Steroids…
When you hear that word or see it written down on a page I’m pretty sure you will end up with the mental image of some bald, red in the face genetic freak, with every single muscle in the body bulging like something from ‘Hellraiser’.
But that cliché, as accurate as it sometimes is (if you don’t believe me, take a trip to your local gym of an evening), the trend is changing in a truly worrying direction.
Teenagers as young as 16 (and in some cases I’ve heard of as young as 14) are obtaining and using anabolic steroids in order to gain the bodies of their sporting idols. An annual survey published in Druglink, a monthly magazine dedicated to the many areas of drug use – both legal and illegal – looked at 20 areas in the UK and found that the use of anabolic steroids has grown so much over the past year it has become “mainstream”.
You can read the full findings here @: http://www.drugscope.org.uk/ourwork/pressoffice/pressreleases/drugscope-survey-reveals-scale-of-steroid-misuse.htm
Before I let myself get into this minefield of an issue, I think it makes a lot of sense to set the record straight on what ‘steroids’ really are, and what they do to your body.
Steroids: A Definition
‘Anabolic steroids’ are a naturally occurring hormone in the body, which are integral to physical growth throughout life, most importantly in childhood and adolescence. In guys we have testosterone, which is linked from everything to how deep your voice is to how much adrenaline your body will produce under certain pressures. Testosterone is an aggressive hormone, and is used by female bodybuilders to increase their muscle mass - which is why female bodybuilders look so masculine. The female body only produces enough testosterone to regulate the body during puberty.
It worries me that steroids are becoming as sought after by young people as much as other drugs on the 'black market' (its a general term, but we all get what it means), such as 'weed' and ketamin. We have got to a point where children and young adults are being pressured from two very different sides. On the one hand you have obesity, which is rife in younger generations in the UK that has ever been; and with that you have alluring advertising going head to head with politicians constantly pressing about the issue but failing to do act on these 'concerns'. Then you have the growing pressure of 'self-image', and how only a rippling six-pack and tanned skin will get you anywhere in life, fed to impressionable children who suddenly feel incredibly insecure and take these images to be nigh on perfection.
If a grown adult chooses to take steroids, then should have the intelligence and the state of mind to understand what they are putting into their bodies. But came we really expect a child to understand the sheer effect a course of pills or even - as this scares alot of people, not just me - an injection can have on a growing body. The solution here is simple to write, and alot harder to put into practice, but this issue will get alot worse unless more people speak up about it. The simple answer is education: tackle the issue head on, and give the young people who are swallowing this bullshit a chance to see the broader picture.
Before it's too late.
D R-Lincoln
Tuesday 20 November 2007
Tuesday 6 November 2007
The Self-Hate Issue
These days most people have a problem with their appearance, whether it’s girls or guys. You can flick on the TV and every other advert is for a new ‘scientific breakthrough’ in skin regeneration, or a new deodorant that will apparently force women to offer you a quick shag if you ask them when the next bus is due. And all of this, every single advert, is feeding off the lack of personal contentment young people carry with them. Appearance is everything: girls will buy Heat or Cosmo because they hope that somewhere in that over-priced waste of tree is some shining secret that will rid them of that sick feeling they get when they walk past a mirror. We guys are exactly the same, from Men’s Health, to Four Four Two to even something like Kerrang; we end up feeling crap because what we see is something that makes us feel inadequate in the shape of a footballer or a ‘cool’ looking rock star.
It is all utter bullshit.
But to deem something ‘bullshit’ is a hell of a lot easier than finding a solution to an ever-evolving problem. What I find has always been the root of my insecurities is how I believe other people are viewing me. It seems like a crazy idea to actually read it, but it really is a product of one part our culture, to two parts our own twisted view of what is acceptable.
My own way of dealing with this is ‘accomplishment’; what I mean is I fill my day with so many things to do – things I know I can do – that by the time I get round to going out I am a) either too tired to truly care if a girl walking past me thinks I’m fit or not or b) I’m so high on self-accomplishment it doesn’t phase me as much. And that’s one of the biggest truths we deny in this age. We will never truly rid ourselves of the way we pull our t-shirts out to less empathise our stomach or the way we walk past a mirrored surface and hate what we see in that passing millisecond. It seems what we should be looking at is how we can simply make it less of problem, rather than attempt to eradicate something beyond the realm of your control.
The best advice I can give you is enjoy life: fill your day with things you know you will pull off and do well. Some love a challenge, others find encouragement in repetition. The means doesn’t matter, it’s the decent feeling at the end of it when you look in that mirror and want to run away from what you see that little bit less than you did a few days earlier.
It is all utter bullshit.
But to deem something ‘bullshit’ is a hell of a lot easier than finding a solution to an ever-evolving problem. What I find has always been the root of my insecurities is how I believe other people are viewing me. It seems like a crazy idea to actually read it, but it really is a product of one part our culture, to two parts our own twisted view of what is acceptable.
My own way of dealing with this is ‘accomplishment’; what I mean is I fill my day with so many things to do – things I know I can do – that by the time I get round to going out I am a) either too tired to truly care if a girl walking past me thinks I’m fit or not or b) I’m so high on self-accomplishment it doesn’t phase me as much. And that’s one of the biggest truths we deny in this age. We will never truly rid ourselves of the way we pull our t-shirts out to less empathise our stomach or the way we walk past a mirrored surface and hate what we see in that passing millisecond. It seems what we should be looking at is how we can simply make it less of problem, rather than attempt to eradicate something beyond the realm of your control.
The best advice I can give you is enjoy life: fill your day with things you know you will pull off and do well. Some love a challenge, others find encouragement in repetition. The means doesn’t matter, it’s the decent feeling at the end of it when you look in that mirror and want to run away from what you see that little bit less than you did a few days earlier.
Friday 2 November 2007
The Student Lifestyle Vs The Healthy Lifestyle: Can They Co-Exist?
The further we get into the student lifestyle, from school into sixth form or college, right through into University, balancing all the elements of socializing and having a good time with the pressures of meeting a healthy balance can be a heavy weight to carry.
I have a mixed stance on this: I’m not the kind of person who takes smoothly to working out or exercising; I’m naturally a lazy bastard and would kill to have a few more lie-ins a week and avoid having to train. And throw that into a student scenario (being in Halls, going out often, being shattered from the workload) and somehow the desire and the likelihood of maintaining decent health becomes surplus to requirement.
And I am in no way a natural sportsman, anything I may do right I achieve because I’ve fucked it up a million times before. I play tough and difficult sports, so even more effort is required.
Keeping up the determination required to go for a half hour jog in the morning, or the desire to go to a gym and train around people who make you feel fat or ugly because they may look better is hard, really fucking hard. But I thrive off that, one second its self-loathing, the next I’ve turned than into uncompromising determination to take it up a gear.
This goes back to my first entry, about keeping faith in you, but it also goes to another level.
It takes a tough mindset to look at a days ‘to-do-list’ and still think ‘Man, I’ve got to train today’. What I find works well is to get as many things done that you know you can do quickly and well, that way your self-esteem is so high that when you’re still occupied, you’re think ‘Man, I DO want to go to the gym’. You don’t even need to join a gym if that isn’t your thing; simply going for a daily walk does you wonders. Some of the most beneficial exercise can be done at home: press-ups, crunches, etc.
Work out what you want from a workout, and work towards it. If you want to lose body fat, run more, walk more, eat a little less crap and a little more decent food, it doesn’t cost much more to eat even a bit more healthy. If you want to be more defined and toned, train those areas you want to strengthen and work on your cardio. That way you will see results quicker and you will have even more desire to kick some ass.
If you know you want to train tomorrow, but you’re going out tonight, maybe drink less that night, or move your workout into later in the day, so you step through those doors with an upbeat view. If you’ve got a ton of assignments to write and make your own, do one, then go for a jog with your earphones in, come back, take a shower and suddenly your comfortable, a little tired and fulfilled in knowing you’ve done so much.
Being healthy and being a student is what you make it, not the other way round.
D R-Lincoln
I have a mixed stance on this: I’m not the kind of person who takes smoothly to working out or exercising; I’m naturally a lazy bastard and would kill to have a few more lie-ins a week and avoid having to train. And throw that into a student scenario (being in Halls, going out often, being shattered from the workload) and somehow the desire and the likelihood of maintaining decent health becomes surplus to requirement.
And I am in no way a natural sportsman, anything I may do right I achieve because I’ve fucked it up a million times before. I play tough and difficult sports, so even more effort is required.
Keeping up the determination required to go for a half hour jog in the morning, or the desire to go to a gym and train around people who make you feel fat or ugly because they may look better is hard, really fucking hard. But I thrive off that, one second its self-loathing, the next I’ve turned than into uncompromising determination to take it up a gear.
This goes back to my first entry, about keeping faith in you, but it also goes to another level.
It takes a tough mindset to look at a days ‘to-do-list’ and still think ‘Man, I’ve got to train today’. What I find works well is to get as many things done that you know you can do quickly and well, that way your self-esteem is so high that when you’re still occupied, you’re think ‘Man, I DO want to go to the gym’. You don’t even need to join a gym if that isn’t your thing; simply going for a daily walk does you wonders. Some of the most beneficial exercise can be done at home: press-ups, crunches, etc.
Work out what you want from a workout, and work towards it. If you want to lose body fat, run more, walk more, eat a little less crap and a little more decent food, it doesn’t cost much more to eat even a bit more healthy. If you want to be more defined and toned, train those areas you want to strengthen and work on your cardio. That way you will see results quicker and you will have even more desire to kick some ass.
If you know you want to train tomorrow, but you’re going out tonight, maybe drink less that night, or move your workout into later in the day, so you step through those doors with an upbeat view. If you’ve got a ton of assignments to write and make your own, do one, then go for a jog with your earphones in, come back, take a shower and suddenly your comfortable, a little tired and fulfilled in knowing you’ve done so much.
Being healthy and being a student is what you make it, not the other way round.
D R-Lincoln
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