Oxygen: Don't Judge It By The Cover
Written: Jul 13 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Serious?
Cons: Misleading cover & sloppy layout
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| urwiller's Full Review: Oxygen Fitness Magazine |
This ain't your mama's fitness magazine. I'd be willing to bet it has little to no value to most women... at least those that don't compete in bodybuilding or swimsuit modeling competitions.
That's right. Don't let the cover of Oxygen dupe you like it duped me. Robert Kennedy (of MuscleMag International) publishes this Women's Fitness magazine, but it's not quite what it seems to be by glancing at the cover. Impulse buys never work out for me. I should have cracked this rag open before I threw it on the conveyor belt.
The July/August 2000 issue sports a model (as average as they come) in a bathing suit and content headlines such as-- What To Eat After Your Workout, Fat Burning Made Easy (Yes! Our new program will melt off the pounds.), Over-the-Edge Summer Adventures,Your Best Low-Cal Frozen Treats, and 52 Swimsuits: Sizzling Styles for Every Body Shape and Size.
I thought it might be a magazine I'd be interested in since I enjoy others in this class (or what I thought was this class) like Shape or Self. You know the kind of reading you do on a Sunday afternoon? Little tid-bits of health information, some workouts to ponder on, etc. Oxygen is a far cry from Shape or Self. What I bought was a 226-page rag full of advertisements, marketing gimmicks, and body-building/modeling tips.
They look like articles; they smell like articles... and after reading them, you're not sure if they're articles or advertisements.
To set the record straight, I don't have a beef with advertising in magazines... they have to pay to print, right? What I found disturbing was the fact that there were so many Special Reports, disguised as articles, promoting products like Hydroxycut or some kind of supplement. I expect the 2 page glossy ads, but they actually come right out and print a 6-page "special report" on how so-and-so uses Hydroxycut to cut that layer of fat from her abs. Not to mention that I have no idea who the heck these so-and-sos are. I can only assume they're the top women in fitness, as far as bodybuilding goes. All I know is that they're scary. Who wouldn't be afraid of those ripped silicon-filled bodies?
What's Inside?
First off, the typography is horrible. I could hardly follow along with the articles and it was virtually impossible to distinguish the fluff from the real deal.
This particular issue barely contained the feature cover stories. In fact, I couldn't even make out which article possessed the Fat Burning Made Easy program. None of the titles on the content page remotely resembled anything about fat burning. Although there is a piece on beach routines, which coincidentally, is just what this Alaskan girl needs-- more workouts for the hot and sandy beaches here. Yep.
Other odd articles/regular spots include recipes and an essay on going Vegan (and I thought bodybuilders only ate power bars and protein shakes!), a 4-page spread on hair coloring (that I almost mistook for something I might read while waiting to get a trim at the local beauty shop), and a descriptive piece on YMCA fitness camps.
Then there's a borderline porn layout on Sunsational Legs. I'm not kidding. I've not seen that much rump since I had cable. It seems helpful enough... it's just a bit overwhelming and uncomfortable to read a magazine filled with this type of creative photography.
Same goes for the 32-page swimsuit section, but at least most of these models looked respectable. In all actuality, its content is innocent, but visions of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition come to mind.
Don't even get me started on the Home Improvements section. It's supposedly an area on how to fit housework (like gardening) into your busy schedule by treating it as workout. I got quite an ab workout just reading this piece (from laughing my socks off). Oxygen tosses around boldfaced print like "Mow the Manual Way," "Ban The Blower," "Hoe, Hoe, Hoe," and "Dig It" amidst photos of some buxom blonde working it out in her garden. I don't know about you, but if I were gardening, I doubt I'd be wearing a pair of daisy dukes, slit all the way up to the waist, with a matching denim bustier.
The good stuff in the issue mainly involved the hard core bodybuilding articles: a long piece on plyometrics and chest training. The tid-bits on health and advice were slightly amusing, but not as hearty as they should be.
WYSI-NOT-WYG
Oxygen is for bodybuilding and weight training women only... or those serious in formulating a body fit for competition. I can't stress that enough. I won't say it isn't a fitness magazine; there's heaps of fitness stuff here. But it's extreme and comparable to the likes of Muscle & Fitness (for men). It is not what the cover portrays. I intended to read a nice little one-hour glance-around-motivational magazine. I got a hard core, sweaty, steroid-popping gander at the extreme side of fitness.
I give Oxygen a rating of 2, based on the misleading cover and sloppy layout. I can't completely give an honest rating on content since I'm not a serious health and fitness buff (its target audience... or is it?) If you are, you might want to check this magazine out.
Recommended:
No
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urwiller
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