Biotest Shenanigans and Marketing Scams on T-nation?! Please tell me it's not true!
For the past couple of years many of my clients and I have been avid readers of T-nation. For those of you who aren't familiar with T-nation, it is a website that has articles from some of the best and most highly regarded trainers around the nation. Within the last year, though, we have noticed how it has gone from genuine information and witty articles to a Flex Magazine-like garbage bin for propaganda and advertisements.
My clients and I have been saddened and frustrated with this radical approach of force feeding us products. It reminds me of the bodybuilding magazines; it's writers and editors could care less about quality articles, but will instead fill half of the magazine with advertisements. Don't believe me? Go through and count the number of advertisement pages, compared to the rest of the magazine. I've done it before! I've gone through and ripped out each page that had an advertisement, and at the end was left with a magazine half the size of the original and thought, that flat out sucks.
T-nation was a site that targeted an educated audience full of many of the more elite athletes and trainers both nationally and internationally. I have found recently, though, that there is an abundance of articles that show little to no respect to the readers by assuming that they are all naive and idiotic. With T-nation's audience being one that was full of educated readers, it makes the "product push" approach even more comical, yet degrading at the same time. For example, take a look at their flag-ship article called Velocity V-diets 3.0:
http://www.t-nation.com/programs/vdiet30.vdietprogram001.jspAccording to the Velocity V-diets you are only having one whole meal per week, and for the rest of the meals only take Biotest supplements?! I have never in my life heard of something so asinine and unhealthy.
I hold a bachelor's degree in nutrition with a minor in psychology. Over the years, I have worked with numerous clients from your "average gym goers" to Division 1 College athletes. My clients have had success with weight loss and muscle gain all through nutrition and training plans customized to each individual client. The core of each program is built on a whole food diet. At times, I may integrate supplement use into my programs such as adding a multi-vitamin, fish oils, etc. I may also supplement protein powder before and/or after a workout. One thing I can say that I have NEVER done, or ever will do for that matter, is tell a client to eat only ONE MEAL PER WEEK!
In the article the name Tim Ziegenfuss, PhD is mentioned as being a proponent for the V-diet. What they don't tell you is that he is the newly appointed Director of Scientific Affairs at Biotest Laboratories LLC. So this actually puts things in perspective! They are pushing Biotest products and their "research" is done by a director of Biotest? Hmm... sounds shady to me. But why didn't they explain who he was in the beginning of the article? Perhaps because by mentioning that the man with the important sounding PhD is making money off of the products they are pushing? Sounds like deception to me. This article mimics the typical American prescription drug industry.
"You have pain? Take this drug!"
"You want to get bigger, stronger, and leaner? Take steroids!"
"You want to lose weight? Easy! Take a pill!"
What ever happened to the sane, effective, whole foods and hard work approach? Now, I'm not saying I don't or haven't taken supplements. I have taken everything under the sun from countless types of protein powders, to fat burners, vitamins, fatty acids, BCAAs, and natural test boosters just to name a few. Yes, there is a time and a place to utilize these supplements, but should they be the base for a diet? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
In addition, who made Biotest the standard for supplements anyway? Oh wait... T-nation did! I am from Colorado Springs, Colorado where the headquarters of Biotest is located. I have taken many of their products and can honestly say I have had NO better results with Biotest products than anything else I have taken along with a solid nutrition plan! I also learned a good amount of inside information from venders and friends of mine who are associated with the company. What to hear a secret? They're REALLY good at marketing! Their products, though, are no better than any other.
From what I can remember, the last ground-breaking product that they had was MAG-10, an Andro product that is actually banned now. Since then, Biotest has struggled to product another product that rivals the results of MAG-10. But, like I mentioned before, they are really good at marketing. They use T-nation to shovel more propaganda into your head by using extreme make-over stories along with tons of pictures of scantily clad, provocative, athletic women plastered all over the T-nation website "coincidentally" next to the Biotest products. I really have to applaud them. It made me read the article - and who wouldn't want to read it? When you hear of a success story of COURSE it makes one want to see what it's all about... until you get through it and conclude that it is a heap of garbage.
This approach of eating one whole meal a week is clearly NOT a healthy way to approach weight loss. The psychological factors alone will be implanted in the client for years that this method is the only way you can lose weight fast. This makes clients neurotic and completely throws logic out the door. I have seen it for myself. I have many clients come to me from so-called "Nutrition Gurus" that have no credentials to back up their charming title. They believe in low calorie, starvation diets and they're convinced that carbohydrates are the devil. I really think it's sad. Those ideas destroy someone's confidence and make them believe they must be a starving, angry, foggy minded lunatic to lose weight. Not to mention the repercussions of this type of diet can be devastating.
When people who follow a starvation diet finally start eating normal again the most common thing to happen is for the body to gain all of the weight back plus even more weight very quickly. The body knows better than to let you starve again. It is a very efficient machine made for survival, not for being thin and looking good in a bikini. Your body wants to use the least amount of energy to upkeep the system. Starvation diets are only coaching clients into an eating disorder, weight gain, and/or a dependency on supplements. But, surprise surprise! This results in the stocks for the supplement companies to go up! The supplements only want your money! I know, shocking, right?
This is just a new fad diet fronted by another company which will end up where all the other fads went... in the trash. Please let me know, have you ever seen Biotest products in a supplement store? Of course not! You won't find them there because they are too good for you! Obviously just kidding...
I want to EMPOWER the client with knowledge and make them THINK about their choices, not dupe them with fads and supplement products along with all the whistles and bells. I want you to be able to make an intelligent choice when buying a supplement product, even if it IS made by Biotest.
Don't get the wrong idea, I didn't write post this to bash Biotest. I just wanted to stress the fact that you can't believe everything you read in magazines and online. I want you to question the articles and form intelligent opinions based on what you've read. I also wanted to point out the tragedy that another website that once provided us with respectable articles has fallen into the hands of sponsorship and product placement.
As a conclusion, I would like to say it was nice to know you T-nation. I will miss the days when you provided me with intelligent articles backed up by real science without a motive.
And for a laugh, here is a quote used in the article:
"Your initial - and wholly logical - response is probably something like this: 'I bet I can do this diet without using BIOTEST supplements.' Maybe, but the end result wouldn't be a body transformation. Instead, you'd look pretty much like you do now, only smaller and, well, baggier."
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