Andy Murray, A Bikram Yoga Enthusiast

Have you watched the US Open final on Monday night? If not, you really missed on something because it was awesome.
Five sets in which the players battled like crazy on every single point.
In the end Andy Murray of Scotland overcame defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia in five sets which lasted over four hours and three quarters.
This is the first Grand Slam title the Scottish player has won in his career; but as many journalists have reported this is partially due because he has had the misfortune to be playing in the same era as three of the greatest players who ever played on a tennis court: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
However, in the last few months Murray seemed to be at the top of his game; reaching the final at Wimbledon, winning the Olympic gold few weeks after that and now triumphing in New York.

Never Ever Give Up! (The Truly Inspiring Story Of Arthur Boorman)

This is one of those stories so inspiring and powerful, that it will have an impact on your life.

When I stumbled on it for the first time last night I almost couldn’t believe it. I watched the video over and over again.
This is the tale of American paratrooper Arthur Boorman, who returned injured from the Gulf War. One too many jumps led to chronic back and knee problems, and the doctors told him that he’d never walk again without assistance.
For 15 years Boorman believed them, and gained weight to 297 lbs because of inability to move.
But, at 47 years old, the US veteran discovered yoga in a newspaper article.
He started practising a particular sequence of non-impact yoga, and in just months he dropped an astonishing 140 lbs.
The improvements he made in a very short period of time have been so incredible that the Arthur-after is a complete different person from the Arthur-before.

This is proof that yoga (or, I would rather say, exercise in general) can be really the solution to many (if not all) problems.
People tend to forget this. It just takes some willpower and the real changes in life are just around the corner.
I honestly hope you’ll be inspired by this story in the same way I’ve been. Because it is truly amazing!

The Iron You

X-Factor's LeRoy Bell: Looking 30 at 60

I don’t know whether you watch X-Factor, as for me, I never did until last night. But one of my roommates was watching it and I joined him.
All of a sudden a contestant named LeRoy Bell took the stage and started his performance: great voice and pretty fly look. While watching him I thought to myself that this dude must have been in his late 30s, early 40s tops. But then it came out that Mr. LeRoyBell is actually 60...no joke he’s 60 years old.
I was speechless, at the most, because I never ever saw in my life somebody looking that good at 60 (the pictures below will give you an idea!)
Since at TheIronYou we take inspiration from others I couldn’t resist digging into this TV reality show contestant and discover what’s his recipe for eternal youth.

Working Out And Dieting According To A Calvin Klein Model

I'm not sure whether the name Garrett Neff rings any bells to you, probably not. But you might remember him as the face of Calvin Klein fragrance “Body” or in Trussardi S/S 10 campaign or in last summer H&M campaign or in this fall Express campaign or or or or, the list could continue endlessly as Garrett is one of the most successful male models of his generation.

I had the chance of briefly meeting him before a show, and he’s a very nice down to earth dude, absolutely grounded and not at all full of himself.

Taylor Kitsch Five Rules Of Leaness

Today we are talking about the the five golden rules of “leaness” according to Canadian actor and model Taylor Kitsch.
Taylor has modeled for Diesel and Abercrombie & Fitch, he portrayed Gambit in the X-Men franchise spinoff “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and football player Tim Riggins in the NBC series “Friday Night Lights”.
In 2012 he will be portraying John Carter in science fiction action adventure film “John Carter”, the heroic protagonist of Edgar Rice Burroughs' 11-volume Barsoom series.
But that’s not it. Taylor is also a certified nutritionist and personal trainer.
So you might have figured out by now that Talyor Kitsch is not a novice when it comes to training, health and well-being.
That is why his five rule of leaness (that he unveiled in an interview to MensHealth) totally make sense and if you manage to follow them well you might end up in an A&F campaign or in a major blockbuster movie...

Be Ready For The Runway

Yesterday was the last day of NYC Fashion Week, today the fashion crowd moved to London, then it will be Milan turn and finally the curtains will close in Paris. A whole month of fashion, probably more than you can actually chew. But don’t worry I’m not gonna talk about fashion here, there are hundreds of thousands of blogs that will cover every inch of the shows.
What I want to discuss with you is how models get themselves ready to step on the runways. Because let me tell you, nothing happens by chance, and models put a lot of effort and sacrifice in order to look perfect.
And I’m sure that there are some tips you could use to your own benefit. I mean, we encounter endless situations in our life where we want and need to at look at our best: there’s nothing bad about that.
Whatever the reasons to look perfect here are several “secrets” that models use in order to enhance definition, make their skin glowing and look sharp.
We’re sure that if you follow them you’ll be ready to rock you own runway.

Michael Kors ss2012 @NYFW

Beckham: Bend It Like Bikram!

Football legend David Beckham has a secret weapon in his fight to play for England again: Bikram yoga.

He has recently confessed that he aims to play top-level football into his 40s thanks to the hot yoga practice.
David Beckham, 36, fell in love with the yoga routine after a one-on-one lesson with founder Bikram Choudhury last year.
And he has become so addicted to the practice that he’s been selling its benefits to his Hollywood's buddies such as Tom Cruise and Will Smith and, also, to his team-mates.

Become A SuperHero: Chris Evans Captain America Workout and Diet

Among comic books adapted to movies there’s one, coming out this summer, that I really look forward to: “Captain America: The First Avenger”.
Captain America has always been one of my favorite Marvel superheroes, and you wanna know why? Because it has no superhuman powers. Although as a result of the Super-Soldier Serum and "Vita-Ray" treatment, he is transformed from a frail young man into a "perfect" specimen of human development and conditioning.
Captain America's strength, endurance, agility, speed, reflexes, durability, and healing are at the highest limits of natural human potential.
Yes, Captain America is the embodiment of TheIronYou, there’s no doubt about that. Plus, he has a bad ass nigh-indestructible disc-shaped shield made from an experimental alloy of steel and the fictional vibranium that protects him from bullets and other weapons.
His costume is also pretty rad even if it’s nothing to extreme.
The fact that Captain America isn’t immortal, can’t fly or can’t make enemies bursts into flames makes him more relatable to “us” (aka normal people).
Real science has not yet been able to create the Super-Soldier Serum (too bad, uh...) so the only way to become Captain America is to train and hit the gym hard.
Exactly like actor Chris Evans had to do in order to portray Steve Rogers (Captain America alter ego) in the upcoming summer blockbuster. Let’s discover more how did he “transformed” himself into the superhero.

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Captain America workout

Through his movie career, Chris Evans has maintained a lean, defined look. He has done this despite a challenging work schedule and a limited focus on dieting.
Also Chris Evans is not new to the superhero: he played the Human Torch in the "Fantastic Four" series.
In an interview released back in 2006 he said that “the key is dedication” and even though he professed to be unscientific about exercise and dieting, he has been pushing iron with regularity since high school. He hates the treadmill and prefers instead playing  basketball, tennis, and even football whenever possible.
Even if he wasn’t following meticulously a working out plan, he has been doing cardio and weights almost everyday since he was a teenager. This is already enough to be in good shape!
Taking a look at his physical body, Chris Evans has always maintained a lean muscular look, one which he had to improve on for this film.

Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox

In order to become Captain America Chris Evans trained two hours a day for four months without days off: "It was brutal, really brutal" the actor confessed recently in an interview. "I usually like working out. Going in sucks, but walking out, you're like, 'I'm glad I did that!'" Evans told PopSugar. "This was different. I'd walk out and I'd be like, 'I need to vomit. I hate this trainer. I hate this movie. I want to go to sleep for a week.' It was just relentless."

In another interview he explained to Britain's Men's Health magazine "It was grueling, and I'd find any excuse possible not to go. But I had to do it. I wasn't trying to lose or tone - I was just looking to gain. The rule of thumb was: if you're not eating, go get something."

The routine

Chris Evans’ workout was mainly based on bodyweight exercises. This was because being always on the road bodyweight exercises were the only thing he could stay consistent with and claims that they helped him achieve the “Hollywood look“.
The bodyweight exercises allowed Chris to move quick and maintain his balance so that he doesn’t get hurt during the filming of the movie.
However, he did suffer for minor injuries "I don't think my body is supposed to be as big as it got for Captain America. There was a strain on some joints. After a month and a half of training I found my right shoulder would click and my left pec would hurt. There are certain things that hurt more than others. But that seems to be pretty universal. Every guy I know has some sort of freak injury in their body.”
The standard bodyweight exercise are so pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups and those made up a majority of his workout.

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures

But you cant’ become Captain America just with bodyweight exercises, and in fact Chris’ workout consisted also of plyometrics and also strength training.
Let’s also remember that Chris’ goal was to look as much as possible as Captain America, that is to say he was working the muscles that will actually show-up on camera.
Chris must have therefore done a lot of: deadlifts, bench presses, shoulders presses and squats. These movements build the most muscle but also increase your metabolism so you burn more fat.
Captain America in the comics had wide shoulders and muscular abs so Chris’ trainer also made him do compound exercises where the core is activated in any movement, helping therefore defining the abs.
“It was an ever-evolving workout, in which we always found ways to work around the parts of me that were sore” the American actor explained in an interview. 

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Captain America Diet

Chris Evans diet for the movie was, according to him the hardest part: “The workout was one thing but the eating was the tuff part. You go to the gym and it’s exhausting but then you go home and I since I had to gain mass and I had to gain size, this is only gonna happen if you eat proteins. So it was just a matter of going home and just constantly eat those bland pieces of chicken”
Chris diet was probable based on the  so-called carb cycling, which is very popular among celebrity diets. An example of it goes as follows:
1. Protein and carbs up until workout for the day
2. Post-workout and until bed time, keep carbs low and focus on protein.
3. Off days should be kept quite balanced, possibly lower in carbohydrate, but not too strict
4. Binge once in a while, but don’t exaggerate and completely throw the diet out the window.
Protein shakes should have also made part of its eating regimen, this because of the limited amount of time given to him to bulk up, let’s say three (maybe four) months maximum. In such case you have to resort at least to whey and glutamine to achieve results!

Considerations

One of the most important things we can take from Chris Evans and his workout and diet and, in general to his approach to health is to be consistent and patient.
This is the point that I would like to emphasize as far as celebrity workout and diets are concerned.
Finally, just remember that actors/models weren’t given any more special talent than you or Super-Soldier Serum and "Vita-Ray" treatment when it comes to health.
If they achieve a body that you appreciate, it’s because they put in the hard work every day. If you have the same passion and want for the body you’re trying to achieve, you can have it.

Robbie Williams, Lady Gaga and Ashton Kutcher: Three Bikram Yoga Devotees!

What Robbie Williams, Lady Gaga and Ashton Kutcher have in common?
Ok, yes, they’re famous people, we know that, but they also share one passion: Bikram yoga!
I just picked three VIPs but there are a lot of other personalities that are devotees of this practice; for instance Carmen Electra, Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy are also raving about it.
But wait, the aim of this post is not to do name dropping. I mean, if I can convince you to give Bikram yoga a shot just by mentioning the like of Gaga I’m more than happy.
But actually what’s interesting is how practicing Bikram yoga has helped those three personalities in different ways.
Let’s explore a little bit more about it...

Agata Segafredo | From Party Girl To Half-Marathoner

World acclaimed fashion photographer and stylist Agata Segafredo, has spent most of her life travelling around the world. Being the daughter of an Argentinian mother and an Italian father, since she was a child she never stopped wandering between Europe and South America.
Then, as a grown up woman, she moved to New York to further her education and experience in the fashion industry.
Needless to say it, as almost everybody dealing in the fashion business, Agata has been very active on the social side. I mean, that’s big part of that industry: shows, shootings and - most of all - huge parties.
However, she comes from a family of very sporty people and, having that heritage in her DNA she just need it a little push and make something that, even to her, few months earlier seemed unachievable.
But, let’s start from the beginning...

Sam Johnson | A Model's Workout

Yesterday I met with my friend Sam Johnson at Equinox in the Meatpacking district for a workout session.
Sam is an actor, a poet but most of all a model for a highly regarded agency in NYC (and, of course, he’s also represented in London, Paris and Milan).
Needless to say it, he always needs to be in perfect shape for his job.
But Sam is a very healthy person and to him training and exercising just represent a way to keep a good balance in his life and, also, improve the quality of it both physically and mentally.
Truth to be told, Sam is an athlete and loves sports. He played (and still plays) basketball, football, golf, volleyball, baseball and hockey just to name a few. He also like winter sports like cross country ski, snowboarding, etc...
So it’s not only about the look, there’s much more to it actually!
There’s no doubt that Sam fits perfectly the profile of the IronYou and that is why I thought it was a good idea to share with you some of his training tips.

Sam in an editorial