Most people view performance enhancing substances as a moral issue. Steroids and other PEDs are considered by many to be the cheaters way out. I am not going to argue for or against this point of view, however the drawbacks associated with performance enhancers like steroids are real and permanent. Here are the drawbacks that most critics of steroids never seem to mention.

• Once you start, there is no turning back. What I mean is that the vast majority of people who do steroids are altering their hormone balance permanently. For example, if you use the steroid Deca Durabolin, you are setting yourself up to deal with excess estrogen in the body. This means that as you get older, your testosterone levels may be low and estrogen levels may raise. Moreover, once you get off of steroids, you lose your ability to take a punch as well as your libido.
• You may be dooming yourself to having to take hormone replacement therapy. They say that as you get older, testosterone levels drop. Well, when you use steroids like Dianabol your testosterone levels drop drastically because you are artificially producing hormones in the body, so your body compensates by manufacturing less of certain hormones.

When you look at some Mixed Martial Artists who are on losing streaks in the UFC, one thing stands out about some of them. Their careers have taken a drastic turn for the worse when steroid testing became more stringent.  I’m not going to say any names because I don’t want to single anyone out, however, all you have to do is look at fighters who had great careers and then one day started getting KO’ed on a regular basis. Moreover, it makes even more since given that some of these fighters have been popped by the athletic commission for either PEDs or elevated testosterone levels.

So, as far as I’m concerned, there is nothing immoral about using PEDs, but there is a price to pay for using PEDs. That being said, I for one believe that it’s just not worth it.