Just for the sake of devil's advocacy and personal experience, the stuff before the initial 2004 ban was bad enough, and yes I was irresponsible. I did not know anything, a trainer told me they worked and sold them to me so he could get his commission. I ran some underdosed combo product with like 19nor and 4ad in it, nothing really happened. Then I moved up to 1ad and finally real gear at 18. Remember, the people around me did not warn me of anything, but they did tell me my test was high enough, but they did not tell me of the risks since they were all AAS users.
I have been checked out, and thank god everything was fine. I was horrified to find all of the info out there once I bothered to look. Luckily, I managed to still grow physically past 18 and stopped at 21 with the natural growth (muscle growth and strength gains still happen)
The stuff since the ban is not really the same, and they have some wicked **** out there. My advice would be to pay your dues, learn about proper training and nutrition as it pertains to you because if YOU can not gain naturally, your cycle progress will be horrible and gone once you stop using.
On the bright side, pay your dues and figure this stuff out, and above all else make friends that you can trust that have access to real gear, which seems safer and definitely more productive than the legal **** out now. Once your ready, one of your new friends will hook you up. Who knows, maybe by then you will be happy with your progress and not willing to take the risk.
Oh yeah, if you can not squat 400 for ten, deadlift 500 for 5, and bench 300 for 5, you have no business even considering it.
