POWERREPORTS

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The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisionsabout your health. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment thatmay have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect that you have amedical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.

Creative director: Lori MagiltonProject editor: Kerry K. Callahan

Copy editor: Jean L. SkillmanInterior layout designer: Maureen Logan

BY THE EDITORS OF mRevised © 2004 by Rodale Inc.

ContentsPOWER FOODS FOR MEN 4

THE SECRETS OF AWESOME ABS 9

INSTANT PHYSICAL FIXES 16

THE SECRETS OF SIZZLING SEX 22

THE BEST SHAPE OF YOUR LIFE 28

THE LAWS OF LEANNESS 35

99 HEALTH SECRETS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT 43

CUT YOUR CHOLESTEROL LEVEL BY 100 POINTS IN JUST 21 DAYS 50

BULLET-PROOF YOUR PROSTATE 55

DEFLATE YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE 59

M uscle isn’t actually built in the

gym—it’s made later, when you’re

collapsed on the sofa, watching

reruns of Seinfeld. As you’re resting, your

body is busy repairing and rebuilding the

muscle tissue you flexed all afternoon. You

can maximize the process by taking in the

right mix of protein and carbohydrates

within 3 hours of your workout. Your body

builds muscle faster during this time, and

that optimum nutri-

ent combination

stimulates the

hormones needed

to make it happen.

There’s no

simpler or more

m e n s h e a l t h . co m 5

Drink This to Make MuscleBUILD MUSCLE AFTER YOUR WORKOUT

TAKE THIS:1 c ice cubes 1 c frozen strawberries

3⁄4 c egg substitute, 1⁄2 bananasuch as EggBeaters 1⁄2 c cranberry juice

3⁄4 c vanilla soy milk

And then: Put it all in a blender with a tight lid. Blend on high for 30 seconds. Drink.

The Top of the Food ChainOUNCE FOR OUNCE, THE MOST POWER-PACKED FOODS ON EARTH

PROTEIN Daily requirement: 75 g You know you need protein to build muscle tissue, but all protein isn’t the same. “The

more amino acids a protein contains, the higher its quality, and the better your body can

utilize it to build muscle,” says Cyndi Thomson, Ph.D., R.D., clinical nutritionist at the

University of Arizona. The following foods deliver high amounts of all nine essential

amino acids.

Food (3-ounce servings) Protein (g) Fat (g) Calories Chicken breast 27 (9/oz) 3.0 142 Turkey breast 25 (8/oz) 0.8 113 Beef (eye round) 25 (8/oz) 4.9 149 Salmon 23 (8/oz) 6.4 156 Canned tuna 20 (7/oz) 2.5 220

convenient muscle-building mix than a

shake made with a pasteurized egg substi-

tute, flavored soy milk, and fruit. Throw

this stuff into a blender and you’ll produce

a 370-calorie shake with 25 grams of high-

quality egg and soy protein, only 5 grams

of fat, and plenty of healthy stuff like fiber,

vitamin C, and other antioxidants. Plus, it

tastes good, and it’s festively pink.

SpecialPOWER REPORT

PowerFoodsFOR MEN

POTASSIUM Daily requirement: 3,500 mgPotassium fights high blood pressure and keeps you from collapsing in the gym, as it’s

critical for muscle contraction and fluid balance. The banana might be the potassium

poster child, but for potency, molasses and dried figs humiliate the phallic fruit. An

8-ounce glass of orange juice also provides 420 mg of potassium.

Food Potassium (mg) Fat (g) Calories 2 Tbsp molasses (1 oz) 410 (410/oz) 0 106 4 dried figs (3 oz) 540 (180/oz) 0.9 196 1 sliced avocado (3 oz) 503 (168/oz) 12.6 135 1 baked potato (6 oz) 702 (117/oz) 0 183 1 medium banana (5 oz) 539 (108/oz) 0.7 125

FIBER Daily requirement: 38 gA high-fiber diet will lower your cholesterol level and help keep you thin. If you’re like

most men, though, you probably eat less than half of the daily fiber you need. Work up

to 35 grams (g) gradually; that’ll give you the same fiber intake as eating 18 slices of whole

wheat toast every day. Start with a bowl of bran cereal and a couple of big handfuls of

popcorn.

Food Fiber (g) Fat (g) Calories 1⁄2 cup Kellogg’s All-Bran (1 oz) 10 (10/oz) 0.9 79 1 cup raisin bran (2 oz) 8 (4/oz) 1.4 186 6 cups air-popped popcorn (2 oz) 6 (3/oz) 1.8 186 4 dried figs (3 oz) 8 (3/oz) 0.9 196 2 slices whole grain bread (2 oz) 4 (2/oz) 2.0 130

VITAMIN E Daily requirement: 15 mg (30 IU)Toss a handful of sunflower seeds on your salad, and your daily vitamin E quota is ful-

filled. Want to ward off heart attacks, strokes, prostate cancer, and even Alzheimer’s dis-

ease? Take 100–400 IU of vitamin E supplement (labeled “d-alpha tocopherol”), but talk

to your doctor first if you take blood-thinning medication, aspirin, or a statin drug.

Food (1-ounce servings) Vitamin E (mg/oz) Fat (g) Calories Sunflower seeds 14 14.1 165 2 Tbsp safflower oil 9 27.2 240 22 almonds 7 15.0 169 2 Tbsp canola oil 6 28.0 248 2 Tbsp wheat germ 6 2.1 104

SELENIUM Daily requirement: 70 mcgWant to cut your risk of prostate cancer? Eat two Brazil nuts every day. A study at the

University of Arizona found that men who took in 200 micrograms (mcg) of selenium

daily cut their risk of developing prostate cancer by nearly two-thirds.

Food Selenium (mcg) Fat (g) Calories 6 to 8 Brazil nuts (1 oz) 839 (839/oz) 18.8 186 Handful of sunflower seeds (1 oz) 23 (23/oz) 14.1 165 Canned tuna (6 oz) 113 (19/oz) 5.1 220 1 hard-boiled egg (1.75 oz) 15 (9/oz) 5.3 78 Boneless chicken breast (3 oz) 24 (8/oz) 3.0 142

CALCIUM Daily requirement: 1,000 mgWhile keeping your bones from crumbling, calcium also helps you stay lean. Researchers

at the University of Tennessee found that the more dietary calcium a group of 11 men ate,

the less body fat they produced. Your body produces a hormone called calcitriol when

you’re short on calcium, which may encourage you to store more fat, says Michael Zemel,

Ph.D., coauthor of the study. Nonfat milk has 38 mg of calcium per ounce, so drinking a

few glasses is still one of the best ways to get your daily shot of calcium.

Food Calcium (mg) Fat (g) Calories 1 slice Swiss cheese (1 oz) 272 (272/oz) 7.8 107 1 slice part-skim mozzarella (1 oz) 207 (207/oz) 4.9 79 Canned sardines with bones (1 oz) 91 (91/oz) 4.6 68 Handful of almonds (1 oz) 75 (75/oz) 15 169 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt (8 oz) 389 (49/oz) 2.9 194

VITAMIN C Daily requirement: 60 mgOrange juice is tasty, but with 16 mg of vitamin C per ounce, it doesn’t pack nearly the

payload of red bell peppers. Chop a few red-pepper chunks into your pasta and you’ll have

your daily allotment of C—and a lowered risk of developing heart disease and cataracts. If

you are a smoker, up your RDA to 120 mg.

Food Vitamin C (mg) Fat (g) Calories 1 large red bell pepper (5 oz) 283 (57/oz) 0 40 1 large kiwifruit (3 oz) 89 (30/oz) 0 55 1 cup raw broccoli (3 oz) 82 (27/oz) 0 25 1 cup papaya (5 oz) 87 (17/oz) 0 55 1 large orange (7 oz) 98 (14/oz) 0 86

ZINC Daily requirement: 15 mg Your body needs zinc to produce sperm, utilize testosterone, and keep your immune sys-

tem functioning. That’s why you’d better double the 7 mg the average man eats every day.

Rely on lean beef and sunflower seeds for your daily 15 mg.

Food Zinc (mg) Fat (g) Calories 5 steamed oysters (3 oz) 154 (51/oz) 4.2 117 1 cup Total cereal (1.5 oz) 20 (13/oz) 0.9 140 Lean ground beef (3 oz) 6 (2/oz) 13.4 225 Sirloin steak (3 oz) 5 (2/oz) 11.2 204 Handful of sunflower seeds (1 oz) 2 (2/oz) 14.1 165

6 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . co m 7

P O W E R F O O D S F O R M E N

Strong Meals for Strong Guys

Wondering how you’ll stuff down all these superfoods? Easy—throw them all inthe same pan. Chef Vince Steinman designed three power meals that contain

ample portions of all the nutrients listed on the previous pages. Together, they’re aperfect day’s menu to prevent heart disease, lower your risk of prostate cancer, andhelp you grow muscle after a workout.

8 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS

BREAKFAST: ATOMIC SMOOTHIE1 c fat-free milk 1 banana, cut into small pieces

1⁄2 c orange juice 1 small kiwi, cut into small pieces 1⁄2 c vanilla nonfat yogurt 1 Tbsp toasted wheat germ1 Tbsp peanut butter 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds

And then: Mix it all in a blender. Drink. 2 servings PER SERVING:

303 calories, 13 g protein, 9.6 g fat (29% of calories), 3 mg cholesterol, 4 g fiber, 140 mg sodium

LUNCH: OPEN-FACED SALMON OMELETTE4 egg whites 1⁄3 c shredded part-skim 1⁄2 c 1% milk mozzarella 2 Tbsp tomato paste 4 slices whole wheat toast2 oz salmon, diced 2 Tbsp horseradish1⁄3 c small broccoli florets

And then: In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and tomato pasteuntil foamy, then add salmon and broccoli. Coat a 10-inch skillet with nonstick spray and heat it over medium heat for 30 seconds. Pour the eggmixture into the skillet. Cover; let cook 8 to 10 minutes, until the eggs arefirm. Remove the lid and sprinkle the omelette with cheese. Cut theomelette into four pieces and place each on a slice of toast. Top each with1⁄2 teaspoon horseradish. 4 servings PER SERVING: 139 calories, 12 g protein,3.6 g fat (23% of calories), 10 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 473 mg sodium

DINNER: CIDER CHICKEN WITH FIGS AND RED PEPPERS

4 boneless, skinless chicken 1⁄2 c apple cider breasts (about 1 lb) 1 c cinnamon apple butter

1⁄2 c chopped dried figs 1⁄2 tsp allspice 1⁄3 c diced red peppers 2 Tbsp slivered almonds

And then: Preheat oven to 350°F. Place chicken breasts in a bakingdish coated with cooking spray. In a bowl, mix together the figs, peppers,cider, apple butter, and allspice. Pour mixture over the chicken, sprinklewith almonds, and bake for 40 minutes. Serve over rice or egg noodles. 4 servings PER SERVING: 372 calories, 28 g protein, 4.4 g fat (11% of calories), 66 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 77 mg sodium

THESECRETSOFAwesomeAbs

SpecialPOWER REPORT

N ot all weight-training systems

burn fat, but the one you’ll use

in this program burns fat by the

pound. Here’s why: Since the classic

1990 study in The Journal of Applied

Physiology, exercise scientists have

known that doing hard, 10-repetition

sets and following them with short rest

periods produces dramatic increases

in growth hormone. Growth hormone

plays a huge role in muscle building. In

fact, another study found that growth-

hormone increases accounted for 50 per-

cent of the muscle growth in trained

weight lifters during a 20-week program.

But growth hormone doesn’t just

build up muscles. It also obliterates flab

by making your fat cells smaller, accord-

ing to exercise physiologist William J.

Kraemer, Ph.D., who worked on the stud-

ies mentioned above. This is what hap-

pens: During exercise, growth hormone

takes fat out of your fat cells and makes

your body use it for energy. Thus, the fat

cells in your belly shrink because you’re

treating them like propane to fuel your

workout.

Our diet plan, designed by Susan M.

Kleiner, Ph.D., author of Power Eating,

helps you eat the right foods at the right

times to capitalize on the exercise program.

Put the plans together, and you could

lose up to 1 percentage point of body fat

each week and see results just 9 days

into the program. After 4 weeks you

should be much trimmer. After that, take

a week off. Then do it all over again for

another 4 weeks.

10 1 0 P O W E R R E P O R T S m e n s h e a l t h . co m 11

T H E S E C R E T S O F AW E S O M E A B S

4 Weeks to a Flat FrontTHE NO-BRAINER PLAN TO LOSE YOUR GUT—FAST

Ab Tips from a Top Model

Robert Goold, Men’s Health cover model

Asurfer, beach-volleyball player, andtriathlete, Goold works hard in the

gym three times a week. But he prefersthe fresh air. “My favorite part is thateuphoric feeling”—the endorphinrelease that follows a long run, swim,or bike ride, he says.

In the gym, Goold looks for exer-cises and routines that help him maintain his athleticism. He usuallysupersets upper-body exercises foropposing muscle groups—a chest exercise followed immediately by aback exercise, for example.

He tries to maintain tension on themuscle throughout each exercise. If hehas a weight in his hands, he wants his muscles to feel as if they’re flexing.“I think you get results a lot quicker ifyou maintain that resistance,” he says.

THE WORKOUTSTHE WEIGHT-LIFTING PROGRAMThe two total-body weight workouts you’ll

do are adapted from the program used in a

Penn State study on growth hormone. Here

are a few particulars.

■ SETS AND REPETITIONS: Do three

sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise.

■ EXERCISE GROUPS: The exercises are

grouped in pairs. You’ll alternate between

those exercises, doing one set of one exer-

cise, then one set of the other, until you’ve

done three sets of each. Then you’ll move

on to the next group.

■ REST: Your goal is to rest 60 seconds

after every set of every exercise. (In an

exercise pair, you rest between exercises,

rather than going straight from one to the

other as you would in a superset.) You may

need up to 90 seconds of rest at first, but

try to whittle that down each time you

work out.

■ WEIGHTS: For the first set of each exer-

cise, choose the heaviest weight you think

you can use for 10 repetitions with perfect

form. Decrease the weight on subsequent

sets if you need to.

■ PROGRESS: Try to work with more

weight on your first set of each exercise

each week. Aim for a 5 percent increase

each week.

THE CARDIOVASCULAR/SPRINT PROGRAMYou’ll do two types of aerobic exercise—

steady-state and interval workouts—and

G oold’s favorite abdominal workout is with Ab-OrigiOnals elbow-supportingstraps, which hang from a pullup bar [1].

He starts with hanging oblique crunches [2, 3], and after 10 repetitions to eachside, switches to hanging knee raises [4].

(Check out www.aborigionals.com for hanging knee exercise gear.)

ROBERT’S HANGING KNEE RAISES

1 2 3 4

MEALS MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

BREAKFAST Bagel with butter Eggs Cottage cheese Bran cereal with fat-free Bagel with cream cheese Pancakes with butter Low-fat frozen waffles Glass of fat-free milk Toast with butter English muffin with butter milk Orange and syrup with butter Banana Banana Grapes Banana Orange Banana

SNACK 1 Fruit juice Fruit juice Fruit juice Fruit juice Fruit juice Fruit juice Fruit juicePretzels Graham crackers Low-fat pudding or gelatin Low-fat brownie Fat-free chips with salsa Hard-boiled egg Low-fat chips with salsa

SNACK 2 Grapes Dried apricots Apple Pear Apple Pear Cantaloupe

LUNCH Spaghetti and meatballs Roast-beef sandwich Turkey sandwich with Tuna sandwich Cheese-and-vegetable Grilled cheese sandwich Homemade cheese-and-Italian bread Carrot sticks lettuce and tomato Tomato-cucumber salad pizza with tomatoes mushroom pizza on

Cucumber salad Boboli bread

SNACKS AND Preworkout snack: Preworkout snack: Preworkout snack: Cashews Preworkout snack: Preworkout snack: Blueberries (fresh or SHAKES Fat-free milk and Low-fat flavored yogurt Fat-free milk, crackers, Fat-free milk, cashews Low-fat flavored yogurt frozen) with low-fat

low-fat cookies peanut butter ice cream

Postworkout shake Postworkout shake Postworkout shake Postworkout shake Postworkout shake

DINNER Grilled or broiled Cheese quesadillas Fish sticks Steak and baked potato Shrimp over pasta Grilled sirloin burger Grilled swordfish on chicken breast Mixed-green salad Potato salad with fat-free sour cream with tomato sauce Grilled zucchini and corn skewers with grapes

Mixed-green salad with fat-free dressing Low-fat ice cream Tossed salad with fat-free Mixed-green salad Fruit salad and bell peppers with fat-free dressing dressing with fat-free dressing Rice

Low-fat ice cream Low-fat ice cream Sherbet Italian ice

WORKOUTS MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

WEEK 1 Weight workout A: Interval training: Weight workout B: No exercise Weight workout A, Sprints: No exercise Bench press, squat. 7 or 8 1-minute intervals, Lat pulldown, lying leg followed by 15–20 8 at 10 seconds each Cable row, leg extension. each followed by curl. Dip, leg press. minutes of steady-state Military press, bent-knee 2 minutes of recovery Lateral raise, back cardiovascular exerciseincline situp. Biceps curl, extension. Dumbbell standing calf raise. shrug, reverse crunch.

WEEK 2 Weight workout B, Interval training: Weight workout A No exercise Weight workout B, Sprints: No exercise followed by 15–20 9 or 10 1-minute followed by 15–20 10 at 10 seconds each minutes of steady-state intervals, each followed minutes of steady-state cardiovascular exercise by 2 minutes of recovery cardiovascular exercise

WEEK 3 Weight workout A, Interval training: Weight workout B No exercise Weight workout A, Sprints: No exercisefollowed by 20–25 6 or 7 1 1⁄2-minute followed by 20–25 12 at 10 seconds eachminutes of steady-state intervals, each followed minutes of steady-state cardiovascular exercise by 3 minutes of recovery cardiovascular exercise

WEEK 4 Weight workout B, Interval training: Weight workout A, No exercise Weight workout B, Sprints: No exercise followed by 20–25 8 or 9 11⁄2-minute followed by 20–25 followed by 20–25 14 at 10 seconds eachminutes of steady-state intervals, followed by minutes of steady-state minutes of steady-state cardiovascular exercise 3 minutes of recovery cardiovascular exercise cardiovascular exercise

12 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . co m 13

T H E S E C R E T S O F AW E S O M E A B S

you’ll also do sprints, an anaerobic exer-

cise. The intensity of the aerobic work-

outs is dictated by your maximum heart

rate (MHR), which is approximately 220

minus your age. You can do any type of

aerobic exercise—running, swimming,

cycling, rowing, stairclimbing, inline

skating. For the sprints, stick to running.

■ For steady-state exercise, work at

75 percent of your MHR.

■ In the first 2 weeks of interval work-

outs, warm up for 5 minutes at an easy

pace, then do 1 minute of exercise at 85 to

90 percent of your MHR, followed by

2 minutes of recovery at 60 percent. Dur-

ing the second 2 weeks, you’ll warm up,

then do intervals of 11⁄2 minutes at 85 to

90 percent, followed by 3 minutes of

recovery at 60 percent of your MHR. The

workout calendar will tell you how many

Your Workout Calendar

Your Meal Plan

INCLINE LEG RAISE WITH A PULSE-UPLie on a slant board with your hands gripping the handles behind your head [A].Slowly raise your legs until they form a 90-degree angle with your torso [B]. Next,lift your legs toward the ceiling in a controlled pulsing motion; your tailboneshould rise an inch or two off the board [C]. Finish by lowering your legs slowly.Do three sets of 10 to 12 repetitions.

To make your abs look like speed bumps, it takes more than crunches. You needto do exercises that incorporate added resistance or that extend your abdomi-

nals’ range of motion, says Michael Mejia, C.S.C.S., a strength and conditioningspecialist in New York City. Here are two exercises that do both at the same time.

intervals to do. Always finish with a

5-minute cooldown at an easy pace.

■ Your sprints will last 10 seconds each,

followed by 50 seconds of rest. Always

start and finish your sprint workouts with

5 minutes of easy jogging.

THE FOODThe meal plan on pages 12 and 13 gives you

a week’s worth of simple meals. Each week-

day is equivalent to any other weekday, so

if Monday’s meals turn your crank better

than Wednesday’s, you can eat Monday’s

twice a week for the 4 weeks. But note that

the weekend meals have more calories, so

don’t give yourself a week of Sundays.

■ SERVING SIZES: The bigger you are, the

more food you’re going to need. So eat

enough at each meal to feel full, and let the

exercise plan do the rest.

■ SNACKS: Eat snacks 1 and 2 whenever

you like during the day. Eat the preworkout

snack 2 hours before exercise, and have

Kleiner’s postworkout muscle-building

shake as soon as possible afterward. To

make the postworkout shake, throw the

following items into a blender and whip

until smooth: 8 oz fat-free milk, 1 packet

Carnation Instant Breakfast, 1 banana,

and 1 Tbsp peanut butter.

■ WATER: Water will help you work out

longer and harder, wash away the bad stuff

that accumulates in your muscles after

exercise, and even help your liver take your

stored fat and put it to use for energy.

Drink it all day, every day. Include at least

one glass with every meal and snack.

14 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . co m 15

T H E S E C R E T S O F AW E S O M E A B S

ANGLED REVERSE CRUNCH Lie on a slant board with your head near the top ofthe board. Place a medicine ball between your knees[A]. Lift your legs and bring your knees toward yourchest [B]. Return to the starting position. Do threesets of 10 to 12 repetitions. At home, you can do thesame exercise on the floor; try using a phone book.

WEIGHTED EXERCISE-BALL CRUNCHLie with your back on an exercise ball and your feetplanted in front of you. Rest a dumbbell (start with10 pounds) on your upper chest, right under yourchin [A]. Crunch your abdominals as you lift yourshoulder blades as high off the ball as you can [B].Hold for a second, then return to the starting posi-tion. Do three sets of 10 to 12 crunches. If you can’tdo that many with a dumbbell, start without weights,holding your hands behind your ears. No ball? Put arolled-up towel under the small of your back.

I f you really want to etch an impressive midsection, think of your abs as havingtwo distinct sections. Crunches are fine for the top half, but to define what’s

below the waistband, you need exercises that focus on the hip flexors and thelower half of the rectus abdominis. Add these moves to your workout routine todevelop an even tighter, stronger middle.

SEATED JACKKNIFESit on the edge of a sturdy chair or bench, holding theseat behind you for support. Extend your legs in frontof you, knees slightly bent [A]. Now simultaneouslyraise your legs toward your chest and bring your chesttoward your knees [B]. Do three sets of as many repeti-tions as you can manage. A couple of caveats: Do thisexercise at the end of your workout, when your mus-cles are thoroughly warm, and be sure to stretch yourhamstrings between sets. The more limber these mus-cles are, the harder you’ll be able to work your abs.

The Secret of 6-Pack Abs

A

B

A

B

A

B

A B C

For the most part, you’re a perfect guy.

Just the right amount of blood, all the

fingers and toes arranged in multiples

of five. You’ve got that bilateral-symmetry

thing nailed: one eye on each side of your

nose, an arm in each sleeve, thighbones and

hipbones perfectly paired.

Yet, when you look in the mirror,

imperfection glares back. Wouldn’t life be

wonderful if you had wider shoulders, a

powerful chest, and buttocks that made

women want to bear your children, or at

least babysit them on Saturday nights?

Here’s how to fix the body problems

you can fix, hide the ones that can be hid-

den, work around the unsightly ones, and

stand proudly behind what just can’t be

ignored.

■ ARMS (skinny) Ben Velazquez, a trainer in

New York City, recommends these moves

for your biceps and triceps:

For biceps, place an incline bench so

the back is at a 60-degree angle to the

floor. Grab a pair of light dumbbells, and

sit with your back against the bench. Let

your arms hang down, palms facing for-

ward, your elbows in line with your hips.

Now slowly curl the weights as high as you

can without moving your elbows forward.

Return to the starting position and repeat.

Do three sets of six to eight repetitions,

with each repetition lasting 6 seconds

(3 seconds up, 3 seconds down). For the

second set, raise the bench to a 75-degree

angle; do the last set with the bench at

90 degrees. Rest 2 minutes between sets.

For triceps, set the bench at a 45-

degree angle. Grab a pair of light dumb-

bells, and lie with your back on the bench.

Your Body Problems SolvedFLABBY BUTT? CHICKEN LEGS? WE HAVETHE ANSWERS YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

Hold your arms straight up toward the ceil-

ing. Bend at the elbows, and slowly lower

the weights behind your head. Slowly

straighten your arms and repeat. Do the

same number of sets and repetitions as in

the biceps exercises, and take the same

amount of rest. For the second set, use a

flat bench. For the third, lie on a decline

bench at a 30-degree angle.

Changing the angle of each exercise

allows you to go from the angle at which

your muscles are weakest (the first angle)

to the position at which they’re strongest

(the last). Thus, you’ll be able to do pro-

ductive sets even when your muscles are

exhausted.

■ BELLY (made possible by beer) Wearing your

pants at your natural waist, and not tucked

under the gut? Good. But a proper fit will only

help so much. To further de-emphasize your

gut, draw attention away from it. Wear a

V-neck sweater or a shirt with a contrasting

(preferably lighter) collar.

■ BUTT (flabby) If you’ve been carrying

around a little extra heft in your Hilfigers, it

should come as no surprise—and certainly

no comfort—to know that lower-body flab

is much harder to lose than abdominal fat,

according to Steve Farrell, Ph.D., director of

curriculum of the Cooper Institute for Aer-

obics Research. Your body stores fat around

your waist for easy access; the butt flab is

for long-term emergencies.

The best way to burn away lower-body

fat is to raise your resting metabolic rate,

or the speed at which your body burns

calories. Regular bouts of intense exer-

cise—whether you lift hard, run hard, ride

hard, or do almost any fitness activity that

INSTANTPhysicalFixes

SpecialPOWER REPORT

m e n s h e a l t h . co m 17

leaves you gasping for breath—can help

increase your metabolism for several hours

afterward.

Timothy J. Moore, Ph.D., a fitness con-

sultant, suggests this 4-week program: Two

days a week, do circuit weight workouts in

your gym. Do each exercise for 30 seconds,

rest for 30 seconds, do the next exercise for

30 seconds, and so on. Try for two or three

circuits of 10 to 12 exercises.

On two other days, run or cycle using

the same 30-30 intervals. Or do a somewhat

easier routine: After a thorough warmup,

run hard for 1 minute, jog for 3 minutes,

and so on. Try for 20 to 25 minutes of this,

excluding your warmup and cooldown.

“You can’t stay at this level of intensity

forever,” Moore says, which is why he rec-

ommends just 4 weeks on this program.

“But it’s a quick fix. It really stokes the

metabolic fires.”

If you’re really aggressive and have a lot

of exercise experience, you can do work/rest

intervals of up to 3 minutes each. On the

other hand, if you have a history of heart

disease, this isn’t a good way to exercise.

Stick to longer workouts at a lower intensity.

■ CHEST (scrawny) If your chest muscles

stubbornly refuse to grow, you need to try

something more drastic than your normal

sets of presses and flies. Jerry Telle, C.S.C.S.,

a strength coach in Denver, suggests dumb-

bell bench-press flyaways, a sequence of

exercises designed to keep your chest mus-

cles under greater tension for a longer time.

“The average set takes 20 to 40 seconds

and uses the same resistance for the entire

set,” says Telle. That’s about the longest a

guy can lift if he’s working with heavy

weights. But by performing three slightly

different exercises in a row, all with the

same heavy weight and very little rest in

between, you’ll achieve two things you nor-

mally can’t. First, you’ll fatigue more of the

individual muscle fibers normally used in

chest exercises. Second, you’ll recruit and

exhaust more of the muscle fibers not nor-

mally stimulated in typical exercise rou-

tines (those you’d use to lift the Buick off

your mom, for instance). Both sets of mus-

cle fibers will adapt to the exercises by

growing bigger and stronger.

See the chart at right to perform the

dumbbell bench-press flyaway sequence.

You’ll use the same weight on each exercise.

■ CHIN (multiple) If you have multiple chins,

let’s face it, you have multiple everything.

You’re fat. So check out the info stored under

“Handles (love)” and “Butt (flabby).”

Here’s one more tip to speed up your

weight loss: About 10 percent of your

metabolism is devoted to digesting the food

you eat. That is, your body uses up calories

processing the calories you’ve just eaten.

The more frequently you eat, the higher

you can crank up this part of your metabo-

lism. That’s why it’s important, if you’re

trying to lose weight, to eat many small

meals each day. “Eat something every

3 hours or so, even if you’re not totally

hungry,” says Jacqueline R. Berning, Ph.D.,

R.D., of the University of Colorado. Skip-

ping meals has the opposite effect—it

shuts off this calorie-burning mechanism.

And you’re more likely to splurge at

Wendy’s if you skip a waistline-friendly

turkey sandwich and an apple.

■ FACE (baby) If no one is taking you seri-

ously, whether it’s when you propose an

idea at work or when you hand the bouncer

your ID, you need a more grown-up look.

Wear tonal or monochromatic colors, says

Lenny Marcus, the costume supervisor for

General Hospital. A blue suit and white

shirt, if you have a baby face, screams,

“I’m just out of school, and this is what

I’m supposed to wear.” When you’re dress-

ing for a night out, wear dark colors and

make sure your clothes fit properly—no

baggy hip-hop styles.

■ FACE (pale) You’ve probably noticed that

some colors look fine on you, while others

make you look as if you’re on your deathbed.

It all depends on which kind of pale you are.

If you have fair skin and dark hair, contrast-

ing colors—like black and red—will look

best on you. If both your skin and your hair

are light, use muted color combinations.

A blue suit and medium-blue shirt, for

instance, will complement your complexion

without overpowering it, says Alan Flusser,

designer and author of Style and the Man.

■ FACE (thin) Judith Rasband, founder and

director of the Conselle Institute for Image

Management in Provo, UT, recommends a

fuller hairstyle (if you have hair), along with

thicker shirts—flannel, if you can get away

with it at the office—and houndstooth or

tweed jackets. These draw attention away

from your face, creating the illusion that

your face is wider. And don’t slick your

hair back, says Rasband. You’ll look like

a conehead.

■ HAIR (gray) To flatter the salt-and-

pepper look, wear dark blue, charcoal gray,

black, or white. Avoid pastels—they’ll make

you look washed out. If you wear eye-

glasses, choose black or silver frames.

■ HANDLES (love) When you exercise

strenuously, most of the calories you burn

come from glycogen, a carbohydrate-based

fuel stored in your muscles. Here are two

18 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . co m 19

I N S TA N T P H Y S I C A L F I X E S

1 Wide-angle fly: Grasp a pair of dumbbells, and lie on your back on a flatbench. (Use a weight you could normally lift six to eight times in this exer-

cise.) Hold the weights together over your chest, with your arms straight andyour palms facing each other. As you slowly lower the weights straight out toyour sides, bend each elbow until it forms an angle of 135 degrees (halfwaybetween 90 degrees and straight). Pause for a second,then lift the weights back to the starting position. Per-form as many repetitions as you can, carefully bendingto the same elbow angle each time. Sit up and rest theweights on your thighs for 10 seconds, then lie downagain and begin the next exercise.

2 90-degree fly: Hold the dumbbells over your chest,keeping your arms straight. Do the exercise the

same way as before, but this time bend each elbow toa 90-degree angle as you lower the weight. Perform asmany repetitions as you can. Sit up again, rest theweights on your thighs for 10 seconds, then lie downand begin the last exercise.

3 Bench press: Hold the dumbbells at the sides of yourchest, your palms turned toward your feet. Press

the weights up over your chest, lower them, and repeatas many times as you can. Put down the weights, restfor 3 to 4 minutes, and repeat the entire sequencetwice more.

ways to trick your body into using more

energy from fat.

Start early. If you do aerobic exercise

before breakfast, says Moore, your body is

more likely to be low in glycogen and burn

fat instead.

Go long—really, really long. According

to an article in the journal Frontiers of

Bioscience, the longer you exercise at

moderate intensity—55 to 75 percent of

your maximum effort—the more your body

uses fat.

■ NECK (skinny) Most muscle-heads in the

gym will tell you that doing specific exer-

cises for your neck is futile, that only lift-

ing consistently heavy weights for a long

time will make your neck bigger. But a

study published in the European Journal of

Applied Physiology compared a group of men

who did neck-targeting exercises with a

group who didn’t. All else was equal—both

groups did heavy weight routines over the

same period of time, and both groups grew

considerably bigger and stronger. But only

the men who performed neck exercises

increased their necks’ muscle mass; the

other men’s neck girth stayed the same.

Here’s a neck-building move recom-

mended by Jeff Watters, a Detroit-area

trainer who uses this exercise with boxers,

for whom thicker necks are an occupational

necessity. You’ll need a training partner,

preferably a woman with cleanly shaven

legs. Get down on all fours, with your head

flexed toward your left shoulder and your

right ear and temple against your partner’s

leg. Push your head to the right for 5 sec-

onds, relax, then push again. Your partner

shouldn’t move when you do this, since it’s

an isometric exercise. Do 10 repetitions,

then repeat on the other side.

If you can’t find a woman willing to let

you push against her thigh, you can do the

modest manhood.

The legs-over-shoulders position (hers

over yours, Gumby) allows you to get clos-

est to the back of her vaginal wall. It also

allows for some serious pelvis mashing,

producing more clitoral stimulation. The

closer her thighs come to her chest, the

more she’ll like it.

■ SHOULDERS (narrow) The only way to

make your shoulders appear wider is to

build the muscles that surround your

shoulder bones, particularly the meaty out-

side portion of the deltoid muscle. “But it’s

very difficult to isolate that muscle,” says

Juan Carlos Santana, C.S.C.S., director and

CEO of the Institute of Human Perfor-

mance in Boca Raton, FL. “You need to take

a shotgun approach, hitting the entire

shoulder area: front (anterior), middle, and

rear (posterior) delts.”

Santana recommends that you perform

the following three shoulder exercises as

one long set—one right after the other,

using the same weights and taking no rest

in between the exercises. This will stress

your shoulder muscles to the maximum

and produce the biggest gains. Take

7 seconds to perform each repetition:

4 seconds down, a 1-second pause,

2 seconds up. Do three sets once or

twice a week. Rest for 2 minutes between

sets.

20 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . co m 21

I N S TA N T P H Y S I C A L F I X E S

same exercise against a heavy punching

bag. Have your partner steady the bag; if

you’re alone, the bag will move, so the

exercise won’t be strictly isometric any-

more. Still, try to make each repetition last

5 seconds, and do 10 on each side.

■ NOSE (big) A rhinoplasty, or nose job,

can cost up to $5,000. The immediate

repercussions will probably include black

eyes and other swelling, and your recovery

could prevent you from exercising for up to

a month. What’s more, it can take as long

as 6 months for all the swelling to go down

so you can see the results, according to

Randall B. Weil, M.D., chief of plastic sur-

gery at St. Mary’s Hospital and Medical

Center in San Francisco.

Far easier and cheaper is minimizing

the effect that an oversized olfactory organ

has on your appearance. “In order to make

the nose appear somewhat smaller, you

need to make everything around the face

appear somewhat larger,” says Rasband.

That means fuller hair around the sides of

your face, wider shoulders in your suits

and sport coats, layered clothing (T-shirt,

open-collared shirt, jacket, or sport coat).

“You want to draw someone’s visual atten-

tion downward and outward,” Rasband says.

■ PENIS (smallish) Don’t even consider

penis-enlargement surgery unless you’re

less than half the average length. (Average,

according to researchers at the University

of California, is 5.03 inches from base to

tip, erect.) The risk of complications is just

too great. If you’re caught short, add these

sexual techniques to your bedroom reper-

toire. They favor the less-endowed man.

The female-on-top position gives your

partner the chance for more clitoral stimu-

lation and leaves you free to use your

hands on her breasts, clitoris, or any other

place that might distract her from your

1 Standing lateral raise (works the middle deltoids): Stand holding a pair of dumb-bells at your sides, with your palms facing in. Slowly extend your arms out to

the sides, raising the dumbbells until your upper arms are parallel to the floor.Pause for a second, then return to the starting position. Do four to six repetitions.

2 Alternating dumbbell upright row (works the rear deltoids and trapezius): Stand hold-ing the dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms toward your body. Lean for-

ward slightly. Slowly raise one dumbbell along the front of your body until itreaches the side of your chest. Keep your wrist relaxed. Hold for a second, thenslowly lower the dumbbell. Raise the other dumbbell the same way. Do four tosix repetitions.

3 90-90 dumbbell press (works the front deltoids and triceps): Hold the dumbbells soyour upper arms are parallel to the floor and your lower arms point straight

up toward the ceiling. In other words, your shoulders and elbows should both bebent 90 degrees. Face your palms forward. Slowly press the weights up until yourarms are straight. Pause for a second, then lower them to the 90-90 position. Dofour to six repetitions.

■ THIGHS (chicken) Squats are the greatest

thigh builder known to man. But the way

many guys do them, the emphasis goes to

their gluteus and lower-back muscles, and the

thighs don’t get as much work as they need.

The next time you do squats, watch where

your elbows go. If they point behind you

during the exercise, you’re leaning over too

far and your back and butt are lifting the

weight. Try to keep your elbows roughly in

line with the bar and pointed down at the

floor. This forces you to keep your torso

upright throughout the exercise, making

your thigh muscles do more of the work.

Awise man never stops learning. He’s

always curious about the latest trend,

the newest technology, the Next Big

Thing...even in bed. After all, a thousand

tips and tactics have been developed since

you and your girlfriend first did the mystery

dance in the back of your Subaru.

Problem is, unlike in high school, you

and your buddies probably aren’t compar-

ing notes and sharing insider secrets any-

more. That’s too bad, because there’s much

more to learn. So take a look at our entic-

ing curriculum. Study hard and we guaran-

tee that, in her eyes, the Next Big Thing

that comes along will be...you.

SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES

CONQUERING MOUNTAINS,EXPLORING VALLEYS, PRESERVING WETLANDS

101: Find the secret of her twin peaks.Austrian researchers have found that an

oft-neglected region of the breast, the

northern part from roughly 10 o’clock to

2 o’clock, provides even more arousal than

her nipples. Investigate with light kissing

and a gentle massage using the heel of your

hand, not the fingers. The palm gives even

sensation without causing pain.

201: Point your compass toward her truenorth. Even if you find yourself upside

down and disoriented during sex (happens

to us all the time), you can always stay on

course by trying to point the tip of your

penis toward the inside of her belly button.

The way her vagina is positioned, if you do

that you’ll be close to her G-spot—the

Graduate from Sex SchoolTHE BEST CLASSES YOU’LL EVER HAVE

THE SECRETS OF

SizzlingSex

SpecialPOWER REPORT

bundle of nerves that serves as a catalystfor orgasms.

SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

FOR THOSE WHO WANT TOWORK UP A GOOD SWEAT

101: Exercise your right to more sex.We didnêt like gym class any more than youdid. The good news: Your çspontaneouséerections in the shower will get a betterresponse now than they did then. Butbefore you lather up, work out. A Univer-sity of California study shows that menwho exercise 3 days a week have threetimes more sexÑand bet ter sexÑthanthose who donêt.

201: To extend your manhood, drop theChalupa. You know extra weight is bad foryour heart, but it also shortens yourpenisÑy ou lose a half inch for every 15pounds you gain. Hereês why: The fat padthat protects your pubic area creeps overthe shaftês base as you get fatter, obscuringperfectly good penis. A better diet and moreexercise means more where it counts, too.

SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY

EXPLORE HER DEEPLY HIDDEN DESIRES. COUCH OPTIONAL

101: Master her mind games. In one sur-vey, women admitted fantasizing about sexup to twice as often as men do. So howcome sheês not constantly jumping yourbones? Because unlike your fantasies, hersare lengthy, interactive scenarios, says

m e n s h e a l t h . co m 23

Karen Donahey, Ph.D., associate professor

in the psychology and behavioral sciences

department at Northwestern University.

You can get more action simply by giving

her a scenario to spin. Toss her a line like

this at lunch: “If anybody would look amaz-

ing in a French maid’s outfit, it’s you,” and

you up your chances of her breaking out

the feather duster after dinner.

201: Hypnotize her with your eyes. Want to

drive her wild with desire? Look her straight

in the eye during sex. Add in a little play-

by-play of the action and solicit her opin-

ion, too. The combination of eye contact

and dialogue—that direct connection during

sex—is an incredible turn-on for women.

SCHOOL OF NATURALSCIENCES

BETTER LIVING THROUGHSEXUAL CHEMISTRY ANDQUANTUM PHYSICALS

101: Tantalize her with chemistry. You love

it when she gives you oral sex with a breath

mint in her mouth. Here’s why: The

mucous membranes that line your penis let

mint pass through, giving you a cool thrill.

But did you know that popping a curiously

strong mint while you’re giving her oral sex

can lead to a curiously strong orgasm? Note

to the wise: Peppermint oil can sting her.

Stick to the original wintergreen flavor.

201: Defy gravity with your genitals. Just

before ejaculation, your testicles ascend like

an aircraft’s landing gear to provide more

power to your takeoff. To give your equip-

ment an even bigger boost, have your part-

ner gently press upward on your testicles

with the palm of her hand just before you

ejaculate. This will heighten your arousal

and add intensity to your orgasm, according

to Bob Schwartz, Ph.D., author of

The One-Hour Orgasm.

301: Make her adore a vacuum. Next time

you’re, you know, yodeling in the gully,

don’t just lick, the way most guys do.

“Sucking on her clitoris and labia creates

a unique feeling, and when contrasted with

the usual friction can lead to more and

better orgasms,” says Schwartz. This

technique is better for you, too—you’ll

get fewer tongue cramps.

SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS

CALCULATING MOVES FORIMPRESSIVE FIGURES

101: Count on yourself to last longer. To

increase your control—and keep your

climax at bay—use a technique called

“peaking.” As you’re thrusting, rate your

arousal on a scale of 1 to 10. When it builds

to 3 or 4, slow down and take deep breaths

until it diminishes. Then let your arousal

build to 5 or 6, and back off again. Do this

until you can reach 8 or 9 before climaxing.

201: Multiply your satisfaction. The usual

Saturday-night equation is You + Her = 1

(orgasm). For better sex, try multiplying

your orgasms. You can train yourself to be

multiorgasmic, but it involves practicing

through masturbation. (Hey, math can be

fun!) Build yourself up to the brink of

orgasm, then throttle back. Do this three

times before climaxing. A little practice and

you’ll be able to feel the orgasm—racing

pulse, waves of euphoria, and relaxation—

without ejaculating. Not only does it reduce

the messy cleanup, but you’ll remain erect

and ready for more action. Good luck.

Please resist the urge to write us and tell us

how it’s going.

FLAT REAR ENTRY How to do it: She lies facedown on the

bed with her pelvis slightly raised. She can

use a pillow for support. You enter her

vagina from behind.

Difficulty (on a scale of 1 to 10): 4

Payoff: 8

You’ve heard about the G-spot? This is

one of the best ways to go after it, says

Mark L. Elliott, Ph.D., of the Institute for

Psychological and Sexual Health. The down-

ward angle of entry will target the elusive

but highly sensitive dime-size spot inside

the front wall of her vagina. And because the

padding on her butt is blocking at least part

of your access, you’ll have shallow penetra-

tion, so you won’t pass the G-spot by. (Tell

your partner not to be discouraged if this

doesn’t feel great at first. Elliott says the

friction on the G-spot may cause discomfort

24 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . co m 25

T H E S E C R E T S O F S I Z Z L I N G S E X

Rock Star Sex Positions

She’ll forget you’re just a banker when you rock her world with these moves—guaranteed

to stimulate her in all the right places. Some may seem familiar at first glance, but pay

close attention to the details. These are variations we bet you’ve never seen before.

BUILD STRONGER ERECTIONS!

Men might think they only need one thing in order to have an erection:a penis. In fact, one Italian study shows that the strength of the mus-

cles surrounding your penis may also play a part. When researchers stud-ied the strength of two pelvic-area muscles in 390 men, they found thatpotent guys were 17 percent stronger than the guys who had trouble witherections. “These muscles squeeze the two blood-filled erection tubes inthe penis. The stronger these muscles are, the more pressure they’ll createin the erection,” says Gregory A. Broderick, M.D., a Mayo Clinic urologist.By simply squeezing and releasing the muscles you use to stop urination,you can train these muscles to get stronger. So do it often, and for bestresults, ask her to give you a hand.

before it turns to pleasure.) This is also a

tight position, which creates extra pressure

on the clitoris, and it’s one of the few rear-

entry positions that puts your heads

together, allowing snuggling and kissing.

What’s in it for you: If she keeps her legs

together, she’ll have a tight grip on your

penis, which should more than make up for

the lack of depth.

THE “X” POSITION How to do it: You sit on the bed with

your legs in front of you; she straddles your

torso.

Difficulty: 3

Payoff: 7

This position allows more gentle rock-

ing than in-and-out thrusting—a change

she’ll love. “Guys don’t like to hear this,

but a lot of women find powerful thrusting

distracting and simply prefer to be ‘filled up’

while they concentrate on stimulating the

clitoris,” says Louanne Cole Weston, Ph.D., a

sex therapist in Fair Oaks, CA.

To make this position really rock, hold

hands with each other and lean back so

you’re connected only at the hands and geni-

tals. Concentrate on wriggling the base of

your penis against the upper part of her vagi-

nal opening, grinding against her clitoris.

What’s in it for you: Since there’s little

steady motion to wear you out and only

moderate stimulation to the head of your

penis, you should be able to last longer

than usual. Once she’s had her fun, switch

to a position that hits you in the right

spots.

THE HOT SEATHow to do it: You sit on the bed with

your back against the headboard. She slides

on top of your erection, with her feet by

your ears and her hands on either your legs

or the bed behind her.

Difficulty: 5

Payoff: 6

Since you’re supporting her entire

weight on your lap, it’ll be up to her to pro-

vide the motion by using her arms to push

up off of you. That can be a little tricky,

but once she’s used to it, the result is deep

penetration that not only feels great but

looks great. “Both of us had a terrific view

of the action,” one tester reported. It also

leaves your hands free to help out with

additional clitoral stimulation, should she

want it. Try using the palm of your hand to

rub in circular motions along her mons

pubis, the soft, hair-covered mound just

above her vagina. That’ll create indirect

stimulation along her clitoris.

What’s in it for you: She’ll be doing all the

real work, so you can lie back and enjoy.

THE COWGIRL How to do it: You lean back with your

shoulders against the foot of the bed and

your feet on the floor, supporting the bulk

of your weight. She straddles your midsec-

tion and uses her legs to thrust.

Difficulty: 6

Payoff: 10

Even if she’s never been the jockey

type, she’ll have a hard time resisting this

invitation to ride. Not only does she control

the angle, speed, depth, and rhythm of the

thrusts, but because she supports her own

weight, she also has complete freedom of

movement. “This is as close as you can get

to having sex in a swing set without having

to install hardware in your bedroom,” says

Weston. Your mate doesn’t have to rely on

your figuring out where she likes to be

touched—she can stimulate whatever needs

it on her own. One caution: Some women

tend to get weak in the knees during

orgasm, so brace yourself for a little extra

weight once she peaks.

What’s in it for you: You can’t beat the

view.

26 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . co m 27

T H E S E C R E T S O F S I Z Z L I N G S E X

SEX TRICKS FROM SKIN FLICKS

W e’re not huge fans of adult movies, unless of course you can learnsomething from them. Then we’re all for them! That’s why we sent

a sex writer home with 40 X-rated videos. When he emerged 3 dayslater broken and empty, he was still conscious enough to bring us theselessons for the bedroom.

■ Don’t finish where you started. Three minutes is about as long as you’llsee any two (or more) actors in the same sexual position; they’ll recon-figure several times during a scene to keep things interesting. Youshould, too. It can keep you from ejaculating too soon.

■ Thrust one at a time. Penetrate slowly, then withdraw completely; waita second and start over, 10 times. “Insertion is everyone’s favorite partof intercourse,” says Mark Elliott, Ph.D., a sex therapist. (Maybe secondfavorite.) Repeating the initial insertion will help you savor the feeling.Be careful; you could like it so much that you finish before you’re ready.

■ Bounce. If she’s on top, have her sit still so you can do the bounc-ing—and control the speed of the friction. Bend your knees and useyour thigh muscles. When you move up and down, you’ll slide in andout. Stay in control so she doesn’t slide all the way off.

■ Touch and tease. For a different sensation, use two fingers to stroke up and down to stimulate both sides of her clitoris without actuallytouching it.

■ Use her legs. Have her lie on her back with one leg straight; the otherleg should be pulled in toward her chest. Straddle her straight leg andsupport yourself with an arm hooked into the crook of her bent knee.“This allows good access, but because her legs are still together, she’llget lots of clitoral stimulation,” says Elliott. That’s a good thing.

and diabetes—major risk factors for heart

disease—than those who are very fit.

Sound hard? It’s not. Do the five things

in the box below, and, if you’re a typical

180-pound guy, you’ll burn 1,000 calories.

Hit something. Here’s the best stress-

busting exercise we know: boxing. “Hitting

a heavy bag has a cathartic effect,” says

Tom Seabourne, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., a sports

psychologist in Mount Pleasant, TX.

Try this: Pull on the gloves and hit a

heavy bag for 3 minutes, rest a minute, and

continue like that for 20 minutes. “It’s so

vigorous, you don’t have time to think

about your problems,” says Seabourne.

Plus, it builds power, endurance, and even

some muscle mass in your upper body.

Instructions below are for right-handers;

lefties, please consult the first Rocky

movie. On all punches, rotate your fist so

your palm faces down at impact.

Stance: Set your feet shoulder-width

apart and diagonal to the bag, left foot for-

ward, elbows in, right fist alongside your

chin, left fist beside your left eye. Float like

a butterfly, sting like Ali.

We all have to get older. It’s nature’s

way of ensuring that babies have

babysitters.

But getting older doesn’t necessarily

mean getting old, at least not in the tradi-

tional sense. You just have to start training

for your later years now. Here’s how to pull

off the ultimate retirement plan.

THE 30S GUY You’re beginning to wonder why you were

in such a hurry to grow up. The promotion

at work, the new baby, the house in the

’burbs—you have good excuses to miss

every workout, but every workout you miss

seems like another

concession to your

inner fat guy. A

couple of years

ago, you could

scarf bacon

cheeseburgers

with impunity.

Now the most

innocent-looking

chicken burrito

takes your belt out a notch. You haven’t

done any irreversible damage yet, but you

sure don’t want to see the end of this

disaster movie.

Work outside the gym. If you can’t work

out, find some other way to burn off extra

calories—and stress. According to the

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,

young men who are only low or moderately

fit have twice the risk of high blood pressure

m e n s h e a l t h . co m 29

“Grampa! Show Us Your Abs!”YOU HAVE AN INVESTMENT PLAN FOR YOUR MONEY—HERE’S ONE FOR YOUR BODY

Lift weights intensely for 20 minutes 164 calories

Play tennis for 30 minutes 287 calories

Chop wood for 15 minutes 123 calories

Move furniture for 20 minutes 164 calories

Ride a bike at 13 mph for 25 minutes 273 calories

TOTAL: 1,011 calories

The BestShapeOFYOURLIFE

SpecialPOWER REPORT

Punches: Hint: Aim as though you’re

trying to punch through the bag, not at it.

Jab: Shoot your left arm straight out and

back. Cross: Pivot on your right foot as you

strike with your right hand and pull it back.

Hook: Pivot on your left foot as you bring

your left arm around to strike the side of

the lousy, stinking bastar...uh, the bag.

Feed your muscles. If you’re lifting

weights—and trying to watch your

weight—you might be shorting yourself on

protein. The average 180-pound iron worker

needs a lot of protein—between 110 and

140 g a day to build and repair muscle. To

get 100 g, you could have two large eggs,

two glasses of milk, 4 ounces of chicken

breast (about the size of your palm), and an

8-ounce steak. Eat another 8-ounce steak,

and you’re up to 150.

Since you’d be insane to eat like that,

we recommend adding a daily protein

shake. A study found that people who con-

sumed a protein-shake diet lost more

weight and body fat than those who ate

the same amount of calories in food with

60 percent less protein. See page 5 for a

quick, delicious recipe.

Take the anti-soreness vitamin. Antioxi-

dants like vitamin E reduce muscle soreness

caused by lifting weights, according to

research from Ball State University. In the

study, 11 college-age men took either a

placebo or 1,200 international units of vita-

min E and went on a weight-lifting regimen

for 3 weeks. “The vitamin E users showed

statistically lower levels of free radicals

after working out, which translated to less

soreness after lifting,” says Bruce Craig,

Ph.D., the physiologist who conducted the

research.

THE 40S GUY They throw you that great surprise party on

your 40th birthday, and all your friends

make “over the hill” jokes that you pretend

to find hilarious. And if you have enough to

drink, maybe you really do find them hilari-

ous. But when you wake up in the morning,

you can’t help but acknowledge that the

sell-by date on your youth has officially

expired. The few remaining pro athletes

your age are shadows of their former selves,

and your kids’ friends call you “Mister.”

But look on the bright side: If your life

were a football game, it would be halftime

now. Here’s how to kick some butt in the

next two quarters.

Get plenty of calcium. Your wife’s doctor

will tell her to get enough calcium to head

off osteoporosis, but no one will extend

that courtesy to you. Here’s why they

should: Researchers at the University of

Tennessee have found that calcium appears

to decrease fat storage and increase the use

of fat for energy.

Your goal is to get at least 1,000

milligrams of calcium a day. That’s two

8-ounce glasses of milk, a bowl of cereal,

and a cup of yogurt.

Bend over backward. Four out of five

Americans experience back pain at some

point in their lives, according to the Ameri-

can Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. “Back

pain can be caused by weight problems, old

athletic injuries, poor flexibility, and poor

musculature,” says Bruce McMillan, a phys-

ical therapist in Ronan, MT. But research

has shown that if you bend backward, you’ll

reduce compressive stress on your spinal

disks by up to 40 percent.

Try this: Get into a modified pushup

position, with hands, knees, and feet resting

on the floor. Push your hips toward the floor,

arch your back, and hold for 15 to 20 seconds.

If your back pain extends down through

your legs, however, don’t stretch—see a doctor.

Tea it up. Coffee is our friend—

particularly on mornings when beer

was our friend the night before.

Besides the nice buzz, caffeine also

helps mobilize fat cells to be used for

energy. But green tea does the same

thing, only better, according to a Swiss

study. On top of its flab- and cobweb-

fighters, green tea contains flavonoids

—as much in 2 cups as in one serving

of vegetables, says Jeffrey Blumberg,

Ph.D., who researches antioxidants at

Tufts University. Don’t buy the pre-

bottled green tea—it doesn’t provide

the same benefits. Instead buy tea

bags and brew 2 cups a day with hot

water, says Blumberg.

Take some time off. As you age, your

ability to recuperate after a weight-

lifting session decreases. So to give

your body more time to repair itself, do

three workouts a week instead of four.

“But the intensity of your workouts

can be the same,” says Dave Pearson,

Ph.D., C.S.C.S., director of Ball State

University's Strength Research Laboratory.

Hit each body part only once a week, and

make sure to take a day of rest between

workouts. Try one of these workouts

(exercise descriptions can be found at

www.menshealth.com)—do three or four

sets of 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise.

Rest a minute between sets.

Take it slow. Lifting weights s-l-o-w-l-y

puts your muscles under stress, which can

boost the strength and size of the muscles.

Try incorporating these five strategies dur-

ing your next workout.

Take your time. Do slow repetitions;

research suggests that 8-second repeti-

tions—4 up, 4 down—are slow enough to

spur an increase in strength.

Smooth your moves. If you jerk like a

spawning salmon on every lift, you’re not

getting the most out of your workouts. Try

moving the weight smoothly, with only a

slight hesitation at the end of the contrac-

tion. This will put more stress on the mus-

cles you’re working and decrease your

chances of injury.

Stop chatting. Move quickly from one

exercise to the next, with no time for ban-

ter. This fires up your metabolism and bet-

ter conditions your cardiovascular system.

Use weight machines instead of free

weights. Weight-training machines force

you to focus more on form and less on how

much weight you’re using—a good thing—

while protecting you from injury. “For

example, with free weights your forearms

and gripping muscles will give out before

the biceps you’re working do,” says Wayne

30 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . c o m 31

T H E B E S T S H A P E O F YO U R L I F E

Monday Bench press Incline dumbbell pressPullup or lat pulldownBent-over row Swiss-ball crunch

WednesdaySquat Stiff-legged deadliftCalf raiseTwisting crunch

Friday Dumbbell shoulder press Upright rowTriceps extensionIncline dumbbell curl Incline reverse crunch

32 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . c o m 33

T H E B E S T S H A P E O F YO U R L I F E

ANGLED DROP SETS

A

A

B

C

B

A Better Body in Minutes

CONCENTRATION DUMBBELL CURL Sit on a bench, and push yourelbow into your inner thigh. Curl up and down, keeping yourelbow still and shoulders back.

LOW-PULLEY BICEPS CURL Hold the low pulley so it’s in line with your arm and shoulder.Keep your wrist straight andyour upper arm by your side.

SINGLE-ARM ZOTTMAN CURL ON PREACHER BENCH Curl the dumbbell with your palm facing up [A]. At the top of the move,rotate your palm so it’s almost facing down, then lower the dumbbell [B].Rotate your palm up before you raise the dumbbell again. To avoidinjury, make sure your entire upper arm is on the bench, so the bench is tucked into your armpit.

BIG BICEPS IN NO TIME FLAT

B ig biceps are built by doing multiple sets of curls with one arm at a time. The reason? Your biceps will fatigue faster, so they’ll grow more, says Ian King,

C.S.C.S., an Australian strength coach who works with Olympic and professionalathletes. Try doing these three exercises with the same arm, with only 10 secondsof rest between sets. Do 10 to 12 repetitions of each, then switch arms.

G eometry studentsand pool hustlers

aren’t the only ones whobenefit from under-standing sharp angles.You can, too, by workingyour chest at differentangles—with virtually norest between sets, saysMichael Mejia, C.S.C.S.,a trainer in New YorkCity. The benefit ofdoing these “angleddrop sets” is that byworking from the hard-est to the easiest presspositions, you’ll stimu-late more muscle fibersin your chest in abouthalf the time. To start,do a set of inclinepresses with a weightthat will fatigue youafter 8 to 10 repetitions[A]. Rest for 10 seconds,drop the angle of thebench, and do a flatpress with the sameweight. Do as many repetitions as possible—usually three to fivemore than on the incline[B]. Rest for 10 seconds,then do as many declinepresses as you can [C].Rest for 2 minutes, andrepeat.

A BIGGER CHEST IN HALF THE TIME

Westcott, Ph.D., senior fitness and research

director of the South Shore YMCA near

Boston.

Take time to recover. Make sure your

muscles have 48 hours between strenuous

workouts. And if you reach a plateau, try

doing less work, not more.

THE 50S GUYIt’s been a good five decades. You have a

solid career, and no one in your family has

ever appeared on Jerry Springer. Best of all,

you actually have time to exercise again. If

you start now, you can turn back the clock

by increasing your metabolism, testos-

terone, growth hormone, muscle mass, flex-

ibility, and bone mass.

Grease your hinges. The average guy

begins to have trouble with his knees in his

50s. Exercise—particularly resistance train-

ing—is good medicine for osteoarthritis,

says Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., an exercise

scientist at Tufts University.

The split squat helps strengthen all

your lower-body muscles and improve

flexibility. Stand with your left foot about

3 feet in front of your right. Lower your

body until your left knee is bent 90 degrees

and your left thigh is parallel to the floor.

Your right knee should almost touch the

floor behind you. Now push back up to the

original position, keeping your back

straight and upright throughout the exer-

cise. Do 10 to 15 repetitions, then repeat

with your right foot forward. When that’s

easy, add weights—you can either hold

dumbbells at your hips or hold a barbell

across your shoulders. Work up to three

sets once or twice a week.

Become an alpha male. Researchers in

California found that a zinc-magnesium

supplement called ZMA increases testos-

terone levels. (You can find it in several

brands at any health-food store.) It works

while you sleep, so if you take the recom-

mended dosage—30 milligrams of zinc,

450 milligrams of magnesium, and 11 mil-

ligrams of B6—before bed, you might wake

up with a whole new attitude.

Set a record. Another way to raise

testosterone is to feel like a winner. Unless

you were an elite-level athlete in your

youth, you can set a personal record in

almost any physical endeavor you choose,

says Seabourne.

Here’s something you can set a record in

today: the strict curl. This is a barbell biceps

curl performed while you lean your back and

arms against a wall. The beauty of it is that

almost nobody knows how much weight

they can curl once, so whatever you lift

today will be a personal record.

Try this: Pick a weight you think is

the most you can curl—100 pounds, say.

Warm up by doing eight repetitions with

50 pounds, four with 75, two with 90,

and then one with 100. A week later, add

5 pounds to each of your sets and do it

again. Keep going for 4 to 6 weeks, or until

you stop breaking your own record each

week. Take a break for 5 months, then start

in again. You can shatter your own records

twice a year. And feel like the baddest m.f. in

your immediate vicinity.

Eat breakfast. Researchers at the Okla-

homa State University found that 40 per-

cent of older men failed to take in the

recommended daily amount of folic acid, a

vitamin that helps prevent heart disease.

The reason? They weren’t eating breakfast.

Try spending the morning with a cereal

that’s rich in B12, a vitamin that helps the

body absorb folic acid and is high in fiber

and low in sugar, too. Here are five that

measure up: Wheat Chex, Cheerios, Whole

Grain Total, Wheaties, and All-Bran.

34 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS

THE LAWS OFLeanness

SpecialPOWER REPORT

36 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . co m 37

T H E L AW S O F L E A N N E S S

I f you want to control your waistline and

eat your way to better health, here are 10

things you need to do—starting today.

1 PRETEND YOU’RE A TAILOR. Measure

everything—your neck, chest, waist,

arms, thighs, calves. Write it all down, and

put it someplace where you’ll have to look

at it every day. Record your weight, too,

although that’s less important.

Your goal: Maintain or reduce the size

of your waist while increasing the size of

everything else. Repeat your measurements

every 4 weeks.

2 TO CHANGE YOUR WEIGHT, FOLLOW THE15/500 RULE. Making radical changes to

your diet—starving yourself to lose weight

or stuffing yourself to gain—is futile. If

you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll slow

your metabolism to a crawl. If you’re trying

to gain, the excess calories will include a

lot of fat. Here’s a more sensible strategy.

To lose weight: Cut your daily food

intake by a maximum of 15 percent or

500 calories, whichever is less.

To gain weight: Increase your daily

intake—and we mean every day—by 15 per-

cent or 500 calories, whichever is less.

3 YOU MUST EAT FAT. Fat still occupies

that tiny prison cell at the tip of the

Food Guide Pyramid, but its health benefits

are hugely underrated.

A diet with 21 percent of its calories

from monounsaturated fat reduces your

risk of cardiovascular disease by 25 percent,

according to a Penn State University study.

And research has shown that men eating a

diet with high fat have higher testosterone

than those eating less fat. So chomp on

The 10 Laws of LeannessTHESE ARE THE COMMANDMENTS THAT REALLY MATTER

those macadamia nuts and drench your

salad with olive oil. Not only will you enjoy

your food more, you’ll live longer and have

more sex.

4 REMEMBER: MEAT IS MUSCLE. The best

muscle-building diet includes beef,

pork, poultry, and fish, according to a study

published in the American Journal of Clini-

cal Nutrition. The reason is simple: Animal

protein builds muscle better than soy or

vegetable protein does.

How much protein you need is always

debated, but the most reliable research

shows that you need 0.6 to 0.82 grams of

protein per pound of body weight per day

to build muscle during a strength-training

program. If you weigh 200 pounds, that

means taking in 120 to 164 grams of protein

each day. Say you choose 150 grams as your

daily goal. Split it up so you eat 25 grams in

each of six small meals. Breakfast might be

two eggs, milk, and oatmeal. Lunch could

be tuna on whole wheat. Grilled-chicken

salad would be a good dinner.

5 YOU NEED CARBOHYDRATES (BUT NOT THE FUN KIND). Consumption of high-

fructose corn syrup and other sugary

sweeteners has possibly done more to

expand America’s waistlines than anything

else. In fact, Americans consume twice as

much sugar a day as they should. But the

carbohydrates in fruits, vegetables, and

whole grains are crucial to your health,

give you energy, and help you build and

repair muscle after workouts.

How much is enough: If your main goal

is to be lean, try for about 30 to 50 percent

carbohydrate in your diet.

6 EAT BEFORE YOU LIFT. You increase mus-

cle mass in two ways: by building up

muscles and by preventing them from

breaking down. If you eat some protein an

hour or two before your workout, you’ll

have more amino acids available to your

muscles during exercise. This prevents the

muscle tissue from breaking down as much

as it otherwise would.

You also need pre-exercise carbohy-

drates to ensure you’ll have enough energy

during your workout. Without this type of

fuel, your muscles could break down the

amino acids in your muscles for energy.

The perfect preworkout meal: Make a

small shake with juice or fruit, milk,

yogurt, and/or a scoop of protein powder.

Fat and fiber slow digestion, so limit them

before a workout.

7 AND EAT AFTER YOU LIFT. After a work-

out, you want to wolf down some mus-

cle chow containing both carbohydrates and

protein. This is the one time of day when

you benefit from eating fast-acting, easily

digestible carbohydrates, such as white

bread, instant rice, and baked potatoes.

Here’s why: After exercise, your muscles

are more sensitive to insulin. Insulin is the

rapid-transit system for the protein and

carbohydrates your muscles need for

growth, repair, and fuel. And the faster you

digest the carbohydrates you eat, the faster

your body can put them to use.

The best postexercise meal: Try a shake

made with a meal-replacement powder con-

taining protein and a fast-moving carbohy-

drate like maltodextrin. Or try the shake

described in tip 6; it works after exercise,

too.

8 BE A NUTRITIONAL BOY SCOUT. You’re

going to get hungry every 2 to 3 hours,

guaranteed. So be prepared. If you know

you’re going to be away from decent food,

take some healthy snacks with you. Nuts

and dried fruit are clean and compact, and

require no special preparation or refrigera-

tion. If you need to pack something more

meal-like, try a peanut-butter-and-jelly

sandwich on whole grain bread. Drop

apples in hand’s reach everywhere you go;

if you make it through one a day, the pectin

will keep you too full to crave anything

really awful.

9 EAT BEFORE BED. If you’re trying to

build muscle while losing weight, you

may need some food right before sleep to

keep your body from breaking down muscle

tissue as you snooze. Planning this snack

will help you resist the temptation to

inhale chocolate fudge cake at midnight.

If you’re trying to gain weight, your

bedtime snack will help you maximize

muscle growth.

In either case, limit this snack to about

500 calories. A half cup of ice cream with

some nuts and fruit is a nice way to end

the day. Don’t make this snack too high in

protein, though; that can kick your brain

into overdrive, creating intense dreams and

waking you up.

10 TAKE NOTES. We’ve hit you with a

lot of math here—500 calories of

this, 0.82 grams of that. All of which is

meaningless unless you know how much

you actually consume.

For 1 day, try this: Measure everything

you eat. That’s right, pull out a measuring

cup and see how much cereal you actually

eat, count the slices or weigh the turkey

breast you put on your sandwich, add up

the bananas and dried apricots and Kit Kat

bars.

Now write it all down, and calculate the

total. We all know what we eat, but most of

us have no idea how much.

m e n s h e a l t h . co m 39

T H E L AW S O F L E A N N E S S

38 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS

Drop Pounds Fast...andKeep Them OffTHE TRICK TO WEIGHT LOSS IS KEEPING ITOFF. HERE’S HOW TO MASTER THAT TRICK

The following program will help make

you a big loser in the only place

where you want to be one: your

waistline. And when you’ve dropped so

much weight that you’re finally satisfied,

you’ll be able to keep it off, because there’s

nothing here you can’t keep doing for the

rest of your life.

THE BEST WAY TO MEASURE YOUR FAT-BURNING SUCCESS

Muscle vs. fat. As you’ve noticed by now,

a scale is a lousy way to measure your

progress if it’s the only tool you use. This

is because it can’t distinguish between fat

and muscle. To fix that problem, science

has invented almost as many ways to meas-

ure body composition—the amount of fat

on your body in relation to muscle, bone,

and vital organs—as humans have invented

to become fat. Here’s the simplest method

to determine weight loss progress:

1. Measure your waist.

2. Measure your neck.

3. Subtract your neck size from your

waist size.

Repeat this calculation every 4 weeks.

If the number is going down—if your waist

is getting smaller relative to your neck—

you’re losing fat. If it’s going in the oppo-

site direction, you need to beef up your

workouts and slow down your fork.

HOW MUCH FOOD YOU NEED

1. Your weight in pounds: _______

2. Basic calorie needs. Multiply line 1 by 11: ________ x 11 = ______

3. Physical activity. Multiply line 2 by 20% if you currently getno exercise, 30% for light exercise (2 hours a day on yourfeet), 40% for moderate exercise every day, or 50% for intenseexercise 3 or 4 days a week: _________ x ________% = _______

4. Your daily calorie needs. Add line 2 and line 3: ________ +________ = ____

5. Subtract 500 (so you can lose 1 pound a week). The result isyour ideal daily calorie intake: _______ - 500 = ________

Caloriessaved

INSTEAD OF EATING DRY... EAT WET...

Breakfast Quantity ED Quantity ED

Bacon 5 slices 5.0 Ham 1 oz 1.8 131

Bagel w/straw- 1 bagel 2.8 Low-fat yogurt 6 oz 1.0 189berry jam w/strawberries

Lunch Quantity ED Quantity ED

Beef bologna 3 oz bologna 3.1 Tuna fish 3 oz tuna 1.1 175 w/light mayo (packed in water) on whole w/light mayo on wheat bread whole wheat

bread

Double 1 sandwich 2.9 Steak wrap 1 wrap 2.1 264 cheeseburger w/vegetables

Dinner Quantity ED Quantity EDCheese ravioli 2 1⁄2 c 3.2 Lasagna w/meat 1 serving 1.6 334

(3 1⁄2"x 4")

Hamburger 1 medium-size 2.7 Meat loaf 3 oz 1.9 78

Hot dogs 2 dogs 3.2 Pork chop 3 oz 2.0 111

Desserts Quantity ED Quantity EDCheesecake 1 slice 3.2 Vanilla ice cream 6 oz (3⁄4 c) 2.0 58

Chocolate cake 4 oz 3.7 Chocolate 4 oz 1.1 265 pudding

Chocolate-fudge 3 3.5 Frozen fudge bar 1 bar 1.4 128 cookies

Snacks Quantity ED Quantity EDPotato chips 3 oz 5.4 Potato salad 3 oz 1.3 340

Raisins 1⁄4 c 3.0 Grapes 1⁄2 c 0.7 81

Salami, beef 3 slices 2.6 Shrimp 12 1.0 115

There's a secret ingredient in food. In the right amounts, it possesses the power to help you lose weight asyou eat—water! According to Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., author of Volumetrics, no matter what you eat, you

take in roughly the same amount day in and day out. So while equal amounts of any food will fill you up, “wetfood”—food with a high water content—will do it with fewer calories. The more water in a food, the less roomthere is for calories, and the lower the energy density (ED)

This doesn't mean you should go on a diet of watermelon, watercress, and water chestnuts. It means eatingthe right real food, the same food that Adam Drewnowski, Ph.D., director of the nutrition sciences program atthe University of Washington, picked for the substitutions below. Eat enough to save 500 calories a day, andyou'll lose a pound a week.

You can also use the method of dividing calories by weight in grams to determine ED. An ED of 0 to 2.5 is good(eat as much as you want); an ED of 2.6 to 6.0 means the food is “dry” (eat sparingly.)

GIVE YOUR FOOD THE “WET TEST”

really no forbidden foods.

Still, you don’t want a dietary indiscre-

tion to end in a love handle. The secret:

Plan your indulgences. You’ve already cal-

culated how many calories and how much

fat you should eat in a day, so if you know

you’re going to crave a candy bar at 4 p.m.

each workday, calculate it into your daily

fat budget. Can’t go a week without pizza?

Plan on it, and simply eat fewer calories in

your other meals that day.

Fiber is your friend. Fiber plays an impor-

tant role in weight management. Here are

three reasons to eat fiber-rich foods:

■ They generally take longer to chew,

meaning you’ll eat more slowly and proba-

bly eat less.

■ They take longer to digest, which

means more time will pass before you feel

hungry.

■ They soak up surrounding water like

a sponge, making you feel fuller.

Try taking in 25 to 35 grams of fiber a

day, which you can easily do with a few sim-

ple tweaks to your meal choices. Let’s say

your normal lunch fare is a turkey sandwich

on a roll and a few pretzels on the side.

Change that to a turkey sandwich on whole

grain or rye bread, and trade the pretzels for

an apple, and you’ve increased your fiber

intake from 3 grams to 7.

Another easy fix is to keep frozen or

canned vegetables around the house and

add them as side dishes to whatever you’re

having for dinner. For example, frozen broc-

coli has 2.3 grams of fiber in a half-cup

serving; 1⁄2 cup of red kidney beans has

8 grams.

Many of us believe only fresh vegeta-

bles are good for us, but that’s a myth. The

bottom line is that fresh, canned and frozen

foods are fairly comparable, and the latter

two are certainly much more convenient

and are easier to store than fresh vegeta-

bles. Sauté frozen or canned varieties in a

teaspoon of olive oil (don’t forget to count

the 4.5 grams of fat in your daily budget),

and they’ll even taste good.

A few other ways to eat more fiber:

■ Have soup for lunch. A bowl of lentil

or split-pea soup contains 5 to 6 grams of

fiber.

■ Snack on peanuts or sunflower

seeds. A quarter-cup of either contains

between 2 and 3 grams of fiber.

■ Eat Raisin Bran (8 grams per cup),

Bran Flakes (about 6 grams), or All-Bran (an

intestine-scrubbing 9.7 grams per half-cup)

for breakfast.

■ Finish lunch or dinner with a pear

(4 grams of fiber), an orange (3 grams), or a

kiwi (21⁄2 grams).

EXERCISING BETTER Integrate circuits. To most men, circuit

training—moving quickly from one exercise

to the next with very little rest in

between—is the misbegotten offspring of

weight lifting and aerobic exercise. It’s not

as good as either of those forms of exercise

for building muscle or strengthening your

heart, so why bother?

Because for weight loss, circuits are

hot. You’ll incinerate calories, add some

muscle, gain strength, and do all this faster

than with traditional weight lifting or car-

diovascular exercise alone. One more bene-

fit: “Because of the intensity and then the

volume of repetitions, you’ll improve mus-

cular definition. In essence, you’re going to

get cut,” says Vern Gambetta, a condition-

ing coach in Sarasota, FL, who often trains

Olympic and pro athletes using circuits 3

days a week and interval runs 3 days a

week.

Train in stages. Most of us find a

m e n s h e a l t h . co m 41

T H E L AW S O F L E A N N E S S

THE EASIEST WAY TOLOSE A POUND A WEEK

Let’s say you’re a 200-pound guy who

walks for a half-hour a day at a moderate

pace. You do the preceding calculations and

realize you can eat 3,080 calories a day and

not get any fatter. If you cut 500 calories

daily, you can still eat 2,580 calories a day—

a decent amount of food for a regular

guy—and lose a pound a week.

Calculating every calorie you take in

isn’t easy, but it is useful. Make a list of all

the foods you eat in a day, then figure out

40 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS

YOUR FAT BUDGET

1. Your ideal daily calorie intake (from line 5 in the box “How Much Food You Need,” on pg. 38): _______

2. Multiply line 1 by your desired percentage of fat calories(.2 for 20 percent, .3 for 30 percent): _______ x ______ =_______

3. Divide by 9 (the number of calories in a fat gram). This isyour daily fat budget, in grams: _______ ÷ 9 = _________

EATING SMARTEREat when you want. If you’re trying to lose

weight, you’re usually told to eat five or six

small meals a day instead of three big ones.

But hell, you aren’t a blue jay. A study in

the Journal of the American Dietetic Associa-

tion reported that people had the most

trouble sticking with a diet plan when they

were told to increase or decrease meal fre-

quency. Just see what works best for you.

Try three squares one day, six little bites

the next. Whatever makes you feel fuller

is the one to follow. It’s possible to lose

weight no matter how often you eat or

when you eat. What matters is how much

you eat.

Practice safe snacking. Everybody slips

up. Pick the leanest guy you know, and one

thing is 99.99 percent certain: He eats

something that’s “bad” for him. The truth is

that nobody is on full calorie alert every day

of his life, and nobody should be. There are

the number of calories they contain using

these resources:

■ Food labels. If you eat at home most

of the time, you can find most of your

information here.

■ Restaurant Web sites. Many chains

have nutrition information on the Internet

(www.mcdonalds.com, for example).

■ The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s(USDA) Web site. Almost any food you

can think of will be listed here. Go to:

www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp

workout that works for a month and stick

with it for the next 17 years. But a muscle

that’s asked to do the same thing over and

over again will eventually use fewer fibers

to do the job, according to a study in the

Journal of Applied Physiology. So let’s say

you bench-press every time you train, and

you always use 135 pounds, and you always

do three sets of 10 repetitions. At first,

your muscles will respond the way you

want them to—by getting bigger and

stronger. But eventually they’ll get used to

the routine and start using less and less

muscle mass to do the same thing.

That’s why serious athletes constantly

change their workouts over the course of a

year. To become faster and stronger, they

change the exercises they do, the amount of

weight they lift, how many sets and repeti-

tions they perform, and how much rest

they take between sets. They change every-

thing they can to make sure that their mus-

cles never grow so accustomed to exercise

that they stop responding to it.

If you look at weight loss as an athletic

event—you are, after all, trying to change

the way your body looks and performs—it

follows that you should frequently change

the way you exercise, focusing on one goal

for a while (building muscle, say), then

another (burning fat), until your body does

what you want it to.

42 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS

EAT MORE, LOSE MORE

Here’s the typical weight-loss formula: Eat less. It works for awhile—2.4 days, to be exact. The key to weight loss isn’t

depriving yourself all the time; it’s eating the foods that’ll keep you full. Start here:

■ ADD FAT. Just make sure it’s the monounsaturated type; it mayhelp keep you from overdoing it at the taco bar later. Penn StateUniversity researchers have found that men who ate mashed potatoes prepared with oil high in monounsaturated fat (like oliveoil) felt fuller longer than when they ate potatoes made with oilsrich in polyunsaturates (like vegetable oil). Use olive oil as saladdressing, or have a peanut-butter sandwich at lunch.

■ ADD SNACKS. But they should be foods with a low glycemic index, meaning they won’t cause your insulin levels to spike andyour hunger to follow. Try low-fat chocolate milk, peanuts, or low-fat yogurt.

■ ADD CARBOHYDRATES. If you eat a lunch that’s rich in carbohy-drates, your body will release serotonin, a feel-good chemical. Butin a couple of hours, those levels will drop—and you’ll be morelikely to binge. Try light popcorn to keep your serotonin levels even.

99HealthSecretsYOU CAN’TLIVEWITHOUT

SpecialPOWER REPORT

I f you want to make something last,

you’ve got to act now. We talked to

dozens of experts and found the simplest

ways to prolong the life of some irreplace-

able items, like your lungs, your surging

libido, and most important, your memory—

so you can remember these tips. Here are

the best ways to get the most out of...

Your hair. From rap groups to aging

businessmen, more guys are dyeing and

highlighting their hair. But this can lead to

a shiny bald head, says Zoe Draelos, M.D.,

a clinical associate professor of dermatol-

ogy at Wake Forest University School of

Medicine. The key to dyeing your hair

safely? “Stay away from products that

lighten more than three shades.” This

weakens hair shafts. Most important, never

dye and perm your hair on the same day,

and always leave at least 10 days between

these procedures, Dr. Draelos says.

Your muscle. Men naturally lose muscle as

they age. But, surprisingly, the key to hang-

ing on to what you have is doing less, not

more. Taking adequate time for recovery is

more important as you reach 40 and beyond,

experts say. Instead of taking 1 day off

between gym sessions, you may need 2. That

will help your muscles repair themselves and

stay strong. Too much work, and you’ll just

continue to tear down muscle fibers.

Your sex life. If you tend to shoot first

and ask questions later—like “Why does

this always happen to me?”—a 2003 study

at the University of Barcelona may have the

answer. Researchers looked at 80 men with

a history of premature ejaculation and found

that when the participants took 90 mg of

University in Boston found that a diet rich in

these foods improved short-term memory.

Your hearing. Your chronically sore back

may be responsible for your poor hearing.

There’s evidence that taking too many anti-

inflammatory drugs can cause hearing loss,

especially for those with existing problems.

“Some of the drugs that can cause hearing

loss or tinnitus are the most common

headache medications, such as ibuprofen

and aspirin,” says Thomas J. Balkany, M.D.,

chairman of the department of otolaryngol-

ogy at the University of Miami Ear Insti-

tute. Take acetaminophen instead, but eat

something with it so it won’t bother your

stomach.

Your lungs. Take up the harmonica.

Therapists use it for people with lung dis-

ease and breathing problems. The gentle

inhaling and exhaling required to make

music works the chest muscles and may

help keep air passageways clear of debris.

Your shoulder. There’s a reason you don’t

see many fastball pitchers or star quarter-

backs over the age of 40. The rotator cuff,

the small band of muscles in your shoulder

that allows you to rotate your shoulder to

throw, is easily injured. While a young,

healthy cuff is highly resistant to tears and

degeneration, age and disuse turn it brittle.

Worse, if you tear just one muscle fiber

there, it can act like a pulled thread in a

sweater, leading to damage in the rest of the

cuff. Our advice: Strengthen your rotator

cuff so you can play catch with your grand-

kids. Here’s a good exercise to do just that:

Lie facedown on a bed. Put your left arm out

at shoulder level with your elbow bent to

90 degrees and your lower arm dangling over

the side of the bed. Keep your elbow bent,

and slowly raise your left hand to shoulder

level. Lower the hand slowly. Repeat until

your arm is tired. Then switch arms.

A morning erection. Because its purpose

is to nourish your penis with oxygen-rich

blood, a morning erection isn’t there to

help you have sex. So it tends to wilt once

you get going. To give your pal a fighting

chance, engage in foreplay for at least

10 minutes before pressing it into action,

says Laurence Levine, M.D., director of

male sexual function and fertility services

at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical

Center in Chicago.

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9 9 H E A LT H S E C R E T S YO U C A N ’ T L I V E W I T H O U T

Make It All LastALL GOOD STUFF MUST COME TO AN END?NOT IF WE HAVE A SAY

8 Signs You’re a Healthy GuyONLY 1 MAN IN 100 CAN PASS THIS TEST. ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?

specimen possessing rare genetic gifts. We

may have you stuffed for posterity.

You have extremely high cholesterol.About 432,000 men die of heart disease

every year—nearly one and a half times the

tally killed by cancer. “But if you have an

HDL (high-density lipoprotein—the good

stuff) count of 90 mg/dl or more, you have

very little worry of developing heart

Ask a man if he’s healthy, and he’ll

say, “Sure.” And he’ll say it even if

there’s blood coming out of both

ears. But ask a dozen physicians to define

exactly what it means to be in “excellent

health” (like we did), and they’ll give you

this important checklist. If you can check

off all eight of these qualities, then you’re

more than a good guy—you’re a physical

Prozac weekly, their problems were either

cured or improved. Ask your doctor about it.

Your arteries. Load up on grapefruit,

carrots, apples, oranges, and other foods

containing the fiber pectin. It’s even better

at lowering cholesterol and keeping your

arteries free of fatty plaque than the

roughage you get from breakfast cereal.

Your back. Make sure your shoes and

orthotics have enough stability. Stand in

them with your toes pointing forward. Now

bend your knees 30 degrees, and imagine a

line from the center of each kneecap

straight down to the floor. (If you have

trouble eyeing it, make a plumb line by

tying a bolt to a piece of string and dan-

gling it.) If your shoes offer the proper

motion control, the line should land

between your big toe and second toe on

each foot. That means you’ll be properly

centered when your feet hit the ground,

and your feet will be less likely to roll to

the inside or outside, causing injury. If you

don’t pass the test, you’ll need new shoes

or orthotics, says Lewis Maharam, M.D., a

sports-medicine specialist in New York.

Your waistline. Shorten your rests

between sets in the weight room to 60 sec-

onds. Lifting faster stimulates the produc-

tion of growth hormone, which, in addition

to building muscle, siphons lard from your

fat cells, says William J. Kraemer, Ph.D.,

director of the human performance labora-

tory at Ball State University. So you get a big

chest and a slim waist from the same work-

out. (That’s what your boss calls “synergy.”)

Your memory. Eat blueberries, strawber-

ries, and spinach. An animal study at Tufts

disease or arteriosclerosis,” says E. Randy

Eckert, M.D., a pathologist and medical

director at North Austin Medical Center in

Texas. “You have an ample supply of HDL

to keep your arteries clean, so you should

never develop significant blockages.”

Research bears this out: A study that fol-

lowed 8,586 Israeli men for 21 years found

that those with the highest HDL cholesterol

levels were least likely to die of strokes.

To increase your HDL cholesterol lev-

els, you need to exercise at a moderate

intensity for about 20 minutes at least four

times a week, and drop at least 5 pounds

from your gut. A normal HDL score is

about 40 mg/dl; your goal is to at least

double that.

You have an athlete’s heart. Your heart

will beat a fixed number of times before it

shuts down. So you don’t blow your quota

by age 50, you need to keep your resting

heart rate below 60 beats per minute, says

Thomas Graboys, M.D., a cardiologist at the

Harvard medical school. Find your resting

rate by taking your pulse in the morning

while you’re still in bed; multiply the beats

in 15 seconds by four.

“Exercising at moderate intensities for

long periods will lower your resting heart

rate over time,” explains the appropriately

named Dale Huff, R.D., C.S.C.S., of the

American College of Exercise. The weekly

prescription: at least four 40-minute aero-

bic workouts. To maintain an effective

workout pace, use a heart-rate monitor or

keep varying your intensity. For example,

run, bike, or row slowly for 3 minutes, then

go all out for 1 minute.

You can answer “yes” to two careerquestions: 1. Do you look forward to going

to work? 2. Do you look forward to going

home in the afternoon? “After being in

practice for 30 years, I’ve learned that if you

can answer ‘yes’ to both of these questions,

you have a very low risk of dying of a heart

attack or any other heart-related problem,”

says Dr. Graboys.

You have a PSA score less than 2.5nanograms per milliliter. That number indi-

cates not only a very low risk of prostate

cancer, but also a low risk of the PSA pro-

gressing above 4 ng/ml (the danger level)

within the next 4 years, says William

Catalona, M.D., a prostate-cancer specialist

and professor of urology at the Washington

University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Eating key nutrients can help lower

your PSA count, says Dr. Catalona. He

spikes his daily diet with the following

four nutrients: 10 milligrams of lycopene,

500 milligrams of vitamin C, 200 micro-

grams of selenium, and 200 international

units of vitamin E.

You have two close male friends. Those

two people can’t be current coworkers,

neighbors, hitchhikers, or anyone who you

know only as “the guy who’s always at the

end of the bar.” If you pass this test and

you’re over 35, it means you have far

healthier social ties—and a better chance at

living longer—than two-thirds of all men,

says Dru Sherrod, Ph.D., a Los Angeles psy-

chologist who studies the impact of male

friendship. Passing this test means you

don’t base all your friendships on the foam

pillars of convenience, geography, or a job—

the mistakes that lead most men to be

friendless by their 40s. Instead, you work to

maintain friendships based on common

interests and compatibility.

You can ejaculate a teaspoon of semen (5 milliliters) or up to a tablespoon on a particu-larly good day. That’s the quota you nailed at

age 20. If your prostate is healthy, you

should still be able to hit it at age 50,

according to Dr. Catalona.

You can walk 2 miles in 28 minutes.Anybody can run a mile in 10 or 12 minutes;

the more out of shape you are, the more

hours you’ll spend wheezing afterward.

Maintaining a vigorous walking pace for a

longer period of time is actually a better

measure of your fitness. According to

Swedish researchers, a fit 40-year-old

man should be able to walk 2 miles in under

30 minutes, says Dr. Graboys. If you can

cover that ground in under 28 minutes,

you’re in excellent shape.

You have balanced strength. Most men

overdo pushing exercises like bench presses

and squats, so it’s rare to find a man with

balanced muscular strength. To have good

muscle harmony, you should have a 1:1

strength ratio for your biceps and triceps.

That means if you can curl a 50-pound bar-

bell 10 times, you should be able to do tri-

ceps pushdowns with 50 pounds for 10

reps—no fewer or more. As for your legs,

your quadriceps and hamstrings should

have a 3:2 strength ratio. If you can do 10

leg curls with 65 pounds, you should be

able to do exactly 10 leg presses with 100

pounds. If this quick test shows that you

have uneven strength, change your workout.

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9 9 H E A LT H S E C R E T S YO U C A N ’ T L I V E W I T H O U T

Add Years to Your LifeNO MATTER WHAT YOUR AGE, YOU CAN CHEAT DEATH BY DAYS,MONTHS...EVEN YEARS

Biologists estimate that the human

body has the potential to last 120

years, and how you live determines

75 percent of how far you go.

To help you bank an extra decade or

two, we’ve rounded up research on dozens

of ways to live longer, along with how many

years each fix might carry. The more of

these steps you take, the greater the chance

that you’ll be alive and well at the turn of

the twenty-second century.

TAKE IN 300 MILLIGRAMS OF VITAMIN CEVERY DAY Add: 5.5 years Research from the

UCLA school of public health indicates that

men with high vitamin C intakes live longer

than men with low intakes. A 35-year-old

man who takes in 300 milligrams (mg) or

more of C a day has a life expectancy 5.5

years longer than a man whose daily intake

is less than 50 mg. Vitamin C may not get

all the credit—high intake is often a sign of

healthy habits—but getting enough C from

fruits, vegetables, and supplements is defi-

nitely a smart move.

KEEP YOUR CHOLESTEROL BELOW 200Add: 4 years Whatever it takes—diet, exer-

cise, drugs—drop your total cholesterol

below two bills. Bringing down moderately

high cholesterol (up to 239) will buy you an

extra 6 months, according to research. And

if your level is in the 300-plus range, drop-

ping down to 200 can extend your life by

more than 4 years.

BURN 300 EXTRA CALORIES A DAY Add: 2

or 3 years An impressive number of animal

studies show that decreasing calorie intake

by one-third can lower cholesterol levels

and increase life spans by a third or more.

Though researchers aren’t sure whether

two-thirds the food translates into 20 or 30

more years in humans, there’s an easy way

to buy yourself at least a few more healthy,

active years, says Elizabeth Somer, R.D.,

author of Age-Proof Your Body. “If a man

usually consumes 3,000 calories a day, he can

either cut back to 2,700 or increase his exer-

cise by 300 calories a day. He’ll get the same

calorie deficit, but actually see more health

benefits with the exercise,” Somer says.

HAVE YOUR COLON CHECKED Add: 2 to 3

years The male tendency to avoid doctors

may be one reason women live longer.

Keeping that doctor’s appointment can be

the key to preventing death from a variety

of causes, including colon cancer. A study

tabulated that getting screened for the

disease can help you live 2 to 3 years longer.

Your screening should include an annual

fecal occult blood test starting at age

50 (earlier if you have a family history of

colon cancer), a flexible sigmoidoscopy

every 5 years, and a colonoscopy every 10.

TREAT YOUR ULCER Add: 2.3 years If you

have stomach pain, having it checked could

be a life-extending strategy. According to a

study published in the American Journal of

Gastoenterology, curing your ulcer adds 2.3

years to your life. Antibiotics (which kill

the H. pylori bacteria that cause many

ulcers) and acid-blockers can handle the

problem.

KEEP THE BOTTOM NUMBER OF YOURBLOOD-PRESSURE READING BELOW 80Add: 2.4 years Taking steps to lower your

blood pressure can add years to your life. If

your diastolic (bottom number) reading is

90 to 95, reducing it to 80 can gain you up

to 2.4 years.

GO TO CHURCH TWICE A WEEK Add: 7 to 14

years A study reported in Demography found

that whites who attended religious services

more than once a week lived an average of 7

years longer than whites who didn’t attend

services at all; among blacks, the figure was

14 years. The churchgoers’ lower rates of

smoking and drinking certainly account for

some of this gain, but their strong social

ties and other behavioral factors may also

play a role, says Robert A. Hummer, Ph.D.,

a sociologist at the University of Texas at

Austin.

EAT MEAT NO MORE THAN THREE TIMES AWEEK Add: up to 9 years Replacing some of

the meat in your diet with soy, other

legumes, and beans can increase your life

expectancy by up to 13 percent. “You don’t

necessarily have to give up meat entirely to

see a benefit,” says Somer. “Just increase

your intake of beans and legumes, then

limit your meat intake to 3 or 4 ounces, two

or three times a week.”

HAVE SEX AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE Add:

Uh, does it really matter? There seems to be

a “dose-response” relationship between

orgasms and heart problems—the more sex

you have, the less heart disease you’ll suf-

fer. Researchers who studied sexual activity

and mortality in a group of 918 men found

that those who had the most sex had half

the risk of death from heart disease of their

less stimulated counterparts.

STOP BEING SO HARD ON YOURSELF Add:

2 years Hey, Mr. Negative! Lighten up! Men

who think the worst of themselves may be

headed for early graves, according to a Uni-

versity of Michigan study. Researchers

found that men who saw every personal

setback as a catastrophe had a 25 percent

greater risk of death and died an average of

2 years earlier than men who addressed

their failures more positively.

GET YOUR OLD BODY BACK Add: up to

1.7 years According to a study published

in the New England Journal of Medicine, a

35-year-old who’s up to 30 percent heavier

than his healthy weight can live 8 months

longer simply by slimming down to normal

proportions. If you’re more than 30 percent

heavier than you should be, you could gain

an additional 20 months. Extra weight

increases your risk of heart attack, cancer,

and diabetes, just to name a few.

NEVER WEAR PANTS Add: 5 to 10 years A

Scottish neuropsychologist who has studied

more than 1,000 eccentrics (subjects include

a man who rappels from buildings while

dressed as a pink elephant, and a fellow

who built a lectern on his rooftop so he

could sermonize to his sheep) found they

live 5 to 10 years longer than more-normal

people. One reason: They’re unencumbered

by the usual stupid worries that so-called

normal people obsess over.

STOP WHINING ABOUT YOUR DESK JOBAdd: 2.6 years That springwater delivery

dude may be turning female heads in the

office, but don’t envy him if you’re a white-

collar guy. According to one analysis, pro-

fessional men live up to 2.6 years longer

than average, while unskilled laborers live

4.6 years less than average. Of course, there

are some exceptions...

GIVE UP YOUR DREAMS OF ATTENDINGDENTAL SCHOOL IN JAPAN Add: 1.3 years An

analysis of 560 death certificates of Tokyo

dentists found that, on average, their lives

were 1.3 years shorter than the general

population’s.

CUT BACK TO A SIX-PACK A WEEK Add:

2 to 3 years Government researchers have

estimated that a moderate level of drinking

(one to two drinks per day) could increase

an individual’s life expectancy by 3 percent.

(For most guys, that’s 2 to 3 years.)

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9 9 H E A LT H S E C R E T S YO U C A N ’ T L I V E W I T H O U T

PIG-OUT PROTECTION

Did you know that eating a single fatty meal may temporarilyboost your risk of having a heart attack or stroke? In a Danish

study, researchers found that 18 healthy men produced about 60 percent more blood-clotting agents after they ate meals withabout 55 grams of fat. However, a study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine suggests that taking 1,000 milligrams(mg) of vitamin C and 800 mg of vitamin E before you eat a high-fatmeal—like a cheese omelette, burger, or steak—may reduce yourchances of having a heart attack.

Men who took these powerful antioxidants before they splurged on McDonald’s chow (they ate an Egg McMuffin, a Sausage McMuffin,and two hash browns—for a total of 800 calories and 43 g fat) main-tained normal blood-vessel function compared with the men whoskipped the supplements. If you’d rather not carry pills, eat foods rich in vitamins C (strawberries, melon) and E (nuts, oils) beforehand.“The lower dosages of the vitamins found in food may still have a protective effect,” says study author Gary D. Plotnick, M.D.

Today your doctor handed you a

brochure titled “So You Have High

Cholesterol.” While it’s not the best

news that you’ve ever gotten, there’s no

need to panic. In fact, you possess three

powerful weapons that can turn that news

around: your knife, your fork, and your

feet. Get ready to take action!

YOUR GAME PLAN“There’s compelling evidence that diet and

exercise have the potential to significantly

lower cholesterol levels—and, consequently,

lower heart disease rates,” confirms John C.

LaRosa, M.D., president of SUNY Down-

state Medical Center in Brooklyn.

Here’s how to start on the road to lower

cholesterol: Begin by studying the choles-

terol-busting eating plans listed below.

These low-fat, plant-based diets can lower

your cholesterol 10 to 40 percent in just

3 weeks—studies prove it. Based on an

average total cholesterol of 250, that can

work out to between 25 and 100 points!

1. THE VEGETARIAN DIET LOWER YOUR CHOLESTEROL BY ASMUCH AS 40 PERCENT IN 21 DAYS

The Science: Vegetarians have lower

cholesterol levels and lower rates of heart

disease than meat eaters. What’s more,

meat eaters who go low-fat vegetarian often

see their blood cholesterol levels plummet

dramatically.

Part of the vegetarian diet’s choles-

terol-shrinking power comes from fiber.

The average vegetarian gets 50 to 100%

more fiber and up to 50% less dietary cho-

lesterol than meat eaters. A vegetarian diet

is also brimming with vitamins C and E and

beta-carotene, and phytochemicals such as

flavonoids, all of which help keep choles-

terol from stopping up your arteries, says

Dean Ornish, M.D., president and director

of the Preventive Medicine Research Insti-

tute in Sausalito, CA.

The Plan: Aim for six or more servings

of whole grains; three or more servings of

dark, leafy greens; two to four servings of

dark yellow and citrus fruits; two to four

servings of beans, peas, or egg whites; and

one or two servings of nonfat milk, cheese,

or yogurt each day, advises Dr. Ornish.

He also advocates reducing dietary fat to

10% of total calories—a recommendation

that’s a bit harsh for a lot of guys. Shoot

for 25%, then see how you respond. If your

cholesterol comes down sufficiently, that

may be all you need to do. Keep in mind,

though, that to get your cholesterol down

100 points, you’ll probably need to hit that

10% mark, not just come close. Dr. Ornish’s

program is so effective that even by coming

close, you’ll still lower your cholesterol—

just not as much.

Most people are surprised to learn that

vegetarians consume as much or more iron

than meat eaters. The catch is that the iron

in plants is less well absorbed than that in

meat. To make sure that you get enough,

eat high-iron foods such as legumes along

with vitamin C, which helps the body

absorb iron. Vegan diets—no meat, eggs, or

dairy—are low in vitamin B12 however, so

Cut Your CholesterolLOWER YOUR LEVELS AND IMPROVE YOUR LIFE

CUT YOURCholesterolLEVELBY 100 PTS. INJUST 21 DAYS

SpecialPOWER REPORT

m e n s h e a l t h . co m 51

professor of nutritional biochemistry at

Cornell University and an expert on the

links between diet and cancer who has done

extensive studies on the Asian diet.

The Plan: Load your plate with rice,

whole grains, noodles, and flatbreads. Top

them with vegetables—bok choy, bean

sprouts, black beans, bamboo shoots—and

fish. Milk and milk products aren’t part of

the traditional Asian diet; use low-fat vari-

eties sparingly. You can also have 4 ounces

of lean meat once a week. Since you’ll have

little milk in this diet, take a supplement

with calcium and vitamin D.

The Food: Fill your kitchen with brown

rice, whole grains, noodles, vegetables, and

fish. Stock up on standard Asian condi-

ments such as low-sodium soy sauce,

ginger, and chiles. More exotic Asian fla-

vorings include lemongrass, tamarind, and

turmeric, available in upscale grocery stores

or Asian food stores. They’ll add flavor

without fat or calories.

3. THE LOW-GLYCEMIC DIET

RAISE YOUR GOOD CHOLESTEROL BY ASMUCH AS 20 PERCENT IN 21 DAYS

The Science: Although we need more

research to confirm this, a study has found

that people who eat the most foods with a

low glycemic index—that is, foods that

promote a slow, steady rise in blood sugar

after a meal, rather than a rapid spike—

have much higher levels of HDL, the good

cholesterol. In another study, women who

ate the most low-glycemic foods had high

enough HDL levels to lower their risk of

heart disease by 29 percent. Another bonus:

These demonstrate that such diets also

lower total cholesterol and blood fats called

triglycerides, another risk factor for heart

disease.

The Plan: Highly refined foods have a

high glycemic index, while fiber-rich foods

such as fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole

grains tend to have lower values. So ditch

the refined foods, and load your plate with

natural grains and produce.

The Food: Start with the basics: coarse

whole grain wheat, sprouted wheat, or

whole grain rye bread; high-bran cereals

such as All-Bran or Fiber One; whole grains

such as bulgur and barley (not usually

available as a whole grain but still chock-

full of fiber); and fruits and vegetables.

Avoid products made with refined grains,

such as white bread or bagels, sugary

desserts (even low-fat selections), rice

cakes, and puffed or flaked cereals—all of

which are rapidly converted to glucose. A

few fruits and vegetables—pineapple,

raisins and other dried fruits, watermelon,

carrots, baked potatoes, and winter

squash—are high-glycemic foods. We don’t

recommend cutting them completely out of

your diet, however. With this eating plan,

no fruit or vegetable is off-limits unless

you eat too much of it.

m e n s h e a l t h . co m 53

C H O L E S T E R O L : C U T YO U R L E V E L

talk to your doctor about whether you need

to take a daily supplement or eat a bowl of

Total cereal (which contains 100% of your

Daily Value [DV] for B12).

The Food: Think of the produce section

as home plate. Along with everyday

favorites such as tomatoes, broccoli, car-

rots, and potatoes, treat yourself to jicama,

mango, mustard and other greens, and

portobello and shiitake mushrooms. Stock

up on canned and dried beans, from adzukis

to white; condiments such as flavored

vinegars, mustards, curry pastes, and

chutneys; and hearty whole grains such

as quinoa, bulgur, cracked wheat, and

buckwheat (kasha).

52 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS

2. THE ASIAN DIET LOWER YOUR CHOLESTEROL BY AS MUCH AS 40 PERCENT IN 21 DAYS

The Science: The Asian diet—shorthand

for the traditional diets of China, Japan,

and neighboring South Korea, India, Thai-

land, and other Pacific Rim countries—has

been called the healthiest in the world.

And no wonder: Research on 6,500 people

in rural mainland China shows that they

consume half as much fat and three times

as much fiber, and that their meat con-

sumption is 1⁄10 that of the U.S.

Not surprisingly, their mean choles-

terol level is 127 milligrams per deciliter

(mg/dl), compared to our 203 mg/dl. The

kicker: Compared to the U.S., their rates of

death from heart disease are almost 17

times less for men and 6 times less for

women.

“If all Americans ate like this, we could

prevent 80 to 90 percent of all chronic

degenerative diseases, including heart

disease,” says T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.,

DOUBLE YOUR DROP

It’s long been known that exercise helps boost levels of the goodHDL cholesterol, while chasing the bad LDL out of your blood-

stream. But here’s a new reason to work out regularly: Teaming exercise with a low-fat diet can double LDL reduction.

Researchers at Stanford University randomly assigned 370 peopleto four groups. The first group exercised, the second consumed alow-fat diet, the third consumed a low-fat diet and exercised, and the fourth did nothing at all. After 1 year, the diet/exercise group hadlowered their LDL cholesterol about twice as much as the group whoonly cut fat—15 points compared to 7 for women, and 20 pointscompared to 11 for men.

Aim for 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least three times aweek, which is the same amount as the people in the study, saysJohn C. LaRosa, M.D., president of SUNY Downstate Medical Centerin Brooklyn. Or walk 2 miles a day.

54 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS

Natural Cholesterol Busters That Work

We live in the age of statins, choles-terol-lowering drugs such as

lovastatin (Mevacor) and simvastatin(Zocor) that are proven to reduce cho-lesterol by 25 to 40 percent. But beforeyou ask for a prescription, talk to yourdoctor about whether the followingproducts could do just as well for you:

■ MARGARINE. Lowering your choles-terol may now be as easy as eatingyour morning toast, when you use mar-garine spreads that can drop your badblood fats. One, Benecol, lowered totalcholesterol by 10 percent and bad LDLcholesterol by 14 percent in clinicalstudies. Participants ate just 1 1⁄2 tea-spoons three times a day. Another cho-lesterol-busting spread, Take Control,was found to help lower LDL levels byan average of 7 to 10 percent.

■ PHYTOSTEROL SUPPLEMENTS.Phytosterols, the magic ingredient inBenecol and Take Control, are nowavailable in supplements. According toDavid Kritchevsky, Ph.D., an expert onphytosterols at the Wistar Institute inPhiladelphia, there’s every reason tobelieve that these products should bejust as effective as the spreads. Phytos-terol studies show that 1.5 to 3.3 g aday is the most effective dosage. Dividethe total dose among all your meals.It’s generally recommended that youtake supplements 30 minutes before ameal to allow time for tablets to dis-solve. Because phytosterols may lowerlevels of fat-soluble nutrients such asbeta-carotene, eat lots of fruit and veg-gies to compensate. Two phytosterol

products are Natrol Beta Sitosterol andKholesterol Blocker.

■ LIPOGUARD. In a month-long studyof LipoGuard, 40 men and women withcholesterol or triglycerides higher than200 saw their cholesterol levels dropan average of 11 percent, their LDL lev-els drop 10 percent, and their triglyc-erides drop a sharp 34 percent. If youhave a bleeding disorder such as hemo-philia or are taking other medicationssuch as aspirin or even lots of vitaminE (800 IU or greater daily), consultyour doctor before using this product.

■ NIACIN. Also known as nicotinicacid or vitamin B3, niacin has beenshown to reduce LDL cholesterol by 10to 20 percent, reduce triglycerides by20 to 50 percent, and raise beneficialHDL cholesterol by 15 to 35 percent.Take niacin only under a doctor’ssupervision. The recommended dose of2 to 3 g can have serious, though rare,side effects.

■ SOLUBLE FIBER. About 15 g of solu-ble fiber a day lowers LDL cholesterol 5 to 10 percent by binding cholesterol-containing bile acids in the intestineand excreting them. Can’t stomach thatmuch fiber? Take soluble fiber supple-ments with meals—along with plenty ofliquid. Three rounded tablespoons ofMetamucil provides 7 g of soluble fibera day. Three 10-oz drinks of Fiber Plan(by Shaklee) taken daily provide 15 g ofsoluble fiber. In a study, those 15 gramsa day lowered LDL levels by 10.5 per-cent in 6 months.

BULLET-PROOFYourProstate

SpecialPOWER REPORT

rich in vegetables and fruits has been linked

to lower cancer risk in many studies. But

did you know that eating the right kinds of

fats may be just as important as avoiding

the wrong kinds?

“People whose diets are rich in omega-3

fatty acids have a lower risk of prostate

cancer,” says Dr. Gaynor. Omega-3s belong

in a category called polyunsaturated fats,

which seem to protect the prostate. You can

find omega-3s in cold-water fish such as

salmon, mackerel, halibut, and tuna.

Load up on lycopene. Soy and green tea

may not be found in the typical American

kitchen, but the cancer-fighter lycopene

comes in one of the most familiar vegetables

of all: tomatoes. “Lycopene is the pigment

that gives tomatoes their color,” says Dr.

Gaynor, “and we think it’s the main factor in

studies that show reduced cancer risk.”

One such study found that men who

ate 10 or more servings of tomato products

a week had a 45 percent lower chance of

developing prostate cancer.

Take your vitamins. The impact of vitamin

E on prostate cancer risk was illustrated by

a study published in 1998. Researchers from

the National Cancer Institute studied

29,000 men in Finland and found that those

who took vitamin E (about 50 international

units [IU] per day) reduced their prostate

cancer risk by one-third. The mineral sele-

nium gained attention as a prostate-cancer

fighter when researchers found that the rate

of prostate cancer was reduced by more

than half in men who took 200 micrograms

(mcg) per day. Both nutrients can be diffi-

cult to get in a healthy diet, but supple-

ments are easy to find. (Note: It’s best not

to exceed 200 mcg per day of selenium.)

2. GET YOUR EXERCISE Experts aren’t sure why exercising seems to

help prevent cancer. At least part of the

reason may be because it prevents obesity,

which is a risk factor for prostate cancer

(possibly because it’s associated with hor-

mone changes thought to play a role in

cancer development). A number of stud-

ies—though not all—have found that more

active men have a lower rate of prostate

cancer than sedentary ones. One reason,

suggests Dr. Gaynor, is that “aerobic exer-

cise has been linked to changes in the

immune system that we know suppress

cancer.”

How much should you exercise? “We

know that men who exercise regularly, at

least three or four times a week, do have

lower rates of prostate cancer,” says Dr.

Gaynor. Try to accumulate 30 minutes of

moderate-intensity activity a day at least

5 days a week.

3. CONSIDER GETTING TESTED

There are two tests for prostate cancer.

One is the well-known digital rectal exam

(DRE), in which the doctor inserts his fin-

ger into the rectum to feel the prostate for

abnormalities. Sounds terrible, but other

than being a little embarrassing and

uncomfortable, it isn’t. The other is the

prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, a

blood test that detects abnormal levels of

an enzyme produced by the prostate gland.

The PSA test detects most cancer cases

about 5 to 10 years before DRE. However, a

2002 study at the University of Texas found

that the DRE can sometimes detect prostate

cancer earlier than PSA, because PSA read-

ings can "miss" physical detectable cancers;

so the current wisdom is that men must

have both.

The rationale behind screening for

prostate cancer is the same as it is for other

I f you’re like most guys, you think of

prostate cancer as that proverbial

snake in the grass. You know it’s lying

in wait for you. And if you live long

enough, it’ll get you. So you shrug and say,

“Well, whaddya gonna do?”

There’s plenty you can do. Prostate

cancer isn’t an inevitable consequence of

aging. And a fatalistic attitude could just

turn out to be fatal. Here’s what you need

to know—and do—to keep prostate cancer

out of your future.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY One in six men will hear the words “you

have prostate cancer” in his lifetime. It’s

the most common cancer diagnosed in men

and the second most common cause of can-

cer death in men (after lung cancer).

The prostate gland is the walnut-size

male sex gland that surrounds the urethra

(the tube that carries urine to the bladder)

and produces the liquid portion of semen.

What makes it so vulnerable to cancer is

that it’s a very active organ. Your prostate

cells divide frequently, and every time a cell

divides, there’s a chance something will go

wrong—that a mutation will occur, starting

a process that turns normal cells cancerous.

Experts believe that cells must be

exposed to at least five mutations—a

process that deregulates normal cell

growth—to trigger full-blown cancer.

Unfortunately, the older you get, the greater

the odds are that you’ve taken your five

“hits.” The average age at diagnosis is 70, and

the disease is very unusual in anyone under

50. You’re at increased risk if you have a

father or brother who’s had the disease—

perhaps because you’ve inherited one or two

mutations already. You’re also at an increased

risk if you are an African-American.

Though you can’t stop aging, and you

can’t change your race or your relatives,

research suggests that you can take steps to

interrupt the deadly sequence of events

that leads to prostate cancer. And you have

time on your side: Prostate cancer doesn’t

suddenly appear when you’re 50—it’s the

result of a multistep, decades-long process.

What if you’re too late to stop prostate

cancer from developing? Chances are,

you’re not too late to stop it from killing

you. “Preventive measures have been found

to improve survival and decrease your

chance of dying from prostate cancer,” says

Mitchell Gaynor, M.D., director of medical

oncology at Strang Cancer Prevention Cen-

ter in New York City and a coauthor of Dr.

Gaynor’s Cancer Prevention Program.

You have three basic lines of defense:

nutrition, exercise, and testing.

1. EAT THE RIGHT STUFF “Nutrition is the most overlooked aspect of

preventing prostate cancer,” says Dr.

Gaynor. And it may also be the most versa-

tile. Any man who’s willing to improve his

eating habits has a whole array of anticancer

weapons at his disposal. Here’s what to do.

Get some good fat. You probably already

know that a diet low in saturated fat and

56 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS m e n s h e a l t h . co m 57

B U L L E T- P R O O F YO U R P R O S TAT E

Guard against Every Guy’s Secret Fear CLOBBER YOUR RISK OF PROSTATE CANCER WITH THESE THREE LIFESAVING STRATEGIES

cancers: to catch it early so it can be treated

before it does too much damage. While that

makes intuitive sense, with prostate cancer,

it may not work that way.

Ongoing studies have not yet been

completed to determine if detecting

prostate cancer early actually translates to

saved lives. Because of the average age at

diagnosis and the slow-growing nature of

prostate cancer, it’s often called the cancer

you “die with, not of.” “Older men with

low-grade prostate cancer, particularly,

may die of natural causes before the cancer

gets them,” explains William Catalona,

M.D., a prostate-cancer specialist at the

Washington University School of Medicine

in St. Louis.

Most major medical organizations cur-

rently don’t recommend routine screening

largely because of the worry that it could

lead to treatment of prostate cancers that,

left alone, wouldn’t be dangerous.

58 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS

4 SYMPTOMS YOU SHOULDN’T IGNORE

Prostate cancer’s symptoms are mostly caused by the gland’sproximity to urinary plumbing. See your doctor if you experience

one or more of the following problems: ■ Difficult or frequent urination ■ Getting up frequently at night to urinate ■ Urgent urination during the day ■ Dribbling for several minutes after you finish urinating

Note that these warning signals can also be caused by a less seri-ous condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Likeprostate cancer, BPH can also raise blood levels of PSA and becomesmore common with age. But unlike cancer, BPH is not life threaten-ing. “We don’t really know why BPH occurs. It’s probably someimbalance of growth factors, but we’re not sure,” says William Catalona, M.D., a prostate-cancer specialist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Whatever its cause, BPH doesn’t seem to be a precursor of, or riskfactor for, prostate cancer. “It’s an independent condition,” heexplains. But since the symptoms are so similar, your doctor maywant to rule out cancer before he diagnoses BPH.

SpecialPOWER REPORT

DEFLATE YOURBloodPressure

mood, for better or worse, or have other

nondescript symptoms, it may be a clue as

to how well you’re controlling your blood

pressure.

Tape-record yourself sleeping. If you’ve

ever been accused of snoring, you may have

more than just an annoying sleep habit. You

may have a dangerous one. Many people,

especially men, have a disorder called sleep

apnea. It happens when the muscles in the

nose and throat relax to the point where

your air supply is cut off. Your night

becomes a long series of brief awakenings

during which you gasp for breath. When

you do, your blood pressure spikes, perhaps

because of the effect of frequent sleep

interruptions on the nervous system.

Studies suggest that this condition can

drive your blood pressure up 5 to 10 points,

says James Skatrud, M.D., professor and

section head of pulmonary and critical care

at the University of Wisconsin School of

Medicine. To tell if you have it, listen to a

tape of yourself snoring or have your part-

ner monitor your sleep. If the sound is a

steady snore-snore-snore, you’re probably

fine. But if it’s more like a series of gasps

(as you struggle for breath) followed by

periods of silence (as you fall back to

sleep), you need to address the problem.

Sleeping on your back may be one reason

for the apnea—this position allows the

relaxed tissues of the nose and throat to

close your upper airway. Alcohol (which

over-relaxes the muscles) and too much

extra weight are two other potential

reasons.

Try meditation. Recent studies have

shown that practicing transcendental medi-

tation for 15 minutes at a time can lower

blood pressure three or four points in

African-American teens whose readings

were high-normal (slightly above normal).

Transcendental meditation (TM) is a

technique for calming the body and mind.

Unlike some other forms of meditation, it

does not require concentration on some-

thing in particular; instead, practitioners sit

quietly, eyes closed, for about 15 minutes,

allowing the mind and body to naturally

settle.

Beware of hidden salt. Salt contains

sodium, a mineral that naturally draws fluid

out of your cells and into the bloodstream.

If you’re consistently eating too much salt,

you’re chronically flooding your blood-

stream with fluids. In some men, this can

push up the pressure.

Start reading the labels of your favorite

foods. Each teaspoon of salt you can elimi-

nate daily can yield a five-point drop in

your systolic reading. And just so you

know, a level teaspoon contains 2,400 mil-

ligrams of sodium—the maximum intake

suggested by the National Academy of

Sciences.

Buy a heart-rate monitor. Drop some

weight, and you’ll drop the points. It’s that

simple. And one of the best ways to do it is

through aerobic exercise: running, cycling,

stairclimbing, and the like. You can expect

to see your pressure drop as much as five

points for every 10 pounds you lose, doc-

tors estimate.

And aerobics help to do more than just

cut your weight. They also buff your heart

muscle. Like any muscle, the heart grows

bigger and stronger through exercise. This

allows it to pump more blood with each

beat, which means it needs to beat less

often and with less effort. And this means

less stress on your circulatory system.

To get the most benefit from an aerobic

workout, get yourself a heart-rate monitor.

The more time you spend with your heart

rate between 60 and 75 percent of your

L et’s say you’ve just been told your

blood pressure is “a little high.”

Maybe the word your doctor used to

describe your condition was “hyperten-

sion.” It sounds scary. It worries you.

You’ve got a couple of questions, not the

least of which is: What the hell does that

actually mean?

“Having hypertension doesn’t mean

you’re hypertense,” says Charles Tifft,

60 1 0 P O W E R R E P O R T S m e n s h e a l t h . co m 61

D E F L AT E YO U R B L O O D P R E S S U R E

How Low Can You Go?UNDERSTAND AND CONTROL YOUR NUMBERS

M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medi-

cine at the Boston University School of

Medicine. The “tension” actually refers to

the state of your arteries, which naturally

constrict and relax to accommodate the

flow of blood from your heart. Having high

blood pressure means your arteries can’t

fully relax, so your heart is pumping the

same amount of blood through a smaller

space. The resulting wear on your arteries

puts you at greater risk for heart disease

and stroke.

Monitor your mood. The medical commu-

nity calls hypertension “the silent killer”

because it’s frequently considered a symp-

tomless disease. But findings from a 4-year

study at the University of Minnesota sug-

gest that mildly elevated blood pressure

may send some signals. Researchers with

the Treatment of Mild Hypertension Study

put 900 people on one of five antihyper-

tensive drugs or a placebo and also pre-

scribed lifestyle changes. Those on drug

therapy showed steeper drops in pressure,

but even more interesting, those given the

placebo reported more of some symptoms

and side effects, including headaches, nau-

sea, muscle pain, trouble falling asleep, and

even mood changes.

“So, although we used to say that

hypertension was asymptomatic in most

people,” states Dr. Tifft, “there may be

subtle quality-of-life side effects that the

mild hypertensive has that physicians in

the past have pooh-poohed.” In other

words, if you notice a change in your

FIGURING OUT THE NUMBERS

Your blood-pressure reading consist of two numbers: The top one isthe systolic pressure; it measures how forcefully your heart pumps

blood. When it’s too high, your heart is working harder than it should.The bottom number is the diastolic pressure; it gauges the force ofblood flowing through your fully relaxed arteries between heartbeats.

Doctors regard both numbers in the reading with equal importance.A reading below 120 over 80 (depending on how old and how fit youare) is good. If you’re consistently coming in at or above 140 over 90,that qualifies you as being hypertensive.

m e n s h e a l t h . co m 63

P U T YO U R H E A RT I N T O A L L YO U D O

maximum (roughly 220 minus your age), the

more fat you’ll burn and the more powerful

your heart will grow. Spend 30 minutes in

your target zone three times a week and

you’ll escape the pressure in no time.

Almost instantly, in fact: After a bout of

intense exercise, your pressure may drop

and stay lower for a few hours. (Check with

your doctor before beginning any exercise

program if you have high blood pressure.)

Skip the pub crawls. Alcohol may make

you feel relaxed, but it gets your arteries

pretty uppity. Exactly how this happens

isn’t known, but drinking may stimulate

the kidneys to keep more salt and water in

the blood, or it may constrict your blood

vessels. “If you drink more than two drinks

a day, you raise your blood pressure,” says

Norman Kaplan, M.D., professor of internal

medicine in the hypertension division at

the University of Texas Southwestern Med-

ical School in Dallas. “And the more you

drink, the worse it gets.”

Donate your canned goods. And try stick-

ing to fresh foods, recommends Dr. Kaplan.

Canned and processed foods are often lack-

ing in important minerals such as potas-

sium (prevalent in fruits and vegetables

such as bananas, dried apricots, potatoes,

and beans), magnesium (available in bran),

and calcium (yogurt and other dairy prod-

ucts), all of which play a role in regulating

blood pressure. And while there’s no evi-

dence that taking mineral supplements will

lower high blood pressure, a deficiency in

any of these can cause a spike in some men.

Beware of saboteurs. Certain things can

sabotage the accuracy of your blood pres-

sure readings:

■ The drugstore machine you stick

your arm into may be off as much as

60 points, according to one study.

■ Exercise can make your pressure dip

temporarily, and that can give you a false

picture of your normal level. To get a more

accurate pressure reading, take it before,

not after, your morning run.

■ A single cup of coffee can lift your

blood pressure as much as five points, says

Thomas Pickering, M.D., a cardiologist at

the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Make sure you lay off the stuff for at least

2 hours before having your pressure

checked.

■ Eating too much natural licorice can

raise your numbers by 10 to 20 points.

■ “If you’re talking while you’re taking

your readings, your blood pressure could

go up a good 5 or 10 points,” says Dr.

Pickering.

62 1 0 P OW E R R E P O RTS

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