Reinheart
New Member
This is all the stuff someone should know, it's definately going to take some time to be read but i believe it's worth it.
PS: I'm not the author of this document.
Prohormones are steroid hormones and above all exogenous hormonal substances. In a way they are comparable to steroids, and though minor and at much less risk, similar side effects can occur. If you are still growing, pregnant or are succeptible to the effects of estrogen and DHT formation, it's wise to stay away from prohormones. And in any case you should do some research (this article is a step in the right direction) into the use and abuse of these substances in order to take the right action in case anything does occur. It's important to know what the product can do for you and do to you. The most important factors when shopping for prohormones are "How big is the risk? Am I willing to take it?" and "Will I get my money's worth?" Obviously the stuff doesn't grow on trees. So let's get this unpleasantness over with.
Side Effects as Result of Prohormone Use
I will be using the term steroid hormone here, which is not to say that prohormones are steroids. It is simply the scientific term for any hormonal substance manufactured in the body from cholesterol (this includes testosterone and estrogen, but also Vitamin D and others). Prohormones should not be likened to illegal ergogenic aids for several reasons. The first is that they need to convert to a target hormone, which is responsible for most of the anabolic effects. Because this requires naturally occurring enzymes the amount that is converted is limited, and therefore so are the results from taking it. With steroids, the effects are dose-dependent = the more you take, the more you gain. Secondly any such reference is misleading because nothing that is legal comes even close to steroids and the gains they illicit. I'm furious at companies that market prohormones by giving them names that sound like steroids. Names like Maxteron, Decavar and a whole host of others set a bad example for our youth, because it acquaints them to steroids and the use thereof. This kind of reckless behavior will, in my humble opinion, also be the reason prohormones might ultimately banned by the FDA, a feat that is threateningly close of late. Read the following paragraphs to understand the side-effects and skip ahead to the FAQ if you are looking for ways to minimize side-effects.
Inhibition of Natural Testosterone through Negative Feedback
Introducing an exogenous steroid hormone into the body will initially, through a mechanism called negative feedback, stop the natural production of the hormone testosterone. Negative feedback is a loop mechanism. Testosterone is secreted by the hypothalamus which releases Gondatropin releasing hormone (GhRH) which stimulates the release of Luteinizing hormone (LH or Gonadotropin) from the anterior pituitary. In the testes LH will signal the manufacture of Dehydro-epiandrosterone (DHEA) from cholesterol in the Leydig Cells. DHEA converts to androstenedione and eventually testosterone. When the need for testosterone is satisfied the testosterone will signal the hypothalamus and secretion is stopped. Introducing these substances directly will give that same signal that stops production. Why is this bad? Because the manufacture of DHEA in the gonads is halted and they fall into disuse. This causes testicle shrinkage and in the long run can be responsible for infertility, loss of libido and even impotence. This problem is addressed by the term cycling. By going on a hormone for a while and then staying off of it for a similar or longer period, we give natural production a chance to recover. Minor shrinkage can take place but should disappear after a few weeks of disuse. This brings with it a few conclusions:
A. The product should always be cycled, prolonged or continued use may cause more lasting damage. 10 weeks is, at least according to me, the longest a stack should be. Even that may be pushing it. I usually recommend no more than 8 weeks.
B. The time you are off the supplement should be adequate, at least as long but preferably longer than the amount of time you were on it. If this rule is not observed, the testes may not get a chance to recover adequately and the cumulative effect of two close cycles may result in similar problems.
Estrogen-Related Issues
Estrogen is a common denominator for a group of hormones with feminizing characteristics that are obviously more active in the female of our species. Estradiol and consequently estrone are the strongest and most relevant. There are a great deal that are biologically not active enough to be of concern. In the body, when the hormones are converted, a great deal of them (the amount depending on the prohormone used) can actually start producing estrogen. Even if this is not the case, the target hormone, testosterone especially, can undergo a process called aromatisation in which the testosterone molecule is transformed into an estrone molecule. This happens at the 3rd carbon position (most anabolic steroid hormones have 17 carbons) where an A-ring is formed.
What are the consequences though? Well, feminizing effects on the male for one. Estrogen has a very retentive effect on water. This means that large amounts of water can be stored, making you bigger but not with muscle, when using them. Most of this weight disappears when estrogen:testosterone levels return to normal. In itself this retention is moderately anabolic and not so bad at all, if it didn't go at the expense of the amount of testosterone. It also increases the chances of adipose (fat) storage throughout the body (women have a naturally higher BF percentage than men). But as stated, they don't have to be bad necessarily, they may even aid the results. Of more concern is gynocomastia, commonly referred to as "bitch tits", which indicates the formation of breast tissue in men as a result of estrogens. This can be caused by alcohol or high body-fat as well, so keep in mind that these conditions will influence your risk of gyno. To date I have not met anyone that ever got severe gyno from taking a prohormone. Most likely that would take a dose that offers no additional effects, of a product that readily makes the conversion, such as andro or 5-diol. What does regularly happen is that someone gets itchy nipples and they get a bit puffy. These are common symptoms and will disappear. Itching is no real indicator, but if they get puffy it may be a source of concern. If you are doing an 8-week stack and in the 5th or 6th week you see some swelling, continuing is not such an incredible risk. The effect is mostly reversible and should disappear after three weeks of disuse. If you get it full blow the first week or so, don't hesitate, just quit. It would be unwise to continue if you are obviously so succeptible. The risk of it being permanent becomes larger too, and if gyno should occur the only way to remove it is surgically. But like I said, I still have to see the first verified case.
Androgen-Related Issues
An androgen is any substance that creates male-specific characteristics in the body, masculinizing effects if you will. You'd think this would be a positive thing, and mostly it is, apart from a few things. For the most part androgen related issues are the result of dehydro-testosterone (DHT) formation. FSH (follicle stimulating hormone, the other sex-hormone secreted under influence of GnRH) signals the Sertoli cells which transform the molecule to DHT. DHT is responsible for sperm maturation and most masculine characteristics. Increased body-hair, deeper voice, increased sex-drive, these are common things that I'm sure no man really worries about. What should be of concern is that like all fat-soluble products (and testosterone is made of cholesterol) it stores in the skin, and DHT seems to have an affinity for the scalp, which may cause hair loss on the top of the scalp.
In real terms, it all depends, yet again, on how you personally react to it. Some people take mega-doses and don't lose anything, others may notice extra hairs clogging the drains after a mere three weeks. Generally it's nothing to worry about, but I always issue a warning that, if there is a history of male-pattern baldness on your mom's side of the family (the condition is hereditary in matri-linear fashion) it's best to be on your guard and discontinue use of the product immediately at the first sign of excessive hair loss. Hair loss is almost always irreversible. It may be wise to make the majority of your intake a low-androgenic compound such as Nor-diol.
Other side-effects as a result of androgenic substances include acne, which is the most common side-effect of prohormones, but it is very temporary, this should clear up within the odd week or two after discontinuing the product. Often times it will be limited to a few zits here and there. For older people there is the risk of prostate enlargment. In heavy androgenic steroids this can even greatly increase the risk of prostate cancer. One sign of prostate enlargment is overurination. I don't really suggest the use of blocking substances, such as chrysin, but in this case, for the older bodybuilder most at risk (50 to 69 especially is the target group), saw palmetto is advisable. The stuff has no use other than to protect the prostate.
DHEA (Dehydro-epiandrosterone)
Target Hormone: 4-Androstenedione
Molecular name of target hormone: 4-androsten-3,17-dione
Target conversion: low (0.35 %)
DHT conversion: Moderate (converts to andro, then DHT)
Estrogenic effects: Has the ability to actively convert to estrogen precursors. Its been noted that DHEA is responsible for over 80 percent of all estrogens.
Dehydro-epi-androsterone in full, DHEA is called the mother hormone. It's not so much a prohormone as a pre-prohormone, a substance that needs to convert to a prohormone, in this case androstenedione. It's the first actual hormone produced in the chain of command that leads to usable testosterone. By way of feedback the Hypothalamus (little thing in the middle of your brain) secretes GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone) that signals the anterior pituitary (even smaller thing below the hypothalamus) which in turn produces LH (Luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). We'll be following the LH pathway, as it stimulates the Leydig cells to produce DHEA from cholesterol. It will in turn convert to either estrogen precursors (estradiol) or androgen precursors (like andro). It's been estimated that DHEA is responsible for 50-60 percent of testosterone and up to 80 percent of all estrogens. Unlike other prohormones, the benefits of this product go way beyond mere testosterone boosting. It may actually be good for you. Optimal body levels of DHEA have been known to reduce cancer risk, improve immunity, reduce blood pressure and decrease sensitivity to allergic states. It may also lower bad cholesterol. So it's not a minor contribution to your health.
The downside is that, unlike previously believed, DHEA exerts no major anabolic effects. And it is still an exogenous hormone, which means it does suppress natural testosterone. Those two feats combined make this a great addition if you are getting on in age, have tapering test levels and are looking for more quality of life, but let's say that unless you are over 50 DHEA has bitter little to offer. The common prescription ranges from 5-100 mg, but for older bodybuilders I feel safe recommending doses of 100-200 mg.
Now we can have a closer look at the actual prohormones. They are often classified by type, so perhaps we should have a look at the types of classifications and what they mean.
Andro Vs. Nor
Technically this is C19 vs. 19Nor. The indication refers to the 19th carbon-atom in the structure of the substance. In Nor, as the name would indicate, it is absent. In return this makes the conversion to 19Nortestosterone instead of testosterone. 19Nortestosterone is more commonly known as nandrolone, the active substance in popular steroids such as Deca-Durabolin. So what's the skinny? Well, nandrolone is only a fifth as androgenic as testosterone, but illicits similar anabolic reactions. That makes this a good choice for people at risk for hair loss and prostate enlargment and for women seeking the benefits of prohormones. Along with these, the most positive aspect by far is the usefulness. Because the conversion enzymes in the body are limited, only so much of the target hormone can be made. That means you can only raise testosterone so much over baseline level, no more than twice, which still keeps you in the normal to high normal range. That makes the use of andros for young people very limited. Nandrolone however is present at a very minimal rate and because it utilizes the same enzymes can be increased dramatically over natural levels. Of course this is provided you use a diol version, since test production relies mostly on dione receptor enzymes and along with the inhibition that would drop test levels dramatically, warranting the use of an andro as well. The benefit that strikes me as the most useful is that Nors last longer, they have a longer half life (up to 6 hours as opposed to 2 for andros) which means you only have to take one or two doses per day as opposed to three or four for andros.
The downsides to Nor-prohormones are that they do not address the estrogen issue. The loss of androgenic effects also seems to cause a loss of libido, not a major concern, just some lustlessness, but not advisable if you have a wife or girlfriend obviously. Nors also seem to lack the psycho-motoric effect that stimulates more energy and power in the gym. I wouldn't worry about that, I never experienced them to any real effect on andros either.
Another trait that nandrolone precursors have is the large storage of water. Even though the estrogenic effect is slightly milder than that of testosteron, people using these precursors store considerably more water-weight. A study from 1980² seems to suggest that they may have an effect on amplifying aldosterone, another hormone produced from angiotensin II. I'll save you of the exact physiology of aldosterone, but I will share with you that it increases sodium reabsorption, and in turn that means storing considerably more water. Whether this is good or bad, I leave to you. Extra waterweight means more nutrients for bulking, more mass but less definition and muscle hardness. What this does seem to suggest is that combining Nors with an aromatase blocker like 5AA or 1AD would decrease odd of estrogen related side-effects, but still give you some water-weight to allow for bulking up. This is an anabolic trait worth considering.
¹ Sundaram K, Kumar N, Monder C, Bardin CW.,: J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 1995 Jun;53(1-6):253-7
² Sekihara H, Ohsawa N, Kosaka K., Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1980 Mar 28;93(2):495-500
Dione vs. Diol
You may notice that the prohormones have either the addition dione or diol behind them. First of all this signifies the way by which they convert. The dione versions use the enzyme 17-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and the diol versions use the 3-beta enzyme. In real world terms however we can see that the diol converts at a much higher rate than the dione (15.76% as opposedto 5.61%)¹ and is therefore more anabolic and has less chance of aromatisation. Estrogen formation of the diol directly is impossible, which is not so for the diones. The target hormone can always aromatize of course, but there is no risk of estrogen formation directly off a diol prohormone, which keep the estrogen balance in check and decreases the risk of estrogen-related side-effects. It simply cannot aromatize because its structure doesn't allow it.
¹ Blaquier J., Forchielli E. and Dorfman R., Acta Endocrinologica, 55, 697-704
Doing the Numbers
Some of you may have noticed that there are some numbers floating around there in the form of "4-androstenediol or 5-androstenediol" and a similar match-up with their nor counterparts. The numbers refer to the position of the double bond (double attachment between two carbon atoms, they have 4 of them), whether it is on the 4th or 5th slot. The target hormones have the double bond in the 4 position (or don't have one at all). So for a 5-prohormone to convert to the active target hormone you'd need to switch the bond from 5th to 4th position. This happens via an enzyme called 5,4-isomerase. So it is possible, but obviously a lot is lost and only so much gets converted, which translates to significantly lower levels of the target hormone. So in terms of pure conversion the 5-versions are obviously no match for the 4-versions. I don't advise the 5-version except if you have a special use for them.
What are the advantages of using a 5 version then? Well they are anabolic prior to conversion, and because of the prolonged conversion they have all the chances in the world to exert that effect. Moreover they manage to actually upgrade the 3-beta enzymes, making 5-diol for example a good bet to stack with Nor-diol. If you plan on a diol/diol stack, it may be wise to look into a 5-version, otherwise the 4's are the best bet.
There are disadvantages too of course, namely that they are more estrogenic. Diol or not. Diols don't directly aromatize naturally, but it has been shown that a 5-diol for instance does have an upgrading effect on estrogen in the body, increasing its effects. Combine with the aromatisation of the target hormones that increases estrogen-related risks¹²³. 5-versions are estrogen agonists in other words, and have been used to increase estrogen receptiveness in medical fields.
¹ Hackenburg R., Turgetto I., Filmer A, J Steroid Biochem Mol Bio, 46(5), 597-603
² Adams JB, Seymour-Munn K., J Setroid Biochem Mol Bio, 43(6), 499-505
³ Seymour-Munn K., Adams JB, Endocrinology, 112, 486-491
Androstenedione (4-androsten-3, 17-dione)
Target Hormone: testosterone
Molecular name of target hormone: 4-androstene-3-one,17ß-ol
Target conversion: average (5.61 %)
Conversion enzyme: 17-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17HSD)
DHT conversion: High (both off andro and its target hormone)
Estrogenic effects: High, aromatisation of compound and target hormone
It's the most hotly contested prohormone that has given very mixed results in studies and tests. That's not surprising. It's highly androgenic and very prone to cause side effects. It's also one of the weaker prohormones. Its low conversion rate coupled with the fact that less than half of the eventual testosterone is free testosterone doesn't make it one of my favorites. Personally I've sworn off androstenedione, and anyone thinking of using prohormones to get serious gains, should do the same. Andro is what we owe the statute of supplement to that prohormones currently enjoy. That statute is only given when something is naturally occurring AND found outside of the body. Lucky for us andro was found to be present in Scotch Pine tree bark (yeah I know, and you wondered why those highlanders are so big). Andro was first discovered in the 30's and its original anabolic effects were exploited as early as the 50's. It wasn't cleared for supplementation until the 90's so you can understand the hype. The FDA has a strong clamp on prohormones and a move was made to ban them, but a few companies have footed the bill for an extensive legal campaign (still ongoing) that seems to have saved prohormones for supplementation, at least for the time being
Because of the highly androgenic nature, chance of aromatisation prior to conversion and the low yield of eventual usable testosterone, andro is something I feel shouldn't even be sold anymore. I mean, I'm grateful it exists or prohormones wouldn't be legal, but it's obviously being surpassed by all the other prohormones. To me andro is merely hair loss and tits in a bottle. Only a few companies still use it and they aren't exactly market leaders in the quality of supplements (Pinnacle and Muscletech for example.)
19-Norandrostenedione (19-Nor-4-androsten-3,17-dione)
Target Hormone: 19Nortestosterone (nandrolone)
Molecular name of target hormone: 17ß-hydroxy-19-nor-4-andro-sten-3-one
Target conversion: average (5.61 %)
Conversion enzyme: 17-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17HSD)
DHT conversion: None
Estrogenic effects: possibility of aromatisation of the compound as well as the target hormone.
The first prohormone to convert to nandrolone in the body. It yields roughly 5.61% percent of nandrolone from the amount ingested, which is decent. It's a dione version meaning there is a risk of estrogen aromatisation prior to conversion, but it's only moderately androgenic and more anabolic than andro because it yields more available nandrolone than andro does testosterone. Obviously it doesn't measure up against Nor-diol, but with andro being out of the question for most people that means it's often stacked with 4-diol or 5-diol. If you are using these as the hinges of your stack, obviously your 3-beta enzymes will be stocked, meaning that if you wanted to add a low-androgen compound to your stack, 19Nor would be first choice. Obviously the risk of estrogen is minimized because the other products are diols and adding a nor for extra anabolic effects without the fear of extra androgenic side effects is always a good deal. But the only reason most companies prefer 19Nor over Nor-diol is the simple reason that Nor-diol costs three times as much to manufacture, so the economic returns are limited. Instead of being upfront about money-grubbing, they invent stuff about there being no quality Nor-diol available. AST is one company that has sunk that low. This is simply not true. Nor-diol is hard to find yes, but if you find the right brand you can expect 85-90 percent purity, and that's pretty damn good.
5-Diol or 5AD (5-androsten-3,17-diol)
Target Hormone: Testosterone
Molecular name of target hormone: 4-androstene-3-one,17ß-ol
Target conversion: low (0.19 %)
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: None
Estrogenic effects: High, no aromatisation from compound, only from target hormone, but acts as an estrogen agonist
5-diol is a compound that turns to testosterone, but as explained before needs an enzyme called 5,4-isomerase to switch its double bond to make it convert. So in a way, 5-diol needs to convert to 4-diol before it becomes testosterone, making it a less effective conversion. Its also less aggressive and the chance of estrogen-related side effects are considerable, not because of aromatisation prior to conversion but because it stimulates estrogens already present.
5-diol is not on my list of top recommended products, its obviously the worst of the diol versions, but it has its uses. As I hinted at it's a perfect match for a diol/diol stack, so with 4-diol or Nor-diol it would make a decent match and I'd even recommend it with the Nor-diol (Not so much with 4-diol, since just increasing 4-diol would have a similar effect), but other than that, I'd opt for the 4-diol for sure. 5-diol does however have the added benefit of being able to upgrade the conversion enzyme 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3 HSD) and can improve the rate of conversion of other diol prohormones. Keep in mind that if you use it would have to be in a bulking stack and as a bulking agent because of its capacity as an estrogen agonist (Its actually used to agonize estrogens in hormonal therapy) which will increase the amount of water you hold and smooth you out. Itchy nipples are also a common side-effect, but will go away after use is discontinued.
4-diol or 4AD (4-androsten-3,17-diol)
Target Hormone: Testosterone
Molecular name of target hormone: 4-androstene-3-one,17ß-ol
Target conversion: High (15.76 %)
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: low, only from target hormone
Estrogenic effects: no aromatisation from compound, some from target hormone
According to many, this is the very best prohormones have to offer, but I beg to differ. Nonetheless my second choice. Because it's a diol it has no aromatisation prior to conversion, significantly lessening the risk of excessive estrogenic formation. It also doesn't make a direct conversion to DHT. Its structurally incapable of doing so. DHT is still a risk, because of the higher amount of testosterine produced and the fact that testosterine (through 5-alpha-reducates) can be converted to DHT in the Sertoli cells. This makes this a definite winner. If it doesn't give you results due to bad conversion, it also won't give you the side effects, because basically if it doesn't convert it can't make estrogens or DHT. That only makes the risk increase with the gains, and makes 4AD one of the safer prohormones.
4-diol is also by far the most anabolic of the three testosterone prohormones, offering almost three times as much conversion as andro and over 20 times higher than DHEA or 5-diol. In the real world that translates to 310% greater increase in testosterone and 256% greater increase in free testosterone (available) than andro (based on results compared to a control group) and 129% more anabolic than 5-diol¹
For testosterone conversion and pure legal anabolic, androgenic action, nothing beats 4-diol at this point. Especially once you pass 30 and your test levels begin to taper, the effects of 4-diol will exert a major effect on both gains and strength. 4-diol, after all, also seems to have a strong pre-workout energizing effect and a positive influence on libido.
¹ Ristovic L.J., Cobanovic M., Kem Ind, 24(7), 389-92
Nor-diol (19-Nor-4-androsten-3,17-diol)
Target Hormone: 19Nortestosterone (nandrolone)
olecular name of target hormone: 17ß-hydroxy-19-nor-4-andro-sten-3-one
Target conversion: High (15.76 %)
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: none
Estrogenic effects: none
To me, this is the top of the line, though some will not agree with me. I stacked this with 5-diol, and as I explained the 5AD did very little other than keep androgens moderate and ensure greater Nor-diol conversion, and came to the conclusion that this is without a doubt the hands down winner of the Andro Wars.
The advantages include no estrogen or DHT prior to conversion on the basis of it being a diol version, and only a fifth the DHT conversion afterwards because it has nandrolone as a target hormone. It's almost twice as anabolic as its dione counterpart and in terms of gains can match 4-diol milligram for milligram. It is of more use to the young bodybuilder because it converts to nandrolone via the 3-beta enzyme assuring high conversion and not interfering with testosterone production other than by negative feedback. Meaning in moderate doses it will not stunt your natural testosterone too much and ensure a faster recovery afterwards. That makes it definitely the most potent prohormone to use by itself, but obviously the stacking is limited. If you were willing to take the risk of mega-dosing and reach enzyme saturation, 19Nor is a possibility, but since most of the question I get about prohormones have a severe undertone of fear where side effects are concerned, I don't think that will be a popular stack. With 4-diol you have too strong of a competition, vying for the same receptor enzyme. 5-diol is your best bet because of strong anabolism despite low conversion and the fact that it can upgrade the 3-beta enzyme assuring greater conversion.
The greatest downside to Nor-diol is the cost. It's hard to find quality because not many quality companies produce it. The economic returns are minimal because people don't like paying that much for a prohormone. Some companies will even badmouth Nor-diol to cover their lack of endeavour (are you hearing me Paul Delia?). Your best bet on the market these days, and I know the bodybuilding.com store carries them, are Prolab (100 mg per cap) and Ergopharms oral product (150 mg per cap) I only mention this because a lot of people have asked me where to find good Nor-diol.
Nor-5-diol (19-Nor-5-androsten-3,17-diol)
Target Hormone: 19Nortestosterone (nandrolone)
Molecular name of target hormone: 17ß-hydroxy-19-nor-4-andro-sten-3-one
Target conversion: Very low (0.19 %)
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: none
Estrogenic effects: only as an agonist
At the current cost of production and the limited benefits it has to offer over existing products this will understandably not hit the market in the near future. I have received word that some companies have claimed to have it, but I sincerely question the quality and effects of these products. Last I heard this would cost an arm and a leg to isolate, so odds are its impure or a hoax all together. It's simply never going to be cost-effective, so even if it came out, its hardly worth spending money on.
1AD (1-androstene-3beta, 17beta-diol)
Target Hormone: 1-testosterone
Target conversion: (supposedly) very high, because it has a double bond at the 1st carbon and it is a diol version.
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: some converting back to DHT through unknown pathway
Estrogenic effects: None whatsoever
This is just a little bonus addition. I don't have enough data on this yet to make an accurate assumption, so most of what I'm saying here is based on product info, information obtained from Patrick Arnold, who made the stuff, and independent research. As for concrete information, I'm looking to test the product thoroughly near the end of summer and will keep meticulous records of my progress, including gains in size and strength, my diet at the time and any possible side effects I may encounter. If I can get the stuff here (I hope to work closely with Bodybuilding.com CEO, Ryan Deluca), count on that by October or November at the latest. Click here for more info on this study...
1AD is an oral only compound that converts to a different target hormone altogether, namely 1-testosterone. Early data¹ suggests that 1-testosterone is 700% more anabolic than testosterone. How that translates in real world terms is yet to be determined. From the testimonials (they are limited) I've read the gains are slightly better than those of Nor-diol, so that would be a significant improvement, though not quite as high as the percentage might suggest. There was an initial dione version, but I believe that has been pulled and all 1AD currently available is diol. Again that means no estrogenic conversion prior, but none post-conversion either because 1-test doesn't aromatize. It's a derivative of the androgenic compound DHT, meaning that it has already undergone 5-alpha-reductase and cannot under any circumstances form estrogen.
The androgenicity is still very much an issue. It can convert to DHT via a different pathway (I should say convert back) but it's not known to what extent or what effects it has. So far no one has reported any serious side effects in this nature, but neither has there been any rigorous large-scale testing. The jury is still out on what this means to people who are at risk for things like prostate enlargement and hair loss. Since it is extremely androgenic in other ways as well, this is one aspect that will need further digging to get to the bottom of. I fear this may be the weakness of 1AD.
Oral activity is a great plus. To date orals are the only form that allow serious stacking and proper use of prohormones (more on that later). On the downside a lot of it doesn't survive the liver which makes us toss away a large amount of money spent on prohormones, because the yield is rather low. 1AD may have solved that problem. In steroids people make things 17-alkalated to survive the liver, but in return this increases liver toxicity severely. But a double bond in the one position (hence the name 1-testosterone) ensures a greater amount surviving without the risk of liver toxicity. Chemically you can liken it to the steroid primobolan, which is the same structurally except for an extra methyl-group but also has the double bond in the one position. It functions much in the same way. Making this perhaps the most potent oral prohormone to date. I would estimate oral activity to be in the neighborhood of 30%. That means even relatively small doses can exert decent effects, which will no doubt make up for its preposterous price.
In effects 1-test has been likened more often to Halotestin and trenbolone than Primobolan, qualitatively speaking. I did some research on this and this would mean that most of the gains are lean mass (not huge mass increases, then losing most) making it great to use even when cutting (though obviously the gains will be a lot smaller) and that the amount of water and fat weight is significantly reduced because there is no estrogen effect whatsoever. So blowing up like a balloon is out of the question, which isn't so visually satisfying, but it gets you harder and the gains are for real. That has to count for something. Halotestin is 17-alkalated by the way, so if you go researching don't be frightened by the enormous liver toxicity of Halostestin as I was, since 1AD is not 17-alkalated.
Since info on 1-testosterone is fairly scarce and hard to find, I did some more research on trenbolone in the specific steroid milieu (several websites, a few experienced users and a special shout-out to La Fetarde of our very own steroid boards for the info) and found that the common belief is that it is best stacked with a non-androgen for best results. Meaning that if you were thinking of stacking this, moderate doses (standard 300 to 600 mg) would be best used with Nor-diol, but if you were thinking of doing a serious stack (expensive, 900-1200 mg), you may want to consider 19Nor instead so there is no competition for enzymes.
There has been some talk of using 1AD as a pre-contest hardener as even users who were dieting and experienced very little gains boasted some impressive physiques nonetheless.
The major downsides to 1AD: physiologically the only side-effect reported so far is a loss of libido, to which Patrick Arnold himself replied that it may best be stacked with 4-diol if this worries you (or you have an insatiable girlfriend like me). And some of the testimonials said something about a distended belly, though it went away. Other than that, the only major setback is once again the cost. This stuff is even more expensive than Nor-diol (here at Bodybuilding.com the prices for both products from Ergopharm per 10.000 mg are $44.36 bucks for Nor-diol and $74.96 for 1AD), which will no doubt scare a lot of people off. And since the patent is owned by LPJ, it's unlikely that competition will lower the price as with creatine. So there probably will not be any reduction in price in the near future.
¹ Anabolic Steroids" by HL Kruskemper, Academic Press, 1968, p.109.
5-AA (5-alpha-androstanediol)
Target Hormone: 5-alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT)
Molecular name of target hormone: 5-alpha-androstene-3-one,17b-ol
Target conversion: low, needs to undergo 5,4-isomerase prior to conversion, and only a small percentafe survives the liver. Estimated 0.15%.
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: Very High, converts directly to DHT
Estrogenic effects: None whatsoever
Lots of people have written me asking about this substance, and I admit I didn't have a clue. With the help of Mr. Patrick Arnold, I managed to at least get the search going and I present you with the conclusion. Often 5-AA has been called a precursor to the hormone Masteron (Dromostanolone), a fact that has been happily exploited by one manufacturer that used a similar name and is guilty of setting a bad example by naming his product after a steroid. In effect, Masteron has an extra 2-alpha methyl group. 5AA does not. Masteron is also known as 2-alpha-methyl DHT, or DHT with an extra 2-alpha-methyl group. So what is 5-AA really a precursor too? According to the spec, good old DHT. 5AA is actually a prohormone naturally produced in the body as a response to low levels of DHT. Using the 3HSD enzyme it is capable of restoring androgenic capacity if it is hindered.
Good or bad? Well, as far as DHT is concerned, both. DHT is in effect up to 300 percent more anabolic as testosterone so you know it's not bad stuff. Hardcore users that love the lean hard look will prefer DHT and DHT metabolites over more estrogenic specimen. The downside is that it's possibly the most androgenic compound around. Many prohormones are risky androgen wise because they cause side effects related to the manufacture of DHT. This is DHT. Storing readily in the scalp and active for up to 3 hours easily it's a great way for losing your hair and growing a prostate like a cabbage. Not to mention so many zits you can play connect-the-dots in the mirror. However, as with illegal DHT drugs, using it is a calculated risk and some may actually wish to take that risk. However head to head, 1AD compares favorably, outclassing it by over 200 percent. (This is still based on data, in real world terms no studies have been conducted head to head). DHT is also currently undetectable by most drug tests.
So do you want to take the risk? You might at this point, but probably not so after reading the next part. How does one make 5-AA? By the hydrogenation of the 5-diol prohormone according to my source. That makes this a very inexpensive product to make, though this is obviously not reflected in the price. 5-AA is sold at a very high price. Now looking at the physiology of this, we'll not that the double bond, as with 5-diol. The exact pathway used to make DHT here is not entirely understood or even documented. All that is known is that it converts to DHT. But with the data we have here and low oral efficacy, we'd have to state that for accurate conversion you would have to take doses higher than of most prohormones (upward of 1 gram) which consequently raises the cost (its expensive and its sold in 50 mg tabs, bottle of 60) and the risk of side-effects (low anabolic but very high androgenic) So in my opinion, someone is either taking us for a ride here and doesn't know what he is doing, or someone is taking our health for a ride, consciously. I'll opt for the latter since the inventor Bill Llewellyn is the author of a hefty book on anabolic steroids.
So is there a real use for this product? By itself you'd need to take 500-600 mg easily to get any real anabolic effect, and at that point the risk far outweighs the possible benefits. But in a stack 5AA has several benefits that make it a regular darling for those of you who love to stack. First of all, not only does it have absolutely no estrogenic conversion, 5AA is also a great aromatase inhibitor, meaning it can actually block other compounds you are stacking it with from forming estrogen through aromatisation. That's a plus because it drastically improves the quality of your gains even though in terms of quantity it can't do that much. It would also allow you to use other prohormones closer to contest time as there is not so much water retention. The greatest benefit of 5AA however lies in the fact that it can free a small part of bound testosterone in the blood from its protein carrier. That would increase the amount of free testosterone you would yield from andro and 4AD and increase protein synthesis in that way. In stacks using 200-300 mg is advised for most effect and it's best taken over two to three doses spread throughout the day.
If you wanted to check the actual conversion of the hormone with the recommended dose, there is a very easy way of knowing. Just take them. Since DHT is the prime androgenic factor in the body, every androgen-sensitive part of your body should notice the change (more body-hair, less scalp hair, higher sperm count, prostate enlargment, deepening of voice and in women clitoral enlargement too). You'll find that the recommended dose is 150 mg a day and at this dose it does, well, nothing really. More than one study documents its low efficacy however. DHT was shown to be 35 times less active than testosterone¹, 5AA was shown to be 4 times less active than androstenedione² and in castrated rats, tested on a specific organ, it was shown to be 20 times less effective than testosterone³. With those numbers and the high side effect risk, I'm not exactly itching to try it, nor do I recommend it. I think the patent is secured by Llewellyn, so don't expect a price-drop from his side either, I have found that Bodybuilding.com carries a generic version at a much lower price. (Higher Power Masterbolan, 60 caps of 50 mg for 19.95, which is high, but reasonable.)
So I most certainly do not advise the use of this to anyone. It can have its uses as a hardening agent for the competition bound athlete. I don't know what the detection is for 5-AA, but you'll find DHT is virtually non-detectable, which is why it's a favorite among competitors. Its capacities make it useful, but only in stacks and in moderate doses (200-300 mg). By itself it's too much of a risk in my book.
° Degtiar' VG, Kushlinskii NE.,: Izv Akad Nauk Ser Biol 1998 Nov-Dec;(6):664-9
¹ Ruzicka et al.,helv Chim Acta 19,357-362
²Heusser et al.
³ Cavalero et al., Acta Endocrin. 55, 131-135
1,4-andro (1,4-androstadienedione)
Target Hormone: Boldenone (1-dihydrotestosterone)
Molecular name of target hormone: 1,4-androstadiene-3-one,17b-ol
Target conversion: moderate to high, estimated just over 10 %
Conversion enzyme: 17-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17HSD)
DHT conversion: some conversion
Estrogenic effects: aromatisation of the prohormone
Definitely more promising than the 5-AA. I found it has great resemblance to the 1AD in the fact that it has no estrogen aromatisation possibility, assures almost all gains as dry weight and the double bond at the one position which ensures greater oral activity without extra liver toxicity. However, Not here, nor on the 5AA by the way, was there any kind of study attached showing the efficacy of either product. It is touted as a precursor to boldenone, another popular steroid and pre-contest hardening agent. In this case there is more truth in it. Only that boldenone has a hydrogen and oxygen bonded and the 1,4-andro has a double bonded oxygen atom. Boldenone becomes methandrostenolone in its methylated form, also known as Dianabol, possibly the most popular oral steroid in the world, ever.
If this was a diol version this could without a doubt surpass any prohormone ever created, including 1AD. But it's a dione version with inherent flaws. I'm also not convinced a diol version will ever come out. Unlike 1AD which was created in a lab as a dione, then perfected to a diol, 1,4-andro isn't made by human hands but extracted from the feces of a cow. Cows are treated with progesterone for various reasons, and under that circumstance they produce this in their bowels it seems¹. This is the result of that isolation. It's also the topic of a hot debate of whether or not this is legal. In any case, 1,4-andro can be considered the non-5-alpha reduced version of 1AD and a potent anabolic precursor. However, it definitely leaves a lot of stacking options. Because of the 1-double bond it has a high oral efficacy, meaning low doses can exert an effect. So in a stack with another prohormone it may be able to rival the effect of a mild steroid, but again you'd have to be able to make it cost-effective for it to rival 1AD.
One thing I particularly like about 1,4-andro is that despite the fact that it can stimulate the androgen receptors and aromatize, it does both in such a small amount that side-effects are nearly non-existant. Combined with high oral efficacy it can easily match Nor-diol, perhaps even beat it, in the safety department. It can also be a handy supplement for endurance athletes since it stimulates Erythropoesis, the manufacture of red blood cells in the bone marrow and releasing them in large quantities in the blood. Red blood cells carry oxygen and this increases the capacity for strenuous and continual activity with a lessened risk of cramps or musclular failure. This is also the result of the hormone EPO (erythropoetin). Boldenone acts by increasing EPO release from the kidneys. Much like doing a height-stage. EPO is also a heavily abused drug amongst runners and cyclists. Another potent effect it may have is that despite slightly aromatizing itself, it may act as aromatase inhibitor for other products in several forms. One study showed this to be true for 1,4-androstadienedione² whereas another shows the same for several metabolites³. That makes 1,4-andro perfect for limiting estrogenic side-effects in a bulking stack as well.
In my opinion this shows a lot of promise, but I'd like to see something as far as a head to head study goes. However, if 1,4-andro tickles your fancy, again ordering from Impact Nutrition, who has the patent, is and will remain an expensive affair. Higher power to the rescue once again: Ganabolin, 60 caps, 50 mg per cap for only $23.99. In this aspect 1AD is cheaper by 2-3 bucks per 10 grams and (probably) more effective.
¹ Vadalkar K, Gupta FC, Bhat HK, Chopra CL., Indian J Exp Biol 1980 Mar;18(3):245-8
² Abul-Hajj YJ, Liu XP, Hedge M., Steroids 1995 May;60(5):423-7
³ Numazawa M, Oshibe M, Yamaguchi S, Tachibana M., J Med Chem 1996 Mar 1;39(5):1033-8
Delivery Methods
This is an issue I haven't addressed yet in the past, mostly due to lack of information. Now I feel capable of commenting accurately on these issues and feel I must, since I get a lot of questions about the delivery methods, almost daily. There are 4 ways to get the compound in your system actively.
Injecting
Injecting the stuff, suspended of course, would yield an almost 100 percent conversion rate, and word is out that some idiots that wish to see prohormones banned (what else could motivate this) actually created an injectable 4-AD, selling it as a topical to fool the FDA, much the way they did with synthol. Though very effective, it's also highly illegal and brings with it the risks of injectable steroids. I do not recommend or endorse this practice in any way. If you were to consider this, at least use steroids and make it worth the money and the risk.
Sublingual or nasal delivery
This is the great cyclodextrin debate, and this is where I must admit I was strongly misinformed when it came to my first line-up of prohormones. Some word has leaked to me that there was evidence that it increased estrogen-risk, but after having examined actual tangible evidence I'd have to say that it decreases the risk of estrogenic activity. Absorption in this case happens through the mucous membranes under the tongue and in the nose. Because the compounds are readily broken down and not water-soluble, they have a rough time being absorbed like this, as opposed to these legal GH potions out there that use sublingual delivery as the only possible method. To solve this they use a sugar. It's a cone-shaped sugar called cyclodextrin that has the strange characteristic of being water-soluble on the outside, but not so on the inside. By attaching the prohormone on the inside it sort of becomes water-soluble, assuring a greater delivery and hence a greater conversion. So what's the problem? It sounds great, huh? Well tests were done using 25 and 50 mg sublingually with cyclo-technology, and results showed that the 50 mg doses had no better effect than the 25 mg doses. In fact, at the intervals of 20 min, 60 min, 120 min and 180 min, the testosterone levels in the serum were actually greater using the 25 mg dose. And at 10 and 40 minutes the levels from the 50 mg dose barely outscored those of the 25 mg dose. Which brings us back to the problem with topicals: there is no way you can get enough in your system to do a real bodybuilding stack. This yet again makes for a safer and more effective, but very limited method of delivery suited for women and older bodybuilders, but not the hardcore fanatic looking for serious gains.
The reason is that with the saliva in the mouth being secreted, the limited amount absorbable at a time, that the saliva washes most of the extra stuff away in the stomach where it is quickly rendered useless at such a low dose. Also the stacking opportunities are limited. Taking 4-diol 3 times a day is out of the question for a real bodybuilder eating 8 meals a day, as taking it too close to a meal will limit the amount absorbed even further due to extra mucus and saliva blocking the path. This problem is of no concern nasally however. As delivery it gets a 1 out of 4, because even though it assures a great conversion, it's not a product for the real athlete because of the limited capabilities. For people over 40, looking for a boost in their tapering hormone levels, this is great though. Compared to a very low dose of 4AD (100 mg) it was shown to elevate testosterone levels to 87.4% percent as opposed to 48.1% with the oral dose, with measurements taken after an hour.
Topical delivery
A great deal better than the previous techniques, though no match for oral delivery. The first question that arises, and certainly the first one I posed, was whether or not prohormones can be absorbed through the skin. We all know that thanks to live passage a lot of the oral uptake is stopped and rendered useless. We also know that sublingual delivery works at a great rate but has limited absorption possibilities. In comes transdermal. There are two conditions that need to be fulfilled for something to be delivered in this fashion. The first being that the molecule being introduced is small enough to pass through the Stratum corneum, the upper layer of the skin. For this it has to have a molecular weight smaller than 500. Most prohormones have a molecular weight that approached 300, so this checks out. The second factor is that only lipophyllic (oil-loving) substances can permeate the skin. As you know the skin is oily and water-resistant, so water-based solutions cannot be introduced in this fashion. Since prohormones are made from cholesterol they are lipophyllic enough to be transported in this fashion.
One study done in 1986¹ documented that a hydroalcoholic (water and alcohol base) gel containing 50 mg of androstenedione was applied twice daily to the abdomen of 5 women. Plasma measurements of both the andro and the testosterone levels were conducted and showed that levels increased progressively for 6 days, after which they leveled off at 4-5 times higher than baseline for andro and 3-4 times over baseline for testosterone. This would indicate that this entails a very sustained release (applied only twice a day, effective for a duration of 24 hours or longer) with levels peaking and staying at 3-4 times higher than the average, this showed that transdermal delivery could be used to obtain and maintain optimal levels of the target hormones.
That answers the question of it being possible. That doesn't mean it can be accomplished. Mostly for transdermal purposes an alcoholic base was concocted, similar to that used in many sublingual technologies. The problem with this was that the alcohol quickly dried out, which gave you a fragile, dry skin, but left most of the prohormones dry on the surface of the skin, which would allow them to be washed off. Absorption in this manner could last very long, as illustrated above. So they had to speed up delivery. That's right, speed it up. It was too sustained and had to be brought down. More on that later.
First some remarks on this study. You will have noticed that it was done on women, and that increasing levels up to 4 times is not that hard to achieve compared to the female baseline levels. But I urge you to also look at the dose of 50 mg and the prohormone used, which were also strongly inferior. These days doses over ten times this and 3-4 times more effective products are used. Also they used a less effective delivery system.
The permeation through the skin can be enhance by a couple of factors. First of all the thickness of the skin in the area. Selecting skin parts that are thinner, like behind the ear, would increase absorption drastically, up to 10 times compared to the skin on your palm which is rather thick. Absorption seems to happen best when applied to the back and spread evenly. If you have eczema or another skin problem, applying it there may severely increase access for the prohormone molecule as well. Another factor is the formulation of the topical spray or cream. There are substances used in medical circles known as penetration enhancers that optimize this way of delivery. The two best know are DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide) which is found in most topical products and the other is IPM (isopropyl myristate) which is only found in select products. The IPM especially was shown to enhance delivery very well.
The positive aspects of this product are obvious: a prolonged sustained delivery, that only requires twice a day use for round the clock hormone elevation, and it doesn't need to pass the liver like the orals do, allowing better conversion, less of the amount of prohormones lost and less toxicity for the liver. It also doesn't interfere in your gastric processes assuring an almost time-based delivery. The downsides of using topicals are of course that depending on the permeability of the skin at different times, sweating profusely and other activities that may remove the stuff prior to absorption (showering for instance) you are never quite sure of the amount being absorbed and how fast it is being absorbed. Another obvious flaw is the limited delivery, you have to spread it out fairly well because laying it on too thick will only leave most of it as a residu on the skin. Its not my favorite method of delivery, but you'll find it very useful nonetheless, and for serious athletes it outclasses sublingual delivery drastically. I give this a 3 out of 4.
¹ JCEM, 62(2) : 441-4
Oral delivery
First, foremost and still king of the hill. Despite the low conversion rate this is still the best way to raise hormone levels drastically and accurately, the best way to stack things since you can take it before, after or even during a meals and so on. And the cost is no limiting factor. Despite all the extra stuff you need, adding the cyclos and the money-grubbing supp industry in the mix, sublingual stuff costs just as much, except with orals you can take higher doses. This is and always will be the best way according to me and will remain the method of delivery I advise. The only improvements are injecting, which is dangerous and illegal, and perhaps rectal delivery, but with me that is an exit-only affair. So orals get my top rating. Apart from a little liver toxicity it has every benefit, and even that is of little concern since most bodybuilders don't drink and that people using prohormones are otherwise fairly natural. So you have some room there. This deserves a three and a half out of 4. It's a very effective dosage-relative way of using prohormones, but obviously the great amounts that are lost when passing through the liver and the inherent liver toxicity give it plenty of room for improvement also.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are the questions I received most often after having published the first edition of prohormone science.
Should I continue taking prohormones on off-days?
Yes, most definitely. Stopping and recommencing for such short times will cause multiple testosterone crashes that will confuse and wreck havoc on the natural system. Every time it thinks it's in the clear, you restart and it gets hit again bad. Even if this doesn't cause long term malicious effects, count on it jeopardizing your natural testosterone recovery after coming off a stack, prolonging your dry period by one or two weeks, time during which you could lose even more gains you made, negating the effect of your cycle.
Moreover a lot of growth happens on off-days, which is why nutrition is so important. Steroid hormones aid in protein synthesis and muscle recovery, so if you recover on off-days it makes sense to have high test levels to assist in that recovery. Look at steroid stacks, they are used continually as well.
Can I test positive when using prohormones?
Yes and no. If you are worried about work and such, these are often tests that will not include even steroid use. They mostly test for Schedule I drugs, things most likely to be abused. If it is for a sporting event or other occasion you may want to take your precautions. Its unlikely you'll tests positive for andro, 4-diol, 5-diol, DHEA or 7-keto DHEA. Neither of these raises their target hormones over a high normal level, so unless you popped one right before, testing positive isn't really possible. With Nor-prohormones it a little more sensitive since they raise nandrolone over 20 times in the body. Tests are done for nandrolone metabolites (19Norandrosterone) and waste-products in the urine , so you can test positive if you use these too close to your test. How long you wait is dose-dependent, people injecting Deca have been known to test positive as far as 18 months after last use. But even amounts the size of a pinhead, ingested orally, have been shown to deliver positive tests. Other factors may cause nandrolone metabolites to raise. In the last two years there has been an enormous amounts of pro-athletes testing positive for nandrolone. While I have no doubt that most of them do use doping, I doubt they used nandrolone or nandrolone precursors, because they know that is easily detected. So they must be using something that is leaving them with nandrolone metabolites. Some foods and even a combination of food supplements and exercise have been named as the reason. One guy even claimed it was his toothpaste. Whatever the truth be, if you do test positive, it may be helpful to call on one of these explanations as a lot of the athletes that appealed their case were reinstated.
So in conclusion, chances are slim of testing positive if you were wise enough to get off of them at least a week before. But fair warning, all athletes competing in the IFBB, IOC, NCAA, USOC and IPC are prohibited from using these products, so if caught with them, claiming ignorance will not be ample defense against legal proceedings and being banned from such federations.
"Even amounts the size of a pinhead, ingested orally, have been shown to deliver positive tests."
New evidence suggests, in the defense of athletes that have tested positive, that there are cases of cross-contamination. Often companies will produce large amounts of one product first, then large amounts of another. Because often the same containers are used, it is possible that some supplements were contaminated with 19Nor or Nor-diol. This was often named in reference to protein powders and creatine, two products widely used by athletes of all trades, even those subject to testing. One study¹ corroborates this theory. It showed that one can still test positive for nandrolone metabolites after consumption of androstenedione, a supplement that does not contain Nor-prohormones. Andro is still a far fetch from creatine, but lets not exclude this possibility.
To date it was also the belief that DHT as undetectable, one of the reasons pre-contest drugs like Masteron, Trenbolone and winstrol gained a lot of popularity. That meant if you could find an guaranteed uncontaminated source of 1AD or 5AA there was no chance of getting caught whatsoever. Well, studies dating from 95² and 97³ state that there is such a test in development and at some stage may be implemented if abuse becomes serious. The thing with these tests is not only do they measure the use of exogenously administred dihydrotestosterone, they do so by measuring for 5AA metabolites. So using that test 5AA administration would show up. However it is unlikely that such a complex test would be administered randomly, so only top-level athletes need concern themselves with this.
¹ Catlin DH, Leder BZ, Ahrens B, Starcevic B, Hatton CK, Green GA, Finkelstein JS. JAMA 2000 Nov 22-29;284(20):2618-21
² Sundaram K, Kumar N, Monder C, Bardin CW., : J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 1995 Jun;53(1-6):253-7
³ Kicman AT, Coutts SB, Walker CJ, Cowan DA., Clin Chem 1995 Nov;41(11):1617-27 Shackleton CH, Roitman E, Phillips A, Chang T., : Steroids 1997 Oct;62(10):665-73
When do I take them?
Well, this is a good question. Andros tend to have a short half-life, often under two hours, which means for continual levels you'd have to take it 3-4 times a day which isn't always as convenient. So if you are using andros solely, spread it over the day. If you are using a single dose, about 30-45 minutes before training is best, when it is bound to give you a boost and is still active to aid in post-workout recovery. Nor-prohormones can last over six hours at a particular site, meaning they need only be taken once or twice daily for optimal levels. If you were to use them pre-contest, keep in mind they reach peak levels after about 90 minutes, so you should be taking them an hour and a half prior to working out.
A lot of this is just general info, you'll have to see how they fit into your particular stack or cycle to see how they best work together.
You stress the importance of cycling, how long should I cycle?
Usually an effective stack that stresses safety is between 6 and 8 weeks, and I don't recommend any lower than 5 for efficacy or more than 10 for safety. More important than cycling on, is the time you cycle off. In order to let normal hormonal levels get back to where they were it is advised to stay off at least as long as you were on and preferably a while longer. I usually use a +2 reference, meaning if you were on for 8 weeks, stay off for 10 before starting a new stack.
When I come off will I lose my gains? My strength?
If it was a fast increase due to psycho-motoric effects of a high androgenic substance, kiss your strength good-bye. If it was a result of gradual lean mass increases, I see no reason why the strength would disappear if the mass wouldn't. So the question is, does the mass go away after use? Well, test levels will crash after a cycle and it will be hard to maintain protein resynthesis on the test levels of an 8-year old girl scout. This can take a week or two to recuperate and in that time loss of mass is not at all unthinkable, in fact it is likely. The trick is to get the natural levels back up as high as possible. These are your options:
- Stack in a ski-slope pattern. The decrease will enable you to get levels back up, but may compromise gains in the long run.
- Watch the duration and amounts of your stack. As either increases it will become harder to get natural levels to come back to where they were.
- Supplement with ZMA after a stack is over. Increased LH response and better DHEA manufacture in the body will aid the recovery process. Usually this entails starting a cycle of ZMA the last three days of your stack and continuing at the very least 2-3 weeks after.
- For older men, tribulus may do the same.
- Take plenty of ice-cold showers to shock the system.
Someone once told me prohormones are steroids. Is this true?
I think I touched on this in the beginning of the article. Prohormones are in effect steroid hormones in physiological terms. In this case steroid meaning "made of cholesterol". This also includes, for example, Vitamin D. Calciferol is a steroid hormone made from cholesterol in the skin under the influence of sunlight. Is Vitamin D a steroid? Well from the physiological view I suppose so. But in bodybuilding circles we discuss steroids as illegal ergogenic aids derived from anabolic endogenous hormones and altered to maximize anabolism and limit androgenicity. If this is what you were looking for, then no, prohormones are not steroids. For starters the amount of target hormone they can raise in the body is limited naturally because the enzymes needed to convert are limited. So it is in effect a supplement. Also any substance endogenous to the body that can also be found naturally outside the body is a supplement. Andro has been found in Scotch Pine tree bark, and other prohormones are mere derivatives. Steroids are synthetically altered and manufactured.
Frankly I detest the fact that some companies exploit the fact that they are so similar to steroids by giving the names that sound like steroids: Decavar, Maxteron and so on. I think this sets a bad example for our youth and in the end these fools will be responsible for getting prohormones banned by the FDA. I just wanted to express my deep concern in this, since steroids too were initially banned, not because they enhanced performance and muscle, but for health reasons. Everything was fine as long as their was moderate ergogenic use under supervision of a physician. Then the started injecting and stacking everything under the sun, and it became a health risk. Some people need to be protected against themselves and that is why steroids are illegal. That small percentage of idiots who would kill themselves over a few pounds more.
I'm worried about estrogen conversion. Should I take an estrogen blocker?
By no means. A certain level of risk is involved with these products, most likely a calculated one as you hope to gain something out of using them. But there are products that block estrogenic aromatisation. The most effective ones (Indole-3-carbinol for instance) do this by blocking aromatase receptor enzymes, and consequently the prohormone receptors as well. Sometimes 30-40 percent of the total. In return that translates into 30-40 % less conversion of the product to its target hormone and 30-40 % less effect. Seeing as how you can never completely eliminate estrogenic risk, it sounds kind of stupid to me to spend more money on a product that will give you less gains, without a guarantee of stopping the aromatisation. On top of that some products, like chrysin, will be added that have the same effect but are even less effective at stopping aromatisation. Try to avoid all products that use chrysin or I3C in a stack with prohormones.
One metabolite of I3C however is known as Diinodyl and may aid in turning bad estrogens into good estrogens and that would make them beneficial to the bulking process as you would keep the retentive effect, but be at a much lower risk of getting estrogen related side-effects. Even this is not one of my favorite things, I believe its best to roll with the punches in order to get the max out of a stack, but this is certainly preferred to things like chrysin.
There is no risk of estrogenic conversion with products such as 1AD and 5AA, and very little with 1,4-andro, so it makes sense to disregard all of the previous information when using only these prohormones since they have no, or next to no estrogenic conversion. In fact having 5AA in your stack will reduce the amount of estrogen aromatization from other products like testosterone and nandrolone. One of the prime reasons to use 5AA, since it is not all that anabolic. It's mainly a strength compound to add to the quality rather than the quantity of muscle gain.
Note: It's imperative that people understand that some estrogen conversion is not always a bad thing. It increases water retention which also increases the storage and availability of muscle-building nutrients like protein. In terms of bulking the extra weight can give a strength advantage as well. So hormones that raise estrogen off the target hormone only may have a plus in increasing mass fast for visual gains, but obviously estrogen should be limited to that off the target hormone as it can have its side-effects as explained at the top of this article. It's also not advisable for people who are cutting as water-retention makes you look bloated even when you have next to no fat. But hormones that aromatize are known as the best for big mass gains So don't always consider estrogen bad.
What is this prostate enlargment thing? Should I worry? What can I do?
The prostate is a small ball-like organ in the abdominal region of men that regulates and controls the release of semen and urine. In older men, the prostate degrades, signified by enlargement. The condition is known as Benign Prostate Hypertrophy (BPH). The most common symptom thereof is having to urinate more often. Now androgenic effects from hormones producing free radicals, like steroids or prohormones, can speed up that process. Among other things, in welfare countries, an enlarged prostate is seen as a potential increased risk for getting prostate cancer. As long as you are safe about your use, cycle on for a minor duration (described above) and cycle off for longer than you were on, you don't have that much to worry about. Of course the more androgenic the substance is, the more chance of this happening. In young men this is not particularly alarming, but if you are older and already at risk for this enlargement (ages 50 to 69 are the highest risk for cancer), odds are you don't want it.
What one could do is supplement with saw palmetto. This is a product that has been attributed a lot of things, mostly they don't check out. But it is good for one thing: protecting the prostate. Worth looking into. Normally a dose of 160-300 mg a day is advised to help protect your prostate against damage.
It has also been shown that bad estrogens from aromatisation, the same kind that cause gyno, can influence the androgenic hypertrophy. If you feel your estrogen levels are too high and that this may increase an already existing potential risk to BPH, Diindolyl may be the answer as it converts bad estrogens to harmless and possibly useful estrogens in the body. Something worth considering, especially if you are in the high risk group age-wise.
What about liver protection? Isn't taking pills like this hazardous to the liver?
PProhormones aren't all that taxing on the liver, though some more than others. Consider that any foreign substance taken in orally will tax the liver to some point. Your liver suffers from this, that is a fact. But so does drinking or doing drugs. So if you neither of these things you have to figure you have a lot more lee-way. If you do do these things, you may want to consider stopping the use of prohormones. Not just for your liver, but for your overall health. They do not mix with hormonal substances. If liver toxification worries you, but again I assure you that for normal use this is minimal, you can opt to take a liver protector. Milk Thistle is a big hero in that area and I have it from authorized sources that Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is often added to medication to protect the liver as well. If , like me, you are taking dessicated liver, for whatever reason, you can count on the beneficial effect of P450, which also protects this vital organ.
Take care to note that increasing liver protection also increases liver function. That means in return it will stop more exogenous substances introduced to the body. In simpler terms, by protecting your liver you also decrease the chance of a high prohormone conversion orally. Its usually advised, if you're worried about your liver, to use small cycles of no more than 6 weeks, and to use liver protectors AFTER your cycle is over to decrease hepatoxicity. Not during your cycle. As with the estrogen-blocking issue, that would be like spending more money for less gains.
I'm worried about losing my hair, is there anything I can do? Anything at all?
You and me both. Androgenetic alopecia (Hair loss) is only considered a real risk if you have the Male-pattern baldness gene on your mom's side of the family. But, turns out you and me were in the wrong line, because we both have it. Hair loss is absolutely irreversible. It's due to build-up of DHT in the scalp, which is rich in androgenic receptors. It's also unstoppable. But it can be slowed down to some extent. The first and most popular means is prescription hair loss medication. If you can show your doctor you are at risk, such a prescription is easily obtained. Finasteride (Propecia, Rogaine) is mostly used here. Finasteride stops 5-alpha reductase, preventing testosterone from turning to DHT. This would certainly help, were it not for two reservations. The first being that a lot of people using finasteride have complained of a loss of strength and a halt of gains. This would in some way be countered by the prohormones, but still, if it compromised gains it can't be all good. The second reason being that some prohormones, 5AA and 1AD for instance, will convert straight to DHT or a DHT-derivative. The introduced hormones have already undergone 5-alpha reductase so they can't be stopped from exerting their influence by using finsasteride to prevent the enzymatic conversion.
Another popular means of slowing down hair loss is the element Ketoconazole. It can be found in the shampoo Nizoral AD and if the keto is indeed absorbed through the scalp, which is questionable, it can exert an effect on stopping hair loss or slowing it down. The efficacy on hair loss has been widely documented in studies, but they were using oral administration. If you want to go that route, I can tell you that Nizoral was actually an oral compound to begin with. But you need a prescription to obtain it and your doctor will tell you that the keto-version has flaws and side-effects of its own. Now my doctor (who happens to be my father as well) prescribed me a different form of conazole. He also told me that it's often used as a shock-treatment. They give double doses 1 week and then nothing for three week, and this for periods of 3-6 months. Apparently that is more effective. Now I have to say that this stuff is usually prescribed for fungi, but I've had no complaints. I believe when doing a stack you can benefit from doing double dose for 4 days every two weeks and using the Nizoral shampoo at the same time, every day. Like the proverbial "double whammy". This is probably your best bet if you can obtain it. But getting the prescription should be no problem if you are indeed at risk for hair loss.
A more natural way that has been heralded as the savior of hair is wool-fat or lanoline. It's a natural fat found in the wool of sheep to help them maintain health of wool and skin. It's rumoured that it was first looked into because Sheppards apparently have some of the healthiest hair around. In either case, putting this stuff in your hair may help, but cover your pillows with a towel, because this will never ever wash out.
Using zinc and Magnesium and several fat-soluble vitamins will aid in maintaining healthy hair as well. But if you aren't already taking a multi-vitamin, it's high time you started since you are sabotaging your gains. And doing the ZMA to boost natural test afterwards and for most of the year can help as well. I use ZMA almost ye****ound. In fact all the time except when on my stack. The last way is simply to stop washing your hair and maintain some natural lanoline, but if you work in the public eye, that isn't really an option is it?
What is androtriol?
A marketing scam. No seriously, if the name is any indication of the structure, whatever it be, it's totally ineffective at raising hormone levels. I know where the question came from, I know that there is one company that is producing rather cheap and easy to make products and then renames a few substances or claims to have found new ones only to jack up the price. Some of their claims are truly outrageous and the quality of their products is sub-par. But you kind of have to admire their creativity. I mean I would like to meet the guy who writes their ads. He must have a very active imagination. In the mean time two other companies have come up with similar imaginative advertising, claiming that their 4AD converts to stanazolol (?), the active ingredient in Winstrol. The other company, well let's just say if you find their webpage and you have a strong eye for BS, you'll get a good laugh out of how one well-known pro-bodybuilder gained 14 pounds of muscle. All this is really bad for legit products and the industry, but it's good for a laugh any day. These are consequently the companies that prefer to pan their crap under names that sound like steroids...
What on Earth is bioperine and why is it in so many stacked products?
Bioperine is described as "bioavailability enhancing phytonutrient--piper nigrum fruit, standard 95% 1-piperoylpiperidine. Its patent is owned by the Sabinsa corporation and they have gathered quite some data on its effects of absorption. It greatly enhances the delivery of the involved nutrients in three tests, but none of those nutrients were a prohormone. So the effect in enhancing prohormone delivery, oral, through the widening of the gut passage is yet to be determined, there is no relevant data showing this. However I'm not excluding its use in these matters either. What does worry me is that piperine is a nonspecific inhibitor of drug metabolism which shows little discrimination between different cytochrome p-450 forms, and could therefore actually have a negative effect on the conversion enzymes of the respective prohormones. Again, this is inconclusive guessing. To tell you the truth , not much is known about the product, but I can tell you that there are no testimonials to say whether it hinders or helps, so even if it doesn't enhance uptake, it can't hurt it either.
What do you think of "Product X" ? It has 4AD and andro and tribulus and DHEA and bioperine and methoxy and chrysin and I3C and...
This list is obviously endless. The above question was a more general format of a lot of questions I get about specific stacked products containing more than one prohormone and a lot of other stuff. The answer to it is that most are crap. I can honestly say that well over 80% of all stacked products are total crap. First of all they often combine good prohormones with weaker prohormones to add to the ingredient list while in effect the product would become 50-100% more efficient if they just used a higher amount of the better prohormone. This is often a trick to cut cost as well.
Next to this they contain ludicrous (too high or too low) amounts of other products, all of them inferior to prohormones. In effect you are filling up capsule space that could be used for prohormones to suppress costs and to make it look like you have a superior product because there is so much stuff in it, it must be good. Wrong! Things like tribulus can't compare in efficacy to prohormones, yet a stack contains 1000 mg of it and only 200-300 mg of prohormones. Things like methoxy which just don't work. Or even things like chrysin which can actually decrease the effect of the prohormones. Now all this additional stuff jacks up the price considerably and all of that is money you could be spending on getting real gains with an all-prohormone stack. But we all know this industry doesn't shy away from selling you some bad apples. Because of the high dosage of all these other products and the increased risk of side-effects because of ineffective prohormones (19Nor because Nor-diol is too expensive, andro instead of 4AD and even 5andro instead of andro) it's impossible to take these things more than once a day. Now as I taught you before, to maintain levels of hormones throughout and obtain the best muscle-gain results you need to take orals 3 or even 4 times a day. So rule out efficacy and convenience.
A lot of these products are total scams. Though they may give you a buzz, a bit more energy and a few zits, in terms of muscle accrual they are absolutely useless. And the market is swarmed with these products. They look cool because of all the "awesome ingredients" and they claim to be "the ultimate anabolic" mix. But in the end it's the prohormones that counts and gains will increase with the dosage. So you want to use products that will give the best results and the least side-effects. And all the rest is useless. Some of these stacks are, but not limited to: Norandrostack II, Norateen, Winni-V; D-bol, Paradeca, Decavar, Dermagain, clomitol, 19-Nor-3-andro, Cycloroid, MSB...
The larger part of stacked products is a waste of money, except those designed specifically for the proper multiple-doses-a-day use. There are a few out there but they are hard to find. Higher Power just came out with two excellent stacked products called Megabol-X and Anabol-X. If you look at these products you will know what I mean. They limit themselves to just the prohormones, do not employ the use of inferior prohormones like andro, 19Nor and 5AD and are in doses that allow for multiple intakes during the day, as the product requires, without being too low in dose or too expensive to afford. Those are the things you want to look for if you absolutely must have a stacked product. The amount of ingredients should never be more than 2-3.
I have a product that has low doses, but claims to be more effective because it has time-release technology. Is this true?
You are referring to the dreaded *** stack by MuscleTech. Anotesten is a product that falls in the category of the previous question. Nortesten, well that's even worse. It contains 36 mg of Nor-diol and 36 mg of its weaker dione version 19Nor. Because the latter converts at a rate three times lower than the first this would equal out to a dose of approximately 48 mg of Nor-diol. This twice a day, as recommended gives you 96 mg. The minimum effective dose is somewhere between 250 and 350 mg. A moderate dose would be 600 mg. It's obvious this product does not even approach that amount. You can take the whole bottle in 5 days and you may book some gains if you go through 7 or 8 bottles.
Now what do they do, and this particular company is the king of devious marketing ploys, claiming they are backed by a million-dollar research budget, is to say that the low dose doesn't matter because this product is time-released. Now what they conveniently forget to mention is that prohormones are actually less effective when time-released like this. Now I believe in time-release mechanisms, yes. For natural substances that readily pass the liver. But prohormones are stopped to a large extent by the liver, but we get enough through because we bombard it with serious doses (over 100 mg at a time). Now here is a very low dose, and it's being fed to the nutrients primed enemy, a strong filter called the liver, bit by bit. This gives the liver all the time it needs to destroy the compound, mg by mg. Doesn't sound all that more effective to me, what do you think ?
And the last product in the stack, Acetabolan II is one of a category too weird to mention. It contains a lot of shitty stack products in it, but two useful compounds. One a variation of a patented mineral formula containing zinc and the other is NAC. But the two active components rule each other out because NAC has the wonderful property of excreting zinc in the urine. You'd think that somehow a million-dollar research budget would pick that up, but I guess they were too busy using that money to pay off loans on the steroid-stack of the biggest bodybuilder on the planet. That same one that was so fat at the last NOC he walked off stage crying after a mere minute and a half of posing.
Is it safe for a teenager to take prohormones?
A question frequently asked, mostly because the steroid-like structure and effects of prohormones are most attractive to young bodybuilders who want to feel more like the steroid-inflated pros they look up to. Now I hate making this into an age thing. I think the most important prerequisite of use is that you know what you are doing. You have to be aware of the possible side-effects before anything else and be responsible when it comes to stacking and cycling, with the eye on safety, gains and maintenance of gains. If you can't do that, I don't care if you are sixty, go play with the kid's stuff like tribulus. These are steroidal exogenous hormones and a certain amount of responsibility comes with that. That's the reason steroids are illegal too. Some jerks just have to be protected from themselves even if that goes at the cost of the 90% of people who do have the knowledge to use these substances properly.
Now as a given I would still say its not ok for anyone under 18 to use them. It might be that a few 16 and 17-year olds are capable of showing adequate responsibility in using them, and likewise a few 18+ year olds that will never have that responsibility even one day in their life. You know the type that will walk out on wife and child someday to go gamble his life-savings away in Vegas. But for anyone under 16, and anyone over that is still in growth and values his height, DO NOT TAKE PROHORMONES. I'm not saying this to be a pain or a spoil-sport, but steroidogenic substances can close the openings in epiphysial plates which will limit your growth - Permanently. So use caution and common sense with prohormones and stay away if you aren't willing to put in the time to read things like this and learn the proper use. And yes I realize I'm preaching to the choir here...
Big Red said that prohormones can cause cancer. Should I not use prohormones?
Well this isn't true at all. I don't blame Big Red for saying that, he has had some side-effects from taking androstenedione, most likely because no one informed him of the inherent risk of side-effects accompanied by prohormones and especially androstenedione. But this is just a false rumour. Now androgenic substances can cause BPH, as we discussed, and aromatisation to estrogens can lead to problems in the chest area. We are aware of this (at least if you were reading up to here). Now both these conditions if taken to the extreme increase THE CHANCE of getting prostate or breast cancer. This is a fact, just like smoking increases your chance of getting lung cancer. But think this through for a second. Smoking 1 cigarette a day for 6-8 weeks and this once a year for ten years, is no phenomenal risk to cancer. As most doctors and medical professionals will corroborate, this is not considered a risk for cancer at all. Just like doing one or two stacks of prohormones a year will not cause cancerous risk. Provided you know what you are doing and cycle responsibly. However, if you did a serious steroid stack, 8 weeks on and 8 weeks off continuously for 5-10 years you would seriously increase that risk and you MAY get cancer. Just like smoking two packs a day for 10 years MAY cause cancer. But some people smoke more and longer and never get cancer, so even at very long continual doses of heavy steroids you MAY NOT get cancer as well. But I can tell you with full conviction that a few responsible cycles of prohormones WILL NOT LEAD TO CANCER.
I heard from sources that you shouldn't take prohormones when you are young because your testosterone is still so high you won't notice. Also I heard you'll only get good results if you are over 40. What's up?
I have one statistical FACT that should clear up this entire mess. Testosterone levels in males between the ages of 20 and 50 barely decline by 20%. There is no difference worth naming here, let alone one that would drastically improve results from prohormones. I assure you that the right products in the right doses can raise hormonal levels 3 to 10 times over baseline levels. If that is not a good result, I don't know what is. For a legal supplement that is as good as it gets by the way. So your sources are total nonsense. If they feel like making wild claims, let them back it up for once. I'm tired of people in this industry claiming this and that to boost sales, but never providing ample proof to back it up.
I tried these so-called prohormones and I didn't gain a pound. I thought you said this was the most anabolic stuff legally available?
This is luckily something I will never have to hear from people who actually read and understood this article. But I have heard it multiple times and time and again from idiots who claim that prohormones do not work. Often they quote studies on androstenedione that showed no nominal increases and so on. Well, culprit number one, no studies using more than 300 mg of andro were ever used so far. Most are around 100-150 mg. If you were paying attention you'll have noticed that I repeatedly said that a moderate dose of the more effective prohormones like Nor-diol and 4AD is 600 mg. So what do you hope to do with 100-300 mg of a prohormone that only converts at a rate of 5.61% to testosterone, with only 2% of that amount being actual usable free testosterone? Of course these studies showed it didn't work.
As for these people who used it and gained nothing, low doses of 200-300 mg max a day are often to blame too. They are willing to fork over a ton of money to stack it with tribulus, methoxy or some other kind of bullshit, and then blame me for not gaining? Forget it. Had you spent that money on increasing the dose of your prohormone stack like I was suggesting all along, you might have actually seen some real gains for the first time in your life. This is the reason I always say that prohormones are only for the educated and responsible. If you aren't willing to hear all the facts and be mature and realistic about this, you should not be messing with these substances to begin with. It's not always low doses though, it can be ineffective substances like androstenedione, it can be stacking it with things that block gains like Chrysin and megadoses of Vitamin E, it can even be because you got sucked in by the hype of one of those crappy companies like VPX and SDI-labs. But whatever it is, it's not because of something that I advised you, so don't blame me. If you read and understood this article, you'd know what to do to get the real gains.
The Price of Prevention
"There is no one safest Prohormone."
A lot of the discussion up above has been about side-effect related issues and how to stop them. However when considering this, also consider that these are inherent side-effects that are caused for a reason. Meaning you need to consider the results if you attempt to minimize the risk of side-effects. For instance taking a DHT precursor or metabolite (1AD or 5AA) will stop estrogen formation. In fact there is evidence that they may even prevent aromatisation from other prohormones. This means the risk of estrogen related side-effects is non-existent. However estrogen does exert its own anabolic capacity. Sure gains will be leaner and harder. They will also be smaller. Estrogen retains water which in turn stores more nutrients for the building of muscle-tissue. That is something you lose by preventing its side-effects. In terms of bulking its useful, but when looking hard and dense you obviously don't mind sacrificing a few pounds of potential gain. By using such products however your androgen response increases drastically. Meaning in order to stop estrogenic side-effects, you increase the risk of androgenic side-effects.
Now if androgens worry you, either out of concern for hair loss or worries over the prostate, you'll attempt to stop these by taking 5AR blockers, which stop DHT formation and decrease androgenic response that way. One popular 5AR blocker is finasteride¹, often prescribed against both hair loss and prostate problems. It was shown to be quite effective at inhibiting the 5AR enzyme. However another study² showed that by inhibiting 5AR, estrogenic response was increased. Which in turn increased the risk of estrogen related issues. Also the decreasing of androgen response showed a strong decrease in strength as well. Androgenic stimulation is the main pattern for increasing physical strength, so your training may suffer if you attempt to block androgens.
These are things I hope you are seriously considering if you are the type that is inclined to say "oh, I'll take them, and then just take something to stop the side-effects." Now you know its one kind or the other kind of side-effects and that with the issues of androgens and estrogens there are good and bad things to consider. If you are not aware of this you may needlessly sacrifice a lot of gains to save your hide (or hair). If you are the type to overly worry about side-effects and think you can take something to stop them, forget it. You are better off passing up on prohormones.
¹ Wasson KM, Watts SA., : Comp Biochem Physiol C Pharmacol Toxicol Endocrinol 1998 Oct;120(3):425-31
² Raeside JI, Renaud RL, Marshall DE, Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1992 Mar 31;183(3):1254-9
Stacking and Amounts
All this information is relative to how old and experienced you are and how succeptible to the product in question, so obviously I won't be able to list all the possibilities where stacks and amounts of products are concerned. But hopefully you learned a lot from the previous paragraphs and combined with what I'm about to present that should enable you to make informed choices towards stacking. So I've decided to list some sample stacks with motivations where amounts and product choices are concerned.
Stack #1 - Economic beginner cycle for moderate gains.
Week 1 through 8, use 250 mg of 19Nor after breakfast and again after dinner and take 500 mg of 4-diol 45-30 minutes prior to workout or 250 mg after lunch on non-workout days.
The motivation here is to use two compounds that use different target hormones (testosterone and nandrolone) to get that double benefit, while avoiding the pitfall of stacking two products that would use the same conversion enzyme. Meaning if you were to drive up the amounts they would not compete with each other.
It's an example of an iso-stack, meaning the amounts remain the same throughout the duration of the stack. This is the most common the best way to assess the efficacy of a product and see what effect it has on you. This is advisable on a first cycle to determine what is causing which effect, allowing you to make a more informed decision the next time in terms of efficacy and safety. These are the amounts and products I usually recommend to beginners looking for a first decent stack. Both products can be obtained from plenty of high quality sources and shouldn't run you too much money, making this a strong but economic stack and an excellent choice for most beginners.
Notice that I split the two doses of Nor up, since they last longer at the receptor which means you keep a constant level of nandrolone throughout the day. For constant levels of 4-diol you'd need 4-5 doses, so instead we opted to use it as a pre-workout supplement to boost aggresivity in the gym and help recuperation and protein resynthesis afterwards. In the mean time you are getting the best of both worlds. This stack should yield decent results.
Stack #2 - Cycle for good gains.
Week 1-2 take 750 mg of 4-diol and 250 mg of Nor-diol
Week 3-5 take 500 mg of 4-diol and 500 mg of Nor-diol
Week 6-7 take 250 mg of 4-diol and 750 mg of Nor-diol
Split stack up in two doses, take one after breakfast, the other 45-30 mins before a workout in weeks 1-2, 60 mins before in weeks 3-5 and 90 mins before workout weeks 6-7.
My product choice is based on anabolic properties. I selected the two best compounds. They are both using the same conversion enzyme and could compete at an increase of dosage. So I used a teeter-stack where one product decreases in favor of the other, thereby keeping the overall amount the same from week to week. But I also manage to bring endogenous testosterone down, allowing the body to feel the decrease without dropping hormone levels. When coming off a stack this will illicit a greater response in getting natural test back on track without compromising the amount of gains made. I had a practical problem in that the 4-diol peaks after 30-45 minutes and the Nor-diol after 90 minutes, so the pre-workout administration had to move along with it, shifting it back as the Nor-diol compounds became more prevalent in the stack. Keep in mind that both compounds are fairly suppressive of HPTA, so that using ZMA coming off a cycle is advised here.
Stack #3 - Bulking cycle for nandrolone.
Weeks 1-3 take 900 mg of Nor-diol and 250 mg of 5-diol
Weeks 4-6 take 600 mg of Nor-diol and 250 mg of 5-diol
Weeks 7-9 take 300 mg of Nor-diol and 250 mg of 5-diol
Take half of Nors after breakfast and half after dinner, take 5-diol 30-45 minutes prior to workout or after lunch on non-workout days.
A classic ski-slope pattern. The dosage of the most anabolic compound decreases and so does the overall dose. This will in turn slowly signal the return of natural testosterone as the cycle furthers, which has the benefit of building more lasting and durable lean mass gains, because you'll have a chance to get natural levels high enough to maintain the accrued mass. The selection of products is perhaps my second most recommended stack. In a diol/diol stack nothing beats 5-diol, because though only moderately effective in conversion, prior to it it has the capability of upgrading receptors ensuring a greater conversion from the Nor-diol, enhancing its effects. The downside to a ski-slope is that mass accrual near the end of the stack is compromised in an attempt to maintain earlier gains.
Stack #4 - Advanced stack.
Weeks 1-2 take 300 mg Nor-diol with 300 mg 19Nor and 600 mg of 4-diol
Weeks 3-4 take 300 mg Nor-diol with 600 mg 19Nor and ZMA
Weeks 5-6 take 300 mg Nor-diol with 300 mg 19Nor and 600 mg of 4-diol
Weeks 7-8 take 600 mg Nor-diol with 300 mg 19Nor and ZMA
Weeks 9-10 take ZMA
Split totals up over 3 equally spread doses during the day. Recalibrate for each two weeks and take ZMA as directed, on an empty stomach half an hour before bedtime, with no calcium.
This is an example of a gap-stack, where one product is discontinued for a time and replaced with a natural booster to allow natural levels to be maintained to a point, thereby limiting the test crash and assuring faster recovery after the stack is over. This is a fairly high (1200 mg) and diverse (three products) stack that I would mostly recommend to experienced lifters and people who know what they are doing. This is not a stack for beginners. The three-a-day dosing promotes sustained delivery, nandrolone influx is covered, because even if the 4-diol takes up most of the 3-beta enzymes, some conversion through 19Nor happens via the 17-beta enzyme. This allows for constant flow of both target hormones. Note that the use of Nor-products should either decrease at the end or be followed with a natural test booster, because they are more likely to disrupt the HPTA, causing test crashes after a cycle.
Stack #5 (1AD and Nor-diol, 4-AD)
This is a hypothetical stack based on what I know of 1AD. Like I said, I'm trying it at the end of summer and will report back with detailed results, the good and the bad and the terrifyingly ugly (let's hope there is none of that) on just how useful 1AD really is. Here are two variations of a stack:
Week 1-6 600 mg of 1AD and 600 mg of 4AD
Take in 3 evenly spread doses of 200 mg of each product throughout the day.
This is a dose that allows you to see decent benefits off of 1AD without putting you straight in the poor house. In this instance it's a 6-week iso-stack, using 4AD as the counterpart. Because of the moderate dose and the daily spread you can get a lot out of the 4AD too. This is a very androgenic stack and should under no circumstances be taken by women. The 4AD makes a good partner for 1AD because it enhances the androgenic effect and it repairs a loss of libido that may come with the use of 1AD. Not to mention that these are possibly two of the most anabolic legal substances available today.
Week 1-2 900 mg of 1AD with 300 mg of Nor-diol
Week 3-4 600 mg of 1AD with 600 mg of Nor-diol
Week 5-6 600 mg of 1AD with 300 mg of Nor-diol
Take half the Nor-diol after breakfast and half after dinner, take 1AD spread over 3 even daily doses.
This is a tad more expensive. Ok, a lot more expensive. But this epitomizes a great stack. It's commonly believed that drugs with the effect of 1AD should be stacked with a non-androgen. And the most potent non-androgen is Nor-diol. It's a bit of a combination between a ski-slope and a teeter stack that should give great results for the small amount of time you are on it.
Normally I would recommend the use of 19Nor so there is no over saturation of the 3-beta enzyme that could compromise the conversion of the 1AD. But with the cost of 1AD I sincerely doubt that anyone can afford to take enough (or would want to) to saturate the enzymes.
Stack #6 - Precontest cycle.
Week 1-3 600 mg of Nor-diol and 300 mg of 1,4-andro
Week 4-6 600 mg of 5AA and 300 mg of 1,4-andro
Week 7-9 600 mg of 1AD and 300 mg of 5AA
Split does into three even doses (200-100 mg) and take at even intervals throughout the day.
This is a fairly long stack tailored specifically towards the needs of the cutting bodybuilder. In weeks 1-3 we are looking to boldenone and nandrolone to provide maximal protein synthesis through nitrogen retention and still avoiding too much water retention, though obviously you will get a certain amount of it here. By making the majority of the stack 5AA we avoid the formation of estrogen, as this does not aromatize and may prevent aromatisation of the other compound, which isn't particularly estrogenic by itself anyway. The 5AA is also great at hardening up muscle mass while preserving it on a low-cal diet and the boldenone off 1,4-andro is capable of maintaining nitrogen retention, stimulating endurance and giving enough anabolic effect without interfering with androgens and estrogens. In the final three weeks we exclude all chance of estrogenic water retention by using two DHT derivatives structurally incapable of aromatizing. Both compounds have the ability to harden up muscle mass, 5AA limits the amount of endogenous estrogens and prevents water retention from occurring while the 1AD can still stimulate minimal gains or at the very least retain existing gains from catabolism as the time of your show creeps up.
This stack is extremely useful if the goal is to grow and keep muscle mass on a low calorie diet with the aim of coming in absolutely dry and rock hard at the end of the stack for things like shows, guest posings or photo shoots when having definition, density and a visible six-pack are extremely important. Notice however that the androgenicity of this stack dramatically increases towards the end, meaning strength increases, but so do the risk of acne and hair loss, two things you'll want to avoid. Hair loss is only a problem in 30% of men, but acne is pretty common and needs to be treated for these events which require some level of aestheticism. Keep that in mind.
Stack #7 - The Safety stack.
Week 1-6 300-600 mg of Nor-diol and 300 mg of 1,4-andro
Split in two doses of 150-300 mg Nor-diol and 3 doses of 100 mg of 1,4 andro. Take 150-300 mg of Nor-diol and 100 mg of 1,4-andro after breakfast, take 150-300 mg of Nor-diol 8 hours later. Consume 100 mg of 1,4-andro after lunch and dinner as well.
One of the questions I most often get is, "What is the safest prohormone I can take?". I hope the paragraph above the stacking part explains that there is no one safest prohormone and that excluding certain side-effect usually means stimulating others. I also think that if you aren't willing to take the risk you shouldn't bother with prohormones, but nonetheless I took the time to set up what I believe is the safest stack. Both Nor-diol and 1,4-andro have low amounts of serious side-effects. Boldenone and nandrolone are both low in androgenic stimulation and don't interact well with the 5AR enzyme which means they are not a high risk for hair loss, prostate hypertrophy or acne. Boldenone does not aromatize, and nandrolone does so at a very low rate. On top of that there is proof that 1,4-andro acts as an aromatase inhibitor which would further reduce the chances of forming estrogen. So this really is as low as it gets where androgens and estrogens are concerned. The gains off of this should be decent, but don't expect an increase in strength or muscle hardness like you'd get off an androgenic prohormone. The downside is that this is a very suppressive stack where natural testosterone is concerned, so the use of ZMA after the cycle may be warranted here or it will be hard to maintain gains and this may result in a bit of depression and some loss of libido during, but especially after a stack.
Stack #8 - The disregard of all safety massive bulking stack.
Weeks 1-4 500 mg of 4-diol, 500 mg of Nor-diol and 300 mg of 5-diol
Weeks 5-8 750 mg of 4-diol, 250 mg of Nor-diol and 300 mg of 5-diol
During weeks 1-4 take 250 mg of Nor-diol and 150 mg of 5-diol after breakfast, 250 mg of 4-diol and 150 mg of 5-diol after lunch and 250 mg of 4-diol with 250 mg of Nor-diol after dinner.
This stack is for the big gains, but they won't be pretty. A large part of the effect of this stack is based on estrogenic action. I've never see a prohormone cause gyno, but if any stack can do it it would be this one. With the potent combination of testosterone and nandrolone spread throughout the day you create an anabolic setting but also the two hormones most likely to aromatize. Adding 5-diol in the stack will agonize the estrogens with the result being massive bulk weight in water and adipose storage. Over the entire 8 weeks that will give you a great increase in size but it will also gravely smooth you out. I don't recommend this stack to novices or to anyone who is succeptible to estrogenic side-effects. Be sure you know what you are doing before you attempt this and consider the use of DIM if you do decide to throw caution to the wind and try this.
Stack #9 - The best one yet...
Week 1-2: 3 caps of Higher Power Megabol-X
Week 3-6: 3 caps of Megabol-X and 2 doses of Higher Power Anabol-X
Week 7: 3 caps of Megabol-X
Week 8: 3 caps of Megabol-X and 3 caps of Higher Power ZMA Nighttime Formula
Week9-10: 3 caps of ZMA Nighttime formula
Take 1 cap of Megabol-X at three even intervals (say breakfast, lunch and dinner) throughout the day for 8 weeks. During weeks 3-6 use one dose (300 mg) of the Anabol-X spray every 12 hours. When you get to the last week add in 3 caps of ZMA on an empty stomach half an hour before bed, no calcium and continue this for 2-3 weeks after.
This stack is available at a discount through Bodybuilding.com near the bottom of this page.
I admit it it's a shameless plug. These are two products that I designed myself. I figured I'd write down their optimal stacking chart while I'm still capable of giving an unbiased opinion (meaning I don't know what I'll get out of this yet). These are two products I made to address the lack of proper stacked products, and they are available under the Higher Power brand name. The Megabol is an oral compound of 1,4-andro and 4-diol, the Anabol is a transdermal delivery of Nor-diol and 5AA. On paper this stack is as of yet unrivaled in the industry, but obviously I'd like to see some trials to see how effective it really is in the real world. The Anabol is not used for the full duration of the stack because 5AA is very prone to androgenic side-effects and Nor-diol is very suppressive of natural testosterone, which is why we didn't opt for it the last two weeks and implemented the use of ZMA after the stack to boost natural testosterone. This entire stack (2 bottles Megabol, 1 spray Anabol and 1 bottle ZMA Nighttime Formula) is available as a set deal at Bodybuilding.com. Not only is this stack unrivaled in effect, you'll find that the entire stack is considerably cheaper than a single product stack from many high-profile companies. That's why Higher power is your guarantee for quality at an affordable price...
Using Different Delivery Methods to Stack More Efficiently.
Like steroid users will cover bases by stacking injectables with orals, so can a prohormone user apply different delivery methods in a stack. For instance the use of a product that hinders your libido, like Nor-diol or 1AD, it may be wise to stack it with a sublingual cyclo-based 4-diol which will increase libido. You don't need a lot of it, you aren't using it for anabolic effects, and combined with 1AD for example you limit the androgenic synergism increasing the risk of 4-diol since cyclo based diol-products are safe: what doesn't get absorbed, doesn't cause problems either, as is the case for orals.
In stack #5 the use of 1AD is invariably oral, and it may be beneficial to get the sustained release effects of a topical Nor-diol to add the non-androgen to the stack. Slow trickle of the prohormone, once or twice a day use, with the 1AD will ensure a proper stack that is unlikely to interfere and tax the liver too much. Another would be to add in a cyclo-based sublingual 4-diol, you wouldn't need much (25 mg of cyclo), just add it in to keep test good and libido up to solve that problem.
Explore, experiment, these are worth a shot. I prefer orals on most things, but as I showed very clearly they aren't the only great method of delivery.
With that I conclude what is a more complete, and hopefully more understandable version of my take on prohormones. I have tried my best to address all issues people have come to me with and make this as complete as possible, leaving nothing out. Should by any odd chance some things remain unclear, feel free to contact me.
Before I go I would like to thank the people who contributed here, including bobo for his suggestions for the update, La Fetarde who's info on trenbolone was a great help in my research into 1AD and Mr. Patrick Arnold for his help on the topical delivery, 5AA and 1,4-andro paragraphs. Thank you all, and everyone who is reading of course. Knowledge is power, knowledge is safety, and that goes double for prohormones, so if you are reading this you are on the right track.
Testosterone
Name: 4-androstene-3-one,17*ol
Precursors: 4-androstene-3, 17-dione / 5-androstene-3?17*diol / 4-androstene-3?17*diol
Forms: All of the following have several individual forms : Testosterone enanthate, testosterone Cypionate, Testosterone Propionate, Testosterone Suspension, testosterone heptylate, testroviron, testosterona, Sustanon, testosterone decanoate, Testosterone isocaproate, Testosterone phenylpropionate.
4-androstene-3,17-dione / Testosterone
In bodybuilding, however, it is THE "mass building steroid." No matter what you think of Dianabol, Parabolan, Anadrol 50, FinaJect, and others, when it comes to strength, muscle mass, and rapid weight gains, testosterone is still the "King of the Road."
~Excerpt from a drug Profile on testosterone enanthate at Steroid.com~
Raising testosterone has long been one of the most important goals of the legal supplementation industry and at little success. Negative feedback and inhibition are two natural processes that have disabled any attempt at naturally raising testosterone to any significant level. Andro and its diol components have succeeded where no others could.
The reasons are obvious. Testosterone is the base compound for many actions, including protein synthesis, the base of growth for all tissue including muscle. It's also responsible for most of the estrogen in the body, which is believed to have a positive effect on sperm maturation and is a helpful component in retaining nutrients and bulking up. It also readily converts, via 5-alpha reductase (5AR) to dihydrotestosterone or DHT, the most distinct androgenic compound in the body and responsible for all male characteristics, including increases in strength and neuromuscular functioning. As you can deduce from the excerpt up above nothing can hold a candle to testosterone in terms of rapid weight gain. Some prefer dianabol, some opt for leaner gains of trenbolone and boldenone, still others like the mildness of Deca. But in the end, if you want a serious increase in mass, a gain of 20 pounds in the shortest amount of time you turn to things like Sustanon, cypionate, enanthate and Propionate. All of them based on testosterone. The gains are huge, but they aren't pretty to see. Massive estrogenic water retention smooths you out. Your muscles swell and you strength explodes, but when you flex nothing happens. This is painfully obvious in bulking bodybuilders. But it's a sacrifice most are willing to make for this kind of explosion of mass.
Testosterone, despite its many formulations, is also still king of the hill where side-effects are concerned. As the most natural of all steroids it readily interacts with androgen receptors and aromatizes very easily to estrogen. Both with the consequent drawbacks leading to gynocomastia (growth of breast tissue in men), increased adipose storage (fat retention), prostate hypertrophy (growth of the prostate gland in men), clitoral enlargement in women, male pattern hair loss and increased aggressiveness. A long list of possible side-effects, and the main reason why a lot of bodybuilders opt for other steroids.
Prohormone conclusions: Andro is a very weak compound and with the inherent flaw that the prohormone itself has the same side-effects as the target hormone make it dispensable in my opinion. The real ball-game with testosterone starts with the introduction of 4-diol to the market and later 5-diol. While 5-diol converts at an even lower rate than andro, it does not have intrinisic weaknesses. What it does do is agonize estrogen. That means you won't be stacking it with Nor-diol or 4-diol because that will increase estrogenic side-effects, but when looking for mass when using 1AD and 5AA, adding 5-diol may add a bit more bulk to the mix overcoming the low weight gain of these prohormones. 4-diol is the real winner however. It has the highest conversion to testosterone and has no side-effects of its own, meaning that the amount of side-effects correlates with the amount of gains. That makes this a great product. The problem with 4AD as opposed to testosterone esters is its short half-life in the body. Testosterone based steroids last very long, requiring only 1 injection a week, but with 4AD you need to take it up to 3 or 4 times a day to maintain positive levels of testosterone that exceed baseline. That is the amount that supercedes natural levels and will increase the anabolic use of testosterone and deliver higher gains. For those who feel testosterone is not their cup of tea, it is still worth stacking in low doses with Nor-diol or 1AD to somewhat repair a loss of libido that these products may cause. But adding a testosterone turning compound can increase both the estrogenic and androgenic risk of a stack. Stacking it with 19Nor or Nor-diol would supply you with the most popular stack ever, while adding it to 1AD will see you more bulk gains and an increase in libido.
Dosage: Orally a moderate dose of 4AD would be 500-600 mg, but in some stacks, if the other product is high enough, adding 200-300 mg will deliver some results in strength and bulk, or a you can opt for a 25 mg sublingual cyclodextrin based product, which will give the same results. By itself doses upward of 750 mg are warranted for proper results, and even then will not illicit great results in young men. If you plan on using 5AD, use it as an estrogen agonist and take doses of 200-400 mg. Higher doses to raise testosterone are useless, since you need almost extreme doses. 5AD in small doses has the increased benefit of better immune response and upgrading the 3HSD enzyme, making for a greater result of any other diol components it was stacked with. If you do plan on using regular androstenedione, and I advise against it, dosages upward of 1 gram will be needed to give you a serious anabolic response, preferably 1.5 grams and with that dose risks of estrogen related side-effects are fairly high. Which ever is your thing, andro or 4AD need to be taken over 3-4 doses daily to maintain a positive level, 5AD will suffice as a twice a day or just a pre-workout compound.
Nandrolone
Name:
Precursors: 19-nor-4-androstene-3?17*diol / 19-Nor-4-androsten-3,17-dione
Forms: Retabolil, Deca-Durabolin, Turinabol, Norandren, Ziremilon, nandrobolic, neo-durabolic, Sterobolin, Anaboline, nandrolone decanoate, Deca-Durabol, androline, Elpihormo, extraboline, nurezan.
19-Nor-androstene-3,17-dione / nandrolone
Nandrolone is usually manufactured as the 19-Nortestosterone metabolite nandrolone decanoate and in steroid circles is best known as Deca-Durabolin, one of its many brand names. In this case a 200 ml ampoule made by the organon company. But if you look under forms just up above you will see there are many, many more forms of nandrolone that are or were available. Without a doubt this is the most popular steroid for many users dating back to the late 70's and early 80's.
From all the specs I can make up that this is by far one of the safest hormones. Although very anabolic, it has a moderate androgenic component. This means it will ensure proper and good gains, but at the same time is not an extreme risk for androgenic properties such as hair loss. It does stimulate the androgen receptors to a point, but its inability to interact with the 5-alpha-reductase enzyme makes it roughly only 1/5th as androgenic. It exerts most of its anabolic influence through a positive effect on nitrogen retention. With the interference of nandrolone a muscle cell will retain and take up more nitrogen than it releases. This is called a positive nitrogen balance and causes a cell to increase protein uptake and protein synthesis. That means it can cause a real increase in muscle mass, but only provided you are eating a high-calorie, high-protein diet and getting plenty of sleep to provide enough nutrients and allow for enough room to grow. Despite this prerequisite it is still by far the best hormone available today.
The estrogenic conversion allows for some water retention, making this a visually appealing steroid because you can see the mass increase as it occurs. But the estrogenic response is still notably smaller than it would be with testosterone or any of its derivatives, making this a far fetch for estrogen-related problems such as gyno. That and its low androgenic property make nandrolone perhaps the safest steroid around. One of the reasons for its extreme popularity no doubt. Nandrolone is also one of the most often counterfeited products and the counterfeiting alone is a very lucrative business, because one ampoule of deca sells for around $20.
Estrogenic water retention combined with a simultaneous increase in protein synthesis makes this a muscle gaining wonder, and its stacking abilities are endless. In fact it is often believed that the practice of stacking was initiated by the amazing abilities of nandrolone. The most popular stack among competitive bodybuilders a decade ago was no doubt Deca/Dianabol. The slight retentive ability of nandrolone has been shown to be largely productive in combination with a high-protein diet because larger amounts of nutrients became available to muscle-building agents. The water was also readily stored in the connective tissue in joints, which made for one pleasant side-effect : a reduction in joint pains that often accompanied the use of other steroids and the practice of heavy low-rep training. Nandrolone also exhibits a great increase in the immune system, as steroid components often tend to do. Nandrolone has a fairly high half life, meaning it lasts long at the receptor and exerts its effect over a long period of time, one reason that no doubt contributed to the fact that metabolites (19Norandrosterone) can be detected in the body so long after use.
The obvious downside to nandrolone are the high cost naturally, and the fact that it is easily detectable up to 18 months after use, even when taken in small doses. That makes this an absolute no-no in relation to drug-tested competition.
Prohormone conclusions: Nandrolone precursors are without a doubt the greatest prohormone invention ever, even though it took and will take some tweaking to render them 100 percent useful. The reason is that they share a few characteristics with the target hormone : High Cost, low oral efficacy (Deca is injectable) and the positive drug testing thing. The first two combined for a very expensive product. 19Nor had an effective dose range of 600-2000 mg, but at those doses also exhibited a strong increase in side-effects especially when stacked. That left it as a fairly useless product, though reasonable in price. Nor-diol is the real precursor here since it converts to nandrolone at a three times higher rate. The industry has constantly bad-mouthed Nor-diol, claiming impurity, because of the high manufacturing cost. Despite the fact that it was a better product. But even then, a moderate dose of Nor-diol is 600 mg and at three times the cost of 19Nor that wasn't nothing. But luckily it was a great candidate for topical delivery and since recently we have access to a few decent topical products. That is a definite bonus since Nor-diol is obviously the stacking favorite, a trait it has in common with its target hormone. Combining it with testosterone precursors allows you to mimic the oldest and most prolific 1-2 hit in the steroid community, but it obviously has greater benefits in combination with substances that have higher androgenic properties like 5AA or 1AD. The latter being possibly the most costly stack one could find, but well worth the money. With 5AA it can render its stacking partner less androgenic whilst 5AA has as the major benefit that it reduces estrogenic effects. That would combine for a stack that can provide considerable lean mass gains, although the risk for androgenic side-effects in any stack containing 5AA is always high.
Dosage: Orally these aren't the most cost-effective products. To see gains of 19Nor fairly high doses of 600 mg up to 2 grams are needed and because it is a dione product this consequently raises the odds of estrogen related problems such as excessive water retention and itchy nipples. Nor-diol is the clear winner here, but still has low oral efficacy meaning a moderate dose would be 600 mg , and the kind of dose most users would be looking for, gains-wise, is in the 900-1200 range and as high as 1500 mg. The high cost makes that relatively unlikely. In stacks doses of 600-800 mg are great. But Nor-diol is the only prohormone that is preferably taken in topical delivery form as it yields greater conversion at a slightly lower cost. In plain English that means you have to use less and it won't cost as much. This also allows for more stacking abilities orally. Because it's a long-acting product and topical delivery gives a very sustained release, its also very convenient. As a stacking product I would definitely recommend it, and even by itself it is by far one of the most potent prohormones. Orally supplying these prohormones would be a twice a day thing, maybe 3 times daily because they last significantly longer at the receptor site than do testosterone precursors. Transdermally once every twelve hours will suffice.
Boldenone
Name: 1,4-androstadiene-3-one,17b-ol
Precursors: 1,4-androstadiene-3,17-dione
Forms: Equipoise, Ganabol, Equigan, Ultragan (Boldenone undecylenate)
Boldenone, as an illegal steroidal compound, was created as a veterinary product. As the product names Equipoise and Equigan may suggest, mostly for the treatment of horses. But as with so many things within the steroid circuit, and especially with the difficulty of obtaining compounds meant for humans since the ban on steroids, it began gaining popularity among people who weren't veterinarians or animals. It was found, however, to be equally effective in humans.
Boldenone is touted with a very high anabolic effect, connected logically with a moderate but very distinct androgenic compound. It is not the type of steroid used when one is seeking massive explosions of muscle mass in a short amount of time, but rather when the goal is to pack on a small amount of very lean muscle mass without adding a lot of useless weight. Visually its not as gratifying as a testosterone based steroid simply because of the quality gains. Testosterone compounds have a high estrogenic effect and will therefore add a lot more mass visually in a short amount of time, but also considerable water retention and adipose gain. One of the greatest benefits of boldenone, in my opinion, is that it stimulates appetite. Since the effects of steroids are for a part based on their ability to increase protein synthesis in muscle tissue, it's a plus that just by taking the compound you get the urge to supply your body with the necessary materials to actually grow muscle. Almost as if you were to order some cement to build a house and you got the bricks for free. The gains from boldenone are also very stable, are easy to maintain after use and of a very high quality.
But that's not where the ride ends. Boldenone is perhaps one of the greatest means, apart from perhaps insulin, to maintain and stimulate the manufacture and retention of nitrogen. Positive Nitrogen balances are also a major stimulus to protein synthesis. This is, I believe, the main reason there is such a high gain of quality mass. There is a slow but very well maintained increase in muscle weight due to the sustained protein synthesis over a certain period of time.
Boldenone could also be a useful tool to endurance athletes, or multi-sport athletes as it is a noted stimulant of erythropoiesis. This is also the main effect of the drug EPO, and boldenone works through stimulating the release of EPO from the kidneys. Erythropoiesis is the process of making more red blood cells in the bone marrow, then release them in mass quantities in the blood. Red blood cells are the transport mechanism for oxygen, meaning you get a large increase in oxygen delivery to your muscles meaning you can enhance your endurance and sustain strenuous activities for longer periods of time without suffering cramps or fatigue. EPO is a heavily abused drug amongst cyclists by the way.
Prohormone conclusions: 1,4-andro, as a highly oral active precursor to boldenone, sees its use in many different ways. In terms of real bulking mass it can't hold a candle to testosterone precursors, but its obviously a great way of adding small amounts of quality mass that are easily maintained. Whilst it is low in estrogen aromatisation, it does not exclude the process entirely, also because it is a dione version. The amount of estrogen is considerably lower than that of testosterone precursors which avoids the massive water retention and decreases the odds of estrogen-related side-effects, but still has some estrogenic conversion which makes it visually more gratifying than DHT derivatives like 5AA and 1AD. I think 1,4-andro, if obtained at a decent price, is of most use as a lean mass agent in a stack with a testosterone precursor to illicit very high anabolic reactions and would make up for its lack of androgenic aggresiveness. Or by itself for endurance athletes and multi-sport athletes. In a stack with a nandrolone-precursor it would be a very low androgenic stack, Ideal for those looking for a stack that can still offer quality gains without the addition of androgen-related side-effects like prostate hypertrophy or hair loss. 1,4-andro is in my opinion a very valuable product if it can be obtained from a good source at a good price. The lean mass gain and low side-effect rate, combined with high oral efficacy make this one of the best products to consider in oral doses.
Dosage: 1,4-andro and likewise boldenone posses a double bond between the first and second carbon atom, which can be seen in the structural diagram above. This gives it a natural ability to bypass the liver at a much higher rate than steroid-hormones that do not posses this double bond. Often times steroids are 17-alpha alkalated to make up for low oral efficacy, but that increases the chance of hepa-toxicity. The double bond doesn't. That means dosage between 150 and 300 mg daily are often enough to illicit dramatic results when stacked with another prohormone. For use by itself doses of 500-800 mg should be considered, but this is a very expensive affair. To maintain levels, it should be taken in 3-4 doses per day. There is some use for it transdermally, but the 1-double bond makes it a better candidate for oral delivery.
Dihydrotestosterone
Name: 5-alpha-androstene-3-one,17b-ol
Precursors: 5-alpha-androstane-3?17*diol, 5-alpha-androstane-3,17-dione
Forms: None
The word DHT must be running shivers down the spines of some experienced prohormone users. And I must say I wasn't too pleased with the invention of a prohormone that directly converts to DHT either. This is after all the stuff that was named as the main culprit in accelerated male pattern baldness, prostate hypertrophy, acne and increased facial and body hair growth. So why would anyone want to use straight DHT ? Well androgen related side-effects do not occur in everyone, usually only a percentage of people suffer from the severest side-effects. And other prohormones do exert these androgenic effects themselves to some extent as well. Either by converting to DHT or by stimulating androgen receptors in other ways. So the increased risk of using DHT isn't that much greater, unless of course you really have male pattern baldness (MPB), in which case using this product will leave you permanently bald after prolonged use. But the increased risk between this and a precursor to 1-testosterone or even testosterone is really not that great.
So what are the benefits of using DHT ? Are there any ? Well there are some, but I agree, not many. DHT and its derivatives do play an important role in the success of testosterone based products. Mainly in the neuromuscular department. Many of the strength related effects of testosterone and other steroids are due to neuromuscular stimulation by way of DHT. It will allow for dramatic strength increases over a short period of time. Combined with the fact that it is already 5-alpha reduced and cannot aromatise that makes DHT a winner for weight-lifters trying to make a weight class. The weight gain is minimal, and all of it muscle, and your strength shoots through the roof.
Another benefit of using DHT and the like is that it promotes muscle hardness to a large point, making it a possible favorite for pre-contest bodybuilders. This could however be a problem as DHT does stimulate acne and skin impurities, and as mentioned before, if you have MPB the risk is considerable. But nonetheless the increased hardness, striations and vascularity can pay off.
Prohormone conclusions: In stacking opportunities, 5AA leaves a lot of be desired. But it has been touted as a blocker of estrogen as well as being incapable of forming it by itself. That means taking it with a testosterone precursor can decrease the ability of estrogen aromatisation of the latter. If the increased androgenic activity is of no concern to you, but estrogen-related issues are, this may be worth considering. Stacking it with a nandrolone precursor can decrease estrogenic activity of the nandrolone precursor and increase the low androgenic ability. Like wise the nandrolone precursor will decrease the overall androgenic risk of such a stack. As far as stacking goes I believe this to be the best possibility. They support each other to a large extent and are capable of delivering upon strong, lean gains while decreasing the side-effects of the other component.
Dosage: The minimum effective dosage in a stack would be 200-300 mg a day. Again, I don't really advocate the use of this product other than in a stack with a nandrolone-precursor as the androgen related risks are considerable. Though strength wise stacking it with a testosterone precursor would considerably increase neuromuscular response. By itself taking less than 600 mg would have little to no use in adding any sort of mass. Especially orally. This would however be a great candidate for transdermal application. The use by itself is extremely limited, I would not advise it to anyone other than perhaps weightlifters looking for added strength without having to miss their weight-class cut-off.
1-Testosterone
Name:
Precursors: 5-alpha-Androst-1-en-3,17-beta-Diol / 5-alpha-Androst-1-en-3,17-Dione
Forms: none
1-Testosterone is in effect dihydro-boldenone, a 5-alpha reduced version of boldenone. A DHT derivative if you will that entails a very high androgenic potential. This is good because this increases the anabolic capacity of the drug. Its been said that it 700 percent more anabolic than body testosterone. That's quite a catch no? The downside is that androgen-related issues consequently increase largely as well. 1-Testosterone is perhaps best described as a means to achieve amounts of lean mass, considerably higher than DHT, but with greater oral efficacy. Users report immense boosts in strength and muscle hardness, with minimal amounts of bodyweight but still a slow and steady increase in muscle mass.
Most of that effect is the result of absolutely zero estrogenic activity. Having already undergone 5AR it is structurally incapable of interacting with estrogen receptors. This means it is a great product to use for pre-contest bodybuilders looking to add a few pounds and stay/get lean at the same time. It doesn't have any water retention so there is no fear of unwanted bodyweight. Because of a structural difference it has a double bond between the first and second carbon, much like boldenone, meaning it is highly orally effective and much lower doses can be used than for DHT, but still achieving similar hardness and striations.
Prohormone conclusions: 1AD is very effective at what it does and mg per mg it is more potent than any of the other prohormones due to low water retention, high oral efficacy and being a potent androgen. The risks, androgen wise, are considerable, as was the case with 5AA. Estrogen wise there is absolutely zero aromatisation. The downside here is the cost. With 1,4-andro cost was an issue, but there are other sources to apply to that offer it for a lot lower price. But as far as 1AD is concerned a patent has been applied for by the manufacturer and that alone promises no decrease in price in the near future. Luckily the oral efficacy is so high, so even minor doses can contribute, which means it will remain a very hyped and popular commodity among prohormone users. But for people who stack, it's a bit of a wash. 1,4-andro can deliver similar results when taken in a good stack, and be obtained for a lower price in retail if you shop around a bit. Nonetheless it makes a good match for both 19Nor and Nor-diol in a stack, but that will only drive up the price. Bodybuilding.com offers one of the lowest prices on 1AD worldwide, which may be some relief to people. 1AD is very potent and I think you haven't seen everything until you tried it, but for regular use its not the best option for your wallet. It is best stacked with a non-androgen, in analogy to trenbolone, so a Nor-diol is your best bet. You can stack it with a sublingual 4-diol as well because 1AD has been shown to have nefast effects on the libido, which could be countered by 4-diol to some extent.
Dosage: Currently 1AD is an oral only compound, and I have no idea whether or not there are plans for transdermal delivery. But because of the 1-double bond its one of the best candidates for oral delivery anyway. Doses should be maintained throughout the day. That means administering it 3-4 times. Low doses (200-300 mg) can exert an effect, especially in a stack, but by itself it is recommended that you use the effective dose (600-900 mg) or even the aggressive dose (900-1200 mg, which is very expensive). It is best stacked with a non-androgen, probably a transdermal Nor-diol.
The chemical and physiological data I presented you with is very accurate, but here and there, there may be mention of dosage and stacking information which I, like many people, obtained from other sources. I have worked with some steroid users, have several friends who have this knowledge, but haven't tried them myself. So this information may not be 100 percent accurate. This is after all an illustration towards stacking prohormones and this is information you will find in-depth in my prohormone science article. Other stacking information is for entertainment purposes only.
PS: I'm not the author of this document.
Prohormones are steroid hormones and above all exogenous hormonal substances. In a way they are comparable to steroids, and though minor and at much less risk, similar side effects can occur. If you are still growing, pregnant or are succeptible to the effects of estrogen and DHT formation, it's wise to stay away from prohormones. And in any case you should do some research (this article is a step in the right direction) into the use and abuse of these substances in order to take the right action in case anything does occur. It's important to know what the product can do for you and do to you. The most important factors when shopping for prohormones are "How big is the risk? Am I willing to take it?" and "Will I get my money's worth?" Obviously the stuff doesn't grow on trees. So let's get this unpleasantness over with.
Side Effects as Result of Prohormone Use
I will be using the term steroid hormone here, which is not to say that prohormones are steroids. It is simply the scientific term for any hormonal substance manufactured in the body from cholesterol (this includes testosterone and estrogen, but also Vitamin D and others). Prohormones should not be likened to illegal ergogenic aids for several reasons. The first is that they need to convert to a target hormone, which is responsible for most of the anabolic effects. Because this requires naturally occurring enzymes the amount that is converted is limited, and therefore so are the results from taking it. With steroids, the effects are dose-dependent = the more you take, the more you gain. Secondly any such reference is misleading because nothing that is legal comes even close to steroids and the gains they illicit. I'm furious at companies that market prohormones by giving them names that sound like steroids. Names like Maxteron, Decavar and a whole host of others set a bad example for our youth, because it acquaints them to steroids and the use thereof. This kind of reckless behavior will, in my humble opinion, also be the reason prohormones might ultimately banned by the FDA, a feat that is threateningly close of late. Read the following paragraphs to understand the side-effects and skip ahead to the FAQ if you are looking for ways to minimize side-effects.
Inhibition of Natural Testosterone through Negative Feedback
Introducing an exogenous steroid hormone into the body will initially, through a mechanism called negative feedback, stop the natural production of the hormone testosterone. Negative feedback is a loop mechanism. Testosterone is secreted by the hypothalamus which releases Gondatropin releasing hormone (GhRH) which stimulates the release of Luteinizing hormone (LH or Gonadotropin) from the anterior pituitary. In the testes LH will signal the manufacture of Dehydro-epiandrosterone (DHEA) from cholesterol in the Leydig Cells. DHEA converts to androstenedione and eventually testosterone. When the need for testosterone is satisfied the testosterone will signal the hypothalamus and secretion is stopped. Introducing these substances directly will give that same signal that stops production. Why is this bad? Because the manufacture of DHEA in the gonads is halted and they fall into disuse. This causes testicle shrinkage and in the long run can be responsible for infertility, loss of libido and even impotence. This problem is addressed by the term cycling. By going on a hormone for a while and then staying off of it for a similar or longer period, we give natural production a chance to recover. Minor shrinkage can take place but should disappear after a few weeks of disuse. This brings with it a few conclusions:
A. The product should always be cycled, prolonged or continued use may cause more lasting damage. 10 weeks is, at least according to me, the longest a stack should be. Even that may be pushing it. I usually recommend no more than 8 weeks.
B. The time you are off the supplement should be adequate, at least as long but preferably longer than the amount of time you were on it. If this rule is not observed, the testes may not get a chance to recover adequately and the cumulative effect of two close cycles may result in similar problems.
Estrogen-Related Issues
Estrogen is a common denominator for a group of hormones with feminizing characteristics that are obviously more active in the female of our species. Estradiol and consequently estrone are the strongest and most relevant. There are a great deal that are biologically not active enough to be of concern. In the body, when the hormones are converted, a great deal of them (the amount depending on the prohormone used) can actually start producing estrogen. Even if this is not the case, the target hormone, testosterone especially, can undergo a process called aromatisation in which the testosterone molecule is transformed into an estrone molecule. This happens at the 3rd carbon position (most anabolic steroid hormones have 17 carbons) where an A-ring is formed.
What are the consequences though? Well, feminizing effects on the male for one. Estrogen has a very retentive effect on water. This means that large amounts of water can be stored, making you bigger but not with muscle, when using them. Most of this weight disappears when estrogen:testosterone levels return to normal. In itself this retention is moderately anabolic and not so bad at all, if it didn't go at the expense of the amount of testosterone. It also increases the chances of adipose (fat) storage throughout the body (women have a naturally higher BF percentage than men). But as stated, they don't have to be bad necessarily, they may even aid the results. Of more concern is gynocomastia, commonly referred to as "bitch tits", which indicates the formation of breast tissue in men as a result of estrogens. This can be caused by alcohol or high body-fat as well, so keep in mind that these conditions will influence your risk of gyno. To date I have not met anyone that ever got severe gyno from taking a prohormone. Most likely that would take a dose that offers no additional effects, of a product that readily makes the conversion, such as andro or 5-diol. What does regularly happen is that someone gets itchy nipples and they get a bit puffy. These are common symptoms and will disappear. Itching is no real indicator, but if they get puffy it may be a source of concern. If you are doing an 8-week stack and in the 5th or 6th week you see some swelling, continuing is not such an incredible risk. The effect is mostly reversible and should disappear after three weeks of disuse. If you get it full blow the first week or so, don't hesitate, just quit. It would be unwise to continue if you are obviously so succeptible. The risk of it being permanent becomes larger too, and if gyno should occur the only way to remove it is surgically. But like I said, I still have to see the first verified case.
Androgen-Related Issues
An androgen is any substance that creates male-specific characteristics in the body, masculinizing effects if you will. You'd think this would be a positive thing, and mostly it is, apart from a few things. For the most part androgen related issues are the result of dehydro-testosterone (DHT) formation. FSH (follicle stimulating hormone, the other sex-hormone secreted under influence of GnRH) signals the Sertoli cells which transform the molecule to DHT. DHT is responsible for sperm maturation and most masculine characteristics. Increased body-hair, deeper voice, increased sex-drive, these are common things that I'm sure no man really worries about. What should be of concern is that like all fat-soluble products (and testosterone is made of cholesterol) it stores in the skin, and DHT seems to have an affinity for the scalp, which may cause hair loss on the top of the scalp.
In real terms, it all depends, yet again, on how you personally react to it. Some people take mega-doses and don't lose anything, others may notice extra hairs clogging the drains after a mere three weeks. Generally it's nothing to worry about, but I always issue a warning that, if there is a history of male-pattern baldness on your mom's side of the family (the condition is hereditary in matri-linear fashion) it's best to be on your guard and discontinue use of the product immediately at the first sign of excessive hair loss. Hair loss is almost always irreversible. It may be wise to make the majority of your intake a low-androgenic compound such as Nor-diol.
Other side-effects as a result of androgenic substances include acne, which is the most common side-effect of prohormones, but it is very temporary, this should clear up within the odd week or two after discontinuing the product. Often times it will be limited to a few zits here and there. For older people there is the risk of prostate enlargment. In heavy androgenic steroids this can even greatly increase the risk of prostate cancer. One sign of prostate enlargment is overurination. I don't really suggest the use of blocking substances, such as chrysin, but in this case, for the older bodybuilder most at risk (50 to 69 especially is the target group), saw palmetto is advisable. The stuff has no use other than to protect the prostate.
DHEA (Dehydro-epiandrosterone)
Target Hormone: 4-Androstenedione
Molecular name of target hormone: 4-androsten-3,17-dione
Target conversion: low (0.35 %)
DHT conversion: Moderate (converts to andro, then DHT)
Estrogenic effects: Has the ability to actively convert to estrogen precursors. Its been noted that DHEA is responsible for over 80 percent of all estrogens.
Dehydro-epi-androsterone in full, DHEA is called the mother hormone. It's not so much a prohormone as a pre-prohormone, a substance that needs to convert to a prohormone, in this case androstenedione. It's the first actual hormone produced in the chain of command that leads to usable testosterone. By way of feedback the Hypothalamus (little thing in the middle of your brain) secretes GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone) that signals the anterior pituitary (even smaller thing below the hypothalamus) which in turn produces LH (Luteinizing hormone) and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). We'll be following the LH pathway, as it stimulates the Leydig cells to produce DHEA from cholesterol. It will in turn convert to either estrogen precursors (estradiol) or androgen precursors (like andro). It's been estimated that DHEA is responsible for 50-60 percent of testosterone and up to 80 percent of all estrogens. Unlike other prohormones, the benefits of this product go way beyond mere testosterone boosting. It may actually be good for you. Optimal body levels of DHEA have been known to reduce cancer risk, improve immunity, reduce blood pressure and decrease sensitivity to allergic states. It may also lower bad cholesterol. So it's not a minor contribution to your health.
The downside is that, unlike previously believed, DHEA exerts no major anabolic effects. And it is still an exogenous hormone, which means it does suppress natural testosterone. Those two feats combined make this a great addition if you are getting on in age, have tapering test levels and are looking for more quality of life, but let's say that unless you are over 50 DHEA has bitter little to offer. The common prescription ranges from 5-100 mg, but for older bodybuilders I feel safe recommending doses of 100-200 mg.
Now we can have a closer look at the actual prohormones. They are often classified by type, so perhaps we should have a look at the types of classifications and what they mean.
Andro Vs. Nor
Technically this is C19 vs. 19Nor. The indication refers to the 19th carbon-atom in the structure of the substance. In Nor, as the name would indicate, it is absent. In return this makes the conversion to 19Nortestosterone instead of testosterone. 19Nortestosterone is more commonly known as nandrolone, the active substance in popular steroids such as Deca-Durabolin. So what's the skinny? Well, nandrolone is only a fifth as androgenic as testosterone, but illicits similar anabolic reactions. That makes this a good choice for people at risk for hair loss and prostate enlargment and for women seeking the benefits of prohormones. Along with these, the most positive aspect by far is the usefulness. Because the conversion enzymes in the body are limited, only so much of the target hormone can be made. That means you can only raise testosterone so much over baseline level, no more than twice, which still keeps you in the normal to high normal range. That makes the use of andros for young people very limited. Nandrolone however is present at a very minimal rate and because it utilizes the same enzymes can be increased dramatically over natural levels. Of course this is provided you use a diol version, since test production relies mostly on dione receptor enzymes and along with the inhibition that would drop test levels dramatically, warranting the use of an andro as well. The benefit that strikes me as the most useful is that Nors last longer, they have a longer half life (up to 6 hours as opposed to 2 for andros) which means you only have to take one or two doses per day as opposed to three or four for andros.
The downsides to Nor-prohormones are that they do not address the estrogen issue. The loss of androgenic effects also seems to cause a loss of libido, not a major concern, just some lustlessness, but not advisable if you have a wife or girlfriend obviously. Nors also seem to lack the psycho-motoric effect that stimulates more energy and power in the gym. I wouldn't worry about that, I never experienced them to any real effect on andros either.
Another trait that nandrolone precursors have is the large storage of water. Even though the estrogenic effect is slightly milder than that of testosteron, people using these precursors store considerably more water-weight. A study from 1980² seems to suggest that they may have an effect on amplifying aldosterone, another hormone produced from angiotensin II. I'll save you of the exact physiology of aldosterone, but I will share with you that it increases sodium reabsorption, and in turn that means storing considerably more water. Whether this is good or bad, I leave to you. Extra waterweight means more nutrients for bulking, more mass but less definition and muscle hardness. What this does seem to suggest is that combining Nors with an aromatase blocker like 5AA or 1AD would decrease odd of estrogen related side-effects, but still give you some water-weight to allow for bulking up. This is an anabolic trait worth considering.
¹ Sundaram K, Kumar N, Monder C, Bardin CW.,: J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 1995 Jun;53(1-6):253-7
² Sekihara H, Ohsawa N, Kosaka K., Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1980 Mar 28;93(2):495-500
Dione vs. Diol
You may notice that the prohormones have either the addition dione or diol behind them. First of all this signifies the way by which they convert. The dione versions use the enzyme 17-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and the diol versions use the 3-beta enzyme. In real world terms however we can see that the diol converts at a much higher rate than the dione (15.76% as opposedto 5.61%)¹ and is therefore more anabolic and has less chance of aromatisation. Estrogen formation of the diol directly is impossible, which is not so for the diones. The target hormone can always aromatize of course, but there is no risk of estrogen formation directly off a diol prohormone, which keep the estrogen balance in check and decreases the risk of estrogen-related side-effects. It simply cannot aromatize because its structure doesn't allow it.
¹ Blaquier J., Forchielli E. and Dorfman R., Acta Endocrinologica, 55, 697-704
Doing the Numbers
Some of you may have noticed that there are some numbers floating around there in the form of "4-androstenediol or 5-androstenediol" and a similar match-up with their nor counterparts. The numbers refer to the position of the double bond (double attachment between two carbon atoms, they have 4 of them), whether it is on the 4th or 5th slot. The target hormones have the double bond in the 4 position (or don't have one at all). So for a 5-prohormone to convert to the active target hormone you'd need to switch the bond from 5th to 4th position. This happens via an enzyme called 5,4-isomerase. So it is possible, but obviously a lot is lost and only so much gets converted, which translates to significantly lower levels of the target hormone. So in terms of pure conversion the 5-versions are obviously no match for the 4-versions. I don't advise the 5-version except if you have a special use for them.
What are the advantages of using a 5 version then? Well they are anabolic prior to conversion, and because of the prolonged conversion they have all the chances in the world to exert that effect. Moreover they manage to actually upgrade the 3-beta enzymes, making 5-diol for example a good bet to stack with Nor-diol. If you plan on a diol/diol stack, it may be wise to look into a 5-version, otherwise the 4's are the best bet.
There are disadvantages too of course, namely that they are more estrogenic. Diol or not. Diols don't directly aromatize naturally, but it has been shown that a 5-diol for instance does have an upgrading effect on estrogen in the body, increasing its effects. Combine with the aromatisation of the target hormones that increases estrogen-related risks¹²³. 5-versions are estrogen agonists in other words, and have been used to increase estrogen receptiveness in medical fields.
¹ Hackenburg R., Turgetto I., Filmer A, J Steroid Biochem Mol Bio, 46(5), 597-603
² Adams JB, Seymour-Munn K., J Setroid Biochem Mol Bio, 43(6), 499-505
³ Seymour-Munn K., Adams JB, Endocrinology, 112, 486-491
Androstenedione (4-androsten-3, 17-dione)
Target Hormone: testosterone
Molecular name of target hormone: 4-androstene-3-one,17ß-ol
Target conversion: average (5.61 %)
Conversion enzyme: 17-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17HSD)
DHT conversion: High (both off andro and its target hormone)
Estrogenic effects: High, aromatisation of compound and target hormone
It's the most hotly contested prohormone that has given very mixed results in studies and tests. That's not surprising. It's highly androgenic and very prone to cause side effects. It's also one of the weaker prohormones. Its low conversion rate coupled with the fact that less than half of the eventual testosterone is free testosterone doesn't make it one of my favorites. Personally I've sworn off androstenedione, and anyone thinking of using prohormones to get serious gains, should do the same. Andro is what we owe the statute of supplement to that prohormones currently enjoy. That statute is only given when something is naturally occurring AND found outside of the body. Lucky for us andro was found to be present in Scotch Pine tree bark (yeah I know, and you wondered why those highlanders are so big). Andro was first discovered in the 30's and its original anabolic effects were exploited as early as the 50's. It wasn't cleared for supplementation until the 90's so you can understand the hype. The FDA has a strong clamp on prohormones and a move was made to ban them, but a few companies have footed the bill for an extensive legal campaign (still ongoing) that seems to have saved prohormones for supplementation, at least for the time being
Because of the highly androgenic nature, chance of aromatisation prior to conversion and the low yield of eventual usable testosterone, andro is something I feel shouldn't even be sold anymore. I mean, I'm grateful it exists or prohormones wouldn't be legal, but it's obviously being surpassed by all the other prohormones. To me andro is merely hair loss and tits in a bottle. Only a few companies still use it and they aren't exactly market leaders in the quality of supplements (Pinnacle and Muscletech for example.)
19-Norandrostenedione (19-Nor-4-androsten-3,17-dione)
Target Hormone: 19Nortestosterone (nandrolone)
Molecular name of target hormone: 17ß-hydroxy-19-nor-4-andro-sten-3-one
Target conversion: average (5.61 %)
Conversion enzyme: 17-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17HSD)
DHT conversion: None
Estrogenic effects: possibility of aromatisation of the compound as well as the target hormone.
The first prohormone to convert to nandrolone in the body. It yields roughly 5.61% percent of nandrolone from the amount ingested, which is decent. It's a dione version meaning there is a risk of estrogen aromatisation prior to conversion, but it's only moderately androgenic and more anabolic than andro because it yields more available nandrolone than andro does testosterone. Obviously it doesn't measure up against Nor-diol, but with andro being out of the question for most people that means it's often stacked with 4-diol or 5-diol. If you are using these as the hinges of your stack, obviously your 3-beta enzymes will be stocked, meaning that if you wanted to add a low-androgen compound to your stack, 19Nor would be first choice. Obviously the risk of estrogen is minimized because the other products are diols and adding a nor for extra anabolic effects without the fear of extra androgenic side effects is always a good deal. But the only reason most companies prefer 19Nor over Nor-diol is the simple reason that Nor-diol costs three times as much to manufacture, so the economic returns are limited. Instead of being upfront about money-grubbing, they invent stuff about there being no quality Nor-diol available. AST is one company that has sunk that low. This is simply not true. Nor-diol is hard to find yes, but if you find the right brand you can expect 85-90 percent purity, and that's pretty damn good.
5-Diol or 5AD (5-androsten-3,17-diol)
Target Hormone: Testosterone
Molecular name of target hormone: 4-androstene-3-one,17ß-ol
Target conversion: low (0.19 %)
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: None
Estrogenic effects: High, no aromatisation from compound, only from target hormone, but acts as an estrogen agonist
5-diol is a compound that turns to testosterone, but as explained before needs an enzyme called 5,4-isomerase to switch its double bond to make it convert. So in a way, 5-diol needs to convert to 4-diol before it becomes testosterone, making it a less effective conversion. Its also less aggressive and the chance of estrogen-related side effects are considerable, not because of aromatisation prior to conversion but because it stimulates estrogens already present.
5-diol is not on my list of top recommended products, its obviously the worst of the diol versions, but it has its uses. As I hinted at it's a perfect match for a diol/diol stack, so with 4-diol or Nor-diol it would make a decent match and I'd even recommend it with the Nor-diol (Not so much with 4-diol, since just increasing 4-diol would have a similar effect), but other than that, I'd opt for the 4-diol for sure. 5-diol does however have the added benefit of being able to upgrade the conversion enzyme 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3 HSD) and can improve the rate of conversion of other diol prohormones. Keep in mind that if you use it would have to be in a bulking stack and as a bulking agent because of its capacity as an estrogen agonist (Its actually used to agonize estrogens in hormonal therapy) which will increase the amount of water you hold and smooth you out. Itchy nipples are also a common side-effect, but will go away after use is discontinued.
4-diol or 4AD (4-androsten-3,17-diol)
Target Hormone: Testosterone
Molecular name of target hormone: 4-androstene-3-one,17ß-ol
Target conversion: High (15.76 %)
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: low, only from target hormone
Estrogenic effects: no aromatisation from compound, some from target hormone
According to many, this is the very best prohormones have to offer, but I beg to differ. Nonetheless my second choice. Because it's a diol it has no aromatisation prior to conversion, significantly lessening the risk of excessive estrogenic formation. It also doesn't make a direct conversion to DHT. Its structurally incapable of doing so. DHT is still a risk, because of the higher amount of testosterine produced and the fact that testosterine (through 5-alpha-reducates) can be converted to DHT in the Sertoli cells. This makes this a definite winner. If it doesn't give you results due to bad conversion, it also won't give you the side effects, because basically if it doesn't convert it can't make estrogens or DHT. That only makes the risk increase with the gains, and makes 4AD one of the safer prohormones.
4-diol is also by far the most anabolic of the three testosterone prohormones, offering almost three times as much conversion as andro and over 20 times higher than DHEA or 5-diol. In the real world that translates to 310% greater increase in testosterone and 256% greater increase in free testosterone (available) than andro (based on results compared to a control group) and 129% more anabolic than 5-diol¹
For testosterone conversion and pure legal anabolic, androgenic action, nothing beats 4-diol at this point. Especially once you pass 30 and your test levels begin to taper, the effects of 4-diol will exert a major effect on both gains and strength. 4-diol, after all, also seems to have a strong pre-workout energizing effect and a positive influence on libido.
¹ Ristovic L.J., Cobanovic M., Kem Ind, 24(7), 389-92
Nor-diol (19-Nor-4-androsten-3,17-diol)
Target Hormone: 19Nortestosterone (nandrolone)
olecular name of target hormone: 17ß-hydroxy-19-nor-4-andro-sten-3-one
Target conversion: High (15.76 %)
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: none
Estrogenic effects: none
To me, this is the top of the line, though some will not agree with me. I stacked this with 5-diol, and as I explained the 5AD did very little other than keep androgens moderate and ensure greater Nor-diol conversion, and came to the conclusion that this is without a doubt the hands down winner of the Andro Wars.
The advantages include no estrogen or DHT prior to conversion on the basis of it being a diol version, and only a fifth the DHT conversion afterwards because it has nandrolone as a target hormone. It's almost twice as anabolic as its dione counterpart and in terms of gains can match 4-diol milligram for milligram. It is of more use to the young bodybuilder because it converts to nandrolone via the 3-beta enzyme assuring high conversion and not interfering with testosterone production other than by negative feedback. Meaning in moderate doses it will not stunt your natural testosterone too much and ensure a faster recovery afterwards. That makes it definitely the most potent prohormone to use by itself, but obviously the stacking is limited. If you were willing to take the risk of mega-dosing and reach enzyme saturation, 19Nor is a possibility, but since most of the question I get about prohormones have a severe undertone of fear where side effects are concerned, I don't think that will be a popular stack. With 4-diol you have too strong of a competition, vying for the same receptor enzyme. 5-diol is your best bet because of strong anabolism despite low conversion and the fact that it can upgrade the 3-beta enzyme assuring greater conversion.
The greatest downside to Nor-diol is the cost. It's hard to find quality because not many quality companies produce it. The economic returns are minimal because people don't like paying that much for a prohormone. Some companies will even badmouth Nor-diol to cover their lack of endeavour (are you hearing me Paul Delia?). Your best bet on the market these days, and I know the bodybuilding.com store carries them, are Prolab (100 mg per cap) and Ergopharms oral product (150 mg per cap) I only mention this because a lot of people have asked me where to find good Nor-diol.
Nor-5-diol (19-Nor-5-androsten-3,17-diol)
Target Hormone: 19Nortestosterone (nandrolone)
Molecular name of target hormone: 17ß-hydroxy-19-nor-4-andro-sten-3-one
Target conversion: Very low (0.19 %)
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: none
Estrogenic effects: only as an agonist
At the current cost of production and the limited benefits it has to offer over existing products this will understandably not hit the market in the near future. I have received word that some companies have claimed to have it, but I sincerely question the quality and effects of these products. Last I heard this would cost an arm and a leg to isolate, so odds are its impure or a hoax all together. It's simply never going to be cost-effective, so even if it came out, its hardly worth spending money on.
1AD (1-androstene-3beta, 17beta-diol)
Target Hormone: 1-testosterone
Target conversion: (supposedly) very high, because it has a double bond at the 1st carbon and it is a diol version.
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: some converting back to DHT through unknown pathway
Estrogenic effects: None whatsoever
This is just a little bonus addition. I don't have enough data on this yet to make an accurate assumption, so most of what I'm saying here is based on product info, information obtained from Patrick Arnold, who made the stuff, and independent research. As for concrete information, I'm looking to test the product thoroughly near the end of summer and will keep meticulous records of my progress, including gains in size and strength, my diet at the time and any possible side effects I may encounter. If I can get the stuff here (I hope to work closely with Bodybuilding.com CEO, Ryan Deluca), count on that by October or November at the latest. Click here for more info on this study...
1AD is an oral only compound that converts to a different target hormone altogether, namely 1-testosterone. Early data¹ suggests that 1-testosterone is 700% more anabolic than testosterone. How that translates in real world terms is yet to be determined. From the testimonials (they are limited) I've read the gains are slightly better than those of Nor-diol, so that would be a significant improvement, though not quite as high as the percentage might suggest. There was an initial dione version, but I believe that has been pulled and all 1AD currently available is diol. Again that means no estrogenic conversion prior, but none post-conversion either because 1-test doesn't aromatize. It's a derivative of the androgenic compound DHT, meaning that it has already undergone 5-alpha-reductase and cannot under any circumstances form estrogen.
The androgenicity is still very much an issue. It can convert to DHT via a different pathway (I should say convert back) but it's not known to what extent or what effects it has. So far no one has reported any serious side effects in this nature, but neither has there been any rigorous large-scale testing. The jury is still out on what this means to people who are at risk for things like prostate enlargement and hair loss. Since it is extremely androgenic in other ways as well, this is one aspect that will need further digging to get to the bottom of. I fear this may be the weakness of 1AD.
Oral activity is a great plus. To date orals are the only form that allow serious stacking and proper use of prohormones (more on that later). On the downside a lot of it doesn't survive the liver which makes us toss away a large amount of money spent on prohormones, because the yield is rather low. 1AD may have solved that problem. In steroids people make things 17-alkalated to survive the liver, but in return this increases liver toxicity severely. But a double bond in the one position (hence the name 1-testosterone) ensures a greater amount surviving without the risk of liver toxicity. Chemically you can liken it to the steroid primobolan, which is the same structurally except for an extra methyl-group but also has the double bond in the one position. It functions much in the same way. Making this perhaps the most potent oral prohormone to date. I would estimate oral activity to be in the neighborhood of 30%. That means even relatively small doses can exert decent effects, which will no doubt make up for its preposterous price.
In effects 1-test has been likened more often to Halotestin and trenbolone than Primobolan, qualitatively speaking. I did some research on this and this would mean that most of the gains are lean mass (not huge mass increases, then losing most) making it great to use even when cutting (though obviously the gains will be a lot smaller) and that the amount of water and fat weight is significantly reduced because there is no estrogen effect whatsoever. So blowing up like a balloon is out of the question, which isn't so visually satisfying, but it gets you harder and the gains are for real. That has to count for something. Halotestin is 17-alkalated by the way, so if you go researching don't be frightened by the enormous liver toxicity of Halostestin as I was, since 1AD is not 17-alkalated.
Since info on 1-testosterone is fairly scarce and hard to find, I did some more research on trenbolone in the specific steroid milieu (several websites, a few experienced users and a special shout-out to La Fetarde of our very own steroid boards for the info) and found that the common belief is that it is best stacked with a non-androgen for best results. Meaning that if you were thinking of stacking this, moderate doses (standard 300 to 600 mg) would be best used with Nor-diol, but if you were thinking of doing a serious stack (expensive, 900-1200 mg), you may want to consider 19Nor instead so there is no competition for enzymes.
There has been some talk of using 1AD as a pre-contest hardener as even users who were dieting and experienced very little gains boasted some impressive physiques nonetheless.
The major downsides to 1AD: physiologically the only side-effect reported so far is a loss of libido, to which Patrick Arnold himself replied that it may best be stacked with 4-diol if this worries you (or you have an insatiable girlfriend like me). And some of the testimonials said something about a distended belly, though it went away. Other than that, the only major setback is once again the cost. This stuff is even more expensive than Nor-diol (here at Bodybuilding.com the prices for both products from Ergopharm per 10.000 mg are $44.36 bucks for Nor-diol and $74.96 for 1AD), which will no doubt scare a lot of people off. And since the patent is owned by LPJ, it's unlikely that competition will lower the price as with creatine. So there probably will not be any reduction in price in the near future.
¹ Anabolic Steroids" by HL Kruskemper, Academic Press, 1968, p.109.
5-AA (5-alpha-androstanediol)
Target Hormone: 5-alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT)
Molecular name of target hormone: 5-alpha-androstene-3-one,17b-ol
Target conversion: low, needs to undergo 5,4-isomerase prior to conversion, and only a small percentafe survives the liver. Estimated 0.15%.
Conversion enzyme: 3-ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3HSD)
DHT conversion: Very High, converts directly to DHT
Estrogenic effects: None whatsoever
Lots of people have written me asking about this substance, and I admit I didn't have a clue. With the help of Mr. Patrick Arnold, I managed to at least get the search going and I present you with the conclusion. Often 5-AA has been called a precursor to the hormone Masteron (Dromostanolone), a fact that has been happily exploited by one manufacturer that used a similar name and is guilty of setting a bad example by naming his product after a steroid. In effect, Masteron has an extra 2-alpha methyl group. 5AA does not. Masteron is also known as 2-alpha-methyl DHT, or DHT with an extra 2-alpha-methyl group. So what is 5-AA really a precursor too? According to the spec, good old DHT. 5AA is actually a prohormone naturally produced in the body as a response to low levels of DHT. Using the 3HSD enzyme it is capable of restoring androgenic capacity if it is hindered.
Good or bad? Well, as far as DHT is concerned, both. DHT is in effect up to 300 percent more anabolic as testosterone so you know it's not bad stuff. Hardcore users that love the lean hard look will prefer DHT and DHT metabolites over more estrogenic specimen. The downside is that it's possibly the most androgenic compound around. Many prohormones are risky androgen wise because they cause side effects related to the manufacture of DHT. This is DHT. Storing readily in the scalp and active for up to 3 hours easily it's a great way for losing your hair and growing a prostate like a cabbage. Not to mention so many zits you can play connect-the-dots in the mirror. However, as with illegal DHT drugs, using it is a calculated risk and some may actually wish to take that risk. However head to head, 1AD compares favorably, outclassing it by over 200 percent. (This is still based on data, in real world terms no studies have been conducted head to head). DHT is also currently undetectable by most drug tests.
So do you want to take the risk? You might at this point, but probably not so after reading the next part. How does one make 5-AA? By the hydrogenation of the 5-diol prohormone according to my source. That makes this a very inexpensive product to make, though this is obviously not reflected in the price. 5-AA is sold at a very high price. Now looking at the physiology of this, we'll not that the double bond, as with 5-diol. The exact pathway used to make DHT here is not entirely understood or even documented. All that is known is that it converts to DHT. But with the data we have here and low oral efficacy, we'd have to state that for accurate conversion you would have to take doses higher than of most prohormones (upward of 1 gram) which consequently raises the cost (its expensive and its sold in 50 mg tabs, bottle of 60) and the risk of side-effects (low anabolic but very high androgenic) So in my opinion, someone is either taking us for a ride here and doesn't know what he is doing, or someone is taking our health for a ride, consciously. I'll opt for the latter since the inventor Bill Llewellyn is the author of a hefty book on anabolic steroids.
So is there a real use for this product? By itself you'd need to take 500-600 mg easily to get any real anabolic effect, and at that point the risk far outweighs the possible benefits. But in a stack 5AA has several benefits that make it a regular darling for those of you who love to stack. First of all, not only does it have absolutely no estrogenic conversion, 5AA is also a great aromatase inhibitor, meaning it can actually block other compounds you are stacking it with from forming estrogen through aromatisation. That's a plus because it drastically improves the quality of your gains even though in terms of quantity it can't do that much. It would also allow you to use other prohormones closer to contest time as there is not so much water retention. The greatest benefit of 5AA however lies in the fact that it can free a small part of bound testosterone in the blood from its protein carrier. That would increase the amount of free testosterone you would yield from andro and 4AD and increase protein synthesis in that way. In stacks using 200-300 mg is advised for most effect and it's best taken over two to three doses spread throughout the day.
If you wanted to check the actual conversion of the hormone with the recommended dose, there is a very easy way of knowing. Just take them. Since DHT is the prime androgenic factor in the body, every androgen-sensitive part of your body should notice the change (more body-hair, less scalp hair, higher sperm count, prostate enlargment, deepening of voice and in women clitoral enlargement too). You'll find that the recommended dose is 150 mg a day and at this dose it does, well, nothing really. More than one study documents its low efficacy however. DHT was shown to be 35 times less active than testosterone¹, 5AA was shown to be 4 times less active than androstenedione² and in castrated rats, tested on a specific organ, it was shown to be 20 times less effective than testosterone³. With those numbers and the high side effect risk, I'm not exactly itching to try it, nor do I recommend it. I think the patent is secured by Llewellyn, so don't expect a price-drop from his side either, I have found that Bodybuilding.com carries a generic version at a much lower price. (Higher Power Masterbolan, 60 caps of 50 mg for 19.95, which is high, but reasonable.)
So I most certainly do not advise the use of this to anyone. It can have its uses as a hardening agent for the competition bound athlete. I don't know what the detection is for 5-AA, but you'll find DHT is virtually non-detectable, which is why it's a favorite among competitors. Its capacities make it useful, but only in stacks and in moderate doses (200-300 mg). By itself it's too much of a risk in my book.
° Degtiar' VG, Kushlinskii NE.,: Izv Akad Nauk Ser Biol 1998 Nov-Dec;(6):664-9
¹ Ruzicka et al.,helv Chim Acta 19,357-362
²Heusser et al.
³ Cavalero et al., Acta Endocrin. 55, 131-135
1,4-andro (1,4-androstadienedione)
Target Hormone: Boldenone (1-dihydrotestosterone)
Molecular name of target hormone: 1,4-androstadiene-3-one,17b-ol
Target conversion: moderate to high, estimated just over 10 %
Conversion enzyme: 17-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17HSD)
DHT conversion: some conversion
Estrogenic effects: aromatisation of the prohormone
Definitely more promising than the 5-AA. I found it has great resemblance to the 1AD in the fact that it has no estrogen aromatisation possibility, assures almost all gains as dry weight and the double bond at the one position which ensures greater oral activity without extra liver toxicity. However, Not here, nor on the 5AA by the way, was there any kind of study attached showing the efficacy of either product. It is touted as a precursor to boldenone, another popular steroid and pre-contest hardening agent. In this case there is more truth in it. Only that boldenone has a hydrogen and oxygen bonded and the 1,4-andro has a double bonded oxygen atom. Boldenone becomes methandrostenolone in its methylated form, also known as Dianabol, possibly the most popular oral steroid in the world, ever.
If this was a diol version this could without a doubt surpass any prohormone ever created, including 1AD. But it's a dione version with inherent flaws. I'm also not convinced a diol version will ever come out. Unlike 1AD which was created in a lab as a dione, then perfected to a diol, 1,4-andro isn't made by human hands but extracted from the feces of a cow. Cows are treated with progesterone for various reasons, and under that circumstance they produce this in their bowels it seems¹. This is the result of that isolation. It's also the topic of a hot debate of whether or not this is legal. In any case, 1,4-andro can be considered the non-5-alpha reduced version of 1AD and a potent anabolic precursor. However, it definitely leaves a lot of stacking options. Because of the 1-double bond it has a high oral efficacy, meaning low doses can exert an effect. So in a stack with another prohormone it may be able to rival the effect of a mild steroid, but again you'd have to be able to make it cost-effective for it to rival 1AD.
One thing I particularly like about 1,4-andro is that despite the fact that it can stimulate the androgen receptors and aromatize, it does both in such a small amount that side-effects are nearly non-existant. Combined with high oral efficacy it can easily match Nor-diol, perhaps even beat it, in the safety department. It can also be a handy supplement for endurance athletes since it stimulates Erythropoesis, the manufacture of red blood cells in the bone marrow and releasing them in large quantities in the blood. Red blood cells carry oxygen and this increases the capacity for strenuous and continual activity with a lessened risk of cramps or musclular failure. This is also the result of the hormone EPO (erythropoetin). Boldenone acts by increasing EPO release from the kidneys. Much like doing a height-stage. EPO is also a heavily abused drug amongst runners and cyclists. Another potent effect it may have is that despite slightly aromatizing itself, it may act as aromatase inhibitor for other products in several forms. One study showed this to be true for 1,4-androstadienedione² whereas another shows the same for several metabolites³. That makes 1,4-andro perfect for limiting estrogenic side-effects in a bulking stack as well.
In my opinion this shows a lot of promise, but I'd like to see something as far as a head to head study goes. However, if 1,4-andro tickles your fancy, again ordering from Impact Nutrition, who has the patent, is and will remain an expensive affair. Higher power to the rescue once again: Ganabolin, 60 caps, 50 mg per cap for only $23.99. In this aspect 1AD is cheaper by 2-3 bucks per 10 grams and (probably) more effective.
¹ Vadalkar K, Gupta FC, Bhat HK, Chopra CL., Indian J Exp Biol 1980 Mar;18(3):245-8
² Abul-Hajj YJ, Liu XP, Hedge M., Steroids 1995 May;60(5):423-7
³ Numazawa M, Oshibe M, Yamaguchi S, Tachibana M., J Med Chem 1996 Mar 1;39(5):1033-8
Delivery Methods
This is an issue I haven't addressed yet in the past, mostly due to lack of information. Now I feel capable of commenting accurately on these issues and feel I must, since I get a lot of questions about the delivery methods, almost daily. There are 4 ways to get the compound in your system actively.
Injecting
Injecting the stuff, suspended of course, would yield an almost 100 percent conversion rate, and word is out that some idiots that wish to see prohormones banned (what else could motivate this) actually created an injectable 4-AD, selling it as a topical to fool the FDA, much the way they did with synthol. Though very effective, it's also highly illegal and brings with it the risks of injectable steroids. I do not recommend or endorse this practice in any way. If you were to consider this, at least use steroids and make it worth the money and the risk.
Sublingual or nasal delivery
This is the great cyclodextrin debate, and this is where I must admit I was strongly misinformed when it came to my first line-up of prohormones. Some word has leaked to me that there was evidence that it increased estrogen-risk, but after having examined actual tangible evidence I'd have to say that it decreases the risk of estrogenic activity. Absorption in this case happens through the mucous membranes under the tongue and in the nose. Because the compounds are readily broken down and not water-soluble, they have a rough time being absorbed like this, as opposed to these legal GH potions out there that use sublingual delivery as the only possible method. To solve this they use a sugar. It's a cone-shaped sugar called cyclodextrin that has the strange characteristic of being water-soluble on the outside, but not so on the inside. By attaching the prohormone on the inside it sort of becomes water-soluble, assuring a greater delivery and hence a greater conversion. So what's the problem? It sounds great, huh? Well tests were done using 25 and 50 mg sublingually with cyclo-technology, and results showed that the 50 mg doses had no better effect than the 25 mg doses. In fact, at the intervals of 20 min, 60 min, 120 min and 180 min, the testosterone levels in the serum were actually greater using the 25 mg dose. And at 10 and 40 minutes the levels from the 50 mg dose barely outscored those of the 25 mg dose. Which brings us back to the problem with topicals: there is no way you can get enough in your system to do a real bodybuilding stack. This yet again makes for a safer and more effective, but very limited method of delivery suited for women and older bodybuilders, but not the hardcore fanatic looking for serious gains.
The reason is that with the saliva in the mouth being secreted, the limited amount absorbable at a time, that the saliva washes most of the extra stuff away in the stomach where it is quickly rendered useless at such a low dose. Also the stacking opportunities are limited. Taking 4-diol 3 times a day is out of the question for a real bodybuilder eating 8 meals a day, as taking it too close to a meal will limit the amount absorbed even further due to extra mucus and saliva blocking the path. This problem is of no concern nasally however. As delivery it gets a 1 out of 4, because even though it assures a great conversion, it's not a product for the real athlete because of the limited capabilities. For people over 40, looking for a boost in their tapering hormone levels, this is great though. Compared to a very low dose of 4AD (100 mg) it was shown to elevate testosterone levels to 87.4% percent as opposed to 48.1% with the oral dose, with measurements taken after an hour.
Topical delivery
A great deal better than the previous techniques, though no match for oral delivery. The first question that arises, and certainly the first one I posed, was whether or not prohormones can be absorbed through the skin. We all know that thanks to live passage a lot of the oral uptake is stopped and rendered useless. We also know that sublingual delivery works at a great rate but has limited absorption possibilities. In comes transdermal. There are two conditions that need to be fulfilled for something to be delivered in this fashion. The first being that the molecule being introduced is small enough to pass through the Stratum corneum, the upper layer of the skin. For this it has to have a molecular weight smaller than 500. Most prohormones have a molecular weight that approached 300, so this checks out. The second factor is that only lipophyllic (oil-loving) substances can permeate the skin. As you know the skin is oily and water-resistant, so water-based solutions cannot be introduced in this fashion. Since prohormones are made from cholesterol they are lipophyllic enough to be transported in this fashion.
One study done in 1986¹ documented that a hydroalcoholic (water and alcohol base) gel containing 50 mg of androstenedione was applied twice daily to the abdomen of 5 women. Plasma measurements of both the andro and the testosterone levels were conducted and showed that levels increased progressively for 6 days, after which they leveled off at 4-5 times higher than baseline for andro and 3-4 times over baseline for testosterone. This would indicate that this entails a very sustained release (applied only twice a day, effective for a duration of 24 hours or longer) with levels peaking and staying at 3-4 times higher than the average, this showed that transdermal delivery could be used to obtain and maintain optimal levels of the target hormones.
That answers the question of it being possible. That doesn't mean it can be accomplished. Mostly for transdermal purposes an alcoholic base was concocted, similar to that used in many sublingual technologies. The problem with this was that the alcohol quickly dried out, which gave you a fragile, dry skin, but left most of the prohormones dry on the surface of the skin, which would allow them to be washed off. Absorption in this manner could last very long, as illustrated above. So they had to speed up delivery. That's right, speed it up. It was too sustained and had to be brought down. More on that later.
First some remarks on this study. You will have noticed that it was done on women, and that increasing levels up to 4 times is not that hard to achieve compared to the female baseline levels. But I urge you to also look at the dose of 50 mg and the prohormone used, which were also strongly inferior. These days doses over ten times this and 3-4 times more effective products are used. Also they used a less effective delivery system.
The permeation through the skin can be enhance by a couple of factors. First of all the thickness of the skin in the area. Selecting skin parts that are thinner, like behind the ear, would increase absorption drastically, up to 10 times compared to the skin on your palm which is rather thick. Absorption seems to happen best when applied to the back and spread evenly. If you have eczema or another skin problem, applying it there may severely increase access for the prohormone molecule as well. Another factor is the formulation of the topical spray or cream. There are substances used in medical circles known as penetration enhancers that optimize this way of delivery. The two best know are DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide) which is found in most topical products and the other is IPM (isopropyl myristate) which is only found in select products. The IPM especially was shown to enhance delivery very well.
The positive aspects of this product are obvious: a prolonged sustained delivery, that only requires twice a day use for round the clock hormone elevation, and it doesn't need to pass the liver like the orals do, allowing better conversion, less of the amount of prohormones lost and less toxicity for the liver. It also doesn't interfere in your gastric processes assuring an almost time-based delivery. The downsides of using topicals are of course that depending on the permeability of the skin at different times, sweating profusely and other activities that may remove the stuff prior to absorption (showering for instance) you are never quite sure of the amount being absorbed and how fast it is being absorbed. Another obvious flaw is the limited delivery, you have to spread it out fairly well because laying it on too thick will only leave most of it as a residu on the skin. Its not my favorite method of delivery, but you'll find it very useful nonetheless, and for serious athletes it outclasses sublingual delivery drastically. I give this a 3 out of 4.
¹ JCEM, 62(2) : 441-4
Oral delivery
First, foremost and still king of the hill. Despite the low conversion rate this is still the best way to raise hormone levels drastically and accurately, the best way to stack things since you can take it before, after or even during a meals and so on. And the cost is no limiting factor. Despite all the extra stuff you need, adding the cyclos and the money-grubbing supp industry in the mix, sublingual stuff costs just as much, except with orals you can take higher doses. This is and always will be the best way according to me and will remain the method of delivery I advise. The only improvements are injecting, which is dangerous and illegal, and perhaps rectal delivery, but with me that is an exit-only affair. So orals get my top rating. Apart from a little liver toxicity it has every benefit, and even that is of little concern since most bodybuilders don't drink and that people using prohormones are otherwise fairly natural. So you have some room there. This deserves a three and a half out of 4. It's a very effective dosage-relative way of using prohormones, but obviously the great amounts that are lost when passing through the liver and the inherent liver toxicity give it plenty of room for improvement also.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are the questions I received most often after having published the first edition of prohormone science.
Should I continue taking prohormones on off-days?
Yes, most definitely. Stopping and recommencing for such short times will cause multiple testosterone crashes that will confuse and wreck havoc on the natural system. Every time it thinks it's in the clear, you restart and it gets hit again bad. Even if this doesn't cause long term malicious effects, count on it jeopardizing your natural testosterone recovery after coming off a stack, prolonging your dry period by one or two weeks, time during which you could lose even more gains you made, negating the effect of your cycle.
Moreover a lot of growth happens on off-days, which is why nutrition is so important. Steroid hormones aid in protein synthesis and muscle recovery, so if you recover on off-days it makes sense to have high test levels to assist in that recovery. Look at steroid stacks, they are used continually as well.
Can I test positive when using prohormones?
Yes and no. If you are worried about work and such, these are often tests that will not include even steroid use. They mostly test for Schedule I drugs, things most likely to be abused. If it is for a sporting event or other occasion you may want to take your precautions. Its unlikely you'll tests positive for andro, 4-diol, 5-diol, DHEA or 7-keto DHEA. Neither of these raises their target hormones over a high normal level, so unless you popped one right before, testing positive isn't really possible. With Nor-prohormones it a little more sensitive since they raise nandrolone over 20 times in the body. Tests are done for nandrolone metabolites (19Norandrosterone) and waste-products in the urine , so you can test positive if you use these too close to your test. How long you wait is dose-dependent, people injecting Deca have been known to test positive as far as 18 months after last use. But even amounts the size of a pinhead, ingested orally, have been shown to deliver positive tests. Other factors may cause nandrolone metabolites to raise. In the last two years there has been an enormous amounts of pro-athletes testing positive for nandrolone. While I have no doubt that most of them do use doping, I doubt they used nandrolone or nandrolone precursors, because they know that is easily detected. So they must be using something that is leaving them with nandrolone metabolites. Some foods and even a combination of food supplements and exercise have been named as the reason. One guy even claimed it was his toothpaste. Whatever the truth be, if you do test positive, it may be helpful to call on one of these explanations as a lot of the athletes that appealed their case were reinstated.
So in conclusion, chances are slim of testing positive if you were wise enough to get off of them at least a week before. But fair warning, all athletes competing in the IFBB, IOC, NCAA, USOC and IPC are prohibited from using these products, so if caught with them, claiming ignorance will not be ample defense against legal proceedings and being banned from such federations.
"Even amounts the size of a pinhead, ingested orally, have been shown to deliver positive tests."
New evidence suggests, in the defense of athletes that have tested positive, that there are cases of cross-contamination. Often companies will produce large amounts of one product first, then large amounts of another. Because often the same containers are used, it is possible that some supplements were contaminated with 19Nor or Nor-diol. This was often named in reference to protein powders and creatine, two products widely used by athletes of all trades, even those subject to testing. One study¹ corroborates this theory. It showed that one can still test positive for nandrolone metabolites after consumption of androstenedione, a supplement that does not contain Nor-prohormones. Andro is still a far fetch from creatine, but lets not exclude this possibility.
To date it was also the belief that DHT as undetectable, one of the reasons pre-contest drugs like Masteron, Trenbolone and winstrol gained a lot of popularity. That meant if you could find an guaranteed uncontaminated source of 1AD or 5AA there was no chance of getting caught whatsoever. Well, studies dating from 95² and 97³ state that there is such a test in development and at some stage may be implemented if abuse becomes serious. The thing with these tests is not only do they measure the use of exogenously administred dihydrotestosterone, they do so by measuring for 5AA metabolites. So using that test 5AA administration would show up. However it is unlikely that such a complex test would be administered randomly, so only top-level athletes need concern themselves with this.
¹ Catlin DH, Leder BZ, Ahrens B, Starcevic B, Hatton CK, Green GA, Finkelstein JS. JAMA 2000 Nov 22-29;284(20):2618-21
² Sundaram K, Kumar N, Monder C, Bardin CW., : J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 1995 Jun;53(1-6):253-7
³ Kicman AT, Coutts SB, Walker CJ, Cowan DA., Clin Chem 1995 Nov;41(11):1617-27 Shackleton CH, Roitman E, Phillips A, Chang T., : Steroids 1997 Oct;62(10):665-73
When do I take them?
Well, this is a good question. Andros tend to have a short half-life, often under two hours, which means for continual levels you'd have to take it 3-4 times a day which isn't always as convenient. So if you are using andros solely, spread it over the day. If you are using a single dose, about 30-45 minutes before training is best, when it is bound to give you a boost and is still active to aid in post-workout recovery. Nor-prohormones can last over six hours at a particular site, meaning they need only be taken once or twice daily for optimal levels. If you were to use them pre-contest, keep in mind they reach peak levels after about 90 minutes, so you should be taking them an hour and a half prior to working out.
A lot of this is just general info, you'll have to see how they fit into your particular stack or cycle to see how they best work together.
You stress the importance of cycling, how long should I cycle?
Usually an effective stack that stresses safety is between 6 and 8 weeks, and I don't recommend any lower than 5 for efficacy or more than 10 for safety. More important than cycling on, is the time you cycle off. In order to let normal hormonal levels get back to where they were it is advised to stay off at least as long as you were on and preferably a while longer. I usually use a +2 reference, meaning if you were on for 8 weeks, stay off for 10 before starting a new stack.
When I come off will I lose my gains? My strength?
If it was a fast increase due to psycho-motoric effects of a high androgenic substance, kiss your strength good-bye. If it was a result of gradual lean mass increases, I see no reason why the strength would disappear if the mass wouldn't. So the question is, does the mass go away after use? Well, test levels will crash after a cycle and it will be hard to maintain protein resynthesis on the test levels of an 8-year old girl scout. This can take a week or two to recuperate and in that time loss of mass is not at all unthinkable, in fact it is likely. The trick is to get the natural levels back up as high as possible. These are your options:
- Stack in a ski-slope pattern. The decrease will enable you to get levels back up, but may compromise gains in the long run.
- Watch the duration and amounts of your stack. As either increases it will become harder to get natural levels to come back to where they were.
- Supplement with ZMA after a stack is over. Increased LH response and better DHEA manufacture in the body will aid the recovery process. Usually this entails starting a cycle of ZMA the last three days of your stack and continuing at the very least 2-3 weeks after.
- For older men, tribulus may do the same.
- Take plenty of ice-cold showers to shock the system.
Someone once told me prohormones are steroids. Is this true?
I think I touched on this in the beginning of the article. Prohormones are in effect steroid hormones in physiological terms. In this case steroid meaning "made of cholesterol". This also includes, for example, Vitamin D. Calciferol is a steroid hormone made from cholesterol in the skin under the influence of sunlight. Is Vitamin D a steroid? Well from the physiological view I suppose so. But in bodybuilding circles we discuss steroids as illegal ergogenic aids derived from anabolic endogenous hormones and altered to maximize anabolism and limit androgenicity. If this is what you were looking for, then no, prohormones are not steroids. For starters the amount of target hormone they can raise in the body is limited naturally because the enzymes needed to convert are limited. So it is in effect a supplement. Also any substance endogenous to the body that can also be found naturally outside the body is a supplement. Andro has been found in Scotch Pine tree bark, and other prohormones are mere derivatives. Steroids are synthetically altered and manufactured.
Frankly I detest the fact that some companies exploit the fact that they are so similar to steroids by giving the names that sound like steroids: Decavar, Maxteron and so on. I think this sets a bad example for our youth and in the end these fools will be responsible for getting prohormones banned by the FDA. I just wanted to express my deep concern in this, since steroids too were initially banned, not because they enhanced performance and muscle, but for health reasons. Everything was fine as long as their was moderate ergogenic use under supervision of a physician. Then the started injecting and stacking everything under the sun, and it became a health risk. Some people need to be protected against themselves and that is why steroids are illegal. That small percentage of idiots who would kill themselves over a few pounds more.
I'm worried about estrogen conversion. Should I take an estrogen blocker?
By no means. A certain level of risk is involved with these products, most likely a calculated one as you hope to gain something out of using them. But there are products that block estrogenic aromatisation. The most effective ones (Indole-3-carbinol for instance) do this by blocking aromatase receptor enzymes, and consequently the prohormone receptors as well. Sometimes 30-40 percent of the total. In return that translates into 30-40 % less conversion of the product to its target hormone and 30-40 % less effect. Seeing as how you can never completely eliminate estrogenic risk, it sounds kind of stupid to me to spend more money on a product that will give you less gains, without a guarantee of stopping the aromatisation. On top of that some products, like chrysin, will be added that have the same effect but are even less effective at stopping aromatisation. Try to avoid all products that use chrysin or I3C in a stack with prohormones.
One metabolite of I3C however is known as Diinodyl and may aid in turning bad estrogens into good estrogens and that would make them beneficial to the bulking process as you would keep the retentive effect, but be at a much lower risk of getting estrogen related side-effects. Even this is not one of my favorite things, I believe its best to roll with the punches in order to get the max out of a stack, but this is certainly preferred to things like chrysin.
There is no risk of estrogenic conversion with products such as 1AD and 5AA, and very little with 1,4-andro, so it makes sense to disregard all of the previous information when using only these prohormones since they have no, or next to no estrogenic conversion. In fact having 5AA in your stack will reduce the amount of estrogen aromatization from other products like testosterone and nandrolone. One of the prime reasons to use 5AA, since it is not all that anabolic. It's mainly a strength compound to add to the quality rather than the quantity of muscle gain.
Note: It's imperative that people understand that some estrogen conversion is not always a bad thing. It increases water retention which also increases the storage and availability of muscle-building nutrients like protein. In terms of bulking the extra weight can give a strength advantage as well. So hormones that raise estrogen off the target hormone only may have a plus in increasing mass fast for visual gains, but obviously estrogen should be limited to that off the target hormone as it can have its side-effects as explained at the top of this article. It's also not advisable for people who are cutting as water-retention makes you look bloated even when you have next to no fat. But hormones that aromatize are known as the best for big mass gains So don't always consider estrogen bad.
What is this prostate enlargment thing? Should I worry? What can I do?
The prostate is a small ball-like organ in the abdominal region of men that regulates and controls the release of semen and urine. In older men, the prostate degrades, signified by enlargement. The condition is known as Benign Prostate Hypertrophy (BPH). The most common symptom thereof is having to urinate more often. Now androgenic effects from hormones producing free radicals, like steroids or prohormones, can speed up that process. Among other things, in welfare countries, an enlarged prostate is seen as a potential increased risk for getting prostate cancer. As long as you are safe about your use, cycle on for a minor duration (described above) and cycle off for longer than you were on, you don't have that much to worry about. Of course the more androgenic the substance is, the more chance of this happening. In young men this is not particularly alarming, but if you are older and already at risk for this enlargement (ages 50 to 69 are the highest risk for cancer), odds are you don't want it.
What one could do is supplement with saw palmetto. This is a product that has been attributed a lot of things, mostly they don't check out. But it is good for one thing: protecting the prostate. Worth looking into. Normally a dose of 160-300 mg a day is advised to help protect your prostate against damage.
It has also been shown that bad estrogens from aromatisation, the same kind that cause gyno, can influence the androgenic hypertrophy. If you feel your estrogen levels are too high and that this may increase an already existing potential risk to BPH, Diindolyl may be the answer as it converts bad estrogens to harmless and possibly useful estrogens in the body. Something worth considering, especially if you are in the high risk group age-wise.
What about liver protection? Isn't taking pills like this hazardous to the liver?
PProhormones aren't all that taxing on the liver, though some more than others. Consider that any foreign substance taken in orally will tax the liver to some point. Your liver suffers from this, that is a fact. But so does drinking or doing drugs. So if you neither of these things you have to figure you have a lot more lee-way. If you do do these things, you may want to consider stopping the use of prohormones. Not just for your liver, but for your overall health. They do not mix with hormonal substances. If liver toxification worries you, but again I assure you that for normal use this is minimal, you can opt to take a liver protector. Milk Thistle is a big hero in that area and I have it from authorized sources that Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is often added to medication to protect the liver as well. If , like me, you are taking dessicated liver, for whatever reason, you can count on the beneficial effect of P450, which also protects this vital organ.
Take care to note that increasing liver protection also increases liver function. That means in return it will stop more exogenous substances introduced to the body. In simpler terms, by protecting your liver you also decrease the chance of a high prohormone conversion orally. Its usually advised, if you're worried about your liver, to use small cycles of no more than 6 weeks, and to use liver protectors AFTER your cycle is over to decrease hepatoxicity. Not during your cycle. As with the estrogen-blocking issue, that would be like spending more money for less gains.
I'm worried about losing my hair, is there anything I can do? Anything at all?
You and me both. Androgenetic alopecia (Hair loss) is only considered a real risk if you have the Male-pattern baldness gene on your mom's side of the family. But, turns out you and me were in the wrong line, because we both have it. Hair loss is absolutely irreversible. It's due to build-up of DHT in the scalp, which is rich in androgenic receptors. It's also unstoppable. But it can be slowed down to some extent. The first and most popular means is prescription hair loss medication. If you can show your doctor you are at risk, such a prescription is easily obtained. Finasteride (Propecia, Rogaine) is mostly used here. Finasteride stops 5-alpha reductase, preventing testosterone from turning to DHT. This would certainly help, were it not for two reservations. The first being that a lot of people using finasteride have complained of a loss of strength and a halt of gains. This would in some way be countered by the prohormones, but still, if it compromised gains it can't be all good. The second reason being that some prohormones, 5AA and 1AD for instance, will convert straight to DHT or a DHT-derivative. The introduced hormones have already undergone 5-alpha reductase so they can't be stopped from exerting their influence by using finsasteride to prevent the enzymatic conversion.
Another popular means of slowing down hair loss is the element Ketoconazole. It can be found in the shampoo Nizoral AD and if the keto is indeed absorbed through the scalp, which is questionable, it can exert an effect on stopping hair loss or slowing it down. The efficacy on hair loss has been widely documented in studies, but they were using oral administration. If you want to go that route, I can tell you that Nizoral was actually an oral compound to begin with. But you need a prescription to obtain it and your doctor will tell you that the keto-version has flaws and side-effects of its own. Now my doctor (who happens to be my father as well) prescribed me a different form of conazole. He also told me that it's often used as a shock-treatment. They give double doses 1 week and then nothing for three week, and this for periods of 3-6 months. Apparently that is more effective. Now I have to say that this stuff is usually prescribed for fungi, but I've had no complaints. I believe when doing a stack you can benefit from doing double dose for 4 days every two weeks and using the Nizoral shampoo at the same time, every day. Like the proverbial "double whammy". This is probably your best bet if you can obtain it. But getting the prescription should be no problem if you are indeed at risk for hair loss.
A more natural way that has been heralded as the savior of hair is wool-fat or lanoline. It's a natural fat found in the wool of sheep to help them maintain health of wool and skin. It's rumoured that it was first looked into because Sheppards apparently have some of the healthiest hair around. In either case, putting this stuff in your hair may help, but cover your pillows with a towel, because this will never ever wash out.
Using zinc and Magnesium and several fat-soluble vitamins will aid in maintaining healthy hair as well. But if you aren't already taking a multi-vitamin, it's high time you started since you are sabotaging your gains. And doing the ZMA to boost natural test afterwards and for most of the year can help as well. I use ZMA almost ye****ound. In fact all the time except when on my stack. The last way is simply to stop washing your hair and maintain some natural lanoline, but if you work in the public eye, that isn't really an option is it?
What is androtriol?
A marketing scam. No seriously, if the name is any indication of the structure, whatever it be, it's totally ineffective at raising hormone levels. I know where the question came from, I know that there is one company that is producing rather cheap and easy to make products and then renames a few substances or claims to have found new ones only to jack up the price. Some of their claims are truly outrageous and the quality of their products is sub-par. But you kind of have to admire their creativity. I mean I would like to meet the guy who writes their ads. He must have a very active imagination. In the mean time two other companies have come up with similar imaginative advertising, claiming that their 4AD converts to stanazolol (?), the active ingredient in Winstrol. The other company, well let's just say if you find their webpage and you have a strong eye for BS, you'll get a good laugh out of how one well-known pro-bodybuilder gained 14 pounds of muscle. All this is really bad for legit products and the industry, but it's good for a laugh any day. These are consequently the companies that prefer to pan their crap under names that sound like steroids...
What on Earth is bioperine and why is it in so many stacked products?
Bioperine is described as "bioavailability enhancing phytonutrient--piper nigrum fruit, standard 95% 1-piperoylpiperidine. Its patent is owned by the Sabinsa corporation and they have gathered quite some data on its effects of absorption. It greatly enhances the delivery of the involved nutrients in three tests, but none of those nutrients were a prohormone. So the effect in enhancing prohormone delivery, oral, through the widening of the gut passage is yet to be determined, there is no relevant data showing this. However I'm not excluding its use in these matters either. What does worry me is that piperine is a nonspecific inhibitor of drug metabolism which shows little discrimination between different cytochrome p-450 forms, and could therefore actually have a negative effect on the conversion enzymes of the respective prohormones. Again, this is inconclusive guessing. To tell you the truth , not much is known about the product, but I can tell you that there are no testimonials to say whether it hinders or helps, so even if it doesn't enhance uptake, it can't hurt it either.
What do you think of "Product X" ? It has 4AD and andro and tribulus and DHEA and bioperine and methoxy and chrysin and I3C and...
This list is obviously endless. The above question was a more general format of a lot of questions I get about specific stacked products containing more than one prohormone and a lot of other stuff. The answer to it is that most are crap. I can honestly say that well over 80% of all stacked products are total crap. First of all they often combine good prohormones with weaker prohormones to add to the ingredient list while in effect the product would become 50-100% more efficient if they just used a higher amount of the better prohormone. This is often a trick to cut cost as well.
Next to this they contain ludicrous (too high or too low) amounts of other products, all of them inferior to prohormones. In effect you are filling up capsule space that could be used for prohormones to suppress costs and to make it look like you have a superior product because there is so much stuff in it, it must be good. Wrong! Things like tribulus can't compare in efficacy to prohormones, yet a stack contains 1000 mg of it and only 200-300 mg of prohormones. Things like methoxy which just don't work. Or even things like chrysin which can actually decrease the effect of the prohormones. Now all this additional stuff jacks up the price considerably and all of that is money you could be spending on getting real gains with an all-prohormone stack. But we all know this industry doesn't shy away from selling you some bad apples. Because of the high dosage of all these other products and the increased risk of side-effects because of ineffective prohormones (19Nor because Nor-diol is too expensive, andro instead of 4AD and even 5andro instead of andro) it's impossible to take these things more than once a day. Now as I taught you before, to maintain levels of hormones throughout and obtain the best muscle-gain results you need to take orals 3 or even 4 times a day. So rule out efficacy and convenience.
A lot of these products are total scams. Though they may give you a buzz, a bit more energy and a few zits, in terms of muscle accrual they are absolutely useless. And the market is swarmed with these products. They look cool because of all the "awesome ingredients" and they claim to be "the ultimate anabolic" mix. But in the end it's the prohormones that counts and gains will increase with the dosage. So you want to use products that will give the best results and the least side-effects. And all the rest is useless. Some of these stacks are, but not limited to: Norandrostack II, Norateen, Winni-V; D-bol, Paradeca, Decavar, Dermagain, clomitol, 19-Nor-3-andro, Cycloroid, MSB...
The larger part of stacked products is a waste of money, except those designed specifically for the proper multiple-doses-a-day use. There are a few out there but they are hard to find. Higher Power just came out with two excellent stacked products called Megabol-X and Anabol-X. If you look at these products you will know what I mean. They limit themselves to just the prohormones, do not employ the use of inferior prohormones like andro, 19Nor and 5AD and are in doses that allow for multiple intakes during the day, as the product requires, without being too low in dose or too expensive to afford. Those are the things you want to look for if you absolutely must have a stacked product. The amount of ingredients should never be more than 2-3.
I have a product that has low doses, but claims to be more effective because it has time-release technology. Is this true?
You are referring to the dreaded *** stack by MuscleTech. Anotesten is a product that falls in the category of the previous question. Nortesten, well that's even worse. It contains 36 mg of Nor-diol and 36 mg of its weaker dione version 19Nor. Because the latter converts at a rate three times lower than the first this would equal out to a dose of approximately 48 mg of Nor-diol. This twice a day, as recommended gives you 96 mg. The minimum effective dose is somewhere between 250 and 350 mg. A moderate dose would be 600 mg. It's obvious this product does not even approach that amount. You can take the whole bottle in 5 days and you may book some gains if you go through 7 or 8 bottles.
Now what do they do, and this particular company is the king of devious marketing ploys, claiming they are backed by a million-dollar research budget, is to say that the low dose doesn't matter because this product is time-released. Now what they conveniently forget to mention is that prohormones are actually less effective when time-released like this. Now I believe in time-release mechanisms, yes. For natural substances that readily pass the liver. But prohormones are stopped to a large extent by the liver, but we get enough through because we bombard it with serious doses (over 100 mg at a time). Now here is a very low dose, and it's being fed to the nutrients primed enemy, a strong filter called the liver, bit by bit. This gives the liver all the time it needs to destroy the compound, mg by mg. Doesn't sound all that more effective to me, what do you think ?
And the last product in the stack, Acetabolan II is one of a category too weird to mention. It contains a lot of shitty stack products in it, but two useful compounds. One a variation of a patented mineral formula containing zinc and the other is NAC. But the two active components rule each other out because NAC has the wonderful property of excreting zinc in the urine. You'd think that somehow a million-dollar research budget would pick that up, but I guess they were too busy using that money to pay off loans on the steroid-stack of the biggest bodybuilder on the planet. That same one that was so fat at the last NOC he walked off stage crying after a mere minute and a half of posing.
Is it safe for a teenager to take prohormones?
A question frequently asked, mostly because the steroid-like structure and effects of prohormones are most attractive to young bodybuilders who want to feel more like the steroid-inflated pros they look up to. Now I hate making this into an age thing. I think the most important prerequisite of use is that you know what you are doing. You have to be aware of the possible side-effects before anything else and be responsible when it comes to stacking and cycling, with the eye on safety, gains and maintenance of gains. If you can't do that, I don't care if you are sixty, go play with the kid's stuff like tribulus. These are steroidal exogenous hormones and a certain amount of responsibility comes with that. That's the reason steroids are illegal too. Some jerks just have to be protected from themselves even if that goes at the cost of the 90% of people who do have the knowledge to use these substances properly.
Now as a given I would still say its not ok for anyone under 18 to use them. It might be that a few 16 and 17-year olds are capable of showing adequate responsibility in using them, and likewise a few 18+ year olds that will never have that responsibility even one day in their life. You know the type that will walk out on wife and child someday to go gamble his life-savings away in Vegas. But for anyone under 16, and anyone over that is still in growth and values his height, DO NOT TAKE PROHORMONES. I'm not saying this to be a pain or a spoil-sport, but steroidogenic substances can close the openings in epiphysial plates which will limit your growth - Permanently. So use caution and common sense with prohormones and stay away if you aren't willing to put in the time to read things like this and learn the proper use. And yes I realize I'm preaching to the choir here...
Big Red said that prohormones can cause cancer. Should I not use prohormones?
Well this isn't true at all. I don't blame Big Red for saying that, he has had some side-effects from taking androstenedione, most likely because no one informed him of the inherent risk of side-effects accompanied by prohormones and especially androstenedione. But this is just a false rumour. Now androgenic substances can cause BPH, as we discussed, and aromatisation to estrogens can lead to problems in the chest area. We are aware of this (at least if you were reading up to here). Now both these conditions if taken to the extreme increase THE CHANCE of getting prostate or breast cancer. This is a fact, just like smoking increases your chance of getting lung cancer. But think this through for a second. Smoking 1 cigarette a day for 6-8 weeks and this once a year for ten years, is no phenomenal risk to cancer. As most doctors and medical professionals will corroborate, this is not considered a risk for cancer at all. Just like doing one or two stacks of prohormones a year will not cause cancerous risk. Provided you know what you are doing and cycle responsibly. However, if you did a serious steroid stack, 8 weeks on and 8 weeks off continuously for 5-10 years you would seriously increase that risk and you MAY get cancer. Just like smoking two packs a day for 10 years MAY cause cancer. But some people smoke more and longer and never get cancer, so even at very long continual doses of heavy steroids you MAY NOT get cancer as well. But I can tell you with full conviction that a few responsible cycles of prohormones WILL NOT LEAD TO CANCER.
I heard from sources that you shouldn't take prohormones when you are young because your testosterone is still so high you won't notice. Also I heard you'll only get good results if you are over 40. What's up?
I have one statistical FACT that should clear up this entire mess. Testosterone levels in males between the ages of 20 and 50 barely decline by 20%. There is no difference worth naming here, let alone one that would drastically improve results from prohormones. I assure you that the right products in the right doses can raise hormonal levels 3 to 10 times over baseline levels. If that is not a good result, I don't know what is. For a legal supplement that is as good as it gets by the way. So your sources are total nonsense. If they feel like making wild claims, let them back it up for once. I'm tired of people in this industry claiming this and that to boost sales, but never providing ample proof to back it up.
I tried these so-called prohormones and I didn't gain a pound. I thought you said this was the most anabolic stuff legally available?
This is luckily something I will never have to hear from people who actually read and understood this article. But I have heard it multiple times and time and again from idiots who claim that prohormones do not work. Often they quote studies on androstenedione that showed no nominal increases and so on. Well, culprit number one, no studies using more than 300 mg of andro were ever used so far. Most are around 100-150 mg. If you were paying attention you'll have noticed that I repeatedly said that a moderate dose of the more effective prohormones like Nor-diol and 4AD is 600 mg. So what do you hope to do with 100-300 mg of a prohormone that only converts at a rate of 5.61% to testosterone, with only 2% of that amount being actual usable free testosterone? Of course these studies showed it didn't work.
As for these people who used it and gained nothing, low doses of 200-300 mg max a day are often to blame too. They are willing to fork over a ton of money to stack it with tribulus, methoxy or some other kind of bullshit, and then blame me for not gaining? Forget it. Had you spent that money on increasing the dose of your prohormone stack like I was suggesting all along, you might have actually seen some real gains for the first time in your life. This is the reason I always say that prohormones are only for the educated and responsible. If you aren't willing to hear all the facts and be mature and realistic about this, you should not be messing with these substances to begin with. It's not always low doses though, it can be ineffective substances like androstenedione, it can be stacking it with things that block gains like Chrysin and megadoses of Vitamin E, it can even be because you got sucked in by the hype of one of those crappy companies like VPX and SDI-labs. But whatever it is, it's not because of something that I advised you, so don't blame me. If you read and understood this article, you'd know what to do to get the real gains.
The Price of Prevention
"There is no one safest Prohormone."
A lot of the discussion up above has been about side-effect related issues and how to stop them. However when considering this, also consider that these are inherent side-effects that are caused for a reason. Meaning you need to consider the results if you attempt to minimize the risk of side-effects. For instance taking a DHT precursor or metabolite (1AD or 5AA) will stop estrogen formation. In fact there is evidence that they may even prevent aromatisation from other prohormones. This means the risk of estrogen related side-effects is non-existent. However estrogen does exert its own anabolic capacity. Sure gains will be leaner and harder. They will also be smaller. Estrogen retains water which in turn stores more nutrients for the building of muscle-tissue. That is something you lose by preventing its side-effects. In terms of bulking its useful, but when looking hard and dense you obviously don't mind sacrificing a few pounds of potential gain. By using such products however your androgen response increases drastically. Meaning in order to stop estrogenic side-effects, you increase the risk of androgenic side-effects.
Now if androgens worry you, either out of concern for hair loss or worries over the prostate, you'll attempt to stop these by taking 5AR blockers, which stop DHT formation and decrease androgenic response that way. One popular 5AR blocker is finasteride¹, often prescribed against both hair loss and prostate problems. It was shown to be quite effective at inhibiting the 5AR enzyme. However another study² showed that by inhibiting 5AR, estrogenic response was increased. Which in turn increased the risk of estrogen related issues. Also the decreasing of androgen response showed a strong decrease in strength as well. Androgenic stimulation is the main pattern for increasing physical strength, so your training may suffer if you attempt to block androgens.
These are things I hope you are seriously considering if you are the type that is inclined to say "oh, I'll take them, and then just take something to stop the side-effects." Now you know its one kind or the other kind of side-effects and that with the issues of androgens and estrogens there are good and bad things to consider. If you are not aware of this you may needlessly sacrifice a lot of gains to save your hide (or hair). If you are the type to overly worry about side-effects and think you can take something to stop them, forget it. You are better off passing up on prohormones.
¹ Wasson KM, Watts SA., : Comp Biochem Physiol C Pharmacol Toxicol Endocrinol 1998 Oct;120(3):425-31
² Raeside JI, Renaud RL, Marshall DE, Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1992 Mar 31;183(3):1254-9
Stacking and Amounts
All this information is relative to how old and experienced you are and how succeptible to the product in question, so obviously I won't be able to list all the possibilities where stacks and amounts of products are concerned. But hopefully you learned a lot from the previous paragraphs and combined with what I'm about to present that should enable you to make informed choices towards stacking. So I've decided to list some sample stacks with motivations where amounts and product choices are concerned.
Stack #1 - Economic beginner cycle for moderate gains.
Week 1 through 8, use 250 mg of 19Nor after breakfast and again after dinner and take 500 mg of 4-diol 45-30 minutes prior to workout or 250 mg after lunch on non-workout days.
The motivation here is to use two compounds that use different target hormones (testosterone and nandrolone) to get that double benefit, while avoiding the pitfall of stacking two products that would use the same conversion enzyme. Meaning if you were to drive up the amounts they would not compete with each other.
It's an example of an iso-stack, meaning the amounts remain the same throughout the duration of the stack. This is the most common the best way to assess the efficacy of a product and see what effect it has on you. This is advisable on a first cycle to determine what is causing which effect, allowing you to make a more informed decision the next time in terms of efficacy and safety. These are the amounts and products I usually recommend to beginners looking for a first decent stack. Both products can be obtained from plenty of high quality sources and shouldn't run you too much money, making this a strong but economic stack and an excellent choice for most beginners.
Notice that I split the two doses of Nor up, since they last longer at the receptor which means you keep a constant level of nandrolone throughout the day. For constant levels of 4-diol you'd need 4-5 doses, so instead we opted to use it as a pre-workout supplement to boost aggresivity in the gym and help recuperation and protein resynthesis afterwards. In the mean time you are getting the best of both worlds. This stack should yield decent results.
Stack #2 - Cycle for good gains.
Week 1-2 take 750 mg of 4-diol and 250 mg of Nor-diol
Week 3-5 take 500 mg of 4-diol and 500 mg of Nor-diol
Week 6-7 take 250 mg of 4-diol and 750 mg of Nor-diol
Split stack up in two doses, take one after breakfast, the other 45-30 mins before a workout in weeks 1-2, 60 mins before in weeks 3-5 and 90 mins before workout weeks 6-7.
My product choice is based on anabolic properties. I selected the two best compounds. They are both using the same conversion enzyme and could compete at an increase of dosage. So I used a teeter-stack where one product decreases in favor of the other, thereby keeping the overall amount the same from week to week. But I also manage to bring endogenous testosterone down, allowing the body to feel the decrease without dropping hormone levels. When coming off a stack this will illicit a greater response in getting natural test back on track without compromising the amount of gains made. I had a practical problem in that the 4-diol peaks after 30-45 minutes and the Nor-diol after 90 minutes, so the pre-workout administration had to move along with it, shifting it back as the Nor-diol compounds became more prevalent in the stack. Keep in mind that both compounds are fairly suppressive of HPTA, so that using ZMA coming off a cycle is advised here.
Stack #3 - Bulking cycle for nandrolone.
Weeks 1-3 take 900 mg of Nor-diol and 250 mg of 5-diol
Weeks 4-6 take 600 mg of Nor-diol and 250 mg of 5-diol
Weeks 7-9 take 300 mg of Nor-diol and 250 mg of 5-diol
Take half of Nors after breakfast and half after dinner, take 5-diol 30-45 minutes prior to workout or after lunch on non-workout days.
A classic ski-slope pattern. The dosage of the most anabolic compound decreases and so does the overall dose. This will in turn slowly signal the return of natural testosterone as the cycle furthers, which has the benefit of building more lasting and durable lean mass gains, because you'll have a chance to get natural levels high enough to maintain the accrued mass. The selection of products is perhaps my second most recommended stack. In a diol/diol stack nothing beats 5-diol, because though only moderately effective in conversion, prior to it it has the capability of upgrading receptors ensuring a greater conversion from the Nor-diol, enhancing its effects. The downside to a ski-slope is that mass accrual near the end of the stack is compromised in an attempt to maintain earlier gains.
Stack #4 - Advanced stack.
Weeks 1-2 take 300 mg Nor-diol with 300 mg 19Nor and 600 mg of 4-diol
Weeks 3-4 take 300 mg Nor-diol with 600 mg 19Nor and ZMA
Weeks 5-6 take 300 mg Nor-diol with 300 mg 19Nor and 600 mg of 4-diol
Weeks 7-8 take 600 mg Nor-diol with 300 mg 19Nor and ZMA
Weeks 9-10 take ZMA
Split totals up over 3 equally spread doses during the day. Recalibrate for each two weeks and take ZMA as directed, on an empty stomach half an hour before bedtime, with no calcium.
This is an example of a gap-stack, where one product is discontinued for a time and replaced with a natural booster to allow natural levels to be maintained to a point, thereby limiting the test crash and assuring faster recovery after the stack is over. This is a fairly high (1200 mg) and diverse (three products) stack that I would mostly recommend to experienced lifters and people who know what they are doing. This is not a stack for beginners. The three-a-day dosing promotes sustained delivery, nandrolone influx is covered, because even if the 4-diol takes up most of the 3-beta enzymes, some conversion through 19Nor happens via the 17-beta enzyme. This allows for constant flow of both target hormones. Note that the use of Nor-products should either decrease at the end or be followed with a natural test booster, because they are more likely to disrupt the HPTA, causing test crashes after a cycle.
Stack #5 (1AD and Nor-diol, 4-AD)
This is a hypothetical stack based on what I know of 1AD. Like I said, I'm trying it at the end of summer and will report back with detailed results, the good and the bad and the terrifyingly ugly (let's hope there is none of that) on just how useful 1AD really is. Here are two variations of a stack:
Week 1-6 600 mg of 1AD and 600 mg of 4AD
Take in 3 evenly spread doses of 200 mg of each product throughout the day.
This is a dose that allows you to see decent benefits off of 1AD without putting you straight in the poor house. In this instance it's a 6-week iso-stack, using 4AD as the counterpart. Because of the moderate dose and the daily spread you can get a lot out of the 4AD too. This is a very androgenic stack and should under no circumstances be taken by women. The 4AD makes a good partner for 1AD because it enhances the androgenic effect and it repairs a loss of libido that may come with the use of 1AD. Not to mention that these are possibly two of the most anabolic legal substances available today.
Week 1-2 900 mg of 1AD with 300 mg of Nor-diol
Week 3-4 600 mg of 1AD with 600 mg of Nor-diol
Week 5-6 600 mg of 1AD with 300 mg of Nor-diol
Take half the Nor-diol after breakfast and half after dinner, take 1AD spread over 3 even daily doses.
This is a tad more expensive. Ok, a lot more expensive. But this epitomizes a great stack. It's commonly believed that drugs with the effect of 1AD should be stacked with a non-androgen. And the most potent non-androgen is Nor-diol. It's a bit of a combination between a ski-slope and a teeter stack that should give great results for the small amount of time you are on it.
Normally I would recommend the use of 19Nor so there is no over saturation of the 3-beta enzyme that could compromise the conversion of the 1AD. But with the cost of 1AD I sincerely doubt that anyone can afford to take enough (or would want to) to saturate the enzymes.
Stack #6 - Precontest cycle.
Week 1-3 600 mg of Nor-diol and 300 mg of 1,4-andro
Week 4-6 600 mg of 5AA and 300 mg of 1,4-andro
Week 7-9 600 mg of 1AD and 300 mg of 5AA
Split does into three even doses (200-100 mg) and take at even intervals throughout the day.
This is a fairly long stack tailored specifically towards the needs of the cutting bodybuilder. In weeks 1-3 we are looking to boldenone and nandrolone to provide maximal protein synthesis through nitrogen retention and still avoiding too much water retention, though obviously you will get a certain amount of it here. By making the majority of the stack 5AA we avoid the formation of estrogen, as this does not aromatize and may prevent aromatisation of the other compound, which isn't particularly estrogenic by itself anyway. The 5AA is also great at hardening up muscle mass while preserving it on a low-cal diet and the boldenone off 1,4-andro is capable of maintaining nitrogen retention, stimulating endurance and giving enough anabolic effect without interfering with androgens and estrogens. In the final three weeks we exclude all chance of estrogenic water retention by using two DHT derivatives structurally incapable of aromatizing. Both compounds have the ability to harden up muscle mass, 5AA limits the amount of endogenous estrogens and prevents water retention from occurring while the 1AD can still stimulate minimal gains or at the very least retain existing gains from catabolism as the time of your show creeps up.
This stack is extremely useful if the goal is to grow and keep muscle mass on a low calorie diet with the aim of coming in absolutely dry and rock hard at the end of the stack for things like shows, guest posings or photo shoots when having definition, density and a visible six-pack are extremely important. Notice however that the androgenicity of this stack dramatically increases towards the end, meaning strength increases, but so do the risk of acne and hair loss, two things you'll want to avoid. Hair loss is only a problem in 30% of men, but acne is pretty common and needs to be treated for these events which require some level of aestheticism. Keep that in mind.
Stack #7 - The Safety stack.
Week 1-6 300-600 mg of Nor-diol and 300 mg of 1,4-andro
Split in two doses of 150-300 mg Nor-diol and 3 doses of 100 mg of 1,4 andro. Take 150-300 mg of Nor-diol and 100 mg of 1,4-andro after breakfast, take 150-300 mg of Nor-diol 8 hours later. Consume 100 mg of 1,4-andro after lunch and dinner as well.
One of the questions I most often get is, "What is the safest prohormone I can take?". I hope the paragraph above the stacking part explains that there is no one safest prohormone and that excluding certain side-effect usually means stimulating others. I also think that if you aren't willing to take the risk you shouldn't bother with prohormones, but nonetheless I took the time to set up what I believe is the safest stack. Both Nor-diol and 1,4-andro have low amounts of serious side-effects. Boldenone and nandrolone are both low in androgenic stimulation and don't interact well with the 5AR enzyme which means they are not a high risk for hair loss, prostate hypertrophy or acne. Boldenone does not aromatize, and nandrolone does so at a very low rate. On top of that there is proof that 1,4-andro acts as an aromatase inhibitor which would further reduce the chances of forming estrogen. So this really is as low as it gets where androgens and estrogens are concerned. The gains off of this should be decent, but don't expect an increase in strength or muscle hardness like you'd get off an androgenic prohormone. The downside is that this is a very suppressive stack where natural testosterone is concerned, so the use of ZMA after the cycle may be warranted here or it will be hard to maintain gains and this may result in a bit of depression and some loss of libido during, but especially after a stack.
Stack #8 - The disregard of all safety massive bulking stack.
Weeks 1-4 500 mg of 4-diol, 500 mg of Nor-diol and 300 mg of 5-diol
Weeks 5-8 750 mg of 4-diol, 250 mg of Nor-diol and 300 mg of 5-diol
During weeks 1-4 take 250 mg of Nor-diol and 150 mg of 5-diol after breakfast, 250 mg of 4-diol and 150 mg of 5-diol after lunch and 250 mg of 4-diol with 250 mg of Nor-diol after dinner.
This stack is for the big gains, but they won't be pretty. A large part of the effect of this stack is based on estrogenic action. I've never see a prohormone cause gyno, but if any stack can do it it would be this one. With the potent combination of testosterone and nandrolone spread throughout the day you create an anabolic setting but also the two hormones most likely to aromatize. Adding 5-diol in the stack will agonize the estrogens with the result being massive bulk weight in water and adipose storage. Over the entire 8 weeks that will give you a great increase in size but it will also gravely smooth you out. I don't recommend this stack to novices or to anyone who is succeptible to estrogenic side-effects. Be sure you know what you are doing before you attempt this and consider the use of DIM if you do decide to throw caution to the wind and try this.
Stack #9 - The best one yet...
Week 1-2: 3 caps of Higher Power Megabol-X
Week 3-6: 3 caps of Megabol-X and 2 doses of Higher Power Anabol-X
Week 7: 3 caps of Megabol-X
Week 8: 3 caps of Megabol-X and 3 caps of Higher Power ZMA Nighttime Formula
Week9-10: 3 caps of ZMA Nighttime formula
Take 1 cap of Megabol-X at three even intervals (say breakfast, lunch and dinner) throughout the day for 8 weeks. During weeks 3-6 use one dose (300 mg) of the Anabol-X spray every 12 hours. When you get to the last week add in 3 caps of ZMA on an empty stomach half an hour before bed, no calcium and continue this for 2-3 weeks after.
This stack is available at a discount through Bodybuilding.com near the bottom of this page.
I admit it it's a shameless plug. These are two products that I designed myself. I figured I'd write down their optimal stacking chart while I'm still capable of giving an unbiased opinion (meaning I don't know what I'll get out of this yet). These are two products I made to address the lack of proper stacked products, and they are available under the Higher Power brand name. The Megabol is an oral compound of 1,4-andro and 4-diol, the Anabol is a transdermal delivery of Nor-diol and 5AA. On paper this stack is as of yet unrivaled in the industry, but obviously I'd like to see some trials to see how effective it really is in the real world. The Anabol is not used for the full duration of the stack because 5AA is very prone to androgenic side-effects and Nor-diol is very suppressive of natural testosterone, which is why we didn't opt for it the last two weeks and implemented the use of ZMA after the stack to boost natural testosterone. This entire stack (2 bottles Megabol, 1 spray Anabol and 1 bottle ZMA Nighttime Formula) is available as a set deal at Bodybuilding.com. Not only is this stack unrivaled in effect, you'll find that the entire stack is considerably cheaper than a single product stack from many high-profile companies. That's why Higher power is your guarantee for quality at an affordable price...
Using Different Delivery Methods to Stack More Efficiently.
Like steroid users will cover bases by stacking injectables with orals, so can a prohormone user apply different delivery methods in a stack. For instance the use of a product that hinders your libido, like Nor-diol or 1AD, it may be wise to stack it with a sublingual cyclo-based 4-diol which will increase libido. You don't need a lot of it, you aren't using it for anabolic effects, and combined with 1AD for example you limit the androgenic synergism increasing the risk of 4-diol since cyclo based diol-products are safe: what doesn't get absorbed, doesn't cause problems either, as is the case for orals.
In stack #5 the use of 1AD is invariably oral, and it may be beneficial to get the sustained release effects of a topical Nor-diol to add the non-androgen to the stack. Slow trickle of the prohormone, once or twice a day use, with the 1AD will ensure a proper stack that is unlikely to interfere and tax the liver too much. Another would be to add in a cyclo-based sublingual 4-diol, you wouldn't need much (25 mg of cyclo), just add it in to keep test good and libido up to solve that problem.
Explore, experiment, these are worth a shot. I prefer orals on most things, but as I showed very clearly they aren't the only great method of delivery.
With that I conclude what is a more complete, and hopefully more understandable version of my take on prohormones. I have tried my best to address all issues people have come to me with and make this as complete as possible, leaving nothing out. Should by any odd chance some things remain unclear, feel free to contact me.
Before I go I would like to thank the people who contributed here, including bobo for his suggestions for the update, La Fetarde who's info on trenbolone was a great help in my research into 1AD and Mr. Patrick Arnold for his help on the topical delivery, 5AA and 1,4-andro paragraphs. Thank you all, and everyone who is reading of course. Knowledge is power, knowledge is safety, and that goes double for prohormones, so if you are reading this you are on the right track.
Testosterone
Name: 4-androstene-3-one,17*ol
Precursors: 4-androstene-3, 17-dione / 5-androstene-3?17*diol / 4-androstene-3?17*diol
Forms: All of the following have several individual forms : Testosterone enanthate, testosterone Cypionate, Testosterone Propionate, Testosterone Suspension, testosterone heptylate, testroviron, testosterona, Sustanon, testosterone decanoate, Testosterone isocaproate, Testosterone phenylpropionate.
4-androstene-3,17-dione / Testosterone
In bodybuilding, however, it is THE "mass building steroid." No matter what you think of Dianabol, Parabolan, Anadrol 50, FinaJect, and others, when it comes to strength, muscle mass, and rapid weight gains, testosterone is still the "King of the Road."
~Excerpt from a drug Profile on testosterone enanthate at Steroid.com~
Raising testosterone has long been one of the most important goals of the legal supplementation industry and at little success. Negative feedback and inhibition are two natural processes that have disabled any attempt at naturally raising testosterone to any significant level. Andro and its diol components have succeeded where no others could.
The reasons are obvious. Testosterone is the base compound for many actions, including protein synthesis, the base of growth for all tissue including muscle. It's also responsible for most of the estrogen in the body, which is believed to have a positive effect on sperm maturation and is a helpful component in retaining nutrients and bulking up. It also readily converts, via 5-alpha reductase (5AR) to dihydrotestosterone or DHT, the most distinct androgenic compound in the body and responsible for all male characteristics, including increases in strength and neuromuscular functioning. As you can deduce from the excerpt up above nothing can hold a candle to testosterone in terms of rapid weight gain. Some prefer dianabol, some opt for leaner gains of trenbolone and boldenone, still others like the mildness of Deca. But in the end, if you want a serious increase in mass, a gain of 20 pounds in the shortest amount of time you turn to things like Sustanon, cypionate, enanthate and Propionate. All of them based on testosterone. The gains are huge, but they aren't pretty to see. Massive estrogenic water retention smooths you out. Your muscles swell and you strength explodes, but when you flex nothing happens. This is painfully obvious in bulking bodybuilders. But it's a sacrifice most are willing to make for this kind of explosion of mass.
Testosterone, despite its many formulations, is also still king of the hill where side-effects are concerned. As the most natural of all steroids it readily interacts with androgen receptors and aromatizes very easily to estrogen. Both with the consequent drawbacks leading to gynocomastia (growth of breast tissue in men), increased adipose storage (fat retention), prostate hypertrophy (growth of the prostate gland in men), clitoral enlargement in women, male pattern hair loss and increased aggressiveness. A long list of possible side-effects, and the main reason why a lot of bodybuilders opt for other steroids.
Prohormone conclusions: Andro is a very weak compound and with the inherent flaw that the prohormone itself has the same side-effects as the target hormone make it dispensable in my opinion. The real ball-game with testosterone starts with the introduction of 4-diol to the market and later 5-diol. While 5-diol converts at an even lower rate than andro, it does not have intrinisic weaknesses. What it does do is agonize estrogen. That means you won't be stacking it with Nor-diol or 4-diol because that will increase estrogenic side-effects, but when looking for mass when using 1AD and 5AA, adding 5-diol may add a bit more bulk to the mix overcoming the low weight gain of these prohormones. 4-diol is the real winner however. It has the highest conversion to testosterone and has no side-effects of its own, meaning that the amount of side-effects correlates with the amount of gains. That makes this a great product. The problem with 4AD as opposed to testosterone esters is its short half-life in the body. Testosterone based steroids last very long, requiring only 1 injection a week, but with 4AD you need to take it up to 3 or 4 times a day to maintain positive levels of testosterone that exceed baseline. That is the amount that supercedes natural levels and will increase the anabolic use of testosterone and deliver higher gains. For those who feel testosterone is not their cup of tea, it is still worth stacking in low doses with Nor-diol or 1AD to somewhat repair a loss of libido that these products may cause. But adding a testosterone turning compound can increase both the estrogenic and androgenic risk of a stack. Stacking it with 19Nor or Nor-diol would supply you with the most popular stack ever, while adding it to 1AD will see you more bulk gains and an increase in libido.
Dosage: Orally a moderate dose of 4AD would be 500-600 mg, but in some stacks, if the other product is high enough, adding 200-300 mg will deliver some results in strength and bulk, or a you can opt for a 25 mg sublingual cyclodextrin based product, which will give the same results. By itself doses upward of 750 mg are warranted for proper results, and even then will not illicit great results in young men. If you plan on using 5AD, use it as an estrogen agonist and take doses of 200-400 mg. Higher doses to raise testosterone are useless, since you need almost extreme doses. 5AD in small doses has the increased benefit of better immune response and upgrading the 3HSD enzyme, making for a greater result of any other diol components it was stacked with. If you do plan on using regular androstenedione, and I advise against it, dosages upward of 1 gram will be needed to give you a serious anabolic response, preferably 1.5 grams and with that dose risks of estrogen related side-effects are fairly high. Which ever is your thing, andro or 4AD need to be taken over 3-4 doses daily to maintain a positive level, 5AD will suffice as a twice a day or just a pre-workout compound.
Nandrolone
Name:
Precursors: 19-nor-4-androstene-3?17*diol / 19-Nor-4-androsten-3,17-dione
Forms: Retabolil, Deca-Durabolin, Turinabol, Norandren, Ziremilon, nandrobolic, neo-durabolic, Sterobolin, Anaboline, nandrolone decanoate, Deca-Durabol, androline, Elpihormo, extraboline, nurezan.
19-Nor-androstene-3,17-dione / nandrolone
Nandrolone is usually manufactured as the 19-Nortestosterone metabolite nandrolone decanoate and in steroid circles is best known as Deca-Durabolin, one of its many brand names. In this case a 200 ml ampoule made by the organon company. But if you look under forms just up above you will see there are many, many more forms of nandrolone that are or were available. Without a doubt this is the most popular steroid for many users dating back to the late 70's and early 80's.
From all the specs I can make up that this is by far one of the safest hormones. Although very anabolic, it has a moderate androgenic component. This means it will ensure proper and good gains, but at the same time is not an extreme risk for androgenic properties such as hair loss. It does stimulate the androgen receptors to a point, but its inability to interact with the 5-alpha-reductase enzyme makes it roughly only 1/5th as androgenic. It exerts most of its anabolic influence through a positive effect on nitrogen retention. With the interference of nandrolone a muscle cell will retain and take up more nitrogen than it releases. This is called a positive nitrogen balance and causes a cell to increase protein uptake and protein synthesis. That means it can cause a real increase in muscle mass, but only provided you are eating a high-calorie, high-protein diet and getting plenty of sleep to provide enough nutrients and allow for enough room to grow. Despite this prerequisite it is still by far the best hormone available today.
The estrogenic conversion allows for some water retention, making this a visually appealing steroid because you can see the mass increase as it occurs. But the estrogenic response is still notably smaller than it would be with testosterone or any of its derivatives, making this a far fetch for estrogen-related problems such as gyno. That and its low androgenic property make nandrolone perhaps the safest steroid around. One of the reasons for its extreme popularity no doubt. Nandrolone is also one of the most often counterfeited products and the counterfeiting alone is a very lucrative business, because one ampoule of deca sells for around $20.
Estrogenic water retention combined with a simultaneous increase in protein synthesis makes this a muscle gaining wonder, and its stacking abilities are endless. In fact it is often believed that the practice of stacking was initiated by the amazing abilities of nandrolone. The most popular stack among competitive bodybuilders a decade ago was no doubt Deca/Dianabol. The slight retentive ability of nandrolone has been shown to be largely productive in combination with a high-protein diet because larger amounts of nutrients became available to muscle-building agents. The water was also readily stored in the connective tissue in joints, which made for one pleasant side-effect : a reduction in joint pains that often accompanied the use of other steroids and the practice of heavy low-rep training. Nandrolone also exhibits a great increase in the immune system, as steroid components often tend to do. Nandrolone has a fairly high half life, meaning it lasts long at the receptor and exerts its effect over a long period of time, one reason that no doubt contributed to the fact that metabolites (19Norandrosterone) can be detected in the body so long after use.
The obvious downside to nandrolone are the high cost naturally, and the fact that it is easily detectable up to 18 months after use, even when taken in small doses. That makes this an absolute no-no in relation to drug-tested competition.
Prohormone conclusions: Nandrolone precursors are without a doubt the greatest prohormone invention ever, even though it took and will take some tweaking to render them 100 percent useful. The reason is that they share a few characteristics with the target hormone : High Cost, low oral efficacy (Deca is injectable) and the positive drug testing thing. The first two combined for a very expensive product. 19Nor had an effective dose range of 600-2000 mg, but at those doses also exhibited a strong increase in side-effects especially when stacked. That left it as a fairly useless product, though reasonable in price. Nor-diol is the real precursor here since it converts to nandrolone at a three times higher rate. The industry has constantly bad-mouthed Nor-diol, claiming impurity, because of the high manufacturing cost. Despite the fact that it was a better product. But even then, a moderate dose of Nor-diol is 600 mg and at three times the cost of 19Nor that wasn't nothing. But luckily it was a great candidate for topical delivery and since recently we have access to a few decent topical products. That is a definite bonus since Nor-diol is obviously the stacking favorite, a trait it has in common with its target hormone. Combining it with testosterone precursors allows you to mimic the oldest and most prolific 1-2 hit in the steroid community, but it obviously has greater benefits in combination with substances that have higher androgenic properties like 5AA or 1AD. The latter being possibly the most costly stack one could find, but well worth the money. With 5AA it can render its stacking partner less androgenic whilst 5AA has as the major benefit that it reduces estrogenic effects. That would combine for a stack that can provide considerable lean mass gains, although the risk for androgenic side-effects in any stack containing 5AA is always high.
Dosage: Orally these aren't the most cost-effective products. To see gains of 19Nor fairly high doses of 600 mg up to 2 grams are needed and because it is a dione product this consequently raises the odds of estrogen related problems such as excessive water retention and itchy nipples. Nor-diol is the clear winner here, but still has low oral efficacy meaning a moderate dose would be 600 mg , and the kind of dose most users would be looking for, gains-wise, is in the 900-1200 range and as high as 1500 mg. The high cost makes that relatively unlikely. In stacks doses of 600-800 mg are great. But Nor-diol is the only prohormone that is preferably taken in topical delivery form as it yields greater conversion at a slightly lower cost. In plain English that means you have to use less and it won't cost as much. This also allows for more stacking abilities orally. Because it's a long-acting product and topical delivery gives a very sustained release, its also very convenient. As a stacking product I would definitely recommend it, and even by itself it is by far one of the most potent prohormones. Orally supplying these prohormones would be a twice a day thing, maybe 3 times daily because they last significantly longer at the receptor site than do testosterone precursors. Transdermally once every twelve hours will suffice.
Boldenone
Name: 1,4-androstadiene-3-one,17b-ol
Precursors: 1,4-androstadiene-3,17-dione
Forms: Equipoise, Ganabol, Equigan, Ultragan (Boldenone undecylenate)
Boldenone, as an illegal steroidal compound, was created as a veterinary product. As the product names Equipoise and Equigan may suggest, mostly for the treatment of horses. But as with so many things within the steroid circuit, and especially with the difficulty of obtaining compounds meant for humans since the ban on steroids, it began gaining popularity among people who weren't veterinarians or animals. It was found, however, to be equally effective in humans.
Boldenone is touted with a very high anabolic effect, connected logically with a moderate but very distinct androgenic compound. It is not the type of steroid used when one is seeking massive explosions of muscle mass in a short amount of time, but rather when the goal is to pack on a small amount of very lean muscle mass without adding a lot of useless weight. Visually its not as gratifying as a testosterone based steroid simply because of the quality gains. Testosterone compounds have a high estrogenic effect and will therefore add a lot more mass visually in a short amount of time, but also considerable water retention and adipose gain. One of the greatest benefits of boldenone, in my opinion, is that it stimulates appetite. Since the effects of steroids are for a part based on their ability to increase protein synthesis in muscle tissue, it's a plus that just by taking the compound you get the urge to supply your body with the necessary materials to actually grow muscle. Almost as if you were to order some cement to build a house and you got the bricks for free. The gains from boldenone are also very stable, are easy to maintain after use and of a very high quality.
But that's not where the ride ends. Boldenone is perhaps one of the greatest means, apart from perhaps insulin, to maintain and stimulate the manufacture and retention of nitrogen. Positive Nitrogen balances are also a major stimulus to protein synthesis. This is, I believe, the main reason there is such a high gain of quality mass. There is a slow but very well maintained increase in muscle weight due to the sustained protein synthesis over a certain period of time.
Boldenone could also be a useful tool to endurance athletes, or multi-sport athletes as it is a noted stimulant of erythropoiesis. This is also the main effect of the drug EPO, and boldenone works through stimulating the release of EPO from the kidneys. Erythropoiesis is the process of making more red blood cells in the bone marrow, then release them in mass quantities in the blood. Red blood cells are the transport mechanism for oxygen, meaning you get a large increase in oxygen delivery to your muscles meaning you can enhance your endurance and sustain strenuous activities for longer periods of time without suffering cramps or fatigue. EPO is a heavily abused drug amongst cyclists by the way.
Prohormone conclusions: 1,4-andro, as a highly oral active precursor to boldenone, sees its use in many different ways. In terms of real bulking mass it can't hold a candle to testosterone precursors, but its obviously a great way of adding small amounts of quality mass that are easily maintained. Whilst it is low in estrogen aromatisation, it does not exclude the process entirely, also because it is a dione version. The amount of estrogen is considerably lower than that of testosterone precursors which avoids the massive water retention and decreases the odds of estrogen-related side-effects, but still has some estrogenic conversion which makes it visually more gratifying than DHT derivatives like 5AA and 1AD. I think 1,4-andro, if obtained at a decent price, is of most use as a lean mass agent in a stack with a testosterone precursor to illicit very high anabolic reactions and would make up for its lack of androgenic aggresiveness. Or by itself for endurance athletes and multi-sport athletes. In a stack with a nandrolone-precursor it would be a very low androgenic stack, Ideal for those looking for a stack that can still offer quality gains without the addition of androgen-related side-effects like prostate hypertrophy or hair loss. 1,4-andro is in my opinion a very valuable product if it can be obtained from a good source at a good price. The lean mass gain and low side-effect rate, combined with high oral efficacy make this one of the best products to consider in oral doses.
Dosage: 1,4-andro and likewise boldenone posses a double bond between the first and second carbon atom, which can be seen in the structural diagram above. This gives it a natural ability to bypass the liver at a much higher rate than steroid-hormones that do not posses this double bond. Often times steroids are 17-alpha alkalated to make up for low oral efficacy, but that increases the chance of hepa-toxicity. The double bond doesn't. That means dosage between 150 and 300 mg daily are often enough to illicit dramatic results when stacked with another prohormone. For use by itself doses of 500-800 mg should be considered, but this is a very expensive affair. To maintain levels, it should be taken in 3-4 doses per day. There is some use for it transdermally, but the 1-double bond makes it a better candidate for oral delivery.
Dihydrotestosterone
Name: 5-alpha-androstene-3-one,17b-ol
Precursors: 5-alpha-androstane-3?17*diol, 5-alpha-androstane-3,17-dione
Forms: None
The word DHT must be running shivers down the spines of some experienced prohormone users. And I must say I wasn't too pleased with the invention of a prohormone that directly converts to DHT either. This is after all the stuff that was named as the main culprit in accelerated male pattern baldness, prostate hypertrophy, acne and increased facial and body hair growth. So why would anyone want to use straight DHT ? Well androgen related side-effects do not occur in everyone, usually only a percentage of people suffer from the severest side-effects. And other prohormones do exert these androgenic effects themselves to some extent as well. Either by converting to DHT or by stimulating androgen receptors in other ways. So the increased risk of using DHT isn't that much greater, unless of course you really have male pattern baldness (MPB), in which case using this product will leave you permanently bald after prolonged use. But the increased risk between this and a precursor to 1-testosterone or even testosterone is really not that great.
So what are the benefits of using DHT ? Are there any ? Well there are some, but I agree, not many. DHT and its derivatives do play an important role in the success of testosterone based products. Mainly in the neuromuscular department. Many of the strength related effects of testosterone and other steroids are due to neuromuscular stimulation by way of DHT. It will allow for dramatic strength increases over a short period of time. Combined with the fact that it is already 5-alpha reduced and cannot aromatise that makes DHT a winner for weight-lifters trying to make a weight class. The weight gain is minimal, and all of it muscle, and your strength shoots through the roof.
Another benefit of using DHT and the like is that it promotes muscle hardness to a large point, making it a possible favorite for pre-contest bodybuilders. This could however be a problem as DHT does stimulate acne and skin impurities, and as mentioned before, if you have MPB the risk is considerable. But nonetheless the increased hardness, striations and vascularity can pay off.
Prohormone conclusions: In stacking opportunities, 5AA leaves a lot of be desired. But it has been touted as a blocker of estrogen as well as being incapable of forming it by itself. That means taking it with a testosterone precursor can decrease the ability of estrogen aromatisation of the latter. If the increased androgenic activity is of no concern to you, but estrogen-related issues are, this may be worth considering. Stacking it with a nandrolone precursor can decrease estrogenic activity of the nandrolone precursor and increase the low androgenic ability. Like wise the nandrolone precursor will decrease the overall androgenic risk of such a stack. As far as stacking goes I believe this to be the best possibility. They support each other to a large extent and are capable of delivering upon strong, lean gains while decreasing the side-effects of the other component.
Dosage: The minimum effective dosage in a stack would be 200-300 mg a day. Again, I don't really advocate the use of this product other than in a stack with a nandrolone-precursor as the androgen related risks are considerable. Though strength wise stacking it with a testosterone precursor would considerably increase neuromuscular response. By itself taking less than 600 mg would have little to no use in adding any sort of mass. Especially orally. This would however be a great candidate for transdermal application. The use by itself is extremely limited, I would not advise it to anyone other than perhaps weightlifters looking for added strength without having to miss their weight-class cut-off.
1-Testosterone
Name:
Precursors: 5-alpha-Androst-1-en-3,17-beta-Diol / 5-alpha-Androst-1-en-3,17-Dione
Forms: none
1-Testosterone is in effect dihydro-boldenone, a 5-alpha reduced version of boldenone. A DHT derivative if you will that entails a very high androgenic potential. This is good because this increases the anabolic capacity of the drug. Its been said that it 700 percent more anabolic than body testosterone. That's quite a catch no? The downside is that androgen-related issues consequently increase largely as well. 1-Testosterone is perhaps best described as a means to achieve amounts of lean mass, considerably higher than DHT, but with greater oral efficacy. Users report immense boosts in strength and muscle hardness, with minimal amounts of bodyweight but still a slow and steady increase in muscle mass.
Most of that effect is the result of absolutely zero estrogenic activity. Having already undergone 5AR it is structurally incapable of interacting with estrogen receptors. This means it is a great product to use for pre-contest bodybuilders looking to add a few pounds and stay/get lean at the same time. It doesn't have any water retention so there is no fear of unwanted bodyweight. Because of a structural difference it has a double bond between the first and second carbon, much like boldenone, meaning it is highly orally effective and much lower doses can be used than for DHT, but still achieving similar hardness and striations.
Prohormone conclusions: 1AD is very effective at what it does and mg per mg it is more potent than any of the other prohormones due to low water retention, high oral efficacy and being a potent androgen. The risks, androgen wise, are considerable, as was the case with 5AA. Estrogen wise there is absolutely zero aromatisation. The downside here is the cost. With 1,4-andro cost was an issue, but there are other sources to apply to that offer it for a lot lower price. But as far as 1AD is concerned a patent has been applied for by the manufacturer and that alone promises no decrease in price in the near future. Luckily the oral efficacy is so high, so even minor doses can contribute, which means it will remain a very hyped and popular commodity among prohormone users. But for people who stack, it's a bit of a wash. 1,4-andro can deliver similar results when taken in a good stack, and be obtained for a lower price in retail if you shop around a bit. Nonetheless it makes a good match for both 19Nor and Nor-diol in a stack, but that will only drive up the price. Bodybuilding.com offers one of the lowest prices on 1AD worldwide, which may be some relief to people. 1AD is very potent and I think you haven't seen everything until you tried it, but for regular use its not the best option for your wallet. It is best stacked with a non-androgen, in analogy to trenbolone, so a Nor-diol is your best bet. You can stack it with a sublingual 4-diol as well because 1AD has been shown to have nefast effects on the libido, which could be countered by 4-diol to some extent.
Dosage: Currently 1AD is an oral only compound, and I have no idea whether or not there are plans for transdermal delivery. But because of the 1-double bond its one of the best candidates for oral delivery anyway. Doses should be maintained throughout the day. That means administering it 3-4 times. Low doses (200-300 mg) can exert an effect, especially in a stack, but by itself it is recommended that you use the effective dose (600-900 mg) or even the aggressive dose (900-1200 mg, which is very expensive). It is best stacked with a non-androgen, probably a transdermal Nor-diol.
The chemical and physiological data I presented you with is very accurate, but here and there, there may be mention of dosage and stacking information which I, like many people, obtained from other sources. I have worked with some steroid users, have several friends who have this knowledge, but haven't tried them myself. So this information may not be 100 percent accurate. This is after all an illustration towards stacking prohormones and this is information you will find in-depth in my prohormone science article. Other stacking information is for entertainment purposes only.
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