On Tuesday October 5th, the Nevada State Athletic Commission had a meeting and decided to make small changes to their oft-criticized drug testing policies. The Commission added hemoglobin testing procedures as well as deciding to test fighters who claim usage of testosterone for HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) for steroids in order to make sure that they aren't claiming the HRT to cover up PED usage.
Your first thought might be "Yay, hemoglobin, that's in blood right? That means blood testing?" And you would be correct. Hemoglobin testing is testing of the blood, but it's not the testing that you normally associate with say the Olympics. The test looks for the amount of hemoglobin in your blood and could be an indicator of PED usage. What the Commission plans on doing is when fighters come in to renew their license or fight and get their blood drawn to be tested for HIV, hepatitis, etc, they will also perform this test. Sounds good right?
There are several problems with this testing and they way they are choosing to implement it. The first of which is that while the test is a great indicator for blood doping, it isn't an accurate indicator of PEDs. It's not testing for metabolites or the other methods of a normal blood drug test. It simply measures the amount of hemoglobin contained in the blood. Elevated hemoglobin levels can be an indicator of PED usage, but the test is basically used as supplemental evidence to a urine test. The second problem with the testing is that they did NOT instate random hemoglobin testing.
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Basically the NSAC has decided to play a semantics game. They can state they are doing "blood testing" in regards to PEDs, but it's not the stringent WADA-recommended style testing and it's not random. In my opinion, it's wasted money. Either you do it right or you don't do it at all.
That blood test is to test for a hematocrit above 50% which is a clear indicator of EPO use or blood transfusions. Im not a fighter but an elevated hematocrit, in my opinion, would be the single biggest boost to performance one could have.
Ask any pro bike racer or other endurance athlete and they'll tell ya the same thing.
Oh, and that blood test is easy as hell to beat. Google plasma expanders.
bismanfightclub - iirc the only test for HGH is a blood test, so maybe they are headed in the right direction.
No no, if you click the link, you can listen to the audio of Eddie Goldman's podcast and he has the audio of the hearing. They believe that urine testing can catch PEDs. This hemoglobin test is for blood doping. ANd those tests can easily be cheated on.
ChipW - That blood test is to test for a hematocrit above 50% which is a clear indicator of EPO use or blood transfusions. Im not a fighter but an elevated hematocrit, in my opinion, would be the single biggest boost to performance one could have.
Ask any pro bike racer or other endurance athlete and they'll tell ya the same thing.
Oh, and that blood test is easy as hell to beat. Google plasma expanders.
Exactly. That was my point in the full article.
And yeah I know all about plasma expanders. Also, they have no way of establishing a baseline because the tests aren't random. At least with random testing, you can catch someone off guard.
ChipW - That blood test is to test for a hematocrit above 50% which is a clear indicator of EPO use or blood transfusions. Im not a fighter but an elevated hematocrit, in my opinion, would be the single biggest boost to performance one could have.
Ask any pro bike racer or other endurance athlete and they'll tell ya the same thing.
Oh, and that blood test is easy as hell to beat. Google plasma expanders.
EPO works great for training but you don't want to use it near a fight if you are cutting weight. If you get real dehydrated when you have a very high hematocrit it's goodnight Irene. You'll miss the weigh in and go straight to the morgue.
bismanfightclub - iirc the only test for HGH is a blood test, so maybe they are headed in the right direction.
No no, if you click the link, you can listen to the audio of Eddie Goldman's podcast and he has the audio of the hearing. They believe that urine testing can catch PEDs. This hemoglobin test is for blood doping. ANd those tests can easily be cheated on.
ChipW - That blood test is to test for a hematocrit above 50% which is a clear indicator of EPO use or blood transfusions. Im not a fighter but an elevated hematocrit, in my opinion, would be the single biggest boost to performance one could have.
Ask any pro bike racer or other endurance athlete and they'll tell ya the same thing.
Oh, and that blood test is easy as hell to beat. Google plasma expanders.
Exactly. That was my point in the full article.
And yeah I know all about plasma expanders. Also, they have no way of establishing a baseline because the tests aren't random. At least with random testing, you can catch someone off guard.
Right, but they are still starting to take blood samples, maybe they aren't running HGH tests for now, but it will make it a lot easier to start if they are already getting the blood. I didn't say that they are finally doing everything they can do, just that they appear to be taking steps in the right direction.
bismanfightclub - iirc the only test for HGH is a blood test, so maybe they are headed in the right direction.
No no, if you click the link, you can listen to the audio of Eddie Goldman's podcast and he has the audio of the hearing. They believe that urine testing can catch PEDs. This hemoglobin test is for blood doping. ANd those tests can easily be cheated on.
ChipW - That blood test is to test for a hematocrit above 50% which is a clear indicator of EPO use or blood transfusions. Im not a fighter but an elevated hematocrit, in my opinion, would be the single biggest boost to performance one could have.
Ask any pro bike racer or other endurance athlete and they'll tell ya the same thing.
Oh, and that blood test is easy as hell to beat. Google plasma expanders.
Exactly. That was my point in the full article.
And yeah I know all about plasma expanders. Also, they have no way of establishing a baseline because the tests aren't random. At least with random testing, you can catch someone off guard.
Right, but they are still starting to take blood samples, maybe they aren't running HGH tests for now, but it will make it a lot easier to start if they are already getting the blood. I didn't say that they are finally doing everything they can do, just that they appear to be taking steps in the right direction.
No no, they're not taking blood samples. They are using the blood they always took when you got your physical.