Bodybuilding: The New Form of Drug Abuse

It is incredible what people do to improve their body from losing weight to building muscle. I can't believe they would even put their self in harms way but it happens every day. Excellent post on how times have change from real body building to damaging your body for maximum muscle gains.

To me losing weight and building muscle should be about health first it often isn’t especially if the person is prone to disordered behaviors. I would try to lift weights in high school but when I was actually losing weight for the first time at 17 the female body builders actually made me not want to lift. I didn’t know that female body builders could look natural.
I like that female body building is now embracing that natural look. I want to be strong and healthy. I do not want even supplements not cleared first by a doctor. Some supplements can be dangerous in their own right. I mean just look at Ephedria. It’s too easy to do ephedria wrong.

What I love is this quote: "In the USA nearly four out of five users are non-athletes who take these drugs with the sole intention of improving physical appearance." Um, isn't that why people use diet pills? or Propecia? or why plastic surgery is booming? I don't get why it's news that people are taking drugs that help you look better, in order to look better... ;-)

To get to the size of those big bodybuilders (the really big ones) takes a lot of dedication, time & focus. They have to be obsessed about it to be the best.

I can definately see how Steriods would be very tempting. Especially when you train your guts out, and some young punk comes along in half the time using steroids and he is bigger!

I wonder if its the competition prize money, edorsements, vanity, and for some guys, attracting certain lady types, or just the urge for perfection, or a combination of everything, as the reason for all the drug abuse. But I think its also just laziness. We'll find whatever shortcuts we can to acheive a certain result, even if we know that shortcut can cost us our health and lives. *shrug*

About supplements: There are plenty of natural bodybuilders that say you do not need supplements. A good nutrional plan is all you should need in most cases. I dunno about you but I think their hard work and results speak for themselves. Assuming they are actually honest about their natural bodybuiilding ways. Of course I don't think I've seen natural bodybuilders as big as the biggest roid pumped bodybuilders...

"From a male perspective - the pressure is strong. The bulked and ripped male physiques that grace the magazine covers always catch my eye. I walk away feeling slightly more scrawnier and just a bit more flabbier."

I don't think you speak for most males, although I understand that it's journalistically tempting to try to cook up a counterpart to eating disorders in women.

I think most men look at body builders as freaks, and would tend to aspire more to the coverboys of Swimming World.

I know a few women who find bodybuilders as freaks.

But, as a guy I don't see them as freaks but it is unnatural looking. I certainly cringe seeing their muscles bulge in competition and while training. It gives me the feeling that they are about to burst open or snap at the tendons. Ow...

Most women I know (including me) think that the too-muscular bodybuilder look is gross gross GROSS. Just looking at the pics in the article, I find the one from 2005 to be downright scary, and the one from the 1940s slightly odd, but certainly 100% more attractive!
Not that people should do things based on what others find attractive...I was more responding to the comment above about most women seeing bodybuilders as freaks.

Perhaps its the "uncanny valley" affect [wikipedia]. In this case, the more muscular one looks, the less human they appear?

I'm an 18 year old girl. I have to say that I don't find really muscular guys particularly attractive and I don't think other girls I know do either. However boys seem very interested in gaining muscle mass. Perhaps being muscular is more about competition between guys then an attempt to be attractive to females. Actually, I suspect that female thinness ideal is more about competition and status between women then about what men are attracted to. I don't think that men are attracted to sticks any more then women like body builders. Any of the guys here want to comment?

Quite a few women find the overly muscular body gross, not just some. The only 'slightly odd' thing about the 1948 photo is that it doesn't match with today's standards. Back then, it was about representing the physicaly fit male body, developed naturally to its optimum. Optimum meaning a still practical and functioning body.

The over done body building of today, represents - unfortunately - a large portion of society today...everything bigger and bigger, bulked up like some cartoon action creature (Hulk) or ultra-Rambo type.

Yes, they are freaks, in the sense that freak is something unnatural and far out of the norm. Those fellows who turn themselves into such grotesque proportions can barely move and are SLOW, they are so inflexible - amongst a list of other 'can't do's' because the body is developed beyond practical and usable - as were were meant to be.

When one of those mags are in front of me (waiting to pay the petrol, etc) I find it almost revolting and can't help but think 'How can someone DO that to themselves'.

First thing in my mine (I know it is unfair) is: big and dumb and too wrapped up in themselves to have room for much else. It's lifetime maintenance.

For me, and many, many other women, a light athletic body, v-shaped, nothing overly developed is really, really attractive.

Of course, nothing is even more attractive than a good character and personality and intellegence, even if the arms and the rest are 'normal'.

The point of this new research about drug use is this: It is not so much about huge competitive bodybuilders (ala Ronnie Coleman) - but about normal guys wanting to get ripped. I think the pic of Ronnie Coleman has confused this. The juxtaposition of those 2 photos shows how much things have changed in sixty-odd years.

Perhaps it depends what social circle you are in... but I've seen many many men who lose some fat, then go on to begin a process of building muscles. They aren't looking to build ridiculously huge biceps - they are after the 6-pack abs and the solid pectorals... Think "Men's Health"...

The stats quoted in the article above are sampled from ordinary gyms in the UK - not comptetitive bodybuilders. Not from competing sportsmen.

When I talk to ordinary guys at the gym - they say they are "bodybuilding".

For many, the term bodybuilding is synonymous with weight lifting.

Anyway. Here's what I get out of this: Steroid use is far far higher than I imagined. I think that's something worth writing about...

Great article about the real issues going on in gyms today. The issues of steroids, growth hormone and diet drugs goes directly against the true health and fitness foundation of really what it really means to be physically fit and to live a healthy lifestyle.

These individuals are simply drug users who are using illegal substances to "cheat" in order for quick gains in muscle mass and strength. Many of them don't want to invest the time to put forth the hard work to eat right and train correctly to attain an impressive physique. Its very unfortunate for the younger kids who are growing up and see Bonds and many other "enhanced" professional athletes who have used steroids and other performance enhancing drugs to reach the next level of their profession, break records and earn multi-million dollar contracts due to cheating. There is no doubt many of these athletes are truly gifted individuals, but when you start taking illegal substances in order to break records which are "pure", its completely unethical and sad for the players who attained these previous records naturally and with hard work and determination.

The biggest issue with steroids and performance enhancing drugs is the mental aspect of the individuals who take them. They start to get bigger and stronger during their cycle but once they get off the drugs, they usually have caused so much damage to their natural testosterone levels, that they crash and lose a large amount of the muscle they gained. Because their t-levels are messed up, many times they end up smaller then they were before they started their cycle. This turns into a huge psychological effect for them and they start hearing their friends and others in the gym saying, "Man what happened? Your so much smaller!". This is extremely hard to take for guys who have blown up from explosive gains while they were on their cycle only to find out that now all their gains are gone and they need to do something fast. This turn into a viscous never ending cycle of steroid use and their off-cycles start to diminish more and more. Their body's receptor sites start to need higher and higher dosages of steroids in order to keep growing and then their mental "muscle dysmorphia" sets in. Although they may be 250 pounds of lean muscle with 8% body fat, they still look in the mirror and see themselves as skinny! This is a serious psychological issue which many steroid users deal with. Let alone the issues with finding their next cycle and a good source of legit gear. Its a never ending cycle of unhealthy drug abuse, mental anguish and illegal usage.

We receive hundreds of email messages everyday about men and even women going through these serious issues with steroids and illegal performance enhancing drugs. We run a "Steroid Free Zone" on our site and try our best to provide as much quality information on healthy nutritional choices and strength training exercises to get into shape the right way in order to live a healthy lifestyle.

We hope this helps others who have had any thoughts about gaining more muscle or increasing strength with the use of steroids. Stay away from these damaging substances and make the choice to live a healthy and drug free lifestyle!

I think that information like this needs to get out to more people in the mainstream. Before I started reading more fitness magazines and health sites, I thought that the majority of the bodybuilders I saw were completely natural, and it used to completely baffle me that they could look like that.

Thanks for sharing the news...

I'M 16 YEARS OLD.I STARTED EXERSICE AT 5 AN NOW MY ARMS I HAVE ARE ONLY 65CM.IS IT GOOD.I CAN STAND ONLY 390-400 WEIGHT I'M 220HEIGHT AND MY WEIGHT IS 150 KILOS BUT I HAVE MANY MUSCLES ON DAY SOMEONE HIT ME AND I DON'T FELL ANYTHING BUT HIS HAND HAS PROBLEM.BUT I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN JOIN TO A COMPETITION AND IF SOMEONE IS STRONGEST THAN ME

If you want a great physique to pursue, try that of Steve Reeves. Though John Grimek certainly wasn't bad, Steve Reeves had what is considered to be the most aesthetically pleasing and symmetric physiques of all time. He built his body before steroids, and his shape is precisely what I'm aiming for. Pictures of him can be found at:
http://www.schwarzenegger.it/mro/reeves.html

Thats insulting to say that bodybuilders are lazy so they take steroids, bodybuilding is a very dedicated sport androgenic steroids or not. With steroids, you can get big, but bodybuilders like Ronnie Coleman have to eat perfectely and diet like madmen in order to look like that.

So insulting... I've also heard comments like reason people take steroids is because theyre lazy, not really. They take them because of themselves and they want to prove something to themselves. Thats the only reason.

We all know the freaky bodybuilders are on steriods this alone wont make you big. Its by doing hard work and diet. I don't have anthing against steriods i myself use them. However its realy sad when new blokes at the gym take steriods with few chest exersizes thinking this alone will make them big of course this is not the case.
I myself started taking steriods after 5 years of hard training of course i was big bythis stage but no one can look like a freak with out steriods. I say to everyone train hard for at least 3 years before using roids and the mental capability of pushing your body 110%

paul said:
However its realy sad when new blokes at the gym take steriods with few chest exersizes thinking this alone will make them big of course this is not the case.

Those are the lazy steriod abusers.

Professional abusers, like Mr. Olympia, are anything but lazy. On the contrary, they are at the pinnacle of determination.

paul said:
I say to everyone train hard for at least 3 years before using roids and the mental capability of pushing your body 110%

I'm a bodybuilder too, all natural. I've been training for a year, and put on 55 lbs of lean body mass. That requires dedication of never missing a training session, intelligent programming, dietary discipline, quality sleep and avoidance of stress, alcohol or other negative hormonal factors. And I hope to continue down this path for life.

At some point, my body will reach its genetic limits for size, strength and health, and I will not push those limits with steriods. Any gains beyond one's genetic limit will only recede once they cycle off, and they damage their body's hormonal balance and natural ability to produce testosterone in the process. What's the point?

This is the type of website that uninformed people start and use to make themselves feel better or more important because they don't know anything about the true nature of anabolics (steroids) and the ancilliary drugs used along with them. Most governments and news agencies hype anabolics as extremely dangerous and this has led the majority of the general public to think that a large muscular bodybuilder or professional athlete that is on them is a bad person. Making a blatant statement such as "Once upon a time bodybuilding was about lifting weights, good nutrition, and attaining good muscular symetry and form. Nowadays it's just another form of drug abuse." Is totally ignorant. Do some medical research before you write about things you THINK you know about. How many times have we sat in front of the TV, watching congressional hearings, news programs, talk shows-even the president's speech- about the dangers of anbolic steroids? Well, a mainstream news program had the cajones to stand up and let the science tell it like it is.
On June 21, 2005, HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
was questioning the purported dangers of anabolic steroids in light of mountains of medical scientific evidence that proves these drugs are perfectly safe and effective under medical supervision in healthy adult males. If steroids are so dangerous, where are the bodies? Just remember the mainstream medias mantra for grabbing the viewers attention is always "keep it simple and keep it negative." Even if a person uses these substances, He/She still has to eat, sleep, and train
like anyone else and will usually be more disciplined about it. By the way, Bigorexia is a ridiculous word used to describe an actual condition called BDD or Body Dismorphic Disorder. It is sometimes called reverse Anorexia because a person actually sees themselves as too skinny and does what is necessary to fix this problem. I will leave you on that note and hope this opens your eyes to the truth.

Darrell: If used properly, anabolic steroids can be reasonably safe. However, steroids were designed to prevent muscle wasting in people with certain diseases. Using it to gain muscle size and/or strength is automatically drug abuse. The use of steroids to prevent muscle wasting while dieting down for a competition is debatable, but I would say it's also abuse.

There is no reason for someone to use steroids. An impressive physique can be built on almost all people without drugs. You won't be Ronnie Coleman or Jay Cutler, of course, but you can do quite a lot if you're smart about it. The best body ever built, that of Steve Reeves, was built without any drugs.

I'd just like to add that a lot of people don't want to look like the people who use steroids do. Being strong and fit and symmetrical is not the same as looking like a bloated monster, which is what most steroid users look like.

Wow. Nice arguments for all sides. I only do a little exercise and not a gym rat but I do enjoy the few workouts I have.

I'd like to ask the ones who use steroids in this thread since they would be the most familiar and knowledgeable with what I would need to ask.

Is it possible to gain 34 lbs of muscle in 8 hours of gym time in a month without using steroids?

There were a lot of comments and frankly, I don't know who to believe anymore. Some of the digg commenters claim steroids were used.

Here it is:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to-freak-how-i-gained-34-lbs-of-muscle-in-4-weeks/

Roland: Different people with different genetics will receive different results. 34 lbs of muscle in a month seems impossible to me without steroids. However, 10 pounds a month is certainly reasonable for beginners not using steroids, which is still very fast progress.

It really, really doesn't matter though; it's still a flawed way of looking at it. It's not weight that matters; it's shape. The key is to develop the body to have small hips, wide back and shoulders, etc. Look at Frank Zane in his prime. We was Mr. Olympia at 5'9" but only 180 pounds.

Here's my buddy Max Citrin! Talk to these guys about how to do it. I don't know about these internet wonders but Max is the real deal.

http://www.skippypodar.net/Fitness/max.html

Dr.J said:
Here's my buddy Max Citrin! Talk to these guys about how to do it. I don't know about these internet wonders but Max is the real deal.[...]

Except that these guys recommend limiting saturated fat and cholesterol for bodybuilding, a crippling mistake. I don't know much about Max, but a genetic superior of course will grow on almost anything. You don't make hormones out of lean protein and carbs.

If you want the greatest advantage from your diet, limit carbs and increase your intake of animal fat. The center of your diet should be whole eggs, whole milk, steak, cheese, sausage, and other high-fat animal protein sources. For the very best results, you can pretty much limit yourself to whole egg and whole milk sources. They are the best proteins and give the best gains.

Only eat carbs as necessary to keep glycogen stores. Use lactose, if you tolerate it, instead of grain; grain will only drain you of your minerals, and you need those to make hormones.

you know this is what I learned, I was single and in average maybe on the slightly skinny side, no tone or muscle mass. Then I was planning a beach trip and wanted to look the part. I asked my boy who is an expert on working out what do girls like better big or cut? He said well more girls like cut so i took all this crap to get cut I ran all the time ate good and yeah I got cut up had a six pack but got skinny as hell. Yeah a few girls hit on me but not at the beach but at a club where I had a shirt on anyway. Now I ended up getting married and said to myself well i dont need to be cut anymore I got a wife and now i can be what I want which is a big MF! So i started training eating like a horse and gained about 40 pounds although it wasnt all muscle but i was big. Then that bitch ended up cheating on me so I divorced her. By this time I had gotten soused to weight lifting that I enjoyed it and it became my hobby, but I ended up tearing a shoulder joint and it put me out of the gym. So i had to quit liftin and i stopped eating so muchand lost about 40 pounds so i ended up right where i started but a litle more ripped up. Yeah girls mainly like skinny cut up guys but who cares what they like do what you want if you wanna get huge and quick then take roids its your choice just know there are gonna be side affects and you wont look like ronnie coleman unless you have great genetics, the time to eat an exact amount of this and that, the time to lift for hours and do cardio and get 7 to 9 hours of sleep and not be stressed out and yeah some juice to top it off. I say get big f**k being cut being cut is for male models and runners real men know being swoll and massive is where its at!!!! Now i shall pound on my chest and grunt!!! RAAAAHHH!!

A casual glance at any bodybuilding website will show that there are many more potentially dangerous drugs out there. Injectable testosterone, anyone?

i agree with one of your readers ,about the unrealistic goals and the false hope that flex and other mags give to young men who are begining training.i have been training for two years and never bought one of those mags,they only make you feel a little smaller and the thought of using steroids can be very appealing if you have a weak peronality and lack the balls and commitment to put in the hard work to and time to be natural.

I have been in the medical field for more than ten years. I have injected large amounts of anabolics into patients to prevent muscle wasting due to sever muscular damage and/or decrease production of testosterone. An LFT (liver fuction test) is proformed to monitor a persons liver enzymes. Cholesterol test are also performed along with bacis CBC (complete blood count) & BMP (basic metabolic profile). I have never seen an increase in liver enzymes while being monitored by a medical professional. I have seen anabolics can be very usefull in maintaining a persons muscle mass. As far as the so called abuse that the main stream meda promote, is a false. In order to sustain sever damage to the liver one must use extremely large doses. It is possible to have an increase cholesterol level with certain anabolics. With the science of today taking anabolice in low doses can actually improve all ones body fuctions. On more thing, too much government control. It's our body.

Darrell said: By the way, Bigorexia is a ridiculous word used to describe an actual condition called BDD or Body Dismorphic Disorder. It is sometimes called reverse Anorexia because a person actually sees themselves as too skinny and does what is necessary to fix this problem. I will leave you on that note and hope this opens your eyes to the truth.

Oh, Darrell. I find it incredibly ironic when someone who is flaming against ignorance proves themselves to be ignorant.

Body Dismorphic Disorder is not as simple as you understand it to be. It is a psychological disorder where the person suffering from the disorder does not see an actual representation of his or her body. This does not mean it is simply the opposite of anorexia. It means that person does not see what we see in regards to a great deal more than his or her size. It may be that the person has freckles that, to him or her, seem to take over the entire body (despite being only 4 or 5 in number).

Follow your own advice, my friend. Do your research before you spout foolishly.

anyone on here who supports the use of roids is a complete moron. Natural bodybuilding is far more attractive, healthy , and the muscle stays with you for life. When you start juicing it F***s your entire body up. Sure u pack on muscle but what for? girls find it gross, it slows you down once you get too big, and you wont be as strong as the man who did it naturally. And besides, all the muscles are gonna go down the drain when you cycle off. Do yourself a favor and stop juicing if u are and if you are considering it, dont. Take a look at ronnie then compare him to steeve reeves, Who looks better? its deff not ronnie. Work hard, eat right, and soon enough you will have the body you want, the best thing is it will be with you for life.

you are idiots, show me the bodies. you're ignorant and you most likely believe anything that you hear on television.look at the facts.there are no studies on the long term effects and a mass of people who use the drugs and have NO health problems. One study recently came out of New Zealand and it favours the benefits of "intelligent use" of the drugs.

c'mon lads... We all know how much we want to look tough, agile and ready for anything. We all think that way. We think girls will like us more or look up and respect us more along with our fellow male friends and even enemies, if we are ripped off our nuts and look like we are out of X-MEN.
Lets just face it lads.
Its not what the women want... maybe some, but most women i have ever talked to about this subject make it pretty damn clear that they dont like huge muscly men. And why not... ? Ive found that the girls love a natural look...a look that makes us still look like a human man but a fit strong masculine version. And not the look your thinking about. This particular look does not involve huge muscles or 5/6 days a week in the gym, even though a bit of definition and fat loss would not go astray. What im trying to get out to you boys from what I know is that YES you should do a bit of training to gain a couple of kilos of muscle which aint hard, its fun and makes a man feel good afterwards.... Also lose a bit of flab... this aint hard if you push yourself and commit to it but either way you dont have to do much to look good to the opposite sex. Its been tested for centuries. We only learnt about bodybuilding about 40/50 year ago and mankind hasnt pulled up on makin babies, funny that.... confidence is the key and when you feel fit its a good start to that. MATT

Can abusing steroids effect your kidneys? I have a friend who weights 270 lbs. of muscle. His kidneys no long function.

Steroid abuse will always be an issue for the sport of bodybuilding or ANY sport.