Right on the fukkin money here. I've been lifting for almost ten years naturally now and I'm not a beast but it ain't hard to tell I've done some time in the gym. I've got nothing against steroids but why not try to hit your peak naturally then hit the sauce to get above that plateau? Why juice just to look like an average gym rat?
If you've got some time in the gym in already, if you've got your training down and a good steady diet, why wait? Why not spend the next 10yrs or so getting everything you can possibly get out of training?
There seems to be a myth IMO among natural lifters...BTW, I've got nothing against natural lifters, some of my training partners are natural, but it's the misconception that eeks me.
The misconception: If you use steroids before you reach your natural limits, you will not reach your full potential.
This is simply a very inaccurate statement...it doesn't coincide with anything at all. Why would taking hormones that are based on hormones your body already is accustomed to producing, make your gains falter if you start taking them before you hit your natural limit? It won't...steroids do not work that way. True, once you've used for a while, there is no going back to "absolute normal." You have changed what is "normal" for your body. But you have also accustomed your body to higher levels of hormones, therefore enabling you to build more muscle then otherwise possible in that time period.
And yes, it will not be the same for everyone, everyone has genetic limits, gear or no gear...hormones simply speed up the process into which you reach your limits.
So, I say, why wait...besides the fact that you are able to say, "no, I didn't use steroids" is there anything else that makes you more "worthy" of a bodybuilder? Did you not lift the same weights? Did you not eat the same foods? All the performance enhancing drug user did, was to do the exact same things you did...except he found a way to do them a little bit better then you.
It's not cheating, it's called smart.