Project Purpose
This project was very personal to me as I am very involved in the lifting and fitness community, and have seen first hand the repercussions that steroids have caused a lot of young men and women.
To start from the beginning, I began bodybuilding when I was just 19. I competed in my first show in June 1, 2019, and just completed my second not too long ago on November 6, 2021. Both of which were very taxing and grueling processes to obtain the physique that I had. My first show was an all natural show that required every participant to be polygraphed and drug screened. My second show, I felt that I had obtained a good enough physique to compete with people taking steroids. I was extremely wrong and ended up placing 6th. From the beginning I was very adamant on keeping myself natural, as I understood the effects that steroids can have on the body long-term. Needless to say, I am very glad that I made that choice.
This project I really dove into what the effects have on people that take steroids. I chose to focus my research and interviewing on the younger class, as they are the ones that are abusing them the most with the least amount of education on the effects they can have on them long-term. My ultimate goal here was not to target as many people as possible and get them to stop taking steroids, many people know the effects but just enjoy taking them because they have their dream physique. Rather I feel that my goal was to come to understand their perspective and perhaps if an opportunity came help someone recognize for themselves the harm that they were causing their bodies.
Work Samples
Below are all of the blog posts that I made through this project. Most of them contain interviews with people that I had the chance to sit down and talk to for quite some time, and others contain some research that I did myself.
First Public Report May 21, 2022
During this first block I decided that it would be beneficial for me to start this project off with a human interest piece to give it a personal touch. I spent some time doing some research on my own about steroid addiction/abuse, then I sat down with a friend of mine and talked with him about his experiences with steroid addiction/abuse and how that has affected his life.
My friend who we will call Jeff is 24-years old and is an avid fitness guru who also competes in bodybuilding shows like myself. The only difference is that I strictly compete in natural shows and he competes in shows that do not require testing because he takes steroids. He enjoys the look that he has however, when it comes down to his physical and mental well-being he has man regrets. The main reason I wanted to dedicate a project to this is because of the things that he told me. Depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, inability to perform sexually sometimes are all commonalities that steroid users face.
Jeff is a phenomenal bodybuilder who works extremely hard to have the physique that he has. Although he loves the way he looks I had to ask the question, if you could do it all over again would to stay a natural athlete and his response was yes. He understands that later on in his life he will pay the price for steroid abuse. This first action step on my project gave me excitement to dive into more research and find some good data on steroid addiction/abuse.
Second Public Report June 4, 2022
This sprint of work was spent on the harmful effects that social media has on body dysmorphia in younger adults. I took a poll and collected some data as to what people’s general thoughts are about how social media plays a role in how they perceive themselves physically. I did my best to keep it even as far as men and women. I ended up surveying 10 women and 10 men. The vast majority of these people are in the bodybuilding community and are taking some type of steroids or growth hormones.
The results were interesting. 8 of the women and 7 of the men say that social media played a major role in them feeling body dysmorphia and ultimately is what drove them to steroid use. I asked them if these so called “fitness influencers” gave them workout plans/diets to follow and if that helped their fitness goals. They all said that yes, there were workout plans and diets that were recommended by the influencers, but ultimately they did not see the results that these people that they followed were getting. So, this then led to steroid abuse to achieve this dream body that these deceitful influencers were claiming they were not using and they were quote natural.
I knew at some point I wanted to include a section of showing the harmful effects of social media but I was not sure if it would be this significant. I believe that instagram plays a major role in people transitioning to the steroid addiction side of life because they just cannot seem to figure out how all these people are achieving these phenomenal feats of physique “naturally.” It is saddening to see that social media these days has almost nothing to do with honesty and positivity these days but rather lying and deceit. There is no shame it deciding to take steroids if you want to achieve a next level physique, but do not lie about it and claim that your body is the way it is from just a workout regimen and a special diet.
Third Public Report June 18, 2022
These past couple weeks I have spent time interviewing with a few people really involved in the fitness industry to get more of a personal touch to the blogs. I interviewed with three bodybuilders, all have been in the sport for quite some time and had great things to share about their journey and also there experience with steroids. I will only share one of those experiences this time and will include the others later on.
We will start with interviewee number 1, let’s call him Justin. Justin has been a competitive bodybuilder for over 5 years and has had tremendous success, and is even competing in a pro level show next summer. However, Justin did not start off successful. He was a natural bodybuilder at first but then quickly realized that if he wanted to see better success he needed a little more help. Steroids became a best friend for Justin, starting them at just 21 years old and now going on 26. Justin is well aware of the damage he is doing to his body, and especially how the steroids are and will affect his hormone and testosterone levels later on in the future. So, with him being well aware of damage the one important question I had for Justin was, why are you continuing to do this? His answer, “addiction.” Not just addiction to the steroids and how they make him feel, but rather how they make him look.
See like Justin, this problem we are facing with young men and women taking steroids is not necessarily about the rush and major physical feeling they get, but the physique that they are getting from the steroids. The other important question I asked him that had an interesting answer was what drove you to start taking steroids? He answered, “there were people all around me especially at all the shows I trained so hard for that had superior physiques that no matter how hard I tried naturally I could not obtain.” In a way I know Justin feels guilt and regret for giving into the pressure and competition and deciding to take steroids. Unfortunately, that regret and guilt will have to be something that he faces much stronger later on in his life.
Fourth Public Report July 2, 2022
This sprint was spent looking into some research about steroid addiction/abuse within younger adults. Along with that I will include another interview I conducted with an actual steroid user. Within this blog one of the common and repetitive themes has been to incorporate a story about a steroid user. This I believe, is the most important aspect of this blog, because I could fill this content with lots of stats and data, but in the end what really gives this blog its purpose is having stories to give a real-life perspective.
The University of Oslo conducted a study that even just a brief exposure of anabolic steroids to the body may have long-lasting, possibly permanent performing enhancing effects on the body. This affected not only motor skills when users stopped taking steroids, but also affected bodily functions as well. Hormones are largely affected with the use of steroids. Reproductive organs take a heavy toll when anabolic steroids are not longer taken by the user. Steroids increase testosterone in its users to alarming amounts that are impossible to reach naturally. A normal testosterone level for a young man is 300-1200 ng/dL. Abusers of anabolic steroids have seen test levels reach over 5,000 ng/dL. While taking steroids the body no longer produces testosterone naturally as it is getting such large amounts elsewhere. Once taken off steroids the body still does not produce, leaving males with extremely low levels going below 100 ng/dL.
This can take quite a toll on young adults, as they are in the prime years of their lives and once they reach the age of 30 which is still very young, a body with dangerous low levels of testosterone is where we see all of these mental illnesses come into play which unfortunately lead to suicide.
I took some time to sit down with a friend of mine who I know has been on a few cycles of steroids and is a competitive bodybuilder. My friend who we will call Mike is only one year older than me, sitting at 24 experienced a lot of these symptoms. After cycling off a stack of steroids he began to see issues with his reproductive system. Mike could not longer have erections which for a young 24-year old is a very scary thing. This was a wake up call for Mike, he witness and experienced the dangers of steroid addiction first-hand and did not want to have that feeling again. Now what is the point if this story? Mike was fortunate enough to see the risks of his steroid addiction early on before things got extremely and dangerously out of hand. To me that is a victory not only for him but for his future family. I encouraged Mike to share his story with other fellow competitors that are still abusing steroids in hopes that a few more can be saved from the danger that awaits them.
Challenges/Project Process
From the beginning I knew that to really make this project something meaningful I needed to include not just one but many personal experiences from other people. Blog posts just filled with data and independent research would not serve well on its own.
The process of finding people to sit down and converse with me were probably the greatest challenges that I faced. I have a few friends, which I mention in a few of the blog posts that were willing to talk with me, but I knew that finding a few strangers would make this experience much stronger and authentic.
I obviously did not have contact information for people I did not know. My process of finding people was right at the gym. I spend roughly 2 1/2-3 hours in the gym per day as I am still a training competitive bodybuilder. I had to take time to talk with people about their training regimine and casually bring up steroid usage. Going about it the right way does not offend people, and quite honestly those that take it are not ashamed and willing to talk about it. Now when it came to physically sitting down somewhere else to talk about this that was where the challenges set in. Fortunate for me, I ended up getting a few to say yes which made the blog and experience much more worth it.
Insights & Takeaways
At the end of this all I can say is wow. I am so thrilled and happy that this project was approved, as I have been wanting to do this for quite some time. The biggest takeaway from this is how important it is to just talk with people, rather than get info off of the internet. Being able to converse with people on a deeper level about their personal experiences gave me a raw and truthful understanding of what it was I was trying to gain more knowledge about.
I will admit some people had a completely different mindset than others, and a lot of thoughts and opinions were conflicting with one another. The great thing was is that it did not cause confusion to me, It only reminded me that people have different opinions about things and I can learn from everyone.
I get asked a lot if I take steroids, which I honestly see as a compliment. Have I thought about taking steroids? Yes. Would I be lying if I said I still think about taking them? Yes. What this project has done for me is open my eyes to the many possibilities and burdens that steroids can do for and to me. Most of all I have learned the powerful tool of conversation and communication, and that when I need valuable and reliable information, talk with people who know and have experienced it. Because when it comes right down to it we all love to talk about ourselves.
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