In my new article on Return of Kings, I make a startling discovery: a women’s periodical that I found myself glancing at recently had objectively better tips on fitness and diet than an equivalent men’s magazine I’ve read.

If you will recall, a few months ago I did an analysis of Men’s Health magazine to judge the tips on fitness and masculine behavior they were giving to men. If you will again recall, I judged them and found them severely wanting.

It so happened that at the doctor’s office the other day, I happened to get my hands on another mass market publication, one targeted towards the fair sex, that being Us Magazine. With nothing else to read, I thumbed through it and was genuinely surprised:

For while it had all of the pop culture flotsam and celebrity gossip that most of us would associate with women’s publications, I was surprised at the 20 diet and fitness tips it gave for weight loss. Namely:

I was surprised at how much better the fitness tips in a woman’s magazine were than a magazine purporting to be for the edification of men’s health.

If you don’t believe me, open up the Men’s Health article, and this article, and compare the advice given. Going through Us Magazine, and discounting a few bad ideas given, we can see that magazine’s readers are instructed to…

…Do heavy lifting exercises. Regardless of your opinions on whether or not women ought to be lifting weights (personally I feel calisthenics and gymnastics are both more attuned to a woman’s natural attributes and are more likely to give women the figure they desire), the idea of doing strenuous physical activity is always a good idea…albeit that Us Magazine’s idea of “heavy lifting” is not what you or I would call heavy lifting. The core concept is still valid…

You can read more about this unsettling turn of events here.