Unhealthy Habits You Need To Ditch

These tendencies are derailing your best efforts at living better and longer.

We all have them: Those less-than-healthy or downright dangerous habits that can subtract years from our lives. Most of these harmful tendencies--like smoking and eating poorly--are well-known thanks to the constant finger-wagging of physicians and public-health officials. Others, like taking chances with safety and skipping immunizations, are less obvious.

While circumstance, low motivation or even lack of support can derail our best attempts at being healthy, there is hope: According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Medicine, a sizable percentage of people can successfully adopt a range of healthy activities or habits in middle age.

The study looked at 15,708 adults between the ages of 45 and 64. More than 8% of the participants began eating at least five fruits and vegetables daily, exercised a minimum of 2.5 hours per week, maintained healthy weights and refrained from smoking.

Dr. Dana E. King, a co-author of the study and vice chair in the department of family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, considers these four habits to be the pillars of good health. And the study proved as much: Those who changed their lifestyles experienced lower total mortality and fewer cardiovascular disease events.

"These changes are not easy to make and our environment is not encouraging," King says. "But making them is very beneficial."

The Cost of Bad Habits

Smoking and excessive weight gain are particularly pernicious since they've been linked to a range of bad health outcomes, including cancer and heart disease. They're also expensive habits when it comes to the cost of health care. Expenditures related to smoking reach as much as $96 billion annually. Obesity is estimated to cost $90 billion, and it may get pricier. A report published this month by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that adult obesity rates had increased in 23 states from 2006 and 2008.

While smoking and obesity are prime targets for public-health officials, patients can improve their health in other ways. Mary Jean Schumann, a registered nurse and chief programs officer for the American Nurses Association, says that routine immunizations are cost-effective and promote excellent health. More than 20 diseases can be prevented by vaccines, including Hepatitis B, diphtheria, mumps and influenza.

Yet survey results published last year by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, a non-profit organization, found that few Americans know which vaccines are recommended for adults--and more than half are unconcerned about contracting a vaccine-preventable disease.

Simple high-risk behaviors, like not wearing a helmet while riding a bike or not buckling up while driving or riding in a car, are other, less-scrutinized bad habits.

"People don't look at those as health behaviors, but they are," says Schumann, who has treated countless patients in the emergency room with injuries from accidents that could have been prevented.

Changing Behaviors

Even though common sense says unhealthy choices result in poor outcomes, people tend to have difficulty connecting the two. And even when they do, it can be a long-term struggle to end the pattern.

"[People] have good intentions but can't seem to pull off the changes," says Suzanne Havala Hobbs, a clinical associate professor of health policy and management and nutrition at the University of North Carolina's Gillings School of Global Public Health.

She attributes that dynamic to a combination of factors: suburban and urban infrastructures that don't promote physical activity; a sense of fatalism that sets in when people tire of fighting what can seem like a losing battle; and a lack of support from friends and family.

While individuals have no power over city planning, they can tackle the other two issues. Waning motivation to lose weight, for instance, can be remedied by doing enjoyable physical activities instead of committing to a rigid and joyless routine at the gym. Enlisting the support of loved ones is another essential strategy since it can turn smoking cessation or healthier eating into a family affair as opposed to an individual struggle.

Despite these tactics, some people face greater health-improvement challenges than others. In Dr. King's study, those who were at risk for chronic conditions were no more likely to make changes.

"We have to find out what the real motivators are for people," he says, mostly because improved health is within the reach of most. "Turning back the clock can be done."

Medical Center Diets That Aren’t

Fast and Easy Weight Loss Secrets? Don't Count on It

The Internet is rife with diets that claim to provide the secret to quick and substantial weight loss. If you assume that any diet attributed to world famous medical centers must be trustworthy, think again. Top-rated medical centers encourage weight loss through intensive multidisciplinary programs based on balanced diets that meet nutritional needs. If you see a diet espousing rapid weight loss by sticking to just a few foods over and over, go directly to the Web site of the hospital that supposedly endorses the diet and you’ll probably find that the diet claim is a hoax.

The “Cleveland Clinic Diet,” for example, claims to produce weight loss of up to 10 pounds in three days. The three-day program includes meals of specific foods, such as hot dogs, vanilla ice cream, cabbage and eggs, which supposedly increase metabolism to burn fat. Actually, it promotes short-term weight loss through an extremely low calorie level and a low carbohydrate content that leads to water loss. The three-day program is followed by four to five days of “normal” (not extreme) eating and then restarting the three-day plan. This cycle makes long-term weight loss unlikely. After a few runs through the cycle, there’s a good chance those “normal” days may get even less normal, since studies show that the greater the rigidity of dieting rules, the greater the likelihood of binge-eating when the rules end.

The Cleveland Clinic expressly denies any support for this diet. The center’s Web site includes a statement denying the diet, saying its restricted calories and rules of allowed versus forbidden foods are “not the way to long-term, sustained weight loss and health.” The Cleveland Clinic does not recommend any rigid diet. Instead, it recommends a mostly plant-based Mediterranean-style pattern of eating with abundant vegetables and fruits, limited animal protein and moderate amounts of healthy fats like olive and canola oil, nuts, seeds, olives and fatty fish.

A diet circulating for decades purportedly from the prestigious Mayo Clinic is another hoax. The plan allows unlimited meat, fish and poultry, plus daily eggs and limited vegetables, and adds grapefruit at each meal “to burn up fat.” By eliminating sugar, starch, fruit and “white vegetables,” this diet ends up high-fat, low carbohydrate and moderate to high in protein. It’s nutritionally inadequate and the direct opposite of dietary recommendations to reduce risk of cancer and heart disease. Furthermore, specifically saying you can “eat until you’re so full you can’t eat any more” is exactly the opposite of the skill most people need to learn—to stop eating at a satiation point well before “stuffed.”

The Mayo Clinic’s Web site denies any support for this diet. Its approach to weight loss involves a balanced diet with plenty of vegetables and fruits, as well as physical activity and goal-setting. There is a Mayo Clinic eating plan, called the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid, but far from the rigid, limited diet circulating the Internet, it includes a wide range of healthy foods, including up to 75 calories per day of sweets.

State-of-the-art nutrition care doesn’t mean highly restricted, rigid plans, at least not without intense medical supervision. Premier medical centers employ registered dietitians to create individualized plans that lead to weight loss and also meet nutritional needs, fit personal preferences and lifestyle, and work long-term. But like the Duke Diet from the Duke Diet and Fitness Center, these world-class centers all emphasize an approach that also includes re-learning skills like grocery shopping and cooking, daily physical activity, behavioral change and record-keeping (such as food and activity logs).

The Secret the Food Industry Doesn't Want You to Know

What's replacing the trans fats in your food?

Trans fats, those inflammation boosting, heart-disease-promoting nutritional nightmares, are rapidly disappearing from store shelves and restaurant menus as health-minded consumers become increasingly savvy about what's in their food. The poster children for bad nutrition, trans fats are banned from use in restaurants from New York City to the state of California, and food manufacturers are reformulating packaged foods and labeling them "trans-fat free" in response to popular demand. Sounds like a win for consumers, right?

Not so fast, says Sonja Connor, M.S., R.D., L.D., because while food manufacturers have been reducing or removing trans fats from their products, they've replaced them with equally harmful but less vilified saturated fats. "The popular media have de-emphasized the roll of saturated fat and cholesterol as being important in coronary artery disease," saysid Conner, a research associate professor in the School of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
The emphasis in the media and popular culture on the dangers of trans fats has directed attention away from the ill effects of saturated fats, which has allowed food manufacturers to quietly introduce them into formerly trans-fat-filled foods. And while saturated fats get little airtime, "100 years of scientific studies … provide the crucial evidence for implicating dietary saturated fat and cholesterol as the major cause of coronary disease," said Connor in a presentation this week to the Washington State Dietetic Association.

While both types of fat are harmful, Americans eat about five times more saturated fat that trans fat. To manage your fat intake and safeguard your health, get in the habit of reading nutrition labels. The American Heart Association recommends that limiting the amount of saturated fats you eat to less than 7 percent of total daily calories. That means, for example, if you need about 2,000 calories a day, no more than 140 of them should come from saturated fats. That's about 16 grams of saturated fats a day.

In addition, the Food and Drug Administration offers these tips you can use every day to keep your consumption of saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol low while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet:.

• Check the Nutrition Facts panel to compare foods because the serving sizes are generally consistent in similar types of foods. Choose foods lower in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. For saturated fat and cholesterol, keep in mind that 5 percent of the Daily Value (%DV) or less is low and 20 percent or more is high. (There is no %DV for trans fat.)

• Choose alternative fats. Replace saturated and trans fats in your diet with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These fats do not raise LDL cholesterol levels and have health benefits when eaten in moderation. Sources of monounsaturated fats include olive and canola oils. Sources of polyunsaturated fats include soybean oil, corn oil, sunflower oil and foods like nuts.

• Choose vegetable oils (except coconut and palm kernel oils) and soft margarines (liquid, tub, or spray) more often because the combined amount of saturated fat and trans fat is lower than the amount in solid shortenings, hard margarines, and animal fats, including butter.

• Consider fish. Most fish are lower in saturated fat than meat. Some fish, such as mackerel, sardines, and salmon, contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are being studied to determine if they offer protection against heart disease.

• Choose lean meats, such as poultry without the skin and not fried and lean beef and pork, not fried, with visible fat trimmed.

• Ask before you order when eating out. A good tip to remember when eating or ordering out is to ask which fats are being used in the preparation of your food when eating or ordering out.

• Limit foods high in cholesterol such as liver and other organ meats, egg yolks, and full-fat dairy products, like whole milk.

• Choose foods low in saturated fat such as fat- free or 1 percent% dairy products, lean meats, fish, skinless poultry, whole grain foods, and fruits and vegetables.

5 Sleep Myths Busted

It accounts for a third of your life and a big chunk of your health and longevity. So why aren't you sleeping enough?

What a night. The woman of your dreams appeared. Your pulse raced. Heavy breathing ensued. You do remember it, right? Oh, wait, you were asleep. And that's not all you missed. Under cover of night, sleep floods your veins with age-defying human growth hormone. Sleep raises an army of T cells and sends them into battle against colds and infection. Sleep resets the appetite controls that tell you to not hit the turn signal when you pass a McDonald's. And, of course, sleep helps you above the neck as well as below the belt.

"It stabilizes your waking brain, makes you more alert, and allows you to process information faster," says David Dinges, Ph.D., who studies shut-eye at the University of Pennsylvania. "It helps you remember things and consolidate those memories." You won't get that from a Red Bull. So then why are we engaged in a society-wide experiment in sleep deprivation? Average nightly sleep time during the workweek in the United States is down nearly 20 minutes in the last decade, to six hours and 40 minutes. And men ages 30 to 44 are the worst offenders: Thirty percent of them say they log less than six hours of sleep at night, according to a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The price you pay for this sleep deficit is more than just lost productivity—your health can suffer too. So wake up! It's time to shed some light on this dark territory.

Successful, driven guys should be good to go on five hours a night: MYTH

True, Napoleon slept four to five hours a night, and Thomas Edison got by on four. But world domination and the lightbulb might have been mere warm-ups had these guys slept more. Sleep scientists estimate that only 10 percent of adults are hardwired to need appreciably less (or more) sleep than the recommended seven to eight hours. And by cheating on sleep, you're limping through life with the cranial equivalent of a torn calf muscle. Scarier still, people who are sleep-deprived often don't even know they've turned into zombies. After dividing 48 volunteers into four sleep regimens—eight, six, four and zero hours a night (a.k.a. torture)—University of Pennsylvania researchers found that the six-hours-a-night group fared as poorly on measures of alertness and memory after two weeks as the no-sleep crew did after 24 hours. But participants in the six-hour group didn't feel very sleepy even when they were performing at their worst. Accumulating a sleep deficit also leads to "microsleeps" while you're awake. "Your brain becomes unstable and will go 'off-line' for half a second," Dinges says. The more sleep-deprived you are, the more frequent and longer the lapses.

Snooze strategy: If you didn't sleep seven to eight hours every night this past week, go to bed this weekend at your regular weekday time, but don't set your alarm clock. Did you rise on Saturday and Sunday at the same time you would have on, say, a Tuesday? Then you may be one of those few people who can sleep less yet remain healthy. The rest of us mere mortals can begin to repay our sleep debt by dozing 10 hours a night on weekends and then sticking to seven to eight hours during the week. Your brain will use this strategy whenever you accumulate a sleep debt, says Ruth Benca, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the Wisconsin Sleep Center. Otherwise, you want to stay consistent with your sleeping.

Frequently needing to pee in the middle of the night might indicate a health problem: TRUTH

That first stumble to the bathroom in the dark can be chalked up to the beer you drank watching the Knicks game. The second one can spell trouble. "If you habitually take two or more bathroom trips a night, you probably have obstructive sleep apnea," says Alex Chediak, M.D., medical director of the Miami Sleep Disorders Center. With sleep apnea, the soft tissue at the back of your throat blocks your upper airway during sleep, stopping your breathing for anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute or even longer. This can occur hundreds of times in a night, depriving you of restorative deep sleep and starving your vital organs of oxygen. No wonder sleep apnea has been linked to heart disease, hypertension, and mood disorders.

But why does it wake you up to pee? Because those mini-suffocations result in lower circulating oxygen levels, your heart pumps harder, raising your blood pressure. As excess fluid builds up in your veins, a feedback loop triggers the release of a pressure-relieving diuretic, making you need to pee. An enlarged prostate and high blood sugar can also prompt middle-of-the-night bowl breaks. But with those conditions, says Dr. Chediak, you'll pee a lot day and night.

Snooze strategy: Raising the pillow end of your bed by a few inches can help prevent that tissue from blocking your throat. Snoring could also be waking you in the middle of the night, and one major cause is nasal obstruction. Wash out mucus and irritants by mixing 1/4 teaspoon of table salt in 2 cups of warm water and flushing your nose twice a day using a medical or bulb syringe. Japanese researchers found that people with nasal obstruction were twice as likely to experience daytime fatigue as people with clear passageways. For video instruction on the technique, visit mayoclinic.com and search "nasal irrigation." If the peeing persists around the clock, schedule a prostate exam and have your blood-sugar level checked by your doctor after an overnight fast.

The post-lunch bonk can't be avoided: MYTH

Many Europeans scarf down a carb-loaded lunch and then shut down from 1 to 4 in the afternoon. But with unemployment soaring, let's assume a three-hour nap won't play well at the office. If you find yourself entering what amounts to a food coma after lunch, you're probably eating too many carbohydrates in the morning. And what you're not getting enough of is making it worse. "A postlunch crash is a telltale sign of poor nighttime sleep, as is dozing in meetings, theater performances, or similar environments," says Dr. Benca. Not sure if you're experiencing a modest dip or a true crash? Take a minute or two to fill out the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. This online questionnaire is the same one sleep docs use on their new patients.

Snooze strategy: Along with improving your nightly sleep pattern, eat three small meals spaced two hours apart in the morning. Try a protein shake at 7 a.m., two eggs and a small cup of oatmeal at 9, and an apple and a handful of almonds at 11. You'll consume fewer carbohydrates, and you won't be as likely to overeat at lunchtime. In fact, a salad with grilled chicken and avocado on top should be enough to keep your mind focused and your head off the desk all afternoon, says Keith Berkowitz, M. D., medical director of the Center for Balanced Health in New York City.

Waking up at 4 a. m. every day just means I'm an early riser: MYTH

More likely, you—along with 60 million other Americans—have insomnia, an inability to fall or stay asleep. "Insomniacs wake at the slightest disturbance and feel unrefreshed in the morning," says Dr. Benca. Insufficient sleep exposes the sufferer to a litany of performance and health problems. In a study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, researchers found insomniacs were more than twice as likely as normal sleepers to call in sick for long periods.

Snooze strategy: Let's assume that you've already cut back on caffeine. What you want to do is make your sleep more efficient, says W. Christopher Winter, M.D., medical director of the sleep medicine center at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, Va. Dr. Winter likens poor sleep to a bookcase missing a few volumes, representing gaps in your sleep. By going to bed an hour or so later, those gaps won't be as long as or frequent. Soon enough, you should be waking up after the roosters, not before them.

A tiring workout before bed will help me sleep more soundly: MYTH

Regular exercise is one of the best sleep-promoting remedies, but working out late at night risks leaving you wide-eyed in bed. "It's easiest to fall asleep when your core body temperature goes relatively quickly from very warm to very cold," says Dr. Chediak. "After exercise, that cooling process takes four to six hours." It's better to take a hot bath or sauna session close to bedtime. "Anything that raises core body temperature will help get you started on sleep," says Dr. Chediak. He says the cooldown period into the sleep zone following a bath takes just two hours—half that of an exercise session.

Snooze strategy: Work out—but do it first thing in the morning for all-day energy and a quick drift into deep, restful sleep. Studies show that exercise improves sleep as effectively as a class of sleeping pills that includes Restoril and Halcion.

Alcohol can help me sleep at night: MYTH

Only if you equate a good night's sleep with passing out drunk on your girlfriend's sofa. Alcohol messes with the normal sleep cycle, especially the back end of the cycle. "Four hours into sleep, alcohol wears off and leaves you in an excitable state," says Dr. Chediak. You'll sleep lighter, wake more easily, and be hung over when you do wake. After three nights of intoxicated slumber, even the initial knockout punch begins to wane. Dr. Chediak warns of another drawback to using a six-pack as a sleep aid. "Being a muscle relaxant as well as sedative, alcohol can even create sleep apnea symptoms in snorers who don't otherwise have the condition," he says. Unfortunately, liquor is a go-to therapy for many sheep counters, used as often as over-the-counter sleeping pills and more often than prescription sleep meds.

Snooze strategy: Be consistent with your overall schedule and you won't need booze. "Your internal clock is a structure in your brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus," says Dr. Winter. "To set this clock, eat your breakfast, lunch, and dinner at exactly the same time every day for a week."

Melt Away Calories in Half the Time

Running hard is good.

Running smart is better. By focusing on small but important movements and body alignment, you'll save energy, avoid injury, and sprint past your competition.

Feet: Running injuries are made worse whenever your heel strikes the ground. "It acts like a brake, slowing you and creating stress," says Rick Fishell, a running coach at Athletes' Perfor mance in Carson, Calif. To prevent this, pull your toes up toward your shins as soon as they leave the ground, and aim to land on the balls of your feet.

Hips: The correct stride length is shorter than you may think. Your feet should land beneath your hips, says Fishell. Any longer and you're "reaching," which adds destructive force. Strong glutes (butt muscles) will pull your legs back under your hips as your feet hit the ground and safely propel you forward.

Abs: Contract your abs so they can help you maintain good form (chest up, shoulders over hips). But don't flex consciously, Fishell says. By doing that, you could distract yourself. Instead, activate your core by performing a dynamic warmup (jump squats, for example) prior to running.

Shoulders: Keep your shoulders back and shoulder blades pulled down toward your back pockets. Move your arms from your shoulders to save energy. Swinging your arms improperly can throw off your alignment and increase your risk of injury.

Hands: They should be lightly cupped. If you make a fist, your forearms will tense up and impede proper shoulder motion. Don't carry your iPod or water bottle in your hand, because that could cause your torso to rotate instead of remaining straight and rigid.

Elbows: Swing them at about 90 degrees, pulled close to your body. If your elbows flare out, your arm action will be less efficient and your upper-body mechanics will suffer.

Small Strides, Big Finish

Running hard is good.

Running smart is better. By focusing on small but important movements and body alignment, you'll save energy, avoid injury, and sprint past your competition.

Feet: Running injuries are made worse whenever your heel strikes the ground. "It acts like a brake, slowing you and creating stress," says Rick Fishell, a running coach at Athletes' Perfor mance in Carson, Calif. To prevent this, pull your toes up toward your shins as soon as they leave the ground, and aim to land on the balls of your feet.

Hips: The correct stride length is shorter than you may think. Your feet should land beneath your hips, says Fishell. Any longer and you're "reaching," which adds destructive force. Strong glutes (butt muscles) will pull your legs back under your hips as your feet hit the ground and safely propel you forward.

Abs: Contract your abs so they can help you maintain good form (chest up, shoulders over hips). But don't flex consciously, Fishell says. By doing that, you could distract yourself. Instead, activate your core by performing a dynamic warmup (jump squats, for example) prior to running.

Shoulders: Keep your shoulders back and shoulder blades pulled down toward your back pockets. Move your arms from your shoulders to save energy. Swinging your arms improperly can throw off your alignment and increase your risk of injury.

Hands: They should be lightly cupped. If you make a fist, your forearms will tense up and impede proper shoulder motion. Don't carry your iPod or water bottle in your hand, because that could cause your torso to rotate instead of remaining straight and rigid.

Elbows: Swing them at about 90 degrees, pulled close to your body. If your elbows flare out, your arm action will be less efficient and your upper-body mechanics will suffer.

A Six-Pack By Summer

The Payoff:

• Faster fat loss: The Traveling Deadlift and Turkish Getup, featured below, force your body to engage more muscles than typical bodybuilding exercises do. And that means you'll burn more calories than ever before.
• Greater stamina: The fast pace of this workout plan not only melts fat, but also improves your overall endurance. So, as you progress, you'll be able to go harder and longer in each subsequent workout. The end result: You'll get leaner, faster.
• Extra muscle: Because this workout plan incorporates power exercises—such as the Hang Clean and Jump Squat—it targets your fast-twitch muscle fibers. And since these fibers have the greatest potential for size and strength, that leads to bigger, stronger muscles.

Your goal: A chiseled body

Your time: 24 minutes

Some beliefs are painfully slow to perish, like the one that declares intense aerobic exercise is the best method for burning fat. "This misconception could be what's keeping you from a lean physique," says Michael Mejia, M.S., C.S.C.S., a Men's Healthexercise advisor. The reason is simple: "Most men invest their energy in exercise that boosts their caloric expenditure only while they're working out," says Mejia, for example, a 45-minute spin on a stationary bike or a moderate jog through a park.

Resistance training, on the other hand, elevates your metabolism for up to 48 hours afterward, so it pays fat-loss dividends long after your workout ends. And, turns out, lifting weights is highly underrated for burning calories during your session, too. A recent study from the University of Southern Maine found that an intense weight-training session burns as many as 71 percent more calories than previously thought—putting it on par with aerobic exercise.

Mejia's workout plan creates an enormous metabolic demand on your body by blending explosive exercises and combination lifts in a fast-paced circuit. Alternate between Workout A and Workout B, performing three workouts a week and resting a day between sessions. In the first two weeks, do three sets of each exercise, resting 60 seconds between sets. In weeks three and four, perform each routine as a circuit. That is, do one set of each exercise without resting between moves, then rest 90 seconds between circuits. Complete a total of three circuits.

Benchmark of success: How do you measure up?

Most men judge weight-loss success by their waistlines. And that's fine, but it doesn't measure your ability to burn fat. In this test, you'll sprint as fast and as far as you can. The farther you can run at your fastest pace, the better prepared your body is to last through high-intensity fat-burning workouts like this one.

Lace up your running shoes and head to an open stretch of road or track. After a 2- to 3-minute warmup jog, sprint at your top speed for as long as possible. Stop as soon as you feel yourself slowing down and record either your time or your distance—whichever is more convenient.

Hang Clean to Front Squat to Push Press

Grab a barbell with a shoulder-width grip and dip your knees, as if you were about to jump. Quickly reverse the motion and shrug your shoulders as you pull the bar straight up and rise onto your toes. As the bar approaches chest height, bend your knees and swing your elbows forward to "catch" the bar in the crooks of your fingers. Now lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor.

Push back up to a standing position, then press the bar overhead. Lower the bar to the starting position. That's one repetition.

The plan: Do six repetitions with a weight you would typically use to push-press six times. Perform three sets in weeks one and two; do the move as part of a circuit in weeks three and four.

Dumbbell Double Wood Chop

Hold a light dumbbell with a hand-over-hand grip, your arms extended above your right shoulder. Keeping your arms straight but not locked, bend at the knees and forcefully rotate your torso to the left as you draw your arms down and across your body. When your hands reach the outside of your left ankle, pause, then quickly reverse the movement with the same intensity, pausing at the top. That's one repetition. Do eight, then hold the weight over your left shoulder and repeat the move, this time chopping to your right.

The plan: Complete eight repetitions on each side. Perform three sets in weeks one and two; do the move as part of a circuit in weeks three and four.

Piston Bent-Over Row

Holding dumbbells, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Bend forward until your torso is almost parallel to the floor and your arms hang straight down, palms facing each other. Pull the weights to the sides of your chest. This is the starting position. Keeping your right arm as still as possible, lower the weight in your left hand until your arm is straight. Lift the dumbbell back up to the side of your chest, then lower your right hand. Continue alternating.

The plan: Complete eight repetitions with each arm. Perform three sets in weeks one and two; do the move as part of a circuit in weeks three and four.

Turkish Getup

Lie on your back with your legs straight. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand with your arm straight above you. Keeping your elbow locked and the weight above you at all times, stand up. (Move your legs and left arm underneath you to push yourself up.) Still keeping your right arm straight and the weight above you, reverse the motion to return to the starting position.

The plan: Complete eight repetitions on each side. Perform three sets in weeks one and two; do the move as part of a circuit in weeks three and four.

Pushup/Pullup Ladder

Stand next to a pullup bar and get into pushup position. Do two pushups, then stand up and grasp the bar with your hands slightly more than shoulder-width apart. Pull yourself up until the bar is at shoulder height, then lower yourself.

The plan: Add two pushups and one pullup each time you repeat the pair. So you'll start by doing two pushups and one pullup. Next, you'll do four and two, then six and three, and so on. Stop when you can do 10 pushups and five pullups or when you reach technical failure—that is, when your form falters or you can no longer control the speed of your repetitions. Perform three ladders in weeks one and two; do the ladder as part of a circuit in weeks three and four.

Dumbbell Jump Squat to Squat Thrust

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides. Lower your body about 6 inches, then jump as high as you can. Land softly on the balls of your feet and immediately sink into a squat, lowering your body until you touch the dumbbells to the floor. Kick your legs out behind you so you're in pushup position, with your hands on top of the dumbbells.

Reverse the motion, bringing your legs forward so your feet are under your shoulders, then pushing back up to a standing position. That's one repetition.

The plan: Do eight repetitions. Perform three sets in weeks one and two; do the move as part of a circuit in weeks three and four.

Traveling Deadlift

Stand with a light barbell on the floor in front of you, your feet shoulder-width apart and the bar directly over your toes. Bend your knees and grasp the bar with an overhand grip with your hands just outside your knees. Keeping your head and back straight and the bar close to your body, stand up. Next, step forward with your left foot and then with your right so your feet come together. Lower the bar to the floor and repeat the move, this time stepping forward with your right foot.

The plan: Do eight to 10 repetitions. Perform three sets in weeks one and two; do the move as part of a circuit in weeks three and four.

Medicine-Ball Bicycle Maneuver

Lie on your back holding a medicine ball in front of your chest, elbows flared out to the sides. Bend your knees 90 degrees and raise your legs so your thighs are perpendicular to the floor. Next, curl your torso up so your upper body is at a 45-degree angle. This is the starting position. Bring your left knee toward your chest as you straighten your right leg, and simultaneously twist your upper body to the left until your right elbow meets your left knee. Reverse the move, drawing your right knee to your left elbow.

The plan: Do 10 repetitions on each side. Perform three sets in weeks one and two; do the move as part of a circuit in weeks three and four.

Simple Moves, Big Results

A familiar workout can become easy. For a change, try these multiple back-to-back exercises (with no rests between them), using one dumbbell. The strategy taxes every muscle group in a short time, says Robert dos Remedios, C.S.C.S., author of Men's Health Power Training. Perform three to four sets, resting two minutes between each set.

1. Dumbbell Swing

With feet shoulder-width apart, hold a dumbbell at arm's length with both hands.

Squat and bring it between your legs, so your forearms touch your inner thighs.

Then, as you straighten your knees and back, swing it up to slightly above your eyes.

Lower it to the start position and repeat.

Do 10 reps.

2. Squat and Press

With your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and toes pointed slightly out, hold a dumbbell with both hands, keeping arms extended downward.

Squat (don't bend at the waist) until it touches the floor.

In one movement, stand up as you bring it up to your chest and then over your head with arms extended.

Do 10 reps.

3. Row and Twist

Hold a dumbbell in your right hand.

Bending at your waist, assume a bent-over row position—right arm perpendicular to the floor, your left leg staggered forward, and your right leg back.

Pull the dumbbell to your chest and rotate your shoulders to the right.

Do 10 reps.

Switch hands and repeat on the other side.

4. Corkscrew

Assume a squat position, holding a dumbbell with both hands at arm's length to the right of your right ankle.

Push to a standing position, keeping your arms extended and rotating your torso as you bring the dumbbell above your opposite ear.

Then lower it.

That's one rep.

Perform 10 on each side.

Build Muscle from All Angles

In more than 15 years as a strength coach, I've trained hundreds of elite athletes. Before that, I competed at the world-class level in tae kwon do. So I've seen my share of amazing feats of strength. But the one I remember most was performed by a man who worked for a moving company in New York City. He could hold himself from a lamppost like a flag, with his body completely horizontal and rigid and his feet together. The kicker: The man never worked out in a gym.

Moving Guy's muscles and strength were in perfect balance because he had to lift weights in every conceivable direction—from the floor, over his head, up and down stairs, and so on. As a result, he had no weak links—and freak-show strength.

Of course, you don't have to haul furniture for a living to build the body you want. This guide will show you a new approach to muscle building. The upshot: You'll blast through longtime plateaus and achieve gains in muscle and strength like you've never seen before.

I'll reveal the principles of building a balanced body. Then, in this workout, you'll find all of those principles packed into one cutting-edge training plan.

I call the training plan the 3-D Workout, because it strengthens every muscle in your body from every direction. Adopting these principles doesn't mean you'll soon be amazing your friends with your human-flag trick. But you will make gains.

The secret to a balanced body

We live in a three-dimensional world. The trouble is, unlike the guy who moves furniture for a living, our workouts are often one-dimensional. In other words, most men work their muscles in only a single direction—forward and back, for instance.

Take the classic sit-up. It trains your core—the muscles that protect your spine—to be stronger as you raise your torso off the floor. But your core needs to be equally as strong when you bend backward and from side to side, and when you twist. If it's not, those imbalances will limit your muscle-building potential.

Here's why: If a muscle is taxed regularly by, say, having to perform a challenging exercise, its fibers grow larger and stronger. Physiologically, this happens in order to make the task easier, which reduces stress on your body. Makes sense, right? But suppose the muscles that surround a joint become unbalanced, so that one becomes stronger than another. This makes the joint—whether it's your spine, shoulder, or hip—less stable, which can lead to injury. When that happens, your body may shut down the growth of the stronger muscle to prevent the imbalance from worsening.

Chances are, your gains in strength may have already stalled to some extent because of this built-in protective mechanism. So how do you turn off this safety feature in order to switch muscle growth back on? Simple: Just follow these three principles.

Principle 1: Strengthen your body—in every direction

This doesn't mean you need to do dozens of exercises that have you bending and twisting at every angle. No, what you really want is to train your core, shoulders, and hips to stay stable no matter what position you're in. Think of this in terms of Moving Guy: His body remained rigid while suspended horizontally from the lamppost, despite the force of gravity pulling him down. While that seems incredible, you've already trained your body to do this when you're standing. That's why you can walk erect instead of having to crawl on all fours like a baby.

Your strategy is to perform the classic exercises you're used to, but to change the position of the weight in relation to your body. Do lunges and squats while holding the dumbbells above your head, for example, and lift one dumbbell at a time when you're doing the bench press and shoulder press. This shifts your center of gravity, forcing the muscles of your core, shoulders, and hips to work harder to keep you from falling over (or off the bench). The end result: You're training your muscles to be strong from every direction.

Principle 2: Build your upper back

Here's a quiz: Which exercise can you handle the most total weight on?

Shrugs Barbell curls Dumbbell front raises If you're like most men, you probably answered A, B, and C, in order. While these exercises target different muscle groups, the variation in poundage you can use is largely due to the location of the load. For example, in a shrug, the weight is right next to your body; in a curl, it's a forearm's length away.

Why does this matter? Basic physics. The farther the weight is from your body, the more effort it takes to lift and the more stress is applied to the muscles of your upper back. (Feel for yourself: Hold a 25-pound weight plate with both hands next to your chest, and then push it away by straightening your arms.) Your upper-back muscles help stabilize and protect the joints of your shoulders and spine. Once a weight is too heavy for them, you're putting your joints at risk.

Now let's apply this to your workout. Suppose you perform barbell curls, but you haven't been able to move beyond a certain weight no matter how hard you've worked at them. Most men would just assume that their biceps strength had peaked. After all, the barbell curl is a biceps exercise.

Trouble is, the real problem is almost always a weak upper back. Shore up the muscles there and you'll eventually be able to curl more weight. I've found that strengthening your upper back will make you stronger in almost every upper-body lift. This is perhaps the best-kept secret in muscle building.

Principle 3: Stop cheating your muscles

There's one mistake I see over and over in the gym: It seems that for every 10 pounds a man adds to a particular exercise, he reduces the movement's range of motion—typically by about 10 percent.

The squat is a prime example. In order to feel like he's becoming stronger, a man will often add weight to the bar before his muscles are ready for the challenge. (Sound familiar?) Then, instead of lowering his body until his thighs are at least parallel to the floor, he'll stop a couple of inches short. So he's given himself a false sense of progress while reducing the work that his muscles have to do from start to finish.

There's an even bigger problem with this scenario: His muscles can't reach their full potential. That's because there will always be a weak link in the part of the movement he's skipping.

Your best approach is to use a complete range of motion, even if it means lifting a lighter load. You may have to swallow your pride or lift without your buddies looking on. But think about it: If you have to use less weight, it's because you're working your muscles through the range of motion in which they're weakest. And as we've already established, eliminating your weak spots is the key to building your new body in a new way.

The Telle Curl

Here's the secret for bigger muscles: Challenge them in a new way. This exercise is a variation of the barbell biceps curl. "You alter your body angle to increase stress on your arms throughout the motion," says Bill Hartman, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training.

The benefit

You're always stronger at the top of a curl than at the bottom, so this exercise shifts your body to increase tension at your weak point. By building on this soft spot, Hartman says, you'll potentially work your arms more and build bigger biceps.

How to do it

1. Hold a barbell with an underhand grip, your hands shoulder-width apart, and let the barbell rest against your thighs.
2. Keeping your elbows close to your body, curl the bar up to shoulder level. Pause briefly and contract your arm muscles.
3. Without changing the angle of your elbows, bend forward at the hips until your forearms are parallel to the ground.
4. Keeping your forearms parallel to the ground, slowly straighten your body to a standing position. Your arms should remain at about the halfway point of the curling motion. Lower the weight and repeat. Perform three sets of eight to 10 repetitions each.

Our expert's tips

Do drop sets, which increase workload: Start with a weight you can curl only four times (50 pounds, say), and do three reps. Now do three sets of one rep, using a lighter weight for each set (45, then 40, then 35). Finally, use half your starting weight and do as many reps as you can. Take four seconds to lower the weight and four seconds to raise it.

Three Steps to Strength and Stamina

Sets and reps get old. This routine from Jim Liston, C.S.C.S., founder of Catz Sports in Pasadena, Calif., builds muscle and endurance through pyramid repetitions.

After the warmup (No. 1), do one rep of exercise pair No. 2, then two reps, then three, then four, and then work back down to one rep. Repeat with exercise pair No. 3. Do as many rounds as you can in 15 minutes.

1. Boxer's Punch + Dumbbell Squat

With a 5-pound dumbbell in each hand, throw 32 punches, alternating lefts and rights. Then let your arms hang loosely at your sides and place your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Bend at the hips and knees to lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor, and then press back up. Complete 16 squats. Repeat the sequence once.

2. Push-Up + Prone Row

Push-up: Place two six-sided dumbbells on the floor and grip them while you do a full push-up. (Lower in two seconds, push up in one.)

Prone row: In the up position of the push-up (still holding onto the dumbbells), bring your right-hand weight up to your armpit and squeeze your shoulder blade back. Lower the weight and repeat the move with your left arm. (Take one second to raise the weight and two seconds to lower it.)

3. Jump Squat + Curl

Jump squat: Assume a squat position as you hold dumbbells at your sides, your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Press through your heels to explode up quickly. Then land softly on the balls of your feet and sink back onto your heels.

Curl: After landing, let the dumbbells hang at your sides. Without moving your upper arms, curl the weights up. (Take one second to raise them and two seconds to lower.)

Home treatment for jock itch

Most ringworm infections of the skin, such as jock itch, can be treated at home with creams and powders you can buy without a prescription. However, any persistent, severe, or recurrent infections should be evaluated by a health professional.

• Wash the rash with soap and water, remove any pieces of dried skin, and spread an antifungal cream over the rash. Apply the cream beyond the edge of the rash.
• Use an antifungal cream or powder containing miconazole or clotrimazole that you can buy without a prescription. Brand names include Micatin, Monistat, and Lotrimin. Terbinafine cream (Lamisil) is also available without a prescription. Follow the directions on the package, and don't stop using the medication just because your symptoms go away. If symptoms do not improve after 2 weeks, call your health professional.
• For ringworm of the skin that has large areas of blisterlike sores, compresses (such as Burow's compress, which you can buy without a prescription) may be used to soothe and dry out the blisters. After the skin is dried out, nonprescription antifungal creams may be used.

How to use a male condom

Condoms can protect you against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Even if you are protected against pregnancy by birth control pills or another method, use a condom to prevent STDs.

Use a condom every time you have sexual intercourse, oral sex, or anal sex unless you know that you and your partners are STD-free.

Condoms are most effective when you follow these steps before using them:

• Buy latex condoms sold in the United States. These condoms meet strict safety standards and are unlikely to break or leak.
• Keep the condom in its package until you are ready to use it.
• Check the condom for its expiration date. Throw away condoms that have passed the expiration date.
• Avoid storing rubber (latex) condoms in any hot place (such as the glove compartment of a car). Heat can weaken the rubber and increase the chance that the condom will break.

Follow these steps to use a condom properly.

• Unwrap the condom carefully to avoid poking tiny holes in it with your fingernails.
• Put the condom on as soon as your penis is hard (erect), before you enter your partner. The condom can be put on as part of lovemaking.
• Pull down the loose skin from the head of the penis, if you have not been circumcised.
• Hold the tip of the condom and squeeze out the air. This leaves room for the semen when you ejaculate. Also, the condom is less likely to break if all the air has been squeezed out.
• Keep holding the tip of the condom. Unroll it onto the erect penis, all the way down to the pubic hair.
• Use a lubricant on the outside of the condom once it is on completely. Use lubricants like Astroglide, Slippery Stuff, or K-Y Jelly, which do not contain oil. Never use Vaseline, grease, hand lotion, baby oil, or anything else with oil in it. Oil can weaken latex rubber and cause the condom to break and may irritate your partner's vagina. Read the label to be sure that a lubricant does not have oil in it.
• Press on the bottom of the condom (by the pubic hair) after you ejaculate and pull out while your penis is still hard. This will keep semen from spilling out of the condom.
• Take the condom off and throw it away. Use a new condom each time you have sexual intercourse, oral sex, or anal sex.
• Wash your hands after handling a used condom.

Penis pumps for erectile dysfunction: Improve your sexual function

Erectile dysfunction is a common disorder, especially in older men. Treatment options include oral medications such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, medications inserted into the urethra, medications given by injection directly into the penis, and penile implants. Another good option for some men is a penis pump, also known as a vacuum constriction device (VCD). These pumps are available by prescription.

How do penis pumps work?

A penis pump consists of a plastic cylinder that fits over the penis, one or more rubber constriction bands (tension rings), and a hand or electric, battery-powered pump. These devices don't cure erectile dysfunction — but they can help you achieve an erection sufficient to have sexual intercourse.

To begin you place a hollow plastic tube over your penis. You then use a hand pump or electric pump attached to the tube to create a vacuum inside the tube and pull blood into the penis. Once you achieve an adequate erection, you slip a tension ring around the base of your penis. This helps you maintain the erection by keeping blood inside the penis. You then remove the vacuum device. The erection typically lasts long enough to have sex. Do not leave the penis ring in place for more than 30 minutes.

Who are penis pumps for?

Penis pumps are a safe and effective erectile dysfunction treatment for many men. But research shows that older men in stable relationships are most satisfied by this treatment method. Some men get the best results using a combination of medications and a penis pump. Penis pumps can also be used by men who have a penile implant in place.

What are the advantages of penis pumps?

Penis pumps can be a good treatment choice if medications for erectile dysfunction don't work or penile implant surgery isn't a good option. Penis pumps can also be used along with other treatments for erectile dysfunction. Unlike some other treatments for erectile dysfunction, a penis pump allows you to start and terminate an erection at will. Compared with other treatment methods for erectile dysfunction, penis pumps are the least expensive treatment — despite the cost of the initial purchase.

What are the drawbacks of penis pumps?

Penis pumps are a safe and effective treatment for erectile dysfunction, but they do have some drawbacks:

• Penis pumps are cumbersome and can cause an erection that doesn't feel natural or spontaneous.
• Penis pumps require manual dexterity to operate, which can be a problem for some men.
• Use of a penis pump requires patience and understanding from both you and your partner. It may take some time to become comfortable with the device and incorporate it into foreplay.
• You may have to shave your pubic hair at the base of your penis so that the pump can get a good seal.
• You may feel like your semen is trapped when you ejaculate. Some manufacturers make constriction rings with a small cutout that may help with this.

Side effects

Using a penis pump is safe for most men, but side effects can include:

• Hemorrhagic spots on the penis (petechiae)
• Numbness or coldness of the penis
• Pain or bruising of the penis
• A sense of trapped semen during ejaculation or delayed ejaculation

Will using a penis pump make your penis larger?

While advertisements in magazines and on the Internet market penis pumps with the claim that they can be used to increase penis length or girth, there is no evidence that they work for this purpose. While using a penis pump is a safe way for men with erectile dysfunction to achieve an erection, attempting to use a penis pump to enlarge the penis can cause injury.

Is a penis pump the right treatment for you?

Talk to your doctor before trying a penis pump for erectile dysfunction to make sure your condition is not caused by something that can be more easily treated — and to make sure you're getting the best individual treatment. If you and your doctor decide a penis pump is a good choice, use a penis pump that has been prescribed to you — that way you can be sure its components are made by a reputable manufacturer. Penis pumps available in magazines and sex ads may not be safe.

Although penis pumps are a safe erectile dysfunction treatment for most men, if you have certain health problems such as blood coagulation problems or sickle cell anemia, or you take certain medications such as blood thinners, you need to be more cautious when using this method. Talk to your doctor about your health conditions and any medications you're taking to make sure you are getting the safest and most effective erectile dysfunction treatment.

Although it can take some time to get comfortable using a penis pump and there are some drawbacks, using a penis pump is a safe, effective and noninvasive way to treat erectile dysfunction. Used on their own or in combination with other treatments for erectile dysfunction, penis pumps help many men continue to enjoy an active sex life.

A Lifetime of Greatest Hits

Dodging Smallpox
While working as a reporter for the Kansas City Star in 1917 and '18, Hemingway hones his spare writing style while covering marginal characters for the paper. He saves one of his subjects -- a smallpox-stricken homeless man -- by dragging him to the hospital when no one else will. He later charges the expenses for this rescue mission to the Star. The deadly pox doesn't take hold.

Surviving a Shelling
Hemingway is wounded in a mortar attack as he distributes chocolate and cigarettes to Italian soldiers in the trenches during World War I. He becomes soaked with blood as he carries a soldier to the first-aid station. In a letter home, he writes that they pulled 227 shrapnel fragments out of his leg and that he'll never again "look well in kilts."

Weird Hemingway Moment #23
For the first 3 years of his life, Hemingway's parents clothed him in pretty dresses and hair ribbons. The " 'fraid o' nothin' " kid worried that Santa might think he was a girl and bring the wrong presents. One of his biographers, James Mellow, lets him off easy: "Hemingway seems not to have suffered any dire psychological effect from the early cross-dressing."

Machine-Gunning Mako Sharks
During a 1931 fishing trip on his boat, the Pilar, Hemingway uses a Thompson submachine gun to fend off sharks intent on scavenging his catch -- a 500-pound tuna -- before he can hoist it onto the boat. He ends up shooting himself in both legs trying to sink a man-size mako.

Slugging Orson Welles
At a 1937 screening of the film Spanish Earth, for which Hemingway cowrote the narration, he comes to blows with the narrator, Orson Welles, because Welles wants to change some of the lines. After throwing chairs and punches in front of the crowd, the two reconcile over a bottle of whiskey.

Weird Hemingway Moment #57
Roald Dahl, kid-lit author, visited Hemingway in London during World War II. When Dahl entered his hotel room, he found Hemingway applying hair-growth elixir. The following conversation ensued:

DAHL: "Why the eyedropper, Ernest?"

HEMINGWAY: "To get the stuff through the hair and onto the scalp."

DAHL: "But you don't have much hair to get through."

HEMINGWAY: "I have enough."

Spying on Fascists
Hemingway establishes the "crook factory" in Key West, a clandestine outfit whose mission is to spy on pro-Franco and pro-Hitler agents in Cuba. The operation, which at one point consists of six full-time operatives and 20 other agents, is disbanded by the FBI less than a year after it is formed.

Chasing Nazi U-boats
After outfitting the Pilar with extra fuel tanks, grenades, and high-caliber machine guns, Hemingway and a few buddies set out to hunt Nazi U-boats in the Caribbean. It's mostly an excuse to drink to excess and employ large munitions, but that's why it's great to be Ernest Hemingway.

Weird Hemingway Moment #82
Traveling in Africa in the 1950s, Hemingway took a Masai bride while his fourth wife, Mary, was off shopping in Nairobi. A few days after Mary's return, he wrote in her diary, by way of making up: "[Mary] loves me to be her girl, which I love to be. . . . I loved feeling the embrace of Mary which came to me as something quite new and outside of tribal law." To which you can only respond, "Whoa, T.M.I."

Mixing Martinis under Fire
Hemingway is driving with a few buddies on a road near Luxembourg in 1944 when he hears the ripping sound of aircraft fire. He yells, "Jump!" and his friends fly out of the car just as it's strafed down the middle by a machine gun. While they huddle in a ditch, Hemingway uncorks his canteen to distribute premixed martinis.

Walking Away from Plane Wrecks
Touring Uganda by plane in 1954, Hemingway crash-lands when his pilot nips a telegraph wire. Twenty-four hours later, his rescue plane also crashes. Hemingway's legend grows, but the man himself doesn't fare so well. A ruptured kidney, crushed vertebrae, brain damage, and chronic pain haunt him until his suicide in 1961.

His Rules for Life...Fact-Checked

On raising a child...

"To be a successful father . . . there's one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don't look at it for the first 2 years."

FALSE
"When it comes to fatherhood, the author of A Farewell to Arms also must have said farewell to logic. Infants and toddlers with involved fathers display better cognitive and motor development, are better problem solvers, are better adapted to their peers, and are more sociable than those without involved fathers. Hemingway was a better writer than a rearer." -- Roland Warren, president of the National Fatherhood Initiative

On fear...

"Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination."

TRUE
Panic or fear is a fight-or-flight response. It is the here and now. It is hard to control. But when it comes to anxiety, higher-level thinking comes into play. We all have fear and anxiety. Some people avoid things that make them anxious, others don't. A brave man will be able to stop his anxious brain from coming up with possible negative outcomes. The coward can't, or doesn't, shut his down." -- Peter J. Norton, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and director of the Anxiety Disorder Clinic at the University of Houston

On humor...

"A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book."

TRUE
"Charlie Chaplin is a great example of a guy who came from a very painful background and was extremely funny. Many people who have gone to a comic career are working from a place of pain or angst. Humor is a great deflector and coping mechanism. Plus, flaws resonate with an audience. Like the news, they thrive on the bad." -- Andrew Alexander, executive producer, The Second City

On booze...

"When you work hard all day with your head and . . . must work again the next day, what else can change your ideas and make them run on a different plane like whiskey? . . . Modern life, too, is often a mechanical oppression and liquor is the only mechanical relief."

FALSE
"Alcohol does affect the part of the brain that controls executive functioning, turning off the frontal cortex. You will think more simply. However, alcohol is unpredictable. People can get more depressed and upset when they drink, rather than less upset. That mechanical oppression was Hemingway's daily grind, and he used alcohol as a tool to ease that grind. But ultimately, he shot himself in the head." -- Robert Swift, M.D., Ph.D., of the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies

Big, Two-Fisted Adventures

Paris is too expensive, the Spanish Civil War is over, and the Red Cross no longer accepts volunteer drivers during wartime. So if Hemingway were alive today, where would he go? What would he do? Here are some possibilities, from mild to wild.

Order a Moveable Feast (You Can Afford)

The euro (trading at $1.23) and EuroDisney are two good reasons to avoid Paris. But expat living has been marked down in Québec City, Quebec, which is as Old World as North America gets. What's more, the city is known for its bohemian scene and intellectual and political fervor -- just like Paris in Hemingway's day.

Practice your French with the idealist students, politicians, and philosophers who frequent the Café Krieghoff (1091 Cartier Avenue; 418-522-3711), close to the Old Town. And you can stay upstairs in one of the café's five simple rooms, starting at $58 a night.

Fish a Big, Two-Hearted River

Little Ernest learned to fish on his third birthday, which he spent at the family's house in Northern Michigan. Read his classic story Big Two-Hearted River, then check into the Rainbow Lodge (9706 County Road 423, in Newberry, Michigan; 906-658-3357), located on Lake Superior at the mouth of said river (the top-rated trout stream in the United States). They can outfit and guide you on fishing trips for $37 a day.

To hear tips on local fishing spots, grab a beer at the nearby and very local Pinestone Bar in Pinestone Junction (23583 County Road 407; 906-658-3364).

Fight a Marlin

Key West hosts a kick-ass marlin tournament every summer, as part of its annual Hemingway Days celebration (hemingwaydays.net) in July. But if your migratory urge is strong, check out Venezuela's La Guaira Bank (a small island roughly 4 miles wide and 14 miles long, off the country's plankton-rich Southern Caribbean shore), which has one of the world's highest concentrations of marlin.

Book a package through B&B Worldwide Fishing Adventures ( 888-479-2277, wheretofish.com), starting at $3,275 per person for 3 days' fishing on a 35-foot boat, 4 nights at the five-star Hotel Ole Caribe, crew, food, and airport transfers.

Discover His Timeless Mantra

It was Ernest Hemingway's mantra: "Il faut d'abord durer." Above all, endure.

But on one particular day late in his life, as he drove toward the site of his eventual suicide, what he needed most to help him endure was a damn drink. It was October 6, 1958. He stopped at a bar in Sheridan, Wyoming, and took a seat.

The guy next to him looked up. Recognition dawned, then skepticism. "Well, look who thinks he's Hemingway," he said.

And at that moment, even the great man himself may have had his doubts. He was racked by angina, depression, and paranoia. Yet he gathered himself and convinced the barflies that he was, indeed, the original Hemingway, not the winner of some look-alike contest. Then he settled in to watch the World Series on TV -- the ultimate man of action now just another spectator.

Hemingway biographer Carlos Baker puts him there on a day the Yankees beat the Milwaukee Braves 7-zip. Couldn't have been much of a game, so the guys had plenty of time to buy each other drinks. And talk.

It was one of the last good days of Ernest Hemingway's life.

Half a century later, I'm in Paris, on a personal quest to explore the importance of being Ernest. With my new-growth Hemingway beard, I feel like a hairball coughed up by one of his cats. I finish up my iron-man regimen of hanging around in cafés and drinking (coffee), and go into cooldown mode at a reincarnation of his favorite bookstore, Shakespeare & Company. Oddly, the fiction shelf goes straight from Heller to Hesse, with no Hemingway in between. When I ask the clerk about it, he spits back, "What are you, some kind of relative of his?"

Well, yeah, aren't we all?

For American men, Ernest Hemingway survives as an indelible example of what it means to be a man. This is a guy who left home at 18, was wounded by shrapnel while dragging around war casualties in Italy, and convalesced by romancing his beautiful nurse.

Soon he moved to Paris, writing the essential texts for manhood while befriending James Joyce and F. Scott Fitzgerald. He took breaks to attend bullfights in Spain and chronicle revolution in Russia and Istanbul. All that, by age 26.

In Key West and Cuba, he trolled the Gulf Stream not only for marlin but also (drunkenly) for German U-boats. He blurred the line between writer and fighter during two wars in Europe and traveled to /// Africa to shoot big carnivores. Perhaps more frightening, he traveled down the aisle with four women, each of whom was convinced she could break him. To the two sons who came from those marriages, he fed grizzly-bear meat cooked medium rare, spread with marmalade, and served on sourdough pancakes.

It's a lost art, that kind of existence. The lockstep of life seems to overwhelm a lot of us now, to bury our masculine mojo under a to-do list that stands in for actual experience. Repeat after me: Attend school, marry wife, start family, buy house, marry job, buy bigger house, pay for college, die.

What's lost along the way is actual experience of the world, of people, of life and death. As a result, we miss the hard-won knowledge that is the by-product of intense living. We read Islands in the Stream or The Snows of Kilimanjaro, but who makes time to plunge in, or climb? And it's not merely a list of exotic locations and vivid activities I'm talking about, but rather an approach to the masculine life, fully lived.

Hemingway described himself as a man of action and lived his life to prove it. What adjectives adhere to the rest of us? Law-abiding? Dedicated? Resigned? And what bears witness to our passage? Potbellies? Credit reports? Lord help us all.

On the Road, Kerouac Style

The 50th anniversary edition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road comes out this month. What better time to pay homage? Just skip the booze and Benzedrine.

Call some friends, pack a duffel, grab some CDs. It's the ultimate American triad: you, a car and a highway.

We've compiled a short list of favorites, but we want you to add some as well.

So find your keys and your sense of adventure, and gas up

The Las Vegas Strip

This one's obvious. Approach it from any of the long lonesome highways that lead into the city, perhaps with CD narration from Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Try to arrive at dusk as the desert cools and the lights come alive.

Las Vegas attempts to sugarcoat its Sin-City rep with family-oriented entertainment. Fine, it helps business. But the place is a hub of amazing nightclubs (like Tao and Pure) and parties -- even a topless beach or two.

Tip: Lots of girls who go out are part of bachelorette groups, which means if the bride-to-be doesn't want a last fling, one of her lonely cohorts will. But if you want a comfortable retreat, fully-equipped cabins are available about a half hour out of the city.

Arizona's Desert Highways

Folks don't just come here to retire. The state is dotted with natural wonders you've only seen in old Wile E. Coyote cartoons.

If you start at the Grand Canyon, identify which rim you want to visit. While the North Rim is a thousand feet higher—cooler, quieter, forested—the South Rim is more accessible and allows easier travel to the next destinations. No interstates connect these three, but AZ-89 runs through all of them.

(A classic option is heading west and north to Monument Valley on the Utah border, where you can pretend you're John Wayne. Or Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider.)

Further south is Flagstaff, a cool high-country destination, and Sedona glows crimson with sandstone. You'll wake up to see hot air balloons peppering the sky—and if you've got a few bucks to spare, you can be up there before the sun rouses.

Detour a bit to the west to Jerome, an old copper mining town that is allegedly the largest ghost town in the country—and was the “wickedest” town in the West. With miles to hike up every hill and down every chasm, the trip is worth battling dehydration.

Cali Coasters

Everyone knows about the Pacific Coast Highway. Let's assume you'll drive it eventually.

For now, consider a theme-park theme. It might make your brain lopsided, but it's worth the adrenaline rushes. Most of them are right on the ocean, so you'll be defying gravity—with a view.

The route we've mapped sticks close to the coastline, north to south. Start in Valencia at Six Flags Magic Mountain, which is slightly inland. But hurry—it's closing soon.

Next stop: I-5 to Santa Monica, home to Pacific Park and historic 1920s rides. To beat summer thrill-seeking crowds and keep your wallet well-fed, head east to Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park. The 405's traffic is a headache no matter what time of day it is, so cut off the freeway at 91.

For some tamer beachfront fun, head to Anaheim's Belmont Park just moments away on I-5. And finally, the two-hour coastal trek to San Diego's Disney's California Adventure, which is less crowded than Disneyland. You can't beat avoiding L.A.

Colorado High Country

This one is about driving, and mountains. Make your own fun.

Start in the classic mining town of Leadville, the country's highest incorporated town (elevation 10,152 feet), head south on U.S. 24 until you reach Route 82. Then head west through the mountains (it's often closed in winter) until you reach Aspen.

Most Rocky Mountain ski resorts stay busy in the summer -- Aspen has more than its share of festivals and summer activities. At the very least, take a chairlift and check out the views (drive to the nearby Maroon Bells for some calendar photos).

Continue on until you hit Carbondale, then head south on Route 133 and veer off onto 135 for a swing past Crested Butte. When you hit U.S. 50, head west to the stunning Black Canyon of the Gunnison, then south on U.S. 550.

Now comes the fun part: when you get south of Ridgway, the road turns into one of the greatest in the country, from Ouray to Silverton to Durango. Get out, have a steak, and plan the next day's mountain biking.

Say Farewell to Small Arms

Cable stations give us lots of good things--Shannon Whirry, for example. They also give us more muscle. But using a cable station usually means executing one arm exercise at a time. Next time, try this cable-crossover technique to achieve more muscle growth in less time, says Kurt Brungardt, author of Essential Arms. It works both arms individually, but simultaneously. So you get the constant-tension benefits of using a cable station while exercising both arms at once--as you would with dumbbells. Do two to three sets of eight to 12 repetitions, and rest 60 seconds between sets.

Double Cross Pulldown

Attach single-arm handles to the high pulleys on each side of a cable station. Grab the left handle with your right hand and the right handle with your left hand. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Hold the handles near your chin, with your arms crossed [A]. Without bending forward, slowly pull the handles away from your body until your arms are straight [B]. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position and repeat.

Upgrade Your Ride

Trading in your used car is like handing the dealer a wad of Franklins. Unload it yourself and cash in. Savvy sellers spend time and, yes, money prepping their cars for sale. Then they add another $1,000 to the asking price. Here's how to clean up when selling a used car.

Wash, Wax, Repeat
"We eat with our eyes first," says Jon Zydenbos, of carscars.com. Feed the exterior a deep cleaner, then hit it with carnauba wax. Clear out the trunk. Clean the engine with a degreaser. Shampoo the interior. Four hours of cleaning—2 on the outside, 1 under the hood, and 1 on the inside—can add $400 to the selling price.

Replace the Tires
"Two things sell a car: shine and good tires," Zydenbos says. If your tires are worn, buy new ones. Or at least use a wheel cleaner and brush to get off the dirt. Then apply a "wet tire" spray to make them look new. Don't forget the spare. Spending $200 on new tires can mean an extra $400.

Put Four on the Floor
Mats, that is. Go with cloth, not rubber.

Exchange Your Fluids
A smart buyer will check under the hood. Make sure you have a recent oil-change sticker, the radiator fluid is green, and the transmission fluid is purple.

Remove the Dings
Many dealers will give your car a smoothing for around $200, using a paintless dent-removal system like Dent Wizard (dentwizard.com). This can net you as much as $300.

Perform a Self-Check
Order a carfax.com Vehicle History Report ($30)—which shows accidents, inspections, recalls, odometer readings, and other evidence of good care-giving—and give it to potential buyers. This lets them know they aren't looking at a lemon.

Round Up Your Maintenance Records
And put them in a binder. "You'll look like an honest guy," says Jeff Ostroff, of carbuyingtips.com.

Advertise Online
Don't rely on the local newspaper. Sites like autotrader.com, thebiglot.com, autoweb.com, and carsdirect.com reach millions of buyers each month. List as many options as possible. And don't underestimate the selling power of terms like "original owner," "nonsmoker," and "garaged."

The Couch Potato Workout

Too exhausted or busy to squeeze in the gym? Ditch your DVR and try these six simple moves between commercial breaks.

Every hour-long TV show has about six commercial breaks that last 3 minutes each, so you can get a decent total body workout while you watch—no gym necessary.

This workout is great for beginners, but it's also good for exercisers of every level, since extra bouts of activity throughout the day help to keep your metabolism revved, says Prevention's fitness advisor Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D., of Quincy, Mass.

Do 10 to 15 repetitions of each exercise, followed by the aerobic component, until the show starts.

Bonus: Exercising during breaks cuts down on snacking, so you'll slim down even more.

1. Couch Push-Ups

These modified pushups sculpt your triceps and chest.

Facing a couch, kneel on the floor about 2 feet away from it. Cross your ankles, and place your hands shoulder-width apart on a cushion edge. Slowly bend your arms, and lower your upper body until your chest touches the couch. Hold, then press up again.

Cardio finish: Do jumping jacks.

2. Side Crunches

These work your oblique muscles for a trimmer tummy.

Lie on the couch on your left side with your legs together and your knees bent. Place your right hand behind your head with your elbow pointing toward the ceiling. Wrap your left arm across your waist. Contracting the oblique muscles along your right side, lift your shoulder off the couch, bringing your rib cage toward your hip. Hold, then slowly lower. Repeat, then switch sides. (If your couch is too soft, you may need to do this exercise on the floor.)

Cardio finish: Do crossover punches. While standing, twist from your waist, and alternate punching your fists diagonally across your body.

3. Armchair Stands

This variation on squats tones your butt and thighs.

Sit on the edge of a chair or couch with your feet shoulder-width apart. Without using your arms, press into the floor with your feet, and stand, tightening your butt muscles as you rise. Keep your abdominals tight and your back straight. Hold, then slowly lower yourself. Before you touch the chair, stand up again.

Cardio finish: Walk or jog up and down stairs.

4. Armchair Dips

These moves are the ultimate arm flab fighter.

Sitting on the edge of a chair (or couch), place your hands on the edge on either side of you. Move your feet out so that your butt is off the chair, and your knees are bent at 90-degree angles. Bending your elbows so they point behind you, lower yourself as far as comfortable. Hold, then slowly press up again.

Cardio finish: Circle your fists in the air, as though you're boxing a punching bag.

5. Leg-Up Couch Crunches

Watch your form on these for maximum flat-belly benefits.

Lie on your back on a couch with your knees bent, your feet up on one end, and your hands behind your head. Pressing your lower back into the couch, slowly lift your head, shoulders, and upper back off the couch. Hold, then slowly lower. (If your couch is too soft, you may need to do this exercise on the floor.)

Cardio finish: Do knee lifts. While standing, alternate bringing your right elbow down to meet your left knee, and vice versa.

6. Scissors

These will help your legs look amazing in skinny jeans.

Lie on your back on a couch (you may need to angle yourself for more room) with your hands (palms down) under your butt and your legs straight up in the air. Keeping your knees slightly bent and your feet flexed, slowly spread your legs as far apart as comfortable. Hold, then slowly bring your legs together, resisting as you press them in.

Cardio finish: Do side slides, stepping your right foot out to the side, then sliding your left foot to meet it. Repeat in the opposite direction, doing this as quickly as you can.

Lose 10 pounds in five weeks.

Lose 10 pounds in five weeks. Make a plan.

Can you really do it this time?

If you have a weight problem, it can feel hopeless. The heavier you get and the longer that you've been overweight, the more impossible it seems to be able to drop weight and keep it off. It's hard to believe that this time, it will work. But it can.

Even if you have biological tendencies that make it easy to gain and hard to lose weight, you can be leaner and fitter than you are now.

If you are overweight, there's a good chance you could be making smarter lifestyle choices. To lose weight, you'll have to train yourself to substitute poor choices with ones that will help you drop pounds.

Now is the time to take stock of your behaviors. This first step—a reality check of the eating and exercise choices you make most of the time—may be the most challenging part of making a change. But it's crucial for achieving lasting success.

So, to get yourself ready to follow the Lose 10 Pounds in 5 Weeks plan, here's what you need to do first:

Step 1. Take three days of this week to write down everything you eat. This will help you identify your specific eating patterns and spot areas where you can improve. This will be your Baseline Diet Diary. You can track your diet and eating habits at My Wellness Center.

Step 2. Learn to improve your diet. Read through these Eat Smart tips to get started.

Step 3. One of the simplest ways to squeeze fitness into your life is to walk more. Start the Walk-the-Fat-Off plan; each week has a designated walking program.

If you follow the Lose 10 Pounds in Five Weeks plan, not only can you start to get in the best shape of your life, you'll feel happier and more optimistic. Eating better will fuel you and give your body the nutrients it needs. Your daily walks will lift your mood and your self-confidence.

Welcome to the beginning of the rest of your healthy life!

A Nation Addicted to Food

As someone who has struggled with weight his entire life, David A. Kessler, M.D., wanted to know why chocolate chip cookies had such power over him, why he ate when he wasn’t hungry—and what he could do about it. So seven years ago the physician and former FDA commissioner set out to discover what drives us to eat too much. He talked to neurobiologists, psychologists and food-industry insiders. In a new book, The End of Overeating (Rodale), Kessler shares what he found.

Q: What contributes to Americans’ overeating?

A: The food industry creates foods that hijack our brains. They have fat, sugar and salt, which are highly stimulating. They condition us so that even the sights and smells associated with them activate your brain [in ways that make you want food]. In controlled individuals the brain activity stops when they start ingesting the food, but in some people it doesn’t shut off when thefood is gone.

Q: How can we break this cycle?

A: Changing how people look at food is essential. Look at the public-health success with tobacco. We didn’t change the product. But we changed how people perceive it. Now people look at tobacco and say, "That’s really disgusting." Tobacco is easy because you can live without it, but you can’t live without food. So you have to cool down the stimulus. You have to retrain yourself to respond to food differently.

Q: Can you give a personal example?

A: It used to be that if you put a huge plate of fries in front of me, I would eat it. Now I look at that huge plate of fries and say, "I don’t want that." Sure, it will taste good, but in 20 minutes I’m going to feel lousy. For me, food has to be rewarding, it has to be pleasureable. But it also has to be nutritious, it has to satiate. It can’t just be fat on sugar on fat—that’s stimulating, but isn’t going to satiate.

Q: How can public policy make a difference?

A: Restaurants should list the calorie counts of all foods they serve. Food products should convey prominently on their labels the percentage of added sugars, refined carbohydrates and fats they contain. People also need to hear repeatedly that selling, serving and eating food layered and loaded with sugar, fat and salt has unhealthy consequences. And food marketing should be monitored and exposed.