I have a friend who loves the show Reacher and who is tickled by the fact that the actor who plays the role has a YouTube channel where he talks about Jesus. I've never seen the show, but I have seen the video sermons my friend has sent me, and so far I like this guy's style.
In the recent forwarded video, this hunky man talks about Jesus and how he gained 30 lbs of muscle at 38 for this show, messed up his shoulder, and has been taking testosterone ever since, but did not use anything for the 30 lb weight gain.
I'm very glad to see actors talking about use of steroids, because essentially every buff male in the public eye is on them, and almost all of them deny taking them. Many have made fun of the often repeated explanation movie stars give for sudden buffness.
The subject of performance enhancing drugs is a controversial one. Society has all sorts of arbitrary, irrational phrases, stigmas, laws, and practices when it comes to what we put into our bodies. Gross inconsistencies exist in the standards we use to evaluate the wisdom, morality, or legality of the substances we ingest, inject, or apply.
As an example of this, consider even the definition of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), which is ardently debated, even in the field. Some say that in order for something to be a PED, it must be taken in "non-pharmacological" doses, some say the legality of the use determines the classification, some say it is determined by whether it is banned in certain sports, some consider potential for addiction, and so on.
God has been very clear in teaching that the goodness of a thing is determined by its utility, in the broadest and most honest sense.[1] Determining the goodness of a thing requires a knowledge of reality and the laws of cause and effect. Accuracy occurs to the extent you know the options available and the long-term cost and benefit of each across all downstream effects. This is true of all things, and so it is true of what we put into or on our bodies.
The long-term cost and benefit of different substances vary widely across individuals, and even within one person's life.
For example, take chicken, one of the three magical foods cited by roided movie stars as the source of their bulk. I am probably the only person I know who would classify chicken as a PED. Nevertheless, it certainly has cost. It costs money. Their are less expensive sources of calories, and less expensive sources of protein. But you can buy chicken on sale, and this is one source of cost modulation. What about other costs? The lifestyle of the chicken is a cost. A chicken whose whole life is spent in a piece-of-paper-sized cage should be regarded as a higher cost than a chicken who lives a life of luxury eating ideal food, running around in a lush environment protected from predators and mean roosters, and playing with human children. If a person is a pathological overeater, eating chicken has a higher cost than someone eating chicken under normal conditions, and has a much lower cost to someone eating chicken to diet. The variability in just this simple case illustrates the complexity of the general situation.
The complexities are rife with ample opportunities for dishonesty. There is a reason why some substances are very easy to purchase and others are not, even when the former has absurdly higher cost and absurdly lower benefit. For example, you need a prescription and money to buy insulin or testosterone, and yet alcohol and nicotine are relatively cheap and require no prescription. And which is more likely to be abused?
Some beneficial substances are marketed in a way that makes sense.[2] You can buy vitamin B over the counter, it is cheap, and many find it gives them a noticeable energy and focus boost. Vitamins C and D make you less likely to get sick. Protein powder is a must for anyone wanting to grow lean muscle mass. Collagen powder (the pills are overpriced) significantly boosts resilience to ligament damage and reduces healing time from tears by about 30%. A man who takes zinc and boron will experience a substantial testosterone boost. If you are determined to be an idiot, you could overdose on all of these things. Perhaps cleaning the gene pool is another benefit of these substances.
Some substances are restricted and stigmatized because, for most people, the cost of using them will be far greater than their benefit, and licensed healthcare providers are seen as worthwhile gatekeepers for that determination. Anti-depressants and human growth hormone (HGH) fall into this category: Antidepressants vastly increase rates of suicide, mass murder, and a basket of undesirable social performance, while HGH increases cancer risk and does strange things like intestinal overgrowth.
There are many substances that are restricted whose chief argument for such is their addictiveness. These include prescription opioids, whose recent tightening has made things very difficult for those living in chronic pain, and stimulants (adderrall, ritalin, etc.). Without similarly outlawing alcohol and nicotine, there is no moral authority for treating these drugs differently. I would prefer for them to be purchasable over the counter. Those who refuse to exercise prudence in their use will sort themselves out quickly to the betterment of society; as an added benefit, those who do so with stimulants will get a lot of things done beforehand. In the case of stimulants, there isn't a great argument for why these should be handled any differently than caffeine.
Other beneficial substances are marketed in a way that makes no sense. Probably chief among them is testosterone. As I've shared before, we are experiencing a low-T epidemic with disastrous societal effects. Testosterone has been synthesized for something like 100 years, is dirt cheap to manufacture, has very few side effects, and extreme and numerous positive outcomes. For example, while estrogen therapy drastically increases the risk of cancer in women, supplementing testosterone actually reduces the risk of cancer to such an extent that it is prescribed for those with prostate cancer or who have high levels of precursors for it. Testosterone vastly decreases incidence of and recovery time from injuries. It vastly increases mood and productive accomplishments. The biggest downside of testosterone is that when you begin feeling like you are 27 again, you will begin feeling like you are 27 again, and your wife might not appreciate how that effects your time together. But then again, she might! The biggest regret I have heard from men taking testosterone is that they waited so long to start. If you are interested in trying it, there are low-fuss, low-cost providers like TRT Nation. But it's not for everyone. For starters, if you are still having children, some men have reported lower fertility rates while on TRT. More significantly, to the many men who have no overcome sexual sin or the several with anger problems: testosterone supplementation is probably not a wise path for you until and unless you sort yourself out.
If I could change one thing about how we view these things, it would be for people to take a more rational view and let go of the ingrained, imprinted emotional view. If I could change two things, the second one would be for us to stop seeing these things as drug cures to diseases and start seeing them the same way as we do vitamins. If I could change three things, it would be to reduce our habit of protecting people from the consequences of poor choices at the expense of everyone else.
[1] - Here is a partial smattering of scriptures on the morality, motive, and utility:
All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. (1 Corinthians 6:12)
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. (1 Corinthians 10:23)
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. (Matthew 15)
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. (Isaiah 55:2)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. (Luke 6)
15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. (Titus 1)
[2] - Disclaimer: The health claims in this post are a hearty mix of personal experience, sketchy memory of peer reviewed studies read in the past, and what could very well be completely made up. Anything I say may be completely wrong and/or horrifically bad. Never take life-altering advice from strangers on the internet without performing your own due diligence, but if you do and very bad things happen, don't blame them. You've been warned.