I enjoy reading, I really do. I read all manner of magazines and books, as they can be a wealth of information and it’s always great to keep up to date on your hobbies and interests. And naturally, I have a keen interest in fitness and bodybuilding magazines.
While I really enjoy seeing what people are up to, and what the pros are doing – some great tips can be picked up and if not used verbatim, adapted to your own needs. And this is mainly why I buy them; it’s just about digging the little nuggets of helpful or interesting information out which makes them worth the price tag.
But, what I don’t do is follow the advice verbatim or blindly. Nor do I buy into the supposed ‘unbiased’ supplement and nutritional advice which seems to pepper the majority of the pages.
Why?
Because more often than not, if a magazine isn’t outright owned by the supplement company whose goods appear in raving reviews, then there are deals going on to ensure good things are said. And, it’d be completely naive to think any differently. They are a business, out to squeeze every buck they can from it – magazines come and go more than any other business I know of, and it’d be ridiculous to believe they’d turn down big bucks to ‘pimp’ a few products, or slightly mislead their readers. It’s the norm, trust me.
So, by all means – enjoy the magazines. But please, be very wary of the supplement and equipment reviews, as you may just find out they are affiliated.
And one final word of advice; you often get advanced or pro bodybuilders giving you their routines to follow. Well, if you are a beginner; don’t. You won’t end up with a physique like they have, as they have graduated to the workout plan they currently use over many years. And huge muscled and cut steroid users are rife in these magazines… do you think they’d sell as well is they had a pale-skinned amateur without gigantic muscles, and a little fat on the cover? Exactly.