If you’ve ever scrolled through Matt Morsia’s Instagram comments, you’ll know one thing he’s constantly asked is whether he uses, or has ever used, performance-enhancing drugs.
Well, two months ago Matt decided to face the rumours head on with comprehensive WADA (world anti-doping agency) testing.
Matt filmed the entire testing experience (yes, even having a wee into the test cup) and talked through just how watertight these tests were, taking months of prep to even set up.
“I wanted to do it as stringently as you can possibly do. So firstly, I wanted to get a WADA lab involved because that is the top tier of drug testing. It doesn’t get more stringent than that.”But that video just documented getting the tests done. Last week Matt finally got the results back and ran through them with influencer known for his in-depth analysis of workout fads and performance enhancers with Derek from More Plates More Dates.
Matt was eager to dive into the analysis and was struggling to contain his excitement.
“I’m unbelievably excited to change people’s perceptions and also just get loads of apologies in the process.”What’s more, Matt will continue to be tested at random for the foreseeable future and wants to at least maintain his physique if not improve on his PBs throughout the process.
Here’s where he’s at with the process, what the results of the first test were and where he’s going from here.
“The test goes way above the call of duty for an Olympic-level athlete”
At the end of Matt’s previous video on testing, he had just given two blood samples and a urine sample. The urine and one of the blood samples went to a WADA lab for testing, while the other blood sample was sent to a lab in Spain. This second lab was able to test even more thoroughly for any attempts to mask doping.
This type of testing is near-impossible to find in the UK. He got a huge endorsement from advocate
“Nobody in the industry, or even in professional sports, has undergone this level of scrutiny. Matt is being tested with greater scrutiny than an Olympic athlete right now."The process can get pretty technical. Here’s how Derek explained it all …
“Random urine collection with concurrent blood draws that not only test for the entire WADA-banned substance panel, but also an HGH isoform differential immunoassay, as well as a battery of blood biomarkers to assess negative feedback, suppression, liver toxicity, binding protein and lipid aberrations, bioidentical hormone and designer drug administration, and more.”On top of the physical testing, Matt also took a lie detector test, which he passed with flying colours.
“This process has been vetted and verified via the WNBF”
Not only was this process verified by Derek, it was also endorsed by the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation (WNBF).
“Logistically, this process has been vetted and verified via the oversight from the WNBF. They oversee and confirm the sample collection process has no tampering, the samples that make it to the lab are Matt's, the tests are carried out to my specifications.”Matt even went so far as to become a member of WNBF, so he could gain access to this level of testing.
“I’m now a member of the WMBF because I had to join that federation to actually gain access to that testing.”And he was incredibly sceptical of anyone claiming that getting these tests done in the UK is easy…
“I challenge anyone to try and get their testing done in a WADA lab in the UK. Good luck doing that and let me know how long that takes. They literally don’t do private testing.”
“It’s f***ing bulletproof”
Derek did an incredibly in-depth analysis of each test, explaining what each level in the test means for Matt, and all showed as normal, proving he has not been using performance enhancers.
After this serious step-by-step analysis Derek ended by saying: “I don’t know what more I can say about it. It’s f***ing bulletproof”.
Matt’s motivation for putting himself through this rigorous testing isn’t just about shutting up the trolls in his comments section, it’s also about proving to the younger generation that you don’t need performance enhancers.
“There are literally teenagers who have been led to believe they have to take drugs to be in good shape which is obviously a pretty disturbing scenario.“So this will go somewhere to showing people that ‘hang on a minute, I haven't got to take drugs, maybe I can train for a few years first and see what happens’. It is possible to be strong, in good shape and be natural.”
Take home message
Matt’s going to continue testing himself at random for the foreseeable future and is aiming to maintain or improve on his physique and PBs throughout the whole process.
It’s clear that Matt’s gone above and beyond to make these tests as watertight as possible, and we’ve got a lot of respect for that. Hopefully over the next few months we’ll see Matt smash some more PBs as he recovers from his achilles injury.
