Drugs and the Evolution of Bodybuilding
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/drugs-and-the-evolution-of-bodybuilding/375100/
When most people think of bodybuilders, if they think of them at all, images of towering, muscle-bound men such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno come to mind.
However, when the 2014 Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition takes place this September in Las Vegas, it is a virtual certainty that the winner of the sport’s premier event won’t be more than six feet in height.
The widths of top competitors such as Kai Greene and Branch Warren are another matter entirely—a testament to the rigorous training and chemical supplementation regimens that have made the sport both more physically challenging and less accessible than ever.
For many, Schwarzenegger represents the alpha and omega of bodybuilding. He was the sport’s first genuine celebrity, its first crossover star, and still remains the tallest champion (at six-foot-two) in the history of the Olympia.
Texas native Ronnie Coleman, an eight-time Mr. Olympia who is arguably the greatest bodybuilder of all time, had a listed height of five-foot-10 but frequently took the competition stage at 295 pounds.
Jay Cutler, Coleman’s immediate successor as Mr. Olympia, competed at an equally massive 280 pounds.
Even at his peak, Schwarzenegger never exceeded a competition weight of 235 pounds.
The physiques of modern bodybuilders were quite literally unattainable during the early days of the sport.
From the outset, Mr. Olympia participants benefited from one of the great discoveries of the 1950s: anabolic steroids.
With his victory in the 1992 Mr. Olympia, English bodybuilder Dorian Yates changed all of that.
Though only five-foot-nine, Yates competed at a lean 270 pounds through the combination of a maniacal training program with precise steroid usage that was stacked with growth hormone (GH).
GH proved to be a missing link in the chain that allowed athletes to reach unprecedented lean weights, a trend that culminated with Ronnie Coleman winning the Olympia at 297 pounds only a few years after competing (and losing) at a mere 245.
The so-called “mass monsters” that dominate contemporary bodybuilding are both unavoidable and anonymous: unavoidable because their images are beamed out at impressionable young men from magazines available at supermarket checkout counters around the country, and anonymous because only a handful of diehards seem to know the intimate details of these athletes’ training programs.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/drugs-and-the-evolution-of-bodybuilding/375100/
When most people think of bodybuilders, if they think of them at all, images of towering, muscle-bound men such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno come to mind.
However, when the 2014 Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition takes place this September in Las Vegas, it is a virtual certainty that the winner of the sport’s premier event won’t be more than six feet in height.
The widths of top competitors such as Kai Greene and Branch Warren are another matter entirely—a testament to the rigorous training and chemical supplementation regimens that have made the sport both more physically challenging and less accessible than ever.
For many, Schwarzenegger represents the alpha and omega of bodybuilding. He was the sport’s first genuine celebrity, its first crossover star, and still remains the tallest champion (at six-foot-two) in the history of the Olympia.
Texas native Ronnie Coleman, an eight-time Mr. Olympia who is arguably the greatest bodybuilder of all time, had a listed height of five-foot-10 but frequently took the competition stage at 295 pounds.
Jay Cutler, Coleman’s immediate successor as Mr. Olympia, competed at an equally massive 280 pounds.
Even at his peak, Schwarzenegger never exceeded a competition weight of 235 pounds.
The physiques of modern bodybuilders were quite literally unattainable during the early days of the sport.
From the outset, Mr. Olympia participants benefited from one of the great discoveries of the 1950s: anabolic steroids.
With his victory in the 1992 Mr. Olympia, English bodybuilder Dorian Yates changed all of that.
Though only five-foot-nine, Yates competed at a lean 270 pounds through the combination of a maniacal training program with precise steroid usage that was stacked with growth hormone (GH).
GH proved to be a missing link in the chain that allowed athletes to reach unprecedented lean weights, a trend that culminated with Ronnie Coleman winning the Olympia at 297 pounds only a few years after competing (and losing) at a mere 245.
The so-called “mass monsters” that dominate contemporary bodybuilding are both unavoidable and anonymous: unavoidable because their images are beamed out at impressionable young men from magazines available at supermarket checkout counters around the country, and anonymous because only a handful of diehards seem to know the intimate details of these athletes’ training programs.
