Thursday, January 30, 2014

How anabolic steroids work?


The world is talking about steroids, their consumption is on a rise and so markets are over-flowing with steroid compounds promising its users absolute achievement of their desired goals. Athletes, amateurs and professional body builders and people wanting to enhance their physical looks are among top bunch that largely ingest steroids. Though the results they bring is only what matters to us but one must also know what exactly are steroids, how do they bring changes in the body and how they work.

Anabolic steroids are mainly drugs artificially designed to resemble the male hormone called testosterone. The reason they are broadly consumed is because they help in weight gain, increase muscle strength, power, speed, endurance and to the extent of aggressiveness. Though they are popularly known to be used only by sportspersons, they have also found usage among high school students as well.

Here’s how they work!

Steroid hormones work by stimulation of receptor molecules in the muscle cells, which in turn activate specific genes in them to initiate the production of proteins. They also play an effective role in the activation rate of enzyme systems involved in protein metabolism, thereby enhancing protein synthesis and inhibiting the degradation of protein.

Steroid users who intend to develop their musculature have to undergo heavy resistance training anabolic steroids to bring about significant improvement in their physical performance. Studies which have demonstrated enhanced performance in people consuming anabolic steroids mostly used experienced weight lifters capable of training with heavier weights and producing relatively greater muscle tension during exercise sessions than the newbies. The effectiveness of anabolic steroids is mainly dependent on unbound receptor sites in the muscles. When a person undergoes heavy strength training, the number of unbound receptor sites increase. This in turn increases the effectiveness of anabolic steroids.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Testosterone Propionate Helps Muscle Memory


It has long been speculated that muscle memory occurs after a break from resistance training or a period of being sedentary, and then resuming again.  The bodybuilder or athlete can regain the muscle mass they had before the break quicker, than not having the muscle mass to start with and needing to build it through hypertrophy. Whether using anabolic steroids helps this phenomenon has not really been studied in humans, but a recent study shed some light done on animals.

Researchers in Norway, at the University of Oslo, tested to see if Testosterone Propionate administration on muscle mass accrual is permanent. The Norwegians first published a study in 2010 stating how ‘muscle memory’ works which is shown here. The figure below shows the mechanism of action.

Until recently is was no understood how ‘muscle memory’ occurs, until researchers postulated the most important and dynamic cells in the human body would be responsible, or part of the puzzle – stem cells. More information on stem cells can be found here.

When muscle fibres are trained they absorb stem cells. These stem cells then grow into adult muscle cells in the muscles. The amount of muscle cells in the muscle fibres will determine the size, strength and power of the particular muscle in general. When you stop training due to injury, age, lifestyle changes or anything else, the new muscle cells remain in the muscle fibres and lose size and shrink, not vanish. This then helps explain why ‘muscle memory’ occurs after hypertrophy.

The Norwegians in the 2010 study concluded that strength athletes could continue to obtain benefits from their muscle strength into their latter years. Moreover, the researchers suspect that anabolic steroids users continue to derive benefit from the cycles they’ve taken for years after stopping.

“”Anabolic steroid have been shown to increase the number of nuclei”, the Norwegian researchers write. “Thus, the benefits of using steroids might be permanent and should have consequences for the exclusion time after a doping offense.”

In there recent animal study on mice given Testosterone Propionate pellets the number of muscle cells was recorded in muscle fibres compared to a control group. The Testosterone Propionate pellets raised the levels of Testosterone in the mice for a period of two weeks whilst the control group were given a pellet containing no active substance.

The researchers found that mice given the Testosterone Propionate pellet had muscle cells in the muscle fibres [Myonuclei] had increased by 66 percent. Their muscle fibres also became 77 percent thicker.

Three months followed and the researchers forced the mice to exercise their muscle for a period of six days. The muscle of the mice that had received the Testosterone Propionate pellets some fourteen weeks earlier then grew faster than those in the control group.

“Our data demonstrate that in least in mice, an episode of testosterone use may recruit a long lasting pool of excess myonuclei, and a persistent increased ability to regain muscle mass by resistance exercise in the absence of further steroid exposure”, the Norwegian researchers write. “Thus, the benefits of even episodic drug abuse might be long lasting if not permanent in athletes. Our data suggests that World Anti-Doping Code calling for only two years of ineligibility after a conviction for steroid use, should be reconsidered.”

Friday, January 17, 2014

Facts about Dianabol - safe for use anabolic steroid


Dianabol was originally released by Ciba in 1956. It has had a long stint of popularity since then, especially in the US. Until the late 70's Dianabol was the entire rave. Perhaps, the most popular steroid ever. Known users include every Mr.Olympia from Scott to Zane. Of course the doses used have severely increased since then. Its popularity was also the cause of its demise. Almost a decade ago now the original D-bol was discontinued when the FDA drew the conclusion that its therapeutic uses were minimal compared to the amount of bodybuilders who were using it. But Dianabol has never been out of circulation really. Especially the Russians appeared quite fond of it and Russian D-bol is one of the best and most marketed forms of the substance Dianabol today.

Dianabol is without a doubt one of the best, if not the best product for people who compete in non-aerobic oriented sports. It promotes drastic protein synthesis, enhances glycogenolysis (repletion of glycogen after exercise) and stimulates strength in a very direct and fast-acting way. It may be less useful to those competing in aerobic events as it also diminishes cell respiration1. But Dianabol manifests itself in a distinct manner : rapid and fast-acting build-up of strength and mass is noticed. That's why its often used at the beginning of cycle consisting of mostly injectables like long-acting testosterone esters and nandrolone. Since the effects of such drugs don't fully come out for the first 10-15 days, Dianabol is dosed in to provide immediate and visible results. It has a rather weak androgenic component and an obviously quite strong and visible anabolic component. Its effects are largely non-AR mediated, which is documented by its rather low influence on the natural endocrine system and the fact that it decreases rather than increases red blood cell content in the blood. Which means that one worry users of Dianabol, especially short term, needn't fear is the dramatic shutdown of natural testosterone production as is often the case with very androgenic compounds. Of course this effect is dose-dependent. It still has a mild androgenic component, meaning in high doses (30+ mg daily) androgen-mediated side-effects can be noted (acne, male pattern hair loss).
Because of its fast effects, immense popularity and the increasing "more-is-better" sentiment among bodybuilders, increasingly high doses are indeed being used and recommended.

One has to wonder about the logic of such recommendations however, since high dose urine-analysis showed portions of unmetabolized compounds were being excreted. In simpler terms that means that with higher doses, higher amounts of unchanged Dianabol were being excreted in the urine. This would indicate that the current stance needs to be reviewed and that smaller doses, taken multiple times per day would deliver better results and maximal use of the steroid. Dianabol simply is highly effective in low doses(25-40 mg ed). Som say Anadrol, a comparable steroid to Dianabol, is better, but it's taken in doses of 50-150 mg. If one was to take Dianabol in those doses better gains could be expected. Dianabol is also a lot safer in as opposed to the highly toxic and progestagenic anadrol. If one takes into account that the half-life of Dianabol in the body is only 3-6 hours, this theory makes even more sense. So taking your daily dose spread over 3 or 4 doses may elicit a better effect than only 1 or 2 doses. Dianabol is quite effective in these lower doses by the way. Milligram for Milligram its more powerful than a testosterone ester, generally considered the best mass-builder.

A few notes there need to be made however. Not everyone should try and spread their doses out over multiple servings. First of all there is a slightly lower efficacy to take into account here as well due to two characteristics. The first being that you feed the total amount to the liver in smaller portions, yet the liver still manages to metabolize the same amount. Percentage wise that means less methandienone would make it through totally. The second would be that the peak levels aren't quite as high since no large doses are taken all at once. These two facts make it hard to recommend that just anyone take multiple doses. People who take moderate to low doses of ONLY Dianabol should probably opt for a single morning dose. This delivers a higher peak level and more survival of your only steroid. It also, due to the short half-life, makes the drug clear the body before the body produces its largest dose of natural testosterone, the early hours of sleep. Combined with the already mild effect at the AR, you could keep a good amount of your gains when using clomid or Nolvadex post-cycle. For those using it in conjunction with other, mostly injectable steroids, two doses seems to be the better choice, if you are taking in excess of 40 mg a day perhaps even three doses.
This is usually the case for fast-acting substances, they have short half-lives. Which brings us to the point of prolonged use.

The general consensus is that Dianabol should never be used more than 6 weeks on end due its strong hepatoxic effects. Being largely an oral compound, its also 17-alpha-alkylated to help it survive the liver upon first pass. Liver values are elevated over a short period of time4, making long-term use a very dangerous affair. Liver values should return to normal quite fast after discontinuation however since the effects are so short-lived. Other risks associated with the use of Dianabol include the apparition of estrogenic side-effects because it interacts rather well with the aromatize enzyme on account of its methylated properties. It is therefore best used in conjunction with an anti-estrogen. Gynocomastia, high blood pressure, salt and water retention and mild cases of acne are therefore not uncommon.

It's methylated properties (17-methyl group) does have several positive characteristics of course. Why else would they add this group? The main purpose of course it to make sure less of the Dianabol is affected by hepatic breakdown when taken orally. But apparently it also decreases the affinity of the drug to SHBG (sex-hormone binding globulin), a sex steroid binding protein that takes up as much as 98% of testosterone. Testosterone, that can't be used to build muscle. Since Dianabol does not bind to this protein easily, it's quite an active substance, no doubt accounting for its fast and immediately visible action. Dianabol also does not affect cholesterol levels to a high degree in moderate doses5, and it seems to help an athlete stock up on potassium6. This is particularly beneficial taking into account the amount of sodium its estrogenic effects store as well.

We hinted at the short time of activity Dianabol possesses. This means that despite its immediate, fast and explosive gains in both strength and mass, they are quite hard to maintain. Often the bulk of mass is lost shortly after discontinuation, making it most unsuitable for those looking to gain and keep quality muscle. An injectable may suppress some of these obviously flawed characteristics, but the 5 mg tabs remain the trend. With its high capacity to survive breakdown in the liver this understandably. Orally its perhaps the most powerful, although in the strength of effects it still can't hold a candle to androl. But it?s cheaper and safer than the aforementioned of course.

In light of the evidence presented, we conclude that the best use for Dianabol is short-term, for 5-6 weeks, at the beginning of a longer bulking stack (10+ weeks), preferably injectable, to kick start gains and strength. Its effects are largely non-AR mediated and it aromatizes quite well, which leaves it with limited stacking partners, the best candidates are of course nandrolone and testosterone. It should be taken in doses no higher than 50 mg (20-40 mg being the norm), spread over multiple doses for maximum effects in stacks and a single morning dose when taken by itself. D-bol remains a favorite today however, that's a fact that cannot be argued.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Walmart Supercube Project Gets Green Light


Walmart Canada today announced it will proceed with the second phase of its Supercube project and releases preliminary results following completion of phase one. The objective of the pilot is to ensure compliance with all safety requirements; validate cost saving projections; and assess whether use of the Supercube will allow the retailer to reduce the environmental impact of its logistics and transportation operations.

The Supercube is a 60-foot 6 inch trailer combined with a snub-nosed truck and drome box that allows the retailer to ship over 40 %  more merchandise compared to a standard 53-foot tractor – trailer combination. Designed and built in Mississauga, Ontario, the Supercube trailer was developed in partnership with Innovative Trailer Design.

“I am extremely pleased with the results we are seeing so far,” said Andy Ellis, Executive Vice President, Supply Chain & Logistics at Walmart Canada. “We have confirmed that this truck will allow us to deliver the same merchandise using fewer trucks, in less time. This means faster delivery of merchandise to stores, less fuel, lower emissions and lower maintenance costs,” added Ellis.

“Based on the early success of our pilot project we hope to begin adding additional Supercube trucks to the fleet as early as next spring,” new linksaid Michael Buna, Senior Transportation Manager at Walmart Canada. “On the long term, we estimate that this truck could be used in up to 40 % of our delivery routes.”

This project is part of Walmart Canada’s strategic productivity initiative, Operate For Less, which requires the company to permanently reduce operational expenses by over $100 million annually. Operate for Less is about reducing costs, allowing the retailer to reduce prices and help customers save money.

The second phase of the project will see the retailer make improvements to the existing truck in order to improve load and unload times and will begin work to extend the Supercube fleet. Walmart has four Supercube trucks on the road today.

For their tremendous efforts driving sustainable innovation in the transportation sector, Andy Ellis and Michael Buna were recognized by Canada’s Clean50, an organization that recognizes 50 individuals or small teams who have made the greatest contributions to sustainable development or clean capitalism in Canada.

“We are incredibly proud of the vision, perseverance and innovative spirit that Andy and Michael have shown as they continually seek to improve our logistics operations,” said Shelley Broader, president and CEO of Walmart Canada. “This is a project that has the potential to benefit the retail industry as a whole, and ultimately all Canadians.”

On successful completion of the pilot project, Walmart Canada hopes to roll out the Supercube in all regions across Canada over the next five years. Walmart Store Inc. is also looking into the potential use of the Supercube for its U.S. logistics operations.

trailer
Note that the supercube requires fewer trips for the same merchandise, however, it requires more time to load and unload.