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Comment by sundvor | Hacker News Reader

I understand that anabolic steroids give a life long advantage in terms of muscle memory.

Anyone who's done some semi serious lifting and then gone on a long break to return will know that progress is much faster the Nth time around.

This explains why those who have taken steroids will have a life long advantage:

Eg https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190125084106.h...

I also understand that the male puberty imprints into the muscle development for life.

As such, two opinionated observations:

1) Once you've done steroids you should be banned from high level competitions for life, not just 4 years or what.

2) Allowing someone who has experienced and lifted weights through and after male puberty to compete against those who have not is grossly unfair to cisgendered female lifters. See point 1.

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Fully agree with your second point. Your first point touches on why it's such an interesting and difficult problem to solve.

1. Country-wide doping systems that currently exist in weightlifting. Punishing an individual lifter does little to disincentivize doping at a larger scope. A country's sports organization can just take on the next Olympic hopeful (or buy another country's). Alternatively whole countries' participation can be banned, punishing clean athletes.

2. WADA testing is largely inconsistent across the world. You can take a look at the doping reports [here](https://www.iwf.net/anti-doping/statistics/) and compare e.g. Iranian athletes to others.

3. "Steroids" is a big bucket. Weightlifting even now has devolved into a race to design the best undetectable compound.

The IWF is already in trouble with the IOC for so many positive tests - I'm really curious to see how things develop and whether weightlifting ends up splitting into tested/untested federations like powerlifting.

Thanks, appreciated that information about doping. It sure is a tricky subject in weightlifting; someone actually relatively clean (ie doing their best to only take approved or at least non banned supplements) their entire life would likely be considered at a disadvantage?

I'll read up on your resources - and yes, different rules across regions would be a big one.

Personally I just take Creatine and WPI, but I'm only training for functional fitness as a desk bound software engineer. Still, it's a very interesting topic; I do know someone who competes at a national level, and the routines and regimes are punishing.

It is indeed! PEDs provide such an advantage in Power sports, that anyone not on them is at a huge disadvantage.

> Personally I just take Creatine and WPI All you need! Similarly I'm an engineer, I compete in a tested powerlifting fed, laying off the "extra supplements" for now.

I find both these points to be extremely reasonable, specifically aimed at weightlifting.

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