P.E.D'S -PRODUCING EXCELLENCE FOR DOLLARS

By Peter Vuono

     To appease the masses and help them to forget about economy and other unpleasant vicissitudes, the Roman Empire introduced gladiators which flourished for nearly 1000 years peaking from the 1st century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D.. It was finally eradicated in the 5th century A.D. with the advent of Christianity. We are more civilized than that now but pro sports and the entertainment industry now serves the same purpose for the masses as did the games of the Circus Maximus. One huge difference now is that the athletes are not competing for their lives but for their livelihoods which is just as important if they have family and enjoy all the perks of being a pro sportsman. This is where I'd like to allude to the latest Boston athlete, Steve Wright, who was said to have tested positive for Human Growth Hormone. Personally I will NEVER besmirch or vilify any athlete that uses PED's. I'll explain why after I inform you as to where this all started.
     According to a 1985 Time Magazine article German Historian Otto Freidrich claimed that Hitler's physician Ernst Gunther Schenk gave hormones to Hitler and the SS troops. When the Russians moved in during WWII, they took all secrets pertaining to testosterone.
    In the mid 1950's The American Olympic Lifting team took with them as their team doctor, decorated war veteran, Dr. John Zeigler who was one of America's most brilliant scientists. When Dr. Zeigler found out that the Russians were using testosterone and beating the Americans, he was incensed. Upon returning home, he approached the Ciba corporation and for a fee of $100.00 created the 1st anabolic steroid- methandrostenolone- better known as Dianabol. Dr. Ziegler allowed his judgment to get clouded by his competitiveness and patriotism and took a step that would put to  shame Victor Frankenstein. He disseminated Dianabol to weightlifters at the York Barbell club in PA. Later, a Olympic team trainer in approximately 1963, took the drugs to the NFL. It is alleged that the Chargers were the 1st team to use them and that year at an AFL conference game., they clobbered the Boston Patriots 51-10. If you think PED's are exclusive to sports, think again. Do you really think that all the action stars of today got that way due to whey protein and vitamins? According to the fine book"The 20 Best Bodybuilding Steroids On the Market", author Robin Barratt states,"Every well muscled film and TV star, fitness presenter, singer and celebrity most likely takes steroids to help them look the way they do". With that, I'd like to get back to my reasons for not vilifying any athlete caught.
   Do you remember the famous speech in "Patton"? It went, "America loves a winner and won't tolerate a loser". Athletes are pressured by fans, media, owners and sponsors to win. Winning is worth billions of dollars! If just ONE person uses a PED to achieve an advantage, then the rest of the athletes are pressured into doing likewise rather than losing their ranking and ultimately their jobs. It seems that we, as a nation(and I'm not sure why) are obsessed with winning and like it or not, it pressures athletes to appease the masses as they once did centuries ago. I don't blame the athlete. What he or she does is an aftereffect of giving the crowd what it wants. Given the panoply of possible health issues that can occur, it's a very sad story indeed. The gladiators once raised their sword to the emperor and stated, "We who are about to die, salute you". I guess now, we really haven't changed that much since then at all.

NO ONE GETS OUTTA HERE ALIVE

By Peter Vuono

Many thanks to Dave Walbourne for encouraging
me to write this.


     Back in 1975 I trained at the Bob Backus Olympic Health Club in Pembroke, Ma. I had many fond memories there. We were all strength athletes(bodybuilders, powerlifters, Olympic lifters and weight throwers) and we were pretty much addicted to achieving physical excellence in one way or another. I had a bodybuilding friend there(Barry) who once said,"If I only had a head, I'd do neck exercises". That's pretty much how we all felt. None of us either knew or cared that according to most biologists, men lose 1% of their total testosterone every year after the age of 30!!! As I aged, this proved to be true. In 1983, when I was 34, I weighed 178 and deadlifted 567.5 at a powerlifting contest in Nashua . In the late 90's I took a hiatus and when I came back in 2004 I deadlifted 500 and again in  2007 and 08 when I was 54 and 55 respectively. Fast forward to 2018. After deadlifting  425 the previous year I only did 400 at age 65 on a 12" platform. This was a world record in the International All-Round Weightlifting Assoc. but I was still distraught and depressed! The biologists were right; 30 years later I had only 70% of my strength left. Much of it was maintained by Clomid.
   Clomid is not a steroid but a fertility drug that I first heard about in the Underground Steroid Handbook in 1980. It causes the pituitary to excrete gonadotropins(Leutinizing hormone) which, in turn go to the cells of Leydig to create endogenous testosterone. Each year, since I was 50, I've had my total and free"T". tested along with my prostate specific antigen which is an enzyme excreted by the prostate. If levels of this enzyme increase, it can be indicative of prostate cancer.
   As my testosterone increased due to the Clomid(700ng/dl on a scale of 300-1100) so too, did my PSA which raised a red flag. You see, testosterone, because of an enzyme in the blood known as 5-alpha reductase, can convert testosterone to a hormone called dyhydrotestosterone which is most plentiful in the PROSTATE! How Ironic that the more I increased testosterone that my PSA score would come closer and closer to cancer. It's nature's and God's way that we are only allowed so much health and so much time.
   My endocrinologist immediately cut my Clomid intake and my last PSA test went from 3.55 to 3.53 in about 6 weeks. Currently, I am taking two all natural agents(Saw Palmetto and Lycopene) to further decrease the amount of DHT. So the reader may wonder why I'm writing this. First and foremost, it's a warning to all men starting at 50 to GET THAT PSA TESTED! Secondly, it's a message to my strength athlete comrades and perhaps a reaffirmation to myself.
  We all want to prolong our health and stay strong forever. It's just NOT  going to happen. We have to find  solace in that God has a plan that our lives here are just  an interim between the now and the hereafter. My faith teaches that there is such a place and I pray that there is because no one gets outta here alive.