Deca Durabolin

When a close friend, who’s also a powerlifter, underwent two back surgeries (L4 & L5) a couple of years ago, he had to take a sabbatical from workouts.

The recovery was pretty smooth until it hit a roadblock of sorts.

He was about 90% pain free.

But the remaining 10% quickly graduated into chronic pain that he couldn’t get rid of, no matter what he tried. The guy was guzzling Vicodine and Morphine at an alarming rate.   

That’s when his doc prescribed Deca Durabolin as a supportive therapy.

A year later, he’s back in the gym and is kicking ass like before.

That sums up Deca Durabolin for you. One of the most effective anabolic androgenic compounds in therapeutic applications.

And when you aren’t looking for the therapeutic benefits, Deca helps boost strength and lean muscle mass.

If you were wondering how to use Deca Durabolin in your cycle, then here’s the low down on this amazing compound.

The top three benefits of using Deca Durabolin

Deca Durabolin or Nandrolone is a testosterone-derived injectable steroid that is available in various ester forms.

It is usually added to mass building stacks along with Testosterone.

However, it is also an amazing healing compound as we mentioned earlier. And there are many users who add it to their steroid stacks purely for better joint healing and lubrication.

Here are the top three benefits of Deca Durabolin in a performance enhancement setting.

Bulking:

Deca Durabolin has been used successfully in helping HIV patients gain weight without the risk of too many androgenic side effects. In bodybuilding, that translates into clean, lean muscle mass without the risk of water retention, acne or hair loss. It helps increase nitrogen retention and protein synthesis, aka the building blocks of anabolism. As an added bonus, it also inhibits glucocorticoids. Sweet!

Strength:

Deca Durabolin is being used increasingly to improve joint strength and health in aging men and women. That speaks volumes about its efficacy in boosting strength. Don’t get paranoid if you don’t get the freakish strength that some oral steroids like Dianabol give you. Deca kicks in nice and smooth. The strength increase is nominal. But it’s very noticeable. By week five or six, you should be able to breach your previous bests in terms of lifts. Also, you can keep a lot of the gains post cycle with Deca.

Joint Healing:

Deca Durabolin is absolutely godsend for anyone struggling with joint pains. Also, it completely eliminates the pain rather than merely masking it like Opioids and painkillers. If you are using a pre-contest prep steroid like Masteron or Winstrol, then we highly recommend adding low dose Deca to your stack to avoid the nasty joint cramps. On the other hand, if you are on TRT and struggling with joint aches, add Deca to your weekly pins and notice the difference it makes.

Side effects to be concerned about

Deca Durabolin is a very strong anabolic compound and it does pose the risks that one commonly associates with steroids.

1. Estrogenic side effects: Despite aromatizing very weakly, Deca Durabolin shows a strong affinity towards progesterone and may cause the same side effects that a strong aromatizing compound may cause. That’s gynecomastia, water retention and even lethargy. Because the aromatization is weak, an AI is not very effective. You will need a SERM or something like Caber or B6.
2. Deca Dick: The mere mention of this side effect is enough to cause jitters in first time Deca users. Deca Durabolin shuts you down. Imagine being unable to get it up for the entire duration of the cycle. It can be a nightmare for most men and that’s why it is recommended that you use Deca with Testosterone. Keeps you active between the legs and as a nice bonus, adds lean muscle.
3. Lipids: Deca Durabolin is one of those rare injectable steroids that can be pretty harsh on your lipid levels. One word. Bloodwork. Keep an eye on the lipids. Follow a heart-healthy lifestyle. Supplementation, cardio.

How to run a Deca Cycle

In a therapeutic setting, you can do a low dose Deca cycle, of say 50-100mg/week for a 12-week duration.

Should lube those joints pretty well and will give you a nice strength boost.

In a performance enhancement setting, the general consensus is that you use 2mg of Deca per lb. of your body weight.

But if you find getting a fat caliper and running some numbers too cumbersome, you can start with 300mg/week which is a great beginner dose.

In fact, that’s a pretty good dose even if you are running it with other compounds like Test and Tren.

The only possible downside is that if you use the long ester, you will have to run the compound for at least 12-weeks. That’s the bare minimum time that it takes for Deca to kick in.

This nonplacebo-controlled, open label, randomized study was conducted to test the hypotheses that pharmacological doses of nandrolone decanoate would increase lean body tissue, muscle mass, and strength in immunodeficient human immunodeficiency virus-infected men, and that these effects would be enhanced with progressive resistance training (PRT).

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 84, Issue 4, 1 April 1999, Pages 1268–1276

PCT with Deca

Keep Nolvadex and Caber handy before you even begin your cycle.

Nolva to be used at 50mg for the first two weeks starting two weeks after your last pin. Reduce this to 20mg/day for another two weeks.

Use Caber only if you notice estrogen/progestin related sides.

Use N2guard for on-cycle support. There’s a lot of debate over the use of HCG on-cycle and during PCT. If you want to avoid it, we recommend HCGenerate, an alternative OTC supplement.

Deca vs. NPP

A lot of athletes find it difficult to choose between Deca Durabolin which is Nandrolone Decanoate and NPP, which is Nandrolone Phenylpropionate, or the shorter ester.

The advantage of Deca Durabolin is that it’s a slow acting ester that gives slow, sustained gains over a 12-week periods. Nothing will be dramatic. No rise and fall. Gains will be steady. Your joints will be well lubed.

Also, Deca is one of the oldest anabolic steroids. You will find tons and tons of reviews, logs, anecdotal reviews and pics, pretty much telling you all that you need to know about it.

NPP is a faster acting ester and it subsequently clears your body sooner. It is mainly used in short cycles for cutting or contest prep.

We wouldn’t recommend it unless you are looking at a competitive event. If you are a casual roid user, stick with the tried and tested Deca.