No serious fighter does weed before training dude!
I’ve trained with professional fighters and they totally abstain from it (except one dude but he never did the herb before training, only after and although he’s a bloody good fighter (ex european thai champ), he’s just an odd case
I havn’t seen one single piece of hard evidence for this “weed lowers T levels” thing. (Yes, it’s mentioned passingly in T-mag a few times, no this isn’t hard evidence).
Links? Studies? Anything?
Anecdotal evidence doesn’t count. I can almost guarantee I have more of that than anyone here. 
Dave there are very few credible studies proving that weed does in fact reduce testosterone levels. I have only personal experiance that validates that claim. I’ll tell you why I think it can lower t-levels in some people. Pot ellicits sometimes very unique responses in a great varity of individuals, and it also differs in the health of the individual. Stress response hormones are often released while under the influence of THC and other cannibinals and it is my belief that it is this response, in only some people, that causes a chronic lowering of t-levels. In my case it wasn’t extremely low, but low enough to be percieved by me when I quit. Also, chronic use is going to limit VO2 max for obvious reasons, this can lead to other situations including anemia and possibly lowered levels of all beneficial hormones. Natural stressors that are managed well can actually help boost t-levels, but pot messess with serontonin. It has been proven that there are correlations between serotonin levels and lowered t-levels. Now, I still champion pot as I believe it has very many great uses for those that need it, but I’m willing to admit that it isn’t perfect, really not even close.
Excellent post RS… I did find a study that showed a small decline of (-73.8 ng/dl) in HIV patients. Statistically insignificant. I believe it messes with sex drive more than T levels due to paranoia similar to what you said. BTW, I didn’t smoke before grappling today… wooohooo!
“I just don’t trust anyone else’s opinions on this subject.”
Then why ask the question?
hmm this is wierd…
I actually have heard of others smoking before grappling. I just don’t understand.
AvoidsRoids, I think that he meant he didn’t trust anyone’s advice besides the forum’s.
Aha. Smart man!
This has got to be the dumbest, most counter productive practice, I have ever heard of.
For mental accuity and increased focus and concentration, I recommend a good blotter acid followed by a chaser of psilocybe mushrooms blended into a double Long Island Ice Tea.
Then, after you’ve climbed down from your neighbor’s roof and put all your clothes back on, load up the bong (w/extra large bowl) with a minimum of 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight of Afghani, Alpha-bud, or Ultimate Thai.
By this time, you should feel those neurons in your brain firing off like the presidential Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza.
Now, you’re more than ready to grapple.
In fact, instead of grappling, you may want to crank out a few highly complex mathematical equations, easily duplicating Einstein’s work in his “Theory of Relativity”.
Then go grapple with your girlfriend.
RS: That’s a feasible explanation (although you assume that smoking pot has a significant effect on stress hormone release, which I also havn’t seen any credible evidence of); but someone could probably come up with an explanation of how weed increases T levels that sounds just as credible. You said you can ‘tell’… well, frankly you can’t. You can’t “feel” your testosterone levels, that’s why I said anecdotal evidence is useless.
Studies, studies, studies.
And besides, EXERCISE supresses T levels fer chrissake. Chronically, no less. (Just to put things in perspective). I think too many people think they’re raging factories of testosterone because they squat and deadlift (or whatever), when actually quite the opposite is true (which shows that you can’t just “feel” your T levels).
My point is I don’t think minute fluctuations in natural T levels are relevant in the slightest; but still noone’s convinced me weed supresses it anyway.
Smoking weed is no big deal and I know alot of people doctors, cops, teachers, atheletes,ect. who do it. So do I, and while it’s off the topic drinking alcohol is a way bigger problem IMO. As for getting blazed before grappling? I think I’d rather sipp some PD personally but maybe you could do like Mark Kur (sp?) and get all wacked out on crank then numb yourself off nubain and go at it. Anyone who says most of those guys don’t take drugs (pain killers, gear, ect) are morons. Fuck… I doubt they even consider weed to be a drug.
You can perform some simple, yet telling experiments that yield interesting results.
Day 1
smoke weed.
superset these two tasks:
measure reaction time. (there are ways to do this quantatively. Hold your hand out so that you’re just about to grasp a yardstick. Then your partner drops it without warning. Measure the distance it fell. Repeat four times and record the best measurement. It is also very important to record your perception of your performance and how well you “learned”.
then, test max deadlift. record results, including perception of relative performance vs. how you would do sober.
Day 2
don’t smoke weed.
repeat superset.
compare results.
Post results here along with hypothesis explaing performace differences and perception of performance differences. The results might be surprising.
Great rationale, Orpheus, but do you really think he’ll “post results with a hypothesis”?
Me thinks not.
Orpheus: I assume that was directed at me.
And, as for you experiment… well, yeah. Performance is going to suffer. Fuck, once you get nice and stoned you’re probably never going to make it to the gym to do heavy shit anyway.
I’m certainly not claiming smoking up is going to improve weightlifting performance, and I don’t think anyone else would either. However that has absolutely nothing to do with testosterone levels.
Although as an interesting sidenote, if you’re actually into experimenting like this (I have), try getting high and doing endurance cardio (ie long distance running). Once you get the determination to start the results may surprise you…
It just dawned upon re-reading this thread that Orpheus might actually have done this himself and found /positive/ results, and is thus taking a pro-weed stance and isn’t arguing with me at all.
In which case, sorry dude. 
Although, now you’ve piqued my interest as to what actually happens to reaction time…
here’s the solution you’re looking for: in the morning chase a bottle of Mag-10 with a bucket of Powerdrive with a dime bag of marijuana, spark some crystal meth, and inject some heroin for good measure.
Wow I am suprised this thread came back to the forefront. I just want to restate that only some people have certain reactions to THC and the other cannibinals found in pot. Reactions vary and I suppose an arguement could be made that pot increases T levels in some people. What most people don’t realize is that the “sedated munchies” syndrome is only one reaction to this drug and it oftens depends on the balance of THC to cannibinoids in a particular strain. Pot can even induce a permanent anxiety disorder in some people who are prone to this reaction. I never believed in the “allergy to pot” until I witnessed it when one guy smoked it, laughed his ass off for about 3 minutes, then turned blue puked and passed out. This we later found out was due to an abnormal decrease in blood pressure. Everyone should take this into consideration before they start using it for grappling or other athletic endeavors. It doesn’t always work the same even in the same individual. Now, true experiance does help the user limit his variation of reactions but it still can effect them differently. It is not the pancea but it does have its uses.
Oh and yes you absolutely can recognize a change in hormonal levels if you are familar enough with your body. It can only be proven with tests but it is possible.
Good advice from RS all around (the first post). Any drug is a drug and should be treated as such, no matter how “harmless” it may be.
Although, you can’t bloody tell T levels dammit. There are a lot of times we feel alot more of the “symptoms” of high-T (like say, after a heavy bad-assed workout), when quite the opposite is true. We simply don’t know enough to correlate feelings with hormone levels. “Feel good, want beat people up and have sex” does not mean high T levels. Look at drunk people!