3 New Workouts That Burn Fat Fast

You’ve long heard that abs are made in the kitchen. And while that adage is true, what you do in the gym counts, too.

“Exercise is way underrated when it comes to fat loss,” says BJ Gaddour, Men’s Health Fitness Director, C.S.C.S.

The key is to incorporate a variety of types of training, from cardio to strength training to metabolic conditioning, Gaddour says.

On the all-new episode of the Men’s Health Podcast, Gaddour reveals the latest, most effective fat-loss routines. And for a full 21-day fitness program created by Gaddour, try METASHRED from Men’s Health. One guy lost 25 pounds in just 6 weeks!

5 Fights Every Happy Couple Should Have

Whether you’re in the throes of newlywed bliss or you’re creeping toward your 20th wedding anniversary, one thing is for sure: You and your wife are bound to have a few heated fights along the way.

But flare-ups aren’t necessarily a bad thing. “Some arguing is necessary in a relationship,” says NYC-based marriage and family therapist Jane Greer, Ph.D.

“If you never make it clear that you disagree with one another, then the anger and resentment go underground and come out in retaliatory behaviors, which can weaken your relationship,” she says.

Power Up Your Routine

Whether you’re a weekend warrior, professional athlete, or somewhere in between, it’s key to remember that a healthy lifestyle is more than simply crushing your workout routine — fueling your body properly throughout the day is just as important. In a perfect world, we’d have all the time in the world to prepare healthy meals and snacks from scratch, but with schedules jam-packed like never before, that’s often a pipe dream. And while most health-conscious folks know their way around menus to select the most nutritious options, it’s all-too-easy to succumb to sugary or carb-rich snacks. So the next time you’re heading to the gym or about to embark on a busy day, grab a snack that’s high in protein while low in carbs and sugar, eliminating the dreaded sugar spike and crash. Our Men’s Health and Women’s Health Action Heroes know this is easier said than done. They’re here to help with some advice on how they fuel and re-fuel throughout their busy, active days with the new Atkins Lift line of protein bars and drinks.

How to Fix Your Stiff Neck In 60 Seconds

A knot in any muscle is a nuisance, but it’s especially frustrating when the offender is lodged in your neck or upper back.

And while getting a massage can work out the kink, chances are you don’t have time on your way to work to let the professionals get their hands on it.

Relax: You can actually knead away the cramp yourself in one minute, courtesy of Allyn Kakuk, D.P.T., a wellness physical therapist at the Mayo Clinic. Here’s how.

How to Get Rid Of Eczema

Dry skin is a standard skin issue—but what happens when your go-to moisturizer just isn’t cutting it?

If your dry skin looks red or patchy, or feels dry or itchy, it could be more than just dry skin. You may have a condition called eczema.

What Is Eczema?
Eczema—also known as dermatitis—is an itchy skin condition that usually shows up where your skin folds, like your elbows and knees, says Emma Guttman-Yassky, M.D., Ph.D., professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The Scary Truth About Lyme Disease

Michael Radonich remembers the day he got Lyme disease: It was late August 2012, the beginning of his first semester at the Wharton School in Philadelphia. He and his classmates had boarded buses for a day of ropes courses and bonding activities at a campground in the Pennsylvania woods.

About two weeks later, Radonich suddenly awoke to shooting pains in his scalp, as if someone had clipped electrodes to his temples. His heart rate began fluttering between 60 and 140 beats per minute. His experienced severe double vision, and then the left side of his body went numb. He was 28 years old, much too young to be having a stroke.

Science Just Discovered a Strange Link Between Naps and Diabetes

Pull your head out from under the covers: Taking long naps might increase your risk of heart problems and diabetes, a new meta-analysis presented at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) Annual Scientific Session suggests.

After analyzing data on more than 300,000 people from 21 different studies, the researchers concluded that people who napped more than 60 minutes a day—and who reported high levels of daytime fatigue—were about 50 percent more likely to develop diabetes than those who napped for less than an hour a day.

6 Reasons Your Breath Reeks - Other Than Bad Hygiene

You brush, floss, and rinse with mouthwash a couple times a day, avoid garlic bread on a first date, and always pop a mint after your morning coffee—yet somehow your breath still stinks. What gives?

Poor oral hygiene is not the most common cause of bad breath, says Harold Katz, D.D.S., bacteriologist, and founder of the California Breath Clinics. Most chronic bad breath is actually due to dry mouth: When you don’t have enough moisture, the bacteria that live in your mouth thrive.

“When you sleep at night there’s little or no saliva production,” explains Dr. Katz. “That’s what causes dryness and morning breath.”

Most Physicians Say It Takes 5 to 7 Attempts to Quit Smoking. Here’s Why They’re Wrong

It might take more tries than you think to finally stop smoking for good: Smokers may need close to 30 quit attempts before they finally succeed, new research in BMJ Open found.

That’s well above the 5 to 7 benchmark that physicians usually refer to.

The 5 to 7 estimate comes from how many quit attempts former smokers actually remember having taken in their lives, says the study’s lead researcher Michael Chaiton, Ph.D.

STUDY: 78% Of Health-Care Workers Don’t Properly Wash Their Hands

You’d think your doctor, of all people, would be diligent about washing her hands at work.

But many health-care workers are sloppy with their hand hygiene, according to a new study presented at the 2016 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) conference.

The researchers had undercover volunteers monitor hospital staff—including doctors, nurses, and even housekeeping—as they worked at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California.

Why Drinking a Little Booze Each Day May Be Killing You

There will be no broken coffee tables in this story. No blackouts, shots of Jager, thumping hangovers, or epic tales of tossing park benches into duck ponds. I’m not the guy who makes a scene or curls up asleep on a dog bed. This story is not about a booze blowout; it’s about a slow leak that could have left me empty and alone.

There’s a decent chance that you drink like I do. I enjoy a cold IPA when I get home from work; maybe a glass of pinot with a plate of pasta later. I drink liquor only a few times a year; I can’t think of more than 10 times, all big nights out, in the past few years when I might have thrown down five or more drinks in two hours, which is how the CDC defines binge drinking.

8 Secrets Of People Who Never Get Sick

You probably know at least one person who always manages to stay healthy, even when everyone around them is coughing, sneezing, and feeling miserable. Annoying, right?

So what’s their secret? We asked eight super-healthy people to reveal how they dodge colds and other common ailments. Read on and steal their tricks.

1. Supplement With C 
The scientific evidence that vitamin C improves immunity has been mixed. But Sam Jernigan of Grass Valley, California swears by it.

19 Ways to Live a Stress-Free Life

The biggest health threat for men isn’t heart disease or cancer. It’s the out-of-control stress reactions that cause or worsen those conditions in the first place. We talked to America’s coolest characters to learn how they cope. Steal their secrets and you’ll thrive in life’s pressure points—like they do.

1. ESTABLISH A ROUTINE
The stressor: All eyes are on you at a critical moment in the game (or the presentation, or the ceremony).

Beat that stress: When you establish a routine, the difficult becomes routine.

Why Some People Sweat More Than Others

Some people sweat more than others. Exercise with a group, and the differences become obvious.

But what determines these variations?

Answers have traditionally focused on factors like body fat percentage (more fat insulates you and makes you overheat sooner) and aerobic fitness (the fitter you are the less you sweat).

At the American College of Sports Medicine meeting this spring, Matthew Cramer of the University of Ottawa and Ollie Jay of the University of Sydney presented some results that challenged those ideas. That data has now been published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, and it has some surprising twists.

The problem with previous studies is that body fat and aerobic fitness (VO2 max) tend to correlate with other factors. People with lots of body fat tend to weigh more—so is it the insulative properties of fat that matter, or is it simply being bigger and having to haul around more weight?

5 Things Losing Weight Will Never Fix

Think losing weight will make you happier, more confident, and kick-ass at work? Well, it doesn't really work like that...

That's something Kelsey Miller, author of Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting And Got A Life, learned the hard way. “I used to tell myself, 'You can do this when you’ve lost X pounds.' That feeling was holding me back in my career and my friendships—it even stopped me from leaving the house," she says.

“The message that weight loss will fix our problems surrounds us,” says clinical psychologist Terese Weinstein Katz, Ph.D., author of the ebook Eat Sanely: Get Off The Diet Roller Coaster For Good. “There’s a fantasy that thin people are ultimately happier.”

While losing weight might make you feel unstoppable at first (and possibly improve your overall health), there are a few issues that dropping pounds definitely won't resolve. So before you set a goal weight, make it your mission to work out the kinks now—not post weight-loss success.

6 Modern Medical Breakthroughs That Are About to Change the Health Game

Thanks to science, we now know more about our health than ever before.

It seems like there are game-changing medical breakthroughs happening all the time, but here are six of the most fascinating advancements. They might just become standard operating procedure someday soon.

1. The Fecal Transplant
Sure, it sounds pretty gross, but popping poop pills can do everything from take on obesity, to treat irritable bowel disease and UTIs, to possibly even fight serious diseases like Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.

How to Function After a Sleepless Night

You know how important it is to log a solid 7 to 8 hours of shuteye every night. But we understand: Sometimes research papers, newborn babies, and House of Cards marathons get in the way.

So what should you do when morning rolls around and you’re completely running on empty? Follow these tips to wring the best from your exhausted body.

Scrub Your Face

Research in the British Medical Journal shows that when you miss out on sleep, people perceive you as less attractive and less healthy. This is because your skin releases toxins through your sweat glands at night, says Lesley Corridan of the International Dermal Institute.

How to Clear Phlegm From Your Throat

The phlegm in your throat is like the booger in your eye: You don’t really know how it got there, but removing it is kind of gross.

While we’ll save our eye booger exposé for another day, it turns out phlegm actually serves a useful purpose: The thick, sludgy substance—made up of mostly water, salt, and antibodies—is designed to help capture and clear bacteria and other unwanted microorganisms from your nose and throat, says Brett Comer, M.D., an assistant professor in the division of rhinology, sinus surgery, and allergy at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

How to Increase Your Odds Of Surviving a Heart Attack

Reason #37,421 to exercise: Fit people who suffer a heart attack are less likely to die from the ailment than those who are out of shape, finds new research from Johns Hopkins University.

In the study, scientists analyzed the MET scores of people who performed a 15-minute treadmill stress test. MET—or metabolic equivalent of a task—is a measure of activity that takes into account both the length and intensity of your workout.

Is Cardio Necessary For Super-Low Body Fat?

You’ve probably heard a fitness guru declare, with biblical certainty, that “abs are made in the kitchen.”

It’s one of the more absurd clichés. The guys you see in Men’s Health, or in supplement ads, or posing down in a bodybuilding contest, built those bodies in the weight room, and then employed superhuman discipline to stay out of the kitchen while dieting down to photo-ready shape.

But there’s one more part of their program, and it involves something the average meathead doesn’t like to think about: cardio. We know anecdotally that bodybuilders do a lot of it. But is it absolutely necessary?