Body surveys must be the flavour of this month, since both New Woman and Cosmo are publishing their results. This is all truly scary, and I’m starting to worry about Miss M growing up in a world where this kind of thing is what young women are thinking about.
Then I flick through the pages of this magazine looking for articles to critique, and see the models they’re using, and my confusion over why people feel inadequate is gone. Less than one per cent of the human race looks like these women, and no exercise regime or diet is going to get you the genes these girls have naturally.
On Page 170, there’s an article on Celebrity Fitness Tribes, which gives you a run down on which celeb trainer is whipping who into shape. Interesting … kind of.
Now we come to Page 172, and I can feel my blood pressure starting to rise. Most of the time, these articles only have minor things I feel I need to criticise. Sadly, this whole page is the kind of thing creating confusion and misinformation about fitness. I can sum this up in a couple of sentences.
No amount of “back fat”, “muffin top”, or “bra bulge” will be changed by doing resistance work. None. Do cardio. Eat less. By all means do some weights, but don’t expect fat loss from doing them, or from any amount of abdominal exercises. It won’t happen. Read this month’s Cosmo for some great myth exploding on exactly this subject.
This gets no stars, and I’m going to go and sit in the corner and breathe deeply for a few minutes to recover.
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