UNPOPULAR OPINION
Steroid abuse is a very real issue, but unfounded accusations could do more harm than good, says MHcoach Andrew Tracey
Recently, I’ve been heavily involved in the training of a well-known public figure who has received a number of steroid accusations via the 21st-century court of public opinion that is social media.
This is par for the course in the digital age; people often confuse their right to an opinion with an obligation to express it. But it also happens, in part, because most of us only post our very best pictures – and that tends to mean those in which we look as, erm, ‘juicy’ as possible.
Generally, I think it’s best to ignore the comments-section critics. But in this particular area, there’s a little more to unpack.
What I always find curious is the specificity of some comments. Hypodermic needle emojis are 10 a penny, but it’s the cocksure naming of compounds and dosages that gets me. People who – forgive me for saying – don’t appear to have spent any consistent amount of time in agym environment are suddenly able to perform toxicology screenings with their eyeballs. I can never know for sure, but to me, their motivations seem quite transparent: a fragile ego crying out, ‘I can’t be big, but at least I can be smart!’
Clearly, the existence of performance-enhancing drugs is a blight on the fitness landscape. Do I think users should be more transparent about what they’re doing? Absolutely. But what should that transparency look like? I think, for example, the argument that bodybuilders and athletes should share exactly what they use is short-sighted at best and dangerous at worst.
It’s true that having unrealistic expectations of what you’ll get from your gym efforts can lead to poor mental health, too. I’ve experienced this first-hand. But is giving impressionable young men a shopping list of dangerous, illegal
