First Steroid Cycle for Beginners: Comprehensive Guide

First Steroid Cycle for Beginners

In this article, we will discuss the first steroid cycle. We will identify common mistakes beginners make and outline a proper action plan before, during, and after the cycle to conduct the first steroid cycle efficiently, safely, without side effects, and with maximum results. We will also examine one of the best and most effective steroid cycles for beginners.

If you are considering buying steroids to gain mass and have never used steroids before, this article is for you.

Common Mistakes of Beginners

In this section, I will describe the two most common mistakes beginners make. In other words, these are factors under which steroid use is contraindicated or highly discouraged.

Age

Many people contact the consultants at our Pharma UA store asking for help in planning their first steroid cycle or for recommendations on which drugs are best suited for the first cycle.

The first question we ask potential clients is: "How old are you?"

If the answer is within the range of less than 21 years old, we tell the client the following:

"We strongly recommend that you refrain from using anabolic steroids if you are under 21 years old, and it's even better to wait until 24-25 years old before considering whether you need them."

Using anabolic steroids at a young age poses several serious side effects:

Closure of Growth Plates : Natural closure of these zones occurs in men around 24-25 years old. If you start taking anabolic steroids, there is a high risk of early closure of growth plates, permanently halting your growth. If you are 16-18-19 years old, you might still gain a few centimeters in height by 21-25 years old.
Hormonal System Disruption : At a young age, the hormonal system is not yet stabilized and is especially sensitive to hormonal fluctuations. There is a high risk of disrupting the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which regulates and produces endogenous sex hormones. This can result in insufficient production of your own testosterone and a shift in hormone balance towards estrogen.

Therefore, if you decide to undertake your first steroid cycle after 21, you need to be well-informed about how to properly and fully restore the hormonal system after the cycle.

Additionally, it's worth noting that from 14 to 20 years old, men experience peak production of their own testosterone and growth hormone, making it easy to gain significant muscle mass with proper training and nutrition without resorting to steroid hormones.

Lack of or Insufficient Training Experience

I often see people who just started going to the gym and immediately look for ways to buy steroids to accelerate their progress (because it's urgently needed). However, they have no understanding of how to structure their training, perform exercises with proper technique, or create a diet based on their training goals.

If you belong to this type, my advice is: Forget about using steroids until you have at least one year of natural training experience, ideally 2-3 years. During this time, you should maximize your body's genetic potential for muscle gain.

Before starting your first steroid cycle, you should:

Learn to train properly.
Learn to create a diet according to your goals.
Understand all the nuances of natural training thoroughly. In other words, gain training experience.
Learn to feel the work of muscle groups (i.e., build mind-muscle connections).
Build a strength base and strengthen the joint-ligament apparatus.

Only then, when all possible ways and means of natural muscle gain are exhausted, can you consider starting your first steroid cycle. Otherwise, you will join those who came to the gym, decided to "get jacked by summer," but never did, even using anabolic steroids.

Beginners in bodybuilding must understand that steroids are not a magic pill. Using steroids requires a competent approach to all aspects of the training process—nutrition, recovery, training periodization, and understanding how to integrate all this into your first cycle, which beginners lack.

Of course, I can't say that using steroids, training in the gym, and eating with a caloric surplus will not improve your muscle mass. The results will be there. But they will be very insignificant compared to what could be if you had several years of natural training experience and maximized your natural potential for muscle gain.

Example

Imagine: On a racetrack, two cars are at the start line. Both have a nitrous oxide injection system.

Driver , very impatient, immediately after starting, without gaining speed on his engine's potential, activates the nitrous oxide and accelerates sharply to his car's maximum speed (let's say 250 km/h), overtaking Driver shortly after the start.

But Driver maximizes acceleration using his car's engine potential and then activates the nitrous oxide, accelerating beyond the maximum to 350 km/h, far surpassing Driver , and finishes first.

The same goes for the human body. Using steroids without exhausting your natural, genetically set potential, you will quickly reach your natural maximum muscle mass and strength and then stall in progress. Furthermore, after the steroid cycle, you won't be able to progress naturally.

Draw your conclusions on whether you need this.

How to Start the First Cycle?

To properly and safely conduct your first steroid cycle, you need to start with preparation by undergoing tests and monitoring health indicators—biochemistry blood tests, hormone levels, hematology, ECG, and ultrasound of the abdominal cavity and kidneys.

If you are 40 years old, you will also need an ultrasound of the prostate or a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test to identify potential prostate issues.

Detailed information about tests before the first (or any) steroid cycle can be found in the article:

Tests before, during, and after an anabolic steroid cycle .

Tests before the cycle allow identifying potential health problems and determining your physiological (natural) hormone levels. These indicators (hormones) are needed primarily to understand the target levels for post-cycle therapy (PCT) and to monitor whether you have recovered after the cycle.

Secondly, hormone tests are needed to correctly select the dosages of anabolic steroids and aromatase inhibitors.

Recommended Hormone Tests Before the Cycle

Total Testosterone
Free Testosterone
Estradiol
Prolactin
SHBG (optional)
FSH
LH

If your health indicators are normal and there are no contraindications to using steroids, we proceed to the drugs we recommend for the first cycle.

Financial Aspect of AAS Use

According to statistics from our online store, more than 80% of people who use or plan to use steroids for the first time do not monitor their health indicators, neither before nor during any stage of steroid therapy. The first reason is financial. The second is a careless attitude towards their health, hoping that everything will go smoothly. Many manage without issues, while some experience problems (side effects, etc.).

You must clearly understand: Using steroids without monitoring health indicators poses health risks for which you are responsible.

As you already understand, proper preparation for the cycle and the cycle itself requires significant financial expenses. Therefore, "wisely," before starting the cycle, you need to estimate the financial costs of the steroid cycle, including all necessary tests, nutrition, and other expenses to understand whether you can afford these costs.

Approximate Calculation of Costs for the Cycle

All prices below are indicated in US dollars as of 15.07.22 (at an exchange rate of 36.5 UAH per 1 dollar).

Purchase of recommended drugs for the first cycle (8-week cycle including auxiliary drugs will cost from $50 to $80).
Tests : On average, $4-6 per test. Hormone tests before the cycle (depending on the lab, from $24 to $46), CBC, hematology ($15-20), ultrasound (from $20) = $76-90 + tests during the cycle, on average $40 during the entire cycle. Tests after the cycle - $76-90.
Nutrition on the cycle : The cost of nutrition during the cycle will depend on the athlete's weight.

On a steroid cycle, you must maintain a caloric surplus. Approximate values for proteins (2-3 grams per 1 kg of athlete's weight), carbohydrates (4-5 grams). If foods containing complex carbohydrates are not expensive, protein foods—meat, fish, cottage cheese, etc., are not cheap.

For example, an athlete weighing about 90 kg, a diet for mass gain (in Ukraine) as of 22.06.2022, will cost $160-180 per month. This figure can be reduced using budget protein sources—various offal, etc., but still won't be lower than $120.

If you can save somewhat on tests and pharmacology due to insufficient finances (below, I will provide a list of the recommended minimum), saving on nutrition, in other words, a lack of nutrients in the diet, will nullify your efforts to gain muscle mass.

Minimum (Budget) Set of Tests Before the Cycle

AST, ALT, total cholesterol
Creatinine
Glucose
Complete blood count
Estradiol

Recommendations for Drugs on the First Steroid Cycle

In my opinion, a proper steroid cycle, whether it is the first or any other subsequent cycle, should be based on testosterone injections.

In the body, testosterone, besides increasing anabolism, is responsible for the proper course of many physiological processes: libido, psychological activation, etc.

Therefore, the lack of endogenous testosterone on a cycle with drugs that do not raise testosterone levels but suppress its production can lead to adverse consequences.

Due to the drop in estradiol levels, problems with the joint-ligament apparatus may arise, and due to the lack of DHT, there may be issues with erections during the cycle.

This is why I recommend starting your first cycle either with testosterone propionate or testosterone enanthate (cypionate).

The cycle can be conducted solo, meaning using

one drug in the cycle.

For more details on these testosterone esters, you can follow the links:

How to maximize results .

We recommend using testosterones together with Masteron (drostanolone propionate or drostanolone enanthate).

Why?

Most of the testosterone that enters the body from outside is in the so-called bound or inactive state. The body cannot use bound testosterone.

This happens because, along with the testosterone level increase, there is a growth of SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin), which suppresses testosterone activity, reducing its bioavailability.

Using Masteron helps lower SHBG below the physiological level, increasing the amount of free testosterone and enhancing the cycle's effectiveness. Moreover, Masteron also has anabolic activity, helping to gain lean muscle mass, and has fat-burning and anti-estrogen properties.

Dosages of Testosterone and Masteron for the First Cycle

The first steroid cycle will be designed for 8 weeks.

Dosages of Testosterone :

From 250 to 500 mg per week

The selection of testosterone dosage will depend on the following factors:

Cycle goal
Weight
Training level
Age
Initial testosterone level

Below, I will list the average dosages of testosterone and Masteron for the first cycle. Average dosages are suitable for most beginner "chemists" - 100 mg of testosterone propionate every other day (or 350 mg of enanthate per week).

Dosages of Masteron

From 100 to 350 mg per week

The dosage selection depends on:

SHBG level
Cycle goal
Athlete's weight

On average, 200 mg of Masteron in any form is enough to achieve positive effects.

Additional Drugs for the First Cycle

Since testosterone aromatizes, meaning it converts to estradiol, it is necessary to monitor estradiol levels and take measures to lower and normalize them.

Anastrozole dosage is selected individually based on the initial estradiol levels determined by the tests.

Dosage range: from 0.5 mg once every 3 days to 1 mg every other day.

The dosage of anastrozole on a steroid cycle depends, as mentioned above, on the initial estradiol level, testosterone dosage, the ratio of own testosterone to estradiol, age, Masteron dosage, and SHBG level.

Tests

The first test on a steroid cycle should be taken in the second week of the cycle.

What to test:

Total testosterone to understand if the drug you acquired for the cycle is working (if you trust the manufacturer or your steroid supplier, there's no urgent need for this).
SHBG: determine Masteron's effectiveness and hormone levels for possible dosage adjustments.
Estradiol: for adjusting anastrozole dosage (keep estrogen levels within the physiological norm during the cycle).

The second test is taken in the 4th-5th week of the cycle if dosages were adjusted after the first test.

Test:

Estradiol (mandatory) - dosage adjustment of anastrozole might be needed
Prolactin (if high, cabergoline needs to be purchased and taken)
SHBG (if Masteron dosages were adjusted)

PCT After the First Steroid Cycle

Post-cycle therapy should begin only after the steroid is fully eliminated from the body.

If using testosterone propionate, this period equals approximately 6-7 days after the last injection. In the case of using long-acting testosterone esters, this period will be from 3 weeks or more. In this case, we always recommend transitioning off the cycle on short-acting testosterone propionate.

The logic is straightforward: a week after the last long-acting testosterone ester injection, switch to propionate and inject 100 mg every other day for 14 days. Stop propionate, and 7 days after stopping propionate, start PCT with clomid.

Average clomid dosage : 50 mg per day for 3 weeks, then 25 mg per day for the next 3 weeks.

After finishing clomid, take tests:

Total testosterone
Free testosterone
Estradiol
Prolactin
FSH
LH

Compare with pre-cycle tests. If the indicators are the same or higher than before the cycle, everything is OK, and PCT can be considered successfully completed.

Best First Steroid Cycle for an Athlete Weighing 85 kg

The cycle includes testosterone enanthate + Masteron enanthate with a transition off the cycle on testosterone propionate.

You can view and download the detailed cycle scheme via the link:

Cycle Scheme: Testosterone Enanthate + Masteron

Week	Testosterone Enanthate	Masteron Enanthate	Testosterone Propionate
1	250 mg	200 mg	0.5 mg (once every 3 days)
2	250 mg	200 mg	Analysis (anastrozole dose adjustment)
3	250 mg	200 mg
4	250 mg	200 mg
5	250 mg	200 mg
6	250 mg	200 mg	1000 IU (once every 4 days)
7	100 mg every other day	1000 IU
8	100 mg every other day	1000 IU
9	Clomid 50 mg/day (3 weeks)
10	Clomid 25 mg/day (3 weeks)
11	Clomid 25 mg/day

Cycle Overview

The testosterone enanthate + Masteron enanthate cycle is designed for quality muscle mass gain.

Base of the cycle : testosterone enanthate at 250 mg per week.

Additional anabolic drug : drostanolone (Masteron enanthate) at 200 mg per week.

Auxiliary drugs :

HCG 5000 IU
Anastrozole 1 mg/tablet
Testosterone propionate
Clomid

The cycle is designed for a full 8 weeks.

Application :

Testosterone enanthate and Masteron enanthate are injected once a week at 1 ml each (can be drawn into one syringe and injected together).

Duration of enanthate and Masteron application is 6 weeks, a total of 6 injections.

On the 36th day after the start of the cycle, begin injecting HCG at 1000 IU once every 4 days. A total of 5 injections (instruction) (injected to prevent testicular atrophy).
Transition off the cycle with propionate: on the 43rd day of the cycle, or a week after the last injections of Masteron and testosterone enanthate, begin injecting testosterone propionate for the next 11 days (100 mg, one ampoule every other day).

Using propionate on the "exit" from the cycle allows us to maintain high working concentrations of testosterone in the blood for a few more weeks after canceling the "long" esters, and effectively end the cycle with better results than if we simply stopped the long ester and waited for it to "wear off." Moreover, we more clearly understand when to start PCT with anti-estrogens.

On the 60th day of the cycle, take tests for free testosterone and estradiol. Check testosterone and estradiol levels.

Based on the results, either start PCT with clomid or wait a few days if testosterone levels are still high, and then start taking clomid according to the cycle scheme.

If estrogen levels are high, lower them with anastrozole (dosages are adjusted according to the tests).

3 weeks after starting PCT, take tests for:
- LH
- Total testosterone
- Estradiol
- Prolactin

3 weeks is sometimes enough for the levels of your own sex hormones to return to normal. In this case, PCT can either be finished or continued with anti-estrogen therapy at minimal doses.

Estrogen Level Control

Since testosterone aromatizes in the body, estrogen level control is necessary to avoid excessive fluid retention and estrogenic side effects.

At the beginning of the second week of the cycle, take an estradiol test + (optionally total testosterone).

Based on the test results, decide on anastrozole dosages (keep estradiol within your reference values during the cycle).

Final Stage

The last test is taken 5-6 weeks after starting PCT. Take the same tests you took before the cycle. Check the indicators. If your own hormone levels are close to or higher than before the cycle, PCT was successful.

If the levels are still not high enough, continue taking clomid for a few more weeks.