I saw that show as well, a little while ago.
One thing that “The learning channel”(TLC) did not even bother to mention (and I emailed them about it), which bothered me, since it was supposed to be a “documentary””, is that TLC left out the biggest component of Gregg Valentino’s arm size, synthol.
There is no doubt, that Gregg Valentino has used hormones, diuretics, and quite possibly steroids, but his main claim to faim (and what also makes him a huge joke) is “Synthol”.
Synthol a synthetic lubricant which a few morons over the last 20 years or so have used to temporarily increase their body mass.
Any bodybuilder that uses it, will be spotted immediately.
It (synthol) creates an incredibly obvious look to the body, that to anyone who lifts weights on a regular basis, will be able to spot.
Gregg Valentino’s arm growth was not just from steroids, as steroids will promote muscle growth everwhere. When you look at Gregg Valentino, his forearms are ridiculously small, even when not compared to his upper arms.
If he was using steroids exclusively, his forearms would be as large in comparison to his upper arms. If all of his size was attributed just to weight training, proper diet, and quite possibly steroids, his forearms for certain would be the appropriate size (over 18″ at the least).
When you work your biceps and triceps (your upper arm) you inevitably give your forearms a portion of the workload, they have no choice but to grow as well, unless of course you decide to just inject a bunch of oil into your muscle bellies to inflate them.
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I first saw a bodybuilder using this back in 1988 at a show I went to, he had this incredibly strange “bump” on his shoulder. After talking to him for a bit, he finally told me that was where he put some synthol, and it didn’t “settle” the right way under his skin.
The effect that synthol creates, usually only lasts for a few weeks, so it has to be done on a regular basis. And since fluid moves, you can never predict how it will act once injected.
This is a very old trick and has pretty much fallen by the wayside by “real” bodybuilders, for one, because it is so easy for judges at competitions to tell the difference between “bulbs of oil” and true muscle. (and competitors are banned when caught).
Of course this didn’t matter to Gregg Valentino, since he was about as far removed from being a competitive bodybuilder as possible.
Most bodybuilders that lift weights, want the holy grail of arm size (over 20″) and will do most anything to get there, as evidenced by Mr. Gregg Valentino.
Some links below, about synthol and other morons out there who use it :). The first link is pretty incredible, look at those idiots! The second link has some pretty good information, and the third link is the synthol homepage.
http://images.google.ca/images?q=synthol&hl=en&lr=&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title