Steroids are rampant among fitness influencers, trainers and bodybuilders

https://www.insider.com/fitness-influencers-steroids-secret-dangerous-body-dysmorphia

by paulpauper • 4 years ago

44 35 4 years ago

hobbitstan• 4 years ago

Twitter is home to many of these conmen. Fitness geeks posing as natural bodybuilders, promoting heavy meat diets etc., pushing their own brand of supplements, but they owe their form mostly to steroid abuse.

Taking fitness or nutritional advice from a bodybuilder is like taking financial advice from SBF.

moonchrome3• 4 years ago

That's not really true - there are natural bodybuilders/powerlifters - I'd say people like Layne Norton are likely natural and give good advice backed by multiple studies (as good as it gets although still not perfect). There's also people open about steroid use although that part is a bit more gray because of legal issues and stuff.

Even with steroids you have to know what you're doing exercise/nutrition wise to get impressive results (and still need good genetics).

But a lot of people lie about steroids, I mean look at Hollywood - The Rock claiming natural at his age is just. It's definitely setting up wrong expectations for people.

At any rate, one thing that took me a while to realize when I was starting out lifting - BB advice is specific to highly trained people/bodybuilders.

Like "you can't gain muscle and lose fat". You absolutely can if you're high body fat % and untrained. If you're getting close to 10% BF - not as efficient even with steroids - that's why they cycle bulk/lean. But if you're just getting into shape - cycling will probably mess with your metabolism.

Any professional athlete is probably a terrible role model for healthy lifestyle.

semireg• 4 years ago

Re: Any professional athlete is probably a terrible role model for healthy lifestyle.

This reminded me of a pro cyclist write-up where they regretted the absence of oral hygiene… years of glucose gel being squirted into their mouths at intervals for hours and hours every day. cringe

isitmadeofglass• 4 years ago

Yes Layne Norton is completely natural. And his impressive transformation comes from having found an incredible method based on his research and working with several personal trainers. And you can be sure of that because why would he lie? He has nothing except his entire career and personal fortune on the line.

But we can be fairly sure that his transformation which looks to be a pretty center of the bell curve for people who are admittedly on steroids is in fact a far right tail case of the bell curve of people who do not take steroids, because that’s what scientists do right, assume the unlikely over the likely in cases where the prior would suggest the straight forward answer right?

tarsinge• 4 years ago

Even with steroids you have to know what you're doing exercise/nutrition wise to get impressive results (and still need good genetics).

To get impressive results yes, but not to get results: https://fitness.stackexchange.com/a/19397

There have been documented tests that show steroid use without weight training will still increase your muscle mass just as someone who workouts and doesn't use steroids.

CapricornNoble• 4 years ago

Conmen and conwomen. Just search for "female influencers anavar". A lot of "Girlswhosquat" or gym bunnies are juiced to the gills too.

trappist• 4 years ago

promoting heavy meat diets

The ones not promoting heavy meat diets are generally recommending (and/or shilling) supplements of nutrients you get for free on a heavy meat diet, such as protein shakes and creatine powder.

1_over_n• 4 years ago

Seasoned (non-enhanced) lifter here with a science background

There is a solid evidence base for creatine - it's one of the only supplements that actually has a decent evidence base. It's also relatively cheap and generic brands work.

Generally with the fitness industry, the key is looking for the quality sources of information. There are some good resources out there focussed on an evidence based and naturals or being open & transparent with information about "the dark side"...

- SSD abel - Geoffrey Verity Schofield - Team 3DMJ - Dr Mike Israetel - Stronger by Science - Brains and Gains with Dr. David Maconi

Also.....one of the biggest benefits of regular exercise and lifting for me personally is the mental health side of things. Really can't overstate this.

hombre_fatal3• 4 years ago

There’s nothing wrong with supplementing nutrients that we know can be supplemented. I certainly don’t see the reason not to that doesn’t cash out into sophistry or some notion of naturalistic fallacy.

Requiring every nutrient to come from food seems arbitrary, especially with nutrients that tend to be added to the product upstream, like supps given to animals or vitamin D in milk.

SlowAndCalm• 4 years ago

Not to defend anyone; but being around a lot of these people, there's a lot of cognitive dissonance when it comes to nutrition whilst on steroids. People often attempt to switch up their diet when starting and give it outsized attribution to their success. It isn't helped by people with poor diets not getting the same results, but in my experience it often has more to do with a person that can consistently eat chicken and broccoli will be more consistent with pinning, etc. than a person that can't stick to a diet.

badrabbit• 4 years ago

What is the problem? Are they not sharing where to get steroids like them or are they part of a sports competition? It sure motivates people to work harder to look like them, without steroids they would look less inspiring. It's easier to get complacent if the trainer/influencer looks weaker than you. A lot of people need this, the assumption that most people honestly think these guys are clean is a bit too presumtuous.

neighbour• 4 years ago

I partially agree and personally couldn't care less if someone uses PEDs however a problem arises when a fitness influencer is secretly geared to the gills yet attributes his or her success to some product, service, or other consumable which they are trying to sell.

This practice is very common and probably does more harm than good. I agree that looking up to, or aspiring towards an elite physique is good however people need to be realistic and realise that, for most people, it doesn't matter what you do, whether you take every steroid known to man, you will probably never look like Ronnie Coleman in his prime and that's okay.

Heston• 4 years ago

The other issue is it draws in young people because of the high reward and exposes them to a lot of dangers. It sets unrealistic expectations and wrecks their social dynamics.

mudrockbestgirl• 4 years ago

The problem is the nondisclosure. When you're selling something (do this program to get a body like mine) and don't disclose that you got there by taking steroids, that's a scam. The influence may still be positive, but you're fundamentally selling something that doesn't exist or yield the results you're saying it does. So you're lying.

baandang• 4 years ago

Yea, this is the fitness industry.

30 years ago it was a guy in a magazine on every drug known to man that would claim the reason for their size was Muscle Mega 3000 and then on the next page would be an advertisement for Muscle Mega 3000.

30 years ago Mike O'hearn was Mr Natural USA or some BS.

The same thing over and over.

If anything it was even worse 30 years ago when there was basically no information outside of bodybuilding magazines and even Mr Olympia would say they were natural. There was almost an unspoken code of silence and denial.

On the other hand, there are probably quite a few people today that everyone thinks are on steroids but they are 100% natural. People have such huge variance in natural testosterone levels.

moonchrome3• 4 years ago

A lot of people need this, the assumption that most people honestly think these guys are clean is a bit too presumtuous.

A while back at lunch with 6 coworkers I've had to Google Arnold Schwarzenegger admitting steroid use because they didn't think he used steroids.

Just let that sink in about general awareness of what's possible with natural BB.

hombre_fatal3• 4 years ago

You can also see this when people think a good physique isn’t the result of work in the gym. As if it’s just a natural body variant on a continuum with no muscle definition on the other end.

People also fail this test for women who, for example, do barbell hip thrusts every day in the gym to get a nice butt that everyone takes for granted. “You’re so lucky to have a body like that. I wish I was.”

I think we see so many good looking people so often we lose sense of what it takes to get it.

dirtyid2• 4 years ago

IMO real issue is fitness influencers stuck with "selling motivation to work hard to look like them", when reality is 99.99% of becoming top 0.01% is being born with top 0.01% genetics. Legal sups will give maybe 2% boost, illegal sups 20% which still makes "working hard" kind of a vapid marketting gimmick for most folks simply not born in the right region of the bell curve.

I do think a lot of new lifters think work ethic + a few pills will get them influencer bodies / huge lifts. Strength training is a highly individual activity, largely done in commercial gyms where doing the activity somewhat diligently seems to bring big results relative to gen pop. But step into an athletic gym, or play a team sport at competitve level and it quickly becomes obvious that some individuals are just genetic phenomes, ultimately they're the ones that make it to top level, especially in something as genetically predisposed as growing lean mass or static strength, and no amount of hard work or drugs will even the playing field. But most novice to intermediate lifters and bodybuilders don't get this epiphany stuck lifting in commercial gyms. Like most people probably intuitively understand they can't simply train to sprint remotely on the same level as Bolt. But many gymbros think they can simply train to have the equivalent body or strength of influencers (many of whom are also just genetically blessed) when it was simply never in the cards.

TBF the bodybuilding community seems to be much better at nattyornot conversations in the last few years. Strength community also improving simply because numbers have gotten so big as popularity unearthed 0.01% talent that 5plate folks aspiring for previously 6plate world record recognize that, no, they'll never come close to pulling 7 plates. At this point even women's record are becoming untouchable to most men hovering in the middle of the genetic bell curve.

poulpy1232• 4 years ago

The problem is that these people sell products and services, either directly or through sponsoring based on their physique as a proof the products works. Not it's a lie: what works are steroids

stelliosk• 4 years ago

A 2008 documentary on this very topic (trailer):

https://youtu.be/cpWAK1IkxVY

htag• 4 years ago

* It's probably hard to stop using PED when you're in the public eye for having a great physique

* People are becoming more aware of PED, what 'natural' looks like in comparison, and the number of people that take PED without admitting it. We should continue this education front.

* It's a shame we cannot trust people that look great and attribute it to a supplement, unique diet, or a workout plan and try to sell you things.

* It's a shame the bar for what a great body looks like it set artificially high.

* These have serious long term health consequences. They damage the heart and hormone production. Some people need to take testosterone for life because their body just won't produce enough of it anymore.

dirtyid2• 4 years ago

I wonder if there fitness influencers in countries where testosterone is legal just straight up shilling their own hormone lines.

paulpauper• 4 years ago

It's not just limited to PEDs...stimulants, diuretics, appetite suppressants, and other ways of artificially lowering fat are also used. These are equally important as building muscle mass. Maybe even more so.

nunez2• 4 years ago

fitness coaches/influencers hiding a key driver of the "success" they're selling (usually some combination of money, PEDs, or unhealthy dieting habits). tale as old as time, made much worse by tiktok, snap and ig

poulpy1232• 4 years ago

It's only very tangently related but I'm wondering if there was a good medical study of steroids usage under medical control for people at old age. Sehr nce a lot of issue when people are old come from the decreasing amount of muscle, I was thinking it could compensate largely for the side effects

soheilpro• 4 years ago

mondocat• 4 years ago

The far more common pathway to steroids is the 40 something man who wakes up feeling tired, sore, and grumpy and decides he has to skip the workout today. Then he realizes he's doing this more and more. He discovers TRT, gets a prescription, and feels better. Not psychologically, though that too - but physically, in that he can continue living his life at the pace he was accustomed to. He's not getting huge, he's just trying to slow the natural descent of age. For some people, working out in some fashion most days of the week is their life: their physical and social connection and outlet. When it's removed, it doesn't just mean they're not setting that record or getting those clicks, it means their everyday quality of life goes down. And it's recoverable, with TRT, and some of their friends are already doing it, so they do it. They don't have heart attacks, rages, or become massive, and they're probably pretty honest about it, not that you've have any cause to even wonder in the first place. They just get to keep going.

Eddy_Viscosity2• 4 years ago

This is true, but is a separate situation. Aging men going on TRT to improve quality of life is very different than going on gear to get shredded. Worse is the prevalence of shredded men on gear in all media (mainstream and social) changes perceptions so that even having an 'average' good physique requires PED for most men. I have no idea what solution exists to reverse this.

hombre_fatal3• 4 years ago

That said, TRT also has trade offs. It adds test and limits endogenous hormone production thus doesn’t help with any downstream hormones/metabolites and their effects. It’s not a free lunch that you want to get on if your T levels are still in ref range. We can’t actually give you the full hormonal system profile of a 20yo, just give you test which is only one of many differences between a 20yo and 50yo hormonal system.

Yet TRT tends to be peddled like it’s magic.

aliqot• 4 years ago

if it's wrong for fitness influencers not to disclose steroid use, is it wrong for IG influencers not to disclose their filters, edits and rentals?

rapjr9• 4 years ago

Don't forget all the reports about wide spread use of steroids among the police. That is probably driving part of the demand that makes steriods more widely available.

punyearthling• 4 years ago

They omitted superhero/action stars from this list. No way guys like Hugh Jackman are getting the bodies they have with "boiled chicken and rice" diets in 3 months. Impossible.

I don't know enough about steroids to care if someone uses them, but I think it's pretty toxic to promote unrealistic body standards to guys while claiming they got it because they were "genetically blessed" or were "dedicated to their craft". Toxic. Toxic. Toxic.

Steroids are rampant among fitness influencers, trainers and bodybuilders

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