Steroids In Non-Professional Sports

Anabolic Steroids are taken by athletes to increase muscle mass while decreasing fat rapidly and efficiently. They can push the physiological limits of the muscle, making it bigger, faster and stronger than it can get naturally. Steroids achieve this affect on the body by enhancing the natural process of muscle building. The use of steroids has had a negative impact on the lives and careers of many athletes, causing suspensions, bans, and even the loss of medals and other awards and records earned in international events. A few of the high profile athletes whose lives and careers by their anabolic steroid use include: Barry Bonds, Lyle Alzada, Jose Canseco, Ben Johnson, Chris Benoit, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, Alex Rodriguez and Lance Armstrong.

Steroids have a long-term, negative effect on the human body. These effects range from cardiovascular problems to mental and psychological issues such as rage and anger problems. Steroid use has been linked to increased alcohol consumption, marijuana use, cigarette smoking, and narcotic use (Buckman, Farris & Yusko, 2013). Many athletes may not be aware of the lasting effects steroids can have because all they are worried about is their performance, not their health.

Steroid abuse has become a huge problem in professional sports today. Athletes are now using steroids to gain a competitive edge over their opponents. Also, the athletes are using the steroids to recover quickly from major injuries or surgeries. Many former superstar athletes have been caught taking steroids during the season and offseason.

Today’s society places high-performance athletes on a pedestal and our youth look to become the next superstar. The question plaguing young athletes is “how can I get there?”. Physical development must be considered for any athlete and this consequently introduces the topic of performance enhancing drugs. These substances can cause physical development to occur faster than the natural rate, making the athlete a step above “the rest”. Ethical, moral, and spiritual dilemmas occur when a young athlete contemplates using one or more of these performance enhancers. However, the pressure to excel athletically creates the opportunity to strengthen the relationship with Christ by not engaging in

Users have different reasons for doping and, subsequently, steroids have different health consequences. Some common side effects from steroid use are the following: acne, genital changes, water retention, yellowing of the eyes and skin; women may experience: male-pattern baldness, decreased breast size, deeper voices, hairy bodies, and menstrual irregularities; men may experience: reduced sperm production, shrinking of the testicles, impotence, difficulty or pain in urinating, baldness, and irreversible breast enlargement. But these are just minor setbacks right? One could say that, like those aren’t bad, but researchers have also linked steroid abuse to much more serious risks such as: fatal liver cysts, liver cancer, blood clotting, cholesterol changes, hypertension, stroke, and even heart attack. Despite all these potential problems, many still choose to take steroids.

The Intelligence Square U.S. held a debate about whether or not the government’s rules on performance enhancing drugs should be ban in professional sports. For the debate they had Radley Balko, Investigative Journalist, Norman Fost, Professor of Pediatrics and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, and Julian Savulescu, Uehiro Professor of Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford argue for the motion. They argue the fact that the medicines we take on a daily basis from the pharmacy are also performance enhancers. This goes back all the way to the Romans who once used herbs to improve themselves for battle, making them believe that the only exception that separates this from steroids is that it is illegal. On the other hand, you have

The benefits of using some types of performance-enhancing drugs are obvious. Professional athletes have a very 'short shelf life' as competitors in most sports and must cash in on their talents as soon as possible. For Olympic athletes, the

The competitive drive to win at all cost is fierce among athletes. Winning at all cost often includes using one of many performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids. Many athletes use performance enhancing drugs, like steroids, to achieve higher goals and set higher records than other drug-free successful athletes. Although athletes are performing at higher levels when using such drugs, what is the cost? Finally anabolic steroids should remain banned from sports because their use results in many harmful side effects; because their use violates sports regulations, and because their use can cause death.

Abstract:  With the increase of competition has also come the need to become bigger and stronger than the opponent.  The use of steroids among athletes has caused the focus of the game to change.  No longer does an athlete want to win by doing their best, but they want to become bigger and have an advantage over the opponent.  Ultimately, all athletes feel that they need to use performance-enhancing drugs to compete at the same level. Despite all of the warnings and information on performance-enhancing drugs, athletes continue to use them and overlook the potential health risks associated with steroids.

As the use of performance enhancing drugs is becoming more popular amongst athletes, many of them do not understand the risks involved in taking these drugs. Many people are looking for a quick way to build muscles, or to get stronger the fastest way possible. Using these performance aids may very well be a quick fix for many athletes, but taking the drugs is unethical and dangerous. Using special drugs to boost an athlete’s performance is degrading to sports and to the athlete, but after they stop using the drugs and lose some strength, you become

Many athletes are particularly trusting with regards to performance enhancers because many of them are eager to be the best in their respective sport. At the professional level, where athletes are expected to perform at high levels, many who are desperate to keep their jobs will do whatever they can to match the standard. In their book Death in the Locker Room, authors Bob Goldman, Patricia Bush, and Ronald Klatz discuss this immense pressure athletes feel to use PEDs. The authors explain how players often place this pressure on themselves because of an overwhelming desire to become famous, adored athletes.

Famed writer Grantland Rice once wrote, “When the great scorer comes to mark against your name. He'll mark not won or lost but how you played the game” (World of quotes, 1). That buoyant attitude of selflessness and heart has slowly diminished throughout the course of time. Now, George Allen’s booming voice, former coach of the Washington Redskins, runs throughout head of America, “Only winners are truly alive. Winning is living. Every time you win, you’re reborn. When you lose, you die a little” (Harris, 67). It is with this frame of mind that athletes are pushed beyond the edge of reason. Although peer pressure and pressure from coaches are central reasons why one may use steroids, most users begin using in order to improve their self image or excel in sports. Ethics, integrity, and legality aside, some athletes will stop at nothing to attain “that extra edge”.

The sports world is filled with endless competition with everyone trying to be the absolute best, so is greatness worth risking their own life? With the constant push from coaches, family members, fans, and even themselves, it is no wonder that athletes sometimes experiment with performance enhancers. There are many different types of Performance Enhancing Drugs, and each kind has different effects on the human body. There are many different categories of Performance Enhancing Drugs, a few include; Anabolic steroids which unnaturally build muscle at a much more rapid rate, Stimulants which can improve athletic performance and endurance while decreasing fatigue, and Painkillers which can allow an athlete to perform

This is a material world promoting material values, thus meaning that it should not be surprising to see individuals being willing to do everything in their power in order to make profits. Or should it? The sports community today is troubled by a series of athletes who have yielded to society's pressures and abandoned their principles with the purpose of taking performance enhancing drugs. It is difficult to determine if it would be normal for the masses to judge these individuals, concerning that they are actually one of the reasons for which these people have come to consider taking performance enhancing drugs in the first place. However, the only ones who can judge them are other hard-working sportspersons who have stood by their principles and who respect the idea of sport in general.

Athletes are tempted to use performance enhancement drugs to heighten their abilities in the performance of their sport. Which often consists of illegal or unethical use of these substances. Some reasons for the justification of their actions is to attain lucrative contracts, fame, and fortune. “It is the seduction of the quick fix—an immediacy to attain success—that drives so many people,” (Annie Hiyashi). Sometimes, it is the fear of losing it all that drives them to experiment with PED’s, not thinking that if caught, it will tarnish their reputation and will lose fame and