If you watched no gi worlds in December, you knew that suspensions for PED use were coming down the pipe. Many of the finalists didn’t show up for their finals matches or the podium. They basically begged to get tested. They made it so suspicious that the IBJJF had no choice.
Let’s talk about some things-
Vagner Rocha and “Cyborg” are over 40 years old and they compete against adults regularly… of course they are on the sauce. Have you seen them train? What hobbyist 40 year old do you know that trains like that and comes back the next day?
What about the young guns? Surely you’re not saying that some 20 year old kid needs PED’s? I don’t think they need them, but I get it. I have 18 classes per week right now, I have done up to 27 classes a week on a regular schedule. Usually, a professional BJJ athlete spends about 30 hours in the gym per week. Naturally, the recovery time you would need for that negates any life outside of grappling. Synthetically, you reduce your recovery time significantly. If you are making your name in jiu jitsu, you are probably earning very little even if you are contending for world championships. The appeal of steroids is that you can use your time differently. Even the Miyaos had a PED violation. To be a professional athlete you need to dial in training, nutrition, and recovery. When you are low on funds, quickening your recovery allows you to train more, put more time into your nutrition, and possibly work so that you struggle less.
There are so many drawbacks to steroid abuse, but we are incentivizing it, and the IBJJF is not helping. How do we clean up the sport? That’s for next week.