Carlon Colker, MD, FACN, and a former champion bodybuilder, now co-stars in the new ABC-TV reality series, "
Shaq's Big Challenge." He is also
Shaquille O'Neal's personal physician and trainer, and has worked with
Andre Agassi
and many other world-class athletes as well professional and amateur
bodybuilders from around the world. Dr. Colker, CEO and Medical
Director of
Peak Wellness, Inc. of Greenwich,
Connecticut, would like to help sports fans and the public in general
better understand the entire issue of performance-enhancing drug use:
what's involved, what's at stake, and how he believes we should move
forward with more realistic and effective drug testing, as this problem
continues both on and off the playing field.
To do that, Dr. Colker has just published a new book,
Extreme Muscle Enhancement: Bodybuilding's Most Powerful Techniques
(ProSource Publications, 2007). In it he offers a comprehensive and
frank appraisal of why athletes use steroids and other
performance-enhancing drugs, and why a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude
is tragically common. The book offers an in-depth look at what we know
(and don't know) about drugs' effects and how they're used, including
"stacking," how many athletes beat the tests (you won't believe some of
these methods!) and why many officials "look the other way" or even
encourage the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Overall,
Dr Colker's book
is a "how to" manual for bodybuilders and other athletes who want to
build serious muscle mass and gain a competitive edge in sports, and in
life, as well as suggesting natural alternatives to drugs, and
debunking many popular myths about nutrition and fitness. As a
physician and as a bodybuilder who knows this sector intimately, Dr.
Colker presents his informed opinions about how these serious issues
can be intelligently and satisfactorily resolved for the good of
athletes, athletics, and the sports-loving public.
A sought-after media expert, Dr. Colker has recently been asked to
address the controversy swirling around the possible past use of
performance-enhancing drugs by
Barry Bonds, as he closes in on
Hank Aaron's home run record and the drugs suspected in the murder-suicide of pro wrestler
Chris Benoit.
Questions Dr. Colker is often asked include, "If Bonds breaks
Aaron's record, will it even be legitimate, or have
performance-enhancing drugs in fact given him and other modern-day
athletes an unfair leg-up on superstars of the past? And what do we
really want from our superstar athletes?" and "Do we, the public, have
any culpability in turning some of them into superhuman
freaks-of-nature?" Speaking generally, Dr. Colker says that sometimes
the use of performance-enhancing drugs (which, he points out, Bonds has
not admitted using), is subtly not only condoned but encouraged by
competitive coaches and handlers. The athletes themselves are "in it to
win," and if others they must go up against have that edge, they feel
they may have no other choice. What Dr. Colker suggests, in his frank,
"tough love" way, is that perhaps it's time to take a good, hard look
at what "monsters" we've created."
Speaking of monsters, using the example of the comic book character
"The Hulk," Dr. Colker has also been asked if, in the real world, the
high level of synthetic testosterone found in wrestler
Chris Benoit's
blood could have produced the so-called "'Roid Rage" effect, and been a
causative factor in his murder-suicide? As Dr. Colker explains,
"Wrestlers are performers, and are generally not at all as "aggressive"
away from the ring as they seem to be while inside it. A mild-mannered
person, such as Chris Benoit was reported to be, would not do a
180-degree about-face and suddenly become a killer. There were many
other causative factors. I don't believe steroids had a direct effect
on this terrible tragedy."
Today, as drug testing becomes increasingly widespread in professional
sports, and more athletes test positive, the longtime hot-button issue
of performance enhancing drugs has heated up. In this controversial
arena, Dr. Colker is a strong and true voice of reason.
In addition to
Extreme Muscle Enhancement, Dr. Colker is the author of
The Greenwich Diet and other books. His practice specialties include sports medicine and sports nutrition. He is a frequent contributor to
Muscular
Development Magazine, Muscle & Fitness, Ironman, Muscle
Magazine,Body, Runner's World, Walking, Let's Live, Self, Strive, Men's
Health, Men's Fitness, and
Cosmopolitan.
For more information, visit
www.extrememuscleenhancement.net.
