Fake naturals, fake idols

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Natural at Heart and Kidneys

You can surprise me with a doping test at any time. At night, at work, during dinner, whenever. Please do! I have never used anabolic steroids, growth hormone, insulin, or other anabolic substances*. I might spontaneously drop dead on the spot if I lie about this. That’s quite strong and even inappropriate to say, but this is a very fundamental point for me. The more people I see using steroids, the prouder I am that my results were achieved naturally.

Still, I always say that I don’t judge users. I simply know too many cases of people who work just as hard or harder than I do, but don’t come close to the result. I have reasonable aptitude, so I’ve never felt like I needed more than training, nutrition, and supplements to achieve my goal. Therefore, I can’t know what I would do if this were different.

However, who I do strongly condemn are people who use steroids but explicitly claim to be “natural” and promote themselves as such. By doing this, they set the bar impossibly high and create an unrealistic ideal.

I understand if you’re training and someone asks out of the blue if you use steroids and you don’t feel like giving an honest answer. However, it’s something very different when you pick up a megaphone unasked and broadcast through the gym: “Look at what a fantastic natural bodybuilder I am” while using steroids.

*As far as I know, at least. I cannot rule out having used supplements that contained substances other than those communicated by the manufacturer without my knowledge.

How do you know someone is not natural?

I don’t know. I often say that the only person of whom I am 100% sure they don’t use is myself. Those aforementioned people who work hard but don’t come close to my results, however, can also look at me and think: “That can’t possibly be natural.” After all, it’s easier to accept that you lack aptitude.

So, if I accuse someone else of the same, they could also say: “You just don’t have the aptitude.” However, there are a few more objective criteria you can use. The one I use is the comparison with bodybuilders from the pre-steroid era. You could argue that nowadays we know more about training, nutrition, and supplements. However, it’s quite likely that if a 24-year-old guy from your local gym is leaner and 20 kilos heavier than the most successful bodybuilders from that era, he’s using anabolic steroids. In fact, there’s one example of a well-known, still young, “natural” who is larger than a three-time Mr. Olympia and other top bodybuilders who have admitted to using steroids.

An interesting study was conducted in 1995. The researchers compared 83 steroid users with 74 non-users, all gym-goers addicted to strength training. They then looked at the average “fat-free mass index” per group using a formula: (fat-free mass in kilograms) x (height in meters) -2. They then applied a correction of 6.3 x (1.80 – height) to normalize this value for a height of 1.80. Below you can see the results, especially look at FFMI.

When I talked about bodybuilders from the pre-steroid era, I mainly compared visually. The researchers entered the data of 20 Mr. America winners from the period 1939-1959 into this formula. Their FFMI averaged 25.4. So these were the best in America, the highest of whom reached 28. If you look at the FFMI of steroid users from the study, you’ll see that they came close to the average of the Mr. America winners. There were some who were well above 25, some even above 30! Just a regular gym-goer who is as lean and has much more muscle mass than a former Mr. America. In the non-user group, there was no one who exceeded 25. The researchers therefore argue that an index of 25 is the maximum achievable for a natural in competition condition (at higher body fat percentages, a higher FFMI is possible).

But that doesn’t tell everything either. There can always be exceptions. People with so much aptitude and dedication that they can still exceed this. The chance of this happening is of course much smaller than the number of big so-called naturals you’d be led to believe. Moreover, there are also enough users who fall low because even with the use of steroids, they achieve less results than some naturals.

Nattyornot?

For example, on the blog Nattyornot.com, a comparison was made between the Dutch Tavi Castro (known as a natural bodybuilder) and famous professional bodybuilders from the 70s such as (3-time Mr. Olympia!) Frank Zane, Serge Nubret, and Ed Corney. Famous, steroid-using bodybuilders who gave Arnold a hard time on stage. Nattyornot refers to an interview where Tavi gives his own stats: 92 kilos at a height of 1.78. Based on this data, Tavi is as heavy or heavier than all these men while being shorter. He will also be little behind in terms of body fat percentage.

Nattyornot cautiously concludes:

Tavi Castro is as good as the bodybuilders from the 70s who used anabolic steroids

And that at the age of 24.</ p>

Pro Bodybuilders

There’s a difference between lying about your use on one hand and explicitly promoting yourself as natural on the other. You apparently know little about bodybuilding if, for example, you think there’s someone on the Mr. Olympia stage who doesn’t use. If you were to ask in an interview, they would all deny it. That’s logical. Although everyone assumes use, it’s still formally prohibited. Moreover, you have sponsors and such to deal with and can lose a lot of money if you admit to using. So if a Phil Heath says on TV when asked: “I’ve never been caught using steroids,” everyone understands that this is something very different from denying that he uses. A question is asked to which he can only give one answer in his situation. The true answer may come years after his career ends.

If the Shoe Fits…

That’s something very different from when you, as a non-competitive bodybuilder who is not bound by federation regulations, portray yourself online as “natural”. Especially if you then present yourself as a personal trainer and start giving people paid online advice so that they can allegedly achieve the same results naturally as you. In the best, unlikely case, you have exceptional aptitude, you’re truly natural, but it’s totally unrealistic to think that others will achieve the same results with your guidance.

It’s more likely that you’re lying and creating unrealistic expectations. Moreover, you’re detracting from the achievements of real naturals like me. Once you decide to pick up that needle, you’ve made a choice. You’ve forever forfeited the right to call yourself natural.

I can’t name names. As long as I can’t prove something with 100%, it’s not appropriate, it’s even defamation. However, you know who you are yourselves, and I would like to give those people the “Jimmy speech on steroids”:

You’re taking all of the fairness out of the game. But I know now that if you do run on steroids, you’re not a man, you’re just a pussy. You’re just a big fat p-p-p-pussy!…big, stinking, steroid using jackass

Jimmy Valmer, Southpark

References

• Kouri EM, et al. Fat-free mass index in users and nonusers of anabolic-androgenic steroids. Clin J Sport Med. (1995) 5(4):223-8.
• bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/
• nattyornot.com/think-tavi-castro-natural-bodybuilder/