Post Cycle Therapy | PCT
The goal of any athlete after they have completed a cycle of steroids is to maintain all of the gains they have made. This is generally easier said than done though due to the various hormones and substances that are in your body throughout the cycle. You generally have more testosterone, GH, and less glucocorticoids. To help you maintain the gains you have made, it is important to try to get your body to make its own anabolic hormones as quickly as possible. You also want fewer of the catabolic ones to be made.
Of course while this is all good information to have in theory, be prepared because your body is likely to have other ideas. The best way you can get it to do what you want it to is to implement Post Cycle Therapy known as PCT. When a cycle ends there are some hormones you need more of and some you need less of. Knowing what you need is going to make the process much easier for you.
I have included a chart for you at the end of this article, and you can go there for a quick reference. I hope you will continue to read this article though because it is important to find out all you can about what we have to offer. You will also question several of the recommendations I have made since you won’t know why I have chose them. It is likely some of the information you read here you will already know about. However, I can guarantee you that you have never seen this PCT protocol anywhere and that it is the most effective one you will ever come across.
Let’s start with a short discussion on how the body works and why there is a lag after the anabolic steroids have left the body. This lag time is when you will start to lose the gains you have made so you want that lag time to be as short as you can possibly make it. Anabolic steroids work to increase the level of androgens in the blood. Once you decide to end your cycle your natural production doesn’t immediately kick in again. The goal is to quickly get the body to start making these androgens.
Let’s take a look at the drug Nolvadex which is a SERM so it is also an anti estrogen product when it comes to particular genes and it will product estrogen for others. This is why it is termed selective. The estrogenic effects on the bones will help the density while it lowers the cholesterol levels. It also increases LH and FSH resulting in more testosterone being produced. If you consume 20 mgs of Nolvadex the amount of testosterone you produce will increase by 150%.
Many athletes find Nolvadex is the perfect PCT solution because it prevents gynocomastia. It does this by binding to the receptor in the breast tissues. Getting enough estrogen is vital to keeping your immune system at a healthy level. Studies show infertile men have been given Nolvadex to help them increase their serum levels of LH, FSH, and testosterone. It can also block the estrogen that gets into the pituitary. This makes it very beneficial when you are using it with HCG.
You may be wondering why I haven’t recommended using the SERM Clomid. It is because it takes a higher dosage for a longer period of time to achieve the same results you will get with Novladex. You also won’t get the benefit of increasing the LH levels. As I explained, Nolvadex is anti estrogenic and Clomid does nothing more than weaken the levels of estrogen. In fact, for this reason I would avoid using Clomid in any PCT.
I recommend using a dose of 20 mgs of Nolvadex daily, but many people can get by with even less. Some people only have to take 5 mgs per day to get the same results. If you haven’t used Nolvadex before I would start out with 20 mgs so you are sure to get the benefits you need from it. Now, we need to add something else to the Nolvadex, and I recommend HCG. You will find that I am one of the few people who recommends HCG during PCT but I will tell you why in a moment.
HCG has been found to successfully cure AAS. It is a peptide hormone that is made by the embryo during the early weeks of a pregnancy. The placenta makes it later in the pregnancy to help regulate hormone levels. It works by stimulating the gonads. So you will be using Nolvadex to stimulate the LH and FSH. Then you will use the HCG to stimulate the Lydia cells so that you are producing more than enough testosterone.
However, while HCG does increase testosterone levels, it will also increase the amount of estrogen. Too much estrogen will result in the Leydig cells changing as part of the negative feedback loop. Studies on rats show that increasing the amount of LH can affect the LH receptors negatively. After the HCG increase of testosterone is done you have to make sure you have used it enough to prevent your estrogen level from increasing too much. Such an increase in estrogen will cause your body to be able to produce less testosterone.
It would seem then that if you are using Nolvadex and you only add HCG when the gonatropins are low then you won’t be inhibited. There is still one more issue to take care of before this can be true for you though. The body will produce estrogen from the HCG stimulated testosterone. We can use very low doses to avoid it spiking but you will need to use more HCG to accomplish this. The result would be your body functioning normally again and less losses to the recent gains you have made. It also doesn’t hurt to add some Vitamin E with the HCG.
Next you will need to look at adding an aromatase inhibitor (AI). You don’t want to use Letrozole or Arimidex because when they are combined with Nolvadex you will end up with a decrease in the levels of blood plasma. You should choose to use Aromasin as your AI. It works by making the estrogen receptors useless rather than just inhibiting them. You will also find your mood improves because of the androgenic properties. It can effectively remove about 85% of the estrogen in the body but it won’t reduce the effectiveness of Nolvadex.
Hopefully you can now see why I think using HCG is a good choice at a dose of around 500 mg per day. This entire PCT will result in your LH, FSH, and testosterone levels rapidly increasing. It will also block the various factors that prevent your body from being able to naturally produce what you need. For this reason I recommend starting your PCT during your last week of the cycle. It isn’t worth the losses you will have if you wait until the very end of the cycle to introduce it. The sooner your body is able to recover from the cycle the more you will be able to maximize the gains you made. Waiting to start your PCT will only reduce the progress you have made.
The HCG needs to be discontinued in 10-14 days but you can run the Nolvadex and Aromasin for 30 days. You should get blood work done on a weekly basis so that you can find out when your body has the hormone levels back to normal. Keep in mind you will want to consider your diet and other types of supplements during this process as well. I didn’t mention them here because I wanted to focus on hormone levels only for this article.
By Anthony Roberts
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