Anabolic steroids have become a well-known yet controversial topic in the worlds of bodybuilding and athletic performance enhancement. Steroids are pharmacologically manufactured drugs that do what testosterone-the major male sex hormone responsible for muscle building, strength, and other androgenic effects-can.

Despite their very well-documented medical uses, such as in HRT and in the treatment of muscle-wasting diseases, the most common associations of anabolic steroids are with off-label use in bodybuilding and sports.

In this article, we outline the different varieties of anabolic steroids, some injectable forms such as Testosterone Enanthate and Deca-Durabolin, while others are oral, such as Dianabol and Winstrol. We shall show how administration with these steroids is done to help in the growth of muscles, the advantages accorded by the steroids, and the serious health risks ranging from liver toxicity to hormonal imbalance. We will also explore the rationale behind PCT and the ethics of doping in professional sports.

We’ll take you through all the critical information relating to anabolic steroids to enable you to get a hint about the whole concept relating to their effects, risks, and usage in the bodybuilding arena.

What are anabolic steroids?

Anabolic androgen steroids (AASs) are artificial steroids that act like the male sex hormone testosterone. They play a role in increasing primary muscle-building processes, reflecting anabolic effects, and in developing traditionally masculine characteristics, such as a deep voice, facial hair, and a well-defined bone structure, which depict androgenic effects.

These medications have been developed originally for application in medical conditions such as delayed puberty, muscle-wasting diseases, and low levels of testosterone in men, often as part of hormone replacement therapy.

But then, overtime, bodybuilders, athletes, and fitness enthusiasts began to use anabolic steroids in an attempt to enhance muscle growth and athletic performance.

These drugs let the body recover from intense training much sooner and greatly accelerate the repair processes involved in muscle damage after training that form the basis for building strength and size, often way beyond what is achievable with natural means alone.

Types of Anabolic Steroids (and Other Performance-Enhancing Drugs)

When people talk about steroids, they often lump everything together, but there’s a lot more to it. Juice, gear, roids—whatever you want to call them—come in different forms, each with unique uses, benefits, and risks.

While HGH and PCT drugs aren’t steroids, they also become widely used in bodybuilding circles. So, let’s break it all down.

Injectable steroids

Serious bodybuilders like injectable steroids or pins of any kind, whether it be Testosterone Enanthate or Deca-Durabolin. Gear administered through injections usually go into the muscle tissue.

One thing people like about pins is that they tend to last longer in the system, so you don’t have to jab yourself as often, plus they’re often easier on the liver because they bypass the digestive system.

Popular options include Trenbolone, particularly powerful in muscular building, and Sustanon 250, a testosterone blend, one of the most popularly used for hormone replacement therapy, though it is also favored for adding muscle.

Oral steroids

Orals, otherwise known as tabs, refer to Dianabol or Winstrol: the convenient choice for those that would rather pop a pill than stick a needle in their ass. While tabs are easier to take, they generally tend to be tougher on your liver.

Anavar is considered a favorite oral because it yields decent gains without the wild side effects. But most guys will turn to Dbol when they want a quick bulk, even knowing it’s gonna hit their liver hard.

Human Growth Hormone (HGH)

Now, HGH isn’t technically a roid, but it’s often used in conjunction with them on cycles. HGH, or growth hormone, is something that is actually naturally produced in the body and works in growth and regeneration of cells. In the gym world, it’s often used to improve fat loss, muscle growth, and recovery.

Unlike juice, it doesn’t give the person massive muscles in one day; what it does is that it keeps your body at its best, enhancing recovery times and giving you capability to train harder.

My friend-let’s just say Mike-started taking HGH some years ago. He wanted to be lean but to make some good gains, too, without the nasty sides associated with roids. “HGH isn’t gonna blow you up like D-bol,” he would say, “but it keeps me going in the gym.” Several months later, Mike was shredded and just plain healthy looking. He swore by it for recovery, especially after those brutal leg days.

Post-cycle therapy drugs

Once a cycle of gear is done, many bodybuilders turn to PCTs to help their bodies recover. These aren’t roids, but they’re crucial if you want to avoid some of the nasty side effects of juice.

Clomid and Nolvadex are two common PCT drugs that help restart your body’s natural testosterone production. After juicing, your own test levels can tank, so these PCT meds are more or less a jump-start for your hormones. Without them, you can look forward to months of mood swings, muscle loss, and just overall feeling like crap.

Even those not into bodybuilding but dabbling with gear on occasion usually depend on these PCT drugs to help their body get back to normal after a cycle. Like hitting the reset button on your system after giving it that extra boost.

Why bodybuilders take anabolic steroids?

Regarding the gear, injectable and oral steroids, for example, the logic behind why a bodybuilder would take them is pretty black-and-white: larger muscles, faster recovery, and that slight upper hand against the rival. Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the most common motivations for taking juice in the gym scene.

Muscle gain (Bulking)

The top reason most individuals start on gear is to gain size—in a big hurry. Anabolic steroids are great for protein synthesis in muscles, which basically means your muscles can get bigger and recover faster from heavy training.

For bulking cycles, Testosterone Enanthate, Boldenone and Deca-Durabolin are favorites. These roids are well-reputed at giving gross muscle-size gains over comparatively short periods. To be more specific, putting your body into overdrive with regards to muscle growth takes many months of hard work and shrinks it down to weeks.

One guy at my gym decided to go on a Deca cycle last winter. He’d been training naturally for years but felt like he was hitting a plateau. A couple of months into his cycle, the dude was huge: bench press numbers were going through the roof; noticeable size every week. He was hyped yet also knew that such rapid growth of muscles requires its own share of challenges, like post-cycle therapy afterwards.

Cutting (Fat loss)

While the majority of people talk about bulking, many use roids on a cut to help shred fat and not actually lose muscle. Winstrol and Anavar are common during this because they will help retain lean muscle mass on a cut.

This becomes important because, in a caloric deficit, your body tends to burn off both fat and muscle without the right support. For example, Winstrol is mainly used by anyone for enhancing vascularity and giving one that “shredded” look right before competitions.

Strength and performance enhancement

Its not all about the size. Some people only juice for the gains in strength. When it comes to just pure and raw power, Trenbolone is among the strongest steroids. Insane strength gain is reported from Tren by athletes and lifters, and many refer to it as the most potent gear they have ever taken.

Whether it be pushing a personal best in the squat rack or attempting to outlift your competition, anabolic steroids give you a substantial boost both in strength and performance.

Faster Recovery

That is where gear really shines beyond just aesthetics. Steroids reduce recovery time for your muscles after intense workouts, means you have the ability to train more frequently and at higher intensities without the same kind of fatigue.

HGH also falls under this category, even though it’s not technically a steroid. Those who swear by including HGH in their regime are of the view that bodybuilders recover much quicker; hence, they can work out quite hard in the gym, and they will not get burnt out.

What are the health risks of anabolic steroids?

While gear can make you big in the gym, it is equally important to become aware of the health hazards that come tagged with them. Anabolic steroids may grant you bigger muscles and faster recovery, but uncautious use may result in some serious side effects. Let us disaggregate some of the most common risks associated with roids.

Damage to the liver (specifically, oral steroids)

One of the major concerns with oral steroids, including Dianabol and Anavar, involves their potential for causing damage to the liver. Since tabs pass through the digestive system, they create a huge burden on the liver.

Over time, this can result in liver toxicity or even liver disease if abused. It’s among the reasons that many bodybuilders opt for injectables like Test E.; they’re thought to be less harmful to the liver.

Hormonal imbalance

When you’re on a cycle of juice, your body’s natural hormone production often takes a backseat. The result is a number of hormonal imbalances that may set in, the most common being a lowered production of testosterone. When you finally stop using steroids, your body can’t produce enough natural testosterone, and that’s when PCT drugs like Clomid and Nolvadex help restore balance.

If you don’t recover well, your body stands a chance of losing muscle, with an increased tendency for weariness and mood swings.

Heart and cardiovascular problems

One of the more hazardous side effects and risks of roids is the fact that they adversely affect heart health. Anabolic steroids increase blood pressure and raise cholesterol levels, factors adding to the possibility of heart attack or stroke.

This includes heavy gears like Trenbolone, which is well-known for cardiovascular burden, especially when used continuously or in large quantities.

Psychological effects (“Roid rage”)

You’ve probably heard of “roid rage”-and let me tell you, it’s real. A few years ago, I was going hard on a testosterone cypionate cycle (1000mg/week!!), and at first, everything felt amazing. I was strong as all get-out, and I was growing like never before. But a few weeks in, I started to notice that I was becoming increasingly aggressive. The littlest things would set me off.

It all came to a head one night at the gym: someone left the weights all over the bench, and for whatever reason, it just set something off inside me. I just snapped. I found myself yelling at this guy over something that I wouldn’t necessarily care about. It was like an out-of-body experience; I wasn’t myself, and I knew it. That is when I realized I was deep in roid rage, and it wasn’t something I could just turn a blind eye to.

I needed to stop the cycle and get on PCT to get my hormones in check. It was a wake-up call-the juice can deliver results, but the psychological risks are very real and may hit well before you may notice.

Physical side effects: acne, hair loss, and gynecomastia

Setting all those internal risks aside, steroids will make some pretty obvious changes to how you look, too. Acne, specifically of the back and shoulders, is epidemic among a lot of gear users because of all those fluxes in hormone levels.

And there’s hair loss, especially if you happen to have a predisposition to male pattern baldness. Anabolic steroids like testosterone can speed up this process.

Other common side effects include gynecomastia, the development of breast tissue in men, which results from the conversion of excess testosterone into estrogen by the body.

How can you minimize the risks of anabolic steroid use?

The potential health risks from anabolic steroids are real, many users seek ways to minimize side effects and still gain benefit from their use. If you are going to use juice, then be smart about it. The following strategies below are often followed by more experienced users in order to minimize the dangers associated with steroid use.

Post Cycle Therapy (PCT)

Probably the single most important thing about ending a steroid cycle is Post-Cycle Therapy. As I said earlier, using steroids can shut down your body’s production of the natural testosterone; once your cycle is over, your hormone levels may plummet. That is where drugs like Clomid and Nolvadex come in for PCT.

They get your body going again for testosterone production, recovery, and negate the problems that may come with the disorder like muscle loss, mood swings, and extreme fatigue. Without a proper PCT planned and executed you may be worse than before you began the cycle.

For me, I will never forget my first steroid cycle when I neglected to do proper PCT. I felt like I couldn’t stop going to the gym after being on a cycle of D-bol, but once I came off, man, I crashed. The energy levels were nonexistent, I was losing muscle, and my mood was everywhere. That’s when it finally clicked how important post-cycle therapy really is.

Nowadays, I never touch gear without having my PCT planned out in advance. It’s just not worth the risks.

Bloodwork and monitoring

Another way of keeping yourself safe while on roids is through regular bloodwork. This will help you keep track of your hormones, your liver functions, and your cholesterol. This could give you an early warning in case something’s wrong since knowing your numbers can allow you to adjust the cycle or to completely stop, if need be.

The serious bodybuilders often did blood level tests at the start, midpoint, and towards the close of a cycle to gauge their body’s reaction to the gear in the first place. I try to get a full blood panel done as part of my regular routine when I’m on a cycle to keep some important values in check.

Here’s what I usually monitor:

  1. ALT, AST liver enzymes: Very important in the case of taking oral steroids like Anavar or Dianabol. High levels can indicate liver stress and/or damage.
  2. Total and free testosterone: A way for me to see how high my test levels are, to know if I need to make any adjustments in dosage.
  3. Estrogen (Estradiol): With high testosterone levels, too much estrogen can similarly build up and promote such side effects as gynecomastia. I monitor my estrogen to avoid that.
  4. Lipid profile: HDL-good, LDL-bad cholesterol; anabolic steroids might interfere with cholesterol, so that’s one thing I check to make sure my heart is not taking too much of a hit from all these steroids.
  5. CBC: This will include red blood cell count and hematocrit. Both of these may be increased by steroids and will increase the risk of blood clots.
  6. Prolactin: A number of compounds, including Trenbolone, can cause prolactin levels to increase above normal, resulting in various unwanted side effects, such as gynecomastia or low libido.

Having these values checked at least a two times during the cycle allows me to catch any issues before they turn into something serious.

Cycle length and dosage control

Many times, this leads to a person staying on juice for the longest time possible or going high on the dosage to hasten the results. The longer you are on a cycle, the more you could possibly do to your body.

Less is often more (!!!) in dosage-the key only an experienced user would know. Smaller cycles, combined with average dosages, will have less strain on the liver, heart, and hormonal system. Some like 8 to 12 weeks of cycling after which one takes time off to allow your body to revert.

I learned it the hard way that going beyond that sweet spot not only risks your health but also ruins the whole progress. I once stretched a cycle extra month, thinking I’d be gaining more muscle, but what I got was more side effects and feeling burnt out.

Liver protection

This is especially crucial when one considers taking oral steroids, which pass through the liver. Some liver support supplements taken during and after a cycle are milk thistle and NAC.

The reason for taking these supplements is not to eliminate the risk entirely but to reduce the toxicity that the oral steroids generate in the liver. One is also advised to keep away from alcohol during a cycle, as this will increase the stress on the liver.

Regular check-ups

Last but not least, regular checkups are important for those who are into steroids. Your doctor can keep track of your general health, especially if you have a predisposition to ailments such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

Being open and candid with the healthcare provider in relation to using gear will make all the difference in early detection and good health.

Legal and ethical issues surrounding anabolic steroids

Although most people concentrate on the physical impact of steroids, the legal and ethical concerns are just as crucial. Depending on where you live, using gear might not only affect your health—it could also get you into legal trouble.

Legal status of anabolic steroids

Everything about the legality of anabolic steroids is all over the place. In places, it’s counted as a controlled substance, like in the United States, where, without a prescription, possessing and selling are against the law.

That forces many users to have to lean on the black market, presenting its own set of specific risks: fake products or crummy underground labs. Other countries, like Mexico, you can buy juice fairly freely, but that doesn’t make it safe or legal under the rules of international competition.

Doping in competitive sports

Most professional sports ban roids, and organizations like WADA have strict rules; if you get caught, anything from suspensions to lifetime bans may be applied.

With or without consequences, many athletes take gear to give them a competitive advantage. There are those in the sport of bodybuilding that further categorize into “natural” versus “enhanced” athletes, which begs the ethical question: do you stand a chance without juice if others are using?

The underground market and fake steroids

Since getting gear legally is a little tough, many people turn to black market sources, but that could be quite risky because many of the products sold online are either under-dosed or totally fake, contaminated as well.

You can never know what you are literally injecting or swallowing without proper regulation, and serious health complications emanating from this could be in the form of infections or worse.

Conclusion and final warnings

No question, anabolic steroids have an extreme effect on muscle size, strength, and general performance. I have felt it myself: the huge lifts, the quicker recoveries, progress that seemingly is unbeatable. But let me tell you, potential risks-from liver damage to cardiovascular issues and hormonal imbalances-are very real.

I’ve dealt with some of the negative sides myself, and even with PCT, regular bloodwork, and keeping a close eye on my health, there’s always that little voice in your head when you’re on gear. In general, it is very important if you decide to do this to be informed and know what your body is going through. Take precautions, and more importantly, listen to your body. It simply is not worth ignoring those warning signs.

I have seen too many people suffer long-term health problems that could have been avoided, had they been more cautious. And if you compete, remember that not only will roids destroy your body legally and ethically, but you will also get caught and end your career in a snap.

At the end of the day, steroids may seem like shortcuts, but they are no magic fixes with no consequences. Sure, you can achieve quick results; however, the physical and psychological toll they may inflict is something you don’t understand until you find yourself in it.

Be it that you’ve just started or been in it for some time, never underestimate the importance of responsible use and putting your health first. Believe me, this is one lesson worth learning early.