Written by Ron Harris
07 June 2022

 The-Doctor-Is-In-Shape-Slider

 

 

 

 

The Doctor Is In … Shape!

George Touliatos aka Dr. Testosterone Is Living the Bodybuilding Lifestyle

 

Interview by Ron Harris

Photography by Giorgos Papacharalampous

 

What do you see in your mind’s eye when you envision a medical doctor? The stereotype portrayed in countless films and TV shows is that of a balding middle-aged or elderly man with a paunch, someone who is a healer but far from the picture of health himself. Now take a look at Dr. George N. Touliatos of Athens, Greece. The star of MD’s weekly YouTube show “Ask Dr. Testosterone,” he is at 48 a god among most men in his age bracket. “Dr. T” as many of us affectionately refer to him as, has competed many times in bodybuilding and looks at any time as if he could get right back on stage again. With bulging, peaked biceps, melon delts and a tight, etched midsection complete with a deep six-pack, he’s certainly among the best-built medical doctors in the world. A graduate of Athens Medical School Class of 1999, he’s devoted his life not only to practicing medicine, but to educating the public about both the potential benefits and perils of steroids and other drugs. You’ve been reading his column in these pages and watching his videos on our YouTube channel for over three years, now it’s finally time to meet Dr. T.

 

How did you become interested in bodybuilding?

           

I studied at Athens College, where I was a track athlete specializing in sprints and the long jump. That meant I was blessed with a higher percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibers, which is also ideal for bodybuilding. I had started lifting weights at age 16 and got much more serious about it in 1991 in my first year of pre-med in Budapest, Hungary. When I graduated medical school in 1997, I tried over-the-counter supplements like creatine and whey protein for the first time. Then I went on to begin general practitioner work in the villages of West Greece on Kefalonia island. There I met my first mentor, who introduced me to PEDs. My intention was to compete one day.

 

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Being a medical doctor, especially in the early years of a career, is incredibly demanding and time-consuming. It sounds like it makes for many obstacles to an aspiring bodybuilder, but were there any benefits?

           

Yes, for one thing I had the knowledge from all my medical training. While on AAS cycles, I was able to perform my own lab work and blood testing in the hospital. I would go to the bathroom, draw my own blood samples, then analyze it in the lab. I was able to carefully monitor any fluctuations in things like my hematocrit, liver and kidney function, and HDL and LDL cholesterol levels. After many years, I was able to put all my observations and knowledge into my first book, “PED’s Use in Sports: a Physician’s and Former Athlete’s Perspective.”

           

I know you competed several times. How did you fare?

           

I competed 10 times between 2000 and 2013. My first contest was in May of 2000 when I was 26. By my final show in 2013 I was a Masters at age 40. I had two wins. The first was in 2000 at 180 pounds, and then I won the IFBB Greek Nationals in 2009 at 190. My body type is meso-ectomorphic and I don’t have a large bone structure, so my best fit was as a light-heavyweight under 200 pounds. I wasn’t a mass freak, but I was symmetrical and a good poser.

           

I’m especially impressed with your arms. Those biceps are crazy!

           

Thanks, they have a good peak but they’re not very big, about 18.5 inches.

           

That actually is a very big arm. The guys with arms 20 inches or more are mutants. I’m curious as to how your colleagues in medicine viewed your bodybuilding pursuits. Were they supportive or did they look down on you?

           

They didn’t understand it and looked at me with prejudice. They asked me, how as a physician can you take these drugs that will destroy your health? My response was that it was no worse than the bad habits many of them had, namely poor nutrition, lack of exercise, smoking tobacco or maybe using alcohol or cocaine. PEDs offer some benefits, because they were developed to treat certain diseases and symptoms. In minor doses they do have positive effects on health. They are used to treat anemia, osteoporosis, muscle wasting and hypogonadism, for example.

 

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The first book of yours was “PED’s Use in Sports: A Physician’s and Former Athlete’s Perspective.” What was your inspiration for writing that?

           

I had actually published four books in Greek before this, starting in 2012. After William Llewellyn published his 11th edition of “Anabolics” in 2017, I had the idea of translating the drug information from my last book in Greek to see how people would react. Nutrition and exercise have been written about extensively, but most drug information available was pure broscience. I felt people would trust more in information from a medical doctor who also walks the walk as a bodybuilder. I felt science and personal experience were the best combination rather than broscience or a doctor speaking only theoretically about the subject. The next year, I revised it and added more information and that was my second book, “Bodybuilding: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” The good is the shiny, flashy image of bodybuilding you see on the stage. Those perfectly developed bodies are what people see on the surface. The bad refers to all the hardships bodybuilders endure with the diet and training. He must sacrifice many aspects of his personal life to reach his goal. The ugly side is the hardest one to accept, mainly the consequences in terms of health issues that bodybuilders face. It’s being discussed more lately, but it’s still a taboo subject. I noticed that many of the bodybuilders who were successful in the ‘80s and ‘90s began experiencing major health problems roughly a decade after they had retired. It typically takes 10-20 years after steroid use for major health issues to arise. We saw ‘90s athletes like Greg Kovacs, Ed Van Amsterdam, Art Atwood and Nasser El Sonbaty pass away in the first decade of the new millennium. The most common cause of death in former abusers of steroids is heart attack. As Dr. Thomas O’Connor says, the heart is the most important organ, and cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death among men in all populations.

           

Most of the advice bodybuilders get about PED use is from their coaches. It’s not like they can ask their doctor, because they know very little about these drugs and how they are used. How qualified are these coaches to be providing this type of information?

           

Nearly all of them are basing their knowledge on experimentation and anecdotal evidence rather than actual science. You need to be aware of the pharmacokinetics of each drug, meaning how it moves inside the body, and its pathophysiology, meaning potential problems it can cause. You also need a good grasp of physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry. If you lack this education, there will be gaps in your knowledge, which could lead to mistakes. A doctor is sworn to protect the health of his patients. A coach might only be concerned with achieving a certain look or a win with little to no regard for the health of his or her client.

           

Your colleague, Dr. Thomas O’Connor, stated that he believes all bodybuilders who build extreme amounts of muscle mass via PED use will eventually have major health problems, and all will die younger than they would have had they never used drugs or added so much mass. Do you agree?

           

Yes I do, and it’s a shame. You might see a bodybuilder who is 250 pounds ripped die at 40, while some 150-pound guy who never lifted could live to 90. It’s ironic because these bodybuilders are looked upon like Superman or Hercules, but inside they often are very unhealthy. I strongly feel all advanced bodybuilders should work closely with a medical doctor to try and do things as safely as possible and preserve their health as best they can. Here in Greece, we have seen more than a few bodybuilders between the ages of 30 and 50 die from cardiovascular disease, liver disease, kidney disease and cancer. Steroid use is like using a credit card. You can buy all this wonderful stuff now, but eventually you have to pay for it. The damage done will depend on the doses used, how long you used them for, your overall lifestyle, and of course genetics.

           

Some of the doses and stacks I have seen among bodybuilders are frightening. Do you believe they are doing what is necessary to fit modern physique standards, or are they overdoing things with PEDs?

           

I believe most bodybuilders even at the elite level suffer from muscle dysmorphia. I even have a bit of that in me. They are never satisfied with their results. If they are 200 pounds, they want to be 250; then they want to be 280 or 300. It’s the opposite of anorexia nervosa, when a 95-pound woman can look in the mirror and think she’s fat. Bodybuilders are using a wider variety of drugs and bigger stacks of them than ever before.

 

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You stopped competing at 40 and were able to get off that carousel. How were you able to stop abusing/blasting gear?

           

It’s a mental struggle not unlike rehab for recreational drugs. You have to accept that you won’t be as big, but you will be much healthier and have more life to live with your friends and loved ones.

           

We bodybuilders put so much emphasis on being as big as possible, but mainstream people don’t find it attractive or even respect the effort it takes to look like that. They look down on us, in fact for being vain and using steroids.

           

Just about everyone admires a lean, muscular physique, but very few feel that way about the extreme look of bodybuilders who carry much more size. It doesn’t look healthy, and it’s not. But take the drugs out, and bodybuilding is one of the healthiest lifestyle choices a person could make. You can use it to fight metabolic syndrome, osteopenia or reduced bone mass, heart disease and so much more through a healthy diet along with regular resistance and cardiovascular training. It’s when you add the drugs in that it becomes dangerous to your health.

           

In July of 2021, legendary photographer Per Bernal offered to shoot you when you were in shape next. By March of this year, you were down to 198 pounds at 7 percent body fat. I know you were contemplating a return to competition but decided against it. Why?

           

I did not want to abuse standard contest-prep items like Halotestin, trenbolone, aromatase inhibitors, Winstrol, Anavar, asthma and thyroid drugs, and so on. I thought maybe I could just use those in the final month, but that’s not enough. The other guys I would compete against would be blasting all those drugs for the entire four months or more of prep. I’m a very competitive person with the spirit of a champion. I compete to win, not just to place. And if I got beat because I chose not to abuse all those drugs, I couldn’t complain about it. People would just say, you chose to go into a war with less weapons and ammunition than your opponents. I also realize no one beats Father Time. I see my skin isn’t the same, even though I use GH, take collagen protein and eat perfectly. The skin just isn’t as tight anymore. I look great for 48, but it’s not the same as when I was 40, and definitely not like my mid-30s.

           

I get that, but you would be competing in the over 40 Masters division anyway. Most if not all those guys have a bit of loose skin.

           

True, but I am a perfectionist. No judge or critic could ever be harsher on me than I am on myself. I’m not saying I need to look like a Mr. Olympia competitor, but I understand that I can’t look the way I would want to on stage on 200 milligrams of test and 50 milligrams of Deca weekly.

           

Is that what you have been using while dieting all these months?

           

No, I have been using 175 milligrams of testosterone, 70 milligrams of Primobolan, and 35 milligrams of Deca weekly, and 3 iu of HGH daily.

 

I feel you’re “damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” If you choose to be very moderate and safer with your PEDs for a contest and don’t look inhumanly big and ripped, haters will talk shit. And if you did use all the typical prep stuff and looked awesome, they would say, “this is a doctor who is supposed to be about health and here he is abusing his body!”

           

Exactly. Even my own sister, who is also a physician, said to me, remember what you have said in so many lectures, on TV shows here in Greece, and in your books about avoiding risky elements and striving to be as healthy as possible. If you go ahead and abuse a bunch of drugs to compete again, you would be a hypocrite.

 

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I don’t think Greece is as freewheeling with pro cards as the USA is, so winning your national title as a Masters wouldn’t have earned you pro status anyway.

           

I don’t care about that. If that were my goal, there are plenty of NPC shows in Europe where I could try for that. It was never about turning pro for me. I always wanted to win, but more important was beating my previous best look.

           

Personally I don’t think you need a stage or a trophy. You’re two years away from 50 with an incredible physique, a full head of hair, and fans all over the world who appreciate being able to get answers and advice from a medical doctor who also lives the bodybuilding lifestyle just like they do. So why risk your health?

           

I’m honest and realistic enough to know that in competition, it’s not just about the hard training and strict dieting. There are a lot of toxic drugs used in contest prep in the final phase that help give you that hard, dry, grainy, polished look: things like aromatase inhibitors, Halotestin and diuretics. I don’t want to put my body through that, and as a medical doctor, I would be setting a horrible example. My mission is to help those who use or have used PEDs do things as healthy as possible and steer them away from things that will harm them. We’ve lost too many bodybuilders and seen far more with serious health problems. Hopefully I can help some of them live longer and healthier lives. I can maintain a very lean 200-pound physique that’s close to competition condition with a bare minimum of gear; I’ve been doing that for almost six months now. I want and need to be a good example. Your health is your wealth.

 

George Touliatos

Instagram @drgeorgetouliatos

Website: https://gtoul.com/

 

Watch new episodes of “Ask Dr. Testosterone” every Tuesday on the Muscular Development YouTube channel at 9:15am EST 

 

 

Instagram @giorgos_papacharalampous

 

Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram

 

 

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