If a natural bodybuilder fails a drug test before competition, they end up on the wall of shame.
The Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association (also known as the PNBA/INBA) take the transparency of natural bodybuilding very seriously. If there is any doubt that the competitors battling on stage are secretly using steroids, then the entire integrity of the league and the sport falls apart. That’s why the PNBA/INBA uses the best drug testing available – WADA – which is also used by the Olympics to test athletes.
But the PNBA/INBA also takes it a step further. It’s simply not enough that the bodybuilders are drug tested. If they fail a test after the results come in, they are banned for life and put on the “Wall Of Shame.”
The Wall Of Shame is a website that publicly displays each and every bodybuilder who failed a drug test while competing in natural bodybuilding competitions. This kind of public shaming is designed to help prevent competitors from even attempting to cheat the test. The combination of an athlete losing their ability to compete mixed with public humiliation creates the perfect storm of defense. Ideally, it guarantees that the integrity of the league and natural bodybuilding stays strong.
Yet there are still people in the bodybuilding community that just don’t buy it. There are many opinions in the industry as a whole that the test can be easily beaten. Specifically by bodybuilders who take steroids months before a competition and come off with enough time to pass the test. Without random and testing multiple times throughout the year, skeptics are still not convinced the sport is completely steroid free.
That level of drug testing can be extremely expensive and remains to be a challenge even for the biggest sports in the world. The cost is simply too high for a bigger level of testing. This is why certain athletes, such as Rob Terry, makes it their mission to drug test randomly throughout the year in order to provide better transparency. The top athletes in the sport passionately want to prove that they are natural. Otherwise all of their hard work would be for nothing.
You can check out the entire process in more detail with our latest Generation Iron 4 exclusive clip above. Do you think the drug testing and wall of shame are enough to prove an all-natural sport? Let us know in the comments!
