i - search paper draft 1 july 27 2008

8/14/2019 I - Search Paper Draft 1 July 27 2008

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Leo

EAP 159

Donovan Ramage

July 21, 2008

Does Taking Steroids Give Athletes an Edge?

I. What I know

Steroids are always a myth to any athlete. Of course, it also

applies to me and my master because we are both bodybuilder and

he was even a professional bodybuilder. When I began to train, I

knew nothing; however, at least one thing I did know and it is how

big a bodybuilder should look like. Then, I searched a lot and trained


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hard. Unfortunately, my body isnt like what the articles said

growing nonstop and getting bigger and bigger just within few

months. I was depressed; then, I met my master. He told me that all

the articles said were bullshit because the guys are all taking

drugs. That is why I begin to have an idea of steroids. Later, I

studied biochemistry; thus, I know more and more about them.

According to my knowledge, steroids are actually called

anabolic steroids. Absolutely, they are powerful medicine because

they are a thing that looks very similar to our male sex hormone

testosterone, so that they have the same function. The functions of


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them are to build and protect our muscles and to make our muscles

recover. Therefore, athletes try to add more these things into their

body to let them gain more muscles and recover their muscles

faster. However, if steroids are applied in to a game, then the game

will not be fair anymore because of cheating. Even though almost

modern athletes are always cheating under the table, cheating still

is cheating; it is doubtless truth no matter in the past or present,

even in future.

II. What I want to find out


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Because I am a athlete, I have thought to use steroid.

Eventually, I choose not to use it. Conversely, people use it for a

ton. The temptation is really super large.

Therefore, in this paper, I would like to find out what the exactly

difference between drug (steroids) and no drug (nutritional

supplement) is. I want to know not only in what I can see (what the

body look like) but also what I cannot see (what biochemical

changes occur inside the body) and try to find out if there is the side

effects and whether or not they are irrevocable. Also, I shall find out

what makes the athletes keep going to use them, even taking the


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risks, including social, legal, and health risks. In addition, why some

athletes claim they use steroids in a safety level; whether the

steroids really bad substances for athletes (humans); if modern

bodybuilding needs steroids for the large muscle that a human

shouldnt have; if a clean game means less strength and more

weakness are other questions that I want to know.

III. What I found out

The basic informal that I found out are from the National

Geographic show which is called Super Human Steroids. That show


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is amazing because almost all I want to know are included, even

gave me some more extra informal.

Due to taking steroids is a hot thing in the United States, I

could find information more easily than everywhere else. Also, most

of the biological chemistry materials are written in English, so it was

easy for me to find out the answers of my questions.

However, although there are surveys of sources that I can find

easily, online sources are tricky. Much junk information is posted on

the internet, and many of them are either spam or incorrect

information. Thus, I didnt use it at all.


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For doing the research, I can say that I am a quite lucky person

because I have a friend who did an interview, which is very fit to my

paper, to a professional bodybuilder. And also, I have done an

interview to my bodybuilding instructor. Therefore, I can use both of

them in my paper.

IV. What I learned

Have your heard what steroids are? Or have you tried to /

thought of use them for complicated reasons? No matter your

answer is yes or no, you should take a look of my paper still


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because taking steroids is becoming an nightmare of the US society

and it may happen around you, your neighbors, or maybe even your

neighbors sons . According to CBC news, Texas public high school

athletes would face mandatory random steroid testing under a bill

given final approval Monday by the Legislature and sent to

Government (Perry). Drugs now are invaded to the place that

should be clean and peaceful high school; that is what the

nightmare that the US society is facing off. Therefore, this research

paper shall focus on what the steroids are; why athletes use them;

what the side effects of taking steroids are; what make athletes


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keep going to us it even taking the risk; what will happen if athletes

play the clean game.

What are steroids

A steroid is just a common name for public. It is actually a family

of steroids. In the paper, the focus shall be the anabolic steroids1.

Anabolic steroids are also called anabolic-androgenic steroids or

AAS; they were first identified in the 1930s by Karoly Gyula David, E.

Dingemanse, J. Freud and Ernst Laqueur (Freeman 371). Because

they are a chemical that looks very similar to the testosterones2,

they have the same effects on a human body. They increase

1One type of steroids for muscle and bond function in an animal body.2It is the technical name of male sex hormone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosteronehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosteronehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosteronehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone


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muscles and bones mass, protect muscles and bones mass and

assist other physical changes during male puberty and maintain

traits throughout life.

Why athletes use them

Athletes are a group of people that well-trained for compete to

show the strength and beauty of the humanity. Doubtlessly, athletes

are human still; they do want to win. They have been seeking ways

to let them become stronger, faster, or just look better for winning a

game or just appearing a show. Based on the function of steroids, it

is easy to assume that if a man has a higher level oftestosterones,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosteronehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosteronehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosteronehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone


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then he must have a stronger muscle and bone. Therefore, if you

train for endurance, your muscle will take on endurance-like

characteristics; if you train for strength, your muscle is going to take

on strength-like characteristic; if you train for size, your muscle will

take on size-like characteristics (Super Human Steroids). That is

what athletes need. From Davids interview, a professional

bodybuilder explains why he wants to use them:

I mainly started (taking drugs) because I wanted to see how much my

body could improve after I reached a plateau, and could not respond

no matter what I did in terms of training, diet and recuperation. But I


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only started my first cycle after seven years of consistent training

(Robson).

Certainly, he told us that what make the most athletes us steroids

and steroids seem a good choice for them.

What the side effects of taking steroids are

If steroids are good substances like vitamins, minerals, or

protein powder, surly nobody thinks using them is a nightmare. It is

not surprising that many people say they arent that kind of

products. Nevertheless, steroids are actually not more than

medicines such as painkillers or sleeping aids; they, as if all other


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kind of medicines, have the side effects, yet steroids are the worst

one because of misusing. The basic reason of why they are toxic of

every kind of medicines is one very high concentration of same

molecule taking into a body at a short period of time, so that the

liver and kidney have suddenly got huge amounts of workload. The

liver and kidney can handle it for a short period but it can be long;

as soon as they fail, the serious diseases will come. Also, steroids

can cause imbalance in cholesterol levels 3(Technology). That means

rising the probability of getting heart disease and high blood

pressure. Other side effects may due to using steroids include

3Increasing the low density lipoprotein cholesterol level and decreasing the lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol level of a person rapidly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoproteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_density_lipoprotein


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atypical emotion wave, hypogonadisim4, gynecomastia5, male

patent baldness.

A bodybuilder, for example, always uses huge amounts of

steroids around 1000 mg per week by injection or oral.

Surprisingly, a normal male human can only produce 75 - 100 mg,

thats a thousand times more than natural producing (Super Human

Steroids). Therefore, if normal person gets the heart disease at 70

years old, this guy probable gets it at 30s or ever 20s. In addition,

this guy might need to spend the entire time of his rest of life in

hospital.

4Hypogonadism is a medical term for a defect of the reproductive system that

results in lack of function of the testes.5Gynecomastia is the development of abnormally large mammary glands in malesresulting in breast enlargement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammary_glandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_systemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammary_glandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammary_glandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammary_glandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Males


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What make athletes keep going to us it even taking the risk

So far, we know taking steroid can cause serious diseases or

make them come earlier. One big question is coming out: why do

they keep going to taking it? It seems easy to answer but it can go

further complication. A professional bodybuilder, former Mr.

universal, Steve Michalk says in an interview,

I would have stroke, heart attack, the liver disease, the mental

disorder and mental anguish. But would I personal do it again,

Yes I would. Listen to the draw of that stuff. For one moment in

time, Steve Michalk was the best it was in the planet earth.


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Number one, it is a hard thing to disregard (Super Human

Steroids).

Now, you can imagine how huge the temptation is. Nobody

disagrees that glory has been the biggest lure ever. Nevertheless,

money always comes second, especially for young athletes. Athletes

have only few shots to success; for some sports, like basketball,

they only have few years. Thus, they have to find their ways

(sometimes ever to find short cuts) to get the college scholarship

and the pro contract even thought they have to incur the bad

things. Yet, one thing that also pushes them to the border which is


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always ignored is the consumers of sports. We want to see the new

records, the number, the amazing body, the superman, but how can

a human do like that. Unfortunately, athletes can only ask steroids

to help. Thats why athletes use it; we make them to use it.

What will happen if athletes play the clean game

You have been told how powerful of the athletes who are taking

steroids. Yet, we have not talked about athletes who dont take

steroids. Bodybuilding, for instance, is the most different between

drugs and no drugs. A natural bodybuilder can have a 90 kilograms

body with a 17 inches arm and 5-7 percent body fat; however, a


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bodybuilder who is taking drugs can have a 120 kilograms body with

a 22 inches arm or even more and under 3 percent body fat. It is for

sure a natural bodybuilder is big, but a steroided bodybuilder is

extremely huge. Other sports areas, as if boxing, power lifting, have

the similar phenomenon. Therefore, natural athletes do get more

weakness.

To sum up, taking steroids, unquestionably, can give athletes an

edge, but they have to pay the price for the glory. Like what my

master said if you are not designed for the tops, then dont think

you can be the tops by cheating (Lui). Think twice before you act;


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dont use yourself for the ante in the Russian corona. Remember,

you can never replay your life.


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Works cited

Freeman, ER, DA Bloom, and EJ McGuire. "A Brief History of

Testosterone." Journal of Urology. 165 (2001): 371-373.

Lui, Ka Yu. Personal interview. 12 May 2006.


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Perry, Rick. "Texas May Test for Steroids in High School." CBS News.

29 May 2007.

Robson, David. Personal interview. 08 January 2007.

Super Human Steroids." Nat Geo Weekends. National Geographic

Channel. Cable TV, Hong Kong. 26 July 2008.

"Technology: Spinach Does Build Muscle." The Statesman. New

Delhi: 18 May 2008.

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