Bodybuilding has been an ever-evolving sport for decades. What started as a way to show off a healthy and fit physique has slowly turned into a competition of mass monsters and freakishly large builds. In a widely circulated video on Instagram, golden era bodybuilding legend Steve Reeves shared his opinion on the now heavily relied-on use of steroids.
Steve Reeves was a bodybuilder in the 1940s who had a balanced and lean physique he earned by working out three times a week. Reeves began his career by winning the 1946 Mr. Pacific Coast bodybuilding competition and proceeded to defend his title the next year. Steve Reeves shifted his attention to Mr. America and easily took gold before going international and earning the distinction of Mr. Universe and Mr. World in 1948.
Steve Reeves’ career was short-lived due to limited funds provided at competitions and his pursuit to become an actor. Reeves would eventually have a big break when he received the part in Hercules and Hercules Unchained in 1957.
Steve Reeves Calls Out Bodybuilders Using Steroids “You Should Take Up Some Other Sport”
Steve Reeves was an advocate for healthy living and keeping a drug-free physique. In an interview that was recently resurfaced by the fan page @thegoldendaysofbodybuilding on Instagram, Reeves divulges his stance on using steroids while competing and stresses that he would never use them.
“That’s the thing you see, during my timeI believe that bodybuilding was a health oriented sport. Whereas now it is unhealthy, chemical induced gains and all that. I believe that if your genetic background didn’t give you the kind of hormones to build that kind of body you wanted without injecting other hormones into your body, you should take up some other sport like I dunno, catching butterflies, ping pong or whatever you know,” Steve Reeves states.
Reeves highlighted the dangers of steroids and their overall impact on longevity.
“I mean I plan to live to be 100. I don’t know if I’ll make it but I’m gonna try and that there would get me dead at 65 probably.”
Steve Reeves isn’t the only esteemed bodybuilder who has voiced his concerns about the harms of PEDs. Seth Feroce has spoken up about the use of steroids time and time again, especially after the string of deaths seen in the bodybuilding community as of late. Feroce believes athletes are “playing with fire” when they opt to use gear and emphasizes that “steroids will kill you.”
Chuck ‘Kali Muscle’ Kirkendall has also gone to bat for bodybuilding competitors and fans alike to warn them of PED harm following his heart attack. ‘Kali Muscle’ feels that all heart attacks are preventable and that steroids are the reason athletes are dying at such an alarming rate. Kali went as far as calling out Nick Walker and Andrew Jacked, who he believes are mass monsters with too much size.
RELATED: Three Basic Steve Reeves’ Bodybuilding Training Rules
The fitness community has lost too many young athletes and many speculate the cause leads back to PED abuse. As bodybuilding continues to evolve toward bigger builds, the urgency to taper down and use gear responsibly is only getting higher. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger has stated that the Men’s Open has become too dangerous and that Classic Physique is the future of bodybuilding.
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I’m 66: I’ve trained since I was 18, people like Earl Maynard & Paul Wynter trained at the same Gym (Sunfis Manchester) the Senior Bodybuilders who trained there totally disputed the use of Drugs: I’ve never even taken a aspirin for over 60 years: my physique is as Follows: neck, arms, calves 16” Chest 44” Waist 28” thighs 24” I train 3 times per week: eat 6 healthy meals daily I enjoy a pint of Guinness once a week: Kalvin at Sunfis taught me train Correctly: