Testosterone in NY Times

TC-Set them straight. The media is always printing foolish, poorly researched articles like that.

John T.-NYT is socialist? I mean, it’s no USA Today, but I think it’s still pretty good. Hehe

Here’s the article:


Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company  
The New York Times
May 27, 2001, Sunday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section 14LI; Page 1; Column 1; Long Island Weekly Desk

HEADLINE: Strong Island

BYLINE:  By COREY KILGANNON

ON a recent sunny Saturday at the Central Mall, Jones Beach's answer to Muscle Beach, Josh Joseph, a young man with a massive build, a deep tan and a pierced tongue, stood surveying this year's crop of hardbodies. Mr. Joseph, from Bellmore, is 19 and delivers pizza to support his work in progress: making his big body bigger at the Powerhouse Gym in Bellmore. Over the past two months, he added 40 pounds of muscle to his already strapping 230-pound frame by regularly shooting anabolic steroids into his buttocks. Mr. Joseph said he is no longer "juicing," a slang term for taking steroids, but had just finished a 10-week cycle of doses. He and some friends had planned a trip to Cancun last month, and he went on the juice to enhance his poolside pickup prowess at the Grand Oasis Hotel. It worked, he confided. "Me and my boys were ripped," he crowed. And to get more ripped -- the etched definition of lean, toned muscle -- with Long Island's beach season fast approaching, Mr. Joseph has adopted a low-fat diet, eating a dozen egg whites for breakfast, followed by meals of skinless chicken and protein shakes laced with creatine, a substance taken to enhance muscle growth. He dismissed the possible dangers of all these muscle-enhancers by motioning to the other buff bodies adorning the beachscape. "Dude, look around," he said. "There are so many juiceheads on this beach." Maybe so, but few of them would admit to using anabolic steroids, which promote muscle growth by mimicking male hormones. They are a felony to possess or sell. Detective John T. McLaughlin of Nassau County Police Depatment's narcotics unit calls steroids on Long Island "a growing problem, especially with the teenagers." He said that he and his partner, Thomas B. McLaughlin (no relation), are assigned mainly to investigate steroid dealing and that the case load has been increasing each year, now standing at about 35 per year. In a chat room on testosterone.net, a Web site for steroid users, "Long Island Dawg" bragged that Long Island is "the juice capital of the world (aka 'Strong Island')." "Strong Island is the Mecca of East Coast bodybuilding, weightlifting and chemical enhancement," he wrote. "If you don't think Long Island is hardcore, I've got 30 raged-out juiceheads who would love to meet you. The whole island's full of massive dudes! I'm surprised it doesn't list to the right and float off into the Atlantic. "Strong Island is packed with some of the biggest, dumbest, toughest juiceheads you will ever find," he concluded. "Just go to any L.I. club and you will see what I'm talking about." Authorities on Long Island say they also see an alarming surge in young people experimenting with over-the-counter dietary supplements that claim to build muscle or burn fat in conjunction with weightlifting. These products are legal, but their long-term health effects are disputed. Some parents, teachers, coaches and doctors see the surge in high schoolers' use of steroids and dietary supplements as a manifestation of a shift in their attitude toward their bodies. They say teenage boys' growing obsession with bodybuilding reflects mounting pressure of a kind that teenage girls have been feeling for eons: to conform to an ideal physique. "The same way you used to see girls starving themselves trying to look like the models, now you see the same thing with the guys, but in reverse," said Carlos Gonzalez, 26, a personal trainer at Survival Fitness, a Seaford gym. "Everywhere they look -- magazines, movies, models, pro wrestling -- everybody's big, everybody's ripped." And taking enhancers is not confined to boys. George Taibi, a social worker at Massapequa High School, said that many female students this time of year are taking weight-loss products and herbal supplements that may cause health risks. He distributed to some students a letter warning of the dangers of such diet supplements. Their effects are similar to those of stimulants and amphetamines, it said, including jumpy behavior, sleeplessness, loss of concentration, tremors, hallucinations and sometimes delirium, convulsions or psychosis. "We're seeing more girls here abusing these substances," he said. "They think they're safe because it's over the counter, but they have no idea what's in them. All they know is that they've got to conform to this body image. It's that time of year, and they've got to look good in those bathing suits." Authorities on Long Island say local teenagers are especially susceptible to the allure of body culture because of the vital beach scene and plenty of disposable income for things like gym memberships, tanning salons, body waxing and dietary supplements. Also, schools have made weight training an increasingly important, often mandatory part of high school gym classes and interscholastic sports programs. Teachers and coaches say student interest in weight training has surged, even among nonathletes. It is often most prevalent at schools with big sports programs, and during the summertime the competition moves off the playing field to the beach. Thanks to spring-break getaways and the tanning salon, many of the students have deep tans before the first beach blanket is spread on Long Island sands. Many of the boys shave their chests and backs and legs. A hirsute body can bring catcalls and taunts like "no sweaters on the beach!" In December, a new gym called XXL opened next to the high school. Almost instantly, more than 100 students bought memberships, said the owner, David Belmonte, who abandoned a prosperous career in the jewelry industry to open the gym. "It's cool to be big," he said, describing the teenage mindset. He said he recently saw two teenagers in the gym watching a video of the bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman. "They looked up and said, 'Oh, look at those delts, let's go do this exercise,' and tried to build themselves up like him," he said. But, he said, if any of the boys ask him about steroids, he tells them they're crazy. "If a kid asks me, I say, 'Dude, you're 16. You're producing so much testosterone right now, just eat like crazy, sleep a lot and work out like an animal.' " XXL sells shakes for $3 with creatine or glutamine supplements. There's the Designer Protein shake, the Lean Body, The Iron Tek and the Iso Pure Zero Carb. A sign lists the various amounts of protein, carbohydrates and calories in grams. Dietary supplements are sold under dozens of brand names, but most over-the-counter products contain at least one of four ingredients. Protein supplements apparently do little damage but may also offer little boost. Creatine is a natural substance found in meat and fish which enhances muscle performance and growth. Androstenedione is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland and is converted by enzymes into testosterone. And ephedrine is a stimulant that is probably the most common active ingredient in herbal products advertised to fight obesity. The Food and Drug Administration has warned that ephedrine can have severe health risks. On a recent weekday afternoon at XXL gym, John Shadock, a 17-year-old senior at Massapequa High School, grimaced at himself in a large wall mirror as he pumped out a set of flies with 80-pound dumbbells. His build is solid but not exactly stretching his made-to-be-stretched T-shirt. Nevertheless, he has put on 20 pounds of muscle in the past year and is determined to enter bodybuilding competitions. The goal is to look "hard and veiny and ripped," he said, estimating that of the guys at school who work out seriously, "maybe 10 percent of them use steroids." "They're easy to get," he said. "I know down the road, in a couple years, I'll use them, but right now I like working hard for it." Among recent nationwide surveys, one in 1999 said that at least one student in a classroom of 35 uses or has used steroids. Another recent survey reported that 5 percent to 6 percent of high-school boys admit to using anabolic steroids. Still another survey indicated that 40 percent of American boys past age 11 have tried or plan to try them. As far as other enhancers, it is estimated that at least 8 percent to 10 percent of teens are using supplements such as creatine or testosterone boosters. Local estimates of teenage steroid use seem nonexistent. No school organization monitors the issue, and it is not a subject school officials like to discuss. "It's an awkward question to respond to," Robert S. Christenson, athletic director of the Northport-East Northport School District, said about whether he has had students using steroids. "More times than not, it's an individual kid exploring a bit, and he gets himself in a bind. It goes well beyond athletic performance -- it's a cosmetic effort to look good, to impress the people they want to impress." Dr. Christenson said students had so many questions about performance-enhancing drugs and steroids that his district began including steroid abuse in its mandatory health seminars. But students are not the only ones who need the education, he said. "Until the parents get involved and find out just what's in those big tubs of powder their son's bringing home," he said, "the problem's going to persist." Rudy Fiorvanti, who owns Action Fitness U.S.A., a Hauppauge company that installs and services exercise equipment in many Long Island schools, says that: "Working out has never been bigger in the schools; they put a ton of money into weight rooms." "Seeing these kids and talking to them and the coaches, there's a lot of steroids and creatine going on," he said. "People who say there isn't have blinders on. I know coaches who give creatine out to kids. They'll denounce it publicly, but they want studs as players." Anthony Dattero is a guidance counselor and coach of the freshman football team at Paul J. Gelinas Middle School in Setauket. When he worked as an assistant football coach in Nassau County three years ago, he said, "I could name at any given time 25 varsity athletes doing steroids in the county." "They'd leave in June and come back in August three times the size," he said. "It was so obvious, they'd be bloated up but swear up and down they weren't on steroids." But he said steroids were being overtaken by supplements now. Patrick Pizzarelli, athletic director at the Lawrence Public Schools and coordinator for the Nassau County Football Coaches' Association, said "just about every school district" on Long Island has dealt with having students on steroids. "I'd be lying if I said I haven't seen it here," he said. Noticing steroid use is easy, he said. "You have a kid go from, before Christmas, looking like anyone, and by the end of January they're all cut, and you realize something artificial's going on here," he said. "Hopefully you notice the signs and help the kid. Usually when a coach intervenes, they deny it, and you can't prove it. All you can do is talk to them. We're not mental health workers, so you'd refer them to the school social worker or psychiatrist or local counseling center." Side effects from steroids include liver damage, severe acne, depression and aggressive tantrums known as 'roid rage. Increased testosterone accelerates estrogen production which can cause the formation of breast tissue and testicular shrinkage. Supplements like creatine and androstenedione sometimes cause nausea, dizziness and diarrhea, as well as chemical imbalances that cause cramping and strains and dehydration and heat-related illness. Long-term health risks are suspected but still unknown. Ephedra has been linked to strokes, heart attacks, seizures and hypertension. Like many other high schools, Great Neck North High has begun mandatory weightlifting sessions before school for certain athletes. "Five years ago no one chose weight training," said Mark Green, a physical education teacher at Great Neck North and head coach of the football and lacrosse teams there. Now, he said, "we push in gym classes awful hard for the kids to be lifting. "Now I get nonstop questions on how can I lose weight, gain weight, look better, feel more comfortable," Mr. Green said. "In the locker room, it's all about who's got skinny legs and who got biceps and who doesn't, who can wear the tight shirts." "The kids are tremendously bigger in recent years," he said. "There's tremendous peer pressure here because the cliques push much more. This time of year, I can tell you, you won't see one girl eating french fries in the cafeteria. Every girl has lost 15 pounds." Mr. Green said many female students had nose jobs and other cosmetic surgery. "I can't count the number of girls we have coming in with notes saying they have to sit out gym six weeks to recover from cosmetic surgery," he said. Competition regarding image is especially intense at Great Neck North, he said, noting that the parking lot is full of students' "$40,000 starter cars." Francis Fusaro, 57, has been Sachem's head football coach for the past 30 years. Before gym went co-ed, he warned his male students about steroid abuse by telling about a friend who took steroids whose "testicles shrunk to the size of BB's," as did his sex drive. "Now we have girls in the class, so I can't say it," he said, "but I still tell them that nothing is worth losing the ability to have a family." Mr. Fusaro said he tried to keep his athletes working out at school, not at the local gyms. Meanwhile, Sachem's weight program, open even in the summer, is being used by more and more non-athletes and women. "Back when I played there was very little weight training," he said. "Now we have our ninth-graders lifting. You can't field a successful team today without a weight program." He said he has had no athletes taking steroids, but powders are a different story. "The powders become a very sore subject, a taboo thing," he said. "Coaches are not supposed to be getting involved. You know for a fact you got kids taking creatine, but they won't ask you about it, like they don't ask you about drinking." Dr. David Pearson, an exercise physiologist who writes a health column for MH-18, the teenage version of Men's Health magazine, said: "The teenage years are the skinniest and most awkward, and the idea of being the skinniest kid in the locker room is absolutely terrifying to a teenage boy." Rick Collins, an attorney in Carle Place who has represented clients accused of possessing or selling steroids, calls the syndrome in teens "the opposite of anorexia." "A guy has 19-inch arms and still sees himself as too skinny," said Mr. Collins, himself a former body builder. Mr. Collins insists that steroids have been demonized and their potential risks exaggerated. They should be legal for adults, he said, but not teens, he said. "In demonizing them, we've made them more attractive to teens and created a huge black market," he said. "We've increased the risk because dealers are importing them from Mexico and selling them in the bathrooms of gyms." Many coaches and fitness experts won't go so far as to endorse steroids, but argue that if a teenager is going to have an obsession, why not bodybuilding? Lou Schuler, fitness editor for Men's Health and MH-18, says that today's teenagers could do a lot worse than working on their bodies, even obsessively. "I'm having trouble understanding how the idea of looking better is somehow a problem in society," he said. "To me, the big problem with society is people not caring about what they look like." "When I went to school, you fit in by smoking, drinking and dropping out," he said. "Now kids are fitting in by becoming body conscious. Everyone's trying to put a negative spin on body image and vanity, and looking at the few who try to fit in by using steroids." "It's natural to be muscular," he continued. "It's the way our bodies are supposed to look, but given our lifestyles, we can't get that way without exercise." But women, even the body-culture devotees, do not necessarily agree that bigger is always better in male physiques. Recently, three girls from Whitestone, Queens, sat in bikinis on a blanket on the sand near the Central Mall at Jones Beach, watching a bevy of beefy boys tossing a football and chasing "errant" passes next to girls' blankets. "I mean, you don't want some scrawny guy," said Melissa Marelli, 17, a senior at St. Francis Prep School in Queens, "but you don't want some monster either." Kiana Moschella, 17, and Lori Daniela, 18, agreed. The gyms are crowded on the verge of summer, they said, and they too have intensified their workouts and tweaked their diets for beach season. Even on this late spring day, their toned bodies had deep tans. The sentiment was echoed by Jessica Gorman, a 21-year-old sales assistant from Copiague who was doing leg extensions at Dolphin Gym in Amityville. "You don't want some guy who's all juiced up, with a body that's totally bald," she said.

Well, at least they mentioned my junior high school.

I don’t think it’s worth writing in.

Oh, and one other thing: Last time I checked, calories weren’t measured in grams.

I guess it depends on who “testosterone.net” is “for”. If its “for” steroid users, dont write in but then what are a 30yo natural lawyer and all the other “natural for life” types doing here? Do JMB and the other writers consider that they contribute to a site “for steroid users”? Will future writers want to contribute to a site labeled in this way by the times? I think this site is probably “for” people interested in exercise and nutrition but does in part cater for steriod users. I would imagine that a small proportion of total articles cater are for steroid users and would think a smaller proportion of hits are by steriod users. I personally am strongly of the view that the sort of modern man philospophies in TC’s and Chris’ articles are of far greater significance here than the odd article about juice. If I am right, the article is misleading and, subject to Tmag staff views, should be corrected with a letter explaining what the site is for and about to ensure the “Testosterone” name does not get an undeserved image (although I still like the possibility of more free mileage).

Scary article.

This article was very painful to read. It brought back a lot of great memories of the L.I. Dawg. Hey Dawg, if you’re out there, how about giving us all an update on what’s going on.

Hey Bobby Z, what ever happened to the W.H.A.C.K crew? You guys still poppin’ Anadrol-50s? Back in the day, you guys went on a rant in the reader mail every week.

I dunno guys, principal of the thing comes to mind, I mean,the paper didn’t mention the dangers of the “deep tans” which is a documented fact, but they did speculate on “supplements”. I feel sorry for those teenagers, their parents are going to be on their backs. On the other hand , if you did write a rebuttal it would be buried in some section no one reads. The paper could get a wild hair up its ass and “investigate” this site, “exposing” sex, drugs, rock n roll, and roids, while giving any response from T-mag short shrift. I guess I’d say stay below the radar to stay cutting edge, but it feels kinda wussy not to respond to that article.

Here’s what should be done. Contact the paper and invite them to go to the previous issues and look at the articles. Then, have them take a look through the forums. That way the paper won’t be jumping the gun. Indeed, they will then be able to form a valid opinion by looking through the site and determining if there is or isnot a large amount of steroid discussion going on. That will be prove them wrong! Um, on second thought…:slight_smile: