Bodybuilding Program Hype
Bodybuilding programs, both good and bad, are sold with extreme hype. You won’t find many sales pages that are going after the rational part of your brain. Instead, they are trying to build excitement, trying to get you to buy. Personally, I hate hype. It annoys me. That said, I understand that these programs are marketed the way they are because that is what sells. I don’t begrudge anyone trying to make a buck when they are providing a worthwhile product.
While it would be nice not to have to weave through all the commotion, it isn’t going to happen. Like it or not, product hype is part of the bodybuilding game. Whether you’re looking at supplements, programs, or bodybuilding equipment, expect some smoke to blow your way. If you can’t deal with that, consider taking up knitting instead of bodybuilding. Because if you decided to ignore all the bodybuilding products that are sold with hype, you would be ignoring ALL the bodybuilding products. And there are supplements and there are programs that can really help you.
When I started reviewing the many bodybuilding programs, I expected to find that the programs that had more straightforward sales pages were the real gems. And I expected the heavy-hype sales pages to be promoting the crap programs. What I found, however, is that there really is no relationship between how a program is being marketed and its actual quality. Bottom Line… You can’t judge a book by its cover and you can’t judge a muscle-building program by its sales page.
Short List of Things that Shouldn’t Fuel Your Decision to Buy
- Because you think the author really has for the first time ever “unlocked” the door to massive muscle gain.
That door has never been locked. It’s just a little tough to find that door in the midst of all the B.S. What you want is a program that will provide you with a detailed map to take you to and through that door in the shortest amount of time possible.
You won’t find any real “secrets” in these programs. You won’t find the secret information that is locked away in IFBB vaults and only given out to a select few competitors, the secret programs smuggled out of Russia at the end of the Cold War, or the recently unearthed routines of Sasquatch. The real secret is that there are no secrets in bodybuilding – just good training programs and messy, misguided, unproductive training programs.
There isn’t a general concept in any of these muscle-building programs that I haven’t seen freely available somewhere else. This doesn’t lead me to appreciate the potential of these programs any less. The power of the top programs comes from the authors’ ability to transfer their knowledge (the right knowledge) to you, their ability to get you off the ground and going in the right direction from day one, and ultimately their ability to get you quick and significant results.
The power comes from their ability to put you in a complete, results-producing program from day one. Successful mass gain boils down to this – getting the right knowledge and correctly interpreting and applying that knowledge to your training with consistency and intensity. If you are looking for these programs to help you do anything but those things, you are looking for the wrong thing and you will be disappointed.
- Because you are attracted by the “gifts” or bonuses offered by the author.
There are some valuable bonuses (support, site access, workbooks, software, etc.). However, a lot of the bonus ebooks you see tacked onto the programs are freely available elsewhere, if you really want them you can find them. They are basically sales material for other ebooks and programs. Some are nice to have, but it takes balls to put a dollar value on them.
It takes even bigger balls to put a dollar value on bonuses that will turn out to be simple links to sites you already have access to. “Nutritional database access” is a frequent one. Check out my bodybuilding nutrition resources page and you will have this bonus covered. If you think those links really have a value of $50, send me a check.
I pretty much ignore the bonuses that are meaningless. I know they are there but they are not even worth mentioning. When you look at the bonuses, take them with a grain of salt. The dollar values placed beside them are just values that someone is making up in order to impress you, in order to get you to buy.
- Because you are inspired by positive testimonials all over the internet.
All the programs that have been around for a while can produce testimonials. Even the worst of these programs probably presents a better plan than most trainers end up following. If you take a trainer who is doing all the wrong things and put him on a reasoned path, he will get results and think you are a genius. Testimonials are nice to see, but I don’t think you can judge the value or performance of that program based on them alone.
- Because if you buy now, you will get a special bonus that is only available to the next 30 purchasers.
Sales tactics, plain and simple. At least 99 times out of 100. - Because the current price is only good until 12:00 AM tonight.
After that, it may revert back to its regular price of $1,000,000. Sometimes, of course, prices do go up. But generally, this is a sales tactic and that price is going to remain pretty static. I watch these programs pretty closely and rarely do I see them selling for the amounts they claim they once did or will again.
So, What Are the Reasons to Buy These Programs?
Because once you get past the hype, you DO find a select few of the authors producing some really incredible resources. Programs like Sean Nalewanyj’s Truth About Building Muscle and Will Brink’s Bodybuilding Revealed are 2 programs that truly overdeliver and provide invaluable resources for those who are serious about getting maximum muscle growth.
The overall success rate of those who get and follow the top bodybuilding programs dwarfs the rate of those who go it alone on the typical directionless program. You can’t argue that point. How do you know which are the good programs? That is what I hope these reviews can help you do.
