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Can Underwear Make You Stronger?* fitness tips *No, but it sure looks (and feels) that way Who knew that a stretchy T-shirt made from a more breathable version of the fabric found in ladies’ girdles would become the base layer of choice for athletes as diverse as baseball…
Travel can be a minefield of fatigue, jet lag, strange food, and fitness regimens shot to hell. It doesn't have to be that way. With our road-warrior plan, you can fight back—and win.
We're going to show you how to find your flow. The place where everything clicks and comes easy.
LISTEN UP: There's way more to achieving peak fitness than strength and cardio training. Here's how to unite body, mind, and soul to transform yourself into a Whole Athlete
I will be going hiking and kayaking in Hawaii next summer, but I concerned about the sun because of my very fair complexion. What are some good choices for clothing to help protect me from the ravages of the sun? Jeff Minneapolis, Minnesota
As anybody who's been hiking on the West Coast knows, getting "poison oaked" is a miserable experience. So, have you ever heard of Zanfel? According to the company's Web site, this soap is supposed to remove the urushiol from poison oak even after you get the rash. Unfortunately, it's really expensive—about $40 for a one-ounce tube! Does this stuff really work, or is it just snake oil? Rusty San Francisco, California
Stuart Stevens’s November story “Drug Test,” on the use of performance-enhancing substances in sports, incorrectly reported that cyclist Alexi Grewal, who won a road-racing gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, prepared for that year’s competition with the use of blood packing, a transfusion technique that increases…
Everybody knows that many athletes cheat by using performance-enhancing drugs like steroids, testosterone, and EPO. But what is it like to take these banned substances? Do they really help you win? To find out, we sent an amateur cyclist into the back rooms of sports medicine, where he just said yes to the most controversial chemicals in sports.
How is weight training for snowboarding different from weight training for skiing? Anne Davis Boulder, Colorado
I get sunburned every time I go skiing. What SPF should I be looking for in my sunblock? Dian Goodspeed Albany, New York
The brave new world is coming—fast. With sci-fi fantasy turning into performance-enhancing reality, we separate the hype from breakthroughs you can use.
Boy would I like your job! Anyway, next year I plan on doing some multi-day trail runs, so wanted some pack recommendations. These will most likely be overnight excursions, and there'll be two of us, so we can distribute tent components. So, what pack would you recommend to carry all my gear (half the tent, lightweight sleeping bag, some light wet-weather gear, food, water, sundries)? I was looking at packs around the 26-litre mark, but wondering if that'd be enough. Rob London, United Kingdom
Can you recommend a trail running shoe that offers good ankle support? Most trail shoes are low- or mid-cut. I have weak ankles from years of basketball (sprains and a few breaks) and I'm looking for a high-top shoe to help prevent ankle rolls. Mark Stubbs Aliso Viejo, California
Beta-tested by Olympians and elite athletes, the wizardry of neuromuscular training will hardwire you for peak performance
Bill Phillips, the most successful fitness author in history, is a Colorado recluse who got his start teaching muscleheads how to use steroids. He's cleaned up his act—his Body-for-Life program runs street legal, and it works—but he's still banking on a timeless American urge: Everybody wants to be huge.
Pass the summer splash test with these rowdy water fitness contests
It sounds too good to be true: a star miler turned criminal goes to prison, links up with a legendary track coach, trains behind bars until his feet bleed, and earns a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. Is the real world ready for Jon Gill's dream?
Are the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients packed into everything you chug and chew the real secret to becoming a finely tuned sports superstar? Turn the page.
Forget the creepy promise of techno-longevity. Instead, take our advice: Live fast, die hard, and leave behind a worn-out, used-up, good-looking corpse.
The Fountain of Youth is a myth. But take heart: Intelligent training and an adventurous spirit will keep you running, kicking, screaming at the peak of your potential for years to come.
Grueling workouts are the only way to get ready for long-distance endurance, right? Wrong.
Juliet Draper may be the fittest firewoman alive: 185 pounds of chiseled, hollering, highly motivated tenacity. Now she wants to go global, teaching firehouse heroes everywhere how to shape up. Sounds like a pipe dream—but are you going to tell her to back off?
The fittest firewoman alive is transforming her colleagues into elite athletes. When she's done with them, she's coming after you.
Want an easy plan to prepare you to climb a mountain—say, 14,494-foot Mount Whitney? Here's a five-week program that'll whip you into summit-worthy shape.
Here's a one-day meal plan fit for a noontime event or workout.
If mom had told you what fruits and veggies can do for your game, maybe you would've listened. But it's not too late.
This month in New Zealand, the crew of Oracle/BMW will try to win the America’s Cup with the help of some unorthodox conditioning: grunting up and over sand dunes, terra firma’s closest approximation of a yacht rolling at sea.
Once the pleasure of a few professional masochists, grueling adventure sports are suddenly a national rage
With $100,000 for the winners, the world's most relentless teams, and a 138,000-vertical-foot Rocky Mountain course, the Subaru Primal Quest seemed poised to give big-time adventure racing a smashing return to U.S. soil. But then the race began—and all hell broke loose. A front-line report from the wildest, bumpiest game in the wilderness.
IN THE MARKET FOR AN INTERNET COACH? Then you’ll need to decide between a virtual coach (costs range from $0-$20 per month; no personal interaction included) and a bona fide online coach (costs range from $60 and up per month; live coach at the other end of the line). A…
Need a daily powder fix? Chase epic snow through the calendar with our guide to the best places to ski and snowboard each month.
For a faster, stronger you, take it slow (with a grain of salt)
True fitness follows the adage "Use it or lose it." Turns out the brain follows the same rule.
Got insurance?: a bite will hurt but the evacuation cost is deadly. Q: I plan to sail around the world over the next three years. Can you recommend a good international insurance policy that covers emergency medical evacuations? — Mark Downing, Portland, Oregon…
Stymied by the dark side of sport? Don't panic. Mastering fear, fatigue, and pain is easier than you think.
Are your workouts an exercise in solitary refinement? Supercharge your performance with a little help from your friends.
EVER SINCE RED BULL charged into the United States beverage market in 1997, stimulant-laden sodas from a host of different companies have been generating big buzz. In the last five years, domestic sales generated by these power-gulps have grown from $10 million to nearly $300 million. That’s in part because…
Forget what you've heard about calories, pounds, carbs, or miles—the adventure athlete's real secret to optimal weight is all about energy management
She's pinching, you're flinching—just in time, professional advice for DIY massage
Your well-tailored fitness program may be missing something important—a regular massage. Here's our hands-on guide to the right rub.
Worried that the long shadows of autumn will darken your fitness mood? Lighten up with these 30-minute workouts, guaranteed to help you soar into winter shape.
Injury, pain, the psychology of recovery, and getting back on the trail
Train as hard as you want, but until you've tapped the secrets of top-notch form you'll be all go and no flow
Adventure races have come into their own. Time to join the self-punishing fun and tackle your first one.
Come, stymied climbers, stalling cyclists, and ragged runners--behold the year's top ten fitness trends. We promise they'll punch up your performance.
Sick of protein shakes and energy biscuits? Meet the exercise physiologist who has revolutionized sports nutrition with a radical new diet for athletes—real food.
Twice a year, the good men of Scotland's Orkney Islands work out their issues the old-fashioned way. They riot.
Calling all fitness Luddites and low-tech aerobic warriors—it's time to change your ways. Let us unlock the mysteries of heart-rate training and help you maximize your workouts.
Don't be put off by the funny equipment—functional training builds real-world skills in the gym
Vowing to change the world of endurance running, where Kenyan athletes have been treated like indentured servants, a revolutionary band has established a base in a perfect green valley. And where is this magical place, this Vuleefore? In suburban America. Where George Washington slept. Where an enemy already guards its turf.
Science is sprinting toward the super-enhanced athlete. Say hello to tomorrow's inhuman being.
Triathlon, the arcane sport of masochists, is poised to hit it big, with a high-profile Olympic debut and two camera-ready hardbodies in a duel for glory. Will America fall for the seduction?
So is adventure racing pure competition, or just a grueling way to grab TV ratings?
With longer days looming, it's high time to build stronger, faster legs
Your diet's dialed, your body's buff. Now plug in to the frontier of athletic performance—brain-wave biofeedback. It could revolutionize your game.
She can hit frontside 50-50s all day long, snag half-pipe titles with her eyes closed and stretch her hang time to the edge of forever, but what while Cara-Beth Burnside do when it's time to grow up?
Does wilderness therapy help troubled kids? After a gang of teenagers staged a violent mutiny in the badlands of Utah, we joined the search for answers.
Then pay attention, because there's more to posture than walking around with a book on your head
As often as we use them, we can't help but abuse them. Or can we?
How to use those health club machines to your post-holiday advantage
Heed those rusty hinges now, and they'll work more smoothly when it really counts
A modest bit of indoor dedication now will give you the freedom to let loose this winter
Don't sweat that impending trip — it's easy to keep in shape away from home
All recreational sport is really quite simple: You run. You jump. You throw. What's more, it's pretty easy to get good at these things.
Toughen your midsection, and hardy arms and legs are sure to follow
Along the 43rd parallel in North America, raising pumpkins isn't just a sleepy backyard pursuit—it's an extreme sport. And nowhere are the stakes higher, or the intrigues thicker, than at the annual weigh-off of the World Pumpkin Confederation, the Olympics of garden-patch gigantism.
CABLE CROSSOVER The Muscles: Latissimus dorsi, pectorals The Exercise: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your back straight. Position yourself with your weak side perpendicular to the cable pulley, about an arm’s length away. Holding the cable grip with your arm extended from your side, pull the…