Keeping Gains After Steroid Cycle: How to Safely Do It
What’s the point of using steroids if you’re not going to keep the gains from your cycle?
Why look great for a few months if you’re going to be the size of your Nan afterward?
…and if you do get smaller, expect every member of your family/friends to point this out to you.
But don’t worry, young padawan; there are steroids that can provide you with long-term gains even after you’ve stopped cycling that substance.
Gains from ALL cutting steroids are 100% permanent. In brief, eliminating steroids will help you shed a lot of fat and keep it off.
What’s the point of using steroids if you’re not going to keep the gains from your cycle?
Why look great for a few months if you’re going to be the size of your Nan afterward?
…and if you do get smaller, expect every member of your family/friends to point this out to you.
But don’t worry, young padawan; there are steroids that can provide you with long-term gains even after you’ve stopped cycling that substance.
Gains from ALL cutting steroids are 100% permanent. In brief, eliminating steroids will help you shed a lot of fat and keep it off.
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Anvarol by Crazy Bulk
- Increases power and strength during workouts significantly
- Capability to exercise for longer periods of time and at a higher intensity
- Reduce calories and fat while retaining lean muscle and avoiding water retention.
- Increase the visibility of veins
Best Steroids to Keep Gains (After a Cutting Cycle)
- Anavar
- Clenbuterol
- Winstrol
(Winstrol is the only steroid on this list that will provide considerable gains in lean muscle mass.)
The debate concerning permanent and transitory improvements mainly revolves around bulking steroids.
Many people who use bulking steroids look enormous on-cycle but shrink thereafter. This is due to certain steroids producing water retention, which causes the muscles to temporarily fill up with water (appearing fuller than usual), which will diminish post-cycle.
So, if you want to preserve all of your muscle and power gains, you should use ‘dry steroids,’ which are steroids that do not cause water retention.
By using steroids that do not induce excessive fluid retention, you will know that if you gain 30 pounds, you will keep the majority of it. Alternatively, if you take a ‘wet steroid’ like Anadrol in large doses, you may gain 50 pounds yet lose half of that weight after you stop using it.
Best Steroids to Keep Gains (After a Bulking Cycle)
- Testosterone
- Trenbolone
When contrast to other bulking medications like as dianabol and anadrol, testosterone has low water retention. Similarly, trenbolone will not lead you to retain any water weight, which means you will retain nearly all of your gains when bulking.
Trenbolone is a diuretic, thus you will lose water weight when cycling this steroid. As a result of increased intracellular water retention, your strength and muscular fullness may actually rise after using tren.
Test and Tren are both extremely effective bulking steroids that can help you seem shredded while increasing size…rather than fat and bloated.
Which Steroids Will Keep you From “Shrinking” Post-Cycle?
If you don’t want to shrink, stay away from steroids that slow you down and lead you to retain a lot of water.
Here is a list of the most popular steroids used today, as well as how good/bad they are at retaining ALL of your gains:
- Anadrol – Poor
- Dianabol – Moderate
- Deca – Moderate
- Testosterone – Good
- Trenbolone – Very Good
Although taking anadrol will cause you to shed some visible size/mass, you will build a lot of lean muscle.
Tips to Keep Gains Post-Cycle
Taking a PCT (post-cycle therapy) is a practice that some bodybuilders employ in order to successfully retain gains from a cycle. A PCT is also used to return a person’s hormones to normal when their testosterone levels have been lowered.
If a steroid user does not go on an excessive cycle with high doses, they can avoid using a PCT and keep the majority of their gains. However, if you’ve just finished a particularly aggressive cycle with strong steroids (tren, anadrol), a PCT may be a smart idea.
A typical PCT treatment includes taking natty testosterone enhancers like d-aspartic acid, tongkat ali, or/and maca. Bodybuilders use them to restore natural testosterone levels to normal levels.
When your testosterone production is truly shut down, you may experience exhaustion, less energy, decreased sex drive, and a general sense of depression.
Post Cycle Therapy (PCT)
If you intend to use prohormones or anabolic steroids, you must understand how to conduct an efficient PCT (post cycle therapy).
What is post-cycling therapy? And why do we require it?
A PCT is frequently added after a steroid cycle has ended. This is an important time for a bodybuilder because anabolic hormone levels (such as testosterone) are often shut down at this point. The goal of a post cycle therapy plan is to reduce estrogen levels while increasing testosterone production to normal levels.
Low testosterone levels, as you’re presumably aware, might make it increasingly difficult to retain gains in strength or size following your steroid cycle. Low T levels might also have a bad impact on your overall mood and well-being.
Failure to use an effective PCT may result in less total improvements. Running diligent PCTs, on the other hand, can help you retain the mass you earned during your cycle (for years to come). In general, the longer you are off a steroid, the more difficult it is to maintain gains.
What PCT Supplements Are There?
An effective PCT supplement is one that naturally enhances testosterone levels while decreasing estrogen levels.
Muscle healing, hormone balance, fat loss, your health, training intensity, and libido will all benefit from these supplements.
Natural Testosterone Boosters
During a PCT, any supplement containing D-aspartic acid or tribulus terrestris may be beneficial. D-aspartic acid is an amino acid that has been shown in multiple trials to boost natural testosterone levels.
Tribulus terrestris has also been shown to have a significant impact on DHT levels (which is actually more anabolic than regular testosterone).
Tribulus consumers also claim an increase in libido after using this herb. According to research, tribulus also contains renal and liver protecting properties.
However, these test-boosting components may not work for everyone, so some users may turn to stronger medicines like clomid or nolvadex.
What if I don’t run a PCT?
Some people can avoid using a PCT and still maintain the majority of their gains, but if you want to be as large, strong, and healthy as possible, a PCT is required. This also increases the value of your cycle, as steroids aren’t exactly cheap.
If you do not use a PCT, it may take many months for your hormone levels to restore.
A well-thought-out and planned PCT, on the other hand, can greatly speed up this process and restore your normal hormone function much faster.
That’s not to imply that running a PCT is simple; because everyone is different, it takes a lot of trial and error with different supplements to discover how they effect your testosterone production. However, after a few PCTs, you should be able to tell which supplements are working for you.
How to Plan Your Post Cycle Therapy?
The first thing you should look for is a SERM.
Clomid and Nolvadex are two good examples of selective estrogen receptor modulators.
These are prescription medications used to help restore healthy testosterone levels. Clomid and Nolva are not used to produce new gains; rather, they are used to maintain the gains you already have.
Do not mix up the terms SERM and SARM.
SARM is an abbreviation for selective androgen receptor modulator. These are medicines that work like moderate anabolic steroids, and you should avoid taking them post-cycle since they inhibit test production (contrary to what some people say).
A SERM works by activating the pituitary gland, which causes more luteinizing hormone to be released.
This means that your testes will begin to produce more testosterone.
Inhibitor of Aromatase
In addition to an effective SERM, you may require an aromatase inhibitor.
AIs will prevent testosterone from being converted to estrogen. This is especially important post-cycle, when estrogen levels are sky high and testosterone levels have plunged.
AIs are effective PCT supplements as well as steroid cycle supplements. In brief, AIs are the greatest approach to keep your estrogen levels under control so you may continue to appear and feel like a male. AIs should be the first supplement on your PCT shopping list if you have gyno throughout your cycle.
Letrozole is one of the better AI supplements.
Letrozole has been shown to reduce estrogen levels by 98%, which is extremely remarkable. Because of its significant effect on estrogen levels, it has been used successfully to treat breast cancer.
Letrozole is also rather inexpensive, costing roughly $30 each pill.
After you stop taking AIs, your hormone function will return to normal, which means your estrogen levels will not be shut down or increase to dangerous levels. It is advisable not to drink alcohol when taking AIs because it can elevate estrogen levels, masking the effects of letrozole.
PCT Health Benefits
A PCT is required not just for optimum growth, but also to restore your health.
A steroid user destroys their body with each cycle, thus it’s vital that they recuperate in between cycles if they wish to continue taking steroids for an extended period of time.
PCTs can aid in the recovery of a person’s liver, the improvement of their immune system, and the preservation of fertility.
Failure to care for various organs and systems in the body might lead to liver failure, cancer, or infertility later in life.
Are ALL Post Cycle Therapies Safe?
This is a frequently asked question.
The entire purpose of a PCT is to improve your health.
However, some post-cycle therapy protocols will be unsafe, implying that they are ineffective PCTs. Some males utilize harmful medicines in an attempt to maintain gains during a PCT, but their health deteriorates even further.
However, if you stick to the vitamins indicated in this article, your health will be safe and improved. If you’re thinking of taking prohormones or another harsh chemical during a PCT, don’t. It is not worth jeopardizing your health for minor rewards.