Britain's magazine industry witnessed the end of an era this week after FHM magazine finally lost its chokehold on the male market.

For the past thirteen years FHM has been the nation's bestselling men's magazine but latest figures show that it has been out-muscled (couldn't resist) by Men's Health magazine.

Many media reports suggest that men now prefer toned abs to scantily clad women. I don't buy that for a second; boys will be boys and men will be men, and the majority of the male gender is always going to want to look at sexy women, it's just the way it is. The sex industry is bigger than it's ever been.

The only difference between thirteen years ago and now is that these pictures are much easier to find on the Internet. Why would men pay over £3 to see something they could see for free online?

It's not all about women, obviously - magazines like FHM used to profit on our lack of ability to communicate efficiently. FHM used to be king of creating virals, whether it was pictures, jokes or grim stories, chances were that if it was in FHM you wouldn't have seen it before. Now, if you haven't already seen it on the Internet by the time the magazine comes out then it's probably not that good anyway.

The fitness market has picked up steam - Men's Health and Men's Fitness both improved circulation by 2% and 3% respectively - but the real story here is the demise of the lad mag industry as a whole. It's simply buckled as the Internet grew stronger. FHM was down 16.2% in a year to 235,027, while Zoo (111,012), Nuts (188,532) and Loaded (72,679) posted annual circulation declines of 31%, 25% and 24% respectively.

The men's magazine market has suffered in recent months with Dennis Publishing, owner of Maxim, announcing that it would be available online only, and in March Arena magazine closed after 22 years.

Mike Shallcross, deputy editor of Men's Health said: "Our core reader is the heteropolitan man. Late twenties to early thirties - aspirational, stylish rather than fashionable, he wants to stay in shape without sacrificing his weekend pints. He either has children, or wants to have them in the future.

"He doesn't want topless Hollyoaks girls or expensive cufflinks but solid actionable advice on health, fitness, career, nutrition, mental health and style.

"What men want from magazines has changed...Lad mags haven't really evolved in the last ten years ..."

The fitness sector may be smug for now but once the online media catches up with them they won't be smiling either. The magazine industry is heading the same direction as the print newspaper industry, and it's not up.