http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_ultimate_cardio_solution_disclosed Is it me or is this just a thinly velied way of selling MAG-10? Walking slowly for an hour on caffeine? What? How is that even exercise? I am bitterly dissapointed in T-nation. Any other silly, wrong or misinformed articles out there? Post them here, I'm ill and I need a laugh.
I think there are some really good authors and articles on T-nation. However, the message of a lot of the articles is often lost behind the sort of blatant advertising seen in this post. I get really annoyed every time I read a good article and halfway through it there is a blatant plug for 'Flameout' or 'Mag-10' or whatever their latest product is. That being said, the message in may of these articles is the important thing, if you can get past the blatant advertising.
Oh yeah, there's loads of really awesome stuff on T-nation; which to me, makes it all the more shocking that they would suddenly turn around and tell me that walking slightly uphill for an hour while scoffing mag-10 is the ULTIMATE weight loss solution.
The article mentions more than once that the pace isn't challenging, and that it's not "cardio" in the traditional sense of challenging and improving your cardiovascular system. It specifically says that it's a style of cardio that when paired with casein hydrolysate results in fat utilization with little to no muscle breakdown. Nearly every author on T-nation recommends deadlifts and their variations. Is this okay because deadlifts aren't a supplement? Are they only allowed to recommend things that work if Biotest doesn't make it? How long did you try the method mentioned in the article before you concluded it was ineffective and they made it up to sell product?
You also have to consider the target audience in this case. It's not martial artists wanting to get uber-conditioned, it's bodybuilders looking to shed the last little bit of fat without losing muscle mass. The chances are they are in control of their diet and body sculpting training and don't want to be doing mad, intense cardio training in order to lose the last little bit of fat, so easy walking hits the fat burning goal nicely without them losing muscle mass. As I said in my previous post, the advertising gets annoyingly in the way of the message.
ZOMG!!!! T-nation articles with product advertising worked in an oh-so-subtle manner? Bodybuilders NOT wanting to do cardio? That lot wanting to pack on mass and look like bodybuilders? None of that is even remotely surprising. Ever wonder how the supplements industry became a multi-million dollar industry? Of course T-nation is dripping with supplements advertising. It's a forum for the target market of supplements if ever there was one.
Yeah but obviously no one makes a buck off deadlifts. So it's not an entirely accurate analogy. Whereas there is bucks being made off product placement and 'articles' that highlight products.
They're a little dubious in other areas too. They posted an article once that claimed that one of their supplements had been demonstrated to be more effective than an anabolic steroid. What's worse, the stats they quoted were clearly deliberately misinterpreted. I can't be bothered to dig out the article that debunked them, but if anyone particularly wants to read it, shout and I'll make the effort. They also make somewhat ridiculous claims about advanced trainers being able to put on stupidly large amounts of muscle in short time frames doing nothing more than some "revolutionary training system". There's hype and then there's stretching credulity beyond the limit. Yes, there's good stuff, but that kind of thing makes me suspicious of them.
That was the whole point of my analogy actually. There are lots of things that are repeatedly shoved down people's throats on that site, but when it comes to things that Biotest doesn't sell it's seen as good advice. Whenever a supplement gets pushed, people seem to assume that they're just shamelessly marketing, but I don't see why telling people to take Flameout in every other article is much different then telling people to foam roll or deadlift or do more push-ups. They're all important to making progress. Even if Biotest started selling their own brand of foam roller, that wouldn't make it dubious of them to promote self myofascial release. Or at least I don't see why it would. So why should it matter that X supplement gets pushed a lot? If it works and is high quality, then why shouldn't people be told to use it? Now, if someone has a compelling argument why X supplement is a piece of crap and therefore doesn't deserve to be promoted extensively, then the shameless advertising point might be a bit more substantial. I think that the average person's "I'm being sold!" radar is a bit too sensitive at times.
Fun thing is a lit of the bigger guys on the forums have admitted to doing the mag 10 pulses and fasted cardio with a MUCH cheaper casein hydro supp.
