The big fitness and bodybuilding related news in the Netherlands at the moment is the fact that, according to a recent questionnaire amongst seven hundred visitors of ninety-two fitness centers, one out of every hundred athletes is using stuff like anabolic steroids, insulin and growth hormones to gain muscle mass.

Furthermore, one in twenty uses some sort of pills – often amphetamine and ephedrine-like substances –  to lose body fat.

Most fitness enthusiasts seem to be happy with themselves for going to the gym. They feel healthy. Two-third of them also use supplements and extra vitamins and minerals.

The government is worried about the use of steroid and the like in fitness centers, but does not perceive this to be on a large enough scale to become uncontrollable. They do want to force gyms and fitness centers to add a doping rule in their customer rules.

Yeah, right!

Look, ever since the days of ancient Greece, athletes have been using foreign substances to allow them to perform better than the next guy. The Greek athletes used to eat the balls from a bull to enhance their performance (talking about getting your stuff ‘straight from the source’)!

In just about any performance sport, athletes are looking for anything that will give them an edge over the other athletes. Let me just mention bicycle racing; most scandals you hear on blood doping, steroids and other substances happen in bicycle racing. Lance Armstrong may say he is clean, but let’s be honest, who believes him?!

Performance sports are so advanced nowadays, it is virtually impossible to meet the requirements without some sort of drug. Or do you really think it is possible to race through France for twenty-one days straight on just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a banana? Let’s get real!

In football and baseball, coaches encourage their athletes to put on muscle mass to make them more of a threat in the field. When you see a 300 pound linebacker, who is not fat, do you really believe that he got that way just living the healthy lifestyle?

In the bodybuilding sport, we are mostly knowledgeable enough to know it is impossible to win even a state level contest without using some sort of anabolic steroids. I know, some bodybuilders pride themselves on being drug-free, but how drug-free are you really when you take pro-hormones and every supplement known to man but the real deal, just to be able to say you don’t use steroids?

And be honest, who really cares? The public wants to see freaks, and the sport delivers. If the public is naïve enough to believe that these guys and girls have achieved this all just by training hard and eating their veggies, who’s problem is that? The general public that visits a bodybuilding show are in the sport themselves, and they know the deal.

I have no problem with steroid usage myself. I have used some stuff myself when I got stuck in a training rut a few years ago, and yes, it works (I know there are physicians that say that this stuff doesn’t work, but that’s just plain bollocks). So who am I to judge the people that give it their all to compete in a contest and, yes, also use steroid to get that far?

My problem is those athletes that use anabolic substances and publicly say they are drug-free! I can remember a television show with a Miss Olympia winner, who, when asked about steroids, says with a deep voice she isn’t using anything… I don’t say they have to admit using steroids, that will most likely get you into trouble, but if you do not want to admit using, just say you don’t want to talk about steroid usage. Just don’t lie!

And don’t enter drug-free contests when you are a user… that’s just plain cheating. What is the value of a title when you had to lie to get it? Just something to ponder about…

The fitness lifestyle is real, whether it is drug-enhanced or not. Many people feel great working out, eating right, and – yes – maybe take some substances to enhance their performance and feeling of well-being.

What I would like to see, is that the governments everywhere accept that they cannot ban these substances, and start controlling the correct usage.

Start educating sports physicians to enable them to coach those athletes that want to further their performance by using drugs, and have them legally provide the drugs as well. That way, the athletes can get the real stuff straight from the proper pharmaceutical companies that produce them at a good price, without having to resort to back-alley dealers that may sell them nothing but olive oil at a ridiculous price and tell them it is the real deal.

Steroids will not go anywhere soon, so why not regulate its usage instead of treating athletes that use them like criminals?

Robin

If you want to give me your own take on steroid usage in sports, just leave your comment!