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IS CONNOR MURPHY ON STEROIDS?
The internet is arguably the best thing to ever happen to the bodybuilding industry. In the past, the only way that one could hope to make a decent living off bodybuilding was if they became a professional bodybuilder, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Bodybuilders are perhaps the most underpaid athletes in all of the sports.
Thus, after getting your pro-card, your next mission would be to start chasing the big titles to make somewhat a good living. This is why most bodybuilders – past and present – are not averse to the idea of using anabolic steroids to enhance their physiques, knowing fully well the risks that come with steroid use.
Today, fortunately, you do not have to be Mr. Olympia to get paid well for your physique. With the advent of social media, all you have to do is carve a good physique, post pictures on your social media accounts, then wait for an influx of followers looking to know the secret to your success.
Nonetheless, even though you do not have to be insanely jacked to be an online fitness athlete, you need to look spectacular all the same; otherwise, you will not attract the masses. Monetizing your social media accounts can pay really well. And as you can imagine, that is all the incentive some people need in order to use anabolic steroids.
As a result, there has been an influx of fitness models, especially on Instagram, all claiming to be natural. Claiming to be natural is the first step to success since you want to sell the idea that your physique is achievable if they follow the programs that you sell to them.
Nevertheless, some of these guys’ physiques just seem to be too good to be natural. Connor Murphy is one of these social media sensations. His aesthetic frame has drawn him a lot of fans and critics, as well. The critics say that there’s no way that Connor achieved his physique naturally.
However, not all ripped individuals are on steroids. Therefore, the only way to truly tell whether someone is on the juice is by having them tested by credible bodies such as USADA.
What we should be discussing, therefore, is the likelihood of Connor Murphy being on steroids. Is he? This article will try and find out.
Who is Connor Murphy?
Connor Murphy is a 25-year-old social media star who has made a name for himself online through the videos that he posts on his social media accounts. While Connor started as a fitness model, he has gradually evolved into what can be best described as a ‘YouTube Prankster.’
A typical Connor Murphy video involves ‘pranking’ girls in a skit that always ends up with the young lad revealing his rock-hard abs and the ladies going gugu gaga over him. While it might seem silly, Connor has been able to amass over 500,000 followers on his Instagram account and over 1.5 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. Needless to say, his physique is indeed that attractive.
Even though Connor seems to have lost considerable mass in recent times – which is one of the reasons he’s being accused of steroids since people are speculating that he has stopped juicing -, at his peak, Connor stands at 6’2 and carries around 205 pounds of lean muscle at about 8 percent body fat.
Right off the bat, this should be an indication that the dude might be natural. For someone who stands at 6’2, 205 pounds is quite little if we are being honest. Most professional bodybuilders are much shorter than him and outweigh him by 50 to 100 pounds.
As such, Connor isn’t exactly the biggest guy you’ll ever see. In fact, he’s the type of guy that will fit in with the rest of us mortals if he wears a hoodie. The only reason we would entertain the idea that Connor might be on steroids is the question of how he can maintain such low body fat levels and considerable muscle mass all year round. Also, if we are being honest, Connor’s workout routine is very lackluster. His routine would never give you a physique like his if you were to go at it naturally. So, either Connor is lying about his workout routine, has some damn good genetics, or is on steroids.
Is Connor Murphy on Steroids?
As mentioned earlier, the only way to truly determine whether anyone is on steroids is by taking their blood sample and having it tested by a legit body such as USADA.
Since that isn’t feasible, our idea is to compare Connor against the most common signs of anabolic steroid use and see how he matches up against them. Let’s get on with it:
- Rapid Gains
This is the easiest way to tell whether someone is on steroids. If a person suddenly becomes a monster within a couple of months, and most of it is not fat, they are very likely on that secret sauce.
This is because, as you can attest to, building muscle naturally takes a lot of time. The only time you experience rapid muscle growth is when you are a beginner. After a few months, the gains seem to plateau, and even the best supplements seem to stop working.
The rate of muscle-building in humans is dependent on the amount of testosterone and growth hormone levels that you have in your body. Thus, the more, the better. However, the human body evolved for endurance, and, as such, the body doesn’t like to keep muscles since they not only compromise its ability for endurance, muscles are also ‘costly’ to maintain since they need constant fuel in the form of nutrients.
This is why the body starts reducing the amount of these muscle-building hormones once you are past puberty, thus making muscle-building a really arduous task.
Anabolic steroids are synthetic versions of these muscle-building hormones. Thus, once you get them into your system, the body goes into an anabolic state, and building muscle is more or less a breeze.
While Connor has certainly added a considerable muscle mass onto his frame, it did not happen overnight. He has been actively lifting since he was a teenager. If his gains would have seemingly appeared out of nowhere, then we would have reason to believe that the young man is using ‘help.’ Besides, why would he stop at 200 pounds, considering that he’s considered quite ‘small’ by the industry’s standards?
- Massive Traps and Delts
If there’s something all juiceheads have in common, it is boulders for shoulders. An anabolic steroid user will always have gigantic trapezoids and delts that seem to overpower the rest of their physique, especially if they are beginners. And this isn’t because steroids make you want to train shoulders more.
You see, the shoulder area has the largest amount of androgen receptors of all the parts of the body. Androgen receptors are nuclear factors that increase the rate of muscle growth once they are stimulated. Do you know what stimulates them? Androgenic hormones, such as testosterone.
Mass building anabolic steroids are essentially artificial testosterone. This means that once you use these substances, it doesn’t take much for the shoulders and traps to start growing. Now you understand why bodybuilders have such huge traps and why you are unable to grow yours despite doing shrugs every other day.
This is one of the main reasons we believe Connor Murphy to be natural. If you analyze his physique objectively, you’ll quickly notice that his biceps and triceps overpower his deltoids. Additionally, he almost has no traps at all, which is the exact opposite of what you would expect from someone who uses steroids.
- Gynecomastia
Also known as ‘Gyno’ it refers to the condition characterized by the enhanced development of breast tissue in males.
Gyno is one of the most common side effects of anabolic steroid use and is one of the most common reasons for surgery in bodybuilders. This condition is caused by having high levels of the estrogen hormone in the male body.
Estrogen is a female hormone that is responsible for giving women their feminine physiological characteristics, such as breasts.
Men also have the hormone, but in such small quantities that it doesn’t have any effects.
When someone uses steroids, they cause an increase in the levels of testosterone in their body, and this may cause a hormonal imbalance. To rectify this situation, the body converts some of the testosterone into estrogen via a process known as aromatization. This causes an increase in estrogen levels and, thus, the hormone starts causing physiological changes, such as enlarging breast tissue.
Connor has not had a swollen nipple, let alone enlarged breast tissue.
The Verdict
To the trained eye, Connor Murphy’s physique is achievable naturally if you put the right kind of work and supplementation in. Therefore, there’s a good chance that the young man is as natural as he claims to be.
However, we do believe that Connor might be on legal steroids, and they are what help him to maintain his muscle mass and keep his body fat percentage low all year round. Legal steroids are safe alternatives to anabolic steroids. They give you the benefits, but without the side effects. They are definitely worth checking out if you are looking to build a physique like Connor Murphy’s.
