The March issue reviews all of the major contests of 1996, with info on who were the winners, about them, etc. It also reviews all of the happenings and quirks of 1996, which was quite interesting. Other articles include 'What the future hold after Joe Weider retires from bodybuilding'.

Flex Magazine considers themselves the bible of hardcore bodybuilding. Each month, Flex visits and speaks with the champions of bodybuilding at their gyms, at contests, and at their homes, gathering information and photographs, Flex brings you their latest strategies, and the competitive goals that they apply to further develop their title-winning physiques. Flex is the official magazine of the IFBB.

Bodybuilding:

• Let's Talk Heavy: It's a stretch to find a competitive bodybuilder who got big from using machines - you won't be able to find one. Building the body of a beast requires training as heavy as possible, and that means free weights. These no frills movements are a good place to start. By Nasser El Sonbaty.
• Precontest Wheels: Complete physique development and overall balance, not merely overwhelming bodyparts, comprise the art of bodybuilding. Here's a typical, but deadly precontest leg workout designed to complete the lower body while bringing the strongest training partner to his knees. By Shawn Ray.
• A Burst the Hinges Chest: Earning your right to join the dream team of bodybuilding demands 100% dedication and intensity, and nowhere is that more important than in developing a great chest. Here's a workout that'll make you feel like you can bench press a taxicab. By Jean-Pierre Fux.

• An Aesthetic Dorian Yates: A fifth straight Olympia crown should bury once and for all any misconception that the title reflects only mass. Quality, detail and symmetry distanced Mr. Olympia from the rest of the pack in Chicago. Now, he pulls back the curtain on the training wrinkles that allowed him to add another Sandow to his mantle.

Features:

• Oh, What a Year! Who's up, who's down, what's hot what's not - Flex takes a fond look back at the good, the bad and the very ugly of 1996, a year in which sublime achievement and ridiculous folly were all overshadowed by the death of Andreas Munzer.
• Future Shock: In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to ponder the future of bodybuilding after Joe Weider retires. But even the Master Blaster can't lead the sport he created forever, and numerous top pros, including the Mr. O, ponder what the future might hold after Joe passes the torch. What they have to say might surprise you.
• Columbus Countdown: The 1997 Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic promises to be the most explosive ever. Here's how the beef will line up in Columbus on March 1.
• The Big Picture: The Captain Anabolic File.

Contests:

• Moher Muscle is Better! When the dust had settled at the women's NPC Nationals shootout in Dallas, unheralded middleweight Gayle Moher was left standing with the overall title.
• Eurotrashed: Ringling Brothers has nothing on the IFBB European Grand Prix, particularly when it comes to freaks, clowns, jugglers and disappearing acts. Flex experiences firsthand this whirlwind journey into the hard of darkness.

Nutrition:

• Dieting by the Numbers: What's the best diet for adding mass? One that uses some simple equations as a blueprint.
• Advanced Nutrition: This month: low carbs and aerobics; magnesium; an anabolic mineral?

Pictorials:

• Cathy LeFrancois Unveiled: Lines and curves seem to defy logic, and gravity, in the beautiful physique of this Canada Cup champion.

Posters:

• Cathy LeFrancois / Jean Pierre Fux

Supersection:

• Brave New Drug World: To combat all the misinformation being promoted as fact in other publications and floating around in cyberspace on the Internet, Flex has enlisted the finest scientists and researchers to bring the truth to its readers. This is not a bible of drug usage; rather, it is a service to help readers make intelligent decisions and staying up to date on the vanguard of cutting edge research.

• This month: An interview with Chris Street, whose recently published paper challenges many long held assumptions about steroid use; the first installment of the Iron Egghead, a bimonthly look at the latest info on bodybuilding science; clearing the confusion about DHEA; and an Array Q&A on Periactin.

Departments:

• Factoids
• Flex Files
• Flextra
• Hard Times
• IFBB World Report
• Mr. Olympia corner
• NPC Report
• Reader's Market
• Superteen
• Talkback