Chemically Enhanced
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My prowess in the area of athletics can be completely and succinctly described with one story. Flash back to the third grade. Gym teachers practice this form of humiliation called picking teams. They must teach it in gym teacher’s school because they all do it. Two kids are picked, generally among the more genetically superior and physically gifted of the group. They in turn each pick members of the class to be on their teams. Simple mathematics demonstrates that this is going to end badly for someone. You always end up with two kids left; one of whom gets chosen and the other who goes to the other team by default. That last one standing waiting to picked, who never was actually picked but went to the other team by default, was usually me.
Over the years I’ve gone back and revisited many disciplines I failed to do well in. I got into college because I was a pretty promising musician and had already begun studying with two of the professors while I was still in high school. I took advantage of that opportunity to catch up on the academics that I blew off in high school. I mention this because as I discovered my love of learning in college, in my twenties I started body building and lifting weights and discovered I had an affinity for it. Some guys would work at it, train hard, eat right, but hardly grow an inch. I seemed to grow just looking at a barbell. Maybe it was my body’s way of making up for those early humiliations and years of inactivity.
Over the years into my thirties I continued to lift weights and manipulate the look and feel of my body. I was never consistent though… So I’d start and stop. It always seemed like I’d start back in and very quickly pick back up where I’d left off and make more progress. I didn’t like dieting much. I never had a six pack. But I was big and strong as a bull.
It was in my mid-thirties when I first tried supplementing my weight lifting with drugs. Now I’m going to present the world’s most over simplified explanation of anything having to do with organic chemistry. The word steroid is a very general term for certain types of organic compounds. In medicine there are two basic types of steroid chemicals. The first type, called an anabolic steroid, builds tissue up. The second type, called a catabolic steroid, breaks tissue down. This can be confusing, because drugs used to treat allergies or inflammation, which are catabolic steroids, are often referred to simply as steroids.
The infamous anabolic steroids associated with athletics are compounds that mimic the naturally occurring male, or androgenic, hormones. In the case of testosterone, it is the organic compound itself. These drugs have very legitimate uses in medicine—among them are treating the chronic wasting in cancer and AIDS patients.
My own experimentation had as much to do with a curiosity to see what they would do and finding an opportunity to obtain them; as it did with a desire to ‘catch up’ with where I had been strength wise in my twenties. I was working out very hard and very heavy. To make a long story short within months my strength shot up through the roof and I benching over 350lbs (without a spotter) for reps. My confidence and libido followed suit. After while I began to notice my temper becoming increasingly short. I stopped using them after a few months. I used them one more time a year later and then I gave them up for good. Unfortunately I haven’t been back in the gym since. Having experienced that kind of power it has seemed that it will be frustrating and boring without them.
Steroids are big news these days. I guess I have a few feelings about that.
Having had the experience I’ve had using them; they became demystified. The grand daddy of the drugs is testosterone - which is the same testosterone that is manufactured in the male’s testes. The other drugs just mimic it; but are designed to work in different ways: minimizing side effects, accelerating growth, etc… There isn’t anything sexy or mysterious about them.
The use of these drugs is like the use of any drug. The results are different in different people. The side effects are greatly enhanced with dosage. Unfortunately, many athletes—especially those in body building and professional wrestling take massive doses and combine numerous different types of steroids into super cocktails to build freakishly exaggerated bodies. The effects of these massive doses on the mind and body can be tragic.
The use of anabolic steroids in people who are not completely grown stunts growth. It causes the growing ends of the bone to harden prematurely, resulting in stunted growth. For this reason, the use of anabolic steroids should never be practiced by teenage athletes.
Anabolic steroids do influence mood. They can cause the temper to become very short (roid rage), they can bring on depression, they can bring on mania in people predisposed to bipolar illness. Massive use by people prone to mental illness can result in behavior leading to tragic consequences. These drugs elicit a rebound response in the body and also convert into female hormones which can result in the growth of male breasts.The drugs accelerate the balding process for men who have pattern baldness.
The drugs cause changes in the heart muscle and cause high blood pressure.
As far as professional sport goes; I’m not sure how I feel about steroids in professional sports. These drugs are here. They aren’t going to go away. I think if they can be used responsibly under a doctor’s care to extend and enhance an athlete’s career maybe that is justified.
Many of us ordinary types used drugs that were intended for use in animals or created in underground labs. There was little way to know the strength or purity. There was no monitoring of blood levels, mood, etc…
Many athlete’s, especially body builders and professional wrestlers use massive doses and combinations of these drugs. Often the steroids are used in conjunction with pain killers and stimulants. They are used outside the realm of medical supervision or monitoring.
The concern over steroid use in baseball seems silly to me. Its obvious from looking at some of these guys faces that they are using. But it somehow seems over hyped to me. (moon face is a term used to describe the unique facial characteristics of some steroid users)
As far as competitive advantage goes, how does that argument survive if both sides are doing it?
Perhaps the biggest negative argument I can agree with is the example that these modern day gladiators are giving younger athletes. But even here, what about the flood of sex and violence from pop media in their lives?
Of course there are the muscle men who take the extreme doses and combinations. The mixture of this type of behavior and underlying mental illness can be explosively tragic.
