It’s a common misconception that steroids flat out make you stronger. Certainly, using steroids will help you get stronger, but it’s not a matter of ingesting some steroids and -- WHAM -- suddenly you have bigger quads and can lift way more weight. Rather, steroids make all of your exercise endeavors far more potent. They allow greater adaptations, easier and faster recovery, and make it possible to train with greater volume and intensity. Regardless of your stance on steroid use, it’s undeniable that this confers a huge advantage. If the same hour of training can yield amplified results, and, on top of that, you can bring increased intensity to your training and train more frequently, you will yield greater results. Your investment has greater return.

The thing is, we all have access to a legal, ethical, and undeniably effective way to amplify our results from our training. It’s sleep, nutrition, and recovery efforts such as mobility and low intensity activity, and it has the same effect as steroids. Increase your sleep from 5 hours per night to 6 or 7 hours, and you will recover faster from training, get stronger, and lose body fat quicker. Swap out 600 calories of mac ‘n’ cheese for 600 calories of vegetables, quality meats, omega-3 fats, and fruit, and you will see improved performance. Take 10 minutes per day to work on mobility and you will get more from your training sessions, have fewer injuries, and recover better.

Admittedly, the title “Legal Steroids” was a cheap trick to get you to click on this blog. Steroids are easier than an extra 2 hours of sleep because they take minimal time and effort, and no one is claiming otherwise. But if an extra hour of sleep and a better decision at your next meal gave you a significantly greater return on all of the energy you invest in your training, don’t you think that might be worth prioritizing?

- PS

8/8/17

• Snatch pull - 2,2,2,2,2

• 12 min AMRAP

• 200m row

• 20 DB snatch (10/arm) (50/35)