I'm no longer natty

I started taking a drug banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency😳

I can no longer call myself natural. What exactly was it that made me turn to the dark side? Why did I give up on the natural path to making gains?

Well it’s not that simple.

I’m not taking a steroid.

I’m not even taking one of those weird SERMs or SARMs. These aren’t things I’d ever take. I’m talking about stimulants.

Here’s the thing, I have ADHD.

This is one of those conditions where medication takes you from struggling to make your bed to being a functional member of society.

However, it does have it’s unfair advantage in sports. A lot of unfair advantages. Now this won’t give me steroid level gains, but it’s definitely going to help.

Remember this guy?

He’s had a bit of a resurgence recently, people love the way he talks.

His gym preworkout wasn’t creatine. It wasn’t bubble gum flavoured glorified caffeine water. Guess what he was taking? No not meth.

He was taking medical grade Amphetamines.

Now I don’t know if he had ADHD, but a big motivator was the sports performance side.

See Amphetamines give athletes a few advantages:

• Increased explosive power 🤯

• Increased muscle strength

• Higher reaction speed

• Improved cardio

• Suppressed appetite

You can see how these might be useful to an athlete, but I want to tell you about me.

For a while, I’ve been cutting…

In that time, the cut hasn’t really been that great. With ADHD it’s very easy to overeat, and eat things you feel you need for dopamine. It often sets you back a bit in your progress.

Sure this is great for the bulk.

Cutting, not so much.

Sometimes your cut stalls at maintenance for a month from a few bad choices. That’s why suppressed appetite is benefit #1. It’s easier for me to cut.

The urges to eat more, and outside my plan are gone.

Now the second benefit.

If you’ve been listening to me for a while now, you’ve probably already worked out why Amphetamines increase explosive power and muscle strength. Amphetamines stimulate the CNS which is what determines motor unit recruitment.

When you take Amphetamines, your body can a higher % of muscle fibres.

This is the same reason you’re stronger after drinking caffeine.

It’s why if you’re hyped up by a friend in the gym, you get more reps out. Same goes for:

• Music

• Generally being happy

• Having low fatigue

• Good form

• Longer rest periods

This gives me a level of recruitment that is much much more than you’d get from all of those things combined.

So benefit #2 is that I can recruit more muscle fibres.

You might be thinking, “won’t that just make you more fatigued Fletcher?”

It will. But in the process, I’ll be able to recruit muscle fibres with HUGE growth potential, and I’ll get more growth overall. Sounds crazy to me.

I’ve already noticed the strength increase, feels like when I first started creatine.

There’s one problem.

The soreness has come back. I’m sure it will go soon but I hate being sore. The fact I’m using fibres that have largely been inactive means they’re going to be prone to soreness.

I couldn’t walk yesterday man 😭

Motor unit recruitment is everything.

This is what fatigue messes with. The second you start training properly, with good volume, you’ll notice you get sore again. It never really occurred to me why, until I thought about it.

I was tapping into new muscle fibres.

Remember, if you’re coming out of the intermediate stage, it’s the hard to access muscle fibres that have the most growth potential.

You might even have maxed out all the rest. This only applies for guys who have been lifting somewhat seriously for over 5 years.

If you can increase motor unit recruitment, you can get growing again.

• Listen to music you enjoy

• Take some preworkout

• Workout with friends (if you like that)

• Make sure fatigue isn’t too high

• Three minute rests minimum

• Stay locked in

This is where your gains future is coming from.

Let’s get you accessing those hard to reach fibres, and getting sore again.

If you haven’t done it already, follow my lesson on how much volume you should be using.

Your Hypertrophy Hero,
Fletcher

P.S. I hope no one took this as a promotion to start buying Amphetamines for gym progress. Only take them if you actually have ADHD and are getting them from your Doctor.