Bodybuilding
supplements have been around since the very beginning of the “sport”.
Initially the idea behind muscle building elixirs was started by Joe
Weider who many people consider the Father Of Bodybuilding. Of
course, like it happens quite often, bodybuilding supplements are
nothing more than poor products in a shiny packaging backed up by
powerful marketing and advertisements. All of that is still true to
this very day. Question is:
Why are people buying supplements despite their miniscule effects ?
Why are people buying supplements despite their miniscule effects ?
One of the
answers is : Placebo !
Placebo
is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a
disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient.
Sometimes patients given a placebo treatment will have a perceived or
actual improvement in a medical condition, a phenomenon commonly
called the placebo effect. (Wikipedia)
The powerful
muscle men who advertise different supplement lines, the well
directed advertisement as well as the extremely unrealistic claims on
the labels actually make many people believe that the magic powders
are working and really helping you achieve “the physique you've
always dreamed of”.
Imagine that
your father gave you something special as kid – a watch, medallion,
ring...etc and told you that you will always be stronger when you
wear it. If you love your father and consider him an important part
of your life chances are you will fall for that especially as a
child. People are not machines. We have emotions and similar “tricks”
do work on us. The same stays true for supplements in which you want
to believe because after all “ if it's working for them it should
work for me, I am a human too”. The companies actually do count on
that thinking and their ultimate goal is to make you certain that
they have the secret formula leading to “the body you always wanted” and
the only way to achieve it is by using their products since “our busy
lifestyle does not allow us to get enough essential nutrients and
therefor hardcore lifters need powders”.
In case you
don't know there is a lot of money involved in the supplement
business. When there is money involved in the game – there are
always lots of scams and unwritten rules. For example there are many
studies sponsored by producers of supplements. In other words the
sellers are sponsoring studies meant to prove the effectiveness of
the fancy products you see on the shelves. When you couple fake
research with support and advertisement coming from the muscle Gods
you can actually make some serious profit when you target the right
audience – in most cases people between 16 and 30 who try to “get
the most out of life”.
Well, it
works.
Truth be
told bodybuilders don't count on fancy powders to built their muscle
mass. In order for serious body transformation to occur they use
anabolic substances such as steroids, growth hormone and insulin.
Many high level muscle men don't even use supplements – not even
protein powders or creatine ! They just consider them ineffective or
even useless. At the same time pretty much all bodybuilders advertise
similar products because advertisement of Trenbolone like drugs does
not make you money and is obviously illegal.
Many
bodybuilders consider egg yolks and lean fish a much better source of
protein than whey powder that quite often just makes you produce
more CH4 but since there are retired bodybuilding legends on the
cover and companies “have made detailed research” in order to
come up with the “best product” customers desperately want to
believe that magic is going to happen when they ingest the miracle
elixir which is often just a mix of whey (many people use whey as
exclusive food for pigs) and sugar (many weight gainers contain tons
of sugar). If you really like that you can keep spending your money
on fancy bottles with semi-naked men and women on the label. In the
meanwhile real food is waiting in the supermarket for less money.
Unfortunately, there are no muscle men on the labels.
Probably
that is the problem, or is it ?
IronGangsta.com, December 2013
