“People trust their eyes above all else – but most people see what they wish to see, or what they believe they should see; not what is really there” – Zoë Marriott
Layne Norton is one of the most popular natural bodybuilders in the world. Over the last decade, he built a tremendous fan base by constantly producing content about bodybuilding and powerlifting.
His physique and strength level have been a subject of controversy for a long time. Many are wondering whether Layne Norton is truly natural.
Obviously, the best way to determine whether Layne Norton is a natural bodybuilder would be to perform an unexpected blood test, but this is practically impossible. Therefore, we have to compare the physicals stats of Layne Norton to professional bodybuilders from the past.
According to online sources, {source; source; source;} Layne’s stats are:
Image via: http://naturalbodybuildingradio.com/
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Off-season weight: |
220-230 lbs (105kg) |
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Competition weight: |
190-195lbs (88kg) |
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Height: |
5’10” (177.8cm) |
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Arms: |
17.5” (44cm) |
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Thighs: |
25.5″ (64cm) |
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Best squat: |
617lbs (280.4kg) |
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Best deadlift: |
700lbs (318kg) |
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Best bench press: |
386lbs (175kg) |
Now, let’s see how a well-known former IFBB professional bodybuilder compares to Layne Norton.
The reason to choose a bodybuilder from that era is that back then the drugs were legal and widely used. It was not uncommon to find needles on the gym floor. Even the most popular bodybuilder on the planet, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has admitted to steroid.
Clint Beyerle
Clint Beyerle was a popular bodybuilder from the 70s and competed in many bodybuilding competitions including Mr. America, Mr. Wold, Grand Prix World Cup – IFBB and Professional World Cup – IFBB.
The stats of Beyerle were:
Image via: http://bodybuilding.ericsgym.com/
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Height: |
5’10” (177.8cm) |
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Competition weight: |
208Lbs (94kg) |
{source}
As you can see, Clint Beyerle is the same height as Layne Norton, and the difference between their competition weights is about 13-14 pounds (6-7kg).
Do you really think that the difference between an IFBB pro from the 70s and a lifetime natural bodybuilder is limited to 13-14 pounds?
If this is the case why would anyone bother to take steroids in the first place?
Let’s use another bodybuilder as a comparison – three Times Mr.Olympia Frank Zane.
Frank Zane is a former IFBB pro, a training partner of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He won the most prestigious and popular bodybuilding competition in the world – Mr. Olympia – three times.
Here are the stats of Frank Zane:
Image via: http://en.wikipedia.org/
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Off-season weight: |
200 lbs (91kg) |
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Competition weight: |
185lbs (84kg) |
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Height: |
5’9” (175cm) |
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Arms: |
18” (45cm) |
{source}
The stats of Layne Norton and Frank Zane are similar. Frank Zane is only an inch shorter than Layne Norton, and his competition weight was 185lbs (84kg) – 10lbs (4.54kg) less than Layne’s.
Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Now, let’s do the same exercise one more time. This time we will compare Layne Norton to the French bodybuilding icon and rival of Arnold Schwarzenegger – Serge Nubret.
Serge Nubret is one of the most popular bodybuilders in the world due to his extremely aesthetic muscular development and symmetry. He was awarded many bodybuilding titles, including IFBB Mr. Europe (1970) Tall, NABBA Mr. Universe (1976) and WBBG Pro. Mr. World (1977). Serge Nubret’s nickname was “The Black Panther”.
The stats of Serge Nubret during his prime were:
Image via: www.bodybuilding.com
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Off-season weight: |
212 lbs (96.6kg) |
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Competition weight: |
200lbs (91kg) |
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Height: |
6′ (182cm) |
{source}
In brief, Serge Nubret was 2 inches taller than Layne Norton and weighed about 5 pounds more in contest condition.
Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Many of you will probably say that the advancement of natural bodybuilding is mainly due to the improvements of nutritional science and training. Unfortunately, this is a naive statement. There are plenty of aspiring young men and women in the gym who train religiously, take their supplements, follow the guidelines in the magazines and yet are still far behind their idols.
If nutrition and training science have improved so much, how come only a few are getting results while the majority of natural bodybuilders struggle.
What are the popular natural bodybuilders doing to be as big as former professionals?
Are they eating better food? Are they using some magical programs? Are they sleeping in a more efficient way? What’s the difference?
Experts in the field would like you to believe that the difference is hidden in the supplements of today and the glorified training methods in strength books, but this is just an illusion, a political nonsense.
Powerlifting
Layne Norton is also a powerlifter famous for his strong deadlift. In 2009, Layne Norton deadlifted 700 ponds (318kg) RAW as part of the APF Illinois Raw Power Challenge in Willowbrook, Illinois.
Screenshot taken on February 28, 2014
{source: http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/federations/apf}
The American Powerlifting Federation (APF) was established in 1982 by Ernie Frantz. It doesn’t test its athletes. In other words, Layne Norton’s best deadlift was part of a powerlifting competition which does NOT test the competitors for anabolic steroids.
Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Why would a natural bodybuilder like Layne Norton compete in a contest where there might be enhanced athletes? Wouldn’t this put him at a disadvantage?
I used to like reading natty or not articles on specific body builders, but Layne Norton? Really? You don’t even have his wrist or ankle circumference to calculate what his max lean weight is. Who ever writes this shit is a keyboard pussy that doesn’t lift enough and can only take it out on more successful people than himself.
Are you that retarded?
Layne takes everything under the sun, he’s a fake natural bodybuilder just like everyone else.
He’s just one of the best liars, hiding behind a PhD and “advanced nutritional/lifting science”.
I’m really fascinated by people’s idiocy, better training or nutritional science, what a joke… People actively try to remain ignorant I swear to God.
I do not for a second believe that Layne is natural, however this article is a total nonsense. Frank Zane uses A LOT of steroids? Really? Zane was the smallest and most ecto-morph bodybuilder to ever grace the stage. Myself, I weigh 5-7kgs more then zane used to, however I am miles away from his physique, and so is Layne Norton.
Also, ONLY 14 pounds lighter??? 14 pounds of muscle will take you a decade to build naturally! And that is without taking into consideration that I never saw Layne Norton as tight or lean as the other bodybuilders mentioned.
I’m much bigger than him after years of training, good genes and hard work yet I know many people bigger than me that are professional footballers and life long natties. Yes some out there take drugs, but so many natties are huge and don’t take photos of themselves or care for the sport of ‘natural bodybuilding’ Who do you inspired ancient Greeks to carved there statues?? No steroids back then… There’s always going to be huge guys out there, not many of them compete for you to point and slander.
You are much bigger than Layne Norton? Why don’t you become an IFBB pro, you might make some serious money.
Because he probably doesn’t look as defined or as good, you fucking retard. I hope you know the difference between having muscle mass and being aesthetic.
Obviously on steroids! No doubt about it.
Layne isn’t natural and like others, here is how you know;
The body’s natural Testosterone levels do not facilitate packing on muscle while getting shredded. You will not find someone in the 5-10% body fat range with the type of muscle density like Layne has or any other bodybuilder.
When your in an anabolic state, you’re putting on both Muscle AND fat, and your Testosterone goes up. When your in a catabolic state, you’re cutting both Fat AND Muscle and your Testosterone goes down.
Most people’s Test levels are in the 500-700 range but with Steroids they can be pushed up to 3000. That is exactly how these people pack muscle fast, keep it, and get shredded because their Testosterone does not drop.
If you’re bodybuilding you’re competing for prize money… why on earth would you kneecap yourself and attempt to compete against others who are taking Steroids?
Yep this sums it up nicely. Huge guys who are below 10% bf are rarely if ever natural. It’s really not that hard to carry as much lean mass as Layne Norton when at 15% bf or more but to maintain it at sub 10% naturally is very tough without using drugs. In fact this is why steroids are so commonly used for cutting cycles to allow one to maintain lean tissue which is inevitably going to be lost while losing body fat. Calculating his ponderal index will quickly reveal the truth about whether or not he is natural.
If you follow the link below, you’ll find that Layne’s height works well with the equation. Just need his wrist and ankle circumference to do the calculation. At 5’7″ I can weigh a max of 173 at a single digit body fat percentage. My max bulk weight can be 190ish. The formula is accurate within a 10% range (5% over or under). If you think Layne is juiced to the titties, you’re just jealous that you don’t look as good. http://www.weightrainer.net/potential.html
This formula is not accurate.
His last weight in for avatar was 95 kilos and 8.2% bodyfat (his words)
so….. FFMI of more than 28.5… pretty much speaks for itself.
I’m 46 years old, 6 foot 2, 215 lbs, and have been lifting weights for approximately 20 years. I recently got on Testosterone replace, through a doctor, and have been taking 1000mg per month for 2 years. I saw Layne last month in the gym, and was astounded at his size. You tube doesn’t show it. I’m impressive but he was bigger all over. It’s sad that they lie about all the drug use! Gives people false hope. PS: Guy was pretty negative in person. Bad Karma! LOL
Lol when did you see him? I was with him in Thailand last month and he was actually smaller than I thought he’d be since he’s been nursing an injury and hasn’t lifted heavy in months.
You literally use the dumbest comparisons. Why not use actual physical symptoms of steroid use? Your page would be alot better if you knew what the symptoms of steroid use were. Such as 3D shoulders. 3D shoulders are the number one sign of steroids due to there being ore androgen receptors in the shoulders so they are more prone to grow. Or have more potential to grow. Varicose squiggly veins are also another huge symptom. Go look at pics of John Cena or Stan Efferding to get an idea of the varicose veins. Veins that are enlarged or don’t appear to be natural are another sign. Zero to no body fat at high body weights. A face well matured beyond the actual age of the person. Such as a 45 year old face on a 30 year old body. I mean you’re literally using height and weight and doing some dumb comparison. These are just a few symptoms. There are tons more that I look for. Such as how hard do they push themselves in the gym compared to overall growth. Etc….
There have been significant advances in training and nutritional science since the 60’s and 70’s and claiming otherwise is completely retarded. It is exactly these advances that helped people like Layne Norton achieve their physiques naturally.
However, as we cannot truly measure this, we can simply adjust for it in our comparisons by comparing Layne’s stage weight with bodybuilders competing around the same time who are a similar height, have powerlifting backgrounds and used steroids.
Layne Norton – 5’ 10” – 195lbs
Ronnie Coleman – 5’11” – 296lbs
Stan Efferding – 6’0” – 290lbs
Johnnie Jackson – 5’8” – 255lbs
It might just be me, but when the comparison is made fair, Layne seems small next to known steroid users, not to mention the fact that they are all significantly stronger than him.
The fact that he did his best lift in a non-tested event tells you everything you need to know. A true natural would have to be out of their fucking mind to even consider such a thing. That’d be like entering the Tour de France without a bike. 😂
HeS A BIG fake natty douchebag
Disgusting human as well
Everyone who really knows calls him dr lame roidton.
He has been juicing since a teen. Used all kinds of drugs to get thru post secondary as well.
He probably doesn’t remember half of it like all the tweekers don’t.
I’ve honestly never learned anything of value from Layne. I’m an advanced lifter and most of what he says just seems like nonsense. He’s got quite a few injuries for someone as young as he is with average genetics. His gear use in the past is quite obvious and you can only get so far naturally. Even Ronnie Coleman (one of the most blessed people on the planet) had to jump on gear. I don’t have a problem with people taking steroids but they market/profit off false hope.
Don’t believe Ronnie’s nonsense that he was natural until 30. He also says he was 0.3% body fat.