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Steroids: The New Rules
Bringing the science of steroid use into the 21st
century
by Brock Strasser
I have some news for you that should change the way
you look at and subsequently use and cycle anabolic
steroids. For the longest time, we’ve developed and
based our cycling theories on the limited
pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic data that we’ve
extrapolated from primarily murine (mice) and rat
models. I don’t have to tell you that the effects a
steroid has on a rodent probably aren’t homologous to
the effects that a steroid will have on a human. Sure,
they run around their cages flexing in the mirror all
the time and tend to be more popular with all the lady
mice, but despite this similarity with humans, there
are differences.
After all, in rodents, steroids like Primobolan
(methenolone esters) are better mass builders than
Testosterone. Try telling any bodybuilder he should
give up his DepoTest for Primobolan and at the very
least, you’ll get laughed at. The rest of the "data"
we’ve used comes from anecdotal reports overheard in
the gym and on internet message boards. This isn’t
exactly the most reliable data either, considering
some people have hidden agendas (e.g. they’re selling
a particular steroid) or they aren’t entirely
forthcoming regarding what they used, when they used,
and how much. And I haven’t even mentioned the "fudge
factor" and imaginary gains claimed by some so they
won’t appear to be slackers in the gym.
Because of this, perhaps more so than in any other
therapeutic area in medicine, we don’t know a whole
lot about steroids and how they interact with the
human body. I’m going to change all that. I’ve located
a mind-expanding study conducted on humans using two
anabolic steroids, nandrolone phenylpropionate and
nandrolone decanoate. My article here, based entirely
on this study, is going to shatter some misconceptions
regarding anabolic steroids. Sit back and prepare to
be educated.
HPTA Suppression Is Imminent
Anyone who’s used anabolic steroids for any length of
time will easily observe that when they discontinue
using, they invariably "crash." That is to say, their
body is producing next to zero endogenous androgens.
This can lead to significant loss of muscle gain, loss
of strength gains, lethargy, depression and a whole
host of other disorders. Of course, drugs like HCG,
HMG, clomiphene and similar gonadotrophics can help to
ameliorate such symptoms, but these aren’t 100%
cure-alls. The success or failure of such secondary
drug use varies considerably between individuals.
In a quest to minimize HPTA insult, my friend and
Biotest developmental team partner, Bill Roberts, came
up with an innovative speculation: If you limit your
use of anabolic steroids to short-acting compounds and
don’t exceed two weeks of continual usage without a
four week period of no usage, you might not depress
endogenous androgen levels too much, if at all. This
is the now famous "two on/four off" protocol.
I have the utmost respect for Bill and he possesses
more knowledge about drugs than I ever will, but on
this one topic, I don’t agree with him. The study I
just reviewed utilized ten healthy male volunteers who
were randomized to receive either the phenylpropionate
or decanoate ester of nandrolone via intramuscular,
oily depo injection. A single injection of only 100 mg
of nandrolone phenylpropionate caused almost complete
suppression of endogenous Testosterone by day three
and lasted until around day eight.
Endogenous levels of Testosterone didn’t return to
baseline levels for almost fifteen days, while the
same type of injection with nandrolone decanoate
caused almost complete inhibition of endogenous by day
four. Endogenous levels of Testosterone didn’t return
to baseline levels for greater than twenty days! All
this from a single, 100-mg injection of nandrolone!
This tells me that no matter what you do, whether it’s
a short lasting ester or a long lasting ester, you’ll
end up totally shutting down your body’s ability to
make androgens for at least two to three weeks. Since
nobody (well, at least nobody male) uses only 100 mg
of nandrolone per week, it’s reasonable to conclude
that the suppression caused by 500mg of an esterified
anabolic per week (an average dose) would be much
greater than two to three weeks. This study didn’t
deal with fast acting orals like stanozolol and
oxandrolone, but there’s no reason to think that these
won’t cause HPTA insult as well.
So what does this mean? To me, it means that HPTA
insult is inevitable and should be planned for
accordingly in your cycle. That is to say, you should
plan on crashing for a few weeks post-cycle no matter
what. Because of this, you’re going to want to extend
and "beef up" your cycle so that you overshoot your
final goal.
Remember, you’re going to crash and lose some of your
gains. So if you want to gain "X" pounds of muscle,
shoot for "X+Y" pounds of muscle and accept that
within two to six weeks after the cycle, you’ll end up
losing most of the "Y" portion.
Volume and Concentration
Steroids come in all shapes and sizes. In other words,
you can find nandrolone (or Testosterone or boldenone)
esters in 25 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml, 100 mg/ml, 200 mg/ml and
so forth. Is a 400 mg injection using two milliliters
of a 200 mg/ml oily solution the same as using four
milliliters of a 100 mg/ml solution? After all, the
net amount is still 400 mg, right? Unfortunately, this
isn’t the case.
Steroid concentration in the solution greatly affects
the dynamics and kinetics. In this study, some of the
men received a 100 mg/ml injection of nandrolone
decanoate and other men received a 100 mg injection
using a 25 mg/ml solution (which means they received
four milliliters, of course). Those that received the
100 mg/ml injection reached significantly higher
(between 30% and 50%) plasma levels of nandrolone than
those who got 100 mg via the 25 mg/ml solution. To top
it off, the 100 mg/ml group’s plasma nandrolone level
stayed elevated for a little bit longer; however, the
length of suppression of endogenous Testosterone was
almost identical.
What does this tell us? It tells us that if we want to
maximize plasma levels of hormone (and thereby,
maximize gains in lean muscle) we want to opt for the
most concentrated version of whatever steroid(s) we
decide we’re going to use. If we’re using
Testosterone, we surely want to use a 200mg/ml
enanthate over something like 100mg enanthate. If
we’re using nandrolone, we want to use Ttokkyo’s
300mg/ml stuff over 50mg/ml or 100mg/ml nandrolone
decanoate made by others.
Injections Sites
Another thing that superficially seems trivial but
makes a huge difference in plasma steroid
concentrations is where you inject. That’s right, this
seems utterly trivial but this study concluded that
gluteal injections yielded far superior plasma levels
as opposed to injections in the deltoid.
Of all the locations that nandrolone injections were
given in this study (100 mg/ml x 1 ml in the glutes,
25 mg/ml x 4 ml in the glutes and 100 mg/ml x 1 ml in
the deltoid), the deltoid injections yielded the
lowest plasma levels of nandrolone by a huge factor,
with peak concentrations being 50% lower than the 100
mg/ml gluteal injection and around 10% lower than the
100 mg/ml x 4ml gluteal injection. Lesson learned
here: Only inject in the glutes for maximal steroidal
efficacy.
Short Esters Are Better Esters
Perhaps the most important thing I learned in
reviewing this study is that short-chain esters
(steroids of shorter half life) yield a much higher
plasma concentration of steroid than steroids of
longer side chain esters. In this study, a single 100
mg/ml x 1 ml intragluteal injection of nandrolone
phenylpropionate caused a peak plasma concentration of
almost double that of the 100 mg/ml x 1 ml
intragluteal injection of nandrolone decanoate. This
level remained increased for almost seven days, too.
By fourteen days, even though the nandrolone decanoate
ester demonstrated a much higher plasma level than the
nandrolone phenylpropionate level, the net amount of
both was so low as to be ineffective.
This tells me that the effects I can see from using
500 mg of Testosterone enanthate per week probably
won’t be the same as using 500 mg of Testosterone
propionate or even Testosterone suspension per week.
I’m going to see better results with the propionate
and even better results with the suspension. Sure, I
may need to inject the propionate and suspension more
often, but in the long run it’ll pay off for me. (Not
that I’d use steroids, of course. No sir, not me.
They’re illegal!)
Conclusions
To recap everything mentioned here in this article,
remember the following:
1) HPTA suppression is virtually inevitable. Even a
single 100mg injection of nandrolone will cause full
suppression for almost a week and you won’t return to
a normal HPTA for at least two weeks. Plan your cycle
accordingly and overshoot your goals knowing you’ll
lose something.
2) Injection volume and concentration are important.
When available, opt for the highest concentration on a
mg/ml basis.
3) Injection site is important. The best place for
maximal plasma levels seems to be the glutes.
4) Side chain ester length is probably the single most
important factor in influencing plasma levels. The
shorter the ester (and the half life) the better. You
may have to inject more often, but in the long run
it’ll be worth it.
There you go, the new "rules" of steroid use. Put them
to use wisely!
Reference
The Journal of Pharmacology And Experimental
Therapeutics, Vol 281, No. 1; 93-102, 1997.
Bringing the science of steroid use into the 21st
century
by Brock Strasser
I have some news for you that should change the way
you look at and subsequently use and cycle anabolic
steroids. For the longest time, we’ve developed and
based our cycling theories on the limited
pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic data that we’ve
extrapolated from primarily murine (mice) and rat
models. I don’t have to tell you that the effects a
steroid has on a rodent probably aren’t homologous to
the effects that a steroid will have on a human. Sure,
they run around their cages flexing in the mirror all
the time and tend to be more popular with all the lady
mice, but despite this similarity with humans, there
are differences.
After all, in rodents, steroids like Primobolan
(methenolone esters) are better mass builders than
Testosterone. Try telling any bodybuilder he should
give up his DepoTest for Primobolan and at the very
least, you’ll get laughed at. The rest of the "data"
we’ve used comes from anecdotal reports overheard in
the gym and on internet message boards. This isn’t
exactly the most reliable data either, considering
some people have hidden agendas (e.g. they’re selling
a particular steroid) or they aren’t entirely
forthcoming regarding what they used, when they used,
and how much. And I haven’t even mentioned the "fudge
factor" and imaginary gains claimed by some so they
won’t appear to be slackers in the gym.
Because of this, perhaps more so than in any other
therapeutic area in medicine, we don’t know a whole
lot about steroids and how they interact with the
human body. I’m going to change all that. I’ve located
a mind-expanding study conducted on humans using two
anabolic steroids, nandrolone phenylpropionate and
nandrolone decanoate. My article here, based entirely
on this study, is going to shatter some misconceptions
regarding anabolic steroids. Sit back and prepare to
be educated.
HPTA Suppression Is Imminent
Anyone who’s used anabolic steroids for any length of
time will easily observe that when they discontinue
using, they invariably "crash." That is to say, their
body is producing next to zero endogenous androgens.
This can lead to significant loss of muscle gain, loss
of strength gains, lethargy, depression and a whole
host of other disorders. Of course, drugs like HCG,
HMG, clomiphene and similar gonadotrophics can help to
ameliorate such symptoms, but these aren’t 100%
cure-alls. The success or failure of such secondary
drug use varies considerably between individuals.
In a quest to minimize HPTA insult, my friend and
Biotest developmental team partner, Bill Roberts, came
up with an innovative speculation: If you limit your
use of anabolic steroids to short-acting compounds and
don’t exceed two weeks of continual usage without a
four week period of no usage, you might not depress
endogenous androgen levels too much, if at all. This
is the now famous "two on/four off" protocol.
I have the utmost respect for Bill and he possesses
more knowledge about drugs than I ever will, but on
this one topic, I don’t agree with him. The study I
just reviewed utilized ten healthy male volunteers who
were randomized to receive either the phenylpropionate
or decanoate ester of nandrolone via intramuscular,
oily depo injection. A single injection of only 100 mg
of nandrolone phenylpropionate caused almost complete
suppression of endogenous Testosterone by day three
and lasted until around day eight.
Endogenous levels of Testosterone didn’t return to
baseline levels for almost fifteen days, while the
same type of injection with nandrolone decanoate
caused almost complete inhibition of endogenous by day
four. Endogenous levels of Testosterone didn’t return
to baseline levels for greater than twenty days! All
this from a single, 100-mg injection of nandrolone!
This tells me that no matter what you do, whether it’s
a short lasting ester or a long lasting ester, you’ll
end up totally shutting down your body’s ability to
make androgens for at least two to three weeks. Since
nobody (well, at least nobody male) uses only 100 mg
of nandrolone per week, it’s reasonable to conclude
that the suppression caused by 500mg of an esterified
anabolic per week (an average dose) would be much
greater than two to three weeks. This study didn’t
deal with fast acting orals like stanozolol and
oxandrolone, but there’s no reason to think that these
won’t cause HPTA insult as well.
So what does this mean? To me, it means that HPTA
insult is inevitable and should be planned for
accordingly in your cycle. That is to say, you should
plan on crashing for a few weeks post-cycle no matter
what. Because of this, you’re going to want to extend
and "beef up" your cycle so that you overshoot your
final goal.
Remember, you’re going to crash and lose some of your
gains. So if you want to gain "X" pounds of muscle,
shoot for "X+Y" pounds of muscle and accept that
within two to six weeks after the cycle, you’ll end up
losing most of the "Y" portion.
Volume and Concentration
Steroids come in all shapes and sizes. In other words,
you can find nandrolone (or Testosterone or boldenone)
esters in 25 mg/ml, 50 mg/ml, 100 mg/ml, 200 mg/ml and
so forth. Is a 400 mg injection using two milliliters
of a 200 mg/ml oily solution the same as using four
milliliters of a 100 mg/ml solution? After all, the
net amount is still 400 mg, right? Unfortunately, this
isn’t the case.
Steroid concentration in the solution greatly affects
the dynamics and kinetics. In this study, some of the
men received a 100 mg/ml injection of nandrolone
decanoate and other men received a 100 mg injection
using a 25 mg/ml solution (which means they received
four milliliters, of course). Those that received the
100 mg/ml injection reached significantly higher
(between 30% and 50%) plasma levels of nandrolone than
those who got 100 mg via the 25 mg/ml solution. To top
it off, the 100 mg/ml group’s plasma nandrolone level
stayed elevated for a little bit longer; however, the
length of suppression of endogenous Testosterone was
almost identical.
What does this tell us? It tells us that if we want to
maximize plasma levels of hormone (and thereby,
maximize gains in lean muscle) we want to opt for the
most concentrated version of whatever steroid(s) we
decide we’re going to use. If we’re using
Testosterone, we surely want to use a 200mg/ml
enanthate over something like 100mg enanthate. If
we’re using nandrolone, we want to use Ttokkyo’s
300mg/ml stuff over 50mg/ml or 100mg/ml nandrolone
decanoate made by others.
Injections Sites
Another thing that superficially seems trivial but
makes a huge difference in plasma steroid
concentrations is where you inject. That’s right, this
seems utterly trivial but this study concluded that
gluteal injections yielded far superior plasma levels
as opposed to injections in the deltoid.
Of all the locations that nandrolone injections were
given in this study (100 mg/ml x 1 ml in the glutes,
25 mg/ml x 4 ml in the glutes and 100 mg/ml x 1 ml in
the deltoid), the deltoid injections yielded the
lowest plasma levels of nandrolone by a huge factor,
with peak concentrations being 50% lower than the 100
mg/ml gluteal injection and around 10% lower than the
100 mg/ml x 4ml gluteal injection. Lesson learned
here: Only inject in the glutes for maximal steroidal
efficacy.
Short Esters Are Better Esters
Perhaps the most important thing I learned in
reviewing this study is that short-chain esters
(steroids of shorter half life) yield a much higher
plasma concentration of steroid than steroids of
longer side chain esters. In this study, a single 100
mg/ml x 1 ml intragluteal injection of nandrolone
phenylpropionate caused a peak plasma concentration of
almost double that of the 100 mg/ml x 1 ml
intragluteal injection of nandrolone decanoate. This
level remained increased for almost seven days, too.
By fourteen days, even though the nandrolone decanoate
ester demonstrated a much higher plasma level than the
nandrolone phenylpropionate level, the net amount of
both was so low as to be ineffective.
This tells me that the effects I can see from using
500 mg of Testosterone enanthate per week probably
won’t be the same as using 500 mg of Testosterone
propionate or even Testosterone suspension per week.
I’m going to see better results with the propionate
and even better results with the suspension. Sure, I
may need to inject the propionate and suspension more
often, but in the long run it’ll pay off for me. (Not
that I’d use steroids, of course. No sir, not me.
They’re illegal!)
Conclusions
To recap everything mentioned here in this article,
remember the following:
1) HPTA suppression is virtually inevitable. Even a
single 100mg injection of nandrolone will cause full
suppression for almost a week and you won’t return to
a normal HPTA for at least two weeks. Plan your cycle
accordingly and overshoot your goals knowing you’ll
lose something.
2) Injection volume and concentration are important.
When available, opt for the highest concentration on a
mg/ml basis.
3) Injection site is important. The best place for
maximal plasma levels seems to be the glutes.
4) Side chain ester length is probably the single most
important factor in influencing plasma levels. The
shorter the ester (and the half life) the better. You
may have to inject more often, but in the long run
it’ll be worth it.
There you go, the new "rules" of steroid use. Put them
to use wisely!
Reference
The Journal of Pharmacology And Experimental
Therapeutics, Vol 281, No. 1; 93-102, 1997.
