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Steroids are rampant among fitness influencers, trainers and bodybuilders say. Most use in secret, claiming their gains come from workouts and diet plans.
In 2013, the personal trainer and bodybuilder James Ellis noticed his social-media following was growing — just as his progress in the gym was starting to stall. Ellis, who was 32 at the time, had been training since he was a teen, and he was about to enter his first professional bodybuilding competition.
Despite having been staunchly anti-doping in his younger years, Ellis needed to bust through his workout plateau. So he turned to the "soft entry point" of an oral anabolic steroid, which felt less extreme than injecting.
"I went down the dark side, which was a very easy decision," he said. "The more you get entrenched in your industry, the more your appearance counts, you start getting accolades and more followers, and those moral decisions just go out the window."
Ellis saw improvements instantly, putting on about 6 to 9 pounds of muscle in three months. His Instagram following kept growing, too. (While he couldn't share exact numbers from that period, he now has more than 245,000 followers, well above the 50,000 to 100,000 followers generally considered to mark "influencer" status.)
A year and two cycles of oral steroids later, "Pandora's box had opened," Ellis said. He won a bodybuilding competition, which shot him to fame in the industry, bringing followers, sponsors, appearances on magazine covers, and world travel.
Motivated by his success, Ellis began injecting testosterone, which is allowed in most bodybuilding competitions. But he never spoke about it on social media.
Everyone in Ellis' social circle, both inside and outside fitness, was taking something, he said, so it seemed normal to him. Besides, it was healthier than taking recreational drugs.
For fitness influencers, steroids are the norm, not the exception, experts say
In the world of fitness influencers, Ellis' experience is the norm, not the exception, several people told Insider.
Based on his experience training athletes and bodybuilders, the personal trainer and nutritionist Harry Smith said he estimates about half of fitness influencers take some form of performance-enhancing drug, or PED, whether it's steroids, human growth hormone, or even insulin (which can reduce body fat). Other trainers confirmed that estimate to Insider, and some said it was even a lowball number.
The personal trainer Tobias Holt, an open steroid user who has coached fitness influencers, says that nearly all of them are on some form of PED. "Anyone that tells you that they're not, they're a fucking liar," he said.
The consequences of that secrecy go far beyond risks to influencers' health. By presenting their steroid-induced muscle growth as the result of workout and diet plans that their followers can purchase, influencers are making money based on false claims, steroid researchers and industry experts told Insider. And in the process, they're creating a body ideal that's unattainable for even the most dedicated gymgoers, which could lead to body dysmorphia and eating disorders.
Bodybuilding News Source.
In 2013, the personal trainer and bodybuilder James Ellis noticed his social-media following was growing — just as his progress in the gym was starting to stall. Ellis, who was 32 at the time, had been training since he was a teen, and he was about to enter his first professional bodybuilding competition.
Despite having been staunchly anti-doping in his younger years, Ellis needed to bust through his workout plateau. So he turned to the "soft entry point" of an oral anabolic steroid, which felt less extreme than injecting.
"I went down the dark side, which was a very easy decision," he said. "The more you get entrenched in your industry, the more your appearance counts, you start getting accolades and more followers, and those moral decisions just go out the window."
Ellis saw improvements instantly, putting on about 6 to 9 pounds of muscle in three months. His Instagram following kept growing, too. (While he couldn't share exact numbers from that period, he now has more than 245,000 followers, well above the 50,000 to 100,000 followers generally considered to mark "influencer" status.)
A year and two cycles of oral steroids later, "Pandora's box had opened," Ellis said. He won a bodybuilding competition, which shot him to fame in the industry, bringing followers, sponsors, appearances on magazine covers, and world travel.
Motivated by his success, Ellis began injecting testosterone, which is allowed in most bodybuilding competitions. But he never spoke about it on social media.
Everyone in Ellis' social circle, both inside and outside fitness, was taking something, he said, so it seemed normal to him. Besides, it was healthier than taking recreational drugs.
For fitness influencers, steroids are the norm, not the exception, experts say
In the world of fitness influencers, Ellis' experience is the norm, not the exception, several people told Insider.
Based on his experience training athletes and bodybuilders, the personal trainer and nutritionist Harry Smith said he estimates about half of fitness influencers take some form of performance-enhancing drug, or PED, whether it's steroids, human growth hormone, or even insulin (which can reduce body fat). Other trainers confirmed that estimate to Insider, and some said it was even a lowball number.
The personal trainer Tobias Holt, an open steroid user who has coached fitness influencers, says that nearly all of them are on some form of PED. "Anyone that tells you that they're not, they're a fucking liar," he said.
The consequences of that secrecy go far beyond risks to influencers' health. By presenting their steroid-induced muscle growth as the result of workout and diet plans that their followers can purchase, influencers are making money based on false claims, steroid researchers and industry experts told Insider. And in the process, they're creating a body ideal that's unattainable for even the most dedicated gymgoers, which could lead to body dysmorphia and eating disorders.
Bodybuilding News Source.
