A natural athlete’s body is not out of equilibrium as far as a bodybuilder who is using steroids, beta blocker, and powerful thermogenics. Using a drastic shock method may or may not leave you at you peak for competition.
A natural athlete cannot diet as hard as a roid head, because they do not have the drugs to help their body hold onto muscle and preferentially burn fat. Natural athletes also take longer to add muscle, which makes it even more important to hold onto as much muscle as possible while dieting.
I found a good article that was linked by gumby51 on his post. (thx gumby!) It has a lot of stuff about natural preparation that makes since to me.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne36.htm
It proposes a more moderate method of contest preparation, without any drastic changes. I think when it comes down to it, natural bodybuilding is about looking good and being healthy, while regular bodybuilding is about doing whatever you can to get big regardless of painfully obvious long term health risks.
As for Doggy’s remark about making enemies, I could care less. People who use steroids to get big don’t bother me. And they defiantly don’t scare me. If they feel the need to cut years off their life to look like a circus attraction for a couple years in the present, more power to them. I think freaky bodybuilders have a place in the spotlight. Looking at a 280 pound bodybuilder with 3% body fat is cool the same way looking a guy with tattoos all over his face swallow knives and regurgitate them. Freaky. Far from attractive.
What really fucking bothers me is people who lie about using drugs to get huge. Open a supplement magazine and you will see a professional telling you he got huge using this or that brand of creatine, or glutamine, or protein. Nevermind the fact that they have a GH gut from their overgrown internal organs, and misshaped muscles from their synthol injections. Add in an enlarged heart, tiny balls, and one seriously messed up hormone system from taking years of steroids, GH, and insulin, and begin to understand the picture.
Or the dickhead guy at the supplement store who acted so interested in my natural competition preparation. He told me he was thinking about doing a natural competition too. I was kinda surprised that this guy was natural at 5’8 250 with about 10% bodyfat, but I like to believe people. After talking to his brother the next day in the gym I find out he takes tes, deca, winny and GH, to prepare for his natural competitions. So yeah that does piss me off. What a wanker. I hope his tiny balls fall off.
To all those thinking of doing roids, one thing I have found is that women prefer the natural bodybuilder look to the roid look hands down. If the health effects are not bad enough, think of not getting laid. Or worse, attracting only roided-up women with deep voices and a nice elongated clitorises.
And you can still get pretty big naturally; I am 6 ft 220 with about 8% bodyfat. Live healthy. Lift naturally. For the future. | 
