Wellllll.. that's all amazing of you to say. It's surprising and cool to find another real lifter on here, lol.
I am nothing if not honest, though.. so.
I have been hitting the gym since I was 19. I'm 37. Until about 5 years ago, I never weighed anything over 160. I was strong for such a small frame but I was nowhere near the image of myself I had in my head as my goal, both in terms of raw might and also physical looks. I did, at first, start lifting and martial arts as a sort of security/defense-minded thing. Was raped when I was 16 and sexually assaulted quite a few times when younger... one day I just decided that I needed to help myself by making myself into my own protector. I wanted to get to a point where I would feel confident that the next person, couple or even group of people that would try to force me into anything I didn't want would get broken. Literally. Fast forward to 5 years ago. Got diagnosed with a pituitary tumor. I managed to fight it with treatment and it went nothingness but it was that that pretty much made me decide there was no reason anymore not to push things further.
So yeah, juice became a thing. 3 very big cycles in, I went from 160 to 235. 235 at 5'7" is.. heavy. Lol.
My doctor insists there is no research to prove any correlation to what I am dealing with now and the steroid use but I am reading that Polycythemia vera is somewhat of a common cause of death for bodybuilders and heavy lifters. The poly dosen't usually kill you but the damage that in ensues does. Right now I've got a ruptured tricuspid valve that is about to be at it's 3 ablation in. I am out of breath whenever I do so much as put my shoes on... but being out of breath still dosen't stop me. I still work hard and I still train hard. I might breathe heavy faster than everybody else but I am still satisfied to feel like, around here at least, it dosen't matter which room I walk into... I am the strongest person in that room.
wow, lots of info. good story.
you look totally natural, because there is not a lot of vascularity.
that's interesting, because i can usually tell someone thats on crank, a mile away. but your physique fooled me. haha
good genes.
for me, looking back to when i trained, i wish i would have done cycles of deca durabolin. i wish i did that.
why deca? because out of all the juices, it's probably the grandfather of them all. it's the most tried & true. and it's super cheap. low risks.
test & gh, that's extremely expensive. but their needed for high end bodybuilding really.
if your in the ifbb, you
need to be on gh for example. those guys are doing $100,000+ / year in crank.
test i would be scared of, because i would be scared that my voice would get permanently fucked up. it can happen.
but deca? yeah, i'm a big deca believer.
in fact if i were to train someone, i would push them for 1-2 years to
max out their genetics - all natural, and then (only then) start up on deca.
you actually are still young, at 37, in the context of power lifting.
dudes can keep
progressing all the way into the 40's, no problem. maybe even 50's.
you have good genetics, so whatever direction it is that your interested in taking that physique, i say go for it, hardcore.
because you only have so much time, and you have terrific genetics. so push it.
for me, i realized after only 2 years, that i just simply didn't have the right hardware (genetics) to ever make pro.
imo the full equation is: nutrition/training/discipline/juice/genetics.
to really compete well, you have to have all 5.
i had 4, but not genetics part. but with me, i was honest & objective enough, to see that i was just dreaming. so i'm happy i can see clearly.
but i did do extremely well, women would literally come up to me on the street to hit on me, people would turn their heads to look at me.
i did well. but, it's not enough. genetics are a huge huge factor, of the 5 factors i listed in the full equation.
you got good genes. so i say yeah, take some safe / low risk juice, and push yourself to max out what you got, while you still can.
omfg i would know how to slap another 30 lbs on you, based on your photos. lol i wish i could train you!!
