Best magazines or books for my girlfriend?

[briansnj]

Hello all,

I am seeking recommendations on books or magazines for my girlfriend. She is a single mother, 40 years old.


I receive Muscle and Fitness every month. I enjoy the information. I have been training for years. I know my way around the block, but I am not as smart when it comes to giving females advice for training and diet. I have recommended to her Body For Life for Women. Good stuff but the dietary advice was lacking and seemed very 'wrong' to me, unless your goal was to be a skinny, muscleless twig.

I was hoping for a recommendation from some of the experienced and successful females here on which magazines/books you would recommend I get my girlfriend as a gift. Books are great for reference and the magazines are great for motivation. When she buys a new issue, it fires her up all over again.

I, personally, was leaning towards Muscle and Fitness: HERS. It keeps the ads to a strict minimum, and seems to give hardcore, solid advice. My girlfriend (and myself) dislike the mags with all the marketing hype and silliness in them. They seem to be more about copying Cosmo or Vogue. Just hocking makeup products, handbags and fad diets than real fitness and bodybuilding.

Her goals are as follows -
To lose weight and add muscle.
Also, get solid, dietary advice for someone into weightlifting. She wants to be fit, not just 'look healthy'.

She does not want to compete or get big. She does want a lean, muscular build like most of the cover girls have. Kim Lyons www.kimlyons.com (Gunter Schlierkamp's wife)in the off season would probably be a fair description.

Most of the articles we have read are all about cutting protein to 1 or 2 servings a day and the rest is carbs! One magazine ( maybe Fitness or Shape magazine) recommended a total of less than 50 grams of protein! YIKES!


Thanks so much for any and all advice.
Brian - New Jersey

[polinutrigirl]

I like Oxygen magazine, Shape and Fitness.

[lisa+kay]

Oxygen is my fave

[BicepGurl]

Oxygen!! I would be careful though, some of the diets I've seen in there have more of a precontest vibe. Make sure she doesn't cut her calories too low.

I know you didn't like Body for Life for Women, have you read the original book? I think Bill Phillips is very motivational. Its a great beginners program and helps bridge between no nutritional knowledge to bodybuilding. Its how I got started anyway

Good luck!

Aleah

[Samantha905]

ive never seen a female bodybuilding magazine anywhere in the UK.

i like muscle and fitness and have a subscription to Mens health but i still cant find a girl magazine!

[darkangel]

Another vote for Oxygen. I used to have a subscription to M&F Hers. Then they "redesigned" it and screwed it all up. Last I heard, the backlash was so bad, they were backtracking (kinda like new Coke), but I haven't checked one out lately.

[Hayley UK]

I like fitness RX it is the only one I have seen in the UK.

Imported from the US........

[ironmaidn4life]

Oxygen magazine all the way, Women's Health and Fitness magazine is good too.

Also, any books by Rachel McClish (sp?). She is one of the female greats. Also, Arnold's Encyclopedia of Body Building, it's mainly writen for men, but it is a great foundation book for anyone in the sport of body building. My personal favorite actually.

[Foxy_Blonde]

Fitness RX for women is my favorite!

[italianmuscles]

bodyfitness is good

[Snowfly]

I just subscribed to Oxygen myself!

All the other crap, like SHAPE magazine irritates me... they photoshop the heck out of celebrities to make the cover when they prob dont know the first thing about weight training themselves.

I'd rather hear from the experts.