m Special Power Report

The Best Shape

of Your Life

Grampa! Show Us Your Abs!

You have an investment plan for your moneyheres one for your body
e all have to get older. Its natures way of ensuring that babies have babysitters. But getting older doesnt necessarily mean getting old, at least not in the traditional sense. You just have to start training for your later years now. Heres how to pull off the ultimate retirement plan.

The 30s Guy

Youre beginning to wonder why you were in such a hurry to grow up. The promotion at work, the new baby, the house in the burbsyou have good excuses to miss every workout, but every workout you miss seems like another concession to your inner fat guy. A couple of years ago, you could scarf bacon cheeseburgers with impunity. Now the most innocent-looking chicken burrito takes your belt out a notch. You havent done any irreversible damage yet, but you sure dont want to see the end of this disaster movie. Work outside the gym. If you cant work out, find some other way to burn off extra caloriesand stress. According to the Harvard Alumni Health Study, men who burn more than 1,000 calories a week in physical activity have a 20 percent lower risk of heart disease than men who dont. Sound hard? Its not. Do these five things and, if youre a typical 180-pound guy, youll burn 1,000 calories.
Lift weights intensely for 20 minutes Play tennis for 30 minutes Chop wood for 15 minutes Move furniture for 20 minutes Ride a bike at 13 mph for 25 minutes TOTAL: 164 calories 287 calories 123 calories 164 calories 273 calories 1,011 calories

Hit something. Heres the best stress-busting exercise we know: boxing. Hitting a heavy bag has a cathartic effect, says Tom Seabourne, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., a sports psychologist in Mount Pleasant, Texas. Try this: Pull on the gloves and hit a heavy bag for 3 minutes, rest a minute, and continue like that for 20 minutes. Its so vigorous, you dont have time to think about your problems, says Seabourne. Plus, it builds power, endurance, and even some muscle mass in your upper body. Instructions below are for right-handers; lefties, please consult the first Rocky movie. On all punches, rotate your fist so your palm faces down at impact. Stance: Set your feet shoulder-width apart and diagonal to the bag, left foot forward, elbows in, right fist alongside your chin, left fist beside your left eye. Float like a butterfly, sting like Ali.

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Punches: Hint: Aim as though youre trying to punch through the bag, not at it. Jab: Shoot your left arm straight out and back. Cross: Pivot on your right foot as you strike with your right hand and pull it back. Hook: Pivot on your left foot as you bring your left arm around to strike the side of the lousy, stinking bastar...uh, the bag. Feed your muscles. If youre lifting weightsand trying to watch your weightyou might be shorting yourself on protein. The average 180-pound iron worker needs a lot of proteinbetween 110 and 140 grams a day to build and repair muscle. To get 100 g, you could have two large eggs, two glasses of milk, 4 ounces of chicken breast (about the size of your palm), and an 8-ounce steak. Eat another 8-ounce steak and youre up to 150. Since youd be insane to eat like that, we recommend adding a daily protein shake. A recent study found that people who consumed a protein-shake diet lost more weight and body fat than those who ate the same amount of calories in food with 60 percent less protein. See page 3 for a quick, delicious recipe. Take the anti-soreness vitamin. Antioxidants like vitamin E reduce muscle soreness caused by lifting weights, according to research from Ball State University. In the study, 11 college-age men took either a placebo or 1,200 international units of vitamin E and went on a weight-lifting regimen for 3 weeks. The vitamin E users showed statistically lower levels of free radicals after working out, which translated to less soreness after lifting, says Bruce Craig, Ph.D., the physiologist who conducted the research.

The 40s Guy

They throw you that great surprise party on your 40th birthday, and all your friends make over the hill jokes that you pretend to find hilarious. And if you have enough to drink, maybe you really do find them hilarious. But when you wake up in the morning, you cant help but acknowledge that the sell-by date on your youth has officially expired. The few remaining pro athletes your age are shadows of their former selves, and your kids friends call you Mister. But look on the bright side: If your life were a football game, it would be halftime now. Heres how to kick some butt in the next two quarters. Get plenty of calcium.Your wifes doctor will tell her to get enough calcium to head off osteoporosis, but no one will extend that courtesy to you. Heres why they should: Researchers at the University of Tennessee have found that calcium appears to decrease fat storage and increase the use of fat for energy. Your goal is to get at least 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day. Thats two 8ounce glasses of milk, a bowl of cereal, and a cup of yogurt. Bend over backward. Four out of five Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Back pain can be caused by weight problems, old athletic injuries, poor flexibility, and poor musculature, says Bruce McMillan, a physical therapist in Ronan, Montana. But research has shown that if you bend backward, youll reduce compressive stress on your spinal disks by up to 40 percent. Try this: Get into a modified pushup position, with hands, knees, and feet resting on the floor. Push your hips toward the floor, arch your back, and hold for 15 to 20 seconds. If your back pain extends down through your legs, however, dont stretchsee a doctor.

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Tea it up. Coffee is our friendparticularly on mornings when beer was our friend the night before. Besides the nice buzz, caffeine also helps mobilize fat cells to be used for energy. But green tea does the same thing, only better, according to a Swiss study. On top of its flab- and cobweb-fighters, green tea contains flavonoidsas much in 2 cups as in one serving of vegetables, says Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., who researches antioxidants at Tufts University. Dont buy the prebottled green teait doesnt provide the same benefits. Instead buy tea bags and brew 2 cups a day with hot water, says Blumberg. Take some time off. As you age, your ability to recuperate after a weight-lifting session decreases. So to give your body more time to repair itself, do three workouts a week instead of four. But the intensity of your workouts can be the same, says Dave Pearson, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., an exercise scientist at Ball State University. Hit each body part only once a week, and make sure to take a day of rest between workouts. Try one of these workouts (exercise descriptions can be found at www.menshealth.com)do three or four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise. Rest a minute between sets.
MONDAY Bench press Incline dumbbell press Pullup or lat pulldown Bent-over row Swiss-ball crunch WEDNESDAY Squat Stiff-legged deadlift Calf raise Twisting crunch FRIDAY Dumbbell shoulder press Upright row Triceps extension Incline dumbbell curl Incline reverse crunch

Take it slow. Lifting weights s-l-o-w-l-y puts your muscles under stress, which can boost the strength and size of the muscles. Try incorporating these five strategies during your next workout. Take your time. Do slow repetitions; research suggests that 8-second repetitions4 up, 4 downare slow enough to spur an increase in strength. Smooth your moves. If you jerk like a spawning salmon on every lift, youre not getting the most out of your workouts. Try moving the weight smoothly, with only a slight hesitation at the end of the contraction. This will put more stress on the muscles youre working and decrease your chances of injury. Stop chatting. Move quickly from one exercise to the next, with no time for banter. This fires up your metabolism and better conditions your cardiovascular system. Use weight machines instead of free weights. Weight-training machines force you to focus more on form and less on how much weight youre usinga good thingwhile protecting you from injury. For example, with free weights your forearms and gripping muscles will give out before the biceps youre working do, says Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., director of the South Shore YMCA near Boston. Take time to recover. Make sure your muscles have 48 hours between strenuous workouts. And if you reach a plateau, try doing less work, not more.
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A Better Body in Minutes

Big Biceps in No Time Flat
Big biceps are built by doing multiple sets of curls with one arm at a time. The reason? Your biceps will fatigue faster, so theyll grow more, says Ian King, C.S.C.S., an Australian strength coach who works with Olympic and professional athletes. Try doing these three exercises with the same arm, with only 10 seconds of rest between sets. Do 10 to 12 repetitions of each, then switch arms.

Concentration Dumbbell Curl

Low-Pulley Biceps Curl

Sit on a bench and push your elbow into your inner thigh. Curl up and down, keeping your elbow still and shoulders back.

Hold the low pulley so its in line with your arm and shoulder. Keep your wrist straight and your upper arm by your side.

Single-Arm Zottman Curl on Preacher Bench

Curl the dumbbell with your palm facing up [A]. At the top of the move, rotate your palm so its almost facing down, then lower the dumbbell [B]. Rotate your palm up before you raise the dumbbell again. To avoid injury, make sure your entire upper arm is on the bench, so the bench is tucked into your armpit.

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A Bigger Chest in Half the Time

Geometry students and pool hustlers arent the only ones who benefit from understanding sharp angles. You can, too, by working your chest at different angleswith virtually no rest between sets, says Michael Mejia, C.S.C.S., a trainer in New York City. The benefit of doing these angled drop sets is that by working from the hardest to the easiest press positions, youll stimulate more muscle fibers in your chest in about half the time. To start, do a set of incline presses with a weight that will fatigue you after eight to 10 repetitions [A]. Rest for 10 seconds, drop the angle of the bench, and do a flat press with the same weight. Do as many repetitions as possibleusually three to five more than on the incline [B]. Rest for 10 seconds, then do as many decline presses as you can [C]. Rest for 2 minutes and repeat.

Angled Drop Sets

A

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The 50s Guy

Its been a good five decades. You have a solid career, and no one in your family has ever appeared on Jerry Springer. Best of all, you actually have time to exercise again. If you start now, you can turn back the clock by increasing your metabolism, testosterone, growth hormone, muscle mass, flexibility, and bone mass. Grease your hinges. The average guy begins to have trouble with his knees in his 50s. Exerciseparticularly resistance trainingis good medicine for osteoarthritis, says Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., an exercise scientist at Tufts University. The split squat helps strengthen all your lower-body muscles and improve flexibility. Stand with your left foot about 3 feet in front of your right. Lower your body until your left knee is bent 90 degrees and your left thigh is parallel to the floor. Your right knee should almost touch the floor behind you. Now push back up to the original position, keeping your back straight and upright throughout the exercise. Do 10 to 15 repetitions, then repeat with your right foot forward. When thats easy, add weightsyou can either hold dumbbells at your hips or hold a barbell across your shoulders. Work up to three sets once or twice a week. Become an alpha male. Researchers in California found that a zinc-magnesium supplement called ZMA increases testosterone levels. (You can find it in several brands at any health-food store.) It works while you sleep, so if you take the recommended dosage30 milligrams of zinc, 450 milligrams of magnesium, and 11 milligrams of B6before bed, you might wake up with a whole new attitude. Set a record. Another way to raise testosterone is to feel like a winner. Unless you were an elite-level athlete in your youth, you can set a personal record in almost any physical endeavor you choose, says Seabourne. Heres something you can set a record in today: the strict curl. This is a barbell biceps curl performed while you lean your back and arms against a wall. The beauty of it is that almost nobody knows how much weight they can curl once, so whatever you lift today will be a personal record. Try this: Pick a weight you think is the most you can curl100 pounds, say. Warm up by doing eight repetitions with 50 pounds, four with 75, two with 90, and then one with 100. A week later, add 5 pounds to each of your sets and do it again. Keep going for 4 to 6 weeks, or until you stop breaking your own record each week. Take a break from record-setting for 5 months, then start in again. You can shatter your own records twice a year. And feel like the baddest m.f. in your immediate vicinity. Eat breakfast. Researchers at the Oklahoma State University found that 40 percent of older men failed to take in the recommended daily amount of folic acid, a vitamin that helps prevent heart disease. The reason? They werent eating breakfast. Try spending the morning with a cereal thats rich in B12, a vitamin that helps the body absorb folic acid and is high in fiber and low in sugar, too. Here are five that measure up: Wheat Chex, Cheerios, Whole Grain Total, Wheaties, and All-Bran.

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