Why Steroids Are Actually a Bad Thing
By Eric Kim
Introduction: The Temptation of the Shortcut
Steroids promise glory. They promise more muscle, faster recovery, heavier lifts. And in a world obsessed with records, likes, and views, it can feel like a moral imperative to take them. But I argue: steroids are not just a bad idea — they’re a bad philosophy.
Reason 1: They Distort the Spirit of Strength
Strength isn’t just about what’s on the bar — it’s about what’s inside the lifter. Every rep, every grind, every slow gain over months and years builds character. Steroids accelerate the result but cheat the process.
When you lift clean, your numbers reflect your discipline. When you lift enhanced, the line between personal achievement and pharmaceutical intervention blurs. It’s no longer just you versus gravity — it’s chemistry versus chemistry.
Reason 2: They Tax Your Future Self
Steroids are not free. They take a toll on your health — on your heart, your liver, your endocrine system. You trade tomorrow’s vitality for today’s PR.
I’m not just lifting for one glorious moment on a platform. I’m lifting to be strong at 70, to be the grandfather who can still sprint up stairs, to have a body that lasts.
Reason 3: They Poison the Cultural Well
When the strongest in the world are all enhanced, the message to the next generation is: “You cannot be great without this.” That’s false. You can be great — it just takes longer.
We need heroes who prove that natural strength is possible, that you don’t have to compromise your health or integrity to hit impossible numbers.
Reason 4: They Erode the Meaning of Records
Records are supposed to be the purest expression of human capacity. If the records are all built on chemical intervention, they become more about pharmacology than physiology.
When I deadlifted 535 kg at 165 lbs drug-free, it wasn’t just a feat of strength — it was a manifesto: this is what one human body can achieve with nothing but time, training, and will.
Conclusion: The Real Flex
The real flex isn’t having the biggest total — it’s doing it clean, staying healthy, staying free. Steroids might give you a temporary crown, but they also chain you to a pharmacy, to cycles and side effects.
The ultimate strength is sovereignty — over your body, your choices, your destiny. And that’s why I’ll always say: the strongest man alive is the one who didn’t need to inject anything to get there.
Would you like me to format this into a black-and-white poster-style PDF — with the headline “THE REAL FLEX IS CLEAN STRENGTH” — so you can share it as a bold anti-steroid manifesto?