Even though I'm a subscriber to Shape magazine and have found many good articles in it, sometimes you have to ask yourself, what am I paying for here? I feel like with ANY magazine I read in the health industry...Shape, Fitness, Women's Health, Self, etc., they all have the same basic articles, just re-worked. They always feature a workout, which generally never shows you anything brand new...normally just takes an old familiar exercise and re-names it, or adds one complicated addition to the move--I've tried many of these and they're just plain awkward.
I realized just how repetitive all magazines are yesterday when I was reading one from our fitness center shelf: earlier that morning I saw a feature on The Today Show about how hair braiding is the new trend for fall. I then saw an article in this particular magazine about braids and using them to update your look...but then I realized the magazine I was reading was from February 2009. We all know trends in fashion repeat themselves over and over, but the same can be true with fitness in the media.
My biggest pet peeve, however, in health magazines is the advertisements. They can be the EXACT opposite of healthy! You read an article about realistic weight loss, only to turn the page and see an add for some kind of pill or supplement saying you'll lose inches off your midsection...in 4 weeks...with no dieting. Case in point (and this tops ALL the scams I've seen), I saw an ad in Shape for "2-Week Bootcamp Extreme Diet." Now, keep in mind, they did not use the term 'boot camp' to suggest that you exercise; it means this is a "doctor-developed hardcore diet," according to the box. It consists of 4 bottles of tablets labeled Fat Burner, Carb-Blocker, Colon Flush, and Bloat-Less. Alarms going off in your head, right?! The best part of all is that the main headline is "NO PAIN, NO GAIN!" I can only assume this is referring to Bottle #3...the Colon Flush.
Shame on you, Shape magazine. Get your funding elsewhere.
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