Healthy News for Healthy Nation

Exercise machines weren’t created to punish guys who eat too much. That’s what diets are for. But men spend hours, day after day, churning their arms and legs and waiting for the StairMaster or treadmill to make their bellies vanish. The result: They make it about as far as the average rat. But your machine workout doesn’t have to be a road — or row — to nowhere. “By decreasing the duration and varying the intensity of your exercise sessions, you’ll get better results in less time,” says Chris Carmichael, founder of Carmichael Training Systems and coach to Lance Armstrong.Try our guide to the five most popular exercise machines, with a high-intensity 20-minute workout geared for each. Your goals: Bust your exercise rut, and your gut, in record time.

The Knee Saver

a.k.a. Elliptical Trainer

Burn Rate: 13 calories per minute

The Benefit: Researchers at the University of Mississippi found that elliptical trainers provide the same cardiovascular benefits as treadmill running, without the impact on your joints. So they’re a perfect solution if you’re a runner who wants to stay in race shape without excessive pounding to your ankles, knees and hips.

Do It Right: “Instead of holding on to handles, pump your arms as if you were running,” says Kerri O’Brien, C.S.C.S., a trainer in Phoenix. It improves your balance, which will help you whether you’re running 2.6 miles or 26.2.

The 20-Minute Fat-Burner: Try this “alternating interval” fat burning exercise workout from Lance Watson, a coach of Canada’s Olympic triathlon team. By alternating between levels of high resistance and those of high speed, you’ll be able to work at a higher relative intensity for a longer time. Warm up, then increase the machine’s resistance level until you’re striding at 80 percent of your full effort. After 2 minutes, lower the resistance to the level you used during your warmup, but increase your stride rate so that you’re still exercising at 80 percent of your full effort. Continue alternating between a high resistance and a fast stride every 2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes.

The Total-Body Builder

a.k.a. Rowing Machine

Burn Rate: 11 calories per minute

The Benefit: “Rowing machines provide the best total-body workout of any cardio machine,” says U.S. Olympic rowing coach Mike Teti. This is because they require equal effort from both your lower and your upper body, which could lead to greater gains in overall cardiovascular fitness.

Do It Right: On the back stroke, your knees should be almost completely straight before you squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull the handle to your sternum. Your back should stay in its naturally arched position during the entire movement. Got it? Now sign up with the Million Meter Club at www.conceptII.com. Record your distance online after every rowing session and see how you rank against more than 3,700 other club members. (Stay motivated by finishing your second million in less time.)

The 20-Minute Fat-Burner: Try Teti’s routine. It’s designed to max out your muscles during each interval, while the recovery periods help increase the efficiency of this fat burning exercise routine. Set the rowing machine at a resistance of four. Then perform sets of 10, 15, and 20 power strokes — pulling the handle to your torso as fast and as hard as you can. Separate the power strokes with 60 seconds of easy rowing at about 50 percent of your full effort. Repeat the cycle until you’ve rowed for 20 minutes.

The Health Master

a.k.a. Stairclimber

Burn Rate: 12 calories per minuteThe Benefit: Yale researchers found that men with insulin resistance — a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease — who exercised on a stairclimber for 15 minutes 4 days a week improved their sensitivity to insulin by 43 percent in just 6 weeks.

Do It Right: The obvious: “Leaning on the handles can cut your caloric expenditure by 20 percent or more,” warns Mike Merk, C.S.C.S., director of the YMCA of Greater Cleveland. So, for a better calorie burn, pump your arms as if you were walking or running briskly. Or you can just turn around. A study in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that the retrograde version — facing away from the console — burned more calories than the traditional method.

The 20-Minute Fat-Burner: Try this “escalating intensity” workout from Edmund Burke, Ph.D., author of The Complete Home Fitness Handbook. After you warm up, increase the resistance level by one unit while maintaining a pace of 60 to 80 steps per minute for 2 minutes. Then increase the resistance by one unit every 2 minutes until you reach your 20-minute goal. You’ll gradually work harder as your workout progresses, so you’ll be maxed out at the end of the session — which trains your body to finish hard.

The Mood Lifter

a.k.a. Stationary Bike

Burn Rate: 14 calories per minute

The Benefit: Researchers at the University of Northern Arizona found that cycling on a stationary bike for as little as 10 minutes reduced fatigue and negative moods, while improving energy levels. The stationary bike is also the perfect vehicle to prevent chunky guys from hurting themselves as they lose the chunks. That’s because cycling is not a load-bearing exercise, says Kate Heelan, Ph.D., an exercise researcher at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Do It Right: Many cyclists develop lower-back pain because of their semifetal posture. “Stand up every 5 minutes and pedal as if you were climbing a hill for 60 seconds,” says Robert Morea, C.S.C.S., a trainer in New York City. “It’ll take the pressure off your lower back, force you to use different muscles and break up the monotony of your workout.”

The 20-Minute Fat-Burner: Try this workout from Carmichael. It varies your sprints to challenge your cardiovascular system and muscles in different ways. Following your warmup, start cycling at an intensity that’s about 95 percent of your full effort for 90 seconds, followed by a 90-second recovery interval at about 40 percent of your full effort. Then, using the same intensities, perform 60-second and 30-second intervals. After the final 30-second recovery period, cycle at 70 percent of your full effort for 4 minutes, then repeat the entire set of intervals.

The Energy Guzzler

a.k.a. Treadmill

Burn Rate: 17 calories per minute

The Benefit: A 2001 study in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise determined that the treadmill burns calories at the highest rate of any exercise machine.

Do It Right: If you want to mimic road running, raise the incline of the treadmill to 1 percent before starting your run. Researchers in England found that that’s the degree of treadmill elevation that most closely approximates outdoor running.

The 20-Minute Fat-Burner: Try this “up the incline” interval method from Liz Neporent, coauthor of Fitness for Dummies. It’ll build your leg strength and prepare you for the toughest road courses around, while helping you shed fat fast. Pick a speed that’s about 2 minutes per mile slower than your average outdoor pace. Run at that speed for 2 minutes at an incline of 1 percent. Then raise the incline to 4 percent for another 2 minutes. Continue to raise the elevation of the treadmill by 2 percent every 2 minutes until you reach a 10 percent grade. Then step it back down 1 percent at a time — in 2-minute intervals — until you complete your 20 minutes.

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The days got shorter, the bowl games got longer, the pizzas got bigger, and yesterday you woke up and realized you hadn’t exercised since the lap dance at the office Christmas party. And, come to think of it, you weren’t even the one exercising there.

Call it human hibernation. It’s one of the things that link us to our cute mammal friends — chipmunks and raccoons and Jesse Ventura. “Animals respond to light and temperature cues,” says Greg Florant, Ph.D., of Colorado State University, who studies hibernating animals. These cues compel bears, for example, to store 50 percent of their body weight as fat in preparation for the long, cold nights of winter. Does that remind you of anyone?

It should. Most of us spent last winter like giant, hairy carnivores, sleeping more, eating more — and exercising less.

Now it’s time to leave the cave. Here’s your exit strategy: 19 exercise and fitness workout strategies that will help get you out of your bear suit.

The Damage: Not as Bad as You Think

Don’t worry about the long-term effects of your winter layoff. There really aren’t any. “Your fitness will ebb and flow, like everything else in your body. In the long run, it’s really irrelevant if you miss a couple of weeks here and there,” says Bryant Stamford, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at the University of Louisville.

So, the first thing you should do is…

Just Show Up

Longer nights actually have a physiological effect on men’s bodies. A lack of the hormone melatonin (its production is linked to duration of daylight) makes us sluggish, and we spend our days covered up in layers of bulky clothing, making it easy to hide our spreading love handles.

But there’s one place where people aren’t covered up, where the lights are bright, and where we feel a surge of adrenaline just by walking in the door — and it’s not a maternity ward. “Just go to a gym,” suggests Michael George, a trainer in Los Angeles. “Your mentality will shift back. You’ll see people who look good, and that’ll motivate you.” Buy a pass and spend the whole darn day there.

Don’t push yourself. Try out every aerobic and strength machine — and play with all the buttons and settings — until you know how everything works.

The next time you go, you won’t be stuck doing the same old routine, like you did last year.

The First Step: Goooal!
What’s the first thing most of us do to get back into shape?

According to Liz Neporent, C.S.C.S., a trainer and coauthor of Fitness for Dummies, we get stupid. We join a gym, buy a $3,000 treadmill or hire a $100-an-hour personal trainer, all without any idea of what we ultimately want to accomplish.

But we need goals, not gadgets.

“Don’t start with, `I want to get in shape and lose weight,’ ” Neporent says. That first goal has to be specific: Lose 2 inches off your waist, drop 10 pounds, get ready for a summer basketball league, bench-press 200 pounds.

Once you have a specific goal, the next step is to give yourself time to accomplish it. Tell yourself you’re going to lose 2 inches or 10 pounds in 6 to 8 weeks. “It’s hard to see progress from day to day, so this way you always know if you’re reaching your goals or falling short,” says Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., a trainer in North Hills, California.

Choose Your Weapons
It’s one thing to say, “I need to do aerobic exercise,” or “I really should lift weights.” It’s another thing not to hate every second of it. Two approaches to try:

Distraction: “Distract yourself with some sort of entertainment,” Neporent suggests. Tell yourself you can only read your favorite mystery author when you’re on the recumbent bike. Make the treadmill your Louis Rukheyser hour. At high-end gyms, you can surf the Web while on a stationary bike.

Recreation: No rule says that your fitness workout has to be plodding around a track or smelting iron in a room full of muscleheads.

Recreational sports burn calories, too. Say you play three rounds of golf a week, walking and pulling your clubs with a handcart, which would be about 15 miles of walking, or 1,500 calories burned.

Some other ways a 185-pound man can burn 1,500 calories in a week without feeling miserable exercising:

Doubles tennis: 3 hours

Fly-fishing: 3 hours

Softball: 3 1/2 hours

Using power tools: 3 hours

Lawn mowing (no, not a riding mower): 4 hours

Drumming: 4 1/2 hours

Vigorous sex: 12 hours

Driving a drag racer: 3 hours

Start at a Halfway Point
Your first week back, attempt to do only half what you did before. Work out with half the weight. Walk or run half the miles. Hit half as many golf balls or baseballs, or shoot half as many jumpers.

After a couple of weeks you may feel the temptation to start pushing yourself. Don’t. Your feet, knees, elbows, and shoulders aren’t ready for the pounding, even if your muscles feel great and your stamina seems to be returning. “Your joints and connective tissues won’t give you any feedback until there’s a problem,” Stamford says.

Instead, increase your miles and speed and weights lifted by 10 percent a week, tops. If you start your program with half of what you were doing before, you can get back to two-thirds within a month. In 2 months you’ll be better than ever.

Eat Better

Most of us fall off all our wagons at least once. When we stop exercising, we stop eating carefully and start drinking sloppily. Here’s something you can do tomorrow to eat lighter and healthier: Pack your own lunch.

“The more you eat out, the less control you have over your food, and the more likely you are to overeat,” says Mary Flynn, Ph.D., R.D., a nutrition researcher at Brown University.

Even when you just order a sandwich at a deli, you eat more food than you’d ever make for yourself.

If you want to lose weight fast:

* Go off the juice. “Sometimes a guy can just stop drinking sodas and juices and drop 5

pounds in a month,” Flynn says.

* Make friends with fruits. Add a fruit to each meal, and a vegetable to lunch and dinner.

You’ll feel fuller, and eat less at your next snack or meal.

Finally, Remember What Gets the Bear Out of the Cave

Animals end their hibernation not because they have trouble buttoning up their fur. One of the main reasons bears climb out of their caves and back into circulation is to make more bears — the mating instinct. So if the simple desire to get back in shape isn’t enough to drag you back to a bench, maybe you should look to even simpler desires to inspire you. In fact, look at it like a bear: Beneath that winter flesh lies a gene pool worth passing on to future generations. With some sweating and grunting, those genetic assets will look a lot more promising. This year, go for the pandas.

– Mark Jacobs contributed to this article

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More for Your Money

We asked the experts what they see people doing wrong on the leading exercise machines and found out how we can squeeze more out of our time on them. Follow their fat-burning exercise suggestions and you’ll burn more of it than the sweat-spraying cardio crazies with the blurry legs and burning lungs . . . and still have time for a smoothie afterward. (Editor’s Note: Before you buy the smoothie, you should checkout the cuddly fat at My Pet Fat.)

Rowing Machine

YOUR FORM

The mistake: Your hands bump your knees, and “everything gets jumbled,” says Mike Irwin, University of Pennsylvania lightweight varsity crew coach.

The fix: Think of the stroke as a dance, counting 1-2-3 and 3-2-1. On 1, push with your legs; on 2, “swing up” your body by leaning back; on 3, draw your arms to the bottom of your rib cage, spinning the flywheel. Then reverse it: 3, extend your arms; 2, swing your body forward from the hips; 1, bring your legs up after the handle passes your knees. “It should be a fluid motion when you tie it all together,”says Irwin.

YOUR WORKOUT

The mistake: A long, steady slog. “You probably won’t be able to maintain your power and form for the entire workout,” Irwin says.

The fix: With medium resistance, do four to six 10-minute sets of rowing with 2 to 3 minutes of rest in between. “Your heart rate won’t come all the way down, but you’ll be able to regroup and start fresh,” says Irwin.

Treadmill

YOUR FORM

The mistake: Too much up and down and not enough levelheadedness, says Zack Barksdale, an exercise physiologist at the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas. You’ll tire out your joints–and yourself–too soon.

The fix: Improve flexibility to smooth out your stride. Try leg swings–hold the handlebar, stand on one leg, and swing the other back and forth, keeping your upper body still. “It will loosen and warm you up, making your legs more pliable,” says Barksdale.

YOUR WORKOUT

The mistake: Too many long, steady, flat runs.

The fix: Run shorter and harder, mixing speeds and inclines. You’ll fatigue your muscles and your energy source more quickly, making this a more efficient fat burning exercise that will keep working throughout the day. Start with a 2 percent incline, and over several sessions work up to 10 percent. (Just walk at this point.) The more intense the workout, the shorter it can be.

Stationary Bike

YOUR FORM

The mistake: The seat is too low or too high. “It fatigues the legs a lot more if the seat is too low,” says Brian Holdsworth, director of fitness at the Healthplex Sports Club in Indianapolis. A very low seat also adds stress on the knees. Set it too high and your hips rock from side to side, which is uncomfortable and inefficient, and makes you look funny.The fix: Adjust the seat, people! Sit on the seat and place your heel in the middle of the pedal, where the ball of your foot would normally go. You want your leg fully extended, straight down, at the lowest point of the pedal rotation. “When you move your foot to the correct position on the pedal, you’ll have the right amount of bend,” Holdsworth says.

YOUR WORKOUT

The mistake: Cruising instead of charging.

The fix: Vary the intensity, with 2 to 3 minutes of high-cadence pedaling and a 3-minute recovery, then repeat for 15 minutes. Stand occasionally. “Standing requires more muscle not only to push the pedals, but also to support and balance your body,” says Joe Friel, author of The Cyclist’s Training Bible.

Elliptical Trainer

YOUR FORM

The mistake: Too little resistance. “Some people go so fast that it’s almost momentum working for them as opposed to their having to propel the step,” says Holdsworth.

The fix: Set the resistance correctly. Gliding isn’t good. “When you make a revolution, you want to feel you’re pushing the ramp down,” says Holdsworth. “Have weight there rather than flipping around freely.” As your balance improves, keep your hands at your sides; you’ll recruit core muscles to keep yourself stable.

YOUR WORKOUT

The mistake: Falling into boring ruts.

The fix: Do intervals. “You’ll be able to reach a higher intensity for a sustained period of time,” says Holdsworth. Try 90-second blasts every few minutes, with recoveries twice as long. “As your fitness level increases, reduce the recovery time,” says Holdsworth.

Stairclimber

YOUR FORM

The mistake: “People hold themselves up with their arms,” says Holdsworth. Never put your arms straight down on the railing and lock your elbows. That’s like using crutches.

The fix: Rest your hands on the bars only for balance. “The ideal movement is with your body upright, with just a slight lean forward,” says Holdsworth, “as if you were leaning to walk up a flight of stairs but not bending over.”

YOUR WORKOUT

The mistake: Too little resistance.

The fix: Go slower, with challenging resistance. “It’ll make you work harder, your heart rate will be higher and faster, and you’ll be able to maintain your time in the training zone longer,” says Holdsworth. Result: You’ll burn more fat.

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Group exercise is not just for girls anymore. Here’s your guide to the best — and worst — fitness classes for men

Gym class is to me what Leno’s show is to Anna Nicole Smith: One episode after another of public humiliation and ridicule. Like the time in sixth grade when Coach M. gave me a D because I was a slow runner. Or my junior year in high school, when a skinny kid named Mike would wait until I took my shirt off and then sing out, “L-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-ve handles.” So for two decades I’ve avoided taking fitness classes the way most people avoid making skin contact with anything inside a gas-station restroom.
But health-club fitness classes offer a chance to take your daily dose of exercise from a professional trainer without the threat of a failing grade or ridicule from a 16-year-old punk. And, even better, health-club classes are full of people working toward your twin goals of fat burning and coed showering. (Well, at least one of your goals.)
So I decided to try the gamut of classes offered at my local gym to find out whether any are worth taking. Worst-case scenario: I steal the best moves from each class to incorporate into my own workout.
My first class is Tae It Up Cardio — a kickboxing class that combines punches with classic aerobics-type dance steps. It’s a Monday morning at about 9:30, and the class is packed. The female-to-male ratio: 47 women, me.
Did I mention how much I love gym class?

Yoga

Relaxation and strength moves that work your abs, stretch your muscles, and help your balance.
Your gym may call it: Active Yoga, Hatha Yoga
Female-to-male ratio: 23:2
Grade: C
Bottom line: Best for stressed-out but otherwise fit guys. That’s because it’s great for stress relief but below average for muscle building and calorie burn.
Most valuable move: The sun salutation. “It’s a great exercise for improving overall flexibility and preparing your muscles for vigorous exercise,” says Baron Baptiste, a power-yoga expert and author of Journey into Power.
How to do it: (1) From a standing position, reach up into the sky with your arms. (2) Fold yourself forward, grip your ankles, and bring your forehead as close to your shins as possible. (3) Bend your knees and place your palms on the floor. Thrust your feet back and drop into a pushup position. (4) Straighten your arms, arch your back and raise your head. (5) Return to the pushup position, then push hard with your arms to arch your butt to the ceiling until you look like an upside-down “V.” Hold this for at least 30 seconds. (6) Walk your feet to your hands, then sweep your hands up over your head and go back to the standing position. Repeat three times.

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