I could pump my arms and calves to 18 1/2 inches in that photo. I could do 10 to the floor full squats with 400 pounds but my thighs never got very big. I am impressed at how big the guys get their legs nowadays. If you look back at Arnold and the others their legs weren't huge, either. Bigger than mine, of course.
Like a lot of sports we really should be compared to our contemporaries. In sports like swimming guys who can't place in an Olympic final would have set world records 30 years ago. Arnold was huge for a guy 6 1 1/2 but was 235 or less in contests. Shorter guys, today, outweigh him by 50 pounds in contest condition. Who would have believed that possible?
Melvin is right about one thing. There is a point that some will not cross to win. The price is too high. In the old days we were all afraid of using steroids because it was believed you could trigger cancer, etc. I didn't use anything for over 11 years and when I did it was 2 Dianabol a day for 3 months. Mike Walzack, a doctor who advised bodybuilders on steroids, told me in Vancouver in 1970 that if I came to LA and he supervised me I could win Mr Universe within 6 months. I declined his invitation. No trophy was worth that risk or even what you had to do to win. I felt I cheated taking any steroids and Hans Gensow who inspired me to train was disgusted in 2004 when he learned about Dianabol. That was very humiliating for me and I was ashamed to ever have taken any drugs. Perhaps it is overstated about the dangers of steroids but we really have gone too far in this whole enterprise such that bodybuilding now has a really bad name to just about everyone.