Men’s Health Australia — September 2017

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Fit for the Road

Planning a road trip?

After the bathroom sprint,

try these three moves

from physical therapist

Charlie Merrill to prevent

seizing up before reaching

your destination

1 / Leg swings

With one hand on your car,

swing a leg front and back,

keeping your core engaged.

This will lengthen your

quads, anterior hip muscles

and hamstrings, which

shorten during the drive.

Aah factor: lengthening

those muscles will make

your lower back feel better.

2 / Calf and ankle stretch

Extended sitting can tighten

your calves and swell your

ankles. Worst-case scenario:

blood clots. So put your hands

on your car, place one foot

forward (a slight bend in your

front knee) and one back (heel

on ground).

Aah factor: it keeps your

lower legs from swelling and

becoming stiff, says Merrill.

3 / Pectoral stretch

Raise one hand, arm bent

90 °, and place it on your

open car door. Now step

forward while leaning into

the stretch.

Aah factor: Opening up

your chest and the front of

your shoulders eases neck

pain and stress on the nerves

and blood vessels that feed

your arms and upper back. ILLUSTRATIONS: SONNY RAMIREZ/ILLUSTRATION ROOM

4

The number of

seconds it takes to

perform a perfect

shrug from start

to finish. Slow and

steady, bro.

TIME TO BUILD DON’T-ARGUE TRAPS

Prominent trapezius muscles make an emphatic statement:

you’re a serious lifter. Get them growing with these

three moves By Ethan Hyde, Men’s Health Next Top Trainer winner

Along with your bis and tris, it’s your traps that draw attention when you have a shirt on. At my gym, we

don’t have padding to protect our shoulders when we squat. Our traps do that, so we can’t afford them

to be small. If yours don’t respond to deadlifting and chin-ups, these killer moves (added to your twice-

weekly back workout) will do the trick.

Q  What’s the best type of

berry to plonk on my oats?

There’s not a lot in it, but

blueberries would be tops. They’re

particularly rich in antioxidants

like resveratrol, which improves

blood pressure and helps with

weight management. If you eat as

much as half a punnet per serve –

like I do – it can get pretty costly

at this time of year when berries

are out of season. So while fresh

is best, it’s fine to go with organic

frozen blueberries right now. I’d

also suggest routinely whisking

an egg through your oats to up

the protein content.

Q  I’m going to use

intermittent fasting to shred

up. What’s the best type?

I love IF, but there’s no one-size-

fits-all when it comes to protocol.

The best one for you depends on

your lifestyle and working hours.

That said, 16/8 – where you

restrict your eating to an eight-

hour window, say 10am-6pm – is

probably the easiest approach

compared to the 5/2 diet or the

once-a-week 24-hour fast. The

fat-loss effect comes partly from

kilojoule reduction – you just don’t

cram in as much food over eight

hours as you would over 12 or 14.

You also crave carbs less as your

body becomes attuned to using

fat as fuel.

These traps

don’t lie.

Jacqueline Alwill is a qualified,

practising nutritionist and author

of Seasons To Share: Nourishing

family and friends with nutritious,

seasonal wholefoods

DUMBBELL SHRUGS

Yep, it’s the classic move for

traps, but are you doing it right?

Too often guys grab the heaviest

weight and move it millimetres.

Wrong! You want full range of

motion. So go lighter. Prime your

traps with a set of 40 reps, then

pyramid down 10 reps at a time

until you reach 10 reps, resting

just 30 seconds between sets.

Good job.

DO IT Stand tall with a dumbbell

held in each hand at your sides.

Keeping everything else still,

bring your shoulders up towards

your ears and back, squeezing

your traps throughout.

PULL-UP SHRUG

This move turns up the heat

after standard shrugging. By

performing it from a dead-

hang position, you’re asking

more of an already taxed

muscle, setting yourself up for

explosive growth.

DO IT Grasp a chin-up bar with

a shoulder-width grip. Lock

your arms and shrug your

shoulders down and up. Hit it

nice and slow for 12-20 reps

and 3-4 sets, keeping your rest

periods as brief as possible.

FARMER’S WALK

Nothing looks more badass than

carrying a ton of weight around

the gym. Your muscles will pump

up and your veins will be on

show. Pick a weight that you

think is too heavy and a distance

that takes between 30-

seconds to cover.

DO IT Stand tall with a heavy

dumbbell in each hand. Brace

your core, retract your scapula

and start walking with your head

held high. The last 10 seconds of

each set should be, well,

excruciating. Do 3-4 sets, resting

60 seconds between efforts.

NUTRITION

KNOW-IT-ALL

Jacqueline Alwill

Adv Dip Nut Med