6 Reasons NOT to read Men's Health Magazine

I had some X-rays done for my wisdom teeth this afternoon and as I sifted through the pile of "New Ideas" and "Famous" magzines I stumbled upon an issue of  Men's Health. Now I used to really like this magazine, even had a subscription, but as my knowledge of the world of fitness evolved I moved on to greener pastures. As I flicked through the glossy pages now a few years later I found a lot of things that I didn't like. I thought back to when I used to read these magazines meticulously lookng for some performance edge or new technique and considered myself some sort of expert on these things but below are 6 reasons why you should not read Men's Health Magazine:

1. Deadlifts. Don't get me wrong great to see these prescribed... don't recall them in there when I was a reader... I won't even rag on the description of the exercise too much (start with shins 8-10cms behind the bar..?) but the accompanying illustration of the start position left a lot to be desired. Compare picture A. Men's Health to picture B. Starting Strength.

A. Bad Deadllift



B. Good Deadlift

 2. Short little piece on plyometrics...good. Advice against stretching muscles that are prime movers in said plyo movments because it will reduce elastic rebound... excellent. Therefore stretch hamstrings when doing explosive squats and bounds because squats are primarily a quad exercise...FAIL.

3. Introduction to weighted glute bridges. Awesome.... didn't I see them in an excellent article...?
 http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/dispelling_the_glute_myth ... Yep Great.  This excercise should be performed before weighted squats as it helps to activate glute muscles... Not necessarily wrong BUT not ideal. If I was training someone I would have them squat first... squat heavy. Everything else is assistance...If you want to teach your brain how to activate glutes fine by me either do them no weight in a warm up, weighted after squats or however you want on some other day... pre fatiguing your glutes with WEIGHTED glute bridges seems a little dangerous for a magazine reader looking to improve their performance.

4. See Number 1 on Deadlifts. Same for Squats. Mens Health squat picture features the following:
Less than parallel with a high bar position, knees forward of toes, cocked  left wrist which bears some of the weight of the bar, right heel appears to be off the ground (though I will concede this may be due to photography), quite a narrow stance with knees in rather than out, a waxed chest, a spray tan and a ridculously pretty head of hair.


Thats not a squat....



Thats a squat... notice the presence of chest hair and a good mustache is positively correlated with being stupidly strong.



 5. Prescription of Power Cleans. Again great to see in this type of magazine... in 3-4 sets of 8-10..hmmmm ok horses for courses perhaps.... to build strength and power...not so much with that rep and set range.... with a picture of the rack position featuring: elbows directly under the bar and another "male model' whose chesticles are huge, who has great abs, another great tan but sadly chicken legs and no traps as he clearly never does heavy power cleans.

6. Mountain climbers... awesome... hands on a Bosu Ball. Laaaaaaammme. Bosu balls suck and heres why:
http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2010/07/a-breakdown-of-balance-training/


Yeh I have been harsh. And look I should also mention that in the same magazine I did see a reference to Loren Cordain's Paleo Diet Book as the only nutrition book you will ever need, another reference to Starting Strength by Commando Steve of Crossfit fame and some other cool stuff. The important thing I guess is to make sure you have the filters on...

Training for me today was more in the "Play" category as follows:
90sec worth of wall hanstands
3x30 sec hollow rocks
2x10 each leg Single leg bodyweight deadlifts
3x5 pseudo-planche pushups