The Nuance of Drug Use in Weightlifting 

PLEASE READ: PEOPLE IN THE US ARE DOPING!!! HERE IS THE SANCTION LIST IN THE US THE LAST 3 YEARS. THERE IS NUANCE TO WHAT WE ARE SAYING. THIS IS NOT A US PROPAGANDA COPE. Marquez, Marc Weightlifting Cannabinoids 3-Month Suspension; Loss of Results 04/28/2023 Dowling, Andrea Weightlifting Methenolone 3-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 04/27/2023 Schober, Zachary Weightlifting Amphetamine; Methylphenidate; GW1516 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 04/19/2023 Scavilla, Robert Weightlifting Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT) 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 03/17/2023 Witte, Keiser Weightlifting Cannabinoids 1-Month Suspension; Loss of Results 02/24/2023 Rodriguez Ocasio, Christian Weightlifting Heptaminol; Octodrine 12-Month Suspension; Loss of Results 11/30/2022 Navarrete, Rene Weightlifting Cannabinoids 3-Month Suspension; Loss of Results 10/14/2022 Bringas, Joshua Weightlifting Heptaminol; Ibutamoren, Oxilofrine; GW1516 3-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 09/26/2022 Hearn, Timothy Weightlifting 19-norandrosterone (19-NA); Trenbolone; Clomiphene; GW1516; Non-Analytical: Use (IV and Blood Transfusion) 3-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 09/06/2022 Jordan, Clint Weightlifting Anabolic Agent 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 09/01/2022 Palmer, Ahje Weightlifting Cannabinoids 1-Month Suspension; Loss of Results 03/11/2022 Prempeh, Ernest Weightlifting DHCMT, Androgenic Anabolic Steroids; Non-Analytical: Violation of Period of Ineligibility 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results; Sanction tolled due to retirement; Additional 4-year Suspension Original: 05/07/2019; Updated: 02/04/2022 Chavez, Bernabe Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Tampering, Complicity 4-Year Suspension 02/04/2022 Wilson, Ian Weightlifting Stanozolol; Drostanolone 3-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 02/03/2022; Loss of Results Adel, Jordan Weightlifting Ostarine; LGD-4033; Ibutamoren 3-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 11/30/2021 Tran, Hillary Weightlifting Cocaine; D-methamphetamine 1-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 10/28/2021 Lacoste, Jacob Weightlifting Clomiphene; 19-norandrosterone (19-NA) 3-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 09/29/2021 Butterworth, Andrew Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Refusal to Submit to Sample Collection 7-Year Suspension; Loss of Results; Sanction tolled due to retirement 09/10/2021 Buckley, Christian Weightlifting Ostarine 3-Year Suspension - Loss of Results 08/25/2021 Hancock, Regina Weightlifting Stanozolol 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 08/11/2021 Nelson, James Weightlifting Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 07/01/2021 Gallardo, Luis Weightlifting Oxymetholone; Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT); Arimistane; Torasemide 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 06/03/2021 Koehly, Rebekah Weightlifting Testosterone 20-Month Suspension; Loss of Results 04/28/2021 Ellis, James Weightlifting Cannabinoids 6-Month Suspension; Loss of Results 03/05/2021 Hisaka, Scott Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Possession and Use/Attempted Use 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 01/05/2021 Munsell, Megan Weightlifting GW1516 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 12/22/2020 Williams, Susanne Weightlifting Ostarine 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 12/16/2020 McLaughlin, Anthony Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Possession and Use/Attempted Use 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 11/30/2020 Hipona, Alissandra Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Possession and Use/Attempted Use 2-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 11/09/2020 Hudson, Ryan Weightlifting Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) 8-Year Suspension; Loss of Results Original 12/20/2018; Updated 11/04/2020 Millican, Morgan Weightlifting Clomiphene 2-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 09/29/2020 McCullough, Matthew Weightlifting Higenamine 20-Month Suspension; Loss of Results 09/17/2020 Parlor, Tiffany Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Possession and Use/Attempted Use 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 09/08/2020 Rante, Danielle Weightlifting 19-norandrosterone (19-NA) 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results - Sanction Reduced Original: 07/22/2020, Updated: 11/03/2022 Woolsey, Taff Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Possession (Exemestane) 2-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 07/22/2020 Prusmack, Jeff Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Possession and Use/Attempted Use 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 07/02/2020 Glanville, Justin Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Possession and Use/Attempted Use 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 06/09/2020 Ortiz, Robert Weightlifting Cannabinoids 12-Month Suspension with 6-Month Deferral; Loss of Results 05/04/2020 Hurst, Rowdy Weightlifting Androgenic Anabolic Steroid; Clomiphene; Modafinil 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 04/24/2020 Saccente, Nicholas Weightlifting Non-Analytical: Possession and Use/Attempted Use; Non-Analytical: 3 Whereabouts Failures 8-Year Suspension; Loss of Results; Sanction tolled due to retirement 04/16/2020 Aguero, Manuel Weightlifting Amphetamine; Modafinil 4-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 03/12/2020 Jones, Addison Weightlifting Cannabinoids 6-Month Suspension with 3-Month Deferral; Loss of Results 03/05/2020 Strange, Robert Weightlifting Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) 1-Year Suspension; Loss of Results 02/21/2020 Dreaver, Ted Weightlifting Androgenic Anabolic Steroid 39-Month Suspension; Loss of Results 01/06/2020

For weightlifting to become a popular sport in the US, it needs to become a university level sport like throwing is. People need to be able to get college scholarships to continue pursuing their weightlifting passion past high school.

The last part there where you discussed the rewards of snatch/clean and jerk PRs can be a whole separate episode by itself.

I’m in the USADA testing pool and I live out of the country. I’ve NEVER been tested by USADA in an off season outside of living at the OTC. And when living at the OTC all the athletes knew the schedule of when USADA official would be coming around. For the most part it was very routine. To say USADA wants to catch athletes is a bit of a stretch. There are sports they definitely test more in than others, but I’ve spoken to a lot of USADA officials and the impression that I’ve gotten is they don’t want to catch you, it’s just their job to try.

I love listening to Max talk about the sport. The man is such a wealth of knowledge and experience. What a pleasure it was listening to him and Seb commentate the EU championships. Guys like this put weightlifting on the map.

With regards to the last half of the video talking about the rewards and motivations. Weightlifting is the dark souls of sports. Punishing and repetetive at times, but very rewarding with each challenge you overcome each PR you make, each kilo added to your total.

I love that grit, the passion spewing out of you guys is jaw dropping. No matter how insignificant a sport may be perceived as, the passion stays!

I can attest to this. My 12u swim team has won more championships than any other club in the nation, and I dope all of them. Testing at the 12u level doesn't require much to pass. The closest call I had was with a swimmer who had only been at my club for 3 months. When he won 6 events (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 100im, 200im and the 200 free). USA swimming approached me regarding a test. I quickly grabbed his bag, stuffed it with 25 gauge needles, T-bol, and decca. When he came out of the pool for his last race, I emptied the contents of his bag in front of the entire crowd--roughly 1000 people. I dragged him over by the back of his suit and made an example out of him. NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, gets me caught for doping. He acted like he had no idea where any of that stuff came from. Luckily for me, I had a handy VHS tape to show the feds. Little cry baby Sam didn't know, I had sold his dad some steroids under an alias on craigslist and taped the whole thing. Once an anonymous VHS tape showed up in the hands of the testing agency, it was over for Sam and his parents. Once again, I had won another ring at the cost of a VERY expendable swimmer, received a standing ovation from the crowd, and celebrated with a couple shots of Fireball from my balcony overlooking the central fountain in my 2nd story apartment. Currently on my way to court to ensure Sam and his family pay out there reparations for the damages they cost our club. If anyone needs a VHS tape doctored up, I know a guy. I get referral discounts so don't hesitate to reach out.

"USA are trying to catch themselves!" Oh no! Anyway...

In Germany it’s the same thing^^ Internationallevel-lifters get tested at least once a month

In sweden athletes gets chased around with unannounced drop-ins at gyms and what not. We are so drilled to be against doping you will probably get snitched at for being a little bigger than normal at a public gym. I assume most countries in Europe has good testing over all

that end note by max is so true. being a person who suffered 3rd degree burns to my lower extremities as a child(50% body coverage), growing far taller than doctors predicted, dealing with mobility issues, fighting my skin on top of fighting the weights, not having much of a stretch reflex, out of everything making progress on the olympic lifts is...its like a drug. because its hard af, and Im stronger than a decent amount of people and its just a self feeding loop, because I shouldn't be able to do this, but im doing it and its like a drug. Like i feel like an anime protagonist who has everything going against him, and ill fucking persevere. but havent gotten to the point of wanting to take extrogenious hormones. i mean i feel like that shit would be wasted on me LOL.

It's silly to think only overseas athletes are winning medals by doping. Though American world champions such as Vibert, Rodgers and Alwine are clean. That's just laughable in my opinion. Either someone's getting a fat pay cheque somewhere or they're using undetectable compounds.

At the 2002 world junior championships we had a few beers with the Russian team, one of the athletes spoke English well and wanted to know what vitamins we used, how often we trained etc. He was shocked when he heard we don’t use “anabolic” and even told us that’s the reason we did badly, like it was a lightbulb moment for him 😂 he basically said our coaches were stupid and should know the sport better. He had no understanding of all year round testing and was surprised Australia had such a program, stating Russia wouldn’t waste money on it. The thing that hit me hardest was he was not ashamed of using steroids and it didn’t tarnish his Silver medal in the slightest. He was under the illusion everyone did, it was as normal to him as protein powder and Creatine is to us.

There's nothing exceptional about US drug testing. I'm pretty sure most of the 'Western World' countries have similar or even more stringent anti doping programs.

It is simply more popular in other countries then the usa , drugs arent the whole story Weightlifters can be heroes look at that small turkish guy he is an idol in turkey ,not the same in the us

It is sad that the US stuck its head in the sand for so long regarding PEDs. I've been re-reading some MILO journals from the 1990s and they are bemoaning the fact that there is no interest in Olympic lifting in the US, so that was why we were losing. Simultaneously, they denied the former USSR athletes were using drug and claimed that everyone in Olympic lifting was undergoing the same testing protocol. It's nonsense. Americans 108+ kg lifters were losing by ≥100 kg in the World Championships and the Olympics in the 90s.

There is no money in weightlifting, religious zealots run USA weightlifting, and all the superior athletes go into American professional sports

Zack, are Come Correct episodes no longer being put up on RU-vid? I checked the channel for the full video and don't see it.

other title rightfully inspired a lot of these comments in general good video zack

A description at the end of my individualism. @ 51 I have a history of being attracted to rewards have sacrifice and risk and equal not much more than individual accomplishments. As a former rock &I center climbing instructor/guide progression with each grade even the commitment to fee solo some difficult routes once acquired a significant amount of skill, experience and fitness. I also ride MTB and BMX to this day. I have a overwhelming urge to also find out how much I possibly can snatch/ clean & jerk at 73 kg body weight. I’ve caught the bug. I’ve accumulated much time to physical trainings, correctives, and kettlebell instruction over last 15 years . All positions, movements, mobility & strength requirements and skills that the two lifts break down into are the base of a great foundation so might as well take the final step and participate in the entire lifts.

😮😮😅😅 Usa not use Drugs in Weightlifting or Powerlifting also ??? Great sense of Humour 🖖🖖

National drug testing exists in Canadian as well, except it’s even more harsh

After all those reasons and talks about why drugs wouldn't be prevalent in American sport, American athletes still take drugs. You're making the point that in other countries this is organized by the state and there are systems in place how should athletes dope without being caught, but if that weren't the case, they would still dope for their own benefit to get ahead of the competition, just like in America. The bottom line is, drug testing is a circus and charade. Let athletes do whatever they want. And that's far not only in weightlifting.

Division 3 Schools do not offer athletic scholarships and Division 2 schools are usually partial athletic scholarships.

Hi, does anybody knows the link or channel where zach and max do the "streght make podcast" because i cant seem to find it anywhere.

good vid it really gets the mind going… i really like the last 2 minutes because it’s like FINALLY someone understands

I don't know man, sounds like some people forgot to taper off the copium. Back to the cold war narrative of "the reason we're losing is they are just taking more drugs than us". I think America needs to stop finding excuses and just improve.

Hey Zack, great vid! I know you’re cool about these kinds of things but comparing USADA to the SS was a bit of a stretch.

Did Katherine Vibert get popped? Feel like using her face all over this video implies she does

Its ok guys they’re on trt now so they won’t get popped from spiked burritos Thank god for that

Its amazing how I keep seeing comments saying that USA used to suck at weightlifting cause its the only clean country. HAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

Oh boy. This is going to cause a lot of drauma.

American public follow sports that are filled with drugs. Football, track and field, baseball and most of all the most clicks in powerlifting happen for untested athletes. Ppl think westside are groundbreaking athletes. Not a single clean international level athlete from that gym has ever surfaced. I feel the frustration about drug use in weightlifting but I think its naive to think that only this sport is an exception.

I would’ve happily not played d3 football to be on a weightlifting team in college

Lol "we know everything about steroids here in the usa but we dont use em"

Does the EU or UK have a similar organization to USADA?

Erryon Knighton, track athlete, USA. Gets popped for Trenbelone and gets cleared to race. Cmon guys

Full video?

Just allow drugs and end this money racket

Tests aside, wouldn't steroid use be obvious from the needle scars?

neve coud articulate this final statement but that's exactly what it is!!

USADA, based on how they operate in MMA, is a complete sham. the politics of the sport dictate who pops, especially because it's an open secret that every high level fighter is on something. In the ufc, only the fighters that piss dana off ever get 'caught' by USADA

Imagine if weightlifting could be taken in by track and field, the sport would flourish with all of the high school, colligate, and professional investment the US has built already. Not sure if it makes sense philosophically, but it would be a major boost. Next to that maybe Rogue or Xfit bringing them in to their competitions like they have with strongman.

For the algo gainz

FYI Kralos Nasar was tested 26 times in 2022 alone by Bulgarian and European weightlifting organizations, because everyone believes he is on drugs. Not saying he is or he isn't, but there is clearly a lot more testing going on than you think. It is better to get your facts straight before talking(on any subject).

Great video!

How do I get started in this sport?

It seems like you are implying that CJ and Kate are using drugs

Holy close up on Max

Who is the lifter at 3:20?

Wow I am late to this video. First off, D3 sports do not have athletic scholarships. I get Greg’s point though, lower level athletes can get a lot more scholarship money than high level weightlifters. USAW closing the National training site at NMU did not help this. It was a scholarship sport there and it helped me make 3 teams. The development will never get to where it should b unless USAW invests into the university programs. However it will never get out of its own way and do so.

🏋 💊

Zack you should do a podcast vid with team evil genius broderick chavez!

BS

The Sarms race

Lol this is giga level cope, and only perpetuates the stereotypes of Americans saying 'muh USA is clean.' Nope.

Press X to doubt that US don't use drugs on a national level

I don't understand, why don't we make doping friendly competition lol

Testing in Sweden is the same as US it seems!

Cope.

Excuses

Clarence was right

Surely uk 🇬🇧 weight lifting 🏋️‍♀️ is drug free?

Do drugs win prizes.

Getting tested once a month???? Thats good? Cmon, cyclists can get tested after every stage of a race and pass. Remember Lance?

And yet the US gets the most medals out of any country, so I guess you guys are just naturally better 😂?

Heavy doses of copium

PRs are not unique to weightlifting...

I wish D3 sports could give scholarships

United States of asthmatics, not clean whatsoever. Who's here after the purple face embarrassment?

Put your best liftets on small dosage: all do world records hahahaha nope yiu dream in color thinking usa weightlifting programs can makr world champion with 1980 technique Eutope is so afvance technically and in natural supplements that no American can compete with best natural europoeen athlètes 🎉🎉🎉

D3 doesn’t give sport scholarships

It's the difference between democracy and being correct, vs dictatorships and corruption. If you got the job in the organization by studying, working hard, and earning it, you have all the incentive to try to be good at it. Even if that job is to catch 'your own' athletes. And there is an overseeing body made up of similar people to support you when you uphold the truth. The Eastern countries don't do it out of some misplaced sense of patriotism, they do it because they got the job through an acquaintance and now they owe them and that acquaintance also happens to run or be part of the national lifting team, which more often than not has ties with organized crime because the dudes look big and scary and have a reputation and fame, and you get where this is going...

Lol these comments are idiotic

Steroids should be legal and available at any gas station. If I want to kill myself, it’s my right. I don’t owe the government my life or health.

That’s why Weighlifting is dying. Get them DA juice 😂😂😂

So much nonsense in so little time!? Doping young teens and children at the beginning of their training and building a career all around it? No one with sport success more that a beginner knows that won't work. Next, claiming that after two weeks off dianabol and one would be clear back then!? Nonsense, right at the beginning they were able to catch offenders even after +2 month in the clear. Next nonsense is the one about the low reward to effort ratio - plenty of evidence that's quite often not the case: powerlifting, bodybuilding, rock climbing etc... The guy don't know crp about doing sports..

I Listen to all and I also lost all my respect for you