Sports Talk: Off the Field with Dr. Jay Hoffman

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AS HE APPROACHED THE END OF HIS college career at St. John's and started trying to make it as a professional athlete, Jay Hoffman needed an extra push. He consulted his doctor and began to use steroids under the doctor's care. That was 25 years ago. "It was unbelievable," he says. So he understands why players would want to look elsewhere for a little extra help during a long season. When his pro football career was over, he got his masters and doctorate in exercise science and dedicated himself to studying training paradigms and sports supplementation. A member of the board of directors for the Nationals Strength Conditioning Association (NSCA), Hoffman consults with MLB teams about performance-enhancing drugs. Express caught up with him at the start of baseball season to talk about performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, the Mitchell Report and his own drug use.

» EXPRESS: So what kinds of questions do you get from Major League Baseball?
» HOFFMAN: Questions about certain supplements or speaking to certain players who may have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs; educating their minor league athletes regarding what they need to be careful of and how to guide them on training, proper nutrition and, when appropriate, using legal and efficacious sports supplements. So it really is educating their athletes on how to make the right decisions and making better choices regarding their sports supplements.

» EXPRESS: And not just regarding illegal drugs but also with things that are legal but may not be good for them?
» HOFFMAN: Yes. For example, if you go into a locker room, you're going to see an unbelievable number of items in the locker rooms of these players.

» EXPRESS: Like what?
» HOFFMAN: A lot of things. And nothing that's illegal. The sports nutrition industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and there are lots of companies who are trying to capture that dollar. And there's a lot of things that are being said to these players that may or may not be. They may run the risk of contamination or it may not work — it may not do the things that they say it does. For those teams that bring me in, I'm a resource to the strength coach, the athletic trainers and the medical staff regarding what they should and should not take.

Teams are only allowed to provide products that are certified by NSF [International]. But many players will use products that are not certified by the NSF, and there are plenty of good companies out there who don't want to pay the money to NSF but they still go through other good manufacturing processes that still legitimize their product. But because they're not paying to NSF, players still want to use that product, so I provide assistance as to whether it's a good company, the risk for having a contaminated substance or if the stuff itself works.

» EXPRESS: So players sometime use their own stuff not certified by NSF?
» HOFFMAN: Yes. And the problem we see, and this is how the problem with anabolic steroids occurred in the first place, when you limit the information that's going out there to the players, they're going to search for somebody to provide the answers that they want. If you limit the experts from being within the confines of the ballpark, then you lose control of what's going on. You have to maintain your credibility with the athlete by pointing out products that are good and products that aren't good. If you can maintain that credibility, you have a better chance of combating the illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

» EXPRESS: Do you think MLB should get rid of the NSF certification?
» HOFFMAN: No, not get rid of it. I think they should open it up to other companies that are out there. NSF is not the only one. NSF doesn't guarantee the product works. They guarantee the product does not have a banned substance. There are other companies that are out there as well.

It's a just say-no philosophy, and that doesn't work very well. Athletes are going to use sports supplements in order to maximize performance. It's been around since the ancient Olympic games. To think you can get them to not use it is not good — it's not reality. What you need to do is educate the athletes of what products they can take. Because they're going to look for something to enhance their recovery, to enhance power and strength, to get themselves ready for a game. It's a long season — a 162-game season — with very little rest. There are no longer double headers and built in off days. They have 16 off days in a six-month period. Think about yourself if that's all you had for six months — if you could perform at the same level every day.

» EXPRESS: Do you think things will change post-Mitchell Report?
» HOFFMAN: For years, there was no control and it was to the far right of what was permissible. What's happened now is they've had a knee-jerk response and made everything to the far left — [where] nothing's good. I think eventually with education, you're going to get a more balanced approach as to how to educate the athlete and what they can and cannot do. It's never going to get back to the point — nor should it — where you use illegal performance-enhancing drugs. But we need to do a better job on educating the athlete on things they can and cannot use.

» EXPRESS: How does that relate to the NSCA certification for trainers?
» HOFFMAN: What they realized years ago — not years ago, very recently — was that many of the strength and conditioning coaches in MLB generally acted as the assistant athletic trainer. Their primary focus was not the strength and conditioning focus, so many of the players were going outside the clubhouse to get the training they needed, and, as a result, the education was brought on by those trainers, not the personnel in the clubhouse, and there were a lot of mistakes that were made. They were training with body builders that were using things that were just illegal. What they realized, and this is through several of the strength coaches who were in the league at the time, they said, for us to combat this and what's important is that the strength and conditioning coaches are on the front line of defense with anabolic steroids use. They're the ones who see the athletes on a daily basis, that can educate the athletes, that can see changes that would be considered to be normal physiological changes or abnormal physiological changes. So by having strength and condition coaches sole responsibility be the strength and conditioning program, they have a better handle on what's going on and be able to educate the athlete and not allow the athletes to go elsewhere to get that information.

» EXPRESS: So is that going to get rid of the guys like Brian McNamee?
» HOFFMAN: It was designed to do that.

» EXPRESS: But will it?
» HOFFMAN: If they adhere to the policy they created. As of now, they have not done a good job. If teams abide by that letter that was written in 2005 — there was a three-year window so everyone could become certified and a registered strength and conditioning coach through the NSCA. If teams adhere to that, I think you'd have a better chance of combating its use.

» EXPRESS: It's still possible that players will continue to use trainers outside MLB?
» HOFFMAN: I believe it's happening right now.

» EXPRESS: The other thing that was interesting was that you took steroids when you were a football player. Can you tell me a little bit about when and why you did that?
» HOFFMAN: It was back in my last year of college back in 1982 and during the '83 and '84 seasons.

» EXPRESS: And why did you do it?
» HOFFMAN: My whole goal was to be a professional athlete and I wanted to increase my chances.

» EXPRESS: And did you feel like it worked?
» HOFFMAN: It was unbelievable.

» EXPRESS: So you can understand why people would want to do it?
» HOFFMAN: That's why teams want me in their clubhouse. I've been there. I faced the same decisions these athletes have. I've used everything they used or want to use. And once my career ended, I spent my professional career as a scientist, examining that.

» EXPRESS: Do you regret using any of it?
» HOFFMAN: Not at all.

» EXPRESS: Why not?
» HOFFMAN: Because, one, it wasn't illegal. I did it with a physician. I had constant blood and liver function tests. I did it with someone who cared about me as a patient, making sure it was done the right way. I never did anything black market. I did it in specific time frames, that would maximize my ability as an athlete used it for a specific purpose: to be a better football player. And people have to understand there is a difference between a strength power athlete that uses it to get ready for a season versus a body builder that uses it on a consistent basis. Most individuals who use it, use it in a cyclic fashion and stacking several different drugs for certain period of time, and then come off it. There are side effects that are associated with that and the side effects are greater with the amount of anabolic steroid being used. But it's transient. And unless there's an underlying disease — and that's why it's important to go with a physician — unless there's an underlying disease, the risks associated with it are not as great as people make it out to be. But for those individuals who never come off a cycle, the risks are very real. Many of the athletes who have died, are generally those body builders or wrestlers who never come off it.

» EXPRESS: How did you get from football into your role as an adviser to baseball?
» HOFFMAN: When my football career ended, I got my masters and doctorate in exercise science with a specialty in resistance training and endocrinology. My research started focusing more on sports supplementation, training paradigms and endocrine function. And over the past few years, baseball got in touch with me and MLB strength coaches got in touch with me through the NSCA and we've developed a relationship and over time, it has become a greater role.

Photos courtesy of NSCA