Discussing the importance of PEDs, I frequently hear people placing them as the number one factor for bodybuilding success.
PEDs (at this point in time) are, at best, the tertiary factor for bodybuilding success. We’re not going to be looking at recovery practices as an independent factor here, either.
Genetics and nutrition (to supply energy for the realisation of genetics) exceed additional stimulus (or a recovery aid, in the case of PEDs) for hypertrophy, hyperplasia, and so forth (muscle anabolism), which is what training and PEDs fall under.
Without these two factors (genetics and energy/nutrition), you will get even less far than without PEDs or training.
You will quite plainly shrink and die in a constant caloric deficit if severe enough, and you will not build any muscle, period if genetics do not allow for it. The response to gear is a consequence of genetics.
In fact, genetics dictate how energy and stimulus are directed (read this article on how training causes growth for more), so growth is entirely contingent upon genetics allowing it, and without energy, growth cannot occur.
Growth, however, is greatly increased but not entirely contingent upon additional stimulus, e.g., via training or PEDs. At this point, it should be clear that energy and genetics are more important than any additional stimulus for growth and, therefore, also bodybuilding success.
However, working with more practical examples, who do you think is going to succeed more in bodybuilding?
0-1st percentile gear use
99-100th percentile genetics
99-100th percentile nutrition
99-100th percentile gear use
0-1st percentile genetics
99-100th percentile nutrition
99-100th percentile gear use
99-100th percentile genetics
0-1st percentile nutrition
I know people who have consistently taken several grams of AAS a week, more than 20iu of rHGH a day and train according to the largely scientific principles you (and I) seem to follow; they also eat, sleep and recover well and look worse than top-level naturals.
This isn’t even the worst-case scenario. Imagine someone with Tay-Sachs disease (a genetic disorder) with all the gear you want, they are unlikely to build an impressive physique.
Let’s provide examples of these three scenarios:
0-1st percentile gear use
99-100th percentile genetics
99-100th percentile nutrition
E.g. Top level naturals. Exceeding 24 FFMI.
99-100th percentile gear use
0-1st percentile genetics
99-100th percentile nutrition
E.g. Hardworking hyporesponders to training and/or PEDs (best case scenario), riddled with disease and will quickly die (worst case scenario). Most likely to be below 20 FFMI.
99-100th percentile gear use
99-100th percentile genetics
0-1st percentile nutrition
I would be surprised to see such a person in reality (in fact, I would not be shocked if they did not exist). This sounds like some mengelian experiment; this person is also very unlikely to build an impressive physique and will most likely die quite quickly (unless we imagine some hypothetical scenario driven by those 100th percentile genetics where his energy usage is beyond anything we have seen at immense scale or depends on new PEDs being invented and used; however, this is currently not the case). Most likely to be below 20 FFMI.
Now, of course, these examples are extreme; however, the same underlying reasoning applies to less extreme examples.