I personally used only very moderate amounts of gear for reasonably short cycles - anabol never more than 20mg per day, test enanthate never more than 250mg every 8-9 days and cycle lengths of never less than 8 weeks and never longer than 12 weeks. Grew like a weed on gear but trained for many years drug free before I took the plunge. Found that anabol gave me huge gains but would generally lose about 30% of both strength and weight gains after cycling off it. However with enanthate, as long as I kept on training after the cycle probably lost about 10% of the strength gains. But that took about three months. However I am now training again after 4 years off training completely and am totally clean also. I weigh around 275 and now have a few issues with rotator cuff etc but am getting progressively stronger and more defined - started training beginning of this year. My biggest bodyweight was around 300 but again keep in mind I weighed 260 before I ever even considered taking gear. My starting bodyweight before bodybuilding (I was 20 at the time) was 185 pounds. My current bodyfat is around 25%. Never used anything else - kept the diet clean and simple, the training mostly free weights, maybe protein powder, sometimes very little creatine and my body just responds very well. Put on almost a hundred pounds naturally - I'm 6 4" and wide as a house hence some of the shoulder issues I now have.
Can't understand why some people seem to feel the need to take vast quantities of gear (if true) however I believe that there are a number of pros out there who honestly take a hell of a lot less than you think. My goal for this year after the four year lay off is to get to around 280 pounds and lose 10% bodyfat. I'll be reasonably happy at 15% - like to have some ab definition back as currently have uni ab- not a good look. Stats right now - thighs 26, bis 18, chest 62, calves (non existent at present as have not yet begun to train them), waist 42. Best stats I ever had - thighs almost 30, calves 19, waist 36, bis almost 20, chest 65ish.
Best weights in the gym - bench 350 for 10, squat 350 for 12-15, bent bb row - 350 for 10-12, bb curls 180 for 12, lying frenchies 200 for 12 etc etc.
Currently I cant bench - rotator cuff problem but am happy that I can rep out 12-15 on dumbells with 90 pounders (biggest dbs in my gym), squating 300 for 6 - could only squat the 90 pounds for about 6-8 reps when I started back after the lay off, bent bb rows 260 for 8-10, bb curls 120 for 12.