Sports and Steroids: Let's "Clear" the Air

The effect Testosterone has on thickening bone and adding muscle is termed anabolism, hence it is in the class of Anabolic Steroids, which we have all probably heard discussed. This type of steroid does help the body take building blocks called Amino Acids and make muscle fibers to add to existing muscle or can aid in replacing damaged muscle. So, in a way, these can help speed recovery from muscle damage by adding new muscle but that really isn't the main function of Testosterone. It's main function is to keep adding muscle on top of muscle and helps the body add muscle mass. Just look at the cover of some of the bodybuilding magazines and you will see the effects of steroid. All of those layers of muscle are not gained by just working out, the working out just helps sculpt the muscle into shapes like bulging biceps, 6-pack abs, etc. This extra muscle also adds additional strength. It's just a matter of fact that more muscles equal more strength. Again these anabolic steroids are mainly the help the body build muscle mass and less on repairing muscle damage although they will help.

HGH or Human Growth Hormone is technically not a steroid because it's chemical structure does not have the necessary components to be in the Steroid class. HGH is a polypeptide (or protein) that has an effect on the bodies release of other chemicals that makes us literally grow. Before we (men and women) hit puberty, our bones grow longer because the ends of the bones are "soft" and not set. So HGH is produced and released more as we are children and is a primary chemical responsible for our growth - i.e. why we get taller, etc. HGH is released from a small place in our Pituitary Gland in the Brain Stem, and it's release sets off a whole chain of processes that allow us to grow taller, our skin thickens, muscles grow, blood vessels grow all to meet the demand of us getting bigger. Then at Puberty, the ends of the bone "set" so they will not grow longer and the level of HGH drops very low to almost nothing to stop the growing process. Some people have Pituitary tumors which pump out more HGH than normal (those without Pituitary tumors) so this is where you see very tall children but in these case of people with these tumors, they keep producing HGH in high levels even after puberty and even though the bones don't grow longer, they keep getting thicker and thicker. These people share certain physical characteristics such as protruding jaws and foreheads, they are barrel chested and have very thick and large bone and muscle structure. People such as Andre the Giant, Lurch (from Addams Family), Greg Oden (Portland Trail Blazers), The Big Show from wrestling are all examples of what are called Pituitary Giants who probably had tumors that kept making and releasing HGH. In smaller doses given by injection, you can see how athletes can improve performance with HGH because of it's effect on increasing bone density and not necessarily making alot more muscle mass but making stronger muscle fibers that are dense and solid.

In conclusion, hopefully the reader can see that Steroids is just a general term and it really depends on what kind of Steroid is used to get a certain effect. Most steroids can improve an athletes performance by either adding more muscle and therefore can make them stronger (Anabolic Steroids) or by helping speed the healing process ( Corticosteroids). And then there is HGH which is not a steroid but still can keep an athletes muscle and bone in more pristine condition and can also aid on healing the tissue.

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