Anabolic steroids provide lasting advantages in strength sports even years after their use has ceased. Steroid doping offers athletes benefits that extend throughout their lifetime.

A team of researchers investigated the impact of anabolic steroids on powerlifters, years after the athletes had stopped using them. They found that although there were no physical traces of steroids in the body, the alterations in the shoulders and quadriceps still provided a significant advantage to the athletes, even after many years.

Powerlifting is a strength sport involving lifting heavily loaded weights, performing three repetitions each of squats, deadlifts, and bench presses. Powerlifters focus particularly on strength, relying on the development of large muscles. The human body has three types of muscle fibers: Type I, Type IIA, and Type IIB. Type I is the weakest and slowest but has the highest endurance. Type IIA is stronger and faster but has very low endurance. Human muscles are composed of a continuum of such fibers. In the case of powerlifters, Type IIB fibers are the most utilized, being the strongest. The use of anabolic steroids can add more muscle nuclei, increasing the density of these fibers.

Researchers examined two muscle groups: vastus lateralis, a muscle part of the quadriceps, and the trapezius. These muscle groups are crucial for a powerlifter.

Three groups of powerlifters were compared: the first group included 7 powerlifters who had used steroids for years but had stopped their use long ago (PREV). Another group consisted of powerlifters who had never used steroids (P), and the last group comprised powerlifters currently using steroids (PAS). The arrangement and number of muscle fibers, the number of nuclei in muscles, the number of satellite cells, etc., were examined.

It was discovered that years after discontinuing the use of anabolic steroids, without strength training, the number of muscle fibers and nuclei in muscles were comparable to those actively and intensely training. For the trapezius muscle, it was found that these were even more numerous than in those who trained and used steroids.

This indicates that, despite the cessation of their administration, anabolic steroids can provide advantages and benefits in terms of strength and muscle mass, even long after. These benefits are primarily manifested through an increase in protein synthesis, leading to a much faster accumulation of muscle mass. Thus, someone who takes a significant break from training and has previously used anabolic steroids will experience a much faster reoccurrence than someone who has never used them.