Greater Milwaukee Men

The Milwaukee Bucks and their partners at the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network are teaming up to build a healthier community through the new BucksFit platform, which launches Monday, Jan. 2 and continues through the end of the month. The program is highlighted by a community-wide 30-day fitness challenge in which members of the community who take the BucksFit pledge to incorporate healthy activities into their daily routine throughout the month will have the chance to win unique Bucks prizes including courtside seats, meet-and-greets with Bucks players, and the chance to participate in a community boot camp to be held at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Feb. 11.

This post could, should, have come a few weeks ago - before the month started so everyone could get involved. Alas, I did not, but there's still time to get involved, and even to carry it on, my wayward son. It is the middle of November, and that means we are also in the middle of Movember - the by now well known men's health movement that has focused on first prostate cancer, added mental health, and now with a different way to look at the word, physical health in general. While it usually is looked at as Mo-vember, mo as in moustache where men grow facial hair for awareness, this year they realized it can also be Move-mber. In this case the ' Move Challenge ' stresses increasing physical activity for the month to increase men's overall physical and with it mental health. Instead of (or in addition to) growing a moustache you can do and track exercise for the month.

This may sound silly, but there are lots of energy and recovery drinks and someone was bound to test it out. Well, it has been tested, by research scientists no less. Researchers at Granada University in Spain tested 25 students over several months and discovered that a pint of beer is as good or better than water. More on the study  here , but basically they found that it hydrates as well or slightly better, the carbonation can quench thirst better, and the carbohydrates help replace calories lost during exercise. OK so if you are trying to lose weight maybe not a good choice as it adds back calories, but if you are working out for strength and conditioning that is a good thing. Runner's World  magazine even touts some benefits from it, alas they also warn against the alcohol being a diuretic and causing dehydration but beer has far less than other alcoholic beverages, but then this article was over 2 years ago before this man-friendly study was done in Spain. So in the ...