SARMs — The Devil You Don’t Know

Why Are So Many Teenagers Taking These Steroid-Like Substances?

I write quite a bit about fitness on another platform, and have been fortunate enough to acquire a decent following. One type of question that I get asked increasingly and incessantly is in regards to SARMs — selective androgen receptor modulators. Many of these questions are from teenagers.

“What are these SARMs you speak of?”, you ask.

Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash

Well, it’s basically in the name. The way steroids work is that they attach to various receptors throughout the body, which causes a physiological effect. So, these steroids are basically the key, and they attach to these receptors to unlock the door to more muscle growth.

Photo by Nhia Moua on Unsplash

However, there are receptors all over the body — bone, heart, kidneys, brain, liver, skin…basically everywhere. And the steroids attach to these as well, which can cause the side effects that you see from steroids. These SARMs promise to selectively modulate these receptors, and thus provide a side-effect free experience for the user. They’re steroids 2.0, basically.