Mr. Boeving had represented over-the-counter dietary supplements in Iovate’s MuscleTech division, including Hydroxycut, which is meant to burn fat, and Nitro-Tech, which is meant to build muscle. But the type of performance-enhancing steroids Mr. Boeving referred to in the movie are legal only with a doctor’s prescription; he said in an interview that he had a prescription for testosterone.

While he may not been breaking the law, Mr. Boeving was apparently breaking a taboo in the bodybuilding world, one that Mr. Bell’s documentary was aiming to expose. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been looking at muscle magazines,” Mr. Bell said in an interview. “I would see these guys that are huge, and they’d say, take this pill and you’ll look like this. We know that’s not the case.”

Mr. Boeving said he had worked with Iovate for nearly nine years and was in the midst of renegotiating his contract when “Bigger, Stronger, Faster” had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Mr. Boeving said that after the premiere, he was suspended without pay; he flew to the Iovate headquarters in Ontario to plead his case, but, he said, MuscleTech has not renewed his contract.

Mr. Boeving said he was not allowed to say how much the contract was worth, but said the company’s contracts for athletes typically ranged from $36,000 to $300,000 a year. “I was able to live off my contract, put it that way,” he said.

Though the loss of income is tough, Mr. Boeving said, he does not regret his on-screen candor.

“Even in the film, I said, ‘look, I do take the products I said I take  I do take Hydroxycut, I do take Nitro-Tech, but I take other things as well,’ ” he said. “They felt like people were going to walk away feeling like steroids, not MuscleTech products, made my physique what it is, and they have built this industry on telling people, ‘This is what I did to build my physique,’ ” Mr. Boeving said.