A man who spends any time tuned into social media has most likely come across his fair share of the professional victim class – the people who always have something to complain about.

At the top of this list of people would be the Tumblr and Twitter activists that make up third-wave (fourth by now?) feminism. To some extent, I can’t blame these people. When their entire identity is based upon their oppression, they have to consistently seek new ways in which they can claim they’re being oppressed. Otherwise they’d be forced to redefine themselves.

In one of the largest #firstworldproblems farces, a new way in which men everywhere are carrying out the sinister desires of the all-so-secret patriarchy is by spreading our legs too wide when we’re seated. It’s called #manspreading, and when it’s done in public, it’s obviously a way in which brutish men can keep womyn under our thumb. Manspreading is characterized by the spreading of a man’s legs to take up more than the allotted space of a single seat in a public setting. It most often happens on subways but can be seen anywhere.

Most normal people would simply ask the manspreader to give them some room and move on with their lives. However, that’s not enough for downtrodden of the modern West. This phenomenon needs to be eradicated. Ironically enough, if a 400-lb woman were taking up three seats on the subway and subjected to a complaint or an eyeroll, these same activists would fault the complainer as opposed to the woman. Body shaming and all that good stuff.

Well, as it turns out, there is scientific backing for the benefits to a man of sitting with his legs spread. It’s all based around how much heat his testicles can handle.

Normal scrotal temperature (the external surface of the scrotum) is approximately 34°C in a normally clothed man walking about or maintaining a loose stance, and it has been estimated that testicular temperature within the scrotum is between 0.1 and 0.6°C higher than this [32,35,36]. Clothing itself appears to contribute about 0.5–1.0°C [37], compared to being naked. Clothed and sitting down with thighs apart raises scrotal temperature to about 35 C, whereas sitting with thighs together quickly allows scrotal temperature to rise to above 36 C, i.e. to abdominal temperature within the testis [36]. Several studies have now shown that men with predominantly sedentary occupations [36], or who spend considerable time driving a vehicle [38,39], have higher average scrotal temperatures and consequently lower average sperm production or reduced fertility.

The higher the temperature in a man’s scrotum rises, the more it kills his fertility.

The possession of a scrotum to contain the male gonads is a characteristic feature of almost all mammals, and appears to have evolved to allow the testes and epididymis to be exposed to a temperature a few degrees below that of core body temperature. Analysis of cryptorchid patients, and those with varicocele suggest that mild scrotal warming can be detrimental to sperm production, partly by effects on the stem cell population, and partly by effects on later stages of spermatogenesis and sperm maturation. Recent studies on the effects of clothing and lifestyle emphasize that these can also lead to chronically elevated scrotal temperatures. In particular, the wearing of nappies by infants is a cause for concern in this regard. Together all of the evidence indirectly supports the view that lifestyle factors in addition to other genetic and environmental influences could be contributing to the secular trend in declining male reproductive parameters.

Other factors like being sedentary for too long, diapers on babies, too many estrogens in modern products, wearing briefs instead of boxers, and cell-phones in front pockets all contribute to frying a man’s huevos.

It stands to reason that the more a man can do to keep his temperature regulated, the better his fertility and testosterone production are going to be.

Clothing is another large factor but, I personally like my slim jeans. So #manspreading seems like a pretty easy way to keep the boys cool. The next time someone accuses me of systemic oppression of women by the way I’m seated, I’ll make sure to let them know I’m doing it for the children.

A controversial sport, bullfighting can trace its origins to ancient Mesopotamia – namely the Epic of Gilgamesh in which Endiku fought and conquered the Bull of Heaven using a bright tunic and a sword. The sport can be followed through Rome and medieval Europe, but it wasn’t until 1726 in Spain when it became popular to fight the bulls on foot.

The introduction of fights on foot allowed for men of lower stations to climb the social ranks via the celebrity of bullfighting. The fighters became the modern-day equivalent of rock stars. When asked why he chose to fight, one man said, “Hunger strikes more painfully.” With both status and violence being integral to the sport, it’s no wonder men throughout history have engaged in the art.

A more accurate name for the fighters is Torero. The term “Matador” is not technically used in Spanish, but is an abbreviation for the name of the lead fighter and the man with the charge of delivering the final blow. He is the “Matador de Toros” (killer of bulls), and is often addressed as Maestro. The other two fighters are respectively Banderilleros and Picadores.

The Picadores are on horseback and weaken the bull in order to “even the fight” for the other two classes of fighter. As their horses are charged, picadores lance the bull in the neck or the back, drawing its first blood, lowering its head, and weakening its body.

The role of the Banderillero is to place barbed lances in the top of the bulls’ shoulders. They wow the crowd by attempting to get as close to the bull as possible when placing the banderillas. These fighters can use the placement of the barbed flags to help correct a bull which may be pulling to one side or the other.

The costumes worn by the Toreros have historical reference, form, and function.

From a functional perspective, the tight pants and short-cropped jackets provide the perfect balance between movement and protection. Because the Toreros are judged as much (if not more) by their style and flair in performing their various duties as they are by their effectiveness, the ensemble needs to allow them the balance between a warrior and an artist.

The tight pants allow for a complete range of motion and the short jacket offers protection of the torso, without being long enough that the bulls’ horns would be able to catch on the fabric.

The gaudiness of the costume was not introduced until the mid 18th century when a fighter named Costillares began his rise as a Torero superstar. Growing up the son of a butcher, Costillares was by no means a member of the upper class. However, his skill and style in the ring (along with the money earned from fighting) allowed him to climb the ranks and become a member of his area’s elite. Because he was increasingly seen as a member of the upper class, Costillares decided to start dressing like one. While Costillares was the first to begin to adorn his bull-fighting costume with the intricacies and signs of the upper class, the idea didn’t take hold amongst toreros in general until 20 years after Costillares’ death when Spanish painter Francisco de Goya published a series of 33 paintings entitled La Tauromaquia.

Because Goya and Costillares were from different, rival cities he didn’t want to copy Costillares style exactly in his paintings. Instead he depicted his fighters with similar French styles.

The paintings showed minute changes that altered the entire appearance of the toreros. Rather than being ankle length, the trousers were cut at the calf. The jackets were lengthened from just below the ribs to hip length.

In the 1840’s fighter and style icon Paquiro made some changes of his own. He cropped his jackets back at the ribs and introduced the idea of the Galones de Platas (suit of lights). Drawing reference from Spanish and French nobility, Paquiro wanted a costume that would separate him as a Maestro from the banderilleros and picadores. He had his suits adorned with gold instead of the silver worn by the lower-esteemed fighters and also added the flashy details that would reflect both is personality and the sun in the arena.

Other details, such as pink socks, were added as ways to indicate wealth (brighter colors were more expensive than their drab counterparts in the 18th and 19th centuries) and to align with superstition. Yellow is considered to be an unlucky color while green and purple have an association with the insides of coffins.

Toreros today are not required to wear a particularly gaudy costume, but it has become such an ingrained part of their culture, that to fail to do so would be anathema. The best comparison to how a torero chooses the overall appearance of his costume is that of choosing a tattoo. Many fighters will select symbols, colors, and styles that reflect their family history, heraldry, religious convictions, personal tastes, etc. While others will simply select a design available on display with their tailor.

Modern day galones de platas are made bespoke by a handful of master tailors and cost thousands of dollars – a steep investment when considering that most fighters have at least half a dozen suits. As technology has advanced, new materials like spandex and polyester have been used because of a greater range of motion or the ease with which the bulls’ blood can be removed from the costume.

As controversial as the sport and the costumes may be. One can’t deny that toreros have a unique blend of both ancient, violent masculinity, along with its more refined, genteel counterpart.

I’m not too thrilled about today’s post.

Don’t confuse that with not being thrilled about this bag. It’s awesome – which is the exact reason I’m sad to give it away. However, my loss can potentially be your gain.

As part of the review of this review, I agreed to do a giveaway of the bag. It’s been my daily companion for a couple of months now, but it’s just barely getting broken in.

When it comes to leather goods, Saddleback has the reputation they do for a reason. While many companies will cut corners in one or many places in the process, Saddleback’s whole purpose is to create ridiculously strong, long lasting, great looking bags. Are they expensive? Absolutely they are. And in a time where nearly every company tries to tout the longevity – both from an aesthetic and durability stand point – of their product, the idea of something being so good your kids will fight over it can sound trite.

But Saddleback have been doing it right for a long time. They’re serious when it comes to making quality products, but not too serious when it comes to fun ways they’ve discovered to test that durability, or to explain why their products are superior.

When the company first reached out to me, I was a bit skeptical about whether one of their bags would meet my desired look for a work briefcase. Most of their offerings skew as far Rugged as one can get, and with my daily use being a bit more Refined, a case based on a rough-riding saddlebag wasn’t going to pan out. Thankfully, they have a small-but-budding line of business bags that keep to the tradition of the company’s build standards, while trimming down the look and adding a more luxe feel.

They sent me their Medium Thin Briefcase. Like all of their other creations, it has no moving parts. No zippers or snaps that can easily break and create a weak point in the construction. The leather is thick, full-grain stuff that is stiff and heavy. I haven’t had the bag long enough for it to break in, but I’ve held some that have been through more abuse, and the man who wins this is going to have a great time giving this thing some character.

Internally it’s lined with pigskin, meaning it’s still durable, but also softer so as not to scratch laptops, phones, etc. There are two main compartments, with a couple of smaller pockets and a keyring peppered throughout. This thing is minimal. It’s not one that has specialized compartments for every gadget the urban man tends to carry, but I like the simplicity. I keep a laptop, sunglass case, extra pouch of ear phones, moleskin, some business cards, laptop cable, and an extra magazine for a handgun in their with enough room for everything to be comfortable.

Of all the finishes and colors, I felt the Chestnut was the most business appropriate and versatile, so that’s what you’re going to get. It also comes with a shoulder strap, but I’ve avoided using it as it ends up looking a bit too much like a purse to me.

Speaking of negatives, there are only a couple. The biggest being the fact that there are different metal finishes on the D rings and rivets. It’s small, but for an OCD, detail-oriented person, it’s enough to be annoying. The other is more of a trade off than a negative. This is not a light bag. While it’s durable enough to be thrown around, it’s not easy to do so. I acclimated to it quickly but men who are interested in an extremely lightweight bag will want to look elsewhere.

So, like I said at the beginning, I’m giving this thing away. There are a few things I need you to do to get in on the action, and each will give you more entries. First is to sign up for the newsletter. This is the biggest and is worth five entry points. Once that’s done, there are nine other entry points that can be earned based on a few different actions.

As a quick heads up, I’ll be shipping this for free to the winner if he is in the continental US. If not, the cost of shipping will fall to the winner – so you out-of-country guys should keep that in mind when entering.

Oh, and to make things better – Brock over at The Modest Man is running a giveaway for a Saddleback bag as well. We timed it together on purpose and are excited to double your options to get one of these incredible bags.

Saddleback Briefcase Giveaway

Something for every archetype.

Rugged

Clockwise from top left: Wolverine 1000 Mile Boots, Barbour Quilted Jacket, Ace Rivington Oatmeal Sweater, Can You Handlebar Wisdom Beard Oil, Galco Gunleather Canvas & Leather Shell Carrier, Buck 113 Ranger Knife, Timex Easy Reader, The Ultimate American Sock 

Refined

Clockwise from top left: Oppermann London Briefcase, Salt + Dapper Braces, Daniel Wellington Classic York Watch, TRNK Minimalist Playing Cards, Cobbler Union George Boot, Art of Shaving Straight Razor.

Rakish

Clockwise from top left: MyVice Brooklyn Sweats, George Frost Bullet Shield Ring, Nike Flyknit Lunar 2, Beckett & Robb Linen Scarf, Imperial Classic Pomade, Declan Keala Microfiber Pocket Square

As a quick heads up, many of these links are affiliates. This means nothing changes for you, but I get a bit of a kickback from the companies when you purchase these products or something else in their store. The same goes with your Amazon purchases if you access Amazon via my book-of-the-month link. I appreciate your helping me with my holiday shopping by using the affiliate links.

This is going to be a long post, so feel free to tackle it in chunks.

I’ve always been skinny. All of my siblings are. In fact, one brother’s nickname in high school was 2×4. The name all of his friends had for the rest of our family? The 2x Forest.

Because we’re so skinny we’ve always been able to have terrible eating habits. My younger brothers still exist on a diet of Taco Bell, Flaming Hot Cheetos, Five Guys, and grocery store burritos. Unfortunately I, like my dad, started to put on some belly fat around the age of 25.

It was subtle at first, but it slowly started to pack on more and more. Around 26, when I was going through a divorce and dealing with some career stagnancy was when it got to its worst point.

I started to make token efforts to look better. In 2010 I trained for and ran a half marathon – nothing changed. After that I started doing one of Men’s Health’s circuit workouts. I believe it was the Spartacus workout. I did it three days a week for about three months and didn’t see any improvements. Finally, a friend who had just graduated and taken boxing classes while in school asked me to come lift weights with him.

It’s comical to look back on how bad that was. We went to a Planet Fitness and my legs were sore after deadlifting 60 pounds for five sets of five. Between my having a newborn and his wife being pregnant, we would only go sporadically. Again – no change.

In 2013 I got my own membership – again to Planet Fitness, downloaded the Stronglifts app, and started going three times a week. I quickly started to see progress in my lifts, but my form was terrible. In June of 2013 I was squatting 165 on a smith machine (those who know what they’re doing are already cringing). I got about halfway up and felt a nice little tear in my lower back. Being the idiot I was, I tried to finish out that set and ended up limping out of the gym.

I never went in to get my back checked out, but it bugged me for quite a few months. I remember the most painful day was playing a round of nine holes of golf with my boss. When we got to number seven, I was wincing at every step. By the time I got home, it took me a solid five minutes to figure out how to get myself out of the car.

In mid September I got a membership at the local rec center near my home and started doing 5×5 again. That first day I couldn’t deadlift more than the 45 lbs bar without it hurting, but I took it slowly and started to rebuild my strength.

Throughout the entire two-year process of my half attempting to take better care of myself, I went paleo. Most of the time I was really good about it, but the indulgences happened more often than they should have as well. I also didn’t keep track of any calories or macronutrients and at one point I started to see my belly get bigger.

In mid October I was reading over at Kinowear and saw an article talking about a health site called Kinobody. I spent some time digging around the site and learning about Greg O’Gallagher – the man behind the whole operation. Greg was advertising his coaching options and I decided to reach out and see if he was interested in doing some trade. I’d do one of my consultations in exchange for him helping me get into shape. Greg responded fairly quickly and was open to the idea, so we exchanged some basic info and got things rolling.

Here are some basic stats from that first exchange.

Age: 29

Height: 6 feet

Weight: 159 lbs

Waist measurement (right at navel): 32.75 inches

I didn’t give him number of reps, but my current working ranges at the time were

Squat: 95

Deadlift: 85

Military Press: 65

Bench Press: 80

Barbell Row: 60

And here are the photos I sent him:

The first thing I noticed and loved about working with Greg is that he didn’t make me feel like an idiot. I didn’t need to be babied, but it was encouraging to work with someone who was always focusing on both the positives of the progress I’d made, and the attainability of the end result.

He gave me a meal plan, that was based on reaching a certain amount of calories with specific macronutrient requirements, and a three-day-a-week lifting regimen. The mainstay of the lifting program was compound lifts, but there were a few isolated movements that were designed to help bring out my chest and shoulders.

He also sent me a spreadsheet and asked for weekly updates on the key lifts and my primary measurements, along with monthly progress photos.

Conveniently enough we moved the same week that I started working with Greg and there is a Gold’s Gym less than a quarter mile away from our apartment (I’m looking at it right now). Going to a real gym had its pros and its cons. The pros being that I actually had access to the right equipment – so no more smith machine squats. With the biggest con being the fact that I was more than just a little intimidated.

To make an already long story a little bit shorter, I varied between cutting and bulking three times during those first eight months. I cut down to my lowest of 150 lbs by mid March but was still a lot softer than I wanted to be. Greg had me start eating more at that point in order to stimulate more muscle growth. In May, it looked like I was going to be running the Spartan race at the end of June and Greg and I decided to have me start cutting again and supplementing my lifting sessions with some long distance runs and track training. The most difficult thing about those eight months was working out alone. Looking back, I can see that I didn’t push myself as hard as I could and should have because I was afraid of the weight and because my form was poor enough that it prevented me from improving at the right pace.

That race didn’t happen because of a weekend fitting trip to Guatemala. A week after I got back from that trip I had two new guys move into my neighborhood. One – named Treg – was a men’s physique competitor out of Idaho (and now the fitness author for Masculine Style) and the other – Alex – was a firefighter in training who loved lifting weights. I saw both of these guys at church and in the gym and we’d talk, but it took me a couple of weeks to ask them if I could tag along for a workout.

That first round was insane. It happened to be leg day and the approach these two had was killer. Rather than the low volume, heavy weight system Greg had me doing, these two did everything. Some weeks were like Greg’s program, others were complete burnouts with supersets and dropsets, and other still were almost like interval training.

Rather than doing full-body workouts three days a week, Treg and Alex practiced the conventional body builder method of working one muscle group a day, six days a week. I was happy to tag along and have these two spot me, and help me with my form.

Treg had done meal plans before and we talked about my goals and what I wanted to accomplish. As much as I loved what Greg had me doing, I wanted to vary things up a bit and try Treg’s advice. The carbs, protein, and calories went up for three months and then we started cutting 12 weeks before my one year mark.

So what are the results?

Weight: 167.4 lbs

Waist measurement (right at navel): 30.5 inches

Squat: 225 for five

Deadlift: 275 for five

Military Press: 95 for five

Bench Press: 150 for five

And the photos:

I’m conflicted about the changes. It’s easy to see the online gurus and Hollywood superhero transformations that seem to double my results in half the time. I don’t have the six pack I was hoping for and I’m still not deadlifting 400 lbs. All of that being said, there is some serious improvement there and, for a guy who’s 30, has two kids, and never lifted weights consistently before this year, I’m happy with what I’ve done.

Right now I’ve gone back to putting on some more muscle. Calories and carbs are back up, and I’m hoping to get up to 180 to then cut down between 170 and 175. I want to be able to squat 315, deadlift 405, bench 275, and press 135, all by the time I’ve completed year two.

The biggest takeaway is how this has affected the rest of my life. I began getting up at 5:00 in the morning in order to have enough to blog, lift, and spend time with my kids before going to work every day. The discipline to do that wouldn’t have been there had I not already developed more will power when it came to eating right and working out consistently.

I have become addicted to self improvement. If I can control and affect something as gradual as my body, I can exert more influence over every aspect of my life. I’ve never really identified as a victim of anything, but my patience for those who do has decreased drastically as I’ve learned more and more how to developed a central locus of control.

My posture and my breath have improved. My skin is healthier, my sleep is better, and my emotional reactivity is less. I’m more patient with my wife and my kids, but more judgmental of those who are content to stagnate.

And as for style, well my clothes all fit very very differently.

On the left is a shot of me from three years ago. On the right, in a henley of the same cut and size is one of me three weeks ago.

In fact, my biggest hesitation to put on more muscle is that I don’t want to lose more of my established wardrobe. #firstworldproblems, right? While I may have to retire a few suits, slacks, and dress shirts, my T-shirts, henleys, sweaters, and other casual clothing look much better than they did before. I’m not huge, but I’m no longer scrawny.

If you want to know more about what I did, what I liked, what I didn’t, and any other details, sound off in the comments.