Time flies.
It’s been almost 10 years since I wrote one of the most iconic posts on the site – Zyzz – Inspiration Or Victim Of Our Environment?
And today, a decade later, we have a new form of Zyzz – hardly a surprise to me as I am old enough to have internalized that this world is an eternal cycle.
The new 22y.o. living-in-the-now muscle king calls himself Togi and has been infesting the Internet for quite a while.
Unlike Sam Sulek who is a high IQ muscle constructor (if we ignore his obvious use of anabolics), Togi falls on the other end of the spectrum.
But on the positive, his behavior gives me a chance to make a societal inspection once again.
Here are 7 things that we can learn/reaffirm thanks to Togi’s slow self-destruction:
1. Irregular Behavior Is Among the Best Ways To Attract Attention
People don’t like regular and healthy. That’s boring. The delicious chocolate bar is a lot more attractive to us than chicken and broccoli.
We want that junk food inside of us literally and metaphorically.
If Togi was some A-grade student who goes to school with his pants pulled up into his ears while doing Starting Strength in his free time and dreaming of becoming big on a diet of low bar squats and dairy, you wouldn’t even know who he is. (And I won’t be writing this post.)
But since he is injecting a cocktail of testosterone derivatives in his glutes (sometimes in a parking low) while losing money in online casinos, we are here today.
In other words:
Healthy = ordinary = regular = boring = no views = Empty pockets
Crazy/degenerate/irregular/unhealthy = Views = Money
And Mr. Togi cracked that code.
Zyzz was the same way – if he hadn’t created the “Muscle Brah” culture by spamming the world and partying, we wouldn’t even know who he was.
2. Steroids Work Even When You Don’t Workout Hard
This point is going to upset some sensitive souls out there and that makes me very happy.
Togi barely works out, and he has a better physique than 99% of the natties out there (if we don’t count the bitch tits). There are some naive creatures out there who think that they can be as big as him n-a-t-t-u-r-a-l-y, but most people cannot do it.
Sure, somewhere (e.g., Jupiter) there might be some genetic freaks who look similarly but in reality, the perma-dreamers dwelling on reddit and screaming “you can be that big naturally” are mostly skinny-fatsos with zero upper chest and lots of hallucinations in their brains.
The reality is this – a 21/22 y.o. got a better physique than natties can ever have by blasting roids, lifting occasionally, barely sleeping, and losing his money on retarded games.
Meanwhile, natties are doing the chicken&brocolli slave protocol and barely look like they lift in comparison to Togi after 15 years in the gym and reading three wagons of books on hypertrophy and nutrition.
Of course, I also have to acknowledge another reality – namely that Togi takes too much gear for his physique. He claims to be on grams of testosterone and also on consistent doses of trenbolone. Yes, that’s a big mistake. And you can certainly look like him with smaller doses.
The Manual of Unnatural Bodybuilding (MUB) has a rule that both highIQ Sam and lowIQ Togi are breaking.
What is it?
That you always take as little roids as you need to make discernable progress. You are allowed to boost the dose only after staying with the same cocktail for a long time. The goal is to essentially “milk the roids” and thus minimize side effects.
This principle preserves your receptors from burning out too soon. Eventually, roids lose their their edge. They are always effective, but after your receptors are shot, the effectivity is simply “not like before”.
Furthermore, roids need time to work too. You can’t just hop on Ronnie Coleman’s drug injection protocol and get big in a day. Togi may be on a lot of drugs, but the “formula” hasn’t had enough “game time” yet. The pros stay on those mega doses for years to reach and then maintain their physiques.
3. Roids Work Best When Combined With Lots of Training and Food
The less you train and the more junk you eat, the more drugs you have to take to compensate – a truth that many muscle scholars have been saying for years.
And Togi proves that.
Roids equal fast anabolic growth and recovery – two properties that allow you to train more frequently (a denser hypertrophic stimulus) and with greater intensity (an increase of the stimulus’ impulse).
For that very reason, the pros LOWER the dose when they aren’t training hard – it’s done to minimize the side effects and give the organs (liver, kidneys, heart…etc.) and the androgenic receptors some rest.
Togi isn’t doing that – hence more sides and fewer gains.
4. Gambling Is a Legalized Criminal Activity
Gambling is death. Literally.
You get addicted to the non-stop adrenaline that it synthesizes. That’s the main thing that keeps gamblers awake during their sessions. I’ve heard stories from people working in casinos who would see some men spend 48+ hours on the slots with close to no breaks.
How is that possible?
Adrenaline.
Gambling has the the effect of an amphetamine on the body when you’re playing.
But the true scam comes from the fact that your odds of winning are zero (especially in the case of software-controlled gambling).
And even if you somehow win, your addiction and greed will bring you back to the casino/monitor, and you will lose it all.
The house always wins. It’s a business. An immoral one, but legal.
One can only wonder how many destinies have been destroyed by this evil activity.
And Togi is a good example. He thinks he is going to win, but he won’t. And like I said – even if he wins, he will lose it all again.
The best form of gambling is…well there isn’t one. Stay away from it. Don’t even try it. Don’t get the bonuses, the free coins, or whatever they are promising – that’s how they get you on the hook.
Never gamble.
5. The Old Is New Again
10 years from now, there will be a new Togi…a new kid who thinks that steroids and Internet clicks are all there is to life.
And guess, what? People will watch him.
History repeats itself. What was old is someday new again and vice versa.
This world ain’t nothing but a circle within a circle within a circle…The loop is seamlessly unbreakable on every level.
You have to internalize that sooner or later.
One of the saddest quotes I’ve heard is – “If you live long enough, you’ll see that every victory turns into a defeat.”
It semi-fits in this context too.
{I will leave the decoding of this phrase to you, as I have enough depression cells in my brain already.}
6. People Don’t Listen…Until The Pain Comes
The brutal reality is that people don’t care about advice no matter how badly they ask for it.
In most cases, we’ve already made our decision beforehand, and we just want confirmation.
And even if a wise man talks to us, we don’t have the necessary vision to see it.
No matter how many people tell Togi that he is killing himself for nothing, he won’t listen until the hammer of pain falls on his head.
It’s just the way it is. Unless it hurts, we just don’t learn as we feel invincible.
Sometimes in life, getting worse is the best thing that can happen to you because you wake up. (I said sometimes.)
7. Togi Is Right About One Thing – A Long Life Could Be Overrated
One of the main incentives behind Togi’s behavior (besides clicks, money, and dopamine) is somewhat philosophical.
The idea is as old as the Sun.
Is it better to live a fast and action-packed life or preserve yourself for old age?
He kinda has a point here. Most of us are reliving the same year over and over again. And the older you get, the more that rule reinforces itself.
As you age, you lose a lot of opportunities and the desire to create new ones. Consequently, after a certain threshold, extra years to one’s life don’t add as much value as we stop learning. You are just spinning your wheels and kinda torturing yourself.
In other words, “stimming” your youth kinda makes sense…but as always… to a degree.
Life normally doesn’t end at 20, 30, or 40 (unless whoever writes destiny has other plans for you). As a male, you can be in top shape until your 50s.
And it doesn’t take a genius to realize that destroying your kidneys in your 20s or 30s is not fun later in life. Many drug abusers think they will simply have a quick death (e.g., a stroke), and that’s certainly possible (for example – Zyzz) but others have to deal with daily pain for many years.
And I can assure you that if you are 35 with failing kidneys that have been sacrificed in the name of online clicks, you won’t feel as happy. Dialysis isn’t fun.
Many bodybuilders who exchange their health for ego points regret it.
Examples:
- Kali Muscle – had a heart attack and shrunk.
- Many IFBB pros died before reaching 30
- Frank McGrath is now on dialysis at 45.
- Ronnie Coleman lifted big in his youth and now is in very poor shape.
….etc.
The list is endless.
Sometimes it’s better to press the brakes out of respect for your life and the ones who love you.
What If It’s All An Act?
For a moment, I considered the idea that Togi is faking his lifestyle for clicks. Kinda like what many famous rappers do – they rap about the baser things in life to extract money from the plebs and later act like investors with a surprising acumen.
But I think Togi’s story has a lot of truth signs. That said, he may be exaggerating about some of the events to trigger extra views.
As you age, you lose a lot of opportunities and the desire to create new ones. Consequently, after a certain threshold, extra years to one’s life don’t add as much value as we stop learning. You are just spinning your wheels and kinda torturing yourself.
This is very true and I can attest to it. But the question is what is the trade-off between pleasure in youth at the cost of more suffering during old age. Recklessness in youth that jeopardizes your physical and financial wealth can make the sufferings of old age so much worse, Just think of being in your 50s on dialysis while living in public housing.
As the epicureans (not to be confused with the hedonists) argue: one of the most effective ways to maximize the net pleasure in life is by going out of your way to minimize pain and suffering.
This is so true. When I was a kid one of my father’s stupid phrases was the good old “live fast die young”, and on top of it came the references to the 27-club etc. It was difficult for me to grasp the idea, because I couldn’t understand why did he then have family, kids, work and all that. But yeah, I’m there now, kids, family and everything. On the other hand, I thrive on routines, they keep my depression at bay. But then again, mundane tasks turn in to spinning wheel when time flies. And it seems to fly faster as you age.
It’s so hard to know the answers while you are doing things. Because of my sports background, my body is all fucked now, but in my youth, it felt a good idea to pursue sports career and sacrifice all to it. I didn’t care about money in my youth. Now I can’t fix that situation anymore. It’s not that I’m flat broke, but if I wanted to save for my retirement for example, I would never catch up a younger version of me who saved (and invested) money right from the beginning.
Anyway, for me it’s always been difficult to find balance in life. I get overly exited about something occasionally, but it usually eats up from all the other aspects of life. Then again, what is life balance? I think it’s a monetary scam. Life is never going to be in balance, and to me that makes it easier to live, you just don’t have to think about that.
Good job..thank’s…
https://youtu.be/L1qHb7OL3Xs?si=6ddDdK1NjcE3PY2h
More aesthetic than any geared bodybuilder, in my opinion.
P.D. 53 years old
And after him there will be another and another and…
Good advice about not gambling. But hey, isn’t life one big gamble as well?