Jasmine,
six, and Tiana, four, with his wife, Lauren
Hashian. (His 21-year-old daughter, Sim-
one, with his ex-wife and current business
partner, Dany Garcia, recently signed a deal
with the WWE.) If anything, Johnson says,
this is the time when, as a man, you’ve got
to double down on hard work. Between the
Rock and a hard place, perhaps. That’s the
uncomfortable space he’s always inhabited.
That’s where you have to go to get results.
Men’s Health: How’s your day going?
Dwayne Johnson: Just got up with the
babies; regardless of what time you go
to bed, they’re up. I went to bed probably
around 1:00, 1:30, as I normally do. Babies
had me up at 6:00 A.M. I’ll go train [next].
MH: Let’s start with Black Adam. What
excited you about the role?
DJ: It’s been 15 years since we first started
talking about Black Adam. It’s been seven
years since we all agreed—Seven Bucks
Productions and Warner Bros. and DC—
that we were going to make Black Adam.
What excited me about it was delivering
a character in the superhero genre that
had never been seen before. No actors had
played Black Adam. In addition, but more
important, is the opportunity to disrupt
the superhero genre. You have a character
like Black Adam, who is, depending on
how you interpret his philosophies—is he a
superhero, an antihero, or just a bad dude?
Now, the difference is in Superman, there’s
a code of ethics that Superman abides by,
which is why he is the greatest superhero.
Superman won’t kill anyone. Black Adam,
on the other hand, you can’t finish your sen-
tence if you mean harm to him or his family.
MH: Did you have any internal conflict
about playing against public perception?
DJ: I’ve identified so deeply with Black
Adam. . . . Yes, he lives in a gray area, but his
philosophy is black-and-white. If you hurt
the ones I love or my country, you’re going
to pay. And there are no questions asked.
There’s no bringing you to justice. There’s
no apprehending you. You die. What also
was very appealing to me, and I think will
appeal to a lot of people, is that you can’t
put him in a box and you can’t say, “You
have to be like this. You can’t do this. You
have to do that.” I felt like I experienced
that throughout my career when I first got
to Hollywood 20 years ago: “You can’t call
yourself the Rock. You can’t talk about pro
wrestling. You can’t be this big. You can’t
work out as much. Change your diet. Lose
weight. If you want to be like Will Smith,
Johnny Depp, George Clooney, who were
the stars at that time, this is how you have
to be.” Well, I tried that on for a few years,
and then finally I said, “Man, fuck this. I
can’t be like that. I’m not those guys. I could
never be those guys. I’m not in a box. Don’t
tell me how to be. I’m going to be myself.”
MH: Did you have to train even harder to
fill out the Black Adam costume?
DJ: We did. My goal was to bring in the best
physique of my career, and that includes
my years as a football player and as a pro
wrestler. I’ve worked with Dave Rienzi, my
trainer, very closely now for over a decade.
The real challenge was to maintain that
[physique] for months. It’s not All right.
Go after it and grit and grind it out. No.
You can’t do that, because your body can’t
sustain it and your body will break down,
whether you’re in your 20s or 60s. So we
had to really approach it with care and
science, and [Dave] was there throughout
“I’m not in a box.
DON’T TELL ME
HOW TO BE.
I’M GOING TO
BE MYSELF.”
the shoot and constantly looking at my
body, seeing how it’s coming along. How’s
my sodium intake? How are the carbs?
There’s just so much we have to look at.
Now, what’s interesting is we could have
said, “Fuck this—put the muscle pads in
the suit,” as they normally do. And it’s not
a knock to my friends at all, but I felt like,
“Let’s be disruptive and let’s do it differ-
ently.” Let’s take all the muscle pads out,
which we did, from Black Adam. When you
have that suit on, every detail shows. Man,
it was constant work, constant tweaking,
tweaking, tweaking for months.
MH: You turned 50 in May. How are you
feeling about that?
DJ: There are markers you have in your life.
As dudes, you hit your 30s, you like to think
you’ve got your shit together. You generally
have no fucking clue. You’re trying to work
your shit out. And you’re trying to fake it
till you make it, that kind of thing. You hit
your 40s, hopefully you’re starting your
family, you’re getting settled, feeling com-
fortable, and then you’re going through
a lot in your 40s, too. I wanted to hit the
fifth level in my rhythm and groove. What
I mean by that is that my body was in a great
place, that it wasn’t too banged up.
So really, in my 30s and early 40s, when I
was coming off of wrestling, I was still feel-
ing the effects of all my wrestling injuries.
At 40, I said, “Okay, I’m going to spend the
next decade training as smart as I can, bal-
ancing out training and family and work,
being an open sponge, learning every day
but also not worrying about ego training,
not worrying about the weight that I’m put-
ting on the bar, pushing myself so hope-
fully, by the time I hit the fifth level, my
joints are feeling great and I’m still able to
not only maintain but add real muscle and
some really dense muscle.” That’s a long
answer to tell you I’m feeling pretty good.
MH: Has your diet changed?
DJ: My philosophy is to eat clean and make
sure that my diet is commensurate with my
goals, which stay consistent throughout
the year. It’s better to stay in shape than to
get in shape. I am a real creature of habit.
I usually eat the same thing every day for
days and weeks and months. It’s very con-
sistent. It’s very boring. It’s also extremely
disciplined. That’s something I picked up
from my old man, who was a hardcore gym
fanatic. He taught me very early on not to
eat to please the tongue but to eat to nour-
ish the body. He taught me that when I was
five. That’s probably why I need therapy.
MH: What’s your breakfast, lunch, and
dinner?
DJ: Well, I eat six meals a day [and they’re
all similar in terms of nutrients]. Break-
fast consists of eggs, a meat like bison,
a complex carb like oatmeal, and fruit,
usually either papaya or blueberries. My
second meal, around 10:00 A.M., usually
consists of a chicken breast, a complex
carb like rice, and some greens. And din-
ner is fish or chicken, a complex carb like
sweet potatoes, and some greens.
MH: You count your macros, right?
DJ: In a very specific way, yes. I have a
strength and conditioning coach. I have a
nutritionist. I also have a lead chef advisor
who speaks to a lot of the chefs I work with
because I am often in different locations. So
they work out all that math and they extrap-
olate. They’re much better and smarter at
that than I am. I do see results quickly when
we adjust the macros. [The range: protein
40–45 percent, carbs 40–50 percent, fats
15–20 percent.]We’ve got it down to a sci-
ence where we fine-tune the macros and I
never feel hungry. That’s a key: Training
and dieting down for a goal requires dis-
cipline, and you can often feel hungry.
MH: How has your training evolved?
 Rapid
Fire
DJ: I still train with MH: You’ve experi-
the same intensity, but FRENEMY EXERCISE? enced depression.
“Barbell rows.”
I’d like to think I train Does training help
smarter. When I was CHEAT MEAL? manage that?
25, I was doing Olympic “A combo of a great DJ: I think so, sure.
lifts, which are tough cheeseburger, fries, During those times
on the joints with the and a great dessert  .  . .   when I fell into and
I like combining a lot
torque. I actually train was cha llenged by
of shit with cookies.
shorter, but I get more I’ll do peanut butter depression, the gym
out of it. What I’ve also and a chocolate-chip became my best
been able to do with cookie. Put some friend—and I know
caramel chips in there.
experience is listen it’s like that for a lot of
I do stuff like that.”
to my body. You know, people. You’re able to
there’s a difference HAPPY PLACE? go to the gym to sweat
between the pain that “Quiet: on my farm or out toxins and get a
you can work through— fishing or in the gym.” little bit more clarity
and that’s good to work when you walk out the
FAVORITE MOVIES
through—and the pain STARRING YOU? door. It doesn’t fix the
where you have to stop “Jumanji, Jungle problem, but it helps.
what you’re doing and Cruise, Black Adam.” MH: Over the past
take care of that partic- few yea rs, you’ve
FAVORITE MOVIES
ular part of your body NOT STARRING YOU? opened up more
that’s hurt. “The Godfather I and II, about your spiritu-
MH: With great power It’s a Wonderful Life, ality and mana. How
comes...great respon- Coal Miner’s Daughter.” does that help you?
sibility. You have 340 DJ: So I’m half Black
KARAOKE SONG?
million followers on “ ‘The Blues Man,’ and half Samoan. And
Instagram crav ing Hank Williams Jr.” on the Samoan side,
your fitness content. there’s a Polynesian
Is that exhausting? word called mana.
DJ: It’s a blessing. I have trained long Really what it means is like an energy, a
enough to know that there are some good force, a power that we all have, and it’s
takeaways that I could share that could ever existent in our world. When I talk
help my audience in their fitness and well- about mana, it’s a feeling that I get that’s
ness journey. One of the responsibilities, just here deep in the DNA, and you can get
though, is to make sure that the things it when you walk into the gym. You can
I’m posting are smart, training-wise—not feel the mana. It can be quite palpable.
dumb shit that’ll get you hurt. Guys do that MH: Is that something that you try to Black Adam sleeveless hoodie and shorts (worn
all the time, and they train out of ego and tap into daily or you just feel it? throughout) by Under Armour’s Project Rock.
they train to get views and you see them DJ: For me, mana becomes my daily
doing crazy exercises. Some are very enter- anchor, and it’s a reminder of my cul-
taining, but some are pretty dangerous, tures. It’s a reminder of who I am; and it’s
too. I think it’s really important to make a reminder to work hard, to be humble,
sure that you don’t lose the integrity of why to show gratitude; and it’s a reminder that’s going on. Once I get everybody to bed,
you’re in the gym to begin with. You’re in to always connect with people, like we there’s a window of about two hours when
the gym to build your muscles or whatever could be connected through mana. It’s the whole house is quiet where I do most of
your goal is. Usually when I do post train- very powerful. my thinking and where I can accomplish
ing, it’s toward the end of my workout or my MH: Do you feel like you’re connecting most of my thoughts from beginning to
final set. I don’t do anything in between. I with your spiritual side more now? end. Then I can go to sleep with usually
get in the gym and I don’t fuck around. DJ: Well, I’ve always been connected to my some clarity. Tequila helps, too.
MH: Training isn’t just about physical cultures, my family, and my ancestors. But MH: You have a lot going on. How do you
strength. How does it affect you mentally? as you go down the road of life, you start to prioritize and find balance?
DJ: Psychological nourishment. I really get more connected with your spirituality DJ: I prioritize things by asking, Do I love
feel that there are fundamental skills that in that kind of way where you start to real- them? Am I passionate about them? They
you learn in the gym in terms of discipline, ize what mana actually means, you know? could be big things, they could be little
working through your fatigue, pushing MH: Does anything scare you? things, but either way, whatever they are,
past what you perceive as a limit. ’Cause DJ: The thing that keeps me up at night is if they don’t get me out of bed and if I’m
there’s greatness on the other side. There just how everything shakes out, the things not running toward those things, then
are little achievements along the way that we have planned, the things I can control. I don’t do them. That’s how I prioritize
you’re gonna gain from your training. Big Making the right moves, thinking about things. How I find balance is by making
achievements, too. my family, my babies, all the other stuff sure that I still remain in touch with the

simple core things that are important to
me. Life can get crazy and funny for all of
us, but especially when you get a little bit of
fame, things have a tendency to go side-
ways. So I like doing simple core things
that keep the stability.
MH: Communication is really import-
ant, too, right?
DJ: Oh, man, I think one of the defining,
seminal moments in my life was when I
really realized the power and the value
of asking for help. Vulnerability. You
know, really kind of checking your ego at
the door. As guys, we have a tendency to
not ask for help. Ego gets in the way, and we
start stuffing things deep down in our guts,
which is not a good thing. I’ve become an
advocate for asking for help. And it wasn’t
HOW
DWAYNE JOHNSON
STAYS
FOREVER FIT
WHEN JOHNSON HIT his mid-40s,
he started changing his gym tactics.
“The wear and tear in the joints, it
catches up with you,” says his longtime
trainer, Dave Rienzi. To keep Johnson
in antihero shape, Rienzi implements
these four strategies in his routine.
BY EBENEZER SAMUEL, C.S.C.S.
PRE-EXHAUST!
1 Johnson doesn’t want to
train ultraheavy, so he makes
lighter loads challenging.
He’ll often do a set of an
isolation move (say, a chest
cable fly), then immediately
follow up with a compound
move (say, a bench press).
The iso move leaves his chest
fatigued, making the com-
pound move harder, even
with a moderate weight.
DO GLUTES
2 FOR DAYS
“We really prioritize training
the posterior chain,” says
Rienzi. Johnson does Roma-
nian deadlifts 2 or 3 times
weekly in order to attack his
back muscles, glutes, and
hamstrings. Glute muscles
help protect the lower back—
and keep him explosive.
SQUAT LATE
always like that, and it’s much easier
said than done. I grew up an only child. I
was that guy who would stuff things down
and not talk about them, and I’d figure it
out all by myself. Most of the time I did fig-
3 Most lifters do squats early in
their workout. Johnson often
does them as the last move
of leg day. That means his leg
muscles are already burned
out from other lifts (like those
Romanian deadlifts!), so he can
tax his quads and hamstrings
ure it out all by myself, but also it just took with a moderate weight.
a toll, man, on my soul and on my mental
health. So these days, I’m a big advocate SLOW. IT. DOWN.
for asking for help. Also, I’ve lost friends,
uh, who checked out and, yeah, ended
their lives because they didn’t want to ask
for help. Yeah. So you gotta communicate.
You gotta ask for help. There’s no shame in
that. If you don’t know something, ask. If
you don’t know, ask.
4 During at least 2 moves in ev-
ery workout, Johnson concen-
trates on time under tension.
He’ll grab a moderate weight
for, say, a biceps curl, then curl
up, squeeze his biceps, and
slowly lower the weight for
4 seconds. “Thirty-five-pound
dumbbell curls with a 4-
second negative for 10 reps is
This story has been condensed from three a brutal exercise,” Rienzi says.
interviews and edited for clarity. Do 3 to 4 sets. Enjoy the burn.
(Plus: more comeback tips from
and GRANT HILL.)
MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 75
 COME BACK

STRONGER SMARTER AND

like Damian Lillard

can master it. This NBA season,

that skill will be on display. From
New Orleans big man Zion Wil-
liamson (foot surgery) to Clippers
forward Kawhi Leonard (torn ACL)
to Nuggets guard Jamal Murray
(torn ACL) to a host of other big
names, this season is full of major
more unusual gear, like the Proteus, injur y comebacks. A nd ever y
a handful of pneumatic resistance bounce-back includes lessons that
machines, and a mini barbell with go beyond the physical, because
grips that slide across it (for better recovering from injury is as much
biceps curls). On one wall in the about rebuilding your mind as
main room, there’s a picture of it is about regenerating muscle
Lillard, standing, ripped and tissue.
shirtless and 15 pounds heavi- Lillard knows. He enters
er. It was taken during the pan- this season physically re-
demic, when he showed up here freshed, and that’s on dis-
daily and was in the best shape play during his photo shoot
of his life. Back then, he says, “I with MH. When somebody
was just training to train.” tentatively asks him to dunk,
Now he has new purpose: instead of worrying about
Back in January, the 32-year- his abs and groin, he cool-
old Portland Trail Blazers star ly bends his knees, then effort-
shut things down after months lessly explodes upward like
(correction: years) struggling a coiled spring. He glances
with a core muscle injury, and around afterward, as if to
he could only watch (actually, make sure everyone saw. Then
he barely watched; more on he dunks again.
that later) as his teammates His remade body is matched
stumbled to their worst record by a new mental approach.
in 17 years. It was one of the Before his injury, like most
lowest points in Lillard’s sto- athletes, he thought himself
ried ten-year NBA career— immortal. Now he’s acutely
but he’s turned it into an opportunity. aware that his body might fail him—and
Since then, he’s happily embraced a that even his legacy isn’t permanent.
challenge that almost every guy is des- His eyes narrow as he quietly focuses
tined to face: a comeback. on another set on the Proteus. “Subcon-
This moment is part of that. The six- sciously, I did think I was bulletproof,”
foot-two guard plants his feet, exhales he says of his pre-injury mindset.
loudly, and starts twisting his torso and “Now I’m trying to bulletproof myself.”
hips to the right, pulling the handle
back as he does. Then he shifts explo-
sively to the left, abs tensing, grip tight- Lillard is fully rehabbed from his core
ening. Each twist lights up Lillard’s muscle injury, but he continues to train
hard at the Lions Den, doing every-
obliques, abs, and hip stabilizers—and thing from uphill sprints (top) to twists
a few months ago, each twist would have on the Proteus Motion (center) to
made him grimace. Not today. Thirty bodyweight core moves (bottom).

76 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

BEFORE ALL THAT, Damian Lillard had to
admit he had a problem. This was a process. He first felt
the searing pain along the inside of his right thigh in
2014. The Blazers were in training camp, and Lillard
remembers his right lower abdominal area “started
locking up” late in a practice session. “I couldn’t bend. I
couldn’t run. It was just really uncomfortable,” he says.
A day later, he felt the same thing in practice. Weeks
later, the pain seemed to go away. Halfway through the
regular season, it returned.
The pain was almost always there after that, even
when Lillard was at his best. Early in the 2019 season, he
recalls dropping a career-high 60 points on the Brook-
lyn Nets, drawing raves from fans and friends. “And I
remember limping into the house,” he says. “I was liter-
ally bending over.”
Lillard was dealing with athletic pubalgia, a condition
often mislabeled a “sports hernia.” Essentially, his inner
thigh muscles had torn slightly, and that was disrupting
his movement at the hip. And partly because he’d played
through the injury, it was slowly wrecking his abdominal
muscles. “It’s like a groin injury that moves up into the
abdominal wall,” says Erik Meira, P.T., D.P.T., who would
eventually oversee Lillard’s recovery. “It’s not a sensation
that you can mentally block out and just go past.”
Except Lillard did exactly that for seven years. But with
each season, the pain increased. Last year, he couldn’t
ignore it. “I started feeling like my body couldn’t do what
my mind wanted it to do,” he says.
So after 29 games, Lillard ended his season and spent
early January visiting specialists. By the end of the
month, he’d undergone surgery. His rehab kicked into
high gear a week later, when he first began working with
Meira in Portland—and he had little time to waste. He
was expected to be in game shape six weeks after surgery.
Yes, that was an aggressive timeline, says Meira, especially when
you consider how long the injury had plagued Lillard. But there
was a reason: Your muscles are built to be pushed. “If you rehab DAME’S RECOVERY ROOM
them slow,” says Meira, “they heal to what’s asked of them.”
Lillard uses three pieces of gear nearly every day to
No, this doesn’t mean you should ditch your crutches one day
supercharge his recovery from tough workouts.
after any surgery. But you should go as hard as your PT team says
you can in your own rehab. Physical therapist and MH advisor
MOVE INSOLES
Dan Giordano, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., says to use a pain scale: Don’t be The specialized insoles provide
afraid to work up to 3 out of 10 on that scale. “You might have some support, creating the platform
pain,” he says. “You just shouldn’t push to a higher state of pain.” Lillard needs to cut and ex-
Lillard handled his own rehab like that. Early on, he says, he felt plode. From $40; move.one
“uncomfortable as shit,” especially when he moved laterally, as
he might do while defending an opponent on the court. He paid no NORMATEC 3
attention, because experts had told him the pain did not indicate RECOVERY BOOTS
Compression boots deliver an air
reinjury. “I would say the trust I had in them made me more con-
massage to his legs, promoting
fident to just kind of go,” he says. “I was never hesitant.” blood flow. $799; hyperice.com
At the end of six weeks, Lillard stepped onto the court with Mei-
ra for a one-on-one rebounding drill, which simulated much of the
pounding Lillard would take in a game. Meira’s job was to hack ADIDAS TECHFIT
Lillard, doing everything to keep him from grabbing a rebound. TRAINING LONG TIGHTS
Lillard dominated. His aggressive rehab approach had worked. Lillard wears these whenever he
Sort of. Lillard still needed to address his mental health, which travels, improving circulation in
his legs. $35; adidas.com
is an underrated key to returning from any injury. From afar, he’d
seen the Blazers fall apart, and even a string of 60-spots from

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 77


cr ushed. Months removed
from surgery, that seemed silly.
“They’re not gonna be worried
about my life,” he says, refer-
ring to fans, the media, and
team brass. “But my kids and
my mom and my wife, they’re
gonna be in my life forever.”
For the first time since arriv-
ing in Portland, he focused
on family. He’d pick up his
son from school one day, go to
Target with his wife, Kay’La,
another. There were more Face-
Time chats with Mom. Once
obsessed with what the media
might be saying about him on
Twitter, he deleted the app from
his phone entirely. “I couldn’t
place my happiness in basketball,” he says.
“Now I’m seeing this is what really counts.”
Lillard has maintained these new prior-
ities, and that’s allowed him to have more
fun with the 82-game NBA grind. And he
hasn’t reinstalled Twitter. “I’ll be able
to play the game with more joy,” he says,
“without caring or expecting anything
from [anyone]. I’ll be able to play freely.”
He won’t forget the injury that led to all
this, though, because he understands one
truth of every comeback: It’s never over.
As Lillard rebuilt his core, he discovered
other issues. Chief among them—his right
Achilles kept tightening up, the result of
a broken foot he’d suffered at Weber State
University. So even after officially being
cleared for game action, he kept training
78 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
with Meira. The therapist addressed Lil-
lard’s Achilles with eccentric focused calf
raises. Lillard would stand with a heavy
bar on his shoulders, the balls of his feet
on a small block or plate. He’d drive up onto
his tiptoes by squeezing both calves. Then
he’d remove his left foot from the block and
slowly lower back down.
Lillard gradually began refining his
in-game imbalances, too. He’d scrimmage
with Blazers staff members and have the
clips sent to his iPhone to study. He pulls
one up after finishing his session with
Eren. “See how tentative I am there? That’s
not good.” His core stayed on his to-do list,
too, because, as Meira says, you never for-
get an old injury: “You never, ever stamp an
injury as ‘healed.’ Ten years down the line,
CORE CURRICULUM Trainer Cem Eren
challenges Lillard’s core in every workout. One of his
favorite moves to do that: the weighted bear-plank row.
1 OWN
THE BEAR PLANK
Get on all fours, hands on dumb-
bells directly below your shoul-
ders, knees below your hips.
Tighten your abs. Raise your shins
off the floor. Have somebody place
a 25-pound plate on your back, just
below your shoulder blades.
all of a sudden that old injury
starts to get achy.”
Not that Meira had to mon-
itor everything alone. Short-
ly after Lillard completed
his rehab work with Meira,
he did a Zoom call to intro-
duce Meira to Phil Beckner,
his longtime on-court skills
trainer, and Eren. He tasked
the group with building a
schedule that would let him
sharpen his game while con-
tinuing to build a more dura-
ble body. “I just don’t know
how to not go hard,” he says.
“So I had to make myself not
the person in charge. Now
they all have the schedule.”
Most days during the sum-
mer, he trained with Meira
first thing. Then he’d head
to Beckner to shoot around.
He’d wrap up each day working with Eren.
On this day (and most days), Lillard starts
with moves to test his abs (see “Core Cur-
riculum,” below), then finishes with boxing
drills that hone footwork and build cardio.
And on this day, his old injury is the fur-
thest thing from his mind. His new body
has been (and continues to be) tested on
the court in scrimmages against Blazers
staff members. He’s adhered to every piece
of his comeback schedule. “I’m ready,”
he says. “And it’s one of the best feelings
ever.” After seven years, nothing beats
moving pain-free.
EBENEZER SAMUEL, C.S.C.S., is Men’s Health’s
fitness director. After interviewing Lillard,
he trained on the Proteus. It crushed his core.
AP Images (Murray, Hill). Getty Images (Tucker). Ben Mounsey-Wood (illustrations).
2 CRUSH
THE ROW
Keeping your hips and
shoulders square to the
floor, row the right dumbbell
to your right hip. Return
to the start and repeat on
the other side. That’s 1 rep;
do 3 sets of 7 to 10.
 More
BOUNCE-BACK EVOLVE YOUR
SECRETS
from
THE NBA’S
GAME
like Grant Hill
BEST
DON’T TRY TO bounce back
from every injury, says the

RECHARGE
Hall of Famer, who details
the injuries of his 19-year career
in his autobiography, Game.
Learn from his comebacks—and
YOUR LEGS know when to walk away.

like 1993: WATCH YOUR WEIGHT

Jamal Murray As a junior at Duke, Hill suffered
a season-ending toe injury. He
blamed himself for gaining weight
AFTER TEARING

1
the ACL in his left knee TRAP-BAR DEADLIFT
in April 2021, the Stand in the center of
Denver Nuggets guard a loaded trap bar. Push
needed all of last
your butt back and reach
down to grasp the handles.
season off to recover. This is the start. Stand with
the weight, squeezing your
He spent that time
glutes. Lower back down.
relearning basic That’s 1 rep. Do 3 sets of 6
motions, mastering to 8 twice a week, building
jumping mechanics glute strength, which helps
protect your knees.
in a pool (to shield
his knee from
before the season and says he
“became a little bit more conscious
about playing at a certain weight.”
2000–04: EXPLORE!
Hill played 47 of 328 games in his
first four seasons with the Orlando
Magic, due to a devastating
ankle injury. So he tweaked his
diet and visited the chiropractor.
The strategy worked: He played
nine more seasons.
2012: KNOW WHEN TO QUIT

2
impact), and running BULGARIAN SPLIT
on a water treadmill. SQUAT
Then he gradually Kneel on your right
progressed to knee, right instep on a
bench. Straighten your
strength moves. left leg. This is the start.
He’s back in action Lower your torso until
your left thigh is parallel
now—and still keeps
to the floor. Stand. That’s 1
two fundamental rep; do 3 sets of 10.
moves in his regimen. —KEITH NELSON JR.
Hill managed four straight
healthy years before injuring his
right knee midway through 2012.
At age 39, he rehabbed again—but
something was different. “My body
was saying, ‘Look, it’s time,’ you
know?” says Hill, who played one
final season. “Your body talks
to you.” Be sure to listen. —K. N.

ADJUST

like P.J. Tucker

N.

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 79

 When celebrities offer nutrition advice,
we’re like, Uhhh, don’t you have a
personal chef? So when we found these
seven super-fit, super-healthy, super-regular
guys with jam-packed lives, we had to
ask ’em, “How do you do it?”
80 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
 T H E U LT R A R U N N I N G
S C H O O LT E A C H E R
B RIN G IN G
LOTS OF
LU N C H
THE GUY
JASON HARDRATH, 23, is an elementary-
school health and PE teacher and an ac-
complished ultrarunner; he was the first
person to set 100 fastest-known times.

THE CHALLENGE
Eating mostly plant-based meals when
you’re a schoolteacher in a rural area
and it’s not easy to just pop out quickly
and grab a healthy lunch.

THE SOLUTION
Packing lunch. One classic: “I make a
salad by taking the whole family-sized
tub of salad that you buy at the grocery
store, opening the top, adding nuts, seeds,
colorful cut veggies, and quinoa or an-
other protein, and eating the whole thing
myself,” he says. Another: two or three
packets of ramen noodles mixed with
bell pepper and Gnarly Sports Nutrition
Collagen Pro protein supplement.
Replenishing after a long run. His daily
diet is pretty healthy, but an epic run of
ten hours or more requires a different
strategy. “There’s no way I eat enough
calories while going through technical
terrain,” Hardrath says. “I try to follow
every outing with a protein shake. Then
I eat everything that sounds good to me.”
—GINA LOVELESS

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 81

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SARAH ANNE WARD
 THE ROWER
AT TE M P TIN G AN E PI C
J OU RN E Y— O N P L A N T S
THE GUY
CHARLIE LAYTON, 31, the head chef at Basic
Kitchen in Charleston, South Carolina, is
training for the 2022 Talisker Whisky Atlantic
Challenge, in which rowing teams traverse
3,000 nautical miles in roughly 75 days.
THE CHALLENGE
Staying fueled on a vegan diet that has
flavor—but isn’t bulky: All of his food for
75 days needs to fit on that boat without
crowding out the other gear.
THE SOLUTION
Really good couscous. And loads of fla-
vorful condiments. “It’s vital that when you
have to eat that much in a day, you have to want
to eat it,” Layton says. He’s developed a few
couscous recipes that supercharge those carbs
with taste; he also keeps a stash of condiments
(ketchup, mustard, mango chutney) to add to
freeze-dried meals by Backpacker’s Pantry.
“This isn’t just about nutrition,” he says. “This
is about the positive mental effect food can
have when it comes to morale.” —PAUL KITA

Sun-Dried
Tomato
Couscous
½ cup uncooked
couscous, ½ cup pis-
tachios, ½ cup pea
protein powder,
1 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp
roasted garlic pow-
der, 1 tsp granulated
onion, ½ tsp fennel
seeds, ½ tsp dried
oregano, ½ tsp dried
basil, 2 tsp dried
parsley, 8 pieces dry-
packed sun-dried
tomatoes (cut into
small pieces), 1 Tbsp
extra-virgin olive oil
Mix in a sealable con-
tainer. Add 1½ cups
boiling water. Let
stand for 20 minutes.
Feeds 1 rower (half is
good for regular guys).
885 calories, 51g pro-
tein, 79g carbs, 43g fat

82 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 Tompkins’s
Mealtime
Streamlines
THINK B+
An A+ diet is
unrealistic and
unattainable,
Tompkins says. A
B+ diet—meaning
most of the time
you eat well—is
more than enough
to meet your train-
ing needs and you
can sustain it over
the long term.

DINE OUT, PLEASE

You can have a
good diet and a life.
If Tompkins is at a
pizza place after
his son’s water polo
game and protein
fills his training
needs, he orders a
side of meatballs. If
they go Mediterra-
nean and he needs
carbs, he gets
brown rice with
a little meat.

T H E E X E C U T I V E / D A D / T R I AT H L E T E
E AT I N G S M A R T
WITH N O TIM E
THE GUY ing, parenting, doing chores,
SCOTT TOMPKINS, 53, is a and, oh yeah, getting sleep.
counsel in business affairs
who’s also an elite age-group THE SOLUTION
Food styling: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop styling: Paola Andrea.

triathlete. He’s raced in the Flexibility. Instead of setting

Ironman World Championship
in Kona three times.
THE CHALLENGE
Tompkins works 50 hours a
week and works out for two
hours on weekdays, five to six
each weekend day. During race
season, that’s 20 to 22 hours a
week of training, on top of eat-
rigid rules around macros, calo-
ries, or meal timing, Tompkins
asks himself before eating,
How is this food going to fuel my
training and recovery? Fresh
fruit, vegetables, nuts, and pro-
teins make up his menu. When
they’re not available, he doesn’t
stress. He rolls with it using the
strategies above. —G. L.
 T H E F I G U R E- S K AT I N G P R O G R A M M A N A G E R
MAKIN G S M A LL M E A L S
THE GUY
IAN CATINDIG, 45, is a Google program
manager and a competitive figure skater.
THE CHALLENGE
A skate/work/gym/work routine that
demands all-day fueling, with a target
protein count of 100 to 150 grams daily.
THE SOLUTION
Three small meals and two or three snacks
a day. “They can’t be boring!” Catindig
says. So he leverages his Filipino heritage
and some nearby Cambodian restaurants:
84 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
• For lunch or dinner, he’ll modify sinigang—
a Filipino tamarind-based, sour-savory pork
stew—by dropping the pork and adding extra
okra, water spinach, or kale. He’ll also have
chicken thighs and a cup of rice.
• For snacking, he’ll pick up some chicken
skewers and prahok ktis, a ground-pork dip,
at a Cambodian restaurant.
Catindig learned to eat small meals to take
off pandemic pounds. At first, eating less more
often seemed daunting. Then he discovered he
liked it. “I’m not ‘full full,’ and it allows me to
blast through a workout instead of starting out
strong and tapering off.” —MARTY MUNSON
 T H E B O D Y B U I L D I N G L AW Y E R
LE AN IN G O N M E A L P R E P
THE GUY
JARED FOLEY, 40, is a lawyer and an
amateur bodybuilder, most recently on
the podium at the National Physique
Committee’s 2022 Championships.
THE CHALLENGE
Eating every three hours during a heavy
workday.
THE SOLUTION
Meal prep. Foley cooks for an hour on
Sundays, packing everything for the
week into containers he can take to the
office. In each meal, he has about eight
ounces of protein (grilled chicken or
tilapia), eight ounces of white rice, and
four ounces of vegetables. Yes, he does
it all in one hour. —MILAN POLK

How Foley
Meal-Preps
ORDER YOUR
INGREDIENTS
Rather than hauling
all that food from
the grocery store to
his home in Brook-
lyn, Foley orders
cooked protein
from Eat Clean Bro,
an online meal-prep
company, and then
makes enough rice
for his meals at work
to last the week. The
exception to that
system: fish, which
doesn’t hold up like
the other proteins
do. Instead, he buys
uncooked fish,
freezes it, and then
cooks it up quickly
himself a few days
a week.

BEFRIEND FIRE
Hot sauce busts
up the boredom
of eating the same
thing every day.
And there’s a world
of varieties out
there that bring
more than just heat.
Try heatonist.com,
which offers sub-
scription boxes fea-
turing hot sauces
ranging from garlic
infused to every-
thing bagel.
 Accarrino’s
Power Drinks
THE FOR LONG-RIDE FUEL:
Lemon Tea Mapleaid
COMPETITIVE by UnTapped
with an extra glug of
CYC L I S T/C H E F maple syrup

U S IN G The caffeine from the

tea in the drink mix

LI Q U I D provides pep, and the

double dose of syrup

FUEL lends a charge of easily

digestible carbs.
FOR BETWEEN-RIDE POWER:
THE GUY THE SOLUTION Liquid protein
MATTHEW ACCARRINO, 45, is the chef at Liquids containing easily digestible carbs or A man can cook and eat
the Michelin-starred restaurant SPQR and protein. Although Accarrino has raced com- only so much chicken
the weekend pop-up Accarrino’s Coffee & Do- petitively on and off throughout his life, he hit breast. “Liquid protein
nuts, both in San Francisco. As a competitive a fitness plateau six years ago. “I realized that I helps make sure I hit
cyclist, he’s racked up some 12,000 miles wasn’t eating well enough—not in terms of qual- my protein goals and is
this year and 1 million feet of elevation. ity but quantity,” he says. The fix involved mak- just easier,” Accarrino
says. He chooses low-
ing foods like date-studded rice cakes for the
THE CHALLENGE sugar protein drinks
start of long rides and turning to high-calorie to help in his push to
To support this kind of training volume, drink mixes toward the end. “I basically train lose fat and build mus-
Accarrino needs nutrients, and also calories, on maple syrup,” Accarrino says, and he stays cle. “I have much more
calories, calories. fueled in between with protein drinks. See his power now,” he says.
favorite power concoctions at right. —P. K.

86 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 T H E N I N J A WA R R I O R
STAYIN G LE AN
O N TA K E O U T
THE GUY
JODY AVILA, 37, is a commercial air-
conditioning technician and seven-time
American Ninja Warrior competitor.
THE CHALLENGE
“I’m always traveling to a different
location for jobs, and I work on hot
roofs. Since I have no access to a fridge,
I tried putting a stocked ice chest in my
truck to keep salads from going bad.
It was a lot of effort to try to keep that
many fresh ingredients in the house all
the time and keep them from spoiling.”
THE SOLUTION
Smart takeout. “I’ll drive as many as
20 minutes to buy a salad at whatever
fast-casual restaurant is nearest to
where I’m working. Extra protein on it
keeps me fueled between breakfast—
oatmeal with cinnamon and almond
milk—and dinner, often two black-bean
quinoa burgers with a side of grains
and a large sliced avocado. Snacks—
a banana with peanut butter before
my workout and a chocolate protein
shake after—fill the gaps.” —G. L.

Avila’s Menu
FROM PANERA:
“Fuji apple salad
with chicken. I get
extra chicken plus a
French baguette.”

FROM SALATA:
“I put lots of veggies
on there, plus fruit,
pumpkin seeds,
croutons, extra-pesto
chicken, a very little
bit of Caesar dressing,
and a small croissant.”
FitXimagery.com (Foley). Justin Diamond/courtesy Ventum Racing (Accarrino).
Luke Webster (Hardrath). Kirk Robert (Layton). Danielle Earl (Catindig).

Courtesy subjects (Tompkins, Avila).

 SPEC IAL REPO RT:

T H E E PID E M IC

THE OPIOID CRISIS ISN’T ONLY A WHITE,

RURAL, OR SUBURBAN PROBLEM.
BLACK MEN ARE DYING IN RECORD NUMBERS
AT A WAY HIGHER RATE THAN OTHER GROUPS.
MH INVESTIGATES FROM
THE FRONT LINES.
BY WES LEY LOW ERY

ILLU STRATION BY AAR ON MAR IN

MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 89

 NINE MEN, ALL OF THEM BLACK, gathered at Gateway to
Change in early May, when I first visited the gray-and-tan-painted
drug-treatment center that is planted next to a bustling corner gro-
cery store on the north side of Milwaukee. Much of their talk was about
a man who was no longer there and whose fate could be any of theirs.
Michael C. Williams had been born in South Bend, now contaminates much of the nation’s street supply of
Indiana, before moving here as a child. When times were cocaine, meth, and heroin and that has fundamentally
good, he worked as a home health aide. But he also, for altered the face of the opioid epidemic. Although this epi-
years, battled drug and alcohol addiction that ultimately demic was once considered a crisis of rural and suburban
contributed to a number of criminal charges, a few stints white people, the most vulnerable are now Black inner-
in jail, and two stays at Gateway’s rehab program.  city populations, whose death rates have skyrocketed.
The first was back in 2010, when, in his late 20s, Wil- By now you’ve undoubtedly heard of fentanyl—ship-
liams and his fiancée, Penny, came to Gateway fighting ments of it are frequently seized at the border, police
cocaine addiction. They spent several months in coun- officers nationwide were convinced that even touching
seling and were seemingly doing well—until they weren’t. it would risk an accidental overdose (it will not), and
When Penny overdosed in 2019, it was Williams who it’s been tied to a number of celebrity deaths. The musi-
found her dead in a motel room. cian Prince died after taking a black-market opioid
Williams showed back up at Gateway at the end of pain pill that he thought was hydrocodone but con-
2021, in his late 30s and clearly still grieving Penny’s tained fentanyl. The rapper Mac Miller died after snort-
death—as well as that of his mother, who died last June— ing counterfeit and fentanyl-laced oxycodone pills.
even as he worked to process the depth of his dependence. The actor Michael K. Williams was found dead in his
By all accounts, his second stay was far less successful Brooklyn apartment with a mixture of cocaine, heroin,
than the first: Williams left after two weeks without and fentanyl in his system. 
completing the program. What these stories overshadow, however, is just how
A few days before Easter, Williams’s sister found him devastatingly mundane similar overdoses have become
shirtless and unresponsive on the cold basement floor, among Black Americans every day. Earlier this year, the
next to her teenage son’s bed and the Xbox they’d both Pew Research Center declared that Black men as a group
played that night. Paramedics discovered a glass crack were the hardest hit in the recent surge of drug-overdose
pipe near Williams’s body. deaths. In Philadelphia, researchers at Penn Medicine
When word made it back to Gateway, the men were not found that during the city’s stay-at-home order in 2020,
only heartbroken but scared. They knew that what hap- the nonfatal-opioid-overdose rate had fallen by 31 percent
pened to him wasn’t just a simple overdose—and that it for white people but increased by 50 percent for Black peo-
could come for them next. ple. And a recent CDC study found that although across 25
“When someone dies of an overdose, you’re like, Wow, states and Washington, D. C., the pandemic had caused
I was probably using the same drugs, and I didn’t die,” spikes in overdose-death rates for all racial groups, the
DeWayne Dinkins, a 55-year-old patient, tells me as he spike in Black overdoses was the largest.
shifts restlessly in a zip-up hoodie and jeans that hang off Here in Milwaukee County, where Black residents
his gaunt frame. “I just cringe. To die of some dope? And make up about 28 percent of the population, both the
his family will be like, ‘Wow, he never got it together.’ I number of fatal overdoses and the percentage of those
don’t want that to be my story.”  with Black victims have risen sharply. In 2015, the region
Milwaukee and many other metropolises are now on the had just 255 fatal-overdose victims, 60 of whom were
front lines of a raging overdose crisis the CDC estimates is Black (about 24 percent). As the deaths reached a new
killing roughly 100,000 Americans a year—about 11 every high in 2021, Black residents accounted for 37 percent of
hour. And its body count has steadily increased over the all casualties—a growing rate that had climbed to 39 per-
past decade. In 2021, Milwaukee County had more fatal cent by the end of this summer.
drug overdoses—644 of them—than in any other year on “African Americans are now outpacing whites as far
record, and this year is projected to be even worse. By the as opioid-involved overdose deaths,” says Adam Milam,
end of September, the tally had reached 405 confirmed M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of anesthesiology at
overdoses already, with an additional 138 suspected over- Mayo Clinic who studies this broader surge. Dr. Milam
doses pending final toxicology reports. has also found that Black victims may have previously
These mounting deaths are driven largely by synthet- been undercounted because their deaths were wrongly
ic opioids, like fentanyl, a very powerful pain drug that classified as being due to another drug.

90 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH

 It was inevitable that the opioid epidemic
would one day come for Black people and that
when it did, things would be dire. As public-
health experts note, Black Americans are less
likely to have access to quality medical care
and primary-care physicians. Studies have
shown that they’re consistently undertreated
for pain, which may make them more likely to
turn to street drugs. And they’re more likely to
live in neighborhoods with limited access to
detox and drug-treatment centers. There’s a
reason that the once-in-a-century health cri-
sis that was the Covid pandemic hit America’s
Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities
the hardest. As the saying goes: When America
gets a cold, Black America gets pneumonia.
Now that this illness has arrived, the task
of treating it falls on providers like Gateway,
a self-run for-profit treatment and rehabili-
tation center. Almost all of Gateway’s clients
are people who don’t fit neatly into the stories
THE LIFEGUARD TOWER : Gateway to Change, a drug-treatment center on the north side of
we’ve been telling ourselves, and that we’ve Milwaukee, sits at the epicenter of a new opioid epidemic. Addicts often arrive seeking counsel-
been told, about the opioid epidemic. They are ing and a place to stay because they’re afraid that fentanyl-laced street drugs will kill them.
inner-city street-drug users who’ve spent years
using cocaine and heroin and who now pray that they avoid committee overseeing the lifeguards is racist, convinced
the fate of friends like Michael C. Williams, whose funeral that the more melanin a person has in their skin, the
service was held the week before my first visit. more it’s their own fault that they are unable to swim. As
The sad fact is that no one from Gateway attended a result, scores of our most vulnerable are left to drown,
Williams’s funeral. “I’m real picky over funerals that I their only hope of rescue resting with an underequipped
do attend,” Desilynn Smith, L.P.C., Gateway’s clinical team of volunteers who, having made it out of the water
director and supervisor, tells me as she sits in a small back themselves, jumped back in to try to pull as many others
office overflowing with self-help pamphlets. Smith, 53, as they can safely to shore.
shakes her head full of licorice-red braids and explains That was Glenda Hampton’s aim when, about three
that when you’re this close to the crisis, it’s possible to years into her own recover y, she opened Gateway
spend every weekend bouncing between local funeral in 2003. “I felt it was my purpose to give back,” says
homes and cemeteries. “It still rouses a lot of emotions,” Hampton, now 68. “I figured I can help somebody.” In
she says. “The funerals become too unbearable.”  the years since, thousands of people, mostly poor Black
natives of the surrounding North Milwaukee neighbor-
hoods, have cycled through.
Gateway is not technically an inpatient residential
facility. It’s a treatment center with a housing option. Peo-
AN ADDICTION SPECIALIST I know com- ple come to Gateway after they’re done being treated for
pares America’s never-ending drug crisis to a massive any acute medical complications created by their addic-
bridge with tons of holes in the asphalt. In this metaphor, tion, after they’ve detoxed—typically at a hospital, emer-
we all live on that bridge. Each time someone becomes gency room, or inpatient detox center—and once they’re
addicted, they fall through one of the holes and into a ready to begin counseling and therapeutic programming.
raging river below. It’s not unheard of, though, for someone to show up, start
The wise thing for us to do would be to repair all of the having symptoms of drug withdrawal, and have to be sent
holes: In this case, that would mean the hard work of elsewhere until they are well enough to continue.
resetting a culture that glorifies drug use and addiction, At any given point, there are 30 to 40 people, men and
especially alcoholism; reining in the drug and alcohol women, living here. Most come expecting to stay between
companies that feed our population a steady stream of one and three months, but if someone in recovery has dif-
poisons designed to be progressively more potent; and ficulty finding housing, the center will let them stay lon-
investing in both the health-care infrastructure needed to ger. In some cases, people have stayed more than a year.
fully service all of our addicted and the types of expansive The administrative costs and programming expenses are
social programs that could help prevent or at least remedy invoiced to patients’ health insurance. Those boarding at
the traumas that drive people to drugs in the first place. Gateway are supposed to pay a $300 monthly stipend, but
Instead we hire lifeguards and instruct them to rescue the center doesn’t turn anyone away. Many of those living
as many of the flailing people as they can. Oh, and the here aren’t really paying anything.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CALEB SANTIAGO ALVARADO MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 91

 The walls of the main conference room are full of inspi-
rational quotes and guidelines for living a healthier life,
and there’s a massive mural depicting the neighborhood
surrounding Gateway. Group talk sessions run every
weekday—usually from 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.—and are
encouraged for everyone who is living here full-time.
They’re often led by Lawton “Mr. L.” Merritt, a tall and
impeccably dressed man—on the first day I was there, he
wore a brown three-piece suit with monogrammed shirt-
sleeves—who is a substance-abuse counselor in training
at Gateway. Merritt spent decades involved with gangs,
selling drugs and serving a stint in
federal prison, before devoting his
life to community work, and he under- WHEN I ASK
stands exactly how infectious the
problem has become. “Right around
HOW MANY
the corner is the dope houses,” he tells OF THEM KNEW
SOMEONE
me. “So this is the perfect location,
where there is a great need.”
Much of the program is based on
12-step addiction treatment. Besides PERSONALLY
providing a place to stay, intensive
therapy, and counseling, Gateway
WHO DIED
helps those it treats locate steady
employment and housing. The aim is
AFTER
to supply the support structure neces- ACCIDENTALLY
sary to break addiction, although for
the population that Gateway serves—
OVERDOSING,
men and women who are less likely to EACH RAISES
HIS HAND
have family members they can lean
on or safe housing away from tempta-
tion—it’s a difficult task.
Merritt explains that each per- AND MAKES A
son here is sorted into one of four
phases—those in phase 1 are largely
POINT TO NOTE
confined to the treatment center,
while those in phase 2 have less struc-
THAT HE
ture and more freedom of movement, PERSONALLY
leaving to hunt for jobs or attend com-
munity meetings. WATCHED
The daily sessions consist of check-
ins during which each person goes
SOMEONE
over their feelings about where they
are on the journey; what, if any, crav-
DIE.
ings they’re having; and what they think of the most
recent readings and reflections. Each day is guided by a
catechism called “just for today”—a lesson or theme that
frames the discussion. Today’s, written in red marker on
a well-worn whiteboard at the front of the room, is “Just
for today: I am willing to go to any lengths to stay clean. I
will become as open-minded and ready to take direction
as I need to be.”
But the conversation quickly shifts once the men
realize I’ve come here, in part, to ask them about fen-
tanyl. In a room of longtime users, all of them poor Black
men, they all say they are horrified that they will die after
accidentally consuming fentanyl. When I ask how many
of them knew someone personally who died after acci-
dentally overdosing, each raises his hand and makes
92 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
a point to note that he personally watched someone
die after getting hold of drugs that had been laced
with fentanyl.
At one point, DeWayne Dinkins gets up from a chair in
the back corner of the room and walks up to where a 2017
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about fentanyl has
been clipped, laminated, and taped to the wall. “ ‘Furanyl
fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate similar to heroin,
was found in ten recent drug-related deaths in Milwaukee
County,’ ” he reads aloud to the room. “ ‘The substance is
an analog, or variation, of fentanyl that can be legally pre-
scribed by a doctor but can be 40 or 50
times more powerful than heroin and
can be extremely deadly.’ 
“Fentanyl ran me back in here,”
Dinkins continues, addressing the
others. “I had turned into a bum, had
lost my apartment. I was doing stu-
pid stuff. I just had a death wish on
me . . . and I was ready for a change
and had just lost six and a half years
of being clean.”  
Dinkins has lived a life similar to
those of most of the men being served
at Gateway and in inner-city treat-
ment centers across the country. His
parents were among the waves of poor
Black men and women who made their
way here from the South in the mid-
20th century, forced to make homes
in a cluster of underserved neighbor-
hoods in what was then, as it is now,
a city largely segregated by race. His
father, Albert Jackson, spent his days
driving buses and cabs and his days
off gambling and shooting pool with a
neighborhood crew.
All told, it was a solid childhood,
until 1974, when, at age seven, three
days before Christmas, Dinkins
remembers his uncle running into the
house and shouting that Jackson had
been killed at a local bar. “I’m going to
kill who killed my daddy,” he recalls
declaring out loud before his family members grabbed
him to stop him from running out the front door. “My
childhood days came to an end,” he tells me.
By 13 he’d been kicked out of school and was sent off
to Ethan Allen School, a now shuttered institution for
delinquent boys where many of the poor Black men at
Gateway once spent at least some time. When he was
released, at 18, Dinkins started selling—dime bags of
powder—in the neighborhood. He never drank, having
seen how his family behaved when they got too drunk.
Initially he didn’t use the stuff he sold, either. Then, one
night, as they all gambled, someone called him a square.
To prove he wasn’t, he laced his weed with a little pow-
der. It was 1985. “I’ve been running after that stuff ever
since,” he says.

THE SURVIVORS : DeWayne Dinkins (left), 55, came back to Gateway after relapsing. He’d watched a friend
overdose on crack that was likely cut with fentanyl but found himself unable to resist finishing his own stash. Rod-
ney Hill (right), 62, has extended his stay at Gateway to make sure he’s more prepared when he leaves. During his
treatment, his great-grandson died from a suspected fentanyl poisoning.
The next three decades were a never-ending cycle of
drugs and incarceration. He did two years on a three-year
sentence for felony theft after being caught snatching a
purse. Not long after his release, he caught another bid—
three years on a five after being convicted of sticking up
a pizza-delivery man. “Each robbery I was doing I was
either high or I was thinking about my father,” he recalls.
Opening illustration: Sam Burriss/Upsplash (man). Giga Khurtsilava/Upsplash (water). Hugh Patrick Brown/Sygma/Getty Images (vial). Getty Images (pills).
“It seemed like every December that rolled around I
got in trouble.” When he wasn’t being caught committing
fresh crimes, he was getting sent back to prison for parole
violations—he couldn’t keep his urine clean enough to
pass a drug test.
As I listen to Dinkins and the other men at Gateway,
it’s hard not to think of how the deck has been stacked
against them since even before they were born—a popu-
lation of people whose own choices unquestionably con-
tributed to their peril yet who were never presented any
good options to begin with.
Dinkins first came to Gateway in 2010. He stayed for 60
days and got clean for the first time in his adulthood. He
married a woman he’d met at church, and things seemed
to be going pretty well. But after nine months, he relapsed.
He’d won some dope while gambling and, after a fight with
his wife, decided to smoke it. He went back to Gateway and
got clean again and this time stayed sober for three years.
He relapsed again. For two years, he used regularly as his
marriage crumbled. Finally, in 2015, he returned to Gate-
way, where, at 47, he was served with divorce papers and
got sober for a third time.
This time he lasted six and a half years before he fell
back through the hole. He was going through a breakup,
working odd jobs and racking up gambling debts, and
dealing with the various medical complications that had
resulted from decades of abusing his body. By the time I
meet Dinkins, he’s been back at Gateway for six months,
having checked himself in after an eight-month binge
that culminated with watching a close friend overdose,
seemingly die, and then come
back to life.
Dinkins remembers desperately
dragging his friend to the bathtub,
splashing cold water on his face
when his eyes had rolled back and
his body had gone stiff after smok-
ing crack that he guesses had been
cut with fentanyl. For more than
ten minutes, he wondered whether
it was already too late and if he
should abandon his friend. “That
should have been enough for me to
stop then and there,” Dinkins says.
“But it wasn’t.” When his friend’s
eyes finally opened and he came
back, Dinkins went into the other
room and finished the drugs that
he still had left.
“I finished off what I had,” Din-
kins recalls, shaking his head.
“That’s the insanity part of it.”
MOST OF THE PEOPLE who cycle through Gate-
way are, like Dinkins, users with high “relapse potential,”
says Smith, the clinical director. No one is surprised that
these men and women go through the program multiple
times. Knowing what she knows about how addiction
works, especially among a North Milwaukee population
with little access to jobs, health care, and stable housing,
Smith expects it. The biggest hurdle is getting over the
stigma of having relapsed.
“I don’t want nobody to look at me different,” Smith
has been told when she asks repeat patients why they
didn’t come back to Gateway sooner. “I don’t want them
to think I was weak.”
Like so many lifeguards, Smith learned to swim after
being unceremoniously tossed in the deep end. Her then-
15-year-old son had gotten hold of some laced weed,
prompting a psychotic episode. Soon she had to navi-
gate the legal and mental-health systems to advocate on
his behalf. Each time she encountered a bureaucratic
obstacle or new evidence of the ways these systems were
constructed not to help but to obstruct, Smith grew even
more determined to do something about it. Ultimately
she became a clinical substance-abuse counselor.
By the time she took a job at Gateway in 2010, synthetic
opioids had prompted a deadly new era of American
addiction. Pharmaceutical companies were producing
high-powered painkillers like OxyContin in bulk, while
illicit “pill mills” were popping up across the country.
Attempts to crack down on rampant prescriptions sent
street-drug prices soaring, driving many users to heroin in
order to get their fix. But almost no one coming into Gate-
way back then had taken opioids. “It really wasn’t what
they would consider a Black people’s drug,” Smith says.
MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 93
 After hearing over and over again about the carnage
unleashed by opioids—many of the health-care providers
in Wisconsin were then debating the wisdom of metha-
done—she wanted to see for herself how it worked. She
took a job at a methadone clinic, where she witnessed
opioid addiction in person for the first time. It was unlike
anything she’d seen up until that point.
When the final rankings are assembled, it’s unlikely
there will have been any individual of our era respon-
sible for inflicting more pain on as many Black Amer-
icans than the nameless devil who first decided to mix
fentanyl into street drugs. By the time Smith returned
to Gateway a few years later, the men and women cycling
through the center had begun sharing horror stories of
chance encounters with fentanyl and in many cases were
checking themselves in for the explicit purpose of get-
ting clean before they ended up acci-
dentally consuming it.
Smith began attending community
health meetings and seminars to learn
everything she could about opioids
and convinced the owners of Young’s,
the often overflowing corner bar she’d
started sneaking to at 16 and where
many of her patients were known com-
modities, to install a Narcan box.
For several years, she had an amaz-
ing ally. Shortly after she left Gateway
to work in the methadone clinic, Smith
wrote a letter to Hamid Abd-Al-Jabbar,
her childhood sweetheart and the
father of her oldest son, who by then
had been incarcerated for years, con-
victed of a series of violent crimes. It
turned out that as Smith dived further
THE LIFEGUARD
into her work as an addiction coun-
director at Gateway, lost her own husband to a fentanyl-
selor and mental-health advocate, related overdose but continues trying to help others.
Abd-Al-Jabbar had fallen deep into
depression and despair.  Milwaukee to combat the overdose crisis was burying
Hoping to breathe some hope into his spirit, she told
Abd-Al-Jabbar about his positive impact on her in the
decades their lives had been entwined. By 2016, they were
back together, and when Abd-Al-Jabbar was released
from prison for the final time, in July 2018, having
spent more than 27 years behind bars, he and Smith got
married. He joined her as one of the lifeguards, finding a
job at 414Life, a community program run by the Milwau-
kee Health Department’s Office of Violence Prevention.
The program sends locals who have served time into their
neighborhoods to help provide resources and support to
the people considered more likely to be the victims and
perpetrators of violence.
Eventually, however, the weight of his job began to feel
too heavy, she says. Smith noticed that her husband was
becoming more withdrawn, skipping work events and
cutting corners. He told her he’d been having flashbacks.
He kept thinking about the families that he had hurt over
the years—his first prison stint had been for homicide.
One day, he was called to respond to the scene of a grisly
94 DECEMBER 2022 | MEN’S HEALTH
double homicide—involving a mother and her child—and
couldn’t stop having nightmares. 
Smith went with her husband to counseling, but Abd-
Al-Jabbar wasn’t ready to admit that he was using again.
He didn’t want to tell any of his coworkers about his strug-
gles. “They are going to think that I can’t do my job,” she
remembers him telling her.
Sometime during the day on February 10, 2021, Smith
called her husband, but he didn’t pick up. When he rang
her back two hours later, it was clear he was high. “His
mouth sounded like he had cotton in it,” Smith recalls.
Later that day, when Abd-Al-Jabbar didn’t pick up their
grandson, Smith called around and was told her husband
was asleep at his sister’s house. 
He never came home that night, and so Smith called
back early the next morning but could not reach him.
She was leading one of Gateway’s
group counseling sessions when she
got a series of texts insisting she go
to her sister-in-law’s place imme-
diately. Minutes earlier, two of his
nephews had kicked down a locked
bedroom door and found Abd-Al-
Jabbar unresponsive. When Smith
got there and saw an ambulance, she
assumed something must have hap-
pened to her husband’s mother. “It’s
Hamid,” she was told by his sister.
“He passed away.” All Smith could
muster in response to the news was
a tearful “I’m sorry,” convinced that
there was something more she should
have done. 
Toxicology would later conclude
that the 51-year-old had overdosed
: Desilynn Smith, L.P.C., the clinical
and identified cocaine, heroin, and
fentanyl in his system. And so the
woman doing as much as anyone in
her own husband due to an overdose. She stayed away
from Gateway for about two months, and when she
returned she at times struggled to correctly calibrate
her emotions. “I just wanted to go shake some of the peo-
ple and tell them that this is real,” she says. “I don’t want
to lose another person.”
AS THE FACE of the opioid epidemic continues
to change, doctors, researchers, and frontline service
providers fear that our collective response will change
with it. “You’ve got this perfect storm and a real change
in the tone of the discussion about addiction,” says Ste-
phen M. Taylor, M.D., M.P.H., a psychiatrist who spe-
cializes in addiction and has studied the impact of the
opioid epidemic on Black Americans. “The problem, of
course, is that the Black community was largely left out
of this discussion.” 
 Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of the
Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit working to decriminal-
ize drug use, says that part of the problem is America’s
historic and continually racist “empathy fatigue” when
dealing with systemic problems that affect minorities.
“The pathology associated with Indigenous people or
communities of color, or with Black folks, is ‘They can’t
get their stuff together; therefore we need more conse-
quences,’ ” she says.
This is the point in the article where I’m supposed to
offer a glimmer of hope—a pivot to just enough of the pos-
itive that you can set down this magazine convinced that
someone else has everything handled,
freed of the burden of feeling that you
actually need to do anything about the INSTEAD OF
horrible things you’ve just read about.
Don’t worry, I’ll uphold my end of the
“FENTANYL
deal. You’ve read this far. But first OVERDOSE,”
SOME FRONTLINE
you’ve got to grit through one more
gut punch. Hope so often springs from
horror, after all. Resilience can exist
only because of the hardship by which SERVICE PROVIDERS
it was conceived.
About two weeks had passed after
HAVE SWITCHED
my first visit to Gateway when one of
the men in treatment I had met, Rod-
TO “FENTANYL
ney Hill, 62, got an urgent phone call. POISONING,”
Hill, who favors button-up shirts, a
flat-brimmed hat, and New Balance IN HOPES THAT
sneakers, had been there since March,
after being kicked out of the home
MORE-PRECISE
where he’d been living and witnessing TERMINOLOGY WILL
one too many fentanyl overdoses. “It’s
scary. I’m not trying to do that,” he’d HELP PEOPLE
told me at one point, speaking slowly
with a bit of a drawl.
BETTER UNDER-
Now, two months after Hill’s arriv- STAND THIS NEW
CHAPTER IN THE
al at Gateway, his brother was on
the phone insisting that he call his
daughter. Whatever this was, Hill
immediately knew, it was not gonna OPIOID EPIDEMIC.
be good. When he reached his daugh-
ter, he was informed his five-year-old great-grandson,
Kayden, was dead. The boy’s mother, Hill’s 24-year-old
granddaughter, was facing criminal charges in connec-
tion with his death.
On the afternoon of May 11, Kayden had lain down
for a nap after returning home from school. Hours
passed before his mother realized he was still sleeping
and went to wake him. Kayden wasn’t breathing, and
his lips had turned blue. “All I can do is just pray for his
soul,” Hill tells me.
The boy’s mother would later admit to police that her
boyfriend, a small-time dealer, had been packaging
drugs on the kitchen counter earlier that day. In the trash,
police found the tin foil that he’d used to mix this stash.
When they tested it, it was positive for traces of fentanyl.
Of course, Hill hadn’t even heard of fentanyl when he
started smoking and selling weed around 14 and before
long was lacing his cigarettes with powder. Or when one
day, a friend handed him a crack pipe, and that night he
burned the $2,000 in drug earnings he had in his pocket
on dope, going on to spend the next 40 years fruitlessly
chasing the feeling of that first high.
But as with Michael C. Williams’s death, Kayden’s
underscored the dangers of addiction. When I visit Gate-
way again in August, Hill has been living at the center for
five months. Initially he’d assumed that he’d be here for
a shorter stay, maybe 90 days total. Now he wants to take
his time to make sure he’s really ready before leaving.
“There’s five of us in a room,” he says with a laugh
as he takes me on a tour through his
second-floor suite—three conjoined
rooms that have five beds, two TVs,
a few dressers, and a kitchenette
between them. He plans to stay here
until he can find a consistent job driv-
ing trucks and reliable housing where
he won’t have to live around people
still using drugs. “Do not press your
luck,” he says he advises his former
friends who are using. “You’re play-
ing Russian roulette with your life
with that fentanyl.”
As Hill and I make our way back
down toward the front desk, I see
Dinkins, too, who is continuing his
daily lessons and not planning to
leave until he feels absolutely ready.
Finally, we find Smith, who tells me
that in the first nine months of the
year, Gateway has seen 11 people
leave. Six of them did not complete
the program. The other five ended up
coming back to try again. Although
one former resident died of Covid,
Smith doesn’t know of anyone since
Williams who has fatally overdosed
so far this year.
She’s upbeat, even as she mentions
in passing that, about a month ear-
lier, one of her aunts died of an overdose. She later cor-
rects herself: Instead of the term “fentanyl overdose,”
she and other frontline service providers have switched
to “fentanyl poisoning,” in hopes that more-precise ter-
minology will help people better understand this new
chapter in the opioid epidemic.
“Early on, I learned that their success is not my success,
and their failure is not mine,” she tells me as she locks up
for the night. She reminds me that the key to this work
is remembering to focus on pulling people from the rap-
ids one at a time and not becoming overwhelmed by the
countless more still thrashing in the waves. “Sometimes
it becomes discouraging. But I remind myself that I’m not
here to save the world.”
WESLEY LOWERY is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter
who writes about race, law enforcement, and justice.
MEN’S HEALTH | DECEMBER 2022 95
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