I feel like you can still live this lifestyle as long as harm reduction is practiced.
Great gains can be made off nothing but 500mg test cycles.
All these men made a conscious decision of how much they were putting in their bodies.
Recently, really, there are a lot of deaths in the world of bodybuilding, it gives a reason to think, and is it worth dealing with the method of pro?
I remember John Romano used to go around 10-20 years ago on national news circuit asking reporters to "show me the bodies" when asked about the dangers of AAS. AAS-using bodybuilders everywhere would nod their head in agreement that the dangers/risks were grossly overstated. This phrase resonated because bodybuilders - pros and recreational - weren't dropping.
But what about now? Have things changed? And what specifically has changed? Have AAS all of sudden become more dangerous in the past decade? Or is something else going on?
To answer these questions will involve a lot of speculation. I hope no one disputes that AAS are powerful drugs that have health consequences. But assigning blame in recent deaths is not as straightforward and precise as many people like to claim.
I'll throw out a few observations in some things that I think have changed in the last 20 years:
First, the whole idea of cycling steroids on and OFF has been thrown out the window. The "gospel" in previous years was to make sure you spent at least an equal amount of time completely off bodybuilding drugs as you did on.
If you wanted to be conservative, you would spend 2x as much time off as on.
The reckless aggressive approach involved 2x as much time ON as off.
But when bodybuilders spent time off drug, they were REALLY off drugs. There was no "bridging" bullshit. A lot more self-restraint.
And for the dosages, the UGL era and the rise of the internet ushered in a readily available and unbelievably wide selection of cheap steroids. In the past, only the top competitors and those who made a living off physique could justify spending so much money. Now everyone can afford year-round use of AAS and some even hGH. I suspect many recreational AAS users today are using dosages that far exceed those of even competitors in the 70s, 80s, 90s and for more extended periods.
The patterns of AAS have dramatically changed.
A few other brief thoughts...
The whole opioid epidemic has had far-reaching consequences for the entire country. The level of addiction, even in recovered indivduals, probably makes more vulnerable and susceptible to side effects of other drugs - especially in extreme lifestyles like bodybuilding.
IFBB pros and competitors are competing far longer than their counterparts in the 70s-90s. Most earlier generations of bodybuilders retired younger (under 40). Pros like Lee Haney, Lee Labrada, Rich Gaspari, and even Dorian Yates retired by their mid-30s, quickly lost tons of bodyweight (and presumably stopped using significant quantities of AAS/other drugs). Even Jay Cutler quit in his 30s and dramatically downsized.
Body size. I'm guessing that top bodybuilders - at every level - are much bigger in size than in previous decades. Hopefully, someone has data already or can compile data on this.
More thoughts later.
What do you think?
