In my early high school career I was skinny and many of the guys that I saw in the gym were huge. One day I asked them what is your secret? They replied 'steroids', I suspected that. They always looked so greasy and oily and they looked as pale as a ghost - even in the summer time. My female friends that went to high school with me were never interested in the "huge guys" but liked me.
I began natural bodybuilding and as time went on I became bigger and bigger and the ladies loved me more because I looked natural and toned. The guys that did steroids were now fat and frumpy because they stopped using the magical drug and all of their power and strength declined. By the time I went to college, I was able to go to the beach and proudly take off my shirt without having to take steroids. Indeed, steroids may give you instant gratification but you will soon end up regretting you ever took them.
The things a person can do without steroids are remarkably better than using them. As people age, the ones that are stupid enough to take steroids are paying the price with decaying bones and joints; along with a weak and old heart. When I get old I still want to be able to lift and do things a young person can do. I don?t want to be fat, bald and kicking my self for doing something stupid. There are just too many side affects of taking steroids for me to even think about taking them. They can ruin a family and road rage is a major factor in taking anabolic steroids. Some say a person has no control of his emotions. So why should you put your life at risk along with that of others when you can still have a great looking body the natural way ? steroids free!
I lost my grandfather due to kidney failure, which is another reason not to take steroids. Steroids make the kidneys work extra hard because the kidneys are trying to excrete. Many times men and women respond different to steroids. For example, men develop breasts and women's breasts shrink. I don?t know about you but I don't want breasts that are bigger than my girlfriend's! I can tell you this - many women are turned off by the sight of a man on steroids. Most of the time they have small testicles and sometimes they are infertile. I know many men would like to become a father someday but if you take steroids, chances are, you can't.
In brief, steroids can ruin your life and the lives of others. The human body was not made for the use of anabolic steroids. As a matter of fact the human body was made to do natural bodybuilding. If tempted in taking steroids, keep in mind that taking steroids can have disastrous results on your health. Work out the natural way for a healthier and happier life.
Copyright 2008, Masszymes Inc. All rights reserved.
Justin Miedema is a serious bodybuilder who has amazing success using the revolutionary new mass-building system, Freaky Big Naturally. Discover "Natural Body Building Secrets" for FR-EE at http://natural-bodybuilding.freakygrowth.com. You'll get tons of info about natural bodybuilding, natural-bodybuilding and much more.
Why Your Muscle Pumps Have Nothing To Do With Your Muscle Gains
Your back is firmly planted on the bench as you wrap your chalked hands around the cold, steel bar. Your training partner helps you un-rack the weight as you power the bar up and down, squeezing your chest and triceps on each grueling rep. You complete your 6 repetitions, re-rack the bar and stand up.
Your chest feels tight and engorged with blood. You take a look in the mirror, thrilled with how full and vascular your pecs appear. You feel strong, powerful, healthy and motivated to blast through the rest of your workout with your newly achieved “pump”.
Let’s face it, a pump feels incredible. For those of you who aren’t quite sure what I’m talking about, a pump is the feeling that you get as blood becomes trapped inside your muscle tissue as a result of resistance training. The muscles will swell up and increase in size, vascularity and tightness.
There is certainly nothing wrong with achieving a pump in the gym, and it is simply a natural result of intense weight training. However, contrary to what the majority of weightlifters may think, a pump is in no way indicative of a successful workout. Anyone who uses the intensity of their pump as a gauge for the effectiveness of their workout is making a costly error.
On countless occasions I've heard lifters raving about the massive pumps they get in the gym as they share methods for achieving the best pump possible. "Dude, this will give you a crazy pump!" If you have already been working out for a decent amount of time then you know exactly what I'm talking about. While a pump does feel extremely satisfying, just remember that it means very little in terms of muscle stimulation and growth.
A pump is simply the result of extra blood within the muscle tissue. Think of it this way: if I took a pair of 10 pound dumbbells and performed 300 reps of a bench press movement, I would achieve an incredible pump. If muscle pumps meant muscle growth, then super light weight, ultra high rep programs would be the most effective way to grow. Any serious lifter with half a brain knows that this simply is not the case.
Do you want to know how to truly gauge the success of a workout? Here it is…
Take your workout records (in terms of weight and reps) from the previous week and compare it to the current week. Did you improve? Were you able to either increase the resistance slightly on each exercise, or perform an extra rep or two?
If so, you had a successful workout, regardless of how much blood you were able to pump into your muscle tissue.
Building muscle mass and strength is all about training with 100% intensity on every given set and then striving to improve from week to week. If you are able to consistently achieve this, your muscle size and strength will increase faster than you ever thought possible, with or without a pump.
I hope this article cleared up your confusion on the issue of "muscle pumps". There's so much misleading muscle-building information circling around on the Internet these days that it can sometimes be impossible to know who to listen to. If you want to learn the truth about 14 other common, counterproductive "myths", visit my webste below for details.
About The Author
Sean Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding author, dedicated trainer and writer of top-selling Internet Muscle-Building E-Book: The Truth About Building Muscle. Learn why 95% of trainees in the gym will NEVER see any significant results by visiting his website: MuscleGainTruth
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