Human Growth Hormone (hGH)
Growth Hormone is often recommended for “fat loss”. It is not a “fat burner” in the same sense as clen or ephedrine, but instead falls under the larger category of “anti-aging” compounds or “hormone replacement therapy”. In these contexts, it is intended to be dispensed under the supervision of a qualified physician based on constant monitoring of IGF-1 levels. This is the indicator used to track growth hormone production by the hypothalamus. Essentially this is what drives “youthfulness”. The hypothalamus produces optimal levels of growth hormone around age 18-21. These levels begin to decrease after age 30-35 as the hypothalamus shrinks with age. The idea behind supplementing with hGH is to return the levels of growth hormone to optimal levels, as if you were still in the prime of your life.
In practical use, as mentioned above, hGH is used for its anti-aging properties, as a maintenance protocol for older folks, or to promote those youthful properties with specific interest in promoting fat loss, or rather not promoting age-related fat depositing, or stacked with an AAS cycle to enhance the overall effect.
Typical Use:
GH is often recommended for women for ‘weight loss’. By itself, GH does NOT promote muscle growth in the same sense as AAS, as it is not sex hormone. Instead, it will work to promote those youthful features such as healthy hair, improved skin elasticity, better sense of well-being, better healing capability, and more optimized metabolism to promote a preference for less bodyfat depositing. It might also be viewed as a support during the extremes of competition prep for the body. With a steroid cycle, such as anavar, it would work to enhance the effects of that compound. The effects of a GH cycle are not immediate and dramatic, but rather subtle and slow to show over time.
Typical Cycle:
· Dose:
o For non-competition use, and more for general maintenance and youthfulness: 1 iu per day
o For competition / with a cycle: 2-3 iu per day
o Primarily for cost purposes, 5 days on / 2 days off is often suggested.
· Duration: 4-6 months is ideal. Very short cycles such as a month, are not really going to show any particular results for the cost.
Potential Sides:
· Some people experience water retention. The dose can be dropped or the dose increased but split across 2 days instead of 1 day (i.e. E2D instead of E1D).
· At higher doses (e.g. 4 iu) wrist pain similar to carpal tunnel syndrome is commonly experienced.
· Very aggressive use may fall into the extreme category of acromegaly (http://www.med.unsw.edu.au/ndarcweb.nsf/resources/ndarcfact_drugs2/$file/hgh+ndarc+fact+sheet.pdf)
