It’s not every day that a reasonably priced supplement comes across my desk. In fact, between the pre-workout mixes that provide little more than a sugar rush and the post-workout BCAA mixes that offer little more than a placebo effect of one’s muscles ‘recovering’, the entire supplement industry seems resigned to doing nothing other than re-inventing the wheel and spawning loose imitations of products we first saw back in the mid-80′s. But then again, other than producing a new color of a translucent plastic container, what else can an industry do when the entire business model is based on nothing but lies and fraud?

Readers of MuscleWeek already know that the entire supplement industry is based on one massive lie: TAKE THIS [USELESS OVERPRICED SUPPLEMENT] TO LOOK LIKE THIS [JUICED UP BODYBUILDER]. In reality, bodybuilders and fitness models use a combination of growth hormone, thyroid, clenbuterol and good old-fashioned steroids to build those physiques we see in the advertisements, with a touch of synthol in those hardgainer muscles like calves and rear delts. But don’t tell the gullible public about that — it’s a slippery slope and if you question their belief in supplements, they might start to have doubts about the existence of the tooth fairy, Santa, and even God himself.

The sad reality is that men have been manipulated into being suckers in the precise manner that the cosmetics industry created suckers out of millions of women by telling them this lie: USE THIS [OVERPRICED MAKEUP] TO LOOK LIKE THIS [PHOTOSHOPPED MODEL].

MLB Pitcher Jim Palmer: Ideal Physique of the 70′s

Nevermind that the $2 bottle of Maybelline mascara is made in the same lab and uses the identical ingredients as the $40 bottle of Lancome mascara. Americans associate price and packaging with quality. The more money you charge for that fancy box, the better it must be, right?

While women were spending their husband’s money in the 70′s on makeup and cigarettes and learning step-by-step how to objectify themselves by reading Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Vogue, men were obliviously blissful in their chubby bodies and all the better for it. Other than Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Palmer in a Jockey ad, there was little for men to aspire to (or worry about). Seriously, take a look at that guy and tell me we haven’t devolved into a culture of insecure, vain, emasculated sissies. Cheesy grin with no threat of danger? Check. Chest hair? Check. Tightie whities? Check. Do you really think Jim Palmer followed up with the photographer to check the proofs to make sure his stomach looked ‘tight’, to verify his muscles appeared ‘pumped’ or his ‘package’ looked impressive enough to prevent locker room teasing?

The ’80′s brought us Jon Bon Jovi and proved that body hair was still acceptable, smiling was still preferable to snarling, and it was okay to look like the heaviest object you ever lifted was a 16 ounce can of Budweiser. I never went backstage at a Bon Jovi concert, but something tells me that not having a six-pack or 20-inch guns wouldn’t have hurt Jon with the ladies.

Nowadays, men and women are bombarded by images of muscular actors, ripped singers, and brawny athletes. Gone are the days when an obese man like Refrigerator Perry could be an athletic icon or a chubster like John Wayne could be a sex symbol. We want our superstars (and husbands) to look like Brad Pitt in Troy, Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid Love or Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in anything. And just like a grown woman thinking that Victoria’s Secret bra modeled by Adriana Lima is going to cause her breasts to resemble those of a Victoria’s Secret model, grown men are now equally duped into believing that taking something called No-Xplode or Hemo-Rage is going to turn their beer bellies into six-packs.

Reality check: It doesn’t work that way (despite what your spouse responds when prodded). Bodybuilding supplements are an emotional placebo, making us believe that our workout or cardio session was more productive because of the additional ‘supplementation’. In reality, there is no objective way to measure their effectiveness. Most lifters simply try a few different brands and settle on the FLAVOR that they prefer, without regard for whether the supplement is actually providing any tangible benefits. To the gym rat, it doesn’t matter: The benefit is mental. The aspiring bodybuilder BELIEVES he is making progress.

And therein lies the rub: In the same manner that women feel fulfilled by purchasing cosmetics, buying supplements fills an identical need within the male psyche.

Thanks to the media marketing machine, the bodybuilding supplement scam is alive and well in 2013.

I hear people rambling on about quality protein and nonsense like that. Back in the 70′s everyone including Arnold used Calcium Caseinate (Milk Protein) and those guys looked insane (Mentzer, Platz, Padilla, Robinson). Then in the 80′s, Egg Albumin (Egg protein) became the rage. Remember? Perfect 4.0 protein on the quality protein scale they’d show you on the Weider container?

Then soy protein made a brief comeback and now it’s whey protein. But not just whey protein. No, of course it has to be more complicated. Whey protein isolate works ‘much better’ than whey protein concentrate (yeah right) which is superior to the perfect egg protein which is better than soy which is better than the milk protein that built all of the guys that today’s crop of oilbags can’t hold a candle to.

In every industry, they have product cycles that last anywhere from 1-7 years. When the cycle has been exhausted, they reinvent the wheel. What’s outdated becomes fresh. What’s old is new. What’s forgotten is suddenly remembered.

A close friend of mine ran global product development for a major cosmetics company for ten years. It was IDENTICAL to the supplement biz right down to how they prey upon the ignorance, the hopes, the short memory, and the vanity of the consumer.

Let’s take a product like foundation that all women use to mask their freckles, acne, blotches and other facial imperfections. You could buy maybelline foundation for $5 a bottle. Or you could buy Loreal foundation for $15 a bottle. If you are rich, you might buy Lancome for $50 a bottle. But it really doesn’t matter because it’s all made in the same factory, formulated in the same lab, and contains the same ingredients. The only difference is the packaging and the marketing.

Do women know this? Many of them do. But they would always still buy Lancome over Maybelline. Even knowing it’s the identical product, they will still prefer to purchase the more expensive product. Why? Because of how it makes them feel INSIDE to spend more money, have a nicer looking product, and know that Catherine Zeta Jones wears the same product as they do.

All of us KNOW that bodybuilders today look WORSE than the bodybuilders of the 70′s and 80′s. Despite having BETTER EQUIPPED GYMS. Despite having MORE KNOWLEDGE. Despite having ACCESS TO MORE INFORMATION.

But are today’s SUPPLEMENTS really any better or superior to those from the 70′s and 80′s?

Because we KNOW that today’s bodybuilders are eating MORE PROTEIN, shooting MORE STEROIDS, using MORE INSULIN, and pinning themselves with MORE GROWTH HORMONE.

We buy the WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE and any other shiny supplement for the same reasons a girl buys Lancome. We REALLY REALLY want to believe that’s how Jay Cutler got so big. We REALLY REALLY want to believe we too can get HUGE or RIPPED if we take this product.

But I challenge you to use Google Images to set your mind straight. Look at photos of the bodybuilders of the 70′s who were using a fraction of today’s drugs. Tom Platz’s legs built WITHOUT a PRE WORKOUT FORMULA. Danny Padilla’s physique built WITHOUT an NO ‘supplement and Arnold’s chest and arms built WITHOUT any of this WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE garbage.

Gentlemen, we have been fooled to the 99th degree. The supplement companies took a page out of the women’s playbook that feeds upon a woman’s innate insecurity and they used that play on us.

Today’s bodybuilders look worse than ever before. You’d be hard pressed to find ANY BODYBUILDER in ANY GYM with a dense quality physique as seen on Mentzer back in the day.

And for you modern day guys, make no mistake: Our very own KEVIN LEVRONE NEVER USED ANY SUPPLEMENTS. NOTHING!

I challenge each and every one of you to THROW OUT YOUR WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE. Or at least put it away in the garage or basement (don’t worry, the bugs won’t go near it). Double your milk intake, eat your chicken breasts and fish and continue eating your eggs. Try it for 30 days and tell me if you got weaker. Tell me if you got smaller. Because YOU WON’T!!

Take the MuscleWeek Protein Challenge and report back to us with your results.

This challenge could save you THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS over your lifetime and THOUSANDS OF HOURS in shopping and cleaning protein shakers.

Gentlemen, the gauntlet has been thrown down. Will you accept the PROTEIN CHALLENGE?