It is true enough that body building and weight lifting has come a long way in the past 30 years not just for the mere fascination of how far you can push your body but also because it is an internationally recognized event and it is just like any other professional sport, you can make decent money competing and getting recognition. For the longest time regular people had no idea what it took for someone to get their body in such top-notch physical condition and to maintain it. We could only assume that it meant endless hours in a gym with little much left for a life outside of a gym and endless competitions.

If memory serves me correctly, we started hearing more and more about the use of steroids in professional sports starting in the early 1990's and regardless of rules and regulations set forth by the professional organizations, the death rate amongst some famous athletes and or the long term negative side effects, the use of steroids is still on the rise. So with the knowledge of what steroids do and what they are all about and what harm they can cause, why do so many athletes still choose to use them?

FACT #1

The number one reason steroid use among athletes is on the rise is because putting it simply, it works. The pure science behind why they work so well is simple. Anabolic Steroids are synthetics derived from the male hormone testosterone and are what is needed to help build muscle, give you better performance and make your physique appear better. The anabolic part is what assists the muscles in maintaining protein which is what is needed for strength and growth of muscles along with bones and skin.

Originally, these were developed back in the 1930's and their prime function was to help men who lacked enough testosterone when they were growing up to help them get past puberty i.e., developing a deeper voice and growing body hair.

Since then, the anabolic steroids benefit for athletes allows them to work harder, longer and help assist with the body's recuperation time so in a shorter period of time you can bulk up and look good.

Regardless of that fact, if you do not continue to eat mass amounts of the right kinds of foods and continue with a strenuous workout regimen the steroids are useless and you will more than likely only experience the bad side effects.

FACT #2

Steroids make your muscles grow, right? Well if you remember back to grade school life science, what is the largest muscle in the body? If you answered the heart, you are correct. Steroids do not pick and choose which muscles to lend a helping hand to; they help them all (or hurt them depending on your view of the topic). There have been many scientific studies that have shown and proven without a doubt that one of the largest factors for death among steroid users is heart disease. This could be argued that it is coincidental but if you do your homework you will find out there leaves little room for coincidence here.

FACT #3

Among heart disease the other negative side effects include but are not limited to: liver tumors, jaundice, fluid retention, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, hardening of the arteries, heart palpitations, heart attacks, impairment of the kidneys which could cause kidney stones and further down the road, kidney disease, severe acne and trembling are also the most common. Of course as with anything else, steroids can affect men and women in different ways as well as it can affect different ages. Typically a side effect for a man can expected to be shrinking of the testicles, low sperm count, infertility, baldness and they can also develop breast tissue. For Women they can expect to start growing facial hair, go through premature menopause and have a deepening of the voice. When teens get into taking steroids it causes further complications because teens are not done growing yet and so steroid use can stunt the growth of a normal teen due to accelerated skeletal changes and premature puberty changes.

FACT #4

Case studies have shown that some body builders claiming to have no knowledge of the reduction of fertility while taking steroids and were later tested and found to have NO sperm count at all.

FACT #5

Along with steroid use, some athletes are also taking growth hormones. As with steroids there have been numerous reports and studies showing that cases where growth hormones have been given to an individual or group of individuals, they have had an increased risk of certain types of cancer and also developed cancers such as leukemia.

After all of that knowledge, this author still questions why anyone would take the risk at having a bigger built body for only a fraction of your life to go to living the rest of your life sick if you survive and if you don't dying is the other side effect. Seems like such a waste if you ask me. There are so many outside factors that can get you sick or ill without the intentional use of steroids I just cannot wrap my head around why someone would want to knowingly rob their own quality of life if they are lucky enough to survive their "cycles" of steroid use.

In closing I sure hope whoever might read this article will recognize the dangers associated, and weigh them carefully against the benefits.