|
Competition Ergogenics — Gearing up for a War! I compete in strongman competitions and I have a question for you regarding stimulant use. I’m not subject to any testing, so I have no problem using the best drug for the job. The powerlifters at the gym compete on speed and reckon this to be the best choice. However, I hear that several top strength athletes swear by cocaine. What about the track and field guys; don’t they use all kinds of weird undetectable stuff? Please help me, as I’m new to the game, but feel I have the potential to make a real impact. I know some of you will have some pretty strong views about me answering this kind of question. Well, welcome to the real world! Nothing is achieved by sweeping issues like this under the carpet. The truth can often have a far more positive influence. So here goes. Many powerlifters do compete on speed (amphetamines), but there’s a big difference between powerlifting and strongman competitions. Some powerlifters have learned the hard way that speed can adversely affect performance. Amphetamines can improve reaction time, cardio-respiratory function and muscle torque during performance. They’re even known to have analgesic properties under certain conditions. However, amphetamines will also exert vasoconstrictive effects as the competition progresses, leaving your limbs totally non-compliant. If you start using speed at the beginning of a powerlifting competition, your legs can later turn to jelly and you end up doing a pretty good Elvis impersonation for a deadlift. Admittedly, speed will give you the much-needed "rocket up the ass" towards the end of a long day’s lifting, but only if you get the timing right. If it’s used, it should be taken towards the end of the bench press session, depending of course on the pace of the competition. Another problem with using speed too early in the competition is that the other lifts require a great deal of focus and can therefore suffer. Normally when you compete, you’ll be exposed to totally different circumstances compared to the gym. That means different equipment, a different environment and a crowd sitting right in front of you, staring. If you fail a lift, you’re going to need to know why and make the necessary adjustments. You’re not going to achieve this by clouding your judgment with amphetamines. When did you ever see Ed Coan getting all menstrual with his fellow competitors or trying to summon up a demon on the platform? You need to be focused. I’ve experimented with all kinds of drugs to help in this department, particularly nootropics. To be honest, the only thing that ever helped me was Ritalin (methylphenidate hydrochloride). In the past, Ritalin has been very popular with students while studying for exams. I’d take 10 mg the morning of the competition, followed by 10 mg one hour before the event. This would definitely leave me "in the zone." I would’ve noticed if a fly landed on one end of the bar in that condition! As for cocaine, I don’t recommend it. As Mauro Di Pasquale noted in one of his publications, a small single dose of cocaine may enhance some forms of performance, like improved reaction time. However, anyone that feels comfortable reaching for the old "nose candy" probably has a habit that necessitates more than a small single dose to elicit any effect. Unfortunately, at that point it becomes counterproductive and decreased performance is the result. I’ve known many strength athletes whose only use of speed was limited to competition. I’ve never known one cocaine user who could apply the same restriction. Anyway, I’m not going to get into a big moral lecture here, so just trust me on this one. So, what about those weird and wonderful stimulants that the track and field guys are supposed to be using? You have to understand that the stimulants of choice for these guys are the ones with the lowest detection rates. Perhaps the most famous of these was the Soviet drug, Sydnocarb (3-(beta-phenylisopropyl)-N-phenylcarbaylsydnonimine). Also known as mesocarb, it was clinically used to treat schizophrenia and depression. I found this to be quite mild in comparison to amphetamine and its effects would also wear off faster. Carrying less of the undesirable side effects of amphetamine, Sydnocarb was still quite effective at increasing adrenaline and improving focus on par with Ritalin. Two highly effective cocktails used by Soviet athletes in the mid seventies involved GHB with L-DOPA, and Sydnocarb with a methylxanthine like caffeine or theophylline. Combining Sydnocarb with a methylxanthine inhibits the suppressive effects of the stimulant on endogenous androgens and LH. In this combination, Sydnocarb also inhibits any decrease of the elevated dopamine levels achieved by the GHB/L-DOPA cocktail, which was used at bedtime and rest periods between competing. Using this cocktail enabled an athlete to increase or maintain peak performance over prolonged competitive situations. The use of GHB was also found by the Russians to improve restoration, something that I’ve also noted in my lifters. I always employ GHB in the supercompensation phase of a training cycle and during the last couple of weeks before a competition. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors were also occasionally used, but combining these drugs with any stimulant is very dangerous. A safer addition, because of its anti-hypertension effect, would be the use of piracetam. The Russians also utilized this product because of its positive psychological benefits. Today, Sydnocarb is on the banned list, so this information is of little help to tested athletes. The Russians have experimented with various analogues of this drug, some clearing totally in literally just a few hours. Adrenaline injections have also been used extensively by athletes for many years now. Russian weightlifters regularly incorporated these into their training regimens for brief periods. With this product, timing is everything. I’ve observed its use in powerlifters and strength athletes and personally have found it to be very hit and miss. Sure, I’ve seen some world records broken by athletes using it, but more often, I’ve seen athletes in a state of confusion, nauseated and weak. The Russians obviously had their reasons for using it and, most likely, the answer lies in some kind of endocrine benefit, e.g. adrenoceptor down-regulation. So back to strongman competitions. What is required here? These competitions can go on over a couple of days, sometimes even longer. There can be a huge difference between what is physically required for each event. Some events, like the hand over hand pull, may require plenty of cardiovascular fitness. Other events, like the deadlift or log lift, are purely about power. Throwing events are obviously about skill, where practice and focus will win the day. Some of these competitions are made up almost entirely of one type of event, whilst others are quite evenly balanced. Another problem is that the organizers are often not that smart when it comes to putting together the order of events. For example, you could have a cardiovascular-type event that knocks the hell out of the legs followed by the deadlift. Although it may seem that the type or order of events should be the criteria for deciding what course to take, you need to bear in mind that heavy use of any stimulant too early will probably lead to disaster in the later rounds of a long competition. My advice is to do the following: * Around 40 minutes before, take a serving of Power Drive and a combination of ephedra (ma huang), ephedrine HCL and caffeine. This combination will provide a more sustained energy level than that obtained with ephedrine alone. It will also work synergistically with Power Drive. * If you’re going to use a stimulant, restrict its use to the last two events. If the competition goes over one day, only use it on the last day. ZMA can potentiate the effect of amphetamines, so you may wish to take a serving at the same time. Take no more than the regular dose; high dosages of magnesium will have the reverse effect. * Use GHB before bed at the end of each day’s competition. Do not use GHB if you’ve used a benzodiazepine (Xanax) to bring you down from amphetamine use! The important thing here is to not use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. There are far more important things that can improve your performance and most athletes don’t even bother to get these right. Most heavy stimulant users feel that unless you shake like a leaf, have pupils the size of saucers and want to bite anything that passes too close to your face, then you’re not a serious competitor. In reality, the guy who has really done his homework would beat them every day of the week.
What do you think of the use of methyltest before or during a competition? This is supposed to be popular with world-class powerlifters. I’d really like to know because often I start to feel really flat towards the end of a competition and find it hard to stay motivated. As you probably know, lifters use this for aggression and the strength benefits associated with elevated androgens. In reality, this is a crap practice. Think about it, you’ve usually got a guy taking a couple of thousand milligrams of Testosterone a week, who feels that by adding a few more milligrams on that day it’s going to make the difference. Listen, if you aren’t aggressive on two grams of Testosterone a week, then a couple of methyltest pills ain’t gonna make a difference! It’s exactly the same with the HCG thing. How many lifters are there that believe that after taking enough Testosterone to get Leonardo DiCaprio into the WWF, a single shot of HCG is going to send their endogenous Testosterone through the roof? What friggin endogenous Testosterone? Even if by some magic it did prompt some endogenous production, a single figure hormone response isn’t exactly going to turn them into Gonad Man is it? Another archaic practice is the prolonged use of Testosterone suspension in the build-up for a contest, the theory being that it makes you super strong. Most of my theories concerning steroid use revolve around short cycles that are terminated shortly after a steady-state level is achieved. The reason for this is to minimize endocrine disruption, i.e. the amount and period of endogenous suppression. However, when we’re looking at a contest cycle, then obviously our priorities have to change. During this period, there’s no doubt that optimal efficacy is achieved with a particular drug by maintaining or increasing plasma levels. Obviously, in the bigger picture, we can still achieve the desired results from a cycle via the synergistic/accumulative effect of adding other products. An example of synergism could be the Anadrol/Winstrol theory put forward by T-mag’s answer to Dr. Evil, Bill Roberts. In this theory, the progestational activity of Anadrol is offset by Winstrol’s ability to lower progesterone. The fact that Winstrol will effectively reduce SHBG and bind to glucocorticoid receptors won’t go amiss either. Even without synergism, it’s possible to get better results by adding a more efficacious drug, whilst at the same time reducing the dose of the first drug. For example, if you’re taking 1000 mg of Testosterone cypionate per week and then add 50 mg of stanazolol per day, the results would be less impressive than if you reduced your cypionate intake to 700 mg/week and added 50 mg of trenbolone per day. There are many factors that can account for this scenario, the fact that some drugs have unique properties being just one of them. Anyway, I’m drifting a bit here, so let’s get back to my original subject — suspension. Testosterone suspension is a very crude drug with a short half-life (around six hours I believe). Using it will make it difficult to maintain constant levels within the body, which is the scenario you should be looking for. Suspension is also pretty hard hitting on the system in general, with endogenous shutdown occurring almost immediately. When used in a conventional manner of 50 to 100 mgs per day, you soon start to feel pretty shitty. Elevated temperature, decreased appetite, extreme mood swings and painful injection sites are the usual accompaniments to prolonged employment of this product. This isn’t conducive to the continual gains in strength normally experienced with a sensible periodized approach. I’ll be the first to admit that suspension can make you super strong, super fast, but you’ll get diminishing returns with prolonged use. Ideally, it should be used as the icing on the cake during the last couple of weeks, or for a short cycle (two to four weeks) between contests or where time is critical.
I’ve been training for eight years now and I’ve always struggled on the bench press. I can blast almost anything off my chest, but then I hit "no man’s land" at about seven to eight inches off my chest. I’m not a powerlifter, but I take my training seriously and in the last three years it hasn’t budged a pound. I’ve read articles on the bench and would really like to get your take on it. What I’d really like to know is how often should I bench and what kind of volume should I do. Most of the articles I’ve read recently point towards once a week, with one other day saved for heavy bench-like assistance exercises. Let me tell you why you can’t learn anything worthwhile from most of the bench routines that you read today. Somewhere in the last ten years, the bench press took a left turn down the path of absurdity. Without even having to go into detail—and every powerlifter out there will know what I’m talking about — this concerns the evolution of the bench shirt. This one development has taken the most popular weight training exercise in the world and turned it into a circus event. At one time, great athletes like Bill Kazmaier, Mike Macdonald, Doug Young and Mike Bridges graced the platform with their presence. They whipped us into a frenzy as we waited for yet another world record to fall. For me, it was an historical event, like being present at the launch of an Apollo rocket. Today, those figures have been replaced by comical caricatures of a powerlifter. They appear anything but athletic as they waddle out to the bench with their arms suspended at 45 degrees. No, they haven’t sprayed their armpits with starch; the garment they’re wearing is responsible for their peculiar image. If Malcolm X had worn a bench shirt, he would probably still be with us! These shirts are made from multiple layers of a material that would save your life in a shark attack or if your parachute failed. More importantly, they’re made from a material that can put around 100 pounds on some peoples’ bench! Powerlifting will now become an Olympic sport on the day that track athletes can wear springs on their feet and boxers can put horse shoes in their gloves. I’m sick to death of opening magazines and reading about famous powerlifters’ bench routines. Who do they think they’re kidding? The greats of the seventies and eighties would’ve given them a real lesson in bench pressing greatness! What right does any organization have to remove their names from the record books, when in reality they’re not even competing in the same sport? Okay, that’s enough of my ranting; let’s move on to a more positive level. Improving your bench pretty much depends on how important an objective this is to you. What I mean by this is that if you’re not a powerlifter, you need to ask yourself why you’re performing the bench press. Are you a recreational bodybuilder or are you just interested in being strong? In other words, is the bench press an exercise or a lift? Are you using it as a tool to build muscle, or is it just another lift that you want to add to your repertoire of strength feats? Some guys just want to be a bench specialist, their sole desire being to produce a lift that all their gym buddies will envy. After all, the bench press has become the universal currency of the gym rat. It’s how you determine the measure of a man, right? Not everywhere. In Europe, it’s the deadlift. I’ll outline a course of action that I feel can be adapted to the recreational bodybuilder and strength athlete alike. The bench specialist would be better to follow the routine of a competitive powerlifter, something that I’ll cover at a later date. Before you start, you need to appraise your physical limitations. When you miss a lift, where and why do you fail? Take a look at your leverages. Are you tall with narrow-shoulders and long limbs, or are you perhaps short with wide shoulders and relatively short limbs? Maybe you fall somewhere between these classifications. What are your pec attachments like? Do you have long pecs that travel quite low down your rib cage, or are they short and high? All of these factors will determine what technique best suits you. Aim to lower the bar to the bottom of your pec line. If you’re one of those individuals who’s able to achieve an excessive arch, then you may be able to get away with a little lower down the rib cage (as this may actually be a higher point). In general, when the bar leaves your chest, your elbows should be directly under your wrists. The exception here would be if your limbs were disproportionately short relative to your height. Optimally, to get into this position, the angle between the upper arm and the rib cage will be 45 degrees or less. Get someone to take some photos of you with the bar on your chest using varying hand spaces. From this, you should be able to pinpoint the grip that allows you to attain the previously mentioned position (the ideal position for your leverages/structure). I’d suggest benching three times over two weeks, in a heavy (A), medium (B) and light pattern (C) and then gearing down to a two-a-week schedule. My belief is that the human body thrives on regularity and that means following a routine that you can stick with without having to make allowances for unexpected complications. Therefore, as none of us are making a living from bench pressing, I suggest working around a seven day week (as opposed to benching every four or five days). For example, try benching heavy on Monday, medium on Friday and light on the following Wednesday (Thursday for the last two C sessions). The following is an eight week routine based on this format: Workout A Week 1 50% x 2 sets x 3 reps, 60% x 3, 70% x 3, 80% x 6 x 3 reps Incline press: 3 sets x 5 reps (working sets) Week 3 50% x 2 x 3, 65% x 3, 75% x 2 x 3, 85% x 4 x 2 Incline press: 3 x 3, then 2 x 5 Week 5 50% x 2 x 3, 60% x 3, 70% x 3, 80% x 2, 90% x 1 Wave 2: 82.5% x 2, 90% x 1, 95% x 1 Wave 3: 85% x 1, 92.5% x 1, 100% x 1 Week 6 50% x 2 x 3, 60% x 3, 70% x 2 x 3, 80% x 3 x 2, 90% x 2 x 1, 85% x 2 x 2 Week 7 50% x2 x 5, 60% x 3, 70% x 2 x 3, 80% x 3 x1 Week 8 (record attempt week) 50% x 3, 60% x 3, 70% x 3 x 1 Five days after this, take a new record attempt
Workout B
Week 1 50% x 2 x 5, 60% x 3, 70% 5 x 5 Week 3 50% x 2 x5, 60% x 3, 75% x 4 x 4
Workout C
Week 2 50% x 2 x 5, 60% x 3, 70% x 3, 75% x 4 x 3, 70% x 4, 60% x 8, 50% x 10 Week 4 50% x 2 x 5, 60% x 3, 70 x 5 x 3 Week 5 (Thursday) 50% x 3 x 5 Week 6 (Thursday) 50% x 3 x 5 Note: All B and C workouts use a grip 1 1/2 inches narrower on each side Now let’s take a look at where you hit the wall so that we can choose the ideal assistance work. Your sticking point indicates that the problem lies with front (anterior) delt strength. Your triceps strength may also be questionable; if they don’t kick in sufficiently in this position then there’ll be too much overload on the front delts as the bar slows down. Work your front delts heavy on a B workout or the day after a C workout (except in week four where delts and triceps will follow the C workout). This should easily provide enough specialization, as the heavy bench session will also work the front delts hard. Use one form of pressing from the following and stick with it for a month: • Standing military press • Standing dumbbell press • Seated Smith machine press: This should be performed on an almost totally upright bench and you need to be directly under the bar. Slowly lower the bar to chin height (and no lower) before pressing it to 3/4 lockout. Follow a three week heavy, one week light pattern for each exercise, like this: Wk 1 — 5 sets x 5 reps Wk 2 — 4 x 5 (jump 5 kg on previous week) Wk 3 — 4 x 5 (jump 2.5 kg) Wk 4 — 75% x 3 x 5 (drop back 5 kg), done after the C workout in week 4 After pressing, the next exercise is the dumbbell front raise. Bill Kazmaier once said to me that he viewed this as the best exercise to build front delt strength for the bench press. I totally agree with his observation. If you view the bench press from an inverse position, you’ll see that the humerus travels through the same range as it does in the front raise. Do not alternate. Raise both arms together with the elbows slightly bent and the thumbs facing up. Use a heavy weight and loose style for four working sets (six reps). Finally, finish off with three working sets of side laterals; try either seated or heavy single arm versions (6 to 8 reps). All shoulder pressing is stopped after week four. In weeks four and five, front and side raises are switched to after the C workout as follows: Wk 4 — 3 x 8 with 25% less than used in wk 3 Wk 5 — 4 x 6 with 15% less than wk 3 All delt assistance work is dropped after week 5 For optimal recovery, triceps need to be hit on the same day as your bench. I’d recommend a heavy session after your heavy bench (A), a medium on your medium (B) bench day and a medium the day after a C workout (after your delt work). In weeks five and six, hit a medium triceps session after your C bench workout (after delts in week five). That’s basically it. This is a tried and trusted routine that will work providing you stick with it religiously.
I’m a competitive powerlifter in my fifties and I could do with a little direction in putting together a steroid cycle that’s both effective and safe. I compete at world championship level (masters), so my lifting is still pretty important to me. Recently, my doctor has expressed concern over my cholesterol levels and has prescribed medication for this (Lovastatin). I’ve put this down to my long history of steroid use (around 25 years, on and off), of which he’s totally unaware (I don’t need another lecture). He tells me that I should also be very concerned, to the point that I should consider hanging up my belt. I’ll do maybe two or three 10-week cycles a year, sticking with products like Testosterone cypionate, Sustenon, Deca, Winstrol, Halotestin, D-bol and occasionally a little Anadrol. I’ll also back a cycle up with HCG and Clomid. Various combinations of these products have worked well for me for years without taking huge dosages. Is there any way that I can continue safely? I’m afraid that safety is pretty much a relative issue here. First off, I need more precise information before I can advise you accurately. I’d need to know your LDL, HDL and triglyceride levels, your bodyweight, your dietary habits and any other pre-existing medical conditions like high blood pressure. Secondly, it’s exactly because of this kind of scenario that I feel it to be improper to just dispense steroid cycles ad infinitum. Forget hanging up your belt; hang up your gung-ho attitude. I’ve certainly known people younger than yourself who ended up in an early grave due to cardiovascular disease that was almost undeniably compounded by steroid use. Don’t be a mug or there’ll come a time when that big squat will seem pretty insignificant next to the prospect of seeing the outside of a hospital again. Now then, on the flip side of the coin, I’ve known lifters who got seriously ill, listened to advice and went on to become better lifters. Many powerlifters out there will be familiar with the name Bill West. Bill has been a good friend of mine for many years. In fact, I even competed against the old codger on a few occasions. At the age of 45, after winning four world titles (in the open category, not the masters!), Bill was admitted to hospital with chest pains. Four days later, he underwent a quadruple heart bypass operation. He wasn’t entirely to be blamed for the circumstances leading up to his unfortunate predicament. Bill came from an era where steak, eggs and gallons of milk were the order of the day, if you wanted to develop superhuman strength that is. This was what the magazines told us; you may remember that era. No sir, there were no exotic whey/casein protein blends or MRPs to boost your results at that time; protein came with saturated fat and plenty of it. That operation took place nine years ago. The hospital organized physiotherapy for Bill and told him not to lift anything heavy. With his own unique sense of humour, Bill countered with, "Well, how the hell am I supposed to take a piss then?" One week after his operation he started his own rehab program. Fifteen months later, he won another British title! Since then, Bionic Billy has gone on to win another eight World titles, making him the only lifter alive to have won twelve World Powerlifting titles. Today, at an age where the only thing that normally goes up without assistance is your hairline, Bill continues to thoroughly piss the rest of us off by making our excuses look lame. Just for the record, at the last World Championships, lifting just outside the 220 lb division (and with the flu), Bill squatted a new Masters World record of 386 kg (851 lb). In his build up, I witnessed him hit 400 kg (881 lbs)! Although Bill has now officially retired, I believe he’ll lift again. Perhaps what’s more significant is that I believe that he never actually hit his peak and that, if he chose to, he could actually come back and win the open division. What you can learn from Bill’s situation is that you must get away from this internal conflict about your lifting. On the one hand, you probably feel worried about your health; after all, you won’t be lifting forever. On the other, you feel that anything you may do to improve your health will make your lifting suffer and it’s too important to you at the moment. In reality, anything that makes you healthier will also make you a better lifter by allowing you to train harder and recover faster. Here are the general recommendations that I’d make for your situation: 1) Short, low dose, recurring cycles are the way to go from now on. Forget long cycles where dosages will likely escalate to potentially harmful levels. 2) Forget HCG. After all these years, the likelihood of your Testosterone levels returning to normal is on par with the chances of you throwing out your lifting suit in favour of spandex. 3) Discontinue the use of orals. I know, I know, I’ve heard it all before about how some orals may benefit certain cardiovascular disorders. Certainly, where occlusive vascular disease is indicated or any form of venous insufficiency (thrombosis, etc), the enhanced fibrinolytic activity may help. Research has often shown that the use of steroids like stanazolol can be of use here. However, as far as I know, this doesn’t apply to you. Bottom line: Oral steroids will lower HDL (good) cholesterol and elevate LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides, and that’s not good! Oral steroids may also interfere with cortisol metabolism, due to competition for the same hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase enzymes. Prolonged elevation of cortisol, as seen post-steroid, can really add fuel to the fire when other cardiovascular risks are present. Once your situation has improved, a short course of oxandrolone the last four to six weeks before a competition won’t do anything to your lipid profile that can’t be reversed a few weeks after cessation. The Japanese steroid, furazabol (Miotolan), would be the ideal choice here. It’s an oral routinely prescribed for hypercholesterolemia. Still, let’s stay in the real world. Who the hell’s got furazabol, right? 4) Consider the other threats to your health from steroid use. Liver damage and prostate problems are also a very realistic threat after such prolonged use. I mentioned oxandrolone in the above paragraph, when, in fact, the lipid profile changes induced by short term use of most orals is usually reversed pretty soon after cessation. The difference between them is how much stress they place on the liver and subsequent impairment. Liver function and cardiovascular health are closely interrelated. Impaired liver function means changes in the metabolism of glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol. Get liver function tests performed regularly and include an ultrasound scan in these, as liver enzymes don’t always tell the whole story. Start taking milk thistle extract whilst on a cycle, as this can minimize steroid-induced changes to lipids. Oh, and by the way, say your last farewells to those Anadrol and Halotestin pills hiding under your bed. As a protective measure for the prostate, PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) levels should be monitored and a prostate examination taken regularly. 5) I think it wise to let your doctor know about your anabolic steroid use. The drug that he’s prescribed you, Lovastatin, belongs to a group of lipid lowering drugs collectively referred to as statins. These drugs place a lot of stress on the liver, as do anabolic steroids. This combination could be another recipe for disaster. Furthermore, you need to check with your doctor if these drugs were the only option open to him. Commonly, doctors prescribe statins for their universal efficacy (they lower LDL and improve coronary heart disease), when in fact, other drugs may have done the job. For example, clofibrate drugs are more effective at reducing triglycerides and raising HDL. One factor that should concern you is the potential impact of lipid lowering drugs on muscle tissue. In rare instances, these drugs are known to induce severe degenerative muscle damage and weakness, the mechanism of these reactions remaining unknown. This effect can also be enhanced when other drugs are used in combination. Who can say what synergism may exist between these drugs and anabolic steroids? 6) If your triglycerides are high, you shouldn’t use Clomid. Estrogen and anti-estrogens, like Nolvadex and Clomid, lower total and LDL cholesterol, but at the expense of increasing triglycerides. In situations like this, temporary use of an anti-aromatase drug, like Arimidex, would probably bring triglycerides back down. As I stated earlier, without the whole picture, I can’t tell you what’s best. This is a very finely balanced scale and there’re still a lot of gaps in our understanding of the subject. 7) All future courses should be built around the use of depot Testosterone preparations stacked with nandrolone. Although some research has indicated that injectable nandrolone may exert a negative impact on lipid profile, where noted, these changes appear to be relatively small and easily reversed. Other studies involving short term use have found no such changes, indicating that this factor is dependant on duration of use. Nandrolone and its reduced metabolite, dihydronandrolone, have a higher affinity for the androgen receptor in prostate tissue than Testosterone and DHT. Yet because they have less activity in these tissues, they probably offer reasonable protection to the prostate during periods of androgen use. Nandrolone products include Deca Durabolin, Durabolin, Dynabolon and nandrolone cypionate (Australia). Testosterone has been shown to decrease total and LDL cholesterol and increase HDL. It’s also known to augment fibrinolytic and anti-thrombin activity, possess anti-anginal effects and positively affect the clotting system. It’s believed that the low to non-existent endogenous Testosterone levels experienced between cycles may serve to up-regulate androgen receptor activity in the prostate. At your point in life, sensible cyclic use of Testosterone may be one of the safest habits you could have. This is all in stark contrast to the previously mentioned negative effects of other anabolics. 8) Start taking a good fish oil supplement high in omega-3 marine triglycerides. There’s plenty of evidence to support the positive influence of these on lipids. Taking vitamin E in conjunction may minimize the risk of aggravating hypercholesterolaemia. 9) Finally, be sure to include some aerobic work in your training schedule from now on. A stationary bike would be your best bet, to minimize any potential joint trauma. I know "aerobic" is a dirty word in powerlifting circles, just like "stretching", "low-fat" or "Ricky Martin", but providing you take care of the other issues, it can only be of benefit to your lifting. If you don’t address the other issues, all the aerobic work in the world won’t save you! Good luck! © 1998 — 2001 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
|
Article Discussions
