Featured Image Credit: Enhances Games / YouTube
The Enhanced Games are kicking off this weekend, and while much of the attention will be fixed on the superhuman performance that athletes are able to achieve when using traditionally banned substances, you might be wondering what the drugs that produce performance-enhancing results actually are.
Anti-doping laws are put in place by worldwide sporting institutions to ensure a level playing field, as while every athlete good enough to compete on a global stage has got there through immense natural skill and a lot of hard work, getting that extra percent of performance can be the difference between participation and making history.
Many sports have become embroiled in scandals over the years after investigations reveal the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) among winning athletes, tarring the authenticity of competition and leaving no one happy in the end.
One company has decided to propose a new form of competition that embraces artificial enhancement, however, as the Enhanced Games offer athletes an unorthodox opportunity to see how far their body can be pushed using drugs that would otherwise be banned in regular sporting environments.
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Not every drug is allowed, of course, with the Enhanced Games' prohibited list still producing a lengthy compendium of substances, and athletes also have to undergo extensive medical screenings to protect their health and produce tailored treatments.
The main core of PEDs allow these athletes to reach levels of performance that seem scientifically impossible, enhancing not only their ability to perform on the day, but also train far harder ahead of each individual event.
While athletes might not be taking all of the drugs listed below, they typically use a combination of a few in order to achieve the results that make the Enhanced Games unique.
First up are drugs targeting strength and muscle mass, which typically fall under the category of anabolic agents. These include testosterone and synthetic steroids, which are used by nearly all athletes at the Enhanced Games, as per BroBible, as they significantly increase your strength.
Human Growth Hormome, otherwise referred to as HGH, is also incredibly common as it increases muscle cell production and metabolic efficiency, allowing for faster recovery times which can be transformative during training.
Muscle mass can also be dramatically increased through the use of myostatin inhibitors, as it prevents the myostatin protein which naturally limits muscle growth among humans and animals alike.
Stimulants like Adderall are incredibly popular as well as they delay the perception of fatigue within your body, allowing you to exert yourself for longer which can prove to be the difference maker in a tight competition.
One of the biggest benefits of performance enhancing drugs comes through the ability for your body to carry greater amounts of oxygen, as the use of hormones like erythropoietin or HIF stabilizers stimulate red blood cell production to achieve this result.
Something that watchers of the Enhanced Games have to take into account, however, is the universal effect of performance enhancing drugs on all athletes, as it provides a different result that their use in traditional sports.
While athletes will likely be able to produce faster times and break records in the process, the difference in performance between opponents will theoretically be the exact same as if everyone was 'clean', as the appeal of PEDs is to gain an unfair advantage in regular competition.
