Some good posts by Trouble and something to think about later in life. Is your steriod useage worth it??
In the appropriate context and duration, steroids have a place in developing a platform for superior althletic performance. The working assumption on conditions pre-steroid use: stress is low, glucose metabolism is highly efficient (and I've demonstrated elsewhere that this is supported elegantly in the biomedical literature and in practical application), and the body is as optimized and at its maxiumum natural bodymass- a jump point for careful use of a few selected cycles to readjust bodymass controls, and allow the frame to accomodate a higher lean muscle mass, with proportionate stength, than it would other carry. Trade off: shortens lifespan if allowed to continue as a practice for decades. Why? Only so many cell divisions in your body, and you are burning them at a faster rate than evolutionary controls allow to happen naturally. Plus, with added miles of duct work, the heart must enlarge to meet the extra blood volume demand. Meanwhile, the brain is paying in price in elevated testosterone and reduced estrogens through atrophy.
Again, know your tradeoffs, benefits and costs. Also note, that what you are tweeking with steroids can be tweeked by other means nuclear receptor ligands and gene transcription factors. The chemistry boyz know this. Thats the next generation of legal chemicals that will (or is) be in widespread use. They will afford the steroid user an intelligent alernative to both long-term xenobiotic chemical use and pct, and afford on their own a happy medium between 'natural maximum' and 'chemically enhanced maximum', circumventing many of the negatives of the latter and promoting liver and brain health.
1. Gear is used at supraphysiological doses.
2. It has a marked dose-dependent effect - on many tissues, not just skeletal muscle. At a "trade-off point", the costs of higher dosing begin to become evident. Worst tradeoffs? Suppression of LH release and supression of endogenous test.
Evidence of increased cancer risk, associated with age, diet, stress, sleep, and liver health, primarily via liver drug metabolism (PXR) receptor and CYP genes responsible for normal function of the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway.
Fuck with these long enough, at high enough doses, and you're courting real risk of fatal direct and indirectly AAS-promoted adverse effects.