Over on reddit[1] a number of steroid users have pointed out that:
1. He actually took unusually high doses for a first-time user.
2. He took none of the additional drugs recommended to prevent or ameliorate the side-effects.
3. That he got every side-effect, even some rare ones, with unusually high severity, seems suspiciously like dramatic license.
Remember: this is a guy who has a novel to sell. He is not acting as a journalist. He is not a scientist. He is under no legal or ethical requirement to be honest. He is a salesman for his own work.
There's more dramatic license than just that - if you inject yourself into your behind, there's no way a "pressurised stream of blood spurted halfway across the room". Not going to happen.
I have the "fortune" of having to do injections in that place every week for several years running now, and I'm far from handy with a needle. The worst that ever happened was a thin rivulet. And that was dramatic - usual is nothing, or maybe a drop or two of blood.
Based on that part alone, he's dramatically exaggerating. Combine that with having every side effect in the book, and my money is on this being made up in large parts.
I have been a Type I diabetic for the past 15 years, and have had the "pressurized stream of blood" that shot across the room a handful of times when injecting my stomach. Granted, being an insulin dependent diabetic, I have given myself an estimated 32,000 injections, which I seriously doubt a steroid user would ever get anywhere close to.
You've got larger arteries/veins to deal with in the stomach area. The buttocks are fairly light on them, and unless you move close to the center, there's nothing with high enough pressure to spurt.
I guess this is possible if you hit an artery. That's why you do a suction movement before injecting, because if you inject steroids there, you're dead.
> Oh yeah, and you don't get from the first picture to the last picture in 16 weeks, not gonna happen.
Not so sure about that, assuming he was actually in better shape than he lets on before he started. I love this one - "before and after" shots done in the reverse order, on the same day, while using every trick in the book to accentuate the difference:
The pictures in the linked article seems to reflect every method used in that video:
- Different lighting
- Flexing vs. not flexing
- Likely pumped in the second
- Oil or moisture
- Quite possibly a few kg of difference in fluid bloat from the first to the latter.
- The right posture to accentuate shadows of muscle in the second vs. hunched over accentuating fat in the second.
Couple that with fat loss and some muscle gain, and it seems quite possible - he's not all that big in the second either.
But frankly, he does not look like 222lbs in that pic to me anyway, so every reason to be extra skeptical. This is Schwarzeneegger at 235lbs: http://stronglifts.com/arnold-schwarzenegger-steroids-build-.... - It's a bit unclear exactly how much Arnie weighed at various times (and even how tall he actually is), but his competition weights are typically reported (including by himself) to have been between 225lbs and 240lbs or so in various competitions including when winning Mr Olympia. As for his height he's 6'-ish - some claim 6'2, some say he's shorted than 6', but he's certainly not a giant. Unless the guy in this article is exceptionally tall, his weight and build does not at all add up...
And trouble making a second rep with 2x90lbs dumbbell bench presses at 222lbs with body fat like in the second pic doesn't add up to me either - I warm up with more weight than that at my bench at 225lbs body weight with far more body fat (I incidentally also look a lot bigger than him, though less toned).
And if he did indeed have such bad results from steroids, that's probably a lot more of the reason than anything else: He was starting from a very poor foundation and was not working particularly hard.
"Oh yeah, and you don't get from the first picture to the last picture in 16 weeks, not gonna happen."
Someone who looked like the second picture when dehydrated, oiled, posing, and flatteringly lit could perfectly well make themself look like the first picture when bloated, unflatteringly lit, and letting it all hang out.
You can see where I am going with this. For some amounts of making himself look awful in the first picture, great in the second one, and 16 weeks of steroids and working out, those "before and after" pics are not implausible.
But I do realise that wasn't what you were saying. Your point was that if we take both pictures in good faith then it's "not gonna happen" and you would be right. I bother to point out what I did because it is reminiscent of those "get ripped" banner ads where - to me at least - it often looks like the same person on the same day 2 hours apart, first posing and tensing on the back of a fasting session and after, slouching, having stuffed themselves. And of course the advert reverses the "before and after", and pops 6 weeks with whatever they are selling into the timeline.
Not really sure where you got the idea that the some esters of testosterone are ok for first time users and others aren't, except maybe no ester. Many (most?) Doctors prescribe cypionate for trt in the US, and these aren't just the anti aging clinics.
Doesn't sound like the dude took any SERMs to soak up the estrogen or to let his body's own testosterone up-regulate. Thats why he came out of his cycle with 3 pounds of nothing but bloat.
Novladex is shit. It isn't really a SERM. It doesn't get rid of the estrogen. Furthermore a week of it is terrible. Your PCT should last at least as long as your cycle.
1. He actually took unusually high doses for a first-time user.
2. He took none of the additional drugs recommended to prevent or ameliorate the side-effects.
3. That he got every side-effect, even some rare ones, with unusually high severity, seems suspiciously like dramatic license.
Remember: this is a guy who has a novel to sell. He is not acting as a journalist. He is not a scientist. He is under no legal or ethical requirement to be honest. He is a salesman for his own work.
[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1lodxn/til_ca...