# Can you tell if someone is using steroids just by looking at their development?



## Mike Tuvre USA (Mar 26, 2006)

I see some guys at my gym, and they are so lean, but huge.  I wonder if I can look that big, but without steroids.  If they are taking them, I won't be able to look like them so I was wondering how I could tell the natural's from the steroid users.  I want to be realistic about my gains.  Thanks.


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## LAM (Mar 26, 2006)

what is your definition of huge ?


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## ghandi (Mar 26, 2006)

If someone looks too big to be natural they probably aren't. When i see people that don't train that hard, get really big very quickly i doubt very much they're just on the Met-Rx!


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## Mike Tuvre USA (Mar 26, 2006)

I can't describe huge because it is more the look between their wrists/joints and the shape and height of their muscles.  Their whole body doesn't look huge, but their muscles do.  Does this make any sense?


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## shiznit2169 (Mar 26, 2006)

This guy is a good example of 100% natural

His name is Tom Venuto


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## madmartigan (Mar 26, 2006)

Yes they will have breasts and no hair   LOL

I dont believe that bloke has always been natural... I would bet at some point he has done a couple of cheeky cycles and just lies his ass off. You only really have their word to go by I suppose.


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## rmcfar (Mar 26, 2006)

enormous traps and veins galore is usually what i use to determine the juicers from the rest.

That said there really is no way of knowing without them pissing in a cup.

haha and even then who really knows


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## Gazhole (Mar 26, 2006)

shiznit2169 said:
			
		

> This guy is a good example of 100% natural
> 
> His name is Tom Venuto



Now that's an impressive physique. Jesus!


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## fufu (Mar 26, 2006)

Well you could associate it with certain things I guess. Like, if you notice that he gets heavy acne at times or whatnot. That is all I can really think of. It would be pretty hard to tell. I mean, if he is all the sudden lifting amounts of weights he wasn't able to before, I think you can assume he is.


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## -E- (Mar 26, 2006)

How can you tell?

You could always ask him.........


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## Diablo1990 (Mar 26, 2006)

Tom Venuto is 100% natural??  I have a natural goal now! lol


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## P-funk (Mar 26, 2006)

Skip LaCoure is 100% Natural too.  Jeff Willet Also!!


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## clemson357 (Mar 26, 2006)

Mike Tuvre said:
			
		

> Their whole body doesn't look huge, but their muscles do.  Does this make any sense?



No.


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## Nate K (Mar 26, 2006)

You can't tell man.  Tom Venuto did not take roids, he is not huge and probably has a extremly strict diet.
It take years of training though. Ask em how long they have been training.


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## GFR (Mar 26, 2006)

P-funk said:
			
		

> Skip LaCoure is 100% Natural too.


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## Mudge (Mar 26, 2006)

He is joking Foreman.

As for having "big muscles but not looking huge," then they are not huge. If someone is very lean they may look better than someone who has 2 inch larger arms, as an example. Being lean makes a BIG difference in appearance.


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## AKIRA (Mar 27, 2006)

Red Skin
Zits
Drastic changes in muscle mass (assuming youve seen them before they appeared bigger)
Drastic changes in mood (assuming you know the person)
Loss of hair
Growth of facial hair

But none of this means a fucking thing.  Everyone is different.


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## Mudge (Mar 27, 2006)

Facial hair? I think thats puberty.

But no, you can't always tell. I've seen very small average looking guys talking about taking steroids in the gym.


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## sh3nkedmac10 (Dec 19, 2011)

You'll never know unless you 

A) Test them
B) Ask them

My friends have taken before and shortly into their usage cycles their neck size would increase, not the traps so much but definitely the neck thickness. they will get abnormally large abnormally fast without the strength gains to back it up but you will not be able to go by assumption you will have to study them and then at best make a guess. My advice is to not worry about anybody but yourself because you have no idea what is an is not attainable until you put yourself through hell with enormous poundages in the compound lifts over extended periods of time. *You could very well surpass people you never thought you could.*


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## CaptainNapalm (Dec 19, 2011)

NOt always but often yes. i know guys who juice and you would never guess they do. Those who juice heavily for size always stand out and you can always tell.


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## bjg (Dec 20, 2011)

i can tell most of the time..there are juicers who are not big since they dont work out properly and there are juicers who are huge. the big ones can be with fat or ripped ...all the above cases can come from juicers. i just can tell by the way he is changing, the shape of the muscle, his hair and skin tone , his facial skin and features.
it is not hard to tell once you spend years in the gym.
and by the way funny enough the strongest guy in the gym where i go is not a juicer which pisses off the juicers (the majority) , i am the second guy who teases the juicers..


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## Calves of Steel (Dec 20, 2011)

Occasionally you'll see something obvious, like an average looking person growing insane arm hair in a few months, or someone in their 30s developing crazy acne. Or they just grow an excessive amount without getting fatter. But you have to have seen someone before and after to really tell. I know a guy who's on a gram of test a week and I think he looks completely natural, and not even big. He showed me a pic of him from the summer and I'm shocked at how different he looks. Like he hit puberty at the age of 25.

Either way, you can never look to anyone else, natural or not, to tell you what is realistic to accomplish. Naturally I gained 20 pounds my first year lifting, and 10 every year after that. They became softer and softer 10s as time went on. A friend of mine gained 40 pounds naturally his first year.


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## Cork (Dec 21, 2011)

Realistic goals?  If you want realistic goals look at the hypertrophy that olympic athletes get.  I'm not saying you have to start Olympic lifting if you want to get huge, but they have amazing hypertrophy and are tested regularly.  

There are naturals pulling 700lbs and squatting 600lbs and benching who knows how much.  There is no reason you should limit yourself.  Even looking at top natural competitors... who says you can't surpass them?


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## flyingheel (Dec 22, 2011)

Asking and getting an honest answer is about the only way.


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## bjg (Dec 22, 2011)

flyingheel said:


> Asking and getting an honest answer is about the only way.



sure there are many degrees of juicing ....some people do a cycle or two ..then it is hard to tell. but long term juicers are a different story


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## Gissurjon (Dec 23, 2011)

Mike Tuvre said:


> I see some guys at my gym, and they are so lean, but huge. I wonder if I can look that big, but without steroids. If they are taking them, I won't be able to look like them so I was wondering how I could tell the natural's from the steroid users. I want to be realistic about my gains. Thanks.


 
Why compare yourself to anybody else, juiced or not, when setting yourself a goal? Your genetic make-up is diffirent than anybody elses in this world (unless you have an identical twin) so one's natural limit is most certainly not going to be your natural limit.


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## Gissurjon (Dec 23, 2011)

And one more thing, what you call huge now will pmost likely not be huge to you after a solid year of training.


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## Gulfcoastgorilla (Dec 25, 2011)

I got to a pretty firm 220 before I started pinning   And traps are one of the most genetic muscles their are. I see people with tiny bodies and huge traps and they don't juice. Tou would be surprised how big you can get natty


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## Vibrant (Dec 25, 2011)

Cork said:


> Realistic goals?  If you want realistic goals look at the hypertrophy that olympic athletes get.  I'm not saying you have to start Olympic lifting if you want to get huge, but they have amazing hypertrophy and are tested regularly.
> 
> There are naturals pulling 700lbs and squatting 600lbs and benching who knows how much.  There is no reason you should limit yourself.  Even looking at top natural competitors... who says you can't surpass them?




dont be naive and think that Olympic athletes dont juice.


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## bigbenj (Dec 25, 2011)

Vibrant said:


> dont be naive and think that Olympic athletes dont juice.



Hahaha for sure


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## Pittsburgh63 (Dec 25, 2011)

ask for a golden shower... if it's raining olive oil you've got a winner.


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## jimm (Dec 26, 2011)

I think the most important question we all want to know is.. Do you know the muffin man?


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## rage racing (Dec 26, 2011)

Personally, I can tell when my buddies are "on" because their traps and shoulders get swole quick. I think just looking at a stranger and saying he is on is hard to do. Many people think my brother is on but he never touched the stuff. He has the good genetics in the familyand has a very strict diet and has been training for about 13 years.


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## bigrene (Dec 28, 2011)

CaptainNapalm said:


> NOt always but often yes. i know guys who juice and you would never guess they do. Those who juice heavily for size always stand out and you can always tell.



Very true I know a couple of guys personally that if you seen you would think have never juiced but not the case. Also when I was in high school and after that people thought I juiced but I hadn't. Signs usually are zits/sweat bumps on shoulders back, pronounced veins, and  big traps but like stated above not necessarily. For me I developed traps early on but the veins came in after the juice never had veins like now till I sauced up which I waited till 28,31 now. No real way of telling.


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## Cork (Dec 28, 2011)

Vibrant said:


> dont be naive and think that Olympic athletes dont juice.



True, but I would opine that drug use and/or abuse isn't as prevalent in Olympic lifting as it is in bodybuilding and casual gym use.  I'm not naive, but I am optimistic, haha.


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## SloppyJ (Dec 28, 2011)

My traps are the first sign that I started a cycle. After that, it's the huge neck and vascularity.


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## Jrluz14 (Dec 28, 2011)

SloppyJ said:


> My traps are the first sign that I started a cycle. After that, it's the huge neck and vascularity.



Same here. Traps got a lot bigger than usual around week 2, week 4 now and still no vascularity though


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## SloppyJ (Dec 28, 2011)

Jrluz14 said:


> Same here. Traps got a lot bigger than usual around week 2, week 4 now and still no vascularity though


 

Gotta be lean enough bro.


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## Jrluz14 (Dec 28, 2011)

SloppyJ said:


> Gotta be lean enough bro.



I'll get there.


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## ANIMALHAUS (Dec 29, 2011)

bjg said:


> i can tell most of the time..there are juicers who are not big since they dont work out properly and there are juicers who are huge. the big ones can be with fat or ripped ...all the above cases can come from juicers. i just can tell by the way he is changing, the shape of the muscle, his hair and skin tone , his facial skin and features.
> it is not hard to tell once you spend years in the gym.
> and by the way funny enough the strongest guy in the gym where i go is not a juicer which pisses off the juicers (the majority) , i am the second guy who teases the juicers..


 
The only people you tease are the senior citizens at Planet Fitness.


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## Bilal123 (Dec 29, 2011)

Vibrant said:


> dont be naive and think that Olympic athletes dont juice.



One thing that a lot of folks in track and field do is act like their injured because they don't get tested during that time. When those things clear their system they go back to competing. I remember Maurice Green used to train at my old jc. I got to see him and a bunch of other guys (and gals) train before we got out there to do our thing. Just know that the top tier athletes are using something... When you have hundreds or a second separating first and second place (and the money that comes along with it), you're going to want to have that extra edge.


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## Tog (Jan 7, 2012)

Mike Tuvre said:


> ...I wonder if I can look that big, but without steroids...


 Absolutely... an example would be John Hansen, he comes to mind immediately...  John Hansen



Mike Tuvre said:


> ...I want to be realistic about my gains...


Then might be wise to set realistic goals and follow generally accepted training and nutrition principals... _"big"_ typically results from going heavy, very heavy at an optimum training frequency. This varies widely for each individual and also their tenure within a progressive resistance paradigm...    

There are valid medical reasons for use of steroid compounds as an adjunct in treatment of disorders... but they are not without very serious adverse effects... that is why they are prescription drugs... oft said _"he who treats him/her self has a fool for a doctor"_

Please consider the amazing benefits of progressive resistance and nutrition... 
and it may be best to focus only on that guy in the mirror...  

All the best on your journey Mike...


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## Wrekem (Jan 7, 2012)

P-funk said:


> Skip LaCoure is 100% Natural too. Jeff Willet Also!!


 
that made my night


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## CanadianStrength (Jan 9, 2012)

The only person that ever knows the answer to that, is the person them self. There are so many cover agents now that just cause someone passes a test doesn't mean they are clean. Even the pretty boys use them, just use the right stuff to stay lean and not get huge


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