The pick-up artist secret to dealing with trolls, haters, critics and 1-star reviewers…

There’s been quite a shake-up in the bodybuilding/fitness industry recently.

Apparently, the „godfather“ of the entire ‘science-based’ lifting community – Mike Israetel – got exposed for having a horrible PhD thesis.

This wouldn’t be that big of deal…

If he didn’t build his ENTIRE brand off of his Phd/“Doctor“ status.

(Although that’s a lesson in it of itself – how powerful credentialism actually is. But that’s a topic for another day…)

What I’m interested in – what caught my eye…

Was how (poorly) he handled the backlash.

When Solomon did a deep-dive on his thesis and exposed it for what it is…

(Spoiler alert: It’s a pile of turd, honestly even my bachelor’s – let alone master’s – thesis is better than that crap lol.)

… he handled it in the worst way possible.

He played it down.

‘Oh you know it’s just a few clerical errors and I was spending so much time on it that I just wanted to get it done ha-ha . So I practically did no revision on it‘ bla bla bla…

(Not to mention that he then went on a podcast – which HE SPONSORS – to try and clear his name with all the paid-off yes men around him…)

So what happened?

What is to be expected – he got called out again.

(Because the thesis was not ‘just a few clerical errors’, Mike…)

So after he got called out twice? He realized he was beaten.

And did THE WORST thing possible:

He issued a „sincere“ apology.

I won’t go into it since you now know the essence of the entire drama.

(And know how „sincere“ apologies are awful and, in actuality, are not „sincere“ 99% of the time…)

So how should he have handled it from the start?

The same way you always do when you’re facing snarky reply guys… trolls… pissed off customers… or even genuine critics like Mike faced:

By Agreeing & Amplifying.

This is something I picked up from the pick-up artist niche.

(No pun intended.)

But these guys are MASTERS at re-framing the entire conversation.

When the girl – that they’re hitting on – replies with something like:

„How many girls have you used this line on?“

What do they do?

„Well… what do you mean today? In the last hour?“

So essentially…

You’re not backing down – which is what most guys in that situation would do – you’re projecting strength instead.

You’re not losing any social status after getting thrown such a curveball your way.

In fact…

You GAIN it.

Because it’s unexpected, different, and they don’t see it coming.

(So now they’re kind of on the back foot – having to think and conjure up a good comeback.)

I used this myself after being called a racist on Twitter (X) a few years ago:

(For no good reason, the guy was just pissed off – and the topic wasn’t even racially/politically charged, it was about football.)

„You’re racist!“

„Yeah, I’m wearing my KKK robes as I type this tweet out.“

Some more examples?

Let’s say an angry customer – for no valid reason, they’re just pissy and have no ground to stand on – is threatening to report you to the authorities:

„That’s all right, just make sure to spell our company name right.“

Someone calls your products expensive:

„You’re right, they do come at a premium and we’re not big on discounts. So you’d probably be better off going to someone else.“

And so on.

The possibilities – on how you can spin any attack, smear, troll, criticism or even a question – into your favour are limitless.

So how should Mike have handled this?

Well…

If only he said something like:

‘Listen yeah, you’re right [Solomon]. This isn’t the best PhD thesis. I kind of phoned it in because I just wanted to be done with college after spending so many years at it. Thank you for bringing this up. I will give this thesis the edits and the attention it deserves now. ‘

Something along the lines of that.

If ALL he did was that?

Everyone would have forgotten it pretty quickly.

But instead?

His reputation is now permanently damaged.

Will it bring down his business?

Probably not.

He has one of the most popular fitness channels on YouTube…

And a lot of his „superfans“?

They honestly just don’t care. He could kill a baby cat, and people would still follow him religiously.

(That’s the power of building a strong rabid cult-like following…)