One of the central tenets of being a man is wondering how you measure up. Like a noseguard sizing up a center, we find it necessary to compare our state of affairs to the guy idling in the Jaguar at the stoplight, the well-groomed up-and-comer in the cubicle down the hall or the sinewy personal trainer named Dirk who's dating our ex.
Whether it's our paychecks, pectorals or Pontiacs, we can't seem to stop comparing our bag of prizes to every other guy's. The problem is that we never know exactly how we're doing because we never know exactly which cards the men around us are holding. Worse, we often make ourselves feel inadequate by comparing ourselves to men whose rare, exceptional success makes them oddities - and far from average.What you need is an easier way to see where you stand in life's great lineup. In an effort to help men out, consider the following research on the average guy.
You may find that you come in well above average in many cases. But if you're coming up short in some places, there are also a few strategies to help you do much better.
1. The average guy will live for 72.8 years.
Not long enough? Here are some ways to lengthen your lifespan:
- See the glass as half-full.
A study of male Harvard graduates found that pessimistic subjects came down with diseases earlier and more severely than did more optimistic subjects.
- Go fish.
Another study found that eating one fish dinner per week can cut the risk of cardiac arrest by up to 50 percent. Researchers believe that the polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fatty fish may reduce the clumping of blood platelets that leads to coronary spasms.
Four 3-ounce servings of salmon a month would provide nearly 6 grams of these acids - enough to protect your heart.
2. The average guy makes $29,533 annually.
If this isn't enough, move to New York City, where the per-capita income is the highest in the United States: $52,277. Just enough for rent in the Big Apple.
3. The average guy watches 28 hours of television each week.
If you can't watch less, watch better. Avoid the infomercials and cable Valium - The Weather Channel.
4. The average guy spends 44 minutes each day arranging his hair and clothes.
There are ways to cut your grooming time in half:
- Organize your tasks.
You don't take out the trash one milk carton at a time, do you? Shine four pairs of shoes at a time. Take three suits instead of one to the dry cleaner to be pressed. And while you're at it, take all your dress shirts, too.
- Plan ahead.
Use a Sunday afternoon to match your shirts, ties and suits into groups so you aren't scrambling to match right before work.
- Stow an emergency grooming kit.
Keep a drawer in your office full of the stuff you need: a hand mirror, hair gel, a comb, an extra tie, some breath mints.
5. The average guy saves less than $3,000 for retirement each year.
How do you live within your means?
- Stash the dough.
Have the money taken out of your paycheck or bank account and put into a retirement account, such as a 401 mutual fund, credit union or savings account before you can get your hands on it.
- Fight the temptation.
Try this trick: Take a $100 traveler's check, wrap it up and hide it in your wallet.
"With that as a backup, you can carry less cash, forcing you to spend less," says Jonathan Pond, personal finance commentator in Watertown, Mass., and author of "The New Century Family Money Book" (Dell, 1995).
6. The average guy has 70 to 80 pounds of muscle.
Your goal, says Dr. Wayne L. Westcott, fitness and research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Mass., is to shoot for 90 pounds of the hard stuff.
Even if you already lift weights, you can do better:
- Cut your rest time.
A lot of lifters like to rest for two to three minutes between sets to allow their muscles to fully recover. But if you want bigger muscles, shorten rest periods to between 60 and 90 seconds, suggests Dr. Tom Baechle, a certified strength and conditioning expert and author of "Fitness Weight Training" (Human Kinetics, 1994).
- Attempt a "periodization" program.
All this means is vary your workout's intensity throughout the week.
"This helps many power athletes gain strength quickly and without injury," Baechle says.
Keep the number of sets (three per exercise) and repetitions (six to eight) the same. Change only the weight.
7. The average man can run a mile in 12 minutes.
A 7.5-minute mile, however, is a better gauge for an active male. Here's how to improve your endurance:
- Step on it.
Simply step up the pace for a minute or two during your regular jogs.
"This is called interval training," explains Ray Giannelli, vice-president of engineering for Trotter Treadmills in Midway, Mass., and designer of workout programs for treadmill equipment.
"By going slow and then speeding up, your body adapts to the stress, allowing you to gain both strength and endurance."
Giannelli suggests doing three minutes at a slow pace for every minute of hard running.
8. The average guy can do 33.5 sit-ups in a minute.
Sure, 33.5 sit-ups sounds like a lot. But fall below average and you may be more vulnerable to lower-back problems.
Do a front crunch - it's safer than a full sit-up. Lie on your back, with your hips flexed at 90 degrees, so your thighs are perpendicular to the floor. Keep the knees at 90 degrees with your lower legs parallel to the floor. Place them lightly against a wall, just for balance.
With your hands between your legs, come forward, reaching with your hands, just lifting your head off the floor. Return. Do 15.
9. The average guy gets intimate about seven times a month.
There are things that you can do to increase your chances of having sex more often:
- Stay true to one. "A man who sticks to one partner has more sex than a man with two, three, even four partners during the course of a year," says Edward O. Laumann, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago.
The reason is that a man with many partners spends less time having sex and more time planning on it.
And men with more than one sex partner report being less healthy than monogamous men.
10. The average guy sleeps seven hours a night.
Are you trying to get through the day with less sleep? Consider the following:
- Try not to sleep.
"Trying to sleep only leads to sleepless frustration," says Dr. Peter Hauri, director of Insomnia Research and Treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
So resist slumber through "paradoxical intention," Hauri says. "If you stop caring about falling asleep while lying in bed, sleep comes more naturally."
- Think lavender.
A study found that sniffing lavender oil before bedtime was just as effective as sleep medication for insomniacs.
Hopefully this information helps you see where you stand in life's great lineup: A way to check your status without peeking at the pay stubs of your pals, rummaging through your neighbor's garbage cans or peering into his bedroom window to catalog his sexual prowess.
Now you know how you stand compared with the regular Joe without violating any of those confusing stalking laws.