Alan Aragon's Guest Article

[cycomiko]

from one of tmags earlier writers - and now convicted steroid dealer, Bruce Kneller

Confessions and Apologies
By Brock Strasser


Dear Fellow Athletes,

As I write this letter, much remorse flows over my shame-ridden
bones. I would do anything to take back the last few months--to undo
all of the lies, all of the mistruths and all of the deceptions. A
fair day it would be if I could right the wrongs and magically heal all
of the trouble that I have caused so many people. Today is a day of
TRUTH! Today will be the day in which I even the balance just a
little. I will disclose things which bring shame not only to myself
but also to others. I also want today to be a day of forgiveness--
forgiveness for letting my greed control my life and for attempting to
ruin the lives of others. In my confession, you might hear some not
too good stuff about some people you might have trusted. I hated
exposing the truth about these people because they used to be my
friends. However, what they have done and are now doing is wrong and I
want to beg them to please STOP before they hurt someone.
First of all, who am I? Most of you know me for the writing that I
have done for Testosterone Magazine at Testosterone.net. It is here
where my corruption first began. Actually, my real name is not Brock
Strasser. I am a known name in the bodybuilding and fitness community
but my reputation is not the greatest so we decided on Brock Strasser.
T.C. Luoma and Tim Patterson had approached me with a deal I couldn't
refuse. They told me that they would hand over 15% of their company if
I would write on topics that they wanted me to write on. They
explained how this would result in some pretty hefty money--at least
$10,000 per month. I was dazzled by the offer and I accepted. This
was the beginning of my downfall.
Soon after our agreement they let it be known what their
intentions were. Tim and T.C. put me on a conference call and laid it
out in simple terms. They said their agenda was to duplicate to a T
what happened with muscle media--except this time on the internet. This
plan was to use a magazine format to gain the trust of the public while
simultaneously pushing their supplements. T.C. would always comment on
the success that Bill Phillips had with MetRX. Basically, he took a
common weight gain powder and touted it as a miracle
supplement. The readers were dazzled; Phillips made a fortune; the
public was ripped off. This is where the greed came into play. I knew
this whole thing was wrong for me. I mean T.C. and Tim just gave me
the creeps! Well, I put all of this behind me because I needed the
money for a small drug problem that I have. Anyway, after a little
while, I was just as corrupt as they were. I remember many months ago
how we used to sit on the phone laughing about how stupid our customers
were and how much trouble we caused. Tim used to howl about all the
people who would buy Tribex based on his phony emails. His favorite
statement was "never overestimate the intelligence of the
consumer." The greed made me a bastard and I hurt many people who I
want to apologize to. I first want to apologize to Patrick Arnold for
the trouble I caused him with his prohormones. The guys at T-Mag and
myself had entered the market too late and we know we couldn't really
sell that much. Our answer was to slam others and slam them hard. Our
favorite thing to do was to talk about poisons and we made this no
exception. We mentioned that the prohormones contained poisonous
contaminants and that the prohormones themselves were very unsafe. We
were hoping that the publicity would bring people to the website and
then we could steer everyone to the Tribex product. I am sorry to say
now that it worked. To be honest, there isn't any evidence of
prohormones being dangerous. I personally believe they're all right.
Even Tim Patterson takes them on occassion--go figure.
My second and biggest apology is to Syntrax Innovations, Inc. and
Derek Cornelius. I regrettably slammed him and his company for both
the Triac and Theophylline. Honestly, neither of these compounds are
dangerous but Tim and T.C. for some reason, believed in knocking out
their competition--sure and swift. On both of these compounds I used
the old poisonous routine. I spoke of eminent dangers, mentioned the
word poisonous a few times, and called Syntrax a foolish company. Why
did I do this? For money I was promised. When our tactics failed we
came up with the idea to rat on them to the FDA. Since I have a few
connections there with the work that I do, I decided to do it. I
didn't stop with one letter…NO! I wrote a total of nine letters to the
FDA to get them to move against Syntrax. Sure enough, they finally
did, I wish I could be proud of this accomplishment but I'm not. Yes,
it is my fault that the very effective tiratricol is once and for all
off the market.
My third apology goes to the makers of HPDX. T.C., Tim and myself
thought we were on top of the world when we brought down Syntrax, and
copied their Adipokinetix formula. Then along comes some fat burning
compound that is touted as the next greatest thing. Instantly, we all
became jealous and soon after printed a story about how usnic acid will
mess up your DNA and cause mutations. Again these were nothing but
scare tactics to hurt the other company.
My fourth apology goes to T.C. and Tim for participating in all of
your dirty schemes. Without my help you could not have done what you
have done. I allowed you to use me as a tool and for that I'm
sorry. Things started going awry at Testosterone Mag several months
ago when I asked them where my money was. I had been doing whatever
they asked me to do but had seen very little money. They told me that
everything was going back into product developments and inventory. I
knew this was a lie because Tim and T.C. never believed in putting full
amounts of ingredients into their products. Two examples of this
blatant dishonesty are their fat burner and methoxy isoflavone
product. Their fat burner is supposed to contain 1R,2S Norephedrine
but instead they put the vastly cheaper and less effective DL PPA.
Their isoflavone product contains half of what it is supposed to. After
another couple of months of not receiving any money I decided to wake
up and face the truth. For participating in this I must give my fifth
and final apology to the fitness and body building community. You work
too hard for both your body and your money to be ripped off like this.
At this point, all I can do is ask people to boycott their site and
not buy any of their products. This would be the best justice of all!
I am currently running independent analysis of all their products and
should have results shortly-- this will prove what I am saying. I must
do this because when I told them that I was going to do this Tim
replied that they would deny everything and keep the pen name alive but
just use a different writer. I will prove what I am saying with the
lab tests!
The last thing I would like to do is warn a few others who have
been sucked in by their money talking deals. Bill Roberts…please
consider what you are doing. You used to vehemently stand against rip-
off supplement companies but now you're working for them. I hope
you'll have better success.
Once again, I'm sorry! To redeem myself I will continue to
apologize and speak out against Testosterone.net, T.C., and Tim
Patterson. You have not heard the last from me!

Your Servant,
Brock Strasser

[PowerManDL]

hahahahahah so funny.

You gotta give Patterson and TC credit, though. They've got this shit locked up tight, to the point that the T-Men defend them when we point this out to them.

That's some solid PT Barnum-class marketing right there.

[cycomiko]

Originally Posted by soonermark99

At some point, I'll challenge Bill Roberts under my old user name (soonermark99), to take his chicken shit ass over to the monkeyisland forums.

You realise that Lyle already knows Bill

In fact, here is a picture of Bill, Elzi Volk and Lyle McDonald all in a row



Bill had a big fat money truck rolled up under his nose, and turned him around.

Lets have some quoting fun

I certainly don't regret my decision to inform them that I would
never write for them, at any rate of pay. Ever.


(BTW, in a past issue, you can see TC whining about that.)
-- Bill

So I told them that the financial offer was frankly insulting
and also said I would not write for an outfit that cannibalized
its own writers, at any rate of pay, ever. TC apparently went
nuts over the word "cannibalized."
-- Bill

Testosterone.net is not dedicated to providing steroid information.
It is dedicated to hawking its own line of supplements. (Just in
case you had not noticed the patently-obvious.)

-- Bill

If it works, then why did the Test.net folks use ONLY individuals
with below-normal-range starting values of testosterone in their
"study," and why did they hide this rather relevant fact?


And how did they manage to find a group of individuals all of
whom were below the normal range? In the general population,
only something like 1-5% of individuals will be below the normal
range. You can't find exclusively such individuals unless you've
got a scheme going. E.g., use individuals who just quit using
steroids 2 weeks ago. Hey, you know their testosterone will likely
increase quite a bit from that depressed level, whether your crap
works or not.

Why did Testosterone stoop to this if they are honest folks or
if their crap will work with normal individuals?
-- Bill

in late 1999 or early 2000 Bill Roberts started dealing with testonsterone.net, t-mag, t-nation, tmuscle, or whatever their flavour of the month name is.

Joys of the internet yo

[PlankIt]

Anyone try linking that article up to the TN or FA forums lately?

[PowerManDL]

Good luck. There's a raging thread going right now started by TC, because he deleted a thread that linked it.

[PlankIt]

Originally Posted by PowerManDL

Good luck. There's a raging thread going right now started by TC, because he deleted a thread that linked it.

but wasn't it posted in a highly volatile thread? rather than say....a popular journal or innocuous question?

EDIT: so much for that idea....

[RedLefty]

The thread on TMuscle is now locked, supposedly for "reaching the maximum number of replies" for a forum thread.

The actual thread went about 15 pages before getting locked, but if the system counted deleted/edited comments then I'm sure it would've been much, much longer.

My fun mental takeaways of the thread:

1) Character assasination reigns supreme there. If they can me me look like an idiot then they don't even have to address my questions/arguments.

2) They all accused the "visitors" to the thread of being character assasins.

3) Meanwhile, TC Luoma started the thread by comparing Alan Aragon to an evil female character from an 80s movie.

SEXUAL CHOCOLATE!

[PowerManDL]

Originally Posted by RedLefty

3) Meanwhile, TC Luoma started the thread by comparing Alan Aragon to an evil female character from an 80s movie.

And don't forget he lied about Alan having articles rejected.

That was one thing they were actually pruning out of posts that otherwise made it through their filter.

My troll got in some good punches before he went down in a blaze of glory.

[russ]

Originally Posted by RedLefty

1) Character assasination reigns supreme there. If they can me me look like an idiot then they don't even have to address my questions/arguments.

It was more than a bit funny to read a post which would seem to have been written by a high school student in which your knowledge of marketing was questioned.

2) They all accused the "visitors" to the thread of being character assasins.

I have a feeling that sort of thing can happen on many forums, but they were particularly blatant in their unwillingness to engage in honest discussion.

3) Meanwhile, TC Luoma started the thread by comparing Alan Aragon to an evil female character from an 80s movie.

SEXUAL CHOCOLATE!

Both of us have met Alan, and although I can't speak for you, I doubt that anyone who met him at the summits he's attended came out with anything but a great impression. Alan comes across as no-nonsense, humble, and genuine. Alan was basically being defamed and I would believe Alan's side of the strory regarding writing articles for T-rag 1000 times before I would believe TC's.

The bottom line to me is that TC and Bill lack any semblance of integrity. It's kind of sad to live that sort of existence. They could argue that it's just about the $$, but there are surely thousands of people earning far more than they do without compromising their integrity. They should be ashamed, though I don't know if either of them possesses the capacity to experience that emotion. Surely this isn't news to many, but this is the first time I've bothered to follow a thread at their site.

I hope that Alan finds a spare moment to post in this thread.

[Alan Aragon]

Welp, here's my spare moment - at a hotel in San Diego, finishing up some work, getting ready to hit the sack.

I missed the 1st thread at t-muscle that got deleted. The second one seemed to be an "uh-oh, let's do this over & appear like I don't censor stuff" attempt by TC. In the latter, he decided to offer his theory on why I would write an article criticizing the I, Bodybuilder ad claims. He said that I must have a "bug up my ass" because he rejected my articles. That's a bold-faced lie.

Here's the truth. I was invited by Lou to write for t-mag, they published my article called "A Musclehead's Guide to Alcohol", paid me, and everything was fine. I have not submitted a single article since then -- so how on Earth could I have gotten articles rejected?

A few weeks later, I got into a debate with Bill Roberts on the nutrition/supp forum, as happens normally on open discussion forums (or so we thought). Bill couldn't back up his contentions with research, and I was throwing facts at him, backed up of course by research. He was getting pounded by scientific data, and as anyone who saw the debate remembers, he did not provide a single solitary study in his defense. Not one.

After it was obvious that I would continue to academically spank him around while his empty rhetoric & strawmen repeatedly failed, my posts stopped showing up, and the thread was deleted. I tried to post a few times after that, never saw the posts show up - even completely neutral posts. I pm'd 3 separate mods, never got any response. So, I wrote the chocolate milk vs surge article so I could air out the facts that never made it past the censors at the t-muscle forums.

Fast-forward a few months, and the I, Bodybuilder ad campaign, complete with ridiculous claims (& an apparent shot at my chocolate milk article) surfaces. This was easy pickin's to take apart because of its utterly asinine hype. I had fun tearing apart the muscle gain claims by showing that they exceeded what's been seen in research on drug-enhanced athletes, including bodybuilders. But beyond that, anyone with a half-ounce of sense knew that this ad campaign was one deceitful piece of trash.

Why did I feel compelled to write the article? Here are the reasons:

1) I hate bullshit. I mean I fucking hate it. I hate how it makes the world turn in the fitness industry. I hate how it taints an industry that could be so much better respected. I don't give a shit if I piss off a company that tried to build a relationship with me if that company doesn't care about a little thing called the truth.

2) I wanted fitness professionals and enthusiasts to have a reference article for refuting such claims instantly. It makes a difference being able to link people to a scientifically-backed article, compared to just telling them the claims are complete crap. People need a concrete benchmark to know just how reaching these claims really are.

3) Last but not least, I actually care about the noobs and naive folks who are prone to wasting their (or their parents') hard-earned money on products whose hype outweighs their merit by an infinite margin. The slick level of deception that these poor novices fall victim to pisses me off to no end. I enjoy protecting un-versed consumers from it. An unexpected outcome is that a few of these folks have been inspired to get armed with education and carry the same torch against BS. That kind of impact is profound, and the gratification I get from having influenced it is immeasurable.

And for the record, I don't give a damn about the perpetual T-lemmings who continue to buy this crap & defend it after intelligent folks repeatedly try to shed light on them. It's obvious that a few of them are paid shills on the forums. Combine this with the tight moderation and censoring of opposing views regarding the products, then you have one cleverly run rip-off operation. Well, too bad I have the respect of PLENTY of good people - both patrons of, and practitioners in this industry. When I say something is shit, well... Too fucking bad, t-muscle. A LOT of people will listen, because I have something you don't: integrity.

[Haveboardswilltravel]

Originally Posted by PowerManDL

That just goes to prove my point: stupid is too stupid to know it's stupid.

touche

[coreconcepts]

Originally Posted by Alan Aragon

Welp, here's my spare moment - at a hotel in San Diego, finishing up some work, getting ready to hit the sack.

I missed the 1st thread at t-muscle that got deleted. The second one seemed to be an "uh-oh, let's do this over & appear like I don't censor stuff" attempt by TC. In the latter, he decided to offer his theory on why I would write an article criticizing the I, Bodybuilder ad claims. He said that I must have a "bug up my ass" because he rejected my articles. That's a bold-faced lie.

Here's the truth. I was invited by Lou to write for t-mag, they published my article called "A Musclehead's Guide to Alcohol", paid me, and everything was fine. I have not submitted a single article since then -- so how on Earth could I have gotten articles rejected?

A few weeks later, I got into a debate with Bill Roberts on the nutrition/supp forum, as happens normally on open discussion forums (or so we thought). Bill couldn't back up his contentions with research, and I was throwing facts at him, backed up of course by research. He was getting pounded by scientific data, and as anyone who saw the debate remembers, he did not provide a single solitary study in his defense. Not one.

After it was obvious that I would continue to academically spank him around while his empty rhetoric & strawmen repeatedly failed, my posts stopped showing up, and the thread was deleted. I tried to post a few times after that, never saw the posts show up - even completely neutral posts. I pm'd 3 separate mods, never got any response. So, I wrote the chocolate milk vs surge article so I could air out the facts that never made it past the censors at the t-muscle forums.

Fast-forward a few months, and the I, Bodybuilder ad campaign, complete with ridiculous claims (& an apparent shot at my chocolate milk article) surfaces. This was easy pickin's to take apart because of its utterly asinine hype. I had fun tearing apart the muscle gain claims by showing that they exceeded what's been seen in research on drug-enhanced athletes, including bodybuilders. But beyond that, anyone with a half-ounce of sense knew that this ad campaign was one deceitful piece of trash.

Why did I feel compelled to write the article? Here are the reasons:

1) I hate bullshit. I mean I fucking hate it. I hate how it makes the world turn in the fitness industry. I hate how it taints an industry that could be so much better respected. I don't give a shit if I piss off a company that tried to build a relationship with me if that company doesn't care about a little thing called the truth.

2) I wanted fitness professionals and enthusiasts to have a reference article for refuting such claims instantly. It makes a difference being able to link people to a scientifically-backed article, compared to just telling them the claims are complete crap. People need a concrete benchmark to know just how reaching these claims really are.

3) Last but not least, I actually care about the noobs and naive folks who are prone to wasting their (or their parents') hard-earned money on products whose hype outweighs their merit by an infinite margin. The slick level of deception that these poor novices fall victim to pisses me off to no end. I enjoy protecting un-versed consumers from it. An unexpected outcome is that a few of these folks have been inspired to get armed with education and carry the same torch against BS. That kind of impact is profound, and the gratification I get from having influenced it is immeasurable.

And for the record, I don't give a damn about the perpetual T-lemmings who continue to buy this crap & defend it after intelligent folks repeatedly try to shed light on them. It's obvious that a few of them are paid shills on the forums. Combine this with the tight moderation and censoring of opposing views regarding the products, then you have one cleverly run rip-off operation. Well, too bad I have the respect of PLENTY of good people - both patrons of, and practitioners in this industry. When I say something is shit, well... Too fucking bad, t-muscle. A LOT of people will listen, because I have something you don't: integrity.

I think I may be an Aragon Bot.

[Michael Miller]

Originally Posted by cycomiko

from one of tmags earlier writers - and now convicted steroid dealer, Bruce Kneller

Confessions and Apologies
By Brock Strasser


Dear Fellow Athletes,

As I write this letter, much remorse flows over my shame-ridden
bones. I would do anything to take back the last few months--to undo
all of the lies, all of the mistruths and all of the deceptions. A
fair day it would be if I could right the wrongs and magically heal all
of the trouble that I have caused so many people. Today is a day of
TRUTH! Today will be the day in which I even the balance just a
little. I will disclose things which bring shame not only to myself
but also to others. I also want today to be a day of forgiveness--
forgiveness for letting my greed control my life and for attempting to
ruin the lives of others. In my confession, you might hear some not
too good stuff about some people you might have trusted. I hated
exposing the truth about these people because they used to be my
friends. However, what they have done and are now doing is wrong and I
want to beg them to please STOP before they hurt someone.
First of all, who am I? Most of you know me for the writing that I
have done for Testosterone Magazine at Testosterone.net. It is here
where my corruption first began. Actually, my real name is not Brock
Strasser. I am a known name in the bodybuilding and fitness community
but my reputation is not the greatest so we decided on Brock Strasser.
T.C. Luoma and Tim Patterson had approached me with a deal I couldn't
refuse. They told me that they would hand over 15% of their company if
I would write on topics that they wanted me to write on. They
explained how this would result in some pretty hefty money--at least
$10,000 per month. I was dazzled by the offer and I accepted. This
was the beginning of my downfall.
Soon after our agreement they let it be known what their
intentions were. Tim and T.C. put me on a conference call and laid it
out in simple terms. They said their agenda was to duplicate to a T
what happened with muscle media--except this time on the internet. This
plan was to use a magazine format to gain the trust of the public while
simultaneously pushing their supplements. T.C. would always comment on
the success that Bill Phillips had with MetRX. Basically, he took a
common weight gain powder and touted it as a miracle
supplement. The readers were dazzled; Phillips made a fortune; the
public was ripped off. This is where the greed came into play. I knew
this whole thing was wrong for me. I mean T.C. and Tim just gave me
the creeps! Well, I put all of this behind me because I needed the
money for a small drug problem that I have. Anyway, after a little
while, I was just as corrupt as they were. I remember many months ago
how we used to sit on the phone laughing about how stupid our customers
were and how much trouble we caused. Tim used to howl about all the
people who would buy Tribex based on his phony emails. His favorite
statement was "never overestimate the intelligence of the
consumer." The greed made me a bastard and I hurt many people who I
want to apologize to. I first want to apologize to Patrick Arnold for
the trouble I caused him with his prohormones. The guys at T-Mag and
myself had entered the market too late and we know we couldn't really
sell that much. Our answer was to slam others and slam them hard. Our
favorite thing to do was to talk about poisons and we made this no
exception. We mentioned that the prohormones contained poisonous
contaminants and that the prohormones themselves were very unsafe. We
were hoping that the publicity would bring people to the website and
then we could steer everyone to the Tribex product. I am sorry to say
now that it worked. To be honest, there isn't any evidence of
prohormones being dangerous. I personally believe they're all right.
Even Tim Patterson takes them on occassion--go figure.
My second and biggest apology is to Syntrax Innovations, Inc. and
Derek Cornelius. I regrettably slammed him and his company for both
the Triac and Theophylline. Honestly, neither of these compounds are
dangerous but Tim and T.C. for some reason, believed in knocking out
their competition--sure and swift. On both of these compounds I used
the old poisonous routine. I spoke of eminent dangers, mentioned the
word poisonous a few times, and called Syntrax a foolish company. Why
did I do this? For money I was promised. When our tactics failed we
came up with the idea to rat on them to the FDA. Since I have a few
connections there with the work that I do, I decided to do it. I
didn't stop with one letter…NO! I wrote a total of nine letters to the
FDA to get them to move against Syntrax. Sure enough, they finally
did, I wish I could be proud of this accomplishment but I'm not. Yes,
it is my fault that the very effective tiratricol is once and for all
off the market.
My third apology goes to the makers of HPDX. T.C., Tim and myself
thought we were on top of the world when we brought down Syntrax, and
copied their Adipokinetix formula. Then along comes some fat burning
compound that is touted as the next greatest thing. Instantly, we all
became jealous and soon after printed a story about how usnic acid will
mess up your DNA and cause mutations. Again these were nothing but
scare tactics to hurt the other company.
My fourth apology goes to T.C. and Tim for participating in all of
your dirty schemes. Without my help you could not have done what you
have done. I allowed you to use me as a tool and for that I'm
sorry. Things started going awry at Testosterone Mag several months
ago when I asked them where my money was. I had been doing whatever
they asked me to do but had seen very little money. They told me that
everything was going back into product developments and inventory. I
knew this was a lie because Tim and T.C. never believed in putting full
amounts of ingredients into their products. Two examples of this
blatant dishonesty are their fat burner and methoxy isoflavone
product. Their fat burner is supposed to contain 1R,2S Norephedrine
but instead they put the vastly cheaper and less effective DL PPA.
Their isoflavone product contains half of what it is supposed to. After
another couple of months of not receiving any money I decided to wake
up and face the truth. For participating in this I must give my fifth
and final apology to the fitness and body building community. You work
too hard for both your body and your money to be ripped off like this.
At this point, all I can do is ask people to boycott their site and
not buy any of their products. This would be the best justice of all!
I am currently running independent analysis of all their products and
should have results shortly-- this will prove what I am saying. I must
do this because when I told them that I was going to do this Tim
replied that they would deny everything and keep the pen name alive but
just use a different writer. I will prove what I am saying with the
lab tests!
The last thing I would like to do is warn a few others who have
been sucked in by their money talking deals. Bill Roberts…please
consider what you are doing. You used to vehemently stand against rip-
off supplement companies but now you're working for them. I hope
you'll have better success.
Once again, I'm sorry! To redeem myself I will continue to
apologize and speak out against Testosterone.net, T.C., and Tim
Patterson. You have not heard the last from me!

Your Servant,
Brock Strasser

This is awesome.

[Michael Miller]

Originally Posted by cycomiko

You realise that Lyle already knows Bill

In fact, here is a picture of Bill, Elzi Volk and Lyle McDonald all in a row



Bill had a big fat money truck rolled up under his nose, and turned him around.

Lets have some quoting fun









in late 1999 or early 2000 Bill Roberts started dealing with testonsterone.net, t-mag, t-nation, tmuscle, or whatever their flavour of the month name is.

Joys of the internet yo

After reading that travesty of a thread over on T-Nation, I think this is hilarious.

[Michael Miller]

Originally Posted by Alan Aragon

Welp, here's my spare moment - at a hotel in San Diego, finishing up some work, getting ready to hit the sack.

I missed the 1st thread at t-muscle that got deleted. The second one seemed to be an "uh-oh, let's do this over & appear like I don't censor stuff" attempt by TC. In the latter, he decided to offer his theory on why I would write an article criticizing the I, Bodybuilder ad claims. He said that I must have a "bug up my ass" because he rejected my articles. That's a bold-faced lie.

Here's the truth. I was invited by Lou to write for t-mag, they published my article called "A Musclehead's Guide to Alcohol", paid me, and everything was fine. I have not submitted a single article since then -- so how on Earth could I have gotten articles rejected?

A few weeks later, I got into a debate with Bill Roberts on the nutrition/supp forum, as happens normally on open discussion forums (or so we thought). Bill couldn't back up his contentions with research, and I was throwing facts at him, backed up of course by research. He was getting pounded by scientific data, and as anyone who saw the debate remembers, he did not provide a single solitary study in his defense. Not one.

After it was obvious that I would continue to academically spank him around while his empty rhetoric & strawmen repeatedly failed, my posts stopped showing up, and the thread was deleted. I tried to post a few times after that, never saw the posts show up - even completely neutral posts. I pm'd 3 separate mods, never got any response. So, I wrote the chocolate milk vs surge article so I could air out the facts that never made it past the censors at the t-muscle forums.

Fast-forward a few months, and the I, Bodybuilder ad campaign, complete with ridiculous claims (& an apparent shot at my chocolate milk article) surfaces. This was easy pickin's to take apart because of its utterly asinine hype. I had fun tearing apart the muscle gain claims by showing that they exceeded what's been seen in research on drug-enhanced athletes, including bodybuilders. But beyond that, anyone with a half-ounce of sense knew that this ad campaign was one deceitful piece of trash.

Why did I feel compelled to write the article? Here are the reasons:

1) I hate bullshit. I mean I fucking hate it. I hate how it makes the world turn in the fitness industry. I hate how it taints an industry that could be so much better respected. I don't give a shit if I piss off a company that tried to build a relationship with me if that company doesn't care about a little thing called the truth.

2) I wanted fitness professionals and enthusiasts to have a reference article for refuting such claims instantly. It makes a difference being able to link people to a scientifically-backed article, compared to just telling them the claims are complete crap. People need a concrete benchmark to know just how reaching these claims really are.

3) Last but not least, I actually care about the noobs and naive folks who are prone to wasting their (or their parents') hard-earned money on products whose hype outweighs their merit by an infinite margin. The slick level of deception that these poor novices fall victim to pisses me off to no end. I enjoy protecting un-versed consumers from it. An unexpected outcome is that a few of these folks have been inspired to get armed with education and carry the same torch against BS. That kind of impact is profound, and the gratification I get from having influenced it is immeasurable.

And for the record, I don't give a damn about the perpetual T-lemmings who continue to buy this crap & defend it after intelligent folks repeatedly try to shed light on them. It's obvious that a few of them are paid shills on the forums. Combine this with the tight moderation and censoring of opposing views regarding the products, then you have one cleverly run rip-off operation. Well, too bad I have the respect of PLENTY of good people - both patrons of, and practitioners in this industry. When I say something is shit, well... Too fucking bad, t-muscle. A LOT of people will listen, because I have something you don't: integrity.

Thanks again for doing your best to set the right example.

[RedLefty]

Originally Posted by russ

It was more than a bit funny to read a post which would seem to have been written by a high school student in which your knowledge of marketing was questioned.

Yeah, and I didn't bother getting into a pissing match with him about it. Because neither of us would change our minds and we'd both be covered in piss. And I didn't even have a jellyfish sting, so there was no possible upside.

Originally Posted by russ

Both of us have met Alan, and although I can't speak for you, I doubt that anyone who met him at the summits he's attended came out with anything but a great impression.

Once I saw how short he is, I automatically took my physical "looking down on him" and extrapolated that to moral/intellectual/ninja superiority.

But I try to find the good in everybody, even short people. So I try to think of Alan as "feisty".

[Will N]

Originally Posted by Alan Aragon

Welp, here's my spare moment - at a hotel in San Diego, finishing up some work, getting ready to hit the sack.

I missed the 1st thread at t-muscle that got deleted. The second one seemed to be an "uh-oh, let's do this over & appear like I don't censor stuff" attempt by TC. In the latter, he decided to offer his theory on why I would write an article criticizing the I, Bodybuilder ad claims. He said that I must have a "bug up my ass" because he rejected my articles. That's a bold-faced lie.

Here's the truth. I was invited by Lou to write for t-mag, they published my article called "A Musclehead's Guide to Alcohol", paid me, and everything was fine. I have not submitted a single article since then -- so how on Earth could I have gotten articles rejected?

A few weeks later, I got into a debate with Bill Roberts on the nutrition/supp forum, as happens normally on open discussion forums (or so we thought). Bill couldn't back up his contentions with research, and I was throwing facts at him, backed up of course by research. He was getting pounded by scientific data, and as anyone who saw the debate remembers, he did not provide a single solitary study in his defense. Not one.

After it was obvious that I would continue to academically spank him around while his empty rhetoric & strawmen repeatedly failed, my posts stopped showing up, and the thread was deleted. I tried to post a few times after that, never saw the posts show up - even completely neutral posts. I pm'd 3 separate mods, never got any response. So, I wrote the chocolate milk vs surge article so I could air out the facts that never made it past the censors at the t-muscle forums.

Fast-forward a few months, and the I, Bodybuilder ad campaign, complete with ridiculous claims (& an apparent shot at my chocolate milk article) surfaces. This was easy pickin's to take apart because of its utterly asinine hype. I had fun tearing apart the muscle gain claims by showing that they exceeded what's been seen in research on drug-enhanced athletes, including bodybuilders. But beyond that, anyone with a half-ounce of sense knew that this ad campaign was one deceitful piece of trash.

Why did I feel compelled to write the article? Here are the reasons:

1) I hate bullshit. I mean I fucking hate it. I hate how it makes the world turn in the fitness industry. I hate how it taints an industry that could be so much better respected. I don't give a shit if I piss off a company that tried to build a relationship with me if that company doesn't care about a little thing called the truth.

2) I wanted fitness professionals and enthusiasts to have a reference article for refuting such claims instantly. It makes a difference being able to link people to a scientifically-backed article, compared to just telling them the claims are complete crap. People need a concrete benchmark to know just how reaching these claims really are.

3) Last but not least, I actually care about the noobs and naive folks who are prone to wasting their (or their parents') hard-earned money on products whose hype outweighs their merit by an infinite margin. The slick level of deception that these poor novices fall victim to pisses me off to no end. I enjoy protecting un-versed consumers from it. An unexpected outcome is that a few of these folks have been inspired to get armed with education and carry the same torch against BS. That kind of impact is profound, and the gratification I get from having influenced it is immeasurable.

And for the record, I don't give a damn about the perpetual T-lemmings who continue to buy this crap & defend it after intelligent folks repeatedly try to shed light on them. It's obvious that a few of them are paid shills on the forums. Combine this with the tight moderation and censoring of opposing views regarding the products, then you have one cleverly run rip-off operation. Well, too bad I have the respect of PLENTY of good people - both patrons of, and practitioners in this industry. When I say something is shit, well... Too fucking bad, t-muscle. A LOT of people will listen, because I have something you don't: integrity.

Alan, if for nothing else, you have certainly proved yourself as one of the classiest guys in the business...

All the best.

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by Alan Aragon

....
And for the record, I don't give a damn about the perpetual T-lemmings who continue to buy this crap & defend it after intelligent folks repeatedly try to shed light on them..... When I say something is shit, well... Too fucking bad, t-muscle. A LOT of people will listen, because I have something you don't: integrity.

(Standing ovation) Cheers for everything that you do for this industry and for newbs who are just trying to learn. These articles are exactly the thing that pulls our heads out of our asses and out of the ridiculous marketing suck and misinformation that exists today. I shudder to think where I would be if not for works such as this. At the end of the day, and the end of it all... integrity is the best gift you can give to yourself and to others. My grattitude always for the work that you do...

Originally Posted by coreconcepts

I think I may be an Aragon Bot.

Obviousy.... me too. Should we make T-shirts?

[RedWifey]

I <3 Alan Aragon.

[PowerManDL]

I just put up my final update.

[Alcoholiday]

Originally Posted by RedWifey

I <3 Alan Aragon.

x2

[Will N]

Originally Posted by PowerManDL

I just put up my final update.

very well written, and very true

[Josh Rider]

Originally Posted by ninja

If that's the same Josh Rider from this forum, then he's about as much of a fucking moron as one can be on the fucking moron scale.

That fuck knows dick about training.

Please don't attack me personally. Thanks. See more of my idiocy as Josh Rider on any other site.

What did I say in that thread? My earlier posts are very stupid and several of my recent posts where I question authors too aggressively are also stupid. All I said to a guy was that he was a naive consumer thinking it actually takes Biotest 80$ to make Anaconda and that I'm not siding with anyone (even though LM and AA are two of my favorite experts...last time I posted something about LM, they deleted my post and TC sent me this long PM).


EDIT: I just read some of Bill Roberts post in that thread reffering to Lyle Macdonald and Alan Aragon as idiot bodybuilding authors and I feel the urge to punch his ego in the face.

[RedLefty]

Originally Posted by Josh Rider

All I said to a guy was that he was a naive consumer thinking it actually takes Biotest 80$ to make Anaconda and that I'm not siding with anyone (even though LM and AA are two of my favorite experts...last time I posted something about LM, they deleted my post and TC sent me this long PM).

I was the guy and I was trying to make a point that it's illogical to assume that:

1) Biotest is lying out their ass about the cost of Anaconda, which they've repeatedly claimed to be pricing at a loss, giving to-the-penny calculations of their product costs.

2) Biotest is 100% telling the truth about everything else except the above point

Obviously I don't believe #1 for a second. Which is why I wonder how the TFaithful believe everything else. Unfortunately in that forum my attempt at this illustration was a complete failure. Next time I should probably put lots of words in bold letters and ask guys to post pictures of themselves.

[PowerManDL]

Originally Posted by Josh Rider

(even though LM and AA are two of my favorite experts...last time I posted something about LM, they deleted my post and TC sent me this long PM).

I know that I for one would be very interested in seeing this, given that TC loves him some behind the scenes back-stabbings.

And outright lies, for that matter.

[soonermark99]

Originally Posted by RedLefty

Obviously I don't believe #1 for a second. Which is why I wonder how the TFaithful believe everything else. Unfortunately in that forum my attempt at this illustration was a complete failure. Next time I should probably put lots of words in bold letters and ask guys to post pictures of themselves.

RedLefty, your message was delivered quite clearly in your T-forum post. However, requesting bro pics might have helped.

[Josh Rider]

Originally Posted by PowerManDL

I know that I for one would be very interested in seeing this, given that TC loves him some behind the scenes back-stabbings.

And outright lies, for that matter.

"LM goes out of his way to bash Alwyn (entirely unjustifiably, as far as I can tell),to the point of possibly hurting his business, and I protect my writers."

This is basically the just of his PM. Basically I just posted two of Lyle's recent articles on caloric balance in the discussion thread for a recent Alwyn Cosgrove article in which he claims that Calories In/Calories Out is not the whole picture. Lyle's articles were perfect at clarifying the concept of caloric balance for those who don't understand all the variables involved (TEF, Activity, Efficiency of digestion, etc). Ofcourse, that part of my post was deleted.

[ninja]

Originally Posted by Josh Rider

"LM goes out of his way to bash Alwyn (entirely unjustifiably, as far as I can tell),to the point of possibly hurting his business, and I protect my writers."

This is basically the just of his PM. Basically I just posted two of Lyle's recent articles on caloric balance in the discussion thread for a recent Alwyn Cosgrove article in which he claims that Calories In/Calories Out is not the whole picture. Lyle's articles were perfect at clarifying the concept of caloric balance for those who don't understand all the variables involved (TEF, Activity, Efficiency of digestion, etc). Ofcourse, that part of my post was deleted.

My point still stands, as you neglected to respond to Red's post.

[Josh Rider]

If your calling me the biggest f*cking moron possible after not noticing the subtlety of a single post, that is quite immature.

[coach hale]

Alan is one of the few good guys in the industry. And on top of that he is the best nutrition writer in the field.

coach hale