It was just about fifty years ago that drugs began to appear on the bodybuilding scene and it was in the early sixties that we hear about bodybuilders taking Dianobol. At this stage the major drug companies began to develop their own steroid drugs, many of which are still in use today. The downside came when reports began to appear regarding drug use in sport and many drug companies abandoned their products resulting in many good patented drugs never being developed.

Right through the sixties and seventies there was major use of orals and some bodybuilders of the time have suffered liver and kidney problems, which were probably exacerbated by the use of large amounts of such drugs over very long periods. In the seventies, as a young bodybuilder, I never used more than 10 x 5mg Dianabol tablets per day and even that was not for long periods. More normal was 4 to 6 Dianabol per day with 200 mg per week of an injectable [Deca or Testoviron] the total intake was about 300 to 400mg per week maximum. Pretty basic stuff compared with today.

But during that time it was considered quite a normal stack, although some did use more and normally through extra orals - the fact was that gains were being produced through these drugs. Today, even competitors at beginner level use around 1000mg weekly (and some even more) which include quite dangerous stuff such as Oxymetholone, Halotestin, Parabolan, etc. I do realise that you can only get some of these with different names through several suppliers outside of Europe, but the toxic effects of the basic drugs remain the same.

Nowadays novice bodybuilders are using some really impressive stacks and as they move up the competitive ladder the steroid intake increases and other products are also taken on aboard. Some examples being DNP [di-nitro-phenol], various diuretic products, anti-catabolic drugs [Aminoglutethimide (Orimeten)], Nubain even, prostaglandins, IGF-1 [perhaps], as well as insulin and growth hormone. We are now entering a critical phase regards both cost and health risk as I know of many health problems related to these types of drugs.

Who can blame today's youth in not taking the drug issue seriously if you take the tobacco industry as an example. Health warnings seem to be to the point, but why does the UK government need $16,000,000,000 in tobacco related annual revenue, when it costs 5 times less to treat all smoking related diseases. It's understandable that the youth are not convinced about the dangers of recreational drugs.

These dangers are often much exaggerated and they will learn only by their own experiences. Many who come into bodybuilding used or still do use various recreational substances and deciding to take a few bodybuilding drugs as well does not faze them. For those who are serious about their bodybuilding, it should be mandatory that all the recreational stuff is abandoned. But many will not and the load on their body systems will be increased as their kidneys and livers [particularly] try to cope with the heavy loads of toxins.

In bodybuilding throughout all levels, doses of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs have multiplied and are still on the up and we have to begin to believe that this is having an effect on the health of competitors. All bodybuilders at higher levels are using extremely high doses of steroids and other drugs. Don't pay any attention to those who say that they only use low doses and that it's the other bodybuilders who use a lot more than they do. Don't believe it; they are lying.

There are guys out there who may have the most incredible genetics and can grow and condition themselves with a lot less gear than many other bodybuilders. But should this be true, and if he had used more, he could, maybe, be the best in the world. Will he continue to say that he won't use any more? If you believe the answer to be no, that he won't use more, then I think you have a different understanding of bodybuilders than the one that I have. What would I do in that position? I would use more and more until problems began to develop! Anyway, we think that problems only happen to other people. Or am I wrong? (Coming soon Part 3)