What If You Believed You Were Taking Steroids- The Placebo Effect

By Kevin Richardson

October 8, 2021

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What If You Believed You Were Taking Steroids- Understanding The Placebo Effect

The following is the transcript of the video below:

So what would happen if you believed wholeheartedly

that you were using performance enhancing drugs,

to help increase your muscle mass,

decrease your body fat,

increase your strengths,

and here’s the catch,

what would happen if you thought you were using it

and you weren’t using anything at all,

you were being given a placebo.

Now when I was younger,

I would have said that absolutely nothing would happen,

but my first hand experiences over the years,

point to a different outcome,

and in this video

I’m going to talk about a story

about someone who actually did think

that they were using steroids

and how remarkable their transformation was as a result,

all because of the power of suggestion.

doctors routinely give placebo instead of real medication

The Widespread Use of Placebo by Physicians & Pharmaceutical Companies

So we all know about the placebo effect.

We know that pharmaceutical companies

use it to their advantage

and we also know that in many cases,

when physicians prescribed something,

when someone comes into their office

and they can’t really figure out how to help them,

that prescription isn’t necessarily,

supposed to do anything

but create a strong placebo effect

to make the person feel better

and in a lot of cases, it does work.

The question is,

how powerful is the placebo effect.

Now, a lot of my ideas and philosophies

regarding not using supplements at all,

come from some of my first hand experiences

with the placebo effect

and really seeing how powerful suggestion can be.

Real Life Steroid Placebo Example Of Someone Who Believed They Were Using Steroids

One example, and perhaps

an example that is critical to my understanding

of how the human mind really works

happened back in Trinidad when I was a teenager.

Now in Trinidad practical jokes are a staple.

The guys in the gym would play practical jokes on each other

all the time.

It was just something that people did

and sometimes those practical jokes were,

I would probably say in retrospect a little bit out of hand.

One such practical joke

was played on this one particular guy

who shall we say for lack of a better word,

wasn’t the most popular person in the gym,

but who constantly talked about

wanting to use anabolic steroids.

Now back then unlike how things are now,

anabolic steroids were only available

to a close number of bodybuilders

who were kind of in the know,

and in order to use steroids,

you had to be on good terms with them

in order to get access to those drugs

and as a teenager growing up,

I had already made the decision

I wasn’t going to use drugs,

but you kind of knew who,

the ones who had the drugs

and the ones who were giving out the drugs

as it wasn’t something that was kept a secret,

but if you weren’t on good terms with them,

there was no way whatsoever

that you were going to have access to those drugs

and there was also some degree of responsibility

on their part as well

in terms of,

they didn’t want to just sell it to anybody.

They really were a little bit conscientious

of the fact that what they were selling

was something that could have catastrophic side effects

if used improperly and even if used properly,

to be very honest.

So this one particular guy in the gym,

they didn’t like him very much,

but he was persistent.

He would constantly talk about

what he would do if only he could get access to drugs,

and I was in the locker room when some of the bigger guys

were talking about playing this horrible joke on him.

Now the joke was

that they were going to give him an injection of water

with some alcohol in it,

tell him it was steroids,

and then have a great laugh afterwards.

Now overhearing this,

I felt really badly about what was going to happen

and I would have liked to have stood up there and said,

“You all, can’t do this,

this is horrible, this is terrible.”

but at the time they outnumbered me significantly

and I was nowhere near as large as I am today

and they looked at me

because they saw that I had heard what was going on.

And it was a bit of a look to say

“You better not say anything

about what’s going on over here.”

and so I elected

to not have anything to do with it whatsoever,

but I did see the conversation

that he had with some of them,

and I saw how enthusiastic he was

about the prospect of being able

to finally use anabolic steroids.

and since he was,

shall we say again,

not the most discreet of individuals

when he started the injections,

he was very vocal about the fact that he had started

and very vocal about the fact that he was on steroids

and very happy that he was on steroids.

So this was all, you know,

supposed to be this big practical joke and laugh,

but then something very strange happened.

He started getting a little stronger,

just a little stronger.

Then he started to get a little stronger

and as the weeks went by

and these guys were horrible enough

to literally have this guy and meet them in the locker room

once a week,

to give him an injection with nothing in it

which right there,

the idea of injecting someone in the first place

with anything is kind of

you know makes me cringe

but the fact that they were injecting him with,

you know, water and some alcohol so it would burn

’cause their idea was if it burned

it would make him feel like it was more potent

and real, absolutely terrible

but as the weeks went on,

he didn’t get a little stronger

he kept on getting stronger

to the point where it became noticeable.

body transformation from steroid placebo effect

Body Transformation from The Steroid Placebo

He was squatting maybe around 225 pounds

when you first started.

He wasn’t that big of a guy

he must’ve been about 155 pounds or so,

but by six,

then he started to put weight on,

and he put on maybe about 10 to 15 pounds

of what looked like muscle.

His squat went from 225 to about 350 or so,

his bench press where he was barely bench pressing

more than a plate and a little plate and some tens,

he was bench pressing easily,

245 on each side for repetitions.

So he was getting bigger

and he was getting stronger,

the same way that someone who would be on steroids would.

Now I was training as hard as I could.

I was eating perfectly

and my gains were nowhere near

what he was experiencing, nowhere near.

So there was no point where we could say

that he was just experiencing a growth spurts ,

a natural growth spurt.

He had been training for a couple of years,

longer than I had been training,

and yet he was really going

through this radical transformation,

both physically and in terms of his performance,

and then I saw him in the locker room

while he was posing and showing off his new build muscle,

and he had acne all over his back.

His upper back was covered with acne.

The same way it would be

for someone who was using anabolic steroids.

He was exhibiting all the outward signs

of an anabolic steroid user.

So of course, I thought to myself,

well, maybe he did put something into his injections

and thought nothing of it,

until there was a big confrontation at the gym.

The guy who was giving him the injections,

came up to him on the gym floor

and demanded to find out who he was getting steroids from.

Now this guy wasn’t too bright,

So he looked at him and said,

“I’m only getting the injections from you.

I’m not using anything from anybody else.”

and he didn’t believe him.

He said, “You must be getting something

from somebody else

because how is it possible that you are so much bigger,

so much stronger,

you have acne all over your back

and we’re not giving you anything.”

So that was a big reveal.

That was a big moment where they finally came up and said

that they were not giving him actual steroids,

and if his reaction was really odd,

he said that that was impossible,

that there was no way

that what he was being given wasn’t steroids

because of his increased performance

and the transformations in his body.

The guys in the locker room were completely puzzled.

They had no idea what the hell was going on,

and even when I left Trinidad several years later,

he maintained that it wasn’t a joke,

that they had given him anabolic steroids

whereas those guys for certain did not.

It was all based on the power of his belief.

He believed so completely and whole heartedly,

that he was using anabolic steroids

to the point where his body changed,

in an almost unnatural way

as if he was using anabolic steroids.

How Social Cues And Advertising Increases The Placebo Effect in Supplements

Now I must’ve been 15 years old

when I witnessed this back in Trinidad,

and it made a really sizable impression on me

in terms of my own training

and my own supplement use.

Back then in the 1980s, early 90s

bodybuilders didn’t really talk about

their steroid use openly the way they do today,

and a lot of them would attribute

their fantastic professional level of bodybuilding physiques

to the supplements that they were using,

and I remember there was one that came out

that was called vanadyl sulfate,

and the vanadyl sulfate

was supposed to be this next big thing

and back then there was no internet,

there was no bodybuilding.com,

there was no YouTube,

there was no Instagram, nothing like that.

The only real connection that the world had

with bodybuilding and bodybuilding information

were at the magazines.

Flex magazine, Muscle and Fitness magazine.

were the main ones

and there was this unfortunate partnership

in that the publisher of Flex magazine

and Muscle and Fitness magazine was the guy,

brothers actually Joe Weider and Ben Weider

and Joe Weider was also in charge of and owned the company

that made supplements

and he was also the one who was in charge of

and owned the rights to the bodybuilding competitions.

So it was a bit of a mixed bag

in terms of vested interests and promotion.

So all the top bodybuilders would always be

praising the merits of the various supplements

that the Weiders were producing

and this one supplement, vanadyl sulfate

was really over the top

in terms of how much they were saying

that it was going to be a game changer.

Now for someone like myself, young impressionable,

but also resolved to not use anabolic steroids,

I was looking for whatever there was out there

that I could take that would not affect my hormones

in any way, shape or form

but help me achieve my goal of becoming a bodybuilder

and back in those days,

all we had to rely on was that information

and then what we saw from our friends and colleagues

in the gym.

(Read also my article : 5 Reasons Why You Don’t Need Vitamin Supplements)

Real Life Examples Of The Placebo Effect In Supplements

There were guys in the gym who started using vanadyl sulfate

and they started making some real changes in their bodies,

and they started talking about it saying,

“Hey, you know, I use vanadyl sulfate

and my pumps are much more than they were before,

biceps a little bit bigger than they were,

I’m a little stronger.”

and to the point where it was a little noticeable,

you could see that there was something going on.

These were people who I knew for a fact were natural.

They were like me.

They were not people

who were interested in using anabolic steroids

and I trusted their judgment

and so my training partner at the time,

and I decided we were going to get some vanadyl sulfate too,

and we used it

and it was fantastic,

it was amazing.

We had better pumps,

we got stronger,

we felt fuller,

our lifts went up,

everything they said would happen happened,

until over time,

the results kind of petered out

and over time as well,

talk of vanadyl sulfate kind of faded away.

Eventually, when I became obsessed

with understanding everything

there was to know about supplements,

I saw that vanadyl sulfate was pretty much debunked

as not having any anabolic properties whatsoever

and that it was completely a placebo effect.

It was because our friends had used it

and claimed to have had some really good results from it

and because we were bombarded by all these articles

of some of the top bodybuilders at the time

talking about how fantastic it was

and how well it worked for them,

it was that that made us see a change when we used it,

but it was all really coming down to the power of our minds

and the power of suggestion.

Now as a very science-based person,

I’m not a very big believer in placebos,

from a personal level,

but there’s something,

a bit of pride that gets in the way sometimes

because the reality is

that it has nothing to do with what I believe

on a personal level or not.

It’s simply is some things that exist outside of ourselves

and it was important for me to kind of be humbled

and realize that this is a real phenomenon.

This isn’t a trick being played,

this isn’t some form of weakness on my part

or anyone’s part

if they find themselves affected by a placebo effect.

It’s something that requires more investigation

and it’s something that we need to keep in mind

especially as a natural athlete

or anyone who’s trying to improve their body.

We need to keep it in mind because what it means is,

that we need to be very careful

when it comes to supplementations

and any kind of supplements that come out on the market

because if the power of suggestion

especially today when we have so much more media influence

and so much more information

and so much more suggestion

from people who are fitness, celebrities,

influencers, fitness influencers,

and bodybuilders, bikini competitors,

and the whole slew of them

that people are exposed to on a regular basis

it’s really easy when they’re the ones hawking

some of these supplements

to have the perception that they’re working

when they really aren’t doing much of anything.

Now, after the vanadyl sulfate incident I’ll call it,

I decided that I was going to start a path

where my natural body building

would get to a place where

I was not only not using regular supplements

like protein powders and such

and just eating regular food

and that’s where I am today.

I don’t believe in supplements,

I don’t use them,

I don’t need them.

and one of the things that was responsible

for that particular shift was the realization

that there had been so many more supplements over the years

that came and went that people just didn’t talk about.

Boron back in the 80s

was supposed to increase testosterone by 500%.

Anybody who knows anything about organic chemistry

might know that boron is a mineral

and that it obviously doesn’t

radically increase testosterone,

but back in the 80s

those people who were using it

and bombarded by all that information saying it did,

many of them had positive things to say about it for awhile,

and then when it stops working,

it’s not so much people stop and say,

“Hey, I got scammed.”

“Hey, that didn’t work.”

They just move onto the next thing

and it always is a next thing,

you know, it was boron

and then it was vanadyl sulfate,

then it was chromium picolinate,

then it was ZMA,

all these things purporting all these fantastic properties,

that science and time show to be a bit of an exaggeration

of their capabilities

and that most of these substances

actually didn’t really do much of anything,

but because people believed so much in them

that they actually saw a positive effect.

The Importance of Not Looking To External Factors For Your Fitness Success

Now, the reason why

I started thinking about stopping, using supplements

was something even deeper than that,

in that my realization was

if I could take something

and because of the belief that

it’s going to do something for me,

that I could actually physically

make my body change as a result,

that there’s a lot of power there,

but if I was taking my focus

and putting it on something outside of myself,

I was losing something.

You see, my philosophy is that,

if it is that a sugar pill

or some water with alcohol

or some mineral

it has absolutely no antibiotic properties whatsoever

can change our bodies so radically

if we believed that they can do these things,

that we are underestimating our own potential,

we are underestimating how much we can change ourselves

with the power of our minds

and that we need to not look outside of ourselves

to make that happen.

My focus became on believing that I could get bigger,

that I can get stronger,

that I could with every single workout

somehow or the other,

affect a change in my body

by sheer force of will

combined with my training,

combined with my diet.

My belief to this day

in my ability to improve is unshakeable,

it’s unshakeable because it’s undiluted.

It’s not diluted by belief in any supplement,

any pill, any drug,

it’s complete belief in myself,

and it’s worked.

I’ve done a lot,

I’ve come really far.

I’ve been blessed to do so

and what I want to pass on to you

is the fact that,

we all need to stop looking outside of ourselves

for the inspiration to perform,

to be better, to transform,

to achieve excellence.

We don’t need to look outside of ourselves.

Too much in our society is based on taking a pill,

looking for something,

looking for a solution

that is without as opposed to within.

Energy cannot be created

nor can it be destroyed.

That is a fundamental reality of our universe

and our existence in general,

and if energy cannot be created or destroyed,

it’s a precious commodity we need to conserve

and we need to conserve and put all of our energy

not into whatever new supplement comes out,

whatever new testosterone booster, fat burner,

or even into anabolic steroids.

We need to put that energy into ourselves.

We need to believe in ourselves.

We need to use that placebo effect

and make ourselves believe.

We need to tell ourselves, convince ourselves,

that what we are doing to change our bodies

will make our bodies change.

I do think that having an attitude and a mindset

where you’re truly resolute

that you are going to have some major changes

in conjunction to proper diet,

in conjunction with proper training

makes more of a change than simply training alone.

I do believe that, it has to be,

but only if you are able to have

that real belief in yourself

and so what I want you to come away with from this

is the idea of believing in yourself.

Don’t take that energy and put it into anyone’s supplement,

anyone’s product,

put it into yourself.

You can achieve a lot more.

Than you think you can.

If that guy could do so much

because he believed he was on steroids,

what can we do if we believe in ourselves?

Thanks so much for listening, and Excelsior!

See the full video here- What If You Believed You Were Taking Steroids- The Placebo Effect In Action

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This was a tough one!

Starts out with ballistic push ups (like clap pushups but without the clap as my wrist is still not 100%) nonstop for 20 reps, then all out on dips for 10 reps.

To say it was painful would be an understatement, but you just have to push through and keep on going.

Still training, hope you are too and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense

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In this video I go over my biceps training using the Naturally Intense High Intensity Training protocols that helped me go from having arms measuring 11.5 to 12 inches to 18 inches drug free!

It's an unconventional approach for certain, but it's one that's helped my arms grow and the hundreds of men and women I have trained over the past 30 plus years.

Now, my success isn't due to being genetically gifted, as it took me the better part of 11 years to get my arms up to those measurements.

Which is significant as it works and been been proven time and time again to work for the average man or woman trying to grow their arms without drugs.

It's my hope that these high intensity training protocols can help you as much as they helped me!

Click on my bio link to see the full video on my YouTube channel and thanks as always for taking the time to look at my work!!! Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense

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At the Lancaster Classic Day 2 Elimination Rounds Against European Champion, and World Record Holder Leo Pettersen @leo_barebow_archer

I don't talk much about it but I'm also a competitive barebow archer (surprise!) and last Saturday I had the honor of making it to Day 2 at the Lancaster Archery Classic in the Barebow Division, as I made the top 64 out of 267 competitors and had a chance to shoot with some of the greatest barebow shooters on the planet!

I didn't make it past Leo, but it was a real rush to be there and a huge thanks to my coach, Joe MyGlyn @prolinearchery for helping me get there.

Thanks as well to my good friend @sean_chan33 for all of his help from the very start, to my line buddy Aaron Shea for taking the shot and showing up to support!

My thanks as well to rob_kaufhold for putting on and promoting one of the best archery tournaments on earth!

Thanks also to to everyone who took the time to send a supporting word and I am looking forward to next year!!! #naturallyintense #barebow

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Dumbo, Brooklyn circa 2004

This shot was taken as part of the promotion for my Naturally Intense DVD and was about a year after my last bodybuilding competition.

It was a grueling photoshoot.

We started at about 10 am and finished around 4pm and I was completely spent, but the more we shot the sharper I looked, so we kept on going.

It's nice to look back from time to time and as tired as I was, we all had a blast!

My thanks to @stephanie_corne_artwork, @https://pulse.ly/itgnag2dec and @ftaz1 for taking the shots!!!

Thanks for watching and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense

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Absolutely!

I stopped training in commercial gyms as of March 2020 and have been training at home ever since.

Initially I was admittedly worried that I might lose some of my gains or not make as much progress, but that certainly wasn't the case.

I've consistently continued to improve with my high intensity workouts and muscles have no idea where they are training.

As long as the criteria of adequate intensity and overload are met, there will be an adaptive response and your muscles will get bigger and stronger.

So don't worry at all about where you train, focus instead of what will be the best way for you to always be training!

Thanks for watching and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense ...

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Kevin's Three Day Training Spilt!

For the past 33 years I have trained three times a week with Naturally Intense High Intensity Training workouts lasting 10, 15 to 20 minutes max.

It's a training split tried and testes not only in it's helping me realize my goal of becoming a successful natural bodybuilder, but it's also helped hundreds of men and women over the past three decades.

I have tested just about every possible training split imaginable and for this particular style of high intensity training, this particular grouping consistently yields fantastic results.

I hope it helps you as much as it's helped me over the years and thanks so much for taking the time to look at my work.

Keep training hard and Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense

Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense

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405 Stiff Leg Deadlift for 7 Reps! High Intensity Training.

First leg workout of the year and already pushing it!

I haven't done a stiff leg deadlift over 315lbs for about 3 years at this point, and I did my last set with 315lbs and comfortably got to 10 reps and decided I had far too much gas left in the tank and that I should go up in weight.

So I did.

I figured I might get a solid 6 reps in, but I made it to 7 and I think I could have gone on to get a full 10 reps BUT that's when good judgement prevailed.

As a bodybuilder having not trained this heavy for so many years, the shock of this much weight would be more than enough to stimulate muscle growth, and doing more reps wouldn't yield any greater returns, only increase the likelihood of injury.

It's not about the numbers, it's about training to a point where you achieve your goal, and it's important to have a goal in mind as a bodybuilder based on increasing muscle mass rather than hitting a particular number.

Besides, if in my 20's I never did more than 405lbs on a stiff leg deadlift, it doesn't make any sense going heavier than when I am almost 50!

Could I deadlift more at this point?

Absolutely but just because you can doesn't mean you should!

So keep those weights in a good working range, keep it safe and as always Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense

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Jan 4

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Turning 50 in a few months...

Not much of a big deal for me as I still feel pretty much the same but I hope that my example helps show what can be done with a lifetime commitment to eating well and training consistently!

Thanks for coming along on the journey and as always, Excelsior!!! #naturallyintense

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What If You Believed You Were Taking Steroids- The Placebo Effect

What If You Believed You Were Taking Steroids- Understanding The Placebo Effect

The Widespread Use of Placebo by Physicians & Pharmaceutical Companies

Real Life Steroid Placebo Example Of Someone Who Believed They Were Using Steroids

Body Transformation from The Steroid Placebo

Real Life Examples Of The Placebo Effect In Supplements

The Importance of Not Looking To External Factors For Your Fitness Success

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