Blood Doping and Its effects on Blood Oxygen

Blood doping is term we have heard for many years. Numerous athletes have been disqualified and even banned for the practice. I want us to look into it from our angle and what blood doping is and its effects on us in terms of exercise and the use of gear. First, I want to define it and discuss it so we understand just what it is…

Blood doping is the practice of boosting the number of red blood cells in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because such blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, a higher concentration in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and endurance.

The two main ways of blood doping is blood transfusions and erythropoietin injections, but there is one more and that is the use steroids. Anabolic/Androgenic steroids have a positive effect on red blood cell production.

Red blood cell concentrations are a major factor in the oxygen carrying capacity.

Anadrol and Equipoise are the two that are usually associated with RBC increases, but testosterone, nandrolone, fluoxymesterone, methyltestosterone, stanozolol, and methandrostenolone all have shown to promote erythropoiesis, too. And yes there are more that also do this but for the sake of the length of the list, I left them out. You get the picture.

The kidneys are the main player in the role of erythropoiesis. It’s the androgenic receptors in the kidneys that initiate the genesis of RBCs. You can see where the steroids come into play at this point. Now bear in mind there is a HUGE process in the body producing RBCs, but we are not going to go into that patho lecture. My point is to get you to see what and where the receptors are that start this process. The compounds jump on those receptors and BOOM!! It’s off to the races…

Now what does this mean? More oxygen is what it means…

All metabolic processes in the body are regulated by oxygen. Our brains process billions of bits of information each second. Our metabolic processes work to rid our bodies of waste and toxins. Even our abilities to think, feel and act require oxygen-related energy production. Oxygen also plays a vital role in proper metabolic functions, blood circulation, the assimilation of nutrients, digestion and the elimination of cellular and metabolic wastes. Sufficient oxygen helps the body in its ability to rebuild itself and maintain a strong and healthy immune system. You know how important water, vitamins, minerals and enzymes are to your health and vitality. Although, you can actually exist without food for about 40 days, and water for about seven days, without oxygen, life ceases to exist in only minutes…LOL I had to throw that in.

Red blood cells transport the OXYGEN to the tissues throughout the body, in turn, enhances the aerobic capacity and endurance. It also reduces the heart rate during strenuous exercise and lowers blood lactate.

Let’s look at the valid points here medically:

• OXYGEN combines with glucose to create ATP, the main energy source for your muscles. The more ATP your muscles have, the more powerful and explosive they will be.

• When your muscles don't receive enough OXYGEN to support their exertion, they begin to produce lactic acid, which can cause muscle fatigue and failure. The more OXYGEN your muscles receive, the slower the production of lactic acid and the slower the rate of muscle fatigue.

• OXYGEN is needed by your body to metabolize lactic acid in the liver AFTER exercise. The more OXYGEN you get into your body POST-exercise, the faster your muscles can recover.

The bottom line is that OXYGEN can affect every aspect of performance for an athlete:
• Power and Explosiveness
• Endurance
• Lactic Acid Muscle Burn
• Training Intensity
• Training Capacity
• Recovery
• Mental Clarity and Focus

The end result maximizing your growth and strength potential

As with everything, there are negatives to the positives. The simple act of increasing the number of red blood cells in blood raises its viscosity, which can cause it to clot or coagulate more readily. This increases the chances of heart attack, stroke, and pulmonary embolism, which has been seen in cases where there is too much blood introduced into the blood stream. Because blood doping increases the volume of red blood cells, it effectively introduces a condition called polycythemia, a blood disorder that has known adverse outcomes.

This is another reason why we stress that your cycle lengths be the equivilant to the time off. This gives your body a chance to reduce the RBC count and take you out of the risk factor zone. This is another reason why we cannot use multiple compounds and high doses of steroids year round, too. There is a science to our madness, but not researching and not taking the appropriate precautions can be dangerous.

In ending, I would like to add that a growing number of athletes and bodybuilders are implementing erythropoietin injections and I would NEVER endorse such therapy without the supervision of a medical physician. It’s extremely dangerous without blood work and using the proper dosages.

This article was brought to you by G&C Productions. I would like to thank Guru Tread-M for the homework assignment and my partner in the brainstorm and research GS9902. Below are my references I used in constructing this paper so that I give credit to my research material sources:

Wikipedia
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090531102843.htm
http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/72/5/S1806
http://www.livestrong.com/article/192133-heart-rate-during-submaximal-ex...
http://illumin.usc.edu/printer/25/doping-in-sports-blood-oxygenation-enh...