Steroid interview: the harsh reality of an IFBB pro’s cycle
A steroid interview with an anonymous IFBB pro bodybuilder opens the door to a world the glossy bodybuilding magazines never show. The whole story comes from Chris Street’s book and presents, unvarnished, the 14-week cycle that one of the biggest names in the IFBB used to prepare for the 1995 Mr. Olympia. The aim isn’t to promote anything — it’s to show what really goes on behind the scenes.
By agreement with Testosterone Magazine, excerpts from the book will appear over the coming months, describing how and how much performance-enhancing drugs are used by both elite athletes and non-athletes. The book has a separate chapter and a scientific overview for each substance. The public has so far steered clear of this topic — now we’re going to look it in the eye.
Steroid interview: why we’re talking about this openly
“When my guys say that getting ready for one big contest costs more than 25,000 dollars, what do you think they’re talking about — pasta?” Those are the words of Wayne DeMilia, IFBB vice president and chairman of the Pro Division, quoted in The New York Times on May 13 (2001).
Having worked as science editor at Flex and talked with many IFBB pros over the years, I’ll say it unequivocally: there is not a single IFBB pro bodybuilder who doesn’t use steroids. Doping scandals from other sports have made it into the media, but the backstage of bodybuilding is still foggy for most people. This month we give a brief overview of how these men get so big. The short answer: hard training, huge amounts of food and insane doses of steroids.
Steroid interview: the anonymous pro bodybuilder
The person we’re talking about is one of the biggest IFBB pros ever to step on stage. They keep a log of their cycles and passed this material to me personally, on condition of strict anonymity. Their off-season weight is 127–136 kg and their contest weight is about 125 kg (the exact weight is withheld). Their photos have appeared in the pages of Flex and Muscle and Fitness thousands of times.
By their own account, they have not yet had any health damage that would have put them in hospital. According to medical records, though, the side effects are plentiful: a heavily altered HDL/LDL ratio (HDL has been measured at zero on several occasions), temporary liver function disturbances, severe hypogonadism, reduced sperm count and mild depression. What the future holds for their health, nobody knows for certain.
Only a minority of pros get regular health checks. One thing I saw while working at Flex: neither the IFBB nor Weider offers health insurance to its contracted bodybuilders. Hundreds of thousands of dollars a year are spent on steroids, yet athletes compete essentially at their own risk. The reason is simple — a cardiovascular profile under that kind of load is hard to insure.
The consequences haven’t shown up on a massive scale, for two reasons. First, megadoses have only been used for a couple of decades — there hasn’t been enough time. Second, healthy eating, aerobic work and breaks between steroid cycles push the problems further down the road. Weider’s magazines present bodybuilding as a wonderful, carefree lifestyle. In reality, every pro knows that every injection and every pill has a price.
A 14-week cycle before Mr. Olympia
The following cycle began 14 weeks before Mr. Olympia. By the end, the bodybuilder weighed about 127 kg. To protect their anonymity, the exact contest weight and final placing are not disclosed. The numbers come straight from the interviewee’s log.
Week 14
- 400 mg/week Testosterone [the ester name is not disclosed]
- 200 mg/week methenolone enanthate
- 25 mg/day methandrostenolone
- Total weekly dose: 775 mg
Week 13
- 400 mg/week Testosterone
- 200 mg/week methenolone enanthate
- 25 mg/day methandrostenolone
- 0.70 mg/day tiratricol
- 3 IU growth hormone Mon, Wed, Fri
- Total weekly dose: 775 mg
Week 12
- 300 mg/week Testosterone
- 300 mg/week methenolone enanthate
- 25 mg/day methandrostenolone
- 0.70 mg/day tiratricol
- 3 IU growth hormone Mon, Wed, Fri
- Total weekly dose: 775 mg
Week 11
- 300 mg/week Testosterone
- 300 mg/week methenolone enanthate
- 25 mg/day methandrostenolone
- 0.70 mg/day tiratricol
- 3 IU growth hormone Mon, Wed, Fri
- Total weekly dose: 775 mg
Week 10
- 200 mg/week Testosterone
- 400 mg/week methenolone enanthate
- 25 mg/day methandrostenolone
- 0.70 mg/day tiratricol
- 3 IU growth hormone Mon, Wed, Fri
- Total weekly dose: 775 mg
Week 9
- 152 mg/week trenbolone hexahydrobenzylcarbonate
- 200 mg/week nandrolone decanoate
- 200 mg/week methenolone enanthate
- 200 mg/week dromostanolone
- 1.05 mg/day tiratricol
- 3 IU growth hormone every day until Mr. Olympia
- Total weekly dose: 752 mg
Week 8
- 152 mg/week trenbolone hexahydrobenzylcarbonate
- 200 mg/week nandrolone decanoate
- 200 mg/week dromostanolone
- 200 mg/week methenolone enanthate
- 3 IU/day growth hormone
- 1.05 mg/day tiratricol
- Total weekly dose: 752 mg
Week 7
- 152 mg/week trenbolone hexahydrobenzylcarbonate
- 200 mg/week nandrolone decanoate
- 200 mg/week dromostanolone
- 200 mg/week methenolone enanthate
- 4 IU/day growth hormone
- 1.05 mg/day tiratricol
- Start of the fat-burning cycle — every other day: 30 mcg clenbuterol one day, 100 mg ephedrine the next
- Total weekly dose: 752 mg
Week 6
- 100 mg Testosterone suspension 2 times a week
- 100 mg injectable stanzozolol 3 x a week
- 228 mg/week trenbolone hexahydrobenzylcarbonate
- 200 mg/week dromostanolone
- 5 IU/day growth hormone
- 1.05 mg/day tiratricol
- Fat-burning cycle — every other day 30 mcg clenbuterol / 100 mg ephedrine
- 25 mg/day oxandrolone
- Local injections of formyldienolone (into the chest, biceps and deltoids) until the competition
- Total weekly dose: 1103 mg*
Week 5
- 50 mg nandrolone phenpropionate 2 x a week
- 100 mg Testosterone suspension 2 x a week
- 100 mg injectable stanzozolol 3 x a week
- 228 mg/week trenbolone hexahydrobenzylcarbonate
- 200 mg/week dromostanolone
- 5 IU/day growth hormone
- 1.05 mg/day tiratricol
- Fat-burning cycle — every other day 30 mcg clenbuterol / 100 mg ephedrine
- 25 mg/day oxandrolone
- Local injections of formyldienolone
- Total weekly dose: 1203 mg*
Week 4
- 100 mg nandrolone phenpropionate 3 x a week
- 200 mg/week dromostanolone
- 100 mg Testosterone suspension 3 x a week
- 100 mg injectable stanozolol 3 x a week
- 1.05 mg/day tiratricol
- Fat burner cycle — 30 mcg clenbuterol / 100 mg ephedrine every other day
- 25 mg/day oxandrolone
- 5 IU/day growth hormone
- Local injections of formyldienolone
- 500 mg/day testolactone
- 500 mg/day tolbutamide
- 100 mg/day mesterolone
- Total weekly dose: 1975 mg*
Week 3
- 100 mg nandrolone phenpropionate 3 x a week
- 200 mg/week dromostanolone
- 100 mg Testosterone suspension 3 x a week
- 100 mg injectable stanozolol 3 x a week
- 1.05 mg/day tiratricol
- Fat burner cycle — 30 mcg clenbuterol / 100 mg ephedrine every other day
- 25 mg/day oxandrolone
- 5 IU/day growth hormone
- Local injections of formyldienolone
- 500 mg/day testolactone
- 500 mg/day tolbutamide
- 100 mg/day mesterolone
- Total weekly dose: 1975 mg*
Week 2
- 50 mg nandrolone phenpropionate 2 x a week
- 100 mg/day mesterolone
- 1.05 mg/day tiratricol
- 100 mg injectable stanozolol 3 x a week
- 100 mg/day Testosterone suspension
- 600 mg/day testolactone
- 500 mg/day tolbutamide
- 750 mg/day aminoglutethimide
- Fat burner cycle — 30 mcg clenbuterol / 100 mg ephedrine every other day
- 25 mg/day oxandrolone
- 5 IU/day growth hormone (ended this week)
- Local injections of formyldienolone
- Total weekly dose: 1975 mg*
The week before Mr. Olympia
- 50 mg nandrolone phenpropionate 2 times a week
- 100 mg/day mesterolone
- 100 mg injectable stanozolol on Mon, Wed, Fri
- 100 mg Testosterone suspension on Sat, Tue, Thu
- 600 mg/day testolactone
- 500 mg/day tolbutamide
- 25 mg/day oxandrolone
- 30 mcg clenbuterol / 100 mg ephedrine every other day
- 750 mg/day aminoglutethimide
- Local injections of formyldienolone
- Total weekly dose: 1575 mg*
Total substances over the 14-week cycle: 15,937 mg*
*The totals do not include local injections of formyldienolone or oral doses of testolactone.
Steroid interview: side effects and lifestyle
One look at a dose like this makes it clear: bodybuilders (pros in particular) use steroids, growth hormone and fat burners many times more heavily than athletes in any other sport (baseball players, American football players, athletics competitors, weightlifters, powerlifters). This isn’t simply stupidity or abuse — within this sport, it’s a necessity. The reason is simple: to step on stage and meet the judging criteria, the human body’s physiology on its own is too small. To maintain big muscles and keep building them, androgens have to be supplied continuously.
Naturally, it’s impossible for a man to build 90 kg of pure muscle. A body with a natural endocrine system isn’t built to carry that kind of mass. You can become a world-class athletics competitor, an American football player or a baseball player without steroids — but you simply can’t make it onto an IFBB pro or amateur stage.
I’ve spent a lot of time talking with these men and being around them. Don’t condemn them just because they use banned substances — most of them are decent, likeable people. By using steroids they mainly harm themselves. I’d draw a parallel with a heavy smoker: years of strain leave their mark, but the body’s capacity to recover is also remarkable. There are documented cases where, after a harsh cycle, the HDL/LDL ratio and testicular function recovered almost completely.
In the 1990s a new “breed” appeared in professional bodybuilding. With the rise of Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman, the yardstick for muscle mass was raised to a whole new level. Growth hormone and insulin entered the game — substances whose side effects are stronger than those of steroids alone, especially when combined with fat burners and androgens. What happens to a heart and internal organs that have grown pathologically large? Nobody knows for sure yet. The risks of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease are hypothetically high, especially with long-term co-administration of growth hormone and insulin.
At the moment we know one thing for certain — several professional and amateur bodybuilders have come close to their last day in an instant because of insulin use. IFBB pro bodybuilders are walking chemistry labs. As in any experiment, it takes time to see the consequences.
One doctor in Texas once told me: “Man, there are no free lunches in pharmacology.” That sentence sums up the whole story better than any prize money.
Dose sizes — what counts as a lot?
For context: 150–300 mg a week is considered a low dose, 400–600 mg moderate, and 700 mg and more a high dose. Now go back over the pro’s weekly numbers — and keep in mind that local injections and oral substances come on top of these.
A short glossary of the substances used
- Aminoglutethimide — prevents androgens from being converted into estrogen; important when androgen doses are high.
- Clenbuterol — fat burner.
- Dromostanolone — injectable anabolic/androgenic steroid that adds mass and hardness.
- Ephedrine — fat burner, also used as a pre-workout stimulant.
- Formyldienolone — injectable steroid that is injected locally; it produces an inflammation-like effect, which makes smaller muscles stand out.
- Growth hormone — injectable peptide hormone that stimulates protein synthesis and promotes fat burning.
- Mesterolone — oral anabolic/androgenic steroid that does not convert into estrogen and blocks estrogen receptors.
- Methandrostenolone — oral anabolic/androgenic steroid.
- Methenolone enanthate — injectable anabolic/androgenic steroid.
- Nandrolone decanoate — injectable anabolic/androgenic steroid.
- Nandrolone phenpropionate — injectable anabolic/androgenic steroid.
- Oxandrolone — oral anabolic/androgenic steroid.
- Testosterone — injectable anabolic/androgenic steroid.
- Tiratricol — a thyroid hormone, used as a fat burner.
- Testolactone — oral substance that helps prevent estrogen-related side effects at high androgen doses.
- Tolbutamide — oral; stimulates insulin release from the pancreas and increases the sensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin.
- Trenbolone hexahydrobenzylcarbonate — injectable anabolic/androgenic steroid.
- Stanozolol — injectable anabolic/androgenic steroid.
Finally: why this story is being published at all
This story doesn’t promote steroids — quite the opposite. The cycle above shows what’s not worth striving for. You’ll simply end up killing yourself or seriously damaging your health. The source material comes from Chris Street’s book and a T-Nation article series on why and how baseball players, American football players and athletics competitors use banned substances. I don’t know the exact year — but the “essence of the thing” hasn’t changed since.
Frequently asked questions
Are there any IFBB pros who don’t use steroids?
Experience and inside knowledge say no. The physiological demands and judging criteria of IFBB pro bodybuilding make a clean performance practically impossible. Separate federations exist for the natural stage.
How big are the actual doses compared with “normal” use?
A typical top-level pro takes 1500–2000 mg a week in the final phase — that is 3–5 times higher than what is considered a “high” dose (700 mg+).
Does the body recover after a cycle like this?
Partly, yes, especially the HDL/LDL ratio and testicular function. There isn’t enough data on long-term mega-dose use to promise anything certain about the consequences for the heart, internal organs and insulin function.
Translated by: Janar Rückenberg
Source: Turg.Fitness.ee
Come and train! ArtGym
