With the apparent increase in use of supplements as human growth hormone, testosterone, HGH, EPO and IGF-1 in sports (particularly cycling) during the last decade, I wonder if their use has managed to leak over to masters events...... including swimming. Seems silly to me that anyone would use hardcore muscle building agents as these in a setting such as masters so late in life. Is it worth implementing drug testing, or does it really matter in the end....... after all its just masters.
John Smith
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Former Member
Allen,
As you know, the "normal" values for testosterone range from 250ng/dl to 1000ng/dl.
I think the better question is-Would you be cheating if your testosterone level was 250 to 500 and you supplemented it to get it up around 1000? I would think that a level that is still in the normal range, but 2-4 times higher than your baseline, would cause some noticeable changes in your body.
On the female side of things, women have been manipulating female hormones for contraception since the 60's. Last time I checked, they are still using. Oral/topical/subq contraceptives are by and large female hormones. So, we really do have some long term data on them. Women are well aware of the risks of oral/topical/subq contraceptives, but still choose to use them on a massive, worldwide scale. Why? They improve their quality of life. The benefits outweigh the known risks.
A woman delivers a baby a couple months prior to when she competes. You know the kind of surges in hormones levels pregnancy causes. She trains throughout her pregnancy, even up to the day or two before she delivers. Now, couple huge increases in circulating hormones with an additional weight gain of 25-35 pounds while you are training. Then, give birth, take a break for two weeks or so, and get back to it. Lose the 35 lbs over the next two months and kick some serious butt shortly thereafter. (I am in no way suggesting this is cheating, by the way. Just more food for thought.)
Think about how fast you would be if, for nine months, you ramped up your HGH and Testosterone to the highest end of normal and gradually added 35lbs to you body through drag or weight belts and then you drop the weight a month or two prior to a big swim.
Allen,
As you know, the "normal" values for testosterone range from 250ng/dl to 1000ng/dl.
I think the better question is-Would you be cheating if your testosterone level was 250 to 500 and you supplemented it to get it up around 1000? I would think that a level that is still in the normal range, but 2-4 times higher than your baseline, would cause some noticeable changes in your body.
On the female side of things, women have been manipulating female hormones for contraception since the 60's. Last time I checked, they are still using. Oral/topical/subq contraceptives are by and large female hormones. So, we really do have some long term data on them. Women are well aware of the risks of oral/topical/subq contraceptives, but still choose to use them on a massive, worldwide scale. Why? They improve their quality of life. The benefits outweigh the known risks.
A woman delivers a baby a couple months prior to when she competes. You know the kind of surges in hormones levels pregnancy causes. She trains throughout her pregnancy, even up to the day or two before she delivers. Now, couple huge increases in circulating hormones with an additional weight gain of 25-35 pounds while you are training. Then, give birth, take a break for two weeks or so, and get back to it. Lose the 35 lbs over the next two months and kick some serious butt shortly thereafter. (I am in no way suggesting this is cheating, by the way. Just more food for thought.)
Think about how fast you would be if, for nine months, you ramped up your HGH and Testosterone to the highest end of normal and gradually added 35lbs to you body through drag or weight belts and then you drop the weight a month or two prior to a big swim.
