Drugs n Stuff 328 Does GH Timing Actually Matter? + Fake Steroid Update

Ron Partlow, Dusty Hanshaw, Andrew Berry and Scott McNally team up for an It’s Just Bodybuilding × Blood Sweat & Gear crossover, looking back at the 2026 Mr. Olympia and the predictions we got wrong. We debate Nick Walker vs. Derek Lunsford, Samson Dauda’s finals performance, the judging, and who deserved to place higher. Plus, Andrew Jacked’s next step, Martin Fitzwater, Hadi Choopan, Keone Pearson, women’s bodybuilding and Women’s Physique controversy, stories from Olympia weekend, and what’s coming in 2027. 00:00 The Primo Shortage Didn’t Stop Bodybuilding 00:20 It’s Just Bodybuilding × Blood Sweat & Gear 01:40 Our Olympia Predictions That Aged the Worst 04:45 Olympia Judging: Did They Get It Right? 07:00 Nick Walker vs. Derek Lunsford 09:15 Samson Dauda’s Olympia Finals Performance 12:20 Did Tonio Burton Deserve to Place Higher? 14:11 Should Prejudging Count as Much as Finals? 21:00 The Listeners Picked Nick Walker 22:45 Regan Grimes, Jordan Hutchinson & James Hollingshead 24:50 Does Michal Krizo Have the Best Most Muscular? 27:00 What’s Holding Andrew Jacked Back? 31:40 Nick Walker Commits to the 2027 Arnold Classic 32:20 Where Does Hadi Choopan Fit in This Lineup? 34:00 Nick Walker as Mr. Olympia: Representing the IFBB 39:50 What Happened With Martin Fitzwater? 44:20 Does Samson Dauda Need a Coach? 49:30 Keone Pearson & the 212 Olympia 50:45 Shaun Clarida & Lucas Garcia 56:10 Andrea Shaw & Women’s Bodybuilding 1:00:45 Lola Montez 1:07:00 Natalia Coelho & Women’s Physique Controversy 1:10:30 Ron & Dusty’s Olympia Weekend Stories 1:26:20 Wheelchair Bodybuilding 1:34:20 Bodybuilding Predictions for 2027 🔴 OFFICIAL SPONSOR MUTANT® — Born Different. Born Hardcore! Save with code: BIGRON or DUSTY https://www.iammutant.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📲 FOLLOW THE HOSTS Ron Partlow https://www.instagram.com/rep300 Dusty Hanshaw https://www.instagram.com/dustyhanshaw08 Andrew Berry https://www.instagram.com/berryswole/ Scott McNally https://www.instagram.com/scottmcnally1 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📱 TRAIN LIKE HELL APP Ron’s official training app https://www.trainlikehell.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🙏 SUPPORT THINK BIG BODYBUILDING Patreon (Every $5 helps keep the shows going) https://www.patreon.com/thinkbigbodybuilding 👕 THINK BIG MERCH https://think-big.printify.me/products ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✅ ADDITIONAL SPONSOR TRUE NUTRITION Code: THINK https://www.truenutrition.com/THINK 3rd-party tested — trusted by bodybuilders ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🇨🇦 CANADIAN VIEWERS Blowout deals on top supplement brands https://www.supplementsource.ca ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 AUDIO PODCAST Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/think-big-bodybuilding/id1561623662 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Dave Crosland and Scott McNally return to the fake steroid product from a well-known source. They also discuss a recent steroid bust and how making gear from inexpensive raw powders can turn into a business with serious consequences. Then it’s listener questions, including one that cuts through the noise around growth hormone timing. Influencers can make taking GH at a specific time of day sound essential. Scott explains why he thinks timing matters far less than people are led to believe. Dave and Scott also cover second cycles, estrogen levels, YK-11, Accutane, low ferritin, and whether to be honest with your doctor about steroid use. 0:00 Support the show with our Advertisers 2:00 Fake Gear from Euro: An Update 4:30 Bust in Vegas 6:00 The Slippery Slope of Selling Gear 11:22 Injectable DHT for a Figure Competitor? 12:00 Setting Up a Second Bulk Cycle 15:00 More GH on Big Training Days? 16:00 Does Growth Hormone Timing Really Matter? 23:10 Beta Blockers in Poker 25:20 Adjusting Estrogen When Bloodwork Looks Good 27:45 How to Dose a Second Cycle 30:00 Dave Is Back in the Gym 32:30 Adding YK-11 to Test, EQ and NPP 36:00 Accutane During a Cycle or After? 39:00 Safer Solvents for Injectable Orals? 40:30 600 mg of Orals Per Day: Follow-Up 41:40 Low Ferritin on Blast and Cruise 48:00 Should You Tell Your Doctor About Steroid Use? 54:20 Uncle Dave’s Wisdom UK Blood Work Get your Labs done by Dave in the UK : https://evalbloodanalysis.com/home/ Support the Podcast Patreon — Help keep the show growing. Even $5/month makes a difference. https://www.patreon.com/thinkbigbodybuilding Sponsors TRUE NUTRITION — Custom supplements for serious lifters Use code THINK to save https://www.truenutrition.com/THINK STROM SPORTS — Performance supplements trusted by athletes UK: https://tinyurl.com/ydmbfa54 US: https://stromsportsus.com Supplement Source Canada — Top brand supplements with fast shipping http://www.supplementsource.ca Merch Official THINK BIG Merch — Train, represent, support the brand https://think-big.printify.me/products

Skip Hill, Andrew Berry and Scott McNally answer listener questions about starting versus finishing a cycle with oral steroids, using gear during a recomp, and taking orals only on training days. They also discuss minimum dosing to preserve muscle when cutting to 10% body fat, concerns about nandrolone and neurotoxicity, and how a wrestler’s weight class changes the conversation about gaining muscle. Plus, the guys rank ways to get a better pump, talk about fitting bodybuilding into a busy life, address stubborn midsection fat, and critique a 300-pound bodybuilder’s physique. 0:00 Welcome to Blood Sweat & Gear Coaching Q&A 1:40 Oral Steroids: Start or Finish a Cycle? 10:00 Does Gear Help With a Recomp? 13:10 Oral Steroids on Training Days Only? 18:30 Wrestler at His Weight-Class Limit: Can He Use Gear? 29:00 Ranking Ways to Get a Better Pump 34:00 Minimal Gear for Cutting to 10% Body Fat 37:00 Nandrolone and Neurotoxicity Concerns 47:50 Balancing Bodybuilding With a Busy Life 55:40 Why Is He Still Holding Midsection Fat? 1:02:30 Physique Critique: 300-Pound Bodybuilder 1:12:30 Skip’s Word of the Day 1:14:45 Behind the Scenes Check out our Research and Supplement Affiliates here : https://thinkbigbodybuilding.com

Who will finish in the top five at the 2026 Mr. Olympia? Ron Partlow, Dusty Hanshaw and Scott McNally break down the Olympia lineup and the five bodybuilders they believe are in the mix: Samson Dauda, Derek Lunsford, Andrew Jacked, Nick Walker and Martin Fitzwater. They discuss Samson’s latest improvements, why Derek remains dangerous, Martin’s sleeper potential, Andrew’s training change and which competitor could deliver the biggest surprise of Olympia weekend. Plus, the importance of bodybuilding genetics, James Hollingshead’s latest physique update, the biggest prize-money winners in Olympia history, NFL trivia and the must-do attractions in Las Vegas during Olympia weekend. 0:00 Welcome to It’s Just Bodybuilding 2:00 Our Top Five for the 2026 Mr. Olympia 2:30 Is Samson Dauda Better Than Last Year? 6:00 Why Derek Lunsford Is Still Dangerous 7:00 Is Martin Fitzwater the Olympia Sleeper? 9:50 Why Balanced Physiques Are So Dangerous 13:00 Who Will Be the Biggest Olympia Surprise? 13:45 James Hollingshead Physique Update 22:16 Genetic Freaks: DK Metcalf and Elite Genetics 25:00 Why Genetics Trump Everything 26:40 Will Andrew Jacked’s Coaching Change Matter? 31:00 Who Has Won the Most Olympia Prize Money? 57:30 NFL Trivia with Ron, Dusty and Scott 1:09:00 Must-Do Attractions in Las Vegas During the Olympia 🔴 OFFICIAL SPONSOR MUTANT® — Born Different. Born Hardcore! Save with code: BIGRON or DUSTY https://www.iammutant.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📲 FOLLOW THE HOSTS Ron Partlow https://www.instagram.com/rep300 Dusty Hanshaw https://www.instagram.com/dustyhanshaw08 Scott McNally https://www.instagram.com/scottmcnally1 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📱 TRAIN LIKE HELL APP Ron’s official training app https://www.trainlikehell.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🙏 SUPPORT THINK BIG BODYBUILDING Patreon (Every $5 helps keep the shows going) https://www.patreon.com/thinkbigbodybuilding 👕 THINK BIG MERCH https://think-big.printify.me/products ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✅ ADDITIONAL SPONSOR TRUE NUTRITION Code: THINK https://www.truenutrition.com/THINK 3rd-party tested — trusted by bodybuilders ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🇨🇦 CANADIAN VIEWERS Blowout deals on top supplement brands https://www.supplementsource.ca ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 AUDIO PODCAST Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/think-big-bodybuilding/id1561623662 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #MrOlympia #Bodybuilding #Olympia2026 #ItsJustBodybuilding

Fake steroids are on the market, and this time we have independent lab testing showing what was actually in the product. In this episode of Drugs n Stuff, Dave Crosland and Scott McNally break down the test results, the company's response when confronted with them, the limitations of testing an opened vial, and what this raises about quality control in the underground steroid market. Then we answer listener questions covering Strongman cycles, Masteron, PEDs and reaction time, Aromasin dosing, low sodium, testosterone blood work, and whether to increase testosterone or add another compound. This episode is presented for education, harm reduction and consumer safety. We do not sell, source or provide information about where to purchase illegal drugs. 0:00 Disclaimer: Harm Reduction & Consumer Safety 0:45 How Do You Determine What a Business Is Worth? 1:10 Support Our Advertisers 2:45 Fake Steroids on the Market: What We Found 6:35 Independent Lab Testing: What Was Actually in It? 7:45 The Company's Response to the Test Results 11:30 Problems With Testing an Open Vial 14:35 Did the Company Try to Make It Right? 16:05 Does This Raise Questions About Their Quality Control? 19:30 Listener Steroid & PED Q&A 20:00 Steroid Cycles for Strongman 25:45 Staying Motivated Training in Hot Weather 31:25 Running Out of Masteron Mid-Cycle 34:25 Can PEDs Improve Reaction Time? 39:15 Is 30 Too Old to Start Competing? 44:45 Aromasin Dosing 51:45 Low Sodium on Blood Work 55:45 Dave's Unboxing 1:00:45 Add Another Compound or Increase Testosterone? 1:01:45 Low Testosterone on Blood Work While on Cycle? 1:04:25 Uncle Dave's Advice UK Blood Work Get your Labs done by Dave in the UK : https://evalbloodanalysis.com/home/ Support the Podcast Patreon — Help keep the show growing. Even $5/month makes a difference. https://www.patreon.com/thinkbigbodybuilding Sponsors TRUE NUTRITION — Custom supplements for serious lifters Use code THINK to save https://www.truenutrition.com/THINK STROM SPORTS — Performance supplements trusted by athletes UK: https://tinyurl.com/ydmbfa54 US: https://stromsportsus.com Supplement Source Canada — Top brand supplements with fast shipping http://www.supplementsource.ca Merch Official THINK BIG Merch — Train, represent, support the brand https://think-big.printify.me/products

Does L-carnitine actually increase androgen receptor content—or has social media exaggerated what the research shows? In this episode of Muscle Minds, Scott Stevenson presents a detailed breakdown of the Kraemer L-carnitine study behind this popular bodybuilding claim. Scott Stevenson and Scott McNally examine what the researchers actually measured, how the study was designed, what the results showed and the limitations that are often left out of social-media explanations. The evidence does not support the claim that L-carnitine upregulates androgen receptor content. We also discuss why this proposed effect would matter to bodybuilders, the questions the study leaves unanswered and what can—and cannot—be concluded from its results. 0:00 Teaser: L-Carnitine Does Not Increase Androgen Receptor Content 1:00 Introduction 3:00 Why We’re Covering This Topic 6:30 Does L-Carnitine Increase Androgen Receptor Content? 7:45 Questions for the Listener 9:20 Why Would This Be Important? 14:00 What We Need to Know About L-Carnitine 21:45 What Did They Do in the Kraemer Study? 25:00 L-Carnitine Study Protocol 30:20 L-Carnitine Study Results 39:00 Lingering Questions 41:30 Problems With the Study 47:30 Final Thoughts on the Study 56:00 Breaking Down the Protocol Further 1:04:00 Loading Period: Oral vs Injectable L-Carnitine 1:07:00 Pronouncing “Creatine” 1:10:00 Off Topic 🔴 Reach out to Scott or Scott for consults or coaching: Dr Scott = [http://www.byobbcoach.com](http://www.byobbcoach.com) Scott = [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) 🔴 Get the hardcover of Be Your Own Bodybuilding Coach on Scott's IG: [https://www.instagram.com/fortitude_training/](https://www.instagram.com/fortitude_training/) 🙏 Support us on Patreon. Every $5 helps! [https://www.patreon.com/thinkbigbodybuilding](https://www.patreon.com/thinkbigbodybuilding) 👕 Think BIG T Shirts! [https://think-big.printify.me/products](https://think-big.printify.me/products) ✅ Presented by TRUE NUTRITION. Code: THINK [http://www.truenutrition.com](http://www.truenutrition.com) 3rd Party Tested, Discover the source that bodybuilders trust! 🇨🇦 For our Canadians, get blow out deals on top brand name supplements! [http://www.supplementsource.ca](http://www.supplementsource.ca)

Is the post-diet rebound really where bodybuilders make some of their best gains, or did the growth actually happen during prep and only become visible once calories come back up and the physique fills out? Skip Hill, Andrew Berry and Scott McNally kick off Blood Sweat & Gear with a deep dive into the “magic” of the rebound. The guys break down what actually happens after a hard diet, how they approach rebound phases with clients, how quickly bodyweight should come back up, and the factors that determine whether someone has a productive rebound or just gets fat. They also look at real-world rebound examples and discuss what needs to be in place before pushing the enhanced side of a rebound. Later, the conversation gets into Tren E night sweats going into a show, injectable oral steroids, testosterone levels on cycle, DNP and methyl tren rankings, boldenone acetate, recovery methods, physique critiques and more. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The Magic of the Post-Diet Rebound 00:50 Welcome Back to Blood Sweat & Gear 02:40 Andrew’s Client Earns His Pro Card 04:00 How to Rebound After a Diet 07:00 What Determines a Successful Rebound? 16:00 Rebound Case Study #1 17:30 Rebound Case Study #2 20:00 Rebound Case Study #3 21:30 How Fast Should You Gain After a Diet? 24:20 What to Nail Before Adding Gear 26:00 Tren E Night Sweats Before a Show 32:00 Are Injectable Orals Actually Safer? 35:00 Testosterone Levels on Cycle 39:30 Ranking DNP 41:00 Ranking Methyl Tren 44:30 Boldenone Acetate 45:50 Ranking Recovery Methods 54:50 Physique Critique 1:04:30 Andrew Responds to a Fake Comment 1:07:25 Behind the Scenes: Somehow We’re Talking History Support the show with our advertisers and affiliates : http://www.thinkbigbodybuilding.com

Samson Dauda makes a surprising move just weeks before the Mr. Olympia, jumping into the Europa Pro in Germany and giving everyone an early look at his Olympia condition. Scott McNally, Ron Partlow and Dusty Hanshaw break down Samson’s chances of winning the Olympia, where Derek Lunsford fits into the picture, and whether Derek’s legs could hold him back. Plus, Sasan Heirati’s latest physique, Martyn Ford and gym etiquette, going ALL IN on bodybuilding, and our Top 10 vacation destinations for bodybuilders AKA Best Brocations 0:00 Welcome to It’s Just Bodybuilding 1:00 Can Samson Dauda WIN the Mr. Olympia? 6:40 Derek Lunsford: 1st or 2nd at the Olympia? 12:45 Will Derek Lunsford’s Legs Hold Him Back? 22:00 Sasan Heirati’s Best Physique Ever? 29:40 Martyn Ford Reaction + Gym Etiquette 37:40 What It Takes to Go ALL IN on Bodybuilding 45:20 Top 10 Vacation Destinations for Bodybuilders 1:06:00 Joe’s Gym in Marquette, Michigan 1:08:00 Best Hotel & Apartment Gyms 1:12:00 Inside Joe’s Gym 1:14:20 Ron Partlow Renovated His Condo Gym 🔴 OFFICIAL SPONSOR MUTANT® — Born Different. Born Hardcore! Save with code: BIGRON or DUSTY https://www.iammutant.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📲 FOLLOW THE HOSTS Ron Partlow https://www.instagram.com/rep300 Dusty Hanshaw https://www.instagram.com/dustyhanshaw08 Scott McNally https://www.instagram.com/scottmcnally1 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📱 TRAIN LIKE HELL APP Ron’s official training app https://www.trainlikehell.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🙏 SUPPORT THINK BIG BODYBUILDING Patreon (Every $5 helps keep the shows going) https://www.patreon.com/thinkbigbodybuilding 👕 THINK BIG MERCH https://think-big.printify.me/products ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✅ ADDITIONAL SPONSOR TRUE NUTRITION Code: THINK https://www.truenutrition.com/THINK 3rd-party tested — trusted by bodybuilders ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🇨🇦 CANADIAN VIEWERS Blowout deals on top supplement brands https://www.supplementsource.ca

Scott McNally and Dave Crosland are back with a slightly different start to Drugs n Stuff. Before getting into the usual steroid talk, Scott surprises Dave with a gift he definitely wasn’t expecting. Then it’s into Steroids in the News with a recent steroid bust that affected a lot of people in the community, including a breakdown of the compounds involved. From there, Scott and Dave get into listener questions and stories — including someone claiming to have used 600mg of oral steroids per day, first-cycle Tren, low-dose EQ for estrogen control, some insane bulking experiences, Deca + EQ vs. Test + Deca, whether high natural testosterone changes cycle design, alternatives to Primo, low-dose Deca with TRT, teenage steroid use and brain development, and the growing debate around “neurotoxic” steroids. 0:00 600mg PER DAY of Oral Steroids?! 0:50 Support the Podcast 1:30 Scott Surprises Dave With a Gift 6:10 Steroids in the News: Major Steroid Bust 8:15 News Report on the Steroid Bust 10:00 What Steroids Did He Get Caught With? 18:45 Using Tren on Your First Cycle? 20:20 Low-Dose EQ for Estrogen Control 21:30 Listeners’ Craziest Bulk - 600mg orals? 24:20 Deca + EQ vs. Test + Deca 27:00 Does High Natural Testosterone Change Cycle Design? 30:00 A Gym That Was Also a Nightclub?! 31:50 Balancing Bodybuilding With a Busy Life 41:45 Best Alternatives to Primobolan 42:45 TRT + 50mg Deca Long-Term? 45:20 Teen Steroid Use & Brain Development 53:45 Are “Neurotoxic” Steroids Really a Concern? 1:02:20 Dave Has Gotten Into Better Shape! 1:07:00 Scott's Birthday UK Blood Work Get your Labs done by Dave in the UK: https://evalbloodanalysis.com/home/ Support the Podcast Patreon — Help keep the show growing. Even $5/month makes a difference. https://www.patreon.com/thinkbigbodybuilding Sponsors TRUE NUTRITION — Custom supplements for serious lifters Use code THINK to save https://www.truenutrition.com/THINK STROM SPORTS — Performance supplements trusted by athletes UK: https://tinyurl.com/ydmbfa54 US: https://stromsportsus.com Supplement Source Canada — Top brand supplements with fast shipping http://www.supplementsource.ca Merch Official THINK BIG Merch — Train, represent, support the brand https://think-big.printify.me/products

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to bulk? Dave Crosland and Scott McNally look back at the extremes bodybuilders will go to in the pursuit of size — and how distorted your perception of your own body can become along the way. Then we get into your questions on a 15-year-old using Test, Tren and Mast, whether peptides are getting out of hand, post-cycle sexual performance, choosing a second compound with testosterone, whether different steroids actually build different-looking physiques, gaining muscle after massive weight loss, GLP-1s and muscle growth, testosterone-to-estrogen ratios, Arimidex, ephedrine and more. 0:00 Welcome to Drugs n Stuff 1:40 The Craziest Things We Did to Bulk 3:45 Bodybuilding & Distorted Body Image 9:00 15-Year-Old Using Test, Tren & Mast?! 10:30 Are Peptides Getting Out of Hand? 12:18 Will I Lose Bedroom Performance After My Cycle? 21:50 Best Second Compound to Add to Testosterone 24:00 Do Different Steroids Create Different Physiques? 28:00 Building Muscle After Massive Weight Loss 32:40 Do GLP-1 Drugs Reduce Muscle Gain? 36:00 Testosterone-to-Estrogen Ratios Explained 39:00 Caffeine & Vision Problems 41:45 Ephedrine in the US vs. UK 45:50 How Much Arimidex on 300–400mg Testosterone? 50:00 Australian Customs Are No Joke 54:10 Uncle Dave’s Wisdom 1:04:40 What Would You Do in The Purge? UK Blood Work Get your Labs done by Dave in the UK : https://evalbloodanalysis.com/home/ Support the Podcast Patreon — Help keep the show growing. Even $5/month makes a difference. https://www.patreon.com/thinkbigbodybuilding Sponsors TRUE NUTRITION — Custom supplements for serious lifters Use code THINK to save https://www.truenutrition.com/THINK STROM SPORTS — Performance supplements trusted by athletes UK: https://tinyurl.com/ydmbfa54 US: https://stromsportsus.com Supplement Source Canada — Top brand supplements with fast shipping http://www.supplementsource.ca Merch Official THINK BIG Merch — Train, represent, support the brand https://think-big.printify.me/products