Thread: If it became impossible to get gear.....would you still train?

I would, i did before I started.

I see what most of you are getting at....but let's be honest here, after a few years of cycling...you're past your natural limit. Taking away gear would guarantee that you lose size and strength. It would send you back to your natural physique and you'd be stuck there regardless of how hard you trained and how well you ate. I'm not disagreeing...I'm just seeing who would still put in the same effort even if there was no chance of progression.

I could offer so much bro science here.. lol. YES YES YES I would train. I actually enjoy seeing how hard I can push myself without gear on my off cycle time. I get awful back pain from the pumps on certain compounds (I have back injuries that compound those problems from a car accident) and when I am not on gear I can cross train (not cross fit.. I mean intertwining different moves at a fast pace with limited rest but still heavy as possible).. I can slam a set of heavy squats, breath for 30 seconds and then step back and follow that set with a heavy dead single and do so without that discomfort that I get with excess androgens in my body. The numbers might go down a bit.. but my strength always sticks around for the most part because training with more frequency and consistent intensity helps to keep IGF-1 levels higher.. which, in the absence of extra androgens from gear.. can still cause immense progression. Remember that IGF-1 is the only means by which muscle cell hyperplasia can occur.. as opposed to hypertrophy.. it seems many of MY colleagues (not BOP brothers) are under-educated in the IGF pathways for growth.. so I feel its nice to remind folks that you can mitigate your IGF-1 levels without gear and without gh simply by training extremely hard and high frequency and timing your high GI food intake around your lifts to maximize IGF-1 synthesis in the liver post lift. Now, I would never say that you will achieve the same levels as you would with gh or direct igtropin/IGF-1 supplementation but its an important factor to remember. That heavy lifting will also help to maintain natural test.

I love my gear, but knowledge is powerful just as AAS are. This is a great thread. Always push yourself!

Originally Posted by Cobra Strike

This is actually not completely true. If you can maintain a normal level of testosterone you can keep your gains from gear with training and a proper diet. When I come off a blast I dont lose anything. It def is harder to gain naturally than it is with gear....it would take much longer.

Gear does help us get past our natural limits but the way it does this is by setting new limits. Just because you passed your limit doesnt mean you will regress back to what that natural limit was because you have now set a new limit on what your natural limit is.

​I'm going to disagree with this. You may not notice much...if any muscle loss between cycles. But if you stop cycling completely...eventually you will go back to square 1. Normal levels of testosterone are not enough to sustain a supra-physiological amount of muscle. There won't be enough androgens to saturate the increased number of androgen receptors that come with new muscle. Eventually cortisol will occupy the excess androgen receptors causing muscle breakdown. Muscle tissue will be broken down and you will go back to a natural level of muscularity.

If you can maintain it naturally....then you can achieve it naturally. If you can't achieve it naturally then you won't maintain it naturally.