"Roid" Rant

Why is it that whenever some neophyte hears than someone is involved in weight training they have to make the obligatory comment on steroids, roid rage and all other associated ills? If the trainee in question were actually using steroids... then I could perhaps see making some EDUCATED comment, recommendation or warning.

These comments NEVER come from someone who's actually involved in the iron game to any degree. It is ALWAYS from some twiddle-dink with 11" upper arms and no sense of originality. These are the same jagoffs who claim to "workout five days a week" and have absolutely NOTHING to show for it.

Naturally, they spend a ridiculous amount of money on barrel after barrel of SUPER GAIN WHEY PROTEIN POWDER... and have lost weight in the process. Most of it from their wallets. Brace yourself! They'll counter with "I don't want to get big." Congratulations! You've found the secret formula. Ironically, you'd get the same exact results by doing nothing at all.

These will be the very same nitwits who criticize those of us who promote sensible, basic routines for mass building. These are the types of routines that successfully built some of the strongest and most balanced physiques in the history of modern iron. They'll undoubtedly tout the usual barrage of finishing exercises and mention how they spent hours on curls the previous evening... while standing in front of the gyms "wall o' mirrors".

You're not "finishing" anything! You cannot "finish" what hasn't been started. Build the foundation first. Get the walls and roof up before you start applying the paint and the wallpaper for crying out loud.

The core exercises are necessary to build that foundation. That fluff, finishing stuff isn't going to put on mass. That's the crap you do once you HAVE the mass! Hence the label finishing exercises. The basic, compound exercises are what are needed.

The reason these compound exercises are not popular... is because they are HARD WORK! Working your way up from the mere weight of the bar to squatting or dead lifting your body weight or better is WORK! Most people are apparently not up to the task. It’s a common phenomenon with our culture. Everyone wants the reward but nobody wants to do anything onerous.

I’ve read half-dozen posts this week alone on various forums. All of these individuals were commenting that the basics are all fine and good “for beginners” but these guys had a few years of training and were ready for the “more advanced stuff”. Oh really? One of them weighed a whopping 150-pound with a body fat percentage of 20%. Listen junior; take it from someone who knows ALL of the excuses. If you’re not squatting or dead-lifting 150% of your own body weight… you aren’t ready for the “advanced stuff”.

If you’ve been doing that same candy-assed routine for you lengthy 2.5 years of “training” then you’re an idiot. It should have occurred to you a long time ago that it wasn’t working. Fix your training scheme or get the hell out so that someone a bit more serious gets a shot at the equipment. You’re taking up space. There are plenty of us out there willing to help you but you’re going to need to shut the hell up and actually listen for a change.

You’re going to have to break a sweat. You may puke a few times. You may work those squats so hard that your legs give out after you’ve racked the bar and you end up on the floor. People are going to stare at you when you hit rep 15 and keep going on that 20-rep set of squats. They’ll think you’re insane when you’re doing overhead presses with an Olympic bar… and 135-pounds.

In around six months… maybe less… you’re going to begin noticing a transformation though. Suddenly you’ll have shoulders… a chest… and legs. All from those out dated compound exercises. All without steroids. After two to three years of this kind of work, you'll have reached your apex. All without steroids. You're not going to be the next Mr. Olympia... but you're going to look AND FEEL better than 95% of the people out there.