Cabin fever: ways to beat the winter blues

Once upon a time you’d save up £30, buy the brand new FIFA and that was you sorted for the next five months. Now you need a bank balance the size of a small country to get set up with the latest Call Of Duty. Relive simpler times by dedicating your evening to some of the best moments in video-gaming history Fight the T-Rex in Tomb Raider Not necessary to progress through the game, but still pant-worryingly ace.

Collect every colour heart on Commodore 64 classic Flimbo’s Quest A near mythical achievement.

Read FHM India in the digital libraryEvery issue, every shoot, on TCG Media.

Choose your first Pokémon on Pokémon Red And Blue Storm Omaha Beach on Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault Makes Saving Private Ryan look like a picnic.

Learn the shortcut for Wario Stadium on Mario Kart 64 Instant success.

Update your classic console collection in time for winter at xelectrical.com

While we could all do with a bit of zen-like calm in our lives, getting up at 6am to put your head between your legs after a night on the sauce sounds far from the most comfortable awakening. To help you out, we’ve put together three easy yoga poses even your gran could do

The tree

Great for improving coordination and balance, the tree pose also strengthens the thighs, groins, torso and shoulders. Stand on your left foot then hold your right ankle, bringing it up into your inner left thigh. Raise your hands above your head and do your best not to fall over.

Once you’ve found your balance, repeat

The downwardfacing dog

A good all-round stretch – which can apparently relieve headaches and fatigue – the downward-facing dog is yoga 101. It’s best to get into this pose from a starting position on your hands and knees, walking your hands forward as you slowly lift your bum to create an ‘A’ shape. Push against the floor with your hands and feet while exhaling 100 times, then slowly lower yourself back down.

The mountain

An easy one to finish – stand up straight and exhale as you stretch head with your palms facing inwards. Simple.

Note: FHM is not a yoga master and is not liable for any pulled muscles, embarrassment or swearing you may experience during this exercise.

Takeaways are all well and good, but if you’re after quality food delivered directly to your door on a monthly basis, check out these mail-order masterminds Coffee The smart caffeine fiend gets his buzz from Pact (pactcoffee.com), which has something to suit all home-brewing needs (including – deep breath – Finca La Esperanza and Decaffeinated Planalto).

Cheese The Cheese Shed (thecheeseshed.com) will see you right with everything from Cornish Gouda to Tilly Whim.

Meat Purveyors of delicious dead animals Carnivore Club (carnivoreclub.co) will keep you in artisan-cured cuts.

Chocolate You won’t impress your lady with a bag of warm Maltesers. Opt for speciality chocolates from Cocoa Runners and she’ll, ahem, melt in your arms.

Hudson Baby Bourbon The first bourbon made in New York after the end of prohibition, this is 35cl of double-distilled goodness.

Glenfarclas 2000 Highland Scotch Whisky A single-malt Speyside whisky, this is the perfect sweetener for those nights in with the father-in-law. He might even forgive you for taking his little princess away.

The Yamazaki Distiller’s Reserve Whisky Impress guests with this ultra-smooth tipple from the Land of the Rising Sun (that’s Japan to you and me).

All available from whiskyshop.com Whether you’re into punk rock or pipe cleaners, all those hours spent staring at your computer are the perfect time to get creative. Marko Saric, the internet wizard behind howtomakemy blog.com, offers his top tips for becoming an instant online expert

Choose your weapon

“The best website platform is WordPress. It’s easy to use, offers a lot of design flexibility and – most importantly – lets you choose your own domain name.”

Stick to what you know

“Blogging takes time, so choose a topic you’re already interested in. If you’re spending hours of your day on it, why not start writing about it, too?”

Make some dollar

“A simple way to make money is to link to Amazon, taking a percentage of what’s sold through your site. The bigger your audience, the bigger your profit.”

Like Nicolas Cage in Con Air, it’s important to keep in shape when you’re doing hard time (in front of the TV). Garry Kerr, head of operations and training at British Military Fitness, put together this indoor circuit course to keep your muscles primed during the hibernation months

The commando crawl

“Push two sofas together, then trick yourself into a cardio workout by crawling through the gap between them as quickly as possible, using only your forearms to drag yourself along.”

The climb

“Run up the stairs as fast as you can, using short, quick movements. Come back down and do it again, this time trying to reach the top in as few steps as possible.

Essential for improving glutes, core strength and stability.”

The sumo squat

“Standing on your mattress with your hands behind your head, squat down slowly. The instability of the mattress under your feet will make your glutes, hamstrings and quads work extra hard. Add a jump between each squat if you want to unlock Beast Mode – though be careful not to bang your head.”

Visit britmilfit.com

The words ‘board games’ may conjure up longrepressed memories of drunken Christmas Day arguments with the old man over how much a hotel on Park Lane really costs, but stick with us

Zelda Monopoly

Throw away your ocarina – now you can explore the world of Zelda from Death Mountain to the Eldin Volcano without smashing a console controller against the wall.

Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers Vs X-Men

Bring your nerdy Marvel dreams to life in your living room. (Thor vs Wolverine! etc etc). A sort of Top Trumps for superheroes, you’ll be feeling heroic yourself once you’ve made sense of the 44 die in the packet.

Dead Of Winter

A story-based board game about surviving a postapocalyptic winter (think blizzards, starvation and the undead), Dead Of Winter isn’t too far removed from the time you decided it looked a bit ‘sketchy’ outside and didn’t leave the house for 56 hours.

It might be more miserable than Rick Grimes outside, but a whole host of top-quality TV shows are returning to our screens to make up for it. Just time to get up to speed with these classics, then…

The Walking Dead

The sixth season starts this month, so if you still think this is a show about blokes on extreme diets mumbling ‘braaaains’, you need to take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror.

The Knick

Clive Owen gives his best ever performance as a cocaine-addicted New York surgeon in this turn-of-thecentury drama. Eve Hewson – AKA Bono’s daughter – is another reason to catch up ahead of the season two premiere this month.

Homeland

Forget about the season three misfire. After the return to form of season four, season five (on your TV right now) moves the action to Berlin. Make sure you know your ‘dead drops’ from your ‘doublespeak’ with this boxset of the early seasons.

That guy at work’s been trying to speak Spanish to you for three weeks, so download Duolingo and get involved. Featuring tutorials on languages from Norwegian to Irish, the app is broken down into bite-size reading, writing and speaking activities and will tell you off if you’re having a slack day. Thar cionn! Free on iTunes If you live with your other half, these long, dark nights can turn the bedroom from a sex palace into that place you watch Netflix while eating your bodyweight in crisps.

To reclaim your boudoir, banish all tablets, phones and laptops from the room, leave the angry work-related rants at the office and stock up on candles and massage oil. You’ll both be raring to go before you know it.

If all else fails, why not both get stuck into the whiskies on page 130?

From the December 2015 - January 2016 issue of FHM India.