Read this before using steroids!

Intro

The decision to use steroids could be one of the most important and impactful decisions of your life.

Therefore you must be willing to accept that there is no such thing as a biological free lunch.

PED’s come with serious considerations/possible complications that you must be willing to accept if you do choose to use them.

This post aims to outline people who I believe are not good candidates for steroid use and I’ll go into detail as to why that is the case.

Who should NOT use steroids

There’s groups of people that shouldn’t use steroids. I’ll go over the different categories and give a brief explanation as to why.

Overweight/obese individuals.

This is for many reasons.

First of all, being overweight screams lack of discipline and poor impulse control around diet.

Therefore, if you’re not disciplined enough to get yourself into reasonable shape (>12% bodyfat) naturally you have no business touching PED’s that will require a serious overhaul to lifestyle and eating habits. This is one I’ll happily gatekeep.

Also the more bodyfat you are carrying the higher your blood pressure likely is, and the harder your organs have to work anyway.

Throwing PED’s into the mix that further exacerbate those issues, could be a recipe for disaster.

There’s also the fact that you’ll aromitise testosterone into estrogen at greater rates with more bodyfat, increasing the likelyhood of the need for AI’s (aromatase inhibitors).

If you are overweight, do your due diligence and get yourself into shape first then come back to this.

Check out my ultimate fat loss guide here for help.

Under 25.

This is a hot take, and I personally know plenty of people and have friends that do use steroids and are under 25.

My reasoning behind this is because when you are younger, you are more likely to make short-sighted emotional decisions and are more likely to be influenced by idiots online like Togi, that glorify steroid use as well as other stupid shit like gambling and recreational drug use.

There’s lots of emotionally mature guys under the age of 25, but the cut off must be somewhere, so here it is.

It’s also said that the brain doesn’t stop developing until 25. Adding powerful exogenous androgens is likely to alter that development.

Check out “the adolescent brain” section of this study

There’s also something to be said about ‘paying your dues’ and making sure that pursuing fitness on a serious level is something you genuinely enjoy and can see yourself doing on a long term, life-long basis.

At minimum I think you should have trained for 3 years naturally.

This is to ensure that you’ve maxed out >70% of your natural potential and also to make sure that you have a firm understanding on both the training and dieting.

It’s best to have both of those boxes confidently checked before dabbling with steroids.

Don’t be that guy that works out for 6 months and has piss poor results because he doesn’t train or eat properly. Then gets frustrated and starts taking steroids in hopes of finding a ‘magic pill’. Only to realise he doesn’t actually enjoy this lifestyle, then quits with a fucked up endocrine system.

A history of congenital/genetic heart issues and/or high blood pressure.

Should be obvious, if you are already at risk of cardiac problems then steroids will only amplify the likelihood of events occurring.

People who are currently going through a lot of stress.

Examples of stressful events that can impact progress could be – breakups, loss of work, family deaths, moving town/city/country.

Depending on the severity and the individual, stress can impair judgement and lead to irrational decisions and impulsivity.

Also, a stressful environment can impair digestion and not allow someone to get into a parasympathetic state where they can recover and grow optimally.

Stressful life events don’t last forever, there’s nothing wrong with waiting for a better time to start. It’s not going anywhere.

Considerations

Using PED’s is a big decision.

They can come with an array of potential issues and problems you may have to face in the future that you may be unaware of.

Such as…

The possibility of destroying your endocrine system and being dependant on testosterone injections for the rest of your life.

While the vast majority of people do recover after one cycle providing they run a proper PCT.

There’s some that are not so lucky and depending on age and other factors like state of health and individual genetics, they may need TRT for the rest of their lives.

Also many users don’t stop at one cycle and continue to run cycle after cycle, further increasing the likelihood of TRT dependency in the future.

Another thing that many people overlook is that you’ll need constant access to hormones everywhere you go.

Taking holidays to different countries can be a pain because you won’t have access to your gear unless you’re willing to risk getting caught by customs, which I don’t recommend.

While it is possible to get a TRT prescription, it’s still someone else you need to get a hold of and opens a new can of worms to worry about, especially if your doctor is going to require that you do regular blood tests.

Potential loss of fertility.

While complete loss of fertility is very rare, it’s still a risk.

You can significantly lower the chances of infertility by using HCG (Human chorionic gonadotropin) on cycle to keep some level of endogenous hormone production going. This will prevent testicular atrophy and make it much easier for your hormones to bounce back post-cycle.

The more cycles you do and the longer you stay on increases the chances of infertility. Also steroids in the 19-nor subcategory (Nandrolone, Trestolone, Trenbolone) cause greater suppression of the HTPA and are typically harder to recover from.

The cost of maintaining an enhanced physique.

Although steroids themselves are relatively cheap here in the UK. The ancillarys, supplements and bloodwork required can add up to be quite expensive.

A typical 16 week cycle could end up costing you around £500.

So it’s important that you are financially capable of acquiring the funds required for the lifestyle.

Conclusion

I hope this has given you an insight and food for thought if you’ve been considering using steroids.

It’s a big decision and not one to be taken lightly.

Steroids can have serious consequences if they’re not used properly and respected.

If you think you are ready, check out my first cycle guide here.