Can you actually achieve YOUR ideal physique Naturally?

 

Since I was 12 years old I've idolized the physiques of bodybuilders of the late 70s. In particular: Boyer Coe, Frank Zane, and Danny Padilla. But, the physique that jumped out to me the most was the angular and chiselled Steve Davis. Not the biggest bodybuilder of his era at 5'11" and about 195 lbs, but shockingly dynamic, dramatic looking even.

When first getting back into gym life in my early 20s, I asked myself: "Can I build a classic physique like Steve Davis without using PEDs?" After looking into what classic bodybuilders took, I very scientifically concluded: "No. You can get big and fluffy or lean and stringy, but not big and lean at the same time without them."

So, from the age of 25-31 I cycled on and off, trying just about anything and everything. Guess what? I still didn't look like a classic bodybuilder by the end of my first years fooling with that stuff. I got big and puffy. Then I'd diet down for a show and pretty much look natural. Ha. Admit it, some of you can relate. The truth is, not everyone is a great responder to traditional androgens. Plus, I didn't know half as much about what I was doing as I thought.

After being completely off anything and everything, and only casually lifting, for nearly a decade, I got my test levels checked. One caveat- sometime in that "clean" period I heard of a new SARM and tried it out.... for a few months. ahem. But, yeah, given my 20s and wreckless use of harsh sarm, my test levels were wrecked and I went on trt via a clinic. Almost immediately they bumped me to the highest allowable dose per week at 175mg. Remember I said I'm not a great responder? Yeah, 175mg kept me between 500-650 nd/dl, not bad, but not optimum. I like to keep around 900-1000 if I can- still in range but at the tippy top.

How much does that help? Well, it takes me from slightly below average levels to dang good genetics levels. And, I don't have "dang good" muscle building genetics. So, it helps a fair bit.

With this in mind, someone recently asked "Can the natural myogenesis approach work for a lifter with "average" test levels and no trt?" My answer was yes, but the trt helps by preventing "low points" in test levels as you diet. It's not so much an issue when refeeding/growing as your test levels will likely bump up slightly, and temporarily, during this phase. So as an overall "safety net" trt is amazing- i.e. even a caveman that messes up their diet/training from time to time can keep from going into muscle catabolism.

During extended dirty fasting- we're fat adapted, in ketosis, burning fat for energy (instead of glucose and protein in muscle). But, there are times when, without the safety net of trt, test levels are going to drop. This is offset by a huge rise in GH production by day 5 or so of the fast (levels go up 5 x normal). So, even your average fitness fanatic will lose minimal muscle on a week-long fast- for example the author Tim Ferris regularly fasts and proved that using the "keto first" method, he only lost a few ounces of muscle during an extended fast vs. not being fat adapted and losing several lbs! Tim is a healthy guy, but not a competitive bodybuilder and not on some huge amount of anything at the time of the experiment.

So, as a protection against muscle loss, it's helpful- especially if you have low testosterone, duh. But, from this example we see that it's also not a huge factor. i.e. you're gonna lose fat and retain most of your muscle if you approach it correctly. And, given that the same stem cell prep from the keto/fasting will happen whether you're on trt or not, this means that the eventual resulting new muscle growth is not greatly hindered either. Again, if every other factor is in place.

For example- in this latest round I kept my trt the same as it's been for well over a year. Anyone who has used juice, test etc. will tell you that you get your growth goody from it in the first several weeks (6-8 perhaps) then it simply maintains. i.e. you can't take 200 mg of test per week and continue growing from it indefinitely. Whatever growth you got from that dose was seen in the first couple months and then it's business as usual. Like I say, will prevent some catabolism, but you won't blow up from it when you keep it steady.

But, what if I was a guy with naturally average testosterone- say 600ng/dl (you know, instead of my natural level of 9 ng/dl ) and did my same technique for growing new muscle tissue that I just tried: (injecting ecdy, dhea, lemon myrtle, genistein, and epicatechin) after a fast. How would my results have been different? Realistically, I would have lost about half a pound of muscle on the fast- Tim Ferris lost roughly this amount on his. Then, on the growth phase, I might have gained a half a pound less muscle perhaps- i.e. daily life has it's ups and downs, troughs in test levels, rises in stress etc. So, all in all, instead of netting 2.5-3 lbs of lean tissue all in all, I would have only been up roughly 2 lbs give or take. i.e. 25-33% of a difference maker. And, while this is only my subjective opinion and experience, I feel this is a worst case scenario and you would likely achieve around 80% of my results in the real world. If all other things remain equal (no injury, diet good, training good etc) then trt is likely a 20-33% difference maker in a situation like this.

Remember, we're leaning on the estrogen receptor, igf-1 receptor, myogenic pathway to grow for this method. This pathway is not dependent on the AR the same way traditional PEDs are. But, that doesn't mean the AR can't help. I suspect that timing a blast of primo, test, and mast during a myogenic growth phase would certainly add to the gains- more anabolic signalling overall, more anabolic support for the calories. i.e. In my case, I could end up with 4-5 lbs of lean tissue instead of 2-3. It doesn't sound like much, but done every 3 months, that extra 1-2 lbs could add up to 8 lbs a year- on paper of course. Real life has a way of tossing out hard numbers. But, you get the idea.

While we're on the topic, can we get realistic about gains on cycle? Part of the mystique of the juice when you're young and naive is that you can do a cycle and blow up 20 lbs in 8 weeks- the first time around. Hang around for awhile and you'll hear average experienced cycle "gains" of 6-10 lbs. I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but with the newbie experiencing 20 lbs of gains and the old timer adding 6 lbs, neither is all muscle. Yeah, over time you gain less overall. But, even in the beginning, at best, 33% of your gains are actual keepable tissue: not glycogen, not mineral retention/water, not fat. Real competitors can confirm this as they've actually had to stand on stage in a bikini and reveal just how much of that 30 lbs gained in a year turned out to be muscle- likely a few lbs at best.

Not trying to be a prick, but a good recent-ish example is Chase Irons putting on 40 lbs from taking ALL the growth hormone. But, you look at his before and after pics and it's clear (to my eye anyway) that it's mostly mineral/water retention in the muscle (by mostly I mean, a mix but likely 60%+ water). You look bigger in a shirt, you weigh more, you have more water in the tissue so you are able to lift more. But, how much new actual lean protein tissue is there? All that GH likely did add a fair bit of new myogenic growth over time. I bet Chase walks around with 8-10 more lbs of lean tissue on him than before- once the excess water comes off. Again, this is not a knock, just what my eyes are seeing. And, 8-10 lbs of lean new tissue is nothing to sneeze at! My only contention is that it can be done much more safely and a heck of a lot less expensively!

To my point, on Chase's instagram he has a post detailing how he went from a slightly puffy 280 to a lean and dry 240. I had the sound off, but my guess is that he's advising "Ok, now drop your GH from 22 iu to 2." Done. I'm teasing. I know what he's up to and it's working for him- like I say, he added 8-10 lean lbs and lots of water on the way up, then on the way down dropped 8-10 lbs of fat and 30 lbs of excess water. Which leaves him with more muscle, less fat. That's all of our goal. So, definitely more than one way to do it. And, he's shared all of it well as he's gone along.

I said last week that I wasn't sure if I was done growing or not from this latest growth blast. After continuing since last posting I've put on 3 more lbs. Some of it muscle, but some of it water/bloat. This is my signal that the muscle growing is done and my calories are no longer needed in that way. It's time to reset insulin sensitivity. I'm topped off, full and ready to repeat the process. 2 weeks of keto is my next step before another fast. This time I'm going to run Dihexa during my stem cell prep phases as I have heard first hand reports of it super charging the results of this phase- i.e. recruiting more stem cells than expected for a bigger than expected growth blast following its use. We will see.

I also mentioned that I had really had a breakthrough on the injectable ecdy mix. It is officially no longer satan's post injection pain formula. This is thanks to, frankly, stumbling on the ideal ratio of glycerin to benzyl alcohol needed to extract all excess plant matter successfully. It's so much smoother. Some of you early testers have packages coming. Also, I found that the mvp addition to my latest experiment was Epicatechin. Like ecdy, epicatechin is a sonofabitch to successfully get into solution. I'd like to add it to the current Ecdy mix to make an all in one Natural Myogenesis injection, I mean topical solution. But, it has it's own heat degredation challenges. So, the subject of this week's free patreon vid will be: Can we make a high grade injectable from low grade ecdy using the new extraction technique? And, can we add Epicatechin to the mix without ruining it? To find out, visit the patreon link.

As always, I hope some of this made some sense and that you found something useful or thought provoking. Hit like if you liked it and subscribe for more of the same should you be so inclined. And, I'll see you back here next week.