Relevance of steroids among sportsmen

In today’s world, sports have become a way of life. In order to stay physically fit, the young and old are learning different sports ‘to keep the doctor away’. People are more health conscious than ever. In olden times, more importance was given more on education and less on playing or sports. In modern times, equal importance is given for both education and sports. In schools, games and extra curricular activities has been included as a mandatory subject in the syllabus. The child has to score minimum pass marks in sports and academics, to be promoted to the next grade.

 Young talents are tapped at a very early age and more and more youth are opting sports as their career.  In this world of cutthroat competitions, the need to excel is the call of the hour. professional sports stars like Phil Heath give in their ‘all’ to prove their mettle.  There is a limit until how much the body can achieve and to make the body exceed that limit, these sports stars resort to other ways. The most common is to take the help of body building supplements to ‘up’ their athletic performance.

The common steroids used by body builders are Testosterone, Dianabol, Clenbuterol and Winstrol. They are usually in pill form, liquid form or as injectibles. To increase the effect of the steroid in the body, two or more steroids are combined together and taken as ‘stack’. The body building supplements or steroids help body builders to gain muscle during the bulking cycle and increase lean muscle mass in cutting cycles. It also helps in increasing strength, performance and stamina. Due to these properties, many body builders takes overdose of these steroids and it leads to many health risks and side effects. The common side effects are liver problems, heart problems, kidney damage, water retention, high blood pressure, acne, virilization in women like excess facial hair, deepening of voice and baldness.

Steroids are banned in many sports and countries because of the adverse side effects on ones body. Most of the steroids can be purchased when prescribed by a medical practitioner. It is the safest otherwise many fake versions of steroids are easily available in the market. Steroids that are illegally manufactured in underground labs can be adulterated. Possessing steroids for any other reason apart from the fact that it is for personal use is considered illegal and can be arrested and punished for the same. These fake ones are a threat to one’s health and well being. Combining steroids with recreational drug or narcotic painkillers can be a disaster. After finishing a cycle, male body builders should undergo Post Cycle Therapy to help the body to produce its own testosterone naturally.

Diet and nutrition plays an important role in general health, say professional sports stars like Phil Heath. Six meals a day and 2000- 5000 calories a day is the general diet routine for body builders. Diet should be rich in protein and 800-900 grams of carbohydrates.

Along with long hours of diet and exercise, slogging long hours in the gym is mandatory to get a chiseled body. Heavy workouts and lifting heavy weights help in building up the body. Will athletic boards ban the use of steroids? Only time will tell. It can be thus concluded that illegal use of steroids in sports is here to stay and it will help them to achieve great heights in the wold of sports.