“At the end of high school, I stopped playing sport and I really let myself go bit,” says Jeffery, who’s joining Men’s Health today on our new Turning Point podcast. “About a year after high school I was about 112 kilos. I was almost double what I am now. But a couple of key moments hit home. And they weren’t very nice turning points. They were kind of bullying turning points where I went, Oh, okay, I’m not very comfortable in my body anymore. And because of the things people have said I thought, I mustn’t be okay, which isn’t true, but as a kid, how do you take that in? Somebody says something inappropriate about your weight, you’re like, Oh, well that’s my fault. That’s on me. Which isn’t true.”

Stung into action, after high school Jeffery began working out and overhauling his diet, ditching sugary drinks and fatty snacks. “I stopped drinking two litres of soft drink a day, which is never a good idea,” he laughs. “A lot of fried food and all that kind of stuff. And then slowly over a year lost about 10 or 15 kilos.”

At the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), the physical nature of round-the-clock classes and constant performing would see Jeffery’s weight tumble even further.

The actor continued to slim down as his Hollywood career took off. His role in Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, Unbroken, back in 2014, required him to lose 20 kg. From there, he would land parts in a series of war epics like Gallipoli and Before Dawn, that required further stretching, moulding and fashioning of his physique to inhabit characters in ways that were creatively honest.

Now, in perhaps his biggest role to date, Jeffery is swapping combat fatigues for the furry fun of motion-capture tech in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. And while transformations and fluctuations in weight are part and parcel of being a Hollywood actor, in preparing for the unique role of Anaya in the iconic blockbuster franchise, Jeffery faced his biggest challenge yet.

Having worked out with transformation specialists Chief Brabon and Emilie Brabon-Hames for the past three years, Jeffery sought their counsel back in October to prepare for Apes reshoots and an upcoming film called Birthright. “When we really upped it in October, that’s when I really got a taste of Chief and Em’s magic and what they can do,” says Jeffery.

Here, in his own words Jeffery takes us through his journey from humble country kid to Hollywood star and details the training he put in to get in the best shape of his life.

***

SPORT WAS A big deal in the Jeffery household. My dad was a VFL footy player. He played for Prahran and then went on to captain-coach the Healesville footy side for many years. But it wasn’t just my dad. My mum was a professional diver before going to the Air Force and then working for ASIO. She’s a very, very smart woman.

I was adequate at a few sports. I tried probably every sport under the sun, played heaps of footy. I was never going to be a professional sportsman but a lot of the skills I learnt from my mum and dad growing up playing sport – tenacity, you only get out what you put in and commitment – all that is directly applicable to what I do today. They were very valuable lessons growing up.

Around year 9 or 10, I got to the point of where I was like, I’ve got to stop smacking my head against this brick wall of trying to be a professional sportsman. I was talked into doing a school play, a parody of Dracula called the Bride of Spatula. I had one line, it was sung. I can’t sing. I was going through puberty, my voice was breaking. But every night I got up there and I did it and I pushed through the fear and I fell in love with making people laugh and helping people escape for a couple of hours. I joined the Youth Theatre Group and I just fell in love with the community and with storytelling.

***

I WAS A bit of a class clown. It’s funny because the older I’ve got, the more introverted I’ve become, then the more acting I do, the more introverted I get. And that’s probably not the best combo. But a lot of actors are introverted and stick to themselves. When you’re at home or when you’re with mates, you just want to enjoy yourself and not draw too much attention. But I was definitely was a big class clown. It was a defensive mechanism for not doing so well at school. My attention span wasn’t great. Anything that wasn’t media or doing a play, I just couldn’t really sink my teeth into, so I made other people laugh instead.

So, I just distracted myself and had fun, always writing movies in my head and writing scripts when I should have been doing other work. From mid-high school, I knew making films and writing was what I wanted to do and then that shifted into acting. But it never really felt professionally accessible. Growing up on a cattle farm, you’re like, Well, what’s the avenue into this world? I had no clue.

People were like, ‘Hey, you’ve got some talent. What you do is great’. And I was like, ‘Oh, cool, this might just be where it ends though’. It’s like, I’m the kid that’s good at acting in their hometown, and then sooner or later I’m going to have to find something else to do to support the rest of my life.

And it’s a bit of a scary thing when you’re going like, Oh, should I chase acting? Growing up in a working-class town, it’s like, ‘Well, what’s your real job?’ Even when you’re working in the industry, you still got to do other things for money. It’s a very unstable industry.

I started looking into drama schools and I auditioned for NIDA one year and didn’t get in, and the next year I was like, Oh, let’s have a crack at WAAPA, as well as NIDA. I remember one day I was just wandering down the aisles of Coles and I got a call from a bloke called Chris Edmund who ran WAAPA. He’s like, ‘Hey bud, just want to let you know that somebody’s just dropped out. There’s a place for you. Do you want to come over in three days?’ And I was like, ‘Yep, absolutely’. And he’s like, ‘Take a bit of time to think about it’. I was like, ‘No, I’ll be there in three days’. So, I packed up my life and got on a plane and went to Perth.

Going to drama school, I was like, Oh, this is a bit scary. Are my parents going to be okay with this? And it wasn’t until I graduated and was a couple of years into the industry and my dad and I were having a chat and he’s like, ‘Look, when I was speaking to my guidance counsellor about jobs at school, acting was my number one pick but I didn’t go through with it. I didn’t bring it up because it’s a non-existent job. It’s not a job that people like us, growing up on a farm, can do’. And he was like, ‘I’m really proud of you for chasing it. I’m really proud of you for taking the leap and chasing what you want to do’.

***

UNBROKEN WAS AMAZING. It was such an incredible experience and one I never expected. I came out of drama school, got a job working reception at a gym, was setting myself up for a slow burn, which is what you got to do. You have to appreciate everything, expect nothing. Then these auditions started for Unbroken. At the time, they kept saying, ‘We want you to do some auditions with Angelina Jolie’. I was terrified but I got the job.

The major takeaway from that experience was just the scale. Just how many jobs there are on films and how many people are working their butts off to make something beautiful. And you don’t know going into these things, especially American productions, you’re like, Oh, is it going to be like what everybody says? Is it going to be big Hollywood glamour and will there be divas? But that set was just the most humble, down-to-earth set, and it all came from Angie. She’s so, so kind. She leads with kindness. She was so passionate about making this story. And because she’s been an actor for so long, her dialogue with actors was amazing. She was a really fantastic director.

It was also a great experience for pushing myself physically. That was my first big physical transformation. I lost 20 kilos in two or three months. Because we’re playing POWs we wanted to honour these soldiers as best we could. So, we pushed it as hard as we could and it was really a really special experience and a great way to open my eyes to the scale of the industry.

(L-R): Noa (played by Owen Teague), Soona (played by Lydia Peckham), and Anaya (played by Travis Jeffery) I Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

***

KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is a dream job for me. Growing up, I was always climbing up hay bales, climbing trees, always getting told to stop climbing stuff. It [Apes] was another one that when you get the audition, you go, Ah, okay, that’s not going to happen. That’s out of my reach. When I talk about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, there’s no playing it cool for me.

And the main reason for that is because I’ve always loved movement. I’ve got to thank my teacher at drama school, Lisa Scott Murphy, for a lot. She really kicked off my interest and hunger and my exploration of physicality, whether it be playing Stewie [in Gallipoli] or playing an ape.

We had this incredible movement coach, Alain Gauthier. He’s so precise and he’s so detailed in his work. And we spent six weeks with him, turning into chimps at this thing called Ape School. You go, ‘Okay, what’s Ape School?’ And you rock up on day one and everybody’s a bit nervous and we’re all trying to do our best warm-ups. And he’s like, ‘Everybody relax, there’s no winning here’. So, we got into it and the thing that drove us was how much everybody was putting in, because you feel like an idiot to begin with. Just making chimp noises, doing all the movement. It’s like being back in drama school.

The great Andy Serkis mentored us in the week leading up, pre-shoot. Weta, the digital effects company, set us up in the studios. It’s a big play space. We were on a big grey carpet with all these motion sensor infrared cameras around us picking up our suits and they get our physicality and stuff. So, they’re live transmitting us with an ape on top, so we could see how the last five weeks of training was translating in our body.

And then we’d run through scenes with Andy. And he’s such an intelligent man so we were just so grateful to have him with us. It was too much fun. It was more fun than you should be allowed to have as an actor.

Jeffery at the global premiere of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in LA.

***

BEFORE TRAINING WITH Chief and Em, I’d call my workout style just floundering around a gym, trying heaps of different things, mixing stuff up, not eating well. Looking back on the previous transformations I did for some of my roles, I don’t think I was doing it in the right way. I had no idea.

For Unbroken, for example, I was just drinking slim shakes because you go, That’s how I’m going to lose weight. And you do, you lose weight, you’ve got nothing going into your body, it’s so unhealthy. And then I’d finish shooting and just blow out because I’d be like, Great, let’s eat everything. And my body’s like, I don’t know what to do with this stuff anymore. Let’s just stick it to the walls and keep it for later because you’ve been in survival mode for the last couple of months.

I’ve been training with Chief and Em, on and off, for the last three years and what’s great about them is it’s so clear, it’s so easy. I met them through a mate of mine, Tim Franklin, before we went over to Perth to shoot a film called Before Dawn. He was like, ‘You’ve got to come down to the beach with Chief and Em. They’re incredible. They’ll absolutely kick your ass on the beach’. I was like, ‘How hard can it be?’ So, I started doing their Original Boot camps on Coogee Beach at 5:30 am, three times a week. And it was brutal, but an amazing way to start the day. And the boot camps were a great way to get in shape for a lot of the cardiovascular stuff for Before Dawn.

But Chief and Em really ramped up the training from October onwards, when we began working on a transformation for the Apes re-shoots. That’s when we really got stuck into Chief’s DARC training method: dynamic, aerobic, resisted conditioning. It’s hybrid training and it’s absolutely amazing because movement, first and foremost, has always been what’s important to me. Just making sure that I can move well. And it was so important for Apes and that’s what they’re all about, that hybrid training of movement and strength.

I do the boot camps three times a week. That’s a lot of cardio, a lot of weighted bars on the beach, a lot of bodyweight stuff. And then the sun comes up, you go for a dip, then you get in a studio and they [Chief and Em] just up the ante again. I’d jump into their studio five days a week and then I do a ‘SKWOD’ with them on Saturdays. I was going hard but it was a good challenge.

I learned during this transformation that the assault bike is the most aptly named piece of equipment in the fitness industry. It’s terrifying but it really worked well for me. Yes, it was challenging. The last six months has probably been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but I loved it because it was something that was making me feel better every day and there were no excuses, you use whatever you have around you. Over the last three months I’ve used trees as pull-up bars, rocks to incline or decline. My dad was a mechanic for a long time, so I used his hoist for dips and for pull-ups and car parts for weights. There’s no getting out of it, which is really important because when you get tired, when you get fatigued, it’s easy to slip.

Nutrition-wise, Em is all over your diet. She really makes it really accessible, really easy to understand. When you start a transformation with Chief and Em, you reset your body. You don’t realise how much crap you’re addicted to. I’ve got such a sweet tooth but Em said to me, ‘You don’t have a sweet tooth, you’ve got a sweet brain. You’re just addicted to these things’. When you start the eating program with her, it feels like a diet to begin with because you’re cutting out all this stuff that we’re so used to eating – processed food and chocolate and all this stuff. But by week three and four you’re like, Oh, this isn’t a diet. This is just eating really well. I was getting up to eating a kilo of veggies a day and having more energy than I’d ever had.

These last couple of months I’ve started to realise the importance of celebrating the little turning points that you have, every day, like getting up, going to the gym. That’s a massive win, especially coming from the kid that was quite overweight and bullied. And I would beat myself up so much for eating junk food or not going to the gym just because I felt so ashamed. Because that’s what people make you feel like when you’re overweight.

But working with Chief and Em helped me change that mindset and really prioritise training and healthy eating and to celebrate those little steps. I’m so proud of where I am right now.

Get in primate shape

PART ONE:

Repeat this mini-circuit 4 times, with no more than 1 min between exercises.

PRONATED GRIP PULL-UPS (AKA Overhand Grip): max reps

• Do as many as possible, then revert to negative only pull-ups, using a jump-box or similar to help get you to the top position. Now take your weight, pause for a moment, then slowly lower yourself down until your arms are straight, then use the box to get back to the top again and repeat.
• Aim to complete at least 10 reps in total each set.

BENT-OVER BICEP ROW: 8 – 14 reps

• Set yourself up as you would for a standard bent-over barbell row, but with your hands supinated (palms up).
• Before you start the row, roll your knuckles back towards you.
• Now, as you row the bar towards you, aim for it to touch your solar plexus. This will utilise your biceps far more than a standard row.

TREADMILL SURGES: 4 sets

• Walk for 10 sec, then Jog for 10 sec.
• At the 20 sec mark gradually increase your speed over the next 30 secs until you are sprinting for the last 10.
• Slow back down to a walk and repeat the process three more times.

PART TWO:

Again, repeat the mini-circuit below 4 times, with no more than 1 min between exercises.

NEUTRAL GRIP PULL-UPS (AKA Hammer Grip): max reps

• Just like the Pronated Grip Pull-ups, do as many as possible, then revert to negative only pull-ups again.
• Aim to complete at least 10 reps in total each set.

BICEPS DRAG: 8 – 14 reps

• Set yourself up as if you are about to do a standard barbell curl.
• When you start to lift the weight intentionally allow your elbows to travel backwards in a rowing fashion. At the same time drag the bar up the front of your body until it touches your solar plexus, before lowering it back down to the start position.

STATIONARY BIKE SURGES: 4 sets

• Cycle with minimal resistance in a seated position for 10sec, then add resistance for 10 sec.
• At the 20 sec mark increase the resistance again and stand up. Gradually increase the  resistance over the next 30 secs until you feel like you are climbing a mountain for the last 10.
• Reduce the resistance, sit down, slow back down to an easy pace, before repeating the process three more times.

FINISHER

ALTERNATING GORILLA ROW: max reps in 90 sec

• Start with two kettlebells of the same weight between your feet.
• Bending your knees, and hinging slightly forward, reach down and take hold of the handles. Your upper body should be almost parallel to the ground.
• Pressing down into the handle of the left kettlebell, row the right kettlebell up, trying to twist the body as little as possible.
• Once the right kettlebell is back on the ground, press down into its handle as you row the left one up.

Listen to Travis’ episode on The Turning Point podcast:

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The post How Travis Jeffery got ripped for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

It was 9.53pm on a ‘school night’. I looked at my wife. Should we keep going? I felt the familiar grip that a great series can exert on you, gluing you to the couch, unable to resist the pull of finding out what happens next but knowing choosing to stay up could come back to haunt you the next morning. Then, as you wake bleary-eyed, you curse yourself for not calling time on the show at a reasonable hour.

This experience is not unique to Baby Reindeer by any means. This year alone I’ve felt similar levels of paralysis when watching One Day, Heartbreak High, Shrinking and any number of other streaming shows that ruled my world for a few nights, but tellingly perhaps, I now struggle to recall. Part of me loves being in the midst of a streaming binge. The knowledge that you have something good to watch at night gives you a treat to look forward to as you wash the dishes or, if you’re a parent like me, an escape from Bluey.

When you don’t have a series on the go life suddenly becomes more aimless. You face the endless scroll for a show that captures your interest. The number of shows my wife and I have started and abandoned after 15 minutes or so means the “Continue watching for Ben” tab on my Netflix carousel is one of the biggest on my account. Restlessness, boredom, ennui all come calling. A good series is a blessed relief. If you didn’t know better, you’d call this behaviour an addiction.

Is it though? Binge-watching has become a burgeoning field of research after the term was first recognised by the Oxford Dictionary back in 2013. Since then, many researchers have pointed out the practice’s similarities with addictive behaviour, namely its engagement of the same neural pathways.

“When engaged in an activity that’s enjoyable such as binge watching, your brain produces dopamine,” says clinical psychologist Dr Renee Carr. “This chemical gives the body a natural, internal reward of pleasure that reinforces continued engagement in that activity. It is the brain’s signal that communicates to the body, ‘This feels good. You should keep doing this!’”

But the behaviour could be a symptom of underlying issues rather than a cause of them. A study of Taiwanese adults found problematic binge-watching was associated with depression and anxiety related to social interaction. Similarly, a study from Georgia Southern University found associations between binge-watching and anxiety and depression.

But binge watching may also have less sinister motivations, such as boredom or a desire for escapism. A study by Portuguese researchers found participants had positive changes in mood after watching sci-fi, while their “negative affect values” decreased after watching comedy and slightly increased after watching drama.

Regardless of whether you classify binge-watching as an addiction, there’s no denying that it can impact your sleep.

As well as the impact of the message (the show), there’s also the effects of the medium (your 64-inch flatscreen). Blue light emitted by your TV screen suppresses the production of the sleep hormone melatonin, which can keep you awake for longer, often processing what you’ve just watched – I did this after watching episode five of Baby Reindeer.

So, what should you do if you’re in the midst of a streaming binge?

Make a plan going in

Decide on a limit beforehand, say two episodes. Or a time limit. If your normal bedtime is 10pm, then enforce a hard cut-off, no matter where you are in the episode or how climatic the scene you’re watching.

Take a break between episodes

Pause the screen during the countdown to the next episode. Get some water, go to the bathroom, have a chat about what you’ve just watched with your partner. By taking a break you might find you’re good for the night.

Don’t watch in bed

Ideally, you shouldn’t have any screen time an hour before bed. By having the TV in another room you’re at least creating some kind of break, however brief, between hitting stop and hitting your pillow.

 Don’t be too hard on yourself

Don’t beat yourself up if you slip up; everybody does it. Tomorrow is a new day, a new episode, a new series. The journey starts again.

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The post Baby Reindeer and the lure of the binge-watch appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Founder Julius Burphy, who was in Australia last week taking locals through the workout in his role as an ambassador for powdered hydration supplement Liquid I.V, says the workout was born out of the boredom he felt during lockdown.

“There was a lot of down time during the pandemic and working in the fitness industry for a long time and doing the same classes over and over, it just got very boring to me,” says Burphy, 32, a trainer and former bodybuilder from Manchester. “I’ve always wanted to do something fun, something that would be uplifting.”

Burphy looked into Zumba and CrossFit but wanted something that gelled with his exuberant, fun-loving personality. “I was looking to step aerobics and I thought that it could be a really fun way of putting hip-hop, R&B, Afrobeat stuff, a lot of stuff that represents me, into a workout,” he says.

He remembers ordering a stepper and practising at home, inspired by the many step aerobics classes that have come before him. Eventually he came up with a free-form, 45-minute step class he says can burn up to 500 calories an hour.

Burphy’s classes quickly became a hit on TikTok – Burphy’s recent posts have garnered over 4.4m likes on the platform. The response surprised the trainer, who believes the reason for the workout’s popularity is simple: it’s fun. “I think the reason why it blew up that much is because people just like watching me and my customers having fun in class,” he says. “And that’s what I was always trying to do. When people come to class I make sure they have the best time ever. And when it radiates like that on camera, on film, I think a lot of people just gravitate towards it.”

@juliusburphy

This one had us sweating but so much fun 😂 #fypシ #foryoupage #stepperton #juliusburphy #hiphopstepaerobics #afrostep #funcardio #lamamadelamamaelalfa #elalfa

♬ La Mamá De La Mamá Del Sax (Saxo Tribal) – Dj Jhonaz

So, why would you choose a Stepper-Ton class over, say, a HIIT session? Burphy says the workout is a serious calorie burner that’s great for fat loss and, most-importantly, isn’t boring.  “For anyone who doesn’t like running on treadmills, or doesn’t like high-intensity interval training, this class is the best class for them.”

It’s for this reason that as well as offering a dynamite cardio burn, the workout can also pay significant mental health dividends, Burphy says.

A recent study published in the British Medical Journal found dance to be the best form of exercise to treat depression, proving more effective than simply prescribing participants with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Dancing produced the largest reductions in depression symptoms among study participants, while exercises like walking or jogging, yoga and aerobic exercise with therapy were runners-up.

Similarly immersive, Stepper-Ton requires concentration and focus to follow the designated moves, while the group dynamic offers important social connections, Burphy says.

“From the feedback I get from my members, they tend to come in feeling all gloomy because they had a tough day, or they’re overthinking a lot of stuff and then after class they’re all in a better mood,” he says.

Burphy was in Australia for the launch of Liquid I.V., conducting classes at the ‘House of Hydration’ at North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club. When asked about the appeal of the product, Burphy again draws on the desire for variety and stimulation. “I’m just one of those guys that finds drinking water a bit boring after a while,” he says. “So, when Liquid I.V. reached out to me, and knowing they were the number one powdered hydration brand in the US, it was a no-brainer for me to partner up with them.”

Burphy, who is currently criss-crossing the globe spreading the Stepper-Ton gospel, likes the mobility offered by Liquid I.V.’s powdered hydration.

“It is very convenient,” says Burphy, who favours the Lemon Lime flavour. “It’s very easy to use. If I want to take it on a trip, it’s really good to take wth me.”

Research commissioned by Liquid I.V. found three-quarters of Australians (76%) agree they live a wellness-focused lifestyle, with water consumption/hydration (66%) considered one of the top three most important factors of wellness, alongside mental health (77%) and physical health (66%). The majority of Aussies (97%) agree that maintaining hydration is important to their overall wellness, so much so that six in ten (61%) Aussies are open to trying different hydration hacks or shortcuts. However, almost two-thirds (63%) still admit to feeling dehydrated at least once a week, while a staggering 1-in-4 (25%) report experiencing dehydration daily.

Having conquered social media, Burphy’s goal now is to take his workout to the world. “I feel like everywhere around the world, there’s someone that would like to do a Stepper-Ton class,” he says. “Hopefully there will be a Stepper-Ton class for everyone one day.”

Liquid I.V.® Hydration Multiplier is available at Chemist Warehouse for $19.99 for a 10-pack and $39.99 for a 24-pack.

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The post Stepper-Ton: the cardio workout that’s putting the fun back in fitness appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Sadly, a cruel knee injury suffered during preseason has robbed fans of the chance to see Smith in action this year. The 23-year-old tore his ACL in December and is currently deep in the midst of rehab. Like everything he does, rehab has been a challenge Smith has thrown himself into.

“Initially, it’s a big change to your routine,” says Smith, a campaign face for Ralph Lauren Fragrances, who chatted to MH trackside at the Australian F1 Grand Prix last weekend. “But now I’m a lot more physically able. Started running, boxing, sparring. It’s just something else I can put my energy into, another way I can compete.”

Smith looked set to have an impressive 2024 having won the Bulldog’s 2km time trial, a feat that underscores his athletic gifts and competitive nature. Indeed, reining in his competitive instincts has been the toughest part of rehab for Smith, who whether he’s on the field, in the gym or in the ring only knows one way: flat out.

“[It’s] fighting in a controlled manner,” says Smith, of his sparring sessions. “And just strengthening all over my body. In the gym, flat out every day, doing whatever I can do and cross training every second day. Trying not to do too much is the key. You want to keep the knee happy and healthy.”

Bailey Smith l Image courtesy of Ralph Lauren Fragrances

Smith says boxing has helped in “keeping me sane” as he watches his team, who are 1-1 after two games, compete without him. “It’s hard watching the boys run out,” he says. [I’m] trying to be as involved as I can be. We haven’t had a home game yet so it’s been hard to get super involved, but it’s good to see us compete against the rest of the comp.”

Smith, who will be out of contract at the end of this year, is confident he can work towards a round one comeback and says time away from the game has only deepened his appreciation of what it has given him.

“I’m keen, doing everything I can to come back bigger, better, stronger,” he says. “I think the good thing about this, which, there’s nothing good about an ACL, but it’s certainly made me not take my position for granted. You can get caught up in the stresses, the anxiety and the pressure of it, but to be removed from it like I am now, I really do miss it and I’m really grateful to be able to run out and play the game I love. So I’m doing everything I can to expedite that process, but I think it’s been good in terms of lighting a fire underneath me to be the best footballer I can be.”

Bailey Smith is a campaign face of Ralph Lauren Fragrances

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The post Bailey Smith’s comeback is on track appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Why does he switch off over that last little stretch? It’s simple. Bol wants to enjoy this moment. He’s certainly earned it.

Bol is here in Melbourne for a different kind of race, the Australian F1 GP, though it’s one the 800m runner believes does have parallels with his sport of athletics. “The pressure, number one,” says Bol, who is chatting to MH here in the paddock today in his capacity as a Ralph Lauren Fragrances campaign face, alongside the likes of AFL star Bailey Smith, boxer Harry Garside, NBL trailblazer Isaac Humphries, actor Cameron Robbie and model Lucas White-Smith. “The pressure to compete in front of so many people and there’s so much on the line. And also athletics and the GP seem like individual sports, but there’s a massive team behind it, and every single team member has to do their part for success, whether that’s the mechanics and for us, our physios and the coaches. You’ve got to get guidance from everywhere to succeed on the track, and so do they.”

Another similarity, Bol points out, is that like F1 drivers, middle distance runners need to put it all together on the big day. That’s when you need to run that perfect race. “[That’s] the hardest part, because you can do all the training, all the preparation, everyone can be on, but it’s on the day that you need to be on.”

As we chat to Bol today, he appears confident and relaxed, qualities, he says, he looks for a fragrance to lend him and one of the reasons he was drawn to Ralph Lauren Fragrances. “It’s such an iconic brand that reflects style and confidence, which is something that I try to achieve in my day-to-day lifestyle,” says the 30-year-old, who recently got engaged. “I actually like the Polo Red. I think it ticks all my boxes and the confidence that I feel while wearing it; it’s definitely the one for me.”

Ralph Lauren Fragrances campaign faces Peter Bol and Harry Garside.

Relaxed, confident and free also happens to be the state of mind in which Bol runs at his best and one he’ll seek to inhabit as prepares for Paris 2024 in July. “I feel pretty free at the moment, so it’s a good sign, and I think the goal is to try and maintain that on the day when it actually does matter.”

If the runner had an edge to him going into the Games, you could hardly blame him. Last year was a horrible one for Bol, who last January was provisionally suspended by Athletics Australia after a failed out-of-competition doping test, which showed signs of synthetic EPO. This was later found to be a false positive, as Bol had argued all along. His suspension was lifted in February last year, though Sport Integrity Australia continued its investigation, eventually clearing Bol of any wrongdoing in August.

The investigation hung over Bol’s head for much of the year and effectively ruined his season. He had a disappointing return to athletics at the world championships in Budapest in August, finishing fifth in his heat. He did, however, manage to run two Olympic qualifying times and now needs to finish in the top three at the national titles in Adelaide next month to book his ticket on the plane to Paris.

The family would later move to Perth, where Bol started at St Norbert College on a basketball scholarship. Through his teens he nurtured dreams of playing in the NBA and it wasn’t until he was 17 – an astonishingly late start for a pro athlete – that a teacher persuaded him to focus on athletics instead.

Image l @pbol800

He would compete at the Rio Olympics in 2016, where he bowed out in the heats, but by the time Bol made it to Tokyo in 2021, he was a far more seasoned and tactically astute runner. After his fourth place in Tokyo, he won the silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

These days Bol is a deserving household name, something that’s evident here at the track this week. “You get recognised so much now, even funnily enough, when you go for a run and you’re mid-session and someone asks you for a photo, which didn’t happen really before,” he says. “So it’s going to be really cool. Not just representing yourself and your country and your community, but now you’ve got all these extra people behind you.”

Right now Bol is in the midst of a heavy training schedule. A hamstring injury hampered the beginning of his season but now appears to be behind him. Bol’s currently running around 70km a week, which includes one speed session. He’s also doing two gym sessions that are heavy on Olympic lifting, along with one “party session” and two easy runs, which comprise 30 to 50 minutes at 4-minute to 4.30 per kilometre pace. Finally, there are three more running sessions that include an 800m session, a treadmill session, and another session “just to kind of feel it up for endurance”. It is, he agrees, “hectic”.

Rounding it out are what Bol calls the one per centers: “Getting the right sleep, seeing a physio once a week, getting a massage once a week and eating and sleeping a lot.”

So, how does he rate his chances of medalling in Paris? “Well, I’m a bit biased,” he says smiling. “I rate it pretty high, but that just reflects, I guess, my confidence heading to into it because I know I’ll do everything in my power to get there and I believe I will. You’ve got to believe it to achieve it, right?”

Peter Bol is a campaign face of Ralph Lauren Fragrances

Running man: Peter Bol’s journey from Sudan to the 800m final

The post Peter Bol on Formula 1, Olympic prep and why you’ve got to believe it to achieve it appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

“Benno,” he booms down the phone, never having met me, but instantly establishing a rapport, lighting up my hitherto dull afternoon with enough energy, positivity and charisma to power a city block.

Irwin is in a car somewhere in Sydney, doing press for his new show, I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here and he’s been doing interviews all day.

Not that you’d know it from the enthusiasm and curiosity that practically blasts out of my phone. “We’re heading southbound on the motorway,” he says. “Sounds like we’re in a police chase, but we’re not. I can guarantee there are no choppers above us.”

Before I can ask about his day, Irwin wants to know about mine. I tell him I’ve been writing about a footballer. He wants to know which one. The curiosity, the precociousness, the authenticity is almost overpowering. Immediately, you’re left with the impression that Robert Irwin is his father’s son – his father, in case you somehow missed it, being Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, who died from a heart attack after his chest was pierced by a stingray barb when Irwin was just two. I’ve been speaking to Irwin for all of five minutes and I can already sense that same larger than life presence. A kid who was born to entertain, in other words.

And yet entertaining us might be but one of Irwin’s dreams. Irwin grew up in a zoo, two of them actually. The first, Australia Zoo, a 700-acre wildlife sanctuary on the Sunshine Coast and the second comprising the invisible bars of the celebrity spotlight that come with being the son of a global superstar.

Instagram I @robertirwinphotography

But it might just be his unique upbringing, surrounded by crocs and capybaras and the passion and purpose that’s instilled in Irwin, that offers him respite and sanctuary, helping save him from the intrusions and scrutiny of the lion’s den of public exposure. You see at 20, Irwin has already found his calling in life: wildlife conservation.

“It definitely has its challenges,” he says of growing up in the spotlight. “But more often than not, I find it a really great opportunity because I have my passion, my true north, the message that is so near and dear to my heart. And I have a platform to spread that. And so I’ve always really seen the positives of that.”

It helps that he doesn’t have what he calls a “Bieber lifestyle”. “People aren’t coming up to me going, ‘I want a selfie’,” and then leaving again. Most of the time, people come up and say, ‘Hey, I really appreciate what you’re doing for the environment’, or ‘Wow, I really admired your dad. This is how he influenced my life’.”

So, what was it like growing up in a zoo, anyway?

“Mate, absolutely incredible,” Irwin says. “Never a dull moment. Have you ever been to Australia Zoo, mate?”

Again, the questions, the curiosity. I profess that I haven’t. “Well, mate, you have to come up and experience it. It’s hard to even really refer to it as a zoo. It’s a beautiful sanctuary for wildlife and it’s really completely and wholly, solely focused around conservation.”

That environment, along with his father’s legacy, imprinted on Irwin a sense of responsibility to do his part in preserving natural habitats and promoting awareness about the plight of endangered species. “Growing up around animals, around the natural world, getting to travel so much and experience firsthand some of the real issues that are facing our planet and the role that we all play to protect our planet Earth, has been a real privilege for me and I love what I get to do,” he says. “Plus we get to feed crocodiles. I mean, that’s pretty cool. Come on.”

Every day in the zoo is different, Irwin adds. “I’m still waiting for a typical day,” he says. “I could be going to Africa. I could be catching crocs for research at the University of Queensland. I might be in there wrangling snakes. I’m very lucky to get up and really not know where the day is going to take me.”

Of course, it’s a lifestyle that’s not without its hairy moments. Irwin tells me about the day, back in February 2022, when he had to make an emergency escape from a crocodile enclosure after a near 4m-metre-long, 350-kilogram croc named Casper sized him up for its brekkie. “That was an interesting one. We’d just moved Casper, who was a crocodile my dad originally rescued actually. And we had to move him from one side of Australia Zoo to the other. And we were just getting him to feed in a new billabong. You never know how a croc is going to react when it’s in a new territory. But he was extremely territorial. He was very like, Okay, this is my new space. This is my billabong. I’m going to give you a good run for your money. It’s actually really good to see that.”

Instagram I @robertirwinphotography

The experience reinforced to Irwin that when you’re dealing with large reptiles it’s best to know your place. “It’s a great lesson as to why you never have an ego,” he says. “The second you have an ego is the second stuff will go wrong. It’s completely their turf. And you have to have the utmost respect for that, for this prehistoric dinosaur of an animal.”

I tell him that I thought I detected a sizeable bulge struggling to burst out of his safari shirt sleeves on Instagram. What does Irwin bench, I wonder.

“I reckon I could bench an eight-foot croc,” he laughs. “Catching crocodiles definitely builds strength in the arms, mate. I highly recommend it. So you know what the biggest arm workout is for me is?” I shake my head, sensing it’s going to be something epic. “Death rolling. When crocodiles death roll and you’re in there with them, because we let our crocs use all of their natural instincts. It means my life is very, very active.”

As demanding as his work is, Irwin does make time to hit the gym, knowing that as well as help him fill out the snazzy suits he’s wearing on I’m A Celebrity promos, it also benefits him mentally. “If I am at a point where I know I’m going to be a little bit more sedentary, I’m traveling a lot, then I always make sure that physical activity is part of my routine, whether that’s weight training, running, swimming,” he says. “It plays a very important role in my life because I think mental health and physical health go hand in hand. And also the nature of the job, you’ve got to be able to lift stuff. So I definitely prioritise it.”

Irwin’s passion for wildlife conservation finds creative expression in photography. He was runner-up in the junior category of the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of The Year competition in 2016 and contributes photos to Australia Zoo’s Crikey magazine. “I absolutely love photography and it’s become a way to push an important conservation message through imagery because naturally I get to be on the front line of a lot of environmental disasters,” he says. On the flip side, he says, he gets to visit some of the most pristine, last truly wild locations in the world and capture images of animals flourishing in them. “I hope to really create a message and a story of the importance of conserving the natural world through imagery,” he says.

Instagram I @robertirwinphotography

I mention that a recent report put him and sister Bindi at number 27 and 28 in Australia’s most influential Instagrammers. The siblings have over 11m followers between them. So, what’s his take on social media? Not surprisingly Irwin manages to find the positives in an often maligned medium. “It’s a weird world, don’t you reckon? Social media is odd and it can be damaging if you’re listening to negative comments and there’s all the trolling and whatnot. But if used correctly and if used for good and for positivity, I think it’s a great tool to spread a message. And I feel very lucky, both Bindi and myself use the platform we have to spread important messages, a bit of positivity. I didn’t know that we’re placed so closely.”

Is there any rivalry between the two, then? “No, I think for both of us, we’re all on the same team,” he says. “I always say, because everyone goes, ‘Oh, do you ever argue with your sister or your family?’ I always say it’s interesting because our lives are quite dramatic. We’re saving wildlife, we’re jumping on crocs, we’re going here, we’re doing this, we’re doing that. But the family unit of the Irwins, our family dynamics are perfectly unexciting. It’s actually really boring. We never really argue. We just get along, but it’s nice. Bindi and I are both very, very proud that we get to be the next generation to run up this mission.”

While Irwin has done his fair share of TV presenting on wildlife shows both here and overseas, I’m a Celebrity marks his first prime-time gig. He sounds like he can barely contain his eagerness to start shooting, though you suspect that’s his attitude to almost any challenge he takes on – he recently lit up the catwalk at Melbourne Fashion Festival, for example.

“It’s my first time, full-time hosting a live Australian program,” he says. “I’m really excited because I feel like it’s the spice of life when you get to take on something that’s different. In a way, it fits so well because it’s what I’ve been doing my whole life, but it’s a completely new audience.”

The show shapes as a launching pad for Irwin – you could easily see the Aussie public falling in love with him, in an Australia’s beloved grandson kind of way. It could lead to more presenting roles, more documentaries, even movies. Irwin wants to do it all, but as he says, anything he does will be anchored around his passion for wildlife conservation.

“The interesting thing is that at a young age, I think you have to have your true north,” he says. “You have to have your purpose, your drive, that makes you feel fulfilled. But you don’t need to know exactly how you’re going to do that. You’ve just got to know what direction you’re going in. I’m in a rare position where I was born knowing exactly what I want to do. Literally, it’s never been a question. But I’ve found so many different ways to get there, whether that’s through photography, through working in front of the camera and behind the lens. All the different projects that I can take on. I know that I have a message of conservation, of appreciating our wildlife, and also a passion for positivity, for authenticity. And for really helping people to realise what’s important in this life, which is to have a bit of fun, really keep good people around you and just be kind to every living being that you come into contact with. There are a lot of ways that I’m going to be able to run up dad’s mission and create my own legacy, but I can tell you where I want to get and how I get there is going to be one crazy adventure.”

It certainly will be. I put down the phone and look around my empty meeting room a little dazed and somewhat uplifted by the boundless positivity I’ve just been privy to. I’ll call it now: Robert Irwin has all the makings of a superstar… if he wants to be one.

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The post Robert Irwin is a man on a mission appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

The study by researchers at Swansea University analysed 133 professional football players as they underwent a series of body measurements that included measuring digit lengths from hand scans. They also completed an incremental cardiopulmonary test to exhaustion on a treadmill. Now, before we detail the results you might want to take a quick squiz at your digits. Got a long ring finger in comparison to your index finger? You can perhaps count yourself as genetically blessed.

“The players with long ring digits (4D) relative to their index digits (2D) have efficient oxygen metabolism such that they reach very high maximal oxygen consumption in an incremental cardiopulmonary test to exhaustion on a treadmill,” says lead author professor John Manning. “Our findings are consistent with those from distance running, where long 4D is related to high performance, and heart disease and Covid-19 where long 4D is linked to low severity of disease.

Don’t have a good 2D:4D ratio? Long ring digits relative to index digits are thought to be a marker of high testosterone levels in the womb, not that you should be pointing your short index finger at anyone in particular.

Thousands of research papers in the last two decades have linked the finger ratio to attributes such as personality, cognitive abilities, and even sexual orientation, as well as to risk of illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. But the findings have divided researchers. Some believe finger length to be a legitimate biological marker of health, fitness and other things, while others assert that it’s merely a correlation. One study published in the British Medical Journal, demonstrated a link to good luck in adults, although the purpose of the study was to show that correlation doesn’t always equal biological causation.

“While these findings are consistent with a wealth of research reporting that 2D:4D is related to many seemingly disparate outcomes, they are not meant to provide confirmatory evidence that 2D:4D is a universal biomarker of nearly everything. Instead, the associations between 2D:4D and good luck are simply due to chance, and provide a “handy” example of the reproducibility crisis within medical and scientific research,” the authors said. “Biologically sound hypotheses, pre-registration of trials, strong methodological and statistical analyses, transparent reporting of negative results, and unbiased interpretation of data are all necessary for biomarker studies and other areas of clinical research.”

Research has shown particular links between lower 2D:4D ratios and better performance in sports such as long-distance running, skiing, rowing, rugby and basketball. Manning, who has pioneered the field and conducted this latest study, even told the journal Science, that teams should use finger ratio as a criterion for selecting players.

While the debate rages on, you can expect more studies such as this to appear. And while there is, as yet, no clear conclusion, you may be wise to use your index finger and thumb and take them with a pinch of salt.

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The post Does your finger length hold the key to your health and fitness? appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Isaac Heeney’s preseason training routine

Built like a prime thoroughbred, Heeney has the enviable problem of stacking on muscle too easily, something that can be a liability in an endurance-based game like Aussie Rules. “If I do too much I can sometimes blow out and put a bit too much weight on,” says Heeney, who tips the scales at 88 kg but has played some seasons at 91-92 kg. “Obviously it’s an aerobic game. I’ve played games at some heavy weights that I probably shouldn’t be. So I’ve dropped it back a few kilos to make sure I’m moving around really well but keeping my strength at the same time.

Heeney likes doing basic bodyweight exercises but adding weight to increase load. “I’m a fan of just doing the basic push-ups, sit-ups and chin-ups,” he says. “I grew up doing that. I was told not to touch weights at a young age, because it obviously influences your growth and that’s not good for your body. So I stayed away from weights but did plenty of bodyweight stuff.”

Use this workout to build a body that can break tackles, blast through packs and help you keep running until the final siren.

Bodyweight circuit

Superset

• Push-ups – 4 x 10 with a 20kg weight plate on your back
• Chin-ups – 4 x 10 with weight (Heeney does lower reps carrying 35kg around his waist).

Core

• Leg raises x 10
• Windscreen wipers x 6 each side
• Sit-ups x 20

Clothes and shoes by Nike; watch by Hublot, available at Kennedy Watches & Jewellery.

Cardio session

Warm-up

• 6 x 100m, 30-sec rest between runs. Do the first two runs at 60 per cent of your capacity, the third and fourth at 70 per cent, fifth at 80 per cent and sixth at 90 per cent.

Main set

• 4 x 20-sec sprint – sprint for 20 secs, 10-sec walk

“With these you’re gassing yourself, so you go as hard as you can,” says Heeney.

2 mins rest

• 4 x 20-sec sprint – sprint for 20 secs, 10-sec walk

2 mins rest

• 4 x 30-sec sprint – sprint for 30 sec, 30 sec walk

2 mins rest

• 6 x 45-sec – sprint for 45 sec, 45-sec rest

2 min rest

• 4 x 30-sec – sprint for 30, 15-sec rest

2 min rest

• 4 x 20-sec – sprint for 20, 10-sec rest

“It’s a long session, says Heeney. “It will take you a while to do them. The shorter stuff will blow you up quicker and they’re the harder sessions, whereas if you go and run for 10 minutes, it’s slightly different.”

Isaac wears: Jacket, TWO.ONE by Farage; shorts by Nike.

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