Rock Climbing and Steroids (how bad are they for tendons?)?

[discoburger88]

I've never done a cycle and I was wondering if there are any steroids that don't negatively effect tendon strength or flexibility...I'm trying to stay supple.

I'm 6'0", 28 and I weigh 165 and have been working out seriously since I was like 14...I don't think I haven't worked out for more than a couple of weeks since then. I am concerned that if I do a cycle I'll get stronger, but my tendons won't be able to keep up. I could only find 1 post related to this and it was pretty vague.

 

[CFC]

To answer your specific question, a single cycle isn't going to affect tendon flexibility too much - the collagen takes quite a while to grow and thicken. If you suddenly experienced a massive increase in strength like a bodybuilder, you could risk a tear, but as a climber avoiding mass gain, you're not likely to suffer from that.

However I would strongly advise you not to just 'do a cycle' on the off-chance it will increase your strength and climbing ability. Any improvement is unlikely to last much beyond the cycle itself, but comes with the risk of a huge number of downsides, most of which you're probably not at all prepared for.

Have you done much strength specific training - ie powerlifting etc?