“It is extremely dangerous when athletes going to train for fitness, and muscle gain become impatient and lose hope, and try to enhance their progress by taking steroids,” Member of The German Academy of Applied Sports, Mohab Fouad said.
Over the past few years, the gym and Crossfit scene have been on a rise, some influencers and public figures have helped in promoting the bulk and shredded physical appeal, which made some people want to transform their bodies in no time, disregarding the drawbacks and causing a nightmare to several gym coaches.
“Many teenagers have a wrong mindset when they workout, as they believe that they are obliged to do sports. This has a major drawback on their progress and dedication,” Fouad said.
Many young adults cannot find the time to workout and hence they do not work out enough to achieve their target. However, some student athletes believe that working out has helped them improve their time management. Nevertheless, that might not be the case for people who didn’t achieve their target efficiently.
Although sports are an essential tool to enhance a person’s health, many young adults decide to take shortcuts by using steroids, often without recognizing their harmful repercussions. This is due to several reasons, such as difficulty with time management, nutrition and workout myths, or procrastination.
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Fouad explained that many people stop working out if they don’t see progress within the first days of their training. Sports take time and dedication to reach any sort of body goal or health target, he added.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, steroids can cause paranoia, aggressiveness, and delusions. Also, it can cause kidney failure, decreased sperm count for males, limit the natural growth of the youth, and the instability of the female menstrual cycle.
In the report “Teens and Steroids: A Dangerous Combo”, published by the US Food and Drug Administration, a study among high school students in the US shows that around 375,000 males and 175,000 females have used anabolic steroids.
Fouad completely disagrees with how many people trust gym coaches blindly without knowing about their experience and knowledge, and how people disregard the drawbacks of steroids, claiming that there are many coaches who provide young adults with steroids, and these people are unqualified to prescribe them.
He mentioned that even when bodybuilders use it, they are harmed, but it is essential for their sport and they do it with care because they are being tracked by coaches and experts alongside regular medical checkups. Nutritional supplements have also been a debatable issue among people, especially youth.
Nutrition specialist, Nermine Mohamed, stated that supplements are needed for the body, to provide it with the required nutrition that is difficult to obtain from food. “For example, youth need a certain amount of protein, and if they ate a lot of meat to gain this amount, it is much more dangerous than taking supplements, which is natural,” Mohamed claimed.
Sports medicine physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Steven Cuff, on the other hand, stated in the article “Supplements: To Use Or Not To Use” that the disadvantage of supplements intake outweigh its advantages. Fouad attributes youth’s decisions to use steroids and supplements to peer, societal, parental pressure, and body shaming, which makes them believe that the only way out is through working out and reaching their target body image.
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Thus, the issue of wanting to use quick solutions to achieve a certain body image becomes problematic. “A lot of people believe that when they have a good body without working out, [it] is okay. In fact it’s not for their future, and especially females who get affected heavily from catabolism from the age of 40,” Fouad stated.
Catabolism is the breaking down process of complex materials in the body, such as proteins, and transform them into smaller ones. According to the Family Doctor Organisation, when women reach the age of 40, they start losing about half a pound of muscles each year. Fouad believes that young adults must workout, as it helps boost their serotonin and dopamine. This allows them to be confident, happier, and healthier.
