Homegrown muscle sticks around

When I started lifting for hypertrophy, a trainer told me something I've never forgotten - that you have to work hard to build muscle, but you don't have to work as hard to keep it. Now I know how right she was. It's important that lifters know how honestly attained, organic muscle likes to stay with you. The manic, anxiety-ridden race to outpace atrophy is part of the deal that juicers sign on for, but not the rest of us. This guest editorial by OCB president and Fitness & Physique editor Matt Shepley says it all. (Thanks, Matt!)

I sat next to him at the judge’s table, him being a competitive bodybuilder in the past. His arms bulged out of his sleeves. I grabbed his bicep and said, “Damn, you’ve been hittin’ it hard, haven’t you?” His reply, he hadn’t trained in about two years. He said he still ate well though.

This is a difference between muscles built without the use of steroids vs. muscles built with them. And what a difference it is.

I myself recently experienced something similar. I had not been training nearly as much as I used to. In fact, there was a period where I didn’t train at all. I used to fear missing a workout, thinking I would lose muscle that quickly.

Now, after missing MANY workouts, I’m finding that just wasn’t so. I’ve gotten comments such as, “You look like you’ve put on some size”. I usually pat my stomach and say, “Yep”. But they say, “No, I mean muscle size”. The muscle I built naturally, meaning without steroids, for five consistent years is sticking around quite well. Steroid built muscle is the opposite. If steroids are stopped, size loss is VERY noticeable VERY quickly. The saying goes, easy come, easy go.

Train steroid-free. You’ll have longevity not only in life, but also in muscle and strength retention.