What are steroids?
Steroids are chemical compounds that include natural and artificial hormones that together can change the normal functions of your body. Most people see steroids as an injectable substance to make you have huge muscles, but there are multiple types of steroids: oral pills, injections, inhalers, creams, and nasal sprays.
Steroids also aren’t all for muscle growth; some reduce inflammation and affect the immune system’s activity, treat hormone deficiencies, and more. But the main use is for performance enhancing, and athletes are the most likely users.
Athletes always want to be better or more efficient at something that they do for a job or hobby. The main users are pro athletes because their job is always on the line, so they will take any advantage they can get even if it’s illegal substances that can be dangerous.
This is why there are companies that have to go out to athletes’ houses or jobs to drug test them on the spot, which diminishes the PED’s use in certain sports: football, track, baseball, and weightlifting.
Some athletes are able to bypass this through corruption in certain companies, even though some fans are able to tell because of certain indicators like severe acne and excessive muscle gain in a short time. Some signs of prolonged steroid use are bubble gut, enlarged traps, needle marks at injection sight and anger (commonly known as ‘roid rage).
Another sign of steroid use is rapid fluid retention, which makes you look bloated and sick. Steroids can also change how the body reacts to weights during weight lifting.
Steroids increase protein processing (protein synthesis) in muscles, allowing them to recover faster after workouts and train at higher frequencies. This leads to quicker gains and more muscle mass.
However, this rapid growth can put extra weight on joints, tendons, and ligaments, increasing the chance of injury.
Many steroid users may lift heavier weights than their bodies can handle, which can result in long term damage.
Steroid use can also affect internal health in serious ways. The heart can become enlarged and cholesterol levels may become unbalanced, raising the risk of heart attacks or strokes.
The liver is another organ that can be damaged, especially with oral steroids. Hormonal imbalances can occur as well, leading to issues such as reduced natural testosterone production.
While steroids may look beneficial for improving lifting performance, the dangerous health consequences and risks outweigh the short term gains.
