Human Growth Hormone: Who's Doing It?
12 percent of average gym-goers admit to illegal HGH use.
By Leigh Remizowski, Men’s Health
Pop quiz: How many guys at the gym are using performance-enhancing drugs? Sure, the big meathead who’s giving everyone advice about form. And, yes, the guy on the incline bench whose arms are as big as your quads. But who else?
The answer: A lot of guys who look just look like you. (And maybe even you.) A new study in the American Journal on Addictions found that more than 1 in 10 men who regularly lift weights are currently using human-growth hormones. Let us be clear: These aren’t competitive body builders; the study looked at average gym-goers.
Of 231 male weight-lifters in the study, 12 percent of the group admitted to illegal HGH use. If that statistic seems high to you, that’s because the number of men who are shooting the stuff is, in fact, on the rise. In 2001, only 8 percent of men were injecting synthetic HGH, study author Brian Brennan, M.D., of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
(Interesting side note: All of these guys—27 in total—reported also having used steroids in the past. But back to HGH ...)
HGH is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland in your brain. Its main responsibility is to boost growth during childhood. But then you grow up and, in your mid-30s, production of the hormones begins to slow. That’s why men are so infatuated with the stuff: Since it’s so important for growth at an early age, they think taking supplemental HGH can boost their size—and thwart aging, for that matter.
And, in some ways, they’re right: A 2008 review in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that people who take these drugs do experience an increase in lean body mass. However, HGH doesn’t boost strength, the review found.
Here’s the other problem: Guys think it’s safe. That’s because there’s no research showing that long-term HGH use will hurt you. Yet, we mean. Fact is, the long-term effects haven’t been studied in average guys. The only data that exists on the subject is from people who have a disorder called acromegaly, a natural condition that causes abnormally high levels of the hormone. These people have higher rates of heart problems, respiratory trouble, and diabetes.
So, why are so many guys now turning to HGH? Thanks to the Internet, it’s less expensive and easier to find than ever. In the past, only affluent athletes could afford these drugs, says Brennan. Example: In 1980, it cost about $50 for 1 IU of HGH. Today, it costs just $3 to $4.
But did you know that there’s an even cheaper way to boost your levels of human growth hormone? Brace yourself for the answer: It’s called strength training. According to a study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, strength training creates twice as much of the hormone as aerobic exercise. The best HGH-boosting exercise: the squat, since it engages the total body.
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