What the hell is going on people?

[Bouncer]

First Don Youngblood passes away just 2 weeks ago. Now I hear word that Anthony Clark (Power Lifter) has died at the age of 39. In the last few years Tom Prince, Flex Wheeler, Kevin Levrone, Milos Sarcev, Don Long, and a few other have all been forced to retire because of life threating illness. Flex and Don had to have kidney replacments, and others are on various different meds for the rest of there life.

All of these guys that I grew up looking up too are all being forced to leave the sport. The sport of bodybuilding that we love so much is slowly killing us. I believe this is due to changes in the sport that started in the late 80's threw the 90's and is now worse then ever in 2005. Its my oppinion bodybuilding hit an all time high in the period from around 1995-1999. Meaning the mix of mass and shape was perfect in my eyes. Take a look at some of the shows from the late 90's and the guys looked great. Fast forward to 2005 and take a look at the NY Pro that just happened last week. I felt like taking a shit when I looked at some of the guys on stage. Nothing but lumps and under developed muscle. No symetry at all and no future.

Chemicals like, Insulin, IGF-1, Diuretics, 17aa's, huge amounts of HGH and several other drugs are killing the sport.

What the fuck happened to a simple Test cycle and maybe and oral to kick off the cycle. I take one look around the boards including this one and I see people that look like nothing taking all these various drugs and have nothing to show for it. What these people dont understand is that there slowly killing themselves.

Lets get back to bodybuilding and good old fashion muscle and lets stop this very ugly trend that has started to take over the world of bodybuilding.

My rant is over.

[Lmg2701]

Come on, what did people expect to happen. Oh sure, these guys are taking huge doses of many different substances and some people love to marvel at that fact that "Wow, they are that big they must take huge amounts of AS." Yes, they are that big, and yes, they are taking huge amounts of shit, but the fact remains that these huge amounts of shit have just started in the last 10 or 15 years. So only now are we beginning to see the long term affects of what this is doing to their bodies.

I certainly hope that these bodybuilders were not ignorant to the fact of what they were doing to their bodies. I hope they didn't sit there and try to convince themselves that grams upon grams of test and 15+IU's of growth and things of that sort wouldn't eventually take its toll on them.

Plain and simple, most pro bodybuilders are walking dead men, they just don't know it yet. I've been telling friends of mine in the gym for years to watch what is going to happen to these pros in a few years and sure enough, it is happening. The substances are taking their toll on these athletes bodies. Any time you are putting chemicals in your body to alter its original form their is going to be some draw backs. And unfortunately with the amount of chemicals that go into some of these pro's bodies the draw backs lead to death.

You know we can sit here and blame these bodybuilders for what they put in their bodies and for some they did it for mere self gratification, but for others they did it because this was their way of life and they had to do what they had to do to support their families. Personally I put some of the blame on the sport and those damn judges who make the calls. The sport asked for bigger and bigger and bigger and that's exactly what it got. If these fucking judges would start awarding more aesthetically pleasing bodies with a nice V Taper and a small waist instead of these 290lb blobs of shit whose stomach gives you the impression they are about to give birth to an alien, then maybe we could get the sport going back in the correct direction. I can't tell you how happy I've been that Dexter Jackson is starting to win some shows. Hopefully that trend can continue.

Until our sport stops rewarding these guys for gaining weight and starts rewarding guys for looking great our sport is going to be fucked.

Personally I think most of the top bodybuilders out there look like shit and need to stop trying to pack on more and more weight and start shrinking those damn waist sizes.

[bad14u]

^ Well said LMG!

[joe bigboy]

i know what ya mean bouncer, just the other day i was looking threw some old muscle magazines from back when i first started the iron thing and a very large number of the guys that were winning the pro shows back then are in terrible shape or dead now

[al the chemist]

I agree wholeheartedly with bouncer...back to the basics...

[hitmansb]

IMO, the last Mr. Olympia that actually looked healthy was Lee Haney. The bloated, chemical overkill look that took over during the Yates era is only getting worse.

[beefcake]

I don't think it has to do with whether you're going for the freak look or not. I mean, look at flex, he had problems and he wasn't into the freak category. I think it's just bodybuilders in general want more, they're never satisfied and they feel they need more to gain the advantage over the next guy. This has them adopting the more is better theory and they start using more aas's than what is needed.

[house1]

its the different types and amounts of drugs that are being taken these days -- they are pushing there bodies past there limits for to long of a duration -- something has to give sooner or later -

insulin, igf13, mass amounts of gh are destroying them -- what happened to good old test - test is last on the list anymore

[Bouncer]

Originally posted by house1


insulin, igf13, mass amounts of gh are destroying them -- what happened to good old test - test is last on the list anymore

amen

[Megiddo]

Good rant Bouncer. I see this not only as a problem with the sport of bodybuilding, but also in pro wrestling. For the past 5 years I have constantly been encouraged to get bigger. When I was 200, I needed to be at least 215 to even be looked at by WCW or WWF. Soon 215 became 225 and so on. Once I got to 240, I was told to get lean, maybe take some gear and try to get to a hard 250. So far I am at 230 natural with about 15% bodyfat. I love wrestling and performing for the fans, but a lot of the guys that I watched when I was a kid are either really sick or have died. Also unlike bodybuidling, in wrestling, the boys have to keep that look all the time and I know guys who take more gear than they should that will never get Vince's attention.

Sad that bigger is better regardless of how much time and effort you put into bodybuilding or how much talent you have in the ring.

[Jarconis]

In all honestly, I think Don Youngblood's diet did more damage, than the drugs did...

[Bouncer]

Originally posted by Jarconis
In all honestly, I think Don Youngblood's diet did more damage, than the drugs did...

Not sure I follow? Was he an extreme eater any more so then any bodybuilder?

[Primal Instinct]

Well, on a good note: Serge Olivia retired a long time ago and so far seems to be OK. Last I heard, he was still a Chicago cop and still quite large even at his age. Then again, he wasn't in the MASS MONSTERS crowd like the guys that came after him.

[Neuromancer]

I agree with bouncer and house. I really don't think its the AAS causing the majority of the problems...even the some of the more harsh drugs. Granted absurd amounts of AAS over a long period of time certainly does its own damage, but its the insulin and gh and perhaps igf-1 and all of the new drugs popping up that have absolutely no research or science behind them that are really damaging their bodies.

Scary really.

[Pumpdogg]

Originally posted by Primal Instinct
Well, on a good note: Serge Olivia retired a long time ago and so far seems to be OK. Last I heard, he was still a Chicago cop and still quite large even at his age. Then again, he wasn't in the MASS MONSTERS crowd like the guys that came after him.

I here ya, I always loved the "Myth" he was ahead of his time for sure... Most all of the old pro's with exceptions here and there are still living and doing well, just goes to show u More is not always better... huh??? and to think we have such a hard time getting some of the young ones to listen to us........

PD