Mitchell Hooper has lifted the lid on what happens after the biggest competitions of the year, revealing why he deliberately reduces his performance-enhancing drugs despite sitting at the top of strongman.
Fresh from winning World’s Strongest Man and the Arnold Strongman Classic, the Canadian explained that the priority now is recovery rather than adding more size and strength.
Before discussing his own approach, Hooper stressed that it should not be taken as advice.
“I don’t have the recipe for what you should do. And for the vast majority of people, you shouldn’t do anything, especially if you have no medical intervention, indication, and monitoring to do it. But I think it’s important for me to be honest with you guys about what it takes to be at the top level, the downsides, the upsides, and some of the considerations,” he said.
Hooper explained that competition-level doses take a significant toll on the body.
“My doses of everything have to come down because taking super physiological levels of performance enhancements to be able to accomplish things that you can’t do naturally, it takes a toll on your liver, on your kidneys, and on your heart,” he said.
Heart health is a particular concern for Hooper because of his family’s history.
“Personally, my family suffers with heart disease genetically. Both grandparents on my dad’s side died before they were 55 because of complications with their heart. So, I have to be particularly careful about these things. And that offseason allows my body to reset and recover,” he said.
Rather than stopping testosterone completely, Hooper revealed he drops to a much lower dose.
“The reason you guys clicked on this video, very simple. I’m taking 250 millig of testosterone. This will bring my testosterone down to normal ranges and my body can have that reset that it needs,” he said.
While maintaining higher doses would likely improve his strength, Hooper believes the health cost is too great.
“Yes, it would be better for me in terms of physical performance to continue pushing on, continue building and building building strength, but I would get less healthy over time. And that’s a really important point to make,” he said.
As part of his offseason, he cuts out oral compounds to help his liver recover, lowers his blood pressure and gives his heart time to recover. He also admitted he’ll lose muscle in the process.
“That 250 milligrams of testosterone is enough for me to retain some strength. Although I will lose muscle mass over the next several weeks, and that sucks,” he said.
Hooper also warned about the psychological risks of steroid use.
“We always talk about steroids as if it’s a non-addictive compound, but you can get addicted to the results,” he said.
“And if you tie your identity to your strength and size, that’s how people create this cycle of becoming more and more unwell and having really serious health consequences,” he said.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was Hooper’s admission that taking more drugs didn’t actually help him perform.
“Frankly, I think I took a little bit too much earlier this year and that made me perform worse. I think it made me heavier and stronger, but it made me more inflamed, feeling less energetic and less powerful,” he said.
He believes the added bodyweight contributed to the knee and back issues he experienced during the season.
Looking ahead, Hooper said the next few months will focus on recovery.
“For now, for at least the next couple of months, I’m chilling out a little bit. Everything’s coming down. I’m taking a very simple low dose and that should keep me healthy, refreshed, let my organs recover, and we’re off to the races,” he said.
He also revealed the kidneys are the organ he monitors most closely, warning that they “do not bounce back the same” after prolonged stress.
Hooper finished by explaining why he believes speaking openly about performance-enhancing drugs is important, particularly for younger athletes.
“My biggest opinion is that kids know about this, and if you’re under 21, there’s almost no reason for you to be taking this unless you have a significant illness… So shedding light on that is a very good thing,” he said.
Featured image credit: Mitchell Hooper / YouTube
