How Common are Steroids in Certain Areas of Lifting?

First off, I don’t want to belittle anyone here by asking who uses or what crowds do use it the most, or at least by your experience. Steroids just aren’t doing the work, so I’m not calling anyone a cheater, druggie, etc.

With that said, I’m curious. How prevalent is gear in certain areas, like strongmen, PL, etc. even when they do not check for steroids for competitions?

Also, I know that quick cycles are talked about with people thinking they can stop, keep the gains and then try out for a natural competition, whatever it may be. Is there anything to this? How long does it take after a cycle to get the steroids out of your system so that a drug test might even be an option. Once again, just a couple quick questions, I just couldn’t find anything searching for these.
Thanks

Steroids are par for the course for all strength sports. Even tested ones.

There are plenty of people that use short cycles for a variety of reasons. The time it takes to clear a drug test varies greatly and is highly dependent on which steroids are used.

You “couldn’t find anything searching for these”? Given that this board is cluttered with countless similar worthless threads leads me to believe that you in fact didn’t search at all. Thanks for adding another one.

Toby- There weren’t any that answered these questions, even though they may be related. T-Nation uses a google search, so searches like “how common are steroids” lead to things like “common steroids”, which is totally different. I guess that you just had nothing better to do than to mope around in the forums bitching, thanks for your feedback.

MG- Thanks for the good answer. It just is something people don’t really talk about. I’m in college and there aren’t any truly “strong” guys around to get some kind of real world answers, and like my above comment shows, they’re hard to search for too.

It just strikes me as odd, knowing a good deal of people, in my age bracket, that shun the idea. I do know it is tempting though and can be used safely, and is way more prevalent than people show I guess.

Could you explain what you mean by, “even for the tested ones”? I’m assuming you mean take them, let it clear your system then get into the contest/fed/event?

[quote]Toby Queef wrote:
You “couldn’t find anything searching for these”? Given that this board is cluttered with countless similar worthless threads leads me to believe that you in fact didn’t search at all. Thanks for adding another one.[/quote]

You really are a sad case.

Toby- once again, you’re an idiot. Nobody cares about your opinion, if you aren’t going to answer the kids questions, DONT POST.

Maurice- as far as how long the drugs stay in your system, it all depends. I know that there have been instances in which Deca has been detected in ones system up to 18 months after ceasing usage. This is primarily because it can be stored in fat and when the fat is burned minuscule amounts are released back into the system and can be detected using drug tests. Other types of steroids, such as Test, as said to be detected anywhere up to 6 months but IMO it all depends on the person, and the type of tests being used. Hope this helps

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]Toby Queef wrote:
You “couldn’t find anything searching for these”? Given that this board is cluttered with countless similar worthless threads leads me to believe that you in fact didn’t search at all. Thanks for adding another one.[/quote]

You really are a sad case. [/quote]

LOL- this, coming from the guy who is antagonizing a kid in another thread to post pictures and your most recent jem:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
OMG no way??!!?!?

STICKY THIS PLZ

Hey TNation. You hear that. Teh receptorz r in the nucleizzz!!
[/quote]

Yeah dude, you’re above it all. Now where’s my roll eyes emoticon…

[quote]Taylor1990 wrote:
Toby- once again, you’re an idiot. Nobody cares about your opinion, if you aren’t going to answer the kids questions, DONT POST.
[/quote]

Good to see you speaking up for more people who can’t do any research on their own, thus proving the adage once again, that birds of the same feather (moronic and lazy in this case) do in fact flock together. You can stop vying for my attention now and return to your troll cave.

So, any other feedback or personal insight and observations?

Like MAssiveGuns said, steroids are basically part of the game for bodybuilding and strength sports. Anyone who tells you differently is ignorant of the reality, willfully or otherwise. It’s really part of the culture of these sports in a way. For instance, of the crew of 30 or so powerlifters at my gym, I can think of 4 that don’t use something. All of theses are recreational lifters and none are very highly ranked.

At the top levels of these sports, its out in the open for the most part. You can see high profile athletes talking about their drug use on several forums, blogs, and websites and read about it in interviews all over the place. In tested competitions, use is typically based on fast-acting drugs that will clear quickly. There will be variation between drugs and individuals here. My personal policy is that since I use, I don’t enter tested competitions. That is a personal choice, and obviously not everyone feels that way.

In college, I see alot of people who belittle drug use or deny that it plays a roll in high level sports. Many people have a very negative view of use. However, like you, I don’t see alot of big or strong dudes at my college. If I am ever punished by fate to the extent that I have to lift in the university gym, I walk in and immediately get treated like an alien.

I often spend a few minutes during my warm-up enduring questions about whether I used steroids to get so big or why I want to lift so heavy. At 265 lbs, decently lean, I am more or less normal in my gym, but at the college, I am a freak and everything that is wrong with sports. Two cultures, two views.

[quote]Toby Queef wrote:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]Toby Queef wrote:
You “couldn’t find anything searching for these”? Given that this board is cluttered with countless similar worthless threads leads me to believe that you in fact didn’t search at all. Thanks for adding another one.[/quote]

You really are a sad case. [/quote]

LOL- this, coming from the guy who is antagonizing a kid in another thread to post pictures and your most recent jem:

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
OMG no way??!!?!?

STICKY THIS PLZ

Hey TNation. You hear that. Teh receptorz r in the nucleizzz!!
[/quote]

Yeah dude, you’re above it all. Now where’s my roll eyes emoticon…[/quote]

u seem mad?

r u?

r u mad?

my posts are for the lulz. your posts have no lulz to be found in them.

OP, google steroid detection times. There’s a lot more info out there than just whats on TNation. When you google it, many sites will pop up with detection times for different compounds.

[quote]Toby Queef wrote:

[quote]Taylor1990 wrote:
Toby- once again, you’re an idiot. Nobody cares about your opinion, if you aren’t going to answer the kids questions, DONT POST.
[/quote]

Good to see you speaking up for more people who can’t do any research on their own, thus proving the adage once again, that birds of the same feather (moronic and lazy in this case) do in fact flock together. You can stop vying for my attention now and return to your troll cave.[/quote]

You remind me of Rain Man, except without the potential.

I know lots of top name power lifters. I only know one who denies using, and I think he only denies it because it could have career implications…

It is pretty wide spread, most guys will come right out and tell you if you ask, they don’t hide it, it isn’t like they are trying to get away with cheating (unless they lift in tested divisions, which I think is unethical).

When it comes to any strength sports, there are tons of juicers. I would say in untested divisions, over 75%, maybe over 85-90% are on something.
There are still a lot of users in tested divisions.
For example there are a few big name USAPL/IPF lifters that I know of who are on crazy doses. All fast acting stuff that clears quick. This one dude takes 450mg test suspension per day, split into 3 doses, when he is getting ready for a meet… he starts that about 12 weeks out. As you can imagine, he gets crazy strength gains from test suspension… and he hasn’t failed a test yet.