Testing It Up

Mark “Big Mac” McGwire – who broke the baseball home run record in 1998 – has admitted that he used steroids “on and off for nearly a decade”. He still says, though, that despite this admission, “he did not need performance-enhancing drugs to hit the long ball,” quoting from a story on ESPN, which also features a video of an interview with McGwire.

McGwire said that he used steroids through a statement released on Monday. He still seemed rather adamant, however, that this did not mean that it was the drugs that fuelled his power to hit home runs: “I was given a gift to hit home runs,” he reportedly said to Bob Costas on the MLB Network.

With or without the steroids, he said that he could still hit those homers, as it was giving due diligence towards studying pitchers as well as making his swing shorter that gave him the ability to hit more home runs. McGwire is ranked 8th in the top 15 all-time MLB Home Run list, and is the 6th player on that list to be linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

McGwire maintains that he was taking steroids for health purposes as opposed to specifically trying to up his game. He was reportedly dealing with injuries and told himself that the steroids will help him heal faster – and thus get back on the playing field the soonest time possible, in an effort to prove that he indeed earned every penny of his multi-million dollar salary.

He also reportedly said during a phone interview with the Associated Press that having to tell people that he was close to and had worked with about coming clean regarding his past steroid use was an emotional undertaking. He also admitted that it was his first time to “talk about this” while adding that he hid his steroid use “from everybody”.

The introduction of steroid use in the market affected more people in their teenage years. Truth is more US high schools are dealing with this tough situation right now. But one may not simply accuse the teenager that he is under steroid drugs without knowing the signs.

The signs of teen steroid abuse are manifested in two ways. First is a change in physical appearance and the second is a change in behavior. If parents want to get rid of the possibilities of their teenagers being trapped in illicit drugs, then they should focus on these signs.

Physical appearances of steroid users can be seen through sudden change in hair and skin texture in that their hair becomes greasy while their skin becomes oily. Acne breakouts and other skin eruptions become prevalent as well. Some may have thicker hair while others experience hair fall. Night sweats, disrupted sleeping patterns and nausea and vomiting may also be encountered.

As for behavioral changes, mood swings become more obvious. Some also become disrespectful and insensitive to the needs of others. At some points, they also shy away from other people including relatives and friends.

For full version of this article, please visit “How to Pinpoint Signs of Teen Steroid Use“.

The introduction of testosterone anabolic steroids in the market resulted to a lot of changes in men. Included in this list of changes are increased endurance, stamina and muscle mass. Because of these so-called positive results, more people abuse the use of these steroidal hormones. This then led to the need of discovering how steroids will be normalized physiologically thus resulting to T/E ratios.

The T/E ratio is used to determine the relative proportion of the testosterone and epitosterone. This is done by measuring the testosterone glucuronide (TG) and epitosterone glucuronide (EG) levels through a man’s urine. The normal levels are set at a 1:1 ratio. The result may somehow be affected if a man has flu at the time the test was conducted. This in turn makes the testosterone levels higher even if the epitosterone is left unaffected.

The T/E ratio utilization led to further studies. Some groups encouraged further testing to see more reliable results in consonance with the doses of testosterone. This is to ensure that the shifting of marker ratios for the EG and TG are determined by other factors.

For full version of this article, please visit “How Steroid Use Changes Testosterone/Epitestosterone Ratio“.

The abuse of steroids is highly frowned upon in the sports world because it is considered as cheating. It violates the code of conduct expected of athletes, as well as puts athletes who use performance enhancers at an unfair advantage over athletes who work solely on their own efforts.

There are cases of athletes all over the world who have admitted to using steroids. In the United States, steroid abuse was greatly highlighted when the BALCO scandal erupted. As it turned out, BALCO is a ring that supplied anabolic steroids to many superstar athletes in the United States. Among these athletes is Marion Jones, an Olympic track and field champion who was forced to surrender her five medals after being convicted of perjury for lying about her steroid abuse.

Tim Montgomery, another Olympic track and field athlete, was forced to retire after admitting to using steroids. Barry Bonds, considered one of the greatest baseball players in history, ruined his career because of his involvement with BALCO. And then we have Ken Caminiti, who was the first baseball player to admit his use of anabolic steroids.

For full version of this article, please visit “Famous Steroid Use Cases in US Sports“.

Steroids, known for their various street names, come in several types and can have several effects on the body. The steroid types the public would be most familiar with are the female sex hormones in birth control pills, the male sex hormones in androgen-anabolic steroids, and corticosteroids in drugs used to treat diseases.

The steroids used in body building are androgen-anabolic steroids. They can be taken orally or can be injected. Their anabolic effects promote cell growth while their androgenic effects lead to the development and maintenance of masculine characteristics. However, they can also cause a number of harmful side effects such as elevated blood pressure, increase in bad cholesterol, premature baldness and liver damage.

As thus, if you want to use steroids in body building, you must make sure that you do your research first. Consult with your doctor and have your doctor monitor your steroid use so that it does not harm your health.

For full version of this article, please visit “Common Steroid Pills (Types & Side Effects & Symptoms of Use)“.

We have heard about athletes from various disciplines in the world of sports admitting to steroid use, but we rarely consider it as something movie stars have to contend with. However, there are stars whose career starting points were in sports, such as Dwayne Johnson.

The star of the recently-released Disney movie Race to Witch Mountain rose to popularity in pro-wrestling as The Rock before venturing into Hollywood. Before making it big in pro-wrestling as one of WWE’s top toughies, he played for a short while for the Canadian Football League and was a defensive lineman for the University of Miami Hurricanes.

MTV interviewed Johnson about his latest movie and the conversation turned inevitably to the ongoing issues about steroids. The path that his career is taking has placed him in a rather significant position of being able to reach out to the youth. One of his more recent characters, that of football player Joe Kingman in The Game Plan, would have been a perfect vehicle for teaching kids about the importance of working hard to ‘up your game’ – and staying away from performance enhancing drugs.

Johnson shares that a decade or so ago, when the rest of the world was not as critical about using performance-enhancing drugs as they are today, there was a culture created in the world of sports that this was okay. He admits that he has tried steroids. He was then playing for the University of Miami, and he and his other 18-something football buds gave the stuff a whirl. Now, though, he agrees that stricter implementation of penalties should be made to effectively change that culture.

Dwayne Johnson may no longer be an athlete, but he still is a sports icon for a lot of young people. This is why his statement about emphasizing the need to stay away from steroids will hopefully reach far and wide. He further expressed how he believed in education and stressing that ‘there is no replacement for hard work’. Well said.

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