Why Women Should Buy Men's Fitness

A long title for a post, but also rather summative. I mentioned in my Festival of Dressage post that I am undertaking work experience at 3PM magazine subscriptions in October (now November).

 

To expand on this, I had to write a short piece on a UK-based magazine or paper; I decided to write "Why Women Should Buy Men's Fitness". This was inspired by the three free magazines I was given at The London Graduate Fair in June, which included Men's Fitness, Women's Fitness and Health and Fitness.

 

So, here's what I said:

Why women should buy Men’s Fitness.

Perhaps I should begin with the sweeping generalisation that women do not buy men’s fitness magazines. The clue is in the title; Men’s Fitness is targeted at men, however the tagline is somewhat gender-neutral, stating ‘Look great, feel great’. Furthermore, on the spine of the August 2013 edition, this is followed by ‘Eat cake to win races’; surely an enticing statement to both men and women.

Men’s Fitness engages with the other forms of media, emphasising how the articles are timely and relevant. In particular, the August edition is “The Hero Issue”, reflecting the interest in, and explosion of, superhero films in recent years, such as Iron Man, Kick-Ass, The Avengers, and, most recently, Man of Steel. This feature is multi-faceted and appealing to a variety of readers, because, for each hero discussed, there is a different method to obtain their physiques. Want to learn how to use your own body chemicals to get ‘bigger and leaner’? Or prefer to focus on your agility? This feature can tell you how. But this shouldn’t be limited to men; of course, the examples in question are male actors, but the principle works for both men and women. Biceps curls have the same effect on both genders, so why would ‘The Man of Steel workout’ only increase mass on men?

Furthermore, the message of Men’s Fitness is one which should be promoted to both men and women; while many magazines aimed at women are currently promoting smoothie diets for weight loss, Men’s Fitness includes a receptive article by Charles Poliquin, ‘Why fasting makes me furious’. Because, let’s face it, a smoothie diet is one step away from fasting. In a society with increasing issues surrounding over and under-eating, Poliquin’s article gives four strong reasons why intermittent fasting is, for lack of a better term, stupid. While many women’s magazines focus on fat loss, they don’t highlight the danger of the wrong kinds of loss, notably lean muscle. While Poliquin’s article might site research conducted on men, the message is applicable to both genders: intermittent fasting has more negative effects on the body than positive.

To support this message, again demonstrating the conscientious nature with which an edition of Men’s Fitness is put together, there is a feature dedicated to the diets of five top sportsmen. The men in question all participate in a diverse range of sports, including rugby, ultrarunning and cycling (also appropriate, given the Tour de France started on the 29^th June). This is reflected in their dietary requirements, which ranges from steak and ice cream to wholegrain rice and chicken. While women may feel reading about sportsmen’s diets isn’t relevant, the feature demonstrates how each sport requires a very different diet; contrasted with this is the assumption that a smoothie diet will work for all types of women. Not once do these smoothie diets consider that this type of ‘diet’ is disastrous for even a moderately active woman, whereas Men’s Fitness focuses on the individual’s needs.


So, what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Ridiculous?
Let me know.

xxx