LegendaryLife Blog

I realize this pure link bait but I can’t help myself when I see something so WRONG!

Background: Steroids Saved My Life

First, this guy was skinny, not dying from malnutrition, HIV or any other wasting diseases which is what steroids are medically used for. His life was NEVER in danger either before or after the steroids from what I can tell.

About “Peter” on Steroids Saved My Life

He is 22 years old, 138 pounds. His site there is not one bit of information regarding essentials like:

• weight lifting history
• diet history
• family history
• steroid dosage and course
• post cycle clomid therapy

His site lacks any measurements over his “experiment of stupidity” nor anything else that could possibly provide any type of educational information about steroids. Bodyweight isn’t a true measure of muscle mass, body fat %, actual measurements of his body parts etc are. His site also has misinformation regarding steroids as well, which I will address below. I don’t understand his reasoning behind not saying the steroid type and dosage, he is already admitting to taking an illegal substance (which I don’t think should be anymore illegal than alcohol or tobacco) so what’s the harm in being a little more specific?

Now, time for the real fun, an episode by episode review!

Episode 1: The First Pill

• Peter’s first major screw-up, taking pills over injectables. Pills are a wonderful way to fry your liver twice as fast as they are processed through your system twice vs once with injectables. He is either scared of needles or has no clue what he is doing… my guess is both. He should have called this episode “The First Plunge”.
• 22 years old, 6ft 1, 138 pounds
• Peter says “If I am smart about it, steroids is a good way to jump-start so I can grow and not be skinny anymore”. Jon says “if you are smart, you will learn how to exercise and eat right and NOT take the easy steroid way out (which it isn’t).
• Peter talks at length at how much he hates his body, this is a psychological problem, not a physical one, which steroids cannot change
• footage showing him take one small 10mg pill with orange juice which is about what your body produces anyways on a daily basis so if this is true, he is screwing up his endocrine system to replace orally on a daily basis what his body was producing anyways (????)
• day 1: 138 pounds
• day 2: 138.8 pounds (this is water weight gain, not muscle) at 6.6% bodyfat
• day 3: 140.2 pounds (again, more water) with a few more comments about how much he hates himself
• Peter says “(being skinny) is a lifetime of being unsatisfied physically”, again, more signs of depression and blaming his lack of muscle for all the problems he has had in life
• Peter says that people who have side-effects steroids are abusers who took it for a very long amount of time and aren’t doing the proper things to begin with such as eating properly and going to the gym everyday. As such, he is inferring that he has far more knowledge about steroids (hence taking pills over injectables), nutrition (hence his low weight) and exercise (playing tennis and with a Wii) so he won’t have side effects.
• Sadly, I see Peter investing far too much of his self-esteem in a pill instead of himself
• day 4: 142.2 pounds, without knowing what he is taking, the muscle gaining effects may be starting to kick in now but for sure, he did not gain 4.2 pounds of muscle in 4 days. He gained a combination of muscle, fat, water etc…
• Peter says “steroids isn’t cheating”, I completely agree generally but at 138 pounds, he readily admits to “cheating himself”. His testosterone receptors are already going on all cylinders at his age and the gains he does make don’t need steroids involved at all to achieved
• day 5: 143 pounds, he is taking far more than a 10mg little pill with orange juice in the morning
• Peter’s friend says “what’s the worst case of taking steroids? Looking fantastic! That’s it!”, now I know why Peter is taking pills, he is hanging around clueless people who shouldn’t be advising anybody

Episode 2: Side Effects

• day 8: 142.2 pounds. Mmmm… he is losing weight on steroids, this is a huge hint that his skinny problem is based on nutrition (or unknown medical condition). My guess is that he is probably reverting back to his calorie deficient diet which kept him skinny to begin with.
• admits to using very bad exercise form, “thinks” steroids are kicking in so he is basically saying he rarely went to the gym before starting steroids, if you talk to veteran steroids users, they will almost all tell you not to even touch steroids until you have spent at least a few years in the gym WORKING OUT HARD.
• Sugar Babies (who are very nice eye candy) say “if you are an informed user, taking steroids is ok” but so far in this show, all I see is misinformation and a complete lack of knowledge regarding steroids, nutrition and exercise
• day 9: 142.4, he really needs to EAT MORE!
• I like Peter, his logic makes no sense at all. He says now that his reason for being skinny is because he has concentrated so much on his mind that he let his body go, so taking steroids will bring his body to the level of his mind… a perfect zen-like balance will be achieved. Knowing this, I think his body is a perfect reflection of his mind already, he just hasn’t realized it yet.
• “…it can only do good things, he will only benefit from this”, this is from the same friend to said steroids had no side effects other than a fantastic body.
• Davin, another friends says that steroids “will teach him everything he needs to get the women”. Wow… I didn’t know that steroids could act like a virtual teacher on the opposite sex and tell you all their secrets!
• 142.2 pounds, Peter continues his enlightened rant at how detrimental being skinny has been to his life and once steroids kick-in, his entire life will change! (Jon inserts viagra music)
• Another incredibly enlightened friend (J-Rock) says that steroids side effects over the long term aren’t known but are probably ok because the FDA releases a bunch of other pills without knowing what happens to them long term either. I fail to see the relationship regarding long term use of steroids with other drugs, the effects of steroids are well known (though exaggerated)
• Peter says “you don’t see my abs yet but they will come (with steroids)”. Seeing your abs isn’t a muscle “problem” but a fat one. Bigger abdominals are nice but if you have a layer of fat over them, regardless of how muscular you are, they will still be hidden. Unless he is taking 2 grams a week, steroids doesn’t have much of a thermogenic effect on the body.
• Sugar Shane, an experience steroid user says basically anything not used properly (abused) will have side effects, which is like saying “if I don’t abuse steroids, I won’t have side effects”. Steroids at any dose will stop your testicles from producing testosterone, which is why they shrink, when you stop taking juice, guess what, the testicles don’t just pick-up where they left off, they take a long time to get going again, hence post cycle clomid therapy and GH being used to give them a boost.
• day 11: 144.4 pounds… he finally learned how to EAT!
• Peter gets a sunburn (which is preventable), I hope he prepared better that this for after his steroid cycle is over, otherwise, his gains will be very short lived
• Peter says that taking the proper precautions and supplements, he thinks, steroids will not damage his body (I think he forgot to ask his endocrine system and liver for a second opinion on this)
• Big Bear says putting chemicals in your body isn’t the right course of action, I completely agree if you don’t know what you are doing
• Peter says his testicles haven’t shrunk yet (I will take his word for it but I doubt he would notice a 1mm difference in circumference)
• Mr. Fantastic says “Steroids are fantastic… it’s only a matter of time before they become legal”
• day 12: 147 pounds, see Peter, eating right does make a difference
• Sugar Shane is doing a wonderful job of continuing the myth that steroids cause ‘roid rage relating to many incidences he boasts proudly about. ‘Roid rage is a myth created by people to excuse their bad behavior.

Episode 3: Revenge of the skinny

• Peter, in his infinite wisdom says “there is no scientific fact that steroids are really that damaging to your body… most of the evidence suggests that steroids are generally positive”. I agree, if you are being closely monitored by a doctor, get regular blood work, eat a proper diet, have a good exercise routine etc. Let’s see, it’s a scientific fact that steroids does damage your endocrine system, leads to premature baldness (if you are genetically prone to it), increases your blood pressure and affect sleeping patterns. The fact that he is taking pills instead of injectables and started at the gym after starting steroids shows he is clueless, so I wouldn’t take his word for it.
• Big Bear is the smartest guy in this show, he says Peter’s problem is in his eating habits
• Peter admits to “eating fast food 2-3x a day”… add an inability to cook to his lists of problems
• He prefers McDonalds (???) to vegetables and healthy foods because he doesn’t like the smell, taste and feeling it gives inside of his mouth… he is started to sound like an anorexic person!
• Davin says “his childish eating habits play on his childish personality”, I agree!
• Whitney says “when he is done his treatments, he will have a false sense of popularity and self-confidence”, I agree!
• day 17, Peter says “I am more hungry but can’t eat a lot of food”, this explains his lack of weight gain (before taking steroids and now that he is taking them)
• day 18, 149.6 pounds, bodyfat is 9.5% to which Peter says “I’m almost normal” (funniest things I have heard so far)
• J-Rock says “I don’t think steroids are any worse than nicotine and alcohol”, again, he has no clue what he is talking about
• Mr. Fantastic says that because other athletes and actors are taking them, that it’s ok because he doesn’t see any negative side effects on them… it’s good to know that Mr. Fantastic has access to the stars medical records!
• Picture of Carrot Top working out without a shirt, now that we know Mr. Fantastic’s role model, he is starting to make some sense now (no insult meant to Carrot Top)
• Davin says “he’s not going to rely on steroids, he’s smarter than that”, obviously Davin hasn’t been watching the show as all I see is a cycle of dependence lead-on by mis-information
• Sugar continues on this bad-ass rant at how steroids turned him from a normal person into an out-of-control monster
• Peter has no problem taking protein for the rest of his life but food is an issue for him… talk to any bodybuilder and they will tell you point-blank that protein is a supplement, not a staple
• day 19, 152. Now Peter is ranting at how his new body will create the life of his dreams, full of benefits that, because he was skinny, were not being offered to him. Look at Carrot Top for a moment, this guy was skinny as hell and he became incredibly successful THEN started working-out and becoming big. Peter again continues on the train of excuses as to why his life is shit all because of his skinny body.
• “What are the effects of steroids” to which Mr. Fantastic says “looking fantastic… I told you already!”, Mr. Fantastic has a learning problem
• day 19, calves 14 inches, waist 32.5 inches, chest 33.5 inches, biceps 11.5 inches

Series ideas

This entire show is a huge wasted opportunity full of mis-information and uses a very flawed person as its test subject. Peter needs to get over his food phobias, get a personal trainer to show him how to exercise and drop the steroids ASAP because the only thing I see from this show so far is how unprepared he really is both physically and mentally for the brick wall that is coming right at him when he gets off of them.

Real information about steroids

• Muscle memory is great… too bad it doesn’t last
• Why I decided not to take Anabolic Steroids
• Gaining Weight 101: Tips from a fellow Hard gainer
• LL Question: Even with bad genetics, can I become the world’s strongest man?
• Better Living Through Chemistry
• Taking Time Off and Muscle Memory

Buzvia: Steroids Saved My Life (Television Series)

Passions are like flowers, give them a little care and they grow into the fruits of your labor

How can you tell if somebody truly loves their career? Easy, if they absolutely love what they do, they don’t count-down how many days till the weekend!

Passions are essential for a happy life

Life gets rather empty and meaningless without passion. The daily routine of waking-up, eating, working, eating, sleeping is something that far too many people get far too little joy out of. We are only here, on this Earth, for an extremely limited time, why not make the most out of it! Passions are what give you extra zest in life, they keep you awake at night (in a good way), lead to uncontrolled happiness and even in the face of doom and gloom, continued optimism that tomorrow will be better!

What is the relationship between passion and success?

Everybody has some special ability, discovered or otherwise, and turning that into a revenue stream is, I believe, essential, towards a fulfilling life. Getting great pleasure from helping others is great but being financially rewarded for your efforts is rather addicting and great for creating new habits that feed further into your passion. Basically, if you love doing something, you think, talk and dream of it all the time, it’s time you quit your job and DO IT! A successful person, more often than not, will pursuit their passion at all times of the day and night. What may start as a small creek in your mind can easily grow into a huge river with enormous torrents made-up of joy, money and health if executed correctly.

The trap of a “job”

To me, a “job” is a three letter word that makes me shutter. Why? Well, you are always going to be selling yourself far shorter than your true value by taking-on one of these horendous corporate creations. If you love what you do, it’s called a career, if you hate it, at least in my book, it’s called a job. I have taken jobs here and there for “fun” just to experience what others spend their lives doing and to be frank, I have always thanked my lucky stars that this is not a fate that will ever come into my life. People get into jobs for security but if the financial crisis has taught me anything it’s that this is a false proposition, even worse, a LIE! Think of it this way, you either run your own enterprise and see the pink slip coming or work for somebody else and get blindsided. A job is not a guarantee, not security and sure as heck not any fun… so why do this to yourself? Find alternatives ASAP before you lose anymore of your life’s energy.

Finding ones passion

I have a relative who, just a little over a month ago found the “stock market”. You may think this is a bad thing but within this small period of time, he has found a true passion for studying public companies and trading them online. The result? He has made more than his job gives to him and right now, it actually costs him MORE to work for somebody else than to stay home and trade stocks! He was always a very happy and go-lucky person previously (must be a genetic trait of our family) but now, when he speaks, there is a little bit more “life” coming out of his words… he has found a gift that he never knew existed and is making a small fortune doing what he loves! I had another relative give this a try but instead of making money, they lost almost all of it through a “virtual account”. The reason? Passion! If you love what you do, your mind re-aligns itself to put more energies towards achieving the goal you have set for it. I know a number of people who have discovered their hidden talents and where able to leave their job and become self-employed and have never looked back.

The Bottom Line

Passions come in all shapes and sizes, find yours today!

Your goal over the holidays is not to become wider than the Christmas Tree!

Many people gain a few extra pounds over the holidays so here are some tips to keep them at a minimum and even, possibly, lose weight while taking some time off!

What’s up with the weight gain?

On a daily basis, no matter what time of day or night you take in the calories, a balance is created. If you eat more than you burn, you gain weight, if you eat burn more than you eat, you lose weight. I don’t mean to over-simplify things but basically, this is really  a rather simple equation to work from.

Metabolism explained

It’s a known fact that your metabolism plays havoc on you when you change your lifestyle in any sudden way. Your mind, love or hate it, has only one goal in mind, to keep you alive another day out on the savannah full of lions and elephants. You must realize that when ever there is a shock to the system, your mind will direct your body to slow-down your metabolism (so you burn less) while, at the same time, dump as much muscle as possible while building-up fat reserves. Why? Well, muscle is very expensive to maintain while fat is easy and more calorie dense.

Alright, let’s recap.

If you eat more than you burn and your metabolism takes a nosedive while your body dumps as much muscle as possible because your lifestyle has suddenly changed… you GAIN WEIGHT!

Holiday Meals and habits

Now, if that wasn’t bad enough, the holidays are usually accompanied by very healthy portions of very calorie dense foods. Why is this bad? Well, it’s easy to over-eat as you can shove more into your mouth in one sitting before your brain signals you that your stomach is full. Add on-top of that, being distracted by conversation, friends and intense concentration and you have a recipe for eating a heck of a lot of stuff. Throw-in some alcoholic drinks to further confuse your brain and the pounds really start to roll on!

Solution to the holiday bulge

Here are a few tips to keep your waistline in check and maybe even lose a few pounds while enjoying the holidays.

1. Before any large meals, drink two glasses of water, this fills-up your stomach so you can’t eat as much and even better, keeps you hydrated, thus reducing stress on your vital organs.
2. Avoid alcoholic beverages, alcohol is a leeching agent throughout your body and worse yet, empty calories without any nutritional value at all. If you got to drink, drink one glass of water for every glass of ethanol.
3. Try to maintain regular schedules, remember, any sudden changes causes your body to go into starvation mode, if you keep your sleeping and eating patterns roughly the same, this reaction is minimized.
4. Take your time, being in a hurry to eat usually leads to over-consumption. Relax, enjoy the environment and eat as slowly as possible.
5. Exercise! In the morning, why not go for a quick jog to keep you in shape and after a large meal, a nice walk around the block. It will do wonders for you!
6. Get yourself a small plate! It’s a proven fact that a larger plate leads to added food consumption, this is a trick used by restaurants but be sure to be smart, if it’s a buffet, grab a smaller plate.
7. Get soup and salad instead of steak and lobster! The calories found within a soup and salad are almost nothing compared to a heaping plate full of fries and meat / seafood. Bread is fine but in moderation.
8. Sleep at the same time every night! Sleep deprivation is a wonderful way to gain weight because it stresses the hell out of your body (remember, stress causes your body to go into starvation mode even if you are already obese!)
9. Take lots of pictures! The more you take the initiative to move around and not be so sedentary, the better you will get through the holidays without that bulge!
10. Take time-outs. You are probably overloading your senses on a daily basis, take some time off for even half an hour to wind yourself back down.

The Bottom Line

Staying lean over the holidays takes some effort but is more than possible if you put your mind to it.

Getting terminated is an opportunity, a chance, to turn a new leaf in your life.

I realized a little while ago what was going on in the United States, and around the world for that matter, that was at the root of all the pain associated with job losses… a loss of perspective!

Jobs suck

If you hate your job, your co-workers, waking-up at your bosses desire to begin a 9-5 lifestyle, being fired, layed-off, terminated… which ever makes you feel better… is a wonderful opportunity being fired! You finally are pushed into a decision you should have made long ago but procrastinated on. So many people have dedicated the best years of their lives towards doing menial tasks which they don’t want to do or have a desire to pursuit because they have built their lifestyle around the income this is providing instead of using it as a bonus in their lives. Jobs suck, entrepreneurship or doing what you love doesn’t. If you love your job so much that it takes over your life, I think this should raise a red flag to immediately begin creating your own enterprise where you can benefit directly from your work.

Why a job should be a bonus and not a lifestyle

I think where our society went wrong is that people began taking their jobs for granted, they began building an entire lifestyle behind their monthly or bi-weekly pay checks. They though that this “guaranteed” flow of money would never stop and actually grow every year with pay increases. There was this unwritten contract that a lifelong job was not only available, but a right for everybody who graduated and did things the right way. This, for the past 30 years has erroded but people still grasp at this idea. Hence, people are very angry and lives are destroyed when reality hits. They didn’t diversify their income streams, they sacrified their passion for the quick check, they realize they could have been far more than they are now. They where not prepared while, if they had treated the income from their job as a bonus, they would be completely fine and probably far better off in the long run. I understand the desire for stability, especially when you have a family, but don’t fool yourself into drinking your own kool aid, you are ALWAYS one week away from being fired no matter your seniority or work ethic. Even worse, you will be the first to go once profits decline or evaporate, which can happen ANYTIME. I would never purchase a house based off future income of a job nor live paycheck to paycheck in order to maintain an elevated lifestyle… that is when problems occur, as we have seen!

Opportunity

As I have wrote earlier, being terminated is a great thing when it’s job related. You are now free of the ball and chains that held you back before, you are now able to do what you want, when you want. You are now experiencing the full spectrum of emotions that life has given to you, this feeling is called FREEDOM. Your boss, whom you should thank, has allowed you to escape the cotton fields for the forest where you can now create your own life, the way YOU want. Now, this means you may lose your house, cars, toys etc… but, really, they are all meaningless. Material things have no value but what you assign to them and if your self-esteem was invested in such things, this is a great time to divest yourself of these distractions and get back into living LIFE!

The Bottom Line

Jobs are the false profit of the 21st century.

Cooking is easy, take your time and experiment and I guarantee you will be happier as a result!

Few skills are as important to a healthy, long and fulfilling life as the ability to cook your own food. Of course, baking your own bread, muffins and (healthy) deserts is just as rewarding as well!

Why cooking your own food is essential to happiness

If you spend all your time eating at restaurants, you may notice that it can get mighty expensive after a while, considering a typical meal is north of 10 dollars even the fast food variety. You eat three times a day (on average) with snacks in-between so you can easily spend over 50$ a day if you don’t know how to cook. If you do know how to cook, this is what your cost will be per week and I guarantee you that the food will taste better, be healthier and give you far more self-esteem. I think, unless you are independently wealthy and have your own chef, learning to cook is one of the easiest roots towards happiness and contentment with your life.

Cooking 101: It doesn’t need to be complicated

If you have NEVER cooked in your life or the extent of your experience is pressing a few numbers on the microwave, let me be the first to tell you that cooking nutritious, healthy meals is even easier! Go to your local library and in-between all those fancy “Martha Stewart” books, there is bound to be a book with the most basic of recipes. It isn’t hard making your own macaroni and cheese anymore than it is to slice some pork and cook it along with a can of beans. If you want to get a bit more fancy, slice and cook some streak, thrown in some pasta with some sauce and you have a very easy meal indeed that took very little time to prepare. The fact is, most foods are actually quite easy to prepare if you have an oven, a few stainless steel pots / pans and a willingness to experiment.

Creativity and Cooking

There a lot of creative things you can do with your time, but none so challenging as creating your own recipes that you LOVE and can’t get enough of. I might get a recipe from a friend and usually, within a few months, modified it enough to call it my own. I do a lot of experimentation in the kitchen, usually in the “adding stuff” department. For instance, you might buy a jar of pasta sauce well, beforehand, cook a mixture of onions, chunks of steak, shrimp, marbled cheese, garlic, green peppers, mushrooms and yes, some real tomatoes too… THEN add the pasta sauce and bring everything to a boil. The nice thing about creating your own recipes is you can modify them to suit your exact tastes. If you hate spicy food, no problem, as you are creating many things from scratch, you can simply omit it… this comes in very handy for food allergies as well.

Why don’t you cook?

My guess, other than a fear of fire, the second most popular reason for not cooking your own meals comes down to time. Cooking a fantastic pasta meal takes 20-30 minutes about the same amount of time as ordering a pizza but with the added advantage of being able to cook enough for 10 people! If you are alone, why cook for so many people? Well, you got a freezer don’t you? Freeze the extras and eat it during your lunch or other meals… it will save you a fortune and I am sure you feel much better eating your food than the crap that passes as meals your friends might be eating-out on.

The Bottom Line

Cooking is NOT difficult and can be a highly rewarding part of a healthy lifestyle.