3 Magic Bullets w/ David Morin
Meet David Morin, a fitness influencer who introduces himself as a father of four, international fitness cover model, and actor appearing in hundreds of ads (a peculiar fact that likely has the inverse effect on his credibility that he thinks it does). Like many other shredded shirtless men, he makes content for the Snapchat advertisement space that is shown to users who have demonstrated an interest in the male fitness community.
As a self-proclaimed dietician, trainer, and health aficionado, Morin reveals his top three weight loss tips in this video; however, despite his claim to maintain a “no-nonsense approach to fitness”, his virtual presence is entirely defined by his spreading of broscience on the internet.
The end goal of democratizing health and fitness information to the general population is a valid and respectable pursuit, but most of Morin’s information falls short of that aim and some is even counterproductive to the degree that it incentivizes unhealthy habits.
Morin’s video attributes low levels of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine as the reason that so many men have difficulty losing belly fat. He claims that most mainstream diets, “which are usually made for women”, have caloric suggestions that are too low and cardio recommendations that are too long.
In other words, Morin is arguing that men aren’t losing fat because they are eating too little food and doing too much cardio. This could not be further from the truth.
This sentiment is echoed in his actual tips. Morin’s first fat loss tip is to avoid long sessions of cardio as they increase norepinephrine levels which will lead to increased fat storage. He instead recommends High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio.
Many athletes prefer HIIT over Low-Intensity Steady State (LISS) cardio as it is generally more fun and takes less time, however, its benefits are massively over-inflated by Morin. HIIT has no corroborated improvement over LISS for fat-loss or for aerobic and anaerobic capacity (1). Furthermore, HIIT is actually less effective for people who aren’t already fit enough to engage in such high-intensity training.
Morin’s second point is that fat loss plateaus when men don’t take enough cheat meals. Paradoxically, he claims that eating high-calorie cheat meals at “strategic times” will trick the body into thinking it has more food available and it will burn more fat.
This is as nonsensical as it sounds and it demonstrates Morin’s complete misunderstanding of how the metabolism works. Yes, eating cheat meals will give you a burst of energy, likely because of the high concentrations of simple sugars and fats, but this extra energy will come from these newly ingested calories, not from fat stores. Cheat meals can increase caloric expenditure, but that will never outweigh the number of new calories in the body.
Morin’s third weight loss tip is to take his weight loss supplement named Blade.
The first two tips, along with the rest of the video, were merely false claims that appeal to our desire for a quick-fix to weight maintenance. The purpose of this video was not to share interesting or forbidden fitness information, it was for Morin to sell his magic pills which have no basis in science.
This is a perfect example of how the fitness industry is overrun by commercial incentives and does not actually prioritize the fitness of its consumers.
- Foster, Carl, and Flavia Guidotti. “The Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training vs Steady State Training on Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity.” Research Gate, Dec. 2015.
- Morin, David. “3 Fat Burning Tricks w/ David Morin.” Blue Star Nutraceuticals, pages.bluestarnutraceuticals.com/bladefb.
