Steroids allow athletes to achieve greater athletic performance than nature intended. But AAS have side effects. Find out how to replace steroids in bodybuilding. For several decades, steroids have been actively used in sports. And all this time there is a desire to find what to replace steroids in bodybuilding. We will give the answer to this below, but now it is necessary to understand why such a desire arises.
You can simply refuse to use them and the question will be removed. Those readers who are looking for a replacement for anabolic drugs to completely abandon their use need not read further. This is due to the fact that it is simply not possible. There are no such funds that will be similar to AAS in their effects on the body and effectiveness.
The main reasons for using steroids
Start by defining steroids. AAS are called artificial analogs of male hormones or androgens. However, in comparison with natural androgens, steroids have a weak hormonal effect, but a strong anabolic one. Steroids are designed to produce the greatest possible effect on muscle tissue.
Nature has not given man the genetic ability to possess a large mass of muscles. This is due to the fact. That in everyday life there is no such need, and in the course of evolution, the gene necessary for this was not created in the body. Living things that need muscles have them at their disposal, like, say, a gorilla. Adult males of these primates have a body weight of about 300 kilograms and to a greater extent these are just muscles.
However, in the course of evolution, it was possible to survive not thanks to powerful muscles, but to intelligence. For this reason, the human brain is larger than that of a gorilla. But not every person wants to put up with what nature has given him and wants to build muscle mass. But he cannot achieve this on his own, since the body will resist. This is due to the fact that with an increase in the volume of muscle mass, the weight of the brain decreases, which the body does not want to allow. Thus, the mass of muscle tissue can fluctuate within very insignificant limits, and genes are the main limiting factor here.
This situation can only be changed at the genetic level after a certain cellular mutation. Such mutations can be congenital, but they are a disease, and a healthy organism must be influenced from the outside. With high androgen levels, the cellular machinery can be damaged, which can lead to muscle growth. Some people have congenital hyperanrogynemia and it is much easier for them to gain muscle mass. However, it also contributes to the development of malignant tumor formations. In this regard, it should be noted that scientists have established a relationship between muscle mass and life expectancy. The results do not look optimistic for bodybuilders, as the more muscle mass, the shorter the lifespan.
In the human body, other processes can also occur that affect the increase in muscle tissue. To understand the mechanism of their work, one should imagine a cell undergoing physical stress. The cell is provided with all the necessary nutrients (now we are talking about favorable conditions), as well as energy and building materials.
When exercise is at optimal levels, muscle fibers thicken due to increased glycogen production. This process will continue until the cell has exhausted its genetic resources.
In turn, genes are a small section of a DNA molecule, which is known to be a helical structure located in the nucleus of a cell. Each gene is responsible for performing certain functions in the body. It is very important to know that the degree of intensity of the process depends not only on the presence of a gene, but also on their number. In other words, the more genes are in the DNA, the more active the process is.
When the cell reaches the maximum size set by the genes, it would seem that this should all be over. However, everything is just beginning. If such a cell continues to experience the effects of physical exertion, then a bifurcation of a long DNA molecule occurs, which, as a result, becomes already two. But at the same time, the cell itself does not divide, moreover, having reached a certain age, the cells of the muscle tissue lose their ability to divide. But since there are two DNA molecules, the mass of the cell nucleus increases and the cell can grow again.
After that, the process described above is repeated again. Scientists have at their disposal genetic material, the size of which in comparison with the original has increased 32 times. For this reason, in order to increase muscle mass, it is necessary to change the genetic capabilities of cells. This is what steroids were created for. But they have one significant drawback - high androgenic activity.
Scientists have been working for a long time to reduce this indicator without compromising the effectiveness of the steroid. So far, they have not been able to create such a tool.
What can replace steroids?
So we come to the question - how to replace steroids in bodybuilding? Theoretically, this remedy can be somatotropin. In a young body, the main task of this hormone is to ensure tissue growth, and after a certain period of time, growth hormone affects only the anabolic background. However, it has a rather serious drawback - with frequent use of growth hormone, diabetes mellitus can develop.
It is for this reason that athletes should be very careful when using the drug. Scientists are trying to create artificial growth hormone, which would have high anabolic properties and would be devoid of diabetogenic properties. To date, they have not succeeded.
Nowadays, ultra-short insulin is becoming more and more popular among athletes. This drug is not addictive to the body and its courses can be very long. Also, athletes use gonadotropin and hypothalamic hormone. That's all hormonal drugs, how to replace steroids in bodybuilding. There are also non-hormonal ones, however, in terms of the strength of their effect on the body, they are significantly inferior to steroids.
On whether it is possible to replace steroids in bodybuilding:
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