Muscle building has become quite the trend among gym-goers in the last few years, and they resort to both traditional and non-traditional techniques.
While traditional techniques involve regular training, workout, and taking natural protein supplements, non-traditional techniques usually include steroids that deliver faster results. However, Synthol is known to hasten the muscle-building process even more than regular steroids.
Synthol is injected directly into the muscle tissues for their expansion to achieve quick results. But, continuous Synthol injections can bloat the tissues like an air balloon, and they often end up looking over-inflated. Apart from the ridiculous appearance of the muscle, users also suffer from severe health issues because of overusing Synthol.
In today’s article, we’ll look at the bio of some individuals who have been known to abuse Synthol to help you steer clear of taking that dangerous route. So, without any further ado, let’s get on with it!
Table of Contents
What is Synthol?
As you must’ve guessed from the name, Synthol or Site Enhancement Oil (SEO) is a synthetic compound containing 85% oil, alcohol, and a numbing agent called lidocaine. At times, substances like sesame oil are also used while formulating Synthol, along with the primary ingredients.
It is quite popular in the bodybuilding and fitness industry because it can help to enhance the growth and appearance of muscles significantly. Even though injecting Synthol in limited amounts can improve muscle tone and texture to make the muscles look fuller, Synthol abuse can lead to disproportionate muscle growth, making them look completely abnormal.
How Did Synthol Become So Popular?
Synthol gained its popularity among professional and amateur bodybuilders during the late 90s as a faster and more effective alternative to injecting steroids or traditional workouts. While steroids temporarily help swell muscles, Synthol is a more permanent solution.
That said, you must understand the culture of the fitness industry to get a good grasp on Synthol’s raging popularity and why bodybuilders often prefer to take this shortcut. Bodybuilding competitions are not won on strength alone. In fact, muscle aesthetics is as important as strength in this case, if not more.
Often, the one with the most symmetrical body usually takes away the trophy. Say a guy has huge biceps but small forearms; his arms will lack symmetry, affecting his scores. Similarly, a well-built chest paired with tiny legs is a recipe for disaster. So naturally, professional bodybuilders try to ensure that every muscle has the perfect symmetry and that their growth rates maintain uniformity.
But, in their attempt to achieve a uniform and well-distributed muscle growth, bodybuilders often ignore a simple fact: all muscles don’t have the same growth rate. For instance, calf muscles usually have a slow growth rate due to their fibrous nature. If you consider calf hypertrophy, you’re either born with naturally growing calf muscles or not.
When the natural method doesn’t work, bodybuilders choose to inject oil or steroids to buff up their calf muscles, pectorals, delts, or biceps to get quicker results. That’s how Synthol has gained its wide popularity over the years, and nowadays, many bodybuilders use it to some extent to stimulate muscle growth.
While professionals are well-experienced in taking proper amounts of Synthol to avoid localized growth, an amateur bodybuilder might not be aware of the right amount and overuse Synthol.
What Are The Common Symptoms Of Synthol Abuse?
No matter how you look at it, jamming needles and injecting oil into your muscle tissues that act as a synthetic muscle enhancement compound is borderline insanity. But the situation can get even worse for amateurs who are mostly unaware of the higher threshold and end up abusing Synthol.
The most common sign of Synthol abuse is abnormally shaped muscles that cannot hold their natural shape anymore because they are overly filled with enhancement oils. Some muscles, like the biceps brachii, can often appear a bit bloated, especially at their origin and insertion.
However, in extreme cases, the muscle tissues look downright hideous because they become oversaturated and appear more like overly inflated gas balloons. Not just muscle appearance, overusing Synthol can also cause fatal health disorders, like vasculitis and muscle catabolism.
In vasculitis, the body starts attacking the white blood cells and lymphocytes, which affects the natural immune system. On the other hand, if the muscle tissues stop receiving adequate nutrients and oxygen, it leads to muscle catabolism. Under such dire circumstances, the side effects can also include nerve damage, ulcers, stroke, and pulmonary embolism.
Biggest Synthol Freaks
1. Arlindo De Souza
We’ll kickstart our list of the biggest Synthol freak with Arlindo De Souza, a Brazilian bodybuilder known to set a record in Brazil for his 29-inch biceps. Even though he has massive arms, they significantly lack strength compared to their huge size, which proves that overusing Synthol doesn’t guarantee enhanced muscle strength.
The only thing Arlindo has achieved with his monstrous arms is local popularity and hundreds of social media trolls. In fact, he has been the butt of nasty jokes and memes because of his disproportionate arms. However, all the negative comments didn’t seem to affect Arlindo in the slightest.
He was able to gain such massively huge arms in just two months by injecting Synthol thrice a week continuously. Not only this, but he also enjoyed how Synthol could swell up his muscle without any intense workout.
Arlindo also admitted that once he started using Synthol, there was no stopping him. He couldn’t see the limit and wanted to use it more and more, which indicated his Synthol usage bordered on substance abuse.
2. Moustafa Ismail
Moustafa Ismail is another popular name in the fitness and bodybuilding industry primarily because of all the Synthol controversy surrounding his achievements. Moustafa has been known to have humongous 31-inch biceps that could easily beat Arlindo’s record of 29-inch.
In fact, he held the Guinness World Record for the largest biceps in 2012. But, Moustafa has faced tremendous media backlash because of his unnaturally huge biceps, which clearly indicated the overuse of Synthol.
In this context, he has shown his reports of several medical tests, including full-body MRI and ultrasound imaging of his forearms, to prove his credibility as a bodybuilder. Moustafa also went on record and stated that he had nothing to hide and his achievements were real, unlike what some critics claimed.
However, his statement was soon disregarded because his medical reports lacked legitimacy. There were no quotes from his doctors or photos of the MRI or ultrasound scans, and even the hospital’s name was missing from the reports.
3. Romario Dos Santos Alves
Romario Dos Santos Alves is famous in the bodybuilding industry for abusing Synthol. He injected the enhancement oil twice a week for almost a year to build his massive 25-inch forearms. He wanted to model himself as the Incredible Hulk, which caused him to inject unhealthy amounts of Synthol and risk his life in the process.
Unsurprisingly, his muscles soon turned completely into rock due to Synthol overuse. Romario has stated that his doctor told him they might even need to amputate both his arms because all the muscle tissues had become solid.
Not to mention, Romario almost lost his sanity and tried to commit suicide because of abusing Synthol when his wife was pregnant. According to him, Synthol is a powerfully addictive drug, and if someone takes it once, they would want to continue using it without thinking about the consequences.
Romario’s body modification almost cost him his life, while kids in his community were scared of him and called him a “monster” because of his disgusting arms. He also suffered from severe muscle pain because of Synthol abuse and went close to a massive kidney failure.
Thankfully, his doctors were able to save his arms, and Romario has been committed to staying clean ever since.
4. Gregg Valentino
Gregg Valentino was once known as the most hated man in the bodybuilding industry because many claimed that he was using Synthol to boost his muscle growth unnaturally. However, Valentino never accepted any of these allegations and strongly denied everything.
He even went on to say that he didn’t use Synthol but was taking propionate and equipoise to maintain muscle appearance. According to him, Synthol only works to stretch the fascia, while he could enjoy the “double whammy” using these two drugs. He could experience how the oil stretches the muscle and get localized growth simultaneously by applying these drugs.
Despite receiving tons of negative criticisms, Gregg Valentino has become a widely popular bodybuilding icon, thanks to his insanely huge muscles. He also regularly writes in different fitness and bodybuilding magazines and has published several books on muscle building.
5. Valdir Segato
Valdir Segato, popularly known as the “Brazilian Hulk,” was hugely famous for using Synthol to gain his 23-inch biceps. He was a star on TikTok for his videos and even gained 1.7 million followers globally. Unfortunately, he passed away on 2nd August 2022 at age 55 after he was rushed to the local hospital with severe shortness of breath.
Even though the actual cause of his death is not yet known, many suspect Synthol abuse to be the primary reason. Not to mention, a few years ago, Valdir’s doctors warned him that he was facing severe nerve damage and amputation risks if he continued taking these injections. But that didn’t stop him from injecting the fatal muscle enhancement oil to boost his muscle growth.
In fact, Valdir thoroughly enjoyed the fame, money, and popularity that came with his monstrous body. He said he was often called Hulk, He-Man, and even compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger for his muscles. He openly admitted that he used Synthol to double up his biceps, and he still wanted them to grow bigger. His sad demise can be a wake-up call for all young and aspiring bodybuilders.
6. Kirill Tereshin
Kirill Tereshin, a 25-year-old professional Russian MMA fighter, is well-known as the “Russian Popeye” for his massive 24-inch biceps. He’s a former soldier who gained sudden global stardom after appearing on a few viral videos showing off his huge arms. He also has over 3 million followers on Instagram, making him a raging social media icon.
Even though Kirill had to go under the knife to remove his fake triceps, his humongous biceps are still a life-threatening issue. He admitted that he started bulking up his arms when he was 20 because of his own stupidity. Kirill also confessed that he was lucky that his doctors decided to take him in; otherwise, he might have ended up with severe nerve damage in his arm.
Kirill started using Synthol and got his petroleum jelly implants back in 2019 to gain some quick Internet fame, which soon turned into a nightmare. His huge fake biceps didn’t help him much in the ring, and he soon started having problems with the implants. Kirill has stated that he was worried about his immune system and wanted to remove his implants as soon as possible.
Final Thoughts
After going through our article, you must have realized that there’s no shortcut to bodybuilding without compromising your health. So, if you still think taking Synthol is a good idea to build up muscles quickly, we strongly suggest you think again.
There are safer alternatives to injecting chemicals like Synthol to bulk up your muscles. Thanks to advancements in science, you can now find several premium-quality organic steroids made of natural ingredients that’ll help stimulate muscle growth without jeopardizing your health.
You can also invest in taking some natural supplements, along with maintaining a strict diet and a regular workout routine to speed up the muscle-building process. The results might take more time to show compared to Synthol injections, but at least you won’t face any fatal health risks.
On that note, we’ll sign off. Take care and stay healthy!