GNC vs. name brand?

odawg315 · 01-03-2007, 06:57 AM

i live in a small town, the only place i have to get anything is gnc, everytime i go in there they steer me away from name brands and push me towards theres, for instance i was going in to by animal packs and they pushed me towards there mega man sport, i wanted lipo 6 and they want to push there thermo pills, are they really as good as the others or do they just have a bigger margin on there proiduct?

snakehips31 · 01-03-2007, 08:28 AM

First off you should look into buying online.GNC is way overpriced.You can find a lot better deals on the internet.As for buying the right supplements,first understand everyone reacts different to them.So while the GNC employee says "this one" is the best it may not be. Use this site to do some research on whatever supplements you want and buy which ones you feel like you would benefit from.Now i can not speak for all GNC's but the one near my house pretty much hires high school or college kids who have no idea what they are talking about.

AndyKram · 01-03-2007, 10:18 AM

Ditto as to what snakehips31 said. GNC is always overpriced and most of the out of the way ones (possibly most in general) do not have a knowledgeable staff. bodybuilding.com/store <- amazing prices, amazing selection

*edited out the banned store, sorry, didn't know it was banned*

20inchwide · 01-05-2007, 03:30 PM

buy online it is going to be much cheaper than GNC

OafyC · 01-05-2007, 10:29 PM

GNC does have good prices the first week of the month if you have their card. I usually go there and buy certain whatever is on sale. Usually you can find prety much whatever you wanted to buy having some sort of sale, BOGO 50% off, straight up half off, or just big discounts, especially if it will expire soon and is marked down. With the card, you get another 20% off. If it is the first time you are trying something, GNC is a good place to go, because you can take it back if you didn't like it for any reason.

xshinx · 01-06-2007, 09:23 AM

Why would you just want to have good prices for just the first week of the month? Most of us do not even know when are going to finish up our supplements. I have to pay $10 dollars or higher for every year for GNC. This is why I rather go to the vitamin shoppe

. Most guys here said it, get it in other online sites for cheaper prices not to mention promo discounts

I have tried GNC and it is like buying Muscletech... pricy and simply does not work. I have bought cheaper products and they were more effective for my body. If you need to know about several supplements, be happy and pleased to ask several of us lifters that have some experience with several of these products.

Remember to eat like a beast, train like a beast, and sleep like a baby.

EMISGOD · 01-06-2007, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odawg315

i live in a small town, the only place i have to get anything is gnc, everytime i go in there they steer me away from name brands and push me towards theres, for instance i was going in to by animal packs and they pushed me towards there mega man sport, i wanted lipo 6 and they want to push there thermo pills, are they really as good as the others or do they just have a bigger margin on there proiduct?

The Mega protein line is made by ON, though with a slightly different mix. Quality level will be roughly in line with ON 100% Whey and then up as you buy the more expensive formulations. I used it for quite a while and did not have any problems with it. I also used their Ultra Mega Gold -Iron multis for quite a while. I'd say that these, while better than most of the **** in grocery stores, are nowhere near the quality level of something like Activite. Lipo 6 is **** anyway. I can't remember GNC's thermo product, but their energizer, Firestarter, works at about the mid-level range...

GNC gets a bad rap a lot of the time for trying to push their line, but grocery stores do the same thing with their store brands. Of course they make more margin, in some cases a LOT more, and there are also commissions for the entire Mega line, so you have unscrupulous persons worried about lining their pocket instead of educating you...

If you invest a little time and effort into researching the supplements you're interested in, you can find better deals online, some of them right here on bb.com...

EMISGOD · 01-06-2007, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xshinx

Why would you just want to have good prices for just the first week of the month?

This is GNC's business model, to try to stack up everything at the first of the month in terms of profitability. In many cases, the first 7 days of a month will either allow them to "coast" the rest of the month or will "buy" the rest of the month in terms of hitting dollar/month sales targets, etc. It is a strategy that seems to me to have rather dubious results as GNC has missed the online shopping revolution completely and is not the only game in town any longer. Their market share is being eroded by online retailers as well as outlets such as grocery stores and their reaction has been thus far to sit and watch...

A lot of businesses will tend to try to "rob Peter to pay Paul" in that they will bill and invoice as much stuff as they can before the end of any given month in order to inflate their numbers. Their month front-ends accordingly tend to be lop-sided in relation. GNC is just doing this backwards and I suspect it is for ease of the Gold card members remembering the dates as well as leaving the rest of the month more available for new inventory, different displays, etc.

Quote:

Most of us do not even know when are going to finish up our supplements.

I think we should start a poll because I believe this is horse hockey. I know how long my supplements are going to last down to the day, sometimes even the hour and I don't pay very strict attention.

On a related note, do you really need to run yourself down to the last bit of protein powder before you fetch a new tub?