1-Testosterone is a revolution in itself for the supplement industry, and with
it we have entered the final leg to making supplements equally effective to
steroids. Lets not kid ourselves here, some may wish to deny it, but 1-Test
is an actual steroid. Its legal under the same act as prohormones, that indicates
a steroidal nutrient can be sold legally if it is A) naturally occurring and
B) not previously been pursued as a pharmaceutical.
The story started with the constant improvements in the area of prohormones,
a weak form of steroids that needed to convert to an active form by way of (limited)
bodily enzymes to an active substance such as nandrolone, testosterone, boldenone
or DHT. All of them are very effective, but illegal hormones. Patrick Arnold,
owner of Ergopharm and no doubt one of the prime movers in the prohormone industry,
introduced a new prohormone some time back which he called 1AD. The active substance
it converted to was a hormone most had never heard about, and he called it 1-testosterone.
An aptly chosen name, since its basically similar to testosterone except instead
of a 4,5-double bond, it has a 1,2-double bond. But the name has caused some
confusion and perhaps kept a few people from seeing what the substance really
was.
The absence of a 4,5-double bond and its replacement with 2 hydrogen atoms
is something that occurs naturally in the body by way of an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase.
This is the same enzyme that makes DHT (Dihydro-testosterone) from testosterone.
The resulting hormone is in all cases incapable of forming estrogen, allowing
it to give a user smaller but much leaner gains, and add a look of hardness
to the muscle for people with a relatively low body-fat. In most cases (nandrolone
to dihydronandrolone being the exception) the new hormone is more androgenic.
To sum up, it has reduced estrogenic and increased androgenic activity. This
allows for increases in strength and aggression, reduction of body-fat, and
a leaner look to the physique. If we replace the dihydro structure with a 4,5-double
bond, then we would see that 1-testosterone is in fact a 5-alpha-reduced version
of the hormone boldenone, a testosterone analog with an added 1,2-double bond
that is characterized as being much milder than testosterone, both estrogenically
and androgenically. Which would make 1-testosterone a non-aromatizing hormone,
that is androgenically milder than DHT (less aggressive on hair loss and acne),
but due to its altered structure is also much more active than DHT, which is
readily deactivated. So Dihydro-boldenone would have been, at least from a structural
viewpoint, a much better description.
In explaining what it does or how it works, some misconception has found its
way into the reasoning. Again Patrick Arnold, who first likened its action to
that of the steroid trenbolone (19-Nor-androsta-4,9,11-trien-3-one) lay at the
base of these misconceptions. It lead most to believe we were dealing with an
entirely new steroid. Fact of the matter is that 1-testosterone has been studied
to a great extent and that perhaps the choice not to use it medically, at least
in its original form, had other reasons. Such as for example its irritative
properties. But 1-testosterone was most definitely used, albeit with one alteration
: the attachment of a 1-methyl group. This alteration made it, according to
the powers that be, an entirely different drug. But really this alteration has
only one major impact : making it orally active. The drug in question is methenolone
(primobolan). So one could, at least in terms of action, consider 1-testosterone
a weak form of primobolan. Due to its lack of oral activity it is only delivered
in the blood at around 14% as opposed to the much higher percentage obtained
with a 1-methylation. If you know that primobolan is generally taken in 100-150
mg doses daily, then it wont surprise you that oral doses of 1-test are in
the neighbourhood of at least 300 mg and probably should be higher.
So reasonably what one can expect from the use of 1-testosterone is moderate
to good gains, which can probably be enhanced with the addition of an aromatizing
prohormone. Usually the product will impart a harder, denser, perhaps even leaner
physique on its user while never disappointing the gains it provides. Since,
at least legally, its the most potent thing for muscle growth apart from food.
The user should be aware however that this is a steroid, which can never be
used for more than 6-8 weeks on end, without an equally long or longer period
off, because it will suppress natural testosterone secretion in the body. Its
also advised that you have a good grasp of nutrition prior to using any product
of this kind. This is not only imperative in achieving the maximum in terms
of size, but also in keeping that size during the post-cycle period of depressed
natural testosterone levels.
For all intents and purposes, 1-testosterone is a breakthrough in legal supplementation,
a gateway to a new era. And already the work has progressed at an amazing pace
to make 1-test as available as its analog, primobolan, in order to create a
genuine legal steroid with the potency of an illegal steroid. Higher Power,
Avant Labs, and Molecular Nutrition are three companies that have already made
drastic steps towards achieving that. This is the supplement of the future!
By Peter "Big Cat" Van Mol.
Read more by Peter "Big Cat" Van Mol: Prohormone Science
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