When it comes to sculpting an impressive, muscular physique, natural and enhanced bodybuilders may appear similar on the outside but their approaches to training differ substantially. According to IFBB pro Ben Pakulski, "the number one difference in enhanced versus natural training is going to be the ability to recover." The use performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) like anabolic steroids and growth hormone enables enhanced bodybuilders to train with higher volumes, intensities, and frequencies compared to natural lifters. However, the foundational principles of proper exercise form, progressive overload, and targeted muscle activation still apply regardless of a bodybuilder‘s enhanced or natural status.
Defining the Natural and Enhanced
Before exploring how their training contrasts, let‘s clearly define what is meant by a "natural" and "enhanced" bodybuilder.
A natural bodybuilder, often abbreviated as a "natty" in the lifting community, refrains from using any performance enhancing drugs. This means no anabolic steroids, human growth hormone (HGH), insulin, or other muscle-building pharmacological agents. A natural bodybuilder derives their muscular development solely from proper training, nutrition, and other natural substances like creatine or pre-workouts. Passing randomized drug testing is mandatory for competing in tested natural bodybuilding federations.
In contrast, an enhanced bodybuilder openly uses PEDs to augment their genetic ceiling and recovery ability beyond natural limits. The most common PEDs used include anabolic steroids – usually in stacked combinations called cycles – as well as HGH and insulin. Enhanced bodybuilders generally compete in untested leagues which do not regulate PED usage. The IFBB professional league falls under this untested category.
So in summary – natties are all natural, enhanced bodybuilders use a variety of PEDs. With this defined, let‘s analyze how training differs as a result.
Recovery Ability Determines Training Approach
According to powerlifter and coach Casey Butt, the fundamental difference in training between enhanced and natural lifters comes back to recovery ability. The muscle-building and performance enhancing effects of anabolic steroids, HGH, and other drugs allow enhanced bodybuilders to recover faster and handle far greater stresses in their workouts compared to natural trainees.
Top natural bodybuilding coach Dr. Layne Norton also highlights recovery as the key differentiator:
"The major difference in training is going to be volume tolerance. An enhanced guy will be able to tolerate higher training volumes and higher training frequencies versus a natural guy because their recovery capabilities are quite a bit better with the drugs."
Since the enhanced bodybuilder recovers faster and support greater workload volumes thanks to PEDs, their training approach reflects higher total sets, intensity techniques, and frequency compared to natural counterparts. However, the basic principles of proper form, muscle activation, and progressive overload still universally apply.
Natural Bodybuilders Rely On Progressive Overload
Slower recovery rates limit the workload capacity for natural bodybuilders. Without chemical enhancement supporting their efforts, natties cannot productively train with the same high volumes and intensities used by enhanced counterparts.
Natty bodybuilding coach Jeff Nippard summarizes the approach:
"Natural lifters need to be a bit smarter with their training because they cannot accelerate recovery using drugs…they rely more on progressive overload and hitting each muscle with the right intensity and volume to drive growth over time."
Rather than chasing pumps and metabolic stress like enhanced bodybuilders, natty training should focus on getting demonstrably stronger over time. This progressive overload signals the body to adapt and grow stronger muscles to meet rising strength demands.
Heavy compound lifts using moderately low reps in the 5-8 rep range allows nattys to progressively overload by adding weight, reps, or sets over time. Multijoint moves like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, rows, overhead presses and pull-ups build overall mass by activating multiple muscle groups at once.
Enhanced bodybuilders incorporate heavy compounds too but have more latitude to include higher volume isolation lifts. Natural lifters must emphasize big, basic lifts as their primary mass and strength builders.
Enhanced Bodybuilders Handle Greater Volume & Intensity
Enhanced physiques are constructed with a higher overall training volume compared to nattys. Anabolic drugs let them productively recover from workouts far exceeding natural capacity. More sets, intensity techniques, and training days per muscle group are the norm.
Whereas natural bodybuilders struggle to recover from training each muscle more than 2-3 times weekly, enhanced pros often hit individual muscle groups 4-5+ times in a week utilizing split routines. "As an enhanced bodybuilder, I‘m able to train each body part 3-4 times per week and make progress. A natural guy training like this would quickly overtrain," claims 4-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler.
The sheer volume would overwhelm natural recovery ability but enhanced bodybuilders continue making gains. Top Olympia contender William "The Conqueror" Bonac echoes the sentiment:
"My recovery allows me to work muscle groups four or even five times a week if needed. I could not do this hard training if I did not take the growth hormones and steroids."
Besides higher training frequency, enhanced bodybuilders integrate intensity techniques like super sets, drop sets, partial reps and other methods natural bodybuilders could not recover from.
Both Groups Use Isolation Lifts
While enhanced competitors rely exclusively on isolation moves, natural physique champions understand the importance of compound lifts. However, isolation exercises certainly have value for enhanced and natural trainees alike when incorporated properly.
Bicep curls, triceps pushdowns, lateral raises, leg extensions and other isolation lifts stress individual muscles differently by removing other groups from influence. Both natural and enhanced athletes use these to target weak points or add variation to spur new growth.
Natty bodybuilders however accumulate more overall volume from heavy compounds while enhanced bodybuilders incorporate more isolation lifts. The common mantra "stimulate, don‘t annihilate" applies to natural training. Optimally stressing muscles without overtaxing recovery ability ensures steady gains over time.
Enhanced: More Metabolic Stress & Pumps
While progressive tension overload proves most important for natural gains, enhanced physiques are more commonly built via metabolic stress and muscular pumps. Also known as occlusion training and made famous by eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, this style relies on higher rep sets in the 8-15 rep range using shorter rest periods to leave muscles dramatically pumped.
Metabolic stress from pumped training boosts growth factors and feeds muscles high volumes of nutrient-rich blood, prompting a growth response beyond strength gains. Whereas natties focus on low rep heavy training, lighter weights and higher reps better suit enhanced recovery ability and acidosis-related hypertrophy.
However, enhanced bodybuilders also periodize between heavy and pumped training focused mesocycles to spur growth via multiple mechanisms simultaneously.
Periodization Around Drug Cycles
The open use of performance enhancing drugs among enhanced competitors requires additional workout considerations. Anabolic steroid usage follows set cycles which fluctuate between on-cycle "blasts" and off-cycle "cruises" which must be accounted for.
UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn highlights PED cycling necessity: "When you go on steroids you can literally start lifting five times the weight you are used to. But it is hard on your body so they need to cycle it – train hard then light to avoid injury."
Cycling properly allows bodybuilders to make the most progress from PED usage without overtaxing bodily systems. Enhanced training periodizes between high intensity on-cycle phases matched with lower volume recovery phases while cruising off-cycle.
Training large muscle groups together or targeting specific weaknesses are strategies used within blast portions to maximize drug-enhanced muscular gains. Lightened volume via split routines, higher reps and more isolation work suits off-cycle cruising periods.
Overtraining Manifests Differently
Overtraining occurs when training stresses outweigh recovery ability. The mechanisms differ substantially between enhanced and natural trainees.
Natural bodybuilders risk overtraining from training too frequently, excess volume, or inadequate nutrition/rest. Progress stalls as over-stress accumulates. Warning symptoms include loss of appetite, weight loss, insomnia, hormone dysfunction, injuries, irritability, and illness. Forced to train within natural limitations, reduced workload quickly restores recovery equilibrium.
Steroid usage prevents these manifestations in enhanced bodybuilders, making CNS fatigue the main risk. Aggressive training overloads the central nervous system without signals to warn. Rather than catabolism from training too hard, enhanced pros may instead grow progressively weaker, poor mind muscle connection, loss of motivation or appetite, and reduced workout performance capacity indicating CNS overload.
However they also rebound quicker from CNS based overtraining compared to natural gym-goers. Enhanced Swiss champion Silvio Samuel sums the dichotomy well:
"Nattys should watch for chronic fatigue, adrenal burnout and injuries. Enhanced bodybuilders like me rely more on perfect form and workout tracking to avoid CNS fatigue."
Regardless of PED usage however, undefeated reigning 7X Mr. Olympia Phil Heath offers sage advice:
"The key is listening to your body. Training through minor pain may separate pros but know the line. Train hard but intelligently."
Sample Training Splits
With so many moving parts, what might sample weekly workout splits look like for natural and enhanced competitors? While highly individualized, here is one example from elite bodybuilding coaches:
Natural Split
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Day 1: Back/biceps – Deadlifts 5×5
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Lat pulldowns 3×8-12
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Barbell rows 3×6-10
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Hammer curls 3×10-12
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Day 2: Legs/shoulders
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Squats 4×6-10
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Leg press 3×10-15
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Arnold press 3×8-12
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Lateral raises 5×12-15
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Day 3: Rest
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Day 4: Chest/triceps
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Bench press 4×6-10
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Incline dumbbell press 3×8-12
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Flyes 3×10-15
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Triceps pushdowns 4×8-12
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Day 5: Rest
Enhanced Split
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Day 1: Back/biceps
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Deadlifts 4×3-5
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T-bar rows 3×10-12
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Straight-arm pulldowns 5×15-20
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Barbell curls 3×6-10
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Preacher curls 2×12-15
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Day 2: Shoulders/triceps/traps
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Seated press 3×8-12
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Lateral raise 5×12-15
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Rear delt flyes 5×15-20
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Close-grip bench press 3×6-10
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Pushdowns 4×12-15
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Barbell shrugs 5×12-15
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Day 3: Legs
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Squats 4×8-12
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Leg press 3×12-15
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Leg extensions 5×15-20
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Walking lunges 4×20 steps
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Day 4: Chest/biceps
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Incline bench press 3×8-12
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Flyes 4×12-15
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Dips 3x Failure
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Preacher curls 3×12-15
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Hammer curls 2x Failure
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Day 5: Rest
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Day 6: Back/shoulders
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Weighted pull ups 5×6-10
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Seated cable rows 4×12-15
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Face pulls 5×20
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Machine press 3×12-15
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Lateral raises 3x Failure
Differences But Same Base Principles
While enhanced and natural bodybuilding training certainly has tangible distinctions, both groups still rely on proper form, targeted tension, and progressive overload as the ultimate muscle growth stimuli.
Natty bodybuilders stimulate their muscular potential through heavy, basic barbell training. Enhanced athletes crank volume higher and periodize advanced techniques aided by performance enhancing drugs. But muscle adaptational theory stays the same.
As IFBB pro Sadik Hadzovic, whose well-developed 255lb mass came with and without PED assistance, advises fellow gym goers:
"Training style really comes down the individual‘s recovery ability much more than their natural or enhanced status. You won‘t grow from random guesswork. Base your workout split, volumes and intensity on what your body responds best to."
So while certain training variables like sets, reps and frequency may change, natural and enhanced champions ultimately sculpt champion physiques through mastering the basics, tracking data, and refining the approach over long-term consistency.