Bench Im-Pressing

Magazines like "Men's Journal" fill their pages with articles that promise to "Make Your Workouts Burn More Calories." Late- night infomercials and Bowflex advertisements feature images of perfectly toned men using their bodies to boost sales.

More and more men are sweating to swap their scrawny shape for brand new, buff bodies. With ample supplements and diet plans, men's health is evolving from a vogue fad into a common lifestyle.

The stereotype tends to say that men care less about their physical appearance than women. For a man, Pizza Hut and ESPN are more important than Special K and protein shakes. The truth is, a rapidly increasing number of men are placing more importance on putting down the Domino's and picking up the Slim Fast.

Proof lies in the fact that General Nutrition Companies, Inc. has added an entirely new section to their catalogue called "Sports Nutrition" to capitalize on this growing market. While women certainly still do their fair share of exercise, it is men who have begun to find the health conscience lifestyle more appealing in recent years.

Sophomore pre-med student Chris Jensen uses his medical background to internalize healthy living routines.

"You think about it everywhere you go. When you're shopping at the grocery store, doing homework or just sitting around, it's always in the back of your mind," Jensen said.

Junior Joel Gentile agrees that living a healthy life is more than just a routine.

"It's not only a hobby, it's becomes a sort of a way of living for me now. It comes second nature," he said.

Gentile said good choices begin as a habit before developing into a lifestyle.

The way to go about this new routine is simple: exercise and diet. In this sense, diet is not a restrictive word, but rather a term to describe generally healthier eating habits. Eating healthier foods is more expensive, but, in the words of Gentile, "In the long run, it will definitely pay off."

On the exercise side of the health spectrum, a beneficial combination of cardiovascular and muscular fitness is still the best way for men to tone up. A regular workout consisting of heart-healthy exercise and muscle-enhancing weight training is the most effective habit to adopt.

Junior Josh Cope explains a variety of exercises he uses to train for track that can be applied to everyday life.

"I work out every day of the week, except for weekends. I am on the track team so I do a lot of leg workouts," he said. "A lot of it is just toning exercises. At the beginning of the season you build mass and throughout the rest of the season you want to tone up that mass."

It comes as no surprise that this new way of life is putting stress on men to strive for the peak of physical condition. Exercise is still the backbone of any health aficionado, but as the medical world advances, so does its knowledge of muscular behavior. With a growing group of men determined to increase tonality, numerous bodybuilding supplements have begun to surface in nutrition stores across the country.

Testosterone, protein and amino acids are the essential building blocks of muscular development. While most attempts to boost testosterone levels are questionable, protein and amino acids can easily be added to the diet of any health nut in the form of powders and pills.

Creatine is another bodybuilding supplement that acts as a sort of energy drink, offering short bursts of energy to fatigued muscles. All of these nutrients occur in the body naturally but can be supplemented to the diet of any exerciser who craves the extra power. Stores like GNC offer most of these substances by the eight-pound bucket.

Cope said using nutritional supplements helps him prolong his workouts.

"When you're lifting without any kind of supplements, you get kind of tired at a certain point. When I started using protein, I just wouldn't get tired, so I could lift more and get stronger faster."

Gentile also lays claim to the fact that supplements increase the effectiveness of intense workouts.

"I take the protein and Creatine that you see in the magazines. [Avoiding] that weird illegal stuff, I take the ones that, if you knew a little bit about them, you'd take it just for the advantages," he said.

Jensen, however, draws from his medical knowledge to offer the following advice about bodybuilding substances.

"I tend to not want to use Creatine because it stops the natural production in your body if you use it regularly. But it is good if you haven't lifted in a while and want to get a good jump-start," Jensen said. "But using steroids defeats the purpose. They're hard on your body."

Overall, it is the combination of diet, exercise and supplements that creates a modern version of a healthy life. As these three facets become cheaper and more available, men tend to embrace their effects with increasing numbers. It is slowly becoming less taboo for a guy to obsess over his body. Manhood's domain, it seems, no longer stops at the brink of striving to look good.

Gentile is not afraid to say his lifestyle has reached obsession status. His motivation, however, isn't just for the sake of vanity.

"I would definitely say that I obsess. It's not like I'm being weird or cocky ... It's not always for the image, it's for the health," he said.

Gentile was raised to believe that living with the right balance of diet and exercise could be good for more than just a strong physique.

Jensen acknowledges his obsession in a sublimely simple fashion.

"I'll admit that I obsess, but I probably don't do the greatest job at it," he said.

As far as the noticeable benefits of heavy infatuation, Cope thinks that those who obsess and those who live healthily aren't readily distinguishable.

"The guy that obsesses about his looks is impossible to tell from the guy who just enjoys running five miles a day," he said.

As this lifestyle becomes a bigger part of American culture, a stereotype about bodily-obsessed men seems to follow. Gentile wants the public to know that the kind of men who enjoy physical exercise don't let it control their lives.

"I guess a lot of people will look at the article and say, 'Oh, they're meatheads,'" he said. "But being a 'Meathead' is more than just bulking up ... It takes quite a bit of knowledge to know what you need to do to stay fit ... there's a definite science behind it."

The buzz on supplements - Creatine is the number one selling supplement in the country. - One recent study of male United States Army soldiers found that those taking Creatine could do 14 percent more bench press repetitions than those taking a placebo. - Creatine pulls water into muscles and can dehydrate the body. - DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone) is a hormone that is linked to testosterone and estrogen. Athletes take the pill in hopes of increasing muscle mass, but research shows that DHEA does not increase muscle strength or oxygen consumption. - The FDA does not closely regulate supplements because of a 1994 law, so the claims made by manufactures are usually exaggerated. - Most Americans get enough vitamins and minerals they need from their food, unless they're on certain diets.

Source: The New York Times, May 4, 2006

Reach reporter Tom Crouse at Thomas.Crouse@usd.edu.