Your Summer Six-Pack Meal Plan AUSTRALIAN
Denham Hitchcock
BUILD A BEACH BODY Your Gym-Free Muscle Guide
OCTOBER 2018 $9.50 NZ $9.99 INC GST
DROP 4 KGS O F FAT
In Just 4
Weeks!
CRUSH ANY VICE
Hack Your Will Power
RECLAIM YOUR MIND
Survive the New Age of Anxiety
SHOULD YOU GO VEGAN?
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WINNING FITNESS, HEALTH, NUTRITION AND SEX SECRETS
WORK IN YOUR UNDIES
Escape the 9-to-5 Grind
MAGZ_MH_1018
A LIMITED EDITION COLLABORATION WITH LEWIS HAMILTON #TOMMYXLEWIS TOMMY.COM
WESTFIELD SYDNEY CHADSTONE THE ICONIC
CONTENTS
10.18
Channel 7’s mild-mannered reporter Denham Hitchcock proves you don’t need a suit (or cape) to perform courageous deeds.
COVER GUY: DENHAM HITCHCOCK PHOTOGRAPHED BY JASON IERACE
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
MIND
p36 The Future You
Why facing up to your older, wrinklier self is a smart strategy.
p62 The End of Stigma
Step one to mental health is discussing your darkest thoughts.
FITNE SS
p32 Spar Wars
Boxing and MMA go toe-to-toe to see which belongs in your plan.
p103 Right Om
An ex NRL player on how yoga can boost your all-round athleticism.
NUTR ITION
p73 Summer Six-Pack
Follow the 10 rules of eating for a beach-ready core.
p78 The Big Bulk-Up
How much protein do you really need to start filling out your tee?
TACTICS
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Your Heart’s Best Friend How Fido can help you keep the big killers on a tight leash.
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p22 Grandstand Designs Crush Any Vice Porn, punting, booze – find out how to curb the addictions that ruin guys’ lives.
Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield on how to excel as a marked man.
p43 Work in your Undies Learn the tricks to pulling off the work-from-home fantasy.
MUSCLE
p50 Gym-Free Muscle No space is no excuse. Do this killer workout anywhere.
p109 Room to Grow
The three-move muscle-maker that will have you rowing for glory.
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On Song Ex boybander Ronan Keating on hitting the high notes of personal style.
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A-Z of Macros Your no-fuss guide to balancing protein, carbs and fat for a fitter physique. October 2018
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E D I T O R’S L E T T E R
FAIRWAY TO
LUKE BENEDICTUS Editor
HEAVEN At Men’s Health our mission is simple: we set out to give men the tools they need to lead better lives. We want to help you take control of the most complicated issues in your life. Your relationships. Your careers. Your waistlines. But I’ve realised that philosophy is skewed in a particular direction. To put it bluntly, we focus on life not death. Should the Grim Reaper make a cameo appearance it’s either in a story about dodging his sinister embrace or in a flip headline (Live To 100 And Die Having Sex!). All of which makes the story on p84, Fear: A User’s Guide, especially important. In the feature, golfer Jarrod Lyle details his battle with leukemia. He’d twice beaten the cancer already, in 1998 as a teenager and again in 2012, before showing remarkable grit to return to professional golf. But last year he suffered a recurrence. When writer Matt Cleary spoke to Jarrod, he was undergoing his third round of cancer treatment. He was only 36 and the married father of two little girls. Jarrod talks openly about life in the last-chance saloon. He reveals how he strives to stay positive, the value of not bottling things up, and his determination to keep on fighting for the sake of his wife and kids. Sadly, last month, Jarrod died. In the office, we agonised over whether to run his story. But eventually we decided to include it. We made that call because the bravery displayed in that interview demonstrates exactly the sort of man that Jarrod was. He stared down his fears with dignity and calm. He lived the best life he could with the hand he was dealt. Ernest Hemingway famously described courage as “grace under pressure”. It’s a quality that Jarrod Lyle had in spades.
BEN JHOTY Deputy Editor DANIEL WILLIAMS Associate Editor DAVID ASHFORD Creative Director JASON LEE Deputy Art Director KATE FRASER Head Of Pictures – Fashion and Health ALEX DALRYMPLE Multimedia Content Producer CHARLOTTE DALZIEL Digital Content Manager – Health SCOTT HENDERSON Associate Digital Editor ALEX PIEROTTI Digital Content Editor CHIEF BRABON Fitness Director JEFF LACK Style Editor KATE NIVEN Grooming Writer
CLARISSA WILSON
Head of Health JESS LAY
Brand Partnerships Manager
KATHY GLAVAS
Marketing Director – Health COURTENAY RAMAN
Marketing Manager – Health
SARAH HARRIGAN
PAUL KING
Group Brand Manager – Beauty & Health
Production Manager
KAYLA CHAPMAN
Print Operations Coordinator
HARRY PARSONS
Group Subscriptions Manager
Brand Executive – Fashion & Health
Advertising Coordinator – Beauty, Fashion & Health
SAM MAGUIRE
JEREMY SUTTON
GEREURD ROBERTS Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Magazines MYCHELLE VANDERBURG Retail Sales and Group Marketing Director NICOLE BENCE Commercial Strategy & Solutions Director DEAN PORTER Operations Director
RICHARD DORMENT
Editor in Chief, Men’s Health US SIMON HORNE
Luke Benedictus
KIM ST. CLAIR BODDEN
SVP/Editorial & Brand Director CHLOE O’BRIEN
SVP/Managing Director Asia Pacific & Russia
Deputy Brands Director
RICHARD BEAN
Executive Director, Content Services
Director of International Licensing and Business Development
Twitter: @LukeBenedictus [email protected]
HANNAH DEVEREUX
Director of Corporate Communications
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Pacific Magazines, Media City, 8 Central Avenue, Eveleigh, NSW 2015 Phone: (02) 9394 2000 Fax: (02) 9394 2319 Subscription enquiries: 1300 668 118 Printing Bluestar Web, 83 Derby Street, Silverwater NSW 2128. Distribution Gordon & Gotch. Published 12 times a year. Registered business name Pacific Magazines Pty Ltd, (ABN) 16 097 410 896. All rights reserved. Title and trademark Men’s Health © Rodale Press. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission. Men’s Health is a registered trademark and the unauthorised use of this trademark is strictly prohibited.
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Image from the private collection of Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich Tim Robards wears a custom made tuxedo jacket now available instore and online Photographer: Bayleigh Vedelago
CALIBRE.COM. AU
@CALIBREAUSTRALIA
ASK MH
THE BIG QUESTION
I get most of my vitamins from pills. Will this do me any harm? ED
While your faith in science is admirable, it would be nonetheless naive to suppose that we have reached the stage at which food is interchangeable with tablets. However, it appears that you are not alone – recent reports show almost half of us take vitamins daily, with sales now outstripping that of painkillers. What you need to know is that there’s a very good reason they’re called “supplements”. Popping a multivitamin with your plate of chips is no replacement for a proper meal. Aside from their lack of dietary fibre, kilojoules and fats, synthetic nutrients are not utilised by your body quite so easily as those from wholefoods. “Some pills disintegrate too slowly for your body to fully absorb the vitamins,” says nutritionist James White. However, using tablets as a daily top-up can be a sensible strategy. “I see supplementation as an insurance policy,” says White. “They’re a nutritional safety net for when you run into natural deficiencies – vitamin D, for example, can often be hard to obtain through food and sunlight alone.” So, if your diet isn’t measuring up, keep popping (only as recommended, though). Just consider taking a detour to the meds via the fruit-and-veg aisle.
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WHAT SUPP?
Trade in all-purpose multivitamins and zone in on the supplements your lifestyle requires
FOR RESTLESS SLEEPERS
Magnesium For sounder shut-eye, you need to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. A magnesium tablet before bed will ensure you rest easy.
FOR HARD TRAINERS
Vitamins A & D Heavy lifting can weaken your immune system, so counteract this with cod liver oil, an all-in-one hit that’s a great source of both.
FOR STRESSED WORKERS
A MEAL IS MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS.
Rhodiola This medicinal herb is an adaptogen that adjusts to your body’s needs. If your levels of the stress hormone cortisol are too high, it will crush them.
ANCIENT SOLUTION TO A MODERN PROBLEM I don’t really understand football. Should I just pretend to? AB
To know is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge. Socrates (the Greek philosopher, not the Brazilian footballer)
AM I NORMAL?
Why can’t I go anywhere without my headphones? BW
TEXT A CHEF I’ve been working late and haven’t eaten yet. What’s the best thing I can pick up from Woolworths past dinner time? It depends. Have you done any training today? Not today, though I do go to the gym most days. Your muscles won’t need tons of fuel tonight. Try pre-cooked salmon on beans and a bag of veg. Add sweet chilli sauce if you think you’ll need extra carbs for tomorrow’s session. What should I be picking on training days, then? Again, it depends. A weights session requires more protein and carbs for repair than a jog. It’s usually an hour of weights, occasionally just a quick run. On strength days, a chicken pasta salad. For cardio, a threeegg Spanish omelette. Sorted! Toral Sha, nutritional scientist & chef
If you suffer a meltdown every time you leave your noisecancellers at home, there could be many reasons for your separation anxiety. Perhaps you’re sensitive to background noise, or just find other people irritating. Most likely, you’ve become addicted to the mental stimulation from your smart device. But boredom has its benefits: “Focusing all your attention on what’s coming through your headphones gives your mind no space to wander,” says sports psychologist Victor Thompson. “Over time, this lack of headspace hinders both memory and problem-solving.” Neuroimaging scans show that our brains are more active when we’re daydreaming than when we’re focused on a task. Plus, Einstein claimed his best ideas came to him on his daily walk – and he wasn’t plugged into a podcast, was he?
CHANGE OF TUNE ON THE COMMUTE
UNCHAIN FROM THE MELODY AND BEAT DISTRACTION.
Switching up your habits has its benefits
Don’t connect straight away – spend 10 minutes writing down everything that’s on your mind. It cuts stress and raises productivity by 25 per cent.
AT THE GYM
Do one music-free workout a week. If you feel demotivated by the lack of beats, do timed intervals for extra drive.
HITTING THE HAY
Good podcasts will only keep you up. If you struggle to nod off, try an app that plays white noise or Sleep With Me, a bedtime podcast for real insomniacs.
TS October 2018
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MAXIMISING LIFE’S GREATEST LUXURY
PHOTOGRAPHY: ROWAN FEE
PIP YOUR CARDIO RIVALS TO THE POST
AT THIS TIME OF YEAR, you can’t move for bogus ‘superfoods’ crowding the supermarket aisles. Whether it’s another wonder grain of the ancients, a lesser-known cruciferous variety or just blueberries again, the abundance of rehashed PR health claims can often crowd out the new and far more interesting discoveries of genuine science. Exhibit A: the pomegranate seed. While the juice of the fruit has already soaked up its fair share of hype, work at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne has found that pomegranate seeds contain a molecule that improves a cell’s ability to recycle its mitochondria – its battery pack, in effect. They tested their findings by feeding mice a serum loaded with this substance and monitoring the rodents’ endurance while running. The subjects supplemented with pomegranate seed displayed a 42 per cent improvement in stamina – which, we are sure you’ll agree, is a pretty sweet result. Human trials are scheduled, of course. But while you wait for official rubber-stamping, a little selfexperimentation couldn’t hurt. Taking a minute to sprinkle a few pips on your quinoa breakfast bowl is a simple way to make a good food better – and possibly plant the seed of a new PB.
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SECONDS TO ADD STAMINA TO YOUR BREAKFAST BOWL October 2018
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THERE’S NO TOPPING A CHEESE PIZZA WHEN IT COMES TO SUPERFOODS.
02 DAYS TO SLICE YOUR CANCER RISK WITH A STUFFED CRUST
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SOMETIMES IT’S BEST to stick to what you know. In their search for the next food-as-medicine superstar, researchers at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmaceutical Research in Milan chose to investigate . . . pizza. Incredibly, they found that a bi-weekly feast of the Italian staple can reduce your risk of developing cancer of the oesophagus by 59 per cent, mouth cancer by 34 per cent and colon cancer by 26 per cent. This was attributed to the antioxidant lycopene, found in the tomato base. The health benefits of lycopene have been served up in these pages many times before, but it’s when it’s enjoyed on top of your Margherita that the science gets really tasty. It turns out that eating lycopene-
slathered food that also contains plenty of fat – here in the form of your pizza’s mozzarella topping and your stuffed crust – significantly increases the antioxidant’s potency. As lycopene is fat soluble, all of that unctuous cheese helps you to absorb more cancer-fighting goodness with every mouthful. The health benefits don’t stop there. Oregano, a common seasoning on pizza, possesses antibacterial as well as antiinflammatory properties. According to researchers at Long Island University, its effects on cancer cells are an equal match to those of a super-spice like turmeric. Layer it all together on a crispy base and you’ve got exactly what the doctor ordered. Dr Oetker, presumably.
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THERMOS.COM.AU
03
MINUTES TO PRUNE ANXIETY LEVELS IN YOUR BACK GARDEN
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FOR THOSE UNIMPRESSED by the rise of veganism, we have unearthed groundbreaking research. There is an alternative plant-based lifestyle with equally impressive health benefits. According to a study conducted at Chiba University in Japan, the simple act of looking at flowers can result in an improved mood, simultaneously lowering your blood pressure and heart rate. Gazing at red roses for three minutes was found to decrease concentrations of oxyhaemoglobin in the prefrontal cortex of your brain. This suppresses your “fight or flight” response, significantly increasing your feelings of happiness and calm. With the latest figures suggesting that 1 in 5 Australians will suffer from a mental-health problem over the next 12 months – and that the toll this takes on your life expectancy is equal to that of a cigarette habit – this is all the more reason to spend the spring months wielding secateurs. And it’s worth reaching for your trowel, rake and hoe while you’re at it. According to separate research by the University of Pittsburgh, aspiring Jamie Duries not only have significantly lower levels of anxiety compared to others their age, but they also have half the risk of developing dementia. The scientists found this particular form of lowintensity exercise was enough to boost brain volume in areas associated with memory and cognition. Now, where did we put those gardening gloves?
HAVE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH COMING UP ROSES.
TAKE SOME COLD COMFORT IN THIS EVOLUTIONARY HACK.
AUSTRALIA HAS BECOME a nation of insomniacs. Sleep trouble is among the most common medical complaints today – studies show that around a third of adults suffer from insomnia, the most probable cause being stress. This has resulted in an epidemic of sleeping pill usage. The latest government figures show just under one million Australians had been prescribed a PBS-subsidised sedative. But there’s a natural way to rest easier: you just need to hack into your evolutionary biology. During your evening ablutions, plunge your face into a sink of icy water and hold it there for half a minute. According to the Swedishborn scientist Per Scholander and his team at the University of California, San Diego, this triggers an
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involuntary phenomenon called the “mammalian dive reflex”, which lowers your heart rate and blood pressure. The falling heart rate is a response that is thought to have evolved to allow us to survive underwater for longer – the slower our heart rate, the less oxygen we use, and the longer we can stay submerged. And though you may be safely on dry land, the plummeting heart rate sinks your levels of cortisol and calms your nervous system – which, when you come up for air, will allow you to drift off to sleep more easily. So, if you feel like you’re sinking at work from exhaustion, add this simple tweak to your pre-bed routine and pull the plug on insomnia. Lights out.
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SECONDS TO PUT WORK STRESS AND INSOMNIA ON ICE
Advantage+
THE TOOLS YOU NEED TO STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME
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A+ TACTICS
GRANDSTAND DESIGNS GEELONG SUPERSTAR PATRICK DANGERFIELD IS AMONG THE MOST HEAVILY TAGGED PLAYERS IN THE AFL. HERE HE REVEALS THE SECRETS TO PERFORMING WHEN THE HEAT IS ALWAYS ON BY BEN JHOTY // PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIAN KINGMA
STADIUM ROCKER: DANGERFIELD IS A FAN FAVOURITE AT ‘THE CATTERY’.
PATRICK DANGERFIELD shields his eyes from the sun as he sits among the empty seats of the Premiership Stand at Kardinia Park in Geelong. It’s an uncharacteristically brilliant midwinter morning in Victoria’s famously sleepy coastal town and the Cats star jokes about getting sunburnt over the roar of a tractor mower that’s creeping ritually up and down the field below. Dangerfield is in a suitably sunny mood although you suspect he’s the type of bloke who’s on the lookout for a self-effacing gag or a subtle dig. Partly this is deflection wrought from years humouring a football-hungry media, first in Adelaide and now here in Geelong. “I find if you answer things with a smile, people generally don’t go as hard as if you’re being serious,” he says. Partly it’s the influence of his club, which he says, boasts “a culture of piss-takers”. But mostly it’s just the way he is. “It’s sort of just my way. I like to have fun with things.” He certainly has plenty to smile about. A Brownlow medallist and five-time All Australian, ‘Danger’ made a successful switch to the Cats in 2016 after eight years in Adelaide. He now lives in the coastal hamlet of Moggs Creek, a leisurely hour’s drive down the Surf
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A+ TACTICS
Coast, in a house just 250m or a handful of torpedo punts, from the one he grew up in. When he’s not playing footy, he surfs, fishes for trout or chases around his 14-monthold George. It’s a good life . . . with a gaping hole in the middle. After three preliminary final losses Dangerfield eyes a premiership the way a seagull down on the town’s underrated pier stalks a family’s fish and chips. “It’s the success that you see one team achieve every season and everyone else misses out on,” he says. “I want a piece of that. Nothing else matters apart from that. It just doesn’t.” And just like that, as the roar of the mower fades into the distance, Patrick Dangerfield is no longer smiling.
FIND THE FIRE WITHIN As you walk around the outside of Kardinia Park you’re stopped in your tracks by a window cabinet housing a remarkable display of silverware. The Cats’ nine premiership cups stand in rows three abreast in classic forwardline formation. The most recent of those premierships, in 2007, 2009 and 2011, fill the bottom row, a testament to the juggernaut that terrorised the AFL during a glorious five-year stretch. A handful of players remains from those great sides – among them captain Joel Selwood, defensive stalwart Harry Taylor and another one you might have heard of, Gary Ablett Jr., who returned to the club this year. If Dangerfield needed any reminding of what he ROAR POWER: FEW CAN STOP DANGERFIELD IN FULL FLIGHT.
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MISSILE LAUNCH “Because I’m a power athlete, I like to stick to power moves,” Dangerfield says. “You want to make your weapons as good as they possibly can be.” Do the following moves to build explosive power and upper-body might.
2|| Inverted row
1|| Bench press
3|| Box jumps (Dangerfield does 137 cm)
or bench pull
4|| Power squats Do 4 sets x 6-8 reps
“External pressure can’t match what you put on yourself ” hopes to achieve it’s right here in this splendid window. “Whether it’s because I’ve got teammates that have been good enough to have won it all, nothing matches that motivation,” he says. “The challenge is, the finals are a very short window of time, then it’s one specific game. That’s when you find out what you’re really made of. The pressure gets turned up and you see who survives and thrives and who doesn’t.” Which is fine with Dangerfield. He’s always played like his next game could be his last. Go back to the 2016 season when he was the most talked about recruit in the competition. The hope among Cats supporters was that he could be the missing piece that would see the club return to premiership contention. Already among the most heavily tagged players in the league, going into that season no one in the AFL had a bigger cross on their back. His response in the face of such scrutiny couldn’t have been more emphatic. He won
the Brownlow, polling a then-record 35 votes and finished best on ground nine times, equalling the record set by Carlton great Greg Williams in 1994 and Nat Fyfe in 2015. “I think the key to being a good player is just to embrace that pressure rather than try and run from it,” he says of the hype that surrounded him that season. “Pressure is always there but I think external pressure will never match that which you put on yourself. That’s what separates the really good players. It’s not about what’s written in the Herald Sun, it’s about what you want to achieve.” So, what happens if he gets to the end of his career and hasn’t sipped from the premiership cup? “There would be an element of not being fulfilled,” he admits. “The individual stuff is great but it pales into insignificance when you can’t share it with anyone. The reason the feeling of winning is so great is because you get to share it with your teammates. You get to share the stories.”
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A+ TACTICS
MASTER YOUR DOMAINS A funny thing happened to Dangerfield earlier this year – he suffered a soft tissue injury. An exceedingly common injury in a game as explosive as the modern AFL, what made it unusual was that it was the midfielder’s first. Given his game relies on a fine balance of ballistic speed, strength and agility – he won the grand final sprint three years running and boasts a 100m PB of 10.84 – it was an astonishing streak. “It was quite bizarre,” he says of the injury. “It hurts the ego to be honest.” Jokes aside, he attributes his durability to solid genetics, reinforced by an intensive approach to training. “It’s training with the same intensity as you play because then it’s not a shock to the system when you set foot on the ground. Your body is adapted to play at that speed.” Even so, Dangerfield hopes to extend his prime by adjusting his game to his body’s capabilities. “Whether that’s picking and choosing the contests that you go to or reading the game better,” he says. “You might be a few
seconds quicker upstairs and although your body doesn’t quite match that, you might pick up cues better and be able to react earlier.” The insight demonstrates a craftsman’s working knowledge of both his game and his body, an impression underlined by the way he marshals his mental resources. Take his twin passions of fishing and surfing, two pursuits that transport him mentally, he says, albeit by quite distinct means. “With surfing the only thing you’re worried about is the next wave, whereas with fishing you enjoy the chase of trying to catch something.” They’re both lifelong passions. Indeed, it’s amazing how much Dangerfield’s life – footy, surfing and fishing in Moggs – resembles the one he enjoyed 20-odd years ago. But this finely calibrated, split-shift way of living is no accident. “It’s on purpose,” he confirms. “I think it’s crucial to elite performance. You’ve got to be able to take yourself away from being so entrenched in footy. There’s a time and a place for that. Early on in my career it
was just footy. Now it’s about living a more balanced lifestyle. It works for me.” It’s a rarefied form of the elusive work/life balance we’re all striving for. The key, Dangerfield says, is the clear demarcation between your two worlds. The cruisy beach retreat offered by Moggs means that when it does come time to focus on footy, he’s 100 per cent locked in. Perhaps that explains why this most easy-going of blokes rarely smiles on the field. “I think the biggest thing as an athlete is your attitude towards competition,” he says. “Never being satisfied with a result if it isn’t the one you really crave. Having the attitude that if you don’t play well your team won’t win. You’ve got to constantly keep yourself accountable to that. I think the best have this killer mentality that not everyone has.” A moment passes before the smile returns to his face but make no mistake, when it comes to footy, Patrick Dangerfield has it. Dangerfield is a Swisse ambassador
“The best have a killer mentality that not everyone has”
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A+ NUTRITION
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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN…
…I Become A Vegan?
The green-eating trend has grown threefold since 2006. But, despite the benefits, there are pitfalls beyond lost flavour. We weed out the facts
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PAIN AND GAIN
In your first few days, your morning gym sessions will likely be even less comfortable than usual. Cutting out dairy entirely can cause deficiencies that can lead to aches, pains and more potent DOMS. Thankfully, you can soften the blow by using a calciumenriched, plant-based milk in your post-pump shake. Most soy-based drinks contain 25mg calcium per 100ml, a level similar to cow’s milk.
PAUSE FOR THOUGHT
Vegans have a far higher fibre intake than the average omnivore – great news for your body aspirations. A diet of wholegrains, pulses and starchy vegetables is associated with improved gut health and satiety, which can help with weight loss. It’s also low in kilojoules, so you can target excess fat without eating less. Pile your plate high.
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TIRED & TESTED
Don’t let the women smiling at salad on Instagram fool you – the switch isn’t easy. The lack of red meat makes vegans more likely to be deficient in B vitamins and iron. This can lead to fatigue, headaches and even anaemia. However, both B vitamins and iron can easily be taken in pill form. For a more natural pick-me-up, include darker green veg, nuts or legumes in your breakfast.
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SUGAR
HUNGER GAMES
Come 3pm on your first meat- and dairy-free day, the dogma will begin to pay dividends. Vegans tend to have lower blood-sugar levels and almost 80 per cent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to omnivores. Meanwhile, plant protein tends to improve insulin regulation – meaning you’re less likely to reach for the (dairy-free) biscuit tin for a mid-afternoon boost.
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THERE’S FAR MORE TO A VEGAN DIET THAN EATING YOUR GREENS.
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SHELF LIFE
Loading up on fruit and veg will sustain you in the long term, too, reducing your risk of heart disease by 42 per cent*. Multiple studies show that vegan diets are also more effective at lowering your cholesterol levels than a typical Western diet. Plus, there’s evidence to suggest that veganism helps to ease arthritis**. Weigh it up.
WORDS: TOM WARD; ILLUSTRATION: PETER GRUNDY; *UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON; ** KAROLINSKA INSTITUTE
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TUNE INTO HBTV AS WE EMBARK ON A CULINARY JOURNEY OF NSW’S HAWKESBURY REGION, AND TRANSFORM A QUINTESSENTIALLY AUSSIE SHED INTO A WORLD-CLASS RESTAURANT
MEET THE LOCALS
FOLLOW THE RENO
SAMPLE THE PRODUCE
WATCH THE WEBISODES
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Her Power, Your Pleasure What a dominatrix can teach us about communication, consent – and desire BY HUDSY HAWN
Thirteen years ago, I was newly divorced and lonely, working days as a singer at Disneyland and spending nights with men from Craigslist. One time, I drove to a stranger’s house expecting a one-night stand. I wound up having my first experience with a “dominant”. I sought more information about BDSM (role-playing, bondage, domination and submission), first from books and then by making friends in the BDSM community. And through becoming a professional submissive, I learned about safety and graduated to dominatrix, or “domme”. Today, as reports of abuse and harassment emerge in the #MeToo movement, I realise BDSM taught me vital skills: how to communicate desires and how to better read and understand the giving or withholding of consent. Some news stories – like the one about the New York attorney general who suggested his “role-playing” excused his violence against women – give consensual kink a bad name. But the answer isn’t abstinence or inhibition; it’s openness and honesty. Whether you’re traditional, kinky or somewhere in between, the basic consent principles of BDSM can lead to healthy conversations and better sex. Don’t bury your desires – communicate them. 30
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TALK (AND WRITE) Want hotter sex? Ask what turns her on. This is BDSM 101—talk first.1 The benefit for you: giving a partner permission to be emotionally vulnerable and to share deep desires creates a space for your confessions, too.2 For each of my clients, I make a kinky spreadsheet – it includes all the agreed-upon fantasies, turn-ons and hard limits. And I keep
A+ SEX
words, right? In BDSM, they’re mandatory. Saying “stop” or “no” while playing can be confusing – those words might be part of your improvised script. For many people, saying “no” can be difficult, because we don’t want to hurt our partner’s feelings. Agreeing ahead of time on a word that will always mean “stop” allows you to say “no” even in the heat of the moment.3 I like the traffic-light system: red means “stop”; yellow means “slow down”; green means “more, please.” 4 Doing this builds trust, and trust means better sex.
PLAY! In BDSM, we use the word play. It’s not necessarily sex; it’s adult playtime.5 Genital sex is optional.6 One fond memory involves a boyfriend and spaghetti. I loved being at his feet as he served my dinner in a bowl by his chair. I knelt eating (good puppy!), and he stroked my hair and kissed pasta sauce off my messy face. You can art-direct your bedroom into a play space. Declutter. Set the mood with pillows, soft lighting, and a comfy room temp. Soundtrack? Music can be nice if it’s instrumental; lyrics can pull away your focus. (Spotify is full of tantric beats.) But I also love blindfolded silence. In that quiet darkness, my other senses come alive. The smell of his skin. His breath on my neck. The anticipation of what might happen next is all the ambience I need.
STAY THE COURSE
WALK IN HER SHOES
So you’ve reviewed your safe words and your dos and don’ts and agreed on your roles. You’re playing out a scene and she’s super turned-on. But then she asks you to do something you didn’t agree to. She’s begging for it, in fact. Stick to the script. You earn respect by standing your ground. Nothing makes me hotter than a man who controls his libido and follows the rules we set up. I’m putty in his hands. The universal takeaway: slow down!7
You can do that literally if it’s your thing. But what I mean is to try to understand your partner’s position. I also enjoy being submissive, and that’s made me a thoughtful dominant.11
A woman is like an oven: she needs time to warm up before she’s ready to cook. For all the emphasis on the physical, BDSM is really a mental game. For me, few things work better than tease and denial.8 A gradual, evolving intensity can be a huge turn-on.
DON’T JUST CLOCK OUT Even the most willing masochist needs to reset. That’s why we have “aftercare”. It’s like stretching after a workout. In my business, we watch for the “sub drop”, meaning a post-play depression sometimes felt by submissives. The endorphin rush drops so fast that you both need some soothing. Every couple should talk about what makes them feel good after playtime.9 It could be back rubs, hair caressing, cuddling or writing in a mutual diary. Just enjoy the post-sex bliss in each other’s arms. You can talk shop later. The next day, talk about what worked and what didn’t. Calls and texts provide helpful feedback.10
These days, it can only help you to learn to think like a woman. How? Submit to one. You may find submission freeing, a vacation from societal masculinity. I had a client once, a CEO, who called his weekly session with me his “spa visit”. He would call me Goddess, worship my feet and offer his back as a footstool. It gave him a much-needed break from being the boss. To an outsider, the dominant may appear in control, but it’s the submissive who holds the power. The sub agrees to, or rejects, any new ideas, and either party can stop everything with the mere mention of a safe word. When a sub hands over power to a dom, he or she does so willingly. Mutual trust is key, and benefits you both. If you want someone to submit to you, you have to show that person respect. That means you never push nonconsensual ideas. You give your partner what she wants, and to know what your partner wants, you have to ask.
1 “Most couples are more comfortable having sex than talking about it. That can lead to grey areas, where one partner may go along with an activity even if they’re not really into it.” – Patti Britton, sex coach 2 “Say, ‘There’s so much talk about consent lately, and it has me thinking about our sex life. I want to know if you’re interested in experimenting, because I am.’ ” – David Ortmann, therapist 3 “The easier you make it for her to say ‘no,’ the easier you make it for her to say ‘yes.’ I encourage my clients to say ‘thank you’ if they ever hear ‘no.’ It sounds weird, but it creates that sense of safety.” – Sarah Martin, executive director of the World Association of Sex Coaches 4 “Or come up with nonverbal signals – a caress on the shoulder could mean your partner needs a check-in.” – Martin 5 “If sex is starting to feel more like work than play, try this: set a timer for 15 minutes and fool around for just that long. This makes it easier to set aside daily worries so you can switch to a playful mind-set.” – Martin 6 “In sex, we can be very goal-oriented in reaching orgasm. In BDSM, the only goal is pleasure – shared mutual pleasure.” – Celina Criss, sex coach and BDSM practitioner 7 “Sex should always be savoured like a good meal.” – Ortmann 8 “As humans, we’re drawn to what we cannot have. Flirt. Be coy. Wear something she finds sexy.” – Ortmann 9 “Say, ‘How was that for you?’ ‘How are you feeling?’ Even better: ‘Is there anything else you’d like to do together?’ Do not say, ‘Did you come? How many times did you come?’ That can create negative pressure.” – Martin 10 “Negotiation is hot. You’re telling your lover what you want to do to them. All of that is foreplay.” – Criss
11 “I love having couples masturbate together to get an idea of how your partner likes to be touched. I’ve had men say, ‘Wow, she didn’t put her fingers inside her body at all!’ And women go, ‘Wow, I can’t believe the amount of pressure he uses!’ And it’s like a lightbulb goes off.” – Martin
Hudsy Hawn is a writer, sex educator, and BDSM coach in L.A. She founded fromvanillatokink.com October 2018
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A+ MUSCLE
SPAR WARS
In the ring this month are boxing and MMA, flexing their fat-burning and fitness wares to settle once and for all the schoolyard debate of which hits hardest. Touch gloves
MMA
BOXING
VS
$3m
$30m
The Irish fighter Conor McGregor won the UFC’s largest purse in his 2016 rematch with Nate Diaz. That’s more than $100,000 per minute
But boxing wins this round: McGregor bagged 10 times his MMA record for his 2017 mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather
While an hour spent grappling on the mats only burns up to 2090kJ, the isometric strength gains from holds and submissions make it a worthwhile pursuit nonetheless
2090
KILOJOULE BURN
3350 kJ
kJ
KNOCKOUT BLOW
Long billed as safer than boxing, the damage MMA inflicts is in reality equal, with a 15-year career leading to a 10 per cent loss in brain volume
If you’re looking for a way to take the fight to belly fat, a 60-minute boxing workout is hard to beat. The constant flurries of punch combos can knock out 3350kJ in an hour Up to 20 per cent of boxers develop neuropsychiatric damage. The repeated cerebral trauma can lead to “boxer’s dementia”, similar to Alzheimer’s
American Academy of Neurology
Deutsches Ärzteblatt International
FITNESS GAINS Quicker problem-solving
Animal flow mobility
Total-body weaponry
Boulder shoulders
SMACK TALK
“Who the fuck is that guy?” In just six words, the champ was able to demolish up-and-comer Jeremy Stephens. Forever
Rock-hard six-pack
Muhammad Ali
450 kg
HEAVY HITTERS
56
km/h
Boxers may be restricted to their fists, but transferring energy up through the legs and hips multiplies their force for sledgehammer impact at high speed
THE MH VERDICT: BOXING WINS!
Put both disciplines toe-to-toe in the Octagon and a boxer has no hope. But for body-goal enthusiasts concerned with burning kilojoules and honing ring-ready abs, boxing’s fitnessenhancing combination provides knockout power par excellence. Time to hit the heavy bag 32
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Combination coordination
“If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologise.” Ali’s one-liners made him the greatest of all time
Conor McGregor
A Muay Thai knee to the chest is the most devastating MMA move. A clean shot can exert a force of 450kg – the same as being involved in a car accident at over 50km/h
12-round endurance
WORDS: ED COOPER; PHOTOGRAPHY: LUCKY IF SHARP, GETTY
Grappling strength
A+ WHAT YOU ’LL GA I N
FITNESS
THE BEST EXERCISE YOU’RE NOT DOING
Drop Fat Fast & Roll Up For a 6-Pack WHEN TIME IS AGAINST YOU, GIVE THE ROLLING SQUAT A SPIN TO ADD NEW MOMENTUM TO YOUR SUMMER-BODY ASPIRATIONS
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SUMMER S IX-PAC K
Created by IYIKON from the Noun Project
GY M N AST ’ S BA LA N C E
+
+ B O DYW E I G HT EX P E RTI SE
G U T-BUSTI NG FAT BURN
START HERE
01
SIT BACK
But don’t relax. To start the rep, lift the dumbbells in front of you and draw your hips back into a half squat. Hold – this will activate every fibre for your first rep.
02 HOLD STEADY
To initiate the lower-body fat burn and the sixpack-sculpting core control, you need to take it slow. Lower over three seconds into a deep squat. Steady now.
03
ON A ROLL
Let gravity take over. As your glutes touch the mat, steadily roll back and brace your abs to keep the rep straight. Move the weights overhead to gather momentum.
04 LIFT OFF
Use the momentum to lift your legs above your head. Reverse the movement by crunching your abs and pressing up through the squat. Then keep on rollin’!
WORDS: WILL ROWLATT ALLEN; PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP HAYNES; MODEL @FAISALPMAFITNESS, THE PMA METHOD
AND HOW HAVE YOU come up from a winter’s comfort eating and cold-morning exercise avoidance? A little soft around the middle, perhaps? Luckily, we at MH have made it our mission to provide solutions to the annual conundrum of 11th-hour abs. To extinguish belly fat and fire up your core, you need to stop, drop and roll. As ever, superior form is the fast track to speedier results. “Lower under control to activate your larger leg muscles, and ensure that your core is engaged as you roll back and forth,” advises personal trainer James Stirling. Though it may look like a roly-poly, the stability needed in your trunk to keep the roll straight – combined with the supercharged crunch and dumbbell squat that round out each rep – will boost sixpack definition and stoke your metabolism. It’s far more entertaining than yet another plank, too. “This is best used as a HIIT finisher after every workout, because it requires minimal equipment and has an equally potent effect on your heart rate as on your core,” explains Stirling. Start with five rounds of 45 seconds’ work and 15 seconds’ rest, and target as many reps as possible. You’ll see the difference in good time for beach season.
+
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A+ MIND
THE FUTURE YOU
Your brain may say he’s a stranger. But he can be a powerful ally for making smarter decisions. Here’s how to get to know him better BY RON GERACI
THINK ABOUT YOU. You know, the guy who’s wearing your skin and living in your house. Now think about you 10 years from now. Although you didn’t feel it, your neurons fired differently when you conjured those thoughts. The first neural pattern would tell scientists: “I’m thinking about me.” But the second would likely signal: “I’m thinking about a stranger.” Psychologist Hal Hershfield and his colleagues noticed this phenomenon in 2008, when they measured the brain activity of university students as they thought about their current selves,
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their selves in ten years, and other people (Matt Damon and Natalie Portman, to be specific). Students in the last two groups exhibited brain patterns like those of people processing “other humans”. “Their brains considered their future selves to be strangers,” says Hershfield. Other research also suggests that people can feel very disconnected from their future selves. When you think of the Future You – even a month from now – you may regard him as someone entirely different. Indeed, a 2017 survey conducted by the forecasting firm Institute for the Future found that 36 per cent of people rarely or never think about something that
may happen in ten years, and 27 per cent rarely or never think even five years ahead. In certain circumstances, Tomorrow You can seem alien. Jerry Seinfeld’s joke about how “night-guy always screws morning-guy” has a scientific basis, Hershfield notes. When you’re ordering another whiskey at 2am, you probably feel little connection to that poor slob who will be dragging his arse into work in five hours.
THE PERKS OF SELF-CONTINUITY Not everyone is equally estranged from their future selves. Humans vary in future self-continuity, or how connected we feel to the
person we envision we’ll become, says Hershfield. Those of us with low self-continuity typically regard our future selves (whether one month or many years ahead) as highly different. We don’t have much empathy for this dissimilar stranger, and that often makes us more vulnerable to the lure of instant gratification. “It’s almost as if we see no point in deciding for the best welfare of our future self because that’s a different person altogether,” says Joshua Rutt, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa’s School of Psychology. “This puts us at a disadvantage economically, in taking care of our health, and in making any decision that involves
GREGG SEGAL / TRUNK ARCHIVE / SNAPPER IMAGES; SOURCES: ERSNER-HERSHFIELD, H.; GARTON, M. T.; BALLARD, K.; SAMANEZ-LARKIN, G. R.; KNUTSON., B.; INTERPRETATION: MH
A KEY TO LIVING LONG AND WELL IS GETTING CLOSER PSYCHOLOGICALLY TO YOUR FUTURE SELF. MAYBE THIS GUY COULD BE YOU?
our long-term best interests.” People with average selfcontinuity regularly fall into this trap, too. It’s easy to abuse that stranger, the Future You, when there’s a choice between feeling good now and showing him consideration. So you might blow off the workout, order the nachos, overuse credit cards, forego condoms and otherwise add to the misery the Future You will inherit. Conversely, those of us with strong self-continuity enjoy big advantages. We tend to procrastinate less and, says Hershfield, save more money, have better health and possibly enjoy more long-term life satisfaction than those with low self-continuity. Fortunately, there are things you can do to strengthen your connection to the Future You, which will enable you to make wiser, healthier decisions more frequently and give that guy the resources to enjoy life in ways you haven’t even imagined. Let’s get started by finding your level of future-regard:
TAKE THIS TEST To estimate your level of self-continuity, select the circle pair in the following diagram that best describes how similar you feel to your future self (five or ten years down the road) in terms of personality, temperament, likes/dislikes, beliefs, values, ambitions, goals and ideals. CURRENT SELF
FUTURE SELF
Boost Your Self-Continuity
Although self-continuity tends to increase steadily and moderately with age, according to Rutt, that doesn’t mean you have to wait until you’re 90 to connect with the Future You. Here are five easy ways to get closer now
1 2 3 4
Don’t panic! Use the tips at right to find your future self.
WRITE FUTURE YOU A LETTER “This forces you to really consider him in a thoughtful, directed way,” says Hershfield. He coauthored a recent study finding that university students who wrote a 200- to 300-word letter to their selves 20 years in the future were more likely to do stuctured exercise in the next ten days than those who wrote letters to their selves just three months forward. Your simple directions: “Think
PUT EYEBALLS ON HIM Snap a photo of yourself and use an app (e.g. AgingBooth) to digitally age your face significantly. Print the photo and stare at the Future You whenever you’re making a life decision or handling your finances (including paying monthly bills, making changes to your retirement plan or budgeting how much to spend on craft beer.
SET RANGE GOALS Instead of telling the Future You, “I want you to have saved $100,000 in 10 years,” use wider-range targets such as $80,000$110,000. By doing so, you’ll be less likely to quit.
about who you will be 20 years from now, and write about the person you are now, which topics are important and dear to you and how you see your life.” While the study tracked only exercise, it’s likely a fair bet that the students also ate more healthfully and lived more frugally during the monitored time. Focusing on your future can trigger a host of small behaviour changes that can affect you positively over time.
Hershfield’s research shows that people choose to save a third more for retirement when regarding digitally aged photos of their future selves. It makes sense; try to look him in the eye and tell him he’s eating cat food because you always need the newest iPhone. Just don’t leave the photo out perpetually, says Hershfield, or it could lose its impact.
“The lower end of the goal makes it a bit more feasible to reach, so you stay involved,” explains Hershfield. “But once you reach that lower goal, it’s easier to remain motivated because you can reach for the higher end.”
USE MENTAL CONTRASTING Gabriele Oettingen, a professor of psychology at New York University, created this well-researched technique. It adds a critical piece (your main obstacle) to the old-school imagery exercise in which you visualise yourself achieving a goal. Here’s how it works. Sit in a quiet place for about five minutes and mull on these four fundamental questions:
1. What’s your most important wish? 2. What would be the best outcome of fulfilling it? 3. What inner obstacle is holding you back? 4. What’s one action or thought that will help you overcome it? Then implement the plan. (Go to woopmylife.org for the full questions and audio that’ll guide you through the technique.)
TAP A SURROGATE You’re not limited to envisioning an imaginary Future You; seek out a real-life proxy. For example, if you want a glimpse of likely career paths, find people on LinkedIn who had your current job (or its nearest
equivalent) 10 years ago. Then see where are they now and how they got there. They’re not you, but similar guys can show trajectories you can aspire to. If you can’t find any such people, let’s hope they’re not in witness protection.
Better. Guys 18 to 49 are usually in this range.
5 Great! Your current and future selves are aligning.
October 2018
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A+ HEALTH
YOUR HEART’S BEST FRIEND A CANINE COMPANION CAN SNIFF OUT SUPERIOR CARDIAC HEALTH – AND FETCH YOU A FEW MORE YEARS
THE WORLD IS OBSESSED WITH DOGS. If you don’t already follow him, there’s a pug named Doug on Instagram that has more than three million doe-eyed acolytes. Online, we hang on their every pant. But research suggests that making your heartfelt adoration for dogs physical can track down serious reciprocal benefits that you’ll like just as much. Man’s best friend is a lifesaver. Not content with being the icebreaker for chance meetings in the local park, your loyal pet is looking out for your longevity, too. Uppsala University studied 3.4 million people in Sweden over 12 years and found that subjects who owned a dog had a 33 per cent lower risk of death overall, and a 36 per cent lower risk of succumbing to cardiovascular disease. With CVD being the most common cause of death worldwide, there’s good reason to keep the threat on a tight leash. Further research has found that time spent with a four-legged friend sinks levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can suppress your immunity if not kept at heel. It also builds up your resistance to allergies and relieves the impact that isolation can have on your mental health. And owning a dog makes walkies non-negotiable, guaranteeing you maintain your cardio quota – even on rest days. As for picking up after them? Just think of it as extra squats.
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COLLAR POOR HEALTH TO REMAIN A GOOD BOY IN THE LONG RUN.
CATS VS DOGS
SCIENCE SAYS THERE’S BUT A WHISKER BETWEEN OUR PETS IN THE HEALTH STAKES
LIGHT RELIEF
CLEVER MOGS
BROAD STROKES
HELLO KITTY
Joint-replacement patients require 28 per cent less pain meds when visited by a therapy dog*.
Bristol researchers found cat owners are more likely to have university degrees than dog lovers.
Just 18 minutes of dog petting ups antibody levels, a sign of robust immune function†.
Ignore the BS. A bond shared with a cat is emotionally identical to a human relationship**.
PHOTOGRAPHY: LUCKY IF SHARP | BAKER & BRAY PIMLICO LEATHER DOG COLLAR FROM PETSPYJAMAS.COM DIGITAL MANIPULATION: COLIN BEAGLEY | *LOYOLA UNIVERISTY HEALTH SYSTEM | †PSYCHOLOGICAL REPORTS | **UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA
BY LOUEE DESSENT-JACKSON
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A+ WORK
WORK IT FROM HOME MH BOSS
Fantasy life or a fresh kind of hell? Listen to men who make it work
BY ANDREW DANIELS // ILLUSTRATION BY MITCH O’CONNELL
IT’S PROBABLY HIT you mid-commute, maybe mid-meeting, or smack in the middle of just another day at the office: if I were working from home, I’d be much more productive. More and more men are listening to that voice: almost a third of Australian employees regularly work remotely at least part of the time, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics research published in 2016. And no wonder: “Until you don’t have a manager, you don’t realise how much time is spent, and wasted, with a manager,” says Adam Cahn, 54, a bigend-of-town accountant who started working from home six years ago. “You don’t have that corporate BS. No meeting after meeting. You don’t have to show up in someone’s office and explain yourself. You just explain yourself to yourself.” Listen to a couple of guys who are doing it and loving it, and then maybe listen to that voice in your head.
October 2018 43
A+ WORK
SWEET SETUP!
SMART AT-HOME OFFICE GEAR FOR YOUR BEST WORK
HAVE A SEAT (OR NOT)
By now you know that sitting all day screws with your body. But you also know you don’t want to be forced to stand all day. Do both. This rock-solid desk converter makes it easy. There’s a separate keyboard tray and room for two monitors. (Ergotron WorkFit-TL Sit-Stand Desktop Workstation, $439, ergopro.com.au)
THE ART OF FOCUS
Chuck Vadun, 51, Communications Director at Fire Engine RED and father of two
MY WIFE wasn’t sure I could stay focused and productive working at home. That was almost five years ago, and I’m doing well. She even admitted it. I wish I’d recorded her saying that. I’m in marketing, collaborative work, so I was used to saying, “Let’s go to the whiteboard and sketch it out.” I can’t do that now, so I use Google Docs and Sheets, Slack and other tools to share ideas. It works very well. When I started, I stuck to my morning routine: breakfast and a shower. My breaks include lunch, walking the dog, yoga and playing the drums. I’m also a neat freak, so another break may be tidying up one area or doing one cleaning task. Then right back to work. In my last job, my office was next to an open-plan area with music blaring and Nerf guns going off. Now it’s easier for me to focus and actually think about what I’m doing. This has made for better results. Isolation is a problem, I’ll admit. But if you acknowledge it, that’s half the battle, and you just do something to counteract it. I meet friends for coffee or lunch. Sometimes I’ll take a yoga class in the afternoon and then make up the work time later that night. If I don’t have phone calls to make, I sometimes take my laptop to the library or the cafe. Just having a few micro-interactions with people – even if they’re complete strangers – can help keep you balanced. All in all, this has been great, especially for my family life. When I worked in an office, people who left at 5pm because they had kids got the side-eye a lot. Here, it’s not about when your butt is in your seat. It’s about deadlines and results.
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So I’m fortunate to see my two daughters at 3 in the afternoon when they’re done with school. I get a hello from them, and my wife is supportive of my workday boundaries. She waits until I knock off before asking me to do something. That said, I’m part of the afterschool and sports carpool system. Our CEO is a big fan of this: remote workers can leave whenever for that kind of stuff. As long as you’re doing good work, it’s all fine.
ENLIST STRONG SUPPORT
CRUSH IT LIKE CHUCK
You’re not sitting all day, so why drop a grand on your chair? This greatlooking (hey, someone might visit), supremely comfortable number has a special back that provides balanced levels of support and freedom – sort of like working from home. (Herman Miller Sayl chair, $785, sitbackandrelax.com.au)
Must-have equipment: a door on your office. You have to be able to shut out a barking dog or crazy kids. It’s best if that office is a separate room. Psychologically, having a designated work area reminds me – and everyone else – that in there is where work is done. And being out of the office means I’m done with work. Boundary worth pushing: overcommunicating with colleagues. We spend lots of time interacting via Slack, instant message and conference calls. I’m out of sight but don’t want to be out of mind. So I overcommunicate. Not annoyingly so, but enough to compensate for the lack of office drop-bys. Best body-and-mind stretchers: yoga and drumming. I started practising yoga about three years ago, so I keep a mat handy for a five- to ten-minute minisession. I also have a drum kit in the garage and grab my headphones and play along for a song or two. Short breaks help my creativity. If I take my mind off a task I’m struggling with, my subconscious often provides the answer when I get back to the keyboard.
You’ve escaped the regimented fluorescent hell of office life, so celebrate with this heavenly desk lamp. The arm and settings are flexible – warm to cool, soft to bright (five colours, seven levels). Cool white rays mimic daylight, which helps you focus and can boost productivity. (Fully Lumen LED desk light, $75 and up, fully.com)
BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY
THE POWER OF FLEXIBILITY Mike Gutman, 37, Marketing Executive
ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO, I negotiated for some time to work remotely. I had been commuting an hour each way, and I wanted that time back to live the life I wanted. Suddenly those hours were mine. That meant morning runs and afternoon bike rides. Even though the whole idea is to escape the office routine and the meetings (and maybe some of the people), I found that you need both a routine and some social interaction. I don’t wear pajamas all day long. It helps to shower, brush your teeth and dress as if you’re going someplace. That sets the tone for the workday. And I plan my day – work assignments, errands, workouts. That structure helps set a routine, and a routine leads to productivity. One of my tricks is reading in bed – something unrelated to work – for 20 minutes as I gradually wake up. That stimulates my mind, and then I do 20 minutes of calisthenics. Then I brush my teeth. The time I would’ve spent commuting I invest in myself. It’s a form of self-love, and it’s hugely important. I don’t miss the political jockeying of an office. With working from home, quality talks the loudest. I’m proactive, setting up phone calls and virtual meetings. I’m also my own IT support, my own research institute. You have to problem-solve by yourself. That’s a skill that pays dividends down the road. Once your home becomes your home and your office, you’ll get sick of it really quick. Getting out is crucial, even for a short walk. Of course I have Slack and video calls, but I actively schedule recurring team meetings, just for the sake of connecting. I also feed off the energy at coffee shops. That said, I have to put up a virtual wall between me and friends and family. It’s all about expectations and priorities. It’s essential to set expectations with your loved ones. If they need something, they have to tell you it’s absolutely urgent. If it’s not, it gets pushed off and resentment can build. Coping with loneliness is a critical life skill. I say embrace it. You feel comfortable with your own thoughts and learn to become your own best friend again. It’s life-changing.
BE LIKE MIKE Tally your time: for one or two weeks, write down exactly how you use your time.It can help you focus not just on what you’re doing for work but also around your home. You get a sense of where you need balance, and you can adjust. Resistance is useful: When you wake up, resist the urge to check your mobile phone. Create boundaries between the life you want and your work. Don’t let that stuff infiltrate your mindfulness every waking hour. You’ve built time back into your day, and it’s valuable. So protect it. Find your happiest place: I work from my laptop and have noise-cancelling headphones with a microphone, so I can have distraction-free meetings. And I will set up shop from my couch, my kitchen table, my office. That freedom to work throughout my house is my happy place.
YOUR TIME, YOUR WORKOUT
SPEND 1 MINUTE - OR 15 - STAYING LIMBER AND PAIN-FREE AT HOME
1. Kneeling HipFlexor Stretch For tight hips, hold for 30 sec; switch sides.
1 min 3. Glute Bridge Do 3 sets of 10 for posture.
6 min
2. Child’s Pose To loosen your lower back, hold for 30 sec, rest for 30 sec. Do 3 reps.
4 min 4. Side-Lying Clam To avoid knee pain, do 2 sets of 30 per side.
11 min
5. Lying Windmill Stretch To avoid upper-back pain, do 2 sets of 10 per side.
15 min
October 2018 45
FRONT-PAGE NEWS: COVER GUY DENHAM HITCHCOCK IS THE FITTEST TV REPORTER IN HISTORY (JUST SHADING LAURIE OAKES).
46
OCTOBER 2018
COVER GUY
ACTION
MAN Whether he’s chasing a story in a danger zone or a new fitness PB, Sunday Night reporter Denham Hitchcock is a real-life Clark Kent BY DANIEL WILLIAMS PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON IERACE
IF DENHAM HITCHCOCK’S assignment du jour were to compile a report on his own life, how would he start it? Perhaps it would be in the surf at Sydney’s Dee Why in the summer of 2016, when he glanced to his right across the break and noticed a woman on her board. “She was paddling around in a Brazilian bikini, which is eye-catching,” recalls Hithcock. “She was surfing with another guy, and I was just hoping he wasn’t her boyfriend.” Except, it’s not Hitchcock’s style just to sit there hoping. That kind of passiveness . . . well, it doesn’t get you anywhere, does it? “So I waited for him to catch a wave, then I paddled over and said hello.” The beauty turned out to be Mari Borges, a (single) Brazilian expat and hostel manager. She and Hitchcock hit it off, bonding over a shared love of fresh air, exercise and salt water. “We’ve been inseparable,” says Hitchcock, who was 40 at the time. They’re getting married next February. It would be a decent opener, and it would speak to Hitchcock’s don’t-diewondering approach. But it’s a mite too soft and sentimental for a journalist
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“Bad things happen to good people. It’s how you deal with it that sets you apart” of his ilk. This isn’t a bloke who shadows the dressmaker before a royal wedding. This is Sunday Night’s toughest operator, who’s in his element reporting from a Middle East battlefield or buttonholing a slippery murder suspect. So though it’s painful, Hitchcock would more likely hark back to something that happened a long time ago – when he was 14, in fact, and enjoying a summer scorcher on the Hawkesbury River with his dad, Kevin. Young Denham, home from boarding school for Christmas, had tied a rope to a branch and the pair were swinging out over the water and dropping in. Then disaster struck. On a downward swing, Kevin’s foot clipped the bank, throwing him off kilter and sending him headfirst into the shallow water. Watching on, Denham was at first unconcerned when his father failed to resurface. “I thought he was joking,” says Hitchcock. “I was getting ready for him to spring out of the water and grab me.” As the seconds ticked by, however, it became frighteningly clear his dad wasn’t fooling around. The boy started duck-diving into the mud-coloured water. On his third plunge he caught a flash of his father’s white trunks on the river floor. He pulled him to the surface
and hauled him on to dry land. “He could breathe and he could speak, but he couldn’t move anything else,” says Hitchcock, whose yells for help brought other family running to the scene. A chopper would transport his father to hospital, where doctors confirmed a catastrophic injury. Kevin Hitchcock – 39 at the time and news director at Channel 10 – became an incomplete quadraplegic that day. It would be four months before he came home. Over lunch in a cafe beneath the Channel 7 building in Sydney’s CBD, Hitchcock reflects on the consequences of that event with the impassive air of . . . exactly what he is: a seasoned television journalist who’s pretty much seen it all. “Short term, I grew up very quickly. I became the man of the house a lot earlier than anticipated,” says Hitchcock, whose youngest sister was a newborn at the time. “I was quite a rebellious kid, but all that stopped on that day.” Longer term? “Partly because of my job I’ve been able to put it into perspective,” he says. “My father’s still here. I still get advice from him. I go around and cook him dinner every Sunday night. So I still consider myself fortunate.” The idea that his father’s accident would have justified the
son floundering in life irritates him. “Bad things happen to good people,” he says. “It’s the way of the world. But it’s how you deal with it that sets you apart. You can’t use it as an excuse. I’ve seen too many people do that.”
GO BOLDLY
Hitchcock is good, blokey company – quick with a laugh that reveals his perfect white teeth, never short of a rollicking anecdote. But he can also seem preoccupied, invariably with some loose end attached to his current project. Today, that’s the inside story of the huge police operation that thwarted a homegrown terrorist plot in 2005. While that effort put 18 men behind bars, many of them are now free (prematurely, Hitchcock feels) and working as tradies. Hitchcock’s planning to “bounce” one of them in Melbourne in a couple of days. That’s televisionspeak for accost on the street without warning, camera rolling. Hitchcock is the epitome of the intrepid reporter. It’s hard to imagine him getting out of bed for a story that didn’t, to some degree, put his life in peril, or at very least send his heart racing. For Sunday Night, where he’s into his fifth year,
NEVER THE SAME AGAIN A veteran of the news game, Hitchcock picks five of his reports that changed the way he viewed life. Read on for borrowed wisdom
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+ THE TYPHOON
+ THE GESTURE
+ THE BRAIN
“I was in the first news crew to get into the Philippine city of Tacloban after Supertyphoon Haiyan hit in 2013. I thought the place would need to be bulldozed into the ocean. But the human capacity to endure amazed me. After 10 days, they’d cleaned up. Life goes on.”
“Sharn McNeill was in her early 30s and superfit when she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Her goal had been to compete in the country’s toughest Ironman, so her husband’s best mate basically towed her around the course. Took him 18 hours.”
“I spoke to an expert in Seattle who’d worked out the organ is so complex that if you took every hard drive on the planet, it wouldn’t be enough to hold the data from a single human brain. Don’t you think you should do more with yours than work a 9-to-5 and watch TV?”
COVER GUY
MEAT-HEAD: “AS A KID MY BIRTHDAY CAKE WAS A ROAST LAMB WITH CANDLES IN IT.”
he’s ridden a racehorse at full gallop across a paddock to highlight the dangers of being a jockey; flown a motorised paraglider over the Barrington Tops National Park searching for a crashed plane; “taken a pounding” over a few rounds from UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt; twice gone to Iraq, where he was shot at by snipers and pursued by grenade-bearing drones. They’re just four examples of a fearless approach to his craft that could make other journos feel faint twinges of inadequacy. “The perfect story for me makes a difference,” says Hitchcock. “It goes beyond entertainment, beyond the cataloguing of events.” It’s a lesson for you and me in not going through the motions. You spend half your life working. Strike a blow.
GROOMING: KIMBERLEY FORBES
THE WRITE STUFF
The man was always going to be a journalist. His dad saw to that, reading him classics like Moby Dick at bedtime instead of Winnie the Pooh or Jack and the Beanstalk, and getting Dickens into his hands when Denham was still in short pants. This permeated the boy’s prose style, which in turn confused his teachers. “One comment was something like, “I’m wondering what Denham is reading at home
+ THE FAST
+ THE MILITARY
“My greatest fear had been missing a meal. Then I did a six-day fast. I thought I was going to pass out, but really, I was okay. My allergies went away and my blood was enriched with new stem cells. Now I know I can go days feeling hungry. That’s an amazing tool to have.”
“Visits to war zones have shown me those who are willing to commit acts of barbarism can only be stopped by those of equal resolve. And this translates to everyday life. If you have the ability, you have to intervene for those who can’t stand up for themselves.”
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because this seems like it was written by someone in the 19th Century’,” recalls Hitchcock. His dad loved fine writing, but first and foremost he was a news man. “So we’d sit and watch the news,” says Hitchcock. “And then we’d watch the big current affairs shows. We’d talk about them, dissect them. And he’d give me little writing assignments. So there was really no doubt where I was heading.” Hitchcock landed his first job at 18, answering phones and filling the biscuit barrel at Channel 7’s Today Tonight. But with Hitchcock’s initiative that was never going to last. Every spare moment, he worked the phones. “In the first six months I would have brought three lead stories to them.” The boss promoted him to researcher: “You’re incredibly young,” he told Hitchcock, “but you’re wasted answering phones.” From there, he hasn’t looked back. Talent, doggedness and ambition earned him jobs in London at Reuters TV and Channel 3’s breakfast show GMTV. He worked for Channel Nine for 14 years, four of those as its LA-based foreign correspondent. He covered Barack Obama’s second inauguration, back before the world went mad. He’s nailed every role, but Sunday Night is a perfect fit. “At the end of the day, sometimes you’ve had a front-row seat to history, and sometimes you’ve just had a shot of adrenaline that sets you on fire.”
CAMERA READY
You’ll have noticed by now that Hitchcock is in ridiculously good shape. Better shape really than any dedicated journalist is entitled to be in. Better shape, possibly, than any journalist in the history of journalism. That may sound like rank, tabloid-TV hyperbole. Until you see him in the flesh. His secret? Well, he says, it’s part luck: it just so happens he loves doing the things that create a granite-hard physique. “Look, I’ve never had a personal trainer, never had someone guide me through routines or tell me what I should be doing,” he puffs between sprints at dawn at Sydney’s Dee Why beach. “I love being outdoors. I love physical exercise. And I do the workouts I do because I like the way they make me feel.” When at home in Sydney, those workouts are a combination of heavy-duty weights sessions (dominated by tri-sets, the middle set a brutal cardio hit), soft-sand running and surfing. But the point to make here is that Hitchcock often isn’t at home. He spends up to six months of the year interstate or overseas on assignment, often with no access to a crummy gym, let alone a glorious shoreline. Right there would be his excuse to let the exercise slide, but he never does. Don’t give him this ‘no-time’ crap. Or ‘no space’. “If you have two square metres to work in you can do 12 push-up burpees every minute for 10 minutes and I guarantee
1 THE WAR ZONE WORKOUT
D BURN FAT AN LE SC MU D IL BU RE WHEN YOU’ GUN E TH R DE UN
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DIP
Support your weight on your hands and feet using whatever objects of roughly equal height you can find. Give at the elbows and slowly lower your body until your upper arms are parallel with the floor. Squeezing your triceps, explode back to the starting position. Perform 3 sets to failure.
2
WALL HANDSTAND PUSH-UP
Perform a handstand, resting your feet against a wall. Give at the elbows and slowly lower your head to the floor, stopping when you feel contact. Push back up. Do 3 sets to failure.
COVER GUY
“Eighty minus your age. That’s how long you’ve got left. So the clock is ticking. Make it count”
3
BURPEE WITH PUSH-UP
Stand tall. Push back your hips and lower your body into a squat. Place your hands on the floor in front of you and kick back your legs so you’re in a plank position. Do one push-up, jump your feet towards your hands and spring up so you’re airborne. Do 12 reps, rest for 30 seconds; repeat for 5 sets.
4
INVERTED ROW
Grasp a flat, horizontal surface with an underhand grip, feeling your bodyweight in your back and biceps. Keeping your body straight, squeeze the target muscles and pull yourself up until your biceps are fully contracted. Do 3 sets to failure.
you that will be one of the hardest workouts you’ve ever done.” It’s the same with food: he craves the stuff (meat, eggs) that makes muscle, and has no interest in the sweet delights that your body will store as fat. “Even as a kid my birthday cake was a roast lamb with candles in it.” The sprints done, Hitchcock plunges into the freezing surf. This is a winter’s morning. The air temp might be 8°C. But he strides out five minutes later looking reborn. “Your body’s drawn to the softest options – the most comfortable couch, the tastiest food,” he says. “But really it needs to be shocked now and then.” It’s obvious Hitchcock doesn’t want to dwell on the shape he’s in. For one thing, “I’m by no means a health nut. I still drink. Friday night is tequila night for me and my girl. We go out and party.” And besides, there’s so much more to life than the size of your deltoids. Perhaps as a consequence of his dad’s accident, certainly as a result of being a frequent eyewitness to tragedy, Hitchcock’s overpowering drive is to make the most of his years on Earth. “Eighty minus your age,” he says urgently. “That’s roughly how long you’ve got left on this tiny, 14-billion-year-old planet in a corner of an infinite universe. So the clock is ticking. Make it count!” What does that mean? “It means approaching that girl. It means if there’s a job you want, go for it. It means surfing Teahapoo. Don’t die wondering. Because you don’t have time to fuck around.”
5
STAIR SPRINTS
Find a flight somewhere – when on assignment, Hitchcock will use the hotel firestairs. Sprint for 30 seconds, taking two steps at a time. Pause, then go again. Do 6-10 sets. Keep setting PBs and who knows? Your feats could lead the news.
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PORN!
number
1
Step away from the laptop and reacquaint yourself with three-dimensional objects of desire. This is the MH guide to shutting down your porn habit
The Dirt
The Damage
• You’ve missed dates or family engagements because you were ‘otherwise engaged’
• You can name at least 15 different porn stars
While we’re sure porn stars like Jenna Haze and Sasha Grey are perfectly lovely women, it is not a good idea to spend too much virtual time with them. “Your feel-good hormone dopamine spikes when you watch porn,” says Dr Chris Forester from counselling service Help Porn Addiction. “In time, this overstimulation manifests as a loss of libido and erectile dysfunction 30 years too early.” This is why users demand increasingly extreme videos. Masturbation causes the release of the same chemicals as sex with a partner, forming a biochemical attachment – except with websites
• The content you seek out is getting stronger – or just a lot weirder
The Clean-Up
• You’re stressed about people finding out about your habit • You’re starting to believe that every woman harbours slutty desires and acrobatic flexibility
• You’ve tried to access porn at work or at a friend or family member’s house • You no longer enjoy ‘vanilla’ sex with real women
25%
The proportion of men habitually using porn who suffer from premature ejaculation Source: Padua University, Italy
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If you can’t resist tapping ‘.xxx’ into the url bar, remove the thing that triggers you to log on: being left alone with your laptop. “Keep your computer and DVD player in a busy room,” says Dr Phillippa Lally, who studies habitual behaviour at University College London. Your brain associates laptops and phones with porn, so find other habitual uses of your gadgetry. Tweeting or uploading to Instagram are perfect. Now admit you’ve been indulging too much – to someone else. “The habit loses some of its appeal when it’s no longer covert,” says Lally. “Ask a close friend to install an internet filter on your laptop.” McAfee Safe Eyes or NetNanny block access unless you enter your friend’s password.
rather than people. It can even affect your career: a study by Nielsen Online found more than a quarter of employees have watched online porn during the working day. French research has also linked the compelling nature of porn to your brain’s ‘mirror neuron system’. This skews your expectations of what sex should be like. “Porn has a way of normalising extreme sexual behaviour,” says Dr Tim Jones, a psychologist at the University of Worcester. “If you try to play out this fantasy with an unwilling partner, it can cause irreparable damage to your relationship.” It’s time to log off, gentlemen.
Other sites offer ‘accountability software’ that will send a report of your online behaviour to a designated person, helping you stay on the digital straight and narrow. “Most guys first come to porn simply because they are bored,” says Forester. Find moreish replacements for your X-rated downtime such as a hardcore Fortnite sitting or a heavy squats session at the gym. Exercise will boost the dopamine that’s depleted by heavy porn use. Finally, if you’re reading this next to a non-pixelated lady, your rehab can start now. Sex triggers a high greater than that of masturbation, says the Kinsey Institute. Your brain will soon crave the rush your partner gives you more than anything PornHub has to offer.
WORDS: JON AXWORTHY
What started as a handy way to relieve tension now absorbs hours of your free time; it has you missing The Walking Dead because you were busy watching Intercourse with a Vampire. Pornography still generates more internet traffic than anything else online. And it can impact on more than just your download limits: Charlie Sheen’s exwife Denise Richards cited his ‘habit’ in divorce proceedings. Yet porn is the convenience food to the haute cuisine of real sex. While that microwave burger is quick and cheap, it will ultimately leave you feeling dirty – and not in a good way. Here’s how to put steak au poivre back on your menu.
HEALTH
“Porn has a way of normalising extreme sexual behaviour” The Results
3. A higher libido
When you avoid 2D distractions on porn sites, your appetite for real sex increases. With interest. Italian Society of Andrology and Sexual Medicine
1. Feel happier
You’ll take fewer sick days and be less likely to experience a bout of depression compared with men who still watch a lot of porn. University of Wisconsin
4. Healthier swimmers
An Aussie study showed that abnormal sperm cells decreased by 12 per cent in men who had sex every day for a week. ESHRE
2. Avoid heart attacks
Men with erectile dysfunction are 1.6 times more likely to suffer heart disease. By quitting porn, you’ll strengthen your ticker. The American Heart Association
5. Get stronger
No one said porn was all bad. A moderate 4min indulgence before hitting the gym will deliver a performance-enhancing peak in your testosterone levels. University of Wisconsin October 2018
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BOOZE!
number
2
It’s never too late to offset a toxic lifestyle. Read on to discover how to reset your heart and cut fat to undo years of alcohol damage
WORDS: DANIEL COSSINS
Take a cold, hard look at the past 10 years. If, a bit like legendary Hollywood drinkers Russell Crowe or Colin Farrell, you’ve spent much of the last decade caning it, then your body is due some attention. A sustained barrage of live-for-the-moment hedonism can often lead to the equivalent volume of pain later in life. Unless you’re the bastard son of Keith Richards, that is. First, determine the level of damage you’ve accrued, then learn how to undo the effects and skip the long-term consequences for your health. This round’s on us.
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HEALTH
The Damage
The Dirt • You have more drinking buddies than regular mates • You’re the last to leave a party and the first to suggest it continues to the next bar or club • Your weight has steadily increased over the years • You find yourself breathless during light exercise • You have at least two back-up pubs ready whenever you’re out • More than 20 per cent of your evening meals are bought over a counter • Your skin is reddish and blotchy • The bags under your eyes scare small children
Hangovers are misleading. They make us think our punishment is finished 24 hours (okay, 48) after we call time on our boozing. But the real damage is insidious. “The more you drink, the more your blood pressure goes up,” says Dr Paul Wallace, chief medical advisor for Drinkaware. “This dramatically raises your chances of a heart attack later in life.” Call it one for the road. Then there’s the liquid kilojoules. Weight gain as a result of sustained drinking increases your risk of cardiomyopathy, where the
heart gets so weak it struggles to pump blood around your body. Your liver is also eroded by drink. Excess alcohol leads to an accumulation of fat that raises your risk of liver disease. Finally, your head takes a beating too. “Heavy drinkers prematurely age their brains by 5-10 years,” says Dr Jonathan Chick, an expert in addiction research. But the best thing about a life lived like Oliver Reed’s buck’s night is that the damage is reversible if you catch it by middle age.
“Heavy drinkers prematurely age their brains by 5-10 years”
The Clean-Up Let’s work off that bar-tab. First, the booze. Rather than suddenly turning teetotal, aim to have two to three days alcohol-free per week, in line with advice from the Royal College of Physicians. Count the money you save: based on three schooners, three days a week, you’ll gain $288 per month. At work, fuel your body with four cups of coffee. This was shown to offset liver damage from alcohol by 80 per cent in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Then hit the bike: cycling just 30km a week cuts your heart disease risk in half, says the British Medical Association, helping to pay back the glass-byglass damage to your ticker.
The Results
Back this effect up in the kitchen, with vitamin B-rich veg such as broccoli or bok choy. “People with a high fruit and veg intake have low homocysteine levels,” says dietitian Dale Rees. This amino acid is a good indicator of cardiovascular risk. Try taking milk thistle tablets. “The key factor is silymarin, a flavonoid which is shown to protect your liver,” says Rees. Combine this supplement with seaweed extract: the University of South Carolina found it lowers your risk of metabolic syndrome – another result of years spent at the bar.
1. Sleep more soundly
2. Heal your grey matter
Reducing the amount you drink improves your breathing during sleep for better quality rest.
Research shows that when you cut your alcohol intake after years of heavy drinking, your brain tissue begins to repair itself.
University of Michigan
Stanford University
3. Beat disease
4. Burn off belly fat
5. Lift your libido
By reducing your blood pressure and the accumulation of fat on internal organs, you can lower the long-term risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer. You’ll also more than halve your risk of liver cirrhosis. University of Oxford
By trading the binges for regular, modest tipples (say one drink a day, three or four times a week) you can dramatically reduce your body-fat percentage.
Binge drinking lowers testosterone in your testes. Cut it out and your sex drive will rocket. Alcohol and Alcoholism
American Journal of Epidemiology October 2018
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The Dirt • You can’t run more than a few minutes without wheezing • Your fingers look like they got caught in a jar of mustard • You have trouble swallowing or persistent hoarseness • You can’t have a beer without a smoke • You need a smoke to help you de-stress • Your clothes need to be fumigated after a night out • You’ve been vowing to quit since Kevin Rudd was in office
number
3
The social smoker is in more danger than he thinks, until he quits
Rest in peace the social smoker. You might see yourself as a weekend Bogart, lighting up in sunny beer gardens, then snubbing your colleagues huddled by the fire escape, but research has called time on your habit – you either smoke, or you don’t. “Someone who smokes a cigarette now and then isn’t a ‘casual’ smoker,” says professor Robert West, director of tobacco studies at University College London. “Every time you smoke, you’ll smoke the next one harder, extracting more nicotine and toxins. There’s not a massive difference between that and a heavy smoker.” It’s time to get out of denial and into detox. 58
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WORDS: JAMES WITTS; GRAPHIC DENIS CARRIER AT SYNERGY ART
SMOKES!
HEALTH
The Damage You know how smoking affects the community, but the latest research shows we’re still discovering what it’s doing to your body. That pallid complexion isn’t only for the 20-a-day brigade. “Smoking one to 14 cigarettes a day increases the risk of lung cancer by eight times and restricts bloodflow, causing your skin to lose elasticity,” says Chris Lowry from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). And the effects don’t stop there: “Young smokers develop a yellow pallor,” says West. Like, say, a jaundice patient. What you eat is going to waste too. Just one cigarette robs the body of 25mg vitamin C (a tangerine’s worth) and limits the absorption
The Clean-Up of vitamin D, the most important nutrient for healthy skin. You’ll also take six weeks longer to heal from injuries than non-smokers. If that weren’t scary enough, one in five men who smoke get mouth cancer, says dentist Dr Nigel Carter: “Our awareness of it is alarmingly low.” You can check yourself. “A good barometer is tongue colour,” says Greg Jones of Cancer Research. “If it’s white or yellow, your mouth is struggling to self-clean.” And if all this drives you to drink, think again. Brown University found nicotine and alcohol resulted in worse hangovers, nausea and reduced ability to think. Convinced? Here’s how to stub it out.
“You’ll take six weeks longer to heal from injuries than non-smokers” The Results
Now for the good news: every bit of damage done from smoking can be erased. A man prearmed by the tips below is fully equipped to fight back against the negative effects. Follow our plan and in six months’ time your body will be back in full ciggie-free working order. You need to stockpile to stop cravings and start the repair. “Stopping smoking places strain on your adrenal glands, where anti-stress hormones are secreted,” says Dr Sam Christie. “Prepare your body with Siberian ginseng and St John’s wort. Take a tablet of each an hour before you head out.” Start undoing the internal damage. Taurine is the single best amino acid to reverse the narrowing of the arteries linked to smoking, according to the British Heart Foundation. Take the supplement once a day for two months. Once you’ve halted the assault on your cells, start to repair the damage. Smoke
hits skin’s collagen and elastin, while constricting bloodflow to the tiny capillaries. Reverse these effects with proanthocyanidin tablets, a phytonutrient. Take two a day for a month. What you eat can wipe the smoking slate clean. “Polyphenols repair small cell clusters like alveoli and bronchioles in the lungs,” says nutritional scientist Caroline Farrell. They are abundant in kale and sprouts. “Take niacin too. Its composition is similar to nicotine. The vitamin attaches to your receptors and reduces the addiction naturally.” Still reaching for a packet? Try hypnosis. A University of Washington study revealed a 90.6 per cent success rate of subjects butting out for good, while the University of Texas recorded 81 per cent. Find a hypnotist in your area at the Australian Hypnotherapists Association – ahahypnotherapy.org.au.
For all of the above, you need to be committed to the abstinence cause. Quitline – 13 7848 – is a good place to start
To start improving, you need to see things in real time. You’re a year away from a body that’s as good as new
6 HOURS MORE OXYGEN CAPACITY
6 WEEKS AN END TO THE SMOKER’S COUGH
3 MONTHS BETTER SEXUAL PERFORMANCE
9 MONTHS DECREASED HEART DANGER
12 MONTHS MORE MONEY, FEWER PROBLEMS
GONE! LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED
Hours after your last cigarette, levels of carbon monoxide – a poisonous gas that impairs the body’s ability to transport oxygen – will decline, and your heart won’t have to work as hard to pump oxygen around your body. Action on Smoking and Health
“Within two to 12 weeks your lung function will improve by up to 30 per cent. After that, coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath decrease. Cilia (tiny hairs) regrow in the lungs, increasing their ability to clean themselves, and overall energy levels will increase too.” Dr Sean McGee, medical biologist
Seventy-five per cent of smokers with erectile dysfunction swing back into action three months after giving up smoking. Those who don’t quit suffer testosterone depletion and lack of follicle simulation, leading to baldness. The Journal of Sexual Medicine
In less than a year, your risk of a coronary heart attack will be half that of a regular smoker. Your probability of developing heart disease will reduce further the healthier your lungs become. The Lancet
Of course, there’s the financial reward. With the price for a pack nearing $40 after another hike in the tobacco excise in this year’s budget, plus the extra you pay in insurance premiums, you’re looking at close to a $10,000 a year habit. Finder.com.au
Long-term benefits of dropping the cigs are immense: those who stop smoking by 35 lower their chances of an early death to the same level as someone who has never smoked. The Lancet
October 2018 59
GAMBLING! number
4
We’ve got 20 bucks that says you’re betting more than you ever have. With online betting, a $10 punt has become as simple as checking Facebook. Now you don’t need a copy of The Sportsman or a PhD in probabilities – just a phone and a nagging optimism about the day’s fixtures. But the odds are against us: in 2016, Australians lost more money per person – an average of $1360 – than any other developed country, according to consultancy H2 Gambling Capital. Here’s how you avoid losses with the safest bet in town.
The Dirt
The Damage
The Clean-Up
• You check the morning odds before the morning news
“You can’t smell online blackjack on somebody’s breath,” says Susanne Irving, a counsellor for the charity GamCare. It’s an easy addiction to hide, which means relationships suffer. At first it’s just your beer money at risk, but then you start missing mortgage payments when your financial dealings become ever more shady, and trust goes out the window. Remember the old saying: if you can’t spot the sucker around the table, it’s you. “People get swept up in the big win and forget all their losses,” says psychologist Kim Stephenson. Consider these averages: in order to win $1,000, most men will gamble $1,400 first. Even when you succeed, the odds are you’ll already be down against the house. When things get dire, your health is at stake too, as the stress of financial worries mounts up. Three out of four people with a gambling problesm are at risk of depression, according to Beyond Blue. That’s a stat no man needs.
Game-day advertising is the crack cocaine of gambling, says Professor Mark Griffiths, a psychologist who specialises in gambling habits at Nottingham Trent University. While recent legislation has made gambling avertising illegal before 8.30pm, that still leaves still plenty of time for online bookies to make their pitch. Negate impulse wagering by placing your bets days before a match. On game days, ensure your betting account is empty. “If the reward happens once or twice a week, it’s much harder to become addicted,” Griffiths says. “Many gamblers operate with a ‘win bias’,” says Irving. You expect to clean up, even when your money is on the three-legged horse called Donkey. “An effective strategy is to write down what you’ve won and lost over time,” says Irving. Seeing the numbers in black and white
• You spend more than 50 per cent of your winnings on new bets • You’ve placed bets with your credit card when your bank account runs dry • You seek outlandish bets in a quest for bigger payouts • You don’t tell your friends or partner about your ‘hobby’ • You increase the size of your bet to make up for losses
“You may have a hunch in the 3.15 at Moonee Valley – they have algorithms and supercomputers”
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WORDS: JON AXWORTHY
Use this form guide to lower the odds of becoming a gambling addict
HEALTH
The Results reminds you that gambling sites are there to profit. You may have a hunch in the 3.15 at Moonee Valley – but they have algorithms and supercomputers. Turn technology against the bookies. “Install software like gamblock.com so your access to remote gambling is limited,” Irving says. If your bets are spiralling or you’re logging into gambling sites on sheer instinct, change your email address so you don’t receive marketing emails that trigger the urge. Suffering a heavy loss is a tipping point that can turn occasional gamblers into habitual high rollers. If you’re cleaned out, you’ll naturally want to recoup the loss immediately. But instead of throwing another $200 on an 80-1 outsider, the first thing to do is call a trusted friend and tell them how
much you lost. Fessing up gets you out of the mindset that makes you think you can fix it before anyone finds out. If it leaves you in debt, set up as many direct debits as possible to make your repayments on the day you get paid. For most men, however, going cold turkey isn’t even necessary. “A good safety valve is to view online gambling as a form of entertainment you pay for – not a way to boost income,” adds Irving. Work out your monthly spend at the cinema, gym fees or Foxtel. Match that and place your gambling budget in your online betting account just after payday. Once it’s all gone, that’s it until next month. “This means you don’t end up rationalising an addiction by convincing yourself you’re trying to make money. Winning – that’s just a bonus.”
1. Gain 20 hours That’s how much time the average gambling addict loses to the bookies every week. Responsible Gambling Trust
2. Boost your testosterone When a sporting bet goes bad, men see a 20 per cent drop in levels of the hormone. University of Utah
3. Stay in the black Problem gamblers spend an average of $11,500 each a year. Roy Morgan Research
4. Exercise your grey matter Keep the habit casual and processing those odds provides a good mental workout. UT Dallas
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The End of Stigma THE DIVISION BETWEEN MIND AND BODY IS ILLUSORY, AND BOTH ARE SIMILARLY VULNERABLE TO BREAKDOWN. YET MANY MEN STILL MISTAKE ILLNESS FOR WEAKNESS. AUTHOR MATT HAIG SHARES HIS PERSONAL ACCOUNT AND EXPLAINS WHY WE URGENTLY NEED TO SPEAK UP ABOUT ANXIETY By
When I was 24 years old, I embarked on the strangest, most terrifying experience of my life. I became ill. I had been ill before, but never like this. I had a panic attack that lasted a week – but the words “panic attack” don’t quite cover it. I had no control over my thoughts or my racing heart. It was a total breakdown, and I hadn’t seen it coming because I had been ignoring the signs and masking my feelings with alcohol. Now, the dam had broken. My mind was in a mess that I couldn’t escape, and I very nearly threw myself off a cliff. It wasn’t because I wanted to
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Matt Haig
Photography By
Paul Blow
die, but because I was suddenly unable to go on living under the weight of so much pain. It was like holding on to an emotional barbell stacked with too many weights. I could hardly stand. This was the beginning of three years of depression and anxiety. Three years of confusion. Of keeping secrets from my slowly diminishing circle of friends. Of struggling to articulate how I felt, even to my doctors. Much later, I realised that one of the reasons why it took me so long to recover was stigma. The stigma of society, but also self-stigma. I
couldn’t accept what was happening to me. I couldn’t accept the labels. I couldn’t accept the thought of telling my friends about it. I wasn’t just depressed. I was depressed about being depressed. The knowledge that I wouldn’t be able, in the grip of this illness, to hold down a nine-to-five job felt like a judgement. It was a vicious circle, made worse by how I felt like less of a man. What kind of man can’t go to a supermarket without having a panic attack? What kind of man has an existential crisis while choosing which socks to wear?
STATE
OF MIND
DEPRESSION CAN AFFECT ANYONE – SO WHY DO SO MANY OF US STRUGGLE TO ACCEPT IT? October 2018 63
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(And How To Make
Scoring a smart balance of proteins, carbs and fats your diet by numbers can drain the joy out of food variety in your nutrition plan so that hitting your 66
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SUMMER MUSCLE
FOOD
CUTTING-EDGE NUTRITION.
Them Exciting)
may be crucial for a fitter physique, but organising and drink. Our alternative guide aims to put some macros is ever a pleasure, never a bore BY SCARLETT WRENCH
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER CROWTHER
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F is for Flat Lay C is for Convenience
Protein for gym bros used to mean either cattle or fowl, but a growing awareness about sustainability has led to a broadening of the definition. Newest to the table is bug protein, and the trend has legs: a UN report describes insects as “highly nutritious”, with “vitamins, fibre and minerals”. Tarantula is rich in zinc and packs 19g of protein per 100g. The less intrepid can hit their macros with cricket bars or ant seasoning.
B is for Bones
D is for DNA Hi-tech companies like MyDNA now offer to analyse your genes to create hyper-personalised diet plans. But the latest research shows that you can alter them, too. For a simple hack, eat breakfast in the garden*: 20 minutes of early-morning light “switches on” genes related to fat loss.
E is for Emojis
GOOD TO THE BONE.
(150g + � + � ) x � 25min � ( � + ) x � 40min �( +� ) = 38g protein, 30g carbs, 14g fat. A perfect post-training plate.
menshealth.com.au
Charcoal is cropping up as a colouring in drinks, bread (google “goth burger”) and even ice cream. “It won’t add nutritional value, but it can help to remove toxins and gases,” says nutritionist Steve Grant. “But charcoal can interfere with nutrient absorption, so long-term use isn’t advised.” For an equally photogenic way to help digest those macros, try turmeric instead.
THE HIPPEST LEAN PROTEIN.
Hipsters hype broths in woolly terms, but they offer proven value. “Bone broths reduce inflammation in the small intestine, helping you absorb nutrients,” says nutritionist Matt Hodges. Seek out knuckles, joints and feet – the more cartilage, the more protein.
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G is for Goth
There’s no clearer sign of how mainstream “wellness” has become than the public demand for an avocado emoji. Where once the keyboard was dominated by pizza and fries, recent introductions include coconuts, broccoli and leafy greens. Inspired, we challenged nutritionist Joe Sexton to create a macro-balanced meal out of the icons on his iPhone:
H is for Hawaii Sushi has been usurped as our lean lunch of choice by a wave of Hawaiian poké joints. A traditional bowl consists of raw fish, rice and toppings. Make your own to adjust the fish-rice balance, for a better muscle-building ratio. Dice 100g of raw tuna into cubes (it contains up to 85 per cent more omega-3 fats than the canned variety) and dress in tamari soy, sesame oil, fresh chilli and sesame seeds. Serve with 80g of sushi rice and pineapple salsa.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL HEDGE, LOUISA PARRY, DAN MATTHEWS, LUCKY IF SHARP, GETTY, INSTAGRAM, ALAMY | *NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY | **JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY
A is for Arachnids
Fast weekday eats no longer mean spending all Sunday batch-cooking in the kitchen or forking out for a dissatisfying café salad, thanks to a new wave of meal kits and delivery services. The nutritionally balanced dishes from Hello Fresh and Marley Spoon are easy wins for the busy gym-goer.
This is the practice of placing your meal items on a neutral surface to get the perfect aerial Instagram shot – the annotated macro ratios are optional. Shareable meals have their pros and cons. “Social media loves colour,” says trend forecaster Melina Romero, and it ups your odds of packing a wider variety of nutrients into your dish. “But indulgent treats also grab our attention and #foodchallenges offer bragging rights.” Shoot the former, share the latter.
NUTRITION SUMMER MUSCLE
J is for Japan
I is for Innards We at MH have been heartily in favour of offal for quite some time, and with the rise of “nose-to-tail” menus, it has never been easier to get your fix. Liver and kidneys are your easiest route in, particularly if you like pâté or pie, but Grant advises branching out. “Sweetbreads – thymus and pancreas cuts – are high in vitamin C, which is something we usually associate with plants,” he says. A portion of beef thymus serves up 12g of heart-healthy unsaturated fats and half of your vitamin C RDI. It’s practically one of your five a day.
In a smart countermove (see H), Japan is fighting to reclaim its lunchtime dominance with junk food – try sashimi pizzas and octopus doughnuts. But the latter is not as sinful as it sounds: octopus is 78 per cent protein and a solid source of iron and vitamin B12. Tentacles are marinated in ginger and garlic, then fried in a polenta batter. Pick some up on legs day.
K is for Kombucha People under 25 are drinking less booze than ever, which has led to a newly diverse range of low-alcohol drinks. Most popular in the wellness sphere is kombucha: “A lightly effervescent fermented tea, it benefits the immune and digestive systems,” says Hodges. But it also contains up to 15g of sugars per serving, so it’s best enjoyed post-workout. The salted glass and olive are optional.
IGNITE YOUR METABOLISM.
FOOD
M is for Machismo When it comes to hot-sauce challenges, men show no sign of growing up. Studies in Plos One journal show the chilli chemical capsaicin can prevent the drop in metabolism that can result from a kilojoule-controlled diet. To ensure you get more burn for your buck, we asked the Clifton Chilli Club for their pick of the hottest on offer: the Carolina reaper, the Trinidad Moruga scorpion, ghost peppers, habanero chillies and Scotch bonnets. Search them out at your local market – and brace yourself.
O is for Oils GUTS FOR THE GLORY.
L is for Liquids
N is for Nitrogen
The liquid lunch has taken on a new meaning, as hipster meal-replacement companies such Aussielent and Jimmy Joy compete to create a macro-balanced meal in a bottle. Packing 2000-plus kJ and 30g protein per serve, these drinks will fill your gut when time is tight. Hodges, however, has a simpler rule: “Read the label. If you see more sugar than protein, go to Nando’s.”
If 2017 was the year of coldbrewed coffee, this is the year of the nitro brew. Black coffee is pumped with nitrogen to displace oxygen, resulting in a creamy texture. New North’s blend tastes almost chocolatey – an ideal alternative to highcarb frappuccinos. Meanwhile, a study** found that people who caffeinate pre-workout are less likely to overeat.
Debate over the best cooking fat still rages, with coconut oil’s popularity proving a flash in the pan (in 2017, US sales dropped by 24 per cent). Our tip for its successor? Avocado oil, which is rich in vitamin E, packs as much healthy monounsaturated fat as olive oil, but can withstand high cooking temperatures. Avo go . . .
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@HODGESMATT
P is for Pseudograins To most of us, they’re just . . . grains. But quinoa, buckwheat, teff and amaranth are actually starchy seeds, and therefore tend to be higher in protein and micronutrients. “They’re great for recovery, reducing inflammation while keeping you fuelled,” says Hodges. For a more “wellness” take on breakfast, boil iron-rich amaranth in salted water and top with almond butter, crushed nuts and banana.
@HASTESKITCHEN
S is for #Spon This indicator of a sponsored social media post calls for a pinch of scepticism. “When a health guru has a dogmatic view on nutrition – cautioning against all carbs, say – and believes that one method is best for everyone, the odds are you’re dealing with a person who knows very little,” warns Grant. For a qualified take, we recommend @lukehinesonline; for recipes, @HastesKitchen; and for fun, @theFFFeed.
@THEFFFEED
PREP FOR PROGRESS
Q is for Quark High-protein dairy products proliferate on supermarket shelves, with fortified milks, yoghurts and ice creams competing for your cash – see The Great Big Bulk Up on p76) But we recommend a simpler source. Quark – a mild cheese – packs more protein than fitness favourites Greek yoghurt and cottage cheese. Due to its fermentation process, it also contains less bloating lactose than other dairy foods. Add a scoop to your shake for 12g of extra protein. A MILD, MILKY MUSCLE MAKER.
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R is for Rules Beware of any eating plan that sells itself on specificity. The paleo diet, for example – trending in 50,000BC, in 2013 and now once again in 2018 – prohibits ingredients not eaten by our ancestors, including grains, dairy and legumes. The issues here are twofold. “If you’re training hard, eliminating food groups can slow your progress,” says Hodges. The diet also allows less scrupulous types to market wheat-free paleo brownies as a “diet food”, while demonising your basic beans on toast. The simpler your rules, the more options you’ll have to fuel success.
T is for Tupperware Like Hoover, Lycra and Sellotape, this brand has become synonymous with its product type. For MH readers, Tupperware has another, even more specific connotation: meal prep. But weighing and measuring ingredients is not only tedious, it’s also unnecessary. For a quicker way to size things up, try this hands-on guide from the fitness model and trainer Artur Zolkiewicz:
ONE PALMSIZED PIECE OF PROTEIN
A CUPPED HAND OF CARBS
A THUMB OF FATS
A FIST-SIZED PORTION OF VEGETABLES
NUTRITION SUMMER MUSCLE
FOOD
SLOW-BURN FUEL
U is for Upcycling
W is for White
Root to leaf is the new nose to tail. The campaign against food waste has prompted chefs to find ways to work unused plant bits into meals that are not just edible but delicious. “Upcycled food – which makes use of peels, cores and older produce – is finding favour with consumers who share similar values,” says Romero. Broccoli stems – sliced, spiced, breadcrumbed and baked – are an easy alternative to chips that contain half the carbs and a mega-hit of vitamin C.
With the backlash against clean eating in full force, even that most reviled of food groups – the white carb – is returning to favour, with rice and spuds re-embraced by the fitness community. A study in the journal Plos One even rated white potatoes as offering among the best nutrition-tocost ratios of any plant, due to its blood-pressure-lowering potassium and vitamins B6 and C. Your order? Potato salad: spuds cooked and then cooled are high in resistant starch, a kind of fibre that limits the production of fat cells.
V is for Veganish As veganism goes from cult to common place, many are decrying the disappearance of the egg from breakfast tables. Try this alternative: combine 65g of chickpea flour, a pinch of garlic powder, a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. Whisk in 100ml water, then combine with sautéed veg and spices and fry in batches, for 15g of protein per “omelette”. Serve alongside rashers of tempeh.
X is for Xanthan Not the Marvel Universe’s latest villain, but the binding ingredient used in place of gluten in free-from breads. But how does it match up with the real thing? According to the research website Examine.com, there is “little to no evidence” that gluten-free products aid weight loss in those without an intolerance. While xanthan is a fibre, gluten is a protein. As a result, free-from breads tend to have less than half the satiating protein of your regular loaf. A win for the OG.
Y is for Youth When it comes to your nutrition, youth is wasted on the tongue. From probiotic fermented grains to immunity-raising kimchi and pickles, ageing is firmly in fashion. Aged steak – anything over 21 days, though one steakhouse in Texas served a 459-day-aged rib-eye in 2014 – has a punchy umami flavour. The nutrients are also easier for your body to absorb, as natural enzymes break down and tenderise the muscle tissue. Pick it up from your butcher – it’s the mature choice.
Z is for
Zoats
“Things in porridge” is the new “greens in a juicer”: effortless, but guaranteed to be a hit on Instagram. So far, there are 56,900 posts tagged #Zoats – that’s zucchini with oats. Not only will this help you cut back on unnecessary carbs, it’s also loaded with lutein, which protects your skin and reduces post-training inflammation. Grate half a zucchini into a bowl and mix with 40g of oats, cinnamon and milk. Top with almond butter and shoot (see F).
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LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure and the Brick and Knob configurati ons are trademarks of the LEGO Group. All rights reserved. © 2018 The LEGO Group. Manufactured by Dorling Kindersley 80 Strand, London, , WC2R 0RL, UK under licence from the LEGO Group
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LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure, the Brick and Knob configurations and NINJAGO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. All rights reserved. © 2018 The LEGO Group.
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LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure, the Brick and Knob configurations and NINJAGO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. All rights reserved. © 2018 The LEGO Group. Manufactured by Dorling Kindersley, 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL, UK under licence from the LEGO Group.
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Offer valid from 17th September 2018 to 28th October 2018. $2 when purchased with a participating magazine. RRP $7.99 when sold separately. Subject to availability, while stocks last in participating stores only. One product at $2 per participating magazine. All items must be purchased in the same transaction. Not in conjunction with any other offer. LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure and the Brick and Knob configurations, NINJAGO and the Friends logo are trademarks of the LEGO Group. All rights reserved. ©2018 The LEGO Group. Manufactured by Dorling Kindersley, 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL under licence from the LEGO Group.
SUMMER MUSCLE
FOOD
EAT LIKE A COVER MOD L MISSED YOUR CALLING AS A FITNESS BENCHMARK? MAYBE IT’S NOT TOO LATE. SUPPORT YOUR TRAINING EFFORTS WITH ADHERENCE TO THESE GOLDEN RULES OF NUTRITION FROM TRANSFORMATION SPECIALISTS CHIEF BRABON AND EMILIE BRABON-HAMES
Guy Sebastian, 36 MH COVER GUY, SEPT 2017
James Stewart, 42 MH COVER GUY, MARCH 2018
Osher Günsberg, 44 MH COVER GUY, SEPT 2018
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Chief Brabon
Transformationcoach.com FOUNDER
Emilie Brabon-Hames
CO-FOUNDER, ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP
PHOTOGRAPHY: JEREMY SIMONS
owever impressive they look, the guys who appear on the cover of Men’s Health each month aren’t from another solar system. Nor, in most cases, are they winners of the genetic lottery or fanatics prepared to live lives defined by monk-like asceticism. Looking the way they do – the defined musculature, the conspicuous abs – needn’t involve any of those things. Which is not to say that hitting stellar shape is a stroll across the sand hills. Two people who understand this as well as anyone are MH fitness director Chief Brabon and Emilie Brabon-Hames, the husbandand-wife duo that specialises in chiselling human bodies. Give this pair eight weeks and they’ll transform a committed bloke who’s in mediocre shape into cover-model material. They’ve been doing this routinely for years, most recently with Osher Günsberg in last month’s Men’s Health, while Guy Sebastian and Home and Away’s James Stewart got the treatment last year. The keys to achieving your ultimate physique are working out with purpose and consistency, while eating cleverly, explain the co-authors of 8 Weeks To Wow. Typically, they say, guys tend to overemphasise their training while neglecting nutrition. Big mistake. “Exercise and diet are equally important,” says Em. And if you’re messing up nutrition, the “wow” outcome will elude you. “Our eating plan has evolved from a training program for elite athletes to a program for everyday people who want to get fit – fast,” says Chief. “The aim is to reboot your body so that it can best use the foods you’re eating. It’s a high-protein, low-fat and super low-carb plan that’s designed to reset your body’s resting metabolic rate. And that means burning more fat, all the time.” To make easier things for you in the kitchen, here are Chief and Em’s 10 Golden Rules of transformative eating. Then turn over for four recipes from 8WTW, covering off breakfast, lunch and dinner (including a muscle-fuelling dessert). Good luck. Put it all into practice, and who knows? Maybe we’ll be shooting you for an MH cover in 2019.
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SUMMER MUSCLE
FOOD
THOU SHALT . . . 1
... QUAFF WATER
When your goal is fat loss, H2O is your new best buddy. By occupying space in your stomach it suppresses appetite; it also flushes waste that can slow down your metabolism. Consuming lots of water also discourages your body from retaining the stuff, ridding you of the puffy look that’s obscuring your armour-plated pectorals. “Aim for about three litres a day,” advises Em. “And, no, juice is not water. And nor are diet soft drinks. Or beer. Sorry.” One twist: take at least some of that water warm, ideally in the morning. The science isn’t rock-solid (yet), but ingesting warm water appears to speed up the rate at which your body burns kilojoules, while aiding digestion and blood circulation.
2
. . . SLASH YOUR INTAKE OF CARBS
Yep, some tasty (and essentially healthy) stuff needs to go, at least for a while. For two weeks, Chief and Em had Sebastian, for example, fuelling up for his morning workouts with a combo of eggs, bacon and avocado. No toast, oats or beans. The idea is to put your body into a metabolic state known as ketosis, where you’re burning fat for fuel instead of glucose. When the fortnight’s up you should reintroduce carbs in clean forms – think brown rice and sweet potatoes, not white bread or pasta – to ensure your muscles are being properly fed. The idea, after all, is to get muscular and lean, not skinny.
3
. . . CUT BACK ON RED MEAT
Despite its strong nutritional profile (and potential succulence), red meat will barely feature in your plan. The problem with beef, lamb, veal and pork, explains Em, is that your body takes too long to digest them – up to three days, in fact, depending on the efficiency of your digestive tract. That kind of labouring equates to delayed elimination of wastes and toxins, as well as slower energy burn and fatigue – all antithetical to your goal of rapid fat loss. “In contrast, your body takes less than a day to absorb and expel white meats like chicken and fish,” says Brabon-Hames. “Better to get your proteins from them.”
4
. . . CONTROL YOUR PORTIONS
“You’re probably eating too much in one sitting,” says Em. What’s too much? Any meal that makes you feel full rather than merely satisfied. Any meal that you wouldn’t be ready to eat again in two or three hours’ time. And remember, adds Em: “Your brain won’t tell you you’re full until a good 10 minutes after your last mouthful.” So wait a bit before deciding what you’ve eaten just didn’t do the trick. Operating by feel is simpler than counting kilojoules – and just as effective if you’re honest with yourself,” says Em. If, however, you need something more concrete, correct portions per sitting are a fist-sized serving of protein, a palmsized serving of carb-rich vegetable (eg. sweet potato), two palms of leafy greens and a thumb of fat (eg. avocado).
5
. . . BANISH “BOREDOM EATING”
Snacks like Doritos (with or without guacamole) are a pleasurable way to kill time. They also go down a treat with televised sport and any coming together of people you like, aka friends. These are normally sound reasons for indulging. But shooting for cover-model shape requires you to be highly selective about when to take in thousands of surplus kilojoules. “Eating out of habit, boredom or stress will derail your efforts,” says Em. “Be mindful about your food by sitting down at a table to eat and savouring each mouthful.”
6
. . . ESCHEW FRUIT (FOR TWO WEEKS)
Huh? Fruit? “Regardless of what your mum or grandma told you, you don’t need to eat fruit every day,” says Em. The same goes for fruit juice; in fact, with its higher concentration of sugars and less fibre, juice is off the menu entirely. “Consuming fruit or fruit juice can cause your blood sugars to spike and your pancreas to release more insulin, the hormone behind fat storage. That’s the very process we’re trying to regulate,” says Em. Don’t worry: this isn’t a policy for the long-term, but rather a shock tactic to retune your body for fat burning.
7
. . . MAKE VARIETY A DAILY GOAL
One of the quickest ways to become jack of an eating plan is to restrict yourself to too few tastes. “As much as you might dislike broccoli or eggplant, there are plenty of ways to cook them,” says Em. Superior cookbooks like 8 Weeks To Wow reveal both the range of flavours available to you and how to combine them for maximum taste appeal.
8
. . . MAKE FRIENDS WITH FIBRE
9
. . . MAKE SHREWD SUBSTITUTIONS
“Although there are plenty of supplements out there like Metamucil and BeneFibre that can help, if you’re following our rules then you shouldn’t need them,” says Em. Most importantly: eat your greens. “Make sure you have plenty of spinach, zucchini, broccoli and Brussels sprouts: these are great sources of soluble fibre that will keep the train moving through the station.”
Bread will be off limits (too many carbs), but if you love the stuff, there’s an out of sorts. For his transformation, Gus Sebastian subbed in Protein Bread (theproteinbreadco.com.au), which has 17 grams of protein and a mere 1.5 grams of carbs per serve. While you make it yourself from a packet mix, it’s idiot-proof – and edible without being something to write home about. And for rice and pasta, Slendier products (slendier.com), made from the vegetable konjac, allowed Sebastian to keep consuming the kind of meals he grew up on, like his mum’s curries.
10
. . . TAKE A BREAK FROM THE BOOZE
To get cover-model cut you simply can’t afford the dead kilojoules abundant in your favourite tipple. The other point about grog is that your body recognises it as a nutritionally bereft toxin and prioritises its elimination, effectively shutting down fat-burning. “For guys, alcohol can be an important part of time spent with mates and not to be drinking can be seen as antisocial by some crowds,” concedes Em. “But again, it’s not forever.” DANIEL WILLIAMS October 2018
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FUEL THE FIRE COMMENCE THE CUT WITH THIS DAY-ON-A-PLATE PLAN
Lunch
Mexican Stuffed Capsicums (Serves 4)
BZB Fritters
(Serves 4) • 2–3 slices lean bacon, trimmed • 2 zucchini, grated • 4 eggs, lightly beaten • 1 handful shredded basil • Chilli flakes, to taste • Salt & freshly ground black pepper • Lime wedges, for squeezing
Avo smash (optional) • Avocado • 2 cherry tomatoes, diced • 1 small handful shredded basil • Lime wedges, for squeezing • Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1
To make the avo smash, roughly mash the avocado in a bowl.
2
Add the diced tomatoes, basil and a good squeeze of lime.
3
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and mix until combined.
4
Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
5
Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium–high heat. Fry the bacon until cooked and crispy on both sides, then drain on paper towel. Cut into small pieces and set aside.
6
Grate the zucchini into a bowl and squeeze with your hands to remove the excess liquid. Stir in the eggs, basil and bacon pieces. Add the chilli flakes and season with salt and pepper, then mix well.
7
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Spoon the mixture into the pan to make four fritters. Cook, turning every 1–2 minutes to ensure even cooking, for about 8 minutes in total or until the fritters are golden and cooked through.
8
Serve the fritters with a squeeze of lime juice and a side of avo smash (if using).
NOTE: These fritters are great topped with a poached egg. Cook the fritters in non-stick egg rings to help them hold together. 76
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1
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2
Put the tomatoes and garlic in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.
3
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion until soft. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until golden. Stir in the mushrooms, chilli and cumin and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in the tomato and garlic mixture and stir until well combined. Remove the pan from the heat.
4
Slice the tops off the capsicums and scoop out the seeds. Add the capsicums and tops to a large saucepan of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes, then drain. Wrap the bottom half of each capsicum in foil and place in a small roasting tin.
5
Divide the beef and mushroom mixture among the capsicums and replace the tops. Bake for 20–30 minutes or until the capsicums have softened.
6
Meanwhile, mash the avocado with the yoghurt to make a dressing. Serve the stuffed capsicums with the dressing.
PHOTOGRAPHY: JEREMY SIMONS
Breakfast
• 12 cherry tomatoes • 2 garlic cloves • 1 small onion, finely chopped • 500g lean minced beef • 100g mushrooms, finely chopped • 2 teaspoons chilli powder • 3 teaspoons ground cumin • 4 small red capsicums • 1 avocado • 1 tablespoon Greek-style plain yoghurt
SUMMER MUSCLE
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Dinner
Beef Schnitzel with Mushroom Sauce (Serves 4) • 4 beef fillets • 1 egg, lightly beaten • 4 French shallots, finely diced • 2–3 mushrooms, thinly sliced • 2–3 thyme sprigs, leaves only • 1 tablespoon light cream cheese • Freshly ground black pepper 1
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2
Using a meat tenderiser, flatten the beef fillets to form 1 cm-thick schnitzels.
3
Dip the schnitzels in the beaten egg. Place on the baking tray and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.
4
Meanwhile, put the diced shallots and 3 tablespoons water in a saucepan and sauté over medium–high heat for 5 minutes or until the shallots are soft. Add the mushrooms, thyme and another 3 tablespoons water. Cook over medium heat for 5–10 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked through.
5
Remove the pan from the heat. Add the cream cheese and pepper, to taste. Stir until the sauce is blended and smooth. Return to the heat and simmer over medium heat until the sauce has reduced to your desired thickness.
6
Spoon the mushroom sauce over the hot schnitzels.
Dessert
Protein Ice Cream (Serves 2) • 60g light ricotta cheese • 1 teaspoon fat-free Greek-style plain yoghurt • 1 scoop (30g) vanilla protein powder • 2 drops natural vanilla extract 1
Put the ricotta, yoghurt, protein powder and vanilla in a bowl.
2
Mix until well combined. Transfer to a freezer-proof container and freeze for 30 minutes or until firm.
NOTE: You can fry the schnitzels in a frying pan for 2–3 minutes on each side instead of baking them. The pepper can be substituted with paprika.
IMAGES AND TEXT FROM 8 WEEKS TO WOW BY EMILIE BRABON-HAMES AND CHIEF BRABON, MURDOCH BOOKS, RRP $29.99.
The Great Big
The global protein market is experiencing a growth spurt, as fortified foods move from gym bag to shopping trolley. But with everything from chocolate to bread to ice cream being adulterated with the nutrient, what does it say about our insatiable hunger for extra muscle with every bite? MH unpacks the facts 78
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By
Oliver Thring Peter Crowther
Photography By
SUMMER MUSCLE
FOOD
CAN THE PROMISE OF MORE PROTEIN REDEEM YOUR GUILTIEST TREATS? October 2018
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25G
Prote in at ea to c o nt r c h m e a l fou n d ol hung er and enhanc e mu m et a b o sc le li s m - C S I RO
he change happened quietly, albeit suddenly. Once the chalky preserve of sweatbox changing rooms and elite sportsmen’s kitbags, protein has become the sexiest, most ubiquitous and most lucrative nutrient around. Last year growth in Australian sales of items that list their protein content leapt by 22 per cent compared to 2 per cent in total grocery growth, according to Nielsen. And with the Aussie sports nutrition category growing at an annual rate of 14 per cent – it’s clear we just can’t get enough of it. Of course, we expect to find whey in our post-gym shakes and bars. You’ve doubtless used them yourself, whether looking to build and sustain muscle or simply recover faster from your workouts. But this relatively niche market has breached its banks. Its appeal is blowing up. Yoghurt brands such as YoPRO and Chobani heavily market their protein content, as do liquid breakfast drinks like Up&Go. Meanwhile, the ‘healthy’ ice cream brand Halo Top, recently launched in Australia, now outsells all of its US competitors. This is in no small part due to its advertised 5g of protein per scoop – five times that in the kilojoule equivalent of a Ben & Jerry’s. Other brands like Herman Brot have launched high-protein muesli and pasta while Coca-Cola has even created protein milk Fairlife, which the company’s executives anticipate will “rain money” for the brand. Not even rain itself has escaped proteinification. Recently launched UK ‘water’ Vieve claims to be natural, sugar-free, fat-free and high-protein – a list of descriptors that could all be applied to a glass of tap water with 80
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EVEN WATER IS NOW SWELLING WITH EXTRA MACROS.
SUMMER MUSCLE
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CLAIM AND GAIN Want to know how much muscle you’re getting for your money? This is how protein-fortified foods stack up against their generic counterparts
Helga’s 5 Seeds Lower Carb 13.8g per 1oog
Uncle Tobys Protein Plus 14g per 100g
Mars Xtra Choc Protein Bar 18.1g per bar
The Protein Bread Co. Protein Pizza 50g per pizza base
Helga’s Traditional Wholemeal 9g per 100g
Oat Brits 11.8 per 100g
Mars Bar 1.3g per bar
Dominos Supreme 71g per pizza
“PROTEIN IS NO MORE THE PRESERVE OF BENCH-PRESSERS. IT’S BEEN LIFESTYLISED” one exception. Each bottle contains 20g of protein, mainly derived from collagen. In the language of marketing gurus, protein now has a ‘health halo’, just as low-fat foods did back in the ’80s. But why exactly is this? Why have consumers suddenly embraced this macronutrient with such strange and bewildering obsession? And is it really as good for us as we seem to think?
Macro Economics We’ve known about proteins since the 18th century. The Swedish chemist who named the molecules in the 1830s coined the word from the Greek ‘pro’ – meaning first and, therefore, most important. They are, of course, critical to life. The amino acids of which they are comprised are essential to sustain our muscles and bones, and synthesise hormones. Research in the Journal of Nutrition found that eating a serving of protein at every meal promotes healthy ageing, while a Japanese study linked eating animal protein with a lower risk of mental decline. So far, so vital. Crucially, it proves pretty helpful for weightloss, too: when we consume protein, it stimulates glucose production in the small intestine, which helps us to feel full. A 2013 paper from the University of Missouri found that a high-protein breakfast staves off hunger better than a regular bowl of (unfortified) cereal, even when both
dishes offer the same amount of kilojoules. Nevertheless, the word ‘protein’ can be a misleadingly catch-all term when describing what actually goes into adulterated food products. You have whey and casein, which are found in milk, as well as numerous plant options like those extracted from soy and hemp. One of the many growth areas for the booming high-protein industry is that derived from insects – crickets, for instance. And, when deciding where to score your hit, not all proteins are created equal. Typically, only the animal-derived varieties found in meat and dairy contain all essential amino acids – those that our body cannot produce itself. They also offer a more favourable ratio of protein-per-kilojoule. Quinoa, as any health hipster worth his Himalayan sea salt will tell you, is a rare example of a plant that contains every amino acid necessary for the human body. But you’d have to consume almost 2300 kilojoules’ worth of the stuff in order to score 20g of protein, says dietitian Chris Mohr, who has a PhD in exercise physiology. To obtain the same from a juicy steak would require fewer than 900kJ. Consequently, food manufacturers have realised that we don’t just want more protein, we want it in more manageable, condensed packages. According to recent research from Mintel, Australians are increasingly looking to snack foods for nourishment, leading to an
increase in demand for plant-based smoothies and protein-packed bars. “Concerns around health are prompting users to cut back – most people are trying to eat healthily much, if not all, of the time,” explains Emma Clifford, Mintel’s associate director of food and drink. “As companies clamour to capitalise on the interest in protein, there has been a surge in new products featuring the high-protein claim. Snacks lend themselves well to this, providing an easy way for consumers to boost their intake.” Significantly, a growing proportion of consumers now say they would happily pay more for a snack with added nutritional benefits. And in 2018 that doesn’t mean lowfat muffins or vitamin-enriched biscuits. It means extra P.
Appetite For Excess None of this is to address exactly why we suddenly want it so much. Of course, successive popular eating plans – from Atkins to Dukan and, more recently, the Paleo diet – have been teaching us to prioritise protein for the last two decades. And while we’ve always been careful not to use the word ‘diet’ itself, this very magazine has promoted the nutritional benefits of protein since its inception. According to Dr Mayur Ranchordas, a senior lecturer and sports nutrition consultant at Sheffield Hallam University, this fixation could be due to a process of elimination. “The key message nowadays is to reduce the amount of carbs we eat, and for a long time we were told not to eat fat, either,” he says. “So protein is the only macronutrient left to fill the gap.” But Ranchordas is also quick to lay responsibility with social media for the recently accelerated shift, citing the ‘wellness influencers’ who share their workout and refuel snaps on Instagram. Protein supplementation is no longer the preserve of overmuscled bench-pressers. Body fuel has been lifestylised. Meanwhile, Dale Pinnock, a specialist in the medicinal properties of food, thinks that our collective obsession with protein is not so much the result of a newfound interest in health, as a guilelessness when it comes to nutrition. “People are mad about protein all of a sudden because of prevailing ‘bro science’, rather than society becoming more interested in fitness per se,” he says. “Certain ‘theories’ that once existed within the confines of the gym have been brought into the mainstream and presented as true.” As a result, we’ve come to believe that more and more protein is inherently healthier. October 2018
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MINIMUM EFFECTIVE DOSE Sources of protein are hiding in plain sight. Discover the proportion of energy derived from the nutrient in these kitchen staples
Spinach – 30%
Cheddar cheese – 26%
Broccoli – 20%
Chickpeas – 18%
Peanuts – 16%
Porridge oats – 13%
Tomato sauce – 12%
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$29b The p ro je cte of t he g d dolla r va lue lo b a l s u p p le m p rote in m a r ke t e n t s in 2 02 5
POTATO CHIPS PROVIDE A PORTABLE SOURCE OF P, BUT CAN THEY EVER REPLACE YOUR SHAKE?
SUMMER MUSCLE
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“FOOD MARKETEERS SEEK THE SIMPLEST SALES HOOK – THERE IS NO NUANCE” So how much of it do we need and how much of it are we already eating? Dr Zoe Harcombe, a researcher in public health nutrition, points out that protein is present in almost every food, not just your chicken breast. “Nature tends to create foods with either a mix of carbs and proteins, such as vegetables, grains and legumes, or fats and proteins, such as meat, fish and eggs,” she says. All this means that we already consume more protein as part of our everyday diets than we might suspect, claims Harcombe. “At my size, and with my activity levels, I need roughly 50g of protein a day,” she says. “I could get that from a couple of tuna steaks. But I’m still taking on protein from almost everything else I eat during the day: porridge, salad, brown rice, dark chocolate – you name it.” The recommended daily intake of protein for men is 0.84g for every kilo of bodyweight. If you’re unsure of what that quantity looks like, a typical chicken breast contains about 40g of protein, a portion of tofu 15g and two eggs 12g. And from the health food aisle? You’ll find 21g in a packet of Quest Salt & Vinegar Protein Chips and 8.9g in a Bounce Protein Energy Ball. All of which means your odds of falling short are highly unlikely.
Strength In Numbers The average Aussie might not be at risk of deficiency, but, of course, optimal nutrition is about more than meeting base requirements. People exercising frequently will need more protein than the sofa-bound, and for the man in training or looking to add to his frame, government targets probably set the bar too low. “The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that athletes undergoing heavy training should eat between 1.6g and, in extreme cases, 2g per kilo of their bodyweight,” says Ranchordas. Working out at roughly 150g a day for an average-sized man, this is double the recommended quotas for sedentary people. Even so, it’s still a goal you can meet without desperate measures. “It’s relatively easy to get enough protein from food sources, no matter how much exercise you’re doing. There’s really no need to resort to fortified ice cream,” says Pinnock. “My major concern is the people
who are banishing all carbs while eating half a grilled moose for breakfast. They are pushing protein intake beyond a healthy level, risking damaging their kidneys, cardiovascular health, gut flora and increasing their colorectal cancer risk.” Indeed, science suggests you really can have too much of a good thing. A 2013 paper published in the journal ISRN Nutrition concluded that an excessively high protein intake “could be useless or even harmful for healthy individuals”, especially for those who self-prescribe protein supplements and overlook the guidelines for using them, something which can be common among athletes and bodybuilders. Excess protein, the report claims, “is not used efficiently by the body and may impose a metabolic burden on the bones, kidneys and liver.” Nevertheless, Ranchordas is keen to countenance against irrationality – after all, what we are talking about here are diets with unusually high levels of protein, prioritised at the expense of other nutrients. He recommends that we approach the alleged dangers of over-consumption with a healthy side of scepticism. “We can speculate that high-protein diets might cause problems,” he says. “But the data is not as clear as it is for high-carbohydrate diets, which are known to cause insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. I wouldn’t recommend a diet excessively high in any one macronutrient.” All of which is reasonable. However, it’s not a compelling sell at the checkout. And until the pitch of ‘naturally balanced nutrient ratios’ manages to acquire some marketing sex appeal, food marketeers will continue to seek out the most translatable sales hook, regardless of scientific nuance or veracity. In the early 2000s, that hook was omega-3. In 2018, it is baited with protein.
Natural Order What, then, is the hungry MH reader to do? Well, if you’re only making it to the gym a couple of times a week, then habitually stocking up on protein-fortified foods is probably unnecessary. Protein is not a musclebuilding elixir in and of itself and, in any case, it’s likely your diet already has you covered. If
you’re training regularly, then – by all means – supplement your intake. But unless you’re happy to fork out 50 per cent more for a loaf of bread, it’s easier and cheaper to add an extra scoop to your shake. The critical point, agreed by all nutritionists we’ve spoken to, is that the quality of your diet is more important than the quantity of your macros. If all you’re doing is counting grams, the people who stand to benefit most from those extra helpings are the manufacturers of processed foods – capitalising on the prevailing myth that a ‘high protein’ badge automatically makes a food product healthy, regardless of whether it naturally belongs there or what else might be in it. As Harcombe says: “Adding protein to our crisps and cakes doesn’t make them virtuous; it just makes them junk foods with added protein.” Food manufacturers are well aware of this, which is why they are frequently at pains to claim some kind of authenticity for their wares. When phrases like ‘clean eating’ are common parlance, drawing attention to ingredients’ ‘natural’ credentials becomes a key part of the sell for a high-protein product. As a Mintel investigation into nutritional attitudes concluded, brands are learning to put a strong focus on the plant-derived nature of high-protein ingredients in order to “boost associations with naturalness”. Indeed, many marketeers predict the next big retail trend will be plant-based or ‘green’ protein, in place of the ‘high-’ prefix. But it’s worth noting that boosting “associations with naturalness” is only ever required in those cases when the food you are purchasing is, well, quite unnatural. Brands such as Vieve Protein Water, for example, bill themselves as ‘naturally flavoured’, yet a glance at the ingredients list reveals it to contain the artificial sweetener sucralose and the anti-foaming agent E900, alongside its added collagen protein. It’s not that they’re bad for you. It’s just that, for the same price, you could purchase four whole litres of another health drink – one that serves up all your ‘natural’ protein alongside vitamins D, B12, calcium and phosphorus. It’s called milk. And wouldn’t that be simpler? October 2018 83
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FEAR
MIND
WHETHER IT’S HEIGHTS, SPIDERS OR YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW’S COOKING, YOUR RESPONSE TO PERCEIVED THREATS COULD BE HOLDING YOU BACK. DISCOVER HOW TO TURN THE TABLES ON YOUR WORST NIGHTMARES BY MATT CLEARY
October 2018 85
The sabre-toothed tiger could weigh up to 400 kilograms and sported a pair of 20-centimetre-long teeth that declared to its enemies: look at my teeth! Does it look like I can’t rip out your throat and eat your head? Yeah, you better run. And the big cat’s enemies were suitably frightened and ran away. One of those enemies was us: the sentient, upright things with the spindly bodies and ingenious brains. Where the big cats opted for meat-eating teeth and giraffes with elongated necks to more easily reach the leaves at the tops of trees, we went with brains. And we cleaned up. We were masters of our domain. And while we remained vigilant of sabre-toothed tigers – our brains computed the danger of the big cat’s teeth as well any creature’s – we were smart enough to devise ways to beat it. We teamed up. We prepared and planned. And we learned. And we slayed the savage beast time and again. Pretty soon we were eating sabre-toothed tiger sandwiches and making sabre-toothed tiger throw rugs. And today, in part thanks to us, sabre-toothed tigers don’t exist. And we do. And yet our fear of things remains. We are afraid of public speaking and spiders and approaching the girl at the gym. Our reflex to life-threatening stimuli and its equally fearsome cousin, public humiliation, remains the same as our prehistoric ancestors’: we shit ourselves. But like our ingenious club-wielding old uncles, we can beat it. We can feel it, acknowledge it. And maybe even use it. But, as three men grappling with the reality of terror and dread reveal here, first you have to face it.
JUMP INTO THE VOID Chris Byrnes, a two-time Wingsuit BASE world champion, set the horizontal wingsuit world record in Monte Brento, Italy, flying 1.46 km in 30 seconds and reaching a top speed of 253 km/h. Call him crazy, but Byrnes is an example of what's possible when you confront fear head on . . . "I first got exposed to flying sports through videos online. Then I did a tandem skydive to see if I would enjoy the freefall. I did. When you fly, you feel the air rushing over your body. You are literally piloting your body, there is no separation of control, unlike in a plane. If you call flying a plane flying, then driving a boat is swimming. In a wingsuit you can fly down mountains, over gullies and through waterfalls. It's an amazing feeling. Of course, it's scary. Thirtyeight people died base jumping in 2016, the year I started. The adrenaline makes you want to get stuck into your mind, but through training and breathing and focusing, you try to be aware 86
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of your whole body. That really is a foundation skill. Then you've got complete control. The way I deal with fear is by having a methodical approach to checking my equipment, looking at the weather and going through checks, so that when I'm on the edge, even though my body is physically scared, mentally I know that I'm capable of doing what I'm about to do. You can't be gung-ho with this stuff. You need to be meticulous because your life depends on it. Flying does put things in perspective. For me, it makes me stop and smell the roses. Knowing you're going to die someday makes you live your life in a more beautiful way. I'll tell family members how I really feel. I'll ask out that pretty girl or I'll ask for that raise. I'll do those things in normal life that are a little bit scary because I appreciate that this really is it. I know every time I jump off a cliff could be my last. That's why my last words each time I jump are '3, 2, 1, dream…'. And that would be my message to everyone: to dream."
MIND
“IF YOU CALL FLYING A PLANE FLYING, THEN DRIVING A BOAT IS SWIMMING”
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FIGHTING FOR LIFE Pro golfer Jarrod Lyle was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia – cancer of the blood and bone marrow – at 17. The second time he was 30. The third time, in 2017, was the hardest to cop. He was 35 and the father of two little girls. He reveals how you stay positive in the face of the gravest fear of all . . . “When you go through something like this, you’ve got to draw on everything you can to get through it. Having cancer for the third time now, I can draw on the experience from the previous two times. But it doesn’t make it any easier because you know going in that this treatment could be your last chance. That’s a very daunting thing to hear. I kind of knew in the back of my mind that I might be pushing shit up a pretty steep hill, but it’s the fight that I’ve had
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throughout my golf career. I want to get to the other end. As a guy, you tend to bottle things up and try to deal with them in your own way. You get in that little bubble where you sit in your hospital room and you feel like you’re the only person in the world who’s got cancer. You’ve got to talk to people. Sometimes just getting it out there, talking to a good mate or a stranger, is all you need to do to find out that Joe Blow on the other side of the bar has got exactly the same thing. Quite often I look through my phone at pictures that have been taken. On the good days where I was sitting in hospital and smiling, then at the bad days where I remember that I could have just rolled over and given up. It shows you that you’ve come a long way, even though you still feel terrible and don’t have the energy to walk to the letterbox and back. Everything seems to be a
little bit tougher this time. I’m still fighting. I want to be a dad. I want to see the girls grow up. I’m literally just fighting for the three girls in my life. That’s the thing that keeps me going every day. If you want a stupid golf analogy, it’s literally one shot at a time, as cheesy as that sounds. Things can turn bad quickly. But you’ve just got to take those good times and run with them.” Postscript: at the start of August Jarrod ceased treatment and began palliative care. Sadly, eight days later he passed away, aged 36. He is survived by his wife Briony, and daughters Lusi, 6, and Jemma, 2.
FINDING YOUR VOICE Real estate agent Brett Johnson* wanted to be an auctioneer. One problem. Every time he had to address a crowd he'd go to water. His heart would race, his palms would sweat. Something had to change . . . "My old man used to be very articulate and always used to correct me on things. I don't know if that's where it started but I lost confidence in speaking publicly as I got older and it just got worse. Even though I work in a small office and have great relationships with the staff, if
“YOU KNOW GOING IN THAT THIS TREATMENT COULD BE YOUR LAST CHANCE”
MIND
someone were to say, 'hey, can you get up and say a few words', my heartbeat would rise and I'd get sweaty palms. It's almost like your body goes into shock. One minute you can be fine and the next you're freaking out. I felt that it was setting me back on what I wanted to achieve in life and as an estate agent. I want to be an auctioneer, but the thought of getting up there and doing that . . . I'd shit myself. I've been doing a public speaking course. You start training at a 30 per cent fear level, so the first conversation might be sitting in a group and telling a story. The second time the fear level is at 50 per cent. Then 70-80 per cent might be getting up in front of 20 people and 100 per cent could be getting up in front of 100 people. It's not something that just disappears but one way to overcome your fear is to feel it. To actually feel your heart beating faster and not worry about it. You need to push yourself through without a safety barrier. Next time you're at work, sit at the front and put your hand up to say something. But the biggest thing for me is to have the confidence not to worry if you muck up your words or lose your train of thought. You can even try stuffing up on purpose just to see what the reaction is. It's not as bad as you think. Don't get me wrong. I still get up there and freak out, but I know that it's good that I'm pushing myself through it." * Not his real name.
TOP
10
PHOBIAS
USE THESE STRATEGIES TO COMBAT SOME COMMON BLOOD CURDLERS
Approach the girl of your dreams 1 Flying
2 Public speaking
3 Social
4 Spiders
5 Needles, blood
6 Enclosed spaces
7 Heights
Being nervous about approaching a woman is a sign she’s important to you, says Dr Corrie Ackland, clinical psychologist at the Sydney Phobia Clinic. Try this: • Breathe. Take a second to focus on your breath. In, out . . . you know the drill. • Rehearse. Warm up in the mirror – not with ‘you talking to me?’ Instead try, ‘Would you be free for a drink some time? Cool. How’s Thursday? • Acknowledge. Monitor unhelpful thoughts - ‘she’s gonna crush my nuts like grapes’ - and banish them. • Be positive. Say things to yourself such as: “It’s doesn’t hurt to try”. “That will enable you to have better control over what’s happening physiologically,” Ackland says.
The Social Function Just chuck down a few drinks, right? Wrong, says Ackland. “That just reinforces the ‘threat’. It says: ‘This situation is so bad I need to be tanked to give it a go’.” Okay, how? Work out why you’re fearful of the people in the room. Is it something that happened previously? “When we work out what it is that concerns us we can work through it and neutralise it,” says Ackland. If there’s no good reason, employ some coversation basics: introduce yourself to someone who’s alone and ask them a question. Listen to their answer, then try a follow-up. Now you’re chatting, and crucially, you’re part of the room rather than looking in.
Flying 8 Fear of having a panic attack
9 Animals
NEVER STOP SWINGING: LYLE STAYED POSITIVE DESPITE THE GRIMNESS OF HIS SITUATION.
SCARE TACTICS
10 Vomiting Source: Dr Corrie Ackland
For some it’s the confined space. For others it’s the height above the ground or the lack of control. Some people might panic about having a panic attack. In Ackland’s course you sit down with a pilot to dispel assumptions that can lead to an anxiety response. You’re given facts about turbulence and statistics on the prevalence of plane crashes. Next, there’s a graded response. You might ride in a cable car, then take a short flight. “You do that initial small step repeatedly until you’re coping better,” says clinical psychologist Catherine Madigan. “Once you’re feeling more comfortable, we take it up a notch.” Like a wingsuit . . .
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M H D A D
WHAT I’VE LEARNT ABOUT FATHERHOOD David Baddiel was the first comedian to sell out Wembley Stadium. On the eve of his Australian tour, he reflects on kids, gender and his foul-mouthed dad
My dad has Pick’s Disease, a type of dementia the symptoms of which include obscenity, disinhibition, apathy, mood swings and extreme impatience. When the neurologist told me this list of symptoms, I said: “Sorry, does he have a disease or have you just met him? When we were growing up, my dad was exactly like he is now: sweary, angry, and only able to show his emotions in sweary, angry ways. In a documentary I did about my dad on British TV, at one point he is told that I’m saying, as a joke, that he never loved us. He replies: “That’s complete bollocks”. That’s the nearest I’ve ever got to my dad telling me he loves me, and tells you what he was like as a father – a man who could only say those words in an aggressive, negative way: loving, maybe, but in an incredibly male way.
My dad influenced my approach to manhood mainly in reaction to it: I don’t get angry much, and tell my kids I love them all the time. Having said that, I am very sweary. He never gave me any good advice, ever. My dad was not a bloke to keep things in. In the latter part of his life he sold Dinky Toys at an antiques market. A very famous TV comedian once came to his stall and bought some of his merchandise. My dad didn’t know who he was, but later, having been told, went and watched his show. When the very famous TV comedian came back for more toys, my dad said to him: “I saw your show. It was shit.” Soon after, the comedian’s career crumbled. But more importantly, what kind of salesman was my father? We desperately needed money at the time.
SARAH AND COLIN BADDIEL WITH TWO (AND A HALF) OF THEIR CHILDREN.
I was 37 when I had kids. It’s the only thing that’s ever properly changed me. For the first time, I really felt a psychic shift towards proper empathy, towards thinking about how the world looked to someone else, to thinking about someone else and their needs first. It’s made me, in a small way, but I can only move in small ways, a better person. The difference between raising a boy and a girl? My children just are very different. They just are a ridiculous example of nature over nurture. They’ve got the same upbringing, come from the same DNA, but she is very girllike and he is very boy-like. When Ezra was a year old, I remember him rooting about in my partner’s make-up box and thinking: “Oh, okay, maybe he’s going to be quite feminine, gender-fluid, all good.” Then he picked out of it and held up, like the torch on the statue of liberty - I’m not sure what it was doing in there - a screwdriver. Like: “Don’t worry, I’ve found my phallus, dad!” – INTERVIEW BY LUKE BENEDICTUS David Baddiel’s live show My Family: Not The Sitcom makes its Australian debut this September in Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. frontiercomedy.com October 2018
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MIDLIFE ISSUES CAN DRIVE YOU APE SHIT.
inner critic before it delivered yet another sneering rebuke. It’s sound advice if you’ve ever found yourself convulsing with envy at a mate’s high-rolling lifestyle on Instagram. To stay sane, strive to appreciate what you’ve got rather that what you haven’t. As economist Richard Layard says in Rauch's book: “One secret to happiness is to ignore comparisons with people who are more successful than you are: always compare downwards, not upwards.”
EMBRACE THE NORM
CURVE YOUR ENTHUSIASM
Your levels of contentment are proven to nose-dive in mid-life. Here’s how to avoid becoming a grumpy dad Endless singalongs to The Wiggles. Enforced bouts of celibacy. The pain of stepping on yet another bastard piece of Lego . . . Yes, fatherhood is wondrous and life-affirming, but it can also prove a daily challenge. The bad news is that most dads will navigate the whirlwind of toddler tantrums and sleep deprivation at a stage of life when statistically they’re also under the most emotional duress. Economists from Warwick University in the UK conducted a huge study that followed 50,000 adults in Australia, Britain and Germany throughout their lives. They found levels of contentment tend to hit an all-time low when 92
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people hit their 40s. Researchers call this mid-life dip “the U-shaped life-satisfaction curve” - an idea that’s supported by a bundle of academic studies. “It’s that nasty transition when you feel you haven’t achieved what you wanted to,” explains Jonathan Rauch, author of The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After Midlife. “You’re disappointed in the past and pessimistic about the future.” Luckily, there's light at the end of the tunnel – the stats show happiness levels typically start to rise again in your 50s. But what can you do in the meantime if you’re venturing into this tricky age bracket?
THE COMPARISON TRAP Money, fame, wild sex . . . there’ll always be someone who outguns you in each department. But if you waste time comparing yourself to their situation, you’re leaping on an express train straight to the doldrums. During his midlife slump, Rauch found himself doing this compulsively. Aware this habit was bringing him down, he developed a basic system of cognitive behaviour treatment to break the loop. Whenever he found himself negatively comparing his situation to someone else, Rauch would repeat the mantra “No comparison”. The idea: to silence the
Rauch hit his rocky period in his 40s. “I felt like I might never feel satisfied with anything again.” Compounding his anguish was an awareness that, on paper, his life was actually pretty good – he was happily married and kicking major career goals (he’d just won the National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize). Yet knowing that his disquiet had no logical basis only aggravated Rauch’s malaise by making him feel ungrateful to boot. While writing his book, Rauch spoke to psychologists who counsel people for mid-life dissatisfaction. Their advice: instead of beating yourself up over this self-perceived character flaw, normalise what you’re going through and remember this is a typical developmental stage that will eventually disperse. “You need to break the spiral of self-recrimination that happens to people in this age-related funk,” Rauch says. Remind yourself that it’s a normal, natural, healthy transition. Yes, it’s a pain to go through. But it has a splendid pay-off in your 50s, 60s, 70s even 80s.”
STEP DON’T LEAP Men are virtually hard-wired to try and fix problems. When you’re stuck in a rut, it’s natural to want to shake things up. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should chuck in your nine-to-five day-job on a mad impulse. Or embark on some doomed affair
33.1
Average age of a first-time dad in Australia
40.2
Average age when people are most miserable in Australia. (Global average 46)
1/3
The amount by which your life satisfaction decreases from age 20 to 45 (Stats from Bureau of Statistics and Social Science & Medicine Journal)
with the 22-year-old office receptionist. “Step don’t leap,” advises Rauch. “Change is often important and necessary. But especially in this period of life it’s important to keep change logical. Be suspicious of disruptive change.” That doesn’t mean your masterplan to sell your house and become a diving instructor in the Philippines doesn’t have any merit. Maybe just canvas the opinions of trusted friends and family first. People at the bottom of the U-curve often isolate themselves by not talking to those close to them about how they feel. “They don’t want to panic their loved ones or be mocked for having a mid-life crisis so they keep it secret,” Rauch says. Don’t go it alone: talk to your wife or phone a friend. If they’re of a similar vintage, chances are they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about. – Luke Benedictus
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M H D A D
EASY WAYS TO HANG OUT WITH YOUR KIDS
Historically, entertainment was not part of the child-parent contract. It was strictly protection and provision: clothing, food and maybe a trip to Dreamworld. Now parents are Dreamworld. You owe it to yourself to enjoy the experience of hanging out with these undeveloped humans you had the arrogance to help create. The trick is simple: make it all about you.
BY ROB CORDDRY
1/ TRANSPOSE YOUR HOBBIES If you’re enthusiastic, they will be too. Do you play golf? Set up a few cups around the room and laugh at their short game while getting in a little practice yourself.
2/ HIT THE BLOCKS If you don’t have a set of Lego, then we don’t understand each other and you should stop reading. Lego is the best toy ever invented. Get some and build some shit.
3/ PLAY “LET’S GET LOST” I drive around and my kids take turns telling me to take a left or a right until we are “lost”. Then they take turns trying to get us home. They understand what a GPS is now, but somehow this still manages to be fun.
4/ LEARN TO TELL A STORY You don’t have to study the Hero’s Journey. Have a middle and an end in mind before you begin, and make it ongoing. Connect a few dots between your story and their lives. Then scoop their brains up, because you blew their minds.
5/ TEACH THEM GAMBLING Substitute poker chips with lollies, 5-cent coins, rocks, their allowance, uni tuition, etc. If gambling conflicts with your religious beliefs, then, well . . .
6/ DO SCIENCE Take them into the kitchen and mix a bunch of crap together. You’ll love it. They will too, but who cares?
7/ HOW MANY MARSHMALLOWS CAN YOU FIT IN YOUR MOUTH? However many it is, it’s fewer than I can. I’m the king. Fitting an impossible number of marshmallows in my mouth is my only real God-given gift.
8/ SEND THEM AWAY Try playing a round or two of “Find Some Stuff". I’ll hide a bunch of my daughters’ My Little Pony dolls, stashing a third of them in impossible places so I have time to sit my arse on the couch and enjoy their frustration.
9/ TURN TO TELEVISION Poor TV! She had a glorious run for some time, and oblivious parents reaped dividends. Then our generation came to power and ruined everything about the tube. But let’s be clear: TV should be respected. My wife and I starve our kids of video entertainment until we’re on a plane and need them to shut the hell up. Or when Daddy’s coming up empty.
10/ ENJOY A DRINK When your day is coming to an end and your kids are worshipping you like you’re the God of Good Times, pour yourself a stiff drink. Of course, I hear drunk driving is illegal in some places, and you will have to drive them to casualty at some point during their childhood. So keep it cool. Or get bombed and take an Uber. On your way to the hospital with them, have a sing-along but substitute some of the words in the song with “poo” or “pee” or “toilet”. Man, you’re good at this!
The worst thing you can do to entertain children Avoid “playing pretend.” Kids are awful at improvisation. They’ll talk more about what they’re going to pretend than actually get down to the business of pretending. And they will shoot down every eager initiation you make. An example . . .
You: I’ve finally got you in my clutches, Wonder Girl! Them: No, Daddy! You’re a good guy, not a bad guy. And my name is Super Wonder Girl. And you’re my butler! And you’re a girl! And so on and so on and so on. October 2018 93
MOVING THE GOALPOSTS You might hope your kids will share your interests, but it turns out the little buggers have minds of their own. Discover how one sports-mad dad came to accept that his son was more interested in Dungeons & Dragons than the St George Dragons
IT CAN BE HARD to establish when a man is lying, particularly from a distance. But if he’s facing a woman and his lips are moving you’re a pretty safe bet. Up closer, I like to believe I can usually tell – I’ve been in this news-faking journalism game a while – and there are some absolute whoppers it’s easy to spot. My personal favourite is any father who tells you he doesn’t, or didn’t, want a boy as his first born, a lie so large it would make Vladimir Putin blush. “I don’t mind if it’s a boy or a girl, I just want it to be healthy,” is right up there with “I’m nearly finished this beer, and I’ll be straight home after that”. I asked a close friend recently why he’d held off finding out the sex of his first child but was happy to know early the second time around. “Because I’ve already got a boy, so it really doesn’t matter what this one is.” I, too, got “lucky” first time, and I’ve never been so happy to see a penis as I was the day my boy was born. A decade down the track and blessed with both a son and a daughter (and I’m so glad I had a girl, they’re so wonderfully baffling) it’s interesting to ponder why having a boy mattered so much. Do we, as fathers, secretly hope for a little clone of ourselves? We know they won’t be, logically, but we can, and do, hope, at some sub-ego level. What I also realise I wanted, as an only child myself, was the little playmate I’d never had; a brother with a massive age gap, basically. And then there was what I expected, and indeed took for granted, so much so that my 94
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boy’s name was down on the SCG Members’ waiting list before he turned one (and he shares his initials with Chelsea Football Club). My son would love sports – all of them, as maniacally as I do, or at least any sport with an engine or a ball or a horse or a bicycle or snow, etc – and watching them together would be one of our greatest shared joys; the thick, skin-sticking part of the glue that would bond us together. I don’t need an amateur psychology degree from the internet to work out why. My step father and I only had two things in common when I was a teenager: a hatred for the pimply, whiney-voiced, mood-swinging moron I glared at in the mirror every morning, and our home address. But there was a bridge over the turgid waters between us on which we would occasionally meet and spend decorous, detente time together. That bridge was shaped like a couch, with a TV in front of it, showing sport. Indeed, my old man, as I now like to call him, is probably the reason I so love watching men run into each other. As my father in residence through my formative years, he also demanded that I play sport, even the ones I had no interest in, and was beyond rubbish at. I still remember, with no fondness at all, the frozen Saturday mornings I spent in Canberra running around fields made of frost, mud and misery, playing, or at least watching my teammates play, rugby league. But there were plenty of other sports he forced me into that I did love and was even average at. I will never forget the first
time I actually, genuinely beat him at his chosen game, squash. In that moment, when you know you’ve beaten your Dad, and that he didn’t let you win, something shifts, irreversibly. It’s what you might call an ape moment, when you are no longer the subordinate male, but a young challenger, a genuine competitor. And while part of me dreads that moment with my son – the feelings of loss I know it will bring – another part of me can’t wait for it. But in my case, it may never come, because my boy is just not interested in sports, pretty much any of them so far – and I’ve tried nearly everything – to even want to take me on. Yes, there’s still time, he’s only 11, and I’m not about to give up, but it turns out the reason I love sport so much might not just be a learned response, but a matter of nature over nurture. God knows I’ve nurtured the hell out of my son, dragging him to a day of Test cricket in 48° heat, hoping his par-broiled brain might somehow be lulled into a love of the game by a mixture of extreme boredom and pie gravy. I’ve put him through a dismal season of Auskick and two years of soccer. I even tried to coach his team, which I thought I would dearly love but which turned out to be a lot like trying to explain the chicken-or-the-egg question to a room full of eggs, and a dozen rutting roosters. And I’ve made him watch sport on TV, hours of it – two World Cups, summer and winter Olympics, rugby, lawn bowls. Nothing grabs him. Worse still, he can’t understand why I get so excited about it: “It’s just blokes kicking a ball, why does it matter?”
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP LE MASURIER
By Stephen Corby
M H D A D Obviously, I’ve met non-sporting blokes before, and never liked them, indeed I’ve pitied them, because they are missing out on a particular kind of joy – a fritz of adrenaline that you and a mate, and a million other people around the world, can feel simultaneously while watching a biggame moment. I was there, in Headingley in 1999, the day Steve Waugh taunted the South Africans with “you just dropped the World Cup”, and I can honestly say that, and the World Cup final in Cardiff the same year, were two of the best days of my life. Not as good as the day my son was born, obviously. But not far behind. I honestly feel he’ll be missing out if he can’t share in those public explosions of joy. But selfishly I feel like I’m missing out, too, because we were supposed to do these things, cry those joy tears, together. I realise, of course, that my son is a miracle, and a genius, and that there is more than enough that’s marvellous about him to make up for this big, fatheaded hole. He is kind, warm, gentle, funny and intimidatingly intelligent. Already, accepting the gospel that Star Wars is the greatest film of all time is not enough for him, he wants to know why. He’s a gifted musician, a talented artist and, scarily, an incredible writer. He is, of course, in so many ways, just like me. Only better, which will no doubt one day be far more difficult to swallow than him describing Formula One as “repetitive”. Does it matter that he doesn’t love sports nor have any interest in playing them? As long as he does something to stay fit and doesn’t become a screen-addicted slug, I guess not. He’s the person who’s changed my life more profoundly than any other. He fills my chest with what feels like gusts of warm air, every single day. Although I’ll still damn well make him take me to the SCG when his membership finally comes through.
“I’VE MET NON-SPORTING BLOKES BEFORE AND NEVER LIKED THEM . . . PITIED THEM” October 2018 95
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SHRED, WHITE AND BLUE America’s latest fitness phenomenon has Kanye West and David Beckham among its acolytes. Can you stand the heat? SCOTT HENDERSON
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CODE RED
Brace yourself for the onslaught that is a Barry’s Bootcamp workout. This will hurt
I’M SITTING in a dimly lit West Hollywood gym, recovering with some of the US’s best trainers, along with models, politicians and wannabe actors. We’re all different, yet for a few minutes all the same: out of breath, a mess. Not long off the plane from Sydney, it’s hard to fathom I’m at the epicentre of a global fitness craze. I’ve just finished my first session of Barry’s, the high-intensity treadmilland weight-based workout arriving in Australia this month. And I’m hooked. But it took the whole session to win me over. Just an hour earlier I’d been met by the impossibly white smiles and cannonball biceps of the Barry’s staff. Their enthusiasm is the perfect complement to their Yankee hospitality, and I can’t wait to get cracking to shake off the rapidly intensifying symptoms of my jetlag. The studio doors swing open as the previous class wraps up, and in an instant my impatience gives way to excitement as a horde of sweatsoaked bodies tumbles out. Everyone looks equal parts shredded and rattled. It seems, on first impression, that the bold promise of a Barry’s session – 1000 calories torched – might hold up.
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The Barry’s story reads like the epitome of the American Dream. A small-time boot camp that grew from humble beginnings (an exposed toilet once occupied the centre of the original gym in West Hollywood), Barry’s has expanded in 20 years to boast more than 40 studios across the US, UK and Europe. And now its masters have Australia in their sights, with the first gym about to throw open its doors in central Sydney. “We don’t just roll in and do it the same way every time,” explains Barry’s CEO Joey Gonzalez, clearly aware of the difficulty he may face trying to crack the crowded Australian fitness scene. “When we launched in Milan, we replaced smoothies with double espressos to meet the needs of locals. We can’t do ice in our London studio because it’s too cold.” Affirms Australian head of operations Heston Russell: “We can’t roll out a cookie-cutter studio. We have to create an experience bespoke to the Australian environment. No studio has ever closed. The barrier to entry is higher in Australia, but we’ve had almost two years on this project.” Regardless of location, Barry’s core values and training principles don’t change. The classes happen in
the trademark “Red Room”, upon entry to which you’re instantly confronted by a row of treadmills lining a wall. Globo Gym-style steps are positioned around the room, and a fires-of-hell glow engulfs us. It’s all rather clinical on first impression, but the intention soon becomes clear. While unusual, the red lighting creates a sense of anonymity, as though there are no standout performers and we’re all on a level playing field. In a Barry’s studio, everyone is a champion, and thanks to the lighting, you could easily be tricked into thinking you’re as jacked as the guy next to you. I’m not.
FACE YOUR DEMONS To kick off my full-body workout, I’m stationed on a treadmill, a soft introduction in theory, though I’m immediately confronted with my own reflection in a full-length mirror. It’s another well-designed psychological ploy: when you’re running in a class, hurtling directly at your own image, you’re given no option other than to face yourself. And as corny as that sounds, the psychology works. An hour of glaring into your own eyes forces you to contemplate your existence, your reason for being here, or at the very least, your fitness level.
Six minutes on the treadmill is doable, especially with speed variations at your fingertips. I’m sprinting for 30 seconds, then walking for a minute – perfect for stoking the metabolic fire. I’m then welcomed to the floor by head trainer Blake Bridges and instructed to pick up a pair of dumbbells for a six-minute strength phase. Any illusion I was under that there would be a chance to catch my breath is scotched. Barry’s runs a tight ship, and you’d better not just be along for the ride. How heavy should I go with the dumbbells? I scan the room for the gym equivalent of a pacer and find my choice is limited to guys who are either ripped or extremely ripped. So I end up following the lead of the nearest Barry’s body, who of course reaches for the heaviest weights on the rack. (This specimen turns out to be the buff Republican Senator Aaron Schock, who’s been on the cover of the US edition of Men’s Health.) I have an inkling I’ve gone too heavy. We’re immediately thrust into a series of goblet squats, lunges and man-makers, over what seems like the longest six minutes in history. I’m left begging for a return to the relative tranquility of the treadmill.
BARRY’S BOOTCAMP
BOOT CAMP BLITZ
TEST YOUR BARRY’S READINESS WITH THIS SEARCHING ROUTINE DIRECTIONS: Take one minute’s rest between the treadmill and floor circuits. Do 3 rounds
TREADMILL
THE RED PLANET: THE WARM GLOW SPREADS A VEIL OF ANONYMITY AND EQUALITY OVER ALL TRAINERS, EVEN IF IT’S ILLUSORY.
“We’re thrust into a series of squats and man-makers . . . the longest six minutes in history” We repeat this back-and-forth between treadmill and weights another three times to round out a solid 55 minutes of conditioning, during which we’ve hit every major muscle group. Jetlag be damned! I was determined to thrive in the darkness.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST It becomes obvious why Barry’s counts Kanye West, David Beckham and Justin Bieber among its regular clients. Not only is there the beauty of anonymity in sweating among a group in a darkened room, the session serves as an effective workout requiring minimal independent thought. Barry’s definitely has value for the committed trainer, not as the entirety of your program but as a kick-arse supplement. Group fitness is not my preferred method of working out, and I’ve always believed nothing beats a personalised program. After all, what are the chances that the other 30 people in this class have the same fitness goals as I do? I highly doubt the Victoria’s Secret alumni beside me wants to pack on 10kg of
muscle by the end of the year. However, there is something comforting about surrendering all power for a hour and letting an instructor guide a mindless version of myself through a brutal HIIT workout, using aspects of strength from my regular programming whilst tapping into some rarely used features of my aerobic capacity. There isn’t a whole lot of technical guidance at Barry’s, and there’s definitely the assumption that clients are aware of common movement patterns and the physiology of the human body. The pace is frantic, and correcting individual technique would throw a huge spanner in the works of this fitness machine. Added to this, Barry’s workouts are unapologetically difficult and at times quite intricate, providing a likely step-up if you’ve been your own personal trainer for a while. “It’s not for people who don’t want to work hard – that’s the distinction,” says Gonzalez, analysing Barry’s place in the market. And the more I talk to
Minute: 0-1 Jog @ 8, 9, or 10km/h 1-2 Increase speed by 2km/h 2-3 Increase speed by another 2km/h into a run 3-4 Recover: walk or jog 4-5 Jog @ 9, 10 or 11km/h 5-6 Increase speed by 2km/h 6-7 Recover: walk or jog 7-8 30-second run @ 10, 11 or 12 km/h; then a 30-second MAX sprint
FLOOR Gonzalez, the more I see how this works in their favour. It’s obvious that the idea behind Barry’s isn’t to be so exclusive that people feel too intimidated to join. It’s to be so inclusive that they hold everyone to the same high standard. It’s a fresh take on fitness, combining luxury and sweat, and it’s likely to drive demand for premium workout experiences. If Australian-born fitness cult F45 were to have a love child with luxury health spa Equinox, I’d imagine the outcome would be something along the line of Barry’s. “You would think that if that’s how you message clients, people would be reluctant to come,” says Gonzalez. “But really what it does is improve the success rate for us. When people come they’re committed to change and they’re ready to do ‘the thang’.” ‘The thang’ Gonzalez refers to is a killer workout . . . and hopefully the resultant Barry’s body. And with a total of around 25 minutes of interval-based cardiovascular exertion, combined with another 25 minutes of strength work, ‘the thang’ works.
Minute:
0-1 Chest Press 1-2 Hammer Chest Press 2-3 Lat Pullover
3-4 Triceps Skull Crusher 4-5 Seated Overhead Triceps Extension 5-6 Triceps dip
6-7 Push-up 7-8 30 seconds of crunches, opposite knee to elbow; 30 seconds of mountain climbers
October 2018 101
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TRADE SECRETS
RIGHT OM
At a glance
With a stint in the NRL and years of endurance running under his belt, Ben Lucas turned to yoga to fix a battered body. Now the director of Flow Athletic, Lucas is challenging you to hit the mat
LOOSEN UP
SUBTLE TIPS
I’ve done 39 marathons and five ultra-marathons. When I took up yoga seven years ago I was waking up like the tin man. The difference in my flexibility between then and now is chalk and cheese.
A lot of guys prefer to do yoga at home because they’re sheepish about how rigid they are. My advice: practise with a yogi. Two Warrior poses can look the same, but only one is hitting the right muscles.
Expert Ben Lucas Age 39 Height 183cm Weight 97kg Insta @flowathletic
WORDS BY DANIEL WILLIAMS
BEND IT TO YOUR WILL
FLEX & FLEXIBILITY
STRIKE A POSE
You’ll get improvements in the weights room after a few months on the mat. I now have a deeper squat and a freer bench press. The result: more muscle.
Still want to take this journey by yourself? Here are my four best yoga poses for men. Upward Dog. Downward Dog. Standing Forward Bend. Cat Cow.
HURTS SO GOOD
BREAK FREE
IN FOR REPAIR
Yoga builds mental toughness the same as running and weights do. Can you get up that steep incline? Can you squeeze out that extra rep? Similarly, yoga begins when you want to stop. There’ll be times mid-pose when you’ll think, I’ve had enough! Breathe through it. The rewards will come.
Yoga will make you a better runner by loosening your hips. Where my stride length had been short, I’m now getting an extra 15 per cent each stride with the same output. I’ve sliced 13 minutes off my marathon PB.
My weekly split is 4 x run, 3 x strength, 2 x yoga, 2 x infrared sauna, 1 x flotation. That’s five recovery sessions, whereas when I was 20 I might have done one a month. If I could go back in time, that’s what I’d change. I used to think more was better when it came to hard training, but it’s not.
October 2018 103
DROP 4 KILOS IN 4 WEEKS!
At a glance Expert Gustavo Vaz Tostes Experience As a CrossFit head coach, Gus’s ethos of doing whatever it takes is exactly what you’ll need for athlete-level definition. Insta @gus.wittraining
Spring is no time for bulking. Our two-workout program will build muscle and burn fat, for a body that goes as well as it shows all season
1B
2B 2B
1A
2A
Two kettlebells are all you need to build functional, full-body muscle. On Mondays and Thursdays, complete as many rounds as you can of these moves. The 15-minute time cap isn’t an excuse to rush, though. With a weight you can handle, control the bells through a full range of motion to maximise growth as the clock ticks. Your aim is to hang onto the weights for as long as you can, only resting when you need to.
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1|| KETTLEBELL DEADLIFT
2|| KETTLEBELL HANG CLEAN
Start your muscle-building circuit with a compound move that works your legs and back. Hold a kettlebell to the side of each thigh with an overhand grip (1A). From here, sink your hips back, bend your knees and lower the bells to the floor (1B), before squeezing your glutes and driving the weights back up. Get ready to go straight into the next move after 10 reps.
With the kettlebells still held to your thighs, hinge at your hips (2A) and swing the weights up to shoulder height in one swift movement. They should be in the front-rack position, resting on their sides just in front of your shoulders (2B). Ensure you keep your elbows high and chest up. That’s one rep. On your final rep, this position will be your starting place for the coming front squats.
(10 reps)
(8 reps)
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP HAYNES
TEST YOUR KETTLE
GET LEANER AND STRONGER IN 4 WEEKS
THE SPEC MUSCLES TARGETED
WORKOUT
15 MIN
RESULTS IN
4
WEEKS DO THIS
2X
A WEEK
4B 3B
4A
3A
3|| KETTLEBELL FRONT SQUAT
4|| KETTLEBELL PUSH PRESS
Your body will be feeling the burn by this point, but the reps are dropping. Standing tall with the weights in the front-rack position (3A), drop into your squat by sinking your hips and driving your knees outward as you bend them. This will fire up your glutes for a big hit of muscle-building hormones. Once your thighs are parallel to the floor (3B), explode back up to stand.
The last move of this round will add bulk to your shoulders – the real key to filling out your T-shirt. Again, in the front-rack position (4A), bend your knees to initiate the drive. Then, as you extend your legs, press the bells upward, arms straight (4B). Reverse the move to go into the next rep. Take deep breaths before starting the next round with deadlifts. You’ve got this.
(6 reps)
(4 reps)
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WALK LIKE A BOSS
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THIRSTY WORK
Vital ambassador Elyse Knowles begins every morning with the best! Elyse explains, “I start every day off with a healthy breakfast that includes Vital All-In-One, because I know that it’s giving me everything I need for my day.” Available at Chemist Warehouse, Woolworths, Coles, selected pharmacies and health food stores. vitaleveryday.com
BACK IN TIME For its latest timepiece from the HyperChrome collection, Rado has taken a step back in time and reimagined this ’60s classic for the 21st century. The HyperChrome Captain Cook is the exciting result of heritage design and modern know-how. rado.com
P U L L I N TOTA L F I T N E SS
PULL IN TOTAL FITNESS Glide ahead of run-of-the-treadmill cardio classes with an on-trend workout that also crafts strength
ROOM TO GROW
Boost your rowing performance in the weights room with these essential compound moves, recommended by PT Ben Scarles
FRONT SQUAT
You may be able to lift heavier in a back squat, but the front squat more closely resembles rowing’s “catch” position, with your torso nice and upright.
Engage your arms, legs and core in a single move.
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IS THERE A SIGNATURE MOVE TO MASTER?
The push off. A common misconception is that rowing is an upper-body workout. “Only 15 per cent of the power should come from your arms,” says Durney. Press away from the footboard and contract your quads, hamstrings and glutes, paying attention to your form. Your upper body will tire sooner. Focus on the push off in the closing rounds of the class, as it will switch the emphasis to your legs and conserve energy.
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WHERE DO I START?
Rowing classes are trending hard – but those focusing on endless pulling and kilojoule-counting are missing an opportunity. Instead, choose a splitdiscipline studio that divides your time between machine and floor. You’ll build full-body fitness in a workout varied enough to keep you coming back.
PHOTOGRAPHY: GYMBOX.COM; ILLUSTRATION: ALCONIC, BEN MOUNSEY
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WHO’S IT FOR? Cardiophiles looking to add strength while losing none of their hard-won fitness, or those returning to training after injury. Rowing is low-impact, so it will protect your creaking knees and chalky back from unforgiving tarmac. You certainly don’t need to be a stringbean or a former private school boy to benefit.
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DO I NEED ANY SPECIAL KIT? Boutique classes will have you covered in terms of towels and water, but when you’re selecting your venue, carefully inspect the kit. There are many different ergometers out there, but some studios favour water rowers. “The resistance is controlled by how powerful your strokes are, so no matter how fit you become, it just gets harder,” says PT Brett Durney.
To keep rowing for longer, put your best feet forward.
TRAP-BAR DEADLIFT
Mimicking the “slide” on the rower, this move suits taller athletes: the trap bar spreads the force more equally than a barbell, cutting injury risk.
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WILL IT GET ME RIPPED? “As it recruits 86 per cent of your muscles, it’s arguably the best full-body workout,” says Durney. You’ll build muscle in your quads, glutes, core and upper back, and shift your spare tyre in a matter of weeks.
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GOOD MORNINGS
You can power up the transition of your stroke by working your glutes and core. Stand with a barbell on your shoulders. Hinge forward; feel a stretch in your hamstrings.
WHAT SHOULD I AVOID?
Poor sequencing can badly strain your lower back. But this simple order will protect you. “It’s legs, body, arms – arms, body, legs,” says Scarles. “Push with your legs, let your torso follow, then pull your arms in. Let out your arms first, lean your torso in, then bring your legs forward.” Then it’s all plain sailing.
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EARLY-BERG SPECIAL
How pre-sunrise chin-ups and sparring help Peter Berg, the
TRAINER ALEX FINE (LEFT) USES A QUICK BATTLE-ROPES CIRCUIT TO STRENGTHEN BERG’S SHOULDERS.
director of the new thriller Mile 22 , find his creative fire ANDREW HEFFERNAN
SYE WILLIAMS
Peter Berg is sweating his arse off, breathing hard, a grimace plastered on his face. So what better time to do a little film editing? Welcome to the creative process of the filmmaker who gave us Friday Night Lights , Lone Survivor and now the action film Mile 22, out now. The sun has barely risen in Los Angeles,but Berg is already midway through the rigorous first act of his daily script: a workout in the gym he co-owns, Wild Card West Boxing Club. He’s just suffered through two vomit-inducing strength circuits when J. J. Perry, a fight coordinator on Mile 22 , shows up. Perry needs Berg to review some footage on his iPhone.
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Berg takes off his gloves, puts on his glasses and passes judgment: “It’s too pretty,” he says. “It has to be intense.” Perry leaves, letting Berg get back to work. Hollywood’s secret is out: if you want the attention of Peter Berg, get up early. Berg, who writes, produces, directs and acts, does his finest work long before the rest of the world awakens. “I like to do everything early,” he says. “I learned when I was writing that if I got to sleep early and woke up usually around 4:30 in the morning, my mind was clear and calm and I was able to access a more creative side of my brain.” So in the name of big-screen blockbusters, he routinely heads to bed before 11, then beats dawn to meet trainer Alex Fine for 45 minutes of extreme exercise. Berg opened Wild Card West in Santa Monica in 2013 as an offshoot of famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club, 17 kays to the east in Hollywood. The doors don’t open until 6:30, so Berg has the gym to himself. When he isn’t being interrupted, he’s jumping rope, doing plyometric push-ups, and performing three kinds of chin-ups: five wide-grip reps followed by five shoulder-width-grip reps followed by five
close-grip reps. He fights through reps as he thinks about his schedule for the rest of the day. It’s a regimen that wears down his 54-year-old body by the evening, but that’s by design: he wants to be too tired to party. “It’s an overused phrase, but nothing much good happens after midnight,” Berg says. “I try not to make bad choices so much anymore, and I don’t when I’m up before the sun.” If Berg can’t get his morning session in, he’ll battle to fit a workout in later. During Mile 22 shoots in Atlanta over the winter, he spent early mornings on set. So he rejiggered his whole day and took up evening hot yoga, since a studio with 9:30 classes was across the street from his apartment. But his favourite workouts are these sessions with Fine. Berg starts with that chin-up-and-push-up circuit, then endures another circuit, this one with a 400-metre treadmill sprint, a farmer’s walk with 20-kg plates, inverted rows and kettlebell swings. A brutal 200-rep core sequence caps things off, followed by some sparring with Fine, who knows his student packs a serious punch. “Two years ago we did some light sparring,” says the trainer. “He broke my nose.” That’s one way to start the workday.
E A R LY- B E R G S P E C I A L
“It’s a regimen that wears down his 54-year-old body by the evening, but that’s by design”
THE BREAK OF BRAWN
CAN YOU SURVIVE BERG’S 200-REP CORE CRUSHER? DIRECTIONS: Do 20 reps of each move, resting as little as possible between moves 1 Reverse crunch: Lie on your back, legs in the air. Contract your abs, raising your hips. 2 Toe touch: Lie on your back, legs pointing toward the ceiling. Lift your torso off the ground; try to touch your feet with your fingers. 3 Leg lift: Lie on your back. Keeping your legs straight, raise them until they’re perpendicular to the ground. 4 V-up: Lie on your back. Raise your legs, keeping them straight, and touch your feet. 5 Suitcase: Lie on your back, abs tight. Lift your torso and curl your knees to your chest. 6 Side-lying suitcase: Lie on your right side, legs straight. Balancing on your right hip (and with your right hand on the ground), crunch your legs towards your chest; return to the start. Do 20 reps, then repeat on the left side. 7 Diamond sit-up: Lie on your back, knees spread wide, toes touching. Contract your abs and sit up.
Russian twist: Lie on your back, feet on the floor, knees bent. Contract your abs so your torso is 10cm off the ground. Touch the ground near your right hip with both hands, then do the same on the other side. 8
9 Straight-leg sit-up: Lie on your back, legs straight. Contract your abs and sit up.
Plank finisher: Hold a 1-minute elbow plank, then shift to a right-side elbow plank for the next minute. Finish with a 1-minute left-side elbow plank. 10
Morning Musings with Peter Berg Favourite Gym Music?
“I’m old-school. Everyone here is into hip-hop or rap, so it’s Kendrick Lamar or Migos or Travis Scott. I come in and immediately put Bob Seger on and I try to educate these young kids.” Favourite Exercise?
“Sparring. It’s a very intense form of active meditation. To be able to stay calm in stressful situations is a good skill.”
Most Hated Exercise?
“Pushing that fucking sled.” On-the-Road Philosophy?
“It’s never a bad idea to work out. It’s very simple. If I work 12 hours, I’ll go straight to the gym. I’ll do anything – could be a run, could be yoga.” Measure of a Good Workout?
“If you can look in the mirror at the end of an effort of any kind and know you were authentic to who you were and wanted to be, you know you’ll be in good shape.” October 2018
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BRUSH UP ON YOUR GROOMING
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Stye l L I F T YO U R LO O K W I T H O U R S P R I N G / S U M M E R G U I D E T O S T Y L E
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STYLING BY JEFF LACK PHOTOGRAPHY BY VASSI LENA
“I once wore a zebra-print suit with a matching cowboy hat”
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STYLE
ON SONG
Having moved on from the dubious outfits of his boy-band past, Ronan Keating shows you how to hit the high notes of personal style BOY-BAND LIFE is a bit like the sports car you coveted in your youth. The aesthetic is bold. The arresting sound turns the heads of women. And, above all, it seems like one hell of a ride. Alas, if you’ve ever reconsidered that bright-red Porsche in your adulthood, the sentiment “What the hell was I thinking?” may be all too familiar. Reminiscing about questionable Nineties fashion is former Boyzone frontman Ronan Keating. “I remember there was one outfit I wore on stage that was a zebra-print suit with a matching cowboy hat. It was so wrong,” says the Irish megastar. Truth is, style over substance is a trademark of the boy-band package. “With Boyzone, image was everything: what we wore, how we wore it and how we looked after ourselves,” says Keating. “Image in the beginning was more important than the music.” An original member of Boyzone from the age of 16, Keating helped shift more than 25 million records before embarking on a stellar solo career, which produced global hits including When You Say Nothing at All and If Tomorrow Never Comes. A fixture on the talent-show scene since 2010 as a judge on The X Factor and The Voice, Keating says his decades in the industry have given him a keen eye for the look of success. Here to promote his latest show, All Together Now (which premiers soon on Channel 7), he suggests the tendency to make instant judgments about performers is instinctual. “When a contestant walks out you try not to look at them in that sense,” he says, “but sometimes you can’t help but go, ‘This guy looks like a star!’” Transitioning between outfits on the
set of MH’s style shoot, it’s clear Keating has found his sartorial swagger. Gone is the time when a denim tuxedo would meet with the screaming approval of fans. These days, Keating favours a more understated look. “Simplicity is everything, I’ve found, as I’ve gotten older,” he says. “As a 41-year-old man, I think tailoring is crucial, along with being clever with your hair product and not taking bold fashion risks.” That said, the father-of-four admits he doesn’t always get it right. “I sent my eldest son a photo of some boots I bought the other day and he replied, ‘Yeah, they’re fresh’. I asked him if he would wear them and he responded with a blunt ‘No’. My son is far cooler than me.” His biggest critic? His Australian wife. “I will always ask Storm what she thinks. I think feeling attractive to your partner is really important and feeling like you look good next to them is important for your relationship.” Whatever its fashion sins, the boy band is a powerful force; Boyzone re-formed in 2007 and have been busy ever since. However, the title of their upcoming album, Thank You and Goodnight, suggests Keating and co have finally decided to put the baby to bed. Between the album’s release in mid-November, a Boyzone farewell tour kicking off early next year and a one-year-old to chase around, Keating is far from slowing down. His advice for living your forties in style? Ease. “When you don’t look comfortable in your own clothes, it shows. Own the risks you take and at the very least learn to tie a bow tie.” Here’s to growing older then. You’ll wear it well. ” HARRIET SIM
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Left
Right
• Alexander McQueen bomber jacket by Harrolds, $695 and scarf, $455
• Country Road floral shirt, $99.95 and puppy tooth trousers, $199
• Suitsupply polo, $89 and linen trousers, $119; • P.Johnson striped shirt, $250 • Amiri floral shirt by Harrolds, $660
• Salvatore Ferragamo leather jacket, $4890
October 2018 115
Depth Chargers
Refined enough for the office, tough enough to take to the bottom of the sea, a diving watch is always a top catch PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHILIP LE MASURIER
How often do you find yourself under the immense pressure of the deep, dark sea? Probably not very often, but if you do, then more power to you. But whether you’re exploring the ocean or just dipping your toes in the water, dive watches can go the whole distance. They’re watches made to withstand just about anything, but while being simultaneously heavy-duty and high quality, they’re also stylish enough to wear beyond the boundaries of the beach. Dive watches might be built for serious work, but their designs will work at the beach, bar, and beyond. These five dive watches are so versatile, you’ll never want to take them off.
1 PREMIUM
ECONOMY
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2 GOOD AS GOLD
Diving watches aren’t just about functionality. This two-tone beauty with a champagnecoloured dial will add real swagger to your wrist. Tudor Black Bay S&G $5990
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIP LE MASURIER
Cool vintage looks meet serious diving chops. We defy you to find a better value watch on land or sea. Seiko Padi SRPA21K $699
WA T C H E S
4 SILVER SURFER
Don’t be deceived by its good looks. This diving watch has successfully passed a full battery of tests, ensuring its resistance to impact, magnetic waves, pressure and temperature changes. Raymond Weil Freelancer Diver $2999
5 WORD IS BOND
James Bond’s watch of choice got an upgrade this year with a ceramic bezel and textured dial. The result is a stone-cold modern classic. OMEGA Seamaster Diver 300M $6525
3 BLUE STEEL
Yes, it’ll take you deep beneath the waves – it’s water-proof to 300m – but with its sleek looks and silver bezel, it’ll also nestle snugly beneath the cuff of a business suit. TAG Heuer Aquaracer 300m $2000
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DERBY DAY Sure, this race day traditionally calls for black and white, but this classy grey-scale number will also pass muster. A three-piece suit ups the formality while proving a flattering style for all body types.
Suitsupply suit, $599 Hugo Boss shirt, $219 Hugo Boss tie, $169 Hugo Boss pocket square,$89 Suitsupply pocket square,$69 Declic flower pin, $49.95 Mr P shoes, $665
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STYLE
CUP DAY Keep it classy. You can’t go wrong with a classic navy suit. To take things up a notch, try a slimmer double-breasted silhouette – just avoid a boxy fit. Hugo Boss suit, $1299 Hugo Boss shirt, $349 Hugo Boss tie, $169 Declic pocket square $89.95 Declic flower pin $49.95 Hugo Boss belt, $149 Hugo Boss sunnies, $400 Salvatore Ferragamo loafers, $995
SADDLE UP Stay on track at the races this spring with our form guide to the latest sartorial runners and riders. Giddy up! STYLING BY JEFF LACK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE WHEELER
GROOMING BY STEPHEN FOYLE
TALENT SAM WINES (@samuelwines)
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OAKS DAY Don’t feel obliged to wear a suit. Wearing separates – a blazer and trousers in different colours – adds mix-and-match interest to your look. If you’re going to wear a loud hue, pair it with a neutral colour to tone it down.
Hugo Boss cotton blazer, $749 Hugo Boss pants, $199 Declic flower-pin, $49.95 Declic tie, $129.95 Hugo Boss pocket square, $89 Hugo boss shirt, $199 Salvatore Ferragamo belt, $625 Strand Hatters hat, $250 Mr P loafers, $665
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STYLE
STAKES DAY You can combine checks on your suit and shirt, as long as you vary the scale. Here the smaller check of the shirt counterbalances the suit for a sharp, contemporary look. Strand Hatters hat $240 Salvatore Ferragamo suit, $POA Hugo Boss shirt, $219 Suit Supply tie, $69 Suit Supply pocket square, $49 Hugo Boss sunnies, $400 Declic flower-pin, $49.95 Bally boots, $1450 Watches by Montblanc
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Scents of Taste
Flavour and fragrance are inextricably linked, with aroma playing a defining role in our appreciation of taste. We asked three top chefs to serve up their seasoning secrets to ensure your next scent is more than just a flavour of the month BY SHANE C KURUP & KATE NIVEN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHILIP LE MASURIER
PEPPER BRING THE HEAT
By Claud Bosi, Bibendum
Before the Portuguese brought chillies to Thailand in the 16th century, pepper was the main source of heat in the national cuisine. Both black and white peppercorns are still prevalent in the Thai kitchen, and we also use fresh green peppercorns, which are soft in texture, highly aromatic and milder in heat, for dishes such as stir-fries. Black pepper gives you that warm feeling in the back of the throat and the chest. But the chemical make-up of its outer skin has varying levels of citrus, woody, oral and smoky notes. White pepper isn’t as complex because its outer layer has been removed, and it takes on a musky quality. Southern Thai cuisine tends to be spicier, as adding fiery black pepper – and chilli, of course – helps in the damp monsoon climate. The locals say it “dries them out inside”, almost like a medicinal treatment.
Citrus fruits are all about bringing a kick to a dish through freshness and acidity. I use a lot of bergamot and lime. Their scents are incredible: punchy and cleansing, but not too harsh. And there’s so much flavour. Bergamot goes really well with golden delicious apples; the combination of sweetness and sharpness is a marriage made in heaven. Pomelos have a great texture, with very little acidity and a hint of bitterness. I have a celeriac risotto on my menu containing a mixture of herbs, truffle and onion, and a thin layer of pomelos – it provides a crisp contrast to the salty parmesan and savoury truffle. Citrus notes are prized in the fragrance industry because people like to smell fresh, summery and light – just how I like to prepare my food.
HERBAL GREEN LIGHT
Too often, the primary ingredient in a dish can dominate its taste. But herbs offer a whole new dimension. Take a green salad, for example: adding mint, basil, lovage and marjoram generate all these pops of flavour. Generally, herbs can be divided into two categories: the woody and the soft. Rosemary has a strong, musky smell and a full background flavour. Sage is more medicinal; it has an edge. Then there’s coriander – some people have a biological distaste for it and find it metallic, but I think it tastes fresh and grassy. I’m also a fan of tarragon. It’s essentially herbaceous aniseed, but subtler than star anise. I tend to use herbs raw, when they’re at their most fragrant, and bruise them to release aromatic oils. We serve our food naked – there aren’t many heavy sauces – so herbs provide that rich flavour.
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• Dior Sauvage Eau de Toilette, $149, myer.com.au • Tauer Au Coeur du Desert Extrait de Parfum, $279, mensbiz.com.au • Penhaligon’s Juniper Sling Eau de Toilette, $279, mensbiz.com.au
CITRUS ZEST FOR LIFE
By Mark Dobbie, Som Saa somsaa.com
By Ollie Dabbous, Hide
PEPPER
HERBAL • Knize Ten Eau de Toilette, $99, mensbiz.com.au • Prada Luna Rossa Black Eau de Parfum, $156, myer.com.au • Le Labo Bergamote 22 Eau de Parfum, $396, mecca.com.au
GROOMING
CITRUS • Acqua di Parma Colonia Pura Eau de Cologne, $191, mensbiz.com.au • Versace Eros Eau de Toilette, $124, myer.com.au • Eight & Bob Cap d’Antibes Eau de Parfum, $242, mensbiz.com.au
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STYLING BY VIRGINIA VAN HEYTHUYSEN PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAMIAN BENNETT GROOMING BY KIMBERLEY FORBES MODELS BRAYDEN TEMPLETON @ IMG
RICHIE HALL @ The.Mgmt
Tommy Hilfiger hoodie, $170, rugby top (over the shoulders), $150, cotton shirt, $150 and cotton chinos, $150
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STYLE
Huffer down jacket, $519.90 & rain jacket (tied at waist) $159.90 Tommy Hilfiger rugby shirt, $170 and wool blend pants, $250 James Perse long sleeve T-shirt from Footage, $119 Pony hi-tops from The Iconic, $199.95
IN THE CITY Freshen up your look with an urban preppy edge and some key pieces from the new Tommy Hilfiger collection
October 2018 125
Brayden (left) wears: Rag and Bone track jacket $475 Cos T-shirt $59 Tommy Hilfiger cotton shirt, $159 and sneakers $159 Levis LMC jeans $219.95 Richie wears: Aquila anorak $429 Tommy Hilfiger hoodie $170 and wool blend pants $250 Vans sneakers $129.99
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STYLE
Tommy Hilfiger reversible bomber, $299 and trackpants $150 Metz b.Schwanen sweatshirt from Footage $239 Huffer T-shirt $59.90
October 2018 127
Tommy Hilfiger sweatshirt, $150 and polo, $110 Champion pants from The Iconic, $129.95 Skateboard from ABD Supply
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STYLE
Richie (left) wears: Rag and Bone wax jacket, $940 Tommy Hilfiger shirt, $150 Aquila long sleeve T-shirt, $89 Neuw jeans, $149.95 Converse sneakers from The Iconic, $130 Brayden wears: Penfield puffer vest from Footage, $229 Tommy Hilfiger sweatshirt, $170 Rag and Pone trackpants, $400 Cos sneakers, $89 October 2018 129
ONE WORD ANSWER
QUESTION
What activity can sharpen your mind and put control back in your hands?
Origami WHEN ERIK DEMAINE was seven years old, he climbed into his newly divorced dad’s car and watched their home town of Halifax, Nova Scotia, recede in the rear-view mirror. It was the beginning of a four-year road trip across North America that ended in 1993 when father and son returned to allow Erik, still just 12, to take his place at Dalhousie University to study maths and computer science. By 20, he was the youngest ever professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The research area that brought him such early success – and joy – was origami. Not all of us can be a prodigy like Demaine, who in 2003 was awarded the MacArthur “Genius Grant”. But origami could take us a small step closer. Research at Rostov State University in Russia linked
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the ancient Japanese practice of paper-folding to a sharpening of test subjects’ motor, intellectual and creative abilities. The study’s authors put this down to an increase in interaction between test subjects’ brain hemispheres, which separate research* suggests can improve the quality of ideas we have. Good news if you thought all paperwork was, by definition, mind-numbing. Origami also helps to regulate your mood. According to neuroscientist Kelly Lambert of the University of Richmond, Virginia, everyday dextrous activity can limit the release of stress hormones in your brain. Working with your hands for a tangible reward – in origami’s case, your
perfectly folded paper crane, say – can re-establish your sense of control over your environment. This triggers what Lambert calls a “behaviourceutical” effect: a positive change in your neurochemistry that is potentially as significant as the effects of medication. “I work on anything I consider fun,” Demaine said in 2005, sitting in an office that the New York Times described as resembling a “geometric playpen”. Most of us haven’t done any origami since primary school, and we’ve let ourselves wander into an adult life of offices and abstract goals. But for a clearer, healthier mind, perhaps it’s time we returned to the fold.
WORDS: YO ZUSHI; PAPER ENGINEERING: TOM ASHTON-BOOTH; PHOTOGRAPHY: JOBE LAWRENSON ;*BRAIN AND COGNITION
ANSWER
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