Find out how professional athletes manage to maintain over 70% of muscle mass after taking steroids? Sharing secrets right now. When using steroids, the hormonal system receives a strong boost, which leads to a sharp and strong increase in the anabolic background. First of all, this has a positive effect on the recovery time of the body after training and replenishment of energy resources.
But after the abolition of the AAS, the body returns to normal operation, but most of the systems work much worse than before the start of the course. Most of the glands that secrete natural hormones are inoperative at this moment and this is one of the main reasons for the rollback that follows the rejection of steroids.
To reduce muscle loss, athletes need to accomplish two main goals:
- Bring the endocrine system back to normal as quickly as possible;
- Reduce the catabolic background.
Let's see what are the ways to solve these problems. Today we will learn how to maintain muscle after long courses of steroids.
Restoring the health of the endocrine system after the course
All athletes who are already using AAS or are going to take the chemical route must have basic concepts in the field of body physiology. Exogenous hormones (steroids) are not a toy. If you have a general idea of the processes taking place in the body, then you can correctly draw up, conduct a course, and then get out of it. Failure to do so could result in serious health damage. Let's figure out how you can restore the hormonal system to work.
You should know that endogenous testosterone is synthesized by special cells located in the testes. For them to produce the male hormone, a corresponding signal is needed from the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. As a signaling mechanism, the body uses hormones of the gonadotropic group, namely, luteinizing (LH) and follicle-stimulating (FSH).
The higher the concentration of testosterone in the body, the less LH and FSH are synthesized, which leads to a decrease in the secretion of the male hormone. When using AAS, testosterone levels are off scale, and the body does not need to produce its own substance. As a result, the testicles do not do their job and "fall asleep". This leads to a decrease in their size, which can subsequently lead to their atrophy. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to force the body to produce endogenous testosterone. For this, gonadotropin is used. It is advisable to use this drug only during long cycles. Very often there is information about the need to use gonadotropin during rehabilitation therapy. It is completely useless. The drug is used only during the course. If you are not sitting on an "eternal" AAS cycle, then you need to start taking the drug three weeks before its completion. The dosage is 500 IU taken twice a week.
If the course is "eternal", then it is necessary to use gonadotropin all the time, using a cyclic scheme. Inject gonadotropin for three weeks, pause for three weeks. But, unfortunately, the testicles are not the only problem. After a cycle, there is almost always a high concentration of female hormones. It also slows down testosterone synthesis. To reduce the level of estrogen, drugs of the antiestrogen group should be used. The most popular of these are tamoxifen, letrozole, and clomid.
Note that they not only help to reduce the concentration of female hormones, but also affect the hypothalamus, forcing the body to synthesize the male hormone. For this reason, after short cycles of AAS, it is quite enough to use only the above-mentioned drugs to start the process of testosterone secretion. Antiestrogens should be started after the cycle is complete. But here it is important to remember about the aromatization process - the conversion of testosterone into female hormones. It occurs during the course and you need to do tests to know the concentration of estrogen. If it is high, then take anastrozole on the course.
Decrease in catabolic background after a course of steroids
We will assume that everything is clear with the restoration of the hormonal system. The second goal is to reduce the concentration of catabolic hormones, namely cortisol. It is he who maximally contributes to the destruction of muscle tissue. Here you will no longer need drugs, but you need to revise your training program.
You must understand that any training is a powerful stress for the body and causes an accelerated synthesis of cortisol. After the abolition of anabolic steroids, there is practically no anabolic hormones in the body and the catabolic background increases sharply. For this reason, the first thing you need to do is reduce the number of sessions during the week. Do not train more than two or a maximum of three times. Focus on how you feel to determine the most effective number of activities.
Now you need to train hard, but at the same time, the sessions should not be long. During this period, only basic exercises should be used, which not only promote muscle growth, but also accelerate the synthesis of anabolic hormones. The duration of the lessons should not exceed 40 minutes. For each muscle group, no more than two exercises should be performed in 2 or 3 sets. Right now we are talking only about work sets, and you should remember to warm up. Also, exclude aerobic activity from the program if it was previously used.
In conclusion, a few words should be said about nutrition. You should now slightly reduce the intake of protein compounds, since new muscle tissue will not be created, and the body does not need a lot of building materials. Also, sleep at least 9 hours a day.
For more information on restoring the body after a steroid course and preserving muscles, see this video:
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