Beginner Cycles

Below are 7 Beginner stacks. I think the best first cycle to run is a Test Enan only cycle at 500mg per week for about 10 weeks and see what the results are like. After that you can start playing around with stacks and dosages and what not. The biggest thing to keep in mind when starting out and planning any stack is to only make one change per cycle so you know what works and what doesn't. If you make a number of different changes from one cycle to the next, you won't know what works and what doesn't.

These cycles were designed with a few different things in mind. The first thing was to make them as simple as possible. You will notice they are fairly short cycles and usually don't require more than 1 injectable at a time. The doses are lower as there is no need to use high doses if you are just a beginner.

The first cycle is a 10 week Dbol/Deca mass builder. The Deca only needs to be administered once a week and there requires a lower frequency of injections because the Test and Deca could me mixed into one shot. This would be a nice and mild second cycle. If you were unable to find Deca at this dosage, which is usually a Vet Grade dosage, I would split the injections into two per week.


The second cycle is a 7 week oral only cycle. This would be for someone afraid of needles and nor liver toxic orals. Quite frankly, if you are afraid of either of these, I don't think you should even be considering using steroids, but some people like to do an oral only for their first time around and then blossom from there. This is by far the most costly cycle of this group. More Primo could be used, to a dosage of 100-150 mg, if available.


The third is an 11 week Cutting/Lean Mass cycle. This is an extremely effective lean mass building/cutting cycle. The Proviron adds good androgen content to the nandrolone base, which is often too anabolic to use on it's own. The winni, added later, greatly enhances the fat burning and anabolic nature of the combination.


The fourth is a 7 week Cutting cycle. This is a basic but very efficient cutting stack. This combo provides zero estrogen, and is only moderately androgenic in nature. These should elicit low sides and solid results.

The fifth is an 8 week Cutting cycle. This is a potent cutting/hardening cycle. Don't let the low doses fool you. These are three very active steroids, and the combination is sure to provide quite a pronounced effect.

The sixth is probably the most advanced cycle of the group. It's a 14 week Mass Builder comprised of three different injectables. This is an excellent bulking cycle based on Vet Grade and/or UGL steroids. The Tren helps to harden up the gains, and the use of only 250mg of Testosterone and 200mg of Deca should keep estrogen levels from getting too far out of hand.

The seventh and final stack of the beginner group is an 11 week Mass Builder. This is a basic Test/Equipoise stack. The Equipoise allows for an overall lower dosage of testosterone, without sacrificing much in terms of expected gains. Estrogen buildup should be controllable with this stack, yet still should reach a point where it is aiding in the promotion of an anabolic state. This is a great muscle-building beginners stack.

Intermediate Cycles

These stacks were designed with the intent of keeping a cycle within a 4 month time period, using no more than 2 injectables and keeping dosages moderate enough to keep the cost reasonable.

The first cycle is an 8 week Mass Building stack. This is the classic Andro/Test stack. If you are looking for sheer mass, you are not going to find a better mix with only 1 injectable and 1 oral. Estrogenic side effects are likely to be intense with this so it would be a good idea to have Nolvadex or Arimidex close by. This would be good as a second cycle for someone. It's simple and short which is perfect for someone who isn't very experienced with steroids.


The second is a 9 week Mass Builder. This cycle is designed to maximize the level of free testosterone in the body. Proviron competitively inhibits both estrogen aromatization and testosterone to SHBG binding, and Winni adds the androgen-induced lowering of binding protein levels. Gains with this stack should be leaner than the Test/Andro cycle, as there is less of an estrogenic component.


The third is an Equipoise/Suspension cycle. This is an excellent rapid lean mass building stack. An aromatase inhibitor may be needed during the first 6 weeks, otherwise the remaining 6 (unless you are very sensitive to estrogen) should entail low enough estrogen levels to dramatically increase hardness and definition. This is a combination building/cutting cycle. I ran this as my 3rd cycle I think. It was a long time ago but I remember getting very dense and hard off this one. This would be good before a contest with a continuance of Suspension after the administration of Winni. I would also probably take a few weeks off of orals after the Winni and then throw in some Halo for an even more dramatic vascular look right before a contest.


The fourth is a 15 week Mass Builder. This is an excellent lean bulking cycle, with only periodic use of orals. The Deca will serve as a bridge between both treatment periods, giving the liver time to detoxify. This cycle pushes the limits of growth, but does so without pushing the limits of safety. I have run this cycle myself and loved it. It was an easy one to keep track of and the gains were steady and constant. The Drol in the beginning helps jump start everything as the Deca and Test Cyp both take a while to get going.

Advanced Cycles

Below are some cycles I have come up with or seen that have been designed for the Advanced user. I would direct that an advanced user would be someone who has 6-8 well planned and disciplined cycles under their belt.

The first is a 24 week Lean Mass cycle. I have run this one before and kept a good majority of the muscle I added. The biggest downside was the price. With the amount of substances and the dosages and durations, it is a very expensive cycle. This is an excellent half-year lean mass building stack. It was designed with a focus on the periodic use of orals, bridged with injectable compounds, to minimize the chance for liver toxicity.

The second cycle is a 15 Week Cutting cycle. This is an extremely potent cutting stack. You may find a need to add in small doses of T3. However, most will find the low GH dose and thermogenic adjunct of Clenbuterol to work excellent for cutting alone. EQ is the only aromatizable steroid used, and adds little estrogen when accompanied by Proviron to inhibit aromatase.

Cycling Like a Pro

Obviously, the bigger you are, the more stuff you can put in your body. It's not always necessary, but that tends to be the trend. I have seen the numbers on some cycles that different pro's have ran. Most had some insane numbers and extremely complex stacks, but a few appeared to be fairly low dosed and somewhat normal to what you would see among experienced amateur bodybuilder's.

I will list four of the pro cycles I have read about and seen. All of these cycles were pre-contest cycles. I would imagine cycles these guys would have run in the off season would be a little different but not by much.

The biggest point I would like to make here is that in no way shape or form should anyone run a cycle like these unless you are VERY serious about wanting to compete or are currently competing. If your body hasn't been primed to handle loads like this, it could very easily shut down on you.

The first cycle is a 10 week cycle that was ran by Andreas Munzer right before he died. I would like to make it very clear that most of the pro's don't even use dosages this high. These are, by far, the highest dosages, and most complex stacks I have ever seen. This, combined with extreme dieting and fluid restrictions, can be very dangerous. None of the substances used, were directly linked to his death, however, I would be willing to put some money on it that they would have been, had there been an autopsy.

Weeks 1-10:

Ephedrine

Aspirin

Clenbuterol

Valium

Captagon

Cytomel

Weeks 1-5:

Test Enan - 500mg daily

Parabolan - 152mg daily

Dianabol - 150mg daily

Halotestin - 150mg daily

HGH - 20iu daily

Insulin - 20iu daily

Weeks 6-8:

Masteron - 300mg daily

Parabolan - 152mg daily

Winni Tab - 250mg daily

Halotestin - 150mg daily

Winni Depot - 50mg daily

HGH - 24iu daily

Weeks 9-10:

Masteron - 200mg daily

Winni Depot - 100mg daily

Halotestin - 200mg daily

Winni Tab - 400mg daily

HGH - 24iu daily

Insulin - daily

IGF-1 - daily

Days 1-3 leading up to show:

Aldactone, Lasix to cut water

The second cycle is a 12 week pro-level bulking cycle. The doses in this cycle are of normal expectations. I have personally used dosages in this range and tend to benefit the most from dosages such as these.

The third cycle is a 12 week pro-level cutting cycle. This cycle has the same characteristics as the one above but is designed for cutting.

The fourth cycle is a two-phase pre-contest cycle. The first phase being eight weeks of bulking and the second phase being 9 weeks of cutting. The stacks are fairly complex, but the dosages are fairly low when consider this was an IFBB pro. This just goes to show that you don't necessarily need high doses to get the job done.

Phase I/Bulking:

Phase II/Cutting:

Laws, Legalities & Customs

So I'm sure by now, everyone and their mother knows Anabolic Steroids are illegal. This includes most everything that goes along with a steroid cycle such as HGH, anti-estrogens, etc. Anabolic steroids are classified as a Schedule III controlled substance. The funny thing about it is that they were legal until 1991 when the government decided to create another thing to make money off of by making arrests and charging fines. The Anabolic Steroids Control Act was enacted in 1991 which made steroids illegal even though the American Medical Association, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Drug Enforcement Agency all apposed the move. So what was their reasoning behind this? No one really knows or can give a concrete answer.

This all came about after the 1988 Olympics when Canada's Ben Johnson beat America's Carl Lewis in the 100 meters and later tested positive for steroids. Until then, no one had any issues with steroids in the legal sense. They were banned in the Olympics and in other various sports organizations such as the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, etc but there were no restrictions for the average Joe who lived in BFE Montana who wanted to put on a little size. But times have changed and laws are laws so there's no point in sulking about it. The only thing to do is figure out how to get around the laws and find the loop holes.

Most steroids are brought into the country via Mexico or Europe. There used to be a ton of Under Ground Labs all throughout the US until the government set up a couple of major stings that pretty much ended that entire industry. And because of this, it's a lot harder to get a hold of steroids now days.

One of the loop holes has come in the form of research laboratories. These are companies that make different chemicals, mostly anti-estrogens, fertility drugs, weight loss drugs, etc., that are illegal but because they are produced for research purposes only, they are legal to buy and posses. They usually come in the form of liquid sub-lingual drops, meaning you take it orally and let it absorb through your mouth, and are effective and legit.

The only other loop hole to obtain a steroid legally without a prescription would be Trenbolone Acetate in the form of cattle implants. You can buy these cattle implants from online veterinary stores, or livestock businesses if you live in a rural area. The two most common brands are Finaplix-H and Component-T. They are legal to purchase and posses but illegal to use in any manner other than the implantation of cattle. What steroid users do is break down the pellets into a liquid and let it separate from the solids (glue and binders) and then extract the liquid which is the Trenbolone Acetate and filter it and then inject it. The down side to all of this is that once you start tampering with the Finaplix or Component-T its considering manufacturing of a controlled substance and you will be looking at substantial jail time and fines if caught.

I have also seen "Paper Anabolics" which are different types of oral steroids that are absorbed into blotter paper. These are Customs worst nightmare. The way in which they are manufactured is very innovative. The raw steroid is mixed with alcohol and put in a tub. the blotter paper is then soaked in the tub and hung to dry. Once all the alcohol evaporates you are left with paper containing 100% of the pure steroid it was soaked in. The only down side to paper anabolics is that it's very hard to get a good consistency. But it's next to impossible fr customs to detect. The price for paper steroids is about the same as it wold be to purchase the pills. However, there aren't a lot of places out there that carry them.

Another method of packaging I have see that was pretty slick was to put the liquids in small 5ml satchels that look like big ketchup packets. This makes them easy to get through Customs as they don't have a defined shape with metal and glass like a vial would. They are the same price as normal liquids but the one downside is that the company that makes them tends to mix their products with a fairly high Benzyl Alcohol (BA) content so it can make for a painful injection a couple days after shooting it.

Lastly, make sure anyone who lives with you doesn't know that you have steroids there or make sure they know to tell law enforcement they knew nothing about it to keep them out of trouble should you get busted. Steroids are fairly easy to conceal, considering they come in small packages and they don't put off any kind of odor that a drug dog could pick up on and law enforcement does have some limitations physically that hinder them from looking in certain spots. If you are creative enough and don't have a lot to conceal, you should have no problem coming away from a raid unscathed.

Dieting For Cycles

There are a few simple rules I follow when dieting whether I'm on cycle or off. The first rule is to eat every few hours and make sure I get an ample amount of protein in each of those meals. The second is to eat as little fat as possible. Unsaturated fat isn't so much of a big deal as saturated fat is. But if you keep your overall fat intake as low as possible, your saturated intake will be low as well. Third is to moderate my carb intake and eat the majority of my carbs for breakfast and pre-workout. I once saw an interview with Ronnie Coleman. He was 6 weeks out from the Olympia and was only consuming about 200 grams of carbs per day! You don't need to go to that extreme, but it just goes to show that you don't need to eat some of these insane amounts I hear people say to eat pre-workout and what not.

Some of the basic foods to keep in mind while trying to build lean mass and drop fat weight at the same time are, fish and chicken. They contain a good amount of protein, have little to no carbs and little to no fat.

I don't necessarily keep a super strict diet unless I'm prepping for a show, but a lean mass diet for me would consist of baked chicken and fish, goulash, spaghetti with meat and sauce, chicken and pasta, Tuna Helper, lasagna, cottage cheese, enchilada's, chicken and dumplings, Mac and cheese w/ tuna and long grain wild rice. I won't eat anything that's fried or anything with a lot of cheese on it. I eat little to no sweets or deserts and won't drink any pop or fruit juices. These are just some examples showing that you can eat "normal" foods while on a cycle and cutting fat at the same time your are building lean mass.

If you were to be running Insulin, you would obviously need to make some adjustments as to when you are eating certain foods while the slin is active in your body, but I will still eat the items listed above while including slin in my cycle.

One major change that needs to occur when on a mass cycle is an increase in daily caloric intake. For example, when I'm off cycle I will usually eat about 2300 cal's a day. Of which, most of that is protein followed closely by carbs and then a very small amount of fat. When I am on a bulking cycle, I am usually consuming around 5000 cal's a day. Again this is high in protein, moderate in carbs and almost no fat. It's not an easy thing to do physically, because there are times when I feel full, yet I know I need to get in another meal. So it takes a lot of dedication and will power to keep pushing through the tough times. I think that's the difference between those of us who compete, and those just trying to improve their appearance. We who compete, view it as our lifestyle and a mission and will do whatever we need to do to be the best.

Lastly is weight gainer and protein shakes. These two items have their place in a diet, but shouldn't comprise the majority of the protein or calories taken in on the diet. I try to get as much of my protein and cal's though actual food. I do, always, include these two things in my diet in one way or another though.

Workout Adjustments For Being On/Off Cycle

Keeping in mind that steroids help your body recover faster from intense training, you can obviously workout harder and more often when on cycle as apposed to when your off. There is a point where you can go overboard though. This point varies from person to person and is also influenced by the substances you are using in your cycle as well as the dosages you are running.

If your diet is in check, the sky is pretty much the limit of how quickly and to what extent you can grow. Depending on what kind of workout scheme I am following at the time, I usually will fit in one more workout per week, per body part than when off cycle and I will go 100% on every workout. That's a general rule of thumb for me, and a very broken down way of explaining it. The way in which I set up my workouts is very complex and takes a long time to do as well as requires a lot of experience so you know your body's limits and thresholds.

There are some good workouts on the Internet you can find if you know what to look for. I used to be a personal trainer, so I use a lot of what I learned from back then and apply it to the workouts I design now. You don't necessarily need all that knowledge to design a good workout, but it helps a great deal. I've seen people that don't know their head from their ass in terms of building workouts that can follow some simple guidelines and make great gains from a cycle.
The first rule is heavy weight and low reps (2-4) will build strength and explosiveness. Medium weight and medium reps (8-12) will build mass. And low weight with high reps (14-18) will build muscular endurance. Keeping those three main rep ranges in mind, you can make a simple yet effective workout regimen with little effort spent.