Comments on: Are you a real T-MAN?

By: Deep

Deep — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:51:39 +0000

Hey Alan,

Thanks for the clarification. I still feel uneasy though.

Regards,
Deep

By: Alan Aragon

Alan Aragon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:58:36 +0000

Deep — If the supplement is legitimate & not a scam job, then I see no problem with profiting from supplement sales. If the person doesn’t need the supplement, or if the supplement doesn’t have enough research backing, then there would be an ethical issue with profiting from that.

By: Deep

Deep — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:25:48 +0000

Hey Alan,

I am a rookie trainer from India. This post simply rocks man. I was always queasy about the way the T-Nation and some other sites make it seem that without the latest “hi-tech” supplement, you won’t get anywhere.

I am in an ethical dilemma. Should trainers make money on the supplements they recommend? I mean it kind of bring the credibility and the motives of the trainer’s advice into question. But every single top fitness pro does it.
What do you say? Help me out.

Cheers from India,
Deep

By: Jerry Bruton

Jerry Bruton — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 22:08:22 +0000

Thanks for your comments. I don’t think my diet have the protein content of a typical athlete’s diet. My appetite is not the same as years ago. The BCAA supplement is insurance for what may be missing from my diet. The comment regarding psychogenic is interesting. It appears my mental disorder is attributing to my muscularity In the future if a fellow senior bodybuilder ask how I keep my muscle mass I will reply with the obvious. I lift weights. Thanks again for your comments.

By: Alan Aragon

Alan Aragon — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 01:28:35 +0000

Jerry — The protein within most athletes’ diets contains plenty of BCAA. Therefore, the benefit of BCAA supplementation on top of a pre-existent abundance of protein intake is likely to be psychogenic. That is, the power of belief is driving the actions that produce results, rather than results being directly attributable to the extra BCAA.

By: Jerry Bruton

Jerry Bruton — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:59:27 +0000

This is an interesting review of an article in Testosterone Muscle. I have been participating in natural bodybuilding over 20 years. Testosterone Muscle is one of the many websites I visit for ideas for training. Your article illustrates why I void the website for nutritional guidance. My pre-workout drink is dextrose, creatine monohydrate, and branch chain amino acids (BCAA). My post workout drink is the basically the same with the addition of whey protein. I don’t know if you had a blog on BCAA. I have consistently use BCAA through my years of training. My usage is based on reading various research articles on BCAA’s role in muscle metabolism and synthesis. I attribute BCAA as a factor in maintaining the muscle mass I have at age 60. I am about same size as I was in my forties. You can see my anecdotal evidence at:
http://www.flexonline.com/09contests/09excalibur/men/ultra_grand_masters_60/jerry_bruton/index.html
Other senior bodybuilders ask how I keep my muscle mass. I reply with BCAA supplementation in my diet. I would appreciate your comments.

By: Mike T Nelson

Mike T Nelson — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:56:15 +0000

Good stuff as always. I have notice a trend there of virtually no science at all. I remember back in the days Lowery would write whole article based on science with tons of references. At least if people do not agree with the conclusions, they can easily look at the references, read up, and decide for themselves.

Hell, the new “broscience” article had only 2 references! How do you bust broscience without friggin science. argh!!!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)

By: Alan Aragon

Alan Aragon — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:27:47 +0000

Jesse — Indexes of protein quality are inhertently problematic, since they don’t necessarily consider the results of research comparing proteins’ effect on athletic pursuits such as muscular size &/or strength gain over the long term. This actually is a pretty complex subject with many factors involved, so I’ll point you to a good review article that should covers some of the subtleties: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/87/5/1576S …Ultimately, however, as long as you get the majority of your protein from high-quality sources, one type versus another won’t make any meaningful difference in terms of body composition.

By: jesse

jesse — Fri, 21 May 2010 06:42:06 +0000

Alan, I went to the website, and I’m curious about the net nitrogen utilization part. At first, I told myself, “Great they just ridiculed whey protein by telling me meat has a better absorption rating. But tonight, I looked it up, and apparently only the sites of online retailers state this “net nitrogen utilization.” Basically this goes against both net protein utilization, modernly known as the Protein Digestiblility Corrected Amino Acid Score and BV, which both state that whey protein has the best rating. So to set the record straight, what has been widely accepted as the best method to measure protein quality and absorption? If NPU and BV are still the best, I might as well make whey protein (pharmaceutical grade) my primary source of protein. I mean, do these even matter in the goal of having a good looking body or in the goals of body recomposition?

By: Josh R.

Josh R. — Fri, 21 May 2010 05:26:38 +0000

Mark, there are two main things wrong about your post:

1. You’re using an appeal to authority. “All doctors say this, so it is the truth.” It’s a classic logical fallacy and near useless in a debate. If you could actually prove that more than 50% of doctors thought milk was definitely a potent carcinogen, you would be making a point, but you just made up that fact on the spot.

2. Your claim that most doctors think of milk as a potent carcinogen is completely false; the main doctors you listen to are likely alternative practitioners or vegan propagandists. Mainstream academia does not accept such a notion, as don’t most doctors (same appeal that you use except it’s more of the truth). Ofcourse, a few do, but that doesn’t magically discredit Aragon’s stance; their evidence is what would be capable of doing so, and from what I’ve seen, it isn’t too strong.