image source: https://pixabay.com/bg/users/Aionia-15911/
HarryTheBicepsFlexKilla was riding a hot dirty bus on the way to work. The persistent heat outside was sending the little oxygen left in the air into extinction.
“Now I know why Hell is presented as a hot place,” said Harry to himself and began searching for a daydreaming song on his phone.
Seconds later, a gazelle entered the place. She was hot. So hot that Harry forgot about the lack of oxygen. She sat close to Harry, took out her modern revolver a.k.a. iFone and started scrolling through her Instagram feed. Harry looked over her shoulder without feeling guilty at all.
The girl had a lot of male friends. Most of them were muscular, ripped and had tattoos suggesting profound masculinity. All of the men were desperately trying to look like tough guys from a movie. Interestingly enough, she liked all the photos of guys doing lame bodybuilding poses in front of the bathroom mirror.
“So this is what girls like. I knew it,” said Harry and activated depression mode.
Unfortunately for Harry, the guys had physiques on another level compared to his. Their arms were making his look like something that belongs on a puppy.
“Can I look like those guys naturally? Can I earn a like from a girl without injecting hormones in my maximus? Can I do it without sacrificing my hair,” asked Harry.
Moments later, Harry began feeling the heat again. It was stronger than before. It was in his brain.
Looks matter
In school, you learn about the teachings of the Little Prince – the essential is invisible to the eyes. That makes for a nice story and is probably true in the right context, but the world is not so simple. As long as you are alive, the external matters just as much as the internal. If the Little Prince was presented as some thug with smelly clothes covered in mud, people would not find him as cute, would they? There is a reason he is blonde.
The eyes are transmitters of information. The real decoding, however, happens in the brain. Your appearance has a strong impact on the way people perceive you. With a little experience, a mentalist can tell a lot about a person by just looking at him or her. Every thought has an impact on the way you look and portray yourself in the human society. Everything is connected. There’s no escape. Many naive people will try to deny this fact, but they are either playing with you or in a complete denial.
The truth is that sexy/hot/handsome/pretty/appealing people have a higher status.
If two men make the exact same mistake, the more attractive of the two will receive more compassion.
When you are pretty, you can get away with more sins in the human world.
We have an inbuilt mechanism for appreciating aesthetics. Beauty simply feels right while ugliness comes with darkness, depression, and sorrow – things that no one wants. When a beautiful person dies, it’s a tragedy. When an ugly person dies, it’s life.
How To Look Your Best as a Natural Bodybuilder
Step 1: Quit Lard Collecting
There are two main destroyers of the natty physique. One of them is the big fat gut common for naturals living the dangerous life of a permabulker.
No one on this Earth is prettier with a fat gut in front of him. Some people may have the structure to pull out the cute fatso look, but even they will like themselves more if the lard in front of their abs is reduced. Big fat beer guts are a modern phenomenon caused by bad food filled with sugar and bitch hormones.
If you want to look good as a natty, you cannot have a belly suggesting future delivery.
Besides, fatness is enemy numero uno of your facial aesthetics. Double chins are a big no-no. Coupled with swollen hamster cheeks they make you look older, potatoesque and mentally challenged.
Nevertheless, many naturals refuse to lose weight because of the false belief that the extra size is muscle and not fat. Those poor souls push out their man boobs thinking it’s all bulletproof chest muscle. Then they look at their gut, squeeze it and say: “Huh. That’s only 5lbs. Abs are for anorexic fags anyway. I will lose the fat easily once I am huge.”
Eventually, after many months or even years of intense and dedicated lard collecting, a cut begins. It often turns out that those 5lbs are actually 50lbs.
Step 2: Improve Your Posture When You Walk
I have an old photo of me running on the beach as a kid. It shows an obvious kyphosis a.k.a. Quasimodo gene going in my back. This weakness has been destroying my looks since forever.
Poor posture damages your appearance significantly. It makes you look weak and insecure. There are many pro bodybuilders with poor postures too, but their massive backs hide the issue somewhat. The natty does not have similar safety nets. If you slouch, people can see it.
I wish I could tell you that poor posture can easily be fixed with back training, but it’s not so simple. Improving the strength of your spinal erectors, upper back and lats will certainly make it easier to stand tall but is not a panacea. It doesn’t take a lot of strength to stand tall anyway. The body is built to hold the position easily. You don’t have to deadlift 500lbs to fix your posture because it’s all in your head.
Unless there’s a medical condition preventing you from straightening your back, the main forces behind poor posture are self-hatred, lack of confidence and a profound inability to understand that the people around you are not better than you. If you don’t start believing in yourself and reconstruct your pride, all the exercises in the world won’t be able to correct your posture because the problem is not muscular. It’s your perception of this world that needs a fix.
The best exercise for your posture is walking tall when you are outside regardless of your social status or state of success. I know it’s not easy because I’ve been struggling with the same problem for years, but if you don’t fight back, your poor posture will eat you.
Tip: Contrary to popular belief, pinching your shoulders together does not fix your posture. Poor posture does not come from the shoulders. It comes from the spine. A better cue is to simply push your chest out/forward. Don’t think about your shoulders. This move will improve your posture right away. Your shoulders will follow and assume their natural resting position.
Step 3: Build up and Thicken Your Muscles
While I have no doubt that muscle size is incredibly limited when you are natural, there’s a small room for improvement which has to be maximized. If you don’t train, you will never be the best you can be. Even if all you can gain from training are 5 pounds, it’s still something and will improve the way you look and feel.
There is no place for mysteries and voodoo here. You will have to perform basic exercises and get good at them. Find a movement that you like for each body part and progress. At the beginning, adding weight will be easy, but after six months, you will have to use more sophisticated methods to lie your body into getting stronger. If you are in this game solely for muscle mass, doing 1 rep maxes is a waste of time. Focus on reps above 3.
How much muscle you will gain depends mainly on your genetics. Since there is no way of knowing how your body will respond to training, you have to go all out for a certain period of time. You cannot say that the system doesn’t work when you haven’t tried your best yet. You have to play the game before you can classify it as rigged. For more information, I recommend my previous post – reaching your potential.
Step 4: Become More Athletic
As a natural, you will benefit a lot from becoming an athletic master. Training solely for looks is a lost cause when you are a poor natty brah. There’s more to lifting and exercising. Developing different athletic skills makes natural bodybuilding a lot more interesting and enjoyable. Not only that, but it also improves your athleticism which has a deep impact on the way you look and feel.
Every skill added to your character represents a new word in your vocabulary. Athleticism gives freedom and style to your movement. To the untrained eyes, the difference may be slim, but on the inside, it is huge.
THE POWER OF MARKETING
When you are unaware, naive and fragile, it’s easy to fall for the marketing tricks of the modern world. The goal of marketing has always been to create a sense of inferiority.
Every product out there is meant to reveal a weakness and fix it for you.
The main goal of commercials is to make you feel like a buggy carbon creature that does not deserve to exist on this planet. There are many ways to achieve this effect. One of them is the perfection method.
Commercials are filled with images of perfection – the perfect family, the perfect clothes, the perfect couple, the perfect love, the perfect body…etc. When a person sees this, he or she immediately feels bad about his life and starts looking for a way to fix it. The solution offered by the commercial is a product. Since it’s easier to purchase something and pretend to be better, we opt for that approach instead of attacking the problems the proper way.
Hot muscles have been used as attention magnets since the very beginning. Everywhere you look, you see sexually suggestive images, poses and some form of nudity. This creates the modern perception of what’s an acceptable, sexy and good physique. As you probably know already, those images are fake. First, the guys in the pictures are chemically enhanced. Second, the photos are taken by professional photographers in well-equipped studios. Third, the images are edited by graphic designers. Only then the magazines hit the shelves and attack the sad hearts of the humanoids. We get used to those images and accept them as the norm. The mind starts to associate them with words like – beauty, sex appeal, perfection, muscle, hotness…etc. This creates a massive opportunity for frustration and pain when our expectations fail to meet reality.
A natural cannot look like the popular YouTubers who have both – incredible leanness and mass. A natural simply looks natural. He or she is slim when lean and does not carry an impressive amount of muscle mass by the modern standards. The inability to satisfy the requirements results in a depression and a defeatist mentality. This is especially true for guys who have joined the iron world because of poor confidence.
What’s the solution? For some, it’s to give up. For others, it’s to join the dark side. Those decisions do not address the problem at its base. The patient suffering from depression caused by the lack of muscle mass has to understand that he hasn’t been created by nature to look bad. No one healthy and in a good condition looks bad naturally. Of course, some are more impressive than others thanks to their superior genes, but insulting yourself over things that you don’t control will not improve the situation. You will feel inferior and stagnate.
Social media also play a huge role in this game because they increase the competition to unheard proportions. You may be good, but somewhere there’s a guy who is many times better than you, 10 years younger and richer. This has a negative impact on the ego and the self-esteem of the individual.
In the past, it was different. Your grandfather had to compete only against the guys from the local pub. He didn’t have to beat the whole world in order to consider himself worthy and take the princess.
Some people say that more competition stimulates improvement and is consequently good and even desirable. That may be true if we are talking about the market or something like that, but this situation is different. We are all fighting a losing battle. You can never be the best in the world. There’s no best.
The disease will not be cured until the patient starts loving himself for what he is instead of suffering from a never-ending dissatisfaction caused by external comparison.
We are all born into this world with a set of genetic properties. Most of what we are, we have seemingly received for free. Did we get those goodies for doing the right thing in a previous life? Maybe. I don’t know.
Nevertheless, one fact is clear – we are stuck with what we have. Therefore, if you try to amplify your base and better yourself, you are doing just fine.
TRAINING COMES LAST
As always, training comes last because it has a smaller impact on the way you look compared to the other two factors – posture and diet.
Here’s the truth about size:
About 10 years ago, I could only do one pull-up. I remember the day like yesterday. I went to the closest pull-up/dip station and tried to pull myself up. I experienced a weird sensation. I felt like I was giving birth while holding on to a bag containing my last money. I even had to cheat by lifting my legs up. Terrible experience.
In the beginning of this year, I did a pull-up with 41kg/90lbs added to me. (Don’t worry! It didn’t take me 10 years to get there.) Guess what? My lats are not much bigger. They are relatively well developed compared to my other tiny muscles, but I am not a flying squirrel. The visual difference between 1 bodyweight pull-up with bad form and 1 pull-up with extra 41kg is not as large as one may think.
Furthermore, my biceps are very small and have poor insertions. I often see old dudes resembling tombstone candidates with bigger biceps than mine. The moral of the story is that training is not the muscle builder it’s presented to be. There’s some hypertrophy that takes place, but it’s very limited. I doubt my biceps will grow more naturally even I take my weighted pull-up to 60kg/132lbs. The muscle will get brutally strong for my size, but today we are talking about visual changes, not strength adaptation.
IT’S NOT ABOUT BEING THE BEST. THE GOAL IS TO IMPROVE.
A long time ago, I was a skateboarder. I had a few years of hard skating behind my back when new blood started coming to me for advice. This is when I met Tommy.
Tommy was 5-6 years younger than me and was just about to face the same fears. One day, I heard Tommy complain: “There are 7-year-olds who are better than me and already sponsored by Element.”
Similar intrusive thoughts kept on torturing Tommy for a long time.
As anticipated, the comparisons were not motivating him to do better. They were halting his progress. Instead of trying to improve, he was sabotaging himself by rendering his work pointless. Two years later, Tommy turned into a weed man and stopped skating almost completely.
His story confirmed a controversial idea.
Some say that in order to get good at something you have to surround yourself with the best.
To be the best, you have to fight the best, right?
I don’t think it’s that simple.
Sometimes, if you want to improve, you have to surround yourself with losers.
When I was in school, I had one crucial math test. It was so important that I had to take extra lessons. My mom paid for a teacher in a special ”math school”. We did an introductory test, and I got an average score – not good but not the worst either. Our teacher knew his stuff, but he was rushing too much. I had a really hard time understanding anything. The material was too complicated for my skills. I was unable to follow and learn a single element properly. Going to those classes turned out to be a complete waste of time and money for me. I felt stupid.
A few months later, I left and enrolled in a free course in my school designed to help low-performing students. There were boys and girls with significantly worse grades than mine. However, I learned a lot more from those classes than the elite version in the special math school. As the quote says: “A smart man can learn a lot from a fool.”
Those extra lessons gave me a base that helped me tremendously. I passed the test with a B, which was great and almost unthinkable a year before. Of course, I did a lot of studying at home too, but I have no doubt that the “loser’s classes” helped me. Staying in the advanced group would have been an expensive mistake.
That lesson taught me that you don’t have to be the best. You just have to improve and get good. Instead of comparing yourself to child prodigies, just try to do better than yesterday and call it a day.
You can think of it as lifting weights. Lifting too heavy for you won’t make you strong. You can put as much weight as you want on the barbell, but if you cannot lift it, you are wasting your time. It’s better to meet the “loser’s weights” and fight them. By the time you are done with them, you will realize that they were just what you needed at that point.
Unfortunately, or not, this contentment will not continue forever. There is an inbuilt function in us to never be happy. Believe it or not, this is a growth mechanism. As soon as you accept a height as your peak, the only way to go is down. Hence we feel sad and unsatisfied after an accomplishment.
Don’t Turn Into a Hipster Muscle Douche
There is a large group of desperate naturals who try to boost their physiques with special tactics. A good example would be the permabulkers who get pathetic tattoos on their fat arms to make themselves look big and mean in a tank top. Those try-hards don’t realize that acts like that only prove their idiocy.
But let’s not forget about the other end of the spectrum – the metrosexual insects. Those would be the guys who spend days in the bathroom shaving their legs and brushing them abs. The insects wear revealing outfits and extra small funky muscle shirts so that the bitches can “mire” their natty development. The icing on the cake is the fake tan which increases the perception of leanness. The end result is a metrosexual lunatic obsessed with his looks. What’s the point of this?
I don’t want to tell people how to dress. Everyone is free and has the right to decide, but I don’t think those guys are making a conscious choice. They are simply turning themselves into something grotesque for the wrong reasons.
The image is fake. Sooner or later, the bubble will burst. There is a difference between maintaining yourself and becoming a male doll.
Social Media – The Creator Of Never-ending Pressure
In the past, the TV was the main technological product pushing success after success in your face. Today, the situation is much different. No one is watching TV anymore. It’s dead. The modern world is ruled by social media and the Internet. That’s the new TV.
Social media is a phenomenon that will be analyzed in greater detail in the future. 30 years from now, people would call our times The Era of Social Media.
Facebook and its brothers exercise a very special form of mind control. In the past, it was easy to ignore someone on TV who is better than you.
“This guy is living at the other end of the world. Who cares that he can dance so well.”
Today, the distance is seemingly smaller. The guy who is better than you is not unknown. He is an old friend, a former classmate or a college roommate. This is the power of social media – it allows you to spy on people you know. That’s why it hurts so much when you are not on their level. Social media is nothing but a factory for jealousy and self-hatred.
The world seems denser and smaller today. Your weakness and “inferiority” have no place to hide. When you upload a clip showing your progress from 0 to 5 pull-ups, someone in the comments will post a video of a beast doing 50 pull-ups. All it takes are a few clicks.
Social media represent a constant test for the ego. It’s a game – you feel good when you are winning, but when you lose – it hurts like a bitch. The ironic part is that you can never win all the time. There’s always someone who is better than you. Always. No matter what. NO EXCEPTIONS!
When it comes to physiques, it’s the same thing. Actually, it’s even worse. Natties’ feelings are destroyed by the constant spam generated by the horde of fitness models loaded with tren. Deep inside, the natty knows that the brainwashed girls want those guys. It’s been proven.
Once I sent photos of fitness models to a girl I’ve known for a decade and asked for her opinion. She was miring. Then, I sent her photos of naturals (local guys doing mainly bodyweight training). She was still miring but not as much. The heart of the natty is aware of this, and the ego is constantly saying: “You are a loser. You are not worth much. You are absolutely nothing. Your existence is getting pointless.” Little by little, thoughts like that destroy the confidence of the natty.
I can tell you the mother’s quote: “They don’t have what you have.” but I know it’s not going to work. Every natty has to pass through this process to find his personal solution. You can call this growing up.
Thanks to social media, people have never been more narcissistic and materialistic. According to Facebook, everyone is living the dream, but that’s happening only in a made-up virtual reality. Social media is a network for virtual alter egos communicating with each other. We are their slaves. Everything we do is for the benefit of those virtual egos.
Back in the day, when I was recording my squats to see whether they are legit (below parallel), a guy asked me: “Are you filming this to flirt with girls on Facebook?” I said no, but he didn’t believe me. I have to admit that I understood his point. Today, we don’t do anything without taking a selfie because without content our virtual egos starve.
The whole post in a few words: Get lean. Lift. Stand tall. Live.
Another great drop of wisdom!!! I also like the way you tell the stories. The only thing I didn’t like is the part of becoming more athletic!! It sounds too similar to crossfit. Crossfit is the next step of fitness stupidity. (Just kidding). Anyway are you sure you look at yourself objectively?? 10 years of training should have an impact on your lats man.
Have a nice day!!!
Great text as usual, also very good point on social networks and brainwashing
I have to admit that I am also a Facebook addict – I constantly struggle to decrease usage of that shit, but with little success
And it’s whole true what you speak – you spend hours and hours of unproductive watching of pictures with irrelevant and mediocre people, and you feel bad when you see something better that you and vice versa and basically, you are wasting your time and life for nothing
It’s certainly better to read some book, watch good movie or go for a walk than that, but it’s easier said than done hahah
As for aesthetic – my experience is that ladies often prefer lean type of fellows, muscular and defined yes , but not that much (something like David Beckham physique)
Only fitness and health obssesed bitchies full of complexes often seen in every gym, are into buffed and muscular guys and prefer steroid like physique
For most ordinary girls, that look is disgusting – try to show some pictures of IFBB pros to some girls from your enviroment and watch for reactions
And yes – fat will make you both uglier and older – some very fats guys from my environment looks 10 year older that me, while they are actually 2-3 years younger than me haha
Stay strong bro and keep up good writting
Your words qre like honey for the bear-in -need. Thanks.
very very very legit article , i like your style and i like the way you say the things that all most all the lifters feel but don’t know how to express it . thank u
I’ve been training properly for 25 years now. I’ve hit some pretty decent poundages, all drug free. I’ve NEVER had substantial size. For example, my first ever recorded calf workout had me doing 150×8. My calves were about 13.5″. Over the next 6 years or so I worked up to 530×30 and eventually 705×6 at a bodyweight of about 175 pounds. According to all the experts and available literature my calves should have been huge. In reality they measured 14.25″. That’s it. I put over 550 pounds on my calf raise and gained less than an inch on my calves.
Similarly, I’ve curled 140 pounds, strictly for a set of 4, at a bodyweight of 180 pounds. My arms measured 14.75″. That’s it.
I’ve squatted 300×15, and Trap Bar Deadlifted 400×14. My quads are probably not even 23″.
That being said, I do look like I train. My traps and upper back are OK, and even my sub 15″ arms look alright attached to my 6″ wrists.
You have to just learn to ignore 99% of what’s wrtiten concerning weight training. It’s all horse shit. Over 90% of the impressive physiques we see, not just in the world of bodybuilding, but in pop culture in general, are chemically enhanced physiques. There is almost not a single big name actor that does a shirtless scene that is not chemically enhanced.
Here in the US they’re running a commercial with a US member of the olympic wrestling team for some yogurt or something. He appears in the commercial shirtless and is huge. As he walks towards the camera you quickly see MASSIVE GYNO. In the commercial. My point is steroids are EVERYWHERE. You can not watch TV for more than 5 minutes without seeing a chemically enhanced pysique. Commercials, movies, MMA, WWE, the latest actor playing a super hero, it’s everywhere.
You have to learn to become immune to it, and know what one can realistically expect through weight training. In my experience a drug free person with 6″ wrists, such as myself, might not ever get a 15″ arm or even 14.5″ calves. But that’s OK. Even with that, most people still know I weight train if they see me in a T Shirt. We’ve all been brain washed, as to what one can expect and what one should look like from weigh training, and it’s all a lie.
And when you say something like this, they usually say “sorry dude, but you are simply not trying hard”
Or… “your nutrition sucks” hahaha, which is really funny because I actually GAIN (or maintined) muscle just by eating food which might be called “mom’s kitchen”
This is very philosophical. I love it.
I often wonder if life would be better if I took steroids. However, I think that you made a very great point here. The body and brain were made to never be satisfied. This includes joining the dark side.
I thought about it more.
It wouldn’t make me happier.
I have a girlfriend, a great job, a great house, and I like the way my life is. I may be only 5’10 and 160 pounds, but who cares?
I used to think this website was pessimistic. I’ve realized that the truth sets you free in a way. By knowing the truth, it allows you to focus on the things you actually want. Things that would make you happy.
Thank you.
It’s not just the drugs either.
If you’re after perfect abs be careful of the example you follow. I’ve become increasingly convinced there’s a lot of liposuction out there too. I’ve seen too many sets of perfect chiselled abs where everything else about the body screams 12-14%.
6″ wrists? Wow. I thought mine were like chopsticks at 6.5 🙂
Calf exercises? I’ve come to the conclusion that the best thing for calves is put of 70-100lb fat and carry it around for a decade. Almost all the best calves I’ve seen have been on fat people, and I think all the walking under heavy load builds them up something wonderful.
Just want to say that, yep, all the anecdotal and scientific evidence points to calves purely being, aside from genetics (insertions), an endurance muscle. If you’re not fat enough, try walking around on your toes all day long. Probably not a good idea but your calf muscles will get bigger in a few years.
True man
I have 6 inch wrist and 13 inch arm.i have been training for 8 years all natty no supplement. Mostly bodyweight workout with little weight set at home.and I am 5.4 feet so my size look good and functional.but my back and legs are good developed.still kids laugh if I told them I train.all brainwashed fans.lol
You trained 25 years that’s a record hardly someone beat natty bro.its feel good that there is a real man who doesn’t hide.you are a real motivation man
Thank you for the nice comment.
Good wisdom here. Just injecting testosterone is 2x more effective than training itself (studies have shown this), that’s what one has to keep in mind when you question whether someone is natty or not. Even the actors blow up in size 1-2 months before a movie role and always lose all the mass afterwards, biggest fucking giveaway ever for roid use. Then they claim that they used a strict diet and training regime to get the results. What a joke.
What’s your height? It’s mostly likely the taller the better chance of bigger arm naturally due to thicker bones, insertion and genetics.
yeah it’s right.
Look at some of the old time strongmen…they lifted a ton of weight but they weren’t huge.
Natural muscle growth isn’t huge. But who cares? Look at someone like Sandow….that to me is the ultimate physique.
1) Lean
2) Natural muscle development
3) Unbelievable natural strength (not something you can obtain)
The modern world has gone mad and is lost.
Great advice, and great way to put it!
My mum always used to say, “Shoulders back, stomach in, chest out. Don’t slouch”. Advice she received from a drill sergeant in the R.A.F during WWII I think.
But it works if you persist. Keep your head up, look ahead when you’re walking, look at where you’re going not at your feet or your phone or a few yards down the road. If you do that, almost everything else follows from it.
Great article truthseeker, one of your best ever! Ive never had twitter or instagram, and only been on facebook maybe six times. Serious. Everything youve said is very much what goes through my head day upon day. Glad to know others feel like I do. Training is all about genetics for naturals, and leanness is key. I enjoyed reading this article, thanks.
Great article, if a person has above around 15 percent of fat but he has some muscle mass. With the shirt on aswell without the shirt it will look like he is holding alot of muscle mass with also the fat.
But when he slims, cuts down or gets lean people will see him as skinny.
For naturals or just every person living the point maybe is just to be happy with what you have at the end of the day and thank God.
Fitness or building weights is not the most important thing in life
that’s true…as a natural i don’t want to go lower than 12% B.F. as i start to look quite thin clothed. + my focus is on strength training.
10-12% BF looks great with some muscle development. MORE than enough. Get it..be happy with it…judge your success on other things in life.
People that put all their focus on muscle size…..are idiots. No other word for it.
Thank you!!
I´ve become addict to your writtings. This is another great post I should have read 25 years ago when I started lifting weights, taking every bullshit supplement on earth (I laugh when I recall Cybergenics) and not realizing that my genes and ecto natty condition would never take me to Arnold Swazenburguer “Pumping Iron” land.
Keep the good work homie. There willl always be haters!
Reading is often not enough, you often have to learn the hard way. Maybe because I was brainwashed long before I found this site, at least I have learned my lesson now.
what a great article, one of your bests, not only exposing realities about lifting but linking them with daily thoughts and experiencies aimed to help poor souls trapped in the claws of this soulless world. bravo.
keep it up truhtseeker!
Masterpiece
I am not sure I deserve that many nice comments because I am nothing special, but thank you all !!!
This article is a must read not only for lifters but everyone
To reiterate what the others have said, this article is just fantastic, and you demonstrate your skill so well in expertly written prose.
It’s just so shocking when you realise the truth in bodybuilding, and how 99% will defend their muscle heroes if you ever accuse them of ‘supplementing’. It just goes to highlight how much brainwashing has occurred in modern society, and how marketing has successfully convinced nearly the whole population that bodybuilding will turn you into a muscle god and get rid of all your problems once and for all. In reality, Jeff Seid is more insecure than anyone reading this article!
I hope your message can reach a wider audience. Everyone reading may be disappointed at first, that they’ll never attain such a head-turning body. But in the long run, those who align their expectations with reality will be far happier and free from insecurities and unnecessary stress in life.
It’s only a matter of time until your articles expose this industry and you get the respect you deserve!
Thank you, but I haven’t done much to deserve an immense respect. Also, I already receive a lot of support from people like you.
You can see the truth and you show it to us. You are opening the eyes of a lot of people, including mine. Even when you got no recognition, back when delusional people made fun of your posts, and the only comments your sites got were inane questions like “when is the best time to take my whey?”, when everyone said you were a hater, you didn’t quit telling it like it is. Now people are starting to wake up. Because of you. There aren’t many things more worthy of respect than what you’ve done man.
Quite likely that the person in the photo is the TruthSeeker. He has a pretty solid lean physique while not being big. He seems to be fairly strong. He skateboards and seems to be a very intelligent person like Truthseeker.
that to me is a good natural physique and about the best a natural can achieve….ok a lot depends on frame size, natural muscle etc…look at someone like Sandow, Hackerschmit for the real upper scale of natural.
Then look at someone like Edward Aston, Klein for the smaller end of the scale…
To me it’s a very worth goal. Why would anyone want to ruin their long term health to look “unnaturally big?”
One of the best article i’ve ever read.
really like the social media part of this post.
May god bless such good people who take such pains even today and live to the spirit of”Natty is King”
So, your ego says “you don’t deserve this kind of response from all this good people”. If there is so much hate within, maybe it is true. Well, then i would say, FUCK YOUR EGO. You deserve this and more BRO. We all good natty fellaz thank you for exposing the lies of the world and this fitness industry. May the Most High God bless you and reward you because of this task.
I would like to hear your thoughts on Mark Rippetoe. It seems his answer to any issue is always, “eat more.” But if your natty, it’s hard to keep “eating more” without becoming a massive lard ass. But the people he uses in his videos etc. like Wolf claimed to be natty. I don’t know, I’d just like to hear your thoughts on Rippetoe’s philosophy.
I’ve said it many times. Rippetoe is simply wrong. He takes beginners to 20-25% body fat and calls it building muscle.
Trusth seeker, is there any possibility to continue the “johnny’s adventure in the muscle world” series? thanks in advance, always tuned to your posts. Greetings from Peru
yeah, eat more eat more, you hear it constantly!! fck you, you can eat more because you’re on tren, clen, DNP, T3… for you it works fckin MOFO.
All these suckers should get natty for a while to see what it means
It’s B*S*…again go back in time and read Sandow, Aston articles, books. They lifted a f*** ton, had lean physiques and I think Aston preached 2 meals a day.. Sandow, said nothing special (but he didn’t over eat)
Getting fat…will not make you lift more. Anything over about 14% B.F. simply take so much away from your physique.
“Bulking” is the worse word for a natural to ever hear. How many times are kids told to “eat like a horse” all day as soon as they start lifting….it’s dumb advise.
Keep off processed food as much as possible, avoid snacking, try to cut out the booze..obviously sugar is a no-no…presto you get down to 12% BF in time. The food industry is another huge scam.
Just look at the strongmen and weight lifter pre 1940’s and try to live their lifestyle. Simple.
A great read again! This is probably one of your best articles on this site I must say.
Hi Truth Seeker,
Your alternative theories on hypertrophy are super interesting.
When I started lifting I was doing hundreds of pounds on calve raises, they were super small and super strong.
Now with a higher fat percentage for a few years my calves are bigger and more defined, I don’t have the ability to do those calve raises due to an old achilles injury, still the mass is there and it’s not just fat.
Greetings from the Netherlands
Eh the way I see it in the end you have no one to blame but yourself for your own stupidity. You wouldn’t do something unless you already wanted to do it.
Its funny how I read this, stuff like this, focus really hard on that wisdom and next day I will punch myself in the head for not benchpressing good enough.
If only it all was so easy; yeah, the perfect people are a myth, I know. Im being played, I know.
Then why im still mad?
Because we are built to desire improvement?
Do a natty or not review for Connor Murphy.
Do a natty or not review for Jason Momoa. A spanish speaking fitness channel in youtube claims that he is most probably natty and that his physique is reachable natty.
Thanks a lot Truth Seeker for your always eye popping and mind opening articles, I used to be a guy so thin he could be in the science lab, I started weight lifting weighing 100 lbs(45kgs) at 6ft. at the age of 15 with 2 dumbbells weighing 5 kgs and only got a 20kg barbell just the last 6 months of proper training. I probably had arms around 11 inches and my wrists 7′ and gained tremendous amounts of weight(mostly muscle) and now I weigh 165.3(75kgs) with 14′ arms and I never did anything except arm exercises and 20 push ups, I look a lot better than in my old pics but I still feel like I’ve not grown one bit, just attesting to the fact that you stated that we always want more. And also I was brainwashed into thinking the Mr. Olympias(thong warriors) were all natties and also watched Kali Mu$$cles videos thinking he was natty and the only thing b/w me and 200lbs. of pure musscle was tuna BABY!, before tripping over your website which has since opened up my mind and made me feel a lot more secure+confident and informed about the behind the scenes. Thanks for all your articles and keep up the great work, also please keep posting as much as possible, not a day goes by without me visiting this page for more articles. 🙂 Have a great day ahead.
Here’s another reason not to permabulk: I know a heavy benching permabulking natty that had a heart attack at 35. Not good.
Anyone who reads this rubbish and believes this embittered fool is an idiot. The guy is mentally ill.
Yes because we all know Zyzz, Steve Reeves and Henry Cavill were/is totally natty and never touched steroids nor other PEDs in their entire life… Go back to bodybuilding.com forums or t-nation were people still daydream of thong warriors on stage being totally drug free. Those guys are indeed mentally ill.
pussy cant embrace the harsh truth? get the fuck to fking LIVESTRONG “brah”
i will drag knives on you ,fat prick
Truthseeker
Wants your height, weight,and body fat ? ?
Truthseeker! You rock!
Girls love my man gut.
Girls be ‘mirin it WAAAY more than abs those physique naturals that use “tren”.
I shake it in front of them and they laugh their ass off begging to touch it.
Try it out sometime, you insecure man-child
Truth Seeker, keep up the great work. I bought your E-Mu$$le book and never laughed so hard in my life on the 1st page after you skewered all the big misconceptions.
Isn’t it bizarre how most workout sites will NEVER mention Testosterone when it comes to doling out fitness advice? It’s either training, protein, chicken+broccoli.
Thank you for the support! I hope you find the info there useful.
It’s worth to mention about diet that “clean eating” promoted by fitness gurus is basically bs
What is a clean eating anyway and what food is actually “clean” today? Whole food is just a convienient way to cut your calories which are packed in processed or junk food
You can get shredded (and healthy) as long as you are in caloric deficit – ofc, it doesn’t automatically means that you should eat junk all the time
Eating “clean” all the time is impossible on the long run, and not very good for mental health – actually, there is a unhealthy obssesion with clean food that is called orthorexia
Sadly, I know to much people who are obsessed with clean eating – they torture themself and prepare meals with almost no fats and seasonings wich taste bland and pretty much disgusting, just because some fitness guru said that it’s the “right thing” to do
I personally would become depressed if I was going to eat chicken, broccoli and rice every single day, which many gym goers treat like some kind of religion
And I never realised obsession with rice in bodybuilding? I don’t know what’s wrong with whole grains, potatoes, pasta, bread etc wich are also very good sources of complex carbs
Very true man. I used to suffer from this. I ate crap like plain oats, brown rice, flavorless baked chicken, and tons of whole milk all the time. It didn’t give me anything but false hope and a bigger ego. You start to feel very self-righteous when you are consuming your cardboard-tasting “bodybuilding meals” around people eating normal food.
Now that the delusion is gone I am much happier. Like you said rottenapple there are plenty of complex carbs other than brown rice. My favorites are oats, fruit, and pasta, and I do not see how brown rice is any better than they are. I can now actually enjoy my food.
But when people first start bodybuilding I actually think it might a good idea for them to follow a strict diet for a couple months, just to help them recover from all the crap they were eating before. Most people are addicted to sugar, refined grains, artificial flavors, and other processed junk. Eating bland food like chicken and rice everyday for a few months could be helpful as a kind of “reset”. Then after that they could just follow a reasonable diet and keep junk food down to under 15%.
B*S*..you have no idea what you are talking about.
You should aim to eat as clean as you can all the time. It’s a habit. It gets easier and easier as time goes on,
Sugar…is the cause of obesity. Laced in all processed foods, booze.
I am 10-12% body fat…have been for decades. i see so many obese people, men, women, children..it is disgusting. All snacking away on sugar carb’s.
You sir have no idea about nutrition. Go away.
People are dumb as fuck, supplements are natural as long as they are not anabolic steroids. I bet you dumb fucks think testosterone isn’t natural. Stupid retarded cunts.
As long as they are not using anabolic steroids? So if they use growth hormone, igf, clen and/or a few diuretics they’re totally natty?
You’re no longer considered natural if you’re receiving testosterone injections.
ALWAYS like your articles.
Please continue with it! Never quit 🙂
I’ve been lifting for a little over 3 years and despite training religiously and maintaining a good diet, I haven’t gained that much muscle. I’m 192 cm and started out at 80kg. Six months I go I reached 92kg, but then I noticed my gut is what was making me heavier and heavier. Maybe I had a late beginning as I’m 34 now.
Anyway, I can personally attest the validity of this article. I trained my first year, foolishly believing I was going to become a Greek god. I can’t remember how much time I spent listening to Scooby, The Hodge Twins, Elliot Hulse and so on. Until I came across this site. And to be honest, I was so pissed when I started reading all the articles; one by one! I did refuse to believe I was going to be a lanky dude unless I pinned my glutes.
As of today, I’ve learned a lot from this site and I do appreciate it. TruthSeeker, I know you’re a modest person when it comes to receiving compliments. But we insist, dude. There are thousands, if not millions of lifters out there who have eventually come to the truth; but you’re one of the very few ones who’s had the balls to expose all the lies pointblank. 🙂
Just like you, or like everyone else who reads this site, I also have tons of experiences and I’m not sure if I despise fake natties more than I feel pity for them. Who knows? The creator …
Thank your for this epic comment!
Great article as usual Truth Seeker. Thank you for that! One personal question – did you ever try any kind of anabolic steroids?
Closing in on 50 years old. I’m 5’8″. Was about 125 lbs in high school, probably 20 – 22% body fat. Lifted for a while in my early 20s but got nowhere except fatter because I though weight gainer shakes would give me gainz. I started lifting again about 8 years ago. Did everything wrong for the first 5 years. I’m now 153 lbs at probably 14 or 15% body fat and I’m happy with that progress. Transformation happened after moving to mostly compound movements and getting my diet right (and consistent). It’s a BATTLE every day. Everyone underestimates the level of commitment required. Be prepared to work beyond hard for maybe 1 or 2 pounds of REAL muscle per year if you’re really good at everything!
Anyway… You speak a lot of truth. Everyone who reads your stuff would be wise to follow. Everyone needs to remember one thing: Even though you may not end up looking like Dorian Yates, you are doing yourself a HUGE benefit in regards to health. Never forget that part. Study after study demonstrates that bodybuilding is the superior way to stay healthy – better than running (I like my knees and back) and better than yoga or any other form of exercise. I am in significantly better shape (with no medical or physical problems) than when I was 22. Don’t be discouraged because you don’t look like a pinner.
ok, i’m not trying to say that you are all wrong but i’m 24 80 kg 176 pounds for 5 ft 8 and a half 174cm
9 percent body fat on BMI test and bulking currently at 17 before training i was 58 kg skinny and easy got to 72 kg without training properly or the best diet first gains from there trained hard for a year got to 78 kg still without deadlift or squat or legs ever being done did nearly only chest and arms and back stopped training and eating right went out a lot went to 65 kg skinny from there when i started training again easy got back to 75 kg lean football 3 times a week now im bulking to 84 kg before cutting so 200g of protein a day from qualty source only same for fat and carb on slow bulking so not going over 10 percent BMI never taken steroids and honestly if you train and eat right you gain 1 lbs of muscle a month even 2 lbs thats if you train with proper technique diet train 5 or 6 days a week and train hard you can get that steroid look in 4-6 year give or take once you have it its not so hard to keep i have seen people i know not to be on roids over a long time get also will help a lot if you did sport as a kid just saying dont think without roids you cant be 80kg at 5ft8 and lean even up to 85kg more than that you may need roids or then mabey it will be 1kg a year but you will never but 200 kg even on roids
Congratulations you won genetic lottery.
you know what “average” means?
Can the average man with training run as fast as Bolt?
Maybe if he trains a certain way or harder or takes protein powders..?
Some people will claim they can.
This guy is depressive…
I am sure this photo with skateboard is yours. You wanted to become Tony hawks.
With regards to improving posture, one thing that has really helped me a lot is sleeping on the floor and without a pillow. It takes a while to get used to it, especially the no pillow part, but once you’re there it feels great and I no longer have shitty cubical posture. I should mention that it’s still important to do your deadlifts and rows to have good posture.
After ten frustrating years in the fitness industry; training, studying, and teaching, I finally decided NOT TO GIVE A FUCK anymore. The freedom that came with that declaration was life-changing. I was free to relax, breathe in, breathe out, and know that we are all going to die. Keep seeking the Truth!
Truthseeker ehat are your toughts on the adonis golden ratio, can you achieve it naturally, with bad genetics; narrow shoulders, etc?
What does step 4: Become More Athletic mean? Becomming leaner? Running more?