Anabolic Steroids In Female Bodybuilding - An Untold Story

Oct 28th, 2024 - 10 mins

I’ve just googled “anabolic steroid use in female bodybuilding” and it’s page after page of scientific study. It seems like the use of testosterone in female bodybuilding does get its fair share of scientific attention. But who is telling this story in layman's terms?

That’s what I plan to do with this article, but before I delve deep into this subject, I want to preface this article by saying the following…

I have always been an advocate for people doing whatever they choose to do. I don’t think it’s anybody's business to tell someone else how to live their life, or to try to influence other people's decisions based on their personal preferences. I don’t like people telling me what to do, and so I live by my own mantra.

Anabolic Steroids In Female Bodybuilding - An Untold Story - Contents

Unbiased

Bodybuilding Does NOT Make Women Bulky - Steroids Do

What Are Anabolic Steroids

Naturally Occurring Testosterone In Women

High Testosterone Levels In Women

Steroid Use In Female Bodybuilding

Why Bodybuilding Women Use Steroids

Not Just Bodybuilders

Permanent Side Effects

Signs Of Steroid Abuse In Women

Not Just Steroids

Addicted To Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding Is NOT The Issue

Natural Bodybuilding Women - Keeping It Real

Go As Far As You Like

Strong For A Woman

Anabolic Steroids In Female Bodybuilding - An Untold Story - References:

Unbiased

The purpose of this article is not to tell anyone what to do, or to criticise anybody's personal choices in female bodybuilding or otherwise.

I’m not here to “out” anyone either. I just want to tell a story that isn’t being told.

My goal is to offer an unbiased story that uses simple language and doesn’t bombard you with science.

I will use scientific studies as a foundation to produce this content, I will link to the studies and content used for reference below. But here I want to use short and simple language to make this an easy and quick read.

For women curious about the use of testosterone in bodybuilding, or otherwise.

But also for women interested in weightlifting / strength training who are under the age-old misconception that bodybuilding will make them “bulky”.

Bodybuilding Does NOT Make Women Bulky - Steroids Do

Right off the bat I want to say this, because it is something that I hear time and time again and it’s just not true.

Bodybuilding does not make women bulky, it is the use of anabolic steroids, namely testosterone, that makes women bulky.

So unless a woman intends to look that way, by intentionally including anabolic steroids as part of her bodybuilding training, she will not get bulky.

Yes you will build muscle, yes, if you diet down to a low enough body fat percentage, you will show that muscle definition.

And yes, some women produce more testosterone than others naturally, and so she may have bigger muscles than the next woman, and as a result be genetically blessed towards bodybuilding.

But ultimately, by training naturally, the vast majority of women get a strong, yet feminine physique.

This is the appearance that women tend to refer to as “toned”. That’s what happens when you build muscle as a woman without the use of anabolic steroids.

What Are Anabolic Steroids

woman using anabolic steroid

Put simply, anabolic steroids are lab made drugs that mimic male sex hormones called androgens. Androgens develop and maintain masculine characteristics.

Testosterone is the main type of androgen and the one most commonly referred to when the subject of anabolic steroids comes up.

These steroids are administered either orally by simply swallowing a pill, or intramuscularly by way of injection.

The active half-life of orally ingested steroids is hours, and the active half-life of intramuscular admission is several days. The half-life of a drug is the time it takes for the amount of a drug's active substance in your body to reduce by half.

Evidence of the oral pill stays in the body for up to 4 weeks, and the intramuscular injection up to 8 months.

Naturally Occurring Testosterone In Women

The prominent female sex hormone is oestrogen, but women also naturally produce some of the male sex hormone; testosterone, just at a much lower level than men.

Normal levels of testosterone in women are 15-70 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL) or 0.5-2.4 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L).

High Testosterone Levels In Women

Some women naturally produce higher levels of testosterone and the effects of this are; irregular or missing periods, excess body hair, frontal balding, acne, a deeper voice, increased muscle mass and/or an enlarged clitoris.

One of the benefits of naturally occurring higher rates of testosterone in bodybuilding women and female athletes in general, is that she will naturally be physically stronger, have stronger bones and she will build strength, power and lean muscle more easily.

So not all muscular women are on the juice, it could still be genetics.

Steroid Use In Female Bodybuilding

As is the subject of this article, I want to talk about the effects of steroid use in women.

My objective here is to present the evidence from the multiple scientific studies I have consumed on this subject. I will keep it as short and simple as possible, I will also link each reference used below if you wish to explore this in more detail.

Why Bodybuilding Women Use Steroids

Steroid use is rife in bodybuilding in general, most commonly used amongst male bodybuilders. It’s still one of those “untold truths” and it’s not something that users tend to boast or speak openly about, although some do.

The reason bodybuilders use steroids is because it helps to enhance their muscle building efforts. Used in smaller controlled doses, it can provide enough of a boost to satisfy the user.

Cracks start to appear with the overuse of steroids, and that's when it can become more of a dangerous addiction. This is a serious matter, because we are seeing more deaths in younger bodybuilders than ever.

With that said, most amateur and pro bodybuilding men are well versed in steroid use, and it’s entirely their choice to go down that route or not. Many are aware of the risks, and as is my mantra, people should do whatever they choose to do with their life.

The concern I have is that steroid use amongst women isn’t as widely discussed. Are women as aware of the risks as men are? Do women know that their risks are different to the risks for men? Do they know the side effects are irreversible?

Does she know that she is toying with her femininity and her fertility?

And more to another point. Do non steroid taking women know that some of their “body goals” idols could low key be on the juice?

Are natural women aiming for a physique that just isn’t attainable to them without some kind of performance enhancing drug?

Fertility in women who use anabolic steroids

Not Just Bodybuilders

Female athletes in many competitive sports have eventually been found out for abusing steroids. The abuse of testosterone in women isn’t unique to bodybuilding.

After some suspicion of their use amongst female athletes in the Olympics, the testing for anabolic steroids in the Olympic games began in 1976. Although their detection wasn’t immediate. It remained a well kept secret for 10 more years.

The issue is that the increase in testosterone gives female athletes an unfair advantage against their predominantly oestrogen producing competitors.

The fact is, testosterone is performance enhancing when it comes to sports. That’s why biological men are generally stronger and faster than biological women. It’s normal.

However, it becomes abnormal when we start to use lab grown alternatives in both men and women.

Permanent Side Effects

While women do come to feel very empowered by achieving their personal fitness goals, it should be noted that most of the side effects that women experience using anabolic steroids are irreversible and sometimes high risk.

Female bodybuilders using anabolic steroids walk a fine line between success and suffering.

A woman who still wants to maintain her femininity should think twice about dabbling in anabolic steroids.

Most of the side effects of higher testosterone levels in women outlined below are permanent.

It’s one thing to naturally produce high levels of testosterone, it’s something else entirely to bring on these irreversible side effects for the sake of trying to attain the “perfect” physique.

Signs Of Steroid Abuse In Women

There are some tell tale signs that a woman is using performance enhancing drugs.

Be mindful that any or a couple of these things in isolation does not necessarily mean the woman is on steroids. Also, it takes years for these side effects to show, so just be mindful not to judge anyone. This article is for information only and shouldn’t be used as a reference to judge anyone.

Physical and non physical signs of steroid abuse in women

Facial changes - more masculine facial structure

Acne

Excessive hair growth

Deepening of the voice

Male pattern balding

Enlarged clitoris

Shrinking breasts

Irregular periods

Infertility

Significant and abnormal muscle growth

Depression

Mood instability

Not Just Steroids

There are other performance enhancing substances that I will not go into detail in this article. Perhaps in the future I will delve more into this for our readers. This article is long enough as it is.

For now, if you’re interested to learn about the other (less drastic) performance enhancing substances, see this content here.

Addicted To Bodybuilding

Keep in mind that anabolic steroids can become addictive, so can bodybuilding.

That combined with the desire for the perfect physique on stage makes it difficult for many women to stop.

From the studies I have read, women who use anabolic steroids are also extremely dissatisfied with their body image and present with body dysmorphia similar to anorexics.

Female Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding Is NOT The Issue

It’s important to note that it is NOT the bodybuilding training style that brings on these effects. It is exclusively the use of anabolic steroids combined with bodybuilding.

Read that again, because I really want you to understand that training like a bodybuilder is effective for altering your physique and changing your overall body composition, so that you can have more lean muscle and less body fat.

Do this without using performance enhancing drugs and none of the side effects mentioned in this article will apply to you.

Again, these side effects are exclusive to bodybuilders using anabolic steroids.

Natural Bodybuilding Women - Keeping It Real

In our article: Female Bodybuilding Competition Categories Explained, we delve into details of each bodybuilding category.

While we do mention performance enhancing drugs in that article, it’s more of a footnote at the end. This article will be linked from there, but I mention it here because it’s an opportunity to set some expectations.

For novice female bodybuilders the Wellness Category is a good entry point. It is highly unlikely anyone in that category will be using anabolic steroids.

Bikini, figure, fitness and physique categories are all attainable goals for women not using performance enhancing drugs. But that is not to say that all women in those categories will be drug free. It depends on the individual and whether or not the competition is drug tested and explicitly drug free.

Realistically, it’s unlikely that a woman in the top level bodybuilding category is drug free. I don’t want to speak in definite terms, but I also don’t want women out there to think that this type of physique is attainable without the use of anabolic steroids, or at least without an abnormally high level of naturally occurring testosterone and a truck load of effort, spanning years!

Go As Far As You Like

Please be aware that it literally takes years if not decades for a woman to reach top level bodybuilding standards. And she didn’t get there by accident, it was fully intended and her choice.

You make your own choices, and it’s up to you to decide how you live your lifting life.

To be clear; we do not recommend or promote the use of anabolic steroids under any circumstances. Everything we teach and the results we promote are fully attainable drug free.

Ask any woman in weightlifting and she will tell you that it takes years to build visible muscle. We all progress at different paces, and our results vary based on our genetics, our workouts, efforts, diet etc.

The way to know you are making progress is when you see yourself get physically stronger. When you get stronger, you can be sure you built some more lean muscle.

Strong For A Woman

Thanks to social media we are seeing more and more strong women with physiques that they built from their own hard work, commitment and a good diet.

Let them be your inspiration, notice how strong, yet feminine they are, and realise that being a strong woman who lifts weights is so much more than the extreme end of bodybuilding.

In fact, that extreme end of bodybuilding accounts for a mere 1% of women who lift.