I agree with the narrator of the video. I remember Freddy Ortiz from BB magazines when I was a kid, and haven't heard his name since. So this video was a real blast from the past. Looking back, I think his name should have endured, at least in the BB world. Look at the vacuum pose!
Looks like he performed his reps slower than his contemporaries: https://www.x-rep.com/36873/moment-of-bodybuilding-zen-22-freddy-ortiz-larry-scott/ Not that it likely mattered all that much, since the drug's the thing (along wi a scoop of genetics). But nice to know. The guy looked quite fit at 78:
In the 60s/70s bodybuilders took loads of juice but it was much weaker and not as effective. DBol wasn't even around until the 80s iirc. This is why they still look somewhat normal and not disgusting. The shit guys like Jay Cutler takes are the fentanyl equivalent to the heroin of the 60s. It's so much more powerful and subsequently astronomically more dangerous. That all being said steroids are not a one stop shop to instant muscle. They don't improve your gains in terms of raw meat on your bones as much as they improve your recovery time. These guys get huge because more T gives you better ability to utilize protein and carbs and more time in the gym. No natty guy is gonna be able to work out 12 hours a day 6 days a week and recover. Not even olympians do that. I still have significant respect for juiced bodybuilders. Their diet, workout, and schedule is very regimented. They just reap outsized gains with HEAVY leverage allowing them to look as big as they do. The only issue I take with it is body image. No one really knows what a natty bodybuilder looks like because they generally look muscular but still relatively normal. Even movie stars are on mild steroids (HGH usually). Especially if they are older. If a 6' tall guy has arms bigger than 22" there's a good chance he's a genetic freak or a juicer.
Sure they do: https://legionathletics.com/side-effects-of-steroids/ Consider, say, Dorian Yates. He was the first of the mass monsters. However he may have trained in his earlier years as a professional bodybuilder, by the time he transitioned to mass monster he was doing far less work in terms of volume and frequency compared to his contemporaries. It was the new combination of drugs that put him over the top. Sure steroids improve recovery, which is why enhanced BBers can lift longer, harder, and more often. But they don’t really have to do quite as much as they do (per the link), and Yates certainly worked hard, but not long or often. The crazy volume guys worked their double split routines because their identity was wrapped up in their training. Steroids make muscles grow. Again, refer to the link. Sure, to maximize the effect you need to work out and eat, but some of these top guys ate like crap and still looked good by BB standards. Drugs. Bottom line: drugs vs natural = night vs day.
Not that I know much about these things, but I thought dbol was what most of them were using at the time during the “golden era.”
Thanks, I didn't know about the other two, but I had heard that dbol was already available by the '60s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metandienone#History