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

Here is a good comparison picture of Eugen Sandow vs Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Eugen Sandow is known as the first real bodybuilder and gained international fame for doing the first bodybuilding style poses for crowds of people. The interesting thing is that he died 10 years before testosterone was discovered…so you know he could have never used steroids.

Eugen Sandow vs Arnold Schwarzenegger

During his time Sandow was considered one of the biggest and best built men in the world, he was the gold standard for bodybuilding before testosterone was discovered. As soon as testosterone was discovered and steroids were being dosed in people Arnold became the new gold standard. I’m sure the sheer size of Arnold vs Sandow just goes to show you how much of a difference drugs can make.

Basically these pictures show you what the gold standard for a muscular body was before and after the discovery of steroids.

Eugen Sandow was the real deal and a body size that can be attained without steroids…on the other hand here are some examples of the type of size that can only be built using steroids: Steroid Muscle

John