Posted by: JLB (oz2009@verizon.net) on Mon Aug 25 06:36:15 2008

> JLB. Do you think a baseball player can put on 25-35 lbs of muscle in a year without using steroids?

If your asking about full grown men in peak performance shape then my answer would be highly unlikely. If you are asking about adolescents who are still growing, then the answer is yes, without a doubt. Even scrawny lanky kids in stage III of maturity can bulk up 25-30 lbs in a year, as I've seen it done in high school football programs every year. Are there kids across the nation using steroids? Sure, but I believe it's pretty rare. I am more concerned about the widespread use of creatine for high school age players. I know many college programs freely dispense creatine, but I still worry about the mind set that says "If I take xyz supplement, then I will be able to achieve xtimes better results." To me that sets up the rational for bigger and far more egregious "performance enhancers" later in their athletic life. Youngsters are confronted with "performance enhancers" everyday, whether they be whey shakes, sports vitamins, creatine, energy drinks, vitamin water, etc. Some are OK, some are a waste of money, and some are harmful. I think the message you want to instill , and have reinforced from their coaches, is the old "no shortcut to success" virtue.

JLB