I'm trying to figure out the best time to dose this when I eventually use it. IMO, the best time to apply it would be in conjunction with the diurnal cycle of rising and falling Cortisol. To OLs credit, they *do* mention this in the write-up. I'm thinking right after waking / no later than lunch? You haven't noticed any negatives dosing it at bedtime? See:
So, yeah. This is a tough one. I always figure there are two basic ways of looking at it, based on the idea that cortisol should be highest when you wake and lowest when you sleep. Either taking a cortisol inhibiting product in the morning will reduce the peaks in cortisol, limiting cortisol when it should be most abundant (and thus potentially eliminating the most cortisol), or reducing cortisol when it should be lowest (before bed) will give you the lowest levels/lowest set point.
In all honesty, I'm not sure that isn't an over simplified way of looking at it. I've played with all kinds of 11-KT dosing from 80 mg/day to 750 mg/day. I've taken it morning and night, morning afternoon and night, etc.
At 250 mg/day, I found the best results by splitting the dose in half - half in the morning after my shower, and half at night before bed. I don't take it before working out, I just don't think taking things directly before waking out makes a huge difference beyond feeling like, "Oh I'm on something".
As the dose increases though, following the natural rhythm of cortisol seems to work best for me. So, for instance, if I'm at 500 mg/ day - I may take 125 in the morning, 125 in the afternoon and 250 at night, or 200 mg in the morning and 300 mg at night. At 750 mg I took 375 before bed and roughly 190 mg morning and afternoon.
Taking in that manner I noticed really NO sides. I got GREAT sleep, especially as the dose got high before bed, and maybe this sleep was a big part of the reason 500-750 mg felt so androgenic. The only side, maybe, is that I was sleeping a bit longer - over 8 hours a night once I hit 375 mg.
On the other hand, taking too much in the morning did produce sides for me - namely low energy from not being able to wake up. You know, like my body said, "OK, let's wake up " and released a bunch of cortisol and then I took it all away. At around 125 mg in the morning, I notice no negatives, maybe it's even a little energizing. Some people claim this substance is energizing to begin with...but I don't get that. Lethargy is more of a side (although pretty minor in my experience).