Maximuscle issues and questions

[Westsider]

In the UK it seems that everyone in the gym thinks that you can't gain a pound of muscle without taking something from maximuscle. Now I can't even go and update my log or check the news on powerliftingwatch without seeing maximuscle advertisements. With a lot of gyms especially fitness first everywhere you look there is a maximuscle poster. I see people wolfing down progain after a workout for years and they still look and perform the exact same thing. These people then go and tell newcomers that they need to start taking stacks of products from this company. Their products are overpriced and taste awful. People know they taste awful because I can tell by the look on their face when they drink it. Yet they just keep on taking it. It's just getting way out of control in my opinion. Guys my age and slightly younger just don't seem to know any better. People have told me that I need to be taking createmax but when I ask them questions about how it actually works and precise dosages and when I should take it they are clueless. Its gone from just having a shake after a workout to thinking you have to take entire stacks of products costing you shitloads of money. They don't even last you that long. I used to be in this craze but thank god I got out of it thanks to stronglifts. When people ask me what supplements I take and I tell them that I just take a protein shake after my workout they look shocked or they don't believe me.

I thought I could relieve a lot of stress by simply writing down my thoughts because this whole thing is really getting to me. I remember starting out in weight training before I discovered stronglifts and being cheated out of so much money because I was caught under this craze and when I see newcomers wolfing down stacks of their products, not gaining a thing because they aren't following basic principles and then just continuing to waste their money it just kills me inside. I also wanna ask you guys a few questions. Anyone can answer.

What can be done to stop this brainwashing?

Do I have the right to interrupt a conversation between a guy telling a newbie that he needs to be taking stacks of maximuscle products and set the newbie straight?

How can we make newbies actually believe in basic training and nutrition principles and KEEP ON believing in them?

Feel free to add your experiences and thoughts because I have found that simply writing this all down as gotten rid of a lot of stress that has built up over the years.

[atypical1]

The problem with interrupting a conversation like that is that it's none of your business really. Just like when I see a personal trainer having someone doing tricep kickbacks on the bonsu ball or dumbbell presses on the ball. I know they shouldn't be doing that and I can give them better results myself but it's simply not my business so I stay out of it.

It's been my experience that people either want to hear your message or they don't. People seem to really want to believe that they have to take all of these supplements so yours is a message that they don't want to hear. If it's friends then just do your best to steer them clear of that crap and onto the "path of right" (how conceited does that sound???). Everyone else is just on their own.

I suppose that if you really want to influence newbies then you have to become a trainer yourself.

james

[Westsider]

So your message is that unless they are friends of yours just to bite your tongue and mind your own business. I have been doing that all this time. Perhaps I shouldn't pay as much attention to the newbies. Then I won't feel as bad when I see them going through the same stuff that I went through 3 years ago. If they aren't interested then screw them. Let them learn the hard way.

I think that a significant part of their disbelief in my message is the fact that people want to be at the top today and not put their time in for tomorrow. They want to take as many shortcuts as possible. Which leads to taking as many supplements as possible.

I suppose as I get stronger and stronger more and more people will ask me for advice. I will then be able to steer larger amounts of people onto the "path of right" (that sounds very conceited lol).

As time passes by I will be able to positively influence newbies more often. If they don't wanna listen. Then fuck em.

Alex

[vhalros]

Unless your in a position of authority (like, you are a trainer who runs the gym) giving unsolicited advice will probably not be effective. However, maybe you can get people to solicit advice; this happens to me sometimes.

For example, sometimes I bring friends to the gym, and when I do I usually end up coaching them. Its not like I'm an expert, but my friends know I know "something" about strength training, and I'm the free alternative to a competent personal trainer.

Any way, whenever I do this with some one new, I end up giving lots of corrections on form, setting up cues to get them below parallel on the squats, etc. Very often, some one else will come up to me and actually ask for my advice. They hear me coaching and thing I really know my stuff. (of course, sometimes they end up asking me questions about olympic lifts which I have no idea about...)

Why is this? I'm not sure, I haven't even been at this a full year. It maybe because I look strong (I think I probably look stronger than I am), or because I seem to have a pretty good grasp of anatomy. Maybe its just because it is a college gym and every one is eager to learn.

I'm not sure how generally useful this is, but maybe it would help

[Mehdi]

Like the businessman who goes into a bar, sits down, and sees this fellow with a banana in his ear - a banana in his ear! And he thinks, "I wonder if I should mention that to him. No, it's none of my business". But the thought nags at him.

So after having a drink or two, he says to the fellow, "Excuse me, ah, you've got a banana in your ear". The fellow says, "What"? The businessman repeats, "You've got a banana in your ear. "Again the fellow says, "What was that"? "You've got a banana in your ear!" the businessman shouts. "Talk louder", the fellow says, "I've got a banana in my ear!"

So it's useless. "Give up, give up, give up", I say to myself. Say your thing and get out of here. And if they profit, that's fine, and if they don't, too bad!

[Sam277]

Maximucle isn't bad. It is however overpriced; a cyclone shake will set you back £2. If you split in into it's seperate components you could make something very much the same for half or even a thrid of the price.

It's not perfect, it's still an overpriced product. But what are the alternatives? Sitting on your arse playing the new call of duty with a kebab?

[Westsider]

Cyclone tastes like shit. I can still remember how foul that chocolate flavour was and don't even get me started on the other flavours(this was from secondary school). I don't know anything about creatine or most of what comes in the blend per cyclone. When I ask the people taking it how the ingredients all work towards building a stronger you they don't have a clue either. The difference with me is I'm not the one paying £40 per tub on it. They see some top class rugby player drinking it and think that cyclone is the answer to all their problems.

The replacement? Most people are using cyclone as a means to gain weight and get stronger. Most of the people starting out are around 75-80kg. You don't need a weight gainer if you only weigh 75k-80kg. You just need to eat more, train in the basic movements and sleep. I can understand if you are a lot heavier, maintaining or gaining weight can be quite hard to do with just solid food. However it is perfectly reasonable for light weights to replace their absolute need for cyclone or any other weight gaining products for that matter with the principles laid out by Mehdi.

Peace.