N00b's .. Beginner anabolic steroid use article..

[MrV]

I found this article and thought it was a great read for n00bs. This discusses so much of what the people here try to teach.. Stuff that I see posted every single day on this forum.. This is just an example of the millions of stuff you can find.. if you search the web.. Take from it what you will, what will help you out..

Disclaimer: This information has not been prepared by a licensed medical professional and is not meant to replace advice given by a qualified physician. Anabolic-androgenic steroids should only be considered by advanced athletes after reaching full sexual maturation.


All steroid cycles need testosterone; even if only at a replacement dose. Self-administering testosterone, and other derivative androgens, shuts down natural testosterone until the body no longer senses external intervention. Eliminating testosterone from day-to-day functions routinely causes decreases in libido and general disposition. Anabolic steroid use in teens is careless since the body must maintain control during puberty’s development stages. The hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis can not fully regain power until all drugs complete their active lives. At that point, a post-cycle therapy plan is needed for a swift recovery. Ancillary drugs are often used to help complete recovery and amplify required signals to resume natural production; such as: nolvadex, arimidex, HCG and Clomid.

First AAS cycle, gaining familiarity

First cycles are a revelation of sorts. Under the right conditions, gains in muscle mass are rewarding. An athlete might feel a bit uneasy the first time supra physiological levels of androgens are experienced – not to mention getting accustomed to self-administering intramuscular injections – but most apprehension is cured through prior education. It’s paramount to take time to learn about drug use for enhanced performance, as well as how to remain safe. The steroid cycle’s purpose and forecasted actions must be outlined before anything is administered. Hormones are powerful chemical messengers and should always be treated as such to avoid unwanted results. Safe injection procedures must also be discovered.

Only one steroid is needed for an introductory cycle: testosterone. A first cycle should be structured in a simplistic manner that allows some initial guidance for future endeavors. Stacking several compounds is difficult to learn from due to all the concurrent drug use. Stacking is generally unnecessary for first time steroid cycles. It’s important to first understand reactions that occur during supra physiological amounts of blood testosterone. Notes should be taken regarding physiological, psychological and performance effects.

Anabolic steroids help athletes who are interested in greater musculature by escalating protein synthesis and cross-over binding to gluco-corticoids. The required dose for a pronounced ergogenic affect, with minimal risk, primarily depends on current lean body mass, partly due to receptor availability. Testosterone-induced muscular hypertrophy is dose-dependent. First-time steroid users frequently obtain performance benefits from testosterone-only therapy at doses that increase circulating testosterone levels 10-fold. If a strength athlete can not profit from major elevations in testosterone, there are deeper problems to address.

Steroids and the training year

Time spent off a cycle is at least as important as how the time is spent on; an important lesson to learn about training augmented by anabolic-androgenic steroids. Many embark on cycle, after cycle, extending the duration and becoming increasingly risky in their use. Frequently they get bigger and softer as time elapses – others lose the muscle gains they obtain. Why go through the torture of gaining muscle only to routinely lose it?

Time spent off is often left as an after thought, almost like a hopeless period. Many feel time off is an inevitable loss, but it does not need to be that way. A bodybuilder must fully explore their unique nutrition and training variables for many years before starting any pharmacological ergogenics, to include anabolic steroids. With cumulative training and nutrition knowledge, time spent off is also progressive.

Taking the time to lose accumulated fat in between steroid cycles directly makes future cycles more rewarding. Staying lean allows the body to obtain productive calorie partitioning and embrace shifts into rewarding growth phases. Periods of gaining muscle can benefit largely by anabolic steroid use but neither maintenance nor fat loss requires supra physiological amounts of androgens. Bodybuilders with excessive amounts of lean body mass can become an exception if steroid use has catapulted them past what their body can reasonably support naturally. Everybody has unique genetic ability to hold varying amounts of LBM.

Time spent off anabolic steroid cycles should be targeted toward cycle preparation, general preservation, eliminating excess fat mass or recovery after an exhausting period. Cycle priming, an AAS cycle preparation period, can use a cyclic carbohydrate diet and a fairly progressive training routine – the goal is to become sensitive to an upcoming increase in calories and training intensity. Maintenance phases are a time to set aside the training log and complicated dieting strategies – simply sustain current development. Cutting phases target excess body fat for breakdown and removal. Recovery periods of detraining are meant to replenish energy and allow the body to fully recover from the trauma caused by previous training cycles – abstinence from resistance and cardiovascular training. For example, this is a general training structure for a journey into enhanced bodybuilding performance:

• Cycle priming for 8 to 10 weeks;
  AAS-assisted bulking for 4-8 weeks;
  Maintenance for 2-4 weeks;
  Cycle priming for 8 to 10 weeks;
  AAS-assisted bulking for 4-8 weeks;
  Maintenance for 2-4 weeks;
  Body fat cutting for 8 to 10 weeks;
  Detraining for 1-2 weeks;
  Maintenance for 2-4 weeks;
  So on, so forth…

The type of training (volume versus abbreviated, high-intensity versus fast-paced), for priming, cutting, bulking and maintenance, should have been discovered through trial, error and research – before embracing steroid use. Previously kept training logs can be analyzed as a golden map to discovering what works and what doesn’t for each training phase.

For many, the choice to use steroids for enhanced muscular development is clear and absolute. But impulsive moves and risky application can be avoided with a little prior research and planning.

[Smiley]

Yes very good post and a must for the noobs to read, thanks MrV.

[MrV]

thanks smiley.. yeah, i thought it had good stuff for a lot of people..

[daredevil]

Very good. This should be the required reading! Sticky please?

[milo0071]

Good Article. Since I new nothing about PCT before I joined this board, I also did some research. For those that don't have a degree in Chemistry, you might find this useful reading.

Let's also start by saying that you don't have to run post cycle therapy.........you also don't have to wipe your ass after taking a dump: it's just a really really good idea to do these things

The first thing we need to understand is what is going on with our bodies when we're taking anabolic steroids:Exogeneous anabolic hormones (or derivatives of anabolic hormones) are being brought into your system. This causes the body to take a number of responsive actions. The first and foremost (as you already know) is increased muscle mass. Unfortunately, other things are also going on that aren't so great

When an enzyme or hormone is brought exogeneously into the system, chemical balances shift around to attain a certain equilibrium. This is a chemical concept known as Le Chatelier's Principle of Chemical Equilibria. In a nutshell, your body will increase production of estrogen, cortisol, and other hormones in response to heightened testosterone levels, while simultaneously slowering (or completely stopping) natural production of testosterone. Biologist call this negative feedback.......biology sucks doesn't it?

Le Chatelier's Principle for the scientifically impaired:Let's pretend A and B react to make C (can't get much simpler than that).

A + B --------> C

So we have a mixture containing A, B, and C. According to LeChatlier's principle, if we add more C to the mixture, the amounts of A and B will increase. If we remove some of the C from the mixture, A and B will decrease. And if we were to add A, B, or a combination of the two, C will increase. Still with me here? Good.

What's going on when we come off a cycle:
Ok, so while we're on the cycle, are natural test production is going down to compensate for the exogeneous test intake, and our production of other steroid hormones (i.e. Estrogen, Cortisol, etc.) is going up to compensate for the heightened test levels. When we come off a cycle, we cease intake of exogeneous testosterone. In other words, we have very low test levels, and very high cortisol and estrogen levels: it's the EXACT OPPOSITE of what we had while starting our cycle.

REMEMBER Le Chatelier's Principle because this is where it gets really important. When we have an excess of one hormone, the others will start shifting around, to attain a certain equilibrium. Ok, I'm gonna say it (and bold it) again because it's just that important. When we have an excess of one hormone, the others will start shifting around, to attain a certain equilibrium. It is a very common misconception that we want to eradicate estrogen . High estrogen levels play an integral part in Post Cycle therapy. That's right, you want to welcome high estrogen with open freaking arms, but there's a trick to it. And that trick is the almighty SERM (Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator).

SERM's: the foundation of post cycle therapy:
Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators are (and damn well should be) the foundation for any proper post-cycle therapy plan. A post cycle therapy plan without them, isn't a PCT plan: it's a bunch of crap you decided to take after doing a cycle. The purpose of a SERM is to block the negative effects estrogen, while your hormone levels go back to equilibrium.

SERM's are prescription drugs, and are NOT SOLD IN SUPPLEMENT STORES. In fact, there are only 3 ways ( can think of) in which you can obtain a SERM:

1) Through a Doctor's Prescription.
2) Through the Black Market (a.k.a. illegally)
3) As a research chemicals intended for use in lab rats.

The Different SERM's:

Tamoxifen (Nolvadex):
Reputation: Most popular SERM for post cycle therapyPros: Cheap. Effective for gyno prevention.Cons: Heptatoxicity. Studies have shown it to lower IGF levels (I don't feel like citing, but it's about 20% decrease...IMO no biggie).Popular Dosage (for a 4-week cycle): 40/40/20/20Note: Tamoxifen Citrate is less potent, and should be dosed at an extra 30%.

Clomiphene Citrate (clomid):
Reputation: Second most popular. Usually taken the first week or so to speed up Testosterone recovery with Tamoxifen being taken the whole therapy.Pros: Better than Tamoxifen for HTPA regernation. Less heptatoxicity. Does not lower IGF. Cons: Less effective against gyno. Can cause emotional issues. May Cause blurred vision. Hot Flashes. Popular Dosage (for a 4-week cycle): 100-200mg/100mg/50mg/50mg

Toremifene:
Reputation: Very popular on this board Pros: Much less toxic. Con's: $$$$$expensive$$$$$Popular Dosages (for a 4-week cycle): 120-240mg/120mg/60mg/30mg

Raloxifene:
Reputation: Very effective against gynoPros: Strong protection against gyno. Less toxic than Tamoxifen. Con's: Cost Restricting. Can cause abnormal blood clotting in the eyes, lunges, and legs. May also cause hot flashes trouble breathing, and blurred vision. Popular Dosages: (for a 4-week cycle): 120-240mg/120mg/60mg/30mg

Moving down the post cycle therapy Hierarchy: Cortisol Control
Excess cortisol can be damaging to your newly found muscle mass. Because of this, it is a good idea to use something to block or lower the excessive cortisol levels. Always start high, and taper your way down. Here's what we have to work with:

B-Androstenetriol (b-triol): This is one of the better cortisol suppressors. It has a terrible oral bioavailability, and should be taken transdermally. Dosages range from 25-50mg every 12 hours.

Methyl B-Androstenetriol (mb-triol): This is an enhanced version of b-triol designed for oral use. Found in the following products: Retain (by Anabolic Xtreme), Restore (by ALRI), Thyrogen-X (by ALRI)

7-Hydroxy-DHEA: Another potent cortisol suppressor with great oral bioavailability. Found in the following products: Lean Xtreme (by Designer Supplements), Reduce XT (by SNS)

7-oxo-DHEA (7-keto-DHEA): Still a decent contender, this has a terrible oral availability and an even worse half life (2 hours). This is best taken transdermally, where such effects can by bypassed.

Cissus: Unlike the above, the components of Cissus do not suppress Cortisol, but rather block cortisol receptors (better than Nandrolone or Dianabol according to some studies). Dosages vary significantly (pending extracts). SuperCissus by USPLabs is a high quality Cissus product.

Branched Chain Amino Acids: These should be a staple to begin with, but are a great anti-catabolic that mitigates the muscle-wasting effects of cortisol.

At the bottom of the post cycle therapy hierarchy there's AI's, Test Booster's, and other 'natural' anabolicsWay too many different things going on in here to go into too much detail. Just a word of caution (and this is my personal opinion), but if you're post cycle plan starts to look like a constitutional ammendment: you're over-doing it. And the worst part is if something goes wrong, you won't have a damn clue what caused it.

Honorable mentions of this part of the hierarchy:
Jungle Warfare (by ALRI)MassFX (by Anabolic Xtreme)Hyperdrol (by Anabolic Xtreme)Ecdysterone/TurkesteroneCreatine Monohydrate

[Rat]

Originally Posted by daredevil

Very good. This should be the required reading! Sticky please?

Done !!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here's some more of the basics yet pertinent info:

BASK8KACE: What I've learned about lifting/cycling might help you too

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Some of the points in the following list are based on FACT and some are MY OPINIONS, baed on personal experience. Use my experience as a way to avoid reinventing the wheel. Yet, you should keep in mind that all steroids affect people differently.

1. FACT: Let's get this out of the way first...No matter how hard I lift and how well I rest, I don't grow unless I eat well. The lifting trinity, in order of importance is: DIET, LIFTING INTENSITY and REST. You can still grow if you skip a few good nights of sleep. You can still grow if you cut back on the intensity occasionally (which you should do to let your body rest). But when you don't eat well, you don't grow--in fact, you may shrink due to catabolism. Enough said here (there's tons of info everywhere about this).

2. I don't need to mire myself down in the minutia of cycling and exercising. All I need to do is pick a reasonable cycle and the basic core exercises and stick to them. There's NO secret combination of steroids or exercise variations that will make my muscles explode into hugeness. Only the trinity (noted in # 1) will make me grow when all three are done correctly.

I want to reach through the computer and smack people who start obsessing about the minutia of cycling (starting and stopping esters so they all clear the body on exactly the same day*, odd injection schedules). In the same vein of thought: I also want to smack the same people who obsess about foolish, awkward variations on a basic exercise (If I tuck my thumbs under and rotate my wrists I'll get bigger faster--Um...NO, you'll just get injured faster).

*--NOTE: Although many people worry about it, testosterone leaving your body one week earlier than your deca is not going to make or break your cycle. If you haven't gained what you should have by the end of your cycle, then worrying about the steroids leaving all on the exact same day, won't do you a damn bit of good. If you still want to obsess about this, more info on half lives of steroids
3. Regarding GH. I've found that 2iu per day is enough to create a loss of bodyfat in the area in which it is injected regularly. 4iu seems to be enough to help increase muscle mass. Breaking the total daily dose of GH into periodic injections of 2iu throughout the day seems to work better than taking the full dose at one time.

4. Regarding esters of testosterone. The more frequent injections of propionate seem to affect my body better than the infrequent injecions of cypionate or enanthate. My sex drive and ability to build muscle seem to increase when I use prop. But, testosterone is testosterone and both the short acting and long acting esters will give me adequate results.

5. Affects of certain steroids on my health. I have done both long and short cycles and have gotten blood tests before, during and after cycles. As a result:
--I have found that compounds like deca, EQ and DBOL mess with my heart rate, increase my red blood cell count dangerously high (risk of stroke) and increase my blood pressure dangerously high 160/100.
---I have found that a simple stack of testosterone-only or testosterone and GH have less of an impact on my heart rate, RBC count, blood pressure and lipid levels (HDL levels) than dea, EQ, and DBOL.
---Although tren is fantastic, I will not kill my sex drive and risk some of the other common problems associated with it.
---Testosterone is what all the other steroids try to copy. Testosterone is in my opinion the best compound to use and it apparently does not affect me as adversely as the others.

6. Since I'm interested in sculpting my body (bodybuilding) as opposed to powerlifting (strength), I don't try to show off or fool myself by cheating (using momentum or bad form) to move the weights. Although I could do more weight by cheating, by using lighter weight, slower reps and strict form, I can get more out of a set.
---I do NOT use momentum at all to move my weights.
---I move the weights in a very slow steady motion with strict form, feeling the targeted muscle group working at every point of each rep.
---A person can stand next to me and randomly tell me to stop and hold the weight still at any point of my rep and tell me to finish my rep. In other words, I have control over the weight at EVERY POINT of each rep of each set. People who "explode" or use momentum to move the weights cannot do this (stop/start during the rep). They move heavy weights by cheating (using momentum). But, when you tell these people to move the weight slowly with strict form, they cannot handle the weight (which means they are putting their ego ahead of building solid muscle--they are more concerned about moving heavy weights by cheating and using bad form than focusing on using lighter weight and targeting the right muscles. Don't you be one of these people).

7. Stop listening to the hype of people over stating their gains per cycle. Set realistic goals for my cycle and stick to it. I ignore the exaggerated locker-room-like-bragging that often happens on line when people include the amount of FAT and WATER they've gained in the figure they state as total lean body mass gain (ask these guys for their pics. They either give excuses or post blurry cut off pics or--worse--post pics with all their clothes on and barely any muscle showing.

Braggart: "I gained 35 lbs of lean body mass (muscle only) on on a 12 week cycle!"
Translation: "I gained 10 lbs of lean muscle and 25 lbs of fat and water-weight."
Follow-up (which the braggart never tells you): "I lost all that I gained between my cycle because I lost motivation and stopped eating after the steroids wore off."
Moral of the story: Don't be that guy (braggart)



8. Regarding having a tough schedule that doesn't always cater to eating frequently: Even if I cannot make or eat a full meal, it is important that I get AT LEAST 35 grams of protein in my system every 2-3 hours by eating food or drinking a protein shake. My body is happier with a few GOOD calories taken on the fly than no calories at all.

9. Regarding carbohydrates: I find that when I eat carbs with my proteins (even when having a shake) I tend to grow better and my muscles stay fuller when I'm out of the gym and they get more pumped when I'm in the gym.

10. ONE MORE TIME:
Don't be afraid to experiment with new ideas. HOWEVER, don't get caught up in small details and variations on the basics. Stick with the basics. The small variations on the basic exercises and cycle stacks will never separate you from the pack. Your dedication, your perserverence and your consistency (on and off cycles) will be what separates you from the pack.

11. Most people already know my stance on steroid doses, so I only will briefly touch on this: More is NOT better. Use as few steroids as possible and as low a dose as possible that will make you grow. If you want more information on low dose and moderate dose cycling, search the forums, I have written several posts on this issue.

[bobbyp]

wow that was alot of important information i didnt know..
thanks for all the input
im one of those noobs that needed to read this lol

[kit108]

Very Good Article

[kev819]

Yeah theres a lot of info in there, good reading.

[advanced-stealth-rep]

Good post.