From James T. Rockell, a former IFBB Judge
"Here's a question I have been dealing with for over 40 years now- Is Bodybuilding a drug sport? Or should the real question be should Bodybuilding continue to be a drug sport? I started lifting weights in college in the late sixties and early seventies because I was a shinny 129 lbs soaking wet at 6 feet one inch cross country and track athlete and really needed to put some muscle on. Well I started lifting and loved the "pump" I got and ended up putting over 100 pounds on my frame in just over a year. Lifting weights was a hobby until Arnold's Pumping Iron and the Frank Zane Olympia wins in the mid seventies prompted myself and a partner to open Samson's Gym. Within a few years I found myself getting the bug for competing and got on stage. I competed without drugs or roids for about five years and then found myself on the judging side of the sport. As a drug free bodybuilder I always had to put my personal feelings aside about the drug use I saw and concentrate on fairly judging what was in front of me without bias.
Since I am no longer a part of the organization I was involved with for all those years and seeing what has been happening lately I felt I should speak up. Arnold was perfectly right in calling out what he saw at his contest in terms of those grotesque midsections. That issue of course wasn't new but certainly was never taken care of. Even more disturbing to me has been the progression of the look of the women athletes in all divisions of the sport. Early on we were asked to implement a 20 per cent rule for reducing hardness. The realty is that worked for one show in favor of Anja Schreiner. Women's Bodybuilding basically became men's body building in disquise. Every women's division from bikini, figure and physique has morphed into things they should never have been and the reality is the drugs. They will continue to get harder and harder unless the drugs are eliminated from the scene. And the men will of course get bigger and bigger but as Arnold remarked at a cost of aesthetics proportion and symmetry which were the hallmarks of bodybuilding.
So the real answer to the question I posed is that drugs really should not be in bodybuilding, baseball, football etc. Genetics, hard training, proper nutrition and personal willpower will always determine the best of the best. From my love of baseball Mickey Mantle's only steroids were the drinks of hard liquor he consumed far too often and they weren't responsible for the power he displayed at the plate to drive a ball 565 feet!! It's easy to allow things to continue to do what they are going to do and I am as guilty as anyone for not saying anything until now. Things need to change and I hope to be a big part of that change."
