Changes in the shoulder and quadriceps experienced by power lifters after making use of steroids in the past tend to stay with them even after many years of steroid discontinuation, according to a team of researchers involved in ascertaining the impact of anabolic steroid use on power lifters years after the use.

It is important to note here that anabolic steroids are synthetic hormones that can be derived from the male hormone, testosterone. The use of anabolic products in sports has long been debated as they facilitate muscle strength to a considerable extent.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Findings

The researchers found that several years after anabolic steroid withdrawal, and with no or low current strength-training, the muscle fiber area intensity, the number of nuclei per fiber in the quadriceps was still comparable to that of athletes that were currently performing high intensity strength-training. They also discovered that the shoulder-neck fiber areas were comparable to high-intensity trained athletes and the number of nuclei per fiber was even higher than found in the current steroid-using group.

Conclusions

According to the lead researcher, Dr. Eriksson, ”It is possible that the high number of nuclei we found in the muscle might be beneficial for an athlete who continues or resumes strength training because increased myonuclei opens up the possibility of increasing protein synthesis, which can lead to muscle mass.”  He added, “Based on the characteristics between doped and non-doped power lifters, we conclude that a period of anabolic steroid usage is an advantage for a power lifter in competition, even several years after they stop taking a doping drug.”

It is clearly evident from the study that even small time duration of steroid usage is sufficient enough to come across as an advantage for power lifters to excel in competitive events, years after they have gave up steroids.