Cooper VP 'Cracks The Code' With New Book On Men's Health

Imagine being able to head to Lincoln Financial Field and workout with the Philadelphia Eagles. Training side-by-side with some of your favorite football players might be motivation enough to get men to take their fitness more seriously.

It’s one approach Europeans have taken, and it’s one approach Louis Bezich, a Cooper University Health Care Senior Vice President, points to in his newest book, “Crack the Code: 10 Proven Secrets That Motivate Healthy Behavior And Inspire Fulfillment In Men Over 50.”

In the book, Bezich writes about multiple factors that motivate men to be healthy. Men, more than women, need these inspirations to stay healthy.

“As we get into the second half of the game of life, we have graduations and weddings and other milestones, and we should be taking care of ourselves,” Bezich said. “But instead, we neglect our health. We have shorter lives and more chronic disease than women. Social factors are a major influence.”

Bezich came up with a 10-step plan for healthier living that he developed through a national survey of 1,000 men and interviews with 30 men who were pre-screened to be living a healthy lifestyle.

In the book, he writes about the importance of identifying your own motivations in life, and then determining what must be done to reach these achievements. For some, it may be seeing their children’s lives unfold. Others may be motivated by the desire to live a long life with their spouses, or by their career or hobbies. For many, all these motivators play a role.

After determining what you want and what you need to do to get there, you need to create a network of friends that will support the various aspects of your healthy lifestyle. It’s necessary to have people present to support you in different environments because different people fulfill different needs and keep you motivated, he writes.

Along the way, there are little things he terms micromotivators that can be used to reach your goal, but can be leveraged to help you achieve other things you’d like to do in your life. He also writes that being a hero to others can motivate men as they get older.

There is also an entire section on the importance of women in men’s lives, and that American culture needs to change so that men’s health is treated the same way women’s health is.

Men’s health is taken seriously in Europe, where they have two programs in which fans can train with their favorite soccer teams: Football Fans In Training (FFIT) and European Fans In Training (EuroFit).

FFIT is a program run by the Scottish government and UK Football Pools that was launched to combat male obesity and tackle the lack of men participating in weight loss programs.
Men are trained by club community coaches for 12 weeks at their team’s home stadium. They learn how to eat healthy and become more active. Retention was high, participants lost weight and the program changed men’s views on weight loss. Since 2010, more than 2,000 men have participated in FFIT.

EuroFit is similar, but focuses more on physical activity, reducing sedentary time, healthy behavior and reducing sedentary behavior. It also uses a mobile app in which men form teams and compete in leagues. A controlled trial is taking place at top-flight soccer clubs in Portugal, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK.

Bezich believes American men could be motivated to participate in these types of programs, and that the NFL is already working with the Men’s Health Network to promote awareness, but have not yet instituted a program of physical activity.

However, it appears men are still not aware of the health issues they face. Although less than 3 percent of Americans live a healthy lifestyle, more than 90 percent of men think they are in good, very good or excellent health, Bezich writes.

Bezich began living his own healthy lifestyle - which includes waking up at 5 a.m. to ensure he has time to go to the gym and prepare himself for the day - while dealing with adversity in the early stages of his adult life.

He has been married three times, and after he and his first wife dealt with a still born child, he began running to cope with his problems. Running helped him get through his tough times.
He was married twice more, and found motivation to run in the desire to be there for his sons.

“By the time they went to college, my coping mechanism became my passion,” Bezich said.
Maybe training with professional teams can help get a man started, but Bezich says the true motivator is much closer than that: “Your greatest influence is yourself.”