The Dark Side of Prep No One Warns Female Athletes About

(Narito sa ibaba ang Tagalog na bersyon ng artikulong ito, pakiscroll pababa.)

Let’s be honest. Not all transformations are wins. Some are damage disguised as progress. And in the world of enhanced female bodybuilding, that line is being crossed more often than people want to admit.

More women than ever are stepping on stage for the first time. At the same time, the standard, especially in divisions like bikini, is pushing toward leaner, harder, more conditioned physiques. With that shift, this is the right time to start having honest conversations about performance-enhancing drugs and how they’re being used with female athletes.

This isn’t about being anti-enhancement. I love bodybuilding. I believe in the sport, and I’ve worked with some incredible coaches who do things the right way. But there’s a difference between informed, calculated use and reckless protocols handed out by coaches who don’t fully understand the female body. And right now, there are too many who don’t.

What we’re seeing more of lately isn’t transformation. It’s transition, and not by choice.

Women are stepping on stage leaner and harder, but at a cost that goes far beyond muscle. Clitoral enlargement, facial structure changes like a more pronounced or squared jaw, increased body and facial hair, a receding hairline, and a deepened voice are becoming more common than they should be. And that voice change isn’t just about sounding lower. It often comes with strain, loss of control, chronic hoarseness, and fatigue when speaking. In many cases, it doesn’t come back.

I’m now in my fifth year of bodybuilding and I’ve worked with several great coaches along the way. But like anything, it only takes one to really mess things up, and that’s exactly what happened to me. I’m almost a year into recovering from the damage of that protocol. The daily strain has eased, but my voice still hasn’t returned to what it once was. My new normal is a voice that occasionally cracks like a 16-year-old boy going through puberty. I still have to go in for laser hair removal, and at 5K a treatment, that cost has added up over the years.

And that’s just what you can see and hear.

Internally, the impact runs deeper. Hormones get disrupted. Estrogen and progesterone drop. Cycles disappear. Fertility becomes uncertain. Thyroid function can be affected. These are core systems being altered, often without proper oversight.

Then there’s the psychological side, which almost no one prepares female athletes for. Mood swings, aggression, anxiety, emotional instability, heightened sexual distraction, or even emotional numbness can creep in. Some compounds don’t just change your body. They change how you think and function daily.

That shift doesn’t stay physical or mental. It becomes personal.

For many women, there’s a quiet struggle with identity. A feeling that femininity is slipping. And whether it’s acknowledged or not, there’s often an attempt to compensate. For me, that meant leaning into things like makeup, laser hair removal, lashes, and always having my nails done. It became a way to hold onto something that felt like it was being taken against my will.

You won’t find that in any prep plan. But it’s real.

And this is where the problem needs to be addressed.

There’s a growing gap in coaching. Coaches stepping into enhanced prep without real experience working with female athletes. The default approach becomes taking male protocols and scaling them down, as if women are just smaller men.

They’re not.

Women are hormonally, neurologically, and metabolically different. Every system responds differently. Ignore that, and you don’t get better results. You get damage.  Take compounds like Trenbolone. One of the most aggressive compounds out there, even for men. Yet it still shows up in female protocols. Not because it’s appropriate, but because it produces fast results. That’s the trap. Fast results, long-term consequences.

When a coach doesn’t understand female physiology, doesn’t monitor properly, or doesn’t adjust based on feedback, that’s not coaching. That’s gambling. And the athlete pays for it.

The industry leans heavily on certifications, but those certifications don’t prepare coaches for this reality. PED use exists in a gray area. In many places it’s illegal, yet at the competitive level it’s widely used and often expected. So how are coaches being educated on something they’re not formally taught and not legally allowed to guide?

Most aren’t.

They’re learning through forums, hearsay, trial and error, or copying what’s been done before. And when that guesswork is applied to female athletes, the margin for error shrinks fast.

So how do you protect yourself?

Start with referrals. Talk to female competitors you trust. Then look deeper. Not just at placings, but at the athletes themselves. How do they look? Are they still feminine, or are there consistent signs of misuse? If you’re seeing squared jaws, deepened voices, and heavy masculinization across multiple athletes, that’s not random. That’s a pattern.

If a coach has never worked with a female competitor before, that should be a serious consideration before trusting them with your prep. Let someone else be their guinea pig. I learned that the hard way. I was the first female competitor a coach had. I was treated like an experiment and given protocols similar to what his male athletes were running. That wasn’t coaching. That was ignorance. And I’m still dealing with the consequences years later.

And as you ask questions, pay attention to their answers. If you hear “just trust me,” “I’m the coach,” or “trust the process,” that’s not leadership. That’s a red flag. You deserve to know what you’re putting into your body and why. If a coach can’t explain it clearly, or avoids the conversation, that’s not guidance. That’s blind compliance. And blind compliance in this sport is dangerous.

If your concerns are dismissed or you feel pushed instead of supported, step away. A good coach educates, respects your awareness, and prioritizes your long-term health over short-term results.

This comes from personal experience and what I’ve seen firsthand in the industry. It’s not about calling out individuals. At one point, I wanted to call out the coach who put me through that protocol, but I’ve realized it wouldn’t change anything. What’s done is done. I’ve had to focus on recovering, rebuilding, and moving forward. I don’t carry resentment. I took a chance without fully understanding his lack of experience with female athletes, and it taught me a hard lesson. That’s why I’m writing this now.

This is about raising awareness so female athletes can make informed decisions about their bodies and their long-term health. It’s also about opening up conversations around things competitors aren’t talking about. Too many women are dealing with these changes in silence, thinking they’re alone. They’re not.  Female bodybuilders need to feel supported, informed, and understood. Every athlete responds differently, and outcomes can vary. That’s exactly why proper education and individualized guidance matter.

The bigger issue is the standard of the industry itself. Too much focus on the end result and not enough on how it was achieved. Athletes are praised for conditioning without anyone asking what it cost them.

This needs to change.

Athletes need to start asking better questions. Ask what compounds are being used and why. Ask what the short-term effects are and what the long-term risks look like. Ask what signs are being monitored and what happens if things go wrong. Ask how many female athletes they’ve coached and what those athletes look like long after the stage. Don’t just ask if it will work. Ask what it will cost you. Demand better coaching. Hold the standard higher. Because once certain changes happen, there’s no reversing them. No fix. No reset.

Enhancement isn’t the enemy. Ignorance is.

If the goal is to build strong, competitive women for the long term, not just for one show, then the approach has to evolve. Otherwise, we’re not building better female athletes. We’re breaking them.

Ang Madilim na Bahagi ng Prep na Walang Nagbababala sa mga Babaeng Atleta: Ang Halaga ng Maling Paggamit ng PED sa Female Bodybuilding

Maging totoo tayo. Hindi lahat ng transformations ay panalo. May iba na mukhang progreso pero sa totoo lang ay pinsala na tinatakpan lang. At sa mundo ng enhanced female bodybuilding, mas madalas na itong nangyayari kaysa sa gustong aminin ng karamihan.

Mas maraming babae ngayon ang unang beses na umaakyat sa stage. Kasabay nito, ang standard, lalo na sa divisions tulad ng bikini, ay mas nagtutulak sa leaner, mas hard, at mas conditioned na physiques. Dahil sa pagbabagong ito, ito na ang tamang panahon para magkaroon ng mas tapat na usapan tungkol sa performance-enhancing drugs at kung paano ito ginagamit sa mga babaeng atleta.

Hindi ito tungkol sa pagiging kontra sa enhancement. Mahal ko ang bodybuilding.

Naniniwala ako sa sport, at nakatrabaho ko ang ilang magagaling na coach na ginagawa ito nang tama. Pero may malaking pagkakaiba ang informed at calculated na paggamit kumpara sa mga reckless na protocols na ibinibigay ng mga coach na hindi talaga naiintindihan ang katawan ng babae. At sa ngayon, masyadong marami ang ganito.

Ang nakikita natin ngayon ay hindi lang transformation. Ito ay transition, at hindi ito pinili.

Mas lean at mas defined ang mga babaeng umaakyat sa stage, pero may kapalit ito na higit pa sa muscle. Clitoral enlargement, pagbabago sa facial structure tulad ng mas pronounced o squared na jaw, pagdami ng body at facial hair, pagnipis ng hairline, at paglalim ng boses ay nagiging mas karaniwan kaysa sa dapat. At ang pagbabago ng boses ay hindi lang basta paglalim. Madalas may kasamang strain, hirap sa kontrol, chronic na paos, at mabilis mapagod kapag nagsasalita. Sa maraming kaso, hindi na ito bumabalik sa dati.

Nasa ikalimang taon ko na ngayon sa bodybuilding at nakatrabaho ko na ang ilang magagaling na coach. Pero tulad ng ibang bagay, isang mali lang sapat na para masira ang lahat, at iyon mismo ang nangyari sa akin. Halos isang taon na akong nagre-recover mula sa damage ng protocol na iyon. Nawala na ang daily strain, pero hindi pa rin bumabalik ang boses ko sa dati. Ang bago kong normal ay isang boses na minsan nagki-crack, parang 16-anyos na lalaking dumadaan sa puberty. Hanggang ngayon, kailangan ko pa ring magpa-laser hair removal, at sa halagang 5K kada treatment, malaki na ang naipon na gastos sa paglipas ng mga taon. At iyon pa lang ang nakikita at naririnig.

Sa loob ng katawan, mas malalim ang epekto. Naaapektuhan ang hormones. Bumaba ang estrogen at progesterone. Nawawala ang cycles. Nagiging uncertain ang fertility. Pati thyroid function, puwedeng maapektuhan. Ito ay mga pangunahing sistema ng katawan na naa-alter, kadalasan nang walang tamang monitoring.

May psychological side rin na halos walang naghahanda sa mga babaeng atleta. Mood swings, aggression, anxiety, emotional instability, heightened sexual distraction, o kahit emotional numbness ay puwedeng lumabas. May mga compounds na hindi lang binabago ang katawan mo, binabago rin nila kung paano ka mag-isip at mag-function araw-araw.

At hindi lang ito nananatiling physical o mental. Nagiging personal ito.

Para sa maraming babae, may tahimik na struggle sa identity. Pakiramdam na unti-unting nawawala ang femininity. At kahit hindi sabihin, may tendency na bumawi. Para sa akin, iyon ay pag-focus sa makeup, laser hair removal, lashes, at laging maayos ang nails. Para itong paraan para kumapit sa isang bahagi ng sarili ko na pakiramdam ko ay nawawala nang hindi ko ginusto.

Hindi mo ito makikita sa kahit anong prep plan. Pero totoo ito.

At dito kailangang pag-usapan ang problema.

May lumalaking gap sa coaching. May mga coach na pumapasok sa enhanced prep nang walang sapat na experience sa female athletes. Ang default approach ay kunin ang ginagawa sa lalaki at i-scale down, parang ang babae ay mas maliit lang na version ng lalaki.

Hindi.

Magkaiba ang babae. Hormonal, neurological, at metabolic, iba ang response ng katawan. Kapag binalewala mo iyon, hindi ka makakakuha ng mas magandang resulta. Makakakuha ka ng damage. Tingnan mo ang compounds tulad ng Trenbolone. Isa ito sa pinaka-aggressive, kahit para sa lalaki. Pero ginagamit pa rin sa female protocols. Hindi dahil tama ito, kundi dahil mabilis ang resulta. At iyon ang bitag, mabilis na resulta kapalit ng pangmatagalang epekto.

Kapag hindi naiintindihan ng coach ang female physiology, hindi nagmo-monitor nang maayos, at hindi nag-aadjust base sa feedback, hindi iyon coaching. Pagsusugal iyon. At ang atleta ang nagbabayad ng presyo.

Umaasa ang industry sa certifications, pero hindi nito tinuturo ang realidad ng PED use. Nasa gray area ito. Sa maraming lugar illegal ito, pero sa competitive level normal at inaasahan. Kaya saan natututo ang mga coach?

Kadalasan, hindi sila natututo nang tama.

Forums, hearsay, trial and error, o panggagaya lang ng ginawa ng iba. At kapag ginamit ito sa babae, mas maliit ang margin for error at mas malaki ang risk.

Kaya paano mo poprotektahan ang sarili mo?

Magsimula sa referrals. Makipag-usap sa mga babaeng atleta na pinagkakatiwalaan mo. Tapos tingnan mo nang mabuti ang mga athletes ng coach. Hindi lang placements, tingnan mo sila mismo. Mukha pa ba silang feminine, o may consistent na signs ng misuse? Kung paulit-ulit mong nakikita ang squared jaws, malalim na boses, at signs ng masculinization, hindi iyon coincidence. Pattern iyon.

Kung ang coach ay wala pang experience sa female competitor, dapat pag-isipan mo nang mabuti bago ka magtiwala. Hayaan mong iba ang maging guinea pig nila. Natutunan ko iyon sa mahirap na paraan. Ako ang unang female competitor ng coach ko noon. Ginawa akong experiment at binigyan ng protocols na katulad ng sa male athletes niya. Hindi iyon coaching. Kamangmangan iyon. At hanggang ngayon, dala ko pa rin ang epekto.

At kapag nagtatanong ka na, pakinggan mo kung paano sila sumagot. Kung ang sagot ay “just trust me,” “I’m the coach,” o “trust the process,” red flag iyon. Karapatan mong malaman kung ano ang pinapasok mo sa katawan mo at bakit. Kung hindi nila kayang ipaliwanag o iniiwasan ang usapan, hindi iyon guidance. Blind compliance iyon. At delikado iyon.

Kung hindi pinapakinggan ang concerns mo o pakiramdam mo pinipilit ka kaysa sinusuportahan, umalis ka. Ang magandang coach nagtuturo, nirerespeto ang awareness mo, at inuuna ang long-term health mo kaysa short-term results.

Ito ay mula sa personal kong experience at sa mga nakita ko sa industriya. Hindi ito para mang-call out ng tao. Dumating ako sa puntong gusto kong i-call out ang coach na iyon, pero narealize ko na wala itong mababago. Tapos na ang nangyari. Kailangan ko lang mag-move forward, mag-recover, at mag-rebuild. Wala na akong resentment. Nagkamali ako sa pagpili at natuto ako nang mahirap. Kaya ko ito sinusulat ngayon.

Ito ay para sa awareness, para sa mas informed na desisyon ng mga babaeng atleta tungkol sa katawan nila at sa long-term health nila. Para rin itong magbukas ng usapan sa mga bagay na hindi pinag-uusapan. Maraming babae ang dumadaan dito nang tahimik, iniisip na sila lang ang nakakaranas nito. Hindi sila nag-iisa.

Mas malaki pa rito ang problema ng industriya. Sobrang focus sa resulta at kulang sa proseso kung paano ito nakuha. Pinupuri ang conditioning pero walang nagtatanong kung ano ang naging kapalit.

Kailangan magbago iyon.

Magtanong ng mas mabuti. Ano ang ginagamit at bakit? Ano ang short-term at long-term effects? Ano ang mino-monitor at ano ang mangyayari kung may mali? Ilang babae na ba ang na-coach nila at ano ang itsura ng mga iyon pagkatapos ng stage? Huwag lang tanungin kung gagana. Tanungin kung ano ang kapalit. Demand better coaching. Taasan ang standard. Dahil may mga pagbabago na hindi na mababalik. Walang fix. Walang reset.

Hindi enhancement ang kalaban.

Kamangmangan.

Kung ang goal ay mag-build ng malalakas at competitive na babae para sa pangmatagalan, hindi lang para sa isang show, kailangang mag-evolve ang approach.

Kung hindi, hindi tayo gumagawa ng mas mahusay na atleta.

Sinisira natin sila.