Kids used to hide their bad grades from their parents. Now they’re hiding illegally purchased steroids from the black market.

The use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs has gained a platform in today’s fitness culture. Steroids existed long before famous TikTok fitness influencers started promoting them. They became popular in the 50s and gained media attention in the 70s due to popular bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Despite Schwarzenegger’s long-term use of performance-enhancing drugs in the bodybuilding world, he has warned athletes about the harms of steroid abuse. Schwarzenegger explained that his past use of steroids is nothing compared to the steroid abuse occurring today. He noted that steroids weren’t illegal until 1990 when the Anabolic Steroids Control Act was passed by Congress.

“Don’t go there,” Schwarzenegger said. “Yes, we are at a time now where we always look for the easy way to make money, the fast way to get rich, the easy way to be an influencer. Anytime you abuse the body, you’re going to regret it.”

Using synthetic variants of the natural hormone testosterone allows athletes to promote muscle growth, enhancing their physique and athletic performance. But abusing this substance comes at a price — one that could ultimately cost you your life.

Infertility, heart disease, liver failure, stroke, high blood pressure, blood clots, “roid rage,” and death are only a few side effects of abusing steroids.

The regulations on steroids and PEDs were no match for high-level athletes and bodybuilders. The Olympics banned the use of anabolic steroids, and Congress introduced an act that classifies steroid trafficking as a felony. Yet trafficking remained, and social media gives easy access to these illegal substances with a click of a button.

Now, the “roidemic” is booming on social media.

If social media wasn’t already feeding on young adult’s insecurities, it is now. The Center for Countering Digital Hate reported videos promoting steroid abuse have been viewed at least 420 million times over the last three years by U.S. users between the ages of 18 and 24. TikTok’s community guidelines prohibit the promotion and sale of unregulated substances. But it’s not heavily enforced.

The content promoting steroid abuse and misinformation downplays the health risks while using images of unrealistic body standards. Certain language is used to challenge viewers into thinking they need to take these substances to look shredded.

“Tell your parents they’re just vitamins,” one video was labeled. “Teenagers lied about their age just to fight in WW2 but you are too scared to take S4RMs,” another was captioned.

Julia, an enhanced female bodybuilder in her late 20s, discussed her journey with steroid use but voiced her concern for the younger generation abusing these substances. Her name has been changed for anonymity.

“I grew up in the fitness industry and during my first bodybuilding prep, I was against PEDs because I didn’t know anything about them,” she said. “I didn’t want to become infertile or rage out, but after talking to my coach, who has multiple medical degrees and licenses, I voiced my concerns about taking serious substances that would sacrifice my health.”

“My coach agreed, and is very ‘health comes first.’ She talked me through how important it is to use enhancements safely and correctly. She made me feel comfortable. She put me in contact with her friend for the substances, and at nine weeks out for my most recent [bodybuilding] prep I started taking Anavar to keep my muscle during depletion. Then I added Clenbuterol, Novedex, and Proviron but not all at once,” she said. “The cycle is temporary.”

Julia emphasizes that knowledge is key. If someone is going to take steroids, they should know the risk and do their research. It’s important to have a coach who is knowledgeable and educated, and not just telling their client to take the strongest steroids all at once. Abusing steroids leads to detrimental side effects.

“It’s scary that underage kids are getting these substances off of social media. They want to look like the role models they see on TikTok, but their bodies aren’t even developed at that age. They don’t know how much they’re taking and they’re doing it undeveloped,” she said.

“It’s crazy that kids think they know what they’re doing when their online idol tells them what to take.”

One of the biggest online fitness idols is 23-year-old Michael and Christian Gaiera, formally known as “The Tren Twins.” With 1.3 million subscribers on YouTube and almost two million followers on Instagram and TikTok, they are one of the fastest-growing fitness influencers.

As per their username, they are enhanced bodybuilders. Their name is a wordplay on the anabolic steroid, Trenbolone.

Among bodybuilders, Tren is known as the “god of all steroids” for its potency. But there’s an even higher cost to taking this substance.

Those who take Tren stress that it’s not a beginner steroid. “No one,” said one Reddit poster in the r/steroids forum, which has 249,000 members, “should be really doing Tren unless you are massive and in a [bodybuilding] contest prep.” That’s because it may be the most neurotoxic of all anabolic steroids, according to a paper co-written by Timothy M. Piatkowski, a researcher and lecturer at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia.

Adverse effects were evidenced in animal studies, such as neurodegeneration (nervous system cells stop working or die) and even in low doses, genotoxic effects (damaged DNA that can lead to cancer.) Neurotoxicity is disastrously harmful to teenagers and young men, as their brains are still in the process of developing.

“The Tren Twins” may not take Trenbolone, but they are enhanced. On top of that they’re promoting a fitness culture where abusing drugs to alter one’s physique is normalized.

“I think it’s truly sad how glorified it is [on social media] because you don’t need to poison your body to accomplish your goal,” said natural competitive bodybuilder Kimmy Cacace. “Bodybuilding is a contest against myself. It’s always trying to be one percent better than I was yesterday.”

But impatient underage kids want results fast. According to a 2022 Monitoring The Future national survey, 1.3% of seniors in high school reported misusing steroids. Underage kids consume these fitness influencers’ social media content and believe they need to take steroids to look like them.

In under 60 seconds, a young adult can access resources to purchase illegal steroids.

After some simple searches for steroids from a local FOX 29 journalist, the journalist found several YouTube videos that showed either who to call to buy steroids, complete with a WhatsApp contact number, or how to use them, while Facebook is known to have programs devoted to policing other social ills, such as cocaine or heroin use, the selling of illegal steroids has been able to stay off their radar.

A lot of these steroids sold online are fake substances, from scammers trying to make a quick buck. Or they’re “bootleg” steroids contained with random ingredients that could be just as harmful, if not more, than real steroids. A 2022 study co-written by Raphael Magnolini, a resident doctor for the Arud Centre for Addiction Medicine, concluded black-market anabolic androgenic steroids are counterfeit and of substandard quality.

“It’s kind of too easy to get steroids,” Julia, the anonymous bodybuilder, said. “ And I don’t think they should be legal because there are a lot of men and women that abuse it.”

“They know nothing about how often to take them and a lot of people will take them at the same time which leads to all the negative side effects. People are dropping dead from it because they don’t know how to use it.”

There are other risks to consider than the usual side effects of steroid abuse. Various anabolic steroids are injected, which can lead to high risks of infections.

“Anything that you inject increases your risk of infection,” said Dr. Hester Wilson, chair of RACGP Specific Interests Addiction Medicine. “They may not be thinking about the risk of hepatitis or HIV but if you’re sharing needles with someone else, if someone else is showing you how to inject and you’re using the same needle, there’s the risk of blood-borne viruses, and there’s also just the risk of the substance, what is it that you’re accessing?”

All ages can be affected by steroid abuse, but the easy accessibility to the substance is concerning. No real regulations or actions are taken to prevent any age from purchasing them online.

Not only are steroids easy to access, but the Bodybuilding Olympics encourages their use.

Mr. Olympia is the pinnacle of bodybuilding. Started by Joe Weider in 1965, the championship is held every year in Las Vegas. Elite bodybuilders from all over the world gather in one spot to compete for the Olympia title. The prize money varies for each division, with the biggest prize being $400,000.

The Olympia has a partnership with the company Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals. Despite its name, it’s not a legitimate pharmaceutical company. It’s a sports nutrition manufacturing company that sells various nutritional supplements.

In addition to the wide selection of protein powders, there are plenty of anabolic steroid agents to choose from. Over a dozen of PEDs and steroids are available with the click of a button. The bright-colored bottles with big fonts draw the attention of underage aspiring bodybuilders.

The Olympia has promoted the company on their Instagram page multiple times. In November 2023, they received backlash for posting a picture of the steroid agent Testosterone, encouraging bodybuilders of all levels to purchase PEDs from Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals. Many comments critiqued the promotion of steroids specifically toward young aspiring bodybuilders, so the post was quickly removed.

Another post from November 2023 promoted the company with a giveaway of free nutritional supplements. “Every year Hi-Tech proudly supports the greatest bodybuilding event in modern history, and this year is no exception,” the caption proclaimed. The bright colors and cereal flavor protein powder appear to entice a younger audience, leading them to a website where they can purchase protein supplements and unregulated steroids at the same time.
Mr. Olympia’s paid partnership post with Hi-Tech Pharma.

Natural competitor and bodybuilder Kimmy Cacace questions how steroids became normalized. “I understand when things get to a higher level it’s hard to compete against other people, but why did we let it get to that point?

She believes “the door needs to be opened” regarding questions about the money and politics of bodybuilding.

Despite its controversy, the global steroid market keeps increasing in revenue.

Fueled by the “roidemic”, the Global Androgens and Anabolic Steroids market revenue was $52.63 billion in 2022 and is forecasted to reach $124.18 billion by 2030. This growth comes with a societal cost: the way young adults and underage kids look is not good enough.

Social media glamorizes PEDs while offering an accessible platform to purchase them illegally. Developing kids are easy victims of this billion-dollar industry. They will pick up any needle to look like their fitness idol.

The steroid industry feeds off naivety. Cacace questions the societal integrity regarding the rising steroid abuse.

“Why did we allow steroids to completely take over and consume the [fitness] industry?” she asked.