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What Are Steroids?

Steroids, sometimes referred to as roids, juice, hype, weight trainers, gym candy, arnolds, stackers, or pumpers, are the same as, or similar to, certain hormones in the body. The body produces steroids naturally to support such functions as fighting stress and promoting growth and development. But some people use steroid pills, gels, creams, or injections because they think steroids can improve their sports performance or the way they look.

Anabolic steroids are artificially produced hormones that are the same as, or similar to, androgens, the male-type sex hormones in the body. There are more than 100 variations of anabolic steroids. The most powerful androgen is testosterone (pronounced: tess-toss-tuh-rone). Although testosterone is mainly a mature male hormone, girls’ bodies produce smaller amounts. Testosterone promotes the masculine traits that guys develop during puberty, such as deepening of the voice and growth of body hair. Testosterone levels can also affect how aggressive a person is.

Athletes sometimes take anabolic steroids because of their testosterone-like effects.

Another group of steroids, sometimes called steroidal supplements, contains dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and/or androstenedione (also known as andro). For the most part, steroidal supplements, which used to be found at health food stores or gyms, are now illegal and require a prescription. DHEA is one of the few exceptions and can still be bought over the counter.

Steroid supplements are weaker forms of androgen. Their effects aren’t well known, but it’s thought that, when taken in large doses, they cause effects similar to other androgens like testosterone. Here’s what is known about steroidal supplements: Companies that manufacture them often use false claims and very little is known about the long-term effects some of these substances have on the body. That’s one reason why the government took action to protect citizens by passing laws controlling steroid distribution.

Steroids: Stacking and Addiction

Some people combine or “stack” anabolic steroids with other drugs. Other steroid users may “pyramid” or “cycle” their steroid doses, starting with a low dose of stacked drugs and then periodically increasing and decreasing the dosage of the steroid, which users believe helps their bodies recuperate from the drugs.

Because even scientists don’t understand exactly how steroids interact with each other or possibly cause reactions to other medications, it’s possible that a person who stacks or cycles steroids can take a deadly combination. Emergency departments have reported cases of vomiting, tremors, dizziness, and even coma (unconsciousness) when patients were admitted after taking combinations of steroids.

A lot of people tell themselves they’ll only use steroids for a season or a school year. Unfortunately, steroids can be addictive, making it hard to stop taking them.

Steroid users can spend lots of time and money trying to get the drugs. And once users stop taking steroids, they’re at risk of developing irritability, paranoia, and severe depression, which may lead to suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide. Some of the long-term effects of steroids may not show up for many years. People who use steroids also appear to be at higher risk for using other drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine.

What Is Human Growth Hormone?

You may have heard of something called Human Growth Hormone, or hGH, in relation to sports supplements and maybe even related to steroids. Like steroids, hGH is only legal when prescribed by a doctor for a medical condition. Doctors prescribe hGH for people whose bodies don’t naturally make enough growth hormone, a condition known as growth hormone deficiency. However, recent trends show an increase in growth hormone being abused as an athletic supplement.

A lot of myths surround hGH and its effects on athletes. As with steroids, there is absolutely no evidence that growth hormone helps to improve athletic performance. Here are some risks you should be aware of:

Any type of hGH that is not obtained by prescription is not regulated by the government and could be almost anything.
If you buy what may be called “growth hormone,” “growth stimulators,” or “growth factors” online, it’s likely they’re not really hGH. Many websites claim to be selling growth hormone, but they’re really selling amino acids that don’t significantly increase growth hormone levels in your body.
If the false claims of performance benefits from hGH don’t bother you, the price probably will — $5,000 for a month’s prescription, meaning that the street value for just a month could run anywhere from $5,000–$10,000.
Because growth hormone can only be injected, like some steroids, there’s a risk of contracting HIV or other diseases (like hepatitis) if people share needles.
Strong Alternatives to Steroids

Anabolic steroids are controversial in the sports world because of the health risks associated with them and their unproven performance benefits. Most are illegal and are banned by professional sports organizations and medical associations. As seen in the high-profile cases, if an athlete is caught using steroids, his or her career can be destroyed.

When it comes right down to it, harming your body or getting disqualified aren’t smart ways to try to improve your athletic performance. Being a star athlete means training the healthy way: eating the right foods, practicing, and strength training without the use of drugs.

The first step in designing a personal nutrition plan for yourself is to calculate how many calories you burn in a day; your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
TDEE is the total number of calories that your body expends in 24 hours, including all activities. TDEE is also known as your “maintenance level”. Knowing your maintenance level will give you a starting reference point from which to begin your diet. According to exercise physiologists William McArdle and Frank Katch, the average maintenance level for women in the United States is 2000-2100 calories per day and the average for men is 2700-2900 per day. These are only averages; caloric expenditure can vary widely and is much higher for athletes or extremely active individuals. Some triathletes and ultra-endurance athletes may require as many as 6000 calories per day or more just to maintain their weight! Calorie requirements may also vary among otherwise identical individuals due to differences in inherited metabolic rates.Methods of determining caloric needs
There are many different formulas you can use to determine your caloric maintenance level by taking into account the factors of age, sex, height, weight, lean body mass, and activity level. Any formula that takes into account your lean body mass (LBM) will give you the most accurate determination of your energy expenditure, but even without LBM you can still get a reasonably close estimate.The “quick” method (based on total bodyweight)
A fast and easy method to determine calorie needs is to use total current body weight times a multiplier.
Fat loss=12 - 13 calories per lb. of bodyweight
Maintenance (TDEE)=15 - 16 calories per lb. of bodyweight
Weight gain:=18 - 19 calories per lb. of bodyweight
This is a very easy way to estimate caloric needs, but there are obvious drawbacks to this method because it doesn’t take into account activity levels or body composition. Extremely active individuals may require far more calories than this formula indicates. In addition, the more lean body mass one has, the higher the TDEE will be. Because body fatness is not accounted for, this formula may greatly overestimate the caloric needs if someone is extremely overfat. For example, a lightly active 50 year old woman who weighs 235 lbs. and has 34% body fat will not lose weight on 3000 calories per day (255 X 13 as per the “quick” formula for fat loss).

Why are bodybuilders infatuated with protein?
Bodybuilders are infamous for their love affair with protein. The way iron-pumpers see it, muscle is protein, so they associate eating more dietary protein with gaining more muscle. Devouring egg whites by the dozen, meat by the pound and protein powder by the bucketful is the norm for hard training physique athletes. But is all this carnivorism really necessary?Why the infatuation with eating huge amounts of protein? Are bodybuilders correct in their habitual practice of pounding down the protein or is this immoderation unfounded? To answer these questions, it is first necessary obtain a solid understanding of what protein is and how it is used in the body. Only then can we objectively look at the protein consumption practices of bodybuilders and compare them to what the scientific evidence says in order to make some sensible and productive recommendations.
Protein Turnover; the dynamic human body
Although your body appears quite solid, it is always in a constant state of flux. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “You cannot step in the same river twice.” What he meant was that a river may look the same every day, but it never is the same because of the constant flow of new water running through it. This is also true of the human body. Body protein is constantly being turned over as old cells die and new cells replace them.
Best-selling author and mind-body expert Dr. Deepak Chopra describes this ongoing cellular renewal process like this: “It is as if you lived in a building whose bricks were systematically taken out and replaced every year. If you keep the same blueprint then it will still look like the same building. But it won’t be the same in actuality. The human body also stands there, looking much the same from day to day, but through the process of respiration, digestion, elimination and so forth, it is constantly and ever in exchange with the rest of the world.”
Quantum physicists have proven that 98% of the atoms in your body are replaced within one year. In three months your body produces an entirely new skeleton. Every six weeks, all the cells have been replaced in your liver. You have a new stomach lining every five days. You are continually replacing old blood cells with new ones. Every month you produce an entirely new skin as dead cells are shed and new cells grow underneath. The proteins in your muscles are continually turned over as muscle is broken down and new tissue is synthesized. Every cell in your body is constantly being recycled.
Where do all these new cells come from? The answer of course, is from the protein foods you consume every day. That’s why the saying, “You are what you eat” is literally true from a molecular standpoint. Once you’ve accepted this maxim, you’ll start being awfully careful about what you put in your body every day.
Protein 101: What is protein anyway?
Its not surprising that bodybuilders put so much emphasis on protein. After all, protein is construction material for the human body like bricks are for a building. Body structures made from protein include skin, hair, nails, bones, connective tissue and of course skeletal muscle. Other proteins in your body include antibodies, enzymes, hormones such as insulin, and transporters such as hemoglobin.
Next to water, protein is the most abundant substance in the body, making up approximately 15-20% of your weight. Of most interest to the bodybuilder is the fact that 60-70% of all protein in the body is located in the skeletal muscles. In order for muscle growth to occur, every day you must consume more protein than your body utilizes. Like fats and carbohydrates, proteins are also composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The difference is nitrogen.
Only protein can bring nitrogen into the body. Because muscle tissue contains most of the body’s protein and protein contains nitrogen, scientists can study the effect of dietary protein on muscle growth by comparing the amount of nitrogen consumed with the amount excreted (in feces, urine and sweat). If the intake of nitrogen is greater than the amount excreted, then we know that protein is being retained and new muscle is being synthesized. This is known as positive nitrogen balance. If more nitrogen is excreted than consumed, you are in negative nitrogen balance, indicating that protein is being broken down and muscle is being lost.
Amino acids: The building blocks of protein
The smallest units of a protein are called amino acids. Like bricks in a wall, amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Just as glycogen is formed from the linkage of numerous glucose molecules, proteins are formed from the joining of numerous amino acids. There are 20 amino acids that are required for growth by the human body. From these 20 amino acids, there are tens of thousands of different protein molecules that can be formed.
Each protein is assembled from the bonding of different amino acids into various configurations. Growth hormone, for example, is a protein chain of 156 amino acids. “Amino acids are somewhat like letters in the alphabet. If you had only the letter G, all you could write would be a string of Gs: G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G. But with 20 different letters available, you could create poems, songs, or novels.
The 20 amino acids can be linked together in an even greater variety of sequences than are possible for letters in a word or words in a sentence. The variety of possible sequences for polypeptide chains is tremendous.” -Eleanor Whitney and Sharon Rolfes, “Understanding Nutrition.”
Essential vs. Non-essential amino acids
Out of the twenty amino acids, the human body can make eleven of them. These are called the non-essential amino acids (also known as “dispensable amino acids). The other nine amino acids are called “essential amino acids” or (indispensable amino acids). Essential amino acids are those which cannot be manufactured by your body and must be supplied from your food.
Essential (indispensable) amino acids
Histidine
Isoleucine
Leucine
Valine
Lysine
Methionine
Phenylalanine
Threonine
TryptophanNon essential (dispensable) amino acids

In part one of “Bodybuilders & Protein,” we talked about the ABC’s of protein: what it is, what it is used for, and how it is processed in the body. We also looked at what the scientific literature says about protein needs.From this discussion, we came to five important conclusions:
1.Protein is the only nutrient directly responsible for building muscle.
2. Exercise increases protein needs.
3. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for protein (.36 grams per pound of body weight) is woefully inadequate if you work out on a regular basis.
4. Studies by the world’s top protein researchers such as Dr. Peter Lemon, have determined that .8 grams per pound of body weight should be your minimum for protein if you exercise regularly (more than double the RDA!)
5. Optimal intakes for hard-training athletes, such as
bodybuilders, are still unknown and may be even higher. In one study of Polish weightlifters, 50% of the subjects were still in negative nitrogen balance, even while consuming 250% of the RDA.
Now that we’ve established these facts, that still leaves one burning question: How do you determine the precise amount of protein that is right for you? Read on to find out.
Protein needs by body weight: The one gram per pound of body weight rule.
For body builders, one gram per pound of body weight has been a rule of thumb for years - and it’s very close to the .8 grams per pound of body weight recommended in the most recent research. However, .8 grams per pound of body weight should be considered a minimum for strength athletes and bodybuilders. When you account for factors such as biochemical individuality, varying metabolic rates and the added protein needed to accommodate for intense training and gaining muscle, adding an extra margin of .2g/lb makes
sense. Under certain circumstances, one gram per pound might not even be enough, but we’ll talk more about that later.
The one gram per pound rule is the easiest and most commonly used method of calculating your daily protein requirement, but it does have drawbacks. For example, the more body fat you have, the more this method will overestimate your protein needs. It also doesn’t take into account whether your goal is to gain or lose weight.
Nevertheless, as long you are training regularly and you are within the normal ranges for body composition, then this simple formula is a solid recommendation and a good place to start.
Example 1:
You are female
Your total body weight=130 lbs.
Your protein requirement=130 grams per day
If you eat 5 - 6 meals a day (like you should) that’s 22 - 26 grams of protein per meal
Example 2:
You are male
Your total body weight=190 lbs.
Your protein requirement=190 grams per day
Spread over 5 - 6 meals per day, that’s 32 - 38 grams of protein
per meal
Protein needs as a percentage of total calories
Another way to calculate your daily protein needs is to multiply your total calorie intake for the day by the desired percentage of calories from protein. To do this, you’ll need to know how many calories you’re supposed to take in. There is not enough space to discuss calorie calculations in this article, but you can find all the formulas on my website in the article titled, “Calorie Calculators.”
For now, let it suffice to say that exercise physiologists tell us the average maintenance level is 2000-2100 calories per day for women and 2700-2900 per day for men. After you’ve determined your caloric maintenance level, you then adjust it up or down depending on whether you want to gain or lose weight.
30% of total calories should come from protein
The next step is to select the optimal percentage of calories from protein. The percentage you choose must be in line with your goals,
activity requirements, body type and metabolic rate. The ideal ratios may vary widely based on these factors, but as a “baseline” I recommend that 30% of your calories come from protein. That leaves 15% from fat and 55% from natural, unrefined complex carbohydrates.
The Baseline Diet:
30% protein
55% carbohydrates
15% fat
Once you’ve selected the proper ratio of calories to come from protein, simply multiply the percentage of calories from protein by the total calories for the day. That will tell you how many calories should come from protein.
The final step is to divide the protein calories by four (there are four calories in each gram of protein) and that will give you how many grams of protein you should eat per day.
Example 1:
You are a female, 130 lbs.
Your optimal calorie intake to lose fat is 1700 calories per day
To determine your protein intake, multiply your caloric intake by 30%
1700 calories per day X .30%=510 calories from protein
There are 4 calories per gram of protein 510 protein calories divided by 4 calories per gram of protein=127.5 grams of protein
Example 2:
You are male, 190 lbs.
Your optimal calorie intake to lose fat is 2600 calories per day
To determine your protein intake, multiply your caloric intake by 30%
2600 calories per day X .30%=780 calories from protein There are 4 calories per gram of protein 780 protein calories divided by 4 calories per gram of protein=195 grams of protein
Three times when higher protein is called for
You probably noticed in the example above that using 30% of calories from protein comes out very close to one gram per pound of body weight. However, the percentage of total calories method is more accurate because it accounts for different goals. The examples above were for someone who wanted to lose weight.
Obviously your optimal caloric intake, and therefore your protein intake, will vary depending on what you want to achieve. If you
want to gain weight, you’re going to need more calories, and a substantial portion of those extra calories should come from protein. Clearly, there are times when a higher protein intake is necessary. These include:
1) When you are trying to gain muscular body weight
2) When you are using a low carbohydrate diet for fat loss
3) When you are “carbohydrate sensitive”
Protein Intake and Gaining Muscular Body Weight
Let’s suppose you’re male, you weigh 190 lbs. and you maintain your weight on 3000 calories per day. To gain weight you’ll need to increase your calories. Makes sense, right? Specifically, you’d need about 3500 per day. Now let’s do the math: 30% of 3500 calories is 1050 calories per day. 1050 calories divided by four calories per gram is 262 grams of protein a day. That’s nearly 1.4 grams of protein per pound of body weight!
After everything we’ve discussed so far, you’re probably wondering, “isn’t that entirely too much protein?” True, 1.4 grams per pound
of bodyweight seems like a heck of a lot of protein. However, there is a very logical reason for this extra protein, so stay with me for a minute. Granted, there’s no scientific “proof” that high protein intakes this high will grow more muscle, but that’s not the reason for the extra protein. The reason is your protein intake has to go up along with your calories in order to keep your nutrient ratios “balanced.”
You need more calories to gain weight, but if you only add the extra calories from fat or carbohydrate, you would probably find yourself getting fat - and fast! As bodybuilders know all too well, excess carbohydrates, especially in the presence of a calorie surplus, can easily cause fat storage. The same goes for dietary fats. A high calorie diet with 70% of the calories from carbohydrates might be ok for a long distance runner, but chances are, a bodybuilder would get as smooth as a baby’s butt eating like that!
Protein intake and low carbohydrate dieting
The second time when more protein is justified is when you are using a low carbohydrate diet. The baseline diet of 55% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 15% fat is without a doubt the healthiest, most balanced way to eat, and most people will lose weight on this diet, as long as calories are below maintenance. However, take a look at the diets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness competitors and you’ll discover that nearly all of them use some variation of the low carbohydrate or moderate carbohydrate diet to achieve the “ripped” look necessary to win competitions.
If you decide to choose the low carbohydrate approach to dieting, the problem is that you can’t just drop out all those carbohydrates and leave the amounts of protein and fat right where they were. If carbohydrates are decreased substantially, the protein (and to some extent, the healthy “good” fats) must be increased correspondingly so the calorie deficit doesn’t become too large.
When your carbohydrates are too low and your calories are also low, the result is almost always muscle loss. Not exactly what a bodybuilder wants, is it? So, to offset the drop in carbohydrates and keep your calories above “starvation level,” your protein intake must be increased - sometimes to very high levels. Exactly what ratio of protein to carbohydrate you take in depends entirely on your type of metabolism and can only be determined through trial and error.
Not only does a high protein level fend off muscle loss while on low carbohydrates, but it can also speed up the fat burning process. Protein has the highest “thermic effect” of any food. That means that protein foods speed up your metabolism because your body has to work harder to digest, process and utilize this nutrient compared to fat or carbohydrate.
The “thermic” effect of protein is one of the reasons that a higher protein diet is more effective for fat loss than a high fat diet or
a high carbohydrate diet. Too much of any food type can be stored as body fat, but protein is less likely to be converted to fat than any other nutrient.
Protein intake for the carbohydrate sensitive or insulin resistant
A high protein, low carbohydrate diet may not be appropriate (or healthy) for year round maintenance, but there is no question that a higher protein diet makes it easier to lose body fat. One reason for this is because of the thermic effect of proteins, but another reason is the effect of moderate or low carbohydrates and high protein on insulin and blood sugar levels. Let me explain:
Some people are very “sensitive” to carbohydrates. This means that when they eat a lot of carbohydrates, they “overreact” and there is an unusually large surge in their blood sugar and insulin levels. Insulin is an important anabolic hormone and is responsible for moving glucose into body cells, but too much is not a good thing.
Large concentrations of insulin in the bloodstream activate fat storage enzymes and promote the movement of triglycerides in the bloodstream into fat cells for storage. Too much insulin also inhibits enzymes that promote the breakdown of stored body fat. The only solution to this problem is less carbohydrates and - you guessed it - more protein.
Conclusion - There are no “rules”
The one gram per pound of bodyweight guideline is good as a general rule of thumb for bodybuilders, and the 30% of total calories guideline is even better. However, it’s impossible to set hard and fast rules about protein intakes, because no single rule could possibly apply to everyone. The amount of protein you need depends on how hard you are training and on whether you want to gain, maintain, or lose bodyweight. It also depends on whether you decide to take the high carbohydrate, low fat approach or the high protein, low carbohydrate method. Neither way is right or wrong. What’s right is what works for you.
No single diet will work for everyone. Nutrition is a highly individual issue and you must make adjustments to your diet to account for the differences in your metabolism and your body type. If you’ve tried the conventional, high carbohydrate, low fat diet and it hasn’t produced satisfactory results, a diet with moderate or even low carbohydrates might be the answer.
If you decide to take the low carbohydrate approach, you’re going to have to increase your protein to make up for the lower carbohydrates. If you don’t, you’ll end up losing your hard-earned muscle. You’re also going to have to eat more protein if you want to gain lean body weight.
Even though it flies in the face of conventional wisdom and seems excessive, it’s entirely possible that you might need as much as 1.25 grams to 1.5 grams of protein per day - or more - to get optimal results. In the third installment of Bodybuilders and Protein, we will conclude the series by looking at the often
extreme protein consumption habits of competitive bodybuilders. Then we will answer the question that’s on everyone’s mind: “Isn’t eating too much protein bad for your health?”
This article was provided courtesy of Tom Venuto. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, personal trainer, gym owner, freelance writer and author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle” (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models.

I am always amazed at how little food some people eat. Maybe I’m just a glutton, but I could not survive on what some people call meals. A lot of times, people don’t even realize they’re not eating enough food until I get them to figure out their daily caloric needs with this formula. Once they do, they’re often shocked to see how little they eat.
Use the following formula as a guideline for determining your daily caloric needs. There are more accurate formulas which take into consideration your bodyfat percentage, however I suspect that only a few actually know they’re bf%this one will still give a good indication of your needs. Because it doesn’t take into consideration bf% however, it will underestimate your needs if you are overly muscular (hmmm, I didn’t know that was possible).
First you need to determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) with the following equation. Your BMR is the total number of calories your body needs if you did nothing but lie in bed all day with no activity at all.Men:
BMR=66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)Women:
BMR=655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)
• Note: 1 inch=2.54 cm and 1 kilogram=2.2 lbs.