Frontloading!!!!
I advocate frontloading any compound with a half life longer than 2 days often and figured I would post a thread about it here and hear your opinion on the topic!
I don't believe frontloading to be an "advanced" techinque as a basic understanding of how a half life works should be a prerequisite for the Steroid 101 class in
which people enroll in too carelessly. Frontloading is often done in SERM protocols I prefer to frontload my SERMs the first day instead of doubling the dose all
week. Doctors often frontload medications such as anti-biotics which have a long half-life. This is something your average AAS user should take advantage of as
well!
What is frontloading??
At the start of a cycle or when you are taking a compound for the first time you purposefully take a higher dose so that you can get the appropriate levels of the
compound in your system rather than waiting two or three weeks for levels to build up.
I like frontloading because it enables me to keep my cycles shorter and I don't have to wait 3-4 weeks to get to where I want to be. If you want to metabolize 500mg
Test E/week you won't be metabolizing this amount until the third week. This becomes an issue when using Deca and EQ especially. Using longer esters is cheaper and
they contain a higher concentration so you don't have to inject as much oil into your body. This minimizes scar tissue and contrary to using short esters doesn't
leave you feeling like a pin cushion. Poke Poke
A half life is the time that it takes for your body to metabolize half of the compound. Keep in mind that it is best to think of it how much you want to
metabolize/day. For simplicity we will use 700mg/week Test E which would equate to 100mg/day. Also, the metabolic rate isn't completely linear but for simplicity
we will assume they are. Also we are assuming a 100% bioavailability and a 0 spill factor. For Testosterone Enanthate which has a half life of approximately 5 days
it takes 5 days to metabolize half of the amount injected. Then another 5 days to metabolize half of that half. This is where it may become complicated but lets
use an example where you are NOT frontloading and how much you will actually be metabolizing even though you are injecting 700mg Test E:
Week 1 Day 1 Inject 350mg Test E (during the next 5 days you will metabolize half of this amount)
Day 1 metabolize: 35mg
Day 2: 35mg
Day 3: 35mg
Day 4: 35mg from first injection Inject another 350mg and metabolize 35mg from this injection leading to total 70mg Test E metabolized
Day 5: 35mg 1st inject 35mg 2nd inject Total 70mg metabolized
Day 6: 17.5mg 1st inject 35 mg 2nd inject Total: 52.5mg metabolized
Day 7: 17.5mg 1st inject 35 mg 2nd inject Total 52.5mg
Week total metabolized: 315mg Test E, shy 385mg of target 700mg/week!!!
Let's see how it would work if we frontloaded the Testosterone Enanthate aiming for a 100mg/day metabolic rate for the 700mg/week target.
Week 1 Day 1 Inject 850mg Test E
Day 1: Metabolize 85mg
Day 2: Metabolize 85mg
Day 3: Metabolize 85mg
Day 4: 85mg from 1st inject and injecting 350mg as usual metabolizing 35mg total 120 mg
Day 5: 85mg from 1st 35mg total 120mg
Day 6: 42.5mg 1st inject 35mg 2nd total 77.5mg
Day 7: 42.5mg 1st inject 35mg 2nd total 77.5mg
Week total metabolized: 650mg Test E shy only 50mg of target week total 700mg/week!!
To establish the amount you should inject/ingest on the first day of frontloading you can use a the following formula to calculate the value. It is only the first
day you inject this amount. After that you follow your regular injection schedule.
Weekly amount/7xHalf-life in days + regular inject amount = Frontload
Example, I am going to do 12 weeks of 500mgs Test E/week, planning on injecting 250 mg Monday and Thursday. How much should I frontload? Using the formula I plug in
my values.
500/7 x 5 + 250 = Frontload
71 x 5 + 250 = Frontload
357 + 250 = Frontload
607 = Frontload
Rounding it up or down to nearest and most convenient number works well as it doesn't need to be that exact.
To assist in your usage of the formula I will include some half-lives. Note, there is a slight variation of half-lives depending on the source. The fact that it is
measured in days and not hours grants a +-12 hour variation which isn't too accurate either.
Testosterone Enthantate: 5 days
Testosterone Cypionate: 5 days(The difference between Test E and Test C is rather trivial and this is where the aforementioned -+12hour difference comes into play).
Deca: 6 days (I thought it was a little higher but most medical literature state 6 days)
Also I wanted to incorporate a cheat sheet for the most common ones and those who don't want to read through all this wall of text and learn how to do it. Going to
list the Compound and Weekly dosage you wish to do and then the amount you should inject assuming an equal amount is injected twice a week.
Test E/C: 400mg/week Frontload: 485mg on the first day only.
Test E/C: 500 mg/week Frontload: 607 mg on the first day only.
Test E/C: 600 mg/week Frontload: 728 mg on the first day only.
For frontloading SERMs You can either follow a double dose protocol which is often recommended although it isn't most often recognized as a frontload.
Clomid(Clomiphene) and Nolvadex(Tamoxifen) have a 5 day half life.
So for Nolvadex you would ingest 120mg the first day only and 20mg/day after that.
Clomid 300mg first day and 50mg/day after that.
If gyno flares up I have found it very crucial to frontload nolva and increase your AI!
I hope this sheds some light on how to frontload as I see it to be very beneficial as it keeps your cycle length down amount other things. For a beginner it may not be needed you may think, I would argue that having a cycle longer than it should be or waiting for esters to kick in isn't needed neither! If you understand how it works there is no need to be scared of injecting a high dose the first day.
You can google different steroid calculators to get a better understanding of it as well!
Thoughts?
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Originally Posted by Lunk1
