Some things are a tradition because, well, they’re a tradition. We do things because “that’s the way it’s been done” and getting outside of that zone is hard. That mentality is very, very present in the world of steroids. And we’re all guilty of it in one form or another.
So today I posit a theory—based on some simple science and general observations—that almost everyone who uses oral steroids is simply doing it wrong.
How many times has this cycle been run:
”I’m running test e 500mg/w for 12 weeks, with 50mg dbol the first four weeks as a kickstart”
That cycle has been done to death. And it’s just flat out stupid. It’s based on little more than the visual effects of the dbol, which can be dramatic those first few weeks. But what are you actually getting? Water and glycogen, right?
”But the test takes a while to kick in, so I wanted to get going right away”
Get going with what, exactly? You think you are putting on muscle by week two? You think that’s what that is? You think that by week two your test levels aren’t already supraphysiological? Because they are. No, you haven’t hit that peak point where you’re going to stay at for the duration of the cycle, but you’re way beyond where you were an hour before your first pin. What you’ve done is front-loaded strength gains, which are temporary on dbol, and you’ve added a lot of messy weight that will not be there two months from now. By the time your test has fully engaged you’re not that much further ahead in terms of actual muscle growth. Know when you will be in a great position to use an oral like dbol?
The end of your cycle.
Think about it for a moment. What’s the point of running a test cycle? More muscle, right? In your experience, how many guys put on real, quality muscle in four weeks? If someone came on here and said they were running a four week test prop cycle what would be the response? We’d tell him that four weeks isn’t long enough to make it worth it. So why are those four weeks different than the ones I’m talking about? (Hint: they’re not)
The best you’ll ever be on cycle is towards the end. After you’ve been grinding for 10 weeks, eating well, training hard, and putting on appreciable size, your body is getting used to this new paradigm. And then like a thief in the night it is stolen away. The injections stop, the half-lives start to dissipate, and then pct begins. Those last few weeks are underutilized by almost everyone I’ve ever seen here or any other forum. So why keep doing it that way?
”That’s the way it’s been done”
I propose instead a cycle with an oral that makes use of your time and your personal momentum in a better, smarter way.
Weeks 1-12
Test E 500mg/w
Weeks 10-14
Dbol 20mg/d
Weeks 14-18
PCT
Notice that the dbol continues after the test has stopped? Know why? Because it’s so fucking stupid to stop everything, wait two weeks, then hope like Hell that you can hold onto what you gained after pct is over. Those two weeks where you’re not pinning are wasted by almost every single person who’s ever run a cycle. Your testosterone levels are dropping as the half-lives are cycled through. You go from on top of the world to 87 year old man in those two weeks (probably closer to three, honestly, but who’s counting?). Rather than accept that condition you could be using that oral—in this example dbol—to maintain some size and strength as you coast into pct. Wouldn’t it be nice to spend another two weeks at high levels of performance in order to let that new muscle keep being worked? It certainly would be better than simply rolling into pct on fumes, as your test levels hit zero, and hoping that your recovery doesn’t cost you too much of what you just earned.
tl;dr You’re stronger and more muscular at the end of a cycle than at the beginning, so stop trying to use orals to make fake gains at the start and instead try to hold on to what you’ve got at the end.