Bodybuilding is seen, on many occasions, as an extreme and sacrificial sport. Participants in this modality need to follow completely restrictive diets and undergo intense weight training, for example. Former professional athlete in the Men’s Physique category and current boxer, Rafael Rey – better known as Rey Physique – talks about the differences in practices and explains the reason for the change.
“Bodybuilding demands 24 hours a day. You can’t do anything more than that. Today, for example, I can go to the mall with my wife and spend the whole day walking and eating whatever I want”, highlights the athlete in an interview with the column.
“In boxing, I am in charge of my own life. There is a time to train, to disconnect from the world, but I can have a normal life after training. In bodybuilding, you need to deprive yourself of a series of things you would like to do. You have to give up your health”, he adds.
Asked about the use of ergogenic resources, the digital influencer recognizes the presence of anabolic steroids (AEs) outside of bodybuilding, but remembers that, within this sport, these substances have a more determining role: “Many bodybuilders try to defend the sport by saying that there is the use of hormones in other sports. In fact, there is, but they are not large doses equal to those in bodybuilding. Mixture of diuretics, stimulants and steroids anabolic steroids.”
Rey also issues a warning when recalling his own career on stage: “I started bodybuilding very early, right at the beginning of the Men’s Physique category. I came from a generation in which you learned by making mistakes in your own body (…) that’s dangerous. I’ve done crazy things with stimulants and anabolic steroids. They’re dangerous things, things that could have killed me. I don’t think you can be so innocent as to think that the abuse of these substances won’t have some negative effect in the future, that it won’t harm your health.”
“My health was starting to pay the price. I had panic syndrome, very high blood pressure, depression. It got to a point where I thought how worthwhile it was (…) I spent 10 years living for the sport, I didn’t allow myself to do anything. I decided to take a break and it seems that God put boxing in my life. A friend of mine invited me to practice and I fell in love”, he concludes.
The bodybuilder turned professional in 2018 by winning the Ohio edition of the Arnold Sports Festival, the Arnold Classic Ohio. Currently, he dedicates himself solely to boxing and has had several fights on the Fight Music Show. Despite recognizing the harm of high-performance sports to health, returning to compete at least once is still one of his goals.
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