What Steroid Half-Lives Do and How to Structure Cycles According to Them

What Steroid Half-Lives Do and How to Structure Cycles According to Them

Because there are different anabolic steroid half-lives for the different anabolic steroids in existence, not every anabolic steroid can be administered in the same manner or in the same frequency. Dianabol (Methandrostenolone), for example, exhibits a half-life of approximately 4 – 6 hours, which might require multiple daily administrations in order to maintain stable blood levels of the hormone. The same might not be said for Winstrol (Stanozolol), which expresses a half-life of 9 hours in the body, and therefore individuals could easily get by with ingesting their full dose all at once.

It is important to understand as well that for the purpose of performance and physique enhancement, frequent administration of anabolic steroid is very necessary in order to maintain stable and optimal blood plasma levels. For therapeutic medical use, the administration of an anabolic steroid on the last day of its half-life might be acceptable, but for the purpose of performance and physique enhancement, the administration and dosage protocol changes dramatically. The intention at this point is no longer for therapeutic use, but now for increased performance and/or muscle mass and strength. Therefore, higher than normal (therapeutic) physiological bodybuilding doses are required, as well as a higher frequency of injections are required so as to maintain optimal peak blood plasma levels of the hormone. For example, a TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy) does not have to be concerned about performance increases from week to week (or even day to day), but athletes and bodybuilders must.

While the human body manufactures an endogenous Testosterone level in the range of 70mg/week, the Testosterone dosage required for physique and performance enhancement must sit well above that, with a minimum being in the range of 300 – 500mg per week for beginners, for example. Intermediate and/or experienced anabolic steroid users can venture even higher than that. In addition to the higher bodybuilding dosage, the injections must be administered much more frequently. While TRT patients can ‘get by’ with a single 250mg injection of Testosterone Enanthate once per week (or even once every two weeks as is commonly applied clinically), an athlete or bodybuilder would have to administer 250mg of Testosterone Enanthate twice per week (for a total of 500mg) in order to experience a steady onset of performance and physique enhancing benefits. This is very necessary due to a constant steady peak blood plasma level of the anabolic steroid that is necessary for constant biological action within muscle tissue in the body. Testosterone Enanthate, as mentioned earlier in this article, exhibits a half-life of 7 – 10 days, but although its half-life is 7 – 10 days, sharp declines in blood plasma levels begin to occur several days before the end of the half-life period. When performance and physique enhancement is desired, the administration of doses must occur more frequently in order to keep blood plasma levels elevated as best as possible. For medical purposes such as TRT, sharp spikes and peaks and valleys in blood plasma levels can be afforded (although it is still not optimal), as the patient is simply utilizing Testosterone to obtain normal physiological levels, and is therefore not particularly concerned with dramatic performance or physique changes on a weekly basis.

The dosages of anabolic steroids administered on a daily or weekly basis should be split evenly per administration. For example, if an individual is to administer 500mg per week of Testosterone Enanthate as two injections per week, they would ideally administer 250mg per injection. An individual administering 50mg per day of Dianabol would have to ideally ingest their doses once every 2 – 4 hours, which might work out to 2 administrations of 25mg per administration during the waking hours. Some additional practical examples are the following:

Testosterone Propionate half-life: 4.5 days. Optimal injection frequency: every other day (daily is even better).

Trenbolone Acetate half-life: 3 days. Optimal injection frequency: every other day (daily is even better).

Testosterone Cypionate half-life: 10 – 12 days. Optimal injection frequency: twice per week, each injection split evenly between each other (for example, Monday and Thursday).

Testosterone Suspension half-life: 4 – 24 hours. Optimal injection frequency: once per day (multiple times per day is even better).

Dianabol (Methandrostenolone) half-life: 4 – 6 hours. Optimal administration frequency: once every two to four hours.

Maintaining steady and stable blood plasma levels with frequent administrations long before the anabolic steroid’s half-life period has ended also assists the user in performing a much more comfortable cycle that is void of side effects. Because peaks and valleys in blood plasma levels are avoided, the incidence of side effects becomes much lower. Side effects tend to present themselves the most during periods of fluctuating hormone levels, where the imbalance of different hormones takes its toll on the body.