All about TESTOSTERONE

TESTOSTERONE

Now you’ll notice that you don’t commonly get just “Testosterone” from any legitimate or underground producer. The reason for this is that the actual molecule of testosterone – when injected unaltered – has a very short half-life and won’t be around long. So how do we solve that problem? We add an ester group to the 17 position of the original molecule. The size of that ester group gives the new molecule a distinct half-life. So, if you’d ever wondered what propionate, enanthate, cypionate, etc. mean, they’re simply added esters with differing lengths, thus giving the new molecule differing half-lives. What they DO NOT CHANGE are the effects of the steroid. Testosterone is testosterone. You’ll hear lots of people, including many veterans of the steroid game, talk about how test cypionate, test propionate, and test enanthate are different than each other. One “gives you more bloat” and another “gives you more lean muscle gains” while another might be “better for cutting.” The fact is that they simply stay in your system for differing amounts of time. Period. Do they have different uses? Of course! We’ll get into that more in a bit, but we need a little background information first. Here is a list of the various added esters and the names associated with each:

Formate 1
Acetate 2
Propionate 3
Butyrate 4
Valerate 5
Hexanoate 6
Heptanoate 7
Enanthate 7
Octanoate 8
Cypionate 8
Nonanoate 9
Decanoate 10
Undecanoate 11

There are others and variations of the above, but this will get us through most of the basic discussion.

Now we can take a look at some common ones specifically.

TESTOSTERONE PROPIONATE

Generally, this is referred to as “prop” and “test prop.” As you can see, the added ester group is quite short at three carbons long. For those who are chemistry-challenged, each end of a straight line that doesn’t have another letter (like the O in the above picture) is a carbon. So what does that mean? Prop has a very short half-life, on the order of 3-4 days. This means that it requires an every-other-day to every-third-day injection protocol to maintain steady blood levels. Some even inject it daily and swear by this frequency, but it’s probably not necessary. Because of the short half-life, this is not a drug that needs to be frontloaded. We’ll talk more about frontloading when we get to the longer chained esters. It should be mentioned that this is an oil-based steroid that is injected in a depot form so that it is released slowly into the bloodstream over a period of time, giving you a steadier level.

A typical dose of prop is 50-100 mg every second or third day, depending on the user’s size and experience. Some big guys may want to go a bit higher. The disadvantage of the higher dose and of test prop in general is the discomfort in injecting. While the frequency is bothersome to some, the actual pain of injecting seems to be the main deterrent for others. Prop has a bad reputation for stinging, painful injections, and many experience a malaise for days after an injection. Having said that, if you can get over the discomfort, prop is a great drug that yields results typical of any testosterone.

TESTOSTERONE ENANTHATE
With an ester group that is seven carbons long, enanthate has a half-life of approximately 11-15 days. This half-life and the fact that enanthate is oil-based makes it ideal for people who don’t want to inject frequently. Once-a-week injections are preferred with a dosage of 250-1000 mg being common. One of the main differences between a longer acting molecule such as enanthate and a shorter one like prop is the need to frontload. With prop, you get blood levels higher quicker because of the increased frequency of injections required due to the shorter half-life of the drug. You continually supply the body with more, so the level you will ultimately achieve is done so much earlier. Without frontloading enanthate, you take MUCH longer to achieve your optimal blood level.

People frontload in many different ways, but the simplest way to do it is to take double what you plan to take weekly and inject that the first week. So, if you’re going to take 500 mg of enanthate a week, you would simply inject 1000 mg the first week to kickstart your cycle by getting blood levels much higher initially. The lack of frontloading is perhaps part of the misunderstanding of the differences between the different testosterone esters. If you were to compare two individuals who take either test prop or test enanthate without a frontload, you would find that they would have two different experiences. The prop guy would say that his test kicked in very quickly and he saw results from it almost right away. The enanthate guy would say that it took weeks before he ever noticed a thing. So that means that test propionate has a greater kick and takes effect sooner, right? Well, not exactly. Now compare the two guys with the enanthate guy starting off by frontloading. He would dramatically cut down the time between first injection and the seeing of results. I’ll say it again: Testosterone is testosterone. The ester is stripped from the molecule once in the body, only at different rates for different esters. Once that happens, the parent molecule is the exact same thing.

TESTOSTERONE CYPIONATE

The ester group of cypionate is eight carbons long, although the end of it is a ring structure. As such, its half-life is just a touch longer than enanthate, but the two are often used interchangeably. Dosage and injection frequency are comparable, as is the frontloading protocol for the two. Some people swear up and down that there is a difference between the two, but I don’t buy it. If you use 750mg of similar quality (By that I mean real; we don’t need to be comparing fake drugs.) enanthate or cypionate once per week for 10 weeks, and you’ll see similar results.

SUSTANON

There is no picture associated with this one because it’s a blend of four different testosterone esters. There are now many versions of testosterone blends on the market, but the most well-known is Sustanon 250. This contains testosterone propionate, 30 mg; testosterone phenylpropionate, 60 mg; testosterone isocaproate, 60 mg; and testosterone decanoate, 100 mg. The beauty of this mixture is that it includes both long- and short- acting esters, so we get the best of both worlds. Ideally, Sustanon should be injected at a similar frequency to test prop, so as to not lose the full effects of the prop in it. Real world frequency ranges from 1-3 injections per week with a typical total dose of 250-1000 mg per injection. Again, bigger guys, bigger doses. Also, this is another drug with a reputation for painful injections. It works, but it hurts. Suck it up.

TESTOSTERONE SUSPENSION

Now that I’ve gone and told you that we don’t typically inject plain testosterone, I’ll tell you that some do. Test suspension is a water-based (as opposed to oil-based) UNesterified testosterone molecule. Because you’re injecting the active form of the drug, this is a “hit it hard and hit it now” drug. You will feel suspension right away, and you’ll see results right away. All of the side effects of the various testosterone esters are a bit worse with suspension, because your body has no need to alter the molecule to get to the parent molecule. This means more unaltered test in your system at one time, and this leads to an accentuation of side effects.

Being a water-based rather than oil-based drug means that you can use a smaller needle to inject test suspension. Typically, oil-based drugs will require a 23 gauge (23G) or lower (you can use a smaller needle if you know what you’re doing). A water-based drug-like suspension can be easily pushed through a 27G needle. Sounds good, right? The problem is that the injection itself is painful, regardless of needle size. Suspension is also an every day injection, so those who want to avoid pain will probably want to stay away from suspension.

So why would we ever want to use this awful steroid? Because it works. Guys who use 50-100 mg of suspension per day and don’t mind the pain will get dramatically stronger and bigger if their nutrition is sufficient. Increased aggression, even beyond what esterified molecules deliver, is a hallmark of suspension use. For this reason, it’s very popular with powerlifters and strongmen.

It hurts, but it works. What else is there to say?

This obviously isn’t a comprehensive list of all testosterones available today, but it covers 99% of what you need to know. Underground labs put different esters on their own testosterones and make up different blends. With knowledge of the basics, you can easily figure out the best way to use these if that’s what you so choose to do.

SIDE EFFECTS

It can’t all be good, can it? Obviously there are side effects from using testosterone, many of which are common to all anabolic steroids. They can be minimized with proper measures (We’ll cover them in a later article; patience, grasshopper!), but not everything can be avoided entirely. This isn’t meant to scare but to inform. If you choose to use, then you choose to risk some side effects. The majority of testosterone’s side effects are from its conversion to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and estrogen. In those tissues that convert test to DHT more efficiently (skin and prostate), we see more of those side effects. A brief list follows:

o Liver Damage – Whether this is transient or not is highly debatable, but you will get a rise in liver enzymes during a cycle; this rise may indicate liver damage.
o Gynecomastia (growth of breast tissue in males) – This is due to aromatization of testosterone to its sister, estrogen.
o Male sexual characteristics in female users – Deepening of voice, clitoral growth, hair growth. If that’s your thing, then okay, but most women will want to avoid these side effects.
o Decrease in testicle size/impotence/infertility – These typically go away when you’re not using but can affect a man’s psyche a great deal.
o Heart disease – Long term abuse has been known to cause the heart to work overtime and lead to premature coronary disease.
o Oily skin/acne/balding – If you’re genetically predisposed to male-pattern baldness or getting acne, the use of testosterone will only speed up the process and make each worse.
o Stunted growth in adolescents – Young people can experience premature closure of the growth plates of long bones. You might be big, but I hope you’re not planning on getting any taller, cause it ain’t gonna happen.
o Prostate enlargement – While this is not a risk factor for prostate cancer, a big prostate does impinge on your urethra and can give you nasty urinary problems.

While I hate to end the article on a sobering note by talking about side effects, it’s necessary that everybody who is considering anabolic steroid use be informed of both the good and the bad. Just keep in mind that the bad can be managed somewhat, and we simply haven’t covered that just yet. I hope that if you’re reading this and are considering using that you’ll bear with me through this series and take this all as a whole rather than the sum of its parts. In other words, don’t read the first two parts and go injecting without reading the rest of the series. There are important things still to cover.