Crossfit and Steroids (T-Nation)

My stance on steroids or PEDs is probably different than most as I believe it's your body, do as you please. You have to think with all the money involved in Crossfit, the temptation to use is greater than ever. Interesting read, no matter your opinions or choice to ignore the obvious.

CrossFit and Steroids

Just How Juiced Is CrossFit?

by John Romano   05/12/14

Tags:

CrossFit

Here's what you need to know...

•  The author has worked with bodybuilders, elite athletes, CrossFitters and regular people from all walks of life. He helps them build muscle and perform better, both with and without the use of performance enhancing drugs. When needed, he also helps them beat drug tests.

•  CrossFit as a sport is an incredible spectacle of fitness, strength and endurance. It's also one of the best ways to conjure up nagging injuries. That makes it one of the best candidates for PEDs around today.

•  A drug test is an IQ test. Only idiots fail them. And the CrossFit Games has a porous anti-doping program.

•  Man will seek any means to increase his performance, especially when money and fame are on the line. The "sport of fitness" is not immune. CrossFitters who think otherwise are naive.

"To promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing." – Mark Twain

CrossFit emerged as an almost instant adversary to bodybuilding. Clearly my career has centered more on bodybuilding than CrossFit, so naturally I was in the bodybuilding camp when the bodybuilding vs. CrossFit campaign took off. However irrational the dichotomy is, one thing is for sure: CrossFit and bodybuilding have more in common than not. And, like it or not, that includes drugs – the performance enhancing variety.
Those of you who've followed my career know what I'm going to say. If you're reading me for the first time and are a CrossFitter, you'll probably have steam coming out from under both sides of your $95.00 CrossFit dry-cool ball cap by the time I'm done, because I'm going to tell you that it's my informed opinion that your pristine sport is loaded with performance enhancing drugs.
What qualifies me to say this? Well, for nearly three decades I've made a decent living not only writing about steroids for bodybuilding magazines and books, but also prepping athletes for competitions using steroids, selling steroids, smuggling steroids, making steroids, prescribing and monitoring steroid use, beating drug tests, appearing on TV, in film and on radio talking about steroids... Let's just say I know a thing or two about steroids. Based on what I've read out there relating to CrossFit and steroids, I feel very un-egotistical stating that I know a lot more about steroids than most CrossFitters.
I'm not anti-CrossFit. In fact, I've dedicated about 2,000 square feet of my gym to CrossFit. So, take from this what you will. I'm stating here what I believe to be the empirical truth. The only problem with it is whether or not you can handle it.

The Fittest on Earth?

Before I talk about steroid use in CrossFit, it's only fair that we agree on what CrossFit actually is. Not what it is according to Greg Glassman, who would probably define what he created as a strength and conditioning system built on constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity... because that's really not what it is. CrossFit's definition is clearly fashioned to convince the public that CrossFit is gentleman's territory with an emphasis on intellect. They even go so far as to call themselves the "fittest athletes on earth," with trite battle cries such as "our warm-up is your workout!" Not to mention pious enough to contend that CrossFit is better able to promote muscle growth than conventional bodybuilding, with Glassman going as far as to say, "People say that a scientist has proved that CrossFit works, and my reply is that I don't need a scientist to tell me that CrossFit works; just look at the people."
I could just as easily, and with equal guile, say that I don't need proof that CrossFit is rife with steroid use, just look at the people. But I'm not going to go there. To me, "looks" are ambiguous. There's no science behind Glassman's words even though his scientist says there is. How do they know what they perceive to be muscle growth induced by CrossFit – to a superior degree than bodybuilding – wasn't attained with PED use? The truth is, no one knows.
What we do know is that there are far less taxing ways to build muscle. The only real proof we have so far today that indicates CrossFit does anything is the profound number of injuries it produces. According to the science, if you really want to hurt yourself, CrossFit works. Granted, it's an incredible spectacle of fitness, strength and endurance, but what it really has proven itself to be is one of the best ways to conjure up some really nagging injuries. That alone makes it one of the best candidates for PED use in existence today.
Now, because CrossFit is a "game" or games, and its origin is in America, it's only natural that the political correctness of "fair play" and "even playing fields" – not to mention pristine symbolism to our precious youth – be paramount when played on the PR machine. I'm actually surprised, with the late emergence of CrossFit in the modern lexicon, that the liberal political machine – designated to prepare our youth for abject failure in the real world – even permits anyone to win. Just so long as everyone has fun, right?
Of course not, and since that's clearly not the case, CrossFit has to stand the litmus test of other sports as dictated by mother nature, because human nature is to cheat – especially when large amounts of money, fame and exposure are at stake. And, because a faction of CrossFit is by all reasonable accounts a professional sport, it is not immune to the foibles of all professional sports. This includes the fair assumption that many of its competitors, especially those at the elite level, are using banned, illegal, performance enhancing drugs.

An Even Playing Field?

This undoubtedly conjures up images of drug testing and disgraced champions who got caught with their pants down and a pin in their hide. The overall public discourse must always focus on fair play, sportsmanship, following the rules, and may-the-best-man-win crap. Unfortunately, the belief in these antiquated and post-modern displays of moral turpitude rank right up there with belief in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
First of all, there is no such thing as an even playing field. If your great grandfather was hammering in railroad spikes for a living or working a plantation without pay, you're going to have a far greater physical advantage, genetically, than if your great grandfather was a mohel. As racist as that statement may sound, it's true. Genetics is the great un-evener of the playing field, not PEDs. As long as humans from varying backgrounds play sports together there will never be such a thing as an even playing field.

PEDs for Recovery

As far as steroids making the playing field incongruous, however, I'd go as far as to say that CrossFit is probably the poster sport for steroid use because of the drugs' profound effect on recovery. Does enhanced recovery affect performance? You bet it does. Contrary to what CrossFit thinks, its sport is probably the number one sport in the entire world to reap the greatest overall benefit from steroid use because of the drugs' affect on recovery. That alone is reason enough to believe that a large number of practitioners use them.
Why? When you ask a high-end CrossFit athlete what he did for his rest day, it's not unusual for him to respond, "I didn't take one" or "I ran a half-marathon," or, "I did a recovery row." Such commentary leaves one to ponder, are these people super human or super stupid? Taxing your body to such a degree is one of the best reasons to get on gear.
Train three times a day, never take a day off, make yourself equally proficient at a hundred different exercise moves, do Fran in under 2:30 and expect to carry on like this for decades? How can a human body endure like this? Well, you know, if it does it's probably not the Wheaties. And therein lies the rub. Bodybuilders are A-okay with the giant pink elephant in the room. But, just mention any word that is suffixed in "-one" among the CrossFitteratti and fifteen lawyers get on an airplane. Why such an uproar over the most obvious of observations?
On top of the recuperative and performance enhancing effects of such drugs, anyone who knows anything about performance enhancement will tell you that CrossFit has a porous anti-doping program, with testing a donkey could pass. Couple that with the Kool-Aid drunk constituency that really, really believes that CrossFit athletes are superior and you have the greatest veil of deniability when accusations of PED use arise. That's not to say that there aren't reasonable CrossFit people who agree that steroids have infiltrated their sport. Top CrossFitter Dan Bailey has stated that he doesn't believe all the male CrossFit Games athletes are clean. He also said in a 2013 interview that beating the tests would be "totally easy." [Editor's note: CrossFit has expanded out-of-competition, unannounced drug testing for 2014, for what it's worth.] And some female CrossFit Games athletes are already sniping at one another with veiled accusations of drug use.
However, the hardcore cult members of CrossFit just don't want to admit that steroids have any part in their beloved way of life. To wit, three-time Games competitor Lucas Parker says, "This is my stance on steroids and other performance enhancing drugs: I am against PEDs, because they can provide 'false validation' of shitty training protocols."
Really? I can't imagine that trying to become equally proficient at a random assemblage of over 100 different moves can't produce anything but shitty training protocols, regardless if anyone takes steroids or not. That statement is just plain stupid. He does, however, believe that CrossFit is too young for steroid use. Its youth and random assemblage of difficult moves leaves how to train for CrossFit a mystery. Once we know how to train for CrossFit then we can use drugs. Another insanely stupid statement. Regardless, if or when PEDs should be used in CrossFit, the idea that they are – or could be (should be) – leaves open the insanely stupid concept that drug testing is going to even the playing field.
The idea that drug testing, even Olympic drug testing, is an effective deterrent ranks right up there with just saying "no" as an effective means to keep kids off drugs. The notion that passing a drug test means that the athlete is clean is a fallacy. A drug test is an IQ test. Only fucking idiots fail them. Perhaps the greatest testament to this fact is Lance Armstrong – the most tested athlete in the world – never failed a drug test. In fact, most, if not all, athletes have not been caught with those expensive IOC caliber testing protocols. No, instead they had a dime dropped on them. Besides, there are more ways to get around a standard PED test than there are to get around a subway turnstile. You only get caught if you're stupid.
So, is CrossFit rife with PED use? Let's forget about the recent outings, accusations of association with known drug dealers, porous drug testing and outright drug busts and put it this way: Almost 30 years ago I embarked upon a sideline of performance enhancement, both with and without banned substances. My teacher was the original steroid guru and author of the very first steroid "how to" handbook, Dan Duchaine. Since then, while my career has centered on journalism, I've always maintained a sideline of performance enhancement. I've worked not only with professional and amateur bodybuilders (both men and women), but also boxers, MMA fighters, baseball players, football players, wrestlers, ballet dancers, models, policemen, firemen, lawyers, businessmen, anorexics and the obese. And now, since I've devoted 10% of my 20,000 square foot gym to CrossFit, I have CrossFit clients as well. I have helped them prepare for competition, reach fitness goals and increase their strength and conditioning.
In every case, my association with these people focused on one of two paths: extract maximum performance without the use of drugs, or help them cheat. The bulk of that activity focused not on the former, but on the latter.

Reality Check

This most relevant manifestation of human nature has been evinced for thousands of years – man will seek any means to increase his performance. You could no more say that athletes would ever stop doing drugs than you could say hookers would ever stop selling blowjobs.
CrossFit, however, tends to rely on a theory wrought with ambiguity. The prevailing "logic" common among the CrossFiteratti? Not only do they contend they don't know if anyone is using steroids, they also contend that so little is known about CF that no one even really knows how to train for it. So, here you've got a guy such as Rich Froning who won the Games three times in a row, works out several times a day, can snatch 300 pounds, do Fran (21, 15 and 9 reps of thrusters and pull-ups) in 2 minutes and 13 seconds, look like a bodybuilder and be as flexible as a ballerina, and yet no one not only knows how to train for this, but they also condemn the notion that the guy is on anything.
I'm not saying he is on anything, but the ludicrousness of this ideology is mind bending, especially when you consider the fact that CrossFit is supposed to be endowed with a more cerebral crowd than the mooks who just lift weights for aesthetic purposes. Some of you more snooty members of CrossFit might like to think that you guys are a higher breed, a more noble character and super human in every way that mere mortals of average sport can only aspire to achieve. As the perceived decedents of Thor, Atlas, Hercules, Zeus and Apollo, the magnitude of CrossFit and its perilously high standers, history could no more allow Cambridge to beat Oxford than it could CrossFit's entire top tier to be juiced.
But you know what? In the real world nobody gives a rat's ass about how great you think you are. Reality dictates that we're all more interested in what the rest of the world thinks, because like it or not, public discourse determines the nature of things. That being the case, if CrossFit is to be played by humans it's going to be played on an even playing field made even by human nature, i.e., its competitors will be using PEDs, just as they have in every other single sport in the entire world throughout recorded history.
This would be evident from the Olympic menu to the very highest of high-paid pros. Drugs are as much a part of the game as the uniform. The various drug scandals that have erupted in pro sports over the years are not indicative of isolated instances. In every sport the individual is swallowed by the collective when it comes to performance. If one gets caught it does not mean the cheater was caught; it means one of the cheaters was caught. It's completely naive to think otherwise.
Is this a problem? CrossFit seems to think so. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with concern for the athlete's health or wellbeing. Given the nature of CrossFit, if the foregoing were a paramount issue, steroids, androgens, and assorted peptides and hormones would be mandatory in CrossFit. The real reason is purely cosmetic. And it's purely bullshit propagated by the sensationalistic mainstream media which isolated "steroids" from the laundry list of performance enhancing protocols enlisted by today's elite athletes and went to town vilifying them to the shameful degree that creatine is now being referred to as a "dangerous steroid" in the press.
God forbid the pristine image of CrossFit be tainted by such drugs. But, like it or not, the genie isn't going back in the bottle. CrossFit is going to have an ever-growing intimate relationship with PEDs and there's nothing anyone is ever going to be able to do about it.
Doubt me? Then ask yourself this: Why wouldn't CrossFit competitors use PEDs? If you think you can find an answer different from any other sport where money, prestige and fame are at stake, let me know because I have a bridge I can sell you.

T-Nation Always Has Some Interesting Articles Regarding Crossfit...

    

A CrossFit Apology

3 Things CrossFit Taught Me

by Christian Thibaudeau   Yesterday

Tags:

CrossFit

Here's what you need to know...

•  CrossFitters have amazingly strong backs and work their lower back every day in one way or another. Adopting this kind of strategy will make your back stronger and it will carry over to your Olympic lifts, deadlifts, and squats.

•  CrossFitters do a lot of high rep work, and this high-rep work on the big basic lifts builds a lot of muscle mass while also leading to decent strength gains.

•  Since many CrossFitters are new to serious weight training, they don't have any mental blocks when it comes to hitting PRs and making fast progress. It's an attitude we could all use.

I used to make fun of CrossFit. I thought it was a fad and they all used shitty form; that they couldn't get strong or build muscle doing those workouts. Well, I was wrong. Working with a lot of CrossFit athletes made me change my mind. While I personally wouldn't train using only WODs, I did learn a lot of things from coaching CrossFit athletes.
I work with a very diverse clientele: average Joes, athletes, bodybuilders, and CrossFitters, and I must say that next to the powerlifters I worked with, the CrossFitters were the strongest overall. Oddly enough, for a group that has a reputation for using bad form, they have probably the best form among the people I've trained. Serious CrossFitters are perfectionists and really work at their craft. Sure, they might have a slight technical breakdown during WODs, but most of the time their technique is very solid.
Here are the three things I learned from training these hardworking individuals:

1. The secret to fast strength gains on the Olympic lifts, deadlifts, and squats is training the lower back frequently.

One thing with CrossFit athletes (even non-competitors) that is both rewarding and frustrating is they make amazingly fast progress on Olympic lifts when properly coached. Heck, many that I coached took only a few months to hit weights that took me a few years to attain while training on the Olympic lifts full time. That made me feel good about my coaching, but bad about myself. Was I a genetic moron? Heck, even one of the girls I've trained on the Olympic lifts reached a 190-pound snatch faster than I did!
So it got me thinking. CrossFit athletes aren't doing tons of fulltime Olympic lifting workouts, certainly not at the frequency that would justify the super fast improvements I was seeing. Normally they'd devote one or two sessions per week to focus on the Olympic lifts, so that wasn't it. I can't say they were doing tons of strength work, either. To be fair, the good ones were lifting heavy fairly often, but not at the volume and/or frequency that those focusing solely on strength were using. So getting super strong wasn't the answer either. Then it hit me: CrossFit athletes – even most recreational CrossFitters – have super strong lower backs.
Think about it, the following are pretty much part of every single WOD. They're doing hundreds, if not thousands, of reps per week involving the lower back to some extent, either:

• Deadlifting anything from super high reps (up to 100 reps in a workout) to super heavy weights
• Doing kettlebell swings with all sorts of weights and rep ranges
• Or performing high-rep Olympic lifting (not something I'd personally do or recommend)

Not only do they do all this work for the lower back, but they tend to loosen up their form a bit during WODs. This makes them round the lower back slightly. I'm not saying that you should start doing tons of rounded-back lifting, but the fact is that deadlifting with a rounded back puts more stress on your erector spinae and – if you don't blow a disk – it will make your lower back stronger. Heck, even Klokov does a ton of rounded-back pulling. When it comes to the Olympic lifts, a strong lower back allows you to stay in a position to make the best use of your strength when the weight gets heavy.
One CrossFitter who's now my good friend started out doing deadlifts. He didn't have much experience and had the worst fishing-rod deadlift form ever. I made fun of him at the time because he told me he was going to bring his 405-pound deadlift up to 535 in four months. I even wrote him an email saying why he was being unrealistic and how he was disrespecting powerlifters who work their tail off for every 10 pounds they added. Well, he actually did it, but with the most horrible form possible. Fast forward a year and that guy now has one of the best lifting forms I've seen and it's because he has a super strong lower back. He's now snatching, cleaning, deadlifting, and squatting superb weights for his size.
This really made it click for me. I "theoretically" understood the value of a strong lower back, but never really did focus on it that much. I felt that I got all the lower back stimulation I needed from doing the Olympic lifts and squats. In retrospect I now know I always had a weak lower back and it probably held me back.
I now believe that the lower back responds better to a high volume of work. If you want to build it to a level that will give you the strength to shock people, you need to work it for a high number of reps at a very high frequency. The good news is that the lower back muscles seem to have the highest trainability of all the muscles. This means they get bigger and stronger very rapidly if you focus hard on training them. I'm now devoting a good amount of time on making my lower back stronger using various rep ranges, using from 3 to 10 reps on the Romanian deadlift and other pulls; 10-12 on loaded back extensions, the back extension machine, glute-ham raises, and reverse hypers; and up to 30 on KB swings.
Applying it: Honestly I feel that with the lower back the big secret is doing it. I end every session with a lower back exercise. Depending on how fresh I am or how strong I feel, I'll pick the movement that will work the best on that day. If I feel tired, then doing heavy triples on the Romanian deadlift might not be a good idea. And don't dismiss something as simple as a back extension machine. The lower back doesn't need to be trained at a high intensity to improve; just do something for your lower back every day and it will get stronger.

2. The value of high reps.

I'm a low rep guy and that won't change. If I had to associate myself with one belief system, it would be the Bulgarian weightlifting school of thought that emphasizes always using very low reps and heavy (max or near-max) weights. However, after working with a lot of CrossFit athletes, I've come to appreciate the value of higher-rep training.
Yes, doing 21-15-9 on deadlifts and pull-ups sucks while you're doing it, but I must confess that it does work. It's easy to say that most CrossFit athletes do strength work outside of their WODs and that's why they're posting huge numbers, but I know a lot who get strong by only doing the WODs. They deadlift, squat, front squat, and push press (the Olympic lifts are a given) a lot more than the average commercial member who specifically trains to get bigger and stronger by doing "bodybuilding work."
I'm not saying that high reps work better than powerlifting/low reps heavy work to get super strong, but lifting decent weights for higher reps certainly will get you stronger. And I find that relatively high reps on the big basic lifts (deadlift, squat, front squat, push press, pull-ups, and dips) will build a lot of muscle mass while also leading to decent strength gains. I'll use my wife as an example. She never clean and jerked more than 85 pounds. After a few months of doing only CrossFit WODs, she hit 140 pounds.
What I like about the CrossFit-style high reps is that they do not define it in "sets." If you have 21 deadlifts to do with 355 pounds, you can get those 21 reps in 2, 3 or 4 "sets" as long as you try to do them as fast as possible. That gives you a high density of work with a fairly heavy load, and that will build a lot of muscle mass. I recently started doing some thing like this myself. After my heavy work is done, I use 60% of my maximum on the lift and shoot for 20 reps. I may take one or two short breaks but the movement isn't over until I get all 20. I noticed an increase in my rate of muscle growth from that simple addition.
Another method you can use is density strength work. Use 70-80% of 1RM on the bar and try to get to 30 total reps in as little time as possible. It might take you 6-8 sets to get there, but that's fine. Just try to rest as little as possible: 5 reps, rest 10 seconds, 5 reps, rest 10 seconds, etc.
Applying it: After you've done your heavy work for your main movement of the day, challenge yourself to do 20 reps with 60% of your maximum on that same lift. If you can get all 20 without resting, go with 65 or 70% next time! You can also use density work, getting 30 total reps at 70-80% of your max in as little time as possible.

3. No respect for the weight.

One thing I noticed with many CrossFit athletes and even among recreational CrossFit participants is that they don't have the same respect for the weight as powerlifters, Olympic lifters, or bodybuilders do. And I'm not referring to throwing down the bar after each set or rep (even though such a thing has been know to happen in most CrossFit boxes). No, I'm talking about the fact that they don't seem to realize how hard a certain weight should be.
I'll go back to my friend who was deadlifting 405 pounds who set a goal to deadlift 535 in four months. He didn't seem to realize that a 135-pound increase on a lift in four months was insane, but he did it! And I'm seeing this all over the place. Fairly low-level CrossFitters saying, "Man, I really need to get my clean up to 315 pounds," when they are struggling with 205, and then achieving it in a few months. Back when I started Olympic lifting, three plates was a big weight and my progress got stuck because I was setting myself up negatively by believing that a certain weight was out of my range.
That's the weird thing with CrossFit. In powerlifting we look at the big guns deadlifting and squatting 900-1000 pounds and think, "These guys are inhuman; I'll never get there." In CrossFit they look at the guys who qualify for the games that have cleans of 315-375 pounds and think, "Man, I need to get there, quick."
It reminds me of when my bench press had been stuck at 275 for a few years. I couldn't get past that point no matter what I tried. I was training at a college gym where bench-pressing 225 would get you labeled as a steroid user, so 315 seemed like a physical impossibility to me, a lift done only by mythical beasts that are hiding in a cave somewhere.
And then I moved to that cave. I started training at a little hardcore gym in the basement of a church. The manager was a former Canadian record holder in the clean & jerk and his son was a strongman competitor. All the powerlifters and strongmen in the city trained there. There were at least 10 guys bench pressing 405 and a few had gotten over 500 pounds raw. It wasn't exactly Westside, but compared to my previous gym it was a slap in the face. Within a few weeks I was up to 315 and it wasn't that long until I could hit 365 and then 405 came within less than a year. Seeing all these guys doing those big lifts removed my mental block. It's the same with CrossFit. You see so many competitive CrossFitters hitting 345-380 pound cleans and 265-285 pound snatches that 300-315 and 225-235 becomes ordinary (even low) and thus seems "easy" to reach. The funny thing is that because of that perception, they really do become much easier to reach.
I also think that a lot of people get into CrossFit without a big lifting background. Most of them were people who played sports first and maybe did some lifting here and there, so they don't have the same relationship with the weights that us ironheads have. They don't have the same perception of what is heavy and what should be a normal progression. An experienced lifter will say something like, "Gaining 50 pounds on a lift in a year is really good progress once you get past the beginner stage." Oh the other hand, a beginner CrossFitter will think, "Man I really gotta' get to those Rx weights soon or I'll look like a loser." (Note: The Rx weight is the load prescribed in a WOD. If you have to do 50 deadlifts with 225 pounds the Rx weight is 225). A competitive CrossFitter will think, "Froning is snatching 300 and cleaning 380. I have to get to at least 245 and 335 in a few months."
And really, in all those cases they normally get what they think they can get. The same thing happened with me and my high pulls. Tim Patterson challenged me to go from 275 to 400 in 3 weeks. At the time my goal was 315 in 3 months, so he kinda' changed my plans. And I got it because he got my mind in the right place.
Another example occurred when I went to train at Dave Tate's compound. At the time my lifetime best bench press was 420, but my best at the time was 405 and I had missed 425 three times in the past month. When training at the compound I'd just follow one of the guys, not knowing how much weight we were using (we were using an odd fat bar and I had no idea of its weight). When I was done I asked Dave how much was on the bar, he answered, "445 pounds." Twenty-five pounds over my lifetime best!

Applying it: It's much harder to teach you how to apply a mental strategy than a training strategy. I do have one good recommendation, though. If you want to get strong, the best thing you could possibly do is move to a gym where super strong guys train. I cannot overstate the effect that training among these guys will have on your progress.

Learn From Everyone

I believe that CrossFit athletes still have a ways to go to maximize their performance. However, I also believe there's a lot we can learn from them and the three elements I presented merely scratch the surface. I always believed that everybody who trains hard has something to teach others and that we shouldn't be painting ourselves in a corner by refusing to learn from other groups of people just because it's fashionable to make fun of them.