Ok, maybe overstated, but convince me that steroids, in moderate doses, are harmful to healthy adult males.
I remember this video from Real Sports on HBO from a few years ago. For those of you who don’t want to invest the time to watch, basically, they sent out a reporter (who had a history of writing anti-steroid articles) to investigate the harmful effects of steroids. And came up, essentially empty. That in moderate doses (again, only in adult males), that steroids posed no major risks. A bit more acne, and slightly (but reversibly) decreased testicle size. But, other than that, nada.
So, assuming there is no downside, there must be some indirect upside to having increased lean muscle mass. It would be metabolically active and make your basal metabolism higher, thus decreasing fat accumulation. It would help you exercise longer and harder and therefore indirectly increase your health.
So, why all the stigma about steroids? I can only see the problem in sports, where one wants to see pure human competition. But, what about for the rest of us. Why not?
Roid rage? Acne and small balls would turn me off of them if I were a dude, for sure.
Being super buff is gross anyway. If you just go to the gym regularly and eat right, you’ll look good. Steroids are only cool if a doc gives them to you if you’re really sick or something.
I studied steroids for a while in graduate school. I gave animal injections of many of them and I suppose I could have taken a little myself if I wanted but they mood never struck me because I viewed them as slightly evil. Your body is already producing steroids in the form of testosterone, estrogen (yes males have some) and some of their metabolites that are important for secondary characteristics like DHT. Adding your own steroid cocktail to the mix is just going to screw with your entire system.
That is why your nuts will shrink. They normally produce your sex hormones for you but they also detect the right levels in a feedback loop and you will be shutting down partial production when you screw with that feedback loop. You seem to know the typical symptoms like acne and a whole list of other things. An excess of steroids in your body is not a good thing. Male sex hormones put a good deal of stress on the body and that is a big reason why women live longer than men. Steroids can have side effects up to being fatal due to over-stressing different systems.
If you look at it rationally, why would you do it. They are illegal and you have to spend god money to keep your supply going. You will get stronger but you still have to work out. Nobody starts out wanting to be a raging 'roid monster but some end up that way and it could be you. One day, you are going to need to stop and then what? That artificially induced muscle mass is going to fade away and leave unpredictable results on your appearance.
Your body is going to get thrown off by those things and the downside is way higher than the upside in my mind.
Plus, increased risk of heart attack and/or stroke. You will not look good in rehab, partially paralyzed and drooling on the resentful nurse who is trying to change your Depends.
Must be some upside? Why must there be? The problem is that looking better is not synonymous with being healthier. Your assumption that being able to exercise longer and harder is an indication of increased health is wrong. The increased muscle mass that is associated with anabolic steroids won’t improve cardiovascular performance much, and cardiovascular performance is a large part of the healthy effects due to exercise. No one ever died from not being able to bench press 250 pounds.
I have been training with a personal trainer for a couple years now. He is into power lifting, but also enjoys seeing bodybuilding competitions. We got to talking about steroids, and he pretty much explained that the issue is the “in moderation” part.
The results are pretty dramatic and quick, so people see an immediate payoff. And so the temptation to keep pushing the limits becomes very great. Little by little they are no longer using them “in moderation”, and continuing to see the results (but no longer paying attention to the damage they’re doing to their system).
So “in moderation”, steriods are not harmful. The kicker is staying “in moderation”.
Now you say to yourself “but I am disciplined, and I can control myself and stay within the ‘in moderation’ limits”. If this is true, prove it. Work out harder, change your diet, get as hard and cut as you would like…without steroids. You should be able to achieve the same results (without the acne or testicle size loss) as if you used steroids “in moderation” if you worked hard enough at it, for as long as it takes.
If you are disciplined enough to do this, then I would agree that you are disciplined enough to control your steroid use. Of course, if you’ve achieved the equivalent results, you won’t need the steroids !
To put this question in perspective, I already work out to the limit that is possible with my schedule. I’m in the gym about two hours a day, five days a week. I lift weights like a madman, and I run marathons every few months. I’ve been doing this for over ten years now. I’m very happy with my health and my appearance.
If I could push a button right now and look like one of those guys on the cover of a bodybuilding magazine, I wouldn’t. I have no desire to look like that. I would like a bit more mass, particularly in my legs, in order to be able to recover faster from longer runs. I hit 30 recently, and my recovery time isn’t what it was five years ago. I would like to do 4-5 marathons a year, but as my recovery time decreases, this becomes less possible. I would have no problem with the “moderation” thing. I’m a moderate in every aspect of my life!
In all honesty, I’m probably not seriously considering steroids. But, I’m not quite sure why I shouldn’t. Anyway, I appreciate the feedback from everyone so far (thanks Shagnasty).
Fiveyearlurker, I would be lying to you if I said that moderate steroid use is inherently dangerous. Some people are not going to like what I have to say:
I believe that in moderation, you can use some steroids and have minimal side effects. Which steroids these are, I have no idea. I believe that there are people that don’t compete in sport but take steroids just to look good, and live to talk about it without much scathing. What can you do about it? Nothing.
Now, why all the stigma with steroids? Well, the answer is a “slippery slope”. If you take a steroid, what stop’s the next guy from taking some other steroid to “one-up” you? Then, what stops the next guy from commissioning a scientist to create a designer steroid and taking it? Then, what stops someone from using genetic therapy to create “perfect humans”? Then, what stops people from getting bionic limbs? Where does the madness end?
It is all a matter of ethics. There is no inherent reason why taking steroids will harm you. The question is: Where do you stop?
Those wacky life extensionists–you know the ones, the folks who’ll do anything that might help them live longer? They use steroids. Worth pondering a bit.
There are good reasons not to use them. For you, I’d say the top three are like this:
The benefits aren’t worth the risk of your going to jail. For a competitive athlete who stands to make a lot of money from being bigger and stronger, the equations a bit more balanced. For you, not so much.
You don’t know enough about the biochemistry. Like Shagnasty says, screwing around with your endocrine system is a bad idea. You can introduce them safely, but you have to know a lot about the endocrine system in general and yours in particular.
You’re not an advanced lifter. If you’re in the gym ten hours a week and running marathons, you’re not anywhere near the limits of what you could do with a commitment to lifting, some intelligent training, and good nutrition. Take that stuff up first.
I sometimes get the same feeling you have now. If I wasn’t so adamant about being a good, ethical, and clean athlete, then I bet I would be quite tempted. Some people don’t have the same ethics, that is why steroid use exists.
I can’t. I think it’s interesting that women can freely discuss “I’m thinking about going on hormone therapy” and no one blinks. But men say “I’m thinking of using steroids in moderation” and people immediately start talking about shrunken balls, 'roid rage and the illegality of it all.
I’ve used steroids before. I can’t speak on the long term health effects on account of being only 24 year old, but they helped me gain muscle mass insanely fast. I’m on a bit of a rollercoaster when it comes to fitness, never been in great shape, but have been in good shape. Doing the same amount of excercise, my winny/test cypionate cycle resulted in much, MUCH better results than doing it cleanly. Been about 5 years since I’ve done anything and I’m in the worst shape since I started working out, so I’m almost certainly going to try them again.
Also, I obviously can’t get into details on this forum, but fina (aka component th) can be purchased legally (on the net even), which is one of the highest regarded steroids. They can’t be legally used personally, but the checks are beyond lax. So if one of the things keeping you from doing them is worry over having to ask the massive fellow at the local gym for a dealer, that’s not necessarily an issue.
There is no matter of ethics for me though. I’m not chasing a home run record or anything. I’m not going to compete with the Ethiopians in the marathon nomatter what supplements I take.
These are points to ponder for sure, and this first is the probably the most relevant to me. It probaby isn’t worth it from a legal stand point. Though, if it isn’t harmful, one would wonder why it isn’t legal.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’m not some ham and egger when it comes to biochemistry. My PhD is in microbiology, but there was a fair amount of biochemistry that went into that. If I pick up an issue of JBC, I’m pretty comfortable with it.
You’re probably right, but realistically, I’m not going to quit my job and spend five hours a day in the gym. I’m essentially at a realistic limit. I’ve already shown the dedication to a healthy lifestyle by spending a bit more than ten years consistently (I’ve had a bad week here and there, but never a bad month) hitting the gym almost daily.
I think you missed all of the fuss about increased cancer risk and that many doctors are (last I read up on it) stopping prescribing or cutting way back. That’s also (nearly always) under a physician’s supervision when it is done; I’ve seen a number of male patients who are taking anabolic steroids as prescribed by a doctor, but that’s for things like wasting syndrome associated with AIDS, among other reasons.
Are there actual studies backing this up, or is this anecdotal (ala Lyle Alzedo)? Last I saw, the studies looking at long term consequences came up essentially empty.
I’m pretty sure the poster was referring to hormone therapy in women, which has a pretty well documented connection to breast cancer. Sometimes the benefits outweigh managed risks. The point is that female hormone replacement isn’t the lauded medical advance you implied it was.
As for steroids, it’s never been proven that Lyle Alzedo’s cancers were effected by his rampant steroid use, but frankly it doesn’t matter much since todays drugs bear little resemblance to the version he was abusing. To be sure, abuse is still a bad idea, but it’s an apples-n-oranges comparison to whats out there today.
In the case of Lancet/New England Journal of Medicine/Johns Hopkins Review, etc vs. Prevailing Wisdom, I might go with the respected medical authority.
In the case of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel vs. Prevailing Wisdom, I prefer not to risk testicular shrinkage.