Bodybuilders using steroids trained with more volume and used more advanced training techniques resulting in greater physiological stress on the body. It can be suspected that the enhanced recovery allows steroid users to train with more volume and recuperate faster from workouts compared to natural lifters.
STUDY INVESTIGATES NATURAL BODYBUILDING VS STEROIDS TRAINING AND CONTEST PREP
BODYBUILDERS NATURAL VS STEROIDS ARTICLE SUMMARY
- Steroid-using bodybuilders trained with higher reps, more volume, and more advanced bodybuilding techniques such as forced reps and pre-exhaustion training compared to natural lifters.
- Enhanced bodybuilders trained with more cardio and greater intensity six weeks leading into a contest.
- Natty bodybuilders used creatine and caffeine, whereas bodybuilders using performance-enhancing drugs took CoQ10, liver supplements, digestive enzymes, BCAA, and Essential Amino Acids.
WHAT DOES NATTY MEAN?
For those that were confused by the word natty, the slang natty meaning someone who does not use anabolic steroids or all-natural. I had to laugh when researching the topic of natural or “natty” that over on Google last week, 8.3 million people searched, “Was Arnold Schwarzenegger natural?” No, Arnold has openly admitted to using anabolics while competing.
There are intense debates on discussion boards about what is natty and what is not. If a person uses pro-hormones such as testosterone boosters, are they still natty? Many people claim to be natty yet use injectable peptides and other drugs to enhance their physique. There is also a fake natty in which someone says they are natural but are using anabolic steroids.
BODYBUILDING NATTY’S TRAIN DIFFERENTLY ACCORDING TO A NEW STUDY
When you are a natural bodybuilder, you have to do things differently from those that are enhanced. By enhanced, I mean using anabolic steroids. Previous research has shown that testosterone has benefits for increasing muscle mass and preserving muscle mass while dieting. Animal models have also shown that testosterone can enhance muscle recovery.(Beiner et al., 1999; White et al., 2009) Natural bodybuilders need to pay close attention to how hard they are training because a natural bodybuilder is much more likely to overtrain (Too et al., 1998).
STEROID VS NATURAL BODYBUILDERS TRAINING: WHAT DO STEROID USERS DO DIFFERENTLY FROM NATTY’S?
There has never been any formal research on the distinct training differences, supplement use, and contest prep of those that are enhanced vs those who are drug-free. This article was covered in great detail in the November issue of MASS, but here is a simplified version. The research was from the team of Daniel Hackett’s lab, who does amazing research on muscle physiology.
Photo by Tony Barnbrook187 bodybuilders were surveyed, 147 of the survey users were natural bodybuilders and never took anabolic steroids, and 40 of the survey respondents were steroid users. The survey asked about training volume, supplement use, contest prep cardio, and advanced training techniques such as forced reps, drop sets, etc. The lifters were asked about their offseason and contest prep practices six weeks into a bodybuilding contest.
STEROID VS NATURAL BODYBUILDING TRAINING DIFFERENCES
In terms of training, there were differences in the training volume between the two groups. Steroid users performed more volume (i.e., 24-40 sets) than natural bodybuilders (i.e., 12-24 sets). This could be due to better muscle recovery after exercise, allowing bodybuilders to recuperate faster and use more volume. As mentioned previously, there is an inverse relationship between volume and muscle growth. Natural lifters hit a point where more sets will not increase muscle growth; however, no one has ever researched whether using anabolic steroids will result in greater volume and muscle growth compared to natural lifters. The performance-enhancing drug users also rested less between sets than natural bodybuilders.
INVERTED U HYPOTHESIS FOR MUSCLE GROWTHThere were some similarities between the groups in terms of their training. Both steroid users (i.e., 50%) and natural bodybuilders (71.4%) reported using some form of periodization where they went thru training cycles of using heavier and lighter weights. Furthermore, both enhanced (97.5%) and natural lifters (89.1%) used advanced bodybuilding techniques (i.e., supersets, forced reps, negatives, etc.). Interestingly, bodybuilders who used performance-enhancing drugs did more forced reps, pre-exhaustion sets, and time under tension sets than natural lifters. This was interesting, given that many advanced training techniques are not superior for gaining muscle.
STEROIDS VS NATURAL BODYBUILDING CARDIO DIFFERENCES
Both natural and enhanced lifters performed cardio in the offseason, and there were no differences between the groups. However, when it came to pre-contest cardio, the enhanced bodybuilders performed more cardio sessions and also at moderate to higher intensities cardio (81.1%) compared to drug-free bodybuilders (54.5%). Given that there is no difference in fat loss between high and low-intensity exercise, this could be due to enhanced users needing to be more informed that high-intensity cardio is better for fat loss.
BODYBUILDING NATURAL VS STEROID USERS’ DIFFERENCES IN SUPPLEMENTS
Bodybuilders who used steroids used more supplements such as liver support, branched-chain amino acids, Co-Enzyme Q 10 (i.e., heart health), HMB (i.e., a supposedly anti-catabolic supplement), and digestive enzymes. In contrast, natural bodybuilders use creatine and caffeine. The interesting part is that the natural bodybuilders used supplements that were more evidence-based and considered Class A supplements by the ISSN with high validity from research. (Li et al., 2022)
To sum it up, those using steroids trained with more volume, more exercises, rested less between sets and used more advanced training techniques resulting in greater physiological stress on the body. It can be suspected that the enhanced recovery allows steroid users to train with more volume and recuperate faster from workouts compared to natural lifters. They also did greater high-intensity cardio leading into a contest prep than natural bodybuilders.
REFERENCES
The Beiner, J. M., Jokl, P., Cholewicki, J., & Panjabi, M. M. (1999). The effect of anabolic steroids and corticosteroids on healing of muscle contusion injury. Am J Sports Med, 27(1), 2-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/03635465990270011101
Li, J., Davies, T. B., & Hackett, D. A. (2022). Self-Reported Training and Supplementation Practices Between Performance-Enhancing Drug-User Bodybuilders Compared with Natural Bodybuilders. J Strength Cond Res. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000004356
Too, D., Wakayama, E. J., Locati, L. L., & Landwer, G. E. (1998). Effect of a precompetition bodybuilding diet and training regimen on body composition and blood chemistry. J Sports Med Phys Fitness, 38(3), 245-252. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9830833/
White, J. P., Baltgalvis, K. A., Sato, S., Wilson, L. B., & Carson, J. A. (2009). Effect of nandrolone decanoate administration on recovery from bupivacaine-induced muscle injury. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 107(5), 1420-1430. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00668.2009
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