Thanks for the questions folks – keep them coming. Let’s get right to a few.

Question: Milo, I heard you’re not a fan of athletes doing bench press. I play football and my coach talks all the time about increasing the bench press max. What’s wrong with the bench press?Mike, Texas

Answer: First off, I think the bench press is a great exercise for gaining upper body strength, and I believe strength is the basis for all athletics.

So, in that sense, I don’t mind the bench press at all.

What I don’t like about it is that there are no sports that utilize the bench press movement during competition. It doesn’t matter if you’re an offensive lineman, linebacker, receiver or running back; if you’re facing an opponent with your hands in the same position they’re in during the bench press, you’re getting beaten every play.

I believe a narrow-grip incline press is much more specific to what we want to do in most sports. The hands are in tighter. We’re using nearly an equal amount of triceps and chest as opposed to using more chest with the bench press.

So, there’s nothing wrong with the bench press. I just think there are better methods of becoming a better athlete.

Q: Milo, I just read your piece about activity as a sub for drugs. Do you consider alcohol a drug? My very fit 20-year-old U.S. Marine gets lots of high from exercise, more than he wishes often. But he and fellow Marines use alcohol to escape from reality.

Having taught chemistry and physics in high school for 10 years, I know that kids use alcohol and drugs for escape, not the physical altering of their senses.

Kim, Colorado

A: I totally consider alcohol a drug. I’m not naïve, but isn’t it illegal for that 20-year-old to be drinking and, by extension, using alcohol to escape from reality?

I’m not Dr. Phil, but if somebody is using alcohol to escape reality, they might want to consider taking a step toward changing that reality. Instead of your Marine drinking with the crew, why doesn’t the crew put together a flag football team or a basketball team?

Drinking costs time and money with very little return on the investment. Fitness costs time with a huge return on the investment.

Q: Milo is there an age that’s too young to start kids exercising?

Mary, Kansas

A: Six years ago, when my daughter was a 1-year-old, I had her doing sit-ups. Of course, to her it was just sitting up playing peek-a-boo with Daddy. Our bodies were designed to move. So let’s let them move.

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Bryant is a former Gazette reporter now living in San Diego. He holds training certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, USA Weightlifting and the Titleist Performance Institute. Reach him through the “contact” link at www.nobullfit.com

A pair of traders get together on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Oct. 24, 2008. Street capped another difficult week with steep losses Friday, sending the major indexes to their lowest levels in more than five years as markets around t Photo by (AP Photo/Richard Drew)