Archive for September, 2009

Daniel McDermot, at 55-years old still has a frame comparable to a Greek god. One would not expect a long red scar running down the middle of his chest.

His chest represents the memory of how his body underwent abuse and the price he had to pay for it.

McDermot was once a competitive bodybuilder. He won numerous titles such as Mr. Anaheim, Mr. Orange County, Mr. Muscle Beach, and Mr. Venice Beach. His most prestigious award was perhaps the 1982 American Cup Championship, where he held the title for the next six years.

He started his lifting career while still a freshman in high school. By the time he was a junior, he already participated in actual bodybuilding competitions. He won his first title in 1971 as the second place winner in Teenage LA. At 19 years old, he started using steroids.

Since steroids were not a big deal during that time, every bodybuilder who trains for competition is sure to take the substance. Steroids were fairly common in national bodybuilding competitions. Those were the days when steroids were still legal. It was like taking an ordinary vitamin.

In 1982, he stopped from competing as well as from using steroids. Little did he know that seven years after, steroids would take its toll in his body. He suffered a heart attack while at a gym.

Presently, he works as a coach for his son, several high school and college students. He did it for free. He also sees to it that young people who ask him about supplements, steroids in particular, know the detrimental effects it had on him, particularly the cardiac complications he suffered.

From New University:

McDermot acknowledges that steroids allow athletes, especially bodybuilders, to make significant gains, but he also acknowledges that the cardiac complications that come with the gains are detrimental.

When utilized properly and optimally, creatine can help bodybuilders add upto 5 to 10 pounds of muscle mass in a very short period of time. This has indeed hailed good news for the entire muscle building community who are routine users of anabolic steroids. They usually look for supplements that can further accentuate their muscle growth along with steroids. Let’s take a deeper look into how does creatine actually function and how important it is for steroid-taking body builders.

Creatine stands only second to protein supplements which also form an important part of muscle builders’ diet. However, it has been increasingly gaining great popularity because being a derived function of amino acids, it is proven to be one of the safest and most efficient supplement to be consumed by athletes and bodybuilders. Some of its readily available formulations include Creatine phosphate,malate and citrate. Other creatine formulations include Creatine Monohydrate, Anhydrous, Creatine Ester, Effervescent Creatine and Magnesium Creatine.

How does creatine function?

Creatine has two major functions for muscle builders. Creatine, most importantly increases the size and the volume of muscle cells, which equals the quantity of water each cell can retain. Its second important function is to provide the muscle cells with instant energy in the form of ATP (Adenosine triphosphate), the compound highly indispensable for the execution ofmuscle building exercises . Formation of extra ATP within the muscle cells helps perform more repetitions than one normally can, which indeed translates into better and faster muscle growth.

However, creatine is efficient for only seventy percent of athletes and body-builders. This is so because there are many people whose bodies might not react to creatine as they might be producing enoughcreatine phosphate in their muscles already. Taking creatine supplements in that case will not make much difference.

The good news for body builders taking anabolic steroids is that the intake of this supplement highly accentuates the growth of the muscle by leaps and bounds. It must be however ensured that you take proper medical advice before starting to take Creatine along with a steroid cycle.

Summary: Steroid-taking muscle builders are often on a look out for supplements that further aid their muscle growth in the process. This article brings for you one such supplement called Creatine which has been gaining immense popularity these days. Read on to know how it functions and more!

Actually, it is not steroids that they are directly attracted to. It is the lure of money that makes the players risk their career by taking performance-enhancing drugs, lying, cheating, committing frauds and skimming.

In other countries like the Dominican Republic, steroids can be easily purchased anywhere like it was aspirin. You can purchase a Dianabol tablet for 30 cents or Deca-Durabolin from 24/7 pharmacies that offers free delivery.

This actually raised concern in MLB, as most minor league players or prospects come from the Dominican Republic.

With almost half of the minor league population who tested positive last season came from this country, Major League Baseball and the FBI have been looking into three major issues on hand – Steroids, document fraud and skimming.

Aside from steroid cases, many players have also been caught falsifying documents such as their birth certificates to pass themselves as younger. Take for example the Dodger’s Rafael Furcal and the Angel’s Ervin Santana.

Another issue is the skimming of several thousands of dollars from contract bonuses intended for Dominican and Venezuelan players. Investigators found in 2008 that many employees of MLB teams were skimming money.

According to Sandy Alderson, former MLB executive VP, these are not just Dominican problems but are a baseball problem that needs to be fully addressed.

From the LA Times:

The lure of riches in U.S. leads to widespread cheating, including steroid use, fraud and kickbacks. MLB, deeply entwined in nation, is investigating; some team officials have been implicated.

If you come to know about amazing benefits of anabolic steroids (commonly known as steroids) then you will find that they do not enjoy so much success and popularity for no reason. The benefits of anabolic steroids make them the obvious choice of one and all, without any fail.

Let us find which the most popular anabolic steroids are when it comes to exploring a new thought on health and fitness and moving to the next level without any hiccups.

Some of the most popular steroids in the world of anabolic steroid are Sustanon 250, Creatine, Clenbuterol, Nolvadex, and Clomid. However, the list is almost never ending with some people even going for testosterone steroids, HGH steroids, bodybuilding supplements, testosterone cypionate, testosterone enanthate, and other performance enhancing drugs.

Now that we have read about names of popular steroids, let us move to find advantages of steroids.

Some of the benefits of steroids are:

• Enhanced protein synthesis
• Increase in muscle bulk
• Increase in muscle strength
• Ability to handle even harder athletic training sessions
• Promoting growth of muscles and bones
• Increased agility
• Increased stamina
• Increased endurance
• Low fatigue levels

These amazing benefits of steroids allow every one – from a sportsman to a bodybuilder and from a beginner to an experienced athlete – to easily reap benefits to stay ahead of the competition.

Side effects of steroids and steroid abuse:

However, steroids must always be respected and never abused. This is because steroid abuse can lead to side effects such as baldness, headache, hallucination, acne, and stunted growth.

How to reap optimum advantage of steroids?

Always make it a point to use steroids as per qualified medical advice and as per instructions. Remember, a muscular body cannot be created in a day or two and perseverance and dedicated efforts are still required to reap optimum benefits of steroids.

We hope that this article on steroids has helped you gained some valuable insights about the most amazing and effective health product, steroids.

Summary: Whether we accept it or not, steroids have almost been an inseparable part of our lives. It does not matter whether one makes use of steroids for medical, health, sports, or bodybuilding purposes – steroids had have been and will continue to rule the medical, sporting, and bodybuilding worlds.

Cockfighting has been a century old blood sport. Usually, gamecocks are placed in an enclosure where they are expected to fight until exhausted, injured or dead. This sport is usually for the purpose of gambling or entertainment.

Many critics consider this sport a cruel one since the fighting often results to severe injury to the birds or death of one or both birds.

Birds often fight for food, territory or mates. Gamecocks, however, are deliberately bred for aggressiveness. This is where steroids and other performance enhancing drugs come in the picture. Cock owners and raisers used these drugs in order to make the cocks more aggressive during fights.

Last Sunday morning, the Clark County Animal Control received a tip that a property near Carey and Gateway has been breeding cocks and that illegal cockfighting has been suspected of taking place.

The Las Vegas valley home was raided and almost 300 roosters were seized and impounded. Animal control had to ask help from Metro in removing the roosters.

According to a neighbor, although the cocks were raised inside the property, no cockfighting takes place because the owners of the property would not let them.

Police discovered that a third party has been renting the property and at this time, nobody has been taken yet into custody.

From News 3:

It’s considered a gross misdemeanor in the state of Nevada to be in possession of birds used for fighting. Charges can carry a one year jail sentence and a hefty fine.

With the way steroid usage has been catching rage among people, it has become imperative to know how to employ them effectively as well as safely. Many adolescents and newbies end up consuming too many drugs at the same time which eventually leads to a decrease in their health rather than its enhancement. Also they are not aware of the manner in which these steroids need to be administered to ensure less or no side effects whatsoever. However, the most important aspect of steroid intake that needs caution is the cycle period.

Steroids users often do not stay off the juice for the recommended time as directed or necessary. This usually happens because people think they will see quicker results if they keep consuming them without any stoppage. However the rule of thumb says that one needs to stay off the ‘roid’ for atleast 6 weeks in order to render the pituitary-axis a chance to rest and to restore the cholesterol level to normal.

Prolonged use of steroids often fills our system with too much toxicity and hence a halt is necessary in order to cleanse it from it. Thus during these period of rests, additional herbal supplements such as Essiac tea and Milk Thistle are recommended. Besides, one can also use clomid, nolvadex, and hcg therapy for 4 weeks; then continue with Tribulus/DHEA stack of 1250mg/day for the next two weeks.

These regimes become imperative in order to keep one’s internal health such as liver, kidneys and other organs working in perfect condition. Steroid users who have been doing so have yet to confront problems with its usage after this therapy and cleansing.

Thus we see that these recovery cycles form an important part of steroid usage. It is probably the best way to balance one’s internal health along with the outer changes occurring in the body as a result of steroid intake.

A former Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, who had been charged of one count of kidnapping and one count of brandishing a firearm, has been recently charged with steroid possession.

Franklin Joseph Ryle Jr. was involved in the kidnapping of a Wal-Mart truck driver, as part of a scheme to ask for ransom and a plan to kill the driver afterwards.

However, during the investigation, he was also suspected of steroid possession. The first charge pertained to his activity from March 2004 to January 2009. The second refers to his activity from January 2007 – 2009.

According to an affidavit filed by Special agent Mike Carlson of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, Ryle along with another fellow trooper Devin Henderson traveled to Mexico to obtain a liquid anabolic steroid, Sustanon. According to Henderson, they transferred approximately 250 cc of the liquid Sustanon in a vanilla bottle before hiding it inside Ryle’s suitcase.

Upon arriving in Wyoming, the pair divided the liquid into two equal parts, after which they took it for three weeks.

Aside from Henderson’s statement, another trooper admitted into giving Ryle a vial of steroid he obtained from a gym. According to Adam Longo, he met up with Ryle at the Hat Six Truck Stop in Casper to give the vial.

From the Douglas Budget:

Franklin Joseph Ryle Jr., the former Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper who is awaiting sentencing in the kidnapping of truck driver Richard Smidt, has been charged with two felony counts of steroid possession in Natrona County.

Addiction in scientific language has been defined as compulsive use of something with loss of control and continued usage despite its adverse consequences. If one feels similar drive towards administration of steroids, he can be termed as being ‘addicted’ to them. Addiction to steroids has posed to be a serious threat to not only the adolescents but adults as well. Let’s have a look at some characteristics of steroid addiction:

• When the drug is employed for longer periods than desired.
• Attempts made to stop administering them suddenly without any apparent success.
• When more than required time is spent obtaining, using, or recovering from these substances.
• Continuous use of steroids despite knowing about the  psychological problems caused by their overdose.
• Occurrence of withdrawal symptoms such as pain in the joins, diarrhea, high temperature and depression.
• When the intake of these steroids once again relieves these withdrawal symptoms.

Thus if you see any of these happening to you, you must not fail to realize that you are addictive to drugs. Normally this appears among people who start consuming them before the age of 16. Also they tend to take more cycles of steroids for greater period of time. This mainly happens when teenagers see their peers being larger in body size than them. Hence they often end up taking too many steroids at one time and certainly without any medical assistance. The results show themselves as either serious illnesses or psychological disorders.

No matter how young you are, if you are keen on taking anabolics, it would be strictly recommended that you first learn about their aftermath caused by their excessive usage. You can go through magazines, read about it on the web or ask seniors who have been administering it over a long period of time. There is also no harm in consulting an health expert over its usage.

Always remember that your health is above any cosmetic change that you intend to bring about in your body!

Hall of famer Freddie Roach recently made a statement in defense of Mayweather’s accusations of Pacquiao’s steroid use.

Roach said that he already talked to his lawyer regarding a possible slander case. He said that Pacquiao agreed with his legal actions.

Roach added that Mayweather’s statements were defaming Manny Pacquiao.

Even the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) jumped in on Manny’s defense. NSAC executive director Keith Kaiser cleared Pacquiao from any steroid controversy.

According to Kaiser, every time Pacquiao fights in Nevada, he is tested for steroids use. There was never an instance that the pound for pound king failed a drug test. Even his opponents were also tested as well.

Since Nevada is considered as the center for combat sports, the NSAC is regarded as a pre-eminent state athletic commission in the US. The commission has the authority on all licensing matters related to sports. They have the final say whether to accept, revoke, deny, or suspend licenses for boxing matches. They regulate each boxing match held in the state of Nevada.

Kaiser stressed that NSAC drug testing policies are stringent. They conduct tests on boxers before allowing them to fight anywhere in Nevada.

From ABS CBN News:

MANILA — No less than the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), which is the preeminent state sports body in the US, has cleared Manny Pacquiao of steroids claims made by controversial boxing trainer Floyd Mayweather, Sr.

Intermittent signaling by steroid hormones can affect expression of genes in rodents, as per a research by scientists at the University of Bristol and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA.

The results of this study are expected to bring significant implications for understanding how steroids work along with opening new avenues for new therapies.

The findings of this study are published online and expected to appear in the September 2009 issue of Nature Cell Biology.

From News-Medical.Net:

Glucocorticoid hormones, which were investigated in this study, are steroid hormones secreted by the adrenal glands that are involved in a large variety of animal and human physiological responses.

Glucocorticoids act through the glucocorticoid receptor, which is expressed in almost every cell in the body and regulates genes controlling development, metabolism, and immune response.

Studies of the glucocorticoid receptor typically assess gene responses after long-term stimulation with synthetic hormones. However, such treatments may not fully replicate the actual situation in living animals because, in addition to being released from the adrenal glands in a 24-hour circadian pattern, these hormones are also released in a pulsing mode, cycling approximately every hour, in what is referred to as ultradian cycling.

In this new study, the researchers demonstrate that ultradian hormone stimulation induces the pulsed expression of genes (known as gene pulsing) over the same period, both in cultured cells and in animal models. Initially, the researchers administered corticosterone, a naturally occurring glucocorticoid hormone in rodents, in a pulsed manner to cultured mouse cells and then observed that the levels of newly synthesized RNA from glucocorticoid receptor-regulated genes tracked precisely with the hormone pulses.

Hormone cortisol is released in pulses in man as well as rodents as per Professor Stafford Lightman, head of the Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology, at the University of Bristol. The results of this study suggested that this hormonal pattern release is crucial for sound health and developing a novel concept for new drug design.