Living
in your skin can be extremely difficult, especially if you are not comfortable
or happy with the way you look. Attaining the perfect body can be extremely
difficult and is possibly unattainable. Body builders put an unimaginable
amount of effort into forming the perfect bodies; most of them use performance-enhancing
drugs, which include the most popular choice, steroids. Even with all the known
side effects, body builders and even casual gym attendees use steroids. Body
Builders use steroids to help them attain their idea of the “perfect” body, regardless
of what they can do to the human body. Body
builder, Roxanne Edwards admitted to using steroids during her interview with
Dis Magazine. H. Cassils used steroids to help form his perfect body.
There is so much more to body
building then just going to the gym and lifting some weights, staring at the
mirror and occasionally having a spray tan. As seen in “Bodybuilding” by Brian
Finke, it is amazing how people can transform their bodies. Some of the people
featured are massive and their bodies look almost superhuman. Bodybuilders are extremely
self aware, they keep track of everything they put into their body and they
know what certain drugs and foods can do to their bodies. There is a limit to
what the human body can do, “many of these people have come face to face with
the limits of the mortal body” (H. Cassils). Over working your body and the
chance of hurting yourself are two thoughts that are very important, and are
very crucial in deciding if something is healthy or not. Some bodybuilders aren’t healthy with how they
put on weight or how they lift. Steroids are popular amongst bodybuilders
because they build and strengthen muscles while reducing body fat.
Unfortunately, there are so many side effects for steroids. “For men some side
effects are shrunken testicles, infertility and baldness. For women some side
effects are a deeper voice, increased body hair and also baldness.” This is
just a small list of the possible side effects someone can develop through
their use of performance enhancing drugs.
When asked if she had ever used
steroids, Roxanne Edwards’s response was of course, like it was something
everyone did. She used steroids to achieve a “peeled” body structure. The term
“peeled” refers to the ultimate level that someone’s body could appear. You can
see all the muscles extending through the skin when watching someone whose
physique is “peeled”. Roxanne Edwards is
very intimidating to look at; she can easily kick anyone’s ass that she wanted
to.
H. Cassils did everything he could
to reduce the risk and side effects of taking steroids, “I got blood tests
before and after and I took half of the lowest dose recommended” (Cassils). The
steroids made H. Cassils even more aware of his body, “The weights that had
felt like lead the weeks before suddenly felt like feathers in my hands.”
Overall his body transformation is overwhelming, as seen in the video, it is
obvious how much he truly struggled with this project. Overall this project was
not healthy and H. Cassils put his body in danger by going through with it. In
the video, it states “23 pounds in 23 weeks”. That is 23 pounds of muscle
gained in 161 days, the average for a man to gain in 1 month is 1-2 pounds.
The most important thing to keep in
mind when discussing the topic of health is that it depends on the person.
Bodybuilding by itself is not bad for you. Steroids can be detrimental to
someone’s health. With so many negative effects why would someone use them?
1) Setting the goal to achieve the “perfect body” seems to be impossible to reach, especially for bodybuilders. The amount of dedication and hard work they input doesn’t satisfy them enough, thus results in the use of steroids.
ReplyDelete2) The thesis does successfully created a path for the essay. I enjoyed the essay in a way that it spoke for some bodybuilders when it comes to facing dissatisfaction with their results. It definitely adore the fact that she quoted, “There is a limit to what the human body can do, ‘many of these people have to come face to face with the limits of the mortal body.’ (H. Cassils)” which emphasizes her thesis. The only thing I would see is the see the author’s input of steroids more and see if there is a possible alternative for these bodybuilders.
3) The first two paragraphs are great! It builds the thesis with good quotes and the negative sides.
On the paragraph with Roxanne, there is a lot of room for levee to incorporate the side effects of bodybuilding itself and the impact on the person’s body.
With Cassils, definitely talk about how people saw him in the gym. Compare the before and after and how the change of his body did to him and the people around him. Perhaps bring up a social aspect of the effects of steroids calls attention to one’s self.
4) In the cases of both Roxanne and Cassils, they did use steroids but in ways that probably was more beneficial to them then it was bad. Cassils himself used the bare minimum and was more worrisome about his health.
1) Even with all the known side effects, body builders and even casual gym attendees use steroids. Body Builders use steroids to help them attain their idea of the “perfect” body, regardless of what they can do to the human body. Bodybuilders believe that the more muscular their body is, the healthier they look, however bodybuilding is a result of ruining ones healthiness.
ReplyDelete2) It is hard to distinguish the thesis statement in this essay since it does not talk about the main focus. This essay should focus more on the definition of "health".
3) They are full of good statement. However, there could be an inclination added towards how bodybuilders confuse the state of healthiness to a "perfect" body
4) The conclusion should provide more concrete explanation from both Roxanne's and Cassilis's side as to why steroid might be good or bad. The last paragraph should connect to the first paragraph more by describing how both bodybuilders help us understand what the word health means.