marcus300 interviews RonnieRoland

marcus300: Finally I've got you to do an interview lol, where abouts in the world do you live?
RonnieRowland: South Carolina

marcus300: What are your current stats and are you happy with them?
RonnieRowland: I am 44 years old, 5’9 and weigh 215 lbs with 8% body fat. I would still like to gains some more size, especially in my chest and legs but I am very happy with the way I look.

marcus300: What do you do for a living?
RonnieRowland:I have been a personal trainer for 24 years. I currently work at Gold Gym. In the past, I worked in several hardcore gyms that were occupied with hardcore bodybuilder’s, power-lifters and athletes.

marcus300: Have you ever competed in a bodybuilding show?
RonnieRowland: Yes

marcus300: When did you first start bodybuilding?
RonnieRowland: I started lifting weights when I was 12 years old. I didn’t really start making gains until I was 15.

marcus300:What would you say as been the most productive AAS cycle you have done?
RonnieRowland: THE MOST EFFECTIVE STACK I EVER TRIED WAS 1 GRAM OF SUSTANON PER WEEK, 1 GRAM OF TEST CYPIONATE PER WEEK, 600 MGS OF TREN ENANTHATE PER WEEK, 400 MGS OF DECA PER WEEK AND 50 MGS OF ORAL D-BOL DAILY. THE CYCLE THAT AGREES WITH ME THE MOST IS 1.5 GRAMS OF TEST ENANTHATE PER WEEK, 600 MGS OF TREN ENANTHATE PER WEEK AND 600 MGS OF MASTERON ENANTHATE PER WEEK.

marcus300: Are you on prescribed HRT?
RonnieRowland: Yes, 200 mgs of test cypionate per week.

marcus300: Are your married and do you have any children?
RonnieRowland: I have been very happily married to 47 years old Kathy Rowland for 16 years. She won the first bodybuilding show she ever entered last year in Columbia SC (Palmetto cup). She’s prepping for the SC. State show on June. 5th. Kathy is going to be hard to beat. Her genetics are very good (especially her legs)!

We have a 13 year old son and once he turns 14 this summer he will be allowed to come train with us at Gold’s. We are excited. He appears to have good genetics for bodybuilding.

marcus300: Do you have a criminal record?
RonnieRowland: Absolutely not!

marcus300: Do you take any Rec drugs?
RonnieRowland: Never fooled with them. I only drink alcohol once a year on new years eve and after this year I may cut that out as well…lol..

marcus300: Where in the world would you most like to visit?
RonnieRowland: I would like to go back to Maui in Hawaii where my wife and I got married

marcus300: I believe you have had some major surgeries on your back, could you tell our readers what happened and how did you overcome such a traumatic time?
RonnieRowland: I was a professional motor cross racer in my teens. I wrecked and got ran over by another bike at age 18. It blew out the three lower disks in my back (S-1, L-5 and L-4). The orthopedics and neurosurgeons fused by back in that area but my body kept rejecting the bone graft. This left me walking around with a non-fused back and the pain that ran down my legs was unbearable (even while taking various pain meds). They kept going back in and putting screws in my vertebrae trying to stabilize my spine. A morphine pump didn’t touch the pain post- op where they had drilled holes in my bone. I ended up having 10 major lower back surgeries before the doctors were able to finally mend it together using these over sized pedicle screws and plates. By then permanent nerve damage had occurred and I have a lot of scar tissue that binds my nerve roots. I now have spinal stenosis and my right leg is a half inch shorter than my left leg. I am limited on what exercises I can do so everything is done supported using perfect form. The severe nerve damage keeps my legs from growing as they should even when I get them sore using the leg press machine.

The doctors told me I would never workout with weights again and I was crushed! They also said I would be disabled for life and would never go back to work. I felt as if though my life was over at that point but I was determined to prove them wrong. After all, what did I have to lose? I stated working out with weights again in order to try and break down some of the scar tissue and strengthen the muscles surrounding the core. The pain was so bad I would hurt in my back and down my legs for at least 3 days after just one light upper body workout. Light leg workouts on the leg extension machine caused severe pain for 7-10 days post workout. This means I had to take a lot of strong medications (muscle relaxers, anti-inflammatories, narcotics and seizure meds) just to remain sane and be able to get a little sleep at night. The doctors now tell me that I am the only person in the world to have come back from such trauma. They are dumbfounded by the fact I can work as a personal trainer because usually after the 3rd lower back operations people become permanently disabled. What really blows their mind is the fact I am a bodybuilder. They believe most people aren’t willing to go through the rehab pain that I did to get back their life. The doctors are correct because I am a very determined individual when I put my mind to getting something done. What the doctors are ignorant of is how injectable testosterone also helped me over come a disability. Now I take very little medication and when I do take it actually helps the pain. I will never stop working out or taking testosterone! I feel very fortunate to have my life back!

marcus300: Do you still suffer from pain daily from your back?
RonnieRowland: Thank God I do not have daily back pain anymore!

Members question: For someone who uses a full face picture and their location do you not worry or have any fears from legal repercussuions for using and giving advice on AAS?
RonnieRowland: I have nothing to hide. I do not sell steroids and at my age I am on HRT most of the time. I’d rather educate others through freedom of speech than see them make poor decisions and possibly ruin their health. The government has to realize that making steroids illegal for adults is comparable to when they tried making alcohol illegal. It did not work then and it’s not working for steroids now! There are too many good and honest people in favor of using steroids to better their health and quality of life. There’s no getting rid of them as they will always be in great demand. So, I feel obligated to teach others what I have learned from having been around steroids and bodybuilders/power-lifters for over 23 years. Knowledge gained and not shared is knowledge wasted. I want to help others make the best decisions possible and aid them in reaching their goals.

marcus300: What does a typical day look like for you?
RonnieRowland: My wife and I get up and have breakfast. We have sex before going into work at 8pm. Kathy and work together as trainers at Gold’s so we are around each other all day and it’s great! We train together as well 4-5 days per week. We get home from work, eat dinner while watching television with our son and I play a couple of games on the x-box 360 with him (modern day warfare 2-on line) and he always smokes me…lol..We prepare out meals for the next day in advance. Before bed my wife and I have sex again!!! By the way she’s on testosterone for women so she’s just as bad as I am…lol. I have a great life.

marcus300: What kind of diet do you follow?
Ronnie Rowland:I take in 50 grams of protein 6 times per day. I usually take in my slow burning carbs and lean protein during the first 3 meals of the day then switch over to protein/fats/ green veggies for last 3 meals. I take in enough carbs for the day’s energy requirements and to prevent protein from being used as a fuel source. My remaining calories come from healthy fats in order to keep my insulin levels down so I can stay leaner. I have one cheat day per week on Saturday. I drink a lot of liquid egg whites mixed with optimum nutrition’s cookies n cream protein powder because it gets old eating meat 6 times per day.

marcus300: Tell us about your AAS background and how you got started down this chemical route?
RonnieRowland: Believe it or not, I was against steroids in my youth. People tend to fear what they don’t know. I always dreamed of what I might look like if I was able to do a cycle but I was scared. What got me started on steroids was some research I found showing how steroids helped with lower back pain. After 2 years of brutal rehab with little progress, I was willing to try anything to help reduce the pain and strengthen my core muscles. I started using 750 mgs of test cypionate per week and within only 3 weeks my pain had lessened by almost 50 percent. It was a miracle! I was so mad that I had not tried them earlier and I was even madder at the doctors for not letting me know that steroids could help heal my back. The longer I took the testosterone the stronger I became and the better I felt. My youthful sex drive and general overall feeling of well being was restored. I did not get roid-rage, I because happy and energized! The water retention really helped cushion my back acting as a shock absorber so anti-estrogens where out. Testosterone is a wonder drug in so many ways! I think it’s very stupid that our government would rather pay out a disability check than provide people proper rehab and the medications needed to help them succeed.

Members question: Why do you preach only one way of cycling?
RonnieRowland: I have learned that regardless of one’s genetics, combining 8 weeks of hard training with 8 weeks of heavy cycling is as good as it gets for everyone. After 8 weeks of hard training it’s very important to switch over to 2 weeks of lighter training and lighter cycling to prevent burn out on both ends of the spectrum (training and using anabolic steroids ).

After 8 weeks of hard training one’s CNS will start showing signs of burn out and it’s very important to take it easier for a couple of weeks so you can come back and make more gains as opposed to sitting in a rut. After having been on steroids for 8 weeks your myostatin levels (Gene that determines rate of muscle growth) increases to a point that the same dosage of steroids are only maintaining what you have built. In other words you pretty much plateau at that point. By backing off the dosages a couple of weeks while at the same time you are training with less volume and higher reps, it allows myostatin levels to decline and the body to recuperate so you can come back and make better gains using lesser dosages and lesser training volume. I feel it is extremely important for overall health to deload for 2 weeks after having reloaded for 8 weeks. The 8 week reload and 2 week deload make up the core foundation of Slingshot Training!

marcus300: Which Pro Bodybuilders do you admire?
RonnieRowland: I like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I feel the bodybuilder’s of the 80’s looked much better than the top pros of today.

Members question: What would be your biggest regret so far in life?
RonnieRowland: Racing professional motocross and rupturing 3 disks in my lower back!

marcus300: What advice would you give our newbies reading?
RonnieRowland: I would encourage everyone to please take a look at my Slingshot Training System. Here’s the link - You'll want to read this! I have put my heart and soul into this program to help people succeed in bodybuilding. Once you begin to understand how the human body works it will make sense. Just because someone is big and strong does not mean they are doing things properly. A lot of people that are born that way and could get even bigger/stronger by doing things in a proper manner.

marcus300: What would you change about your past if you could?
RonnieRowland: I would not have raced motocross.

Members question: Where would you like to be in 5 years time?
RonnieRowland: I was unable to train hard for so long that I have some catching up to do. Getting to the national level and maybe even taking a shot at a pro-card in the masters division is a possible goal one day but I am very content just being able to train and compete after having had 10 back operations. I think my wife has a very chance at a pro-card if she continues to compete!

Members question: Are you religous?
RonnieRowland: I am not what you call religious but I am spiritual. My own personal belief is that one becomes saved (born again) by turning to God through repentance and believing that Jesus Christ died for all of my sins on the cross. I do not believe in religion as they are made up of works and they are man made. My belief is that salvation is through the grace of god (a free gift) and when one adds works into the equation it then becomes a religion. In fact, the Galatians tried this very thing (faith in Christ plus good works in order to go to heaven) and Paul told them they had fallen from the grace of God because they were basically saying what Christ did on the cross was not enough for one to be saved. The bible says-“many will come to me on the day of judgment and say Lord, Lord, have we not done all these wonderful works in they name (they obviously belonged to a church and believed) and he will say depart from me those who work iniquity for I never knew you. Here we have a perfect example of what God thinks of religion. They never relied of him for salvation yet relied on their good deeds! I know there are consequences for sin on earth but God does not take away our free gift of salvation unless we turn and decide to no longer believe. I personally love God and try to love my neighbor as myself. That fulfills most of what we are supposed to do after becoming a Christian. It was God himself who made bodybuilding and steroids just as he made games like golf. We are made in his like image! Never forget that! Be proud of the fact that you are a bodybuilder. Never let anyone tell you it’s an underground sport as that’s a smack in the face of God. He gives everyone a passion to pursue on earth. We just happened to inherent his love for Bodybuilding so use your talents wisely and be proud of the passion God has given you! PROVERBS 14:30 (A RELAXED ATTITUDE LENGTHENS LIFE; JEALOUSY ROTS IT AWAY)!

marcus300: 3 wishes, what would you wish for?
RonnieRowland: 1) I wish that my wife and I had total relief from any form of chronic pain forever. 2) I wish more people could get along with one another (start by getting rid of all politicians). Too never have to worry about money ever again.