An Interview with Jason Khalipa - Part 2

If someone accused me based on the results of my program, of using steroids, I would smile from ear to ear and take that as the biggest compliment to the sucess and results that come from CrossFit. Knowing of course that steroids have nothing to do with the results.

correct me if i'm wrong, but i heard that athletes take steroids to allow them to recover faster, thus allowing them to train more than normal, and not so much for muscle hypertrophy

Daniel Gam ->
That is often the case in professional sports where training capacity is more important than absolute mass, but most steroids (testostetone derivatives at least) will indeed give you muscle hypertrophy.

I think it's a bit naive of JK to think steroids couldn't give a CrossFitter an advantage in the games, but then again he's only 23. ;-P Steroids can not only give you mass but plenty of strength which is never a disadvantage.

And don't take this as a recommendation. :-D

What a cool guy. Great attitude!

OK, I am now officially pissed off at CF for the second time!
Please excuse me Jason for crashing this Journal entry, but it has to be done.
(Don't worry, I still love CF, and all my bro's and sis' doing it daily)
First, (in the spirit of full disclosure) I am Operations Manager for a franchise chain that owns 10 supplement stores.
Next, as defined by the word "supplement", YES YOU CAN ACHIEVE ALL OF THIS BY DIET!!! That being said, it's REALLY hard to boost you testosterone 700%(Tribulus), or achieve 10,000mg of L-Arginine in a day without supplementation. I know, I know, "As animals, we would have this stuff to supplement!", but somehow, I think running from predators, and stalking prey probably works as a pretty good outside stimulus to ellicit a hormonal response. BTW- calling all supplements bodybuilding aids is akin to calling all personal trainers CF afficianados. It is an over simplification of ideals, and concepts. That being said, there are ways that are differing and justifiable to supplement for EVERY sport, activity, and/or life style. If you don't know them, please ask someone with expertise in that field, and then check those facts against published literature yourself(NEVER NEVER NEVER take anyone's word, even mine)
Seperately, are there CF Games athletes using steroids?!?!? Hmmmmmmmm....... are there baseball players juicing? what about track athletes? gymnasts? cyclists? MMA fighters? In all cases, there have been proven cases of athletes being confirmed to have been using steroids and other illegal performance enhancing aids. To think that CF is singularly the one sport that is immune to this is ignorant and help the pundits who parade us out as superhuman "Kool-Aid" drinkers.
Well, now let's define terms. By "steroids" I am assuming you are talking of Anabolic Steroids(AS) as defined by the Controlled Substances Act, and probably illegal prohormones(PH) as defined by the Steroid Control Act of 2004. Would it be possible to use AS for CF? Would it be the optimum training ergogenic? Would there be drawbacks? Without bothering to be PC and say "STEROIDS ARE BAD, MMMMKAY" these are answered as yes, dependant on ALOT of factors, and YES, definitely (respectively). AS used in CF would enhance strength, recovery, and oxygen exchange. The drawbacks are pretty obvious in the possible physiological damage to your body system, the extra caloric drain (exacerbated by CF Intensity principles), and the possible extra mass gain. The well associated Acne, Mood Swings, Gynocomastia, Lactation, and Liver Toxicity are all proof that the nutritional and systemic on/off/post cycle requirements of AS are too difficult to adhere to be used by the general populace. Mind you, there are many, many, many more, but I am thinking that I now have good basis for my Doctoral thesis. The hardest to answer, without turning anyone to steroids, is wether AS would be an optimal training aid.
We can easily take the information garnered by MMA fighters (some who you can Google and see were suspended for this) who have used AS while utilizing either CF, or a comparable program. Certain types of AS (yup.. there are ALOT of 'em) are used at lesser dosages and higher frequencies to ellicit better overall muscularity, higher strength to bodyweight ratios, and higher rates of protien synthesis. I will not go into too much detail, as neither CF, nor I wish to be seen as promoting AS usage. These would also be reasons for using PH which already have lower toxicity, and lower total effect than AS in these arenas. Beware that many PH are also illegal, and even though supplement sellers should know this, some either do not or do not care. The owness will be on you when you are caught.
IN SUMMARY
Please don't rip on stuff you don't know about, or take people's words on things.... read a bit (I keep it to Medical Journals)
Supplements aren't evil they are dietary in nature and ergogenic (to make work easier) in function.
Anabolic Steroids and illegal PH are useful for prescibed patients, but when used for sport are difficult to manage and nearly impossible to hide from people that have exposure to them.
I submit this simply to educate the general layman out there who attains information from that big guy at the gym (genetically gifted folks) or from popular magazines that are mostly marketing vehicles. There is a ton of research on most subjects, and they are pretty hard to ind, but they are out there. My best resource is www.pponline.co.uk it is Peak Performance (Euro compilation of the worlds applicable research journals)
For my fellow CF's
J.Reed

PS-Coach please don't kick me out of CF ;-(...