8 ms·

Pretty interesting. I worked in the athletics (cycling) industry for around 5 years and I always suspected that there's a lot of doping among amateur athletes.

Pretty interesting. I worked in the athletics (cycling) industry for around 5 years and I always suspected that there's a lot of doping among amateur athletes. From what I understand, it's most common in amateur cycling among masters racers.

mi100hael 9y ago
Anabolics are also very prevalent in the lifting/bodybuilding world at all levels including amateur circles. IIRC it was legal up until the 90s, and enforcement is a low priority for LEO. Hell, Ronnie Coleman was a cop for a long time.
- scott_s 9y ago
  Bodybuilding and powerlifting have both tested and untested federations. The untested federations tacitly approve PEDs. (And people in the tested federations, at least for powerlifting, are often caught for PEDs.) Weightlifting, as far as I know, has no untested federations. To the grandparent post, you'll probably be interested in the recent documentary "Icarus". It's on Netflix.
  - kurtisc 9y ago
    There's the 'American Weightlifting Federation' which was created primarily so the founder could slam barbells.
    - scott_s 9y ago
      I actually thought about that, but I didn't know if they were still around. I want to say I figured they tested, but I doubt they were big enough or organized enough to.
- trenninghard 9y ago
  Coming from an amateur bodybuilder yes it is everywhere. I've been on for a couple years now. Once you've done some cycles you realize how many people use especially what is known as 'fake nattys', people who claim to not use publicly in interviews and Instagram etc but have physiques which could never be possible without gear. Most amateur sports from what I've found such as cycling (bikes not gear), martial arts, football, you can bet most people are using to some degree. The op mentioned masters class, and there's a tight correlation there to older men being prescribed trt. A lot of people also take that and then up the dose a bit more to the point where they're running a full cycle and should be taking an AI. That's another aspect as well where people will claim it's just trt dose, but no I'm sorry but when you got puffy nipples because of your trt dose and no AI you're on a full cycle.
rmcpherson 9y ago
Do you know why that is? It seems possible that it could be because masters racers started doping back before testing was prevalent/sensitive and now can't stop without a precipitous drop-off in performance that would raise eyebrows. Just conjecture though.
- mandrake-c-papi 9y ago
  More likely because the masters guys have more disposable income and very little at stake if they get caught. With spare cash they've probably bought all the bike upgrades they can and are training as much as their spare time allows so doping is the easiest way to improve. Also, anything to slow the decline with age...
- sjburt 9y ago
  Likely a factor of financial means as well. There's a lot of spare-no-expense weekend warrior types in the Masters ranks, whereas the younger open racers tend to be scrappier. Also, it's probably somewhat of a "who cares anyway?" attitude. They're not gonna go pro, they're not getting tested, etc. Any kind of competition involves someone bending the rules, like it or not.
- obmelvin 9y ago
  The difficult thing about anti-doping in amateur athletes is that the stakes are way too low to be testing that frequently, unless you are at the very top of the amateur range. And when you stop doping your fitness gains don't disappear if you continue to train. One of EPO's main benefits (as I understand it) is to improve recovery and allow one to train harder. So an athlete could use EPO for a year, training harder and more frequently than they otherwise would and then stop the next year and enter competition with a lot of their previous fitness gains carried over.
- notatoad 9y ago
  the reason masters racers dope is because nobody tests masters, and nobody really cares if masters racers dope (except for the other competitors).
  - 9y ago
OhDagny 9y ago
The most common abuse is probably steroids in weightlifters. They don't even have a sport, they just want to look buff.
nradov 9y ago
Outside Magazine had a great article where an amateur athlete experimented on himself by doping and reporting on the effects. https://www.outsideonline.com/1908791/i-couldnt-be-more-positive https://www.outsideonline.com/1908791/i-couldnt-be-more-posi...

mi100hael 9y ago

Anabolics are also very prevalent in the lifting/bodybuilding world at all levels including amateur circles. IIRC it was legal up until the 90s, and enforcement is a low priority for LEO. Hell, Ronnie Coleman was a cop for a long time.

scott_s 9y ago
Bodybuilding and powerlifting have both tested and untested federations. The untested federations tacitly approve PEDs. (And people in the tested federations, at least for powerlifting, are often caught for PEDs.) Weightlifting, as far as I know, has no untested federations. To the grandparent post, you'll probably be interested in the recent documentary "Icarus". It's on Netflix.
- kurtisc 9y ago
  There's the 'American Weightlifting Federation' which was created primarily so the founder could slam barbells.
  - scott_s 9y ago
    I actually thought about that, but I didn't know if they were still around. I want to say I figured they tested, but I doubt they were big enough or organized enough to.
trenninghard 9y ago
Coming from an amateur bodybuilder yes it is everywhere. I've been on for a couple years now. Once you've done some cycles you realize how many people use especially what is known as 'fake nattys', people who claim to not use publicly in interviews and Instagram etc but have physiques which could never be possible without gear. Most amateur sports from what I've found such as cycling (bikes not gear), martial arts, football, you can bet most people are using to some degree. The op mentioned masters class, and there's a tight correlation there to older men being prescribed trt. A lot of people also take that and then up the dose a bit more to the point where they're running a full cycle and should be taking an AI. That's another aspect as well where people will claim it's just trt dose, but no I'm sorry but when you got puffy nipples because of your trt dose and no AI you're on a full cycle.

rmcpherson 9y ago

Do you know why that is? It seems possible that it could be because masters racers started doping back before testing was prevalent/sensitive and now can't stop without a precipitous drop-off in performance that would raise eyebrows. Just conjecture though.

mandrake-c-papi 9y ago
More likely because the masters guys have more disposable income and very little at stake if they get caught. With spare cash they've probably bought all the bike upgrades they can and are training as much as their spare time allows so doping is the easiest way to improve. Also, anything to slow the decline with age...
sjburt 9y ago
Likely a factor of financial means as well. There's a lot of spare-no-expense weekend warrior types in the Masters ranks, whereas the younger open racers tend to be scrappier. Also, it's probably somewhat of a "who cares anyway?" attitude. They're not gonna go pro, they're not getting tested, etc. Any kind of competition involves someone bending the rules, like it or not.
obmelvin 9y ago
The difficult thing about anti-doping in amateur athletes is that the stakes are way too low to be testing that frequently, unless you are at the very top of the amateur range. And when you stop doping your fitness gains don't disappear if you continue to train. One of EPO's main benefits (as I understand it) is to improve recovery and allow one to train harder. So an athlete could use EPO for a year, training harder and more frequently than they otherwise would and then stop the next year and enter competition with a lot of their previous fitness gains carried over.
notatoad 9y ago
the reason masters racers dope is because nobody tests masters, and nobody really cares if masters racers dope (except for the other competitors).
- 9y ago

OhDagny 9y ago

The most common abuse is probably steroids in weightlifters. They don't even have a sport, they just want to look buff.

nradov 9y ago

Outside Magazine had a great article where an amateur athlete experimented on himself by doping and reporting on the effects. https://www.outsideonline.com/1908791/i-couldnt-be-more-positive https://www.outsideonline.com/1908791/i-couldnt-be-more-posi...