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Local Trainer Successfully Enhances Student Athletes Without Steroids

WEST LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — One personal trainer in Los Angeles is showing that the path to competitive physical prevalence is more efficiently done through hard work and technology than it is through steroids.

Todd Person's gym in West Los Angeles shows off the professional jerseys of his clients.

Person says that, with today's technology and training methods, there is no need to risk steroids. He suggests that there is nothing that drugs offer that people cannot get naturally.

"Somewhere down the line, you are going to pay the piper for this choice you are going to make," Person said. "If you are willing to work hard, you are going to have a longer career."

A recent study by kidshealth.org showed that five percent of teenage boys, and 2.5 percent of teenage girls, have used some form of anabolic steroids.

Alexandra Spinner, a former fitness competitor, says that she resorted to using steroids, as well as other performance enhancing drugs, in the 1990's.

At the age of 44, she was diagnosed with an enlarged heart.

"I'm thinking 'I'm going to die'," Spinner said. "And I'm picturing my chest cracked open."

The big secret to Person's alternative success?

Hard work and knowledge.

Person's gym has a room that simulates high altitudes. The result is the increased production of red blood cells, which gets the heart pumping.

Another machine has the look and feel of a video game, but it offers resistance which improves endurance.

Christine Urquhart, a client of Person's, says that she could not believe the results, which led to a Dartmouth basketball recruiter's attention.

"She said that out of all the kids, I stood out, because of my fitness level," Urquhart said.

Person suggests that one's feeling of achievement is greater with natural born talent and effort than it ever could be with substances.

"The athlete can delude themselves, and say whatever they want," Person said. "But at the end of the day they are liars and cheaters."

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