TESTOSTERONE

Testosterone is a natural anabolic steroid. Both Testosterone and Human Growth Hormone circulate naturally in your body. Testosterone is an anabolic steroid—a hormone that contributes to male characteristics, including increased muscle mass. HGH is produced in the pituitary gland, activating receptors that signal muscle growth. Upping your levels of testosterone and HGH can have benefits that range from increased energy and libido to muscle mass and athletic performance. But in synthetic form, both testosterone and HGH set off alarms in drug tests, as both are banned in pro sports for their potential to give the user an unfair competitive advantage.

Over the last few decades many athletes Ben Johnson (Canadian), Floyd Landis (American) Lance Armstrong (American) and many others besides across many sporting platforms, have been banned for drug use in their sport. The question of amateurs now ‘emulating the pros’ realises that cheating is endemic in our society.

This investigative story focuses on the backdrop of a Northern industrial town namely Barnsley and a key individual Paul Douglas-Waller. Paul works in a gym on a daily basis and has gained success through a program, which focuses mainly on the dietary supplements to increase male enhancement rather than the use of drugs.

His background of being a family man, and receiving many accolades has shone through and through his success has gained him much recognition among his peers, however, he knows that doping is prevalent in his chosen sport and wishes to promote anti-drug use within the field of body building. Many of his awards / trophies have a symbolic view of a ‘warrior’, this warrior is depicted as a “Spartan’. The Spartan program is a program that utilises natural dietary ingredients and sheer hard work, thus giving a perspective that ‘real men’ make the best of what they have without the use of drugs.

I discover that they’re many in his chosen sport that does use steroids to make the gains necessary to achieve success, but in so doing are risking their actual health. I visited one such competition which opens my eyes to the athlete’s regime during the IBFA York Open November 2015. I see that many of them drink red wine before a show, to achieve maximum definition as this allegedly helps you shed excess water from your body.

Dietary concerns have been raised in recent years with many woman’s and men’s health magazines seeking to promote a healthier lifestyle and targeting obesity, however many are concerned that bodybuilding also hides an undeniable truth that just like those who are anorexic, so too are bodybuilders suffering from an eating disorder, reverse anorexia, muscle dysmorphia and that constant impact on the body is actually a negative effect rather than positive.