
When you hear the word “steroid,” you probably think of powerful, muscle-building anabolic steroids like the majority of people. However, there are many distinct forms of steroids; in reality, a steroid is simply an organic substance that includes a variety of hormones, and one of the most well-known vitamins (Vitamin D) is a steroid.
When it comes to bodybuilding and sports performance, anabolic-androgenic steroids are the most commonly used steroids (AAS). Natural and synthetic androgens produced from or based on testosterone are included in this group of steroids.
The anabolic component refers to the stimulation of muscular growth, while the androgenic component refers to testosterone’s role in the development of male characteristics.
Steroid Half-Lives
The half-life of any medicine or substance, including steroids, is the amount of time it takes for a 50% reduction in steroid concentration to persist in the blood or body. Knowing a steroid’s half life makes it simple to plan your cycles, determine which steroids to use, and how long you should use them for.
It will also assist you to understand what is going on in your body if you are subjected to drug tests. A steroid’s half life is the same no matter what dosage you’re on or how long you’ve been using it.
The length of a steroid’s half life varies greatly depending on the type of steroid. Deca-Durabolin, for example, has a 15-day half-life, whereas Winstrol has a half-life of only 9 hours. When compared to shorter half-lived steroids, larger half-lived steroids require longer to detox from.
Injectable and Oral Steroids
Some steroids are exclusively available in injectable form, whereas others can be taken orally. Only a few may be injected or taken orally, such as Winstrol.
If you’re new to steroid use, it’s understandable that starting with injections can be intimidating; you might wish to avoid it completely and stick to oral steroids. However, you will be limited to a small number of steroids, such as Anavar and Dianabol.
Steroids used orally

Oral versions are swallowed whole. The most commonly used oral anabolic steroids are listed below, along with their half-lives, detection times (in brackets), and anabolic-androgenic values:
Dianabol (Methandrostenolone): 4.5 to 6 hours, 6 weeks, 90-210/40-60 — Dianabol is primarily used to increase muscle mass and strength. Dbol provides you with unimaginable strength. It’s frequently utilized at the start of a bulking cycle to achieve quick effects.
Anavar (Oxandrolone): 9 hours, 3 weeks, 322-630/24 – Anavar (Oxandrolone) is one of the most effective anabolic steroids for cutting. It’s well-known for its potent fat-burning and metabolic-activating properties, which can help you achieve a lean, hard, and ripped physique. Typically used in conjunction with Winstrol or testosterone.
Anadrol (Oxymetholone): 8 to 9 hours, 8 weeks, 320/45 — Anadrol is one of the most powerful steroids for raw strength and bulk growth, with an anabolic power that is said to be three times that of testosterone. The majority of people will stack Anadrol with slow acting injectable steroids.
Superdrol (Methasterone): 6 to 8 hours, (8-10 weeks), 400/20 – Superdrol (Methasterone) is a versatile steroid that works well in both bulking and cutting cycles, providing excellent results for muscle growth, cutting and toning, hardening the physique, and increasing strength and overall performance.
Winstrol (Stanozolol): 9 hours, 3 weeks, 320/30 It’s a well-known steroid for its potential to help you lose fat while keeping muscle, and it’ll also speed up your recovery.
Primobolan Oral (Methenolone Acetate): 2-3 days (4-5 weeks), 88/44-57 — Unlike many other oral steroids, Primobolan doesn’t have a high risk of liver toxicity, and its mild anabolic effects make it a perfect alternative for women who want to see great results at low doses.
Halotestin (Fluoxymesterone): 9.5 hours, 2 months, 1900/850 – Halotestin is mostly used to experience a significant improvement in strength. Halotestin excels at considerably increasing strength, making it a valuable supplement for competitive strength athletes.
Turinabol (Oral Tbol): 16 hours (11-12 months), 100+/None — Turinabol is best for increasing performance rather than bulking up, while it can produce some clean mass gains.
Proviron (Mesterolone): 12 hours (5-6 weeks), 100-150/30-40 — Proviron is typically used in conjunction with other chemicals rather than providing immediate benefits. It can be used as a potent muscle hardener towards the end of a tough cutting cycle or as a modest and efficient aromatase inhibitor during a cycle.
Clenbuterol (Clen): 1.5 days, (4-6 days), N/A — Clenbuterol is a stimulant that has a reputation for being one of the best fat burners on the market, so we know here is where it shines. Women use it a lot.2.5 days (cannot be detected), N/A
Cytomel T3 (Triiodothyronine) is a synthetic version of the thyroid hormone T3. Cytomel is used by athletes and bodybuilders to aid fat reduction by giving the body with an additional source of thyroid hormone to boost metabolic rate.
Steroids for injection

The most popular injectable anabolic steroids are listed below, along with their half-lives, detection times (in brackets), and anabolic-androgenic values:
Deca-Durabolin (Nandrolone Decanoate): 15 days, 18 months, 125/37 — Deca is well renowned for its ability to stimulate large gains in lean muscle mass, making it ideal for bulking and strength. Deca’s nitrogen retention is excellent, and it provides your muscles a good, full appearance. It also aids in the repair and rehabilitation of muscular tissue and relieves joint discomfort.
NPP (Nandrolone Phenylpropionate): 4.5 days, (11-12 months), 125/37 – NPP is a popular steroid for mass gain. Although the results are not as quick or dramatic as some other compounds, they are stable and consistent. NPP also aids in the preservation of lean muscle mass throughout cutting and the off-season.
Primobolan Depot (Methenolone Enanthate): 10.5 days (5 weeks), 88/44-57 — Depot, like oral Primobolan, isn’t a mass-gaining steroid, but it’s ideal for reducing cycles when you want to keep as much muscle as possible while burning fat and following a low-calorie diet. It is one of the greatest steroid options for women.
Masteron (Drostanolone): 3-4 days, 3 weeks, 62-130/25-40 – Masteron is best used when cutting. Masteron provides you a granite-like appearance, is particularly effective when preparing for contests, and is moderate enough to be utilized in extended cycles.
Testosterone Cypionate: 12 days,( 3 months), 100/100; Enanthate: 10.5 days, 3 months, 100/100; Propionate: 3-4.5 days, 2 weeks, 100/100; Suspension: 1 day, 1-2 days, 100/100) – It’s simple, it works, and it’s hard to fake. For beginners, this is an excellent option (first cycle).
Sustanon 250 (Testosterone Propionate, Phenylpropionate, Isocaproate, Decanoate): 15-18 days, 3 months, 100/100 – Sustanon 250 is a group of both slow and fast acting esters, making it useful for muscle building, fat loss, energy, and strength by providing critical testosterone support during a steroid cycle.
HGH (Human Growth Hormone) – while not technically a steroid, HGH has been a major topic in recent years. HGH can help you slow down the aging process, sleep better, grow new muscular tissue, repair tissue, and heal your body.
Trenbolone (Acetate: 3 days, 5 months, 500/500; Enanthate: 8 days, 5 months, 500/500) –Trenbol It’s anything that can be used to add to or take away from a structure.
Parabolan (Trenbolone Hexahydrobenzylcarbonate): 14 days (5-6 months), 500/500 – it’s a flexible steroid that may be used for a variety of purposes, but it’s most well-known for its mass-building properties and the fact that it doesn’t cause water retention.
Equipoise (Boldenone Undecylenate): 14 days (4-5 months), 100/50 Is a highly flexible steroid that may be used for both bulking and cutting. It performs admirably in both cases. It’s similar to Deca, except it stores a lot less water and gives me more vascularity. The most of the time, it’s loaded with testosterone.
Winstrol Depot (Stanozolol): 1 day, 9 weeks, 320/30 Is an oral and injectable steroid that builds muscle growth and hardens the look of the body throughout both cutting and bulking cycles. Deca, EQ, Primo, Anavar, testosterone, Trenbolone, and Masteron are commonly used in stacks.
One of the major drawbacks of oral steroids is their liver damage. The severity of liver toxicity varies depending on the steroids used, the dosage, the duration of usage, and your personal response.
When you choose injectable steroids, you have access to a greater assortment of products. Because of their shorter half-life, oral steroids are usually taken once or twice a day, whereas injections are given once or twice a week.
Cycling, Stacking, and Pyramiding Steroids
These are three different steroid consumption approaches or patterns that can be used. The one you choose will be determined by your objectives, with bodybuilders and athletes requiring various approaches to attain the best results.
Cycling Steroids
Cycling is employed by those who know exactly what they want to achieve and when they want to do it, as well as when they want to avoid being tested for steroids.
Cycling is essentially an on-off method, and one of the main reasons for it is to avoid the declining effects of steroids after about two months of continuous use, when muscle building can begin to decline. Cycling necessitates a strategy because you’ll be deciding how long you want to use the steroid for and how long you’ll take between uses.
A cycle might last anywhere from a few weeks to several months, followed by a period of no steroid use or lower dosage. The length of your cycle will be determined by your previous experience with steroids, the steroid you’re using, and the goals you’re attempting to attain.
Steroid Stacking
Anyone who utilizes anabolic steroids does so for a variety of reasons, including bulking, cutting, strength, and performance.
You may have one or more of these objectives, but what you want to accomplish with your steroid cycles will ultimately dictate what you take and how you take them. With these steroid stack examples, I focus on two areas: bulking and reducing while maintaining muscle mass.
As you can assume, using these chemicals will provide additional benefits such as enhanced strength, endurance, and performance, which is ultimately what will help you break through all of your gym plateaus and past records while you’re on a cycle.
More experienced steroid users may want to try stacking, which entails using more than one type of steroid at the same time. Combining two or more steroids with distinct actions or effects on the body is one technique to try to get a far more potent result.
Stacking a short-acting and long-acting steroid, or combining oral and injectable steroids in a stack, is one of the most common steroid stacking techniques. Stacking steroids has a higher potential for outcomes, but it also has a higher danger of adverse effects, which must be addressed.
Steroids in Pyramids
This strategy is centered on starting with a low dose and progressively increasing your steroid dosage until your peak dose is in the middle of the cycle, similar to the shape of a pyramid. The top of the pyramid is reached, following which you gradually reduce the dosage until it reaches zero.
Unlike cycling, when you may abruptly quit using steroids at the end of a cycle, pyramiding allowed you to taper off gradually. One of the main reasons people adopt the pyramid approach is to assist them acclimate to bigger doses while avoiding overburdening their bodies’ natural hormone systems and providing them time to adjust when the dosage is reduced in the second portion of the pyramid.
Length of a Steroid Cycle
When it comes to steroid cycles, how long should you go? This will be determined by a number of criteria, the most important of which are the steroid substance (or compounds) you intend to utilize and your overall aims (plus if you expect to be faced with any sort of drug testing at any stage).
Short Cycles (2-4 weeks)
A brief cycle, which lasts only two or three weeks, might be effective for achieving very rapid increases by essentially blasting the body with very high dosages (not suggested for beginners), or if you want steady but slower gains without overloading your body with chemicals.
The advantage of the latter is that a short and consistent cycle, when combined with 3 or 4 weeks off cycle, minimizes health and side effect risks to the bare minimum.
Middle Cycles (6-8 weeks)
A 6 to 8 week cycle is beneficial for adding lean mass or cutting over a modest period of time where you put in strong diet and gym effort, while allowing you to run roughly 3 cycles per year with appropriate time off without risking declining gains, which can occur if your cycle is too long.
This time range also decreases adverse effects, though this depends a lot on the substances you’re utilizing. Because you won’t be able to make the gains you seek during these few weeks on medium cycles, you’ll have to stick to faster acting substances. For a medium cycle, testosterone propionate injections are frequently used.
Typical Cycles (10-12 weeks)
Standard cycle lengths range from 10 to 12 weeks and are suitable for both new and experienced steroid users, with benefits for both bulking and cutting depending on your goals and the steroid compounds you’re utilizing.
This time frame is regarded ideal since it allows you to make gains for the longest time feasible, until you reach a point where muscle building begins to slow, plateau, and eventually halt. This allows you to go off cycle and clear your system in preparation for the start of the following cycle, rather than wasting time (and steroids) if your body isn’t going to produce gains.
Cycles of a Long Time (3-9 months)
Only long-term, very experienced, or elderly users who are unconcerned about natural testosterone levels should use this. Some people believe that extremely extended cycles of 3 to 9 months can result in long-term advantages.
The most frequent chemicals used in a long cycle are testosterone enanthate or cypionate. The increased danger of major adverse effects associated with these exceptionally lengthy steroid cycles, as expected, makes it an approach that should not be taken lightly.