Written by William Llewellyn
05 October 2006
 

Anabolic Research Update

By William Llewellyn

 

SEND IN YOUR QUESTIONS OR STEROID BOXES AND GET ANABOLICS 2005 FREE! I want to know what's on your mind. If I use your question or put a photograph of your steroid box in this column, you get a free copy of Anabolics 2005. Remember to send empty steroid boxes only! Questions/boxes can be mailed to William Llewellyn, c/o Body of Science, 5500 Military Trail #22-318, Jupiter FL 33458. Or e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please remember to include your return mailing address when sending. 

 

Anabolic Arimidex?

I've been giving some thought to legal drug options for building muscle. I have a good job and don't want to jeopardize it. I want something strong that won't land me in jail. I want to know about aromatase inhibitors specifically. Since these raise testosterone, can they be used to grow muscle just like injectable test? If so, how?   

            Yours is a somewhat common question and I expect to be presented with it more and more in the future as the government continues to crack down on the (steroid-using) bodybuilding subculture. In a technical sense, aromatase inhibitors would seem to be logical drugs to use for building muscle. They do raise testosterone, sometimes very well. But when it comes to translating this into real muscle, the testosterone boost from these drugs seems to fall short of what you need to see a tangible short-term benefit. In other words, AIs may help "on paper," but in the real world you are not likely to notice anything dramatic from them. I, personally, never noticed any serious benefit to using these drugs alone, or even taking HCG injections for raising testosterone. Most people I've worked with in this area have come to similar conclusions. They try the "raising endogenous T" route, but often abandon the concept in frustration after one cycle.

            Although not extensive, there have been medical studies looking at the effects of estrogen suppression in men and how it relates to other hormone levels and muscle growth. Perhaps the most complete paper investigates Arimidex, one of the most potent third-generation aromatase inhibitors (J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 85: 2370-2377, 2000). Here, investigators looked at how this effective estrogen-suppressing drug would effect things like testosterone levels, protein synthesis and breakdown rates, even strength and body composition changes, when taken over a 10-week period. Although the one-milligram dose was enough to raise testosterone levels to an average of 158 percent of starting baseline, it translated into no physical differences.

The researches closed by noting, "Contrary to the effects of T withdrawal, there were no significant changes in body composition (body mass index, fat mass and fat-free mass) after estrogen suppression or in rates of protein synthesis or degradation; carbohydrate, lipid, or protein oxidation; muscle strength; calcium kinetics; or bone growth factors concentrations." Bottom line, don't be overly optimistic. Thanks for the question though. One copy of my latest book, Anabolics 2005, should be on the way.

 

Anabol: "Pormoting" Muscle Growth

I just got a new bottle of Thai Anabol. It has the British Dispensary hologram sticker, but also a big-ass misspelling right on the front. It says "for the pormotion of constructive anabolism of proteins," not "promotion." What is the deal? Did I get ripped? 

No, you didn't get ripped off. The product you have sounds exactly like the real thing. I don't know what would account for the mistake on the latest Anabol label, but it is indeed there. Someone in the company probably just screwed up when they were laying out the text and nobody else caught it. Sometimes, with this type of work, you can look at the same text for too long and stop reading it closely. I know it has happened to me more than once. Usually, we would scrap a batch of labels over a mistake like this. But hey, Molecular Nutrition never sold a 1,000-tablet bottle of Dianabol, either.

I tend to think most customers could give two shits if the label is spelled incorrectly, so long as there is D-bol inside. For now, look at the "promotion" mistake as an extra check for legitimacy. Then again, I wonder if the counterfeiters would actually copy the mistake for the sake of consistency. It would not surprise me. The good thing with British Dispensary is that they got their act together long ago by adding hologram security stickers to their products. I have yet to see one of these duplicated, making it a reliable check for legitimacy. If your bottle has this, I'm inclined to say that you are A-OK.

 

Modafinil: The New Endurance Drug

What's the deal with this new drug Modafinil? I keep reading about it in relation to the THG scandal. Does this stuff build muscle? 

Modafinil, sold under the brand name Provigil in the U.S., is a new medication used in the treatment of narcolepsy. It has proven itself to be an effective drug for promoting an alert and awake mental state, yet it does this without the side effects of classic amphetamines or caffeine. It's an excellent "jitter and crash-free" stimulant, for all intents and purposes.

That said, athletes have stumbled onto this drug for a different reason. When it comes to endurance exercise, there seems to be some notable improvements in performance when modafinil is taken. This was officially validated in a study published just this past year (Med Sci Sports Exerc, 2004 Jun;36(6):1078-82).

Here, researchers wanted to look at the effects of acute ingestion of modafinil on exercise performance. Specifically, a group of 15 healthy male subjects were given a high dose (four milligrams per kilogram per day) of modafinil and asked to exercise on a cycle ergometer until they were exhausted. When performing at 85 percent of maximal aerobic power (VO2max), the drug significantly extended the time to exhaustion. It also reduced measurably the subjective ratings of perceived exertion. All this makes modafinil an intriguing and effective drug for endurance sports. So, to answer your original question, in a bodybuilding sense, it's probably not going to help you all that much. It may, however, allow you to stay focused and energetic during your training sessions, which might indirectly help you build muscle.     

 

Steroid "Kick In" Period?

How long do you think it takes Winstrol to start working? I am on it two weeks and don't feel anything yet. When will I notice the "kick in" point? 

            Winstrol starts working pretty much as soon as you take it. Within a matter of only minutes or hours, changes can already be seen in your body. Androgen receptors translocate (showing activation), protein synthesis rates increase and the body even starts responding to the heightened steroid levels by trying to lower its own testosterone production. This all happens very quickly. Steroids, likewise, do not need to build up or reach any threshold before they start working. They work as soon as they make it to the bloodstream and on to your body cells.

            The question you are really asking is, how long will it take for me to see it in the mirror? This is going to be a very individual thing and often it will vary in the same individual from cycle to cycle, depending on a number of factors. Sometimes you start to notice gains during the first week or two. At other times it might take three or four until you really feel the drugs doing anything. With something like Winstrol, you are not going to have water-retention prematurely making you feel bigger. You are going to need to wait until true lean tissue gains build up enough before you feel much of anything. I would suggest being patient for another week or two. If by the third or fourth week you are not noticing anything, it's fairly safe to say you are either not taking enough, or are not taking the real thing.

 

 Anabolics 2005: Anabolic Steroid Reference Manual may be ordered by calling 888-828-8008, or visiting http://www.anabolicsbook.com/.