Inside Sport’s Doping Arms Race

In this episode of Men’s Health: Built For Life, Andrew Tracey and Ben Shephard are joined by sports science writer James Witts, author of Dope: How Drugs Change Sport, for a deep dive into the murky world of performance-enhancing drugs. From caffeine, creatine and tramadol to steroids, peptides, GLP-1 drugs, gene doping and the controversial Enhanced Games, James explains why the line between ‘clean’ and ‘cheating’ is far less clear than many of us think. We get into the history of doping, how athletes beat drug tests, why recovery may be the real performance advantage, the rise of enhancement culture in gyms and on TikTok, and whether the future of sport could be faster, stronger – and much more pharmaceutical. This is not just a conversation about elite athletes. It is a conversation about sport, health, risk, money, morality and how far we are willing to go in the pursuit of performance. Want more from Men’s Health? Join the Men’s Health SQUAD for exclusive training plans, expert advice and tools to help you get stronger, faster – we’re with you every rep of the way. Visit www.menshealth.com/uk/mh-podcast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices