It was also around about the same time that performance enhancing drugs started to become a problem in many sports, and bodybuilding was no exception to this. Back in the 70s, the main drug problem was caused by the use of anabolic steroids by participants in many sports, a problem that was widely discussed and analyzed, because at that time, anabolic steroids were not an illegal substance.
It was probably no coincidence that performance enhancing drugs in bodybuilding started to come to prominence at a time when bodybuilding first began to be recognized as a competitive activity.
Nowadays, anabolic steroids are illegal in most Western countries except when taken under medical supervision. In addition, the list of banned substances is a great deal longer and more detailed than it was back in the 70s, certainly in international sport.
Natural bodybuilding is the very antithesis of building your muscles up using drugs or banned substances, to the extent that ‘Natural bodybuilding’ means ‘bodybuilding without the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs’ according to Wikipedia.
One thing to understand about the banned substances that have become a plague on international sport and competition over the past 40 years or so is that most performance enhancers do not really help to enhance performance.
They allow anyone who is training to train harder for a longer period and to recover more quickly. Consequently, by using performance enhancing drugs, it is possible to build up muscle, stamina and fitness far more quickly than if the individual concerned was not abusing these substances.
To anyone who is interested in or is a proponent of natural bodybuilding, the use of artificial substances to help any individual taking part in competition to perform to a higher level than they might otherwise be able to achieve is an anathema.
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