Does bodybuilding cause premature aging?

[tarzan7]

The headline is a provacative one, but hear me out. The other day I saw a couple of pictures, and then a video, of a well-known female bodybuilder. Very sexy, curvy, strong and I thought... in excellent shape for her age. I thought she might be around ten years younger than me and I'm in my mid 60s. To my shock she was in her 40s. Why did I think like that? Wrinkles and skin quality were two, and overall facial features and their hands.

I love mature ladies and have sessioned with more than a few. All looked their age, or a bit younger. I admire all the work and time it takes to build physiques like they have. (Believe me, if you saw pics of me most of you would say, "You've gotta lotta nerve criticizing FBBs!") I'm not criticizing or trolling, just curious. I began to look at pics at some other relatively well-known FBBs that would be considered mature and I checked their ages. A few could be fibbing about their age to feel younger. Could it be just a case of genetics, the years they started training, the types of steroids they are taking? On the other side we've all seen FBBs who are 55+ or 60+ who look a lot younger than their chronological age.  Any explanations would be welcome.

[M7]

With steroids, I think it can go either way. It can help some people look younger and vise versa. I know a lot of bodybuilders like to tan and be in the sun a lot. I think that's a much bigger culprit of premature aging. I can think of one fbb in particular who always wanted that dark tan and she looked much older than she actually was (like 15 to 20 years older) because she damaged her skin so bad. Especially in her face. She was pretty, but the lines and wrinkles were deep.

[tarzan7]

M7, thanks for a straight-up response.

[yc2201]

IMHO the clean eating and rigorous exercise should make them look younger, often much younger. The steroids would make them older.

[fitgirlfanguy]

Bulk up in offseason, then diet down to make your skin thin and tight, going from one extreme to the other over an dover and over again for several years, and yeah, your skin is going to get beat up.  Keep in mind that until spray tanning and topically applied tans became the dominant method in the past ten or so years, competitors relied heavily on tanning booths or good old fashioned sunshine for their stage tan. 


As for physical exercise itself, someone physically active is obviously going to be much healthier otherwise.  And in the end, genetics can't be escaped.  Some will look ageless while some won't. 


As for hands, look at anyone who uses their hands to lift and carry heavy things on a daily basis.  Their hands and fingers are generally going to be thicker and more robust vs dainty.  There are muscles in the hands and fingers, after all, and they get a workout just like any other muscles in the body. 


As for performance enhancing drugs such as anabolics and anything else they might take, keep in mind that the physiological response in the body often involves increase in growth hormone, which has a repair effect on the body, in addition to the growth of new tissue.  If anything, that aspect would be considered anti-aging, rather than accelerating aging.

[kikichewi]

bonjour, le facteur principal du vieillissement de la peau dans l'univers de la musculation est le traitement brutal avec l'alternance entre les seches et la prise de masse, le collagene de la peau est reduit et provoque un vieillissement de la peau prématuré, aucun rapport avec les steroides, c'est plutot l'inverse et la peau grasse avec eux, pour la testosterone c'est encore different car cela regenere les cellules, donc mangez du choux, des oeufs ect.
un autre facteur est l'exposition au uv, le make up et ce genres de choses, comme tput le monde quoi 😉, la musculation, c'est du sport, comme le cyclisme, et la plupart des cyclistes sont loin des armstrong et ses cent mille dollars par ans de produits miracles lol, donc le sport vous fera paraitre plus jeune, ainsi que bien sur une nutrition équilibrée, une hydratation rigoureuse à deux litres par jours par exemple et le plus important, évitez le stress, le sel et la drogue la plus meurtriere de l'histoire de l'humanité.......le sucre (j'ai beaucoup de mal avec celui la) mais cela ne vieillis pas la peau, c'est sur.

[big easy]

Normally I find bodybuilding helps with ageing and even de-ageing, but there's some cases that I've seen girls look older then their age. A good example is Michaela Aycock, who is absolutely gorgeous and stunning, but is showing lots of wrinkles since she first started competing and makes her look much older then mid twenties which is her current age.

I also find roid voice makes a girl sound more mature. It sounds rich and velvety like a film noir movie star in the 1940s-50s (due to their excessive smoking).

Personally I love these changes! There's nothing hotter then seeing a skinny and mousy young woman turn into a powerful and mature lady.

[knufflschmoe]

probably they may look older as they are dieting and drying up......overtrainig & steroids could do some harm

on the other hand : movement of body , effects of training muscle ,such as enhancing output of natural hormones 6
releasing extra interferone  (substance that counteracts bad hormones released by fat tissue & supports immunsystem function)
and also (if not exaggerated)artificiel steroids could support a youth look ?!

-so female bodybuilder often,if being mature & in offseason have a much youger & fiiter outlook then comparable- non BB same age ..