It is not uncommon to see stories of bodybuilders dying young these days in the pursuit of getting huge. Just a few months ago, Dennis McCarver, a supposed legend in the making was found dead due to choking on food. Though that was the given reason, many consider it as a mere cover-up story as he had a huge battling past with a lot of medical issues due to the abuse of anabolic steroids.

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The usage of drugs to look a certain way and to compete in bodybuilding has become very normal. And these drugs come with side effects, the most common of them being.

1. High cholesterol 

2. Elevated blood pressure

3. Liver and Kidney damage

4. Enlarged organs

5. Acne 

6. Shut down of natural hormonal production

These side effects should be reasons enough for people to not risk their lives to look a certain way. Sadly, that is not the case. Bodybuilders, especially young enthusiasts who would do anything to become more muscular are looking at novel ways to add new ingredients to the cocktail of chemicals brewing under their skin. 

Recently, a case of a 21-year old youth got covered in a national newspaper where it was shown that AMP5 was introduced to him by his gym trainer. The drug was introduced with the promise that if he takes it regularly, it will help him win bodybuilding championships. Naive as most youngsters are, he started taking it. AMP5 is a drug that was actually meant for horses to increase their work capacity. The drug was given to them so that they could take on more workload and put in more labor.  AMP5 was first used on racehorses to improve performance and make them run faster during derbies. As people gained knowledge that it increased the performance by increasing blood circulation, bodybuilders started experimenting with it pre-shows where they would be very low on energy.  Once they figured out that it gave them amazing boosts of energy, they started taking it as a pre-workout as well. Hence, AMP5 made its way into the local body building scene. 

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Like the other drugs, AMP5 also has very disturbing side-effects. The common ones being an addiction, development of dependency, mood alteration, low blood pressure, altering heart beating rhythm, depression, etc. 

The moral of the story being that drugs are harmful and you should not be using them just on the suggestions of your gym trainer. They are not doctors and nor the people to be advising or recommending medical drugs to people going to the gym. 

And if you do choose to do drugs (I would not recommend it anyway), do take this discussion up with your family doctor or medical practitioner and not take any Tom, Dick, or Harry's advice on how to use it.