‘DID YOU TAKE STEROIDS?’ Allow Me to Answer That …

Recently we covered Anderson Silva and his problems with steroids. With the summer on the way, many of my friends have reached out to me for advice on getting in shape. These days I am far from being in the great shape that I was in at one point. However, given my past fitness expertise, bodybuilding, nearly becoming a certified personal trainer, being featured on Men’s Fitness magazine, and not to mention my recent involvement in a healthy cooking television show, they recognize that I know a little something about fitness. Though I haven’t been very good with applying it these days.

Recently, someone asked me if I ever used steroids in my glory days of fitness. After reviewing some of my old pictures, they felt that I must have done something extra to look that way. They feel that way especially considering how far gone I am today. This was very common for me back then. People couldn’t believe I looked the way I did without hard-core steroids.

Well, no, I didn’t use illegal steroids. I worked really hard on my body. I trained often and kept a very strict diet. There is no secret to getting fit, it’s simply diet, training, rest, and probably most important, consistency. None of those aforementioned points are worth a damn if you are not consistent with all of them.

That’s not to say that I didn’t ask my questions back then, or that I didn’t research steroids, and human growth hormone, among other things. I did extensive research. I wanted to know if I could get away with it. We are all curious human beings after all. If there was a way that I could safely raise the bar to a higher level, I wanted to do it.

I learned several things, one of which was that steroids can replace your body’s normal ability to create natural testosterone. What that means is that your man tool, among other testosterone dependent processes, could cease to function once you stop taking the steroids. That by itself was enough to stop me from ever taking illegal steroids.

Now call me crazy, but at 21 years old, one of the motivating factors in getting fit was my quest to appeal to the ladies! Vanity, of course, I wanted to be the hottest guy at the beach, or at the night club. I often was too. I had many lady, and male fans back in those days. However, what good is it to be really hot, if you can’t perform? Know what I’m saying? That is just absolute madness! Crazy talk! Yup, due to their man-tool compromising properties, steroids were out.

That’s not even mentioning the fact that they can cut your life drastically short. You know, that whole death thing. Look at all these wrestlers who have passed away over the years. A lot of these guys were heavy steroid users back in the old days.

Most recently, we lost one of my all-time favorite wrestlers, one that I followed to this day, the Ultimate Warrior. A guy who ate healthy, that stayed physically active all these years since he was last in the big spotlight, boom, he just drops dead? He’s not the only one either. This has happened to many of his colleagues, including another recent loss, the “Macho Man”, Randy Savage. Probably more than just a freak coincidence there, don’t you think?

So, over a decade later my answer remains the same: No, I never took steroids.

Image: http://www.theworldsbestever.com/2014/04/09/ultimate-warrior-rest-peace/