Natural Male Bodybuilders

Body building is defined as the process of maximizing muscle development through the use of weight training, diet and rest. Natural body builders take this meaning to heart and work towards the perfect physique using natural and whole foods, natural supplements, training and rest. The use of steroids or other artificial means to the get the perfect body is considered cheating and not a part of the natural body building mindset.

Those who choose natural body building are purist who put their health first over the unnecessary health risk that other body builders take. The concern for body builders health is wrapped around the common body builder practices of protein loading, dieting down for competition weight, sodium depletion, dehydration and of course the most serious health risk the use of steroids.

One of the most well known natural body builders was Steve Reeves, who even after he had been retired for forty years was still an inspiration to body builders. Reeve’s physique has been called one of the most beautiful physiques ever and he got it without using steroids, choosing instead to use only natural body building techniques.

What Reeves did to get his perfect physique is still what natural body builders today are doing, which is an exercise regime with emphases on allowing the muscles to rest in order to see growth. Muscles don’t grow from marathon workouts; they grow from rest so overworking your body does little more than increase the likelihood of tearing muscles, not building them.

A natural body workout would involve the basic exercises that can be done with free weight working out four or five times a week for an hour or less in duration. The basics like bench pressing incline bench pressing, chin ups, pull ups, curls, shoulder presses, lateral raises, rows, shoulder shrugs, squats and dead lifts can all be done with free weights without machine or even a gym membership.

A workout should be intense because the intensity will push body builders to their point of failure with each set and this releases more hormones which in turn builds more muscle. High reps improve form and increase endurance while low reps make you more efficient. For large muscle groups natural body builders should be doing three to seven sets and for small muscle groups’ natural body builders should be doing one to three sets.
Natural body builders are body builders 24-7, and their lifestyle reflects this.

Part of the philosophy of natural body building is to treat the body with respect so drinking, smoking and drugs are generally choices that the natural body builder opts out of. Other lifestyle choices are probably familiar to all body builders such as eating five to six meals a day instead of the traditional three meals a day most people’s life styles dictate.

A natural body builder’s diet uses food choices to get the prescribed 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% fats needed to build muscle mass. All of the essentials for a healthy diet can be found without adding unhealthy and questionable supplements and without the prescribed protein loading that some body builders prescribe to.

Natural body builders feel they can obtain their needed protein ratio with a diet rich in eggs, rice, beans, milk, chicken, red meat, and vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and cucumbers and don’t need to add supplements with questionable benefits.

In response to the renewed push for natural body building the Word Natural Body Building Federation was formed in 1990 to support those body builders who did not want to compete with drugs in their systems. To belong to the WNBBF, participants must be drug free for seven years and adhere to a strict guideline against steroids and growth hormones and even over the counter supplements.

The result is a growing organization and more opportunities for old school natural body builders to compete and a growing list of supplement sponsors who see the value in endorsement of natural body builders who are living the healthy life that they can be proud of.