Workout Magazine

Having Winter Olympic withdrawals? Fortunately, there's a remedy for that. The fiercely competitive Paralympic Games will kick off in PyeongChang on March 8 and the U.S. is sending some terrific athletes. One of these fierce competitors is Rico Roman, a former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant who was a member of the sled hockey team that won gold at Sochi in 2014. Getty Images   Injuries sustained after hitting an improvised explosive device (IED) while in the Army means that Roman now competes with a prosthetic leg. But the journey from Army vet to Paralympic athlete doesn't happen at the snap of a finger.  After being told about the sport of sled hockey by Operation Comfort , a group that helps wounded veterans, and playing for a year, Roman tried out for the 2010 U.S. national sled hockey team. His first shot at making the team was a miss -- but in the words of Wayne Gretzky (and Michael Scott) "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." So Roman tried out again...

Whether you’re working out with dumbbells by choice or for lack of a barbell, you’ll be glad to hear that dumbbells can actually provide an expedited route to muscle growth—and a broader, more muscular back. Working out with dumbbells requires a greater amount of stabilization, activating more muscle fibers and increasing muscle activity, says Daniel Giordano, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., co-founder of Bespoke Treatments Physical Therapy and Fitness. “They are also easier on your joints, he says. “You have the advantage of fine-tuning the position of the weights, as opposed to being locked in place with a barbell. Below are eight back-building exercises—assembled by Dr. Giordano to cover your entire back, and light up your arms in the process—that require nothing more than a pair of dumbbells to perform. You don’t even need a bench. Exercise: Reverse Fly Target : Posterior deltoids, posterior rotator cuff, upper back muscles Set your feet shoulder width apart, then hinge at your h...

For anyone yet to receive the memo – brace yourself, here it comes – running a marathon is, as it turns out, actually quite difficult. With the culmination of meticulous prep, abstinence from takeaways and endless jogging in sub-zero temperatures, who knew it does not suddenly translate to a carnival of idyllic exercise when stretched across 26.2 miles? And though trading your village green for a sprawling cityscape – with its cheering crowds, tourist landmarks and moving sea of 40,000 entrants – can’t help but inspire, make no mistake: each runner’s race is an intimate, lonely road. High-fiving your family members at mile five is swell and all, but can they un-sprain your ankle at mile 22, because you blew off all your weekend runs in favour of cat naps and full English breakfasts, and now sport ligaments like linguine? (No.) Defined by the finest of margins and a million individual decisions, your noble quest for a record time could be in the bag ...

No matter the time of year, many men find themselves staring down the mirror, hoping to shed a few (or say, 10) pounds before a tank top season. Blame a long period of stagnation during a stressful quarter or the demise of a relationship that should have ended months ago. But prioritizing your health will ultimately make you more productive, happier and fulfilled. Before you start logging miles and sticking to a salad-only diet, there are a few smart strategies to implement that will jumpstart your metabolism from the time you wake up in the morning. While it’s true that your body and it’s processes fluctuate throughout the day, those first few hours you’re awake can be pivotal to your success. Here, experts share insight and offer their advice on how to develop morning habits to benefit those lifting and cardio goals: Why Metabolism Matters In The Morning Truth be told? Metabolism is a complicated metric because it wholeheartedly depends on the person, but o...

When it comes to the topic of metabolism, views tend to be divided. Not so much in terms of the research -- that’s pretty unified, which is why we now know of so many different ways to speed it up (see below). It’s more of a systematic division, and it’s pretty much defined by which side of age 30 you’re standing on. Ask any formerly athletic person over the age of 30 with a couple of extra pounds around their waist to tell you what happened, and they’ll likely cite the year their sprinting metabolism slowed to a crawl. It’s an easy excuse, but also a somewhat valid one. And what about those slender beings who’ve yet to reach the big three-oh? Oh, they’re just really good at staying on top of their health and fitness -- or at least that’s one response you can expect. The point is, we like to take credit when things are going well, and when they aren’t it’s much easier to point to an external factor outside of our control ...

If hitting the gym on the regular isn’t resulting in the swelling silhouette you envisioned, you may not be sending your muscles the right message. Key variables in your training -- sets, reps, weight, rest -- determine the outcome of your efforts, so it’s important to ensure those factors are aligned towards your goal. Here, created using a combination of high volume, varying weight, and controlled rest periods, you will find a simple and effective muscle-building workout plan , designed to pack mass onto your entire body. “For the skinny dude, this is a great workout to put on some serious muscle,” says celebrity trainer and elite endurance athlete Alex Isaly, the architect behind this bulk-up blueprint. The workouts in this program are programmed to increase muscle size and strength using a popular muscle-building methodology called “drop sets.” Unlike regular sets, which follow a uniform rep scheme (e.g. three sets of 10 reps), drop sets decreas...

There are some things that get better with age. Wine, for starters. Cheese, arguably. Some of the best football quarterbacks in the game (here’s looking at you, Tom Brady). But for most guys, your health isn’t on that short list. With age, the narrative usually looks a tad more serious starting in your 30s when compared to your 20s. You start to realize that your body’s responding differently to eating a full pizza pie on Sundays with the guys, and you just can’t seem to handle that next-day hangover like back in your college glory days. “Most men will have to do more to stay well, starting in their thirties, says Steven Lamm, MD , professor of medicine and director of the Tisch Center for Men’s Health at NYU Langone Health . “The body ages and every organ is changing. For many, the changes are so subtle that we don’t appreciate the slight decline in performance. Take your eyes, for example. It becomes pretty obvious when you need glasses at age 40 because that’s som...

2018 brought some pretty oddball health and wellness trends -- and there won’t be any slowing down in 2019. We asked industry leaders to forecast all the trends health nuts and exercise fanatics will be obsessed with in the coming year -- here’s a look at their expert insight.   Goodbye 60-Minute Workouts “Long grueling workouts are getting a shake-up as smart technology hits the personal training and group fitness scene. Artificial intelligence and adaptive resistance tech provide perfectly dosed workouts for individuals to achieve maximum strength and cardio results in far less time. While 60-minute sessions won’t disappear, efficient, data-driven, technology-enhanced workouts will become a staple of any well-rounded fitness routine. Amanda McVey, Vice President of Experience and Programming at  Upgrade Labs Wearable Technology Tells You When to Chill Out GettyImages “For so long wearables reminded individuals to get up, take steps, and track workouts; however, wearables...

Some health trends -- like intermittent fasting, charcoal everything and infrared saunas -- have been bubbling up for a few years now, but in 2018 we saw them explode beyond New York and L.A.’s healtherati circles. While some of these oddball health and fitness fads are rightfully going mainstream, others -- like...umm goat yoga...appear to be more fluff than substance. To separate the strange but effective from the strange but insane, we turned to some of the country’s leading health experts.  Here’s a look at some of the most notably weird (for better or worse!) health and fitness trends of 2018. Goat Yoga GettyImages “Including live animals in any workout routine seems a tad problematic. With goat yoga, playful goats will wander around your mat and even climb on your back while you’re mid-yoga pose. It’s meant to keep you focused, grounded, and connected with both yourself and with nature. I like time-efficient, effective and fun workouts and my gut tells me that goat ...