Traditional Anabolic Steroids vs. OTC Designers Steroids

Traditional Anabolic Steroids vs. OTC Designers Steroids
by Mike Arnold

It was the late 90’s and the bodybuilding industry had not witnessed any significant supplement breakthroughs since the arrival of creatine in 1993. The market was ripe for someone to come along and rock the ship, as bodybuilders everywhere were clamoring for a new category of supplementation that promised to deliver more than a placebo effect or indigestion. A walk into any GNC of the day was met by aisle upon aisle of weight gainers loaded with sugar, mostly low quality protein powders, and various vitamins & minerals marketed as some exotic super muscle-builder.

Fortunately, a man by the name of Patrick Arnold had not only enough balls, but enough insight and knowledge to push forward into the first “grey area” of supplementation, which would become and remain a dominant force in the bodybuilding marketplace until this very day. Welcome to the Prohormone/Designer steroid industry.

A lot has changed since Pat Arnold brought the first prohormones to market, as we have seen the industry go from selling only marginally effective prohormones to full-blown methylated steroids rivaling and in some cases surpassing the potency of prescription steroids. During this time we have also seen many of our most effective ‘over the counter’ (OTC) products become scheduled as controlled substances by the federal government. Despite this governmental pressure, it has no stopped the supplement industry from continuing to bridge the gap between illegal anabolic steroids and legal designer steroid alternatives.

In recent years the question has been asked as to how our current OTC designers stack up against prescription/blackmarket anabolics. This is a good question and one which bears answering, as we have frequently encountered well meaning, but misguided individuals who provide inaccurate information on this subject. Even today it is not uncommon to read comments similar to the following: “Why buy OTC stuff when you can buy real gear instead” and “Designer steroids are more toxic and less effective than real steroids”. Fortunately, there is more than enough reliable information out there, both scientific and real-world based, that can answer this question.

Before we can go any farther, I need to clear up a long-standing myth which is still held by some in the bodybuilding community and which states that OTC designers are not “real” steroids. Make no mistake about it, designer steroids are 100% real, legitimate anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). As far as both medical science and the government are concerned, the only difference between script and OTC steroids is that OTC steroids have not yet been scheduled as controlled substances. You see, of all the steroids sold today, whether they are OTC, black-market, or prescription, almost all of them were first synthesized, researched, and archived in the late 50’s to mid 60’s, but only a very small percentage of them ever became prescription drugs. It was these prescription drugs which became known as “steroids” to those in the bodybuilding community and general public, while the many other steroids which never saw production just faded into the history of medical literature.

Of the many 100’s of steroids which were never produced, it is from them that the supplement industry has selected our current roster of OTC anabolics. At this point you might be asking “How are these supplement companies able to legally manufacture and sell these products, since they are no different than any other CIII steroid?” Remember, it wasn’t until 1990 that steroids were officially declared to be controlled substances and illegal to possess without a prescription, but this only applied to steroids which were either currently prescribed, or had been prescribed in the past. All of the many 100’s of steroids which had avoided prescription status remained as unscheduled drugs, which meant that anyone was free to possess them without breaking the law. Certainly, I am sure that the government never anticipated that 20 years later we would have supplement companies digging up 50 year old steroid literature and producing the steroids contained within it!

From here, let’s move on and begin comparing some of today’s OTC steroids with our traditional AAS. Since it is not practical or legal for a supplement company to market and sell Injectable AAS to consumers, they have been forced to limit their business to the sale of oral AAS. Since almost all effective oral AAS are methylated (both OTC and otherwise) in order to make them orally bio-available, we will only be comparing OTC orals against prescription/black-market oral.

We will be evaluating the following list of OTC oral AAS (and a few which have been previously banned) and comparing them against some of today’s most popular prescription/black-market oral AAS:

Pheraplex/Madol (desoxymethyltestosterone) Methyltestosterone (methyltestosterone)Turinabol (chlorodehydromethyltestosterone)

The purpose of this comparison is primarily to determine the myotropic ability of these OTC orals in relation to traditional oral AAS. For this reason we will not be exploring the metabolism of these drugs, their toxicity, how they should be administered, etc.

Anabolic Ratings

As you can see when referencing the anabolic ratings listed above, which were taken from Vida’s “Androgens and Anabolic Agents”, it is shown that the anabolic ratings of most of our designer steroids exceed those of our traditional oral AAS. It is important to note that while a drug’s anabolic rating can serve as a guidepost when attempting to ascertain its muscle-building potency, we should never use anabolic ratings alone when coming to these conclusions, as anabolic ratings often do not reflect a drug’s true potential to furnish real-world results per effective dose.

Next we will look at the hypertrophic ability of each drug, per mg. Below I have listed them in descending order of strength, from strongest to weakest.

1.) M1T
2.) Superdrol
3.) Dimethazine
4.) Dianabol
5.) Pheraplex/Anadrol: I was originally planning on placing Pheraplex in the #5 position, but since I know of no one who has used this drug in the 100 mg/day range (with is very common with Anadrol), I had no real-world experiences to reference for comparison. Still, my hypothesis is that Pheraplex would exhibit a greater hypertrophic effect if dosed at equivalent doses of 100 mg/day, although they would likely be very similar to what is experienced with Anadrol.
6.) Epistane
7-10.) In no particular order: The remaining 3 traditional steroids (winstrol, anavar, methyltestosterone, and turinabol) fall into the bottom 3.

Through the evaluation of 1000’s of documented real-world experiences, it is clearly shown that the above ranking system is accurate in its estimation regarding each drug’s myotropic potency per mg. However, we can reference one human study, in which the steroid Dimethazine was compared against Winstrol, Anadrol, and Test propionate.

Please keep in mind that Dimethazine is a very closely related cousin of Superdrol, essentially being nothing more than 2 SD molecules bound together with an azine bond. When Dimethazine is ingested, the azine bond is broken and the 2 SD molecules are released. One of the molecules is released into free circulation as unaltered Superdrol, while the other molecule undergoes some type of enzymatic conversion which is not yet understood. Regardless, the point here is that Dimethazine is the weaker cousin of Superdrol, exhibiting a lesser hypertrophic effect per mg. We can also see this difference in potency alluded to in the anabolic rating chart above, with Superdrol having an anabolic rating of 400 and Dimethazine occupying a spot at 200.

The results of the Dimethazine study confirm that Dimethazine has a more potent myotropic effect, per mg, then Winstrol, Test prop, and even Anadrol, which is widely considered to be one of our most powerful oral AAS. Not only that, but the implications derived from this study allow us to logically deduce how we should rank the rest of the steroids on the list, regarding their myotropic effect per mg. Therefore, with Dimethazine being stronger than even Anadrol, we can automatically place all the other traditional steroids on the list below Dimethazine, Superdrol, and M1T in terms of muscle-building power per mg, as it is well known that drugs such as Anavar, Winstrol, and Methyltestosterone are nowhere near as potent as Anadrol.

Now that we have a frame of reference regarding potency per mg, we can move onto what really matters, which is how these steroids stack up against each other in terms of muscle-building potency per “effective dose”. It is a steroid’s effective dose which determines how much muscle it can potentially build in comparison to another steroid. It doesn’t matter how strong a steroid is per mg if it is so toxic that we can only use it in mcg quantities. There are plenty of steroids out there which demonstrate an anabolic capacity, per mg, which is many times greater than any other steroid ever produced by either a pharmaceutical or supplement company. But… but many of them are so toxic that they cannot be administered in dosages anywhere close to those used with the steroids listed above. We see this occurrence with a steroid like Cheque drops. It is exceedingly potent, yet every bit as toxic, which effectively prevents the drug from being dosed high enough to build any meaningful degree of muscle mass. This is why a drug’s “effective dose” is so vital in determining its true muscle-building potential in the real-world.

Effective Dosing Ranges for OTC & Traditional AAS
1.) M1T: 5-30 mg/day.
2.) Superdrol: 10-40 mg/day.
3.) Dimethazine: 15-45 mg/day.
4.) Dianabol: 20-100 mg/day.
5.) Pheraplex/Anadrol: 20-45/50-100 mg/day.
6.) Epistane: 20-100 mg/day.
7-10.) Anavar, Winstrol, Turinabol, and Methyltestosterone: 40-100/50-100/30-100/20-50 mg/day.

The doses listed above reflect the average dosing range for each AAS, although some individuals will choose to venture outside of these guidelines. In attempting to decide how these drugs rank according to effective dose, anecdotal evidence is crucial in making such a determination. There is not a steroid in existence which has not relied on user experience in order verify potency. With this said, M1T, which enjoyed huge OTC success for a few years in the mid 2000’s, has thus far proven to be the most powerful mass-gaining oral AAS ever produced. Just 30 mg per day of M1T will kick your ass in the gains department (most likely in the side effects department too). Gains of 20+ lbs in 3 weeks were “normal”…making it easily the #1 mass-builder of all-time.

SD ranks 2nd behind M1T, yet each drug affects the user’s appearance so differently from the other, that any comparison between the two is difficult. SD has now been around since 2005 and has sold 10,000’s of bottles from various manufacturers. Users may gain more overall body weight with either Anadrol or SD, but the gains with Anadrol are generally very wet and fleeting, while SD elicits gains which are dry and solid, leading to significantly greater gains retention post-use. This is indicative of a higher percentage of lean mass gained per pound of body weight.

Dimethazine is fairly close to SD in potency and generates nearly identical physical effects. It has been scientifically proven, as stated above, to surpass Anadrol, Test prop, and Winstrol in muscle-building power. At this point, OTC designers have claimed the top 3 spots on the “Most potent oral steroids currently in production” list. You will not find any other steroids currently sold on the black-market or through prescription, which can build more muscle per effective dose (Note: Both M1T & Pheraplex are now banned and can be found through some under ground lab (UGL) distributers).

I am going to cease with the in depth comparisons, as I believe I have adequately made my point, but if I would have continued, it would’ve been revealed that Pheraplex is similar to Dianabol in potency… that Epistane gives results very similar to Anavar (yet builds more muscle per mg)… that Halo Extreme gives nearly identical effects to Turinabol on a mg to mg basis…etc. So, the next time you read on the forums that OTC designers aren’t “real” steroids…or that ”real AAS work better”, you will have enough information in order to dissect and destroy such ignorant arguments.

Note: Some very potent OTC designers, such as Methylstenbolone and Boladrol, were intentionally left out of this article for the sake of time. Additionally, these drugs have much less real-world application at optimal dosages compared to the other drugs on the list. Therefore, I did not feel comfortable assigning them any definitive ranking in relation to the previously mentioned steroids in this article.

View the original article here

8 Anabolic Steroid Rules

8 Anabolic Steroid Rules

Anabolic steroids, technically known as anabolic-androgen steroids (AAS) or colloquially simply as “steroids”, are drugs that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue (anabolism), especially in muscles. Anabolic steroids also have androgenic and virilizing properties, including the development and maintenance of masculine characteristics such as the growth of the vocal cords, testicles, and body hair (secondary sexual characteristics). The word anabolic comes from the Greek ??aß??? anabole, “that which is thrown up, mound”, and the word androgenic from the Greek ??d??? andros, “of a man” + -?e??? -genes, “born”.

Anabolic steroids were first isolated, identified, and synthesized in the 1930s, and are now used therapeutically in medicine to stimulate bone growth and appetite, induce male puberty, and treat chronic wasting conditions, such as cancer and AIDS. The American College of Sports Medicine acknowledges that AAS, in the presence of adequate diet, can contribute to increases in body weight, often as lean mass increases, and that the gains in muscular strength achieved through high-intensity exercise and proper diet can be additionally increased by the use of AAS in some individuals.[1]

Health risks can be produced by long-term use or excessive doses of anabolic steroids[2][3]. These effects include harmful changes in cholesterol levels (increased low-density lipoprotein and decreased high-density lipoprotein), acne, high blood pressure, liver damage (mainly with oral steroids), dangerous changes in the structure of the left ventricle of the heart[4]. Conditions pertaining to hormonal imbalances such as gynecomastia and testicular atrophy may also be caused by anabolic steroids.

Ergogenic uses for anabolic steroids in sports, racing, and bodybuilding are controversial because of their adverse effects and the potential to gain an advantage conventionally considered “cheating.” Their use is referred to as doping and banned by all major sporting bodies. For many years, AAS have been by far the most detected doping substances in IOC-accredited laboratories.[5][6] In countries where AAS are controlled substances, there is often a black market in which smuggled, clandestinely manufactured, or even counterfeit drugs are sold to users.

1. Your off-cycle period should always be at least 6 weeks long

When you ask yourself how long should you be off steroids, there’s a simple rule of thumb that bodybuilders often use. It says that off-cycle period should be as same as the time being on steroids.However most users rather cheat sometimes and don’t stay off of the gear for the recommended time. Sometimes this is due goals forcing the users to return to anabolic steroids as soon as possible in order not to lose gains. When that’s the case, we recommend to stay off of the steroids for at least 6 weeks in order to give the pituitary-axis a chance to rest and to restore the cholesterol levels to more normal levels. During shorter rests between cycles some users take additional herbal supplements to detoxify the digestive system, for example the ESSIAC tea and Milk Thistle.

This combination can give amazing results within just 4-6 weeks. Additionally, usual anti-estrogens should be used. Clomid, Nolvadex and HCG therapy for 4 weeks is somehow a standard with steroid cycles. After that, some take additional Tribulus/DHEA stack of 1250mg/day for 2 weeks together with Saw Palmetto.

Such 6 weeks therapy is done mainly to recover the natural body testosterone production and the cleansing is mostly in order to keep the liver, kidneys, spleen, etc healthy. With therapy like this one, there are many users who have had a good recovery even if still using 100-200mg of Primobolan/week (simultaneously with a recovery cycle like the on mentioned).

2. Injection sites should be rotated

Many steroid users most often find their favorite spot for injection and then use just that one for awhile. Once we’ve had a guy who had a huge skin area with scar tissue on his hip because of injecting over and over again to the same area. Injecting to the same spot can cause abscess and the excessive scar tissue which then makes it more hard to inject into that area again because of the oil dispersion.

Read the section about injecting on our website or get some e-book in our e-books section for more insight on how to properly inject steroids and how to rotate sites.

Most oil based steroids can be drawn up in a 22 gauge needle and normally one inch of length is sufficient. With water based steroids such as Winstrol or Testosterone Suspension, the liquid can easily be injected with a 23-25 gauge needle. Winstrol which comes in multidose vials usually requires a 23 gauge but the Zambon can be taken with a 25 gauge.

A very important rule is also to not inject more than 2ml of a given liquid into the deltoids or other smaller muscles. For higher amounts than 2ml the glutes are more appropriate. Remember to inject at the rate of 1ml every 10 seconds and leave the syringe in for 10 seconds when finished. which will help the oil to disperse and will minimize the quantity of oil which “follows” the syringe out of the injection site when it is pulled out.

3. Do not talk around that you take anabolic steroids

Some guys in your gym may go around and talk loosely to everyone about their steroids usage. When you meet such “big mouth”, always tell him that you are off of everything and training naturally for a while. If you don’t do that, you can be almost sure that because he tells other people about his usage, he will most certantly tell them about your usage too.

Most popular destination for steroid suppliers is USA, however in recent times steroids usage is especially sensitive to illegal activity and it seems that the “ears” are out there and may be watching you, so make sure you know what you tell to whom. Sometimes when our customers try to wire money with Western Union the people at the office can be suspicious, some say that rules about wiring money have changed since 9/11. Also, they may ask you for your occupation. Considering all this, bodybuilders cannot be too careful right now, and that’s another reason why we recommend using credit card payment when buying steroids online which is much more secure. (also, scammers normally cannot offer credit card payment)

A recent arrest of a supplier in Boston published in the newspaper article that local police had noticed his increased muscularity before he was arrested. Apparently, being increasingly muscular and making suspicious moves makes you match a certain profile of an anabolic steroid user.

Make sure that your don’t ever keep your gear where it can be found or “happened” on by anybody in your life. Don’t trust anyone and you will be safe. However, sometimes your partner may know about your usage to better understant your mood swings and libido changes, but you should anyway evaluate very carefully what kind of person are you involved
with. There are women (and men) out there who may turn you in to the authorities for vengeance or some other reason.

4. Always remember your long-term goals

There may come times, when you will want to throw away your reasons of usage and just hit yourself with the high dose you can get. If such moment comes, remember that you have people around you who will need you for awhile, children for example, or your family. Or, you should realize that your health is very precious and fragile, and that although your body is an incredible and durable machine, it always has it’s limitations.

If you will be tempted to sacrifice everything for bodybuilding, you need to remind yourself that to really master something, you have to be in control of it rather than letting it to control you. If used with wisdom, your gear can greatly enhance your life and relationships and can serve as a springboard to other successes. Work hard to keep it that way and you will never have to suffer unmanageability as a result of lopsided values in this sport and from supplementation.

Continue to explore the world of bodybuilding and the juice as a way to life. If one of your long-term goals is to become a professional bodybuilder, then at least balance it out and keep in mind that someday you will still want to retire even if you do achieve a pro card.

5. Help the younger generation to train naturally first

The sport of bodybuilding will stay honorable only if the veteran users help the younger bodybuilders stay off of anabolic steroids until they are at least 25 years old or more.

If you will have young guys asking you if you know about steroids or if you could help them get some, you should always tell them “no” and feel somewhat sad that they feel the need at such a young age to use the gear. You should rather help them explore their natural genetics and use those first. Until someone is trully good at “instinct training” the whole world of steroids use and advanced bodybuilding which comes with it is a dangerous playground.

However, there is a large group of young people right now who don’t even want to train without a steroid cycle. These people are endangering their health and it is important that the law enforcement community sees the veterans collectively as an opposing agency to such foolishness and risk.

Steroid veterans are not just a bunch of “meat heads” with no compassion or concern for the youth. You should not be ashamed to do what is right when the time comes. We also recommend younger users to read literature and e-books available online, written by known steroid veterans. The image and sport of bodybuilding depends largely on what the seasoned veterans do with the knowledge that they have.

Sites such as Steroids-Pharma.com is a perfect example of a professional and organized attempt at caring for the sport and others. We encourage anyone to get knowledge before getting any gear. We attempt to groom the mind of the steroids users in a responsible way. It is an action of community spiritedness, and it defies the reckless endangerment of steroids usage by many of our predecessors and customers who did not have our knowledge. We owe much to the many who went before us as they tested the waters with trial and error.

6. Do not skip visits to your doctor

We can spend hundreds and thousands dollars on cycles in order to look and feel great, but sometimes forget to maintain our inner health and spend some necessary money for health insurance and the required exams, especially the blood tests. It seems that many bodybuilders are just not serious in this department and leave much to chance or leave it to be discovered later when something is already becoming a serious illness.

You should use the old adage which says that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

7. Do not forget the three components of fitness

You will get the most of your anabolic steroids usage when you are balanced in the three standard components of fitness: Cardio-vascular health, muscle strength with endurance, and flexibility. Derious cardio and plenty of stretching will greatly aid you in the overall health when on steroids.

With the increased cardio, your cholesterol levels will be more manageable, and the flexibility of frequent stretching will greatly aid with circulation as well as help to prevent injury. Even when your cholesterol levels are temporarily high after doing a cycle, they are very quickly brought back to normal with right nutrition and aggressive cardio workouts. Also, you should look for lean, more expensive cuts of meat and fish at all times.

With regard to flexibility, we recommend our customers to stretch at least three times each week for 20 minutes each time. It is also important to hold your each stretch for at least 20 seconds at a time because durations less than that are only good to make the muscle contract and tighten up, thus being counterproductive to flexiblity and injury prevention. But when you hold a stretch steadily for 20 seconds or more, you will feel a slow release and stretching of the muscle begin to happen. This is correct stretching at its best and is always what you should aim for.

8. Do not become lazy or disorganized

When we seek an answer to question of getting big, looking good and feeling great, then anabolic steroids are only part of the answer.

Some guys have had incredible cycles of expensive gear but they were just not getting that look that you would expect. If we explore such cases, we would find out that they were not eating enough of the right calories or the right amount of calories. Or they were not sleeping enough. Or they were not drinking enough water (most of your muscle volume is made of water). Or they were just not training hard enough.

Such people want to make the anabolics do all the work for them. Many had done little or no research at all about training with steroids (again, we recommend reading some e-books). This is lazy training and will rob you of potential gains.

While injecting illicit drugs gives the greatest rush and most intense high, it is also by far the riskiest way to take drugs. This information is strictly for users who insist on injecting their drugs.

There will always be much less risk of overdose, infections and health problems with alternatives to injecting, such as smoking, snorting, shafting and swallowing. If you do insist on injecting, we recommend you follow this guide to minimize the chances of HIV, hepatitis C, dirty hits and vein problems.

Your preparation area

This should be a nice private area. Clean your preparation area, hands and spoon with soap or detergent in warm water. If the preparation area is very dirty, one alternative could be to lay down fresh sheets of newspaper.
Getting ready

Hopefully you have access to new fits, swabs, sterile or boiled water, filter and your own tourniquet. If you don’t have access to warm soapy water, you can also swab your spoon, fingers and preparation area. Remember to only wipe once, in one direction only! Otherwise you just move nasties like bacteria around with the spoon. Then let the alcohol dry as it is the drying that kills the bacteria.

Mixing up before injecting

Don’t share any of your equipment with others, including your tourniquet. Now you are ready to draw some sterile or boiled water into your fit. Put this water on the spoon with your mix. Remember to swab the implement you use to mix with. Take the filter that came in your sharps kit and place it in the spoon. The ideal is a wheel filter, especially if you are injecting pills.

Should you heat your mix?

Some users still heat their mix before injection, although there a few health issues and it is simply better to avoid heating your mix.

Why do people do it? Usually it is to help dissolve the mix. But if it isn’t dissolving properly without heat, then it shouldn’t really be going into your body! Some users think heating the mix will kill bacteria, but you actually need to boil them for five minutes at high temperature to kill most of them, something you don’t want to do to your mix!

So why is heating your mix bad for you? Heating your mix helps to dissolve impurities in your mix so that they can do more harm to your body. If you are injecting pills, heat will melt the wax which may reform inside your veins. Also, a heated mix can do extra damage to your veins.

Your options? If your mix doesn’t dissolve well, then filter it through a 0.2 micron wheel filter and inject away. Otherwise, consider alternatives to injecting such as swallowing the mix, or shafting it. Shafting means taking the needle off the syringe and putting the mix up your arse. Unlike swallowing, it can give a fairly good rush as the anus is lined with many blood vessels to absorb the drug rapidly.

Injection

Draw the mix into your fit and remove any air bubbles by flicking the barrel with the needle pointed upwards. At the same time, gently push the plunger to expel any air.

Wipe across your injection site once with a clean swab, then place your tourniquet on above the injection site. Remember not to overtighten or leave it on for too long.

Make sure the needle’s hole is facing upward then ease the needle into the vein at a gentle 30 degree angle. Make sure the needle is going in the same direction as the blood flow.

Pull the plunger back a little (‘jack back’) to see if you are in the vein. Blood should appear in the barrel of the syringe if you have.

Finishing up after injecting

Take the tourniquet off and gently press the plunger. If it hurts or there is pressure against the plunger, stop immediately as you have missed the vein or possibly gone through the vein completely.

Once done, remove the fit and keep a clean tissue or cotton wool against the injection site for as long as possible, to prevent bleeding. Don’t use a swab, as alcohol prevents the blood from clotting.

Dispose of injecting gear using your sharps bin.

Some common injection myths

Don’t lick the needle tip. You might save a tiny part of your shot but pick up heaps of bacteria that could really mess you up. If injecting heroin, you hardly save anything as the stomach breaks most of it down anyway.

Don’t lick the injection site. Your saliva will not clean the site, but only lay down a heap of bacteria that may get into your bloodstream. Use swabs!

Don’t flush. ‘Flushing,’ ‘booting,’ and ‘kicking’ are terms which refer to drawing blood back into the syringe after injection, in an attempt to ensure that no drugs are wasted by being left in the hub of the syringe. The tiny amount you might save has to be weighed against the extra damage to the vein it can cause.

View the original article here