Editorial Guidelines

01Who We Are

Muscle + Brawn is an independent news and research desk covering bodybuilding, strength training, hormone optimization, peptide therapy, SARMs, and evidence-based performance science.

We are not a coaching business, a clinic, or a supplement company. We do not sell consultations, transformation programs, or protocols. Any reference to “coaching,” “clinics,” or “get coached” that still appears anywhere on the site is legacy language from a previous business model and is being phased out. See Section 5.

Our job is to report and explain, clearly and honestly, so readers can make their own decisions with a qualified clinician. That framing — independent reporting, not personalized advice — governs everything on this page.

02Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made by the editorial team alone. No advertiser, affiliate partner, sponsor, or brand pays for or influences which products are recommended, how they’re ranked, or what a review concludes.

Rankings and “best of” lists are never for sale. A brand can sponsor a placement on the site (see Section 7), but it cannot buy a ranking position in a comparison or “best” article. If a sponsored brand also appears in an editorial roundup, its position there is earned on the same criteria as every other entry.

• Writers and editors disclose financial relationships with any company they cover (samples received, past paid work, personal investment, etc.) before a piece is published.
• If the relationship is significant, the piece is reassigned to someone without it.
• Affiliate revenue does not determine coverage. We don’t write about a product, or write about it more favorably, because it converts well.
• Removing a product from our affiliate program never changes an existing review’s conclusion.

03Sourcing and Fact-Checking

Primary sources first. Peer-reviewed studies, clinical trial data, regulatory filings (FDA, WADA, etc.), and statements from qualified professionals outrank manufacturer marketing copy, forum anecdotes, and influencer claims every time.

Every factual or scientific claim gets a citation. Articles link to the actual source (study, trial registry, agency page) at the point of the claim, and reference lists appear at the bottom of the article — not just a general “trust us.”

No claim outruns its evidence. If the research on a compound is preliminary, animal-only, or mixed, the article says so plainly instead of implying a settled result. Words like “proven” and “guaranteed” are reserved for things that actually are.

Two-source rule for contested claims. Anything likely to be disputed (efficacy claims, safety claims, legal status) needs at least two independent sources before it runs.

04Medical and Scientific Review

Articles covering dosing, compounds, hormones, peptides, SARMs, or any health claim are reviewed by a qualified, named medical or scientific reviewer before publishing, not just written from research and published unchecked.

The reviewer’s name, credentials, and a short bio are visible on the article — readers should be able to verify who signed off on it.

Medical review checks two things specifically:

• Is the science represented accurately?
• Could anything in this article read as a personalized recommendation rather than general information?

Both get flagged and fixed before an article ships. Reviewed articles carry a visible “medically reviewed by [name]” line and a last-reviewed date (see Section 6).

05What We Don’t Do

• We do not tell an individual reader what dose, stack, or protocol to use. General information about how a class of compounds works, what the research says about typical study dosages, and known risk profiles is in scope. “Here’s what you should take” is not.
• We do not run calls, DMs, or consultations positioned as personalized guidance from the site.
• Every article touching a compound, hormone, or supplement carries a clear disclaimer: content is educational, not medical advice, and readers should talk to a licensed clinician before starting anything. This disclaimer is standardized site-wide, not reworded per article.

If a piece can’t be written without functionally coaching the reader through a personal decision, it gets restructured or killed — it doesn’t ship with a disclaimer bolted on to cover for it.

06Freshness and Corrections

Every published article shows a “last updated” date, and factual claims are re-checked against current research and regulatory status on a regular audit cycle — every 12 months for evergreen compound, SARM, and peptide content, sooner if the underlying regulatory status changes.

Corrections are public, not quiet edits. Material errors get a visible correction note on the article (what was wrong, what it now says, when it was fixed). Typos and formatting fixes don’t need a note; factual errors do.

Readers can report a suspected error through a clearly signposted channel on our Contact page, and reports get a real review — not a form that goes nowhere.

07Advertising, Sponsorships, and Affiliate Content

All commercial relationships are disclosed, clearly and in plain language, not just in a linked policy nobody reads. Our standard disclosure:

Muscle + Brawn is independent and reader-supported — when you buy through links on our site we may earn a commission.

Sponsored content is labeled as sponsored, visibly, above the fold — not styled to blend in with editorial content.

Advertisers must meet baseline standards before we work with them: no unsubstantiated cure or results claims, no misleading marketing, and a real customer-support track record. Editorial holds a real veto over which advertisers we work with, not just sales.

A sponsored placement never overrides an editorial finding. If we’ve reviewed a product unfavorably, sponsorship doesn’t change the review; it can only add a clearly labeled sponsored section alongside it.