Your thoughts on Steroids in Pro Sports

[aanallein]

The fact is, people who use steroids aren't competing. They're sticking needles in their ass which make them bigger, stronger and faster without actually working hard and achieving it honorably.

You're young so I'll cut you some slack.. I've trained naturally like a motherfucker. 5 years now of hard time in the gym, rigorous eating schedules, etc. etc. etc. It's hard as fuck. If some guy did some roids and didn't train his heart out, he wouldn't have accomplished as much as me, he would still have had to work.

Yes, steroids and other PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) are 'cheating' but to claim they aren't working hard is some pure bullshit. Lance Armstrong likely took PEDs but he won the Tour 7 times in a row. That's pure heart and such an incomprehensible amount of work.. I can't even imagine.

None of these high level competitors are riding some easy drug road to success. Trust me on this. The drugs help recovery, strength, endurance, and other factors but it only allows them to do more. They are still pushing it to 100% capacity and that is incredibly difficult to do.

You're talking about philosophical issues like 'sportmanship' and 'integrity' when it doesn't have anything to do with that. If your a major league pitcher making 20 million a year and you're told to take HGH by your trainers and coach to help your shoulder recover faster to get more games in per season - what are you going to do? You're at the highest possible level. This isn't a club team and this isn't good natured fun. This is some hard core shit and a lot is riding on it.


There's so many reasons already that the playing field is never level.
Age, equipment, diet, genetics (height, weight, ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch, etc. etc.), access to training and medical care, etc. etc..

Further, what constitutes a PED? Supplementing with amino acids, protein powders, vitamins, and minerals seems to be accepted as ok, but DHEA is not. Why? The whole issue is dumb.

 

[23536]

the problem is if a sport suddenly allows steroids, all competitors will be indirectly forced to take steroids continuously (cycling on and off as frequently as possible). This can be very toxic.

Moreover, all the kids that are trying to get into the sport will load themselves up on roids from a very young age.

 

[Care]

^ Thats pretty much how it is already.

 

[Wolfmans_BrothEr]

^^ it doesn't make it right. I dk IMO it just shouldn't be done. I understand all the reasoning and logic behind it, we talk about it in class all the time, but in the end I don't think it's right for these major athletes to be promoting something that's so toxic to the body.

aanallein, your right about it being hard to distinguish what is considered a PED and what isn't. But I don't really see how talking about integrity and sportsmanship has nothing to do with it. Isn't the whole reason steroid use is so controversial because it goes against the concept of sport, as well as possibly bad for your body. Yea people who juice still have to work in order to achieve their desired physique, but in the end it's not 100% them, their recovery/endurance is enhanced from an outside source.

There wasn't nearly as many athletes using PEDs in the past, so how come all of a sudden it's changed. Because peoples view of sport has changed from playing for the love of the game, to playing for the most money.

Personally I look up to athletes because they do what we all dream we could, and because of the thought that it's due to their hard work and honing their skill is how they got that way. When the fans start losing respect for athletes sports start to fail.

 

[Care]

I don't think it's right for these major athletes to be promoting something that's so toxic to the body.

Steroids are not toxic to the body.

There wasn't nearly as many athletes using PEDs in the past, so how come all of a sudden it's changed.

because people are realizing how effective and relitavely safe they are, and they are widely available compared to the past

Because peoples view of sport has changed from playing for the love of the game, to playing for the most money.

The players didnt make the system, can you blame them for wanting to make alot of money?

 

[23536]

Steroids are not toxic to the body.

steroids are arguably more toxic than any drug. I mean, the potential adverse effects are just gory. Just think of how many things you can binge on and then discontinue without permanently damaging your health. Steroids on the other hand...

even the cleanest roids require a lot of discipline in order for the user to minimize sides. And then, post-cycle, you have to take undeniable toxins like tamoxifen and letrozole in order for your balls not to shrivel and your tits not to swell.

steroids' illegality also drives a lot of people to take methylated prohormones which are dangerous to the liver

 

[34-dihydroxyphen]

steroids are arguably more toxic than any drug. I mean, the potential adverse effects are just gory. Just think of how many things you can binge on and then discontinue without permanently damaging your health. Steroids on the other hand...

even the cleanest roids require a lot of discipline in order for the user to minimize sides. And then, post-cycle, you have to take undeniable toxins like tamoxifen and letrozole in order for your balls not to shrivel and your tits not to swell.

steroids' illegality also drives a lot of people to take methylated prohormones which are dangerous to the liver

They can be very dangerous, but are relatively safe under medical supervision.

We've been talking about anabolics, but lets look at corticosteroids for a moment, like Prednisone. Athletes get shots of these on a regular basis from team doctors in the middle of games to help with injuries and cramps and what-not. They are completely legal and legit.

Taken under supervision, they are extremely safe. But if you continue to take them on a daily basis for I believe a week or more, and then discontinue without weening off, death is a near certainty.

It is a similar story with anabolic steroids. They MUST be taken under some sort of supervision, or at least with the proper guidelines, to avoid long-term adverse health effects. Under supervision, the side effects are almost always reversible. But in the wrong hands? Fuck, you do not want to know.

One of the many reasons they should not be stigmatized. Kids who want to be like LeBron, like Ray Lewis, like Troy of Pitt, get themselves into crazy trouble all the time because they have no idea what they are getting themselves into.

On the other hand, gym rats know the guidelines to follow, based around a community of people who have the know-it-all to prevent the horrors. Athletes have doctors.

But due to mass stigmatization and illegality, harm-reduction is damn near impossible for the kids (who shouldn't be messing around with their already fucked up hormones to begin with). We need to regulate and educate with these drugs more than any other, because as you said, unlike heroin and cocaine and even benzos (which can have potentially deadly withdrawal effects), anabolic steroids have the potential to cause harm like no others when in the wrong hands.

Fortunately, most people do not want to look like that Valentino freak and so they are not a youth epidemic. But the more we stigmatize that shit, the more appealing it becomes to rebellious youths, who would always rather do the wrong thing than the right.

Fuck I hope this post is cogent. I needed a little break from my benzo detox so I took 1mg of xanax, and I tend to make retarded posts from that viewpoint. Fucking doctors, getting me dependent on a drug I don't even like, I told the motherfuckers it wouldn't help with my sleeping disorder, but I was going through a rough patch and decided I would take them up on their offer. These guys are worse than any dealer I have ever met. No dealer has ever actively pressured me to buy their product

 

[aanallein]

Steroids are actually very safe. You see a lot of body builders drop out but that's not because of steroids. That's because of drugs used to prep pre contest.

I mean shit just look at the anti-aging for men these days. What is it? Test and HGH.

 

[23536]

3,4 if you haven't tried trazodone to help you get to sleep at night, do so. It's how I was able to discontinue alprazolam. 75 to 150 mg before bed.

 

[34-dihydroxyphen]

3,4 if you haven't tried trazodone to help you get to sleep at night, do so. It's how I was able to discontinue alprazolam. 75 to 150 mg before bed.

Thanks for the help (I mean it), but I've tried trazodone and it didn't work for me. I've got something that less than 1% of the population has - non 24 hour sleep wake cycle disorder. An ordinary person's day is 24 hours. Mine is 26. So I typically wake up 2 hours later every day then I did the last. That also makes it a pretty severe case.

It has totally fucked up my life, I want to go back to school (I had a 3.83 GPA before my disorder moved from delayed sleep phase to non-24 hour) but I can't, and my entire family assumes I must still be on drugs, which I hardly ever am.

I need to put more time into my light therapy and melatonin/rozerem, but these have been innefective no matter how much I try, so I don't know what to do next.

Sorry for derailing this thread into my sob story.

 

[23536]

Anybody interested in this should watch the documentary "Bigger, Stronger, Faster". It states everything I would state, but much more eloquently.

this is a great documentary. Thanks for recommending it. The humble little film maker is unintentionally a genius.

what the fuck was that bull? I've never seen an animal like that--5 times as muscular as the largest of thoroughbred horses. I didn't know that was possible.

There are too many rules to steroid use for me to concede that they are non-toxic. I mean, when I smoke crack I keep Xanax handy for the comedown, but when I do a cycle I have to be constantly taking a bucket of shit like sillymarin and phospholipids and acetylcysteine and ubiquinone so that my insides don't become a giant wad of pus, not to mention the anti-estrogen formulation that I have on hand for when my cycle is over. And if I were taking something that aromatizes, I'd also have to have an aromatase inhibitor handy, and maybe also letro to combat gyno.

I mean I guess you can say steroids are better for you than crack, but crack is certainly safer.

(did the guy's brother say he drank liquid lead to try to kill himself? Lead melts at 327 degrees!)

 

[Johnny blue]

I haven't read the whole thread but, I wonder if we aren't past the point of no return on this one. Pro athletes obviously have more "supplements" at their disposal than ever before. What was once a season ending injury has been reduced to weeks of rehab and I think that's for the better of the sport and of course the career of the athlete. If they can safely take these drugs to keep performing at work than it's an easy choice to me.

MLB probably being the most obvious example. The players hit more home runs and the pitchers heal faster and pitch longer. I can only imagine the game returning to what it once was and I don't think the public is ready for that either. People often say that these players are supposed to be role models and heroes but, I think that stopped a long time ago. Kids nowadays are just as likely to know their favorite players salary as they are to know their average or ERA. The whole thing is bullshit to me. A random drug screening? Really? Like there isn't the resources to drug test everyone?

I'd prefer these substances to be legalized and standardized. The problem is most likely bigger than any of us know and this isn't like some RC that someone does sparingly. This is part of their lifestyle and IMO until it is exposed for what it is there will be no measure of safety for the players or the youngins that idolize them. I'd much prefer everyone using regulated drugs when necessary or even to keep them on top of their game then people like Bonds growing a hat size a season. What these guys are doing can't be healthy.