Women and AAS

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

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.