Johnny Bravo the well known cartoon character has the perfect "juice" body with everything upstairs and not much below.
When I was playing rugby back in 1990 (shows my age) I was seriously naïve when it came to juicing up or cheating. This is what it basically boils down to as there is nothing else for it, but blatant cheating taking shortcuts. I have written about this before but since then quite a few more players who have retired openly admitted to taking hormone growth and steroids.
An article I found discussing Dan Carter basically saying he needs to toughen up by bulking up.
Dan Carter was one player who took steroids for whatever reason as even though he was great felt under pressure to perform better. The new players wanting your place were bigger and faster and he himself increased his body mass noticeably getting bigger not by much ,but enough to make the difference.
Crazy to think someone with so much skill and class would need to turn to steroids to maintain his position.
These guys were not big either as one has to understand how these things work. Popping tablets or taking injections can be used for certain things and not necessarily for becoming muscle bound. Stamina is a key performance effect which even the smallest of sportsmen would benefit from.
One of the players who admitted to using steroids mentioned his cycle was over a 12 week period and took about 2 weeks to kick in properly. His muscle gain would increase his weight overall, but by the end of the cycle his body would be reducing in size. Instead of gaining 4 kg's of muscle at the peak he would now only have 1.5 kg's left behind. This is when players start another cycle and grow even bigger than before and noticeably it is only on the upper body.
I think this is what makes it so easy to spot as the bodies are out of proportion and even laughable in many cases. The benefits are there to see however in increased performance levels by as much as 30% as long as you are in the cycle. The science behind this is what is puzzling as the modern athlete/sportsmen knows by how they take these things to hide traces. You take it tonight and by tomorrow morning testers would struggle to find anything at all.
Many of the sportsmen actually don't take it necessarily for strength or speed even though there are benefits, but it is more for recovery. Someone on "juice" will recover in less than half the time compared to someone who isn't on it.
I had a steroid injection once and one time only after I stopped playing due to a slipping Achilles tendon. Every time I ran the tendon would feel as though it was catching on the hell bone and then slip so I had the heel bone shaved down. The specialist gave it to me after an operation to help speed up the healing process as it was taking time to repair itself. I had no idea even well after my playing days what benefit it had for injuries and opened my eyes yet again.
I have to admit when I watch sport these days I look at athletes in a whole new light as you do try to spot who is on it and who isn't. Today it is difficult as many of the athletes have a similar build which is also rather telling. When I say similar they have a body out of proportion with their upper torso not matching their matchstick looking legs. This is mainly the case with rugby players as any body builder will tell you the hardest muscles to grow are your calves even with the extra juice.
Unfortunately this is now very much entrenched in school boy rugby and this is worth having a look at as these guys are 17 years of age.
The sportsmen of the early 1080's are built differently to the sportsmen of today and yes diets have changed, but that is not the only thing that has changed. Everyone is after being bigger and better and at some point where does it end before we see the results of unnatural growth. Jonah Lomu was what happens when you take things too far and have a short window of fame before your body packs up completely. In my mind this is not worth it and even though you may not make the headlines you at least know deep down you never took the shortcuts. Whatever way you look at it this is cheating and you are only cheating yourself.