Dosage Timing of Orals

[MadStax]

Has there been any clinical research into the timing of orals?

I've heard good arguments for both taking them only around training time and also taking them daily at set times, but haven't seen any proof of any dosing changing outcome.

Personally, I believe in dosing every 8 hours to try to keep blood serum levels stable and elevated, since muscles recover and grow over time, not with work. This is obviously just bro science though and my intuition.

 

[Joshinator]

Depends on the orals half life

 

[MadStax]

Depends on the orals half life

Right, of course. I'm looking for actual research data though. Anything comparing single and multiple dose administration.

 

[Nac]

I have my opinion. And what I choose to do, is not necessarily something I advocate as better but just my preference.

The "constant blood level" argument for orals doesn't hold much sway for me. Mainly, because I use injectables just for that purpose. So I feel I have that avenue well covered. Different if I were running an oral only cycle, though. Perhaps.

So for me the utility of oral AAS is not through trying to get constant levels from them, but the exact opposite. I want them to give an acute plasma peak, typically around training. Any other non-acute benefits are going to still be there, of course.

I'll only spread my oral doses if I'm wanting to avoid sides that might occur from large bolus doses.

 

[Hyde]

I have my opinion. And what I choose to do, is not necessarily something I advocate as better but just my preference.

The "constant blood level" argument for orals doesn't hold much sway for me. Mainly, because I use injectables just for that purpose. So I feel I have that avenue well covered. Different if I were running an oral only cycle, though. Perhaps.

So for me the utility of oral AAS is not through trying to get constant levels from them, but the exact opposite. I want them to give an acute plasma peak, typically around training. Any other non-acute benefits are going to still be there, of course.

I'll only spread my oral doses if I'm wanting to avoid sides that might occur from large bolus doses.

All of this.

We know guys grow more from larger infrequent shots of estered oils in studies than evenly divided administration - this is documented by science. But anecdotally, we know you get less sides if you split your shots up. So it’s context and preference.

If you are going to take 300mg of test per week, you will get more bang if you fire that dude off one time per week and ride the roller coaster. BUT, let’s say splitting up your shots lets you tolerate 400mg with less sides than 300 in one single injection. In that context, it makes sense to divide and conquer. It comes down to how much gear you want to take/have access to, and what kind of sides you get/will tolerate.

Get the drugs in you, and they’ll work, to some degree

 

[MadStax]

All of this.

We know guys grow more from larger infrequent shots of estered oils in studies than evenly divided administration - this is documented by science. But anecdotally, we know you get less sides if you split your shots up. So it’s context and preference.

If you are going to take 300mg of test per week, you will get more bang if you fire that dude off one time per week and ride the roller coaster. BUT, let’s say splitting up your shots lets you tolerate 400mg with less sides than 300 in one single injection. In that context, it makes sense to divide and conquer. It comes down to how much gear you want to take/have access to, and what kind of sides you get/will tolerate.

Get the drugs in you, and they’ll work, to some degree

Do you have study links? I've not seen this research and am very interested!

 

[Hyde]

Do you have study links? I've not seen this research and am very interested!

Nope, I remember seeing some sweet charts on this once. I’ve looked before and couldn’t come up with them again. Anyway, you’ll have to dig and see what you get - don’t take my word for it!

Remember even with that in mind, consider the other stuff like side effects: I have taken all my orals together before some meet prep sessions and my blood pressure was so wild I was struggling not to pass out on deadlift. Bench sessions, I can get away with it.

At the end of the day, I don’t believe you are going to see appreciable differences, like most things with all of this. Motherfuckers worried about taking their TUDCA same time as their orals, like they aren’t going to work because the liver has more bile salts present to keep things moving.

 

[MadStax]

Nope, I remember seeing some sweet charts on this once. I’ve looked before and couldn’t come up with them again. Anyway, you’ll have to dig and see what you get - don’t take my word for it!

Remember even with that in mind, consider the other stuff like side effects: I have taken all my orals together before some meet prep sessions and my blood pressure was so wild I was struggling not to pass out on deadlift. Bench sessions, I can get away with it.

At the end of the day, I don’t believe you are going to see appreciable differences, like most things with all of this. Motherfuckers worried about taking their TUDCA same time as their orals, like they aren’t going to work because the liver has more bile salts present to keep things moving.

I guess sides is my main reason for asking. It's impossible for me to bulk on orals because my appetite is so bad that I'm forcing the food down. I'm thinking of maybe trying the big dose preworkout to avoid this constant problem, but don't want to waste the orals.

 

[BBiceps]

I guess sides is my main reason for asking. It's impossible for me to bulk on orals because my appetite is so bad that I'm forcing the food down. I'm thinking of maybe trying the big dose preworkout to avoid this constant problem, but don't want to waste the orals.

You could dose before bed and see if that helps the appetite issues. I don’t think it matters when you take it as long as you get it in.

 

[Jeremyk1]

You could dose before bed and see if that helps the appetite issues. I don’t think it matters when you take it as long as you get it in.

I forget who now, but I know a few guys around here do this to avoid the sides. A lot of growing is done while sleeping anyway, so it does make at least some sense. And as said before, if you can get it in, it’s gonna help, so if that’s what it takes to take it regularly, it could be the best bet.

 

[MadStax]

You could dose before bed and see if that helps the appetite issues. I don’t think it matters when you take it as long as you get it in.

I think I'll try this first. If I still can't eat, I'll try the preworkout thing. Thanks!

 

[BBiceps]

I think I'll try this first. If I still can't eat, I'll try the preworkout thing. Thanks!

I tried dosing SD before bed to get away from the cramping and it was no noticeable difference in performance, unfortunately it was no noticeable change in cramping either…

 

[MadStax]

I tried dosing SD before bed to get away from the cramping and it was no noticeable difference in performance, unfortunately it was no noticeable change in cramping either…

Were you able to eat though? I honestly don't mind other sides, even insomnia I can handle, but not eating drives me crazy!

 

[BBiceps]

Were you able to eat though? I honestly don't mind other sides, even insomnia I can handle, but not eating drives me crazy!

Yeah, no oral have effected my appetite, so can’t help you there but I’ve heard ppl dose at night to avoid appetite suppression.

 

[Hyde]

You could dose before bed and see if that helps the appetite issues. I don’t think it matters when you take it as long as you get it in.

Agree heartily with this, based on my experience and anecdote.

Years ago I always broke up the doses because I was doing oral-only, maybe with transdermals, so I needed to spread things out because the orals WERE the cycle. This was age early-mid twenties for me.

Fast forward to the last few years finally using some oil with proper cycles, getting late twenties and now over 30, the appetite began to take a huge hit on orals. So I started dosing all pre OR postWO depending on the compound and if it raises bp too much to train well, or before bed. What I found was that all of the expected results came any way I did it, but keeping them to a single period helped appetite earlier in the day SOME. But you can still expect a big drop off in hunger, this just makes it a bit more manageable to get some food in during the day and then dose the orals right before you go to sleep.

Depending on the compound though that won’t be an option, or it will wire you up too much, so mind that.

The big takeaway is that your body is telling you it’s not happy - you can’t grow optimally if you don’t eat, so limit your periods of use to break size/strength plateaus or peak for something. Some guys can live on Anadrol. We aren’t those guys, evidently