My respect for Chad dropped when I watched his interview on Valuetainment, along with Shawn Ray's interview. It's obvious to me that all he did - and all that the "bodybuilding diet guru" industry really is - is approach some of the up-and-coming bodybuilders with huge potential, offer to assist them, and when they succeeded in bodybuilding [primarily due to superior genetics], use that success to attract other genetically elite bodybuilders, and then let things organically grow from there. Not to say that diet coaches don't have knowledge, but it isn't rocket science.
Specifically, the reason why I lost respect for Chad is because of small details he was getting wrong. I think he pronounced Kevin Levrone's last name wrong, stated the wrong year for the time he met Shawn Ray, and - the worst one, IMO - not know that the kidney disease that Flex Wheeler had, FSGS, stood for "focal segmental glomerulosclerosis".
I would think MAYBE if you are being accused of making your clients seriously ill or even DIE, that it might show you actually care about that by KNOWING THE NAME OF THE DISEASE YOU ARE BEING ACCUSED OF CAUSING.
Contrast that with Shawn - everything he said that could be objectively verified as either true or false, was true.
The impression I got from Chad is that he either has a horrible memory [which is some indication of low intelligence], or that he is just not a detail-oriented nor diligent person. And lack of diligence would suggest his coaching may have caused client issues he has been accused of causing.
You would think that even working with a man in his late forties like Don Youngblood is something that he would only do under the most careful of terms, to the point of even insisting on discussing it with family. I get that Don was a grown adult, but he was taking a big risk - given the man died of a massive heart attack at age 51, while bulking up for the 2006 New York Pro - and while the libertarian in me knows this isn't an obligation, I think an ethical person would be crystal clear about disclosing the health risks.
Although you can't just blame Chad, given Don died at 300-lb, while bulking up despite having recently gone through angioplasty.
But nothing leads me to believe Chad cautions his clients about health. It's as if the serious illnesses and even the deaths of some of his clients have given him zero pause. Ronnie Coleman sitting in an ice bath the night before the 2001 Mr. Olympia because he was overheating when he should have been brought to the hospital is an example of this.
In fact, if anyone has a copy of the 2000 Battle for the Olympia, there is a part where Chad is in the hotel room with Ronnie and he is explaining that if Ronnie feels like he is overheating, to put a wet towel over his neck. WTF?
A comment like that is all the evidence I need that Chad has given his clients cutting agents to a point that he knew would lead to potential life-threatening outcomes.
What bodybuilding diet coach tells a client "Since you followed the program I gave you, there is a chance you might start overheating to a point requiring intervention - but don't worry about going to the hospital, just put a cold towel over your neck"?
In the UFC, they have actual doctors for such risks, and Chad is not a doctor.
I was never one to blame coaches for the illnesses or deaths or bodybuilders, but Chad said absolutely nothing to suggest to me he was even remotely concerned about the risks his clients were taking. And getting detail after detail wrong [compared to Shawn Ray, who got everything he said right] just gave me the impression that Chad doesn't even care.
Again, the man doesn't even know the name of the kidney disease he is being accused of causing Flex Wheeler. That's the moment I said to myself "This guy doesn't even care."
