Men's Health > Steroids > Steroids in Sports

Steroids in Sports

Most young athletes can attest to the fact that the competitive drive to win — and win at all costs — is fierce. Besides the glory of bragging rights and the satisfaction of personal gain, often times young athletes compete in the pursuit of greater dreams — a medal for their country, a college scholarship or a place on a professional team.

For a growing number of athletes, winning at all costs includes taking performance-enhancing drugs. Some may appear to achieve physical gains from such drugs, but at what cost? The truth is, the long-term effects of these drugs haven't been rigorously studied. And short-term benefits are tempered by many drawbacks.

In most amateur and professional sports, the athletes who win are those with the greatest strength, speed or endurance. Each sport requires specific skills, such as the ability to kick a ball a certain way or hit a home run. Doing so with not just excellent but instead extraordinary strength, speed or endurance marks the difference between a good player and an elite player.

Sheer strength is determined by two factors: amount of muscle and the ability of nerves to stimulate muscle contraction. Some elite athletes perform special exercises specific to their sports to improve the neural stimulation of their muscles, and many do weight training to build more muscle. Some, especially professional athletes, also take hormones, supplements and man-made (synthetic) drugs to induce their body to build even more muscle. In fact, recently steroid use in golf has entered the stage.

The amount of muscle and the ability of your nerves to stimulate muscle contractions also play a big role in determining your speed. A larger muscle mass allows you to generate more power, which helps you perform short bursts of activity — a track sprint or short swim race — faster.

Can performance-enhancing drugs and supplements improve your performance? Here's what the research says ...

anabolic steroids

The anabolic steroids that athletes use are synthetic modifications of testosterone. These drugs were developed in an attempt to maximize the anabolic effects and minimize the androgenic effects of testosterone. As it turns out, these two actions of testosterone can't be separated.

Given by pill, injection or topical treatment, these hormones have many medical uses. Some of these include testosterone replacement therapy for men deficient in testosterone, helping people with AIDS maintain muscle mass and reduce muscle wasting, and treating rare types of anemia.

Why are these drugs so appealing to athletes? Besides making muscles bigger, anabolic steroids may help athletes recover from a hard workout more quickly by reducing the amount of muscle damage that occurs during the session. In addition, some athletes may like the aggressive feelings they get when they take the drugs.

However, many athletes take anabolic steroids at doses that are much higher than those prescribed for medical reasons. The effects of taking anabolic steroids at very high doses haven't been well studied.

If an injected form is used, you'll face a higher risk of infections and diseases that are transmitted in blood, such as HIV and hepatitis. And in teens, steroids can halt their normal pattern of growth and development and put them at risk of future health problems.

Anabolic steroids aren't legal substances, unless your doctor has prescribed them for medical reasons. Taking anabolic steroids to enhance athletic performance, besides being prohibited by most sports organizations, is illegal.

One anabolic steroid receivng a lot of attention is tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). Until recently, THG was marketed as a dietary supplement for enhancing athletic performance. However, researchers have found that THG is actually a chemically altered version of an anabolic steroid that is banned by most sports organizations. THG is referred to as a "designer" steroid because it's undetectable by traditional steroid testing techniques. A new laboratory test, however, now makes its detection possible. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that athletes taking THG may be putting their health at risk — THG is an unapproved new drug and little is known about its safety.

Other common anabolic steroids include dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (Turinabol), metandienone (Dianabol), methyltestosterone (Android), nandrolone (Durabolin or Deca-Durabolin), oxandrolone (Oxandrin), oxymetholone (Anadrol) and stanozolol (Winstrol).

Drew Voight