Yes, the obvious is true: most yoga classes are attended by a majority of fit, flexible females in tight clothes. But, contrary to what you might think, it’s not just a sport for sexy ladies. And we have tons of reasons why you should be doing it—other than picking up women.

With yoga, you’ll hone your mental focus, rid your system of toxins, and maybe even boost your performance in the bedroom. You’ll even be able to touch your toes — improved flexibility is a bonus for just about every sport.

5 Toughest Yoga Positions for Guys >>>

Yes, the real results of regular yoga practice are quite practical, and you don’t need any special equipment—just a few square feet of space and a mat. Here’s how that extra bit of stretching will not only enhance your other workouts, but also your life.

Next: How yoga will make your life better >>>

1. Relieve stress.
We all find ways to deal with stress. But Terrence Monte, a managing teacher at Pure Yoga, says, “going to amped up gyms or punching a punching bag can make you more aggressive or more tired.” Yoga, on the other hand, employs a number of relaxation techniques, which, with regular practice, can make you calmer overall. Sadie Nardini, host of “Rock Your Yoga,” adds, “Along with training your body, yoga trains your mind to see the bigger picture and act from integrity instead of freaking out. If you want to be more James Bond than Charlie Sheen, get yourself on the mat.” Being forced to unplug from text, calls, and email for 60 to 90 minutes doesn't hurt either.

2. Get flexible.
Most series of yoga asanas (physical postures) include one or more spinal twists to loosen the many joints that make up your spine. This can improve your tennis game and golf swing, as well as promote detoxification and good digestion. Yogi Cameron Alborizan, Ayurvedic healer, yoga guru, and author of The One Plan, says, “Think of the body as a sponge filled with dirty sink water. Gentle twists help to wring the sponge out and purge toxins.”

3 Reasons Men Should Do Yoga >>>

3. Sculpt muscles.
Yoga uses the weight of your own body to build mass and strength. Don’t believe it? Think about how many clunky free-weights it takes to bench press your bodyweight (150–200 lbs.)—yoga allows you to get the same muscle-building benefits by performing long, extended pushups, squats, and leg lifts. The results are well-worked muscle groups, which get stronger with each class.

4. Prevent workout injuries.
Most yoga classes begin with a reminder to honor your body’s particular needs and limits on that particular day. This basic ability to scan and assess yourself as you practice will help reduce the incidence of injury when running or playing other sports. Plus, flexible, well-stretched yoga muscles will heal and recover more quickly after working out or getting strained.

5. Have better sex.
One way to improve your performance in the bedroom is to translate all those relaxation and breathing techniques from yoga class into better, longer sex. Yogi Cameron says these strengthened concentration skills will help you focus your mind and better channel your sexual energy, helping to prevent premature ejaculation. “This can lead to increased sexual endurance,” he says, “and will make you far more sensitive and responsive to your partner.” Trust us, she’ll thank you for it.

9 Sex Positions That'll Get Her Off Every Time >>>

6. Push your limits.
There are many types of yoga classes, some gentler than others. But when you find the class that matches your abilities—and pushes them? “Watch out!” says Nardini. “With long holds and often continual movements, you’ll amp up cardio at the same time you’re building whole-body lean muscle mass. Find a class with ‘Power,’ ‘Vinyasa,’ or Flow’ in the title, and you can skip the gym that day.”  

7. Calm your mind.
In the midst of a jam-packed schedule, committing to the relaxed space of a yoga class might be the only way for some guys to slow down and breathe right. Scott Rodwin, founder of Radiance Yoga, explains that breathing exercises, called pranayama, have been developed over thousands of years to calm and tame that endless stream of thoughts. This, he says, leads to greater concentration as you work your way through each pose—and, in most cases, a calmness that lasts the rest of the day.  

8. Smell better.
Seriously. Michael Hewitt, founder of Sarva Yoga Academy says yoga is very much about waste removal. “Pheremonally, regular practice is more effective than cologne,” he says. Exhaling and sweating help get rid of toxins during class, so that afterward, your sweat really will smell sweeter. “After a class,” says Hewett, “[your body is] cleaner, more confident and focused than when you walked in.”

The Rundown of Bikram Yoga >>>

9. Set goals.
Most yoga teachers ask you to set an intention for that particular session or in some other part of your life. This simple act saying something in your head like, “I’ll be easier on myself for one hour,” can have far-reaching effects. “We all know how to get what we want,” says Monte, “but many of us struggle with knowing what we want. Yoga can help that question become more real, tangible, and accessible in everyday life.”

If you've been training for a few years, chances are you're no longer able to do all your favorite lifts, due to injury or age. But there's no excuse to bail on hard training entirely. Instead, with a few exercise substitutions, you can continue to challenge yourself, build muscle, and burn off the fat to see your abs inside of a month. Last time, we took you through a leg workout and a chest, shoulder, and arm workout. Here we take you through a back workout.

DIRECTIONS:
Perform the following workout once per week in the order shown. Exercises are performed as straight sets, so you'll complete all prescribed sets for one move before going to the next.

1. Trap-Bar Deadlift
Sets: 5   Reps: 5

2. Neutral-Grip Pullup
Sets: As many as needed   Reps: 25 total

3. Inverted Row
Sets: As many as needed   Reps: 50 total

Head over here for the complete workout.

Justin Carroll is a lawyer at a big firm in Manhattan. A 32-year-old assoicate, he is expected to wear a suit every day. But, as a 6'4" former NCAA swimmer, Carroll’s endowed with 38"-long arms, which are longer than the longest off-the-rack suit he could find in a store. “The Nordstrom brothers [of department store fame] were tall guys, so they at least offer 37" sleeves, but I still needed longer,” Carroll says.

Then a fellow trainee tipped him off to a tailor from Hong Kong operating out of a nearby hotel suite. For a big guy and frequent gym goer, Carroll says his first appointment was nothing short of an epiphany. Forget Big & Tall—he could now spend roughly the same amount and custom-order clothing to perfectly fit every contour of his bulging body. Michael Phelpsian arms? No sweat. Been hitting the bench hard? No problem, here’s a shirt with a sea-sail torso. Since then, Carroll has never worn a shirt or suit that wasn’t custom made.

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But let’s say you’re not a superfit dude exiled from the world of standard sizing: Who hasn’t wanted a made-to-measure suit at department-store-chain prices? Thankfully, Hong Kong tailoring—that old-school, word-of-mouth institution once available only to the international banking set—is more accessible to the regular guy than ever before. That is—if you know where to look.

The world’s best tailors are based in Hong Kong because of China’s Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, which drove a generation of skilled workers out of the mainland. Many of them set up businesses on the neighboring island—then under British rule— where they flourished.

With expert craftsmanship and access to cheaper, higher-grade textiles, the tailors gained a reputation for producing Savile Row-quality product at a fraction of the cost. For years, budget-minded men traveled to them. Then the tailors wised up and expanded their client base by dispatching reps to hotel suites around the world. Now, the service that once required a faded old business card or first-hand referral to score an appointment can be booked online.

Carroll recommends (and uses) a tailor named Kishore Daswani, one of the pioneers of overseas fittings (get his newsletter for updates on U.S. schedules by e-mailing daswani@customtailors-inc.com). Another reputable and accessible Hong Kong-based operation is Raja Fashions, which lets you book an appointment on its website (raja-fashions.com).

If neither is visiting stateside near you, don’t worry—check in on the Quality Tourism Services (QTS), run by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. It lists a raft of vendors there, including dozens of suitmakers—such as Simpson’s and Princeton—that routinely make visits to American cities. But whatever you do: Don’t order your suits remotely. The magic of Hong Kong tailoring is what the craftsmen manage to do, in person, with the tape measure.

When you go for a first fitting, wear your favorite suit along with a pair of good dress shoes. Not only will that make a better impression than board shorts and Tevas, it will also give the tailor a good idea of how suits fit your body as well as your sense of style. Yes, fittings take place in hotel suites—but it isn’t as sketchy as it sounds. Expect up to 10 other people at the same appointment. It can even get competitive among clients.

“Sometimes it’s really collaborative, because most guys have no idea what they’re looking for,” says Carroll. “But other times, you just want to steal the booklet of fabric swatches another guy’s picked, if he’s hoarding the good samples.” The process will take about an hour. The tailor will measure you in 30 or so different places, and take pictures from various angles to gauge posture. It ends when he records your measurements in an old ledger that looks like a prop from Game of Thrones. Remember: Credit card payments are almost always taken using an imprint machine, so you’ll need to bring a card with raised numbers. (Tailors often prefer American Express.)

Expect to budget around $600 for a basic suit, and $60 for a shirt. But know that most Hong Kong tailors offer package deals bundling several suits and shirts. Daswani, for instance, sells two suits and eight shirts for $1,500. The more you buy, the more you save. And don’t be afraid to politely haggle. Since pants wear out faster than jackets, it’s smart to order a duplicate pair to prolong the life of your custom suit. But I’d urge you to avoid their accessories. Hong Kong tailors are masters at suits. Ties and belts? Not so much.

Delivery usually takes up to six weeks. The first time you order a suit (or shirt), expect to receive a single sample to try on at home, so you can then offer feedback to the tailor. If it fits, they’ll finish the rest of your order and ship it directly to you. If you need a few adjustments, hold on to the sample until the tailor returns to your city—most make five or six trips stateside every year. Your final measurements will always be kept on file for future orders.

Finally, be sure to spread the word among your buddies. Carroll’s tailor offers two free shirts as a thank-you for referrals. “When I first started working, I was willing to pay a premium for brands that could accommodate my frame because I thought custom clothing was such an extreme luxury,” says Carroll. “But I now have a closet full of perfectly tailored suits and I actually saved money buying them.”

One bottle of beer is about 100 worthless calories. It offers no value—it's just junk. Throw back two, three, or four more and you're putting an awfully big dent in your recommended total caloric intake when you add them on top of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But the followers and believers of balance and moderation like to chill out and have a beer here and there. And if you're a bro, you probably like to pound 30-packs with your fellow brosephs, bromies, and brodudes. Regardless of whether you're a clean-eatin', non-drinkin' fitness freak, or a habitual party-hoppin', liquor-lovin' lunatic, this workout is here to help you wipe the slate clean. Is it probably a better idea to take the day off, pound water, sleep in, and save the training for another day? Probably. But, whatever, just work off the crap now.

THE WORKOUT:

We'll start slow and build up the volume. 

1. 10-minute walk. Casual, get the blood flowing.
2. Body-weight Squat superset with Pushup. 5 sets of 5, real easy
3. Cable Curl superset with Cable Pushdown. 5 sets of 5, real easy

At this point you should have a nice shot of endorphines leveling off the headache. Time to crank it up a bit with a full-body giant set.

1A. Barbell Squat x 10
1B. Dumbbell Bench Press x 10
1C. Dumbbell Bentover Row x 10 (each arm)
1D. Dumbbell Lateral Raise x 10
1E. Dumbbell Curl x 10 (each arm)
1F. Dumbbell Overhead Extension x 10

Rest two minutes. Complete three rounds.

THE 3-MOVE AB RIPPER

2A. Hanging Knee Raise to failure
2B. Kneeling Cable Crunch to failure
2C. Plank to failure

Complete three full sets.

And if you're interested, here's a ridiculous and pointless study that found drinking doesn't affect exercises. 

Call her what you want—dork, spaz, nerd, or geek—it won’t faze Olivia Munn, who has spent the better part of her career breaking down the stereotype that you can’t be hot and nerdy. Seriously, have you seen that picture of her cosplaying Slave Leia? (Google image search. Now!) But her figure doesn’t come out of a comic book fantasy—Munn works just as hard as any other Hollywood babe. “When I’m in L.A. I work out with my trainer on a regular basis,” Munn says. “She has a home gym, so she’s really flexible and can work out early morning or late at night depending on what my shooting schedule is.”

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Munn returns this fall to HBO’s The Newsroom as the (yes, dorky) economics wiz Sloan Sabbith and just wrapped Ride Along 2, which will be released next year. Staying in shape on the road is challenging, and Munn isn’t used to working out on set, but she tries to stay on her grind at every opportunity. “I bring ankle and arm weights with me, and a TRX that I can attach to any door,” she says. “I hope to have the self-discipline to do something with them.” 

5 Toughest TRX Moves>>>

As opposed to, for instance, indulging in a multiple-hour Family Feud marathon (Munn’s proudly and hopelessly addicted). Of course, she also surfs and golfs in her free time. “I recently learned how to chip and putt,” she says, “so I’m excited to learn how to do the other hundred things you have to know to golf!” 

But she doesn’t impress easily—even if you’re a PGA pro. You might have better luck trading your chipper for a Chewbacca costume—and a touch of kindness. “I look for goodness in guys,” she says. “It just so happens that goodness is usually found in nerdy people.”

6 Things You Think She Cares About But Doesn't>>>

The biggest problem with long-distance relationships isn't that they're too hard. It’s that they're too easy.

Let me explain. Obviously, some aspects of long-distance relationships are harder. Decreased physical intimacy, lack of face-to-face communication, increased opportunity and/or temptation for either partner to be unfaithful, stress of traveling and managing schedules, and so on.

But some things easier, too. For example, if your girlfriend or wife lives hundreds or even thousands of miles away, you probably won’t fight with her much about who left the dishes out, who was late to the party, or where either of you were when you didn’t come home until 3 a.m. Neither person will ever need space. Annoying habits are much more manageable in short visits than they are day-to-day. Seeing each other becomes a celebration, which is going to produce a different picture of the two of you as a couple than if you were just experiencing day-to-day life together. It’s easy for both people to be on their “best behavior” for phone calls, Skype, and weekend visits.

This can be a problem, because eventually the two of you will need to be in the same city and when you are, you might find yourselves to be totally incompatible. And because the pace of long-distance relationships moves much more slowly than “normal” relationships, you might have wasted months or years of your dating life in long-distance limbo on your way to this disappointment. And because of a psychological process called “cognitive dissonance” you won’t want to admit, even to yourself, that you made a mistake.

(I talk about this in the Magic Bullets Handbook, my dating bible for men. Click here to get the free chapters of Magic Bullets).

Naturally, relationships where there's a history of being together in the same place can better survive long-distance interruptions than relationships that were always long-distance.  This might sound obvious, but relationships that start as long-distance are more common than most people think. For example, a lot of people find it easier to meet people when traveling so they end up starting something with someone who doesn’t actually live near them. Or when you meet women online, you’re often not restricted by geography. That hot woman who shows up on your profile is as likely to be a plane ride away as she is a walk down the street.  

(Tinder is an exception to this. For more, check out our article How To Meet Women on Tinder.)

But it’s not fate, or romance, or bad luck, if you’re on a dating site and you’re falling for a woman thousands of miles away. In fact, it’s exactly what you should expect if you don’t focus only on women near you. You have to filter. Just like it wouldn’t be bad luck if you dated someone with body odor. It just means that you didn’t have high enough standards to filter out certain women. The same applies to geography.

However, even these long-distance relationships can work, especially if there is a clear and specific plan to make the relationship not long-distance anymore. Clear and specific involves dates and plans, not that she will move “one day soon” or that you’ll move “when you’ve saved up enough money." A classic example is if one partner goes on deployment or has to be away temporarily for work. This clear and specific plan becomes your north star, your guiding light, the goal that gets you through the tough times and the challenges of a long-distance relationship.

Long-distance relationships can be a challenge, as well as a trap. But finding the right person to spend your life with is hard, too. So, consider my warnings and advice, but don’t be afraid to take some risks when the situation justifies it. Good luck!

Nick Savoy is the author of the Magic Bullets Handbook, president of Love Systems, and a frequent contributor to Men’s Fitness. Follow him on Twitter @LS_Savoy.

It’s reassuring to know that I can always get functionally strong and completely ripped with UFC Fit. I did it before, and I can do it again. That’s the philosophy that completing UFC Fit will leave you with. I started the program on March 10, 2014 and completed in on June 2, 2014. I completed nearly every single workout and on the one, perhaps two days, that I skipped, I added that missed session to the next day. By the end of the 12-week training program, I had lost 15 pounds, four inches off my waist, and five inches off my hips without losing any muscle. Here are my before and after measurements.

The Best Punching Bag Workout >>>

Beginning Body Measurements
Chest: 38 ¾”
Arms: Right: 14 ½”, Right Flexed: 16”, Left: 13 ¾“, Left Flexed: 15 ½"
Waist: 35 ¼"
Hips: 37 ¼"
Thighs: Right: 22 ¾, Left: 22 ¾"
Weight: 193.5 pounds

Final Body Measurements
Chest: 37”
Arms: Right: 14”, Right Flexed: 15 ½" , Left: 13 ¾“, Left Flexed: 15 ½"
Waist: 31 ¼"
Hips: 32 ¼"
Thighs: Right: 23”, Left: 22 ½“
Weight: 178 pounds

All muscular measurements were taken at Dumbbell’s Gym in North Bergen, NJ, using a standard measuring tape. All weigh-ins were done in the morning using a WeightWatchers digital scale.

Check Out  My Transformation Story >>> [PAGE 2]

Get a Fighter's Physique in 12 Weeks >>>

UFC Fit is full body, high intensity interval training that incorporates both body weight and light dumbbells to burn fat, build muscle, and improve aerobic conditioning. Every few weeks, a new set of workouts is introduced to keep muscles confused and add intensity. Throughout the program, not only did I feel like I was a more functional person, I felt like a fighter. I felt like I could throw fast, explosive punches and kicks even when I might already be tired. Perhaps most importantly, I became increasingly flexible during and after UFC Fit, thanks to the pre and post-workout stretching and a workout called Ultimate Stretch Flex (a yoga-based routine).

In addition to my hard work, I attribute my success with UFC Fit to its head coach, Mike Dolce. A weight loss guru and coach to UFC Fighters such as Johny Hendricks and Ronda Rousey, Dolce infused the perfect amount of intensity into the workouts to get you moving fast. Dolce’s cues made each workout fly by and I never felt as though the workouts were too long.

I was very pleased with my results and I had not weighed 185 pounds or below since high school. UFC Fit took notice of my before and after photos and featured me as their “Transformation Tuesday” on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Seeing this was a true honor and it validated that my physique after the program lived up to UFC Fit’s standards.

To give you more perspective on how useful UFC Fit was to me, I decided to compete in a Reebok Spartan Race a few weeks into UFC Fit. Having never ran an obstacle course race or 5K, I was unsure of how I would fare in the Spartan Sprint but I feel as though UFC Fit got me ready for battle. My improved flexibility, conditioning, mental perseverance, and functional strength came in handy and I finished my first Spartan Sprint in just under 53 minutes. Post UFC Fit, I still continue to incorporate the healthy meals and snacks that are part of its easy-to-follow meal plan and I bang out a workout here and there for fun.

Overall, UFC Fit made me a better athlete while improving my physique and for that I am forever grateful. I hope that my story motivates people to hold themselves accountable for getting visible results. A combination of the feelings during/after exercise and a ripped physique brought me happiness. I hope you find the same happiness in getting a six-pack.

To learn more about UFC Fit, visit ufcfit.com 

Get a Fighter's Physique in 12 Weeks >>>

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Ripped abs and bulging biceps are great T-shirt muscles, but they won’t turn any heads when you’re bundled up this fall and winter. Broad shoulders, on the other hand, can stand out from beneath even the chunkiest sweaters and overcoats and arguably do more than any other muscles to bolster your physical presence. Use this simple body-weight program to build an imposing set for yourself, and worry about abs next spring. 

Get Lean Even With Injuries >>>

HOW IT WORKS
Body-weight training has many advantages, the first of which is you can do it anywhere. Second, it’s safe. When you train shoulders with free weights, you can progress faster, but you pay a higher price for sloppy form—namely, injury—and then there’s the fact that the shoulder joints are the most unstable and injury-prone in the body.

With body-weight training, increasing the difficulty of an exercise can be as simple as adjusting the angle. Raise your feet on a pike pushup and you instantly feel a greater challenge. You can also have more fun; moves like the crab walk may look silly, but they’ll work your shoulders just as well as presses, and you’ll have fun doing them.

DIRECTIONS
Use this program in place of your normal shoulder routine for four weeks. Perform the workouts with at least two full days between them (avoid any other upper-body training in between).

The exercise pair in Day I (A and B) is done as a superset—complete one set of A, then B without rest. Continue until all sets are complete. The routine on Day II is done as a circuit—perform one set of each move back-to-back without rest and then rest 90 seconds. Do as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes. Note that this is the entire length of Day II’s workout (you’re done in 10 minutes).

THE WORKOUT >>> [PAGE 2]

THE VIDEO: Sculpt Broad Shoulders Using Just Your Body Weight >>>

DAY I
1. FEET-ELEVATED PIKE PUSHUP
Sets: 4 Reps: 12 Rest: 60–90 sec.
Get into pushup position and rest your feet on a bench or box. Bend your hips, raising your butt toward the ceiling so that your torso is vertical. Lower your body to the floor until your head is between your hands. Press back up.

2A. WIDE-GRIP INVERTED ROW
Sets: 5 Reps: 10 Rest: 0 sec.
Set a barbell at hip height in a rack, or set up a pipe or similar object if you’re not in a gym. Hang beneath it and squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull your body up to the bar.

2B. DIP
Sets: 5 Reps: 10 Rest: 0 sec.
Suspend yourself over parallel bars and lower your body until your upper arms are parallel with the floor.

DAY II >>> [PAGE 3]

Train Your Willpower Like You Train Your Muscles >>>

DAY II
1. FEET-ELEVATED PIKE PUSHUP
Sets: As many as possible Reps: 6
Repeat the pike pushups you did on Day 1.

2. WIDE-GRIP PULLUP
Sets: As many as possible Reps: 5
Hang from a chinup bar with hands much wider than shoulder width and palms facing forward. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar.

3. CRAB WALK
Sets: As many as possible Reps: Walk for 30 sec.
Sit on the floor and plant your hands under your shoulders. Place your feet flat and bend your knees. Extend your hips so they rise an inch or so above the floor—this is crab position. Next, walk forward on your hands and feet, moving your right leg and left arm in tandem and vice versa. Keep your hips low and chest up.

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Training to failure means doing so many reps that you physically can’t complete any more. The objective is to induce the most possible muscle growth by pumping maximum blood to the area. Opponents of training to failure claim it will tire your nervous system, increase injury risk, wreck recovery, and beat your body to death.

These reactions can occur in a beginner, which is why those new to training to failure should start out with a predetermined set/rep scheme, and stick to it. Novices may defer to poor technique in order to train to failure all the time, which kills progress and could result in injury.

For someone who has been training with proper technique for multiple years, training to failure can be beneficial: boosting strength levels, crushing plateaus, and getting the ultimate pump. By doing as many as possible (AMAP) with a given weight, you create an enormous stimulus for growth.

In a 2007 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Researchstudy, researchers found that training to failure increases motor unit activation and the secretion of muscle-building hormones, like HGH and testosterone, compared to conventional methods. AMAP strengthens your mind, too: without a definitive stopping point, you’ll work harder than you could ever imagine.

But how do you avoid serious injuries if you go “all out?” AMAP isn’t an invitation for ugly technique; it’s as many as possible while maintaining great form. The instant your form deteriorates, stop. Your motor control and muscular strength will disconnect and make your results worthless. Here are five ways to incorporate AMAP into your routine to start building more muscle and strength now.

Get Lean Even With Injuries >>>

TRAINING TO FAILURE 101

1. Use it to increase your strength and regulate your workout. 
If your typical leg workout is 4 sets of 5 reps of back squats, change the last set to AMAP. If you can only do 6 or 7 good reps, you’re correctly pushing yourself on those previous sets; if you can get 10 or more, however, the weight is too light on the previous sets.

2. Use it to improve your muscular endurance.
Building endurance alters your muscles at the microscopic level, which improves your recovery between heavy sets at the gym or even during your pickup basketball game. Put a number on the bar (e.g.: your body weight or 200 lbs) for an exercise and perform one or two sets of AMAP. Then, the next week, beat your number.

3. Only do two sets of AMAP at most per workout.
If you’re going to do 5x5 on the bench press, use the last set for AMAP, not all of them. If want to do an AMAP back squat workout with 200 lbs, do it for two sets at most and include ample rest in between.

4. Use AMAP for four weeks at most.
Although you can handle AMAP peridocially, it is fatiguing. Add AMAP to your workouts for a maximum of four weeks, then schedule a quick deload and cycle to a different set/rep scheme. After a few weeks, use AMAP again.

5. Use AMAP on simpler variations of exercises.
Use AMAP with simpler moves like chest-supported rows, dumbbell presses, goblet squats, pushups, and pullups. Never do AMAP with complex exercises like power cleans, deadlifts, good mornings or overhead squats — as you fatigue during the set, you’ll find it harder to use correct technique, which could cause a serious injury.

5 Common HIIT Misconceptions >>>

Handcrafted eyewear brand Shwood is collaborating wih Pendleton, a heritage brand, for an exclusive limited-edition collaboration called "Shwood for Pendleton" and the results are worth the pricetag. Following up on last year's collaboration, the two brands, both based in Portland, Oregon, teammed up for this year's edition which features Pendleton's signature "Rancho Arroyo" pattern laser-engraved on the temples.

The sunglasses are made from dark walnut wood, fitted with grey polarized lenses and come with a custom Pendleton wool storage pouch. They are available now at shwoodshops.com for $250. The collaboration is limited to 500 pairs. 

The handcrafted wood give a different feel that allow the sunglasses to stand out despite its subtlety. But where they excel is in the details. And isn't the details is what style is all about anyway?

Today, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) confirmed the first case of Ebola—the virus that has wreaked havoc in West Africa for the last several months and killed upwards of 3,000 people—in the United States. Specifically, the officials announced that they were treating a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

The news, of course, took Twitter by storm, and the responses have ranged from fearful to downright hysterical.

CDC confirms first Ebola case diagnosed in the United States http://t.co/rYIzgg6S01

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 30, 2014

PANIC

— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) September 30, 2014

However, the question remains: how worried should you be?

The spread of Ebola is certainly nothing to take lightly, says University of Chicago professor Michael Z. David, Ph.D., who specializes in infectious diseases. Ebola has one of the highest mortality rates of any known infection, killing up to 90% of those who catch it.

But, David says, “While this all sounds very frightening, there’s no need to worry at this point about Ebola spreading widely here.” Thanks to the CDC and state health departments, he explains, there are strict regulations to control the spread of the virus.

“In countries where Ebola is now spreading rapidly, there’s great fear and distrust of the medical system. But here, while the disease could spread in a very limited way,” he says, “it’s likely that each infected or exposed person would be rapidly hospitalized.”

That appears to already be the case. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Boxing trainer Abel Sanchez may have a job as a fortune teller if this boxing thing doesn’t work out. Sanchez has trained 14 world champions in 25 years with the latest being a 32-year old middleweight knockout machine from Kazakhstan, named Gennady Golovkin. The reigning WBA and IBO middleweight world champion is undefeated in 30 fights with 27 knockouts including KO’s in his last 17 fights.

Golovkin’s punching power is the stuff that legends are made of. But Golokin is also known as a workhorse, training at The Summit in Big Bear Lake in California, nearly 9,000 feet above sea level.  Golovkin’s training style is nothing if not old fashion. Most of his training involves boxing-specific work, bodyweight exercises and virtually zero tradition weight lifting.

We talked to Golvokin and his trainer Abel Sanchez about how the world’s most avoided fighter trains and the moment that Sanchez made a prophetic prediction on Golovkin, who is set to defend his titles against Marco Antonio Rubio Oct. 18 at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, Calif.

Men’s Fitness: Abel, talk about the first time you met Gennady Golovkin and realized his incredible punching power.

Abel Sanchez: When I saw him hit the mitts I sat him down and I showed him a tape of Edwin Rosario and Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and I said, this is who you can be. If you ever saw that fight it’s like a classic Mexican-style fight. I said this is who you can be except your going to be able to knock people out with your power. If you give me three years – I put the number 1 through 12 on the board, I put Muhammad Ali on the top, I left number 2 vacant, number I put Floyd (Mayweather) or maybe Sugar Ray Robinson and went down the line. I said to him, I promise you if you give me three years, you’re going to be right here at No. 2. You’re going to be the best middleweight in the world, you’re going the most avoided fighter in the world, you’re going to be world champion, you’re going to be undefeated and we won’t be able to get you a fight. He looked at me real sheepishly and said C’mon Coach. He didn’t’ think it was true, like he never imagined that.

Gennady, you are one of the busiest fighters in the sport. You fought four times last year. How do you stay prepared?

I want to fight. For me, it’s very hard to train too much, just sparring, sparring, sparring. It’s boring. I want to fight. I know training is important because (it’s something I must do) but today will be like “OK guys, show me your new ideas. Show me some different positions.” I’ll look for my problems. I’ll work them out and then by Friday it’s like “OK guys (let’s do it again).”

Abel, what type of training schedule or regimen you have for your boxers? Does it depend of the fight?

I don’t have one. They never know what’s coming. I don’t want them too. All they have to do is show up at the time that I tell them too. What we do that day depends on how I feel that day. They know they are going to run three times a week and they are going to train. That’s it. Each day is different.

I’ve heard you repeatedly stress the importance of stretching to your boxers. How important is that in the fight game?

We stretch at least three times a day. It might sound silly but you have to think of your body like a stick of gum. If I give you a stick of gum and ask you to stretch it, what happens? It’s going to break. But if I chew that piece of gum for a few minutes then what happens? You’re able to stretch is much farther. It doesn’t break as easily. It’s the same thing for your body. I’m not saying that we never have injuries but it happens a lot less frequently.

These fighters are going through 10 weeks of intense training camps, what’s the importance of recovery and how do you advise your fighters to make the most out of their recovery time?

Everything is here. There’s ice, an ice bath, steam room and a sauna. The stretching does a lot for them as well. Listen, I’m training these guys to take care of themselves. They have to take care of their bodies. I’m not going to baby them. I think too much emphasis is put on science. They know what they have to do. Sugar Ray Robinson didn’t have all this. 

Gennady Golovkin, the world middleweight champion with the highest knockout ratio of any middleweight ever, has earned the reputation as the most feared and most avoided fighter in boxing. But he couldn't dodge me. I went two rounds with the champ—and survived (barely). I can tell you this though: His punching power is no myth. When I trained with GGG at the Summit High Altitude Training Center in Big Bear Lake, CA, I witnessed him demolish a heavy bag with one left hook. Golovkin has knocked put 27 fighters in 30 wins with 17 straight KOs.

But it's not just his punching power than has catapulted GGG to the top of boxing's conciousness as he prepares to fight Marco Antonio Rubio Oct. 18 at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. Golovkin's relentless training regimen, dominated by body-weight exercises and resistance training devised by his trainer Abel Sanchez, makes Golovkin one of the best conditioned knockout artists in the game.

Watch Golovkin in action as he squares off against Marco Antonio Rubio, LIVE on HBO, Oct. 18, 10 pm ET/PT. 

Three months into a six-month vocational training program at the Focus Personal Training Institute in New York City, students in the current class are asked to give advice to a new crop of students ready to start their own program. 

One by one they stand in front of 40 people. The audience of newcomers is already in shape, passionate about fitness, hoping to learn how to share that passion with future clients. 

The typical response tells new students that even if they are fit right now, they don’t know everything about exercise science. It’s sage advice to a group hoping to become personal trainers after concluding the intensive classroom and hands-on curriculum.

But recently, one student didn’t give a typical response. He was a veteran, fresh off a tour of duty overseas. He admitted to the group to having Post-traumatic stress disorder. He also admitted that three months ago, before starting at FPTI, he would not have been able to stand in front of 40 people to tell them he had PTSD. He started the program simply to learn a skill – personal training – that would help the transition back into civilian life, but he had come away with a higher sense of purpose and more self-confidence.

“It’s something we didn’t expect when we started working with veterans,” says Gabe Valencia, a co-founder of FPTI. Valencia and his business partner Joe Masiello, certified their vocational school with the Veteran’s Administration in March to accept benefits from former military members. The duo saw personal training as a natural fit for servicemen returning home. It’s physical and requires strong leadership. They did not expect it to help transition veterans back home socially, some just weeks off tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Vets have often lived a healthy lifestyle and  can be natural motivators," Valencia says. "They also seem to love helping people and relate well to the structure required in effectively implementing fitness programs."

Twenty veterans, from all branches of the military, have now completed the program at FPTI, most of them with aid from the Post 9/11 GI Bill. In either a three-month or six-month program, these veterans learn the science and practical skills to become personal trainers. 

It’s really not that hard to become certified as a personal trainer. All it takes is an Internet connection and a passed test. But as doctors and health care professionals work closer with the fitness industry, Valencia and Masiello see a greater need for better-educated and more effective personal trainers. Their students, including veterans, often end up as top performers in the highest-rated gyms around New York City.

"Successful trainers make their living in a gym setting, not sitting in a classroom or on computer. As such, competent training is as much about a practical skill set  and communication ability as it is book knowledge," Valencia says. "You can’t develop this skill effectively  with online instruction alone."

Which is why in the afternoons during a typical session on the training floor at FTPI, you will see veterans - used to brutal boot camp style training - developing the technical and social skills to motivate others. 

Chef Marc Forgione—the owner of a mini restaurant empire extending from Atlantic City, NJ, to downtown Manhattan—specializes in surprising combinations. Most of them happen in the kitchen, where Forgione is known for his inventive, melting-pot take on American cuisine: He puts corn flakes in his crab cakes, and sprinkles potato chips onto kampachi. Forgione’s beloved “chili lobster”—a dish inspired by Singaporean chili crab—mixes South Asian spices with a side of Texas toast. But, among his fellow chefs, Forgione may be best known for another unusual achievement: his body. At 35, Forgione has the kind of casually buff physique, with a trim waist and ripped upper torso, that would be an accomplishment for anyone. But in the food business—where a typical workday involves taste-testing new foie gras recipes, and the typical physique is best embodied by Mario Batali—Forgione’s fitness level puts him in “freak” territory.

“He’s a chef and sex symbol,” Dean Tsakanikas, Forgione’s general manager, and a husky former college football player, tells me, sounding a bit awestruck. “I don’t know how he does it,” Tara Glick, Forgione’s pastry chef, agrees. “He’s got a secret the rest of us don’t.” Forgione’s own staffers aren’t the only ones curious about his fitness regimen. There are roughly 50,000 restaurants in the greater New York metropolitan area, making the city a cradle of unhealthy temptation even if you don’t spend all your hours working in one of them. But in Manhattan kitchens specifically, the question circulates: How does Forgione pull it off? Is there a trainer on his payroll posing as a dishwasher, keeping a watchful eye on him? Or is he a kind of food-world Hindu mystic, blessed with a superhuman capacity for self-control?

The answer is neither, actually. Forgione’s fitness quest begins on a black BMX bike outside his apartment building in Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood. A little after 9:30 a.m. on a Friday, he meets me there. He doesn’t look very cheflike: Forgione wears his hair in a Mohawk, and with the bike, black Nike track pants, and visible tattoos, he resembles an X Games athlete. “I was just going to work out,” he says. Gesturing to the footrests on the bike’s back wheel, he suggests I hitch a ride on the “pegs.”

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Huh?

Forgione raises his eyebrows, making me feel like a line chef who’s just botched a soufflé. “You’ve never ridden on pegs before?” I clamber on, warily, and cling to his shoulders as he sets off down the sidewalks of Little Italy, dodging startled tourists as if they were traffic cones.

Forgione is a minor television star—in 2010, he won the Food Network’s Next Iron Chef competition, and he sometimes appears on NBC’s Today show—so, naturally, I assume we’re on our way to a VIP fitness locale. What will it be, a private workout with Matt Lauer’s trainer? David Barton’s personal boot camp for overweight celebrities? So I’m mildly disappointed when, minutes later, we arrive at our destination: a public park in Chinatown, where a few elderly people are doing tai chi. Forgione stops his bike in front of a battered metal structure that triggers flashbacks to long-ago recess periods and announces with pride, “This is my jungle gym!”

As it turns out, the buffest chef in New York stays in shape by swinging from a set of adult-size monkey bars. Forgione explains that he’s not a gym rat. “I have ADD,” he says. In the restaurant, his menus change constantly. Similarly, he finds pumping iron repetitive and boring. A few years ago he was halfheartedly going to the gym when a trainer friend, Jonathan Angelilli, convinced him to try a program he’d created, called Ninja Fitness Camp. It involved a lot of high kicks and “rolling around in the grass.” Forgione had an epiphany. He didn’t want to be a ninja, but, he says, “John showed me that it’s OK to relax and have fun while you’re working out. You don’t have to just sit there and try to bench-press 400 pounds. You can do other things.”

Forgione isn’t the type to employ a trainer. “I don’t like people telling me what to do,” he says. (It’s a chef thing.) So he decided to cobble together his own workout system, approaching it in the same way he concocts his recipes. Through trial and error, he arrived at a five-day rotation. He does one day a week at the gym, using machines to work out his chest and legs, then two days of weight training at home. Then he takes a “wild card” day—a bike ride up the West Side Highway, perhaps. Finally, he hits the jungle gym for a full upper-body workout and a little bit of cardio.

Forgione happened across the jungle gym by accident, while riding his bike to work. “I thought, hey, it’s one of those things I used to climb on when I was a kid!” He realized it met all his workout criteria. No. 1: “Bang for the buck.” Chefs often work 13-hour days, so he can only spare 45 minutes, tops—including commute. No. 2: It’s outside, which provides a nice contrast to hot stoves and windowless kitchens. And No. 3: It’s not too grueling. This is a convenience issue. “I’ll be honest with you,” Forgione says. “Everybody likes to have a drink after you work 13- or 14-hour days.” The fit chef program must remain hangover-compatible, so it can never be too grueling.

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Forgione hops onto the monkey bars and begins his routine. He swings across them once, then hangs from another bar and does 10 pullups. Then 20 pushups. Then, suspended between a set of horizontal bars, he does 10 dips, followed by 33 situps. While it’s not military level, the routine is harder than it looks. After watching him grunt and swing for a few minutes, I decide to attempt the monkey bars myself. I drop to the ground after two bars. Forgione encourages me to keep going.

“I go until failure,” he says. He does the circuit three times and then hops back on his bike. The workout is done in 15 minutes.Forgione wasn’t always in a position to dispense lifestyle tips. He grew up in the restaurant business—his father, Larry Forgione, owned An American Place, a New York City dining institution. As a high school athlete (football, lacrosse), Forgione began cooking, and quickly fell into a less-healthy routine: long hours in the kitchen followed by long nights at Park Bar, near Union Square. Flirtation followed boozing. “When you’re a young cook, especially in New York, that’s all you do,” he says. “You work, you drink, party, meet girls.” He’d stay out until 4 a.m., sleep until 11, and be back in the kitchen at noon to start over again.

This went on until 2009, when Forgione turned 30 and all of a sudden things changed. His life got “really serious, really fast,” he recalls. He moved in with his girlfriend, and acquired a mortgage. And, after years of toiling in other people’s restaurants, he scraped together enough money to open his own place, Marc Forgione (originally Forge), in Tribeca. Then the recession hit. No one was eating out, and Forgione’s new business began failing. “This was my first real-life problem,” he says. “It was like, what are you going to do, man, sink or swim?” Before change comes soul-searching.

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From the park, Forgione ferries me to his apartment, which is decorated with religious relics acquired during his time of reflection: Buddha statues, Catholic amulets, Native-American drums. Giving himself a spiritual makeover, he says, was the “first step” to getting his life under control. Having transformed his inner self, he came to realize that the outer self needed some work, too. He’d come a long way from his lacrosse-playing days: “Somebody took a picture of me on the beach from behind, and I was really upset. I had big love handles. It didn’t look good.”

He started working out seriously two years ago. He shows me his home-workout tools, which he uses during the second and third days of his fit chef routine. They’re New York City–apartment size: a Perfect Fitness Multi-Gym—one of those pullup contraptions that fits in your doorframe—and a pair of Bowflex adjustable dumbbells.

Forgione prefers short daily workouts. “For me, a half hour, five times a week gets better results than two-hour workouts three days a week,” he says. He’s also found that he gets buffer if he works just two body areas, rather than trying to do everything at once. On his first day of home weight training, he does arms and abs. For arms: biceps curls using the Bowflex weights (three sets of 12), biceps curls done as “21s” (three sets with varying range of motion), and chinups. For abs: 100 crunches, 60 leg lifts, and 36 more leg lifts using the Perfect pullup bar.

Forgione’s second day of weight training covers shoulders and back. For shoulders, he does a shoulder press (three sets of 12), lateral and front raises (five sets of 12), and shrugs (three sets of 12). To work on his back, he pushes two barstools together, making a “bench.” He then lies facedown on it and rows dumbbells to his sides.

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“The big thing was stuffing my face before going to sleep,” he says. “I used to eat cured meats and cheeses and bread.” Now he doesn’t even buy those things. He shows me his refrigerator, which is stocked with vegetables and sriracha sauce—his new favorite snack. “I know it sounds kinda hippie, but I just keep carrots and hummus and shit like that.”

Later that night I meet Forgione at American Cut, his steakhouse in Tribeca that opened in 2013. A little after seven, the after-work Wall Street crowd is already packing the bar. Customers can choose to top any steak dish with bone marrow, foie gras, chili lobster, an egg, or double-smoked bacon. Downstairs, the basement kitchen is hot and narrow, and Forgione is dressed all in black, pacing.

During a typical workday, he says, “I don’t have a real meal.” (The only thing that comes close is the restaurant staff’s 3 p.m. “family meal”; Forgione has a salad.) The rest of the night is a feat of grazing. He tries whatever the restaurant serves: steak, breads, desserts. “There’s never more than 15 minutes that I’m not eating something.”

A steakhouse diet? Sounds too good to be true. But Forgione assures me it works, because he never allows himself more than a bite. “You have to make sure you’re tasting, not eating,” he explains. I check this out with a sports nutrition specialist, Men’s Fitness adviser Nate Miyaki, who tells me that the key diet factors are the “macro” numbers—calories and the balance of nutrients. You can eat as many small meals as you want, as long as you get the overall numbers right. “By just tasting those things, he’s still probably in the calorie deficit necessary to lose fat and stay lean,” says Miyaki.

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Forgione takes me over to the garde manger, the salad and cold appetizer station. Then he begins grazing: A handful of celery root slaw (verdict: “Very good.”), a shred of sun-dried tomato, half a soft-boiled egg (to make sure the yolk is actually soft). There’s a tinful of bacon pieces, and Forgione takes a modest bite although, he admits, “Bacon is one of my favorite things.” The fit chef diet is turning out to be pretty enjoyable.

We move down the line to the hot apps station, and Forgione plucks little snails—to be served with bone marrow—from a tin, and pronounces them adequately garlicky. He samples a spoonful of chili sauce, for the chili lobster: creamy and spicy. He skips a tray of raw meat. “The steak’s good tonight,” he says. “We all tasted it.” Then he grabs what looks like a crispy potato chip made of animal fat. “Chicken skin?” he asks. “They go on the latkes.”

By 9:15 p.m., things are moving fast. Cooks are hunched over stove tops. Runners dart down the line, grabbing trays of food. Forgione is stationed at a marble service area, taking sips of water from a plastic bowl and barking out orders to the line cooks: “Forty-seven order fire! Put the broccolini on a plate!” The cooks shout, “Got it, Chef!” Someone plunks a plate of french fries under a heat lamp and announces, “Fries in the window!” Forgione samples a french fry, and clarifies what it means to be a fit chef.

“I still enjoy my life,” he says. “I live the way I want to. Some people think that, to look good and feel good, you have to drastically change, but that’s not true.” It’s almost 10 p.m., and Forgione has a long night ahead of him. He has plans to meet friends back at his first restaurant, then he’s going out.

“I’m going to see where the night takes me,” he says. “I’ll probably drink until I fall asleep.”

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