Rushall notes, (1998).

There is a mania for concluding that any drug in a sports person will be beneficial for performance. How hGH does its work is different to the catabolism and anabolism of exercise. In gymnasts, their energy intake is so low that hGH is consumed as protein for restoration and the volumes of hGH that are pulsed into the body are low. That is why they remain so small.

For performance to be affected, the stimulating substance needs to be present all the time. hGH is not present during exercise but pulses out to allow growth (repair) to occur. It would be foolish to pulse hGH when the body is destroying itself with intense stimulation.

Few people understand this but there are four articles that hint around this posted in Coaching Science Abstracts, the "young athlete" issue.

I do not know about the hGH. I made the point some time ago that hGH is not a performance hormone. It does not adapt the body to specific stresses. It only grows a larger musculo-skeletal system. Perhaps your friends have found that out and it is why steroids must be taken in association with it.

hGH builds a bigger engine and steroids fuels/energizes that larger engine.

A youth on hGH who grows to seven feet to play basketball does not suddenly become a better sprinter or distance runner but his hands are decidedly closer to the rim.

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