Old Man Fitness: Let’s talk about the nutrition pyramid schemes in your newsfeed

If you’ve been reading Old Man Fitness for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I tend to refer to the Fitness game as a “racket.” For the most part, I use the term as a bit of wordplay, intended to poke fun at the way we all tend to invest more of ourselves into  fitness than we could ever get back: it doesn’t matter how many glasses of water you drink per day or how many laps you run at your local track, on a long enough timeline, our efforts to achieve strength-based immortality will end in failure.

But there are some parts of the Fitness world that the word “racket” is actually the appropriate term for, like the vast array of nutrition and supplement sales pyramid-like schemes none of us are able to avoid on social media these days. The most prominent one of these “totally not a pyramid scheme” multi-level marketing systems is probably Thrive, a brand produced by a company named Lev-El that promises to make you fit and rich by taking their supplements and selling them to your friends and family.

Thrive’s products, like all supplements, don’t undergo any kind of mandatory testing to support their marketing claims - the FDA simply isn’t in the business of refuting the miracles promised on every bottle and box sold at your local GNC, and as a result, brands like Thrive have been able to market inane products like weight loss and “general wellness” patches - stickers - that you simply slap on your skin and *poof* - you’re healthier, skinnier, or just poorer… depending on how active a role the placebo effect plays in your experience.