[this article is from the magazine Planet Muscle, published 1999 ]
STEROID SEDUCTION
The Wonder Pill
Dianabol Changed Bodybuilding Forever.
Guess What? The Siren Song of Steroids is Still Singing Seductively!
Jeff M. Everson
92 Masters Bodybuilding Champion
Author of The Steroid Supermen
Several years ago, adventure writer, Jack London ( The Call of The Wild ), wrote "Man's chief purpose is to live,not to exist.I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.I shall use my time."
Well, when it comes to mass and cuts, bodybuilders have taken Jack London literally, more concerned with reaching a 60 inch chest girth, rather than actually living to age 60.But you know, in spite of skyrocketing dosages (approaching 500mg. per day), and even though at least one recent survey suggested some kids as young as 10 are using steroids, the heyday of oral steroids has passed as most drug companies don't even produce steroids any more.
Indeed, today's human gluteal pin cushions, in order to progressively up their total tissue saturation, concentrate on injectable steroids.Inadvertently, while reducing some health risks, use of steroid injections make athletes much more likely to fail drug tests.Oral steroids also are associated with with some uniquely ugly health risks, separate and perhaps worse than those associated with injected steroids.
THE DOCTOR ZIGGED WITHOUT DRIVING A CADDY!
Prior to 1960, there was some spotty medical use of testosterone and its various extracts, but not much even though there are plenty of unverified rumors of wonderful, miraculous male-potentiating stuff with athletes (even before Hot Stuff and Horny Stuff) [1]
However, for the most part, prior to Designer Protein,Super wraps, Freddy Ortiz and Harold Poole, legendary bodybuilders, such as John Grimek,[2] Vince Gironda, Leroy Colbert, Marvin Eder, Vern Weaver, Hugo Labra, George Eiferman, Armand Tanny, Reg Park, and Steeve Reeves were hefting ponderous weights (and equally ponderous food plates). They did it au' natural, developing ponderous bodies with good old cow's milk (lots of casein and glutamine) liver tablets and eggs.
Nonetheless, by 1958,
Dr. John Ziegler, consultant to the York Barbell lifters, suspected that the rapidly rising Russkies were ingesting more than borscht and Stolichnaya vodka.Sure enough, after bellying up to the bar with the Soviet team physician, Ziegler (always the patriot) managed to finagle from the Russian MD that his troops were washing down methyl testosterone tablets with their vodka.
Ziegler (ever the chemist too) went to work and, with some important chemical modifications to testosterone, the Doctor that zigged came up with Dianabol, an oral steroid with an unparalleled powerful effect.Complete rights were retained by Ciba pharmaceuticals (who long ago discontinued the drug).[3]
Weight lifters of the day, such as Bill March (and even York guru daddy Robert Hoffman), experimented with Dianabol, and all made great gains, over that induced through the one-day-on one-day-off York Swing Bell System and Energol.[4] Steroid use mushroomed with weight lifters , as much as mushroom use mushroomed with Frisko pot heads! In the 1963-1970 years, certain bodybuilders started to stand tall, head and shoulders above the rest, and it had nothing to do with shoe lifts.
It was needless to ask if the rather sudden growth changes were due to Rheo Blair's Protein [5], York Functional Isometrics [6], or Joe Weider's Super Pro 101. While these things helped no doubt, Dianabol was rapidly becoming The under cover Breakfast of Champions.
MY EXPERIENCES WITH D-BOL
Why was Dianabol in particular, and steroids in general, so seductive? Some personal insight.I started training in 1962, at age 11. No John Grimek naturally, at the end of seventh grade I weighed all of 105 pounds. After some 15 years of regular training, I was able to get my lifts up to a 420 bench press and a 370 clean and jerk all naturally. Progress was slow, as it is biologically ordained to be.
To put this in perspective, it took me 4 years to go from a 300 high school senior bench press at 195 lbs weight, to a 400 college senior bench press , at 255 pounds body weight, naturally. And then, because I didn't gain any weight (in fact, I lost a bit of what I considered water weight) from about age 21 to age 27, my bench press went up all of 20 pounds, to 420, (over six years of painstakingly hard work).
Then, after watching lifters I used to trounce start passing me by, I did a 6 week cycle of Dianabol.The first three weeks, I used 10 mg. a day. The second three weeks I used 15 mg. per day.My bench press moved to from 420 to 460 pounds in that 6 week period. My body weight increased 5 pounds. I stayed off the drugs for 7 weeks and then I began a second cycle which lasted 7 weeks. The first 4 weeks, I used 15 mg. a day and the last three weeks I used 25 mg. a day. My bench press leapt from 460 to 500 pounds.
Can you say seductive? On two short cycles, I went from 420 to 500 lbs. I could identify no side effects except being in a much better mood, having more energy, transient liver enzyme changes, bigger armpit striae, better recovery and growing out of my shirts. So, in a space of four years, training on pancakes and filet, and gaining some 60 pounds body weight, I put 100 pounds on my bench press. Then, over a six year period, without any weight gain, I moved my bench press up 20 pounds, showing how increases in strength after a while is most dependent upon body weight increases (do you now understand the popularity of
creatine?).[7]
Comparably, on two short cycles of minimal Dianabol use, in effect, over 13 weeks, my bench press went up 80 pounds! Eleven years of training natural moved me from a 300lbs. to a 420lbs. bench press.Thirteen weeks on Dianabol moved me from 420lbs. to 500lbs. My friends, that's an addictive seduction to a man desperately seeking the Susan of strength![8]
Look at it another way. I ultimately bench pressed 580 pounds in the gym (and 556 pounds earlier in competition) at 280 pounds body weight. In my last workout preparing for a contest 600 pound bench attempt, I unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be) tore my right pectoral badly, ending my bench press insanity. That was back in 1987, at age 35.
I figure it this way, at the same body weight, if I had NEVER used steroids, I would have probably bench pressed about 460 pounds. So, steroids gave me 20% plus, over my active life of use. This is significant. Just a 10% improvement in a skill activity, makes a 64 foot shotput sail to 70 feet. At 20%, a 2000 pound natural power lifting total becomes 2400 pounds total, and an 18"hard natural biceps becomes 21.6"!
Seduction can be a terrible (or wonderful) thing.
THE ORALS AND THEIR DANGERS!
While I may not have suffered any immediate side effects from Dianabol (at least that I was aware of), others have not been so fortunate, Oral steroids do not survive the first liver pass as do injected drugs. Medicine modified the basic testosterone compound into Dianabol, so it could be absorbed orally, and this means the oral drugs are concentrated more heavily in the biliary and hepatic systems. Thus, their potential for liver damage and kidney damage is high. Despite stomach degradation, for most users, oral steroids, on a mg. per mg. base, always seemed more effective than injections too.
Oral steroids are in and out of the system quickly.Thus, believe it or not, for women, controlling unwanted side effects is easier with oral steroids. Taking 20 mg. of an oral daily, one could lower or discontinue the total dose, for example, if a voice change started appearing. However, if one has administered an injection (or injections) and this side effect begins to show , you are screwed because you can not discontinue the dose and injections do hang around for a lot longer time exerting their effect. This is the reason a reasonable (considered safer) steroid like
nandrolone, can produce Deca-delts and a Deca-voice with women!
Orals are removed from your system so much quicker it makes drug test detection harder. In experiments I conducted years ago with an IOC-accredited laboratory, I could take 25mg. of Dianabol each day for four weeks and test negative at day seven (seven days off). A slightly less dose of
Anavar actually cleared out of my system in 4-5 days. However, the two 100 mg. injections of nandrolone I took were still testing positive at 11 months post use. You could verify that with Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale since he and I were communicating about the unique retrospection of one of the three metabolites of nandrolone at the time.
In years past, the most common oral steroids were rated ambiguously (for good reason. hardly any legitimate MD ever studied this kind of stuff) for producing size and strength as follows; Dianabol,
Anadrol,
Halotestin,
Equipoise, Anavar,
Methyl Testosterone,
Primobolan,
Winstrol and
Maxibolan.
Anadrol and Halotestin were considered the worst for bad side effects, with Methyl Testosterone and Dianabol right behind. Winstrol and Maxibolan were used more by women (because of lower androgen) potential and, frankly seemed to do little for strength for most men.
Because HIV/AIDS causes depressed immune function and a general gradual muscle loss at some point in the disease progression, many medical professional are rediscovering the nitrogen retention characteristics of oral steroids, nandrolone decanoate and testosterone. Legitimate, real Winstrol is still around and, supposedly, Anadrol may be coming back again. Dianabol and Primobolan are still made in foreign countries like Mexico, Russia and Greece. Most oral steroids around today are probably counterfeits and presumably less than 100% effective.
To reiterate and review the potential dangers of oral steroids , side effects include elevations in triglycerides and low density lipoproteins, with a with a corresponding drop in high density fractions (HDL) and possibly total cholesterol (although this is more likely with testosterone than oral steroids), acne vulgaris, water retention, testicle shrinkage, prostate irritability or hypertrophy, fat deposition in the breast of the male,clitoral growth and sensitivity increase in the female, male pattern baldness in both sexes, increased body hair in females, deepening of the voice in females, immediate libido increase followed by a gradual loss of libido in males, lower sperm counts and motility/viability in males, disturbed electrolytes, loss or gain in appetite, headaches, anxiety, increase in blood pressure, heightened aggression (so-called roid rage), jaundice and bloody liver cysts and elevations in enzyme markers for liver (SGPT,AST) and kidney stress (BUN and creatinine) or damage.
WHAT THE MEDICAL LITERATURE DEMONSTRATES
Rumors of serious side effects related to steroid use, and particularly oral steroids, in otherwise healthy individuals began in the early seventies. However, the bulk of actual data revolves around hospitalized patients. In a landmark literature review in 1975, researchers reported 12 cases of cancer development associated with steroids. Again, the caveat was that these subjects were already hospital patients, compromised in some medical manner and subsequently treated with steroids.
For example researcher Johnson reported a case of Fanconi Anemia where a 20 year old male received 10 months of treatment with Anadrol. The patient developed liver cancer with bloody cysts and died. One patient Dr. Johnson reviewed, developed leukemia after being treated with with 300 mg. per day of Anadrol (ouch) for a nine month period. A different patient with a case of undescended testicles was treated with Methyl testosterone and developed primary cancer which then spread. Doctors have also noticed that liver tumors often shrink and disappear with cessation of steroid administration.
In the mid-eighties, the athletic world was shocked by the development of serious liver problems by a few healthy athletes, without any personal or family history of liver problems.
Bob Goldman DO. first reported in FLEX magazine, and his own book, DEATH IN THE LOCKER ROOM, the case of Daniel Baroudi, a serious bodybuilder, who had self-prescribed a series of different anabolic steroids over a 5-7 year period. Baroudi developed a primary liver cancer and his doctors concluded that it was his heavy use of oral steroids which had induced his cancer. Baroudi died in 1984.
In 1985, another serious recreational bodybuilder, William Loomis, was hospitalized with a cancerous tumor of his liver. Mr. Loomis had been using (with a Doctor's prescription) Anadrol, non-stop, for almost two years. It was not a high dose, but Anadrol is a notorious liver-unfriendly, oral steroid. Mr. Loomis did have periodic blood exams, which often does not detect the presence of a tumor, which was the case here.
When his tumor was discovered, it was operated upon immediately and found to be encapsulated without metastasis. Two thirds of his liver was removed and his story also ran in FLEX magazine years ago. The last I had heard, he was alive and recovering. I hope this is still the case.
Oral steroids: like Dianabol, there's not too many around anymore, and if you ever come across some, I strongly suggest you do NOT use them!
Here is Dr. Johnson's original list of the oral anabolic steroids, doses and time length of use, associated with side effects of a serious nature in hospitalized patients:
Steroid Dose Time Side Effects
Anadrol 10 to 250mg/day 10-51 months liver cysts,tumor,leukemia
Methyl testosterone 20 to 50mg/day 1-165 months liver tumors
Winstrol 2.5 to 15 mg/day 18 months liver tumors
Dianabol 20-150 mg/day 12-18 months liver tumors
Halostestin 15 to 80 mg/day 4-16 months bloody cysts
Nilevar 20 to 30 mg/day 2-9 months bloody cysts
Editor's note: Anabolic steroids are illegal and most Doctors don't prescribe them in any situation.
They're potentially dangerous drugs. However, there are some medical conditions where they may be used. Additionally, more researchers are looking into the use of testosterone and growth hormone as an adjunct to stave off some effects of aging related to gradual hormone loss. PLANET MUSCLE, in presenting this historical and personal review, does not recommend, advocate or encourage steroid use, in any situation.
PLANET MUSCLE Editor-in chief: Jeff Everson won the 1992 NPC National Masters Bodybuilding Championships. He has a fitness cable show on E! called Everfit [9]
Jeff says his main claim to fame was that he used to sleep with Cory Everson on a regular basis.
Notes;
1. Hot Stuff and Horny Stuff were supplements available in the 1990's touted as testosterone,and
libido boosters.Subsequently banned.
2.John Grimek was reported to have used steroids.He was associated with the York Barbell.
For reference see; "Muscletown USA" by John D. Fair
3.It's probably not likely John Bosley Ziegler had anything to do with developing Dianabol himself.
Most sources say it was created by Chemists at Ciba Pharmaceuticals, and Ziegler was merely
a distributor of the company's drugs.
See this Slate article for a story about him
The Man Behind the Juice. ( it does credit him with
involvement in development of the drug )
See this article that says he had no involvement and credits the Ciba scientists.
This is a commercial site so be warned before you click.
The Creation of Dianabol and the Myth of Dr. John Ziegler.
4. Energol was a wheat germ oil supplement.
5.A popular early protein supplement powder
6.Isometrics are essentially static 'lifts' to increase muscle strength.The technique was heavily
promoted by Hoffman's York lifters. See this article by Bill Star for details.
Isometrics
It was known to insiders that although isometric training could be helpful, the real reason the
York lifters were making great gains at the time was far more due to steroids.
7.Creatine can cause mild water retention,and therefore weight gain.
8.Desperately Seeking Susan was a 1985 comedy movie.
9.The show was aired as paid programming in the early morning for a few years.A few segments
are archived on YouTube.It was a mix of instruction,and advertising.
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| Jeff Everson |
Jeff Everson was a Weightlifter,Power lifter,Bodybuilder,and long time writer,editor,and publisher in the iron world.His magazine Planet Muscle went out of publication in 2014.
I haven't heard what he's been up to lately.
I'm posting this article for historical interest only.
If any copyright holder wants it removed, please ask.
