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Whether the use of performance enhancing drugs in professional
sports is proper has become a topic of contentious debate. The
underlying theme of a recent book by Jose Canseco, the former major
league baseball player who has admitted to taking steroids, is that
the use of performance enhancing drugs is justified on several
grounds. Specifically, he claims that anabolic steroids and human
growth hormone provide real benefits that foster anti-aging,
strength, and healing.
Outside, a magazine devoted to outdoor activity and physical vigor,
had an article in which the author, a 40-something cyclist, used
performance enhancing drugs under a doctor's supervision. His
conclusion was that human growth hormone gave him more stamina,
allowed faster healing, and made him feel younger, and that anabolic
steroids made him stronger. Both Canseco and the author agreed that
human growth hormone was their performance enhancing drug of choice.
It is no secret that physicians prescribe drugs such as human growth
hormone, testosterone, and anabolic steroids to movie stars and
wealthy individuals to promote anti-aging and increase vigor. Is
this wrong? It is also no secret that since the 1970s, some athletes
have used all sorts of performance enhancing drugs to promote their
athletic ability. Is this wrong? If so, should performance enhancing
drugs be banned from sports? Moreover, should performance enhancing
drugs be banned from weightlifting?
Since weightlifting involves strength first and foremost, I will
limit my discussion to anabolic steroids. And I will attempt to
answer these questions by first giving a brief history of
anabolic steroids, and then by using my experiences and observations
in the sport of weightlifting and the consequences of anabolic
steroid use.
Anabolic steroids were developed pharmacologically to combat muscle
hypotrophy caused by various pathological conditions. Specifically,
they increase nitrogen metabolism, which in layman's terms means
they increase muscle growth. It did not take long for people to
realize that anabolic steroids could be used in healthy individuals
to make their muscles grow bigger and stronger.
Assuming two athletes have equal ability, the stronger athlete is
the better athlete. Therefore, all else being constant, performance
enhancing drugs that increase strength (e.g., anabolic steroids)
will increase athletic performance. The athlete will throw the shot
farther, jump higher, and lift heavier weights. Athletic activity
stresses muscles, tendons and ligaments, and injuries can occur.
Assuming two athletes have equal rest and nutrition, all else being
equal, the athlete that heals better will be less prone to injury
and have less downtime. Therefore, performance enhancing drugs that
promote healing will extend an athletes career.
This idea was not lost to the Soviets. In their twisted logic, they
believed that producing superior athletes was demonstrative of their
superior form of government. Olympic games and international
competitions provided a stage upon which they could act out this
plan. Thus, their athletes were essentially propaganda pawns to show
the world the benefits of their "utopian" society. Not surprisingly
performance enhancing drugs became an intrinsic component of the
Soviet sports machine.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, the Soviets began giving
anabolic steroids to their athletes in the late 1950s. Soon
thereafter, the Soviets and Eastern Bloc weightlifters came out of
nowhere to dominate the sport of weightlifting.
Bob Hoffman, the
father of American weightlifting, traveled to the Soviet Union and
Eastern Bloc countries to understand what mysterious training
methods were being used to create these super athletes. He returned
with new training routines and methods such as isometrics.
In
fact, there was nothing wrong with American training routines. The
superiority of Soviet lifters was due primarily to their pervasive
use of anabolic steroids. To be sure, there were Soviet and Eastern
Bloc lifters worthy of their champion status, and some of their
training routines are used to this day. But make no mistake about
it: The Soviets used anabolic steroids to give their athletes an
advantage over the Free World's drug-free athletes. By
the late 1960s American athletes understood that anabolic steroids
could be used to increase muscular strength and size. This was most
evident among elite bodybuilders whose muscles bulged beyond
anything ever seen before. Before long, anabolic steroids were
insinuating their way into many gyms. Eventually, college football
and track coaches were providing anabolic steroids to their athletes
and by the 1970s they were available to just about anyone who was
willing to pay for them. The athletic landscape had forever changed.
This was the beginning of the era of the drug-enhanced athletes.
It is no secret that some American lifters used anabolic steroids to
increase their strength. Most of these lifters used the drugs not to
cheat per se, but rather to "keep up with the rest of the world". At
the same time there were little or no restrictions on drug use and
the rules regarding drug use were nebulous at best. Some of these
lifters smashed American records and are well known to this day.
But what has become of those lifters who relied on drugs? Their
strength has waned along with their testicles. Ironically, their
drug use damaged their endocrine system to the extent that they were
naturally producing smaller amounts of the very anabolic hormones
that they were trying to maximize.
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The great John Grimek and the
author in front of the York Barbell Company in York PA in June 1978.
I personally know some ex-drug
using, ex-world-record holding "champion" lifters who now look like
they never lifted a weight in their life. Their bodies have withered
away, their hair gone missing or turned white, their faces narrow
and gaunt like a terminal cancer patient. Their steroid use became a
scarlet letter that will follow them to their grave.
Compare them with the pre-drug era lifters such as
John Grimek,
Tommy Kono and other old-time weightlifters. These men were healthy,
muscular and vigorous well into their twilight years. When I met
John Grimek in York Pennsylvania his looks belied his years. He was
tanned with a full head of hair, muscles bulging through his shirt.
Here was a man whose physique set the standard for what a man should
look like: densely muscular, symmetric, and flexible; a stark
contrast to today's bloated body builders. And of course there is
Tommy Kono, champion weightlifter and Mr. Universe, voted best
lifter of the last 100 years, naturally strong through sheer
training and perseverance. A wonderful physical specimen, author,
and weightlifting ambassador, who told me recently that he is
writing another book on weightlifting.
Then there is Joe Rollino, who I met at a local weightlifting meet
in late 2004. His body was sound, his mind was sharp, his handshake
was firm. We spoke about lifting and he mentioned the 1936 Olympics
in Berlin, specifically how he stood next to Olympic champion Jesse
Owens when Adolf Hitler refused to shake Owens' hand. And how he,
Rollino, spit on the ground as Hitler walked past him. Stunned, I
asked Joe Rollino how old he was. He said his birthday was next
month and that he was going to be 100 years old!
Here was a 100-year-old man who looked like a healthy 65-year-old. I
submit to you that here was a man who did not use anabolic steroids
or any other performance enhancing drugs.
These men didn't take drugs. They competed cleanly, fairly, and drug
free. They enhanced their performance through dedication, humility,
and love of weightlifting. Weightlifting must remain drug-free. The
30 plus year experiment of using performance enhancing drugs in
sports has ruined many lives. Both the USAW and IWF currently ban
performance enhancing drugs and, unlike major league baseball and
professional football, provide severe penalties for any athlete
testing positive for banned substances.
Then there is Jose Canseco with his bloated ego and steroid muscles.
Not only did he use drugs, but also he exposed his baseball player
peers' drug use and blamed racism and everyone except himself for
his problems. Not surprisingly, he is now relegated to a reality TV
show with a bevy of C-list actors ― so
much for the benefits of anabolic steroids. If what he said about the
latest home run kings is true and if the USAW were in charge of
major league baseball, they would give Roger Marris his home record
back and ban those other three guys from the sport forthwith.
Using drugs for sports is like a pact with the devil, it pays in the
beginning, but it's hell at the end. Don't you think?
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