On Sunday, Schwarzenegger would not respond to assertions that he relied more heavily on steroids than he has acknowledged. at age 20 because вЂњall you want to do is be a champion and you take what anyone else is taking.вЂќ Schwarzenegger said he began taking steroids when he arrived in the U.S. вЂњI took them under a doctorвЂ™s supervision once a year, six or eight weeks before competition,вЂќ he told Playboy magazine in 1988.

In his books and interviews, Schwarzenegger mostly skirts or downplays his use of steroids while conceding their health risks, which can include liver and heart damage. But like many champion bodybuilders, he rarely speaks about the pharmaceutical shortcuts he took. Schwarzenegger, 56, still boasts about his grueling two- and three-hour workouts at the old GoldвЂ™s Gym in Venice. вЂњWhatever it took to win and stay the center of attention, Arnold did.вЂќ If he wanted your bodybuilding crown, heвЂ™d grab that too,вЂќ said Bob Delmonteque, an 84-year-old psychologist and bodybuilder whose physique has graced muscle magazines for 65 years.

вЂњIf he wanted your girlfriend, heвЂ™d take her. The Schwarzenegger they knew was extreme in everything, from the weights he pounded to the anabolic steroids he consumed, from the merciless tricks he played on lesser men to the women he stole from friends. Universes - say Schwarzenegger is tidying up his past as he eyes a new crown, the California governorship. The stories he told in the 1970s of orgies and pot smoking and cruel tricks were fantastic fibs, he now says, a way to draw attention to himself and his beloved sport of bodybuilding.Д«ut the men who sweated beside him in those years - fellow Mr. Bit by bit, Arnold Schwarzenegger chips away at his myth.

Bodybuilders who have done time