do steroids diminish ur growth potential post cycle

**celticd** · 06-21-2007, 04:35 PM

wat im asking really is,
does our bodies ability to build muscle naturaly diminish once you have used steroids ?
i know with proper pct and diet our natural test levels will return,but you here off people increasing dosages and length of cycles,so why do this?
im wondering because im just finishing my 1st cycle of 12 wks and iv no plans to start another cycle till the new year at the earliest,and im wondering,will i still make gains natty.
dont get me wrong im very happy with my gains on cycle,but i dont want to become steroid ***endant to make gains

tanx...

**shrpskn** · 06-21-2007, 05:34 PM

With proper diet, training, and rest you can at least maintain the steroid -induced gains...

Can you continue to make gains natty? I would hope you plateaued natty before you ran your first cycle, then the steroids became a "tool" to put you over the threshold...after the cycle, it is a matter of "maintaining" the steroid-induced gains more than it is a matter of continuing to make gains after the cycle is complete.

This is just my opinion.

Good luck,

**james21** · 06-21-2007, 05:44 PM

^^ I second that

**Atomini** · 06-21-2007, 07:48 PM

Could it be possible that the receptor sites on muscle tissue would be burned out after a cycle, and therefore natural testosterone wouldn't have much (if any) effect either??

Of course, I assume the receptor sites are slowly but surely restored over time.

So, if I am correct with this... then that means immediately after a cycle, you won't be able to make gains naturally. But given time, you will eventually be able to make natural gains again?

**deeznutts** · 06-21-2007, 08:41 PM

I agree with all the above.... You wont make an natural gains right away, if you did you wouldnt be able to tell due to the fact that the gains made using AAS will far exceed natural ones. SO you wont be able to do a cycle get crazy gains go off cycle and continue to grow. You can try to maintain your gains but if you never cycled again you will eventually lose all gains made on AAS that surpassed your natural genetic ability. If that were to happen then you would be able to continue to natty grow until you plateau again. Any AAS gains will make natty growth unnoticeable.

**big_dubya33** · 06-22-2007, 07:04 PM

bump for more comments on this

**Wizeguy** · 06-22-2007, 07:16 PM

I agree that if you hit your natural max or plateau, that AAS will bring you to the next level. I believe after cycle you are just trying your best to maintain what you gained. Now that you are beyond your plateau or natural max I believe that you wont gain very much more naturally. I personally find myself slowly going back to my natural state after a cycle. Its a battle for me to even maintain what I gained.

**S431M7** · 06-22-2007, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by celticd

do steroids diminish ur growth potential post cycle ..

Not really if u continue to workout intensively.

**gooer** · 06-22-2007, 10:45 PM

if you haven't hit your natural max, you can still grow post cycle. you shouldn't have taken steroids to begin with, but they aren't gonna stop you from growing all together. it will take a while though before you start building muscle.

if you are using roids to get past your natural potential, i agree its just a situation where you are trying to hold onto your gains and maintain them.

**notauser** · 06-22-2007, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by Wizeguy

I agree that if you hit your natural max or plateau, that AAS will bring you to the next level. I believe after cycle you are just trying your best to maintain what you gained. Now that you are beyond your plateau or natural max I believe that you wont gain very much more naturally. I personally find myself slowly going back to my natural state after a cycle. Its a battle for me to even maintain what I gained.

i personally haven't cycled, so i got some questions on this. if you manage to maintain your gains through PCT, shouldn't it be possible to maintain at least 90-95% of it after that? muscle built is muscle built, natural or not. if your body is having the stimulus to stay that way, as well as the calories to support it, why would we go back to our natural state?

**NotSmall** · 06-23-2007, 07:11 AM

I love it when people bang on about how no one should touch steroids until they have reached their "natural limit" / "genetic potential" blah.. blah.. blah.. its a lovely idea but how many people have genuinely done it?

**Wizeguy** · 06-23-2007, 07:17 AM

Originally Posted by notauser

i personally haven't cycled, so i got some questions on this. if you manage to maintain your gains through PCT, shouldn't it be possible to maintain at least 90-95% of it after that? muscle built is muscle built, natural or not. if your body is having the stimulus to stay that way, as well as the calories to support it, why would we go back to our natural state?

This is just my opinion, everyone is different and I agree that with the right training and calories to support your new growth that you can maintain a good percentage of it. But it would be a constant effort. The human body is always looking for homeostasis. Its most comfortable state. We aren't meant to carry huge amounts of muscle on our bodies, we are forceing ourselves to do that. Look at the Pros. Ever see a picture of Dorian, Haney, Levrone and most all other retired bodybuilders. They look nothing like they did when they were competeing. Granted they dont train and eat like they used to but they surely aren't on the AAS either. They aren't walking around huge, If you could maintain all your gains on AAS then they would be just as big now as then. Thier bodies have regressed back to where they were naturally. And, yes some of them are still very impressive, thats great genetics!

**notauser** · 06-23-2007, 08:56 AM

Originally Posted by Wizeguy

This is just my opinion, everyone is different and I agree that with the right training and calories to support your new growth that you can maintain a good percentage of it. But it would be a constant effort. The human body is always looking for homeostasis. Its most comfortable state. We aren't meant to carry huge amounts of muscle on our bodies, we are forceing ourselves to do that. Look at the Pros. Ever see a picture of Dorian, Haney, Levrone and most all other retired bodybuilders. They look nothing like they did when they were competeing. Granted they dont train and eat like they used to but they surely aren't on the AAS either. They aren't walking around huge, If you could maintain all your gains on AAS then they would be just as big now as then. Thier bodies have regressed back to where they were naturally. And, yes some of them are still very impressive, thats great genetics!

now that you put it this way, we share the same view. key point being constant effort and i couldn't agree more. that's why everyone advocates having at least 5 years of training (shows your dedication and perserverance) before poking the needle. think we're a little side tracked though

as for the original poster's question, based normal logic if you are upping your calories and still able to continue gaining strength i think it should be possible, but perhaps not much. i think someone who studies a person's genetic limits will be in a better position to answer this. if our mass is past our natural limit, but we are not plateuing in our training (and with sufficient calories), will our genetic limit be the limiting factor? i think this is a very good question. bump for more responses

**celticd** · 06-23-2007, 02:09 PM

it seems the way the posts are going,that steroids will diminish youre growth potential post cycle or at least make a hard fight to build muscle natty much more difficult,
as ;not so small: has said,very few people train natty to there limit before taking steroids,we all know how hard it is to gain size and thats why we take steroids.

**Joe Dic** · 06-23-2007, 03:31 PM

By this logic if you do not exceed your natural peak and use steriods early you can and will continue to grow.

**Lejes** · 06-23-2007, 04:38 PM

I think it's mostly a win-win situation as long as you have enough experience eating correctly and often, getting tons of sleep and rest, and manipulating training intelligently and nailing your balls to the wall with intensity when necessary: Then it doesn't matter if you reached your natural potential or plateaued for years; The gear will do you good.

I guess I could use someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger as an example. Do you think after retiring and atrophing to 2/3 his Mr. Olympia size he needed to reach his natural potential again to get ready for a movie? No, he already understood what it took. He probably just started eating, training, recovering like he did in the old days and taking gear to get himself ready to be buff on the silverscreen again. He wouldn't need to waste his time trying to plateau natty again before reaching for the AAS for his upcoming film.

Why people say to wait before reaching for the AAS is so they can trial and error their way enough into figuring out their own body's unique chemistry and adaptation potentials before they add drugs to the equation.

**Serotonin** · 06-23-2007, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by NotSmall

I love it when people bang on about how no one should touch steroids until they have reached their "natural limit" / "genetic potential" blah.. blah.. blah.. its a lovely idea but how many people have genuinely done it?

Yea, and I don't really buy into the natural potential thing either. I happen to know a few guys that have never touched roids and are ****ing ogres that lift more than anyone I know who has done 1 and/or many cycles.

In my opinion, steroids are like shaving a lot of time off of something that would take a lot longer otherwise. People here always freak out about people starting early but whatever, if you're 200-250lbs you aren't at your natural potential unless you're 5ft tall and 10%< bf.

Anyways, to answer your question you can still have gains.