Scooby vs Vince DelMonte – Expectations about muscle growth

Ali on facebook brought it to my attention that I had been included on the “20 most influential fitness people” list:

http://www.stayfitbug.com/the-fitness-bug/the-20-most-influential-fitness-people-on-the-web/

At first I was honored to be #18 on the list, then I appalled when I noticed that my nemesis, Vince DelMonte, was #12! I dont like the idea of even having my name in the same article as Vince DelMonte! Arrgh!

Vince Del Monte has been #1 on my list for over a year, my Hall of Shame list for the intentionally exaggerated claims and intentionally deceptive ads he uses to make millions selling his eBook.

All my videos and website are given away for free because I want to give back to the sport which has given me so much. I have been giving on average 20hrs a week for the last 5 years after hours and on weekends to provide unbiased straightforward information to those wanting to get into shape. As hard as I try, I cant seem to counteract the big, bold (and ridiculous) marketing claims of the Vince Del Monte’s of the world – people keep sending him money because he makes the ridiculous promise

“41 pounds of solid-steel muscle in 24 weeks!” – Vince Del Monte

Human nature is unfortunate. People believe what they want to believe and young men want to believe that they can transform their body just like Taylor Lautner did if they buy the right products. The fitness industry is huge and their high paid marketing people have done their job amazingly well. They have brainwashed an entire nation into believing that what Taylor Lautner “accomplished” is normal and possible. Every male in high school believes that Taylor added 30lbs muscle in 6 months and that they should be able to also so they gladly shell out $47 to Vince Del Monte who will tell them what they want to hear. Then what happens? Of course they fail to add that touted 41lbs in 6 months or anything close to that but rather than feeling furious at being taken as they should, they blame themselves. It must be their fault – they didnt workout hard enough, they didnt have good enough nutrition, they had poor genetics, etc. We have a whole nation of people feeling like self-conscious, inferior, failures when in fact they are not! How cruel to needlessly give so many teens low self esteem just so they will buy more books/supplements/products – how do these marketing people sleep at night???

I see the effects of this all the time. A half the emails I get are damage control from these unscrupulous marketing people. The emails take the form:

“I’m a hard gainer, what supplements do you recommend I buy …”

PILLOW-SCREAM. I always follow up by asking why they think they are a “hardgainer” and why they think that they need to buy supplements and its always because they have some horribly distorted expectation about muscle growth. Its funny, people so want to believe that they can add 41lbs muscle in 6 months that they scream at me for telling them the truth – you can only expect to add 5-10 lbs muscle in a year!

So back to the fact that I’m #18 on the list and Vince Del Monte is #12, the reason why is clear. Vince Del Monte tells people what they want to hear even if its not possible and people gladly pay him $47 for that. I tell people the truth for free and they wont believe me. Sigh. Maybe its that people dont value things they are given for free. Perhaps I should charge $30/mo for my website, maybe then people would believe me :(