Frontloading!

[Sworder]

I wanted to post some information on frontloading as it is something which is seen as an advanced technique but rather I would see that it is very easy and calling it advanced means that you just need to learn more. A lot of the information gathered was exposed to me by Bill Roberts. The purpose of frontloading is to get to the dose you want to metabolize quicker. Waiting 3-5 weeks for the half-lives to build is tedious and unnecessary. PCT with dosages as 40/40/20/20 is not needed. If you want to metabolize 40 mg/day on week one then adjust the amounts so you do. Manipulate the dosage according to the half-life so you metabolize the amount you desire. This is important with Clomid as it is typically used just for two weeks and by that time it will just have reached the level you want.


The following chart measures how much of Testosterone Enthantate you metabolize in Week 1 of a 500mg/week cycle. This was taken from a steroid calculator and the numbers include a 5% waste factor and the numbers may be off by a little but the big picture is the focus.

Day 1: Inject 250 mg of Testosterone Enthantate Metabolize 26 mg
Day 2: Metabolize 23 mg
Day 3: Metabolize 21 mg
Day 4: Inject 250 mg of Test Enthantate Metabolize 44 mg
Day 5: Metabolize 39 mg
Day 6: Metabolize 35mg
Day 7: Metabolize 31 mg

For Week 1 you metabolized only 219 mg of Test E when your goal is 500.

The following is the amount metabolize week 1 when frontloading:
Day 1: Inject 600mgs Test Enthantate Metabolize 62 mg
Day 2: Metabolize 55 mg
Day 3: Metabolize 49 mg
Day 4: Inject 250 mgs Test Enthantate Metabolize 70 mg
Day 5: Metabolize 62 mg
Day 6: Metabolize 55 mg
Day 7: Metabolize 49 mg

For Week 1 when frontloading you will metabolize 402 mg of Test E when your goal is 500. Much better in my opinion.

The Formula

To establish the amount you should inject/ingest on the first day of frontloading you can use a the following formula to calculate the value. IT IS ONLY THE FIRST DAY YOU INJECT THIS AMOUNT. After that you follow your regular injection schedule.

Weekly amount/7xHalf-life in days + regular inject amount = Frontload

For measuring SERMs/AIs this formula is easier to use

Daily amount x half-life + regular dose = Frontload

Example, I am going to do 12 weeks of 500mgs Test E/week, planning on injecting 250 mg Monday and Thursday. How much should I frontload? Using the formula I plug in my values.

500/7 x 5 + 250 = Frontload

71 x 5 + 250 = Frontload

357 + 250 = Frontload

607 = Frontload

Now to get the help get the exact amount of 607 I recommend diluting 1 ml of 250mg/ml Test by adding 7 ml cottonseed oil so you now have a solution which is 31mg/ml and grab your insulin needle and measure 23units(0,23ml) add this volume to your 600 mg of test and you now have your dose measured(607mg). Just kidding you can just round to 600 or whatever number is easier for you.

To assist in your usage of the formula I will include some half-lives. Note, there is a slight variation of half-lives depending on the source. The fact that it is measured in days and not hours grants a +-12 hour variation which isn't too accurate either.

Testosterone Enthantate: 5 days
Testosterone Cypionate: 5 days(The difference between Test E and Test C is rather trivial and this is where the aforementioned -+12hour difference comes into play).
Decanoate(Deca): 6 days (I thought it was a little higher but most medical literature state 6 days)
Boldenone Undecylenate: 14 days

Tamoxifen Citrate(Nolvadex): 5 days You ingest, DO NOT INJECT
Clomiphene citrate(Clomid): 5 days You ingest, DO NOT INJECT
Anastrozole (Arimidex): 2 days You ingest, DO NOT INJECT
Letrozole (Letro, Femara): 2 days You ingest, DO NOT INJECT
hCG: 33hours to 48 hours depending on intramuscular or subcutaneous injection

The latter 3 might not need to be frontloaded but I felt the need to post them anyway.

Also I wanted to incorporate a cheat sheet for the most common ones and those who don't want to read through all this wall of text and learn how to do it. Going to list the Compound and Weekly dosage you wish to do and then the amount you should inject assuming an equal amount is injected twice a week.

Test E/C: 500 mg/week 607 mg on the first day only.
Test E/C: 600 mg/week 678 mg on the first day only.
Test E/C: 750 mg/week 910 mg on the first day only.
Test E/C: 1000 mg/week 1214 mg on the first day only.

Boldenone(Equipoise):400mgs/week 885 mg on the first day only
Boldenone(Equipoise):500mgs/week 1107 mg on the first day only
Boldenone(Equipoise):600mgs/week 1328 mg on the first day only
Boldenone(Equipoise):750mgs/week 1660 mg on the first day only

Tamoxifen Citrate(Nolvadex): 20 mg/day 120 mg on the first day only You ingest, DO NOT INJECT

Clomiphene citrate(Clomid): 50 mg/day 300 mg on the first day only You ingest, DO NOT INJECT

 

[Paperclip]

I've been hearing about frontloading but never gave it much thought. After using a calculator however, my eyes are now opened! Thanks for making me aware about this.

 

[MR10X]

A lot of doctors will do front loading with stuff like antibiotics to get your level up faster.

 

[REK]

Nice information Sworder.

Cheers REK

 

[MrHyde]

@ Sworder, I know we talked about this before and I know the math works, but it still blows my mind that I will have to take almost half a 10ml vial of EQ 300mg/ml to frontload for a 600mg per week cycle!
Nice thread. This is great for people like myself who are new to frontloading.

 

[Sworder]

@ Sworder, I know we talked about this before and I know the math works, but it still blows my mind that I will have to take almost half a 10ml vial of EQ 300mg/ml to frontload for a 600mg per week cycle!
Nice thread. This is great for people like myself who are new to frontloading.

Yes, EQ is a very long ester so I understand that it may be daunting to inject that large of an amount. It would take 24 days to metabolize 996 mg of that 1332 EQ, so don't be scared. That is why understand how a half-life works is so important. Even if you don't frontload and you kick-start with orals it is important to understand how the compounds work.

 

[Paperclip]

Tamoxifen Citrate(Nolvadex): 5 days You ingest, DO NOT INJECT

I just bought a box of Tamoxifen and there it's stated:

Peak concentrations in serum are seen within 4 to 7 hours after administration. Tamoxifen clearance is biphasic with a distribution half-life of about 11 hours, followed by a slow terminal half-life of 7 days.

 

[snuff-sann]

I also have something for Sworder and would really like his comments to it, a bit of explanation if that's possible.

I'm a Dutch guy and spend quite some time on Dutch forums.
Frontloading is an interesting subject, even in The Netherlands.
On one of the forums somebody started a topic with a very detailed protocol/method of how to calculate the right dosages for a frontload.
Because I find your information also very interesting I forwarded it (copy/paste) into that Dutch topic, hopefully the Topicstarter would have his saying about it. Well, he did, and this is what he said about it:

Bull-story. 500mg w=500/7 as halflife? The good man clearly doesn't understand what a halflife really is. Can't believe Snuff that you take this guy for serious with his silly statements.
Perhaps the deviation is not very large because the halflife and injection-time are not that far apart (I would have to calculate) but for every other product it's bullshit. Then you'll get a formula like: mg((^hw-inj)/hw), not that linear relationship.

Dear Sworder, I would really appreciate it if you could comment to it.

 

[Bill Roberts]

I just bought a box of Tamoxifen and there it's stated:

Peak concentrations in serum are seen within 4 to 7 hours after administration. Tamoxifen clearance is biphasic with a distribution half-life of about 11 hours, followed by a slow terminal half-life of 7 days.

There are literature values from 5 to 7 days. I use six days. But in practice I've moved to giving frontloads for tamoxifen (120 mg) that would match up with 5 days, just out of the dosage being more convenient (40 mg three times on the first day.)

The most important thing is whether a given method works well. Either works fine in practice. If wanting to base the dosage on a 7-day half-life, I'm sure that would be fine also. Even if the true value for an individual really were 5 or 6 days, as might be the case, the slight resulting excess would be no problem.

 

[GeneralIx]

I'd be the guy in question Snuff-Sann is referring to, so I'll post the complete explanation here in short.

As described here, one would assume a linear function in T1/2, which is absolutely not the case.
Half life describes an exponential decline in blood levels, which is to say that at day 1 more will be broken down than the consecutive day, yet not in a linair fashion.

Put in a formula you get this:
On Tx the blood level=0,5^x*T1
Tx= day x
x= amount of half lives
T1=starting amount
0.5= half life of course.

Half lives however, are hardly ever easy to use time units like a day or an hour.

Let me give an example: clenbuterol has a T1/2 of 35 hours. For us to use easily on 24-hour periods, we have to first convert the half life to the breakdown coefficient per hour, as follows:

x^35=0.5

Ergo: log(x)=35. This is easy to calculate in excel using target search. We then square the value 24 times (thus creating the breakdownfunction on daily basis), giving a value of: 0.98^24=0.62.

Thusly we have the bloodvalue of 0.62*intake of the day before+daily intake as your blood level at any given day. Of course we need to keep in mind that this formula assumes a direct absorption and 100% bio-availability, which is not really the case in real life. However, this is not too relevant for calculating the optimal frontload, since these two variables should remain constant throughout your use of any given medication, or at least without significant fluctuation, thus therefore irrelevant.

An other way of calculating your coefficient is simpler and nearly as accurate is this one:

0.5^(converted units/ original half time in the same units).

Using these tools in excel, you can make a graph experimenting with different front load values and deducting the optimal dose.

 

[Sworder]

Yes, I understand that. The purpose of my post was to inform to an applicable degree for the average user so practically it would be of use to them. I understand that my formula is not the most accurate but I do believe that for the purposes we would use the formula here it should be more than sufficient. As I implied with my joke about measuring out 7 mg, you don't have to be so precise with these numbers so you get it down to the 7mg.

In conclusion, yes there are more accurate ways to calculate the metabolic rate of a compound and tracking it according to half-lives. They do not work in linear fashion but if you are trying to explain something to somebody you should stick to the basics first. The guide is supposed to help people rather than confuse them. The formula should work for most bodybuilding purposes, it should be simple enough to understand for most of the people who are new to frontloading and accurate enough. As stated, 99.99% of the people won't go through the trouble to measure out the exact amount and also time the injections on a strict schedule. We round for simplicity and it works. If you aren't going to inject that accurately why would you calculate that accurately and would it teach/inform rather than discombobulate? I commend you on coming up with a very accurate formula though!

 

[snuff-sann]

Thnx for your reply Sworder.

 

[GeneralIx]

Though it is true that there is no need for decimal counting with your average steroiduse, your formula will create larger deviations since users will round off any already inaccurate answers.

Also, my method is just as understandable (especially the latter one), and more accurate. Also my technique will allow for consecutive frontloads as well, whereas yours only allows for a single frontload, perhaps with 5 ml+ injects in case of larger dosages of multiple products at once.
Not to mention that with my way of calculus you can also measure the optimal injection rate.

 

[Sworder]

Thanks for your input, great addition to the thread! Feel free to compile the amounts in comparison to the ones I generated to avoid skewed information if you would be inclined to do so. The examples and most common compounds & doses would be the most relevant I believe.

 

[Bill Roberts]

I also have something for Sworder and would really like his comments to it, a bit of explanation if that's possible.

I'm a Dutch guy and spend quite some time on Dutch forums.
Frontloading is an interesting subject, even in The Netherlands.
On one of the forums somebody started a topic with a very detailed protocol/method of how to calculate the right dosages for a frontload.
Because I find your information also very interesting I forwarded it (copy/paste) into that Dutch topic, hopefully the Topicstarter would have his saying about it. Well, he did, and this is what he said about it:

Bull-story. 500mg w=500/7 as halflife? The good man clearly doesn't understand what a halflife really is. Can't believe Snuff that you take this guy for serious with his silly statements.
Perhaps the deviation is not very large because the halflife and injection-time are not that far apart (I would have to calculate) but for every other product it's bullshit. Then you'll get a formula like: mg((^hw-inj)/hw), not that linear relationship.

It sounds as if a correct formula may have been misinterpreted.

A correct frontload formula is to take the amount that is on average taken per half-life, plus the usual ongoing dose.

So let's say that the half-life is 5 days, and the amount taken per week is say 600 mg.

The amount taken on average per day is 600/7, and the amount taken on average per half-life is five times that. Or, 5 days x (600 mg/week /7 days/week) = 429 mg.

Let's say that the 600 mg/week is taken as 3 doses of 200 mg.

In that case the frontloading dose is 429 mg + 200 mg, or -- close enough -- 600 mg.

This also applies where half-lives are lesser amounts such as some number of hours. Same principle.

It becomes usually unimportant when the half-life is only a few hours, as steady-state is reached within seven half-lives, and rather close to steady state within 4 or 5 half-lives.

So there isn't a need really to frontload Dianabol, for example, but if one wants to make sure even the first day is at its best, then for example:

Let's use 4 hours as the half-life, and 50 mg/day as the dosage. In that case, the amount taken on average per half-life is about 8 mg.

Let's say it's taken as 10 mg five times per day.

In that case, a close enough frontload is 20 mg on the first dose (fairly exact would be 18 mg.)

But really if you don't do this, the second day will come out just the same as if you had done it. Your only advantage will be during the first day. So generally no one bothers with those, though personally I do as I find it no bother but a pleasure

 

[snuff-sann]

To cut a long story short.
What you are trying to say is that there's no need to be that accurate when someone wants to frontload?

 

[Sworder]

There are still tons of factors you still need to take in consideration. The injection site, the date of the second injection, the date of the third and fourth as well as the esters from the first injection will still be in your system. This just makes it too complicated and the original formula should be accurate enough and easy to use. With Bill's example would you really crush the Dianabol and take out your scientific scale to measure 18 mg? Also, do you test the concentration of each vial to ensure the correct amount is being administered? It would be a shame if you did all those calculations and the compound is at the wrong concentration

 

[snuff-sann]

Sworder, I'm on your side when it comes to execute a frontload-protocol that is easy to understand.
So to keep it as simple as possible and also understandable for every user the more accurate and precise method is way too complicated because there are too many factors to deal with.

 

[Bill Roberts]

To cut a long story short.
What you are trying to say is that there's no need to be that accurate when someone wants to frontload?

Yes, it doesn't have to be exact. If a little off, pretty quickly the ongoing injections will get levels to essentially the same value as if the frontload had been exact.

 

[snuff-sann]

Thnx guys, think I got my answer.