Drug-Free Physical Health

HEALTH BODY

BY CORY FREEMAN

During the summer of 2015, I lived in a suburb in southern Connecticut, near New York City. I joined a gym close to the house. I remember walking into that gym and saw many big muscular guys all in one space. I knew this was where I wanted to work out so I could get big like all of these men.

As time went on and my results seemed lackluster in comparison, I asked questions to the guys in the gym. I found out; anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use was prevalent there.

No wonder I wasn’t gaining size like these guys, they were using substances that enhance muscle development beyond what occurs naturally with resistance training.

This piqued my curiosity, so I began asking more friends and acquaintances, of whom mostly were other gay men, if they had used or are using AAS. I was shocked to learn that the vast majority of gay men I had spoken to had, or were at that time, using AAS.

Some of these men were prescribed AAS by their doctor. Some of them were using without prescription, but still receiving blood checks and input from their doctor despite

strong discouragement. I also discovered many of these men purchased from black market sources and were not consulting any health care providers.

I found it very concerning the number of gay men in the latter group since they were most likely to haphazardly abuse these substances based on information on Internet blogs and what “gym bros” suggested.

The results one can achieve with AAS when used in conjunction with appropriate training and diet are quite remarkable. However, this comes with a cost to our health and wellbeing. There are many unfortunate adverse effects to using enhancing drugs. They include cardiovascular, sexual/reproductive, psychiatric, hormonal, liver, skin, and kidney adverse effects.

It is ironic how we work hard to build and maintain healthy bodies, and we look to these substances to take us to the next level, yet they themselves put our health at risk.

If you choose to use these types of substances then it is strongly encouraged that you talk with your doctor openly and honestly about what you are taking so they can help you do so in the least dangerous way. This should also be a time to reflect on your motivation behind using performance enhancing substances in order to weigh out the risk to benefit ratio.

CORY FREEMAN is a two-time first-place national bodybuilding champion, having won both of his first-place titles, The Men’s Classic Physique Master’s Over 35 at the 2019 NPC Viking Championship and at the 2019 NPC Masters USA in his rookie year. Cory works as a physical therapist in the home health industry.