Supplements vs Steroids

What I want you to see is that no matter of all the information in books, magazines, the discussion boards and the internet, almost all newbie bodybuilders and lifters become victims of the supplement industry. Companies like the Weiders scam millions of people and make billions of dollars a year by making innocent people in believing that their heavily advertised products can produce quality muscle and make unwanted fat disappear.

Companies like Weider, Bodybuilding.com etc selling supplements, that in fact will make no difference to your appearance at all. I’m not talking about tainted food supplements or the pro-hormones. Just watch the documentary “BIGGER STRONGER FASTER”

A great sequence involves Chris Bell (picture left) mixing up his own performance-enhancing protein pills containing mostly rice flour, a label full of lies and a photo-shopped photo of himself, and all of it is legal. Each bottle cost him $1.50 to make, and he can sell it on a store shelf for $50. Meanwhile, he discusses the market for nutrition supplements approaching $23 billion in the United States; this market took off after Orrin Hatch engineered a bill to deregulate supplements so that anyone could make or sell them without any oversight, and the FDA (gutted in the past decade with staff and budget cuts) is required to prove there is a safety issue before interfering with their sale. Most supplements are made in Utah, which happens to have as its senior senator Orrin Hatch. Yet another reason to incinerate the entire state and its contents.

Watch it here: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThdFqGLq4QU

What’s interesting is that not only the nutritional supplement companies don’t want us to use really working drugs. Also the medical and scientific community is discouraging us from taking means that really work. When those drugs were still freely available (OTC), the Weider bodybuilding-magazines claimed that Weider’s  Crash Weight-Gaining Formula #7 would give better results than Dianabol (methandrostenolone). Later you can read 2 original articles from Muscle Builder and one from IronMan.

Before the Bhasin study from 2001 “Testosterone dose-response relationships in healthy young men” most to all studies wanted us to believe anabolic steroids were of no use for bodybuilding and strength purposes. It pissed off Will Brink so much that he wrote a hilarious article called “Walking The Walk vs. Talking The Talk with Steroids”. An exerpt: “The study was called “The Effects Of Supraphysiologic Doses Of Testosterone On Muscle Size And Strength In Normal Men (vol.336, July, 96).” This was a fairly strait forward study, so we don’t need to go into great depths about it and bore you to sleep with all the details. In a nut shell, there were four groups of men studied. One group received 600 milligrams of testosterone enanthate and trained with weight three days per week. The other three groups were just combinations of training with weights and getting no testosterone (placebo), getting the testosterone and not training with weights (couch potato on test!), and so on. So what was so wrong with this study that prompted me to write this article? Well it was not so much the conclusion of the study-which we will get to in a minute-but some of the statements within the study that caught my attention. For example, the researchers state:

“Athletes often take androgenic steroids in an attempt to increase their strength. The efficacy of these substances for this purpose is unsubstantiated, (emphasis mine) however.”

Unsubstantiated? Are they for real? Here is another statement from the study.

“…but whether supraphysiological doses of testosterone or other anabolic-androgenic steroids augment muscle mass and strength in normal men is unknown.”

Unknown? Unknown? Unknown to who? The next time you sit in the front row of a bodybuilding show or see some 280 pound androgen freak squatting the equivalent of a small family sedan, feel free to yell “hey fellas, did you know that all those steroids you are taking have not been proven to build muscle!”

…it seemed that the medical community and the scientist conducting the studies were forced to report little to no results, but maybe they just wanted to fit in and where afraid to come to a different conclusion. At the time it was dogma like later acid rain, the millennium bug, global warming etc.

In the meantime the supplement companies wanted us to believe their products were kinda pharmaceutical grade and with a scientifically researched effect. In fact it contained very simple ingredients, mostly sugar. The ingredients of Weider Crash Weight-Ganing Formula #7 were: Sugar, non-fat dry milk solids, dextrose, cocoa, salt, lecithin, natural and artificial flavor. In this light claiming it would provide better results are even more ridiculous.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall: “Pictures in the magazine showed scientists and technicians in white lab coats developing nutritional supplements in the “Weider Research Clinic,” I would say to myself, “this is unbelievable!” And there were pictures of airplanes with “Weider” painted on the side in big letters. I’d imagined an outfit the size of General Motors, with a fleet of planes flying around the globe delivering Weider equipment and food supplements. And now here I was, six years later, on Venice Beach! Of course, by the time I was aware enough to see that Weider was creating a whole fantasy world, with a foundation in reality but skyscrapers of hype.”

From “Muscle, Smoke and Mirrors”: Weider's Research Clinic was nothing but a broom closet.

Some may already know the often-told story of 1966 Mr. America, Bob Gajda’s visit to the Weider offices where he opened the door marked ‘Weider Research Clinic’ only to find a broom closet. How many youngsters over the years, this author included, dreamed of being part of that ‘Research Clinic’?”

Randy Roach: “Rader seemed to make it clear that drug use was much wide-spread than just York and that there were more drugs than simply Dianabol. In fact, many of the steroids still known today were produced between 1958 and 1964. Drug development regulations were not very stringent during those years. In 1962, things tightened up when the US congress amended the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to require drug manufacturers to prove the effectiveness of products already on the market.”

“Since many steroids were already on the market, athletes were able to take advantage of a loophole that allowed a physician to prescribe the drug for off-label usage such as muscle building.”

“Joe Weider saw a market opportunity at hand and engaged the steroid controversy in his 1963 May and June issues of Muscle Builder. Assigning research editor John Twitchell and their renowned, prestigious Weider Research Clinic (a broom closet), they set out to determine for themselves the true efficacy of Dianabol. Twichell can be given credit for warning readers of the potential dangers of the drugs, but comes on like gangbusters in overselling Weiders Crash Weight Gain Formula #7.”

“Any naïve reader of that era would most likely have been effectivelyswayed away from the use of steroids, believing instead that he could make triple the gains by using Weider supplements. Weider quickly learned how to play the game by two sides. He would have no problem using a steroid athlete to promote his supplements, while at the same time conscientiously warning his readers of the dangers of drugs”.

Rick Wayne once said in an article that he was having breakfast with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Weider, and Arnold took eight Dianabol tablets during breakfast. Weider's Anabolic Mega Pak's, were vitamins. But Weider used to advertise them like they were anabolic steroids. The company was fined $400k for false representation.

What is very intriguing is that these articles only mentions orals, like Dianabol “The breakfast of the Champions”. I think that was mainly done since the supplements where meant for oral administration too. No word in Joe’s magazines about Testosterone injections. IronMan does mention them just like Winstrol.

Muscle Builder, May 1963

The Latest Scoop

Late News Hot Off The Wire

UNION CITY...John Twichell, Weider Research Editor, is now personally experimenting with a drug reported to phenomenal muscular growth. With regular training and Weider food concentrates, Jon has been taking Dianabol, a drug distributed by Ciba. The drug requires a prescription, and its side-effects can be serious if taken without medical supervision. The phenomenal muscular growth of Joe Abbenda and Bill Pearl, it is reported, may be due, in part, to Dianabol, Jon's aim is to determine whether or not Dianabol, combined with training and good food, actually causes especially rapid muscular growth. The experiment is under medical supervision and is being controlled by the Weider Research Clinic. Rumor has it that Tom Sansone is also taking Dianabol, or a similar drug, such as Nilevar, distributed by Searle. These tissue-building drugs are hormones that stimulate the glands. They can be especially dangerous if taken haphazardly or over a prolonged period"and the outcome could very well be damaging. You can build muscles only by training with weights and eating the proper foods, but there is a possibility that such drugs can promote especially rapid growth, and it is this that the Weider Research Clinic is attempting to determine before printing a complete report for you in both Muscle Builder and Mr. America. Keep posted for the latest authoritative report, which will appear in this magazine as soon as these drugs are fully investigated by the Weider Research Clinic.

Muscle Builder, June-July 1963

Recenty there has been much talk in bodybuilding circles about so-called "miracle" tissue-buiding drugs. Because of the nature of these drugs and the lack of information, the Weider Research Clinic has decided to publish the results of their study of tissue-building materials.

The Truth About Tissue Drugs

by Jon TwichellResearch Editor

"I hear you can gain 40 or 50 pounds in a couple of months!"

"And I hear all the champs really use it, and that's why they won their titles."

My buddy tells me there's a guy he knows that weighs 260, all muscle!!"

How true are these claims ? Well, bodybuilders, unfortunately they are all false. Tissue drugs will not give you fantastic physiques overnight, and they are extremely dangerous to use. The Weider Research Clinic has found that these drugs are definitely not suitable for bodybuilding use.

You Aren't Going to Become Mr. America Overnight

The first claim that we shall give you the real results on is how much you can actually gain with these drugs.

Several medical studies have been made and reported in leading medical journals. In 1959 The American Journal of Meidcine reported a team study done by Marquette University and a local Veterans Center. They reported a mean weight gain of 9 pounds over a space of six months. In 1961 a study reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology (it was conducted by the New York Medical College) reported an average weight gain of 6.4 pounds in 2 months. Further, a study reported in the February 1962 issue of the Journal of the Medical Society of New Jersey stated that the average weight gain of a controlled hospital group was less than 4 pounds in a month for the entire group!

Tissue drugs are medially designed to be given to those who are underwieght, those whose bodies need and can put on more weight than a bodybuilder or even an average person. If these results show such a small weight gain, why should a bodybuilder even consider them, when his system is in much better order and he can gain up to 14 pounds in the next two weeks with Weider Crash-Weight ? Actuall true reports of 20 or 30 pound weight gains over the period of several months are just about nonexistant, while we have many fully docuemented reports of gains with Crash-Weight of 10-15-20 pounds in just 2 weeks !

These Drugs are Dangerous Hormones

About 1935 science became aware of a male hormone called androgen, which takes control of a boy's body at puberty and guides it on to adulthood. This hormone is responsible for the growth of the sex organs, body hair and other characteristics that signal approaching adulthood. They also are resonsible for the teenager's loss of smooth contours and gaining of solid muscle tissue.

Researchers were aware that the hormone's anabolic (bodybuilding) effects could be of extreme value, provided they could be separated from the androgenic (body-changing) effect of the hormone. The first drugs tested produced some weight gain, but the sexual side-effects of the drug were much too pronounced. Continued experimentation led finally to the drugs in use today, Dianabol, Nilevar, Durabolin, and all the rest. These drugs do not contain as much sex hormones, but they do contain enough to easily upset the sexual balances of the body.

Furthermore, the effect of the drugs is this: they artificially alter the nitorgen balance, thereby making the body use more protein than normal in tissue growth. Drugs similar to these that have been used extensively in raising livestock have recently been banned because of their possible cancer causing characteristics. Whether there is any parallel we cannot say, but certainly these drugs bear further investigation.

Tissue drugs are available by prescription only, because of their nature. Misuse of them can have serious consequences . . . as far as we are concerned, they were not developed for bodybuilders and should not be used by bodybuilers.

The Champs Don't Use These Drugs

As far as the Weider research Clinic has investigated, only one bodybuilder of any measure of fame has ever used these drugs, and this report is only hearsay. At the moment we are trying to verify it. Other than this possible instance, not one physique star has ever taken these pills or advised anyone to take them. Steve Reeves never needed pills to become the most famous bodybuilder of all time, Clarence Ross, Art Harris, Leo Robert or any other physique star needed them, so why should you ? Leroy Colbert feels very strongly on this point. He says, "The bodybuilder should follow as natural a diet as possible at all times. Drugs were invented to cure the ills created by man's poor living!"

There is no necessity to follow artificial means to grow a strong, natural body. The two are not compatible. Take the advice of the champions: "Natural ways are the best!"

Who Needs Another Inch on His Waist?

There is yet another factor to consider in the use of these drugs. They cannot be used selectively. That is, they affect the entire muscular system equally, and not certain muscles that you may want to develop. you may add an inch to your arms, but you'll add an inch to your neck also, and while you may add an inch or two to your chest, you'll also add it to your waist and buttocks!

Selective development is possible through correct exercise and sensible nutrition. By following the Weider System and eating properly you can build the physique of your dreams without possibly upsetting the vital hormone and digestive systems of your body.

If You Want More Weight….Use Weider Crash-Weight

In our own research, once again the natural way has proven the best. In clinic conducted experiments, one subject gained 5 pounds in 5 weeks with one of the tissue drugs. Yet this same person gained 9 pounds in 8 days with Weider Crash Weight-Ganing Formula #7! Another of our subjects, who has been very slim after suffering an auto accident, tried three of the various tissue drugs at different times, and gained not once ounce. The natural nutrients contained in our Crash-Weightformula are the best proteins and carbohydrates money can buy . . . our formula represents a true break-through in weight-gaining natrually and safely.

Therefore, if you want to gain muscular weight quickly and safely, if you don not want to run the risk of upsetting your internal metabolism, if you want the natural, proven way, go Weider. Crash Weight-Gaining Formula #7 will give you the weight you desire without dangerous side-effects, and it will give you more weight in less time. Combined with the Weider System and your Weider barbell-dumbbell set, there is no finer way to that Mr. America physique.

Once again, the Weider Research Clinic says this: Tissue-building drugs are dangerous . . . they cannot be obtained without a perscription, and no competant doctor will give you a perscription unless you are in need of a specific medicine. These pills,do not give you fabulous gains, but rather less than you can gain with natural nutrition. We advise all bodybuilders who want to gain weight safely and naturally to order Weider Crash Weight-Gaining Formula #7 . . . it'll be the best muscle buiding investment you ever made!

- MB

Tissue Building Drugs

Are They Safe...Or Effective ?

by Carl Richford IronMan Vol 23 No 3, September 1964

[NOTE: this article was written in 1964. It contains many factual errors. Do not use the advice presented here to make any kind of decision regarding the use of anabolic steroids.]

Bodybuilders in this country are a very clannish lot and when something of interest or some juicy item of gossip crops up, no matter where, the word usually gets around pretty quickly. The coast-to-coast "iron telegraph" goes into operation pretty quickly at all times, but when the first rumors of the anabolic tissue drugs began circulating about two years ago, the speed of this hot news broke all records.

And, as with all rumors, the constant telling blew out of all proportions the claims associated with this drug. Responsible people were suddenly whispering how you could gain 20-30 pounds of muscle in a month, that amazing monsters with 55 inch chests and 21 arms were just about to come out of hiding and stun the world, etc. etc.

Rumors usually blow over after a period of time, or the real truth is discovered. Not so in bodybuilding, for in the heart of every beginner or would-be champion there is the "Secret" complex. He's been training for a while now, and because he has not reached the heights of the real champs, he concludes there must be some strange secret jealously guarded by all the greats, and that mystical knowledge is the only way anyone can ever become a top champ. Bill Pearl and Leroy Colbert have told many times about fellows asking them about their arms, and when they tell them about their routines, that they us ALternate Curls, Triceps Extensions, they (the questioners) will throw a fit because Pearl or Colbert won't tell them the "secret," the "real way" the stars train! So it is with most every good star and the average bodybuilder who has little real understanding of the true physiological workings of the body. The uninitiated are constantly on the trail of the "real truth" which, of course, they refuse to recognize.

Drugs and bodybuliders are no strangers in the rumor market. Tales are still heard about Steve Reeves or Reg Park using vitamin B12 injections, giving themselves shots right on the incline bench between sets . . .

But what is the real truth, of what value are drugs in bodybuilding ? Now perhaps that the big tissue drug craze has lessened a bit, and the miraculous gains have not materialized, it can be discussed with some measure of sanity.

The Basic Issue

The basic issue of the whole thing is a better physique. Every bodybuilder wants the body of Hercules and he chooses weights as the only avenue to it. In time, if he's really hooked on working out, he will study his exercises, their form, training priciples, his rest and diet. And he'll be hot for any "secret," any shortcut to a better physique in a quicker time.

All the progress made in the past thirty years, all the training discoveries, use of supplements, tec., have been designed with the sole purpose of shortcutting, making a better physique easier to get than before. It has been a long process of trial and error, and any miraculous discovery that will make the long, hard and exhausting process of bodybuilding any shorter or easier is eagerly snatched up and tried.

So it was with the tissue drugs. When the news of their supposed effects become known, all of us are aware of what happened . . . hysteria hit the muscle world. All the would-be champs were sure at last hat the great secret was exposed, that here was a real short-cut to big muscles, the easy way exposed at last. Even when the dire warnings of possible side effects were published, and reports of champs that had been affected bythe drugs, it was decided by the gym experts that this was just a scare campaign designed to keep the holy secret from the uninitiated.

The truth is, of course, that there are no "secrets" in bodybuilding that cannot be discovered by hard training and study of poper sleap and dietary habits. As in any endeavor in life, there is no substitute for hard work and intelligent study.

But what about the tissue drugs ? What are their real effects ? The simple answer to that is: some can benefit from them to an extent; for others they are a waste of time. And the above explanation will be a lot clearer to you if you fully understand the drug theory of bodybuilding, which I will explain now.

Both B-12 and the tissue drugs especially have been used because they have been thought to speed the bodybuilding process, make muscle gains quicker and better.

Unfortunately, neither was designed by the medical profession for this purpose. B12 is an anti-anemia factor that is a general stimulant to anemic or badly run-down patients. For muscle building it is useless; if the bodybuilder is run-down it will help his vitality, nothing more.

The tissue drug was developed after World War II to specifically help prisoners of war regain their lost health and weight. It greatly increases muscular tissue in those who are sick or have improper protein retention systems. But, before you jump to conclusions, let me fully explain. Your liver has certain factors within it that control the use of protein in the body, control the amount of protein absorbed into the body. These factors are controlled by, to an extent, anabolic hormones. These hormones are secreted in the male body after puberty (which explains why a woman or a young boy cannot develop a massive muscular system.)

Now, when you take protein into your body it is utilized by your system to a certain extent. You have a certain level of efficiency in your body, x percentage of protein is used by your body, and the rest is eliminated as waste. If your liver functioning is poor because of low hormone level or poor general health, then the tissue drugs will help the patient get back to his regular levels. This treatment is used especially for the aforementioned war prisoners, today for surgery cases and young babies, also older people whose systems are inefficient.

But, these drugs will not raise your system beyond its natural best efficiency. If you're training hard, resting properly and eating healthful foods, the tissue drugs will not affect you much at all . . . you will not gain miraculous amounts of muscle overnight, in fact, you will gain little at all. If you are an irregular trainer, a beginner that hasn't been training very long, or follow a poor diet or sleeping habit, then proper dosages of any of the tissue drugs under a doctor's supervision might help.

You will notice I said proper dosage. One of the great dangers of muscle building is that the trainees are so hot to gain that they will do almost anything, including taking overdoses of dangerous drugs. These hormones are dangerous. If you overstimulate the liver your whole system will be disrupted and you can be seriously ill. This is no idle warning; the liver is one of the vital organs of the body that is indispensable to life. Without it you will die. If you attempt to overstimulate your natural metabolism you will large the body prematurely and throw the whole protein and metabolic balance of the body out of kilter. And, in case you didn't know, protein is not only the vital element in muscles, but also in the vital organs, the brain and the blood hemoglobin. Tissue drugs are definitely nothing to experiment with. And, if you are a conscientious trainer, they will be particularly useless as your body is already operating at its peak natural efficiency.

New Frontiers in Drugs and Bodybuilding

Even though the tissue drugs are for all practical purposes useless in making you into a Mr. America, constant study in the medical world could eventually lead to aids in developing the body. Unfortunately, bottled or instant muscles will never be for sale. The body is far too complex an organism to be able to change from a skinny fellow to a really muscular man overnight.

The direction of this new research is fairly predictable. To accelerate your protein retention or speed up your muscle growth would also be to accelerate your general growth rate and to age the body prematurely. Surely no pound of muscle is worth years off your life. Incidentally, a recent item in IRON MAN also pointed out the relationship in your natural growth rate. An animal study showed that a slowing of growth also produced a slowing of general aging in those animals. Conversely, an acceleration over the natural body levels of growth would also produce an acceleration of aging. The natural rates of the body are best.

However, the recuperation of the muscles is another matter. Most every trainee is aware of the long periods of recuperation that are needed for proper muscle growth. If a drug were developed to speed the accumulations of lactic acid from the muscle and to aid faster recuperation, more frequent and harder workouts could be taken, building muscle just that much faster. This is an area for much study, and some day may yeild some results, or like the tissue drugs, may not be very helpful in the end after all. Only time will tell.

Finally, drug diehards may be interested to know that one of the major companies, after doing some studies, has changed its mind and definitely recommends AGAINST using its drug for muscle building purposes. The major tissue drugs are Dianabol, Nilevar, Winstrol and Durabolin. The latter is a shot, all the rest are taken in pill form. Major side effects are nose bleeds, nausea, extreme tiredness and, of course, liver and gall bladder disorders. Be smart and stay away from them.

It’s amazing how beauty standards have changed! These vintage ads promote weight gain for skinny women. From the “Weider Laboratories” ..lol…