Juice Babies

I have a pretty hard line stance on Juicing. I don’t care if its HGH, TRT or some crazy concoction developed by East German Chemists – I am against all sports performance drugs. Every fighter I have ever trained that I know was juicing has either retired early due to injuries or their careers took a quick nosedive and the their days are numbered in the sport. Forget the one’s that are no longer with us. These few are to hard to talk about.
I have had my own run-ins over the years with steroids. During my competitive fighting years, I never voluntarily took anything. I did take Androtestostanine and got severely sick from it. I had no idea what I was taking. I read in Muscle & Fitness about this amazing new “vitamin” called Andro. I took it 3 times a day for 4 to 5 months. My Testosterone went thru the roof and my gains were pretty remarkable. BUT with no knowledge of how to take it, I went toxic. I had abscesses popping up in my throat, on my ass, back, and inner thighs. I went under a Dr.’s care for over a year to get my body back to normal and relearn how to naturally produce testosterone again.

I lost about 9 months during some of my prime fighting years due to the Andro mess. Besides going toxic, I tore a muscle in my back, herniated a disc, and shredded my right knee. I could lift a small house and tear a phonebook in half, but it wasn’t worth it.

The only time I ever took anything anabolic on purpose was 1 cycle of clenbuterol. I was pretty fat and took a shortcut to dropping some weight. I did it for 2 weeks and lost 11 pounds. Most of it came back tho because I never stopped eating like a horse and drinking like fish after I stopped the pills. Again, wasn’t worth it.

So I have come clean about 2 instances – one voluntary and one based in monumental stupidity.

Now lets get down to brass tacks, as they say – I am not sure who “they” are but its sounds cool. Fighting is a skill game. You can be the worlds strongest man and still suck at fighting. It takes years of skilled training combined with mental discipline and a strong body to be truly elite. Don’t get me wrong, being the world’s strongest man can’t hurt BUT you really have to have skills equal to the strength to be a champion.

Big guys do find success. But once the riddle is busted, so is the career of the only strong. Look at Bob Sapp, he beat Ernesto Hoost 2 times in K-1 and smashed some bad dudes in Pride FC. Then came Mirko Crocop with a bigger arsenal of technique and the balls to use it on the big guy. Ernesto has balls too, but his were so big he thought he could stand and swing with a guy that outweighed him by over 100 lbs – not a good idea. Against the big guys you have to kill them with skill.

Where it all goes wrong for the juice dependent is the mental game. By not dealing with that Devil on the shoulder that says you are weak and a pussy, you leave the door open for juice. Believe in yourself and develop an unbreakable mind, that will overcome roid rage most days of the week.

When the artificially enhanced gas, they quit. They figure the tank has run dry and the drugs are no longer there to save them. The natural athlete who has struggled to achieve views pain as opportunity. There is no end to the natural gas tank. It is fueled by heart and the overwhelming desire to persevere.

My best advice to any fighter coming up is to suffer. Learn to deal with pain. Learn to deal with negativity from within and the outside. Let pain be your fuel because pain is what you feel when you fight. Not always the pain of being hit or hurt. Pain from being tired physically and mentally. Pain from sacrifice. Pain from having the balls to go after a dream.

Take your pain and make it the fuel that fires you up. If you can do this, you can go longer, faster, and harder than those that live by the needle.

This is your life and your career. You have to make the choice and live with the results. I would rather do things knowing what I am made of then live the rest of my days wondering how much was me and how much was chemistry.

Back to the lab making monsters – Brian Wright
Real Elite Training Center, Asbury Park, NJ