Thanks for bearing with us while we gave this a shot. I'm hopeful the last 60 hours or so was instructive, and illuminating. The purpose here was for all of us (you, me, everybody) to get a sense of what it would look like if we opened the sub up per the consistent feedback we've received over the years. But we've already seen at least 2 well-respected community members (/u/xelev and /u/pinstotheheart) indicate they'd be stepping away from the sub for a while. Suffice it to say alienating some of the friendliest faces and highest quality contributors was not our desire here.

At the very least it proved to us that our general modus operandi is aligned with what our userbase wants:

A curated, high signal:noise ratio environment to discuss safer use of anabolic steroids on their favorite (lmao) pseudonymous message board.

So What Now?

We have reverted back to a Restricted subreddit, meaning as before anybody can view the sub, but only approved users can post. Recall that users are automatically approved 90 days after their first comment.

A few proposed changes that I want to run by you guys:

1. An overall lighter touch from the mod team. We're all bummed out by SARM goblins treating us like ChatGPT and trying to tell us the parameters in which we can respond. But I think its clear that dogpiling on new users is turning new people away, and perhaps throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Over the coming weeks I'll be monitoring for frequently asked questions and workshopping new copypasta intended to drive people asking basic questions to the available learning resources.
2. Piggybacking on this, a de facto moratorium on enforcing Rule 7. It will instead be a guideline intended to encourage new users to ask better questions.
3. A lighter touch on allowing new top-level posts. I want to encourage and empower people to ask questions or pose topics that spur discussion on the sub. I still don't want people making top-level posts for personal questions that are only of interest to them, but perhaps some of them are broadly interesting to the wider group? Let me know in the comments which ones might fall into that bucket.

• Here's one I thought was great: Longevity with AAS Use
• Here's one that made me want to pound my testicles flat with a tenderizing mallet: Steroids or SARMs , How and where do i learn more about it?

What You Can Do To Help

1. Give us clear, actionable feedback on how to make the subreddit a better, friendlier, and higher quality space. I'm open to all (reasonable) suggestions here. Please keep it constructive and action oriented. I'm sick of people complaining about how things are without offering actual suggestions and we won't be taking you seriously if thats all you have to offer. If you just want to piss and moan without driving towards a solution you can write it in your diary.
2. Help cultivate a friendlier, more welcoming environment to new users. We as a mod team clearly recognize that our tone has been a major contributing factor in establishing what is an acceptable reply. We will do better. To be clear, we're not interested in clipping anybody's wings for being a jerk to a totally uninformed newbie, but we will instead offer gentle reminders.
3. Make more top level discussion posts. This is your carte blanche. If you're already an approved poster and have a cool idea for a discussion, or a question for the broader subreddit, fuckin send it. If you aren't and you have a cool idea, hit us up in the modmail with the text of your post and if its better than bad we'll grant you perms and approve it.

Allow me to reiterate:

I want to hear what you guys think. I want clear, actionable ideas. I don't care if they're bad. I'm willing to take em for a spin.

But I'm so, so tired of hearing "I miss how this sub used to be." Me fucking too, y'all. I've been here for well over a decade. (well, I was gone for a while to be fair.) Shit ain't ever gonna be how it used to be. Thats just the facts of growing a community from the low tens of thousands of subscribers to tens of thousands of daily active visitors. Obviously reddit's de facto quarantine of this sub has had a pretty shitty impact too, not to mention the downstream effect of social media influencers convincing 19 year olds their wrists are too narrow and they need to blast tren. But I digress.

At bare minimum, this sub can be better, more active, and attract and KEEP more new users than it has over the last year or so. Please help us do it. Tell me what I can do for you to make that happen.

March Best Of / Worst Of Thread

The time has come for the best of / worst of awards!

This thread is dedicated to anything that happened within the month of March. What happened that was great, and what was an utter shit show?

Here are the rules:

The comment (or post) must have been during this month.

At 3 weeks into the thread, the OP within linked comment/post with the most upvotes will get a flair memorializing their contribution.

It’s recommended to post a screenshot of the original comment in case it gets deleted.

Let’s see what you’ve got!

As a side note, please do not go back and comment on nominated posts. Just enjoy the view.

Rules you MUST familiarize yourself with before posting:

• Rule 2: Don't ask for sources, don't share yours.
• Rule 4: Keep it friendly and on-topic.
• Rule 7: Do your own research FIRST and ask well-thought out questions with enough context.

Are you new to /r/steroids? Get started with these resources:

• Putting together your first cycle?
  • The Basics and Your First Cycle
• Worried about high estrogen?
  • The Estrogen Handbook
• Unsure about PCT?
  • Post Cycle Therapy
• Researching a new compound for the first time?
  • Compound Experience Directory

Want high quality responses to your questions? Copy and paste this template and fill in the relevant portions!

Are you a veteran member? Please remember:

• Be welcoming! We were all new once, and some of us are still stupid even after all these years. The noob that you level up today will be here tomorrow to teach somebody else.
• Focus on education and harm-reduction. You can help new members by simply making them aware of the correct pages of the wiki. Keep your replies constructive, instructive, and promote safer use!
• Be judicious with downvotes. Downvote unhelpful advice, report harmful advice and rule-breaking comments.

Hello guys hope you’re having a great day!

As we all know AAS impacts the users physical health in a poor way. But what doesn’t get talked about as much is how these compounds affect our mental well being.

• Do you feel like AAS has impacted your mental health in any way? Good or bad • On what cycle was your mental health the best? • On what cycle was your mental health the worst? • What are some of the compounds you will never use again and why? • What behaviors do you engage in to enhance your mental health? • Have you ever experienced any form of body dysmorphia and how does this affect your daily life?

gm

Rules you MUST familiarize yourself with before posting:

• Rule 2: Don't ask for sources, don't share yours.
• Rule 4: Keep it friendly and on-topic.
• Rule 7: Do your own research FIRST and ask well-thought out questions with enough context.

Are you new to /r/steroids? Get started with these resources:

• Putting together your first cycle?
  • The Basics and Your First Cycle
• Worried about high estrogen?
  • The Estrogen Handbook
• Unsure about PCT?
  • Post Cycle Therapy
• Researching a new compound for the first time?
  • Compound Experience Directory

Want high quality responses to your questions? Copy and paste this template and fill in the relevant portions!

Are you a veteran member? Please remember:

• Be welcoming! We were all new once, and some of us are still stupid even after all these years. The noob that you level up today will be here tomorrow to teach somebody else.
• Focus on education and harm-reduction. You can help new members by simply making them aware of the correct pages of the wiki. Keep your replies constructive, instructive, and promote safer use!
• Be judicious with downvotes. Downvote unhelpful advice, report harmful advice and rule-breaking comments.

Share your current diet, favorite recipes, snack hacks, results including your weight loss or gain, how your diet is making you feel and perform, and other tips and tricks!

Recipes

Note: many popular calorie tracking apps now allow you to share recipes via a link so other users can simply click and download them!

Please include

• Ingredients and amounts
• A brief description of the process
• Overall macro breakdown

Gm gang!

We're working on identifying some of the most commonly asked questions for the purposes of developing a new FAQ and some response copypastas! We want to know what questions YOU think are most frequently asked that can be addressed most easily with an FAQ.

Questions I've noticed:

• Oral only cycles
• Acne prevention and treatment
• Hair loss prevention
• A comprehensive introduction to calorie counting (maybe some resources from macrofactor would be good? feel free to share your recommendations!)
• Why titrating doses is bad
• How to deal with cramps

etc! please share yours below

gm

Rules you MUST familiarize yourself with before posting:

• Rule 2: Don't ask for sources, don't share yours.
• Rule 4: Keep it friendly and on-topic.
• Rule 7: Do your own research FIRST and ask well-thought out questions with enough context.

Are you new to /r/steroids? Get started with these resources:

• Putting together your first cycle?
  • The Basics and Your First Cycle
• Worried about high estrogen?
  • The Estrogen Handbook
• Unsure about PCT?
  • Post Cycle Therapy
• Researching a new compound for the first time?
  • Compound Experience Directory

Want high quality responses to your questions? Copy and paste this template and fill in the relevant portions!

Are you a veteran member? Please remember:

• Be welcoming! We were all new once, and some of us are still stupid even after all these years. The noob that you level up today will be here tomorrow to teach somebody else.
• Focus on education and harm-reduction. You can help new members by simply making them aware of the correct pages of the wiki. Keep your replies constructive, instructive, and promote safer use!
• Be judicious with downvotes. Downvote unhelpful advice, report harmful advice and rule-breaking comments.

Hey guys,

Wanted to share my experience as a high aromatizer trying to stay enhanced while managing estrogen, and open up a broader conversation for those in a similar boat. I know there are a lot of us who aromatize heavily and don’t tolerate high estradiol well — so hopefully this post sparks some useful discussion and exchange of strategies.

Background:

I’m a 31-year-old retired competitive athlete, 5’11, 82.5kg at 9.7% body fat, with 17” arms cold and a 29.5–32.5” waist depending on water retention. I’m a high responder to PEDs — the type of guy who gains 15kg in two months on 250mg test and 50mg Winstrol, or another 15kg in four months on 250mg/week of EQ solo — but I also aromatize like crazy and suffer from even mild elevations in estradiol.

As a natural, I had 787 ng/dL testosterone and only 16 ng/dL estradiol, despite overtraining and having high SHBG and low LH. Free test was low. Libido and mood were garbage, and I looked puffy/saggy despite being lean. I kept on getting injured. That’s when I decided to go enhanced.

Cycle 1 (2023):

TRT clinic protocol: • 250mg Test Prop split Mon/Thurs • 1000 IU HCG/week • 12.5mg Exemestane (Mon) + 0.5mg Anastrozole (Thurs) • 50mg Winstrol • 20mg Clenbuterol • 4 IU HGH

Put on 30lbs in two months. Felt incredible the first two weeks — younger skin, high libido, joyful mood, sharp jawline. After a few weeks though, estradiol crept past 80 despite AI use. Water retention, moon face, spicy nipples. Dropped HCG — no difference. Eventually came off everything cold turkey.

Cycle 2 (2024):

EQ-only cycle: • 250mg/week Boldenone Undecanoate • 1000 IU HCG/week • No test • 4 IU HGH

Put on 30 lbs in four months. Great cardio and strength. No gyno or skin issues, but mild libido and semi-erections. Mentally very stable but lacked aggression. Eventually stopped because I was getting too heavy for MMA.

Current Experiment (2025):

Back on Test Prop: • Started at 100mg/week split EOD • Then 150mg/week • Then 250mg/week • No HCG. No AI at first.

Symptoms came fast: moon face, red flush, limp dick, puffy nipples. Took 0.5mg Arimidex ED and dropped to 150mg/week Test split M/W/F. No improvement. On Friday, I took 1mg Arimidex along with my shot. Woke up with the hardest erection of my life at 1:38AM. Skin cleared up. But by Saturday night, symptoms were creeping back. Took 12.5mg Exemestane, improved again — until Sunday. Puffy nipples, red face, oily skin returned.

This was all on just 150mg/week Test and 3mg Arimidex. Clearly not sustainable or healthy long-term — not for my lipids, not for mood (Arimidex makes me depressed, gives me blurry vision), and not for a sport-focused lifestyle.

I tolerate low estradiol (in the low teens) very well. I even once crashed it on 25mg Exemestane while off test entirely and felt lethargic — but still better than the mood issues I get from high estradiol on Arimidex.

⸻

Discussion Prompts:

• Are there any other high aromatizers here who manage to run long-term cycles without riding the AI rollercoaster?

• Has anyone found success running ultra-low test with high doses of DHT derivatives (Primo/Mast)?

• Is Letrozole ever worth it for someone with fast estradiol rebound, or is it too much of a sledgehammer?

• Anyone tried microdosing AI with DHT compounds rather than trying to nuke E2 from test alone?

• Does anyone use Estradiol bloodwork timing (e.g., 36h post-shot) to better map out their AI protocol?

• Are there non-AI, non-drug strategies that have actually helped (e.g., diet tweaks, DIM, calcium-d-glucarate, etc.)?

⸻

Current Stack Considerations: • I’m considering going Test ~50mg/week just for replacement, and building the stack around Primobolan or Masteron. I may respond well to both. • I have Letrozole on hand but haven’t used it. • I still have Exemestane and Arimidex. • Goal is to stay enhanced until at least September. Libido is my top priority, then health, then athletic performance and recovery.

⸻

Would love to hear from other guys who are high aromatizers or low E2-tolerant and have made it work long-term. What does your protocol look like?

Thanks for reading — and hopefully this helps others in the same boat.

Rules you MUST familiarize yourself with before posting:

• Rule 2: Don't ask for sources, don't share yours.
• Rule 4: Keep it friendly and on-topic.
• Rule 7: Do your own research FIRST and ask well-thought out questions with enough context.

Are you new to /r/steroids? Get started with these resources:

• Putting together your first cycle?
  • The Basics and Your First Cycle
• Worried about high estrogen?
  • The Estrogen Handbook
• Unsure about PCT?
  • Post Cycle Therapy
• Researching a new compound for the first time?
  • Compound Experience Directory

Want high quality responses to your questions? Copy and paste this template and fill in the relevant portions!

Are you a veteran member? Please remember:

• Be welcoming! We were all new once, and some of us are still stupid even after all these years. The noob that you level up today will be here tomorrow to teach somebody else.
• Focus on education and harm-reduction. You can help new members by simply making them aware of the correct pages of the wiki. Keep your replies constructive, instructive, and promote safer use!
• Be judicious with downvotes. Downvote unhelpful advice, report harmful advice and rule-breaking comments.

Share your routine and ask questions about refining yours here!

Sharing:

• Share tips and tricks, slight modifications that made a big difference, your favorite exercise lately, etc.
• Many workout tracking apps like Hevy and Strong allow you to share full, downloadable routines!

Questions:

• Be sure to include your goals and stats along with your asks!

Rules you MUST familiarize yourself with before posting:

• Rule 2: Don't ask for sources, don't share yours.
• Rule 4: Keep it friendly and on-topic.
• Rule 7: Do your own research FIRST and ask well-thought out questions with enough context.

Are you new to /r/steroids? Get started with these resources:

• Putting together your first cycle?
  • The Basics and Your First Cycle
• Worried about high estrogen?
  • The Estrogen Handbook
• Unsure about PCT?
  • Post Cycle Therapy
• Researching a new compound for the first time?
  • Compound Experience Directory

Want high quality responses to your questions? Copy and paste this template and fill in the relevant portions!

Are you a veteran member? Please remember:

• Be welcoming! We were all new once, and some of us are still stupid even after all these years. The noob that you level up today will be here tomorrow to teach somebody else.
• Focus on education and harm-reduction. You can help new members by simply making them aware of the correct pages of the wiki. Keep your replies constructive, instructive, and promote safer use!
• Be judicious with downvotes. Downvote unhelpful advice, report harmful advice and rule-breaking comments.

sunday, sunday, sunday

be excellent to each other

Rules you MUST familiarize yourself with before posting:

• Rule 2: Don't ask for sources, don't share yours.
• Rule 4: Keep it friendly and on-topic.
• Rule 7: Do your own research FIRST and ask well-thought out questions with enough context.

Are you new to /r/steroids? Get started with these resources:

• Putting together your first cycle?
  • The Basics and Your First Cycle
• Worried about high estrogen?
  • The Estrogen Handbook
• Unsure about PCT?
  • Post Cycle Therapy
• Researching a new compound for the first time?
  • Compound Experience Directory

Want high quality responses to your questions? Copy and paste this template and fill in the relevant portions!

Are you a veteran member? Please remember:

• Be welcoming! We were all new once, and some of us are still stupid even after all these years. The noob that you level up today will be here tomorrow to teach somebody else.
• Focus on education and harm-reduction. You can help new members by simply making them aware of the correct pages of the wiki. Keep your replies constructive, instructive, and promote safer use!
• Be judicious with downvotes. Downvote unhelpful advice, report harmful advice and rule-breaking comments.

Rules you MUST familiarize yourself with before posting:

• Rule 2: Don't ask for sources, don't share yours.
• Rule 4: Keep it friendly and on-topic.
• Rule 7: Do your own research FIRST and ask well-thought out questions with enough context.

Are you new to /r/steroids? Get started with these resources:

• Putting together your first cycle?
  • The Basics and Your First Cycle
• Worried about high estrogen?
  • The Estrogen Handbook
• Unsure about PCT?
  • Post Cycle Therapy
• Researching a new compound for the first time?
  • Compound Experience Directory

Want high quality responses to your questions? Copy and paste this template and fill in the relevant portions!

Are you a veteran member? Please remember:

• Be welcoming! We were all new once, and some of us are still stupid even after all these years. The noob that you level up today will be here tomorrow to teach somebody else.
• Focus on education and harm-reduction. You can help new members by simply making them aware of the correct pages of the wiki. Keep your replies constructive, instructive, and promote safer use!
• Be judicious with downvotes. Downvote unhelpful advice, report harmful advice and rule-breaking comments.

words

Share your recent bloodwork and solicit feedback in this thread!

Key elements to include:

• Screenshots of your actual bloodwork OR your results, the units they're in, and the reference ranges
  • Use https://imgbb.com/ to host the screenshots
• Your basic stats
• Your current cycle status, e.g.:
  • Compounds, mgs/week, and how long you've been running them for
• How you're managing your health through:
  • Behavior (how much cardio, etc.)
  • Diet
  • Supplementation
  • Pharmaceuticals

Would love to hear inputs on others experiences opening up new areas to pin. As well as the thought process before and after.

Myself- Currently I prefer shoulders, if I’m ever on low dose or trt it’s my go to. Before I used to only do glutes but needed another muscle to rotate through and ever since it’s been great. Can inject 3cc no problem at all.

Second would be the obvious glutes, self explanatory.

My question- I need to open another site for my next bulk as I plan on trying out NPP for the first time and I’ve never gone the short ester route before (usually I keep it at 2pins a week).

I always heard nightmare stories of quads from years ago which always deterred me to even try short esters, but lately it seems acceptable in a way? Would love some inputs on the quads.

Of course with your opinions if any other site injections and how it felt for you

I’d like to start a discussion in regard to managing and understanding blood pressure because as a new AAS user who’s trying to be as safe as possible this has been eye opening to say the least.

I recently read Peter Attias book Outlive and I absolutely loved every single page of it, I cannot recommend this book enough to any of you who know how to read. But in this book he heavily stresses the importance of cardiovascular health and the importance of preventative medicine and lifestyle. Ironically I was finishing this book one week prior to my third attempt of a TRT+ cycle (if I’m understanding the term correctly) which in my case would be 360mg test C/wk pinning MWF, and 20mg Anavar/day 10mg upon waking, 10mg 90 minutes PWO.

I happen to have horrific white coat syndrome and have probably never once had an accurate blood pressure reading in my life. So what did I do? I started using an at home blood pressure cuff and wow what a fucking mistake that was. These pieces of shit are so incredibly unreliable and have done nothing but cause my anxiety to skyrocket with readings like 150/90 when I am objectively feeling quite calm and relaxed and asymptomatic. I realize there isn’t a whole ordeal of symptoms with high blood pressure, however anecdotally many years ago I was abusing armodafinil daily and using anywhere from 600-1200mg a day. My blood pressure would get high enough to affect my vision. Which at the time I was unaware that was the reason.

Since that first cuff I have upgraded to an Omron silver cuff, and it seems at least to be a better model than the previous iHealth whatever the fuck it was.

I would like to start a discussion about this topic and how people have handled high blood pressure, what compounds they’re using, their exercise regimen and what their actual blood pressure readings have been. Just this week I have started a measurement protocol per Peter Attias advice in the book. I take two sets of three measurements per day, so upon waking I take three measurements with a 2 minute gap between. And repeat the process 30 minutes after my last meal in the evening. I record all the data to obtain a daily, weekly and monthly average.

My current stack of compounds and supplements:

-5mg cialis 1x daily -1200mg 2x daily Kirkland fish oil -300mg ubiquinol 1x daily -80mg baby aspirin 1x daily - -800iu vitamin e 1x daily -5000iu vitamin D and vitamin k 1x daily -600mg NAC 3x daily -12mg methylene blue 1x daily (allegedly helps with hematocrit and RBC per vigorous Steve) -5g creative daily, 1 scoop beet root powder daily, and one scoop BCAA for flavor daily.

-120mg test c 3c per week MWF -10mg Anavar 2x daily -375iu HCG EOD -.5mg anastrozole 1x week -60mg raloxifene per day

I’m also playing around with pramipexole specifically to bust fat nuts back to back. 600mcg per day thus far.

My exercise regimen is as follows 5 day split? I think is what it’s called, each day is weight training a different muscle group for 30-40 minutes. Followed by 30 minutes of cardio on a stationary bike. The entire workout I use a chest strap HRM and during cardio I have a goal of maintaining zone 3 for 25 minutes.

Things I’d like to see in this thread:

-How accurate do you other folks believe these at home cuffs to be? I’m under the impression they are not super accurate at all and consistently provide readings of 5-15pts higher than reality. -What are your average blood pressure readings on cycle? -What have you done to mitigate risk and lower your blood pressure?

This mornings BP reading average 139/82, not great if the cuff is accurate. But if it does indeed read higher than reality it isn’t as bad as it appears. I give myself white coat syndrome because I am /disabled/.

Crime is no longer legal. Be cool, have fun!

Honestly, the majority of people are even dumber and lazier than I thought. The best part here is I am pretty confident that most of the folks posting these new threads have never read through the sub, and just found it on a lark and dumped their zero thought posts without even realizing they're random participants in an experiment. They're totally oblivious. They didn't read the announcement, have never - and WILL never read the rest of the sub - and won't even consider looking at this thread.

Steroids should be much, much harder to acquire.