By Mollie York, Kaya Bos, Reece Carter
How much is too much when it comes to exercise?
One million of the 46 million physically active people in the UK are taking performance enhancers like anabolic steroids.
Though the number of people indulging in steroids may seem a lot smaller than the number of active people in the UK who do not, the negative outcomes of taking these steroids – such as exaggerated acne and ‘roid rage’ – highlight how dangerous they can be. Along with the dangers of steroids, there are also dangers to over-exercising.
According to verywell, 75% of the people who take steroids are teenagers. Elliott Cockrell, 21, a sports and exercise rehab student at Marjon University has more experience than most when it comes to engaging with exercise.
“The reason I exercise is for social reasons with my mates,” said Elliott. “It’s something I have always enjoyed doing and I definitely mainly do exercise for the social benefits.”
With body image & self-esteem issues being intensified with the use of social medias such as Instagram, it’s easy to see why people may want the ‘perfect’ body so quickly. However, with over-exercising comes a variation of dangers from pulled muscles to tendinitis.
Elliott continued: “I think you can do too much too soon when it comes to exercise.
“People need to understand the level they’re at before exercising. In my opinion, you cant train too much if you are doing it correctly.”
However, his view isn’t everyone view. From an experts perspective, if you burn more than 6,500 calories a week with exercise or if you do more than two hours in a row of straight cardiovascular training, you may be at risk of hormonal imbalance or insomnia, according to Huffington Post.
Statistics from verywell show the use of steroids to be decreasing over time, and it’s only hoped to carry on this decrease as the outcomes can be very negative.