The S-Files
By Brian Batcheldor
The one question that I get most often is, "What's the biggest dosage you've ever heard of anyone taking?" The answer is, "A lot." However, most of the reports on this topic are grossly exaggerated, with the Andreas Muntzer case being typical. Poor Andreas will go down in the medical journals for his unprecedented levels of abuse simply because of a cycle found written on a piece of paper in his possession. However, those that knew him know that this was only a commonly utilized ploy to partially protect someone from prosecution if they were caught in possession of quantities indicative of dealing.
Another fallacy is that today's pros have laid down a blueprint for death by virtue of their mega dose-induced mass. The trail of thought here is that today's pros are only big because they take far more drugs than the pros of yesteryear. The competitive bodybuilder of the '90s is assumed to be an all-knowing alchemist with far more pills and potions available to him than his predecessors. Even those who don't have "the knowledge" have their own secret guru, available for a modest fee, who holds the keys to eternal mass.
The fact that football players, basketball players, boxers, track and field athletes, and Joe Public are bigger and leaner than his or her counterparts from the '70s and '80s seems to be irrelevant. And the fact that there's far more technology available regarding nutrition, quality coaching, training facilities, and self-education media doesn't seem to count for much, either. If you consider that there are simply more people on the planet than ever before, and that a higher percentage of these people now go to the gym, it seems not only possible, but likely, that some genetic freaks are going to surface.
So who perpetuates these myths? Usually bitter ex-pros from the bygone age—so-called gurus that nobody actually seems to acknowledge, let alone confide in with their most intimate secrets. Or sad, twisted individuals who blame everything—from Elvis' constipation to Arnold's acting—on anabolics, yet whose own potential for cell growth shadows that of an amoeba.
In truth, some of the most extreme examples of abuse that I am aware of took place in the late '70s and early '80s. I personally know two powerlifters and five top-level bodybuilders (two Olympia competitors) who have admitted to taking between 50 and 100 dianabol a day during the '70s. They also claim that they knew many other top-level athletes who have done the same, along with taking various injectables, also in huge dosages. Some of them knew athletes that became very ill from their practice without realizing the cause. The funny thing is that, in many instances, the doctors did not recognize the cause, either—typically cross-questioning the patient about alcoholism even after hearing what they had been taking. This demonstrates how easy it is for the facts to become buried.
I also know one top strength athlete who admitted to regularly taking 100 dianabol a day and two 5,000-mg doses of testosterone per week during the weeks prior to a competition. He would also train on amphetamine and use sleeping pills to allow him to sleep twice a day, all during the innocent '70s and early '80s. By this man's own admission, if he had not injured himself seriously in preparation for the world championships, he probably would have died.
One world powerlifting champion told me that, in the early '80s, he would usually inject 10 ml of stanazolol (yes, that's 500 mg) a day for the last month before a contest. Another told me of his friend who took eight Anadrol a day until he was hospitalized.
The most extreme example that I've ever heard was confessed to me by a former British Olympia competitor. During the preparation for his last show, in the '80s, he took two Anadrol, ten dianabol, six Halotestin, and 100 Anavar a day. On top of this, he also injected 4,000 mg of Deca, 2,000 mg of testosterone cypionate, 400 mg of Winstrol, and 400 mg of Primobolan per week. Add to this Thiomucase injections, thyroxine, Nolvadex, and Esiclene, but make sure that you don't cremate this SOB when he goes because he'll probably burn for a week! These are just a few examples, but I have heard of many such claims throughout the years.
The argument that there are more advanced drugs and variety available to today's competitor is flawed. I accept that there's more knowledge of drug use today and that growth hormone is probably the single-greatest advancement in the ergogen profile, but GH was also available to those who endured the '80s. Besides, the lack of knowledge often led to more abuse, not less.
However, athletes today will never know the benefits of some of the now discontinued drugs used by "those who point the finger." Just ask Dan Duchaine or Jeff Feliciano about the effectiveness of drugs like Roxilon, bolasterone, Anatrofin, thiomesterone, Finaject...I'm sorry, I can't go on without getting emotional. God, I miss them!
Sure, there's still plenty of abuse today. I know several Olympia competitors that are taking 30-40 dianabol a day and around 2,000 mg of both Deca and cypionate per week during the off-season. Some national competitors are taking much more.
Typically, today's pro will use a minimum of six products in his build-up for a show, but that doesn't include thyroid, clenbuterol, Cytadren, Nolvadex, insulin, insulin agonists, and diuretics. Some use more exotic specials like IGF, prostaglandins, EPO, Synthol, heparin, glucagon, osmotic diuretics, topical fat-burning products, and opiate-based anti-catabolics, like Nubain and Buprenex. GH use is obviously quite common, too, and the standard dosage is usually around 8-20 IU a day.
For obvious reasons, I cannot go into the personal dosages of any of the athletes that I advise. But I hope that this will help you, perhaps, see things in a different light the next time you hear weary dribblings of the "out of touch" antagonists and the "wannabe" experts.