why all the demonization of steroid use, yet if somebody is doing coke or has a drinking problem, it's ok and he should just get treatment. it seems that performance enhancing drugs get a extremely bad rap here. i feel there is a double standard here.
mild cycles do not have the terrible side effects that people are reporting on here. it's mostly when you start stacking multiple drugs together and using them in extremely high doses for extended periods of time without an OFF period, do you get the negative side effects. some drugs do not make the nuts shrink. others do. some cause you to get more 'rage' related effects than others. mostly the rage thing is an effect of amplifying an already existing poor disposition. if you are 'pissed off' person before steroids, you will be more of a pissed off person while you are ON. coming off is another problem. some drugs have the effect of making you cry like a baby when you are coming off a cycle - think about how girls act when they are on their period. do you want to feel that way? of course there are drugs to help jump start your testes to produce again. get it? there's drugs for this and drugs for that. pretty soon, it gets to be alot of dollars.
as far as strength benefits, you can expect to gain probably 50 pounds on bench and maybe 100 pounds on squat and deadlift from a cycle. this can be done in very short time (maybe like 2 months). when you go off, you like likely lose about 50% of your strength and unless you keep lifting heavily, you will lose even more. the danger here is not only from the drugs per se but rather from you injuring yourself. you feel like you can lift a car and your muscles may say 'go' but your tendons and ligaments are not up for the challenge. this is where you have problems. pec-tears and knee problems are very common among heavy users unless they keep their ego in check. once you are OFF, you will likely feel bummed that your strength went down and you are losing size. some people will probably ask what is happening (did you lose some weight?). those kinds of things may cause you to want to do another cycle. so it can become a psych addiction if you are not careful.
personally, i feel that unless you are a competetive power lifter or trying to do a bodybuilding show, then why mess with it. it's tons of money that unless you keep up with it, you piss it all away when you stop lifting. honestly, even most of the supplements they sell are complete garbage. just eat real food - and i mean enough for 3-4 people and you will gain tons of mass. as long as you are working out hard (like 4 day week and 1.5 hours per workout), eating this amount of food goes right into muscle building and not into fat. cut out alcohol and smoking too - they are negative to building a positive physique.
anyway, the overall caution should be exercised for sure and i agree with Braddock that it's not something that one should treat lightly. Get educated in the risks first. In US it's a level 3 drug on the same level as coke and other hard drugs. if you are caught, you will pay the price.
in case you wonder, i am an advocate for natural training, but i have no problem with people who want to use 'aid'.
