Where Is Pro Bodybuilding Heading To?

[piatraelfa]

I see lots of guys, active bodybuilders or retired, dying of heart attacks or having serious health issues.
The bodybuilding community has lost this year athletes like Frank Hillebrand, Art Artwood, Viorel Ristea, Craig Terry, Mahmoud Ibrahim Alhdidi (the guy was at the official weigh in before the IFBB Amateur Worlds).
So, even though this may have been discussed in the past, where is bodybuilding heading too?

Sure, we all like to think that all the above athletes used to have heart issues in the past, but deep inside we know that's not quite true.

[Off Road]

Drug abuse?

[bruteforce]

Originally Posted by Off Road

Drug abuse?

Yup. I don't think any of us are under the impression that the untested IFBB pros are healthy. Lifting isn't the issue, drugs are.

[BendtheBar]

I've sat with a top NPC competitor and the chemicals he was taking were light years ahead of anything we could have ever imagined.

It's much worse than I suspected.

[mab54]

I understand that drugs are part of the sport at that level, but is it really worth killing yourself over?

In my opinion (even though I would most likely never use) its ok to use to certain extent, but there comes a point were it isn't worth it to me.

[Chillen]

Originally Posted by mab54

I understand that drugs are part of the sport at that level, but is it really worth killing yourself over?

No. I wonder how many would have given it all up, lying on their back in a hospital bed, near death, and were told it was from chemical abuse in their prime when a professional body builder.

Without the high, the amounts of drugs these people take can be argued to be close kin to taking illegal drugs (like meth), when considering the stresses it puts on the organs and other aspect of the body.

I wouldn't consider it, even if I were in my prime. In addition, Neuromuscular conditioning/building (even without drugs) is only one componant among many that encompasses ones health.

Some lifting seem to forget, that there is a heart beating and lungs that breath, that need cardiovascular conditioning (beyond what traditional muscle building/conditioning may bring), which is another componant in ones health.

When you induce drugs/chemicals that go beyond what the body normally produces, you are forcing the body to deal with what it normally produces, and what was added, which then taxes/stresses various organs over time. When young, abuse/use is more tolerated. However, you carry this scab/history into older age, it isn't as well tolerated.

Its bad enough we do not know (with our own personal genetics) how our own body deals with the food we eat. I am not pointing to how the body traditionally works with proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and micronutrients, but its excesses. There is a reason why there has been flip flopping on what causes plaque/hardening of the arteries. You throw in genetics with the rest, it can become a real mess.

Its not what is on the outside that kills you. Its what's on the inside, and how the body "genetically" tolerates what you put externally INTO it.

[piatraelfa]

Correct.
Some guys I know stay on 1,500 mg of TE all the year round and their medical tests are just fine, believe it or not, while some people react negatively just from small dosages.
From what I see, it's not the steroids that damage the most the body, as the combination of extreme diet + extreme effort+ 3-4% bf + diuretics.
Just take a look at the guys from the IFBB Amateurs Worlds and you will see what I mean...

Still, I can't say that I am against steroids, even though I haven't "touched" anything in my life. The problem is not the usage, as it is the abuse. I mean... come on, low dosages can even be healthy, but just until you get to a point.

However, I think that steroids are not the main thing responsible of the imagine of the bodybuilding. Not at all. It's POLITICS. Unfortunately this happens in every sport, and not just in bodybuilding...
I will talk more on this later.

[Rich Knapp]

Grouping Pro Bodybuilding.

Why does everyone think of the IFBB when Pro Bodybuilding in mentioned or talked about?

As for the WNBF (Tested natural) its heading up-wards and growing. I haven't heard of any deaths from over does of rice cakes as of late.

[bamazav]

Originally Posted by Rich Knapp

Grouping Pro Bodybuilding.

Why does everyone think of the IFBB when Pro Bodybuilding in mentioned or talked about?

As for the WNBF (Tested natural) its heading up-wards and growing. I haven't heard of any deaths from over does of rice cakes as of late.

Great point Rich, though I am not sure about the rice cakes... those things are just plain nasty.

[TitanWIP]

Why does everyone think of the IFBB when Pro Bodybuilding in mentioned or talked about?

I would guess most people don't know there is such a thing as natural bodybuilding. I didn't know it existed before I came to MAB.