Performance enhancing drugs and Boxing

I wanted to start this topic for a while, as I keep seeing posts pop up where people are accused of being steroid cheats because they were caught and singing praise to others who weren't, as if they were clean. I want to give a little background info on steroids first:

1. What are steroids? Legally, they are classified as any substances taken by athletes that would beneficially augment their performance. Physiologically, anabolic (muscle building) steroids are chemicals that are believed to exert their effects by binding to androgen (compound responsible for male characteristics) receptors at the cellular level, stimulating production of RNA (secondary genetic blueprint, after DNA), and ultimately increasing protein synthesis (production). In layman's terms, this means much faster recovery and quicker muscle gain (in turn, strength gain).

2. Types of steroids and their use

old school:

In the last 30 years, there was a great deal of readily available product, that was either injected intramuscularly or taken orally. Some of the common orally administered anabolic steroids include oxymetholone (Anadrol), oxandrolone (Anavar), methandrostenolone (Dianabol), and stanozolol (Winstrol). Some of the injectable steroids include nandrolone decanoate (Deca-Durabolin), nandrolone phenpropionate (Durabolin), testosterone cypionate (Depo-Testosterone), and boldenone undecylenate (Equipoise).

Individuals using anabolic steroids typically use a combination of oral and injectable drugs during 6- to 12-week cycles. The injectable forms are favored by users because they are less hepatotoxic than oral preparations. However, the oral preparations tend to be cleared more rapidly from the system and may be preferred when drug testing is anticipated.

The simultaneous use of multiple steroid preparations is called “stacking,” and the pattern of increasing a dose through a cycle is referred to as “pyramiding.” Pyramiding may lead to doses of 10 to 40 times greater than those used for medical indications. Stacking and pyramiding are intended to maximize steroid receptor binding and minimize toxic side effects. The fact that these benefits have not been substantiated scientifically has not appreciably influenced dosing patterns.



The old school steroids had horrendous side effects, from completely ruining the endocrine system of otherwise healthy males, to raising blood toxicity levels to a point of organ failure (most commonly kidneys and liver, the body's natural filtration systems). Their effects were immediate, and easy to see: great increase in muscle, plus acne was usually a dead giveaway as its our body's reaction to the toxins injected into the system.

Most beneficial: Recovery (cutting the recovery time needed in half or more, depending on dosage). Best results were achieved in Strength/muscle gains, athletes that benefited the most were in heavy lifting, football (linebackers), while sports that rely heavily on speed and endurance (boxing/cycling) showed overall results to be lacking when compared to the side effects.

PROS: Cheap, quick acting, very good at turning fat into muscle via minimal exercise.
Cons: easy to detect, damaging to the system.

Famous boxers caught using those: James Toney, Shannon Briggs, etc.

New school:

HGH + TRT

HGH, or human growth hormone, is a naturally occurring chemical compound produced by our bodies and directly responsible for its dramatic effect on longitudinal growth as well as generalized effects on protein, lipid, and carbohydrate metabolism. There is some indication that growth hormone also may be involved in the regulation of immune function, mental well-being, and the aging process.

TRT, or testosterone replacement therapy, is the process of injecting synthetic testosterone into the athlete, to augment naturally dropping levels of testosterone in aging males. Testosterone is the compound responsible for all things that are good for males, such as protein synthesis, growth, recovery, even *** drive.

Unlike old school steroids, these two also improve stamina, speed, increase strength and do not have such harmful long term side effects. They are ideal for boxing and are extremely hard to detect when administered properly, as the hgh levels self regulate following the injection detection nearly impossible unless the test was performed shortly after the injection.

How to tell someone is on HGH: Hgh causes unilateral growth everywhere, not just muscle tissue but even the bone tissue. Over the years, increase in bone size is a great way to tell but could be attributed to natural causes (maturity).

What is my point? When you see a "clean" athlete that seems to defy aging, its not just his superior work ethic and clean diet that helped him get there, its the wonderful new undetectable injections as well. Those who get caught are usually those too poor to afford the good stuff.

Thank you for reading this far.

 

I am talking about Floyd, Bhop, Wlad Klitschko, Pac, etc etc.

I have a feeling I wasted my time getting technical.

 

:good

My goal is to enlighten people, so they stop thinking that not caught = clean.

There are no rules in love and war, and professional ANYTHING is a war, where people would do anything for an advantage.

Besides, its hard to train 6 days a week twice a day and not have your body go into catabolic burnout.

 

Exactly. Right now the rules benefit the rich and the well connected. This is why PRIDE had no drug tests, and why George St Pierre quit UFC. He KNEW every athlete there is on PED's, and he even said so as openly as he could without getting himself into legal trouble (I am certain there are non-disclosure clauses in the UFC contracts).