[DR.D]

A lot of guys have been asking me to clarify my method on this cycling technique, so here's a good explanation if you're interested in trying this. It can generally be applied to any steroidal compound.


What is "pulse" cycling? Pulsing is a method of dosing a product designed to intentionally avoid potential long term side effects such as HPTA suppression and liver damage. This technique is usually applied as a means of toxicity control when potent corticoids are used on children requiring long term therapy. However, this method can be applied to anyone using any oral steroid with great success and significantly reduced side effects. With pulsing, the serious long term side effects of chronic oral treatment are avoided and short term side effect like acne and mineral retention are much milder that usual. This allows for higher doses to be used since the dosing is less frequent. For example, if you would normally take a product at 30 mg/day, that equals a total intake of 210 mg/week. While pulsing, you might typically take 40 mg on work out days only, 3 times per week. That only comes out to 120 mg/week total! This provides the needed benefits of the product at the most crucial times, which are just before and just after a work out, and offers a means of avoiding the suppression of endogenous steroid production one would expect on a standard, daily dosing cycle. In other words, you can often pulse a compound for 6-8 weeks before you realistically need to start thinking about a conventional post cycle therapy. After a 4 week pulsing cycle, post cycle therapy should not even be required in most cases!

Basically, if you dose every day (ED) in perfectly spaced doses, you will achieve 100% effect, 100% short term side effects, and 100% long term side effects. If you dose every other day (EOD) like the pulse protocol, you still get about 60% effect and 75% short term sides, but only about 40% of the long term sides. That's not a bad trade off and very economical on the body and as well as the wallet! Of course, if you would have gained 10 pounds on a standard 1 month cycle, you will only gain about 6 pounds per month pulsing, but it also means you can do this for twice as long as a standard cycle. That equals about 2 months of worry free dosing, so the net effect is a gain of about 12 pounds over 2 months instead of 10 pounds over 1 month. This structure offers fewer sides and a milder post cycle therapy requirement (if even needed at all) plus the slower gains tend to have a better residual that is more likely to be permanent compared to faster gains. It's a great long term strategy for vets wanting to run 12 weeks, and good for new users too looking to run fast and clean 1 month cycles with no post cycle therapy needed later.

There are three common approaches to pulsing:
1) EOD dosing, so 3-4 times per week.
2) 2 days on / 2 days off
3) 2 weeks on / 2 weeks off (some guys do this and think it's great, I don't practice it but it looks exceptionally safe at least)

Depending on your workout schedule, I would use one of these options for optimal pulsing efficiency. Doses can usually be high (40-60 mg instead of 10-30 mg) but take them close together preferably before 6 pm. It's not crucial you take the last dose before 6 pm, but the earlier the better for avoiding shut down. Take half of the total dose pre work out and half post work out instead of spread out evenly over the whole day like a conventional cycle. If an odd dose is to be used, like 30 mg, take the majority pre work out (so 20 mg pre/10 mg post). However, when pulsing non methylated compounds or fast acting ethers, take the greater dose post work out instead of pre work out. When pulsing, dose at least 3 times per week but not more than 4 times to insure optimal results. 5 doses per week is pushing it and suppression will eventually ensue. If this is attempted, "holidays" of complete non use for up to a week per month may be required to discourage suppression. I do not recommend more than 4.5 doses per week and that is for advanced level only!

Also important to remember is nutrition. Have a good, high carb/calorie post work out meal or shake, and ingest sufficient protein especially on the off days. Off days are also a good time to take a cortisol antagonist or even just low dose DHEA (25-50 mg) if you're a slow healer or hard gainer especially. Cortisol peaks in the morning and again in the mid afternoon so dose at those 2 times minimum. Although pulsing is a great way to avoid suppression, if you're extra sensitive to shut down or using a very suppressive compound, an herbal testosterone booster can be used on the off nights or even included everyday. In fact, running test boosters as the core of your cycle and pulsing a methyl just to augment that is possibly one of the best methods you could employ if not using injectable testosterone. Also, avoid the use of SERMs with long half lives when pulsing. An aromatase inhibitor (AI) or test booster will further punctuate the positive, hormonal "bounce back" effect of pulsing. This bounce back phenomenon is an effect that is often noted when pulsing, so don't be alarmed if your testicular size increases dramatically on the off days. It is not uncommon for testicular volume and testosterone levels to increase above baseline, especially on consecutive off days during the pulse or after the cycle is over. This is like a built in post cycle therapy effect and if you're pulsing properly, you should experiences this to some degree. In pulsing, it is also important to remember that the smaller number of dose exposures means faster liver clearance. Normal safety ancillaries like healthy oils and lipid supplements are always advised on cycle and off, but be modest with liver protectants like Milk Thistle. They are generally counter productive and therefore not suggested when pulsing, except in conjunction with very potent or toxic compounds. If you elect to use liver protectants anyway, I would reserve them for off days only or take them no earlier than 6 hrs after your final dose of anabolics. Cycle safe!


Example of a 3x/wk pulse M,W,F:

Week-Dose(mg)
1 (10,20,30)
2 30
3 30-40
4 30-40
5 30-50
6 30-50
7 30-60
8 30-60

Example of a 4x/wk pulse Sat, Sun, Wed, Thur:

Week-Dose(mg)
1 (10,20,30,30)
2 30
3 30-40
4 30-40
5 30-50
6 30-50

[jaydesiel4651]

great post

[RoboGiblets]

This almost sounds too good to be true.

Not doubting the legitimacy, but would you care to provide any sources so I can intelligently comment on your post?

[jaydesiel4651]

what do you think about pulsing for a month and then take it every day for a month im thinking of doing this. ive bee on epi for 3 days and might just start pulsing for a month

[DR.D]

Originally Posted by RoboGiblets

This almost sounds too good to be true.

Not doubting the legitimacy, but would you care to provide any sources so I can intelligently comment on your post?

What do you mean sources? I pioneered this method myself! Back in the late 80's there was no such thing as PCT. You had to be smart to keep your balls and your gains back then. It wasn't as easy as it is now. Like I did reference in the post though, this method is derived from corticosteroid pulsing techniques used in kids and that's an easy search away. If you do decide to try it, this is what I have found works with greatest efficiency.

[same_old]

Originally Posted by RoboGiblets

This almost sounds too good to be true.

Not doubting the legitimacy, but would you care to provide any sources so I can intelligently comment on your post?

your concerns are certainly very valid.

people in the community have been using the "morning dbol" technique for decades to avoid complete suppression and still make gains that naturally wouldnt be possible. morning dbol is typically done on an ED basis, and the dose is low...those are the real differences, but the idea is similar: reduced gains with reduced sides, and possible shutdown avoidance.

so is it for real? i think i've seen a clinical study that showed that small amounts of anavar are suppressive when used ED...and maybe bloodwork that showed that a guy using morning dbol had good blood test results, but no data on suppression.

worth looking into.

my 2cc: i used "morning tbol" @ 20mg for 30 days, with no other steroids. i had an increase in libido that dropped LOW as soon as i came off...suggesting that i was in fact suppressed. i did do PCT afterwards of course, and came back to square after about a week.

if this pulse method works, as verified by bloodwork, i would be the first in line as i am always looking to reduce sides, avoid suppression and still make gains.

and i personally think the issue of "pre-WO versus 1st thing AM" for suppression minimization deserves some discussion....

[DR.D]

Originally Posted by jaydesiel4651

what do you think about pulsing for a month and then take it every day for a month im thinking of doing this. ive bee on epi for 3 days and might just start pulsing for a month

I suppose you could, but I don't see what your goal is exactly? Don't complicate things the first time!

[johnnyfats]

Are there any orals that you would advise against when pulsing?

[TripDog]

Originally Posted by DR.D

I suppose you could, but I don't see what your goal is exactly? Don't complicate things the first time!

Nicely put D.....

[sublimejeh]

Pulsing is a sweet idea... I may try this during the summer because the 8 weekers would last the majority of my summer which would be nice!

[DR.D]

Originally Posted by johnnyfats

Are there any orals that you would advise against when pulsing?

Not that I can think of. It's a great way to attenuate toxicity and delay suppression with really nasty stuff like M1T and also a cool way to basically avoid suppression with very clean compounds like Epi. Things like Epi and Dbol actually increase LH initially, so pulsing is almost like having 3 initial doses every week instead of just at the beginning of a cycle. In fact, several guys have done this with Epi (like mfoley) at up to 60mg and reported excellent results. He followed with MFX with a little ATD now just for the heck of it, but more as a bridge than a PCT. He said he never crashed and was always going to pulse from now on.

My average test level was 750 from ages 16-19 (when I was pulsing.) 2 years later when I was in college and no longer cycling, it averaged 850. I have 3 kids also so there was no long term fertility issues or loss of test production with me! It's a good method. Start low and slow following these basic principles and work your way into it over time to see how your body responds. If you hate losing your gains and crashing in PCT, this is something you may wanna try. If you do it right, your test production can end up being higher after it's over and you'll never need a SERM again, just a little test booster at the most.

[gators52]

What about pulsing dbol while on a test cycle. Instead of kickstarting the cycle with dbol for 4 weeks, you could then pulse dbol for 6-8 weeks or so. What kind of effect would this have?

[hill5673]

Originally Posted by gators52

What about pulsing dbol while on a test cycle. Instead of kickstarting the cycle with dbol for 4 weeks, you could then pulse dbol for 6-8 weeks or so. What kind of effect would this have?

Your thread got me thinking.
I wonder how Dbol would stack with Havoc in a sort of pulse cycle.
Dbol EOD at low dose and Havoc on the opposite days. You would see gains from both and Havoc would keep the "Dbol bloat" to a minimum.
I realize this would still shut you down but it would be less stressfull on your liver than running them side by side and you should be able to keep gains better than a Dbol only cycle.

Any thoughts?

[JPM]

Bless you Dr. D !

[Jmuls]

Originally Posted by DR.D

Example of a 3x/wk pulse M,W,F:

Week/Dose(mg)
1 (10,20,30)
2 30
3 30-40
4 30-40
5 30-50
6 30-50
7 30-60
8 30-60

Example of a 4x/wk pulse Sat,Sun & Wed,Thur:

Week/Dose(mg)
1 (10,20,30,30)
2 30
3 30-40
4 30-40
5 30-50
6 30-50

Dr. D,

Just to clarify, your ranges in doses above such as 30-40 or 30-50 are listed as such to allow for people to apply your suggestions and take their age, weight, cycling experience, etc etc. into consideration when chosing what dose to run with, correct?

Also, if one was running a 3-day training split, such as a M-W-F protocol, do you feel that the 3x/wk pulse would be optimal?

Thanks!