Axel Sylvian van den Braken

I started GAINS on my phone in 2017. I've always wanted to build a brand people would recognise, and I noticed there was no standalone brand called GAINS. So I had the ambitious idea of making GAINS a household name.

For most people, big ambitions are uncomfortable to say out loud. I didn't feel the need to announce mine. But I liked that. An ambitious brand required me to grow and set standards bigger than myself: to keep my head down and improve until I was ready to pick up the weight and carry it.

That's also why I like training. You don't have to tell anyone you work out. You lift, and eventually the results show.

The gym is an honest place.

The fitness industry often isn't. It sells shortcuts that aren't actually shortcuts: the most extreme physiques, sometimes built with performance-enhancing drugs, credited to supplements with little evidence behind them. Most real results come from consistent work over time. GAINS tries to keep that clear, and to encourage the kind of strength that lifts other people up too.

What I am, and what I'm not

I'm not a scientist or a researcher. The people who run the studies do the real work. My job is to read what they found and explain it simply and honestly, including what the evidence doesn't show.

How GAINS articles are made

1. Primary sources Articles are based on peer-reviewed studies, reviews and position stands, and every source is listed with a link at the end.
2. AI as a research assistant I use AI tools to help find, sort and summarise research. They don't make the final call. Every claim is checked against the original paper before publication.
3. Evidence strength I try to say how strong the evidence is, not just what it suggests, and where it's still unclear.
4. Corrections If you spot an error, email support@gains.plus. Corrections are made openly, and the article's "last updated" date changes with them.