Before each athlete, after the completion of the steroid cycle, the question arises about the safety of the gained mass. Learn about the reasons for the rollback and how to maintain the muscles after the course. One of the tasks after completing a course of steroids is to maintain or minimize the loss of mass that was gained on the course. Today you will learn how to maintain muscles after a cycle.
Causes of a rollback after an AAS cycle
In order to know how to minimize weight loss after the end of the steroid cycle, you should understand the reasons for the rollback, which is inevitable. By and large, this effect obeys the law of conservation of energy. Having received a significant increase in mass on the course, after its completion, it is lost. It is impossible to completely eliminate this problem, but it is necessary to minimize losses.
During the steroid cycle, there is a strong stimulation of the entire hormonal system, including, of course, anabolic processes. This is noticeable in the accelerated recovery after intense training, the rapid accumulation of nutrients necessary for their growth in muscle tissues and the ability to withstand high physical exertion.
After stopping the use of AAS, the hormonal system returns to work as usual, but most often it functions somewhat worse. The main reason for this lies in the fact that some of the glands that produce natural hormones during the cycle did not work, as there was enough and even with an excess of artificial substances. But artificial hormones after the completion of the course are no longer supplied, and natural hormones are not yet produced. Among the reasons for the appearance of a rollback, two main ones can be distinguished:
- The level of anabolic hormones, primarily testosterone, decreases;
- The content of cortisol and estrogen rises.
The rest of the reasons, in one way or another, have a connection with these two. As a result, if the athlete continues to train with the same load as during the cycle, then it is possible to lose all the gained mass. Thus, during the pause between courses, it is necessary to find a solution to two problems:
- Restore the normal functioning of the hormonal system as quickly as possible;
- Reduce the catabolic effects of training.
Recovery of the hormonal system after the course of AAS
One of the main tasks that an athlete faces after completing a cycle of steroid drugs is to restore the normal activity of the endocrine system. To better understand what needs to be done for this, you should know the principle of regulating the synthesis of the main hormones:
- When testosterone levels are high, the body's production drops. This is exactly what happens when using steroids.
- If the male hormone is low, then its synthesis is accelerated until the level of the hormone rises to normal.
- The hypothalamus and pituitary gland are responsible for the regulation of testosterone synthesis, giving the appropriate orders to the testes.
If we analyze this process in a little more detail, then everything happens as follows. When the level of the male hormone is low, the pituitary gland accelerates the synthesis of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), thereby signaling the pituitary gland. The latter, in turn, begins to produce more luteinizing and follicle-stimulating hormones. After this, the testes begin to actively produce the male hormone.
This whole chain has to be brought back to normal. It should be remembered that after a steroid cycle, most often the level of estrogen exceeds the content of testosterone, which significantly slows down the recovery process of the body.
Testicular recovery after a steroid cycle
You should start with the testes, as they are the ones that produce testosterone. On a cycle of steroids, depending on the duration of the cycle, the testes become smaller in size. This is due to the fact that they do not produce natural testosterone and begin to atrophy. To combat this extremely negative phenomenon, there is a special drug called chorionic gonadotropin.
Actually, the size of the testicles itself does not play a decisive role. Much worse is that it reduces their functionality. Even when they receive a signal to speed up the production of testosterone, they cannot cope with this task. This happens during long courses of more than 12 weeks.
Thus, if the athlete is on a long AAS cycle, then taking gonadotropin should be taken care of while using steroids, and not at the end of the course. The average dosage of gonadotropin is 1000 IU per week. This dosage is best divided into two doses.
The use of antiestrogens after a steroid course
The most common use of tamoxifen and clomid during post-anabolic recovery therapy is tamoxifen and clomid to lower estrogen levels. It was already mentioned above that after a course of steroids, the level of estrogen almost always exceeds the content of testosterone, thereby slowing down the recovery of the body. This is the second task that needs to be solved if you want to know how to maintain muscles after a cycle.
The hypothalamus starts working almost as soon as steroids are no longer used. However, estrogens suppress the synthesis of luteinizing hormone, which prevents the production of the required amount of the male hormone from starting.
Most athletes know that estrogen levels rise as a result of the conversion of testosterone to female hormones. Of course, the question is why take antiestrogens if steroids that are not subject to aromatization were used on the course. Even so, you need either clomid or tamoxifen to prevent the conversion of natural testosterone.
Many athletes start with a maximum dosage of 50 milligrams of Clomid four times a day when using antiestrogens. Then the dosage is reduced by half and within one week, 50 milligrams of the drug is taken twice a day. After that, within three weeks, the dose is reduced to a minimum - 50 milligrams of clomid per day.
That's all I wanted to say on how to preserve muscles after a course. With the right restorative therapy, you will quickly restore normal body function and minimize weight loss.
Learn more about the post-cycle rollback and how to maintain muscle mass in this video:
[media =
