Bodybuilding is a sport of extremes, about pushing your mind and body to their limits --and then beyond. It's an activity for people who want to be consumed by their hobby.
Unfortunately, that drive can sometimes lead them astray. The temptation to use drugs to advance a bodybuilding career (or to handle the stress of it) can be the very way that the career comes to an end.
History is littered with the remains of careers ruined by drugs, taken for both performance and recreation. Len Bias never took a dribble as a professional basketball player, all because of a single dose of cocaine.
Lance Armstrong destroyed his image with PED's, sullying the image of the LiveStrong cancer movement that he had started. There is a nonstop stream of suspensions, contract releases, and license revocations of professional athletes, all tied to substance abuse.
What drives people to do such destructive things when they are working so hard to improve their bodies and lives? Everyone's circumstances are different, but there are some areas that are very common.
Injuries
Many athletes are on course for steady progress when an injury hits. Then they are sidelined, gaining fat, losing muscle mass, and growing frustrated. They essentially feel like they've lost everything they've worked for in the previous months and years, and they are often tempted to try to catch up with steroids and hormones.
Or they may take another path, using painkillers to help them "power through" a prematurely-resumed workout schedule. They feel like if they can numb the injury and get back to work, they won't lose as much ground. Or like many of the other people involved with prescription drug abuse in Portland, they simply become addicted to post-surgical pain medication.
Bodily Changes
Sports deadlines are firm. You make weight by a certain date or you're in a different class. Your competition is on a certain date, whether you're ready or not.
The pressure can be immense, and the goal can seem impossible. You are doing everything you can, but you just aren't getting there. Then somebody mentions a diet pill, a diuretic, a growth hormone, or a steroid, and in the haze of your frustration, you find yourself giving in and trying it.
It's common. Many users think they can just use the substance long enough to achieve a very specific goal, and then they'll go clean. The problem with that is that some substances are addictive, but even more impactful than that is the success they achieve. They want to lose five pounds, and they lose five pounds. The shortcut soon becomes the main path, and before long, they've got a problem.
Desperation
One of the most difficult things for athletes to accept is that their careers are finite. This is true for bodybuilding, where participants eventually reach an age where they can no longer sustain a competitive physique. Certainly there are senior classes out there with some incredible competitors who are much older, but many people must give up the sport fairly young.
Then there are the crushing moments of failure. You couldn't enjoy your greatest success if it weren't the opposite of an abject failure, so when you can't get the top spot in a competition, you don't always cope appropriately.
Any of these situations can drive drug abuse. Whether it's the use of PED's to do better next time or abuse of prescription meds to cope with failure, the link between drugs and falling short of goals is very strong.
Any bodybuilder or other athlete has worked hard to reach certain goals, and they likely have ever-higher goals ahead of them. The problem with using drugs to get there--or to cope when you don't get there--is that they aren't a sustainable solution. They will do far more harm than good, possibly getting you physically or administratively removed from your sport forever, or even ending your life.
Whether it's the desire to always do a little more or the heart-crushing agony of falling short, drugs are never the solution, not even temporarily. Avoid them, and if you've already fallen victim, get help. And watch out for your friends, too.
