Following the interrogation of IPED production in Chapter 8, we can now turn to the localized, offline supply chains that exist within Potsford. Importantly, this section does not claim to provide a definitive account of all the various supply networks in Potsford’s fitness scene. Instead, it serves as a glimpse into the different means by which my sample leant upon their gym-based community to source IPEDs, highlighting the significance of peer networks and unpacking the most prominent features of offline supply.

“It’s always people you know”: the importance of community and peer networks

In line with the existing literature on offline IPED supply, the significance of peer networks in Potsford’s local fitness scene played a substantial role in facilitating my sample’s acquisition. Of my IPED-using sample, 77 per cent relied upon their contacts in the hardcore fitness scene – be it fellow bodybuilders, coaches, or close friends – to access the market, while 62 per cent collected their products in person, either from a UGL supplier or from a friend who was also a reseller. As such, many of their primary experiences of the market physically occurred in the spaces of the gyms under study. It is crucial here to note the normalization of consumption within these sites and how the widespread acceptance of illicit enhancement in both gyms facilitated their centrality in the supply chain. Scott, although not an IPED user himself, captured the ubiquity of consumption in Muscle Sanctuary: