| An Open Letter to Arnold Schwarzenegger From Steve Reeves Dear Arnold: As you are well aware, the state of bodybuilding is in crisis. Competitors are killing themselves taking drugs that they believe they need to win shows that ultimately count for nothing in either their careers or their lives. I know that you love the sport of bodybuilding as much as I do, because you grew up in an era when being a bodybuilding champion meant something. It stirred heroic and noble images in your young mind of how a man could and should look and how vibrant and virile such a man could be. I know because these were the same images that first caused me to pick up a barbell and to seek to better not only my physique, but my life through physical culture (healthful living and bodybuilding). Bodybuildingreal bodybuildingis what I've just described. It can, and has, proven to work wonders in creating real men of substance, as opposed to what it's now becomea creator of men of real substance-abuse. It can and has opened doorsparticularly to you and me. We both went on to enjoy successful careers in film and made substantial sums of money, directly as a result of the physical benefits that our bodybuilding training provided. And that is why I am now appealing to you to join forces with me and provide a voice that will be heard by the governing authorities in bodybuilding. The steroids and drug use has to stop and it will not stop as long as we condone its use by turning a blind eye to it. I was out of the game for over 40 years; I turned my back on competitive bodybuilding because I couldn't bear to watch it become overrun by drug pushers, publishers and promoters who don't give a damn about the welfare of either the sport or the athletes who participate in it, and whose sole concern lies in selling fraudulent nutritional supplements, inferior equipment, and dispensing bogus training advice and selling tickets to bodybuilding events. | |
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