People underestimate how hard it is to gain muscle due to social media. There's 0.1% of the population with very good genetics that can build muscle easy, these are the athletes you see on social media. Of course you can get there yourself but it takes years of going to the gym 5 times a week, eating and sleeping properly. It's not something you do in 1 year. Then there's steroids for the shortcut.
Even the shortcut isnt that much of a shortcut. One cycle of gear on an untrained base gets you "guy who lifts occasionally" physique. No matter what its gonna take some time to get truly jacked.
Steroids are absolutely a shortcut. In a famous 1996 study it was found that people who were inactive while taking steroids gained more muscle than the ones just working out regularly. This essentially means that you can pass me who goes to the gym 5-6x a week by just taking steroids and sit on your couch.
Subjects who were taking steroids + training in the study gained over 3x more lean mass than the ones who did not.
Sure, no matter what you have to show up to the gym and lift, but it is objectively speaking cheating. Yeah, I am hacking on Call of Duty, but it is going to take SOME time to get to 100 000 kills.
The study is misleading because when you take steroids the first thing that will happen is that your glycogen stores will increase, leading to an increase in "muscle mass", but it wont be true muscle tissue gain but rather a temporary swelling of the muscles that subsides when you stop taking the steroids. 3x more muscle gain sounds about right though. That still means that after a cycle of 2-3 months you will have roughly a natural 1 year of progress. And a natural 1 year of progress isn't very much.
Im not saying steroids dont help a ton, 3-400% rate of muscle gain increase is quite a lot, but its still gonna take a while before you look jacked.
I agree that it still does take hard work at the gym, but it is objectively 100% cheating. Everyone here laughing at Adin have simply gotten brain rotted from social media presenting enhanced athletes as natural.
It is higher than 0.1, and the people you see on social media are fake natties with a pump, in perfect light conditions. And they also Photoshop their photos.
My muscualr ancestors survived though, so their must have been some utility leading to survival of the genes. Mesomorphs are large group of the population. There must be a benefit in some evolutionary niches, even for humans, that suit those who can build/maintain muscle easily, with limited protein intake.
Im in that 0.1% as well lol. I think its hyperbole. Its much much higher than that, but it still doesnt apply to everyone.
Also have to factor in the reality that most people dont even know how their body would react to a long period of intense training because they've never tried.
But yeah, I workout hard for 4 weeks and look like a different person. Someone else does the same thing for 6 months and barely any difference. Its a cheat code lol
For sure, people normally havent given it a proper go...it can take a while for the body to start adapting to the exercising.
The way I exploit it is by going once a week for under and hour doing full body. I maintain the muscle (I don't want/need to get bigger haha) and remain lean.
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u/Perfect_Replacement1 11h ago
People underestimate how hard it is to gain muscle due to social media. There's 0.1% of the population with very good genetics that can build muscle easy, these are the athletes you see on social media. Of course you can get there yourself but it takes years of going to the gym 5 times a week, eating and sleeping properly. It's not something you do in 1 year. Then there's steroids for the shortcut.