January 26, 2001
 Issue #31

NATURAL CAN BE EXTREME
by Brian Nasser

People seem to think that “natural” bodybuilding or powerlifting is not hardcore. I am here to tell all you non-believers, F*#k off!! There, now that I got your attention let’s dive into my “wimpy” natural world. See I know both sides of this game, since I’ve played them both. I won the 1995 Muscular Development Natural Regional as a MW, and I placed 2^nd while I was “on” in my State show back in 1997 as a LHW. To be honest I was much tighter when I was clean. Holding water was never a problem when I was natural.

One of my “staples” during my gear experiment was a 30 cc bottle of Norandren 50. I had used about half the bottle when I noticed little objects floating around in the oil! See I had always injected at night so I never bothered to look through the tinted glass with the sunlight. I ended up with pneumonia and they wanted to put me in the hospital, but I had no medical insurance back then, so I hammered NAC and Goldenseal for 3 days and believe it or not, it really did help clean me out. Right after that episode I became engaged to my wife and decided to stay off anything black-market. I was scared shitless! I still have no idea what the fuck I was putting directly in to my ass! Luckily all my blood tests have been normal for the last 4 years. I’ve been clean now for 4 straight years. Plus my wife would kill me if I juiced again. Hey, when you’re married you’ll understand!

The funny thing is I am stronger and bigger now than I ever was on the gear. I have to train smarter and with more intensity than when I was on. Being natural means you can’t be Mr. Olympia I know, but my physique is more developed than most of the “Gear Heads” at my gym. I have nothing against any athlete who uses juice; I would be a total hypocrite if I did. What I am saying is that some people can take enough shit to kill a horse and still bench 225 for 3 while looking like a piece of shit. It takes more than drugs to build a championship physique. Training smart is the first step.

How I changed my training to be an Extreme Natural.

Most of you already know how, but are stuck in your current routine and afraid to experiment. Don’t be!! See, most of us cannot tolerate the daily pounding of the body like bigger boned guys can. You know the classic meso-morph body type. Look at the skinniest guys in your gym, more times than not they are also there the longest. To go to a further extreme look at the physique of a sprinter compared to one of those sickly looking tri-athletes! There are some sprinters out there who are totally shredded! Now lets get back to how that can work in the favor of natural training.YES- LESS IS BEST!! It sounds to simple but it is true! I’m a huge believer in the basics above all, just check out my web site Http://www.briannassar.com/ Nice plug eh?

Natural guys have to lift big using the famous Big 3: Squat-Bench-Deadlift. Those exercises force your body to produce the growth producing hormones. Why do you think there is never a line for the squat rack? Because they are brutally tough, both physically and mentally. You also have to concentrate more, and the fear factor comes in to play. Sitting down on that comfortable padded leg press is easy. You can’t fall off and you have safety pins if you can’t move the weight. Now put an amount of weight that is heavy for you on the bar. When that bar is fully loaded and on your back with you doing all the balancing, your heart begins to race and the sweat factory goes in to overdrive. See there is that fear of falling or getting stuck at the bottom, I believe that this “fear” helps us grow. There is no way possible that you can utter out a word while doing the last couple sets of tough squats! The same applies with the deadlift. You have to use your entire body to get that weight off the ground. I’ve seen some powerlifters who have never touched a lat pull-down with lats any bodybuilder would love to have! Here is the Natural Extreme Program that gave me these personal bests drug-free, 500 squat, 430 Bench, 500 Deadlift (all in competition):

        Me 224 pounds only doing pull-ups and deadlifts. Jan 14, 2001

 

I would train twice a week using the above routine. Some times I only trained once a week if my school schedule was to demanding that particular week! Sounds crazy doesn’t it? That’s what I thought to until my bench went through the roof. My other 2 lifts are lagging because of back surgery on a ruptured disc at the L-5,S-1 vertebrae that I received courtesy of the Army. Hitting the ground after jumping out of a jet is not pleasant to say the least! But I’m pretty proud of my 500’s considering the doc told me to retire from lifting!

This is only one example of an abbreviated routine. There are many more, depending on your natural leverages, career, etc. I discovered this through trial and much error. Natural lifters might not be able to recover as fast but we can still train like wild pagan beasts! ROOAARRRR!!!!!!

Now my main concern is to get in my all-time best shape ever. I turn 30 in April. I don’t want to look like most of my peers! I figured if I don’t start losing this extra fat now I might never! So now I have incorporated cardio at a max 3 times per week. I’m training for a bodybuilding show but I still train for power. I’m also incorporating some shoulder press work to help my bench total. I’m not a big believer in “angle training” or pec-decs for those chest cuts. Bull shit! Your body doesn’t say: “oh, he’s doing cable crossovers now, we better put the strariations back in his chest!” It’s diet that brings out the cuts plus your genetics, not what fancy equipment you use. Take Dorian’s back for example, that thing was awesome sick!! You never saw him doing pooh-pooh exercises!

He took his fantastic genetics to their limits through hard brief intense workouts. People counter with, yeah but he tore his body apart! Well, so have other lifters who use light weights, like Vince Taylor popped a biceps warming up with 30-pound dumbbells!

Alright back to being an Extreme Natural  I don’t mean training without any supplement aids, or being a preacher for the natural cause like some of these freaks do. When I say extreme I mean train like an animal, eat like an intelligent animal, and never give up! Use every legal edge you can get your hands on. My goal is to prove that you can have a freakish physique using abbreviated training and being natural. Jason has given me an awesome opportunity to accomplish my goals. I’ve been working with Derek Cornelius at Syntrax, and will soon be working with Patrick Arnold. I have not been this motivated since the first time that I picked up a weight and it fell on my chest! That was 14 years ago. Holy shit - I might have to start acting like an adult soon. (Probably not!!)

My true goal is to look like the super freak Jason Mueller. This guy is scary huge! He looks like he belongs in a gladiator movie or something! I’m not kissing ass here, this dude is huge. Look for him to dominate the National scene soon! Jason and I are pretty much at the polar opposites of training ideas but we are both open minded to new strategies. We can always learn more or become more disciplined! I will be posting my progress on Anabolic Extreme, the only real web site!