Bodybuilder turned away from steroids
No matter how hard Victoria bodybuilder Jill Foley trained or how dialled-in her diet was, she was always lacking a podium finish. When she added steroids to her training regime, everything improved.
I met Jill during the peak of her steroid use. I compete in the sport of Strongman, and one day, Jill came to train with me and my friends.
Most of the time, I am one of the strongest women, but Jill dominated the day. I was in awe of her muscles. I have never used steroids, but I was intrigued by how they enhanced her.
I was envious of her, so when she started to open up months later about the dark side of steroids, it really put things in perspective.
I was amazed by her honesty, and I’d never heard a female steroid-user speak so candidly before.
Foley has been a lifelong, gifted athlete. After high school, she played soccer at university. When she started bodybuilding, she trained to win.
“My trainer was huge and jacked. He would tell me if I worked hard and ate right, I would build muscle like that, too,” said the 29-year-old.
When she started competing, Foley was “all-natural,” meaning she didn’t use any enhancing drugs. She finished last in her first competition and second to last in her next.
Eventually, Foley started to question how the other women on stage developed such defined muscles.
“I was standing on stage next to a woman whose abs looked like they would eat my face,” Foley said. That’s when she asked her trainer for advice. “I wanted to be ripped like the other women. I was told to win, I would need steroids.”
She started taking oral steroids and noticed modest changes, so she moved on to injecting steroids.
“I just wanted to win,” she said. “Whatever was put in front of me, I just said yes.”
It was then that muscles all over her body were visibly emerging.
“My next show I got first place. I was so excited,” said Foley. “I became the poster child for bodybuilding. I had sponsors and I was getting a lot of attention.”
Using steroids alone won’t create bulging muscles. Steroids will enhance the work an athlete is putting in. Foley explains steroids as a tool.
At first, steroids were doing everything Foley wanted them to. Then the negative side-effects came.
“My voice changed and started getting deeper,” said Foley, explaining using testosterone will build muscles, but also leads to other masculine changes. “When it first started happening, people would ask me if I was getting a cold. I didn’t tell anyone; steroids were my secret.”
She also started to grow hairs on her chin and get acne on her back and legs.
“It was making me really insecure about myself and I didn’t want anyone to get too close to me,” said Foley explaining the deeper voice and facial hair are permanent changes.
“Steroids took a toll on me mentally, too,” Foley said. “People kept complimenting me. I was getting a lot of attention and I was selfish. I only thought about myself, and my life focused on what my body looked like.”
The addiction to the praise and compliments was in full swing, and she continued to train hard and abuse steroids. At provincials, she weighed in at 30 pounds more than her competitors. She had overshot, was too big and placed fifth. Not what she was hoping for, but she did earn a spot in nationals.
“I was beastly, half-chick halfworkhorse. When I saw the photos, I was shocked at what I created myself to be,” Foley said. “Something needed to change. So, I just stopped using steroids.”
She began to release her secret and speak openly about her steroid use. That’s when she lost her sponsors.
She wanted to see if she could compete without steroids and trained for nationals naturally. Even with her hard work at the gym and her focus on nutrition, her end to bodybuilding finished as it began, off steroids and dead last.
“I just had to let it go,” Foley said. “It was the end.”
Foley is no longer bodybuilding. She still trains in the gym and works as a personal trainer.
“When I see a woman training in the gym working hard and who’s natural, I always stop and tell them they are doing a great job,” Foley said. “I don’t want women to feel they need to take the path that I did.”
Charla Huber works in communications and Indigenous relations for M’akola Group of Societies.