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Frontloading 101 and why you should always frontload

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arnoldblack

Member
Sep 6, 2010
51
15
Hope this would help out some of the newbies who are confused about frontloading and how to do it or whether to do it in the first place.
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Frontloading really doesn't mean running higher levels of steroids in the earlier part of the cycle. It means using a dosing protocol where levels almost immediately reach what will be the later steady-state levels of the drug. When not frontloading, and simply using the drug at the same dosing as will be used throughout it takes several to many half-lives for levels to build up to where they will ultimately arrive. Instead, one can inject on the first day an amount equal to that which is on average injected per half-life, plus what will be the ongoing dose. This will lead to fairly promptly having the same levels that will be the case throughout the cycle. If a drug's half-life is two days and the ongoing plan is to inject daily, then to frontload the first day's injection is three days' worth. If a drug's half-life is six days and the ongoing plan is to inject every other day, then to frontload the first day's injection is four times the ongoing amount. Because there would be 3 injections per half life so you would need to add another one. It's fairly common, when users don't frontload, the results would be minimal or difficult to detect in the first couple of weeks and even to some degree into the third week. This is particularly true with long-acting esters. Another factor is that rate of muscle gain isn't as high when starting from a higher level.

Some drugs which have relatively long half-lives. When such a drug is being used, then the amount in the system at any given time is not only that resulting from the dose just taken, but also a further amount that is remaining from previous doses. Therefore, by using a steroid cycle as an example, suppose someone is dosing 100 mg/day of a steroid which has a half-life of 7 days, and over the long term this is giving him the levels he wants. Once well into his cycle, after any given injection he will have in his system not only the 100 mg that he just injected, but another 700 mg remaining from the previous injections. So, if on Day 1 all he does is inject 100 mg, he won't have nearly the levels that his cycle, over time, will eventually produce. He would need to inject 800 mg to be in a comparable place.

Frontloading is the practice where a calculated larger injection amount is used on Day 1 to promptly bring levels to the same value that they would eventually stabilize at.The amount to use is the amount that is on average taken in one half-life of the drug, plus the injection amount that will ordinarily be used. So for example, let's say an individual is planning on using 600 mg/week of test e, taken as 200 mg three times per week. Considering the half-life at 5 days, then on average the amount taken per half-life (per 5 days) is 5/7 of the 600 mg. That works out to an average of 429 mg taken per 5 days. So the frontload amount is that amount, plus the usual ongoing amount of 200 mg. If being highly exact this would work out as 629 mg, but as 600 mg is a more convenient figure, this would be more than close enough. There's no problem in rounding up or down the number a little. So on Day 1 the injection would be 600 mg. This would not produce unusually high levels, but instead would promptly get levels to where they need to be. If not frontloading but just doing the 200 mg 3x/week schedule, even at the end of two weeks levels would still be building. Only by the third to fourth week point would they be nearly at their stabalized value.

Another good example would be EQ since it has a long half-life and so if there was no frontload, it takes a longer time for levels to build. This is why many say that it takes 6 weeks, or some similar figure, for it to show any effect. Actually EQ is capable of contributing well by the end of the first week, if the levels are there, but in the situations being referred to levels are not there due to lack of frontload. Due to the long half life of EQ, a large frontload is needed. The first injection be an amount equal to about 2.5 times the amount that will be used per week. So if for example the ongoing dosing will be 400mg/week, on the first day the frontload should be about 900-1000 mg. The dosing can either be split into a few shots per week or into the first day.

Most people don't do this, and as a result they experience little effect from EQ until many weeks into the cycle. For this reason, it's widely claimed that EQ cycles need to be long or otherwise they do not work, but this really is not so. Instead the problem is failure to frontload, or failure to fronload sufficiently.
 
DanButcher

DanButcher

Member
Sep 9, 2010
66
2
Seems almost too good to be true. Except with the case of something long like eq or deca, you'd need like 8ml to get the frontload for 1g/week dosage.

Anyone have hands on experience of this frontloading theory being effective? Not bagging the idea but frontloading 1 day and you get such quickly stabilising blood levels seems great if it actually works.
 
BiggerSwole

BiggerSwole

Member
Apr 11, 2014
22
1
I'm new to it, but it does sound a bit interesting.
 
woodswise

woodswise

TID Board Of Directors
Apr 29, 2012
4,334
1,340
I doubled up on my first week's injections my last blast. I can't say whether it helped or not, but it was a great blast overall.
 
mands

mands

VIP Member
Jul 24, 2012
625
218
It' a great idea and I have been front loading for years. It does exactly what he states. Get your levels up faster and you see thoese gains earlier in my experience.

mands
 
Littleguy

Littleguy

TID Board Of Directors
Sep 30, 2011
4,497
3,517
I have never front loaded not necessary IMO and if you are doing it with a compound you have not ran before I would call it idiotic.
 
mands

mands

VIP Member
Jul 24, 2012
625
218
I have never front loaded not necessary IMO and if you are doing it with a compound you have not ran before I would call it idiotic.

Please explain to me how getting your desired levels up in week two of your cycle instead of week 4,5, or 6 is not necessary in your eyes?

I would say not utilizing front loading IMO is idiotic. I guess we all have our opinions.

Most frontloading is done with longer estered AAS and most of us know what we can handle. With that said. Where does it state anywhere in his post that front loading should be done with a product never ran before? And again you aren't running higher amounts of any type of AAS you are just getting to your desired levels faster.

mands
 
Get Some

Get Some

MuscleHead
Sep 9, 2010
3,442
648
I used to have some charts on this showing how you can maintain higher overall test levels throughout the cycle by frontloading vs not doing it. It's like adding more money to an IRA at the beginning of an investment...the growth rate is much faster because of the funds base you are starting with. Just like most people won't believe you can achieve higher overall peak test levels by injecting once weekly vs twice...but it's true!

Injection volume is the thing that is most important here. All you are doing is upping the injection volume for the first week to achieve higher levels quicker. It's not completely necessary per se, but with drugs like EQ it sure helps out a lot. I also like to frontload primo because it is such a mild drug compared to others.
 
dr jim

dr jim

MuscleHead
Apr 7, 2014
785
168
On spot MANDS! Front loading is a principle of pharmacokinetics that enables one to achieve STEADY STATE levels at the desired baseline sooner! The ONLY drawback the higher INITIAL doses required may lead to a brief period of increased side effects, the nature of which is more a function of the AAS class being loaded.

Should it be used? ABSOLUTELY!

Jim
 
Littleguy

Littleguy

TID Board Of Directors
Sep 30, 2011
4,497
3,517
Please explain to me how getting your desired levels up in week two of your cycle instead of week 4,5, or 6 is not necessary in your eyes?

I would say not utilizing front loading IMO is idiotic. I guess we all have our opinions.

Most frontloading is done with longer estered AAS and most of us know what we can handle. With that said. Where does it state anywhere in his post that front loading should be done with a product never ran before? And again you aren't running higher amounts of any type of AAS you are just getting to your desired levels faster.

mands


If it works well for you then I am happy for you, I know that EVERYTHING needs to be right now in this World:rockon:
I also don't believe you get anything extra out of it rather than getting up to you desired dose over a period of time, I would be interested at looking at GS's charts for kicks though.
 
C

caveman

Member
Apr 17, 2013
45
5
I want to make sure I understand this correctly: The half-life of EQ is 12 days. If someone was on a Monday-Thursday protocol, 600MG EQ per week, front loading, when done correctly, would be 1200mg on the first day?
 
Get Some

Get Some

MuscleHead
Sep 9, 2010
3,442
648
If it works well for you then I am happy for you, I know that EVERYTHING needs to be right now in this World:rockon:
I also don't believe you get anything extra out of it rather than getting up to you desired dose over a period of time, I would be interested at looking at GS's charts for kicks though.

Still looking for those as we speak man, haven't had a chance to look on the comp at home yet. I've compiled so much data over the years and never really came up with a good filing method other than, "hey, that might be useful in the future, I'll save it to my computer in some place that will likely make it difficult to locate when I need it."
 
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