Men's Health June 2013

7 FRI Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, together again in The Internship, seeking employment at the Googleplex. Worth a shot; laughter lowers blood pressure. Saw it on Google. 8 SAT The French Open Women’s Singles Final is today. Speaking of clay, is there a more sculpted form than Maria Sharapova’s? Roger Federer hones your serve in this issue’s Freeze Frame. 9 SUN Two subversives share this birthday. Johnny Depp (50! He’s catching up to Keef) and Donald Duck. Don is 79—about 514 in duck years—and still waddles around pants less. Fine for waterfowl. For you, a perfect pair of shorts in this month’s Style department. 10 MON National Men’s Health Week begins today! All week long, the nationally syndicated health show The Doctors will scrutinize guys—including our editor, the very…

A FEW MONTHS AGO, MY 7-YEAR-OLD LOST HER IPOD AT DISNEY WORLD. THERE’S DEBATE IN MY HOUSE as to who exactly left it sitting on a bench at Magic Kingdom, so let me be clear: It wasn’t me. Still, I felt terrible—Taylor was crushed. I stoked her hope by saying that maybe, just maybe, a Good Samaritan would find it and contact us. But a week passed and nothing. One evening my 10-year-old daughter, Lindsay, came to me. “I want Taylor to have my old iPod,” she said. I was so proud. “Thank you, sweetie!” “I’ll sell it to you for $200.” Wha? “That’s fair,” she continued. “New ones are $300!” As a father, I knew exactly what I needed to do: tell my daughter, in no uncertain terms, that…

POWER UP YOUR PECS Plyometric pushups, which involve raising your hands off the floor between reps, target your fast-twitch muscle fibers, leading to gains in strength and size. But most guys can’t pull off 10 reps. So try doing them with your hands on a bench. This reduces your load and allows you to push harder. BJ Gaddour, C.S.C.S., creator, Men’s Health DeltaFIT DVD series; CEO, StreamFit.com BOLSTER YOUR BOND Creative dates can nourish your relationship: In a study from Australia, couples who made a habit of spending 90 minutes a week doing new and exciting things together improved their relationship satisfaction. Take turns picking novel activities to ensure you’re both stimulated. Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., M.P.H., codirector, Indiana University Center for Sexual Health Promotion HELP A FRIEND IN NEED In…

Fitness is a numbers game, but often the numbers are arbitrary, says Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S.*D., owner of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California, and coauthor of The New Rules of Lifting series. “For example, 30 seconds of work, then 30 seconds of rest. Where did that come from?” Instead, Cosgrove has his clients wear heart-rate monitors during workouts and uses the data to tailor the ideal mix of exercise and rest for them. “We have people work until their heart hits a certain rate—say, 80 percent of their max,” he says. “Then they rest until it drops to 60 percent.” This has helped his clients see results faster. “The more information you can bring together, the better you can fine-tune a workout.” KNOCK OUT STRESS Boxing “I used to be…

BRAIN HEALTH P. Murali Doraiswamy, M.D. David S. Liebeskind, M.D. CARDIOLOGY John Elefteriades, M.D. Prediman Krishan (P.K.) Shah, M.D. Eric J. Topol, M.D. DENTISTRY Mark S. Wolff, D.D.S., Ph.D. DERMATOLOGY Adnan Nasir, M.D., Ph.D. EMERGENCY MEDICINE Travis Stork, M.D. EXERCISE SCIENCE Alexander Koch, Ph.D., C.S.C.S. Mark Peterson, Ph.D., C.S.C.S.*D FAMILY MEDICINE Ted Epperly, M.D. GASTROENTEROLOGY Mark Welton, M.D. INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE James N. Dillard, M.D., D.C., L.Ac. MENTAL HEALTH Thomas Joiner, Ph.D. William Pollack, Ph.D. NUTRITION Alan Aragon, M.S. Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., F.A.C.N., F.A.S.N., C.N.S. OPHTHALMOLOGY Kimberly Cockerham, M.D., F.A.C.S. RELATIONSHIPS Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., M.P.H. SLEEP MEDICINE W. Christopher Winter, M.D. SPORTS MEDICINE Jordan D. Metzl, M.D. Nicholas A. DiNubile, M.D. TRAINING Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S.*D BJ Gaddour, C.S.C.S. Bill Hartman, P.T., C.S.C.S. David Jack UROLOGY Larry I. Lipshultz, M.D. Judd W.…

I want to jump rope for cardio. Can I do it without killing my knees? PHIL, TOLEDO, OH Remember: You’re not Rocky Balboa. Doing his one-foot hop is like having Apollo Creed and Drago pound your kneecaps. The keys to pain-free jumping: (1) Stand tall, (2) land on both feet, and (3) stick to brief spurts, says Bill Hartman, P.T., C.S.C.S., co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training. “Standing tall shifts more of the impact to your hips, which are able to bear more load than your knees can,” he says. “And landing on both feet spreads the impact to two places, not just one.” Another mistake that can lead to injury? “Jumping for too long or too often can overload the tendons in your knees,” Hartman says. For a…