Tao of Bachelorhood

If only you could rig this up as a controller for Gran Turismo...

It’s news, but it’s not news: scientists have found that sitting for long periods of time is bad for your health. While you should just be able to feel that a sedentary lifestyle is the inverse of fitness, now there’s evidence that actual negative changes in your body occur while you’re sitting still. Healthy substances that are generated when your muscles flex don’t appear when you’re stationary.

From a recent New York Times article:

Men who normally walk a lot (about 10,000 steps per day, as measured by a pedometer) were asked to cut back (to about 1,350 steps per day) for two weeks, by using elevators instead of stairs, driving to work instead of walking and so on. By the end of the two weeks, all of them had became worse at metabolizing sugars and fats. Their distribution of body fat had also altered — they had become fatter around the middle.

It’s not just at work, either. If you come home and flop on the couch to watch TV or settle in at the computer for heavy-duty web surfing, it compounds the problem. And exercising your thumbs with the PlayStation doesn’t help much.

What’s more, you can’t completely make up for a day of sitting around by working out at 5:00. Among people who observed a program of regular exercise, those who sat the rest of their day were fatter and less healthy than those who moved around throughout the day.

The World Changed, We Didn’t

The prescription for good health is to eat wholesome foods and keep active. It’s what humans did in the days of the caveman and medieval times, through the Industrial Revolution. In the 20th century this all changed. The office job was invented, the automobile became popular, and an ever-growing percentage of the “developed” world remained seated virtually from the moment they left the house in the morning until they returned at night. And when they got home, people had fewer “chores,” ever more convenient processed food requiring no preparation, and more passive entertainment options.

The problem is that our bodies haven’t changed they way they operate. The owner’s manual is still the same. Put healthy food in and keep active.

Rage Against the Chair

Fortunately, the same modern world that tries to keep us sitting has created a wide variety of tools and techniques to get us active again. Some of them are incredibly simple, others are a complete lifestyle change—but it’s possible a lifestyle change is just what you need.

From easiest to hardest:

1. Take frequent breaks. Even if you have to sit for your job, you still don’t have to sit for hours at a stretch. Set an alarm and walk away for a few minutes. Don’t leave it up to yourself to remember—there are simple computer programs you can use to alert you every 15-20 minutes that it’s time to get up and walk around or do a few exercises. Scirocco Take a Break (Windows) and Time Out (Mac) are free and will do the job. And stop sending e-mails across the office for trivial information when it’s a perfect opportunity to get up and take a walk.

2. Exercise and stretch throughout the day. Besides your daily workout, have some exercises to do in the office or at home. Even a minute at a time will help you. Do a set of pushups or some lunges. I keep my Iron Gym in the doorway of my home office, and I find myself doing 5-10 pull-ups several times a day. There’s a list of exercises on eHow that can help you shake off atrophy at work.

3. Walk everywhere possible. If you live less than a mile from work, you shouldn’t be taking a car. Walk somewhere to eat your lunch, even if you made your lunch yourself. Walk to do errands. Walk just for the heck of it. Once you get adjusted to walking, it will seem unnatural to get around any differently.

4. Use the stairs. Are you using the elevator to travel fewer than 4-5 floors? You’re wasting energy as well as a prime exercise opportunity. One good exercise habit is to use the restroom on the floor above or below the one you work on.

5. Ditch your chair. If it’s possible, use a standing workstation at the office. Some businesses with good wellness/fitness policies will help you get one. Same at home: elevate your computer to eye level and stand while you surf. If you’re really feeling like pushing the envelope, try a treadmill workstation. If you can’t stand standing, at least consider using a balance ball (which recruits your core to stay seated).

6. Get a Wii. The hardcore gamers are going to roll their eyes, but the Wii owners will have the slimmer waistlines, so who cares? In my opinion this is the single biggest technological boon to fitness since the dumbbell: videogames that force you to move around, keeping you entertained while getting you off the couch. Just keep a firm grip on the controller.

7. Get an active hobby. Or three. Find a sport you’d like to try. Learn to dance. Take a self-defense course. Grab the evening class schedule from the local community college and find the most active classes. Even skills like cooking and woodworking require you to move around. Not only does learning new skills get you off the couch, it makes you a more valuable, rounded person.

8. Take pride in your home. Everyone would like to improve their living space, and it’s a healthier way to spend the weekend than watching TV. Have a list of fixes and improvements to make around your place, and teach yourself to do tasks like putting in light fixtures and switches, re-caulking the bathtub and weeding the lawn. Paint, hang doors…you know, the things men should do.

9. Trade your car for a bike. We’re reaching the “lifestyle change” end of the spectrum here, but these days getting around your town or city by bicycle is easier than ever, not to mention much cheaper than burning petroleum. Many businesses even have shower and locker facilities for cyclist employees. Once you get the hang of cycling, you may even be tempted to get rid of your car! And why not: another technological boon for mankind is something called Zipcar, a kind of auto timeshare that lets you use a car when you really need one, without the expense of a loan, insurance and maintenance. It also frees up your garage for more bike stuff.

10. Get an active job. Why not take a break from the desk like Peter Gibbons in Office Space? You might not want to join a cleanup crew, but there are plenty of jobs that enable you to get out from behind a desk for part or all of your day. Not long ago I moved laterally in the company I worked for, and started handling trade shows. I got to travel, set up and take down a simple booth, and walk the floor glad-handing people. Not to mention that the services counter at each of these huge trade centers was always about a half-mile from our booth. If you’re doing inside sales, consider outside sales. Moonlight as a barista. Or start your own company—that could very well keep you on your feet.

The bottom line here is to put yourself in the healthiest position possible, and that position is not seated. Do what you’re comfortable with, but do something. With the options and technology at our disposal, we should be able to break through the sedentary example set by the last few generations while we improve our entire lifestyle.

Now it’s your turn: what are you doing to keep yourself active at an office job? What other ideas have I missed?

I would suggest waiting until he's done with the dumbbell. (Photo by darkpatator.)

This is the busy time for fitness clubs everywhere, as people who made bold New Year’s resolutions to shed pounds or gain muscle make a valiant (or maybe just half-assed) attempt at their goal. Every day as I go through my workout I see my gym’s sales rep leading prospective customers on a tour. “Over here we’ve got 86 different exercise machines, and over there another 22 benches and platforms, and in this room 66 cardio stations.”

The visitors follow, bug-eyed, staring first at the battalion of alien machines, then at the muscular guy in the super-tight white shirt completing his dumbbell flyes with a loud grunt and dropping the weights with a crash. Then at the trio of 20-something already-thin women on the stair climber machines, silently stepping sideways and backwards and sideways again. Then at the couple performing yoga poses including (I am not making this up) the husband lying on his back with his legs up as his wife balances in “Supergirl” position on the soles of his feet.

It can be daunting for someone new to this environment. How do you use the machines? What if you get in the way of the “expert” customers? What is that thing with the padded dual armrests and outstretched swivel handles?

It’s a lot simpler than you think.

First, every machine is for a specific exercise. All you need to do is find the ones you need. They’re usually clearly marked “Leg Press,” “Biceps Curl,” etc. The most obvious machines are usually the ones you want to use. Many machines even have instructions listed on them. Get a workout plan (here’s one) and have at it.

Most gyms have a free trial period. Always use the free trial. If there are multiple clubs in your area, try them all. There are a wide range of amenities at different clubs: some have free shower towels, others may cater mostly to free-weight users. Make sure of what’s included in your membership so you’re not unpleasantly surprised when you have to pay extra to use the pool.

When you start a new membership, many clubs offer one or two free sessions with a personal trainer. This is usually to try and sell you on personal training, which earns the club an extra fee. Make sure to take advantage of the free session, and have the trainer show you everything you need to know about the equipment. Additional personal training is great if you can afford it, but if you can’t there are plenty of self-guided workouts to get you where you want to be.

Finally, your membership fee is just as important to the gym as that of the guy with the sinewy glutes. If you’re using a piece of equipment, as long as you’re obeying the rules and using common courtesy, he can wait until you’re done. You might offer to let him “work in” a set while you’re resting, though—he might return the favor by helping you with a new exercise or “spotting” you on the bench press.

There are alternatives to working out in a gym—some dumbbells, a bench and a mat can create a fitness club in your own home, and guys have even been known to train on playground equipment—but a gym is an environment with fewer distractions than at home and more equipment than a set of monkey bars. Wherever you can focus on an intense workout is where you should be, and that’s often the dedicated environment of a gym. Learn and practice proper gym etiquette and you’ll be fine.

Gyms aren’t smelly, dark places anymore—not even “hardcore” chains like Gold’s Gym. In an article in the Shawnee Dispatch, a reporter found that clubs are clean, well-lit and inviting in his aptly titled story, “Even fat, old men are welcome at gyms.” That probably sums it up as well as anything.

What is exercise?

That’s the question raised by the “Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index,” compiled on a monthly running basis by pollster Gallup. In fact, the bigger question could be, what is “well-being”?

According to the first question in Gallup’s poll, the definition of “exercise” is apparently “30 minutes or more of whatever you call exercise.” And based on that definition, hey, a lot of people exercise! Depending on the month, anywhere from 63 to 72 percent of Americans do it at least once a week – not enough to really help get fit much but it gives us a much less depressing number than when they ask who “exercises” at least three times a week (49.6%).

People who exercised at least 30 minutes one day per week (Source: 2009 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index)

The first problem is that 30 minutes of mystery exercise tells us nothing — are people counting 30 minutes of incidental walking in a day? We don’t know. But it’s really a big difference whether they ran or walked or exercised with weights or just changed into gym clothes and hung out.

The half-hour minimum is arbitrary too. My Crossfit workout yesterday took me a total of 22 minutes, so it doesn’t count, but if I go on a 40-minute nature walk on a Sunday it does. So the survey fails to assess who’s actually doing a healthy amount of exercise. Kind of knocks the wheels off the whole thing.

But that explains why fewer people say they “exercise” in January than in June: to exercise in January you have to have a shred of commitment, and either go to a gym or brave the elements or find something you can do at home.

The whole thing takes an even uglier turn when Gallup tries to break down the results along socioeconomic lines:

Percentage of Americans who exercise 3+ times per week (Source: 2009 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index)

Look! Rich people can afford to exercise and poor people can’t! Or the poor people have to work more and rich people don’t, or something. Gallup leaves that up to our imaginations. Mine tells me that “rich” people have more reason to exaggerate to the pollster than poor do: there’s much more implied status in that answer. But let’s assume the answer is what it is. Gallup then asks another random question:

People who can find a "safe place" to exercise (Source: 2009 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index)

What the hell? Well, on this one Gallup takes it upon themselves to interpret: “Lower income Americans, a group less likely to report frequent exercise, may tend to live in neighborhoods where there aren’t safe places to exercise.” (By the way, Gallup could easily gather and include location data as proof that most of these low-income Americans live on the mean streets, but chose not to. I mean, it’s not like they do this for a living or anything.)

If only you could exercise in your own home…

In the battle to define what exercise is — what it is that people need to be more healthy, crave more wholesome food and acquire more self-esteem — surveys like this are a colossal failure. The sad part is that they could do it, if they wanted to; they just don’t want to. Their findings get picked up by the New York Times just fine as it is, thank you.

But in the end, rich or poor or overweight or “safe,” this survey should mean nothing to you. The only person who should matter to you is the one in the mirror. Start simple, start at home, or yes, even walk for a half-hour a day if that gets you started.

Just get started.

Americans Exercise Less in 2009 Than in 2008 [Gallup]

As promised, and just in time for those New Year’s resolutions, I present the Simple Starter Workout Plan e-book. In its 13 pages I guide you through this basic workout and offer tips to help you to start and maintain this easy workout program.

The Simple Starter Workout is a quick, easy combination of cardio and weight training designed to help you jump-start your fitness by keeping workouts short and efficient while maximizing your results. It also includes a warm-up and after-gym advice. And did I mention that it’s simple?

This book is also packed with facts:

• The critical mistakes most men make at the gym.
• The two factors for success in any workout program.
• Five ways to keep a consistent workout schedule.
• What to bring to the gym.
• Why stretching can actually reduce the effectiveness of your workout, and what to do instead.
• How to switch exercises for maximum effect.
• The truth about “sports drinks.”
• What to do after your workout to minimize pain and maximize gain.

And, as they say, much more.

Perhaps best of all, you can contact me with any questions or comments — if you’re going to commit to doing my workout, I want to support you!

How much is all this? At least for now, the price is FREE. All I ask is that you join the Simple Starter Workout e-mail list, and you can unsubscribe at any time with no worries. I reserve the right to change any or all of the deal at any time, but no matter what, if you download the book now it will be yours to keep at no charge.

There’s no time to lose — start getting fit today, and see how a healthier, stronger body will help you in every aspect of your life.

To get the Simple Starter Workout Plan, go to the StarterWorkout.com site right now. You’ve got nothing to lose but fat, and all kinds of lean muscle to gain.

Photo by Racerman24

UPDATE: As of 1/4/2010, the Simple Starter Workout Plan e-book is here, with additional helpful information! Find out more here!

If you’ve read much here, you’ll know I think changing your life starts with changing your body. Everything from getting hotter women to business success starts with looking and feeling better.

Not long after I started this blog I posted a simple starter workout that can get any guy up to speed, with just a cheap gym membership. I’ve since augmented that plan with information on how to warm up and recover, and a few alternatives including a workout with free weights and one with no weights at all.

Now I’m getting back to basics with the Simple Starter Workout Plan e-book. This book will include revised and expanded information to guide you through the basic workout and the traits you need to succeed.

The best part: it will be free.

I really feel strongly about having you get started on a healthy fitness routine, from which we can build a foundation for improving your entire life. And if I’m going to give it to you as a gift, what I expect is that you’ll work hard to start an exercise habit that you’ll maintain for life. A life which, by the way, will be longer because you exercise.

The target date for this e-book is January 4, so get those New Year’s resolutions ready. But don’t let that stop you from getting a head start — I’ve already posted tons of valuable stuff here that can get you going. And don’t hesitate to contact me if there’s anything you’d like me to include.

With one week until Christmas, you may be sweating the eventual trip to the jam-packed mall to do battle with the masses over the ugly sweaters and iPod knockoffs that remain. I have done this, and found myself waiting in enormous lines to buy pitiful crap that the recipient must then pretend he likes.

Don’t do it.

Let me give you a few options for your buddy, your boyfriend or yourself. Options that are recommended by those who own them, with attractively low prices. The best part is, via Amazon.com you can order these up with two-day or overnight shipping.

Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar

I just ordered one of these for myself — the recommendations are awesome. This device fits in most doorways (and doesn’t require bolts or screws) and enables you to do pull-ups whenever you feel like it. You can also use it on the floor to make push-ups easier, and even to hold your feet for sit-ups. The Iron Gym folks also say it lets you do dips, but the range of motion for those dips is so limited you’d be better off using a sturdy bench.

But for pull-ups most Amazon users swear by it.

With this you’ll be able to do virtually the entire no-weights workout at home, giving you a workout option anytime you have a spare 20 minutes.

Kenneth Cole Reaction Men’s Wool Pea Coat

If you’re going to buy him an article of clothing, you can’t go wrong with a basic pea coat. They’re great for any occasion that isn’t formal, they work with button-downs, t-shirts or sweaters, jeans or slacks, and best of all they keep you warm.

The Kenneth Cole name won’t do you wrong here. It’s 80% wool, which means it’s warm, and it comes in black or charcoal. Just remember that pea coats tend to run a bit large in size, because they’re meant to be overcoats. They also require dry cleaning, but as long as you don’t spill on it or perspire heavily without a shirt on under it, you should only really need to have it cleaned once a year, before you put it away for the warmer months.

You’ll feel like the guy from the Old Spice commercials — except you’ll smell better (as long as you stay off the Old Spice).

Garmin nüvi 260W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

Personally I don’t use a GPS — any directions I need I get with my iPhone and Google Maps. But most of my friends love their GPSes, so who am I to stand in the way of that?

This Garmin is the most popular GPS at Amazon (here’s the whole list), and after 493 reviews has an incredible four-and-a-half-star rating. What about the features? Glad you asked. It has a 4.3-inch screen with 2D and 3D map modes, turn-by-turn voice guidance that reads street names, a rechargeable battery, and a touchscreen with a JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock, currency and measurement converter, calculator and more. You can use it in the car or on foot. It comes preloaded with North American maps, and more features are optional via an SD card slot.

If you or someone you know is directionally challenged, stop driving in circles or pulling off at every other gas station. This small investment can pay off in saved time alone.

A word to the wise though: don’t leave a GPS (or even the suction-cup mount) visible in your unattended car. Thieves love them as much as my friends do.

Rules of the Game

Neil Strauss’ original book about his experiences as a pickup artist, The Game, is an all-time bestseller on Amazon. For that reason you may not want to give that book as a gift: chances are your friend/boyfriend/husband has already read it.

Instead, if the guy you’re giving the book to is unattached, get him the sequel by Strauss, Rules of the Game. Where The Game was a story about “Style’s” experiences, Rules is a handbook for meeting women and convincing them to go out with you. It includes word-for-word routines and steps you through the whole process, from openers to getting her home.

Keep in mind that Strauss “works” mostly in the world of nightclubs, which requires a different touch than, say, a supermarket or art gallery. You won’t want to breathlessly recite the “two girls fighting” opener to a girl you see at the bookstore, and not every guy is cut out to dress up like a rock star (for example, I give you Jon Gosselin). However, there are some useful tips you can use in your daily life, and the book is full of stories from Strauss’ life among the party culture of LA.

However, if the guy you’re buying for does happen to have a wife or girlfriend, a better choice might be The Book of Basketball. Bill Simmons is such a good writer he almost makes me care about basketball, plus every minute I spend reading him is a minute I’m not reading Rick Reilly or Mitch Albom. Or if he’s not into sports, get him something by Chuck Klosterman — dude is funny.

I hope this has helped. If so, now you’re golden until his birthday. No, a beer bong is not appropriate then, either.

Welcome again to “I Click It,” where I get past a confusing headline designed to make you view a page that may be useful or crap. Today we return to Men’s Health, where today I found this waiting for me:

Hmm, a new way to use a barbell? Perhaps as a weapon in some new Mixed Martial Art? Maybe a very sturdy but short flagpole? Then again, there are a few gym rats whom I’ve wanted to show a new way to use a…but I digress. I was intrigued. So let’s see what we got:

Um, yeah.

It’s a dumbbell lunge, but you put a barbell in front of you so you’re forced to step over it. Which…pretty much does nothing to help.

The problem here is that if you’re using the proper form in your lunge, with your back knee just touching the ground, you’re going to take a very uniform step. Putting an obstacle in front of you to step over won’t really change that—with one exception they don’t show you in the above drawing: you’re going to need to kind of kick your front foot out on each step, making you look a little bit like a Monty Python character but not really changing the benefit you get from the exercise.

Then when you push back up, you’ll have to kick it out again, which may have a benefit but may just make you lose your balance. The theory as stated in the article is that guys don’t lunge as far as they should or as “explosively” (not a word I’d use for a lunge motion) as they should, and maybe by having to do that little kick it will help correct these flaws. I’ve tried a couple of sets of this myself, and I don’t feel anything different.

In fact, performing a normal lunge seems to hit my legs harder than the “dynamic” lunge. Then again, maybe I have better form than the guys they’re hoping to help.

The article then moves to side lunges, which again, seem to differ only through having to lift the leg a tad higher on the way over the bar. Then an actual not-new way to use a barbell, but one that might be new to you: the Hack Squat. This is like a reverse deadlift where you hold the barbell behind you. This one is fun to try, so here’s a video to help:

This cavalcade of barbell newness concludes with the Single-leg Deadlift Reach, which is just a regular Single Leg Deadlift with dumbbells, but at the bottom of the reach you tap the dumbbell on…you guessed it, the barbell. This will presumably help by making loud clanging noises, inciting the others in the gym to chase you for a more complete leg workout. If you want to reach down to a consistent spot, put a 12″ box down at that spot, and maybe cover it with a mat so you don’t annoy everyone. Here’s how to do a Single-Leg Deadlift:

The verdict? These are all great exercises. Lunges are a great part of a workout, hack squats are fun to try in place of a deadlift, and a single-leg deadlift is great for balance and posture.

But while maybe I’m missing something, I think lunges with proper form will actually work your legs better than lunges over a 10-12″ obstacle, because you can concentrate on the part of the workout where you lunge, rather than having to kick your leg up or out and risk whacking your ankle or losing your balance. You can see some proper form in the No-Weights Workout.

You’re welcome.

Ready for Liftoff? [Men's Health]