Losing weight can be both an exciting and frustrating period for the bodybuilder or fitness enthusiast. There is no way to describe the joy that arrives as a result of seeing previously hidden muscle appear, as the blankets of unsightly and uncomfortable fat begin peeling away. At the same time, restricting your calories and avoiding the foods you love, while at the same time adding up to an hour of cardio each day can be hard on the mental state of the trainer as well. You will grow weaker and smaller, but look better. It’s quite the catch-22.

One of the tools frequently used by those seeking to get lean is a supplement stack known as ECA. It consists of a 200 mg caffeine tablet, taken with a 325 mg aspirin and a 25 mg ephedrine tablet. All of the ingredients are readily available at any drug store or pharmacy, and since they are perfectly legal (while equally or more effective compounds such as Clenbuterol may not be), ECA is most commonly used by lifters for fat loss purposes. Sure, the supplements you can buy over the counter will give you a lot of energy and will deliver some fat loss benefits. But most serious lifters will agree that ECA is pretty much unbeatable for burning fat, boosting metabolism, delivering energy and limiting appetite. ECA rocks.

And, because ECA is so effective, many lifters will use it year-round. Nothing can be more fun than eating fast food while staying lean, and building muscle, in the off-season. Having the nice outline of abs year-round is a wonderful feeling, and one that many people would love to enjoy. However, this practice is a dangerous one. The body is a very adaptable organism, and it sure doesn’t take long for the systems to adjust to the effects of ECA. This is where the trouble begins.

On the health side of things, prolonged use of ECA can lead to elevated blood pressure and excessive wear on your kidneys. For the bodybuilding side of things, ECA is also not an ideal option for long term use for the simple fact that it stops working. You maintain a slight level of leanness, but the exciting fat-burning effects you initially enjoyed will be no more. At this point, once your body can’t get super lean from ECA, your only options are going to be use of actual testosterone injections – AKA steroids. If you abuse ECA on a long-term basis, nothing short of running a cycle will get you that level of leanness in the future.

Keep the ECA use short and simple. It is a BOOSTER for pre-contest dieting only. Use it for 2 weeks, then take a week off. Never take ECA for more than 10 weeks total, without a break of 3 months afterwards. Keep your use moderate and sensible, and you will always enjoy good health and great fat loss results!

“ECA”, or a combination of ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin is often viewed as the most effective & readily available fat burning compound stack for bodybuilders, fitness/figure athletes, and anyone else looking to attain their best shape ever. However, aside from the commonly prescribed dosage (200 mg caffeine, 25 mg ephedrine, and 325 mg aspirin), very little information is often dispersed regarding the many smaller nuances of using ECA. In particular, its timing for use, tapering on and off the stack, and potential troubles seen by users are often overlooked – until now! Read on to learn more about one of the most effective fat burning stacks man has every discovered.

Timing
You should take your first dose of ECA immediately upon rising in the morning. For one, it will will eliminate your need for that morning coffee or diet soda, as the 200 mg caffeine you enjoy from the ECA dose will get you up and moving faster than you can imagine. Your morning cardio should immediately follow your ECA dosage. About halfway through the workout, you may break a sudden sweat as your metabolism comes to life, with the compounds kicking in. Your second dose should be late morning or with lunch. Any dose taken later than 1 pm may interfere with your sleeping pattern. The use of ephedrine alone may disrupt your sleep. Using it late in the day means you will probably have a late night!

Tapering
When starting the use of ECA for the first time, many users are advised to begin with a ¼ to ½ dose for the first week so that their body can become used to the chemicals and avoid any maybe panic or anxiety caused by the drugs. Likewise and perhaps more importantly, the use of ECA should never be ended suddenly. Rather, one should slowly taper off use over a period of 1-2 weeks, using smaller and smaller doses each day until it’s just ¼ of the normal dose, and the user feels nothing when use stops. ECA can be addictive!

Troubles
ECA is fairly harmless when use is limited to twice per day, 5 days per week, for two months or less. Going above that will limit the effectiveness of ECA and perhaps render you likely to stop seeing any results at all! Normal ECA use may lead to panic, anxiety, sweating, and heart palpitations for some. However, these are harmless and temporary, and will usually subside after a few days of proper use.

ECA is a terrific stack that yields amazing results. Using it correctly will help to curb appetite, boost energy, burn fat, and raise your body’s overall metabolism. Use the advice offered here, along with your own sets of wisdom & experiences to plan your successful ECA use. Good luck!

If you ask any random person what they believe to be the biggest scam in the history of the sport of bodybuilding, your answers might vary. Let’s look at a few of the most commonly believed scams when it comes to the sport of moving iron in the pursuit of bigger muscles and greater strength.

You don’t need steroids to be a top bodybuilder
You don’t need steroids to build a bigger, better you. But you will need steroids if you ever want to step on the pro stage and make your mark among the best bodybuilders in the world. All the training discipline, nutritional wisdom, and smart supplementation in the world can’t trump a 12 week cycle of a gram of test a week. So while you should use bodybuilding as a way to grow stronger, look better, and be healthier, you should also work to do it with a realistic understanding of the chemical use prevalent at the highest levels of the sport.

Supplements
This one is tricky, because there are some supplements that are absolutely effective, whose worth has been proven by decades of studies and testimonials from tens of thousands of users. Creatine and Mesobolin come to mind as two supplements which most serious lifters agree, along with proper rest, exercise and diet, will lead to new muscle gains. However, there are always going to be new supplements arriving designed not to change the bodies of lifters, but to make their wallets lighter. Stick with supplements that have a reputation for helping lifters to see results. Sure, you never know when you’ll be there to ‘discover’ an amazing supplement. But if it’s that good, it will not stay a secret very long. You would be best served to let the other consumers make that determination, and save your money and time for supplements that have been PROVEN to deliver results.

Secret training protocols of the pros
This one might come as a surprise to many lifters, and just like supplements, it’s not completely a scam. You can toss a trainer like Charles Glass or Hany Rambod into a workout with any random trainer in the gym, and you are going to get better results. They know which angles of which movements will stimulate particular muscle fibers or muscle groups, leading to new growth. However, the “4×12” workouts you pin to your wall from a muscle magazines, the “HSFTS790X” workout (or whatever the flavor of the week) that can only be obtained from a DVD for just 3 easy payments of $39.95, is definitely not going to change your world. Rather, showing up to the gym, training using both compound and isolation movements for 8 to 12 repetitions for 12 to 15 sets is what is going to build up muscle. All the gimmicks in the world can’t topple what you’ll see from sensible moderate training, done on a consistent basis!

For many bodybuilders, the use of steroids is just part of the sport which they love so dearly. They begin by immersing themselves in tough training, intelligent dieting, and total study of all the things that make a bodybuilder great. They build a terrific physique and push their natural limits as far as possible. Then, they soon realize that if they want to reach their absolute maximum peak level of development, they are going to have to use steroids. They use them for years, and reach a level never thought possible with natural training alone.

And then, they stop. Maybe they get married and decide to start a family. Maybe it’s a job where testing is involved. Perhaps it’s not financially viable anymore, or a ‘source’ dries up and the use must stop for legal reasons. Whatever the cause, steroid use inevitably stops for everyone at some point. Here are some ideas for what should happen AFTER you stop the cycle.

Get your T levels right
Initially, PCT, or post-cycle therapy should be used to help re-vamp your body’s natural testosterone production. Your hypothalamus has informed your testes that they can take the year off – and as a result, your body isn’t delivering testosterone anymore. You can fix that using a variety of compounds. This will be task one – get through that initial period where you have no energy, stamina, strength or sex drive as your testosterone levels try to suddenly crash once you put down the needle.

Keep exercising
One way to keep your testosterone levels up, while keeping much of the muscle mass you’ve built, is to keep going to the gym. You’ll lose weight and size, and you won’t be able to move as much iron as you could before. But at the same time, you will keep a lot of the muscle, and you won’t shrink back to your pre-gear days. Most bodybuilders who retire from steroid use but keep training will be bulkier, and not nearly as lean, but they’ll keep most of that muscle mass, as can you!

Accepting your new size
The mentality of being the biggest and baddest man in ever room is one that is easy to get used to. Shrinking down can be tough for many athletes, particularly those who lifted for the sole purpose of not being intimidated anymore. Accept that you had your run as one of the big guys, but that it’s time to get back to a healthy body weight.

Remove the evidence
Remember to throw out the old needles, vials of oil, and other paraphernalia that might be sitting around your house or locker room. You don’t want children, co-workers, family members, or anyone else finding them. If you must ‘save them for a rainy day’, bury it far enough away that if you don’t find it, no one else ever will either.

Looking ahead
Enjoy the memories of being big, reap some of the benefits of long term muscle gain, but accept the new opportunities life offers and enjoy every second of it!

So you have decided to embark upon your very first adventure known as a prohormone cycle! Without a doubt, you are going to enjoy the results that you are about to see. A prohormone cycle is very similar to a steroid cycle. You can’t run it as long, and it’s going to be a lot more intense, but in the end you’re probably going to see some serious muscle and strength gain, coupled with some fat loss, without the detriment of too much harm to your body.

Length

Standard steroid cycles can last up to 16 weeks, depending upon the intensity of compounds you are running. A simple cycle of 400 mg of Testosterone Cypionate could be run for up to four months, if needed. Your liver probably wouldn’t experience too much stress from such a low dose. Granted, if you decided to add 200 mg per week of Deca to your stack, it would suddenly become necessary to limit it to 10 to 12 weeks. The more compounds you added, the more intense the cycle would become – and thus the more negative the side effects. Prohormones, as you may know, are some seriously intense compounds. Many have been banned because, well, they’re just too powerful for some users who tend to use them for too long. If you are ready to run a prohormone cycle, then you are going to want to keep it limited to 6 to 8 weeks at a time, depending upon the instructions that come with the compound. Ideally, you will also want to have a doctor check your blood levels to ensure your liver enzymes don’t jump in too significant of a manner during this stretch as well. Staying on a prohormone cycle too long might feel good at first, but the negative changes you’ll see in the long run certainly won’t be worth it.

Intensity

As mentioned, prohormone cycles are very intense. Be prepared for this. Give your body a break before and after running each cycle. If you are sick or recovering from a serious illness, hold off on the cycle until you feel you are ready. There is nothing wrong with putting off a prohormone cycle. The gains will always be there when you’re ready.

Frequency

Following each cycle of 6 to 8 weeks, give your body a break of 8 to 10 weeks to fully recover from the cycle you just subjected it to. We aren’t machines. We are living beings who are very fragile when it comes to exposing our internal organs to stressful compounds. Don’t risk your health by running prohormone cycles too often.

Obtaining compounds

Choose a prohormone supplement that will be readily available should you like it, and wish to return to using it down the road. Many supplements are offered by new companies which quickly fail, or the supplement themselves are quickly banned. Instead, choose a supplement such as Mesobolin, Oral Testibol, or others that have been around for years, delivering solid results to users.

So you have decided to run a testosterone stack to help you reach your bodybuilding goals. Testosterone is by far the most effective compound for adding muscle mass and strength. It is used by athletes at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels for improving looks and performance. Let’s check out some of the factors that go into planning the ideal testosterone stack.

Selection
Any testosterone ester or variant will work in your initial few cycles. As time passes, and you enter cycle number 4, 6, or 8, you may need to be more selective in order to see continued results as your body adapts to the compounds you inject. An oil-based compound is usually best. Testosterone suspension is contained in water, which makes it last for a shorter time period in the body. Options such as test Enanthate or Cypionate are often the most popular choices, as well as products that stack 3 to 5 different testosterone for a slow-release result.

Duration
Any testosterone cycle is going to be most effective in the range of 8 to 12 weeks. Anything less than 8 weeks means you won’t fully saturate your blood levels. Anything greater than three months, and you will run the risk of exposing yourself to dangerous side effects without much in return, in terms of additional gains made after week ten. You should always take breaks to keep your cell receptors fresh!

Dosage
Most testosterone products recommend a weekly dose of 400 to 600 mg. In the beginning, you will find that a cycle as small as 200 mg per week will make a substantial difference in your gains. As your cycles pass and you become a more experienced steroid user, you will probably discover a cycle of 100 more mg per week is needed for each cycle, until you reach a ceiling of 800 mg and should then begin adding new compounds to the mix.

Injections
You will want to divide your total dosage up into two shots per week, taken about 3.5 days apart.

Precautions
You should always have blood work done prior to beginning any testosterone stack cycle. This will detect any underlying medical conditions. Comparing your blood panel levels following the cycle will allow you to determine how much the cycle affected your internal processes. This will help you plan the next cycle safely.

Kickstarting the cycle
Many bodybuilders will use a small dose of oral steroids at the start of their testosterone cycle so that they can begin enjoying changes to the body immediately. It can take 2 to 3 weeks for blood testosterone levels to reach maximum levels when the source of the elevation is artificial testosterone. In fact, many users report a drop-off in levels for that first 2 weeks, as their natural production halts immediately but their artificial levels take longer to rise. For this reason, a small cycle of orals for 2 to 4 weeks at the start of the cycle may be advisable.

Designing and employing a testosterone stack isn’t all that tough. It’s been done by millions of athletes for nearly a hundred years now. Plan your doses, duration, and injections correctly and you’ll see great results from your testosterone stack.

Growth hormone is the big drug making lots of noise in the world of sports nutrition, anabolics, bodybuilding and lifestyle improvement. Many senior citizens are suddenly learning about growth hormone as a way to offset the effects of aging. People in their middle age are seeing it as a tool for reclaiming the vitality of youth, sexually, physically, and even mentally. Young men are discovering their performance and recovery ability is greatly improved with the use of growth hormone, making them more effective in their sport of choice as well as in performance in all areas of their life. Bodybuilders have learned that when used with other compounds, growth hormone allows them to restart some growth processes that halted years ago. Here are some commonly asked questions regarding the use of growth hormone.

What happens when you use too much growth hormone?

You wear bloat – a lot of it. There is certainly a ceiling to how much positive effects you will see from a cycle. More is not better – longer periods of use are better.

Does growth hormone start working immediately?

At the cellular level, it begins its work quickly. It will take several weeks until some of the effects will be manifested to the point where you’ll begin to notice them. If you begin GH use when you begin a cycle, you’ll feel and see the effects of the testosterone long before the growth hormone starts to kick in. However, the fat burning, muscle growing and vitality improvements you see over a period of months will be far greater than you would see with a simple test cycle alone.

What kind of doses are the guys using?

Many of the top bodybuilders you see on the state and national stages use 4 to 8 IU of growth hormone per day. At the professional level, some of the smaller athletes will stick with dosages like this. However, among the top guys in the sport, who regularly break the 280+ pound muscle mark (unheard of with the previous five decades of bodybuilder), the daily dosage of growth hormone has been reputed to reach 20 IU per day – or more. Obviously, this sort of information will be under-reported. No athlete is going to brag about how much he’s doing, if he admits it at all. Most bodybuilders work hard to downplay the importance of drugs, as well as how much they are actually using.

How does growth hormone work?

First off, growth hormone helps you to get more out of the food you are already eating. Its level of assistance with protein synthesis – using the protein in the food we eat – is even higher than that of testosterone. When used together, the body uses much, much more of the protein in our food. Diet suddenly matters greatly. Growth hormone also helps to speed up the fat processing capability of the body and keep it from being produced in the first place. Amino acids are used more effectively. The body recovers faster from workouts, and grows more muscle. Growth hormone isn’t a magic drug that will turn you into a champion bodybuilder – but its presence will be found with most guys who happen to be champion bodybuilders.

Are you looking for a fast-acting testosterone while is very gentle on the body? If so, you should check out Masteron. The gains are good, and the side effects are extremely minimal. Let’s check out a few fast facts about Masteron!

Masteron acts quickly

The drug is only active in your body for sixty hours.

Masteron will dry you out

Water retention is not an issue for users of Masteron. In fact, most users report a hardening or leaning out of their body with use. This makes the drug a good choice for athletes in the pre-content phase looking to appear as dry as possible.

Masteron works in low dose

Most testosterones call for the use of 400 to 800 mg per week to see desired results. Users of Masteron will only require 300 to 500 mg per week to find these same results.

Masteron is rough on the skin

If you have a predisposition for acne, pockmarks, or any kind of skin rash or irritability, Masteron may not be for you. Users report frequent breakouts. The good news is that once your use halts, your skin should return to its former clear state, unless you have allowed scarring to occur.

Masteron is good for your cardiovascular system

Blood pressure elevation is a major concern with many drugs – but not with Masteron. Keep an eye on your levels, as the effects of anything you take with it (including the very popular ephedra, caffeine, aspirin stack) may be compounded thanks to your increased red blood cell count. Overall, however, Masteron is one of the safest testosterones for blood pressure maintenance.

Masteron is very liver-friendly

A fast-dissolving injectable such as Masteron is probably your best bet for those users highly concerned with interrupting their liver function. If you have any history of alcoholism, narcotic abuse, hepatitis, jaundice, or a family history of liver cancer, or any other factor which may lead to a compromised liver function, then Masteron might be a safe bet for you!

Masteron lets you keep your hair

Seeing as the drug is a DHT derivative, your fears of male pattern baldness don’t have a home here. If you have already started the degradation of your hairline thanks to past AAS usage, Masteron may actually help to halt the recession.

Masteron does not cause Gynecomastia

This drug does not aromatize. In fact, it is often classified as anti-estrogenic. Water retention, gyno, and spikes in the female hormone estrogen aren’t of major concern to users.

Masteron needs to be injected frequently

Despite all its great attributes listed above, Masteron does move through the body quickly. Small injections of200 to 300 mg need to take place 2 to 3 times per week in order to keep your blood levels elevated to the effective range. As with all testosterones, unfortunately, Masteron does severely impact your reproductive function from its very first use, facilitating the need for a dedicated post-cycle therapy (PCT) plan.

Masteron is great for stacking

If you are looking to make another drug better, use Masteron! Dianabol, Deca, and most other common choices become much more effective when used with Masteron.

The off-season is where champion physiques are built. Sure, the pre-contest phase is important. You will need to have the best possible presentation of the muscles you have built, and diet and cardio do that. But the most gains you will make each year take place in those months where you run a decent cycle, add some food, and train like mad. Here are some specifics for off-season bulking success for the non-natural bodybuilder.

AAS

Typically, an off-season steroid stack is going to be stronger and more potent (read: toxic) than what you use during your pre-contest phase. Start with a testosterone base (any ester will suffice) for 400 to 600 mg per week. You can supplement with 400 mg Nandrolone, and perhaps a small run of Dianabol for the first three weeks to facilitate growth from day one. That’s it. You don’t need to go overboard, and you don’t need heavier compounds like Anadrol or Trenbolone. Keep it simple and keep the dosages moderate.

Supplementation

The biggest mistake most bodybuilders make in the off-season is the prolonged use of stimulants. Caffeine is very useful for keeping you elevated in the pre-contest phase, especially in conjunction with ephedrine and aspirin as part of the invaluable ECA stack. But in the off-season, stimulants like caffeine and ephedrine have no place in your routine. Also, if you’re running a cycle, products such as creatine won’t help all that much, as the water retention you see from the AAS will provide the same benefits you desired from the creatine. Stick with multi-vitamins, anti-oxidants, Omega 3s, and whey protein.

Diet

You’ll want to enjoy a surplus of 800 to 1200 calories per day over your daily metabolic requirements. Keep the sources clean, mainly from lean meats, complex carbohydrates such as rice and pasta, and drink plenty of water. The addition of anabolics to the mix means you could get away with eating the junk in the off-season. However, keep your cheat meals down to 1 to 2 per week, and eat clean the remainder of the time. Your body will work more efficiently and your muscles will grow faster when given the correct fuel.

Training

You know the basics here. Train four days per week. Use plenty of heavy compound movements, including squats, deadlifts, bench press, barbell curls, and shoulder presses. Keep the repetitions low, in the 6 to 12 range. You will need to track your poundage use, but keep an eye on the “feel” as you lift as well. Train with a partner, and always use knee wraps and back belts during your heaviest lifts. Train heavy and smart and you will grow. The use of AAS in your routine means you will be able to lift more weight for more repetitions, and recover faster. Push yourself to make the best use of the addition of these compounds.

Gaining mass isn’t rocket science, but it isn’t easy either. A sensible steroid stack, coupled with reasonable supplementation, a solid diet, and plenty of training is all it takes to add 15 to 20 pounds of solid mass to your frame next off-season!

Human growth hormone, or GH, is becoming more and more popular with middle-aged and elderly patients all over the world. This has caused the compound to become more readily available to bodybuilders looking for every possible edge in their very competitive sport. Here are a few reasons why bodybuilders will benefit tremendously from GH use.

Lean muscle mass increase

The main reason many young bodybuilders engage in the use of growth hormone is that it does lead to an increase in lean muscle mass. This causes the patient to become stronger in the gym, and able to complete more repetitions with the heavy weights formerly used for low repetition work. Users of GH who don’t lift weights will still see an increase in muscle mass and strength, but those users who do will see a much faster growth trend.

Reduction in body fat

Even with no modifications in diet, you will see a slow but steady reduction in body fat through the use of growth hormone. Obviously, if you are engaging in an actual dieting phase, an increase in cardiovascular exercise and a reduction in overall caloric intake should be used to facilitate greater change, along with perhaps a fat burning such as the ECA stack. Simple addition of GH will lead to several percentage points’ reduction in body fat over several months’ time.

Better cholesterol control

As you may already know, LDL cholesterol is the kind you should avoid, that leads to heart disease. HDL is the good kind, which strengthens cardiovascular system function. GH use elevates HDL levels in users with low levels. The return to desired range within two months and stay there, even with no diet modifications. Since bodybuilders consume so much meat and eggs, cholesterol control is a very real need.

Stamina boost

Growth hormone leads to an increase in oxygen in the bloodstream. Aside from the mental and organ function benefits this provides, there is also a significant boost in aerobic performance capacity that accompanies this boost. This leads to more repetitions being completed on every movement. It means we can train longer and harder when it comes to cardiovascular exercise. It means we don’t become winded as easily in all the things we do in life, including posing, a major breakdown point for many bodybuilders.

Mental Effects

Much of what we do in bodybuilding requires a strong mental acumen. Doling out food portions, showing up on the gym on days we don’t want to, and keeping that drive alive for years of the same monotonous training can be hard sometimes. Growth hormone delivers a mental focus and concentration that helps make performing these mundane tasks easier.

Remember that GH use doesn’t lead to fast results, but over time its results will be dependable and consistent. Bodybuilders do not “need” growth hormone, but they will see significant improvements in all areas of their diet and training should they choose to use it It’s a great tool, when used with healthy lifestyle elements such as diet and exercise, for prolonging length and quality of life.