Women and AAS: what it CAN and CAN'T DO

[sana]

Courtesy of Newgirl. One of my all time favorite posts. Very on point and great read for the lady newbies considering AAS.

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This is a must read for newbies. And a must read for any woman in fitness who considers herself beyond the "average" gym goer and wants to push past a plateau to build nice quality muscle.

What you think is a clean diet may indeed be one as compared to most Americans however a fitness "clean" diet is so hard to maintain. Even the most celebrated fitness model or competitor cannot keep her bodyfat as low as competition time...it is just not doable nor healthy for the long term.

What you consider a good cardio or good training regmine -- may be that way as compared to others you see day in and day out at the gym however for the body you want that stands out, sacrifices need to be made BEFORE you even consider a cycle of anabolic steriods.

What AAS will NOT do for a women:

1. It will not, after one cycle, make you the hottest thing in a bikini. It will not make you Monica Brant, Jill Mills, Lenda Murray (or any fitness model -- you fill in the name).

2. It will not burn fat.

3. IT WILL NOT BURN FAT...cannot stress this enough.

4. It will NOT lean you out, nor cut you up.

5. It will NOT TONE you -- and please remove the word "tone" from your vocabulary if you are serious about fitness.



What AAS will do for most women:

1. Add a modest amount of strength.

2. Build some muscle ..... overall muscle size as opposed to defined muscle (I will address this later). It will take more than 1 or 2 or even 3 cycles before you get to your desired goal -- perhaps not even to your goal.

3. AAS will cause a positive change to your body however unlikely to be a permanent change without followup cycling or incredibly stringent dieting and training. Meaning that once your cycle is over, by and large after your body releases the chemicals and cleanses itself, it will indeed bring your body back to its previous state. YOU WILL retain some muscle (called keepable gains) if you were eating well all along before, during and after your cycle and continue to do so, but the lasting hardness and loss of estrogenic fat will return. Your body composition will become more soft (this does not mean fat) after the cycle is over.

4. AAS will indeed cause you to become MORE critical of how you look. And therefore be less satisifed with what you see in the mirror. It is a mind game for sure and some people (men and women included become mentally addicted to it).

5. AAS, even the least androgenic of sorts, will cause sides such as, but not limited to: compromised HDL/LDL levels, increased blood pressure, breast shrinkage, loss of menses, water weight gain, dry scalp, oily skin, hair loss, enlarged or sensitive clitoris, voice changes (starting with raspiness and going further into deepness), coarser hair, increased hair growth (everywhere), darkening of previously light/blonde body hair. These are just a few. And don't think or believe for one minute that more hair or a deeper voice won't bother you -- it will ... especially if you have not gotten what you expected from your cycle. The cost analysis - "risk vs. return factor" may not be in your favor (results vs. sides).

AND I SHOULD MENTION, the chemical changes that can occur to your supply of ovum. There is no data as to how AAS will harm a yet to be concieved baby (i.e., birth defects).


I will say that AAS can be a useful tool in pushing through a muscle building plateau but only if every other avenue has been exhausted. It is by no means a quick fix or even a guarantee. For us hardgainers who push more weight than alot of women natural and have a hard time putting on muscle, AAS can help.

Now -- back to overall muscle vs. defined muscle. Overall muscle is muscle you gain during a cycle. Defined muscle is that muscle AFTER you diet down (cutting). It is very rare for a male (doable but rare) to be able to bulk and lose bodyfat at the same time....which of course, makes it that much harder for a woman to achieve both succuessfully.

In order to build muscle (whether using roids or NOT) is being able to EAT to build muscle. Usually, one will need to eat for mass but inherently bodyfat will be a given so as not to cheat your body from the necessary nutrients for effective and successful muscle building. Cardio done too often and too strenuosly while trying to build robs the energy your body needs for muscle building and repair.

In order to get that muscle to show, you will need to diet down. This requires a calorie deficit to help lose fat while making sure not to sacrifice too many protein calories (so you can keep more muscle). Most often, along with fat, you will lose some muscle.
Now there is some success with dieting down and taking AAS to help preserve that muscle however it works for some women but not all...and even so, you still need diet to lose fat -- there is NO MAGIC PILL.

And let me add in addition to dieting, cardio is the only other tool for fat loss. Not easy cardio .... but sweat breaking, chest heaving, side-stitch, "I think am going to die" types of cardio in shorter bursts. Long easy cardio is great for cardiovascular health but not all that effective at burning fat and not muscle. Sprints or intervals are great explosive bouts of cardio to help burn off fat and not disturb too much muscle mass.

I am sure after I post this, I will have forgotten a key element. However when the mods here ask for your background and diet and try to steer you away from AAS as a first choice -- it is not that we are trying to be unhelpful nor to convince you that a cycle is for only the elite of athletes, but too often young women opt for a cycle and end up with terrible sides, lasting compromises and adding muscle over fat which produces are more stocky look. All of that can be avoided with research, asking questions, doing your homework and talking to women who care and have had experiences with it. Too many boards are filled with -- "this is what my boyfriend told me to do -- now what?" -- types of threads.

Men try to be helpful but what works for them is so far and away different than what works for us. So please, the dude at the gym that tells you deca is great and hit yourself with 150 mgs a week ....is not telling you the whole story, when it comes to a woman.

For details on dieting, we have a forum dedicated to that, post your daily intake and ask for a critique. Be ready for some honesty......you would be surprised how many healthy eaters can go astray (me included). I believe kel has a really post in there as does Torchy with some guidelines. I even think Nubian Beauty put together a cutting cycle for someone recently. Hardbodygrl has her diet down to a science. Everyone reacts a bit differently but be honest with yourself about how your daily diet varies from these -- very often little tweaks make big pay offs in the figure.

[NubianBeauty]

This is really making it to all the boards as so it should!! awesome post..... again

good read...but i disagree with this statement;

AAS does not burn fat.

yes, it does burn fat, my metabolism sky-rockets on certain AAS.

QOD

[sana]

though i have yet to cross over to the side of experience, this post is really geared to the girls in the gym who "heard from their boyfriends or boyfriend's friend" that told them if they did a cycle of winny at 50mg's a day will "cut them up" for the summer.

and again - as i steal more pearls of wisdom from other women who have done AAS:

this addition courtesey of supergirl from the original thread at FG:

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If i may, i would like to comment on:
4. It will NOT lean you out, nor cut you up.

this is probably the most misconstrued idea about AAS from both men and women... there are AAS that when combined with a DIET will aid in cutting and leaning out.. ie: primo, anavar, fina etc.. HOWEVER... AAS on their own will NOT lean you out..

You have no idea how often i hear this... will such and such get me lean?? if i take this will it "rip" me up.. OMG it drives me crazy.. DIET will get you lean and rip you up..

AAS & DIET together is one hell of a synergistic combo!!!
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but Queeny since this forum is here for us to all learn from each other's experiences - please share with us some of your cycles where you've experience an increase in metabolism. and how much (if it did) you diet was different during these cycles

yes, diet and AAS is one hell of a combination....my point was that certain AAS WILL bump your metabolism up. through experience, i have learned this....it is a very good read, obviously geared toward first time users..i know what you are taking about....alot of men and women approached me and want to know about "the magic pill" ....or they train with me for one day and are disappointed that they "don't have a six-pack" ....it's good to know there are people out there making newbies aware of what does and doesn't work.

QOD

[kel]

Originally posted by Queeny
yes, it does burn fat, my metabolism sky-rockets on certain AAS.

Perhaps it is the added lean muscle mass that raises your metabolism and aids in fat loss. The drug itself does not durn fat.

Just my .02

Originally posted by kel
Perhaps it is the added lean muscle mass that raises your metabolism and aids in fat loss. The drug itself does not durn fat.

Just my .02

oh it does.....upon taking var, my body temp rises, therefore, my metabolism is heightened, therefore, my body is burning fat

[newgirl]

QOD -- perhaps you are one of the genetic lucky few.

I myself have done var twice (both times it was tested for legitimacy), prop, winny and primo -- all on a clean diet and I have not really lost fat per se.

While my diet was clean and I was able to put on muscle without eating for mass, I rarely was able to see an appreciable difference in bodyfat burning properties.

You are one of the lucky few -- and I believe I mentioned this before at FG when this subject came up before.

I wished it was true for me....and I am sure the dozens of women I know from the boards as well, have not had the good fortune to get aas to burn bodyfat.

Lucky you.

And kel you do touch upon something there -- firstly even if one maintains the same bodyfat (as measured in pounds) but adds muscle in pounds, the percentage does put one in the better advantage. If a current woman who is 140 pounds -- 125 of it is LBM and 15 is from fat (just for argument sake) but adds 10 pounds of muscle -- her percentage of course tips in favor of a smaller percent in bodyfat BUT only by default as her overall bodyweight has increased by way of adding more mass -- not because she as burned off fat.

And for the notion of muscle burns more cals at rest than fat -- this is true -- however one would really have to put on a hefty amount of muscle/lean body mass as a woman for that to tip in her favor of using an appreciable amount more in terms of caloires expended and burning fat just based on more muscle.

[newgirl]

And m0chi -- glad you liked that thread.

[sana]

Originally posted by newgirl
And m0chi -- glad you liked that thread.

like i said - one of my all time fav's

[Torchy]

Excellent post newgirl...EXCELLENT!!

[yummygrl]

Excelent post! I have gained mass on cyp. I have not fallen below my pre-Tes weight since that one and only cycle, despite clean diet and vigilgant training. The libidinous effects are awesome, as is the mass, however, i know that in order to keep it, I must keep everything else in place as well. It is by NO means a magic pill, and certainly not for everyone. Great post newgirl.

[newgirl]

Thanks Yummy. I just cannot stress this enough. Too many women are listening to myth and men...and too many women are running off their mouths when behind the scenes they are either doing something totally different or higher doses, had countless plastic surgery operations -- or when step from behind the comouter -- do not look as they have presented themselves (i.e., doctored photos and avatars).

Hell -- if aas cuts you up -- honestly, I would be ready to compete. With proper diet and training and cycling...I cannot get results fast enough. It is a frustrating process but it does make a difference over time.

[TrippersGirl]

I don't agree with you guys on this one. I commented on a different board concerning this post and it seems that nobody understands that anavar + exercise + a good diet will help lean out your body. Of course taking steroids and not eating right or exercising won't do anything, that's why you see all these overweight AS users who can't figure out what they're doing wrong. From the results I have seen with other female members they look pretty cut up to me. If people don't want to consider that "lean" then call it something else, but AS did play an important roll towards looking like that.

[THE BOUNCER]

Originally posted by TrippersGirl
I don't agree with you guys on this one. I commented on a different board concerning this post and it seems that nobody understands that anavar + exercise + a good diet will help lean out your body. Of course taking steroids and not eating right or exercising won't do anything, that's why you see all these overweight AS users who can't figure out what they're doing wrong. From the results I have seen with other female members they look pretty cut up to me. If people don't want to consider that "lean" then call it something else, but AS did play an important roll towards looking like that.

that's exactly what the post says. that AAS alone is not a magic pill for leaning someone out and that an AAS along with diet and exercise can indeed help someone achieve their goals.

[TrippersGirl]

ok, thank you for the clarification. I am new to this and am curious to see the benefits of AS.

[the_inkslinger]

excellent read, I had a girl friend asking about this today and i printed this for her just so she can determine what's best for her