From his beginnings as a sickly asthmatic in the Badlands of South Texas, Brent Allen was able to transform himself into a nationally ranked athlete in one of the most steroid dominated sports there is on the planet--the pure strength sport of powerlifting. He was first exposed to the world of anabolic steroids in 1977, when his first workout partner, at the age of 17, had a physician prescribe the steroid Dianabol to him and have since met literally hundreds of these bizarre steroid users through the years.

He never considered using steroids when he first started lifting weights, mainly because he was making good strength and size gains without them. In fact, he continued to train "steroid-free" for almost five years before using heavy dosages to help him peak for my powerlifting competitions from 1982 through 1987. In that time, he rotated anywhere from 1 to 8 different steroids per cycle, in 10 total steroid drug cycles. In those six years, he used 20 different steroids and related compounds, as seen in Table 1. Two of the steroids he used were only approved for animals, one of which warned... "Not to be administered to horses that are going to be slaughtered for use in food." He even used the steroid Ben Johnson tested positive for at the 1988 Olympic Games, as well as the steroid Brian Bosworth tested positive for during the 1987 Orange Bowl game.

The most he ever took was 45 times what a normal male body "naturally" produces. This, for only a week, was more than most of the "former" East German athletes were administered for the entire year - and in some cases two years! If you keep up with Sports Illustrated magazine, his peak dosages were comparable to those of Steve Courson and Tommy Chaikin, who admitted their usage and problems with steroids. But the shocking thing is, the "extreme" users literally made him look as conservative as Rush Limbaugh!!!

After he stopped using steroids for competition, he pursued and attained two post-graduate degrees. While studying, he was literally drawn to research this much misunderstood topic and produced a number of "thesis" sized research papers. This in-turn led him to write books/magazine articles, give lectures at educational institutions and conventions, and continue to research the topic. As is evident in his articles, his research covers a wide range of information including other books, congressional hearings, scientific studies, television transcripts, mainstream articles, numerous personal interviews with those in the subculture and other key steroid experts as well as his own personal experiences. Basically put, he’s been there, done it, and studied it in nauseating detail!

Brent Allen

Articles by Brent Allen