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A STEROID STORY
A few years ago I had the opportunity to learn almost first hand
about Steroids.
I had the opportunity to train two particular friends that I had
known for 15 years.
I knew them from one of the gyms that I had trained.
. One was 26 years old with good genetics and he weighed about 165
and the other friend was a 35 year steel fabricator who was and
is super strong at the body weight of 175lbs. His strength is
due to great genetics and the hard work he puts in as a steel
fabricator.
However, for a common reason that plagues many people – which I
will explain at a later date – both of them suffered from their
bench press not being very remarkable and the 35 year old had
trouble putting muscle mass on his chest. The 26 year old,
though not exceptionally strong in the bench had very good chest
development.
Every other muscle group they had no such problems.
They started to train with me in earnest, because they figured that
if an old duffer of 42 years like me could achieve a 480 lbs
bench and sport a 55 inch chest – without ever taking steroids &
suffering from very average genetics– then surely, as two young
genetically gifted stallions they could do no worse.
At the time I took them under my wing they both could only do
250 lbs on the bench for 6 to 8 reps and he could only bench 315
lbs for 1 rep. The Younger guy consistenly did two more reps on
the bench with 250 and he could do 325 for 1 rep.
This is all he could
do after years of training
The 26 year old had been training consistently since he was 10 and
the older guy since he was 18 years of age.
The young guy was tempted into taking steroids. At first he was
uneasy about telling me his intentions because I have a
reputation as someone that doesn’t believe in them – at least
for most people aside from their sometimes needed medical use or
for certain professional athletes who want to lengthen their
professional careers.
In my almost forty years of training I have met many people who
have talked to me about their steroid use and the benefits
enjoyed and the bad side effects some of them have experienced.
But this was my first opportunity to see someone who has never done
steroids before to start using them from the ground floor up –
so to speak.
The 26 year old comes from a wealthy family and he works for his
family business.
Bottom line – he is friggen rich! And he is very smart and very
educated and he could afford the best advice from
endocrinologist of whom many are also fanatical weight trainers.
Despite my warnings about the dangers of steroids and no matter how
much I tried to convince him that the gains he wanted can be
gotten without steroids – albeit it takes a little longer – but
with more permanent results. He had grown impatient was adamant
that he was determined to go the course.
He was more than a little fearful that because of his decision to
use steroids I would no longer respect or have affection for him
and that I would forbid him to train with me. I assured him that
I still have affection for him… he is after all not unlike a
surrogate son to me.
A part of me – the scientific parts was curious.
I made certain conditions that he had to follow. I wanted to know
what drugs he was taking and how much dosage he was using and
how he was mixing various combinations.
I wanted him to tell me how he felt and to alert me to every side
affect he may experience.
Of course I had to take his word on what and how he was doing this
because I forbad him from ever doing any of the drugs in front
of me, nor was he allowed to have anything on his person when he
came to my residence to visit or to the gym where we both would
train.
Now before I go further, I want to emphasis that while many people
who are tempted into the life of steroid use, are by nature
lazy, undisciplined and looking for something for nothing. My
two friends do not fall into that category. In fact, I cannot
think of any other lifters who possess better work ethic or
training intensity or are able to stay more discipline or
focused. I met a few that are their equal in that regard, but
none superior. It was because that they are in a small percent
of the population of people that do a lot of the right things,
it is easy to understand their frustration and why some people
get tempted.
Now, getting back to his drug régime
The various drugs he was taking was enormous in price and how he
combined them and cycled them was complex and very scientific as
per his various doctors instructions.
(I MUST STATE THAT I HAVE NO IDEA IF HIS DOCTORS PROVIDED THESE
DRUGS OR IF HE ATTAINED THEM THROUGH LESS LEGITIMATE SOURCES)
This was a situation where I practiced the credo – I won’t ask
and you don’t tell.
I found myself in the remarkable and questionable position of
observing like a Nazi researcher.
The one aspect of his development that I could easily observe and
control was his training and the training of my other friend.
Now even though I really have not taken the time or trouble to
learn all the complexities of what steroids do and how, I have
learned that some have more to do with size, while others have
more to do with strength and some give you more macadamizing
effects – sometimes too much like excessive body hair and
baldness and enlarge prostate and so forth. The whole régime
that these doctors set him up on was to start low, increase
dosage, change combinations decrease dosage towards the end of
the cycle then – all with the intent of trying to balance and
achieve the best strength and mass building levels without
getting too overly masculine or getting the pesky side affects
that some of these drugs are suppose to impart.
In addition to all of this, he was required to take drugs that did
not build muscle and strength but were used a few weeks prior to
help him to lessen any potential side affects that some of the
drugs may give him. Also, he was required to take specific
non-anabolic drugs during the cycle to deal with estrogens and
so forth and finally towards the end of his cycle he was
required to start introducing certain drugs that would keep his
testicles shutting all the way down and to jump start them after
he went of the steroids so that he did not suffer from rebound
affect. He had to take few of them for quite awhile after his
cycle.
He went on a 16 week cycle.
Now in my opinion that is a hell-of-a lot of trouble and money to
put on size and strength that is attainable without all that
fuss
My other friend who is 35 years old decided to stay training clean!
Both of them were on a mission to build their high rep and 1 rep
strength in the bench.
My 35 year-old friend desperately wanted to get a lot more muscle
mass on his chest.
Both of them wanted to gain a lot of muscular body weight.
One thing to note – insofar as their desire and frustration about
not having the mass and strength they saw I had and they wanted.
I could clearly see what would have given them my level of
development and strength and beyond what I have achieved since
they are quite a bit much more genetically superior to me.
From my experience they both need to follow certain protocols in a
very specific manner.
Now it would be too intensive to describe to you how I wanted them
to train or to tell you why they wanted to train in a different
arrangement, but let’s just cover those details at another time.
The 26 year old did not want to follow my instructions completely,
he wanted to do everything I demanded, but, he wanted to change
the order of certain protocols.
The 35 year old was tempted for the same reasoning to do what the
26 year old wanted to do. However, I talked the 35 year old to
follow my plan that had worked so well for me.
The next 16 weeks was very educational!
Our goal was to increase the first set by 10 lbs. a week for 16
weeks.
Most people would say, “Big deal, who wouldn’t want to increase
that much that consistently?”
Both of these guys were also choking down 8,000 calories a day of
high protein and carbs and fats. They have always had high
metabolisms while I seem to do well with under 2,000 – sometimes
as low as 1,000 calories.
At the end of 16 weeks the 26 year old and the 35 year old had
reach bodyweights of 210 and 230 respectively,
Both of them were still under 10% body fat. The 26 year old was
down to 6% while the 35 year old was at or 9%. Not bad
considering all of the calories that had chocked down. As a
side-note both of them were at 6% body fat when they started and
both of them are 5 ft.7 & 5 ft. 9 respectively.
The 26 year old was training with 350 on the bench for 6 reps and
benching 410 for 1 rep.
The 35 year old was training with 315 for 8 to 10 reps and he could
do 380 for 1 rep. and he was doing 25 reps with 225 lbs. for
more than a few sets; whereas the 26 year old could not beat
that performance.
Despite starting off a little ahead and having just a bit better
leverages than my 35 year old friend, the 26 year old on
steroids could only do 35 pounds more for his primary bench and
only 30 lbs more for 1 rep and with shorter arms and slightly
bigger chest.
All other strength gains in every muscle group had gone up just as
dramatically in the two lifters with the steel fab guy kicking
ass in the dead lift – where is natural strength lay.
Considering the money spent on steroids and the many times a day he
was forced to inject or ingest – I was not impressed with his
results compared to the 35 year old. Especially when you
consider that 26 year olds tend to have more naturally occurring
testosterone than 35 year olds (And certainly more than us 5O
plus duffers).
In addition to the expense and trouble, the 26 year old started to
get bitch tits within two weeks and had to take special
medication and apply a special cream to his nipples. He also
developed a nasty case of back acne and though baldness does not
run in his family as it does mine and though he has enough hair
for three men, he started to shed hair from his scalp like a
long hair dog in the heat of summer. This stopped when he went
off his cycle.
So let us look at what both of them gained.
26 year old – gained 65 lbs. of none lean weight (muscle and water
weight)
35 year old – gained roughly 30 lbs of lean tissue and his body fat
only went up by 2%.
26 year old – increased primary set by 100 lbs if you choice to
ignore the fact that he was performing his first set for 2 less
reps a 25% decrease in his rep performance from where he
started.
35 year old – gained 65 lbs. in his primary bench set and from 6
reps he increase his performance by 2 to 4 reps which is a 33%
to 66% increase in rep performance from where he had started.
26 year old – gained 85 lbs on his 1 rep maximum.
35 year old – gained 65 lbs on his 1 rep maximum
Roughly they both increased the same percentage on their one rep
max from where they were.
Now many people would be tempted to say, who cares, the one guy
gained more lean weight and more strength in two out of the
three rep parameters.
But let’s look further where it really starts to get interesting.
Now that the 26 year old was off the steroid cycle he was on a
cycle of taking drugs that would combat the rebound effect that
athletes who cycle off steroids normally experience – which is a
huge loss of the hard won strength and mass they had gained.
In fact many athletes will often not only lose all that they have
gained, they will often sink to level lower than where they
started. As you can imagine this cause many lifter great
frustration and anxiety, which is a reason why many lifters
become dependent on a life long use of drugs.
Now the 26 year old was hoping that his doctors were right and that
he would be able to keep 50% percent of what he had gained on
his cycle if he continued to train well and eat properly.
Holy shit! Are they kidding! Fucking 50%!
As you can see that puts a whole different slant on things now his
100 lb increase is only 50 lbs. that he will manage to hold on
to and his 85 lbs 1 rep increase is not dropped to 40 lbs.
And this is what happened only much worse.
As they both continued to train hard. In the next 16 weeks the 26
year old recovered a little from his drop in strength and even
gained some back.
My 35 year old friend continued to grow in strength and strength
endurance and he finally weighted in at 230 lbs and his body fat
level was 10 to 11% then he decided to drop down to 210 and he
held on to his strength. Eight months of training and the 35
year old was doing 350 for 10 reps 400 for 3 to 4 and he managed
a 1rep maximum with 430 pounds – raw – meaning without a shirt
and drug free to boot.
The 26 year old managed to bench 300 for ten reps and 395 for one
rep maximum – raw and finally after not using drugs for the last
16 weeks aside from 6 weeks of taking something exotic to get
his own testicles to kick in.
After 8 months:
26 year old was only doing 50 lbs. more from where he started on
his primary.
35 year old was doing 100 lbs more on his primary and a 4 rep or a
66% increase in rep performance often know as strength
endurance.
26 year old was doing 45 lbs more for a 1 rep maximum than he had
originally started.
35 year old was doing 115 lbs more of a I rep maximum.
26 year old reached a bodyweight of 200 at 8% body fat. (2% more
than when he started)
35 year old stayed at 210 with 7% body fat (only 1% more than
started)
In addition at the end of 8 months, the 35 year old could do a shit
load of more volume work. For instance he could now do 250
pounds for 22 reps, but he could do 10 sets of 10 reppers to
show off his newly acquired massive capacity for strength
endurance. He could do 225 lbs for 35 reps.
The 26 year old still was only doing 225 for 25 reps but he lacked
the ability to do the high volume.
In addition to all of this size and strength the 35 year old
developed greater speed and enhanced reflexes.
Now let
us get back to the crucial reason why the 35 year old made the
progress he enjoyed. Aside from his training drug free while the
26 year old took lots of concoctions of drugs, he followed my
advice and followed a certain training protocol. The younger
lifter for reasons of pride did the same program, except because
of pride and impatience he screwed with the order of the lifting
parameters that I had designed for both of them.
Ironically, it was
in the last 3 months of training that I slowly changed the
lifting parameters for the 35 year old, so that in the end, he
was doing what the 26 year determined he would start with.
Also Ironically, the
26 year old in his second 16 weeks capitulated and followed what
I had intended for him to do in the first 16 weeks.
The lesson is that
it takes longer to become the best and that their may be more
time and effort effective ways to train, but there are no short
cuts in life.
Another encouraging
insight was that if the 35 year old had not injured himself on a
job site, he was improving at a pace where with in another year
he would have no doubt benched 500 lbs – raw and drug free.
(Notice that as you get stronger that it takes longer to make
the same gains)
However, the gains
will be more forth-coming than most people think possible –
especially without steroids.
He injured his
shoulder rather badly and he had to avoid many exercises that
used the shoulders and the few he could do, he had to do with
sub maximal pounds.
After 7 months of
almost no lifting, he only experienced a 15% loss as compared to
the 50% that the 26 year old experienced in 6 to 8 weeks.
He lost only 50 lbs
of strength off the bench, which means he was still over 50 lbs
ahead or when he first trained with me. Also, because he had
attained his strength without drugs, he had muscle memory of
being at a certain level without drugs.
The end result was
that despite having niggling shoulder problems to this day, he
is back up to doing 400 to 410 on occasion in the bench.
Now I ask anyone….
Which game plan would you rather follow?
Though I don’t
really care if other people take steroids, provided that they
are mature adults and going into it with open eyes, I see too
many downsides to taking them as opposed to upsides from not
taking them and training properly.
The ones that are
evident I just described.
Other reasons are:
Though I don’t think
they should be illegal – the fact is, they are.
Also from what I
heard through the grapevine is you are never really sure if the
drugs are what the label says. Meaning it may not be pure, or it
may not be at the strength described on the label, or it may be
tainted with contaminants that may be life threatening.
Also, you become a
virtual slave to the damn drugs.
Steroid users have
to follow a very strict schedule of when they must inject and
apply and swallow many pills. I have been told that new
injections sites have to be found or scarring or vein collapse
could occur.
I have had athletes
who have claimed to be taking steroids for years tell me that
they can not just quit cold turkey, because it could kill them
or cause a lot of medical problems that may not ever become
entirely resolved. I know of men who have weaned off slowly
because of medical problems or just because the got tired of
that kind of life and the end result was looking old and looking
as though they had never touched a weight.
One unexpected side
affect that I had not thought of, years ago, I was talking to a
huge guy who told me that he was addicted to steroid usage.
After an hour of conversing we moved on to other subjects. I had
told him of my dream of traveling the world and training at all
of the gyms with many famous people in each country.
He sighed and looked
wistful and said, I wish I could travel around the world, but I
can’t.
Perplexed I said,
“Your as big a fucking house, you can go where you please!”
He said mournfully,
“No, I am addicted to steroids and though steroids are legal in
other countries, even available across the counters in some,
they are illegal in many others. If I got caught going through
customs in some countries I would end up in their prison.
Another Turkish
Midnight express,
I thought.
So there you have it!
Now what do you want to do?
Sincerely
- VIncent D. Fain
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