J_T wrote:SportsGuy8 wrote:J_T wrote:I read during the summer that he was 218, down from 228. He has some some fat to get rid off, but my eyes tell me that he was chubbier in the past. If he really is 230 now, I think he added some muscles at least. Whoever has ever done any lifting (raises hand hesitantly) knows about the bulking and cutting phases. It looks to me like he is doing just that but probably in less efficient way than NBA wizards would manage.
"Bulking and cutting" really isn't as necessary as once thought. The myth that you cannot build muscle and lose fat at the same time comes from bodybuilders, who are so close to their maximum muscle potential that there's no way going than down when they start cutting fat to get to those ridiculously low fat levels that's needed for their competitions. So of course they cannot add more muscle during this time, they even lose some because their bodies start to "panic" at such low fat levels.
For most athletes it should be the same as for most of us, though - you CAN lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. But even better are those co-called "lean-gains", where your fat stays pretty much the same, you just slowly add muscle. Those are probably optimal for basketball players, so that their bodies (and their games) don't hurt too much.
Doncic does need to cut, obviously, but now's not the time for it. Cutting now would even further deplete him of his much needed energy. He sadly needs to wait for off-season.
P.s.: There's another solution, though. Steroids. An organization like Real Madrid should have elite experts for that.
You are right that it's not needed, but it sure is simpler. It does look to me like he might be doing some of that, though.
Yes, steroids do solve all problems, you don't even need to lift and your fat will be replaced by muscles. A while ago I read one of the most interesting performance-enhancing related pieces. It was written by a guy who was an enthusiast cyclist and was fighting against doping his entire life. But at one point he decided to try all the stuff on himself, HGH, EPO, steroids, adding one after another. He spent $10000 and 9 months for the experiment and described every step of the process, feelings, performance etc afterwards. It sure was good read. I learned that these things most definitely and without many difficulties - work. And they work really really well. What he learned from it was that if he only had money, he would have kept taking HGH incjections, because it improved quality of his life so drastically in just couple of months (hair can start growing, he didn't have to use reading glasses anymore etc). Apparently it's the worst kept secret that 90% of Hollywood is on HGH therapy (after all it is COMPLETELY legal, it's just not allowed in sports and even in sports it's not forbidden because it would be enhancing performance - it doesn't on its own). Apparently steroids are also widely used by many famous people, but not the type of steroids athletes use. Athletes use certain types that work fast and have many bad side effects. Others use steroids that don't have bad side effects and are relatively harmless... but the trace stays in your body for 12 months. That's the only reason you won't see athletes using them.
The harmless (at least if you're not overdoing it) ones don't really stay in your body for that long, at least not in detectable traces. Besides, most of Hollywood is probably just on a combination of testosterone, HGH, HCG (and something to decrease the estradiol levels), so basically all natural molecules. Testosterone, for example, is a bioidentical molecule, meaning it's exactly the same if it's produced by your own body or if you inject it, so the only way to "detect" it is if someone has very abnormal, unnatural levels.
Basically, testosterone, for example, is going to be impossible to detect once it drops to natural levels and that's going to happen very soon, sometimes in a matter of days, depending on the amount and the half-life of the ester. And even if it's a bit above, it's going to be hard to prove that it wasn't your own body that made it.
As for taking steroids and gaining muscle without working out. That's probably true for beginners, but if you really want great results, you still need to work out ... A LOT. And for an athlete, just adding muscle wouldn't really amount to that much. Strength gains are much more important to athletes.
There's one major downside to HGH ... If you're unlucky and get cancer, HGH is also going to vastly increase the growth of cancer cells, something you obviously don't want. And supposedly it also makes you sleepy.
