Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022) • Hacker News Board

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#41

Post by jiggywiggy » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:27 PM UTC

kkielhofner wrote: post #36

klooney wrote: post #5

"Maybe steroid abuse is too common" was my thought after watching a shirtless RFK Jr (69) do pushups the other day.

Living in FL (the home of TRT therapy) I’m blown away with what I see regularly at the gym. Like RFK you will regularly (every day) see men in their 60s that have the muscle mass and definition of someone in their 20s. It’s still a lot of hard work, and I’m not calling it cheating, but it’s extremely obvious. There’s a lot of talk of female beauty standards but looking at The Rock, Hugh Jackman, and countless others…

Muscular actors are almost without exceptions on it. Take Chris Hemsworth, he went from skinny to bodybuilder level of muscle. It would be fine if doesn't use it to sell workout programs.

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#42

Post by igloopan » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:27 PM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #13

zoklet-enjoyer wrote: post #3

This is gender affirming care.

I'd be willing to bet a substantial number of these men wouldn't take steroids if society/women didn't reward them for having a chiseled (and often times unnatural) aesthetic, so considering it gender affirming care is a stretch in the general sense.

Isn't that the case with all gender-associated traits though? Women wouldn't dress the way they do if society in general didn't reward them for doing so.

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#43

Post by diath » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:27 PM UTC

expertentipp wrote: post #16

After skipping gym for one month I'm losing all muscles and turning into the weakling I am. I'm wondering on every visit "how these guys maintain their muscles?! they must be injecting, inserting, and swallowing some substances... right?"

There's absolutely no way a natural will lose all of their gains if they skip the gym for a month, unless you're doing short periods of going to the gym, then not going to the gym (say month on, month off), then at that point you're not really losing muscle, there was not much muscle to begin with, your muscle just became depleted instead, two other explanations could be either being seriously ill, or simply severely undereating for the period of that month to the point that your body cannibalizes itself.

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#44

Post by ddorian43 » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:27 PM UTC

expertentipp wrote: post #16

After skipping gym for one month I'm losing all muscles and turning into the weakling I am. I'm wondering on every visit "how these guys maintain their muscles?! they must be injecting, inserting, and swallowing some substances... right?"

There are people who take steroids and still don't do the other parts good enough and look normal.

But it's also genetic (I know taboo right). That some people can gain much easily and/or maintain muscle easily.

Or maybe you're doing drugs (alcohol), not sleeping right, not enough protein,etc.

Or a combination of these all.

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#45

Post by EliRivers » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:27 PM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #13

zoklet-enjoyer wrote: post #3

This is gender affirming care.

I'd be willing to bet a substantial number of these men wouldn't take steroids if society/women didn't reward them for having a chiseled (and often times unnatural) aesthetic, so considering it gender affirming care is a stretch in the general sense.

Only tangential to the theme, but continuing your thought, in my experience the rewards for having a chiselled aesthetic comes more from men than women. It's a status marker amongst (some groups of) men. The heavily muscled male look is more of a male fantasy than female.

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#46

Post by expertentipp » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:28 PM UTC

nfRfqX5n wrote: post #37

expertentipp wrote: post #16

After skipping gym for one month I'm losing all muscles and turning into the weakling I am. I'm wondering on every visit "how these guys maintain their muscles?! they must be injecting, inserting, and swallowing some substances... right?"

It’s not that hard to maintain

I guess "fattish" or "thick boned" people have it easier...

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#47

Post by roamerz » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:28 PM UTC

seper8 wrote: post #19

klooney wrote: post #5

"Maybe steroid abuse is too common" was my thought after watching a shirtless RFK Jr (69) do pushups the other day.

Wow look how cool you are bringing politics into this health issue (which takes place in the UK).

I’m all for keeping politics out of non political discussions for sure but I don’t see any political connection in using a public figure for an example.

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#48

Post by bemusedthrow75 » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:28 PM UTC

jiggywiggy wrote: post #39

Etheryte wrote: post #10

For context, that works out to roughly three quarters of a percent or so of the whole population of the UK.

Yeah but more reasonable to compare it males in a certain age group.

It's less than 2% of all adult males. I would guess that the peak age group for anabolic steroid use is ages 30-40 (that is, end-of-youth crisis not the youngest) but I'd be interested to know for sure.

Edit: government data says I am wrong. 25-29, apparently. But that's based on self-reporting so I do wonder.

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#49

Post by smcl » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:29 PM UTC

ravenstine wrote: post #13

zoklet-enjoyer wrote: post #3

This is gender affirming care.

I'd be willing to bet a substantial number of these men wouldn't take steroids if society/women didn't reward them for having a chiseled (and often times unnatural) aesthetic, so considering it gender affirming care is a stretch in the general sense.

I'm not sure you can put this on women - since not only can men can be into men, but women can take steroids (and of course be into both men and women). Plus it's not necessarily the case that people use these steroids to become more attractive to a prospective partner - while I don't take anything like this I do work out, play sports and run - and this is more for my person health and satisfaction than to make myself attractive to anyone else.

I think the broader point being made was that there's a lot of modern-day backlash from certain groups against a specific type of "gender affirming care" - and that it's worth remembering that such care is already relatively commonplace even if you may not think of it that way currently.

Re: Are one million people in the UK using anabolic steroids? (2022)

#50

Post by jiggywiggy » Mon, Jul 03, 2023, 2:29 PM UTC

moduspol wrote: post #25

nkozyra wrote: post #4

TRT is now a fully embedded thing in the United States so this isn't totally surprising. I've talked to way too many 20 year olds who get cypionate from a doc in the box who manages to find "low T" It's just so easy now. And if you need it, great. But for a lot of people it's just a way to boost T for athletic/aesthetic reasons without a ton of attention to the health side of it. The risks are generally low, but boos…

> And if you need it, great. In defense of the people getting it: that's kind of the tricky part. My understanding of medical science is that we have a big wide range of what "normal" testosterone levels are in males, and it's expected to drop to some extent as you age, but the range is so big as to be almost meaningless. I'm not sure what the long-term answer is, but we could benefit a lot from long-term studies on…

It would be interesting to understand why the body is lowering it, might also be the body adopting to certain conditions. Could be that artificially boosting it, goes against something the body is trying to regulate. Or it could just be a side-effect of body in decline.