Via Sticky (Work Unfriendly): Gotta say that all of the contestants for the Men's Health cover competition look like winners to me.

Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte covers Men's Health (August 2012) and appears inside as part of the mag's "Gold Medal Secrets of the Olympians" feature shot by Peter Yang. If you think Lochte is hot, you'll probably like the other dudes in this piece, too...

Zac Efron on and in Men's Health (May 2012) talks about bulking up for The Lucky One:

"You get this strange sense of power as those weights increase. By the end of the movie I didn't recognize myself. You hear about guys like Christian Bale who dive into it and are really able to transform. I've always wondered if I had the willpower to actually do it. And I'll always have pride around the sense that I can."

Good for him, though I'm not sure building a better body is quite the same as tearing one down (as Bale and others have done for roles).

More hi-res Zac after the jump...

Taylor Kitsch is biceptual on the cover of Men's Health (April 2012). He paints this pretty picture of his workouts:

"You knock out cardio and weights, really, in an hour and a half. But you're drenched 99 percent of the time."

More pictures after the jump...

Zac Efron is a bundle of scruffy cuteness, as seen in both Us (above) and People (below), both February 13, 2012:

Natty NASCAR dude Jimmie Johnson is even scruffier in Men's Health (March 2012):

More after the jump...

David Beckham is on both the front and back cover of Men's Health (March 2012), but it's what's on the inside that really counts...

Big-footed basketballer Blake Griffin—all 6'10" of him—scores the cover of Men's Health (February 2012). His board shorts refuse to comment on the 10", but shots like these do cause the mind to wander:

More after the jump...

Check out the incredibly cheap treatment Henry Cavill gets from Men's Health when a foreign edition recycles the American cover! More here.

For Men's Health (December 2011), Ashton Kutcher can barely be bothered o flex a bicep. And the story is inadvertently humorous for being titled "Tweet No Evil," which the editor couldn't have known would be so ironic in light of his recent goof over Joe Paterno. (Which by the way is no big deal to me; he didn't have all the facts, he tweeted, he got educated, he apologized.)

More after the jump...

Prove it!

As of midnight last night, it was exactly six years since my first post. It's been a tough thing to keep up with a dayjob and outside activities, and just when I think I might walk away, a valuable connection or interesting opportunity or a kind word comes my way. Thank you all for reading me.

Of whom are you more jealous?

Here are my favorite 100+ posts out of nearly 11,000. Please take some time to read (or re-read!) a couple and tweet or Facebook any you like.

xoxo Matt

The pocket pool championships were intense this year

BOY CULTURE

Boy-crazy

FROM BOY TO MAN: BC B.C. (2007): The entire history of my novell and novel Boy Culture as well as the movie version; might be my ultimate post.

Jonathon Trent & Derek Magyar make an Allan Brocka sandwich

BOY ON FILM (2006): An account of the NYC launch party for Boy Culture as it played the TriBeCa Film Fest.

I was left "Reeling" by the experience

FRIENDS AND "FAMILY" (2006): The movie version of Boy Culture hits Chicago.

No one would've mistaken me for Taylor Lautner

RAPT PUPIL (2006): The final night of Outfest with Boy Culture; I was fat but on the other hand got to meet Bryan Singer.

 

MY ART

 

Construction worker (shot this week) vs. James Dean

GUYDAR (since at least January 17, 2008) & ENDS OF THE WORLD (since at least January 13, 2008): Attractive men of the world—I got your backs. Your fronts, too.

i-i-i (phone)

Not totally built

Unaltered iPhone image that still blows me away

"Your pictures suck" (2008): An art critic attacks me, but not without sustaining some hits in return.

Let's call it a draw

DRAWN TOGETHER (2008): How my desire to draw related to my secret desire. One of my absolute favorite posts.

The shirtless one

LOST ANGELES (2009): My favorite photographic travelogue of L.A.

Even then, New Yorkers feared 9/11 was the beginning of the end

ART IMITATES LIFE (2006): My 9/11 and my distaste for grief tourism.

ME

Death of the party—Jeff in high school, already halfway through his life

BURNING MAN (2007): Tribute to my late high school friend and first romance.

Signed, sealed (eventually) delivered

LOST BOY FOUND (2011): There is a book in here somewhere.

Be Italian

CIAO HOUNDS: OUR TRIP TO ITALY (2011): Finally got José to Europe.

Death becomes here

ILLINOIS DEATH TRIP (2007): Ruminations on death while revisiting a past home, and the past.

Life is short...and meaningful

PASSING BY (2008): Mourning the loss of a person I only met once.

Lots more...