---
title: 'How To Look Enhanced Without Steroids'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=2qDA86gP_zg'
video_id: '2qDA86gP_zg'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 0
---

# How To Look Enhanced Without Steroids

> Source: [How To Look Enhanced Without Steroids](https://youtube.com/watch?v=2qDA86gP_zg)

## Summary



## Transcript

Is it possible to look like you're on
steroids without ever actually taking
steroids? I think it is, but a lot of
people find that hard to believe. Vast
majority of people are saying, "There's
no way this guy is natural.
You just won't be able to convince me
there's a single chance he achieved this
naturally."
So, I put it to the test and I showed
this group of guys who swear they're all
natural to random strangers and ask them
one question. Who's Natty and who's not?
Him.
You think he's on steroids? Okay.
Oh, yeah. Like, that's just insane. It's
pretty big.
It gets a little suspicious, you know.
It's a little It's a little like It's a
little too much.
I think he takes steroid
him.
Yeah.
Okay. You stay forward.
100%. I would say natural.
No, they've just been getting roasted
the whole time. So,
yeah. So, sorry about that.
Yeah.
Based on their answers, I was able to
pinpoint exactly which body features
people look at when they're suspecting
steroids. And in this video, I'll show
you how to build up those features 100%
naturally. By the end, you'll know
exactly how to look enhanced without
ever touching a needle.
As for our eight test subjects, I
totally understand the skepticism when
you just look at them, especially a few
in particular. That's why I'm secretly
bringing in a medical doctor who's going
to blood test every single person later
in the video. And I'll say this, there's
definitely one curveball in those
testosterone results. First, let's break
down what people think a natural
physique actually looks like. On the
right is the definitely natty zone.
Basically, everyone I interviewed
thought this look was achievable
naturally with some basic training. A
few people pointed to subject number
five's quads as being a little
suspicious, but I got in a leg workout
with him and I definitely think he
earned those quads naturally. On the
left side is the questionable zone. Most
people thought these guys were probably
taking something. Even after I told them
they swear they're 100% natty, some
people still had their doubts. So, what
if I told you all of these people are
actually natural? That's crazy.
Oh, I'm going to start working out, too.
Do you believe me?
It gets a little suspicious, you know?
It's a little It's a little like It's a
little too much. I I'd have to say no.
I'd have to say no.
Bear, legit, are you in my YouTube
comments? Out of curiosity, I asked
people where they'd insert me into the
lineup. And some of their answers were a
little surprising.
At the end.
At the end.
I had to put you at two. I got to put
you at two.
Right here.
Yeah.
Wow. Okay. Not here.
Yeah, I can put you at one. I put you at
one. I put you at one. But if you cancel
out the person who put me in the most
jacked spot, definitely a fan, and my
biggest hater of all time, Meline, who
put me in the least jacked spot, on
average, most people put me in the
middle, right between the definitely
natty zone and the questionable zone.
Several people pointed to my shoulders
as my enhanced feature. And in my
experience, that usually is the first
thing that people look for when they're
judging whether or not someone's
enhanced. Anytime I'm accused of taking
steroids, I always hear that my delts
look just a little too 3D. And while I
owe a lot of my deltoid development to
solid science-based training principles,
I probably owe more of it to my mom.
Like, just look at her shoulders right
now at 60 years old, lifetime natty. But
if you're chasing that naturally
enhanced look, building a wide set of
delts is absolutely crucial. And the
real key is the side delts. I do lateral
raises at least twice a week, but when I
was early on in my bodybuilding journey,
there were actually periods where I do
lateral raises at the end of every
workout. So, if you're struggling to
grow them, try training them more often,
even three to five times a week. After
3D delts, the second naturally enhanced
feature that people pointed to was
actually the biceps. I was a little
surprised at this, but almost every
single person pointed out the biceps on
the four guys in the questionable zone.
Like, the arms are literally as big as
my leg.
That's like, I don't know.
Turns out that if you're trying to
impress everyday folks, having some big
peaked biceps might just be the easiest
way to do it. Subject number four drew a
lot of attention for his biceps peaks.
So I wanted to see if he had any secret
sauce for building those insane 18inch
arms. Literally 18 right on the money.
Yes. So I was a competitive gymnast.
It's up until I was like 14. I've got
this one photo. I pulled this off my
mom's Facebook.
You can even see the like delt
development. What? How old are you
there?
Uh maybe like 12.
Toli explained to me that he does a lot
of preacher curls with forced reps at
the end. So once he can't get the weight
up on his own, he uses his other hand
for assistance and then takes the full
weight on the negative. Even though my
biceps aren't really a strong point for
me, I did manage to grow them over the
last year according to ultrasound
measurements. And I owe a lot of those
gains to this exercise right here.
Beijian curls in that position, right?
Yeah. I keep it locked and it's just
curling up like this. And so you can
really emphasize the length and position
after biceps. The next thing that stood
out as an enhanced feature was actually
the upper pecs. A few people pointed
this out on subject number two as his
main wow factor. And I'll take a little
credit for that. I actually coached
Shamar to the all-time Canadian bench
press record for his weight class in
drug tested powerlifting. Even though
some of the science-based community
prefers machines over the bench press, I
strongly believe it's one of the best
exercises for building a big sculpted
chest.
I think, man, it's I really don't think
it's a coincidence, bro.
Everyone I see who has a big bench has a
big chest.
Has a big chest to as well. Right
now, when it comes to the upper pecs in
particular, it is pretty clear that an
incline bench will grow that area a bit
better. So, for the best total pec
development, make sure you include some
kind of incline press or incline fly as
well. After the pecs, a lot of people
pointed out that everyone in the
questionable zone had bigger traps than
everyone else. And science does suggest
that having massive traps can be an
indicator that you're on some special
supplements. That's because your upper
traps have a higher androgen receptor
density than most other muscles.
Basically, they're just more
testosterone receptors on the muscle
cells there. So, when you inject
testosterone, it tends to have a bigger
impact on the trap since there are more
receptors to bind to. I never had the
best traps personally, but I did manage
to bring them up the best my genetics
would allow. Obviously, shrugs are a
staple, but a good tip is to use a
slightly wider grip and think about
shrugging up and in. That way, you'll
hit the upper trap fibers along their
fiber orientation much better. The upper
trap fibers actually run a lot more
horizontally than many people realize. I
also think including some kind of
overhead raise is a good idea for the
upper traps. So, that could be a full
ROM lateral raise or an overhead lra on
the cables. And even though it's fallen
out of fashion a bit lately, I still do
think direct neck training can make a
big difference here, too. But above all
that, in my personal opinion, this next
thing is the biggest factor that's
actually fully within your control, and
it's simply being lean. Assuming you
have some muscle base, when you're
leaner, you're going to look much more
jacked. As a comparison, this is what I
looked like 30 lb heavier at around 20%
body fat. And this is what I look like
now, 30 lb lighter at around 10% body
fat. I'm definitely getting more steroid
accusations now despite the fact that
I'm actually quite a bit smaller. That's
the illusion of bodybuilding. I think a
big part of creating that like enhanced
look is just getting leaner.
Yeah, for sure. 100%. Especially when
you're naughty.
If you get leaner and like you get on
camera under some decent lighting, like
you're going to look way bigger. It's
just the way it is. You're actually
smaller, but you look bigger.
When you're leaner, you'll also be more
vascular, which is actually not nearly
as related to steroids as many people
think. Phil Heath is arguably the best.
You could make the case he's the best
bodybuilder ever, the most gifted
anyway. And he was just wasn't a
vascular guy. Neither was Jay Cutler.
You'll get more roid accusations if you
are vascular. People for some reason
think it's related. It's mostly just
genetic, honestly. It's mostly genetic
and low body fat.
Someone like Hussein gets a lot of fake
natty accusations online since he has a
huge social media following. And yeah,
he has a super impressive physique even
in real life. So, I get it. But just
like me and pretty much every other
fitness influencer, he does understand
the power of lighting, posing, and the
illusion of bodybuilding. Most people
don't realize just how much of a
difference lighting can make in how
enhanced you look, especially when
you're lean like Hussein. Actually,
while shooting this video, I played with
two different lighting options. This is
what everyone looked like with standard
diffuse lighting. Now, look at the
difference once we switched to more
spotlighting. Everyone went from natty
to enhanced in a 1second transformation.
Here's another visual. This is what I
looked like just standing in my kitchen
under normal lighting with no posing and
being filmed on an iPhone. All I did was
run downstairs to my posing room,
flicked on a spotlight, hit a most
muscular pose, and switched to a Sony
A7S3 camera. That's a big visual
difference with less than 1 minute
between shots. I'm only 155 lbs right
now, and when you look at me posing on
my own, I think I do look massive. But
when you put me into the lineup of other
guys that are bigger than me, I think it
adds a lot of context. Now, right before
I show you everyone's blood work, let's
talk about Julian. This guy's caught the
internet by storm with the majority of
people saying there's simply no way he's
natural. Especially when you consider he
just turned 19 years old.
Does anybody else?
How old are you? Yeah. 19.
You're 19? Okay. Yeah, he's 19.
Yeah.
I've been training for almost as long as
he's been alive.
I'm going to max this thing out for him.
Doesn't even know where to fit.
Yeah, we're starting to run out of room,
but yeah. Now, what's another 10? 360.
Let's go. We might as well go 365.
You think you'll get it?
I don't know. I just loaded as much as I
could.
All right.
Tell me on one, two, three. Okay.
31 up.
Here we go.
That's actually
Yo,
let's get five or six. Four. Let's go,
Julian. Push it.
Six. Let's get eight.
Come on. Come on.
Seven. Okay. This
got 12 me.
Go heavier. Stop.
That's too light for you. And you don't
do weighted pull-ups?
Uh, I do.
You do have three plates.
You do three plates?
Yeah.
I don't even know what to say right now.
It's just depressing. I sort of be like
if I should be motivated or just sad.
But here's the thing. Before you jump to
any conclusions, just take a look at
this photo. This is Melvin Wells, and
this photo was taken in 1949. The first
corroborated reports of testosterone use
in the lifting community were in 1952.
So, there's an extremely high likelihood
those arms are 100% natty. But if you're
really tapped in, you may know that
Soviet lifters did use testosterone in
the late 1940s. So, maybe this guy
somehow got his hands on it. One person
who definitely didn't get his hands on
steroids though was this gentleman. And
we know that because this photo was
taken in 1912, two decades before
injectable testosterone was ever even
isolated for the first time. Not going
to lie, those bicep peaks do look a bit
familiar. Here's the thing, some people
are just jacked. Just like there's a
huge range in height potential, there's
also a huge range in muscle growth
potential. If we see someone who's 7T
tall, we don't immediately think they're
taking growth hormone. But when it comes
to muscle mass, people often forget the
role of genetics and immediately jump to
steroids. Now, I don't want to undercut
any of Julian's hard work and chalk it
all up to genetics. The dude trains like
an absolute beast, but I do think his
answer to this question was revealing.
What do you eat? What do you have for
breakfast?
I do eat a lot of like protein and stuff
like that. Like same everybody else
eats. Like I go to Wendy's sometimes,
you know what I mean? Nothing crazy.
Here's what I think. Sometimes when you
combine worldclass genetics with super
hard training, you really can get to a
level of muscular development that some
people simply aren't going to believe is
possible naturally. No matter what you
say,
I'm in the gym all the time. It's like
somebody's like basically saying, "Nah,
you didn't put in the work. You just
stuck a needle in your arm." But I'm
like afraid of needles. I hate needles
like so much.
See, that's how you know he's not
enhanced cuz he said you put it in your
arm and you like you don't inject in
your arm. Nah. So, are you are are you
planning to stay natural or have you
thought about that?
As of right now, I'm just focused on,
you know, getting through school
and I'm also like a big family dude, so
I start a family and stuff and awesome.
Once everything's kind of, you know, set
in stone and have everything laid out,
then I'll be like, "All right, cool.
Let's shoot for Olympia." You know what
I mean?
For real.
Shoot for real.
Holy. Okay.
And despite that sounding authentic, I
still want a little more confirmation.
So, while they get their blood drawn,
I'll tell you what I'm looking for in
someone who's natural. Most healthy
young men will have testosterone levels
between around 200 and 850 nanogs per
deciliter. If you're over a thousand,
that's a bit suspicious. Over 1,200 is
very suspicious, and over 1,500 is
basically impossible without steroid
use. Pro bodybuilders will sometimes go
well above 5,000. I've even heard of
people going above 10,000, especially if
they're not taking other drugs to
suppress their levels. All right. Now,
with that in mind, let's take a look at
the blood results. Now, for the sake of
full transparency, I have to say there
actually was one person who went above
the normal range for testosterone. This
is the bar graph of everyone's levels.
They ranged from 415 to 689 except for
one person who hit 928.
Who do you think it was? It was actually
subject number six, Spencer. Everyone
else was in the 400s to 600s, but
Spencer's levels were substantially
higher than everyone else's. So, does
that mean he's the fake natty? Well, to
check and see, I went ahead and got his
luteinizing hormone and follical
stimulating hormone levels measured as
well, since those hormones tend to drop
very low with steroid use. So, if
Spencer has high testosterone combined
with low LH and low FSH, that would make
me do a double take. And as it turns
out, his LH and FSH levels were totally
normal, right in the middle of the
reference range. In fact, the LH and FSH
levels were all normal for everyone. And
to be clear, I definitely do think
Spencer is natty. A 928 testosterone
level is a bit high, but it's nothing
really out of the ordinary for an active
young male in their late teens. But more
interestingly, and contrary to popular
belief, more testosterone didn't
correlate with more muscle, at least not
within the natural range. And research
actually supports this. Studies show
that as long as you're within the normal
healthy range, testosterone doesn't do
nearly as much for muscle growth as
people seem to think. It isn't until you
start injecting testosterone and you get
to those super physiological levels that
it really packs on the size. Now, of
course, it's always possible that
someone could have used something in the
past, but I think the most plausible
scientific explanation is that when you
combine years of really hard training
with dedicated nutrition and the right
parents, the results can be super
impressive. If you want to maximize your
own natural potential, you need to dial
in your nutrition. I honestly think just
getting your body fat down is probably
the number one thing you can do to look
as jacked as you possibly can naturally.
I'm using MacroFactor to run my own cut
this summer and honestly the app makes
the whole process super easy and kind of
fun. Tracking your macros is like
playing a game to hit your targets each
day. We have a super fast barcode
scanner and we recently rolled out a new
AI photo feature where you just take a
picture of your meal and the app will
estimate the macros. If I'm having a
snack like a protein bar, blueberries,
and some mixed nuts, I can just snap a
pick of the meal and it'll pull
everything up at once. It even captures
trickier meals with many ingredients
shockingly well. And honestly, if you do
that in real time with whatever you've
got in front of you, it's going to be a
lot faster than manually searching for
every individual item. And if the
numbers ever seem a little off, you can
always manually adjust the amounts
after. I use this new tool all the time.
It just got everything that's on it. And
honestly, I think this is completely
accurate. The app will take all the
guesswork out of dieting for you. It
uses science-based algorithms to coach
you to your goal based on your unique
metabolism. All you need to do is take 5
or 10 minutes a day to log your body
weight and what you eat. We've got more
than 300,000 active users and our
community has shown off some of the best
transformations I've ever seen. So, if
you'd like to get started, just download
MacroFactor on the App Store or Google
Play, input code Jeff, and you'll get
two weeks for free. Thanks for watching,
guys. See you all here in the next