Looking to gain more lean muscle mass? If so, you’re likely working hard in the gym and putting in a good effort with your nutrition program.
Your calories are high, your weights are heavy, and you’re making sure to prioritize your sleep for superior recovery ability.
You browse through the supplement store and then someone at the gym tells you they’ve found the ultimate solution: steroids.
For many men, the temptation to turn to steroids is high as more and more are going this route. Is it a safe route however?
As you’re about to see, it’s not only unsafe, but it could actually make long-term muscle building harder than if you hadn’t used them.
7 Reasons Not to take Steroids
1. Steroids Can Cause Impotence
First, if you have yet to have kids and that’s something you plan on doing in the coming years of your life, you’ll really want to think twice about steroid use. A study published in the Western Journal of Medicine illustrated that there was a direct relationship between steroid use and incidences of impotence, illustrating this connection (1).
Steroid use is going to shut down your own natural production of testosterone, which is key for sperm development and function.
So many of the bodybuilding users taking steroids don’t think about this consequence until it’s too late. Don’t make the same mistake if having a family is of importance to you.
If you’re beyond the baby making period of your life or simply have no desire for kids, how about maintaining an active and healthy sex life?
Steroids can impact that as well. Many steroid users will experience significantly decreased sexual performance including struggling to maintain or even achieve an erection.
2. They Really Can Make You Crazy
You may have heard before that those who use steroids can suffer from higher feelings of rage and aggression, but don’t take this too lightly. Many men figure that’s great – it’ll only make you more ‘manly’ since the aggressive trait is often characterized as making you more man-like.
But, how about being psychotic? That’s not a description anyone would want used in conjunction with their name, but go on steroids and that’s what you might just get.
One study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry noted that 12% of the steroid users from their study group illustrated psychotic symptoms, while up to 22% illustrated full affective symptoms.
NOTE: this study is no longer available for free, so we’d like to share this study as a replacement.
Steroids can really mess with your mind – to the point where it’s uncontrollable and you’ll become almost a whole new person.
Are you willing to give something full control over you?
3. Risk Of Sudden Cardiac Death
If changing into a psychotic new you isn’t enough to put you off the use of steroids, how about sudden death?
Because steroids are going to put more pressure on the heart, pumping additional blood throughout the body to this newly built muscle mass and cause the heart itself to enlarge, this can put you at risk for sudden cardiopulmonary arrests, as was noted by a study published in the Cardiology journal.
The researchers looked at a case of a sudden cardiac death case of a 20 year old who was in excellent health standing apart from the fact he had a history of steroid use (2).
It can happen to anyone, no matter how healthy you are going in, so don’t be one of those who assumes ‘it can’t happen to you.’
4. No one is invincible
Another study published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences investigated the reasons behind the deaths of steroid users (3).
Of the 34 users they studied, chronic cardiac changes were observed in 12 cases, 2 cases were due to accidental poisonous deaths, and the remaining causes were homicides, suicides, and poisonings determined accidental or indeterminate in manner were related to impulsive, disinhibited behavior characterized by violent rages, mood swings, and/or uncontrolled drug intake.
5. Hormonal Changes
The next reason to avoid steroid use is because of the hormonal changes this will cause in your body. You already realize that using steroids will mean you have a higher level of testosterone flowing through your veins while on them. But, what else takes place?
First, your sperm production goes down and shrinking of the testicles will occur. Additionally, some of the irreversible changes that occur include changes in male-pattern baldness, and the appearance of female-like breast tissue referred to as gynecomastia.
Many bodybuilders think they can side step this issue by using a proper post-cycle therapy support product, but don’t be fooled so easily. While it can help in some cases, not everyone will be able to avoid the development of additional breast tissue with these products.
You are still at risk regardless of what product you are using.
6. Liver Problems
Since your liver is the primary detoxifying agent in the body, by putting steroids into your system, you’ll also be placing great strain on the liver as well.
Those who use steroids have been known to suffer from liver tumors and peliosis hepatis, which is a case where blood-filled cysts form in the liver and can eventually rupture, leading to serious and potentially fatal internal bleeding (4).
Here again, liver support products are available, but don’t assume they will fully protect you. You are still working your liver harder than ever and placing great strain on it anytime you use anabolic steroids.
7. Additional Issues To Know
Finally, some of the additional consequences of using steroids that you should know about include a decreased immune system, which could result in a higher level of infections and diseases, an increased risk of body acne, and a reduced level of joint flexibly (5).
Many steroid users will report serious joint pain after or during the use of steroids, so that’s something else to be highly aware of.
So there you have the main points to know and remember regarding why you should avoid steroids. As you can see, the risks are simply not worth the benefits, especially when there are effective, safe alternatives out there.
Your Smarter Alternative…
Instead of crossing over to steroid use, consider a natural based product that will actually work with your own body chemistry to help increase your own natural production of testosterone.
A testosterone booster such as TestoFuel differs from steroids in that rather than actually causing the body to shut down its own natural production of this growth hormone because external hormone is being administered, it uses key ingredients that stimulate a greater release of your own testosterone production.
Since this is your own natural body increasing its output, the risk of side effects is non-existent and when you come off the product, should you choose to, your levels of testosterone will just return back to your normal baseline.
When steroid users come off steroids, their levels often never get back to their formally low levels and instead, they suffer from incredibly low levels from that point forward, essentially crushing any potential gym results they could see.
With steroid use, you pretty much have to commit to staying on them forever or risk losing your gains entirely and going backward.
With a natural testosterone booster, you can go on and off as you choose and you will keep any muscle you’ve built since it’s been built naturally, not from ‘borrowed testosterone’.
Many others just use one or the other, but with TestoFuel, you get it all, so it’s a great place to start your journey into higher levels of muscle gain.
Say No to Steroids
While the allure of quick muscle growth may be enticing, focus on the long-term side effects these cause in your body and the fact that the muscle isn’t actually 100% yours since it was built with an external substance.
