FREE ESSAY ON PREFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT

PREFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT

Performance Enhancement
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that steroid use is becoming more popular among
athletes, and something needs to change.
Central Idea: Steroid use needs to be regulated more heavily and the facts need to be
taught to the public as well as the athletes
Pattern of Organization : Monroe's Motivated Sequence
INTRODUCTION
I. Attention: There are over a million people in the US who are slowly killing themselves
every year and half of them don't even realize it, fact given by Charles Yesalis' book
Anabolic Steroids in Spots & Exercise. Most are athletes trying to increase their
performance and ability, the rest are people who are trying to improve their looks.
II. Credibility: I have done extensive research on steroids these past few weeks via
internet sites, books, and a few fitness magazines.
III. Relevance: Steroids are on the rise at all levels of competition and it is necessary
to put a stop to their use
A. You do not want to see a sport where every athlete is a replica of every other
athlete
B. You do not want your friends dying from the use of steroids for an unworthy cause
IV Purpose: You should know as much about steroids as possible to prevent their use in
your life and the lives of your friends
A. You should know what they are and how they work
B. You should know how to spot a user
C. You should know what the effects of using then are 
V. Preview: I am going to give you a background on steroids
A. What the side effects are
B. Who is using them
C. How we can stop them
Transition: Will our kids be caught up in steroids when they get to be our age, and kill
themselves because we did not put a stop to this vanity now!
DISCUSSION
VI Need: 
Performance enhancement is the major goal of athletes in all levels. And in the US it is
spreading like an epidemic. Over 400 million dollars worth of steroids are handled in the
black market every year and over a million people in the US are using them. 
A. There are all different types of steroids and a few different ways to take them. There
is also many symptoms you should be aware of to be able to spot a steroid user
1. Steroids are a synthetic version of the male hormone testosterone, which is the key
chemical in stimulating muscle growth. Steroids come in two forms, liquid (which needs to
be injected), and a pill that can be taken orally.
a. Steroids were first synthesized in the 1930's and were used by the Russians weight
lifters in the 40's and 50's.
b. Steroids were not introduced into the US until 1958 by a pharmaceutical firm, and have
been on the rise ever since.
2. There are a few symptoms you should be aware of in spotting a steroid user as listed
in Richard La Plante's book Steroid blues
a. The most obvious symptoms are rapid weight and muscle gains and yellowing of the skin
and eyes.
b. More personal changes only a friend might notice are mood swings, aggressive behavior,
and premature balding
B. Now that you know what steroids are, what happens to a persons body after taking them?
The National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at
http://www.health.org/pubs/tips/teenster.htm is where the information about the side
effects was found.
1. The psychological effects are irritability, uncontrollable bursts of anger (roid
rage), severe mood swings often leading to depression when steroid use is stopped,
delusions, impared judgement stemming from feelings of invincibility, and paranoid
jealousy. Fatalities due to suicides and homicides are also a big factor in the mental
degeneration of a steroid user.
2. The long term effects of steroid use are increased cholesterol level, high blood
pressure, increased risk of blood poisoning and infection (e.g. AIDS and hepatitis) from
sharing needles
a. Steroids cause muscle to be too large for the bone to support, as well as weakening of
the tendons
b. Deaths from heart attacks, kidney and liver disease and/or malfunction are very high
among steroid users.
Transition: Its understandable that people want to get ahead in athletics, and people
always want to look better steroids are not the answer. There are many alternative in
supplementation that are not as effective as steroids but they have none of the side
effects either.
VII Plan:
Steroids do give fast results to muscle growth and strength, but when used right the
supplements an the market today can be an effective alternative to getting noticeable
results
A. The two hottest supplements according to Muscle & Fitness magazine are Creatine
Monohydrate and GlutamineGT.
1. How Creatine works
2. How Glutamine works
B. Or you could just do it the old fashioned way 100% natural
1. Get a set work out schedule and stay with it
2. Eat right, it wont matter how hard you work out if you body does not have the raw
materials to build musscle
VIII The facts about steroids need to be taught at all levals of school starting at the
highschool level
A. A program like the D.A.R.E. program should be implemented, and emphasized at the
college level
1. This can be helped by petitioning a law to help fund the SAP (steroid awareness
program)
2. And by becoming mor aware about steroids to help our friends and relatives
B. The next step is to pass a law where all college athletes must be drug tested to be
eligible (they do not test at the JC level)
C. High school should follow, so steroids can be stopped before they start
IX Visualization:
If we do not to the use of steroids all athletes will be able to fall back on their own
lack of drive to steroids and will end up paying the price in the end.
A. Junior Colleges are not being tested for steroid use and the number of users is
increasing as well
B. Eventually, if there is not a stop to steroid use the athletes will either kill
themselves off or there will be no real competition, just a bunch of crazed steroid users
taking out their rage on the field. 
CONCLUSION
I. Summary: There is only one benefit as opposed to a countless amount of negative
results from long term steroid use as stated in Janet Mohun's book Drugs, Steroids,
Sports.
A. There is serious permanent psychological and physical damage as a reslut of steroid
use
B. There are safe alternatives to steroids, the best two are Creatine and Glutimine.
C. Knowledge of steroi