Some interesting points, you don't have to read it all. Skip to the sections with a bolded title.
By John Romano
There is more than one school of thought regarding the downside of steroid use. While we know the exaggerated claims of horrific death and disease are largely a hoax, we cannot deny that, for a tiny fraction of people who use high androgen steroids, there is an undeniable effect to their psyche. It can be as good as it can be bad, but we will ultimately only hear of the times the cops came. That being the case, I can’t help but admire our community for keeping such a tight lid on the outward manifestations of using high doses of testosterone. While a big jacked meathead with a bad attitude is dangerous as hell – especially on a hot day – we are, as a community, quite congenial. Played out the way steroid users are portrayed in the media, however, we should all have at least one murder under our belts by the time we’re 26. And that’s really unfortunate. But, because the drug using bodybuilder is the poster boy for all the negative effects of steroids, we have to pay extra close attention to managing these particular side effects in public. If that is the accepted rule, then there are a few things you should never do while you’re on gear. Especially high doses of androgens. Better to be proactive than reactive.
The establishment’s conservative overview of drugs in general is as misguided as it is curiously hypocritical. If you follow the news in politics and the current debates raging about health care, the economy, and political correctness in fighting terror, and you listen to the maniacal things being said and done in the name of the American people, you can easily wonder what some of the people in charge are taking. You know they’re on drugs! They have to be… But, ironically, it is those very same people who tell us not to use drugs. And they make laws that turn us into criminals for using them. But for some reason though, regardless of the drug or it’s intended use, the fact that it is a “drug” causes alarm when someone else is using them. Why? Because pain killers, beta blockers, sedatives, amphetamines, and attention deficit preparations are whitewashed. They are “prescription medicines” which the establishment deems acceptable to be prescribed even if nothing is medically wrong with you. That’s perfectly socially acceptable to the hierarchy. But not steroids, and even marijuana for that matter; those are drugs.
The establishment’s long standing attitude about drugs promulgated by the media is, as Mr. Macky would say, that “drugs are bayud…..mmmmmmmmkay?” So, if you are a steroid user, and steroids are drugs, then what kind of person are you? At the point where the general public can make that assumption and then attach a path of death, disease and destruction to it, it becomes incumbent upon some faction of our ruling class to take up the cause of saving us from ourselves in the name of saving the children. What politician couldn’t get mileage from such so-called “family values morality.” It doesn’t get any better looking than that for attracting votes. So, quite naturally, the anti-drug movement found its place in politics and they became dirty bedfellows. It is through this very twisted, complicated, and corrupt (but for some reason necessary) amalgam of alarmist/opportunist with agendas that various drugs (with far less health consequences than tobacco or alcohol) were made illegal, criminalized, and scheduled by the DEA. When it comes to these illegal drugs— either for recreation or performance enhancement — we are preached the edict to just say "no" because there will be serious consequence to our children if we don’t, and to our health and our freedom if we just say "yes."
The problem with that is, I don't believe in selective illegalities any more than I believe in selective morality. I feel that way because I have always believed that if I wanted a savior, all I had to do was head on down to the nearest church and get down on my knees and pray for one. Apart from that it’s no one’s business. As long as I don't hurt anyone else, or become a burden to anyone in the aftermath, I sould be perfectly within my right to hurt myself, just as long as I pick up the tab.
In a perfect world, enforcing this right is a higher moral commitment than enforcing the law. But the world is far from perfect. Plato once said, “that we not deem anything moral merely because it is legal.” Unfortunately, in reality, the opposite is also true. And that has saddled us with some pretty stupid laws. Anyone exercising their own personal freedom to use drugs has already dealt with their morality over it. Unfortunately, bringing it to fruition in “the land of the free,” requires tap dancing around the law – with pretty stiff penalties if you get a step wrong.
If you subscribe to that reality you would probably also be the kind of person who’d want to respect the rights of those around you. I’m sure most of you would agree that it is in bodybuilding’s best interest to avoid a situation that calls negative attention to bodybuilders as a group. We are already in the cross hairs, why give the detractors more ammo to use against us?
I can't help but respect an athlete who endeavors to chase their dreams to their fullest extent by employing any means necessary. From benching shirts, belts, straps and knee wraps; to jabbing needles into their hide; to being jacked on stimulants and pain killers so they can throw down gruesome workouts one wouldn't expect of an ox, I strongly support the concept that realizing your goals has nothing whatsoever to do with following a bunch of rules or laws. Bodybuilding, and powerlifting too for that matter, are deeply personal endeavors. In any community it is just a handful that do the really serious work. If you are one of them, you have to wrestle with some issues that not many of the rest of the people on the planet have to. While you're up there on the high lonesome no one should be looking over your shoulder. Likewise, you shouldn't be breathing down anyone else’s neck. Seems pretty simple, right?
That is the question that begs to be asked when we are being regulated by people who have nothing to do with what we do. They think what we do needs to be regulated because, to them, it looks dangerous for us; or that we pose a danger to others; or costly and problematic issues for those assigned to clean up the mess we might make. At the end of the day, common sense – not to mention the constitution – ensures that we are ultimately responsible for ourselves and the freedom of our pursuits. I think our forefathers knew what they were doing when they set it up that way.
In our personal pursuits – either in bodybuilding, power lifting, strong man, etc. - however far we might endeavor take it, chances are we’re going to do some pretty insidious things; not the least of which being steroids. Ostensibly, you could look no further than your own kitchen table to find someone to tell you not to do them. Not me. Have at it fellas; chase your dreams and be all you dare to be. I, for one, am certainly not going to tell you not to use drugs. However, just as I have always been honest in informing you of certain health and legal aspects that must be grappled with while using a course of androgens, there is a psychological end that needs attention too.
There is not much real science behind anything I’m going to tell you here. However, in the realm of what we learn by doing, it has become evident that there are certain areas of everyday life that should be addressed and acknowledged before you jump on the needle. While I may explore these issues with a bit of humor, make no mistake, there is a very serious side to this. In other words, there are definitely a few things you should never do when you're intake of androgens is high and you have a sensitivity to it.
One of the more commonly assumed androgen side effects in some people – and really, “some” means very few, is increased aggression. Steroid hormone receptors are widely distributed in the brain and therefore steroid use may cause a number of psychiatric symptoms, including increased aggression, irritability, disinhibition and impulsivity with impaired judgments, psychomotor agitation, insomnia, anxiety, panic, depression and suspiciousness or frank paranoid delusions, as well as symptoms of withdrawal and dependency, have been reported in clinical studies using anabolic steroids. To whatever degree you are susceptible, if you are one of those few who are predisposed to this type of androgen sensitivity, it can be a bear to control – and that’s only if you’re aware of it. That's a fact of life for some athletes who unfortunately live in a world that doesn’t well tolerate 250-pound assholes.
Most guys just don't ever get their ire up on gear. But there are a few who always seem to find that point where they’re hollering like a maniac, threatening people, and doing the most ludicrous things. But of the millions of guys using steroids, aggressive episodes are statistically well below the aggressive episodes induced by alcohol. Very, very, well below. However, in that small percentage, some of the episodes have been epic and contributed to negatively branding the users. Especially behind the wheel of a car in south Jersey.
On the road
If you are androgen sensitive, and thus predisposed to bouts of aggression, and you live in a city such as New York or Los Angeles where there is no ideal drive time, chances are better than good you’re eventually going to blow a gasket. There were always stories at Gold's Gym (Venice, Calif.) of various bodybuilders getting into it with some poor asshole who could never have imagined someone as big and nasty as they were would be getting out of the car they just flipped off. Sometimes the beating— either to the other driver, or his car— was so severe, our bodybuilding hero was hauled off in handcuffs. The damage done could only have been perpetrated by a jacked up muscle head. In the years that followed, we proved that notion correct. Rushing around in heavy traffic, getting stuck behind someone going too slow or driving like they didn’t know where they were going, getting cut off, clipped off, or flipped off— it's all going to get some of you pissed off. It's how you handle it from that point on that counts. Just stay in your car and think happy thoughts. The asshole will go away.
Relationships
We always hurt the ones closest to us, the saying goes. And I guess you could say that's so of bodybuilding-related homicides. While not necessarily proven to have been roid induced, the probability has been proffered and those who know the way these things can go can pretty much figure it all out. One thing is for sure though, if needles are coming in, then the guns should be going out. Having a firearm in the immediate vicinity of a high-end stack is a foolish and dismal proposition. Why give a guy with a short temper on gear that option? If there is no gun in the house, then no one can use it.
Before it gets to the point where assassinating your significant other in front of the kids becomes an option, you might want to end the relationship (God forbid you should back off your cycle). Having a girlfriend/wife is great— sometimes. Sometimes it can be a pain in the ass. Better to realize which it's going to be going in, because anyone sensitive to androgens is going to find their bullshit threshold seriously lowered once they start a cycle. Never gear up behind your girl’s back either, especially if she first knew you off juice. That would be totally unfair, and it would also deny her of a perfectly good excuse for why you strangled her.
If you decide to stick it out, the foolproof way to make it work all boils down to just two words: "Yes, dear." Chances are slim that's ever going to come out of your mouth on three grams of test a week. So, if you're having problems in your relationship, staring a cycle will sound its death knell, usually with dramatic consequence. Once I saw mounds of some chick's belongings strewn all over the lawn just below the balcony of the apartment she used to share with her bodybuilder boyfriend. Seeing such a seen has got to make you stop and think, because you can just imagine the fit that guy must have been having when he tossed all her shit off the balcony. Poor guy.
Catching your girl cheating on you should always give you a one-time free pass on laying someone out, especially if they hustled her knowing she was hooked up with you. The result can be spectacular if androgens are involved, as evinced by the fabled history of parking lot altercations unfolding outside of Gold’s Gym throughout the 80s and 90s. And it wasn’t always the dude walking around for days afterward wearing dark shades to cover up the shiner. Girls who cheat on their androgen-sensitive boyfriends better know how to box.
In the Gym
If there was ever a place to be leery of attitude, your basic hard-core gym is a good place to start. Fights that erupt in gyms can be pretty serious affairs, considering those involved would be pretty fit and pretty powerful, not to mention the close availability of a variety of lethal weapons. A little spat could turn into something dreadful, as it certainly has, and did one afternoon I can vividly remember back in the day up on the outside deck of World Gym in Santa Monica. Some visiting hayseed wearing a tank top that revealed an acre of acne, asked a regular for a spot on some improbable bench. Not quite feeling like doing a huge bent-over row at the moment, he refused, telling the kid he didn't spot people. About 15 minutes later, the kid saw him spotting one of his buds. The kid went over and said something like, “Hey, I thought you didn't spot people.” The telling off started, one thing led to another and fists start flying. The next thing I saw was the kid slumped against the weight stack of a lat pull-down machine with a lump over his eye the size of a pot roast.
Another time at Gold’s, a ranting muscle head fresh off decking a gay guy who propositioned him, was still enraged when he walked up to another gay guy minding his own business in see-through tights, and kicked him in the face just for looking sweet. This kind of behavior has got to be controlled no matter what. Guys tend to be a little more tolerant of each other than we are with women, but don't abuse the system. However, gay boys should never try to hustle a straight bodybuilder on an androgen load. They will get hurt.
Getting it on….
They say scrotal coals will drive a man to the end of the universe, but I don't think even Gene Roddenberry could have imagined a place more far away than where satisfaction lies for a guy on over a gram of test every week. Any dude running a few thousand milligrams of test every week can tear up a whole lot of pussy. Two, three, four times a day— no problema. Well, if you don't have a willing partner, it could be a problema. If your girl happens to be a hot-blooded half-Cherokee, part-Latin, part Asian, insatiable nymphomaniac, who understands that yelling “AYYY!!! Papi!!” at the top of her pretty little lungs while she writhes in ecstasy is a drug far more addicting than heroin when fed to an athlete on test, then you’ll be sound as a Pound. However, if your chick is of a different disposition and only likes it every couple of days, and can't hang with your constant desire to bend her over the arm of the couch, you're going to have trouble. Unless you start spiking her oatmeal with Oxandrolone, you are going to fight over sex. I'd rather fight over money, the bills, the kids, the house, anything but sex. It's a fight no one wins. So, the only solution is for the chick to give in and never turn her man down for sex while he's on juice. I'm dead serious, ladies. Just do it - let him fuck you. As much as he wants, wherever he wants. Because, at the end of the day, he’s going to fuck somebody. It might as well be you.
The Other Stuff….
Some guys will read this and wonder what the fuck I'm talking about because they are loading up two or three grams of test a week and are as docile as puppies. They don't throw fits or tantrums or punches; they tolerate waiting in lines; traffic is a good opportunity to listen to music or make a phone call; their women are cool; they love their jobs; and really nothing much gets under their collars. Power to ya brother. Everyone should be like you. And, in reality, way, way, more of you are than are not.
But, since the possibility exists, and since some androgens will affect everyone differently, we need to be aware of the possible effects. It’s no secret that some drugs are notorious for their psychological side effects. Many years ago, a few of the guys in my Florida crew and I cooked up a killer batch of Finaplex from the cattle implants. By the 15th week, three of us were single and one was getting sued. Just coincidence? Who knows, but I’ll tell you that once the first girlfriend got fired, it sure seemed like a good idea to the rest of us. I doubt seriously the circumstances would have been the same without the Fina. It’s not called “Divorce in a bottle” for nothing.
The common denominator here all boils down to how strong your mind is compared to your body. If you are the guy who really gets pissy on juice, then you need to be acutely aware of your propensity to do damage and take responsibility for keeping your behavior in check, no matter how you might feel. It's just part of the deal.
Cashing in your aggression on the weight pile can be a hugely rewarding experience and leave you well enough spent to keep you out of trouble. Don't train like a wuss because you think the drugs are going to do all the work for you. On the contrary, throw down! Train as hard and as intensely as you possibly can. Hit your body so hard you have to drag it out of the gym. And always be a gentleman. It's the best thing for everyone.
