Sir, have you used steroids?
Have you been on gear?
Were you natural during your bodybuilding days?…
And many such questions I get on my social media platforms. More so, because of the current trend of ripped six packs prevalent on the social media.
Let me be very true and straightforward on this with you.
Yes, I have used steroids during my competitive bodybuilding days.
Did someone force me? Absolutely not.
Steroids form an integral part of conventional bodybuilding competitions. We choose a sport due to many reasons. It can be passion, inspiration, or love for the sport, or to prove someone wrong, or something else. Individual have different personal reasons.
For me, it was mainly passion for sports.
If you have seen my documentary, which released some time back, I showed my life’s journey and transition through various sports. I started with competitive athletics, in my high school, moved on to hardcore military training, and then entered competitive bodybuilding. In between, I experienced different kind of sport, which included swimming, football, volleyball, basketball etc.
But at no place I ever needed the support of steroids, except bodybuilding. Because, that’s one of the few sports in which the use of steroids is an integral part, and that’s the bitter truth. The other sports being powerlifting, arm wrestling and strong man competitions. All these are non-Olympic sports, and don’t come under the anti-doping umbrella.
Anyone competing in such sports is never from force. No one can make you a competitive bodybuilder by force. Therefore, no one can force you to take anabolics, against your own will. Anyone saying that I was forcefully given steroids, is simply lying.
People can convince you into using steroids. They can scare you into using them. But that’s it. Have you seen anyone injecting Deca into a person’s ass, with his hands and feet tied? So, you always have a choice.
But you can’t be a competitive bodybuilder through force. If you aren’t inspired or passionate enough, you simply can’t think of competing. Even if you do, you won’t really win. And if you want to win in a bodybuilding competition, you can’t win without steroids. You can’t stand among extremely muscular and ripped individuals, and think of winning it naturally, howsoever genetically gifted you are.
And I am always wondering at people who have been competing at various national and international platforms, and still claim to be natural. There can’t be a bigger joke than this. And I always fail to understand, what are they getting out of it. I have made a detailed video on the truth about natural bodybuilding earlier on my YouTube channel.
However, the point I want to underline is the difference between steroids usage, 10-15 years ago, and now. The scenario has changed drastically and not at all for the better.
When I competed in my first bodybuilding district competition, I had absolutely no idea about steroids. I won a gold medal, in my first district competition, because I had a strong background of competitive sports, which involved tons of strength training. This gave me a very strong base and an edge over other competitors.
But even after that, even at state, national and services level competitions, the amount of steroids I used was way below, to what youngsters are using today. I recently was working out with one of my earlier team mates from the Indian Air Force bodybuilding team, and he told me some mind-boggling numbers, when it comes to use of gear.
He himself was shocked with such numbers. He had seen people using steroid cycles with weekly doses of 1000mg testosterone and hundreds of milligrams of oral anabolics, along with other salts. And then we ask, why bodybuilders are dying young.
