Anabolic steroids were first introduced by the Germans during World War II. The soldiers were injected with synthetic testosterone to make them fight more aggressively. Since then, men and woman alike have turned to anabolic steroids to enhance their overall athletic performance and appearance. Now, as we enter the new millennium, it is not just the athletes who use steroids; steroids are becoming more widespread and easier to get, even by an inexperienced user or a teenager. There are approximately thirty eight different steroids out there, all of which will make the user big. Steroids do produce enormous size and strength gains, but with that come the legal troubles and side effects, which can be deadly.

It is a proven fact that the use of steroids does produce outrageous size and strength gains. Sustanon 250 is the third most popular of all anabolic steroids, and consists of testosterone propionate, 30 mg; testosterone phenyl propionate, 60 mg; testosterone isocaproate, 60mg; and testosterone decanoate, 100 mg. The mixture of the testosterones are time-released to provide an immediate effect while still remaining active in the body for up to a month. Gains in both size and strength are comparable between Sustanon 250, and the fifth most popular anabolic steroid, Dianabol, commonly referred to as Dbol. After just six weeks, users have reported anywhere between eight and twenty-five pound weight gains, all lean muscle. On average, someone on steroids can increase their bench press max up to forty pounds, from before using. For example,

someone who could previously bench press one hundred and eighty five pounds once (a one-rep max), can usually increase their bench to at least two hundred and twenty five pounds.

All was going well with steroid users, and their gains, that is until November 29, 1991. That year President Bush passed the Anabolic Control Act of 1991, this made steroids a schedule III drug. People who are caught handling steroids would now be prosecuted, and have to pay heavy fines and in some cases, jail time. Because of the athletic benefits that steroids produce, many professional athletes have tested positive for, sport enhancing drugs. Most professional leagues do not ban those athletes from ever playing the sport again, instead they give suspensions and hefty fines and of thousands of dollars! The Olympics, however, are sterner on the war on roids, anyone who tests positive for the drugs during the games will be eliminated, immediately and if they already have won gold, that gets stripped.

Ex-professional football great Lyle Alzado is a prime example of all the effects steroids produce. He started using right out of high school when they were legal. That was the only way he would get to the NFL, he thought. Alzado went from about one hundred and eighty pounds to a staggering three hundred pounds, not to mention his six- percent body fat. That was unheard of in the NFL. But as time progressed, so did his habit. Alzado spent an estimated thirty thousand dollars a year on the juice. But not just one year, he went on, and he did not come off for thirty years! If you watch an old video or talk to a football historian they will tell you that he was the meanest player around, hence roid rage. Lyle did what he wanted to do, he got into the NFL and made a major name for himself, then he died. At one point he said, if you aint cheat n, then you aint tryin. Well that caught up to him, and he died of brain cancer most likely, yet not proven, from the steroids.

The media hypes steroids up to be this huge dangerous killer drug like heroin. But when used at reasonable levels, they can increase muscle size, strength, and even boost your immune system. AIDs patients are actually given deca-durabolin to boost their immune systems, and it seems to be working. If you are a big-time athlete, steer clear from steroids, because the government is cracking down. For those of us who just want to make our shirt hang off our shoulders better, use common sense and do not go overboard, which inevitably can lead to death.