The human body is a work of art. Many people in today's world train daily and commit themselves to perfecting the art of the human body and sculpting every one of their muscles to be seen the way that society has deemed perfect. Though the idea of a "fit" body is no new trend. The idea of a perfect looking human has been created by artist and weightlifter alike and has stayed constant throughout history. The ideal human body could be described as physically fit with a more than average muscle tone. This idea is exhibited by artist Michelangelo's sixteenth century sculpture of biblical hero, David, although David does not have bulging muscles he has an above average looking male physique. The statue of David would lose its elegance if the body of David were portrayed as flabby and soft; instead the ideal image of a man, even five hundred years ago, was very lean and muscular. For centuries many people have been obsessed with building the ideal body so humans created gyms and weights where people can train day after day to eventually achieve the look that they crave. Humans even became so obsessed with the ideal body that we decided to create a competition in which a group of judges decide who has the best looking body out of a group of men or women; this is called a Bodybuilding competition. 

Through advances in science over the years, many people today have turned to unnatural substances in order to achieve the look of the ideal human physique. The use of performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids and human growth hormones are extremely common in the sport of Body Building today. Performance enhancing drugs are more commonly taken in the sport of Body Building than any other sport due to the effect that certain drugs have on muscle growth and muscle recovery time. The unnatural substances in performance enhancing drugs can have very negative effects on the human body and greatly affect the natural processes of the human body. The use of anabolic steroids in the sport of body building should be prohibited due to health risks and dangerous side effects, the addictive nature of the drug, and the effects of that Body Building athletes have on the body image of the youth of today.

The debate of whether or not the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones should be used by competitors in the sport of body building is of great controversy at this time has been for many decades in the body building industry. The main point of discussion in the steroid debate in body building is the negative side effects that steroids have on the human body. These side effects can be made much worse if anabolic and androgenic steroids are taken simultaneously with other performance enhancing drugs such as human growth hormones, which is very common in body builders. According to the New York State Department of Health, "when improperly used, anabolic steroids can cause serious health problems such as high blood pressure and heart disease; liver damage and cancers; and, stroke and blood clots," all of these side effects are very serious and can be very detrimental to the life span of the athletes abusing the drugs (Anabolic Steroids and Sports). To make matters worse, when athletes stack anabolic steroids with other performance enhancing drugs such as human growth hormones and unnatural hormone boosters, the chances of major health risks caused by steroids can be more than doubled in the human body (Anabolic Steroids and Sports). 

Many who choose to partake in the use of performance enhancing drugs do so unknowing of the negative effects of the drugs. Bodybuilders commonly abuse performance enhancing drugs such as the most common, anabolic steroids, while ignoring the vast negative side effects and focusing on the few positive and more visible side effects. In the article "Positive Effects of Steroids" author Mack LeMouse states that "among other things the positive effects of steroids include increased muscle mass, tissue repair, endurance and fat loss," one thing that this article chooses to overlook when stating that steroids positively increase muscle mass is that the human heart, the motor of the human body itself, is indeed a muscle (LeMouse). There are many physiological side effects to ingesting and injecting anabolic steroids, "physical side effects include high blood cholesterol levels  --  high blood cholesterol levels may lead to cardiovascular problems" (United States Drug). Therefore when LeMouse states that anabolic steroids increase muscle mass he is neglecting to inform his audience that this includes the heart, and an enlarged heart can lead to much greater problems than not having large bulging muscles, such as very unhealthy spikes in blood pressure and cholesterol (Anabolic Steroids and Sports).

Later the article states that "someone who is on steroids will experience increased physical performance in all sports and athletic pursuits and will also appear more physically imposing," and although I agree that a steroid user would look more physically imposing to the everyday human, stating that steroids will increase performance in all sports and athletic pursuits is simply just not true (LeMouse). The simple act of gaining muscle mass and endurance cannot increase one's ability to play a particular sport unless the athlete was gifted at playing the sport prior to taking the drug; there is no drug that can increase someone's natural hand eye coordination and giftedness to play a sport. Later the author writes, "as testosterone is the 'male' hormone, it can help with many traits generally associated with 'maleness'," and the "maleness" traits in which the author is referring to are later defined in the article as lowering of the voice, increase in testosterone, and increase in hair growth (LeMouse). I do agree that steroids can and will enhance aspects of human nature that are controlled by testosterone, or "manly traits". Although, if a completely healthy male is taking steroids in order to put on muscle mass and become more "manly" then there could be other negative side effects to his "manhood" such as testicular atrophy, or the shrinking of the testicles, which would not only be a negative side effect but it would almost be the opposite of the initial goal of enhancing the "maleness" traits in a healthy functioning man (Davidson). 

In a study conducted in 2014 by the Journal of Surgical Pathology, a scientist named Dr. Badr AbdullGafar MD wrote an article on his findings during study that he conducted on nine separate male patients who had used either anabolic steroids or other human growth hormones and the medical effects that the use of these substances had on their bodies. From the nine male subjects that were studied in this case, six of them were using performance enhancement substances in order to gain muscle for physical appearance, or in order to "bulk" for bodybuilding purposes. Of the six patients who were using the performance enhancers in order to gain muscle and size, three of them were injecting anabolic steroids, two of them were injecting silicon, and one of them was using an unknown substance. Of the three individuals who were injecting anabolic steroids, two of them experienced abscess at the injection site, which is a swollen area within body tissue. The third individual who used anabolic steroids refused to have a follow up and his diagnoses could not be determined. Of the two individuals who used a performance enhancer other than anabolic steroids, silicon, both of them experienced soft-tissue tumors (AbdullGafar). Out of these six individuals, every one of them experienced negative medical side effects ranging from abscess to tumors found on organs and near the injection site. In order to prevent performance enhancing drugs from ruining the well-being of many men and women, husbands and wives, or fathers and mothers, the International Federation of Body Building needs to regulate performance enhancing drugs and ensure that the drug is being used safely and properly under proper doctor's supervision or that the drug is banned from the sport altogether.

An ex-bodybuilder wrote an article about just how common performance enhancing drug use is in today's sport of body building. In this article, the author David Robson, an active martial artist, bodybuilder, sports scientist, and accredited personal trainer, expresses how, in today's world of body building, using drugs is simply how one plays the game. "In order for one to achieve the fame and fortune that comes with being successful in body building, using anabolic steroids is simply a stepping stone to get there" states Robson (Robson). Men and women who choose to compete in professional body building will do simply anything to win, even if that includes utilizing harmful drugs. Later in the article the author states that the consistent use of anabolic steroids has led to early deaths of some previous body builders. Robson states that although there have been deaths in the past that there have not been many deaths and few see great changes in health; in fact Robson states that the side effects of individuals using and/or abusing anabolic steroids are nothing greater than the side effects of individuals abusing alcohol or tobacco. 

In the article presented above the author states that individuals have died from the effects of performance enhancing drugs. If that can honestly be overlooked and performance enhancing drugs can still be allowed to be used in the sport then I think the better argument would be for the elimination of all Body Building competitions. Although no one really wants that and no one wants to suggest that due to fact that it would upset a lot of people and a lot people much larger than the average legislator. Maybe the only argument that would make sense would be to only allow the intake of performance enhancing drugs for Body Building athletes if the drugs were properly prescribed and properly injected by a licensed doctor. There are several alternatives that could be proposed as a substitute for anabolic steroids that would not have such harsh side effects on the body such as low functioning amounts of fluids that enable quicker natural tissue repair (Bodybuilding and Sports Supplements). Although this may not be the most exciting news for the athletes themselves, I am sure that their loved ones would not mind a bit. 

Aside from the negative effects that steroids in Body Building have on the body building athletes themselves, the physical effects of steroids also effect those viewing the competitions, especially the youth of America today. The majority of male teenagers in the youth of America today see girls lusting after male celebrities for their great physique and think to themselves that all they need to do to get girls is to gain muscle and look ripped. As a result of the vastly believed idea of male teenagers, they will begin searching for knowledge of weightlifting from the only place that they know, the internet. Although these tips and videos from the internet will teach confused teenagers proper techniques and workout routines for gaining muscle, the huge bodybuilder in the video will neglect to inform the fascinated teenager that he had a little bit more help in his workouts than simply sticking to good form and high protein diets. So the confident male teenager will go to the gym everyday training long and hard for that Bodybuilder Physique he sees in those videos and he will look in the mirror everyday confused and disappointed as to why he does not look like those guys in the videos. The next and most dangerous step of this process is where the young male teenager is confronted with the option of performance enhancing drugs with the most common for lifting weights being anabolic steroids. 

Many teenagers will take various drugs in their youth without knowing the harmful side effects that come along with them (Stenson). It is very dangerous for male teenagers to put unregulated and un-prescribed steroids into their bodies. Many teenagers do not know exactly how high their natural testosterone production can be (Steroid Use Among).  "Teenage testosterone production ranges anywhere from 800 to 1300 ng/dl, which is the equivalent of taking a 300mg shot of testosterone, or steroids, on a weekly basis," this means that in addition to the natural testosterone production of a male teenager it is very dangerous for these copious amounts of testosterone to be in the teenage body (Alayon). By a male teenager putting excess testosterone in his body he could be inhibiting his body's natural ability to produce proper amounts of testosterone in the future which means he would be forced to use a testosterone booster for the rest of his life just to be able to contain a healthy amount of testosterone (Alayon). Performance enhancing drugs should be prohibited in the sport of body building due to the effect that the bodies of the athletes have on the body image of teenagers in America. 

One of the most common addictive substances in the world today is tobacco. Tobacco contains a stimulant called nicotine, when nicotine enters the blood stream the body releases a chemical called dopamine, "Dopamine is the chemical that mediates pleasure in the brain. It is released during pleasurable situations and stimulates one to seek out the pleasurable activity or occupation," (Mandal). The simple feeling of pleasure caused in the human mind can cause people to become heavily addicted to terrible substances that do terrible things to their bodies, things that over time could easily kill them. Take smoking for example, smoking contains nicotine which causes the release of dopamine in the brain creating the sense of pleasure, this sense of pleasure can be so addicting that people will virtually kill themselves by doing the activity that causes pleasure.

The act of achieving goals and seeing results from actions induces a sense of great pleasure in the human mind. Therefore when a person begins lifting weights and exercising frequently he or she may begin seeing results and that may cause them to train harder and longer in order to see more results, until they have reached their physical limit. When a person training to be physically fit reaches his or her physical limit is typically the time when he or she will begin experimenting with performance enhancing drugs. Due to the positive physical changes in the body the person exercising feels pleasure, therefore when the person exercising looks at themselves and is pleased with what they see then dopamine is released in the brain and once this chemical is released in the brain then the body will do whatever it takes to bring back the chemical. Therefore even a person in great physical condition may resort to performance enhancing drugs in order to be more and more pleased with the way that his or her body looks to them. In this sense the physical changes that occur due to the effects of performance enhancing drugs, such as muscle growth and fat loss, can be highly addictive and cause body builders to abuse performance enhancing drugs which, as stated earlier, has very many negative effects on the human body. 

The use of anabolic steroids in the sport of body building should be prohibited due to health risks and dangerous side effects, and the addictive nature of the drug. There are so many health risks in taking performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids and human growth hormones that it simply does not make sense for the government to allow the National Federation of Bodybuilding to knowingly allow its competitors to use and abuse performance enhancing drugs. With the knowledge of all of the negative side effects of these drugs the government needs to step and regulate this problem in the sport of Body Building. Not only are these drugs very bad for the human body but the effects can also be highly addictive and due to all of the health risks in performance enhancing drugs they are a very dangerous substance to also be addictive. Due to the negative effects, addictive nature, and the effects that they have on body image in the youth society, these substances should be completely prohibited in the sport of Bodybuilding.

