There is a movie about Joe Weider, called Bigger, a biography, that is basically the history of modern body building. I downloaded it but haven't watched it yet.
I watched it. It was ~ok. From what I've read elsewhere about Weider, it's fairly sanitized. I suppose that's to be expected since a family member had a hand in the making of the film. Weider was reported to be a fairly ruthless self-promoter. His supplements were way overpriced for what you were actually getting, and the film makes no mention of steroids. Sanitized. Whitewashed. An interesting 1989 article about Weider: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-02-mn-254-story.html
Joe Weider, love him or hate him, there is no doubt that w/o him bodybuilding would never had gotten off the ground.
You might even say, under his helmsmanship, bodybuilding grew as if it were on steroids. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
I think you're on to something, but I do believe Weider took it to the next level. https://slate.com/culture/2005/02/t...n pumping,physician named John Bosley Ziegler. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/r...drugs-apeds/what-history-anabolic-steroid-use