NEW KID ON THE BLOCK GARY PHILLIPS, FLEX AND MUSCLE & FITNESS EDITOR FOR AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND It all started back in sunny England around 1986 at the tender age of 21. I was heavily into martial arts and trained religiously every day for 2 to 3 hours. A big influence and inspiration to me at the time (and possibly everybody in the world, who practises martial arts) was the late Bruce Lee. My training partner and best friend decided that not only did we need to imitate Bruce’s style of martial arts but we also needed to acquire the great muscularity of Bruce. We soon realised that we needed to use weights to achieve any muscle gains. As we had no experience with pumping iron, my friend thought that it would be a good idea to read up on the subject. Enter flex magazine! From our first read and seeing photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger training and posing, we realised that we wanted to start bodybuilding and emulate our new idol, ARNOLD. After a while, I realised that I would never become the next Arnold but still I wanted to be involved with the sport I loved so much. I turned to journalism, starting off with a college course in photography and then going to as many bodybuilding shows and seminars as possible. After endless submissions to magazines, they actually showed some interest in my work and eventually started using me to cover local bodybuilding shows in the United Kingdom. As my work improved I was asked to cover international shows and I’ve never looked back since. So, after 17 years of travelling the world of bodybuilding, an opportunity and dream of a lifetime came my way, one that I could not turn down. I was offered the job of Editor for FLEX and MUSCLE & FITNESS magazines for Australia and New Zealand. As readers will know, there has been little if no local content incorporated in the Australian/New Zealand FLEX or MUSCLE & FITNESS magazines in the past. This is where I step in. For FLEX magazine, I would like to find local news and gossip, add articles on bodybuilding contests, personal profiles and training articles of professional and amateur bodybuilders, readers’ letters, show guides, add a bodybuilder of the month competition and have a new product review page. For MUSCLE & FITNESS magazine, it’s a little different. I’m looking to add more fitness-orientated input i.e., general fitness/weight training articles, weight training for other sports articles, fitness contest reports, gym reviews, latest fitness fads and new fitness product reviews. This is where you the readers come in. I’m inviting you to write or email me with your views on anything that you think will be of interest to your fellow readers. So come on - help me to help you and let’s make FLEX and MUSCLE & FITNESS the best magazines in Aus & New Zealand, if not the world! M&F

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