For building muscle, whey protein reigns supreme not only because it’s a complete protein, but also because it has a high concentration of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) such as leucine, isoleucine and valine. These can be absorbed readily to stimulate muscle growth, especially when consumed after exercise. When considering whey proteins there are two types: Casein and Whey. Casein represents about 80 per cent of milk protein. Casein has poor results in producing lean mass in athletes. Whey represents about 20 per cent of milk protein. It has superior results to other proteins such as eggs, meats, fish, soy, nut, pea, rice and other plant proteins in producing lean muscle mass. To call a product whey protein concentrate it can have anywhere from 29 per cent to 89 per cent whey protein. At the bottom end of that scale, 29 to 49 per cent protein with the other 50 to 70 per cent almost all fat and lactose you will see a lot of this cheap whey for sale in bulk stores and markets. Leave it on the shelf. The new shirt you buy with the money saved will not look good on a pumpkin. Near the top end of the whey scale, 70 to 89 per cent protein with only 10 to 25 per cent of the mix being fat and lactose is where you want your whey to be. At the high end is Whey protein isolate, 90 to 95 per cent protein. The higher price of whey isolate, however, could be money wasted as both high-end concentrate and isolate are fast proteins, that is, they are very rapidly absorbed compared to Casein or meat or fish proteins. H DNA 101 ABOUT ARRON RYAN Also known as Coach Az, Arron is an elite personal trainer and CrossFit instructor. He has recently relocated from Sydney to Brisbane. Specializing in advanced strength and conditioning for athletic performance, weight loss and fitness, functional fitness and rehabilitation, he designs packages unique to every client. Contact him at [email protected] or visit www.multi-fit.com.au ARRON’S PICK: SHORTS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM! There are some pretty sexy looking shorts out there from your favourite brands and even the run of the mill footy short, but many aren’t designed to be worn in any sort of functional training routine. As a coach, I’ve witnessed everything from butt seams splitting open, balls popping, and even being told, “I can’t squat in these shorts!” Stop the nonsense. Get comfortable, functional and fashionable shorts like the Smesh Gear shorts. Shown here in classic dark grey, they have a four-way stretch fabric that is super light and sit just above the knee, which is great for squats, running or even swimming. With two pockets you can have your phone in one and membership card in the other without it interfering with your workout. Available online at smeshgear.com
102 DNA / PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY: ETHANJAMESPHOTOGRAPHY.COM Nicely Does It It all began with a test shoot in 2010. The collaboration between photographer Ethan James and model Carson Nicely has since spanned years and resulted in a lasting friendship and hundreds of stunning images. Here is their Best Of… so far!
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DNA 105 ABOUT CARSON: Carson Nicely grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee before heading to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he obtained a degree in Psychology and was a champion swimmer (he still holds 4 NCAA swimming records there). Carson later moved to Nashville, and then to Dallas, Texas, to pursue modeling and acting. It was in Dallas that he added photography to his résumé, and now he does all the above in Los Angeles, California, with his girlfriend Miranda. Find him at www.nicelymademedia.com. “I’ve been able to watch Carson grow as a model and actor, and now he has even picked up photography. We became good friends and try to catch up in person with food and photography whenever we’re in the same place at the same time. I’m terribly proud of him.” – Ethan James
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DNADNA 111 17 AGE-DEFYING FOR THE PROGRESSIVE MAN. Chatswood 66/47 Neridah St Chatswood NSW 2067 Bondi Junction 603, 26-30 Spring St Bondi Junction NSW 2022 1300 668 573 www.facetoday.com.au facebook.com/facetodaymediclinic FACE TODAY – LEADING ADVANCED COSMETIC CLINICS SPECIALISING IN MALE REJUVENATION Cairns 146 Anderson St Manunda QLD 4870
›› Fitting snugly into the Back Passage this month, the humble condom. Alexander Lowe oers a slick – and surprising – summary. DRAWINGS DISCOVERED in Stone Age caves in France show us that condoms may have been used as many as 15,000 years ago. According to legend, King Minos of Crete used condoms made of goat bladders circa 1500BC. Their use was also recorded in Ancient Egypt, where linen condoms were among the treasures found in King Tut’s tomb. For millennia, the most popular material was animal and fish intestines; however, in Ancient China, condoms were made of silk paper and lubricated with oils. In Japan, leather condoms were used, as well as condoms made of tortoise shells and animal horns that covered the penis glans only. Roman warriors were said to have made condoms from the muscle tissue of the enemy warriors they slaughtered. Curiously, condoms were mostly intended to protect men from sexually transmittable infections, rather than as birth control (which was the prerogative of women). Legendary womaniser Casanova, who was, in fact, bisexual, was an early ambassador of safe sex, describing in his memoirs how he used to blow up linen condoms as balloons before intercourse to entertain his partners – and to 112 DNA / THE BACK PASSAGE A Seminal History
check his condom’s integrity. Those condoms were secured with a pink ribbon and Casanova called them French Letters, in reference to the “French disease”, syphilis. It was the French soldiers of King Charles VIII who contracted syphilis from Spanish missionaries during the siege of Naples and spread it across Europe. It was recorded as being specifically transmitted through anal sex. In Britain, the oldest condoms found were in a toilet in Dudley Castle and have been traced to the soldiers of Charles I who, reportedly, used them on each other also to protect against syphilis. The first rubber condoms were made around 1860 and had to be custom-fit to cover the head of the penis only. They were as thick as bicycle tires, uncomfortable, and smelt of sulphur. However, being reusable, they became a popular alternative to ‘skinny’ condoms (those made of animal intestines) which came at the price of a week’s salary. Then Germans started the ‘cement dipping’ process which allowed for making rubbers thinner and, since the 1920s, condoms have been primarily made from latex, suspended in water rubber. In WWI, German soldiers were supplied with condoms, but not the Allied forces, where STD rates skyrocketed with nearly 417,000 cases recorded among British and Dominion troops and over 300,000 cases among Americans (nearly 15 percent of US troops). New Zealand nurse Ettie Rout became concerned with high numbers of venereal diseases among ANZAC soldiers and developed her own prophylactic kit with condoms that she distributed to servicemen. She published an article in The New Zealand Times advocating for condom use, which caused an outrage but managed to persuade authorities to start distributing free condoms to troops in Europe. Conflicting morals, particularly stemming from religious bias, have often been the leading opposition to condom usage, with restrictions on manufacture and sale in Ireland and the USA existing for nearly 100 years. The last TV advertising ban was only lifted in America in 1979, right before the start of the AIDS epidemic. Condom history continues these days with new designs, such as anal condoms for the receptive partner and prototype spray-on condoms. Another development is a cap condom to cover the tip of the penis only. In Canada, the “invisible condom” is in its trial stage: it’s a special gel that hardens up as a thin film in the rectum or vagina and then dissolves after several hours. Pre-exposure drugs like Truvada have sparked suggestions that the days of the condom might be numbered for gay men wanting to protect themselves from HIV. But Truvada offers no protection from other sexually transmitted nasties like syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and herpes so, it would seem, there’s still a place for the rubber in the wallet of gay men yet! H DNA 113 Clockwise from top-left: The Egyptian choice for love glove? Linen. Condoms were marketed to soldiers in wartime to ward off catching the clap! Antique condoms were made from the gut of pig, sheep or fish – and reusable. Penis Cop, 1993, Art Chantry. “The first rubber condoms were as thick as bicycle tires, uncomfortable, and smelt of sulphur.”
#curatinganimage If ever the media should need emergency information about me I really hope they don’t reach out to @merry_widow. AKA my mother. And by emergency information I mean in the case that I may somehow be entangled in some “Breaking News”: Aeroplane that’s evaporated into thin air. Hostage situation. Nightclubbers fleeing bootleg venue during drug raid. All communication lost with far-flung exotic holiday destination. Bushwalker lost in Ku-ring-gai National Park for 14 days. Survives on nothing but Nicorette and sheer determination. Actually this last scenario is the least likely. But you know where I’m going with this. Apart from the comments I imagine @ merry_widow would make: “I always knew his bad temper would get him in trouble.” “I told him that no matter how good a tan he would get, he is just too gay to travel to a country ruled by military dictatorship.” “Did he try and pick up a pilot again? Midflight?” She could also be relied upon to supply them with really bad photos of me. In fact, the worst. Ever. As was evidenced by a recent visit to her house where I saw my picture. Magnetised to the fridge. Along with those of all my siblings. And their various offspring. Theirs all showed them in the best light posible – no mean feat, let me assure you. Many from special events, professionally photographed in some cases. Mine, however, was an iPhone snap. Taken from below. During a particularly porky phase. By one of the above-mentioned siblings. Who was pissed. At the end of a three week holiday, spent entirely on a boat, with nothing to do but eat, drink, and be brown as a berry. I was also, sadly, as round as a berry. And wearing only speedos. And somehow @merry_widow thought that that picture was not only fine. But worthy of display. As I was leaving, I slinked past the fridge, grabbed the offending image, tore it into several pieces and shoved them in my pocket. She called me once she’d noticed. Disappointed that I’d destroyed her ‘property’ which, yes, technically the photo was. Adding that I’m “terribly vain; it’s a lovely photo.” At that point I decided she was clinically insane. So said to her. Loudly. And clearly. “Should anybody from any news outlet ever contact you, please DO NOT GIVE THEM A PICTURE OF ME. EVER. Not even one. No matter the reason. No matter how much money they offer.” Also remembering a hideous photo of a runaway on Australia’s Most Wanted, to which @merry_widow’s comment had been: “What a shame, such a pretty girl.” Which further confirmed my decision. And just so we’re clear, it’s not that it would have been okay for the girl to have disappeared had she been ugly. It’s just that @merry_widow sees the beauty in everyone. And is therefore ill-equipped to make essential judgements. How I am her son baffles me. So anyway I have nominated @fab_flatmate to step forward and manage the imagereleasing process should any of these situations arise. She, thank goodness, showed the requisite empathy, and is clearly qualified for the task. And just to ensure this task is easy for her, and also that I maintain the control I always find so difficult to relinquish, I have created an album. More of a library, really. Of suitable imagery. Nothing too recent. But of course nothing too old. A balance of serious pics. And happy snaps. Some solo. Some with friends. Some with family. All making me appear much more handsome than I am. And when viewed together, designed to show a good looking, fun, stylish, popular and well travelled person, with a variety of interests. Much like my old Grindr profile actually. Although of course without the cock pics. But unlike the pics on my Grindr profile, I took the time and made the investment to have the images professionally retouched. I’m taller, thinner, more tanned, less wrinkled, and with whiter teeth. And you know what, that’s okay, because if I did emerge from Ku-ring-gai National Park after 14 days, while I would indeed appear much more dishevelled than any of those images, I would also be much thinner. I’ve often fantasised about such a scenario. Running from captors. Swimming ashore after being lost at sea for weeks. Being trapped down a mine for days on end. (And not just for the butch miners I’d be trapped there with.) But for the moment of release, when the cameras are at the ready. And the eyes of world are on me. As I emerge a hero. Who’s conquered adversity. Defied the odds. And am 12 kilos lighter. Although of course you can’t control those images, so I’ll not worry about them now. They may provide a future project. The current project, however, is almost done. Each album is on my iphone, my ipad, and my laptop. As they are on all of @fab_flatmate’s devices. We each also have them all on a USB. And for extra caution, there’s also an emergency USB with @former_model, who is a vocal supporter. Each image has been labeled with a date more recent than the time at which it was actually taken. And they have been sorted so that they can be searched via event, date, location or outfit. Plus, they’re online. Every single one. For the (God forbid) lazy (or time-poor) journo, who decides just to google my name and see what images appear. They will find access to this library across Facebook, and especially created Twitter and Instagram profiles. I’ve also made a website. And even applied to an ad to research and write for Wikipedia. Just so I could insert a listing for myself. Linking to all the images. As well as vastly embellished facts about my life. To make my tragic involvement in imagined activities all the more material-worthy for the media, and all the more sympathyinducing for the reader, this information is also stored on those USBs. I’m just putting the finishing touches to a draft for my obituary, which, like the photos, I plan to update annually. And then I’ll be done. Which is a very good thing. As those photos might be aired sooner than I’d thought. Because I’ve just been implicated in a shoplifting scandal involving a Mardi Gras outfit, a dildo, and two bottles of amyl. 114 DNA / URBAN_HOMOSEXUAL URBAN HOMO IS A WORK OF FICTION. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ACTUAL PEOPLE OR EVENTS IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL. DNA DOES NOT ENDORSE DRUG USE. Famous Last Words: Kodak founder George Eastman (suicide note) – “My work is done, why wait?”
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