There seem to be a number of common threads tying the online low-carb community together. One is a shameless and rather sleazy willingness to spread bald-faced lies, then - with a straight face – accuse their adversaries of doing the exact same thing.
Recently, I wrote a brief piece linking to an excellent review of Fred Hahn’s atrocious book Slow Burn Fitness Revolution by Matt Schoeneberger M.S. & Jeff Thiboutot M.S. In it, I mentioned how Fred spends an inordinate amount of time on web forums and blog comments sections getting into arguments – and invariably getting his cyber-butt kicked.
Not surprisingly, Fred didn’t take too well to my comments. And not surprisingly, in his retort he resorts to the usual low-carb tactic of blatant lying to try and save face.
Poor Fred. Except for a few of his die-hard screwball followers, he’s not fooling anyone.
Fred’s Worrying “Fondness” for Lean, Shaven Italian-Australian Males
Hahn writes:
“Why he would take the time to write about me (yet again) in such a derogatory and ad hominem fashion is beyond me."
Here's a guy who launched a totally unprovoked attack on yours truly back in 2007, now bewildered as to why he would ever be on the receiving end of (some very well-deserved) critical commentary! Suck it up Fred - what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Fred then claims about moi: "He clearly has a fondness for me – since the opposite of liking someone is indifference towards them. And as you can tell from his blog post, indifferent towards me he is not.”
Fred, the opposite of liking someone is disliking them. I’ll be perfectly frank: not only do I dislike you, I think you are an angry, ignorant and highly misguided individual who spends way too much time on the Internet arguing and spouting untenable nonsense. You accuse me of being vitriolic, but your own Internet escapades are littered with animosity, ridicule and insults. You appear to be possessed by a pathological need to start arguments, even when it’s abundantly clear from the outset you haven’t a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. You are the quintessential example of someone who really needs to “get a life”. If such an appraisal constitutes “fondness” in your mind, then you’re even stranger than I thought.
For the rest of us still in full possession of our rational faculties, let’s play Fred’s game for a moment and briefly adopt his twisted mindset. If posting about someone in a “derogatory and ad hominem fashion” is indicative of “fondness” for that person, then Hahn must absolutely adore me. After all, a couple of years back, out of the blue, Fred posted a 4,000-word rant about me ironically titled “Who is Anthony Colpo and should anyone care?”
http://slowburn.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/who-is-anthony.html
Obviously Hahn cares a great deal, because he appears to have developed a deep grudge against me ever since he got trounced attempting to promote his super-slow training methods on my forum. Hahn has since taken the opportunity to denigrate me every chance his Internet escapades allow.
Indifferent towards me Hahn is not.
Fred, I’ll give you the same advice I gave your hapless co-author Michael Eades after he unwisely tried the “man crush” argument on me a couple of years back: go fulfil your homo-erotic fantasies elsewhere.
And do something about your blatant hypocrisy. Your own forum states:
“Thank you for participating on our Serious Strength discussion board. We welcome anyone but please - be polite and gracious. Trolls and those who behave irrationally, rudely or sarcastically will be immediatley [SIC] banned, all posts removed and never allowed to post again. Sorry for the harshness but that's the way it goes. Thank you and enjoy the learning process. Kind regards, Fred Hahn, owner Serious Strength, Inc.”
Fred demands pristine behaviour from participants of his own forum, but feels it's his birthright to go to other people’s forums and behave like an argumentative jerk. Then when he gets banned, he throws a super-sized tantrum. Good on ya, Fred.
(Fred’s bollocks in his aforementioned post, by the way, were decisively debunked here).
No Comment?
Fred then whines:
“And if you noticed, the comments section is closed for the blog he wrote deriding me. But the truth is the comments were never open in the first place. And why? I’ll venture a guess – he hasn’t got the guts to open the blog up for comments because he knows he can’t take the heat he’d get. He’s like that bully in the schoolyard who could dish it out but when pushed back, cried and ran away.”
Another example of classic Fred Hahn sleaze. The ginger-haired flabster wants you to believe that I specifically closed the comments for my recent blog post about the Slow Burn review.
Nice try Fred. But as a cursory glance at the rest of my site quickly reveals, the comments function on my entire site has been closed since day one.
I was recently asked about this on Facebook, and this was my reply:
“I wanted a site that looked like a neat HTML set-up but had the convenience of a blog, the comments thing was not something I specifically wanted. Plus, I don't even begin to have the time nor inclination to endlessly argue with all the disgruntled low-carb screwballs a comments section would inevitably attract... I'm lucky to find time to post just the articles.”
The only reason there is even a “comments closed” line on my pages is because that is an unavoidable feature of the blog template I use. You see, Fred, I don’t have all day to sit at my computer getting into pointless and time-consuming arguments with people like yourself who clearly have nothing better to do.
Hmmm, let’s see: should I hang with friends, horse around with my adorable nephews, have some fun with female acquaintances, go to the beach, go for a ride, do a workout, do some productive research, read an engaging book …or sit at my computer arguing with losers?
Gee, that’s a hard one.
Furthermore, I’m hardly the only one who has adopted this preemptive wanker-avoidance strategy. Over at the highly popular T-nation website, editor-in-chief TC Luoma scrapped the comments section after becoming exasperated at the level of hostility being demonstrated towards article authors by readers. The final straw came after the site posted an article by a female fitness competitor which, despite being non-controversial and in no way defamatory towards anyone, inspired some misogynistic twat to comment “What a bitch!”
People like that, and people like you Fred, are a major reason I wouldn’t even consider having a comments section on my site.
Fred Hahn is a Documented Liar
According to Hahn:
“Actually, Brian Johnston, an expert in the field of strength training and someone with an impressive physique (more so than Colpo’s) never once ridiculed mine. Though we’ve had our differences, he has never stooped to that level with me. Not that I ever saw at least.”
How do you live with yourself, Fred?
Brian Johnston has described Fred Hahn as:
--being “a guy who can't develop his physique worth a beans”:
http://www.drdarden.com/readTopic.do?id=439145
(see the first post; Johnston’s screen name is "logicbdj", Hahn’s is “Seriousstrength”)
--of being “fat” and having “love handles”:
http://www.drdarden.com/readTopic.do?id=439145&pageNo=7
(fourth post down)
--and of looking "like a teenager doing nothing more than barbell curls and bench presses":
http://www.drdarden.com/readTopic.do?id=439145&pageNo=7
(second post down)
Hahn claims he is unaware of these comments – and he is flat out lying. As the above links show, Fred was an active participant and adversary of Johnston in the very forum thread that contained all the above comments. Fred Hahn, ladies and gentlemen, has just confirmed he is a bald-faced liar.
As for the steroid accusations, I originally read about them in another not-so-friendly forum exchange between Hahn and Johnston that had been forwarded to me by a friend shortly after I booted Hahn off my own forum in 2007. Johnston had pointed out Hahn’s poor physique, and made specific reference to his lack of leg development. Hahn had retorted by accusing Johnston of steroid usage, to which Johnston replied he was happy to undergo testing if Hahn footed the bill. Unfortunately, the forum in question is now defunct, as are the incriminating links:
http://p067.ezboard.com/fzonetrainingfrm2.showMessage?topicID=213.topic
http://p067.ezboard.com/fzonetrainingfrm2.showMessage?topicID=213.topic&index=3
http://p067.ezboard.com/fzonetrainingfrm2.showMessage?topicID=53.topic
http://p067.ezboard.com/fzonetrainingfrm2.showMessage?topicID=3.topic&index=1
Yeah, I know, I should have captured screen shots of the above pages and filed them away for safekeeping. But the truth is, regardless of Fred’s fantasies about manly fondness, I just didn’t give enough of a shit about him to make files of them.
The fact that the above links are non-functioning is no doubt why Fred now feels emboldened enough to deny his steroid accusations. However, the animosity between Hahn and Johnston is hardly a secret in the HIT community, and a poster by the name of "RW Hawk" noted in a 2008 thread that Hahn had accused Johnston of steroid use, while Johnston reportedly stated Fred was the “Trainer of Chumps” and had “legs like a dog”:
http://www.drdarden.com/readTopic.do?id=494961
(Fourth post from bottom)
Also, Hahn is indeed capable of accusing others of steroid use, then going suddenly quiet when asked to put his money where his vitriolic mouth is and pay for testing. After all, he used this very tactic on yours truly:
http://www.anthonycolpo.com/sweat_post_2007_fred_hahn_steroids.pdf
(Sixth post from bottom)
So I’ll let readers decide who’s telling the truth about whether or not Hahn accused Johnston of steroid use: yours truly, or a certified liar like Fred who has been documented making similar claims against me.
Fit and Lean versus Flabby and Unfit
Hahn was sufficiently miffed by my comments to post photos of his own physique as part of his response. To Fred I extend my sincerest gratitude, because I couldn’t have asked for better evidence of his inferior training methods.
You can check out Fred’s photos below (warning: if you’ve just eaten, you may want to wait an hour or so…).
The least disturbing way to view Fred's physique: with as little light as possible.
Before turning for a more front-on shot, Fred wisely dons a singlet to hide his chub-laden gut.
"What's this thing?" It's a camera, Fred...
A shot of Fred from 2008, this time with brighter lighting that shows his flab and bright red body hair in all its glory. With only two 20-minute workouts a week, scrupulous avoidance of razors and a little red dye, you too could look this bad!
And here’s a photo of some handsome bastard from Australia that Fred can’t stop banging on about 🙂
This is what happens when you spend more than 40 minutes a week on physical training. The side effects include vastly improved fitness, single-digit body fat levels, admiring glances from the opposite sex (and even the same sex, if you happen to be walking through Prahran). The greatly improved social options will also force you to spend less time at your computer acting like a super-slow, super-sulking, super-troll.
Fred Hahn, after three decades of weight training, and after writing a book in which he boldly claims his weight training system is the most effective in existence, and after spending an inordinate amount of time on diet and bodybuilding forums arguing and pontificating about weight training and nutrition, weighs in at 173 pounds at a height of 5’10” and a body fat percentage of what appears to be around 15%.
Yours truly does not even begin to consider himself a “bodybuilder”, and trains primarily for function rather than aesthetics. Don’t get me wrong, I like to look good in my boardies and enjoy the extra female attention every bit as much as the next guy. But maximizing my bicep peak or adding “sweep” to my outer thighs are hardly what I consider pressing issues in life. If I only have time to either hit the weights or go for a ride, and it’s a nice day, well…where’s my helmet?
If you’ve ever seen more than a handful of serious road cyclists, you’ll know that road cycling is not exactly synonymous with big muscles; quite the opposite. But screw it, I’ve loved cycling ever since I was a kid and have never grown out of the feeling of peace, solitude and accomplishment I get from a good ride in the hills. And with a calorie burn of up to 1,000 per hour, cycling in the hills is a major factor why I’m nowhere near as big as I could be.
Nonetheless, cycling addiction notwithstanding, I’m still carrying more lean mass than the bodybuilding-obsessed Fred Hahn. I currently weigh 78 kilograms (172 pounds) at 5’10” and a body fat level just under 7%. So I’m virtually the same height and weight as Fred, but far leaner.
Fred, if that’s all you’ve got to show for yourself after three decades’ worth of bodybuilding training, then you really need to take a good, long hard look at your training methods. Like I said, they suck – and your own pictures and stats prove it.
Stupid is as Lazy Does
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s lazy people. In this day and age, people seem to think it’s their birth right to have wealth, success, and a wonderful body without having to put in any real effort. Hence the popularity of all these lame-brained “time-efficient” training regimens.
You can see this “I-want-something-for-nothing” mentality in both Fred’s comments and those of the 5 or 6 people who read his blog. Fred brags about his 20-minute workouts as if they are a virtue. What this anti-genius doesn’t realize is that his ridiculously short workouts produce a ridiculously low calorie burn, which is why his body is still covered in unsightly flab – and until he changes his thinking and adopts a more productive work ethic, it always will be.
Fred belittles the fact that my weight training workouts take longer than his. You’re damn right they do Fred, and that’s one of the reasons my physique is light years ahead of yours. Fred, you might actually want to sit down before you read what I’m about to say: sometimes I’ll spend near 3 hours riding in the Adelaide Hills, and I’ll be loving every minute of it. No, that’s not a typo Fred! Believe it or not, human beings are indeed capable of moving continuously for 3 hours without becoming emaciated, immunosuppressed, overtrained zombies! Who would’ve thought?!
But then again, I’m not some flabby-assed sloth who deflects attention from his own laziness by sniping at others who are willing to actually get off their butt and do a real workout. Folks, if you want to get truly fit and lean, you’re not going to do it with a couple of 20 minute workouts a week. Champion riders like Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong didn’t achieve absurdly low resting heart rates by riding 20 minutes then spending the rest of the day spouting bullshit on the Internet. Top MMA fighters don’t achieve their speed, agility, endurance and inspiring warrior physiques by rolling on the mats for 20 minutes then heading to the pub for some “wine and spirits” a la Mr Hahn.
Fred Hahn is a Sad Parody
Folks, I’m not going to waste any more time on the angry, disturbed oddity that is Fred Hahn; if anyone out there still can’t see what a deceitful oddball he truly is, then they’re likely every bit as dumb, and fully deserve the substandard physical development and fitness levels that will eventuate from following his untenable training and dietary methods.
The purpose of my original post was to alert readers to an excellent review of Hahn’s book Slow Burn, which contains numerous false statements about both strength and cardiovascular training. Fred’s latest attack has done nothing to refute Matt and Jeff’s criticisms. Despite wanking on about my alleged vitriol, Hahn’s post itself is nothing but another long-winded, self-defeating ad hominem attack on yours truly.
Hahn gets defensive and self-righteous when his lies and hostile behaviour are called out; he then attempts to refute his opponents with more lies and hostile behaviour.
Fred Hahn, like so many of his low-carb cohorts, is a sad parody. Believe his petulant, unscientific nonsense at your own peril.
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Anthony Colpo is an independent researcher, physical conditioning specialist, and author of the groundbreaking books The Fat Loss Bible and The Great Cholesterol Con. For more information, visit TheFatLossBible.net or TheGreatCholesterolCon.com
Copyright © Anthony Colpo.
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