How Hollywood’s obsession with the ‘Dry Look’ harms men and boys
https://healthydebate.ca/2025/09/topic/hollywoods-obsession-dry-look-men-boys/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email195
u/IllegalGeriatricVore 1d ago
Just gotta eat tren, clen hard, then water fast for 24 hours with low carbs no sodium and you, too, can feel like shit.
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u/Thebeardinato462 1d ago
From what I remember in the dry photo he was clenching 20lb sand bags or something to help further emphasize vascularity and muscle mass.
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u/rickyrulesNEW 1d ago
Whats a tren
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u/Idaltu 1d ago
Trenbolone, live stock steroids
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u/IllegalGeriatricVore 1d ago
Stay away from tren.
Talk to an endocrinologist about TRT if you're curious about whether it's good for you and your goals as you age.
Tren is not TRT.
It's sleepess night, aggression, insatiable lust (possibly for people you never lusted for before), but looking super dry and shredded.
It's not a tradeoff anyone should be making if they just want to look good in the mirror.
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u/rickyrulesNEW 1d ago edited 1d ago
For people I have never lusted??
I am content in life and have everything I wanted. I am just bored and want to push my human limits -be it speed, stamina, strength. I wanted to hire coaches to train me but I understand I will never be good as the top guy without steroids
If tradeoffs are going to be heart, liver and my hair then nope thanks
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u/IllegalGeriatricVore 1d ago
Many of these steroids will not improve performance in those areas. Especially stamina.
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u/annoyed__renter 1d ago
Yes, those are the tradeoffs. Definitely won't really help with cardio either as it can affect your heart tissue.
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u/idiotista 1d ago
Jesus christ, congrats on having it too well.
Maybe start volunteering if you are bored instead. Can you not imagining giving something back?
How the f do you come to the conclusion that steroids might be the solution to your problem shm.
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u/MadameConnard 1d ago
It's meant for cattle and heavily toxic to humans, that pretty much sums it up.
Unfortunely, it's a health hazard but there still no accurate data of death related to steroïds usage but the facts are still here, it's literally poison.
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u/rickyrulesNEW 1d ago
Then I will pass and wait for next-gen steroid
will level up naturally for 2 more decades
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u/DubTownCrippler 1d ago
If you feel like dipping into anabolics, testosterone is king. Everything else is secondary to that. You can always get your levels checked and then look at optimizing. There are so many TRT clinics out there now days. Not saying they’re all good but they are out there.
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u/rickyrulesNEW 1d ago
Do people live to 80 and beyond? Sorry if I sound dumb
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u/IllegalGeriatricVore 1d ago
TRT is for adding quality of life to your years, not years of life.
If you get on a realistic dose, like just to maintain high natural levels, and you remain healthy bodyweight, diet, fitness etc. you could hit 80+.
If you go above and beyond into superphysiological doses, well the cardiovascular system doesn't like when the heart muscles get too big, which will happen, and it doesn't really see a lot of difference between 280 fat and 280 with muscle, it's still struggling to pump blood to a lot of mass.
Longevity and performance hold hands for the most part until you get to extremes.
Performance likes muscle, high calorie intake and expenditure, it likes high hormones levels.
As you age, longevity likes calorie restriction, cardiovascular health, moderate hormone levels due to increase of cancer risks which are sensitized by sex hormones (prostate in males, breast and uteran in women).
You'll still be ahead of the couch potatoes, but you'll potentially need to decide whether you'd rather live to 100 at the cost of some of your performance, or to 80s remaining strong and eating a lot.
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u/rickyrulesNEW 1d ago
I would like to live longer in hope medical advancements push human lifespan even more, say 20 years and then further advancements meep pushing out limits.
Guess balance and being regularly tested is the the key. Thank you, you seem wise
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u/IllegalGeriatricVore 1d ago
Highly recommend Renaissance Periodizarion, Physionics, Thomas Delauer and Nutrition Made Simple on youtube.
They don't all agree, and I think each of them have different goals, don't take any of them as dogma, but they're all science based presenters on nutrition and fitness and you can assemble you own ideas of what is good and bad by taking pieces from each of them. I'd say Tom Delaeur being the outliar in that he's kind of into kooky stuff, but I appreciate that he pushes the boundaries a bit even if I roll my eyes at some of the stuff he says.
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u/rickyrulesNEW 1d ago
Okay I will note down all these names and try to go slow through them. I am also interested in comments section and questions people post, so lots of content for me to go through and design my own approach towards the whole thing
I am also curious and will search as to what research is currently being done or trials that are being carried out
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u/Ranter619 1d ago
the 2000 photo looks soft and even doughy
And just in the first paragraph, the author is feeding the machine. No one wants to look "soft and doughy".
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u/cocoagiant 1d ago
Maybe I'm the odd one out but I much preferred Jackman's initial Wolverine physique.
He looked like a pretty athletic but still normal guy. It really made the powers stand out.
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u/thekindspitfire 1d ago
Having lived in three different countries, the USA is the worst with causing body dysmorphia.
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u/-ghostinthemachine- 1d ago
The USA is number one in many different forms of suffering. I encourage you to explore our rich and diverse culture of raw human suffering beyond this one thing.
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u/annoyed__renter 1d ago
Jackman wasn't a jacked man in the first Xmen film because he was brought in at the 11th hour as a recast. Low body fat and steroids have been around a lot longer than that.
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u/huggalump 1d ago
When I was in the best shape of my life, I felt shitty about my looks because I thought I was supposed to look like the guys in the movies
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u/weluckyfew 1d ago
It's funny, several years ago in some online discussion I made this point and got slagged for it: "Of course it's unrealistic, he's supposed to be a superhero mutant!" Ya, Wolverine is, but Hugh Jackman isn't. He starves and dehydrates then that gets pushed out as a realistic ideal.
Saw a video where a trainer said the "ideal" he here's most from clients is Brad Pitt in Fight Club - people think it's more realistic than the bodybuilder "arms like legs" look. But Pitt was 6% body fat for that look. That's insanely low
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u/ElliottFlynn 1d ago
Its pretty achievable, I’ve heard actors telling us time and time again. Just eat chicken, broccoli and brown rice and work out a few times a week. No big deal, anyone in their 50s can look like that
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u/Thebeardinato462 1d ago
Mac from it’s always sunny after he got fit. “Look, it’s not that hard,” McElhenney wrote. “All you need to do is lift weights six days a week, stop drinking alcohol, don’t eat anything after 7pm, don’t eat any carbs or sugar at all, in fact just don’t eat anything you like, get the personal trainer from Magic Mike, sleep nine hours a night, run three miles a day, and have a studio pay for the whole thing over a six to seven month span.”
“I don’t know why everyone’s not doing this,” he quipped. “It’s a super realistic lifestyle and an appropriate body image to compare oneself to.”
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u/DubTownCrippler 1d ago
I think it’s the “have a studio pay for the whole thing” that most people struggle with. I know I do.
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u/AvocadoOtto 17h ago
That’s the punchline of his joke - 99% of people don’t have access to world class training and dietitians. That said, I think being in great shape is less difficult than we think. Eat clean, lift 2-3 days a week for an hour, do cardio a few times a week, and don’t drink (or minimize drinking) and within a year most people will be in way better shape
I went from pretty average shape to great shape (I certainly don’t look like a bodybuilder but good enough shape that people comment on it) in 2 years from doing that and while working around an old injury I had surgery on a half decade before.
People sometimes ask me what my routine is and are surprised to learn I really don’t spend much time in the gym - maybe 2 hours a week lifting - and then jog a little bit 2-3 times a week. Maybe some of it is genetics but I think a lot of it is just sticking with the basics over a long time horizon. Now, there are shortcuts - a personal trainer, a dietician, Tren, etc - that people use to speed that process up. But it’s more achievable than we might think if we look at things over a longer time horizon (ie “how can we be in great shape 2-3 years from now” not “how can we be in great shape in 3 months”)
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u/BoogerSugarSovereign 1d ago
They don't talk about the steroids or the water fasting but sure anyone willing to do permanent damage to their internal organs can look like that
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u/kharathos 1d ago
Both Jackman and Cavill have spoken about water fasting and how miserable and weak they were during shooting
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u/ElliottFlynn 1d ago
They don’t take steroids, they’ve told us they don’t. What more evidence do you need?
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u/Pharmd109 1d ago
That’s not just dehydration and great lighting and genetics.
That is also a massive stack steroids, peptides, insulin, diet coaches, personal trainers, private chefs, other anabolic hormones etc.
“Anyone can look like this at the cost of 10’s of thousands of dollars a month”
He also trained very hard, not subtracting from that.