Whenever a bodybuilder looks extraordinary, the easy explanation is “it’s the drugs”. Flex Wheeler has heard it all his career, and in this clip from his 2018 London Real interview he gives Brian Rose his own, very direct view on performance-enhancing drugs, why he thinks calling them cheating misses the point, and why he believes society is selective about which drugs it condemns.
It is an opinionated, uncomfortable listen in places, and that is the point. Wheeler is not trying to sell anything. He is describing the world of elite sport as he saw it from the inside.
▶ Watch the full episode: Kenneth “Flex” Wheeler – The Sultan of Symmetry In Bodybuilding
Is it really cheating?
Wheeler says he came up in the era of the BALCO scandal, and that he knew Victor Conte, the man behind the laboratory, well. Because of that connection, reporters would come to him for comment, and the conversation usually went the same way. Drugs are cheating, they would say. His reply: “how is it cheating?” If everyone at the top level is using them, he argues, nobody is getting an unfair edge over anyone else.
When the argument moved on to legality and danger, he pushed back again. Cigarettes are legal, he points out, and in his view far more harmful. Alcohol was once illegal and is now sold everywhere.
A drug-induced culture
Wheeler’s wider point is that modern life already runs on drugs. He picks apart the old saying “take two aspirin and call me in the morning”: in other words, take something, leave me alone and hope it works. He sees a double standard in judging an athlete who takes drugs to compete and support his family, while smoking, drinking and recreational drug use among the powerful are quietly accepted.
He is clear, though, that this is not an endorsement. When Brian asks whether he condones drug use, he says he does not. “It’s sad, but it is here,” he says, and in his view it is not going away.
Every sport, every era
Wheeler says that in his years at the top he sat in rooms with athletes from many sports, and that there is a drug to help with almost every kind of performance. He recalls a conversation at Wimbledon that surprised him, where speed and strength were described as the deciding factors in matches.
He also says he stopped using the word “steroids” about 20 years ago, partly because his own son was prescribed steroids for asthma, and the word covers too much to be useful. He prefers to call them “sports technology drugs”, and points out that performance drugs go back a long way, including their use by soldiers in the Second World War.
Adults and their choices
He ends on personal responsibility. “You’re a grown-up. You’re responsible,” he says: as long as you are not hurting anyone, it is your call. He then compares the risks of anabolic steroids with things you can buy over the counter, such as aspirin and alcohol, and argues that the harms of steroids are overstated.
That last claim is his opinion. Medical bodies warn that anabolic steroid misuse can cause serious long-term harm, including to the heart, liver and hormones.
This is Flex Wheeler sharing his own experience and views, not medical advice. If you have questions about steroids or any medication, speak to your doctor.
Who is Flex Wheeler?
Kenneth “Flex” Wheeler is an American former IFBB professional bodybuilder from California, a multiple Arnold Classic champion and a Mr. Olympia runner-up, once described by Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of the greatest bodybuilders he had ever seen. In 1999 he was diagnosed with kidney disease, and he has since written a memoir and spoken widely about depression and resilience.
In the full 2018 episode, he talks with Brian Rose about his childhood, bodybuilding, illness and learning to love himself. London Real has also published his story of kidney disease and depression: “I Lost Everything”.
See everything Flex Wheeler has done with London Real on his guest page: Flex Wheeler on London Real.
More on London Real
Transcript
Transcript: Flex Wheeler – Steroids, Cheating And The Double Standard On Drugs
0:00 Flex Wheeler: In bodybuilding, the easiest thing for them to say is: oh, it’s the drugs. It’s the drugs, 100%. Which I laugh at, because I come from the era of Barry Bonds and BALCO Laboratories and that whole scandal. And Victor Conte is a very, very close friend of mine, so I was able to witness it from the media aspect and from talking to him, knowing what’s really going on.
0:24 Flex Wheeler: And I remember getting kind of thrown in [unclear] because I was associated with him, so I would get interviewed. What do you think about this? What do you think about that? Drugs is cheating. I’m like: how is it cheating? Well, you guys use drugs. I’m like: OK, but all of us are, so again, how is it cheating? Well, it’s using drugs, it’s illegal. I’m like: oh, OK. So does that make it dangerous? Yeah, it’s dangerous. All right. Because last time I checked, cigarettes are more dangerous. Is it OK because it’s legal?
0:54 Flex Wheeler: And what is one of the biggest clichés that we have in the United States? Take two aspirin and call me in the morning. So if I decode that: take some drugs, leave me alone, and I hope they work, call me tomorrow. So we’re living in a drug-induced environment already. But what I do to take care of myself and to make a living and try to take care of my family is bad because I take these drugs, but you’re not bad because you smoke? That’s OK because it’s legal, or because you drink alcohol?
1:25 Flex Wheeler: I remember when alcohol was illegal. Why is it legal now? Because they figured out a way to make money off it. It’s still bad. And then they get really upset when you get deep with them. I’m like: wow, I think people have probably killed more people drunk driving than any bodybuilder has by taking their drugs. He goes: well, you’re hurting your body. I’m like: and smoking and drinking isn’t? Let’s get to the bigger picture, the bigger playing field. What about cocaine and all the bigger drugs?
1:51 Flex Wheeler: Is it because it’s upper class? If you talk about that, you might be walking into some president’s office or some mayor’s office, some government office. So you keep that. So what’s really more important: just to highlight what you think is bad, or should we all say it’s all bad? You’re an adult. You clean your backyard, I’ll clean my backyard. I’ll stay in my lane, you stay in your lane. But it’s easier for you to do that because you don’t want to touch on those things. And then the camera gets turned off. I don’t condone it at all. It’s sad, but it is here and it’s going to stay. It’s not going anywhere.
2:29 Brian Rose: You don’t condone drug use in any form?
2:31 Flex Wheeler: No, no. At my level, I was honoured to be able to sit in rooms with so many great athletes. I’m talking people who played at Wimbledon, golf, the Olympics. [unclear] There’s a drug that will help you in every aspect. I was shocked at Wimbledon. I was talking to somebody and I was like: how? Why? And he goes: Flex, the majority of the time we win based on strength and speed, the ability to serve, and if you can’t get to the ball in time… I’m like: so it clicks, because I know there’s a drug for that. A certain type of steroid or something else that will just help with that.
3:18 Flex Wheeler: And what I stopped doing like 20 years ago is using the word steroids. I remember my son was on steroids because he had asthma. So when you say steroids, really, what are you saying? So I stopped belittling the word, because it doesn’t mean anything. I started using this term: sports technology drugs. It’s high tech. And if you go back in history, we didn’t [unclear]. Last I checked my history, it was going on back in Hitler’s days. Performance drugs were used for SS troops to be able to do things that humans ought not do. So it was going on way back then.
3:53 Flex Wheeler: And I remember back in the NFL days, the commentators were like: yeah, they’re good old country-fed boys. They’re all averaging 290 pounds with 26-inch necks. And I’m like: yeah. I wasn’t there, but I knew it was present and available. So that’s really the world we live in right now. Even worse now, where you’ve got Botox and everything else.
4:19 Flex Wheeler: Again, I don’t care. You’re a grown-up, you’re responsible, do whatever you want, as long as you’re not hurting anyone. But don’t say that this is so horrible when, if anything, it’s hurting [unclear] that person. Now, the facts are, I can take a hundred, an overdose, of any quote-unquote steroid, and I’m not going to die. Months later, I might have complications. Years later, I might have complications. I may or may not pass away from that, because there’s surgery you can have. But I can give you too many aspirin and kill you dead. I can give you so much alcohol in a matter of hours and kill you dead. Really, what’s more dangerous? I can give you so much birth control and kill you dead. All things you can buy over the counter. Yet this is really so bad?
