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Lat Workouts and Stretches for Pain Relief

By On · Add Comment · In athletes, bodybuilders, chin-ups, exercises, lat pull downs, lat workouts and stretches, latisssimus dorsi, pain relief, shoulder pain

Lat pull downs and chin-ups are favorite exercises of bodybuilders and other athletes.  Aside from the fine aesthetics of a well developed latissimus dorsi (the V-shape of a man’s back), low back stabilization benefits also apply.

But chinning-up without stretching these massive muscles is a mistake, and it can lead to back pain, shoulder pain and even difficulty breathing.  In the video below, I demonstrate the best lat workouts and stretches for pain relief and prevention.  Further, stretching the lats just feels good.  It’s one of my personal favorites.

Whether you have low back pain, a chronic shoulder pain or just tightness from working out, the stretch I demonstrate in the video will be sure to open you up and make both your upper and lower torso feel tops.  Enjoy.

Steroids Cause Kidney Damage

By On · Add Comment · In American Society of Nephrology, anabolic steroids, bodybuilders, cancer, dialysis, exercise, kidney disease, muscular, obese, recovery time, workout

I know you think it can’t happen to you, cuz I’ve heard you say it. You’ve said that as long as you do them responsibly, steroids are totally safe. I heard you, muscle man–you told me so. And further, you’ve backed it up by telling me to prove it. Prove it that steroids cause physical problems–purely speculation, you said. Prove it.

OK, now I can: According to the most recent reports, anabolic steroids used by athletes and amateur bodybuilders can cause lasting kidney damage. New research presented at Friday’s American Society of Nephrology‘s 42nd Annual Meeting in San Diego, shows that men taking steroids for more than a decade had more severe kidney disease than men who were obese and not muscular.

Anabolic steroids are used by both men and women to increase muscle mass. They work by decreasing recovery time. So that 24 hours you and I need to recover from a workout aren’t needed by steroid users; these guys and gals only need a couple of hours, if that. They can hit it hard at the gym every day, several times a day. That’s how they get big. And the truth is that there has been no conclusive evidence linking steroid use to cancer, or any other disease for that matter. But now, unfortunately for steroid users, there is some proof.

How steroids damage the kidney is unclear, but damage them they do. Long-term steroid use can eventually lead to end-stage kidney disease, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant. I have a client in my Beverly Hills chiropractic practice that is on dialysis. Think it doesn’t hamper his life? Guess again. Dialysis is every day, several hours of the day, forever. I don’t think it’s worth it, but you decide.

The good news is that the kidney damage caused by steroid use is reversible. In the study men who stopped using steroids, reduced their exercise and lost weight saw their kidney function improve. Nice. And for a few men, early medical treatment (medication) proved helpful. But researchers wanted to point out that steroid users in the later stages of kidney disease may improve some, but are left with chronic and irreversible kidney damage.

Something to think about.

Roid Rage

By On · Add Comment · In bodybuilders, professional athletes, roid rage, steroids, violence

Here’s a big surprise: Steroid user are twice as likely as non-users to engage in violence. Let that sink in.

I know what you’re thinking: No kidding! But believe it or not, some previous studies have shown the link to be inconclusive. However, researchers at Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice looked at data on almost 7,000 young steroid users who were tracked since 1994, when they were in middle school and high school, and followed them through 2002.

The researchers found that steroid users were about twice as likely to have committed at least one violent act in the past year than men who never used them–even when statistically accounting for other drug use or prior violent tendencies. The violence included fights, shootings, stabbings or injuring another person badly enough to need medical attention. No women steroid users were studied.

A very important point to distinguish is that the study does not predict that all men who take steroids will get violent; instead it shows that men who take steroids have a higher probability that they will become violent at some time.

Steroids are used by bodybuilders and athletes to gain muscle mass and strength. In the U.S. they are only attainable by prescription through a doctor. However, they aren’t too hard to get illegally. Many body building gyms have “pst, pst” privileges in their back rooms, and professional athletes get theirs from trainers or directly from labs.

Aside from roid rage, the term used for aggressive and hostile behavior exhibited by steroid users, using the juice also has been linked to heart problems, liver problems, acne and disturbinces of secondary sexual characteristics like gynecomastia (man tits) and testicular atrophy (small balls) in men, and deep voice, hairy chest and clitoral enlargement in women. To read a great article on how anabolic steroids affect the body, click here.

Well, I guess it’s really not that big of a surprise to most of us. We’ve all seen the “don’t f#@ with me” buffed guy walking down the street. Some of us have witness roid rage first hand. And yet, there are still deniers: They say roid rage doesn’t exist (see video below). What do you think?

Roid Rage Denyers

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