Common Sense About Growth Hormones
By Carl Richford
(EDITOR'S NOTE--We continue with our discussion of the tissue building drugs or growth hormones with another author's opinion on these. Last issue M. J. Salvati told us something about them and he did not either recommend them or condemn them. In this issue Mr. Richford is opposed to them. We will continue this discussion for the sake of our readers, that they might be fully informed of both pros and cons. As older readers know, we are much opposed to the use of these drugs by athletes and bodybuilders even tho we have been told that top bodybuilders and athletes are taking them. We feel that in due time this "fad" will wear off and we will return to normal methods of muscle culture, but in the meanwhile we would like to prevent readers from doing themselves harm from the use of these drugs which were never intended for use in this manner. In the meanwhile, we neither approve nor disapprove the remarks of various authors but allow them to present their cases as they see them.)
RECENTLY the growth pill discussion has waxed strong, after being quiet for a while, and in return to some of the surprising and somewhat silly defenses feebly offered for taking these drugs, it is time for a little common sense talk about pills.
The most obvious point of all is that the great champions of old, such as Grimek, Park, Reeves, Delinger, had no need for growth hormones, and neither does anyone today. In its own way, the growth pill business is a symptom of the "secrets" complex held by many second rate bodybuilders who haven't the determination or knowledge to make it. In the old days they simply held it was some mysterious secret that put the champs on top, some undefinable factor the champs all knew and refused to share with others. Today, it's a lot easier, they just chalk it up to "the pill." This, of course, is false, and the undefinable factors of the champs was their determination to succeed in bodybuilding. They needed no pill, they had the will power and the strength of character to make it without tenuous excuses.
But this is just the mental outlook -- what about the pill? Does it really do some good; will it really make you a champ? No. Simply, no, all it will give you is unpleasant side-effects, possibly throw your entire hormonal system out of balance and, possibly, a few gains, gains you could get just as well with nutrition or a changed routine. The plain fact of the matter is that growth hormones added to your system will not speed up your growth past the natural metabolic rate.
If, due to under par health conditions, your body is not producing enough androgen hormones, then administration of the drug is called for. However, no normal, healthy bodybuilder in the country could be so under par as to need these drugs and still be able to lift a weight in the first place. What it all adds up to is nothing much in gains.
Furthermore, continued administration of these drugs has produced a very serious side-effect. That is, if you add extra androgen hormones to your system from the outside, then your body adjusts its internal chemistry to produce less, so the net total goes right back to what your metabolism dictates. Naturally when you give up the pill you lose -- plus throwing your body chemistry off.
Another point is related to basic body chemistry. The growth pills are, as I've mentioned, androgen hormones. Hormone is the key word, for a hormone is in effect a policeman of the body, its secretion into the blood stream causes certain reactions and conditions to take place. It dictates how your body functions.
In the case of androgen hormones, these control the liver's retention of protein and the kidneys' passing off of excess. As it also is a secondary male sex hormone (that is why boys under the age of puberty and women cannot develop muscle) it also affects sexuality. When functioning normally you retain and use a certain amount of protein, as the body dictates each day, and the rest is passed off. Now protein is used for a multitude of tasks besides just muscle building, so its proper usage is vital, and this hormone is usually a most reliable one.
Some argument has been made lately that growth pills are just pills and can be used safely and sensibly. This is just not true. Would you take injections of male or female sex hormones? Or insulin, which controls the disease, Diabetes? Or Thyroxin, the thyroid hormone, which controls your overall body chemistry?
If you are seriously sick from lack of one of these hormones, then any competent doctor will prescribe them. But if you don't need any of these hormones, then using them is playing with fire, laying yourself open for sickness and serious physical imbalance.
Why do I say this? Do I know anybody who really got sick from them? Yes, I personally know bodybuilders who have suffered liver imbalance serious enough to put them in the hospital, kidney and bladder problems, and other serious side effects. Under the category of "other" side effects are sexual problems. This type of hormone dilates the blood vessels in the face and nose especially, and nosebleeds are common. Also, dizziness and nausea have occurred. Finally, shrinking of the testicles and loss of sex drive have occurred also, the logical result of the body's lowering of production of the hormone as the pill is taken.
Your body chemistry is a wondrous thing; it controls your functioning for all the years of your life. To misuse hormones, the directors of your body functioning, the conductors of the symphony of life, isn't just foolish, it's just plain stupid!
To have a mental outlook such that you feel you have to have the pill, have to become the greatest bodybuilder of all time, no matter what the cost, says something not too good about the health of your psyche. To add physical unhealth and possible permanent body misfunction to this is beyond words to describe.
Too many bodybuilders don't really understand body chemistry and the functioning that produces good health and solid muscular gains. For this reason many equate the growth hormones with aspirin or other pills of the like. Even aspirin can maim and kill when used improperly, and if growth hormones are used at all when a serious lack is indicated, you are only playing with your health and well-being -- and you'll not get any of the miraculous gains whispered about either, for they just don't exist.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to become the greatest bodybuilder of all time, or a champion, or just better than average. But in bodybuilding, as in athletics and life in general-- It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. Play the game of bodybuilding sensibly and you'll gain much more in the long run.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE -- Here is a brief description of what takes place when you take these pills: The nitrogen retention takes place in the liver, which is stimulated by the hormones. Your body produces these, and they are indicated only in cases of temporarily lowered internal output. The three most common areas are surgery cases, older people and babies. He mentioned the liver's action to produce a positive nitrogen balance, nitrogen being the main component in protein (and also giving it its horrible smell). However, the hormone affects the liver which in turn produces the good protein retention. So you can see where possible danger lies, and I know personally a liver case who ended up in the hospital; also a bladder infection case, from the urinary tract irritation.
Next, when all this started a few years ago, I contacted Ciba Pharmaceuticals. At the time they were all for using them for weight gain, etc., and had studies going (if I check my office records I can give names and dates) with a football coach in Texas. Initial indications were good, as with a bodybuilder taking the stuff for the first time, but soon nosebleeds and other symptoms such as lassitude cropped up. They both are caused by lowered sex hormone production, with that being the body's reaction to introduction of outside sex hormones. Anabolic agents are a secondary sex characteristic; that's why women, and boys before puberty, have no muscle tissue of size. So, the body production lowered to even off the basic metabolic level of these hormones in line with what the body itself dictated, which means in time the gains disappear and you suffer from lowered sex drive, especially when you go off the pills. This is also the reason the label instructions are to go on it for 3 weeks, then off for about the same time as this combats the body lowering production and adjusting to the pills. It also gives a greater chance of screwing up your overall metabolism with this up and down hormone intake. At any rate, after the failure of the study Ciba quietly began beating the drum, along with the AMA, against the use of the pills. Any weight gains and studies were with sick people obviously in need of short-term administration of anabolic hormones, in relation to sickness.)
PHOTO CAPTIONS
- Bob Gajda, last year's Mr. U.S.A., posed for Countryman's camera in San Jose, where Gajda was entered in the Jr. Mr. America contest. He was beaten by only ½ point by Sergio Oliva. This beautiful relaxed pose shows one of America's finest physiques, which was built without growth hormones, but with good food, supplements, and very hard work. Bob was training for five hours a day previous to this contest, but this would not be his regular schedule -- only previous to contests does he work this hard.