Earlier today I was browsing my facebook updates, procrastinating and just plain ol’ wasting time when I came across a picture of the villain in the forthcoming batman movie. This villain is called “Bane”. He is apparently a super genius who creates some form of serum (it’s known as venom) that makes him a super human juggernaut. In other words he develops some sort of super steroid that make him immensely powerful with an enhanced capacity to heal…hmm interesting, where else have we heard that one before? Maybe in the recently released captain america movie, where captain america is essentially a guy on steroids.

So in one case steroids make a man the villain, and in the next case they make another man a hero.

In fact there have been quite a few action/comic book movies where the hero or the villain was nothing more than an average guy who took some sort of drug or was infected or exposed to some sort of chemical reaction that makes them super strong and super big.

Apart from aliens from other planets like superman, or mutants who were born this way, it seems that hollywood, comic book fiction and even pro sports is teaching us that an effective way to become a hero is to take steroids…but you’re only a hero if you don’t get caught.

…and that is the apparent paradox.

Hero or Villain? McGwire during his time at St. Louis when he broke the homerun record

In real life steroids are looked down upon as some sort of taboo. When a sports figure it caught using them it’s considered cheating, unsportsmanlike and just plain old ‘wrong’. But before those same sports figures are caught when they are achieving super human feats of strength, power or endurance we all tune in and revere them for their seemingly super human abilities. For example, the ratings for baseball were amazing when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds were breaking/setting/and re-breaking the homerun record.

Well we all know how that story ended…most of those home runs were hit with the extra thump of steroid induced muscle…but at the time it was happening nobody cared because we were watching something that was truly ‘superhuman’…as in, no normal/natural non chemically enhanced human can do this! It was like seeing a comic book hero come to life. And then when they were finally exposed for using drugs, they became the villain.

Here is the short list of steroid induced hero’s and villain’s (or something that is similar to steroids in that its some sort of chemical or gas or reaction of an external compound that makes them a super huge ass kicking muscle machine)

Bane (Bad guy in the next batman movie) – His vemon is a form of serum that gives him massive strength and muscle size)…in other words; a guy who was smart enough to develop his own steroids

Villain - "Bane" from the upcoming Batman Movie

Captain America (Good guy from the recently released movie) – Skinny twerp given super soldier serum giving him super human strength labelled as the ‘pinnacle of human development’)…in other words; a guy on steroids developed by the military

Incredible Hulk (Sometimes good guy, sometimes bad guy) – Gamma radiation alters his DNA allowing him to become super humanly strong and immune to harm…in other words; a guy who was accidentally exposed to radiation that makes him look like he’s on steroids when he is pissed off

Abomination (Bad guy from the recent incredible hulk movie) – Emil Blonsky see’s what the gamma radiation accident did to Bruce Banner to turn him into the hulk. Blonsky willingly subjects himself to the same radiation in order to gain super human strength…in other words: a guy who purposefully exposed himself to radiation to make him look like he is on steroids.

Human Juggernaut (Bad Guy) – has a magical gem that gives him super huaman power, strength size and durability)…in other words; a guy who found a new type of steroid in gem form

Black Panther (Good Guy) – Eats a special herb that gives him super human strength, agility, speed and power to the ‘peak of human development’)…in other words; a guy who is on ‘herbal’ steroids

Hero - Arnold as "Conan"

Mr Hyde (Good guy from the movie the league of extraordinary gentlemen) – When Dr. Jekyll ingests a chemical concoction it gives him super human strength size and stamina and an invulnerability to harm)…in other words; a doctor who developed his own steroids

Nick Fury (Good guy from recent marvel movies Iron Man, Thor, and the upcoming avengers movie) – Infinity Formula keeps him from ever aging…ok so it’s not necessarily the same as a steroid that makes him huge, but eternal youth is even better…in other words; a guy on anti aging drugs

Green Goblin (Bad guy from the recent spider man movies) – Norman Osborn takes his own serum that he was developing for the military as a super soldier formula, it gives him super human strength, power, agility and speed)…in other words: a billionaire CEO contracted by the government to create a steroid, who took his own drug once he created it.

Ok so those are just comic books, what about hollywood celebrities that portray other non comic book action hero’s? Well we got Rocky and Rambo and we know Stallone has been found with growth hormone. We got the Terminator and Conan and we know Schwarzenegger has admitted to using steroids. We got WWE wrestlers like Hulk Hogan who have been caught using steroids, and the list goes on and on.

Hmm…do we have any action hero’s at all that aren’t on steroids?…not likely.

It seems to me that comic books, hollywood and professional sports all teach us that drug use is synonymous with being both the hero and the villain. In hollywood and comic books both good and bad guys use drugs to get superhuman powers. In professional sports and hollywood athletes and celebrities use drugs to be the best at what they do and adored as a hero, but as soon as they are exposed for using drugs they are regarded as a villain.

I guess this is why celebrities and sports figures who use drugs never tell anyone and only admit it once they’re caught red handed. The day they are exposed is the day they go from drug induced hero, to drug abusing villain.

John

Believe it or not we still don’t have a complete picture of how muscles grow. Brad Pilon has recently put together some research on a new theory that might help explain how muscles grow and why we can’t continue to grow indefinitely.

In general the theory is about chronic vs acute inflammation. Namely, acute intermittent inflammation from working out is good and helps stimulate muscle growth…but chronic inflammation from stress, infection, or overeating and obesity can destroy your ability to develop muscle.

Working out with weights produces a short term acute inflammatory response in the muscle. Basically the muscle is changed/damaged and then various metabolic changes happen and cells, hormones, and other factors enter the muscle cell to repair/remodel the muscle in response to the workout.

Once the repair and remodeling has taken place the extra material and cells leave the muscle cell.

This is analogous to a normal inflammatory immune response in any other tissue of your body.

The point is that it’s a short term transient change that comes and goes with each workout.

Chronic inflammation from infection, or over stress, or overeating may actually inhibit the ability of your muscle to react and grow in response to working out.

This theory might also provide the proof that “bulking up” will not work (without steroids) because overeating causes a chronic inflammation and ruins the acute inflammatory response.

LISTEN:

Brad talks about this in a recent podcast here –> Inflammation Theory of Muscle Growth

WATCH:

He has a full presentation at this website: Inflammation Theory of Muscle Growth

John

An example of what steroids can do. Jose Canseco, the only honest man in baseball.

So I guess the general theme this week is “hormones”. So the next topic that we’re going to cover was sent in by Jason and this is about steroid muscle vs natural muscle.

This is a tricky topic because most celebrities, athletes and bodybuilders don’t admit or disclose the drugs they use so it’s hard to match a look with the drugs it took to get that look.

In other words, even though certain athletes have openly admitted to steroid use we still don’t know how much they used, for how long and most of all, we can never know for certain how big, strong and lean they would have been if they didn’t use.

So we’re left guessing and putting together the puzzle with only some of the pieces and no idea what the puzzle picture really looks like.

If you’ve been around the steroid sub culture or used them for any length of time they you have a good idea of what they can do and how your body will change…and how fast it will change.

You also gain some appreciation and insight into spotting other steroid users. There are a few characteristics that just become obvious if you’ve been on the inside.

1) Rapid strength gain. It’s pretty obvious when a guy is using drugs because is overall strength and the rate of is strength gain are massively accelerated.

2) Rounding bloated look. the muscle bellies of a guy on steroids seem to have a rounder, fuller more bloated look that natural guys can never really achieve. This is a subtle difference that many non users wont notice. But guys in the know can pick it out pretty easily as they can remember when they had the same effect and also know that it’s impossible to get that effect without drugs.

3) Overall size. There is a limit to natural muscle growth and when you see a guy who is simply far too big for his frame it becomes obvious that he’s using some extra help to get there.

4) Facial bloating. Many steroids will change the look of the face giving it a slightly fuller/bloated look. This is a dead giveaway for many guys.

These are just some of the visual cues that a guy is using steroids.

Natural guys who want to build muscle should try not to use a steroid induced look as their ideal that they’re shooting for. With that said it will be difficult to know if the person who you are role modeling uses drugs or not. The 4 guidelines above are at least a start to know if you’re chasing an ideal that you simply cannot catch without drugs.

If you don’t want to use drugs then you need to find a body image ideal that is drug free so you can set your expectations accordingly.

If you you do use drugs then the sky is the limit and the more you use the bigger you’ll get. But the quality of your look will still come down to conditioning and how and what you use and how much you use.

The bottom line with drug use is that the person with the best genetics to begin with will still look the best given the same amount of drugs (I’m talking competition level here).

It doesn’t really matter to me which path you’re on, it’s your body and its your rules so knock yourself out. I don’t believe anyone else has the right to tell you what you can or can’t put into your body. It’s really the only piece of property you have in the world that is mostly yours (and even with that the gov still tries to tell you what you can and can’t do with it)

Anyway, the point is to try and set a body image ideal that is consistent with what you’re doing to achieve it.

For guys and muscle building it typically boils down to:

a) Whether you are using drugs or not

b) Finding a body image ideal that was built using drugs or not

That latter is the tricky part as most steroid user’s don’t broadcast their use. The only way to know for sure is if you know them personally.

John

How Do You Make The Descision to Use Steroids or Not?

Alek sent in a very interesting question. He simply asked what are the real objective reasons for not using steroids.

This is a good question because there is much misinformation about steroids in the general media, and the side effects and potential negative effects are usually associated with massive doses.

What then are the objective reasons to avoid steroid use?

First of all any drug taken on a chronic basis will have some side effects to deal with. In the case of testosterone and it’s derivatives the side effects (no matter how mild the drug or dose) are as follows:

Aromatization of some testosterone to estrogen and then estrogen based side effects (development of breast tissue is the most obvious)

Hair Loss (not too many guys would trade a head of hair for slightly bigger muscles)

Raised blood lipids and cholesterol. This is one of the side effects that can directly increase risk of heart disease.

Potential increased risk of prostate cancer.

Acne (it’s person to person, not everyone gets this reaction)

And finally, there is likely a set of completely unknown side effects that the scientific community has yet to uncover or have a chance to study.

This list (while not complete) is a good starting point of ‘con’s’ to using steroids. If a guy wanted to use them he would have to weigh out these vs the ‘pro’s’.

Depending on the dose testosterone can be a benefit to many guys, it’s even prescribed as an anti-depressant and to elevate mood and well being.

It may also be of use for men who are beyond 50 years of age and want to replace some testosterone to restore their circulating levels back to those of a 30 year old. This may actually be beneficial for longevity and quality of life. This is analogous in some respects to hormone replacement therapy for post menopausal women.

In the end it should be up to each individual to decide what they want to do with their body. Collecting unbiased and objective information is the key to making an informed descision.

John

Steroids are the real workhorses in bodybuilding

Bodybuilding isn’t a display of discipline in the gym, or superior work ethic, or good program design, or superior genetics. It’s mostly a display of access to and willingness to take drugs of all kinds.

To get anywhere in bodybuilding some combination of the following types of drugs will commonly be used.

Testosterone and its derivatives (both oral and injectable)

Diuretics (both oral and injectable)

Insulin

Growth Hormone

Stimulants (ranging from ephedrine, to thyroid hormone and even cocaine)

Given this background of drug use there is little practical advice you can take from bodybuilding circles that will apply to your training and fitness goals.

And don’t kid yourself, many ‘fitness models’ are also using some combination of these drugs as well.

Bodybuilders represent the most exrteme case and most people don’t want to go as far as they do. However they represent what is possible and thus present a choice of what people could have if they wanted it.

A continuum of potential body shape and size is created. The far left is defined by no workouts and no attention to calorie intake (average couch potato), the far right is defined by massive drug use and rigorous attention to diet detail (high level bodybuilder)

The rest of us are somewhere between these two extremes. All you have to do is choose how far along the spectrum you want to go to get the look you are after.

John