The word is thrown around the gym more than some of the dumbbells on the rack, yet not many of the people doing the talking know shit about it. Some utter it due to jealousy, envy and to compensate for their laziness, shortcomings, lack of commitment and/or genetics… or all of the above.
The word is ‘steroids’ and while they may be common in gyms, people seem to jump to that conclusion way too often when it is not the case. Basically since Barry Bonds became a household name for the wrong reasons, anyone – from the professional athlete to the weekend warrior – who sprouted even a hint of a new muscle or showed a glimmer of new found strength heard that dreaded ‘S’ word.
In all seriousness, this is extremely ridiculous and anyone can show the type of gains that may result in steroid allegations merely by being consistent and doing things right. But then there is the other side of the coin, one that is filled with people looking to take a shortcut that results in not putting the same effort into it but foolishly supplementing it with steroids.
The first thing that people need to realize is that while steroids do in fact work, you have to do more than just jab a needle in your ass to get the full benefit from them. Just because they enhance muscle growth and burn fat doesn’t mean you can train and eat like shit while using gear. The only thing that this will get you is looking like a water logged blimp.
They only work well when you work hard and that is the most frequently overlooked fact about steroids.
What good is it for your bench press to go up a bunch of pounds if you look like shit doing it? Your strength may be the first improvement noticed while on a cycle and this should be an added incentive to focus on the other aspects such as a smart diet, consistent and hard weight lifting workouts mixed with cardio.
So let’s say that you’ve done the proper research and have decided that you want to give steroids a try. While there are obvious positive side effects that come with them, there are also a number of negative ones, as well.
Your health should be paramount and you should be under the care of a physician and not bullshit him or her about using roids. Your blood tests are going to come back wacky (each compound and every individual differ, but the various levels will show a few that come back abnormal), so be straight about what you’re putting into your body that is causing this is pretty important to diagnose and rectify them.
If you’re a certain age (over 35) or simply have a low testosterone level, your doctor may prescribe Testosterone Replacement Therapy for you and while this may sound clinical, it’s basically a low dose steroid cycle. Yes, gear is legitimately used medicinally and TRT will help your overall well-being, energy level, sex drive and alertness, as well as getting your body looking good again (“when used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise,” as your doctor will put it).
Yeah, the juice has received a bad rap over the years. Some of it justified; some of it not.