Cavill in Man of Steel, Hemsworth in Thor, Jackman in X-Men, Pitt in Troy, Bale in Batman, Butler in 300.
Whenever one of these types of physiques pops up on the silver screen, gals swoon, guys rush off to the gym, and the fitness industry has a field day.
Men’s Health invents workouts that the stars most definitely didn’t do, supplement companies start rumors that their products were responsible for such impressive gains, and wannabe gurus weigh in on how we too can get ripped like so-and-so.
But amazing Hollywood transformations also always beg the question: were these guys on anabolic steroids? Do we mere drug-free mortals have any chance at making similar gains?
Let’s find out, starting with the controversial subject of anabolic steroids itself.
Demystifying the Power of Anabolic Steroids
People unfamiliar with the world of steroids think many different things about anabolic steroids.
Some people think anabolic steroids guarantee superhuman levels of muscle growth, whereas others claim they don’t change much unless seriously abused.
Some people think that you can’t achieve anything special in the way of your physique without steroids, and others claim that with proper diet and training, you can achieve any type of physique you want.
Some say anabolic steroids are incredibly dangerous, and others say regular steroid use is safer than regular alcohol drinking.
Actors and Anabolic Steroid Use
The first thing that has probably already jumped out at you is the speed with which certain actors have gained muscle and lost fat for movie roles.
We’ll often hear outrageous numbers like gaining 20+ pounds of muscle in a few months while staying lean, or even reducing body fat.
Well, you now know that such gains just aren’t possible without anabolic steroids use. If you’re brand new to lifting and drug-free and can gain .5 lbs of muscle per week, you’re doing superb. You MIGHT be able to gain around 1 lb per week for your first couple of months if you make really good newbie gains. If you’ve been weightlifting regularly for several years, you’ll be lucky to gain more than 3-5 pounds of muscle in a year of consistent, intense training.
So the simple answer is that yes, many actors use steroids to prepare for movies.
Did the guys I named earlier do this? I don’t know. But I don’t know why they wouldn’t have.
Think about it for a second. Most actors aren’t dedicated weightlifters that stay in great shape year-round, and they have some pretty strong incentives to use steroids to prepare for a role:
A multi-million dollar payday.
Fame, which will bring more multi-million dollar paydays.
A tight schedule to get big and lean.
Access to the best doctors to ensure nothing goes wrong in terms of possible side effects.
The only disincentive would be a personal distaste for drug use and moral qualms about the illegality of anabolic steroids. And Hollywood actors aren’t exactly known for their clean living habits and lawfulness.
The prevalence of steroid use among actors preparing for movies is also glaringly obvious when we look at how they trained and ate.
We’ll often hear that so-and-so worked out for 2+ hours per day, 7 days per week, and then did conditioning work on top of that. Sometimes they worked out for 4-7 hours per day, which would crush even the most well-conditioned natural athlete, yet they did great. And diets? Thousands of calories per day with huge amounts of protein, yet somehow they stayed lean.
You simply can’t do these things without anabolic steroids. If a drug-free guy were to try such an approach, all that would happen is he would wind up overtrained and fat.
Now, I didn’t write this article to call out anyone in particular or hate on Hollywood actors or people that do anabolic steroids. While I’ve chosen to be drug-free and recommend people do the same, I don’t get personally offended by people that use anabolic steroids. They can do what they want with their bodies. And I especially understand why Hollywood actors would do it.
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