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Steroid use has been rising amongst the general population
Today I wanted to give my personal opinion on why I believe Arnold Schwarzenegger is right regarding expressing himself on more drug-tests in bodybuilding. Drug-testing seems to be overlooked far too often. Steroids and products like SARMs are becoming more and more prominent in the fitness industry and are in some cases causing serious harm.
If we compare old-school bodybuilding to modern bodybuilding. We now see more mass monsters on stage and their physiques are not as appealing as they used to be – comparing them to the aesthetics of Serge Nubret, Frank Zane and other old-school legends. Conditions like “bubble guts”, “gynecomastia” are showing more frequently than before. We also see gym-amateurs using performance-enhancing drugs more often than in the past.
Is the modern era more about “steroid abuse” than “steroid use”?
As an old school bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger might have noticed that performance-enhancing drugs are now used by the average joe going to the gym. He might have noticed there is less hard work than in the golden days and that bodybuilders bring poorer conditions on stage.
I think Arnold Schwarzenegger also sees what’s happening on social media, with more and more bodybuilders facing complications, more young people contemplating PEDs use. This is in my opinion why he’s had a word about drug-testing in South Africa and why he has started expressing himself on the matter.
He mentioned that he has noticed more and more amateurs are taking anabolics, people who do not even compete. He also mentions that bodybuilding is not body-destructing.
People criticise Arnold for talking about drug-testing
Deeper into the debates that are taking place in the fitness community, the issue when Arnold talks about these kinds of things is that Arnold was a user himself. People say:
“How dare he say anything about it? Without steroids, Arnold would not have become what he is today”.
That’s probably true, Arnold is known to have taken a lot of performance-enhancing drugs, but in my opinion, he still should talk about it. Here’s why.
It’s more about protecting the average gym amateur
Saying to Arnold, “You can’t say anything because you’ve used steroids” is a questionable argument…
Of course, we should not dismiss the fact PEDs have helped Arnold in his career, but Arnold was probably smarter about his use than most users today. Arnold used PEDs at a time when we did not know much about their danger yet, most importantly, he did not abuse them.
He quit using them many times. Arnold did it at a time where bodybuilding was not popular either. It was a pretty smart time to use them and become one of the first legends in bodybuilding!
These practices were low-key in the golden era. No social media platform existed back then and it was not spreading to everyone’s door step! I believe he expressed himself on drug-testing to say that things are now out of control.
Arnold likes to troll
Arnold loves trolling. That’s one of his favourite way to express his view on what bodybuilding should be. He tries to jokingly trigger bodybuilders from time to time.
What do you think? Is Arnold right to talk about drug-testing?
