What are anabolic steroids anyway?
The phrase anabolic steroid is often thrown around, but little understood. Basically the word anabolic means that the steroid is trying to provide growth, and the word steroid means any substance that affects the growth or change in sex hormones. The anabolic steroids you most often hear about, and the ones you are referring to when you ask the question: what are anabolic steroids are synthetic chemicals produced to imitate actual steroids produced by the human body.
When steroids are introduced to the system they enter the bloodstream and infiltrate the cells and the blood in muscle tissue. The synthetic testosterone (which is basically what an anabolic steroid is) then alters your DNA and RNA sequence into thinking that the body needs to synthesize more protein than it otherwise would.
So the simple answer to the question what are anabolic steroids is: they are synthetic growth hormones that humans inject to help with muscle growth and performance enhancement. You should also know that almost all anabolic steroid use is illegal in the United States.