I do want to point out that this is not a moral blog post, I have no qualms about anyone taking steroids, it's your choice, your body, but to be informed, we should be educated, and that's kind of where I come in (to some small extent).
I personally don't think I've met any, or at least, too many people who have needed steroids or "roids". I've trained hardgainers, hardlosers and I've been both myself. I don't want to fall into the fallacy of "I did it, you should be able to do it too", but this what I looked like at age 23 (left) and 25 (right):
Here I am at my fattest
This was me at about 110-115kgs with a bodyfat percentage of about 22-25%And after 6 months of dieting and training, with a loss of about 15-20kgs and about 7-10% bodyfat. This may (depending on your definition) categorize me as a hardloser too, or maybe, and the point I'm trying to make is, most people just don't do enough in the gym, and eat well enough outside it.--->
As you can see, I'm still not very lean in the pic on the right, now you could attribute that to my training and my knowledge, and you could be right. But the point is, I never touched roids and I could claim as anyone can, that I was a hardgainer or a hardloser, which really meant "I didn't get as big as I liked or as lean" which were my failures, in diet and training, not because of my "genetic potential". Excuses, which I think roids are in a lot of cases, are always plentiful, but are they necessary? Of course not, and as we discuss the health concerns below, we can see why, when there are safer alternatives (actually showing up to your training sessions, and eating your meals), you have to wonder why anyone would take roids? I think it's psychological, not physiological.
Going back a step, I'm not sure how much I subscribe to this hardgainer/loser mentality, I think a lot of people use it as an excuse to keep them down, to keep them from pushing hard. Perhaps I'm wrong, I have been once or twice. Having said that though, there are, scientifically speaking, technical "hardgainers" and "hardlosers", whose somatotypes fit a certain profile (ectomorph, endomorph, mesomorph), this doesn't mean they need roids to get big or lean, it just means that based on a certain somatotype, an individaul would need a specifically tailored program, nothing chemical and nothing dangerous, and no different from anyone else! I would say I'm an ectomorph in the left (top) photo, endomorph in the right. What does that mean? It means those categories aren't set in stone and they don't dictate who you're going to be, training wise. Like anyone else can and, fallacies aside, I got results, without roids, without extraneous supplement use (I cycled creatine and always used protein), results happen naturally, in time, and trust me when I say, there is nothing special about me, or my training!
Now are there people who need roids due to hormonal imbalances? Well this is the same kind of excuse that some overweight people use about their "gland problems" etc, to which I would say the same to them, if that is actually the case, if you have been to the doctors and have been diagnosed with low testosterone levels or gland problems, then in those rare cases, I support what you need to do (well I'll support whatever you need to do anyway, but I'm making a rhetorical point!). But I'm not sure how often low testosterone levels occur in 18-25 year old men (but, if ever it was going to happen, it'd be in today's society), but having said that I have no on hand statistics, to support my position. My point, as belaboured as it is, in the world of fat loss or muscle gain, we all have certain disadvantages, some are psychosomatic, some are real, but neither are solved by excuses and cop outs (*steps of soapbox*).
Definitions and effects
Now, onto the more technical stuff, without going into too much detail David J. Kroll has a great article defining roids and their risks, so we'll begin with him:
"(on testosterone) When I was interviewed by Dan Harris for ABC World News Sunday last weekend, we discussed in footage that did not appear whether testosterone qualified as an “anabolic steroid.” The public normally thinks of ultrapotent, clandestine compounds as being the anabolic steroids used by athletes. But in purely pharmacological terms, testosterone is a steroid based on its chemical structure and it has anabolic, or tissue-building, activity. However, testosterone is an anabolic steroid that we make naturally, men and women.There are obviously different types of steroids; dianabol, stanozolol, sustanon, winstrol, clomid, andriol, anavar, deca-durabolin etc, but for our purposes its enough to know some examples and their effects. The side effects are common to most, and are listed below.
Hence, testosterone is an endogenous anabolic steroid. When injected as testosterone cypionate, this would be called the exogenous supplementation of an endogenous steroid. But true bodybuilders wouldn’t bother with something like testosterone when more potent and effective synthetic anabolic steroids are available on the clandestine market...Testosterone and human growth hormone (hGH) are anabolic agents. That is, they enhance the development of lean, skeletal muscle mass.
Human growth hormone (hGH) is a peptide normally produced in the pituitary gland that is also anabolic on its own and augments the muscle-building effects of testosterone." (Kroll 2010)
Steroid.com, the logical place to go for information has this to say on some of the side effects:
"1. Inhibition of Natural HormonesThe website goes into gruesome detail regarding the aforementioned side effects, complete with studies and references, which I encourage you to check out (link below). As Kroll succinctly states:
2. Liver Damage
3. Cholesterol (Blood Lipid Profile)
4. Gynocomastia (Development of breast tissue in males)
5. Acne
6. Roid Rage." (steroid.com "Steroids Side Effects")
"A person taking an anabolic steroid regimen (recall that testosterone is a natural anabolic steroid) is prone to mood swings, anxiety, and aggressive behavior." (Kroll 2010)Conclusion
Obviously this is a very basic treatment of steroids, as I'm concerned that too much detail may be a little too hard to swallow for my lay clients. But the point, I think, is delivered, and that is, there are risks, there are benefits, but roids are not a necessary part of your exercise regimen, hence are a completely unnecessary risk.
References:
Kroll J. D., (2010). James Ray and testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Science Based Medicine. Retrieved 29/03/2011-http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=3333.
Steroids.com. Steroids Side Effects. Retrieved 29/03/2011. http://www.steroid.com/steroids_side_effects.php.
Acne? No shit. I'd rather be squishy than have bad skin, for real.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I hear ya ;)
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts are (together with a disclaimer that I don’t use steroids), are basically:
ReplyDelete• Where do you draw the distinction between artificial supplements? For example is taking whey protein powder the same or slightly lower on the scale of artificial supplements than steroids. I don’t know if there are any negative side effects to taking protein, creatine, hydroxycut or the various other fat loss or bodybuilding type supplements commonly available from fitness stores or sites like T-Nation etc. You could even say that just going to the gym is artificially increasing your muscle size because lifting weights isn’t a “normal” activity, its something that you’re doing specifically to increase muscle mass, although with that you’re not putting anything artificial into your body. Taking protein powder (or fishoil tablets or multivitamins) adds something which is not naturally there in those quantities (although perhaps it should be if not for our inadequate diets) whereas steroids, depending on the type and method adds something which is either naturally produced by the body (eg, testosterone or human growth hormones) or artificially constructed/concentrated substances.
• Secondly, even if you do take steroids, my understanding is that you still need to work out like a nutcase, probably even harder than normal (which frankly, most of us office workers don’t get to) for it to have any or maximum effect otherwise your body doesn’t use all that extra juice to build muscle.
• Third, I think the major desire for average gym goers (as opposed to competitive athletes) to use steroids is the desire to get a quicker result, so you don’t have to put in 12 months of 5x per week nutbusting effort, which frankly, is hard work when you are there, and hard work just to get there. If you can pop a pill, work out once a week and get more muscle then its an easy fix. If you could take a pill and melt the stomach fat and build muscle, would you still go to the gym? Ie, do you enjoy the process or the result? I’m not sure where I come down on that – probably that I enjoy the process (to a certain extent) but I want the result. I suspect most of your clients would opt for a magic pill and the result though.
My 2c…
Thanks for replying and posting your thoughts buddy, as always they're well thought out and articulate!
ReplyDeleteSean: "Where do you draw the distinction between artificial supplements? For example is taking whey protein powder the same or slightly lower on the scale of artificial supplements than steroids."
Reply: The use of the word "artificial" when referring to supplements might be a bit of a stretch, for my purposes in this article. Supplements, particularly protein, which (aside from creatine and perhaps some kind of carb supplement) is the only supplement I recommend, and is based on natural products (milk, egg, soy etc), and simply extracted to make a powder (though some, more than others, contain preservatives and additives, which is really no different than any food you would eat).
Steroids, while being artificial in some cases (in the sense of being synthesized hormone, a completely artificial process), they are also a drug, which illicit a special hormonal, chemical response, above the norms the body can do itself (hence the enhanced muscle gain, and side effects), and far beyond that which any supplement can do (supplements can only do what any food or training program allows, which are well within safe, natural guidelines, hence the term "supplement", they can only supplement a diet and training regime).
Essentially artificiality was not a concern for me, whether steroids are natural or not, while a concern, is not entirely why I oppose them, to me, they are an unnecessary risk, they are illegal, they play around with your body's natural chemistry, this can have bad and long lasting side effects (though it's important to note I don't state they are necessarily harmful).
Sean: "I don’t know if there are any negative side effects to taking protein, creatine, hydroxycut or the various other fat loss or bodybuilding type supplements commonly available from fitness stores or sites like T-Nation etc."
Reply: There are guidelines and intake levels for all supplements, as ingesting too much can have adverse effects, but so can eating too much of anything natural. The ingredients have been watered down on supplements so much nowadays that most of them, including fat loss ones, tend to be more on the "no effect at all and are a waste of money" side as opposed to the "have great and strong effects and are a risk" side.
Continued....
Sean: "You could even say that just going to the gym is artificially increasing your muscle size because lifting weights isn’t a “normal” activity, its something that you’re doing specifically to increase muscle mass, although with that you’re not putting anything artificial into your body."
ReplyDeleteReply: Sure, but having muscle mass is normal, having good and healthy movement is normal. I would say our societal situation today: being sedentary/sitting all day is "unnatural" or "artificial" (as you might say). What do I mean by this? It's "artificial" or "unnatural" in the sense that we have evolved to be creatures that move around and hunt, run and kill, there is nothing that says we need to be those things of course, it's just that when we don't do those things, we get contraindication i.e short hip flexors, increased bodyfat etc. So you could say, within the context of our sedentary society, juxtaposed to what we have evolved to become, training in a gym is perfectly natural, as we do not hunt, run and kill anymore, but our bodies are still "designed" to do so.
Sean: "Taking protein powder (or fishoil tablets or multivitamins) adds something which is not naturally there in those quantities (although perhaps it should be if not for our inadequate diets) whereas steroids, depending on the type and method adds something which is either naturally produced by the body (eg, testosterone or human growth hormones) or artificially constructed/concentrated substances."
Reply: I think you hit it perfectly when you said "although perhaps it should be if not for our inadequate diets". We take these supplements because they are lacking from our diets, due to poor farming, insecticide use, lifestyle choices etc. But, and the point, is that our bodies need them, to be healthy, to function properly (and we can get them from food if we choose). Steroids on the other hand (a) don't always use natural hormones (as in they synthesize them), which is entirely unnatural (in all senses of the word) and (b) in instances where someone is taking them to body build (and not due to some naturally occurring hormonal imbalance) they are adding these hormones in the body to an unnatural and sometimes dangerous level (hence the side effects). To the extent that testosterone et al occur in the body, they provide more than enough (of all "anabolic" or muscle building hormones) to build muscle mass at a safe rate, without needing to inject them into your body. The reason people do that is to make more than what naturally occurs, because they want results at a faster rate than what the body can safely and naturally produce (again, hence the side effects).
Sean: "Secondly, even if you do take steroids, my understanding is that you still need to work out like a nutcase, probably even harder than normal (which frankly, most of us office workers don’t get to) for it to have any or maximum effect otherwise your body doesn’t use all that extra juice to build muscle."
ReplyDeleteReply: True, steroids only increase recovery, aid in protein synthesis etc, but to get any result in the gym you need to train, the reason people train harder on roids is because of the recovery effect. The point is, they are unnecessary, hence an unnecessary risk.
Sean: "Third, I think the major desire for average gym goers (as opposed to competitive athletes) to use steroids is the desire to get a quicker result, so you don’t have to put in 12 months of 5x per week nutbusting effort, which frankly, is hard work when you are there, and hard work just to get there. If you can pop a pill, work out once a week and get more muscle then its an easy fix. If you could take a pill and melt the stomach fat and build muscle, would you still go to the gym? Ie, do you enjoy the process or the result? I’m not sure where I come down on that – probably that I enjoy the process (to a certain extent) but I want the result. I suspect most of your clients would opt for a magic pill and the result though."
Reply: Some interesting thoughts: Sean, "the philosopher of training" ;)
I agree, and it is tempting to take the short cut, but the steroid user has to ask, what are their goals? Do they want to be massive? Do they want to be healthy? Because you can do both without drugs.
The difference? In the last 4 weeks I've put on 2kgs of muscle with 500g of fat, as opposed to a steroid user I know who's put on 6-8kgs of muscle in the last 4 weeks and about 1-2 kgs of fat. Extrapolate that over a year? I get (with diminishing returns) about a 8-10kg weight increase and the roid user gets about 20+kg gain (with a higher gain of body fat too). I get half the muscle gain, but a much less body fat increase, and I do it with no side effects, I do it all the while increasing my health, the steroid user, can make no such claim, and both of us are busting our butts.
Goals are still achievable at fast rates when you put yourself to it. Look at you? A year’s training? A decrease in body fat by what, 5-7%? A decrease in weight, by about 7-10kgs, but vast increases in muscle and strength (he can hex bar deadlift 130kgs and squat 100kgs, at a bodyweight of 82kgs, for reps, ladies!), all the while only training about x3 per week? And a lot of that was doing metabolic conditioning work? You're living proof that great gains come from steady and constant dietary and training goals/changes!
Sean: "My 2c…"
Reply: I always appreciate your thoughts buddy!! Thanks so much!!