Do you workout ?

[SvennoJ]

You can put on plenty muscle mass without steroids. Protein is needed to repair muscle since mostly what you're doing in a workout is slightly ripping / stretching muscle to grow back stronger. Hence, no pain no gain. However too much is no good either. For some people it's easier of course, and for some very hard. Plus stronger muscles can be a liability as well as I have found out. It's easier to injure yourself when everything doesn't work in balance. The more strength, the bigger the chance to overdo something or rip something beyond normal recovery.

I dislocated a rib a couple years ago and now still recovering from a swollen disc in my lower back. I'm keeping the weight down from now on. 20 pound dumbbells instead of 40. I'm not touching the 60 pound ones for bicep curls anymore, only use the 40 for careful bench press type lifting. I don't want all that previous effort waste away completely.

I still walk a lot and do some careful jogging in between to keep my stamina up. My back is still not all better so still have to be careful. The nerve in my back still has issues which mostly translates in pain in my right foot and back upper leg. It usually acts up in the evening after a long day of activity. Sit ups on the floor don't work for me, too much pressure on my back. However push ups, planck, pull ups, I can still do. As well as a couple ab crunches while using the inversion table. 2 birds with one stone, stretch my back and strengthen my ab muscles.