Bigger Stronger Faster

I just finished watching Bigger Stronger Faster and it was a great documentary. I assumed I had seen a lot of the highlights that would be in the movie or heard about them already but there was still plenty to take in.

One of the things that struck me about the movie was the honesty, openness and balance displayed by Chris Bell. The viewer is provided with several opportunities to change their mind in the movie without always being told what your mind should be.

I was reminded of also being an overweight child wanting to grow up to look like Hulk Hogan or Arnold Schwarzennegger. For years I steadfastly refused to believe that they and the professional wrestlers I enjoyed watching were using steroids. Of course, when I was eleven years old I also refused to believe that the Giant Machine was Andre The Giant under a mask. "No way man, Andre wouldn't do that, he was suspended". Sadly, this was about as credible as believing that Hulk Hogan's muscles came from prayers and vitamins.

Chris Bell appears to have interviewed as wide an array of experts as could be expected for a film on steroids. Anti-steroid politician Henry Waxman is provided the opportunity to explain his side and comes off about as knowledgable as Nancy Grace saying that Chris Benoit was demoted from the Four Horsemen to Raw. Joseph Biden is in the film saying that the use of steroids is Un-American. Maybe it's the Canadian apathy regarding nationalism coming out in me, but shouldn't his concern be more about whether or not it is Un-Human?

I especially enjoyed that he interviewed Harrison Pope, a noted researcher regarding the use of anabolic steroids. One thing that wasn't discussed (and I realize that not everything could be) is that in 1993 Pope was responsible for defining what is often known as "muscle dysmorphia" as well as "reverse anorexia". He maintained that just as someone with anorexia nervosa (a type of body dysmorphia) would never think they are skinny enough and always perceive themselves as being fat, a bodybuilder with body dysmorphia would never see themselves as being big or muscular enough. Such obsessions would lead to harmful extremes taken to become more muscular, which would frequently include the use of anabolic steroids. After the death of Chris Benoit, I remember reading in Dave Meltzer's "Wrestling Observer" that Benoit would stay on steroids during two periods when he was out of WWE for six months as well as a year and that he would obsess about thinking his arms were getting smaller. Just as anorexia can occur in female models being pressured to be thin, Benoit often had difficulty being taken seriously in wrestling due to his size even though he was apparently a heavy steroid user. I imagine it didn't take much to convince himself he wasn't big enough when he was told this was the case.

Anyways, the film contains a non-mainstream presentation that there is a lack of empirical evidence regarding the harmful effects of steroids. One of the arguments frequently presented by anti-steroid people when steroids were compared with alcohol and smoking is that alcohol and smoking are legal. In my opinion, this is a pretty weak argument given that for people who have died from the use of alcohol or tobacco, the fact that they are legal does not make them any less dead. The legality (or lack therof) of such substances is a human construction and the insides of one's body do not discriminate in their reaction based on the legality. I can have the gut reaction that steroids are bad and harmful to your long-term health, but this doesn't fly too far if I'm having that gut reaction while up-sizing my extra value meal at McDonald's (perfectly legal by the way).

One would almost come out of watching this film thinking that society should just give up and not worry about steroids. That does not seem to have been Bell's intent but the lack of previous emphasis on the pro-steroid argument (or at least the non-anti-steroid argument) makes it something unfamiliar and thus fresh and convincing. Certainly the deaths of professional wrestlers connected to steroid abuse would seem to be evidence against steroid use, but are steroid use and steroid abuse always the same thing? It has been said that an issue for pro wrestlers is using steroids year-round rather than in cycles. Another issue is the combination of steroid use with the use of painkillers and other drugs. Perhaps the concept of harm reduction, involving a reduction in substance abuse with a person's drug of choice while recognizing that complete abstinence is not possible for that person, could be introduced to wrestling. Unfortunately, the Vince McMahons of the world would likely use this as a rationalization to enable continued steroid use rather than to allow people to do the best they can.

I would highly recommend this film. Bell has a gift for comparing steroid use with other issues such as pilots using amphetamine and musician using beta blockers, asking why one is acceptable when another is not. Chris Bell also delivers messages that Canadians would be proud of, noting that American soldiers on "Go Pills" bombed and killed friendly Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and that Ben Johnson was stripped of his Olympic Gold Medal for steroid use while Carl Lewis was awarded the gold medal after his steroid use was covered up. It took courage for him to make this film and to highlight hypocricy.

Oh, and the bull with mega-muscles was really cool to look at as well.