In almost every corner of the city, young men aged between 17 and 30 years, are either joining fitness centres or improvising training centres at home, all in pursuit of muscular bodies that make women go gaga.

“This thing of having huge chest and arms that leave people in wonder is a big fad among the youths, and they are resorting to some dangerous tactics to achieve this,” says Moses Njoroge, an instructor at Muscle ‘N’ Motion, SPA and Fitness centre in Westlands.

Njoroge says the youths are not patient enough to let the body put on muscles gradually and naturally, but want things to happen in an instant.

Many, under peer pressure, are attempting to achieve certain body features in span of months, when in normal circumstances, this takes not less than eight years.

To fast track the building of the muscles in a record time, many are now resorting to the use of anabolic steroids to boost their body performance.

Our investigations found out that the most used anabolic steroid is the injectable Deca Durabolin, which comes in 50 mg and 25 mg.

Its price varies between Sh 600 and Sh 1,400 depending on the milligrams being bought. On some occasions, doctors prescribe such steroids as birth controls for women or for men who have sexual disorders.

Second on the list of preference among the anabolic steroids is the duretics, which comes either in pill or injectable form. This steroid is known to make muscles have sharper and more defined appearance.

Besides these, young men are also said to use Sustanon, a Male Sex Hormone used as replacement therapy for castrated adults or those whose testes are unable to produce sperm or the androgen hormone.

Also with anabolic effects, this steroid comes in an injectable form of 250mg and sells for over Sh 1,300 in the local market. By taking this amount of milligrams per week, a starter in body building can gain extra mass within a couple of months.

Youths even from poor families are said to save enough money to be able to buy some of these steroids. One of the youths in Dandora said because the drugs are expensive, two of them can pool resources together to buy and then share the steroid.

“You know, every body here will do whatever it takes to have that good body that makes people, especially ladies admire you,” says 24-year-old Victor Mbuya, a resident of Dandora phase three.

For other young men, particularly those from Eastlands, having a muscular body makes it easy for them to get jobs as bouncers in some of the entertainment spots in the city. Such jobs earn them between Sh 8,000 and Sh 20,000 a month.

Attracted by these possibilities, several pharmacists in town admitted to being consulted by youthful clients who want to buy the steroids.

“The young men are really abusing these things. When they come without a prescription from a doctor, they plead to appoint of crying for us to sell them the drug,” says a pharmacists in one of the leading chemists in town.

To put them off, the pharmacist say they usually insist on a prescription or give them a crazy price which they cannot afford.

Prof Isaac Kibwage, who teaches pharmacy at the University of Nairobi, says all steroids are controlled and should be given for medical treatment upon being prescribed by a doctor.

But the youths have become smart on how to get them without this. They have either established their own networks with some pharmacists or doctors working in public hospitals, who are helping them access the steroids.

These doctors get the steroids - which are used for the medical conditions - from the hospitals and sell them to body builders at a half the market price.

There are also those who are smuggling the steroids into the country and then selling them to youths on the black market.

Doctors and gym instructors are however worried that already, they are seeing serious side-effects among some youths who have been abusing the drugs.

In a recent case, a young man aged 27-years-old is said to have used an overdose of an anabolic steroid when he injected himself with 1,000 mg of the drug, way above the recommended dosages.

He started using the drugs at the age of 25, immediately he went into body building. But this time around, it backfired.

Once he took this high dosage, he became more aggressive, particularly sexually, to a point that his wife had to desert him. Aggressiveness is said to be one of the most common feature of those using steroids.

Besides aggressiveness, his friends say he sometimes made funny sounds or produced excessive sperms that would fill a 500g container in one instance.

In another case in Kayole, Timothy Waswa says a fellow youth who was using them was found dead in the house. In Britain, Diuretics have been banned for causing the death of two body builders.

There are also recent cases where gym instructors in Nairobi say they have seen men who have been on the steroids for along time presenting with enlarged heads, ears, breast, or rashes as side effects. For others, certain body parts like one arm tend to be bigger than the other.

Prof. Kibwage warns that if used not for purposes they are intended for, steroids are likely to cause damage.

“When you abuse them, then they are going to alter the functioning of certain organs, leaving them damaged and ultimately may shorten ones life span.”

Doctors say anabolic steroids, which mimic the effects of the male sex hormone testosterone, functions by stimulating the build-up of the muscle fibre.

But at the same time, they can result in a wide variety of adverse side effects such as acne, hair loss, testicular shrinkage, psychological problems and over production of sperms that starts to come-out on its own.

Those abusing steroids also run a greater risk of developing cancer of the scrotum.

And when they grow old or stop going to the gym, their muscles sag faster compared to those who have not used the steroids.

“I have seen youths coming to ask me on how they can achieve certain body size within a limited time-frame, and I usually advise them not try this things because of the side effects,” says Sand Elly, a gym instructor at Muscle ‘N’ Motions.

Besides the steroids, the purchase of body building supplements is also said to have increased in the last few years, with shops selling nutritional products reporting impressive sales.

One pharmacy on Kenyatta Avenue says the most demanded are the Mass Builder-Ultimate Weight Gainer, which in powder form, Creatine, and the Amino Acids, that come in tablet form.

Creatine occurs naturally in the body and is responsible for muscle restoration as well as enhancing muscle strength and size.

Basketball players like those in the USA are said to be one of the groups of athletes who use supplements such as creatine in huge amounts.

Once taken, supplements enable a body builder to lift huge weights, but those taking them have to eat more than they usually do. If they miss a meal, they are likely to break down their muscle fibre.

In the US, creatine annual sales are said to be over one billion dollars. Medics however advise those intending to use them to get a doctors opinion before doing so.

The only problem is that youths are not doing this, instead taking supplements in dosages that are either not recommended for their weight, in excess amounts, or unfit for certain medical conditions.

Dr Moses Wendwa, a private consultant, says certain dosages are designed for people who weigh over 100 kilograms, and yet youths weighing less than 60 kilograms are taking them.

“They should consult a doctor to advice them instead of taking the huge dosages hoping that it will help them put-on muscles very fast.”

Studies show that although supplements are said to have no side-effects, they become lethal when abused.

Research has shown that when taken in huge a mounts, which some youths are doing now, creatine is likely to cause kidney damage.

Scientists at Mayo Sports Medicine Clinic in Rochester, USA, have also established that creatine may cause dehydration or muscle-cramping as it diverts water from the body to muscles.

Stories of how youths are abusing anabolic steroids and supplements to amass muscles within a short-time is leaving some old-timers of the sport in shock.

According to 52-year-old James Onyango, who has been lifting weights since his youth, use of such substances was out of the question for them.

“To build your body it took more than five years of intense training and just eating good nutrition. And we had those muscles.”

To him, body building should be enjoyable and help one to lead a very disciplined and productive life.

Indeed, in recent times, more adults are streaming to gyms not for similar reasons as the youths, but for business purposes.

Business deals are being fixed in the gyms as company executives discuss with each while flexing their muscles. Instructors working at gyms getting clients of this profile told Horizon that over 80 percent of their patrons are people aged between 33 and 60 years old.

Likewise, gyms are further turning out to be disciplinary grounds for some parents. Njoroge says he has been consulted by parents who want their children to go to the gym instead of idling around and engaging in deviant activities.

“When approached well, body building for youths can bring out highly disciplined and productive individuals as the sport calls for such values,” says Njoroge.