Preformance Enhancement Essay, Research Paper

Performance Enhancement

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that steroid use is becoming more popular among athletes, and something needs to change.

Central Idea: Steroid use needs to be regulated more heavily and the facts need to be taught to the public as well as the athletes

Pattern of Organization : Monroe’s Motivated Sequence

INTRODUCTION

I. Attention: There are over a million people in the US who are slowly killing themselves every year and half of them don’t even realize it, fact given by Charles Yesalis’ book Anabolic Steroids in Spots & Exercise. Most are athletes trying to increase their performance and ability, the rest are people who are trying to improve their looks.

II. Credibility: I have done extensive research on steroids these past few weeks via internet sites, books, and a few fitness magazines.

III. Relevance: Steroids are on the rise at all levels of competition and it is necessary to put a stop to their use

A. You do not want to see a sport where every athlete is a replica of every other athlete

B. You do not want your friends dying from the use of steroids for an unworthy cause

IV Purpose: You should know as much about steroids as possible to prevent their use in your life and the lives of your friends

A. You should know what they are and how they work

B. You should know how to spot a user

C. You should know what the effects of using then are

V. Preview: I am going to give you a background on steroids

A. What the side effects are

B. Who is using them

C. How we can stop them

Transition: Will our kids be caught up in steroids when they get to be our age, and kill themselves because we did not put a stop to this vanity now!

DISCUSSION

VI Need:

Performance enhancement is the major goal of athletes in all levels. And in the US it is spreading like an epidemic. Over 400 million dollars worth of steroids are handled in the black market every year and over a million people in the US are using them.

A. There are all different types of steroids and a few different ways to take them. There is also many symptoms you should be aware of to be able to spot a steroid user

1. Steroids are a synthetic version of the male hormone testosterone, which is the key chemical in stimulating muscle growth. Steroids come in two forms, liquid (which needs to be injected), and a pill that can be taken orally.

a. Steroids were first synthesized in the 1930’s and were used by the Russians weight lifters in the 40’s and 50’s.

b. Steroids were not introduced into the US until 1958 by a pharmaceutical firm, and have been on the rise ever since.

2. There are a few symptoms you should be aware of in spotting a steroid user as listed in Richard La Plante’s book Steroid blues

a. The most obvious symptoms are rapid weight and muscle gains and yellowing of the skin and eyes.

b. More personal changes only a friend might notice are mood swings, aggressive behavior, and premature balding

B. Now that you know what steroids are, what happens to a persons body after taking them? The National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at http://www.health.org/pubs/tips/teenster.htm is where the information about the side effects was found.

1. The psychological effects are irritability, uncontrollable bursts of anger (”roid rage”), severe mood swings often leading to depression when steroid use is stopped, delusions, impared judgement stemming from feelings of invincibility, and paranoid jealousy. Fatalities due to suicides and homicides are also a big factor in the mental degeneration of a steroid user.

2. The long term effects of steroid use are increased cholesterol level, high blood pressure, increased risk of blood poisoning and infection (e.g. AIDS and hepatitis) from sharing needles

a. Steroids cause muscle to be too large for the bone to support, as well as weakening of the tendons

b. Deaths from heart attacks, kidney and liver disease and/or malfunction are very high among steroid users.

Transition: Its understandable that people want to get ahead in athletics, and people always want to look better steroids are not the answer. There are many alternative in supplementation that are not as effective as steroids but they have none of the side effects either.

VII Plan:

Steroids do give fast results to muscle growth and strength, but when used right the supplements an the market today can be an effective alternative to getting noticeable results

A. The two hottest supplements according to Muscle & Fitness magazine are Creatine Monohydrate and GlutamineGT.

1. How Creatine works

2. How Glutamine works

B. Or you could just do it the old fashioned way 100% natural

1. Get a set work out schedule and stay with it

2. Eat right, it wont matter how hard you work out if you body does not have the raw materials to build musscle

VIII The facts about steroids need to be taught at all levals of school starting at the highschool level

A. A program like the D.A.R.E. program should be implemented, and emphasized at the college level

1. This can be helped by petitioning a law to help fund the SAP (steroid awareness program)

2. And by becoming mor aware about steroids to help our friends and relatives

B. The next step is to pass a law where all college athletes must be drug tested to be eligible (they do not test at the JC level)

C. High school should follow, so steroids can be stopped before they start

IX Visualization:

If we do not to the use of steroids all athletes will be able to fall back on their own lack of drive to steroids and will end up paying the price in the end.

A. Junior Colleges are not being tested for steroid use and the number of users is increasing as well

B. Eventually, if there is not a stop to steroid use the athletes will either kill themselves off or there will be no real competition, just a bunch of crazed steroid users taking out their rage on the field.

CONCLUSION

I. Summary: There is only one benefit as opposed to a countless amount of negative results from long term steroid use as stated in Janet Mohun’s book Drugs, Steroids, Sports.

A. There is serious permanent psychological and physical damage as a reslut of steroid use

B. There are safe alternatives to steroids, the best two are Creatine and Glutimine.

C. Knowledge of steroi

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