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Performance Enhancers

j-dawg

Bench Player
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
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England
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England
Seems to me that performance enhancers, including anabolic steroids and growth hormone, are more rife in rugby than is thought to be. Watching the lions at the moment you can see certain players' round and full muscles straining against the jersey looking quite vascular.

Some doctor created a measurement index to determine if someone is on the juice based on their height, weight and bodyfat mass (which, for the most part, we can only guess at) http://www.naturalphysiques.com/28/fat-free-mass-index-ffmi However, i'm a little sceptical about this measurement because I myself am pushing the 25 mark and am currently not the largest I have been.

So what do you think? Do you think it's pretty widespread, a minority thing or even completely unknown in professional rugby and only prevalent in the lower amateur leagues? If you think it is a problem, what players do you think use? South Africa's 'beast' measures around 30 on that scale!
 
Presumably more common than many think, but your reasoning (they look muscular) is a pretty terrible reason for thinking it.
That calculator is gash as well, as according that I juice - average is 19 and I'm 24.7 yet average verging on skinny.
 
I think to simplify it as 'they look muscular' is a bit silly, if I was to cite someones big ass gigantor strength, bench pressing the moon, you could simplify it as 'they are strong' and make it look equally as stupid. There's only so much you can put on, subject to genetic variantation, and certainly only so much you can put on in a given year (12 lbs is considered a lot in a year and even this slows down as you go on) before you stagnate and hit a plateau.
 
I have heard that some forms of enhancers are relatively widespread in schoolboy rugby in SA but at the highest levels the guys are checked out on a random basis even at schoolboy level. Saying something like the Beast dopes because he is a stockily built guy seems a bit far-fetched though IMO.
 
I have heard that some forms of enhancers are relatively widespread in schoolboy rugby in SA but at the highest levels the guys are checked out on a random basis even at schoolboy level. Saying something like the Beast dopes because he is a stockily built guy seems a bit far-fetched though IMO.

Fair, but I have to point out - in case a certain fella is trawling through these posts - I haven't said the beast is juicing, just that his fat free mass index is at 30. I'm sceptical of the mass index because I myself am nearly 25
 

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