Steroids??

[Athene]

My brother, who is my role model, totally let me down recently and I'm kind of in shock.

My brother has always been big, as in biceps-bigger-than-his-head kind of big, and really strong, able to bench press his body weight 20 times without stopping, and all kinds of stuff. When we were kids he started boxing, then bodybuilding. I saw him bulk up, lean out, and get ripped. Throughout college we mocked him for being so irritable when he was studying, and so rude and abrupt in conversation, we kind of thought it was funny because we were used to him being so sweet. All the while I knew he was only working out 3 times per week, and somehow he was enormous. We would do the same workouts, he would work out with his friends, but no one ever came even close to being as big and strong as he was. I completely idolized him and wanted to be just like him.

Anyway, I hadn't seen my brother for months because he was away for work, and when he came back and I saw how big he was, it smacked me in the forehead: my brother is on drugs. There's no freaking way he looks the way he looks training 3x per week, with our genetics, and no drugs. He saw that I was doing CrossFit and picked out some of the most muscular guys and said, "What does he do?" and I said, "CrossFit." To which he replied, "No... but what does he do?", like he couldn't believe that the results were legitimate - that everyone must be cheating, just like he was. It made me so mad! I felt like a complete idiot for not noticing before.

There was a time when I probably would have shot right up with something if someone at the gym had offered it to me, but I would never do that now. I never want anyone to look at me and think that I cheated, and to have them be right. I'll never talk to my brother about steroids, but I definitely know that I will do my best and if I don't look like Wonder Woman at the end, I'll enjoy being healthy and fit, and get over it. My whole personality is based on my idea of who my brother is, and it's not even real. What the hell, hey? I still love him, but my world is kind of rocked by this. It's amazing how your idea of someone can totally change the way you see them, and make you ignore a lot of things that are right in front of you.

Would you ever use steroids, testosterone, or anything else like that to get the physique you want? Personally I just think it's kind of shallow. Do your best, be healthy, be fit, and enjoy life. At the point that I would use an illegal substance to cheat and make faster gains, I would really have to question what the heck I was doing and for what reasons.

[Jars]

That is sad. As awkward as it might be, you should confront him about it. Steroids are usually extremely harmful to the body. I would be worried about his health. Anyway, sounds like you were Idealizing him. Im not a therapist, so Ill leave it at that.

[Boss Man]

Steroids polarise people. Some people will justify the use and take the risks and some won't. The one thing people should never do is assume Steroid users are all aggressive buttheads that don't like anyone but their relatives and their own kind.

Personally I never entertained nor would I entertain the use. I've heard of people who are too young or lack the condition, talking about actually having used, or talking as if they are some must have thing to use.

Most will take them get little to no results and then almost certainly lose the lot, because they won't be training hard enough and / or eating enough to make serious lasting gains.

I think it's their choice, but if they get Liver and heart problems or possibly die from the use, it's their own fault. Some will say it's great having 19" shredded biceps, because people won't screw with you, but would people screw with you if you have 18" natural guns and a Karate blackbelt?

The fact is, you don't need things like that to achieve what you want, because you have what it takes inside, to give the effort and dediation required. You'll make it because you were born to make it .

[Juggling_spree]

Only part I disagree with on boss mans post is the idea you can achive anything naturally.. There's literally no way your going to reach the mr Olympia status going natural..

I couldnt use steroids because I have liver damage from being shot but if I could I'd consider doing it using the proper precautions choose what best suited my goals and make sure I had all the proper liver cleansers and the run a post cycle therapy anti estro and natural booster to get my back in order doing things on its own.

The idea of chastising him because it's superficial or vain is silly most of everything humans do is superficial and vain from the clothing we wear to the way we cut our hair to the makeup women wear. If we were all as truly humble as we pretend to be we would all be dressed like monks or homless people with wild hair and no makeup whatsoever..

He's your brother you can love him for who he is or you can shun him for not being who you wanted him to be, but it's not your place to try to change him...

[Boss Man]

Actually I never said anything in my post, that says you can acheive anything you want naturally. At no point did I infer that, except in relation to the poster who can, because she's not going to end up like some females, who boast about having 17" guns and weighing 170 lbs.

However in relation to the Mr O. If everyone who did it, was on something only as strong as prohormones and therefore used products just the right side of legal and could achieve around 200lbs shredded, then it could be possible to win Mr O naturally, but nobody would, because there would always be one guy turning up 10-20lbs heavier, who used gear and could potentially blitz everyone away.

You would never get a gentlemans agreement, because someone could still come in at the same size, but use gear, as long as they capped their lifting abiltiy, so as to prevent progression beyond the size of natural prohormone users.

Also you would need to enforce random urine tests, where people would sign up to compete and then get unexpected visits from testers and if they failed a test, get banned for 2-5 years or even life, in an effort to force people to go natural.

That would be up to organisations to decide and decide what substances in the system counted as a fail. It's not me saying this should happen, becasue ot me 12 juicers on a stage creates a level playing field, so then it's either ban them all and give people their money back, or just say screw it and let it happen and if some spectators and potential competitors are bothered, compete in or watch NANBF shows.

[Juggling_spree]

Yeah I must have misread, but also don't think anything needs done about mr Olympia, they make a career of becoming inhuman monster beast just to push the limits of what's possible, if using gear makes them that much bigger they should be able to go for it. The sport would be a lot less interesting if they were all natural anyway..

[Jars]

I read an article some years ago that one of the world's most elite, i.e. biggest body builders couldn't brush his teeth due to the size of his biceps. Im not sure I would be willing to make that sacrifice! screw the potential health problems; how can you live day to day when your muscles are so big you can't do things like touch your face.

[Boss Man]

Ronnie Coleman was allegedly on 2g of GH at a time, whereas most people used 0.5g, sometimes 1g.

I heard of someone once, (wasn't made aware exactly who it was), who was so big, he tried to do some kind of kickboxing class I think it was and after just one kick, had snapped a Hamstring.

[Athene]

That is sad. As awkward as it might be, you should confront him about it. Steroids are usually extremely harmful to the body. I would be worried about his health. Anyway, sounds like you were Idealizing him. Im not a therapist, so Ill leave it at that.

I don't think I would ever be comfortable talking to him about it, and I don't think he's using anymore. I think I can narrow down the window that he was, like when he was at his biggest and most tempermental, and it's long gone. Who knows though, I guess. I was definitely idealizing him, you're right.

The idea of chastising him because it's superficial or vain is silly most of everything humans do is superficial and vain from the clothing we wear to the way we cut our hair to the makeup women wear. If we were all as truly humble as we pretend to be we would all be dressed like monks or homless people with wild hair and no makeup whatsoever..

He's your brother you can love him for who he is or you can shun him for not being who you wanted him to be, but it's not your place to try to change him...

I was never planning to confront him about it, but you are completely right that everything is superficial and vain, regardless of the legality of it. I am on a total vanity project of my own right now to tighten up my nutrition and look more like my idea of what attractive is, and it's legal, but totally vain, so that can't be my only reason for disliking the idea of steroids. I guess it's the legality and health aspects of it that freak me out, but I don't really know that much about it. All I know is it would piss me off so much if some little kid said to me, "Wow! How did you get so big a strong?" and I had to lie to them, because I use illegal drugs to get results non-users can't get. That would bug me, but you're right that that's me and not anyone else's idea or standard for what's okay.

The fact is, you don't need things like that to achieve what you want, because you have what it takes inside, to give the effort and dediation required. You'll make it because you were born to make it .

Thanks, dude. You're so freaking supportive!

[Boss Man]

Unfortunately, Steroids can be harmful to health, regardless of excessive use or not, as they can cause risk to Liver and Heart function, affect the male and female genitalia and in people under 21, even normally espoused safe dosages, can be regarded as having an enhanced danger potential.