Anavar only cycle – how to do it safely and is it worth it

Intro

Anavar, aka Oxandrolone is an oral DHT-derived steroid developed in 1962 with the intent of promoting lean muscle mass in those suffering from muscle wasting conditions and severe burns.

It was developed as an alternative to testosterone for use in women and children, due to it being vastly more anabolic (growth promoting) than androgenic (masculinizing).

Testosterone is the baseline anabolic and has a Anabolic:Androgenic ratio of 100:100.

In contrast Anavar has a Anabolic:Androgenic ratio of 322-630:24. Making it far more anabolic and much less androgenic than Testosterone.

This makes it a top-pick for female athletes looking for a competitive edge while avoiding the masculinizing effects of other androgens like body hair growth, aggression, voice deepening, jaw and neck growth etc.

This makes Anavar one of the most popular steroids to date for both men and women for very good reasons.

While it used to be fairly common that black market Anavar was often faked and in a lot of cases turned out to be Winstrol (a more powerful steroid, albeit far less female friendly due to it being more androgenic and with a harsher side effect profile than Anavar). This was because Winstrol is much cheaper to produce than Anavar.

To an unsuspecting newbie, they could often mistake them for each other because the effects they produce are very similar.

It takes an experienced user to tell them apart from one another.

Winstrol tends to be significantly more liver toxic and causes a nasty joint-drying effect that’s not found in Anavar. This joint drying effect leaves the user more prone to horrible tendon and muscle tears!

Luckily these days, black market underground labs are subject to far more scrutiny by the consumer due to the fast paced nature of the information age. Making it simply not worth the reputational damage it would cause the brands if they were found to be faking or underdosing products, for this reason it’s actually rare for labs to fake Anavar.

What to expect from Anavar

Firstly, I’m in no disagreement that Testosterone is superior to Anavar for a first steroid cycle, in terms of results, managablity and consistency.

I believe Anavar only has a place for certain types of people, particularly those who are terrified of needles (probably shouldn’t be using PED’s if that’s the case) and/or just want to dip their toes into what seems to be the overwhelming ocean of using PEDs, as well as females.

This can be a good way to test the waters before committing to something like a 16-week injectable testosterone cycle – whereby a user will have to do a minimum of 32 injections (x2/week)

Alot of people online, particularly reddit.com/r/PEDs & reddit.com/r/Steroids will criticize Anavar only as a first steroid cycle.

While there is legitimacy to what they say, I think that it’s largely meme’d out of proportion and majority of people parroting the line “take 500mg test or nothing” haven’t considered it fully from the perspective of someone who’s brand new to this and looking to test the waters.

What I propose is a 4 week cycle of oral or sublingual Anavar, with the intent on testing the waters and gauging response to exogenous androgens.

Trust me, it’s alot better than what most kids are doing by taking SARMS or getting scammed into buying bullshit like Turkesterone these days…

So what can you expect from a 4 week cycle of 25mg (daily) of Anavar?

I’ll be talking about results 95% of people will get. Providing they train properly and eat correctly and disregard individuals who are poor responders on one end, and hyper responders on the other end.

Strength

Expect an immediate (if using it sublingually) and rapid increase in strength, as the potent neurological effects of Anavar increases the central nervous system ability to output power.

Typically all major lifts will go up by 10-15%.

Cosmetic

Cosmetically, providing the user is lean enough. A drying and tightening effect can be observed.

This is particularly noticeable in the abs, arms and shoulders where it’s common for veins to start appearing where before there was none and the shoulders take on a more ‘shrinkwrapped’ and capped appearance.

Lean gains

Providing training stimulus and protein intake is adequate, new users can expect to gain between 3-5lbs of true lean muscle mass in the 4-week period.

Now user will often gain more than that of scale weight, but it’s important to remember that a lot of it is intramusclar nitrogen retention, where the Anavar draws glycogen into the muscles making them appear fuller and look ‘pumped’ 24/7.

Recomping effect

Users often report looking leaner while on Anavar – this is multifactorial.

Firstly, Anavar displaces subcutaneous water – which is water held between the skin and muscle, this is what contributes to the shrinkwrapped look I described earlier.

As well as boosting nitrogen retention intramusclarly, inflating the muscles, further adding to the look.

But does Anavar actually burn fat?

Indirectly… Anavar upregulates T4 to T3 conversion which speeds up the metabolism and enhances fat loss.

Key word being ‘enhances‘… if you’re eating a calorie surplus, you still won’t burn fat.

But… if you’re eating in a deficit it can certainly aid in the fat burning process.

Duration

How long should you run Anavar for?

Because it’s suppressive to the HTPA, unfortunately it can’t be run for long periods without compromising endogenous testosterone production.

For this reason I’d recommend that new users stick to 4 weeks. Going beyond 4 weeks risks longer term damage and shutdown to the HTPA and as a result may require a mild PCT protocol to recover from.

Dosage

I’d recommend that men use 25mg and women use 2.5-5mg daily.

Dosage can be taken in a morning orally, or pre-workout sublingually.

It’s my experience that 25mg gives me 80% if the benefits that 50mg does, with only 20% of the side effects.

Side effects

While Anavar is one of the more benign anabolics, it can have some nasty side effects including wreaking havoc on your lipid profile, increasing bad cholesterol and lowering good cholesterol.

Also, it can cause electrolyte imbalances leading to muscle cramping and cause acid reflux/heartburn fair commonly.

Obviously because it’s an androgen, it’s also going to shutdown HTPA with prolonged usage, so consider that too.

Supporting supplements

• Increase your water intake. Anavar can have a moderate impact on the kidneys, so additional hydration is needed to take off some of the pressure.
• Added electrolytes, additional minerals are needed when on cycle with Anavar as it’s known to cause imbalances.
• Omega-3 Fish oil – Aids in keeping lipid values in a reasonable range
• Calcium carbonate – Taken before meals helps to offset acid reflux and heartburt.
• Citrus bergamot – Further aids lipid values

Anavar Vs. Testosterone

Anavar is certainly a great compound, but don’t expect the same results as a full blown 16-week Testosterone cycle.

Anavar only cycles should be used as a ‘trial period’ to determine whether experimenting with PED’s are for you or not.

The true experience and results that PED’s have to offer come from longer cycles using Testosterone as a base.

However it’s not a decision that should be made lightly and careful consideration should be made before proceeding – check out this post, read this before using steroids!