Is natural bodybuilding possible? It really depends on what you mean by ‘natural bodybuilding.’
If you’re asking, ‘Is it possible to build muscle, lose fat, and improve your physique e.g. accentuate your v-taper by lifting weights and eating right?’ then the answer is a resounding, ‘yes!’ This is the heart of what natural bodybuilding is; it’s all about looking and feeling great in your day-to-day life year-round and for years to come.
But, if you’re asking, ‘Is it possible to compete on a bodybuilding stage vs. ‘enhanced’ athletes and win?’ then the answer is definitely, ‘no.’ The reason why is because juice heads have a much easier time retaining muscle while on a cut and at low body fat levels compared to natural bodybuilders. It has to do with natural hormone levels dropping when the body is shredded and at a caloric deficit.
I’ve never competed and don’t intend to, but from what I can gather, when you’re carb-depleted, dry, shredded, and somewhere between 5 and 8 percent body fat, your hormone levels go down drastically. When this happens, it becomes harder to retain muscle. But, for the ‘enhanced’ guy, it’s easier because he’s injecting exogenous testosterone and anabolic steroids into his system to force the body to do what it won’t do naturally, that is, hold onto muscle at critically low body fat levels.
Case in point, Nick Miller, of Nick’s Strength And Power on YouTube. He dieted down to 143 pounds all the way from 220 pounds and lost significant amounts of muscle in the process to the point where he regrets ever competing as a natural bodybuilder.
If you watch the video, look at his physique when he’s at 180 pounds and I think you’ll agree that he looks much healthier, stronger, and better overall at that weight compared to when he’s 143 pounds shredded. This is because he has more muscle on his frame, thus a more aesthetic shape, and most likely higher hormone levels, which is why he just looks better. As you can clearly see, there’s a stark contrast between bodybuilding, meaning the lifestyle, and the competitive aspects of bodybuilding.
Here’s Nick talking in more detail about competing as a natural bodybuilder. He talks about the negatives, like losing a substantial amount of muscle, as well as the positives, like the overall fun experience, among other things.
Is natural bodybuilding healthy?
The natural bodybuilding lifestyle is super healthy provided you approach your diet and training regimen correctly.
A lot of natural bodybuilders, myself included, will sometimes try to train like an IFBB pro, when they should be training at a much lighter weight and for far fewer sets and reps, at least when they’re starting out.
Because pro bodybuilders are on anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, they can easily get away with training harder and heavier, resting less, and working out more frequently, even every day. Due to the drugs they’re taking, their capacity to recover from workouts is much greater.
In comparison, us natural bodybuilders would overtrain our central nervous systems if we were to attempt a training regimen with as many sets and reps. And because overtraining disrupts the hormonal cascade, this puts natural guys in a temporarily catabolic state that lasts until our CNS recovers, usually two to three days depending on the person. This means less time in an anabolic, muscle-building state as well as lost time, from having to take more rest days. But, we have no other choice because, without this time off, our risk of injury would go up due to not being fully recovered before training again.
Fez’s 5 commandments of natural bodybuilding
In order to get the most benefit from your natural bodybuilding program, I recommend following these five core principles, or ‘commandments’ of natural bodybuilding:
1. Lift lighter weights!
Lifting heavy is an ego trip. It makes you like a feel bad-ass. You may even enjoy the process of psyching yourself up to lift heavy. You know, blasting metal on your Beats headphones and what not, pacing around like a caged animal before every set. I’m not going to lie. It can be fun, especially if you’re with your friends and you’re trying to show each other up.
But, the problem is, when you’re lifting heavy, and by ‘heavy’ I mean a weight that you can only lift for about 6 reps or less, you’re really putting a lot of that resistance on your central nervous system rather than on the muscle itself. Think about it. If you’re having to psyche yourself up in order to do the set, that means you’re activating a lot of your ‘fight or flight’ sympathetic nervous system and adrenaline to assist you. We’ve all heard the stories about parents miraculously lifting up cars to save their trapped child and stuff like that, but it’s actually a medical phenomenon called ‘hysterical strength.’ What gains do you really expect to see if all you’re doing is willing the weight up with the help of your adrenal glands instead of focusing on muscle activation and time under tension?
While there is a place for training heavier at times, I would argue that, for the natural bodybuilder, it’s more beneficial in the long-run to train in a higher rep range, around 10-12, or 12-15 reps at the highest, precisely to avoid recruiting your CNS. It’s also better for your joints!
Constantly red-lining your CNS on all your lifts will, without a doubt, result in overtraining due to your adrenals having to constantly pump out cortisol and stress hormone. Think of it this way. Testosterone and cortisol have an inverse relationship and they will absolutely get out of balance i.e. overtrained if you put your body in a constant stress state. In all actuality, lifting when done correctly should increase your testosterone levels, while minimizing cortisol levels.
So, train at the correct weight, a weight that you can only get either 10-12 reps on, or 12-15 reps at the highest and you’ll avoid this pitfall. Most of the time, this means using a weight that is much lighter than the one you may be using now. But, don’t let it bother you. Trying to impress someone with the amount of weight you’re lifting is stupid and will eventually lead to injury anyway. I’ve made this mistake myself and paid dearly. If you want to impress your friends, impress them with your yoked physique rather than the amount of weight you’re lifting.
The other benefit of lifting lighter is getting a better pump! Some people say getting a pump is inconsequential to muscle growth, but I disagree. I think getting a pump is critical because it helps to stretch the fascia surrounding your muscles, leading to more gains. My own experience tells me this is true because I’ve been training quads on the sissy squat bench for the past two months, using my own body weight with no added resistance, getting skin-splitting pumps, and already added muscle. I also have more striations in my quad than I ever had compared to when I used to use your standard leg press loaded up with plates, leg extension, or hack squat machines. Not saying those don’t work too, but I just don’t think they’re necessary to make solid gains. Plus, they’re harder on the joints.
I tend to agree with pro bodybuilder Rich Piana, who unfortunately is no longer with us, but who nevertheless knew what he was talking about with regard to the importance of getting a pump.
2. Slow the f down!
Slow and controlled wins the race when it comes to natural bodybuilding and bodybuilding in general. Juice heads can get away with more mistakes and deviations from the fundamentals and still grow, but if you’re natural, you need to be training at a slower rep tempo.
The reason why is because it calms your nervous system, allowing you to focus on getting a full extension and full contraction of the muscle on each rep, while forcing a stronger mind to muscle connection overall. This is absolutely key to making gains!
This is the same advice that one of the top coaches in the sport, Charles Glass, “the Godfather of Bodybuilding,” tells people. “Most people are trying to go too fast, and they don’t get the full extension and they don’t get the full contraction” says Glass. “To build the mass you’re striving for, you need to expose your muscles to more time under tension to stimulate growth.”
When your rep tempo is too fast, you’re actually shortchanging yourself, leaving gains on the table because you’re diverting more of that resistance to your joints and tendons. You could argue that it’s just as important to train your joints and tendons to be stronger as it is your muscles, but in my view, they’re getting plenty of work when you’re lifting slower anyhow.
Generally speaking, it’s not as safe to lift fast either. Over time, you could strain or tear a muscle or compromise the integrity of your joints. I speak from experience! In the long-run, this could even force someone to have to quit bodybuilding. That’s why I would advise you to err on the side of caution when it comes to anything having to do with lifting weights. Long-term health should always be the goal.
3. No bulking and cutting!
Leave the bulking and cutting to the juiced up pro bodybuilders who have a much easier time dialing it all in on a cut without losing much, if any muscle mass.
For us natural guys, it’s a smarter approach to stay relatively lean year-round, that way we can stay within striking distance of ‘shredded,’ or lean enough for our liking, during the summer when we want to look extra cut at the beach, or when we’re on vacation. I’m talking about within 10 or so pounds of our goal weight and desired body fat level.
Number one, bulking and cutting is really hard on the body. You’re shoving food down your gullet, gaining weight at breakneck speed, putting all that strain on your joints and what not. Then, when stripping away the fat, you’re pounding out the cardio while in a caloric deficit for months on end with hardly any carbs in your diet. Being in a deficit reduces your T levels, as does lots of cardio, as does eating low carb. Put it together and this can lead to you potentially losing the precious muscle that you just built, all making bulking and cutting a huge waste of time.
I’m just saying, when cutting, keep it to a slight 250 calorie mini-cut that doesn’t last long. Maybe one to two months max. That way, you can keep your T levels as high as possible for as long as possible, allowing you to hold onto your gains better.
Eating at a very slight caloric surplus of 250 calories, while periodically doing a mini-cut two or three times throughout the year will allow you to consistently gain lean muscle, while minimizing body fat accumulation. Of course, this is assuming you’re consuming enough protein and other macro and micro nutrients.
4. Get plenty of rest!
Rest is paramount, bro. Make sure you’re sleeping as close to 8 hours a night as possible. Sleep is when you grow.
Remember when I told you that lifting too heavy and trying to copy the workouts of pro bodybuilders leads to overtraining? Well, that brings us to the other reason why overtraining bites you in the ass. It messes up your sleep.
When you lift too intensely, you overtrain your CNS, resulting in an over-expression of cortisol and other stress hormones. This literally stresses out your body in much the same way that mental stress can. And when this happens, you feel like garbage. It’s your body’s way of saying, “Hey, take it easy!” Your body is basically forcing you to rest by making you feel like such crap. So, listen to your body and rest!
If your body is telling you to rest, but you can’t even fall asleep, then that’s a huge sign that you need to lower the intensity of your workouts by decreasing the weight, number of sets and reps, and maybe even the number of exercises you’re doing per muscle group. This was me not too long ago!
If you can’t sleep, don’t freak out. Just increase your intake of complex, starchy carbs, take some 5-HTP, maybe even some Sleepytime herbal tea before you go to bed, and you should be able to get some much needed sleep.
The key takeaway is to work with your body, not against your body. Make sure you’re taking enough rest between workouts, so that you recover and have enough strength to workout again without overtraining. It may take some experimenting to figure out how to best schedule in your workouts taking adequate rest into consideration.
And if you are going to be lifting 5 days a week, like I am right now, then you’re going to have to think about possibly reducing the overall intensity of each workout, so that you can get consistent sleep and feel recovered enough to do it again the next day. Feel it out and see what works best for you.
Rest also means taking proper rest time in between sets. Shortened rest time increases the intensity of the workout and if you’re going at it too hard, you could overtrain yourself, same as with heavy weight. Rest time also allows your body to replenish ATP, so you can do another full set with good form, instead of half a set. Rest, in all respects, is huge. I can’t emphasize this enough.
5. Keep carbs high!
Carbs have been demonized like they’re the one macronutrient responsible for weight gain, but this is a freaking lie. First of all, assuming we’re talking about healthy carb sources like whole grains, it’s the total calories you’re eating above maintenance that causes weight gain, not carbs!
Secondly, we need carbs. They’re the body’s preferred energy source and give us the energy we need to lift weights and burn fat. Yes, you heard that correctly. Carbs help you burn fat. Try lifting weights with very little glycogen in your muscles and you’ll see what I mean. Try playing basketball, or going for a run, or even a fast walk on low carbs and you’ll see what I mean. Carbs literally power your workouts, which is why most bodybuilders and serious athletes aren’t on keto. Plus, look up the term, ‘keto ghoul’ and you’ll see posts from people on the keto diet complaining about the sunken-in eyes and dark circles they get when they’re on low carb. How can that be healthy??
If you plan on lifting regularly, keeping the carbs moderately high will make you feel better in general, so you can get better workouts in, get bigger pumps, have energy in the tank afterward to do other things, and you’ll even sleep better because carbs increase serotonin levels in the brain! Just try not to eat too many junk carbs, like white breads, pizza, and the like because those won’t help you out as much. Healthy, low-glycemic complex, starchy carbs like whole grains, sweet potatoes, oats and the like are the way to go.
Mike O’ Hearn, who I consider to be one of the most knowledgeable trainers on the planet, swears by carbs and credits them for helping him stay in phenomenal shape. Here he is talking about the importance of eating carbohydrates if you want to stay in shape over the long-term and for years to come rather than just yo-yo-ing back and forth between being in shape and not being in shape, which is what most people do.
Why I plan on staying natural and you should too
Anabolic steroids are chemical hormones made in a lab that people stupidly inject into their body. They’re not natural and often have terrible side-effects, like shutting down your body’s natural testosterone production, making you temporarily infertile, shrinking your testicles, and causing erectile dysfunction. I don’t know about you, but one of the reasons why I want a yoked physique is so I can go harder in the bedroom, not softer!
Steroids also enlarge internal organs like your heart, putting you at risk of heart disease and death down the road. This is why so many pro bodybuilders die young. I’ve lost count of how many bodybuilders have died due to health complications lately. It’s the elephant in the room and I don’t see the bodybuilding sport recovering from this negative perception if major changes aren’t made. Is having an extra ten to fifteen pounds of muscle on your frame, so you can compete on stage worth dying young for? For me, the answer is, ‘no.’
Natural bodybuilding is possible when done correctly. It’s also highly rewarding as well as a healthy lifestyle overall that allows you to maintain your gains long-term, as opposed to losing them over time because your body can’t sustain the superphysiological level of hormones you injected into your body when you were on gear.
The other reason I like staying natural is because, for me as a Christian, bodybuilding becomes yet another vehicle to exercise my faith. I like doing things that other people think are difficult, or impossible because it forces me to activate my faith and rely on God. And, yes, I do believe that God can help me to get yoked for His glory! I’ve seen him do other amazing things in my life, so why not?
Also, I found these comments and words of wisdom online from a few natural guys who were glad they never used gear.
Forget about competition, the real reward of natural bodybuilding is being well-built and strong for the rest of your life. I have been natural bodybuilding for the last 47 years and at 63 years old I am still in better shape than the vast majority of 21 year olds out there. I never gave a damn about getting a trophy as I have been rewarded every singe day of my adult life by enjoying great health. Sadly, I have lost most of my friends who started bodybuilding with me in the early seventies because they chose to take steroids and died an early death. Sure they all passed me up after they started juicing but later on they had to quit because of complications from the drugs, and they lost ALL their gains while I kept plugging away. And now I’m still here and they no longer are. Stay natural.
User CaneFu
I been training for 25 years naturally. I competed in men’s physique a few times weighing 154 at 5′ 7 and qualifying for the nationals. I was tempted to take it to the next level to the point where one time I even bought a cycle but ended up never touching it. On the long run I think I made the right decision. I’m 43 train 4X a week and still in great shape. A lot of people that I know were on the gear now they all out of shape either lost all their gains or overweight now. Nothing will replace hard work and dedication on the long run.
User Kris Simon
From an older dude. I’ve been natural my whole life [40 years]. Back when I was a kid, it was tough seeing someone come in the gym, and within a year be as big or bigger than you when you’ve been lifting for over ten years. I ate everything I could catch, and at my biggest I weight approx 230lbs [not ripped . . . lol] 6ft tall. However, I’ve been looking at guys in my area who were heavy on steroids, [as well as retired bodybuilders] and I look way better than they do as they have lost EVERYTHING they had back in the day [I’m speaking about the guys still lifting]. You may be smaller lifting natural at this time in your life vs others who take steroids, BUT you will look better than the people who did the roids when you get older.
User david mack
Stay natural, my bros. I refuse to take anabolic steroids at any point now or in the future. The only thing I would consider taking is DHEA, which is a nutritional supplement for people who’s natural DHEA levels are on the decline due to aging. They sell it at Vitamin Shoppe. It happens to be on the list of supplements that are banned by WADA, but I don’t plan on competing, so, whatever. To me, it’s on the same level as taking Vitamin D, Tongkat Ali, or Ashwaghanda.
Your training partner,
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