by James Nelson II
The only constant is change, someone wisely observed. Change can be good or bad, especially when it’s about your hair. Guys are more vain about their hair than they’d like to let on; and ,with the slow demise of the Barbershop industry and the rise in men frequenting the Salon, it’s time to consider how to communicate successfully with your stylist.
The first thing to consider is what is commonly referred to as the “consultation.” Most of the time, you walk in or pre-book (pre-booking is always wise, but we’ll discuss that later…) for a 30-45minute men’s cut appointment, you get 2 minutes if you’re lucky to stumble through trying to explain the mythical haircut you’ve always wanted, then wham/bam the scissors are moving and you are left with anything from outright failure, middling success, possibly outright success. You basically feel like you strapped in and waited for the ride to end, often feeling a little powerless to affect the outcome. Here’s how to change that! Most salons will offer a 15 minute consultation in advance of your scheduled appointment, but you have to ASK. Often, these consults are free, as the stylist and salon want to develop business with you.
Taking the time to discuss what you want, look at pictures and -most importantly-listen to what your stylist thinks, will take loads of pressure of everyone concerned. You’ll get a more thorough consult and increase the odds of a favorable cut as a result. Optionally, you could always ask to schedule the extra time on your first appointment, but this won’t allow you to walk away and consider everything discussed before letting the hair fly. Also, you have a chance to decide if the new stylist is the right fit for you, when booking a separate consult.
Seriously consider pre-booking all appointments. Hopefully you get a recommendation for a salon and operator that you can then arrange an appointment with. Walking into a salon and expecting to see a senior stylist that’s booked 6 or more weeks out, is probably going to result in your disappointment. You’ll either remain shaggy, or make a last second appointment with whomever is available, and you’ve just derailed your whole plan of success! Understand, walk-in appointments make salons happy, because they fill the books, and you can get a good style that way…but it’s not part of a carefully considered experience.
Things to remember during your consult…
If you bring pictures, make sure they are representative of your hair texture, thickness, and are good examples of what you would like to achieve. Understand and communicate how much effort you are willing to put into your hair daily. Remember, if your stylist needs a particular product to execute your style, then YOU need that product. Seek out a stylist who really listens to your goals, and clearly communicates back to you a sense of understanding your desired result. Lastly, listen to your stylist when they tell you what is and is not reasonable to achieve and how that needs to happen. Arguing with a stylist is the worst method for success, as you make an adversary of them: if you’ve never had any hairstylist make you happy, maybe it’s not the stylist…be a partner, be excited and interested. Do these things and you will be seen as someone that stylist WANTS to please and work with. Good luck!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Battling Testosterone Decline: Testosterone Boosting Foods
by Russ Klettke
All that talk about eating right that you’ve heard since second grade misses a Very Important Point. Eat the right foods (and exercise, and don’t drink too much) and you’ll be more of a man. We’re talking about testosterone, which when in decline can negatively affect muscle and bone mass, mood, energy and libido.
Time is inevitable. But there’s no need to help it along.
Eating right to support your man stuff is truly possible. Certain healthy foods with specific nutritional characteristics can stem the natural decline in testosterone levels that come with age. The peak of your testosterone levels is generally thought to occur in the early to mid-20s. But time isn’t an absolute determinant: you can stem the loss with smart nutrition and other lifestyle choices.
A little background: One battle affecting testosterone in a man’s body is estrogen – yup, we all have some of the female hormone in us; women have testosterone too, just in different proportions. Elderly men basically are overcome with estrogen, because in the end that hormone wins out. There’s a metaphor here but it does no good to dwell on it.
Testosterone production is assisted by ingesting a few things, as follows: zinc, cholesterol (yeah, some cholesterol converts to testosterone), fats, indole-3-carbinole and diallyldisulfide (a major volatile sulfur-containing compound in garlic). These testosterone-boosting nutrients are concentrated in certain foods:
Zinc: Oysters, enriched cereals, club soda, table salt, veal, escarole soup, crab, beans, lobster, beef, clams, lamb, endive, game meat (buffalo, deer), chicken heart, pork, bamboo shoots, Italian or Crimini mushrooms.
Cholesterol: Eggs WITH the yolk, cheese, red meat, soybean oil. One or two eggs a day is optimal.
Fats: Monounsaturated, from plant and fish sources, are important to balance against saturated fats, which are abundant in typical Western diets. So every time you have a beef burger, think about having nuts, seeds, olive oil and fish to balance it out elsewhere in the same day.
Indole-3- carbinole: This is a compound in cruciferous vegetables, a family which includes broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, bok choi and kale. Yes, cabbage.
Diallyldisulfide: This is in garlic and onions, the less cooked the better. The Journal of Nutrition reported a study (Yuriko Oi, et al., 2001) that backs this up. This research involved a cohort of rats that were fed beef alone while others received beef with garlic powder. The rats given garlic registered higher testosterone levels. One assumes they were less popular nonetheless because rats are not known to use mouthwash.
But note that too much of these foods, giving you a net-excess of calories beyond what you burn off, deposits fat on the body. Body fat itself produces estrogen, the enemy of cholesterol, and therefore would diminish your gains. Balance, variety and moderation rule once again.
All that talk about eating right that you’ve heard since second grade misses a Very Important Point. Eat the right foods (and exercise, and don’t drink too much) and you’ll be more of a man. We’re talking about testosterone, which when in decline can negatively affect muscle and bone mass, mood, energy and libido.
Time is inevitable. But there’s no need to help it along.
Eating right to support your man stuff is truly possible. Certain healthy foods with specific nutritional characteristics can stem the natural decline in testosterone levels that come with age. The peak of your testosterone levels is generally thought to occur in the early to mid-20s. But time isn’t an absolute determinant: you can stem the loss with smart nutrition and other lifestyle choices.
A little background: One battle affecting testosterone in a man’s body is estrogen – yup, we all have some of the female hormone in us; women have testosterone too, just in different proportions. Elderly men basically are overcome with estrogen, because in the end that hormone wins out. There’s a metaphor here but it does no good to dwell on it.
Testosterone production is assisted by ingesting a few things, as follows: zinc, cholesterol (yeah, some cholesterol converts to testosterone), fats, indole-3-carbinole and diallyldisulfide (a major volatile sulfur-containing compound in garlic). These testosterone-boosting nutrients are concentrated in certain foods:
Zinc: Oysters, enriched cereals, club soda, table salt, veal, escarole soup, crab, beans, lobster, beef, clams, lamb, endive, game meat (buffalo, deer), chicken heart, pork, bamboo shoots, Italian or Crimini mushrooms.
Cholesterol: Eggs WITH the yolk, cheese, red meat, soybean oil. One or two eggs a day is optimal.
Fats: Monounsaturated, from plant and fish sources, are important to balance against saturated fats, which are abundant in typical Western diets. So every time you have a beef burger, think about having nuts, seeds, olive oil and fish to balance it out elsewhere in the same day.
Indole-3- carbinole: This is a compound in cruciferous vegetables, a family which includes broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, bok choi and kale. Yes, cabbage.
Diallyldisulfide: This is in garlic and onions, the less cooked the better. The Journal of Nutrition reported a study (Yuriko Oi, et al., 2001) that backs this up. This research involved a cohort of rats that were fed beef alone while others received beef with garlic powder. The rats given garlic registered higher testosterone levels. One assumes they were less popular nonetheless because rats are not known to use mouthwash.
But note that too much of these foods, giving you a net-excess of calories beyond what you burn off, deposits fat on the body. Body fat itself produces estrogen, the enemy of cholesterol, and therefore would diminish your gains. Balance, variety and moderation rule once again.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Getting Buff: The Full-Body, Time-Efficient Workout That Produces Maximum Results In Less Time.
By Russ Klettke
Do you think spending more time at the gym is going to get you better results? To a point, yes. But past that point you will experience more than the law of diminishing returns (less results per minute). If it leads to a tendency to take longer rest periods between sets, it can actually make the workout less productive.
Scientific study bears this out. Particularly with men, strenuous weight-resistance exercise produces natural hormones that the body uses to build and repair muscles. This leads to both muscle growth and strength increases. Rest-period studies (Rooney 1994; Kraemer 1997; and McCall 1999) show that shorter rest periods, between one and two minutes duration, increase the amount of hormone production (this includes natural testosterone, which aids muscle growth).
But to use your time to even greater efficiency, you might actually use that 60 to 120 second rest period to exercise other parts of your body. For example, on a day when you’re particularly focused on shoulder presses, do one set of eight to 12 repetitions, then jump onto a floor mat to do a set of crunches. Don’t really stop moving through a three-cycle set of these two exercises.
To get even greater results layer on a progression, which is an increase in difficulty in second and third sets, to both exercises. For the shoulder presses, add a few pounds with each set, or slow your repetitions down to increase intensity without adding weight. With the floor crunches, you might put a 5-pound weight in your hands, held around the chest level, then proceed to perform the same number of repetitions.
In some circles, the first exercise is called the “load,” the second the “unload.” Some people actually perform two unloads for every load. In either configuration, always think about completing the unload in about a minute and allow almost no time in between the two exercises.
Here are some combination of load/unload exercises to try in the gym over your next several workouts:
Load – Unload
• Flat bench chest press – calf press
• Incline chest press – Roman chair (secured legs and hips, face down, raise torso and head)
• Tricep press – good morning (core)
• Shoulder press – forearm curls
• Lat pull – side tips (side torso stretch/press)
• Upright rows – Leg abductors
• Chin-ups (biceps) – Walking lunges (no weight)
• Leg extensions (quadriceps) – Side, light DB lifts (all shoulder with locked elbow)
• Leg curls (hamstrings) – Cable chest press (light weight)
• Leg squats – Light chest press
Do you think spending more time at the gym is going to get you better results? To a point, yes. But past that point you will experience more than the law of diminishing returns (less results per minute). If it leads to a tendency to take longer rest periods between sets, it can actually make the workout less productive.
Scientific study bears this out. Particularly with men, strenuous weight-resistance exercise produces natural hormones that the body uses to build and repair muscles. This leads to both muscle growth and strength increases. Rest-period studies (Rooney 1994; Kraemer 1997; and McCall 1999) show that shorter rest periods, between one and two minutes duration, increase the amount of hormone production (this includes natural testosterone, which aids muscle growth).
But to use your time to even greater efficiency, you might actually use that 60 to 120 second rest period to exercise other parts of your body. For example, on a day when you’re particularly focused on shoulder presses, do one set of eight to 12 repetitions, then jump onto a floor mat to do a set of crunches. Don’t really stop moving through a three-cycle set of these two exercises.
To get even greater results layer on a progression, which is an increase in difficulty in second and third sets, to both exercises. For the shoulder presses, add a few pounds with each set, or slow your repetitions down to increase intensity without adding weight. With the floor crunches, you might put a 5-pound weight in your hands, held around the chest level, then proceed to perform the same number of repetitions.
In some circles, the first exercise is called the “load,” the second the “unload.” Some people actually perform two unloads for every load. In either configuration, always think about completing the unload in about a minute and allow almost no time in between the two exercises.
Here are some combination of load/unload exercises to try in the gym over your next several workouts:
Load – Unload
• Flat bench chest press – calf press
• Incline chest press – Roman chair (secured legs and hips, face down, raise torso and head)
• Tricep press – good morning (core)
• Shoulder press – forearm curls
• Lat pull – side tips (side torso stretch/press)
• Upright rows – Leg abductors
• Chin-ups (biceps) – Walking lunges (no weight)
• Leg extensions (quadriceps) – Side, light DB lifts (all shoulder with locked elbow)
• Leg curls (hamstrings) – Cable chest press (light weight)
• Leg squats – Light chest press
Monday, March 15, 2010
Anti-Aging
Anti-aging is helping the skin regenerate, once it passes its first track of youth. This should begin around age 30, if not earlier! Male skin is thicker (it’s our testosterone) so there are more cells to feed! Using products specifically created for men will get the right ingredients to penetrate our skin. It is important to use the right product, delivering active ingredients; cells need to stay in good shape. If you have a skin care regimen already established, then you have begun the anti-aging process and put the brakes on aging. This regimen should include a daily moisturizer. Moisturizers activate enzymes for skin renewal while shedding dead upper levels.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Getting Buff: If You Want Bigger Arms, Work Your Legs
By Russ Klettke
For every guy who works out, there is a slightly different reason he exercises. It can range from getting in shape for a class reunion or tropical vacation to avoiding heart disease or diabetes. But there is a secret, universal motivator that few will admit to but none can deny: it’s about what you see in the mirror.
I’m not saying everyone is like mirror man. And God bless the guy who monitors his progress with a little, um, confidence. But a certain degree of male vanity is noted throughout the pages of recorded history, and that has only come full flower in the 21st century. Heck, if it motivates a person to pursue better health, what’s the problem?
A predicament occurs when you use a single, face-on mirror. We live in a 360-degree world, so what you’re checking out is not necessarily what the guy to your right or the girl behind you is seeing. So if it’s about appearances, consider all the angles.
A second level of problems arises, physiologically, from the mirror mentality. This is where your body becomes distorted by hard work on the front half, or upper half, of your full physique. For example, it’s when a guy’s shoulders pull forward by his considerably well-developed chest because he fails to work the upper back muscles (rhomboids, traps, posterior deltoids and lats). And then there’s the Mr. Toothpick Legs Syndrome, the guy who obviously skips the lunges, squats, abductors, adductors and calf muscle exercises because he has a crazy focus on his abs, arms, chest and shoulders. He thinks he’s hot at the beach, but keeps his sweat pants on even there.
A third problem from imbalanced exercise contributes to the first two. It’s based in how muscular development in men is assisted by testosterone. This is nature’s own Catch 22: The more muscle you work, and the more strenuously you work it, the more testosterone that is naturally produced. Nature having a sense of humor – or is it cruelty? – the biggest muscles are in the back and legs. So as it turns out, the non-mirror muscles are most crucial to creating testosterone to help you build muscles everywhere else. Bottom line: if you want to build bigger arms, work on your legs.
Working hard by looking back
Maybe it’s time to rethink your own workout. Here are fundamental exercises that every guy should incorporate into his routine to round out his body and kick up his testosterone levels in the process (all at the introductory levels, just to get started).
Legs and glutes
• Bodyweight squats (no weight to start, just get the form right and go slow)
• Walking lunges
• Abductors and adductors (here’s an abductor routine that doesn’t require a machine)
Back muscles
• Rhomboids
• Traps
• Lats
So how do you gauge your progress if you can’t see it? Get one of those tri-fold affairs like they have in a men’s suit department store – or ask the girl walking behind you.
For every guy who works out, there is a slightly different reason he exercises. It can range from getting in shape for a class reunion or tropical vacation to avoiding heart disease or diabetes. But there is a secret, universal motivator that few will admit to but none can deny: it’s about what you see in the mirror.
I’m not saying everyone is like mirror man. And God bless the guy who monitors his progress with a little, um, confidence. But a certain degree of male vanity is noted throughout the pages of recorded history, and that has only come full flower in the 21st century. Heck, if it motivates a person to pursue better health, what’s the problem?
A predicament occurs when you use a single, face-on mirror. We live in a 360-degree world, so what you’re checking out is not necessarily what the guy to your right or the girl behind you is seeing. So if it’s about appearances, consider all the angles.
A second level of problems arises, physiologically, from the mirror mentality. This is where your body becomes distorted by hard work on the front half, or upper half, of your full physique. For example, it’s when a guy’s shoulders pull forward by his considerably well-developed chest because he fails to work the upper back muscles (rhomboids, traps, posterior deltoids and lats). And then there’s the Mr. Toothpick Legs Syndrome, the guy who obviously skips the lunges, squats, abductors, adductors and calf muscle exercises because he has a crazy focus on his abs, arms, chest and shoulders. He thinks he’s hot at the beach, but keeps his sweat pants on even there.
A third problem from imbalanced exercise contributes to the first two. It’s based in how muscular development in men is assisted by testosterone. This is nature’s own Catch 22: The more muscle you work, and the more strenuously you work it, the more testosterone that is naturally produced. Nature having a sense of humor – or is it cruelty? – the biggest muscles are in the back and legs. So as it turns out, the non-mirror muscles are most crucial to creating testosterone to help you build muscles everywhere else. Bottom line: if you want to build bigger arms, work on your legs.
Working hard by looking back
Maybe it’s time to rethink your own workout. Here are fundamental exercises that every guy should incorporate into his routine to round out his body and kick up his testosterone levels in the process (all at the introductory levels, just to get started).
Legs and glutes
• Bodyweight squats (no weight to start, just get the form right and go slow)
• Walking lunges
• Abductors and adductors (here’s an abductor routine that doesn’t require a machine)
Back muscles
• Rhomboids
• Traps
• Lats
So how do you gauge your progress if you can’t see it? Get one of those tri-fold affairs like they have in a men’s suit department store – or ask the girl walking behind you.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Battling Testosterone Decline: Should you consider synthetic testosterone replacement drugs?
by Russ Klettke
After a decade of erectile dysfunction pharmaceuticals – which collectively had worldwide sales of more than $2.7 billion last year – the next frontier is testosterone replacement therapy. Why? A guy’s gotta be a guy, and when “T” levels go into decline, it can be a pretty disconcerting situation.
The fact of the matter is that testosterone in the general male population naturally declines after age 25. But what makes it worse is modern lifestyles. Alcohol, fatty food and inactivity make that decline worse. It can be described as a circular, negative loop cycle: as T levels decline, energy, mood and libido suffer. With less energy, you might work out less. No exercise means no endorphin hormones to lift your mood, so you might eat and drink more to get some kind of kicks. With weight gain, you lose your mojo and with lower testosterone your libido only goes further south. Viagra might help a bit, but if you aren’t really all that fired up an erection is like a snow shovel in Miami: you got it, you just have little interest in using it.
So will testosterone replacement therapy reverse this death spiral and get you back in the game? Yes…but. Doctors are able to prescribe it to just about anyone who reports low testosterone symptoms (appropriately confirmed with a proper blood serum test). But as with most medications, particularly those that trick the endocrine system (your hormones), there can be side effects:
• Acne
• Hair loss
• Sleep apnea
• Hemoglobin increase (polycythemia, good at a moderate level but bad when too high)
• Fluid retention
• Breast enlargement and tenderness
• Liver toxicity (bad if you have had hepatitis or take other medications that have an adverse effects on the liver)
• Enlarged prostate
Most ominously, there are no studies on the effects of testosterone therapy over time. According to Michael Werner, MD a Purchase, NY board-certified urologist who studies male sexual dysfunction, “it may promote the growth of cancerous prostate cells…the second most common cause of cancer deaths in older men.” Further, he warms that “long-term data is as yet not available” with regard to negative side effects of T therapy.
There are other ways to improve testosterone levels other than a pharmaceutical product. Yup, you guessed it: smart diet, exercise and other lifestyle choices (moderate alcohol, no tobacco and smart sleep habits). We’ll cover those in the next series of blogs.
After a decade of erectile dysfunction pharmaceuticals – which collectively had worldwide sales of more than $2.7 billion last year – the next frontier is testosterone replacement therapy. Why? A guy’s gotta be a guy, and when “T” levels go into decline, it can be a pretty disconcerting situation.
The fact of the matter is that testosterone in the general male population naturally declines after age 25. But what makes it worse is modern lifestyles. Alcohol, fatty food and inactivity make that decline worse. It can be described as a circular, negative loop cycle: as T levels decline, energy, mood and libido suffer. With less energy, you might work out less. No exercise means no endorphin hormones to lift your mood, so you might eat and drink more to get some kind of kicks. With weight gain, you lose your mojo and with lower testosterone your libido only goes further south. Viagra might help a bit, but if you aren’t really all that fired up an erection is like a snow shovel in Miami: you got it, you just have little interest in using it.
So will testosterone replacement therapy reverse this death spiral and get you back in the game? Yes…but. Doctors are able to prescribe it to just about anyone who reports low testosterone symptoms (appropriately confirmed with a proper blood serum test). But as with most medications, particularly those that trick the endocrine system (your hormones), there can be side effects:
• Acne
• Hair loss
• Sleep apnea
• Hemoglobin increase (polycythemia, good at a moderate level but bad when too high)
• Fluid retention
• Breast enlargement and tenderness
• Liver toxicity (bad if you have had hepatitis or take other medications that have an adverse effects on the liver)
• Enlarged prostate
Most ominously, there are no studies on the effects of testosterone therapy over time. According to Michael Werner, MD a Purchase, NY board-certified urologist who studies male sexual dysfunction, “it may promote the growth of cancerous prostate cells…the second most common cause of cancer deaths in older men.” Further, he warms that “long-term data is as yet not available” with regard to negative side effects of T therapy.
There are other ways to improve testosterone levels other than a pharmaceutical product. Yup, you guessed it: smart diet, exercise and other lifestyle choices (moderate alcohol, no tobacco and smart sleep habits). We’ll cover those in the next series of blogs.
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