John Meadows Case

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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[quote=“BrickHead, post:32, topic:230170”]
But it’s their lives. Live by the sword, die by the sword! Right? Well, it doesn’t actually work like that considering no man is an island, unless he lives like a bodybuilding monk. If their are partners or spouses or kids and family members part of their lives, I don’t think those people will just brush it off and say, “Oh well, my dad/boyfriend/cousin/son/husband is sick/dead, but he got sick/died because of what he loved.”[/quote]

So is the moral of the story to live in a cocoon of bubble wrap and only go outside when you have a police escort, ambulance, and FEMA crew on call?

Life is risky, and I fail to see the difference between engaging in PED use and any one of the myriad other more “socially acceptable” activities that entail a high degree of risk to an individual. Riding a motorcycle increases your risk of being in a fatal crash 35x over a passenger car, on a per-mile basis, but you better believe people hit the road the minute the snow leaves for the year.

The blood work example (or other prophylactic measures) is interesting, because if if said motorcyclist eats some pavement and finds their leg bending in 8 different directions, I’m sure the doctors will want to throw some radiation on it to see what the deal is, even though the hat is clearly on their head… because sometimes the finer print makes for a more illustrative story. It’s not necessarily solely for the purpose of general reassurance. Injecting testosterone doesn’t occur in a physiological vacuum, and it would be exponentially more irresponsible to start attempting to fix what might be broken rather than spending a few more bucks to get a little more resolution to the picture.

“I heard steroids increase BP, so I’ll jump on lisinopril just in case. I also heard they can screw with CHOL, so might as well throw some simvastatin in the mix.” Silly.

But then, I hear people say, “he died doing what he loved” all the time. It might be a cheap, platitude that offers little consolation, but the death of a loved one is a difficult thing to sugarcoat. I think honesty with your hobbies, intentions, risks, rewards, and having an ability to compromise or see the bigger picture would serve someone a whole lot better than going through life with a helmet on their head.

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That being said, this looks more like death deep fried than just warmed over. But wtf do I know.

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“So you guy’s still wanna be like me, you still want to have the same work ethic is I had. Well as you can see I’m 8 X Mr Olympia and I can’t walk. I endured an 11 hour major back surgery last Tuesday. Do I have any regrets?, if I had a chance to do it all over again would I change anything? Yes if I had a chance to do it all over again I would change one thing. That is when I squatted that 800lbs I would do 4 reps instead of 2, that is my only regret in my career. Those 2 reps I did still haunts me today because I know I had 4 in me but the coward in me only did 2. That is my only regret.”

*winky face

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You’re right on all counts. I was simply trying to imply dealing with consequences and the risk-versus-consequence summation.

Great post!

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I saw that post. He appears to be dealing with his struggles like a man, which I believe is hard to do considering his pain, limitations, healthcare visits, and surgeries.

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What’s concerning is that he very much resembles Curtis Leffler, who passed away, with the red-purple skin hue and gnarled varicose-like veins in the arms and delts.

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is it safe to say that john meadows will get himself killed if he doesnt stop competing?

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This past weekend:

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Bunch of his personal doctors in here…

I guess I’ll be the devil’s advocate here. Seems a little out there to take 1 picture from 1 show and diagnose him as about to die. From what I’ve heard of his presentations and stuff, he is on the lighter side of dosing to begin with (with my very limited drug knowledge). But I don’t think he looks all that different beyond what a first show in a new weight class and a bad picture could do. I’m the last guy to defend the health aspects of the sport, but I have to think if you think John should quit, then you really should be thinking most of the top pros need to retire.

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Jesus, dude, that’s going a bit far don’t you think?

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He placed 14th again in a 15 people line up.
He may be on the light side of drug dosing and considerably healthy compared to a top pro but competition after competition is obviously unnecessary for him because he is always in last spot. If a man has a wife and kids, he must act reasonably. If you want to live on the edge, you must stay single and leave noone behind when you are gone. Thats my thinking.

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Well the last spot thing is because his structure and look are really bad, not because he’s about to die. His physique doesn’t look deteriorated in that picture I just posted. Legs and arms are magically back from the original picture in this thread.

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Nope, I’m not a doctor of any sort but I simply wrote what I did based on my own knowledge of many things bodybuilding and association and interaction (real friendship included) with people who use.

Although visuals don’t show us everything, I believe one can reasonably make some conclusions based off of them. Anyone can check Tom Platz’s “steroid interviews” from the 90s and reasonably assume who is being interviewed because of the low-quality voice altering and that the video makers obviously didn’t think people are smart enough to make out who was speaking by physique and favored clothing or even their gestures and body language and intonation.

My suspicion is the white guy in the videos besides Lee Priest is Dennis Newman, for the aforesaid reasons. It seems his doses were indeed conservative by modern day use and he, like the others, kept on expressing his healthy fears. No, we can’t base it all on pictures but compare the image of a 5’10" seemingly conservative man with the above photo of Meadows and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think one is pushing far more than the other.

None of what we speak of here is slander but being he’s a public figure I don’t think it’s unreasonable for some to dislike what he does or even dislike him personally. I happen to like him for the useful info he’s provided to me and as a person. Do I think he’s conservative or holds novel info? No. My view is mostly positive.

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I think that’s fair as a general rule, but I think all the physique deterioration he’s going to kill himself in a couple shows talk is a bit overblown. I mean Palumbo is still alive and seems very well and even looks pretty good at this point in life. None of the valid points seem specific to John. Like I said, sounds like a reasonable argument against high level BBing all together, and that’s fine. I guess people are just singling out John because they like him personally and don’t want to see him hurt.

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Your last sentence is the reason i opened this thread. Who am i to judge his life? I just dont want to see him be stubborn after his bad placings and keep pushing. Sometimes its best to let it go. He made a name for himself in the bodybuilding community. That should be enough.

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So, personal life coach and doctor…

I don’t know if you mean it to sound that way, but that’s really arrogant. What should or shouldn’t be enough for personal goals in someone’s life is beyond your scope unless you are God. I’m sure that if I were you I’d do plenty of things differently too, does that mean you should do things differently?

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I think you are pushing the thread in a different direction. This is a forum. What is the meaning of it if i cant share my thoughts with like minded people? I am not sending a direct message to john meadows on instagram saying ’ you will die sir. please give up on your dreams! ’
I can say whatever i want to say here. I dont have to be a doctor or a personal trainer or a competitive bodybuilder.

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And I can say what I want, like calling you out for diagnosing someone with a picture and correcting their life goals for them.

This:
“is it safe to say that john meadows will get himself killed if he doesn’t stop competing?”
And this:
“He made a name for himself in the bodybuilding community. That should be enough.”
Are arrogant nonsense.

I’m very much on the topic of the thread, I’m just the only one apparently not on your side and I don’t think the point of a discussion is to have everyone think the same thing.

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Why do people try to become an Ifbb Pro? To be the last callout guy in every show? He is old so he will never have a chance to improve his physique anymore. He has a weird looking body that the judges obviously dont like. So i think he should stop harming his body and concentrate on his other successful business.
I dont see any arrogance in this.

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I’m sure they have all different reasons. John says he just loves to compete and just being a pro was his dream. He may love just getting up there. I don’t personally know if his business needs more attention. And that’s a pretty toned down version of your previous statements.

If it were me, I don’t think anyone should ever use supra-physiological doses of hormones. Becoming a pro as a general rule isn’t worth it at all (IMO). But plenty of decent people say that about lifting heavy, and I still do that. I’m not going to start talking about who is going to die and who should do what with their life. Especially not when singling out a specific individual for no concrete reason.

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