Lionheart1776
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So I find quite few threads that go back to 2001-2006ish from various forums and many of them understandably contain very out dated technical information, that being said they also have a lot of cultural practices similar to what we see today in forums. The ritual of of listing ones stats and history of lifting seems to be common practice from the earliest days of threads. I’m guessing so that the community members of the board can be satisfied that the individual in question has any business touching AAS in the first place before they offer any advice to them. I also notice a common theme among lifers who post in forms to stigmatize or at least strongly discourage lifers who are planning on using gear in a reckless or wasteful manner.
Some other practices I see across time and across almost every board are a strong emphasis on dieting and training first, strong emphasis on using the proper ancillarys including planning a PCT course before ones starts their cycle, strong advocation for a test only cycle for beginning AAS users, and strong encouragement from most communities for their users to run regular blood work.
I think it’s interesting how strongly a lot of the communities seem to emphasize safe and effective usage of AAS, I don’t understand culture very well, most of the unseen communications that happen between people both online and off are invisible to me. To me this is in large part because my brain processing information differently than that of most peoples. For example have a hard time telling the difference between a a whey protein shake and and 1ml shot of test, due to the fact that my brain puts both in the category of bodybuilding augments. My perspective on things is so different from most other peoples on these forums that I decided I want to gain a broader perspective on steroid use and and it’s culture.
I though a fun place to start would be exploring what steroid use was like through the decades before forums like these were present for AAS users to meet each other and discuss safe and effective practices. I read quite a few scattered anecdotes here and there of people doing things that are now well know to be very dangerous and a waste of gear to boot. Some of the most entertaining and fascinating anecdotes I read were quite a few examples of extended DBOL usage (sometimes lasting over a year) with the user still going about their life in a normal way doing things like consuming alcohol and paying very little mind to it. I also though some of the early tren stories were pretty crazy to read about, quite a few lifters during the earlier days of tren use reported running very long tren only cycles for no other reason then the melted down caddle implants just happened to be the easiest AAS to get a hold of for them and sometimes the only way people knew how to get a hold of any AAS at all.
I saw plenty of stories of re-using needles, of course few ran AI’s, there was no cheap online blood-work for a user to check their health markers, and PCT if it was even around at the earlier time period in question was never mentioned, so those who ran cycles must have simply just went cold turkey and hoped for the best? Must have been some wild days for sure. I wonder if the current community of AAS users place such a strong emphases on safe and effective use because some of the older members of the forums might have lived through the “wild west days” of AAS use and know the perils it can bring.
I was wondering if any of the users on this forum could share what AAS use in the 90’s and further back was like. Some of the things I curious about are how users gathered their information pertaining to AAS use and how accurate the information was by modern standards. Was the information shared among lifters mostly bro science or were the basics well understood during that time period? What kind of though process went into the decision to start using gear during the time period? How did one go about acquiring information about the use of AAS, was it mostly conjecture between lifters who knew each other at the gym? Or what there some kind of magazine/coach that acted as a central hub of information on the topic? What were the practices of acquiring AAS like? Did you order them from overseas, did a guy at your gym sell them to you? Was the dealer your only source of information on their use in the area you lived in? What were some of the health problems encountered by the incorrect use of AAS and how well informed were users during that time period on them? For example running DBOL for 15 months or tren only for a year must have put quite a strain on the body and mind, especially with no ancillarys to manage sides or blood work to know where one stood health wise.
Please feel free to share any thoughts or stories you remember on the subject, and if you have any thoughts about the modern AAS practices in relation please feel free to share them too. My goal of this thread is to gather perspective on the topic, I find it to be very fascinating and want to understand what day to day life would have been like for a lifer on AAS in that period and also to understand how most well informed and experienced AAS users today go about the practice of gear use in relation.
As someone who suddenly found themselves as a member in such an unlikely community, I feel like it is a shame to know so little about it’s history and culture. Four months ago, if someone were to tell me they were a bodybuilder I would have assumed they were crazy because my very literal and visually oriented mind would have pictured them nailing arms onto a torso or something, lol.
As someone who went most of their life never having heard of this sport, to now have my entire life structured around it’s practices is quite an odd place to find ones self in. And to keep this thread on topic on want to address anyone who read my last thread where I admitted to running a test cycle from day one of my training, I am now back on my doctor prescribed TRT and decided to stay below 200 mgs a week of test for at rest of my first year of training (the next 8-9 months). I figure everyone wouldn’t be so upset with my choice to hop on so gear so early unless it were extremely ill-advised choice which reflected poorly on me as a novice bodybuilder.
Some other practices I see across time and across almost every board are a strong emphasis on dieting and training first, strong emphasis on using the proper ancillarys including planning a PCT course before ones starts their cycle, strong advocation for a test only cycle for beginning AAS users, and strong encouragement from most communities for their users to run regular blood work.
I think it’s interesting how strongly a lot of the communities seem to emphasize safe and effective usage of AAS, I don’t understand culture very well, most of the unseen communications that happen between people both online and off are invisible to me. To me this is in large part because my brain processing information differently than that of most peoples. For example have a hard time telling the difference between a a whey protein shake and and 1ml shot of test, due to the fact that my brain puts both in the category of bodybuilding augments. My perspective on things is so different from most other peoples on these forums that I decided I want to gain a broader perspective on steroid use and and it’s culture.
I though a fun place to start would be exploring what steroid use was like through the decades before forums like these were present for AAS users to meet each other and discuss safe and effective practices. I read quite a few scattered anecdotes here and there of people doing things that are now well know to be very dangerous and a waste of gear to boot. Some of the most entertaining and fascinating anecdotes I read were quite a few examples of extended DBOL usage (sometimes lasting over a year) with the user still going about their life in a normal way doing things like consuming alcohol and paying very little mind to it. I also though some of the early tren stories were pretty crazy to read about, quite a few lifters during the earlier days of tren use reported running very long tren only cycles for no other reason then the melted down caddle implants just happened to be the easiest AAS to get a hold of for them and sometimes the only way people knew how to get a hold of any AAS at all.
I saw plenty of stories of re-using needles, of course few ran AI’s, there was no cheap online blood-work for a user to check their health markers, and PCT if it was even around at the earlier time period in question was never mentioned, so those who ran cycles must have simply just went cold turkey and hoped for the best? Must have been some wild days for sure. I wonder if the current community of AAS users place such a strong emphases on safe and effective use because some of the older members of the forums might have lived through the “wild west days” of AAS use and know the perils it can bring.
I was wondering if any of the users on this forum could share what AAS use in the 90’s and further back was like. Some of the things I curious about are how users gathered their information pertaining to AAS use and how accurate the information was by modern standards. Was the information shared among lifters mostly bro science or were the basics well understood during that time period? What kind of though process went into the decision to start using gear during the time period? How did one go about acquiring information about the use of AAS, was it mostly conjecture between lifters who knew each other at the gym? Or what there some kind of magazine/coach that acted as a central hub of information on the topic? What were the practices of acquiring AAS like? Did you order them from overseas, did a guy at your gym sell them to you? Was the dealer your only source of information on their use in the area you lived in? What were some of the health problems encountered by the incorrect use of AAS and how well informed were users during that time period on them? For example running DBOL for 15 months or tren only for a year must have put quite a strain on the body and mind, especially with no ancillarys to manage sides or blood work to know where one stood health wise.
Please feel free to share any thoughts or stories you remember on the subject, and if you have any thoughts about the modern AAS practices in relation please feel free to share them too. My goal of this thread is to gather perspective on the topic, I find it to be very fascinating and want to understand what day to day life would have been like for a lifer on AAS in that period and also to understand how most well informed and experienced AAS users today go about the practice of gear use in relation.
As someone who suddenly found themselves as a member in such an unlikely community, I feel like it is a shame to know so little about it’s history and culture. Four months ago, if someone were to tell me they were a bodybuilder I would have assumed they were crazy because my very literal and visually oriented mind would have pictured them nailing arms onto a torso or something, lol.
As someone who went most of their life never having heard of this sport, to now have my entire life structured around it’s practices is quite an odd place to find ones self in. And to keep this thread on topic on want to address anyone who read my last thread where I admitted to running a test cycle from day one of my training, I am now back on my doctor prescribed TRT and decided to stay below 200 mgs a week of test for at rest of my first year of training (the next 8-9 months). I figure everyone wouldn’t be so upset with my choice to hop on so gear so early unless it were extremely ill-advised choice which reflected poorly on me as a novice bodybuilder.
