I just found out today that infamous bodybuilder Bostin Loyd has died, apparently of a heart attack, though he was also in stage 5 kidney failure due to the (according to him) the use of an experimental peptide. It’s convenient to either take special note of Bostin Loyd’s massive steroid use or to lump him in with the slew of recent deaths in the bodybuilding world and forget the point of Bostin’s online content as well as the fact that these untimely deaths (or health crisis) have been going on for a very long time.
The great lesson Bostin was always trying to teach is that bodybuilding is driven by performance-enhancing drugs, and lots of them, not the orgy of products that the industry sells to normies like protein powders and pre-workouts. Though the videos have now been scrubbed from YouTube with the banning of Bostin, he gained his fame not by winning competitions (and he did win some), but by talking openly and honestly about the substances he used to compete, going so far as to demonstrate their use on camera (“3CCs here, 3CCs here” – he even put it on a hat).
We’re not just talking extra testosterone or a bottle full of Dianabol, here. Competitors have been using stacks of substances for more than 30 years in large quantities, including Growth Hormone, insulin, various peptides, thyroid hormones, and stimulants. He also used Site Enhancing Oil (a.k.a. Synthol), a kind of oil injected into the muscle to inflate it. The typical responses to Bostin’s videos on his full stack were, “Hey, this kid is crazy, he’s going to kill himself.” They were right, but what is often missed is that the substances and quantities were not so different from what famous pros admitted to using as far back as the 1990s.
If Bostin was guilty of anything, it was experimenting too much and pushing too far, too fast, though he admittedly slowed down years before his death. That experimentation killed his kidneys and (according to him) made him anemic at times. He fathered a child with his wife, Ariana, and seemingly intended to transition to the realm of coach (including coaching “protocols” or usage of PEDs), but everything has a cost to its benefit, and now his family is left fatherless.
This is a tragedy in the authentic sense of the word, as Bostin, with his noble authenticity and brutal honesty, suffered a downfall due to his flawed choices. Bostin died young, but so did pro Dallas McCarver, and though Dallas publicly stated he used less than Bostin, his autopsy revealed he was on at least a gram of testosterone analogs based on his blood serum levels. Thus, Bostin’s exposure of the extreme gear use in bodybuilding is educational. The industry is very dirty and few people inside the competitive circle will talk about the reality of performance-enhancing drugs, where the key to success is “use more than the other guy.”
This is in stark contrast to the “image” of bodybuilders and super-fit, super-healthy people with a squeaky-clean lifestyle.
The takeaway is that if you want an elite physique, be prepared to pay for it. You’ll pay for it in time at the gym. You’ll pay for it in food, supplements, and a (potentially) pleasure-free diet. And if you want to take it to an elite level, be prepared to pay for steroids and pay with the (at least possible) loss of your long-term health. Recently channels like “More Plates more Dates” have been challenging this last trade and promoting the idea that PEDs can be used in minimum dosages or in moderation for good effect without giving up too much in terms of long-term health in the body and mind. This advice is geared toward normies, not competitors, but be cautioned that in the end, “ain’t no free ride.” Nothing, even lifting naturally, is risk-free.
If you are feeling charitable, Bostin’s late wife has a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses, and of course, you can offer up a prayer. We’re all sinners.
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There was a day recently that I spent about 3 hours listening to your Final Fantasy stream and then a long episode of More Plate More Dates shooting the shit with buddies. You share a similar critical and curious nature.
He seems to be about as qualified as possible to understand the consequences of these substances, mining deeply into the physiological impacts/benefits/interaction of these chemicals. As you know, he practices what he preaches. It’ll be interesting to see how his story goes from here. I feel like I gain tremendous benefit half-listening to his videos, if only for how it broadens my perspective.
The idea of “no free ride” is principle I tend to agree with but I wonder if there are thresholds beneath which it does not apply, at least as pertains to ingestion. If you eat fish once a week your body should be able to flush the mercury out but fish every day means mercury poisoning.
Absolutely I think everything is dose-dependent, though some things are more convex than others. Ex – eating fish. Toxic minerals below a certain threshold do nothing, but above a certain threshold become increasingly bad. It’s probably the same way with hormones. Pro bodybuilders take A LOT of stuff. Your average guy doing a cycle a year to look good over summer is WAY below that threshold, but there is always some risk. I don’t think Derek ever comes from the “YOLO just do it” perspective but is actually very cautious and realistic. I generally like his takes.
Another young one bites the dust: https://youtu.be/njH2R98dQa8
David, I’m wondering if you’ve thought about entropy as a principle that manifests itself as destructive and productive, and how that might manifest itself in a religious sense.
Jeremy England has an interesting theory about the purpose of entropy as both a builder and a destroyer: https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-thermodynamics-theory-of-the-origin-of-life-20140122/
I realize this is a very general question and offer it more as a few loosely connected ideas. The nature of males of most species seems to be living in the possession of bad ideas that drive them toward self harm, mortal battle, and wild risks. This terminates many but raises others to the top, and so I see an evolutionary selection process baked in.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about the idea of demonic possession. Jordan Peterson talks about ideological possession: the idea that somebody can be so immersed into an ideology that they lose their identity and become a human manifestation of talking points, with nothing original to say. I’m not particularly religions (though I do go to church every few weeks) and so I’m not comfortable citing demons, but I do think the principle of possession is descriptive of what is seen.
To tie things loosely together, I wonder if entropy is capable of possessing people. I wonder if demons are a manifestation of entropy. Or perhaps demons utilize entropy as the spell to perform a possession. Ideological possession is destructive to our society. Are bodybuilders who give up their health possessed by something? A memetic virus formed by entropy? An idea that takes root in their minds and drives many to pain and ruin?
So. This is kind of scattershot, as I’m just now kind of tying these ideas together to try to understand why people get so sucked into these behaviors.
First, entropy is very important. The destructive part of capitalism is underrated. The pruning of the unfit and inefficient increases overall fitness by making way for what is more efficient. A giant Sequoia tree can only reproduce through forest fires which wipe out the pines in the lower canopy (the old trees are resistant to fire) so that new redwoods can grow without competition. High-risk, high-reward behaviors are very successful for the winners. The problem is, we can’t all be Ghengis Khan. “Civilization” is itself a balancing of this tendency, pushing men into the “Nash” space (divided resources) vs “winner take all.”
As far as demons go, the older I get the more I believe in them. They are both the simplest and best answer to many of the human conditions we witness. Possession, however, is not the main way by which demons assert themselves. There is also obsession and simple temptation. If you want to know more, there are actual exorcists from the church that can break down the main modes of demonic action. “Obsession” might certainly be part of these bodybuilders. Bigger, faster, stronger – beyond any limit of aesthetic sensibility or concern for health. I think that’s closest to what Peterson means by “ideological obsession.” How else could you explain the people who are obsessed with passing out abortions in the age of sonograms?
I’ll look more deeply into how people conceptualize or experience possession. It feels to me that life is an irresistible rebuttal of entropy, but that entropy can use a sapient species as its platform to perform the work of destruction. So it feels a lot like my currently limited perception of what people call possession. I’ll educate myself further and thanks for the replies!