My GNC Experience

Indeed. The one big factor though is price. The Avenger costs more than I can sell the local homless children on the black market.

[quote]Vash wrote:
Indeed, I suck.

I admit it. [/quote]

Should make you popular at your gym. [quote]

However, since I lack a credit card, it’s the only place I’ve been able to buy HOT-ROX (which worked amazingly well) and TRIBEX(which is doing more than I thought it would - a hell of a lot more). [/quote]

Have you gone to a bank and gotten a check card? Most ATM cards are now check cards and can be used like a credit card. It’s what I use when I buy online usually, and the VISA policy is that you are not responsible for any amount of fraud just like a credit card.

Over the short run credit cards can make things easier, but over the long run they just suck all your money, kind of inverse investing.

Now with GNC, locally I have talked to the person in charge, possibly the owner, and he was or is a big fan of T-Nation (that is how long ago it was I talked to him,) but I have had a heated discussion with one of the salesmen who tried to convince me that fat protected prohormones just like the ethelcarbonate esters and diethelcarbonate esters did.

I do realize they are trying to make money. Yet I dislike their practices, and the fact that they sell worthless supplements for so much.

Now with Biotest, I know they don?t want to sell any supplements unless they are better then anything on the market. So there are supplements out there that are good that Biotest cannot improve on, or improve on dramatically enough, to sell. Every once in a while they pointed some out in their stuff we like articles.

Oh yeah. I saw 3 bottles of Myostat at a GNC in the mall. If I had the funds, I probably would have bought them all. [/quote]

I am one of the few T-men on this forum who work at GNC (district 20 for those of you that do) and I can tell you some stores are better then others. Corperate stores are not so great. Privately owned stores are better. They tend to have a larger selection and more Biotest products. In my store (corperate) we have maybe some close dated RED KAT, HOT-ROX, Fahrenheit, and a few close dated M. All the other stores have/had MAG-10, Surge, and all the rest. Our B.L.Y’s are going up so we might get some more goodies from Biotest, at least that which we can only get since we are (rightfully) becoming Direct Order anyway.

I always promote Biotest products anyway, even though they tend to have the lowest PM’s ever.

I buy my flaxseed and salmon oil capsules at GNC every month.
I found GNC a while ago and used to buy MetRX and other stuff from them. That led me eventually to T-Mag and Biotest. So GNC was an indirect link to this site.
I think its great that malls have a store that has protein powders etc. It shows that there is a sizable number of people interested. Hopefully as they progress they’ll end up here.
And the GNC employees I’ve met are usually nice, and range from know-nothings to guys you can talk to about more advanced stuff. Just like everywhere else.

“Do you take a multi-vitamin?”
(I hate that line…)

“chelated silver will prevent you from contracting S.A.R.S.” was all I needed to here. Since then I have never returned to another G.N.C. I don’t care if they are selling 24 carat gold at twenty five cents a pound.

I’m not exactly what you would call a GNC supporter. I use a multi-vitamin from there, and that is all. However, there is so much skewed logic in the reasons I’ve seen listed for hating GNC. I think most of you guys just hate GNC because it’s a cool, TC-approved thing to do.

If you are going to forever shun GNC because of the idiocy of a handful of employees, you are going to have a very hard time shopping at any retailer. Idiots are everywhere. Shop at GNC if you need/wish to buy anything from there. If you are like me, and you can do without them, don’t go. However, rationalizing a hatred for GNC because there exist employees with minimal knowledge is absurd. We shouldn’t be asking sales clerks for advice, anyhow; we should do our own goddamn research!

Face it. Training and nutrition is a touchy subject. It seems anyone that has ever touched a barbell or drank a protein shake is a self-professed expert. I don’t know why that is–it may be the testosterone factor involoved. However, if you want to hate something, have a decent foundation for which to do so.

/rant

~Terumo

[quote]Terumo wrote:
I’m not exactly what you would call a GNC supporter. I use a multi-vitamin from there, and that is all. However, there is so much skewed logic in the reasons I’ve seen listed for hating GNC. I think most of you guys just hate GNC because it’s a cool, TC-approved thing to do.

~Terumo[/quote]

Whoa!!! GNC sells some select Biotest supplements for the general athlete. Why the hell would I hate them???

[quote]Atomic Dog wrote:
Terumo wrote:
I think most of you guys just hate GNC because it’s a cool, TC-approved thing to do.
[/quote]

Correction:
“I think most of you guys just hate GNC because it’s a cool thing to do.”

Sorry, TC. I guess your “Mad As Hell Article” was resounding in the back of my head for some reason.

~Terumo

[quote]Terumo wrote:
I’m not exactly what you would call a GNC supporter. I use a multi-vitamin from there, and that is all. However, there is so much skewed logic in the reasons I’ve seen listed for hating GNC. I think most of you guys just hate GNC because it’s a cool, TC-approved thing to do.

If you are going to forever shun GNC because of the idiocy of a handful of employees, you are going to have a very hard time shopping at any retailer. Idiots are everywhere. Shop at GNC if you need/wish to buy anything from there. If you are like me, and you can do without them, don’t go. However, rationalizing a hatred for GNC because there exist employees with minimal knowledge is absurd. We shouldn’t be asking sales clerks for advice, anyhow; we should do our own goddamn research!

Face it. Training and nutrition is a touchy subject. It seems anyone that has ever touched a barbell or drank a protein shake is a self-professed expert. I don’t know why that is–it may be the testosterone factor involoved. However, if you want to hate something, have a decent foundation for which to do so.

/rant

~Terumo[/quote]

Well said, even though I work for GNC you’re absolutely right. There’s gonna be idiots in every store, whether it’s GNC or not, there’s plenty of idiots on the 'net who’ll try to tell you about training and nutrition too (I’m not referring to anybody at T-Nation, but other websites I’ve been on). Most of these “experts” on the message boards are still stuck in the “3 sets of 10” mentality. As an employee, I feel obligated to educate myself as much as possible, but I’m also a customer myself. I would be doing my research either way.

BluePfaltz, I’m in region 35, it’s nice to have another GNC person on this site other than myself. BluePfaltz is right, franchise stores have better selection, and we won’t try to push stuff on you as much.

[quote]Major Dan wrote:
“Do you take a multi-vitamin?”
(I hate that line…)[/quote]

HaHa. Well, except maybe for that we won’t push stuff on you. But everyone should be taking a multi, that’s a no-brainer!

[quote] let me let you in on a little secret of corporate GNC: their employees get commissions for products, I don’t b/c I work at a franchise store. That means Joe Blow at GNC in the mall can sell you on some 7 lb. tub of SELL-SPECK and they get $5! It doesn’t matter if the product works or not, they’re gonna sell you what gets them the money in their pockets.
[/quote]

This is especially true when Contests are in order. This month is Total-Lean, aka Total-Crap, twinlabs Ripped Fuel, Papaya Enzyme, and some other nonsense.

I admit I am guilty of this as I work in a corperate store. HOWEVER I, as a T-Man, know what the hell im talking about and I do promote Biotest products, and this site ALOT. I prefer to sell Farenheit over Hydroxycut or Trimspa, and even Cortisol to women, and to men I reccomend HOT-ROX and M over Ripped Fuel and Thermo-Burst.

Heh, even then im guilty of reccomending AnimalPak over our Ultra Mega Gold (without iron? I think not)

[quote]MWcollegiate wrote:
Sure the science doesn’t support NO2 very much (or at least the science that David Barr bothered to look at)
[/quote]

[quote]MWcollegiate wrote:
David Barr,
I never meant to say that you were selective in your research.
[/quote]
You seem to be loaded with contradiction, Jon; you’re last name wouldn’t happen to be Kerry would it?
-DV

I shop at SNDCanada. Most of the shit in GNC CANADIAN outlets is WAY overpriced.

Take protein bars. They will sell you 1 atkins advantage bar for 5.29 or some shit. With the gold card it’s only 3.49!!! WOW big savings.

Ok so I go to a local grocery store and buy them for 2 bucks.

Even grocery stores sell them at cheaper prices, and they only have a limited range of supplements.

Last time I saw Grow! in there for 79.99 without the gold card. Not much cheaper with the Gold card.

Even if I pay for shipping from the US. At our exchange rates these days, I pay way less.

I did the GNC deal. Most of the people I knew didn’t really know much about the sports nutrtion products, but the older ladies knew everything about vitamins and whatnot. I think in my first post I declared I work for GNC in order to establish that fact I have knowledge of supplements on the market. The first ten replies were, “You’re joking, right?” There are a lot of elitists on this site, but whatever works for them.

[quote]superpimp wrote:
BluePfaltz wrote:
Why is GNC so horrible?

They are known to be pricey and most(not all) of the employees don’t know what they are talking about.[/quote]

THIS IS TRUE…I saw some poor bastard get suckered into buying NO2 I tried to catch him after but he was gone…

What’s funny is that I’ve seen the same research that Dave has pulled up be used to support NO2. Many companies that make falacious claims take scientific studies and take them out of context, or totally misinterpret the data.

beef

Most employees are not experienced T-Nation readers, and often got a job there just because they didn?t want to flip burgers. Trained experts would cost too much for them to hire.

Also like any business, they are trying to make money like I said in a previous post. This is really not a bad thing, but many of the GNCs will push products that make them money, and seeing as two of them are in the local malls, they have to pay the big mall fees.

There are a few who really know their stuff though, and some real nice people who do work there also. But we always need to remember they are salesmen, not nutritionists, and mall salesmen at that.

I started going up to a mall in Omaha because a GNC employee said they would match Netrition prices on Biotest stuff. (But include the shipping price.) They have since quit doing that.

There is nothing inherently wrong with GNC, but they can come off bad because of the situation of attempting to run a profitable business in a mall.

Mostly I am too cheap to spend money at GNC. But I have no problem walking into them. GNC was the first place I ever bought a Grow! protein bar. But like anything else, it just helps to be educated before walking into these places. Are you getting somebody like BluePfaltz above, or the stupid kid trying to make quota?