Psychology of Sports

Competition is key to survival, so it is believed. There are sayings that are devoted to the idea “survival of the fittest”. This is a key idea when looking at current day sporting activities. Winning becomes everything. Athletes will go to the extreme to win. They take their bodies to the physical limits and beyond. An athlete uses their body in ways most people do not think possible. They can run faster, lift more weight, throw balls further, jump higher and take brutal beatings. The drive to win supersedes all other drives. The thought of losing is not an option for most athletes. They dedicate their lives to their sport. There is a direct relationship with the desire to win and personal happiness. There is evidentiary research available that correlates and athletes desire to win and risk taking behaviors. It is impossible to maintain the pace that most athletes maintain without the benefit of supplements.

Supplements

Most dietary supplements that are used by athletes are harmless, natural substances that enhance performance in conjunction with other activities, such as weight training and cardio exercising. Protein supplements meant to provide muscle nutrition and carbohydrates supplemented through meal replacement drinks and bars meant to give energy a boosts very rarely have any side effects that are long lasting or irreversible. There are some supplements that do carry some great risks and yet many athletes choose to put their bodies at this risk.

Supplements are meant to enhance the bodies natural ability to heal torn muscles and to build muscles. Anabolic steroids can excel the process of both healing and building.

Anabolic Steroids

Steroid use is banned in most athletic competitions, and if the athlete is caught using steroids through testing the athlete will be banned from compettiting the ban may be a life long ban, and may include the stripping of any titles that the athlete has earned through competiting in prior events. There are very serious implications in using steroids. Yet athletes world wide risk the retaliation and continue to use steroids to enhance performance. In addition to professional repercussions there are potential physical side effects from long term use without the benefit of medical follow up.

There is a long laundry list of possible side effects of steroid use, to include:

 Liver damage
 In females, deepening of the voice, growing facial hair, menstrual cycle disruption, baldness
 In males, infertility, shrinking of the testicles, baldness

And a host of other maladies associated with steroid abuse. Steroid abuse can be a very serious situation, yet athletes who pride themselves on their bodies abilities are the single greatest group of offenders of steroid abuse.

The psychological implications are huge when we look at the desire to win versus the desire to stay healthy