Martial Arts – Bringing Light The Steroid Issue Surrounding Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Oct 312011

Maryland jujitsu schools are in agreement with what Caio Terra Said. With the recent speech given by Caio Terra about steroid use at the 2011 IBJJF Worlds Championship the BJJ community has been buzzing lately. They mostly have been buzzing about which side they want to agree with. Of course there will be people in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu community who don’t want the IBJJF to waste their time with a drugs testing policy. They also feel that since the fighters are not getting paid to compete that testing should not be done. Ideas have been thrown out to test competitors just when they reach the final four of a high-level tournament. They should also get test for tournaments that offer cash prizes like Abu Dhabi. Others feel like BJJ competitors that use steroids are cheating the system and it gives them an unfair advantage.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu should remain a pure sport that tests a competitors skills and techniques. Caio Terra is a little man who previously won the black belt absolute division. He is in a small weight division and can beat people in any weight class with technique. Some students who do MMA fighting classes compete in BJJ tournaments and they believe that they are fighting against a lot of competitors who use performance enhancing drugs. Caio Terra competition and spars against the same competitors on numerous occasion and can tell when there is a significant growth change. If you follow some of the competitors you have probably noticed some of them gained muscle mass, but in a small time frame. It is not natural for a person’s physiology to make that change so rapidly. What reason would a Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor have to stop taking drugs if they can get away with it.

It seems that after Caio Terra’s passionate speech about the subject IBJJF is finally paying attention to the rising problem. There have been two reported deaths related to steroid use. It’s going to be an interesting year because there are rumors that a lot members from the big name Brazilian jiu-jitsu camps are doping their students. It’s going to be interesting clearing the rumors about who has been doping if IBJJF goes through with their plans.

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