Last month, I talked about how I’ve reincorporated weight machines into my strength-training workouts to good effect. This year, we’ll be doing some articles on how to use various weight machines properly. One of the benefits of using machines is that they have a much easier learning curve than lifting barbells. But there are a […]
The overarching principle of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is that the harder you do an exercise, the more physiological benefits you accrue; thus, by incorporating intervals of higher intensity efforts in your workouts, you can get more fitness bang for your buck in less time. When we think about HIIT, we tend to think about
When you’re lifting weights, you might be thinking about setting a new PR or doing your curls for the girls. But throughout history, philosophers have thought about physical fitness on a deeper level and considered how exercise shapes not only the body, but also the mind and the soul. My guest today, Joe Lombardo, is
During a season of intense stress in history, Carwood Lipton, an elite World War II paratrooper from the Band of Brothers, provides a prime example of someone who held things together. On a wintery evening in Belgium’s Bois Jacques woods, Sergeant Carwood Lipton slipped through the twilight from foxhole to foxhole, encouraging the soldiers in
When you have a license to kill, you’ve got to keep yourself in tip-top shape. So what did James Bond do for his workout? From the James Bond novels, we know that 007 liked to do all sorts of physical activities that could count as exercise: boxing, judo, swimming, and skiing. He was also a
Walk into any commercial gym, or even a hotel fitness center, and you’ll probably see a cable machine and/or a functional trainer. A cable machine features two weight stacks connected by a cross-beam. The weights in each stack can be adjusted by the user and are lifted through a system of pulleys and cables that
Since March, I’ve been waking up earlier. Before that time, I’d typically go to bed at 11 p.m. and naturally wake up between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. Then, for some reason, regardless of what time I went to bed, I started spontaneously waking up between 5:30 and 6 a.m. Consequently, I moved my bedtime earlier,
You’re probably familiar with the mythological tale of Hercules (or “Heracles” as the hero was originally called) from books, comics, and movies. But while Hercules is often rendered as a kind of one-dimensional superhero in popular culture, my guest today argues that he’s actually quite a complex character, and that the story of how he
Teddy Atlas was born to a well-respected doctor in a wealthy part of Staten Island. Most kids like him end up going to an Ivy League school to become some sort of white collar professional. Teddy? Teddy dropped out of high school, went to jail, and ended up becoming a trainer to 18 world champion
With our archives now 3,500+ articles deep, we’ve decided to republish a classic piece each Sunday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in May 2018. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour
