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Dorian Yates Reveals His Contest Prep, Training, Steroid Cycles & TRT Use after Retirement
Bodybuilding legend Dorian Yates stands out as a six-time Mr. Olympia champion with a distinct training philosophy. In a recent Rob Lipsett interview, Yates revealed his competition prep, training, and the steroid cycles he used as a competitor. He also opened up about his reasons for getting on TRT after stepping away from professional competition….
The Anatomy Of A Mass Cycle
Are you ready to run your first cycle of anabolic steroids for all-out mass gains? You should expect to gain 15 to 25 pounds if you train correctly, and experience only minor side effects. Let’s check out some of the details you may have overlooked!
Be assured of quality
You are definitely testing your luck if you are attempting to purchase steroids online from an unknown source. You don’t know about the quality, the safety, or any law enforcement involvement. It’s a great risk you may be taking for an impure product. Think twice if you are unable to be assured of quality or at the very least order from an online pharmacy where many of the gurus you know and trust have had good experiences.
Determine your goals
Before you make that first injection, you’ll want to know exactly what your goals are. If adding ten pounds of water weight to your frame isn’t something you can tolerate, you need to plan that into your cycle. You cannot just quit your cycle mid-stream and not expect a dramatic crash. You should always plan ahead for both the positive and negative side effects commensurate with your goals.
Stacking is required
You will find 3 to 4 times the amount of gains to be expected when you add a second compound to your original drug. For this reason, it’s almost required for an off-season steroid stack to consist of two or more drugs. Testosterone and Nandrolone work together in a very successful manner, making it probably the most common and popular stack.
Go heavy, go fast
You will likely be using fairly large amount of fairly toxic compounds for your cycle. For this reason, the cycle should be short (6 to 10 weeks). The immediate result of heavy androgen use will be fat and water gain, hair loss, acne, and increased aggression. By the 8th week on these compounds, the side effects soon become unmanageable. It’s almost unfathomable to imagine those bodybuilders who stay on the same heavily androgenic cycle all year round. Aside from their own natural testosterone production, the long-term effects of the continuous and cumulative side effects are something that should scare even the most veteran user.
PCT all the way
A the conclusion of this heavy 8 to 10 week cycle, you’re going to want to immediately jump to a per-contest ramp-down stack. Commonly used AI or SERMs following a cycle will allow the bodybuilder to ramp down his testosterone levels gradually, and will keep estrogen levels from spiking, which is often the cause of very terrible side effects.
The decision to run a mass cycle is one that should be weighed very carefully. Steroids are serious business when taken in a small compromise or cutting cycle. When they’re used in a highly toxic mass cycle, they become something much more unnerving. Don’t allow yourself to damage your body and health, or lose personal freedoms by using a poorly planned mass gain cycle. Think it through, and plan ahead!
Four Major Steroid Myths
Since steroids were labeled as a controlled substance twenty years ago, a great deal of information has been dispersed about them, by people with various agendas. Until the late 1980s, steroids were used much more commonly among many different groups of people. They were easy to obtain, affordable, and many people just considered them to be common medicines along the lines of aspirin and Tylenol. Once they were banned for use without the use of a prescription, their use lessened, but there were still many individuals who found them to be very useful. In order to limit the amount of Americans that used the drugs- particularly among younger Americans – several ad campaigns were initiated which helped to spread information about steroids. The media ran with this information, and before long the general public was convinced of these “facts”. Let’s examine some of the more common misconceptions about steroids.
Steroids are easy to obtain
For many people, drugs like marijuana are easy to obtain. Everyone knows someone who is a user. Steroids are much, much harder to locate. Most users have to either place on online order to some unknown factory overseas, or ask their doctor, who is not at all likely to issue a prescription for it.
Steroids kill
Everything kills you, if you live long enough. Steroids cause temporary liver enzyme spikes, some rises in blood pressure, and altered HPTA function, which is reversible. These side effects are detrimental, but reversible as long as the user is healthy and the drug use is limited to 10 to 14 week cycles. Staying on AAS for years will cause major health problems. For the majority of users, short cycles cause no long-term issues. Seeing many bodybuilding greats from 40+ years ago at today’s bodybuilding expos, healthy and vibrant, is visual evidence of this.
Steroid cause “roid rage”
If you are a jerk, steroids make you a bigger jerk. Steroids do increase your testosterone levels, which will make you more aggressive. For some, these new levels of aggressiveness are personified in feelings of anger or frustration, louder than usual. Users may also feel a sense of pride or bravado at their new muscles, which may cause them to be a bit disrespectful to others as well. The image of a man taking steroids, turning green, growing 60 pounds and smashing phone booths is something out of television shows, nor reality.
Steroids have no “real” uses
Steroids were actually originally created for legitimate medical use. Many began in the barns and farms, as veterinary drugs used to help sick livestock retain their body weight. In the medical world, steroids have been used for decades to help patients with wasting diseases such as HIV, leukemia or cancer. The increased red blood cell count and greater muscle mass and weight associated with bodybuilding success help patients with many maladies live higher qualities of life.
Steroids are relatively safe compounds which are pretty hard to obtain. They have legitimate medical uses, as well as those of vanity used by bodybuilders. The more information people have about steroids, the more likely they will be to make an education decision regarding their use.
Half Life, Active Life & AAS
If you are using steroids, or considering the use of anabolics, there’s probably a very good chance you’re doing your homework. If you’re not, you should be. The decision to use steroids is a very serious one which should never be taken lightly. The decisions you make regarding your cycle will affect you for the rest of your life in many ways. You could shut down your own natural testosterone production permanently. You could lose your ability to reproduce. You could end up losing your job because of a positive test because you didn’t understand how long a drug would be in your system. You could end up with a damaged liver because you didn’t grasp half life times. You could end up in prison because you abused or cheated prescriptions or ordered from an overseas source. There are many factors you need to consider before considering hopping on the steroid wagon.
Okay, now that you are a little bit scared, and aware of the seriousness of using steroids, you may be a bit more receptive to the information you currently may casually scan about steroids. You know the listings of each drug online. You might glance at things such as dosing sizes, side effects, half lives, and more, never really grasping just how important an understanding of this information is. You need to know everything about every drug you place into your body. There is just too much on the line for you.
One such aspect of drug listings which is often completely ignored by steroid users is drug lives. There is the active life, and the half life. Most bodybuilders focus more upon the injection information on each drug, and then forget about the things that happen inside their body once they inject that needle. Don’t make that mistake.
The active life of a steroid is the amount of time that the drug is still delivering you anabolic effects in the body. For some orals, active life can be just a few hours. For some oil-based testosterone esters, it can be weeks. The amount of time can vary from person to person, based upon metabolism and a wealth of other factors, so active life should never be the sole determinant in any decision making regarding steroid use. What is important to you are a person injecting testosterone and maintaining artificial T levels is to know that you need to make each injection just before the effectiveness of a drug stops. At that point, your testosterone levels will plummet, estrogen levels will fluctuate, and you’re in for a world of lost muscle and energy and the potential emergence of gyno. Know your active lives, and plan your cycles accordingly.
Half life is much easier to understand. Its use isn’t as dire as active live, but it is very useful when making calculations for knowing when drugs will be out of your system so that you can be clean for employment or competition testing. The half life of a steroid is the amount of time it will take for the active life to be halved in the body.
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Hormones That Help Your Muscle Growth
The human body has numerous amounts of hormones which are intricate in nature. They are what allow the muscles to eventually grow, or at times do the opposite. Maximizing hormones like the testosterone, insulin, IGF-1, and HGH can ultimately result in a substantial increase and development of strength for the lean muscle growth, as well as a result to a decrease in adipose tissue.
Testosterone is the king of all types of hormones in the field of natural bodybuilding as it interacts directly with skeletal muscle. When taken advantage of, the relevant testosterone can greatly provide an increase in the individual’s strength and motivate muscular development. It eventually increases the nitrogen retention within the cells resulting in a subsequent increase in the amino acid uptake and a quite high anabolic environment.
There are a great number of several methods that can help in increasing your body’s testosterone levels like incorporating several compound exercises such as, dead lifts, squats, bench presses, and other form like pull-ups at very high intensity and with high resistance.
Nutrition also plays a major role in testosterone levels production. Chicken or other types of red meats can augment the testosterone production because of the zinc present in them. Eating fruits like blueberries, citrus fruits, apples and other related fruits containing vitamin can also serve in increasing the testosterone levels. Salmon is another option which can indirectly result in a subsequent testosterone levels development as the fish oil helping to lower levels of SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) which finally binds to the testosterone in the individual’s blood. Testosterone can also be augmented through the use of dietary supplements like tribulus terrestris referred to as ZMA.
HGH (human growth hormone) and the IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) remain as the powerful hormones, which helps in muscle growth and breaking down the adipose tissue for energy production. HGH also decreases the glucose use for energy production thus it breaks down fats, increases the protein synthesis and enhances the body’s immune system. IGF-1 increases protein synthesis directly by providing trigger satellite cells to enable the creation of new muscle tissue and induce muscle hyperplasia referred to as splitting of the muscle cells. IGF-1 is secreted directly by the liver as a result of the respective HGH in the bloodstream; therefore the levels of HGH and IGF-1 go hand in hand. HGH levels can eventually be increased naturally by the consumption of proteins and carbohydrates and having a pre and post exercise, doing some high intensity interval workouts, resting for a minute between reps and doing 4 sets of between 8-10 reps for each type of exercise.
Insulin is another anabolic hormone which is strategically set for muscle development. This is when it is taken advantage of in the correct manner. Insulin acts like a key to getting inside the cells. It increases the permeability of cells, allowing more of the glucose and subsequent amino acids to enter the muscles and eventually decreases muscle degradation. Therefore working to the advantage of the bodybuilder.
How Effective Is Mega-dosing With Testoxyl Cypionate?
You can never have too much of a good thing, right? Ask a 5-year old how many M&Ms he wants, and he’ll likely take the entire bag. Ask a 35 year old how much cash he’d like out of the bank bag you’re holding, and he’ll probably prefer to take the entire bag. It is human nature to take as much as we can get. It is how we are built. However, that kind of mentality, when applied in the world of AAS, can be counter-productive.
Many bodybuilders will finally get their hands upon a connection for Testoxyl Cypionate and they will be overjoyed. It might be through their physician, who finally cracked after years of requests by the patient. Or, it may be that some gym connection or overseas manufacturer came to the bodybuilder’s attention, and suddenly the test Cyp is plentiful. Whatever the case, the bodybuilder finally has access to large amounts of Testoxyl Cypionate, and he is ready to pile on the shots. But is this the right strategy?
Your very first cycle is going to dictate the amount of AAS you will need on all following cycles in order to continue to make gains in the gym. In other words, you are going to set the absolute baseline of AAS that you’ll need for all future cycles to make gains. If your first cycle is only 200 mg of Testoxyl Cypionate per week, then your next cycle can be 300 mg and you are still going to see gains. Notable examples of bodybuilders who took it very easy on the compounds early in their career, which allowed them great ability to improve as pros, are Ronnie Coleman and Kai Greene. Both were great bodybuilders who began their careers taking the natural routes, who were then able to see tremendous gains in their 30s when they finally did ‘up the dose’. If you choose to use Testoxyl Cypionate at high levels, you will be placing yourself at risk for closing out your window for gains. You’ll be dependent upon high doses of AAS to make any gains from this point forward, stifling your ability to gain.
In addition to stunting your potential future progress, you are also going to be opening yourself up to some seriously unpleasant side effects. Testoxyl Cypionate is a safe drug when used in moderation, but when the dosage eclipses 1000 mg per week, you open up a whole new can of worms on many levels. Blood pressure will skyrocket. Liver toxicity, never an issue with injectable testosterone, will suddenly be a concern. You may as well shave your head now – because male pattern baldness is going to overtake you in no time if you’re running 1500 mg per week of Testoxyl Cypionate. Your ability to naturally produce testosterone is going to be halted for 6 or more months. And you’ll limit your gains by taking too much. Ironically, your central nervous system will be so busy fending off these side effects and recovering from the toxicity of the high level of steroids that you are not going to be able to synthesize new muscle. Keep the dosage under 1000 mg for your first ten years of use, and you will be fine. Go above that, and you’re short-circuiting your efforts!
Does Syringe Size Matter When Injecting Steroids?
Q: I am planning on doing a cycle here really soon. I’ve only done about 3 in my life and of those three, I had help with all of them—even down to the size of needle I would need. I’m on my own now, and don’t have the help anymore. Can you tell me what size needle I’d need for each drug?
A: Some AS require a certain size because of their composition and because of differences in viscosity of the liquid, so there is a definite protocol there for thickness. However, one must also consider how long the needle ought to be and that’s where some people end up injuring themselves. With a needle that is too narrow in size, and a steroid that is oil-based or has crystals, all that will happen is a failure to be able to pull the substance up into the syringe. However, if using a needle that is too long, and is injected into a muscle like the quad or calf, it can cause irreparable tissue damage because it travels too deep into the muscle. For the purposes of this column, I’ll assume you’re talking both length and diameter of needle here.
Site determines the length of needle you’ll want to use. If it’s in the hip, an often-fleshier area of the body, then the needle can be a little longer to accommodate piercing flesh, fat and muscle. Needle length will also have to be altered when your body fat is either lower or higher than normal. There is no need to push a 2-inch needle into your hip if you are hovering around 6% body fat. Likewise, a one-inch needle will not penetrate that 40-pound post-contest weight gain either!
Mostly, a 1.5” or 1” needle will do the trick, but keep a few 2” points around for good measure if you have higher body fat or get bloated often. As for the barrel of the needle (how wide the hole is for liquid to pass through), you’ll want to keep it as small as possible to avoid injury, but keep a few sizes around that accommodate both oil based AS and crystal base AS. The drugs to which I’m referring in those two categories are true veterinary crystal-based Stanoxyl Depot (the human Winstrol from Europe is not crystal based) and oil based drugs such as in the testosterone family (excluding test suspension, which is not oil-based). Still, I don’t think there’s ever a cause to drop beneath an 18-gauge size. I prefer a 21-23 myself, but sometimes when you’re mixing substances in one 3cc syringe, it becomes difficult. Remember, you can also draw up into the syringe with one needle that’s a little bigger and screw on a smaller one if you are mixing.
Sometimes the mix of lighter viscosity AS will thin out the heavier viscosity additions and make it possible for you to use a smaller needle all around. But then again, it depends upon how paranoid you are about injections. Some people will only use a scant 25-gauge needle, and nothing bigger, and simply avoid the heavier drugs in order to stay with the smaller size.
ECA & T3 During An Aas Cycle
“Can I mix ECA or T3 with my anabolic steroid stack?” This question is asked very frequently by steroid users ready to cut some body fat in anticipation of an upcoming show. The answer is yes, you can. However, there are some factors of which you should analyze before using either drug. Remember that every individual is different and that these are only general guidelines for how most bodybuilders respond to the use of these compounds.
Why would this even be a question? Well, ECA is a compound that can cause some major changes in the body. It can also lead to some pretty undesirable interactions with other drugs. Mixing ECA with SSRI anti-depressants, antibiotics, or even some cough medicines can cause serious cardiac damage, or even death. Wise users of ECA (a stack of 200 mg caffeine, 25 mg ephedrine, and 200 mg aspirin) will check for interactions with any drugs they use, including anabolic steroids.
Another argument exists as to whether or not the cutting agent T3 should be using with an AAS cycle – or even at all. If you are a bodybuilder competing at the local, regional, or even state level, you don’t need to use T3. This may run contrary to the wishes of some intermediate bodybuilders who have read about T3 and fallen in love with the idea of using it. However, attempting to alter the thyroid function is something that should only be done by advanced bodybuilders who really need a level of cutting power that ECA cannot provide.
It’s true that there is going to be a drop in your natural T3 and T4 levels when supplementing with either anabolic steroids or human growth hormone. Trenbolone in particular can wreck T3 production for the short-term. Androgens decrease thyroid output. Dropping calories won’t help much either. However, this decreased thyroid output will be minimal, and your body will recover (read: return to normal function) within a month or so after AAS use is halted. The recovery from thyroid altering drugs often takes much longer.
If you are going to run T3 with your bodybuilding cycle, limits its use to the very tail end of your pre-contest diet, when the show is two weeks away, you are possibly behind schedule, and the ECA isn’t working like it did earlier in the diet. At this point, it may be useful to allow a very short-term bump to your metabolism and fat burning processes. However, long-term use of T3 during the entire pre-contest phase (or worse, for the duration of the year) is never advised.
In the bigger picture, your metabolism is your best friend when it comes to long-term weight management. Anything which may adversely affect it – including the use of thyroid medication when none is needed for health purposes – should be avoided. Obviously, many top-level bodybuilders are going to justify the use of these drugs because their livelihood depends upon it. For amateurs competing at the state level or lower, however, the use of these drugs are not necessary or advisable.
Discover The Best Anabolic Steroid Stacks
Let’s face it- steroids can be a mighty confusing topic. If you watch television, you probably envision steroid use as a handful of pills taken before some competitive athletic or bodybuilding event, giving the athlete some crazy advantage and of course, the crazy eyes and roid rage commonly portrayed in the media for the past two decades. The truth of the matter is that you probably will never just pop a handful of steroids, particularly if you want to preserve your health. Most steroid cycles involve carefully measured shots of oil, injected into the thighs twice each week. Sometimes you will add a few oral steroid pills each day to maximize your efforts or to jumpstart your steroid cycles. Anabolic steroids stacks are simply combinations of two or more steroids, which together delivers an effect which is greater than the sum of these two or more drugs when used individually. It’s called synergy – and it’s a wonderful thing!
Steroid synergy is the goal of using anabolic steroids stacks – and just about every top bodybuilder in the world employs steroid synergy in his or her efforts to achieve their maximum potential for muscle strength, size, and leanness gains. But what kind of synergy is best? Which anabolic steroids stacks are the most effective? Which can be dangerous?
Most steroid cycles, particularly for beginners, will consist of a single variant of testosterone, injected twice per week. It will be oil from a vial, drawn into a syringe and injected into your shoulder, glute, arms, back or thighs, and will certainly get the job done. In order for more experienced users of steroids to enjoy some of those same initial gains seen by beginner users, trainers will often add an oral steroid to the mix, or perhaps a second oil with different testosterone release timing mechanisms. This way, the user can enjoy an initial T level boost every 2 days, then again every 5, 8, 10, or 14 days! The more sudden releases into the bloodstream over the course of a week, the greater the results will be!
There are some pitfalls to avoid. You don’t want to stack multiple oral steroids. While they might be more convenient for consumption (compared with sticking yourself with a needle), there is a grave concern of liver damage. Remember that oral steroids take two passes through the liver. A single oral steroid in your cycle already presents enough of a challenge to the liver. Two? That’s going overboard!
Many bodybuilders will use anabolic steroids stacks which will start with oral steroids along with an oil, then taper off of the oral steroids after 2 to 3 weeks. After all, oral steroids begin working immediately, and injectable testosterones can take 7 to 14 days to begin showing some results. This is a common practice by more experienced bodybuilders, as it allows the bodybuilder to enjoy instant results. Heck, many beginner bodybuilders will scrap a perfectly good cycle after 2 weeks because they believe their gear is “bunk”, or counterfeit. It will often take that long for the oil to begin working when used alone, which is why stacking orals with injectable steroids is often the way to go. Good luck with your stacking!
The Best Steroid Stacks For Short Cycles. Trenbolone Acetate – Testosterone Propionate – Winstrol – IGF 1 lr3
The Best Short Steroid Cycle & Stacks for Synergy Trenbolone Acetate – Testosterone Propionate – Winstrol – IGF 1 lr3 A short steroid cycle is generally considered to be no longer than 6 weeks. Short steroid cycles have many benefits over the longer duration anabolic steroid cycles which generally range from 12 weeks to…