Lifestyle
‘Natty or Not’ Influencer Kenny Boulet Wants People to Be More Honest About Steroids
“Basically everyone at that level was using something because there was this collective realization of what it took to look a certain way,” he said.
Mr. Boulet soon moved to Las Vegas to pursue a full-time career in fitness, and he started posting videos poking fun at other bodybuilders and influencers on social media. But after competing for a few years and increasing his dosages of different PEDs, he realized he was exhausted. He worried, too, about the severe effects of steroid use, which include cardiovascular risks, liver issues and kidney failure.
“I just didn’t want to push it further and end up cutting years off my life,” he said.
He stopped taking the drugs in 2019. By his own definition, though, Mr. Boulet is still not “natty.” To this day he takes TRT, a standard treatment for longtime steroid users who need to balance their hormone levels after years of elevated testosterone production.
He runs his own supplement brand that sells selective androgen receptor modulators, or SARMs, drugs that mimic steroids. Many bodybuilders swear by them, but the drugs are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and are banned in athletic competitions monitored by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
His followers who buy his supplements, Mr. Boulet said, are “not natural” either.
“I think about my son and the culture of fake bodies, steroids, and the machine profiting off people’s insecurities that keeps getting bigger and bigger,” said Sean McGill, 40, who follows Mr. Boulet on Instagram. Mr. Boulet’s antics can occasionally rub him the wrong way, he said, “but at least he is trying to be honest about what he does and what he takes.”
Training the eye
Over the years, Mr. Boulet has taught his viewers to spot the telltale signs that someone is on the juice. “You can tell by the size of their traps, usually” — the trapezius muscle that runs along the backside of the neck and connects to the shoulders. “That’s one of the first ones to show when people decide to hop onto PEDs,” he said.
Inside the World Cup Cultural Exchange
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What does America look like to visitors?
We’re finding out in real time as fans and athletes from all over the world visit the United States for World Cup matches across the country. From Ranch dressing, to the wonders of all-you-can-eat buffets, tourists are getting a taste of all the USA has to offer, but how do we square the warm welcome for the World Cup with the United States’ recent stances on immigration? Brittany is joined by immigration reporter Jasmine Garsd, and NPR reporter Juliana Kim to find out.
Want more global perspectives on culture? Check out these episodes:
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This episode was produced by Liam McBain and Corey Antonio Rose. It was edited by Neena Pathak. Our Supervising Producer is Cher Vincent. Our Executive Producer is Barton Girdwood. Our VP of Programming is Yolanda Sangweni.
In central London’s Waterloo Place, a life-size statue that emerged overnight in late April has been creating a stir. When I visited a few weeks after it was erected, local authorities had already set up protective barriers around it.
The installation — signed by the famed street artist Banksy — depicts a man in a suit hoisting a flag as he strides over a precipice. As he marches on, the flag blows backward to cover his face, leaving him unaware he’s only a step away from a perilous fall.
Set among grand monuments celebrating Britain’s past, the “flag man” takes on a particular visual irony at a time when the country — and much of the world — is debating its path forward.
Like many viewers there, I found myself wondering whether this statue is Banksy’s warning about the consequences of uncritical nationalism, or simply a reflection on human shortsightedness. Or, perhaps, it is just prompting us to ponder a broader question: What happens when devotion to a symbol prevents us from seeing what lies ahead?
Whatever the message, the work feels remarkably attuned to the current moment.
For more Far-Flung Postcards, click here.
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