The Most Disturbing Stat You'll See All Day

The Most Disturbing Stat You'll See All Day

 A new Rutgers University study has unearthed a sobering fact: Men born in the late 1950s and early '60s are 60 percent more likely to commit suicide than their fathers' generation.

What's more, the rate has continued to climb ever since. Guys who are 25 to 29 years old now are more than twice as likely to kill themselves as their grandfathers, the study found. 

That staggering stat is partly due to the fact that the granddads—born in the early ‘30s—had the lowest suicide rate of the century among men, according to the study.

But it’s also evidence of the tough times younger generations face. 

Study author Julie A. Phillips, Ph.D., a professor of sociology at Rutgers, rattles off a list of broad changes since the 1960s that might contribute to this dark trend: Divorce rates are rising and marriage rates are falling, resulting in more people living alone; obesity rates are climbing, along with associated health problems; and the lousy economy and unstable employment prospects certainly don't help. 

"All these forces may combine to affect psychological well-being and stress levels, and to enhance feelings of social isolation," Phillips writes.

With so many stressors, it's not hard to see how some men are driven to despair. But if you or someone you know is feeling low, know these resources are available:

Hotlines

1-800-273-TALK (8255): The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will connect you confidentially to a counselor at a suicide crisis center 24/7. 

911: If someone is attempting to kill himself, call

5 New Rules of Super Strength

5 New Rules of Super Strength

 Two minutes into his workout, Louie Vito is already dripping sweat. Rivulets run down the Olympic snowboarder's legs, pooling on the floor as he clutches 50-pound dumbbells and launches onto a 24-inch-high box. "This sucks," he pants, smiling. "Thanks for throwing me into the fire."

"It's what I do," says his trainer, John Schaeffer, with a shrug. "Now drop the dumbbells and run steps ... fast!"

Vito takes off toward a staircase leading to the second floor of the Winningfactor Sports Sciences training center, Schaeffer's gym in a converted farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania.

He's in for another two minutes of grueling work. Next up: a five-move medicine-ball circuit done without rest. "Ballistic moves performed under extreme fatigue recruit muscles you don't normally use," says Schaeffer, dropping one of the many insights that have made him among the most sought-after trainers in sports. "Louie is lucky it's a moderate-intensity day--on high-intensity days, I don't let him drop the weights."

For Schaeffer, a former world champion powerlifter and kickboxer, fatigue isn't just the result of exercise; it's the goal. And anyone who doubts his methods need only consider the accomplishments of the athletes he has trained, including eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno, world heavyweight boxer Alexander Zolkin, and 2013 NFL rushing leader LeSean McCoy. "John takes you to the very brink of your edge and then brings you back," says Ohno. "But he never pushes you past it."

The results can be almost freakish: Vito taking NFL athletes twice his size to task in mixed-sport workouts; Ohno leg-pressing 2,000 pounds (14 times his body weight); McCoy changing direction in two-tenths of a second at full speed while carrying 70-pound dumbbells. "The training is tough, but my athletes quickly come to realize that they have much more energy and muscle power than they ever knew they had," says Schaeffer. He has dedicated 30 years to mastering ways to trigger that realization and capitalize on it. Learn his five training secrets to unlock your own potential and take your workouts to a whole new level.

The Fuel Rule
Don't Be Afraid of Fat
"The thing that most radically improves athletes' performance is proper nutrition," says Schaeffer, who developed the recipe below to help clients push harder in workouts and recover faster afterward. "Most of the calories come from high-quality fats, a more efficient source of energy than carbs," he says. "Plus, your body is actually less likely to store fat as fat."

MAKE COOKIES
Combine 1 cup raw oats, 4 Tbsp coconut oil, 2 Tbsp whey protein, and 1 cup applesauce. That makes four servings (no baking). Eat one, wait an hour, and hit the gym.

The Clock Rule
Brief Workouts Are Best
Muscle growth and fat loss are proportional to hours spent lifting, right? "They're not," says Schaeffer. He points to Ohno's workouts leading up to the 2010 Olympics, which rarely lasted longer than 30 minutes. "But he did more in that time than most guys do in two hours," Schaeffer says. "Workout density trumps duration because it forces you to keep the intensity high."

CUT WASTE
Slice "fat" from your workouts—that is, socializing at the water fountain, chatting up the brunette on the treadmill, and watching SportsCenter highlights. Then give your rest periods the same attention you do sets and reps. "Keep them to 30 seconds or less," says Schaeffer.

The Brain Rule
Reaction Speed Can Be Trained
A brain that can process what it sees and respond quickly has an edge. "You can grab a steal, tip a pass, or land a jump faster and more efficiently than your opponent," says Schaeffer. TheJournal of Strength and Conditioning Research reports that NBA players with faster reaction times log better stats. "It's a game-changer for athletes," says Schaeffer. "But regular guys can do better in everyday tasks, from driving to kid-watching."

HONE YOUR REFLEXES
Face a buddy from 10 yards away. Close your eyes and have him bounce a tennis ball to you, yelling "left" or "right." When he does, open your eyes and catch it with that hand. Training solo? Use a wall.

The Rest Rule
Pack In More Work
No matter how hard you go in the gym, you can probably go harder. The reason: You set the weight down between sets. "Staying under load for the entire exercise and then immediately doing one set of a ballistic move—like explosive stepups or pushups—will recruit dormant motor neurons and condition your body to recover under stress," says Schaeffer. "It will also trigger a surge of muscle-building hormones."

MIX IT UP
Add Killer Combos (see right) to your fitness plan. "These can be very difficult, mentally and physically," says Schaeffer. "So don't just grind through them. Focus on good form." If you feel your form slipping, use less weight.

The Finishing Rule
If You End Slow, You'll Be Slow
Many guys think of strength and cardio as separate entities. But interval training can be beneficial at the end of a resistance workout. "Your body remembers and adapts to what it does last in a training session," Schaeffer says. "If you end slow, you'll be slow. That's why my athletes finish their workouts with speedwork."

HIT THE AFTERBURNERS
When the last lift is done, hop on a treadmill, rower, or Airdyne bike for 5 to 10 intervals. "For each interval, sprint all out for 30 seconds and recover 30 seconds," says Schaeffer. "But don't dial it back too much during the recovery—I typically have Louie sprint at 14 miles an hour and recover at 8."

KILLER COMBOS
Activate muscle and torch fat with these two brutal exercise pairs.

COMBO 1
Squat
Hold a barbell across your upper back and stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor. Pause, return to the start, and repeat.

Stepup
Holding a barbell across your upper back, place your right foot on a step or bench. Push your body up until your right leg is straight. (Keep your left foot elevated.) Step down. Repeat with your left leg. Continue alternating legs.

COMBO 2
Bench Press
Lie on your back on a bench and hold a barbell above your chest using an overhand grip that's just beyond shoulder width. Lower it to 2 inches above your sternum. Pause, and push it back up to the starting position.

Explosive Pushup
Assume a pushup position with your arms straight and hands slightly beyond shoulder width. Bend your arms to lower your chest until it nearly touches the floor. Then push up with enough force for your hands to leave the floor.

Water rationing hits California: limit of 50 gallons per person per day or face fines of $500

Water rationing hits California: limit of 50 gallons per person per day or face fines of $500

 Millions of Californians are about to be hit with strict water rationing — daily “allocation” numbers that represent the maximum amount of water you’re allowed to use for any purpose. Households that exceed the allocation limit will face stiff fines of hundreds of dollars per violation.

“In July, the State Water Resources Control Board passed stage one emergency regulations, giving powers to all local water agencies to fine $500 per violation,” reports the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. [1]

Keep in mind that these are only “stage one” emergency regulations. Stages two and three have yet to be invoked and will only become more severe.

The amount of water each household is allowed by water districts will be determined by government employees viewing satellite imagery of private properties, then calculating how much water that property should be allowed to use.

“Using census records, aerial photography and satellite imagery, an agency can determine a property’s efficient water usage,” says the SGVT.

50 gallons per person, per day

In some districts, water rationing allocation is also based on the number of persons who are known to be living at each address based on U.S. Census data. The Irvine Ranch Water District allows 50 gallons of “indoor” water consumption per person in the home. As explained on the IRWD website: [3]

The indoor water allocation is 50 gallons per person per day and depends upon the number of residents in a home. Water allocated for landscape irrigation depends upon the type of home.

As the IRWD website explains, those water consumers who the government deems to be “wasteful” will be charged 160% or higher rates for water consumption. This is on top of the $500 fines for each violation, as has now been approved by the state.

The 50 gallons per person per day is the maximum allocated amount for all indoor water use, including laundry, showering, toilet flushing, drinking, washing dishes and hand washing for hygienic purposes.

According to the EPA, the average U.S. citizen currently uses 100 gallons per day, with 70 of those gallons consumed indoors. [4] The largest users of indoor water are toilets, showers and clothes washers.

Not yet called “rationing” because the word isn’t socially acceptable

Interestingly, the water rationing that’s about to be enforced in California isn’t being called rationing. Instead, California’s doublespeak wordsmiths have decided to call it an “allocation-based rate structure” (which simply means that after you hit your ration limit, you are harshly penalized for any additional consumption).

In explaining why California citizens will be heavily penalized with fines if they exceed their water rationing allocation, all sorts of elaborate doublespeak terms are now being used such as “strong price signals” and “conservation response.”

Here’s how the IRWD explains water rationing to its customers without using the term “rationing“:

Allocation-based rate structures are the foundation of IRWD’s Water Shortage Contingency Plan. This rate structure allows IRWD to quickly respond to limited supplies through strong price signals, which result in the greatest conservation response from our customers.

Translation: If we aggressively penalize people for exceeding their water allocation, they will seek to stay within the limits for the same reason that people try to avoid speeding tickets — nobody wants to pay the fines!

Landscape watering limited to two days a week

Some California water districts are also enforcing unprecedented restrictions on water use for “outdoor watering” applications.

The Irvine Ranch Water District, for example, has publicly announced its intention to “…implement mandatory outdoor water use restrictions that restrict outdoor watering to two days a week.” [2]

California homeowners being paid big bucks to remove grass in “Remove Green. Receive Green” program

The California drought is so bad that some California homeowners are even being paid cash to remove their lawns.

The IRWD Turf Removal Program advertises the slogan “Remove Green. Receive Green” and explains there is no limit to the amount of money a person can be paid under the program. [5]

What’s interesting about this Turf ReWhere it’s all headed

Water conservation efforts are greatly needed in California and should be applauded. On the other hand, they only postpone the inevitable — a mass migration out of the American southwest as the water runs out across entire regions.

Tearing up your front lawn and replacing it with agave and desert spoon plants doesn’t nullify the fact that much of California is wildly overpopulated to the point of long-term non-sustainability. Even if each person in the state were restricted to just 25 gallons a day, the water would keep dropping in Lake Mead (which is already perilously close to outflow restrictions that will impact California and Arizona).

The only way the current population of Californians can live in harmony with the regional water resources is if most of the people stop taking showers, stop flushing toilets and stop doing laundry. Unfortunately, this practice is currently limited only to a few UCLA campus frat houses and hasn’t yet caught on with the rest of the citizenry.

Crop yields already in a state of collapse

Honestly stated, the modern-day lifestyle that many people equate with California living simply isn’t sustainable. As a result, a collapse of the water infrastructure has already begun. That’s why the crop yields have also collapsed this year [6], with the Sacramento Bee reporting:

While many crops have yet to be harvested, it’s clear that the drought has carved a significant hole in the economy of rural California. Farm income is down, so is employment… Economists at UC Davis say agriculture, which has been a $44 billion-a-year business in California, will suffer revenue losses and higher water costs — a financial hit totaling $2.2 billion this year.

That financial hit is only going to get worse, and the implosion of crop production will only accelerate. “Roughly one-fourth of California’s rice fields went fallow this year, about 140,000 acres worth, according to the California Rice Commission,” reports the Sacramento Bee.

And the worst part is that farmers have been tapping into underground aquifers in order to grow their crops this year. But that water is irreplaceable in any human timeframe, and when it’s all used up, it’s gone for good. California’s agriculture industry has yet to come up with a way to grow food crops without using water. Until they do, the food producing potential of the entire region is headed for accelerated collapse.

When the citizens of California truly wake up and realize where this is all headed, real estate prices will utterly collapse, leading to a collapse of local property tax revenues and the economic devastation of towns and cities. Many of those once-thriving towns will inevitably return to the desert from which they sprang.moval Program is that it essentially pays people to restore their yards to the way they should have been constructed in the first place. Green lawns in desert regions are one of the most idiotic things modern humans have ever come up with, with green golf courses in desert regions taking the top prize for sheer environmental stupidity                                  

Ditch Your Belly for Good

Ditch Your Belly for Good

 Question: I have been working out 5 to 6 times per week, (Thank You DeltaFit!!) and changed to a healthy diet, but I still have a layer of fat around my stomach. (Belly button area.) What do I have to do to get rid of this? 

(from reader Mark J. Poznan)

Answer: Sounds like your beer belly—even if you cut out the brew—is still shielding your six-pack. If you're already performing three whole-body resistance workouts per week plus some additional interval training and active recovery work that’s prescribed by Men's Health DeltaFit SpeedShred, then it's time to take a closer look at what you’re eating and drinking.

“The fastest way to burn belly fat is to eliminate any added sugar in your diet, especially in the form of empty liquid calories,” says BJ Gaddour, C.S.C.S., CEO of Men’s HealthStreamFit. Then emphasize protein and produce at each meal and limit your non-veggie carb intake—think bread and whole grains—to within a few hours after intense exercise when your metabolism is still humming, he adds. Replace sweet treats like cookies or ice cream with fruit as a nightly dessert so you don't fall off the wagon. Gaddour’s favorite p.m. options are a small bowl of organic mixed berries with a little full-fat organic heavy cream or a frozen banana with a spoonful of natural peanut butter.

View other weight loss questions submitted by Men's Health readers.

Being the Strongest Guy in Your Gym Isn’t Important; This Is

Being the Strongest Guy in Your Gym Isn’t Important; This Is

 Greg Nuckols is just 22, and is already one of the top drug-free powerlifters on the planet. His best-ever lifts in competition include a world-record 750-pound squat at 242 pounds. 

In a recent blog post, Nuckols told the truth about his lifting prowess: It’s innate. He was born to be strong. The first time he picked up a barbell, he bench-pressed 150 pounds and deadlifted 250 “with ease.” He could’ve deadlifted more, but it was Christmas morning, and that was all the weight Santa Claus had left for him.

He was 10 years old.

It’s easy for Nuckols, a strength coach in Orange County, California, to figure out where his strength comes from. “My mom's side of the family is full of freaks who, honestly, I just don't talk about because no one would believe me if I did,” he says. “I’m not one of the top five strongest people in that gene pool.”

His freakish strength was apparent from an early age. At 5 he won wrestling matches against 7- and 8-year-olds. “By the time I was 10 or 11, I could lift and move things around the house that my dad couldn’t,” he remembers. When someone told him that pushups would improve his chances in football, “I got to where I could bust out 100 pushups before school, when I got home, and before I went to bed at night.”

At 14, on his first day in his high school weight room, using an Olympic barbell for the first time, he benched 275 and deadlifted 425, which he estimates was 2.5 times his body weight. A year later, he broke state powerlifting records with virtually no formal training.

That led him directly to his current career as a personal trainer. “I was the strongest kid in the school, so people wanted to know what I did,” he explains. “I’d write them training plans for $20. Low barriers to entry in this industry.”

You can see the problem: a genetic outlier who had barely started his own training was already sharing information he didn’t yet understand. “I liked to believe I was so strong because I was some sort of powerlifting savant and just understood training so well,” he says. “It’s a convenient thing for strong people to believe. I didn’t fully understand yet that a lot of things only worked for me because I’m me. The American idea of being able to do anything if you tried harder was embedded deep in my young mind. Really, I just thought everyone else was lazy.”

The mysteries of genetics

Thoughts like that are now a distant memory for Nuckols. He’s a serious student of strength and conditioning, and his work with a full range of clients, from competitive powerlifters to people whose genetics might not even qualify as average, has given him a more generous perspective.

“If you like lifting weights, and you’re not the strongest guy in the gym, that’s fine,” he says. “Keep lifting. You’ll be healthier, happier, and longer-lived.”

As a bonus, you might discover that you’ve underestimated your potential. You can’t really know until you push yourself hard and see what happens. That’s a twist Nuckols saw firsthand when he worked with a young guy he describes as “amazingly, astoundingly weak” his first day in the weight room. Within five years, without drugs, he’s among the strongest and most jacked lifters in his gym, or any other.

Like Nuckols, he’s an extreme outlier, but one whose potential, hiding behind apparently modest genetics, only came out when he trained.

Which brings us back to the original point: Most training advice that filters down to average guys comes from the biggest, strongest, most-impressive specimens. Some, like Nuckols, started out strong and then worked hard to get even stronger. Others, like his friend, started weak and became strong just slightly slower than a comic-book superhero bitten by a radioactive spider.

Both types tend to believe, as most of us probably would, that everything they achieve is the result of pure effort. From there it’s easy enough to believe that when the rest of us achieve unimpressive results, it’s due to poor effort, rather than the stubborn averageness of our genes.

What we all have in common, no matter where we fall on the genetic spectrum, is the training process, Nuckols says, which almost always produces some measurable improvement. “As long as you love the process, and it’s something you can stick with, the results are a distant second in terms of importance.”

Lou Schuler, C.S.C.S., is an award-winning journalist and the coauthor (with Alwyn Cosgrove) of "The New Rules of Lifting Supercharged."

Health Benefits of Hibiscus Tea

Health Benefits of Hibiscus Tea

 Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a plant said to offer several health benefits. Believed to be native to Africa, hibiscus is often used to make herbal teas (also known as “infusions” or “tisanes”).

Health Benefits of Hibiscus Tea:

Although few scientific studies have tested the health benefits of hibiscus, early research suggests that hibiscus tea or hibiscus extract may offer antioxidant effects and enhance cardiovascular health. Here’s a look at key findings from the available research on the health benefits of hibiscus:

1) High Blood Pressure

Drinking hibiscus tea daily may benefit people with slightly elevated blood pressure, according to a small study published in The Journal of Nutrition in 2010. For six weeks, 65 adults who had mildly elevated blood pressure (but were not taking blood pressure medication) drank either three cups of hibiscus tea or a placebo beverage each day. Study results revealed that members of the hibiscus group experienced a greater drop in blood pressure (compared to those who consumed the placebo beverage).

In a 2010 research review fromPhytomedicine, scientists sized up four clinical trials on the use of hibiscus tea in treatment of high blood pressure. While each trial showed that hibiscus may help lower blood pressure, the review’s authors caution that three of the four studies were of poor quality.

Find out about other natural remedies for high blood pressure.

2) Diabetes

Hibiscus tea may offer some health benefits to people with type 2 diabetes. In a 2009 study from the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, for instance, researchers assigned 60 diabetes patients to drink hibiscus tea or black tea twice daily for a month. Looking at data on the 53 people who completed the study, the study’s authors found that members of the hibiscus group had a significant increase in HDL (“good”) cholesterol and a significant decrease in total cholesterol and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

In a 2009 study from the Journal of Human Hypertension, meanwhile, scientists discovered that daily consumption of hibiscus tea may help lower blood pressure in people with type 2 diabetes.

See Natural Treatments for Diabetes to learn of other ways to fight diabetes.

3) High Cholesterol

Preliminary findings from animal-based research and test-tube studies indicate that hibiscus extract may help keep cholesterol in check and in turn protect against atherosclerosis.

More about Natural Remedies For High Cholesterol.

Using Hibiscus Tea for Health:

It’s too soon to recommend hibiscus as a standard treatment of any health condition. However, since hibiscus contains a number of healthful substances (including anthocyanins), sipping hibiscus tea regularly may offer some mild health benefits.

Sources:

Chang YC, Huang KX, Huang AC, Ho YC, Wang CJ. “Hibiscus anthocyanins-rich extract inhibited LDL oxidation and oxLDL-mediated macrophages apoptosis.” Food Chem Toxicol. 2006 Jul;44(7):1015-23.

Chen CC, Hsu JD, Wang SF, Chiang HC, Yang MY, Kao ES, Ho YC, Wang CJ. “Hibiscus sabdariffa extract inhibits the development of atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rabbits.” J Agric Food Chem. 2003 Aug 27;51(18):5472-7.

McKay DL, Chen CY, Saltzman E, Blumberg JB. “Hibiscus sabdariffa L. tea (tisane) lowers blood pressure in prehypertensive and mildly hypertensive adults.” J Nutr. 2010 Feb;140(2):298-303.

Mozaffari-Khosravi H, Jalali-Khanabadi BA, Afkhami-Ardekani M, Fatehi F. “Effects of sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa) on lipid profile and lipoproteins in patients with type II diabetes.” J Altern Complement Med. 2009 Aug;15(8):899-903.

Mozaffari-Khosravi H, Jalali-Khanabadi BA, Afkhami-Ardekani M, Fatehi F, Noori-Shadkam M. “The effects of sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa) on hypertension in patients with type II diabetes.” J Hum Hypertens. 2009 Jan;23(1):48-54.

Wahabi HA, Alansary LA, Al-Sabban AH, Glasziuo P. “The effectiveness of Hibiscus sabdariffa in the treatment of hypertension: a systematic review.” Phytomedicine. 2010 Feb;17(2):83-6.