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Almost every professional athlete in almost every sport uses tons of "performance-enhancing substances": Vitamins, mineral supplements, refined proteins, painki
by p-e-w 3y ago
Almost every professional athlete in almost every sport uses tons of "performance-enhancing substances": Vitamins, mineral supplements, refined proteins, painkillers, not to mention engineered diet plans that have nothing to do with natural human nutrition. Then there are own-blood transfusions etc.
All of these substances enhance athletic performance, which is why athletes are taking them; and their widespread application is one of the reasons athletes today perform at levels that were unimaginable 100 years ago.
And yet none of these are considered "doping". Which is laughable hypocrisy.
- magicmicah85 3y agoCurious how you think it is laughable hypocrisy. Everything you mentioned might give you an “edge” but anabolic steroids give you more than an edge, they give you hormones your body doesn’t produce on its own.
- antasvara 3y agoI think you vastly underestimate the lengths that people will go to for fame, money, and success. Optimized nutrition and vitamins for peak performance aren't that detrimental to your health. Shooting up amphetamines before a game for a slight edge is most definitely detrimental to your health. It doesn't seem silly that sports leagues would want to put limits on the substances their athletes take.
- eternityforest 3y agoGym culture is amazing, with how passionate people can be even without any fame and fortune.
- antasvara 3y agoI'm not talking about gym culture, which can be great. (It can also be incredibly toxic, but that's a different discussion). I'm talking about athletes at the professional level, where the margins are razor thin and the benefits of winning arlcna be immense. I'm talking about the levels where the difference between everyone knowing your name and not being able to make a living can be a few percent, or fractions of a second.
- eternityforest 3y agoYeah, I can understand why steroids are a thing when possibly millions of dollars are on the line. That's pretty much a guarantee that someone will dope. The top level of anything seems to be determined at least partly by who's willing to make sacrifices.