The World Wrestling Federation has produced a lot of household names, but the Hulk will surely top the list. He was well-known for his white hair, beefed-up muscles, non-stop trash talks, and ripped shirts. He gained prominence during the early 1980s up to the 1990s, though his wrestling career began way earlier.
In 2011, through his autobiography, he considered himself as a hypocritical after admitting to steroid use while disseminating positive messages and image to his fans.
Anabolic steroids are chemical substances that are used to enhance physical characteristics like muscle mass, and hair growth. Steroids are very effective, not only as a performance enhancer, but also in the treatment of some medical ailments.
Medical supervision is required when using steroids. Steroids are controlled substances and there is a good reason for this control. There are negative side effects to using steroids and if used without the proper guidance, the substance can possibly harm the body.
Steroids come in many forms. The most common forms are oral and injectable, though creams and steroid patches are available as well.
Oral steroids are the most common form and some people prefer these over injectables, though the latter form is known to be more effective as it enters the blood stream directly. Tablets and capsules are first filtered by the liver before they can enter into the blood stream. The liver filters a good amount of the steroids and only a small amount actually enters the blood stream.
A lot of people are not that fond of having injections and would not want to perform injections on themselves.
However, injectables are known to have fewer side effects than those that are taken orally. This is because the drug does not have to pass through the digestive system and the liver before it can enter into the bloodstream.
This is not to say that injectable steroids are any safer than oral steroids. Steroids have a wide variety of side effects on both men and women, and most especially teens. It is not advisable to take steroids for long periods of time. In fact, the use of steroids for performance enhancement or muscular buildup can be considered as illegal. It is best to consult a doctor to have a complete understanding of the side effects before considering the use of this drug.
A decade after its creation in the 1930’s, steroids became widely popular in the world of sports. Athletes quickly noticed the effects of steroids and this led to its widespread use. While much of the athletic community was focused on the positive effects of steroids, those in the field of medicine had their doubts and this created much controversy.
After German scientist Adolf Butenandt’s initial experiments on the male hormone androstenone, pharmaceutical companies and groups of other scientists started to experiment on the hormone’s effect on human subjects. By the 1940’s athletes were already using the drug to enhance their strength and physical characteristics.
Athletes from countries like the Soviet Union and Germany used steroids and performed exceptionally well during the 1952 Olympics. The domination of these countries in the Olympics led the way for other countries like the US to use steroids on their athletes as well. The wide spread use of steroids had begun.
However, some scientists were not convinced on the safety of using steroids. Unfortunately, studies brought forth inconclusive results and it took over 30 years before the Olympic committee finally banned the use of steroids.
Unfortunately by this time the damage had been done. Steroids were already too popular in the US. Many professional bodybuilders were having tremendous success with the drugs. Hollywood was quick to embrace these bodybuilders and turn them into movie stars.
Steroids were also being widely used by professional athletes in other sports. The drug may have been banned by the Olympic committee by this time, but professional athletes continued to use it. The NBA and the NFL also started to get concerned with its wide use and decided to implement a ban on the use of the substance as well.
It wasn’t until 1991 that the US government decided to include steroids on the list of controlled substances. The use of steroids was prohibited with the exception of the medical community. The drug could only be used if it were prescribed as a treatment for a medical condition.
Unfortunately, the use of steroids was so popular that the government’s ban did little to prevent people from using it. The drug was being sold illegally on the streets and it was widely available.
Steroids were so effective in enhancing muscular growth and strength of athletes and non-athletes alike that the demand for it was so high. In order to sell the drug legally, many companies developed other ways to incorporate it in other products. Nowadays, the drug can be found in performance enhancers and other products sold as human growth hormones.
Whatever form or title steroids have developed into today, the performance of the drug remains the same. In fact, hiding the drug in other products has only caused more of a problem since it can easily be abused. The abuse of steroids may enable the users to realize quick results, but this can cause long term damage to the human body. The damage that the drug causes may not even be repairable.
Steroids, short for anabolic-androgen steroids are chemical substances that are primarily used in the medicine to treat chronic ailments like AIDS or cancer. Steroids were once popularly used by athletes, especially bodybuilders to enhance muscle growth. However, most sports have banned the substance today as enhancing the body’s performance in any way other than “naturally” is considered to be cheating, not to mention the ill effects of the substance.
The effect of steroids on some people is amazing. Steroids stimulate bone growth and muscular mass. If combined with intense exercises and proper nutrition, a bodybuilder will notice quick development. Unfortunately, the effects are mostly short term. In the long run, steroids lead to a number of medical complications.
Steroids are known to be a cause of high blood pressure, liver damage and quite a number of other complications.
When steroids first came out in the 1930’s, athletes quickly discovered its amazing effects on the human body. Athletes were able to become stronger and a whole lot bigger in terms of muscular mass. However in 1967, the use of steroids was banned by the Olympic Committee. Other international sports committees also agreed to ban the use of this substance.
The ban on the use of steroids did not actually stop its use. Many athletes found different ways to get around the tests that sports administrators performed during a sporting event. Different forms of steroids were also developed and these were virtually undetected in the early days of the ban.
Today, not only have the tests improved to detect many forms of banned substances, but they are also performed during the training sessions and not only during the sports events. Many great athletes have been stripped of their medals and even banned in the participation of sporting events due to illegal performance enhancing drugs.
Different sporting organizations have banned the use of steroids by athletes participating in their games, but this did little to extinguish the use of the drug completely. Men who do not intend to professionally participate in any sporting event, but do have a need for a more masculine physique, still take the drug. High school athletes also take the risk of using steroids and this has led to the abuse of the substance.
Many athletes who continue using steroids purchase it in the black market seemingly unaware of the negative effects it can have on the body. Some of the effects are reversible and some unfortunately can no longer be reversed. If you are considering using steroids to enhance your masculine properties or your performance in sports, then you need to be fully aware of the dangers of using this drug without medical supervision.