Flex Magazine - comments

[theworm]

I was at the store today and picked up a flex magazine.  Man, I miss that magazine.  Excellent pics!   True, they play down the steroid issue, but I actually like that.  Most teenagers need not be exposed to all that.  When I started reading MD as a teen, I realized its all drugs.

Flex has great color pics and interesting little stories and facts and stuff.  The best thing about MD is the page "69" pics of candid BBs... however, its only 2-3 pages long.  The rest of MD is a photo copy of the previous month.  All those articles are the SAME!!!  Month after month.  Someone please update these.  Then it has 300 pages of ads, an article about protein, then an article how to loose fat.  Same crap every month. 

Flex is much better, at least they have a bunch of cool ass pics.

ya heard?

[scribbler]

Enjoy it now, word on the street is Flex is winding down operations, reducing it to a once every two months.  My guess, 18 months before folding.

"word on the street" huh? What exactly is that? FLEX is doing just fine no matter how many of these type of posts our non-fans continue to throw on the boards. There has never been any talk whatsoever of going to bi-monthly or shutting down.

and thanks for the positiv comments theworm, we try to have some of the best photos in the industry.

C

[scribbler]

All the mags are pretty good.  Keep in mind that the ads buy the content.  I would just appreciate if FLEX kept it real regarding steroid use, but that would keep FLEX from selling as much.  Joe Weider was a genius at selling.  How many copies does FLEX sell each month by the way?

According to our actual audits (since we do that, it's public knowledge)...just under 115,000

C

[smaul]

Is that all the versions of flex?  Including all the international editions etc?

[kmhphoto]

word on the street is Flex is winding down operations,

Pillow talk from hookers is not likely to reveal much about magazine sales.

[scribbler]

Is that all the versions of flex?  Including all the international editions etc?

no

[njflex]

this has nothing to do with scribbler.i get flex subscription and i alway's get it after newstand has it.i thought it would be other way around.otherwise a good read.

[theworm]

wow, thats a lot of numbers...  whats MD circulation?

[alexxx]

I like Flex when they have good training articles such as the black and white workouts of Ronnie Coleman or any Arnold special is fine by me.

I agree about MD they always reuse the same pictures over and over and over again.

[In it 2 win it]

MD is twice the magazine FLEX is. MD has a personal interaction with the reader. Every pro has their own section in which they are allowed to voice their opinion no matter what the topic. They each give their own insight on training and also give a little personal note on what there up to. Per Bernal is an awesome photographer and keeps it real. Chris Lund makes the athletes wear cut-off jean shorts and workboots(gay)!!! Face it, Drugs are an essential part of bodybuilding these days and MD is the only magazine with enough balls to talk about them. Sections like Lee's and Romano's are my favorite to read. I guess if you just wanted to look at some gay ass pics and read some ghostwritten articles, read Flex. If you wanna actually learn from these magazines and get an unbiased view of the sport, choose MD-

[onlyme]

FLEX basically sucks.  They have no integrity and in part is due with the fact they are so associated with the IFBB.  MD supports bodybuilding as a whole. FLEX does NOTsupport bodybuilding only what will benefit them and the IFBB.  That is not a magazine that should even be on the shelves.  The IFBB uses as its private way of promoting the IFBB not bodybuilding.

[John Romano]

The first guy who figures out how to make everyone happy, please post it,
Thanks!!

[Dorian 01]

All the mags are pretty good.  Keep in mind that the ads buy the content.  I would just appreciate if FLEX kept it real regarding steroid use, but that would keep FLEX from selling as much.  Joe Weider was a genius at selling.  How many copies does FLEX sell each month by the way?

If the ads buy the content, why do we have to pay for the magazine? I'm pretty sure glossy paper is cheaper elsewhere.

[theworm]

MD is twice the magazine FLEX is. MD has a personal interaction with the reader. Every pro has their own section in which they are allowed to voice their opinion no matter what the topic. They each give their own insight on training and also give a little personal note on what there up to. Per Bernal is an awesome photographer and keeps it real. Chris Lund makes the athletes wear cut-off jean shorts and workboots(gay)!!! Face it, Drugs are an essential part of bodybuilding these days and MD is the only magazine with enough balls to talk about them. Sections like Lee's and Romano's are my favorite to read. I guess if you just wanted to look at some gay ass pics and read some ghostwritten articles, read Flex. If you wanna actually learn from these magazines and get an unbiased view of the sport, choose MD-

At least their pics are new!!  MD uses the same Chris Cormier pics from 2000.  Their articles in the front of the mag is the same old shit, "big waist linked to heart disease"  that is in every damn magazine.  Then articles from Lee, about how he "doesn;t care what others think, fed up with the IFBB, etc."  and some training article in the middle that takes 20 pages of how someone trains their hamstrings----who cares!!  They were much better a few years ago when they actually gave important info on roids...now not so much.

and as for the roid issues, most people who read these things are teenagers, and I would not want a bunch of 15 year olds taking 1000 grams of test per week to look like those guys.  at least flex semi- promotes a healthy lifestyle.

[Jr. Yates]

At least their pics are new!!  MD uses the same Chris Cormier pics from 2000.  Their articles in the front of the mag is the same old shit, "big waist linked to heart disease"  that is in every damn magazine.  Then articles from Lee, about how he "doesn;t care what others think, fed up with the IFBB, etc."  and some training article in the middle that takes 20 pages of how someone trains their hamstrings----who cares!!  They were much better a few years ago when they actually gave important info on roids...now not so much.

and as for the roid issues, most people who read these things are teenagers, and I would not want a bunch of 15 year olds taking 1000 grams of test per week to look like those guys.  at least flex semi- promotes a healthy lifestyle.

I agree with you. Flex gives ideas for training and eating that MD does not. MD has the better columbs from pros and such thats about all I like from MD. Flex definatly has the pics.

[theworm]

so MD sells LESS than FLEX??  haha.

the way MD tells the story is that they sell 1 billion, and Flex sells 10.


Interesting.

[scribbler]

100,000.

really?

[bic_staedtler]

MD is twice the magazine FLEX is. MD has a personal interaction with the reader. Every pro has their own section in which they are allowed to voice their opinion no matter what the topic. They each give their own insight on training and also give a little personal note on what there up to. Per Bernal is an awesome photographer and keeps it real. Chris Lund makes the athletes wear cut-off jean shorts and workboots(gay)!!! Face it, Drugs are an essential part of bodybuilding these days and MD is the only magazine with enough balls to talk about them. Sections like Lee's and Romano's are my favorite to read. I guess if you just wanted to look at some gay ass pics and read some ghostwritten articles, read Flex. If you wanna actually learn from these magazines and get an unbiased view of the sport, choose MD-

...you'll come around soon enough to how crummy MD actually is.  I mean, the latest issue has the SAME damn pic we've been seeing of Palumbo on the cover for what, 4 years now?...and you see this crap EVERY issue!...Per Bernal is awesome, but damn, pay the man to take some new friggin photos!!!

And MD gets off on saying it's the only mag that PAYS for it's photo shoots....it certainly MUST, since it rehashes the same damn pics for YEARS!...at least FLEX mixes up the old pics, MUCH less than MD.

The articles in MD are NOT written by the bodybuilders, not in the least.  On many occasions, ONE BAD one in paritcular, I read a supposed Dex Jackson 'article' in MD which was, NO SHIT, an almost word for word copy of a Chris Aceto FLEX article....THREE MONTHS EARLIER!!...I'd love to post the scans of the pages, you'd all laugh your asses off at how MD goes to FLEX when it needs to fill the pages!!!  ABSOLUTELY TRUE!

MD, while fresh for the first 10 months or so (when you at least got the hot chicks)  was a breath of fresh air. Now it's just boring.  Reading Romano's pseudo intellectual articles ad naseum on the Balco affair and the surrounding Senate hearings were some of the most boring reads I've ever FORCED myself to read...right up to where I said FUCK THIS and stopped buying it.

[Joe Roark]

John said the distribution was around three times greater than the 30,000 that Peter McGough stated.

Apples and oranges? Distribution is not at all the same as sales. Many magazines, including Flex, M&F and others which are audited distribute about twice as many mags as actually sell. Half are 'returned'.

What matters, of course, is not how many copies make the distribution truck; what matters is how many don't make the return trip.

So, is the claim that MD sells 100,000, or that it distributes 100,000?

[IndustryInsider]

"word on the street" huh? What exactly is that? FLEX is doing just fine no matter how many of these type of posts our non-fans continue to throw on the boards. There has never been any talk whatsoever of going to bi-monthly or shutting down.

and thanks for the positiv comments theworm, we try to have some of the best photos in the industry.

C

Scribbler,

You've mentioned that sales are up for Flex and that the magazine is doing fine.  You lose your credibility when you say that...The facts according to ABC audited circulation numbers are that Flex is down 15.2% for the first 6 months of 2006 compared to 2005. 

Peace

[scribbler]

Scribbler,

You've mentioned that sales are up for Flex and that the magazine is doing fine.  You lose your credibility when you say that...The facts according to ABC audited circulation numbers are that Flex is down 15.2% for the first 6 months of 2006 compared to 2005. 

Peace

I didn't say we were up, I said we are doing fine and are in no danger of closing down as many naysayers seem to keep bringing up. My credibility is just fine, we are blatantly honest about our numbers and don't dodge around the distribution vs sales way of looking at things.

A good selling magazine typically sells about 30% of what is distributed in case you even see those numbers quoted. Higher than that is obviously great, lower is not as good...simple facts.

C

[Ron]

Flex is the leading magazine of bodybuilding, MD is second. Both are good magazines. Almost everyone I talk to picks up both magazines, or has subscriptions to both of them. Each of their uniqueness in them.  MD is more raw, Flex is more defined. Flex promotes the positiveness of the sport. MD reports all of it - good and bad. Nothing is wrong with that. Flex's numbers as ABC audited. MD is not, at least not yet.

[Jr. Yates]

Flex is the leading magazine of bodybuilding, MD is second. Both are good magazines. Almost everyone I talk to picks up both magazines, or has subscriptions to both of them. Each of their uniqueness in them.  MD is more raw, Flex is more defined. Flex promotes the positiveness of the sport. MD reports all of it - good and bad. Nothing is wrong with that. Flex's numbers as ABC audited. MD is not, at least not yet.

of course. that makes perfect sense. Flex is older, more wise and yeah more defined. Both are 2 differently written magazines and are going to be different.

[youandme]

The first guy who figures out how to make everyone happy, please post it,
Thanks!!

I liked the Rico Mac Taco thing, kinda lets you escape

[Billy Knockout!]

The Ronnie Coleman, Vic M and Flex Wheeler interview in the current Flex is pretty good.