Short term gain, long term pain

Craig Davidson, a canadian novelist went on steroids for 4 months to test their effects as part of writing his novel. He has written this macabre account here in the Guardian.

"The needle is 21 gauge, 1.5in. A hogsticker. Forty of them arrived in a package from Greece. Ever received a package from overseas? You get that puff of air when you rip it open - air that's travelled thousands of miles. Foreign, like stepping into a stranger's house.
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Wake up, eat, jerk off, work out, eat, jerk off, eat, work out, eat, jerk off, eat, sleep.

The question most sane readers will be asking by this point is: why didn't he stop? Why, despite all the awful side-effects, did he keep plugging needles into himself.

I'm sure my answer is no different to that given by most steroid users: the results.Once we pass that period of massive physical change - childhood through our teens, puberty and growth spurts - we settle into a sense of our bodies. We understand the parameters and capabilities, what it can and cannot do. And though it's disheartening to say, at 30, I was already finding evidence of a body on its downslope. While I worked out regularly, I hadn't made a sizeable gain in years. In gym parlance, I'd 'hit the plateau'.Steroids shattered the limitations of my body....
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Steroids are the classic example of short term gain for long term gain. The correct term is "anabolic steroids" - anabolic for muscle-building (as opposed to catabolic or muscle-wasting, which happens on the Atkins diet).

Now unlike most other things in short-gain-long-pain category, steroids are something that can be very tempting to use. Firstly because of the results - a great body and the resulting alpha male status. But more importantly, those results are so very hard to get. Ask anybody who has really tried to get 6-pack abs and a sculpted phsyique, and they will tell you how difficult it is. I give my hats off to anybody who has transformed their body because it is not only about exercise and workouts - it is about sacrifice, diet, perseverence and determination. It is so easy to lose heart and give up. The human body is one great adaptable machine that getting that perfect body becomes a mental game more than a physical game. Steroids cut out the mental efforts from the equation.

I can see this becoming a huge problem in India. Because Indian kids start out with a huge disadvantage required for muscles - a high-protein diet. It is easier if you are a christian from Kerala and eat beef/chicken/fish most of the week. But forget it otherwise. And diet is a major component to getting the desired body.



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