natty card

Definition

The alleged automatic credential that natural (non-steroid using) athletes can play to explain their slower progress or smaller physiques. The fitness equivalent of 'I have a boyfriend.'

Example Usage

Every time someone posts impressive lifts online, comment sections are full of people pulling their natty card to explain why they're not there yet.

Origin

Online fitness community discourse around performance-enhancing drugs

Fun Fact

Studies suggest up to 30% of regular gym-goers have used performance-enhancing drugs, meaning 'natty' status is rarer than social media suggests.

Source: Online fitness community and bodybuilding culture

Related Terms

Beginner

calisthenics

Bodyweight exercises that make you realize just how heavy your own body actually is, requiring minimal equipment beyond your determination and a floor. It's the democratizing force in fitness that proves you don't need an expensive gym membership to suffer through burpees and push-ups. Essentially, it's the ancient Greek art of getting jacked using nothing but gravity and poor life choices.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Intermediate

loaded carry

Walking while holding heavy objects in various positions (farmer's carries, suitcase carries, etc.). Simultaneously functional and humiliating.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Beginner

the pump

The temporary muscle swelling and tightness from blood pooling during resistance training, creating a satisfying fullness that Arnold Schwarzenegger famously compared to orgasm. Yes, really.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Intermediate

suicide grip

A bench press grip variation where the thumbs remain on the same side as the fingers rather than wrapping around the bar. Named with complete honesty about the potential consequences of this questionable decision.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Intermediate

CrossFit

A fitness program that combines weightlifting, cardio, and the uncontrollable urge to tell everyone you do CrossFit. The first rule of CrossFit is that you always talk about CrossFit. The second rule is also that you always talk about CrossFit.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Intermediate

neural adaptation

Strength gains from your nervous system learning to recruit muscle fibers more efficiently, not from building bigger muscles. It's why beginners make huge strength gains before visible muscle appears, frustrating mirror-watchers everywhere.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

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lotf

laughing on the floor...