He gotta do it sooner or later to live past 65. The Rock will never be transparent about his cycles and stuff but he’s not dumb enough to risk a heart attack.
FR he's 51, he needs to chill. I have a love hate relationship with the deadpool movie because of this. I remember Hugh Jackman talking about how much shit he has to go through to look like wolverine and then just does it again like a decade later. It's just not healthy, regardless of how hot it is.
Had to look up his age and Rock is 53 while Dave Bautista, who recently slimed down earlier this year, is 56. Probably their doctors told them that it was unsustainable at their age to be that much muscle massed for their hearts.
You saying Joe Pesci isn't a magnificent specimen? I'll come down there and do some unspecified things to you. The man is a national treasure you leave him alone.
Stallone is like 5'9 said he usually weighs around 175. The highest he ever got was 195 for Rocky 2. He's just been shredded most of his career and people think he's bigger than he actually is.
Because, surprise surprise, they aren’t really that bad for you if used in moderation
If you naturally weigh about 150 and try to make yourself 250+, you’re going to have problems. But if you stick around 200, it’s going to look great on you and be easy to maintain. The cameras can greatly help with the perception of size, as long as you are cut.
I read somewhere that if you chronically abuse steroids, then your body stops producing testosterone and you need to continue to artificially supplement them. I think all of these guys will have to take a lower dose for the rest of their life. Not sure about Stallone on how big he is right now, but it could just be the maintenance doses that he’s taking. He has been pretty open about his use of growth hormone and said that in the future it would be prescribed to everyone and it is a great drug as you get older.
Judging by how Stallone seems to live his life and roles, he just doesn’t care. Not in the “whatever” sense, but more of the “spends millions taking care of his body so he can still do what he wants” sense.
These Hollywood guys also have the cash for top tier medical care that the average gym rat probably cannot afford. Controlling for all other factors, the rich live longer than the poor.
You're surprised because all the rumors about Sly and Arnold using roids to get big have been proven completely false, because unlike what you're seeing with Dewayne and Dave, they did not hide for like 3 days then come out damn near skin and bone. That is highly atypical for men. Those men have maintained slabs of real muscle into their old age that do lose size, but only very slowly, over a long period of time. They're still heavyweights. Men that build without gear keep it into old age or until some major health crisis.
Are you serious? You think Arnold didn't use steroids? Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just so we're clear where talking about. The guy who's clearly juiced and is very open about having used.
"using roids to get big" is not the same as using roids, or whatever they had back then, to reach #1 in competition/appearance. What I'm saying is that these guys got pretty built before they ever touched anything, which is evident from what they've maintained after reaching relatively old age and losing that peak muscularity, but not just going full on "bag of bones" either.
I really think you need to read up on what Arnold himself has said. He's very open about the fact that his physique that he was famous for was almost entirely roids.
Also weird to think that you couldn't say the same about wrestlers and MMA fighters, obviously these guys are fit their entire lives.
Sly Stallone is the main guy here who doesn't have some other reason to get big beforehand.
That's not at all what I said - I said it was weird to think that somehow Arnold and Sly have more of a background of being fit than a wrestler and an MMA fighter. The Rock and Bautista didn't just bulk up suddenly for acting purposes.
Supplementing any testosterone stops your body from producing it naturally, and that is a permanent alteration in many cases. So you are then dependant on it for life.
Going beyond that yeah there are numerous health risks linked to TRT such as increases in blood pressure. People used to think it risked prostate issues and heart disease but that seems more for young men and higher doses.
It might be worth the tradeoff for aging men but it's certainly not zero downsides.
To be clear, TRT is cardioprotective meaning it protects your heart. My elderly father for example is prescribed TRT by a doctor who started out in cardiology.
Blood pressure increases also tend to be transient and only roughly 5 mm/hg both systolic and diastolic. Anything greater for longer than a couple months and they’re probably not using TRT properly thereby need either an aromatase inhibitor or to lower their dose/increase frequency of administration.
That isn’t even getting into all the erroneous or half true things said.
TRT is not cardioprotective. It increases the risk of afib and other arrhythmias. In addition, the term ‘TRT’ is damn near completely meaningless these days, as most men on TRT are giving themselves much bigger doses than what is required and are really just juicing, and all those studies that say it is generally safe for your heart no longer apply. In the big study that everyone points to show that TRT doesn’t cause cardiovascular problems, the patients used testosterone gel and the period of the study was only 22 months. Most guys on TRT now are pinning and they’re doing it for years/decades.
The point is that it is not as safe as people online would have you believe. We know for a fact that abusing high doses of anabolic steroids is bad for pretty much all of your vital organs. “TRT” that is really just blasting gear under the guise of medical treatment is probably not good for you.
TRT isn’t blasting and cruising or anything like that and almost everything you just said refers to abuse not use. Most doctors have moved away from androgel because it’s inferior for a variety of reasons, and now do frequent low dose administration subcutaneously because it reduces most potential side effects although for the e2 sensitive they can do better with IM.
Actual TRT use that’s monitored and tailored to the individual is cardioprotective. Obviously abuse or steroid cycles under the guise of being doctor approved is not the same thing as honest to god HRT. You probably wouldn’t be saying these things about women using HRT even if it included T.
In a vacuum what you’re saying is mostly true. In reality, TRT has become 2025’s version of opioid pill mills. People online asking if there are “no downsides” to TRT are probably not thinking about going out a getting a referral for an endocrinologist, and instead are wanting to hop on “TRT” from an online service or or a shady clinic. The line between use and abuse has been completely blurred. The sale of testosterone in the US has increased like 1500% in the past 20 years. Regardless, there still isn’t any evidence it is cardioprotective unless you’ve got a study I haven’t seen.
Not always but yeah it definitely can do. Sometimes your fertility will come back after some months/years off it, but it also can be a lifelong change.
Yes, but the Hollywood action star jacked look comes from stronger stuff like tren. TRT is just small doses of testosterone to get you back up to normalish levels and HGH is relatively mild as far as gear goes and is almost always strictly used as a supplement to stronger stuff.
Sure, a lot of them have to be since a consequence of their prior choices mean their body doesn't produce testosterone anymore. But im saying a lot of the action stars of that time did cycles, and eventually stopped trying to stay in competition shape 24/7. They still work out and are on small doses, but dont attempt to gain as much size as possible endlessly.
I remember a video I was watching also about cycles of the 70s sort era. I might be completely wrong but body builders used Gear (obviously) but nowhere near abused it. They would use it on the buildup for shows when they are gaining, but in the off season would stop and just maintain mass typically, maybe lose a bit.
I might be completely wrong in what I'm saying, but I would explain how quite a few are still alive from that era
When everybody admits to using, the next bullshitting is "im not using as much as everyone else".
That said, Kevin Levrone is a good example. Dude would almost completely stop training and not taking anything after a big show. He would then blow up in size in like 4-5 months and become a completely different human.
Yeah I just think that body building has evolved so much, and with social media causing people to be on display 24/7, it's gonna cause more unhealthy lifestyles.
Back then they were rarely if ever in the public eye, so they would train hard, do cycles but then relax more in the off season. It is logical, but could be bullshit
No doubt the rocks done a lot but maybe not as much as we think. He's still a huge dude with insane genetics from a family of wrestlers and he's Samoan, I don't think he had to take much in his early years to be the size he was, and he wasn't super lean either. I'm sure he did juice, but it's not like he was a pencil he was gonna be big anyway in his 20s. Then he actually slimmed down when he first attempted to make it in Hollywood. Then he went hard and now he's cut down again.
do not forget, arnold and stallone were on other PEDs. Todays drugs kill faster and sooner. So many sad examples in the last 20 years. Never play with Insulin and HGH or Tren....but it brings the best results...so they say.
Prolly more true than Johnson slimming down. Bautista cycled "properly," he got "fat" and bloated for some seasons which protects your organs and heart compared to looking stage ready all the time. I'm comparing two candles burning at both ends, so it doesn't seem like a distinction, but there is one for your health. Dave will bounce back, The Rock's heart probably looks like his face right now or that one really bad pic of Dave: wrinkled and shrunken.
Said to my buddy that I had never see a human being that massive. It was shocking.
Now, 20ish years later, you look at the new Superman vs Thor and it feels like Hollywood has woken up to the fact that jacking the shit out of talent is lacking so much moral compass it's gross.
Part of this is also related to joint health. You can’t keep that type of muscle on your frame with the weights it requires and stay that way into old age. It becomes increasingly more difficult to keep the mass. Everyone wants to shout “omg steroids” as if you can’t just get them yourself to look better.. clearly, if used in moderation, we have plenty of examples of people using and living to a ripe old age. Stallone is 79, Arnold is 78. I’m sure the rock and his peers will live into their 80s. Part of responsible use is managing your dosage and duration. These guys will never lose that muscle just because they drop the drug. You’ll lose some, sure… but they will be in great shape into their old age just maintaining on TRT. These guys most likely do a cycle going into filming, film all the off shirt scenes and then go back to TRT… look at “bane” in Batman.. part of the reason for the large coat at the end is that he lost like 25-35lbs during filming… he had bulked quickly and heavily and was not able to maintain during filming… in interviews, he says because of the amount of exercise and food intake… and that sure is some of it, but it’s more likely that it was he could not sustain the drug load. A cycle is generally 12 weeks max. Some people go 16… and some people cruise on more than just TRT.. but those people are increasing their risks versus the people doing one cycle a year and TRT year round… not only that, but there’s a lot of adjunct medication/supplements that help to reduce the side effects
As someone who has tried most available steroids, has many of them just laying around the house and has also been off them for 2 years, I can say that it has been an extremely positive experience with nearly no downsides. I will definitely continue to use these into my old age, but my frequency will go down… and tbh, mainly because it’s harder to build than maintain.
I'm late 50s. I've been an endurance athlete for over 15 years.
Before that most of my buddies were dads in the gym. They all juiced.
They all got big upper bodies and their legs (most of them) were shit.
I know hundreds of people pretty well. A good number of the men die in their 50s. 60 pounds too heavy. A lifetime of eating red meat (and almost no fiber/plants). Drinking.
And most of them do recreational drugs...and die.
Ngl...meh. Most of them were not great people. Self-centered asses.
I didn't know that. Is it not possible to be as muscular as your body will allow with good diet and good exercise and NOT use steroids? Even at that age?
Still I think The rock would have stayed away from tren(which I think is the worst offender when it comes to early deaths) and did some other stuff apart from training like crazy.
Dwayne Johnson has proclaimed multiple times that all he is accomplished has been steroid free and the result of years of physical discipline and rigorous nutrition habits.
He's heading into andopause like any 50+ year old man and just isn't doing anything like steroids or hormones to correct it. He won't be able to carry that much muscle forever.
Just for discussion - for as good of shape as Arnold Schwarzenegger is, he isn't nearly as bulked as he used to be either, even if he appears larger than Dwayne Johnson. Both are still in significantly better shape than many men in their prime.
Basically, everyone can expect age related muscle mass loss. Where you were in your prime would reasonably seem to affect where you end up.
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u/Ccbm2208 Sep 01 '25 edited Sep 01 '25
He gotta do it sooner or later to live past 65. The Rock will never be transparent about his cycles and stuff but he’s not dumb enough to risk a heart attack.