This is fantasy/hypothetical, but humor me.
Contestant #1 (6’ 220)
Bench: 427 lbs
Squat: 643 lbs
Deadlift:881 lbs
Legpress:1141 lbs
Contestant #2 (5’3 140)
Bench: 239 lbs
Squat: 395 lbs
Deadlift: 573 lbs
Legpress: 773 lbs
My question: which one, if any, would you suspect of “doping”?
Shouldn’t this belong in IMHO or something?
It is possible for both to natural, I wouldn’t suspect either based on what they can lift. If they were lifting half that 6 months previously I would have suspicions, but not just the weights.
Who cares?
it’s quite possible. when i was 15 years old i bench pressed 270 pounds. no kidding. i never did squat but i could legpress a fair amount. my training was all natural, only thing i drank was water. i weighed was about the same size as contestant number two only i was a bit taller. i also have a counter-question. is it true you will stunt ur growth as a result from weight training. i may have not reached my full potential height because of this although i am about 5’9 now.
One thing I just noticed I didn’t mention: both contestants are FEMALE. BTW, if it needs to be moved they will.
IIRC, the record for the most Benched by a woman is 475lbs. I suppose it is possible that she is natural. I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that most steroids don’t do much for increasing strength enough that powerlifters bother with it. It is posssible some do I guess. (as in steroids help in muscle growth, not strength, the two not being directly correlated)
Proffessional bodybuilding, however, is a different story.
Ah, to be young and cavalier.
Unless the contest is a “natural” one where they test, I would suspect most nation-level ranked weightlifters to be using something. This includes the women athletes as well. I wish it were otherwise but it does seem to be the case.
for the average man, with the right program, u can be leg pressing 600 and benchpressing 300 pounds in only 3 months.
For the Average man… No. Even for the Abnormal man I would say… No. 300lbs in three months on bench? Not without Steriods and great genetics. Sorry. A freak of nature, perhaps.
Doping refers to any drugs? (Or doping were blood is removed and oxygenated…or something like that)
Odds are, both are doping in the steroid sense. Powerlifters don’t generally go into untested competitions w/out drugs.
And, steroids DO increase strength. The ‘steroids do not increase strength’ crap is a spin started by athletes who use steroids.
Additionally, one should be suspect regarding the tests that show steroids don’t increase strength…being careful to understand that some tests are about passive use of steroids (merely taking them) without actually being involved in a muscle building campaign where muscles are ripped apart by intense training.
There’s a reason Bonds and Sosa used to be lightweight singles hitters and now are bloated pigs launching balls like meteors…and why horses run faster…and why powerlifters and every other type of competitor in international competition break more and more records.
There’s a reason why the countries that everyone knew where using steroids were winning all the gold medals. STEROIDS increase strength when used as part of an intense exercise routine where muscle is destroyed and rebuilt at a pace only do-able with steroids.
If there is a powerlifting contest, or bodybuilding contest, and there is no testing, virtually all competitors are on the juice. If they aren’t, then they might enter and look awful versus the competition.
I’m not going to touch the rest of your post, but this I have to question. When were Bonds and Sosa EVER lightweight singles hitters? Little League? Certainly never in professional baseball. And I honestly don’t believe either of them are on steroids. Over the counter supplements like creatine sure, but not anything illegal no.
Your “fantasy” IMHO question is a little too cute and you are kind of wasting people’s time putting it in GQ without a bit more context. The stats you mention are well within the range of even the low end of the spectrum of semi-pro male weightlifters sans drugs. A far as female lifters looking up the current records for women on the net will possibly give you some context for a guess for the WAGs you are soliciting .
NanNorth,
I don’t think this could even be a GD, but maybe IMHO.
Sosa really did come out of no where and bulk up like a lunatic. Didn’t Bonds bat lead off…steal bases…etc?
Just to develop forearms like Sosa, a secondary muscle group to say the least, you would need to train like a lunatic…and the bloated features, the sheer size of them through the season.
Watch old film, and look at guys who were bulked then in the 60-70’s even…they were skinny compared to these goliaths.
Is there ‘proof’? Hardly. But one can draw reasonable conclusions, especially those familiar with the signs of steroid use.
You don’t skyrocket in size and strength on cute little creatine supplements. You do it on things like anadrol, deca-durabolin, sustanon, equipose and winstrol…the latter two designated "for vetinary use only…’ These are the things doing it. To refute that is equivalent to being naive.
You buy these things south of the border, and you do cycles…and these cycles make you millions of dollars. You don’t do them and you don’t compete like these guys. Sammy Sosa! Are you kidding me? I’ve seen film of him - little scrawny guy comes outta no where…Bonds was good, but hitting the juice made him a power hitter. 60 pounds of muscle added by ‘working hard’!!! MY ASS!
Like WWE (formerly WWF) stars, you travel and work at your sport so much that weight training is secondary. To carry the physique of these guys when training is secondary, steroids is THE answer.
To those ‘in the know’, it’s not even a question. Sure the proof is missing, but that hardly means reasonable conclusions can’t be drawn.
IMHO - since no ‘proof’ for GD.
And what do you think he was doing? He’s a professional athlete. Professional athletes train like lunatics. And if he wanted to become a power hitter, yes, he’d be specifically training those particular muscles.
astro, if I’m “wasting people’s time” they won’t read the thread! Your point about context, however, is well taken.
Are you calling me a freak of nature? I benchpressed 270 lbs when I was like 15. I was a small kid too, very skinny. I just worked at it everyday I went to the gym. I’m sure if I hadn’t stopped my training I would have reached 300 lbs. I did that in only three months time. It’s pretty weird, I would go to the gym and everyone would be staring at me when I do it, like something out of vanilla sky.
[qoute]and why horses run faster
[/quote]
Horses?The primary reason horses run faster than 30 yrs or more back is the track surfaces.They sill weigh abt 1050-1200 lbs.tops.When was the last time you saw a thoroughbred that looked like a Clydesdale?
Dr.Fager set the world’s record for a dirt mile in '68.Secretariat set the world record dirt mile and 1/2 in '73.Left Bank just tied a track record at Saratoga that was set in’74.
The grass race times from the 60’s thru today are identical.Grass is grass.
With the exception of Left Bank who looks like a genuine burner,the average handicapper of the last 10 yrs.coudn’t warm up a Fager going short or Sec at any distance-exceptions being a few like Cigar and Skip Away.
The average plater running at your neighborhood track is just as slow-or fast- as the surface lets him run as in bygone days.Any supplements given horses are hopefully to let him run his best be it Lasix or bute or oxygenators.Occasional doping of horses are nothing like humans going on a regime,simply a oneshot wonder to make the horse freak,hopefully-and hard to get past a vets-in company wih a stewards-inspection.
And are certainly the rare exception rather than the rule.More chicanery is involved with getting the horse to lose rather than win so the insiders can cash a good mutuel.
Chronos, are you aware that you cannot add the muscle these guys add with any supplement other than steroids? You cannot ‘train like a lunatic’ on muscle groups like forearms over an off season and come back with power to drive balls 500+ feet. You can’t take a skinny frame and turn it into a bloated frame AND have the vascularity these guys have AND have work on the game of baseball.
What are we supposed to do? Ignore the obvious and make everyone feel better by saying it’s creatine or vitman b-12. No - forget it.
We’re going to go nowhere in proving the whole issue because baseball does not test for steroids.
-There are steroids in baseball - it’s almost a ‘given’.
-The three most powerful guys in baseball in the past 10 years have destroyed the power records.
-Two of them went from smaller framed speedier guys into frames with 40-60 lbs more muscle anf they claimed it was from working hard off season.
-Then, they do freaky stunts when it comes to power hitting.
-They are bloated.
-They are vascular.
-They are huge compared to guys from 10-20 years ago.
-People who know the signs of steroid use suspect these guys.
I’ll draw my reasonable conclusions.