Blood, Sweat and Steroids

(Image created by A.I. DALL-E/Bing)

Having spent a lot of my 20s and early 30s at gyms, I've been exposed to people boasting superhuman physics while denying the use of performance enhancing drugs.

Amateur bodybuilders will go through 4 great plateaus. Those are:

• Posture/Muscle Physiology - The first plateau a bodybuilder will come across is related to muscle groups and how to work them out properly in order to make them grow.
• Nutrition - The second plateau a bodybuilder will hit is related to food. This is when the bodybuilder starts to understand the relationship between nutrition and fitness in order to progress through limitations.
• Supplement - Soon after the nutrition phase is figured out, the bodybuilder starts to understand the relationship between supplements and fitness. This is when protein powder, creatine, misc vitamins, pre/post workouts joins the diet.
• Drugs - After a while, the bodybuilder understands the limitations of food/supplement and may start looking for substances that are ultimately detrimental to health in order to move past further plateaus.

While it's possible to move beyond the body's limits, through the use of drugs, it defeats the purpose of working out to be "healthy". What I don't like about the fitness industry is that it's filled with people claiming that their physique are natural when it really isn't. 

This false advertising is only understood by those who spent a lot of time at the gym. Only those that workout, follow the proper diet with supplement, understands what is ultimately possible via these means and what is likely possible through the use of drugs. 

It's not possible to have 36inch arms without drugs, it's not possible to curl 300lbs without drugs, it's not possible to have 60inch chest without drugs...

The fitness influences are quick to show what they eat, what they do at the gym and everything else in-between EXCEPT the type of performance enhancing drugs that they're using.

Why the deception?

If fitness influencers were upfront about their drug use it's a little bit like they've admitted to cheating on a test. We all know these drugs are ultimately bad for you but we also want to believe that it's possible to achieve superhuman physique without them. We follow these influencers because we believe they have secrets that nobody else has.

Fitness has no secrets...

• You need to let your muscle rest on some days.
• You can't outwork a bad diet.
• It's about how you lift more so than how much you lift.
• It's about discipline/consistency.
• It's about paying attention to what you eat whether it be counting calories or grams of protein/vitamins.
• ...

Just go and do it!