“Nelson Montana is an in your face kind of guy; he tells it like it is. A bodybuilding industry insider, Montana worked for Testosterone Magazine, but got fired because he refused to write an article touting ZMA, a fancy Zinc supplement, as the latest thing for muscle growth. As an insider, he saw more deceptive tactics than you can imagine. It got to the point where he was ready to throw in the towel – instead; he decided to compile this controversial book - The Bodybuilding Truth.”
No, that’s silly and just not true. And besides, Nelson wasn’t fired because he was never under contract. He was just a freelance writer who wrote for many magazines. TC decided not to work with him anymore because Nelson’s ego became over-inflated. Besides, Nelson wasn’t the type of writer TC would assigned science articles to. He interviewed Victor Conte once about ZMA and told me that he didn’t like the supplement. That’s it. Bill Roberts was never a ZMA fan either. No big deal. Nelson continued to write for T-mag for a year or two after that interview, so it sure took TC a while to “fire” him.
NTW, Nelson used to say he "quit", now he was "fired"? Hmm, he needs to get his lies in order.
I considered Nelson a friend although we never met in person. He and TC decided not to work together because TC got tired of dealing with his egocentric behavior. It seemed that any time TC didn’t like an article of his, Nelson would go on a rampage about how smart he was. (Since Nelson was a high school drop-out, he tended to be hypersensitive on such matters and always let everyone know how intelligent he was.) I acted as a kind of a mediator for a while and talked TC into putting up with him several times.
Nelson paid me back my writing an article saying that I had no business working for a muscle mag because I had no experience and had only worked in a cemetery before. (I did work summers as a groundskeeper but I was also a teacher with three college degrees, two of which are related to writing and editing. He left that part out although he knew that info. That was also a bold statement coming from a musician who had never written for a mag before either until TC gave him a break.)
I liked most of the work Nelson did for T-mag, but in the end he was a guy who was unfortunately consumed by his own ego and self-esteem issues. I heard he went to Anabolic Extreme but was canned by them. Now he writes generic training articles mostly for that one mag I can’t mention by name because they sue me all the time for making fun of their 6 page supplement ads.
I think TC wrote about this once too in an Atomic Dog: Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION
Yeah, I got the same email this morning. Provacative little buildup they’re trying to do. Too hardcore for T-mag, eh? Fired because he wouldn’t tout ZMA, huh? TC is really a giant lizard, you say? Instead of protein we should all be prison bitches, hm. Get ripped beyond beleif with this simple 20 second a month secret workout you can do under a desk. I’m sold…just not on this. Lata.
MBE: "Wondering if TC can change color according to his mood since 1722."
-Eric
And I also heard that Montana was fired on account of his obsession with Shugsy’s goatee. And why in the hell did I just get an email telling me that my post was approved? Is this from Paul Chek’s “Positive Reinforcement” Progression Plan? I feel all warm and fuzzy. Hold me, Shugsy. Lata.
MBE: "He's just all excited because his dealer gets GROW bars in today. Since 10am."
-Eric
Those purporting to be iconoclasts are drawing on our open-minded–and well deserved–skepticism of the supplement establishment. We know all too well much of it is driven by profit-hungry motivation, rather than a genuine interest in supporting real size and strength gains (acknowledging, of course, EVERY operation must tend to its bottom line in order to keep its doors open). Why do they feed on our skepticism? Because it sells. Indeed, nothing can be taken for granted in this competitive world, and all “truths” must stand up to the light of day. I don’t “trust” anyone, but rather operate by accumulating that which people teach me about themselves. “Trust”, then, is expressed as a confidence I can reasonably, and comfortably, predict whether or not an individual will act in an honest and integrated manner. My experience with T-MAG makes me confident they feel much the same way, and have proven so, in my opinion, many times (hey, they were hawking ZMA before they were carrying it!). If Mr. Spellman’s description of Mr. Montana is indeed true, perhaps both should learn the enduring value and blessing of humility. At any rate, today’s email offering from him smokes Spellman in my book. Sorry for the rambling diatribe, I’m just angered such charlatanism exists in an atmosphere where we already have such an uphill battle fighting ignorance and bias.
A friend of mine got that “book”. All you get is a password to a website. It’s nothing but nelson’s old T-mag and Musclemag articles. Fuckin ripoff. My friend is going to try to get his money back. 40 bucks to read old articles. Jesus.
I’ve read the articles he wrote for Anabolic Extreme (which he basically used as a soapbox to bash T-Mag), and in all honesty he comes off as a very bitter man. Now, I must admit that I’ve never met the guy, but I was surprised to see how pedestrian and angry his writing was sans T-Mag’s editing. He came across as a totally different person, and not for the better.
Well, thank you, that little bit of information elevates mere sideshow hawking to the level of outright scam. For $40 I have to pay for the paper? It is certainly reasonable to assume Mr. Spellman knows the deal. Too bad copier paper is too scratchy to use in the outhouse.
Let me start off and conclude by saying he doesn’t know dick about ketogenic dieting. His article which i read a while back was jack and I can’t believe he thought of challenging the credibility of Lyle on that topic. Which leads me to another point…I think one reason bb’ing is sometimes looked down upon is becuase of the lack of academic clout among those who write and/or publish about nurtition/lifting etc. I’m not saying that having a PhD means anything, but if we could have more of our big time guru’s publishing in scientific journals, things might be different.
Anyway, thats why I love this board becuase for the most part, we KNOW what we are talking about, PHD or not.
Out Vain
The thing that got me was in the “brady bunch” atomic dog, where there were short bios of the writers. Nelson had TC list his IQ. That’s just tacky. I would never flaunt my IQ as evidence of anything. IQ doesn’t correlate to accomplishment or knowledge. Ridiculous. Correction: Pompous and ridiculous.
I don’t know Montana personally and I don’t know about his “book,” don’t care about his ego, don’t care how he parted with T-mag. But as long as everyone is shitting on him, I do want to say I liked some of his articles. I thought it was absolutely impossible to burn fat without aerobics (an idea the sheep still can’t part with) but “Aerobics Don’t Work” got me off the stationary bike. I just cut calories, modified my lifting workout, and fat started to burn all before Greman Body Comp., Meltdown, etc… “History of the Supplement Business,” “So You want to be a Personal Trainer?” are others to check out. Admittedly, not all his articles were remarkable, but they were a little different than some of the articles T-mag now provides which is a lotta of information overload on science and training (which is why I appreciate Chris’ articles on Mexico and Bangkok for variety).
The problem here is, once someone distorts the truth, it’s not reasonable to believe them from that point on. It’s the literal meaning of the word “integrity” (wholeness). People will teach you about themselves, and we can then predict how much value we want to place on their statements from that point on. “Trust” is no more than an expression of probability. I’m glad we can find some value in Mr. Montana’s work, though, but tender this comment with the observation that even a broken clock is right twice a day (a concept I was forced to share on occasion during the Clinton administration). Mr. Spellman MUST be hearing about, if not directly monitoring these comments. It’ll be interesting to see if he offers a response. Probably not. Also, articles written for entertaininment value are, well, entertaining, but I’m thankful for the “information overload” in t-mag. Only by reading every doggoned thing I can am I able to (try to) figure out what the real deal is. So raise your lips to the firehose of knowledge, Brother.
As far as I am concerned, if the guy is an asshole let him be, as long as he writes good articles. I am pretty sure not all of the regular T-mag writers are angels either. I liked steroids for health article, and I am not the only one. Of course, since he works for t-mag, it’s T-mag’s staff choice whether to keep him or not; just wanted to say that I don’t give a fuck about his behaviour or attitude as long as I can learn something new from him.