Monday, May 18, 2009

Mainstream Bodybuilders Flee Unexpected Drug Testers at NABBA Belgian Contest!



(Above Photo: Classic Physique Champions Steve Reeves, NABBA Mr. Universe 1950 - on the left; Reg Park, NABBA Mr. Universe 1951 - on the right)


Here is the sad news story, directly from AP News, of what transpired this last Sunday, May 17, 2009:

BRUSSELS - Ready to flex their pecs and strike a pose, bodybuilders at the Belgian championships scattered when doping officials showed up.

After a spate of positive doping tests in recent years in Belgium, the event had been moved across the Dutch border to Vlissingen for the weekend competition.

“They must have felt safe out there,” doping official Hans Cooman told the Associated Press on Monday.

But Cooman and two colleagues got the necessary papers to check the tournament in the Netherlands. And when they identified themselves just before the event — with the 20 bodybuilders weighing in and preparing themselves — the testers drew quite a response.

The bodybuilders got up and left, preferring to quit rather than submit to doping tests. Some grabbed their gear and headed straight out the door.

“They must have been flabbergasted,” Cooman said.

Bodybuilders usually take months to prepare for such championships, yet the sight of controllers was too much for them.

“I have never seen anything like it and hope never to see anything like it again,” Cooman said.

Bodybuilding has a long history of doping, and Cooman said this latest flap “didn’t do its reputation any good.”

Last year, 22 of 29 tests were positive, either for steroids or for refusing testing, a failure rate of a staggering 75 percent.

“This was the first time though we turned up in the Netherlands,” Cooman said.

Minutes before the start of the championships, before even one gleaming pose was on display, organizers had no option but to tell a few hundred fans that had come to the Arsenaal theater that there was not point in staying.

Now Cooman and his colleagues will report the case to the disciplinary committee, which will have to decide whether the bodybuilders can be punished because they refused to be tested.

A man who refused to give his name at the NABBA Belgium bodybuilding federation could not explain why the competitors had suddenly rushed off and would not discuss the matter.

_____

CPB Commentary: Doesn't this news story illustrate so well what a sad, laughable, pathetic state mainstream, roid-based bodybuilding has fallen into since the end of the pre-roid Golden Age (the 1940s and 50s)? Doesn't the mainstream, roid-based bodybuilding world know how ridiculous they look? It's not bad enough that they have thrown away the healthy, classic physique ideal of the Golden Age and embraced drugs in order to develop unhealthy, cartoonish, "Hulk-like," cadaver-ish physiques. But now, the public sees them "fleeing" from their own contests when unexpected drug-testers show up! Don't they realize that true bodybuilding in the Golden Age was all about perfecting one's health and physique? (Can you imagine a Steve Reeves or Reg Park "running away" from drug testers? They were proud of their health!)

If you look around on many of the mainstream bodybuilding blogs, the reaction of the roid-users and supporters is to question the legality of the drug testers and whether or not they had proper jurisdiction in showing up and trying to test the contestants. Can you believe that?! They are so blind, they just can't see how pathetic the whole of mainstream bodybuilding looks to the world because of this.

This is why there is no hope for mainstream, roid-based bodybuilding. It is destined to die under its own excesses as a laughable, marginal pursuit of extremists. Their contests are not about health. They are not about choosing the ideal of masculine, physical perfection. They are not about providing positive role models to the public. They are about pharmaceutical-based, body-abusing extremism and "doing anything to win" - pure and simple!

It is sad to note that the contest in the news story was sponsored by the Belgian wing of the NABBA. The NABBA is the same organization that crowned Steve Reeves Mr. Universe in 1950 and Reg Park in 1951. What a disgrace the NABBA (and IFBB) have become!

This news article is another illustration why we separate ourselves as "Classic Physique Builders" and no longer place ourselves under the banner of "bodybuilding." Classic physique building is the true heir of the pre-roid Golden Age! It is classic physique building, and not modern bodybuilding, that upholds the value of pursuing natural physical perfection and health through weight training!

So if you are a natural, drug-free "bodybuilder," consider joining our ranks as a "classic physique builder" and disassociate yourself from the farce that modern, mainstream bodybuilding has become! The term "bodybuilding" has become irreversibly tainted by steroids and drugs! So let's leave it to the drug users. Don't support the mainstream, roid-based bodybuilding world with your money! Instead, help build a new, healthy movement of classic physique building - a movement that will benefit you and that the public can accept, embrace, and be inspired by!

- CPB

P.S. If you would like a free 1 year subscription to Classic Physique Builder (CPBzine) - a pdf zine patterned after the pre-roid, Golden Age muscle mags (of the 40s and 50s), just send your name, the name of your city (not your address), state (or province), and country to cpbzine@gmail.com. Any info you send us is strictly confidential - we don't share it with anyone. You won't get on any lists and you won't receive any unwanted, automated email (even from us)!

11 comments:

Ibrahim said...

This article is so true that it hurts. I mean when you look how bodybuilding started and what it is now, it breaks your heart.

jonny said...

all of todays bodybuilders are jokes this just more proof

- CPB (Blog and Zine) - said...

Hi Everyone,

This "image" of mainstream bodybuilders literally running away from their own contest because they were going to be drug-tested certainly does "take the cake" as we say here in the U.S.!

I have to say, however, that there is a small group of "natural, drug-free bodybuilders" (the "natties" as the steroid-users call them) that still fly under the banner of the term "bodybuilder".

Although we (CPB) have a few minor bones to pick (some disagreements) with the "natural bodybuilding world," we have to say that those natural bodybuilders that are truly drug-free (especially for life) are heroic in their efforts of trying to keep some form of competition alive for the non-steroid users.

We, classic physique builders, can dream that maybe a day will come, if the CPB movement catches on, that there can be "Golden Age CPB contests" that restores the "Mr." titles in a simple hierarchical system that the general public can easily understand. Such contests would value the healthy, classic ideal that the public could readily accept. If this happens, it would be the restoration of true, Golden Age bodybuilding in the 21st century!

- CPB (Anthony)

Anonymous said...

amen to that

Anonymous said...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090528/ap_on_re_us/us_steroid_arrests

- CPB (Blog and Zine) - said...

Hi Anonymous,

Somehow I can't get the link to work. Perhaps it works for others though. Can you recheck it and send it again?

Thanks,

CPB (Anthony)

Anonymous said...

try this link its the same story
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-drugraid_28tex.ART.State.Edition1.5094d82.html

- CPB (Blog and Zine) - said...

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to Anonymous for providing the new link above. It regards a news story about people arrested for manufacturing, selling, and possessing steroids in the U.S.A.

I'm reprinting a little of the article below, so that our readers don't get the impression that this problem is limited to Belgium. We know that roids are a worldwide problem in mainstream bodybuilding (and have been since the 1960s).

Here is a bit of the story from the AP News:

ROSENBERG, Texas – Law enforcement officials arrested 66 people in Texas and seven in four other states Wednesday, and said they dismantled a drug ring that sold anabolic steroids and other illegal drugs.

The suspects included professional bodybuilders, gym owners, personal trainers and pharmacists. They are charged with manufacturing, selling and possessing steroids, human growth hormone, "ecstasy" and other prescription drugs.

In addition to the 66 Texas arrests, seven people were arrested in California, Georgia, Indiana and Louisiana, authorities said.

Johnny G said...

I have said at times to young men with great physiques who come into gyms for the first time, don't screw up your built by doing drugs and doing crazy I feel that infocommericial P90X will do more good then must gyms ...I'm not knocking weight training, but their seems to be to many insecure weight trainers and owners out there thinking that bigger is better...looking functional is more important....I had a friend from years past that said to me(if you want to be a jogger fine, and if you want to be a bodybuilder that is fine as well, but I feel you should look combat ready-strong enough to handle any problem and enough endurance if it takes to long to handle) that is what classic physique bodybulders looked like to me..COMBAT READY

- CPB (Blog and Zine) - said...

Hi Johnny,

Steve Reeves was also an advocate of "functional muscle." He built his classic physique while in high school and then he was drafted and served in the 25th Combat Division of the Infantry (US Army). He particpated in some of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific in World War II. Talk about combat ready! His classic (and functional) physique served him well!

But that is what classic physique building is all about. It is our way of physical culture - pursuing health and strength through weight training. So, as physical culture, it is not simply an "aesthetic-look" that we pursue. We pursue it all - aesthetic-looks, health, strength, sound mind, and good character!

All the best,

CPB (Anthony)

Johnny G said...

I still feel it was not fair to these bodybuilders who used drugs to be tested if they were not given sufficent time to get clean - I know it sounds weird coming from someone who believes in drug free contests, but these organizers knew that these bodybuildrs were not clean from the get go...I am not being overly sympathic just saying that these organizer reaped in the money before hand and then drop the ball on the contestants most likely the last moment...we need not to humilate but educate them