- Joined
- Jul 19, 2005
- Messages
- 5,052
I found this on another website, its written by John Meadows.
JM I hope you dont mind me re-posting it here but this is something that has been nagging me for years.
JM I hope you dont mind me sharing this write up.
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Beware the Master Debater
by John Meadows
Be on the lookout. There's a new expert in our industry I call the "debater guru". This new species is a cousin to the pseudo-scientist. These are people that take perfectly good data and misrepresent it... misinterpret it and treat it as gospel, even in the face of common sense.
Today there's a new breed though. The debater guru will often use really cool terms like "straw man" or "ad hominem" to impress you with his high school debating skills. Other signs: he places no value on anecdotal evidence. Like their cousins the pseudo-scientists these master debaters also lack common sense, and they generally don't have clients to perfect their coaching skills. The scary thing is, most don't even train.
Sometimes I feel like we're losing the ability to solve problems, create, and be creative in the fitness industry. Remember, before something was "proven", it was once just an idea.
Be careful who you take advice from. Seek out folks who combine real world experience, good science, and train like they have a set.
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This is something I have run into time and time again on a lot of forums, most forums DO NOT have the level of experience that Pro M does. So these guys really like to show up on kiddie forums and impress the n00bs.
I have had terrible arguments with them, and as JM pointed out any common sense that you have learned in many years of bodybuilding will mean nothing, they will talk as if you are some idiot because you arent talking about enzymes, cofactors, or receptors. Myself I have been training 24 years, and competed 7 of them. Having some fuckstick like that talk shit, knowing hes reading straight out of a medical desk reference or he works as a tech in some lab somewhere, when he wont even post a pic of his leg, chest or stomach saying 'I wont do it for security reasons' blah blah. Or the same type who then posts a pic and they have hardly got any muscle and are relatively smooth. If they couldnt do it themselves....
Now I will say on occasion I have met some people who didnt look it but had the knowledge, and some who looked it and had no knowledge whatsoever. But they were exceptions to the rule, and more often than not they didnt hide behind the computer screen.
The thing I notice about most of them is that they will hang on these noob boards, or kiddie boards as I call them and puff up, nut they dont DARE come to a board like this, knowing they will get called out and humiliated.
The last one I dealt with was a guy named 'NutNut' he likened himself to a nutritional guru.
Turned out he really didnt know shit, his MO was to steal female clients from other trainers to have sex with them.
His last fiasco was to try and fake his suicide on the internet...yeah that didnt work out so well, he got caught.
Thats usually the mentality behind these types, its all about being someone on the interweb.
JM I hope you dont mind me re-posting it here but this is something that has been nagging me for years.
JM I hope you dont mind me sharing this write up.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beware the Master Debater
by John Meadows
Be on the lookout. There's a new expert in our industry I call the "debater guru". This new species is a cousin to the pseudo-scientist. These are people that take perfectly good data and misrepresent it... misinterpret it and treat it as gospel, even in the face of common sense.
Today there's a new breed though. The debater guru will often use really cool terms like "straw man" or "ad hominem" to impress you with his high school debating skills. Other signs: he places no value on anecdotal evidence. Like their cousins the pseudo-scientists these master debaters also lack common sense, and they generally don't have clients to perfect their coaching skills. The scary thing is, most don't even train.
Sometimes I feel like we're losing the ability to solve problems, create, and be creative in the fitness industry. Remember, before something was "proven", it was once just an idea.
Be careful who you take advice from. Seek out folks who combine real world experience, good science, and train like they have a set.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is something I have run into time and time again on a lot of forums, most forums DO NOT have the level of experience that Pro M does. So these guys really like to show up on kiddie forums and impress the n00bs.
I have had terrible arguments with them, and as JM pointed out any common sense that you have learned in many years of bodybuilding will mean nothing, they will talk as if you are some idiot because you arent talking about enzymes, cofactors, or receptors. Myself I have been training 24 years, and competed 7 of them. Having some fuckstick like that talk shit, knowing hes reading straight out of a medical desk reference or he works as a tech in some lab somewhere, when he wont even post a pic of his leg, chest or stomach saying 'I wont do it for security reasons' blah blah. Or the same type who then posts a pic and they have hardly got any muscle and are relatively smooth. If they couldnt do it themselves....
Now I will say on occasion I have met some people who didnt look it but had the knowledge, and some who looked it and had no knowledge whatsoever. But they were exceptions to the rule, and more often than not they didnt hide behind the computer screen.
The thing I notice about most of them is that they will hang on these noob boards, or kiddie boards as I call them and puff up, nut they dont DARE come to a board like this, knowing they will get called out and humiliated.
The last one I dealt with was a guy named 'NutNut' he likened himself to a nutritional guru.
Turned out he really didnt know shit, his MO was to steal female clients from other trainers to have sex with them.
His last fiasco was to try and fake his suicide on the internet...yeah that didnt work out so well, he got caught.
Thats usually the mentality behind these types, its all about being someone on the interweb.
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