Anabolic Steroids

Anabolic steroids — more properly anabolic-androgenic steroids — are steroidal androgens that include the natural male hormone testosterone and synthetic compounds with similar effects. They increase muscle mass and bone maturation and promote the production of creatine phosphate (which lets the athlete train harder); other sought-after effects are increased fat-free mass, strength, aggression and the ability to sustain and recover from high-intensity workouts.

How they work in the body

Anabolic steroids work by binding to androgen receptors inside muscle cells, which switches on genes that increase protein synthesis and retain nitrogen in the muscle tissue — the basic building blocks the body uses to repair and grow muscle fibre. This is why steroid users can train harder and recover faster between sessions than their natural physiology would otherwise allow: the drug artificially accelerates the same repair process that normal strength training triggers on its own, just far beyond what the body would do unaided.

Why athletes misuse them

The appeal for an athlete is straightforward: faster recovery between heavy sessions means more total training volume over a season, and more muscle mass and strength directly help power and strength sports such as weightlifting, throwing events and sprinting. The aggression and confidence side-effects are sometimes misused deliberately in combat and contact sports as well.

Detection and WADA status

Anabolic agents fall under WADA's S1 category and are prohibited at all times, both in and out of competition — unlike some other drug classes, there is no "safe" off-season window to use them. Detection relies mainly on urine testing: a raised testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio is a standard screening flag, and carbon-isotope-ratio testing can distinguish the body's own testosterone from a synthetic version, since synthetic steroids often stay detectable in the body (and therefore in testing) for weeks because they are stored in body fat and released slowly.

Side effects

• high blood pressure; …