Exposing the Secret Steroid Epidemic Among Fitness Influencers Selling Workout Plans to Fans

Although few disclose it, there are fitness influencers who share diet and workout tips, offering their cut physique as a real-life example of the results, yet their real secret is anabolic steroids.

Trainers who’ve worked with fitness influencers indicate that at least half take steroids despite making money on workout and diet plans, showcasing results achieved from steroids.

Many issues arise from this practice, not least of which they risk their own health and promote body dysmorphia among their followers.

 

Why Fitness Influencers Secretly Use Steroids

• Bust through workout plateau: Many fitness influencers start their careers as bodybuilders and fitness gurus who share their own progress. One problem is that as their social media following grows, progress in the gym can start to stall. Despite being anti-doping, they need to showcase progress on their social media accounts and turn to the “soft entry point” of an oral anabolic steroid, which feels less extreme than injecting.
• The more followers you get, the more your appearance counts: The more entrenched you become in the fitness industry, the more your appearance counts, and the more accolades and followers you accumulate, the more critical it is to sell your particular fitness plan.
• Easy wins: With steroids, a bodybuilder could easily add 6 to 9 pounds of muscle in three months, and this impressive result attracts more attention and followers.
• Motivated by success: As the number of followers increases, so too does the demand to be at your peak, which can lead to injecting testosterone, An allowed substance in most bodybuilding competitions and is healthier than taking recreational drugs but comes with health risks like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and possible liver damage.

 

Experts Say Steroids Are the Norm For Fitness Influencers and indicate that about half of fitness influencers take performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs, in some form- whether it’s steroids, human growth hormone, or even insulin (which can reduce body fat), but this could be a lowball number.

 

Steroids Can Help Influencers Get Famous

Especially for men who are socialized to prefer large muscles, anabolic androgenic steroids are a common performance-enhancing drug taken to boost muscle and strength and speed up recovery.

A 2020 study by researchers at Harvard estimated that 98% of steroid users are men and that about 3 million American men have tried anabolic steroids at one time in their lives.

Of that group, about a third go on to develop a steroid dependence. Steroids can help sharpen a physique and win contests that get influencers noticed and followed, especially because Gen Z loves the gym.

 

Why Influencers Can’t Quit steroids

Steroids offer short-term benefits yet have long-term health risks. Because almost everyone in bodybuilding competitions is taking some kind of steroid, it becomes an essential part of being a competitive pro at the top level.

When influencers retire, they still don’t want to talk about their advantages despite taking steroids for years without disclosing them.

Some bodybuilding coaches do tell clients about steroid options, but still, influencers are selling workout programs or diet plans promising transformations that they largely owe to PEDs.

The most successful fitness influencers can earn thousands of dollars for a single post, and sometimes, creating social-media content is their full-time job, making maintaining and growing a follower count critical.

Influencers sometimes also leverage their followings to build successful spin-off businesses, often centered on workout classes or plans. This makes the pressure to stay “cut” year-round extremely high.

 

Consequences Of Fitness Influencers Keeping Steroid Use Secret

Aside from the risks to influencers’ health, presenting steroid-induced muscle growth as the ‘natural’ result of workout and diet plans- that followers can purchase, influencers make money based on false claims.

In addition, they create a body ideal that’s unattainable for even the most dedicated gymgoers, and this can result in body dysmorphia and eating disorders.

Some influencers hide their steroid use because it’s illegal in their area or because they know they’ll lose their brand deals, but for social-media users who aren’t aware of how prevalent steroid use is, trying to live up to influencers can cause fitness disenchantment and followers often give up on exercise because they don’t get the results their favorite influencer showcases.

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