Training, long-term and short-term anabolic steroid use ---effect on muscle fibers

Submitted by RonnyT on Mon, 2014-03-03 14:43

Recently I posted about a well-known fact, we now call “muscle memory”. Underneath this article you can find the links to these blog posts.

A high-level power-lifter from Sweden that happens to be a scientific researcher was fascinated by this process and wanted to know what long-term (10 years and longer) short-term (cycle of 20 weeks) did to muscles compared to natural power-lifters.

He compared his research with other similar studies. He also wanted to know what the difference could be of training with or without anabolic steroids long term or short term to an isometric contraction such as the dead-lift compared to a maximal explosive exercise such as the squat.

First an overview of the muscle fibers involved.

There are three primary muscle fiber types in humans -- Type I, Type IIA, and Type IIB. Type I are referred to as "slow twitch oxidative", Type IIA are "fast twitch oxidative" and Type IIB are "fast twitch glycolytic" As their names suggest, each type has very different functional characteristics. Type one fibers are characterized by low force/power/speed production and high endurance, Type IIB by high force/power/speed production and low endurance, while Type IIA fall in between. These characteristics are a result, primarily, of the fiber's Myosin Heavy Chain (MHC) composition, with Mysosin heavy chain isoforms I, IIa and IIx corresponding with muscle fiber types I, IIA, and IIB.

 

More on labscale experiments

Submitted by RonnyT on Wed, 2014-02-19 16:18

I made quite a few blogposts on homebrewing. After posting on the fora, I was asked to post som new things on this subject.

micronize raw material


I will use testosterone as an example here , but any raw material can be micronized in theory.All you need to work out is what the raw hormone is freely soluble in.
1. 10 grams of testosterone powder is dissolved into either ethanol or methanol
2. allow to stand for 20 minutes
3. use a 0.22um syringe filter to remove any contaminants from the raw material
4. transfer the sterile testosterone / alcohol solution to a clean media bottle ( volume 500mls )
5. add to the 100mls of testosterone / alcohol solution 400mls of luke warm ( approximately 40c) distilled water
6.the testosterone will immediately precipitate out of the ethanol solution
7.use a coffee filter to separate the raw material from the solution
8. dry the raw material under a lamp for a period of 1 - 2 hours
9. can repeat steps 1 - 8 to obtain a 99% purity of your raw material sample

Bulking and pre-contest drugs and diet of South African bodybuilders during contest season 2010.

Submitted by RonnyT on Mon, 2014-02-17 14:26

We read a lot on the discussion boards and magazines about the use of drugs, the trainings and diet protocols of the bodybuilders. The bodybuilders in this research are no professionals. They are competing in the senior men’s division of International Federation of Body Building South Africa (IFBBSA).  All the athletes registered with the (IFBBSA) were invited to participate in the study. More than 200 invitations were sent out to the existing database – only 19 athletes conveyed their interest in participation. Eventually, only 14 athletes partook in the full protocol. They competed on Provincial and National contests in different weight categories. What makes it really interesting is the fact that the researchers captured all information in schemes. Of course most readers are particular interested in the drug protocols, we call cycles. You’ll find some at the end of this blog-post. It also shows the huge difference in doses. The study also shows the influence of diet –heavy training and diet on blood-pressure, kidneys,  liver and other organs.

In short the effects and side/effects of AAS and ancillaries on the body composition, blood values and the organs of the athletes

Open Air Gyms – Outdoor Gyms – Beach Gyms – Backyard Gyms – Bush Gyms

Submitted by RonnyT on Sun, 2014-02-09 20:56

We live in the lucky circumstances to be able to afford a gym membership. Others or not so lucky. They work with old rusty weights and when they don’t have the money to work with iron or scrap metal they use stone or cement. If you are determent enough to want to build that strong body you will find a way.  I found it very inspiring to see how all these different people from inmates, soldiers to people that live in a ghetto manage to work-out. Just like I liked to see that outside of the world famous Venice Beach others where determent to build such outdoor or beach gyms. I noticed more and more people build a backyard-gym and many cities are convinced that this form of recreation is suited for their locals or tourist. On the picture a beautifull girl working out at the Kachalka Outdoor Gym in Kiev.

More and more people are enjoying the outdoor gyms because it provides them a different sense of relaxation as they enjoy nature as they exercise. Outdoor gyms are popular in many countries such as China, Brazil and America to name just a few. 

The outdoor gym is the perfect way of combining the physical intensity of a proper workout with the joy and harmony of being out on a beautiful, sunny day. More and more people are beginning to enjoy the benefits as outdoor gyms.  These outdoor gyms are continuously increasing both in number and in size.

While some are created to enable people, locals or tourists to enjoy a work-out in the open air sometimes with a breathtaking view.

What’s new about the mechano growth factor

Submitted by RonnyT on Thu, 2014-02-06 11:26

At the start of the year 2014 this news dominated the broadcasting about the Wintergames in Sotsji Russia.

Full Size MGF – New Doping Substance from Russia

I posted about MGF earlier here: //www.juicedmuscle.com/jmblog/content/mgf-mechano-growth-factor

The most credible German TV station (ARD, 02.02.2014) revealed with an undercover journalist that some well-known Russian biology professor/scientist (they do not mention his name) is selling a new doping substance called "Full Size MGF".

The undercover journalists got 1 milligram of the drug “Full Size MGF”,  to test it.

For 100,000 euro the rogue scientist , working at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow , could provide an amount (100 mg ) that athletes could  use for the Winter Olympics in Sochi . The ideal time to take the product would be 2 or 3 days before a contest

They gave the "Full Size MGF" to the IOC/WADA Anti-Doping Laboratory in Cologne. According to the IOC/WADA laboratory, "Full Size MGF" acts like IGF-1, but much stronger and they also stated that they have never heard of it before and that they of course don't have any test for it. . David Howman,

 Director General of the World Anti- Doping Agency , WADA , was therefore shocked when he saw the WDR report . "It would be naive to believe that they are all athletes who will participate in Sochi are pure. " The IOC doping testing plant in 2453 in Sochi , the highest ever number of doping tests at the Games .
The most interesting part is, that this Russian biology professor/scientist is apparently selling MGF since 2010! That means the IOC/WADA might be 3-4 years late!

Is this new??

Of course NOT, in  April 2013 this headline appeared on the news and the web:

Doping probe rocks Australian sport !

Heavy marketed protein powder ..some facts

Submitted by RonnyT on Sat, 2014-02-01 11:34

 

If we would take a native from a primitive country and would take him to a supermarket and tell him that everything he saw in the shelves was food. That that box filled with powder was soup. He would not understand. And neither should we, because we have grown to believe that the chemical dead powder in that colorful box IS soup, just add some water and you end up ?? With what??

Everyone that follows my blogposts at JuicedMuscle and previously at BodyOfScience and BodyPage knows that I believe in genuine nutrition and products. I wrote about highly processed foods here: //www.juicedmuscle.com/jmblog/content/processed-food

Now I would like to take a closer look at the sweetheart of bodybuilders, fitnessers and dieters, called PROTEIN POWDERS.

"Pumping Iron" the movie that changed opinions

Submitted by RonnyT on Sun, 2014-01-26 10:04

In the 1970s, a new breed of American man emerged from the weight rooms of Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach. Led by Arnold Schwarzenegger, a clique of world-class bodybuilders – muscle-bound, steroid-fueled, bronzed like suntanned gods – pumped iron, chased girls, and changed the world’s exercise culture forever.

Robby Robinson, a wedge of black marble, arrived in Venice Beach in 1975 with one oversize suitcase and seven dollars. That was every dime he had after quitting his job and selling everything of value but the trophies he’d won at bodybuilding shows in the Jim Crow South. He’d left behind a wife, three small children, and a certain localized fame as the best-ever body in the state of Florida, fronting 20-inch biceps, a 28-inch waist, and 205 pounds of peaked, freak muscle on his hourglass, 5-foot-8 frame. But if your dream back then was to make the cover of ‘Muscle Builder’ and storm the palace of giants in your sport, there was one thing to do and one place to do it: Join Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach. With the ocean at its back, the sun through its skylights, and the biggest men on Earth trooping in by the dozen to bench 450 before breakfast, Gold’s was Camelot-by-the-shore. You felt its pull in your hypertrophied heart, deep in the belly of that reckless muscle.

A famous professor gives his refreshing opinion on GH in bodybuilding

Submitted by RonnyT on Tue, 2014-01-21 15:27

What once happened with the use of anabolic steroids now happens with growth hormone. Let me explain. When steroids where developed many scientists and pharmaceutical companies where convinced that modifications on the parent hormones would lead to favorable medication. In the golden era of steroid synthesis the main goal was to synthesize a compound which retained a high degree of anabolic activity coupled with a vastly diminished androgenic activity. In those days anabolic steroids where meant to be given to patients, to the old, the weak, the recovering, the undernourished etc.   It was thought that through all these modifications one could create steroids that would serve many different purposes. Quite like nowadays many people think about recombinant human Growth Hormone. What followed was a pure demonization of anabolic steroids, the pharmaceutical companies unable to reach their goals exaggerated the side-effects just as other governmental institutions ..and the official media followed blindly. The bodybuilding community mistrusted the official medical research and was light-years ahead of official research. Some studies made such foolish assumptions that it made Will Brink in 1996 to write his classic article  “walking the walk, or talking the talk” An article that said what most of us thought.

 From this article , 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 supra-physiological 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 fella(s), did you know that all those steroids you are taking have not been proven to build muscle!” LMAO !!!

Energy drinks

Submitted by RonnyT on Thu, 2014-01-16 12:18

I don’t think a critical blog post about the “dangers” of energy drinks will scare away a hard core bodybuilder using a stack of AAS, slin and GH. Not to mention the pain killers and other ancillaries. I also posted a few times about the scaremongering of the authorities and the medical community. But this is different. This is a blog post not only written for the hard-core or advanced bodybuilder, but also for the younger members of our forum.

The more advanced bodybuilders will use stronger means to reach their goals such as the ECA-stack or Clenbuterol and T3 to cut or get energy. And most of the guys I know have some coffee before hitting the gym. In this light an energy drink could do also.

Then why this blog post?  Energy drinks can be a benefit if consumed with common sense, but it turns out that these nice colorful cans are addiction forming. Just like many people who practically “live“ on coffee, nowadays many people start to do the same with these energy drinks. I know that relatively the dangers of energy drinks are nothing comparable to other compounds people abuse.

But let’s look at it at a different angle. Some people use AAS and other compounds in a cycle to gain extra muscle mass. If done on a knowledgeable  cycle  and followed by a proper PCT, then health problems should be controllable  . We all know that if we follow the hard-core or pro protocol, which means, year round usage and much higher doses and much more different means to counteract all the injuries and pain of pushing your body to the limit, will do much more damage.  It’s true for most compounds that exert a certain effect in the body, if it is alcohol, recreational drugs, anabolic steroids or caffeine , one need to increase the dosage as the body builds up tolerance to the chemical. Therefore, it takes more and more  to produce the desired effects.

If some member mentions on the board that he wants to take oral steroid, many other members warn him and tell him to take liver protectors like Milk Thistle.  If you want to do an Oral Only Cycle, I always advise to limit the time of the cycling to max 12 weeks , DON’T use recreational drugs, prescription medicine, alcohol, try not to smoke etc. Because it’s not wise to stack all unhealthy habits.  

Are ab muscles the same as core muscles?

Submitted by RonnyT on Sun, 2014-01-12 14:15

Abs and Core

The core has become a fitness buzzword. People seem to think core training is synonymous with abdominal training, which explains why various websites, blogs, trainers and television home shopping commercials, use that phrase to attract misinformed readers desperate for a six-pack. In truth, the core is much more than a six-pack, and it needs to be treated as such.

It's time to destroy misconceptions about core training and restore its true meaning. Endless sets of sit-ups and leg raises will only take your core so far. Eventually, your core will need to support heavy weight under serious stress when you squat, deadlift, or press. Kick the crunches aside and learn heavy lessons that build insane core strength!

Just because a strong healthy body with a six-pack, a tiny waist and a strong core is important for so many people, the fitness enthusiasts, the bodybuilders, the fighters (MMA, wrestlers, boxers, kick-boxers) but also the general population, especially the young generation that wants to look good with their shirt off and on the beach. There are so much different approaches to reach this goal.  Kettle bells, Medicine balls, jump ropes, slam balls  and suspension kits are only a few of the  instruments  used  to train the  core muscles.  And many gadgets to train the abs more about that later in this article.