Performance enhancing drugs
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can name the major performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and identify the positive and negative effects on sporting performance and performer lifestyle.
Key learning points
- Anabolic steroids and growth hormones help to increase muscle mass and power output.
- Beta blockers reduce heart rate and help calm a performer but also cause an increased risk of heart attack.
- Diuretics help reduce body weight by increasing fluid loss which helps to meet weight categories.
- Narcotic analgesics mask pain to enable athletes to keep training/performing but risk damage to the underlying injury.
- EPO and blood doping all help with aerobic performance but put strain on the cardiovascular system.
Keywords
Anabolic steroids - synthetic hormones that promote muscle growth and enhance performance
Beta blockers - medications that reduce blood pressure by blocking the effects of adrenaline
Diuretics - medication that increases urine production, helping to remove excess fluid from the body
Narcotic analgesics - pain-relief drugs that act on the central nervous system, often opioids
Stimulants - substances that increase alertness, energy and activity by boosting nervous system activity
Common misconception
All performance enhancing drugs are illegal/banned/negative.
The use of some PEDs to enhance performance is perfectly acceptable. Many sportspeople use narcotic analgesics to get through an event or drink caffeine for its stimulating effect. WADA is responsible for determining which PEDs are allowed.
Teacher tip
Each PED has a one slide summary in the slide deck which could be printed and used as a guidebook or possibly form a wall diplay.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these statements is correct?
Q2.The phrase 'performance enhancing' suggests what?
Q3.What is a reason why the use of some drugs is banned in sport?
Q4.Match the sport or physical activity to the reason to use a drug.
the drug allows you to recover quicker from heavy weight training
the drug keeps you calm and reduces adrenaline
the drug helps to improve cardiovascular endurance
the drug helps you to lose weight quickly before you perform
Q5.Which of these drinks contain the stimulating substance called caffeine?
Q6.A drug used in sports which require strength and power is called anabolic...
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the PED to its description.
synthetic hormones that promote muscle growth
medications that reduce heart rate
substances that increase alertness, energy and alertness
medication that increases urine production
Q2.Increased heart rate and blood pressure, risk of heart attack, anxiety, aggression, poor sleep and dehydration are potential negative side effects of which PED?
Q3.Which of these is a risk of using narcotic analgesics?
Q4.Put these stages of blood doping in order.
Q5.In which of these sports might athletes risk using erythropoietin (EPO) to enhance their performance?
Q6.Which word means something is not morally acceptable behaviour?
To help you plan your 10 physical education lesson on: Performance enhancing drugs, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 physical education lesson on: Performance enhancing drugs, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 physical education lessons from the Physical training: injury, injury prevention and performance enhancing drugs unit, dive into the full secondary physical education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.