In regards to diminishing returns: as long as training and and nutrient intake is adjusted in a progressive manner to match dose increases, I don’t believe in diminishing returns at any dose, no. I only believe in side effects becoming problematic to the point where training and food become more difficult to engage in, or even just live your life in general.
In regards to competitors being bigger, it’s a combination of factors I think. The first could be political, judges pushing for more and more size and thus drug abuse and calorie intake increases. If you read a lotta stuff from Ferrigno and Zane and Nubret and those guys you’ll find that they pretty much ate whenever they were hungry. When attitudes towards the stage change, the drugs and the food become more abused. As far as specific drugs, sure the same steroids were around but now we’ve seen insulin, peptides, and outlandish doses of GH being added into the mix.
On heroic-dosers still looking shitty: this one is a lot easier to answer. Their gear is extremely underdosed or fake altogther. One of the biggest misconceptions in this game is that quality gear is the available everywhere. Next, they don’t diet and train properly. They have a mentality that the drug will fix everything. Have you ever seen any of the pics people post in the natural section on here? A fair portion of those guys blow most of the people here away physique wise. It’s because after a decade of natural training you’ll always be way more in tune with your body than some ex-heroin addict who picked up his first Deca cycle.
But anyways, nah man. Neither of those outlines that OP posted are pro level bulking blasts. If you want pro level, double the doses of everything and add in a hefty dose of Anadrol. (Yes, on top of the Dianabol)