I tried steroids once, many years back now. I couldn’t resist. I wanted to know what it was all about. So I got some syringes, and some vials of testosterone and some other drugs and combined them in a way that was suggested to me by some people I had met online. I did everything I was supposed to do and put as much research into it as made sense to me at the time.

Cosby Steroids

What I found out was that at first I felt sick. I got bloated and moody like a woman having her period. Then after while, my lifts started going up really fast from week to week in the gym.

That was the good part.

I also turned into Bill Cosby’s asshole because my temper started getting really short. I’d pick arguments with people in the street. I’d drive like a dick. I started walking around with a chip on my shoulder all the time.

My blood pressure, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol (that’s the bad one) all went up as well.

These things are not healthy! And the risk to benefit ration of what I was doing to my body made absolutely ZERO sense.

Here’s another reason why using steroids didn’t make sense: My body hadn’t reached it’s own NATURAL potential yet!

The Sillyness of Steroids

There might be an argument to be made for an athlete that has trained to the extent of his potential (how many people fall into that category really? honestly?) without the use of hormones. If they use hormones it lets them break past their body’s own limits. Or maybe they are old and can add a few years to their career while competing against younger players… Or maybe they have a multi-million dollar contract and need to hit a certain percentage of baseballs outside the park…

But me? No.

By: Charley Socci

http://www.socci.com

http://www.charlessocci.com

Not Charley but still...

Did you know that the most commonly used steroid is testosterone? Did you know testosterone is a steroid? It is. It is produced in the bodies of both men and women. Men just produce a whole lot more of it.

In the most simple sense, testosterone is the hormone that is responsible for “maleness”. Bigger muscles, deeper voice, hairy bodies, physical aggression, sex drive – all are directly controlled by testosterone.

Steroid Injecting Needles

Testosterone is considered the gold standard among abused anabolic steroids. All other anabolic drugs are compared to it. The difference between the other anabolic steroids and testosterone is that the other drugs are designed to maximize or minimize particular effects.

That’s it. That’s all steroids are. They are hormones. If you are a man and you take them, your body goes into a kind of “artificial puberty” and your muscles grow, you get acne, and your brain does weird things, and your body hair gets denser. If you are woman, your clitoris starts to grow, your voice deepens, and your body begins to get leaner and become more male. If you have genes for losing your hair (male pattern baldness) you count on accelerating that process too… whether you are a man or woman with latent baldness genes.

These are the drugs they give to women who want to become men prior to the surgery that reshapes their breasts and vagina. That’s what steroids are.

Crazy Steroid Man

I can remember back in the 70’s and 80’s when cocaine was so glamorized in the movies. There was a mystery and an intrigue. They made it sexy. If you’ve ever had a coke problem, or cared about anyone who did – you know there is nothing sexy about cocaine. The same can be said about steroids.

Does it seem logical that pumping more male chemical into the body of an athletic reject would make him more of an athlete? That’s crazy right?

I remember Bill Cosby talking about cocaine – he asked someone, “Why do you use cocaine…?”

Their answer, “It enhances your personality…”

Bill Cosby’s response, “Yes, I see… But what if you’re an asshole?”

Its kind of the same thing with steroids…But that will have to wait…

How did Charley’s story start?

By: Charley Socci

http://www.socci.com

http://www.charlessocci.com

Getting Back to the Gym

There were a few things that motivated me – not the least among them a rather tactless physician who exclaimed my “BMI” put me in the “morbidly obese” category – a category that measures height to weight with no regard for anything else.

I always wondered how many other morbidly obese folks can say they are able to press their body weight. I also suppose much of the NFL probably fall into this category. Its a bullshit statistic – can you imagine if I went to butcher shop (yes I’m old enough to remember butcher shops) and came home with a big bag exclaiming, “HONEY! I bought ten pounds for $5!” – wouldn’t she ask “Ten pounds of WHAT… bones? suet? ham hocks? pig’s ears? steak? stew beef?” BMI is a bit like that ten pounds of “stuff”.

Not Charley btw...resemblance though?

I’ve always been muscular – but I have to admit I’ve just gotten fat. There, I admit it. But morbidly fat? I think not.

So anyway… I like lifting weights. I started doing it in my twenties and found out my body adapts really well to it. Its one of the few athletic activities I’d ever say I was good at. People who know me well think its funny. Most of them aren’t athletic, and they know I’m not either – I fit the stereotype of a 98 pound nerd, but in the body of a large man who lifts weights. I don’t talk about things like my bench press or my rotator cuff… or grams of protein per pound of body weight… or the benefits of squats vs leg presses with most of the people around me… Its a solitary pursuit…

Read more of Charley’s story…coming soon!

By: Charley Socci

http://www.socci.com

http://www.charlessocci.com