Chad Ochocinco Credits Viagra for His Speed on the Field

Former NFL star Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson made headlines back in 2020 when he claimed he took Viagra before games as a way to improve his talents on the field. In a Nov. 14 episode of his show Nightcap with Shannon Sharpe, Ochocinco explained just how the drug would come in handy.

"Listen to me; it's an enhancement with the increasing blood flow to improve performance horizontally, depending on how you do it," Ochocinco told Sharpe. "Stay with me now. If you take half a pill before a game with a little bit of Red Bull, it increases the blood flow, which enhances performance."

As a result of his unique pre-game cocktail, he was an unstoppable beast on the field.

"I'm out there going crazy," he recalled. "I'm out there going crazy on half a Viagra and a little bit of Red Bull, and people are like, 'God, I can't stop him for nothing.' And then, you know, I am talking the whole game. The increased blood flow has me moving 10 times faster than I would regularly be moving without it, and that's what people don't understand. That's where the Viagra comes into play."

Ochocinco first confessed to this tactic three years ago. Because the NFL screens for performance-enhancing drugs, the Cincinnati Bengals player used the erectile dysfunction medication to get around it. "NFL tests for steroids," he explained on social media at the time. "How you gonna stop me running on three legs every Sunday?"

There's some research to back up Ochocinco's claims. A study from the American Heart Association concluded that sildenafil (the generic name for Viagra) helps improve maximal exercise capacity by dilating arteries and increasing muscular blood flow. Another study from the American Physiological Society found that sildenafil can improve exercise performance. However, a 2019 review of studies debunked this claim. As always, consult with your doctor before embarking on this kind of journey.

Talk about a performance enhancer.