Nick Rodriguez’ blood test result ‘interesting’ yet he’s unlikely to have used PEDs recently

As the popularity of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grows, so does the concern about PED usage among its athletes. The sport’s intense physical demands make it challenging for some athletes to compete at the highest level without a little extra help, leading to speculation that PEDs use is rampant in BJJ.

One athlete who has faced increased scrutiny regarding PEDs use is Nick Rodriguez. Rodriguez has repeatedly dismissed the victories of his rival Gordon Ryan, attributing them to PEDs use.

Ryan’s physique has undergone significant changes over the past five years, leading many to speculate about his PED use.

Rodriguez isn’t alone in questioning the authenticity of Ryan’s success. Ryan has also faced scrutiny from other athletes, such as Lachlan Giles, who have experienced similar physical transformations.

To put an end to the speculation, Rodriguez agreed to submit to a blood test under the supervision of Derek from the “More Plates More Dates” (MPMD) subreddit. Rodriguez submitted a sample just 16 hours after speaking to Derek, which drew praise from fans and Derek alike.

And now the results are in. Rodriguez underwent a more extensive blood panel than what WADA would require. Here are some of the most interesting findings, first as bullet points and then the actual quotes

🔴 Rodriguez has hypothyroidism symptoms

🔴 Fasting glucose level of 109 is a red flag for pre-diabetes

🔴 High total cholesterol and low HDL levels indicates he has a poor diet

🔴 Normal testosterone level but high free testosterone ratio may suggest use of anabolic use – Rodriguez is at a 2% which is the bottom of an optimal range indicating that he’s likely not taking testosterone

🔴 Has the blood work of a person who will be prone to cardiovascular issues as he ages

“Nicholas Rodriguez age 26. he did this test fasting which is notable for some of the results we get into later. First off we have thyroid stimulating hormones so this is the hormone that basically is the regulating feedback loop stimulating hormone that determines how much thyroid output you’re going to have.”

“So again when you have a lot of your hormone systems in the Body Works through feedback systems so when you have an adequate amount of free circulating T4 and then subsequent to that T3 you are going to have a certain feedback system in place whereby your body is not going to need to stimulate as much hormone output TSH because you have an adequate amount of thyroid hormones circulating your body to facilitate physiologic functions. ”

“So when we see a TSH that’s high it is kind of a red flag in that somebody may have hypothyroidism so that is where you would then look to symptoms of hypothyroidism like body temperature during waking and average midday you would look at I don’t know is your hair falling out randomly you have telogen effluvium for seemingly no reason you have lethargy like there are a bunch of different symptoms associated with hypothyroidism.”

*Hypothyroidism, also called underactive thyroid, is when the thyroid gland doesn’t make enough thyroid hormones to meet your body’s needs.

” But this is kind of a interesting thing to note because it’s clearly at a range and this is even among like the relatively broad reference interval that lab has.”

“I would say a more ideal TSH would be closer like one to two or less which would indicate that basically he is working a lot harder to produce the thyroid hormones that he has then perhaps he should otherwise be which could be a red flag for potential higher propensity to things like I think goiter and thyroid cancer would be on my radar.”

“Ultimately, this TSH is so high and things are down later in the blood work we’ll get into I feel like. To me, this is more of like a health marker that is a red flag than anything more than a PED related proxy.”

“Getting further into it, we have a glucose level fasted which is high 109. So this is actually kind of concerning so if he’d in fact is fasting and it’s not just marked down on that like that like he was instructed to be fasted. ”

“And he went in right in the morning this is kind of a concerning number and it makes me kind of Wonder okay this is like pre-diabetic level glucose territory for a fasting number you know definitely a red flag. Does it have anything to do with anabolics though? No, it would be more so growth hormone deployment could potentially elevate your glucose levels”

Later he added he’s not ruling out growth hormone however it did not seem likely considering scientific study and Rodriguez’ body composition.

“Like this is at a baseline level, like reasonably indicative of at least what was going on for the several months prior. Which you can then extrapolate out certain potential conclusions. You can’t conclude anything for lifelong, but it is still insightful nonetheless.”

“So we have a high total cholesterol really f**king high 263. That’s concurrently with what is a LDLC of 190? So this guy is in familial hyper cholesterol, lemia territory. So it kind of begs the question at this point. I’m wondering, okay, what is your diet? To have yielded a 109 fasting glucose, a 263 total cholesterol. ”

“And again, notably, 53 HDL is not going to be typical among guys who are blasting gear. You are going to be hard pressed to find a guy who uses a s*it ton of anabolic, who is above 40. A guy on TRT, you know, maybe you’re 50, 60 at best, typically it’s not exactly it’s actually very atypical to get that like even myself and a  very conservative dosage of TRT. I am hard pressed to get myself over 50.”

“So here we have an 843 nanogram per desolate or total test level which is the number we all wanted to see. That’s pretty good. Now top end of normal. The question is is he maintaining that exogenously with little f**king needle in his ass, bro. That’s what we want to know. So we have a testosterone free of 17.37 nanograms per desolate or with a 2% 2.06% free test ratio between the two. ”

“So again, if we have a guy who’s on gear, typically we’re going to see a downward pressure on SHBG at the liver. This is something that is going to be pretty widespread across androgen users and it’s kind of one of the most telltale signs aside from Gonadotropins is look at their SHBG and it’s typically going to be like sub 20 for a guy who’s blasting.”

“I have seen single digit SHBG’s commonplace across guys who are using gear, even guys who are like pushing their TRT. This is something that in general you’re going to have a disproportionately high free test. If you were somebody who’s on gear or his otherwise been subject to gear and his otherwise like coming off of it, like this is something that is often going to be disproportionate and way higher than 2 to 3%. ”

“So a guy who is at 2.06, like this is the bottom of an optimal range in my opinion for ratio wise. So this indicates what we’ll see later. I haven’t even scrolled down by already knowing his SHBG is natural looking just based on this ratio”

You can watch the full 45 minute breakdown below.