Ask any anabolic steroid user and the strong majority will tell you nothing on this earth beats a good testosterone cycle. In many cases testosterone is the only hormone used during an anabolic steroid cycle, especially regarding first time users. Further, in most cases, even if multiple hormones are being used the testosterone hormone will be the base and foundation of the cycle. As we will see testosterone is one of the more versatile hormones and generally very well-tolerated; further, most will find it essential to their health when supplementing with anabolic steroids. As a versatile hormone we find the hormone also provides nearly every benefit anyone could ever be after; is it the perfect steroid; maybe, if not, all things considered it is about as close as you can get.
For the first time anabolic steroid user a simple testosterone cycle is generally recommended. It is important to start with one single hormone at a time to gauge your reaction properly and as testosterone is one of the safer yet provides a powerful punch it is a fine place to start. In most cases a simple single long ester testosterone will be used, Testosterone-Cypionate and Testosterone-Enanthate are both fine choices; in-fact, even for the advanced testosterone cycle many will find these two forms to be all they ever really need. A solid newbie testosterone cycle will generally consist of 400mg-500mg of testosterone per week; in most cases, two injections each week on the same days each week of equal dosing will suffice. For example, for a 400mg per week cycle, if one is supplementing with Testosterone-Cypionate that is dosed at 200mg/ml as it most commonly is, an injection on Monday of 200mg and an injection on Thursday of 200mg will be perfect. Such a testosterone cycle can be useful and very effective for almost any purpose, cutting or bulking and in many cases this will be all the testosterone some will ever need. Regardless of ones purpose 12-16 weeks of use is normally recommended.
If you tolerate the newbie testosterone cycle well yet desire a little more you may find higher doses of the 750mg-1,000mg per week range to be in order. Keep in mind, this is by no means a necessity; you may simply stay in the 500mg per week range and add other anabolic steroids to form a good stack but some will inevitably want a little more. The same protocol can be followed from above; the only difference is in the total dose in each injection, thereby reaching a higher total weekly dose. Again, such a cycle can be perfect for cutting and bulking.
An advanced testosterone cycle for bulking is generally reserved for the extremely hardcore; were talking about men who live and breathe performance in every aspect of their waking life. For these men dosing will be at a minimum of 1,000mg per week often stretching as high as 2,000mg per week; in competitive bodybuilding circles 1,750mg per week is very common place as this is simply one amp of Testosterone-Enanthate per day. Yes, at the extreme elite level the dose may be even higher but it is our opinion that the 1,750mg per week range is all that could ever really be needed, assuming the individual is doing everything else right. Generally speaking such testosterone cycles will run for approximately 16-24 weeks and at the end of this period the individual may not necessarily come off. Many men will simply drop down to a therapeutic level dosing for a few weeks before they begin another bulking phase or as is common, ease into their contest cycle.
For the contest ready bodybuilder, this will generally be a testosterone cycle reserved for him and he will find dosing to be generally the same as his off-season bulking testosterone cycle with a few exceptions. Many men will drop their total milligrams per week down a little bit as the show gets a little closer; it depends on the guy and how well he responds and how much or little water he holds due to the hormones presence. In any case, most will inject on an every other day to every day basis rather than a couple injections per week in order to ensure they are keeping their testosterone levels at their absolute peak max. It does not matter if theyre using long or short ester based testosterone, most will stay on a very frequent injection schedule and if you are at this level yourself yet have never tried such a schedule it is highly recommended; you will notice a big difference.
As we only recommend cycles that include testosterone, when we end our testosterone cycle this assumes all other anabolic androgenic steroids have been discontinued as well. At this point it is time to begin and complete a Post Cycle Therapy (PCT) plan. The PCT plan will aid in stimulating your natural testosterone production again, as it has been suppressed while you were on cycle. When you end your cycle, the esters that you were using will largely determine when your PCT plan should begin. For example, if your cycle ends with long ester testosterone you will wait approximately 2 weeks before beginning PCT therapy. If your cycle ends with short ester testosterone you will begin your PCT program a mere few days after your last injection. For this reason, many may find it very useful to end all of their cycles with Testosterone-Propionate (this does not apply to the newbie.) If you end your cycle with Testosterone-Propionate, say the last 3-4 weeks and the last 3-4 weeks ended with all other anabolic steroids being of a short ester nature, we can start PCT much sooner. The sooner we begin our PCT the faster well recover and the faster we recover the more gains we will hang onto and the healthier well be.
