AAS - What's the point?

[Freepressright]

My simple, but relevant response.

Argument: When you stop using gear, eventually your gains will disappear and subside over time.

Counter-point: When you haven't used gear and deviate from a solid training regime to life as a non-trainer/non-lifter, your gains subside over time, and you might even one day look nothing like you ever lifted the first weight.

My conclusion: In either case, it all comes down to how hard you work on the maintenance angle.

[burlyman30]

I refuse to think about it again until I'm snorting Superdrol off of Ippy's semi-erect penis...again

/fixed

[h2s]

First and Foremost, welcome back Infamy. I can't express how happy I am to see you back here (and even know you have been lurking during this time).

I also want to say that this has been a very interesting thread and a very interesting topic. I too have asked myself the same question. As I progress towards my goals, I continually become more and more dissatisfied. I am currently sitting at about 198 with visible (although not razer cut abs). Years ago this would have been my ideal. Now, I am not big enough, not cut enough, etc..

Over time, there is a tendency I notice to trying more compounds, trying larger doses, etc.. Spinning into a cocktail of support medications, add another compound to decrease this side, etc.. It does become a bit much lately. Unfortunately, I have also learned, the more you 'know' through research, the more you want to try, a false sense of security presented when you consider risks not commonly discussed or understood by users.

With that said, I still will cycle, and I am completely at ease with that. Sure the results are temporary. I have come to fully believe that. We can look back through my post history and see numerous times where someone complained about losing size or gaining fat after PCT, and I blamed their diet, their exercise patters, their sleep, etc.. The fact of the matter is, you push your body into a non-natural state, and when it is no longer forced it will bounce back, I have seen it in myself, and I have seen it in many others. However, the results that I have seen have made me quite happy. I feel amazing. I love the positive reaction I receive from people who I have not seen in awhile (just the other day I was at a concert and ran into someone I haven't seen in 10 years, he could not stop mentioning how great I look). I love the reaction I receive from women. I love knowing other guys look at me either as something they want to achieve or bitterness towards I can do what they don't have the dedication for. Honestly, I love the days I am purposely late to a night out, so I can consume my targeted meals and join the group after they ate the food out I did not want to eat.

I love the dedication that I have seen in myself since starting steroids. Sure, one could have the same discipline as a natural, but I know I wouldn't. The results will plateau much faster, progress will halt, frustration will ensue, and quitting would be inevitable. I truely believe this sport requires the drugs. I know that is a controversial statement, especially in this crowd, but it is a fact to me, not an opinion (yes, I realize it is an actual opinion, I am just stating my strong conviction).

I enjoy what steroids have done for my life. If it shortens it slightly, I can die happy knowing I had a life I enjoy (for a million reasons beyond just steroids). I do go out and drink. I have used recreational drugs. I am an off and on smoker (although that one is just stupid). Life is about taking risks. I can easily live a life doing everything that will extend my life and nothing that will shorten it, but then one day I will be quite old, still alive, and thinking back about how I had not enjoyed myself during a time I should have because I was too worried about getting to my current age.


Please don't take this as an argument, just sharing my view. Welcome back x 1000!

[Fat Bill Dwyer]

/fixed

I told you that in confidence!

[pman42]

Name of thread you started earlier this year: "Depressed as Fuck-- blood test results"

Yes but like I said, I believe those numbers predated PH usage. looking back i think this is why i felt so good on PHs, that they were in effect a sort of TRT

[burlyman30]

I'll weigh in for a moment. So I've used gear when I was younger, but when the time came for me to decide my competitive BBing future, I chose to leave the drugs behind because although I was qualified to go to the Nationals, I KNEW what being competitive at the Nationals would actually take. A whole lot of drugs for and extended period of time. And I considered "and what would happen at Nationals? The genetic superiors who were on drugs would STILL win." That was the day I retired from competition and stopped the drugs, as I knew where it would lead-- to no career or money and to an abbreviated life. I slowly and eventually lost the motivation to go to the gym, as competition had become my motivator. My body shrunk 50 lbs to a lean 150 and I looked on the slender side of average.

Fast forward many years (though I had some in between years dabbling with cattle pellets in the mid-90s) and I started working out again to address my mental stress. The body responded. In my online search for supplements, imagine my surprise when I found PHs that actually worked and were legal. Though methyls are obviously harder on the health than injectables in many ways, I was able to limit myself to usually between 2-3 moderate length cycles a year. When the doc wanted to put me on Lipitor for my cholesterol, I had to rethink my motivations. Laying off the orals for over a year and eating better, I was able to manage my cholesterol better.

And now I'm in a place I thought I never would be... dabbling with gear for the first time in over 20 years. Sure, there's some psychological addictiveness to it, though I would like to think I manage the risks through either low doses or short bursts of usage. I won't try to convince anyone that there are no risks. There is risk in everything we do each day (i.e., driving to work, crossing the street, etc.) but steps can be taken to reduce some of that risk. I think if someone is willing to be honest with themselves, they have to know that putting large amounts of unnatural hormones into the body will do some harm. To think otherwise would be naive or ignorant. Even with the regular blood tests I get, I know that those don't tell the whole story. They don't tell me if my left ventricle is enlarged, for example. They are only partial indicators. The rest is a bit of guesswork and I have to use my judgement, which, as an imperfect human, is destined to be flawed at some level.

[burlyman30]

Yes but like I said, I believe those numbers predated PH usage. looking back i think this is why i felt so good on PHs, that they were in effect a sort of TRT

The same thing happened to me. Started with low testosterone, PHs made me feel amazing in comparison to my norm.

[Grape Ape]

I can relate to the addiction side. Before I knew I was taking a PH, I was taking a PH. I didn't know what PCT was at first, and after a while things caught up with me. I'd say I lost 85-90% of gains made from any PH cycle/abuse. The last 2 year's though, I corrected 90% of all my issues, and spent a large time Natty. I have run light cycles IE: The stanodrol/dermacrine I am on now. However, I don't plan on going back any time soon, and maybe only one cycle a year.

I can say, if it wasn't for the immediate results of PH's, I may have never stuck with this sport.

I contribute 80-90% of my gains to natural hard work, research and dedication. I even feel I lost a year with little gains do to the PH use or discontinuation of. I never felt better than my Natty bulk this year, and it was absolutely awesome.

[Jelisej]

The same thing happened to me. Started with low testosterone, PHs made me feel amazing in comparison to my norm.

"I seem to remember something in the 700s back in my youth. I got tested back after some cycling when I was 19. Back when hCG was considered PCT. "

Thats decent number, so you must have some other issues than low testosterone. it is actually very difficult (almost impossible) to tell where test. levels are, so it must have been something else.

[Jelisej]

Yes but like I said, I believe those numbers predated PH usage. looking back i think this is why i felt so good on PHs, that they were in effect a sort of TRT

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