It was always supposed to be about protecting the kids.
The case of Jeff Rutstein, a personal trainer, author and a self-described recovering steroid addict, illustrates them. He gained 20 pounds in the first six weeks after starting anabolic steroids as a teenager in the 1980s. Before steroids, he was able to bench press 175 pounds; after six weeks he was able to bench press 225 - for 25 repetitions. He was also able to work out for long periods without stopping.
"When I was about 18 I started going to a bodybuilding gym, and I kind admired all the big bodybuilders. I felt like their bodies commanded respect," said Rutstein, who is now 40. "Once I got to know some of them, they let me in on their little secret, which turned out to be steroids." Rutstein said he first acquired the drugs through fellow steroid abusers at his gym and later found an unscrupulous physician in the town where he attended college to write prescriptions. To finance his increasingly expensive habit -- which grew to cost "hundreds of dollars" a month -- he eventually took to dealing steroids to his friends and stealing money from his parents.
He spent more than three years cycling steroids -- both pills and injectables -- buoyed on the one hand by the attention his body was attracting and nagged on the other by fact that when he went off the drugs -- which he'd intended to use for only short time -- the muscles quickly disappeared.
His body and his workouts became the center of his life. Schoolwork, friends put off by his newfound aggressiveness and even side effects like the gushing nosebleeds he occasionally experienced were things to be ignored.
When he finally quit, "cold turkey, as a sort of New Year's resolution," he spiraled into a deep depression that left him wishing every day that he wouldn't wake up. With the help of his parents, he got treatment and recovered.
Rutstein thinks too much focus has been placed on the sports stars who have benefited from steroid abuse and not enough attention has been paid to the premature deaths of elite bodybuilders and athletes in their thirties and forties.
"I don't think people really realize how many people it's killed. They aren't saying it's from steroids, but why would a guy who exercises all the time and eats healthy be dying?" said Rutstein, citing the deaths of four leading bodybuilders within a month earlier this year.
"Lot of kids read this 'Underground Steroid Handbook,' " whose author, Dan Duchaine, won a lot of converts by promoting "safe" ways to take anabolic steroids, Rutstein said. "Duchaine died [in 2000] at age 47.
"Of 'natural causes.' " •
The case of Jeff Rutstein, a personal trainer, author and a self-described recovering steroid addict, illustrates them. He gained 20 pounds in the first six weeks after starting anabolic steroids as a teenager in the 1980s. Before steroids, he was able to bench press 175 pounds; after six weeks he was able to bench press 225 - for 25 repetitions. He was also able to work out for long periods without stopping.
"When I was about 18 I started going to a bodybuilding gym, and I kind admired all the big bodybuilders. I felt like their bodies commanded respect," said Rutstein, who is now 40. "Once I got to know some of them, they let me in on their little secret, which turned out to be steroids." Rutstein said he first acquired the drugs through fellow steroid abusers at his gym and later found an unscrupulous physician in the town where he attended college to write prescriptions. To finance his increasingly expensive habit -- which grew to cost "hundreds of dollars" a month -- he eventually took to dealing steroids to his friends and stealing money from his parents.
He spent more than three years cycling steroids -- both pills and injectables -- buoyed on the one hand by the attention his body was attracting and nagged on the other by fact that when he went off the drugs -- which he'd intended to use for only short time -- the muscles quickly disappeared.
His body and his workouts became the center of his life. Schoolwork, friends put off by his newfound aggressiveness and even side effects like the gushing nosebleeds he occasionally experienced were things to be ignored.
When he finally quit, "cold turkey, as a sort of New Year's resolution," he spiraled into a deep depression that left him wishing every day that he wouldn't wake up. With the help of his parents, he got treatment and recovered.
Rutstein thinks too much focus has been placed on the sports stars who have benefited from steroid abuse and not enough attention has been paid to the premature deaths of elite bodybuilders and athletes in their thirties and forties.
"I don't think people really realize how many people it's killed. They aren't saying it's from steroids, but why would a guy who exercises all the time and eats healthy be dying?" said Rutstein, citing the deaths of four leading bodybuilders within a month earlier this year.
"Lot of kids read this 'Underground Steroid Handbook,' " whose author, Dan Duchaine, won a lot of converts by promoting "safe" ways to take anabolic steroids, Rutstein said. "Duchaine died [in 2000] at age 47.
"Of 'natural causes.' " •
No comments:
Post a Comment