Steroids: Safe for Bodybuilding?
With the mention of steroids, many people immediately think of athletes who have abused steroids to achieve success on the court or playing field. However, behind this pop culture association, steroids are a very diverse set of biological substances. Here are some important facts about steroids and bodybuilding, and what steroids mean in today’s society.
Steroids are an important part for normal health.
Steroids are all derived from cholesterol, a substance that we all get from the food we eat. All mammals and most animals have some form of steroids in their body. Testosterone and estrogen are examples of steroids. These substances are both types of hormones—they are both capable of affecting many parts of the body when they are present in the blood. Testosterone, when present at certain points in development, affects everything from sexual development, determination of sexual orientation, growth of body hair, and lowering of the voice. Cortisol, another steroid hormone, helps the body deal with stressful situations and acts as an anti-inflammatory. Thus, steroids often have more than one effect on the body, and some have effects on nearly every organ system.
Steroids can be administered to improve health.
Many of the creams that are administered for rashes, scrapes, and skin pain are types of steroids. Hydrocortisone (brand name “Cortisone 10”) is commonly used for itchy skin and discomfort. When people are not experiencing normal sexual development, they can be prescribed testosterone and estradiol to promote such development. These hormones are also used for sexual reassignment surgery. Cortisol is often used to decrease immune response to certain reactions.
Anabolic-androgen steroids
Anabolic-androgen steroids (AAS) are the most commonly used steroids to promote muscle growth and increase physical performance. Androgen compounds include all male sex hormones like testosterone. Anabolic-androgen steroids are synthesized in lab and have a very similar chemical structure to that of testosterone. However, these steroids have a special anabolic nature in that they cause nutrients to be converted into muscle and other bodily tissue at a rate that is higher than normal. Anabolic is the opposite of catabolic, which simply means “nutrient decomposing.” AAS have many side effects, including liver damage, harm to the left ventricle to the heart, and shrinking of the testes. These drugs are available without prescription in Mexico, but they are a controlled substance in the United States and most European countries. In countries in which AAS are controlled substances, possession without a prescription can lead to several years in prison.
Steroids can be used for bodybuilding, but at a cost.
With such a wide spread of effects, it is no wonder that they can be used to thoroughly change the physique of many athletes, both young and old. In fact, many commentators have argued that steroids should be permitted in professional sports. They cite that the unfair playing field as a reason to allow safe steroid usage; many athletes cheat by using steroids despite their ban. However, there are many issues with this. First, there are many side effects to steroid use that any grown adult can experience. For instance, if shrinking of the testes can, in many cases lead to lower sperm count, lower sex drive, and feminization. Heart problems are common in anabolic steroid use because the additional energy required to make body tissue, like muscle, causes one’s overall heart rate to increase. This can lead to heart complications in athletes who rely on optimum cardiac output. Since AAS are artificial substances, they are taxing to the liver, which must accurately sort and store them. This can lead to extensive liver disease.
Effects in Children
There are broader implications for the development of children who use steroids. Anabolic steroids can cause many developmental issues in teens. During their teens, most boys (who are more commonly steroid abusers than girls) are undergoing a vital part of their sexual and skeletal development. If administered AAS, boys can experience stunted or severely altered sexual development. Additionally, AAS can cause additional complications in skeletal development. Muscle growth is very rapid with steroid use, and this growth usually outstrips development of the skeletal system. This causes a large amount of muscle to be unsupported by bone structure, leading to a variety of pains and stunted growth. Alleged occurrences of hypomania and rage due to steroid usage (“roid rage”) cause affect in both adults and children to become violent and impulsive.
Benefits of steroid use for athletes
Steroids primarily cause an increase in muscle mass. The steroid often injected but can also be taken orally. The steroid molecule then binds to receptors in the nucleus of certain muscle cells. This causes many different things to take place. First, the cell begins to produce all of its associated proteins in higher quantities. Second, AAS cause the effects of cortisol to be block. Cortisol is a catabolic steroid, so it causes muscle to be degraded. By blocking the effects of cortisol, AAS cause less muscle to be broken down. Furthermore, fat cell precursors are pushed into becoming muscle cells instead of fat cells. AAS also decreases the overall amount of body fat by increasing the basal metabolic rate (BMR). Both an increase in BMR and a decrease in the number of fat cells causes muscle and most parts of the body to become leaner, more metabolically active (i.e. more energetic), and stronger.
Bodybuilders can use steroids to gain muscle several times faster than by weight training alone. Most of them are on a strict timeline to be able to lift a certain amount of weight, so allowing a bodybuilder to gain muscle while he is outside the gym is a very appealing possibility. Via the effects noted above,
steroids allow them to do exactly this by making
bodybuilding much quicker.
Steroids are part of a problematic sports culture.
The fact that steroids are a desirable supplement for many athletes belies a fundamental problem with sports culture in America. The idea for many athletes has become success at any cost, including overall compromise to health. It is unclear how to fix many of the deep-seated attitudes that encourage people to use steroids. Commentators, for example, have not been completely univocal on the matter. Most commentators do not support the use of steroids, citing the usual list of health issues and their potential impact were they to trickle down into high school and college sports.
However, there is a strong minority that believes that steroids should simply become part of sports culture. So long as players use steroids responsibly and within the guidelines that are considered reasonable by the medical profession and the scientific establishment, there should be no prohibition against steroid use. Just as players might stack the odds before a game by consuming a caffeine supplement like Red Bull or Five-hour Energy, so too can they stack the odds by training with steroids. Indeed, substances like creatine (a nucleic acid) are allowed anyway, and they likewise cause bodybuilders and athletes alike to gain an edge ahead of their opponents. Such substances are allowed even though they themselves have their share of complications and health effects.
Sports culture and bodybuilding
Thus, while an outright ban on steroid use might be ineffective, it is still important to try to change the way people perceive their bodies and athletic success in American culture. Sports are naturally competitive, and the point of most every competition is to outdo one’s opponent. However, one wants to win a contest not because he cheated but because he practiced harder and cultivated better skills. If this ideal were instilled in younger generations, then they would be less likely to consider steroids necessary in the first place.
However, this would work best in the context of an education program that lets kids know what steroids really are and what their full set of side effects are. Like all health devices and practices, such as condoms, birth control, and hand washing, steroids are a very real part of many teenager’s lives, regardless of whether or not they should be part of their lives. A football player at a prestigious football high school is likely to encounter one form or another of performance enhancing substance, such as creatine or AAS. In their efforts to instill good bodybuilding habits in their players, some coaches (unfortunately) insist on certain substance use above and beyond normal nutritional and training practices.
Most players and bodybuilders do not realize that they can achieve most of their goals (especially in a high school or college setting) via exercise, good nutrition, and proper supplementation alone. Young athletes and body builders, for example, might consider using protein shakes, special vitamin cocktails, and regimented eating routines in order to streamline their athletic and strength goals. If adopted with the help of a personal trainer, nutritionist, or doctor, these alterations to one’s normal lifestyle can be very safe and nearly devoid of abnormal side effects. Competition and sportsmanship are important to athletic events, but people need to reconsider how best to achieve these ends. While a high-five or a special amino acid supplement might enhance bodybuilding less quickly than an anabolic steroid, one needs to consider the virtues of living an overall healthy life.
