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Most bodybuilders are natural. Before you raise an eyebrow
at that, think about just how few of the 5’8”,
360-pound guys in striped tights and baggy tops you actually
see at your gym. Unless you train at Gold’s, Venice,
or in New Jersey, the answer is, most likely, a mere handful.
So despite all the sensationalism in the media, with such
respected sources as Geraldo Rivera and “A Current Affair”
leading you to believe that every gym bag has syringes clinking
around inside it, the fact remains that only a small percentage
of the millions of weight trainees in the United States indulge
in chemical wizardry to enhance their physiques.
Far too many trainees go to the gym looking to get the results
without using drugs that a drug user gets. The vast majority
of these people end up disillusioned, frustrated and angry.
“If I have to shoot up to get a decent physique, it’s
just not worth it,” they spout. Being drug-free ultimately
means being second best, they believe. This doesn’t
have to be true, however. The following bits of wisdom can
help you be a real winner in the iron game:
1) Don’t compare yourself to drug users.
Believe me, I know all about this one. When I first came to
California, I met all the pros and top amateurs in just a
few months. I compared their 23-inch arms, freakish vascularity
and so forth to my own, seemingly inferior body. What a mistake!
I beat myself up mentally every time I saw a “big boy”
in the gym, to the point where it was ruining my workouts.
Then I took a look around-and realized that for a drug-free
bodybuilder I was pretty damned big.
Take a tip from the psychology books, the only person you
should compare yourself to is you. That goes for every facet
of life but especially your feelings about your physique.
Everyone is unique.
2) Train and eat correctly. Often when people
claim that they don’t gain because they’re natural,
it’s a crutch. I see these people in the gym, and they’re
so unfocused and sloppy in their training, it’s pathetic.
They wander from curl machines to bench presses to the cables
at random. They cheat on just about every exercise and rely
on training partners to help them lift enormous poundages.
For your own safety-as well as for hypertrophy’s sake,
use perfect form and only cheat on the last rep or two of
a good set.
As for nutritional savvy, if you don’t have any, you’ll
never get really big. Most trainees don’t realize that
to grow without drugs you have to be twice as smart as a drug
user, and that includes nutrition.
Read up on the subject. Eat five to six meals a day, every
day. And no, you can’t go out every weekend and throw
back a case of Budweiser. Binges like that undermine all of
your heroic training. What you do in the gym is only part
of what it takes to make gains. If you’re not eating
properly and getting plenty of sleep, you might as well stay
home and forget about ever having a physique you can really
be proud of.
3) Train harder than the drug users. Impossible,
you say’? Not at all. Steroids aren’t the ultimate
anabolic; the human mind is. Look at the 100-pound mother
who deadlifted a 4,000-pound car to rescue her trapped child.
Drugs provide an instant reward for intense training by making
the results come so much faster, but they’re not in
themselves a prerequisite. If you’re eating plenty of
good protein and carbohydrates and you’re sleeping right,
you should be able to terrorize the gym.
Lift as heavy as you can in good form at all times, and don’t
quit until you’ve done as many reps as are humanly possible.
Remember that you’re natural; so you can’t afford
to take it easy. A relentless, hungry attitude is vital. Your
success is dependent on how hard you’re willing to work.
Wilt you undergo the pain of 20-rep, full-range leg presses
with 900 pounds, with your most recent meal threatening to
come back up? Can you eat every 2 1/2 hours and invest in
quality aminos and other items? Will you go to the gym religiously—
even when all of your friends are out partying? These are
just a few of the things you must do to get big without steroids.
If you have discipline, dedication and desire, you’ll
never need drugs.
4) Compete in natural contests. Unless you’re
some sort of genetic superman, don’t compete against
drug users. You’ll only be setting yourself up for failure.
If I had a nickel for every time someone blamed a poor placing
on his or her refusal to take drugs, I’d probably have
enough money to buy the Sunday paper. Compete in an arena
in which you aren’t already at a disadvantage, and you’ll
have no excuses. If you win, it was your training and diet
that helped you do it, not something out of a bottle.
5) Think big. If you don’t believe
that your arms will grow or that you can gain muscular bodyweight,
then it won’t happen. I don’t believe in the term
“hardgainer.” If you consider yourself a hardgainer,
then that’s what you’ll always be. It’s
a self-fulfilling prophecy, much like that of the prison inmates
who were told as children, “You’ll end up in jail
someday.”
You must fiercely believe that you can grow, or win, or whatever
it is you want to do. With this positive frame of mind you
can’t help but succeed. Without it you will surely fail.
These are the principles: Don’t compare
yourself to drug users, train and eat correctly, train harder
than drug users, compete in natural contests and think big.
If you adhere to them, you’ll never hang your head in
shame when Mr. Juice-king struts into your gym—and you’ll
never quit the sport in frustration. This is the only body
you’re going to get, so don’t abuse it with drugs
and don’t settle for second best!
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