Ya I'm torn about him. I'm about the same height and weight as he is, although he is big-boned while I started out built like Doogie Howser. So when he graduated high school, he was already as heavy as I was at my prime and probably stronger too. He's 100-200 pounds stronger on every single compound lift than I am. But, ironically I've been using some of his powerbuilding and Mark Bell's powerlifting techniques to make gains even though I'm 42 years old.

I started lifting at 21 after 4 years of college drinking. I've been lifting for 20 years, all natty, but it was a struggle to make gains. Meanwhile I've met 18-19 year olds at my gym benching, squatting and deadlifting the same weight as me because they simply have more testosterone.

It turns out that literally all that matters in bodybuilding is consistency and periodicity. Mike O'Hearn is so strong primarily because as a celebrity, he had access to all the best food and supplements and never stopped training. He also had Robby Robinson, who introduced him to connective tissue training by alternating weeks of 2-3 sets of 12 with 7 sets of 3 using a full range of motion. The standard 8-12 rep workout pitched by gyms is only for hypertrophy and unfortunately is the worst for strength and power that I know of.

My feeling is that Mike MAY have dabbled in steroids early in his career, but there's no way to prove it. He almost certainly took testosterone boosters like horny goat weed or Robbie's TestoFuel during his 30s and 40s. And I guarantee that he has tried every supplement there is so he knows exactly how to get the coveted "dry" look that typically only people on performance enhancing drugs achieve. I've seen him eating tupperwares of just meat in his videos, and he has talked about eating several pounds of fruit before bed, so I think his diet also isn't typical. So to me, he is the gold standard of natural lifter, even though I'm only 70% sure that he never did steroids.

Incidentally, I also feel that most of Arnold's numbers were achievable individually without steroids, except his 22.5" arms, 57" chest and 27" shoulder span. Those would probably be about 20-21", 52" and 24" respectively for someone with the right genetics. My thighs for example are the same size as his, and Mike's are quite a bit bigger than either of ours. But most people can only get to 19" biceps without drugs.

I've already said too much about this, but if anyone wants to really gain mass as a natty, the only way that worked for me was to eat at least 4000 calories (4-5 full meals) per day, plan to gain at least 30 pounds over your target weight (bench press gains are proportional to body weight gains), and then DO NOT use a 5 day bro split. The best workout I found was a 4 day split of: legs, chest and bis, back and tris, shoulders. Also known as a push-pull workout. Unfortunately I didn't know about periodicity, so I did 5x5 over longer than 6 weeks cycles and wound up with injuries and tendonitis (so watch your elbows). Today I can only do 3-4 week cycles with a 1 week deload, alternating grips frequently with lots of narrow/wide and reverses to prevent injury.

I'm curious to hear other perspectives on this though.