Or, as I suspect, just a glorified advert?
This is quite a famous article, that was published a few years back:
The Beast EvolvesWithin, fitness trainer and T-Nation contributor Christian Thibaudeau offers the inside scoop on his fourteen-week transformation from strong-but-fat to Vin Diesel-like stud.
Before: 230 pounds, 18% bodyfat:
After: 204 pounds, 5% bodyfat. The pics were taken 14 weeks apart.
As we all know, the fitness world revolves around these kinds of scams. Before and after pictures, usually taken within the magical twelve weeks, that show a pale and lardy Mr X turning into a rock-hard uber-stud by just following this certain system. Luckily enough, you can BUY this system, AND the products!
I have no beef with Thibaudeau; he writes interesting articles and has a different take from most BB writers. But T-Nation is, of course, run by Biotest, and Biotest has stuff to sell. Lots of stuff. And within
The Beast Evolves, you quickly realise that a big part of Thibaudeau's agenda is peddling Biotest's wares.
First, he gives us the three reasons why his program worked well for *him*:
• I had the motivation to go all the way. I saw it as part of my job.
• I had the time. Writing articles and working with athletes gives me a very flexible schedule.
• I had the resources. Training-wise I had access to myself (I know a thing or two about training) and was helped by two great guys as far as dieting goes. I also had access to all the Biotest supplements I wanted except MAG-10. (Damn Canadian customs!)The last part is where the plugs begin. In his daily supplements table, he takes the following Biotest products: Tribex, M, Power Drive, Myostat. These bad boys ain't cheap, especially in the dosages he recommends. He also uses Yohimburn DF, but kinda dismisses it, as such:
Along with the Biotest goodies, you may notice I tried Yohimburn, which is advertised as a topical fat burner and local diuretic. Did it work? It may have helped some, especially as I got leaner. Since I pretty much did everything perfect I can't vouch that the Yohimburn actually had a great effect, though. The formula I used also contained some diuretic agents so there might have been some water loss.So basically, it's all Biotest.
His concluding words are a gem:
I'd like to say that my body transformation has brought me nothing but positives. I gained the respect of my athletes and of T-mag readers; I'm now much healthier and have more energy; I get a lot more attention from women (if you're into that sort of thing!) and my lifting has actually improved!
A drug-free transformation such as mine is within your reach, too. I always believed (and still believe) that I have about the worst genetics in the world, at least when it comes to getting lean. My whole family has a history of weight problems and I wasn't spared. So if I can get lean, there's no reason why you can't!
Furthermore, with HOT-ROX now available it will make your task that much easier! I started using it right after my physical transformation plan when it became available and, despite being less strict with my diet and doing less energy system work, I actually got leaner still! In fact, after one week of use I e-mailed Tim Patterson to tell him that I almost felt ashamed of posting my body transformation pictures because after only one week on HOT-ROX I was leaner than ever!
I was also a victim of Canadian customs. As a result, I couldn't receive any MAG-10 or 4-AD-EC. There's no doubt in my mind that my progress would have been much faster and I would have gained much more muscle size if those products had been available to me.Key parts again in bold.
So, what gives? Thibaudeau obviously looks good now. He's certainly not huge, or anything, but he did compete a bit, I believe, and looked okay. It's certainly possible to get into great shape in fourteen weeks, bur the heavy plugging within the article rings all kinds of alarm bells.
Is this another scam that folk need to be alerted to, or is Biotest the only firm in the world that actually did this legitimately and proved that their overpriced products actually do the job?
