Find out from a scientific point of view how to conduct courses of steroids and what drugs to use and dosages so that the maximum effect remains after the course. Every athlete who has conducted the AAS course at least once has encountered the phenomenon of rollback after its completion. During the intake of anabolic steroids, significant changes occur in the body that affect all systems, not just the hormonal one. Today you will find out what scientific research has to say about post-cycle mass retention. This is a very urgent problem for athletes, because they want with all their might to preserve the results that were obtained during the anabolic cycle.
Post-Cycle Mass Retention Research
Let's start with the question of when the AAS began to be used. In the past century, most experts were inclined to believe that the later an athlete begins to use anabolic steroids, the better. From the practical example of many athletes, it became clear that before using steroids, you should train intensively naturally for about three years.
The latest scientific research on the retention of mass after the course has confirmed this assumption and experts say that anabolic steroids can be most effective if the athlete is close to his genetic limit. You must understand that all these three years the training must be active and it is necessary to squeeze everything possible from your body.
Scientists say that in a similar situation, all methods of overcoming the plateau state have already been used, and they no longer work. This also applies to the use of various drugs that are not able to affect the hormonal system. We do not want to say that with well-designed training and nutrition programs, an athlete is not able to progress for a longer time without the use of powerful pharmacology. Moreover, as long as natural muscle growth is possible, this is exactly how you should do it.
However, the moment when growth stops and cannot continue is still there. Not everyone is ready to agree that the same biceps in a year increases in volume by less than a centimeter. If in such a desire one wants to step over the limits measured by nature, then each builder has the right to independently decide to use AAS. However, let us remind you once again that before this, your body must show everything it is capable of.
I would like to make a small digression from the main topic of the article and say a few words to those home-grown "experts". Which on specialized web resources strongly advise you to start using phosphatidylserine, HMB or even regular creatine almost from the very beginning of bodybuilding. Let's not remember that they often represent exactly those companies whose products they recommend to use.
The question here is different, because novice athletes are beginning to prove. That it is impossible to achieve good results with the help of natural training. It is quite obvious that many newcomers to bodybuilding decide to switch to AAS after a year, or even earlier. For some reason, the "specialists" mentioned by us forget to say that it is also necessary to train actively on the course and the muscles by themselves will not grow, even if steroids are used.
The results of studies of the prospects for natural training may differ significantly, but many scientists agree that the use of AAS may be advisable when the following strength parameters are achieved:
- Bench press - working weight is 1.75 body mass.
- Squats - the ability to perform 10 repetitions with a weight of twice the body weight.
- Pull-ups, wide grip - performing 6 repetitions with an additional burden of one third of the body weight.
- Standing Chest Press - 6 repetitions with the weight of the projectile equal to its own body weight.
We are fully aware that bodybuilding has certain differences from powerlifting, but for increasing muscle mass, the athlete's strength parameters are of paramount importance. If you do not achieve the desired results in the above movements, then steroids will not be able to be as useful as possible.
When deciding to start using anabolic steroids, you should first of all strive to improve or at least maintain the balance between working weights and your body mass obtained during natural training. The increase in muscle size, which is achieved through the use of sports pharmacology, must be supported by an increase in strength parameters. Only then will you be able to save most of the results obtained on the course. Simply put, you have to be as strong as you look. Otherwise, anabolic steroids are useless and scientific research on retention of mass after the course fully confirms this fact. This article is primarily intended for those builders who do for themselves and do not plan to participate in tournaments. With professional athletes, the situation is somewhat different, because they have a coach and a doctor who must monitor the progress of the training process and the correct use of the AAS. But bodybuilding lovers do not have such assistants and they have to do everything on their own.
Unfortunately, many of them have raised the ratio of working weights and body weight to the level of absurdity. Of course, the result in the bench press of about 150 kilos can be considered excellent, but not in the case when a “chemist” with a body weight of one hundred or more kilos is enough for them. We are sure that for such athletes, AAS are not training assistants, but a banal substitute for hard work in the classroom. You must understand that the accumulated mass, which is not confirmed by sufficient strength indicators, cannot be durable. As soon as the cycle is completed, most of the results obtained disappear within a few weeks. Today, bodybuilding lovers are increasingly discussing the idea of conducting an eternal course. However, the reason for the emergence of such thoughts is the inability or unwillingness to properly organize the training process.
You probably guessed that all of the above leads us smoothly to the fact that the basis of success is not steroids, but the training process. Courses should only be conducted when circumstances require it. Most of your workouts throughout the year should be natural. Having studied the results of scientific research on the topic of retention of mass after the course, we can talk about those cases when the use of anabolic steroids looks justified:
- Overcoming the plateau state.
- To preserve muscle mass during the drying period.
- While treating an injury or to speed up recovery from it.
Athletes try to minimize the loss of muscle mass associated with the effect of rollback using various methods, for example, by changing the intensity indicator of the session. It is quite obvious that no training method is a way to maintain the results that were obtained when using, say, 3-5 grams of testosterone enanthate for a week. However, when creating AAS, no one could even think about it. That modern athletes will start using these drugs in such huge doses.
There is little point in using a lot of anabolic steroids if done correctly. Most bodybuilders believe that the higher the concentration of testosterone in the body, the faster they will grow. As an example, professionals are cited who achieve great results using many steroids. However, in practice, everything happens differently and the first cycle turns out to be the most effective.
The latest scientific research on the topic of retention of mass after the course has proved that in the first year you can gain and, most importantly, save more mass than many professional athletes in the next cycle. At the end of the last century, scientists began to talk about the concept of "sensitivity of androgen receptors." All subsequent scientific research on the topic of retention of mass after the course only confirms this hypothesis. We do not pretend to be the opinion of the first instance, but simply want to tell about our own vision of the correct use of AAS.
Steroid cycles should be kept short
Scientists still cannot say with complete confidence why, in most cases, short courses lasting from one and a half to two months are the most effective. In this case, then the athlete must rest for twice the time interval in comparison with the course itself. This time should be sufficient to restore the sensitivity of the recipes.
At the same time, scientists say that small dosages of anabolic steroids allow you to recover faster and after a couple of months there is a supercompensation of the testosterone synthesis process, which is produced in larger quantities than before the course. If we add to this a well-structured training process, then the athlete will have the opportunity not only to maintain, but also to increase the results obtained.
The cycle should be more anabolic rather than androgenic
If you are familiar with the principle of cycling, then you can safely skip this point. For the rest, recall that all AAS are conventionally divided into two categories - anabolic and androgenic drugs. For gaining mass, the first were created, and the task of the second group is reduced to a banal increase in the concentration of the male hormone. You should be aware that androgens have a significant number of side effects.
Recent scientific research on post-cycle weight retention suggests that the ideal option (using only drugs with a high anabolic activity) is rarely positive. Thus, the ratio of anabolics to androgens on the course should be 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 in favor of anabolic drugs. Simply put, 0.25 grams of testosterone enanthate must be supplemented with 0.5 grams of anabolic. By the way, in powerlifting the situation is different and androgens are more effective to increase power parameters.
The drugs must be constantly changed
Again, scientists cannot give an exact answer to what this is connected with and assume that each drug is able to interact only with certain receptors. Thus, by using other steroids on the new cycle you will get significantly better results. As for the professionals and the dosages they use, the second hypothesis is probably applicable here. According to her, a large amount of AAS does not allow receptors to lose their former sensitivity.
We have introduced you to a brief baggage of knowledge necessary for every athlete who decides to go to the "dark side".
How to maintain mass between courses:
