[BendtheBar]

Welcome to the forum.

The 17" is on track, I've been at about 17.25 at 12-14% bodyfat.

Regarding true naturals and strength, I would respectfully disagree. Many of the old school lifters trained differently then many natural champions today. In the interviews I've done with modern natural bodybuilders, many of them (Layne Norton, Joseph Ohrablo, Dave "The Texas Shredder" Goodin) are very strong.

Joe Ohrablo sumo deadlifts over 560 at a weight of 200, give or take, and I consider that to be incredibly strong. Those sorts of numbers could easily place him as an elite lifter. I know from talking with 100% Raw (natural) Powerlifting's Paul Bossi that there aren't many elite naturals, but I'm wagering Joe, Layne and Dave would be close, it they're not already.

At the age of 29 I bad a bench press max about 430, and a squat close to 500. I didn't seriously deadlift at the time, and knew nothing about powerlifting. But I would wager that if I had serious attacked deadlift at that time, it would have been 550+.

That would have given me a 3-lift total of 1480, all natural and raw, and at a lower bodyfat percentage. I would have been a "master" ranked lifter, and almost an "elite".

It would be my guess that many/most natural bodybuilding competitors would hold their own quite well if they showed up at a powerlifting meet.