Here are a few highlights from the latest issue of Men’s Health magazine which is available to buy online from Mantality.co.za or sent free when you spend R500 or more on any order.
Men’s Health is chock full of useful articles and men specific topics. It’s the ideal mag for the man that’s looking for a little bit more than tits-n-ass in his choice of magazine.
How To Avoid a Shark Attack
Humans are not normal prey for a shark. Most attacks are out of curiosity. A shark wiLL often first nudge its victim to investigate what you are. If you see it before it nudges or attacks you, face the shark, and keep your body vertical. Sharks respond to the vibrations animals in distress give off. Try to stay calm. Thrashing around in the water convinces the shark that you’re in trouble, making you easy prey.
Sharks have weak points too. When it approaches, hit it hard and repeatedly on the tip of its nose with any solid object (spear gun, camera, fin, watch) or the ball of your hand. If the angle of attack allows, aim for the eye or gills.
A shark will seLdom attack a number of people in close proximity. Bunch together with other swimmers or divers. Going back-to-back is a good strategy. Swim slowly and with minimal splashing (information if you’re in a group) to the shore or boat. If you’re diving, drop to the bottom or back up against a reef or rock, which will reduce the attack angles of the shark.
What Happens When I get a Cramp
THINK WHEN YOU DRINK
No better way to shake off that hangover than a kick-around in the morning? Maybe. No better way to force your muscles into cramps? Definitely. Alcohol leaches sodium and potassium from your body and if you remain dehydrated, sodium stores will be depleted further, creating ideal conditions for cramp. “Sodium is vital for nerve impulses,” says physiology professor Edward Winter. “Depletion causes mismatched signals.” Which means your body can’t control its muscles properly. That’s still no excuse for punching the ref though.
RUN INTO TROUBLE
Running around puts your muscles under extra stress. When they are fatigued like this they have a tendency to contract and need a signal from your central nervous system to tell them
to relax again. When this doesn’t happen, the muscle will contract and stay that way. You’ll get an inkling this is happening when you feel an agonising stab of pain and collapse on your back howling.
STRETCH YOURSELF
You’ve seen it countless times, so you must know the drill: straighten the leg as much as possible and curl your toes towards you to stretch out the muscle as far as you can. Get a teammate to help you out if necessary. This will force out your cramped muscle and help it to relax again. But don’t think you can leap up and start making like Ronaldo immediately. “The muscle is still fatigued,” says Winter,” and the cramping process is easy to re-trigger until the muscle rests for a while.” So maybe drop back into defense for the next 10 minutes to recover.
The Hottest Sex Tip Ever
MYTH 1 LOVE MEANS YOU’RE SMITTEN
We all want to believe that our hearts will go boom when she crosses the room and that we’ll know for sure she’s the one. But that happens way more often to schoolboys than it does to grown men with some mile¬age on them. In fact, the more self-reliant you are, the less likely you are to go all wobbly the instant she wanders into the frame. Don’t forget, Romeo was a teenager when Juliet drove him insane. The absence of
besotted feelings may say nothing about your girlfriend’s shortcomings as a love object and much about your maturity. Sure, lightning-bolt love happens now and then, but don’t wait around for it. Because first, it’s no guarantee of anything. And second, lots of women who don’t leave you breathless at the outset can more than inspire you a few years in. That head-over-heels stuff is for kids. A man wants a partner, not some¬one to make him whole.
MYTH 2 MARRIAGE IS SURRENDER
Some see that chapel service as more of a gelding than a wedding. When a man marries, the thinking goes, he surrenders his stallion prerogatives and agrees to be well behaved and monogamous. Now, of course, there is some sense in this line of thinking. After all, studies show that a sur¬prising number of wives don’t like it when their husbands have sex with other women.
Keep this in mind: the belief that monogamy diminishes a man derives from a narrow, sexual idea of manliness. Yes, not being monogamous is our favourite idea of manliness, and yes, it’s certainly the most fun idea of manliness. But it’s just one ver¬sion. Once you become a husband, all kinds of other Y-chromosome opportunities to excel present themselves. A husband is a caretaker, a plumber, a subduer ofintrud¬ers, and with some luck, a father. And all of those roles call forth masculine energies that invite a man forward towards the full¬ness of everything he might become. Not buying it? Okay, how about this: husbands actually have more sex than single guys.
Study after study shows that, on average, married guys go up to bat more often than their unattached buds do. Granted, the sex is all with the same woman, and those stud¬ies say nothing about the actual quality
of the sex. But hey, more is more, and the heat in the huddle is really up to the two
of you, isn’t it?
Sure, there are a few truly blessed single men who have it all, men who have a lot of sex with a lot of different women. But hon¬estly, my friend, do you think you’re one of them? Really? And even if you are, will you still be one of them in 10 years? Twenty? No, if optimum sex is truly the goal, the smart money is on marriage.
MYTH 3 YOU NEED A LOT IN COMMON
Fight the notion that the two of you need plenty of shared interests or even shared values. The single best thing about being married is having another pair of eyes and ears through which to savour the show. So it’s a bad bet to hold out for your “type”. All you need in common with her is a species. Okay, maybe you need some common ground on the big-ticket questions, like having kids. But even if you’re a physicist who likes the facts and she’s a free spirit who claims that absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence, there’s no reason you two can’t find happi¬ness together. In fact, your chances are better than two kids who hear the same song. If you and your beloved are too much alike, sometimes there’s not enough oxygen in the room.
MYTH 4 SHE HAS TO HAVE IT ALL
Many a man balks at pulling the marriage trigger because he appraises a woman the way he’d size up an appliance and then decides she just doesn’t have all the features he’s looking for. Well, here are the answers to those questions tumbling around in your head. Yes, she’s pretty enough. Yes, she’s smart enough. Yes, she’s funny enough. Moreover, all those questions are irrelevant. It’s like asking if a car floats. Most often, your anxieties are less about her than about how others may view your choice of a partner. A woman doesn’t need great beauty or brains or wit to be a fabulous partner and a person very much worth loving throughout your life. Think of it this way. If she’s less than perfect, well, that’s just something else the two of you have in common. Everything that’s beautiful is cracked, wrote singer-songwriter, poet and novelist Leonard Cohen, and that’s how the light gets in.
In the end, there’s only one appraisal that truly matters. Will she dig in with you when trouble comes? When money’s tight or test results are bad, will she hunker down with you to weather the storm? If she’s a stalwart and appears to like you and enjoy sex, and doesn’t look like an English bulldog, grab her and go make a life with her. Remember this boardroom mantra: more opportunities are lost to indecision than to bad decisions.
And finally, consider the idea, often expressed by therapists, that men who can’t commit may not feel entitled to love. That may be psycho-doublespeak, but check your¬selfto be sure. Make sure you know that you’re worthy of the best life has to offer.
Orgasm Enhancers
VIAGRA
The claim: Developed to combat angina, Viagra dilates blood vessels with the effect, among other things, of increasing blood flow to the penis and treating erectile dysfunction.
The science: Approved by regulatory authorities in many different countries around the world. According to a report from Auburn University in Alabama, it can help to treat the wilt caused by everything from depression to diabetes. (Prescription only)
YOHIMBINE
The claim: Bark from this African tree has been rumoured to enhance your wood since antiquity. The science According to a study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, a dose of 15 to 30g per day has been shown to produce “positive effects” in 20 percent of cases.
are to be an antidepressant, with the added bonus of increasing sexual response as well as your general humour.
The science: By relaxing the muscle controlling blood flow to the penis, it has similar effects to Viagra, say the authors of The Science of Orgasm. One study found that ginkgo biloba improved libido and orgasm in 76 percent of cases.
GINSENG
The claim: A stress-reliever whose “powers” were first noted in China, ginseng was also found to perk up more than just your mood.
The science: Increases the flow of erection¬facilitating nitric oxide. A study in China found ginseng had a positive effect on 60 percent of men suffering the droop.
Also check out the MegaV Sexual Supplement 4pk
ARGINMAX
The claim: pitched at the Viagra buyer, which claims to be the “No 1 clinically validated formula on the market…” It promises “great sex and good health for men and women”.
The science: A placebo-controlled study pub¬lished in the Hawaii Medical Journal found an 89 percent increase inability to maintain an erection.
TRIBULUS TERRESTRIS
The claim: Extract of this flowering plant, also known as goathead, is made into a workout-booster that’s reputed to help you grow every muscle in your body, by increasing your testosterone production.
The science: Dubious. Online drug watchdog www.supplementwatch.com notes the active ingredient hasn’t even been identified. It’s been observed to stimulate “mounting” in animals. But so has catnip.
Source: Men’s Health (South Africa)
