Women’s Fitness Mags: Get Some New Content, Seriously

Good lord, this is getting old.

I’ve had gripes with women’s fitness magazines (except Muscle and Fitness Hers- I have to make that distinction.  If you want to gain muscle, actually workout, you know with real weights, and get ripped- read this magazine.  They don’t assume you want to lose weight, they assume you want to get fit. And the models have killer bodies and muscle definition that is inspiring- they aren’t skinny ass models I could break in half who look like they’ve never worked out with anything other than a 3 pound pink dumbbell) for ages.  My biggest issue with them is they assume everyone wants to lose weight, thus, their articles are constantly telling you to lose weight and how to do it. I don’t want to lose weight and I resent the fact that a fitness magazine continues to tell me that I need to.  There is more to fitness than losing weight.  You have a wider audience than that, quit forgetting about us.

I can ignore that though, because I have enough self esteem to tell those articles to go screw themselves.  Those articles: the “Drop a Dress Size in 10 Days” or ” Your Fat Blasting Plan” or “Eat More, Lose Weight” etc. etc. etc, however, are always the main features, which means they take up about 99 percent of the issue, and they are always the same god damned article.

Sure, they change the title, and the models, and the exercises and the recipes for your healthy meal plan, but its the same freakin information over and over again.  Exercise consistently, and eat fewer calories- imagine that.
Its not the fact that the info is the same, its the fact that they keep marketing it as new- and theirs. Like they have the secret, or they discovered the secret since their last secret last month.  Of course the info on how to eat right and exercise to lose weight is going to be the same: there is only one healthy way to do it, but quit telling us that its some new regimen, new program just developed….no. Its freaking eating right and exercising.  I know that isn’t easy, and I’m not trying to say that it is.  I’m a personal trainer- I know how hard it is.  But it makes it harder when a client brings in an article from Shape, or Self, or Fitness Magazine saying “I want to try this program.”  Then, each and every month we  have to sit down and summarize the workout- again, to show them what they have been doing so far is exactly what that  article is telling them to do: I just didn’t promise them they would lose 10 pounds in 5 minutes.  And guess what the summary is every single time.

“Workout 4-5 times a week, with a mix of cardio and strength training, eat fewer calories, being sure the get lots of fruits, veggies, and lean proteins to lose weight .”  Then they say, “man, they got me again.”

I realize that every issue, a new reader is going to pick up the magazine and is entitled to that weight loss information, and I am all for anything that motivates people to get up off their butts and work out, but what about us seasoned exercisers, and seasoned reader’s- where is our new information?  You can’t just throw around some exciting adjectives and try and pass ot off as a new article- because its not. Why should we read your magazine when we know we read the exact same thing last month?  If your lose weight quickly articles work so well, why do you feel the need to repeat them every single issue? And what am I supposed to do with it if I don’t want to lose weight?

I’m sticking with my Muscle and Fitness Hers- a magazine that teaches me new ways to get and stay healthy, fit and strong, with new training techniques and research every month.  I already read those other magazines once- and apparently that’s enough.