Martin Berkhan is a fitness model, personal trainer and an Internet celebrity in the online fitness space. He has become particularly famous for his lean physique and cutting method – intermittent fasting.
Many follow Martin Berkhan’s advice in the hope to acquire the same level of muscular development and leanness. However, can this happen naturally? Is Martin Berkhan on steroids?
How big is Martin Berkhan?
According to Martin’s profile on bodybuilding.com, he has the following body stats:
Height: 6’1″ – 185 cm
Weight: 195 lbs – 89kg
Body fat: 5.5 %;
The data above indicates that Martin Berkhan is 5lbs over nattyornot.com’s guide for natural bodybuilders. 5lbs may seem like nothing to you, but advanced lifters need about 2 years to gain 5lbs of muscle.
What about his level of leanness?
On his website, Martin Berkhan states that he has used the popular fat loss combination ECA (ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin) to increase his level of leanness. For those of you who don’t know, ephedrine is an illegal stimulant.
The goal of the ECA stack is to speed up your heart rate so that the body burns more calories when at rest or exercising. Therefore, Berkhan’s leanness has not been achieved 100% naturally.
Martin Berkhan disappears in clothes
Like most naturals, Martin Berkhan disappears in clothes.
Martin Berkhan is strong
Martin Berkhan can deadlift 600lbs. That’s over 3 times his bodyweight which is a world class deadlift in the natural world. Of course, this does not mean that he is on anabolic steroids, but keep in mind, that strength and super leanness have a hard time coexisting. You can’t serve two masters. Nobody is at his strongest at 5% body fat.
Martin Berkhan is lean all the time
Getting shredded is hard, but what’s even harder is preserving your leanness. Most naturals cannot handle the pain required to remain super lean throughout the whole year.
Conclusion: There isn’t a concrete evidence suggesting that Berkhan is on steroids, but there isn’t one suggesting the opposite either. Therefore, it is safe to assume that he may not be natural. Whatever the case is, most people will never build a similar physique 100% naturally.
Ephedrine is not now, nor has it ever been, illegal.
The herb “ephedra” is banned as a dietary supplement, but ephedrine is a pharmaceutical product (Primatene tablets, Bronk-Aid, etc) available OTC at every pharmacy counter in the United States.
Berkhan isn’t american and doesn’t live in America, so the argument that ephedrine is illegal in america is invalid.
It’s not even illegal in America. The creator of this website is as useless a lawyer as he is a bodybuilder.
Just because a substance is legal , doesn’t mean it’s natural… I think you need to get your brain checked ..
If u say someone is useless, prove him wrong… Come up with concrete IRREFUTABLE evidence that Martin is natural…
Not on speculation…. Until u do that STFU
Ephedrine is as natural as caffeine. Humans have used the herbal form for thousands of years.
That ephedrine is illegal was the argument made by the article writer.
Stop being an idiot.
This is the funniest review of a body builder. Read his book Leangains how to stay shredded 😉
Just found this on Martins site where he claims to have put on 20lbs in 3 months….. https://leangains.com/wrapping-up-2007-and-everything-that-was-before/
read the section titled “Discovering Intermittent Fasting: The Autumn Bulk”…. no can naturally gain 20lbs of muscle in 3months. Especially as he claims in other literature that normal natural gains are max 2lbs per month…
He says he puts on 20 lbs of bodyweight, not muscle.
Yes, but he was 6% body fat before the bulking and gained 20lbs and went up to 9%. He only increased his body fat by a mere 3%. To gain that much muscle and still be under 10% makes me wonder.
Not natty
Shadow pinner
I sincerely doubt his bodyfat calculations are accurate.