By Thomas O’Connor, MD
ANABOLIC
THE
DOC
26 MD musculardevelopment.com July 2019
Testimony to the universal quest for
strength predates modern society. One
ancient legend tells us that a Greek wrestler,
Milo of Croton, trained by carrying a newborn
calf on his back every day until it was fully
grown. And the Greek physician Galen
described strength training exercises using
the halteres, an early form of dumbbells, as
early as the second century. We’ve come a
long way from the calf-carry, but the quest for
strength persists.
One wonders what the ancients would
think of the superhuman feats of strength we
witness now! Even as recently as 20 years
ago, people would have marveled at the feats
of strength one can see every day in our
gyms. The average “strong guy/gal” in the
gym today would have been a world record
holder then. What we are seeing now has
occurred secondary to dramatic improvements
in training, gear, equipment, regimens, and of
course supplements. “Strength athletes” is
what I call these athletes who have dedicated
their lives to serious training in the disciplines
of powerlift ing, bodybuilding and strongman.
Never before have we seen such an explosion
in the number of people engaged in these
activities at all levels of participation, from the
hobbyist to the professional. These athletes
have taken their place in the sports world as
examples of the limits of strength that can be
att ained by the human body.
The strength athlete lives— and thrives—
by batt ling the forces of nature. Like any
other activity , hardcore training regimens and
lifesty les are governed by the basic laws
of physics, including Newton’s third law of
motion: For every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction. The implications for the
strength athlete are the many consequences of
the intense biologic stress required for optimal
performance levels. Thus, specialized medical
care requires physicians to understand these
stressors and their consequences, and to
respect the person who has chosen to undergo
these. In the case of the strength athlete, the
latt er includes respecting the unique lifesty le
of these men and women while educating and
treating them.
The knowledge
and care of the
strength athlete
is not simply
“hardcore”
medicine; it is
at the core of
medicine itself.Dear Doctor:
Why Men Lift Weights