Doug Brown
You'll mainly find him in the office writing reviews, researching supplements, or studying the fitness industry. When he's off his leash Doug spends his time in the gym, prepping the next meal or hanging out anywhere people will listen to him talk about fitness.
He is constantly in search for the perfect stack to keep him strong and shredded. He's been researching supplements casually and professionally for over 10 years. You can see more from Doug on his Linkedin profile here.
Find out more about Doug on our About Us page.
You can also follow Doug on Twitter: @TheDougnator
Latest posts by Doug Brown (see all)
- KetoBoss Alpha Titan TESTO GAIN Review - December 18, 2018
- NutraChamps TESTO PRO Review - December 12, 2018
- Zeal Naturals Apple Cider Vinegar Fat Burner Review - December 10, 2018
Our second installment of the news in the fitness world, both on and off Muxcle.com.
It’s been a big week in terms of content, and the ideas are really flowing in the office.
What happened on Muxcle.com this week?
Here are the main changes that have happened to the site:
8,000 word Report on Trustworthiness of Amazon Reviews
This is a huge piece of content that Doug put together this week. We’ve had several comments on reviews in the past that disagreed with our views, claiming that the reviews on Amazon told a different story.
However, we’ve always questioned the quality of reviews on Amazon. Now we’ve done the research and have this monster of an article to show our findings.
In short it covers:
- The state of Amazon and supplements at the moment.
- Our research and data into the review quality of the top 10 fat burners, testosterone boosters, pre workouts and nootropics on Amazon.
- How sellers can cheat the system.
- The signs that you may be reading fake reviews.
- How you can fight back against it.
It took a lot of work and we’re happy about how it turned out. If you buy a lot of supplements on Amazon, you definitely need to check this report out:
Doug is getting Social (Twitter and More)
If you’re new to the site, you won’t have noticed this. However, if you’re a regular, you’ll notice Doug has finally started to put his name on the content (finally!).
You’ll see his author bio at the top of posts from now on. It also contains links to his Twitter, and LinkedIn. He deleted Facebook years ago, so to get him to get involved on social media like this is huge.
- Follow Doug’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDougnator
- Connect with Doug on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-brown-57b0b0172/
He’s off to a good start by promoting the Amazon article, and it was well-received by one of the guys over at Yahoo Finance and Fakespot who helped inspire the post:
WOW!! That is one well researched, important story. And thank you for crediting mine! 🙂
— David Pogue (@Pogue) October 12, 2018
Fantastic story on the problem of fake supplement reviews that everyone should read because it provides great insights on how consumers continue to be deceived online. Thank you for using Fakespot in your research.
— FakespotTweets (@FakespotTweets) October 12, 2018
General Updates to Articles/The Site
Most of the week was spent putting together the Amazon.com article, but there a few general tweaks have been made to the site.
The contact page now has a section dedicated to Doug, and a little more about the man that started it all.
Not only that, we’ve also managed to make Rhonda an account instead of both of them writing under the name ‘Muxcle Staff’ and added her bio too. You can read all about both of them below:
Also, the Testosterone Booster FAQ page has been updated with links to the ‘Worst Ingredients’ page as well as the Amazon review.
There was also a new question asked regarding Testosterone Boosters and beard growth, that’s all been added:
The side bar will look a little different now too, no matter what section you’re in. We’ve added a ‘News’ section and a ‘Top Stories’ section.
Nothing major here, the News section will just have this weekly update which as you know, covers Muxcle stuff and other interesting online scoops. Whereas the ‘Top Stories’ page is going to cover the latest general supplement articles. These are articles that don’t fall into any specific category, it’s more industry insights and other things we think you’ll find interesting.
Any new reviews this week?
Green Tea Leaf Extract by EVLUTION Nutrition – Fat Burner
You asked, so we did it. Again, single ingredient supplements are good for stacking, but not great as a standalone product.
We love Green Tea, and we think we make that very clear in the review, but this supplement would be a lot better if it was combined with more thermogenics and appetite suppressants to help balance it out.
In short, good for combining with a stronger fat burner, but it shouldn’t be the only option you use in your fat burning stack.
What happened online in the world of Health Fitness?
Here’s a quick look at the discussions that are online that you may be interested in this week:
Study: Intermittent Fasting May Help Fight Type 2 Diabetes
If you’ve tried intermittent fasting, or OMAD (one meal a day), you’ll be aware of all the health benefits that come along with it.
We’ll probably do a full article on it at some point balancing all the pros and cons.
However, a new study [1] in BMJ from Furmli et al., shows that it contributed to three people with Type 2 Diabetes to no longer needing their insulin.
By not eating for longer periods of time, the three individuals were able to reverse their insulin resistance and become more sensitive to the hormone again. This made them no longer require insulin injections and even helped them reduce a significant amount of weight.
Obviously fasting is not one size fits all and may not work for everyone, but it is a good sign that it could have this kind of impact.
It’s pretty exciting stuff and you can read the full study below:
Reference:
[1] Furmli S, Elmasry R, Ramos M, Fung J4. Therapeutic use of intermittent fasting for people with type 2 diabetes as an alternative to insulin., BMJ Case Rep. 2018 Oct 9;2018. pii: bcr-2017-221854. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2017-221854.
Tony Gentilcore: Getting Stronger is Corrective
It’s a pretty powerful article from Tony this week as he talks about the issues that are brought up to him by new clients in the gym: mainly their injuries and what they can’t do.
Tony highlights that one of the main problems with some personal trainers is that they focus too much on correcting issues with their client rather than actually showing them what they’re capable of.
Some of this correcting can take months to see any results from, and in the meantime the client is making no progress in areas where they could make changes and see benefits from their hard work.
It’s a great and quick read, and Tony as always, is pretty hilarious in his writing.
Here’s the point that resonated with us the most from Tony’s article:
I don’t want my clients to feel like a perpetual patient.
I want them to train, because training tends to be more palatable than Scapular Wall Slides. It helps people stay on task and not bored to tears.
– Tony Gentilcore
It’s definitely worth a read, and you can see it all below:
We reached out to Tony and to let him know he made the weekly letter, he was happy to hear about it:
Well, I appreciate the kind words and share!
— Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore1) October 15, 2018
Reddit: Which to do first in the gym: 5 x 5 Bench Press or 50 Push Ups?
This is a post that comes from r/Fitness community by poster u/sizzlebb.
It’s a pretty basic question, but there is a hilarious answer from one of the posters, u/rebuilding_patrick, over there who breaks it all down into a Pokemon analogy:
This is a little out there, but think of building muscle like catching a Pokemon.
In order to catch a Pokemon you need to get it as low as possible in health, but without killing it and then throw a pokeball at it. In fitness this correlates to the concept of sub-maximal training with the pokeball representing diet and rest.
In the game you want to do this as quickly as possible because you’re being attacked. In the gym it’s the same, but because you have other shit to do.
So to minimize the damage your Pokemon take (maximize gym time efficiency) you start with your big attacks that take chunks off of the targets hp. In lifting terms those are your heavy compound lifts.
At a certain point those attacks/lifts will deal too much damage, so you switch to a weaker attack(less weight, and/or isolation movements) that lets you whittle down their hp to almost 1.
Then you throw your masterball of 10 hours sleep and a caloric surplus and catch your gains.
– u/rebuilding_patrick (Source)
In other words, start with Bench Press and then switch over to Push Ups. We agree, if you’re doing 5 x 5 you’re going to hitting relatively heavy weights – you don’t want to drop that bar on you if you’re ruined after push ups.
There’s a few opinions flying around in thread itself, but honestly, there’s just a lot of guys praising that amazing Pokemon analogy.
You can read it all and the hilarious commentary below:
Anything Else?
Not from us, how about you? If you came across anything interesting this week that you think we should be discussing, let us know in the comments.
We love hearing your views, and if you want to get in touch, as always, you can email me at doug [at] muxcle.com.
That’s all for this week, make sure you check in again next Monday!
– Doug
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