🚨 Welcome to this week’s issue! I’m Robert Tuchman, entrepreneur, author, and publisher of Generation Xcellent, and like you, I’m doing all I can to survive the moshpit of midlife. Thanks for joining me on the journey! If you like what you see, send us an email—and share this newsletter with another guy who could use our help.

📩 Thanks for joining the conversation!

- HEALTH -

A Man’s Guide to Mid-Life Heart Health

According to recent science, your ticker could be twice as old as you are. Here’s why—and what to do about it.

By Jeff Stevenson

Your endorphins are orphans. Yes, it’s a cliché, but a few recent studies suggest regularly guffawing is key to keeping your heart healthy. It comes down to your endorphins—powerful natural opioids that get released when you laugh, says Martha Gulati, MD, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. “The endorphins can actually latch onto receptors in the blood vessels,” she says. Once attached, the arteries “may be better able to release nitric oxide, which improves blood flow,” she says.

—Jeff Stevenson has written for Men’s Health, Maxim, and other classic men’s magazines.

 - FITNESS -

6 Simple Rules for Running Longer, Stronger and Pain-Free

How to get back in shape—without getting bent out of shape.

By Jordan Metzl, MD

>The sun is high, the breezes are balmy, and a legion of mid-life men just like you are digging their running shoes out of the closet to take advantage.

Being able to run is a blessing. But don’t let it turn into a curse: While better shoes and a proliferation of trails have made running safer than ever, it’s still easy to pull, twist, sprain or strain something—and wind up on the sidelines. As a finisher of 40 marathons and 14 Iron Man triathlons, I make running safely a priority. So should you. Here are the tips I recommend to every man who’s heading back out on the road.

Related:  Burn Fat Faster—at 45+

1. Buy new running shoes—after work. Shop at night, when your feet are swollen after a day of walking. That approximates how big your feet will be after the first 3 miles of your run. Also, try to find a running store that offers video analysis of your stride; it really helps in finding the right shoe.

2. Train on a trail. Unstable surfaces help to build more stable ankles, so always look for opportunities to run off-road. At home, consider using a wobble board, which will help enhance the connection between your nerves and muscles, known as proprioception. The stronger this connection, the greater your chances of avoiding injuries. Try standing on a wobble board for 5 minutes a day. When that becomes easy, try doing it with your eyes closed.

3. Never run in wet shoes. Soggy midsoles have 40 to 50 percent less shock absorbency than dry shoes. But don’t try to hasten the drying process by tossing them in the dryer, which can degrade the cushioning.

4. Get more eccentric. You can reduce your risk of injury, especially to the tendons, with some simple adjustments to your workout. Try eccentric training, meaning you go slower on the lower part of the lift. Here’s a great move for runners: In a calf raise, lift for 2 seconds, then spend 10 seconds lowering the weight. The muscle tissue is lengthening as it’s contracting, which will make it not just stronger, but better at absorbing the impact of running.

5. Even out the roadways. If you run on the roadside, facing traffic as you were taught to do, you may be setting yourself up for injury. That’s because roads are typically higher in the middle than at the sides, meaning your outside leg is always absorbing just a little bit more force with each stride. Either find a flat surface (or a trail) to run on, or run back in the opposite direction on the same side of the road you ran out on, so your other leg gets equal time.

6. Outsmart the dogs. Being chased by an otherwise friendly mutt while out for a run is a common experience. If he’s closing in behind you, turn around and jog backwards. Dogs naturally run down their prey from behind; he may quickly back off when confronted. If it’s happening frequently on your route, consider carrying a water bottle, which you can use to squirt him in the face. Or maybe some doggie biscuits.

—Jordan Metzl, MD, is a sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and the author of Running Strong: The Sports Doctor’s Complete Guide to Staying Healthy and Injury-Free for Life.

Battle of the ‘90s Crushes: The Quarterfinals
Winona Ryder vs. Alyssa Milano

>Welcome to week 4 of the quarterfinals in our epic March Madness–style tournament. Last week, Phoebe Cates squeaked past Lisa Bonet by a margin of victory that was skimpier than her red bikini.

This week, two brunette ingenues continue their battle for a place in your teenage heart. Were you more Charmed by smoldering-witch-turned-weepy-dog-lover Alyssa Milano, or was it Winona Ryder who got your Beetlejuices flowing? Which of these iconic Gen X crushes will move on to the quarter finals? Only YOU can decide! 

We’ll have a new showdown every week, with more Gen X goddesses competing for your vote. And check out our social pages (we’re on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads) for updates and a full rundown of the winners.

- GEN X CULTURE -

10 Gen X Urban Legends We All Believed as Kids

Before the internet ruined everything, our playgrounds and schoolyards were the epicenter of fake news.

By Bob Larkin

>Back before the internet came along and supercharged the spread of misinformation, Gen X kids managed to peddle some truly bonkers theories all on our own. Armed only with playground gossip, sleepover speculation, and one friend whose cousin “swore it was true,” we built a mythology of nonsense — and clung to it with the conviction of flat-Earthers. Here are the top 10 most persistent childhood myths we all seemed to believe back then.

1. Swarms of killer bees are coming for us. Africanized honey bees have been here since 1985. Yes, they’re more likely to swarm and attack than the European honey bees. But they’ve killed a grand total of 1,000 people worldwide over the past 70 years. Murder hornets, the ball’s in your court.

2. Blowing into Nintendo cartridges made them work again. We all did it: the ritual huff into a stubborn NES cartridge like we were giving CPR to Super Mario Bros. Turns out, this fixed nothing and may have actually made things worse.

3. Faces of Death was 100% real. This disturbing “documentary” haunted many a slumber party. But about 40% of the gore was fake, according to the effects team — including the infamous electric chair scene, which used toothpaste to simulate mouth foam.

4. We’d all be happier if our dads were like the dad in Mrs. Doubtfire. Robin Williams’s character stalks his own children and tricks them into loving him by disguising himself as another person. He shouldn’t get custody. He should be in custody.

5. Furbys were spying on us. The '90s equivalent of a wiretap, Furbys were accused of being creepy robot informants—even the NSA banned them from government buildings. But these fuzzy freaks were more “malfunctioning Teddy Ruxpin” than espionage devices. They couldn’t learn or record anything. Unlike your iPhone, which is now going to start sending you ads for Furbys….

6. Copying a VHS tape would land you in Federal prison. The FBI warning at the beginning of every movie felt serious, but unless you were running a black-market Blockbuster from your basement, you were probably safe.

7. Flashing your high beams at a car with its headlights off will get you killed. Gang members were just waiting to follow home and murder anyone correcting them from the oncoming traffic lane. This was the first urban legend spread by fax—because that’s how old we are!—since part of its cred derived from being printed on what appeared to be a real police bulletin.

8. Marilyn Manson was in The Wonder Years. This was the first internet urban legend to go viral, back when it involved AOL chatrooms and chain emails. No, Marilyn Manson didn’t play Paul Pfeiffer — that was Josh Saviano, who grew up to become a lawyer, not a shock rocker. Also, he’s not Lady Gaga. The man’s got range, but not that much range.

9. Diet soda helps you lose weight. Studies conducted after we grew up showed that artificial sweeteners activate food cravings and mess with our microbiome. Thanks, extremely lazy food scientists!

10. “Magic Eye” pictures could permanently ruin your vision. Stare too long at a 3D dolphin and you’d go cross-eyed forever — or so we were told. These days, optometrists actually use them to help people’s eyesight. Take that, panic moms of 1994.

—Bob Larkin has written for Men’s Health, Esquire, The New York Post, and other outlets.