I’ve never been a big believer in the saying “Never meet your heroes.”
Sometimes they turn out to be exactly what you hoped they’d be.
Back in 2014, I got the chance to meet Carl Weathers.
Like most kids who grew up watching the Rocky movies, Apollo Creed was one of those larger-than-life characters who seemed to exist in a completely different universe to the rest of us.
Then suddenly there I was, standing next to him.
And thankfully, Carl was every bit as cool as I’d hoped.
When Apollo Creed gives you business advice
The thing I remember most about meeting Carl wasn’t actually the photograph.
It was the conversation.
We talked about my work as a personal trainer and the website I was building, and he gave me some advice about pushing the business further.
I took it seriously.
At the time, RussHowePTI.com was still something I was trying to grow into a proper online fitness business. I certainly didn’t imagine that, years later, I’d still be here doing it.
So whenever somebody tells me you should never meet your heroes, I tend to disagree.
Meeting one of mine gave me a kick up the ass.
And strangely enough, over ten years later I had another one of those “13-year-old Russ would think this was pretty cool” moments.
Only this time it involved supplements.
The yellow and black tubs
If you trained throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, there’s a good chance you remember the C4 adverts.
I certainly do.
I used to pick up copies of Muscle & Fitness magazine on my way into ridiculous 16-hour gym shifts, and Cellucor was one of those supplement companies that always seemed to have these huge, glossy advertisements staring back at you.
And then there was C4, with its unmistakable yellow and black tub.
Over the years, I used plenty of Cellucor supplements myself, so the brand became one of those names I’d often recommend to clients throughout my PT career.
Which made what happened in 2024 particularly strange.
They contacted me.
So… RussHowePTI.com is now working with C4
Cellucor got in touch about partnering with RussHowePTI.com.
That was an easy conversation for me to have.
Not because I’m suddenly going to tell you that every supplement they make is an essential part of your fitness journey.
It isn’t.
You know how I feel about supplements.
Training matters. Nutrition matters. Sleep matters. Consistency matters.
Supplements sit considerably further down the list.
But if I’m going to recommend somewhere for readers to buy things like pre-workout, protein or creatine, I’d rather work with a company whose products I’ve actually known and used for years than suddenly start pretending I’ve loved some random brand since childhood because they’ve offered me a fucking discount code.
C4 is also hardly an obscure company. Its pre-workout range has become the centrepiece of the Cellucor brand, and is known all over the world.
So I’m very happy to make it official:
Cellucor C4 is a partner of RussHowePTI.com.
What does that mean for you?
Not very much changes.
I’m not turning into QVC.
I’m not going to start inserting a tub of pre-workout into every article or telling you that your biceps will fall off unless you buy eleven different powders.
The training and nutrition advice on my site will continue to be based on what I think is actually useful.
But what this partnership does give me is a straightforward place to send readers who ask me where they can buy the supplements I regularly discuss.
And C4 offers recurring delivery on a number of products for people who prefer to have the boring job of reordering them handled automatically.
That’s really all it needs to be.
A pretty cool full-circle moment
There are occasional moments in this job where I look at something and think:
“Younger me would’ve fucking loved this.”
Meeting Carl Weathers was one.
This is another.
I can remember standing behind a gym reception desk during one of those enormous shifts, flicking through Muscle & Fitness and looking at the big supplement brands advertising inside it.
I wasn’t thinking about partnerships.
I was trying to become a better trainer, build a little website, and figure out where any of it might eventually lead.
Apparently, one of the places it led was here.
So yeah.
I’m pretty chuffed about this one.
Disclosure: RussHowePTI.com may earn a tiny commission from purchases made through C4 links. Thank fuck.