Iron Game
Veteran
Steroid Corner - Frequency of Injections & Counterfeits
How Many Injections Per Week?
I am going to start a cycle of testosterone enanthate and stanozolol. I will use 600 milligrams per week of testosterone most weeks. How many injections would someone normally take for this?
I am not a strong believer in the need to micro-divide your weekly dosage of a slow-acting drug like this. Testosterone enanthate is an old medication, but upon its release represented a major improvement over the esters and base-steroid products that came before it. It enabled patients to take the drug on a much less frequent schedule, typically one injection every two to four weeks. In the context of bodybuilding/athletic use, I believe the old standard of one injection per week (more frequent than the medical recommendations, mind you) is more than sufficient.
In this case, I think what you have is a decision based on comfort. Given the 600-milligram weekly dosage, I am assuming you are using the standard 200 milligrams per milliliter product. So that’s three milliliters. This is usually regarded as the upper limit of volume for an oily injection like testosterone enanthate. To me, this amount might even be a bit uncomfortable. Back in the day, I tended to split a dose like this up to two injections per week, 1.5 milliliters each. Again, this is just a personal preference I had developed. Some may prefer to “get it over with,” so to speak, and only inject once weekly. Again, I don’t think you are likely to notice a difference in terms of results between these two decisions. As always, be careful … be safe.
Biggest Problem?
I think it is great that you are trying to clean up the counterfeit market. What do you think is the biggest problem right now? Is it getting different steroids, no steroids, dirty gear, steroids contaminated with other chemicals or drugs? How bad is it, really?
Well, unfortunately, we don’t truly know the state of the underground market. A thorough analysis on the products traded there has not been conducted. There have been a few studies conducted, mainly in Europe. There are bits of information here and there. But laboratory testing is expensive. We don’t see a lot of private or university investment in examining the black market. Especially in the United States, where we don’t even have law enforcement data made public to review, we’re making a lot of guesses.
With that stated, I’ll let you know what concerns me most right now. It is lack of sterility. I see a lot of people suffering with injection-site infections these days. Sometimes, the issues are quite serious. I’ve seen too much of it, actually. This is in great contrast to “my day.” Twenty years ago, I knew tons of people who were using gear. I personally never had an infection … never had a friend of mine get an infection. I’m sure it happened from time to time around me, but the prominence was nothing like it is today.
Going back 20 years, the market was quite different. Counterfeits existed, yes. There were good and bad products. But most of it was made in some form of laboratory. The past decade, we’ve seen an enormous shift. Steroids are now largely manufactured in small, underground labs. By nature, these operating conditions are not sterile. It is actually quite difficult to produce a true “clean room.” Drug companies spend enormous amounts of money building and maintaining them. Some dude’s kitchen will never be one. This is why bacterial contamination is far more common today than it was long ago.
Is bacteria the most common quality control issue? That, I can’t say. There are many other issues the market is dealing with right now. Recently, an informal study in Wales found that one-third of back-market drugs contained different or no anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) compounds at all. One out of every three products! And this is Wales, where possession is legal, and in my experience, access to pharmaceuticals is greater. And small studies like these rarely look at all potential contamination, such as heavy metals and other drugs. Whenever we’ve looked for these, we have found issues, at least in a small percentage of tested products. Bacterial contamination concerns me most because it is landing the most people in the hospital right now. I think it is the most obvious problem.
I’m actually in the process of launching a new AAS testing service with a group in Europe. I’m looking forward to this immensely, as it will give me much greater access to market information. I’m hoping we’ll be able to produce more thorough reports on black-market quality than we’ve seen already. Hopefully, this will all work out. In the meantime, my advice would be to take great care with what you buy and what you put into your body. For sure, there are pharmaceutical-grade products available. If you can find them, in my opinion, it is worth spending a high premium for them. One bad infection can quickly make you regret all the savings from cheap, underground gear!
William Llewellyn
How Many Injections Per Week?
I am going to start a cycle of testosterone enanthate and stanozolol. I will use 600 milligrams per week of testosterone most weeks. How many injections would someone normally take for this?
I am not a strong believer in the need to micro-divide your weekly dosage of a slow-acting drug like this. Testosterone enanthate is an old medication, but upon its release represented a major improvement over the esters and base-steroid products that came before it. It enabled patients to take the drug on a much less frequent schedule, typically one injection every two to four weeks. In the context of bodybuilding/athletic use, I believe the old standard of one injection per week (more frequent than the medical recommendations, mind you) is more than sufficient.
In this case, I think what you have is a decision based on comfort. Given the 600-milligram weekly dosage, I am assuming you are using the standard 200 milligrams per milliliter product. So that’s three milliliters. This is usually regarded as the upper limit of volume for an oily injection like testosterone enanthate. To me, this amount might even be a bit uncomfortable. Back in the day, I tended to split a dose like this up to two injections per week, 1.5 milliliters each. Again, this is just a personal preference I had developed. Some may prefer to “get it over with,” so to speak, and only inject once weekly. Again, I don’t think you are likely to notice a difference in terms of results between these two decisions. As always, be careful … be safe.
Biggest Problem?
I think it is great that you are trying to clean up the counterfeit market. What do you think is the biggest problem right now? Is it getting different steroids, no steroids, dirty gear, steroids contaminated with other chemicals or drugs? How bad is it, really?
Well, unfortunately, we don’t truly know the state of the underground market. A thorough analysis on the products traded there has not been conducted. There have been a few studies conducted, mainly in Europe. There are bits of information here and there. But laboratory testing is expensive. We don’t see a lot of private or university investment in examining the black market. Especially in the United States, where we don’t even have law enforcement data made public to review, we’re making a lot of guesses.
With that stated, I’ll let you know what concerns me most right now. It is lack of sterility. I see a lot of people suffering with injection-site infections these days. Sometimes, the issues are quite serious. I’ve seen too much of it, actually. This is in great contrast to “my day.” Twenty years ago, I knew tons of people who were using gear. I personally never had an infection … never had a friend of mine get an infection. I’m sure it happened from time to time around me, but the prominence was nothing like it is today.
Going back 20 years, the market was quite different. Counterfeits existed, yes. There were good and bad products. But most of it was made in some form of laboratory. The past decade, we’ve seen an enormous shift. Steroids are now largely manufactured in small, underground labs. By nature, these operating conditions are not sterile. It is actually quite difficult to produce a true “clean room.” Drug companies spend enormous amounts of money building and maintaining them. Some dude’s kitchen will never be one. This is why bacterial contamination is far more common today than it was long ago.
Is bacteria the most common quality control issue? That, I can’t say. There are many other issues the market is dealing with right now. Recently, an informal study in Wales found that one-third of back-market drugs contained different or no anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) compounds at all. One out of every three products! And this is Wales, where possession is legal, and in my experience, access to pharmaceuticals is greater. And small studies like these rarely look at all potential contamination, such as heavy metals and other drugs. Whenever we’ve looked for these, we have found issues, at least in a small percentage of tested products. Bacterial contamination concerns me most because it is landing the most people in the hospital right now. I think it is the most obvious problem.
I’m actually in the process of launching a new AAS testing service with a group in Europe. I’m looking forward to this immensely, as it will give me much greater access to market information. I’m hoping we’ll be able to produce more thorough reports on black-market quality than we’ve seen already. Hopefully, this will all work out. In the meantime, my advice would be to take great care with what you buy and what you put into your body. For sure, there are pharmaceutical-grade products available. If you can find them, in my opinion, it is worth spending a high premium for them. One bad infection can quickly make you regret all the savings from cheap, underground gear!
William Llewellyn
