steroids and climbing?

I've been wondering for a long time whether certain pro-climbers use steroids. A common misconception is that steroids will make you big, and therefore wouldn't necessarily help with climbing. This is simply not true. It depends on your training. What do you think? Are pro-climbers using steroids?

No. There is so little money in climbing that it would be impossible for a climber who makes al of their income from climbing (excluding Graham, Sharma, etc) to afford it. Pro climbers make laughable amounts of money.

I use it to make my nuts offset.

Ryan Palo wrote:No. There is so little money in climbing that it would be impossible for a climber who makes al of their income from climbing (excluding Graham, Sharma, etc) to afford it. Pro climbers make laughable amounts of money.

Not totally true. Alex Honnold supposedly made over six-figures last year...

Ryan Palo wrote:No. There is so little money in climbing that it would be impossible for a climber who makes al of their income from climbing (excluding Graham, Sharma, etc) to afford it. Pro climbers make laughable amounts of money.

Steroids aren't that expensive. According to a poll on a steroid forum it seems to average around $100-150 per month ( thinksteroids.com/forum/ste… ). I'm sure many pro climbers could afford this if they really wanted to, and it probably already rivals the amount that most spend on beer and/or pot.

I'd agree that most climbers are clean, but I'd bet that there are a handful that aren't.

It is very possible. Many athletes at the professional level get approached about performance enhancing substances. In the past there have been many track and field athletes (some stars and many unknown) that have abused performance enhancing drugs. The life of a professional track and field athlete is hardly glamorous in the United States. Unless you have multiple world or Olympic titles to your name, you're probably living quite humbly as a "professional athlete".

That said, I believe that performance enhancing substances may be much more prevalent outside of the US only because we haven't yet tapped into the large amount of marketing possibilities in the US climbers. While many other climbers around the world are beginning to dress like Nascar drivers.

I guess I'm not accusing sponsors such as La Sportiva or Scarpa for providing steroids or other PED's, but there is a lot of pharmaceutical wheeling and dealing that happens outside of the athlete's eye that makes these items more affordable.

My personal knowledge in this area comes from a good friend that is 3-time Olympian in the pole-vault (2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London). Numerous times we've spoken about what happens in the shadows of world renown sporting events and how often people "test positive" for something and the news never surfaces. Having trained with him for years, I can promise you that he is clean, but, when athletics get to the world stage, I can assure you that PED's get offered about as often as weed at a John Mayer concert.

Aaron L. wrote: Not totally true. Alex Honnold supposedly made over six-figures last year...

I find that very hard to believe. Who is your source?

I tried to get the spot in that Citi commercial. The pay was good, but not anything out of the ordinary. I can't imagine a guy like Honnold agreeing to do a commercial for a bank if he didn't need the money.

I agree. My guess is that ALOT of pro-climbers, or even amateur climbers, use steroids. One serious concern is that climbing is unique because it requires so much of very small tendons. Too much strength, without corresponding thickening of the tendons could lead to serious injury.

Ryan Williams wrote:I find that very hard to believe. Who is your source? I tried to get the spot in that Citi commercial. The pay was good, but not anything out of the ordinary. I can't imagine a guy like Honnold agreeing to do a commercial for a bank if he didn't need the money.

You able to share what ballpark the pay for that commercial was? I also wouldn't be surprised if they offered more money for more recognizable climbers like Honnold.

I really have zero sources, but I don't think 6 figures would be that outrageous for a professional climber in a good year. Between a full-time sponsor and then the odd one-off things here and there, I could see it adding up.

Ian Stewart wrote: You able to share what ballpark the pay for that commercial was? I also wouldn't be surprised if they offered more money for more recognizable climbers like Honnold. I really have zero sources, but I don't think 6 figures would be that outrageous for a professional climber in a good year. Between a full-time sponsor and then the odd one-off things here and there, I could see it adding up.

I never got a final number because, well, because they had probably already talked to Honnold. But let's just say I have more money in my checking account right now than they were going to pay me. I was in NC at the time and offered to fly myself out there. The only response I got was that it probably wouldn't be worth it.

But it's all about the contract you sign. Some people get paid every time a commercial airs. It also depends on WHEN the ad airs and how long it runs for. If he had a good agent/lawyer, he could have gotten a great deal and made thousands or more. I am in the UK and don't have a tv so I have no idea how long the ad ran for, how often, etc. Finally, Honnold is not part of a union, so there is really no telling. It would be interesting to know for sure. I'd also be interested to know how much the Coors mountaineer guys get. Probably more than Honnold did.

Of course he did that commercial in 2011 and the above poster said Honnold made six figures "last year" so who knows. I just don't think he makes that much. He lives in a van and owns no property.

I could be wrong.

Ryan Williams wrote: I find that very hard to believe. Who is your source? I tried to get the spot in that Citi commercial. The pay was good, but not anything out of the ordinary. I can't imagine a guy like Honnold agreeing to do a commercial for a bank if he didn't need the money.

I remember reading that Honnold earns six figures in the New York Times article about him after he soloed the Triple, which isn't that suprising considering he was on 60 Minutes. Also Honnold never seems to want money (he stills spends a lot of time living in a van). He could have been in the CitiBank commercial as a way to promote the sport of climbing, as he is the only climber that a normal audience has a remote chance of recognizing.

I seriously doubt that Honnold is the kind of guy that would be juicin'.

I also assume that real pro climbers (especially those that compete and especially in the us) would not be using. Not sure what the euro-standard is. But, I really have no idea.

Now, some of the egomaniac local gym-bros projing on the pink route; wouldn't think twice about it for some of those duders. I'm almost positive some of those guys are on the juice.

Also, I think I remember reading somewhere that steroid use weakens tendons or at least does very little in the way of developing them in correlation with muscle fibers... but I'm no scientologisterator.

Also, steroids are generally just lame (unless used medically for post-injury related rehab and procedures of that ilk).

Just speculating, but I suspect that juicers would still be quite prone to tendon injuries. Maybe even more so. Making it not really worth it. But I don't really know.

My experience with being around people using roids is they tend to always be pissed off to all shit. One side effect to roids is increased anger. So, that is often a tall-tail sign. If an athlete went from being normal to always pissed off, there is a reasonable chance that s/he is using roids.

20 kN wrote:My experience with being around people using roids is they tend to always be pissed off to all shit. One side effect to roids is increased anger. So, that is often a tall-tail sign. If an athlete went from being normal to always pissed off, there is a reasonable chance that s/he is using roids.

now now now

are we saying that ondra is a roid user?

maybe he should return all his sends ... i mean if someone had to return yellow jerseys ;)

I stand corrected. Sorry everyone.

New York Times

Now, who was it that was talking about the cheap 'roids? If I knew I could make a hundred grand a year from climbing, I'd of starting juicing a long time ago...

While not exactly the same as steriods, probably about a dozen years ago at the gym I frequented, a number of guys used creatine. Some of these were guys who only climbed 5.9 outside who felt they needed the juice to bump up into the .10s. I suppose it was easier than actually working on their technique. Rather pathetic actually. Given that precedent, I have to imagine there are a number of people equally motivated to use steriods for whatever goal they have in mind.

I doubt it's an issue in the pro climbing scene.

However, there are a couple of guys at the gym I've seen who look like walking HGH commercials.

I would say no but I don't frequent the world cup scene and I don't live in Spain. I don't see how someone could climb on roids and not hurt themselves. Seems like genetics are a better bet than roids in this case.

yeah, im not so sure roids would help all that much. In climbing, the winner is the thinner. What would really help, especially with route climbing would be EPO. Something like a 20% boost in red blood cells.

Out of morbid curiosity, I did a quick search. Looks like a treatment would set you back about 1500. Multiply that by 6 or 7 cycles and all of your world cup earning would be cannibalized.

I come from a background in pro cycling so maybe I'm jaded, but it would not surprise me to find out that there is performance enhancing drug use in pro climbing. I bet homologous blood transfusions would really help for route climbing; especially in recovery to be able to do multiple burns on some of the new super-routes that are getting put up.