Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Here's the Best Evidence-Based Way to Tell If Someone Is on Steroids

Episode Date: February 6, 2019

How can you tell if someone is natty or not? This is a wellspring of controversial fitness gossip, and particularly among men. Some people say that it’s childish, rude, and unnecessary to ask or even wonder if so-and-so is “natty” or not. Don’t ask for whom the bell tolls and all that. Others don’t take issue with the line of discussion but claim there are major problems with the common methods of analysis. Thus, they say, unless it’s completely obvious, it’s really impossible to know whether someone is on the sauce or not. And still others can’t fathom why people purportedly into being healthy and fit would secretly use dangerous drugs to impress strangers on the Internet. Here’s my position: 1. I couldn’t care less whether someone does or doesn’t take steroids. That’s their business. 2. I do care, however, when someone takes steroids and lies about it to deceive people. That’s when it becomes other people’s business. Why? Because it’s no different than lying about anything else to make a buck or burnish your bona fides, and it’s one of the reasons so many young men and women have wildly unrealistic expectations about what type of physique they can achieve naturally and should aspire to. This is why you should get savvy about discerning who does and doesn’t use drugs. Let’s learn how. Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Hey, Mike Matthews here from Muscle for Life and Legion Athletics, and welcome to another episode of the Muscle for Life podcast. Now this one is going to be about determining whether someone is natty or not, whether someone is using steroids or has used steroids in the past or not. And I wanted to record this episode not to stir the pot, but to offer genuine value to the discussion because this is obviously a wellspring of controversial fitness gossip and particularly among men. Some people don't like it. They say that it is childish, rude, and unnecessary to ask or even wonder if so-and-so is natty or not. You know, don't ask for whom the bell tolls and all that. And other people don't really take issue

with the line of discussion, but claim that there are major problems with the common methods of analysis. And because of this, they say, unless it is completely obvious that someone is on steroids, it's really impossible to know whether a person is enhanced or not. And then there are many people who simply can't fathom why men and women purportedly into being healthy and fit would secretly use dangerous drugs to impress random people on the internet. My position is this. First, I couldn't care less whether someone does or doesn't take steroids. I do think that is their business. I do care. However, when someone takes steroids and lies about it to other people to deceive them, that's when it becomes other people's business. Why? Well, because that is no different than lying about anything else to make a buck or burnish your bona fides. And it is one of the

major reasons so many young men and women have wildly unrealistic expectations about what types of bodies they can achieve naturally and should aspire to. And I know that firsthand. I hear from many of them every day through social media and email. what really was going on behind the scenes, right? I mean, if an athlete suddenly has a breakthrough season, you might want to know if drugs helped them bring home the bacon. And similarly, if a social media influencer is selling pills, powders, or PDFs, they promise will help you look like them. You better want to know if they're also on the hashtag dedication because it changes everything. Now, most people, they can understand why actors and athletes take steroids. Fame and fortune are the stakes, and most of their peers

are using drugs as well to get jacked for movies and to gain a competitive advantage in the sport. So joining in and getting on the sauce is a no brainer. It's that third flavor of drug user, the internet profiteer, the internet parasite that many people can't seem to wrap their head around. And so I get asked questions like these fairly often. Why would some dude or some chick on Instagram lie about taking steroids? I mean, what do they have to gain? Wouldn't they get arrested? Well, these guys and gals lie because most people frown upon steroid use. Thus, honesty would mean less trust, less admiration, and fewer PayPal transactions, which is what they have to gain. And no, steroid users are rarely busted.

I mean, look at it like this. Imagine for a minute that you are a low IQ, low agency, that you are a low IQ, low agency, high time preference parasite who possesses absolutely no marketable knowledge or skills. And accordingly, your chances for achieving any sort of success or satisfaction in your life just in general are so low that your calculator gives you the finger. general are so low that your calculator gives you the finger. Then you stumble upon a simple three-step formula that promises deliverance from your plight. First, you have to do whatever it takes to build a great body, including drugs and surgery often. Second, you have to post a lot of provocative pictures online to grow a following. And third, you have to start hawking diet and exercise plans, coaching supplements and the like. And just like that, you can start telling people you are a hashtag blessed internet entrepreneur whose true passion is saying it's for the kids. You see, the calculus is pretty

simple. People using steroids generally have the best physiques, physiques that simply cannot be attained naturally. And those best physiques garner the largest followings and the largest followings make the most money. It's really that simple. It is the Matthew principle in effect. And those paydays can become quite substantial as well. Many influencers charge well over a thousand dollars per ad per 100,000 Instagram followers, for example, and the going rates for YouTube are about double that. It can be as high as a couple thousand dollars per plug per 100,000 subscribers. And many of these people also offer their own products and services as well. And I'm not going to name names, but I know

one big YouTube Instagram dude who gets paid, I mean, as of six months ago, it could be more now, was getting paid $100,000 a month to shill supplements alone. And the supplements were just one of a number of things that he was regularly shilling on his YouTube and social media channels. And yes, he most certainly uses steroids to maintain a physique that impresses his followers. And it looks like he goes on and off cycle. Looks like he goes hard for a bit, maybe does a competition or two, like a physique competition or two, and then comes off. My guess is he probably never comes off testosterone, which is what many guys do. They're always on T and then they add

other drugs when they want to get really lean or get really strong or get really big during a lean bulk phase and so forth. And so anyway, there is a tremendous amount of financial pressure to take steroids if you are an aspiring fitness star, period. And what about the people who aren't selling anything, you might be wondering? Well, in most cases, these people are using steroids to prop up their fragile sense of self-worth through the approval, adoration, and applause of strangers. And I know that might sound a bit harsh, but after witnessing the underbelly of the fitness scene for many years now, I'm just calling it like it is. And all of that that I have just shared is why I think you should get savvy about discerning who does and

doesn't use drugs. This is where I would normally plug a sponsor to pay the bills, but I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead, I'm just going to quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my 100% natural natural Legion protein bar. Now, unlike many protein bars, mine are not chalky, crumbly, hard to get down lumps made with low quality and undesirable forms of protein like milk protein, calcium caseinate, and soy protein, and chock full of artificial sweeteners, flavors, soy protein, and chock full of artificial sweeteners, flavors, dyes, and other chemical junk. Instead, my protein bars contain 20 grams of high quality protein from a blend of whey isolate, whey hydrolysate, whey concentrate, and pea protein isolate, are naturally sweetened and flavored, protein isolate are naturally sweetened and flavored and do not sit on shelves for months on end. And so every bite is savory, moist, and pleasantly chewable. My goal was to create an

all-natural protein bar that tastes like high protein candy. And many of my customers say that I have done just that. So if you want a clean, all natural, low calorie and low sugar protein bar that has 20 grams of five star protein that tastes as good as it looks and that is easy on your stomach, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and try my protein bars today. And just to show how much I appreciate all of my podcast peoples, use the coupon code podcast at checkout and you will save 10% on your entire order. I also have a very simple 100% money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or you get your money back, period. No having to return the products, fill out forms, or jump through any other hoops, so you really can't lose here. Head over to www.legionathletics.com. Now, place your order and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. Alrighty, that is enough shameless plugging for now at least. Let's get to the show. In some cases, it is very easy to tell if someone is on steroids. If they are an IFBB Pro, for example, or if they look like one, they are on gear, end of story.

It is rarely that obvious, though. Most steroid users do not look like professional bodybuilders or physique athletes per se. In fact, many look far more quote-unquote normal than you might think, and that's why you need a clear empirical method of detecting steroid use. One such method, for men at least, would involve obtaining someone's wrist, ankle, and body composition measurements and then using Casey Butts formula to determine whether his total lean mass is beyond what is attainable naturally. But that is too impractical. And if you are not familiar with Casey Butts formula, head over to legionathletics.com and search for naturally,

and you will find an article that I wrote that I am basing this podcast on. And in it, you can read not only about Butt's formula, but also you can play around with your own numbers because it has a cool calculator that works with Butt's numbers, works with his data and his formula, and allows you to see how much muscle you can gain naturally fairly accurately, too. It's not going to be 100% accurate for all people under all circumstances, but it's very accurate for most people. And you could also use the calculator along with a couple other calculators in the article to see what is not possible, what is not in the cards for you. Anyways, I'm going to continue with our natty or not discussion, but I wanted to just let you know that if you don't know what I'm talking about there, check out the article, you're going to like it. Okay. So yes, getting someone's wrist and ankle and body composition measurements and then plugging them into Casey Butt's formula would be a fantastic way to know whether someone is on drugs or not, but good luck coming by those measurements. And many guys on drugs are familiar with Casey Butt's work and

would just give you fake measurements. Anyway, you have to actually, the only way I would believe a number of people on social media, the only way I'd believe their numbers is if I measured them myself or if I had irrefutable photo evidence of the measurements of the measuring tape wrapped around their wrist and their ankle. And we know it's them, it's not someone else. And I'd need a video of the way. Anyway, you get what I'm saying. A more feasible method involves calculating someone's fat-free mass index, FFMI,

which is a measurement of how much muscle you have per unit of height. And you calculate this by dividing your fat-free mass in kilograms by your height in meters squared. And if you want to see what that looks like for you quickly and easily, again, head over to that article at legionathletics.com. Just search for naturally, and you will find an article called here's how much muscle you can really gain naturally, I believe.

And it has an FFMI calculator in it. So how does FFMI work exactly? FFMI calculator in it. So how does FFMI work exactly? Well, there is a correlation between height and potential muscularity. And as organ weight doesn't vary all that much from person to person, you would expect to see higher average FFMIs among steroid users than non-users, as well as FFMIs among steroid users that are simply unattainable naturally, that you simply do not see among natural weightlifters. And that's actually what research has shown. In the most famous and comprehensive study on FFMI and steroids, scientists at McLean Hospital calculated the FFMI of 157 young male athletes

from around the Los Angeles and Boston areas, including several elite bodybuilders and world record-holding strongmen, as well as some dudes undergoing a testosterone injection study. Now, of all those guys, 31 admitted to taking steroids in the past, 52 admitted to taking steroids within the previous year, and 74 claimed they had never taken steroids. The researchers also had everyone take a urine test to at least attempt to partially validate their claims. Now, after analyzing the data, the scientists found the steroid users had an average FFMI of 24.8, while the purported non-users averaged at 21.8. That's a big difference because every point that you move up in FFMI requires quite a bit of muscle gain. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it?

Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. and match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle for Life, and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. Another significant finding of this study was not a single natural participant had an FFMI over 25, period, whereas many enhanced ones did. And that has led many people to declare 25 as the FFMI ceiling for natural male weightlifters. And the reason why I'm specifying male is there is no similar research available on women that I know of, at least. But it is fair to assume that their ceiling would be significantly lower. And if you want to learn why, head over to muscleforlife.com and search for female muscle growth and check out that article that I wrote. I think it's called the definitive guide to female muscle growth. Other people, however, disagree with this 25 cutoff.

They say it's too simplistic because it doesn't account for differences in height. The taller someone is, they say, the wider and thicker they generally are as well. And if you look at the data in the study that we're talking about here, you will see that yes, taller athletes did naturally have higher FFMIs regardless of how much muscle they had gained through training. And these people are right. When you look at the data of the study, you can see that as height increased among the men, so did FFMI, regardless of training history or steroid use or not. Now, the researchers were aware of this, though, and that's why they normalized the data to the average height of the participants, which was 5'11". By doing this, then the scientists were able to more or less remove height as a potential confounder in determining the relationship between steroids and FFMI. So after they normalized the data and reassessed it, what the researchers found is

that every single natural athlete had a normalized FFMI of 24.9 or less, whereas about half of the steroid users had a normalized FFMI of 25 or greater. Now, some people have taken this to mean that anyone with a normalized FFMI of less than 25 is almost certainly natural, And they are wrong. The data clearly shows that about half of the steroid users had a normalized FFMI of less than 25, although many were not taking steroids at the time of the study. So it is possible that their numbers would have been higher. And let's be real, it is very possible, it is probable that their numbers would have been higher. And let's be real, it is very possible, it is probable that their numbers would have been higher and quite a bit higher if they had been on cycle. Now, the more common conclusion from this research is the one that gets gallons of fake natty blood up every day, and it is this. Sporting a normalized FFMI above 25 is proof positive of

steroid use. And yes, this should make the hackles of secret steroid users rise because it is basically correct. Simply put, if someone's normalized FFMI is above 25, there is an extremely good chance they are taking or have taken steroids. Now, have taken, you might be wondering? Yes, having used steroids in the past can make it easier to get and stay unusually muscular and strong even when you are quote-unquote clean. Steroid users do lose a fair amount of muscle and strength when they stopped ingesting and injecting, but anabolics alter your muscles at the cellular level in a way that makes it permanently easier to gain and

maintain unnaturally large amounts of muscle. And to understand how this works, you need to understand one of the key cellular mechanisms that promotes muscle growth. You see, muscle cells are unique in that they can contain multiple nuclei known as myonuclei, which contain the DNA that orchestrates the construction of new muscle proteins. These myonuclei need stem cells to build and repair muscle proteins, however, which are special cells in the body that can be developed into many different types of cells. So fundamentally, what happens here is when you train your muscles, stem cells are recruited to donate nuclei to damaged muscle cells, which increases their potential for size and strength. Not only that, but once a stem cell has donated a nucleus to a muscle cell, it remains there

for good. And this is the primary mechanism behind the phenomenon known as muscle memory. And this is the primary mechanism behind the phenomenon known as muscle memory. In other words, every pound of muscle you gain contributes to your overall muscularity for the rest of your life. Now, can you guess what skyrockets stem cell activation during and after training? Yeah, you got it. Steroids. yeah, you got it, steroids. Workouts performed while taking steroids result in much larger amounts of nuclei donation to muscle cells and thus much larger amounts of muscle and strength gain. And as those cellular changes last forever, people who are not on steroids now, but who have used them in the past, get to enjoy more muscle building potential than those who have not, and especially if they've used large amounts of drugs for a long period of time. And believe it

or not, but these effects are so powerful that doing just one cycle of the right steroids is enough to make a noticeable difference in the long term. And this is one of the reasons why ex-steroid users in the study we just reviewed had FFMIs much higher than what's achievable for the average natural weightlifter. And what this means then is you can use steroids for a period, you can build a boatload of muscle fast, and then come off the drugs and maintain much of your physique and performance with good enough dietary and training habits. No, you're not going to be as big and as strong, but there is a residual effect. And again, if you have been on steroids for a long time,

that residual effect can be quite substantial. And if you are also a bullshitter, you can now claim that you're natural because you're not on drugs now, and you can use your enhanced physique that is not attainable naturally to convince people to buy your dubious products and services. And that, my friends, is far more common than you might think. There are plenty. There are way too many guys and gals who can sleep just fine at night making a living as a social media shicer who tells people they are quote-unquote natural because they are not currently on drugs. That's how they rationalize it to themselves. Now, of course, they conveniently withhold the fact that they were once on drugs. And let's be real.

They will likely almost assuredly be on cycle again when their body dysmorphia overwhelms their shaky sense of self-respect. of self-respect. So when you see a jacked dude or lady who stays in primo shape training once or twice per week and eating like a teenager, give them the gimlet eye. And the same goes for any guy with a suspiciously high normalized FFMI, which is the danger zone. That is the red flag, 24 and above, really. And that's true regardless of how rigorous their diet and training protocols are. That level of muscularity is almost always the result of steroid use, not my genetics, my work ethic, my dad was a bodybuilder or anything else. And that's especially true if one of these guys admits to once using less stigmatized drugs like prohormones, SARMs and the like. Because many of these people don't want to feel like outright frauds, but are also too ashamed of their steroid use to admit it. And so see this as an acceptable compromise. Now, of course, everything we are discussing regarding FFMI

and steroid use revolves around just one study. And you would expect to find exceptions and outliers if you analyze enough people. But the data is robust enough for us to know that those people would be just that. They would be exceptions to the rule. Now let's start playing devil's advocate here. Naysayers will often point to the bodybuilders and strongmen of old to discredit such an assertion. A number of these men exceeded a normalized FFMI of 25 before the advent of steroids around 1940. At least that's what people say. And therefore, it is clearly not the true cutoff for natural bodybuilders. Yeah, not so fast. One issue with relying on data from bodybuilders and strongmen from the late 1800s and early 1900s is there was no formal system of record

keeping in place. What's more, these men would often exaggerate their claims of strength, muscularity, and leanness to draw crowds and sell tickets. And that being what it is, there still were only a small handful of guys who achieved a normalized FFMI above 25. Take John Grimmick, for example, G-R-I-M-E-K, if you want to look him up. He was 5'8 and allegedly weighed 221 pounds at about 8% body fat when he was in his prime, which was late 1940s, which would have given him a normalized FFMI of about 31. Other standouts of the same period were George Eiferman, Steve Stanko, Marvin Eater, and Jack Dellinger, all who reported FFMI's north of 26. So skeptics point to these men and others and say that if a normalized FFMI of 25 was truly the best a natural weightlifter can get, how do you explain their accomplishments? Clearly then the ceiling is higher. Yeah, or not. is higher. Yeah, or not. Testosterone was first synthesized in 1935 and available for sale in 1937,

which was right around the time that many of the bodybuilders I just listed crossed that threshold, crossed the 25 normalized FFMI threshold. Similarly, and unsurprisingly, the normalized FFMI of Mr. America winners also started surpassing 25 more and more after the 1940s. I wonder why? Now, you could say this was due to improvements in training and nutrition, the increasing popularity of bodybuilding, and other factors, but no matter how you slice it, it is highly unlikely that anything but drugs could have produced such a marked increase in muscularity in such a short period of time. I mean, are we really supposed to believe that it is merely a coincidence that normalized FFMIs made a quantum leap right after the invention and proliferation of the world's most powerful muscle building drug? A comms razor, anyone?

Let's take another look at John Grimmick to see why we should be highly skeptical of this counterclaim. So according to records that were fastidiously compiled by Terry and Janice Todd, husband and wife pioneers of powerlifting and professors at the University of Texas, John Grimmick achieved a normalized FFMI of 24 in 1940. At this point, Grimmick was already a seasoned bodybuilder and had likely achieved most of his genetic potential for muscle growth. Yet just one year later in 1941, his normalized FFMI skyrocketed to 27. Now that three-point increase is not particularly striking until you crunch the numbers and realize that to accomplish that, Grimmick had to gain damn near 25 pounds of muscle in a year as an advanced weightlifter with an already impressively muscular physique. And he did that naturally? Yeah, no, I don't believe you. No, just no. Now, a later reanalysis by the Todds using different methods pegged Grimmick's normalized FFMI at 27 in 1940 and 32 in 1941, but that still means that me via email, mikeatmuscleforlife.com. This kind of

progress has never occurred anywhere without a lot of drugs. It is simply unbelievable, as in, you should not believe it. Now, another common postulate used to undermine my position on normalized FFMI and steroid use is that if sumo wrestlers and super heavyweight strongmen and powerlifters reduced their body fat levels, they'd have FFMIs far above 25. Now, the first problem with this is for it to even matter, you would have to first assume most of these people are not using steroids, which would be an asinine assumption. Steroids do not just help you get bigger and leaner. They also help you recover faster after workouts and increase your strength, power, and even endurance. In other words, any athlete who can benefit from being bigger, stronger,

In other words, any athlete who can benefit from being bigger, stronger, faster, and more physically resilient can benefit from steroids. Steroids are attractive to powerlifters and strongmen in particular because after about five years or so of consistently correct training and eating, you will have more or less maxed out your potential for muscle and strength gain. And at that point, the only way to get significantly stronger is to gain significantly more muscle. And the only way to do that is drugs. It simply cannot be done without drugs. And not only that, but remember, many of your competitors will be using steroids regardless of whether you compete in a drug tested or non-tested league. So if you have any ambitions in the sport, you are going to need to use drugs as well. And as far as sumo wrestlers go, well, these dudes live and die by how big, heavy, and strong they are. So yeah, steroids should be right up their alley. big, heavy, and strong they are. So yeah, steroids should be right up their alley.

Now, for the sake of argument, let's just pretend that I'm wrong about all of that. Let's assume that steroid use is indeed rare among sumo wrestlers, strongmen, and powerlifters. If that were true, does the theory that their normalized FFMIs would exceed 25 if they got lean pan out, because if it would, then that may be convincing evidence that you could naturally achieve a normalized FMI of 25 or above. It doesn't pan out though. A study conducted by scientists at Ibaraki University measured the body fat, lean body mass, and FFMI of 36 professional sumo wrestlers and found that many of them had a normalized FFMI of around 30. The biggest one came in at 34.6 at an estimated 33% body fat. Another study conducted by scientists at the University of Mississippi on the world's strongest raw power lifter, which is someone who lifts without the assistance of straps or

lifting suits, a dude named Ray Williams found that he had a normalized FFMI of 41 at an estimated 25% body fat. Now, if you took those numbers at face value and accepted their claims of natural hood, you would correctly conclude that their normalized FFMIs would be significantly higher than 25 if they reduced their body fat levels. You can't do that though. You can't make those assumptions because if you just take one look at your average sumo wrestler or super heavyweight powerlifter like Ray Williams, you know that those body fat measurements are suspiciously low. Poke around on the internet, look at some pictures. And if you are not familiar with measuring and estimating body fat percentages, head over to legionathletics.com and search for

body fat percentage and check out the article I wrote on it. Because when you review the evidence, you will quickly determine that the body fat levels are much higher. They're closer to 35 to 40% in most sumo wrestlers and Ray Williams, not 25 to 30%. And that matters because it means that they would have lower normalized FFMIs if they dieted down. So let's take Ray Williams, for example. If we assume that he has a body fat percentage of 35% instead of 25%, that drops his normalized FFMI to 35 instead of 41. And there's another factor to consider here that would likely decrease his normalized FFMI even further if he were to get lean. So scientists have known for a long time that as

people gain body fat, they also gain a large amount of fat-free mass in the form of connective tissue, water, and other components of fat cells. This is technically known as non-essential fat-free mass, and you can think of it as the infrastructure that supports and nourishes fat cells. According to some estimates, up to 25% of the weight you gain as you get fatter is non-essential fat-free mass. As a result, if someone were to gain, let's say, 100 pounds from overeating, up to 25 pounds of it could be non-essential fat-free mass. This is relevant because FFMI does not distinguish between muscle tissue and these other substances, meaning as body fat levels rise, FFMI can become misleadingly high for the purpose of analyzing body composition. And this same rule applies to weight loss as well, just in the

reverse. If someone like Ray Williams were to lose a lot of body fat, he'd also lose quite a bit of non-essential fat-free mass. And if you account for this in your calculations, it brings his normalized FFMI down quite a bit. For example, if we assume that about 25% of Williams' fat-free mass is in fact connective tissue, water, and such, and we run his numbers again, if he were to diet down to somewhere around 15% body fat, his. FFMI becomes 26, which is a much more realistic, but not naturally achievable estimate. So let's review some of the highlights of what we have just discussed, shall we? One, bodybuilders of the quote unquote drug-free era, 1940 to about 1960, were likely not drug-free. Testosterone wasn't as mainstream then as it is now, but it is very likely that top-tier bodybuilders of that period were quick to take

advantage of it. Two, record-keeping during that time was notoriously poor, and in many cases, normalized FFMIs were calculated using unrealistically low body fat levels, usually around 5%. In reality, most of the men were closer to 10% body fat, in some cases even a bit higher, which would slightly reduce their normalized FFMIs, but not enough to invalidate everything we have just discussed. Three, even if you insist that most of the old school lifters were all natural, only eight are on record with a normalized FFMI over 26 and only three exceeded 27. So that means that about 1% of the top 1% of the dedicated weightlifters of that era achieved a normalized FFMI over 25. So why should we assume that just about anyone can now do it as well? Four, athletes with large

amounts of body fat, such as sumo wrestlers, strongmen, powerlifters, and NFL linemen often have a normalized FFMI over 25, which is not surprising as we have no reason to believe they are not on steroids. And even if they were not, if they were to cut down to 10 to 15% body fat, their normalized FFMIs would look a lot more reasonable. Five, the normalized FFMI cutoff of 25 is not a hard and fast everyone, everywhere, anytime rule. It is entirely possible that genetic freaks have attained normalized FFMIs above 25 naturally, but these people are the very rare exceptions based on all of the available data. It is fair to say that virtually everybody who picks up a barbell is capable of achieving a normalized FFMI in the 22 to 23 range, and virtually nobody will see 24 or beyond without steroids. Six, many current and past steroid users have a normalized FFMI below 25. Some of these people have subpar genetics. Some of them take

smaller doses of drugs or fewer drugs. Some of them don't train all that intensely or frequently. Some of them don't eat well. Some of them don't sleep enough. And some of them simply don't want to be that big. Some of them prefer to have an FFMI in the 22 to 24 range, for example. And let's also not forget that many influencers out there are aware of everything we are going over in this podcast and therefore stage manage their FFMIs by lying about their height, weight, and body fat percentage to avoid being pegged as drug users. Okay, so now that you know the lay of the land, let's circle back to the question that spawned this entire episode. How can you tell if someone is natty or not? Well, here is what the evidence says. One,

if someone's normalized FFMI is over 25, it is almost certain they are taking or have taken steroids. Two, if someone's normalized FFMI is between 24 and 25, then it's likely they're taking or have taken steroids. Three, if someone's normalized FFMI is between 22 and 23 and they've been training consistently for three years or more, they may be natural. Four, if someone's normalized FFMI is between 21 and 22, they may be natural as well. And five, if someone's normalized FFMI is between 18 and 21, they likely don't even lift, so who cares? And remember that we're talking about just men here. Unfortunately, there's no data on the correlation between steroid use and FFMI in women. And as I said earlier, it is fair to assume that their ceiling is significantly lower than men's. And if you

are unsure why I said people with normalized FFMIs below 25 may be natural, remember there are plenty of guys out there using steroids with normalized FFMIs below 25 fora of bodybuilding, big, lean, and strong. So there's a joke among us mere mortal natural weightlifters is you get to pick two of the following three options. You can be big, you can be lean, and you can be strong. If you want all three, you're going to have to take steroids. At least if you want all three by Instagram standards. Now, that is not entirely accurate because if you are lean and

strong, you are probably fairly big as well. But it alludes to reality, which is this. If you want to be big and strong, naturally, forget about being lean. And if you want to be big and lean, you can forget about being strong. And let's be honest, if you want to be big and lean, you probably can't be big, but something more akin to not small, like me. More importantly, no matter what you do in the kitchen and gym, you will never be able to stay big, lean, and strong by any worthy standards. And this is why jacked, shredded dudes who press, pull, and squat gargantuan amounts of weight are basically dripping in steroids. And just to put some numbers to this, if we consult commonly accepted strength standards for a 200-pound man,

it would look something like benching over 400 pounds, squatting over 500 pounds, and deadlifting over 600 pounds. And for a 160-pound woman, it would look like benching over 200 pounds, squatting over 300 pounds, and deadlifting over 400 pounds. And of course, being able to do those things while also sporting supersized muscles and low body fat levels. And yes, I do know that strength does not perfectly correlate with muscularity, and there are people out there who can get freakishly strong without taking drugs, and especially on one exercise in particular. In the final analysis, however, the biggest people in the gym tend to be the strongest,

and when the biggest and strongest people are also the leanest, they're almost always on steroids. So another sign of steroid use is getting way stronger quickly, suddenly getting way stronger. A large jump in strength in an intermediate or advanced weight lifter is a major indicator of steroid use. You see, after your first couple years of proper training, you will be lucky to add 50 pounds total to your big compound lifts, to your bench press, your squat, and your deadlift in a single year. And once you've been training for seven to 10 years, adding just 10 pounds to those lifts total in one year is cause for celebration. And seriously, it gets very, very hard to continue progressing. Now, just for the sake of contrast in a steroid study that we reviewed earlier, lifters with about a year of training experience took steroids and added 132 pounds to their squat and bench press, those two lifts, in just 10 weeks.

That's absurd and it shows just how much of a difference steroids can make. So if an experienced lifter, quote unquote, naturally adds 50 pounds or more to a major exercise in one year or less, let's just say that we have a word for that in English. It's called suspicious, as in suspiciously full of shit. Okay, the next red flag for steroid use is massive upper chests, shoulders, and traps. Now, this is a reliable sign of drug use because these areas of the body have a lot of androgen receptors, which are special types of proteins and cells that respond to anabolic hormones like testosterone. Now, when you take steroids, these receptors go into overdrive and cause these muscle groups in particular to develop much faster than others. Okay, next on the list, if someone is shredded dry and full with amazing

muscle separation, they are probably on steroids because yes, you can get very lean and you can get pretty dry naturally, but you simply can't achieve that look of being carved out of marble with full striated 3D muscles that just pop off of your bones. And so when you see a guy who is jacked, whose normalized FFMI is probably 25, 26, 27, and who also has paper-thin skin, who has vascularity all over their body, including ab veins and veins all over their shoulders and biceps and forearms, And they stay like that for many months out of the year. Drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs every time. And the same goes for women as well. There are plenty of women out there who are very muscular

and who stay very lean, ab veins, biceps veins, shoulder veins, and so forth. All right, moving down the list, if someone has excellent overall development and proportions of all major muscle groups, there's a good chance that drugs are involved. And the reason for this is it is very rare to find a natural weightlifter who has 10-10 size symmetry and muscle definition in all of their major muscle groups. We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. We all have muscle groups that respond very well to weightlifting and develop very nicely, as well as muscle groups that do not,

very stubborn muscle groups that refuse to keep up with the rest of our bodies. In my case, for example, my upper body on the whole has responded fairly well to weightlifting, and I think I've achieved pretty good size and symmetry and definition. My lats have been stubborn. Those have required quite a bit of extra volume, but on the whole, my upper body has come in pretty nicely. My quads, however, have always been a bit small, a bit stubborn. And that's despite training them intensely for many years now. My calves are non-existent, period, no matter what I do. And my shoulders are keeping up with my chest and biceps, but just barely. And getting here has required a lot of

extra work, a lot of extra side raises and rear raises in particular. Another example is one of the guys who works with me. His quads, calves, and chest are all pretty well developed, but his back, shoulders, and arms are just less than impressive and are going to require a lot more work. Now, steroid users do not generally have these problems. If my buddy and I were to take steroids, it would not take long for us to fill in our lagging muscle groups. And this I'm convinced is the only way that my calves would ever get to where they're supposed to be by bodybuilding standards, which is on par with my biceps. They're supposed to be really the same size as your biceps. Yeah, that's never happening without steroids. And the reason for this, the reason why steroid

users tend to have much better overall size symmetry and definition is every cell in the body has androgen receptors and artificially raising your androgen levels forces even the stubborn muscle groups like the calves, shoulders, and arms to grow. And additionally, steroid users can more easily sculpt their bodies, really target the muscle groups they want to develop by neglecting their strong points. So reducing the volume, reducing the intensity on the muscle groups that they're happy with, which are going to stay big and stay strong with minimal training, thanks to the drugs, and then hammering their weak points with tons of volume, a lot more volume that you could do, and a lot more intensity than you could do naturally. And of course, then those lagging muscle groups grow

rapidly and are no longer weaknesses. Another circumstance that screams drug use is bad acne and male pattern baldness. Now, some people are genetically prone to breakouts and baldness, but steroids can really aggravate these problems. This is why acne-covered chests and backs and shoulders and receding hairlines are so prevalent among bodybuilders, and particularly those who are huge, shredded, dry, and full almost all of the time. Now, to hide this, many steroid users will Photoshop and filter out the pimples and acne scars in pictures that they post online, but every so often a candid shot makes its way into the wild. guys, whatever you do with all the information I've just given you, please don't fall into the trap of comparing yourself to the unrealistic expectations set by steroid users. The best way to determine if a guy is on steroids is to simply calculate his normalized FFMI.

And if it's over 25, he is almost certainly on or has used steroids in the past. And if he is right there, you know, 24, 25, he should probably be considered guilty until proven innocent. And the reason for this is, while most natural male weightlifters can achieve a normalized FFMI of 22 to 23, only a very small handful of very genetically gifted ones can even approach 25. And unfortunately, it is not clear what the normalized FFMI natural cutoff is for women, and there's no evidence-based way to detect female drug use just yet. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular

health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead I'm going to just quickly tell you about

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