The difference between Natural vs. Enhanced Lifters

I normally recommend a higher training frequency, both in the form of more weekly workouts as well as hitting each muscle (directly or indirectly) frequently during the week. That’s best for both enhanced and natural lifters, but it’s even more important for naturals.

While enhanced lifters can still get significant gains from hitting each muscle once per week, naturals need to stimulate each muscle at least twice a week, and ideally three or even four to get significant growth past the beginner stage.

See, the key to building muscle is triggering protein synthesis, the process in which your body uses amino acids to build tissue. If you want more muscle growth, then protein synthesis has to be elevated to a higher degree and has to stay elevated longer.

After a workout, protein synthesis remains elevated in the trained muscles for around 24 hours – slightly more or less depending on the workout. By training each muscle only once a week, you aren’t keeping protein synthesis elevated for long in each muscle. Not only that, if you’re training each muscle only once a week, you might actually lose the positive adaptation (muscle growth) by not stimulating it soon enough.

This is called “involution.” The body doesn’t want to carry extra muscle mass that’s not useful. So by waiting too long before hitting a muscle hard again you might slowly lose some of your gains. Not all of them, but it can certainly diminish your rate of progress.

A natural lifter needs the training sessions since they’re the only significant protein synthesis trigger he has. Eating also increases protein synthesis, but in a systemic pattern and to a much lesser degree. So the natural lifter is far more dependent on each workout to stimulate growth.