Why would steve reeves (at the time) be opposed to taking steroids when none of the bullshit associated with them nor potential health effects known?
I think it would tarnish the man's reputation in ND's eyes
Reeves competed from 1946 -1950 and the first oral anabolic steroid wasn't produced until 1958 by Dr John Ziegler who worked for Ciba labs , the Nazis were injecting testosterone into German troops to make them more agressive and once the Russians learned this they started using testoserone on their weightlifters and started cleaning house in the Olympics , Ziegler who was the team Dr for the United States weightlifting team got the Russian team Dr drunk on Vodka and he confessed he confessed they were using test on their athletes , after learning this he returned to the US and started experimenting on weightlifters ( not bodybuilders ) and then he created Dianabol the worlds first oral anabolic steroid , its not until the late 1950s that weighlifters started using D-bol and then it made its way out west to the bodybuilding scene the earliest I've read was 1960 and one of the first bodybuilders that I heard of taking D-bol was Bill Pearl
Now put this into context Steve Reeves retired in 1950 at the age of 24 because the sport lacked challenges , he won every major title there was and he wanted to try his hand at acting , thats a full 10 years after Reeves retired that the drugs made their way out to the West coast , up until 1954 no one in the United States was experimenting with injectable testosterone and that was 4 years after he retired , so its not possible for him to take either testosterone or dianabol
And besides Reeves address that claim in his book , he said he never took any steroids , he was strictly against them in the sport and he doesn't know why Kurt Marul would make the claim in Wendy Leighs book about Arnold , use some logic , lets say he did use what would be to gain by lying about ? if you've ever read anything from Steve Reeves , about Steve Reeves you'll quickly learn he was a man of integrity above all else , a man of honor , a no nonsense type of guy
There was a story of Arnold meeting Reeves for the first time and Arnold told Reeves oh you were a idol for me growing up I wanted to be just like you and Reeves look Arnold dead in the eyes and said " Don't give me that bull shit Arnold , I read your book and you said Reg Park was your idol. " and Arnold response was " thats because I could never be like you . "
A lot of people either don't know or forget that there was once a time when bodybuilding was a healthy activity when there were no drugs , no cocktails of drugs , no GH , insulin , IGF1 , plasma expanders , synthol , no guts , when bodybuilders are atheletic and could go all sorts of things without the need of an oxygen tank , when there was no endorsements , contracts , or prize money , when a title and the respect of your peers was the greatest prize one could get , this was Steve Reeves time
So when you look at Steve Reeves character and the fact that steroid wern't even avaiable at the time he was competing it all becomes clear !!