Silly army nerds with your books.
I would obviously just do an audiobook and cut out the middle-man.
Modern problems require modern solutions.
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I am not as knowledgeable as some folks here, but I feel like i could write a halfway decent book targeted at diabetics around nutrition and fitness. So much of what is out there for diabetics is utter dog crap (and not the good kind of DoggCrapp). I can’t tell you how many recipes I have seen for diabetics that are either still way to carb heavy (or the wrong kind of carbs) or way to fat heavy (screw you Dr. Atkins).
I don’t have the credentials for people to take me seriously in that regard, but I have lived experience and many people these days seem to value that more anyway…
Sorry - tangent over.
You could even empower those in your MLM to have people “underneath” them. Play off that whole desire to dominate and girl boss.
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People here already think I have a shrine of Andrew Tate so I might as well start talking Alpha/Beta males and objectification of women.
I think it would sell nicely with a select group of people.
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Be sure to use phrases such “High Value” and “big dick energy”. Promise income in the high six figures (*results may vary) and be as obnoxious as possible while doing so.
Don’t forget to create your own energy drink/ pre-video gaming-beverage.
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What is MLM?
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Multi-Level Marketing schemes. Stuff like Avon, pampered chef, Beachbody, there was one selling leggings at one point, sensy (basically fragrant wax melters).
Essentially barely legal pyramid schemes targeted at bored housewives under the guise of “owning your own business”.
@Andrewgen_Receptors appears to be targeting one at “incels” who want to become “alpha”.
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Your arms and shoulders are jacked in these pics- nice work.
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I seriously don’t know why I didn’t pick up on that. I think I confused myself it had to be pickup artist specific in that context. Whoops!
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Andrew Tate has a MLM (at least one). Most of his viewers are incels or incel adjacenct.
Your sensors were correct, they just needed the lenses de-fogged.
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Huge compliment! Thank you so much! 
You guys are so funny! I saw these comments on my log last night and had a good laugh.
You absolutely could! And I think your lack of credentials is a sign it would be far more entertaining and persuasive. Many authors with PhDs are boring as hell and don’t know how to simplify things for lay people. (Not all of them certainly.) We have excellent contributors here who do have those credentials, and they’re fantastic.
But it often seems like the best books are written by those who can make their language more relatable and approachable. And sometimes people with fancy degrees seem like they’re writing to show off how impressive their knowledge is instead of actually teaching people or persuading them to change.
So write that book!
Oh man, don’t get me started on MLMs. I have so many stories, and I actually thought about writing an article for T Nation about some of the scammy fitness MLMs.
I chose not to because I didn’t want to burn bridges with friends who were currently caught up in one.
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This is news to me!
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Hustlers University: $50/month
War Room: $8,000 lifetime membership (last I checked)
There might be others, but I’ve actually considered War Room.
To be fair, WR isn’t a MLM, its a networking group for dudes (who are presumably like me)… honestly if you can afford to enter it, I probably want to network with you so 
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Business wise, MLMs are genius for those at the top. Morality wise, I’m convinced they’re evil.
The people at the bottom try to recruit others as they’re struggling to earn any money, and will tell them (potential new recruits) straight up lies about how much they could make every month. I’m not sure about Tate’s version of this, since there doesn’t seem to be any physical products that the participants have to invest in before even getting started, but I imagine it’s no bueno.
And Tate treats women like merchandise. So there’s that layer too.
You’re above this. I wouldn’t want you networking with Tate-worshipers… even wealthy ones. You’re way above Tate too, as are most of the thoughtful men in the T Nation community.
Manipulating women, being good at business, and flaunting your wealth is not what makes a man interesting, worthwhile, or even masculine.
I’m a big fan of loyalty, humility, humor, and chivalry. Tate seems to be lacking all of these characteristics.
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My puffiness seems to have deflated thanks to taking a few days off and getting inflammation under control.
Yesterday was upper body day and my arms looked defined again, my waist was tight again, and Mike (elderly man at the gym) said I was looking good. Not that his opinion matters, but he doesn’t say that to me on days when I look like Shrek.
Can we talk about boundaries though?
It appears as though I have none. Yesterday, I was using less weight and bumping up the reps. It was an easier day, with intention, even though I was hitting failure.
Then Mike comes over and swaps out my dumbbells for heavier ones and tells me to use an inappropriate range of motion, and it kinda pisses me off.
So what do I do? Play along.
Argh! I’m such a doormat. I enjoyed him pushing me a little on certain things, but yesterday was too much. He doesn’t know my injury history or what I’m going through hormonally. He doesn’t really know correct form. And he doesn’t realize that in certain cases, more isn’t better, whether it’s intensity, volume, load, etc. It can be counterproductive.
And then when I tell him why I purposefully wasn’t already doing what he’d recommended, it sounds like excuses. But it’s not. I just know how my body responds and I know what would be most effective on any given day. And I’m a firm believer in the minimum effective dose.
So there’s that. I like Mike but I might try to hit the gym earlier to avoid having to say “no” to him.
I’ve been working on becoming more assertive this year, but in this case, I think avoidance is easier. Mike is precious and I don’t want to hurt his feelings.
Anyway here’s a random meme.
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Also, this video taught me a lot about studies, and made sense of the recent sucralose scare. He’s snarky, but he’s actually a good teacher.
Is sucralose genotoxic? Let’s discuss this new study
— Layne Norton, PhD (@BioLayne) June 14, 2023
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This would piss me off too, but because I don’t like it when people touch my weights. Almost like my food: just don’t fuckin touch it… or look at it.
I don’t have much of an answer here because these things don’t really happen to me. Not sure if it’s because I have severe resting asshole face or because I’m a dude, maybe both. People don’t touch my weights, but I also never leave the equipment I’m on either.
A suggestion: lie.
“Today is high reps day so I have to keep the weight lower”.
He wouldn’t know the difference, but it helps to say it dismissively (I’m monotone and this is what my one vocal tone is).
I’m fundamentally against taking the hit personally to appease others. Probably a guy/assholish thing, but it bugs me a lot. Moreso if your sparing of his feelings is hurting yours (or mentally a loss). I’d normally just advise to be a bit more standoffish until he takes the hint, but a more ‘adult’ approach would be for you to talk to this dude and tell him you took it a bit personal when he was critiqueing your form and weights. Something along the lines of “I appreciate you pushing me to do more and helping me on occasion, but I come here for mental reprieve and this situation was the opposite of that.”
Or you could just stick with avoidance. Sometimes this is the easiest choice; for me, the stress of avoidance is more annoying than the original situation so I’d just call him out on it.
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I’m guessing he feels free to do this since I’ve gone along with everything he’s suggested prior to now.
By continually saying, “sure!” I’ve basically taught him how to treat me, so he’s playing coach.
I don’t have the heart to say, “my form is better than yours, I have more muscle than you, I’ve been lifting longer than you, and I’ve trained under the best coaches, so while your encouragement is super sweet, it’s unlikely that you will improve my fitness, strength, or musculature.”
It’s true that he did get me to bump up the weight in curls and get back to benching but I can’t say my body is any better since making those changes. But they’ve certainly been fun!
Same here usually. I was supersetting between dips and lateral raises. The dumbbells were next to the dip station, and he took them while I was doing dips.
PERFECT RESPONSE. I’m absolutely going to use this. Thank you so much. I actually don’t think it’s a lie. It’s casual, friendly, and straight forward.
Sometimes in order to be assertive, I just need the right words. And I think the reason I become a doormat so often is because I can’t come up with a good response in the heat of the moment. So I acquiesce to a lot of stuff I don’t want to do.
Come to think of it, maybe this is why I keep a lot of friends at arms distance.
Yes, this is a very adult response. I don’t think I’m there yet. haha
This is also a good point. To be honest, it didn’t bother me that much simply because I’d already done the brunt of my workout. So he was infringing on the tail end. I just want to make sure this doesn’t become a regular thing. But I also don’t want to make things awkward.
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You don’t need to, and to be fair - you already know all of these things to be true. That does warrant a minor tone of dismissiveness when receiving unsolicited advice from someone who, simply put, isn’t on your level. Maybe internalizing that you actually do know more than him would help with your response here… it’s okay to be a bit short with someone giving unsolicited advice. I’ve done this numerous times (again, I’m kind of an asshole and you aren’t).
You could also reinforce that his input isn’t super welcome by saying that you’re following your “coaches” plan. Then, it’s not you telling him to back off, it’s your “coach”.
Being such a nice person doesn’t help you very much in this situation, unfortunately. Just remember that you don’t owe him anything, and that you go to the gym for you.
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I know it’s even worse for women, but this happens to me too. Too many lifting days and I look like crap, which is totally unfair. How am I supposed to deal with that paradox?? Spoiler alert: I found a way to look like crap either way.
…like the ROM makes the kind of jokes so funny HR wants to hear them too?
I hear you on all this. What you wrote below is true, though, so don’t forget it!
When I was still around high school athletes some, I remember almost having to like run interference. Other dads (not coaches, so much, anymore - they’ve become pretty darn good) would always try to talk the bigger and stronger kids into adding more and more weight on the bar because they thought it was cool. Is it really worth risking someone’s scholarship because you thought a heavy squat would look good today? Your body is the opposite of financial investments: risk avoidance far outweighs opportunity cost.
I’m totally against this. That’s essentially giving into a bully. I will admit, I ran into a similar situation and thought the same way. There was this dude at the gym that just wanted to talk forever. None of us in there at 5am because we have tons of free time. He would literally walk in front of me, while I was lifting with headphones in, and get my attention to have me take my headphones out to listen to him drone on about nothing. I got to a point where I just wanted to avoid him, too, because he was also a “nice guy.” Then I eventually got pissed off - he’s not a nice guy. He’s a narcissist who thinks I owe him my time because he wants it. Am I going to reward that behavior? Absolutely not. I don’t need to say “F you,” but I’m done taking my headphones out or listening to you; it just becomes an additional opportunity to exercise discipline.
Anyway, you’re smarter than me and don’t need my advice; I just recognized a parallel experience.
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