The Best and Worst Magazines for Men

Excellent work! I too have surveyed the vast lands of men’s lifestyle magazines and found that only a handful seem to be written by men, rather than 40-year old boys. Agree on your ratings and thanks again for consistently raising the bar for manhood in our generation.

An interesting article. Most of these publications are available in the UK, so I can easily relate to them, but I do find that they are more the kind of thing I might pick up while waiting at the barbers, rather than something I would buy. I appreciate the intentions of this piece, but I think that most men would rather buy a magazine relating to something that they are specifically interested in, and for me that’s some kind of classic car publication.
Very best regards to all for 2009.

I can’t believe Men’s Health got a 4.5 I can definitely see the worth of Esquire (best on the list by far) and GQ and some of these others but Men’s Health just repetitive and useless. I learned how to lift and stay in shape while playing sports in school. I don’t need a magazine to tell me how to lift or workout 12 months out of the year. How many different ways can you do a curl? Plus unlike Esquire there is never any reporting in Men’s Health, I know Maxim puts out many many more “in depth” articles than MH and that isn’t saying a lot. At least in Maxim you get pictures of attractive woman and humor instead of the newest way to make your pecs sparkle and a dude without his shirt on.

It’s a shame you degraded Esquire by giving them the same score as Men’s Health, they’re so much better than that.

Thanks for the reviews – most men’s magazine’s I’ve picked up have been pretty much crap (and they wonder why sales are struggling), but there are a couple here that after reading the reviews I intend to check out – both BestLife and Esquire sound interesting.
(I’d have to agree that Men’s Health is probably not worthy of a 4.5 – mostly very short and fluffy articles along with the “ab exercise of the month” every issue).

Great post. My biggest pet peeve with these magazines is the recent onslaught of dudes in their undies. And it’s not just dudes in their undies, but the, um, package is right out in front, like he’s trying to poke you.

Also, the cologne ads are terrible.

My vote is for Men’s Fitness. It has a good selection of exercises and inspirational stories. It is the same each month, but I just don’t need to read about David Beckam’s (sp?) trip to the Alps and what skis he used.

Sorry about the horrendous grammar in the previous comment. It’s early.

Like the rest of your articles, I loved this one and may actually check out a few of the more outstanding ones.
Now lets see some articles on suggested book reading for different topics. Surely if we can find merit in a $3 – 7$ mens magazine, we could find infinitely more substance from a well written $17 – $22 trade paperback.

Thank you for the research and the article. I was a long time subscriber to GQ when Art Cooper was at the helm. When he died the magazine took a sharp turn, in my opinion, to a magazine that I felt was too immature or young for me. It seems to have improved as I look at it from time to time but it is just not what it once was. Esquire is more mature but at times boring and predictable. Men’s health is currently my only men’s magazine. I seek another, but a classic style, sophisticated magazine I don’t think can be found. A magazine similar to apparel arts would be nice, actually quarterly would be preferred, and a little less emphasis on frat boys would be great.

Cordailly,

Gordon

I picked up Esquire at the airport last week and I found it to be a great magazine. I used to pick up Men’s Health, and occasionally do at the gym, but I too found it to be reptitive (different 6 pack abs routine every month it seems) and relatively useless.

However, I too would like to throw in my hat for the Art of Manliness magazine. Hell, I’d even try hard to write for it!

I think there’s a real need for a print version of Art of Manliness!

As with some others above, this only makes me even more grateful for Art of Manliness!

I used to be looking for “style” advice in magazines, and thought GQ would be a suitable magazine for, well, advice on how to be a gentleman. After all, GQ meant (at one time), “Gentleman’s Quarterly.”

Then I started to notice the raunchy ads, the idiotic articles, and then a main piece titled:
“(Some guy’s name, I forget who) just doesn’t give a f**k”

It seems to me, that it is run by a bunch of over-grown frat boys with too much money. Gentlemen, in my eyes, don’t use such coarse language, and they’ve lost my business ever since (I’m only 21, but still, they could’ve had a lucrative lifetime of my monthly purchasing).

I think GQ should get a bump up in rating, I’ve found it to have some really entertaining and insightful pieces, and some of the style advice is great. I pretty much ignore the fashion spreads with the absurdly priced clothes.

I’d prefer a more grounded, pragmatic men’s magazine, but I gues that is why we have the Web. Pragmatism doesn’t do glossy spreads.

I guess I’ll stick to National Geographic Magazine. Beautiful photo’s (with next to no photoshopping or airbrushing at all) and really intelligent and interesting articles. Sure, it won’t tell you who or what is hip, but I’ve got the Internet for that sort of stuff.

My major issue is against the sex articles. Let me explain my experience with MH. It is mostly about a reality check.

I used to pick Men’s Health every single month. There were very interesting and down-to-earth pieces. I remember a section that featured a survival story in every number (to major injuries, to a father’s struggle with cancer, etc.). There was this funny and useful section, ONE MAN, ONE CAN, ONE PLAN, on cooking.

Nowadays, I run away from it (literally). It has become to raunchy and fleshy. Not only you get female nudity, but I bet you can even count more (way more) shirtless dudes in the pages than topless girls.

I avoid all the sex articles, not because I lack of a healthy and necessary sexual interest, but because I am slowly learning to practice (quoting AoM) a certain sexual discipline.

As a single man, I’d like to see sex advice -real sex advice- on how to keep a wife content for life. Articles like “useful tips when holding a threesome”, and “one-night-stand catchphrases” don’t add any value to my life.

Don’t get me wrong. I have got too much porn and promiscuity, and I can’t recall learning something useful about manhood and a solid sexual life. But thankfully, all this insatisfaction with traditional media for men led me to AoM! Ready for an AoM mag too!

So when are you going to start publishing an AoM magazine? I reckon you could do a lot better than any of those listed above!

This article caused me to lose a lot of respect for AofM. In the end the 2 highest rated mags are Men’s Health- a mags that only has the three basic articles of get bigger, lose you belly- and a sex article and Esquire, which caters to the men who can afford a $25,000 watch. That is indeed a sad state of affairs if those are the best you can come up with.

Wow .. I mean … wow … This reads like an old, married wuss-bag’s review of current events. About the only review I agree with is Details. Like other commenters have said before, it’s just too queer for my taste. They should “come out of the closet” and just admit that it is a magazine for queer boys … their sales would probably go up.

As far as the rest, I think you’re just a little bit too hyper about sex. Why no review of Playboy? Playboy is arguably the -first- men’s magazine, and if you’ve ever had the pleasure of reading one, you would know why. It’s not just a skin mag … there is much more … oh, and I’m sure you’re thinking “Oh yeah … he reads the articles … har har …” But here’s the facts … If men didn’t read the articles, and buy the products in the ads, the magazine would not exist. Period.

I think the reviewer needs to relax just a bit … go to the store, buy a Playboy, and get some real perspective.

Your ratings did not match your “cons” comments, or the fact that the magazines generally suck. For instance, Men’s Health, with its raunchy ads in the back, warrants a 4.5 out of 5? C’mon!

Your website, which started out with a genuine down to earth, real man feel to it, seems to be creeping towards mainstream pabulum, hence this whole article on a bunch of so-called “mens” magazines that real men, like my father, would not waste a single hard-earned nickle on.

I’m so grateful that SOMEONE called out these magazines for what they really are. My favorite part was the attainable lifestyle rating which, in part, is why I started my own blog. You can look very stylish on a low budget and find that $3,000 scarf for about $20 if you look hard enough.

http://www.madetm.wordpress.com

Thanks again!
Dennis

Brett,

Couldn’t agree more. Same reason I started Primer. I do however occasionally enjoy GQ, Esquire, and Men’s Health but I agree with your sentiments if each.

Best of luck,
Andrew

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I’m surprised at your high rating for Men’s Health, too. Travel Man (my better half) finally ditched his subscription because it was so heavy on the casual sex. (Just look at that cover in your sample!) It’s degrading to treat men as though they need not grow up and be real men someday (i.e. responsible, as opposed to hooking up or looking to do so well into their 30’s and 40’s).

I wish there were more choices that weren’t offensive (or dangerous to leave around where the kids will inevitably find them). It’s a struggle for someone trying to get past the programming our culture pounds into us (ala Men’s Health or Cosmo – to be fair and go after both sides here) when magazines just continue to glorify the hook-up culture we see around us.

I’m a woman and I enjoy flipping through Men’s Health.

I was very excited when Women’s Health was announced a few years ago, and though it is a very good magazine, it suffers somewhat from a politically correct, feminist point-of-view. One thing that I liked about Men’s Health is that it wasn’t afraid to be contra de zeitgeist.

I enjoy Outside for travel and adventure inspiration, but it, too, sells an unrealistic lifestyle ($300 “environmentally friendly” bluejeans? Gimme a break).
By a LONG LONG shot, the best car magazine is “Grassroots Motorsports”. Realistic lifestyle, entertaining, and just the right ammt of tech. They have a good forum, too.
I’m 24 and I admit to the occasional guilty pleasure of flipping through a friend’s Maxim or MH, but neither has improved my life in any respect.