To Daltron & Theresa: OK, you’ve both made your points and this is getting overly personal and childish now. So I will chime in and say that you are both right to a certain degree.
As it regards to genetics, whether it’s the baseline starting point, and the potential to add mass upon mass while staying lean without drugs, or one’s response to these drugs…yes, it’s the most important factor. You can’t turn a jockey into and NBA center with PEDs, you first need the groundwork present. And someone with the right genetics (bone structure, long muscle bellies, etc.) will beat someone with average (and less than) genetics, with all things being equal. And yes, work ethic and dedication play a pivotal role here as well, there’s no understating that.
However, take someone average, who trains and diets properly, and simultaneously load them up with powerful muscle building and cutting drugs (or even moderate doses of these drugs), and they generally will blow away someone who is gifted genetically and trains and diets as hard as humanly possible. It’s equally important here not to trivialize the powerful effects of these compounds; they are not the last 5-10% as some con artists will have you believe, and anyone who has been around trainers that have used these drugs will immediately visually see firsthand just what a profound difference they can make.
And not to complicate things, but there are also average looking trainers, who try steroids for the first time, and simply blow up on relatively light doses, while far more genetically gifted trainers, who looked sensational when they were natural, have a lesser response to these same drugs. And vice versa. Many permeations here on genetics, drugs, response to drugs and variable doses, etc.
And furthermore, it probably is also true that someone who can naturally get away with eating a good amount of junk food frequently, and not get overly fat in the process, may be able to stuff their face with even greater amounts of junk food, while on drugs, and successfully build substantial amounts of muscle while not gaining (and even losing) fat simultaneously. Rare but possible.
Finally, it is also true (for both males and females, respectively), that there is a great deal of confusion nowadays, over what is and isn’t possible without the use of drugs, with regards to male/female physique development. Virtually 95% of models used on muscle magazines and even fitness magazines are on and have been on something, and that doesn’t include the photo shopping and air brushing that also goes in the final presentation of these images for advertisement purposes. Sure, we can say “what do we care?” and “why does it matter?” all we want, though one could also see how a newcomer to the fitness trend can get confused about what is and is not attainable.
I have been training naturally for well over twenty years now, and I am still learning the nuances of tweeking my diet and training to improve my health, body and performance. There is no doubt that I am light years better developed and healthier now than when I first started, and that’s what counts. I bring it up because after years of dedication, a realistic image did form about what I could attain (and, in a general sense, what virtually any human being can attain) without the use of chemicals, and I was fine to leave it at that. That’s the difference between me and a newbie, though we were all one at one point. And while I will still stay dedicated to training hard and living an active life, I’m under no false illusion that I will one day look like someone who is dabbling with bodybuilding drugs, and that’s far less about selling myself short than accepting what is naturally possible (especially now at 43 years of age).
In short, all that matters is that if you found what works for you and makes you happy, you’ve won. Be open minded and try things, but also listen to your body and analyze your individual results. Don’t waste your time listening or arguing with someone who thinks the opposite and does what they think works for them, or what other people do that have no similarities to you and your goals.
![https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UN3w-dhibcA/maxresdefault.jpg[/quote]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UN3w-dhibcA/maxresdefault.jpg%5B/quote%5D){kind=link}