Steroids Use Among Athletes Essay

Anabolic Steroids are taken by athletes to increase muscle mass while decreasing fat rapidly and efficiently. They can push the physiological limits of the muscle, making it bigger, faster and stronger than it can get naturally. Steroids achieve this affect on the body by enhancing the natural process of muscle building. The use of steroids has had a negative impact on the lives and careers of many athletes, causing suspensions, bans, and even the loss of medals and other awards and records earned in international events. A few of the high profile athletes whose lives and careers by their anabolic steroid use include: Barry Bonds, Lyle Alzada, Jose Canseco, Ben Johnson, Chris Benoit, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, Alex Rodriguez and Lance Armstrong.

Steroids have a long-term, negative effect on the human body. These effects range from cardiovascular problems to mental and psychological issues such as rage and anger problems. Steroid use has been linked to increased alcohol consumption, marijuana use, cigarette smoking, and narcotic use (Buckman, Farris & Yusko, 2013). Many athletes may not be aware of the lasting effects steroids can have because all they are worried about is their performance, not their health.

Steroid abuse has become a huge problem in professional sports today. Athletes are now using steroids to gain a competitive edge over their opponents. Also, the athletes are using the steroids to recover quickly from major injuries or surgeries. Many former superstar athletes have been caught taking steroids during the season and offseason.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when steroids are discussed? Is it positive? Negative? What comes to mind for me is the vision of an extremely large man with bulging muscles like we see in bodybuilding competitions. These types of images are becoming extremely commonplace in society today, and also increasingly disturbing considering just a few short years ago the ‘bodybuilder’s body’ was just a niche in the sports world. But what drove this movement? There is no way to possibly limit this phenomenon into one single cause, but rather I can hazard a guess as to what I believe may be at the root of this ideal change. America, since the time it was founded, has grown increasingly confident in itself. This mindset has

The competitive drive to win at all cost is fierce among athletes. Winning at all cost often includes using one of many performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids. Many athletes use performance enhancing drugs, like steroids, to achieve higher goals and set higher records than other drug-free successful athletes. Although athletes are performing at higher levels when using such drugs, what is the cost? Finally anabolic steroids should remain banned from sports because their use results in many harmful side effects; because their use violates sports regulations, and because their use can cause death.

Steroids not only affect the body but also the mind too. It is proven that when an athlete takes steroids they tend to be more of an aggressive person in society’s eyes. The advantage of having an aggressive behavior is that the abuser is more focused and trains more intensely. The bad part about taking steroids is that the person becomes easily irritated and impatient. Even after an athlete stops using steroids they seem to develop depression because they experience withdraw symptoms. It is against federal law to use steroids without a prescription. Professional athletes usually do not think about how much trouble steroids can give them. In 1990, President George W. Bush signed a bill to put steroids in the category of methamphetamines, opium and morphine. If someone would get caught using steroids they could be punished up to one year in prison, a twenty thousand dollar fine, and a year of drug classes (New Law…).

Steroids and PED’s are used today in sports to help athletes gain muscle mass and strength. Other athletes use them to boost their athletic performance. Today, about 30 percent of college and professional athletes still use anabolic steroids, 10 to 20 percent of high school athletes use them (Lewis). There are many reasons why steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs shouldn’t be allowed in sports.

Just take the shot! It will help you this season; you will be able to do things that you never would have thought possible. Will taking steroids really help your performance as a professional athlete? Many professional athletes find that this is the best way to enhance their athletic abilities but it only promotes physical damage in the long run. If the use of steroids isn't stopped by professional leagues it just shows that they don't care about their athletes and will continue to watch many of them drop like flies from physical damage caused by steroids. The use of anabolic steroids on professional levels should be banned, and any athlete that chooses to use them should be suspended from their

Steroids have been used in bodybuilding and other sports since the 1950's. Nowadays, athletes from all walks of life use them. It's not uncommon for athletes such as bodybuilders, football players, boxers, sprinters, and especially powerlifters to use them on a year round basis. Some professional bodybuilders

“…medical researchers believe that between 1 and 3 million youths and adults have taken anabolic steroids in one form or another specifically to enhance their looks or athletic performances,” stated Nuwer (Nuwer, 61). As astounding as these figures are, the number of performance drug users is steadily increasing. With this progressively increasing numbers, it is projected that millions more will use steroids in the immediate future (Newer, 61). Athletes have always sought an advantage in competition even if ignoring the law and their health if necessary. Using drugs of any sort to facilitate an athlete’s athletic ability should be illegal. The use of performance enhancing drugs is not only detrimental to the user but it also creates an

When athletes begin to take these drugs they begin to hurt there bodies more and more every time they do steroids. Vance Golke, a athletic trainer at a local sports medicine facility, stated in an interview that, “athletes today don’t know what trouble they could be putting themselves in when they begin to take enhancements to better themselves. They (the athletes) don’t know what they could be doing to there internal organs and to their lives.” According to the National institute on drug abuse, steroids can have disastrous health effects “that are life threatening, such as heart attacks and liver cancer. Most are reversible if the abuser stops taking the drugs, but some are permanent, such as voice deepening in females. “These are just a few small consequences that can happen if athletes continue to take these types of drugs. Athletes don’t always know what they maybe getting into rule wise either when they begin doing these things. Most coaches don’t care enough to help their players get away with these illegal drugs in most cases. There are many different ways they can help them but, the best way most would agree on

In the past three decades, steroids has been becoming a serious problem more than ever in the athletic field. Steroids are anabolic drug "to build" growth hormones that include the androgens (male sex hormones) principally testosterone and estrogen and progestogens (female sex hormones). Steroids were first developed for medical purposes. They're used in controlling inflammation, strengthening weakened hearts, preventing conception, and alleviating symptoms of arthritis and asthma. Unfortunately research has shown that steroids have been abused in almost every kind of sport. Although steroids contribute to a muscular body, usage should remain illegal because they physically deteriorate and mentally destroy the body.

Through experimentation, though, scientists found in lab animals that anabolic steroids could facilitate the growth of skeletal muscles and with this is where the weight lifters and athletes come in to play. Since then over 100 anabolic steroids have been developed and most of them still remain illegal without consent from a doctor. While they were initially created for male related irregularities, they are now finding their way into a woman's body and becoming a part of some women's daily routine.

After doing research on the use of steroids and their effects I have came to the conclusion that steroids is only bad thing if it is abused. Just like any other drug. A lot of people don't know what to do with the good things in life. While all the negative effects of steroids are told to us we are ignoring how steroids can actually help us. Especially in Athletes. Many people believe that athletes that “juice” are cheating. In reality they are not cheating because they are doing just what they think will help them improve and make them the best at what they love to do. There is always room for im-provement and creating all those negative side effects such as irritable and dangerous behavior is right and okay for athletes to

I have chosen to write my paper on the topic of steroids and performance enhancing substances that are used today in sports. In this paper I hope to focus on the steroids and performance enhancing drugs and how they have become a problem in sports.