Pitbull Torres discusses the complications in drug tested powerlifting leagues.
Much like bodybuilding, powerlifting has many leagues in which athletes can compete. Some are drug tested, others aren’t. But unlike bodybuilding, powerlifting relies on a clear cut victory by lifting the most amount of weight. It’s less subjective as judges scoring a bodybuilding physique on stage. So how does this effect what audiences expect in drug testing for powerlifting leagues? In our latest GI Exclusive interview, Pitbull Torres details the problem with drug testing in powerlifting and whether or not fans even care.
The most exciting element of powerlifting competitions is when someone breaks a world record and accomplishes what feels impossible. It’s a rush of a moment for both the athlete and the fans. In a way, it’s similar to the way bodybuilding fans are most excited by the freakiest physiques. People want to see unreal events. They don’t want to see “normal” people.
Pitbull Torres powerlifting with his crew (above).
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when Pitbull Torres admits that fans don’t really care too much about drug testing powerlifting. They just want to see the freaks. They want to see the exciting world record breaking moments. That’s why Pitbull personally sees a lot of problems with the drug tested leagues. Specifically, there’s never a way to completely stop athletes from cheating.
“You got a lot of these people who compete in these drug free competitions. And I just feel like there’s just a lot of bickering,” Pitbull comments in our interview. “…Like, to me, man there’s always a way to break the rules and if you want to compete in a drug tested federation, that’s good for you but at the end of the day no one cares. They want to see who lifts the most weight.”
This is an argument we’ve seen bodybuilding fans, experts, and athletes make recent in light of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s call for drug testing in pro bodybuilding. To summarize simply, if you set a series of drug testing rules there will always be people who try and follow them. But then there will always be people who successfully cheat. This makes the entire quality of the competition unfair and up to speculation. If you don’t drug test, then everyone is on the same playing field and only limited by their own personal choices.
It’s a far more open minded way at looking at regulations in sports. The ultimate question is – do we want our sports leagues to be responsible for the health of athletes? Does a lack of drug testing force athletes to use drugs in a situation where they otherwise wouldn’t had rules been set in place? It’s a delicate balance but one thing is for sure – it certainly seems like the fans love seeing the shocking lifts and massive freaks. Solid drug testing could take that away. Or at least take away the frequency of them occurring.
It’s interesting to see the similarities and differences between powerlifting and bodybuilding when it comes to these hot button issues. You can watch Pitbull Torres full comments in our GI Exclusive interview segment above.
