The web is cast

When I picked up my first barbell in the late 1960s, the mention of the phrase digital platform would have engendered thoughts of a gesture executed by the middle finger. Today, as I sit before a Mac 24" monitor that can send me zooming through cyberspace in the blink of an eye, I feel like Star Trek's Captain Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise. I indeed can "boldly go where no man has gone before," a phrase formerly applied to following Uncle Morty into the restroom.

So it is that in this cyber-conscious generation, it's simply not enough to have what we firmly believe to be the best fitness magazine on newsstands. The quality of our publication--which has been changing lives and physiques for almost 70 years now--has to be mirrored in our online operations. This month, we're relaunching muscleandfitness.com with a makeover befitting this title's legacy.

Spearheading this development is our Online Editor Eric Velazquez. Besides the usual array of signature training and nutrition advice you've come to expect from M&F, our new website features more photo galleries, videos, routines and exercise descriptions, all in a more attractive and easy-to-navigate package. Muscleandfitness.com will be what our print edition has been for decades: the premier source for all things training and nutrition. Accordingly, we'll direct you to some of the hottest items on the site each month with "MUSCLE & FITNESS Online," which you can find on page 22.

Among the top new elements of muscleandfitness.com is a new assortment of videos. This month, you can go behind the scenes of our steamy shoot with two of the women from Dancing With the Stars. This exclusive backstage look shows you why guys like me with two left feet still feel compelled to tune in to the show twice a week! To see these foxes trot, waltz on over to page IIO

American Gladiators made headlines with its reincarnation in 2008. In the end, two contestants--Evan Dollard and Monica Carlson--reigned supreme, earning not only a six-figure prize and a car, but also an exclusive photo session with M&F (page 188). In our video section, you'll find footage from our New York shoot.

Rounding out the major changes to our digital operations is the new-look M&F e-newsletter, which gives you a small helping of digital MUSCLE each month. You can sign up for our e-newsletter from our homepage, with options to participate in special offers and have your voice heard when it comes time to vote for our covers.

Eric and his online team are committed to constantly improving our site for you. The goal is to make muscleand fitness.com your only online stop for information on training, nutrition and supplements. So visit early and visit often--new content awaits at every click. And just in case you need some guidance on where you should direct your browser first, always be sure to check "MUSCLE & FITNESS Online" right here in the pages of the publication you've come to trust for all of your physique goals. Muscleandfitness.com truly is, as "I'm all ears" Spock would say, "Fascinating."

Eric Velazquez plays multimedia matchmaker as we work to merge our online and print operations.

BY PETER McGOUGH EDITOR IN CHIEF

COPYRIGHT 2008 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning