My friend Bill Hartman (he rescued my subscapularis once), just wrote a post he called, “Too Much Pink.”
(About that fine photograph – from our top secret Heavy Hitters meeting at the Ryan Lee Bootcamp - Alwyn Cosgrove , Joe Stankowski and Bill Hartman. Hey, I’ve never claimed to be a great photographer)
Here’s a quick excerpt from Bill’s blog:
The media that is supposedly designed to help women achieve their fitness goals, improve their health, and help them feel better about themselves is actually sabotaging their efforts.
Women are being misguided, mislead, and misinformed.
He also writes …
If you take all the components that make up a successful fitness program designed to promote fat loss and lean muscle gain but softened it up to make it seem kinder, gentler, and less threatening, that’s what the women’s fitness magazines are doing.
Here are the comments I posted on Bill’s blog:
Hi, Bill (Smartest Man in Fitness) -
I’m so glad to see someone else writing about this. I’m sure my “choir” is tired of my “preaching.”
Here’s my Conspiracy Theory:
Women’s fitness magazines do this on purpose.
Here’s how it works …
- You publish a workout focusing on pink weights knowing it won’t work
- You know your readers always believe anything and everything published in a glossy magazine filled with skinny models
- The workouts can’t possibly lead to results because the resistance isn’t enough stimulus to get anyone’s body to change
- So your readers buy the next issue with hopes that the next workout will actually get the advertised results (“melt fat”, “tone your thighs”, “flatten your tummy”)
These are Bill’s proposed solutions to bring some honesty to women’s fitness magazines (along with my comments):
1. Raise the intensity of the strength training
I never understood why magazines continually promote 12 OR 15 reps (never any other number is allowed) without ever stating that you need to pick a weight that allows you to do only that number of reps (give or take a couple of reps).
Every day (literally), I see women stopping at the Magic 12 reps with a weight they could easily do for over 20 reps.
2. Teach the reader the importance of progression
Another issue I see literally every day – your point should be to get stronger over time by lifting more weight over time. Your workout must progress if you want to keep making progress with your body.
Same workout = same body. Make sense?
3. Drop the word “Aerobic” from the women’s fitness vocabulary
Again – every day. You’re “aerobic” right now! I’m “aerobic” as I type this! What actually constitutes “aerobic” and the importance of aerobic training in changing your body is grossly misunderstood.
4. No more Touchy Feely, Mind-Body Exercise programs
Okay, maybe a little harsh, Bill. But I find it humorous when women in the club say to me, “I want to try Pilates. What is it?”
Wow. That’s powerful marketing when people want to do something without even knowing what it is.
5. Forget about programs to slim body parts, firm something, or lift something
I’ve covered this ad nauseam in this blog. In short, there is absolutely no physiological reason to believe spot reduction could possibly work. None.
And, there are studies proving spot reduction does not work.
So why do the magazines keep lying on their covers?
6. Teach women that eating fat doesn’t mean that it turns to fat
You’re making a big mistake if you fool yourself into thinking “fat free” equals “calorie free” or even “healthy.” Eating certain fats can make you leaner.
Tags: women’s fitness, fitness magazine, spot reduction, weight training, bill hartman
Similar Posts:
- From the Movie “300″ – Fat Loss Workout for Men and Women
- Try This Killer 7-Minute Fat Loss Circuit Workout
Popularity: 3% [?]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
