admin
Innocent Choga Fitness
Unlike supplements which are meant to argument our diets, steroids and human growth substances are medical substances which were meant to correct situations where individuals suffer from lack of hormones.
Hormone replacement therapy is meant to address lack of hormones in the aged and stunted growth in children and other ill persons.
Steroids are used to treat diseases such as muscle wasting and decrease in bone mass and suppressed bone marrow production.
In these cases the benefits outweigh the side effects.
Besides, in this case the supply and administration is done by the medical practitioners who try to minimise the side effects as much as possible.
When healthy athletes and other non-athletic individuals who have no medical need for steroids and growth hormones use these substances they abuse the substances.
They take high dosages, with or without the assistance of doctors. In this case the risks outweigh the benefits.
People from all walks of life are reported to be heavy users of steroids, not only athletes as most would like to think.
Athletes such as American football players, baseball players, weight lifters, body-builders, cyclists, cricketers track and field athletes, etc have tasted positive on steroids.
Wrestlers are also being accused of heavy steroid use and this is being pointed out as the cause of early deaths among wrestlers.
There are so many side effects associated with steroids, too numerous to mention in one article, so we will just mention the major critical ones. Some of the side effects are reversible and some are not.
The problem is that these drugs are synthetic hormones and when taken they take over from the natural hormones.
The natural hormones are suppressed during the period that one is on performance enhancement drugs.
As a result steroids causes shrinkage of gonads because there will be no manufacturing going on in the gonads. This can cause impotence and infertility.
However, when one stops it will take time before the natural hormones kick in again. It is during this reversal period one can become impotent and sterile. Steroids also cause masculinity in females.
Too much muscle and low body fat causes infertility in women.
Overly aggressiveness is one of the nastiest side effects of steroids and has caused so many fatalities around the world resulting in wasted lives and suffering.
Steroids were created in the early 1930s by a certain Dr Ruzick. It is said steroids were tested on prisoners of war and also used as medication to heal soldiers during the Second World War.
It is also said Nazi soldiers used steroids such as testosterone to increase strength and aggressiveness.
Hitler himself is thought to have used them as he is said to have shown signs of steroid abuse which include too much aggressiveness.
After his defeat at Stalingrad in 1943, Hitler was said to have been heavily dependent on amphetamines supplied by his doctor with whom he couldn’t do without, Dr Theodor Morell. Towards the end of his life Hitler is said to have showed signs of Parkinson’s disease.
They say, information obtained from his medical records revealed that he showed signs of drug toxicity. Hitler was said to have been compulsive and paranoid bordering on mental illness because of the abuse of these substances.
The problem is that the side effects of steroids do not only affect the perpetrator only but also the people in his/her life and society in general. Roid rages, as they are called, have caused so many tragedies around the world. Abusers become extremely violent and suffer from depression and delusions.
These drugs changes one’s personality.
In 1993, a San Francisco man thought to be one of the quietest people lost it and murdered his wife; a case of imagined infidelity they say.
In 1997, in Barbados a certain man shot his wife and his mother in law. This is said to have been caused by testosterone abuse.
These roid rages are not only limited to men; in 1996 an American woman, a former marine shot her husband to death .This was after a series of incidences sparked off by insane jealousy.
Whereas steroid abuse does not result in the growth of internal organs; growth hormones enlarges internal organs such as liver and heart. The heart for a small framed physique can be overwhelmed when a person puts on too much size. It is the same small heart that is required to supply the blood (which does not increase in volume)and feed all those muscles. Similarly when the heart grows large due to growth hormone it still has to pump the same amount of blood in humans which ranges from 5 to 6 litres depending on one’s frame.
When one athlete from Austria died, the autopsy revealed that his heart had grown twice the size of a normal human being and it had several tumours. His gonads were totally shrunken.
In one tragic incident one 50-year Australian body-builder who competed in the masters died on stage just after completing his routine. The death was linked to steroids. And guess what? They took him off the stage and the contest continued. I am sure the officials were sympathetic but the show had to go on as people had paid their money.
Because steroids do not enlarge the heart, ligaments and tendons as it does the muscles; many strength athletes have torn tendons and ligaments joining several muscle groups to bones, because the muscle will have been grown big and strengthened beyond the capacity that these tissues can handle.
The abuse of growth hormones is said to be linked to cancers, particularly leukaemia.
The abuse of growth hormone also results in the enlargement of jaws, nose and hands; a condition called acromegally which is associated with over secretion of the growth hormone.
Growth hormone is also linked to an incurable disease called CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). This rare disease said to be associated with synthetic growth hormone especially growth hormone substance that is extracted from dead people.
The production of this growth hormone extracted from the pituitary glands of the dead is supposed to have been stopped as the substance was mostly associated with this disease, although occasionally it can be found in the synthetic growth hormone.
CJD is said to be able to hide and incubate in the brain for up to 30 years. CJD can, therefore, be passed as a generational problem. When it finally hatches and manifests itself CJD gradually alters the brain cells into something like mashed potatoes, hence the casualty will lose his/her mind. It is said once the disease comes out of hibernation; the casualty will not survive for more than a year.
Imagine if the genuine stuff prescribed by doctor, and supplied by the pharmacist can accidentally have such side effects, what about the black-market fake product?
This is a developing part of the world and if one is getting black market substances you never know what you could be getting. If genuine prescribed substances cause such side effects what about fake substances?
Just imagine cursing your descendants with this terrible disease just because you want to win.
Blood doping is usually done by endurance athletes such as cyclists and marathon runners.
The idea is to increase endurance and stamina by increasing the blood volume with red blood cells that carry oxygen and help fuel the working muscles. Blood doping involves three methods.
The first relates to the system of boosting blood volumes my transfusing the athlete with someone else’s blood (who shares the same type of blood) or the athlete’s own blood which would have been reserved until the time of the event.
The second method is the injecting of synthetic EPO (erythropoietin). EPO is a hormone produced by the kidney and it regulates the production of red blood cells.
EPO stimulates the production of red blood cells in the bone marrow, it is meant for patients who have chronic kidney disease and anaemia (suppressed bone marrow production).
The third method is the use of synthetic oxygen carriers. This is also meant as a substitute method for patients in need of blood transfusion but there is no matching blood or when there is a high risk of blood infection.
The side effects of blood doping include clogging the blood with surge and blood clots in arteries and veins which can result in stroke or heart attack
Paterson Chatedzuka a policeman, a veteran body-builder and qualified trainer said: “I am a policeman by profession I lead by example. I abhor steroids and I will never consider taking them. From what I have learnt about them it is not worthy. I am content with my placings and support from my fans. I am family man so my family comes first”.
Paterson has many fans in the fitness industry may be it is because of his profession and integrity.
The encouragement and cheers that he gets when he is on stage outclasses even the winners.
Zumailler Mamman former Iron Man Champion who placed second in the Masters Division this year and gym trainer does not want to hear about steroids and says: “I have lasted for long because I am natural, I have a natural talent my physique still displays the same attributes as before.
“Naturally I have a thin skin that shows my muscularity. I am a mesomorph and gaining muscle is easy. Steroids make young people look older than their age, they also get bald prematurely.
“I wish to advise the youth against taking steroids. We are very capable of doing well naturally but at times limited resources hinder our progress. If I were to train as a professional I would do well, but that is beyond me now.
“I am in it for fitness and good health, how does it help me to look macho when I have a floppy disc as arsenal and blanks for bullets.
“One of my long time friends is also on the angry side. He owns a health shop and has been an advisor to many Zimbabwean fitness enthusiasts for many years. He has been pushing me to write on steroids.
“I used to have a number of enquiries and I do not tolerate such enquiries they are an insult to me. I am a father and I sell health .These things are causing so many problems around the world and I wonder why young people do not learn from these cases. Please write all the side effects and cases.”
He passionately began to narrate the tragic cases that he thinks have been caused by steroids.
It is a fact that we will all die, but taking steroids is wilful self destruction. The youths are more vulnerable to the side effects because they are not fully matured.
Take advice from these three anti steroids veterans they know what they are talking about.
Innocent Choga is a six time National Bodybuilding Champion with international experience. Currently he is studying for a science degree in Physical Education and Sport.
Online Reporter