How anabolic steroids work?

The world is talking about steroids, their consumption is on a rise and so markets are over-flowing with steroid compounds promising its users absolute achievement of their desired goals. Athletes, amateurs and professional body builders and people wanting to enhance their physical looks are among top bunch that largely ingest steroids. Though the results they bring is only what matters to us but one must also know what exactly are steroids, how do they bring changes in the body and how they work.

Anabolic steroids are mainly drugs artificially designed to resemble the male hormone called testosterone. The reason they are broadly consumed is because they help in weight gain, increase muscle strength, power, speed, endurance and to the extent of aggressiveness. Though they are popularly known to be used only by sportspersons, they have also found usage among high school students as well.

Here’s how they work!

Steroid hormones work by stimulation of receptor molecules in the muscle cells, which in turn activate specific genes in them to initiate the production of proteins. They also play an effective role in the activation rate of enzyme systems involved in protein metabolism, thereby enhancing protein synthesis and inhibiting the degradation of protein.

Steroid users who intend to develop their musculature have to undergo heavy resistance training anabolic steroids to bring about significant improvement in their physical performance. Studies which have demonstrated enhanced performance in people consuming anabolic steroids mostly used experienced weight lifters capable of training with heavier weights and producing relatively greater muscle tension during exercise sessions than the newbies. The effectiveness of anabolic steroids is mainly dependent on unbound receptor sites in the muscles. When a person undergoes heavy strength training, the number of unbound receptor sites increase. This in turn increases the effectiveness of anabolic steroids.