Mostly ads and product pimping. Takes me about 20 minutes to flip through it and rarely do I find anything that makes me actually stop flipping the pages and actually catch my interest. For what one would think, by the title, would be a somewhat fitness oriented magazine, any fitness related elements are sub par and often the photos or drawings aren't even proper form.

If your dumbells are silver, not pink, if you know what a hack squat,deadlift nose breaker, etc. is, you're wasting your time with this magazine. NEWSFLASH! you can be feminine and have muscles! I personally don't want to see a 100 lb. "fitness" model showing me exercises with plastic dumbells.

I read through this in about 1/2 hour, most of articles are either uninteresting or repeats as well as the exercise and diet tips. I will not renew this one.

I have read shape for years - Last year I walked/ran a full 26.2 marathon for Leukemia...not because of Shape magaazine - because the testimonials and info in this wonderful magazine told me 'I can do whatever I choose, if I have goals." Thanks.
Mary Jane Lightbody
Walpole, Ma. 02081
I have 7 grandchildren, a wonderful husband, great job and great faith.
Do not ask for pix and all of that but it was one of the greatest feats of my life.

This is a "fluffy" women's fitness magazine. It regurgitates the same information over and over, just repackages it a little differently each time. "Let's give readers the same workout with a red bikini this time..." They use models that are far too thin and not even muscular looking for most of the fashion spreads, which seems to encourage an unhealthy body type. I also found the magazine to underassume the intelligence of the readers. Muscle & Fitness Hers, Oxygen and Fitness Rx are much better choices if you are serious about fitness.

If you want to do the same exercise over and over.. but with better make up and cuter outfit go ahead.

If you want better exercises and articles look to Oxygen or Women's M&F

About two years ago, I became a subscriber to Shape, mainly because I had received it for free as part of a package deal with another magazine. I had always liked browsing through issues of Shape in the supermarket, and I thought that being a subscriber would help support my fitness goals. Overall, I have enjoyed Shape and found it to be useful, but there definitely are some negatives, and the magazine might not be for everyone.

But first the good. Like many others have mentioned, what I most enjoy about Shape is their real-life weight stories featuring a nice variety of women, some of whom actually needed to *gain* weight in order to be healthy. I also love their relatively new feature in which they follow one of their own staffers on a year-long weight loss journey. Many of their other regular features are also excellent, particularly the body part-focused strength exercises and other how-to exercise guides. And I especially like that Shape uses "Reader Models" with so many of their articles--real life women of various ages (although admittedly, mostly in the 25-35 range) with normal, healthy, strong bodies. Finally, their featured exercise plans each month often offer some unique variations on traditional exercises, and the recipes are often quite good as well.

The main negative has already been brought up by many others here: the use of too-skinny, not overtly fit or strong models to illustrate much of the magazine. I find this extremely disappointing; I understand that to sell magazines, the models probably have to conform to some traditional standards of attractiveness, but those of us buying the magazine want to see women who are not only fit but also strong--show us some muscles now and then! As I said above, the reader models are great; the women are usually quite fit, but they have muscles and curves too, which is wonderful to see. Shape MAY be trying to make some improvements in this area, as the last few covers have featured famous women who do exercise (such as Denise Richards), but they still have a long way to go. And while they're at it, I hope they will return to having their cover models dress in fitness wear, not bathing suits! They can still show off their model's physique AND showcase cute fitness wear at the same time. Similarly, I would like to see the magazine get rid of the fashion segment at the end *unless* they start focusing it on exercise clothing, not haute couture.

If you are overweight and/or new to exercising, you may find the magazine discouraging, but if you can get past some of the negatives, it can also be inspiring. I think it's up to each individual to determine whether a magazine like this is likely to hurt or help her fitness efforts; for me, it is helpful, but this definitely might not be the case with everyone.

I like Shape because it has great tips to help spice up a workout so you never get bored. There are great articles on places to stay, hike, relax, etc. As well, there are great inspirational stories.

Their work out are very effective if you comply with the guideliness for each move and routine. I love it!!!

Been a member for 2 years already.

This magazine has as many ads in it as that thick/heavy fashion magazine I read once. Literally every other page is an ad, when is too much too much. Love the magazine though, repetively inspires me to be healthy and keeps me up to date with new workouts.... I might try her sport though or health when renewing comes around again.

I use to subscribe to SHAPE several years ago, and then it was packed full of great work out routines, meal plans, etc for women at all levels of fitness.

Well . . . my last few months of Shape have been a complete disappointment. I found very few pages of good genuine fitness and healthy eating advice. Instead, it ranks right up with Glamour in the category of magazines with the highest percentage of advertisements, nearly all of the excercise material is supposed "quick fix" fitness fluff which gives women very unrealistic expectations, and the healthy eating advise is absolutely elementary.

There is no substance in here for women like me, the average working woman who desire to live a healthy life everyday and have limited time to commit to exercise. I want a magazine that is inspiring with a focus on living a sustained healthy lifestyle, not a joke about getting flat abs in a week with illustrations of perfectly chiseled models who obviously do not face the body challenges of average women. I'm sorry but most women are not going to look like "her" after two weeks, or many months of Shape's 10-30 minute a day routines, but they sure lead you to beleive so.

I highly recommend "Her Sports" it is THE magazine for women desiring to live an active, day-to-day healthy life!

I read the other reviews, and I have to agree that this magazine isn't entirely fitness, but that's what I like about it. I'm just starting to adopt a healthier lifestyle and this magazine has great articles on new exercises, interesting recipes, and cool beauty tips that are geared more towards natural remedies. Anyone who is working out regularly has the habit of feeling bored after awhile. Getting this magazine once a month boosts my excitment about making myself healthier and gets my butt back in the gym.

My favorite feature of this month was a new stationary bike routine, complete with interval times, resistance levels, and an MP3 playlist to correspond with the tempo of the workout!! Great idea.

Shape is a good magazine for new fitness enthusiasts; however, for seasoned exercisers it can get old quick.

Their workouts tend to be trendy, and overly repetitive. If you monitor the exercises over the course of several months, they recycle the same information and exercises over and over. In strength training the reality is that you can only 'hit' a muscle so many ways. To truly maximize results, you must vary the frequency, weight, and combination of exercise to get results and push past a plateau. Shape offers different routines, but they often center on 3 set 10 rep routines that hit each body part once. This is only one of many ways to approach strength training. As for cardio, what they often fail to mention is that any activity that raises your heart rate is good for you, no matter what it is. Intense yard activity for an afternoon can burn as many calories as using the elliptical trainer for 30 minutes. They tend to overemphasize trendy aerobic classes, and concentrate on a sprint-based plan for treadmills and elliptical equipment.

I always enjoy reading the articles about people who have reached their fitness goals, as well as trying the recipes in the food section. There are lots of beauty ads and beauty information for a fitness magazine, and not all of it is geared toward fitness. They do usually include an article about fitness equipment, which I find informative.

Overall, the magazine is interesting for awhile, but gets redundant by the end of your year-long subscription. If you want hardcore fitness information, or an overall health magazine, i would recommend Oxygen or Health. There are a few others too if you care to look.

While many have been quite angry with the models featured on this mag, I would like to defend their choice. Good looks sell. Realistically speaking, we live in a shallow world with shallow principles whose sole purpose is to get you to buy the goods. Cosmopolitan does it, Glam, Fair Lady etc. all they do is make you feel fat without giving you a solution. Shape on the other hand says hey, you don't like what you look like? Here you go, 'feast' on this. Obviously some of the products they advertise may not be 'kosher' but business is business and most mag's make their money from advertising. I've found some exercises helpful and others not so helpful but if you really are a person obsessed about your looks and trying to find a 'healthier' alternative, try Shape...or you could just learn to let go of ever being a 'good looking' corpse...that's where we're all headed anyway.

While I rarely subscribe to magazines, I was looking for something to motivate me to exercise and so I signed up for a one year subscription to Shape. Before and during college I was a ballet dancer, but after entering the real, 9-5 working world half a year ago, exercise time became more difficult to find. Unfortunately, I found that Shape magazine was not really about exercise at all. It was about beauty products, fancy new-age spas and resorts, and trendy workout accessories. I was also shocked by the models on the magazine's covers and pages. Not only were they skinny but they usually sported next to nothing. I finally cancelled my subscription when a magazine came with a woman in a see-through, lacy top on the front of it, visible nipples and all. Workout wear? I think not! Trust me, the woman belonged in a porn magazine, not my exercise magazine!

Hardly an issue of "SHAPE" hits the newstands that does not prominently feature some article that sells some myth of fitness. There is almost always some article on "sculpting" followed by another implying there are some magic "spot reducing" exercise contained the pages. These two myths of fitness seem to be part of the magazine's core editorial policy. "Sculpting" is something done to clay, not muscles and fat, and "spot reducing" is a myth that ranks up there with the Flat Earth Society. I suspect the editorial staff of "SHAPE" promotes the kind of articles that espouse what people want to hear, not what is true about working out. Furthermore, nearly every photo of a strength training exercise features some hot-looking 20-something model using weights so light they wouldn't challenge a grandmother. Never will you see a picture of a model holding a weight that would be even slightly heavy for a healthy, fit woman of that age.

Mostly this magazine seems to be an excuse to sell ad space. Save your money and look elsewhere.

"Shape" is a magazine that I receive as a "freebie" because of membership in a periodical service. This is one that I forward to my sister and she doesn't even find it a compelling read.

Sharing some of the same components as its "brother" magazine "Men's Fitness," "Shape" is for the woman that desires to look like the waifs that adorn its monthly covers.

The feature articles and regular departments are rather routine and the information contained within can easily be found on the Internet or the local gym, without having to subscribe to the magazine.

When my sister finishes with the ones that she gets from me, she donates them to an area doctor's office.

That's about all they're good for, she claims.

This fitness magazine is weak. The models are generally skinny and not exceptionally toned. Lots of ads featuring rail-thin girls hanging on to musclebound greased up dudes. Even the models posing for the work-out sections are usually super skinny anemic models who would topple over in exhaustion if they had to work-out with anything but a rubber band or a 3 lb hand weight. Nothing wrong with superskinny women, but these are the same body types I see in Vogue and Cosmo--the type who don't really want to gain muscle in the first place.

Did I fail to mention that the magazine is packed full of silly makeup hints, love quizzes and how to be a better lover tips? gag

How to workout with a rubber ball and get fit with a kitchen dishrag, really isn't my idea of working out. If you are more serious into weight training, seeing strong looking role models with cut bodies and trained muscles try magazines like HERS and Oxygen. In these magazine the women have strong healthy bodies, feminine fitness models and mind you, not those behemoth heavyweight muscle bulging steroid type. The work-outs and training tips are lot more helpful in HERS and Oxygen as well. SHAPE Mag is way to foofoo for the serious minded Female fitness nut.

I was subscribed to Shape magazine for about 4 years and recently stopped because it is not for your average person who works out at home. It is more for a person who bases all workouts around a gym. I personally used to love this magazine because it was made for a person who wanted variety in their everyday workouts. The magazine is just a hollow whole for many of us now. I saw that other felt empty after reading it also and I don't blame them. A lot of the workouts are not for people who don't live in a city or live in a gym. And I do not live in either. This magazine isn't for me but may be perfect for someone who love to work out in a gym and likes that structured workout. I also found the articles to be a repeat of my other magazines and also a little more dry and hollow!

Although the articles within the magazine are great, the rest of it is full of paid advertisment for supplements, and "plans" that many fitness experts have already debunked as NOT helpful, and in some cases, harmful. I wouldn't recommend this to any beginner exercisers, who should be focusing on healthy eating and exercising rather than diet pills and "cure-all" methods.

Most reviewers I feel were really hard on this magazine. If you are trying to get into shape, this is a monthly boost to your efforts. The nutrition info is accurate and realistic, and the recipes are usually yummy, and provide all the nitpicky nutrition facts I want. The workouts are VARIED: some are things you can do at home, others require a good gym in order to do... but there is something for EVERY level. I like the motivational stories, and the non-fitness bits are interesting and relevant. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is for the models they use: The "reader models" are realistic, but the cover models make me want to puke. How about a Jennifer Garner type (strong, muscular), not a heroin-chic model?

This magazine (Shape) is interesting and has good advice, but their subscription department is really frustrating, and not helpful in solving subscription problems. I only recommend this magazine if you have plenty of time and patience to get your subscription sorted out!

My name is Sheila Pike-Pereyra, and SHAPE featured my success story in their June 2004 issue. Though I was very clear about following Atkins, they fabricated an entire story, saying that I lost the 30 pounds by low-fat means. I'm a two-time low-carb cookbook author, and they stated that not only were my cookbooks LOW-FAT, but mere "collections of [my] favorite recipes." My cookbooks' *low-carb* recipes are entirely my own!

There were a couple of completely made-up quotes in my story as well, I suppose in order to make the story interesting, which added insult to injury. After this issue came out, I was inundated with e-mails from fans thinking I had sold out just to get my story in SHAPE. By the way, since people ask: I never saw a proof before the success story went to print.

To read about how I actually lost the weight, please see SugarFreeSheila.com.

P.S: Every SHAPE weight loss success story I have ever seen, before or since my own, has been a low-fat one. Food for thought.