Any listing of bodybuilders or strength athletes who have died or become ill as a result of the current extremes in drug use would be incomplete. Who would know if a fledgling Mr. Olympia hopeful died of a blood clot? Would anyone have ever heard of Eric Perrin’s death from DNP poisoning had it not been reported in Business Week?39 Has anyone heard the tree fall yet?
    We are losing friends, champions and acquaintances. In 1994, I had the pleasure of meeting Jeep Swenson, WCW wrestler and actor (he portrayed Bane in the movie “Batman & Robin”). Three years later, the 6’4”, 400-pound gentleman died at the age of 40 of heart failure. Would newspaper columnists write of Swenson’s death, saying “It’s not a bad way to go”? Compare these early deaths to the longevity achieved by some of bodybuilding’s pioneers, such as former Mr. America (1943) Jules Bacon, who passed on this year at the age of 89.

    “Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse.” The statement gets a laugh in the gym, but it isn’t quite as funny in the emergency room. It’s time to end the insanity of 4,000+mg/week cycles stacked with GH, IGF-1, insulin, stimulants and thyroid hormone (don’t forget the aromatase inhibitors, 5-? reductase inhibitors and volume expanders) topped off by a diuretic or two. In bodybuilding, size matters, and success requires some risks in any endeavor, but stupidity inevitably leads to mistakes, setbacks and could be a quick path the grave. Anyone choosing to hurtle themselves toward the LD50 (lethal dose 50— a term used to describe a dose that kills half of the subjects in a test) after reading this article needs to accept that any damage done is a matter of choice, not an inherent risk of the drugs used. It’s the irresponsible users who bring about the tighter restrictions and intolerant laws that affect any responsible adult wishing to optimize his health or performance.

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