|
2000:
January
| February
| March
| April
| May
| June
| July
| August
| September
| October
| ... |
|
||
|
October
2000 The
King is Dead....Long Live the King! Hopefully
I'm now addressing a barefoot audience, having lost your socks the moment
the new Anabolic Extreme website appeared on your screen. This is it folks, the new AE that I've been going on and on
about for months. I must
admit, I'm feeling a bit like the new father in the maternity ward, cigars
for everybody! "Congratulations
Mr. Meuller, you're now the proud father of a bouncing baby website." Wow,
what a ride it's been so far, huh?
It really does seem like yesterday when I was sitting in
front of my computer, HTML handbook in one hand and the Dreamweaver
manual in the other trying to figure out how to design the first
incarnation of Anabolic Extreme.
Damn computer programming!
I knew I should have taken some computer courses in college.
Who here remembers the first appearance of AE, that simple,
cheap, embarrassing blue and yellow website that appeared back in
July of '99?
Ah yes, I can see you guys in the back, both of you.
Thanks for your support. Now,
a little over a year later, here we are.
A bona fide contender for the title of world's best
bodybuilding publication. Think
that's a little pretentious? Perhaps,
if we're getting graded on how many pictures we have of semi-nude
fitness babes or how many ads we can possibly cram into our
publication. However,
if we're getting graded on informative content alone, who's doing it
better than AE? When
it finally became possible to actually take AE to the next level, I
knew the very first thing we had to do was redesign the website.
Time for another Meuller analogy.
Let's say I had a book that held the secret to success in
life. Let's also say
that this book was bound in a ratty, torn up cover that had
something that appeared to be cat puke all over it.
There would be many that would never discover the beauty of
the information inside because they couldn't get past the cover of
the book. Now, I'm not
saying the look of the old AE website was reminiscent of a ratty,
torn up book cover with cat puke on it, but it certainly had
outlived it's usefulness. It
was my fear that many outside the hardcore steroid crowd were being
turned off by the look of the old website and missing out on a lot
of the valuable content were presenting.
Additionally, because we are expanding coverage of issues
outside the realm of anabolic pharmacology, I wanted AE to have a
more professional, mainstream look. After
countless hours spent in our secret AE hideaway (similar to the
Batcave in size and amenities) surrounded by a bevy of beautiful
fitness competitors, we managed to create the website you see before
you. Actually, it was a little less exciting than that, I sat
naked in front of my computer for hours at a time while everyone
involved in the project emailed back and forth.
But, I did have Batman playing on the TV behind me and I was
thinking about fitness babes most of the time.
We decided that if were going to spend the time and money to
redesign the site we wanted to do it right.
Sure, we could have slapped together a simple HTML website
that performed efficiently and looked attractive, but where's the
fun in that? I wanted a
website that was an experience in and of itself, something that was
a prelude to the great information presented inside.
Believe
me, the graphical redesign of AE is just the beginning.
It's not my intention to simply repackage an old product in a
better looking box. We've
been working diligently to get new writers on board, and have had
considerable luck. To
be honest with you, even I'm shocked at some of the people we've
managed to recently sign on. It
wasn't more than 3 months ago I had a staff of 5 writers, all
working for free mind you, and now we're attracting some of the top
talent in the world. As
you all know, we recently added Nelson Montana and Derek Cornelius
to the AE writing team. I'm
pleased to announce that William Lewellyn, author of Anabolics 2000,
will also be sharing his considerable knowledge in the pages of the
magazine. Truth be told, I hadn't read Williams book until very
recently, when he contacted me about possibly writing for our
publication. He was
kind enough to FedEx a copy of his book and after reading it, I
immediately knew this was someone we needed on our staff.
Look for William's first article to be appearing within the
next few weeks. So
who else is coming on board? My
friends, I wish I could tell you.
However, for a variety of reasons, I'm not at liberty to
divulge any more information. Suffice
to say, you are simply not going to believe some of the people we've
managed to sign. In
order to hire some of the writers whose work you'll soon be seeing
in the pages of AE, we’ve had to spend a little money.
Funny thing, some of these guys wouldn't work for free like
my original staff, and once the old crew got wind of the new guys
getting paid, they actually had the temerity to ask for money too! What's a guy gonna do? What
this guy decided to do was to find some sponsors, right quick!!
Unfortunately, I've got this damn code of ethics that
prevents me from taking money from every yahoo with snake oil to
sell the aspiring bodybuilder.
Getting sponsors that allowed me to sleep at night with a
clear conscience proved to be a little harder than originally
thought. Let
me get serious here for a moment.
Anyone who's been reading AE for any length of time knows my
position on most of the bodybuilding publications available today.
For the most part, these other magazines are nothing but
supplement catalogs filled with pictures of steroid filled
bodybuilders and saline filled fitness girls.
Even worse, most of these magazines contain countless "advertorials",
ads for various supplements disguised as legitimate articles.
I truly believe that none of these magazines are selling
because of their informative content, they simply sell because
bodybuilders like looking at other bodybuilders and fitness girls.
How do I know? Because I buy these magazines all the time!
However, I really couldn't tell you the last time I actually
read an article in one of these mags, it's totally a visual picnic
for me. AE
exists to fill the gap these other publications will never fill.
Yes, I like looking at pictures of Lee Priest and Ronnie
Coleman and thinking to myself, "Some day….".
I also like looking at pictures of Monica Brant and Amy
Fadhli and thinking to myself, "Some day.."
(Ouch! Honey,
I'm joking! You know I
find those women repulsive!). However,
I also like learning about bodybuilding.
I can sit around and dream about a world class physique all
day long but if I don't have the proper tools, I'll never develop a
body that looks good on the beach, let alone an NPC or IFBB stage.
Certainly genetics play a large role in getting there, as do
the countless hours spent in the gym and at the dinner table.
What's the missing component here, folks?
Knowledge. Without the proper know-how, a guy with the best
genetics in the world won't amount to a hill of beans.
Unfortunately, I just don't see the current crop of
bodybuilding rags switching gears and suddenly providing the average
bodybuilder the real information he needs to maximize his God-given
potential. That's our niche. Providing
the truth. I
guess it's kind of a knock on bodybuilding when you can claim your
niche is telling the truth. However,
that's how I view our role. Our
byline is "An uncensored look at bodybuilding and performance
enhancement." I
guess that about sums us up, doesn't it?
Like it or not, we tell it like it is.
So
back to the issue of sponsors.
Most of the companies that will spend the money to advertise
in a bodybuilding publication don't necessarily like this,
"tell is like it is" policy.
In fact, most of these potential advertisers would rather
that we didn't exist at all. However,
there are a few reputable companies out there that actually agree
with the way we approach our coverage of the sport of bodybuilding.
There's actually a few supplement manufacturers out there that
produce quality products that I can have appear in the pages of AE
without feeling as if I've sold-out.
My
advice to you, dear reader, is to print out this article and store
it in a safe place. Why? Because I'm about to make a bold statement.
Anabolic Extreme will never sell-out, and we will never go
the way of every bodybuilding publication before us.
Did you get that? Yes, I know words are cheap, so let me explain why you can be
so sure of what I just told you.
I OWN THE MAGAZINE. That's
it, there's your explanation. I
guess that's not cutting it, huh?
Ok, ok, I guess I'll have to explain my position a little
further. Like you, I
consider myself a bodybuilder.
I'm not some guy in a lab coat trying to figure out the next
breakthrough in bodybuilding supplementation, I'm not some research
scientists whose been locked in academia for most of my life
speaking about the wonderful world of anabolic steroids, and I'm not
some 6' geek trying to convince the world that I actually weigh more
than 170 lbs. I walk
the walk and talk the talk. I
don't think many could successfully argue that the term
"hardcore" wouldn't apply to Jason Meuller.
As such, I really can't imagine anything more boring in the
world than writing an article about the merits of creatine
supplementation. Actually,
I can. How about an
article filled with pseudo-science and techno-babble to convince you
that XZY Brand creatine is superior to any other brand of creatine
on the market. Definitely
more boring. And
because I own this magazine, I'll be damned if anything along those
lines are going to appear in its' pages. At
one point in my life, I was that 16-year old kid who got suckered by
the hype and marketing so prevalent in supplement ads.
In fact, that 16-year old kid didn't really open his eyes to
the real world of bodybuilding for almost 5 years.
When I did finally awake from this media fueled stupor, I
felt like the worlds biggest fool. The countless years wasted following routines that were far
too advanced, or using supplements that didn't work, or eating in a
fashion that was entirely wrong for my goals were all a result of
fallacies perpetrated by the countless bodybuilding magazines I had
read. You know what?
I felt cheated. Cheated
that the very magazines that I had trusted to help me along my
bodybuilding journey had led me so astray.
Cheated that the only truth that mattered to these
publications was that which coincided with their own self-serving
agenda. So
now, here's the 16-year old kid, all grown up, eyes wide open,
operating his own bodybuilding magazine.
Think there's any chance that I'm following the course
charted by every bodybuilding publication that's gone before AE?
Not on your life. The
thing that makes this magazine tick is the people behind it.
I've managed to surround myself with a talented group of
people that share my philosophy of bringing you an uncensored look
at bodybuilding and performance enhancement. I've managed to find a few sponsors that aren't afraid of a
publication that tell it like it is.
And the biggest coup of all is finding you, or maybe it's you
finding us. I realized
a long time ago that there were thousands of people just like myself
who were tired of the bullshit we were being spoon fed by
bodybuilding journalists. You are that group of people.
The members of the bodybuilding community that understand
that knowledge truly is power. The
old AE is dead. The new
AE just ascended to the throne.
While we may look different, the principals on which this
magazine was founded will always be the driving force behind our day
to day operation. I hope you're impressed by the new website but baby, you
ain't seen nothin' yet. Meuller
out. |
|
|
|
|
|