 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
02/04/09
Q: I am thinking of adding EPO to an AS cycle I’m starting. The cycle I have planned contains Anadrol-50, Test Cypionate, Deca, D-bol and Proviron. I really want to use it for recovery so that I can maximize gains on this cycle in the off season. If it works well for me, I plan on including EPO in my pre-contest cycle, that will contain EQ, Winstrol, Anavar, and maybe something else. I’m not sure yet. Anyway, how does that sound to you?
A: Well, it sounds like you’re planning on being a human time bomb, rather than a bodybuilder. EPO, though it has its place in AS cycles when added judiciously, shouldn’t ever be teamed up with A-50! Anadrol does very much the same thing as EPO, in steroid form, by stepping up the production of red blood cells. Anadrol raises blood pressure substantially, and can cause headaches, nausea and congestive heart failure or stroke, (at its worst), all by its lonesome. I imagine it might become a worst case scenario if you combine it with both EPO and D-bol, which also elevates blood pressure substantially. Let’s look at EPO by itself, though, as kind of a refresher course for those who are familiar with it and for those who don’t know what it is.
EPO, like Anadrol, stimulates increased action in the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells, which allow more oxygen to be transported to cells. This allows harder training sessions, with greater short term recovery, and accentuates pumps to a level probably unknown by even heavy AS users. The workouts can become more intense and they can last longer since recovery of lactic acid build-up is much more rapid. But EPO can also make blood viscosity look like Aunt Jemimah’s Pancake syrup, too, since it increases the number of red blood cells per ml of blood and ends up thickening the blood to the point of being problematic. Cyclists have used EPO for years to combat fatigue and increase oxygen production and uptake. The more red blood cells, the more available oxygen to lungs and muscles. Many have had serious problems and a few have died.
On the plus side, as I said, the ability of the body to recover rapidly is stepped up dramatically. This is crucial for bodybuilders who continually tear down their bodies with heavy training in the off season. It’s particularly useful during pre-contest aerobic sessions also, since overtraining with aerobic activity is highly unlikely and fat can be burned about 5 times faster as a result. In some ways, I think this makes EPO superior, in some categories, to AS. You could feasibly recover from a gut-busting leg workout within one day and be back at it, none the worse for wear. In fact, you can go until you are experiencing substrate exhaustion and your legs are actually not burning. You can recover between squat sets as rapidly as a minute or two, rather than the requisite 5 or 10 minutes following a particularly intense 90% lift. Blood buffers can’t even do that. The inexplicable thing about EPO is also that you don’t experience the soreness that you feel without it after an intense training session, and that can’t be explained by simply putting EPO into a category of drugs that merely increase oxygen levels of the blood. But that’s another issue altogether and one I’ll be curious to research over the next year or so.
In any case, I understand why you want to include it. It can truly maximize a drug cycle for this very reason, which is, I’m sure, why you’re wanting to include it. You must, however, constantly monitor pulse and blood pressure if you’re going to use EPO. That means testing your BP as many as 5-7 times per day to know how to ‘tweak’ the EPO dose. I don’t recommend doing more than 2-3 weeks of EPO at any stretch, either, since blood pressure can remain fairly normal and results be quite dramatic within that time period. You must carefully taper EPO when you come off of it, too, and must be committed to drinking a LOT of water while you’re on it. It needs to be more carefully monitored than insulin. It can be done, but remember that the side effects can be ultimately devastating! You should consider that when you decide whether it’s worth it to you to take it or not.
