UKC

No doubt this has been done before, nevertheless inspired by the recent Lance Armstrong allegations.

Have performance enhancing drugs been used in Climbing to help climbers push their grades? Especially so in Sport climbing I guess.

Would you care if you found out that top climbers used them? I don't think I would.

What are the longer-term effects of these performance enhancing drugs? Should I use them to help break the HVS barrier?

In reply to Dave Bak:

yep. Try taking sudafed before you train
p

In reply to Dave Bak:

Creatine enhances endurance.... could be worth a go... never used it myself....

Without reading your post I was just going to say Viagra....

In reply to Dave Bak: I have a very good article on this (in cycling) that I can e-mail you if you like?


Cheers

Toby

In reply to Dave Bak: Your willy shrinks

<<looks down trousers at the vacant space where once there lived a friend>>

Not sure performance enhancing drugs would help me- i need a bigger set of balls, not forearms.

I try "performance enhancing scenery".

In reply to Toby_W:

Yes please.

I wasn't really interested from a personal viewpoint however I have been thinking about creatine for a while. I don't even know if this is classed as a drug?

In reply to Dave Bak:

creatine is found naturally in red meat. If you want to find out what might help you could try seeing whats banned in athletics. things like SSRIs are pretty good for your head when your routing, pseudoephidrene (sudafed) is a stimulant which is a bit similar to speed. I have a friend who used to take steroids for body building but that doesn't really help. He has alot of bulk to carry up as well as other problems
p

In reply to Dave Bak:

This is truly unbelivable, a bodybuilder's forum with a whole section devoted to steroids. It makes amazing reading.

http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

In reply to Hotbad Peteel:

Surely the kind of performance enhancing drugs which appear to be used in cycling would also be of benefit to climbers. I.e. ones that help sustain stamina levels and repetitive muscle use.

I can't imagine that this is a new idea?

In reply to brothersoulshine:

hmm. Steroids are a touch too far really for climbing. No one really frowns on drug use in extreme sports except in competitions. One thing i'd be cautious of that isn't really apparent is climbing whilst taking painkillers. I've got 2 trashed fingers through climbing after taking paracetamol and not noticing the damage i was doing
p

took creatine for 4 months last year when i did lots of running- wasnt convinced myself. I seemed to perform better without it.

took steroids when i used to do bodybuilding when i was 16-big results if you put the effort in- but its not clever.

Didnt Mummery et al have a cocaine related drug for certain situations on a route? I recall a bottle of brandy etc coming into play from time to time with Bonatti. Maybe got my wires crossed.

In reply to Dave Bak:

yeah probably. You don't have the same headgames cycling though (maybe mountain biking). Stimulants make a difference bouldering but i don't think they'd help you on trad routes when you're trying to keep your head. That could get quite scary really.
p

In reply to Barber Baz:

the ukbouldering.com kitlist mentions a gram of coke for highball problems . i like my legs the way they are thanks
p

In reply to Barber Baz:a climbing team (cant remember which ones) on the early accennt of the eiger took a phial of a "special" remedy only to be used in the direst circumstance that was believed to be a highly potent stimulant

In reply to Hotbad Peteel:

Jim Perrin soloed Coronation Street on coke and speed. But the coke high had begun to wear off before he got to the top, which frightened him somewhat. He writes about it in On and Off the Rocks. It's a jolly good read.

must be honest- i tend to use a hip flask with some nice malt whisky in it.
Fear is also a great motivator for me. I feel that the biggest barrier is my mind, not my physical abilities.

Like Armstrong said it- its a hard race, and hard work wins it.

In reply to Barber Baz:


I bet he muttered something about steroids and EPO under his breath though.

In reply to Mooncat:

hope not- he is a major inspiration to millions, including me. Maybe im naive after following his races and his story. Its easy to suspect he was up to something given his superior performance though.

In reply to Barber Baz:

Nobody rides the tour de france on fresh air and water.

Rest assured it's a level playing field though.

In reply to Mooncat:

Well, the Armstrong one has some legs in it yet, and he has a number of court cases to deal with again.

Indurain has jumped to his defence recently too.

Wonder if people climb the Everest circus on Fresh (bottled) air and water...

In reply to Barber Baz:

I've heard rumours of aspirin taking.

Bicarbonate soda is supposed to be a good lactate buffer, rowers often use it for races, gives really bad diarrhoea though apparently. Steroids are a definite no no, the serious side effects and illnesses/ diseases that they cause far out way the benefits. People often except instant results with steroids but all they are really doing is enabling you to work harder and for longer, therefore producing greater muscle mass. From reading quite a bit about anabolic steroids the research seems to suggest that whilst they help to increase muscle size, the strength to muscle size ratio doesn't really improve, which means your lugging quite a bit of unnecessary weight when climbing.

In reply to Dave Bak: Forgot to mention that obviously bicarbonate soda isn't a perfromance enhancing drug but a substance just like creatine. some vit and minerals are also thought to really help with recovery, i.e. vit D and C and potassium.

In reply to humo:


could give you another option for "jamming"