PED and footbag?

[Max Power]

Has any one ever used performance enhancing drugs in footbag? Would things like growth hormones or steroids or anything give you an advantage? I'm not really sure it would even help very much, but all the cyclists do it and they're not jacked up monsters. Maybe drugs that enhance focus would have the best effects. I'm not suggesting anyone try this these things are awful for your body I just want to start a discussion on the topic. All other sports are littered with it, I guess our sport is to small for it to be an issue.

[Anz]

There's three ways to do things. The right way, the wrong way, and the Max Power way.

[jimmyjames]

Has any one ever used performance enhancing drugs in footbag? Would things like growth hormones or steroids or anything give you an advantage? I'm not really sure it would even help very much, but all the cyclists do it and they're not jacked up monsters. Maybe drugs that enhance focus would have the best effects. I'm not suggesting anyone try this these things are awful for your body I just want to start a discussion on the topic. All other sports are littered with it, I guess our sport is to small for it to be an issue.

Disclaimer: I do not use steroids or other illegal performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but their uses and efficacy is greatly misunderstood by the general public.

Cyclists use blood doping to enhance aerobic capacity. Some probably use anabolic steroids also to increase recovery rates so they are able to train harder more often. Anabolic steroids bind to androgen receptors inside cells and alter gene expression and cell signalling. Increased protein synthesis is the purpose of anabolic steroids in sports to build muscle and/or speed recovery. The type of training determines what type of protein synthesis occurs to which fibers.

The predominately Type I muscle fibers that are trained in cycling would not lead to large muscle size increases even with steroids but only aid in increased recovery of those fibers, prevent protein degradation via alosteric inhibition of cortisol, and help increase the aerobic metabolism capabilites of those fibers.

Steroids are not nearly so dangerous as the government bodies would have you believe. Anything can be "awful for your body" if used incorrectly or abused.

However, useful legal ergogenic aids for footbag would include:
Protein +carbohydrate supplement: taken after and/or during footbag sessions to minimize muscle catabolism and increase performance.
For a during footbag drink, mix water, whey protein isolate or whey protein concentrate, and gatorade powder.
Per 100ml water use 4g CHO and 2g Protein.

Caffeine or other legal stimulant: improve focus and alertness for increased CNS/ PNS activity and faster movements.

For footbag, PEDs that are generally illegal but of some use would be steroids for recovery and muscle training and amphetamines (eg. "greenies" used frequently in baseball) for focus.

[C-Fan]

1. For the past couple years, I've made a point to refrain from caffeine during the year, and then caffeinate right before competing. I've had mixed results with this, but I think overall it helps me. Whether that's a focus issue, or if it helps me physically, I'm not sure.
2. I don't know specifically of any footbaggers using steroids. The closest I can think to that, would be some net players who use aderall before competing.

Weirdly enough, I view caffeine use as fine for footbag, but feel like drugs like aderall are cheating. Is there much of a difference though? Caffeine doesn't require a prescription, but it's still a chemical that I'm intentionally taking to help me do well. Is it a question of legal drugs vs. illegal drugs? If the question is whether or not its ethical to ingest something to get an edge, does it become a question of "natural" vs. artificial chemicals? What about having sugar before competing? Amount of sleep? These things also affect performance. Where do people draw the lines?

[jimmyjames]

1. For the past couple years, I've made a point to refrain from caffeine during the year, and then caffeinate right before competing. I've had mixed results with this, but I think overall it helps me. Whether that's a focus issue, or if it helps me physically, I'm not sure.
2. I don't know specifically of any footbaggers using steroids. The closest I can think to that, would be some net players who use aderall before competing.

Weirdly enough, I view caffeine use as fine for footbag, but feel like drugs like aderall are cheating. Is there much of a difference though? Caffeine doesn't require a prescription, but it's still a chemical that I'm intentionally taking to help me do well. Is it a question of legal drugs vs. illegal drugs? If the question is whether or not its ethical to ingest something to get an edge, does it become a question of "natural" vs. artificial chemicals? What about having sugar before competing? Amount of sleep? These things also affect performance. Where do people draw the lines?

Exactly. It's a blurry line between things that can increase performance and whether they are banned by sports' governing bodies.

I don't know enough about the effects of adderall or caffeine to know the exact difference, but they both are stimulants that act in very similar fashions. They are both psychoactive drugs that increase the release of multiple neurotransmitters in certain parts of the brain that results in stimulating effects.

Like a lot of psychoactive drugs, tolerance can build up so you will have increased relative effects if it's only taken every so often.

What happens 25 years from now when gene modification is a reality and people can use procedures to alter genetics to give them an advantage? Already there are experiments with mice and dogs with gene doping that inhibits myostatin which produces large increases of muscle mass and reduction of bodyfat. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?Db=p ... inhibition)

The issue of natural vs artificial and legal vs illegal is generally inconsistent and poorly defined. Substances that used to be legal are now illegal in the United States and vice versa. Alcohol and cigarettes are legal, but marijuana is not. Salvia divinorum is legal in most states, but peyote is not.