THEN versus NOW..........

[Times Roman]

I've been dwelling on what one of the newbs here was saying....

"What is the point of lifting if you don't do it on steroids ?"

It's been eating at me a bit.

One of the thoughts I've been having recently is if I knew then what I know now.........


So bear with me a little bit, my younger mates, and let's see what Ol' Roman had to work with back when I was younger, and then contrast that with now.

I started lifting in the very early 70's.

Back then, knowledge of Body Building nutrition was scant.

I/We didn't understand/appreciate the true significance of eating the right amount of protein. And eating the right amount of calories.
There was no internet. There were no personal computers. Hell, we barely had electronic calculators. In 1970 I was still using a slide rule. (Don't bother asking if you don't know). So there were only two real sources of information. Books (Library/Book Store at the mall), or Bro Science. But there really wasn't much out there in the way of books.

I/We didn't have access to food supplementation.
There was no creatine.
There was no protein powder.
There were no BCAA's

I somehow came on a magazine one time, and in the back, I saw an ad for a health nutrition store. I wrote them and they sent me a catalog. I somehow knew I needed more protein in my diet. But how much? I had no idea. So I ordered these protein tablets. Something like five (5) pounds. And it cost a lot! When I read the label, it said I needed to take 5x 1mg tablets every day to become more muscular. So, 5 grams a day of protein powder it was. We also had liquid (predigested) protein, that was like $20 for 16oz. Nasty/Bitter tasting stuff. But I was still in highschool, and that was a lot of money back then.

We didn't have all the vitamins back then either. I was taking "prenatal" vitamins, and thought I was really doing the right thing.

We didn't have all the fancy gym equipment back then. In our town in the bay area, there was probably one, maybe two gyms. Hardcore, and they didn't fvck around with newbs like me. So I had to use my old man's Ted Williams weight set he got for Christmas one year, made of concrete and plastic. Had maybe 120 pounds, one bar, two dumb bells, and that was pretty much it.

I worked out for five years on that crappy weight set. I went to the book store and bought a couple of books to help me learn. But no videos, just drawings, so did I have good form? Probably not.

By the time I joined the military, I was 17, and that was 1979.

Back then, the Army did not have a gym. If we wanted to work out, we made the equipment ourselves. we used steel poles, and buckets filled with concrete. This is our barbells. Plus the gold standard, pushups/situps/running. I could do so many godawm pushups we started putting cinder blocks on our shoulder blades to add weight. I got up to 60 or 70 cinderblock pushups before they shipped me off to Germany. I won a $20 bet in basic I could do 500 situps in something like 15 minutes. I looked at the guy after I won, and asked "double or nothing". He declined. he said he was too tired holding my feet.

When I got out of the army in 85, I began using my father's damn Ted Williams weight set again. But I was able to add more to it, with additional equipment. I had to cut the barbell in half, so I could hold enough of the concrete weights so I can do one arm curls. I soon realized that some of the big guys were eating some tablets called Abombs. And yes, they got big. I refrained, as something didn't seem right. My dad was always preaching the evils of steroids, which was probably a contributing factor in my abstaining.

My point in this rather long and windy oratory is to point out the hardship us old timers had to go through to pursue their passion. By the time the late 80's rolled around, gyms were becoming fashionable, and things got a lot easier.

And every day I come here, and newb after newb feels the only way they can workout is by taking drugs. They go to these fancy gyms, drink all these fancy potions and elixers, and want to take drugs instead of doing the hard work to make progress.

Back in my day, you had to EARN your physique.

Nowadays, physiques are more of a commodity, something to be purchased. We have everything necessary, less the equipment and the food, to build a solid physique. All the information anyone could ever want. I would have killed for this information 40 years ago.....

....but for some, it's not appreciated. They want a physique that would ordinarily take five years or longer to build, and they want it in 90 days so they can look good at the beach.

Maybe my days are numbers, and it's time for an old bull like me to step aside for this drive through window society we have nowadays. Maybe the days of hard work and sweat in the gym are passé, and instead we should really just be focused on only taking steroids?

I don't know, isn't that the general attitude of our younger generation?

---Roman

[David LoPan]

They really dont know how good they have it. The HS gyms now days at a bad school are better than any gym we had growing up. And they girls sure were not built like they are now nor did they do things like give BJ's without a long term relationship, if even then. Hell I remember when I saw my first porno and it was at a movie theater.

Kids today ask questions about things when they have an smart phone in their pocket and are to lazy to look it up themselves. Its the now generation and I dont want to work for it. I had a kid today at the gym ask me what steroids he should be on and I dont know him from adam. I was like, NONE kids hit the weights and it will come. He joined the gym last week. There is so much science out there and so much information but no one wants to take the time to learn. We do have a lot of pills for things now but nothing that teaches hard work. My ADD was a slap on the head and a "Pay Attention or else" not a pill.

I think we will see more people like that Boston whats his name juicing and then dying at a very young age just due to wanting to take short cuts and not taking the time it takes to learn and prepare themselves.

[Euroholic]

Well being a steroid site we are all here because we love steroids . They are many different reasons why we take them. But we love them none the less. In my opinion being on is better than being off. But just like anything life gets easier as time goes by. I can go to my fridge get a steak and cook it on my gas stove. When back in the day my pop had to go out the back. Shoot the cow, drain it, cut it etc then start a fire with coal to cook it.

[lovbyts]

They really dont know how good they have it. The HS gyms now days at a bad school are better than any gym we had growing up. And they girls sure were not built like they are now nor did they do things like give BJ's without a long term relationship, if even then. Hell I remember when I saw my first porno and it was at a movie theater.

Kids today ask questions about things when they have an smart phone in their pocket and are to lazy to look it up themselves. Its the now generation and I dont want to work for it. I had a kid today at the gym ask me what steroids he should be on and I dont know him from adam. I was like, NONE kids hit the weights and it will come. He joined the gym last week. There is so much science out there and so much information but no one wants to take the time to learn. We do have a lot of pills for things now but nothing that teaches hard work. My ADD was a slap on the head and a "Pay Attention or else" not a pill.

I think we will see more people like that Boston whats his name juicing and then dying at a very young age just due to wanting to take short cuts and not taking the time it takes to learn and prepare themselves.

Well I cant agree with all that. I guess it just depends on who you knew. I probably got more head from a couple high school girls I "dated" over 2 years than most any other time in my life or at least in regards to regularity. One I got a BJ most every day driving her to school. Another every time we went out it was all based on me giving her oral or her giving me BJ, we rarely had sex.

I still remember my 1st porno also going to a sleazy movie theater. lol

Back on topic.

I agree, no one wants to put any real work into it and want instant gratification. Those who say their diet is on track even if it is it's only during the cycle adn then they revert back to poor eating habits.

I would have been easily 20 -30lbs heavier by the time I was 24 or 25 if I had 1/10 the resources there are now about diet/nutrition and training. I was one of those who ate what I though was healthy but had far to many empty calories and over trained 6x a week, 2hrs a day for several years.

Still the best argument is trying to educate them on the risks of using aas especially when young and before being ready. Trying to get them to realize there is life way past 30 and what they do now really will effect the quality of their life later.

[Euroholic]

Well I cant agree with all that. I guess it just depends on who you knew. I probably got more head from a couple high school girls I "dated" over 2 years than most any other time in my life or at least in regards to regularity. One I got a BJ most every day driving her to school. Another every time we went out it was all based on me giving her oral or her giving me BJ, we rarely had sex.

I still remember my 1st porno also going to a sleazy movie theater. lol

Back on topic.

I agree, no one wants to put any real work into it and want instant gratification. Those who say their diet is on track even if it is it's only during the cycle adn then they revert back to poor eating habits.

I would have been easily 20 -30lbs heavier by the time I was 24 or 25 if I had 1/10 the resources there are now about diet/nutrition and training. I was one of those who ate what I though was healthy but had far to many empty calories and over trained 6x a week, 2hrs a day for several years.

Still the best argument is trying to educate them on the risks of using aas especially when young and before being ready. Trying to get them to realize there is life way past 30 and what they do now really will effect the quality of their life later.

Thats heavy mate. Real heavy. I just don't think i could manage being 30. My hair is not as thick and luscious as it was in my teens!!!!! I couldn't handle it

[ickythump]

I feel like responsible steroid use is rampant, and why not, kept in control its very useful and dare i say relatively problem free. i was always told the loudest person in the room will likely be the most lude, and i bet thats the dumb noobs you see being the loudest, many people take them safely and never use a forum or at least comment on them. none but a slim few of my friends (22-32 age range) are lazy, my younger brother is in the army and his friends are active. visit any gym and theres kids and men in there sweating. i like to think thats all true, that you just hear the morons more than the smart people, and that there is still hope lol