Shape magazine: Informative and Inspirational

In my best form I’ll go to the gym or go for a walk six out of seven days. In my worst form, I won’t get any exercise for two months. I’m not obsessed with my weight, but I try to stay fit and I like to eat healthy and take care of myself. Shape magazine supports me in all of this.

Shape is a health magazine that discusses issues of weight-lifting, working-out, and other exercise activities, but it also talks about women’s health, balancing life’s challenges, tips for healthy eating, and several other topics.

I really enjoy Shape because of its inspirational qualities. When I’m looking for new exercises, it always has some. If I’m just looking for inspiration in my times of stress, I can read the several Success Stories, where women have gotten in shape and tell you how they did it. Sometimes they’ve lost 200 pounds, sometimes they’ve recovered from bulimia. Either way, knowing that these women got to be healthy and in shape really provides inspiration.

Another featured section every month focuses on exercises for particular body parts. If you just pick up one copy, this might not be that valuable, but over the course of a year these really show you some great exercises for all of your body. The best part of these (besides describing proper form in detail) is the illustration of the inside of a woman’s body that shows the muscles that get worked on. It’s not only helpful for planning a trip to the gym, but you also learn more about how your body works.

In terms of food, there are usually a few healthy food recipes and articles about how to get the proper vitamins and nutrients. In addition to this, every month features reviews of different low-fat foods. Sometimes it’s low-fat ice cream, sometimes it’s granola bars. But for each one it describes the taste and the amount of fat and calories. It’s a lot more helpful than trying every new treat on the market.

Shape magazine is not for hard core atheletes, but if you try to stay in shape and like to read magazines that touch on many different health and well-being topics, Shape really fits the bill. It does feature the little make-up and clothing sections that you might find in Cosmo, but even these areas are usually focused on women with an active lifestyle.

The few weaknesses I feel the magazine has include the use of some gym machines that many people don’t have access to. It’s usually about 1 in 10, but it does get a little annoying sometimes. Also, I think they should feature more real women and less models on the front cover and in the photo shoots. Sometimes I feel like the women they show are just like all of the other bean poles you find in fashion magazines. However, for many of the weight-lifting articles, the women shown are actual readers with fit bodies and nice muscles, so it’s not all bad.

I really look forward to reading Shape every month. It inspires me and informs me and there’s not much more that I could ask from a magazine.