Why is taking steroids considered cheating??

[Blunt91]

I know this sounds like a crazy question but let me explain myself. Everyone knows that steroids help build lean muscle but they come with dangerous health risk. On the other hand, most athletes use some sort of bodybuilding supplement. Creatine,Amino Acids, Whey Protein powders are some supplements that are sold at places like GNC. These products like Steroids help you put on muscle, maybe not as fast or as much muscle as someone taking roids but they still aid you in putting on muscle. So couldn't you consider this cheating as well? What does the average person who doesn't take Creatine think of someone who does take it? You can add muscle by just working out and eating the proper food, so why have stuff like Creatine & Whey Protein on the Market? A guy who use to compete in bodybuilding competitions told me that if you don't drink enough water, Whey protein could mess up your digestive tract. So these same supplements that are considered "legal" come with some sideeffects as well just like roids.

I am not condoning the use of steroids, but am simply asking why is taking steroids considered cheating when most athletes are taking some form of supplement to help enhance there body & endurance?

[lawman]

Thats a very good ? that i am sure no one has a good answer for.

[frosgrim]

First its not just steroids that is the problem, its all the newer stuff that is coming out, like human growth hormone HGH). These substances not only allow you to put on more muscle mass more quickly, they allow you to exceed what is coded for genetically. Second, they allow an individual to recover from exertion more quickly than without them. Let me use cycling as an example as its the sport I know best. When cyclists spend 6 hours in the saddle, such as in the Tour de France, they spend about 8,000 calories. This can go up or down depending on the day's speed and steepness of climb. Not only do they do this for one day, they do it for 3 straight weeks.

HGH allows the user to put on more long fiber muscles (good for climbing) at a quicker rate than without it. It also means the athlete can recover from a big exertion much more quickly. If you watched this years TdF, you saw Rasmuessen (who did dope) recover quickly from exertions, while guys like Contador and Liephiemer really suffered after an acceleration up a mountain. Thus, the HGH and/or other substances gave Rasmuessen an unfair competitive advantage.

One solution, of course, is just to say all substances are legal. This would mean everyone could just go and dope-up as much as they could and then race. As my wife says this becomes a race of the chemists instead of the athlete then.

In some ways it is up to us as the consumer to say that is OK, such as we have in football.

However, as the recent case of the wrestler shows (Benoit, I think is his name), steroids have a downside. They can adversely affect the mental state of a user, to the point of extreme mood swings. Second, they do cause joint deterioration. Third, they cause heart problems (see all the deaths by high school football players over the years).

This brings up another point, do we want high school aged kids taking harmful supplements? As a parent I would ground my kids for life if I caught them using something so dangerous as steroids or worse HGH.

As for using over the counter supplements, most sports actually don't allow many of these. The NFL has an approved substance list for over the counter stuff. Cycling has an even stricter list. Baseball does as well.

Thus, IMO, the ban on performance enhancing substances is to 1) safeguard the players (why should someone who doesn't want to use be at a disadvantage?), 2) safeguard our youth, and 3) protect the integrity of athletics. To this last reason is to me why the Bonds record is so tainted. Aaron didn't use steroids or HGH or any other substance. Aaron did it with his natural abilities, hard work, and mental toughness. Bonds, instead, decided to become a freak and take substances that severely altered his physique with the explicit goal of breaking Aaron's record. I find that disingenuous at best, and probably closer to disgusting. Bonds has admitted to using "clear" under oath. He has also been linked directly to BALCO. To me this is very clear evidence, but some do not believe so, and that is their choice.

Just my two cents on this subject.

[Blunt91]

Thanks for the explanation.

[cyman3]

theres some who happen to have last year's exam for the same teacher/class and uses this studying material to study.

then, theres someone who looks over his neighbor's shoulder to take a look at the answers.

horrible analogy... sorry.

point is, i think u draw the line somewhere.

and the line is steroids?

[BigDirty]

Quote:

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However, as the recent case of the wrestler shows (Benoit, I think is his name), steroids have a downside.

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Bad example, the things Benoit did took several days and were not an act of a sudden rage, Benoit's problems were a lot more complicated.

A better example for the steroid mood swings would've been Steve Austin beating his wife (although I don't if roids were the main for this, cause afterall Austin also likes to drink a lot).

[AHF]

Another thought:

Steroids are illegal to possess and own in the US.

Creatine isn't.

In a more nuanced sense, my $.02 is that protein shakes, etc. are basically a streamlined version of improving and focusing your diet. They are better than drinking a bunch of eggs, etc. like some people did 50 years ago but they aren't a revolutionary new advance in training. If someone doesn't use creatin it may be harder to compete than just simply eating a good diet but not that much harder.

In contrast, steroids and things like hgh are such powerful training tools that they make it nearly impossible for clean athletes to compete. Many of the most eye-popping athletic accomplishments of the last 20+ years have been accomplished by athletes using drugs like these such as the Bonds & McGwire home run feets obliterating the record books; Ben Johnson's 100 yard dash time destroying the old record; etc. Athletes can dramatically affect their performance using drugs like these and it is MUCH harder for anyone to compete.

For that reason, sports organizations have chosen to make it against the rules of the game to use things like this. For example, MLB had a rule against steroids since 1990. The NFL banned them and implemented testing in 1987. Those organizations recognize that the competitive playing field is totally unbalanced by substances like steroids in a way that it isn't with dietary supplements like creatine or whey protein.