Steroids in BJJ
Let’s get some stuff out of the way.
Steroids are in BJJ.
They are at the highest and lowest levels
of the sport and they are here to stay.
Now before you start warming up your
fingers for hate mail, take a second to read through this article before you
vomit hate and insults onto an E Mail that I won’t read. I am not anti or pro
steroid. I have worked with athletes who have used and those who haven’t. I’ve
worked with athletes across a vast array of sports, many of which included drug
testing. I am not a drugs coach or a doctor (although I am lucky enough to have
colleagues who are). The views I express here are my own and are a reflection
of what I see happening.
Steroids are in our beloved sport because
our sport is getting bigger. As BJJ is getting more and more popular, more
people are entering competitions. As more people are entering, competitions are
becoming more and more competitive, especially on the higher level.
This means that part time and full time BJJ
athletes are having to work harder to win big competitions, gain prize money
and earn a living (yes, if you want to do BJJ full time you’re going to have to
find a way to earn at least enough money to live, your parents will not support
you forever). Fighters are spending more and more time perfecting every aspect
of their game from strength and conditioning to nutrition to flexibility and
mobility. I can tell you first hand that the most dedicated athletes are taking
care of every factor, every day, whether they have a competition coming up or
not. This is how you become world class. This is how you separate yourself from
the pack and make a name for yourself.
The athletes that are looking to become the
best in the world want to leave no stone unturned when it comes to gaining even
a 1% advantage over the competition. Most people can’t even fathom the lengths
that world class athletes go through to make sure that they have even the
slightest edge over their rivals. The top BJJ players are spending every minute
of every day thinking how to be stronger, faster, more flexible and more
technical in order to destroy their rivals.
This is where steroids come in.
Whether you agree with them morally or not,
no one can deny that steroids allow you to train harder, recover faster and
allow you to make quicker gains in muscle mass and strength. That’s a
fact. However the other fact is that the
IBJJF and other fighting organisations have deemed steroids too much of an
advantage to be allowed in fair competition (it’s not just a matter of legality
either as steroids are perfectly legal in many countries).
The IBJJF have gotten tighter in their
policing of banned substances recently and brought in the U.S. Anti-Doping
Agency (USADA) to help regulate them. The IBJJF now uses the USADA list of
banned substances (also called the WADA prohibited list) for all substances
that athletes are forbidden to take while competing and in the off season. Some
of the better known ones is as follows,
Testosterone
Test-CHP (or any form of testosterone) will bind to
the A.R on fat cells resulting in fat break-down and also prevents new fat
formation.(15) Testosterone CHP will also promote nitrogen retention in the
muscle(2), which is good, as the more nitrogen the muscles holds the more protein
the muscle stores, and the bigger the muscle gets. Testosterone has the ability
to increase red blood cell production(9), and a higher RBC count may improve
endurance via providing more highly oxygenated blood to working muscles. More
RBCs can also improve your recovery from strenuous physical activity, and has a
"volumizing" effect on your muscles.
Winstrol
Winstrol - Stanozolol is a very commonly used anabolic
steroid for cutting cycles (losing weight and/or fat).
Dianabol
Helps increase Testosterone production up to 40%
depending on dosage (helps add muscle, see Testosterone).
Deca
Produces less Testosterone than Dianabol (up to 20%)
and doesn´t produce many estrogenic or androgenic side effects (thus its
popularity).
HGH (Human Growth Hormone)
Human growth hormone is produced in the body by the
pituitary gland. Once it is released, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is a protein
that stimulates the body cells to increase both in size, as well as undergo
more rapid cell division than usual. In addition, it enhances the movement of
amino acids through cell membranes and also increases the rate at which these
cells convert these molecules into proteins. Clearly, you can see that this
would amount to an anabolic (muscle building) effect in the human body.
The ways in which the IBJJF tests its athletes is changing all the time
to try and find the best way to make sure that it is fair and accurate (more on
this later). Currently the IBJJF takes 10 athletes at random out of the medal
winners and tests them for the substances on the banned list. If they fail for
any of the substances they will have their medal and prize money removed and
may face a ban from future events. If an athlete does test positive for a
banned substance they are given the option of an appeal (more on this in a
bit).
This all sounds pretty fair and a good deterrent to athletes looking to
make their career in BJJ right?
A world class competitor wouldn’t jeopardize their future career just to
win a BJJ tournament would they?
Well let’s have a closer look at
what a world class BJJ competitor can make from being successful.
· Prize money for
IBJJF first place in November in Rio - $4000 ($1000 for second)
· Prize money for
first place in the NY BJJ Pro - $4000 ($1000 for second)
· AD World
Pro: Yearly,
Absolute – $30,000 to first / $3,000 to second / $1,500 to thirds. Weight
groups – $8,000 to first / $3,000 to second / $1,500 to thirds for black belts
and smaller prizes + travel and accommodation for lower belts)
· Metamoris: $100,000 of prize
money divided by 14 fighters.
· Copa
Podio:
Undisclosed Amount in Cash Prize. Estimated to be around $10,000 for the
winner.
· Grapplers
Quest: Around $3,000 for 1st place, $1,000 for second place.
· ADCC
(every two years): per weight class: First $10,000.00 Second
$5,000.00 Third $3,000.00 Fourth $1,000.00. Absolute Weight Class (Any Weight): First
$40,000.00 Second $10,000.00 Third $5,000.00 Fourth $1,000.00. Super Fight Winner :
$40,000 Looser : $10,000
This is the allure of steroids to athletes
when the desire to win surpasses playing by the rules.
Whether we like it or not, BJJ athletes do
not get paid that much money compared to other sports. Not to mention the
insane amount of time it takes to get to a level where you can even earn a good
amount (8-10 years to black belt on average). It is therefore no surprise that
many athletes would do anything it takes to get to the upper levels to even
have a chance to earn this amount of cash.
Also look at the actual likely hood that
those who are using will get caught. Firstly you have to be one of the 10
people chosen and then you have to test positive for one of the banned
substances. Here in lies the problem of why this is an ineffective way to find
those on performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).
Just testing people isn’t a guaranteed
method to find those using. Just look at the case of Lance Armstrong. He was
the most tested athlete of all time however he was on just about every drug
imaginable to try and get the edge.
Say I was to give you a test on your 6
times table in a years time. I tell you what the test is going to be on and the
exact date in which you will be taking it. Now say I give you $10,000 to pass
the test. Chances are you’re going to be prepared. It’s no different when
testing for performance enhancing drugs.
So how are the athletes getting around the
tests?
Well for a start the actual drug trade is
far more advanced than those testing for it. The fact is there is more money is
selling the drugs than there is testing for them. More money equals more
research, even if it is illegal. As soon as one substance is banned another is
found to take its place. As this substance is unknown to the testers, it simply
isn’t tested for.
Also certain drugs leave your system at
certain times while other drugs are only detectable with certain tests. Now if
an athlete (or a coach), has this knowledge they can easily plan what they use
and when so that they sail through a drug test. There are also ways that
athletes can mask the results of a test by using blockers and masking agents.
This is of course, highly against the rules and punished just as harshly as
actually taking performance enhancing drugs.
Now even if an athlete is picked and test
positive for a banned substance, they are given the opportunity for an appeal.
It has been well documented in other sports that organisations will look the
other way or allow an athlete to find a reason for a positive test (the most
common is a steroid cream of some sort where the athlete didn’t know what they
were taking). This happens more frequently than you know in other sports,
especially if the athlete is popular and a big draw to the sport or event.
We must remember that the athletes that
have made the decision to take PEDs have already made the decision to cheat.
With this decision also goes the decision to try to cover that cheat with
further cheating. Athletes will go to all kinds of lengths to cover it up. I’ve
heard of athletes skipping the country, faking family deaths and even making up
false illnesses in order to get prescriptions for things on the banned list
(thankfully no one I’ve worked with).
So what is the solution? What can be done
to insure that the rules are met and people cannot find a way around the tests?
The only way to truly test athletes for
PEDs is to visit each athlete a number of times over the course of the year at
random. Then take blood, urine and hair samples, run a full panel of tests for
everything that is on the banned list. This method is far from perfect and like
anything, there are ways around this to. However the main reason that this will
not take place is simply cost. It costs anywhere between $150 - $1500 per test,
per athlete to be comprehensive. This is a LOT of money for the IBJJF to be
forking out for every competitor who is even ranked in the top 10, never mind
every athlete that enters an IBJJF competition!
So the fact remains that steroids and PEDs
are here and here to stay in BJJ. Just like in every other sport that has money
on the line for those competing, there will always be cheats.
So what does that mean for you and me? What
does it mean for those who practice BJJ for the love of the art and like to do
the odd competition or two?
Well, nothing really.
While PEDs are certainly used by athletes on
the local scene it’s certainly not something anyone should put much thought
into. In my experience most of the guys in MMA and BJJ that you think are using
probably aren’t, and the ones you would swear are clean might be using. The
only thing that you can do is to work hard on your own training and enjoy your
own journey.
As the sport of BJJ grows and changes, the
problems within it are going to match other sports that came before us. We can
either be adults about it and except that this will happen, or bury our heads
in the sand and pretend that we are somehow different from everyone else (we
aren’t). The best thing we can do is to try and address the problems we face in
the most efficient manor that protects the athletes and helps our public
perception.
Stay healthy,
Mike
