Fuck.. also i forget the obvious, AAS and also(especially) insulin increases glycogen storage within the muscle. Which is the muscles ability to hold water basically
Because for every one gram of glycogen, three grams of water gets stored within the muscle.
Yup and creatine stores also increase from steroids which pulls in further water.
When doing a regular training routine I believe there's a level of extra fluid in the muscle (as well as subcutaneous) due to inflammation. Contest bodybuilders often stop leg training 10-14 days out because they believe training could obscure some cuts due to the water retained. Well, anyone who lifts knows you lose a bit of muscle 'tone' if away from the gym more than a week or so, you lose the temporary water.
An advanced bodybuilder going from clean and untrained to enhanced while lifting could gain 30lbs of "muscle" in a month, it can be extremely drastic and impressive. Could be dangerous too if too many PEDs are put in overnight and there's a large amount of extra-muscular water retained. I say extra-muscular instead of intracellular vs not because intra-muscular water may be extra-cellular but still "in the muscle." Perhaps seems like a minor point but I think the distinction may be worth noting. I could easily put on 20lbs+ in a week on Anadrol, insulin and GH while loading carbs.
there is a reason that bodybuilders can go from 180lb out of shape after being off drugs to 215lbs withing 2 months when they go back on, and it isnt muscles repairing and getting stronger, its fibres expanding back to their former size.
If we gained any new muscle we wouldnt suddenly lose it in 6 months when we stopped lifting.
Yes but there's an increase in muscle protein too, new "muscle tissue" Steroid size looks different from creatine pure water gains, certain muscles hypertrophy more like the shoulder/trap area. Due to higher androgen receptor density.
Permanent new architecture from steroids:
1. The Myonuclear Domain & Cellular Memory
Skeletal muscle cells are unique because they are multi-nucleated (they contain many nuclei per cell). When muscles grow via resistance training or steroid exposure, new nuclei (myonuclei) are donated to the muscle fiber by stem cells (satellite cells) to manage the increased muscle mass.
The Breakthrough Discovery: A seminal study published in the Journal of Physiology demonstrated that when mice were briefly exposed to steroids, their muscles acquired a vast number of new myonuclei.
Permanence After Withdrawal: Once the steroids were completely withdrawn, the muscles shrank back to normal size, but the excess myonuclei persisted long-term, showing no sign of decreasing.
The Retraining Advantage: When the muscles were later subjected to exercise again, the previously treated muscles grew at an accelerated rate (30% growth in just 6 days) compared to the control group, which showed negligible growth. The muscle cells did not need to waste time recruiting new nuclei; they just filled out the existing architecture.
