[F.I.S.T.]

Keeping Muscle From a Steroid Cycle
By NELSON MONTANA

[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
Why You Lose Most Of What You Gain[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE="3"]
It’s a vicious cycle. No , that’s not a reference to an awesome steroid cycle. It’s the ‘going around in circles’ process of using anabolics, losing the gains, using them again, and losing the gains again.

When you do a Steroid cycle. You’re looking to improve your look. When the Steroids kick in, you see the improvement day after day. You get closer to achieving the body you imagined. But what goes up must come down. And a month after the cycle is over it seems as if you’ve hardly made any progress from when you started and you start to wonder if it was worth all the work, effort and strain on the body from the side effects of the drugs.

There’s also a psychological factor. You not only went from having super powers to being back to normal, but since your own HPTA (hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis) has been compromised you can actually have lower androgen levels, leaving you weak, lethargic and with a suppressed libido, leading to depression.

Why does this happen? There are several reasons, some obvious, some not so much. Once the drugs that impart strength and retain nitrogen are no longer in your body, the benefits of a chemically enhanced state cease and muscle gains come to a halt. But why would muscle be lost so soon? Muscle is muscle, right? It should just “disappear” in a matter of weeks. That’s the key that so many people miss.

For one thing, some gains aren’t actually muscle. Blood volume makes up a big part of that “steroidal look.” Muscles are fuller and more shapely. They seem to want to burst through the skin. Vascularity is increased. Once that blood volume is lost, so is the “look” of being “on”.

Another problem is that guys try to gain too much. If you gain 30 pounds of muscle, once you’re in a suppressed state following your cycle (even after PCT) the body simply isn’t capable of holding on to that much muscle. Then again, if you gained just 10 pounds of muscle, it may not sound like a lot but imagine what 10 pounds of meat looks like. Now imagine that spread out throughout your body. You’d be lucky to have that and the truth of the matter is, you’re not holding on to a fraction of that without some help. That’s where running a “Bridge” comes in.

“Bridging” is the process of using small doses of AAS in-between cycles to maintain those gains. There’s just one small problem with bridging…it keeps the hormonal system compromised. You’re basically never off. Not only is this unhealthy, it makes the next cycle less effective due to building up a tolerance to the drugs over time.

The concept of using a bridge is one of those ides that seems to make sense but just doesn’t work out in real life. Still, a lot of people do it. Why? Because the devastation of losing all you worked for is too much to bear. But a comparison can be made to using anti-biotics. They can make you feel better and fight infection, but if you stayed on them for too long they stop working, PLUS, your natural ability to produce antibodies becomes weaker.

So it stands to reason that the best approach to making the most of muscle gains from a steroid cycle would be to get the body to do what it was doing while enhance, but to do it while in a natural state in between cycles. That’s the tough part and requires considerable planning and application of the right substances.[/SIZE]

[F.I.S.T.]

[SIZE="3"]Everyone wants to keep the gains they make form each cycle, but beyond that, they want to retain the “look” of being on cycle. That thin skinned, full, shapely vascular appearance along with the extra strength, endurance and confidence. It’s no wonder guys are anxious to go back on, or in an effort to delude themselves, use a low dosage of some Steroid in between cycles, this practice created the concept of the ‘Bridge’. That’s doubly stupid because not only will a low dosage not do much, but it will keep you suppressed. And gains from the next cycle will be hindered.

The best approach is not to continue to use steroids to keep that ‘on feeling’, which will continue to hurt your chances for recovery. You have to get off the suppressive drugs, and try to recreate that feeling of being ‘on’ with non-suppressive compounds, basically get as close as possible to that feeling naturally. That takes a bit more planning. Let’s break it down how Steroids work to help Bodybuilders make gains do into FOUR categories.

#1: Increased red blood cell count, for fullness and muscularity with a lot of veins.

#2: Increased androgen receptor activation, for mental drive. Brute strength, muscle hardness and libido overdrive.

Click image for larger version. Name: androgen-receptor.jpg Views: 0 Size: 37.8 KB ID: 1203

#3: Increased work load capacity, so shorter time in between sets and shorter time for recharge in between workouts.

#4: Faster recovery, muscle grows during the recovery phase after days after the workout. Come back to the next workout feeling 100% and with additional muscle tissue to help you hoist more weight around.

THESE are the things that build muscle. And they’re the things that AAS do so well. But so do a few other things that do it as well.
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
Cassis Grandis:[/COLOR][/SIZE] This is an herb that has been used in South American medicine to treat anemia, but it also has the has a reputation as an aphrodisiac.

Scientific studies reveal that it increases blood volume. That is exactly what androgens do that produce those massive pumps!
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
EGCG: [/COLOR][/SIZE]This is a powerful antioxidant that also helps keep the metabolism working at peak efficiency therefore utilizing and preventing the storage of excess fat. When the body is more metabolically active, as when using steroids, fat is used more readily for fuel instead of being stored.
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
Fadogia Aggrestis:[/COLOR][/SIZE] Fadogia is the only natural substance shown to increase luteinizing hormone, thus allowing for faster recovery. Steroids LOWER LH, so this works in your favor both off cycle or on.
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
Alpha GPC:[/COLOR][/SIZE] This has been proven to increase GH output, when it’s secreted naturally. In other words, when you train hard and are in a deep sleep, growth hormone production may be increased. More GH means more potential growth.
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
Phosphatydl Serine:[/COLOR][/SIZE] This unique phospholipid has the distinct ability to stop the destruction of the cellular wall, therefore it has anti catabolic effects. This means you can train harder with less breakdown and faster recovery – just like with steroids.
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
Resveratrol:[/COLOR][/SIZE] Is an anti aging compound that increases stamina and endurance.
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
Euricoma Longifolia[/COLOR][/SIZE] increases free testosterone to make the most of what you make naturally! It also has the pleasant side ffect oif increasing libido and erectile function.
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
Muira Puama[/COLOR][/SIZE] is another libido enhancer, so you still have that raging drive you get from androgens like Masteron and Proviron.
[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]
Lepidium Meyenii:[/COLOR][/SIZE] This assures the right balance of estrogen, so it doesn’t go too high or too low.[SIZE="4"][COLOR="Navy"]

Pregnenolone:[/COLOR][/SIZE] This is the MASTER hormone that produce ALL HORMONES and is the precursor to testosterone.

If you can use all of these compounds, you can maintain what is very close to an ‘on’ feeling. Not only will it maintain and solidify your gains – you can continue making gains in between cycles. A VERY intriguing prospect![/SIZE]

[erich1b]

I've read Nelson Montana before. Interesting that he writes about bridging. Last I read he was still advocating cycles for 3 weeks at a time.