Perhaps this is heresy, but why are steroids banned? What is the scientific reason for the ban? I keep hearing the reason they work is because they improve recovery and creation of muscle mass, so I am starting to wonder if we might learn something beneficial from allowing adult atheletes to use them which could yield research results which might apply to the general population? I am not necessarily advocating this, but just inquiring for the science/logic.

Perhaps this is heresy, but why are steroids banned? What is the scientific reason for the ban? I keep hearing the reason they work is because they improve recovery and creation of muscle mass, so I am starting to wonder if we might learn something beneficial from allowing adult atheletes to use them which could yield research results which might apply to the general population? I am not necessarily advocating this, but just inquiring for the science/logic.


Dangerous side effects and a general abhorence of cheating, right?

What I don't understand is why an endurance athlete would use steroids. I know they're on the list of banned substances but what benefit would a cyclist get? Wouldn't it cause them to bulk up and ultimately be detrimental to the development of slow-twitch muscle fibers. I dunno, I'm just asking. I've never heard of a cyclist ever being busted for taking a steroid.

Perhaps this is heresy, but why are steroids banned? What is the scientific reason for the ban? I keep hearing the reason they work is because they improve recovery and creation of muscle mass, so I am starting to wonder if we might learn something beneficial from allowing adult atheletes to use them which could yield research results which might apply to the general population? I am not necessarily advocating this, but just inquiring for the science/logic.

Anabolic steroids are banned from sporting competitions, but they are prescribed drugs. For instance, I believe severe burn patients are often put on them to facilitate healing. There have been some studies in HIV patients using anabolic steroids to counter AIDS wasting syndrome. I don't know how widespread it is, but I believe some doctors give testosterone to elderly men sort of like estrogen replacement in women.

One of the problems as I understand it, is that you get a lot of cardiovascular complications, such as high blood pressure, increased bad cholesterol, etc. So you may have an improved quality of life that might be dramitically shortened or impaired by a stroke or heart attack.

I've never heard of a cyclist ever being busted for taking a steroid.

Here's a few:

ABDOUJAPAROV, Djamolidine
AMPLER, Uwe
BAZZO, Pierre
BLACKWELDER, Brooke
BONTEMPI, Guido
BOSSIS, Jaques
BROCHARD, Laurent
BROUZES, Niels
BUXHOFER, Matthias
CABELLO, Francis
CARUSO, Giampaolo
CASAGRANDE, Francesco
CASTELBLANCO, José
CHAUSSE, Vincent
CLERC, Patrick
COLLINELLI, Andrea
CONTINI, Silvano
CORNELISSEN, Björn
DAVIDENKO, Vasilli
DECANIO, Matt
DE LA CRUZ, Roque
DE PAIVA FREITAS, Cássio
DUANE, Dickey
FERMIN MENDEZ, ALberto
FOIS, Valentino
FREY, Chesen
FRIGO, Dario
GAUMONT, Philippe
GONZALES DE GALDEANO, Alvaro
HENN, Christian
HRUSKA, Jan
JOACHIM, Benoit
KAPPES, Andreas
KRYGER, Martin
LAZZERINI, Luca
LOPÉZ, Josué
LUPERINI, Fabiana
MANZANO RUANO, Jesus
MILLAR, Robert
MISIAKI, Jéferson
MONINGER, Scott
MOREAU, Christophe
MUNOZ, Alvaro
NEBEN, Amber
NIELSEN, Philip-Nicolas
O’BEE, Kirk
PFANNBERGER, Christian
PINEDA, Juan
PORTELA, Evandro
RODRIGUEZ, Jean-Francois
ROESSEMS, Bert
ROGELIN, Daniel
ROOKS, Steven
ROS, Andrea
RÜTIMANN, Stefan
RUJANO GUILLEN, José
SASSONE, Robert
SCHNORF, Peter
SEABRA, Renato
SHERMAN, Graham
SIMEONI, Filippo
THOMAS, Tammy
THEUNISSE, Gert-Jan
THURAU, Dietrich
VANDENBROUKE, Frank
VAN DER WOLF, Michael
VANOVERSCHELDE, Didier
YATES, Yeremi
ZOETEMELK, Joop

A few other side effects would be:

Lesions on the liver
Sexual disfunction for men and women
Severe acne all over the body
Unpredictable psychotic behavior
Cardiovascular disease

Why would riders use them? How about an unobtainable result in muscle development. Not to say you couldn't do it anyways, but the rate with which the muscles develop are unobtainable. People using EPO are getting super human strenght. They are just allowing their bodies to achieve a more efficient engine to burn the calories in their muscles. Steroids on the other hand will allow you to be stronger and faster than you normally would be. Who needs a higher hemcritic level when you can just double the muscle mass. Which is faster in the quarter mile, a car with 450 horsepower, or a car with 200 horse power that burns fuel more efficiently. Here is a good example of what I mean:

http://charles.pelkey.com/TammyThomas.jpg

A few other side effects would be:

Lesions on the liver
Sexual disfunction for men and women
Severe acne all over the body
Unpredictable psychotic behavior
Cardiovascular disease

Why would riders use them? How about an unobtainable result in muscle development. Not to say you couldn't do it anyways, but the rate with which the muscles develop are unobtainable. People using EPO are getting super human strenght. They are just allowing their bodies to achieve a more efficient engine to burn the calories in their muscles. Steroids on the other hand will allow you to be stronger and faster than you normally would be. Who needs a higher hemcritic level when you can just double the muscle mass. Which is faster in the quarter mile, a car with 450 horsepower, or a car with 200 horse power that burns fuel more efficiently. Here is a good example of what I mean:

http://charles.pelkey.com/TammyThomas.jpg

Your reasoning is off. If being good at endurance sport was about having big, strong muscles than cyclists and runners would look like bodybuilders or powerlifters, and the only ones that do are track sprinters. I've seen Genevieve Jeanson in person, her thighs are smaller than most guys calves and I assure you she could (have) ridden most male competitive cyclists off her wheel, and probably a few domestic pros. If you work out how much muscle force is required to sustain pretty high power outputs, it isn't all that much. The key to repetitively producing those relatively low forces appears to be the ability to supply the necessary energy to fuel the contractions oxidatvely to avoid muscle fatigue (i.e. loss of force or power producing ability). That is why EPO is such an effective drug for endurance athletes, while anabolic steroids augmentation of endurance is equivocal.

And your car analogy isn't a good one because a car's power output doesn't change, they don't "fatigue". A guy like Nothstein could produce considerably more power in a 200m sprint than Armstrong, but Armstrong would crush him in a 40k time trial because he could produce more power over that time period due to his greater oxidative capacity.

Aren't a fair number of those for cortico- rather than anabolic steroids? Corticosteroids in fact are catabolic (break down tissue), which is just the opposite effect of the testosterone derived anabolic (build up tissue) steroids.

Your reasoning is off. If being good at endurance sport was about having big, strong muscles than cyclists and runners would look like bodybuilders or powerlifters, and the only ones that do are track sprinters. I've seen Genevieve Jeanson in person, her thighs are smaller than most guys calves and I assure you she could (have) ridden most male competitive cyclists off her wheel, and probably a few domestic pros. If you work out how much muscle force is required to sustain pretty high power outputs, it isn't all that much. The key to repetitively producing those relatively low forces appears to be the ability to supply the necessary energy to fuel the contractions oxidatvely to avoid muscle fatigue (i.e. loss of force or power producing ability). That is why EPO is such an effective drug for endurance athletes, while anabolic steroids augmentation of endurance is equivocal.

And your car analogy isn't a good one because a car's power output doesn't change, they don't "fatigue". A guy like Nothstein could produce considerably more power in a 200m sprint than Armstrong, but Armstrong would crush him in a 40k time trial because he could produce more power over that time period due to his greater oxidative capacity.
I realize marty northstein couldn't be armstrong in a 40k TT. That is why I used the analogy of the qurater mile instead of the Daytona 500. A qurater mile drag race is a lot like match sprints. I wasn't aware this thread was about only endurance atheletes. I thought it was about why steroids aren't used. Think back to the early 80's olympics. There are probably a few East German and Russian sprinters who would fit the bill too. EPO isn't the only drug that can enhance your performance contrary to what people in these forums believe. Were that the case, then steroids and all the stimulants wouldn't be on the list too. It would just be EPO and its clones.