Muscle & Fitness Hers: The Weiders Have A Hit!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Well written articles; fantastic pictures; great for the average weight trainer

Cons: I didn't like the fashion section

The Bottom Line: 
This is a great magazine. Just what I needed.

Author's Review
I thought it couldn’t be done.

A fitness magazine for women that truly works!

Joe and Betty Weider have outdone themselves with their new magazine Muscle & Fitness Hers "for women who want more out of fitness." Unlike the counterpart Muscle & Fitness, the fall 2000 issue focuses on women who are not just competing or hard core bodybuilders. It is for women who weight train, though. If you don’t, you won’t enjoy this one.

I admit to taking some liberties in reviewing the female counterpart of Muscle & Fitness!

When I finally found it (I had been looking for it in the stores for a couple of months.) I was disappointed in its size. I’m used to the 311 pages that Muscle & Fitness provides; this one has 153 pages. There is a $2.00 difference in price, though, Muscle & Fitness Hers is $3.99.

The cover has a beautiful, in super shape but not muscular woman on it and tells us: "ABS at Last" and "Lose 15 Pounds for Good"…all articles we have seen in many other magazines. But this one really is different. When I wrote my review on Oxygen * I commented that this magazine was out but I had not seen it yet. I will say, in my opinion, it will give Oxygen a run for its money.

One reason I like it better than Oxygen is that it isn't heavily loaded with information on fitness competitions. In fact, very little was mentioned about competing. The only time it was mentioned was in an interview with a body builder who said that she has reshaped her muscles to look softer and more feminine because that is what the judges want to see these days.

I will review some of what you will find in this fall issue:

A section called Extra

- Fitness Extra which has short articles but informative ones such as whether to carry weights while you walk and supplements for stronger bones.

- Nutrition Extra this month has fridge patrol with one liners and short paragraphs. An example of what you might find here is the following:” To avoid skyrocketing blood-cholesterol levels. You shouldn’t get more than 10% of your daily calorie intake from saturated fats.” (As an aside..this number is low, in my opinion, and many healthy diets contain as much as 30% fat. As I’ve said in other reviews, you can’t take what is written as gospel truth; talk with your doctor before changing your eating habits drastically.)

- Bodyfit Extra talks about collagen and henna color for your hair.

There are 3 pages on the perfect form, which very nicely teaches you the incline dumbbell press movement. I happen to do this one on a machine to protect my shoulders and I was very glad to read that the article made note specifically of doing this exercise properly to not put strain on the shoulders or elbow joints. This article also includes the science of the movement as well as tips from a pro.

There are 4 pages of sculpting our abs, which is excellent. The pictures and descriptions are about the best I have seen in a magazine.

I loved the 6-page article on Fitting in Fitness – so you procrastinators can learn how to eliminate time wasters and how to be more consistent!

There are 4 pages on Sweat Equity –Why all cardio machines are not created equal.” It did not surprise me that the elliptical machine (Theirs uses handles) came in first. *

For you vegetarians there are 4 pages on “eating for energy and health on a vegetarian diet”. That article is excellent. The high performance brownies sound delicious!

The 7-page leg workout spread is superb. If you are new to weight training or need a refresher and some tips, you will find them here, for sure.

The 8 pages on fashion I could do without. Not because they are geared toward young women as much as the fact I’m not sure where one would wear these fashions. Of course if I were 28 and looked like these women, I might not care where I wore them.

You will find another 4 pages on working your triceps. I enjoyed reading it inspite of the fact there was no new information for me.

Ah ha!! Move over epinions…a 7-page comprehensive look at “Unwrapping the Mystery Out of Bars.” You will find everything you ever wanted to know including the differences among protein bars, meal replacement bars, energy bars and specialty bars.

A day by day meal plan to lose 15 pounds is good; again not new material but presented nicely.

A pullout section discussing programs for working out at home with dumbbells is excellent. They provide information for beginners, intermediate or advanced weight trainers. If you haven’t hired a personal trainer or you work out at home, pick up this issue for the pullout alone.

That is Muscle & Fitness Her in a large nutshell. I highly recommend this magazine. 6 issues cost $17.97 if you subscribe which will save you $6.00 over the newsstand price. After reading this issue they have a new subscriber.

Muscle & Fitness
Oxygen
Self