That's a great quote.
RIO: I'm a little surprised. I thought you of all people would get my point. I never said that others should offer studies and I shouldn't, or that my experience is enough. I know I would never say that because it's ridiculous and it's stuff like that which frustrates me because it goes against all I believe. To put it in siple terms, I'm saying that a poorly conducted study is as valueless as no study at all, and it too many cases it's worse since people tend to believe studies, no matter how inanccurate they are.
Agreed, a bad study is worse than no study, that's exactly why I tried to emphasize that people should be able to make the distinction.
It just blows me away how you can be so sure about so many controversial aspects of bbdilng , training and nutrition, and I think you are maybe right in a lot of them, that you raise very interesting questions, as a matter of fact you have the abillity to QUESTION what is considered a fact, and strongly present what you believe it would be the truth, but I just think that in some cases you are pushing it too hard. I don't know how can you be so sure about things with so much evidence presented in contrary , even if you consider it weak evidence, isn't enough to raise the benefit of doubt???
And incidentally, I read over a hundred studies gathering information for The Bodybuilding Truth, but I'm not a reference guy. I just think it's boring and "text book like" and I feel my job as a writer, in part, is to entertain. Some guys love that text book stuff. To each his own. Utimately, it doesn't matter because for every study that says one thing, another study says another. What's the point of just picking a side? I'd rather use deduction and present my reasoning. But hey, some people just want the studies. The funny thing is, one guy who posted on this thread accused me of just offering science without experience. How can I possibly be guilty of both sides of the issue???. It's just another example of people choosing ridicule over analysis.
I'm not questioning your book, I'm sure it's quite a pleasant reading, but as you said since there can be different results from some studies there is not , from the scientific point of view, on these studies, a fact, a consense.
Much of what is espoused here is (or should be) intelectual debate, and that should include the interpretation of studies -- especially those conducted for bodybuilding purposes because they tend to not be very well funded.
However, if I say something like, I worked for a supplement company and I saw THIS -- that is not an opinion. You may chose not to believe what I'm saying is accurate, but that's a seperate issue.
If I'm not mistaken, what ulter is saying is; " They only go after the guy who's carrying the ball."
I'm not sure what Silent Method is saying.