As you age, the muscle gains from a gross off-season period tend to decrease, it is also more difficult to eliminate excess fat when you go to the pre-contest diet, so more mature athletes tend to stay cleaner throughout year.
Exactly. Many just overeat and get too sloppy. Many over diet as well. Quite a lot do both. Then comes the fact many don't hold their new weight for long enough so they just build over no more than 6 months then diet straightaway instead of holding (and solidifying) their new weight for long enough.
Regarding the thread in general one thing I see a lot of guys do who struggle to grow is just overcomplicate the shit out of eating. They micro manage everything. As Daniel excellently posted last including the quote about Jay Cutler and measuring spoons. The same guys will want to know exactly how many calories over maintenance should they eat... should it be 200, 300, 400... they need to know an exact figure... just fucking eat. Now don't mistake that for just eat anything and everything. There needs to be a structured and sensible plan and set meals/foods but don't overanalyse every last detail. If you want to eat approx 1000 cals "over maintenance" do it but you just need to learn your body and know when to push and when to hold back. Anyone with half a brain can see when they are putting on unnecessary fat so if you are you change things.
I don't believe in force feeding at all as it will ruin your look over time. However to get bigger sometimes things need to be forced to an extent. Although guys should be learning how to make their bodies process food as efficiently as possible. The better your digestion the more you can eat. Picking the right food sources is key to this. I hear guys state they don't have an appetite then create an appetite. Take short walks after every meal (when possible), do morning cardio, eat foods you enjoy and digest well, digestive enzymes, glutamine, healthy foods, probiotics, prebiotics, non toxic drugs, appetite boosters, try to stay stress free, prepare your meals in advance etc etc.
AAS is needed for someone to look freaky but drugs should never come before food. Food is the building blocks to grow and drugs facilitate the process. Picking the right drugs is especially important when trying to grow. Adding in high doses of x, y and z may go against you when trying to grow. For me running even low-moderate doses of many orals can ruin my appetite for example. Most don't need a lot of drugs to grow big they just need the basics. Don't get me wrong you can still blast away if you want but pick the right aids when growing. Toxic drugs (that effect your appetite) can be added when cutting and you don't care about appetite and want to look freaky. Test, deca, primo, eq, npp etc are ideal for growing.
The thought process of low food and high drugs to grow is backwards. Taking in a basic stack (low, medium or high dosed) with non toxic drugs will enable most to grow effectively over time. Now everyone is different but I see too many taking alsorts of crap to grow and they are often the ones who undereat. They would probably undereat anyway but their drug stacks often go against them.