Progressive Overload

So, apparently (judging by my recent traffic statistics) my readers love Synthol!!!

For those of you who don't know what Synthol is, here is the wikipedia entry on it:

Site Enhancement Oil (SEO) is a liquid substance, usually a mixture of oils, used by a few bodybuilders to increase the apparent size of some muscles. The effects of SEO are purely and solely cosmetic. It is injected either under the skin or between the muscle fibers.

Many doctors advise that use of SEOs is extremely dangerous, if not potentially fatal, as injection into a major blood vessel can cause embolism, leading to heart strokes, respiratory crisis and/or permanent brain damage if SEO traces find their way into cerebral vessels.

SEOs work by filling the muscle up with an oil substance. It is site injected, that is, it is injected directly into the muscle whose size is to be increased.

SEO is usually really only used to 'top up' a muscle that is not quite up to standard with the rest of the body, and once the use of SEO is stopped, all gains are lost, because the oil is soaked up into the muscle.

SEO is not an androgen, and does not contain steroids, It is an oil that will remain in circulation for years in the body and it will tend to damage and scar the actual muscles. It is simply a cosmetic that creates scar tissue within the muscle to make it look like it has been trained hard.

A quick search on google yields a little more technical definition of the material itself: (from Bodybuilding.com)

Synthol is composed of 85% medium-chain triglyceride oils (a fatty acid), 7.5% lidocaine (painkiller), and 7.5 5 benzyl alcohol. The preparation is injected deep into the muscle where it is encapsulated between the fascicles (bundles of muscle fibers) .

With repeated injections, a larger volume of oil builds up inside the muscle, expanding its size like a balloon filling up with air. About 30% of what is injected is metabolized by the body. The other 70% remains lodged in the muscle where it breaks down very slowly over three to five years. There seems to be some issue of debate among bodybuilders as to whether or not Synthol actually lasts this long, and some believe it is even longer.

Chris Clark, its inventor, is convinced that it somehow leads to permanent muscle growth in the effected areas, though even he is unsure of the mechanisms that would make this possible. Synthol users report amazing pumps while training, though this could be a result of the extra pressure of the accumulated oil.

Now, personally...I can't see what the hell could drive somebody to use Synthol. It seems extremely dangerous and often ends up looking ridiculous, at least in the specimens I have seen on the internet. Even the inventor of the stuff doesn't know what implications its use can have. (Seriously?!)

Read a more in depth look on Synthol here : http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ronharris8.htm