Spring is a time of change: the days are longer and some men suddenly bulge their muscles, almost overnight.The latter is not an organic or natural mutation, but the result of the use of anabolic steroids, a more widespread practice than many think: 6% of people who go to the gym consume these substances, according to a report by the European Commission.The figure rises to 7.9% of men over 18 years of age.But what are anabolics or anabolic steroids?The Department of Health of the Government of the United States offers this definition: “They are synthetic versions of testosterone that are used to treat some health problems, such as muscle loss that certain diseases entail, and that sometimes in the sports field, without supervision medically and illegally, they are consumed —in doses 10 to 100 times more concentrated than those for medical use— to build muscle and improve sports performance.”They are popularly called cycles because they are usually taken in specific periods of time, between 8 and 12 weeks, and then leave a period of rest and readjustment to the body.Users often combine two or more types of anabolic steroids among the hundreds of variants that exist.Some substances are taken orally, but the most effective are injectable.The phenomenon corresponds to a physical canon - very muscular and fat-free bodies - practically impossible to achieve, but increasingly widespread.Today, rare is the Hollywood blockbuster in which there are no actors with hypermuscular bodies.Interpreters who, shortly after, tend to detail in detail the miraculous nutritional and sports plans that they have followed to gain kilos in volume, leaving the germ of a dangerous idea among the public: that anyone who works at the gym can have that body.Zac Efron warned the public that the physique he achieved in Baywatch: Baywatch (2017) was unrealistic and unhealthy.Mickey Rourke confessed that he had taken steroids as part of his training for The Wrestler (2008).Kumail Nanjiani gained about 12 kilos of muscle in less than a year to become a Marvel superhero in Eternals (2021).Anyone who takes the test, even training every day and following a diet applied with surplus protein, will discover that gaining 12 kilos of muscle is a goal that can only be achieved over several years of perseverance and dedication.What do some men do when the screens (including the mobile) are filled with impossible bodies?Try to mold yours in the image and likeness.And often in the shortest time possible.In a 2014 report, the Civil Guard cited as one of the causes of this phenomenon the "obsession of modern man to achieve high levels of physical, mental and aesthetic well-being".According to Aida Natalia Arranz Guerrero, a resident of Family and Community Medicine in Granada, one of the reasons is aesthetic and another is competitive.“Anabolic steroids can lead you to achieve the same results as exercise, but without having to wait.There is a word of mouth effect that is generated in gyms, a very visual world in which people are constantly comparing themselves.Some recommend it to others and they begin to consume substances with unconsciousness and ignorance, without having any idea of ​​the effect they can have on the body”.César works in a gym in Madrid and admits that it is easy to guess who uses these methods.“Years ago I saw it constantly, now people hide more.It's a taboo subject, but you see who's doing it, you see the results, people talk."Cesar (whose real name he prefers not to reveal) also turned to anabolics for years because he wanted to bulk up and felt he could never achieve his goal with diet and exercise alone.Nacho, a man from Madrid who has been taking anabolic steroids for about five years, explains: “When you start going out in Chueca and see the physical competition that exists, you go to the gym.But profits appear very slowly.Then your curiosity starts to get piqued and you look for information”.This thirty-year-old (who also speaks under a pseudonym) informed himself in forums and articles, even turning to clinical trials and scientific publications in the PubMed medical database, with which he is familiar because he works in the pharmaceutical industry.His knowledge of technical terminology led him to delve into the benefits and risks of cycles and he ended up taking the plunge.“It is very easy to find out where to buy these substances.Everything is on the internet.No need to go to the deep web.Juan began at the age of 48 with his first cycle.“I decided because, obviously, I wanted to be strong, but I also worked as a DJ, I wanted to look good in front of the public and also have a good background during my sessions, in which, in addition to DJing, I danced.With the cycles, in three months, a great appearance is achieved”.He has undergone two and admits that the thought of a third scares him because of his age.When he cycled, he looked “terrific” physically and he remembers that time as one in which he had a lot of vitality and had a great time.“Of course, he was restless, irritable and slept worse.And when you finish, the body returns to its natural state and you feel a strong mood drop, ”he adds.Nacho's cocktail varies, depending on the news that arises and his objectives.“For me the basic is testosterone, then there is Boldenone, Deca, Winstrol, which always sounds around because it dries a lot…”.Dry steroids, he explains, bulk up with less fluid retention, resulting in less bloated but longer-lasting muscle, while liquid steroids result in that fuller, thicker image we have associated with this muscle. practice."First you gain a lot, a lot of weight, and then it dries up," says César, who also mentions Deca and Winstrol, as well as Primobolan and Testex, among the drugs he used.“Everything is illegal, of course.It could be taken in pill form, or by intramuscular injection.Even with insulin injections in the shoulder."The effects, in any case, are visible for a limited time and the body soon loses volume, which causes many to repeat and end up doing it regularly."There are people who spend the whole year doing it and end up devastated," says César.Cycle guidelines are supposedly designed to avoid long-term sequelae from taking a combination of medications.Some of these drugs are legal and are prescribed for other conditions such as anorexia, growth retardation or endometriosis.Others are only on the black market.Through a representative, the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) has explained to ICON that those that are distributed and consumed the most, in addition to those cited by Nacho, are "hormonal anabolics such as nandrolone, growth hormones such as somatropin, insulins, adrenergic agonists such as Clenbuterol and other drugs used to counteract some adverse effects: anticancer drugs, drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction or liver protectors”.The syringes that some inject have a price that ranges between the 200 euros that Nacho spends (“with shipping costs”) and 500, but this can go up.“If you do a more elaborate cycle in which you put three substances and start to stagger the intake, and maybe go up to 12 or 16 weeks instead of eight, the price can increase a lot.The more sophisticated the substances, the more expensive.”Juan admits that at first he was afraid of injecting himself.“You can not do it, but the consumption in pills is worse for the liver.There are also many pills because it is a pyramid approach: you start with a few and end up with days in which you have to take more than twenty”.From the AEMPS they remember that the consumption of unauthorized medicines, or obtained through illegal channels, supposes "a serious risk to health, since they lack quality, safety and efficacy", and recommend the use of the CIMA application to consult the medicines authorized in Spain.This agency is in charge, among other things, of offering technical support and advice to the judicial authorities in the fight against substances such as anabolics, and has managed to close down illegal web pages that sell them.The accessibility of these products (not only on the internet: in many gyms you just have to ask the right people a couple of questions to find a supplier) is what has led to an increase in their use after the pandemic, especially among men. youths.According to the Consumption, Environment and Doping Section of the Central UDEV of the National Police, it has grown by 20% compared to March 2020. The AEMPS has also seen an upward trend in the interventions of these drugs in cross-border trade and in the actions of the authorities outside the regulated channels.And what is taboo for much of society is spreading as a practice advocated by young men in certain circles.TikTok user @socalben, a 20-something American with more than 20,000 followers, posted a video in 2020 saying, "If steroids are banned in sports, makeup should be banned in beauty pageants."Another Ben, American and about 20 years old, but this one with almost 500,000 followers, @ben.dunn, defends the use of substances such as steroids and creatine, a legal dietary supplement ingested by many athletes that, according to him, can also have antidepressant effects.“Taking PEDs [performance-enhancing drugs] is a personal decision with too much stigma attached to it,” he wrote alongside one of his videos.The striking thing is that, according to a recent study, 70% of people who take anabolic steroids are aware of the adverse effects."The most common side effects are the mildest," says Arranz.“Acne, sexual dysfunction, breast development in men, stretch marks, pain where the injection occurs… But then there are the serious ones, which occur when a person injects hormones or anabolics in large doses, very often or during long periods of time, like five or six months without a break.”As detailed by the AEMPS, many of these serious effects are sometimes irreversible: hepatitis, liver cancer, stroke, stroke, heart attack, sudden cardiac death, thrombosis, atherosclerosis, severe acne, thyroid disorders, gynecomastia or erection difficulty.Some of these effects are behaviorally related."It changes your character completely, you become aggressive," says César.“The only thing you think about is training, training and training.The sex life is reduced, everything else is reduced, you enter a bubble by yourself and you end up bursting.Each substance has its own risks.For example, trenbolone, as Nacho discovered in his own flesh, so sexually excites those who take it that fetishes and desires appear that were perhaps hidden, and an irrepressible desire to satisfy them.The use of anabolic steroids has also been associated with the appearance of psychological disorders such as depression and psychotic episodes, leading to suicide in some cases."It is true that testosterone improves mood, helps against depression, muscle fatigue or lack of energy," explains the doctor."But if it is consumed for a long time or in large doses, violent, manic, narcissistic, histrionic states can also develop... In addition, if the consumption stops suddenly, it can come down and, again, a depression."Nacho confesses that his testicles are “like a couple of marbles”, one of the most common consequences of the use of anabolic steroids, because the brain, perceiving that there is an excess of testosterone in the blood, stops producing it on its own.To reverse this phenomenon, substances such as human chorionic gonadotropin must be taken, in a period known as post-cycle, designed to be able to resume hormonal production."If it resumes," Nacho clarifies."I'm possibly sterile right now, and irretrievably," he adds in a more serious tone.Cycles are an open secret, but the debate is out there: Last year YouTuber Noel Deyzel, a bodybuilder with nearly two million followers, posted a video titled Why I'm Honest About My Steroid Use.“It is very common to see lies to sell training or diet plans.Too many influencers are looking to get rich by taking advantage of the vulnerability of others”, he sentenced.“I will never say what I am consuming because I have a very young audience and the last thing I want is for them to get hurt because of something I have said.I've seen people promoting steroid cycles on TikTok and that's not cool."Throughout the conversation, Nacho admits on several occasions that he suffers from a certain degree of dependence on these substances, something very common among those who take them, because they produce well-being and euphoria.His technical knowledge makes him think that he takes less risk and has a safer control of the effects.“It's a lie that I tell myself: 'Since you control, nothing is going to happen.'But something can happen to me anyway, and if not now it will be 20 years from now.We don't think long term."His friends don't take steroids out of fear.Sometimes he thinks about quitting, but he feels better and looks better when cycling.He himself is now, as he says, "in the thick of it.""One day I decided to quit and it didn't cost me anything," says César."I decided I couldn't sustain that level of training, and the financial cost was too high."He confesses that he misses the physique he achieved back then, but has set out to achieve it through more natural means, even if it takes more time and effort.“When I quit, I noticed a huge change in my relationship with my partner.When he took it, it seemed that it did not exist.Now it has nothing to do with it, and it has completely changed my character”.Looking back, he doesn't recommend it to anyone.“In the long run, all I did was harm my health.”You can follow ICON on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or subscribe to the Newsletter here.If you want to subscribe now, check our offersSubscribe and read without limits