Steroids and Improving Performance

By Bruce Cohn
Concord Journal, April 2004
 
You can hardly pick up a newspaper or magazine today without seeing a headline about athletes being suspected of using steroids. From Major League baseball down through high school athletics, there is a growing concern with the use of performance-enhancing drugs and dietary supplements. And the concerns--ranging from health risks to unfair advantages--are worth looking at seriously.

It would be a mistake, however, to assume that the use of ergogenic substances is a new development. As Catlin and Hatton pointed out in a 1991 article, “Doping follows just one step behind discoveries of herbs and drugs. Centuries ago, Incas chewed coca leaves to sustain strenuous work, and Berserkers ate mushrooms containing muscarine before battle. Now sport is faced with drugs developed with recombinant-DNA technology.”

Anabolic steroids are chemicals which mimic the role of testosterone, the hormone responsible for the development of male physical characteristics associated with puberty. They are used by both athletes and non-athletes to increase muscle mass and strength. As a strength and conditioning professional who deals primarily with young athletes, my first concern is with the health risks of using such substances.

The most consistent of these is related to the liver and include decreased levels of HDL (the good cholesterol, thereby increasing risk for coronary artery disease), liver tumors and possible liver damage. Adolescent boys run the risk of accelerating puberty while at the same time terminating bone growth which could result in shorter stature. Females who use steroids adopt male physical characteristics such as greater upper body muscularity, deepening of the voice and increased facial hair. Other side effects include increased aggressive behavior and back acne.

Despite these risks, steroid use continues. A 1988 survey of American high school senior males found that 7% were using or had used anabolic steroids. Interestingly, one third were not high school athletes looking to improve performance. Improving appearance was the main motivation for these kids. What a sad and dangerous commentary on the message about body image that our society has given young people.

But health and appearance issues aside, there is another side to this which must be explored. Athletes, whether at the high school, collegiate or professional level, are increasing size, strength, speed and power at incredible rates. I would like to believe that this is a result of advances in training techniques and better nutrition. But estimates of steroid use by more than 50% of professional baseball players along with the BALCO scandal around developing a steroid that escapes detection shake that belief. And, perhaps, that is the real take-home message of this issue.

For while there is no evidence to prove that increased muscle mass due to steroid use improves your ability to hit a baseball or even run faster, many of us are looking at record performances and athletic enhancement with a jaundiced eye. If young athletes come to the conclusion that “everybody is doing it” and that to cheat is the only way to compete, then we have lost the true meaning of why we strive to become the best that we can be. And that is a far greater loss than any we might experience on the field of play.

Bruce Cohn is the Strength and Conditioning Coach at the Middlesex School in Concord. He runs FIT-TO-GO Total Sports Conditioning and is a nationally certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Bruce can be reached at 781-316-0061 or brucegym@rcn.com.