Sam Sulek has taken the internet by storm.
Sam Sulek is a 21-year-old bodybuilder who uses his raw editing style and down-to-earth personality to connect with his audience on a personal level. He has developed a die-hard fanbase in a very short period of time. Sam has gained a following of 1.3 million YouTube subscribers in just over half a year of posting. With only 6 Instagram posts, he has gained over 1 million followers, as well as 1 million followers on TikTok. Beyond his own personal numbers, fans reposting clips of his also go viral. He has amassed hundreds of millions of views in such a short time frame.
With Sam being so popular and amassing so many views and followers, there becomes a problem. People want to become just like him. The problem is that Sam is believed to be taking steroids, likely in high dosages. Sam is 5”11 and reaches around 260 lbs with defined abs, which is impossible naturally, let alone while being a 21-year-old college student. We can also see a plethora of side effects that Sam faces, with the most prominent being horrible acne as well as an extreme shortness of breath. Although Sam does not outright support the dangerous drugs, he does subconsciously encourage it throughout a whole generation of kids.
Beyond the steroid addiction, Sam also encourages a bad and unhealthy diet for kids. Sam did a video with the supplement company that sponsors him in which they followed him around for the day to see what he was eating. His diet is as follows:
- Breakfast consists of a half gallon of chocolate milk. That’s it. This had a total of 1,920 calories, 72 grams of protein, 272 grams of carbs, and 64 grams of fat. This also contains 232 grams of sugar.
- For a pre-gym snack, Sam Sulek had 4 servings of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and 4 servings of whole milk. This brings his total for this meal to about 1,280 calories, 48 grams of fat, 40 grams of protein, and 180 grams of carbs.
- Sam’s post-workout shake consists of roughly 600 calories and 100 carbs with 50 protein
- For dinner, Sam went to Five Guys. His meal was a burger, a medium-sized fry, and a large drink. Without knowing what his drink was, Sam had around 1400 calories. 953 calories on the fries with 41 grams of fat, 131 grams of carbs, and 15 grams of protein. The hamburger patty came out to 302 calories, containing 17 grams of fat, 0 grams of carbs, and 16 grams of protein. With the bun, Sam added 240 calories, 9 grams of fat, 39 grams of carbs, and 7 grams of protein.
- For dessert, Sam finished the night off with 4 Krispy Kreme Glazed Doughnuts and 2 cups of whole milk. The macros of the milk come out to 300 calories, 16 grams of protein, 16 grams of fat, and 24 grams of carbs. The doughnut macros come out to 760 calories, 44 grams of fat, 88 grams of carbs, and 12 grams of protein.
This diet is what Sam advertises to his fans as a muscle-building diet. He had a total of 6,260 calories. This consisted of 228 grams of protein, 834 grams of carbs, and 239 grams of fat. While he does acknowledge the flaws and issues with his diet, he is still leading by example. For someone who is not taking steroids, this will not build muscle at any efficient rate, and even for someone who is on steroids, a diet like this may just amplify the negative side effects of taking those drugs.
While Sam does not intentionally mean any harm, his influence still has a negative effect on the fitness industry. The majority of people who watch his content are below the age of 16 and far from old enough to determine if they want to take the same kinds of drugs that Sam does.