How to PCT for dummies

Intro

It’s a sad day indeed when your cycle comes to an end… but what’s even sadder is a botched post cycle therapy (OR NON AT ALL) whereby you sell yourself short and not only lose all of your gains, but end up feeling like trash as your hormones make the arduous climb back to normality.

You watch, as the physique that you painstakingly built melts day by day in front of your very eyes.

It can be like the hulk turning back into Bruce Banner.

The aim of this post is to give you a guideline to follow in order to give you the best chance at restoring your HTPA function after an AAS cycle.

I’ll detail the post cycle therapy required for the following cycles:

• Oral only cycles longer than 4 weeks
• Longer cycles of 16-20 weeks including Testosterone, Masteron and Primobolan
• Longer cycles that utilise 19-nor derivatives and EQ

Each of these types of cycle will require a slightly different PCT, for example Trenbolones metabolites can stick around for months and can continue to cause suppression to the HTPA even after withdrawing the compound and waiting for 5.5 half-lives for the ester to be fully cleared…

Oral only cycle longer than 4 weeks

While I generally don’t recommend oral only cycles apart from a few very specific and niche circumstances… I won’t argue that it remains a very popular and appealing choice for beginners to dip their toes in the water of enhancement.

It’s likely that a PCT will not be needed if the cycle is capped to 4 weeks, because it takes a significant amount of time for the negative feedback loop to trigger and signal your HTPA to shut down.

Those wanting to use an oral for more than 4 weeks run the risk of HTPA damage and may require a PCT to get things back to baseline.

Here’s what I would recommend for the following:

Compounds required

• Clomid or Enclomifene

• Tamoxifen (nolvadex)

When to begin the PCT

PCT should begin when the compounds have fully cleared your system, this usually takes 5.5x the half-life, although an individual’s metabolism of these compounds may alter that slightly.

• Anavar (10 hour half-life) – PCT begins 3 days after last dose

• Anadrol (5-9 hour half-life) – PCT begins 2 days after last dose

• Winstrol (9 hour half-life) – PCT begins 2 days after last dose

• D-bol (3-6 hour half-live) – PCT begins 24 hours after last dose

• Turinabol (16 hour half life) – PCT begins 4 days after last dose

Dosage & duration

Anavar

Week 1: 50mg clomid (or 25mg enclo) + 20mg nolvadex daily

Week 2: 50mg clomid (or 25mg enclo) + 20mg nolvadex daily

Week 3: 25mg clomid (or 12.5mg enclo) + 10mg nolvadex daily

Week 4: 25mg clomid (or 12.5mg enclo) + 10mg nolvadex daily

Anadrol/Winstrol/Dbol/Tbol

These compounds tend to be more suppressive than Anavar and may require a slightly more aggressive recovery protocol.

Week 1: 50mg clomid (or 25mg enclo) + 20mg nolvadex daily

Week 2: 50mg clomid (or 25mg enclo) + 20mg nolvadex daily

Week 3: 25mg clomid (or 12.5mg enclo) + 10mg nolvadex daily

Week 4: 25mg clomid (or 12.5mg enclo) + 10mg nolvadex daily

Week 5: 12.5mg clomid (or 6.25mg enclo) + 10mg nolvadex daily

Week 6: 12.5mg clomid (or 6.25mg enclo) + 10mg nolvadex daily

Longer cycle PCT without 19-nors or EQ

Compounds required

• HCG
• Clomid or Enclomiphene
• Tamoxifen (Nolvadex)

This will assume you are using injectable compounds with the enanthate or cypionate esters with or without orals stacked on top.

These cycles typically last between 12 and 20 weeks, so full suppression of the HTPA is to be expected, therefore a more aggressive and comprehensive approach is required to restoring natural hormone production.

It’s recommended that HCG is used between the end of the cycle and the beginning of Clomid + Nolvadex use. This is to attempt to restore the signal to the gonads from the HTPA. I’ve got an article dedicated to HCG here.

This recovery protocol can be applied after use of the following injectable compounds:

• Testosterone Enanthate

• Testosterone Cypionate

• Masteron Enanthate

• Primobolan Enanthate

• Dihydroboldenone (DHB)

• Boldenone Cypionate

• Any oral anabolics

When to begin the PCT

PCT should begin when the compounds have fully cleared your system, this usually takes 5.5x the half-life, although an individual’s metabolism of these compounds may alter that slightly.

Testosterone, Masteron & Primobolan Enanthate (4-7 day half-live) – PCT begins 4 weeks after last dose

Testosterone, DHB & Boldenone Cypionate (5-8 day half-life) – PCT begins 5 weeks after last dose

Oral anabolics – Not relevant because they’ll be cleared long before the injectables will.

Longer injectable cycle PCT Dosage & duration

Week 1: 700iu HCG every other day

Week 2: 700iu HCG every other day

Week 3: 700iu HCG every other day

Week 4: 350iu HCG every other day

Week 5: Nothing

Week 6: 50mg Clomid (or 25mg enclo) + 20mg Nolvadex daily

Week 7: 50mg Clomid (or 25mg enclo) + 20mg Nolvadex daily

Week 8: 25mg Clomid (or 12.5mg enclo) + 10mg Nolvadex daily

Week 9: 25mg Clomid (or 12.5mg enclo) + 10mg Nolvadex daily

Mapped out on a graph it would look something like this;

This graph was created on steroidplotter

Longer Cycle PCT with 19-nors or EQ

Compounds required

• HCG
• Clomid or Enclomiphene
• Tamoxifen (Nolvadex)

This will assume you are using 19-nor derivatives or EQ (Boldenone undeconate) with or without orals stacked on top.

These cycles typically last between 12 and 20 weeks, so full suppression of the HTPA is to be expected, therefore a more aggressive and comprehensive approach is required to restoring natural hormone production.

This recovery protocol can be applied to use of the following injectable compounds:

• Nandrolone (NPP/decanoate)
• Trestolone Acetate/Enanthate (MENT)
• Trenbolone Acetate/Enanthate
• Equipoise (Boldenone Undeconate)

When to begin the PCT

This works a little different than the previous PCT protocols, due to the suppressive metabolites of 19-nor derivatives taking a very long time to fully clear from the body.

To solve this problem, once the 19-nors are stopped – A Testosterone base should be used for 12 more weeks to allow the 19-nor metabolites to clear while also preventing hypogonadal symptoms, prior to starting the PCT protocol.

For EQ, without 19-nors – the Testosterone base can be run for 4 weeks

Here’s an example of what that would look like: (note that Nandrolone, Trestolone and EQ follow the same principles)

Week 1 to 14: 400mg Testosterone Enanthate + 250mg Trenbolone Enanthate weekly

Week 15 to 26: 150mg Testosterone Enanthate weekly

Week 27 to 30: Nothing

Week 31: PCT begins

Here’s what that would look like on a graph.

This graph was created on steroidplotter

19-nor cycle PCT Dosage & duration

After the clearance process, the actual PCT would look the same as the regular injectable cycle PCT;

Week 1: 700iu HCG every other day

Week 2: 700iu HCG every other day

Week 3: 700iu HCG every other day

Week 4: 350iu HCG every other day

Week 5: Nothing

Week 6: 50mg Clomid (or 25mg enclo) + 20mg Nolvadex daily

Week 7: 50mg Clomid (or 25mg enclo) + 20mg Nolvadex daily

Week 8: 25mg Clomid (or 12.5mg enclo) + 10mg Nolvadex daily

Week 9: 25mg Clomid (or 12.5mg enclo) + 10mg Nolvadex daily

Additional supplements

Additional supplements can be used to further aid recovery once the PCT protocol has been finished, it’s not recommended to use PCT drugs for prolong periods as they can have some negative health outcomes.

Instead, herbal supplements such as…

• Tribulus Terrestris
• Fadogia Agrestis
• Tongkat Ali

These have been shown to naturally boost testosterone levels and can be suitable to help boost hormone production post-PCT.

Post PCT

Once your PCT is over, this can be a good time to get a blood test and check if your hormones have successful bounced back and now sit within a reasonable range.

From here you can reflect on the cycle and decide what you want to do going forward, whether you want to take some time off before doing another cycle, or call it a day.