Is it possible to naturally body build and, if so, any advice?

^^^CORRECT^^^ But you could try drinking some Whey Protein,that stuff is PACKED with amino acids and all that good stuff to build muscle,I’m 14 and I already noticed results in about a week.Whey Protein shakes are easily found in common retailers such as WAL-MART, Wallgreens,GNC anywhere! They taste like chocolate milk (Come in different flavors) and it settles FAST! So what I suggest is doing some cardio and using your OWN BODY to build muscle pushups. pullups(Favorite)Crunches,squats ect. and you will get TONE muscle which looks much better than that huge bulky body look. I think chicks like toned muscle more cause it shows how DEFINE the muscle is and how good it looks.

=.= i am the other way around i actually like the bulk stuff even for a girl. >< lol….my dad wants me to do pilaties as it tones muscle and is good for core strength.

i know im weird right? lol

I’m a natural amateur bodybuilder and I’m sure I can pass down some experience that I’ve gained from doing research.

First, bodybuilding is a lifestyle, so it’s not one of those “I want to party today, I’ll work out tomorrow.” type of deals. You have to be determined mentally and physically and that’s more difficult than it sounds. You give up a substantial amount of hours in your day just living the lifestyle. Apart from lifting weights, I sleep and eat, and that’s it.

Anyway, the first thing you want to do is build a solid diet. This can make or break you, and finding your calorie intake and macronutrient intake is pretty important. For this I’ll help you out a bit depending on what path you want to go.

To lose weight first:

1. Bodyweight x 20 = Total calories/day to maintain weight
2. Calories - 300 to 500 = Calories needed to lose 1-1.5lb./week
3. 40/40/20 ratio or 1g protein, 1-2g carbs and .5g fat

Note: This is to lose fat, not weight. Any loss greather than 2lb. a week is considered loss of muscle mass and fat so 1-2lb. a week helps retain muscle while losing fat.

To gain weight:

1. Bodyweight x 20 = Calories needed to maintain weight
2. Calories + 300-500 = Calories needed to gain 1lb. a week
3. 1-1.5g of protein, 2g carbs, .5g fats or 40/40/20 or 50/30/20 ratio

On the subject of supplements, you can use them. The supplements to consider using are Whey or Soy protein (Isolate or Concentrate), Creatine (Monohydrate, Glucocenate, Kre-Alkalyn, Phosphate, etc.), and BCAA’s. Now a brief explanation, these are not steroids. Your body creates most of this except for whey, soy, and creatine, which can only be found in foods like beef, chicken, and vegetables and fish. Isolate proteins are great because these proteins are the smallest particles and only contain 90% pure protein, which helps the body absorb it better. Concentrate contains good fats and BCAA’s but has a slower absorption rate. I prefer both, so try for a blend which is cheaper as isolate is more expensive because it requires a longer filtration process.

Creatine comes in all forms, but the best one and the worst one is monohydrate. It is the best because it has the best effect on blocking the toxin fatigue and also helps retain water in the cells to give more muscle size and allows the user to lift heavier. It is the worst because the absorption rate is the slowest and usually takes a good 15-30 minutes to digest. The second best is Creatine Phosphate or Phosphocreatine because it releases ADP which converts to ATP, a high-energy acid that the body can use. It takes about 2-3 minutes to be effective, but has a less likely chance of preventing creatine to convert to creatinine, which is not used to by the body and is excreted by the kidneys to help pee it out faster. Basically, the more creatine that is converted into creatinine, the less effective the creatine is, and phosphate lets this happen. Kre-Alkalyn is one that prevents this from happening and lets creatine be absorbed longer and better by the body. Using a blend of various types though is helpful.

BCAA’s are very important. These amino acids help build muscle and should be consumed daily whether from food or supplements if you want to allow the body to efficiently grow muscle.

Prohormones, or testosterone boosters are still natural, to an extent. Lots of T-boosters only contain Testosterone Tribulus in a high amount, which increases your normal level and helps direct it to utilize it more efficiently. Though, you won’t need them unless you either have a low T-level or are in your late 30’s and early 40’s where T-level begins to decrease. But they are legal and are not considered steroids by most organizations. Steroids like Anavar, D-Bol and others however, are banned by all organizations and you can even be banned from attending competitions.

To add further insight, the results you see is dependent on your genetics as well. Some people can build muscle more efficiently than others. Whether you see results now quickly and slowly after a few months is because your body is not new to weights anymore. If you train and are a newbie, use a 3-day split training each body part twice with compound lifts (Bench, Squat, Deadlift) for a few weeks to several months until you have built a solid base.

Once you’re more experienced like me, you can move on to 4-day or even 5-day splits where you begin to use more of a blend of compound movements followed by isolation lifts and even methods like Rest-Pause, Negatives, or Forced reps. Also, keep in mind that volume (lots of sets) does not equal more muscle, neither does intensity and speed (reps and weight) or even spending more than 1 hour and 10 minutes in the gym. In the gym, you are literally tearing muscle tissue apart, so resting and dieting right will help recover this muscle tissue and build more on it to become bigger and stronger.

I would also like to say that if you “bulk” (Ugh, that word, I use the term LMD - Lean Mass Dieting), don’t expect to keep the abs, since your main focus is gaining muscle mass, not keeping a 6-pack for the ladies. If you start to gain more fat, cut the fats lower and decrease carbs a bit, and vice versa if you’re not gaining weight. Also, don’t expect to see results every day. I’ve been working out for 2 years and only bodybuilding for almost a year and it’s not like you wake up huge, it’s a long process that takes lots of time and dedication. Practice posing almost every day for 15-20 minutes and really build that muscle-mind connection.

Remember, bodybuilding is 70% diet, 10% training, and 20% rest. If you follow that, you’ll see better results. Good luck. Oh, and if you’re wanting to compete, don’t worry about being small, it’s all proportion and posing. :)