Video summary
In this revealing discussion, seven-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath addresses the critical junctures in his career where he faced decisions regarding health versus performance enhancement. Unlike many of his contemporaries who relied heavily on pharmaceuticals from the start, Heath emphasizes that he took less than everyone else and maintained rigorous blood work records since the beginning of his professional journey. He recounts using only 500 milligrams of testosterone per week during his Miss USA competition in 2007 before turning pro, a time when he was already winning shows without growth hormone until deciding to introduce it at the Arnold Classic that same year. Heath explains his philosophy by comparing bodybuilding progression to racing cars; just as modifying a Honda Civic with nitrous oxide cannot compete against handcrafted Ferraris, relying on excessive drugs early in one's career creates an unsustainable foundation where natural potential is overshadowed by chemical crutches. Heath details the specific limits he imposed on himself regarding dosage and substances, noting that while medical journals warn of inhibiting insulin production at high levels, he personally pushed his testosterone to 1500 milligrams before experiencing significant water retention issues around doses of 1300 to 1700. He explicitly states a refusal to use Trenbolone due to its harsh effects on the liver and kidneys, as well as avoiding excessive growth hormone because it elevated his prolactin levels unnecessarily. His approach was always minimalistic; he viewed drugs merely as tools to get "the job done" rather than crutches for failure, ensuring that if drug testing had been implemented severely during his era, he would have passed without issue. This mindset allowed him to maintain a physique and health status in retirement that many current athletes struggle to achieve despite heavier cycles. A significant portion of the conversation focuses on the dangers of modern bodybuilding culture where influencers often prioritize engagement over substance, leading them to rely heavily on pharmaceuticals while neglecting actual training work. Heath contrasts this with his own era, pointing out that today's professional scene is filled with athletes who are not winning but simply chasing side effects and financial debt through excessive drug use. He criticizes the current trend of extreme recovery methods like aggressive cupping or scraping to the point of blood blisters, labeling such practices as "stupid" because they do not yield growth. Instead, he advocates for a holistic approach that includes infrared saunas, photoresonance therapy, neuromuscular massage, spinal decompression via DRX 9000 units, acupuncture, stem cell treatments, and oxygen therapy to support the body's natural healing processes without relying on dangerous shortcuts. The dialogue also touches upon the shift in professional identity within the sport, where athletes must now choose between being genuine competitors or becoming social media influencers who sell courses and products for short bursts of fame. Heath argues that true longevity requires building a solid "base form" through consistent training and nutrition rather than relying on external aids that can be removed at any moment. He challenges viewers to consider the long-term consequences, noting that many current bodybuilders are unable to outmass Ronnie Coleman's era not because they lack effort, but because their bodies cannot catch up after years of heavy drug use without adequate recovery time. Ultimately, Heath concludes that winning should come from a foundation built on hard work and smart modality usage, ensuring that an athlete can walk away from the sport with their health intact rather than becoming addicted to substances just to maintain a physique they no longer need.
Read the full video transcript
were there any points in your career
where you were forced to make a a choice
between well if I keep pushing like this
I'm concerned about what this is going
to do for my health over the long term
talk me through that you know that
mindset when I love this I love this
conversation because
um
I took less than everybody and I can I
can point it out I have blood work from
the very beginning how deep can you go
into that okay so I'm going to Miss USA
taking 500 milligrams of testosterone
with a shot of Deco week
I didn't have any money
but I whipped everybody's ass first
crack at it and quoted as one of the
greatest Mr Mr USA's of all time
didn't take growth hormone until my
second Arnold Classic how deep are we in
the I turned Pro on o5 we're talking
about 2008. I had already won two pro
shows and now I decided to take growth
hormone for the first time and you're
still running 500 milligrams of time I
was probably doing like 750 yep very
minimal stuff because Here's my thought
process with this
uh you watch Fast and Furious
you know this good old saying too soon
Junior
that plays in bodybuilding
the guy that hits the nitrous too fast
in the race loses every time why because
that car
was what little Honda Civic with a
little turbo kit and some
handmade handcrafted Ferraris will
always beat that and if you put a
little bit of a mod on that thing you
can't catch him so you're saying that I
rather would build okay better analogy
you go Super Saiyan and I can beat you
in my base form
the internet is Happy Dragon Ball Z so
let me let me go ahead and beat you in
the base form let me work on the base
form is that so it seems like then I
can't rely on this stuff because here
with pharmacology and stuff are you
really getting in from a valuable Source
are you getting it from Bayer are you
getting it from sharing are you getting
it from these companies you don't know
you don't work there you really want to
tax your body you really want to take
something that you really don't know
that could really hurt you
and now you're becoming a drug addict
buying drugs from someone at a gym
you're buying it from drug dealers
I know drug dealers I grew up around
drug dealers I know the mentality I
stayed away from that because I was
like you know what like let me just go
ahead and slowly roll myself into this
because if I want to have longevity
after the after my career
it would be nice to show that my blood
work can prove it
would you ever release that my blood
work yeah for money
yeah I'm not just gonna offer it up to
somebody but you know that's HIPAA
that's a lot of you know maybe on my own
podcast someday
um okay so I can walk you through what
why okay so I do the Arnold Classic in
2007. I had won the first two pro shows
in 2006. Sean Rave uh and uh New York
Pro realize I need more time off to do
the Olympia I was going to be undersized
it made no sense to get my ass beat by a
bunch of guys that are seasoned veterans
did the 07 Arnold Place fifth first time
ever losing right okay let me take more
time off
decided to have a deeper off season
understand that what are the what is the
difference between me and everybody else
well it was just time time in the gym
time in the gym time in the gym not
drugs what is drugs gonna do it's not
going to shrink time you need time in
the gym
okay so it's drugs
so I pound everything and then what you
know what my trainer said well I can get
you to Mr Olympian in two three years
but we don't know after what was going
to happen after that so think about that
mentality that we see today everybody's
pounding the stuff and here's the funny
part
the muscle the muscle tissue is damaged
the skin texture is completely off
look man you see
the skin texture
you see that with anybody else probably
not I'm not even running right you
know what I'm saying like how do you
build that you build it with the base
form you know how to come off
appropriately you know how to do
something like what Arnold was saying
back in the day we knew how to do stuff
during
it's not an all-year thing because now
you become a drug addict
you know how many drug addicts are in
bodybuilding a tremendous amount
because they're they're chasing
something but they're not winning
something so you got to be a
idiot to go ahead and take all these
drugs right not win put yourself in
not only financial debt
physical debt it seems to a lot of
people especially looking at your era
unbelievable that you wouldn't have just
been taking
everything under the sun but why should
I when I was able to win my first couple
amateur shows clean
and then just add a little bit when I
always heard of a finishing touch that
was what was always talked about and
then I also saw guys in Colorado that
were running a lot not winning I'm like
well okay so you run too much stuff you
know what happens you develop side
effects right
so well if everybody's doing it nah man
why don't you just be different because
maybe I don't want to do this maybe I
don't want to have to take drugs like
this maybe I'm afraid of needles maybe
I'm afraid of what the the side effects
do you ever do you do you own anabolics
2000 book do you own these different
ebooks that tell you the good the bad
the ugly with it I studied all this
so the last thing I ever and you know
what's funny
the real truth
is that what if they started drug
testing severely
severely
I have no base form
I have no base form physically and also
emotionally
take all the drugs away it's like taking
the Instagram away from an influencer
they lose their
what was the maximum that you ever got
to in terms of yeah 1300.
I try 15. and then I was like starting
to get watery
and then I remember no I did 15 so I
went I was at 13 then I was like let's
do 15. and then like another dose later
you know like another week goes by and I
was like all right 17 and five or
whatever I think because it was like all
Sustanon and like that
I just got more water it was just stupid
so then the same thing with growth
hormone like Okay so
medical journals will state that if you
take too much of this stuff right like
now you're actually going to inhibit
what more insulin you know problems you
know because I never run insulin never
ran in my entire life never wow never
wow give me some money I'll put on a
freaking show like hand on Bibles like
lie detector test but you're gonna pay
me that million because I'm gonna take
all your damn money
I'm gonna take it all so anybody out
there want a challenge just put the
money up and I'll do it on National
Television I don't give a damn but
you're gonna pay me though because
you're not going to put me through this
and me not get something out of
it so there's that part
but um you know I mess around with Tran
and stuff like that but even that I've
realized how harsh that is that's just
stupid it literally says like liver
kidney damage and all this I was like Ah
that's not happening and you know what's
funny for me what's funny for me is that
I tried it enough to realize that I have
high prolactin levels when I take it so
oh so you got high prolactin now you
take Dawson X
why am I doing this I'm adding all these
things in why don't I just focus on the
training and the modalities that I'm
talking about like I'm the one that did
the infrared saunas I'm the one that
bought the photores 320. I'm the one
that did you know uh neuromuscular
massage I'm the one that's doing you
know DRX 9000 you know with the
decompression of the spine and stuff
like that while taking acupuncture while
doing stem while doing oxygen all at the
same time living in Denver Colorado I'm
that dude
you can't name another athlete
that all you see is cold plunges
and dry needling
and scraping which is stupid as hell
because you see how they scrape into
these scraping people doing the grass
and whether the the the their blood
blisters and stuff that's not gonna
yield any growth that's just being dumb
so look
you know my drug use was very minimal
because I understood that there was life
afterwards I had some favorite you know
Peds and stuff like that like you know
like Winnie stuff like that and growth
but I mean I just made sure that I took
enough to get the job done because again
if they were ever going to start testing
for I needed to be ready to just be
like I don't need this I have a
foundation I got a foundation and you
look at me now people say oh man you
look younger you look at this guess what
because I treated my body right you got
these other guys and I also didn't have
social media
here's the thing when you don't have
magazines
you got social media
a professional bodybuilder right now is
actually
um having to decide if they're an
influencer or a bodybuilder
you see what I'm saying an influencer
can get on some cycles and stuff almost
look like a pro which they try to do
they take all the best angles in the
lighting and all this other some
photoshop their they sell courses
they sell products and stuff
and they do it for a short period of
time right but they can create like a
thousand episodes within six months
and then they can kind of just not do
events because you see some you don't
see a lot of events with the mat because
and they can just dress normally because
they're not a pro or whatever right Pro
bodybuilders now feel like they have to
compete with them
and the same and they share the same
sponsors
so unfortunately the owners of these
companies just focus on certain levels
of Engagement now for a bigger person
that weighs over 240 to 270 to 200 now
how many 300 pound bodybuilders do we
have compared to Ronnie's era a ton more
and they don't outmast Ronnie with
quality muscle why
because they're taking drugs more than
they're actually doing the work they're
not allowing
the body to catch up we'll get back to
talking to Phil in one minute but first
I need to tell you about facta I get
asked all the time about how to build
and maintain muscle and the most
important thing the first thing you need
to do is ensure you are getting one gram
per kilo of body weight in protein every
single day but as you know if you have
ever tried to cook anything ever
consistently you'll stick to your Macros
finding whole food healthy meals you can
have conveniently every single day is
difficult this is where Factor comes in
they're fresh never frozen meals are
designed by registered dietitians and
arrive ready to heat and eat in minutes
it requires zero prep so if you're
someone that says I'd love to hit my
protein numbers but I never have time to
cook prep takes so long and I hate doing
it this is the solution for you so if
you want to make an improvement to your
diet this August you can get factor and
start eating better without the hassle
head to the link in the description
below or go to factormeals.com mw50 and
use the code mw50 for 50 off your first
order at checkout that's factamils.com
mw50 and mw50 a checkout thank you very
much for tuning in if you enjoyed that
clip with Phil then press here for the
full length two hour podcast episode
when we go so deep in the history of his
career his Reflections on generation I
in his rivalry with Kai green plus his
10 best exercises for men to build
muscle go on
press it