Muhammed Ali and PEDs

Thank you for the info but they do have bad side effects, remember the pro football player Lyle Alzado, he fought an exhibition against Muhammad Ali in July 1979, Steroid use caused him Brain Cancer, he died from it. Is it not better for your health to gain muscle mass, strength, the old fashioned way, hard work or are the super human athletes today too lazy?

 

Its usually the older athletes who are having trouble keeping up, recovering or are trying to get over injuries. Steroids are amazing aids for healing....but yes, your right, many of the young ones are looking for shortcuts. Fernando Vargas was a good example...

God only knows what that will lead to down the line.

 

Richard I like your spirit & attitude, but sometimes you do not hear the specifics of what is said.

Even if you never recalled my many posts about PEDs, why seemingly assume you need to argue against PEDs with me? I cited there effects, nothing I said indicated I am for them.
As I wrote many time, I am deeply against them.

But I am also telling you it is not fair & accurate to assume that all or most (could be most, we really do not know) of these highly athletics dudes use or even ever used PEDs.
many do not & work extremely hard.

Some old timers comically assume everything was better in the old days, some modernistas do the opposite.
But you are tending to condemn too broadly. Without knowing how often violations occur.
And something like no PED helping you get taller is basic info.

 

No, it didn't. That isn't the current view.

 

HGH before adulthood increases height.

 

You are correct it can. I should have said no steroid can do this-Mr. Murrieta was speaking about them-I forgot about HGH.
But I never heard about it being abused re: not used just to reach a normal height, but get taller than normal for athletic or vanity purposes.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if the USSR or China did it at some point.

 

Could be, but I cannot say it is likely when there is no evidence or even rumors about it.
And we do not see athletes from those countries any taller on average than elsewhere.
Even with the massive population of China, which means all other things being equal they should have more of all statistical outliers.

 

Your opinion is well respected and taken, but really how are men today, especially athletes growing to Empire State Building sizes, not organic vegetables? I only grew to 5 ft 11, now I am 5 ft 8, I am 62 years old.

 

I think you meant to say not that the athletes are vegetables, but they are taking more than organic veggies?
If so, know that first there is no evidence that children are given HGH to get bigger. And it coul not happen once the growth plates are closed anyway.

Also the only nations where people have gotten significantly taller are those where health & nutrition-particularly getting adequate calories & macronutrients-have increased so folks can reach their genetic potential.
The average height in America is not much more than a 1/2 century ago. And take it back to late last century, it is almost identical.

There are both more people, & more sought out & recruited for sports-& rule changes in boxing have favored size & strength over speed & endurance. Glove size, shorter fights, more clinching allowed.
It is just not true that there is any massive or even large increase in the height of men & woman )if already a developed country.

Your "shrinking" has nothing to do with this.
If it is accurate that you lost 3 whole inches, I would check if you have osteoporosis &/or bone density issues or something that is degenerative that causes your spine to curve.
That is a lot of height to lose sometime before you are a senior citizen.

 

The shrinking, my physician explained is normal as we age. I grew to 5 ft 11 inches my Senior year of High School. Many guys that I went to school with have shrunk.

 

Fair enough. That is just more shrinkage than I thought usual before you are old.

 

But I never grew to 7 ft, none of us did in my era.

 

That is untrue: there were always people 7' & over in the modern world.
Wilt Chamberlain was more than one generation before you & was 7' 1", & he was certainly never the tallest person in the nation, let alone world. Those significantly taller than him were usually pituitary giants, my Mother knew one from over a 1/2 century ago.

The biggest reasons by far that there are more 7 footers than say mid last century is that there are many more people on earth.
So there are more of every height & type of people.

Also there are more places on earth that have adequate or excellent health care & nutrition.

BUT being a true 7' or more is still pretty rare.
To the extent that even though the average of *any* height person is not particularly athletic, a significant percentage of those who are 7' & of plausible age to be suitable to perform in this nation are IN the NBA!

 

I am going to nominate you as an advocate for the use of Steroids, Lol. I am talking about people I grew up with and family members, that is true my friend. None of us were 7 ft tall. I would never use something like Steroids, I used to work out with weights when I was in High School, I used to run and skip rope. But different strokes for different folks.