Nelson Montana said:
To say that the HPTA shuts down after 3 weeks is only an approximation, not a physiolgical constant. To say that 3 weeks is the same as 10 weeks is an absurdity. Every day you stay on, you cause more supression. If one guy does a 6 week cycle and another does a 6 months cycle do you think recovery time would be the same? Not so.
Actually, there's some supression after a few days. The idea of the 3 weeker is to get the most out of the cycle with the least amount of side effects. Also, the best gains are made the first 3 weeks. Anyone who says that a steroid doesn't kick in until a month or so is unaware of how steroids work. They're effective immediately. If you don't get gains until a month later you've been doggin it in the gym.
Dosage is a factor too. Dosage and duration both lead to suppression. So the same concept applies. Take the least amount of gear to get the most benefit.
Nelson, I understand that "shutdown" is not an event, or a step, but is more of a progression, which occurs over time and the degree of shutdown increases over time, and as well the degree of ability to recover quickly dminishes as the length of HPTA shutdown increases.
OK, that makes sense.
The reason though that many many brief cycle advocates recommend them is that if you are able to stop or halt the shudown before the pituitary gets involved to a great degree, then the recovery is much much faster. With the pituitary still functioning, everything else comes back online faster.
At least thats the way I underatdns it.
Maybe what we are talking about here is just a trade-off.
If you limit the cycle to 2 weeks you may recover very quickly but you will be stopping right before most people have a lot of their gains.
If you extend to 3 weeks, the you get additonal gains, but at the cost of more recovery time.
Maybe thats what we are talking about, tht this 2-3 week interval is a real turning point in terms of weighing cost/benefits.
Before 10 peopel jump on this thread and yell "yeah but I make all my gains during weeks 4-6" - yes you may, but I have some friends that use shorter cycles and end up getting a good solid 5-10 lbs from eahc, and reciver VERY quickly, to the point iof experiencing very few of the effects which one ssee becuase of shutdown.
And - they keep their gains.
Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
), but loading TA on this cycle is essentially as logical as front loading test enanthate on a longer cycle. 
