Is Jean-Claude Van Damme Taking Steroids?

I guess Jean-Claude Van Damme is the legend actor who doesn’t need an introduction but in case there’s someone who never watched TV and just found out there’s internet and just started watching movies, JCVD is the one who has been kicking people’s asses for a long time in blockbusters such as Street Fighter, Double Impact, Timecop, Universal Soldier and a lot of other amazing movies which I would recommend to watch to everyone.

I was a little boy when I started watching Jean Claude Van Damme movies and I already knew I wish to have a body like his. Every movie where JCVD is starring is amazing and every movie has the same plot: Jean-Claude is the one saving the day. Thinking about the one who kicks bad guys’ asses it is obvious we think about a muscular hero and that’s the case here, of course. Generally, Van Damme is being known for having natural looking muscles as he doesn’t have any obvious signs of using steroids since there’s nothing freakish about his body. He’s not an extremely big guy with an 18 inch arm at 3% of body fat, although he does look extremely good.

Currently, Jean-Claude Van Damme is 58 years old but let’s take a look at his body stats at his best looks: the height is 5 ft 8 (172 – 173 cm); weight 185 lbs (83 – 84 kg) with an estimated body fat of 7% and with an estimated arm size of 16”. As much as we can see, these are not the stats of an absolute monster, nonetheless this man is really strong and he was always known as a really strong guy, especially because Van Damme has been known to bench his press 166 kg (365 – 366 lbs) at the age of only 19. That’s according to some sources I found that I am going to share later.

All in all, Van Damme has a really good looking body with no signs of steroids use, that’s why – if Arnold is inspiring the steroid users across the world to try to look like him, then there’s Van Damme who is inspiring the natural guys across the world to try to look like him. Nonetheless, keep in mind that only due to the fact that Van Damme’s body (during his best) is looking all natural at first sight, it doesn’t actually mean that he IS natural. There are some symptoms suggesting that he is or not and during this article, I am going to try and find out if the Belgian actor has any of them.

A side note: I am a big fan of Van Damme and to be honest, I do not try to make him even more famous or try to make him “wrong” by USING or by NOT using steroids. Plus, all the facts and evidence I am going to share here all along with the final conclusion is objective (as all of my other articles are). So let’s go further and try to find it all out.

Contents

One big evidence: JCVD is still in the same size he used to be

To my opinion, this is one huge evidence suggesting that Van Damme hasn’t used steroids. JCVD is in the same size he was at his best and this needs to be taken in consideration. When steroid users are coming off the steroids, their muscles shrink, and they can shrink a lot. One example of this is Arnold Schwarzenegger which is the most popular example to my opinion. There are a lot of photos of him online proving this. You can take a look at an example I am going to share here which gives example of how he looked during his steroidal use period and how he looks now that he doesn’t use them anymore.

Of course, there is the age who plays an important factor, but later I am going to give an example which proves that age is by far not the most important factor that comes at play. In addition to that, by checking the “after” photo of Arnie, I need to say that this is not during his worst as he made a bit of comeback during that photo and he has regained a little bit of his muscles back. However, as much as we can notice, he still doesn’t have anywhere near as much muscle mass comparing to how he used to be at his best days. That’s the most famous example of steroid user, but there are a lot of steroid users out there that lose a lot of mass, for example, if they end up in prison and can’t use steroids anymore. You could simply find a lot of photos as evidence online. Another very good example of that is the famous Mr Olympia contestant Victor Martinez that has been found guilty of dealing some drugs (as they said – DHB and butanediol) who has found himself in prison and was not able to use steroids for 7 months. The difference was big.

But, there is Jean Claude Van Damme that is having a very similar level of muscle mass nowadays as he had when he was at his best more than 20 years ago. The fact that he doesn’t lose muscles in time (and doesn’t gain any new) is a strong evidence that JCVD is all natural and doesn’t use steroids.

Van Damme Gains Timeline

As I earlier mentioned, a strong evidence that he’s natty is the fact that Van Damme does not lose muscle mass in time but the same goes for the fact that he doesn’t gain any muscle mass in time either. There is such a theorem as “newbie gains” which suggest that a person gains a lot of muscle mass in the first year of regularly working out and after that, he barely puts muscles (or any at all) regardless of how much he works out. However, there are still a lot of steroid users who just keep on getting bigger and bigger year after year and that’s even though they are not newbies anymore. Those people that just keep on growing further are on steroids as they can’t grow more and more without anabolic steroids. But they also lose a lot of their muscle mass when they stop using anabolic steroids. With this being said, those people who keep on gaining or lose a lot of muscles in time – that’s a sign of steroidal use. Steroid users are going to keep on growing with each cycle and it doesn’t matter if they have been training for many years or not.

That’s why I think that Gains Timeline it is extremely important to check if we want to determine if a person uses steroids or not. Another strong evidence that JCVD has not been using steroids is because he didn’t gained anything at all nearly 40 years. Van Dame has stayed pretty much in the exact same size ever since he was 18 years when he has won the Mr Belgium competition in Etterbeek. Yes, for those who don’t know (and I doubt that many know) – Van Damme has competed as a bodybuilder long before he has ever appeared on TV as a professional fighter. Many years ago when he was only 18 years old in 1978, he has won the Etterbeek competition and won the Mr Belgium status.

Yes, that’s him at 18 years – many would wish to look like that at 18 years but as much as we can notice, he has stayed pretty much in the same size as he is in his movies, as he is at his best and pretty much the same as he is now at his 55+ years. I have also done a research and I have found a former workout routine and those curious, I am going to share the source later in this article.

No Symptoms of Using Steroids

JCVD generally has no symptoms of using steroids on his body at all, I have tried to check for the most common side effects but there doesn’t seem to be any as JCVD has never had any gyno, bloating or flushed skin.

One thing that I can mention here is the fact that 9 years ago, in 2010, there was a rumor that Van Damme have suffered a minor heart attack (while on the set of shooting Weapon). The reason I mention this here is that a lot of steroid users can experience a heart attack at some point in their lives. It is obvious that not everyone who has ever had a minor heart attack are steroid users but chances you would get one greatly elevate. Nonetheless, in an interview later, Jean Claude has denied that this has ever happened and the fact that he had a heart attack is nothing than a rumor.

In addition to that, those people who have seen what Jean Claude Van Damme is looking nowadays, will say that he has aged a lot as that’s something very hard not to notice because his face is what especially says he has aged. This might also be a sign of steroids use as they are known to cause premature ageing due to the fact that they lower collagen levels – hence the steroid user looks older. Nonetheless, we shouldn’t forget that Jean Claude Van Damme is post mid age and there are other factors such as sun damage and stress classified as major causes of accelerated ageing – something that might be the case for JCVD. The reason I say that – Jean Claude has always been very and very tanned in nearly all of his movies (I have noticed that a long time ago). Having a tanned skin looks sexy, but always having a tanned skin means you’re exposed to sun constantly and this can result in sun damage effects. Plus, there are some reports that I have found online while doing research for this article suggesting that sun damage is responsible for approximately 80% of all our wrinkles! Taking in consideration that JCVD has always been exposed to sun, it is no wonder he might have aged face.

Except for sun damage that might have accelerated his ageing, I also mentioned stress. Many people might not be aware of this fact but Van Damme has also suffered from depression and bipolar disorder since he has been a teen – that’s all a huge stress which might have been following him in his mature years. All of this means that he most likely has experienced a lot of psychological pain and big amounts of stress over the course of his life, if comparing to an average/ normal person without these horrible symptoms.

So, there are no steroid signs that I could mention here.

What’s the Conclusion?

In the end, Jean Claude Van Damme doesn’t seem to have ever used steroids. He just seems to have amazing genetics and that’s because as soon as he has started to lift weights as a teen, he got really big, and he stays in the exact same size 40 years later! Amazing genetics play an extremely important role because it doesn’t seem like he spend a decade of his entire life trying to bulk and to cut in order to get to that size he is. Instead, Van Damme has picked up some heavy stuff and his genetics has taken care of the rest. That’s the reason why I think that in case JCVD would want to become a world class bodybuilder then most likely he could have become one, thanks to his genetics and if he responded well to steroids.

I also need to mention here that even though Van Damme is having exceptional DNA when it is coming down to build muscles, remember that without very hard work – nobody can achieve such results. It would be a HUGE mistake to say that it is all only thanks to his DNA as I think that there are lots of guys out there with great DNA but they don’t look the way they want/ should look. It is because they need to work their ass in order to fulfill their genetic potential and trust me that’s a really hard work – something that JCVD did and only few people do. That’s because in a usual day, Van Damme would ride a bike through the woods for like 2 hours, would spar for one hour straight and after that he would lift weights in the evening. That’s the information I found about him online so let’s be honest, by far not everybody does this, regardless of their genetics.

In the end, I think that his body and physique need to be the ultimate goal for the natural guys out there because I think that very few people can achieve bigger results than JCVD did without using steroids and staying all natural. I also think that this should be the goal for the natural guys even if they are not as gifted in terms of genetics as the 1978 Mr Belgium is. I think so because with years of a lot of hard work in the gym, all along with several bulks and good diet plan, such a mass and size is perfectly reachable for everybody!

Thanks to JCVD for all his movies and all his hard work both in gym and on the scene as he made our childhood much more interesting.

Special thanks to all the sources that helped me in writing this article. Here you are going to find facts about Jean Claude Van Damme and the workout schedule I promised as well.

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