[longhorn71]

***Basic Steroid Biochemistry***

Starting with Testosterone, this is the source hormone from which pretty much every anabolic/androgenic chemical comes from. As you know, Testosterone levels peak in males during puberty and we all remember what happens. We became more muscular, our voices deepened, we grew hair in places where it wasn't before, and some developed oily skin and unfortunately acne. But after puberty our Testosterone leveled off, now insert Testosterone supplementation. I am very suspect of legal testosterone supplements, why? Well for one, it's not actually Testosterone, but it's chemicals that are 'thought' to be Testosterone precursors or to put it another way, things (chemicals) used by the body to make Testosterone. This is problematic for two reasons: #1 These supplements are not regulated by the FDA or any other regulating agency. Manufacturers of these products don't have to submit actual scientific research and proof that their product does what they say it does. Pick up any Bodybulding magazine and you will see what I mean. It's nothing but adds with pictures of professional bb'ers (who use AAS), and fancy descriptions using heavy scientific terminology that's supposed to impress and mainly confuse you. Bottom line, you don't know what you're taking and moreoever, what the hell it does. #2 Even if you were getting actual chemicals used in your body's synthesis of Testosterone, it doesn't mean this in itself will cause your body to make more Testosterone. Think about it for a minute. Your body is only going to produce as much Testosterone as your genetic make-up tells it to. This is why AAS's are so effective. They cheat your own genetics to a certain degree.

All anabolic/androgenic chemicals that I can think of are either Testosterone, Testosterone derivatives or are synthetic 'testosterone-like' compounds. So how do they work? How does Testosterone make us buff?

In the body, in many type of tissues are Androgen receptors. These can be found in scalp tissue, adipose (fat), and muscle as well as others. Imagine this receptor as a person that's waiting for it to tell them what to do; only this person can really only do one thing (more on this in a minute). Free Testosterone in the blood will bind with this Androgen receptor. The Testosterone in a sense activates this receptor, i.e., tells it what to do, and the receptor's only mission is to tell your cell's DNA to synthesize more muscle or to be "Anabolic". This is a very complicated series of chemical reactions but hopefully you will get the point. All it takes is the Testosterone binding to the Androgen receptor to make this happen. So you will see that increasing the concentration of free Testosterone in the blood has a marked "Anabolic" effect. After this happens and the Testosterone is released from the Androgen receptor, the Testosterone can do some other things such as: binding to another Androgen receptor thus repeating this process, be broken down into DHT (dihydrotestosterone) which is actually stronger than Testosterone, or it can also be aromatized (chemically changed) into estrogen. But this is not the only way that Testosterone functions to help build mass. Again, the main function of an activated Androgen receptor is to tell the cell to produce more muscle, and Testosterone causes this activation.

While “Anabolism” is the term generically meant to describe the process of muscle building, “Catabolism” is the opposite, meaning the breakdown of muscle. “Catabolism” just like “Anabolism” is largely hormone driven, and controlled heavily by a class of hormones called Gluccocorticoids (cortisol being the one you have heard of). Testosterone is a sneaky little devil in that not only can it bind with Androgen receptors, it can also bind with gluccocorticoid receptors which prevents hormones like cortisol from telling it to tell the cell to release protein, i.e. “Catabolism.”

So this is a one-two punch. Not only does it activate the process of growth, it also helps block the process of breakdown and at the end of the day, you’re left with more muscle. This is an overly simplistic description of this process. Since Androgen receptors are not located solely in the muscle what happens with Androgen receptors in other parts of the body get activated? Well, this is where the side-effects of AAS’s come into play such as male pattern baldness.

There are several other indirect ways that AAS are thought to enhance muscle mass, but these two are currently thought to be the two largest contributors.