With the CrossFit Games coming to a close yesterday, I have seen quite a few comments and posts on drug testing, performance enhancement drugs, etc. Do they or don't they and how do they skirt the drug testing if so. We are all well aware of illegal drugs being used in pro sports everywhere, as well as collegiate athletics, and hell, it is prominent in globo gyms. So why not CrossFit?
This was a post on the CrossFit Masters site which I think answers the question very well.
"...I hate to be the "voice of reason," but given that my PhD is in biochemistry, I will do so once in a while on what is now my favorite Facebook web site. Regardless of your exercise flavor, there is an illegal drug (actually, many) that will help you. The solution for the IOC is random, out of season, blood tests. Even then, there can be a year (or more) to pass before they find that (recently) Tyson Gay was cheating. This has been going on since the early 1950s... really... REALLY. If any of you are arguing whether (or not) an athlete is (or is not) taking an exogenous molecule that is helpful to performance, please stop arguing. I PROMISE you that someone (more likely more than one in YOUR age group) is doing just that. The numbers of IOC tested athletes, blood-tested randomly year-round, that still come up "positive," is all the evidence you should need. If you wish to (continue to) be a Pollyanna, fine with me. Personally, I am going into CrossFit competition knowing I will have to beat one (or more) illegal competitor(s). If I lose, so be it. But if ANY of you think all the Masters Games CrossFit athletes are completely clean... well... all I can say is that the data (for younger athletes and anyone our age) indicate that you are incorrect. As I posted on another thread, given this reality, what (if anything) are "we" (whatever that means) to do about it. For me? I will do what I do, and if I lose, I lose, and if those who beat me are illegal, oh well, I am 61 years old, fitter than I have ever been before, and I can live with that. Were I "in charge?" I would adopt an IOC-like program starting yesterday, building the costs into the Open registration costs, and be as sure as possible that ALL who compete at Regionals and The Games are as "clean" as those who compete in the Olympics. Again, that is just my personal position. What the rest of you do, what CrossFit HQ does, is completely out of my hands."
For me personally, I have been accused of steroid use since I was in junior high school. Why? Because of my natural size and build. Back in 1986, I didn't even know what steroids were. And to some extent I can understand the looks of wonder I get now days. I have twice gone from being overweight, 200+lbs, to fit, lean, and kicking ass in my respective sport. I know people out there do not believe that it can be done without some kind of "help". And I hate to disappoint people, but it can be done simply by getting off your ass and working hard. I am not talking about spending thirty minutes on the elliptical and burning calories that will be consumed later that day. I am talking about sweat your ass off, lift heavy shit with some speed kind of workout.
I don't mind people whispering behind my back or assuming there is no way I can look like this without some outside help. But I know the truth and that is all that matters. I have never a day in my life taken anything illegal to help me in any of my athletic pursuits. I do have outside help though...a trainer/coach that relentlessly kicks my ass and pushes me beyond my limits.
Do I think performance enhancement drugs are used in CrossFit? Yes. Do I think there are Games athletes that bust their ass day in and day out without the use of drugs? Yes. Do I think that performance enhancement drugs will become more prominent with the growth of CrossFit? Yes. Do a simple Google image search of your favorite Games athlete past and present and judge for yourself.
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