Steroid Muscle vs Natural Muscle
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
16 Responses to “Steroid Muscle vs Natural Muscle”
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July 29th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Having never used drugs, those 4 clues are great. Thanks for your insight as always, John.
I also appreciate the fact that you acknowledge that anyone should be free to put whatever they want in their bodies.
Here’s a question to think about though:
If your body is able to quickly grow back any muscle you lost, if you were once on steroids and gained a lot more muscle than you ever could have without steroids, and you know have stopped using steroids and consequently loss a bunch of muscle, would you effectively be raising the amount of muscle your body can now sustain without steroid use?
Example: Before you used steroids, your body’s limit is 75 pounds of muscle. After using steroids, your surpassed this and gained a total of 100 pounds of muscle. You stop using steroids and initially dropped down to 60 pounds of muscle. Is your body’s limit now 100 pounds of muscle or is it still 75 pounds again? Also, would you be able to quickly regain all that muscle (given that you compensate for the loss of drugs by hitting the weights harder)?
July 29th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
It doesn’t appear that way. Every bodybuilder or athlete I’ve seen who uses steroids goes back to their pre-steroid size when they stop using.
The size that steroids produce seems to be completely transient.
In other words there is a difference between the muscle size potential that is induced by weight training vs steroid use.
Weight training seems to have a lasting effect (ex: when you break your arm, it shrinks while in the cast but comes back to full size as soon as you’re out of the cast, including the size you built from weight training)
But when you go off of steroids there is no way to grow back up to steroid levels, and you end up right back where you started before you took them.
In other words there is no lasting effect or any ‘muscle memory’ from steroids.
JB
July 29th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
In terms of body image – start with Bruce Lee, work up to Danny Davis Junior via Nureyev and settle on David Belle after a really big leap of trust. Some where between Bruce and Statham – or to put it another way, somewhere between Thelma and Louise Brad and Troy Brad.
But it’s not the size, its the overall look – that’s where the AI comes in and proves itself.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Thanks, John. That was crystal clear.
July 29th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
John, does there exist a way to figure your maximum potential? Other than just lifting PROPERLY for a decade and not noticing much, if any, growth.
July 29th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
User, the golden adonis index calculation is what we’re guessing is the maximum potential.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Hi John,
You’re the only group of people that admit the falsity of “eating to gain muscle size” and bulking/cutting phases for sure.
I want to get on a bodybuilding stage and the most common practice among competitors and even coaches is maintaining a certain level of body fat off-season while gaining size and then cutting down when the time is right.
Problem is, I’ve a hard time getting past a certain leanness because I’m not used to it and it’s hard to change bad habits.
Do you think a competition-minded person should just “cut to the chase” and work on getting lean all year while training for size, so that there is time for the inevitable lapses and burnout?
Jason
July 30th, 2010 at 4:38 am
your comments are so true…But with what measurements are you big naturally… What are the natural bodybuilders competition winners measurements,maybe thats a startingpoint for us mere mortals…
July 30th, 2010 at 5:02 am
Here is some stat of a known natural hungarian bodybuilder
169 cm. /5’7)
Competition weight 80 kg. 154 pound
Bic 45 cm
Chest 118 cm
Waist 68 cm
Legs 60 cm
claves 42 cm
Hope it helps
July 30th, 2010 at 5:08 am
srry weight is 70 kg.
July 30th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Nasty. How are big bellies and bloated looks, not to mention blocky physiques, attractive? Sorry, John, but I’ll never understand why you dabbled in drugs yourself!
July 30th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
clementinho,
He did it for science!!!!!!
July 31st, 2010 at 7:04 pm
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