An anonymous review
Actually, the fitness sport should serve to give us a healthy and resistant body. At least that's what you should mean. For many hobby athletes, however, weight training means more. It's not about being fit and healthy, it's about getting the perfect body to impress others and boosting your self-esteem. That many professional bodybuilders would never have reached their shape without doping, we probably do not need to tell anyone.
But what's worth telling is that more and more exercisers who do not earn their money on the competition stage with their bodies are also using steroids and other doping agents. But why do young people face such health risks, even though they should know what doping does to their bodies? The answer and the effects of the "shortcut from the syringe" had on his life, provides us with Markus.
A normal boy from Munich
Markus - this is not his real name, because he wants to remain anonymous - is 17 years old and a normal teenager. He lives on the outskirts of Munich and goes to the 11th grade of the Gymnasium. As usual at this age, he and his friends start getting more and more interested in weight training. They decide to register at the gym near the school to pump as 9.1 million Germans for the "dream body". That's what the lanky young man with the pale face, who hopes for better opportunities among the young women in his grade on this way, calls it.
In the first few months, things are progressing well, because Markus and his friends are doing well during strength training. At some point, however, Markus begins to lose touch. His friends push more and more on the bank and also develop physically much faster. To keep up with his friends, Markus trains harder and makes special shifts. But the successes do not come as fast as he hopes.
And so he begins to research the Internet and quickly comes across an online store that seems at first glance to be completely professional and not just as you imagine a dodgy online sales of illegal drugs. Since the quick success lures without a long wait, Markus sacrifices a portion of his money, which he has earned through tutoring, and ordered a pack.
Entry into the vicious circle
Within a few months Markus is gaining a lot of weight. From the 65 kg lightweight asparagus resin has become a strong man with over 90 kilograms. Markus is doing really well, because he has been sticking his friends in his pocket for a long time. But that's not enough, because he finally conquered Lisa. The two are now a couple for several weeks. After about a year Markus had achieved his goal. Asked why he did not drop the fabric, Markus replies, "Well, I was scared to lose Lisa again when I'm getting thinner. So I continued. "
Markus trains like a man possessed and spend more and more money on doping. Soon, the lockable drawer of his nightstand next to the bed looks like a pharmacy. One morning, Markus gets up and grabs an ampoule and a cannula. Lisa has stayed with him, nor is she asleep. Markus takes the opportunity and goes to the bathroom. He gets fresh for a short time and then pulls up the syringe with trained hands. Then he skillfully puts the syringe on his thigh, as he does dozens of times, and stings. Just when he wants to dispose of the syringe, Lisa appears in the bathroom.
It comes to a fight, because Lisa had already caught him once and demanded that he stop to increase this stuff. The dispute is fierce. Lisa threatens to leave Markus. Markus feels an incredible rage rising and strikes. It is not the first time that Markus has reacted so impulsively. He recently gave a violin to a boy who had been watching him at school for too long. He had also become rude to his parents and teachers. Even his Lisa, whom he loved above all, felt his uncontrolled outbursts of rage for the slightest of reasons.
Physical decay becomes noticeable
Three months later, Markus stands in front of the mirror in the gym. Lisa has since separated from him. He had become a real asshole, she had said. Markus could not understand that and responded by training even harder. Markus has risen again, he sees that. But he also sees that his face is getting pimply. His back is now covered in acne scars. But that does not matter to Mark, he is proud to reach the 100 kilo mark soon.
More and more frequently, Markus wakes up in the middle of the night sweaty and feels his heart beat wildly. If he looks at photos from earlier, he also notices that he already gets significant receding hairline. A side effect that you have to accept if you want to have a dream body, he thinks. But one thing worries him more and more. Meanwhile, he also has pain in the nipples. When the pain does not go away even after a few days, Markus looks for a solution on the internet. "The body converts excess testosterone into estrogen. This can lead to the growth of a female breast, "he reads.
Markus is shocked and decides to throw away all remaining ampoules and stop with the fabrics, because he wants "Bitch-Tits" at no cost. Markus quickly realizes that it was a mistake to remove the testosterone. He feels dull, dejected, empty. He realizes he is getting weaker. Feels like his biceps every day an inch of circumference. He can not take it anymore, gets weak and gets another month's supply.
The low point
Markus is obsessed with the fear of losing his muscles and thus his status. The fact that he has not stopped spraying despite the pain in the nipples is clearly noticeable. Under the wide sweater, which he still wears even in early summer, he hides his male breasts. He's worried she might see somebody - especially the closets from the studio and of course the young women in his class. Again, Markus discards all the other ampoules. Now he finally wants to make it.
Markus has not taken anything for a week. He still feels bad. Not only are his "Bitch-Tits" worrying about Markus, but also the more and more frequently occurring tachycardia. Today, sport is on the school timetable at school. Actually, a subject that Markus was always looking forward to. He found it harder and harder to hide his man's breast, and in the last few weeks he had often skipped class.
Markus has to participate on this day, because he needs the grade in the 400-meter-run for his high school diploma. Markus stands under the grin of his classmates in the starting block. He still wears his gray "Gold's Gym" pullover, at least 25 degrees. His heart beats in the throat as he starts. His pulse goes faster and faster, his field of vision narrows. The world around him is blurred. When Markus comes to an emergency doctor kneels over him. He lies with his pullover cut open in the middle of the tartan track. As he looks around, he looks into the worried faces of his classmates. A stinging in the chest. Then everything will turn black again.
Jumped to death but shattered for life
Half a year has passed since the incident on the sports field. With the help of a psychotherapist Markus has managed to defeat both his depressive moods and his addiction. As the doctor had told him at the hospital, he had suffered two heart attacks that day as a result of severe myocardial hypertrophy. Only by resuscitating the paramedics had he been able to save him on the sports field, after he had become black for the second time.
Markus has been lucky, he knows that. Even if he has lost almost 20 pounds, he feels better without "stuff". In the meantime, Markus is even training again. Carefully, however - his doctor has warned him, because the extreme growth of the heart muscle is irreversible and can lead to an infarct at any time in case of overloading. At least his "Bitch-Tits" will be released in a few weeks. Then Markus has his surgery appointment, where the fatty tissue is removed from his chest. Scars, however, will remain as much of OP as of its strong steroid acne.
Asked if it was worth it, Markus struggles with an answer. He sighs and points only to one of his friends, we call him Toni. His gaze falls on the well-trained but not inflated-looking triceps of his friend, who is currently talking to Lisa. Markus stops for a moment and says: "If I had not wanted to have everything right away, I would have been able to achieve it. But I have to be happy that I'm still alive. I walk around with acne scars and have to be careful not to overload my heart. Damn, I'm just 19! Was it worth it? No!"
So you do not even get tempted
Markus is just one of about 1.8 million trainers in Germany who, according to figures from the University Hospital Lübeck, have consumed or consumed illegal doping substances. The dark figure is probably even higher. As you have seen, the health consequences can be dramatic. In addition to the effects that Markus fortunately until now has overcome, the doping abuse also has other consequences.
Often, serious damage to the liver occurs, which is manifested in the pain and yellowing of the eyes. Often, only a liver transplant saves the person's life. Also, the shrinkage of the testicles on peas size and fertility is anything but a horror fairy tale. Not for nothing are bodybuilders among pathologists as very popular study objects. So you do not even get into this vicious circle, you can do a lot:
1. Study the topics of training and nutrition in detail. Here too you will find more than enough material to help you reach your goal without injections and pills.
2. Choose a gym that has enough coaches for competent and personal care. In such studios, the likelihood of getting into doped circles is less likely.
3. Find an experienced training partner or mentor in the studio. Here you get the tools to help you stay fit and healthy in the long term. But be aware that success does not come overnight.
