Did you know that polygraph tests are not only used during criminal investigation but also during dope tests?

From Anchorage News:

Alaska bodybuilders wire up to show they’re not juiced up.
Inside a small conference room Friday in a Midtown motel, Mary Floyd sat in a chair, wired to a machine that measured every beat of her heart, every breath she took, every bead of sweat that seeped from her fingertips.

Across from her, a former sheriff’s deputy from Washington asked a series of questions aimed at determining whether Floyd is worthy of competing in tonight’s Natural Crystal Cup bodybuilding contest at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium. Competitors must pass a polygraph test that asks about their use of banned substances before they can strut on stage.

“It’s intimidating,” Floyd said after spending about 30 minutes on the hot seat. “It makes you think of being a criminal. You associate a polygraph with doing something bad.”

In the world of drug-free bodybuilding, however, polygraphs are more and more being associated with pre-competition preparations. Spray-on tan? Check. CD with music to flex by? Check. Lie detector test? Check.

Major drug-free competitive meets typically utilize polygraph tests, but it was the first time in the state that an entire group of competitors are tested before strutting their stuff onstage.

In this particular competition, the polygraph testing was to make sure that competitors are really what they claimed to be – natural bodybuilders.

The sport of bodybuilding has two main types – professional bodybuilding and natural bodybuilding. Athletes belonging to the first group are those who are known to use anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Athletes belonging to the second type are those who rely on purely genetics and strict training and dieting.

In natural bodybuilding, competitors are routinely tested for prohibited substances, which include anabolic steroids, prohormones, and diuretics. If athletes are found guilty of doping infringement, they are banned from joining future contests. Urine samples can be sometimes required from participants, but polygraph test is the more preferred method because it is more cost effective.

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