TESTOSTERONE
ENANTHATE
Substance: Testosterone enanthate
Testosterone enantate is an ester of the
naturally occurring andro-gen, testosterone. It is responsible for the
normal development of the male sex characteristics. In the event of
insufficient testosterone production an almost complete balance of the
functional, anatomic, and psychic deficiency symptoms can be achieved by
substituting testosterone." (Excerpt from the package insert of the
German phar-maceutical group, Jenapharm GmbH for its compound
Testosteron--Depot.)
These lines clearly describe what an important and effective hor-mone
testosterone is. One of the many testosterone substances is the
testosterone enanthate. In a man it is normally used to treat
hypogonadism resulting from androgen deficiency (1) and anemia (2).
Surprisingly, in medical schools testosterone enanthate is also used in
women and children. Boys and male youth take it as growth therapy and
women take it as an "additive treatment for certain growth forms of
the nipples during post-menopause". In bodybuilding, however, it is
THE "mass building steroid." No matter what you think of
Dianabol, Parabolan, Anadrol 50, FinaJect, and others, when it comes to
strength, muscle mass, and rapid weight gains, testosterone is still the
"King of the Road." Testosterone enanthate is the European
counterpart to Test-osterone cypionate which is predominantly available
in the U.S. (see also Test. Cyp.). Testosterone enanthate, as most trade
names al-ready suggest, is a long-acting depot steroid. Depending on the
metabolism and the body's initial hormone level it has a duration of
effect of two to three weeks so that theoretically very long intervals
between injections are possible. Although Testosterone enanthate is
effective for several weeks, it is injected at least once a week in
body-building, powerlifting, and weightlifting. This, by all means,
makes sense since Testosterone enanthate has a plasma half-life time in
the blood of only one week.
The decisive advantage of Testosterone enanthate, however, is that this
substance has a very strong androgenic effect and is coupled with an
intense anabolic component. This allows almost everyone, within a short
time, to build up a lot of strength and mass. The, rapid and strong
weight gain is combined with distinct water reten-tion since a retention
of electrolytes and water occurs. A pleasant effect is that the enormous
strength gain goes hand in hand with the water retention. Weightlifters
and powerlifters, especially in the higher weight classes, appreciate
this characteristic. In this group, Testosterone enanthate, Testosterone
cypionate, and Sustanon (see also Sustanon) are the number one steroids;
this is also clearly re-flected in the dosages. Dosages of 500 mg, 1000
mg or even 2000 mg per day are no rarity-mind you, per day, not per
week. Sports disciplines requiring a high degree of raw power,
aggressiveness, and stamina offer an excellent application for
Depot-Testosterone. The distinct water retention has also other
advantages. Those who have problems with their joints, shoul-der
cartilages or whose intervertebral disks, due to years of heavy
training, show the first signs of wear, can get temporary relief by
taking testosterone.
For the bodybuilder, the water retention that goes hand in hand with
Testosterone enanthate cuts both ways. Certainly, one gets rap-idly
massive and strong; however, one's reflected image after a few weeks
often shows completely flat, watery, and puffy muscles. The muscles
appear as if they have been pumped up with air' to new dimensions, yet
during flexing nothing happens. Those who do not believe this should
bother to go visit the so-called "bodybuilding champions"
during the OFF-season when these exaggerated quanti-ties of "Testo"
come in. A look at the now defunct bodybuilding magazine WBF makes it
even clearer. An additional problem when taking Testosterone enanthate
is that the conversion rate to estrogen is very high. This, on one hand,
leads the body to store more fat; on the other hand, feminization
symptoms (gynecomastia) are not unusual. However, it must be clearly
stated that this depends on the athlete's predisposition. By all means,
there are athletes who even with 1000 mg +/week do not show feminization
symptoms or fat deposits and who suffer very low water retention. Others,
however, develop pain in their nipples by simply looking at a
Testoviron-De-pot ampule. Yet the additional intake of Nolvadex and
Proviron should be considered at a dosage level of 500 mg+ /week. As
already men-tioned, Testo is effective for everyone, whether a beginner
or Mr. Olympia. Testosterone enanthate also strongly promotes the
regen-eration process. This leads to distinctly shorter overcompensation
phases, an increased feeling of well-being, and a distinct energy
in-crease. This is also the reason why several athletes are able to work
out twice daily for several hours six times a week and continue to build
up mass and strength. Those who can work out again two hours after a
hard leg workout know that Testo works. Athletes who take Testosterone
enanthate report an excessively strong pump effect during training. This
"steroid pump" is attributed to an in-creased blood volume
with a higher oxygen supply and a higher quantity of red blood cells.
Those who take megadoses of Testoster-one enanthate will already feel an
enormous pump in their upper thighs and calves when climbing stairs.
Despite this we recommend that steroid novices stay away from all
testosterone compounds. To make it very clear: Those who have never
taken steroids do not yet need any testosterone and should wait until
later when the "weaker" steroids begin to have little effect.
For the more advanced, Testoster-one enanthate can either be taken alone
or in combination with other compounds.
For adding mass Testosterone enanthate combines very well with Anadrol
50, Dianabol, Deca-Durabolin, and Parabolan. As an ex-ample, a stack of
100 mg Anadrol 50/day, 200 mg Deca-Durabolin/ week, and 500 mg
Testosterone enanthate/week works well. After six weeks of intake the
Anadrol 50, for example, could be replaced by 40 mg Dianabol/day.
Principally, Testosterone enanthate can be combined with any steroid in
order to gain mass. Apparently a synergetic effect between the androgen,
Testosterone enanthate, and the anabolic steroids occurs which results
in their bonding witli sev-eral receptors.Those who draw too much water
with Testosterone enanthate and Dianabol or Anadrol, or who are more
intere6ted in strength without gaining 20 pounds of body weight should
take Testosterone enanthate together with Oxandrolone or Winstrol. The
generally taken dose-as already mentioned-varies from 250 mg/ week up to
2000 mg/day. In our opinion the most sensible dosage for most athletes
is between 250-1000 mg/week. Normally a higher dosage should not be
necessary When taking up to 500 mg/week the dosage is normally taken all
at once, thus 2 ml of solution are injected. A higher dosage should be
divided into two injections per week. The quantity of the dose should be
determined by the athlete's developmental stage, his goals, and the
quantity of his previous steroid intake. The so called beach- and disco
bodybuilders do not need 1000 mg of Testosterone enanthate/week. Our
experience is that the Testosterone enanthate dosage for many, above all,
depends on their financial resources. Since it is not, by any means, the
most economic testosterone, most athletes do not take too much. Others
switch to the cheaper Omnadren and because of the low price con-finue
"shooting" Omnadren.
Testosterone enanthate has a strong influence on the
hypothalamohypophysial testicular axis. The hypophysis is inhib-ited by
a positive feedback. This leads to a negative influence on the endogenic
testosterone production. Possible effects are described by the German
Jenapharm GmbH in their package insert for the com-pound Testosteron
Depot: " In a high-dosed treatment with test-osterone compounds an
often reversible interruption or reduction of the spermatogenesis in the
testes is to be expected and conse-quently also a reduction of the
testes size." Consequently, after reading these state-ments,
additional intake of HCG should be considered. Those who take
Testosterone enanthate should consider the intake of HCG ev-ery 6-8
weeks. An injection of 5000 I.U. every fifth day over a period of 10
days (a total of 3 injections) helps to reduce this problem. At the end
of the testosterone treatment the administration of HCG, Clomid,
Nolvadex and Clenbuterol is now quite common. To some extent the use of
these compounds helps absorb the catabolic phase and helps elevate the
endogenic testosterone level. By this method the strength and mass loss
which occur in any event can be reduced. Those who go off Testosterone
enanthate 6cold turkey6 after several weeks of use will wonder how
rapidly their body weights and former voluminous muscles will decrease.
Even a slow tapering-off phase, that is reducing the dosage step by
step, will not prevent a notice-able reduction. The only options
available to the athlete consist of taking testosterone-stimulating
compounds (HCG, Clomid, Cyclofenil), anti-catabolic substances (Clenbuterol,
Ephedrine), or the very expensive growth hormones, or of switching to
milder steroids (Deca-Durabolin, Winstrol, Primobolan). Most can get
mas-sive and strong with Testosterone enanthate. However, only very few
are able to retain their size after discontinuing the compound. This is
also one of the reasons why really good bodybuilders, powerlifters,
weightlighters, and others take the "stuff " all year long.
The side effects of Testosterone enanthate are mostly the distinct
androgenic effect and the increased water retention. This is usually the
reason for the frequent occurrence of hypertony (3). Those who have a
predisposition for high blood pressure or whose blood pres-sure is
elevated when they begin taking Testosterone enanthate should have it
periodically checked by a physician. If necessary the intake of an
antihypertensive drug (4) such as Catapresan is advisable. Many athletes
experience a strong acne vulgaris with Testosterone enanthate which
manifests itself on the back, chest, shoulders, and arms more than on
the face. Athletes who take large quantities of Testo can often be
easily recognized because of these characteristics. It is interesting to
note that in some athletes these characteristics only occur after use of
the compound has been discontinued, which implies a rebound effect. In
severe cases the medicine Accutane can help. The already discussed
feminization symptoms, especially gynecomastia, require the intake of an
anti-estrogen. Sexual overstimulation with frequent erections at the
beginning of intake is normal. In young athletes, "in addition to
virilization,testosterone can also lead to an accelerated growth and
bone maturation, to a premature epiphysial closing of the growth plates
and thus a lower height" (Jenapharm GmbH, package insert for
Testosteron-Depot).' Since mostly taller athletes are successful in
bodybuilding, young adults should reflect carefully before taking any
anabolic/andro-genic steroids, in particular, testosterone.
Other possible side effects are testicular atrophy, reduced
sper-matogenesis, and especially an increased aggressiveness. Those who
transfer this aggressiveness to their training and not their environment
do not have to worry. Unfortunately this is not the case in some
athletes who take Testosterone enanthate. Testoster-one and Finaject are
both primary reasons for some eruptions. In particular, high doses are
in part responsible for anti-social be-havior among its users. One can
talk here of a sort of "superman syndrome" that occurs in some
users. Although Testosterone enanthate is broken down through the liver,
this compound is only slightly toxic when taken in a reasonable dose;
therefore, changes of the liver values do not occur as often as with the
oral I 7-alpha alkylated steroids. Further potential side effects can be
deep voice and accelerated hair loss.
Women should normally avoid its intake since it could result in
unpleasant androgen-linked side effects. The use of testosterone in
women may cause symptoms of virilization such as acne vulgaris,
hirsutism (5), androgenetic alopecia (6), voice changes, and occasional
clitorial hypertrophy and an unnatu-rally perceived increase in libido.
Changes in voice and alopecia must be classified as irreversible,
hirsutism and clitorial hypertrophy as in part reversible." Women
who are not afraid of this are found at many competition scenes. In our
opinion, 250 mg is the maximum quantity of Testosterone enanthate that a
fe-male athlete should take each 7-10 days. However in competition
bodybuilding and especially in powerlifting much higher dosages and
shorter injection intervals have been observed in women.
Another interesting side effect of Testosterone enanthate is men-tioned
in the bodybuilding magazine Muscle Media 2000, June July 1993 on page
45. Judging whether this is positive or nega-tive is left to the reader.
'A few years ago, the Lancet Medical Journal of England reported that
they found testosterone (the proto-type anabolic steroid) to be a
remarkably effective form of male birth control. Researchers conducted a
12 month study which included 270 men and determined that weekly
injections of the hormone testosterone were 'safe, stable, and effective.'
They dis-covered that weekly testosterone injections had a success rate
of 99.2% as a birth control method. That makes it more effective than
the birth control pill (97%) and much more effective than condoms (88%).
The study also revealed that the effects of the contraceptive injections
were entirely reversible upon discontinu-ing administration of the drug
and that the testosterone injec-tions produced minimal side effects."
Similar studies with identical data are also in progress at a German
university clinic. Although this is not part of the actual subject of
this book, these results stress at least the need for
testosterone-stimu-lating compounds during and after the intake of
Testosterone enanthate. Since it is effective for such a long period of
time, Test-osterone enanthate is always taken more frequently by
athletes during their "steroid intervals." An injection of 250
mg every 2-3 weeks helps maintain strength and mass. Whether this
application makes sense remains to be seen; the fact is that it works.
(1) Inadequate function of the genital glands (2) Anemia (3) High blood
pressure (4) To reduce high blood pressure (5) Increased hair growth in
face and on legs (6) Androgenic-linked loss of hair on the scalp.