The first thing to deal w/ when you decide to move to injectables is that you're dealing w/ much more of the often mentioned androgenic sides. Expect them. Primo tends to be the most frequently suggested for "Figure girls". An alternative might be low dose test prop. To compare the two:
Primobolan depot (enanthate I think):
- typical dosing 50-150 mg / week - split into 2 doses/week
- takes about 5 weeks to "show itself"
- results - dry gains (no aromatization) - decent gains w/o water retention, as most AAS, good 'sense of well-being" and recovery
- sides - voice crack / change, primo is notorious for hairloss (use Nizoral shampoo to help, grows back after cycle clears) , acne, BP increase, sometimes increase in aggression, sense of well-being, some experience depression
- Check "detection time" for primo to clear (don't remember it off the top of my head)
Test Prop:
- dosing: 20-25 mg E3D
- results: some water retention because it aromatizes (converts to estro), short ester so start to feel fairly quickly
Thanks Sassy. I never thought test prop would be a choice. Most of what i read said women should stay away from Test. When i do start the INJ cycle it will be on the lower dose side. scared of voice change and i see both you can get it. what one is the best when it comes to if i see a voice change and stop the gear it wont be a permanent thing? it will be coupled with var at 10mg. Not looking to cut just to add some nice size.
Here's where you need to understand the cost of playing w/ hormones. The nature of male hormones is to produce voice deepening and other things that you normally equate w/ male puberty. I've seen some women mention they experienced a voice change on anavar - these days you can't ever be totally sure that you actually got anavar (e.g. instead of dbol or something), but there is always that chance. It just happens that anavar is relatively mild and a lot of the more androgenic sides don't show up, or at least are not so pronounced that you notice them. You also might not experience a more pronounced voice change on a couple other orals that I can think of: oral winstrol, oral turinabol. In both cases we're talking about dosing on par w/ anavar. Again no guarantees, but anecdotally, you don't hear about it if the compound is not being stacked w/ other stuff and in low doses. Anything else however, EXPECT a voice change. Just expect it. The degree of it is totally an individual thing. You might notice only a scratchy throat. You might really be the only one who notices it or others who are very familiar with you. You might notice you lose your singing voice in the upper registers. If a singing voice is important to you, DO NOT USE STEROIDS. Period. If you are "scared of" a voice change, you also have no business playing w/ steroids. It also may be that when you start to experience the voice change you won't see it as a hugely dramatic thing and you're ok w/ it.
Things to consider w/ voice changes are dosing, number of compounds you're stacking and overall frequency / duration of cycles over time. Generally once you come off and allow sufficient time for the compound to clear (ref; detection time for that compound) and maybe a bit longer - never seen any studies that quantify it - but for the most part once the compound is fully cleared, the sides reduce and eventually go away. If you continue cycling, expect it to stay longer & longer.
"Stopping" if you start to experience voice change is mostly just a waste of a cycle IMO. If you're going to do it, just expect those sides and own them and be responsible for them. Its part of playing on the dark side. Depends on who you are around (e.g. other women who cycle) and what is your overall tolerance for the effects of steroids. For some, its not that big a deal. For others, it might be a much bigger thing that makes you extremely uncomfortable even going there.
Test prop is very short-acting ester. What people say about what women "can" or "can't" use, again goes to the environment you're coming from. I still don't think there's a lot of need for more than maybe primo at the Figure level just because the muscle mass is not all that big. But I also don't see Figure competitors thinking in the same long-view terms as bodybuilders do where you spend years building a good base of muscle regardless of the drugs. IMO a decent off-season and hypertrophy diet can produce sufficient results, running on a basic var cycle. But all that said. I don't think prop is a bad thing. Again as long as you understand you're going to be looking at some of the more androgenic sides. From a pure "best conditions for hypertrophy" point of view, a low dose prop cycle gives you a little bit of aromatization so you have more water - both to protect your joints under increasing weight loads, as well as in the muscle to build more. (Yes, estrogen is a necessary component to building muscle mass!) Hairloss seems to be a bit milder w/ prop vs. primo (as primo is a DHT derivative). And as mentioned above, the short ester keeps the sides that you get in check. The whole thing about "women shouldn't use test" may come from the broader selection of testosterone, particularly the longer esters like cypionate & enanthate -- these are significantly longer than propionate, so I would NOT recommend using either of those longer esters (or sustenon which is a combination of esters - still including the longer ones). Sides w/ long esters are much more pronounced and you have to wait a lot longer for them to clear.
I may be rambling a little bit- but the decision to go to injectables means you're now on the aggressive side of cycling. Unless you're an extremely seasoned competitive female bodybuilder who is OK w/ those sides, there's just no reason to get into the discussion of the longer esters, but once you are at the injectables and you're ok with the sides - you can start looking at Nandrolone (NPP), test prop, primo, etc., Then it is just your own experiment as to how any of these compounds works w/ your body chemistry in terms of results and sides. So if you want to go there, go there. Own it. Prop is not bad - esp if you're going in w/ the expectation of a bulking phase where you're going to pick up some size and a bit of bloat /water with it - but as I said -that is also a good environment for building mass. Primo is typically seen as a "cutter" because it doesn't aromatize, but the results are nice as well. Of the two, I kinda think (again if you're ok w/ the sides), a low dose prop may be a good choice.
I guess that would be my best info. I can't tell you what to do because you need to decide where you are w/ the sides and willingness to do the experiment to see how your body chemistry responds.
