Tennis great Andy Roddick has said that his picture on the cover of Men’s Fitness magazine has been messed with, and that while he’s in shape, his arms certainly are not of the 22-inch variety.  Clearly this photo has been altered to portray what the editors at Men’s Fitness feel is the embodiment of fitness and masculinity. 

Despite pumping out a magazine that’s supposed to be about what makes a guy fit, these people haven’t got a clue.  Big arms have nothing to do with fitness or athleticism.  The moral of the story is “Don’t believe ANYTHING that you read or see in Men’s Fitness magazine.”

And this holds true for the vast majority of the fitness rags.  What the Weekly World News does for legit journalism, Men’s Fitness does for legit fitness.  And if you think Men’s Fitness is alone in this nonsense of altering photos in order to give the public a false impression on what constitutes fitness, you’re sadly mistaken.

But rather than hit upon all these other mags, I want to concentrate your attention on what Men’s Fitness did and why messing with this photo renders them unworthy of any legitimacy in the field of fitness.  As mentioned above, doctoring this photo to make Roddick’s arms bigger indicates that the people who produce this magazine are clueless.  As reported in the New York Post, shortly after Roddick pointed out that it’s not his body on the cover the editor-in-chief of Men’s Health resigned and two other staffers have either resigned or been reassigned as a result of this fiasco.

Readers of Men’s Fitness need to realize that if Roddick’s picture was Photoshopped, that it is very likely that other pictures in the magazine are altered to make models look better.  Pictures that accompany an article that deals with abdominal work might be doctored so that the model’s abs are enhanced, thus supporting the info contained in the magazine’s article.  Pictures that compliment any article that deals with exercise routines for any body part can be edited to give the reader the false impression that they can look like the model.

What Men’s Fitness has done should make everyone – guys and girls alike – question everything that they see in every advertisement and feature article in any fitness magazine.  The general public needs to be aware several things, most notably that pictures are altered to improve the way a person looks, and that the vast majority of these pictures are not reflections of reality. 

Another important fact to be aware of is that these fitness models do not walk around 24/7 looking like they look in these magazines; just as athletes train to be at their peak for an event or season, models do the same for their photo shoots.  I know, I’ve worked with many of them.

Here’s another news flash, fitness models and regular folks who you see in these magazines have had plastic surgery in order to improve their looks.  Have you ever seen a model in an ad for a weight loss supplement or photos accompanying a feature article that has obviously had breast implants?  Have you ever thought that if a female model has had breast implant surgery she might have also had liposuction or fat-dissolving injections, and that maybe surgery and not supplements is responsible for her look?

Which brings us back to Men’s Fitness.  If they were willing to alter the body of a major athlete that appears on the cover of their mag just to make their point, what else have they fudged in order to prove their point?  If the editors at Men’s Fitness are so misinformed to think that big arms are a reflection of “big fitness” what else are they leading you astray about?

Do yourself a favor and stay away from Men’s Fitness.

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written by IB, May 29, 2007

Men's Fitness and Men's Health are two different magazines. I noticed you started referring to a different magazine halfway through the article. Regardless, both are probably guilty of the same things, but I just wanted to point out that the magazine in question in your post is Men's Fitness, not Men's Health.