Unreal's Guide to Superdrol
Superdrol (SD) is also known as methasteron, because it's the 17aa methylated form of the injectable steroid masteron (aka drostanolone). Methylation drastically alters the characteristics of a steroid so SD doesn't have much in common with masteron outside of the fact that it doesn't aromatize. This stuff was originally produced by Designer Supplements, later by Anabolic Xtreme before it got banned. Since being banned, it's surfaced in a few dozen clones (most of them containing either an "S" or a "drol" somewhere in the name). Superdrol is remarkable in that it is one of the cheapest and most potent of the so-called "prohormones" and definitely the most replicated. I should make it clear right now that Superdrol is not a prohormone, there is no conversion, it is a fully active methylated oral steroid.
Wiki article: Methasterone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Effects of Superdrol
Superdrol is a good "bulking" oral, it creates rapid gains in weight and strength starting in the first week. I'm commonly up 10 pounds in 10 days with SD and the same results are pretty common during the first week and a half or so. This is a result of rapid uptake of water and glycogen into your muscles. Recall that glycogen is the "fuel" for your muscles during a workout, so obviously one benefit of this is much greater strength and endurance during your workouts. The added water and glycogen will literally swell the muscles up, producing a fuller look and a much harder feel. The full muscles help to push out veins and increase vascularity as well.
Strength gains generally start in the second week. The way I have come to see it is that your first workout on Superdrol has baseline strength, and then in the next week your muscular "healing" is greatly enhanced, so the next time it gets hit, strength is up. For many users it's common to add around 10 pounds to your bench every week. It is also important to note that the recovery period while on SD is generally much reduced; in the heart of an SD cycle I hardly notice DOMS and I can increase training frequency and continue to make outstanding gains.
The anabolic environment created by Superdrol is excellent, so not only can incredible gains in size and strength be facilitated, but also it can work as an anti-catabolic agent during a cut or recomp. As Superdrol doesn't aromatize into estrogen, "bloat" shouldn't be an observed side effect; it is supposed to be "dry" and promote a hard look, certainly desirable when cutting. I have found in my own experience that SD can cause bloat if carb intake is high enough, but I think that is due to my own response to carbohydrates (I can't tolerate much without gaining fat). Many users report that SD requires a high carbohydrate intake because its actions to produce greater glycogen stores in the muscles mean lower blood sugar levels. Obviously for these people, SD may not be the best choice during a cut. Nonetheless, for some users the nutrient partitioning effects are so great that carbohydrate intake can be greatly elevated without fat gain becoming a problem.
Side Effects of Superdrol
Backpumps: this is common with many users and is generally more pronounced with SD than other oral steroids. Back pumps can be avoided by staying well hydrated, and supplementing your diet with potassium and by taking Taurine (approx. 3-5g) pre-workout (or everyday if you want to be safe).
Cholesterol: bloodwork frequently demonstrates that SD has a severe negative impact on lipids. HDL (good cholesterol) usually plummets and LDL (bad cholesterol) usually skyrockets. Be sure to get plenty of Omega 3 fatty acids. The popular cholesterol aids used in cycle support supplements are RYR (red yeast rice) and CoQ10.
Lethargy: as mentioned above, SD may have the effect of lower blood sugar levels on some users. This should first be tackled by increasing carb intake, if this doesn't work then supplementation with DHEA or plain old stimulants may be necessary. This is a side effect that generally limits the duration of SD to 3 weeks in more sensitive users.
Blood pressure: very common side effect for steroids! Hawthorne berries baby... Note that if you have headaches, this is probably attributable to a BP increase. If you are prone to BP increases, it is recommended to preload hawthorn berries for at least 2 weeks pre-cycle.
Libido: some people get an increased libido from SD, others get their libido destroyed by it. For myself, it seems largely unaffected. Often, I read of users noticing a boost at first, followed by a plummet towards the end of the cycle.
Dehydration: drink a lot of water on SD. It usually makes me extremely thirsty, especially during the first week when as the concentration of active SD rises and water loading occurs. Never allow yourself to be thirsty, always drink a lot of water. Remember, hydration will help with backpumps!
Gyno: Superdrol should not cause gyno on cycle. It cannot aromatize to estrogen so that is out. And contrary to popular believe, Superdrol is NOT a progestin-based compound and it has no interaction with progesterone or prolactin to the best of my knowledge. I am personally susceptible to estrogen-induced gyno and the so-called "progestin"-gyno and SD alone does not cause the least bit of any type of gyno for me. I think that clones of SD that produce gyno during a solo cycle are improperly formualted clones that can't be trusted.
Delayed-gyno: Delayed gyno is caused by an estrogen rebound and this is pretty common on compounds that cannot convert to estrogen themselves. On a SD cycle, the presence of SD will cause suppression of endogenous testosterone production, meaning low test on cycle; in turn, less test can aromatize into estrogen, and estrogen levels are low as well.
During post-cycle, as test levels return, estrogen can return in a "rebounding" spike that can cause gyno. This seems more common when an AI is used for PCT as this keeps estrogen levels suppressed even longer; when the AI is removed, estrogen levels spike up dramatically and cause gyno.
Reduced Appetite: Some users mention this and I am not sure if this falls into the same category of on-cycle gyno (i.e. a result of improperly formulated Superdrol). This is also a symptom of a taxed liver. See liver toxicity.
Liver toxicity: as with other methylated oral steroids, SD hits your liver. Basically you deal with this by not running Superdrol for more than about a month! Do not run longer unless you are getting bloodwork done on cycle and know what you are doing!
Be aware of the symptoms of your liver being overworked: reduced appetite or premature feeling of fullness, dull pain in abdominal region, pale stool, bruising easily, yellowing of skin/eyes.
How To Run Superdrol
Straight Cycle
First time SD users should generally start at 10mg. This is done for several reasons A) to assess sides and response to the compound B) to go through your bottle sparingly and C) because the water/glycogen loading phase doesn't need a huge dose of SD. Even on 10mg you should feel better muscle hardness and pump within the first week (and you should have gained some water/glycogen pounds). When you are comfortable with what you are feeling you can bump up the dose to 20mg.
20mg is generally the sweet spot with the compound. For the most sensitive users it is too much and produces bad backpumps and lethargy... For you lightweights, stick to 10. For users like myself, I could run 20mg forever. During the 2nd and 3rd week you should make excellent gains in size and strength.
Taking the dose to 30mg is generally not necessary. For the majority of users, this causes side effects to increase moreso than gains. Personally, I felt like it was difficult to perceive the change in gains, but the suppression at 30mg became more apparent. If you are not making good gains on 20mg, then you need to seriously consider how good your diet and training is before moving to 30mg. Also consider that I DO think some SD clones out there are improperly formulated and may be weak; if your gains on 20mg suck, this may be the case. If side effects aren't a problem then go ahead with 30mg, but I generally feel that the 30+ range is only for users that A) have a higher tolerance for steroids and/or B) are wellll over 200 pounds.
However you decide to run the cycle, restrict the duration to no more than 30 days. If you are doing 30mg most of the time, I wouldn't even recommend this; if you are one of those smart, patient users who is riding out 10mg, I would say the ceiling can be stretched a little, but don't try to push your luck too hard.
Pulsed Cycle (Read Dr. D's guide, "How to Pulse Orals")
Superdrol is an ideal compound for pulsing because it's strong and has a short half life (~6 hours). Recall that pulsing is meant to extend cycle duration by dosing only 3-4x a week, in doing so, shutdown and sides are greatly mitigated. I feel that pulsing with SD 3x a week with DC training is probably one of the best ways to use it.
With a pulsed cycle, the dose should be 20-30mg, as a pulse should use a slightly higher than normal dose. 10mg pre-workout and 10 post-workout or 20 pre-workout and 10 post-workout. You should start at 10, see if you feel it, move to 20, gauge the strength, and run most of the cycle at 20-30. I would personally lean towards 30mg 3x a week or 20mg 4x a week. This should depend on YOUR response though!
Pulsing allows the duration to be extended. This is very nice with Superdrol because the faster gains come, the more difficult they are to keep, because your body takes time to adjust to maintaining more mass. Therefore I feel pulsed cycles result in a better retention of gains. 6 weeks should work very well here.
Bridging & Alternatives
Because SD elicits such rapid gains, a major problem is that they are difficult to keep. One workaround for this problem is to use Superdrol at the start of a longer cycle. For instance, using it to kickstart an injectable cycle. An example of that would look like:
Test Enanthate 500mg for 12 weeks, Superdrol ~20-30mg for the first 4 weeks. As soon as the SD ends, the test kicks in, and allows you to take a few months to capitalize on the already-impressive gains you have made.
Similarly, SD can be used to kickstart other oral cycles. I feel the best way to do this is to bridge into a less harsh oral steroid (Epi, "tren" or Pheraplex). An example of this would look like:
SD 10/20/20
Epi 00/00/30/40/40/40
This is a 6 week cycle that has SD for the first 3 weeks, where Epi begins on week 3 and continues for weeks 4/5/6. This allows big gains to be made initially and then a 3 week period for the gains to be hardened up and strength increased even further (even if bodyweight doesn't increase much more, that is not the point, the point is to retain more gains in the end by giving your body sufficient time to become "used" to them.
Since SD is so potent, it is always employed FIRST in any such bridge, as you want the majority of the gains to be made as early as possible so your body has more time to adapt to them. If rapid gains are made at the very end of a cycle, they will disappear easier.
Obviously these are about as harsh as you would ever want to go with oral cycling but I feel these are some of the best methods to extract keepable gains from oral cycles.
However you decide to run your Superdrol, it is important to keep in mind that your calories should scale with your weight. For instance, if you start a SD cycle at 200 pounds and 3800 cals, and by the 4th week you are at 215 pounds, then your calories during the 4th week should be (215/200)*3800 = 4085. Most users do not do this and so they say the gains from Superdrol stop during the 4th week. I feel this is probably a major reason why 3 week cycles with SD became so popular. But I feel 3 weekers are stupid, it's not enough time to make much REAL gains.
PCT after Superdrol
SERMs: always use a SERM starting the day after you stop dosing SD (or whichever oral steroid you're ending with in a bridge). Nolva, clomid and toremifene are the popular choices. Having tried all 3 I personally prefer clomid and I feel it is the fastest for restoring natural testosterone production and that is the most important aspect for retaining gains in PCT. I feel nolva is better employed for estrogen control. However they work differently for everyone and nolva protocols (usually 40/40/20/20 or 20/20/20/20) are very common and successful.
Dosing on clomid varies depending on who you ask, I am a fan of dosing 100+mg for the first couple days and then tapering down to 50mg for the rest of the 28 day PCT period; some people are susceptible to the emotional sides of clomid and do not bother with doses that high, but run 50mg for 4 weeks. Both methods work! I always dose SERMs before going to sleep, as estrogenic activity is reported to be highest while you sleep.
AIs: I have never incorporated an AI into my PCT but they can be used in conjunction with a SERM, they just need to be used strategically. For instance I think it is important that an AI be tapered down so as to reduce any estrogen rebound effect.
Extras: I think the gains made from SD are usually hard to keep and the more extras you can throw into PCT, the better. Some people love running cortisol blockers, some people run their cycle support supplements through PCT, some people like to throw in creatine as soon as their PCT starts, some people use Resveratrol or 6-bromo based testosterone boosters during or after their PCT. I think "more is better" is appropriate to a certain extent, in the end it becomes personal choice.
To be honest, my PCT's are usually very light. A SERM + something random and extra. Most supplements don't work great for me... That's why I'm in the steroid section here...
Keeping Gains: the most important thing for keeping gains in PCT is to keep on the diet and training and try not to get demotivated when you see strength dry up. You WILL lose strength when you come off of SD and you WILL lose weight. If you don't lose any weight at all, you can be sure that you're holding a lot of water or adding fat. Keep the training up, and NEVER lower your calories during PCT, that is the surest way to lose everything you just worked for. Currently, my approach is to use solid doses of clomid to raise natural test as quickly as possible, keep cals the same as on cycle, and keep plugging away at the same routine/same exercises as on cycle. This may not work for everyone but I seem to do better at keeping strength if i keep doing the same exercises. If i see a lift decreasing in PCT and decide to switch it out, I will tend to find that the lift has suffered greatly when I come back to it.
Personal Endnote:
Stay safe and have fun! But, do not use steroids if you are new to working out, if you aren't fully physically mature (usually this means being over 21, especially if you want to post here!) and most importantly, if your diet and training suck. It takes a long time not just lifting weights but "bodybuilding" and by that I mean livin' the life of a bodybuilder (6 meals a day, counting calories, writing down your workouts, having specific goals, running bulks and cuts and breaking through PRs) before you are ready.
Lastly if your stats are something like 6'1 170 lbs or comparable, WORK ON YOUR DIET before you use Superdrol! I've seen a million of you guys crying about being hardgainers but everybody gains when they get enough calories, REALIZE IT, and make it happen. You're a champion if you can just believe in yourself.
Delayed gyno is caused by an estrogen rebound and this is pretty common on compounds that cannot convert to estrogen themselves. On a SD cycle, the presence of SD will cause suppression of endogenous testosterone production, meaning low test on cycle; in turn, less test can aromatize into estrogen, and estrogen levels are low as well.
