Every strength and hypertrophy-based discipline is facing the issue of natural vs. enhanced performance. Bodybuilding, Olympic lifting, strongman, powerlifting, even fitness and figure athletes eventually have to explore the issue and make a choice. While it may seem like a simple one, the deeper a person's identity is rooted in his or her discipline, the murkier the decision can become. Lines are drawn through each sport's community, and even though a person may elect not to give mind to the controversy, he or she is still passively mired.
I have walked through the jungle and made my choice. From my settled position, I do not choose to beat the drum of "the right choice" though; instead, what I concentrate on is the issue of information. Every person who walks into the gym is going to be faced with making the choice of using substances - whatever substances, at whatever level, and the area is infinitely complex - or staying natural, and the demand for that decision can come at any time, especially before the person is educated.
Every day, people live, change and die by this choice. Boys and girls, novices of any age, people converting to a different discipline...each person needs to be informed early on. Finding good informational resources is not easy. Sure, medical information on the effects of substances is readily available, but that scarcely begins the topic. First off, these studies generally consider people who are using large, regular dosages of sophisticated chemicals of great purity; this doesn't typically resemble the experimenter in the gym. But this issue extends far beyond the black-and-white "take this, and this happens" biology factoids. It may be helpful to look at it through a substance abuse/addiction lens; like alcohol, it changes the user's psychology, perspective on life, philosophy, spirituality, personality...his relationships, her community...career, survival, and potentially every choice in life. Information on these effects is what is so rare and elusive.
The excellent few I have found, at great effort, are on my website here (even though they address bodybuilding, they would translate for any discipline to some degree). If there were only a way to require people entering the gym for the first time to read certain books, or if at least some effort would be made by gyms to educate new members on this vast, critical and unavoidable issue. But this would require a complete shift in thinking by those running the "gym" industry.
Related links
- Quick Anabolic steroids info from University of Delaware
- Review and STTB discussion thread of the movie Bigger, Stronger, Faster
- Here's a good editorial called Natural by Choice on powerlifting, by Anson E. Wood at e-normous.biz. ETA: Got a nice email from Anson. Thank you, and I like the way you think. ETA: That link isn't working anymore, but I'm leaving it here in case it is restored.
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