MuscleMag, Oxygen, Reps Magazine done - out of business

[Cyril The Squirrel]

Magazines are going through hard times, which I know as publisher of the UK magazine THE BEEF. We mainly cover the bodybuilding contests and athletes over here in Britain. To survive we are including more and more "Fitness" types, and Mens Physique shows, which is what the younger generation is going for. The hard-core muscle freaks will always exist, but it looks like it's becoming more of a minority cult thing, and we are obliged to move with the times. It's either that, or go the way of poor old Muscle-Mag. (On that subject, any MM writers or contributors can send any unused stuff my way, as long as they don't expect to be paid.  :-)  Alex Mac (The Beef Magazine, London)

[DroppingPlates]

Magazines are going through hard times, which I know as publisher of the UK magazine THE BEEF. We mainly cover the bodybuilding contests and athletes over here in Britain. To survive we are including more and more "Fitness" types, and Mens Physique shows, which is what the younger generation is going for. The hard-core muscle freaks will always exist, but it looks like it's becoming more of a minority cult thing, and we are obliged to move with the times. It's either that, or go the way of poor old Muscle-Mag. (On that subject, any MM writers or contributors can send any unused stuff my way, as long as they don't expect to be paid.  :-)  Alex Mac (The Beef Magazine, London)

Well, there is an audience for this 

[Teutonic Knight]

Well, there is an audience for this 

WHERE IS HITLER WHEN WORLD NEED HIM 
4th Reich needs good cleaning Her Fuhrer , danke 

[Cyril The Squirrel]

This isn't the same magazine !

www.alexmac.biz

[DroppingPlates]

WHERE IS HITLER WHEN WORLD NEED HIM 
4th Reich needs good cleaning Her Fuhrer , danke 

Calm down, most gays are decent folks

[Kwon_2]

Out of business....

[Cyril The Squirrel]

I don't think that porn thing is actually a real printed magazine, just some on-line bit of fun.
This is the real bodybuilding mag we do, for good or ill:

[Princess L]

A survey from FLEX
 

Subject:  FLEX needs your help

Which do you read
      Flex
      Muscle & Fitness
Do you shave your body?
      Yes
      No
If you do shave your body, how often?
      Every day
      Several times a week
      Once a week
      Several times a month
      Once a month or less

               Submit

[erics]

Does anyone actually think the public will accept drugged physiques? It has ruined the sport and destroyed women's bodybuilding. It is as clear as day that this is what is responsible. What are they doing about it? Absolutely nothing. Pathetic individuals.

Look at the nonsense of wearing those long board shorts for a contest. Again, dopes running the sport. We can expect more embarrassing decisions in the future.

I don't think it's the drugs per se as it is the ideal.

Pre-belly, a physique could be seen as 'inspirational'. Classic lines, aesthetics and presentations, along with a decent amount of mass and conditioning, is something that can be appreciated.

Bellys and pure size and conditioning, however, is not. If people want to be 'bad-asses' they can always go to MMA. Bodybuilding is lead by blind men if they think that with their ridiculously staged bodybuilding grimace photos that they can out-badass the clearly more aggressively masculine power of MMA.

It boggles the mind that the judges allowed such stupid posing to flourish - posing that brought to attention and highlighted every single criticism of bodybuilding in the early days.

The ONLY thing that differentiated bodybuilding from other 'masculine' activities was its sense of aesthetics. That was it. Without that sense, all you had were men in thongs. But that is basically gone now with such clever decisions as belly rewarding and removing posing from competition  

Bodybuilding is run by incompetents. The success of a couple of shows is not an indicator of the success of the sport. The success of a few of the competitors is not a sign of the success of the sport.

The sport is successful when younger people want to be part of it and when the old generation want to remain associated with it AND when you no longer need trash-zines such as Flex to sell you scam after scam after scam.

There, like everyone else here, I said it.

[DroppingPlates]

A survey from FLEX
 

Subject:  FLEX needs your help

Which do you read
      Flex
      Muscle & Fitness
Do you shave your body?
      Yes
      No
If you do shave your body, how often?
      Every day
      Several times a week
      Once a week
      Several times a month
      Once a month or less

               Submit

But on a serious note, I believe it's key for a magazine to interact with its readers; which topics/articles do they like and which not? Do they have suggestions for other topics? and so on...

[The General]

http://www.toscareno.com/2013/06/13/leading-fitness-and-health-publishing-company-officially-closes-doors-after-40-years/#.UbmtcutQ3tU

[chaos]

Really? No shit, huh?

[DroppingPlates]

http://www.toscareno.com/2013/06/13/leading-fitness-and-health-publishing-company-officially-closes-doors-after-40-years/#.UbmtcutQ3tU

Poor Monica 

[ether]

Aron Singerman claims Musclemag owes him thousands and thousands of dollars for article he "wrote"
What a dummy
His first real paying "job" and this is how it ends up

Oh well back to selling Roids and narcotics through envision criminals and cashing in on species supplements

[stuntmovie]

I’m gonna do my best here to respond to the comments offered b y Vince Basile,  Teutonic Knight , and Old Timer in an attempt to start a courteous argument aboutt the state of various ‘body’ competitions held within the USA today.

Then I’ll do my best to respond to Knight’s comments which could  be of  interest to a very few GetBiggers, especially those GetBiggers living outside of the USA.

I don’t have any official facts nor figures to support my ‘argument’ but it’s pretty damn evident out here on the West Coast of the good old USA that the NPC membership is growing by leaps and bounds and has been doing so for the past few years.

 A lot of you GetBigggers enjoy talking shit about those who run the NPC (National Physique Committee), but those who talk shit most likely know the individuals who they talk shit about.

There are always a number of valid reasons why individuals feel adversely about any organization, but the ‘good’ far outweighs the ‘bad’ when it comes to the NPC and the officials within the NPC. ( A subject for a later post maybe?)

VINCE B …. You appear to be somewhat vindictive when it comes to NPC/IFBB discussions and maybe you have a right to be based on some personal experiences in the past.

Your comment about the public’s acceptance of drugged physiques is interesting.

The public in general has never accepted drugged physique ‘events’ , ..... nor have they accepted ‘natural’ physique events ……. But enough of that ‘public’ have accepted roided bodies enough to make the likes of individuals  like Joe and Ben and many others  …. very wealthy (beyond the multi millions).

My point here is that ….. Enough people have accepted drugged physiques to make those who ‘promote’ it  VERY wealthy and that has been a good enough reason for them to be involved.

I won’t argue with you regarding women’s bodybuilding . It was well intended at  the start with Raquel and Cory by then it took a turn and got out of hand …. (my opinion only).

You may feel somewhat satisfied when and if the NPC removes it from the comps. Might be happening already.

The board short requirement in Men’s Physique …… I believe that this decision was an attempt to differentiate Physique events from Bodybuilding events. Not sure about that though. But he only other alternative was posing trunks or ordinarly ‘trunks’.

I don’t see the “big-deal” about the NPC decision to require board-shorts. in Physique events.

But unlike many others and somewhat in agreement with yourself, I think that the Physique contest idea was initiated in an attempt to overcome the public’s ‘distaste’ for Bodybuilding contests .

Could be wrong here, but I think NOT.

OLDTIMER …. Maybe it’s a fact that the number of NPC contenders on the East Coast  is growing smaller ….. but here on the West Coast ...... it is growing larger!

But maybe we are comparing apples and oranges!

I don’t have the facts and figures to prove this but you could be correct if you say that only the Men’s Competitive Bodybuilding numbers have been getting smaller throughout the past few years …. But I seriously doubt if that is true in California.

But even if the above was true, I can almost guarantee you that the overall male and female membership within the NPC has been growing by leaps and bounds like never before.

This is partially due to the increased number of classes within women’s figure and fitness and also  due to the unexpected amount of interest among Men’s Physique competitors …… which sort of resembles the physiques of the better amateur  bodybuilders of the 60’s and the 70’s.

I think that that last sentence was on the minds of  those NPC officials who made the determination to add Men’s Physique as an NPC sanctioned event.
_¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

T. KNIGHT …… Give me some time to respond to your comment as I’m heading out to help with Friday  nightt’s MMA fight at the Hard Rock.

Anyone planning to be there? I might have a few extra tickets. COMPT.

[DroppingPlates]

Stunt, you wrote:

But unlike many others and somewhat in agreement with yourself, I think that the Physique contest idea was initiated in an attempt to overcome the public’s ‘distaste’ for Bodybuilding contests .

Do you agree with me, that BB & Physique rounds attract different audiences? If so, wouldn't it be wiser to organise separate shows, to keep everyone satisfied?

[dantelis]

Just got my latest Reps magazine.  Too bad there will be no more.  It was actually one of the readable magazines that offered some half-way decent content.  PIP

Wonder if Weider publications is next?  I have a subscription to Flex (got it cheap), but it is shit and going down every issue.     

[MP]

Picked up the final copy of MuscleMag tonight. Going to seal it up and save it to sell down the road for millions. 

[Fortress]

If Bob Kennedy were alive, this wouldn't have happened. Tosca was his "project", and when he died, MuscleMag, and his company, was doomed.

I am actually happy he isn't alive to see this.

Whatever you feel about the man, one thing is for certain. Robert Kennedy was a survivor and one-of-a-kind.   

[Teutonic Knight]

STUNT, I have nothing against US-NPC but how is possible that local/US title get someone Pro Card ?, but Ifbb World or European far better
champions don't get it or they a not offered ?.Stinks on discrimination, results/placements  on the last 10 Ifbb Worlds shows total domination
of Europeans (& other) amateur bodybuilders.
Story is repeated at Arnold Amateur Classics or Amateurs Mr.Olympia.
How can US state title be bigger than World title 
Or, when selected US -NPC "Team Universe" don't compete at IFBB Universe (World) 
See, I knew that some NPC officials would like to join WBBF (World Bodybuilding Federation).

[timfogarty]

STUNT, I have nothing against US-NPC but how is possible that local/US title get someone Pro Card ?, but Ifbb World or European far better
champions don't get it or they a not offered ?.Stinks on discrimination, results/placements  on the last 10 Ifbb Worlds shows total domination
of Europeans (& other) amateur bodybuilders.
Story is repeated at Arnold Amateur Classics or Amateurs Mr.Olympia.
How can US state title be bigger than World title  
Or, when selected US -NPC "Team Universe" don't compete at IFBB Universe (World)  
See, I knew that some NPC officials would like to join WBBF (World Bodybuilding Federation).

1) European and Arab bodybuilders have better physiques right now because the americans rely too much on insulin and growth hormone.  part of that is because the anabolic steroids here are crap.  In much of Europe and arabic countries you can get real pharmaceutical grade steroids that contain what the label says it contains.  The stuff on the black market here in the US is rarely what the label says, and always under dosed.

2) Team Universe and the IFBB World Amateurs are suppose to be drug tested.  If TU is drug tested, they have never disqualified anyone, that is publicly take away their placing.  Perhaps they just don't pay for your trip to the Worlds if you fail the drug test.  The Worlds do publicly disqualify some contestants each show.  Now we don't know how many they actually test.  The failure rate could be 100%.

3) Most top world athletes have no desire to compete in the pro IFBB.  It would be a significant cut in pay.  Most of the top amateurs make much more from their governments or from local endorsements than they'd ever make in the pro IFBB.  

[MP]

http://investorplace.com/2013/06/leading-fitness-health-magazine-publisher-shuts-down/

[stuntmovie]

DROP, That’s a damn good question that you asked above but I am not prepared to answer with a YES or NO response, so let me try to offer a respond somewhat indirectly and in greater detail ……

It costs a shit-load of money to promote any NPC event.

The major expense is the daily cost of the facility in which the event will be held, so the promoter strives to shove as many ‘events’ as possible into a one-day ‘venue rental period’.

Get in by 9:00 AM and get out by 11:00 PM is most likely the ‘norm’ now a days.

So it would cost the promoter twice as much money to organize separate shows if he were to promote one event one day and another event the next.

And by holding all the events on one single day, you get a constant turn-over of people paying to sit their ass in those prejudging seats.

For instance the auditorium could be half full during the Teen and Novice prejudging, but once that part is over and some of the  teen’s friends and family members depart, those vacant seats are ‘filled back up’ for the Men’s Masters prejudging … after which a new group of people take those vacant seats to watch the figure, then the bikini.

And then those seats become vacant and the Men’s Physique and Men’s Bodybuilding fans move up front  and take the seats recently vacated by the Men’s Masters fans ….. etc., etc.

So there is a constant flow of people leaving and entering the auditorium throughout the prejudging phase of any contest. Those who depart make room for those who arrive.

If no one left, prejudging would be a complete sell-out with hundreds of people standing in line trying to get inside.

I personally don’t think there is a problem holding all these NPC events on one single day, but I think there may be a problem for many in the audience sitting through the prejudging phase when there are an excessive number of contestants in the contest.

But what is ‘excessive’ for the audience is great for the NPC and the event promoter. (Financially speaking, that is.)

But ..... I personally think that the Women’s Bikini and Figure will soon be combined into one contest in an effort to 'speed up' the process.

The majority of the people in the audience have difficulty seeing the difference anyway.

Sorry for the length of this but I hope it answered your question.







KNIGHT ….. I’m not familiar about how contests are run in Europe, but let me ask you if  that contest held over-seas was a Pro Qualifier.

If could possible be a fact that the contest promoter did not pay the additional fee to make his event a Pro Qualifier.

It’s dfficult for me to give you a good answer because of the following explanation.

Many years ago …. Around 1980 or so …. I attended a meeting in the Santa Monica City Auditorium on the Sunday morning following the previous night’s promotion of the Mr America Contest.

The meeting was held to determine if the bodybuilding organization we were all a part of would like to become associated with the IFBB.

Both Ben and Joe attended to make a formal proposal. The Hofman (York) representatives  were also present. So was Dan Lurie and just about every other individual or company who had a vested interest.

Ben was the only one to stand before all who were present and make a proposal.

His proposal was, “The IFBB would recognize the NPC as the US governing body for amateur competitive bodybuilders and  amateur contests, if the NPC would recognize the IFBB as the world governing body for professional bodybuilders worldwide and as the governing body for ALL amateur bodybuilding event outside of the US. (If agreed to, the IFBB would not have any jurisdiction over US amateur events.)

A major battle followed that proposal but finally a vote was taken and the agreement  was made in accordance with Mr Ben Weider’s proposal.

So in the US the IFBB ‘controls’ professional bodybuilding events and the NPC ‘controls’ amateur events.

But outside of the US, the IFBB ‘controls’ both amateur and professional bodybuilding events.

Needless to say that there are other sanctioning bodies. but they are smaller and less well known an most of us would have difficulty naming any of hte winners of such contests. Some exceptions apply of course.)

I should also state that those organizations are not recognized by the IFBB nor the NPC.

With that being understood, I’ll ask you to redirect your question about events in Europe that may not offer Pro Cards.b

But  since I have no idea of how the IFBB or any other sanctioning body operates outside of the USA, I'd most likely have difficulty offering a valid response.

[Teutonic Knight]

So in the US the IFBB ‘controls’ professional bodybuilding events and the NPC ‘controls’ amateur events.

But outside of the US, the IFBB ‘controls’ both amateur and professional bodybuilding events.

Needless to say that there are other sanctioning bodies. but they are smaller and less well known an most of us would have difficulty naming any of hte winners of such contests. Some exceptions apply of course.)

I should also state that those organizations are not recognized by the IFBB nor the NPC.

With that being understood, I’ll ask you to redirect your question about events in Europe that may not offer Pro Cards.b

But  since I have no idea of how the IFBB or any other sanctioning body operates outside of the USA, I'd most likely have difficulty offering a valid response.

[/quote]

Stunt, so regarding to you Ben & Joe Weiders with 2-3 others decided we will run bodybuilding world , who cares about Europeans,Asians,Africans,South Americans,Australians & Penguins on Antarctica ,right.
How democratic , wow long live Weider Bros dictatorship.
Current IFBB & F is Rafael Santojas private business , definitely NOT an  International sports organization.
IFBB is not a registered trade mark & anyone can start his International BB organization, remember Serge Nubret & reason for WABBA creation.
Ever heard about NABBA,INBA,WFF,WBBF,WPF,NAC (especially NAC),WNBF,INBF and others !.
Suggestion check out websites of NAC or WBBF !.

[stuntmovie]

KNIGHT … Regarding your statement …. “ You & Ben & Joe Weider with 2-3 others decided who would run the bodybuilding world,who cares about Europeans,Asians,Africans,South Americans, Australians & Penguins on Antarctica.”

I gotta admit that you are partially correct, but NOT precisely. You only visualize the condensed version of what actually happened, but here’s how it really happened …….

As I mentioned earlier we (about 60 bodybuilders, magazine publishers, photographers, and state and national NPC officials) gathered together in a formal meeting under the watchful eye of a  gentleman who was knowledgeable about Robert’s Rules of Order regarding formal meetings such as this.

His familiarity with Robert’s Rules of Order assured one and all the this meeting would be conducted legally and ‘above-board’ and in a  democratic manner’. (So you  are definitely correct in that respect.)

‘Dictatorship’ type of proceedings never did occur. Nor was it mentioned or even ‘thunk-of'’ by anyone in attendance ….. not even among the antagonists. (And there were quite a few antagonists!)

You must understand that our only concern at this meeting was for amateur bodybuilding competitions within the USA and a possible future relationship with the IFBB.

So at the proper time in this proper meeting, Ben arose and made the offer as described in an earlier post.

The floor was given the opportunity to ask questions (there were many), to discuss Ben’s proposal openly (very heated arguments got underway), and  then vote on the proposal.

The votes were tallied while parties from all sides observed and made sure that the count was precisely correct.

This was not a secret agenda nor a secret vote.

Ben and his IFBB won that afternoon and shook hands with about 70% of those in attendance while the other 30% left the auditorium in disgust ….  the York group and Dan Louri (spelling) and his associates among others.

Back then there was only one ‘International’ bodybuilding organization that appeared to be working on the behalf of the competitors and attempting to give them the recognition that each competitor felt he deserved. (The ladies were not involved just yet. That would occur a few years later.)

That ‘International’ organization just so happened to be the IFBB. Others existed but were relatively unknown and for the most part were non-active within the US. (Help, Joe!)

None of them took the step to do any organizational work within the US similar to the efforts of Ben and Joe Weider. (I give Ben most of the credit in this regards.)

It helped a bit that  IFBB had a magazine and every kid who ever saw the inside of a gym would die to get his picture in a national magazine.

So that magazine was another selling point that encouraged the NPC to join up with the IFBB.

Here comes a THE RUMOR DEPATMENT !!!!…… RUMOR AHEAD!!!!

Back then the IFBB made numerous claims to have IFBB representatives (not the best word I am looking for here) in a good number of foreign countries …. Ben claimed at the Santa Monica meeting that this is why the IFBB was an international organization.

But many in the audience accused Ben of being mistaken because many of those ‘representatives’ were merely post office boxes and nothing else.

I can’t say much more about the international part of the IFBB but I will say that at one time not too long ago, Ben was successful in convincing the IOC that the IFBB was a world-wide international organization …. And I don’t recall any other bodybuilding organization objecting to his claim.

I personally know that you had to put up the good fight to make any bodybuilding organization viable when the public wants to fight it .... and Joe and Ben fought long and hard for many years/

Some 'organizations' still exist today, but none that I am aware of have reached the heights of the IFBB, due to the fact that Ben and Joe fought with the world to make it what it is today … a multi million dollar enterprise that offers a few good men (and ladies) opportunities that they never would have had if it wasn’t due to the hard work and life-dedication of these two brothers from Canada.

Regarding Nubret …. I don’t recall his connection to the WABBA but I talked to Serge personally on a few occasions and his only  complaint was that some boybuilding organization  not related to the IFBB (unless I’m wrong) promoted a contest in Europe someplace which he won and instead of the monetary award that was promised, the promoter gave him the Universal and weight equipment that was used backstage in the pump-up area.

And Nubret would have to ship it himself to himself.

Someone correct me if any of the above is incorrect. But please … ONLY CORRECT ME IF YOU SAW IT WITH YOUR OWN TWO EYEBALLS.