Before nattyornot.com I had another website dedicated to lifting. When I told one of my friends from high school about it, he said:

“Aren’t you ashamed that you look so skinny and yet you have a site about lifting?”

I was indeed skinny, but I wasn’t selling people the secret to exceptional muscle growth. My writings were honest and basic. Most of the info came from my personal experience.

Statements like the one of my friend show that the muscle media have created very unrealistic expectations in the heads of the average person.

What is muscle branding?

Branding is crucial. People pay millions to experts to get it right.  If you want your products to appeal to a very specific audience, you have to create a marketing campaign that can accomplish that.

One of the worst things that could happen to a brand is hijacking. Hijacking is accomplished by changing people’s perception of a brand.

Hijacking is accomplished by changing people’s perception of a brand.

Let’s say that a car company is making vehicles for the upper middle class. The cars are of good quality and therefore have high price tags as well. Imagine that bad ninjas decide to use the same vehicles for violent attacks. That brand is going to be destroyed because people wouldn’t want to be associated with bad assassins.

The same is true for muscle branding. The industry has created a universal look. If you don’t cover the criteria, you are not allowed to be a part of the product line.

The muscle industry does not profit from true naturals representing their products because the impact wouldn’t be the same. A brand is more successful when it sells false hopes and dreams. Normal doesn’t sell well and never will.

The whole “do you even lift” movement is actually a side effect of muscle branding. Unless you have big arms and a massive chest, you don’t lift in the eyes of society. You can be exceptionally strong for your size, but without a visual feedback, people have a harder time accepting things. It’s not about skills. It’s about looks.

If you think about it, the different training programs out there are also brands (e.g., Starting Strength, P90X…etc.)

Which is the best training brand? There isn’t such a thing. The second you subscribe fully to any ideology, you become a slave and a product.

P.S. The post revealing the natty potential has been updated.