bikinimom and others, a few more words in favor of the don't tell her theory.
bikinimom, you are obviously quite a good athlete and I respect the fact that you probably know more about gear than a few Mazola-oil shooting buffoons you know.
Fine, but most women are nothing like that. Most PEOPLE are still very far away from this subculture. Family, friends, etc. - many in my circle would NEVER "get it." I was even criticized by my immediate family for having a thick neck from years of lifting natural. !
Actually my wife is quite athletic and some of her aerobics class friends probably have boyfriends who juice. I'm sure she probably would be supportive. Especially since my own usage has stopped me from whining that "X achieved that no-fat 235 lb physique with AS."
Here's my problem. Shit gets around. My wife lives for her occasional all-gal potluck parties, lunch every two weeks with Mom, and her weekly Saturday coffee with aerobics friends. She also seems to blurt things out (very rarely) when there is bantering going on when we are having wine with my parents, or out with a group of my friends.
She probably WOULDN'T say anything. But women have a "sharing" nature. She tells two friends, they tell two friends, and before you know it, my cover as a mild-mannered intellectual is blown. Not that I CARE, mind you, since I blew that cover on my own several years ago, it's just that I wouldn't want to give a bunch of people from a former life the satisfaction of talking trash about me.
And I *really* can't imagine what might happen if there was a big fight, and somehow the code of silence was broken to the point of my poor innocent in-laws finding out about it. They are old people, this lifestyle is very distant from their reality, and it would be too bewildering to them. The *needle*? The only needles in their circle are insulin needles.
People understand it OK when I say I do some heavy lifting and like to rollerblade to keep in shape. My wife will be much better in upholding this fiction if I don't officially announce the AS to her.
As for the buffoons who inject bunk gear, the rest of us don't have to answer for them!
If you are going to gain under 20 lbs. on a cycle, I believe it is possible to succesfully tell white lies about it that will satisfy everyone.
- Zits? Blame it on seasonal allergies, the flu, etc.
- Hair probs? If not too serious, it's just the aging process.
- Strength going thru the roof? Say you cut out cardio, make a show of eating tons & taking creatine.
- Needle marks? It helps if you just got a kitten that is scratching the hell out of various parts of your body.
- Small balls? OK, well, you've got me there. Hopefully she'll just feel sorry for you, or you can pretend work is really busy for like 8 weeks or so.
Not everyone is totally attuned to the signs of gear. I have so far seen no compelling reason cited to go around being "open" about it. I have however told her about many different supplements, diets, etc., - so why not assume that this is what I'm using?
DO YOU REALLY THINK that everyone will react well to the idea of a conservative cautious man changing his life so radically by becoming a NEEDLE USER? Because that's what people see. Even supportive wives.
If she walks in on me with a needle sticking in my leg, that's when I tell her. She is probably well prepared for it, since I have told her about this board and all that I have learned. I have explained how athletes in pro sports, like 70% of pro baseball players, are only getting as big and strong as they are with varying degrees of AS usage - how McGwire probably used the Andro thing as a convenient cover for AS use, etc.; how Ben Johnson is the greatest person to have lived; how Tiger Woods probably takes Winny
etc.
She won't flip out, but I just don't feel like telling her. What would I get for telling her? A medal?
And finally I'd like to close by saying that this doesn't relate to old-fashioned sexist ideas, not respecting women as equals or seeing the value of a good relationship. I have championed many feminist causes in the past. Actually many of the women involved in such causes probably wouldn't even talk to a "gearhead." People tend to want to see things in black and white, so why give them the satisfaction of an easy stereotype.
"My lips are sealed."
P.S. Canadian Oak, not all women are bitches buddy, just all my ex-girlfriends. Teenage guys get a raw deal from girls their own age sometimes. Women, like boys, grow up and get smarter as they get older.
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