1974. "I take steroids because they help me an extra 5 percent. Women take the (contraception) pill. They are somewhat similar. I do it under a doctor's supervision."
1977: "Yes I have used them, but no, they didn't make me what I am. Anabolic steroids were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict diet in preparation for a contest."
1987: "I don't worry about it, because I never took an overdosage."
1992: "In those days you didn't have to deal with the black market. You could go to your physician and just say, 'Listen, I want to gain some weight, and I want to take something.' Then the physician would say, 'Do it six weeks before competition, then it will be safe.' And that's what you would do. The dosage that was taken then versus taken now is not even 10 percent. It's probably 5 percent."
1996: "I used steroids. It was a risky thing to do, but I have no regrets. It was what I had to do to compete. The danger with steroids is overusage. I only did it before a difficult competition – for two months, but not for a period of time that could harm me. And then afterward, it was over. I would stop. I have no health problems, no kidney damage or anything like that from using them."
Just for the record, EVERYONE in bodybuilding did steroids back then, and everyone in bodybuilding still does them today. There was not a single competitive bodybuilder since Steeve Reeves who didn't use steroids in some way. When Arnold and the other "Golden Age" bodybuilders of the 70s were using steroids, they were not illegal, and they were typically taken orally. There is nothing innately harmful about steroids. Like any drug, the danger comes from over-using them. All of the great pro bodybuilders from the 1970s - Lou Ferrigno, Bill Grant, Frank Zane, Ken Waller - are in excellent physical health to this day. As is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
These guys took anabolic steroids orally, and they worked out for several hours a day, every day, and ate enormous quantities of food - a bodybuilder even at the lowest level needs at least 1 gram of protein for every pound of bodyweight, and the serious competitors consume triple that or more. The way these guys were training, the steroids helped them gain a little edge, and recover faster. There was nothing unhealthy about the way the classic bodybuilders used anabolic steroids.
Today - it is a very different story. The top bodybuilders now not only use anabolic steroids (which they inject, not take orally - huge difference), they also use human growth hormone, which is MUCH more dangerous than steroids, and they mess around with their insulin levels and do a lot of other very risky things, like injecting their muscles with oil (yes, oil) to make them swell up. Bodybuilding has become more risky and more potentially dangerous but anabolic steroids alone are no more unsafe than they were 40 years ago, and I personally think they should be legalized, along with marijuana and many other drugs.
Just compare a bodybuilder from the 70s with one from the current day - the difference is astounding.
Ken Waller, 1975
Ronnie Coleman, today
Which one of those guys would you rather look like?
Make no mistake, steroids don't just give you "instant muscles" and they're not really a form of "cheating" because it's impossible to achieve these massive physiques without them, so saying steroids are cheating is like saying that using a scope is cheating to make a shot at 900 yards. These guys work HARD for their bodies - they have to have their diet and exercise down to an exact science. But really - it's getting out of hand today. Schwarzenegger's experience with steroids is a drop in the bucket compared to what goes on now.