Part 2:
Before I get more into everything here...I want to present my own personal thoughts on something. There are hundreds of thousands of natural bodybuilders. There are hundreds of thousands of "enhanced" bodybuilders. I made my bones "so to say" in the sport by talking about things that werent openly talked about back in the 90's when I came out with the Hardcore Muscle Newsletter. I dont want to count the hours (YEARS!) I have spent researching libraries (pre-internet), pubmed, assays, various theories, various studies etc etc etc. Ive researched training, diets, foods, compounds, supplements, and drugs as it pertains to this genre. Now over the next few weeks im going to talk about things that arent so politically correct in certain circles. Why am i saying this? Because I have people reading my facebook page that are in the sport (and they already know the deal) and people who are on the fringe and outside of the sport (family/friends) who arent going to understand why Im talking about certain taboo subjects. Ill tell you why. ITS REALITY!
I had this conversation with my parents back in the 90's when they asked me why I discussed steroids and growth hormone and drugs in my newsletter along with training, diet, food, supplements. And my reasoning to them then is the same reasoning now. I am not condoning anything but for gods sake, above all else do not bullshit anyone. Dont walk around the controversy. It is what it is. Talk about the reality of things because the reality of things is people are using steroids and drugs and the majority of society is applauding them and idolizing them. My father was a huge N.E. Patriots fan as I am.....the conversation went like this back then in the 90's : "Dad if you really think the same people you are applauding and cheering for every sunday in the NFL, if you really think the various sports events you watch, if you really think the highest grossing movies and action hero's at that time (Rocky movies, Terminator movies, Bloodsport etc etc etc) are not part of this reality.....then i dont know what to tell you dad!""But i will tell you, if someone wants to lose the respect of everyone real quick? Pretend its not there....because the truth of the matter like it or not it is there!".....My parents got my points after the whole Major League Baseball debacle (I had certain members of MLB contacting me back in the early 90's during my newsletter reign telling me what they were doing ergo wise...so i already knew that whole deal)....the whole NFL debacle, Bonds, Sosa, Armstrong etc etc etc you all get it. And my parents I believe finally did to....REALITY.
So fast forward to today....every bodybuilder (natural or enhanced) reading this right now knows the deal but the layperson family or friends reading it who arent understanding why IM talking about certain things...let me go with the same vein of thought modernized...... "If you really think that you are watching a movie starring the Rock Dwayne Johnson, If you really think you are watching certain actors in the most popular movies out there like Xmen movies and Avenger movies, If you really think these cult TV shows like "Jersey Shore", certain motorcycle building shows in the past, and other incredibly popular modern media heros or sports celebrities arent part of this reality....I dont know what to tell you"..........its as simple as that.
Now to this point Im going to tell you where the huge problem comes from. The internet. Prior to 1996-2000 the number of bodybuilders who were dying young were few and far between. Very rare and very unheard of. Then the net starts getting widespread around 1997....Prior to these years bodybuilders by and large used moderate to respectable dosages of bodybuilding drugs. And for the most part, if you are respectful in your usage of these bodybuilding drugs, you will be as healthy (if not healthier) than you would normally. Now let me quickly explain the (if not healthier part). I dont care what it is about the endocrine/hormonal system it is, if you are deficient or overproduce...you will create a situation that will cause you to expire many years before your proper time. If you have diabetes and refuse to take insulin or various derivatives....you are going to die (probably quick). If you have extreme hypothyroidism or extreme hyperthyroidism (severely underactive or overactive thyroid) the consequences of all those side effects over time without solving that problem are going to end your life much sooner than you expect. Testosterone, its reaches its peak around the mid 20's (SURPRISE! Also your healthiest years as a person!) and for every year after that it ebbs. So take a modern physically active person. From the age of 20-40 their physique looks pretty much the same doesnt it? What happens from age 40 to 60? Their endogenous testosterone goes way way down and they turn into an old man before your eyes. Estradiol goes up, testosterone goes down and you will see someone disintegrate visually from the outside and physically from the inside from the age of 40 onward. I could spend the next 48 hours listing study after study proving how important it is to have lower estradiol 21-37 ish, and healthy testosterone levels plus 550ng ish including studies showing thousands of men studied with the ones with the lowest testosterone levels dying so much sooner than their "healthy testosterone level" counterparts it would scare the hell out of you. But Ill get offbase of what my point is.... so if inclined...look thru the various literature and footnotes at the bottom of pages and research it all yourself. It is of my opinion that keeping your testosterone levels and estradiol levels a semblance of what they were in your 20's while you age....is among the most important things you can do for your longterm health.
Life Extension
Life Extension
Life Extension
Life Extension
Life Extension
Back to my point. Prior to the internet age hardly anyone in the bodybuilding community was dropping dead in their 30-40's. Then along comes the internet, access to bodybuilding drugs goes sky high...click of a button and people are ordering up. The prices of these drugs go unbelievable low. And in the old days alot of the people drawn to bodybuilding were athletes, yea there was some insecurities to be overcome mixed in there but by and large a majority of the people drawn to the sport looked at it as a personal challenge...you against the weights...an athletic endeavor/willpower/fortitude (not everyone obviously but a great many). Fast forward to the last 20 years and with society so focused on the visual (Instagram...the "enough about me, lets talk a little bit more about myself" society), the constant barrage of Jersey Shore, Wrestling, Action Movie Hero's visuals, etc etc etc.... a bunch of terribly insecure junkies trying to solve their insecurities by next Tuesday have entered into the sport. Add that up with widespread access to bodybuilding drugs, the astronomical low prices and you have the recipe for "bodybuilding drug abuse!"....and thats what has happened and what we have seen is just the tip of the iceberg of the people that are going to be dropping over the next few years. I thought personally the Derek Anthony dying at 33 years old was going to be a big wakeup call for a large majority of the sport....INSTEAD ITS GOTTEN EVEN WORSE because social media has allowed a bunch of uneducated idiots to be heard (and they are the exact "junky" mentality Ive been talking about who dont realize that what you do today doesnt end your life 30 days from now but DOES end it 12-15 years from now). If Science Daily came out with a latest study that showed 2 aspirin a day over 4 years time can increase a womans breast size, within one month there would be thousands of insecure "junky-like" women dead from overdosing on 50-100 aspirin in a days time. That in a nutshell is what has happened.
So thats why I felt the need to explain this above. Its a reality that is ending peoples lives prematurely that needs to be talked about. (continued)
See bold above: Dante has really made a name for himself as it pertains to bodybuilding and health, and yes, he is worthy of every bit of recognition he gets. One thing I don't understand is the number of people who put up posts acting as if they are tired of Dante talking about this subject when the reality is that most people either aren't listening or they still don't know. Even if he talks about it every day for the next decade--good.
However, my main point has to do with the bolded section above. Ain't' it the truth! Over the last 5 years, I can't remember how many people I have talked to--mostly people 30 and under, and especially 25 and under--who have been mis-led into thinking (by the Internet) that insane dosages of drugs are required in order for them to maximize progress at their current level of development, and I am not talking about pro-sized bodybuilders. I am talking about guys who don't even look like they could step on a regional stage and sadly, in many cases, not even a local stage.
The problem is differences in perception--particularly regarding what "large" dosages of bodybuilding drugs are. Back when I first got into this stuff, a cycle of 750 mg test, 500 mg Deca, and 210-280 mg Dianabol (all weekly dosages) was considered a huge cycle. A beginner would NEVER start at something like that. Only after years of bodybuilding--and a level of development to match--would one even contemplate using those dosages, and even then, many advanced bodybuilders never went that high.
I was fortunate to grow up (my teen years) in a gym (an old, and very "hardcore" powerhouse) which had many advanced bodybuilders, with a few national-level guys, and many others who were nearly equally developed, but with structural or other deficiens which prevented them from being successful competitive bodybuilders. This was a "bodybuilding" gym, as most gyms back in that day were when they had the name "Powerhouse". The majority of people that trained there were either competitive at some level, or striving to be. It was very much "unlike" the typical fitness oriented gym commonly encountered today.
I first started hanging around these guys right before the first Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1991. I was just a kid. Back then, nobody was afraid of going to prison for steroids (insulin was not yet in the picture and almost no one used GH due to price and availability issues). It was common to see used syringes (properly capped and bagged) laying in the locker room garbage cans. I was once privy to a game of "darts" being played in that same locker room, which involved 4-5 of the bigger guys, who apparently got bored administering steroids in the usual fashion.
As a young kid, I was lucky to be exposed to these men, who, games aside, were like a brotherhood and much more responsible with their use than the typical steroid user proliferating the gyms today. Everyone "cycled" their drugs, and most used dosages lower than what I described above. Going above 1 gram (total) was considered a "very" large cycle to these guys and it was not regularly done. 1,500 mg was massive.
At least 5-6 guys had enough size to stand a national stage and some did. One competed against levrone, Demayo, and some other big names you would be familiar with. None of these men weak. One eventually benched nearly 600 lbs raw. Doing 315 lb behind the neck presses for 6-10 was a regular thing for many of them. Body Weights ranged from 250 ish' to over 310 lbs for the tallest guy (the tall guy's common Anadrol dose was 25 mg)--and none of them were fat, with bodyfat that likely ranged from 8-12%, based on what I can remember. Abs were always visible on all of them.
The point here is the dosages they used back then are considered starting points for many guys today, and in many cases the guys today start out at even higher amounts. Of course, this isn't taking into consideration all the other non-steroids PED's routinely employed today by beginners. Strangely, these guys I mention were MUCH larger and stronger than 99% of the guys I see today using 2-3 their dosages--plus GH and insulin.
It has really gotten bad among the 25 and under crowd. As a coach, I get to speak in depth were more guys than perhaps the typical board member. Despite my best efforts to educate these kids (many of whom I have put an extensive amount of time into--way more than I was paid for), it is like fighting an uphill battle trying to convince them that they don't need to be using 3-4 grams of gear to win a local show, or achieve half the development of their favorite pro.
Why? The Internet. As soon as I start making some headway with them using facts and common sense, they have a dozen other people in their personal lives (all of whom learned from the Net) contradicting me. Or, they end up reading something on the Internet which tells them the opposite.
I hate to say it, but I will confess that sometimes I just give up and meet them somewhere in the middle. I know they are using too much and it will eventually adversely affect their health, but I am only going to argue and repeat myself so much before I throw my hands in the air.
I just had a guy the other day--a young kid from Europe who wants to be a pro bodybuilder, who told me (after almost 2 years of counseling on this subject) that he knows health is important, but he wants to make a serious run for the next few years and is going to use higher dosages (3-4 grams/week, plus lots of GH and insulin). After all that time and trying to explain myself in every way I knew how, a major part of my message had been lost on him.
He STILL thought that he "needed" 4 gram cycles and mountains of GH and insulin to progressing at an acceptable rate. He weighs 245 ish' off-season pounds at 6'1. If he thinks he needs all that just to be good enough to enter a regional show, what is he going to be using when he does weigh 280-290 lbs?
Look at the contrast below...
310 lbs at 6'1, but leaner= 1 gram/week
245 lbs at 6'1, but fatter= 4 grams + GH + Insulin.
Genetics aside, this is a pattern we are seeing all the time now. What bodybuilders used to achieve 20-25 years ago--we are now seeing guys with half their development using 2-4X as much gear + GH + insulin.
It all comes down to the Internet. Back in the old days, the younger bodybuilders learned from the older, more experienced guys. Knowledge was passed down from one guy to the next, and it wasn't freely distributed to just anyone. Hell, back then even finding steroids was a hassle for most guys. You had to either know a dealer or be "in with the guys" and have them refer you to someone. Sure, there was always the guy at the gym which would sell to anybody, but even he usually kept quiet if he didn't know you. Yes, we know a lot more today than we knew back then, but the amount of misinformation to go along with it has increased 1000-fold.
These days, anyone can say anything--and they have a worldwide platform from which to speak. The Internet. Often times, it covers up the voices of the knowledgeable--because they are much fewer in number.
.gif "IP Gear")
