Arnold Schwarzenegger is the face of bodybuilding. When you picture a perfect physique, you probably see him standing on a stage in the 1970s, hitting a double bicep pose with a chest that looks like it was carved out of granite. But for decades, a massive question has hovered over his legacy like a heavy cloud. Did Arnold Schwarzenegger take steroids to reach that superhuman level?
The short answer is yes. He did.
Honestly, he’s been pretty open about it for a long time. This wasn't some "gotcha" moment or a leaked medical report. Arnold has looked straight into the camera in multiple interviews and admitted that performance-enhancing drugs were part of his toolkit. But the "why" and "how" are way more interesting than a simple yes or no.
The Wild West of the Golden Era
Back in the 1960s and 70s, the world was a different place. Bodybuilding wasn't the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. It was a fringe subculture. If you walked into Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach, you weren't just seeing guys lifting heavy weights; you were seeing an experiment in human biology.
Arnold has famously said that at the time, steroids were "something new that came on the market." It sounds wild now, but they weren't even illegal back then. You didn't have to meet a guy in a dark alley to get your hands on them. You went to a doctor.
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Under a doctor's watch
Arnold has consistently pointed out that his use was supervised by medical professionals. He wasn't just guessing. He told ABC News in a 2005 interview that he used them under a doctor's supervision because he didn't want to mess up his health.
"We did it under doctors' supervision. You can't roll the clock back and say, 'Now I would change my mind.'"
He views it as a product of the time. In his mind, it was just another part of the training, like eating ten eggs a day or squatting until you threw up. It was a competitive arena. If the guy next to you is taking something to get an edge, you take it too. It's a simple, albeit harsh, logic.
What was he actually taking?
People love to speculate about "the Arnold cycle." If you spend five minutes on a fitness forum, you’ll find guys claiming they know exactly what he used. The truth is a bit more nuanced.
Arnold has mentioned using Dianabol (often called D-bol). It was the king of steroids in the Golden Era. It helped with protein synthesis and kept the muscles looking full and "pumped." He’s also been linked to Primobolan, which was allegedly his favorite for maintaining lean muscle mass while cutting body fat for a show.
The dosage is where things get really controversial.
Arnold has claimed that the amounts they took back then were tiny compared to what modern bodybuilders use. He’s described his usage as seasonal—only taking them for perhaps eight to twelve weeks leading up to a competition like Mr. Olympia.
Basically, he wasn't "on" year-round. He used them as a "finishing touch" to help preserve muscle while he starved himself to get shredded for the stage.
Why Arnold Schwarzenegger take steroids: The competitive edge
Bodybuilding is a sport of millimeters. When you’re standing next to legends like Sergio Oliva or Lou Ferrigno, every tiny bit of muscle fullness matters. Arnold was a competitive animal. He didn't just want to win; he wanted to dominate.
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He’s admitted that the drugs gave him a slight edge, maybe an extra 5% or 10%. But he’s also very quick to tell you that steroids don't build the muscle for you. You still have to do the work. You still have to push through the "pain barrier" he talked about in Pumping Iron.
If you take steroids and sit on the couch, you just become a guy on steroids on a couch. Arnold was doing double-split routines, training four to six hours a day. The drugs just allowed his body to recover fast enough to do it all again the next morning.
The health fallout and the lawsuits
You can't talk about Arnold's drug use without talking about his heart. Arnold has had multiple heart surgeries over the years. This has led to a massive amount of finger-pointing.
Critics say, "See? That’s what the steroids did to him."
Arnold denies this. He’s always maintained that his heart issues—specifically a bicuspid aortic valve—are congenital. His mother had the same issue. It was a "factory defect," as he calls it.
In 1999, he actually sued a German doctor, Willi Heepe, who publicly predicted Arnold would die early because of his steroid use. Since the doctor had never actually examined him, Arnold won the libel case. He’s been very protective of his medical history, likely because he knows how easily people will blame the drugs for everything that goes wrong.
What he tells kids today
Even though he doesn't regret his own choices, Arnold’s stance today is very different. He’s the first person to tell a young kid at the gym to stay away from the "juice."
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He’s called modern bodybuilding "dangerous." He thinks the sport has gone too far with "mass monsters" who prioritize size over health and aesthetics. He’s been vocal about wanting more testing in the sport he helped build.
It’s a bit of a "do as I say, not as I do" situation, but he argues that the landscape has changed. Steroids are illegal now. They’re often counterfeit. And the dosages people take today are, in his words, "insane."
The reality of the legacy
Did steroids make Arnold? No.
His charisma, his work ethic, and his freakish genetics did the heavy lifting. But they were definitely a part of the equation. If you’re looking for a natural hero, the Golden Era of bodybuilding is probably the wrong place to look. It was a time of exploration and boundary-pushing.
Practical Takeaways:
- Don't ignore the work: Even with chemical help, Arnold's results came from legendary volume training.
- Context matters: Steroids were legal and medically supervised during his peak years.
- Health first: Arnold himself warns that the risks of modern usage far outweigh the rewards.
- Transparency: Being honest about the past is why Arnold remains respected even by his critics.
The "Oak" is still standing at 78, still training, and still talking. He’s living proof that you can acknowledge a complicated past without letting it erase your achievements. He took them, he admitted it, and he moved on to become the most famous man on the planet.
Check out Arnold's newsletter or his recent Netflix documentary if you want to hear him talk more about the mental side of his training—that’s where the real "secret sauce" was anyway.