Rich Piana's world is one of
complete excess - from his sprawling houses, to his ten gut-busting meals per
day and of course his utterly insane body.
While the risks of steroid use are
not lost on Piana, who frequently discusses them on his own YouTube channel, he
insists he's happy with his life and the path he chose.
His ethos can perhaps be best summed
up by the slogan for his supplement company, which is simply: 'Whatever it
takes.'
Born the son of a body-building
mother in Los Angeles, California, Piana got introduced to the world of
weightlifting aged just 11 after going to the gym to watch her train
pre-competition. Piana began weightlifting shortly
afterwards, competing for the first time aged 15, where he failed to place in
the competition, according to Deadspin.
After several more unsuccessful
attempts Piana turned to steroids, which he's used on an off for 27 years, even
posting Instagram images of the drug-taking schedules he compiled for himself.
In one video, Piana explains his
choice, saying: 'If you have the choice to do steroids or stay natural, stay
natural. There's no reason to do steroids, you're only hurting your body and
hurting yourself.
'But if you want to become a
professional bodybuilder, guess what? You're probably going to have to f***ing
do them, you're not going to have a choice. That's the boat I was in.
'I was competing on stage and I was
getting to the point where I was getting blown off stage if I wasn't going to
do steroids, so I took that step.
'But you know what? I'm happy with
everything I chose and happy with the way that everything went in my life and I
would not have done anything different.
'I'm completely happy with the
choice that I made to start taking steroids at an early age of 18.'
Since then Piana has placed 7th and
11th in national bodybuilding championships, and has collected several
interstate titles, including being named Mr California.
At his peak, Piana estimates that he
was spending $2,500 on growth hormone per month, without even taking steroids
into account.
While Piana no longer competes at
bodybuilding, he continues to drive himself and his body to greater and greater
feats, making money along the way via endorsements, merchandise, supplements,
and his popular social media channels.
He is was recently engaged on a
four-month 'bigger by the day' challenge in which he has promised viewers they
would be able to gain 30lbs of pure muscle - provided they followed his insane
workout and eating regime.
See more pictures below:
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