One of the most broadly discussed and notorious areas of human presentation and performance, concerns the use of steroid supplements to boost the physical ability of a person for an assortment of sports that range from bicycling all the way to basketball. There is verification that some people (athletes, to be more specific) have attempted to improve their performance by using steroids since the 1950’s, but whether, and in which types of sports, steroids are in fact successful remains controversial. In general, steroids used by athletes include a broad mixture of forms of the androgen testosterone, and most appear to have the typical anabolic and androgenic effects on men (even though steroid use by women can’t be ignored). Other forms of testosterone (e.g., testosterone enanthate, methandrostenolone) are normally used by individuals desiring enhanced performance because injected or ingested testosterone is rapidly metabolized into immobile forms. Consequently, the studies of the humans that we are referring to, involve testosterone derivative. Early studies of the effects of steroids on human performance, on the other hand, had huge flaws in design, such as the lack of control groups and a double-blind practice, the company of perplexing factors (e.g., differences in level of motivation and exercise), and improper statistical techniques.
