History of Bodybuilding

While the modern history of steroids is still relatively young, the complete history of steroids can be traced back to ancient Greece. This part of the history of steroids is when Olympic athletes were thought to have used plant derivatives, all meat diets and animal testicles as performance enhancers.

The more modern history of steroids begins in the 1930's. This part of the history of steroids is when anabolic steroids were born, but they didn't really take off as a phenomenon yet. In the 1950's at a World Weightlifting Competition, people noticed the Soviet team taking pills and this is the part of the history of steroids where people started taking notice of the drugs' true abilities. Apparently, the Soviet's ruled the competition and the United States team and trainer came home wanting to be able to be competitive with them.

The history of steroids continues through the decades into the 1980's where people started to really look at the effects and side effects of steroids. Studies showed that people injected with testosterone were able to build more muscle and lose more fat that those who weren't given testosterone supplements.

When scientists began looking for medical treatments to help people who needed drugs to help them stimulate bone and muscle growth as well as appetite and even puberty, they went back to anabolic steroids because of their effects at building body tissue as well as virilization (increasing masculine characteristics). This decade in the history of steroids is probably also when the real public controversies started with the Ben Johnson Olympic Games issue in 1988.

Technology plays a large role in the history of steroids as well because now people can purchase steroids, even though they are illegal, from many sources online. This history of steroids adds to the controversy because these sales make steroids more dangerous because of the fact that illegal sales are not regulated and the steroids may be diluted, contaminated or laced with other components that can be life threatening.

The history of steroids have come a long way since then and now are a largely controversial topic due to athlete and bodybuilders using them in potentially dangerous high doses to increase strength and enhance performance. The history of steroids now places them as a controlled substance in the United States because of the hazards they possess.