Home |

Testing For Anabolic Steroids (Part 1) 

Drug testing in modern day sporting events is quite common practice nowadays. We are normally lead to believe that a very small percentage of competitors use performance enhancing drugs, but the truth is that is very common place amongst modern day competitors. There really isn't anything wrong in wanting to have a competitive edge over your main rivals, and that would normally amount to some form of anabolic steroids backed up by a plan to beat the test.
Many competitions in powerlifting and bodybuilding are now drug tested at events. The idea is, of course, that everybody competes on a 'level field', aside from personal talent for sport. However, what frequently happens is that the guy who is on 'juice' and has found a way to get round the drug test comes out the winner. It isn't fair by any means, but that's life.
Some people may find the practice of using drugs to prepare for a 'natural' event rather unsavory. Personally, I neither condemn or condone such a deed; its entirely the business of the individual, and its also up to them to realize that if they get caught, it might just cause them a few problems... Aside from that, the principles behind evading a drug test are quite interesting in their own right. In this article, I will deal with some types of testing procedure and straight forward methods that can be employed to beat them.
Types of Testing Procedure: The most common body fluid to be tested for the presence of drugs in athletic competition is generally urine. These articles will deal with the procedures used to test the body fluid, although the procedures used to assay blood for illegal substances are virtually identical.
There are a number of different laboratory testing processes used to test for performance enhancers, and it is important to know how these work, so that you can find a way to beat them!! By virtue of that statement, it goes without saying that you should find out what type of testing procedure your sample will be analysed by well in advance of the test so you can plan ahead...
Gas Chromatography(GC): This methodology uses a separation technique to separate a urine sample into its basic component chemical parts. The substances are passed through chromatographic columns by a gas. chromatography is how we separate mixtures of compounds from each other, and this will lead to identification in the most cases. The chemical compounds found present in the urine sample can be identified by their 'retention time' on the chromatographic column - this retention time is unique for each individual drug, allowing them to be identified.
Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry(GC/MS): This specific test will use a mixture of gas chromatography, followed up by mass spectrometry on the chemicals that have been separated from the urine on the chromatographic column. The mass spectrometry will reveal the exact identification of any drugs which are found present in the urine by actually producing an perfect 'molecular fingerprint' match of any chemicals that are found present. Meaning that the chemical structure of the drugs that are present (the atoms present within the drug, and in the order they are actually bonded together) results by putting this method to use. "Unfortunately" this test is just too expensive to use and just the well off sporting associations can afford to use it. The test of this cost is on average about one hundred pounds per sample (almost $200 US).
Although the above two tests are very accurate, there is always room for human error. For example, if the machines were not cleaned perfectly from the last sample, and that last sample was contaminated with illicit drugs, then the next sample through (maybe yours!!) could pick up some of the contaminant, and test positive. Therefore, if you test positive, no matter what, then protest. Especially if you know you were 'clean' (or should have been clean by the time of the test)
High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC): A further technique that is of interest as it is often used on test samples which are suspected of containing steroids. It's very similar to GC, apart from that a the carrier is a liquid for the sample through a chromatographic column instead of a gas. HPLC is both sensitive and easier to perform than GC. It is generally used to check up on results from other tests that are not quite so sensitive.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

By Top UK Bodybuilding And Steroid Expert Mick Hart. Learn how to Build Lean Muscle At Micks new Blog

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which means you may freely reprint it, in its entirety, provided you include the author's resource box along with LIVE VISIBLE links (without "nofollow" tags).