Scand J Med Sci Sports 2013: 23: e361–e372 doi: 10.1111/sms.12090
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Doing supplements to improve performance in club cycling: a life-course analysis B. Stewart1, S. Outram1, A.C.T. Smith2 Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living, Victoria University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia, 2College of Business and Law, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia Corresponding author: Bob Stewart, Ph.D, Victoria University, Institute for Sport, Exercise and Active Living, Melbourne, Australia. Tel: 61 3 9919 4350, Fax: 61 3 9919 4319, E-mail: [email protected]
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Accepted for publication 12 May 2013
Using qualitative life-course and pathway analysis, this article explores the beliefs that serious club cyclists have about performance improvement, and what they think are appropriate and inappropriate ways of achieving it. We interviewed 11 cyclists from suburban clubs in Melbourne, Australia, and invited them to discuss their approach to training, racing, and supplementation. We found that each of the 11 cyclists were not only committed to the sport, but also paid a keen interest in bike technology and training regimes. In addition, they believed that supplement use was integral to meeting the physical and
mental demands of their sport, even at club level. They also understood that supplement use, like training regimes, followed a sequential pathway where the accumulation of capacity, know–know, and knowledge, allowed progression to the next level of performance. And, like similar studies of club cycling in Europe, this cohort of cyclists balked at using banned substances, but also believed that in order to effectively transition to the elite – that is, professional – level, some additional supplement and drug-use was essential.
Aims of project
Tscholl et al. (2010) we invited interviewees to not only discuss their use of supplements, but also reveal their attitudes to performance-enhancing drugs use. We sought to establish how these attitudes fitted with the various life-course/pathway models that have been put forward in the literature on sport development. This was seen to be a crucial initiative, because it has been observed that “additional research is required to explore the contextual factors affecting young athlete development at different stages of career transitions” (Bruner et al., 2009, p.33). We also used the life-course/pathway model to identify the stages club cyclists move through in their journey to be the best they can.
In undertaking this research project, our aim was, through the use of a life-course/pathway approach, to secure a better understanding of the ways in which people transition their way through sport club competitions. We chose cycling as our case study because it is often associated with the use of performance-enhancing substances, and poses challenging questions to do with equity, fairness, and safety (Thompson, 2006; Moller, 2008; Morrow & Idle, 2008; Brissonneau, 2010a, b; Jones, 2010; Slot, 2011; Soule & Lestrelin, 2011). We also wanted to see if the results of the Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010) study into young Swiss cyclists were applicable to serious club cyclists in Australia. We were especially keen to see if Australian cyclists faced a similar pathway to success, which, according to Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010, p.343) was not only about supplement use for serious club cyclists, but also about more complex supplements and banned substance use for those at competitive cycling’s top-end. This article consequently explores the beliefs that serious club cyclists in Melbourne, Australia, have about performance improvement, and what they think are appropriate or inappropriate ways of achieving a competitive edge. Bearing in mind the studies undertaken by Baylis et al. (2001), Braun et al. (2009), de Silva et al. (2010), Erdman et al. (2007), Ronson et al. (1999) and
Life-course modeling in sport Previous research in the drugs-in-sport field has used models built around corporate ideologies that focus on achievement and success (Brissonneau, 2010b), masculinist cultures that emphasize competition and risktaking (Ford, 2007), and scientized values that sees sport as a field for applying new technologies to achieve superior performance (Alaranta et al., 2008). Each of these conceptual frames provides useful perspectives, but they are often constrained by their cross-sectional focus. A life-course model has no such constraint, because its role is to help understand people’s behaviors within an
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Stewart et al. observable trajectory (Leonard & Burns, 2006, p.28; Murphy et al., 2010, p.7). The life-course model neatly frames the careers of serious players and athletes, where sporting lives can be both clearly marked and severely truncated (Pearson & Petipas, 1990). Coakley and Donnelly’s (1999) 4-stage process model provides a succinct starting point for framing this study. Stage 1 involves being introduced to sport and exploring the fun and its informal structures. Stage 2 involves serious training and development, where participants learn to become athletes and take on an athlete identity. Stage 3 involves athletes going deep into the experience, and “doing” the sport, where serious competition and performance improvement are front and center. Stage 4, the final stage, involves transitioning from competition to non-competition, and making decisions about what to do for the remainder of their sporting lives (Coakley & Donnelly, 1999, p. xvii). This final stage can be a traumatic experience, because it not only means a loss of bodily capital and social status, but also a crisis of identity (Carless & Douglas, 2009). A similar sport development model was designed by Balyi (2001) who posited a 4-stage process, which, like Coakley & Donnelly, accommodated both technical and social dimensions. Stage 1 was mainly about learning to train; Stage 2 focused on training to compete; Stage 3 revolved around training to win – or achieving peak performance – as it is now sometimes referred to; while Stage 4 was about retirement and transitioning, where the transition could involve exiting the sport altogether, or finding a niche role back in the sport itself. In each stage the technique and science of sport is meshed with its behavioral and social expectations to create a sporting culture, which might, for instance, run from being participatory, through to being exploratory, and finish up with being performative (Carless & Douglas, 2009, p.55). At the same time, there is a commercial thread running through the sport development fabric, which reaches its zenith at the high-performance level, where commitment and professionalism becomes the dominant features (Moller, 2008, p.180; Christensen & Sorensen, 2009, p.128). Cote (1999) and Cote and Fraser-Thomas (2007) added strength to the Balyi model by identifying three stages of player development. The first stage takes in the 6–12-year-old age group. It is the “sampling” phase – or “grazing” period, as it now often referred to – where fun and a diverse range of experiences dominate. The second stage covers young adolescents aged 13–15 years. In this “specialization” phase participants focus on a narrower band of sports, and begin to develop sport-specific skills. The final stage is relevant to all those participants in their late adolescence and beyond. This is the “investment” phase, where commitment, high-level skill development, intensive training – which is sometimes referred to as “deliberative practice” – and serious competition, emerge as pivotal player development themes.
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These models have been adapted by the Australian Sports Commission (Gulbin et al., 2011), which has designed a 10-stage model of elite sport development. Each of the stages is located within one of three pretransition periods. Period 1 is about fun and enjoyment; Period 2 focuses on training, skill absorption, tactical know-how, and game science; while Period 3 is about progression to the elite level, where athletic maturity, accommodation to high-intensity training, and highlevel performance are the goals. Figure 1 illustrates how a sport development pathway looks from a life-course perspective. Methods Sampling method Informants for this study were selected from a cohort of club cyclists in Melbourne who rode competitively. Eleven informants were recruited for the study using a hybrid sampling method that combined convenience and random selection (Patton, 2002, p.243). A group of 30 cyclists were assembled from three Melbourne clubs, and from this pool, 11 were randomly selected for interview. In line with our University’s ethics approval conditions, the cyclist’s real names were replaced by fictional names, and anonymity was ensured. Their profiles are listed below. • Informant 1: Gordon is 32 years old, and is a serious A-grade road cyclist. He trains for at least 25 h a week, and covers between 600 and 700 km. Gordon’s aim was to regularly finish in the leading bunch in Australia’s most prestigious road races. Gordon was previously a triathlete. • Informant 2: Mary is 24 years old, and is a highly competitive B-grade road cyclist. She trains for just under 30 h a week, and covers around 600 km. She aspires to ride in a professional team overseas. Mary was previously a rower. • Informant 3: Steve is 40 years of age and is a solid A-grade road rider. He trains for around 10 h a week, and covers an average of 300 km. Steve has been a competitive cyclist for 20 years, but no longer aspires to greatness. • Informant 4: Ernie is 40 years old, and is a committed B-grade club cyclist and coach. He trains for 18–20 h a week, and covers 500 km in a good week. Ernie has been a cyclist for 22 years, and at his peak was an elite road cyclist. • Informant 5: Bruce is 32 years old is a cycling enthusiast who rides at high B-grade level. He trains for no more than 10 h a week, and covers around 300 km. Bruce has been a serious club cyclist for 5 years, and prior to committing to cycling, was a weekend cricketer. • Informant 6: Norman is 38 years old and is a regular participant in club cycling. He rides at the lower end of B-grade, and trains for 5–6 h per week, which converts to around 150 km of saddletime a week. Norman has been involved in cycling for 20 years, on and off, and has interspersed his cycling activities with military service and endurance running. • Informant 7: Helen is 31 years old and is a regular participant in track cycling. She rides at D- and E-grade levels, and competes in Masters-level competitions. She spends less than 100 km a week on the road, and 2–3 days a week in the gym. She has been a serious club cyclist for 6 years, and prior to that engaged in a variety of recreational sport including gym work. • Informant 8: Marion is 31 year old, and has been doing crosscountry mountain-biking for 10 years. Marion sees herself as an elite rider. She works a full time job, but fits in a 25-h a week training schedule covering 500 km a week. She was previously a triathlete.
Doing supplements in club cycling
Fig. 1. Sport career pathways: a live course perspective. • Informant 9: Gerald is 34 years old, and is a committed A-grade road cyclist, but has been doing it seriously for only 3 years. He trains for 15–20 h a week and racks up no less than 500 km a week. He was previously a keen triathlete, and before that, a rugby player. • Informant 10: Nancy is 36 years old and been involved in club cycling for 15 years. She combines road and mountain biking, and specializes in long-distance endurance cycling. Cycling has become a lifestyle, and she spends at least 40 h a week – covering around 600 km – engaged in some type of cycling activity. She previously rowed, and played Australian-rules football. • Informant 11: Colin is 26 years old, and has been a serious road cyclist for 9 years. He is a high-level A-grade rider, but is just short of elite standing. He has ambitions to go further up the cycling ladder. He trains for 15–20 h a week, and covers 500– 600 km on average. Cycling has always been Colin’s favorite sport. In summary, all 11 informants were road riders: seven informants were male and four were female; five were A-grade riders while five were B-grade; the age range was from 24 to 40, with a
mean age of 33; and the training loads ranged from 100 to 650 km per week, with a mean load of 450 km. They all identified as serious club cyclists.
Interview structure We adopted a semi-structured interview process that allowed informants to construct a “life-course narrative” in telling their cycling stories (Clarke, 2005, p.184). We started the interview by inviting interviewees to discuss their earliest sports experience, and how they transitioned into club cycling. We then asked them to identify key incidents that led them to commit to competitive cycling, and discuss the strategies they have used to improve their levels of performance. We then invited them to talk about their supplement use, the role that over-the-counter and prescription drugs played in relieving pain and boosting energy, their attitudes to banned substance use, and how they drew the line between appropriate and inappropriate substance use. The interviews ran for 40–50 min.
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Stewart et al. Data analysis All interviews were transcribed, and managed through the software program NVivo (Version 10, QSR International, Doncaster, Victoria, Australia). The first stage involved coding and organizing the data into major groupings according to common themes, tones, and images (Crossley, 2007). The second stage used Gee’s (1986) units-of-discourse model to structure the thematic groupings around stanzas, which involved breaking down paragraphs and sentences into short phrases that encapsulated specific practices related to performance improvement. We distinguished between the roles played by technology, training, supplement use, and banned substances, and additionally noted the point in their cycling development when these practices were given serious consideration (Elliott, 2006; Riessman, 2008). The stanzas were used to both identify the common themes across participant comments, and, in keeping with the assumptions underlying the life-course model, illuminate the stages participants passed through in their cycling careers.
Two informants showed a particularly strong knowledge of the relationship between their own use of supplements and the use of such supplements elsewhere in the population. [Marion 8] Yeah I am good with my diet . . . the nutrition company that sponsors us, they have a really good product. [Gordon 1] I guess they are all spinning off the back of the weight loss craze, you know . . . a lot of the diet pills that speed up your metabolism . . . a lot of guys will use that sort of product too. [Gordon 1] I just ate what I liked, and then started to work out what a calorie was . . . that was a bit of a revolution . . . you know, then I got more interested and the further I went along . . . I started finding . . . other . . . supplements.
Results Openness and use of technology All the interviewees emphasized the importance of technology as a legitimate means of improving performance. One example of this was the willingness to use simulated altitude training through a variety of techniques. [Bruce 5] You plug this thing in, and . . . an hour and a half later you are up on tour . . . you know you can ride through the Pyrenees for two hours if you want. [Gordon 1] It is a face mask arrangement to a compressor . . . so it pumps in whatever elevation oxygen you want . . . you can do a set of intervals at a higher altitude, and recover at sea level. In general, they were keen to use any technology that would help in their training. [Gordon 1] We use power, we use cadence, we use heart rate, and we use altitude stuff. We use anything we can get our hands on . . . I invest money into the tools that help my performance. The “tool” analogy was particularly pertinent given that cyclists’ bodies were seen as “machine”-type objects (Rigauer, 1981, p. 60) that could be manipulated to produce, through a “sporting mode of production” (Brohm, 1976, p. 61), “efficient” results and better performance (Thompson, 2006, p. 185). The “tool” analogy was also succinctly revealed in the following response: [Ernie 4] I think your lungs – like everything else – is a muscle . . . and they can be conditioned. Learning about nutrition and supplements All informants were knowledgeable about dietary requirements and the products they had used. They were also open to new ideas, and were willing to learn more.
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Starting to use supplements – habituation to use The informants’ responses also indicated that “learning about” supplements quickly transitioned into “using” supplements. Three distinct forms of habitual supplement use were strongly in evidence – supplements for health, supplements for energy, and supplements for focus.
Supplements for sustaining health Particularly notable was how many supplements were taken, and the potential for cyclists to be taking aboverecommended levels of supplementation. It may have reflected the demands of the sport and the difficulty in maintaining correct dosage of vitamins and minerals. Alternatively, it may indicate that informants were acting on the often dubious assumption that the higher the dose, the better the outcome. [Steve 3] Whether it’s superstition or whatever . . . I don’t know . . . but I take high dose of vitamin C every day. I take 2000 m which is miles over any recommended level but it might help not get a cold . . . it doesn’t seem to hurt, so I do that. [Mary 2] I have a history of low iron so that’s why I take iron . . . zinc . . . and I think its magnesium as well . . . so basically I just take them occasionally just to ensure, like if I’ve had a really big day and I feel a little bit run down . . . then I take them. [Colin 11] I take vitamins and minerals. . . . I found out I was iron deficient . . . it was affecting my performance negatively . . . I take ferrous-sulfate with vitamin C. I take vitamin E. I take the enzyme betaine (TMG) . . . aids protein digestion & absorption . . . & protects against dehydration . . . magnesium and zinc . . . yeah . . . I have also started taking vitamin B.
Doing supplements in club cycling Supplements for increasing and maintaining energy Energy bars and energy drinks were also commonly used, although they were not necessarily considered to be supplements. [Mary 2] The bars that I use are a combination of the science and sport bars. And I use them because they are . . . yum. [Collin 11] I drink electrolyte drinks when I am on the bike . . . I take energy bars and eat things like that when I am off the bike . . . is all about sustaining energy levels when you train and race. [Steve 3] if a race is over an hour I will drink Gatorade . . . contains carbohydrates and electrolytes . . . any training ride longer than an hour . . . yeah . . . I drink Gatorade For the more committed informants, the products become more specialized and the rationale for using them become more explicit. [Ernie 4] In the lead up to the Melbourne to Warrnambool cycling classic I generally take Endura [a sports drink] it’s just a carbohydrate which I take in my drink bottles . . . and I take gels. [Gordon 1] I do a green tea based supplement . . . Thermogenics, I think they call it . . . just speeds things up . . . keeps your metabolism running really fast.
Supplements for energy & focus As informants moved further along the performance improvement pathway, additional space was allocated to not only specialized products, but to also more “complex” nutritional supplementation strategies for training and racing. Although the demarcation between simple and complex supplement use was not always clear, the primary difference was in the combination of supplements taken and the multiplication of objectives – from simple energy supplementation to focus and the capacity for high-intensity work. This was the stage where supplement use became an integral part of the performance improvement toolkit. [Gordon 1] got some Guaranas, and I can’t quote the rest of the formula . . . but is amazingly effective, . . . if you are out doing bike intervals there is nothing else in the world, it chops out . . . it is like blinkers for horses . . . narrows your focus down to what you are trying to achieve. Caffeine was particularly significant as it worked as a metabolic stimulant. It was also used relieve physical discomfort and improve race-focus.
[Gordon 1] I do take tablets . . . like no-doze for example . . . it is just straight caffeine so it is fairly easy and straightforward . . . it speeds up your whole metabolic rate so you are processing everything faster, I find mentally I am a lot more switched on . . . more engaged . . . lot more focused. [Helen 7] In terms of performance enhancing, I used to take a lot of caffeine leading up to a race . . . I have always been conscious of how much caffeine you can have before a race . . . caffeine was considered a banned substance . . . right . . . I liked taking Red Bulls just before races and stuff like that . . . beneficial? . . . yes. Pressure to use more supplements There was also a feeling that if you wanted to demonstrate your commitment, you must increase your supplement intake. Some informants felt that, as serious cyclists, they should be taking more supplements based on their presumed efficacy. [Mary 2] I’ve never had a caffeine supplement. I mean I really should experiment with the legal ones . . . would definitely think about caffeine tablets because I have read a lot of the research . . . it gives an ergogenic benefit. [Gordon 1] If I took everything I thought I should be taking it would cost me a hundred and more dollars per week. [Bruce 5] Always thought I should try it . . . yeah . . . tried caffeine to see how it affects performance, then gauged impact . . . it worked. They not only mentioned self-imposed pressure, but also spoke of the commercial pressures – but not necessarily on themselves – to take supplements. [Bruce 5] Yeah . . . I do not want to be in that position . . . but you sort of got to think . . . If a contract is being waved in front of you providing you take this supplement, for the term of that contract, then you know . . . it is a tough choice. Reflections upon legality, health, and values Legality of supplement use
This was not a population group that had been caught cheating by using doping agents. Neither were they regularly surrounded by others taking illicit supplements. But, legality issues were often raised in the context of the sometimes inadvertent mixtures of stimulants and steroids. [Steve 3] I had been taking Sudafed to get over a cold. And at that stage Sudafed was a banned sub-
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Stewart et al. stance. So potentially if I had been tested then I could well have been in trouble. Similar concerns were also raised with respect to caffeine, but for the most part the summations were affirmative. [Gordon 1] Caffeine is the one that I just keep going back to, it is safe, it is legal . . . so . . . that is about it. [Collin 11] Some things on the borderline . . . like caffeine . . . you can have up to 10 cups of coffee day . . . definitively works as performanceenhancing thing . . . but we don’t question it, do we? Health and supplement use
The personal experiences of informants showed that just because the supplement was legal – or on the borderline – it was not necessarily the case that it was safe or healthy. [Gordon 1] I sampled out of curiosity . . . a mixture of caffeine and guarana, but actually mixed in pseudoephedrine . . . goes under the name of Sudafed I think . . . also had one of the asthma drugs in it to help lungs stay open. I tried it out . . . it was frightening. [Ernie 4] The creatine just made me cramp badly . . . is a common side effect I gather . . . I haven’t used it since . . . was about three years ago. [Gordon 1] They all have side affects you know, you have come downs, you flatten out, and if you do not take enough . . . you run out.
[Steve 3] Well . . . the difference between a Vitamin C tablet versus . . . say . . . Sudafed tablets . . . is . . . not much . . . I mean if you took it to the extreme anything beyond water is enhancing.
Boundary marking and decisions not to take banned substances In this study, “boundary marking” was a crucially important stage in the serious cyclist’s drive to improve performance, because at this point, they recognized how far they wanted to take their sporting aspirations. In the first instance, informants marked a boundary between nutritional supplement use and performance-enhancing drugs, and in doing so, felt they had demarcated themselves from the professional ranks. As a result, they were far less likely to use banned performance-enhancing substances. [Steve 3] At my level I don’t think drug taking is very common because it’s quite costly and there’s no financial reward in domestic cycling . . . It wouldn’t surprise me if there are a few people that have tried . . . but I don’t think it is as prevalent as mainstream media would make out. In explaining the absence of banned substance use, informants placed a strong emphasis on health issues. Their comments suggested they were regularly weighing up the “risks” – mainly to do with their own health – and the “benefits” –which centered on increased competitiveness – of taking “drugs.”
[Norman 6] But what is performance enhancing? . . . does it place other people at an unfair disadvantage? If I have a power bar gel before a race then that is because I want my body to have the best nutrition . . . or I might take a banana on a training ride . . . is all about keeping your body supplied with energy . . . what is wrong with that?
[Gordon 1] I have had to take Prednisolone [a steroid medication for skin conditions] . . . it has a side effect of having a VO2 max increase . . . been out on the bike a few weeks later and I ripped along . . . I did not think too much about it . . . I was taking twenty-five milligrams a day, if you take something like a hundred milligrams a day you get a twenty percent increase in VO2 max . . . staggering . . . is a rumour that Floyd Landis was on Prednisolone . . . was told if you take too much your hips wear out. [Ernie 4] it is bad for your heart, and kidneys. It goes against the whole notion of being healthy doesn’t it? I think people who use drugs have a short term focus . . . If . . . you could go down and buy EPO down at local gym . . . I guess we would probably do it . . . and we would all be on it if there were no side effects . . . I mean . . . lots of cyclists die of heart attacks.
At the same time, it was readily accepted that the division between licit and illicit supplement use was shadowy.
These concerns over health issues were often combined with negative values attached to performanceenhancing drugs.
Values Finally, much of the decision making pertaining to taking supplements, as opposed to performanceenhancing drugs, came down to personal values and beliefs. Supplements were considered okay to use because in part they were widely available, and in part because they simply augmented the body’s energy stocks. In this context, supplement use was not, of itself, viewed as a problematic practice.
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Doing supplements in club cycling [Norman 6] If it does no harm and is accessible to everyone then I wouldn’t have a problem with it. [Collin 11] The ones that you know about are erythropoietin and plasma . . . taking things like that it gives a completely unfair advantage . . . It is not like a deficiency that they have . . . it puts them so far above the rest . . . is not part of their normal bodily function. [Ernie 4] As for anything performance enhancing . . . definitely not . . . wouldn’t recommend it . . . wouldn’t regard anyone who did . . . It is cheating . . . is probably bad for you in the long term.
means of improving performance, and articulated these opinions around four facets of their sporting life – technology, training, supplements, and drugs. The latter two were sharply demarcated, and informants did not regularly or knowingly use banned performance-enhancing drugs. However, the drug-use option was always considered when deciding on what they wanted from their cycling experiences. They drew upon their knowledge of supplement and drug use to map out their own desired sporting life-course.
Largely absent from these deliberations were concerns about being caught using banned performanceenhancing drugs. No informant talked at length about drug testing when invited to do so, and neither were they concerned about the suspensions and penalties that would follow from testing positive.
Eight of the respondents had considered the possibility of up-grading their bike technology and re-organizing their training regimes. Informants described a whole range of bike up-grades that were made for the purposes of training. Ten of the respondents had sought advice on training regimes, and in eight of those instances their response was to substantially increase their training load. Cyclists at this level rationalized their desire to improve performance by saying that technology was an integral part of the sport, and was consequently a legitimate means of securing a competitive edge.
Alternative pathways As well as drawing a boundary between legitimate – that is, legal – forms of supplementation and illegitimate – that is, banned – performance-enhancing drugs, informants offered an alternative pathway to improved performance. A number of informants stressed that cyclists should not only be able to manage the physical demands of the sport without recourse to banned substance use, but also be able to perform at a high levels without the use of such drugs. [Bruce 5] You go out there and you ride 45 K an hour on average on your own and you blow a bunch away and you win a race . . . you have gotta think . . . well, what am I trying to achieve by racing amateur races? . . . you know, it is really about personal fitness and feeling good. [Norman 6] As you improve and you push bigger gears, and you are riding harder, you get different pains in different parts of your body . . . my response to that is to recognise it . . . and manage that through training rather than through medication. [Norman 6] So if your body needs a rest . . . you rest for a couple of days . . . if you have to spin small gears for a couple of days and take it easy because you have got a bit of pain . . . then take it easy . . . adjust your seating position . . . the problem is often your position on the bike. Synthesis The findings mentioned earlier provide a revealing commentary on how serious club cyclists in Melbourne went about improving performance. All informants voiced strong opinions about appropriate and inappropriate
Technology
Patterns of supplement use Every informant had something significant to say about supplement use, which is consistent with results of similar studies on supplement use in other sports (Havemann & Goedecke, 2008; McNaughton et al., 2008; Jeukendrup & Tipton, 2009; Ghosh et al., 2010). Ten respondents indicated that they had used some form of dietary supplement, and a significant minority had used a variety of substances. Every one of the 11 cyclists we interviewed had spent considerable time thinking about how they might be able to improve their race performance, and in every instance they reflected upon the space that supplement and related substance use would occupy. A list of substances used by this cohort of cyclists is provided in Table 1. Carbohydrate loading was a taken-for-granted practice among this sample of club cyclists. Practical experience had demonstrated that a constant supply of carbohydrates was essential for high levels of performance on both training and competition days. As far as non-carbohydrate substances were concerned, caffeine was the substance of choice, with 10 of the 11 informants being regular users. Eight of the respondents had also taken at least one over-the-counter or prescription drug. Five respondents had considered using banned performance-enhancing substances. Two of the five sought advice on the matter, and did considerable research on their supply, efficacy, and side effects. The other three respondents had talked to their teammates about the matter, but had not proceeded any further toward taking banned performance-enhancing drugs.
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Stewart et al. Table 1. Most frequently used supplements and related substances
Type of supplement
Commonly perceived performance action
Number of Users
Carbohydrates Caffeine Electrolyte drinks Multivitamins – mainly B and C Analgesics and anti-inflammatories Glutamine, leucine and L-carnitine Guarana and rhodiola Creatine D-ribose Coenzyme Q10 Plus Pseudoephedrine* Prednisolone* Albuterol*
An basic food source for energy production in muscles A stimulant – increases work capacity Minimizes dehydration and maintain mineral balance Maintains health and protect against minor ailments Deadens pain and reduces discomfort Amino acids that assist muscle growth Plant derived stimulants – increase work capacity Enables high intensity training to be undertaken Aids recovery and boosts muscle energy capability Increases energy production in muscles A stimulant found in decongestants A steroid that acts as an anti-inflammatory A bronchialdilator that relaxes the airways to the lungs
11 10 9 9 8 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
*Banned substances under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code.
Table 1 also shows that the line between supplement use and other substance use was often blurred, especially when it came to painkiller and stimulant use. Drug use All informants were convinced that supplement use was a legitimate means of securing an improvement in performance. By contrast, anabolic steroids and EPO were not considered to be legitimate or healthy ways of competing at this level of the sport. Several informants believed that drug use unfairly tilted the playing field to the advantage of its users. In addition, they had grave concerns regarding the health of persons – and especially professional cyclists – who they believed used such drugs. Performance-enhancing drug use was not a road that they were willing to travel along. Discussion The informants’ discussions of bike technologies, training, supplement use, and other substance use allowed us to refine the sport career model as illustrated in Fig. 1. It has been recast as Fig. 2, which has the same life-course stages and phases as Fig. 1, but which has been reconfigured to not only fit the performance aspirations of serious club cyclists, but also acknowledge the seductive opportunities for supplement and drug use as they move along the performance improvement pathway. As Fig. 2 shows, the serious club cyclists interviewed for this study perceived that in order to deliver elite performance it was necessary to go beyond the idea of “naturally evolved talent” (Cooper, 2012, pp. 22–24). Early on in their careers, the most often cited means of removing the talent-limit barrier was to secure higher quality equipment, train hard, and gravitate to coaches with a sound knowledge of dietary supplements. In learning to compete and training to compete, they perceived that they could utilize their bodies more efficiently with the addition of plants, herbs, and supplements. Like
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similar studies of club cycling in Europe (LentillonKaestner & Carstairs, 2010), this cohort of cyclists, balked at using banned substances, but just like the participants in European studies, understood that in order to effectively transition to the elite level, some additional substance use was essential. Moreover, while every respondent in this study fell short of using banned substances on a regular basis, they all perceived that in order to achieve national or international success, additional substance use was mandatory. They also understood that their attitudes to banned substances were in part shaped by the attitudes and practices of fellow cyclists. Recent studies have suggested that favorable views about their efficacy and appropriateness are likely to undermine effective regulation by “normalizing” their use (Petróczi & Aidman, 2008; Petróczi et al., 2011). These studies have also highlighted the ways in which peer-pressure in the form of “social networks,” external “facilitators,” and “inhibitors,” influence supplement and drug use through the sporting life-course (Petróczi & Aidman, 2008, p. 9). Concluding comments A life-course model for serious club cyclists While Fig. 2 illustrates the increasing pressures on players and athletes to use supplements and drug use as their sporting trajectory climbs, it fails to fully reflect the stages serious club cyclists move through on their performance improvement journey. Nor does it sharpen our understanding of the ways in which technology and training are used as a platform for undertaking supplement and related substance use. Moreover, this study says little about the “discovery” and “exploration” phases of sport development pathway, because our attention is directed more to the “commitment” and “immersion” phases of the model. With these limitations in mind, we have conflated Fig. 2 and constructed a lifecourse model that provides a performance improvement pathway, which acknowledges the accumulated learning and decision-making processes that go on over the life of serious club cyclists. As Fig. 3 illustrates, it begins with
Doing supplements in club cycling
Playing to win PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS
Fig. 2. A generic life-course model for competitive cycling.
being open to advice on performance improvement, leads into learning more, moves on to becoming conditioned, shifts into feelings about being pressured, drifts into being reflective, and culminates in marking out the substance-use boundaries. Figure 3 consequently becomes the performance pathway for serious club cyclists. It has a more truncated timeline; it shortens the time period within which informants reflect upon their cycling careers, and it more starkly shows how cyclists move from improved bike technologies and more intensive training into supplement and related substance use. They not only see their sport more strongly integrated with technology, but because they also understand how technology influences the body, they quickly learn that better “machine” design can lead to better racing performance (Brohm, 1976; Rigauer, 1981; Thompson, 2006). Similarly, learning about nutrition and energy production leads into learning about supplements and more efficient bodily performance. The use of supplements thus becomes part of the training, maintenance, and performance improvement regime for the strenuous demands of road cycle races.
(Thompson, 2006, pp. 187–189; Jones, 2010, p. 89). Furthermore, there is a gradual shift from the benign use of supplements for the maintenance of health and sustaining energy, toward multi-use, which is often experimental, and often involves mixing energy boosters with caffeine. The final stage can also involve tentative excursions into the banned substances field. Despite the pressures on serious club cyclists to use supplements and substances as they move along the performance pathway, our results show that a considerable degree of self-regulation – or agency, if you like – was also practiced by the informants in this study. The same rational thinking that led individuals to improve their bike technologies, strengthen their training programs, and take simple supplements, also led them to think hard and long about the benefits and costs of not only pushing the boundary by doing complex, high-dose multi-mix supplements, but also by crossing the boundary into the realm of banned drug use. A few cyclists steered well clear, and in one case even avoided caffeine despite pressures to take it. Others were content to stay on the borderline while understanding the health risks associ-
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Fig. 3. A life-course model for serious cyclists doing supplements.
ated with complex supplement use. No one admitted to crossing the boundary into the banned performanceenhancing drug use space on a regular basis, and much of their aversion coalesced around speculation on the link between the health problems of professional cyclists and their regular use of high-potency, high-performance drugs. Summing up and implications for further research In a physically demanding sporting culture like competitive cycling, it was not surprising to find most informants acknowledging that some substance use was needed to keep competitors “in the saddle,” so to speak (Thompson, 2006, p. 216–219; Jeukendrup & Tipton, 2009, p. 186; Jones, 2010). However, it should also be noted that the vast majority of products mentioned by the cyclists interviewed for this study were legal, and appeared to have few adverse consequences. In this regard our results replicate the study conducted by Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010), where it was
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found that “all of the young cyclists . . . took some products to improve their performance” (p.338), and who also believed that it “would not be possible to perform ‘. . . without their use (p.342). At the same time, the informants in this study were unanimous in their belief that while a substance-use boundary had been marked out for serious club cyclists, it did not apply to the professional ranks, where they believed’ “anything goes.” This finding also replicated the results of the Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010) study, where informants said they would “wait until they became professionals before they used banned substances” (p. 343). The results of this study additionally demonstrated the existence of a well-defined pathway for improving performance in competitive cycling. The results showed that, while there was pressure to conform at different stages of the pathway there were also opportunities for autonomous action. While some of the informants in this study developed an impressive knowledge of the pharmacology of various substances, they were, in nearly every instance, also able to draw a substance-use line
Doing supplements in club cycling that they were not prepared to cross, thus indicating a significant level of self-regulation. This finding suggests that cycling officials have a window of opportunity for guiding serious club cyclist into safe and legal substance use through mounting educational campaigns that deliver nonjudgmental analyses of the strengths and weakness of supplement use in all its intricacies. At the same time, there is little to be gained by cutting back on the number of supplements that can be used, because it can easily lead to additional experimentation, especially when herbal and over-the-counter stimulants are concerned. Finally, this study has been limited to sample of club cyclists in a large non-European metropolitan center. It cannot therefore claim to be a representative sample of competitive cyclists, but it does confirm that there is a cultural divide between elite amateur, or club cycling if you will, on one hand, and elite professional cycling on the other, which supports previous studies by Brissonneau (2010a, b), Jones (2010), and Mignon (2003). This finding provides an opportunity for researchers to undertake studies that delve more deeply into these competing cultures and values with a view to better understanding not only what shapes them, but also how they may be remolded to produce more responsible substance-use practices in the future. It also opens up space to do more detailed studies on the dynamics of cycling’s performance improvement pathway, and how bike technology, training regimes, and supplement use may be used to mark out substance-use boundaries that not only protect the well-being of individual cyclists, but also enables them to deliver “spectacular and brilliant
performance” (Jones, 2010, p. 94), while ensuring the sustainability of the sport itself. Perspective This article should be ideally read in conjunction with a similar study undertaken by Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010), which appeared in volume 20 of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. Like the results of the Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010) study, this article confirmed a cultural divide between the world of serious amateur cycling and the world of elite professional cycling. Both articles make the revealing point that while serious amateur cyclists are frequently pressured into broadening their substance use, they also demonstrate a level of self-regulation that other researchers have only discussed in the most fleeting of ways. This finding provides the space for policy makers to reorient substance-use controls around an educationdriven model that uses supplements as a way of connecting with the minds of young cyclists as they move along their sporting pathways. This way, a conversation that initially focuses on more benign substance-use can be used as a tool to shape their knowledge and beliefs about dangerous substances in more positive ways. And, in line with life-course/pathway theory, they can be consequently guided safely through the jungle of high-risk substance-use that has infested the professional ranks for so long (Moller, 2008; Wagner, 2010). Key words: Cycling, supplements, drugs, performanceimprovement, life-course, transitioning.
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© 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Doing supplements to improve performance in club cycling: a life-course analysis B. Stewart1, S. Outram1, A.C.T. Smith2 Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living, Victoria University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia, 2College of Business and Law, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia Corresponding author: Bob Stewart, Ph.D, Victoria University, Institute for Sport, Exercise and Active Living, Melbourne, Australia. Tel: 61 3 9919 4350, Fax: 61 3 9919 4319, E-mail: [email protected]
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Accepted for publication 12 May 2013
Using qualitative life-course and pathway analysis, this article explores the beliefs that serious club cyclists have about performance improvement, and what they think are appropriate and inappropriate ways of achieving it. We interviewed 11 cyclists from suburban clubs in Melbourne, Australia, and invited them to discuss their approach to training, racing, and supplementation. We found that each of the 11 cyclists were not only committed to the sport, but also paid a keen interest in bike technology and training regimes. In addition, they believed that supplement use was integral to meeting the physical and
mental demands of their sport, even at club level. They also understood that supplement use, like training regimes, followed a sequential pathway where the accumulation of capacity, know–know, and knowledge, allowed progression to the next level of performance. And, like similar studies of club cycling in Europe, this cohort of cyclists balked at using banned substances, but also believed that in order to effectively transition to the elite – that is, professional – level, some additional supplement and drug-use was essential.
Aims of project
Tscholl et al. (2010) we invited interviewees to not only discuss their use of supplements, but also reveal their attitudes to performance-enhancing drugs use. We sought to establish how these attitudes fitted with the various life-course/pathway models that have been put forward in the literature on sport development. This was seen to be a crucial initiative, because it has been observed that “additional research is required to explore the contextual factors affecting young athlete development at different stages of career transitions” (Bruner et al., 2009, p.33). We also used the life-course/pathway model to identify the stages club cyclists move through in their journey to be the best they can.
In undertaking this research project, our aim was, through the use of a life-course/pathway approach, to secure a better understanding of the ways in which people transition their way through sport club competitions. We chose cycling as our case study because it is often associated with the use of performance-enhancing substances, and poses challenging questions to do with equity, fairness, and safety (Thompson, 2006; Moller, 2008; Morrow & Idle, 2008; Brissonneau, 2010a, b; Jones, 2010; Slot, 2011; Soule & Lestrelin, 2011). We also wanted to see if the results of the Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010) study into young Swiss cyclists were applicable to serious club cyclists in Australia. We were especially keen to see if Australian cyclists faced a similar pathway to success, which, according to Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010, p.343) was not only about supplement use for serious club cyclists, but also about more complex supplements and banned substance use for those at competitive cycling’s top-end. This article consequently explores the beliefs that serious club cyclists in Melbourne, Australia, have about performance improvement, and what they think are appropriate or inappropriate ways of achieving a competitive edge. Bearing in mind the studies undertaken by Baylis et al. (2001), Braun et al. (2009), de Silva et al. (2010), Erdman et al. (2007), Ronson et al. (1999) and
Life-course modeling in sport Previous research in the drugs-in-sport field has used models built around corporate ideologies that focus on achievement and success (Brissonneau, 2010b), masculinist cultures that emphasize competition and risktaking (Ford, 2007), and scientized values that sees sport as a field for applying new technologies to achieve superior performance (Alaranta et al., 2008). Each of these conceptual frames provides useful perspectives, but they are often constrained by their cross-sectional focus. A life-course model has no such constraint, because its role is to help understand people’s behaviors within an
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Stewart et al. observable trajectory (Leonard & Burns, 2006, p.28; Murphy et al., 2010, p.7). The life-course model neatly frames the careers of serious players and athletes, where sporting lives can be both clearly marked and severely truncated (Pearson & Petipas, 1990). Coakley and Donnelly’s (1999) 4-stage process model provides a succinct starting point for framing this study. Stage 1 involves being introduced to sport and exploring the fun and its informal structures. Stage 2 involves serious training and development, where participants learn to become athletes and take on an athlete identity. Stage 3 involves athletes going deep into the experience, and “doing” the sport, where serious competition and performance improvement are front and center. Stage 4, the final stage, involves transitioning from competition to non-competition, and making decisions about what to do for the remainder of their sporting lives (Coakley & Donnelly, 1999, p. xvii). This final stage can be a traumatic experience, because it not only means a loss of bodily capital and social status, but also a crisis of identity (Carless & Douglas, 2009). A similar sport development model was designed by Balyi (2001) who posited a 4-stage process, which, like Coakley & Donnelly, accommodated both technical and social dimensions. Stage 1 was mainly about learning to train; Stage 2 focused on training to compete; Stage 3 revolved around training to win – or achieving peak performance – as it is now sometimes referred to; while Stage 4 was about retirement and transitioning, where the transition could involve exiting the sport altogether, or finding a niche role back in the sport itself. In each stage the technique and science of sport is meshed with its behavioral and social expectations to create a sporting culture, which might, for instance, run from being participatory, through to being exploratory, and finish up with being performative (Carless & Douglas, 2009, p.55). At the same time, there is a commercial thread running through the sport development fabric, which reaches its zenith at the high-performance level, where commitment and professionalism becomes the dominant features (Moller, 2008, p.180; Christensen & Sorensen, 2009, p.128). Cote (1999) and Cote and Fraser-Thomas (2007) added strength to the Balyi model by identifying three stages of player development. The first stage takes in the 6–12-year-old age group. It is the “sampling” phase – or “grazing” period, as it now often referred to – where fun and a diverse range of experiences dominate. The second stage covers young adolescents aged 13–15 years. In this “specialization” phase participants focus on a narrower band of sports, and begin to develop sport-specific skills. The final stage is relevant to all those participants in their late adolescence and beyond. This is the “investment” phase, where commitment, high-level skill development, intensive training – which is sometimes referred to as “deliberative practice” – and serious competition, emerge as pivotal player development themes.
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These models have been adapted by the Australian Sports Commission (Gulbin et al., 2011), which has designed a 10-stage model of elite sport development. Each of the stages is located within one of three pretransition periods. Period 1 is about fun and enjoyment; Period 2 focuses on training, skill absorption, tactical know-how, and game science; while Period 3 is about progression to the elite level, where athletic maturity, accommodation to high-intensity training, and highlevel performance are the goals. Figure 1 illustrates how a sport development pathway looks from a life-course perspective. Methods Sampling method Informants for this study were selected from a cohort of club cyclists in Melbourne who rode competitively. Eleven informants were recruited for the study using a hybrid sampling method that combined convenience and random selection (Patton, 2002, p.243). A group of 30 cyclists were assembled from three Melbourne clubs, and from this pool, 11 were randomly selected for interview. In line with our University’s ethics approval conditions, the cyclist’s real names were replaced by fictional names, and anonymity was ensured. Their profiles are listed below. • Informant 1: Gordon is 32 years old, and is a serious A-grade road cyclist. He trains for at least 25 h a week, and covers between 600 and 700 km. Gordon’s aim was to regularly finish in the leading bunch in Australia’s most prestigious road races. Gordon was previously a triathlete. • Informant 2: Mary is 24 years old, and is a highly competitive B-grade road cyclist. She trains for just under 30 h a week, and covers around 600 km. She aspires to ride in a professional team overseas. Mary was previously a rower. • Informant 3: Steve is 40 years of age and is a solid A-grade road rider. He trains for around 10 h a week, and covers an average of 300 km. Steve has been a competitive cyclist for 20 years, but no longer aspires to greatness. • Informant 4: Ernie is 40 years old, and is a committed B-grade club cyclist and coach. He trains for 18–20 h a week, and covers 500 km in a good week. Ernie has been a cyclist for 22 years, and at his peak was an elite road cyclist. • Informant 5: Bruce is 32 years old is a cycling enthusiast who rides at high B-grade level. He trains for no more than 10 h a week, and covers around 300 km. Bruce has been a serious club cyclist for 5 years, and prior to committing to cycling, was a weekend cricketer. • Informant 6: Norman is 38 years old and is a regular participant in club cycling. He rides at the lower end of B-grade, and trains for 5–6 h per week, which converts to around 150 km of saddletime a week. Norman has been involved in cycling for 20 years, on and off, and has interspersed his cycling activities with military service and endurance running. • Informant 7: Helen is 31 years old and is a regular participant in track cycling. She rides at D- and E-grade levels, and competes in Masters-level competitions. She spends less than 100 km a week on the road, and 2–3 days a week in the gym. She has been a serious club cyclist for 6 years, and prior to that engaged in a variety of recreational sport including gym work. • Informant 8: Marion is 31 year old, and has been doing crosscountry mountain-biking for 10 years. Marion sees herself as an elite rider. She works a full time job, but fits in a 25-h a week training schedule covering 500 km a week. She was previously a triathlete.
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Fig. 1. Sport career pathways: a live course perspective. • Informant 9: Gerald is 34 years old, and is a committed A-grade road cyclist, but has been doing it seriously for only 3 years. He trains for 15–20 h a week and racks up no less than 500 km a week. He was previously a keen triathlete, and before that, a rugby player. • Informant 10: Nancy is 36 years old and been involved in club cycling for 15 years. She combines road and mountain biking, and specializes in long-distance endurance cycling. Cycling has become a lifestyle, and she spends at least 40 h a week – covering around 600 km – engaged in some type of cycling activity. She previously rowed, and played Australian-rules football. • Informant 11: Colin is 26 years old, and has been a serious road cyclist for 9 years. He is a high-level A-grade rider, but is just short of elite standing. He has ambitions to go further up the cycling ladder. He trains for 15–20 h a week, and covers 500– 600 km on average. Cycling has always been Colin’s favorite sport. In summary, all 11 informants were road riders: seven informants were male and four were female; five were A-grade riders while five were B-grade; the age range was from 24 to 40, with a
mean age of 33; and the training loads ranged from 100 to 650 km per week, with a mean load of 450 km. They all identified as serious club cyclists.
Interview structure We adopted a semi-structured interview process that allowed informants to construct a “life-course narrative” in telling their cycling stories (Clarke, 2005, p.184). We started the interview by inviting interviewees to discuss their earliest sports experience, and how they transitioned into club cycling. We then asked them to identify key incidents that led them to commit to competitive cycling, and discuss the strategies they have used to improve their levels of performance. We then invited them to talk about their supplement use, the role that over-the-counter and prescription drugs played in relieving pain and boosting energy, their attitudes to banned substance use, and how they drew the line between appropriate and inappropriate substance use. The interviews ran for 40–50 min.
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Stewart et al. Data analysis All interviews were transcribed, and managed through the software program NVivo (Version 10, QSR International, Doncaster, Victoria, Australia). The first stage involved coding and organizing the data into major groupings according to common themes, tones, and images (Crossley, 2007). The second stage used Gee’s (1986) units-of-discourse model to structure the thematic groupings around stanzas, which involved breaking down paragraphs and sentences into short phrases that encapsulated specific practices related to performance improvement. We distinguished between the roles played by technology, training, supplement use, and banned substances, and additionally noted the point in their cycling development when these practices were given serious consideration (Elliott, 2006; Riessman, 2008). The stanzas were used to both identify the common themes across participant comments, and, in keeping with the assumptions underlying the life-course model, illuminate the stages participants passed through in their cycling careers.
Two informants showed a particularly strong knowledge of the relationship between their own use of supplements and the use of such supplements elsewhere in the population. [Marion 8] Yeah I am good with my diet . . . the nutrition company that sponsors us, they have a really good product. [Gordon 1] I guess they are all spinning off the back of the weight loss craze, you know . . . a lot of the diet pills that speed up your metabolism . . . a lot of guys will use that sort of product too. [Gordon 1] I just ate what I liked, and then started to work out what a calorie was . . . that was a bit of a revolution . . . you know, then I got more interested and the further I went along . . . I started finding . . . other . . . supplements.
Results Openness and use of technology All the interviewees emphasized the importance of technology as a legitimate means of improving performance. One example of this was the willingness to use simulated altitude training through a variety of techniques. [Bruce 5] You plug this thing in, and . . . an hour and a half later you are up on tour . . . you know you can ride through the Pyrenees for two hours if you want. [Gordon 1] It is a face mask arrangement to a compressor . . . so it pumps in whatever elevation oxygen you want . . . you can do a set of intervals at a higher altitude, and recover at sea level. In general, they were keen to use any technology that would help in their training. [Gordon 1] We use power, we use cadence, we use heart rate, and we use altitude stuff. We use anything we can get our hands on . . . I invest money into the tools that help my performance. The “tool” analogy was particularly pertinent given that cyclists’ bodies were seen as “machine”-type objects (Rigauer, 1981, p. 60) that could be manipulated to produce, through a “sporting mode of production” (Brohm, 1976, p. 61), “efficient” results and better performance (Thompson, 2006, p. 185). The “tool” analogy was also succinctly revealed in the following response: [Ernie 4] I think your lungs – like everything else – is a muscle . . . and they can be conditioned. Learning about nutrition and supplements All informants were knowledgeable about dietary requirements and the products they had used. They were also open to new ideas, and were willing to learn more.
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Starting to use supplements – habituation to use The informants’ responses also indicated that “learning about” supplements quickly transitioned into “using” supplements. Three distinct forms of habitual supplement use were strongly in evidence – supplements for health, supplements for energy, and supplements for focus.
Supplements for sustaining health Particularly notable was how many supplements were taken, and the potential for cyclists to be taking aboverecommended levels of supplementation. It may have reflected the demands of the sport and the difficulty in maintaining correct dosage of vitamins and minerals. Alternatively, it may indicate that informants were acting on the often dubious assumption that the higher the dose, the better the outcome. [Steve 3] Whether it’s superstition or whatever . . . I don’t know . . . but I take high dose of vitamin C every day. I take 2000 m which is miles over any recommended level but it might help not get a cold . . . it doesn’t seem to hurt, so I do that. [Mary 2] I have a history of low iron so that’s why I take iron . . . zinc . . . and I think its magnesium as well . . . so basically I just take them occasionally just to ensure, like if I’ve had a really big day and I feel a little bit run down . . . then I take them. [Colin 11] I take vitamins and minerals. . . . I found out I was iron deficient . . . it was affecting my performance negatively . . . I take ferrous-sulfate with vitamin C. I take vitamin E. I take the enzyme betaine (TMG) . . . aids protein digestion & absorption . . . & protects against dehydration . . . magnesium and zinc . . . yeah . . . I have also started taking vitamin B.
Doing supplements in club cycling Supplements for increasing and maintaining energy Energy bars and energy drinks were also commonly used, although they were not necessarily considered to be supplements. [Mary 2] The bars that I use are a combination of the science and sport bars. And I use them because they are . . . yum. [Collin 11] I drink electrolyte drinks when I am on the bike . . . I take energy bars and eat things like that when I am off the bike . . . is all about sustaining energy levels when you train and race. [Steve 3] if a race is over an hour I will drink Gatorade . . . contains carbohydrates and electrolytes . . . any training ride longer than an hour . . . yeah . . . I drink Gatorade For the more committed informants, the products become more specialized and the rationale for using them become more explicit. [Ernie 4] In the lead up to the Melbourne to Warrnambool cycling classic I generally take Endura [a sports drink] it’s just a carbohydrate which I take in my drink bottles . . . and I take gels. [Gordon 1] I do a green tea based supplement . . . Thermogenics, I think they call it . . . just speeds things up . . . keeps your metabolism running really fast.
Supplements for energy & focus As informants moved further along the performance improvement pathway, additional space was allocated to not only specialized products, but to also more “complex” nutritional supplementation strategies for training and racing. Although the demarcation between simple and complex supplement use was not always clear, the primary difference was in the combination of supplements taken and the multiplication of objectives – from simple energy supplementation to focus and the capacity for high-intensity work. This was the stage where supplement use became an integral part of the performance improvement toolkit. [Gordon 1] got some Guaranas, and I can’t quote the rest of the formula . . . but is amazingly effective, . . . if you are out doing bike intervals there is nothing else in the world, it chops out . . . it is like blinkers for horses . . . narrows your focus down to what you are trying to achieve. Caffeine was particularly significant as it worked as a metabolic stimulant. It was also used relieve physical discomfort and improve race-focus.
[Gordon 1] I do take tablets . . . like no-doze for example . . . it is just straight caffeine so it is fairly easy and straightforward . . . it speeds up your whole metabolic rate so you are processing everything faster, I find mentally I am a lot more switched on . . . more engaged . . . lot more focused. [Helen 7] In terms of performance enhancing, I used to take a lot of caffeine leading up to a race . . . I have always been conscious of how much caffeine you can have before a race . . . caffeine was considered a banned substance . . . right . . . I liked taking Red Bulls just before races and stuff like that . . . beneficial? . . . yes. Pressure to use more supplements There was also a feeling that if you wanted to demonstrate your commitment, you must increase your supplement intake. Some informants felt that, as serious cyclists, they should be taking more supplements based on their presumed efficacy. [Mary 2] I’ve never had a caffeine supplement. I mean I really should experiment with the legal ones . . . would definitely think about caffeine tablets because I have read a lot of the research . . . it gives an ergogenic benefit. [Gordon 1] If I took everything I thought I should be taking it would cost me a hundred and more dollars per week. [Bruce 5] Always thought I should try it . . . yeah . . . tried caffeine to see how it affects performance, then gauged impact . . . it worked. They not only mentioned self-imposed pressure, but also spoke of the commercial pressures – but not necessarily on themselves – to take supplements. [Bruce 5] Yeah . . . I do not want to be in that position . . . but you sort of got to think . . . If a contract is being waved in front of you providing you take this supplement, for the term of that contract, then you know . . . it is a tough choice. Reflections upon legality, health, and values Legality of supplement use
This was not a population group that had been caught cheating by using doping agents. Neither were they regularly surrounded by others taking illicit supplements. But, legality issues were often raised in the context of the sometimes inadvertent mixtures of stimulants and steroids. [Steve 3] I had been taking Sudafed to get over a cold. And at that stage Sudafed was a banned sub-
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Stewart et al. stance. So potentially if I had been tested then I could well have been in trouble. Similar concerns were also raised with respect to caffeine, but for the most part the summations were affirmative. [Gordon 1] Caffeine is the one that I just keep going back to, it is safe, it is legal . . . so . . . that is about it. [Collin 11] Some things on the borderline . . . like caffeine . . . you can have up to 10 cups of coffee day . . . definitively works as performanceenhancing thing . . . but we don’t question it, do we? Health and supplement use
The personal experiences of informants showed that just because the supplement was legal – or on the borderline – it was not necessarily the case that it was safe or healthy. [Gordon 1] I sampled out of curiosity . . . a mixture of caffeine and guarana, but actually mixed in pseudoephedrine . . . goes under the name of Sudafed I think . . . also had one of the asthma drugs in it to help lungs stay open. I tried it out . . . it was frightening. [Ernie 4] The creatine just made me cramp badly . . . is a common side effect I gather . . . I haven’t used it since . . . was about three years ago. [Gordon 1] They all have side affects you know, you have come downs, you flatten out, and if you do not take enough . . . you run out.
[Steve 3] Well . . . the difference between a Vitamin C tablet versus . . . say . . . Sudafed tablets . . . is . . . not much . . . I mean if you took it to the extreme anything beyond water is enhancing.
Boundary marking and decisions not to take banned substances In this study, “boundary marking” was a crucially important stage in the serious cyclist’s drive to improve performance, because at this point, they recognized how far they wanted to take their sporting aspirations. In the first instance, informants marked a boundary between nutritional supplement use and performance-enhancing drugs, and in doing so, felt they had demarcated themselves from the professional ranks. As a result, they were far less likely to use banned performance-enhancing substances. [Steve 3] At my level I don’t think drug taking is very common because it’s quite costly and there’s no financial reward in domestic cycling . . . It wouldn’t surprise me if there are a few people that have tried . . . but I don’t think it is as prevalent as mainstream media would make out. In explaining the absence of banned substance use, informants placed a strong emphasis on health issues. Their comments suggested they were regularly weighing up the “risks” – mainly to do with their own health – and the “benefits” –which centered on increased competitiveness – of taking “drugs.”
[Norman 6] But what is performance enhancing? . . . does it place other people at an unfair disadvantage? If I have a power bar gel before a race then that is because I want my body to have the best nutrition . . . or I might take a banana on a training ride . . . is all about keeping your body supplied with energy . . . what is wrong with that?
[Gordon 1] I have had to take Prednisolone [a steroid medication for skin conditions] . . . it has a side effect of having a VO2 max increase . . . been out on the bike a few weeks later and I ripped along . . . I did not think too much about it . . . I was taking twenty-five milligrams a day, if you take something like a hundred milligrams a day you get a twenty percent increase in VO2 max . . . staggering . . . is a rumour that Floyd Landis was on Prednisolone . . . was told if you take too much your hips wear out. [Ernie 4] it is bad for your heart, and kidneys. It goes against the whole notion of being healthy doesn’t it? I think people who use drugs have a short term focus . . . If . . . you could go down and buy EPO down at local gym . . . I guess we would probably do it . . . and we would all be on it if there were no side effects . . . I mean . . . lots of cyclists die of heart attacks.
At the same time, it was readily accepted that the division between licit and illicit supplement use was shadowy.
These concerns over health issues were often combined with negative values attached to performanceenhancing drugs.
Values Finally, much of the decision making pertaining to taking supplements, as opposed to performanceenhancing drugs, came down to personal values and beliefs. Supplements were considered okay to use because in part they were widely available, and in part because they simply augmented the body’s energy stocks. In this context, supplement use was not, of itself, viewed as a problematic practice.
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Doing supplements in club cycling [Norman 6] If it does no harm and is accessible to everyone then I wouldn’t have a problem with it. [Collin 11] The ones that you know about are erythropoietin and plasma . . . taking things like that it gives a completely unfair advantage . . . It is not like a deficiency that they have . . . it puts them so far above the rest . . . is not part of their normal bodily function. [Ernie 4] As for anything performance enhancing . . . definitely not . . . wouldn’t recommend it . . . wouldn’t regard anyone who did . . . It is cheating . . . is probably bad for you in the long term.
means of improving performance, and articulated these opinions around four facets of their sporting life – technology, training, supplements, and drugs. The latter two were sharply demarcated, and informants did not regularly or knowingly use banned performance-enhancing drugs. However, the drug-use option was always considered when deciding on what they wanted from their cycling experiences. They drew upon their knowledge of supplement and drug use to map out their own desired sporting life-course.
Largely absent from these deliberations were concerns about being caught using banned performanceenhancing drugs. No informant talked at length about drug testing when invited to do so, and neither were they concerned about the suspensions and penalties that would follow from testing positive.
Eight of the respondents had considered the possibility of up-grading their bike technology and re-organizing their training regimes. Informants described a whole range of bike up-grades that were made for the purposes of training. Ten of the respondents had sought advice on training regimes, and in eight of those instances their response was to substantially increase their training load. Cyclists at this level rationalized their desire to improve performance by saying that technology was an integral part of the sport, and was consequently a legitimate means of securing a competitive edge.
Alternative pathways As well as drawing a boundary between legitimate – that is, legal – forms of supplementation and illegitimate – that is, banned – performance-enhancing drugs, informants offered an alternative pathway to improved performance. A number of informants stressed that cyclists should not only be able to manage the physical demands of the sport without recourse to banned substance use, but also be able to perform at a high levels without the use of such drugs. [Bruce 5] You go out there and you ride 45 K an hour on average on your own and you blow a bunch away and you win a race . . . you have gotta think . . . well, what am I trying to achieve by racing amateur races? . . . you know, it is really about personal fitness and feeling good. [Norman 6] As you improve and you push bigger gears, and you are riding harder, you get different pains in different parts of your body . . . my response to that is to recognise it . . . and manage that through training rather than through medication. [Norman 6] So if your body needs a rest . . . you rest for a couple of days . . . if you have to spin small gears for a couple of days and take it easy because you have got a bit of pain . . . then take it easy . . . adjust your seating position . . . the problem is often your position on the bike. Synthesis The findings mentioned earlier provide a revealing commentary on how serious club cyclists in Melbourne went about improving performance. All informants voiced strong opinions about appropriate and inappropriate
Technology
Patterns of supplement use Every informant had something significant to say about supplement use, which is consistent with results of similar studies on supplement use in other sports (Havemann & Goedecke, 2008; McNaughton et al., 2008; Jeukendrup & Tipton, 2009; Ghosh et al., 2010). Ten respondents indicated that they had used some form of dietary supplement, and a significant minority had used a variety of substances. Every one of the 11 cyclists we interviewed had spent considerable time thinking about how they might be able to improve their race performance, and in every instance they reflected upon the space that supplement and related substance use would occupy. A list of substances used by this cohort of cyclists is provided in Table 1. Carbohydrate loading was a taken-for-granted practice among this sample of club cyclists. Practical experience had demonstrated that a constant supply of carbohydrates was essential for high levels of performance on both training and competition days. As far as non-carbohydrate substances were concerned, caffeine was the substance of choice, with 10 of the 11 informants being regular users. Eight of the respondents had also taken at least one over-the-counter or prescription drug. Five respondents had considered using banned performance-enhancing substances. Two of the five sought advice on the matter, and did considerable research on their supply, efficacy, and side effects. The other three respondents had talked to their teammates about the matter, but had not proceeded any further toward taking banned performance-enhancing drugs.
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Stewart et al. Table 1. Most frequently used supplements and related substances
Type of supplement
Commonly perceived performance action
Number of Users
Carbohydrates Caffeine Electrolyte drinks Multivitamins – mainly B and C Analgesics and anti-inflammatories Glutamine, leucine and L-carnitine Guarana and rhodiola Creatine D-ribose Coenzyme Q10 Plus Pseudoephedrine* Prednisolone* Albuterol*
An basic food source for energy production in muscles A stimulant – increases work capacity Minimizes dehydration and maintain mineral balance Maintains health and protect against minor ailments Deadens pain and reduces discomfort Amino acids that assist muscle growth Plant derived stimulants – increase work capacity Enables high intensity training to be undertaken Aids recovery and boosts muscle energy capability Increases energy production in muscles A stimulant found in decongestants A steroid that acts as an anti-inflammatory A bronchialdilator that relaxes the airways to the lungs
11 10 9 9 8 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
*Banned substances under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code.
Table 1 also shows that the line between supplement use and other substance use was often blurred, especially when it came to painkiller and stimulant use. Drug use All informants were convinced that supplement use was a legitimate means of securing an improvement in performance. By contrast, anabolic steroids and EPO were not considered to be legitimate or healthy ways of competing at this level of the sport. Several informants believed that drug use unfairly tilted the playing field to the advantage of its users. In addition, they had grave concerns regarding the health of persons – and especially professional cyclists – who they believed used such drugs. Performance-enhancing drug use was not a road that they were willing to travel along. Discussion The informants’ discussions of bike technologies, training, supplement use, and other substance use allowed us to refine the sport career model as illustrated in Fig. 1. It has been recast as Fig. 2, which has the same life-course stages and phases as Fig. 1, but which has been reconfigured to not only fit the performance aspirations of serious club cyclists, but also acknowledge the seductive opportunities for supplement and drug use as they move along the performance improvement pathway. As Fig. 2 shows, the serious club cyclists interviewed for this study perceived that in order to deliver elite performance it was necessary to go beyond the idea of “naturally evolved talent” (Cooper, 2012, pp. 22–24). Early on in their careers, the most often cited means of removing the talent-limit barrier was to secure higher quality equipment, train hard, and gravitate to coaches with a sound knowledge of dietary supplements. In learning to compete and training to compete, they perceived that they could utilize their bodies more efficiently with the addition of plants, herbs, and supplements. Like
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similar studies of club cycling in Europe (LentillonKaestner & Carstairs, 2010), this cohort of cyclists, balked at using banned substances, but just like the participants in European studies, understood that in order to effectively transition to the elite level, some additional substance use was essential. Moreover, while every respondent in this study fell short of using banned substances on a regular basis, they all perceived that in order to achieve national or international success, additional substance use was mandatory. They also understood that their attitudes to banned substances were in part shaped by the attitudes and practices of fellow cyclists. Recent studies have suggested that favorable views about their efficacy and appropriateness are likely to undermine effective regulation by “normalizing” their use (Petróczi & Aidman, 2008; Petróczi et al., 2011). These studies have also highlighted the ways in which peer-pressure in the form of “social networks,” external “facilitators,” and “inhibitors,” influence supplement and drug use through the sporting life-course (Petróczi & Aidman, 2008, p. 9). Concluding comments A life-course model for serious club cyclists While Fig. 2 illustrates the increasing pressures on players and athletes to use supplements and drug use as their sporting trajectory climbs, it fails to fully reflect the stages serious club cyclists move through on their performance improvement journey. Nor does it sharpen our understanding of the ways in which technology and training are used as a platform for undertaking supplement and related substance use. Moreover, this study says little about the “discovery” and “exploration” phases of sport development pathway, because our attention is directed more to the “commitment” and “immersion” phases of the model. With these limitations in mind, we have conflated Fig. 2 and constructed a lifecourse model that provides a performance improvement pathway, which acknowledges the accumulated learning and decision-making processes that go on over the life of serious club cyclists. As Fig. 3 illustrates, it begins with
Doing supplements in club cycling
Playing to win PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS
Fig. 2. A generic life-course model for competitive cycling.
being open to advice on performance improvement, leads into learning more, moves on to becoming conditioned, shifts into feelings about being pressured, drifts into being reflective, and culminates in marking out the substance-use boundaries. Figure 3 consequently becomes the performance pathway for serious club cyclists. It has a more truncated timeline; it shortens the time period within which informants reflect upon their cycling careers, and it more starkly shows how cyclists move from improved bike technologies and more intensive training into supplement and related substance use. They not only see their sport more strongly integrated with technology, but because they also understand how technology influences the body, they quickly learn that better “machine” design can lead to better racing performance (Brohm, 1976; Rigauer, 1981; Thompson, 2006). Similarly, learning about nutrition and energy production leads into learning about supplements and more efficient bodily performance. The use of supplements thus becomes part of the training, maintenance, and performance improvement regime for the strenuous demands of road cycle races.
(Thompson, 2006, pp. 187–189; Jones, 2010, p. 89). Furthermore, there is a gradual shift from the benign use of supplements for the maintenance of health and sustaining energy, toward multi-use, which is often experimental, and often involves mixing energy boosters with caffeine. The final stage can also involve tentative excursions into the banned substances field. Despite the pressures on serious club cyclists to use supplements and substances as they move along the performance pathway, our results show that a considerable degree of self-regulation – or agency, if you like – was also practiced by the informants in this study. The same rational thinking that led individuals to improve their bike technologies, strengthen their training programs, and take simple supplements, also led them to think hard and long about the benefits and costs of not only pushing the boundary by doing complex, high-dose multi-mix supplements, but also by crossing the boundary into the realm of banned drug use. A few cyclists steered well clear, and in one case even avoided caffeine despite pressures to take it. Others were content to stay on the borderline while understanding the health risks associ-
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Fig. 3. A life-course model for serious cyclists doing supplements.
ated with complex supplement use. No one admitted to crossing the boundary into the banned performanceenhancing drug use space on a regular basis, and much of their aversion coalesced around speculation on the link between the health problems of professional cyclists and their regular use of high-potency, high-performance drugs. Summing up and implications for further research In a physically demanding sporting culture like competitive cycling, it was not surprising to find most informants acknowledging that some substance use was needed to keep competitors “in the saddle,” so to speak (Thompson, 2006, p. 216–219; Jeukendrup & Tipton, 2009, p. 186; Jones, 2010). However, it should also be noted that the vast majority of products mentioned by the cyclists interviewed for this study were legal, and appeared to have few adverse consequences. In this regard our results replicate the study conducted by Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010), where it was
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found that “all of the young cyclists . . . took some products to improve their performance” (p.338), and who also believed that it “would not be possible to perform ‘. . . without their use (p.342). At the same time, the informants in this study were unanimous in their belief that while a substance-use boundary had been marked out for serious club cyclists, it did not apply to the professional ranks, where they believed’ “anything goes.” This finding also replicated the results of the Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010) study, where informants said they would “wait until they became professionals before they used banned substances” (p. 343). The results of this study additionally demonstrated the existence of a well-defined pathway for improving performance in competitive cycling. The results showed that, while there was pressure to conform at different stages of the pathway there were also opportunities for autonomous action. While some of the informants in this study developed an impressive knowledge of the pharmacology of various substances, they were, in nearly every instance, also able to draw a substance-use line
Doing supplements in club cycling that they were not prepared to cross, thus indicating a significant level of self-regulation. This finding suggests that cycling officials have a window of opportunity for guiding serious club cyclist into safe and legal substance use through mounting educational campaigns that deliver nonjudgmental analyses of the strengths and weakness of supplement use in all its intricacies. At the same time, there is little to be gained by cutting back on the number of supplements that can be used, because it can easily lead to additional experimentation, especially when herbal and over-the-counter stimulants are concerned. Finally, this study has been limited to sample of club cyclists in a large non-European metropolitan center. It cannot therefore claim to be a representative sample of competitive cyclists, but it does confirm that there is a cultural divide between elite amateur, or club cycling if you will, on one hand, and elite professional cycling on the other, which supports previous studies by Brissonneau (2010a, b), Jones (2010), and Mignon (2003). This finding provides an opportunity for researchers to undertake studies that delve more deeply into these competing cultures and values with a view to better understanding not only what shapes them, but also how they may be remolded to produce more responsible substance-use practices in the future. It also opens up space to do more detailed studies on the dynamics of cycling’s performance improvement pathway, and how bike technology, training regimes, and supplement use may be used to mark out substance-use boundaries that not only protect the well-being of individual cyclists, but also enables them to deliver “spectacular and brilliant
performance” (Jones, 2010, p. 94), while ensuring the sustainability of the sport itself. Perspective This article should be ideally read in conjunction with a similar study undertaken by Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010), which appeared in volume 20 of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. Like the results of the Lentillon-Kaestner and Carstairs (2010) study, this article confirmed a cultural divide between the world of serious amateur cycling and the world of elite professional cycling. Both articles make the revealing point that while serious amateur cyclists are frequently pressured into broadening their substance use, they also demonstrate a level of self-regulation that other researchers have only discussed in the most fleeting of ways. This finding provides the space for policy makers to reorient substance-use controls around an educationdriven model that uses supplements as a way of connecting with the minds of young cyclists as they move along their sporting pathways. This way, a conversation that initially focuses on more benign substance-use can be used as a tool to shape their knowledge and beliefs about dangerous substances in more positive ways. And, in line with life-course/pathway theory, they can be consequently guided safely through the jungle of high-risk substance-use that has infested the professional ranks for so long (Moller, 2008; Wagner, 2010). Key words: Cycling, supplements, drugs, performanceimprovement, life-course, transitioning.
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