Not sure if this is the right forum topic but I guess it is bigger stronger leaner… look at this 11 month transformation of Bayern Munich player Goretzka
What’s everyone thinking? Super soldier syrup?
I’m guessing “no”. The soccer players I know have work ethic that I imagine translate well into the gym. I’m guessing he doesn’t also have a 8-5 job.
Money makes everything easier.
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Hard to say …
How much lean mass did he gain in that period?
I’m thinking “who gives a fuck?”.
Seriously, even if you got a definitive answer one way or another (which you obviously won’t), how will that help you?
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It won’t ‘help’ but isn’t a forum a place to discuss things? I’m just interested in hearing peoples thoughts on here where users are more knowledgable on the topic as opposed to twitter or Facebook
Again …how much lean mass did he put on? Playing soccer at a high level isnt the best thing to do to maintain or build lean muscle. I assume he has not played for that period?
Sorry, missed your question. I’m not sure, there isn’t any numbers reported but he has been playing regularly, 35 games the past season. He is 25 so still youngish But I’m guessing being in professional set ups he will not be new to weight training.
On Wikipedia it says he is 1.89m and 76kg which must be his old weight
How is the drug testing in soccer?
Are steroids legal in his country?
He plays in Germany And is German. In terms of testing, it is done randomly after matches where 2 random players are tested but there are controversies over testing methods and what officials are actually looking for.
A lot of reporters have stated all they look for is recreational drugs
The only thing that may be different is he has a little arm meat in the first pic. Otherwise he could be identical - hard to know what the shirt hides or doesn’t hide. I put on more mass than that by getting married, 15 pounds in a year, without fancy trainers and working a job. Maybe he finally eats enough to offset all of the running.
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If anyone here has the ability to identify if someone is using PEDs just by looking at them, they need to sell that superpower to WADA, because they have been doing things the hard way for decades.
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In many cases one can’t tell but in others the amount of muscle mass is so much that one can tell. In this case, I can’t tell just by looking. Maybe he is on, maybe he isn’t. He’s 25, has great genes, and is very thin in the before pic. So he might have had rapid progress simply by eating enough and/or scaling back on some activity (I don’t know the schedule of soccer players), and lifting.
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The only reason I would question wether he is using banned substances is that he would not be new to the gym and weights training. I’m thinking if he has made that progress in one year when he has probably been coached by S&C coaches for close to 8 years - how had he not made any progress like that before
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Ate more… cut back on excesive amount of conditioning . Maybe putting more effort into lifting. Basically its all speculation.
At the end of the day it doesnt matter if hes running gear or not in all honesty.
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It’s also worth considering how much that upper body mass will add to his performance on the field. Coaches and clubs probably won’t spend a lot of time and energy on things that have little direct carry over to performance on the field. Looking at the top players in the game, past and present, upper body mass is absolutely not a priority.
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He said put the muscle on while in lockdown with help from his coaches. He wasn’t able to play soccer. I think somebody is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill here.
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As said I’m not fussed wether it was natural or not, as mentioned by others it doesn’t affect me I just wanted to see others opinions.
I agree with coaches probably won’t spend any time on upper body hypertrophy (or hypertrophy in general) but the statement of lockdown makes it even more dubious to me. Germany had the shortest break in football - can’t have been more than 8 weeks
I’m thinking you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. The “before” pic you posted is from 2-3 years ago, nothing at all recent and certainly not a “quarantine transformation” like some reports are pretending.
This is the guy last year… and this year. Pretty much the same.
Seems like a pro athlete that got on a focused training schedule, put on some size in an offseason a while back, and has maintained it.
My opinion is that you can assume it’s in a professional athlete’s best financial interest to use performance enhancing drugs.
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I guess I worded that poorly. (It’s been a rough night)
He just said he used the time focusing strength training to be better on field. I looked at several images and yes it was a longer transformation. I can’t help but think it was possible to add size without help.