More like “historically notorious” … I remember going to my first few local BJJ tournaments almost 20 years ago. Especially the no gi guys …
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Unfortunately I don;t have access to something like that ! (***doctor)
Isn’t that too low for me ? just asking , please don’t ask me wrong !!!
ADCC , this year , was amazing and the athletes were super juiced ! Galvao, Pena, Souza, Gordon they were all on something ! Gordon actually in 1 month he got so ripped 
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Sorry, I added to my above post while you were replying back. The protocol I listed would put both your Test levels and HGH at the very top of natural or likely slightly higher. No, it won’t pack on 15lbs in two months but I don’t think thats what you want. It would be a nice protocol for your sport without a ton of risk. Watch your BP and RHR on the GH.
I understand. Are you outside of the USA? The protocol I listed can be supervised under a doc at many clinics legally in the US. GH is sketchy as far as legality but many docs prescribe it still. Its pricey.
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my personal approach would be to be a little higher on dosage ! maybe I am wrong 
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Hey man, you do you. I want to be clear I am not giving medical advice. At the end of the day we have to decide what works for us. Also, depending on where you are it could be legal or not etc.
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Not to be the asshole here but you need bigger dosages because you think steroids will shortcut you through your lack of work in the gym. They wont. You need a legit strength plan, not some BJJ conditioning. You also need a correct diet that lets you gain weight. And you also will need to do less of BJJ because many times in any sport its not what you do. Sometimes its what you dont do. And what you don’t do when you want to build size is have physically taxing shit 5x a week which counteracts everything you do.
Sorry but what i see is that you want to continue to make same mistakes, not adress them, but just take a ton of steroids. A correct training and diet plan will put on more musle than any steroid because steroids dont work if you BJJ 5x a week and dont stimulate and support growth.
As far as enathate/cyp/sust goes, its all testosterone. Its like coke in a bottle, or glass or spiled on the floor - the substance is the same.
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No doubt having a decent ‘gas tank’ is a huge advantage in BJJ
However once skill and endurance has been equalized and the factor that determines the win is strength
You’d be fairly hard pressed to see BJJ guys running grams of gear. I think @hankthetank89 is about right with that 2-400mg/wk dose range being implemented.
BJJ ruleset differs from MMA. With MMA you train strikes and the fight starts standing
In BJJ you can actually just pull guard if you aren’t proficient in your takedowns. BJJ ruleset favours the ground over throws and takedowns. BJJ is excellent for self defence if you can get the fight to the ground, but from a sport context this isn’t important
Imo I think a pure bjj guy who doesn’t train a whole lot of takedowns and throws might be in trouble if they end up facing off against a judoka or a wrestler.
Skill and technique is king in BJJ, but in a competition provided endurance and skill is equal it it’s not like we never see competitors muscle their way out of comprimising positions, or through submissions.
I’m not telling OP to run a gram of gear (I’m not telling OP to run anything) to help his BJJ as that would probably be more of a hinderance.
But MMA pre USADA days was rifle with PED use. Some of the guys in the HW divisions were absolutely yoked.
And as you’ve said "strength helped my takedown game’'. If you don’t decide to start by pulling guard, you are getting your opponent to the ground via a throw, takedown, trip, sweep etc. Or you could win by standing submission, but this is very rare.
I seriously doubt you’ll see high level BJJ guys running test, deca and dbol… but I wouldn’t be suprised if many were running 200-250mg test/wk or some test and primo etc.
Steroids are prevalent in sports like BJJ, though the way athletes implement them largely differs from the way a pure strength athlete might implement them.
This is what Gordon Ryan looks like today (considered to be the best bjj nogi grappler of all time, but cops a lot of flack for being a bit of a dick)
Yes
Due to the substantial difference in skill
The initial UFC fights pitted multiple styles of martial arts against one another, had no time limits etc. In a one on one confrontation martial arts like judo and BJJ are very effective because you have a means to pace the fight in a manner that isn’t intuitive. Someone who doesn’t train submission grappling isn’t going to know what to do when the fight is taken to the ground.
If you are an expert in getting that fight to the ground and you know what to do when you get there, the odds are exponentially stacked in your favour, even against bigger guys provided you can take a strike or two.
Against multiple opponents? Not a chance, but then again this is kind of the case regardless of the art you chose. BJJ however is extra ill equipped because it opens you up to a nice soccer kick to the back of the head.
When Helio Gracie fought against Masahiko Kimura (one of the best judokas in Japan at the time), Masahiko Kimura broke Helio Gracie’s arm in three places.
Helio had a way better ground game, but Masahiko was around 30lbs heavier (also shorter). Masahiko broke Gracie’s arm in three places because Helio wouldn’t tap.
Had Masahiko Kimura been a regular black belt judoka Helio would have destroyed him even with the weight difference.
Masahiko also threw Helio every which way before submitting him. Had it been concrete the fight would have been over very quickly.
When grappling skill and endurance are equal strength is largely the determining factor.
Ken Shamrock had ground game. Yes of course if you had identical twins but one was stronger he would have the advantage. But I said “skill and stamina” trump strength. So I guess you’re agreeing?
You don’t need AAS for stamina nor skill.
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I would say he was one of the first true MMA fighters. Wrestling background, kickboxing, and boxing skills. He was not a one trick pony. Agreed, he was a beast.
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Hi guys,
Sorry for late answer but somehow I reached my daily limit on replies.
Thank you all for the informations and details .
@hankthetank89 you are right , I will keep BJJ to a 4 times / week and do 3 Lifting sessions and if I might go to more BJJ sessions they will be technical sessions / drilling ( so very very light ones )
I will also review my diet and supplements
In terms of PED’s , what I understand is to keep testosterone on around 300-400 mg / week , please correct me if I am wrong and this is because I am not chasing huge mass gains etc !
But now I have another question : should I only use testosterone like : enanthate , cyp, susta, omna , etc ? or I should try to combine testo with something else ?
I will also look on some HGH , I did for 3 months in the past some HGH at around 4-5 ui/ day ( 5 days on , 2 days off )
Thank you all very much for taking time to answer to this.
As for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ( I am doing it for + 10 years ) it is an amazing sport . I enjoy it very much , it is also a mind game and also a very psyhical one !
The BJJ evolved a lot since UFC 1 when people didnt know what guard was and the shocking thing was that mentally it is hard to understand that a person sitting on his back can actually attack someone and defend himself, but that’s a different discussion.
Thank you again
Thank you for this summary , for sure I am gonna change my optics now ! I will change things a little , will add more strength sessions in the future !
You guys had helped me a lot !! Thank you
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Yes
We agree
Skill and stamina triumph strength. But when these are equal strength is the determining factor. If you are a professional athlete that needs any possible edge (I assume OP is like proper high level competitive BJJ athlete but misinformed as he’s running a gram), and your adverseries are similar re skill and technique steroids provide an edge because
- they allow you to recover from higher training volume (some of the top bjj guys will practice 3-4x per day AND lift weights on top of that)
- they make you stronger
The more training you can get in, the more time to polish off techniques. Training natty vs training on 200-250mg test/wk, for a sport like bjj that 200-250mgs will go a loooonnnng way.
Add in some hgh/peptides… I’d imagine the difference would be night and day re training volume, injury prevention etc.
The dose range that’s above TRT but below bodybuilding certified blast range.
And if the guy wants to keep weight off something like 100mg test 150mg primo or 100 mast also works @blshaw
In combat sports a little bit goes a long way. I know you’re probably thinking “primo needs to be run 500mgs or higher”… not for combat sports lol
Or 10mg anavar per day instead (high enough to reap benefits from slightly increased strength, marginally increased RBC count without debilitating calf pumps)
Its interesting you mentioned getting injured in MMA. Did you try to juggle MMA and heavy barbell lifting?
That’s a recipe for disaster, however the big guys (such as yourself) are generally less prone to injury unless you’re getting thrown (judo style) without knowing how to breakfall.
Strength training (not maxxing out), judicious implementation of compound exercises and unilateral work etc is known to be the go to for injury prevention for martial arts.
A lot of martial arts wind up hurting themselves because they actually forego strength training, develop muscular imbalances, do nothing to correct these imbalances, keep training… snap city…
I was juggling maximal barbell lifting (deadlifting 405-485 for reps 2x/wk + heavy squats + heavy benching, OHP, heavy back work) all twice per week on top of muay thai, a lot of western boxing and the occasional wrestling class. Id periodise. Muay thai (3-4x/wk) for 6 months followed by boxing (5-5-6x/wk) for six months. For a couple months I added wrestling 1-2x/wk + BJJ 1-2x/wk on top of this.
This was what led to me fucking up my shoulders and hips. I had a congenital hip abnormality on top of connective tissue issues. I was unaware of the hip issue, so fucked up both of them, its fixable thankfully as I found out early but now have some osteoarthritis in one of my hips alongside tears in both hips.
Also kept training through shoulder dislocations and wound up with major (open) shoulder surgery because I never took time off and kept training through pain. Was an absolute idiot, but easily the most fun i’ve ever had.
Not as if I didn’t have a background in martial arts. Was 1st kyu in karate by 14, and boxed a smidgen as a kid.
I’d forgotten how fun it was. When I recover I’m going to stick to kyokushin karate 2-3x/wk, judo 3x/wk (alternating, more priority on judo) and boxing once per week (some of these are 2 a days). Maybe I’ll pick up BJJ sometime down the line, judo interests me more as it seems more applicable to real life
Learning how to fall could be a lifesaver… I’ve fallen off scooters, dirtbikes, quadbikes, skiing etc. BJJ is also only really effective if you can get the fight to the ground. There are a lot of really good BJJ guys I know who only start matches from guard… good for sport, not so much for real life.
Yes grappling is better than striking, esp if you trained like helio gracie did with 50/50 standing/ground game… but bjj has changed a lot, it isn’t nearly as good for self defence as it used to be imo.
Too little emphasis on takedowns and throws
Judo is like 70% throws (used to have takedowns, and takedowns/leg grabs are still in kata), 30% ground work (pins, chokes and joint locks/submissions). A judo black belt (in Aus takes roughly 4-10 years + depending on whether you compete, how involved you are with the community) probably has the ground game of a BJJ blue and the stand up of a BJJ brown + (really not a lot of stand up emphasis in modern bjj schools).
One of the biggest BJJ schools in my area only spars starting on knees… or positional sparring. Takedowns you need to specifically go to their wrestling class, or join the pro team (competitive blue belts and above).
So you’ll know how to sweep someone and get away if you can survive being knocked down onto concrete in the first place… and you won’t be able to apply all that much standing because you don’t know how to get the fight to the ground… great…
Not to shit on BJJ, it’s one of the most effective martial arts. I had a blue belt BJJ girl who couldn’t have weighed more than 120lbs (I was around 175 at the time) from a fairly old school dojo that emphasised takedowns and throws absolutely annihilate me. She was too fast, may have very well been a judoka at some point in time… she threw me and had me in an armbar before I knew what had hit me.
Kyokushin is bare knuckle, full contact karate. Tournaments are harsh, knockdown rules mean fight is won if one opponent is knocked out and/or one opponent can’t continue due to pain. But kyokushin karateka lack head movement as bare knuckle punches and elbows are only allowed at the neck or below. Kicks to the head are permitted, and frequently result in knockout… hence the boxing once per week (and occasional private lesson).
Boxing helps with having better hands, and develops some degree of reflex… over say 5 years once per week is enough to develop adequate head movement (that i’ve already somewhat developed due to cumulative time spent striking) to defend against joe schmoe throwing sloppy haymakers.
I choose this over returning to regular boxing due to fears over CTE. Whatever sport I participate in I hope to eventually compete in. Training for any level of boxing competition is terrible for your brain… ditto with Muay Thai.
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Myea. No.
You are not 20 anymore. If you are not at the top right now, you also never will be. At 40, it doesnt really matter then anymore if you do 10 sessions or 2. The sheer volume of attending classes wont do much to change the fact that you are not going anywhere with BJJ.
If you love it - do it, but just understand that your priorities is the amount of classes attended.
Now if you want to gain size, id say - 3 gym sessions, 2 BJJ sessions. 2 FULL rest days every week. Every 8th week deload when you dont do gym and no BJJ at all. Just fast walking, foam rolling, massage, relax. 200mgs of test a week, 2ius of growth a day.
For training - 531. For diet - at least 5000kcals.
If you decide to skip any one of these, dont be surprised that stuff doesnt work. Upping the dose wont change the fact that you are not willing to put in the effort to find rest days in your schedule.
I understand that training 15 times a week seems like fun. Its the easiest part everyone would wanna do. Sadly, gains are made with food and in rest days.
You have to see rest days as GAINS days. No GAINS DAYs means NO GAINS. Simple as that. The less BJJ the better. The more GAINS DAYS the better.
Now you just need to understand if you want to gain some size, or you just want to attend lots of classes. Both are good. They just dont go hand in hand.
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I see this often; “I want to run a cycle but I don’t wanna get big”. And that begs the question, why run the cycle? I’d just do a good cruise of test only, throw in some Var or Primo depending on what you can get, and call it a day. IDK, I know we all have our own goals here, but if health and longevity is a factor, don’t take more than you need
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Because it is fun… while you can still do it that is
So… much… fun…
Deadlifting 1RM is also fun. But there is a difference between wanting to increase DL or just wanting to max it every day. In order to increase max DL sometimes you will abstain from maxing it for months.
Yes however provided one is fit enough, training martial arts two or even three times per day is actually do-able and technique, agility and overall athletic prowess will continually increase provided you’ve slowly worked your way up to being able to tolerate these training volumes.
Martial arts are tiring, but not nearly as taxing on the CNS relative to heavy deadlifts without straps.
Try max out on deadlifts every day and you’ll wind up injured and strength will stall out and/or even decrease.
The caveat being a newb lifter will gain strength maxing out daily even if it’s far from optimal because almost any training stimuli invoked from within an untrained individual will net results. However a newb lifter who probably doesn’t have a grasp on decent form/diet is also likely to get injured doing daily 1rm’s
However if you are a very skilled athlete who has worked up to large training volumes the bulgarian method involves maxing out every day, and appears to work.
However we also need to point out the bulgarian method was primarily used on athletes who juice/juiced.
I loved lifting weights, and i’ve just been cleared to start again for my upper body… but I vastly prefer martial arts.
Me falling back into combat sports coupled with growing disinterest in the sports of bodybuilding and powerlifting due to the directions both sports have gone down led to my loss of overall interest in bodybuilding and powerlifting.
I’l always lift weights as a preventative measure to avoid excess injury.
Just keep in mind that no one worth at least two shits is not training every day for bigger part of the year. It always amazes me how people who dont even compete or compete locally train twice as much as pros and refuse to take a rest day.