It started with an early morning phone call: “Can you believe it? Ryan Braun just got popped again for steroids.” There was a distinct tinge of disappointment at the other end of the line. A mixture of shock and awe. How could he be so STUPID? How could a superstar like Braun who previously got busted (and then technically exonerated) use steroids AGAIN in light of him being a target with a giant bullseye on his back and subject to frequent drug tests?

Duh! Ryan Braun used steroids to help him put up MVP numbers. Those numbers got him a $105M contract extension. His 65-game suspension will cost him about $3M. Let’s do the math together:

105
– 3
____
102

For those who majored in chemistry and not economics, that’s a net gain of $102M. That’s $102,000,000 for those of us who need to see all the zeroes to feel sufficiently inadequate. Even with the 65-game suspension, something tells me that Ryan Braun won’t be losing any sleep over his decision to continue using steroids. In terms of ‘movin’ on up’, a premeditated decision to use anabolic steroids paid off for him BIG-TIME.

It’s no different for any other athlete. Despite a history of steroid use that includes a positive (anonymous) test for steroids in 2003, Alex Rodriguez signed a 10-year contract with the New York Yankees in 2007 worth a guaranteed $275 Million Dollars. In 2009, he admitted to using steroids, begged for our forgiveness and asked us to “judge him from this day forward.” With that admission, his Hall of Fame hopes were all but extinguished. But the public is not the Baseball Hall of Fame. We judge our athletes FIRST on their PERFORMANCE. Character, on the other hand, is somewhere further down the list.

With $275M guaranteed, Alex could have made the decision to go au naturale and watch his numbers plummet, but that’s not what MLB and the Yankees (and their fans) want to see. You see, Alex Rodriguez simply wanted to please his fans and his employer. After 3 MVP awards and a career of steroid-padded stats, A-Rod wasn’t going to take any chances: He wanted to earn his keep, lest he overtake Carl Pavano as #1 on the Yankees list of all-time salary busts.

You see, there is little reason for an aspiring athlete to NOT take steroids. Without steroids, most athletes will never achieve the $105M contract extension or the $275M free agent contract. It’s a calculated risk with a huge payoff and very little downside, but it doesn’t start in the big leagues. No, it starts far earlier.

Let’s take the talent-heavy baseball nation of Dominican Republic as an example. In a poverty-stricken country (Venezuela works just as well), baseball is just about the only way out for most kids. Hence, they play baseball 365 days a year for hours on end. Without a major league contract, a young Dominican entering the workplace can aspire to one day earn close to the nation’s average income of about $5,500 per year. But with the average MLB signing bonus for a Dominican player approaching $200,000 (and up to $4.5M for DR prospect and current Oakland A minor leaguer Michael Ynoa), why on Earth would a Dominican teenager NOT resort to steroids to better his chances to attain a life for himself? A few cycles of steroids can easily be the difference between doubles and home runs — the difference between a life on the streets and a MLB signing bonus– the difference between working for THIRTY YEARS in the DR and playing a half-season of minor league baseball in the US!

But we don’t need to look to the DR to find players juicing at young ages. We can start in our own back yards. With college tuition surpassing $200,000 for a 4-year private school, a college baseball scholarship is now worth about the same as a Dominican Republic MLB signing bonus! What’s going to stop a high school sophomore from running a few cycles of testosterone to gain an extra 5mph on his fastball or an extra 25 feet on his hitting distance? A lecture about the integrity of the game?

Let me try to control my laughter while I take in this capitalist irony: As parents, we’re going to preach to our children the need for a college education based on the fact that this education represents their best chance to earn a good living. We’re going to use every advantage we have in life — financial, social, and yes, chemical — to further our children’s chances to succeed, and then, when they have an opportunity to earn more in a month than we do in a lifetime, we’re going to preach to them about the integrity of the game?

Baseball has lost its integrity, and not because of the rampant use of steroids by every top player of the past twenty years. No, baseball lost its integrity by virtue of its laissez-faire attitude towards performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Players right out of high school and college are given multi-million dollar signing bonuses and guaranteed contracts without player scouts or management even asking about steroids. A Five-Tool (Hitting for Average, Fielding, Running, Throwing, Hitting for Power) player gets paid. A Six-Tool (plus steroids) player gets paid even more. It’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell all over again, except this is not the military excusing discrimination — it’s Major League Baseball excusing the use of PEDs.

Let’s face a cold, hard reality: We will only see a change in steroid use in baseball when the reasons NOT to use steroids outweigh the benefits of using them. When a first offense means not the loss of 3% of one’s income as in Ryan Braun’s case, but 97%. When a positive steroid test results in the VOIDING of a multi-million dollar contract or a LIFETIME suspension. When the financial risk of using anabolic steroids finally outweighs the financial reward.

Right now, Major League Baseball isn’t even close. The fans know it. The players know it. And Bud Selig knows it.

Part I

In the bodybuilding world this guy needs no introduction. For the CrossFit and Functional Fitness peeps, let me get you up to speed.

Patrick Arnold or PA as I like to refer to him is an east coast native. He’s an organic chemist who specializes in the research and development of sports supplementation. This guy is to supplements what Robb Wolf is to Paleo, what Greg Glassman is to CrossFit, what Jared is to Subway, and what the Polish are to sausages. As synonymous as Mark McGwire is to home runs! You get the picture.

Funny story actually,  Mark McGwire probably wouldn’t have achieved that record setting season if he didn’t have a little help from the research and development of Patrick Arnold. Patrick introduced the supplement industry to Androstenedione (Andro), which just so happened to be the prohormone Mark McGwire was taking during his record setting season.

Not only that, this dude is so ridiculously passionate about chemistry he actually translated research written in German which led him to develop a designer steroid called tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), more commonly referred to as, “The Clear.”

I know what some of the crossfit purists are thinking right now. The supplement Mark McGwire took was illegal (heaven forbid), and THG was the undetectable steroid that tarnished the career of several Olympic athletes and ignited the BALCO scandal around 2003 after a syringe with trace amounts was obtained and a test was developed in the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory. Holy shit right?

Marion Jones

Put any thoughts of judgment and emotion aside for just one minute now, and hear me out. Let’s look at this objectively. Patrick was just a guy with a lot of drive to unearth tools in performance that had never been used before. He worked hard to achieve elite status through unconventional and innovative methods. Sound familiar?

When Patrick introduced Andro it wasn’t illegal. Shit, I remember in high school everyone was taking it including my dorky, super skinny, stoner friend Senone. Senone, Jesse, and I would train at the YMCA after school 5 days a week and talk supplements. I believe I was taking this awful fat burner called Agent Orange and Jesse was taking good ole’ creatine fartohydrate. Those were the days! In hindsight as much as I scoff to admit it, Senone was the smartest out of all of us. Long story short, the FDA caught wind that it worked and banned it. I’ll save the discussion of pharmaceuticals, supplements, OTC drugs, and the FDA for another day.

Victor Conte

As far as the steroids go let me just disclose a bit about Patrick’s character. He made something truly remarkable and excitedly sold it. He didn’t sedate people and inject them with steroids without their consent.  He got busted and went to prison. He took full responsibility, did his time, and kept his mouth shut. He never sold out, rolled, or squealed on anyone and its 10 years later. The same can’t be said for the BALCO founder Victor Conte who bought the THG for distribution. That isn’t exactly shocking. Anyone who’s watched Pineapple Express and Breaking Bad knows you never trust a drug dealer.

Patrick on the Outside

Undeterred post prison Patrick continued his work in the supplement industry legally. He HAS to be legal or he gets the hose again. Plus he welcomes a challenge. How can he put out products that work with the resources he’s got? It hasn’t come without setbacks. Patrick has continued to put out quality supplements that work even with the DEA jammed so uncomfortably far up his ass the man forever walks funny. So far in fact that one day they took it upon themselves to seize and raid his beautiful 40,000 sq. ft lab and manufacturing facility in 2009 because a couple of baseball players failed a drug test and blamed it on Patrick’s new product called 6-OXO.

The product sample was tested and found to be insufficient in producing a positive drug test, but the damage was done. The lab was destroyed, and all the equipment. Patrick’s proverbial Ferrari went to auction. He was left standing in the rubble with a heavy heart, swallowing another emotional set back, and 6-OXO was pulled off the market.  So long to another effective supplement. May it rest in peace.

These are circumstances that would make an ordinary man throw in the towel and pick a new profession, but Patrick and his business partner Lakhan Boodram continue their work slowly rebuilding with very little capital. I have asked Patrick on more than one occasion. What the hell man? Why don’t you just write a book about the industry, steroids, and debauchery, or go make six figures for an oil company?… something! His answer is simple and the same every time. “Because I’ll never sell out, I can’t imagine doing anything else, and I’ll never leave my business partner hanging.” I don’t blame the guy one bit. That whole book thing didn’t work out so well for Conseco.

It’s admirable to run across honest people that are in a business so cloaked with scandal and exceeding the allowable per capita of swindlers, hustlers, cheaters, liars, and narcissists. The guy is just a good human. The cool thing about Patrick is he’s one of us. He’s approachable and down to earth, and in addition to being a supplement savant, the man actually knows a thing or two about training.

Stay tuned for the interview half of this series where I have Patrick weigh in on training, what he thinks about CrossFit, supplemental things, and a few shenanigans including the cat outside his lab that’s stalking him and possibly some dating advice for fitness minded ladies (wish me luck there). Feel free to check him out anytime at patrickarnoldblog.com.

As we prepare to watch the 2012 Olympic Track and Field events, all eyes are squarely on Jamaican sprinter and world record holder Usain Bolt to see if he can match or surpass his blindingly fast times from the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. But does anyone care to investigate whether the world’s greatest sprinter — Usain Bolt is on steroids?

Usain Bolt’s Record Breaking History

In those 2008 Games, Bolt shocked the world by smashing the world record in the 100m and 200m races, becoming the first sprinter to ever crack the 9.7s barrier by running a 9.69s (including the early celebration that began 5m prior to the finish line) in the 100m and a 19.30s in the 200m. The following year at the 2009 World Championships, Bolt lowered his time in the 100m to a seemingly impossible 9.58s and in the 200m to a mind-numbing 19.19s.

The Case in Favor of Usain Bolt’s Steroid Use

In the three years since smashing two of the most famous world records in 2009, we haven’t heard much from Usain Bolt. Rumors of injuries and relationships kept him largely out of the public eye until he re-appeared on the scene at the 2011 World Championships, where he ran a more modest 19.40s in the 200m before anchoring a world record-breaking 400m relay for the Jamaican Team.

Since 2009, Bolt hasn’t come close to touching any of his records and his performance at the 2012 Olympic Trials (in which he ran a mortal 9.86s in the 100m and 19.83s in the 200m) seemed to indicate that his best times are well behind him.

But that would ignore the entire process of steroid cycling.

As everyone who understands steroids knows, athletes utilize Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) pursuant to a cycle that seeks to slowly elevate testosterone and growth hormone levels (and corresponding to an increase in performance) to a peak that is concurrent with a competition.

How Usain Bolt and other Olympic Sprinters Can Beat Olympic Drug Testing

A typical PED cycle would begin 12 weeks out from competition with the target date being the day prior to or of the competition. Along with the use of undetectable steroids and daily growth hormone injections, the athlete would also have his blood drawn on a daily basis to monitor his testosterone and rhGH ratios in an effort to keep them within Olympic World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) testing limits. Close monitoring of these ratios allow an Olympic sprinter such as Bolt to both use PEDs up to the day of competition while still comfortably submitting to multiple drug tests.

This isn’t evidence particular to Usain Bolt, as it could just as easily describe the protocol that every Olympic sprinter is using to pass the drug tests. However, it is mentioned simply to point out how easily Olympic athletes are able to pass an Olympic-level drug test, even with the highest levels of scrutiny. The bottom line is that if an athlete is within the permissible testosterone and rhGH ratios, he is deemed clean. The reality is that any athlete who doesn’t maximize his testosterone and rhGH levels to the maximum permissible level has no chance of breaking a world record.

For example, let’s assume that a talented NCAA sprinter has a testosterone ratio (testosterone: epitestosterone) of 1:1 which is considered normal, or average. The current WADA guidelines permit a ratio of up to 4:1. Given the fact that the only way for an NCAA sprinter to make any money sprinting is to win international competitions and garner endorsements, what reason could that NCAA sprinter possibly have for NOT quadrupling his testosterone ratio up to the maximum of 4:1? Using a number of undetectable steroid compounds, that same athlete would presumably see a major improvement in his sprint times without ever ‘testing positive’.

And this is the folly of drug testing: It gives ‘dirty’ athletes all the ammunition they need to proclaim themselves ‘clean’ — replete with Olympic level testing results.

Passing an Olympic Drug Test Does Not Make Usain Bolt ‘Clean’

The worst argument that anyone can make for Usain Bolt being a clean athlete is that he has yet to fail a steroid or other drug test, despite being subjected to rigorous drug testing protocols.

The reality is that most Olympic athletes have their blood levels so closely monitored that only an egregious miscalculation in the timing of a steroid injection or use of a masking agent (i.e. diuretics) to dilute the levels of a steroid within the blood would result in a positive test. This is the only reason why we rarely see positive tests for Olympic level athletes.

International steroid expert Anthony Roberts told Muscleweek: “With regards to fooling the Olympic drug tests, many of the same loopholes that existed ten to twenty years ago still exist today. Until those loopholes are closed, there will always be a shadow of doubt falling on the Olympics.”

Roberts continued, “Testosterone, hGH and most of the other highly potent anabolics are virtually undetectable — when we see a positive test and a tearfully apologetic athlete, he or she probably represents less than 1% of those who are actually using banned substances.”

Olympic Drug Testing is a Joke

United States Olympic Gold Medalist Marion Jones proudly proclaimed that she passed more than 160 drug tests in her career. The fact remains that she won three gold medals at the 2000 Olympics while passing the supposedly stringent requirements of Olympic WADA testing.

And yet, despite breaking world records in the 100m and 200m sprints; despite being romantically involved with and coached by Olympic shot-putter CJ Hunter who tested positive for steroids four times leading up to the 2000 Olympics and was subsequently banned by the ITAF; despite being romantically involved with and coached by Olympic sprinter Tim Montgomery who tested positive for steroids and was subsequently banned; despite training under track coach Trevor Graham who has been banned for life from track and field; and despite her affiliation with BALCO Labs and the insistence of BALCO president Victor Conte who admitted to injecting Marion Jones with steroids, the general public and sports ‘journalists’ were still gullible enough to believe that Marion Jones was in fact, a ‘clean athlete.’

As Marion Jones proved, testing ‘clean’ means absolutely nothing.

Usain Bolt’s Track ‘Coach’ is a Steroid Expert

Interestingly (and perhaps damningly) in making a case against Usain Bolt, a fact that is often ignored is that the man who worked with Victor Conte at Balco Labs and later testified against CJ Hunter, Tim Montgomery, Marion Jones, and yes — current 2012 U.S. Olympic sprinter Justin Gatlin– was a man by the name of Angel Heredia. Prior to working at BALCO, Angel Heredia was a national discus champion for Mexico. In the case against BALCO and Graham, he is referred to as ‘Source A’ and his testimony against BALCO athletes in verifying the documents that detailed the drug schedules for those athletes was crucial in obtaining convictions or confessions from those individuals.

But BALCO drug guru Angel Heredia never served a day in prison.

Even more suspiciously, sometime after 2008, Angel Heredia legally changed his name to Angel Hernandez.

Pop Quiz: Why would Angel Heredia change his name to Angel Hernandez?

Answer: Usain Bolt hired the new incarnation of Angel Heredia to become his track ‘coach’ in 2009. Unfortunately for Mr. Heredia,  can be a terrible thing for a man with a past like Angel.

Here is a video of Usain Bolt’s track coach Angel Heredia (Hernandez) obtaining steroids in Mexico and injecting growth hormone on camera for a German documentary:

And a small piece of the interview transcript from German publication Der Spiegel’s 2008 interview with Angel Hernandez:

SPIEGEL: Mr. Heredia, will you watch the 100 meter final in Beijing?

Heredia: Of course. But the winner will not be clean. Not even any of the contestants will be clean. (emphasis added)

SPIEGEL: Of eight runners …

Heredia: … eight will be doped.

SPIEGEL: There is no way to prove that.

Heredia: There is no doubt about it. The difference between 10.0 and 9.7 seconds is the drugs.

Bolt’s Coach is more of a Chemist than a Coach

According to the New York Times, Usain Bolt’s track coach Angel Hernandez has referred to himself as a chemist, scientist and nutritionist.

Pop Quiz #2: Why would the world’s top ‘natural’ sprinter need the services of a chemist affiliated with BALCO and multiple dirty sprinters?

Answer: A logical response would be that Usain Bolt isn’t any more ‘clean’ than Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, Ben Johnson, Tim Montgomery, or even Jamaican-born U.S. sprinter Debbie Dunn — who bowed out of the 2012 Olympics just days prior to the opening ceremonies when she tested positive for a testosterone derivative.

Logic would seem to dictate that sprinters need sprint coaches, not chemists. But no, Usain Bolt needs a chemist.

Just as those aforementioned sprinters who have broken track records before have.

Because a great sprint coach could never help a track athlete as much as a great chemist can. Here’s more from Usain’s ‘coach’ explaining his precise skill set as it applies to ‘coaching’ in that 2008 interview:

SPIEGEL: So you became a therapist for the athletes in matters of drugs?

Heredia: More like a coach. Together we found out what was good for which body and what the decomposition times were. I designed schedules for cocktails and regimens that depended on the money the athletes offered me. Street drugs for little money, designer drugs for tens of thousands. Usually I sent the drugs by mail, but sometimes the athletes came to me.

Still not convinced? Consider this New York Times article from 2008 that documented how Angel Heredia (Hernandez) was on the payroll of no less than 12 Olympic level athletes, including Olympic Gold Medalist Sprinter Maurice Greene (detecting a pattern here, no?):

In recent interviews with The New York Times, Mr. Heredia described how and with whom he worked, sharing copies of records that appear to link him to many of the best sprinters of the last decade. Those records include e-mail exchanges of doping regimens, canceled checks, telephone recordings, shipping records, laboratory readings of blood and urine samples, and Justice Department documents.

Among his clients, Mr. Heredia identified 12 athletes who had won a combined 26 Olympic medals and 21 world championships. Four of the 12 athletes, including Ms. Jones, had been named and barred from competition for illicit drug use. Eight of the 12 — notably, the sprinter Maurice Greene — have never been previously linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

Mr. Greene, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a five-time world champion, has never failed a drug test.

Mr. Heredia showed The Times a copy of a bank transaction form showing a $10,000 wire transfer from a Maurice Greene to a relative of Mr. Heredia’s; two sets of blood-test lab reports with Mr. Greene’s name and age on them; and an e-mail message from a close friend and track-club teammate of Mr. Greene’s, attaching one of the lab reports and saying, “Angel, this is maurices results sorry it took so long.

Why would an athlete’s own ‘coach’, errr,  I mean ‘chemist’ be testing his own athlete’s blood?

Well,  if you believe the ‘coaches’, it’s to analyze the blood and determine if there are any deficits in any areas that may need to be addressed. But a chemist would just tell you that it’s to confirm that the testosterone and ghGH ratios are within the legal limits. Who would you believe?

Would you believe Usain Bolt’s coach? If so, then you might want to consider this, from the same Times Article:

Mr. Heredia, 33, a former Mexican national discus champion, is a secretive figure on the track circuit who describes himself as a chemist, scientist and nutritionist. The son of a chemist, Mr. Heredia received an undergraduate degree in kinesiology from Texas A&M in Kingsville, records show.

He said he used family connections to pharmacies and labs in Mexico to help his business. For years, Mr. Heredia said, he helped his clients flout the rules and easily avoided detection. Substances like human growth hormone and the blood booster erythropoietin, or EPO, are still virtually impossible to detect, and “it is still easy to use testosterone” with fast-acting creams, he said.

“You combine all these things — boom! — you get amazing results,” Mr. Heredia said.

Amazing, indeed. Earlier today, Usain Bolt just became the first Olympic athlete to repeat winning Gold in the 100m and 200m sprints. His times of 9.63s in the 100m and 19.32 in the 200m are his best times since the 2009 World Championships and after his 200m victory, he boldly declared that he is “the greatest athlete who ever lived.”

It probably doesn’t hurt that he just happens to have “the greatest chemist who ever lived” right there in his corner.

By XfitSpin

MuscleWeek: We want to thank you so much Patrick for taking the time for this interview. We really appreciate it. Jumping right in, what inspired you to start bodybuilding?

PA: I started when I was quite young because my grandfather had some old York Barbell weights that he gave to us kids (me and my brothers). I didn’t know too much about weightlifting back then. We bought a book or two and started doing the exercises we found in there. After Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder came out we became big fans of Arnold. Then our training became more sophisticated. We eventually bought a bench and made a gym in our cellar. I also remember that my mom got Prevention Magazine. I’m not even sure if it’s still in publication.

MW: I think it is actually.

PA: Really? Huh. Well, anyway, it got me interested in supplements and the nutritional aspects of training.

MW: So, when you were a teenager just out of high school, going to college. What in the world made you decide to go into Chemistry?

PA: I originally wanted to go into Pharmacy. I was really interested in drugs. How drugs could heal people, and how they worked in the body. I did well in Chemistry in High School and I enjoyed making stuff in lab during class.

MW: What was your first job out of college?

PA: I took a job during college at a company called Uniroyal. It’s a chemical company. I worked as a lab tech in a work study program. I made polymers and polymer precursors. It was really messy and included nasty chemicals.

After I finished school I got a job at a company called GAF which changed its name to ISP and now has a different name. I’m not sure what it is. I worked in a lab and did research mostly for the cosmetic industry. Polymers once again. You know, products that go into hair gels and conditioners. It was boring but I learned a lot about analytical and synthesis techniques.

I had a decent lab and access to other labs and there was a Chemical Library on our floor. That’s where I started looking up all the chemical compositions of steroids and bodybuilding drugs. Since my job was really boring and my boss was never around I started making whatever I wanted, and I’d come back at night and work on stuff. People started catching on. I got caught and lost my job, but I made all kinds of drugs, bodybuilding related and otherwise. Anything I wanted to make I looked it up and figured it out.

After I lost my job I returned to CT and got into the PhD program for Organic Synthesis at UConn. At that time I started fooling around on the internet. This was around 1995 when it was relatively new. I met a lot of people on there like Dan Duchaine, Will Brink, and Bruce Kneller.

MW: Oh Wow! I actually had a question later about how you met Dan. There it is.

PA: I feel like I’m giving you a total biography. Do you want me to keep going?

MW: Definitely, but I’ll ask you a few more things for this interview specifically.

PA: Yeah, maybe you could make the bio into a separate post or something.

MW: That sounds like a great idea. Okay, serious question. If you could go back in time to when Duchaine was still alive knowing what you know now, what would you say to him?

PA: I think I would just tell him that people appreciated very much what he’s done and he inspired a lot of people. I enjoyed working with him, but he was obviously a very tortured man, and I wish that I could have helped him in some way.

MW: What are you working on right now?

PA: I’m doing some very exciting work with ketones. I’m collaborating with a top researcher in that area.

MW: That sounds exciting! Crossfitters love ketones. Probably not like Dave Palumbo loves ketones, but in what capacity?

PA: Products that raise levels of ketones in the body.

MW: What are your goals for Epharm in 2013?

PA: I’m doing a lot of work with natural products like Ursolic acid and I also have a direct sales brand called Prototype Nutrition. I also have a Ursolic acid derivative with high bioavailability that I made into a topical. That is probably my most exciting product right now. It’s all natural and great for losing fat, maintaining muscularity, and endurance. It’s called Ur Spray and is sold through Prototype Nutrition. I also have a version sold through Epharm called Pump Spray.

MW: So, I know you personally don’t Crossfit, but what are your thoughts on the subject?

PA: I saw it awhile ago on ESPN actually. My understanding is that it’s very aerobic, varied, high intensity training. From a cardio fitness aspect it’s probably great, but as far as gaining proficiency at a certain exercise, it’s counterproductive. With crossfit you have to try and learn a million exercises at the same time. However, in order to be good at a complex exercise technique like a power clean you have to build neural pathways by doing the same movements consistently and somewhat exclusively for a while.

MW: Well, they do say they specialize in not specializing, but you think this can actually be a negative thing?

PA: I think Crossfit actually confuses the body to where you’re not proficient at lifts, or it takes you a lot longer to gain that proficiency. I wouldn’t recommend it to beginners. There are too many complex movements that need some dedication to develop the proper technique. Doing something like a snatch when you’ve already done other things, and you’re exhausted, and your form isn’t that great is very dangerous. For someone that knows how to do all the exercises, well I think it’s a good system and people get a hell of a workout.

MW: I agree. I get asked frequently at Crossfit about how to improve one specific movement. I always say, you have to do it, and do it often. You can’t just do it when it pops up once a month in a WOD. For women especially, building that upper body strength takes some serious work and a band won’t get you there in any timely fashion. Anyway, off my soap box.

MW: What are 3 supplements you recommend for anyone training at high intensity 2-5x a week?

PA: I would suggest a protein supplement. Definitely a Multivitamin/Multimineral. Fish Oil obviously, because people who train hard are subject to injury and inflammation that could hinder performance.

I would also add caffeine. It enhances the utilization of fatty acids for fuel, speeds up glycogen replacement after exercise, and decreases perceived exertion and pain during exercise. Not everyone enjoys the effects of stimulants however, and some have personal reasons for avoiding caffeine.

MW: What are your thoughts on the presence of performance enhancing drugs in Crossfit? Is it naïve to think people aren’t cycling in the off season and then coming off to compete in Regionals and the Games?

PA: Whenever there is a substantial reward – a financial reward -there’s going to be people that cheat to win. It’s that way in any sport. There’s no reason to believe that crossfit would be immune to this, especially since its foundation is around weightlifting. These drugs are so engrained in the weight/gym culture that there’s bound to be some people who use them to their advantage. Plus, they’re so easy to use since they only have in-competition testing. If they want to get rid of drugs in the sport I would say stop giving people money when they win.

MW: LOL, that’s kind of funny. I could just see Dave Castro going “Hey crossfitters, I was just kidding about that 250k purse you’ve been gunning for all year.”

PA: If they want to get serious they need to do off season testing like the Olympic anti-doping agencies and model their protocols and use their laboratories. This would be very expensive to implement and I don’t know how crossfitters would feel about it.

MW: There’s an argument out there that steroids or EPO would actually hinder a crossfitter’s performance. What is your response to that?

PA: Track and Field athletes have benefited exponentially from using these drugs. Crossfit wouldn’t be any different. Overuse of anabolic steroids certainly can hinder performance by leading to tightness and excess water retention, and just like in track and field a crossfitter would need to carefully manipulate their drug intake to avoid the negatives.

MW: Muscle Weeker with the screen name “Bruce Berkowitz” wants to know if you ever hear from Bruce Kneller?

PA: Yeah, he just sent me an invitation on LinkedIn. I tried his new protein at the Olympia and I thought it was pretty good. I don’t really compete with him in the industry anymore so we don’t butt heads like we used to.

MW: MuscleWeek Senior Editor Shane Ray wants to know what your thoughts are on SARMS? Before you answer that, what exactly are SARMS?

PA: Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators. Basically, they are the same thing as anabolic steroids but they’ve been designed using computer aided molecular modeling. These models create structures that bind and activate the androgen receptor, which is essentially what steroids do. However these structures are completely different than the classic four fused rings structures of steroids.

In theory the people that developed them thought they would produce the same effect as anabolic steroids while simultaneously avoiding unwanted side effects. Some animal studies suggested this, but the human studies do not. Similar to anabolic steroids they still disrupt your body’s hormone regulation. They also increase liver enzymes and produce abnormalities in blood lipid profiles. Despite their efforts using sophisticated drug design techniques, the developers still can’t really differentiate between therapeutic and toxic effects any more than what was achieved decades ago with anabolic steroids

One interesting aspect is that no one ever uses the word steroids with them. Are they going to be scheduled as anabolic steroids? As it stands presently they’re in a gray area legally. If they become available drugs they’ll be used in patients with age related sarcopenia and cancer, cachexia and what not. I would think at that point they will need to be scheduled because they’ll be abused as steroids are.

MW: Shane also wants to know if you think legal supplements will ever be as good as they were prior to 2004 or the age of prohormones?

PA: No. Unless some monumental discovery is made, but aliens might land here someday too.

MW: Another MuscleWeeker asked what your thoughts are on Lance Armstrong?

PA: I feel as though he was made a scapegoat. He was singled out and it’s sad to see a hero fall like that. I think it’s a little unfair they would go to such extremes to catch him when they didn’t do that to anyone else. Although, I also think he was a fool to continue to compete even though he was being suspected more and more. He was pushing his luck and snubbing his nose at the testing people. If he just retired in 04’ or something he would have been the best ever, but since he didn’t, he made himself more and more vulnerable.

MW: The craziest thing you’ve ever seen at the Olympia or Arnold Classic?

PA: I’m going to have to get back to you on that. I’ve seen a lot.

MW: What is the coolest thing a fan has ever sent you?

PA: Someone sent me a watch once and a board rep just sent me some cookies and fudge, and hot dipping sauce for Christmas. I also get letters from people in prison asking me to help them get out. I guess that’s interesting, but I obviously can’t help them.

MW: If you had any dating advice for women who compete in figure/bikini/bodybuilding or even crossfit, what would it be?

PA: When I go to the shows and see the really serious fitness and figure girls, they’re usually dating guys that train them, are also bodybuilders, or men they most likely met at the gym. Their lives are so extreme they probably couldn’t co-exist with someone not in the same lifestyle. If I were a girl I’d shoot for a more interesting life and look for someone that may not be as into competing, perhaps an intellectual. A fitness girl has to look at her practical needs yes, but she also shouldn’t restrict her life to being a hermit and making her whole existence about training, broccoli, and tanning.

MW: I think so too. Thanks so much Patrick, always a pleasure.

PA: You’re welcome.

You can check Patrick out at www.patrickarnoldblog.com

Patrick’s products are sold through www.prototypenutrition.com and www.epharmnutrition.com

If you have your own questions you can track him down on his Q&A threads at http://www.prohormoneforum.com/q-patrick-arnold/ and http://anabolicminds.com/forum/advanced-discussion-patrick/

Sigh. It’s nearly become a daily occurrence for an athlete to test positive for steroids these days. Rather than continue to operate their drug-assisted professional sports leagues, perhaps football, baseball, hockey, MMA, and boxing could lear a lesson from bodybuilding. Professional Bodybuilding (under the IFBB) doesn’t even bother to test its ‘athletes’ for steroids because nary a single one would pass and the ‘sport’ would cease to exist. Rather than wax poetic about what amazing athletes bodybuilders are and highlight their amazing accomplishments of strength posing in a thong , the IFBB simply accepted that steroids are a part of the game and moved on to celebrating the outcome of mass steroid use and abuse — the oodles of copious mountains of salacious muscle exhibited by the aforesaid bodybuilders.

For most of us, that tack is preferable to what is currently happening in every other sport: Lies, denials and excuses for steroid use that seek to confuse the public (and more often than not, ‘journalists’).

Take the latest steroid scandal to break this week — WBA Light Welterweight Boxing Champion Lamont Peterson, who flunked a steroid test two months prior to his highly anticipated HBO rematch with Amir Khan. Today, Lamont’s ‘camp’ (a euphemism for the chain of command that flows downhill from the lawyer to the PR flack) denied that Peterson has ever tested positive for steroids in his 18 years of boxing.

 For now, let’s ignore the red herring fact that amateur boxing under [current amateur United States boxing governing body] USA boxing does not test its athletes for steroids and that 99% of all boxing matches are conducted without any steroid testing. Instead, let’s focus on the latest excuse to come out of an attorney’sathlete’s lips:  According to Team Peterson, the 28-YEAR OLD Peterson underwent treatment from a Vegas doctor about one month prior to his first fight with Khan in November 2011 for a “critically low level of free testosterone.“

First, let’s take a moment to laugh at the use of the word ‘critically’. According to the American Hospital Association, in medical circumstances the word ‘critical’ to describe a patient in which “Vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits. Patient may be unconscious. Indicators are unfavorable.”  To the layman, that means that a person stands a decent chance of being dead by the next health update. So what does it mean if an athlete — a boxing champion, no less — is ‘suffering’ from ‘critically low’ testosterone levels?? Does it mean that he’s in danger of dying? That he can’t produce offspring? That he no longer has an interest in browsing Tube8.com? Of course not.

It’s more likely that his testosterone levels are merely average to high-average. But in case you hadn’t noticed, top athletes are not supposed to be “merely average.” They are supposed to be super-human, and therein lies the latest rub: Athletes with anything less than super-human levels of testosterone are now (falsely) claiming to suffer from low testosterone. Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) and the clinics that prescribe such therapy are nothing but the latest roundabout in a long list of ways to ‘defeat steroid testing’. As the tests have gotten better at detecting the use of anabolic steroids, we have seen a growth spurt in the number of athletes who are no longer comfortable in just trying to evade detection of their steroid usage — now they OPENLY admit to steroid use but claim that it is necessary to overcome ‘critically low’ levels of testosterone.

The rest of Team Peterson’s claims are even more laughable: They claim that Peterson’s physician — Dr. Thompson — actually injected pellets of “bioidentical testosterone derived from soy” into Peterson’s hip. Thompson claimed the soy pellets do not enhance athletic performance because they are released into the system so slowly.

Let’s try to get this straight: The Champ, suffering from ‘critically low’ levels of testosterone (that we can assume resulted in a diminished athletic performance) allowed himself to be injected with a testosterone designed to be released into his blood system so s-l-o-w-l-y that it would not even enhance his athletic performance.

Basically, what they’re lying about saying is that Lamont Peterson allowed a doctor to jam a large syringe full of steroids into his bare buttocks for reasons having nothing to do with him wanting to defend the WBA Light Welterweight Boxing Championship of the world and for which he would receive a SEVEN-FIGURE PAYDAY (and closer to EIGHT-FIGURES for future potential bouts with Pacquiao and Mayweather). No, Team Peterson is saying — this had nothing to do with athletic performance at all — just another case of a top athlete choosing an inconvenient and purely coincidental time to undergo testosterone replacement therapy.

Yeah, right.

Or more likely, just another liar.

MuscleWeek: Tell us a little about yourself, Rob. Where did you grow up? What do you do for a living?

Rob Krieder: I grew up in southern Maryland. Very rural and country. My grandfather, who was a farmer, gave my parents a few acres to build a house on and that is where they still are living to this day. I get most of my genetics from my grandfather. Hard working man, with huge arms and forearms and a heart of gold.

I have been running a personal training business since 1998, RK BODIES (www.rkbodies.com). I managed health clubs and was a fitness director as well, but I got tired of making the clubs a lot of money, and I myself, only seeing a fraction of that. I’ve always done things my way, and always will.

MW: How did you fall into this cult known as the competitive bodybuilding world? Was sand kicked in your face, too like most of us?

Nope, no sand kicked in my face. I was the stocky kid in school. During lunch, we would always have arm wrestling challenges and me and another kid were the champs.

I picked up a Muscle and Fitness and Flex magazine at a 7-11 when I was about 14 and read those suckers from front to back. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I did my best to apply it all in the basement of my parents house using my fathers sand weights. I kept educating myself through magazines and Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Body Building. I grossly over trained for a couple of years trying to emulate the pro’s routines, not realizing they were all juiced up. It wasn’t until Dorian Yates came on to the scene and his high intensity/low volume approach became popular. The more rest I gave myself, the more I grew.

MW: Would you say you are now over the hump? On your way UP the hump one constantly worries about their nitrogen balance and thinks whey protein will help “build muscle”. Over the hump means if you miss a meal you know you’re not going to shrivel up and drop 60lbs and evaporate into nothing. It means you put your fanny pack away and don’t look down on men with hair on their legs. Which side of the hump are you on?

RK: I was obsessed at an early age, and I am glad I grew out of that quickly. I am educated, with a Bachelors in Exercise Physiology (Cum Laude), so I got over the hump a long time ago. I don’t look down upon anyone. Fanny packs, bad bad memories. How about tight skinz pants back in the day as well. Funny shit.

MW: Did you at one point have a true interest in winning a pro card?

RK: I still do. I hope to obtain that fucker in 2013 at Masters Nationals. I is just a personal goal, one I have had since I was a kid. I have experienced everything a pro body builder has already, except the pro card. I have been sponsored by Twinlab, MHP, MuscleTech and now Big Bitch Formula (www.bigbitchformula.com), I have traveled the country, working booths at show, tons of photo shoots, interviews, videos, magazines cover and features etc etc. I have done it all pretty much. Has it changed me or made me a better man? Not really, but it has made me realize body building isn’t a mean to an end. I will never make a career of body building. I just enjoy doing it. I wouldn’t have competed in over 30 contests in 20 years if I didn’t.

MW: What would have that really given you besides an annual bill to “renew” it?

RK: To pay for your pro card in the first place is the most absurd thing EVER. It may help my business slightly with the added title of IFBB pro body builder. That’s about it.

MW: Do you dabble in seedy ways to make money like majority higher level competitive bodybuilders do? You don’t have a pseudonym somewhere in cyberspace such as Zeus Maximus, do you?

RK: Too fucking funny. I have had so many people contact me for private posing, web cam shit etc. I have morals. I couldn’t live with myself if I did any of that crap. The only person I have a pseudonym for is my fiance. Gotta keep things new and exciting right ? lol

MW: It’s public knowledge now in the bodybuilding world over your distaste and mishap with hiring George Farah. You claim he was not invested in you and was very flaky like a typical bodybuilder despite your handsome payment to him. Tell us a little about that.

RK: We had a run in down in South Beach, Miami this past Nationals. I paid him for 16 weeks of contest prep. I heard from him the first 4 weeks and didn’t hear a peep until our paths crossed in Miami. I asked what happened ? He said what do you mean? I said, I haven’t heard from you in 12 weeks. He tried to turn it around on me, I haven’t heard from you. I said, George I paid you to be my coach, if you don’t hear from me, wouldn’t you feel obligated to at least check in with me ? He said, I lost your email. Someone broke into my garage/car and stole my lap top. I shook my head, knowing you don’t need your lap top to access your address book. I said, you have my number also. He said no I don’t. I showed my phone with his number on it. I said look, I am not hear to argue, can I get a refund, since I feel I paid for a service that I didn’t get ? He said, yeah sure, whatever to make it better. Have I seen any type of refund ?? NOPE. After my radio interview on RX MUSCLE, in which I told the same story, he probably got his panties all up in a bunch.

MW: What possessed you to hire George in the first place? Why George over somebody else such as a Chris Aceto or “Diamond” Dave Palumbo?

RK: I was going to go with Palumbo. The dude is pretty smart. However, a couple good friends of mine suggested Farah, so I did. I thought you get what you pay for ($1500) and Palumbo was much cheaper. Boy was I wrong. I may work with Palumbo for the 2013 Nationals, but to be honest, no one knows my body better than I do. I did consult with someone this past Nationals who was good, but if I had done things my way the final couple of days, I would have done much better.

MW: Is competitive bodybuilding in your future cards still?

RK: Indeed. I love this shit. I don’t give a flying fuck where the judges place me. I won’t kiss anyone’s ass either for a better placing. I do this to challenge myself. It is always a journey I enjoy. It is like therapy I suppose. Until I find another hobby/activity that challenges me in the same way, I will always be a body builder.

MW: What frustrates you the most with the way competitive bodybuilding is governed by the Usual Suspects and power brokers?

RK: Politics man…just politics. During the run in with Farah, he said I had a guy in your weight class place in the top five. I said who? I wont name names, but he said he placed fifth. I knew who it was and threw my arms up in the air and said, well that explains it. That is the only way someone with a fat ass and zero conditioning could make it in the top five.

MW: It seems like Men’s Physique is growing and bodybuilding is dwindling. Just look at the numbers. Why do you think more guys are choosing the Men’s Physique route?

RK: It is more mainstream. It is not as hard core. Body building has gone in the wrong direction the past 15 years. Bigger is not better. It has gone so far to the extreme that I don’t believe it will come back. But its the fans doing. No one wants to see a dude they see on the street every day. They want freaks. It is a freak show, but now the Physique division is great for the women admirers as well as the homosexual population. One thing about the NPC, they are smart business men.

MW: Competitive bodybuilding seems to be a game of alchemy, sorcery and chemical wizardry more than ever. I know of guys still on the local scene barely cracking the Top 5 in a light heavy class that use year around and exceed dosages up to 2g a week and possibly up to 10 unites of serostim daily. Is this facilitated by the way bodybuilding is governed?

RK: Its gone way way overboard. I say, if you don’t have the genetics to be a body builder, pick another hobby. You aren’t gonna make it past the local scene. People who use so much gear just on the local scene, make zero sense to me. This chemistry shit isn’t healthy. People are fucking with their long term health and longevity. I have learned the hard way regarding all of that also. Been there and done that with crazy dosages. I was strong, but bloated me, gave me high blood pressure and nose bleeds etc. Felt horrible all of the time. That ain’t fun to me. For the past several years, I have only touched stuff around contest time. If I cannot grow in the off season from eating lots, training like a beast, resting lots etc, then I am not cut out to be a body builder. Again it goes back to genetics man.

MW: Delusions of Grandeur seems to be an ailment affecting many competitive bodybuilders. In your early years of all of this did you think streets of gold and a lifestyle of a baller was waiting for you eventually?

RK: More people are realizing now that unless you are a Heath or a Cutler there is less than no money or opportunity for you. Like I said above, I have done it all except receive my pro card. It has helped my business etc. I know there isn’t a career in it for me. I learned this years ago. It’s all about balance. Most body builders are extremist for some reason or another. Body building is used to cover up insecurities as well. When something is done at one extreme, the other end of that extreme is waiting right around the corner. Universal balance man.

MW: You seem to be a smooth cat and Playa.  How many Figure girl Industry chick ass have you white washed?  Be honest.

RK: Out of respect and love for my fiance, I will not divulge that information. Let’s just say, I sowed oats here and there, when I was young, dumb and full of………BOOM !

MW: Is dating a competitor chick really all that? The ones I dated were all fit for a straight jacket and Thorazine drip.

RK: Chicks who get into the sport are just as fucked up as a lot of body builders. Covering up insecurities x 100. As for the ones who get on the juice, why the fuck do you want to have facial hair, a raspy deep voice, a manly face, zits, and a huge clit ? Well maybe the huge clit ain’t so bad for em. Easier to get off BOOM !

MW: Where does Rob Kreider see himself in five years?

RK: In 5 years, I will be married with kids, partnered with my boy Bobby Haire with Big Bitch Formula, kicking the supplement industry in the ass, and also opening a gym with him as well.

MW: Who are some of the best people in the bodybuilding industry that you admire and can actually call a friend?

RK: Mat Duvall, Troy Moore, Fred Smalls, Vinnie Galanti, Derek Farnsworth, Lee Priest.

MW: Who shouldn’t be expecting a Christmas card from you this year or anytime soon?

RK: George Farah !

MW: Marry. Fuck. Kill. Ready? Ava Cowan. Jessica Paxton. Erin Stern.

RK: I am engaged man brother. I wouldn’t marry or kill any of them, soooooo…….

MW: How can people get ahold of you for nutritional prep and contest coaching? Is there anything you’d like to plug? Feel free.

RK: My personal/business website is www.rkbodies.com. My sponsor Big Bitch Formula is gonna come on strong in 2012. The BEST tasting whey…ever. NO BS. www.bigbitchformula.com

MW: Name Association. I drop a name and in one word tell us what comes to mind.

George Farah: Fucking douche bag!

Steve Blechman: Wise

Steve Weinberger: The Godfather

Aaron Singerman: I don’t know who he is.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Bodybuilding.

RK Bodies – Personal Training in Washington, DC, Bodybuilder, Model

MuscleWeek exposed the unlikelihood of this actually happening by pointing out that even the most famous and well-known fitness model, Monica Brant can’t command that much of a salary. In fact, most fitness models and are barely compensated at all for endorsing supplements and representing these companies at Expos and stores, with the models receiving a tiny stipend or free supplements in exchange for their services.

MuscleWeek called BULLSHIT on Anna’s story right from the start — beginning with the whole $75,000 contract story — and ending with our own analysis of Anna’s physique, which we concluded was the result of, ahem, supplemental testosterone. But what about the middle part of the story — that this phantom supplement company offered her $75,000 but only if she agreed to take a non-steroid product called Anavar.

For the uninitiated, Anavar was a trademarked name for an actual steroid (oxandrolone) made by Searle (now Pfizer) Pharmaceuticals during the 1980′s and 1990′s and sold via a prescription. Anavar — the steroid — is no longer produced legally. But interestingly, in 2003 a man named Jared Wheat registered the abandoned trademark and his company (coincidentally, based out of Georgia) Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals began selling a product called Anavar. Now, MuscleWeek cannot say whether that product contained the substance oxandrolone or Hi-Tech was simply misrepresenting a placebo as Anavar, but Jared Wheat, the CEO of Hi-Tech was sentenced to 50 months in prison for selling generic knockoffs of legitimate products using an off-shore manufacturing plant.

But just to leave no stone unturned, MuscleWeek contacted Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals — the only company of whom we are aware is selling a non-steroidal product called Anavar — and asked them if they knew of Anna Watson and whether they were the company who offered Anavar and the $75,000 contract to her. Here is their reply:

And so, the plot thickens. Here is a nervous and jittery Anna Watson responding to our article on Inside Edition yesterday:

Watch carefully as she seems to grow nervous admitting even to using whey protein — feeling the unnecessary need to explain that it’s found in milk. Between the proselytizing and the fumbling, our BS Detector is going off the charts.

There’s going to be a break in this story soon. Because, as we always say at MuscleWeek: Behind every woman with large muscles is a boyfriend holding an empty syringe.

by Jay Stern

Yesterday’s feature on University of Georgia cheerleader Anna Watson focused primarily on how easily the mainstream media routinely gives a pass to athletes on the steroid issue — even when the visual evidence is overwhelming.

Take for example, Mark McGwire. The dude went from a slim, freckle-faced boyish slugger to a jacked, Popeye-armed, acne-coated behemoth, and yet no one dared to question (or even bring up) the issue of steroids in the face of Mark’s tell-tale visual markers. No, a stray bottle of a legal supplement ‘accidentally’ left in public view in his locker was all the excuse anyone needed to overlook the obvious.

Or take Marion Jones, the muscular, Gold-medal winning, uber-athlete track star. She was married to and coached by a known steroid user, exhibited many of the physical traits (squared up jawline, enhanced muscularity, and extremely low bodyfat) of a steroid user, and most importantly, was running faster than any woman in the history of the world. And yet, not a single member of the mainstream media had the balls to mention what was so obvious in bodybuilding circles: The gal was juiced.

So while I’m not entirely surprised by the media’s reaction, I AM somewhat surprised by some of the public comments rolling in. After all, the media has an obligation to fact-check and must be wary of speculating on a negative sports angle too much, so as to avoid losing press passes, access to players or locker room privileges. But what’s the public’s excuse for being so stupid and naive? How is it that after having nearly EVERY single top baseball player of the 90’s (Bonds, McGwire, Canseco, Sosa, Rodriguez, Bagwell, Palmeiro, Clemens) admit to or get caught juicing, after the world’s fastest men (Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis, Tim Montgomery, Dwaine Chambers, Justin Gatlin, Kelli White) get caught juicing, after the best defensive player in the NFL(Merriweather) gets caught juicing, after the top cyclists admit to doping, after every muscular UFC fighter gets caught using steroids, there somehow remains MILLIONS of morons who refuse to accept that STEROIDS ARE EVERYWHERE. Has no one read the Mitchell Report? If not, here’s a link to the actual Mitchell Report. Or read the names of the 52 NFL Pro Bowlers popped for illegal substances here.

Common Sense > Drug Test

Do I have Anna Watson’s bloodwork to prove she’s a juicer? Of course not. Nor did I possess the blood results of UFC Female Fighter Christiana ‘Cyborg’ Santos when I referred to her obvious steroid use. But one positive drug test later, I was vindicated. This is a blog — not a court of law. We don’t need to PROVE Anna Watson is on steroids beyond a reasonable doubt. If that was the standard for reporting, no one would ever break ANY story. But when a fitness expert such as myself sees a young woman with certain physical traits that I have personally observed hundreds of times in my lifetime as being associated with the use of anabolic steroids, I’m going to call it as I see it.

Don’t believe me? I went ahead and questioned some of the world’s most esteemed and elite personal trainers at the Mecca of Bodybuilding — Gold’s Gym in Venice — by showing them a single photo of Anna flexing her biceps. Here are their responses:

IFBB Pro Bodybuilder and 4-time Ironman Winner turned Celebrity Personal Trainer Chris Cormier: (Laughs) “C’mon man. Of course she’s juiced. Look at her face.”

Former IFBB Pro Bodybuilder and Trainer to the Stars like 50 Cent, Charles Glass: “She’s not natural. You can tell by her face. She’s definitely using a little something extra.”

Elite Personal Trainer Rico McClinton: (Laughs) “Why would she even say that (she’s natural)? Of course she’s not.”

Elite Personal Trainer Sean K: “C’mon! Do you even need to ask? I’ve been training women for 20 years and they cannot build that level of muscle naturally.”

There is only one reason why people continue to believe that hyper muscularity can be achieved without the use of steroids: GULLIBILITY.

But take it from Muscleweek or the Experts: You, the general public, are being PUNKED!

Just because an athlete claims he or she is steroid-free doesn’t make it true. Athletes lie. Bodybuilders lie. Juicers lie.

Having oodles of muscles and claiming to be steroid-free is the inside joke of bodybuilders everywhere. And if you believe it, then the joke, my friend, is on YOU.

Every now and then, the general naivete of the mainstream media is exposed for the bodybuilding community to mock. Usually this occurs when an obvious steroid user (Chael Sonnen, Sean Sherk, Phil Baroni, Cyborg Santos) with hyper-muscularity tests positive and then makes some absurd claim about never having even heard of steroids or having taken some obscure supplement no one has ever heard of and claiming that the manufacturer — rather than stuff the cannister with $.42 of worthless maltodextrin powder, actually went to the great effort of illegally obtaining raw steroid compounds at a far more significant price and spiked their product with juice solely to improve buyer performance. Yeah, right.

So when I came across this photo of University of Georgia cheerleader Anna Watson flexing her biceps and putting thousands of juiced female figure, fitness, bikini and bodybuilding competitors to shame, and then having the gall to claim that she chose a cheerleading gig at Georgia over a ‘$75,000 fitness model contract’ because the agency wanted her to take the oral steroid Anavar, I had to laugh.

After all, here is a girl whose steroid use is obvious to even the most novice of bodybuilders and yet somehow the mainstream media is running with some home-spun tale of how this totally jacked-to-the-nines, testosterone-laden female was nearly ‘victimized’ by some unscrupulous ‘modeling agency’. To top it all off, like thousands of other narcissistic and brainwashed delusional liars, she gives all credit to Jesus. And by Jesus, she probably means the code word she texts to her dealer meaning ‘oxandrolone’.

Adding fuel to the liar, I mean fire, is her claim that she ‘turned down’ a $75,000 fitness model contract. Really, Anna? I mean, that’s a terrific DHV (Demonstration of Higher Value), but it certainly doesn’t make that ridiculous claim true. Anna, you’re a slightly above average-looking girl with nice biceps. Sure, you could probably make $75,000/year working the webcam for the muscle schmoe logging on to herbiceps.com with his penis firmly in hand, but no one is paying ANY fitness model a $75,000/year contract. But if Anna’s covertly genius plan comes to fruition and this ‘news item’ generates enough water cooler talk, I’m sure that Playboy’s Hugh Hefner will be happy to cough up that much for the public to see more than just her biceps. At the very least, it could bring the word ‘penoris’ into the collective consciousness and the entire Bulldog student body would learn if the curtains match the drapes.

A Mere Mortal and Anna Watson

I’d like to think that major media outlets would actually think for a moment before running a story like this, but hey, if the skinny-fat journalists of the world want to bury their pencil-necks in the sand and buy this whopper without a single skeptical question about how this one cheerleader has 40 lbs more muscle than any of the other girls in the University of Georgia weight room, then I guess that’s just what passes for journalism these days. Because you, Muscleweek reader, and I know the difference between a natural female and a hormonized one.

Nice try, Anna. You can pull the wool over some of the people’s eyes, but not the Sherlock Holmeses here at Muscleweek. To put it rather bluntly, to those of us whose testosterone use hasn’t clouded our brains, your steroid use is quite elementary, my Dear Watson.