started by mark bricklin in 1986 as a health magazine, "men's health" evolved into a lifestyle magazine, covering fitness, nutrition, relationships, travel, technology, fashion, and finance. bricklin, rodale editors larry stains and stefan bechtel produced three newsstand test issues. the results led rodale to start "men's health" as a quarterly magazine in 1988 and begin to sell subscriptions. bricklin, who was editor-in-chief of "prevention" magazine, appointed mike lafavore as editor of "men's health" that year. in his 12 years as editor-in-chief, lafavore increased the circulation from 100,000 to over 1.5 million, increased publication to ten 10 times a year, and expanded the magazine to australia, france, germany, mexico, russia, south africa, and the uk. the south african version, along with "women's health", is licensed for publication by media24, with distribution by magzter.