The Men's Health Blog

As a general rule of thumb, I have a strict rule about offering advice at the gym. Before offering any type of training tips, there are two questions you need to ask the person before imparting your divine wisdom:

1. What are you training for? (i.e. appearance, rehab, lose weight, gain weight, specific activity, hobby, competition, etc.)

2. What are your limitations? (i.e. medical, physical, mental, scheduling, etc.)

Allow me to elaborate on each of these with two short anecdotes.

The Airborne Sit-up
I'm a United States Marine -- and proud of it. But in order to become a parachutist, I had to attend the U.S. Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia. And needless to say, Marines and soldiers do things a bit differently.

In order to pass the airborne physical fitness test, I had to train to do sit-ups like the Army does sit-ups. Makes sense, right?

As Marines, we do crunches. But the Army does old school, hand-behind-your-head sit-ups. They may not be the best kind of sit-up, but if that's what I have to do, so be it.

It doesn't make much sense to critique my ugly Army sit-ups without knowing exactly what I'm training for, does it? How does giving advice on the superiority of crunches over full-blown, neck-wrenching, back-bending sit-ups help me without knowing why I'm doing them?

Answer: it doesn't.

The Shoulder Injury
I grew up in the Midwest and wrestled for a high school in Minnesota -- home to one of the nation's greatest collegiate wrestling teams, the Minnesota Gophers.

During a varsity tournament match my junior year, my opponent (seeded 1st in the tournament, I was seeded 2nd) obtained an illegal hold of my head and snapped my neck to the side -- inflicting paralysis and nerve root damage in my left shoulder (C5).

Long story short, my season was over, but I learned to compensate and found a way to wrestle my senior year (with personal coaching from Jim Mastro, recipient of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Medal of Courage).

It took years for my shoulder to fully recover, but in the interim, I was able to perform a modified shoulder press and some other strange looking shoulder exercises.

It wouldn't have made much sense to give me shoulder exercise advice without knowing the extent of my limitations, would it?

Now, I'm not trying to be a complete jerk on the subject. It could very well be that you see a gym newbie doing sit-ups or shoulder presses all wrong, and wish to be a gentleman (or lady) and offer a little innocent advice. It could very well be that someone is simply doing an exercise wrong and needs to be corrected.

I'm not saying don't give advice.

My point is that you should at least discover the purpose behind that person's training, and any limitations they may have. Even when folks come to me with a specific question, I respond first with those two questions.

1. What are you training for?
2. What are your limitations?

After obtaining the answers, I fully believe much more proper advice can be given.

Agreed?

Alright. So today was the legs portion of the Daniel Craig 007 Workout.

Reps: 10 of each exercise
Sets: 4

- Squat
- Straight-Leg Deadlift
- Hamstring Curl
- Weighted Lunge

As I mentioned on Day 1, I've been neglecting my legs and focusing on my chest, back, and arms for some time now. With that in mind, I was definitely at a lower weight than usual, but I really focused on full range of motion and squeezing out perfect, controlled form.

I'm going through this routine with a cohort of mine, who I have been training for a few weeks now. He struggled with the deadlifts, mainly because he had so much trouble with his form (i.e. keeping his back straight). But hey, the guy had never lifted before, and now has a gym membership and works out 5 days a week with me during our lunch hour. We worked through it. That sort of stuff motivates me.

You know that shakey feeling you get when you work a neglected muscle group thoroughly? Yeah. I got that.

Tomorrow... shoulders and arms.

A Facebook buddy of mine asked me about the negative effects of drinking on working out. So I thought I'd address the issue with a post.

Prepare yourself.

The short answer is this: alcohol does effect bodybuilding negatively.

Here's the deal. We all know by now that alcohol is very fattening. But what you may not know is that (and how) alcohol retards muscle growth. This occurs not only as a result of hangovers lowering your workout intensity, but alcohol actually lowers protein synthesis by something like 20%.

There are a couple reasons for this. First, alcohol dehydrates your muscle cells. Plain and simple. As most of us know, hydrated and even over-hydrated muscles (i.e. during a creatine regimen) allows for a much higher anabolic environment. When you drink alcohol, your cells won't be able to hold as much water -- thus making it much harder to build muscle.

Next, we see that it can severely hurt muscle growth because alcohol blocks the absorption of many important nutrients that are key to muscle contraction, relaxation and growth. These nutrients include, but are not limited to: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and potassium. We all agree those are important to muscle growth, yes?

Lastly, alcohol actually lowers testosterone and increases estrogen. Yes, estrogen. In one study conducted, male testosterone levels were measured before and after the consumption of alcohol. At the most intoxicated state, testosterone levels had dropped to an average of 25% lower.

Try to remember that the next time you're throwing back to get down with the ladies.

Boilerplate answer? Alcohol and bodybuilding do not mix. Over an extended period of time, drinking alcohol will cause you to gain fat and lose muscle.

Not exactly what we're going for, is it? So while I don't recommend anyone stop drinking all together (because I'm certainly not going to), I do recommend people limit drinking and try their best to keep it in moderation. You have to decide what the means for yourself.

Oh, quick side note. If you're on Facebook, feel free to request me as a friend and let me know you found me by way of this blog.

Don't worry, I'll approve ya.

Today was chest and back.

Reps: 10 of each exercise
Sets: 4

- Incline Bench Press
- Pullup
- Incline Pushup
- Incline Pec Flys

If you struggled with 3 sets of 10 pull-ups yesterday, I'm sure you loved 4 sets of 10 pull-ups today. I almost failed after pull-up #8 on the last set.

I said almost. This quick workout is about gritting your teeth and grinding it out.

The only thing I switched from the original workout was the incline pushups. Instead of putting my feet on a bench (which were all taken), I used a ball and turned up the heat a bit on my core. Of course, my core was already fatigued from last night's pilates session -- so that felt great.

The rest of the routine was pretty standard. Again, make sure you keep up the pace to facilitate a cardio component.

Tomorrow... legs.

Why? Because I said so. And because pilates kicked my @$$ last night.

Allow me to explain...

After work, myself and two of my best buds decided to take a friend up on her offer to participate in her pilates class at the local university.

For those who don't know, pilates is a fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates in Germany. Joe originally referred to his method as Contrology, because he believed his method utilized the mind to control muscles.

The program focuses on the core postural muscles which help keep the body balanced and which are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen the deep torso muscles.

In short -- pilates rips your core.

It was only shortly after our warm-up exercises that I knew I was in for a world of hurt. I've got a strong core -- or so I thought -- but this was on a whole different level. And I'm stoked on it.

My core was thrashed. Internal and external abdominal obliques, rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis -- you name it. My lower back was pumped up. My thighs were burning. Heck, even my triceps. Who knew that isometric girl push-ups could hurt so bad?

On the downside, my flexibility -- or lack thereof -- definitely hindered some of the exercises. However, after an hour, I could already feel increased flexibility in my hamstrings as an additional benefit of the workout.

If you're one of those guys who is antsy about checking out a pilates class, I get it. Pilates was always a girl workout in my mind too. But those days are over and done with. There's nothing girlie about a wicked core workout (especially since you might get a chance to meet some ladies).

So get over it.

You want ripped summer abs? START NOW.

Check out a class and let me know your experience. I know I've got quite a few pilates sessions in my immediate future.

As I eluded to in my post outlining The Daniel Craig 007 Workout, I began the routine this afternoon with my office workout buddy.

Today was the power circuit.

Reps: 10 of each exercise
Sets: 3

- Clean and Press
- Weighted Knee Raise
- Weighted Stepups
- Pull-up
- Incline Pushup
- Triceps Dips

I have to admit, I've neglected by legs for a few weeks now, so the clean presses kicked my @$$. But my shoulders are strong so the finish felt great. The rest of the exercises were pretty standard. The pull-ups will probably kick your @$$ if you haven't been doing them on a consistent basis. So be on the lookout for that. (Luckily, I do pull-ups often to maintain my high Marine Corps PFT score.)

My workout buddy and I kept a rapid pace, so the cardio element was definitely present. I recommend only resting as long as it takes your buddy to do the exercise -- or approximately 30 seconds if you're a loner. We completed the workout in about 30 minutes.

Not a bad little circuit.

Tomorrow... chest and back.

If you're a regular here at The Men's Health Blog, you might have noticed that I've added a link to Dr. Sheldon Marks' Men's Health Office under my blog roll.

I dig WebMD.

And I really dig this post on the myths and facts surrounding penis enlargement.

I don't know about you but I am fast growing tired of the dozens of spam e-mails I get every day about the magic new penis enlargement pill, cream or device. But it is not limited to these anonymous e-mails. Now I have to watch or listen to these same scams on major prime time TV shows and radio. What amazes me most is that these advertisements must be making money, or they wouldn't still be on the air week after week, month after month.

Here's the kicker - there is no truth or science behind any one of them. They are all pure and simple scams, designed to separate out the foolish from their money. Nothing more than snake oil salesmen, and sadly as educated as we are, we still remain gullible. Hey, if I could find a way to feel comfortable stealing money from people I might too jump in and offer "Sheldon's secret penile enlargement formula- but don't' wait, because organized medicine wants to shut me down, so order before midnight tonight and we'll throw in a free spray-on window tinter". And here is how they promote an age-old gimmick - now they call it male enhancement - kind of like a used car is now called pre-owned so they can charge more. If I sell my own secret formula, then I can lie but it is a new lie so it will take a few years for it to catch up to me and maybe by then I will have my millions hidden away in an off-shore Caribbean island. But my ethics gets in the way.

So many times people ask "why doesn't the government step in an stop these quacks from making outright lies and false claims?" The reason is simple - the supplement industry has worked very hard to keep the FDA out of the supplement market. This way, they can sell anything to anyone and they don't have to prove that it is effective, that it is even helpful or that it is even safe. So anyone with some money can create a fake treatment and sell it, making wild and extreme claims.

And what better way to trick people than playing to the secret wish of many men - to have a bigger penis? Because, after all, we know that men with bigger penises must be happier, more successful and have happier wives. And who will complain that his penis enlargement pill didn't work? I would guess very few men.

I like the good doctor's take on the subject, and will probably be linking to his work more often in the future.

If you've got a health blog and want me to add it to my blog roll, drop me a comment... unless you're trying to sell the sort of bogus supplements to which Dr. Marks was referring.

In that case, piss off.

Excuse my French.