Bodybuilding veteran Victor Martinez led a successful career in the IFBB Pro League with a combination of mass, conditioning, and shape. In a recent interview on Simon Fan’s YouTube channel, Martinez opened up about testosterone replacement therapy and some of the steroid protocols he used while competing.
“You need to rest, you need the time off. You need to have everything calculated meticulously and know when you can go on and when to go off,” Martinez shared while discussing steroids.
In a pro tenure that lasted almost two decades, Victor Martinez proved himself against elite talents such as four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler, Dexter Jackson, and eight-time winner, Ronnie Coleman. While staying active in the Open division, Martinez’s best performance came at the 2007 Arnold Classic, where he claimed gold. Despite a valiant effort on the Mr. Olympia stage that same year, he was unable to stop the explosive comeback of Jay Cutler.
Martinez’s last contest came in 2020, but that hasn’t stopped him from maintaining a pro-caliber physique. At 49 years old, he’s the picture of longevity and routinely shares impressive physique updates. Some of his progress photos prompted fans to discuss whether Martinez should make a comeback to the Masters Olympia later this year.
Appearing on The Menace podcast, Martinez was unsure of his entry and cited the prize money as a determining factor. And while the Masters Olympia organizers have gone public with their overall prize money of $229,000, it remains uncertain if ‘The Dominican Dominator’ is truly weighing a comeback.
Victor Martinez Reveals He’s Taking 200 Mgs of TRT Weekly, Compares Protocols Used During Career
In a candid interview, Martinez laid out his current TRT regimen. In addition, he discussed his ‘simple rule’ of coming on and off substances for three-month intervals.
“It is TRT so it doesn’t matter. It’s a little loophole of not juicing, I’m on TRT,” said Victor Martinez. “I mean compared with a TRT dose which is 100 milligrams, I mean – I’d probably take probably double that probably once a week. And that’s good enough, again, to do enough, to where you’re not bringing your levels too low. The worse thing is crashing.Once you’re on synthetic – yeah, once you’re on synthetic and you’re on it, I know people want to get off it, but go ahead. Do it. You know, I’d like to see you try it if you have a girlfriend, a woman, a partner, whatever. Go ahead and see how you feel.”
Before discussing steroid protocols, Victor shared that blood work should always be a priority if someone is using gear.
“At the end of the day, nothing beats knowing by having your blood work and knowing what your levels are because that will ultimately let you know what you’re deficient on – it’s – you know, as long as you have your head right because that stuff messes with your head.”
According to Victor Martinez, it was common for athletes to take gear in three-month-on, three-month-off cycles.
“Oh, it was a simple rule. It was basically three months on you compete, show’s over, you did your post-cycle for a couple of weeks and you had time off. And you train as hard as you could without it. It’s one of those things, we don’t just want to train pre-contest because now you have to set yourself up to go into that contest prep.”“We always did three months on three months off, basically two cycles a year,” said Victor Martinez. “No, they’re doing it all wrong. They’re taking everything, they’re not cycling it right, they’re not having the time off, they’re not clearing up their receptors, they don’t have anything structured, and the thing is, they want to body-build but still want to have one foot out in everyday life. You can’t have both. You’re either going to body-build or you’re not.”
Looking back, Martinez says he started with testosterone, a cutting agent, and a water pill before progressing to more extreme measures. At the time, today’s popular compound, trenbolone, wasn’t accessible, but Martinez made use of other similar substances like Finaject (trenbolone acetate).
“For me, it was simple, taking test, a cutting agent, and a water pill. Then, obviously, as you got more competitive, you learn more stuff, you knew what to add on. When I first started, the tren [trenbolone] wasn’t around, I think it was Finaject. You used it for about four weeks out and the results were almost three-fold compared to the stuff that’s [out] now. Again, I believe the quality is different now.”“We had the Parabolans… for some reason, the amount that you had to use back then wasn’t anything compared to what people use now,” added Martinez.
Martinez Breaks Down Pre-Contest Diets and Training Styles
Martinez said his diet mostly consisted of chicken, broccoli, and rice. He specified that he didn’t count macros while competing.
“My diet was simple. It was basically, chicken and broccoli, and sometimes, rice. That was my diet. I followed it and no, it worked. I know when I did legs, I had steak. When I did have steak, that was for back or leg days, that was about twice a week. Rice, obviously before bed, never took in any carbs. It was something simplified from my standards because we didn’t calculate exact macros.”
Martinez stressed that training routines are specific to each person.
“Try what you can do, see if it works and you feel good – just stick to it. But when you start second-guessing and looking over to the side or the back of you or you see these guys in front of you, it’s like, ‘man, I want to do what they’re doing.’ Listen, it could work for them but it’s a hard learn when you learn it’s not for you.”
In addition to Martinez, bodybuilding legend Jay Cutler has been outspoken about steroids and TRT. During a recent Cutler Cast podcast, Cutler shared his thoughts on steroids and revealed he’s been taking a TRT dose similar to Victor’s. Cutler also said it was common to implement a ‘cycle on, cycle off’ protocol during his respective tenure.
RELATED: Samir Bannout Takes Shot at Bodybuilding ‘Gurus’: ‘Understand Nutrition, Don’t Rely On Drugs’
Performance-enhancing drugs and their role in the sport have always been controversial topics. Some bodybuilding veterans, like 1980s standout Rich Gaspari, believe athletes have become too dependent on drugs instead of quality training/diets.
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