Along with Trenbolone, Equipoise, commonly called EQ amongst bodybuilders, is a veterinary-grade drug that has slowly made its way into performance enhancement.
Well, it was available for human use briefly. But it was one of the compounds that was discontinued in the 1970s and since then, has largely been available in the veterinary drug market.
EQ enjoys an unprecedented reputation as a dry-bulking compound.
There are very few drugs that match that reputation.
Trenbolone is one of them. But a lot of people avoid Tren for obvious reasons.
EQ fills the void perfectly. While it is not as anabolic as Trenbolone, it is a very versatile compound that can find a place in both bulking and cutting stacks.
If you are looking to wet your toes in EQ, here’s what you need to know.
Chemical Structure
Equipoise or Boldenone Undecylenate, belongs to the Testosterone group of anabolic steroids.(1)
The addition of a double bond at the Carbon one and two positions of the testosterone hormone, gives us Boldenone, a very unique hormone that has only 50% of the aromatization of testosterone and is not as androgenic either.
But, because the modification to the testosterone hormone is only slight, EQ shares a lot of characteristics of Testosterone.
Dan Duchaine called EQ a Deca clone. While Dan recanted that statement after a while, the comparison has managed to outlive everything else.
The fact is that the kind of look that you can achieve with EQ is entirely different from what a cycle of Deca produces.
The only thing that it shares with Deca Durabolin is the long-acting Undecyclate ester attached to it, which releases the compound slowly over a period of 21-days into your body.
Dosage and administration
EQ is one of the few compounds that’s extremely well tolerated even at relatively higher doses.
That said, it is recommended that you start at the lowest possible dose, which for most people is 200mg/week.
If you can tolerate the low dose, up it to 400mg/week and then 600mg/week in subsequent runs.600mg is a high dose that will also increase the risk of estrogenic side effects. But considering that you will be running EQ with a test base, you will be dialing in your estrogen levels anyway.
Professional bodybuilders run up to a gram of EQ/week. But we do not recommend a dose that high unless you have run multiple cycles of the compound in the past and are competing.
The ester has an extremely long half-life. But most users will split their weekly dose into two or three injections to keep levels stable.
Women can get great results with up to 100mg/week without the risk of virilization. Anything higher will seriously increase the risk of
sides.
The total cycle duration typically lasts for 12-16-weeks depending on the goals of the user. The bare minimum period that you’d want to use the compound for is 8-weeks.
Anything lesser is practically useless because of the slow acting nature of the ester.
Brand names
While most Boldenone brands available in the market are veterinary-grade drugs, some companies inIndia and Thailand manufacture the injectable version for human consumption.
Some notable brands are Boldebolin by Alpha Pharma, Bolde-250 by Genesis, Equipoise by Meditech and Boldenone by LA Pharma and Fusion.
Effects of Equipoise
For a testosterone-derived compound, Equipoise can produce some phenomenal-quality lean muscle mass.
We are talking, dry, striated muscle fiber that’s more ‘keepable’ than the floofy water-balloon mess that dissipates as soon as it appears.(2)
So, you may not make dramatic gains in size. But any gains that you make will be of much better quality.
However, just like any other compound that produces keepable gains, it’s slow. You have to wait for at least 6-8-weeks to even begin feeling the compound. By the end of week-8, you’ll be saturated with it. That’s when the actual ride begins.
Vascularity : Get ready for the most insane vein-pops in your bodybuilding career. If you thought that Trenbolone made you vascular, wait till you try EQ. This will get the veins on your arms, legs and even your wiener popping. What’s amazing is that you don’t even need a pump for the vascularity to show. It ’s like being on a pump 24/7. But it’s not the extremely shredded, peeled look that one gets on Winny or Mast. It’s more like a fitness model. Extremely aesthetic and pleasing.
Endurance: One of the traits of EQ that it borrows from testosterone is boosting RBC production. The increased RBC will subsequently increase the amount of oxygen that gets shuttled to your muscles. Your cardio will become a cakewalk. Athletes (non-
competitive) looking to add a little extra buzz to their runs, swims, cycling or anything else will find EQ to be the perfect compound. Not too much mass, very little water retention and tons of muscle endurance. Strength gains are comparable to Winstrol.
Appetite : One of the reasons why EQ gained popularity as a bulking compound is because it can stimulate your appetite. An hour after a large meal, you’ll be craving for more food. If you find it difficult to eat during a bulking cycle, or you are running compounds that can tank your appetite, like Trenbolone or Superdrol does, then even a low dose of EQ can reset things.
Safety and Side Effects
EQ is one of the most well-tolerated steroids with very little side effects at normal doses. In fact, even if you up the dose to 600mg, most side effects will be minimal and manageable.
It aromatizes weakly, so Estrogen management should not be a concern.
If you are prone to androgenic sides, then it can trigger acne and hair loss. But again, the effects are far less pronounced than DHT-
based steroids and even testosterone.
It’s not as cardio toxic as most oral steroids are.
There’s one notable side effect that makes most people dread using it though.
That’s anxiety.
The anxiety on EQ can creep up and catch you unaware. Front loading is a workaround according to some bodybuilders. Also, using fewer compounds, rather than stacking it with compounds like Trenbolone seems to work as well.
Ref:
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/11954310
https://docs.ufpr.br/~tostes/Portfolio/Patogeral/canvetj00428-0012.pdf