(MUSCLE) MASS HYSTERIA?

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

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.

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

Hard Knocks: Do We Really Understand the Extent of a Concussion?

It’s a question that any sportsman, regardless of their sport - from football to volleyball – should seriously ask themselves. Do you really understand what a concussion is, and what it can cause if left untreated or repeated time after time? It isn’t a sin to admit ignorance, but its damn near idiotic not to admit the injury.

What is a ‘Concussion’?

“A concussion is a disturbance of the nerve cells in the brain as a result of a blow to the skull”
Put simply, it’s the result of your brain smashing against your skull so hard it temporarily shuts parts of the brain down. So every concussion is serious, no matter how meager the hit may have seemed.

What are the symptoms?

Nausea (feeling that you might throw up)
Balance problems or dizziness
Headache
Double or fuzzy vision
Feeling groggy
Confusion
Concentration problems

These symptoms usually rear their heads in one go, with a sufferer usually seeming out of it and unable to recover fully. However, sometimes the effects can be less obvious to others, and in many cases, a concussion can go untreated due to embarrassment or simply not reading the signs clearly enough.

Worst Case Scenario - The End of the Spectrum

If you’ve been stuck underneath a rock for the past six months then you will have heard the coverage of the Benoit family tragedy. If you don’t know the story, go search for it, it isn’t nice, but the latest developments have brought authorities and the world a step closer to understanding why Chris Benoit did what he did. Other than his gross intake of anabolic steroids, a recent report showed Benoit was suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE): basically, Benoit had concussed himself so many times over his career that his brain resembled “that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient. And with NFL players dropping like flies from repetitive brain injuries and concussed-based suicides, the evidence has never been clearer.

So what does this mean to young sportsman?

At College and University level – and beyond – its unlikely we as sportsman are going to take the kind of punishment that a pro-linebacker or a pro wrestler would, but both cases above were and continue to be the result of one simple factor: not reading the signs, and not having the guts to act on them and avoid further injury. Any doctor will tell you a concussion is serious, two in a row is even worse, but three is damn near dangerous.

It’s drummed into our heads (no pun intended) at school that our brains and skulls are not fully strengthened until adulthood, hence many schools choosing to play more non-contact sports such as tag-rugby or touch-lacrosse. However, grown men can still suffer extensive problems from one or more concussions, depending on the severity of the hit. Of course, concussions are more likely in contact sports such as rugby, lacrosse and American football, and as hard as we try to be safe, concussions are always the painful by-product of accidental points of contact (such as making a rugby tackle across the body, only to have the ball-carrier’s knee strike you in the head).

Ultimately, some sportsman may never suffer a concussion in their life. Maybe they’re just a hard bastard, maybe they play their game so well then know how to avoid them, or maybe, and more than likely, they are just lucky. As with any sport, especially contact sports, taking and making a hit is part of the game, and we all put our bodies on the line every time we commit to one. The best advice I can give you is don’t be a tool, if you have suffered the symptoms you read earlier, especially on more than one occasion, then tell your coach, and better yet, tell your doctor.

Read the signs, and take the right steps.

D.R - Lincoln

Losing Faith - The Biggest Problem

It's a Tuesday afternoon - over two days since my last full contact training for American Football - and my body's still aching like hell. It's something I'm used to now, and after a debut season pouring my heart, soul and body into every move, both off and on the field, I'm ready for what this new season will bring. But it doesn't mean there are moments where I could just walk away and have done with it; and there are a lot.

To even walk into a gym takes a lot for most people (granted there are those of us who simply exude confidence and are less affected by such a thing), but it takes a hell of a lot more to stay there, to see some point in lifting another stupidly heavy weight whilst some mid-nineties crap skips over the speakers, and some fake-tanned meat-head leans over again to ask "You done wiv those weights mate?".

And even now, years after I first forced myself to do something about my bad health, I still find myself sat on work bench, music in my ears and absolutely no drive to do another muscle-straining set. And the truth is, these moments are healthy. Without a moment of sheer despair and self-loathing it’s difficult to really see the extent of the problem. The desire to change something like a bad diet or crappy attitude to exercise can only spring into life once you've found yourself in that dark little hole looking up for some glimmer of a way out.

If you met me you'd never think I play a sport, or a full contact one at that. And I fight every time I train to improve and raise the bar of my performance. I stopped playing rugby when I was 16, and never found the sheer drive to join a gym till I was 18. Over the last three years there have been times, maybe weeks at a time where I've found myself avoiding the gym - because its too much effort, because I felt like shit, or simply because it was the last thing on my mind at the time. And once again, as hard as it was, I somehow needed to fall off the bandwagon to find the drive again that made me want to change my life in the first place.

"Confidence and commitment, are the single, most important factors in making that first step" - the words of my Offensive Coach - nuff' said.