Back in March stories surfaced that the NBA and the Player’s Union were very close to reaching a deal on HGH testing, but it seems that reporting was premature as CBS Sports’ Ken Berger has just reported that the NBA league hopes to have a deal in place shortly, and we are well past the March announcement.
What do you think of when you hear about the use of HGH in sports? Do you think of super muscular football players with or baseball players that are kicking ass and taking names with a home run average like nothing before? Then again if you look at the whimply looking players of a decade or two ago compared to the size of today’s lineback, it might give wonder to questioning who is on the up and up. Ironically, it’s highly unlikely that you will be able to tell the athlete using HGH from the one that’s not.
The NBA already has a drug testing program in place, but by current performance enhancing standards, their testing is considered weak. This is why the NBA is dillegently working to include HGH testing into their drug testing program. It’s almost like they are trying to prove a point.
When Major League Baseball suspended Ryan Braun the Brewers slugger for violating the durg policy it garnered a lot of attention. There are more suspensions expected to come out of the Biogenesis case occurring in South Florida. It’s also why the NBA feels it is so important that they get their HGH testing in place for next season. Stern recently indicated they were hopeful that things would come together and that negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association would be successful before the start of next season.
It is really important that coaches, owners, and fans don’t automatically assume that because a player is in excellent physical condition that they are likely to be using human growth hormone. After all, their job as a professional sports athlete is to prepare all year round for their season. They really have little else to do as far as their jobs are concerned – that is their job!
The different physiques seen in players from the past until current can be attributed to many things including better nutrition and new technology advancements. Many teams have added a new position to their teams called the strength and conditioning coach, whose role is to help players maximize their abilities. Yet many who don’t understand how HGH works are quick to point the finger to HGH therapy.
There is no question that there are definitely professional athletes that use HGH but what most people don’t realize is that more often HGH is used to help injuries heal faster.
HGH for Recovery Purposes or Performance
HGH improves some athletic performance. Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, carried out a study on 103 recreational athletes, ages 18 to 40. It determined that HGH provides a boost of energy in sprinting events such as swimming or running. Athletes were given either HGH, testosterone alone, HGH with testosterone (an anabolic steroid), or a placebo. HGH users saw a 4-5% increase in speed on a bicycle, and testosterone users had an 8% increase. The World Anti-Doping Agency funded this study and it concluded that in a 10-second sprint over 100 meters, HGH leads to a 0.4 of a second improvement. Researchers also said HGH did not increase strength, power or endurance, but they did find HGH led to more lean body mass and reduced fat mass.
“We used lower doses of growth hormone than athletes are reported to use, and for a shorter time,” professor Ken Ho, head of pituitary research at Garvan, said in the study. “We can speculate, therefore, that the drug’s effects on performance might be greater than shown in this study, and its side effects might be more serious.
“In conclusion, growth hormone increases athletic sprinting when given alone or in combination with testosterone. This is the first demonstration of improvement in a selective aspect of physical performance with growth hormone. We believe that this effect may bring a competitive advantage to athletes engaging in sprint events.”
The bottom line is that many athletes are more interested in using HGH to recover from injuries in the hopes that it will repair bone and cartilage problems. Could it be that HGH really shouldn’t be included in the ‘drug testing’ and that the concerns are highly overrated.
That’s good, I say it all the time, these people are getting paid very well and they should live up to the respect that the fans give them. Hard work pays off for the winning teams, not drugs.
I think what the NBA needs is a really big wake up call and this just might be it. i used to like basketball, but the new regime that has taken over in the past 10 years or so seem to feel like they are untouchable on and off the court.
I’ve given up on the NBA, they lost me a long time ago when they went into the “fouls to win the game” territory. I don’t think that should use any performance enhancer, especially something as good as hgh is.
The amount of money paid to players, virtual fortunes, makes cheating a very profitable endeavour. So as fast as one means of performance enhancement is foiled another will replace it. That’s why I have little respect for athletes with 7 and 8 digit paychecks.
The NBA is full of a bunch of crybabies and that’s all it ever will be. College basketball is more entertaining and the players are more sportsmanlike that their pro counterparts.I think they should be tested for hgh and banned form playing. I understand that this will more than likely shut down the league if they were allowed to do this testing so I am sure it will never happen.