T3 and the Modern Athlete

So you've decided to use T3 to help you shed fat now that you've read up on it and gotten past the nay sayers who expound the ills of shutting down your body’s own production of natural thyroid. Wonderful, T3 when used correctly can be a great addition to any diet and cardio plan. Read that again boys and girls, IN ADDITION TO ANY DIET AND CARDIO PLAN!!! If you've turned to T3 because you think it's a magic pill that will allow you to eat like crap and still lose weight you've been listening to the wrong advice. Can you lose weight/fat while using T3 and still eating junk food, unfortunately yes to a degree. I say unfortunately because this fact often leads people to do just that, it starts with a cheat meal that turns to a cheat day, which eventually has the athlete eating whatever and whenever they want and still they lose some weight. So what's wrong with this if the eventual out come, weight loss that is, is reached? The first problem is the weight you are losing may not be fat if your eating like crap, the second is what happens when you stop the T3 cycle and your metabolism is suppressed temporarily, if you were eating sloppy during the T3 usage your most likely to keep following that pattern and the combination of a slow metabolism combined with sloppy eating results in rebound weight gain. So in the end what have you really accomplished outside of being able to eat what you want with out getting any fatter for a month or so? And that's if you’re lucky and the rebound weight gain doesn't push you past your starting weight!!!

Now that I have your attention and you know what NOT to do, let's concentrate on what TO do. Just like any other chemical we find in our arsenal, T3 can and is used in a variety of ways when it comes to dosage and length of cycle, both for cutting and bulking. This article will deal with cutting use only. There are some who prefer to "hit it hard" and go high dosage with a quick taper down at the end losing a great amount of weight in a short time, but this way tends to eat as much muscle as fat in my experience and you end up looking basically the same as when you began, except that you weigh less and are smaller. There are those who like to use the same dosage throughout the cycle with no taper up or down figuring if your metabolism is going to be sluggish anyhow why waste the days using it at a low dosage when you could be burning more fat on those days. Then there are those who slowly taper up, maintain the highest dosage for a set time and then slowly taper down. It's the last group I'll concentrate on here, as this is the system that has shown it's best overall results with those I've worked with.

Let's start with the dosage, T3 is a very individual drug, when it comes to dosage I've seen guys use as high as 250-300mcg/day and others as low as 25mcg/day where both athletes lost fat and reached their goals. As a rule I start everyone (and for now I'm dealing with men I'll pen an article on women’s usage in the future) at 25mcg/day. I usually base the time of the cycle on their individual weight loss goals, if it's a smaller amount I'll go 3 weeks tops, if it's a lot of weight to lose we'll go 4, 5 and sometimes 6 weeks. I generally don’t go over 6 weeks with anyone, as T3 tends to stop working in most people after that amount of time. I’d rather they run 4 weeks cycles with 2 weeks off where they use an ECA stack or Clen during the break to continue to lose fat, then run another 4 week cycle. So the 1st 3 days in this cycle would be 25mcg/day, then the 2nd 3-day period is 50mcg/day, etc. The typical 21-day cycle will look like this:

Days 1-3.................. 25mcg/day
Days 4-6...................50mcg/day
Days 7-9...................75mcg/day
Days 10-12................100mcg/day
Days 13-15................75mcg/day
Days 16-18................50mcg/day
Days 19-21................25mcg/day

As you can see the dosage is increased by 25mcg/day every 4th day until the maximum dosage is reached for the subject, in this case 100mcg/day, then lowered the by the same 25mcg/day increments every 4th day until the end of the cycle. Given that most of the people I've worked with have tried everything else and are still considerably overweight when they start, the full 4-week cycle is often used instead of the 21-day cycle. The one I've used lately with the most success is as follow, remember the jumps are still 25mcg/day but this time you increase/decrease the dosage every 4 days:

Days 1-4...................25mcg/day
Days 5-8...................50 "
Days 9-12.................75 "
Days 13-16...............100 "
Days 17-20...............75 "
Days 21-24...............50 "
Days 25-28...............25 "

Note: You could also do the 3-day increase/decrease and hold the maximum dosage of 100mcg/day for days 10-19, but some find 100mcg/day makes them too uncomfortably warm and they sweat too much, especially during the warmer months.

There you have it, simple yet effective. If you remember to supplement your diet with plenty of protein (which every lifter should anyhow), eat a clean calorie controlled diet, drink 1-2 gallons of water per day and to take a mild steroid cycle to minimize muscle loss you should be able to see rapid fat loss with this cycle. I should also mention that some people like to stack T3 with Clenbuterol for even better results. Good luck and may you all reach your cutting goals!!!

The Myths and Dangers of Anabolic Steroid Usage

There are a lot of misconceptions about what steroids are, how steroids work, and why steroids are dangerous. If you are curious about the subject of steroids, let's eliminate certain misconceptions that surround these drugs. I have never experimented with steroids and do not endorse their usage but this unbiased and researched report is intended to provide you with objective information of what these drugs are and what they can and cannot do.

What are Anabolic Steroids?

Anabolic steroids are a synthetic copy of the hormone testosterone. They have been the subject of much debate over the last few decades as well as misinformation. Athletes, especially bodybuilders, may feel lured towards them as these drugs do increase muscle size, strength, and stamina.

Taking Any Kind of Steroid Will Result In Death

The first thing that we need to understand is that steroids are drugs. Even Tylenol and Aspirin can cause serious problems if you take them in large quantities. All drugs when misused and abused haveOn the issue of variety, there are many different types of steroid out there. There are injectable steroids and oral steroids. The injectable kind are generally more androgenic (provide male characteristics like hair growth and aggression) in nature and less damaging to organs like the liver. The oral versions are more anabolic in nature and cause more side effects than their injectable brothers as they have to be processed by the liver. Different steroids have different properties so there are some that have more tendencies to build muscle mass while others have a tendency to increase strength. As their properties vary, so do their side effects. Usually the stronger the steroid (especially if oral), the more side effects you can expect.

The Good Side of Steroids

On the issue of variety, there are many different types of steroid out there. There are injectable steroids and oral steroids. The injectable kind are generally more androgenic (provide male characteristics like hair growth and aggression) in nature and less damaging to organs like the liver. The oral versions are more anabolic in nature and cause more side effects than their injectable brothers as they have to be processed by the liver. Different steroids have different properties so there are some that have more tendencies to build muscle mass while others have a tendency to increase strength. As their properties vary, so do their side effects. Usually the stronger the steroid (especially if oral), the more side effects you can expect.

Based on the fact that steroids give you all of these good effects that bodybuilders constantly look for, it is no surprise that they cause a psychological dependence. Think about it. If you have been taking them for the past 8 weeks, assuming good diet and training, chances are that you got very big and strong quick. You feel unstoppable after the 8 weeks of use. Suddenly you taper them off, up until you completely stop their use. A week later after cessation of use you notice that you are not getting good pumps, that your strength is diminishing regardless of your best effort and that your muscle mass is shrinking! Add to that the fact that for the first few weeks after cessation of use you will feel depressed due to low testosterone levels and it is no wonder that there are people out there that never get off from them.

The Psychological Effects of Steroids

Based on the fact that steroids give you all of these good effects that bodybuilders constantly look for, it is no surprise that they cause a psychological dependence. Think about it. If you have been taking them for the past 8 weeks, assuming good diet and training, chances are that you got very big and strong quick. You feel unstoppable after the 8 weeks of use. Suddenly you taper them off, up until you completely stop their use. A week later after cessation of use you notice that you are not getting good pumps, that your strength is diminishing regardless of your best effort and that your muscle mass is shrinking! Add to that the fact that for the first few weeks after cessation of use you will feel depressed due to low testosterone levels and it is no wonder that there are people out there that never get off from them

Depression Effects of Steroids

Due to the post cycle low period of testosterone along with the fact that your estrogen levels will rise, depression at this time will be very real. In order to minimize this, you would need to get with a doctor and jump on many post cycle drugs that will re-establish your natural testosterone production along with supressing your estrogen levels. If you have an understanding doctor that is willing to help, he may prescribe you with the medications you need. However, chances are that your medical insurance will not cover these drugs due to the fact that the condition was caused due to illegal steroid use. If you do not get these medications, then expect a very bad depression and total loss of gains.

If you do not know what you are doing (i.e. you used steroids with the most side effects, you abused the dosage, etc) then not only will you get bad side effects during the period of use, but you also will also get worst side effects after the use. Again, the degree of side effects is directly proportional to the dosage and type of the steroid and also dependent of the genetic propensity of the subject to get such side effects. Therefore, it would be impossible for me or anyone else to exactly predict what kind of side effects a user might encounter during a period of use. However, one thing is for certain. If you abused the drugs by using super high dosages and for very long periods of time, you may never be able to re-establish natural testosterone production, so you will then need to get with an endocrinologist and possibly stay on low dose testosterone therapy for life.

Steroid Users Risk:

1. Increased Liver Function.
2. Depression of Natural Testosterone Production.
3. Increase in Cholesterol Levels and Blood Pressure (Not conductive to good cardiovascular health).
4. Altered Thyroid Function. 
5. Headeches.
6. Nose bleeds.
7. Cramps.
8. Development of breastlike tissue in men (Gynecomastia).
9. Insulin Insensitivity (Even though Deca Durabolin improves the insulin metabolism). 
10. Androgenic Side effects such as thinning hair, enlarged prostate, oily skin, water retention, increased body hair, aggressiveness. 
11. Stunted growth if you are a teenager.
12. Oral Steroid specific side effects: In addition to the above, the orals also tend to cause nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and vomiting.
13. May accelerate the growth of tumors. 

Again, keep in mind that different steroids offer different side effects and that everything is dosage dependent, so the list above is a generalized list of side effects.

I am not even going to go into the kind of side effects that females encounter when they decide to use these drugs, especially the androgenic ones like testosterone. That could be a whole article by itself, but I think that most people could imagine what happens when you start introducing abnormal amounts of hormones from the opposite sex into your body.

Winter Bulk Cycle with Oral Anabolic Steroid for Added Mass Gains.

Bulking is an art. An art that takes a ton of effort to be successful at. Especially when you are a seasoned juicer who has already put on some mass. If you have not gained at least 20 pounds over the weight you were at before coming over to the dark side, you just have not been juicing effectively and you will be very happy with the information that follows. If you have put on a good deal of size, you will still find useful information in the following paragraphs, but for now, we will not discuss usage of other non-anbolic steroid bulking drugs such as insulin. We will get to that soon though. Keep reading!

The catch with bulking drugs is that you have to accept not being so pretty if you are to really put on some size. Water and a little fat weight have to come with adding considerable size unless you are a genetic abnormality. The most potent drugs for bulking involve the heavy androgenic drugs which also cause large amounts of water retention. All the testosterone esters, anadrol, dianabol, and deca or equipoise when combined with any of the former make for a good bulking team.

One thing you want to take into consideration with here is the mechanism by which each drugs works. Anabolic steroids are either known to have a high affinity for the androgen receptor, and thereby cause growth through this mechanism, or they have effects on growth outside the receptor. For max benefit you want to combine drugs that work by different mechanisms. All orals will work by different mechanism purely on the fact that they are ingested and not injected. The way you get a drug into your body is called the route of administration. When an oral drug is taken it must eventually pass its way through the liver. The first time it does this a few hours after you ingest the oral is the popular term, "first pass". This is just code for the first time the liver has a chance to break down the oral drug. This site of metabolism is also where the functionality of oral anabolic steroids come into play.

The 17 alkylation of oral anabolics is what makes the drug able to pass the liver and not be fully degraded. Otherwise you would be able to drink testosterone and it would work fine. We all know this is not the case. The hydrochloric acid in the stomach would destroy the testosterone molecule way before the liver even gets a chance to metabilize it. This is why the oral test "methyltestosterone" came into existence. Although it is not a very effective drug, it is highly toxic. Methyltestosterone is a prototype oral. It has the most basic of structures added to testosterone to enable its hepatic(liver) survival. They simply added a CH3 or "methyl" group to the 17th postiion on th molecule (you've most likely seen it, it is the thatched roof part of the steroid structure). The reason why I mention this is that the toxicity of orals due to their chemical make-up is not all bad. When a 17 orally alkylated drug passes by the liver, it forces the liver to kick out a little extra IGF-I each time. IGF-I is the most potent anabolic substance in the body. It is through IGF-I modulation that the use of growth hormone exerts its muscle building effects.

The moral of the story:
USING AN ORAL DRUG WILL GREATLY IMPROVE THE RESULTS OF YOUR BULKING CYCLE.
Regular old testosterone is one of the best bulking drugs there is. As long as you are not super sensitive to estrogenic side effects, this should be your staple for mass building. Novices usually use around 500mg a week of a long acting ester. More advanced bodybuilders use upwards of 1000mg a week. The best way to do this is to find yourself some cheap multi-dose vials of a long acting test like enanthate. But I'm not "telling you to do this", ummm...this is for information purposes only...ok...hypothetically...If you use a shorter acting ester like propionate, it will be much more painful to administer and you will definitley not administer this amount. Prop at 100mg eod is more the norm for novices, 100-200mg daily for advanced. Prop usually comes 100mg/cc, two cc's in one shot of prop hurts!! You will definitely experience some welting if you try this. I do not recommend it. You will either be limping or rubbing your shoulder almost daily. This is miserable. Long acting esters like sustanon, enanthate, cypionate, etc. do not cause this extrem discomfort. Please keep this in mind.

Okay, so we have an oral, either Dianabol or Anadrol, with an injectible testosterone, and now you need a even blood level anabolic like deca or equipoise. Either one will suffice. Remember though, as we've said before, combining aromatizing drugs such as anadrol testosterone esters with progestagenic drugs such as anadrol is very risky for all but those who are not susceptible to gyno. So be careful. Even if you have used androgenic drugs such as test before with no chest soreness, be careful. If you decide to do this, you will want at least one estrogen on hand for precautionary reasons.

Assuming all is well, and you choose to take this aggressive technique, you will need at least a 2mg/lb of bodyweight per week of the injectible anabolic. You could technically use primo or winstrol as well for a little less overall bloat. The dosage patterns will be different with these drugs if used for this purpose and we will talk about this in the future. For now lets assume either Deca Durabolin or Equipose. Deca Durabolin at 300-400mg/week is often used by novices, 600-800mg for advanced. In all the athletes I have known, I have not seen a reason to go above 500mg when combining Deca Durabolin or Equipose with both an oral and a testosterone ester. This dose should be more than enough to get you gaining and keep your joints from aching while you push all that heavy iron (we will get into joint/ligament/tendon properties of anabolics soon).

Clomid by Dragon Pharma

Clomid 50mg by Dragon Pharma is an oral preparation containing 50mg of the substance Clomiphene Citrate.

Clomid, as it is most often called, is one of the most popular PCT drugs today, and is a staple of most bodybuilder's protocol. Clomid is typically prescribed for women to aid in ovulation. In men, the application of Clomid causes an elevation of follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. As a result, natural testosterone production is also increased. This effect is obviously beneficial to the athlete, especially at the conclusion of a cycle when endogenous testosterone levels are subnormal. Clomid will gradually raise testosterone levels over its period of intake.

Clomid is typically prescribed for women to aid in ovulation. In men, the application of Clomid causes an elevation of follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. As a result, natural testosterone production is also increased. This effect is obviously beneficial to the athlete, especially at the conclusion of a cycle when endogenous testosterone levels are subnormal. Clomid will gradually raise testosterone levels over its period of intake.

Clomid is also effective as an anti-estrogen. With the intake of Clomid, the athlete gets the dual effect of blocking out some of the effects of estrogen, while also increasing endogenous testosterone production.

Users often take the drug in a dosage of 100-150mgs a day for 4-6 weeks following the end of a cycle. Users often add substances such as HCG and proviron to make their PCT plan even more sound and effective.