Steroids, Supplements and the Decline of True Physical Culture

[Milhouse]

Well most of that article is propaganda although a few good points about the way people trained years ago is valid.

My problem with the whole "culture" today isnt drugs, supplements or any of that stuff in the article.

My problem is with the attitudes of a large majority of people who take up weight training. What I mean is frankly alot of them are lifting for all the wrong reasons and I get the sense they dont even enjoy it or look at the postive effects of working out drug free or not.
Positive benefits like increased strength, endurance so you can do day to day tasks better, less injury, more energy, the disipline you accrue from working out whether even if its only a little or alot of discipline caan be used in other areas of life to improve.

And lets talk comraderie in working out. Go to gyms, nighclubs , restaurants and look at the way ppl who work out look at each other. Really fucking petty. That and I remember even back in the late 80's when I started going to gyms everybody knew each other in the gyms, if not by name but at least friendly wise. You would go out to a club on Saturday night and bump into alot of these people and there was a bond because we all loved going to the gym for whatever reason.

Today that exists very minimally at best.

Personally I find alot of people dont deserve to be able to do this activity I love so much because their hearts are not in the right place. The way they carry the 'bodybuilder' stereotype attitude in public makes us all look bad.
Stop wearing your little sisters t-shirts to the mall in the winter, maybe train legs more then once a month and treat others like they treat you.
Cut the attitude so to speak. That and your not really that big to begin with.

 

[TxCollegeguy]

Milhouse I have to agree with what you said...After I quit running and got into this more seriously there were a group of 10 guys who were hardcore at my local and tiny college gym. These guys were always in there during my 2 a day workouts about the same time as me. They were always friendly to me and helped me out alot with spots and helped plan the types of food to eat while I started bulking up. I would catch them at most of the clubs when I would head out and they would sneak me a drink from time to time. I would say most were about 21-24 so to a 18 year kid it was good to have guys to look up to. After that 1st semester working out with them when I came back it was alot of fun cause my strength jumped up alot and I was able to lift in the same ballpark range as them for most lifts.

A few of the guys even helped me rehab my knee a bit to get some strength back into it.

 

[Bikini Mod]

30 # of muscle in SIX WEEKS?! Oh *wink* OK!

 

[gymtime]

I think as far as AS use goes, it's like anything else. If you use it wisely, and in moderation, it can benefit your life. The problem with articles like this is that they base their information on only the most extreme examples of steroid use. Yes, I agree that there is definitely such a thing as "o-d-ing" on AS. The guys and girls who do it also pay the consequences without fail. And yes, to me, they look like freaks, and not in a good way.

 

[Test boy]

The availability of Human Growth Hormone makes the freakiness of today possible.

The first post makes way too many rediculous claims to spend the time to counter argue.

I didn't need roids for strong growth in my twenties but acne prevented lifting heavy. Different story now.

Some guys have a valid reason and do it properly. Some don't, this is true of all sports. Many guys got so addicted to golf or cards or fishing...their wives left them. Anything is a problem when carried to an excess.

 

[danielson]

I didn't need roids for strong growth in my twenties but acne prevented lifting heavy. Different story now.

why? (as in would heavy weights aggrevate it or were you referring to the roids affecting the acne? )

 

[musclebrains]

Part of the problem with AS is the hysteria over them.

First of all, I got thrown in a gym when I was five years old and never really left. I've worked out naturally longer than many people here have been alive. When I was in my early-20s, I was contacted by a well known promoter and he offered me a gig. He would train me and feed me, let me work in his gym and pay my tuition in grad school. I moved to his city and the first day I showed up, he greeted me with a syringe. I said NO, fled, and didn't touch an AS for almost 20 years. I was even offered a lot of money by a magazine at one point to try a cycle and report my subjective experience. That was during the big scandal in the 80s.

I bought the whole hysteric story -- that roids would make my liver explode, enlarge my heart, make all my hair fall out and turn me into a huge acne pustule. It didn't matter that during a low point in my life I ended up ghostwriting for national champions and watched them using without much serious health consequences.

Then, about 18 months ago, I felt completely exhausted. I was in the middle of my doctoral exams, I had way too many clients and I had a major writing project due, but I felt unnaturally tired even for all that. So my physician ran tests and reported that my testosterone had dropped to "low-normal."

YOu know what he recommended? An eight-week cycle of testosterone injections -- 500 mg a week. This was at KAISER. I was flabbergasted. I'd worked out 20 years, studiously avoiding steroids (and opportunities), because of the conventional medical advice that these drugs were so incredibly dangerous. And suddenly here was a conservative doctor recommending a cycle of testosterone. I thought he must be crazy and checked it out with friends in the medical profession. Some did think the dosage was extreme, but others said they'd done the same. Others told me that they give many patients with low testosterone twice monthly injections, though at lower dosages than I was getting. Further, I learned that testosterone replacement clinics were sprouting everywhere.

So, I took the injections. I was amazzzzzzzzzzed. I have NO doubt why these drugs are so popular. They make one's felt sense, one's experience of physicality and presence, very different. I have to say that I related to my body in a way I had NEVER related to it before. I don't know if this make sense to people who haven't not taken the drugs for many years (or who are under 40).

I can't address the question of ethics but I think use of the drugs has a lot to do with factors other than getting sex. I can see the potential for their addictive use, because this sense of physical presence I'm talking about is quite a rush. But I cannot for the life of me see how their moderate use can be said to degrade health.

 

[Test boy]

Part of the problem with AS is the hysteria over them.

First of all, I got thrown in a gym when I was five years old and never really left. I've worked out naturally longer than many people here have been alive. When I was in my early-20s, I was contacted by a well known promoter and he offered me a gig. He would train me and feed me, let me work in his gym and pay my tuition in grad school. I moved to his city and the first day I showed up, he greeted me with a syringe. I said NO, fled, and didn't touch an AS for almost 20 years. I was even offered a lot of money by a magazine at one point to try a cycle and report my subjective experience. That was during the big scandal in the 80s.

I bought the whole hysteric story -- that roids would make my liver explode, enlarge my heart, make all my hair fall out and turn me into a huge acne pustule. It didn't matter that during a low point in my life I ended up ghostwriting for national champions and watched them using without much serious health consequences.

Then, about 18 months ago, I felt completely exhausted. I was in the middle of my doctoral exams, I had way too many clients and I had a major writing project due, but I felt unnaturally tired even for all that. So my physician ran tests and reported that my testosterone had dropped to "low-normal."

YOu know what he recommended? An eight-week cycle of testosterone injections -- 500 mg a week. This was at KAISER. I was flabbergasted. I'd worked out 20 years, studiously avoiding steroids (and opportunities), because of the conventional medical advice that these drugs were so incredibly dangerous. And suddenly here was a conservative doctor recommending a cycle of testosterone. I thought he must be crazy and checked it out with friends in the medical profession. Some did think the dosage was extreme, but others said they'd done the same. Others told me that they give many patients with low testosterone twice monthly injections, though at lower dosages than I was getting. Further, I learned that testosterone replacement clinics were sprouting everywhere.

So, I took the injections. I was amazzzzzzzzzzed. I have NO doubt why these drugs are so popular. They make one's felt sense, one's experience of physicality and presence, very different. I have to say that I related to my body in a way I had NEVER related to it before. I don't know if this make sense to people who haven't not taken the drugs for many years (or who are under 40).

I can't address the question of ethics but I think use of the drugs has a lot to do with factors other than getting sex. I can see the potential for their addictive use, because this sense of physical presence I'm talking about is quite a rush. But I cannot for the life of me see how their moderate use can be said to degrade health.

Tha ws a GREAT post. Should be made a sticky so everyone can read it.
Gotta question for you...why is it that the gays on the board are always good writers it seems? Way out theory here...possible that loads of writing changes brain patterns to adopt "gayness" or "queerness" as you prefer.

 

[musclebrains]

Tha ws a GREAT post. Should be made a sticky so everyone can read it.
Gotta question for you...why is it that the gays on the board are always good writers it seems? Way out theory here...possible that loads of writing changes brain patterns to adopt "gayness" or "queerness" as you prefer.

Actually, I'm bisexual, so I can rite dum too.

 

[Test boy]

why? (as in would heavy weights aggrevate it or were you referring to the roids affecting the acne? )

Damn danielson...seems to be your day to question me.

Actually it has long been medically documented that straining muscles will cause or aggravate acne in people predisposed to it. I already had high test levels which made it worse. Still got the test levels but muscles don't respond like they used to. Getting older has many advantages and disadvantages.

Still get mild back acne if I forget the Pantothenic Acid.