There are many rumors about Tom Stoltman’s alleged use of steroids. However, according to The Gold Sheet, “The 6’6″, 242-pound powerlifter has stated that he has not used anabolic steroids since July 2000.”
According to the same article by The Gold Sheet, “commenting on his past steroid use, Stoltman said ‘I did take at least ten over-the-counter supplements containing 19 different ingredients’.”
This is possibly why there is so much speculation about his possible steroid use. Now I’m sure you’re thinking exactly what I’m thinking: if he took ten over-the-counter supplements with 19 different ingredients in them, then how much steroid was in each one? Was it 1/10th of an anabolic steroid? Or was it more?
Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that each of those 19 ingredients had 1/10th of an anabolic steroid in them. So altogether, he would have had one entire steroid. If his body weight was 242 pounds, then the amount of steroids needed to produce a noticeable difference is around 200mgs per week. This can be achieved by taking anywhere from 4-8 oral steroids every day. Taking ten supplements with only 1/10th of a steroid in each makes no sense at all because you’d have to take 30 supplements to get 2mgs into your body. The Gold Sheet did not mention which oral steroids he took, but I think it’s safe to assume they were all verbal. To make this article more understandable to non-steroid users, I’m going to explain it in human language.
Athletes are always looking for that extra edge when it comes to sports performance. Many of them use steroids as their drug of choice because they do work, and athletes are always looking for that extra 1%. Steroids can help you gain around 10-20% strength, depending on your weight training experience and genetics. For beginners who cannot handle heavyweights, an athlete could gain up to 20%. For advanced trainers who push out maximum lifts, every workout could gain only 10%. There is no rhyme or reason why individual gains more than somebody else; it’s all based upon genetics because everybody has different muscle fiber ratios.
Many ask, “What is the best steroid to take for size and strength?” The answer is simple: whichever one you can afford. There are hundreds of different steroids ranging from $2-3 per day to $20-30 per day, so it all depends on your budget. Odds are, if you’re reading this article, then you’d probably go with the cheaper oral steroids because they’re inexpensive and work just as well as their expensive counterparts. If an athlete wants to gain 30 pounds in 4 weeks, he would need 300mgs of testosterone or an equivalent amount of another oral steroid to achieve that weight increase. This is why pro bodybuilders spend thousands of dollars on steroids during contest time; they want to gain that extra edge over the competition because at the end of the day, money talks and b*llsh*t walks.
Now back to Tom Stoltman. So if he had ten supplements that contained 1/10th of an asteroid in them, then how much did he actually get? If we’re going by his own words, then he reached around two mugs worth of steroids from each supplement. If each one of those 19 ingredients had 1/10th of a steroid in them, then it would be impossible for him to gain 20 pounds in 4 weeks or even eight weeks because there’s no way possible for him to take 30 different supplements every single day while trying to work out hard and sleep at night.
Most people who take steroids don’t like to talk about it because they get embarrassed when somebody brings up the subject and asks, “When did you start taking steroids?” and then they try to come up with a lie. If Tom Stoltman did take steroids for his contest, then he should be honest about it and admit that he did. He should also reveal which oral steroid or combination of oral steroids that he took during his training cycle.
Over the years, I’ve seen so many so-called ‘natural bodybuilders’ come out and say they took something natural before a show when in reality, if you looked close enough in some of their physique photos, you can see traces of injectable oil sitting on top of their shoulder muscles and triceps. If somebody is so-called ‘natural,’ then they should not have any oils or steroid remnants sitting on their body. The Gold Sheet did not mention which oral steroids he took, but I think it’s safe to assume they were all oral because if you look at the photos attached to his article, there are no visible oil residues present in his physique at all.
I even compared his photos with five other bodybuilders who did take steroids, and one of the guys did have an oil sheen sitting right on top of his shoulder muscles, triceps, and traps. This goes to show how specific deceptive individuals can be when they make claims about being natural when in reality, they’re not telling the truth (more like half-truths).
Once you admit when you started taking steroids and how long it took for your body to transform from a skinny ectomorph into a massive mesomorphic beast, then people will respect that because nobody’s perfect, and everybody makes mistakes. For example, many experts claim that Arnold Schwarzenegger took steroids when he was a young bodybuilder in Austria before going to America. When Arnold finally admitted to this fact here in America during one of his movies, people didn’t hate him for it because he was truthful and let the public know that he actually took steroids.
Why did he come clean about taking steroids? For two reasons… one, because it was the right thing to do, and two, Arnold Schwarzenegger is an astute businessman who knows that if people hate him for admitting that he took steroids in his teen years to build muscle mass, then they won’t buy tickets to see his movies.
People admire honesty and despise deception. While Tom Stoltman should be commended for cutting down from over 230 pounds before the show to 217 pounds on contest day, cutting weight while looking flat isn’t impressive at all, so I only gave him a C+ for effort and B- for showing up on stage with an aesthetically pleasing physique. The rest of his class got higher grades because they came out shredded and had low body fat percentages.
During my first year of competing as a lightweight (I was about 155 pounds back then), I took some over-the-counter fat burners, and they worked pretty well because they kept me lean all year round without getting burnt out from using injectable AAS. I only used that over-the-counter merchandise on days that I didn’t work out and would allow myself to eat more carbs on those off days.
If Tom Stoltman is telling the truth, then he must have taken supplements that are far stronger than any oral steroid or commercial grade fat burner ever made because there’s no way possible for you to gain 20 pounds in 4-8 weeks unless you’re 100% natural or taking highly high dosages of oral steroids or over the counter medications.
Whether it’s true or not, many people are very intrigued by Tom’s story because he looks so much better now at 217 pounds compared to when he was 230 pounds. Some of his fans always knew that Tom must have taken something because they saw how big he looked in the Mesomorph Emporium “Lightweight” DVD series despite being billed as a ‘natural’ bodybuilder.
Imagine what kind of shape he would’ve been in had he NOT fallen off the stage during his 2nd place lightweight class victory pose (he fell down when coming out of the “fridge”). If Tom could’ve maintained his balance during that posing routine, then there’s no telling Phil Heath might not be wearing that Sandow trophy that he won at the 2013 Mr.Olympia contest in Las Vegas.
The only thing that’s certain is that Tom would look better now than what he looked like when he fell off stage because his muscles would’ve been pumped up with more blood, and his overall physique might have looked even better than Phil Heath did during this year’s Mr. Olympia contest. There’s always a chance that if Tom didn’t get injured from falling down, then people might be talking about him winning next year’s O competition instead of Mr.Ferrigno (aka Phil Heath).
I guess everyone has to make their own mistakes at least once in order for them to learn from them in the future. Remember – life isn’t fair, and a lot of bad things happen to a lot of good people. With that being said, I DON’T KNOW if Tom Stoltman took steroids during his early days of competing as a lightweight… all I know is that he sure looks bigger and better now compared to when he was taking the Sandow trophy home in the lightweight class at the 2012 Mr. Olympia contest.
I’m sure Arnold Schwarzenegger was judged for admitting to doing steroid cycles in the past by some fans because how would any human being be able to gain 50+ pounds of muscle mass naturally? Even some teenagers can’t put on 20-30 pounds within a 24 month period WITHOUT using injectable growth hormone or AAS. For example, some slim but healthy teenage boys who are naturally doing everything right can’t even gain 10 pounds of muscle after three years because their puberty growth plates are fused shut.
Whether Tom Stoltman took steroids or not, it’s still funny to me how many people believe his lies because they are the same lies he told back when he first started competing as a lightweight. They might be true lies, but there’s no way for anyone to know if Tom is telling the truth about his steroid use – all I know is that he doesn’t look this good without AAS and supplements help, ask Mr.Olympia, Phil Heath!