Virtually all competitive sports involve drug testing in many of their events. In most cases, although some may argue this point, it is a fact that the vast majority of the competitors have been using, or are still using at the point of the competition, performance enhancing drugs. It is simply human nature in a highly competitive athlete to find an 'edge' over his or her competition, and this often comes in pharmaceutical form, coupled with a plan of action to 'beat the test'.
By Mick Hart
Virtually all competitive sports involve drug testing in many of their events. In most cases, although some may argue this point, it is a fact that the vast majority of the competitors have been using, or are still using at the point of the competition, performance enhancing drugs. It is simply human nature in a highly competitive athlete to find an ‘edge’ over his or her competition, and this often comes in pharmaceutical form, coupled with a plan of action to ‘beat the test’.
Even with power lifting and body-building competitions it is common place for drug testing to be carried out so that everyone is competing at the same level, apart from the individual’s personal talent in that sport. But the truth of the matter is that the winner tends to be the guy who juices and beats the test. It may not seem to be fair but it’s just the way things are in today’s competitive sporting world.
Yes, there are many sporting names out there that find this practise an unfair advantage, but at the end of the day it’s down to the individual, who knows what the consequences are if he gets found to be positive during a competition. Another interesting part of drug testing is how people avoid the test, but for the moment we are going to concentrate on methods that can be employed to beat the test.
Types of Testing Procedure: During athletics meetings the more common body fluid that is tested for the presence of drugs is normally urine. We will be concentrating on dealing with the different procedures that are carried out to test this body fluid, although such procedures carried out to assess blood for the presence of illegal substances are practically the same.
Different laboratory testing processes are employed in the testing for performance enhancers so we are going to focus on just how they work in order to be able to beat them. Step 1 will be well prior to your event, that you find out which type of sample analysis is to be employed so that an effective planning to beat the test can begin as soon as possible.
Gas Chromatography(GC): This methodology uses a separation technique to separate a urine sample into its basic component chemical parts. The substances are passed through chromatographic columns by a gas. chromatography is how we separate mixtures of compounds from each other, and this will lead to identification in the most cases. The chemical compounds found present in the urine sample can be identified by their ‘retention time’ on the chromatographic column - this retention time is unique for each individual drug, allowing them to be identified.
Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry(GC/MS): This technique uses a combination of gas chromatography, followed by mass spectrometry on the chemicals separated out of the urine on the chromatographic column. The mass spectrometry allows exact identification of the drugs present in the urine by actually giving an exact ‘molecular fingerprint’ of the chemicals present. That is to say the chemical structure of the drugs present (the atoms present in the drug, and in the order they are bonded together) is given by this method. This is a very expensive test to use, and it could be stated that only sporting organisations with plenty of cash to hand would use it. The test’s cost is about one hundred pounds or so per sample (about $200 US).
Although the above two tests are very accurate, there is always room for human error. For example, if the machines were not cleaned perfectly from the last sample, and that last sample was contaminated with illicit drugs, then the next sample through (maybe yours!!) could pick up some of the contaminant, and test positive. Therefore, if you test positive, no matter what, then protest. Especially if you know you were ‘clean’ (or should have been clean by the time of the test)
High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC): This technique is of particular interest because it is often used on test samples suspected of containing anabolic steroids. It’s basically similar to GC, except that a liquid is used as a carrier for the sample through a chromatographic column, rather than a gas. HPLC is both sensitive and simpler to do than GC. It is often used to check results from other, less sensitive tests.
Find out how to build some serious lean muscle... using Safe Methods of Steroid Use with rebel bodybuilder and steroid coach Mick Hart's highly acclaimed Layman's Guide To Steroids
By Mick Hart
Virtually all competitive sports involve drug testing in many of their events. In most cases, although some may argue this point, it is a fact that the vast majority of the competitors have been using, or are still using at the point of the competition, performance enhancing drugs. It is simply human nature in a highly competitive athlete to find an ‘edge’ over his or her competition, and this often comes in pharmaceutical form, coupled with a plan of action to ‘beat the test’.
Even with power lifting and body-building competitions it is common place for drug testing to be carried out so that everyone is competing at the same level, apart from the individual’s personal talent in that sport. But the truth of the matter is that the winner tends to be the guy who juices and beats the test. It may not seem to be fair but it’s just the way things are in today’s competitive sporting world.
Yes, there are many sporting names out there that find this practise an unfair advantage, but at the end of the day it’s down to the individual, who knows what the consequences are if he gets found to be positive during a competition. Another interesting part of drug testing is how people avoid the test, but for the moment we are going to concentrate on methods that can be employed to beat the test.
Types of Testing Procedure: During athletics meetings the more common body fluid that is tested for the presence of drugs is normally urine. We will be concentrating on dealing with the different procedures that are carried out to test this body fluid, although such procedures carried out to assess blood for the presence of illegal substances are practically the same.
Different laboratory testing processes are employed in the testing for performance enhancers so we are going to focus on just how they work in order to be able to beat them. Step 1 will be well prior to your event, that you find out which type of sample analysis is to be employed so that an effective planning to beat the test can begin as soon as possible.
Gas Chromatography(GC): This methodology uses a separation technique to separate a urine sample into its basic component chemical parts. The substances are passed through chromatographic columns by a gas. chromatography is how we separate mixtures of compounds from each other, and this will lead to identification in the most cases. The chemical compounds found present in the urine sample can be identified by their ‘retention time’ on the chromatographic column - this retention time is unique for each individual drug, allowing them to be identified.
Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry(GC/MS): This technique uses a combination of gas chromatography, followed by mass spectrometry on the chemicals separated out of the urine on the chromatographic column. The mass spectrometry allows exact identification of the drugs present in the urine by actually giving an exact ‘molecular fingerprint’ of the chemicals present. That is to say the chemical structure of the drugs present (the atoms present in the drug, and in the order they are bonded together) is given by this method. This is a very expensive test to use, and it could be stated that only sporting organisations with plenty of cash to hand would use it. The test’s cost is about one hundred pounds or so per sample (about $200 US).
Although the above two tests are very accurate, there is always room for human error. For example, if the machines were not cleaned perfectly from the last sample, and that last sample was contaminated with illicit drugs, then the next sample through (maybe yours!!) could pick up some of the contaminant, and test positive. Therefore, if you test positive, no matter what, then protest. Especially if you know you were ‘clean’ (or should have been clean by the time of the test)
High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC): This technique is of particular interest because it is often used on test samples suspected of containing anabolic steroids. It’s basically similar to GC, except that a liquid is used as a carrier for the sample through a chromatographic column, rather than a gas. HPLC is both sensitive and simpler to do than GC. It is often used to check results from other, less sensitive tests.
Find out how to build some serious lean muscle... using Safe Methods of Steroid Use with rebel bodybuilder and steroid coach Mick Hart's highly acclaimed Layman's Guide To Steroids
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