 |
TESTOSTERONE ENANTHATE
TESTOSTERONE ENANTHATE Testosterone enantate is an ester of the
naturally occurring andro-gen, testosterone. It is responsible
for the normal development of the male sex characteristics. In
the event of insufficient testosterone production an almost
complete balance of the functional, anatomic, and psychic
deficiency symptoms can be achieved by substituting
testosterone." (Excerpt from the package insert of the German
phar-maceutical group, Jenapharm GmbH for its compound
Testosteron--Depot.)
These lines clearly describe what an important and effective
hor-mone testosterone is. One of the many testosterone
substances is the testosterone enanthate. In a man it is
normally used to treat hypogonadism resulting from androgen
deficiency (1) and anemia (2). Surprisingly, in medical schools
testosterone enanthate is also used in women and children. Boys
and male youth take it as growth therapy and women take it as an
"additive treatment for certain growth forms of the nipples
during post-menopause". In bodybuilding, however, it is THE
"mass building steroid." No matter what you think of Dianabol,
Parabolan, Anadrol 50, FinaJect, and others, when it comes to
strength, muscle mass, and rapid weight gains, testosterone is
still the "King of the Road." Testosterone enanthate is the
European counterpart to Test-osterone cypionate which is
predominantly available in the U.S. (see also Test. Cyp.).
Testosterone enanthate, as most trade names al-ready suggest, is
a long-acting depot steroid. Depending on the metabolism and the
body's initial hormone level it has a duration of effect of two
to three weeks so that theoretically very long intervals between
injections are possible. Although Testosterone enanthate is
effective for several weeks, it is injected at least once a week
in body-building, powerlifting, and weightlifting. This, by all
means, makes sense since Testosterone enanthate has a plasma
half-life time in the blood of only one week.
The decisive advantage of Testosterone enanthate, however, is
that this substance has a very strong androgenic effect and is
coupled with an intense anabolic component. This allows almost
everyone, within a short time, to build up a lot of strength and
mass. The, rapid and strong weight gain is combined with
distinct water reten-tion since a retention of electrolytes and
water occurs. A pleasant effect is that the enormous strength
gain goes hand in hand with the water retention. Weightlifters
and powerlifters, especially in the higher weight classes,
appreciate this characteristic. In this group, Testosterone
enanthate, Testosterone cypionate, and Sustanon (see also
Sustanon) are the number one steroids; this is also clearly
re-flected in the dosages. Dosages of 500 mg, 1000 mg or even
2000 mg per day are no rarity-mind you, per day, not per week.
Sports disciplines requiring a high degree of raw power,
aggressiveness, and stamina offer an excellent application for
Depot-Testosterone. The distinct water retention has also other
advantages. Those who have problems with their joints, shoul-der
cartilages or whose intervertebral disks, due to years of heavy
training, show the first signs of wear, can get temporary relief
by taking testosterone.
For the bodybuilder, the water retention that goes hand in hand
with Testosterone enanthate cuts both ways. Certainly, one gets
rap-idly massive and strong; however, one's reflected image
after a few weeks often shows completely flat, watery, and puffy
muscles. The muscles appear as if they have been pumped up with
air' to new dimensions, yet during flexing nothing happens.
Those who do not believe this should bother to go visit the
so-called "bodybuilding champions" during the OFF-season when
these exaggerated quanti-ties of "Testo" come in. A look at the
now defunct bodybuilding magazine WBF makes it even clearer. An
additional problem when taking Testosterone enanthate is that
the conversion rate to estrogen is very high. This, on one hand,
leads the body to store more fat; on the other hand,
feminization symptoms (gynecomastia) are not unusual. However,
it must be clearly stated that this depends on the athlete's
predisposition. By all means, there are athletes who even with
1000 mg +/week do not show feminization symptoms or fat deposits
and who suffer very low water retention. Others, however,
develop pain in their nipples by simply looking at a
Testoviron-De-pot ampule. Yet the additional intake of Nolvadex
and Proviron should be considered at a dosage level of 500 mg+
/week. As already men-tioned, Testo is effective for everyone,
whether a beginner or Mr. Olympia. Testosterone enanthate also
strongly promotes the regen-eration process. This leads to
distinctly shorter overcompensation phases, an increased feeling
of well-being, and a distinct energy in-crease. This is also the
reason why several athletes are able to work out twice daily for
several hours six times a week and continue to build up mass and
strength. Those who can work out again two hours after a hard
leg workout know that Testo works. Athletes who take
Testosterone enanthate report an excessively strong pump effect
during training. This "steroid pump" is attributed to an
in-creased blood volume with a higher oxygen supply and a higher
quantity of red blood cells. Those who take megadoses of
Testoster-one enanthate will already feel an enormous pump in
their upper thighs and calves when climbing stairs. Despite this
we recommend that steroid novices stay away from all
testosterone compounds. To make it very clear: Those who have
never taken steroids do not yet need any testosterone and should
wait until later when the "weaker" steroids begin to have little
effect. For the more advanced, Testoster-one enanthate can
either be taken alone or in combination with other compounds.
For adding mass Testosterone enanthate combines very well with
Anadrol 50, Dianabol, Deca-Durabolin, and Parabolan. As an
ex-ample, a stack of 100 mg Anadrol 50/day, 200 mg
Deca-Durabolin/ week, and 500 mg Testosterone enanthate/week
works well. After six weeks of intake the Anadrol 50, for
example, could be replaced by 40 mg Dianabol/day. Principally,
Testosterone enanthate can be combined with any steroid in order
to gain mass. Apparently a synergetic effect between the
androgen, Testosterone enanthate, and the anabolic steroids
occurs which results in their bonding witli sev-eral
receptors.Those who draw too much water with Testosterone
enanthate and Dianabol or Anadrol, or who are more intere6ted in
strength without gaining 20 pounds of body weight should take
Testosterone enanthate together with Oxandrolone or Winstrol.
The generally taken dose-as already mentioned-varies from 250
mg/ week up to 2000 mg/day. In our opinion the most sensible
dosage for most athletes is between 250-1000 mg/week. Normally a
higher dosage should not be necessary When taking up to 500
mg/week the dosage is normally taken all at once, thus 2 ml of
solution are injected. A higher dosage should be divided into
two injections per week. The quantity of the dose should be
determined by the athlete's developmental stage, his goals, and
the quantity of his previous steroid intake. The so called
beach- and disco bodybuilders do not need 1000 mg of
Testosterone enanthate/week. Our experience is that the
Testosterone enanthate dosage for many, above all, depends on
their financial resources. Since it is not, by any means, the
most economic testosterone, most athletes do not take too much.
Others switch to the cheaper Omnadren and because of the low
price con-finue "shooting" Omnadren.
Testosterone enanthate has a strong influence on the
hypothalamohypophysial testicular axis. The hypophysis is
inhib-ited by a positive feedback. This leads to a negative
influence on the endogenic testosterone production. Possible
effects are described by the German Jenapharm GmbH in their
package insert for the com-pound Testosteron Depot: " In a
high-dosed treatment with test-osterone compounds an often
reversible interruption or reduction of the spermatogenesis in
the testes is to be expected and conse-quently also a reduction
of the testes size." Consequently, after reading these
state-ments, additional intake of HCG should be considered.
Those who take Testosterone enanthate should consider the intake
of HCG ev-ery 6-8 weeks. An injection of 5000 I.U. every fifth
day over a period of 10 days (a total of 3 injections) helps to
reduce this problem. At the end of the testosterone treatment
the administration of HCG, Clomid, Nolvadex and Clenbuterol is
now quite common. To some extent the use of these compounds
helps absorb the catabolic phase and helps elevate the endogenic
testosterone level. By this method the strength and mass loss
which occur in any event can be reduced. Those who go off
Testosterone enanthate 6cold turkey6 after several weeks of use
will wonder how rapidly their body weights and former voluminous
muscles will decrease. Even a slow tapering-off phase, that is
reducing the dosage step by step, will not prevent a notice-able
reduction. The only options available to the athlete consist of
taking testosterone-stimulating compounds (HCG, Clomid,
Cyclofenil), anti-catabolic substances (Clenbuterol, Ephedrine),
or the very expensive growth hormones, or of switching to milder
steroids (Deca-Durabolin, Winstrol, Primobolan). Most can get
mas-sive and strong with Testosterone enanthate. However, only
very few are able to retain their size after discontinuing the
compound. This is also one of the reasons why really good
bodybuilders, powerlifters, weightlighters, and others take the
"stuff " all year long.
The side effects of Testosterone enanthate are mostly the
distinct androgenic effect and the increased water retention.
This is usually the reason for the frequent occurrence of
hypertony (3). Those who have a predisposition for high blood
pressure or whose blood pres-sure is elevated when they begin
taking Testosterone enanthate should have it periodically
checked by a physician. If necessary the intake of an
antihypertensive drug (4) such as Catapresan is advisable. Many
athletes experience a strong acne vulgaris with Testosterone
enanthate which manifests itself on the back, chest, shoulders,
and arms more than on the face. Athletes who take large
quantities of Testo can often be easily recognized because of
these characteristics. It is interesting to note that in some
athletes these characteristics only occur after use of the
compound has been discontinued, which implies a rebound effect.
In severe cases the medicine Accutane can help. The already
discussed feminization symptoms, especially gynecomastia,
require the intake of an anti-estrogen. Sexual overstimulation
with frequent erections at the beginning of intake is normal. In
young athletes, "in addition to virilization,testosterone can
also lead to an accelerated growth and bone maturation, to a
premature epiphysial closing of the growth plates and thus a
lower height" (Jenapharm GmbH, package insert for
Testosteron-Depot).' Since mostly taller athletes are successful
in bodybuilding, young adults should reflect carefully before
taking any anabolic/andro-genic steroids, in particular,
testosterone.
Other possible side effects are testicular atrophy, reduced
sper-matogenesis, and especially an increased aggressiveness.
Those who transfer this aggressiveness to their training and not
their environment do not have to worry. Unfortunately this is
not the case in some athletes who take Testosterone enanthate.
Testoster-one and Finaject are both primary reasons for some
eruptions. In particular, high doses are in part responsible for
anti-social be-havior among its users. One can talk here of a
sort of "superman syndrome" that occurs in some users. Although
Testosterone enanthate is broken down through the liver, this
compound is only slightly toxic when taken in a reasonable dose;
therefore, changes of the liver values do not occur as often as
with the oral I 7-alpha alkylated steroids. Further potential
side effects can be deep voice and accelerated hair loss.
Women should normally avoid its intake since it could result in
unpleasant androgen-linked side effects. The use of testosterone
in women may cause symptoms of virilization such as acne
vulgaris, hirsutism (5), androgenetic alopecia (6), voice
changes, and occasional clitorial hypertrophy and an
unnatu-rally perceived increase in libido. Changes in voice and
alopecia must be classified as irreversible, hirsutism and
clitorial hypertrophy as in part reversible." Women who are not
afraid of this are found at many competition scenes. In our
opinion, 250 mg is the maximum quantity of Testosterone
enanthate that a fe-male athlete should take each 7-10 days.
However in competition bodybuilding and especially in
powerlifting much higher dosages and shorter injection intervals
have been observed in women.
Another interesting side effect of Testosterone enanthate is
men-tioned in the bodybuilding magazine Muscle Media 2000, June
July 1993 on page 45. Judging whether this is positive or
nega-tive is left to the reader. 'A few years ago, the Lancet
Medical Journal of England reported that they found testosterone
(the proto-type anabolic steroid) to be a remarkably effective
form of male birth control. Researchers conducted a 12 month
study which included 270 men and determined that weekly
injections of the hormone testosterone were 'safe, stable, and
effective.' They dis-covered that weekly testosterone injections
had a success rate of 99.2% as a birth control method. That
makes it more effective than the birth control pill (97%) and
much more effective than condoms (88%). The study also revealed
that the effects of the contraceptive injections were entirely
reversible upon discontinu-ing administration of the drug and
that the testosterone injec-tions produced minimal side
effects."
Similar studies with identical data are also in progress at a
German university clinic. Although this is not part of the
actual subject of this book, these results stress at least the
need for testosterone-stimu-lating compounds during and after
the intake of Testosterone enanthate. Since it is effective for
such a long period of time, Test-osterone enanthate is always
taken more frequently by athletes during their "steroid
intervals." An injection of 250 mg every 2-3 weeks helps
maintain strength and mass. Whether this application makes sense
remains to be seen; the fact is that it works.
(1) Inadequate function of the genital glands (2) Anemia (3)
High blood pressure (4) To reduce high blood pressure (5)
Increased hair growth in face and on legs (6) Androgenic-linked
loss of hair on the scalp
[Back to top]
|
 |
