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Empirical and anecdotal evidence clearly show that steroids are most
effective and safest when they are used in
a logical sequence referred to as a cycle. The term cycle is commonly used
by athletes to refer to the time they
are on steroids.
An average on cycle is usually from 6 to 12 weeks. An average off cycle,
which is the time off of the steroids,
should be at least 10 to 12 weeks. This pattern is needed to minimize side
effects associated with long term steroid
use. It is felt that doing just 2 cycles a year is best to keep side effects
to a minimum. In the off cycle period,
the user is allowing the body to restore its natural hormonal patterns and
to recover from any stress that occurred
during the cycle. Cycling steroids is also important to insure their
effectiveness. If a person stays on a steroid for
too long, receptor sites will fail to recognize it. This attenuation is not
experienced if cycles are done properly.
Some evidence supports keeping cycles fairly short; about two months in
length or less. Recent evidence has shown
that receptor down regulation, which is a decrease in the amount of a
steroid being picked up by a cell,
occurs in as little as 3 weeks. Also shown was that the positive nitrogen
balance, a primary anabolic indicator
of a steroid, will not exist if the dosage is not continually increased.
This is also due to the fairly rapid and
progressive loss of sensitivity of receptors to exogenous steroids. With
cycles of excessive duration, the receptor
site gets so over stimulated by exogenous steroids, that it can even fail to
respond to endogenous androgens.
A person in this state could use huge dosages and still not get any results.
This explains a great deal of logic
behind some of the cycle patterns commonly used today. The wiser athletes
put every bit of knowledge they have into designing their cycles. One of the
cycles gaining in popularity is the 3 week blitz. In this cycle, the athlete
uses
each drug for three weeks at a time. The idea here is the steroid will not
suppress the androgen receptors in
just 3 weeks, resulting in only slight impairment of receptor functions
versus the degree of attenuation that
is experienced if one drug were taken for a long period of time. Another
cycle pattern which goes on the same
premise as the 3 week blitz, is the double mini-cycle. In this cycle, 2-3
steroids are taken in a certain combination
for 6 weeks, then a 2 week off cycle is taken before coming back to another
6 week cycle of the same,
or more favorably, 2 different steroids. After this second cycle, an off
period of at least 2 months is taken.
A familiar cycle pattern is the diamond. This one starts with a minimal
dosage of one or more steroids, increases
for several weeks and then decreases for several weeks in an attempt to
bring the body's own testosterone production back up before going off the
steroids. The inverted pyramid is another cycle pattern. This cycle starts
with a maximum dosage and works down from there. This cycle is very popular
in situations where the athlete is going to
be drug tested. Steroid cycles take on an infinite number of patterns and
involve the use of just one or up to a
dozen different drugs.
These
cycles are just examples of how other people have used these products.
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