A study led by New Scientists discovered that even a small amount of steroids UK could offer athletes a significant performance increase in a quarter of the time previously thought required. The findings will bolster proposals for a substantial increase in drug testing.

According to conventional thinking, testosterone should be administered monthly for at least ten weeks. However, the study’s lead author, sports scientist Robert Weatherby of Southern Cross University in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, discovered that the most significant performance improvement occurred after just three weeks.

Muscle Mass:

It took until 1996 for the first rigorous investigation of testosterone’s performance-enhancing benefits in young males. For ten weeks, volunteers were given 600 mg of testosterone enanthate or placebo injection (bodybuilders usually take much larger doses). At the end of the study, performance tests revealed that the hormone improved muscle size and strength in individuals who completed strength training and to a lesser level in those who did not.

The only other study of its kind, published in 2001, looked at the effects of various doses, although the volunteers were only assessed after 20 weeks. No one has mainly looked at the impact of Steroids UK over a shorter length of time. 

Those who are less empathic

Weatherby took measurements of the men’s muscle size and performance at the start of the experiment, three weeks later and six weeks later. The researchers had no idea who was getting testosterone and a placebo.

The researchers also looked at how testosterone affected the participants’ mood, personality, and immune system. Given the modest dose and brief time, no noticeable effects were expected. According to the personality tests, testosterone users became less empathic and caring of others, and their immune systems’ activity decreased marginally, but there was no discernible effect on mood.

The athletes that took testosterone, on the other hand, saw a significant improvement in their performance. The most surprising discovery was that the most significant increases in muscle growth and power happened only three weeks into the study (see graphics).

Both active and passive

It’s challenging to test for testosterone. All you have to do with synthetic steroids is verify their presence. However, because Steroids UK is a naturally occurring hormone, testers must rely on a few tactics.

The typical way is to calculate the TE ratio, which is the ratio of active to inactive testosterone in a person’s urine. This ratio is, on average, 1. Because the body ceases producing testosterone while taking high dosages of testosterone, the TE ratio might climb to 10 or more and then fall below 1 when they stop. The length of time it takes for the TE ratio to return to normal once people stop taking the hormone is dependent on the amount of the doses and how long it took months. 

Until 2004, the World Anti-Doping Agency, which sets international standards for drug usage in sports, considered a TE ratio of more than 6 to be suspect. New laws went into effect last week, recommending that any unusual amount of testosterone, no matter how low, be investigated.

The urine samples analysis from the athletes in a trial is not yet complete, but other studies suggest that even on this shallow dose, the TE ratio of persons would be high enough to catch them out.

However, if athletes or coaches have learned to use modest doses for short periods through trial and error, they are less likely to be caught. Even under the new testing procedure, their TE ratios should revert to regular faster, thus minimizing the odds of detection of Steroids UK.

Clare Louise