Frequently Asked Questions
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Questions
Does the info on your website only apply to men or also to women?
How much muscle will I gain following your training program and diet?
What should an ectomorph, a mesomorph, and an endomorph do differently?
Do you prefer isolation exercises above compound exercises?
What is the best possible physique true natural bodybuilding can generate?
How do anabolic steroids affect someone's muscle growth?
Are natural bodybuilding contests drug free?
Which training routine do you propose for a beginner?
Can you make a bodybuilding diet plan for me?
How to stick to my diet when I'm on the road a lot?
Can you give some guidelines on when to cut and when to bulk?
Can I influence my testosterone levels by changing my sexual activity or abstinence?
What are your favorite protein shake recipes?
How can I thank you for sharing this information?
Do you want to be my personal trainer?
Answers
Does the information on your website only apply to men or also to women?
What makes muscles grow in men, also makes muscles grow in women. What makes men lose body fat, also makes women lose body fat. Although women have by nature much smaller muscles than men, mainly because they miss the big quantities of the natural anabolic sex hormone testosterone, which is produced by the male testicles, I believe that the training and nutrition to optimize muscle growth and minimize body fat are essentially the same for men and women. So yes, I believe that almost all information on this website is also applicable to women.
What exactly is the difference between bodybuilding, natural bodybuilding, and TRUE natural bodybuilding?
It all comes down to what the athlete puts into his body with the intention to support or enhance his physical development:
A (chemical) bodybuilder (CBB) basically has no limitations. He puts in his body what he wants, how much he wants, and whenever he wants. Usually he chooses for conventional androgenic-anabolic steroids, often in combination with human growth hormone and insulin, possibly supplemented with other chemicals (i.e. chemical or biological substances) that may or may not be prohibited.
A natural bodybuilder (NBB) is limited in his use of chemicals by the rules and testing of the federation to which he belongs on the one hand and/or the public's expectations and perception of his natural status on the other hand. Therefore, he will have to be prudent with the selection, dosage, and timing of his chemical assistance in order to be able to maintain his natural status with the federation and public. Because of the very limited testing capabilities of the federations and the naivety of the public it is not uncommon that natural bodybuilders do make use of prohibited substances such as anabolic steroids. In addition to steroids, natural bodybuilders have a whole range of other chemicals (effective or not) available to choose from, which are often not (yet) on the lists of banned doping products or which cannot be detected (yet) with conventional doping tests, such as designer steroids, prohormones, peptides, stimulants, and other chemicals (legal or not) that could for example be present in some sports supplements. Listen to this interview on drug use by natural bodybuilders.
A TRUE natural bodybuilder (TNBB) limits himself to foods and nutrients (e.g. water, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, creatine, vitamins and minerals) that are part of or present in a normal healthy daily diet. He does not use any other chemicals to affect his physique or sports performance, not even those non-nutrient chemicals (sport supplements) that are not (yet) on the lists of banned doping products. Also read my detailed definition of true natural bodybuilding.
CBB = with unlimited chemical assistanceNBB = with limited chemical assistance
TNBB = without (non-nutrient) chemical assistance
How much muscle will I gain following your training program and diet?
I think it is fair to say that I've gained almost 50 lbs (22 kg) of muscle mass by the age of 25 thanks to true natural bodybuilding. I also think it is fair to say that if I would have been able to train uninterruptedly without any injuries, in a well-equipped gym, and having enough financial resources to optimize my nutrition, especially in terms of protein intake, I would have been able to build these 50 lbs of muscle in about 5 or 6 years. So my training program and diet enabled me to build about 9 lbs of muscle per year. Depending on your age, genetic potential, and other factors, you might get better or worse results than me.
What should an ectomorph, a mesomorph, and an endomorph do differently?
An ectomorph is someone who is by nature very skinny in terms of body fat as well as muscle mass. Usually ectomorphs are not very hungry, have difficulties eating enough, and have a hard time building muscle mass and even body fat.
An endomorph is someone who is by nature rather big in terms of body fat. Usually endomorphs are very hungry, eat more calories than they should eat, tend to become over weight, and have big difficulties losing body fat.
A mesomorph has an athletic physique, is muscular by nature without having excess body fat (between 10 and 15%). He has the most favorable genetics for being a successful bodybuilder.
It doesn't really matter very much which of these body types you have. Every bodybuilder should basically follow the same training program and healthy high protein diet. An ectomorph should however focus a bit more on ensuring that his daily calorie intake is high enough. If your appetite is really too low to eat enough calories per day, you might find it easier to get some extra calories from liquid food such as milk, juices, protein shakes, and weight gainers. An endomorph, on the other hand, should keep his daily calorie intake under control, limit his daily fat and carbohydrate intake, and add some cardiovascular exercises to his training program in order to lose some excess body fat.
Do you prefer isolation exercises above compound exercises?
Compound exercises involve more than one joint and muscle group. Well known examples are the barbell bench press (pecs, triceps, delts), barbell shoulder press (delts, triceps), barbell upright row (trapezius, delts, biceps), bent-over barbell row (upper back, lower back, delts, biceps), barbell deadlift (quads, hamstrings, glutes, back, forearms), leg press (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves), barbell squat (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves).
These are great power exercises to develop strength, and they contribute to the overall development of your body because they target many secondary muscle groups next to the primary muscle group (first mentioned between brackets) for which they are mainly intended.
The negative aspect of compound exercises, which often use nearly all of your body's muscles simultaneously in order to lifting very heavy weights, is that they require enormous amounts of energy. You might get totally exhausted before you were able to stimulate the primary muscle group intensely enough to induce serious muscle growth. At the same time you also heavily involved many secondary muscle groups that you were not planning to train in that particular workout, and thereby interrupting their recovery and growth period.
By doing exercises that involve only one specific muscle group, or by performing an exercise in such a way that you isolate one particular muscle group (maximize the involvement of the primary muscle and minimize the involvement of secondary muscles) you can 100% focus all your physical and mental energy and intensity into that specific muscle group, and thereby maximizing its growth stimulation.
In summary, by isolating the targeted muscle group I am able to put more intensity into it, and I don't interrupt the recovery and growth process of the other muscles that I train on other days. Indicators such as muscles pump, muscle soreness, and muscle growth have proven that this works better than compound exercises for me personally.
What is the best possible physique true natural bodybuilding can generate?
This is a very difficult question because it depends from so many different variables. Genetic potential, which differs so much between individuals, is definitely one of the most important factors. Let's limit the question here to those people who do not have any rare genetic mutations that result in abnormal muscle growth or hormone levels.
Personally I would estimate that a Body Mass Index (BMI) of about 28.5 with a body fat percentage of about 5% is close to the maximum result obtainable through true natural bodybuilding. This assumes that a bodybuilder with the best possible genetics succeeds to fully develop all his muscles through training and nutrition without ever using any performance enhancing drugs or non-nutrient sports supplements.
The best example of a famous bodybuilder I can think of, who comes close to this best possible true natural physique is Steve Reeves. Steve competed in the 1940's, when anabolic steroids where not yet generally used by competitive bodybuilders. I am not saying that Steve was completely drug free, however, he might have been. He certainly didn't use the massive quantities and many different kinds of very powerful drugs today's bodybuilders use.
I also advise you to read this article on the maximum muscular bodyweight and size potential that can be achieved without using any anabolic drugs. It also comes with an interesting calculator that helps you estimate your personal maximum potential in terms of bodyweight and body part measurements. Here are another interesting article and video on what can be achieved as a natural bodybuilder.
How do anabolic steroids affect someone's muscle growth?
The famous "gear 1-2-3 rule of anabolic steroids in bodybuilding" provides a simple rule of thumb for how anabolic steroids (AS) such as androgenic-anabolic steroids (AAS), human growth hormone (HGH), and insulin (SLIN) can affect someone's muscle growth as follows:
- No AS -> single muscle growth (1x)
- AAS -> double muscle growth (2x)
- AAS + HGH + SLIN -> triple muscle growth (3x)
So in general, a person who is able to build 25 lbs of lean muscle mass without chemical assistance, should be able to build 50 lbs of lean muscle mass using AAS, and should be able to build 75 lbs of lean muscle mass using AAS + HGH + SLIN, if he does everything right.
While this rule is often attacked by steroid users who don't like to hear that so much of their muscle mass is merely the result of steroid use, the rule is supported by many real life examples that we all know and by a large amount of empirical data available from famous bodybuilders who competed in the era before AAS were available (0-1950), the era when only AAS were commonly used (1950-1990), and the era when AAS + HGH + SLIN were the standard (1990-now). Take a look at the FFMI data file that I have used to verify the rule and also read about the BMI Evolution of Pro IFBB Bodybuilders.
For example, assume a person of 183 cm (6 feet):
- Drug free - never trained: BMI 21 = 70 kg (154 lbs) at 3% BF: 0 kg muscles built
- Drug free - fully trained: BMI 26 = 88 kg (194 lbs) at 3% BF: 18 kg (1x18) muscles built (e.g. Steve Reeves)
- AAS - fully trained: BMI 32 = 106 kg (236 lbs) at 3% BF: 36 kg (2x18) muscles built (e.g. Bob Paris)
- AAS+HGH+SLIN - fully trained: BMI 37 = 124 kg (273 lbs) at 3% BF: 54 kg (3x18) muscles built (e.g. Kevin Levrone)
An interesting consequence of the gear 1-2-3 rule is that it allows you to estimate the Drug-Free FFMI of AS using bodybuilders as follows:
DF-FFMI (AAS BB-ers) = 21 + (FFMI - 21) / 2
DF-FFMI (AAS+HGH+SLIN BB-ers) = 21 + (FFMI - 21) / 3
This results for example in a DF-FFMI of 27.1 and 27.5 for Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman, respectively, which is indeed very close to the most massive natural bodybuilders known (e.g. Steve Reeves had a FFMI of 27.5).
Are natural bodybuilding contests drug free?
Just as the Olympic Games, natural bodybuilding contests are supposed to be drug free, and even drug tested to some degree, but still everybody knows they are not. As soon as you organize contests at a certain level, where lots of money and/or honor can be earned you will get athletes that use drugs. In a sport such as bodybuilding, where the drugs are so effective that they give a huge advantage over fellow competitors, the seduction is enormous. When one athlete makes the step, the rest has to follow or accept losing.
In no other sport drug use is as common as in bodybuilding, that even separate natural competitions are organized next to the normal competitions. However, this doesn't mean at all that athletes participating in these natural bodybuilding contests are really drug free. On the contrary, drug use is at least as common in natural bodybuilding as in any other sport, especially in the high level contests.
The reason why natural bodybuilders use drugs is very simple: the drugs are extremely effective, it is very easy to pass the doping tests, and the rewards of being a champion are very seducing.
None of the natural bodybuilding federations have the money to organize serious drug testing. In the best case, a few athletes are urine tested on the day of a big contest. A single urine test costs several hundreds of dollars, and a more advanced blood test cost a multiple of this. Only a few tests cost already more than the total prize money in a natural bodybuilding contest.
Even the best doping tests can only find a limited number of prohibited drugs. Athletes are not tested for growth hormone, insulin and IGF-1, which are very powerful hormonal drugs frequently used by bodybuilders. There even exist anabolic steroids that cannot be found by doping tests, or that become undetectably only a few days or weeks after taking. None of the doping products can be found back in the urine or blood a year after administration.
Because no doping test can find drugs taken more than a year ago, natural bodybuilding federations don't even require their competitors to be drug free for more than a couple of years. In practice this means that someone can use any drug he wants for many years to boost his training intensity and build huge muscles, and still be welcome in the natural contests as soon as he stops using for a few months.
Listen to this interview with Mike Arnold from MuscularDevelopment.com, bodybuilding doping expert and coach of professional bodybuilders, talking about the use of performance enhancing drugs by chemical as well as natural bodybuilders. Mike explains which kinds and how much drugs are used and how natural bodybuilders avoid getting caught in drug tests.
Which training routine do you propose for a beginner?
If you want to build as much muscle mass as possible in the shortest possible time, I suggest you train 5 days per week. If you have never trained with weights before, I suggest you start with a 2-day split routine in which you train half of your muscles during the first workout and the other muscles in the second workout. After 4 to 6 months you can start with a 3-day split routine in which you divide your muscle groups over 3 different workouts. About 6 months later you should be ready for a 4-day split routine. And finally, after another half a year, you can try a 5-day split routine in which each muscle group is trained exactly once per week.
In the 2- and 3-day split routine you should do about 2 basic exercises for each muscle group and execute 3 sets per exercise. Each workout should take about 80 minutes to complete. In the 4- and 5-day split routine you can do 2 or 3 exercises per muscle group and execute 4 working sets per exercise. Each workout should take no more than 60 minutes to complete. Please take a look at my examples. Do not hesitate to adjust it to your own needs.
Can you make a bodybuilding diet plan for me?
Unfortunately I cannot make a diet plan for each of you personally. I did, however, make a very good and detailed bodybuilding diet plan example, which you can easily customize to fit your personal needs.
How to stick to my diet when I'm on the road a lot?
When you go away from home and need to follow a strict bodybuilding diet it is best to take some products with you. All you need is a good protein and carbohydrate source. The easiest, cheapest, most compact and handy choice in my opinion is to take a pack of crisp bread and some whey protein powder. I prefer crisp bread from Wasa because it is inexpensive, tastes great, and is a healthy source of high quality carbs, fats, fiber, minerals and vitamins.
If you take some whey protein powder and a shaker, all you need is some tap water to get your protein supplement ready. If you are not able to make a shake on the road, you can prepare your shake before you leave and pour it in a plastic soda bottle. If you use a pure whey protein powder without any thickening additives such as guar gum or xanthan gum, you should be able to dissolve about 100 grams of protein in as little as half a liter of water or milk.
Can you give some guidelines on when to cut and when to bulk?
Whether you want to gain muscle mass or lose body fat, I always recommend you to get about 30% of your daily calories from protein, 50% from carbohydrates and 20% from fat. Apart from this the general rules are: "the higher your calorie intake, the faster your muscles will grow, but the more likely it is that your body fat will also increase", "the lower your calorie intake, the faster you will lose body fat, but the more likely it is that you will also lose muscle mass" and "in order to maintain a low body fat level (e.g. 8%) you will have to keep your calorie intake lower than to maintain a higher body fat level (e.g. 16%)".
As most bodybuilders want to gain muscle mass as fast as possible while keeping their body fat levels as low as possible or even lose excess body fat, you understand that we are facing a difficult challenge of finding the right balance in daily caloric intake. On top of that every body is different in terms of the initial amount of muscle mass and body fat present, how easily a calorie excess is turned into muscle or body fat increase, and how easily a calorie deficit is turned into muscle or body fat decrease.
The best way to approach this bodybuilding dilemma is to form a realistic goal for yourself. Which body fat percentage will satisfy you and is realistic for you to maintain without having to stay so low in calories that your muscles will lack sufficient nutrients for growth. This is very personal, but for most males this is probably somewhere between 8 and 16%. If your body fat percentage is below 8% you probably want to speed up your muscle growth a bit by increasing your calorie intake gradually by a few hundred calories per day until your get a bit closer to 10%. If your body fat percentage is above 16% you probably want to lose some body fat by decrease your calorie intake by a few hundred calories per day until your get a bit closer to 14%.
Let's look at an example. Assume you are at 180 lbs at 16% body fat and you want to reach 195 lbs at 12%. There are basically 3 popular ways to reach that goal. 1) You first diet down from 16 to 12% in a short period of time and then start focusing on building muscle mass while maintaining the 12%. 2) You follow periodic cutting and bulking cycles in which you decrease and increase your calories below and above your maintenance level, respectively, for a few weeks or months in which your body fat percentage cycles around a comfort level of 14±2% for example. 3) You first build all the muscle mass you need, which may take you several years, and then cut down from 16 to 12%.
Option 3 is the fastest way to reach your goal but has the disadvantage that you will be at 16% body fat for several years while you are building your muscle mass. Option 1 is the slowest method but has the advantage that you will be rather lean at 12% while the years of building your body pass. Option 2 probably lies somewhere between option 1 and 3. Which option to choose is a matter of personal preference.
Can I influence my testosterone levels by changing my sexual activity or abstinence?
There is no scientific evidence that your level of sexual activity, be it with a partner or in the form of masturbation, has a significant influence on your short term or long term testosterone levels that could affect your sport performance or ability to build muscle mass. Large fluctuations in your testosterone levels (10-50%) are normal, but not related to sexual stimulus or activity.
Too much sexual activity, especially in the form of masturbation with porn, is known to overstimulate your brain's dopamine reward system, which can have a negative impact on your performance by decreasing your overall motivation and may cause porn-induced erectile dysfunction in the long term. Moderation is the correct approach.
What are your favorite protein shake recipes?
I love to drink protein shakes because they have several advantages compared to solid meals. They are easy and quick to prepare and consume, they are healthy, tasty and inexpensive. I have collected eight of my personal favorite protein shakes in this excel sheet, one for every time of the day.
How can I thank you for sharing this information?
Help promoting true natural bodybuilding as a healthy, sporty lifestyle. Explain others what true natural bodybuilding is and refer them to this site, or post a link to this site on your facebook page or your favorite bodybuilding forum. Let others know that you do bodybuilding in a truly natural way by wearing a True Natural BodyBuilding T-shirt. Join the club! ;-)
If you think the information on this website was of any value to you, helped you saving time or money, or helped you reaching your goals faster, you can of course also consider making a donation or you could get the TN BodyBuilding book.
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Do you want to be my personal trainer?
If you want to learn in 2 weeks what I have learned in 20 years, of course. However, I don't have much free time, and I may be living very far away from you.