Who said that eating 1 gram per pound of lean body mass was doing "everything right"? Most old school magazines used to recommend 1 gram per pound of bodyweight (or 2g for every kg of bodyweight plus 20......for those who prefer the metric system).
Even I don't do the 1-gram-per-1-lb LBM thing. In fact, I got my best gains when I did closer to 1.5 grams per 1 lb of bodyweight, in my younger years. I don't need that much anymore.
And therein lies the issue. You got the idea that eating a certain way was doing "everything right" to make gains without steroids. NEWS FLASH!! SO DID I!! I came up during the old Joe Weider 60-30-10 (carbs, protein, and fat, respectively) diet gospel that FLEX and Muscle & Fitness preached almost endlessly.
The difference between you and me is that, when that doing "everything right" didn't work for me, I didn't throw my hands up, declare that "natural bodybuilding SUCKS", and go a-yearnin' for the syringe!!
I tried something else. It worked. And, I achieved the gains I'd hope to make at the time (and beyond) without using anabolics.
Getting ACCUSED of using steroids, when I could barely afford weight gainers and GNC's cheap Milk & Egg protein, pretty much validated that what I did worked.
Do you think someone can attain a physique like this without generally knowing the necessary tricks and tips to make progress in the gym?:
Do you think a person could bench press 315 for reps without having a solid understanding of how to work out, and what their generic potential may be, etc?
The literature is pretty clear that progressive is maximized on roughly 1g of protein per 1-lb of lean body mass. So at ~180, I probably have 145-lb of LBM. Maybe more - maybe a bit less.
That means I would need 160g of protein daily to make progress. Let's call it 200g daily JUST TO BE SURE.
Also, consider that protein can only be synthesized at a certain rate, and only up to around 48g of protein can be synthesized from one meal.
Which means I would want to be having AT LEAST four meals a day with ~50g of protein per meal, if not more meals, with slightly less protein per meal to both get that target quantity of protein AND to synthesize it.
Next, I would want to focus on slow and controlled reps, the mind-muscle connection, and other principles of bodybuilding/hypertrophy training, rather than focus on strength or anything else.
^ THAT nutrition and training outline will roughly maximize ANY natural's bodybuilding potential, MCWAY. The literature is exceedingly clear on this point, and my experience tells me the literature is right, as I just gain fat if I attempt to eat more protein than that.
But here's the thing: I HAVE APPLIED THOSE PRINCIPLES RELIGIOUSLY FOR MONTHS ON END. Over a year, really. I have never stayed on those principles for YEARS [plural], because I know EXACTLY how LITTLE muscle I gain by doing so, and I saw NO benefit to working so hard for such little progress because, as I said, natural bodybuilding SUCKS!
MCWAY - did you ever stop and wonder why EVERYONE WHO IS SERIOUSLY DEDICATED TO BODYBUILDING IS ON JUICE??
NOBODY, even at my level of Strongman, is clean. Even the 176-lb'er's are on juice! Probably 80% of them. At EVERY LOCAL CONTEST I competed in - everyone was on juice! Maybe one guy wasn't [check YouTube for Jeff Nason - supposedly, he's clean].
And you know DAMN WELL that I know what I'm doing well enough to MAXIMIZE my cycle results. So why are you talking me out of it?
Some juicers don't want me to use because they know DAMN WELL that steroids are massive, and they would rather me think that they are genetic freaks or have a better work ethic - or BOTH - and know that I will realize they are frauds if I juiced and saw for myself how much they help.
But why do you as a clean athlete want me to not use? Is it because you think it lends credibility to your own decision not to juice? If not, why? Is it because you think steroids are dangerous? They are STEROIDS, MCWAY. NOT diuretics! Not some other shady industry chemical agent. STEROIDS - TRIED, TESTED, AND TRUE.
Sustanon and Anadrol have been around for DECADES. And there is no reason to worry about the danger of either, given how much knowledge we have on both.
So what exactly is your concern? I told you - I'm not going to spend over a YEAR training and eating perfectly to get the same outcome this cycle could bring me in four months, because:
[1] It will take at least 18 months.
[2] Even THEN, the results won't be as good!
[3] I don't have the motivation to partake in the mundane monotony of eating 4-6 bodybuilding meals a day for 18 months. Most people can't handle the TRAINING to be a bodybuilder. I have OBVIOUSLY PROVEN I can handle the training. What I can't handle is the eating - eating ENOUGH. And I have no interest in following a BB diet for YEARS - which you are saying may not even work even if I do everything right. WHICH I AGREE WITH - BECAUSE I HAVE APPLIED THOSE PRINCIPLES COUNTLESS TIMES, AND I KNOW THE PROGRESS SUCKS.
And that's EXACTLY why I am going to CHEAT by TAKING STEROIDS. Because I don't want to put the time in EATING. In the end, it will just be a faster way to get to the same physique level. Again, I have ZERO INTEREST in even spending eight months to make the same gains as I will from four months of juice.
And I will NOT make the same progress in eight months naturally.
I'm not the one, singing "Nobody-Knows-The-Trouble-I-See" about his physique....YOU ARE!!!
Incidentally, I certainly am NOT 25% bodyfat. Trust me! I've been there before but am nowhere near that now.
Then post a picture. *I* have proven ALL of my lifts/claims.
Only when I got to #18 in my weight class in Canada on my first try did I realize how utterly full of shit people. Yet for years, I was reading comments making it sound like anyone at my level is some common thing. Even those not being critical. You aren't being critical - but reading your comments, I should spend the next five years "building a base" before juicing, when in reality, I'm UNQUESTIONABLY in the top 1% of strength and physique aesthetics as it is.
IF SOMEONE IN THE TOP 1% OF GYM GOERS SHOULDN'T USE STEROIDS, THEN WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK SHOULD USE IT?
Again, the only thing fueling this rant of your is a bug in your head and severe impatience. You brag about how strong you are and how you can make gains in strength (which, in case you forgot, does require gaining some muscle; it's not all just tendon, joint strength, leverage, and technique).
Simply refine your diet when you're looking to get cut and you should be fine. And that simply is eating less. One of the reasons I prefer beef to chicken and ESPECIALLY whole eggs to just egg whites is that it helps me hold on to muscle when I'm losing weight.
I've just spent two fucking years dealing with my government breaking the law over a 99.9% survivable virus, with gyms here closed for 500+ days. I spent 6.5 months of last year in legal action communication with the police, and had the longest layoff from the gym in my life.
I have NO INTEREST in natural training. I have been feeling vastly improved since the gym has reopened, and after living through the darkest period of my life, I will NOT let the momentum die off.
Juice will keep it going, and keep my motivation to feel alive.
I don't want to make progress naturally right now when I could do everything you say and make 3x that progress while on steroids.
I have NO MOTIVATION to do this naturally. Before the gyms closing again in January, my gym owner allowed me to train without a "vaccine passport". I spent my first six months back eating PERFECTLY. Six months is not nothing, MCWAY. And I've done that many times before.
So I know DAMN WELL how little muscle I would gain doing this naturally. I know DAMN WELL how slowly I would make those gains.
And THAT is why I'm not doing that!
I got off my "bro" diet in January, because the fucking gyms closed again.
But even if gyms did not close, I don't even have motivation to keep doing everything perfectly, because the gains suck! My motivation to EAT ENOUGH always dwindles after so many months for this reason.
And THAT is why I'm a natural STRONGMAN, MCWAY.
NOT a bodybuilder.
Because I HATE the nutrition / eating enough part.
MCWAY - did you know I am on under 100g carbs daily? Not temporarily - ALWAYS.
I am ALWAYS in ketosis, MCWAY.
See the results below - proof that I am just SLIGHTLY in ketosis, as determined by the ketones in my urine.
So CLEARLY I have proven I can follow a highly strict diet. In fact, my thyroid SLOWED from eating so little!
It's eating ENOUGH that I hate. I hate the shopping, I hate the cooking, and I hate the eating. I hate ALL of it! And for natural gains - it's unbearable!
But can I handle doing everything right for 16 weeks?
Absolutely!
And - I have 176-lb Strongman contests to compete in, in the fall or new year. So I'm not bulking up naturally, because I need to make weight by then.
I have NO INTEREST in natural bodybuilding, MCWAY.
You also seem to think I want to look like this long-term. I don't. I mean - maybe if I like how I look, I may just ramp up my nutrition post-cycle, to look the same. But I don't want to go up a weight class.
If I DO like how I look - then maybe I WILL do the natural nutrition techniques you speak of. But maybe I didn't make it clear that I don't want to look like this. Just for her summer.
You know - it goes to -40°F here in the winter! So since I'll be covered up all winter, I just want to look like this in the summer.
I don't believe I can achieve what I want in any less than a year. And I have a u-80kg Strongman contest in January. And that's why ANYONE uses steroids, MCWAY - to get to a particular physique level FASTER or MORE EFFICIENTLY than they otherwise could.
Anyway, you have never proven your strength OR shown your physique level on here. If you are natural, my guess is that you more or less suck.
I could walk into any gym in my city every hour on the hour for the next five years, and I'd be the strongest person in any of them 90% of the time. And those aren't normal people - those are the ones who TRAIN.
People are massively full of shit on message boards.
And EVERYONE in an industry that benefits from steroids, is on steroids. Certainly under 20% of people training at my level regularly have never used.
