Alves' biggest asset on stage was his wasp waist and X frame. His height and bone structure, and desire to show off this main feature, always kept him at about 218 +/- in winning condition. His nemesis was his glute/ hamstring tie in. He talked about coming in at 230 or better but quickly realized that was not his destiny. We talked about HGH and insulin. The possible sides of "roid gut" scared the crap outta him. His livelihood was/is his tiny waist. He liked to joke about throwing off his competition with wild claims of what he was up to. I told him about Bill Pearl's, one of my later trainers, story that he used to confuse his stage foes. He claimed that he swallowed live earth worms whole and by the handful because of their high testosterone levels. Troy laughed and said, "I like that".
But alas we believe what we want to believe. So be it.
