Firas Zahabi, a black belt under John Danaher and head coach of Tristar Gym, recently delved into the pervasive issue of PED use in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu – claiming that a lot of athletes are “on juice”.
The lack of comprehensive testing in BJJ competitions has, according to Zahabi, allowed PED use to become alarmingly widespread, even among the sport’s most skilled athletes:
You can’t forget – even the most technical guys are on juice.
Even the most.That’s the crazy thing about the sport of Jiu-Jitsu.
There are very few natural guys.There are very few in the elite level because they don’t test, right?
They don’t test.
Zahabi also addressed the misconception that strength doesn’t matter in Jiu-Jitsu…
And emphasized, therefore, steroids have a significant impact on one’s success on the mats:
You have to differentiate between being effective and technical.
If you’re a blue belt and I jam you up with a bunch of steroids, you’re going to become a purple belt in not long – not technically a purple belt – but because of added strength now you can compete with the purple belts.
He also spoke how the use of steroids hinders technical development of athletes, as well as their ability to actually teach Jiu-Jitsu:
Imagine there are a lot of instructors out there who take a lot of ster*ids…
They don’t understand technique because they’re so strong they’re doing it wrong.
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