The Swedish legend talks about the dark side of bodybuilding.
Swedish bodybuilding greatness Mats Kardellin the story is printed between the covers and as an audiobook. Title of the work Dopad: Mitt liv som bodybuldingmästare tells how Kardell achieved his success.
Doping led Kardell to four Swedish championships and second place in the World Amateur Championships. The downside was serious health problems, such as impotence.
According to Kardell, in doping bodybuilding circles, talking about impotence is associated with shame, so it is still kept quiet. He has decided to dispel that.
– I want them to know that there is a risk that they won’t be able to stand. How manly is that? In addition, I would like men to become better at talking about their feelings and threaten less, says Kardell, who is currently a speaker Aftonbladet in the interview.
Quick success
The boy, who played ice hockey in his youth, stopped after arguing with his coach and took a liking to strength training. The sport took its course.
Violent training brought 30 kilos of weight and success in the games. In his first Swedish championships, Kardell won silver and was chosen as rookie of the year.
He had heard about the side effects of anabolic steroids, but still decided to try to see if he could get even better results with them.
They work. Kardell was doing whatever he wanted in the gym, and suddenly the anxiety that had been bothering him at school was on the way out.
– I understood that it could have bad consequences, but I told myself that it wouldn’t happen to me. Wanting to be someone that others looked up to gave me confirmation of that.
Kardell reminds us that in the 80s and 90s, always striving for bigger muscles was the spirit of the times.
Downhill
However, in the midst of success, he discovered that the power of steroids had its limits. Amphetamine came into the picture as a stimulant and too many rounds to relax relaxants and tranquilizers. The cocktail also included alcohol, which temporarily alleviated the symptoms of AHDH in early youth.
The man who had adopted an accentuated masculine identity was eaten away from the inside by the fact that, from time to time, making bed was sometimes an impossibility due to the lost masculinity. Kardell became a recluse at home and became estranged from his wife and small child.
– I became very strange and secretive. I had panic attacks and so much pain in one testicle that I couldn’t wear pants. That’s why I mostly spent my time in the bedroom, where I could be without clothes.
Years of mixed use eventually led to the point that in 2008, a doctor told Kardell that there was no certainty that he would survive.
He got sober and was saved. Now behind 15 years without substances.
Today, Kardell, 63, works out moderately and hosts a gym in Mjälby six times a week, and doesn’t hesitate to raise the issue with his clients if he notices worrisome traits in them.
– I hope that everyone considering illegal substances knows that they can lead to impotence, for example. You can be completely dead between your legs.