I’m not a bodybuilding expert but this comment left on a subbreddit called “Natty or not?” sums up the state of commercial and professional bodybuilding and fitness. Look after the quote for some defined words that may be unfamiliar to you.
Everyone you will see online selling you a workout supplement or program (both of which are nearly useless), or is a pro athlete, especially if they are vegan, is probably on some drug or another. Committee testing for drugs is mostly a show for legal reasons; there are many ways they can be effectively passed while still being on loads of drugs:
Being short doesn’t mean you can be bigger and still be natural. Also, “I work out for 20 years so of course these massive canonball delts at sub 7% bodyfat are natty, along with my 200 + lbs. at 5’10” frame” is also bullshit. These are just justifications for the fake natties. No “routine” is going to make you “huge” in 10 years. You probably believe that BetaDestiny YouTuber who claims to have 10 inch wrists and is “lean as fuck” at 176 while being the same height as a sack of potatoes. LOL
You’re going to get as big as you’re going to get — that’s it basically. Working out a “special” way is bullshit. Just workout and keep at it and you’ll reach a limit whether or not some bullshitting guy on juice sells you his “secrets on how to break plateaus and get huge as fuck while being ~5% bodyfat and natty” or whether you just work hard. Don’t be the guy that regrets making that decision. There’s no “secret” to getting “huge” or “big” while staying lean — it’s just called drugs/PEDs/whatever you call it/etc.
There’s no special routine — no secrets — no magical training regimen. The reason why all lifters buy in to this bullshit is because they’re natural and don’t know any better. They think that they will unravel some “insider info” and grow. They aren’t too big because they’re natural — and nothing but drugs will make big improvements like they want/think they can get.
Short or tall, the same rules — for the most part — apply to almost everybody because there are just unfortunate limits to how big you’ll get regardless. Only an idiot thinks being “short” means you can excuse guys who are big and lean and discredit them as potential fake natties/liars/etc.
As for the guy in question: typical starter kit/noob/test boy/etc. He’s basically done/does some stuff. He doesn’t look too big because he’s only 16 and not blasting or running anything too heavy. He could even be using high dose SARMs, which you can get results on for less than $100 a month.
juice – usually any kind of steroid or muscle-building chemical
fake natty – someone who claims to be natty but obviously isn’t
natty – a non-steroid user
PED – performance enhancing drug
plateau – when a lifter reaches a limit of muscle-building or strength
SARMs – selective androgen receptor modulator
test – testosterone or steroid test (depending on context)
5 Comments
Right on. I’m huge for my height because that’s how my body works; there’s no secret to how I got this large. It’s not much advantage to be this big when your joints have developed arthritis (something that runs in my family) or you have major injuries. That’s how bodies work. Take what God gave you and try to make the most of what it offers.
There’s a theory that a people with body dysphoria go into bodybuilding as a way of self-therapy. If you happen to grow up around muscle magazines and seeing bodybuilders all the time, it’s no wonder people develop some pathologies.
Have you seen the movie Icarus? Halfway through that, I was convinced that everybody in sports is doping.
I haven’t, but I looked it up on imdb. I don’t like documentaries but the simple claim that doping is widespread is accurate. Doping or PEDs, etc. I’ll check it out though.
Joe Rogan did an interview with Victor Conte, who did a lot of steroid work way back when. Some of what he says needs to be taken with a grain of salt, I imagine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azzhD2QJ8B0
Icarus is more fun than most documentaries due to it not starting out to be a world changing exposé. The guy stumbles into it. Also, I heart Joe Rogan 😍 I’ll check out the Victor Conte interview.