I’m a passionate golfer. What has that got to do with “Health” magazines you ask? The correlation is unfulfilled promises. Golf Digest and Golf Magazine have been around for half a century. If you went back to the ‘50’s, you’d see these article titles:
Hit It Longer
Split the Fairway!
Get Out of the Sand, Every Time
Pure Your Irons
If you look at the titles from 2009, what will you see? You guessed it! Variations of the exact same headlines above. We golfers are still trying to hit it down the middle and sink our putts. The solutions rarely change.
So let’s look at Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Health Magazine,
Women’s Fitness,
Shape, etc.
What are the lead articles on the cover each month?
Flat Sexy Abs
Super Foods that Blast Away Fat
So Long Cellulite
Younger, Stronger, Sexier in 20 min a Day!
Boost Your Metabolism!
You get the picture. How many times have you been in an airport looking for something to read and you see an array of magazines with these grabbers? Yet, of course, every time you get into the article they same the same things Eat more veggies, exercise more, exercise this way or that way. The advice doesn’t change, simply the spin of the title does.
Invariably there will be a piece articulating this or that exercise routine that will accomplish unbelievable things. You’ll see a very beautiful woman. She’s trim. She’s fit. She’s holding dinky 2-5 pound dumbbells. If you follow her routine, you too can look like her. Of course we are all aware she didn’t get to look like that doing the routine she advocates. Nope, she’s a gifted model simply posing. We all know this! I frequently challenge our new clients at CityWide to walk out of our facility and, for the next three months, follow their formula exactly. Does anyone ever have success from these programs?
Final example: In the Jan 17, 2010 Chicago Tribune there is a
comparable piece.
The title is: TONE YOUR TRICEPS WITH DUMBELLS
Again, a lovely model.
Step 1) Hold a 5-10 pound dumbbell.
Step 2) lift 12 times. Rest 20 seconds and do 2 more for a total of 3
sets.
There is so much wrong with this.
1) You could weigh 85 pounds or 200; the variance is only 5-10?
2) If you can do 12; why stop?
3) Why 3 sets? Why not 1? or 5?
4) Should you never, ever go up in weight?
5) How many days a week?
6) Where’s the intensity?
It’s impossible to have success following this article. Yet this is very typical. For exercise to accomplish anything, it must be meaningful and intense. The growth mechanism needs to be stimulated. It must make demands on your body that requires recovery. There is no easy way. You can’t just go through the motions.
99% of what’s written in these articles is pap. The true test would be to precisely follow their prescriptions, say, for 3 months. Then evaluate.
My guess is that the success level will be comparable to how much farther and straighter I can hit a golf ball.
Keith Morton
