Even though performance-enhancing drugs are integral to the sport of bodybuilding, very few bodybuilders talk openly about the PEDs they actually use.
However, during a recent interview with IFBB bodybuilder and powerlifter Greg Doucette, bodybuilding legend and four-time Mr. Olympia winner Jay Cutler went into detail about his own history with steroids.
“There’s a lot of misconception on what we actually do," Cutler said. "I have never really spoken about it to be honest and I just think in this era it’s kind of like the hidden question that people want to ask, 'Hey, what do the pros take?'."
During his conversation with Doucette, Cutler spoke about his steroid cycles during his career, and specifically during the years of 2000 to 2005.
“Basically after the Olympia I would come off for twelve weeks, then I would start my cycle for the Arnold Classic," Cutler said. "Then I would come off after the Arnold and I would have a good break for like eight to twelve weeks and then I would start my thing in June for the Olympia.”
As for the steroids he was actually taking during that period, Cutler said that his whole year consisted of buying exotic drugs like Parabolan, Winstrol Amps, and Masteron.
“I would start with Equipoise for the contest and then every four weeks I would kind of change it. Then I would switch to Propionate instead of Enanthate. The biggest difference I learned later is anti-estrogens, so using Nolvadex or Arimidex,” Cutler added.
While Cutler isn't taking any of those drugs now, he explained that he is on a "Real HRT", or Hormone Replacement Therapy, and used the interview as an opportunity to dispel some misconceptions about the amount he's actually taking.
“I know people that say I’m on HRT and I’m taking 500migs. No one needs 500 migs on HRT, okay?
“I take a half cc to a full cc usually a week and that right has switched around. I rarely gone over one. This is my first cycle to be honest. I did one cc of Sustanon. I think they were preloaded Sustanon from Mexico. They were the best things. I mean I put on like 50lbs,” Cutler said.
What wasn't said in the interview was that steroids have some undeniably serious side effects. As Dr Leon Creaney, of Manchester's Institute of Health and Performance told us in 2019, “In a recent Danish study, Anabolic Androgenic Steroids users were found to have all-cause mortality three times higher than non-users."
Users also had “much higher prevalence” of male breast development, infertility, erectile dysfunction, cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disease), atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm), pulmonary embolism (blocked artery), liver damage, jaundice and acne.
So if you're considering taking steroids to get biceps that are slightly more defined, maybe think again.
You can watch Doucette and Cutler's full conversation below
