Test E, Deca and DBol: The Bulking Stack

The purpose of this article is to educate the amateur bodybuilder on the correct set up of a powerful traditional bulking cycle; Test e, Deca, and Dbol. The use of Deca and Dbol has been long hailed as the mighty bulking cycle. Traditionally used as an off season cycle, the stack will do a wonderful job of adding muscle mass and letting the user come in at a heavier weight when reaching their goal body fat when cutting.

TESTOSTERONE ENANTHATE:

I have said it a million times before and I will say it again, testosterone is king. It is the foundation in which all cycles are built upon. Running any compound without the use of testosterone will leave you with hormone levels that are similar to a females. Testosterone Enanthate is a slower acting ester. With a 7 to 10 day half-life, it requires a less frequent dosing schedule to reach and maintain stable blood levels making it the better choice for beginner steroid users who may not be too fond of needles and do not want to do every day or every other day injections. Properly used, the injection schedule should be every 3.5 days on Monday and Thursday of the week. Dosages for testosterone enanthate range from a minimum of 400mg a week to 800mg a week for the average steroid user and cycles should be a minimum of 10 weeks due to the amount of time it takes to reach peak levels. More advanced users have been known to go over 1000mg a week, but one should be aware that it takes a lot of cycle experience to get to those levels. Longer estered testosterones like testosterone enanthate are known to cause more estrogen/aromatization side effects due to higher peak values over the course of the cycle. Proper AI/SERM precautions should be taken.

DECA DURABOLIN:

Deca has been the go to compound for bulking in bodybuilding amongst steroid users for years. Deca is a 19-nor compound. Its made from the same cloth as trenbolone. Consequently, it also shares many of the same issues as Tren. Being a 19-nor, deca is liver toxic. It also does not aromatize very well, but will cause a rise in progestin levels. Due to its ability to rise progestin levels, deca is known for causing libido issues or “deca dick.” Proper progestin/anti-estrogen drugs should be used to make sure you keep you from experiencing libido issues. It also will shut down natural testotsterone almost immediately with the first dose. Deca has as strong affinity to the androgen receptor and does great as an anabolic; it will raise both nitrogen retention and igf levels. Water retention does become an issue on deca, but the proper progestin drugs should keep it at bay. Deca is also known to help joint issues by storing water in the connective tissues and inproving collagen synthesis/mineral content. Some use the drug in low dosages such therapeutic effects. The recommended proper dosage for Deca is between 400-600mg a week. Though the ester connected to deca has a longer half life, its safe to inject deca on the same schedule as test e and c. In theory, deca can be injected once a week, but twice a week is the gold standard. Due to the highly suppressive nature of deca, its recommended that hcg be ran with the cycle.

DIANABOL:

Dbol is traditionally found in pill form. Like winstrol, Dbol is a 17aa oral steroid. 17aa orals are made the way they are to survive the first pass at the liver. Unfortunately, this makes dbol highly liver toxic (almost as toxic as winny). Dbol will also cause hypertension (a raise in blood pressure) so proper monitoring of your blood pressure should be maintained. Dbol is not the best at binding with the androgen receptor and most its effects are secondary. Dbol will suppress natural testosterone production. Many who are new to steroid use will try to do a Dbol only cycle. When dbol suppresses your natural production your levels start looking more like a females. Therefore, it should always be ran in a cycle with testosterone as a base. Dbol is said to be as strong as anadrol, though most will not see the same effects due to unequal dosages. Dbol is known as a kick start compound in cycles. Its ability to add weight comes on quickly and many people use it in the first 6 weeks of their cycle. Dosages range from 20-100mg a day, though an amateur user should stick to under 50mg to start.

The Cycle:

OK, lets set up a cycle for a first time user of these compounds combined. Keep in mind this isn’t a beginners cycle and stacking multiple compounds that you haven’t used in the same cycle may cause side effect and leave you wondering what the source of the issue was.

    Testosterone Enanthate 300mg twice a week   Week 1-12steroid muscle stack
    Deca 200mg twice a week Week 1-12
    Dbol 30-50mg a day Week 1-6
    HCG 500iu a week (250iu twice a week) Week 1-12

Post Cycle Therapy

    Clomid 100/50/50/50
    Nolva 40/40/20/20

Deca Steroids

Deca steroids are one of the most popularly used anabolic steroids of all time and have been so for generations. In most cases deca steroids refer to the drug Deca-Durabolin, formally known as Nandrolone Decanoate. While this high class of anabolic steroid is often simply called “Deca” this label isn’t entirely accurate due to “Deca” or Decanoate being an attached ester, not the actual drug. There is actually a few deca steroids available; there are even drugs of a non-anabolic steroidal nature that use this ester; several of them but it is without question Nandrolone Decanoate that carries with it the most popularity among all the deca steroids.

Understanding the Decanoate Ester in Deca Steroids:
The decanoate ester belongs to a class known as a decanoic acid, a type of fatty acid which provides a very long half-life regardless of the drug it is attached to. You guessed it, when we attach this ester to an anabolic steroid its detection time is also of a very high nature; deca steroids carry with them some of the longest lasting detection times of any anabolic steroid on the market.

Deca Steroids of the Nandrolone Form:
Like testosterone, Nandrolone is found in every human being; that is correct, our bodies naturally produce this hormone. Further and as it pertains to the interest at hand, this powerful hormone has the ability to add lean muscle tissue quite unlike many other hormones; even more exciting is this hormones ability to block the muscle wasting hormone cortisol. As it pertains to supplementation of the hormone, this drug is also available with a faster/shorter attached ester known as phenylpropionate but most will find the deca steroids to be more efficient than their counterparts.

Deca Steroids & Testosterone:
Beyond Deca-Durabolin type anabolics the decanoate ester is sometimes combined to the testosterone molecule, usually as a part of Sustanon-250 most commonly. This form of testosterone can be found alone and used as a single ester but it is not highly advised nor sought after. There are many other single estered testosterones that have been proven to be far more effective and efficient. If you desire to use deca steroids of a testosterone nature you will be best served doing so as part of a testosterone mix.

Deca Steroids & Use:
Deca steroids have proven to be some of the best anabolic steroids available but as there is as with all performance enhancing drugs there is a method you need to understand to reap the highest reward. Decanoate is a very long lasting drug as discussed meaning it remains in our system for a very long time even after use is stopped. Further, we understand the importance of proper therapy after we end any anabolic steroid cycle, commonly called PCT. To reap the most successful reward we must promote recovery after our cycle and when our cycle contained any various deca steroids we must take note. The most effective means is to end use of all deca steroids approximately 4 weeks before the cycles end and to end the final four weeks with only fast acting anabolics. By doing so we have allowed time for the deca steroids to start clearing our system, brought forth the time we can start PCT to an earlier date and highly promoted recovery. This is the name of the game, not only when it comes to anabolic steroid use but the muscle and performance game as a whole; recovery. Without recovery you’re only beating your head against the wall.

Testosterone Recovery After Deca Durabolin

When it comes to negative side effects associated with anabolic steroids, some are far worse than others. Deca Durabolin, perhaps one of the most popular anabolic steroids ever used, and still widely used, is known as mild compared to other commonly used androgens. The parent hormone is Nandrolone and is found in both Deca Durabolin and NPP (Nandrolone Phenylpropionate) and it doesn’t seem to come across as a harsh hormone to use from years of medical data and reports from steroid users. Acne, hair loss, aggression, increases in blood pressure and drastic changes in lipids, kidney function and liver values are not usually attributed to Deca Durabolin use. But there is one side effect that it exerts significantly, and that’s testosterone suppression or inhibition.

When an athlete or bodybuilder uses anabolic steroids, endogenous testosterone function will decrease from use. Different compounds effect testosterone production to varying degrees, but Nandrolone, or Deca-Durabolin is perhaps the most powerful of all commonly used anabolic steroids with Trenbolone. “Deca dick” is a known side effect or slang term given to erectile dysfunction, which has affected a large degree of steroid users and questions spear on large steroid forums daily. Due to the speed of which Deca can suppress natural testosterone production recovery post cycle can be harder than most steroid cycles not containing Deca Durabolin.

Today we’re going to look at a study that looked at 21 men who had been taking Nandrolone Decanoate (Deca Durabolin) and their recovery efforts after coming off of anabolic steroids. The study was conducted in Sweden at the Karolinska Institutet. The researchers found the subjects through an anti-doping hotline setup to help steroid users in Sweden. They state that the participants had “a genuine will to stop using anabolic steroids.”

Deca Durabolin is Nandrolone with the Deconoate ester attached allowing it to stay active for 21 days; however, its metabolites are present far longer in the body. 19-norandrosterone and 19-noreticholanolone appear to remain active for months after use, this may shed light on why its so hard to recover natural testosterone levels. Deca is also known to last in an athletes blood for over 12-16 months which makes it a very bad choice for athletes or bodybuilders in tested sports.

Importantly, the Swedes also tested levels of leutinizing hormone (LH) and follicile stimulating hormone (FSH). LH and FSH are responsible for stimulating the testes (leydig cells) to secrete testosterone. In the figure above you’ll see that LH and FSH were still rising over 12 months after Deca-Durabolin cessation, confirming reports its one of the hardest anabolic steroids to recover from.

Limitations are that this study did not state a post cycle therapy (PCT) was used by any of the steroid users. This is where anti-estrogen use helps the body reover from a steroid cycle. We recommend all steroid users conduct a full PCT after using anabolic steroids whilst combining them with an aromatase inhibitor and also human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) to help maintain testicular size and function. HCG is suggested at 250-500ius per week or every 3-4 days. If side effects occur, or testosterone recovery isn’t possible or problematic, seek the guidance of a physician or endocrinologist.