It's time to admit that steroids are here to stay.
Whether we want them in the fitness industry or not, closing our eyes to steroid use is no longer an option. When fitness facility owners are arrested for selling steroids, guilty baseball players are popping up like Whack-a-Moles and documentaries are exposing the growing acceptance of steroids, it's time to re-assess our position.
Is it time to legalize steroids and put an age cap on them, like cigarettes and alcohol? Is it time to launch a full-scale initiative to wipe steroids out of the fitness industry completely?
I suspect the line between "supplements" and "steroids" is too blurred, at this point, to erase steroids completely. But I can't come up with any viable solutions for the problem, either.
Can you?
6 comments:
Comparing steroids to "supplements" is a real stretch. I couldn't care less about the potentially dangerous side effects that the "juicers" might suffer from using steroids - it's their choice - but athletes are using them to cheat which is an entirely different matter. There is no question that the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs improves athletic performance. It creates an uneven playing field which is a stain on the integrity of sports.
In our re-assessment of the issue of steroid use, first and formost should be... they are illegal! Yes, the research does show that they work and that the side effects, for the most part, are transient. But, if for no other reason than the legality, we still need to stand firmly against their use. More often than not, those using steroids have also not maximized the performance enhancement of proper nutrition and optimal training programs.
That is what we should be teaching to our athletes/exercisers.
Steriods are frowned upon because they are legal medications (acquired most often through illegal channels) that people use to cheat or bypass hard work. Kids are told to never use steroids because it is like cheating, accomplishing something without putting in the hard work. "The journey is more important than the end goal" sort of lesson. Well, all medications are like this. Lowering cholesterol without exercise or diet, having a heart bypass when it can be reversed naturally via hard work. All drugs help people cheat so it is time people woke up and stopped taking any drugs to bypass hard work. No medication will make anyone healthy. All fitness clubs need to get on board with this message.
Hi Heather,
Really sorry to hear about the eLetter. I thought the intent of the eLetter, was such a great idea--to get club owners/managers/employees to ask questions and then allow everyone to offer tips and suggestions. I always enjoyed reading what everyone else had to say.
I'll miss it.
Rob Bishop
Elevations Health Club
To have otherwise law obiding adult citizens fear legal repercussion because they want to be bigger, stronger, faster, leaner, or younger is ludicrous.
Hi Rob. Thanks for your comments about FM's eLetter. I will miss writing it, and interacting with all of you in the industry. In case you didn't know, FM's sister publication, Athletic Business, has a Reader's Q&A on its website:
http://www.athleticbusiness.com/how-to/readers/
Thanks for your contributions to the blog and eLetter.
-Anne McDonnell
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