“Gear” is gym slang for performance-enhancing drugs, most commonly anabolic steroids. When someone talks about “gear lifting” or “lifting on gear,” they mean training while using these substances to build muscle faster and beyond what the body can achieve naturally. The term is widespread in bodybuilding and weightlifting culture, where it serves as a casual, less conspicuous way to reference steroid use.
What Counts as “Gear”
The word primarily refers to anabolic-androgenic steroids, which are synthetic versions of testosterone. But in practice, “gear” can encompass a broader toolkit of performance-enhancing substances that bodybuilders and strength athletes use together. These include human growth hormone, insulin, stimulants, and diuretics. Some of the most commonly encountered anabolic steroids in the U.S., according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, are testosterone, trenbolone, nandrolone, stanozolol, boldenone, and oxandrolone.
A newer category called selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) also falls under the umbrella. These are marketed as a more targeted alternative, though they carry their own risks and are banned in competitive sports alongside traditional steroids.
How Gear Changes Muscle Growth
Resistance training on its own triggers your muscles to repair and grow. Anabolic steroids amplify that process through multiple pathways at once. They bind to receptors inside muscle cells and switch on genes that ramp up protein production, giving your body more raw building material for muscle tissue. They also activate satellite cells, which are essentially repair cells that fuse with damaged muscle fibers to make them larger.
On top of that, steroids suppress the body’s breakdown signals. They interfere with the hormonal pathways responsible for muscle wasting, so you lose less tissue while gaining more. The net effect is striking: while both testosterone and resistance exercise independently increase muscle growth, combining them produces results greater than either one alone. This is why someone on gear can train at similar intensity to a natural lifter and see dramatically faster, larger gains.
The Physical Ceiling Is Different
There’s a measurable gap between what natural lifters and enhanced lifters can achieve. Researchers use a metric called the Fat-Free Mass Index (FFMI), which accounts for height and body fat to estimate how muscular someone is. A landmark study found that natural athletes topped out at an FFMI of about 25.0. Mr. America winners from the pre-steroid era (1939 to 1959) averaged 25.4, reinforcing that ceiling. Steroid users in the same study easily surpassed 25.0, with some exceeding 30. That gap represents pounds of muscle that are essentially unreachable without pharmacological help.
How Gear Is Used in Practice
Most users follow a pattern called “cycling,” where they take steroids for 6 to 12 weeks (the “on-cycle”), then stop for a period to let the body recover. Compounds are taken orally, by injection, or both. Men tend to favor injectable forms, while oral use is somewhat more common among women who use these substances.
After a cycle, many users go through what’s known as post-cycle therapy (PCT). This is a self-administered regimen designed to restart the body’s natural testosterone production, which shuts down when external hormones flood the system. PCT typically involves drugs that stimulate the testes to produce testosterone again and reduce the estrogen-related feedback loop that keeps natural hormone levels suppressed. Users who follow PCT protocols report fewer withdrawal symptoms, including less fatigue, mood disruption, and loss of the muscle they gained.
Health Risks of Lifting on Gear
The cardiovascular system takes the hardest hit. Steroid use raises blood pressure, distorts cholesterol levels, and causes the heart muscle itself to thicken in ways that impair its function. Over time, this can lead to a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, where the heart’s walls grow too thick to pump efficiently. Researchers have identified four distinct mechanisms by which steroids damage the heart: accelerated plaque buildup in arteries, increased blood clot formation, spasms in blood vessels that restrict blood flow, and direct toxic injury to heart muscle cells that causes scarring. These effects collectively raise the risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac death, even in relatively young users, particularly during intense exercise.
Beyond the heart, side effects range from mild to severe. On the milder end, users commonly experience acne, fluid retention, breast tissue growth in men (gynecomastia), and increased aggression. More serious consequences include liver damage, kidney problems, reproductive dysfunction, and neuropsychiatric effects like mood swings and depression. Many of these worsen with higher doses and longer use.
How Common Gear Use Actually Is
It’s far more prevalent than most casual gym-goers realize. A study of resistance-training practitioners found that 53% of men and 42% of women reported using anabolic steroids. Testosterone was the most popular compound among men (used by about 29%), while stanozolol (sold under the brand name Winstrol) was the most common choice among women (about 31%). These numbers reflect a self-selected population of serious lifters, not all gym members, but they illustrate how normalized gear use has become in strength training culture.
Legal Status
In the United States, anabolic steroids are classified as Schedule III controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act. Using them without a valid prescription is illegal, and distributing them carries criminal penalties. Schedule III classification means the government recognizes a legitimate medical use (steroids are prescribed for hormone replacement therapy and certain wasting conditions) but also acknowledges potential for dependence.
In competitive sports, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) bans anabolic agents at all times, both in and out of competition. The 2024 Prohibited List covers all anabolic-androgenic steroids by name, along with SARMs, growth hormones, and erythropoietin (EPO). Stimulants like amphetamines and cocaine are prohibited during competition. A positive test results in suspension, stripped titles, and in some cases, lifetime bans.