Is there a difference which type of testosterone should I use?
Testosterone
A very frequently asked question by beginners is which testosterone is better for mass gain and which during the cutting phase. Is there a difference between them and what dosages of one testosterone are equivalent to dosages of another - there are answers to all these questions that will unload your heads once and for all.
Read our article by clicking on the link in the profile and you will find out all answers, as well as we will take a closer look at the topic of testosterone and its main functions on the cycle.
The main point of this article is to explore more about testosterone and its usage.
First of all, in almost 90%+ of cases, testosterone in one form or another should be present in your course, regardless of whether you are gaining or losing weight, or you try to improve your functionality, and even more so if you use HRT, where testosterone is the main one. The reason for this is the impossibility to change testosterone and its properties in the body, however other anabolic steroids, even with a high androgenic index, can replace only partially, but not totally. Therefore, this drug should be present in each of your cycles, in any suitable form, whether it is oil-based, in tabloid form or testosterone gel or even patch. In some cases, it is even enough to use gonadotropin, which will increase the level of your own testosterone hormone, in case testosterone is not the main drug on the cycle. One of the properties of testosterone is to increase your emotional mood by increasing dopamine and serotonin levels, as well as increasing libido. We are sure that you don’t want to lose these benefits during the cycle.
Then a question arises - if the use of this drug is inevitable in your cycle, then which form of testosterone is better and is there a difference?
We won’t speak about gel, patches and bias to more classic and common forms of testosterone, as well as more suitable for our purposes, such as physical condition improvement.
And so, there are several different forms: suspension, oil solutions with ether and oral form.
The main difference and most significant difference between these forms of testosterone is life cycle in your blood, and, accordingly, the duration of exposure and nothing else.
Significant moment is comprehension that testosterone is one element, which has one chemical formula and affects the body identically. If you will suddenly decide to change one testosterone ester to another, nothing going to change, especially if it concerns long esters, which are very similar in life cycles.
Let’s define what a half-life is; each drug entering the blood has its own concentration maximum and then its level decreases. So, the half-life is the decreasing of substances in the blood in two times. That means that you need to take products with a shorter half-life more often to maintain proper blood levels. The shortest action and half-life in the oral form of testosterone as well as in suspension. These forms must be applied daily.
Let’s consider the most commonly used esters of testosterone and its derivatives in bodybuilding.
Ethanoate. The shortest life-span equal to the one day.
Propionate
One of the most commonly used ethers, which has a half-life in the range of 1 - 2 days.
Phenylpropionate. It is produced both independently and is used in testosterone mixtures, such as sustanon and has the half-life in the range of 2 - 3 days.
Isocaproate (isohexanoate). It is part of sustanon along with other testosterone esters and with the half-life in the range of 4 - 5 days.
Enanthate
One of the most commonly used esters. It has a half-life in the range of 5 - 7 days.
Cyclohexylmethylcarbonate, hexahydrobencylcarbonic или hexahydrobenzyl carbonate). The half-life range is about 6 - 8 days, according to various sources and similar in properties to the enanthate.
Cypionate. Practically interchangeable with the enanthate. The half-life period is up to 7 days.
Decanoate
It is also part of sustanon, as the ether with the longest validity period in it. The half-life according to various data is in the range of 7 - 9 days. To maintain a constant blood level, injections are given on average once a week.
Undecylenate or undecylenate. It has a half-life in the range of 9 - 11 days.
Laurate. The half-life is in the range of 10 - 12 days. The most sustained ether used in bodybuilding.
There are still a lot of esters, but they are not used in bodybuilding or are used quite rarely, that’s the reason they won’t be discussed in this article.
The mechanism of action of all these esters on the body is well studied and, apart from the time of absorption of the hormone into the bloodstream, nothing else distracts the action of this steroid.
Different testosterone esters are discussed and we found that the difference between them is determined by the number of days between injections only.
So, the question is – which ester should I use?
Most often, short esters are used in period of short cycles (approximately 6 weeks), in such cases, the use of long esters is not advisable.
Sometimes short esters of testosterone are used at the very beginning of a long cycle and at the end, a couple of weeks after the last injection of long ether, so that up to the beginning of PCT to maintain a high level of hormones.
Personal convenience is also a weighty argument. Usually, athletes tend not to inject once again and, if possible, use long esters. Few people will choose to use propionate for a three-month cycle, in spite that injections should be done every other day.
The substitutability of ethers. As we already cleared - regardless of the ether, any testosterone can be easily replaced by another right during the cycle without any consequences. This is especially true of esters of similar length - enanthate, cypionate and sustanon, which in essence, most often is equated to long esters.
