Antonio posadas
BLOG
When I was researching anabolic steroids everyone said the same thing, steroids
are bad and the use of steroids to enhance performance is cheating, they discussed what
steroids did to the body the growth is muscle mass, the negative effects on the body, and
most important the advantages it gives to athletes in performing better, but as I continued
to look for more sources I came across a few articles that made an argument I haven’t
heard about as much, they asked the same question, do steroids really help an athlete
perform better? It was surprising what they were saying that it caught my interest and
made me want to find out more, they bring new and different views to the issue.
I found an article that made a strong argument to what I was researching, ´´Does
Testosterone Build a Better Athlete’’ by Natasha Singer, the evidence was not completely
solid but the arguments made were very helpful. The article explains what testosterone is
and does to the body, Singer points out with the help of Dr. Michael S. Barke a steroids
researcher that ‘‘assuming because you are bigger and stronger you will perform better,
this is not true,’’ Dr. Barke also says ‘‘larger muscles might even be detrimental for some
athletes’’ the article continues to say what happens when you stop taking steroids the
addicting effect it may have and some psychological problems that may occur, after
reading the article I learned through some research they can not prove steroids help you
perform better.
The next article I believe is the best evidence for my argument, we now that Alex
Rodriguez took steroids but in the article ‘‘Did Steroids Help Alex Rodriguez’’ the
author Mike Gimbel explains how certain multiple sources say when Rodriguez was
using steroids he performed better, Gimbel shows us through stats of Rodriguez’s RPA
that it is false, it is alleged that Rodriguez had the best seasons from 2001 to 2003 while
he was using steroids, Gimbel points out the results of his performance the year he was
using steroids compared the years he was not. From 2001 to 2003 he was using steroids,
in 2001 he was ranked fifth, in 2002 he was ranked seventh, and in 2003 he was ranked
ninth, not too bad for the years he took steroids. Now the rankings when he was not using
show a different and better results, in 2000 he was ranked number one, one year before he
started taking steroids, in 2007 he was ranked number two, four years after he stopped
taking steroids, and in 2005 he was ranked number three. The stats say it all, Gimbel
helps to prove that steroids do not help.
The article ‘‘Pumped-Up Hysteria’’ by Dayn Perry makes multiple arguments
over the issues surrounding steroids, it covers the issue of health effects and what most
people say about steroids ruining your health is not completely true, in some therapies
steroids are used to help treat certain cancers, for example breast cancer and cancer
patients with damaged muscle tissue. Perry then goes on to explain the reason that people
have bad experiences with steroids is because they buy black market steroids, black
market steroids are usually cut up and mixed with other drugs, athletes then abuse these t
of steroids and end up having negative effects, athletes then take a large amount of
steroids at once which increases the chances of negative effects on the body. Perry then
talks about how steroids effect an athletes performance, Perry uses Barry Bonds as an
example of how he uses steroids but it does not mean it is the reason he hits homeruns,
Bonds reason for hitting home runs is due to his technique, knowledge of the strike zone,
and long arms, and nothing to do with his big chest or strong upper body. I learned that
the technique of a baseball player is the result of weather or not he hits home runs.
The final article ‘‘Anabolic steroids: A Threat to Body and Mind’’ also talks
about the dangers of abusing steroids, the article explains what happens to the body, the
negative effects, and the issue of performance enhancements, another article explaining
there is no solid proof that anabolic steroids help an athlete perform better.
I feel that the best solution to the problem of steroids is to inform young athletes
that steroids are not worth taking, they do not aid in helping you perform better skill wise,
I feel explaining the truth will help more then just saying steroids are bad and you should
not take them, and also explaining that when they purchase steroids they are buying them
through the black market, and black market steroids are extremely harm full due to the
fact that they do not go through the same process legal substances go through, I think if
more people are educated with the facts rather then just seeing the negative effects on the
body the rate of illegal substance use would decrease substantially.