Muscle And Fitness Magazine Review

Almost everyone at all dedicated to weight lifting has at least glanced through the pages of Muscle And Fitness Magazine. Each issue is packed with weight lifting routines, nutritional advice, supplement and equipment reviews, and even some focus on lifestyle issues (such as fashion, grooming, and sex). In addition, there is a good amount of professional bodybuilding contest coverage as well as interviews with bodybuilders and celebrities. Muscle And Fitness is the most popular of all bodybuilding magazines and is geared for both men and women of all levels of weight lifting experience.
Every article in Muscle And Fitness Magazine is very detailed and descriptive with lots of accompanying pictures for further assistance to readers. Everyone can learn at least one new way to improve their weight lifting routine because a great deal of emphasis is placed on proper execution as well as little tweaks and variations of free weight exercises. Another topic covered to some extent in every issue is human anatomy and how to choose the appropriate exercises and equipment for development of specific muscle groups. However, as with the majority of bodybuilding magazines, it is advised to place more focus more on the written content and use the photos for further clarification (the insane amount of weight lifted and occasional omission of barbell collars can sometimes mislead beginners). Whether a beginner to weight lifting or an advanced lifter in search of new ways to improve a routine,  there is something for everyone.
Muscle And Fitness is not as hardcore of a bodybuilding magazine as Flex and therefore contains fewer interviews with professional bodybuilders and less contest coverage (although both topics are covered to a fairly large extent). Also the workout routines are not quite as intense as those featured in Flex or Muscular Development, making it a potentially more appealing magazine choice for beginners and intermediate weight lifters. Unfortunately there are two downsides that deserve to be mentioned. First of all, Muscle And Fitness is the most promotional of all bodybuilding magazines and contains a very large number of multi-page supplement and equipment advertisements, sometimes even disquised as weight lifting articles. Secondly, the majority of photos are of very muscular men and women, unlike the majority of lifters in search of fitness information. Despite these flaws, the information and articles contained in every monthly issue is beneficial for creating or modifying a routine.

How To Use Weight Lifting Routines From Bodybuilding Magazines

A common mistake amongst lifters trying to gain mass quickly is to copy one of the overwhelming weight lifting routines from the pages of Muscle and Fitness or Flex Magazine. This logic often comes from the belief that fast muscle gain can be achieved by following the exact workouts as professional bodybuilders. Unfortunately the result of performing the high number of sets to muscular failure as instructed is usually over training and disappointment (sometimes even to the point of quitting weight lifting). All of this frustration is completely unnecessary because great gains are can be achieved with a few minor adjustments. Many weight lifting workouts in bodybuilding magazines are composed of an effective combination exercises; the only problem is the overwhelming number of sets. As an example, let us examine one of the many chest workouts from Flex Magazine.

Beginners

• Incline barbell presses 4x6-8
• Flat-bench barbell presses 4x6-8

Advanced

• Incline barbell presses 4x6-8
• Flat-bench barbell presses 4x6-8
• Dumbbell flyes 3-4x12-15
• Cable crossovers 3-4x12-15

Unlike many weight lifting routines in bodybuilding magazines, the above features separate workouts for beginners and advanced lifters (it is important to note that many beginners will follow advanced routines with the expectation of fast muscle gain). Both workouts consist of the right exercises to stimulate overall chest growth but can potentially lead to over training due to the high number of sets (8 sets for beginners and 14-16 sets for advanced lifters). But performing only 2-3 sets of incline and flat barbell presses and 2 sets of dumbell flyes and cable crossovers solves this problem completely. After this modification, the result will be 4-6 sets for beginners and 8-10 sets for advanced lifters, which is sufficient for stimulation of muscle growth. Bodybuilding magazines are a valuable tool in building a great physique and minimal adjustment is required for the routines to result in optimal muscle gain rather than over training. For more information read the article Bodybuilding Magazines:  Make Or Break Your Workout Plan.