Always looking for those perfect abs? Or how about bigger biceps? Want to please the ladies in bed? Not that Men’s Health magazine will do these for you, but it is a good attempt to provide health and wellness advice for the active male. It’s something that all men out there should be thinking about – because it sure is better to be healthy and active than lazy and fate. I’m sure though, that there are plenty of couch potatoes out there with a subscription to Men’s Health.
I sort of fall somewhere in between – I won’t even pretend to have the abs (or body fat percentages) that most of the models on the cover or in the articles have, but I’m also not incredibly out-of-shape and sit on the couch all of my life. I do plenty of outdoor stuff like hiking and climbing, go to the gym regularly and try to stay healthy. The one demographic I fail completely in though for Men’s Health is that I am a gay guy and this magazine is written (at least overtly) for straight guys.
Men’s Health is published 10 times a year and each issue runs around 200 pages and a significant number of those (more than half in my book) are ads. A one-year subscription (direct from the magazine) will run you $19.97 (plus $4.97 for delivery which seems like a crock to me). Should you pick an issue of Men’s Health up at the Newsstand it will cost you $3.99. Each issue has several sections: Cover Stories and Features; Fitness; Health; Nutrition; Sex and Relationships; and Guy Knowledge. There are also several smaller items in each issue that include the obligatory letter from the editor, letters from readers and several other smaller news sections. Some issues (such as the September one) also include a fashion section at the back of the magazine (it runs from the back page into the magazine and is sort of like a separate little magazine).
The Cover Stories and Features run the gambit of what one would expect in an active men’s lifestyle magazine. The articles generally focus on ways of becoming healthier (such as this issue’s “instant health fixes”), losing weight, sex secrets, and ways to exercising better. The problem with a magazine that focus on “Men’s Health” is that the topics are repetitive and in general, if you pick up a magazine like Men’s Health today and then pick it up again a year from now, the information and the articles are going to be much the same as they are now. The only thing that changes is perhaps the angle of the story (like seriously how many ways are there to get 6-pack abs that don’t involve doing crunches?).
The articles surrounding fitness are helpful should you be working out, or want to start working out. They will give you an idea of what you need to do in order to work on various sections of your body. Some of the advice about exercising while traveling and the like is great and some of the routines that they have had in Men’s Health, I still do when I’m out traveling and don’t get much exercise. In addition the articles surrounding health and good living are helpful. Though I think if you were to follow the diets presented each month – you probably wouldn’t know what to eat after a while.
Is it worth getting a subscription? I would say no. Throughout the years I have always picked up an issue here and there and enjoyed reading them, but I have never thought about getting a subscription and at this point, I wouldn’t want one. You can get what you need with 2 or 3 issues a year.
I also have to wonder about the audience for this magazine. I know plenty of straight guys and they are not interested in much of the information that this magazine provides. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that there are plenty of straight guys who enjoy this magazine and read it faithfully, but to me it seems to be geared to that urbane, in-shape, well-dressed, fashionable male who (with gross generalizations here) is typically gay. That’s not to say that the emerging “metrosexuals,” (the straight men who are image and fashion conscious – I think it’s a stupid label) wouldn’t enjoy this magazine, but I think that in general, the average gay male would probably get more out of this magazine (save the sex tips sections) than the average straight male. Who knows, they are probably aiming for all the demographics in their audience!
I know I sometimes enjoy that fellow they have on the cover!
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