In his book Cannery Row, author John Steinbeck wrote, "the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second." I can't help but wonder if Steinbeck had foreseen the bodybuilding business rather than writing a story about the characters of the sardine fisheries in Monterey during the depression when he wrote those lines. More specifically, he could have been writing about the magazine I was just fired from.
Now, I’m sure people think that after being hastily terminated after such a long run at MD that I’d be bitter and seeking revenge of sorts against my former employer. That’s really not the case. In fact, I owe Stave Blechman a debt of gratitude for the opportunity he afforded me. But in life, all things must eventually come to an end. And as I’ve said before, both Dave and I would have been content to just walk away; but to get kicked in the ass on our way out the door was just a bit too much to stay quiet about. It mitigated any feelings of gratitude I could have left MD with and, instead, replaced them with disdain for Blechman’s actions. Having said, that, I no longer think there’s any reason for me to tow the line for him anymore.
The real reason my connection with Blechman began to wane toward the end was because our interpretation of the truth began to differ. To me “no bull” meant no bull. More and more, to Blechman it appeared it mean something else. George Washington once said, "Few men have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder." In this case, the highest bidders were the supplement companies buying the ads that now make up 65% of the magazine. Other than the fact that I felt that was way too many ads and not enough content, those ads defined the truth! Meanwhile, we have slogans all over the place stating “No Bull” yet we have to ignore the fact that certain companies are buying page after page in the so that they can state such nonsense as “gain 50 pounds of muscle and lose 70 pounds of fat in 30 days.” Or, “This test subject packed on 350% more muscle than the placebo in 21 days…” You know the kind of crap I’m talking about. Total bullshit! But, if the money was coming, these companies were untouchable on the editorial side, or on the message boards. Let them lie, don’t piss them off, they’re paying the bills.
Then there was the whole topic of what has become known as “Photo-shopping”-- a new entrant into the modern bodybuilding lexicon that denotes the slickest slide of hand for the sake of impact. Now, there are many reasons to touch up a photo-- skin blemishes, a little roll of skin at the waist band, or the need to blur out a nipple or some pubic hair if a girl is wearing a sheer bikini. That kind of stuff is done in every industry that puts out ads or magazines. But, what if so-and-so’s delts don’t look big enough? What if another guy’s pecs were a little out of proportion? What if you just wanted to make a guy look bigger? No problem!. Photo Shop is an amazing program and, in the hands of a skilled professional, you can make Oprah Winfrey look like Hale Barry. But, if anyone were to ever accuse us of doing such a thing, they were met with patent denials. Even when the photoshop job was completely ridiculous.
Take Blechman’s message board avatar, for instance. There he is, arms crossed looking like Clark Kent with Superman’s guns. Those arms look bigger than his head! And don’t think there wasn’t an endless barrage of accusations that the shot he uses on his “no bull” website was photo-shopped. His response? Something to the effect of his arm being closer the camera, and thus it looked bigger…. Now, granted Blechman does have some well-shaped arms, but they’re not 22 inches. He’s lucky if they’re 14. But he insists the shot wasn’t enhanced! I was there when that shot was taken and I was looking over the photographer’s shoulder when the he was enlarging those arms. I watched it happen! When Pope John Paul II said "An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded,” he might as well have been looking right at Blechman’s avatar and listening to him defend it.
Of course there are more instances I could bring up, and certainly Blechman isn’t the only guy out there perpetrating less than the truth. I don’t want to sound bitter about what happened last week, but it does feel good to get some of this off my chest. I was beginning to feel like taking showers weren’t getting me clean any more.
The bigger picture is the point of difference in our position. Dave and I don’t lie (if anyone brings up the fake GH he got caught selling, make sure you read the case. Palumbo didn’t know it was fake; he was taking it himself!). RX Muscle stands for the truth. Dave and I didn’t have to take this route and conjure up this website. Species is doing gangbusters, Palumbo’s training business is rocking, and I have plenty going on to make a nice living. The fact is we felt this resource was necessary to provide you with a place to go to get what you need without the content being couched because it might piss off some big company with a fat check book.
We’ll definitely solicit advertisers to monetize this site in order to pay the bills and maybe put a little something in our pockets; but we will never sell out. Between Dave and I we know everyone in the industry. The companies you’ll see advertising here are not doing so merely because they know us. They’ll be here because their products do what they say they do. What’s on the label is in the bottle-- no ifs, ands or buts.
The information offered here will also come from highly credible sources—research papers as well as empirical data. We’re not going to post studies then leave you hanging. We’re going to provide you with what’s functional – how do you use this information to get results? What are some of the members’ experiences? There is no way we’ll ever censure any of it to save face for an advertiser, like they do elsewhere. You’ll never leave here with a question unanswered or answered in a way that leaves you doubting, or answered in a way to protect anything other than the truth. The community here will be like one big hardcore gym. Like it was back in the day when Dave and I, and the rest of you old-school lifters were figuring this shit out. Nothing is a secret; nothing is off limits – only the bullshit. And if you’re looking for that, you can turn around and head back from where you came!
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