@mitchellhooperstrongman you asked if it could "solve the issue." The issue is cheating in the regular Olympics, correct? I don't believe having the option to be openly enhanced will be enough to convert the athletes that are currently cheating in the regulated sports. They're cheating for fame and glory. The Olympic gold medal is the prize worth cheating for, to them.
This brings to mind something Ed Coan said, ''There was a drug test, and I passed'' then Mark Bell said something like ''Oh you passed, you didn't say you were clean you said you passed''
The system as it currently is just one big puppet show. For example Lasha the absolute GOAT of weightlifting received a 2 year ban for doping back in 2013. Then during the 2016 summer Olympics he smashes his previous numbers, breaks the record and takes gold while being supposedly 'drug free'. Makes sense to me.
Can't remember if it was Rio or Tokyo, but Lasha was supposedly the only superheavy not to be tested after the comp. The Olympics protects their best... Same way there was a time where Usain Bolt held like 9/30 fastest 100m times ever, but every other athlete on that list was popped for doping at some point. Hard to believe that Bolt stayed clean and was still faster than the next 10-20 fastest men on the planet when they had all used at some point
@@aarononon Exactly. You can only ever argue genetics and training methodology for so long to justify someone being better than another. But when being exceptional is the norm and everyone except for the first place is being popped, it becomes blatantly obvious there's an alterior motive at play to protect this person's status.
@@orangepeeIOlympic weightlifting is mostly about technique and not about raw strength like powerlifting. The most roided gym goer in the world cannot snatch close to an Olympic weightlifter
I Really liked Clarance kennedy's video about why he quit pursuing the olympics and world stage and part of the reason being the skewed doping testing.
the only skew in doping testing is the disproportionate amount chinese athletes get tested when they have one of the lowest rates of being caught doping. There's also the us government making their intentions with WADA super clear when they threaten to withhold their membership when chinese athletes arent being caught and american ones only slightly more tested than usual. There also might be the fact that so many american swimmers in the olympics have the suspiciously red faces in the pool whereas all the other athletes looked fine.
@@onlyfineinclines bribes in testing committees are super normal in most industries. Wada needs competitors and a third party government body to oversee legal compliance. That way corrupt testers are weeded out over time
Everyone competing at the top level is enhanced to a degree. Passing some tests and actually being a lifetime natural are two completely different things. Plenty of doping scandals and examples to prove this, with the best one being the cycling scandal with Lance Armstrong where it turned out everyone was actually doping...
All road race fans new the doping was going on, and when racers stopped using EPO and the times up the big mountains dropped dramatically, the race fans bemoaned the now more boring racing.
For sure in disciplines where physical strength and endurance are critical. I'm sure there are plenty of natty athletes in stuff like eastern martial arts, skating etc.
This is such a lazy take. There are lots of enhanced athletes at the highest level, obviously, but it's not "everyone." Even at the height of the steroid era in baseball or the Icarus era cycling, it wasn't every top athlete that was doping. It's naive to think that no one is enhanced, but it's even more naive to think that _everyone_ is.
The scary thing about gym goers experimenting with PeDs is not going through a doctor/certifed/practitioner. Most often it’s from a friend/fellow gym goers. Thanks for talking about this topic.
The small problem with allowing drugs is that since people are not worried about getting caught the winners will be determined by who is willing to die younger.
Nobody cares. And I do not mean that trying to be a dick, but you have to be honest. Nobody cares, not really. As mentioned above, during the Lance Armstrong era of cycling, several racers died due to EPO abuse, but it did not affect viewing figures. The public's reaction, "oh such a shame, tragic, poor wife and kids" all that stuff, but they still go and watch the next race.
@@carlh296 some people may be watching the same way people were watching gladiators in Rome. I was personally disgusted after Armstrong was caught and seeing the mounting evidence that doping continued in pro cycling after that didn't watch it anymore. As one wise man said "training is good for your health. ( Pro) sport is bad"
So one concern I have about an enhanced Olympics is that I don't trust some countries not to mandate that some of their athletes use certain PEDs that could be on the riskier side. I could totally see some countries say to their athletes "Sure, this drug may lead to serious medical consequences for you later in life, but we're willing to make you take that risk for us."
that is a problem already, just that it's less about "this is risky but so powerful that we force you" but rather "this is risky but so hard to detect in tests that we force you" since things which are harder to detect are usually newer and therefore have no research on how to prevent side effects etc
If you can take anything, athletics will be more likely to opt for less toxic compounds that are still effective. A lot of what people take are to avoid tests and are worse for health.
My hot take is that the enhanced game won’t be peak athletic performance. All the athletes who are genetically gifted are already mainstream successful Olympians will not risk their reputation to touch this. I think this game will attract the pros who are not good enough to be the elite pros, and even with enhancements they will look average as compared to the elite athletes we have today.
It will never happen. The public message of „you can only perform like this using PEDs“ is not relatable and would lead to an even higher public demand of these drugs and a bigger black market. The clean image and „fairness“ are part of the Olympic dream even though many athletes are not objectively clean.
The US track and field team is very sus this year. The consistency across every track sport is highly abnormal. Would not be surprised if a scandal hits, a lot of dirt being uncovered about USADA lately too.
I want to see BOTH. I want to see what the human body can be without enhancement and what the absolute extreme can be. Another thing I want to add is: the current anabolics are still developed from DECADES ago. We are only now talking about them because of how lucrative fitness and social media industry is. If we have an untested Olympics, the revenue potential in that will generate so much research into SAFER and likely much more effective anabolics. I for one at least want that to happen, you can never shut down the demand, you can only make the supply safer. Even though I will never consider anabolics, there will be great talents that will go down that road and I want them to live a heathier, longer life. Even if you take an extremely selfish perspective, them living longer bring more entertainment.
I feel that way about myself. I never did steroids but wish I did when I was about 30 to see what I could have done with some assistance. At 41 I don't really see the benefit so won't do it.
@@joshhiroti i doubt untested games will see much traction from the governments (where some of the comments are saying it will become forced doping), i can't see a government would be happy to have the optics of "we gave our athletes whatever they wanted and some more so they won, go country!" and in terms of health, as long as you have rules, people are going to want to find a way to go around and gain advantages, and most of the time, that's not healthy. it's not like you can test the untested games so they aren't abusing peds lol. i suggest for untested games, they give out prizes like companies give out stocks: over the years so it forces the competitors to have longivity in mind. (i.e. incentive includes longvity which will be the only solution for 'done healthily‘) i'd rather just see it separated so some athletes who wants to be natural can be and still have level playing field.
I heard a quote: Athletes don't want to dope. If the athletes knew the testing was good enough they would not dope. But the testing is not good enough, and many dope, and they have to dope to compete.
I think I have to disagree, we cannot be telling kids that they have to be taking PEDs in order to compete at an Olympic level. That’ll get them started way too young. As a medical professional I’d rather see someone give up their Olympic dreams than start taking something at unhealthy doses. Many women weightlifters who started PEDs at a very young age ended becoming infertile and ended up suing the training regime, they clearly regretted it.
The thing is, your concerns are valid even now, when doping is prevalent at the highest levels despite being banned. If kids desire to compete at Olympic levels, then they'll be faced with doped up competition sooner or later. Having it normalised will allow for better oversight on use, minimising the risk of people using it improperly. Also, that we must either not allow doping or face a slew of kids starting younger is a false dichotomy.
@@MrDoomsdayBomb , you say that, but in the bodybuilding world, we're already starting to see an epidemic of 20 and under kids starting to hop on gear because bodybuilders have become open about their gear use. With the rise of social media and the fitfluencers they have been doing really well financially and have been starting to glorify gear use. I'm not saying I have the solution here, but that trend is absolutely happening. Zack Telander has a great analogy where he compares this whole idea to going out and drinking. A 21 year old walks into a bar and starts talking to an older gentleman and the older guy says, "Yeah i do this everynight, it makes me feel terrible, but I was able to pull a 10 everynight, you just gotta be smart about it." That kid is only going to hear how fun it is and how he oculd potentially pull a 10.
@@harrison3910 Yeah but that same argument with alcohol can be applied to some people even if it is illegal. Now, i do get that less people in general will be willing to try it given that it is illegal, but if we're comparing alcohol with PEDs, and how the latter are almost given free reign at the highest levels if you're smart about it, then having PEDs banned does not seem like much of a deterrent. Of course I do agree that having PEDs be unbanned will allow for more people to freely try it, but I'm not sure, all things considered, that it's necessarily a net negative. It may be, don't get me wrong, but I have yet to see convincing argument establishing it. For instance, perhaps PEDs not being banned will incur enough benefits, regarding better regulation and education, so as to outweigh the negatives incurred by having more people on it incorrectly or on some relatively more unsafe variant. Additionally, having PEDs be more widely available may help uphold values of fairness by leveling the playing field a little by giving athletes from less wealthy countries the opportunity to try something that they would have a much harder time acquiring otherwise. Also, I don't think allowing its use in competition will have that much more of a public effect compared to the natural exposure its use will most certainly get in the future even if it is banned - if more people become aware that athletes at the highest levels use it and can get away with using it, then more people will start using it unless the arms race between testing/consequences and use starts shifting more so to the side of the former. Lastly, we're just talking about using PEDs at the highest levels of competition. We don't have to take this to mean that we must allow it at, say, the junior varsity level.
In Australia many sports teams eg athletics team or swimming team or just an individual does it themselves, where they go overseas for a training camp. How sus is that, when there are plenty of great training facilities all over the country.
If you knew anything about the testing differences between countries you would understand why, it’s drastic. There is a reason we hardly medal in weightlifting and it’s not poor athletes.
Hi @Mitchell Hooper !There is a huge downside in proclaiming untested games. I was born in 1989 in East Germany. I started lifting weights in 2005 on a non-professional basis without doping at a hight of 174cm (5'7) and 60kgs (130lbs), reaching 177cm and 80kgs (178lbs) within the next two years, deadlifting 400lbs. I was lifting in a PED-infested gym. Most people thought I was doping (I wasn't) and thought doping would be restricted to body building. They weren't aware of the enormous state-organized PED epidemic in the East Germany. These problems only became known by the 2010s. Why was that? Basically, East German politicians wanted to proclaim their political system superior and kept the usage of PEDs secret, even from the atheletes. Yes, East Germany, with its 16 million inhabitans, placed 2nd on the medal table in 1988. But this was achieved by pumping teenagers up with drugs without their knowledge. Overall, the Olympic Games are seen as a competition between states. And some politicians want to see their states being superior among others. Although in modern times China is the most prominent example, this also applies, for example, to Spain. Overall, I have seen crazy downsides of PEDs over the past two decades. I would consider torn muscles minor damages, but mental disordes to deadly heart attacks at the age of 40 the most severe ones. If adults chose to do so, it's fine by me. Regardless of their aim of, for example, getting a job as a pusher or benchpressing 200kg (440lbs) raw in a backyard gym, the most impressive performance I've seen live in my life. But to demand lifting doping regulations for sports overlooks the political demension of sports, endangers the young generation, and is purely naive.
I really like the story of the first case of doping in the Olympics, it was a shooter who had a beer before shooting to calm his nerves. And as a competitive shooter I can confirm, one dose of alcohol or something like that really makes the hand a bit steadier and slows your bpm, highly beneficial. BTW, for people reading this, don't drink and carry, if you are out think of yourself as a "designated protector", like "designated driver". Actually drinking and shooting is not recommended.
@@prgnify yeah I think it should be allowed. It’s not that reliable. Everyone can have a drink or figure out a different way to calm the nerve. I don’t think it’s comparable to steroid or amphetamine use in other sports
@@yoeyyoey8937 I mean, sure. But as Mitch pointed out in the video, Caffeine has also been banned in the past. I do believe that nowadays alcohol is only prohibited as anti-doping, not as a PED - as in, you can't drink and shoot because of "safety" reasons.
@@prgnify yes and that’s kinda what I mean too. Like caffeine shouldn’t be banned. It can give you a performance boost but it’s safe and it’s not too much of an advantage. Alcohol being banned for “safety” is annoying tho, as if an alcoholic would make it to the higher levels in Olympic shooting. As if they’re not gonna have an unsafe amount or alcohol after the event anyways lol
I think we all know why strongman is not in the Olympics.. Even sports that have zero history (climbing/boldering) were there, so lack of history or governing body is not the reason.
Why would you limit straps? The bottleneck for that is always gonna be your forearms. If you truly want to see who is naturally strong, straps are fine. It doesn't actually help you do the lift (unlike a belt lmao)
@@DavidLee-cw6ci Natural bodybuilders look much better than the disgusting steroid infused FREAKS of the last 40 years. As for "nobody wants to see that" the average woman definitely does. But enjoy your Ignorance of what people really want
Deadlift is so leverage dependent. Somebody with long arms, normal legs and short torso have a massive advantage. There are better exercises to determine strength, like a power clean and strict press, or a squat. Long femurs suck for squats, but there are ways to overcome this, and it's not as big of a disadvantage as short arms are for deadlifts imo.
@@DavidLee-cw6ci I am sure they also did this for strongman around 1996 or 98. One year they just all seemed a lot weaker, and I believe that they were tested for drugs.
I have a cousin who was on the summer Olympic team a few Olympics ago and he said most all of the Olympians he knew were doping. He also said in certain sports it’s almost assured if you medal, you’re doping/taking something. Ad well as saying the Olympics are the most unclean sporting event(s) there is.
The problem is it's impossible to tell whether anyone is natural, even if they look like they could be natural, so I have to assume every competitive professional athlete has been enhanced since PEDs were invented. Rather have the taboo broken so that everything is open and understood by the public.
It worries me that people ask why strongman isn't in the Olympics. It shows a huge lack of knowledge of both strongman and the Olympics. They'll be asking about CrossFit soon!
talking about state sponsored, the dutch skating and runners all suffer from asthma and are allowed steroids because of that. I suppose it happens in all countries but its the tip of the iceberg what doctors can give athletes
The enhanced games will give a pretty good insight into how natural the Olympics really are. Anything short of thrashing the records in athletics is bringing up a huge red flag. My prediction. Huge red flag.
Bolt lost a gold medal in the relay because a teammate tested positive for a banned substance. I have little doubt that the rest of the team was doping too
the problem with "the enhanced games" is that if anythings allowed, people will take whatever it takes to win even if it seriously harms their health, and more importantly, it will normalise and popularise such substances and end up increasing the number of non-athletes from harming themselves. Alongside stopping people who don't want to harm themselves, from competing, meaning the best athletes are losing to the most reckless.
Go read this study: "Assessing the Prevalence of Doping Among Elite Athletes: An Analysis of Results Generated by the Single Sample Count Method Versus the Unrelated Question Method". Comparing the number of athletes who admit to doping, versus how many get caught, is very eye opening.
100% wish steroids was never invented then we would honestly see what the true human potential would be and how just good old fashioned hard work pays off
I think if enhanced games next year does come to fruition, it's going to come as a controversial shocker when you see no world records broken. Which then begs to qs, are the Olympics all doping - answer = yes. I'm not against it but the rule makers will be hilarious to watch as they explain what happened
Both of my boys compete at Usports(University level ) in Canada and the rules are incredibly strict - have to only use proteins etc… that are certified Safe for Sports etc.. all supplements have to have this certification, so at this level- very clean but the Olympics - nope. Team Canada has some of the strictest guidelines etc.. to follow so it is not easy to cheat in Canada. 🇨🇦
I love that the Enhanced Games are coming because the true solution is to have both. There's an old saying that there's no perfect pasta sauce, but there are perfect pasta sauces - some people want spicy pasta sauce, some people want chunky, some people want alfredo. The Enhanced Games levels all playhing fields - enhanced atheltes have their compeitions and clean atheltes have theirs, and people get to watch whichever they prefer.
Unless the money all goes to the enhanced games people are still gonna dope in the Olympics. At least there's no bullshit about it in enhanced games, I'm gonna be a supporter.
There are still a bunch of cheaters in IPF and USAPL, despite having untested federations. Sure, it helps to have untested federations, but it's no solution by any means.
It wouldn't make a difference, and the general public probably would prefer to watch the normal athletes. It isn't like sports where people know they are on drugs and drugs are allowed are popular anywhere in the world. Name a sport where drugs are allowed that is more popular than tennis/athletics/ swimming around the world, never mind the world's biggest sports like football(soccer)/cricket/rugby or in America NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB. You can't ,therefore money will be minimal and the top athletes will stay where they are.
@@daveaglasgow there aren't any sports where drugs are actually allowed, just those that don't say anything about it. And really rugby and NFL probably being in that category, everyone playing those are juiced or not trying hard enough.
The reality is that likely everyone in at least the athletic parts of the Olympics, are doped. They will all be genetically gifted and have high work ethic as well. The amount you would need to be out in front of someone taking a lot of peds would be so far that it is unlikely that no one else on the globe was found who was similarly genetically AND also isn't doping
The Olympics makes billions of dollars and should definitely pay the athletes more. Luckily allot of countries themselves do pay the medallists allot but it varies widely per country.
The only thing that worries me about this whole thing is the health of the athletes. From a fairness point of view, great, but the health aspect isn't so great. Currently there are certainly people that do too much and hurt their health of die by their own drug use, but if it's not secret anymore and is basically needed to win any event, drugs will be used much more. Imagine a martial arts tournament, say boxing: The boxers are already on PEDs for all of their training but right before the fight they take maybe some amphetamins or snort some coke or whatever. There surely are substances that could help right before a fight. If drugs are allowed, which drugs are allowed? Everything? Even illegal stuff? What is illegal in the host country? etc. Are we going to see juiced out of their minds athletes, that almost have a stroke or heart failure every second event? I think what this approach will lead to is 1) more fairness 2) more openness 3) more PEDs realted deaths 4) more long term health risks for athletes.
No, enhanced games won't solve this issue they will just increase the numbers of death by sport. Gearing is obviously a problem in any game, but the analysis must be in a statistical approach instead of the simplistic "if one maybe enhancing everyone should", most athletes take tests and most of them want a fair game after all. Does it really worth it to risk every athelete life putting 2 game changer variables: your answer to enhancing and your answer to side effects. Bodybuilding is an example of what happens whey you do it, many deaths and really genetic based.
I never really understand doping in the Olympics. I can understand in professional sports where there can be large prizes or brand sponsorships, but in the Olympics, where the only thing you're doing it for is "national pride"? Where is the pride in cheating? 😕
A large portion of countries have state sponsored doping plans, if an athlete didn't want to dope they probably wouldn't even be allowed to compete internationally.
Love your honesty with PEDs. In Sweden when I grew up, we had Magnus Samuelsson. Noone accepted the notion that he could be on PEDs. Noone. Not accepted in the school yard or anything. Even today people think that because he was a farmer he built that strength all alone with hardnwork. As with you, he was a natural phenomenon, benching 100 kgs the first time he benched and after a very short while, 200 kgs. Natural (he was a young teen back then). However, people think that Hollywood actors who transform themselves in two months by "working out six hours a day" and bodybuilders are natural... This is sad for me. I say use whatever, but be open. I have been strength training 26 years. Always natural. Yeah, I've gotten "you are doing it wrong because other gym goers gain faster". Yeah, it is not the same with PEDs. So enhanced games, I'll watch it. And I dont watch the Olympics or nothing other than strength sports. Because it is exciting to see what humans can do. Even though I have never ever taken anything worse than whey powder and creatine 😅
It solves the problem of fairness in competition, and will certainly be a great spectacle, at the expense of glorifying PEDs. People absolutely destroy their bodies in pursuit of perfectionism (be it work or sport) and I don't think the funnel should be opened wider. Maybe the athletes competing in these enhanced games will have the best medical care while they are participating in the games, but how about after? How about when they are 16 year old varsity athletes with dreams to compete enhanced?
Having both enhanced and natty Olympics is a great way to work out which of the nattys we need to keep an eye on. *Olympics 2032:* "Bro, we know what the human body is capable of. You're cappin'."
I think most steroids get a bad rap because of the early stages where people didn't get tested. Now that we know what is going on and how to test for everything and keep people safe, it's a very healthy to take steroids if under a doctor's supervision.
not true many guys have died even under doctor's supervision. I am using it and I can tell 100% it is not healthy also despite affect on your health you can peroform much more and you wear your body faster just but working out harder. Normally your body will say stop and you will overtrain with PED you can pass it and work even harder. You will break faster or even die younger. Ma by not at olimpics where your are 20-30 years old but you will got hart attack at 50.
He also looks natural so in my view he is living proof that you can functionally, not aesthetically, reach the highest level clean. For the sake of sport science, it would be very interesting to see what he would do drug assisted. Hopefully, we will never see it though.
There are so many nuances to this… I don’t really care about the drug/no drugs as long as it’s on the same terms. And as long different countries have different rules about the substances being legal I can’t really see how it could be… one big problem for strongman is that it wasn’t controlled in the first place and now it’s kind a to late 🤷🏻♂️
There will end up being someone that wins events at the enhanced games, breaks records, and then is on social media like 'lifetime natty. Buy my natural test booster to get these results'
People will buy tickets to see "juiced up hercules" set multiple world records. I think they may be in for a dissapointment. Genetics, training and coaching plays the biggest part no matter what and if the top 0,1% decide to stick to "clean olympics" 2. tier athletes may not be able to catch up to world record level, even if their juice to the gilles...
You want kids jabbed with steroids and people dying of abuse in their 30s? Then "allowing everything" is a great idea. Just because it's the norm in strongman it doesn't mean it's a good thing. Even for strongman people like me would never compete at the highest levels, even if we could, because we're not willing to take steroids.. That should be the norm not asking people to risk killing themselves to do be competitive in sports. And no medical supervision isn't enough. We all know athletes will risk it all because it's their livelihood.
I agree 100% with the Enhanced Games and thought of the idea about 10 or more years ago. I'm sure there are major advantages of this and things to be learned about performance improvement. I'm surprised it has actually got funding as soon as 2025. Expand it to more sports and events though.
Drug testing is inherently unfair in the current paradigm. You should do a reaction video to Clarence Kennedy's "against anti doping" video, it goes into great detail and hits a lot of the points you're also making here.
I think if anyone actually looks into the enhanced games and how they plan to select "athletes" it's not a serious competition. It's a reality show looking to pretend they're a serious athletic competition.
Im from Sweden so what i say here is from how antidoping works here. Everyone who competes in any wada sport or is in any facilities where its 100% drug free zone you can get tested when competing or training. But if you are at the absolute elite you will have randomised testing over a year. Normally you get tested 3-4 times out of competition when you are at the highest level in sweden in any sport. So you need to report where you will be 1hour a day so they can find you and test you wherever whenever. Then to have only an untested Olympic is wrong in my opinion. My biggest issue with it is all the hardcore parents who will push their child with everything under the sun. I think thats my biggest concern. Other then that i think everyone cant compete again. Countrys with low economy and such will fall from competing at the same level as richer nations. Well i tried explaining in short hopefully you understand what i wrote.
From a fairness perspective, enhanced games is the way to go. We won't see what peak natural potential looks like on the world stage but you really can't stop the cheating which muddies the waters too much anyway.
they still need to explain how "natural/drug free" athletes now beat the performance of doped athletes in the past. no better training and nutrition is not the answer
You mention one thing that I'm pretty sure is not the case: you can't just stay away from comps and then appear in a competition, set new PBs and qualify for the Olympics. Pretty sure that in order to qualify for the Olympics you have to already be part of your national fed's prioritised testing pool under a WADA regime. In order to be in that smaller testing pool, you'll need to be at a level where you are likely to qualify for quite a while (probably several years in most cases) and be subject to the random testing and location reporting. Otherwise, you're not eligible to qualify. So if you want to dope, you need to be ahead on the science, or dodge the actual tests.
For most endurance sports are also now doing blood passports on elites from a very early age, so if you want to do something, you'll need to start in primary school or it'll probably show up eventually. Miss a cycle in your twenties and have all your results since age 12 stripped. People are doping at the Olympics, but it is getting harder.
Nope, I will never encourage anyone to take any drug to be the best they can be. I have been lifting my whole life, competed years ago and still lifting today in my 40s. Also been accused often of being on something or other my entire life despite never having taken a thing. I will never be convinced that being on performance enhancing drugs is healthy. I think the body is capable of incredible feats with training and genetics alone and the fact people today seem to feel anyone with any level of size and strength or other metrics of performance can not be natural is depressing to me. The Olympics are not just about pure performance, they are supposed to be about the competition and how the athletes come together and how they deal with the competition win or lose. If you come in 6th at the Olympics, and are natural, and followed all the rules you are a true Olympian in my books. Also keep in mind that so many of these athletes from smaller rural areas without some of the advanced facilities., likely not able to attain these drugs either economically or done "safely" with monitoring. At least in the initial stages of their training. I just can’t imagine the Olympic trials they put on for young people to encourage and find out a sport they could excel at and be like. “You could do fantastic in sprinting, lets talk about your future drug regimen…” nope, I hate the whole idea, sorry.
Steroids are so easily available you wouldn't believe. Every gym in the country has users and plenty of them. You can achieve incredible results very cheaply. I've seen private trt companies advertise that they'll prescribe trt for £100 a month, the same amount is around £5 a month Inc needles
Cannot wait for the enhanced games. It will enable lots of sports to be be elevated and seen by a new audience, and the competition will make the Olympics have to be better. While it is has a monopoly it doesn't have to improve
No mention of the Oregon project with Alberto Salazar. That's right he was selling but none of his athletes were his customers 😂. Have a look at how many medals that group won .
All professional sport on the world level is enhanced anyway and will remain enhanced forever. Stop spending millions on testing and bureaucracy and invest more in developing youth sports, build facilities and reward athletes generously.
Clarence Kennedy did a brilliant video on this as well, would love to see your opinion on his videos. Edit: Zack Telander also put out a video which highlights the potential negative effects of allowing doping, for example, the problem that incentivises children to take PEDS. Definitely think there is a good debate to be had.
I’m all for it. Natty sports are awesome to watch but it’s hard to not see them as genetics competitions. Yes, I’m saying PEDs have potential to level the playing field and let hard work shine through.
It is an interesting concept and am sure that there is a lot of money to be made. But i am also certain that a lot of athletes will suffer due to this.
For professional sports, sure why not be enhanced. However kids shouldn't need to put their health at risk to compete in sports. So to ensure a safe competition for children, they should not be in sports where drugs are allowed.
i'm intrested to see the gap if any (as we all know, every top level sport has doping at some level) the enhanced games will have to the olympics. my guess is there is no gap and if anything the olympics will still have the better records etc. maybe due to the level of people that are in them already but i think it could be a bit of an eye opener to the average follower of sports that thinks doping doesn't take place. "why aren't the people in the enhanced games breaking every world record if they are all on gear" lol
Who was it that said drug testing is an intelligence test not a chemical one? 🧠 💉 How many test did lance Armstrong take, and pass? 🚴♀️ 💊 💉 To think that the best performance athletes in the world are beating all the others, some of whom statistically will be doping, while clean is just willfully naive. Love your content, get a merch supplier in the uk.
Great discussion. I think there's a place for both types of competitions... ones with Natural Athletes and Enhanced Athletes. To be successful, there would have to be a defined standard for what is and isn't "natural" or "enhanced." Something as simple and common as Creatine, while not considered by most to be, could legitimately be classified as a "performance enhancer." Being "steroid free" for six years, after having done fifteen years worth of cycles isn't exactly natural. I believe having distinct competitions for each category is a great idea, and may lend to solving the current issue.
So what isn't enhanced if creatine is? By that standard, getting large doses of vitamins and minerals, or having any caffeine, or even eating a load of sugar before a race could be deemed as doping.
What does Joe public want to see? Well IMO they want to see the very best, biggest, fastest, strongest etc etc. They are not interested in the whys and hows, it just makes better viewing. So give the public what they want. The only losers are those few athletes who are not prepared to go that extra step to live out their dreams.
So very uninterested in "enhanced games". Peter Thiel is a ghoul. The current system is OK. Perhaps a few types of doping could be accepted. Being an Olympic athlete and using all kinda of doping out in the open seems like a recipe for health disasters.
Where there is money, there are "cheats". Where there is endless glory and prestige, the same applies. Every single one of them is juiced to the gills. I mean when you get top olympians that pop for PED's and the supposed "nattys" are on the same level, that would mean those nattys, if they juiced, would be Gods amongst men....
I say let them do whatever they want. I think it would be awesome too see enhanced athletes in something light sprinting go up against tested athletes to see if there is that big of a difference now. Especially with the new crop of runners in the model of Usain Bolt and and so on. The same for gymnastics. I think Simone Biles could probably beat any enhanced gymnast because it isn't all about strength and power.
Well we know certain people involved in the Olympics are at least injected with soy. And yes, they try to get away with anything they can. The stakes are high, especially when some countries grant huge rewards to their athletes. Winning is great state propaganda.
I think that allowing PEDs but with strict health control would be better than very lilely a major part of athletes doping in one way or another but being most concerned by not getting caught. Don‘t think it would solve issues though because there‘ll always be chesters. Even doing weight training just recreational and basically trying to best myself, as actually natty it‘s difficult for me to say how good or bad i am. There are some people obviously on gesr in my gym, other might likely be. I‘m 44, 95KG, bench press PR currently at 142.5KG (313lbs). That‘s really not bad, but is it actually good for being 100% natty? For actual athletes in any sport, national, international or world Championships, as long as there will be ‚clean‘ competition, there will always be someone chesting. What enhanced games would do, they‘d show that many suppesedly clean competitions are enhanced in reality.
It's not about PEDs because there are bunch of people who are ready to do and take everything and still we are talking about a couple of athletes who are the best in their sport.
I think an enhanced games is a good idea for the sake of seeing the highest level in any sport it benefits. Pretty sure that's something most people want to see.
The problem with enhanced games is that people will always overdo it. So it will be extremely harmful for the athletes as they will do everything to win.
@@jlalonde1000 well the problem is the long term consequences. i.E taking huge amount of Testosterone and HGH will not kill you instantly, but if you take too much you are done with 40.
Why? What's wrong with grown adults deciding what they want to put into their bodies? What I have a problem with is the pro-trans community thinking it's alright to give these hormones to children.
Advil is not WADA banned fyi. I am a strong opponent to “anything flies” Olympics because it’s explicitly telling children that “if you want to compete for your country you must sacrifice your health.”
@@jasonmarks6 sure but once you filter all the people down you’re left with the people who are most competitive and care about it the most. You can also refer to studies where they asked Olympic athletes whether they would take a pill that kills them in 5 years in order to win and the vast majority said yes
I kind of wonder how much steroids would even help for gymnastics? Especially WAG, there are so many other skills you need besides pure strength like understanding where your body is in space, flexibility, balance, etc. sure they might help with injury recovery and such but they won’t keep you from falling off the beam.
Steroids didn't help Barry Bonds hit the baseball either. From an artistic standpoint, the stronger you are, the higher you jump, the more impressive everything you do is. Simone Biles is no longer jumping 3 feet higher than you on vault. Being stronger only helps as long as you aren't getting injured as a result, which you shouldn't be if you have a good PED consultant.
Do you think the enhanced games will successfully solve this issue?
No, there will always be cheaters trying to get the edge on the competition.
@@WoodsGhosthow could you cheat if everything is allowed?
so many peoples will be surprised why are records from tested and roided games similar
@@mitchellhooperstrongman Hi Mitchell I Hope You Have a Great Tuesday Bald Man 🤗✌️🏻🤗❤️
@mitchellhooperstrongman you asked if it could "solve the issue."
The issue is cheating in the regular Olympics, correct?
I don't believe having the option to be openly enhanced will be enough to convert the athletes that are currently cheating in the regulated sports.
They're cheating for fame and glory. The Olympic gold medal is the prize worth cheating for, to them.
There is a big difference between testing Natty and being Natty
This brings to mind something Ed Coan said, ''There was a drug test,
and I passed'' then Mark Bell said something like ''Oh you passed, you didn't say you were clean you said you passed''
Serena Williams was never caught in all her years but I think that the WTA didn't really try too hard to catch her
Naturally...
You can test negative, but you can't prove yourself natural. You can't prove that Santa doesn't exist either. It comes with inherent limitations.
@@espenstoro I live pretty close to the north pole, I think I could prove Santa does exist.
The system as it currently is just one big puppet show. For example Lasha the absolute GOAT of weightlifting received a 2 year ban for doping back in 2013. Then during the 2016 summer Olympics he smashes his previous numbers, breaks the record and takes gold while being supposedly 'drug free'. Makes sense to me.
Can't remember if it was Rio or Tokyo, but Lasha was supposedly the only superheavy not to be tested after the comp. The Olympics protects their best...
Same way there was a time where Usain Bolt held like 9/30 fastest 100m times ever, but every other athlete on that list was popped for doping at some point. Hard to believe that Bolt stayed clean and was still faster than the next 10-20 fastest men on the planet when they had all used at some point
@@aarononon Exactly. You can only ever argue genetics and training methodology for so long to justify someone being better than another. But when being exceptional is the norm and everyone except for the first place is being popped, it becomes blatantly obvious there's an alterior motive at play to protect this person's status.
Just imagine if the olympic weightlifter who is supposed to be elite only lift what average roided up gym goer can lift will be like.
@@orangepeeI what
@@orangepeeIOlympic weightlifting is mostly about technique and not about raw strength like powerlifting. The most roided gym goer in the world cannot snatch close to an Olympic weightlifter
I Really liked Clarance kennedy's video about why he quit pursuing the olympics and world stage and part of the reason being the skewed doping testing.
He didn’t have anyone to sponsor his gear use
@@yoeyyoey8937that’s actual fact, he did say out loud he has no big sponsors
the only skew in doping testing is the disproportionate amount chinese athletes get tested when they have one of the lowest rates of being caught doping. There's also the us government making their intentions with WADA super clear when they threaten to withhold their membership when chinese athletes arent being caught and american ones only slightly more tested than usual. There also might be the fact that so many american swimmers in the olympics have the suspiciously red faces in the pool whereas all the other athletes looked fine.
@@onlyfineinclines bribes in testing committees are super normal in most industries. Wada needs competitors and a third party government body to oversee legal compliance. That way corrupt testers are weeded out over time
Everyone competing at the top level is enhanced to a degree. Passing some tests and actually being a lifetime natural are two completely different things. Plenty of doping scandals and examples to prove this, with the best one being the cycling scandal with Lance Armstrong where it turned out everyone was actually doping...
All road race fans new the doping was going on, and when racers stopped using EPO and the times up the big mountains dropped dramatically, the race fans bemoaned the now more boring racing.
I'd be shocked if there were even 1% of athletes that are lifetime clean.
For sure in disciplines where physical strength and endurance are critical. I'm sure there are plenty of natty athletes in stuff like eastern martial arts, skating etc.
This is such a lazy take. There are lots of enhanced athletes at the highest level, obviously, but it's not "everyone." Even at the height of the steroid era in baseball or the Icarus era cycling, it wasn't every top athlete that was doping. It's naive to think that no one is enhanced, but it's even more naive to think that _everyone_ is.
@@lorenzlammerhuber2661 You would be surprised. Even in archery or shooting they take stuff to calm the nerves and slow down the heart rate.
The scary thing about gym goers experimenting with PeDs is not going through a doctor/certifed/practitioner. Most often it’s from a friend/fellow gym goers. Thanks for talking about this topic.
All the knowledge you could want is for free and accessible to anyone. You can administer and monitor it on your own.
Most doctor's don't actually know that much about steroids
@@richardturrell1484 Exactly! 99.9% of doctors know nothing about steroids, in relation to performance enhancement.
The small problem with allowing drugs is that since people are not worried about getting caught the winners will be determined by who is willing to die younger.
But is that not already happening?
💯
Thats why they should test vital markers and not for peds like the enhanced games
Nobody cares. And I do not mean that trying to be a dick, but you have to be honest. Nobody cares, not really. As mentioned above, during the Lance Armstrong era of cycling, several racers died due to EPO abuse, but it did not affect viewing figures. The public's reaction, "oh such a shame, tragic, poor wife and kids" all that stuff, but they still go and watch the next race.
@@carlh296 some people may be watching the same way people were watching gladiators in Rome. I was personally disgusted after Armstrong was caught and seeing the mounting evidence that doping continued in pro cycling after that didn't watch it anymore.
As one wise man said "training is good for your health. ( Pro) sport is bad"
So one concern I have about an enhanced Olympics is that I don't trust some countries not to mandate that some of their athletes use certain PEDs that could be on the riskier side. I could totally see some countries say to their athletes "Sure, this drug may lead to serious medical consequences for you later in life, but we're willing to make you take that risk for us."
that is a problem already, just that it's less about "this is risky but so powerful that we force you"
but rather "this is risky but so hard to detect in tests that we force you" since things which are harder to detect are usually newer and therefore have no research on how to prevent side effects etc
There’s literally no change with this regard. All bodybuilders do this and other sports
If you can take anything, athletics will be more likely to opt for less toxic compounds that are still effective. A lot of what people take are to avoid tests and are worse for health.
CTE is proving to be deadly in mid-life but the NFL and Rugby still exist. Won't stop anything.
I doubt any of the world records will fall in the enhanced olympics. The olympics are already enhanced
My hot take is that the enhanced game won’t be peak athletic performance.
All the athletes who are genetically gifted are already mainstream successful Olympians will not risk their reputation to touch this.
I think this game will attract the pros who are not good enough to be the elite pros, and even with enhancements they will look average as compared to the elite athletes we have today.
It will never happen. The public message of „you can only perform like this using PEDs“ is not relatable and would lead to an even higher public demand of these drugs and a bigger black market. The clean image and „fairness“ are part of the Olympic dream even though many athletes are not objectively clean.
The US track and field team is very sus this year. The consistency across every track sport is highly abnormal. Would not be surprised if a scandal hits, a lot of dirt being uncovered about USADA lately too.
I want to see BOTH. I want to see what the human body can be without enhancement and what the absolute extreme can be.
Another thing I want to add is: the current anabolics are still developed from DECADES ago. We are only now talking about them because of how lucrative fitness and social media industry is.
If we have an untested Olympics, the revenue potential in that will generate so much research into SAFER and likely much more effective anabolics. I for one at least want that to happen, you can never shut down the demand, you can only make the supply safer.
Even though I will never consider anabolics, there will be great talents that will go down that road and I want them to live a heathier, longer life. Even if you take an extremely selfish perspective, them living longer bring more entertainment.
I feel that way about myself. I never did steroids but wish I did when I was about 30 to see what I could have done with some assistance. At 41 I don't really see the benefit so won't do it.
*done healthily
@@joshhiroti i doubt untested games will see much traction from the governments (where some of the comments are saying it will become forced doping), i can't see a government would be happy to have the optics of "we gave our athletes whatever they wanted and some more so they won, go country!"
and in terms of health, as long as you have rules, people are going to want to find a way to go around and gain advantages, and most of the time, that's not healthy. it's not like you can test the untested games so they aren't abusing peds lol.
i suggest for untested games, they give out prizes like companies give out stocks: over the years so it forces the competitors to have longivity in mind. (i.e. incentive includes longvity which will be the only solution for 'done healthily‘)
i'd rather just see it separated so some athletes who wants to be natural can be and still have level playing field.
@@joshhiroti We don't care about some athletes health if they are lifting half a ton deadlifts.
Logically all the best people will go to the enhanced games or whatever is more prestigious and makes more money
I heard a quote: Athletes don't want to dope. If the athletes knew the testing was good enough they would not dope. But the testing is not good enough, and many dope, and they have to dope to compete.
That makes complete sense. I'm sure most people just want an even playing field, so to speak
I think I have to disagree, we cannot be telling kids that they have to be taking PEDs in order to compete at an Olympic level. That’ll get them started way too young. As a medical professional I’d rather see someone give up their Olympic dreams than start taking something at unhealthy doses. Many women weightlifters who started PEDs at a very young age ended becoming infertile and ended up suing the training regime, they clearly regretted it.
The thing is, your concerns are valid even now, when doping is prevalent at the highest levels despite being banned. If kids desire to compete at Olympic levels, then they'll be faced with doped up competition sooner or later. Having it normalised will allow for better oversight on use, minimising the risk of people using it improperly. Also, that we must either not allow doping or face a slew of kids starting younger is a false dichotomy.
@@MrDoomsdayBomb , you say that, but in the bodybuilding world, we're already starting to see an epidemic of 20 and under kids starting to hop on gear because bodybuilders have become open about their gear use. With the rise of social media and the fitfluencers they have been doing really well financially and have been starting to glorify gear use. I'm not saying I have the solution here, but that trend is absolutely happening. Zack Telander has a great analogy where he compares this whole idea to going out and drinking. A 21 year old walks into a bar and starts talking to an older gentleman and the older guy says, "Yeah i do this everynight, it makes me feel terrible, but I was able to pull a 10 everynight, you just gotta be smart about it." That kid is only going to hear how fun it is and how he oculd potentially pull a 10.
@@harrison3910 Yeah but that same argument with alcohol can be applied to some people even if it is illegal. Now, i do get that less people in general will be willing to try it given that it is illegal, but if we're comparing alcohol with PEDs, and how the latter are almost given free reign at the highest levels if you're smart about it, then having PEDs banned does not seem like much of a deterrent. Of course I do agree that having PEDs be unbanned will allow for more people to freely try it, but I'm not sure, all things considered, that it's necessarily a net negative. It may be, don't get me wrong, but I have yet to see convincing argument establishing it. For instance, perhaps PEDs not being banned will incur enough benefits, regarding better regulation and education, so as to outweigh the negatives incurred by having more people on it incorrectly or on some relatively more unsafe variant. Additionally, having PEDs be more widely available may help uphold values of fairness by leveling the playing field a little by giving athletes from less wealthy countries the opportunity to try something that they would have a much harder time acquiring otherwise. Also, I don't think allowing its use in competition will have that much more of a public effect compared to the natural exposure its use will most certainly get in the future even if it is banned - if more people become aware that athletes at the highest levels use it and can get away with using it, then more people will start using it unless the arms race between testing/consequences and use starts shifting more so to the side of the former. Lastly, we're just talking about using PEDs at the highest levels of competition. We don't have to take this to mean that we must allow it at, say, the junior varsity level.
In Australia many sports teams eg athletics team or swimming team or just an individual does it themselves, where they go overseas for a training camp. How sus is that, when there are plenty of great training facilities all over the country.
Americans always talk about Germany china and russia like The usa is clean got to laugh 😂😂😂😂😂
I would have been that delusional a couple years ago
If you knew anything about the testing differences between countries you would understand why, it’s drastic. There is a reason we hardly medal in weightlifting and it’s not poor athletes.
Hi @Mitchell Hooper !There is a huge downside in proclaiming untested games. I was born in 1989 in East Germany. I started lifting weights in 2005 on a non-professional basis without doping at a hight of 174cm (5'7) and 60kgs (130lbs), reaching 177cm and 80kgs (178lbs) within the next two years, deadlifting 400lbs. I was lifting in a PED-infested gym. Most people thought I was doping (I wasn't) and thought doping would be restricted to body building. They weren't aware of the enormous state-organized PED epidemic in the East Germany. These problems only became known by the 2010s. Why was that? Basically, East German politicians wanted to proclaim their political system superior and kept the usage of PEDs secret, even from the atheletes. Yes, East Germany, with its 16 million inhabitans, placed 2nd on the medal table in 1988. But this was achieved by pumping teenagers up with drugs without their knowledge.
Overall, the Olympic Games are seen as a competition between states. And some politicians want to see their states being superior among others. Although in modern times China is the most prominent example, this also applies, for example, to Spain.
Overall, I have seen crazy downsides of PEDs over the past two decades. I would consider torn muscles minor damages, but mental disordes to deadly heart attacks at the age of 40 the most severe ones. If adults chose to do so, it's fine by me. Regardless of their aim of, for example, getting a job as a pusher or benchpressing 200kg (440lbs) raw in a backyard gym, the most impressive performance I've seen live in my life.
But to demand lifting doping regulations for sports overlooks the political demension of sports, endangers the young generation, and is purely naive.
I really like the story of the first case of doping in the Olympics, it was a shooter who had a beer before shooting to calm his nerves. And as a competitive shooter I can confirm, one dose of alcohol or something like that really makes the hand a bit steadier and slows your bpm, highly beneficial.
BTW, for people reading this, don't drink and carry, if you are out think of yourself as a "designated protector", like "designated driver". Actually drinking and shooting is not recommended.
Why is alcohol banned to begin with
@@yoeyyoey8937 in shooting? Literally because it "calms the nerves", as in, it is a general depressant, which enhances performance.
@@prgnify yeah I think it should be allowed. It’s not that reliable. Everyone can have a drink or figure out a different way to calm the nerve. I don’t think it’s comparable to steroid or amphetamine use in other sports
@@yoeyyoey8937 I mean, sure. But as Mitch pointed out in the video, Caffeine has also been banned in the past. I do believe that nowadays alcohol is only prohibited as anti-doping, not as a PED - as in, you can't drink and shoot because of "safety" reasons.
@@prgnify yes and that’s kinda what I mean too. Like caffeine shouldn’t be banned. It can give you a performance boost but it’s safe and it’s not too much of an advantage. Alcohol being banned for “safety” is annoying tho, as if an alcoholic would make it to the higher levels in Olympic shooting. As if they’re not gonna have an unsafe amount or alcohol after the event anyways lol
I think we all know why strongman is not in the Olympics..
Even sports that have zero history (climbing/boldering) were there, so lack of history or governing body is not the reason.
I would like to see a Deadlift competition with no PEDs, no suits & no straps - just a belt. I want to see who is truly naturally strong
Why would you limit straps? The bottleneck for that is always gonna be your forearms. If you truly want to see who is naturally strong, straps are fine. It doesn't actually help you do the lift (unlike a belt lmao)
They had a year of Mr Olympia where they stopped doping. That stopped right away because nobody wants to see that.
@@DavidLee-cw6ci Natural bodybuilders look much better than the disgusting steroid infused FREAKS of the last 40 years. As for "nobody wants to see that" the average woman definitely does. But enjoy your Ignorance of what people really want
Deadlift is so leverage dependent. Somebody with long arms, normal legs and short torso have a massive advantage. There are better exercises to determine strength, like a power clean and strict press, or a squat. Long femurs suck for squats, but there are ways to overcome this, and it's not as big of a disadvantage as short arms are for deadlifts imo.
@@DavidLee-cw6ci I am sure they also did this for strongman around 1996 or 98. One year they just all seemed a lot weaker, and I believe that they were tested for drugs.
I have a cousin who was on the summer Olympic team a few Olympics ago and he said most all of the Olympians he knew were doping. He also said in certain sports it’s almost assured if you medal, you’re doping/taking something.
Ad well as saying the Olympics are the most unclean sporting event(s) there is.
The problem is it's impossible to tell whether anyone is natural, even if they look like they could be natural, so I have to assume every competitive professional athlete has been enhanced since PEDs were invented. Rather have the taboo broken so that everything is open and understood by the public.
What a pessimistic assumption. Very weak minded of you.
It worries me that people ask why strongman isn't in the Olympics. It shows a huge lack of knowledge of both strongman and the Olympics. They'll be asking about CrossFit soon!
talking about state sponsored, the dutch skating and runners all suffer from asthma and are allowed steroids because of that. I suppose it happens in all countries but its the tip of the iceberg what doctors can give athletes
The enhanced games will give a pretty good insight into how natural the Olympics really are. Anything short of thrashing the records in athletics is bringing up a huge red flag. My prediction. Huge red flag.
Ben Johnson juiced to the gills: 9.79 Usain Bolt: Natural 9.58 Ok.
Bolt lost a gold medal in the relay because a teammate tested positive for a banned substance. I have little doubt that the rest of the team was doping too
Ben Johnson was DQd and Carl Lewis won the gold. Lewis has admitted he was juicing as well, he was just better at cycling his PEDs.
Natural, lmao. good one.
I wouldn't be surprised if that was possible but yeah... I think people are training with PEDs
The Olymia is a very, very joke!!!!!!!!!! Because who participate in olympic compitation, ALL USE VERY VERY VERY HARD DOPPING:
the problem with "the enhanced games" is that if anythings allowed, people will take whatever it takes to win even if it seriously harms their health, and more importantly, it will normalise and popularise such substances and end up increasing the number of non-athletes from harming themselves. Alongside stopping people who don't want to harm themselves, from competing, meaning the best athletes are losing to the most reckless.
The enhanced games is going to do health checks on athletes, so that will reduce the recklessness.
The best athletes are already reckless
Go read this study:
"Assessing the Prevalence of Doping Among Elite Athletes: An Analysis of Results Generated by the Single Sample Count Method Versus the Unrelated Question Method".
Comparing the number of athletes who admit to doping, versus how many get caught, is very eye opening.
The Olympics use more gear than the Mr Olympia.
They’re all juiced to the gills
The Olympics are already the enhanced games.
“Sauced out of their tree” as one might say
Nope I personally know athletes that are competing, far from everyone is cheating.
Many American women track winners were obviously on gear
100% wish steroids was never invented then we would honestly see what the true human potential would be and how just good old fashioned hard work pays off
I think if enhanced games next year does come to fruition, it's going to come as a controversial shocker when you see no world records broken. Which then begs to qs, are the Olympics all doping - answer = yes. I'm not against it but the rule makers will be hilarious to watch as they explain what happened
You could never officially allow doping simply for ethical reasons alone.
Both of my boys compete at Usports(University level ) in Canada and the rules are incredibly strict - have to only use proteins etc… that are certified Safe for Sports etc.. all supplements have to have this certification, so at this level- very clean but the Olympics - nope. Team Canada has some of the strictest guidelines etc.. to follow so it is not easy to cheat in Canada. 🇨🇦
I love that the Enhanced Games are coming because the true solution is to have both. There's an old saying that there's no perfect pasta sauce, but there are perfect pasta sauces - some people want spicy pasta sauce, some people want chunky, some people want alfredo. The Enhanced Games levels all playhing fields - enhanced atheltes have their compeitions and clean atheltes have theirs, and people get to watch whichever they prefer.
we're just gonna end up with 2 enhanced games. There is no way the Olympics are all of a sudden going to be clean.
Unless the money all goes to the enhanced games people are still gonna dope in the Olympics. At least there's no bullshit about it in enhanced games, I'm gonna be a supporter.
There are still a bunch of cheaters in IPF and USAPL, despite having untested federations. Sure, it helps to have untested federations, but it's no solution by any means.
It wouldn't make a difference, and the general public probably would prefer to watch the normal athletes. It isn't like sports where people know they are on drugs and drugs are allowed are popular anywhere in the world. Name a sport where drugs are allowed that is more popular than tennis/athletics/ swimming around the world, never mind the world's biggest sports like football(soccer)/cricket/rugby or in America NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB. You can't ,therefore money will be minimal and the top athletes will stay where they are.
@@daveaglasgow there aren't any sports where drugs are actually allowed, just those that don't say anything about it. And really rugby and NFL probably being in that category, everyone playing those are juiced or not trying hard enough.
The reality is that likely everyone in at least the athletic parts of the Olympics, are doped. They will all be genetically gifted and have high work ethic as well. The amount you would need to be out in front of someone taking a lot of peds would be so far that it is unlikely that no one else on the globe was found who was similarly genetically AND also isn't doping
The Olympics makes billions of dollars and should definitely pay the athletes more. Luckily allot of countries themselves do pay the medallists allot but it varies widely per country.
The olympics are a clown show this year, bring on the enhanced games!
The only thing that worries me about this whole thing is the health of the athletes. From a fairness point of view, great, but the health aspect isn't so great. Currently there are certainly people that do too much and hurt their health of die by their own drug use, but if it's not secret anymore and is basically needed to win any event, drugs will be used much more.
Imagine a martial arts tournament, say boxing: The boxers are already on PEDs for all of their training but right before the fight they take maybe some amphetamins or snort some coke or whatever. There surely are substances that could help right before a fight. If drugs are allowed, which drugs are allowed? Everything? Even illegal stuff? What is illegal in the host country? etc. Are we going to see juiced out of their minds athletes, that almost have a stroke or heart failure every second event?
I think what this approach will lead to is 1) more fairness 2) more openness 3) more PEDs realted deaths 4) more long term health risks for athletes.
No, enhanced games won't solve this issue they will just increase the numbers of death by sport. Gearing is obviously a problem in any game, but the analysis must be in a statistical approach instead of the simplistic "if one maybe enhancing everyone should", most athletes take tests and most of them want a fair game after all. Does it really worth it to risk every athelete life putting 2 game changer variables: your answer to enhancing and your answer to side effects. Bodybuilding is an example of what happens whey you do it, many deaths and really genetic based.
I never really understand doping in the Olympics. I can understand in professional sports where there can be large prizes or brand sponsorships, but in the Olympics, where the only thing you're doing it for is "national pride"? Where is the pride in cheating? 😕
A large portion of countries have state sponsored doping plans, if an athlete didn't want to dope they probably wouldn't even be allowed to compete internationally.
Who can take the most drugs until their organs pack in. Natty ftw.
Love your honesty with PEDs. In Sweden when I grew up, we had Magnus Samuelsson. Noone accepted the notion that he could be on PEDs. Noone. Not accepted in the school yard or anything.
Even today people think that because he was a farmer he built that strength all alone with hardnwork.
As with you, he was a natural phenomenon, benching 100 kgs the first time he benched and after a very short while, 200 kgs. Natural (he was a young teen back then).
However, people think that Hollywood actors who transform themselves in two months by "working out six hours a day" and bodybuilders are natural... This is sad for me.
I say use whatever, but be open. I have been strength training 26 years. Always natural. Yeah, I've gotten "you are doing it wrong because other gym goers gain faster". Yeah, it is not the same with PEDs.
So enhanced games, I'll watch it. And I dont watch the Olympics or nothing other than strength sports. Because it is exciting to see what humans can do. Even though I have never ever taken anything worse than whey powder and creatine 😅
It solves the problem of fairness in competition, and will certainly be a great spectacle, at the expense of glorifying PEDs. People absolutely destroy their bodies in pursuit of perfectionism (be it work or sport) and I don't think the funnel should be opened wider. Maybe the athletes competing in these enhanced games will have the best medical care while they are participating in the games, but how about after? How about when they are 16 year old varsity athletes with dreams to compete enhanced?
Having both enhanced and natty Olympics is a great way to work out which of the nattys we need to keep an eye on.
*Olympics 2032:*
"Bro, we know what the human body is capable of. You're cappin'."
I think most steroids get a bad rap because of the early stages where people didn't get tested. Now that we know what is going on and how to test for everything and keep people safe, it's a very healthy to take steroids if under a doctor's supervision.
not true many guys have died even under doctor's supervision. I am using it and I can tell 100% it is not healthy also despite affect on your health you can peroform much more and you wear your body faster just but working out harder. Normally your body will say stop and you will overtrain with PED you can pass it and work even harder. You will break faster or even die younger. Ma by not at olimpics where your are 20-30 years old but you will got hart attack at 50.
I just found your channel, i have watched a few of your videos, and you seem very intellectual. I think a of competitors legally dope through TUE's.
Speaking of natural Olympic athletes, has anyone else watched shot putter Joe Kovacs board bench 770x2
He also looks natural so in my view he is living proof that you can functionally, not aesthetically, reach the highest level clean. For the sake of sport science, it would be very interesting to see what he would do drug assisted. Hopefully, we will never see it though.
100% on peds but everyone wants to believe they’re clean
There are so many nuances to this… I don’t really care about the drug/no drugs as long as it’s on the same terms. And as long different countries have different rules about the substances being legal I can’t really see how it could be… one big problem for strongman is that it wasn’t controlled in the first place and now it’s kind a to late 🤷🏻♂️
There will end up being someone that wins events at the enhanced games, breaks records, and then is on social media like 'lifetime natty. Buy my natural test booster to get these results'
I would love to see what kind of performance would happen.
People will buy tickets to see "juiced up hercules" set multiple world records. I think they may be in for a dissapointment. Genetics, training and coaching plays the biggest part no matter what and if the top 0,1% decide to stick to "clean olympics" 2. tier athletes may not be able to catch up to world record level, even if their juice to the gilles...
The question shouldn't be IF the Olympics are enhanced, but rather HOW MUCH enhanced it is
The funniest thing would be if the world records in the enhanced games are less than or equal to existing 'natural' records
You want kids jabbed with steroids and people dying of abuse in their 30s? Then "allowing everything" is a great idea. Just because it's the norm in strongman it doesn't mean it's a good thing. Even for strongman people like me would never compete at the highest levels, even if we could, because we're not willing to take steroids.. That should be the norm not asking people to risk killing themselves to do be competitive in sports.
And no medical supervision isn't enough. We all know athletes will risk it all because it's their livelihood.
I agree 100% with the Enhanced Games and thought of the idea about 10 or more years ago. I'm sure there are major advantages of this and things to be learned about performance improvement. I'm surprised it has actually got funding as soon as 2025. Expand it to more sports and events though.
Hmm, quick question: Hafthor Bjornson admitted to steroids usage, did he then continue competing, and if so, hiw was he allowed after taking PED’s?
Drug testing is inherently unfair in the current paradigm. You should do a reaction video to Clarence Kennedy's "against anti doping" video, it goes into great detail and hits a lot of the points you're also making here.
I think if anyone actually looks into the enhanced games and how they plan to select "athletes" it's not a serious competition. It's a reality show looking to pretend they're a serious athletic competition.
Im from Sweden so what i say here is from how antidoping works here. Everyone who competes in any wada sport or is in any facilities where its 100% drug free zone you can get tested when competing or training. But if you are at the absolute elite you will have randomised testing over a year. Normally you get tested 3-4 times out of competition when you are at the highest level in sweden in any sport. So you need to report where you will be 1hour a day so they can find you and test you wherever whenever. Then to have only an untested Olympic is wrong in my opinion. My biggest issue with it is all the hardcore parents who will push their child with everything under the sun. I think thats my biggest concern. Other then that i think everyone cant compete again. Countrys with low economy and such will fall from competing at the same level as richer nations. Well i tried explaining in short hopefully you understand what i wrote.
Swedish athletes will know what microdosing is.and will be able to do it at night when they are not getting tested.
From a fairness perspective, enhanced games is the way to go. We won't see what peak natural potential looks like on the world stage but you really can't stop the cheating which muddies the waters too much anyway.
they still need to explain how "natural/drug free" athletes now beat the performance of doped athletes in the past. no better training and nutrition is not the answer
You've got a knack for this, loving your content!
It's hard to create honesty AND safety. Maybe not impossible.
You mention one thing that I'm pretty sure is not the case: you can't just stay away from comps and then appear in a competition, set new PBs and qualify for the Olympics.
Pretty sure that in order to qualify for the Olympics you have to already be part of your national fed's prioritised testing pool under a WADA regime. In order to be in that smaller testing pool, you'll need to be at a level where you are likely to qualify for quite a while (probably several years in most cases) and be subject to the random testing and location reporting. Otherwise, you're not eligible to qualify.
So if you want to dope, you need to be ahead on the science, or dodge the actual tests.
For most endurance sports are also now doing blood passports on elites from a very early age, so if you want to do something, you'll need to start in primary school or it'll probably show up eventually. Miss a cycle in your twenties and have all your results since age 12 stripped.
People are doping at the Olympics, but it is getting harder.
Nope, I will never encourage anyone to take any drug to be the best they can be. I have been lifting my whole life, competed years ago and still lifting today in my 40s. Also been accused often of being on something or other my entire life despite never having taken a thing. I will never be convinced that being on performance enhancing drugs is healthy. I think the body is capable of incredible feats with training and genetics alone and the fact people today seem to feel anyone with any level of size and strength or other metrics of performance can not be natural is depressing to me.
The Olympics are not just about pure performance, they are supposed to be about the competition and how the athletes come together and how they deal with the competition win or lose. If you come in 6th at the Olympics, and are natural, and followed all the rules you are a true Olympian in my books.
Also keep in mind that so many of these athletes from smaller rural areas without some of the advanced facilities., likely not able to attain these drugs either economically or done "safely" with monitoring. At least in the initial stages of their training. I just can’t imagine the Olympic trials they put on for young people to encourage and find out a sport they could excel at and be like. “You could do fantastic in sprinting, lets talk about your future drug regimen…” nope, I hate the whole idea, sorry.
The top athletes are already encouraged tho. I see what you’re saying but I’m not sure it’s gonna make any change in the actual competitors
Steroids are so easily available you wouldn't believe. Every gym in the country has users and plenty of them. You can achieve incredible results very cheaply. I've seen private trt companies advertise that they'll prescribe trt for £100 a month, the same amount is around £5 a month Inc needles
Plus...most major Strongman competition already have amazing athletes from all around the world.
Cannot wait for the enhanced games. It will enable lots of sports to be be elevated and seen by a new audience, and the competition will make the Olympics have to be better. While it is has a monopoly it doesn't have to improve
Wow! Extremely disapprove! Drugs are banned for reason.
Drugs destroy health and at 30+ these athletes will be very sick.
Let people make their own decisions
No mention of the Oregon project with Alberto Salazar. That's right he was selling but none of his athletes were his customers 😂. Have a look at how many medals that group won .
All professional sport on the world level is enhanced anyway and will remain enhanced forever. Stop spending millions on testing and bureaucracy and invest more in developing youth sports, build facilities and reward athletes generously.
Every time, is a world record????
For me this "sportist"bnecause is are noth sportiths. Not sportists!!!!
Clarence Kennedy did a brilliant video on this as well, would love to see your opinion on his videos.
Edit: Zack Telander also put out a video which highlights the potential negative effects of allowing doping, for example, the problem that incentivises children to take PEDS.
Definitely think there is a good debate to be had.
I’m all for it. Natty sports are awesome to watch but it’s hard to not see them as genetics competitions.
Yes, I’m saying PEDs have potential to level the playing field and let hard work shine through.
I really like this idea because the Olympics isn't clean and we all know it. Make it an even playing field for everyone.
If a strength sport should make it to the olympics it should be powerlifting but more strict where everyone has to do the same version of a lift
Olympics is dying, best we forget it and move on. They can't seem to ban entire sports and let's not even get into certain... other issues.
It is an interesting concept and am sure that there is a lot of money to be made. But i am also certain that a lot of athletes will suffer due to this.
For professional sports, sure why not be enhanced. However kids shouldn't need to put their health at risk to compete in sports. So to ensure a safe competition for children, they should not be in sports where drugs are allowed.
i'm intrested to see the gap if any (as we all know, every top level sport has doping at some level) the enhanced games will have to the olympics. my guess is there is no gap and if anything the olympics will still have the better records etc. maybe due to the level of people that are in them already but i think it could be a bit of an eye opener to the average follower of sports that thinks doping doesn't take place. "why aren't the people in the enhanced games breaking every world record if they are all on gear" lol
How did Lasha Talakhadze naturally get to 400 lbs?
Who was it that said drug testing is an intelligence test not a chemical one? 🧠 💉
How many test did lance Armstrong take, and pass? 🚴♀️ 💊 💉
To think that the best performance athletes in the world are beating all the others, some of whom statistically will be doping, while clean is just willfully naive.
Love your content, get a merch supplier in the uk.
Great discussion.
I think there's a place for both types of competitions... ones with Natural Athletes and Enhanced Athletes. To be successful, there would have to be a defined standard for what is and isn't "natural" or "enhanced." Something as simple and common as Creatine, while not considered by most to be, could legitimately be classified as a "performance enhancer." Being "steroid free" for six years, after having done fifteen years worth of cycles isn't exactly natural. I believe having distinct competitions for each category is a great idea, and may lend to solving the current issue.
So what isn't enhanced if creatine is? By that standard, getting large doses of vitamins and minerals, or having any caffeine, or even eating a load of sugar before a race could be deemed as doping.
Exactly my point...
What does Joe public want to see? Well IMO they want to see the very best, biggest, fastest, strongest etc etc. They are not interested in the whys and hows, it just makes better viewing. So give the public what they want. The only losers are those few athletes who are not prepared to go that extra step to live out their dreams.
So very uninterested in "enhanced games". Peter Thiel is a ghoul.
The current system is OK. Perhaps a few types of doping could be accepted. Being an Olympic athlete and using all kinda of doping out in the open seems like a recipe for health disasters.
Olympics is the playground for sports nobody wants to do or see. It's the Eurovision of sports. Strongmen Stay off !
Where there is money, there are "cheats". Where there is endless glory and prestige, the same applies. Every single one of them is juiced to the gills. I mean when you get top olympians that pop for PED's and the supposed "nattys" are on the same level, that would mean those nattys, if they juiced, would be Gods amongst men....
I say let them do whatever they want. I think it would be awesome too see enhanced athletes in something light sprinting go up against tested athletes to see if there is that big of a difference now. Especially with the new crop of runners in the model of Usain Bolt and and so on. The same for gymnastics. I think Simone Biles could probably beat any enhanced gymnast because it isn't all about strength and power.
i love that the canadian doping scandal was because our guy was high as shit on weed and still won the gold
go Canada!!!!
1988 wasn't that long ago,. We have literally the most infamous failed drug in the history of sports.
Well we know certain people involved in the Olympics are at least injected with soy. And yes, they try to get away with anything they can. The stakes are high, especially when some countries grant huge rewards to their athletes. Winning is great state propaganda.
I think that allowing PEDs but with strict health control would be better than very lilely a major part of athletes doping in one way or another but being most concerned by not getting caught.
Don‘t think it would solve issues though because there‘ll always be chesters.
Even doing weight training just recreational and basically trying to best myself, as actually natty it‘s difficult for me to say how good or bad i am. There are some people obviously on gesr in my gym, other might likely be. I‘m 44, 95KG, bench press PR currently at 142.5KG (313lbs). That‘s really not bad, but is it actually good for being 100% natty?
For actual athletes in any sport, national, international or world Championships, as long as there will be ‚clean‘ competition, there will always be someone chesting.
What enhanced games would do, they‘d show that many suppesedly clean competitions are enhanced in reality.
It's not about PEDs because there are bunch of people who are ready to do and take everything and still we are talking about a couple of athletes who are the best in their sport.
I think an enhanced games is a good idea for the sake of seeing the highest level in any sport it benefits. Pretty sure that's something most people want to see.
But if nothing changes the their a problem
The problem with enhanced games is that people will always overdo it. So it will be extremely harmful for the athletes as they will do everything to win.
They already do...
Remember hooper face when Dr Mike told him how much he was taking if you are in bad health you can't compete at your best
Luckily they're adults and can do whatever they'd like with their own bodies.
@@jeffreycordova9082 yes but in the olympics they don't die in droves.
@@jlalonde1000 well the problem is the long term consequences. i.E taking huge amount of Testosterone and HGH will not kill you instantly, but if you take too much you are done with 40.
I wish these stupid drugs were never invented
Wouldn't say that if you had premature baby , they give them EPO , cortisone to heal injuries , the list goes on
Why? What's wrong with grown adults deciding what they want to put into their bodies? What I have a problem with is the pro-trans community thinking it's alright to give these hormones to children.
Sounds like a much more open and honest Olympics
Advil is not WADA banned fyi. I am a strong opponent to “anything flies” Olympics because it’s explicitly telling children that “if you want to compete for your country you must sacrifice your health.”
Competitive kids already have this mentality tho
@@yoeyyoey8937 I was on the olympic track in gymnastics and later weightlifting and I promise you as a kid we did not have that mentality.
@@jasonmarks6 why didn’t you follow through on that track?
@@yoeyyoey8937 I simply wasn’t good enough. Lots of us “on the cusp” that never make it
@@jasonmarks6 sure but once you filter all the people down you’re left with the people who are most competitive and care about it the most. You can also refer to studies where they asked Olympic athletes whether they would take a pill that kills them in 5 years in order to win and the vast majority said yes
I kind of wonder how much steroids would even help for gymnastics? Especially WAG, there are so many other skills you need besides pure strength like understanding where your body is in space, flexibility, balance, etc. sure they might help with injury recovery and such but they won’t keep you from falling off the beam.
Steroids didn't help Barry Bonds hit the baseball either. From an artistic standpoint, the stronger you are, the higher you jump, the more impressive everything you do is. Simone Biles is no longer jumping 3 feet higher than you on vault. Being stronger only helps as long as you aren't getting injured as a result, which you shouldn't be if you have a good PED consultant.