I apologize if this is a bit of a noob post, or if its a subject that frequently arises and I’m beating a dead horse posting this, but it’s really been bothering me lately and I wanted to get some info from people who know what’s really going on.
I haven’t been lifting for long at all but I’d like to think I’ve earned the the progress I’ve made even if I end up falling short down the line. I work pretty damn hard and am pretty driven when i take an interest in something, and I take pride in that. The thrill of competition and progression in anything is awesome and keeps me going strong.
I’ve been watching a lot of clips of lifting competitions and reading a lot lately. I was pretty ignorant re: steroids, I understood the basics but wasn’t knowledgeable overall and took a lot for granted. I read up more lately and I’m bothered by a lot of this stuff.
People gaining 30 pounds of muscle in 2 months that would take me up to 2 years of consistent training, ridiculous potential for strength gains, etc is pretty unreal. I’m not very familiar with the powerlifting divisions and organizations and understand steroid usage runs rampant, but it only dawned on me recently what a gigantic edge steroids are for someone like an Olympic athlete.
I find it hard to believe that these guys training their entire life just for that couple of shots at the gold they might not even get at a medal aren’t going to take advantage of such incredibly powerful compounds, when the difference between a medal and non medal placement can be a few kilos of weight, and the strength progression is so slow at the top levels.
So, what’s the deal here: do all of the top level athletes juice? Is this just a part of the sub culture of these sports that is hidden from the public whenever possible to protect the “integrity” of the sport?
I have a vast amount of respect for any top athlete regardless of whether they take performance enhancing drugs, but it’s disheartening to watch Suleymangolu or Dimas perform some amazing feat and realize that even though they are they incredibly gifted, driven individuals, they still probably had to resort to drugs just to gain more of an edge and stay competitive.
For all I know, safe performance enhancing steroids will be mainstream in sports in the future, and even now maybe that’s just a part of the sport, a part of being willing to sacrifice for a dream, I don’t know, but it sucks.
-Jeff