Has the sport of bodybuilding become a death sentence?
The sport of bodybuilding has been getting a lot of criticism in the past few weeks, due to the high number of deaths within the industry.
In the last few months, IFBB Figure Pro Cíntia Goldani (age 37), Cristhian Annes (age 34), Kevin Gebhardt (age 31), Danny Broadhurst (age 32), and Kristoffer Berner (age 43), have all passed away at a very young age.
The cause of death for the majority of athletes is health complications, while a few others unfortunately take their own lives.
The bodybuilding community will argue that the cause of death is related to the use of PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs) amongst other factors.
The focus on PEDs has increased massively in the last few years, with athletes using these dangerous substances at at very young age.
By the time the athlete turns 30, they will already have several serious health complications due to the abuse of PEDs.
These deaths raise a number of questions, that need to be answered or discussed, such as:
Should the health of the amateur and professional bodybuilders be monitored during the off-season?
Should every athlete show proof that they are healthy and have no life-threatening health conditions before stepping on stage?
Should the coaches working with the athletes take more responsibility when in regards to the health of the athlete?
Should all recognized bodybuilding federations come together to discuss the health of their athletes, and safety guidelines before they register to compete at any event?
Should the bodybuilding federations investigate the death of one of their athletes? And try to avoid another tragedy?
These are just a few of many questions that need to be discussed, to keep all bodybuilding and fitness athletes healthy.
From a healthy sport to a death sentence
When every young athlete steps into the gym for the first time, their first goal is to gain some muscle and improve their health.
While the majority of gym-goers don’t have any aspirations to become a professional bodybuilder, they will still experiment with some PEDs, and some with abuse these dangerous substances.
Then there are the young athletes who have the dream of becoming a professional bodybuilder, and will do anything to reach that goal.
Certain decisions that these young athletes take before even lifting a dumbbell for the first time, will practically determine if they will live a healthy or horrible life.
Talking to the wrong people, and getting the wrong advice can put a death sentence on these young athletes, before they even reach the age of 20.
Bodybuilding for health or even as a sport, should always have health as the first priority. All the deaths in the industry have labeled this popular pastime as very dangerous.
Who’s to blame?
The only person that can be blamed for making the wrong decision is the athlete.
Nobody can force you to take PED’s or other dangerous substances, but several factors influence and convince the athlete to make these decisions.
Social media is one of the major outlets that influence young and even mature athletes to start experimenting with PED’s.
99.9% of the people that run these social media channels have no medical background, and just publish content based on the experiments they did with PEDs on their own bodies or knowledge from their client’s experience.
This is where it gets dangerous, as the young teenager will see somebody his age taking all these dangerous PEDs, looking healthy from the outside, but killing themselves.
It’s not only the young influencers who are to blame, but the professional athletes, who have established themselves in the industry, by either winning several prestigious titles or having a very large following on social media.
These professional athletes who either are still active or are retired, will publish hundreds of hours of content on their social media channels, obviously to monetise and make a decent income.
Unfortunately, a good percentage of their content will be based on the use of PEDs., which in return will get them a high number of views, which equals more money at the end of the month.
Unqualified Coaches/Gurus
The bodybuilding and fitness industry has thousands of “self-proclaimed” coaches, with only a handful that even though they have no medical certification, can be trusted.
The minute an amateur athlete either earns their first pro card, or just wins a local competition, they automatically believe they are qualified to coach young athletes.
Now, helping an athlete with their nutrition or training is perfectly fine, but it gets dangerous when they start recommending PEDs to their friends or clients.
How can a 20-year-old athlete, who just won an event, have any medical experience when it comes to recommending PEDs or other substances?
Unfortunately for the athlete, when they start having serious medical complications due to the abuse of PEDs, their “self-proclaimed” coach or guru disappears.
No responsibility is taken, and the athlete has to solve the problem themselves and suffer all the consequences, which can sometimes be deadly.
What qualifies a person to become a coach/guru? A lifetime of experience, medical qualification, social media presence, or just having a successful bodybuilding career?
The amount of dangerous information shared on social media has increased massively in the last few years, with inexperienced people answering questions related to dangerous PEDs.
How can these coaches/gurus get qualified? Should the bodybuilding federations insist on certificates, showing they are qualified to take the responsibility to give advice to clients?
These are just a few of several questions that need to be answered.
Bodybuilding through the years
Going back to the 80’s (yes I am that old), bodybuilding was such a different sport.
Major bodybuilding events were transmitted live on TV for every sports fan to enjoy, shows such as ABC’s Wide World of Sports regularly featured international bodybuilding events.
Back in the day, steroids, or PEDs, were never mentioned in the gym. Professional bodybuilders were very private about what substances they were using. We must remember that back then, PEDs were not illegal.
Back in the ’80s and ’90s, even when a new kid at the gym asked a professional bodybuilder how they could be like them, the bodybuilder would answer, “Just eat and train”.
Everything was so simple back then, but fast forward to 2024, and the first thing a new kid at the gym would ask for is PEDs, which is ridiculous.
Unfortunately today, there is no knowledge of how to train or eat properly. Everything has become complicated when it does not have to be.
Everybody wants to rush their growth and in return, the young athlete will just be increasing their chances of getting injured or suffering a serious medical complication.
Since Evolutionofbodybuilding.net went online in 2013, the number of deaths in the bodybuilding and fitness world has increased every year. While many blame the pandemic in 2019, the reality is that athletes are just abusing PEDs and getting the wrong advice from inexperienced coaches.
Editor’s Note
Bodybuilding is a simple sport or hobby. All you have to do is eat good food, stay consistent, and put in the time at the gym.
Exercising does not have to be complicated, just start by doing the basic exercises. If you don’t know what the basic exercises are, just get a copy of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding, and start from there.
Even when it comes to eating, the diet has to be clean, but at the same time, you don’t have to kill yourself, it’s okay to relax and have a burger or pizza every once in a while with friends.
A major part of going to the gym is making new friends, and having a place to forget your problems just for a few hours.
Remember what 8X Mr. Olympia Lee Haney said, “Exercise to stimulate, not to annihilate. The world wasn’t formed in a day, and neither were we. Set small goals and build upon them.”
Watch out for the self-proclaimed “Gurus”, who try to convince you to take PEDs. There is enough information on the internet to educate yourself, you will find out what works, and what negative side effects every PED comes with.
If you watch the popular bodybuilding podcasts on YouTube and listen to some of the retired athletes, occasionally they will reveal what problems they have, after years of abusing PEDs.
The sport of bodybuilding can help you physically and mentally, if you stay on the right path, you will have a positive experience. If you take shortcuts, all we can say is good luck.
