Pain and gains?

I remember as a young kid, maybe 8 years old, being somewhat obsessed with wrestling- WWF.

Hulk Hogan was my hero, but I liked other guys too; ‘Macho man’ Randy Savage, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, Powers of Pain, ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude…

As I grew, my love for wrestling faded, but new heroes came into frame, namely The Rock.

In reflection the question I ask myself is- what made me sneak out of my bedroom window to go buy pack after pack of wrestling cards with my pocket money?  And why are kids today doing the same thing? The answer; because these guys were massive jacked units.

I can remember listening to ‘Macho man’ talk and knowing that “he’s on steroids”. I have no idea how I knew this, but I did, it must have just been implied- his voice was ridiculous.

Now I’m not saying every wrestler is on ‘roids, I would think that unlikely, however, when looking at The Rock’s (or Dwayne as he likes to be called apparently) transformation for his new flick Pain and Gain with Mark Wahlberg, I can’t help making an educated assumption:

He got all jacked up

He’s positively enormous! And when you see the results, it’s kind of tempting right…?

So you want to get jacked?

The question has to be asked- is anabolic steroid use an issue?

Does anyone care that The Rock Dwayne may have injected to get so massive for this role?

My initial answer is- it’s his body, he can fill his boots if he wants.

However, I think about the young impressionable kids watching and idolising him, as I did with Hulk and Macho Man and can’t help seeing the simple and innocent usage being seen as ok to emulate.

That, is not cool.

Still very young and extremely jacked body builders are popping up everywhere and the risk to their health is monumental. Here in Sydney there are endless ‘builders’ wandering around with ridiculous figures and even more ridiculous attitudes towards getting in shape.

In late 2011 22 year old ‘Zyzz’ Shavershian died of a heart attack whilst in Thailand, a common destination for young guys to go on ‘steroid vacations’.

This kind of story is most definitely sad, but it should also serve as a warning to any guy that going about your training and body transformation via the short cut is a massive risk.

Like I said earlier, it’s his body… but if more guys start looking at anabolic steroid supplementation as a viable and regular option to assist their training, they’re playing Russian Roulette with a needle just to get ‘more massive’.

Dwayne Johnson may have used some assistance in order to become gargantuan for his movie role, but for your average punter- this cannot be an option!

Don’t get me wrong- in order for someone to get that big, one does not simply inject then grow overnight. You must work your arse off, eat more food than you can imagine eating and you must get sufficient rest so you can train the house down again.

However, it is still a short cut and taking the easy road is far too often the mindset with any kind of body transformation these days. Needles, taking steroids, growth hormone, testosterone and other ‘short cuts’ are just that- cheating. For us everyday men, aspiring alphas, putting on muscle is done the natural way:

Hard work

You still want to get jacked, but without cheating?

Cool then you must look at your life and assess it:

• What training are you doing at the moment?
• What are you eating, when and how often?
• Are you sleeping well?
• Is your life over-stressed?

In order to put on considerable muscle the natural way you have to train hard, often and with the right kind of intensity and specificity to promote muscle growth. You have to eat a lot. Then eat more again. This food can’t just be any old thing in the fashion of ‘bulking’, it must be clean, real food; quality proteins, fats, starchy carbs and more veggies than you can shake a dirty needle at. You have to be void of unnecessary stress and you must sleep well for a minimum of 7 hours a night.

Then and only then can you start to look at real supplementation in order to aid the growth process and get jacked.

What about Marky mark?

Did Mark Wahlberg use for his part in Pain and Gain? Of course, just like The Rock, we’ll never know, but he is looking pretty damn good for someone of 41 years old. He states that he was eating upwards of 10 meals a day- yikes!

Not for me thanks!

So, do you have the stomach to inject, or work your arse off and do it the natural way?

Do you want the gain without the pain or will you take pain and gain?

Or does the voice of the late Macho Man Randy Savage inspire you be talking like you’ve got sandpaper stuck in your throat through years of massive steroid abuse?

And, you know, having tiny balls…