It is no secret that steroids can have a significant impact on the appearance and production of athletes. However, few have a legitimate understanding of how exactly these substances are able to produce these effects.
The most commonly known term in the world of steroids is that of anabolic steroids. Essentially anabolic steroids work by tricking your body into thinking they are testosterone. Testosterone is the primary hormone associated with muscle growth and is, in fact, an anabolic steroid itself. Simply put, anabolic steroids are a synthetic version of testosterone. While they operate with several other chemicals and steroids in the body, anabolic steroids play the most important role when it comes to physiological muscle growth.
While these chemicals can drastically increase muscle growth, they first need to be broken down into small enough molecules to be absorbed into cells. There, the steroid molecules bind to structures called androgen receptors. This is where anabolic steroids really resemble testosterone seeing as testosterone is typically the only chemical in the body that can do this.
Steroids truly result in greater muscle mass due to their ability to alter ones metabolism. Essentially during a cycle of steroids will trick your androgen receptors into producing more muscle-building proteins than normal while simultaneously producing less proteins that break down muscle. On the opposite spectrum there are also androgen receptors that can decrease muscle growth. While some steroids can work to increase muscle growth, others work to counteract the effects of these decreasing androgen receptors which then can ultimately work to decrease recovery time in between workouts.
While steroids can work to enhance muscle growth and lower fatigue, they also have a very compounding effect. This muscle growth results in greater strength, agility which ultimately results in even further growth in muscle during workouts.
- Jacob Groat
Group 4-Sport Management Seminar 