Mentzer:"I took 400mg of Deca Durabolin every 10-14 days,....and no more than five Dianabol a day."
That's not what he told me, but it IS true that Mike loved Deca. That much is true
As for the rest, I know he wasn't crazy about test because of the water retention, but he still felt it necessary to build size in the offseason. He said he cycled on and off, but "off" meant a maintenance dose of ... something. I can't remember what.
However, in spite of his later-in-life penchant for vodka, getting lazy, somewhat fat and smoking filterless Camels, Mike was supposed to be much more conscientious about mega-dosaging drugs in his competitive days. He freely admitted that he shot the shit out of Deca and "used plenty of pills," but due to a family condition, he swore up and down that he was ever-cognizant of stressing his liver. (As he also told me, the Vodka Gimlets were mostly a way of drying out. Kevin Levrone approved, that
.)
As to the topic, Ray never realized his potential. Neither did Mike, for that matter, but it wasn't as if the latter was going to suddenly show up shredded AND with crazy pec thickness. He knew he'd played his cards, and whatever bit of progress he had in him would never be enough to sway TPTB (witness Chris Dickerson winning an Olympia in '82, to say nothing of a legless, bitch-titted Franco "winning" in '81).
