Tone down on steroids to tone up
06-11-06
New Delhi: Are you a fitness freak who loves to sweat it out? Pumping iron to get those great biceps? Or working hard for those perfect curves? Well, you might just want to be extra careful before joining that gym. Your neighbourhood gym may be offering more than just workouts and diet charts. You may actually be getting steroids in the name of food supplements or vitamins.
CNN-IBN's special Investigation Team found out that gym instructors and even chemists are selling steroids illegally. With the help of a gym instructor, the team tracked down a man who supplies steroids to gyms to a shop in the bylanes of Karampura, New Delhi.
The man sold the members of the team 100 steroid pills, used for artifically building muscles, for Rs 4000.
CNN-IBN: How many pills should we have in one day?
Harsh (Gym instructor): You need to use one in a day along with protein.
CNN-IBN: If one takes more pills, it is going to have an adverse affect right?
Supplier: You can increase the amount that you intake within a week. Take one in the morning and one in the evening. If you feel that there are no side effects then you can increase the number of pills to three a day - one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening.
The man told CNN-IBN that the pills he gave the team are the most expensive steroids avaiable.
CNN-IBN: The pills that we have taken, what are they called? Anabol?
Supplier: No no. This is testosterone, the most expensive pills available.
Testosterone is a male hormone but it's synthetic forms like pills are often used to build muscles. An excessive intake of this steroid could damage the liver.
Harsh then asked the supplier to get him Anabol, another powerful muscle building steroids.
Harsh: Why can't you get us some Anabol? That would cost less.
Supplier: Anabol is not cheaper simply because it has 5 mg extra and it is equally effective.
Taking anabol without medical supervision could even cause impotency in the long run. However, the supplier says he would be happy to supply some more.
Supplier: Let me know if you need more.
But it's not just fitness centres and gym instructors who may be supplying steroids.
Even the chemist next door may be selling steroids without asking for prescriptions.
The team then approached a chemist shop in Noida and asked him for Neurabol, Durabolin and Deca Durabolin injection.
These capsules and injections are all steroids used by men to build artificial muscles.
Chemist: Durabolin, Neurabol injection - is that what you want?
CNN-IBN: Yes.
Chemist: Durabolin is available.
CNN-IBN: Give us that. Do you have Deca Durabolin and Stenazol?
Chemist: We have Deca Durabolin.
He then asks his assistant to give the team 25 pills of Durabolin and Deca Durabolin, without once asking for a doctor's prescription.
People will do just anything to get thin and the steroids are not hard to get. But just remember that they can prove fatal! The next time your gym instructor offers you a short cut steroid, think twice.
