MUSCLE INSIDER At Arnold Classic
March 7, 2010
By: Scott Welch
Well if I wasn’t the most controversial man in the bodybuilding industry before, I certainly am now! After only 2 days down here at The Arnold Classic, it seems like every magazine owner in the bodybuilding industry is more than “concerned” over the launch of MUSCLE INSIDER. Why is this the case? With an ad to editorial ratio of 75% editorial to just 25% advertising (as opposed to the usual 50% editorial to 50% advertising), MUSCLE INSIDER has completely changed the game. We’ve more than upset the comfy “business as usual” approach the bodybuilding magazines have been taking! To make matters worse, the fact that MUSCLE INSIDER is also available in 41 countries off the very first issue has almost everyone in the bodybuilding industry saying “how the fuck did Scott Welch do that?”.
Why 41 Countries?
You see, if a supplement company wants to increase sales in their international market, they must take out ads in every single country their products are found in. A company like GASPARI NUTRITION has products in over 50 countries so as you can guess, this gets VERY expensive! But with MUSCLE INSIDER, one ad from say BSN, GASPARI or Bodybuilding.com will reach 41 countries at the same time! There’s no other magazine that can offer this to advertisers. Add this to a line up of the best writers in the industry managed with the same “uncensored” writing style done on SupplementGenius.com and you’ve got a magazine which bodybuilders are loving and advertisers are loving! So why 41 and not just 40? Well to start things off for our first year, we set a goal to reach the top 40 countries in the world where bodybuilding is VERY popular. This was no easy task. But being Canadian myself, I insisted that we also add in Canada which made it 41. With your help, we will build a global community of muscle insiders like you and me, and this community has no censorship and no borders!
In health,
Scott Welch
VPX Does NOT Pull Out From Arnold Classic
March 4, 2010
Well I saw the floor plan for the Arnold Classic and there was no sign of VPX who are always decked out in a huge booth. I then read on Anthony Roberts website that VPX had pulled out of the show. Well the latest “rumour” here at The Arnold Classic is that owner Jack Owac pulled out of the show in his negotiations with the show promoters and then later changed his mind. He then wanted to get back in there but it was just too late! The next twist is actually quite interesting indeed. VPX has now set up their own mini-tradeshow across the street 
from the convention centre in the Crown Plaza Hotel! They’ve rented a boardroom and have their products being displayed. The photo above is of the VPX expo and was taken last night! This is likely just being done for sales meetings etc. but if anyone can rock the house down with a tradeshow of their own it’s big daddy Jack Owac and a palate of REDLINE!
WELCH PUBLISHING Is Born
March 3, 2010
By: Scott Welch
It’s time to move over WEIDER PUBLISHING. Make room RK PUBLISHING. Time to go back to NYC Advanced Research Press! There’s an uncensored magazine publishing company now in the game and it goes by the name of WELCH PUBLISHING. If you’re a bodybuilding magazine owner, then you already know who I am and you already know what MUSCLE INSIDER is all about.
Things You May Already Know About MUSCLE INSIDER:
- It has nearly 50% less ads than ANY bodybuilding magazine.
- It’s being distributed in 41 Countries.
- It will debut at The Arnold Classic inside a 40-foot booth space standing 16 feet high! You’ll see us in the front row at the front entrance this Friday.
- It contains 164 pages with 75% editorial - a record in this industry.
- We have the best writers in the industry on board which happen to be some of the most costly too! Writers such as: Dr. Scott Connelly, Dr. Ann De Wees Allen, Dr. Ken Kinakin, Dr. Rick Silverman, Charles Poliquin, Chris Aceto, Will Brink, Vince Andrich, Charles Glass, Michael Mooney, Layne Norton, Dave Palumbo, Rehan Jalali, Mark Gilbert, Nathan Hinks, Johnny G, Lauren Jacobsen, Don Gauvreau, Scott Abel, Bryan Haycock, Larry Pepe, Lonnie Teper, Lyle McDonald, Greg Kovacs, Stuart McRobert, Brian Batcheldor, Milos Sarcev, Nicole McPherson, Scott Welch, Dan Kennedy, AJ Roberts, Maxx Scholz, Stephen Adele, Su Mosebar, Janet Lok, The Informant, and Mario Mavrides.
- MUSCLE INSIDER will be the most expensive magazine on newsstands at $9.99 an issue! Yes, it costs a lot of money to put a magazine together with this much editorial and with writers that are the best in the industry.
- Our pages also feature the very best photographers in the world and the top physiques in the business. Stars like Arnold, Jay Cutler, Dexter Jackson, Phil Heath, Victor Martinez, Branch Warren and many others will keep you glued to every page.
- We do not censor our writer’s opinions. If one of our writers hates something, we let them say so!
- Our interviews with top bodybuilders are not “ghost written” by staff writers to “sound like” the pros themselves. We know this is very common in the industry, but in our books it’s lying to the fans.
- ATTENTION COMPANY OWNERS: We will not be controlled by any advertiser! We’ve set our magazine up with a 5-year business plan and will not censor content just to keep “fat cat” advertisers happy. If you’ve got great products which consumers love, you’re likely already in our good books and we’ll do everything we can to help you. But if you’ve been ripping off bodybuilders with your garbage products, the buck stops here boys…
Why MUSCLE INSIDER Will NOT Have A Swimsuit Section
March 1, 2010
BY: Scott Welch (BASc) Nutrition
Bodyb
uilding magazines often sell more copies when they include a swimsuit section than they do without one. As a result, owners are sometimes forced to put swimsuit sections in magazines so their distributors and advertisers will be happy with their overall sales. If your sales are down, simply add a “hot sizzling swimsuit issue” cover blurb, put 10 pages of girls oozing sex and your sales will lift! In fact, back when I was a university student and working for MUSCLEMAG, I had a chance to interview my boss at the time for a school project. Owner Robert Kennedy told me that every time he runs a swimsuit issue, his magazine sales increase by 10%. But in my books, this is just the easy way to build magazine sales. Are these “extra copies sold” being bought by bodybuilders, kids, or perverts that wanna look at some ass without getting caught with an issue of PLAYBOY? Now don’t get me wrong guys, I like swimsuit issues just as much as the next guy (and more than the gay men reading MEN’S WORKOUT) and I’m the first guy to throw 
down my cash if MUSCLEMAG comes out with another “Naughty Swimsuit Special”. But MUSCLE INSIDER is a serious performance manual, not a mag to jack off to! You’re paying for every page of a bodybuilding magazine and we wanna use your money to give you the training, diet and supplement info you need to get in great shape! That’s what bodybuilding’s all about. If you want a swimsuit issue, go buy PLAYBOY or PENTHOUSE - and pick me up a copy while you’re at it!
CYTOSPORT For Sale
February 28, 2010
CytoSport is for sale! Yes, the maker of Muscle Milk is up for sale and an auction is going on right now! Benicia, California-based CytoSport hired Goldman Sachs to run an auction that began about a month ago, one of the sources said. CytoSport is in exclusive talks with PepsiCo, one of CytoSport’s distributors. If PepsiCo passes on it, other buyers like Nestle SA could be interested. PepsiCo signed in November 2008 a contract to distribute Muscle Milk in the US and Canada. But wait, there’s one more player that is very interested in buying CytoSport - GNC. The vitamin store chain may be more likely to buy CytoSport than Coca-Cola or PepsiCo, an industry banker said. GNC is a more likely buyer because CytoSport is targeting a different health and wellness channel than Coca-Cola and PepsiCo sources say. With CytoSport’s strong focus on the energy/protein and supplement market, it makes more sense for a company already involved in those channels (such as GNC) to acquire CytoSport as opposed to Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, which do not operate in similar channels. CytoSport’s revenue is $200 million per year and sources point out that the company could easily sell for a 2x to 3x multiple of sales.
Other Potential Buyers
I would think that other potential buyers would include protein giant Glanbia (who bought Optimum Nutrition and ABB not too long ago), ABOTT Laboratories, (who bought EAS several years ago) or retail giant NBTY/Vitamin World (who bought both MET-Rx and WorldWide Sports Nutrition a few year back). Whichever way it goes, when a $200 million dollar supplement company gets bought, major changes take place in the industry.
SOURCE: Financial Times
Scott Welch Writes For DXL?
February 26, 2010
By: Scott Welch BASc (Nutrition)
I scrambled all day last Saturday just trying to get everything finished for my design team before we printed 100,000 copies of MUSCLE INSIDER last Friday. I had to make a pit stop in at my local POPEYE’S store here on Yonge st. in Toronto to get some supplements for a “Rating The Gainers” article photo shoot Martin PIllmajer was doing for us. Ya see, in Canada it’s very hard to find a great selection of supplements at the various health-food stores and POPEYE’S seems to beat most of them on terms of price and selection. So, I made one clerk very happy Saturday as I bought almost $500 worth of products! When I paid for the supps, I was given a FREE copy of British Columbia-based “DXL” magazine (on right) which if you don’t know is owned by the supplement company Nutrabolics. This magazine comes out now once per year now and seems to have a real MMA focus lately. It was a funny coincidence because just the day before Jayson Wyner (co-owner of DXL/Nutrabolics) sent me a message on facebook asking me if I was interested in having him write for my magazine MUSCLE INSIDER! Now why would Jayson want to write for MUSCLE INSIDER when he already owns his own magazine? I guess he knows a good thing when he sees it!
Who Writes For DXL?
When I looked through DXL, I didn’t recognize many of the writers as I read over the articles. So I went to the masthead and looked under the “CREDITS” section and under “Contributers” it lists their many writers.
- I recognized Bryan Haycock as he’s one of the top guys in the game and a good choice of writers (he also writes for my mag MUSCLE INSIDER).
- I recognized Jayson Wyner, as I said he’s the co-owner of DXL/Nutrabolics.
- I recognized Rodney Dupont, he’s the other owner of DXL/Nutrabolics.
- I also recognized Aaron Hefter.
Scott Welch Listed In Masthead of DXL?
But the real shock took place when I got to the bottom of a list of writers names. At the end it lists “SCOTT WELCH”. What the fuck? My name is listed here? Hmm I write for DXL now? Could there be a second “Scott Welch” lurking about the fitness industry, testing supplements out, writing bodybuilding stories, being the watchdog of the supplement industry? Could this same Scott Welch also be living in Canada and writing for DXL magazine? If not, then I guess all I can do is say thanks to Rodney and Jayson at DXL for the free exposure! In an effort to make MUSCLE INSIDER the top bodybuilding magazine in the industry, I look forward to meeting the team at Nutrabolics at The Arnold Classic and thank them for helping me get the word out. Both of our booths are front row at the front entrance of the show, right beside each other! See ya there.
Supplement Sales In Canada
February 26, 2010
By: Johnny Justice
If you’re a supplement company selling products in Canada, then get ready for big changes! These changes will cause widespread layoffs and millions of dollars in losses. Ya see, Canada’s pharmacy regulators have begun urging pharmacists to stop selling unlicensed natural remedies! The order affects herbal treatments, multi-vitamins and other products. The National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) says pharmacists cannot be assured the products are safe until they are granted a government licence, and should not sell them in those circumstances. “Pharmacists are obliged to hold the health and safety of the public or patient as their first and foremost consideration,” said the association’s recently issued position statement. Since a massive proportion of supplements are sold in either health-food stores, grocery stores or drug stores, this change will be devastating to some companies.
“We are talking about job loss, we are talking about a lot of income loss, we are talking about product stuck in warehouses that cannot be sold,” Jean-Yves Dionne, a spokesman for the Canadian Health Food Association, said in an interview. A statement issued by the association calls the directive self-serving and contrary to federal government policy. “It has taken a sledge hammer to a finishing nail,” the group said. “It will create confusion for consumers. It is the wrong thing to do.”
So What’s Next?
It’s now up to the individual provinces to implement the directive or hold off. The Ontario and Quebec colleges have already pressed pharmacists to not buy or order any more of the affected products and to remove unlicensed product from shelves. Since these are the two provinces that make up more than 50% of all supplement sales in Canada, this is devastating news! If this spreads nationwide, supplement distributors in Canada that have become very dependent on drug channel sales will be in serious trouble. They will need to take the overabundance of inventory and begin dumping it into the independent health-food channel at a deeply discounted price just to get rid of it. US companies that have chosen to not use distributors and sell direct to drug stores (in an effort to save money of course) will now be forced off these store shelves and owners will be stuck with a ton of inventory! Of course, they’ll scramble to partner up with distributors so that they can dump their products at a rock-bottom price into the independent health food store channel. What does this mean to supplement users? The price of supplements normally found in drug stores should be going way down!
Where Did This Mess All Start?
Health Canada’s launched a new “natural-health products” regime in 2004 in an effort to clean up the industry. To sell supplements under this regime, you simply had to fill out an application and provide substantiation for the claims you wished to make with the product. The “loophole” came when manufacturers realized that they could continue selling their products, as long as they had at “applied for” approval. If too many applications came in (which they did), the government employees would be backlogged in paperwork and not able to get to newer applications! The department has issued about 18,000 natural-health licenses, while at least 10,000 products are still waiting for certification!
SOURCE: National Post
MUSCLE INSIDER Available In 41 Countries?
February 10, 2010
By: Scott Welch, BASc (Nutrition) CAAP (Advertising)“They’ll be bankrupt in 1 issue! Mark my words.”“What’re they nuts? Only 25% ads and 75% editorial - that formula will never work. Ya need to sell more ads to pay for everything!”“Scott Welch is out of his mind starting this thing! He may be a marketing expert and know bodybuilding but the magazine biz is a different kinda animal.”“We’re struggling to sell ads ourselves and you’ve got one magazine giving ads away for $1,000 bucks a page! This is the wrong time to start a new bodybuilding mag.”
- Ad To Edit Ratio: Well for one, we will will have 164 pages but only 25% ads and 75% editorial content! In nearly every other bodybuilding magazines, they’re 50% ads and 50% editorial. Some are as high as 60% advertising! So in an average 400 page phone book/bodybuilding magazine, you’re exposed to roughly 200 pages of ads! Don’t believe me, stop reading this, go grab an issue and count em up!
- No Censorship: Shit, cock, piss, dick, ass - ya I swore! You’re not gonna see the usual “coverups” and censoring of the truth when you read MUSCLE INSIDER! We aren’t gonna cover shit up to protect advertisers or “the powers that be”. No way. If shit goes down, we’ll cover it. If products taste good, we’ll be the first to tell ya because we try everything on the market. If you read an interview in our magazine, you’ll get a real interview not one “ghost written” to sound like the pro being interviewed (ya that shits happens all the time). If you see a training program in our magazine, you can bet your subscription to PLANET MUSCLE that we’ve tried it out ourselves before we recommended it to you.
- Worldwide Distribution: Now this is the REAL deal closer that “the big boys” are shaking in fear over. The following 41 countries will be carrying MUSCLE INSIDER:
- USA
- Canada
- Brazil
- Ecuador
- Argentina
- Venezuela
- Bolivia
- Chile
- Portugal
- France
- Italy
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Austria
- Holland
- Poland
- Ireland
- Ukraine
- Russia
- Turkey
- Greece
- Iraq
- UAE
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Malta
- Libya
- India
- Pakistan
- Sweden
- Norway
- Serbia
- Macedonia
- Indonesia
- Singapore
- Malaysia
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Phillipines
- Japan
- China
5. Global Online Community
Scott Welch vs. IFBB Pro Mehmet Yildirim
February 8, 2010
We we’re in LA a few week’s back checking out the LA FIT EXPO but no trip to the Meca would be complete without stopping by fellow Canadian Dave Bourlet’s Max Muscle store beside Gold’s Gym. We were out that way promoting our soon-to-be released magazine MUSCLE INSIDER. While there, I had a pose down with IFBB pro bodybuilder Mehmet Yildirim and he kicked my ass! Now unlike most bodybuilding magazine owners I do hit the iron hard nearly every day, but he put me to shame instantly! But hey, that’s why he’s a pro and I’m not and will never be! Mehmet Yildirim is training under the eye of Muscle Insider columnist Charles Glass (yes, he’s writing for our new magazine). Mehmet Yildirim was so ripped he had veins on his abs - and he was 4 weeks out! Dave Bourlet (a.k.a. Mad Max) was really welcoming to our whole team and loaded us up with free clothes etc. We tried to sign Dave up to write for Muscle Insider and be the star of our online community but “another” magazine beat us to the punch - but we’ll let Dave announce that news! Thanks to Dave, his girlfriend Jennifer and of course Mehmet Yildirim who was preparing for the Phoneix Pro show where I’m certain he’ll do some serious damage.
MUSCLE INSIDER
February 4, 2010
By: Scott Welch BASc (Nutrition), CAAP (Advertising)
Back in the early 90s, I fell in love with a hardcore bodybuilding magazine called “MUSCLE MEDIA 2000″. It was unlike anything I’d ever read before its time. The magazine took an honest approach to training, diet, supplements and even covered steroids! Yes, the dreaded “S” word. There was NO censorship. Articles were written for the bodybuilder that was indeed “hardcore” but may or may not have been using steroids. The mag catered to guys that didn’t have the genetics to be Mr. Olympia, but were still in search of effective methods to take their performance to the max. They recruited top writers like:
- Dan Duchaine (now deceased)
- T.C. Luoma
- Charles Poliquin
- Stuart McRobert
- Will Brink
- Paul Chek
- Shawn Phillips
- Dr. Michael Dullnig (now deceased steroid authority)
- Anthony Almada
- Michael Mooney
- Dr. Scott Connelly
- Sue Daniel (brilliant editor that didn’t get much of the credit, but put much of the magazine together)
- Bruce Kneller
- Rehan Jalali
UNCENSORED INFORMATION
At that time, FLEX, MUSCLE & FITNESS, MD, IRON MAN and others didn’t really cover steroid use, yet many bodybuilding fans were well aware of their use. I’d even venture to say that “some” of these fans were steroid users themselves! MUSCLE MEDIA also provided readers with uncensored training info that you couldn’t find in any other magazine. Programs that worked for guys not necessarily on steroids. I’m serious when I say that you could read one training column, apply the learnings that night in the gym and see a difference in your performance immediately! The REAL difference from other magazines was that these programs actually worked for guys like you and me - guys that weren’t pro bodybuilders. With diet articles, they cut through all the crap and taught you what you really needed to eat to make the best progress possible. There was no contest coverage. There was no gossip of who slept with whom or who got signed by which magazine empire. No way! Every issue was packed with bodybuilding “secrets” that made it a learning manual, not just another bodybuilding rag…
MUSCLE MEDIA & EAS
I should have mentioned that the magazine was owned by a guy named Bill Phillips who was a marketing 
genius! Along with his brother (Shawn), sister (Shelly) and father (Bill or “BP” as he was called), he built the magazine readership to have a cult-like following. During this time, he also owned a little supplement company you may have heard of, it’s called EAS. Yes, the same EAS that you now see in virtually every health-food store in the world! As time went on, the magazine audience grew larger and larger and EAS supplement sales grew higher and higher.
LIVING THE HIGH LIFE
Bill now owned several Lamborghini cars, was dating Playboy bunnies, hanging with celebrities and living like a total rock star! He also started supplying local NFL players on the Denver Broncos with EAS supplements. Players from the Denver Broncos like Shannon Sharpe and John Elway were on EAS supplements. Athletes were seen in TV interviews with EAS products in their locker and had logos on their clothing! Athletes later wore EAS earrings and gold neck chains to get around NFL rules on what could and couldn’t be shown on TV. Phillips was always one step ahead of everyone!
TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING
Bill Philips dominated the bodybuilding magazine and supplement industry amongst the seriously hardcore. But sources close to Bill say that he wanted to get everyone in America in shape, not just bodybuilders. So he started to remove some of the “edge” to the magazine. Steroid writers were let go or were just asked to write only about “mainstream” fitness topics. Photos shown in the magazine now had to be more “artistic” and not bodybuilding focussed. Science-backed articles were still present, but were geared to the couch potato and not the hardcore bodybuilder looking to put an inch on his arms! Of course, there was a method to his madness. Bill knew that there were many more average “everyday” people in America than there were bodybuilders. But he was also secretly looking for a buyer for the empire he created….
1999: North Castle Partners Buys EAS & MUSCLE MEDIA
In 1999, Phillips sold part of his company to North Castle Partners for 160 million dollars! He then concentrated on writing and promoting his books through a publishing company he started called High Point Media. By this time, MUSCLE MEDIA as a magazine was totally unfocussed and had lost its identity. Once a magazine with Arnold on the cover, it now featured men wearing leather pants on the cover! Old articles were recycled and more new writers were brought on and as a result, the “core” bodybuilding audience fled. Then Editor-In-Chief T.C. Luoma jumped ship to partner up with a guy named Tim Patterson to start an online magazine called “Testosterone” (now known as “T-Mag”). Some MUSCLE MEDIA readers followed T.C. to this new website, but many didn’t…
2004: Abbott Laboratories Buys EAS & MUSCLE MEDIA
While MUSCLE MEDIA at its peak had a distribution of 500,000 copies per issue, the change in direction alienated many traditional readers, and sales numbers reportedly declined sharply afterwards. The once “hardcore” bodybuilding magazine finally ceased in 2004 after Abbott Laboratories bought EAS & MUSCLE MEDIA for 320 million dollars and the company decided to shut the magazine down completely! One insider told me that all the old photos, articles, and all other intellectual property are still sitting in the offices of Abbott Laboratories but the company has no plans of doing anything with them in the near future. It’s been 6 years now and I’m told that situation will likely not change.
November 23, 2009: Supplement Genius Scott Welch Tries To Buy MUSCLE MEDIA?
Yes, on November 23, 2009 I actually contacted Susan Wendricks of Abbott Laboratories and tried to buy Muscle Media and all trademarks, images, content, URLs etc. associated with it. I was prepared to pay several million dollars for all of it as I felt there was significant equity still in the brand and that the return of this incredible magazine would make a huge impact in the bodybuilding industry. Unfortunately, nobody from Abbott Laboratories got back to me…
March 4, 2010: Supplement Genius Scott Welch Launches MUSCLE INSIDER
Imagine bringing the same writers from the original MUSCLE MEDIA back for one last show! Yes, a chance to invigorate the sleepy bodybuilding magazine industry! If you could then combine these legendary writers with the best writers on the current bodybuilding scene, you’d have the greatest writing lineup imaginable. Partner up with only the best physique photographers in the industry and choose only their best pictures. Next, you must prevent large advertisers from dominating the magazine and accept only a handful of ads each issue so that the readers get content and not just a bunch of ads! Add in a huge social media component and Podcasts and you’d have a bodybuilding community I’d wanna be part of … and I bet you’d wanna be too! Get ready because at this year’s Arnold
Classic in a 40 foot booth, bodybuilding will change forever!